January 29th, 2008 Tengaport
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin has been out for a week now, during which time I’ve logged over 12 hours into the game’s campaign mode. I have been holding off making a comment about the game because, honestly, I’m not really sure what to say. It is Advance Wars at it’s core, but so much is so very different.
First up - while I was able to S rank both the ‘normal’ and ‘hard’ campaigns in Advance Wars: Dual Strike - in Days of Ruin I am completing battles with B and C rankings for the most part. This is not a complaint, just an observation that Days of Ruin is rougher and tougher.
This may be due to the fact that I am using tactics and strategies that I have honed in previous AWARS titles that don’t quite apply anymore. For instance, CO powers as we’ve known them are a thing of the past. COs no longer sit in some chair off the battlefield and call the shots. Now, they end up directly in the action - and play a key role in your battle plan.
As you would in real battles (I’m guessing here) it is important to keep your CO covered on the battle field. They will hit harder than your other units, and can take more of a beating - but lose them in battle and you’ll probably lose some ground along with them.
Along with the CO changes are new units and some unit tweaks. On the new side of things we have: (I don’t really have a handle on these new units, so I may be wrong with some intel here)
The Duster - In my experience this unit is proving to be somewhat useless. It costs more than the B-copter and while it can attack land and air units it does little damage to either. It has proved effective as a long range recon unit at times, but not enough that I put many of them into production. It doesn’t fill a void that was missing in the AWARS arsenal, so most vets will probably avoid it all together.
Anti-Tank Gun - This is an indirect fire unit similar to the artillery gun, yet it can pack a punch in direct combat as well. I believe it can also punch B-copters out of the sky as well. It’s been pretty useful and I’ve been building quite a few of them during battles. It doesn’t have the best movement, but keep it covered and it’ll get the job done.
Bike - These come in handy when making a rush on a distant base or city. They wont hold up to any strong fire power and can’t cross areas that mechs and infantry can, but they’re quick and can cover a lot of ground when you’re in a hurry.
War Tank - This unit replaces both the Neo Tank and Mega Tank and feels like a combination of the two. Honestly, I don’t use it all to often, but with a CO loaded it can do some devastating damage. I haven’t rolled too many of these out of factories yet due to it’s high construction costs and its slow movement. Still, War Tanks are quite a force to be reckoned with.
Gunboat - The Gunboat is a basically a lander that traded one of it’s cargo holds for a powerful missile salvo. Only downside is that you’ve only got enough ammo on board for one shot at a time. it’s a direct fire unit that works well when you need to get a soldier across a dangerous sea and don’t have time to build defenses around a lander. I dig the Gunboat, but too often I leave them for dead after they serve their purpose as it requires too much effort to get them back to a port to reload.
Seaplane - I don’t have too much to say yet about these carrier constructed aircraft. They have the same movement range as a bomber but I can’t really comment on their effectiveness just yet due to a lack of use.
Flare - I haven’t used this unit yet. Its a cool idea, but I’ve already adapted on how to deal with fog of war, so I haven’t felt a need to roll any of these out.
I’ll post about changes to the old ones soon.
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January 28th, 2008 Tengaport
I hate to admit it, but I didn’t spend too much time with Fred. I was excited to get the game , but after only playing for a short time my enthusiasm for the title wained. It’s an interesting concept with high production values and all, but I fumbled with the controls and just never quite got into the game’s flow.
I kept Fred for a while, but eventually admitted that I’ll probably never get around to going back to the game - especially with Silent Hill: Origins in my PSP right now and Patapon and God of War coming out in the next few months.
Unfortunately, it was time for Fred and I to part ways. I have no insightful comments to make on the game good or bad, so I’ll just say a pleasant goodbye and we’ll both be on our ways.
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January 28th, 2008 Tengaport
I saw this pattern on Boingboing and know my mom is a ninja with knitting needles asked her if she could whip one up for me. Low and behold, only a few days later I am now the proud owner of my very own knit Goomba beanie!
Can’t wait to wear it on it’s maiden voyage tonight on the way home from work.
Thanks mom
xoxo
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January 23rd, 2008 Tengaport
Thankfully there are only a few releases in February that I’ve got my eye on. This will give me time to catch up on the mound of games that are piled up at home. Patapon at only $20 is the month’s only definite purchase. I am having a fantastic time with Assassin’s Creed on the 360, but I think Altair’s little adventure will have to wait until reviews hit. If it gets the thumbs up then I’ll be adding it to my Goozex list alongside Wipeout Pulse. As eager as I am to jump back into hyper-speed racing on the PSP I can wait a few months to do so.
Hopefully Patapon lives up to the hype this month and doesn’t end up being another Loco Roco for me.
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January 23rd, 2008 Tengaport
Thrillville was a lot of fun. Much less theme park management and more so just easy going theme park fun. It was nice to walk through you theme park and see it in action, and stop to enjoy all the rides, games and attractions. Everything was very bright and bubbly in this game, and the only real complaint I would have is with the frequent load times. Just seems every time you went to do something, whether it be open a menu or update an attraction you were hit with a short load screen. It unfortunately ended up slowing the game down too much for me to spend a great deal of time with.
Don’t get me wrong, the game is still a lot of fun, but the theme park world moves fast, and the frequent load screens made keeping up with it a little difficult.
I’m still interesting in picking up the latest Thrillville, but I’ll probably hold off until I get a PSP Slim with it’s faster load times 
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January 23rd, 2008 Tengaport
Though I haven’t taken the powered up blue bomber out for a spin in a very long time it was still very difficult to pack him up and say goodbye. I completed the main portion of the game, but there were still tons of the challenge levels that I… well…. would probably never get around to finishing.
This game was so damn cutesy it was disgusting. Mega man never looked nor sounded better. I’m regretting not taking him out for a final romp before sending the game away. Oh well, adios mi amigo!
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January 22nd, 2008 Tengaport
My current laptop woes have me contemplating making a leap to the dark side. I am a PC guy, I need a PC for work, but I can’t ignore the allure of this sleek, black Macbook. With the heard of my computer life revolving around Photoshop, Firefox, Flickr & Google there really isn’t much keeping me grounded in Windows.
Macs are entirely unknown to me, but I’m up for finally venturing in uncharted waters. There are a few PC only apps that I would need, but with the ability to run Windows XP as well I think I’ll be in good hands.
I haven’t fully committed, nor do I have to scratch to make this happen anytime soon - but I am leaning heavily towards the dark side.
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January 21st, 2008 Tengaport
Last night I was pissed…
My laptop, my sole computer, died unexpectedly. I did all I could do to revive it, but the thing is dead as a doornail.
I was so pissed I wanted to smash it into a million tiny pieces, but I knew that wasn’t going to help the situation. I needed a way to get my frustration out though. So what did I do? I fired up Assassins Creed on the 360, made my way into the nearest town and slaughtered every single soldier I came across.
I made no attempts to be covert, or to hide my actions (sorry about that brotherhood). I walked the streets until I found a soldier then sprung upon them with my hidden blade. After each kill I would stand over the lifeless corpse until other soldiers seen what I had done and drew their swords.
Wave after wave I would destroy them. And when there was no one left to challenge me, I would wander aimlessly until I happened upon my next victim. I did this for hours last night before calling it quits. Cold, cruel and ruthless - but also very therapeutic. Being a virtual-uber-violent bad ass helped calm the distress losing my laptop caused. I know some anti-game advocates would love to see this post, but to be honest it really helped me to feel better.
So, thanks for the therapy Altiar. Next time I fire up Assassin’s Creed it’ll be back to business I swear.
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January 21st, 2008 Tengaport
Today is a very sad day. Without warning my laptop powered down and quietly died.
All was working well and dandy until I plugged in a my PSP’s USB charge cable. I turned away from my laptop to plug the other end into my PSP then turned back and my laptop was dark. I tried to power it back up, checked the batteries, AC adapter - nothing.
I removed the RAM, hard drive, DVD drive - put it all back together - nothing. I checked for short-circuit indications (smells, burns) - nothing. It just shut down and that was that.
I barely even got to enjoy the recent 2GB of ram I installed on this trusty old friend. Depressing would be an understatement, but I suppose it isn’t the end of the world.
For the meantime I’m going to be using my ancient Sony Vaio PCG-SR17 which means pretty much I won’t be doing anything aside from some websurfing. It’s a little too humble to run photoshop or do much of anything else. Still, I’m thankful to have it so I am not completely cut off from the interwebs.
I’m not quite sure what I am going to do about a replacement. Since my laptop was my primary PC, there is no way I will be able to function for very long without it. I’m just not so keen on footing the bill for a new one right now. Not to mention I’m not even sure what I would want.
Dell currently has an attractive XPS system with 3GB of ram but I’m not sure if that’s the direction I want to go. I would like another IBM, but I think price wise it just might be out of the question. Tomorrow I’m sure I’ll be doing some on-line comparisons.
Rest in Peace my IBM T42p, you shall be missed. Off to the world wide web in the sky.
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January 21st, 2008 Tengaport
Been spending some quality time with Silent Hill: Origins lately on the PSP. I highly advise anyone who picks up this game to do as it says, put on your headphones and turn down the lights for a fantastically frightening and eerie portable experience. As excellent as the music and ambiance is in this game and as think as the tension gets at time, the combat borders on terrible. What could have been a really great game is reduced to a good one due to some ‘interesting’ game mechanics.
Once I started playing with my in-game flashlight off, and avoiding monsters completely I began to enjoy the experience much more. No matter what type of weapon you pick up in the game, wooden plank, metal pipe, screwdriver, etc - it will break only after a few very gentle hits. It’s not really a big deal when you encounter multiple enemies because they will no doubt kill you before the steel rod you are smacking them with shatters in your hands. There is no real targeting option so it ends up being easier to just run from a gang of psychotic nurses than to try and pummel them.
Camera issues creep up at times though they are merely a minor nuisance as opposed to a full on problem. It does make some situations more frustrating than they need to be by instantly changing the direction of your character when the camera changes - often sending him right back the way he came.
There is so much done right in Origins that I’m continuing to play it and doing my best to forgive it’s shortcomings. There isn’t another portable game like it, so it’s well worth checking out. It’s just unfortunate that while it’s so good in the atmospheric areas its so poor in others. Still, its managing to creep me out pretty extensively, so that’s gotta be worth something.
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