Did I really just skip the entire month of August? Yeah I did. Whatever, I didn't wanna write at all, but that shit has got to stop. It isn't like I was devoid of ideas, but ya know, the will was not there. I need to come up with a schedule or something to that degree. Self-imposed deadline and the like, maybe that will keep me on the writing straight and narrow. Anyway, enough blabbing about how I didn't update, and let's actually update. (Edit: Now it seems like I skipped half of September also, what the hell is wrong with me?) Anyway, this is a long one, so there is plenty to read after the break.
Anyway, while I have not been writing about it, I have been playing a video games, quite a few actually. I should go back a bit in my head and talk about the games I have been playing lately, and maybe give a few thoughts about them. First of all, Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The game. I bought this game a few days before I went and saw the movie, and I have never read the books, so really I bought this game on the simple premise it looks like River City Ransom. And fuck is it ever River City Ransom...in 8-16 bit HD glory. It is a great beat'em up through and through, with varied enemy types and awesome weapons. I am not going to lie; if video games stayed this way graphically forever, I would have been okay with it, and Scott Pilgrim is a perfect example as to why. Every sprite explodes with personality. All four characters you can control shine, fighting amazingly with great animations as you beat the shit out of some amazingly rendered baddies. Also, and this is a plus for me in this type of game, the levels are hard. Like actually old school hard. This game was meant to be played using the local co-op, and while you can go it alone against some Evil Ex's, the game will not give you an easy time at it. Lastly, the gameplay is great, with Experience Points added in well, along with a money system that actually means something, and is damn useful. It's actually something many old school beat'em ups could have used way back when. In the end, the only complaint I really have about good ol Scotty P. is the lack of online multiplayer. Granted this is the type of game that is certainly meant to be played with a group of friends by your side, but still not everyone has friends willing to come over enough to get the most out of the game. I mean hell, even a bad game like Castlevania HD can do it, why not a good game like this?
Speaking of which, I did buy that Castlevania HD game. It sucks. The game was obviously an attempt by Konami at a quick cash-in, which probably worked, I am too lazy to look up the numbers. The only good thing I can say about the game is that each character is very different. Alucard controls like a shit powered tank whose treads are long gone, Soma like a a fetus forced to drink turpentine in utero, and honestly the other three control well and are fun to use. Shanoa feels like Shanoa, and Morris is a joy. Charlotte is cool also. The levels are terrible piece-meal sprite lifts from older DS Castlevania games, and are about as fun to look at on an HD TV as a picture of molding bread. Enemies in each level seem arbitrarily placed, with no regard to theme, or common fucking sense. The item system is completely (to steal a line) pants-on-head retarded, with the progression system being slower than me raiding in WoW after someone cut both my fucking arms off, forcing me to rely on headbutting the keyboard to get anything done. Furthermore, the game punishes you for playing by yourself. Now I get the draw of the game is supposed to be the multiplayer. But still, playing Castlevania is just something I naturally do alone, like reading, or making love to my body pillow. So...if you're determined to fuck your body...play this game alone, pretty much all the purple chests are closed off to you. Those purple chests are the ones with your progression items. So if you want to get anywhere in the game, you're forced to either drum up some friends willing to suffer through the shitty levels with you, or dive into the septic tank that is Xbox Live matchmaking. I tried doing this a few times...in the end I would rather give myself a Glasgow smile with a rusty butter knife. Lastly, the time limit is the worst idea to be placed into this game, mostly because even in 1-player mode, it continues even if I pause. Need to take a bathroom break? Not on my fucking watch says Konami. You're gonna sit here and suffer through this samey level till your bladder bursts. In the end the only other thing I can say about this fifteen dollar abortion is that at least the music is nice. Just kinda what you would expect from these 2d Castlevanias. But alright let's tick off the list what Konami has no right doing to Castlevania now, mash-up fighters, and mash-up co-op games. So basically let us take a lesson from this, don't throw Castlevania characters together, it will not end up with something kind of playable like Final Fantasy had with Dissidia...you get shit.
Alright, let's talk about the last new game that took up a lot of my time in the later summer months. This game, like the two before it is an Arcade game. Monday Night Combat, flat out is one of the best games I have ever played. There is not really much I can say about it other than that it is awesome, and the developers were obviously huge Team Fortress 2 fans. The way they ripped some of the classes apart and recombined them creates a whole new sort of game balance that really focuses on proactive offense as opposed to the somewhat more defensive attitude I see in TF2. I mean seriously, when you have a medic setting up amazing turret guns, a defensive juggernaut with a jet turbine as a flame thrower, and an assault rifle specialist who can shoulder tackle people at the speed of sound, you know you have something that breaks the 'normal' class molds. I always liked the medic in TF2, but he felt like such a wuss. A man in a lab coat who is best hiding behind a beefy Heavy. This is not the case in MNC. My favorite character, the Support uses his healy gun to also drain enemies, and I can call down airstrikes that eviscerate turrets. Then lastly as I said before, I make my own turret...which I can heal, and if I upgrade it enough, can heal me. Also, it can be noted I said earlier that I think Xbox Live is a cesspool and it should be avoided for games. This is true mainly for co-op games, as no one wants to help each other. However, MNC is not a very...cooperative game. I am sure it can be with squads working well if they communicate, but really today in our Halo player fueled world...how often does that happen? Really so long as the kill kill kill works well enough for my side of things and I don't get called a fag too much, I'm pretty much okay with playing a shooter. Especially when I get to be the helpful guy healing my buddies. But yeah really all I can say is buy MNC, best fifteen bucks I have spent all summer on a game.
The other games I have been playing lately are both titles that have been in my life for sometime now. First title is Mass Effect 2. I started playing this again because of the new (Fantastic) Shadow Broker DLC. I plan on writing an actual review of that thing as a separate article that should be up in the next day or two. I wrote a full review of Mass Effect 2 on my friend's blog. I love the game, and never mind playing it again.
The other game is my old addiction of course, World of Warcraft. While I have not been playing the game at all like I used to, I find myself logging in a bit more lately, as it seems some of the end of xpac burnout has gone away. I have been leveling two alts from time to time, a Blood Elf Warlock and a Night Elf Hunter, and both classes are fun, and I find my opinion on pets actually softening somewhat. I honestly cannot wait for Cataclysm though, and start up a nice Worgen Druid. I have actually been reading some more WoW blogs as of late and while reading one...where is it...there, Life in Group 5, I got an idea for a WoW based article I plan on starting later tonight, expect it in the next few days.
Okay now I'm just about done, but before I go I need to muse aloud. I am thinking of really forcing myself to stick to a schedule of at least one major post on this blog per week. That's not to say more wouldn't appear if I had more to say, but I really do like blogging and I need to find a way to stop being lazy. I am thinking of making sure I have something long-ish up Monday of every week, maybe supplemented by smaller posts. I am not a game news guy, so by no means will I be going all out putting up release dates and crap. I am a review and editorial kind of guy and I always find myself with a lot to say, just never the will to write it down. But hey who knows, if I can keep this up for a while maybe I can see about getting my name out there a bit. Anyway, out loud musing done, time to start writing for the next few days, see ya.
-Kesith
Hello, World.
10 years ago
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