Ratchet & Clank Tools of Destruction...finished!

In anticipation of the newest Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, I've completed (finally) their first PS3 outing, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. This, along with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, completes the duo-game purchase of titles receiving sequel treatments this year.

I've been a fan of the series since their second PS2 game, Going Commando, came out. Since then, the only other game I've played was Up Your Arsenal. Skipped out on Deadlocked, though, as well as the PSP outings, but I might just have to hit up on the Quest for Booty mini-story to see what happens before the sequel comes out next week. Thankfully, though, they're not milking the story-between-stories, unlike other franchises.

Katamari Forever...finished!

I think this time around, finishing a Katamari game like Katamari Forever bears some accomplishment - namely the trophies that are attached to my profile. At least I can show off that I made a bigger-than-average katamari, or that I jumped exactly seven times in one level before finishing it.

Seriously, exactly seven times? I believe this was one of those trophies whose objectives are hidden to the player with the "? ? ? ?" text. They might as well have a trophy for turning on the game at exactly 10:30 am on October 30th.

The game still has some of that replay factor with their "forever" and "drive" modes (endless and super-fast modes), and the nice 1080p graphics will keep me enjoying it at a later date. However, my backlog is large, and the constant slowdowns mark this game down a notch.

Brutal Legend rocks into my house!!

Tim Schafer's game, Brutal Legend, is unleashed to the public today, this Roctober 13th!! If you're a Psychonauts fan or Tim Schafer fan, then you should give this game a chance to melt your face!! It helps that I enjoy Tenacious D enough to get the extra GameStop pre-order.

I've already clocked in a couple of hours into the game, and am enjoying every moment of it. Though, I have to say...all the motion-capture from Uncharted 2 has somewhat spoiled me. It's not that Brutal Legend is not enjoyable, but I just noticed how stiffer the characters move. Also, you'd think that after playing the demo, I would've noted that you don't jump in the game. There are also a couple of areas that felt unpolished, like loading text that appear for half a second before they disappear, or the somewhat frustrating camera.

But above all that, the atmosphere of the game still gets me rocking hard, and the gameplay is still enjoyable - even the RTS portion of it.

Uncharted 2...finished!

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune really gave a great movie feel, all without segmenting the gameplay and cinematics. And Naughty Dog only intensified this further with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The movie had great action, romance, and witty remarks that kept everything fresh, even though I died about 116 times. That's probably because I selected Hard mode to play the game (I think 16 deaths alone were just at the end.)

Despite how good the cinematics are, there's nothing like pulling off your own climatic moment. The feeling of performing a quick and sudden headshot, or lobbing a grenade blindly and taking out 4 people at once - those moments really make your heart race. I think I may have performed one of the most climatic ways to finish the game. I was excited for sure that I finished it, but much more exhausted that it was over. Now THAT'S what a good action movie should make the viewer experience.

Stat tracking is great in this game, too. Looks like I spent just under 13 hours to complete the game, and killed about 915 enemies. Some of the more prouder stats are my 6 headshots in a row, or 5 stealth kills in a row, but my hit ratio was a paltry 41.32%.

Now, with the single-player campaign under my belt, I'll probably play more multiplayer online, since there's tons of leveling up to do there.

Be sure to pick up Uncharted 2 when it comes out next Tuesday, October 13th!

Uncharted 2 brings out the online gamer in me

I'm not much of an online gamer.

I don't play World of Warcraft, I don't play Halo online, I don't even play Mario Kart online as much. Combine the lack of skill I possess compared to the world, and online multiplayer becomes a tired reminder of how bad I suck.

And the field of games that use it don't offer much variety. Most of the time, it's just "deathmatch" or "capture the flag." And it's either you let yourself or the entire team down as you die time and time again.

But with Uncharted 2, I feel a little different - I feel a little more useful.

First off, there's the additional co-op modes, either campaign or arena. It's called a "friends" list for a reason. This way, I don't have to sever ties with my online buddies and, instead, play a co-op game where I help out my fellow comrades. Besides, this just unleashes a hoard of baddies wave after wave, making teamwork all the more satisfying.

Also, the gameplay mechanics are very well tuned, probably because not much has been changed since the first game. Guns aren't absolutely punishing, and your character is quite agile enough to dodge most dire situations...all with the fluidity and grace one has come to expect in an Uncharted game.

The leveling up system is also very pleasant, allowing you to improve your online stats and character the more you play. It not only makes playing online more rewarding, but it also feels like a brand new game in addition to the normal single-player game.

What really cinches it for me was the Cinema mode. After a deathmatch game I played, the entire game was saved to my PS3. Now I can view the entire match, change from player to player, and observe everyone's actions and reactions throughout the game! And, as an aesthetic touch, you can also adjust cameras and lighting, and change the environment settings for dramatic flare, as well as pause the action to take snapshots of particular victories.

Now, when I finally get better playing online, I can show my friends my greatest matches, or show them pictures of my glorious takedowns!

Expect me to be playing this game online much much more when Uncharted 2 ships officially October 13th!

Katamari Forever rolls through the front door

Katamari Damacy and We (heart) Katamari were two very awesome titles that said "the hell" with fancy graphics and gave us something so addictive, so simple and so bizarre - the ability to roll up balls of random shit. The game could have been called "Dung Beetle Rolling A Ball of Crap" and I would've still thought the game to be very awesome.

Two other games, Beautiful Katamari (360) and Me & My Katamari (PSP) have also made it to market, but offer pretty much the same flare.

Now the PS3 is next in this largely-drawn-out series with the new Katamari Forever (Katamari Damacy Tribute in Japan). As the Japanese name implies, this is a little re-hash of some of the best levels from the game series, as well as some new ones (At least to me...maybe some were from the 360 version, but I wouldn't know.)

Having not playing the previous games in some time, it was great to go back into the mindlessly-rolling world of Katamari again. And while the game is still really fun to play, there are still some issues that irk me; random lag times during gameplay and pop-ups plague the game at times. Overall, though, the randomness and quirkiness of the game pleases the child in me, so it'll be worth my time.

The Beatles Rock Band...finished!

And not only finished, but 5-starred every song on the game! Well, okay, this shouldn't have been TOO surprising for many reasons, but playing through their songs reminded when I listened to their music in my youth.

Like Rock Band 2, The Beatles Rock Band will warrant much more replay value in the months to come for a couple good reasons - my wife is always willing to sing, and the trophies list is quite challenging to complete, if not downright impossible. Well, perhaps not for someone specifically good at one instrument. I don't foresee myself completing that 550-note streak for expert drumming anytime soon. But so far I'm knocking them down as I go.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune...finished!

Playing and beating Batman: Arkham Asylum twice over has given me tides of confidence over beating those types of games. Which is why I believe that it had a major part in me to complete Uncharted: Drake's Fortune in an astonishing (for me anyways) 5 days after purchase.

For an early PS3 title, there was quite an amount of detail, from the adrenaline-rushed gun fights to the crumbling rock barriers. And, like Batman: Arkham Asylum, there's a well-told story that's worth playing again - or watching again, if it were like a good movie. And I did this all without any hiccups or crashes, despite the firmware update they released recently to appease the few issues that were addressed with the new update.

While the game was great to play and the story flowed nicely, I think I'm gonna sit out a while before I play again. Unlike dying constantly in Batman, dying by some constant annoying gunfire in Uncharted is much more annoying.

I can't imagine waiting for a sequel for so long if you finished the game when it was released back in 2007. But the wait seems to be well worth it. Time to place my pre-order now.

Batman: Arkham Asylum...finished!

Despite the short single-mode campaign, Batman: Arkham Asylum is lengthier than most other games, and the end result makes the game feel like a very pleasant interactive movie. Everything melds together into fine, almost seamless transitions from one event to the next, with Batman controlling like a true superhero that rarely falters in his quest for justice. And even if you fall off a ledge accidentally, a quick grapple will bring you back to solid terra firma in true Batman form, feeling nothing like any cheap quick-time event.

I look forward to playing the Challenge Maps over and over for a good score, and to find all the unlockables still hidden on the island. Plus, I still have to play the game again in hard mode because...well, because it's like watching my favorite movie over again.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is here.

Apologies for the blurry picture, but this game is finally in my hands. From not even giving it the time of day to my renewed view of it during E3, I slowly expressed interest to Batman: Arkham Asylum. Now, with exclusive Joker challenge maps and a free ahead-of-time Dem Bones challenge map, I'm all set to immerse myself into this DC universe!

Street Fighter 4...finished! As far as I'm concerned.

It's not the most glamorous victory, but I'm stamping "finished" on Street Fighter IV simply because I was able to beat the game with one character on the easiest setting with only one round matches and the credits rolled soon after. I've even played a few random online matches and won my first one (after I lost, like, the first 10).

I think, up until the game's release, I was rather tepid about the game overall. It wasn't until I got my hands on the controls that I realized it played almost exactly like Street Fighter II Turbo Championship Edition, back in the SNES days. Soon after a few rounds of fighting, I knew I had to get the game again.

Oh, I'm far from being a threat to other players...but at least I can make a dent before going down.

Prince of Persia...finished!

Given a game like Prince of Persia where you cannot die has its benefits and disadvantages. The key benefit is that you're not entirely discouraged when you perform a misstep, and can immediately try again from where you left off. One of the major disadvantages is that gameplay is shortened since there is no fear for failure.

Despite that, the pure benefit, at least to me, of not dying is to be able to play the game as how the original plot designer intended - with no breaks to the story due to "lives" or "continues." For me, this is about as true to an interactive movie as a game can get, all while still giving the player full interactivity of the game.

This game is definitely one of those where I wouldn't mind playing again, simply because of the game's flow and beautiful 1080p graphics. And with another Epilogue expansion coming very soon with at least 3 more hours of playable content, I'm good as ready to jump right back into the desert.

Little Big Planet...finished!

This was actually done a few weeks ago, but I finished the main story mode in Little Big Planet. Like Rock Band 2, this is about as complete as I can do in a game that has a much lengthier replay value. There are a few levels that I'd like to construct, and even more that I'd like to play.

Unfortunately, all that takes time. And as a gamer, time is not on my side.

Rock Band 2 (tour)...finished!

Rock Band 2 is not the type of game I could really classify as "completing," simply because there's always something new to play or compete in. Which is why I'm putting a "finished" stamp on the game for just finishing the world tour, which would technically count since the credits rolled right after.

It's gonna take me more time to master the drums and start earning some of the harder-to-achieve trophies within, though. Couple that with the constant stream of new songs to download, and you have a game that I'll always return to for more.