Category Archives: What I’m Gaming

What I'm Gaming Vol. 14

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Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.


Assassin’s Creed II

Assassin's Creed II logo

The New Year came and I had the urge to start a new game. I perused my unusually large collection of games, and decided to continue the Assassin’s Creed series. I had recently watched my girlfriend play Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, so it seemed like a good idea to get caught up on the first part of Ezio’s story.

I had previously only completed the original Assassin’s Creed game (and yes, I collected all the flags) and thought it was pretty fun, and I had heard from just about everywhere that the second game was waaay better, so I began.

The second game certainly improves on many aspects of the first game (like adding swimming; seriously, what assassin can’t swim?), but the thing I enjoyed the most was a greater emphasis on storytelling. While the original game tells the story of Altair and begins the story for Desmond, you can play through the entire game and barely know what happened. Not this time around.

I was able to complete the entire game (full 1000G and all) in about a week of play, so it became the first game I completed in 2012. It also helped me get ready for…


Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Ezio from Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Once again perusing my collection, I got the feeling that I wasn’t ready to be done with the swift dealing of death from ledges and rooftops and haystacks. I was fresh of Assassin’s Creed II, so it felt natural to continue the series – similar to when I try to watch only one episode of House.

The game seems to have a greater focus on developing the characters (Ezio, Desmond, and Desmond’s crew) and having a wider mission variety. I now have a group of Assassins I can send off to do random quests to level them up or use them on nearby guards so I don’t have to get my hands dirty. Once again, the series makes solid progression in improving the gameplay, with combat being an emphasis. All welcome changes.

It adds what I’ve heard is fairly addicting multiplayer, but I’ve yet to sink my teeth into it and probably won’t until the campaign is completed.

Bastion

Bastion image

I’d been interested in playing Bastion since the Summer of Arcade promotion, but I refuse to play $15 for an arcade game that I’m not hotly anticipating (which is almost never). But when they ran the 12 days of Xbox promotion to end the year, the very first day had Bastion half off – only $7.50. This price was much better for me and I couldn’t wait to start.

Right off the bat, you notice how attractive the game is, and throughout the game, the narrator kept me informed and engaged. Some people don’t like his voice, but I found him highly entertaining. The gameplay is simple but solid, and the music and sounds are quite fitting. This game isn’t one that has a strong story; it’s just enough to give you a reason to keep going. Unfortunately, it is a quite brief experience (in my opinion justifying my refusal to buy it at $15) that I was able to complete the two necessary playthroughs and do everything there was to do in a short 8 hours.

Bloodrayne: Betrayal

Another arcade I noticed was on sale and decided to pick up. This game is a 2D side-scrolling hack n’ slash game and it is a throwback in a modern skin. What I mean by that is it is fun to play and difficult to master. I tried my hardest to get an S rank on the first couple of missions, but no matter how many times I tried, I was unable to do so.

I haven’t given up, though. I enjoy a good challenge and this game delivers. If you like these types of games, it’s worth taking a look.


Halo: CE Anniversary

I had this game since launch, but with so many other games in my to-do list, it kinda got lost in the shuffle. I pulled it out and decided to take a run through the first couple of levels, switching back and forth between the new graphics and the old and seeing how times have changed. It’s pretty amazing to see what used to be the top-of-the-line graphics back then and come them to what just slightly above average now.

I’ll be getting back to this title eventually. I’m looking forward to my run through the game on Legendary, but it’ll have to wait until I find some more free time.


Crysis 2

This is a title I hadn’t picked up in a while. I haven’t touched any FPS for a good while, so I decided to hop online and go a few rounds. It appears my FPS skills have deteriorated some after not having played them in so long, making playing this game online quite the struggle. It didn’t help that everyone still likes to use the Camo so much. I got frustrated pretty quick, but at least I knocked out a few achievements along the way.


Saints Row

Yes, the first one. I was working on this title exclusively in previous weeks, but I stopped when I realized that one of my graffiti tags (needed for a pair of achievements) appeared to be glitched. I’ve triple-checked all the graffiti tags on the map – of which there are 75 – and it shows I’ve gotten them all, but the counter in the menu says I’m missing one.

It’s a big downer for me that I’ll probably have to start over after making so much progress. I don’t think I’ll be playing this again any time soon.

Games I Bought

I went on quite the buying spree in the past month or so. It’s not my fault, though! All these different stores and publishers are to blame with all the sales and discounts that were calling out to me over the holiday season. Anyway, here’s the list:

Bloodrayne: Betrayal
Bastion
Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition
Burnout CRASH!
From Dust
Beyond Good & Evil HD
Bulletstorm

Additional Intel

I had been telling both myself and others than I eventually wanted to buy an HD recording device so I could record my gameplay and make YouTube videos, and I finally made good on my claims. I am now the proud owner of a Hauppauge 1212 HD PVR and I have to say it works great so far. The quality is astounding.

I plan on getting some recreational videos up and possibly a few video guides here or there. I’m going to try and have a good time with it, so be on the lookout for any future updates.

In other news, it appears I will soon be a proud owner of a backwards-compatible ps3. My girlfriend’s brother had one and it stopped reading blu-ray discs, so they basically said if I can fix it, I can have it. I’ve already ordered the parts.

That wraps up my gaming report for this week. Now it’s your turn – what have you been playing this past week? What new games have you bought?

Let me know in the comments.

What I’m Gaming Vol. 14

Leave a reply

Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.


Assassin’s Creed II

Assassin's Creed II logo

The New Year came and I had the urge to start a new game. I perused my unusually large collection of games, and decided to continue the Assassin’s Creed series. I had recently watched my girlfriend play Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, so it seemed like a good idea to get caught up on the first part of Ezio’s story.

I had previously only completed the original Assassin’s Creed game (and yes, I collected all the flags) and thought it was pretty fun, and I had heard from just about everywhere that the second game was waaay better, so I began.

The second game certainly improves on many aspects of the first game (like adding swimming; seriously, what assassin can’t swim?), but the thing I enjoyed the most was a greater emphasis on storytelling. While the original game tells the story of Altair and begins the story for Desmond, you can play through the entire game and barely know what happened. Not this time around.

I was able to complete the entire game (full 1000G and all) in about a week of play, so it became the first game I completed in 2012. It also helped me get ready for…


Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Ezio from Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Once again perusing my collection, I got the feeling that I wasn’t ready to be done with the swift dealing of death from ledges and rooftops and haystacks. I was fresh of Assassin’s Creed II, so it felt natural to continue the series – similar to when I try to watch only one episode of House.

The game seems to have a greater focus on developing the characters (Ezio, Desmond, and Desmond’s crew) and having a wider mission variety. I now have a group of Assassins I can send off to do random quests to level them up or use them on nearby guards so I don’t have to get my hands dirty. Once again, the series makes solid progression in improving the gameplay, with combat being an emphasis. All welcome changes.

It adds what I’ve heard is fairly addicting multiplayer, but I’ve yet to sink my teeth into it and probably won’t until the campaign is completed.

Bastion

Bastion image

I’d been interested in playing Bastion since the Summer of Arcade promotion, but I refuse to play $15 for an arcade game that I’m not hotly anticipating (which is almost never). But when they ran the 12 days of Xbox promotion to end the year, the very first day had Bastion half off – only $7.50. This price was much better for me and I couldn’t wait to start.

Right off the bat, you notice how attractive the game is, and throughout the game, the narrator kept me informed and engaged. Some people don’t like his voice, but I found him highly entertaining. The gameplay is simple but solid, and the music and sounds are quite fitting. This game isn’t one that has a strong story; it’s just enough to give you a reason to keep going. Unfortunately, it is a quite brief experience (in my opinion justifying my refusal to buy it at $15) that I was able to complete the two necessary playthroughs and do everything there was to do in a short 8 hours.

Bloodrayne: Betrayal

Another arcade I noticed was on sale and decided to pick up. This game is a 2D side-scrolling hack n’ slash game and it is a throwback in a modern skin. What I mean by that is it is fun to play and difficult to master. I tried my hardest to get an S rank on the first couple of missions, but no matter how many times I tried, I was unable to do so.

I haven’t given up, though. I enjoy a good challenge and this game delivers. If you like these types of games, it’s worth taking a look.


Halo: CE Anniversary

I had this game since launch, but with so many other games in my to-do list, it kinda got lost in the shuffle. I pulled it out and decided to take a run through the first couple of levels, switching back and forth between the new graphics and the old and seeing how times have changed. It’s pretty amazing to see what used to be the top-of-the-line graphics back then and come them to what just slightly above average now.

I’ll be getting back to this title eventually. I’m looking forward to my run through the game on Legendary, but it’ll have to wait until I find some more free time.


Crysis 2

This is a title I hadn’t picked up in a while. I haven’t touched any FPS for a good while, so I decided to hop online and go a few rounds. It appears my FPS skills have deteriorated some after not having played them in so long, making playing this game online quite the struggle. It didn’t help that everyone still likes to use the Camo so much. I got frustrated pretty quick, but at least I knocked out a few achievements along the way.


Saints Row

Yes, the first one. I was working on this title exclusively in previous weeks, but I stopped when I realized that one of my graffiti tags (needed for a pair of achievements) appeared to be glitched. I’ve triple-checked all the graffiti tags on the map – of which there are 75 – and it shows I’ve gotten them all, but the counter in the menu says I’m missing one.

It’s a big downer for me that I’ll probably have to start over after making so much progress. I don’t think I’ll be playing this again any time soon.

Games I Bought

I went on quite the buying spree in the past month or so. It’s not my fault, though! All these different stores and publishers are to blame with all the sales and discounts that were calling out to me over the holiday season. Anyway, here’s the list:

Bloodrayne: Betrayal
Bastion
Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition
Burnout CRASH!
From Dust
Beyond Good & Evil HD
Bulletstorm

Additional Intel

I had been telling both myself and others than I eventually wanted to buy an HD recording device so I could record my gameplay and make YouTube videos, and I finally made good on my claims. I am now the proud owner of a Hauppauge 1212 HD PVR and I have to say it works great so far. The quality is astounding.

I plan on getting some recreational videos up and possibly a few video guides here or there. I’m going to try and have a good time with it, so be on the lookout for any future updates.

In other news, it appears I will soon be a proud owner of a backwards-compatible ps3. My girlfriend’s brother had one and it stopped reading blu-ray discs, so they basically said if I can fix it, I can have it. I’ve already ordered the parts.

That wraps up my gaming report for this week. Now it’s your turn – what have you been playing this past week? What new games have you bought?

Let me know in the comments.

What I'm Gaming Vol. 13

5 Replies

Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.

Well, I’m officially back and ready to pump out more content and impressions about the games I’ve been playing lately. It’ll probably be more concise than it has in the past because I’m not working as many games at one time like I used to. I’m trying to stick to one or two titles at a time and get them done. All the great releases from 2011 haven’t exactly helped me reduce my backlog, and 2012 is looking pretty strong, too.

Anyway, here we go.

Captain America: Super Soldier

Captain America: Super Soldier screenshot

Here we have a superhero game releasing the same year the film for the same character released. Unfortunately, most games of this ilk are underwhelming at best (side note: I recently played Thor, and it was THE worst game I’ve played this year).

Thankfully, Captain America: Super Soldier doesn’t fall into that category. I heard about it from friends on Xbox Live and they told me it wasn’t too bad, so I tried it out. They tried to borrow a few elements from Rocksteady’s excellent Batman franchise, to moderate success – the Captain doesn’t really have any true weak spots. The game was very enjoyable for me (especially since I love all the popular superheroes) and didn’t drag on too long, either. I was able to beat the game in around 6 hours, and I had gotten the full 1000 Gamerscore in a single day, putting my play time at a total of about 8.5 hours.

Overall, this game is decidedly average. It excels at no one thing, but does everything well enough to not suck. And that is a good thing.

Buy Captain America: Super Soldier on Amazon

Saints Row

Me and Saints Row have a love-hate relationship. I’ve never really been big into open-world games like this, but since I had bought the Double Pack (containing Saints Row and Saints Row 2), I decided to give it a try. I needed something new to play.

I love that the game never takes itself too seriously. I love that it has recognizable voice actors (for me, anyway; I usually don’t pay attention, but some of those are actors I’ve seen in movies and on TV). I enjoy the soundtrack. The gameplay, although a bit out of the norm for me, is fun, too. But I hate it when the game sabotages me and causes me to fail missions.

There have been a few missions where I spontaneously combusted, not knowing what killed me. There was one where my own gang members accidentally shot me with a rocket launcher. And there was the tme that, during a chase where the AI was driving and I was shooting, he drove smack into a wall and blew up our car. This stuff happens a little more frequently than I’d like it to, but in the end, the game is fun. The story is nothing to write home about, but riding around and taking control of the city of Stilwater (where the game is placed) is relaxing in a very chaotic way. It’ll be a while before I’m completely done, as is normally the case with open-world games, but I plan on moving to the second game in the series afterwards.

Buy Saints Row on Amazon

NBA 2K11

Yes, you’re reading it right. Although I own NBA 2K12, I’m still playing last year’s game. After a ridiculous amount of games played, I was recently able to get the My MVP, 4-Point Line, Buzzer Beater, Top Trey and Sprite Slam Dunk Showdown achievements completed. All of game left now are Association-related achievements and the Not Over Yet achievement, where you hit a game-tying three to force overtime.

I plan on sitting down and focusing on it to get it done in one day, and probably this weekend.

Buy NBA 2K11 on Amazon

Additional Intel

If you’ve noticed, I’ve added links to Amazon following each game listed above. It’s something I’ll be doing now, to both make it easier for you if you want to get a game I’m talking about, and to support this site. If you purchase anything using the links I’ve provided, I will receive a small commission. If you choose to use them, I appreciate it and thank you in advance.

As always, I’d also like to find out what you’re gaming and your thoughts about anything I’ve mentioned in this post. Please feel free to leave a comment or follow me on Twitter @passthemstickss

What I’m Gaming Vol. 13

5 Replies

Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.

Well, I’m officially back and ready to pump out more content and impressions about the games I’ve been playing lately. It’ll probably be more concise than it has in the past because I’m not working as many games at one time like I used to. I’m trying to stick to one or two titles at a time and get them done. All the great releases from 2011 haven’t exactly helped me reduce my backlog, and 2012 is looking pretty strong, too.

Anyway, here we go.

Captain America: Super Soldier

Captain America: Super Soldier screenshot

Here we have a superhero game releasing the same year the film for the same character released. Unfortunately, most games of this ilk are underwhelming at best (side note: I recently played Thor, and it was THE worst game I’ve played this year).

Thankfully, Captain America: Super Soldier doesn’t fall into that category. I heard about it from friends on Xbox Live and they told me it wasn’t too bad, so I tried it out. They tried to borrow a few elements from Rocksteady’s excellent Batman franchise, to moderate success – the Captain doesn’t really have any true weak spots. The game was very enjoyable for me (especially since I love all the popular superheroes) and didn’t drag on too long, either. I was able to beat the game in around 6 hours, and I had gotten the full 1000 Gamerscore in a single day, putting my play time at a total of about 8.5 hours.

Overall, this game is decidedly average. It excels at no one thing, but does everything well enough to not suck. And that is a good thing.

Buy Captain America: Super Soldier on Amazon

Saints Row

Me and Saints Row have a love-hate relationship. I’ve never really been big into open-world games like this, but since I had bought the Double Pack (containing Saints Row and Saints Row 2), I decided to give it a try. I needed something new to play.

I love that the game never takes itself too seriously. I love that it has recognizable voice actors (for me, anyway; I usually don’t pay attention, but some of those are actors I’ve seen in movies and on TV). I enjoy the soundtrack. The gameplay, although a bit out of the norm for me, is fun, too. But I hate it when the game sabotages me and causes me to fail missions.

There have been a few missions where I spontaneously combusted, not knowing what killed me. There was one where my own gang members accidentally shot me with a rocket launcher. And there was the tme that, during a chase where the AI was driving and I was shooting, he drove smack into a wall and blew up our car. This stuff happens a little more frequently than I’d like it to, but in the end, the game is fun. The story is nothing to write home about, but riding around and taking control of the city of Stilwater (where the game is placed) is relaxing in a very chaotic way. It’ll be a while before I’m completely done, as is normally the case with open-world games, but I plan on moving to the second game in the series afterwards.

Buy Saints Row on Amazon

NBA 2K11

Yes, you’re reading it right. Although I own NBA 2K12, I’m still playing last year’s game. After a ridiculous amount of games played, I was recently able to get the My MVP, 4-Point Line, Buzzer Beater, Top Trey and Sprite Slam Dunk Showdown achievements completed. All of game left now are Association-related achievements and the Not Over Yet achievement, where you hit a game-tying three to force overtime.

I plan on sitting down and focusing on it to get it done in one day, and probably this weekend.

Buy NBA 2K11 on Amazon

Additional Intel

If you’ve noticed, I’ve added links to Amazon following each game listed above. It’s something I’ll be doing now, to both make it easier for you if you want to get a game I’m talking about, and to support this site. If you purchase anything using the links I’ve provided, I will receive a small commission. If you choose to use them, I appreciate it and thank you in advance.

As always, I’d also like to find out what you’re gaming and your thoughts about anything I’ve mentioned in this post. Please feel free to leave a comment or follow me on Twitter @passthemstickss

What I'm Gaming Vol. 12

2 Replies

Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.

It’s going to be a rather short list this week, as I have really been focused on completing some stuff before the new releases of October get underway, plus there’s always that life stuff, too.

Games I Played

X-Men: Destiny

Well, it was a pretty short ride, but I’ve completed the entire game. Beat it, beat it again on X-Treme difficulty and got the full 1000 Gamerscore out of it. I enjoyed my time with this game, but I probably won’t be playing it again, since the replay value is pretty low. I’m trying to see if I can see it on Glyde.com. I bought it for $40, so if I am able to sell it soon, then I should get around $35 or so back, making it a $5 game. Not bad. Be on the lookout for my forthcoming review of this game.

Medal of Honor

As I’ve stated in the previous entry, all I need for offline is to complete Tier 1 mode – basically Hard mode with a time limit (par time) and no checkpoints. There are nine levels to complete, and I was able to complete the first one. I’m thinking maybe I’ll do one or two per day so I can knock this out pretty quickly, then I’ll move on to the multiplayer. I hope the multiplayer can be done with only two people so I don’t have to organize some big group to play.

NBA 2K11

Knowing that NBA 2K12, aka the greatest basketball game ever made, releases on Tuesday, October 4th, my brother and I played our annual best-of-seven series to see who takes the crown for that year. Spurs versus Lakers, of course (and I’m the Spurs). After going up 3-1, he took the next two to tie it up. In a crucial game 7, every glitch and exploit in the game reared it’s ugly head. I didn’t even complete the game – I turned off my 360 in anger and shattered my wireless headset by heaving into my closet door. I can’t wait to get 2K12. I hope they fixed these issues.

Games I Bought

I haven’t bought anything yet, but I WILL be buying NBA 2K12 right after work on Tuesday. It has been a long time coming. I’m interested in Rage, but I’ve simply got too much on my plate to get it right now.

Other Gaming-Related News

Not really gaming-related, but more of a site update. I know the theme I’m currently using doesn’t look all that great, and I’ve been searching for a better one for some time, I found one I like and am currently testing it on the back-end. It looks nice and clean. I need to make some small adjustments and then create what will be the passthemsticks.com logo, and it’ll be ready for a public release.

Be patience with me – I’m getting there.

Conclusion

That wraps up my gaming report for this week. Now it’s your turn – what have you been playing this past week? What new games have you bought?

Let me know in the comments.

What I’m Gaming Vol. 12

2 Replies

Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.

It’s going to be a rather short list this week, as I have really been focused on completing some stuff before the new releases of October get underway, plus there’s always that life stuff, too.

Games I Played

X-Men: Destiny

Well, it was a pretty short ride, but I’ve completed the entire game. Beat it, beat it again on X-Treme difficulty and got the full 1000 Gamerscore out of it. I enjoyed my time with this game, but I probably won’t be playing it again, since the replay value is pretty low. I’m trying to see if I can see it on Glyde.com. I bought it for $40, so if I am able to sell it soon, then I should get around $35 or so back, making it a $5 game. Not bad. Be on the lookout for my forthcoming review of this game.

Medal of Honor

As I’ve stated in the previous entry, all I need for offline is to complete Tier 1 mode – basically Hard mode with a time limit (par time) and no checkpoints. There are nine levels to complete, and I was able to complete the first one. I’m thinking maybe I’ll do one or two per day so I can knock this out pretty quickly, then I’ll move on to the multiplayer. I hope the multiplayer can be done with only two people so I don’t have to organize some big group to play.

NBA 2K11

Knowing that NBA 2K12, aka the greatest basketball game ever made, releases on Tuesday, October 4th, my brother and I played our annual best-of-seven series to see who takes the crown for that year. Spurs versus Lakers, of course (and I’m the Spurs). After going up 3-1, he took the next two to tie it up. In a crucial game 7, every glitch and exploit in the game reared it’s ugly head. I didn’t even complete the game – I turned off my 360 in anger and shattered my wireless headset by heaving into my closet door. I can’t wait to get 2K12. I hope they fixed these issues.

Games I Bought

I haven’t bought anything yet, but I WILL be buying NBA 2K12 right after work on Tuesday. It has been a long time coming. I’m interested in Rage, but I’ve simply got too much on my plate to get it right now.

Other Gaming-Related News

Not really gaming-related, but more of a site update. I know the theme I’m currently using doesn’t look all that great, and I’ve been searching for a better one for some time, I found one I like and am currently testing it on the back-end. It looks nice and clean. I need to make some small adjustments and then create what will be the passthemsticks.com logo, and it’ll be ready for a public release.

Be patience with me – I’m getting there.

Conclusion

That wraps up my gaming report for this week. Now it’s your turn – what have you been playing this past week? What new games have you bought?

Let me know in the comments.

What I’m Gaming Vol. 11

2 Replies

Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.

Games I Played

X-Men Destiny screenshot

X-Men: Destiny

Seeing as it was the number seven game on my top 12 most anticipated games of 2011 list, I felt I needed to go pick this up. After all, I love the X-Men universe and it looks like a decent game, plus Kmart has a deal going on this week for it.

It’s a pretty simple game that doesn’t do anything you haven’t seen before, but it feels pretty solid. I spent about three and a half hours playing and exploring it, and when it comes down to it, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played. It’s strange I haven’t seen any reviews yet, but I’ll be getting one up once I complete it.

Medal of Honor wallpaper

Medal of Honor

As I mentioned in last week’s post, I bought this game for a whole $4.19 from Gamefly. I had the urge to play through it, so I started it up on hard. Aside from a few annoying parts, the game’s hardest difficulty and mostly a cake-walk for any mildly experienced FPS player, but it was still pretty fun. I got all the offline achievements done except for the Tier 1 mode, which requires completing each level in under par time…without dying. Then, on to the multiplayer! Shouldn’t take long.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Yes, the first one. I never completed the campaign, and I didn’t realize I had a copy (I obtained several CoD games from buying a second 360 from Craig list, but didn’t notice it before) so I felt after completing Medal of Honor, I might as well. I’ve recovered from my period of FPS-related burnout and I’m back to shooting things! Anyway, I started over, and I got past where I got stuck in “Charlie Don’t Surf” and stopped at “The Bog.” I’m playing on easy to get the collectibles and other miscellaneous achievements, then I’ll try it on Veteran. Like last time.

NBA 2K10

A good week to turn back the clock, right?

With the release of NBA 2K12 coming next Tuesday, I wanted to work on this game and try to have it maxed out before I move on. I needed to start over on the dreaded My Player mode because my data for it was lost, and then there are a few random ones I never got around to attempting before, so I’ll clean those up. I’m almost done with My Player – just three more games, assuming I don’t get cut from training camp.

NBA 2K11

Yeah, had to get my weekly dose of the current year’s title. Been doing the same old thing I’ve been doing: My Player and random player matches against my bro. I’m getting a bit tired of it, since Tuesday can’t come soon enough. Too bad 2K12 will likely have early server issues. They do every year. Sigh.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

I’m still on my second playthrough in this game, mostly because since I beat it once, I’ve been trying to work on other stuff. I popped it in to continue my quest, only to realize that I am missing an eBook for the “Doctorate” achievement that I can no longer access. If you’re trying for that achievement, do NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT sneak around The Hive. Talk to the Bartender and convince him to let you see the Boss. I got discouraged and turned it back off after that.

Tales of Vesperia

I finally had a chance to pick this back up. All I really NEED to do is go through the final dungeon and beat the game, but I’m spending my time GRADE farming so I can buy all the things I’ll need in my New Game+. There’s a lot of stuff I need to be able to get, so I’ll be farming for a while. At least I found a method where I get around 2000 GRADE in one 20 minute battle.

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard

It was only Hazard Time for about 20 minutes. I played one level and unlocked a few achievements I was missing and that was it. Very slowly working my way through on Max Hazard difficulty. This game doesn’t lend itself well to replay value.

Soulcalibur IV

I had a friend help me for a few minutes with this game since I only needed to win a few matches online in the maps I hadn’t unlocked yet. I got the “World Traveler” achievement, played with my custom character a bit, then took it out. I’m just not into fighting games like I once was.

Ultimate MK3

A friend asked me to help him try to get his 100 online wins. We tried, but we were unable to connect to any ranked matches. We’ll try again some other time, but I fear the servers may have been taken down.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot

I got a random message from someone who wanted to boost this, so I got on very briefly. It was a one match affair – I kill him and his friend, they kill me, finish the match. I’m now one Serial Killer kill away from the “SKX” achievement and finishing the multiplayer portion. Once I’m done, I might get around to playing the single player, too.

Games I Bought

This week, I bought X-Men Destiny through the aforementioned Kmart deal. I also found some info about a bunch of XBLA games that went on sale; pretty good ones, too. I have only bought Moon Diver so far, but there’s a few more that I’m considering. In case you’re wondering, here’s the XBLA sale list I am referring to.

Conclusion

That wraps up my gaming report for this week. Now it’s your turn – what have you been playing this past week? What new games have you bought?

Let me know in the comments.

What I’m Gaming Vol. 10

3 Replies

Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.

Games I Played

Gears of War 2 screenshot

Gears of War 2

With the impending release of Gears of War 3 around the corner, Epic has been running increasingly higher EXP events on a weekly basis. They started a few weeks ago with x5 EXP, and are going all the way up to x25 this coming weekend. I still need to make it to level 100 in the multiplayer (at the time of writing, I am level 63) and gain a couple other multiplayer achievements for this game.

But there was one problem: I hate this game. This game has completely turned me off to even considering a purchase for Gears 3 because the multiplayer is still absolutely terrible. There are just far too many glitches and lag issues with this game, even after around 5-6 major patches to try and fix them. If I wasn’t playing with a friend, I couldn’t bear to play the multiplayer for more than 45 minutes. It’s not looking good for my level 100.

Eat Lead screenshot

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard

I was looking through for something to play a few days ago, and I decided to give this game another go. Previously, I had started it and made it about a third of the way through the campaign, but stopped after having a bit of a time getting past your archenemy in the game, Sting Sniperscope. He has absolutely deadly aim if you show your face for even a second. Anyway, I remember I had enjoyed the game up to that point since it was actually halfway decent as a third person shooter and it parodies so many other games. Seriously, this game is hilarious. I was able to finish the campaign and soon I’ll start my second playthrough on Max Hazard (Hard mode) and complete the game.

de Blob 2

I was interested in this game since it released. The premise is basically there’s a bad guy that sucks the color out of the world and you, the Blob, are charged with saving the world by repainting it. It’s a simple little platformer, and I’m really enjoying my time with it. I think I’ve become a real Picasso during my time with this game.

Hexic HD

I’m done with this game. I have been working on getting all the remaining achievements I felt I could get from it, and I have achieved that. I got my “Hexic Addict” achievement (100 games played) the other day, and I don’t think it’s worth the time and effort to try and get the last two. A simple but fun little game, and it’s free. If you like games like Bejeweled, then you may enjoy this.

NBA 2K11

As usual, I spent a lot of my time on this game playing against my brother. When I wasn’t playing him online, I was working on my My Player. I’m in my sophomore year, about 25 games in, and the crowd is chanting “M-V-P!” when I shoot my free throws now. As long as I keep playing like I’m playing (leading the league in, well, everything), then I should have the MVP wrapped up and I can move on to the ranked matches and the Association mode.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

I’m still on my second playthrough. I wanted to mop up most of the achievements I missed around my initial run-through, so I’m taking my time and focusing on completing all the side quests that I missed the first time. I’m also trying for the “Pacifist” (not killing anyone) and “Foxiest of the Hounds” (not triggering any alarms) achievements. By the time I’m done, I should only have to beat it on hard and fully upgrade one weapon achievements remaining. And since the DLC will be releasing in October, I’ll be eagerly awaiting that, too.

Army of Two: 40th Day

All that there is left to do is the multiplayer. I hopped on one morning to give it a shot and see how it played, and it doesn’t seem too bad. Thankfully, the game isn’t going to make you obtain a billion dollars while playing it. I’ll get this done soon enough, since it doesn’t seem to me like too long of a grind.

Portal 2

Although I’ve completed this game, my friend still needed a few of the multiplayer achievements and is always willing to help me, so I wanted to assist him with them. Thankfully, the levels and solutions were fresh in my mind since I recently played the co-op, so we breezed through and finished up in less than an hour.

Games I Bought

I was tempted by a lot of different games, since so many are starting to drop in price and Gamefly is having a big sale. I decided to use the $5 savings coupon that Gamefly provides its members every three months and pick up Medal of Honor for $4.19, after tax. I heard it was mediocre, but if you haven’t noticed, I play a lot of mediocre games and it was at my sweet spot, pricing-wise.

I was going to buy Dead Island since K-Mart was having a good deal on it, but my nearest K-Mart didn’t have the 360 version in stock, and now the promotion is over. So, it’ll have to wait for another deal or price drop. I did also take advantage of the Deal of the Week last week and grab all the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 DLC at reduced pricing. That’s another game I need to get back to playing.

When the holiday season closing in on us, I think I’ll be buying a lot more in the near future.

Conclusion

That wraps up my gaming report for this week. Now it’s your turn – what have you been playing this past week? What new games have you bought?

Let me know in the comments.

What I'm Gaming Vol. 10

3 Replies

Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.

Games I Played

Gears of War 2 screenshot

Gears of War 2

With the impending release of Gears of War 3 around the corner, Epic has been running increasingly higher EXP events on a weekly basis. They started a few weeks ago with x5 EXP, and are going all the way up to x25 this coming weekend. I still need to make it to level 100 in the multiplayer (at the time of writing, I am level 63) and gain a couple other multiplayer achievements for this game.

But there was one problem: I hate this game. This game has completely turned me off to even considering a purchase for Gears 3 because the multiplayer is still absolutely terrible. There are just far too many glitches and lag issues with this game, even after around 5-6 major patches to try and fix them. If I wasn’t playing with a friend, I couldn’t bear to play the multiplayer for more than 45 minutes. It’s not looking good for my level 100.

Eat Lead screenshot

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard

I was looking through for something to play a few days ago, and I decided to give this game another go. Previously, I had started it and made it about a third of the way through the campaign, but stopped after having a bit of a time getting past your archenemy in the game, Sting Sniperscope. He has absolutely deadly aim if you show your face for even a second. Anyway, I remember I had enjoyed the game up to that point since it was actually halfway decent as a third person shooter and it parodies so many other games. Seriously, this game is hilarious. I was able to finish the campaign and soon I’ll start my second playthrough on Max Hazard (Hard mode) and complete the game.

de Blob 2

I was interested in this game since it released. The premise is basically there’s a bad guy that sucks the color out of the world and you, the Blob, are charged with saving the world by repainting it. It’s a simple little platformer, and I’m really enjoying my time with it. I think I’ve become a real Picasso during my time with this game.

Hexic HD

I’m done with this game. I have been working on getting all the remaining achievements I felt I could get from it, and I have achieved that. I got my “Hexic Addict” achievement (100 games played) the other day, and I don’t think it’s worth the time and effort to try and get the last two. A simple but fun little game, and it’s free. If you like games like Bejeweled, then you may enjoy this.

NBA 2K11

As usual, I spent a lot of my time on this game playing against my brother. When I wasn’t playing him online, I was working on my My Player. I’m in my sophomore year, about 25 games in, and the crowd is chanting “M-V-P!” when I shoot my free throws now. As long as I keep playing like I’m playing (leading the league in, well, everything), then I should have the MVP wrapped up and I can move on to the ranked matches and the Association mode.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

I’m still on my second playthrough. I wanted to mop up most of the achievements I missed around my initial run-through, so I’m taking my time and focusing on completing all the side quests that I missed the first time. I’m also trying for the “Pacifist” (not killing anyone) and “Foxiest of the Hounds” (not triggering any alarms) achievements. By the time I’m done, I should only have to beat it on hard and fully upgrade one weapon achievements remaining. And since the DLC will be releasing in October, I’ll be eagerly awaiting that, too.

Army of Two: 40th Day

All that there is left to do is the multiplayer. I hopped on one morning to give it a shot and see how it played, and it doesn’t seem too bad. Thankfully, the game isn’t going to make you obtain a billion dollars while playing it. I’ll get this done soon enough, since it doesn’t seem to me like too long of a grind.

Portal 2

Although I’ve completed this game, my friend still needed a few of the multiplayer achievements and is always willing to help me, so I wanted to assist him with them. Thankfully, the levels and solutions were fresh in my mind since I recently played the co-op, so we breezed through and finished up in less than an hour.

Games I Bought

I was tempted by a lot of different games, since so many are starting to drop in price and Gamefly is having a big sale. I decided to use the $5 savings coupon that Gamefly provides its members every three months and pick up Medal of Honor for $4.19, after tax. I heard it was mediocre, but if you haven’t noticed, I play a lot of mediocre games and it was at my sweet spot, pricing-wise.

I was going to buy Dead Island since K-Mart was having a good deal on it, but my nearest K-Mart didn’t have the 360 version in stock, and now the promotion is over. So, it’ll have to wait for another deal or price drop. I did also take advantage of the Deal of the Week last week and grab all the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 DLC at reduced pricing. That’s another game I need to get back to playing.

When the holiday season closing in on us, I think I’ll be buying a lot more in the near future.

Conclusion

That wraps up my gaming report for this week. Now it’s your turn – what have you been playing this past week? What new games have you bought?

Let me know in the comments.

What I’m Gaming Vol. 9

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Welcome back to What I’m Gaming! At the beginning of every week, I post about the games I’ve played in the past seven days and give some quick thoughts and impressions about those games. To see past editions of this feature, click What I’m Gaming.

My apologies for getting this post up extraordinarily late. I decided to go with my Top 12 Most Anticipated Games of 2011 for last Monday, and I was a bit busy with natural disasters (both the earthquake and Hurricane Irene) the last few days. Better late than never, though, right?

Games I Played

Deus Ex: Human Revolution screenshot

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

This is the game that made it to the top of my most anticipated games list for this year, and also happened to be the first to release. I was able to grab a copy on release day (something I rarely do) and got started on it right away.

I’ve already beaten the game once. And I have already started my second playthrough.

Rarely does a game compel me to not only play it immediately, but start a new game rather after I complete it. This game definitely lives up to the Deus Ex name, and I love it. It’s got a few small pitfalls here and there, but the overall product is worth the price of admission. You can play this game so many different ways, so it has the chance to appeal to almost anyone – except graphics-whores, since the visuals do look a bit aged.

Portal 2 screenshot

Portal 2

I gave it a short run with a friend the other night. We were looking to try and complete the game’s achievements – he needed three, and I needed one. After some practice and a few attempts at it, we were finally able to complete Course 4 of the co-op without either of us dying, which netted both of us an achievement. We sandwiched that in-between beating three chambers in Course 2 in under 60 seconds each and making sure that he never dropped the Companion Cube in Course 2, Chamber 6 for the “Iron Grip” achievement. I’ve finally 1K’ed this game, and just in time – there’s speculation about free DLC for this game sometime in September.

Army of Two: The 40th Day

Me and the wife are still at it – we’re so close to getting our 6,666 kills each. Okay, we’re still over 1000 away each, but still. We decided to play through the entire game (and DLC) over and over to do this, instead of reloading a specific level or checkpoint. That just gets too boring. Another weekend or two and we should be done with this achievement. Now, the multiplayer is a different beast…

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Last time I gave an update on this game, I was about halfway through it. Now, I’m completely done. Got the full 1000 Gamerscore from this game, too. It wasn’t too hard; a few of the platforming parts toward the end were a bit annoying, but the rest of cake. It wasn’t the greatest game in the world, but it was interesting enough and I felt satisfied when I finished it.

Hexic HD

I was browsing through the Marketplace the other day, and I noticed this game was [finally] there – and free. I remember first playing this game on my brother’s Elite console (this game came already loaded on the Elites) and I was addicted to it for a while. However, when I tried to obtain this game for myself, it wasn’t available for download. I was upset, so I went and bought Hexic 2, thinking it would be similar. Wrong.

Anyway, once I got it, I immediately dove in and worked on some achievements. I was able to finally make a black pearl, and then I reached 150,000 points in Marathon mode. 75,000 points in Timed mode is my next goal. Amazing how the simplest of games can be so addictive.

Prey

Last time, I mentioned that I met some good people and they helped me complete the multiplayer. Well, a few days later, I decided to give the campaign another go. This game is still as boring and tedious as it was before, but I’m determined to complete it. It’s not hard – I just dread playing it. I reached the same level I was on before I got rid of it the first time, and then Deus Ex: Human Revolution came out. I haven’t played it since. I will soon, but it’s a little discouraging to have to play it twice. Yeah, the Cherokee (Hard) difficulty isn’t available until you beat it on Normal. Ugh.

NBA 2K11

Once again making its appearance here, NBA 2K11 took up a lot of my pre-Deus Ex time. I’m still running through the regular season (my sophomore year) in the My Player mode, trying to get myself to become MVP. I think September will be the month I get all my ranked wins, too, since NBA 2K12 will be out at the beginning of October.

Halo: Reach

Not too much to say. I felt like shooting up some people in a game I enjoy, so I hopped on for a few matches. Interestingly enough, I’ve recently heard news that there will be a big title update for this game in the near future. Good thing I don’t use Armor Lock. And of course, I still haven’t finished the campaign.

Turok

A friend of mine felt like doing some boosting on the multiplayer, so I gladly obliged for a bit. I was able to unlock my achievement for killing 20 bugs in a match and come one weapon kill away from another achievement, but I’ve still got quite a ways to go to finish this multiplayer. Thing is, it’s so boring and terrible that it’s hard for me to stay on it very long. We’ll give it another go soon.

Games I Bought

Deus Ex ended my buying drought. As promised, I was able to complete three games (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, and Dead Space: Ignition). I also got rid of a few games I decided I didn’t want to play (Unreal Tournament III, Need for Speed: Carbon) to reduce my backlog some.

I very nearly bought Summer of Arcade 2011’s first game, Bastion, after watching the wife play through the demo and listening to that awesome narrator. However, I realized it was 1200 Microsoft Points rather than the 800 I initially thought it was, and decided against it. I just can’t pay that much for an arcade game.

Other Gaming-Related News

I won a third time at K-Mart before they changed up the contest policy. This time, I won a PS3 copy of Shadows of the Damned. I read a little about it, but I haven’t seen it in action yet; I’ll get to see it when I head back over to the wife’s house where the PS3 is.

I also decided to prep myself for the future by installing the original BioShock to my 360’s hard drive. I loved the game, but when I first played it, I had issues with freezing. I hope installing it will alleviate that.

Conclusion

That wraps up my gaming report for this week. Now it’s your turn – what have you been playing this past week? What new games have you bought?

Let me know in the comments.