Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Tales from Inventory

Went on Inventory this past weekend and it went pretty smoothly except that the store didn't really provide any food or drinks and our experience in finding food is the main reason for the story. I went with another person so I do have a witness.

The first night we went to a local restaurant called the old barn and they served steaks which is what I wanted. We had about 80 minutes to eat so we we had time but we needed to go by our hotel as well. We had to wait about 15 minutes for a table and during that time I went to the bathroom. I opened the doors to the bathroom and the room inside was just mirrors and to the left I heard girls giggling and for a moment thought I went in the wrong door but this was just an entry room to the real bathroom doors. So then I go to use the bathroom and inside the both urinals is shaved ice, now I'm not sure if it was supposed to be there or not but it was a little strange to see that but I went anyway.

So we finally got to our table and the waitress takes our drink orders and then disappears for about 10 minutes. She does return then takes our order then comes back in about 2 minutes to confirm my side dish. We wait for another 10 minutes, I was expecting my salad to arrive soon since the table that got in after us got theirs but it didn't arrive until the main course arrived. It did have freshly made bleu cheese dressing so that made up for it. We get just about done eating and the waitress tells us that their bread was rock hard and they had to make some more so we looked at each other because this was the first I heard of free bread, after we are done we get Texas toast with butter on it. We then asked for separate checks and she brings out 2 copies of the bill but it isn't split so we have to ask again and she gets it right.

So now we have about 15 minutes to get to work but we did make it. We did work till 1 and the weather was very dry and the store didn't provide much but they gave us some lime Dillard's water which wasn't even cold so that was a bust.

Next day for lunch we wanted to find a place that had the game on and Hooters was close by so we chose that. I've never had a good experience in Hooters and this was another "fun" time. In Texas you can still smoke in restaurant's and the non-smoking section was about 12 seats without any ventilation and smokers were all around the square area.

We order our food and are wait about 5 minutes and the waitress brings part of the order but it isn't exactly correct but rushes off telling me mine is coming right up. Parker started eating the bone-in-wings the waitress brought even though he ordered boneless but he thinks she made a hearing mistake. She brings me my food and I look and see it's shrimp and that isn't what I ordered so I tell her and then she starts panicking and then realizes she gave us another tables order. Parker finished a wing so she left that and took the shrimp to the correct table and told them what happened. I then see her and her boss having a conversation and then she comes back to our table saying that she needed the wings back unless Parker wanted to pay for them so she took them to the back and what happened to them then who knows. Another waitress brings us our food and our waitress just ignores us for the next 15 minutes, we felt like we were punished for doing something wrong. Our drinks were empty and at then Parker noticed a black hair in his drink so we were ready to go. She finally came back and gave us out ticket and we left.

My food experiences during inventory didn't go as planned but they did make for some nice stories.

Mass Effect 2, Fallout 3, Dragon Age, No More Heroes 2

Mass Effect 2 (360) (8hr)

Awesome game. I really liked the first Mass Effect but it did have some problems and they have all been fixed so far. They did remove a lot of the RPG aspects of the game, they do exist but they are really streamlined. The shooting is on par with other 3rd person shooters and the frame rate is constant, those were my two main issues with the first game.

The graphics and voicework are all superb and it really feels like I am interacting with a movie. There is a lot of dialog but I like that and a lot of the information in the game like planets, races, and other data is read in game so that is a nice feature as well. I am really impressed and will probably play again as you can be nice or rude and they will have different options.

No More Heroes 2 (Wii) (1hr)

I liked and finished the first game and it was crazy and over the top and the second one is more so. The graphics have been improved but the controls are still the same, they work but could be better. I started on the mild difficulty, but I've died about 3 times against the first boss and I started feeling cheated so I may drop the difficulty down and try again. If you want a crazy game then go pick this up.

Fallout 3 (360) (2hr)

I finished the main game but never completed the addon's so I got the urge and started again and it's fallout 3 again. After playing some of the new games it feels janky, but it has so much to do that it's worth it.

Dragon Age (360) (4hr)

I've spent a lot of time with this game and I got to a point where the difficulty is tough again even on casual which lessons my excitement to complete the game. I will do it but why can't the game be constant.

Darksiders

The vsync patch for the 360 version comes out today so I will start this game over again, I've been waiting for this patch but too bad it came out the week of ME2.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Deadly Creatures

Deadly Creatures (Wii) (1hr)

The basketball game was on late so I didn't play too much last night and so I put in Deadly Creatures. I had played through 2 chapters previously but hadn't picked it up for about 5 months. I started from the beginning and got through 3 chapters and the game is really good. You play as a trantuala and a scorpion in a desert where two people are searching for a dead body an gold. You only see and hear them every once in awhile but they do keep the story going. The two characters play differently and they each have their own moves. The killing blows are pretty gruesome and all the combat is against other insects and other pests like snakes. Rainbow Studios is the developer and they made my favorite motorcycle game Motocross Madness 2 and they have made another fantastic game.

Flip HD Camera

I was wanting to get an HD camera too shoot various stuff and record me playing the drums so that I could see what mistakes and how I play. I've been looking and have decided to get the Flip HD it is $159 at Best buy and I hope to have a review up next week. It is the only HD camera around this price range that has stereo sound.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Dragon Age, Trials HD

Dragon Age (360) (4hr)

I think that I found my first big fault with the game and that is the varying degree of difficulty. I am playing on normal and for the most part it is pretty easy but other times it's near impossible. Several times I've fought a battle that ended within 8 seconds, they had a mage that used one spell that killed everyone in my party and I didn't have a chance to react. I then have to reload and try again and this time they don't use the same spell and I get through the battle easily. There are also parts where you leave your party and you play with a single character and those battles are hard as well. I am still enjoying my time but did get frustrated a little bit.

Trials HD (360) (1hr)

I expect this game to frustrate me but I have gotten better and am able to pass the harder levels.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Dragon Age, Dawn of Discovery

Dragon Age (360) (6hr)

I wish that I had bought the 360 version of this game. The PC version looks better and has more strategic combat but what I really like about the game is the story and the interaction between the characters and that is the same on both versions. I died a lot in the PC version on normal and twice so far on the 360 so it is easier on the 360. It feels more action oriented on the 360 and to me that's okay I don't like having to control 3 other characters and the micromanagement is alot less on the 360 so another plus. I'm almost caught up to where I was on the PC now I just have to decide if I want to buy the DLC or not. I am playing a different character and the game has played out a little differently so the replay value is high.

Dawn of Discovery (Wii) (1hr)

I picked this up for $15 off of Amazon and I really like it. There is a PC version that I played a demo of and the gameplay is the same but the world and atmosphere are different. This game reminds me of the Caesar games of old where you build cities and use diplomacy to build up your own colony and countries. I haven't seen any combat so far which is great since I never liked that part in the Caesar series.
The Wii version is more stylized even though it looks cartoonish, the PC version has really nice detailed and realistic graphics which couldn't be done on the Wii but they did a good job with the new approach and it looks and plays really well. I am almost through the tutorial stages and then I can continue my campaign or try the sandbox mode. This game has a lot too offer I just need more time.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Game Collectorz, F.E.A.R

Since I have a pretty big game collection I wanted some way to catalog them. I've been using Excel but have been eying the Game Collectorz software for awhile but didn't want to pay the $40. After looking at what the software provided though I decided to go ahead and purchase the product. So far I like it, the biggest thing is that it has it's own database of games that have the boxart and some information about the games and that interested me. It also allows for other info and has a loan piece as well so I can keep track of the games that I loan out. It's pretty easy to get games into the system and will even work with a scanner.

F.E.A.R. (360) (1hr)

I've beaten this game before but picked it up for $7 and it's good but a throwback shooter. The biggest thing missing is a zoom when you shoot. Sniper guns have a scope and that will zoom but on other guns no zoom aiming at all which is very different and makes the game a little harder. The A.I. is really good in this game and will use good tactics in order to put you away.


In the next couple of weeks Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2 will be released so get ready for your wallets to start crying.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Red Faction Guerilla, Bayonetta,

Bayonetta (360) (2hr)

I finished last night and it is really a great game. I don't have too many bad things to say about it. It is tough in some places but after watching the patterns and actually looking at the attacks that were made the Boss I had trouble with was pretty easy. Once you finish it opens up the hard level and that is hard. I couldn't even
get through the first section but I will try later since I didn't get hardly any of the extras in the game. I need to go back and retry levels on normal to get the platinum levels so there is a lot of replay value.

Red Faction Guerilla (360) (1hr)

I bought this game when it was released and played maybe 2 hours of it but for some reason forgot about it so I went back to it and it is really fun. There are a lot of different side missions that you can do and one I found last night you get into a sort of mech and just go around destroying things and I had a great time so I definitely need to finish that one.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Trials HD, Bayonetta,

Well I used all my vacation from last year and what did I do? Nothing which is sad but what I wanted to do so it worked out. I had alot of games to catch up on and I did some but got Lost. I have always liked the show but didn't watch any of Season 5 but they have it on Netflix so I would watch an episode when I was eating but got addicted to it so I watched about 15 episodes over 2-3 days and now I'm caught up and ready for the final season.

Trials HD (XBLA) (2hr)

Picked this game up over the weekend and it is a very frustrating blast. You ride a motorcycle over jumps and obsticles trying to reach the finish in a specified time limit and with limited fails. There are around 50 tracks and I can finish about half of them but they get extremely hard and even though the restarting is instant I get tired of restarting. They can be done because some of my friends have scores that keep enticing me to play and get a faster time and I wish there were more of the easier tracks so that speed runs can be made. I downloaded the extra tracks as well so that helps. They included a track editor but you can only share with your friends and none of mine have created any so I wish there was a database you could get them from.

Bayonetta (360) (8hr)

Thought I would finish this over the weekend and I got to the final boss and had to call it a night after trying around 12 times. The game is awesome and is one of the best action games that I have played, the story is still strange and vague but the combat is satisfying. I'm around the 12 hour mark so there could still be more levels but I'll have to see later this week. The game did bring up a question in that how hard should the final Boss character be?

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Darksiders, Bayonetta, COD 2

Trying to play Darksiders and Bayonetta at the same time is hard since I only have 2 hands and my feet are not that talented. The games are different but both have similar combat styles and I am trying to mix and match combos from each game so I will probably pick one and play all the way through but I'm having a tough time figuring out which one. Bayonetta is beautiful and controls perfectly and has some strange but awesome cutscenes. Darksiders offers more puzzles and a kind of open world vs the linear approach of Bayonetta. I think that I am having more fun with Bayonetta since she is a hot chick and I can't pass up a girl with guns on her feet.

I finally figured out COD MW 2, if you are the host you will almost always win unless you are really bad. I saw Mitch playing free-for-all so I joined him and he needs practice.....anyway after a couple of matches I was the host for the match and I went on to win about 4 out of 5 matches because when I saw someone and they saw me I was able to hit him first and I attribute that to being the host. When I'm not I almost always lose that battle and I play the same way so I know it isn't me and it has to be the minor lag in the game. I wish it wasn't there but the game is still fun anyway and now I'm on my way back to lvl 70.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Darksiders, Bayonetta,

What a great week for action-adventure gamers, usually there are no games in January but this year there are about 5 awesome games and even more in Feb and March. This week Darksiders and Bayonetta were released and I bought both of them through Amazon with release day shipping for free, if you order online through Amazon you need Amazon Prime. I got home around 6 and went to pick up the package on my front stoop and no package, I remember looking at the site in the morning and seeing that it was out for delivery so I look again and now it's "in transit". I looked at the history and it was out for delivery then "in transit" about an hour afterwards so I was confused and bothered that I wasn't going to get my package. Luckily around 6:30 the package arrived so I think they made a mistake and made up for it which was nice as my packages usually arrive around 2.

Darksiders (360) (1hr)

This is an action adventure game where you play as a one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse who thought the seventh seal was broken but wasn't so by coming early the earth is now doomed. The first section is filled with fantasical creatures and some great boss fights, it also plays similar to Zelda with puzzles and platforming. The moves that you pull off are very satisfying and great to watch the only thing I don't like is that they map the block button to the Right Bumper and I'm not a fan of that button but on Bayonetta the setup similar, oh well.

Bayonetta (360) (1.5hr)

Sarah Palin as an action star? This game is very hard to explain in that it is crazy. It's from the maker of Devil May Cry and that game was over the top when it came out but Bayonetta is 100 times more so. Guns in hand and on feet, check. Create butterflies when you land from a jump, check. Torture Kills, check. Hair as armour, check. From that hair create an enormous monster that will eat the boss enemy whole, check. I could go on and on.

If you like action games then this is a must buy, the combos are easy to pull off and the animations and moves are fun to watch. There is just so much going on that you will be overwhelmed but in control at all times.