I planned on taking it easy on the games this weekend. Instead, I beat Monkey Island Special Edition in two sittings. It’s a great game though, just as good as I remember it.
Archives for July 2009
The Folks at Apple Are Geniuses
I’ve spent $15 in the last two weeks on the iTunes store for some games for my iPod Touch (phone coming next week!). Fifteen dollars net me six games and every one of them has been amazing. Assassin’s Creed and I have had an excellent past. I don’t know how Ubisoft did it, but the game on the iPod ($5) is unbelievable. The rest: Mecho Wars, Flight Control, Baseball Superstars 09, and geoDefense.
360 Days of 360 Gaming
Today, I have played Xbox 360 (and Games for Windows LIVE) games for 360 days in a row. I should get a prize.
Weekend Gaming
So I’m coming home from a two-week trip for work and I have a very long weekend ahead of me, hopefully chocked full of gaming. While I’ve been on the road, I’ve had a chance for a little New York Times Crosswords on my DS, but I just haven’t had a lot of time to play anything else. So now that I’m homeward bound, I’m ready to get some heavy duty gaming in.
So what will I be playing? I’ve got the new NCAA 10 sitting on my desk, awaiting my arrival. I can’t wait for to pop that game in. In addition to that, I need to get back to the Red Planet to smash some stuff with my super sledgehammer and help out the Red Faction. And maybe if I can convince James to join me, we’ll get some quality time with Mercenaries mode in Resident Evil 5. With the kids, it will be some Boom Blox Bash Party. Oh, and I picked up Plants vs. Zombies before I left, so I need to get back to that, too.
Sheesh, that’s going to be a busy weekend. What will you be playing?
Cheap Game of the Week: Turok
Overview: Call of Duty meets Aliens meets Jurassic Park. Should be a winner, AMIRITE!?
Pricing: Turok can commonly be found used for $10 to $15 and a new copy will usually run about $20. The market is pretty saturated with used copies though, so it can be found cheap. So far the cheapest I’ve seen it was $5, but only on a couple of occassions.
Rip-Off Warning: You can easily find it for $30 new, which is ridiculous considering how cheap it is used.
Platform: XBox 360 (Reviewed), Playstation 3, Windows
Is it worth it?: When Zero Punctuation decided to cover Turok, Yahtzee instead crucified standard poor design decisions commonly found in First Person Shooters. The reason why he chose to do it in his Turok review is because it was indeed the epitomy of poor design. Sadly, it didn’t have to be that way. A current console generation reboot of a long-running franchise, this could have been a fairly decent game without trying very hard.
There were some neat ideas, but the execution makes the game needlessly tedious. Close combat looks awesome, but when every knife kill is a cinematic where you are vulnerable to other enemies it can quickly end in your death. The perspective switches to third-person everytime Turok does an action like climb a ladder or stabs an enemy, and you’re constantly zooming back into first-person for everything else. Weapons are generic, the settings repetitive and surprisingly bland, and the attempts to make the game suspenseful often fall flat, are frustrating, or oddly generic despite the regular dinosaur adversaries.
I suppose I could cover something about the needless rip-off of Aliens and the slavish following of space marine conventions in first-person shooters, but we don’t really play these games for the story so if the gameplay is bad does it really matter how derivative the plot is?
Did I mention the game features quick-time events for struggling with dinosaurs that pounce on you? While they are not terribly difficult, they just add to the tedium. I’m not a fan of quick-time events in general, but these might have been somewhat logical had the rest of the game been better. Instead it just adds another layer of busy work into a game that already has several layers.
Final Judgement: Pass or purchase? I’d say this is a solid “Pass”. Over two hours into the game I found myself more bored than engaged with only a couple of set pieces featuring dinosaur standoffs that really interested me. The game personally set me back only $10.00, so I’m not upset with the value of the game so much as it has proven to be a poor investment of my gaming time. There are plenty of other generic bargain bin shooters available that would be a much better way to spend your time.
My Podcast Playlist, updated
I never meant to wait this long to update my podcast playlist, but my how the time has flown.
For reference, this was what my podcast playlist looked like a couple years ago. A lot can happen in that time. Three of those shows are no more, a few are a shell of their former selves and the rest are going strong. But now it’s time to reorder my top 5. For a while, I was listening to a lot of different podcasts. Way too many. So I decided to whittle my playlist down to a select few. These are the ones that have made the cut.
I recently got a new iPod Nanothat plays video, so in addition to the new podcasts I’ve picked up to replace the old ones, I also started watching a few video podcasts. I won’t include those in the list, but I’m really liking Area 5‘s video-cast, CO-OP.
Also, allow me a second to prove how well rounded I am. I don’t just listen to gaming podcasts. Here are a few non-gaming podcasts I really enjoy (links take you to the iTunes page where available): The BS Report (Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy from ESPN, talks about sports, pop culture and a little of everything else. I’m not embarrassed to admit I like Simmons), Wizards of the Coast D&D podcast (I started listening to this to hear the Penny Arcade/PvP guys play D&D, which is strangely compelling), This Week in Tech, and You Look Nice Today (I don’t know how to describe this one. Listen to a couple episodes and you’ll know immediately if it’s for you or not).
So on to the new list.
Honorable Mention: VirginWorlds (iTunes Link) – I don’t play as many MMOs any more, but when I need a fix, I listen to a little VirginWorlds. Extra Life Radio (iTunes Link) – More of a geek podcast than a gaming podcast, but a fun listen nonetheless.
5. CAGCast/CAG Foreplay (CAG Cast iTunes Link, CAG Foreplay iTunes Link) – The CAG Cast was my #1 podcast the first time I made this list, but they faltered a bit and went through a period when they seemed tired of podcasting and generally disinterested. Luckily, they worked through it and seemed to have regained their enthusiasm, but I find that I listen to their show later than the other ones. I’m also including CAG Foreplay, another CAG podcast that is equally enjoyable.
4. Major Nelson (iTunes Link) – Not much more to add to what I said a couple years ago. Major Nelson is a podcasting machine. Still can’t get much closer to the source than Major Nelson.
3. Gamers with Jobs Conference Call (iTunes Link) – I’ve been going to their site for a while for their excellent writing, but when these guys get together in front microphones, good things happen. One of the things I really like about the GWJCC is when they talk about an esoteric game you’ve never heard and they discuss it with such passion that you can’t help yourself but give it a try.
2. Listen Up! (iTunes Link) – The artists formerly known as 1UP Yours, Listen UP is still going strong.
1. Giant Bombcast (iTunes Link) – My new #1 show, the Giant Bombcast is great. These guys are a riot to listen to and their gaming knowledge goes deep. I could go on and on about how funny these guys are, but you can listen to this (I LOL everytime) to get a taste (this was part of one of their E3 podcasts, talking about Nintendo’s Press Conference). This podcast is the real deal.
So that’s what I’m listening to. Do any of you guys listen to these? Am I missing any gems I haven’t listed here?
Treasure Hunting, DS Style (Today’s Link)
My “Today’s Link” posts will be highlighting something from another blog or site that caught my eye. Think of it as “the best thing I saw all day” kind of a post.
Today’s link is about a Nintendo DS game called Treasure World, which I first read about at Offworld.
I can’t speak with authority about this game, as I don’t own it (yet) but the gist of it is this: You “explore” with your DS, looking for WiFi hot-spots, which are “Stars” from where your DS collects “Star Dust” that you can trade in for treasures.
That probably doesn’t make sense. Here’s a quote from the Offworld post:
Here’s the storybook premise: a Star Sweep — he’s the beardy one whose facial hair not coincidentally is teased into the shape of a star — crash-lands onto Earth alongside his robo-sidekick the Wish Finder. In order to get the necessary fuel to re-power Halley, his starship, he needs you to help him collect star dust. In return, he’ll trade you some of his vast collection of some 2500+ treasures, 20 star-dust-currency-units at a time.
How do you collect star-dust? By setting the Wish Finder to hunt for treasure by taking your DS out into the wild, where it can scan stars — stars here meaning the thousands of now-ubiquitous Wi-Fi signals that canvas and cloud every major metropolitan city. The DS catalogs every signal it runs across, and will, at times, also find its own special Treasure locked away in that star, above and beyond the ones you can purchase from the Hunter.
If a premise like this doesn’t warm your game-loving heart, you are DEAD INSIDE. But it doesn’t end there, it’s actually just beginning. Read the entire Offworld article to see how collecting treasures will eventually lead you to composing music that others can listen to — online. This game is going to be insane.
I can’t wait to pick it up.
On the cheap
Starting next Friday I am going to start covering the “cheap game of the week”. Not unlike our 2 minute reviews, I am going to assess whether that title in the Bargain Bin is really worth the time investment no matter how cheap it might be. Qualifications are that it must be a game commonly available for $20 or less and has not been previously reviewed on the site. Only problem I have now is deciding whether to start this off with Turok or Viking: Battle for Asgard.
Didget – Blood Glucose Meter
Living with childhood diabetes has to be tough. Bayer is making testing your blood sugar into a game, with Didget, a blood glucose meter that you plug into your DS. Rewarding kids for monitoring their health seems like a great idea. (Just needs Achievements)
July Releases
It’s that time again, the long list of monthly releases. Thankfully, July is mercifully bereft of top-tier games, so we can play catch up with all the good gaming that has come out recently.
Week of July 6th
The Bigs 2
Bioshock & The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Bundle
Week of July 13th
NCAA Football 10– After being burned-out on NCAA for a while, I think I’m finally taking a dive back into NCAA again this year with 10.
Week of July 20th
Watchmen: The End is Nigh – Part 1 & 2– The first one was a DLC XBLA game, right? At twenty bucks? If so, I guess this is a pretty good deal.
Rock Band: Country Track Pack– UGH. I guess it was bound to happen.
G-Force
Week of July 27th
The King of Fighters XII
Fallout 3 Downloadable Content: Mothership Zeta
Week of July 6th
PDC Championship Darts 2008– I just don’t know what to say. The simple fact that this game gets made simply does not compute in my simple-minded brain.
Week of July 13th
Birthday Party Bash– Yo, dawg, we heard you like to… Nevermind.
Week of July 20th
Little King’s Story
Rock Band: Country Track Pack
Science Papa– Okay, soapbox moment here. This bothers me. Why “Science Papa” and not “Science Mama”? And for that matter, where’s “Cooking Papa”? I love to cook, where’s my game? (Okay, soapbox moment over)
Week of July 27th
DT Carnage
Aliens in the Attic
Wii Sports Resort– This one is probably a pick up for me. I’m looking forward to some new Wii Sports.
Week of July 13th
Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery Of The Mummy
Week of July 20th
Science Papa
Chocolatier
Garfield Gets Real
Week of July 27th
Space Bust-A-Move
Sushi Academy
Week of July 6th
Street Fighter IV
Week of July 13th
Helldorado– This game makes the list on name alone.
Week of July 20th
ArmA II
Week of July 27th
Bionic Commando
East India Company
Memento Mori
Week of July 13th
NCAA Football 10
Week of July 20th
Rock Band: Country Track Pack
Watchmen: The End is Nigh The Complete Experience
Week of July 27th
The King of Fighters XII
Week of July 6th
CID The Dummy
The Bigs 2
Week of July 13th
NCAA Football 10
Somewhat slim pickings this year.
What are you picking up?
(Note: As always, all Amazon.com links have our affiliate code embedded in them. If you purchase something through our link, we get a little commission. It’s appreciated.)