Re-Play: Little Big Planet 2

I've praised Little Big Planet 2 for so long being the type of game that only gets boring if you lack imagination. Never has that been more true than when I tried to replay the game once again in a speed-run attempt to recover all my building materials and supplies.

Adobo's Big Adventure

If you want to know where your NES childhood went, look no further than Adobo's Big Adventure.  Touted as the "ultimate tribute to the Nintendo Entertainment System," Adobo's Big Adventure pits this Double-Dragon character across many different NES game settings, beating up a multitude of popular NES characters, and even adapting to different styles of gameplay in search of his son, Adoboy.

Re-play: Rock Band 3

In a series of blog posts aptly titled "re-play," I'll be going over games that I've completed or not in the past that have seen little to no action since.  Of course, most of these will be titles for which I'm gradually recovering the broken shambles of my lost PS3 game saves, but they'll broaden to other older titles.

Unless you live with a family that loves to rock out each night, having a full Rock Band 3 set will attract dust faster than a Swiffer.  While I still enjoy a good jam session with plastic instruments (sometimes on my Fender Stratocaster as well), the game becomes a solo affair almost 95% of the time.  It's no surprise, then, that this game only gets some love on occasion.  But is the replay worth the effort?

Batman: Arkham City...finished!!

With Batman: Arkham Asylum, the game offered so much more gameplay after the core game was over that it really felt like you're in the billionaire's cape and cowl.  All the extra Riddler trophies and side missions made the game more meatier, allowing me to use Batman's arsenal of toys to the fullest.  Batman: Arkham City does at least ten times as much of side missions and content, enough to make me think twice whether or not I would be able to complete them all.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception...finished!!

I'm going to just say it - I was a little disappointed in Uncharted 3.  But not majorly so that I hated the game.  The game was still jaw-droppingly awesome and had its moments, both in action and script, and the gun battles, while at times frustrating, were balanced out with the sense of learning from one's mistakes.

And while I enjoy a good story any day over the length of the game, I still found the playtime to be a little shorter than expected.  It won't stop me from playing the game once more in Crushing Mode (I started in Hard, for a greater challenge), but it's a little disappointing all the same.

Another thing that was quite apparent was the number of glitches the game had.  Uncharted 2 was quite polished, and there was nothing to note of when recalling any odd bugs.  But this one had more than its share of clipping issues, texture drops, and the occasional falling-right-off-the-map moments.

Despite these flaws, the game still stands to be a very enjoyable experience, one that I will still enjoy again and again.  At the moment I've been building my online stats thanks to a few co-op missions with a buddy of mine, so the replay value is still quite high.  And I've started the game over again on "crushing" mode, like I did with Uncharted 2.  To be honest, though, "hard" mode in Uncharted 3 was about as hard as the "crushing" mode on Uncharted 2, so I'm looking into a real challenge this time around.

Games Get! December in new games!

In an effort to quell my post counts before the year's end, here's a lump of new games acquired in the month of December.

ICO/Shadow of the Colossus Collection

These games are just pure living, interactive art.  For them to get the high-def treatment done right gives these aesthetic PS2 classics a prominent place amongst the triple-A titles currently on the PS3.  This is an absolute must-have on the Sony console.

December 2011: Month in Review

This month of December has been quite a busy one, one where I haven't even had time to post anything on my blog for nearly the entire month.  But I guess the only thing I can blame is my PS3.

Extra-Life - Hour 13-24: Professor Layton and the Last Specter

Since I've already posted that I finished the game, I figured I'd use the last 12 hours to wrap up the remaining 12 hours of my Extra-Life gaming accumulation to Professor Layton and the Last Specter.  As difficult it is to believe, I've spent way more than 12 hours when trying to complete this game.

Uncharted 3: Collector's Edition arrives

A little late in posting this, but doing so before Thanksgiving wouldn't have mattered since my PS3 was still in the shop during that time.  But yes, I went for the Uncharted 3: Collector's Edition, with small statue figure, ring replica, and belt buckle.  I can't help it if I enjoy shiny things!

The figure itself is done well, with a loosely-draped attachments and gun.  It will go nicely with the mini statuette from Infamous 2.  Both the ring and belt buckle replicas are nicely made, and would've been perfect with any halloween or cosplay outing.

The game comes nicely adorned in a unique steelbook case, despite the minor flaw with its poorly-glued spine.  I'm gonna have to fix it one of these days, but not today.

All of this is in a nice displayable ornate case that is quite sturdily built.  It sits atop proudly on my fireplace mantle until GameritisGal (aka the wifey) wants it down.

Thanksgiving and PS3 Game Saves

Thanksgiving is a time of thanks and forgiveness, and is something I want to emphasize before I segway into the next topic: backing up your game saves.

The good news is that my PS3 system has been replaced.  The bad news?  My old PS3 hard drive can't be read with all my saves on it.  This is because Sony enables an encryption key that is unique between the hard drive and system such that, should the drive enter another system, it would be completely unreadable.

So now, I have a useless drive that can't be read by any device other than the original PS3, which was replaced.

I've certainly went through my "denial" stage, trying attempt after attempt to recover my old hard drive to no avail.  I've tried swapping the drive from the maintenance menu, I've tried to connect it to a windows or mac to access the files, and nothing.  I get nothing.

So that's it.  Gone are the hours spent in Disgaea leveling up weapons and items.  Lost are the unique levels I've spent days creating in Little Big Planet 2.  All the games I've only partially played through only to hope to finish at a later date...vanished.  I'm definitely wounded from the experience, but at this point there's nothing left to do but to get back up and start walking again.

Thankfully, I have a working PS3 system once more.  Thankfully, my progress still lives on in trophy achievements.  Thankfully, all my DLC is tied to my PSN account so that I can download them once more to my system.  Thankfully, I can return to playing the games I still yearn to play.  I don't have time to be stubborn, to waste time wishing I backed up files.  I've got games to play AND backup.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Super Mario Galaxy 2...completed!!

While my PS3 is in the shop, I'm left with my other consoles.  It's not like I have a shortage of games to play.  In fact, I went ahead and searched for the remaining stars left in Super Mario Galaxy 2.  I've forgotten how much harder it is to find these out-of-reach stars, made even harder by not having any clue where they are located.

PS3 + Yellow Light = no Uncharted 3

As everyone is well aware, Uncharted 3 has finally released this day.  And, like everyone else, I've been eagerly awaiting this moment since the end of Uncharted 2.  Unfortunately for me, however, my PS3 decided to breathe its last breath this past weekend and go YLOD (or "yellow light of death") on me, effectively halting all Arkham City playing and future Uncharted 3 gameplay.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter...finished!

I'm typically not the type of person that would play any game series out of order, but I found exception with Professor Layton and the Last Specter.  Since the game plays as a prequel surrounding Professor Layton and Luke's first time meeting each other and with the first game (Curious Village) under my belt already, playing this latest game was logically sound.

Now that this is done, I'll have to dive into the Diabolical Box and Unwound Future soon.

Batman: Arkham City. 'Nuff said.

Batman: Arkham City has arrived.

Time to kick ass.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter poofs home

While the second and third game still eludes me, I thought it would be no harm in getting Professor Layton and the Last Specter, seeing that the game's story is a prequel to the events from the first game in the Curious Village.  In fact, I've forgotten how fun these puzzle games can keep me enthralled, so it was a welcome change of pace to focus on elaborate puzzles instead of my usual gaming menu of violence and destruction.

Extra-Life - Hour 12: Uncharted 3 Multiplayer

I think I'm probably the 5% remaining players online that is still below level 10 in experience in the Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Beta.  Every online match is a crapshoot with me; I either run to survive, or make meager kills while everyone else is doing superbly and resting comfortably on the level 35 cap.

I did, however, progressed one level to level 9 and am quite close to hitting double digits and reaching the goal I've set during the Extra Life marathon.  Will have to come back to this, however, when I don't feel so defeated.

Extra-Life - Hour 9-11: Big Bang Mini...finished!

I never thought I'd get caught up in any single game during the Extra Life hours, but Big Bang Mini is just so easy to switch on and engage.  Plus, most of the time I'm away from the TV, so my portables are the way to go.  But the extra 3 hours is all I needed to finish the game!

And what a journey to finish the game it was!  There was this one random time when the game actually went to this completely random "retro mode" where everything was all in 8-bit, then exited saying that it may never return again.  I've done some research and found it's a rare occurrence, and that it truly comes at random.

Still have more hours to clock out!!

Gameritis Extra Life goal surpassed!! Gaming to still continue!!

Wow!!  I've only started my contribution 2 days ago in Extra Life with a goal of $100, something I wasn't sure I'd be able to achieve.  Well, not only did we reach the goal, but we surpassed it!  I clearly underestimated what could possibly be done in 2 days.  Imagine if I had started this earlier!  For certain, I'll be contributing to this next year, with an earlier setup and bigger goal.

All you gamers should be proud of yourselves!!  $123 will be going to the UC Davis Children's Hospital!  Thanks to all who donated!!

If you still haven't donated yet, there's still a little more than an hour left to contribute!!

Extra-Life - Hour 7-8: Disgaea 4

Thanks to Disgaea 4's lengthy level-up system with weapons, I've easily done another 2 hrs of upgrading my party stats.  At the average rate of half an hour to upgrade a weapon up 10-12 levels, I've successfully upgraded about 4 weapons during the 2 hours.

A third of the way there!

Extra-Life - Hour 6: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game

Quarter of the way so far, one dinner later, and Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game tops off the gaming stack so far.  I've capped the level for 3 of the 4 characters (not including Knives), so it's a good time right now to finish that off.  Was able to climb one more level before the hour mark, though.

Onto the next game!!