The second game finished over the weekend was Metal Gear Solid.Yes, you heard me...Metal Gear Solid. The PlayStation version. Released 10 years ago.By a friend's recommendation, I've decided to play my way through the first 3 games before I pop open Metal Gear Solid 4...and I have to say, the game ages quite well. Sure, the graphics are 10 years old, and the movement is still reliant on the D-pad. But the great story telling and long cut scenes are still there, albeit looking like digital versions of Robot Chicken clips with their nodding heads and figure-like gestures and movements.The reason I never really got through the first game when it game out was that I was paranoid - paranoid at how potentially good the AI in the game was for detecting me. It's a stealth game, after all, and I naturally assumed that if they're squarely in front of me 300 feet away, they'd still see my silhouette and detect me instantly. And I stopped playing before I realized that their scope of vision was limited to their cone on the radar. Stupid me. But now that I finished the first game, I have a more detailed background on the characters involved, and now one step closer to finally playing the fourth installment.
Today's a double-whammy as I complete two...count 'em, two games over the weekend! The first of these is Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. After quite a lengthy final case, the fourth installment of this series (first for the Apollo series), for me, took off on a great start. Sure, the addition of a new interface to find out liars is a little out there, but the storytelling is still top-notch. It's also a bummer to see Phoenix Wright step down from the Defense podium, but he has had a decent run on the first trilogy, and has now earned the rightful place as mentor for the next generation of defense attorney.Here's hoping the next Apollo series delivers more on compelling cases, quirky witnesses, and more answers to the questions brought up at the end of this fine game.
I'm going to try my best not to use tired old cliches when describing my excitement at the moment. I just can't believe that Capcom is releasing a new MegaMan game on WiiWare in traditional 8-bit format. This news is so unbelievably awesome that I still can't believe it. All I can say is that other companies should follow their fans more than their guts. I'm looking at you, Konami, and your Castlevania fighter - the news was such a negative shocker that this is the only nod I'll give it.Being such a fan of MegaMan in the past (2 and 3 are the most prominent in my mind), I just can't wait until I get to measure up the difficulty for myself to see if it's worthy to be up in the ranks of quality MegaMan games.
[Update]
Okay, so it's going to be released on all three systems. Good for Capcom. The more people exposed to the goodness of MegaMan retro, the better! At least we'll know that graphics won't be a deciding factor in which system to get it for...
Y'know, it's ironic. I've dedicated every Wednesday as "Lazy Wednesday," but I usually post up the Zero Punctuation review fairly early in the morning. Go figure!Anyways, this week's game is Metal Gear Solid 4. While I recently purchased the PS3 bundle with the game, the game is still under wraps while I make it a goal to try to play through the first 3 to get the gist of the main story so far. I think I'm through halfway of the first one - much better progress than my earlier attempts years ago when I was paranoid of EVERYTHING in the game.NSFW and ready for you below!
I know that not long ago I finished the game, but I'd just like to make it known that, in terms of storyline, I have fully completed The World Ends With You. This not only includes the main story, but the extra story mission that appears after the game that is completely optional, but reveals much answers to questions that were left from the main story. And I have fully completed it!Sure, there are still more pins to evolve and master, and also my noise (enemy) list still is not 100% complete, but for a game that practically redefined "replay" I think I deserve a much needed break from the 116+ hours I've invested in this game.
If you've been a faithful reader of my blog, you know that I've often ranted on Sony and their poorly promoted system. Even now, after almost reaching its second year in the market, there are only a handful of games I'm considering to play on it. But now, after all that time, I have finally bought myself a PS3 first before an XBox 360 - mostly because of the Metal Gear Solid 4 Bundle.Why did I buy it? I never really played the Metal Gear series, so the game wasn't really a selling point. But the system was twice the size of the current model out there (only 40GB), backwards compatible, and included the DualShock 3 controller. All that with a $100 rebate from my cell phone added up to a justified purchase.So yeah...guess I have a PS3. Just adjusting to the things I can do now, but mostly just downloading anything without a price tag at the Playstation Store to play around with. But bear in mind that most of my game purchases that I plan will be those titles that are Sony exclusive - which includes Ratchet and Clank, and Hot Shots Golf. And, of course, there's still Disgaea 3 coming out later this year. But we'll see how long free demos will last me before I succumb to my first $59.99 purchase.
It's "Lazy Wednesday" again, and Yahtzee's on the prowl with his review of Haze, so have your cake and eat it too!NSFW below!
So the latest Wii update's true purpose beneath the transfer of Miis to the Mii Parade (seriously?) is to disable the Freeloader and Twilight Princess hack, huh? I can't say that I'm too pleased, being a Freeloader owner myself and having just recently purchased Milestone Shooter Collection from Japan not too long ago. But then again, Nintendo's only doing their job.What I find really amusing is how people are hating Nintendo for doing this, and are ready to sell their Wiis and not standing by Nintendo. Why? Did Nintendo create a name for itself purely through hackable hardware and copied games? Because if they entered the business doing that, and then pulled a 180, then I understand the frustration.But we're talking about a company that has created fun and challenging games for many years; a company that has created so many iconic video game characters that are recognized worldwide. So they're telling me that they would dismiss all of this because they don't want people hacking their system?Oh sure, there's the argument for playing import games as well, me included. But if you're a true gamer, you'd find other ways to play these games. For me, I'd just find another person who hasn't updated their Wii and play on their system. It's not terribly troublesome if you're only the seasonal importer that has 1-2 games. Hell, I have 4 import PS2 games, but no way of playing them. I'm not disappointed or anything - I'm just hopeful that one day I will, but I'm not aching for lack of playing them.Plus, from what I hear, Datel supposedly claimed to replace Freeloader disks if an update happens to block out the disk. So we'll see if Datel follows up on this claim, but in the meantime, all import purchases will have to be on hold.And please...if you're really leaving Nintendo for such a ridiculous reason, please sell your Wii to a true Nintendo fan and just leave already.
I just happened to be at Toys 'R Us when they ran a small promo displaying Guitar Hero: On Tour this past Saturday, and while initial skepticism kept me walking past, the Guitar Hero in me brought me back. It would be a great disservice to you guys and myself as a gamer if I didn't give any game a chance before drawing conclusions. So I gave it a shot. My first impressions? Not too bad.Let's ignore the fact that you have to purchase a single-use peripheral to play the game for the moment. My first reaction was that I was playing Jam Sessions with limited input and freedom. Thanks to games like Brain Age, holding the DS on its side doesn't feel unnatural at all, and pretty soon I was comfortable playing. Since it's a touch screen with no resistance, I sometimes wasn't sure if I was strumming the strings correctly, but there's little room for error - I mean, it's a small touch screen after all. Audio is a bit lacking in strength, and definitely warrants use of headphones. And despite its use of 4 buttons instead of 5, there is an expert option which, I presume, is harder than the rest.As for the gaudy peripheral? I can't say I object, since I did purchase a DS paddle for Arkanoid DS and Space Invaders Extreme. I only presume that there will be much more games to utilize this device because if not, then this is truly a one-time-use purchase.Overall, the game does what it claims - gives you Guitar Hero in a portable format. You still feel like you're playing a guitar (even though you feel like a cross-eyed dope strumming on the right side while looking at notes on the left). Unlike the DS paddle, however, it's only good for one game, so it's not a purchase I'm willing to make.
Dr. Mario is a great puzzle game, one of the few games that can truly kill a lot of spare time. When the WiiWare version was released, it became the first WiiWare title that I downloaded, and I'm very glad I did. Though I still haven't tried online (I still suck pretty bad), I've played the hell out of single-player mode, but not much of the "Virus Buster" mode, where up to 4 people can play in a new format of Dr. Mario. That changed 2 days ago.I really half-assed the presentation to my wife, telling her that you just point to a piece and drag it where you want to place it. With that, I handed her the WiiMote and we went at it from level 1 on Easy. An hour later, we just passed level 20 and still kept going.Sometimes I think my wife is a hardcore gamer deep down inside. I just need to find the right trigger to spark that personality within. I came close with Dr. Mario, as I have in the past with Boom Blox, Mario Kart Wii, and Chulip. The latest thing I got going for me is Wii Fit, so we'll see how that goes.
The summer heat doesn't make this week's Lazy Wednesday any easier, since this week's review seems to be just another console rundown. Though Yahtzee makes some pretty valid points, and also addresses the "graphics too real" issue. Oh, and the review's a short one today, with shameless plugs taking up the latter third of the video. Still NSFW, so enjoy!
So we finally bought a Wii Fit, since we missed out on its launch during our trip to Japan. Though our exercise area was limited, we were able to get about half an hour each on exercise, and overall it seems to be pretty fun. Really broke out a sweat.More importantly, it has finally confirmed what I've been saying all this time - that my wife is not fat!I understood when my weight was measured that I was labeled overweight. I knew this before Wii Fit, and seeing it on screen didn't surprise me. But when my wife stepped on, she was labeled normal. No big surprise to me, since that's what I've been telling her every time.Now, if she asks me if she looks fat, I'll point to the Wii Fit for my answer.
Lastly, here's Yahzee's review on Oblivion. Really, out of all three reviews, I only truly cared about The World Ends With You...but all three video reviews are all equally funny. NSFW-ed and ready for your viewing pleasure!
Second up, the game I've been enjoying for 100+ hours, The World Ends With You. Personally, I think Yahtzee's own hatred of JRPGs overshadowed the potential of enjoying the unique gameplay.Does that mean I don't like the video? Hell no, he says his mind and his review, all with the same humor and wit we've all come to know and enjoy. I just enjoy the game, and Yahtzee hates it. NSFW, and ready to play.
Let's go through this systematically, okay? Since I missed about 3 weeks worth of Zero Punctuation and Yahtzee's rantings, we'll go through this in the order I missed. And yes, this will be a "Lazy Thursday" this week - I don't know what happened yesterday.First up, Painkiller - a FPS game where you get to "kill tons of dudes," as Yahtzee so eloquently puts it. NSFW, enjoy!
I think this year's the year for video game surprises, and one of them has to be the return of Jade in the "Beyond Good and Evil" sequel that's coming up. Sure, the trailer leaves lots to the imagination, but just seeing Pey'j in extreme detail is already giving me high hopes on what I hope will be a great continuation of the story from the first game.
Sorry for the long delay, but I'm finally back from Japan and I think all my jet lag has passed through my system. All in all, my third trip to the Land of the Rising Sun brought some goods and bads to my life:Goods:
-Saw Shibuya with a closer eye, recognizing all familiar scenes from The World Ends With You.-Got to check out the Tsukiji Fish Market, and ate at one of the restaurants nearby.-Ate at a traditional ramen cart (take that, Yoshinoya!).-Scored a copy of the Club-Nintendo-exclusive Super Mario Galaxy Soundtrack.-Bought a white GameCube controller with its extra-long cord.-Grabbed a paddle controller attachment for my DS, since they're so damn hard to find.-Bought Milestone Shooter Collection for the Wii (though can't seem to get it working with my Freeloader).
Bads:
-Lost my digital camera, along with the pictures I took of Shibuya (truly sucks).-Rained one day, directly in the middle of the trip.-Humidity worked its dehydrating magic on all of us.-Hotel smelled like wet Play-Doh.-Suffered through a 50-minute train delay after a long day of walking.-Realized halfway during the trip where the internet room was.-Never found Super Potato, nor directions on where it was located.
There's a bunch more goods and bads, but those were the most prominent ones I remember. All in all, the trip was still a relaxing one, and has satisfied my Japanese need for now. I think the one thing that still burns me up was the whole "lost camera" incident. I mean, I took a lot of good Shibuya pictures, and was ready to write an entire post on the comparisons between the game's locations and its real-life counterparts from a first-hand experience, but all of that was lost. And despite going back to the scene of the crime 2-3 times over and checking with Information (I learned to say "Digital Camera-o nakushita," which means "I lost my digital camera" from their books department), I never found it. Maybe some tourist stole it, because I still would like to believe that Japanese people are more honest and would've turned it in.Okay, enough of that. There's a ton of news I missed out, so I gotta get cracking on posts!
The second game finished over the weekend was Metal Gear Solid.
