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hexogen

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Prestige #1

I've owned Call of Duty 4 since launch day, and I thought I had played it a lot online since then, but apparently not, because today I just reached level 55 and prestiged for the first time. It makes me wonder how the hell people could have played this game so much that they were able to prestige ten times. Originally I didn't think I was going to prestige. After all that work unlocking weapons and perks and doing challenges, the last thing I wanted to do was throw it all away. But then I realized that the experience system is a big part of what keeps me playing the game, and with everything already unlocked I'd eventually get bored, so I decided to prestige.

I've been playing the game a lot lately (like 2-4 hours a day), so if I keep that up I may be able to prestige again by the end of the year. That depends whether or not I get tired of playing it, I guess.
9 Comments

A New Purchase

Yep.
Yep.
I bought a little something off of eBay today. Some people call it the best game of all time. I just call it Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for now, but that may change once I get a chance to actually play it and see what makes it so great. I was actually thinking about getting a GameCube with Wind Waker and Twilight Princess instead, but I decided against it. I'd rather keep all that money for the onslaught of games releasing over the next few months. Maybe early next year I'll get one.

Uh, that's it really. I hooked up my Nintendo 64 so I don't have to bother with it later, so maybe I'll go play some Donkey Kong 64.
6 Comments

For Those About to Rock...

Let there be rock!
Let there be rock!
I picked up Rock Band 2 yesterday. I would've picked it up last weekend but I had tons of homework and knew that Rock Band 2 would prevent me from doing any of it. Now that I've had a chance to play around with it I figured I'd give you guys a few impressions.

If the original Rock Band laid the foundation for the full band rhythm game, then Rock Band 2 has perfected the experience. It's apparent from the moment you start playing the game that most of Rock Band's problems have been fixed.

First off is that navigating the list of songs is now much easier. Rock Band will have over 500 songs available to play by Holiday 2008, so it's clear that the old way of sorting songs just doesn't cut it anymore. Now songs have an icon that shows whether they're from Rock Band 1, Rock Band 2, or DLC, and there are a variety of sorting options for the songs. Most of the sorting options were in Rock Band 1, but the big difference this time is you can hold down a certain button to skip straight to a certain letter, difficulty level, etc. No more mashing the down button for 30 seconds trying to find the song you want.

Getting a bunch of players into a single band has also been simplified. One character can now play all the instruments (at first I was kind of pissed to find this out--I had named my character 'David D', standing for 'David Drums', only to find out later that he could play all instruments). You also now have to press start to go forward and go through a confirmation screen to back out of the player selecting process. This means no more accidentally going forward or back because someone was jamming out on the drums or guitar while setting up a band.

Once you get to the next screen (in tour mode), you can select three different gameplay modes for you and your friends to play. The first is 'World Tour.' It is extremely similar to the Rock Band 1 band world tour, the only notable addition that I've noticed being the ability to hire staff members.

The second mode is 'Tour Challenge'. The Tour Challenges replace the linear tour mode from the original Rock Band, and replaces it with a bunch of different challenges for your band to complete. Some have certain requirements. For example, the guitar and drum challenges require a guitarist and drummer in your band, respectively. Some challenges require that you have at least 2 players in your band. The game will even take your downloadable content and Rock Band 1 tracks, if applicable, and make artist, album, and Rock Band 1 challenges out of them. The Tour Challenges stand as the fastest way to unlock songs, and are a whole lot of fun.

The third mode is 'Battle of the Bands'. In this mode your band compete in a series of constantly changing challenges that Harmonix makes against all other bands who do that challenge. Sometimes you'll be competing for score, sometimes you may be competing for number of stars. Sometimes you may even be competing for the highest note streak. The battle of the bands challenges also have certain requirements. For example, they might have to be played with only one player, or on a certain difficulty level, or with no fail mode turned on. It's an interesting mode that gives the game a lot of life since it can never be beaten.

In the rest of your practice space you have the rock shop, which has pretty much everything from Rock Band 1 plus a few new things. It's a shame there isn't more new content for it.

Like I said earlier, this is pretty much Rock Band perfected. If you were thinking about getting Rock Band before, now is the time. When the bundle comes out, pick it up, rent a copy of Rock Band 1 and pay the $5 to have all those songs transferred. It's like getting two games in one. You'll enjoy it. I certainly am.
4 Comments

A Tough Decision

So I was looking at my last blog and realized that, dude, I want a lot of games. Problem is, I need money to buy these games. Now you may or may not know that I've been saving up for a PS3. I don't have a real job, so to save up for something as expensive as a console I have to take literally half of all the money I make and put it aside so I can use that money to buy it, and I have to do this for months and months before I get enough cash. Now the cheapest PS3 SKU costs $400. A recent game for the system would cost $60. For the same price as a PS3 and one game, I could get almost eight games for the 360 (actually, it would be eight if Banjo Kazooie was one of the games, which it is). In addition, I would only be able to get three or four games this fall if I kept saving up for a PS3. After taking all that into account I decided that I will not be saving up for one. I want a PS3, but it'll have to wait until later. There are too many games coming out right now on the system I already have, and considering I would only use the PS3 for exclusives, it doesn't make much sense to get one at this time.

Back to the usual business. Here's what I've been playing as of late.

  • Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - I haven't played this since May, but my excitement for the upcoming Fallout 3 got me playing it again. I can still say with complete confidence that I will never finish this game. Not because it's bad or anything, but because it's so damn long, and I'm hoping Fallout 3 will fix most of Oblivion's problems and render it almost obsolete.
  • ÅŒkami - I keep saying that I'm almost finished with this game, but I mean it this time. I am close. I can feel it! This game has honestly amazing, and you should probably play it.
  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - I'm still playing this. I'm actually only a few levels away from prestiging for the first time. It's hard to believe I've been playing this game since November and still haven't prestiged yet.
  • Rock Band - I played a bit of it with my friends. Honestly, the day I get Rock Band 2 can't come soon enough. I'm pretty tired of more than half the songs in Rock Band 1. I'll be getting Rock Band 2 this weekend, though. I would've gotten it yesterday, but I had a lot of homework and knew that if I got RB2 I wouldn't do any of it.
  • Need for Speed: Carbon - I played this for a few hours when I first got it and then just stopped. I've just been distracted by other games. Yesterday though, I played through a little more of it. It's a pretty enjoyable racer.
  • Gears of War - I got this two months ago, and I'm only on the second act. I'm playing through co-op with my friend, but it's rare that we're both in the mood to play it, so our progress has been pretty slow.
3 Comments

Fall 2008 Wishlist

I haven't blogged in a while. School has started up and is getting pretty busy already. In fact, it usually leaves me pretty tired by the end of the day, which is why I haven't blogged much. Not that I have much to blog about. For now though, here is a list of games being released this fall that I want to get. As I'm currently saving up for a PS3, I'll only be able to afford a few this year. The rest will have to wait until Spring of next year.

  • Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts - I've never played a Banjo-Kazooie game before, but the vehicle building stuff seems like it could be really neat and definitely has me interested in the game. The $40 price point and the code for a free copy of the original Banjo-Kazooie if you pre-order it is also pretty convincing.
  • Call of Duty: World at War - A few months ago I was on the Treyarch hating bandwagon, but after actually seeing some gameplay I don't know, this game could be pretty alright. 4-player co-op, a flamethrower weapon? Of course it's still World War II though, which kind of bums me out.
  • Chrono Trigger DS - So there's something I've noticed. People love Chrono Trigger. A lot. Why do they love it so much? I don't know. But I want to find out. It's coming out on the DS. I'll probably get it. Maybe I'll like it. Who knows?
  • Dark Void - This game is a pretty unique spin on your average shooter. It has your typical third-person shooter combat, but also mixes that up with both vertical and in-the-air combat. Overall, it looks pretty cool.
  • Dead Space - Dead Space came out of nowhere for me. Before this year's E3 all I really knew about it was that it existed, but after seeing some gameplay videos of it I put it on my wishlist. It looks pretty creepy and the strategic dismemberment is pretty rad.
  • Fable II - Peter Molyneux makes this game sound amazing. Of course, Peter Molyneux is a crazy man and the game might not be anywhere near as good as he would have us believe, but from what I've seen it looks pretty great, so I'll give the Molynator the benefit of the doubt.
  • Fallout 3 - Now I'll be honest. Probably the biggest reason I'm looking forward to this game is because it reminds me of Oblivion, except with guns and a post-nuclear environment. Obviously that's selling the game short. It's got plenty to separate it from Oblivion, and honestly, it looks pretty amazing.
  • Far Cry 2 - The first Far Cry didn't do too much for me. It was a great looking game, but not much else about it was great. Far Cry 2 looks set to change that, however. The technology behind the game looks great and the game seems really open-ended.
  • Gears of War 2 - I've yet to actually complete the first Gears of War's campaign (in fact, we are at the very beginning of Act II--my friend and I should probably play that some more), but once I do I'll be sure to pick up Gears 2.
  • Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars - I'm still not sure what to think of this, being that we haven't seen a single screenshot or trailer of this game. Right now I'm cautiously optimistic about it. GTA for the DS doesn't seem like a very good fit, but I'm hoping Rockstar will prove me wrong. It's GTA though, so I'll probably pick it up regardless of my doubts.
  • Guitar Hero: World Tour - This is not at the top of my list of games to get, but I'm planning on picking it up at some point. I wasn't originally planning on getting it at all, but after hearing that the game will be compatible with Rock Band instruments I was interested.
  • Midnight Club: Los Angeles - I've been craving a fast-paced edge-of-your-seat arcade racer lately, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles looks set to satisfy my appetite.
  • Mirror's Edge - This game caught my interest because of its unique premise. A first-person parkour game? Sure, why not? At first I thought it was a really weird idea for a game, but as time went on and I found out more about it I realized this could potentially be a pretty cool game.
  • Need for Speed: Undercover - What I loved about the last few games in the Need for Speed franchise were the crazy police chases and the over-the-top storylines. If the trailer and teaser site are to be believed, this game looks set to deliver in droves.
  • Prince of Persia - I never played any of the Prince of Persia games before (they're on my long, long list of games I need to get around to playing) but I'm planning on making this my first. The art style is really cool and I like the way they're trying to make your AI partner as unobtrusive as possible.
  • Pure - I had a lot of fun with the original ATV Offroad Fury that came with my PS2, and when Giant Bomb previewed the game, it immediately had my attention. The trick system is set up nicely and the demo was a lot of fun.
  • Rock Band 2 - Dude, it's Rock Band. How could I not get this game? It seems to fix a lot of the first game's problems, and features probably the best licensed soundtrack of any game to date. This is definitely a high priority game on my list.
  • Saints Row 2 - The first Saints Row had its problems, but overall it was a pretty enjoyable game. I loved Grand Theft Auto IV and the more realistic direction it took in terms of gameplay, but I still have that side of me that wants to do a bunch of crazy shit, and hopefully Saints Row 2 will satisfy that side.
  • Skate 2 - I was planning on picking up the first Skate, but with the second Skate set for release so soon I figured I might as well wait it out. This game's release date is currently planned to be anywhere from "now" to "Spring 2009", so I'm not sure whether I should put it on this list or not. But whatever, I will.
  • Spore - I haven't gotten around to getting this game yet, but I will eventually. The creature creator was great, and hopefully the full game will be even better.
5 Comments

An Epiphany

Rock Band, I wish I knew how to quit you.
Rock Band, I wish I knew how to quit you.
I've been trying to enjoy my last few days of summer the way I usually do: eating, sleeping, hanging out with my friends, and of course, playing video games. Yesterday, however, I didn't really have anything to do, and I had heard about a guy who was streaming himself playing expert drums on every single song in Rock Band (both on-disc songs and every DLC song ever released). So I've been watching that on and off since yesterday, and it got me in the mood to play Rock Band. But every time I started the game up, I found myself getting bored after just one or two songs. Tonight, as the drummer I mentioned earlier was playing the final tier of songs, I realized something.

Dude, I am totally over Rock Band.

Yeah, I said it. And I can't believe I did. You may or may have taken notice, but since I got the game back in December I've been playing Rock Band at least three or four times a week--usually more. I have talked about it constantly on my blog and played it with my friends all the time (though strangely no one from here). For the last eight months I've been addicted to the damn game. It is by far the game I have put the most time into this year. And yet here I am saying I'm bored with it. I guess it had to happen eventually, right?

I don't think it's Rock Band's gameplay I'm tired of so much as it is all the songs I have. I've played all of them so much and I've grown sick of them. I know what you're thinking. "Buy more songs then, dumbass!" But as I'm saving up for both a PS3 and Rock Band 2 my budget is very tight, so that's not an option right now.

I'm sure when Rock Band 2 comes around my Rock Band fire will be reignited, but for now I think I'm done with Rock Band 1. I'll still probably play it when my friends are over, of course. After all, Rock Band is a great party game. But as far as single player goes, I think I'm officially done. It's time to move on. Though tomorrow I could be eating my words and playing Rock Band all day. Who knows?
5 Comments

A New Game

Hopefully this can refuel my gaming fire.
The game I ordered off of eBay a few weeks ago is here. Just when I was starting to wonder why the hell it was taking so long to get here, it arrived. The game in question is Need for Speed: Carbon. All the Midnight Club: Los Angeles trailers and screens not only got me excited for the game's release in October, but also got me craving for a good racing game to play in the meantime. I'm big fan of the Need for Speed games, having bought every game in the series since Hot Pursuit 2, besides Carbon and ProStreet. They kind of lost my interest with those two, especially ProStreet. But for $15 I decided to give Carbon a chance, and when ProStreet's price goes down I'll probably give that a shot too.

I've actually only played roughly 45 minutes of Carbon since getting it two days ago. It hasn't completely managed to get me back in the mood to play tons of games, but it's a start. School starts next week though, so I'm sure all that pencil pushing will get me right back in the mood to game.
5 Comments

Gaming Apathy

Have any of you ever had a sudden lost of interest in gaming? It usually happens to me once or twice a year, and this must be one of those times because sometime last week I stopped playing games, for the most part. I say for the most part because Rock Band has managed to remain a daily part of my life despite my current habits. But I have played absolutely zero Okami, zero Call of Duty, and zero Re-Volt in the past week. I sometimes wonder what it is that makes me randomly fall into these kinds of moods. Maybe it's because I've been playing a bit too much over the summer. Maybe it's because I haven't bought a new game in almost two months. Maybe it's a gaming overload since I've been on Giant Bomb constantly since launch. Honestly, I don't know what it is. But I haven't and still don't have the urge to play anything; I'm not even having as much fun as I used to when playing Rock Band.

As such, I haven't been around Giant Bomb as much as I usually am, so if I haven't been commenting your blogs lately, sorry. Maybe I'll snap out of my spell when the game I bought off of eBay finally comes. I thought it would be here by now, since I sent the payment out on the 15th and they live one state away from me, but the seller hasn't even acknowledged that they received my payment, so I don't know what's up. Normally, I would be kind of antsy because it's taking so long to get here, but right now I don't really find myself caring much. Blah.

4 Comments

Delving Into the Past

Re-Volt is craaazy!
Yesterday my friend and I were looking for a good game to play, and we decided to pull out a game I loved from the PSX days. The game was Re-Volt. If you haven't heard of it, Re-Volt is an RC racing game made by Acclaim. It's very similar to Mario Kart, in that you race around tracks while collecting power-ups which can than be used on enemies or, in some cases, on yourself. I forgot how much fun it could be until playing through it yesterday. My friend and I are planning on beating it over the next few days, though I don't know if we'll actually go through with that or not. My disc is scratched to shit though. The game plays fine, but the soundtrack skips all the time, and that's really annoying, so I think I'm going to go into the options and turn the music off. By the way, this game is now free on the PC, so if you can find it on the interbutts I definitely recommend giving it a try. Though when I tried to download it I couldn't get it to run on Vista, so that was kind of disappointing. At least my PSX version mostly works!

In other news, I posted a list of my favorite games of all time with a short description of why I like each game so much, so if that interests you then check it out. I also ordered a game off of eBay, since I haven't purchased something new to play in two months. I suppose I'll wait until it gets here before I reveal what it is. Suspense!
6 Comments

I bought... a book?

I'm not a very avid reader. It's uncommon for me to go to the library if I don't have to for academic reasons, and it's even more uncommon for me to actually spend my own money on a book. But every once in a while a book grabs my attention and I'll shell out some moolah to have the privilege to read it. Mass Effect was one of my favorite games of 2007, and one of the things that really made me enjoy it was the immersive universe filled with tons of detail and back-story. I'll leap at any chance to learn more about the Mass Effect universe. And thus I ordered Mass Effect: Ascension. I'm not too far into it yet, but the first novel was great, and I expect this one to be no different.

Awesome.
Awesome.
6 Comments
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