Broke Down

I did end-up making some Steam purchases during the summer sale:

• Borderlands 2 Season Pass
• Condemned: Criminal Origins
• Deathspank
• Monaco
• Proteus
• Rune Classic
• Skyrim: Dawnguard
• Skyrim: Dragonborn

Also picked-up the Limited Edition of Shin Megami Tensei IV for 3DS (despite promising myself I wouldn't after sinking so much time in Persona 4 Golden) because, along with my earlier purchase of Fire Emblem: Awakening, Nintendo was including $30... Which has so far netted me copies of Mighty Switch Force 2 and Shantae.

And Borderlands is getting kinda boring. Looks like I'm about 60% through the game, and while I like it, I'm ready to check out... Playing it in shorter and shorter bursts as it becomes a bit of a slog to get to the end.

So cheap!

Steam's sales are incredible, but I'm in no rush to play DmC, Metro: Last Light, or the last two Call Of Duty games (all were down to $20~$30); everything else I've been eyeing (Gunpoint, Monaco, Rain-Slick 4, The Swapper) are all super-cheap to begin with; and Singularity is STILL over $20... Looks like it's gonna be a summer of working through the backlog; I'm cool with that :)

Also, Persona 4 Golden is, like, the longest freaking game ever! Who has time for this shit!? Still awesome, but I don't think I'm gonna touch another Megami Tensei game for a while after this one.

Play with me?

Would just like to mention that I found copies of Ghost Trick, Muramasa Rebirth, the Limited Edition of Project X Zone, and Tetris DS... ALL AT THE SAME PLACE!

Also picked-up complete copies of Ristar for Genesis and SEGA Touring Car for Saturn!

Ooh, and Gears Of War: Judgement for cheap! Like, brand new for $30 cheap!

Damnit.

I purchased Borderlands: Game Of The Year Edition, Borderlands 2, and a Borderlands 2 Season Pass - all for about $30 - during various Steam sales, but didn't get around to trying any of them until the other day. I'd heard the first game was essentially a Diablo-esque FPS with hardly any narrative... I'd say it's more of an offline MMO-style grind, but whatever. As for the story, yeah, pretty bare-bones so far; I'm a level-20 Hunter. Anyway, I'm into it... I kinda wish I wasn't, but I am. Gonna wrap the first game up ASAP and hope the sequel's plot is as good as I've heard it is.

Purple

I finished The Last Of Us, and it's definitely worth everyone's time. I can't imagine what it would be like to play that game as a parent, though I'm pretty sure it'd have a huge impact on the player's experience. Anyway, the final 25% is considerably more engaging and interesting than the zombie-apocalypse routine of the first half of the game, but I'm mostly impressed that I ploughed through a stealth-heavy game without save-scumming! It was a very organic experience; one that so many other stealth games have had such a hard time delivering.

Once that one was out of the way, I finally wrapped-up Far Cry 3 and Bulletstorm. Both games were really good, though both would've greatly benefited from allowing me to edit their horribly awkward scripts ;)

Kentucky Route Zero Episode II was as stunning as the first episode, I'm downloading Borderlands, and you really must play Ripple Dot Zero.

Naughty Dog

So I finally got a chance sit down with The Last Of Us, and I'm now a little over half-way through... Really solid stealth-action game with great voice-acting, but I don't see what everyone's so incredibly stoked about. I've been a Naughty Dog fan since Way Of The Warrior on 3DO, and while this may be the most ambitious title they've ever released, I'm kinda disappointed by some of the rough edges I encountered over the first few hours; my character has gotten stuck in world geometry, looped through falling animations, and died; my flashlight has experienced something resembling an epileptic seizure; I've quit in the middle of an encounter only to continue from a point after that encounter when I return to the game; Ellie has straight-up teleported through obstacles on multiple occasions; other NPCs have literally run around in circles; enemies have respawned from previously cleared-out areas; dead bodies have seemingly randomly hurtled themselves through the air; and the entire world - save for me and the skybox - has simply vanished. Even worse, many of those bugs are reproducible. Regardless of all that, the story's pretty interesting, but then I'm just not getting into it; it's very by-the-numbers... I do like the flow of everything though; this is a stealth game that doesn't make me want to reload my game every time I'm spotted *ahem*Dishonored, Deus Ex: Human Revolution*ahem* The Last Of Us is a really good game; don't get me wrong; it's just not a ten for me... Yet.

P.S. Picked-up Okamiden and Sonic Rush Adventure for DS, Lost Odyssey for 360, and P.N.03 for GameCube.

P.P.S. Guacamelee is friggin' awesome!

A survivor is born, eh?

Snagged Tomb Raider for $25 from Steam, and it was totally worth it; solid game. Great graphics, fun gameplay that's right up my alley (story-driven single-player action in a rich world to explore), and it's plenty long without feeling too drawn-out. The tone of it is all wrong though... Tomb Raider goes for a much more serious experience than Uncharted, but is undermined by the ham-fisted writing, mediocre voice acting, crazy physics, and supernatural plot points; Uncharted had way more fun with its story and characters, but it felt mostly real and achieved a much better balance. Ultimately, Tomb Raider feels particularly unnecessary after the previous trilogy; Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld were great after the nearly unplayable Angel Of Darkness, and this new one just feels like it kinda throws all of that away... Reboot? Origins? Meh. A solid game, but a disappointing Tomb Raider.

Almost done... I hope.

Added Code Of Princess, Fire Emblem Awakening, and Yoshi's Island DS to the collection.

Monkeys. Cosmic terrorists.

Stumbled across copies of Contact (DS), Contra 4 (DS), and Far Cry Instincts: Predator (360)... Almost done.

It's about time!

Went out to pick-up Pandora's Tower for Wii, came home with that plus Dead Space: Extraction (Wii), Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS), Sonic Colors (DS), and Super Princess Peach (DS)... Still on the lookout for Ghost Trick, Ōkamiden, Sonic Rush Adventure, and Tetris DS.

6/8

Wrapped-up New Super Mario Bros., and it was great. Not perfect, but familiar, challenging, and still fun... Looking forward to the sequels.

Just started The Knife of Dunwall and it's more of the same so far, which is totally cool.

I'm stuck on the second chapter of Slender: The Arrival, and while it's suprisingly rough around the edges, I'm still really enjoying it.

Persona 4 Golden may be the greatest game I've ever experienced, but I'm still just not that into it... It's such an impressive piece of design, but the story and subject matter just ain't doin' it for me.

Jon crashes.

About half-way through Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, New Super Mario Bros., and Super Mario 3D Land, and they're all stellar! NSMB is the weakest of the bunch, if only because of it's difficulty... I appreciate the challenge, but I would've placed a few checkpoints and secrets in less sadistic locations if I'd designed the  game. 3D Land is classic Mario platforming and exploration with some great new twists, but it all feels a little disjointed from level to level; not much in the way of the cohesive themes like other Mario games tend to have. Dark Moon is impeccable... Seriously, it's incredibly good. A rich world to explore, full of character and action; it's the kind of game I live for.

I also took some time to try SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS. The first Card Fighters game is still one of my favourite games of all time; the second is good, but the new mechanics made battles drag-on way longer than was fun; the third one... Ergh. It should be fun, but there's so much shit going on! honestly, I would've been happy with the first game's mechanics garnished with updated rosters and graphics, and a new story. I'll get back to it once this Mario business is wrapped-up, but I'm not exactly as eager as I first was.

Finally, snagged a complete Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?! Collector's Edition for 3DS :)

Do The Mario!

It occurred to me that the last Mario game I played through was... Super Mario Sunshine in 2008!? I simply haven't gotten around to the New Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario Galaxy series, nor had I continued with the Mario & Luigi or Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, and I never even touched the Paper Mario series.

Well, I recently took advantage of $129 in gift cards, $70 in free promotional stuff, and two $10-off sales to get a red 3DS XL, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Super Mario 3D Land, and New Super Mario Bros. 2; that's $320 worth of stuff for $141 :) Then, having never owned a DS or DSi, I started picking-up everything I'd missed... Here's the collection so far:

3DS

• Kid Icarus: Uprising
• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
• New Super Mario Bros. 2
• Shinobi
• Super Mario 3D Land

DS

• Aliens: Infestation
• Kirby: Canvas Curse
• Kirby Mass Attack
• Kirby Super Star Ultra
• KORG DS-10 Plus
• The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
• The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
• Metroid Prime: Hunters
• New Super Mario Bros. (black clamshell)
• SNK vs. Capcom: CardFighters DS
• Sonic Rush
• Starfox Assault
• WarioWare Touched!
• The World Ends With You

I had someone snag a copy of Okamiden literally out from under my nose before I could buy it, and I'm waffling on Bangai-O Spirits, Contra 4, the two Mario & Luigi games, the two Mario vs. Donkey Kong games, Moon, the two Yoshi games, Wario: Master Of Disguise, and WarioWare DIY.

Anyway, Mario games! Dark Moon is incredible, NSMB is a little rough when blown-up on the 3DS but still great fun, NSMB2 is simply better than the first one (so far), and while 3D Land feels kinda bite-sized it's still pretty awesome. Seriously, nothing wrong with any of these titles; classic gameplay and character; they just feel good, and I shouldn't let myself go without for so long again :)

American exceptionalism, jingoism, and quantum mechanics...

BioShock Infinite. Incredible. I don't know what to write about it. It's been a day or so, and I'm still working-out the details of the ending. I want to discuss it, but most of my friends who play games are still playing it, and everything I've read online has made some pretty wild assumptions to fill-in the blanks I'm wrestling with... And they're incorrect. Anyway, I spent the first ~10% of the game with my jaw hanging open; absolutely stunning. While the rest wasn't as consistently stunning as the first few levels, I wasn't ever disappointed. Some really well-done twists, visceral gameplay, and near-constant stimulation made-up for the fact that I was incredibly overpowered early on, the death mechanic is questionable, and I'd been spending too much time scavenging every nook and cranny for resources... Though that may be why I was incredibly overpowered so quickly. Other criticisms include Elizabeth's canned reactions to things like lock-picking and finding supplies during somber moments, some battles that dragged-on a little too long, limited interaction with the Songbird, and the overpowered hand cannon. Then I spent the final ~10% of the game with my jaw hanging open; absolutely stunning; I don't even want to play anything else ever again.

P.S. Thomas Was Alone is also amazing.

PSA

Clive Barker's Undying is one of the best games you will ever play, and is now available at gog.com.

Anyway, been busy, but know this: Far Cry 3 is great. While I think I prefer the setting and story of Far Cry 2, the malaria, travel times, and constantly being under siege in that previous title made everything really cumbersome and kinda not fun, so I eventually gave-up. The only issue I've run into with Far Cry 3 is that I had too much in-game money too quickly, so I simply purchased everything I wanted instead of earning it through missions... Maybe they should've saved the ability to be a super-badass for a newgame+ mode or some such. Regardless, great game.

Dead Space was also pretty good! Shitty voice-acting, poor pacing/information dumps, and generally repetitive gameplay aside, I really enjoyed the experience. Started Dead Space 2, and it seems improved in just about every way; stoked!

Finally!

Hotline Miami is killer (especially that soundtrack!), but Bulletstorm and Deus Ex: Human Revolution still aren't holding my attention... Dead Space, however, totally is!

I haven't cared much for survival horror since Resident Evil 2... Design decisions like infinitely-respawning enemies in games with limited resources just kinda pissed me off. I tried every ensuing Resident Evil game, Silent Hill, Parasite Eve, etc... But they just didn't do it for me; going back to Silent Hill 2 came close, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent was a delightful surprise, but neither had me excited about the genre again, so I skipped Dead Space entirely.

I did pick-up the first two Dead Space games on Steam during a sale a while back, but it wasn't until a friend insisted I try it, even if only for the story, that I bothered to install them. I'm about half-way through the first title, and though the voice acting sucks and the game's stating to feel a little repetitive, the ship is interesting, the gunplay and HUD are radical, and the story is solid; I'm seeing this one through to the end :)

Seriously!?

I have to play through The Cave six times to see everything!? Maybe later...

Unnecessary Swearing

Finished Spec Ops: The Line. Solid game (really dug the sand dynamics), great visuals, and a classic story. Didn't like Nolan North voicing the main character, but it's totally worth your time.

Also finished the main campaign of Torchlight II, and I fell in love with the series all over again... Likely not going to continue with the random maps or playing through the story again, but it was great while it lasted.

Started on Hotline Miami; feels like a gamepad is the way to go on this one.

Bought The Cave as soon as I could; already wrapping-up my second playthough; one more to go. Love it.

Still chipping-away at Persona 4 Golden. Every time I think I finally get it, I'm confronted with another level of convolution and the scope of this thing widens... And I feel overwhelmed all over again. I've spoken to friends who're longtime fans of the series, and they tell me to focus on social links and limit my grinding to once per rescue, but then I feel like I'm missing so much! Then again, the dialogue tries too hard and I'm not really interested in living out the day-to-day of Japanese highschoolers.

Sand!

The Scorchers was fun... And short... And worth $5... And I still want more!

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 3 was also fun; dragged at times, but there's lots of room to explore the job system and keep things fresh as you make your way through the story.

Persona 4 Golden is incredibly dense, Dustforce and La Mulana are freakin' hard, Little Inferno is one of the best games in recent memory, Giana Sisters - Twisted Dreams is flawed but fun, Torchlight II is great, Bulletstorm is solid, I still haven't brought myself to finish Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Spec Ops: The Line is even better than I expected.

P.S. Thanks for deleting my complete save, Rayman Jungle Run update! :p

Problem Solved

Re: My last post, I started Bulletstorm and Black Ops. The former is big dumb fun while the latter feels kinda mindless and looks dated... And then The Scorchers came out :)