Captain America’s Call of Duty

A few weeks ago I ordered a slew of older Call of Duty games. This should surprise those who know me and my disdain for the series. But it’s more for how the games are put out there than for the core of what they are. Regardless, I did get four of them dating from 2008-2011.

Call of Duty: World at War
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Another game I purchased that’s been a long time coming is Captain America: Super Soldier. It looks like an interesting under-seller of a third-person action game. It usually sells for quite a bit more than you’d expect from a 2011 game being that it’s more than four years later. Despite this I still got it for more than I wanted to pay, but far less than Amazon third-parties were selling it at.

Now Playing: December 2012

This month I didn’t take a chance to have any game bum me out. I asked for suggestions on what to play from my mastered list and played those. I had a blast revisiting Burnout 3: Takedown, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, and Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. You can read about them at the links provided. There was one other game I did get some time with as well.

The first time I played any Call of Duty game with any other human being was a week ago last Friday when I played against ShinVlad and madtyger. It was in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. With yearly releases ever since, this game feels like it should be considered “retro” at this point.

It was fun, but I was disappointed to find out that leveling up doesn’t happen in private matches. It was even more upsetting when Usagi704 couldn’t join us. For whatever reason his PS3 rejects the idea of CoD4’s online mode by freezing up every time. We tried my copy in his machine as well with the same outcome.

A few days later ShinVlad returned to go up against new competition in the form of SonicHomeboy. He had played prior on public servers and brought those new weapons/abilities with him. I made sure to pick up anything he dropped to get an advantage. Quite fun as it was I floated the idea of getting 2010’s Black Ops eventually so we could level up and hopefully get Usagi in on the action.

Happy Holidays and a Merry War on Christmas to you all! :D

Follow the Bouncing Game

There’s this copy of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare that Usagi704 originally purchased that’s been changed hands between us about five times since 2008.

He first traded it to me for the Japanese version of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. I gave it back to him a few months later though I can’t remember the reason. At Christmas time that same year, I received it as a gift from him.

I recently asked Usagi if he was going to join in an upcoming GPY event for playing some of CoD4 on December 14. He said he would if he somehow got the game again. I relinquished that same copy back to him and found a copy of the Game of the Year Edition (includes the Variety map pack) at a local shop yesterday for $15.

Recent Demos VI

I had some demos piling up on my PS3 so I figured I’d play a handful and give you my thoughts on them.

CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2
This demo reminded me of the what they showed one year at E3. It was the cold climate level where the player climbed up some sheets of ice at the start.

What can I really say other than it’s what fans would expect from the series at this point. Since this demo wasn’t out around the time the game was released it just feels pointless. You knew at the time the game came out whether you were going to get it or not. Me? Not a chance.

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
I liked the idea of this game referencing a bunch of older classic titles in the many ways it does. I also enjoyed the beat-’em-up action on display. However, I don’t have the reverence for River City Ransom as so many others my age do. Don’t get me wrong. I played and had fun with the game, but the RPG elements present in the game didn’t excite me as much. The same goes for this downloadable title too. The lack of online play is also a big deal breaker at this stage in the game.

JOE DANGER
At first glance this game may seem like Excitebike with more tricks to perform and it does have a track editor too. Performing those tricks and completing objectives is the name of the game with less emphasis on actual racing. If high score chasing is an interest of yours, then you’ll probably like Joe Danger. As for me? I do like getting high scores, but pinball is more of the type of game I like score chasing in. This demo was satisfying enough on its own.

SHANK
There must be a Community Against Online Enabled Beat-‘Em-Ups somewhere out there because we keep getting these games without online play. As I noted above with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, it’s a no go for me unless it proves to be really entertaining. Shank isn’t one of those.

I’m not a fan of the art style used. I also don’t like the lack of animation for enemies getting hit from time to time. They’ll just interrupt a combo you’re doing to floor you with an attack of their own. The bosses make this even more annoying as they take damage from hits, but hardly if ever react to them.

QUANTUM THEORY
Let me get this out of the way up front. This is a Gears of War clone. Plain and simple. It is in the same way that Dante’s Inferno was a God of War clone. The player character shoots the same, reloads the same, runs the same, takes cover in the same way, and so on. The controls are mostly mapped out in the same way too. Eventually a woman shows up to help out kind of like Dom in Gears of War. The only difference being you couldn’t throw him at an enemy for a strong melee strike and possible one hit kill.

You could say I’m quite surprised with how well Tecmo got the feel of Gears of War down in this game. It’s been awhile since I’ve played the first Gears title, but I remember it well enough that this feels very close. I guess if I want that type of gaming experience on my PS3 this will be the way I’ll have to go.

Now Playing: January ’09

It’s been awhile since I’ve racked up as many games played in a month’s time. This time it was a total of 14.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 (SNES)
Skyblazer (SNES)
Resistance 2 (PS3)
Burnout Paradise (PS3)
Street Fighter Alpha Anthology (PS2)
Fatal Fury (GEN/SNES)
Prince of Persia (PS3)
Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Volume 1 (PS2)
Chili Con Carnage (PSP)
SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 (PSP)
Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3)
Castlevania Chronicles (PSN)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3)

The games that I finished are CoD4, GTA IV (again), Fatal Fury (arcade/SNES), and Prince of Persia.

In other games, Castlevania Chronicles is of the older style of that series and, as expected, gives me some trouble. This PS1 game has an original mode and an arranged mode. The latter mode isn’t just a slight graphical upgrade. It’s also much easier. The proof here is that in original mode I can’t get past stage 2 where as in the arranged mode I’ve made it to stage 6.

I’ve definitely played more Fatal Fury over this last month than I think it should be played. On top of beating the arcade version on the PSP several times, I also cheated my way though the SNES version and played quite a bit in vs. mode with Usagi on the Genesis version. He loved using Michael Max against me and I could see why. The dude is totally broken when it comes to his semi-automatic dashing. It comes out as fast as you’re willing to double tap. Cheap! (lol)

More recently I’ve been online with Resistance 2 and my personal 2008 Game of the Year, Burnout Paradise.

I was mostly playing co-op as a medic in Resistance 2 to get my XP up before the patch that came out today. Apparently the medic was able to get XP much quicker then the other two classes before the patch. So I was getting as much as I could beforehand. :D

It was nice to get two more online challenges in Burnout completed. After awhile it becomes difficult to get to ones that haven’t been done.

Grand Theft Auto IV wins for a second time as Game of the Month. Last time it was back in May. The addition of trophies was cool as was reversing all of the decisions from the first play through. Most of those decisions don’t really matter which one you do. However the first one, killing either Playboy X or Dwayne, is much better on one side. The online side of the game is pretty small now with only “griefers” left it seems.

The next game that the fortune cookie of Backloggery.com suggests I play is Jurassic Park on the Sega CD. To that I say “hell no.” :P

Gifts of X-mas 2008

Here’s the gifts that I received for Christmas this year!

I got a total of eight games, one downloadable game and seven retail games.

Lightening Force: Quest For the Darkstar (GEN)
Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas (PS)
Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow (PSP)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3)
Bujingai: The Forsaken City (PS2)
The King of Fighters Collection – The Orochi Saga (PS2)
Manhunt 2 (PS2)
Castlevania Chronicles (PSN)

Every year my family puts up two trees. Take a look at the pictures of those trees below.

Christmas Tree (Family Room)
Christmas Tree (Living Room)

Have a happy holiday season!

Call of Duty 4 or No Call of Duty 4

Back in early October I happened into an ownership of a Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII limited edition import PSP system. Of course, it also came with the game too. I noted in the comments at the time that I would likely sell the game to Usagi704 because of the language barrier. Well, that time has come.

Usagi704 came to me talking about how he was probably going to trade in his PS3 version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for possibly Unreal Tournament III. I immediately thought of how little he’d get for CoD4 at a place like Gamestop. So I told him that I’d buy it off of him once I get my own PS3 system.

He then remembered that I still had the Japanese version of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. He offered to do an even trade for the two games. After thinking about it I went ahead with it and we called it a deal. Beat that Howie. XD

I have officially joined the current gaming generation. Now I just need the system.