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What I'm Gaming Vol. 7

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

Brink

I finally started playing this game. With the release of the temporarily free DLC, I felt like it’d be a good time to play it a bit. It helps that a friend of mine was already online playing a public game when I got on.

I recall when the game was first announced and details came out, I was stoked for this game. A combo of the good parts of Team Fortress 2 and parkour style of Mirror’s Edge? Yes, please. However, the game released and I read reviews and watched gameplay videos, and my desire for it waned. But a GREAT deal came along at TRU (Toys R Us) where I could get this and FEAR 3 for a combined $50. So I got it.

This game is kinda fun. I didn’t realize the entire game was just a series of objectives, but I like how it makes certain classes essential and allows you to play with bots (I like it when games have bots – you don’t have to rely on having others to play with/against you). I didn’t care for the default controls, but I found a scheme a little more to my liking. Overall, and strikingly mediocre game. Good for the right price.

Dead Space: Ignition

This game is not what you think it is. This is quite thoroughly a puzzle game, with a brief Dead Space narrative. Al the cut scenes are drawn in a comic book style of art, but you can tell they didn’t try for a top artist. The campaign is brief, branching four routes (based on choices you make), and has three different types of puzzles to complete. None of them are hard, but they can be frustrating if you don’t know what you’re doing (or, if you realize you messed up, you might have to wait until time runs out to retry).

Alas, I finally completed this game. All 200 Gamerscore now belong to me. It didn’t take too long, and I’m glad to have it out of the way. Oh, and apparently, I unlocked two costumes for Isaac in the retail release of Dead Space 2, which I’ve yet to start.

Army of Two: the 40th Day

Me and the wife continued playing this game, completing the DLC and obtaining all those achievements (well, I didn’t get one of them – it glitches for my profile), along with a few we were missing from the original campaign. Now, we’re working toward our “The Beast” achievement that requires you to kill 6,666 people in the campaign. Once that’s done, we’ll get the “Full Arsenal” achievement and move on to the multiplayer.

Halo: Reach

I still haven’t finished the campaign. I know, I know. I promise I’ll get to it eventually. In the meantime, though, I was able to enjoy the multiplayer a bit. I feel like I’m starting to get my groove back – my kill/death ratio has been improving lately.

Halo 3

Yeah, I took it back to 2007 with this one. I jumped on to play some Lone Wolves to try and obtain the “Mongoose Mowdown” achievement, but I was utterly unsuccessful. That and the Vidmaster one are the only achievements I have left, but I can’t seem to get the Mowdown. As soon as you get on one (assuming you actually get a map that has them), everyone will stop and target you, thus thwarting your plans. Ugh. I’ll try again soon.

FEAR Files

A friend of mine finally got this game, so we worked on the [few] multiplayer achievements that are in this game. Still a few left, but they require a third person to get them. When his brother gets a copy, then we’ll knock those out.

FEAR

In case you were wondering, yes, it is sequels week. Only this time, I only played to help the aforementioned friend work on his “MP 1000” achievement. We did about 25 matches, he unlocked “MP 100”, and we stopped.

Gyromancer

I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted to with this game this week, but I know I’ll put in more work on it soon. I don’t know why, but I really like this game a lot. I’m trying to get all the medals on each level I play before I move to the next one, so I might be replaying my current dungeon for a while.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

I’ve nearly completed this game. I’m only missing 5 of the Fantastic Four coins, and I have two levels left before I complete the game on Fantastic difficulty. Once I do those two things, I will have this game maxed out and be ready to sell it to whoever will buy it. I’ll be so relieved when it’s done.

NBA 2K11

Didn’t really get to play with my brother this week, so I decided to work on some other things in this game. For one, I attempted to win a crew game several times, but I was not able to. It took forever to find a game, and when we did, our opponents either used souped up My Players or it lagged ridiculously hard. Ugh.

I did spend some time with my own My Player, though. I played a few games into the new season, padding my stats. I hope I’m able to take home the MVP this time.

Games I Bought

Once again, nothing. This will change soon, though – Deus Ex: Human Revolution is right around the corner. I’ve already completed one game, with a second game inching closer. I should easily be able to complete a third by August 23rd (when it releases).

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. 7

1 Reply

Games I Played

Brink

Dead Space: Ignition

Army of Two: the 40th Day

Halo: Reach

Halo 3

FEAR Files

FEAR

Gyromancer

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

NBA 2K11

I did spend some time with my own My Player, though. I played a few games into the new season, padding my stats. I hope I’m able to take home the MVP this time.

Games I Bought

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. 4

4 Replies

Didn’t have as much time as usual this past week to play as I’d like, but I did get in at least a couple of games.

Games I Played

Looks like a Bejeweled RPG to me

Gyromancer

This is yet another game I bought because it was on sale, but never played until recently. If you’re noticing a trend with me, you’re right. If it looks interesting and it’s cheap enough, then I usually buy it and get around to playing it later.

Anyway, this game was created by Pop Cap and published by Square-Enix. The reason I’m mentioning this is because it shows distinctive traits from each company. Pop Cap generally makes casual and puzzle games, and Square-Enix has long been known for its RPGs. Well, this game is both. Kind of a mix between Magic (the art style), Bejeweled (the puzzle part) and RPG elements (Square-Enix’s contribution). It actually works out well – the gameplay can be rather addicting, once you get the hang of it.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

This was a game that I picked up really cheap a few months ago. I wanted it when it released, but I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be worth the full purchase price – and I was right. I have actually already beaten the story once on Hard, but a friend and I decided to give Extreme a go. We got past a very frustrating part (where you protect the limo), then called it quits.

I can only take so much frustration at a time.

F.E.A.R.

Once again, I was helping a friend work on finishing his multiplayer achievements. We’ve completed all of them except for two, but those might take a while. If you’re wondering, those two are the “MP 100” and “MP 1000” achievements for playing 100 and 1000 multiplayer games, respectively.

I keep putting it off, but I really need to get back to playing that campaign. I need to finish my Extreme playthrough for the campaign and the Instant Action maps, and then I can clean up all the easier ones.

Crysis 2

Ever since my initial outing with the multiplayer in Crysis 2, I’ve been wanting to play it more and more. I like shooters in general, but I tend to prefer more sci-fi style FPS because for me, it’s more fun. I like to at least have a chance to retaliate if I’m getting shot from the back or the side, you know? Oh, and the powers are fun.

I’m gradually getting better as I’m learning the maps and understanding how to locate people that are using camo (because they’re ALWAYS using camo), and leveling up so I can better compete with them. It’s not without its faults – the online is a bit laggy (but definitely not unplayable) and higher level players have a significant advantage over you, but it’s still good fun to me.

Tales of Vesperia

I’ve finally reached the final dungeon, but I’m not ready to finish it just yet. I’m going to spend some time farming a significant amount of GRADE so when I finish, I can start my second playthrough with all of the skills and abilities and everything I had from my initial playthrough. Getting all those titles on the second run is going to be just lovely.

NBA 2K11

I didn’t get to play this one as much as I’d have liked. My brother had work to attend to, so we only got a few games in. Me and Michael Jordan are eagerly awaiting his return.

Games I Bought

Well, this is the second week in a row I haven’t bought anything. I’m really trying to concentrate on completing the mountain of games that I already own, instead of just adding more to it.
I did, however, receive Iron Man 2 from Gamefly the other day. Haven’t started playing it yet, though.

Conclusion

That about 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, and if you like this post, share it.

What I’m Gaming Vol. 4

4 Replies

Didn’t have as much time as usual this past week to play as I’d like, but I did get in at least a couple of games.

Games I Played

Looks like a Bejeweled RPG to me

Gyromancer

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

I can only take so much frustration at a time.

F.E.A.R.

Crysis 2

Tales of Vesperia

NBA 2K11

I didn’t get to play this one as much as I’d have liked. My brother had work to attend to, so we only got a few games in. Me and Michael Jordan are eagerly awaiting his return.

Games I Bought

Conclusion

That about 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, and if you like this post, share it.

What I’m Gaming Vol. 3

Games I Played

Crysis 2

Let’s start with a big retail title, shall we?

I remember when the original Crysis released on PC a few years ago. I don’t play games on my PC, nor will I anytime soon (if ever), but I was envious of that game. I may not have to be soon, though. It was literally a great looking game and looked like a blast, too.

Fast forward to the release of Crysis 2. As with many titles I want, I didn’t buy it right away. But Amazon had it as the Deal of the Day for $40 brand new, I couldn’t resist. I had just over $30 credit from doing surveys on Amazon Mechanical Turk, so the game only cost me around $10. Now, at that price, this game is an astronomical deal.

I played it initially for a few levels, but at the time, I was suffering a bit from shooter fatigue, so I didn’t go too far. Now that I’ve recovered, I jumped right in to the multiplayer, and right into ass whoopings. It’s got a perk and leveling system that’s basically a high tech version of Call of Duty, of course, customized to fit Crysis 2, so it didn’t feel too foreign to me (but I need to admit, I don’t play much Call of Duty to begin with). After a short time, I adjusted my controls and, aside from the advantageous unlocks and map knowledge of veteran players, I think I did alright. We played the Crash Site game mode, with is basically like Crazy King in Halo. I enjoyed it and I’ll definitely be back for more – and not just because of the ridiculous achievements.

HALF MINUTE HERO: Super Mega Neo Climax

When this game released two weeks ago on XBLA, I was initially unimpressed. But because of it’s Super Long But Awesome title and the innuendos that come with it, I decided to dig a little deeper.

Turns out, this title is a port of the original PSP game that came out a few years ago. It got a Wind Waker style makeover along the way. I had read the original graphics were still available, if you prefer pixelated sprites polluting your HDTV, but after taking a look, a passed and reverted back to the updated visuals.

The game’s premise is so simple, it’s almost disgusting. But it works. I played through the first few “stories” (each one requires you to save the world in 30 seconds or less) and it was actually pretty fun, once you get the hang of it. Even if you don’t like RPGs, you should at least check out the trial. If you like the trial, you’ll love the game. And with every part only 30 seconds long, even the parts you don’t like will pass very quickly.

Unbound Saga

I’ve had this game just sitting on my harddrive, collecting digital dust after purchasing it during a weekly sale a few months ago. I felt like trying something new, and I didn’t know what to expect going in. It’s pretty easy to describe. Think of it as a modernized, co-op version of Comix Zone. I didn’t care much for its predecessor, but I was able to enjoy Unbound Saga for several levels, despite being terribly bad at beat’em up games.

It’s available for 800 Microsoft Points, but I don’t know if I’d pay that much for it, still. If you see it go on sale, though, definitely consider picking it up.

Crazy Taxi

When the now-defunct Dreamcast was still King, I was in love with this series, and I started right here. With the original. I remember playing the living hell out of this game (and its sequels), trying to beat my previous scores. And I was good.

Unfortunately, not all things are like a fine wine. That is to say, not all things get better with age. And my nimble thumbs and blazing reaction time were not subjected to the positive side of advancing age. I’m not old, but I’m definitely not as skilled in certain genres (racing and fighting, in particular) as I once was. And with this game, it shows. I spent a few hours frustrating myself because I couldn’t help but think of how good I USED to be, and how terrible I am now.

But don’t let my gripes deter you from playing this game – it’s still fantastic. The premise is extremely simple: You’re a taxi, and you need to pick up customers (only one at a time in the original, unfortunately) and get them to where they want to go as insanely and recklessly fast as you can, and collect the most fare (money) possible before you run out of time. If you’re thinking about getting this game, I’d recommend the Dreamcast Collection, since it can be had for $20 or less, and also includes Sonic Adventure, Space Channel 5: Part 2, and Sega Bass Fishing. The last two are kinda thrown in, but if you buy just the first two, you’re paying the same price anyway, so why not?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Reshelled

If you read what I mentioned above in my Unbound Saga section, you’ll notice I said I suck at beat’em ups. This game takes full advantage of my shortcomings. I’ll contend that I am pretty bad at it (and the previous game, TMNT 1989 Arcade, too) but I really feel like this is a poor game.

I won’t outright say that it’s bad, and some people may even enjoy it, but it just feels really cheap to me. For example, the third level you ride through a sewer on a little board. Enemies spawn everywhere and there are little red things in the water that prick your foot if you touch them, causing an animation where you grab your foot and scream “My toes! My toes!”, all while enemies and other pricklies are still able to damage you and send you into even more animations. Oh, and there happens to be an achievement for not getting hit by any of the traps. Yeah. Once I finish this game (as in, the achievements), it’s gone.

X-Men Arcade

If I’m gonna play a beat’em up, this is how it should be done. Short and sweet, not too cheap, and most importantly, fun. This game is very short, but has held up surprising well over time. It’s not nearly as stressful as other similar games because you really can’t lose, and you actually feel powerful when you utilize the Mutant Powers.

Oh, and let’s not forget the six player online co-op. Just like the coin-op machines you remember.

F.E.A.R

I just played this a little with a friend, continuing to help him with the multiplayer achievements. We’re almost done with them. Now, I just need to get back into the campaign for this game. I was working on my playthrough on Extreme and I was nearly halfway through.

F.E.A.R. 2

I saw another friend online boosting experience points toward the “Five Star General” achievement, so I joined in briefly. I only stayed in for about an hour, though. I guess I’m just not the booster I used to be. I’ll get it eventually, but I won’t be working on it five hours at a time.

Schizoid

Me and the significant other continued our co-op campaign for a few short sessions over the weekend, but we were a bit disappointed to see the “new mechanics” introduced in certain levels to be based almost entirely on luck, rather than skill. Still a great game, but I can’t say I’m enjoying those levels.

Tales of Vesperia

When I said this game will be in here for a while, I meant it. I’m playing this game almost every day, working towards the end. I’ve only got a few more hours before I finally beat the story once, but I still need to complete nearly two and a half more playthroughs in order to fully max the game out. I fully intend to do that since I’ve always loved truly completing my RPGs.

NBA 2K11

Another weekly entry. I’m always playing this with my bro. My win-loss was 5-4 tonight, with three wins and one loss having double digit margins of victory. All I really do is play with him online, but maybe I should spend some time finishing up the My Player mode?

The King of Fighters XII

My chart is almost full. I say another few days of working at it and “The King of Fighters” achievement should unlock and I can get rid of this disgraceful game. At least it has a high True
Achievement ratio, though.

Games I Bought

Hard to believe, but a week went by without me purchasing anything. No games, no DLC, nothing. Maybe if I have more weeks like this, I can actually reduce my current to-play list?

Conclusion

That about 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. 3

Games I Played

Crysis 2

Let’s start with a big retail title, shall we?

HALF MINUTE HERO: Super Mega Neo Climax

When this game released two weeks ago on XBLA, I was initially unimpressed. But because of it’s Super Long But Awesome title and the innuendos that come with it, I decided to dig a little deeper.

Unbound Saga

It’s available for 800 Microsoft Points, but I don’t know if I’d pay that much for it, still. If you see it go on sale, though, definitely consider picking it up.

Crazy Taxi

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Reshelled

X-Men Arcade

Oh, and let’s not forget the six player online co-op. Just like the coin-op machines you remember.

F.E.A.R

F.E.A.R. 2

Schizoid

Tales of Vesperia

NBA 2K11

The King of Fighters XII

Games I Bought

Hard to believe, but a week went by without me purchasing anything. No games, no DLC, nothing. Maybe if I have more weeks like this, I can actually reduce my current to-play list?

Conclusion

That about 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. 1

8 Replies

There are a lot of people who report news and write articles, but either don’t play or barely play any games.

I’m not one of those people.

So, I’ve decided to write up a post that will become a new segment of passthemsticks. That way, you can know what I’m playing, what I’ve bought (and for how much), and other gaming-related news pertaining to me.

Games I Played

Tales of Vesperia

I am and always have been an avid JRPG fan, but lately, I haven’t devoted enough time to my favorite genre. I’ve played a lot of other games, but I felt I needed to sit down and enjoy a game that would take me back to my roots a bit. The last time I actually played a JRPG was Star Ocean: The Last Hope, and that was back in September 2010. I had started Tales of Vesperia previously, but I didn’t get very far. I decided to devote myself to it, this time.

It was a good decision. I think I’m about one-third through the storyline, and I must say I’m enjoying it. The narrative itself is pretty decent, but the battle system is very engaging. If you’re scared away from JRPGs because of turn-based battling, this game should open your eyes some. All the Tales games boast a unique (to the series) battle system that’s more wide open than other JRPGs out there, and has quite a bit of nuances to learn. It’s rare that I die during normal progress in an RPG, but I’ve died a few times in this game. And I love it.

This game also has Skits, which are meant to flesh out the characters and story, and they are effective and entertaining. And thankfully, fully voice-acted. Some previous Tales games didn’t have voice acting for Skits in the North American versions, but Vesperia does. I find myself hoping for another skit as soon as one of the cutscenes concludes. They really add to the experience.

Killzone 2

I don’t own a PS3, but my girlfriend and her brothers do. I’ve had a PSN profile for a long time, but only recently have I been able to put it to use. I like FPS games, and I remember that I once enjoyed the original Killzone with a friend, so I thought I’d start it. I was also told (by a certain future brother-in-law) that I wouldn’t be able to obtain the platinum trophy on Killzone 2, so I’m motivated to do so.

I started this game several weeks ago, but I didn’t really start playing it until a few days ago. I’m really disappointed that you cannot manually map the controls in this game, because I found them to be awkward and nearly unplayable initially (R1 to shoot, really?), but I managed to find a more friendly control scheme (I believe it was Default 3) and continued my game on the second level.

Now that I can actually play the game, I can better enjoy it. Thus far, it seems to be a very solid shooter and a good addition to the PS3-exclusive games. The AI has been a bit basic and grenades don’t bounce as well as I believe they should, but the core gameplay is pretty good. There was even a brief vehicle segment in the earlier levels where I had to control a tank, and it actually controlled pretty well. For the record, many FPS games seem to struggle when it comes to vehicle controls (I’m looking at you, Call of Duty 2 and Battlefield Bad Company), but it handled about as well as a Scorpion tank in Halo 3.

The only real complaint is where it feels like they forced the Sixaxis controls on you. It’s okay that they wanted to use it to turn valves and place C4 charges, but why do I need to hold the controller completely still if I want to snipe? Well, at least I have been successful running around with my knife.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

Played this one on PS3, since my future in-laws had it on their system and I hadn’t played it yet. I was curious to see how SEGA did in trying to get back the magic from the previous titles.

I’ll start by saying this: the game (so far) isn’t bad. However, it’s not quite the same. The level design feels right and the visuals are rock-solid, but the locales just feel rehashed from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Another issue I had is the game doesn’t make me feel, well, fast. The point of playing a Sonic game is the feeling of speed while you’re zipping through the level. This Hedgehog just didn’t have the same zip to me. I do plan on finishing it, though. Right after I complete Killzone 2.

NBA 2K11

Not too much to say here. I play this just about every week with my brother online. We go back and forth in this game a lot and have a good time playing it. Best basketball game to date.

Halo: Reach

It’d been a little while, but I finally played a bit of the Halo: Reach multiplayer again. Had a few good matches, had a few bad ones. Thankfully, they put the jetpacks back into the ranked matches, so I can play them. I love the jetpack – it’s definitely the most fun to use for me. I simply don’t play as effectively when trying to use the other Armor Abilities. I’m a medium to close range fighter in that game and I need to cover ground quickly. The jetpack (and to a lesser extent, Sprint) allow me to do that.

It’s going to be weird playing the Halo: Anniversary Edition without the benefit of Armor Abilities, for sure.

Streets of Rage 2

Just playing through, beat the game in one short sitting. I was able to complete the online co-op, and I only have three achievements remaining. Unfortunately, they require me to play on Hardcore difficulty, and I’m not too good at this game…

F.E.A.R.

A friend on Xbox Live asked me to help him out with the multiplayer portion of this game, so I helped him boost it some. Still got plenty left to do, but we’re in no hurry. I was glad to help (even though I’ve already completed all the multiplayer achievements in this game) because he’s one of my oldest and best friends on Xbox Live, and he has helped me a lot in the past. It reminded me of all the time I spent playing this game online just for fun. It was a great game for its time.

The King of Fighters XII

I’ve been slowly but surely working towards completing the final achievement in this game, “The King of Fighters.” This achievement requires you to defeat every character WITH every character. There are 22 in all, and it basically forces you to create a chart or spreadsheet to keep up with it. Couple that with it being the WORST King of Fighters game ever (a true disgrace), and you can tell I’m eager to get this done and get rid of it.

Games I Bought

I’ve been trying to cut back on the games I purchase since I have a significant backlog of games, but sometimes, I see a deal so good I can’t pass it up. My most recent purchases were at Toys R Us, where they were running a Buy 2 for $50 sale. The choices were L.A. Noire, Portal 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Mortal Kombat, F.E.A.R. 3 and Brink. Not a bad selection, right?

Anyway, I own the first three already and I’m not interested in MK9, so I went with F.E.A.R. 3 and Brink. I also grabbed a new copy of Quantum of Solace while I was there for $10. So, I paid $60 plus tax for three new games – one that had released that day.

Other Gaming-related News

Nothing too important here, but I finally got around to moving all of my data off of my 20GB HDD and switched out to my 120GB HDD. This is a big step for me – I can finally install some games (like Bioshock) that I’ve been wanting to play again, and not have to constantly delete DLC and Arcade games to conserve space.

Conclusion

That about 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.