Giving the PS3 more breathing room

It's been almost 2 years since I got my PS3, and the 80 gb hard drive served me well during that time. However, it's reaching its limit now, so a new hard drive is in order. What with all the large-sized demos coming out and the ridiculous downloading games to the hard drive for easier load times (I'm looking at you, Heavy Rain), I'm surprised I didn't upgrade sooner.

Hopefully this time I won't be filling this up fast anytime soon.

God of War III arrives, beheads minotaur along the way

There's something to behold when a company, going through a game twice over, decides to give the boxart for God of War III a full zoom of Kratos's angry eye. I mean, for a man who has seen the slaughtering of countless enemies, allies, and his own family, they is not a spec of red veins anywhere, no baggy eyes. What's his secret?

I guess if Kratos is killing you, the last thing you'd see are his eyes and face breathing down your own. Probably would be a bad time to comment on his long eye lashes.

"I think you need to man-scape your eyebro-AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Zero Punctuation review: Just Cause 2

This week's "Lazy Wednesday" has Yahtzee wandering around the sand(box) in Just Cause 2, a game where that guy from Bionic Commando and his grappling arm are the star, and magical parachutes come out of his ass. It also gives Yahtzee the excuse to say "just 'cause!"

To be honest, there haven't been much sandbox games I've been diving into as of late, after Grand Theft Auto pretty much beaten the dead horse long ago. So maybe the arcade-style antics of a sandbox game like Just Cause 2 or Saints Row 2 would be a nice departure.

NSFW below, so enjoy!

Tatsunoko vs Capcom...finished!

Continuing the trend of actually finishing games, I throw in Tatsunoko vs Capcom into the "finished" category as well. While it's not as thoroughly "finished" as the other titles, like Street Fighter IV I deemed it complete when I see the final credits roll before my eyes.

Overall, the gameplay is as decent and as fast as any game from its VS series has been, and the gameplay is augmented with the fightstick. And the character roster is still impressive enough for me to play through the game again, especially for the game's final boss which was a pleasant surprise.

But it's great to know that the VS franchise is staying strong, what with the recent announcement that Marvel vs Capcom 3 is happening now.

God of War II...finished!

A little late to the party since God of War III has already been released, God of War II is now tucked nicely behind my "finished" belt, thanks to the God of War Collection. I had already finished the first iteration in the series, but that was before I started this blog. Now that I'm finally caught up with the main story (yeah, I forgot the PSP game, but meh), I'm ready for what God of War III will bring.

And after a taste of it last year at E3 (along with careful dodging of other videos and demos released later), I expect a wild ride the third time around!

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story...finished!

After about 25+ hrs of gameplay and an unexpectedly-long final level journey, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story can finally be laid to rest. The game was successful in keeping the humor level in par with the previous games in its RPG series, and the active gameplay made the game all the more satisfying to play. And while the plot of being stuck in your arch enemy's body seems a bit silly, Nintendo was still able to mesh it with a plausible background story and give Mario, Luigi, AND Bowser enough time in the spotlight to shine.

Now if only they include Princess Peach into the action instead of ALWAYS playing the damsel in distress, then that would rock! You got that, Nintendo? I want Princess Peach to be a playable character in the next installment!! MAKE IT SO!!

Zero Punctuation review: Red Steel 2

This week's "Lazy Friday" has Yahtzee doing another Wii game review, this time for Red Steel 2. Be prepared for a shocker, though, because I think Yahtzee actually liked this game! And he's certainly the stickler for the system's infamous "waggle" control. Thankfully, with the requirement of a Wii Motion Plus attachment, the controls behave more accurately in this sequel.

But of course, it wouldn't be a Zero Punctuation review without any criticism. So check out the NSFW video below and enjoy!

Zero Punctuation catch-up: God of War III

This week we're playing "Lazy Wednesday" catch-up, as I post up about 4 weeks of missed review posting. And finally, we come to God of War III.

I think by now, the whole game's plot is quite ambivalent. Kratos is pissed at the gods, and wants to kill them, the end. All I want to do is just slaughter hoards of enemies with my two chain blades stuck on my arms. That, and see how tiny I can be against the mondo-humongo boss battles I'll encounter the third time.

At this rate, I think Kratos is running out of ways to kill. Decapitate a head...yawn. Tear their bodies in two...meh. Chop off their limbs and beat them with it...been there, done that. Pretty soon, Kratos would have to jump into one of these monsters' homes and slaughter their yet-to-be-born mini-minions just to get us to say "that's fucked up, even for Kratos!"

Anyways, this marks the final catch-up before tomorrow's new Zero Punctuation. Hopefully I won't be quite as backlogged in the future as I was this week.

NSFW below, so enjoy!

(Anything but) Zero Punctuation: April Fools

This week we're playing "Lazy Wednesday" catch-up, as I post up about 4 weeks of missed review posting. This time it's April Fools!

Apparently this April Fools joke was tucked away in another video series at the Escapist called Game Dogs. It would've been much more logical to just use the direct link to the video reviews as the location of the joke, but whatever.

As for the joke itself, it's slow to pick up (get it?), but it gets its point across (not to mention commas, pauses, and ellipses).

SFW - you heard me, SWF - below, so enjoy!

Zero Punctuation catch-up: Final Fantasy XIII

This week we're playing "Lazy Wednesday" catch-up, as I post up about 4 weeks of missed review posting. And now...Final Fantasy XIII.

Surprise, surprise, Yahtzee doesn't like the JRPG that is Final Fantasy XIII. But before you take your ridiculously-huge cosplay sword and take a swing at his head, consider this: it IS a Final Fantasy game. You've only played, oh, the same game 12 other times at least, just in slightly different flavors. Is it any surprise that people would criticize this franchise?

But for the first time, I believe that I may be able to finally finish a Final Fantasy game with Final Fantasy XIII, which is both a good and bad thing. Good obviously being the fact that I'll finish one of these lenghty ordeals, but bad being that it's a Final Fantasy game. You see, these games were built on the foundation of nerds that have endlessly grinded their time away just to inch their levels up just to make battles shorter and easier; Final Fantasy does not. Which bodes well for me, seeing that I don't have the luxury of time nor youth to spend mindlessly playing through the same dungeon over and over again just to gain +2 points attack after a level up.

Whatever the case, if you're a fan of the series, you won't mind the XIII iteration. If you're NOT a fan - or you're Yahtzee - then stay away from it and go play something else.

NSFW below, so enjoy!

Zero Punctuation catch-up: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

This week we're playing "Lazy Wednesday" catch-up, as I post up about 4 weeks of missed review posting. Next up...Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

I don't know how much more realistic Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is suppose to be. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the first like a first-person war shooter but with some personality thrown in with more memorable characters instead of general NPCs that you know will eventually die? Or maybe the term "realism" is more to the fact that nothing is arcade-y and all the action is still dirty-and-dusty brown colored.

If there was any war game I would play, it would've been Battlefield: Bad Company...which I haven't. That probably says something right there. More something about me than anything, really.

NSFW below, enjoy!

Zero Punctuation catch-up: Heavy Rain

This week we're playing "Lazy Wednesday" catch-up, as I post up about 4 weeks of missed review posting. First one at bat...Heavy Rain!

First off, if you haven't played any Heavy Rain yet, this review is spoiler-city, so if you truly want to remain "pure" for the game, watch the review afterwards. If you don't care, continue anyways. Spoiler-alert...Yahtzee hates it.

Yahtzee makes some valid points though - not triggering the right action to progress the story is a common thing a player will do, but that's only the thorough nature in all gamers looking to wring out EVERY SINGLE OUNCE of value from a game. Often times the only reward in fiddling with every accessible area is just to turn on and off something. I don't hear any player scrutinizing another for not turning on the radio before going into the next scene. And unless there's some minor trophy rewarding you for interacting with the entire fucking world, I'd spend less time playing "nightclub" with the light switch.

The biggest point Yahtzee makes is that the game is not a game but a movie. If you play Heavy Rain like a game, you will not enjoy it; if you play it like a movie with you in the driver's seat, then it's another sensation altogether. The game goes by its own clock at times, so your decisions bear real consequences - unless you hit the reset button and replay those scenes over again, but then you're playing it like a game all over again.

I've already put my two cents about the game, but I'll stand by Yahtzee and agree with his views - Heavy Rain is not to be enjoyed as a game, but if you like a good movie, then give it a whirl.

NSFW below, enjoy!

Metal Slug XX...finished!

A game that's good for a quick plow-through at a moment's notice is any Metal Slug game, provided that infinite continues are at your disposal. If you don't like the thought of "infinite" continues, you can just imagine the idea of stuffing an arcade machine full of your laundry money. As long as my game binge is not disrupted, infinite continues are welcomed in my house.

After 44 continues (some of those levels are just RIDICULOUS hard), I completed Metal Slug XX with Fio in one sitting. And yes, I found out too late that the PSP game is just a fancier version of the Nintendo DS game I got earlier for the cheap. So sue me.

As a Metal Slug game, it satisfied the run-and-gun urge I had at that time. As for replay, there may be times when I'll try to see if I can best myself, perhaps taking less continues to finish. At one time, I was able to complete the entire first mission without dying - that would've made me do a fist-pumping "hells yeah" in an actual arcade...followed by awkward stares. There's also the side missions where you just play through a mission trying for the most kills, saving the most prisoners, or just surviving.

Bottom line, if you're a fan of the series, you know what you're gonna get: lots of guns, hoards of enemies, and bullets galore.

My wife + iPad + Plants Vs. Zombies = win

Getting my wife to play games is a daunting task. My general rule to peak her interest would be the cute factor in any game, and try to work my way from there. So when I saw the simplicity of the graphics in Plants Vs. Zombies, I thought it would be easy to persuade Heidi to play. But the iPhone version of the game proved to be too small for her, and she quickly lost interest.

Fast forward to last Saturday when the iPad just launched. I had to pick up some for work, and fiddled with one to try out. I uploaded a backup of my iPhone apps on it to test it out, including Plants Vs. Zombies. After handing it over to my wife nonchalantly, I left to do other tasks. When I returned, I was surprised to find her COMPLETELY ENGROSSED with Plants Vs. Zombies. She was tapping the screen like mad, placing her plants strategically, and taking out waves of zombies - all on her own, with no persuasion from me.

My wife: "Is this [iPad] yours? Do you get to keep this?"
Me: "No, it's the company's. I need to bring it back tomorrow."
Her: "Aww...can't you bring it to work on Tuesday?"
Me: "No. You know, this game IS on the PC. You can play it on your laptop."
Her: "But you have to use the mouse. I like the touch screen!"
Me: *sigh*

While it's a bit tiring to get her to play games, it's all worth it when she DOES get into one. Just her reaction to the pole-vaulting zombies hurdling over her Wall-nuts is so adorable.

I just hope it won't cost me an iPad to get her to play more games...