Tag Archives: Xbox 360

Katagraw

After beating Warhammer: Battle March I jumped right into my Xbox 360 backlog.

I decided to hit up something entirely different first and started Beautiful Katamari. I’m certainly familiar with the concept behind the Katamari games and indeed have tried them in very short bursts in the past but this is the first time I’ve actually tried to sit down and play through one. I don’t feel like I need to say much about the quirky characters, stylized art, bizarre, catchy music, or how it is all hilariously countered by the disturbing concept of “rolling up” living people, destroying cities, and even uprooting entire continents. The controls take a little getting used to which I’m sure is quite intentional but, even so, I found myself sucking at Beautiful Katamari lot more than I’d anticipated. I had to retry some stages several times before beating the required goals which doesn’t even guarantee you got a good score a long the way. The king is also a pretty big dick when you do any less than fantastic. Thanks Dad!

I blasted through the entire single player campaign in just a few sittings picking up an easy 245 achievement points along the way. Definitely a unique, enjoyable game but definitely not something I felt like I wanted to invest a lot of time into especially considering the size of my backlog though I admit I was definitely tempted to try to beat some of my more lackluster scores. If you are the type who wants to complete games 100% though Beautiful Katamari gives you plenty of goals to chase after – collecting hidden cousins and presents in levels and completing your collection of rolled up items as well as other achievements will have you playing for quite a few more hours. There’s also several additional DLC levels you can purchase as well which I’ve heard are pretty good.

“Sure, don’t worry about why I’m in cover guys, just stand there in the open.”

Next up was Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2. I’ve been a long time fan of the Ghost Recon series although the original Ghost Recon is quite clearly my favorite with all subsequent games taking different directions to try to break out of its hardcore niche into a more mainstream audience. I’m only about a third of the way through the single player campaign at the time of this post but so far GRAW2 definitely corrects some of the issues I had with the first GRAW: The campaign feels much shorter, with less drug out and strung along missions. The game as a whole feels a lot easier and, more importantly, less frustrating than the first one. Overall I’m having a lot more fun with GRAW2 than I did with GRAW as well – I’m not sure if this is because of some of the changes and the extra polish that it’s received or maybe just because it has been a while since I’ve played this kind of game. Regardless so far I’m considering replaying the whole thing on the hardest difficulty when this run is done with which is in stark contrast to GRAW’s single player campaign that I couldn’t wait to be done with by the time it was nearing the end.

My Warhammer Online burnout morphed into a general MMO burnout after taking a very quick hop around space on my Eve Online account thanks to a free reactivation promotion. I was quickly reminded of why I quit the game and, more importantly, if I wanted to get the most out of hopping back into it I’d have to invest way more time than I currently have running around with a corporation (Eve’s equivalent of a guild or a clan) and the like. Besides that I’d simply rather be playing other games than any particular MMO right now. There are certainly some interesting looking ones on the horizon, such as Jumpgate: Evolution though. It may take one of them to get me back in the fold after I finally decide to cancel my WAR account.

Please forgive the horrible photograph of GRAW2. This is the first time I’ve actually posted a photo of a 360 game despite being tempted many times before. It’s better than nothing, perhaps? I definitely prefer posting my own screenshots over stealing someone else’s in any case.

Two Thousand Eight

Hey, it’s the new year!? Here are a few New Year tidbits:

Best 2008 game I played: Grand Theft Auto 4. I realized I hadn’t played nearly enough games this year, and of those, not many were 2008 games. In fact I was really struggling to come up with 2008 titles deserving of this accolade until I remembered that GTA4 was an 08 game. I’ve already talked about my experience with GTA4 a bit in past blog posts so enough about that. I will say, however, I can’t fathom why it has suddenly become so popular to hate on this game. Not as good as the previous ones and other, similar games in some ways? Sure… Heck, I had my initial complaints as well. But horrible garbage? Hardly!

Best 2008 game I didn’t play: Fallout 3. Yeah, I pretty much just made up this one but considering how much of the most interesting stuff that came out last year I haven’t actually played yet it seemed like a fitting topic. Being a big fan of open world, sandboxy RPGs, as well as Fallout along with Bethesda’s previous RPG efforts, I can’t help but predict that I’ll love Fallout 3 when I finally get around to playing it. I also predict that I’ll really, really enjoy Fable 2 when I finally pick it up as well.

2008 game that everyone tried to get me to play that I didn’t: Left 4 Dead. A lot of old gaming chums had been picking this up, I’d been hearing tales of it on podcasts and reading about how awesome it was in forums, but I just couldn’t convince myself to drop any money on it. I came VERY close a couple of times but the vast majority of opinions I’ve come across on the subject pretty much imply that Left 4 Dead is a game best played with friends. Most of the friends of mine who wanted me to play it with them are in fact in different time zones than I so I figured I’d never end up playing it not unlike Team Fortress 2. I had actually decided to check out the demo of the 360 version the other day with the intent of possibly trying some split screen co-op but for some reason Valve has already removed the demo from everywhere. Hmph, here I was not even slightly interested in the 360 version now considering buying it? Boo! One potential sale down the drain!

Most disappointing 2008 game: Age of Conan. Easy… So much potential! You can read a lot more about my feelings on the subject in earlier posts. Pirates of The Burning Sea was also a big let down for me as well.

Most anticipated 2009 game: I don’t know! 2009 feels very different from 2008 so far. There really isn’t a ton of games I’m dying to get my hands on though there are many I’m fairly interested in. I might have to go ahead and name Diablo 3 as my most anticipated game of 2009 but it is a little optimistic to even assume it’ll be out this year.

Gaming related New Year’s resolution:I need to play more games! Yeah, looking back over 2008 I’m surprised how relatively little gaming I’ve done. I chalk most of that up to being hooked onto MMOs, Age of Conan and then Warhammer Online, for a large portion of the time. I also let two lengthy Xbox 360 games, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Warhammer: Battle March, dominate far too much of my limited console time. I really feel like I need to spend more time beating and completing more games. I’ve got massive 360 and DS backlogs now and there are countless PC games, new and old, I’m pining to revisit not to mention titles I plan to discuss, log, and/or review for this site. What’s the solution to this problem? One great first step would be to stop sinking so much of my gaming time into these damn MMORPGs, all of which usually end up sucking in the end anyway. Hmph.

Site related plans: I’ll continue slowly working on Garn’s Oblivion adventure. It hasn’t even gotten too interesting yet, I know, but it’ll get there. I also hope to do some others as well. Some potential possibilities are Stalker, Fallout 3, and some one off ArmA missions. I’d also like to do some logs of older games, such as Master of Orion and X-com. Who knows how many of these I can pull off though. I also intend on putting out more and more retro PC and console game reviews. I only got one full review out the entire time last year which is really quite pathetic though I am currently wrapping up a playthrough of a combined 3 games in a series for my next review. Yes, there are a lot more old games I’m just ping to replay.

I was going to make this sort of thing my first post of the year but I’ve been busy and the 1UP thing seemed to take precedent.

Happy Holidays

It has been a long time since I’ve posted an update and indeed it has been a busy month for me without as much time for gaming as I had hoped.

First things first I have continued to play a great deal of Warhammer Online – Not only did I get my main character to 40 but my guild has recently had a bit of a revival with the release of patch 1.1 and the two new classes and our “leveling pact” in which a great many of us rolled alts and vowed to try to keep them at the same levels and play together as much as possible. I’m been playing a Dwarf Rune Priest which is unusual for me as I never play healers but I’ve got to say that I’m enjoying it. More details that in a later post, hopefully!

“Cry Havoc bravely running the hell away from a dragon.”

Still, the last couple of weeks have been somewhat of a dry spell for me in WAR to the point where I’m afraid I may be approaching a classic Self Similar MMO burnout. I seem to always tire of an MMO, no matter how much I like it, for various reasons sooner or later – with WAR it has mostly to do with the lack of time I have to play games lately. I often feel like I’d much rather be playing through games in my massive Xbox 360 backlog, investing more time in some more of my favorite PC games, and revisiting some of my favorite retro titles than wasting so much time playing a single time sink of a game. Still, I was so hyped to get to level 40 so I could experience end game PVP that I’d feel silly not participating in it a lot more than I have so far, and I was still having a lot of fun with my alts, so who knows? I don’t really have any real good reason for wanting to quit but I feel like I’ve fallen off the treadmill somehow regardless. Yes, I think burnout is the best way to describe it.

“I’d hate to run into this guy in a dark, chaos infested monastery. Oh, wait…”

Speaking of my backlog it grew quite a bit bigger since last time I posted. Taking advantage of various “Black Friday” sales I nabbed a whole lot of new games. First I nabbed Frontlines: Fuel of War for the 360 for under 10 bucks new. I admit it wasn’t anywhere close to the top of my wish list but I thought what the heck, it looked nifty. I also grabbed a copy of Burnout: Paradise new for nice and cheap which has been rising up my wish list with every new patch Criterion brings out.

I also took advantage of Gamestop’s buy 2 get 1 free sale on used games and grabbed: Project Sylpheed – having been raised on Wing Commander and X-wing coupled with my love for Macross I’ve had my eye on this one for a long time but was holding out to get it for cheap. Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 – I’m a huge fan of tactical FPS games as I’m sure I’ve mentioned many times now and the first Vegas was decent enough to warrant my interest in the sequel. Battlefield: Bad Company – I’ve been a fan of the Battlefield games since Battlefield: 1942 and while I’ve more or less stayed away from the console titles the new emphasis on the single player campaign in this one and the positive reviews caught my attention. Plus this one seems like a concentrated effort to make an actual console game, where as the older titles, albeit quite different, seemed more like quick and ugly conversions Battlefield 2 for the PC. Overlord looked like a lot of fun to me since it was first released and I wanted something a bit different. Ninja Gaiden 2 – I absolutely loved the first Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox. I just hope I can stand the punishment this go around. Finally the first Saints Row game. I’ve talked about my interest in Saints Row 2 recently and decided I’d like to play the first one before picking up the second since the stories do indeed share continuity. All for the 360.

Also despite having no idea when I’ll get around to playing it but knowing without a doubt that I wanted it I nabbed Fallout 3 new for the PC for really cheap as well.

Posing at rank 34.”

With all of these purchases my Xbox 360 backlog in particular has ballooned insanely. Feeling like I really shouldn’t buy any more new games until I complete most of these new ones I decided to make a concentrated effort over my Christmas vacation to beat the game that has been more or less tuck in my 360 for months, Warhammer: Battle March, and I’m happy to say I succeeded! The last of the campaigns, the one added in the actual Battle March expansion on the PC featuring the Orc and Dark Elf armies, was consistently more difficult and frustrating than anything in the other two – if I had started with it I may have very well shelved the game long ago. Still, achievements unlocked and all of that good stuff. I’ll probably revisit Battle March in multi-player with my brother eventually but for now, taking the good with the bad, I’m quite glad to see it go.

“Explodicating a chaos spawn.”

As expected I got my new DS for Christmas and so far I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been sampling a lot of different games but so far the ones I’m enjoying the most are Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer – a brutal but relatively accessible Roguelike, Tetris DS which is… Well, Tetris? Club House Games which I’ve been a fan of for a long time now, and the first Phoenix Wright which has my adventure gamer senses tingling. So many more DS games to play, so little time, but so far it feels like it was indeed a solid gift.