Mashing buttons since 1984
Everyone’s favorite gaming-grandma, Old Grandma Hardcore, was on the first page of the Life section in Thursday’s Columbus Dispatch (registration might be required). It’s a fun read if you’ve never heard of OGHC, but if you have, it’s good to see that Grandma is still gaming like a champ.
Rock on, Grandma.
EA has said that Mercenaries 2 will be released on the Xbox 360 (and the PC and PS2) along with the Playstation 3. So says Evil Avatar. Initially, this was going to be a PS3 exclusive but now that doesn’t look to be the case. Thank goodness for that.
If they can do Live co-op this could be one of the best games out there. Mercenaries was such a blast, I can’t wait for the sequel.
I know I just started playing EQ 2, but I had too much fun with this game’s demo to pass it up.
As always, quick impressions to follow.
Update: Well, I didn’t update this last night because I played Crackdown too long and it got too late. I guess that should count for something.
I’m not sure what I think about Crackdown yet. Yes, it is a fun game to play. Very fun. It’s a lot of fun to just run around and power up your super cop. I’ve already earned 3 stars in strength and I’ve almost got my 3rd star with agility. So I can lift cars and jump twenty feet in the air. Both of those things are extremely fun to do and doing the rooftop races are a blast. Jumping from one rooftop to another across the street feels fantastic. They really got the feeling of vertigo and height perfect. I actually feel it in the pit of my stomach if I’m about to miss an extra high jump.
But the actual meat of the game has left something to be desired. I played for about 4 hours (which flew by) and I am just about ready to take down the first boss. If I had solely done the missions and ignored the races and the hunt for orbs, I could have taken the first boss down in 3 hours. If the other two bosses are equally easy, I’m looking at 10 hours of the main game. That’s borderline unacceptable. I had hoped for more.
Sure, I’ll have fun searching out the 500 agility orbs and the 300 hidden power-up orbs, but that will be tedious as well. So while I’m enjoying the game, I’m nervous that it will lose its sheen quicker than I hoped.
I’ve spent about 5+ hours with Everquest 2, so before I jump back into another session, I thought I’d share a few thoughts of my first experiences with the game.
First, a little history of how I play MMOGs. When I play a new game, I jump into the game blindly. I don’t read FAQs, player guides, anything. I jump in, make a character and start playing. Whether I stick with that character or not depends, but I get a flavor of the game and then I start reading the guides, following the forums, and I change my play style accordingly. With that in mind, here’s how things are going so far.
I started my life in Norrath as a Barbarian Bruiser. I usually go with the “good” character types, but I was feeling a little evil, so I went with the evil version of a monk. I haven’t played a tank since my Diablo 2 days, so I thought a tank would be fun to play. The character creation had quite a few options, and after a few nips and tucks, my nasty looking Bruiser was ready to go.
All new players start off on a “newbie” island, that acts as a mini tutorial. It didn’t take long to do most of the island missions, and I was ready to head to the real world in a few hours, already a level 6 Bruiser.
So far, I like what I’ve seen. It plays fine (if a little choppy on my four year old computer). Once I got off the island at to Freeport, the world opened instantly. Exploring the city of Freeport looks like it could take forever, and that’s just the city! When I ventured outside it seemed to get even larger. It did seem like there weren’t a lot of other people playing, but that could simply be the server I’m on (Crushbone) or the time I’m playing. There seemed to be an endless supply of missions and quests, so there looks to be plenty of content. I’ve always loved the crafting aspects of MMOGs, and EQ 2’s tradeskill content looks like it should be a good time. So far, so good for me and EQ 2.
I’d love to play any readers who play on the Crushbone server or any tips for a newbie. Drop me a note in the comments.
Contrary to the immortal words of Gloria Gaynor it appears that I will not, in fact, survive. More succintly, my Xbox 360 will not survive. It appears that asking it to perform its duties for longer than a few hours results in a hissy fit involving red lights:
That’s right, the red rings of death. Luckily it was only two red lights, which effectively means “I’m too hot, I’m shutting down.” In hindsight, I should have opened the doors on the entertainment center to allow for a little air circulation, but with little kids that are ever pressing green buttons, I couldn’t take my chances. So mid-way through my third day of survival, having just survived 24 hours outdoors, the 360 died, rather unceremoniously. Seven hours of Dead Rising down the drain. Son of a!
So it appears I’m once again done playing Dead Rising for the foreseeable future. I got a couple more achievements before everything died, so it wasn’t a total loss, but I didn’t accomplish the end goal. Thanks to everyone who sent me well wishes on my quest. If everything had gone according to plan, I would still be playing. But it was not to be.
Since Dead Rising is no longer going to consume me, I decided to take the plunge in Everquest 2. I’m currently designing my first character. I’ll have a little blurb of my first experiences later. This is probably a mistake, as my EQ time will be immediately diminished on Tuesday when Crackdown shows up. We’ll just have to cross that bridge when we get there.
That is all.
Sure, I could be playing any number of games this weekend, but I’m doing something I promised myself I wouldn’t do — attempt the 7-Day Survivor achievement in Dead Rising. I know I poo-poohed it a few months back, but I can’t help myself. Not only am I an achievement whore, I’m a Dead Rising whore. I find myself going back to the zombie smashing more and more. So I’m going to eat crow and attempt the insane, 14-hour Dead Rising marathon.
I’ve got it all worked out. I’ve already okayed it with Mrs. buttonMasher and she’s fine with it. She understands the gravity of the situation and has agreed to help keep the kids away from the 360 (the little one is attracted to the green button) for the weekend. I’m a little nervous for the health of my 360, as I will have to play in chunks of time to achieve the ultimate goal, while my 360 is generating enough heat to warm our living room for a month. I guess I can consider this a stress test on the Xbox. If it can survive 60+ hours of non-stop running, it should be able to handle anything.
I also have a plan for sucess. I’ll immediately seek out the necessary power-up magazines to make my survival easier. I’ll get the ones that increase the potency of my food stuffs, along with the construction magazine, effectively powering up my weapon of choice, the two-by-four. Then I have plans to judiciously ration my food as I go from place to place, keeping myself safe for extended periods of time. Along the way, I plan on cleaning up some of the other achievements, like the Karate Champ (killing zombies sans-armaments), killing 10k and then 53k zombies, and hanging outdoors for 24 hours. It’s going to be an achievements clean sweep!
I don’t know if I have the dedication or fortitude to see the plan through, but if you see me on Live, drop me a message a see how am doing. I may need the moral support. Let me know what you’re playing this weekend.
Coming this Christmas, a Build-A-Bear Workshop DS game. Save yourself the hassle (and shame) of taking your kid to the Build-A-Bear store at the mall and get her the DS version instead. Think of all the money you’ll save! Thank you, The Game Factory, you’re finally giving me a game my four year-old daughter can enjoy on the DS. (via The Game Blog)
It’s an oldie, but goodie. Here’s a little tribute to our gaming Valentines:
Recently I’ve had the itch to jump back into a MMOG. I’m been thinking of re-upping to play EVE Online, but with all the things going on there, I’m hesitant to jump back in. I’ve got a free copy of Everquest 2 that I could use to try out EQ2. My first MMO experience was with EQ1 and it was a long time ago (and it wasn’t a good one), so I don’t have any allegiance there. I had thought about giving Vanguard a chance, but I think I’ll wait a few months so they can work out the kinks, even though it seems like a decent game already. I thought about giving World of Warcraft a try, but I know how quickly it will consume me and I’m not taking my chances. I’m only playing if I get to play in Foton’s Guild. (No way I’m that hardcore.)
I was also invited to give Dungeon Runners a try, so that’s another possibility. Have any buttonMashers played Dungeon Runners? Looks like a cross between Guild Wars and Diablo 2. What would you guys suggest? I’m not shelving the 360, but my wife has recently discovered the wonderous Xbox Live Arcade, so I have been letting her play her fill of Hexic and Uno for now. Once Crackdown comes out, the 360 is all mine again. For now, I just feel like some good old fashioned MMORPG’ing. I’ve got needs. I’m not desperate yet, but I’ve even considered jumping back into Neocron 2. I know it’s gotten bad if I go that far.