So just a few minutes ago, I finished up Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. By finished, I mean I beat the final boss battle/challenge thingy. I saw the ending after 38 hours with 82 jiggies out of a total 131, and I'm shooting for them all. Some of those late game challenges are... well challenging, and a great test of wits and engineering. For 40 dollars, this game easily has the best value this year, IMO.

So, as expected, the replies to my last post were along the lines of "really?!" Let me explain it a bit more.

Can't... stop... playing...

First, let's start off with what I rented.

I went out yesterday to Blockbuster and was excited to see Mirror's Edge in stock. I gave the clerk a dollar for the night ($1 rentals FTW), and told myself I would finish the game before delving into the other game which I purchased. I loved the demo afterall, so I was prepared for a real treat. What I wasn't expecting though, was for that treat to be a turd covered in ice cream sprinkles.

The game isn't horrible persay, but it's quite possibly the most trial and error game I've ever played. Most of the game, it challenges you to make all these crazy maneuvers and jumps... while getting shot at nonstop from every angle, which makes these parts extremely frustrating. Then there's parts of the game where it's just straight up DEVIOUS platforming, that will make you want to drive your head through the wall with a spike. TINY platforms that will cause you to fall to your death if you even think about touching the analog stick, or if you fail a jump and just walk off (this happens a lot actually). Then there's the grapple detection that just fails sometimes, where you'll be touching right up against a pipe or whatever and just fall, or go right fucking through it.

I could go on and on about the frustration that is Mirror's Edge, but I'll just say that it's not all bad, and that it's at least somewhat decent, but I'm glad I only paid a dollar for this one. I did beat it too, and I got the complete the game without shooting an enemy achievement to boot. I guess it was a good points boost overall, but don't play this game if you don't have patience, because you'll be flinging that shit.

On to what I bought:

I picked this up at GameStop yesterday after toiling away with the demo for hours. I'm in the mood for something light hearted and relaxing after such a dense onslaught of shooters and violent games in a row. I did trade a couple things in to get it... one of which that might get me burned at the stake. I traded in Halo 3 (GASP!) and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. I don't see myself playing Ratchet again because I've already beat it 3 times and unlocked/upgraded everything, and... Halo 3 is NOT Gars/Vegas 2, and that shotty snipers mode can screw off.

I haven't tried Banjo yet, because I was finishing up Mirror's Edge, but I'm about to go give it a try in a few minutes. I'll let you know how it is later.

That wraps it up. Peace.

Yeah, I got it. 

As you perhaps might have noticed on my gamercard, I've played Far Cry 2 and Fable II. Well, I had some money left over after preordering Gears of War II, so I decided to utilize Blockbuster since it's only a dollar per day to rent games there. So, here you are, my impressions:

Far Cry 2 - As some of you might have known, I was looking forward to this one quite a bit not long ago, so I wanted to get my hands on this one. It's... well... it doesn't click with me or something, or I just don't like it. The controls are pretty terrible (fast look is on heavily and can't turn it off, when sprinting you can BARELY turn), and the voice acting is....wow. Did they even try? I mean it's not Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom bad (oh no, not even close), but it's like the voice actors were rushing through their lines and not really emoting or having any passion at all for their parts. Oh, and I didn't catch WHAT THE HELL was going on with the story. Way to make me not interested at all. You're just thrust into... shootin' dudes and doing objectives...for some dude. Meh. Overall, the only good thing I have to say about the game is the multiplayer map editor is pretty insanely good, but other than that, I'm going to have to pass on this one.

So yeah, I sold my guitar to my aunt today for $75.

Doing minimal sidequests, and being "very good", it took me approximately 25 hours.

First off, I'd like to an extend a very, very big thanks to everyone who has given their condolences and have helped me through this whole debacle. If it wasn't for you guys, I'd probably still be in super depression mode. There was a time last week where I just crumbled. Felt like just giving up on gaming, and everything and just go into a long depression. But I can't let myself do that. My mom needs me, and so does my family. I tell you one thing this all has tought me though is to cherish every last moment you have. You never know when the ground will shake and your world will collapse. So once again, thank you all.