July 28th, 2008 Tengaport
Had these games on my Goozex trade list but opted to dump that at GameStop instead. While I generally avoid trading games in at GameStop they were currently running a promotion where you got an extra 20% trade credit when applying your trade-ins towards a pre-order of Soul Calibur IV.
Unfortunately, while attempting to take advantage of this deal I was informed that GameStop (at least the one pictures above) was no longer taking pre-orders for SCIV. The dude at the register was kind enough to extend the 20% bonus credit however which I was thankful for. With Ninja Gaiden II still in my 360 I don’t need to run out and pick up anything new, but still I am itching to ’step back onto the stage of history’.
Soon, I’m sure.
To comment on the games:
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 was pretty much the same exact thing as RSV1. That’s not a bad thing as the game is generally enjoyable. This time around however the story completely escaped me. Not at big deal though, as long as there were bad guys to shoot I was happy. It took a while to complete via co-op, but once it was over I knew I’d never be going back to the game. Sure, there were many terrorist hunt missions left unfinished, but I’ll leave those for the next guy.
Condemned 2 on the other sucked. It was a sheer and utter disappointment. The story was convoluted, the protagonist unlikable, and the missions were just so haphazard and random that the whole game felt like it was put together with duct tape. I only stuck around until the end so I could finish the game and be done with it.
There was none of the suspense or scares from the original, and the additions to the game play just convoluted things up worse. Again, Condemned 2 was just a huge disappointment for me.
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July 21st, 2008 Tengaport
My PSP’s battery had died as some point this past week which caused me to dust off my DS. It has been a while since I fired up Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, and after only a short while I remembered why that is.
You see, when I last played Advance Wars I was working my way through the trial maps. That was of course until I reached map 23 - simply titled Metro Map.
This tiny little map with 4 bases and 12 cities has surprised me as being one of the most difficult AWARS maps I have ever come across. You start the map being down by one property, which normally isn’t a big deal - but here it makes it insanely difficult to gain an advantage over your opponent.
Even when I do manage to capture a few properties and build some troops my units are decimated by my opponents ‘magical’ surplus of funds. I have lost on this map probably more times than I have the entire campaign. I just simply cannot get a strategy to work.
I’ve tried hunkering down on the defensive, speeding forward on the offensive - no matter what I’m quickly beaten into submission by superior force.
Even though my PSP’s batteries have been recharged I don’t think I’ll be able to put down my DS until I finish at least this evil little map.
Despite my failures on the DS front, I have been making progress with Secret Agent Clank on the PSP. I’m still enjoying the game, as much of what it has to offer is done very well. There are still sequences that are a chore to play, but I do what I must only to see what else the game has in store.
Clank is a lot of fun, but like I’ve said before, it’s not worth the $40 price tag. For $15 - 20 you’ve got yourself a solid good time on the go.
next up is Ninja Gaiden II on the 360. I’ve been hacking and slashing my way through hordes of enemies now even though I’ve completely lost site of why. I’m not complaining, but if someone stopped me in my quest and asked me why I was beheading everyone in sight I’d have a really hard time answering them.
The camera has become more and more frustrating as I make my way through the game. Didn’t anyone play test this thing? Or where they just too afraid to speak up that the camera sucks? It’s not going to stop me from playing the game, but its so glaringly bad that I just wonder how it made it through QC.
Another little complaint I have about the game, which is purely just my own opinion is the enemies. When I’m fighting hordes of Ninjas I am happy. Hell, even mystical vanishing Ninjas I’m cool with. When a 30 foot tall monster spider Ninja jumps onto the screen you start to loose me a bit.
It’s not that I’m looking for a realistic Ninja simulator or anything like that, I suppose I just enjoy the more plausible ninja enemies more. When fighting regular ninjas it’s easy to figure our what is an arm and what is a leg, when fighting these mutant, praying-mantis alien looking things I have trouble finding the head some times.
I’m hoping to warp Ninja Gaiden II up before Soul Calibur IV ships on the 29th.
There you have it though, the ‘currently playing’ wrap up for 7/21/08. I did also squeeze in some Gears of War ranked matches with friends this past week, which made ranked play infinitely more tolerable. Even as poorly as we did together we all had an enjoyable time laughing at our own curb-stomping inadequacies.
Good times
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July 17th, 2008 Tengaport
Today marks the last day of E3 2008 and Sony’s Playstation Portable seems to have been all but forgotten. Sure, we’re getting a couple of sequels along with a custom built Resistance - but the horizon is looking pretty bleak PSP owners.
Just look at this list of PSP titles on IGN’s E3 page:
The list doesn’t even fill a full page, while all other systems (yes, including the DS) have at least 4 pages worth of games. Even worse for the PSP is that some of the games listed on it’s page have long since been released.
Just when the little-system-that-could finally started to pick up momentum it seems to have stalled in it’s tracks. At Sony’s press conference it felt like they spent more time on the PS2 than then did with the PSP.
Is piracy really that big of a problem for the system that its keeping developers away? I can’t be the only PSP owner who actually purchases PSP games, can I?
I’m looking forward to Resistance and Patapon 2 (jury is out on LocoRoco2) but after than, then what?
Feels like the PSP is currently on life support 
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July 14th, 2008 Tengaport
A quick ‘currently playing’ update as I take a break from digesting the news from Microsoft’s E3 press conference (will get to that later).
Only two games have made the list this week - and those are Secret Agent Clank on the PSP and Gears of War on the 360.
I am mostly enjoying Secret Agent Clank so far. It’s got a lot of humor and character like the previous Ratchet & Clank PSP game, but somethings just are not quite right this time around. Its tough to really nail down what, but it feels as if Secret Agent Clank could have existed BEFORE Size Matters.
The reason I say this, is the game seems to introduce problems that were not present in Size Matters. Its as if the developers went back in time to make this game, not taking advantage of what they had learned with the previous PSP title.
While the cut scenes are still top notch, some of the gameplay variety is extremely poor. For instance, the rhythm mini-games, while tolerable in small doses appear way too often in the game. They are no even remotely enjoyable as there is hardly a discernible rhythm to follow. It’s more like just a string of ‘input this combo now’ sequences that often have me turning off the game if I fail them.
Speaking of turning off the game, every time I resume my PSP from sleep mode the game displays an error message about the memory stick. It doesn’t cause any problems aside from being a nuisance, but its just another one of those things that I don’t recall seeing in Size Matters (weird, huh?).
Regardless, I’m a few hours into the game now and at this point I’m pretty confident I’ll make it through to the end. The game does have it’s moments, but if I had paid full price for Secret Agent Clank I would be sorely disappointed.
Next up is Gears of War, and I’m happy to say I’ve finally gotten the ‘Money Shot’ (100 headshots in ranked matches) achievement. I am however very skeptical that I can pull off ‘Seriously’ before Gears of War 2 releases on Nov 7th.
I’m at just under 2,000 kills right now, and while I’ve been putting forth an honest effort, another 8,000 kills in 115 days is highly unlikely (thats 70 kills per day). I’m not giving up, I’m just no so sure it’s going to happen before Gears of War 2 makes the original obsolete on Xbox Live.
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July 14th, 2008 Tengaport
I’m saying goodbye to Vic and GTA: Vice City Stories today. I picked this game up in anticipation of GTAIV to see what the hype was all about. I had never played a GTA game before, so Vice City Stories was my first venture into Rockstar’s infamous territory.
I didn’t get too far into the game before GTAIV was released and I left Vic for the glitz and glamor of Liberty City. What I did see of Vice City however opened my eyes to the humor and spectacle that is the GTA series. I enjoyed the game much more than I anticipated, and while I haven’t set foot in Liberty City for a while, I really need to check back in with Nico and see what’s been going on.
But now I must leave Vice City for good. It was a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
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