Since the last post I've spent some time with Saints Row 2, Scribblenauts, Red Faction: Guerrilla, and finally finished Shadow Complex. Reverse that order for my favorites. But lets start with SR2. I can't avoid the inevitable comparisons to Grand Theft Auto on this one. My favorite parts of GTA4 were the story and the world, both of which are just sort of mediocre on SR2. I got my fill of ridiculous gangsta fantasy though. This game doesn't take itself very seiously, which makes it fun. But I kept finding myself more drawn to the other games I mentioned, so it got sent back after a bit.
Scribblenauts is pretty neat. It's probably best when you can share your crazy solutions to the puzzles with other people playing it too. That's been my favorite part, anyway. This is a game you need to play around other people to have fun getting ridiculous ideas from them. Or at least compare notes with another player later. In fact, I think I'll play some when I'm done writing this.
Red Faction: Guerrilla didn't make that big of a splash but a few bloggers I follow really liked it, so I gave it a try. I'm really enjoying running around destroying stuff in a world straight out of a great Mars Sci Fi book. It's gritty, it's barren, and it's wonderful. I'm leaning more towards the 'destruction targets' rather than the 3rd person combat or other missions though. You've gotta love a game where your main weapon is a sledgehammer and you're encouraged to destroy everything you come across.
Finally, Shadow Complex is one of those rare games that I'm gonna keep coming back to. There's always more to collect or a new goal to shoot for. It certainly helps that just moving around in the world is at the same time effortless, familiar and enjoyable.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Games I can't get out of my head
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Catchup, GameQ, PS3
I've mentioned before that my blogging directly correlates with my wife's bad tv-watching. Since ANTM and SYTYCD are back on the air tonight, I'm back on the net tonight. The trouble is, I don't really have much to say. I've been playing Shadow Complex when I can, and loving it. I agree with pretty much everything Matt said earlier about it. It gets the MetroidVania label quite a bit, but there's really very little backtracking that Metroid is so famous for.
Speaking of Metroid, I'm a little bit excited about the Metroid Prime Trilogy being released on Wii. Maybe I'll actually play through the second one with the new Wii controls. I loved them in MP3. We'll see when I actually get it from GameFly though.
Speaking of that, I figure an easy way to show you what I'm looking forward to is to post my queue. Some explanation is in order, I'd say. After the top 10 or so, everything is unreleased and sort of in order by release date, but not quite.
| | The Beatles: Rock Band http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/136330t.jpg | Low | Average: 9.4 | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Red Faction: Guerrilla http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/130590t.jpg | High | Average: 7.9 | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Batman: Arkham Asylum http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/135125t.jpg | Low | Average: 9.2 | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Overlord II http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/136275t.jpg | High | Average: 7.2 | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/128370t.jpg | High | Average: 8.7 | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Punch-Out!! http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/136070t.jpg | Medium | Average: 7.4 | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Spider-Man: Web of Shadows http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/131400t.jpg | Medium Available on other Systems | Average: 7.3 | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/135845t.jpg | Medium | Average: 7.0 | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Little King's Story http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/132270t.jpg | High | Average: 7.5 | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Metroid Prime Trilogy http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/138925t.jpg | Low | Average: 8.5 | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/138095t.jpg | Releases 10/6/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/131350t.jpg | High | Average: 7.0 | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Halo 3: ODST http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/138850t.jpg | Releases 9/22/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Dead Space Extraction http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/136170t.jpg | Releases 9/30/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Brutal Legend http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/129995t.jpg | Releases 10/13/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Alpha Protocol http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/133430t.jpg | Releases 10/29/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Highlander http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/130390t.jpg | Releases TBD | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Mafia II http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/135190t.jpg | Releases TBD | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Dark Void http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/130170t.jpg | Releases 1/14/2010 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Silent Hill: Shattered Memories http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/ComingSoon/1085t.gif | Releases 11/5/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Blur http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/137800t.jpg | Releases 11/3/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Left 4 Dead 2 http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/138380t.jpg | Releases 11/17/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Assassin's Creed 2 http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/137410t.jpg | Releases 11/17/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Red Steel 2 http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/138050t.jpg | Releases 2/16/2010 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | MX vs. ATV Reflex http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/139255t.jpg | Releases 12/1/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Super Mario Galaxy 2 http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/138475t.jpg | Releases TBD | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Borderlands http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/128910t.jpg | Releases 10/20/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | New Super Mario Bros. Wii http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/138485t.jpg | Releases TBD | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Metroid: Other M http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/138480t.jpg | Releases TBD | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Dead Rising 2 http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/ComingSoon/1070t.gif | Releases TBD | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/137500t.jpg | Releases 11/10/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Mass Effect 2 http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/136155t.jpg | Releases 1/26/2010 | Coming Soon | Not For Sale | ||
| Move: Top | Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen! http://gamefly.gameflycdn.com/images/games/t/140175t.jpg | Releases 11/19/2009 | Coming Soon | Not For |
On another note, I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before I get a PS3 now that they've finally dropped the price to something reasonable. Today I bought a spare HDMI cable. You know, to get ready. For the inevitable. Similar to what I did w/ buying a 360 late, I'm keeping a list in my head of PS3 exclusives that I've missed in my head. Let me know if this list is missing anything.
- Flower
- Uncharted
- Resistance
- Infamous
- Killzone 2
- Little Big Planet
- Metal Gear Solid 4 (maybe...the thought of 90 min. of Kojima cut scenes make me cringe)
- Heavenly Sword
- Warhawk
- Noby Noby Boy
- PixelJunk Eden
- Trine
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Prototypical
I've had Prototype for almost a month now. I haven't really been playing it for a month though. There has been all kinds of other stuff going on so I haven't had as much time for videogames as I'd like. Come to think of it, the only time I can remember having enough time was winter break in college. Ah...a whole month of nothing to do.
While I was jumping from rooftop to rooftop and running up buildings I got the sense that I'd done this before. It reminded me a lot of Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction from a few years back. That's not a slam. I loved that game. It made more sense once I learned that the same developer worked on both.
Prototype has an impressive array of stuff that it tries to accomplish. It's successful at most of it. The combat is varied, you can go anywhere, and there's even some stealth elements if you choose to play that way. Every once in a while I'm reminded that it's an open world game though. The only time you're ever allowed to control your character indoors is in one of several identical stadium-sized military complexes. Otherwise it's a cut scene.
The story isn't anything special but the video flashbacks you get when you consume another character and their memories are well done. Something about a huge military conspiracy with a crazy virus. It doesn't matter. Oh, speaking of the military, they're very early on painted as the bad guys. It's you and the virus versus them. Not you against all the crazy zombie mutant things, but you against the evil, lying Black Watch military dudes.
I'm not entirely sure how far into the game I'm in. Day 13 of 18 if that matters. But I'm starting to get bored with the repetitive missions. Go here, consume this person. Go there, kill that person. And I'm not even doing any of the non-story side missions. They give you experience points to spend on upgrades for your character, but there are so many you don't really need all of them. I spent mine on running and jumping upgrades since the complete freedom of movement was my favorite part of the game.
Part of the reason for this post was to help me decide if I wanted to keep chugging along on the story or send it back to GameFly and start on Saints Row 2. And Shadow Complex. And my new copy of Mario Kart Wii to replace my unplayable scratched one. Ok, so...to the 360!