Collection Update: May 2013

This is the slowest month I’ve had so far, and I’m thankful for it.  I’ve been buying a lot of games this year and really need to catch up on what I have.  I mainly picked up some games online Wii games to try and play in TheGamerClub and I also picked up some PS3 games to give me more reason to play PS3.

Wii

The Conduit (Limited Edition) – Ordered this copy for under $10 off Amazon, the case is a little messed up but the insert, manual and disc were all in excellent condition.  Mainly bought this so I could play online with a few people I’ve met online.  Part of TheGamerClub

Monster Lab – Never even heard of this game until I was making a list of online Wii titles.  This one actually got a decent (73) from Metacritic and it sounded interesting.  Haven’t actually tried it out yet, but hope to play soon, maybe even online if I’m lucky.

Spyborgs – Came across this on another blog, it was highly recommended as an under-rated title for the Wii.  I played it for a while with my fiance and, it was kinda cool but not that good.  It seemed to deserve it’s 66 rating on Metacritic, as I didn’t feel like it was anything special.

PS3

Little Big Planet Karting – With a sale, plus my membership discount, plus a $5 off coupon, I was able to grab this for $9 off of GameFly.  Played it for about an hour with my fiance and I’m very impressed, I can’t wait to play more.

Finished Games: Prototype 2 (360)

I was a fan of the original Prototype, so when Prototype 2 came out last year, it was on my radar.   The general reaction the game got was that it was not worth $60, wasn’t a AAA title and not worth the time.  While I agree it isn’t a $60 title or a AAA title, I do feel it is worth playing through.   Prototype 2 suffered a lot from gamers high-expectations, that in the end will cost them time with a very fun game.

Prototype 2 is very similar to the original, but has improvements to missions, and pacing that makes the sequel the better of the two.  To those unfamiliar with the original, Prototype is an open world sandbox style game that takes place in New York City.  You have a virus that gives you the ability to consume enemies, shape shift, leap and climb over buildings, and use a variety of different attacks.  The combat, physics, and controls all work amazingly well.  Watching someone attack a few enemies, run up the side of a building, jump off that building, glide across to another roof top, jump onto a helicopter and destroy it looks like it would be difficult, however the controls all smoothly transition from one action to the next making it simple.  This made playing around in the city some of the most fun I’ve had in an open world game.

#1 Favorite Wii Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2

Games like Super Mario Galaxy 2 are exactly why you buy a Nintendo console.  This is the best Mario game Nintendo has released since Super Mario 64, and it is probably even better than that.  This Mario game ranks right up with Super Mario Bros. 3 & Super Mario World, yes, it is that good.  Super Mario Galaxy 2 is full of the Nintendo charm, bright colorful environments, and well polished platforming challenges.  The original Super Mario Galaxy was great, but the sequel, is near perfect.

One of my favorite improvements to Super Mario Galaxy 2 was the implementation of a map system for selecting levels, similar to what is found in Super Mario World & Super Mario Bros. 3.   This is much more organized and intuitive than jumping into a painting, washing “paint” off a M, or searching for galaxies within the Hub World as in previous “3D” Mario games.  This allows players to get straight into the action without having to wasting time finding where the next level/world/galaxy is or worrying about missing out on a level.

Digital Download: Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon

Far Cry 3 was my favorite game of 2013, so more Far Cry 3 is exactly what I wanted.  Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon delivers, it is a great example of what you want to see from downloadable content.  When first playing Blood Dragon, the goofiness and humorous sci-fi “future” will make you wonder what the hell is going on.  After figuring out how seriously you should take the story and world that you’re playing in, you’ll start to find the fun and addiction Far Cry 3 has.  Taking over outpost after outpost (Garrison) and doing side-missions, obtaining more weapons and skills as you become indestructible.  Any fan of Far Cry 3 should definitely pick this up.

I’m not normally a fan of futuristic weapons, but I enjoyed the feel of every one of the weapons in Blood Dragon, especially the shotgun.  I found the original Far Cry 3 to still have better execution of sneaking into outposts and spotting/tagging the enemies beforehand. But it didn’t bother me at all to just run in guns blazing on the enemies, especially with these weapons.  I managed to grab all of the collectables, complete all of the side missions, reach max level and complete the story in about 7 hours.  Don’t let that fool you though, the story is on the short side, only a few missions.

Collection Update: April 2013

Outside of Pandora’s Tower, nothing here was a 2013 release, but I did manage to pick up some older games.  Some repurchases of games I had in the past, and some completely new to me too.  **The current picture is missing some of the games as they have not arrived yet.  They should be here by the weeks end, and then I’ll update with that picture.

 

Wii

Pandora’s Tower – Seeing how I enjoyed Xenoblade Chronicles so much and picked up The Last Story, it only seemed fitting to pick the final of the Operation Rainfall titles.   This also being such a late release for the Wii, I figured it has a chance of being a rare title.  The question is, do I end up opening it and playing it…or eventually buying another opened copy?

PS3

Rachet All 4 One – I’ve never played a Ratchet game, both my fiance and I have been interested.  Best Buy had this for $10 and I had a $10 reward certificate, so there you go.

Dreamcast

Expendable – I played this shooter at a friends house a very long time ago and enjoyed it.   It was $6 as part of the eStarland sale so I picked it up too.  Can’t wait to play it.

Glad 2 GameFly: Metal Gear Rising: Revengence (360)

Let me start this off with a bit of a disclaimer, I’ve never really gotten into the Metal Gear series.  It’s not that I’m against it, it’s just that I’ve never had a convenient time to sit down and play them.  I didn’t own a PS-One when Metal Gear Solid came out, and I didn’t own a PS3 when Metal Gear Solid 4 came out.  In between those two, I did get to try Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes for GameCube, and  I thought that was a good – great game.  The main thing about this game that caught my interest was Platinum Games involvement, and that this was a beat-em-up style spin off.

Since I’m not very familiar with the Metal Gear story/lore, most of the stuff in MGR went right over my head.  I did not enjoy the story and felt things were a bit goofy, but this was far from make or break to me, it was actually of little importance.  The combat however I felt was very frustrating.  At times I felt like I mastered this, while other times I felt absolutely clueless as to what I was doing.  The combat is based around parrying/counter-attacks, the problem I had with this is that the X button is used for attacking, blocking, and dodging.  Many times I would want to block, and I would end up attacking and leaving myself vulnerable.  This was not enjoyable, especially when it came to the boss fights.  

Digital Downloads: Castlevania Adventure: Rebirth (WiiWare)

Castlevania Adventures originally released on the Game Boy back in 1989 and in 2009 Konami released a remake for the Wii’s Download Arcade, WiiWare.  For anyone that was a fan of Castlevania, pre-Symphony of Night, this game is a must-have.  Even those that have played Castlevania Adventure and have fond memories, this is a must-have.  The remake is done so well, and is such a giant upgrade over the original GameBoy it is difficult to even tell they are the same game.   I hope to companies make more effort to release remakes of games that haven’t aged that well, GameBoy games in particular have aged the worst.

The platforming, whip action mechanics all remain intact from the original as does the challenge too.  I changed the options to give me 9 lives instead of 3, and I squeaked through the game and beat it with no lives to spare.  I’m sure I could’ve played more carefully and been conservative to make it through the game if it required less lives, but nine did it.  The game took about an hour and a half to complete, and that’s around what I was looking for.  If I wanted a little more of a challenge, I can put it on less lives and see how far I could make it.

Special Feature: How Nintendo Can Rule The World with 5 Improvements

Nintendo is in a bit of a funk right now, the Wii U isn’t selling very well and the Playstation 4 & XBox 720/Durango releases are quickly approaching.  Fortunately for Nintendo, they don’t really seem to care what the competitor is doing, as long as they themselves are making a profit.   The Wii U is just getting started, as Nintendo has yet to even announce/show off their biggest franchises on the new hardware.  Still, the Wii U is off to a rough start, but it can all be fixed fairly easily and bring a ton of money and fans to the new Nintendo console.

The Wii U is much more “GameCube-hardcore” than “Wii-Casual”. Nintendo Land might seem “casual” to the average gamer, but I bet you there aren’t any grandma’s at the retirement home breaking high scores in Donkey Kong Crash Course.  The game pad is essentially the standard game controller we’ve been used to, but with a Nintendo-twist, a touch-screen in the center, to the “casuals” this seems intimidating, and also like a little too much for them to handle.   Add in the price of the system at $350, without it being “the hottest thing out”, and you can see why Nintendo is having a hard time repeating the instant success of the Wii.

The “hardcore” gamers are going to flock to the Playstation 4 & XBox 720/Durango because it will have better tech specs, which means it will get the more cutting-edge games.  This will essentially be a repeat of what happened in the Wii/360/PS3 era, except there is a smaller gap between the hardware power and functionality.  Wii U most likely will never see the Red Dead Redemption 2′s, Bioshock 4′s, Assassin’s Creed V, Battlefield 5, Crysis 4, etc that come out for the PC/PS4/720.  Those developers/franchises always push for the latest technology, and the Wii U doesn’t have it, anything the Wii U see’s from those franchises will be spin-off’s (Dead Space: Extraction) or ports that aren’t worth it (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex).

This leaves Nintendo with one option, cater to the hardcore Nintendo fans.  There are enough Nintendo fans out there that Nintendo can make a boat-load of money off of them if Nintendo would let loose a little and didn’t play things so conservatively all the time.  One would figure hardcore Nintendo fans already buy everything, 3DS to 3DS XL or a launch day Wii U, so Nintendo should be able to check them off right?  Wrong.  Nintendo fans buy just about everything Nintendo, and even the 3rd party exclusives Nintendo pushes to the top. But when Nintendo isn’t releasing anything like the past 4 months on Wii U, that means nobody is buying anything.  It’s time to start giving the fans what they want.

Collection Update: March 2013

March 2013 was a pretty busy month for buying games.  A few good prices on some used Wii games and a nice Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale in the middle of the month helped me grab a couple extra games than I initially planned. Finally bought another Wii U game, and the 3DS library got a few new games too.  At the end of the month I upgraded my launch teal 3DS to the blue 3DS XL when they were on sale for $160 at Target (I price matched it at Best Buy though).

Wii
Castlevania Judgement – This was one of the few Castlevania’s I didn’t own, it’s also a spin-off fighting game, and not a real Castlevania.  I heard it wasn’t very good but I found it cheap so I decided to finally snatch it up, I played it briefly and I can see why people aren’t fans of it. Still, it can be fun for a senseless button mashing fighting game.

Dead Space: Extraction – Always wanted to get this game as a fan of the Dead Space series, plus it’s one of the better “mature” games on the Wii.  There’s always room for another light-gun/on-rails shooter.

Domino Rally – This game intrigued me before, it just looks like some sort of crazy Japanese shit, after coming across it in the store and for under $5…I got it.  I actually just spent about 2 hours playing it, and it’s surprisingly pretty fun once you can understand the objective and what the hell is going on.

Finished Games: Crysis 3 (360)

Being a console gamer I missed out on the first Crysis when it was released, it wasn’t until Crysis 2 that I was able to see what the series was all about. Crysis 2 quickly became one of my favorite online multiplayer games this generation, and possibly of all-time. The single player campaign was entertaining, although it was linear and nothing that speciall, I still still enjoyed it. 6 months later Crytek released the original Crysis on XBLA and I quickly picked that up too, even though it only included the single player. When playing the original I discovered it had large open areas with much more freedom for the player to explore and tackle objectives, it felt more like Far Cry and I loved it. With my past experiences in the Crysis series, I was very excited for the release of Crysis 3.

Anyone who has seen the ads/promotional material for Crysis 3 should know by now that the new big thing in the game is the “Predator Bow”. This is a bow & arrow that the player can use to shoot different kind of ammo (explosive arrows), stay long range and hidden like a sniper, and still remain invisible after firing a shot. When used correctly, you can become a serious invisible-stealth-long-range-killing-machine. The single player action with the predator bow allows you to maneuver through an area picking off tagged enemies one by one to sneak through to the next checkpoint. I know previous Crysis’ games had stealth gameplay in it due to being able to go invisible, but Crysis 3′s additions of the predator bow and tagging enemies with the visor really makes the stealth play improved and preferred.