Deadly Creatures: final thoughts

Ok, now that I'm done I see a setting for input sensitivity for gestures and pointers. Maybe that would have helped. Whoops. I'm not sure how long it took me total, maybe 6-8 hours? But I flew through the second half in one sitting. I actually appreciate games that are not too long so I can finish 'em and send 'em back to GameFly.

Wow, I had the interview with Billy Bob Thornton that's on the disc playing in the background just now until I realized he was just going on and on (and on) about snakes. Shut up, dude!

Well, Left 4 Dead should show up in the mail soon, but I'm off to Canada for a long week of snowboarding, so it'll be just the DS for me. Galactrix came out just in time. Oh, and just last night, I had the exact same thought as Stephen Totilo did about Galactrix. Which, I guess I ought to mention that his Game Diary series is one of the reasons I started up this blog again. It's refreshingly simple well written. Sort of a "I played this and next up is that" type thing.

Setting up a new computer is sort of like a game

Not much time for games today since my new laptop showed up and I've been customizing the heck out of it. I played Galactrix long enough to do the first battle and be confused on which way the gems are gonna fall. I miss gravity.

Since I made a list of things to do to set up the new laptop, I figured I might as well share. Let me know if I've forgotten anything.

1. Install Firefox

• Hide shortcuts to Internet Explorer (can't uninstall since a few sites require it)
• Extensions: Adblock, All-In-One-Gestures, Foxmarks, IE Tab
• Tools::Options::Security::Master password enable

2. Install iTunes

• I'd prefer something else since I only use about 10% of its features and it's a resource hog, but it works
• Resubscribe to podcasts
• Import music/playlists from external HD

3. Install Eset Nod Virus protection and buy subscription

4. Install SpyBot Search & Destroy

5. Install Audacity

6. Set up sharing w/ Xbox 360

7. Play around w/ Vista widgets?

8. Disable stupid stuff that automatically runs on startup

9. Profit!

A new record?

I may have set a record for games played in a day today.
N+
MarioKart DS
Geometry Wars (DS)
Big Bang Mini (DS)
Deadly Creatures
Dr. Mario (Wii)
Ok, maybe not an all time record. Back in the day you'd play an Atari 2600 game for about 3 min. and then yank it out and repeat the process w/ a different game. I probably set the record on one of those days. But still, this is a lot of different games in a day for me lately.
I'll be traveling for over a week starting next Monday, so maybe I shouldn't be getting my fill of DS games just yet. I just need to find myself a copy of Puzzle Quest: Galactrix...

Gears 2 and some creepy crawlies

So I finished Gears of War 2 the other day. It was pretty much what you'd expect from a sequel. More of the formula established in the first, but with crazier settings and more "character development." Or at least what passes for it in the testosterone-injected shooter. I enjoyed it well enough I guess, but as you can tell from the time since the last post, I wasn't rushing to the computer to write about it.
I started Deadly Creatures on the Wii as well. Two different people laughed when I told them the name of the game I just started, but it seems decent to me. Being able to crawl up on walls (and eventually, I hear, ceilings) is pretty neat until the camera that tries to follow you gets confused. I'm not sure what's messed up about it, but I don't remember having this problem in the zero G sections of Dead Space. Or am I comparing apples to oranges?
I'm amused by the roaring sound effects that accompany any spider or scorpion attack, and the the chittering feet sound is kinda creepy too. A few times I felt like there might have been somthing crawling on me. So job well done, I guess. But the Wii motion controls are a hinderance. Most of the special moves are mapped to moving the remote or nunchuk this way or that. But the timing and sensitivity of these are a bit off. So I end up flailing my hands around for no reason. Which is frustrating.
So in summary: neat concept, art, and sound...but bad controls.

Bow chika waow wow!

So I forgot to mention my original idea for posting about Prince of Persia. The gratuitous sexual overtones (or is it undertones?)! I mean, think about it. This guy and this girl run around in the wilderness doing gymnastics and form a weird dependence on each other. The dialogue is always hinting that they want to hook up. And lets not even get started with the whole fertile ground thing. (Which for some reason they pronounce "fur tile" as two separate words). And when you get to the fertile grounds? You press a button really fast until the girl has an orgasm. Then the land is healed. Or something. But you have to go and clean up the white stuff. The light seeds.

Prince(ss) of Persia

No post for a while now. I've been busy with Gears of War 2 and Prince of Persia. Mostly Prince of Persia. It's been pointed out that the name is really kind of misleading, but I guess it makes more sense to re-use a well known title rather than jump to some cheeky re-imagining of it. While Princess of Persia would be more accurate, I don't think I'd be able to confidently tell people what I was playing without mumbling and looking away. It just doesn't sound manly. But if you're worried about that, just put in Gears 2. Holy crap. There are more explosions, muscles, and steel in just the first chapter or two than in any Michael Bay movie I've seen. I've been trying play Prince of Persia when the wife's around. I have a feeling she'd hate watching Gears.

So I like Prince of Persia even though it gets a bit repetitive. I'm actually sort of impressed how they can combine wall runs, pole flipping, and Elika-assisted jumps with only slight variations in order and scenery. But the boss fights get old pretty quick. They're basically rhythm and timing exercises where you have to memorize visual clues. Not exciting stuff. It's actually really frustrating. I don't want to have to remember that when she hits her staff on the ground, I have a split second to press B. I just wanna wail on whatever buttons I feel like. But I put up with the frustrating to see the great scenery and fluid controls.

I plan on finishing up with the Princess and moving on to Gears next week. But I'll be in Colorado for a long weekend of snowboarding, so I should get in some quality time w/ the DS. Chrono Trigger and Soul Bubbles are likely candidates, but we'll see what happens.