The sun is shining, I have a glimmer of hope that winter may yet end. Got in my fist Motorcycle ride of the year yesterday; my Honda Shadow got to stretch its legs in the balmy plus 5 Celsius heat. I wrapped myself up, with barely a slot for my eyes, and set out into the wind. I wear a tiny Helmut with no face protection and my bike has no windscreen, so it goes without saying, the wind at 100k can get a bit biting.   In not bike news, Nintendo’s press event showed some very promising games this week, I’m still cautious about Metroid the other M, looks so weird for a Metroid game, and the control seem very odd from every write up I read. Mario Galaxy 2 on the other hand, looks like a supremely fun game, I can’t wait for it, and it’s only a few months away. Reminded me why Galaxy is still one of my favorite games of all time, looks like pure joy incased on a disk.

Week 9 Twenty Ten

Torchlight

Finished Torchlight early this week, but I’m not done with it, still want to play though it again with another class and on a higher difficulty. This was a seriously great game, classic gameplay refined; I had a ton of fun. If only there were multiplayer…

Mario & Luigi: Bowers inside story

Losing my hope for this one, I just can’t get into it. The story has become so wacky and annoying. The gameplay has held up but is getting a bit punishing for a game so childish in tone.

Heavy Rain

Wow, just wow. Never have I had as many Holy shit moments as in my final few hours in Heavy Rain. What a game, what an experience. I made some crazy decisions, some that I regret. There were so many choices, literally thousands of ways it could have played out. My game of the year so far, it’s early but I don’t think I’m going to forget my insane journey. Want to go back for another play, but I’m going to let it sink in first, before I see where else this tale can weave.

Next!

Mario & Luigi: Bowers inside story

I am not giving up, as much as I want to. I will beat this game; I will not let the annoying characters get me down!

Final Fantasy XIII

Its Final Fantasy, that is all I need to say. It feels like an eternity since the last one. I have been a Final Fantasy fan since before I can remember. I have fond memories of playing every one; each addition the series is a classic in one way. Looking forward to living in another great fantasy. There has not been a bad Final Fantasy yet and there in so reason to think this is it.

Portal

With news of the sequel and a new ending added to it, I want to replay this true classic. Portal was a turning point in gaming, the funniest game ever made. A one of the favorite games ever. GlaDOS is still alive, and I think it’s time for a revisit.

Axellion, the onus is mine.

 This is no Tolkien fantasy; there are no majestic eleven maidens, no comedic dwarfs. The world of the Black Company is not a shinning fairytale; it is a bleak land, a land filled with dark sorcery, an undeniably black world.  

A story told by there annalist, contributing to the century’s of the companies legacy, its victories and defeats, the glory of its lost brothers. The black company fights with honor for the highest bidder, serving a master regardless of there cause or nobility. The company is family; its men become brothers, each running from something finding brotherhood amongst the company.

Recruited by Soulcatcher, one of the taken; a collection of ancient powerful wizards. Resurrected and bent to the will of The Lady; a great evil seeking domination over the lands.

Fighting a seemingly endless war against the rebels, the company fights with honor not found among either the Taken or the rebels standing in there way. There is seemingly no light in the world, save for an ancient prophecy of light returning.

A decidedly unromantic fantasy, wars are waged with malice and disregard for blood. Great sorcerer’s conger horrors to the battle field, spectacular spells rip entire armies to pieces; men are torn asunder by impressive feats of horrible power.

A great military campaign, the company in the crossfire of an ancient feud, a war filled with tragedy and treachery. This is a dark tale of great fantasy, concluding in a truly spectacular final battle. The Black Company was a spellbinding tale; the world is very distinctive, not feeling like any fantasy I have witnessed. It ends in great style, with one of the most extravagant conflicts I can recall. The hint of a coming light a slight glimmer of something more than endless war and bloodshed. The final pages set up a continuing sage that I can not avoid.

Go Canada Go! Olympic gold medal! What a game, one of the best international hockey games ever, could not believe it when America tied it up with 30 seconds left, there goalie is incredible, the best player at the games.

Week 8

Torchlight

Finally got round to starting torchlight, and proceeded to become totally addicted. This is Diablo, right down to the music. If the style was less cartoony and colorful and more demonic, I would have to think twice about what game I was playing. Truly classic dungeon crawl gameplay, a serious addiction in growing, reached level 23 this week.

Mario & Luigi

Starting to become less enthralled, the gameplay is starting to get to me, there is so much trial and error in dodging enemies. I feel like I have to fail at it a few times before it is even possible to take down the bosses. This would not be a problem normal, but I am losing my love for the humor. Fawful had become very annoying, it has slipped in to absurdest, and I am not having as much fun.

Heavy Rain

Only played a few hours, but already I’m in love with this interactive fiction. The little choice, and actions have already made an impact on the world. It is so easy to perform a simply action without realizing the results of my choices. It has one of the best opening levels ever, playing with my kids, helping my wife with dinner; it sets the tone for the dark things to come. I can’t wait to explore more of this creepy, engrossing world.

Next!

Torchlight

Couldn’t quit this one if I tired, I think it is best played in small bit sized pieces, the repetitiveness of the genre does begin to wear during longer play sessions.

Mario & Luigi

Despite some misgivings and a waning interest in the story and humor. I’m going to try and put more hours in to Mario’s lasts RPG. I have become a bit less of a fan of the game. The humor has gone in to absurdest territory, and I for one am a bit put off

Heavy Rain

Not sure how much I’m going to get to dig into this one, it feels like a game more deserving of longer, more involving play sessions anyway, My wait until next weekend to really sink my teeth into it again.

Axellion, needs more loot

 The first full week without my 360, yet somehow I survived. On the topic it does appear that I will be receiving anew 360 in short order, my unit arrived at the Microsoft graveyard on Tuesday and by Thursday a replacement had been mailed out. There is a chance a good one that I will have me friend back this week!

Week 7 Twenty Ten

Red Faction Guerrilla

Stared and finished red faction this week. Came away a bit disappointed, the destructibility is insanely fun. I could, and did spend hour’s systematically destroying structures, slowly placing explosives at key points, smashing walls with my trusty hammer, or when subtly is required, driving a dump truck into an apartment building. Its unfortunate the combat and missions were so disappointing. Enemies seem to respawn in huge numbers, moving so quick and killing so fast. I wish that the developers had abandoned the open world design and went with a more simple action adventure. The Geomod tech is so good that it does save the game, but in the end it is still disappointing.

Mario & Luigi: Bowsers inside story

The Mario rpg series contuse to be good clean fun, great character, great humor poking fun at itself constantly, a bit childish at times but still quite funny. The turn based combat is still great after all these years since the original Mario RPG. There is a ton of things to do in battle every single action requires multiple well timed reactions, enemies will telegraph there attacks before striking, requires a lot of attention to keep up with, great combat.

Call of Duty World at War

I totally missed this one last year and picked it up on sale from steam a few months ago. I feels good to be behind the iron sight on an M1 rife again, memories of the good old days of call of duty, before it became an endless game of escalation. I will never be sick of WW2 I don’t know how it is possible; it is quite simply the most important event in the last thousand years. I have really been enjoying it so far, they have really captured the brutality of war, the Japanese with their suicidal defense of their home land, and the Russian scorched earth push into Germany.

NEXT!

Call of Duty World at War

I should be able to finish this before moving on to the week’s big release, in fact I may beat it tonight. Not at all interested in the multi-player, I have all but given up on Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer so I see no reason to play this dinosaur online.

Heavy Rain

Here we go; this one is going to be good. Tuesday is the day, can’t wait to really sink my teeth into this interactive movie. The Demo was great; I loved the controls, simple and effective, like one long quick time event, but in a good way. Great characters, a serious tone, this is my kind of game.

Mario & Luigi

My DS gaming has been increasing in recent weeks, more time away from home. So I should get some time with the bros again this week.

Axellion, if only life was a quick time event.

There was a death this week, my faithful companion, my ever-present friend as passed. Yes my 360 was visited by the grave Red Ring of Death, my little buddy succumb while playing Bioshock on Tuesday afternoon. A moment of silence if you please…

Week 6 Twenty Ten

Bioshock:
 

My attempt to revisit rapture one last time has been thwarted, having almost completed my replay but alas it was not to be, the Red Ring saw to that. My second Red Ring of Death, the first was in summer of 07 killing my launch 360. Fortunately Microsoft as offered to repair my once proud friend free of charge, I guess the three year warranty toke effect on my last 360s death. So it was with a sad heart that I bid farewell to my friend, placing him in his cardboard prepaid coffin, he goes to a better place now.
 

Professor Layton:
 

Finally completed it! After 2 years since I first got it, and over 10 total hours of gameplay time I have finished this dastardly puzzling adventure, my brain hurts, let’s move on.
 

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time:
 

With my dreams of finishing Bioshock and transitioning right into Bioshock 2 ending, I decided to finally play Ratchet. A truly great game, some of the most colorful impressive graphics I have seen, it really looks impressive, and plays as a ratchet game should. Started on Tuesday and finished Saturday, about 10 hours play time, a bit of a disappointment, but it was a great, extremely fun ride. The best Ratchet yet, and wow does it look good, so vivid and bright. It was exactly what it should have been, another perfect Ratchet game.
 

Heavy Rain:
 

I was a big Indigo Prophecy fan, loved the new way of looking at a game, a new form of storytelling. Heavy Rain appears to have continued the great tradition set by its successor. The demo has two sections, one staring a detective looking for lead to a recent death, the other following a young FBI agent scouring a crime scene with high tech equipment. I absolutely loved the slow serious tone, a game that takes its story seriously, characters look incredible, faces are simply jaw droopingly detailed. Every action is context sensitive, from opening doors to checking blood samples done with a simply movement of the joysticks, or holding a face button. It almost feels like directing a movie. Each time I played through the first level I came with a completely different result, I would try and convince the witness to give up information or press her hard for answers, very cool stuff. The action sequence played out totally different each time, this is quick time events taken to a new level, it was fast and exciting, and I purposely failed the second time, just to see if the game would end. It did not and I found myself getting the living shit beat out of me, yet the game continued, I cannot wait for the full game to be released later this month; this short demo drew me in and engrossed me. This is goanna be a seriously cool game. It is almost hard to call it a game, more of interactive fiction.
 

Next!:

Mario and Luigi: Bowsers inside Story:
 

With Layton out of the way, I believe Mario and Luigi will take his place in my DS. Always loved the Mario RPG series should be a good one.
 

Red Faction Guerilla:
 

Think I will finally get around to playing my steam copy of Red Faction Guerilla, this one totally slipped by this year, I loved the demo and was planning on picking it up, but then I got horribly busy and I missed out.

Axellion, Rest in peace little buddy it was a great run.

Since my 360 has decided that I will not be completing one last run through the original Bioshock; by unceremoniously giving me the dreaded Red Ring of Death, (my second Red Ring in case you’re counting) I figured it was about time to try out the God of War III demo that arrived with my BluRay of District 9.

With GOW III finally being released next month, after years in development, it is nice to see that Sony has not lost their way. It’s a relatively short demo, half dozen fights in total. But does a fine job of showing off how Kratos finally entering the HD era. Visually displaying a surprising amount of polish for a build from June 09, Kratos himself looks great with tons of detail in his perpetually grimacing face, and great smooth animations. The environment vistas impress, specifically the gigantic lava titan stomping around in the background, shacking and rattling the world. Standard skeleton soldiers fall apart and spray blood all over the place, Kratos gets a very nice red coating as well, looking suitably baddass. The Combat is solid God of War style, just as fast paced and suitably over the top as expected. Feturing the same great quick easy combos as you expect. The new fist weapon was quite fun to use, the giant wolves heads attached with chains looking and hitting very solidly. There were a few of the series trademark special enemies, one being a centaur that requires a nice disemboweling. Another was an old favorite the Cyclops. A new ability to mount and ride the monster was as satisfying as it sounds. Think of the movie ratatouille, when Remy the rat controls his human ride by pulling his hair, expect with a lot more stabbing and eye gouging in this case.

One instance that really showcased the improved graphics and dynamic lighting, was one played out entirely in the dark. You could use your new found ability to “paint enemies” to keep them lit in the shadows. But I found it much more satisfying to come out swinging. The blades giveing off a nice red glow, the blurring red death swinging around looks very cool in the pitch darkness. The demo ended with a flying section, controls were a bit stiff as Kratos flew up a long corridor avoiding falling stone and fireballs, but an overall very exciting, very fast paced finish. God of War III looks great, seeing as this was a June build and the team has undoubtedly been polishing it to a shine since then, I can only imagine the improvements that have been made in the recent months. The expected march release could not come sooner, it has been far too long since Kratos had his last adventure, I’m very eager for a return to some good old fashioned ultra-violence.

So that didn't work. My noble attempt to finish Bioshock one more time before the sequel have been crushed. I was making very good progress, finished Apollo Square and about to move on to the final area, stopping only for lunch. Silly me, food is never the answer, I should have forgo sustenance and pushed onward, but alas I returned from my sinful meal only to me faced with the evil Red Ring of Death, taunting me, laughing at me. So much for my high hopes of finishing Bioshock it today.
 
I am now struck with a difficult choice, my warranty expired, but yet according to Xbox.com RRD is still covered, 3 year warranty must have begun when my console was last heal of its three red lights in the summer of 07. So I shall send my good friend to be replaced, but the questions is, do I grab another 360 in the mean time, can i go without a 360 for upwards of 3 weeks? Bioshock 2 is a tempting prize, but I do believe that the next big releases are mostly PS3; be it Heavy Rain, God of War III, and Final Fantasy 13. I can not think of another 360 game I need to have in the next month or so, maybe I am forgetting something.

Very temping to head out and acquire a new shiny 360, one with a much bigger hard drive, as I have been burdened with a 20 gig drive since launch, a drive that is now perpetually filled. Decisions, Decisions...

What can I say, damn you Peyton Manning and your stupid interception. The game was lost at that point anyway, but still, ARG! Also I hate winter that is all.

Week 5 Twenty Ten

Mass Effect 2

 
Finished up this one on Saturday. What a finish it was, the last mission was great, all the characters coming together for a truly epic confirmation. I was initially a little put off by the removal of rpg elements from the game. But then I came to realize that this is an ACTION rpg, and the action is great. Early Game of the year contender!

 
Professor Layton

Must be getting very close to ending this one; got into the tower. My brain has been tested and my frustrations realized devious puzzle design to say the least.

 
Bioshock

 
Got a few hours into my replay of the original, I love to experience a game right before it sequel comes out and I will not let myself get Bioshock 2 until I can complete this. Remained how otherworldly and downright creepy this game is, the ruined 60sera paradise is so well thought out. And the stalkers are simply one of the most messed up scary enemies ever.

Next!

 
Professor Layton

 
If I can finish this game without losing my mind, then I will have achieved something great. I have been plagued at every turn by one absurdly weird puzzle after another. My brain hurts.

 
Bioshock

Going to crash my way thought, not trying to avoid experiencing it, but simply beat it in good time. Will not start Bioshock 2 until I can finish the first! It doesn’t hurt that it is simply one of the greatest most involving games ever made!

Axellion, awaiting my return to rapture

January is done, and yet the endless blackness of winter is still here. Don’t mind me I’m just getting sick of the horrible pain of winter, having my bike setting unused for so long is going to kill me. On a better subject, got lot of gaming in this week,

Week 4 Twenty Ten

Dirt 2

I’m calling it, this one is done! Reached level 30 on the tour, completed all the x-games. I will be back, there is still a lot to do, world tours and tons of all-star events, but for now I’m retiring Dirt 2. It was a great game, not as good as the first, the vibe was just not for me, I don’t like the x-games crowd, felt like a snowboarding game. The rally events were great especially the later ones, Utah was in particular very nice, a great edge of your seat ride, I would have loved it if there was more rally and trailblazer events, or even some of the epic hill climes of the first. I remember the endurance quality of the rally events, multiple stages with damage carrying over, they just didn’t give rally any respect, way too much focus on rally cross and city races, oh well, guess rally is still a niche genre, it hurts because dirt 1 had such awesome rally stuff, I will always remember the last few on the tour, truly epic long hill climes. Not sure where to turn for good rally any more, sigh.

Professor Layton

I know, I’m surprised too, but I need to get back into my DS and I never did finish Layton. Found a few moments to fill and Layton worked nicely. Got 7 hours in total on this play through, the animation and style is so endearing, really nice stuff here. And the puzzles, wow the puzzles, they are really testing my brain, just nasty difficult stuff.

Mass Effect 2

Here we go, got in over 15 hours on this, what an amazing this Bioware has done. The incredible Dragon Age, and now only 3 months later Mass Effect 2. Another incredible RPG from the masters. A lot has changed, the shooting has been refined to a point, very fast and furious, starting to get a little tough, bad guys are brutal. Was not expecting all the rpg elements to be reduced or in some cases totally eliminated. No inventory at for instance. This is much more Action then rpg. The characters really shine, I am finding it difficult to decide who is in my party, the Gruff speaking world weary bounty hunter Zeead is a personal favorite so far, it seemed like a cliché at first but he is really just cool. And the full body tattoo sporting psycho bitch, known as Subject Zero, great character design. Switched to disc 2, something I have not done in a long time, not since the glory days of PlayStation rpgs have I need to switch discs. Not sure of the length of this one, but I am may finish it this week, we shall see.

Steam

I have a love hat relationship with steam, it seems like every week they have another insane deal. 2 bucks for Psychonauts! You have to be kidding me, anyone who didn’t have it already and missed picking up this true classic for 2 buck should be ashamed! I already have 2 copies of Psychonauts, but I did get the Freedom Force pack and the X-com pack for 2 bucks each. How can I turn it down, two classic series for less than a big mac combo! Damn you steam! I love you!

Next:

Mass Effect 2

No much more to say here, this game rocks, it has been streamlined and the action tuned up a few notches, it is pure gold! My Shepard from the first game is back and as badass as ever, the red scars on his face are a really nice touch! My main focus this week.

Professor Layton

Any down time I have away from home is going to be spent with Layton, if the puzzles don’t kill me that is.

Bioshock

I really want to play though the original before Bioshock 2 is released in a few weeks, hopefully I can make time to get it done in time. Bioshock was such a truly landmark title, I can only hope the sequel has captured some of the great atmosphere and other worldly quality of the first.

Axellion, renegade,

Another week down, another huge Colts victory! Go Peyton Manning! They stared a little shaky and i was getting nervous, but Peyton came through in the end, one more game guys! Also Brett Farve lost, and he did it in style throwing an interception to give up the winning field goal try! Does it get any better that that! Back to gaming...
 

Week 3 2010

Next!