COT-DAMN!

It's been a while, folks! The lack of blogging can be directly linked to two events:

1. I was recently made the on-site manager at my job of the last six years (minus that whole five months I had quit). It means I've been really digging down and trying to get things done around here, and so far, I think it's going pretty well. I really enjoy it, and it has given me a renewed thirst for the gaming center business.
2. I've been playing a LOT of Old Republic, as some friends and I recently started our own guild and have been really pushing to clear through raid content before the recent 1.2 patch came out. For anyone interested to know, we're sitting on a full HM KP down and HM EV down except Soa...because Soa is a fucking asshole. A massive, crusty, diarrhea-stained asshole. Seriously, fuck that guy...SO hard.

However, I'm now at a point where Old Republic is slowing down a bit (because they have a lot of shit to fix with that clusterfuck), so I've been taking some time to check out a good handful of other games...finally. Here's a rundown of that stuff:

• Fez - So far, I'm only an hour or so into it. It has instantly made me want to purchase the soundtrack. Beyond that, there's a lot of people that are too busy getting hung up on the controversial statements of Phil Fish and saying "well, I'm not going to support that guy". To those people, I would say "pull your head out of your asses and buy the game because you are missing out on something special and pretty incredible".
• Shoot Many Robots - The night I bought Fez, I also bought Shoot Many Robots. I hit level 34 in one night. The level cap is 50. It's pretty good if you are into high scores and leaderboards, but beyond that, it reuses too many of the same level designs and relies too heavily on quirky loot to really be a fantastic game. It's a fun little playthrough, though.
• Legend of Grimrock - Right now, this stands as my Game of the Year for 2012. It's not innovative or completely fresh. It's an old-school grid-based first-person dungeon crawler...with a lot of hyphens in the words used to describe what type of game it is. It's Dungeon Master. However, it's a gorgeous looking game that handles the ambience of dungeon-crawling incredibly well, features a simple interface that literally anyone can understand and figure out, and the enemies that inhabit the dungeons can be incredibly difficult without a little bit of strategy. I'm playing on the default difficulty with the auto-map on my Tab key (I know, I'm a fucking loser like that). However, it's a game that I have trouble prying myself away from, like it's tickling every single nostalgia bone in my body while still feeling modern enough to appeal to my matured sensibilities. I highly recommend that everyone pick the game up, especially since it's only around $13-$14 and available on both GOG and Steam.
• Rayman Origins - I picked this and about seven other games up for the store after becoming manager. It's one of the first ones I plugged in, and I'll be goddamned if it isn't just charming as all fucking hell! The platforming is sharp and concise, the level designs are pretty rad, and the art design is absolutely gorgeous. It's good to see Rayman back in his real element!
• Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 - I fucking hate anime, and I doubly fucking hate Gundam. However, this game satisfies my loot whoring in ways that the base Dynasty Warriors series doesn't...and I didn't even know that was goddamn possible! What's more interesting is that Gundam 3 breaks the general amount of time per mission down from around 10-20 minutes in Dynasty Warriors (and sometimes longer) to around 5-10 minutes, in and out. It's that quick and precision execution of getting you through the mission and back to the menu that had me dumping way more time into it than I'd probably care to admit...and that admission is "30 hours or so at this moment". God, I feel like a terrible person for loving the shit out of that game.
• Splatterhouse - Despite virtually owning the page here on Giant Bomb, I never actually picked this up until my friend earlier this week (who works next door where they sell some used games) hooked me up with a discount on it. Getting it that cheap was basically the same as free. That game...well...it's bloody. Like, really bloody. Like, disturbingly bloody even for my tastes. Nah, it's just the right amount of blood. I think my biggest problem with the game is that I can see where BottleRocket was developing the game and where Namco Bandai's Afro Samurai team took it over...and that pisses me off, because all the shit that BottleRocket was doing was pretty goddamn great. Also, playing Splatterhouse makes me wish like hell that Sony would release an HD collection of Mark of Kri and Rise of the Kasai. That NEEDS to happen.
• Warhammer 40K: Space Marine - I had wanted to play this game for a while. After about an hour or two of playing it, I put the controller down for a little bit to take in what I had played. It was good, but I wasn't excited about it. It just...I don't know. It didn't feel like something that I want to KEEP playing, even though I know I will. The game isn't qualmed with problems or even anything generic about it. It just...feels too much like Gears of War without cover and proper guns? I really can't put my finger on it still.
• Dead Island - Remember a second ago when I said I plugged about 30 hours (that's what she said) into Gundam 3? Well, Dead Island was the other game I put a strong amount of time into. That game is basically brilliance on a disc. Yes, I do want to make a baseball bat with nails in it and beat the shit out of zombies with it. If it weren't for the great detail that goes into destroying a zombie, I think the game would be pretty damn boring. However, it's just that satisfaction of obliterating the fuck out of the undead, shredding their rotting flesh from their bodies and crippling their limbs...it just quenches my virtual bloodthirst in a way that something Splatterhouse hasn't quite done yet. Moreover, I believe that all RPGs must now have at least one item where the prefix for it is "Diabolical". Wielding a "Diabolical" weapon just makes you feel like way more of a badass. Plus, that intro song...OH THAT INTRO SONG! "Who do you voodoo, bitch?"
• League of Legends - I'm still on that shit. My ELO has gotten bombed way more than I am okay with. ELO Hell sucks. I will never escape. Watch me fucking rage as derps and idiots as they continue to flood that game with inane goddamn 50-point I.Q.s. Big ups to the good ol' Mr. Marino, however, for hooking me up with a Riot K-9 Nasus skin from PAX East. I WILL hit you back for the LoL PAX skin love you've seen me, broseph.
• Syndicate - I bought it. I've played it. It's cool. I haven't really gone much beyond that, as the guild for Old Republic shortly after I bought the game. I'll end up beating it sometime in the next few weeks...I hope.

If that Old Republic patch will stay broken for, like, another week. I really want to dig into the Kingdoms of Amalur DLC as well as possibly even boot SSX back up. I feel so bad for neglecting that game so much.

So there you go: that's what I've been up to for the last month. What games have you guys been jamming on, and what do you think of them?

Until next time, piece.