by jacobmccourt
Showing 1-10 of 23 items
Date of Completion: January 1st, 2010 (Adventure, Mini-Games and Survival Modes)
Total Play Time: 6-8 hours (approx.)
My Experience with the Game:
Here's the thing. The Steam sale was on. I only have the Orange Box on my Steam account. Until this sale. I saw Plants vs. Zombies for $7.49 and threw my PayPal right at it. Thought I would see what all the hubbub was about. This is an addicting casual puzzle game/tower defense game.
Basically, you just want to protect your house from a slew of different zombies types by using plants with different effects (like a peashooter, venus-fly trap type thinger or a cherry bomb). You collect sun and place these plants in a strategic manner to avoid zombie brain eating. There's a few different modes; adventure, survival, mini-game and even a zen garden for growing your own plants to make money!
This game really surprised me. It was worth every penny. I bought it on the 23rd of December. That was a mistake. I had God of War Collection, Ratchet and Clank and others waiting and I played this. That just shows how addicting it is.
Verdict: Conditional Buy
This is a game you can pick up for ten minutes and then leave and do something else. It's great. Maybe not worth full price, but if it's on sale on Steam, pick it up!
Date of Completion: January 4th, 2010 at 1:30am (beating Final Boss, first play-through)
Total Play Time: TBD (beating Final Boss, first play-through)
My Experience with the Game:
Ratchet and Clank has always been a game series near and dear to my heart. I was explaining to a friend the other day that when I play the first game on the PlayStation 2, I didn't see the furry Lombax going anywhere after that. But Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal are some of the best PlayStation 2 games, even today.
Enough about the past! This PS3 exclusive, developed by Insomniac Games (Resistance, Ratchet to name a few recent franchises), is the third in an arcing story that began in Tools of Destruction and continued in the PSN Quest for Booty. In this intergalactic, time traveling adventure, the mysterious Zoni separates Ratchet and Clank. Ratchet is tasked with finding his lost partner. Meanwhile (a word you will see a ton of in this game), Clank must discover his grand role in the Universe as senior caretaker of the Great Clock. Consider all of this craziness with a certain evil bad dude and his butler sidekick tailing them at every turn.
I really enjoyed this game. I find that Insomniac is one of the only developers that can get a laugh out of me when playing a game. Captain Quark returns and takes a larger role, something I applaud them for. He's hilarious! As far as the gameplay goes, it's a Ratchet and Clank game. You strafe, you shoot, you collect bolts and you upgrade your crazy arsenal of weird weapons. Inter-dimensional portals anyone? However, I found that this game, unlike Tools of Destruction/Quest for Booty was a very tightly knit and complete package. There's a ton of collecting, space battles, arena battles, great boss fights and an excellent cast of voice actors. It's a great game and a great way to finish the trilogy.
Verdict: Conditional Buy
I would buy this game if you were a fan of the PS2 Ratchet and Clank game or someone looking for a great action platformer with shooting. It's a fun game above all else.
Date of Completion: January 19th, 2010 at 1:30am (beating Final Boss, first play-through)
Total Play Time: About 9 hours (beating Final Boss, first play-through)
My Experience with the Game:
God of War really surprised me. I know what you're going to say to me: "God of War won a ton of Game of the Year Awards and has been universally acclaimed as one of the PS2 best games". Well watching gameplay footage didn't really convince me. I just saw it as an great brawler with some great production values. Although, it has shown its age, this is a must-play for any PS2 owner.
First of all, it does the action really well. Sure, you might see the same 20 or so enemies with different skins a lot throughout the game, but the action is frantic. Something that I was not expected was the puzzles. Some of the puzzles were tough-ish to solve, something I was not expecting from the game I thought was going to be very dumb.
Then, there's the story, the voice acting and the cut-scenes. What a great story about Greek Mythology. It's amoing some of the best story-telling I can remember. Also, the boss fights were great.
Verdict: Buy
During the school period, I only allow myself to play one hour if video games a day or less during the week. I found myself thinking about playing this game when I wasn't playing it. That my friends is the sign of a compelling and complete package. Buy it, beat and be proud to put it on your shelf!
Date of Completion: February 2nd at 3:30pm (beating Final Boss, first play-through)
Total Play Time: About 11-12 hours (beating Final Boss, first play-through)
My Experience with the Game:
You remember when I said that God of War surprised me? Well, the second game in the series is killer. When I worked in video game retail, I didn't understand why the game would fly off the shelf (it was one of the last huge PS2 titles). Now, I do. The story continues and begins in a huge way (wink, wink) and is a cinematic roller coaster from the beginning to the end.
The game-play is completely overhauled but is tweaked with little things like the addition of secondary weapons. Although they don't have a huge impact on the game-play, they are cool! The thing that makes this game a must-play are the epic boss battles. Compared to the first game, this game must have three-four times more boss battles and they all have story impacts. And you smile when you see characters you know from Greek mythology.
I'm so glad I broke down and finally played the series. If you need something for your PS3 or see the God of War collection on PS3, pick it up. It's worth every cent.
Verdict: Buy
What can I say that I haven't said? God of War 2 is a masterpiece and needs to be played even if you do not have an appreciation of Greek mythology. It's got a great story and some excellent actions. Plus, Kratos is a badass. Such a badass. Seeing how this game ended, I can't wait for the third game.
Date of Completion: April 29, 2010
Date of Completion: May 6th at 6:30pm (beating Final Boss, first play-through)
Total Play Time: About 8-9 hours, which was way longer then I wanted to spend playing this game. (beating Final Boss, first play-through)
My Experience with the Game:
Here's my problem with Dead To Rights: Retribution. It is a jack of all trades and master of none. In the game, there are many different gameplay types; third person shooting with a cover system, third person action-brawling, stealth gameplay via Jack's dog, Shadow and other small gameplay types you will see in the late part of game.
The cover system works but is very clunky in certain spots. Having just finished Splinter Cell: Conviction, I unfairly compare the ease of use of the stealth there to this game. There are around 20 guns with varying power and style with most feeling very similar. The fighting system is very basic with two buttons controlling heavy and light attacks with some throws and block breakers thrown in for good measure.
The stealth portion? Batman: Arkham Asylum-esque. You control the dog from his perspective and have to stealthy eliminate enemies to get a key or an ID card in an area inaccessible to Jack's. Speaking of the dog, I felt awfully every time he was shot and head him yelp. :(
Dead to Rights is a mediocre game. One with forgettable characters, a generic story and a final three hours that made me want to punch myself in the head. Why? I played for four hours thinking I was going to reach the end and multiple times was tricked into the thinking the end was near.
Verdict: Tough to say
Even though Dead to Rights: Retribution is mediocre, I kinda liked certain parts of it. I rented it and you should not buy this game. Having said that, certain parts of the game are fun and try the demo first if you are truly interested.
Date of Completion: May 16th at 12:30am (yes, this is a Saturday night, but I was sick)
Total Play Time: 8:57 (beating Final Boss on God (Normal) first play-through)
My Experience with the Game:
God of War 3. Do I really have to say much more about it? I'm not going to spend time explaining the story or the previous games. Just look at games 3 and 4 for more information about them.
I bought this game from Amazon and received it the day after release. And it sat there for two months. Until last week. I'm kinda mad I hadn't played it until now. It's a great game! They took some of the things I didn't like in the first two games and focused on some great stuff.
The biggest pro the game has to offer is the HUGE action set pieces that it offers. Right at the beginning of the game you're fighting a God on the body of a Titan. Everything is moving, there's a ton of things going on and it's almost too much to process at some points. There are a few of these pieces sprinkled throughout the game. It even took a cue from Gears of War 2 at one point. It was a good moment.
This game is HELLA violent and sexual. I would not under any circumstance let anyone under the age of 17 play this game. Some of the action sequences were SO gruesome that my jaw literally dropped and stayed open for a few seconds. I can think of one sequence in particular where you dismember someone and watch the crawl away only to pick them up and dismember them again. Plus, there's sex. And boobies.
The cinematics really took a step forward in this game. I felt that Kratos didn't sound as stale as he had in previous games and that the supporting cast (Rip Torn and Malcolm McDowell in particular) of voice talent were great. I appreciated the stylized cut scenes that recapped the events of the first games.
So was there anything I didn't like? I could have done without the long "Icarus Wings" sections and the purple weapon (I won't spoil the name) was weak and really useless to me.
Verdict: Buy
Great game. It has some replay value, but it's one of those "experiences" (look at me going all Ebert on your ass) you want to remember and have on the shelf for the future. The ending sequence had some odd choices but the game was strong nevertheless. If you have a PS3 and are 17 , please play this game.
Date of Completion: June 1st, 2010 at 7pm
Total Play Time: 16 hours at 28.03% (beating Final Boss on Normal)
Date of Completion: July 13th, 2010 at 10:30pm
July 15th, 2010
Rent only if you're curious, you'll get less then 5 hours out of this one.