Failing.

Alright, so I thought I was going to be getting a lot more gaming in, but it hasn’t been happening. I’ve been quite busy, and can only speculate on when I’ll be playing any games. I am hoping maybe to get in a little gaming tonight after work, but I am not sure. Maybe revisit some old games (maybe get back to some Sea Quest on the Atari, or some Splatterhouse on the Turbo Grafx).

As far as progress is concerned, other than finishing off Dead Space Extraction, I have only played a little bit more of the single player campaign in Modern Warfare 2. I finished one more mission. I think I only have 4 more left to go. Shouldn’t take me long to finish, if I just sit down and do it.

I plan to get together with Magic again sometime soon to game with a bunch of people. Once this is planned, I’ll make another post on it. Laynix and I will likely get together next week for some gaming, so expect a post on that sometime soon.

Dead Space Extraction Complete

Yes, finally, I completed the single player portion of the game once through on Hard difficulty. Here is what I thought of the game.

Graphics: This game, compared to other games on the Wii, has some of the best graphics on the console. The character models look pretty good, and the lighting works well to create a decent atmosphere. The Necromorphs move around smoothly and blowing body parts off is always satisfying. You can still tell by the way it looks that it’s a Wii game though.

Sound: The sound effects are great. Coupled with the dark atmosphere, the game can occasionally pull off some chilling moments. Voice acting is well done, and most of the sound is on par with what’s happening on screen.

Controls: Excellent. Once you know the layout of the controls, it’s very easy to use. I had no problems whatsoever with the control scheme, and they are very responsive.

Story: The game is a prequel to the original Dead Space. It tells of the tale of the initial finding of the Marker and about a group of survivors escaping to the “planet cracker” mining vessel, the Ishimura, up until the point where the crew of the USG Kellion arrive. If you were a fan of the original game, you’ll appreciate this game’s story a bit. It’s really nothing all that special, but the game really is just about shooting vile alien creatures, and having fun dismembering them.

Innovation: You can pick up and carry different weapons (and there are ammo drops for them as you go through the game), there are weapon upgrades that perminently upgrade your weapons, you can occasionally choose different pathways, there are secret rooms, etc. There’s quite a bit here that I haven’t really seen in many on-rail shooters. I was happy about being able to carry weapons and have upgrades for them (up to level four). Otherwise, there isn’t much else. You can dismember enemies, but that’s not really new.

Difficulty: I played through the game on Hard difficulty. There were only a couple of difficult spots (as in a died a couple of times, but got by them without frustration). As long as you conserve ammo as much as possible, and use the best weapon for the situation, you’ll be fine. I never once got pissed off or threw a controller. After you finish the game, you unlock Expert and Impossible. We’ll have to see how tough it gets with those settings.

Replay: As I mentioned, when you beat the game, more difficulty levels are unlocked. As well, there is a challenge mode that you gradually unlock as you finish each single player stage. Each challenge level has waves of enemies, and your goal is to score as many points as possible. Other than these two things, there’s the two-player option. I wouldn’t mind playing through the game with a friend. It would actually be pretty fun, I think. It’s worth owning if you want a good on-rails shooter, or are a fan of Dead Space (even though it’s not really scary, like the other game was). There’s enough replay that I will likely want to play it again, and do the challenge modes.

Overall, I’d say this is a good game for a Wii owner’s library, or at the very least rent it. This is the kind of game I was hoping would be released on the Wii. It just seems to fit. There are also the Resident Evil games, and House of the Dead, but I like this game better. Mind you, I haven’t played the latest Resident Evil game. We’ll have to see how that is as well.

Paid To Play (Too Bad It’s Not Really My Job)

Let’s just say I had some fun at work the other night. It was Sunday night to be exact. Had a night shift, and when we close nobody is around. I took my Xbox 360 to work, and a coworker brought in Assassin’s Creed 2. I gave that a whirl. Also played some Geometry Wars and Modern Warfare 2.

Assassin’s Creed 2 is very much like the first one, but I only played the initial opening. The controls seem a little slow to me, but I guess I’ll get used to it. I’ll be buying it for the Playstation 3 when I do finally get it though. I’m not going to bother explaining the plot of the game, other than it picks up right from where the first one ended. More on this game when I actually own it, and can sit and play for more than just 45 minutes.

My progress in Dead Space Extraction has been moving along. I am on the 7th Chapter now, so only one more sit down and I’ll have it finished. I’ve been playing through on Hard. I am curious to see how difficult it gets after I put it up to the hardest difficulty. Hard is the second difficulty level out of four. It’s not really difficult now, so I am assuming I may actually have a challenge.

Otherwise, I haven’t been gaming. Other stuff keeps popping up. I have the next two days off of work. I will definitely complete Dead Space Extraction tomorrow night, so expect a post on that soon.

Some Purchases (From Thursday, December 3, 2009), And What I’ve Been Up To

Well, after my last post, I really didn’t jump right in to playing anything. I did finally, however, play some games the last couple of days. Finally. I’ll do a bit of a recap on that activity, but first let me share the purchases I made at Little Shop of Heroes (in Listowel) on Thursday.

First up, we have a game I used to play a bit on PC, Thief Deadly Shadows (I believe it is the third game in the Thief series). I don’t have the old copy I had from back then, so I when I saw this I thought I may as well pick it up. If you aren’t familiar with the Thief series of games, they are pretty much legendary among PC gamers. If you enjoy sneaking games, you can’t go wrong. The game works perfectly fine, there is no damage to the manual or the game disc, and the case has very light wear to it. Not a bad purchase.

Next is Robotron 64 for the Nintendo 64 (duh!). This is a game I never actually own back in the day. You essentially fight wave upon wave of robots. You use the yellow directional buttons on the controller to fire, and your character will fire in the direction you are holding. You can hold down two buttons at once to fire on an angle (hold up + right to fire on that angle), and otherwise just run around avoiding the robots. I only played it briefly, but found it enjoyable. It was a little dirty when I got it home, but I cleaned it up. It works just fine, and there is not much wear on the cartridge.

Lastly, but not least, is Extreme-G for the Nintendo 64. This is a game I used to play quite a lot. The game has an incredible sense of speed, and is a blast to play. Back in the day, there was a war waged as to who could release the fastest futuristic racing game possible. Extreme-G was definitely notable. It was competing with Wipeout 64, F-Zero 64 and another game which wasn’t very good, but I cannot recall the title. Anyway, I owned this one and it didn’t disappoint me then. It still doesn’t disappoint me now. You are essentially racing a futurist bike-like vehicle. You have shields, weapon pick-up and the standard boosters. It has up to four-player split screen. It’s insanely fast paced. The game is in decent condition, and works great. Was a little dirty, but I cleaned it up.

With all of the purchase details out of the way, I will now share with you what I have been up to otherwise.

Friday night, I went over to Laynix’s place for a visit. We played a bit of Borderlands (PS3), and I downloaded the Zombie Island add-on. I also downloaded the Bayonetta demo on the Playstation 3.

It took forever to download the Zombie Island add-on, and couldn’t download it in the background while I played, so there wasn’t a lot of playing. I finally did get it, installed it, and it’s a nice add-on for the game. It’s too bad I am level 50 and it’s very easy so far. I may try this with another character at some point. Worth the download if you love shooting zombies. I still need a few more trophies in the game, but they won’t be hard to get. This could be the first game I platinum. Yay!

Now, let’s talk about Bayonetta. How can I describe it? Hrmm. Well, let’s say Devil May Cry on steroids. Oh and maybe crack. And various other drugs. I think I may have to test it for blood doping. We’ll see.

Yeah, Bayonetta is insane, and I must have it when it comes out. You have four pistols (a gun for each hand, and a gun attached on each of her heals), punch and kick attacks standard, and you can also pick up weapons that enemies drop. There’s jumping around, dodging at the right time, fun magical attacks and special maneuvers, and finishing moves. It’s rather ridiculous how amazing this game is. It took me a little bit of time to get used to the controls, but they work well and I don’t see any reason not to buy this game as soon as possible. The demo is short. I finished it in about 15 or 20 minutes. You get to play through a short level, and there’s a couple of bosses to fight. The first is rather large, and seems pretty standard. It has a weak spot on it’s back, and it swings a massive axe. The second boss is just another such as yourself. It has you chasing after her around a room (that means running on the ceilings and walls of the room as well). As for plot, I’ll just be lazy and refer you here.

That was Friday night. I worked a late shift last night, and didn’t get home until 0200 this morning. I decided that I’d play another level of Dead Space Extraction to change things up a little bit. The game continues to be a fun experience, and a nice addition to my Wii game collection. If you don’t own it, I strongly recommend buying it (or at least renting it). If you enjoyed Dead Space, you’ll enjoy this. If you enjoy rail shooters, and blowing aliens apart limb by limb, then you’ll enjoy it. I’ll wait until I am finished the game to comment further on it. I just finished the fourth level, so I am on the fifth of ten levels. I’ll see if I can squeeze this in tomorrow and Monday. Each level takes approximately thirty minutes to complete, so that’s maybe one or two sittings.

Well, that about wraps it up. I’ll get another post in tomorrow (hopefully), and maybe have a small review of Dead Space Extraction.

I’ve Been Busy. Time To Get Back To Some Gaming.

You may have noticed the lack of posting going on. I apologize for this, but I’ve been doing a lot of studying for an exam. I literally haven’t played any games for a week now. It’s very sad and depressing. Before I got really into the studying, I did play a little bit, but not a lot.

I did play a little bit more Modern Warfare 2, but only did a couple more missions. I think I am going on to the 7th mission right now. Only had one frustrating part so far, and it really wasn’t all that bad.

I plan to make a return this week and play some games finally though. I want to get a bit of Uncharted 2 done on Crushing, and maybe throw in some Demon’s Souls. Likely more Modern Warfare 2 as well. I will likely beat that, considering it’s really not a long game.

I’ll also take this opportunity to toss out a few news articles.

Steam’s VAC system has been used by Infinite Ward to ban a few cheaters in Modern Warfare 2. About 2,500 people won’t be playing online anymore. That’s good. I fucking hate cheaters.

I like Robin Williams. I wish he’d make some fucking good movies sometime soon. These Disney movies and whatever other generic comedy shit he’s been bringing out the past few years have really been depressing. That and he could have been on a better show. Fucking Fallon.

Sorry for dropping all of the F bombs. I’m at work. Deal with it. Fuck.

This would be so fucking awesome. If there ever was a cast for a Half Life movie, this would make me cum. Hard.

Libraries just got better. Win.

Purchase For Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (Modern Warfare 2)

It’s currently 12:18 a.m. so I am going to refer to this as still being the 17th. Anyway, today I was down to Waterloo to spend a bit of money. I wanted to pick up Modern Warfare 2 for the Playstation 3, and so I did. I didn’t buy a special edition or anything though. I decided it wasn’t really worth it.

I played through the first four missions of the game, and I must say that time flies when you play it. I meant to sit down and just try out one mission, not four. It didn’t take long to get used to, as the control scheme is fairly similar to other games I’ve been playing in the Playstation 3 lately. I’m playing through the game on Hardened difficulty, and I haven’t found anything too frustrating so far. There’s almost constant action throughout the game, like you’d expect from a Call of Duty game. It’s essentially the first Modern Warfare game, but polished up a bit. I’m enjoying it so far. I wonder if that will last, or if I will just get bored. Guess we’ll see.

Aliens vs. Predator 3 Will Rock Me Hard.

If you played the original PC game by Rebellion or are interested in the upcoming release of Aliens vs. Predator 3, then please check out the AvsP3 Forums for all sorts of information on the game. There’s also a petition that everyone needs to sign here. Don’t let what happened to Modern Warfare 2 happen to Aliens vs. Predator 3!

Also, this picture made my guts hurt. Enjoy.

I’m Still Alive!

It’s been a few days since I posted last, so I figured it’s time to finally make another one. I’ve been playing a few games, and had a friend over last night. I finally got my copy of Resident Evil 5 back as well. I haven’t really been reading any news, so I have nothing up-to-date to share with you this time around. Maybe later I will make another post.

I’ve primarily been playing Borderlands and Torchlight.

Since I am on dial-up internet, Torchlight is a bit of a bitch to actually play. It requires that I be online with Steam, and Steam doesn’t always want to cooperate. Sometimes the game won’t even open, and that royally pisses me off. I wish they’d release a version of Steam that is a little lighter. Anyway, when I finally get it to open, Torchlight is wonderful. I am still enjoying it quite a bit. I have a level 21 Berserker, and he kills stuff very well. I am so proud of him. I am playing through on hard, and I do die occasionally, but the game really isn’t that hard.

Borderlands is slowing down finally. I am level 48 with my Berserker. Need two more levels for the trophy. I’ll need to play online for most of the remaining trophies. I hope Laynix is up for it.

I had my friend Trevor over last night and I introduced him to some games on the Playstation 3 (and he also brought me back my copy of Resident Evil 5). We played some split screen Borderlands (starting new characters in the process). After getting to level 6 and finishing up a few quests, we had a duel. I used a soldier class, and he was a berserker. It came close, but ultimately I won. After showing him Borderlands, I threw Uncharted 2 in for him to play. I am pretty sure that he will be buying that game. I am sure anyone that has a taste of either of those games will buy them. I feel kind of like a drug dealer.

That’s pretty much it, in a nut shell. Not really all that much going on over here. I really need to get back to some other games. Uncharted 2 is drawing me back, as well as F.E.A.R. 2 and possibly some Dawn of War 2 (mind you, it totally depends on Steam being cooperative with me). BlazBlue and Demon’s Souls are also other possibilities. There’s so many games. FUCK! And Modern Warfare 2 is something I may pick up soon. I can keep typing about all the games I want and should be playing, but I think I will end it here. Like…right…here. There. Done.

Purchase For Thursday November 5, 2009 (Torchlight)

I’ve been hearing a lot of exceptionally good things about Torchlight, and I decided I’d purchase it off of Steam while I am at Magic’s for my personal trainer certification course. I must say that this game is definitely worth $20.

I have played through to the second way point so far, and I find the game to be highly addictive. If you loved Diablo, then you have to own this game. Everything will remind you of it. Identify scrolls, town portals, way points, the music, and the item drops. There’s even socket items and you can put jewels and other items into them. It’s fucking INSANE!

There is one thing that everybody may find extremely odd at first, and that is that there is no multiplayer option in the game. To be honest, I don’t even miss it. You have a pet to keep you company in the game, and that’s good enough. Your pet levels up with you, has it’s own inventory pack to carry extra items, and can be sent back to town to sell and unload it’s items. It can also learn two spells, and wear two rings and a neck lace. Lovin’ it!

I am currently playing as the warrior. I am specializing in the Berkserker skill tree, and am using dual wield a lot. I am currently level 10, and playing through on hard difficulty. I recommend this game to anyone looking for a cheap gaming fix. I even gifted it to Magic. I knew he’d love it.

Check out this small article on Torchlight. This is what sparked my interest. I found this article while reading Digg.

News For November 3, 2009

Some of it is a bit old, and has been sitting in my browser for a couple of days. Just read it.

Microsoft says “happy Halloween and fuck you!“. Don’t use your modded 360s online. Are you fucking retarded?

If you have the internet, and any sort of interest in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, then you have likely seen the leaked videos. Well, some of the content in the leaked videos has caused a stir of controversy, and now the ratings may be getting reconsidered. The game might even be banned in Australia. Sorry mates.

If you’re interested in the God of War III collector’s edition box, then take a look at this. I will still likely get it, considering I am a complete sucker for special edition shit.

Yay. Muscle sensors. I find this to be quite interesting and look forward to it. I know I said I am not a big fan of motion controls, since I don’t really want to sweat or move around when I am trying to relax with a game, but muscle sensor technology has quite a few applications and possibilities.

Seriously, fuck off. Less violent video games? There are heaps of games out there that have little to no violence in them. There’s variety for everyone. I enjoy all games, but I don’t think there needs to be any less violence. There needs to be less garbage games for the Wii. That’s about my only complaint.

There. I hope you’re happy.