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...

Sir, you have your 2 o'clock meeting with Disgaea 2 today...

There probably will be no solution to the over-saturation of games released on a weekly basis. And let's face it - unless you have no job, life, relationship, OR kids, you won't have enough time to squeeze out every ounce of gameplay from every game you keep purchasing. So what are the possible solutions to command this chaos?

Sure, there are sites like backloggery.com to let you chronicle your purchases and progress throughout each game, and there are the typical trophy/achievement systems that digitally date and mark how tolerant you are of your games. But despite all this, we gamers just get overwhelmed by "shiny and new" games every week enough to make our heads spin.

So you have X amount of games you've amassed - how will you tackle them?

Call me old-fashioned, but one tangible solution is just keeping a written list with you. And this is not the first time I've made this argument. But in addition to a list, why not set up a schedule to distribute your free time over your games?

Say you have three games you're playing concurrently. If you have 2 hours of free time a day, you can dedicated one hour to one game, and half-hour segments for the other two. Or, space out your time by dedicated 2 hours apiece to each game for 3 days a week.

Granted, there will be times when you just cannot leave a game to follow your schedule, whether it's trying to find that elusive save point, or you loaned your scheduled game to someone else. The best thing to do at these times is to exercise good judgment and self-control; mark the extra time spend, and redistribute your free time with your other games to compensate. And like any schedule set, you shouldn't overexert yourself and exceed scheduled time. That would just throw your planning out of whack.

But through careful time-management and creating a checkoff list, any game you own can and will be eventually cleared. Unless you just clock in a full 24-hour game-fest - then it's just a matter of sheer willpower.

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time...completed!

Among the constant struggles of trying to complete games amidst these recent game releases, I bring you another playing-through-the-game-in-hard-mode moments, complete with my first Platinum Trophy! The game this was accomplished in? Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time!

Though earning it wasn't easy, considering the glitches that thwared the trophy system. But after playing through the game once more in Challenge Mode and completing more of the side quests, getting that 100% was all the more sweeter. Now, that game joins Batman: Arkham Asylum and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves as games I've completed through all difficulty levels.

In actuality, this was done back in January 14th, but I needed to get it off my chest and documented properly on this blog.

Plus, it'll make me feel better when I'll buy God of War III later.

Braid...finished?

With all the rave reviews going into a gorgeous and well-thought-of indie game like Braid, you'd think it would be as satisfying when you finish the game. Well, not too recently, I did just that, but it is not in the category of finished games where I am left even more confused as when I started playing.

I won't enter spoiler territory, but the game created more questions than answers. So much so that it has spurred discussions in forums about the game's story. In that sense, Braid is truly a game of art; it is gorgeous to look at, and, at the same time, is perceived differently from each person that interacts with it.

All abstractions aside, the game's puzzles are the most creative that I've seen in any game for some time. I think all but one eluded my grasp at a solution, but there were certainly a number of them that had my brain struggling for an answer. But each puzzle I solved only fueled my persistence to figure out the next unsolvable puzzle. The calming and somewhat therapeutic atmosphere of the game was almost zen-like, making me rationalize a path to the solution instead of throwing my controller down in frustration and storming away.

I think Braid would be a game a doctor would prescribe to a gaming patient who's given up games for their increasing difficulty and convoluted gameplay mechanics. On a higher plain, it's a game that allows you to appreciate other games.

Final Fantasy XIII hardcover strategy guide arrives, comes with childhood memories

I remember back when I bought Final Fantasy VII how I was really looking forward to getting the game and playing it for the first time. But I also remember how frustrated I was when the person in front of me bought the game AND strategy guide at the same time. I thought to myself, "Why would you want to buy the game and the guide at the same time? Wouldn't you want to enjoy the game first through self discovery before someone holds your hand through the entire game?"

But I was young and naive back then. And, if I recall, the person may have been older. Now that I, too, am older, I realize the reason wasn't because he was impatient to find everything - he just doesn't have the time to.

Now, at nearly double the iterations from that last memory, Final Fantasy XIII is released, as are the strategy guides that follow suit. And I ended up becoming that man from my youth, buying the strategy guide shortly after acquiring the game.

While this is not a dramatically changing point in my strategy-guide-buying life, it is the first time I've bought one for a Final Fantasy game relatively close to the game purchase. Like many older gamers, the time frame we have to enjoy games gets smaller and smaller, and frankly, there's really no other alternative if you want to keep playing games. I don't have the luxury to waste 4 hours in one sitting trying to find an item, when I could quickly find out that I increase my chances by equipping myself with a particular piece of armor.

But, in my defense, all my strategy guides have been for RPGs or Strategy RPGs. Those games are absolutely full of content that 80% of players would probably overlook by just playing the game once over and not come back for a second playthrough. Any other games like platformers or first-person shooters don't have as much depth as your typical multi-class, -weapon, and -quest RPG game. And there have only been a handful of games AT MOST that I've given extra attention to to get the most out of the gaming experience.

So, while I'll continue to enjoy my playing experience with XIII, the guide will serve to be my safety net, should I become stuck or desire to acquire more "bang for my buck."

Also, for the record, the hardcover edition of the Final Fantasy XIII guide is SUPER slick, on quality print, has minimal spoilers in the walkthrough, and is numbered (since only 210,000 are produced). Piggyback Interactive has quite the keen eye for quality.

Zero Punctuation review: Aliens vs Predator

"Lazy Wednesday" got so lazy that it has become "Lazy Thursday" as I post the latest video review from Yahtzee. This week's unfortunate game to befall this cocky reviewer's wit is Aliens Vs Predator. Though for once, I think the game benefits from being reviewed by Yahtzee, judging from all my friends' comments on the game and its piss-poor history.

As always, NSFW, so enjoy!

Final Fantasy XIII arrives

The game that initially herded people around the PS3 has now gathered XBOX 360 players into the mix as Final Fantasy XIII makes its ways to stores today. The last Final Fantasy game I played was X, and I skipped over XII, so this latest installment will be a return of sorts.

From what I hear, there are a lot of unfamiliar territory explored in this game - different victory music, different handling of battles, different summons. Hopefully there's no compromise in quality.

Maybe I can break my Final Fantasy game completion curse with this game.

Metal Slug 7 and Metal Slug XX blasts its way home

It's a Metal Slug portable binge as I grab myself Metal Slug 7 for the DS and Metal Slug XX for the PSP. If it's not apparent to you, I'm a pretty die-hard Metal Slug fan, with its arcade-style graphics, kill-anything-that-moves gameplay, and intense difficulty settings. To me, it's like a walking version of a SHMUP.

As long as the franchise maintains its difficulty streak and arcade look, I'll be looking forward to more installments in the future.

Zero Punctuation catch-up: Dante's Inferno and Bioshock 2

It's a bit of a stretch when a 14th-Century poem becomes the inspiration to a God-of-War-like game in Dante's Inferno, but I guess anything can happen in "twenty ten." And Yahtzee's video review of the game, at one point, compares its features to his right hand.

Next is his review of Bioshock 2, the sequel to the popular Bioshock game from 2007, complete with Big Daddy/Sister/Your Mom playability.

Both videos NSFW. Both videos below for you to enjoy.

Dante's Inferno


Bioshock 2

Megaman 10 comes busting into my Wii

It's Megaman 10. It's retro. It's on the Wii first. You KNOW I have to get it.

Sure, anyone following my blog will note that there's no "finished" stamp yet for Megaman 9. Trust me, I'm real close - REAL close - but I still haven't finished the game. Will need to get right on that.

But you know any megaman die-hard fan won't miss out on this.

If you're waiting for this to come out for the XBOX 360 or PS3, they'll come out March 11 and 31, respectively.