blogging about games out of boredom between classes
By MoistJohn 8 Comments
Hello internet people,
I've been playing mainly 4 games lately, all '09 games for some reason.
Borderlands !
I got the game on a steam sale because for all the good things Jeff was saying about the game, I didn't really think it would click with me. So buying it at the original cost was a no sell. But one day, one of those horrible steam sales appear and what do my eyes see but Borderland for quiet cheap (don't remember what it was though) and so I dove into Pandora, thinking "hey, I'd give this a shot. Maybe some multiplayer with some friends."No long ago, I finished the game playing as Lilith, while actually playing very little online. It seems like that game has one very big plus for it: it's fucking fun. It gets a little repetitive, the game felt a little unbalanced (more on that soon), the plot was silly and not very interesting, and at some point the quest dialong became a chore to read. So how come I've spent the better part of two weeks playing nothing but Borderlands ?
Because shooting dudes in the face with a ridiculous gun is a blast. pun intended. Someone should probably do some research on why gamers enjoy shooting things in the face.
Maybe because the game was a little unbalanced and I kept being 3-4 levels above the creatures I was fighting that made it fun and not this intense, hard experience. In an early stage of the game I bought from a special sale a shield that regenerates health, and not long after got a shotgun with high accuracy. Those two items remained equipped for a long long time.
In the beginning, I was doing all the side quests in the hopes of finding great loot, but soon found out that all that XP I was getting had me over leveled for most of the game.
So it's easy to see why my experience felt unbalanced.
I did have a great time playing though.
Maybe the two are related.
Dirt 2 !
The reason for me having this game is similar to that of Borderlands. While thinking that I'd enjoy playing it, because I really enjoyed Grid, the original cost of it made me go "aaahhhh....... another time". Steam sale and boom. Dirt 2 for around 10 bucks. Talk about a steal.Maybe it's just my machine, but the game won't run on full screen, only windowed (proper resolution though) and it keeps resetting my controls because my gamepad is this cheap little (though physically huge gamepad) thing and I have to retell it that left on the left stick means I want the car to go left.
But other then those two things, Man... what a great driving game. Now, I'm really not "That" guy about driving games. I hate GT and never played Forza but I loved Grid and Burnout is a long time romance with me. So I'm kinda in the middle maybe.
(I just now realized how many times I used "maybe" in this blog until now. Let's see how many more will be)
It feels fast. It feels responsive. You drift, you chew dirt and road, you race Point to Point in the desert to see if you can beat Ken Block's best time. I don't really know what there is to say about this game (So bravo Drew for writing a full review) because It's a racing game. A good one. Licence cars, good number of tracks, what more do you need ?
The difficulty seems a little too easy on the scale though. I'm playing on the 4th out of 5 (or is it 5th out of 6) and beating most races in first place. Maybe (!) it's just me though.
Assassin's Creed 2 !
Got it in the Platinum Game of the Year edition, so pretty cheap too (a common link ?!). Holy shit what a game. Almost every gripe I had with the first is gone and replaced with a better system/gameplay/direction. All that and keeping what I enjoyed about Assassin's Creed. Leaping from tree to tree on the mighty rivers of British Colombia... (Or from building to building in the watery city of Venice) still feels great and smooth. I still feel like that deadly dude that can strike from the shadows (although I don't do a lot of that). More tools, more weapons, better story, less Desmond walking around a 10 by 10 room, A lot of game in one package, and so on. Really a great game. Might be my 2010's 2009 game of the year.It still has it's awkward moments, and the combat (while improved a lot) still feels a little slow because counter kills are easy to do and they kill the dude right there. So Ezio usually stands, sword drawn, in the center of a circle of dudes. All looking at each other with dumbfounded looks. Waiting for someone to do something.
Also, in big battles, it's a little hard to pick and choose targets.
But you still leap 50 feet into a little pile of hay. WHAT THE FUCK ?! it bugged me in the first game, it bugs me now, and it will probably bug me in every AC game in the future.
(Also, I'm just starting chapter 14 so please, No spoilers in the comments)
The Beatles: Rock Band
It's rock band.IT'S FUCKING AWESOME.
plus, I am meeting the Beatles for the first time (didn't really had an opinion on them before) and learning about great music, AND my girlfriend loves singing while I play the guitar.
That's about it. I played Civ 5 (you can read all about that in the post below) and loved the shit out of it, but it's way too time consuming and the above games are all games you can pick up for a race/song/kill or two and put down. So they are easier on the schedule on me.