Now Playing: January 2010

It’s been an interesting first month of gaming for the new year. It has ranged from disappointment to the feeling of victory. With that said, I give you the return of Now Playing for the first time since last September.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE MINISH CAP
We’ll start off with that feeling of victory as The Minish Cap became the first game I’ve finished for 2010 as of four days ago.

Along with my earlier gripe of some of the “Zelda logic” that exists in this game, I also didn’t like that I had to do a lot of backtracking. Overall I did enjoy the month I played the game, but it certainly didn’t blow my mind like the series seems to do for so many fans each and every game. 3/5 (no half points)

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
Just as the movie was fun to watch for me unlike for most people, the game is the same. The only problems that I recently came across was missing the chance to get the “Ultimate Wolverine” trophy (Fought four W.E.N.D.I.G.0 prototypes at the same time and defeated them at Alkali lake.) and an enemy decided to be where I couldn’t get to him. The latter problem is pictured below.

The former problem came about because somehow one of the W.E.N.D.I.G.0 prototypes either died on their own or were somehow killed by one of the others. Either way I was robbed. Not that I’m upset or anything like that since the game is pretty satisfying.

Trophies: 23 / 51 (45%)

WATCHMEN: THE END IS NIGH
Within the last week I’ve been trying to get the final “Untouchable” trophy (Go unharmed for an entire level, without restarting from a checkpoint.) by playing the second chapter mostly with Rorschach. Time and time again it just doesn’t happen. I think I’ve tried a good 30+ times at this point. Odds say it’ll happen eventually.

Trophies: 11 / 12 (92%)

DAY OF DEFEAT
I reinstalled Steam for the first time in many years and the same hardware that ran those games flawlessly now has some problems doing so under Windows 7. Interestingly enough it also works with Wine on Ubuntu and much better at that. Sound is the only issue here, but that’s been an overall problem for me on Ubuntu.

Even without sound I was eager to play some DoD, but it unfortunately doesn’t have any servers with anything, but bots on it. At least that’s what I got every time.

BORDERLANDS
If you were wondering when the disappointment was going to come in, well look no further than Borderlands. Weren’t expecting that, were you? I honestly wasn’t either when I started playing it just two days ago.

After playing it some and getting my soldier to level 12, I can say for sure that the loot drops that help motivate a number of gamers to continue playing does absolutely nothing for me. When I think back about my time playing Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance on the GBA, I know now that it wasn’t the case then either.

I understand that the selling point of Diablo-style loot drops was the best way for Borderlands to be marketed. It stands out more than that way than if it was known simply as a co-op FPS. However, co-op is what sold me on this game and what I like best in shooters these days. Resistance 2 is a perfect example of this as it was a lot of fun to get back into after about a year of being away from it.

My main problem with the game is its pacing. Because of all of the loot, you’re always picking it up and comparing it with what you already have to see if it’s worth switching out with. Doing this makes progress very slow. Doing this with more players in co-op makes it even slower.

To make matters worse, the fact that the enemies get stronger as you level up kind of null and voids the whole point of leveling up to begin with. The sense of always being a weakling accompanies this and with that aggravation sets in. It just drains all of my energy to want to continue playing the game at that moment as if I had just finished fucking Matt Damon. XD

I don’t have an ending to this joke so I’ll just take a small bow.

I’ve Still Got The Touch!

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
So far I’m liking this game. The finishing moves are pretty cool looking and the combat overall is well paced and interesting with many moves that can be performed.

If there’s any negatives that I can think of it would be the graphics for the use of the Unreal 3 engine. I’ve never liked the look of any game that’s used it. Shadows always look bad and textures look shiny even for something that wouldn’t be.

I’m up to the objective entitled “Bad Frequency” which is after the Weapon X facility and back to the flashback in the jungle.

Trophies: 16 / 51 (31%)

YOU GOT THE TOUCH!
One week ago I was asked to get the trophy in God of War for clearing the spiked column without taking damage. It took only three tries, which was much less than when I did it for myself. I also cashed out as he promised me $5 to do it and paid up! I also decided to save the Oracle with 10 seconds to spare.

PLAYSTATION
Also from last week, in fact it was the same visit to the local store where I was playing God of War, I bought an original PlayStation model in fantastic condition. It’s a later model (SCPH-7001) before the PSOne model was released. I mainly got it because Usagi704 bought a link cable so we could try out some of the early PS1 games with the system link feature. Doom will likely be the first one we try. At first I wasn’t all that keen on getting it just for that, but at $20 it was a bargain. :)

WINDOWS PC
Last week I received my copy of Windows 7. It was surprisingly much faster of an install than any previous version that I’ve dealt with. One thing that I didn’t know ahead of time was that the Movie Maker program wasn’t included and, while still free, needed to be downloaded. I’ve always felt that the options were lacking, but now this new version is even more so. I can still do the videos I want, it’s just that I’d prefer that those options were still there.

The first video to be produced from this setup is a commentary from Usagi704 on ScrewAttack’s Top Ten 2-D Shooters.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE MINISH CAP
Finally, I been playing The Minish Cap very sparingly. The most recent happenings was that I cleared the Temple of Droplets. After a bit more of misc. searching around for bonus heart pieces my next objective is to meet with a former king named Gustaf.

Have a good day!

Holiday Update

Hey everybody! I hope you’re enjoying the holiday season. Here’s some of the things that have been going on since I last checked in with you all.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE MINISH CAP
I read up in an FAQ on the problem I was having with getting into the scholar’s home. I thought I could get all three of the library books and then return them at the same time. As it turns out I needed to return the first book before being allowed into the house.

Since then I’ve been looking around for some more people to fuse Kinstones with and finding other helpful items before moving on.

Outside of this game I haven’t been playing all that much.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS
Remember those games I got for my niece and nephew? Well the it seemed like she liked that she got Namco Museum 50th Anniversary.

He, on the other hand, claimed to already have Sonic Rush. My brother said that they aren’t sure what they have. I also tried to replace it with Brain Age, but I got only whining for my efforts. Later that night I noticed that the game was left behind. There was no pleasing him that was for sure.

I think next year a piece of coal is in order.

NEW GAMES
I was much more grateful for what I got. Usagi704 got me The Guardian Legend and my parents got me Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny.

Overall I’ve had a good time this year and I’m ready for a great New Year. Have a good one! :)

Rorschach Doesn’t Compromise

That’s what I keep hearing him tell me. Anyways, onto the blog post at hand.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE MINISH CAP
My progress was slight over the last couple of days. I mainly just tackled the Fortress of Winds. In it I obtained the mole mitts and beat the stupidly easy boss Mazaal.

I’m currently in the middle of trying to find the three library books that are around Hyrule Town. The first one was pretty easy, but the second book is becoming a pain. I can’t get into the scholar’s home to start looking for it. I’m beginning to wonder if I either messed up or missed something along the way to this point that allows me to gain access to the house. Any ideas?

WATCHMEN: THE END IS NIGH PART 2
I was looking to go for completion by beating the game in co-op. Since that can only happen locally I asked Usagi to help out. He gladly did so and we were having a great time until the rooftop part of Chapter III, the final level.

The first problem was a glitch where Rorschach, who I was playing as, fell through part of the map. Usagi had to kill off his character, Nite Owl, to restart from the previous checkpoint.

The second problem came from battling Twilight Lady’s “special slaves,” as she put it. They brutally owned Nite Owl every time making it not so much fun. We even switched off controllers and I also got beat badly. Oh, geez, that didn’t sound right. :lol:

I think it had to do with not knowing exactly how the counter system works. Since then I’ve practiced with both characters noticing that it’s a bit different for each. Nite Owl prefers that you follow R1 with Square fairly quickly. Rorschach, on the other hand, is a bit more lenient in that you can tap Square a few times after R1 for the counter to work.

WATCHMEN: THE END IS NIGH
While I had the disc out for Part 2, I figured I’d do some of that aforementioned practicing on Part 1. I also took that time to record a good chunk of gameplay footage from Chapter II of Part 1. In it I play as Rorschach and kick some major ass if I do say so myself. :D

FORGOTTEN PURCHASES
Earlier in the year I had forgot to mention some of the purchases that I’d made. I didn’t even notice this until I was gathering information for my buying stats blog post that will be upcoming.

Back in mid-May I downloaded a free copy of Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic. It was sponsored by, I think, Sprint which was why it was free. This PSN game isn’t all that good and definitely not worth the current price of $10 for such a shallow Smash Bros. type of game.

Near the end of that same month I bought Crash Commando. It was one of the few PSN games that got a discount for about two weeks. It’s like a third-person shooter, but on a 2D plane. It was fantastic at the sale price of $5 and it’s still totally worth it at $10 too.

On October 1st I bought Uno. This was mainly because VixDiesel and s0njas0n were playing it and this is actually one casual game that I don’t mind having. The online portion is kind of flaky at times, but I still played it a bunch with them. It’s was a bit expensive at $10, but if I remember correctly the physical cards cost more. It’s currently $8 on PSN.

Lastly, I bought a second DS Lite. This one is red and black. I like it better for the matte finish that was used on the bottom half of the unit. My original system is white and has the glossy finish everywhere on the outside.

That’ll be it for now. It’s the holiday season so you guys take it easy. :)

Brutally Short

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE MINISH CAP
I can’t say that I’ve played this game all that much in the last two to three days, though I have made some progress. It’s not been all that difficult just wasn’t playing it much.

I did wake up the shoemaker and get the Pegasus Boots. I also made my way to the Wind Ruins and obtained the bow. My next task is to clear the Fortress of Winds. It looks like a doozie when checking out the map on page 13 of the GameSpot Game Guide.

TRANSFORMERS
Even less progress has been made in the 2004 PlayStation 2 release of Transformers. That’s to say that I haven’t touched it at all. Instead I played…

WATCHMEN: THE END IS NIGH PART 2
…Part 2 of the Watchmen beat-’em-up.

I was quite shocked to see just how short the game was. Part 1 contained six levels and Part 2 is only half that. On top of that Nite Owl and Rorschach don’t learn any new moves or combos. They’re definitely not recommendable based on those reasons and the crazy asking price.

However, I really like the beat-’em-up genre. You could say that I’m pretty loyal to them even though I won’t blindly buy them. I found the Watchmen games to be brutally satisfying, especially the finishers that Rorschach would pull off.

For great brutal beat-’em-up action that’s not insanely priced and is a good deal longer than Parts 1 and 2 of Watchmen together, check out the Rockstar Toronto 2005 release of The Warriors. It even has a better 2D arcade beat-’em-up unlockable game than the recent Xbox Live release called “Armies of the Night.”

Oh, and by the way, in case you haven’t guessed it yet, yes, I finished Watchmen: The End is Nigh Part 2 making it the 47th game beat this year.

Thanks for reading and have a great final week before Christmas!

A Surprise In The Minish Cap

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE MINISH CAP
Before I even get into the game I should point out that a Legend of Zelda of fan I’m not. This has to do with it being an RPG and that the series itself has overall changed very little in the 20+ years it has been around. I have a few of the games on the Game Boy systems and I couldn’t get into them.

The Minish Cap was the only one I had yet to try that I own. I decided to give it a go when someone on the Retronauts podcast had mentioned that it was the easiest game in the series.

By my estimation I’m about one-third of my way through the game so far. I’m looking for the Pegasus Boots at the moment. I don’t know if this game is easier just based on that I got frustrated at being stuck in the other games and didn’t stick with it to know for sure.

I can say that I’m enjoying myself more often than not this time around. However I do still get stuck from time to time. There was this one point where I had to throw a bomb in a fountain of water to make something happen. There wasn’t any indication that I had to do that. Instead I got the same effect from dumping the water out of the bottle I had. Neither make any sense to me and if I hadn’t done the latter trick by accident and had read about the former trick in the GameSpot game guide, I would’ve probably given up on this game too. It’s what I like to call “Zelda logic.” I’m sure to run into more of those moments before I’m finished.

TRANSFORMERS
Just as with Batman Begins, ebbderlict started up the 2004 PS2 release of Transformers. It’s another game that I’ve owned for awhile and I figured I’d start it up too.

The first level of the game takes time to get you acquainted with the controls and the abilities of the Autobots that you can use. It even feels like a simple and easy level to boot, but all of that changed once I got to the second level.

In this level, Antarctica, the way around isn’t so obvious and without a map of any kind, the frustration can certainly set in. It was also here where waves of enemies would show up quite often making it a slow process to get anywhere and that’s even if you knew where to go.

I’ll be giving this game a few more chances, but I can’t guarantee I’m going to like it all that much. I never thought that I’d actually be thinking that I’d rather play a Zelda game over anything else.

CONTRA
Whenever I play Contra, I play to beat the game every time. Yesterday I did just that back-to-back. The second time I asked Usagi704 to time me. My clear time was 15 minutes and 36 seconds with only one life lost. Damn I love this game! :D

That’s it for now. Until next time you guys take it easy.

Punishing Purchases

A few days ago I ended up purchasing two more games which has lead me to fail at my four week plan of not getting any new additions to my collection. Now if I just last out for the next 3.5 weeks, I should be able to do it. Regardless of that I’m sure you just want to see what the games are already. :D Here they are. I give to you Infamous and Resident Evil Zero.

Resident Evil Zero is a perplexing purchase for me since I’m not one to like hardly any horror games. In fact I’ve never owned a single one until now. I guess I’m giving this game a shot since I’ve always enjoyed watching others play the original PlayStation game. I was wanting to get the remake of the original game, but it always goes for about $40.

Now onto the topic of steel wool. I bought some recently after viewing this video that showed the replacement of the 72-pin connector for the original NES system. His use of the steel wool was the only thing I didn’t do on my system that already had a replacement connector in it. I did just that, but unfortunately it didn’t help make games run better on it. Maybe there’s another problem with the system, but I’m not sure.

I did used the steel wool on some problematic games and it worked really well. The only downside was that it literally made Double Dragon II no longer work where as before it did. The solution to that is not to scrub really hard and to keep it to a minimum.

Another thing that I started doing during the previous week was recording and uploading an ongoing Let’s Play series of videos of The Punisher for the PlayStation 2. I’ve never played the game before so you’ll get to see me fumble around with knowing what button does what when I do something that I didn’t intend on doing. It’ll be fun so join me, won’t you? This playlist will be the easiest and best place to look for more of these videos as I complete them.

Now Playing: May ’08

Eight games, one month. Intros aren’t my thing so let’s get to it.

Last month I said that I had yet to get the platinum finish for the cars in Burnout Paradise. Early this month I was finally able to truly and fully complete the game. The only one player challenges that were left at the time was a 20x burnout and a 40x stunt run. I used this glitch to get the 20x burnout and roamed the south end of the city to get the 40x stunt run.

After playing that game for so long, I was glad to get to some other PS3 game. The new one was Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas. So far I’ve only completed up until the point where you begin in Las Vegas. I was kind of frustrated at first because the setting at the beginning was in Mexico. I was thinking that the game should have been titled Rainbow Six Mexico. :P I stopped playing that game mainly because I really need a HDTV to be able to see what’s going on more clearly.

Soon after I had purchased The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages I started playing it. It was unfortunate that the game doesn’t work with the Super Game Boy. Regardless of that I didn’t stick with the game for too long since the series has always confused me on where to go next. It was the same way with A Link To The Past a few months ago.

Next I moved onto the DS and Contra 4 for the first time. I beat the game on easy which unlocked the challenge mode. Eventually I beat 20 of the 40 challenges available. Doing so unlocked extra content in the form of the NES classics Contra and Super C along with two new characters to play as and a text interview with Nobuya Nakazato.

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness was the next home console game that I started. I basically started playing it until I could get Grand Theft Auto IV. This 3D Castlevania game is fairly entertaining and has some unique features not found in other games of the series.

Speaking of GTA IV, I was going back and forth for a few weeks between it and the Castlevania game until Niko and his friends engrossed me with the story they were telling. After playing GTA IV for awhile, I can safely say that it’s the only game in the series that has kept my interest. Niko truly is a likable guy where as this was lacking in the previous main characters. The only thing that I find myself disliking right now is the consistent nagging of those you know to go out and do something. It’s especially annoying when you’re on the way to start a new mission. Otherwise, the game’s damn awesome! It’s the best $60 you’ll ever spend on a video game. :)

Getting back to my DS. I eventually started the RPG Orcs & Elves. It definitely lacks the visuals that the DS is capable of. Even so it’s still a fun little game that I just happened to pick up back in January.

Yesterday included the final game for the month. World Heroes Anthology. I played a bit of vs. mode within World Heroes 2 with Usagi704. My favorite character being the football themed J. Max.

Now I present you with the list of games I played this month in order of most liked.

Game of the Month: Grand Theft Auto IV
Runner-up: Contra 4
#3: Burnout Paradise
#4: Orcs & Elves
#5: Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
#6: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
#7: World Heroes Anthology
#8: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

That’ll do it for this month. See you next time!

The Oracle of Kombat in Pursuit of Justice in the Dream Land

The last time I was at Gamestop, I actually saw a small selection of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games for sale. I went back earlier this week to get the very games that I was eyeing the time before. The stickers came off wonderfully and all work well. Check ’em out.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC) – game only; great
Kirby’s Dream Land (GB) – game only; good
Mortal Kombat (GB) – game only; good

More goodies that I found today. First comes a visit to a major retailer located in the central north-eastern U.S., Meijer. A new PS3 game for $19.99? Hell yeah! That’s the first time I’ve seen that. :)

Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice (PSP) – new
Stuntman Ignition (PS3) – new

Next up was picking up some retro greatness at the reliable It’s About Games.

Sunset Riders (SNES) – game only; excellent
Final Fantasy VIII (PS) – complete; great

Condition scale: Excellent, Great, Good, Fair, Bad, Poor

GBA Madness…and Some PS2

Within the past month the following games are the newest additions to my collection. All games were new and for $20.

Sega Genesis Collection (PS2)
Astro Boy: Omega Factor (GBA)
Sonic Advance 3 (GBA)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (GBA)
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA), exception – free

These next two games were Christmas gifts.

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (PS2)
Capcom Classics Mini Mix (GBA)