A Wolf Among Us

 

I have spoken before about my love of Telltale Games.  Their point and click creations are as intriguing as some of the best books I've read.  A Wolf Among Us is one of their typical five episode games that came to the Xbox 360 back in 2013.  It's based on the comic book series Fables, the stories of classic fable characters like Snow White, Ichabod Crane, trolls, ogre, princes, etc who have chosen to live in the non-magical world.

I am not much of a fan of fairy tales or children's stories.  I personally much prefer a dark, adult plot with lots of realistic characters.  But the Fable comics and the Wolf Among Us game made we want to dive deeper into these old, classic stories.  Any game that makes me want to watch a Disney movie is pretty amazing.

The game follows Bigby Wolf (Big Bad Wolf) as he attends to the residence of Fabletown, a small community in the Bronx full of creatures glamored to look like regular humans.  What made this game/story so interesting is that there is murder, romance, prostitution, magic, cut throat politics, and even a bit of fetishism.  I don't want to go into too much detail because it's really hard to not give things away.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to express my love for this bizarre, complex game.  I encourage you to play it if you haven't already.  You will be pleasantly surprised.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Putting my prejudice for nostalgia behind me, I sucked it up and played The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.  This game hit all the right notes for me.  It reminded me of all the things I loved from the original game without cramming them down my throat.  The music, enemies, surroundings, everything was just right and kept me aware that I was playing a classic Zelda game.

Additionally, the developers made sure to advance the game forward, making it relevant today.  The graphics were hugely improved.  The learning curve and difficulty were much more balanced that previous titles.  There were more quests and collectibles which helped to make the game as short or long as you wanted it to be.

All too often, our generation clings to their childhood so hard that we all end up stuck with sub-par products.  I know people want to play a classic 8-bit game with terrible music and no save files, but some players want to see developers stretch the current technology and blow minds.  While A Link Between Worlds didn't break the mold as far as game design goes, it shows how easy it can be to make a game that serves to both old school and new school players.

Pneuma: Breath of Life

 

Pneuma: Breath of Life is a puzzle game with a charming, protagonist.  The player solves the puzzles in first person as the protagonist entity.  While bodiless and nameless, the voice of the playing entity is constantly talking.  As the game progresses, the voice goes from believing he is a god to believing he has no control in the world.

The game takes on this super bizarre, ultra meta feel.  The voice begins to speculate and even panic that the player is the real god.  He feels like he has no control and accuses the player of manipulating him.  At one point, the voice ends up at a lone tree in a colorless world as the player reaches for what is implied to be the apple of Eden.  There is a good chance I'm not smart enough to understand why the game goes so far as to vaguely reference the Old Testament.  I'm not a theologian or a philosophy major, so the whole concept is just too far out of my wheelhouse. 

The voice itself is really charming until the end when he loses his mind.  Between the English accent and quirky comments, it reminds me a lot of Wheatley from Portal 2.  I began to feel bad for him as he slowly loses his mind/realizes the presence of the player.

The game itself is short.  I completed all six chapters and cleared all achievements in about two hours.  The game looks amazing and plays really smooth.  With that in mind, it's hard to justify the $20 price tag.  It seems like a lot for something with almost no replayability that took two hours to complete.

If you have the chance to play it for free or at a reduced cost, it is definitely worth your time.  But if your only way to play is through the full $20 purchase, you might want to wait until it's on sale.

One More Line

One More Line is a free mobile game that has slowly taken over my life.  It is one of those apps that is perfect for passing the time.  Playing a round takes less than one minute.  If you aren't very good at it, like me, it will take about 5 seconds.

The goal is to travel the furthest possible distance down a straight lane.  There are small orbs scattered around that you must use to slingshot yourself forward.  You die if you hit the walls; you die if you hit an orb.  The replayability is akin to Flappy Bird.  No story, just a single objective to keep trying.

What makes this game so much better than others like it is the amazing soundtrack.  It's one song looped, but surprisingly doesn't get old.  It probably becomes annoying for those not playing, but who cares about those jerks ?  I once heard someone call the sound "futuristic space disco" and that is a fairly apt description.

The other great feature is the ability to take pictures of your run right in the app without having to take a screen shot.  It will then save the picture or instantly post it to social media if you want.  Why don't more games have this ?

Since it's free, just download it and save it for when you need to pass the time but might not have the attention for something difficult or story driven. 

Check out some game play here.

Telltale and Gearbox Give Me A Much Needed Break.

 
Tales From The Borderlands is one of Telltale Games' latest release.  It fits the typical description of any Telltale experience including an episodic narrative, point and click game play, and choice based storytelling.  Thankfully, Tales From The Borderlands brings a lot more enjoyment and lightheartedness.

One can easily say that they don't want to play Tales because they didn't like Gearbox's Borderlands or Telltale's flagship game, The Walking Dead.  I would argue, that Tales From The Borderlands is the perfect game for those people.  Don't like the fast paced yet somehow repetitive nature of Borderlands?  Tales is strictly story driven and doesn't require side missions or level grinding.  Don't care for the slow build and intense emotions that come with The Walking Dead?  Tales provides funny characters and almost as much quick button action as there is dialogue.

Do yourself a solid and buy the first episode.  Follow the ridiculous characters with their sophomoric humor on an adventure throughout Pandora.

Hide Yo Kids...

I am fairly certain that we have covered this topic before, but I feel like I need to bring it up again.  Little kids and video games.  I don't have a problem with parents deciding that their child is okay to play an "M" rated game.  I do, however, take major issue with little kids being all up on the mic.

When a game requires a clan, I see the whole idea as being a way to play together, socialize, group up, and engage with one another.  MMOs are particularly meant for a social experience.  When you take a game for adults (violence, skimpy clothes, F-bombs) and add small children (ages 12 and below), the parent is doing so at their own risk.  Allowing those same small children to get on a mic in clan chat is painful for everybody involved.  

Let's start with what should be the most obvious: my age vs their age.  I am 31 years old and I sure as hell do not want to hang out with your 7 year old.  That's weird.  It's annoying to me that I now have to spend time with a small child in order to get things done with my clan of adults aged 40 and up.

Second, what the hell kind of parent is allowing their child to get on the mic and talk to complete strangers?  Would you allow your kid to hang out in chat rooms online by themselves?  Or approach and converse with strangers in a park by themselves?  So why are there people that think it is harmless to allow their small children to be in a public lobby?  There is nothing to keep me or anyone else from saying something violent, threatening, or sexual.

Lastly, the adults that allow these kids online are super inconsiderate.  I was actually told in clan chat that I need to watch my language because there was a small child in chat.  An adult game full of talking adults should be no kids allowed.  It makes the game less fun and more awkward for everyone else.

So please, please leave your kids off the mic.  It's inappropriate for everyone involved, and I definitely won't be sorry when I teach your kid some new words.

Just Spit It Out Already!

Here's the breakdown of gaming at my house lately: I've been playing Defiance, my husband has been playing Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution, and my daughters are obsessed with Animal Crossing: New Leaf.  We're kind of all over the board.  But do you know what the combination of listening to these three games has taught me?

Voice overs are totally important.

All three games have a different way to handle voice overs.  Defiance has inane, repetitive chatter, but it's completely voiced and in English (or whatever language, I'm guessing??)  Civilization has constant, interruptive voice overs, but the characters just jabber.  Kind of like Sims.  And Animal Crossing is completely voiced, but it's just bleeps and bloops, not really word sounds at all, except when you type it says the letters you hit in a majorly robotic voice.

So different, and what do they all have in common?  SO ANNOYING.

Of the three, I would say Animal Crossing is the least offensive.  I am not crazy about the fact that every time a character talks to you it makes a steady stream of noise not unlike a dial-up modem in the 90's, but it's easily tuned out.  Civilization might be the worst.  You have advisors helping build your civilization, and they are constantly popping up to talk at you.  It stops game play to have you read their blurb and make a decision. But the whole time they're up they are just jabbering away in nonsense.  Why?  Why did they even spend the time recording this inane blabbering?  If you're going to record someone talking away, just have them actually speak the words.  It's super annoying to me.  I wish they were just silent.  My husband stands up for the game by saying this way it could be shipped worldwide without recording multiple languages.  It still grates on me.

And Defiance voice overs are annoying in a category all their own.  There is tons of voiced dialogue during quest hand-outs and cut-scenes, all voice acted and well done.  But during actual game play you have your very own Navi-like computer chick, who talks incessantly but repeats the same lines over and over and over.  Everyone who plays can recite EGO's lines.  And everyone hates her.  I'm not generalizing.

I love the work programmers and designers put into games...but how about going that extra mile, or going a mile less, and just not annoying the gamer?

Titanfall: Doing It Right

I have always enjoyed games from the Call of Duty series.  I think they are a fun, brainless way to pass time, laugh with friends, or vent frustrations.  With the last couple releases, the Call of Duty online experience has become so intense that there is little value for the casual player.  Having releases every year causes the learning curve to approach so fast and so steep that it can be impossible to keep up.

Titanfall provides the action and fun of the online multiplayer experience, without all the baggage.  Of course, there are some players that magically become pros the instant the game loads up.  But for the most part, everyone is wading through these foreign waters together.  

There has always been a presence on the Internet that would like multiplayer and solo campaign games to be separate.  In the case of CoD, even the zombie levels should probably consist of their own title.  Instead of cramming all this into one, Titanfall poured all their attention into the multiplayer game.  With no focus being given to a single player story, the end result of Titanfall is near perfection.

The only decision I don't quite understand about Titanfall is why there is a multiplayer campaign.  The story is almost non-existent.  I played through and I don't remember any part of it; I was too busy messing with my loadouts.  The campaign consists of lobbies that play exactly like the regular, multiplayer game.  Developers really could have just left the game as Red Team vs Blue Team; we don't need a backstory.

While I have never enjoyed achievements that are based on online play, I think the goals they set are manageable.  For those of you who were raised in the Call of Duty era, give Titanfall a try for something a bit more fresh.

When Good Games Go Bad

Yeah, I know, the title is a bit on the dramatic side...forgive me, it sounds awesome and I had to use it.

Debbie & I have been playing a ton of Defiance on the 360 lately.  It came out in April 2013 and the price point dropped embarrassingly fast.  It is an MMO which is pretty intriguing and awesome on the console, as my MMO experience before this was only WoW.

Us ladies of Achievos have fairly similar taste in games, but somehow we rarely end up playing the same stuff.  If we do play the same game, I'm usually playing it about a year after Debbie has already completed and re-sold it.  So it has been super fun to have this game that we can run around in together and kill all the evil, diseased masses.  The game is an MMO, so we do see lots of other people in game as well.  But seeing them running around is pretty much as much interaction as you're going to get.

And this is where the good game goes bad.

Defiance has an unbelievable amount of potential.  It is fun.  It is a functional console MMO.  It has a large world map, easy travel, a number of weapons that would rival Borderlands, and multiple skill trees to build out your perfect character.

That said, it is the least multi-player MMO that I have ever heard of.  The grouping option is sloppy at best,

Hey, I see you over there. Wish we could interact.

as we are constantly booted from our group for no apparent reason.  And the group questing is also confusing.  If one character has already completed the mission, they often can't see everything going on, and their partner will freeze and disappear during cutscenes or to fight bosses that are no longer available to you.  There are clans, but we have unsuccessfully joined a couple and there doesn't seem to be much benefit to being in them.  Although that might just be because we haven't found a great, active one yet.

The world map is large, but the quests are extremely repetitive.  I hope you like ranchers, because you're going to be saving the same few groups of them day in and day out.  Yes, it is a reputation daily quest, but there are story lines and side missions that have you doing the same thing over and over too.  And the game is notoriously bad for having you travel 100 meters to pick up a quest, then 200 meters to get the next piece of information, 150 meters to kill 3 guys...etcetc..  It gets old quick.  At least there is fast travel, and the vehicles (while easily stopped on any small barrier) are super fun and quick to drive.

Finally, the weapons.  There are approximately 80 gazillion to choose from.  There are all of your favorite types. Prefer pistols? Snipers? Shotties?  We've got it all.  And on top of that, there are 4 or 5 different variations.  Sawed-off shotguns, pump action, combat...  And you are constantly getting loot.  New and amazing things to shoot.  And mods to make them even better!  But heaven help you if you can manage all of this with the awkward menus, impossible to compare weapon lists, and constant juggling of those mods.  It's fun, but good luck.  I find myself keeping my old trusty weapons and mostly scrapping or selling everything else.

Now you may be wondering why we're playing if it's just got so many hiccups.  Why?  Why are we pouring hours and hours into leveling up our guns and characters and searching Paradise for the random information stash?  Because it is really fun.  Even though the game has its issues, it is still a blast.  And remember when I said the price point was embarrassingly low soon out of the gate? That is a glaring hint to you, readers.  If you haven't picked up this game, go get it.  The more of us who play, the more fun it will be.

Disneyland, but Cheaper

It is NOT this easy.

So the kids and I recently remembered that we have the very fun and engaging Kinect Disneyland.  So we've been trying to play it.

Trying is the keyword.

I basically don't know how families stay together after trying to play this with my 3 year old, my (now) 6 year old, the 1 year old wandering around, and my husband.

First, the baby.  When two other big kids/me are playing, and he wanders in front, it somehow totally removes us as player and accepts him.  This is beyond annoying.

Then the 3-year-old.  She desperately wants to play this.  She's probably the most age-appropriate for a Disneyland game... and she can barely do it alone.  It is impossible to help her with the proper motions, and have you ever tried telling a 3-year-old, "Lift your left hand.. no your left. Your other hand.  The one close to me. Now lift it.  Less.  Lift it just a little.  Now lower.  Higher.  Like this.  Do what mommy is doing.  Oh for the love of Pete, you're on your own."

The 6-year-old has a great grasp of it, and can properly control it.  Phew.  I suppose I also fit in this category.

And then there's my husband, who somehow always has to walk across the room, and since this is the most finicky Kinect game it either picks him up as a player, or the brief second he passes the Kinect totally blanks us all out.

I can't understand why some Kinect games are so good at tracking and keeping you logged in, despite madness in the room, and others are just absolutely awful.  Disneyland fits in the awful category.  And it's marketed for children.  Ironically, Once Upon a Monster is also awful, and also for children.  Does Xbox/Kinect want parents to kill themselves over their children crying that the characters won't dance with them??

I don't think it's reason enough not to buy the game.  It is super fun.  I am an unapologetic Disney lover.  Disneyland was truly the most magical place on Earth for me.  And it is faithfully recreated in this game.  It's so fun to walk around and see the same corners of the park that we walked in.  "Hey look! That's the bathroom where we cleaned up that giant poopy diaper!  Ahh..memories."

Just, when/if you buy it, prepare yourself. I suggest a glass of wine.  Or just playing it after the kids go to bed. You know you want to.

Offline Mode

So with the onslaught of new responsibilities that have come with having a kid in school, I find my gaming time has become even more limited than before.  I know.  This has been a constant complaint for me, and I imagine it will be until, well, until the day I die.  There just aren't enough hours in the day.  And to top that off, I have four people in my house who are active on a single TV screen, housing all three of our main systems. Sure I have my PC and my 3DS, but I find that sometimes I just have to unplug from all the of it.

Ironically, then I turn to my Kindle.  I clearly can't escape the screen.  But you know what - I love it.

Lately I have been reading dystopian lit, focusing on the idea that virtual worlds or games have taken over because they are so much better than the real life people have.  I've read a few Neil Stephenson books, and then I read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  Dude.  Go read this book, right now.

Don't mind me, just plugged in.

We live in an increasingly connected world.  I mean, I think the Xbox One's Kinect is pretty much going to try to live inside of us.  The current Kinect is creepy enough.  The One can see your heartbeat.  And your soul, or so I'm speculating.  In these books, the characters are escaping their crappy real world lives for a glamorous second life, completely online.  The wear visors or goggles so they can completely immerse visually, and in some they even have full body suits so they can feel and interact with their virtual world.  They live there, work there, fall in love there... It's crazy, but it definitely seems like that's where we're headed tech-wise.

And it is fun to speculate on.

And don't tell me you don't like to read.  I hate to break it to you, but you're reading right now.  Your cell phone?  Constantly reading texts, Twitter, Facebook...  And all those games.  You're reading the screen, reading the story line, directing your character's speech.  You read all the time.  So just read a book. It's fun, I promise.

A Little Something About Narrative

In the time that Linz and I have taken our hiatus, I managed to squeeze in a ton of gaming every chance I could.  Long, short, mobile, flash, shooters, puzzle, PC, console, and more.  Predictably, I am drawn to games with story and a strong narrative.  But I am learning that there are very different types of storytelling within games.

One of the few games that I actually didn't play was The Last of Us.  I was playing side by side with someone else, each our own games.  When cut scenes popped up on their play-through of The Last of Us, I would pause whatever I was doing and listen in.  It is an intense game with beautiful art and graphics.  The whole experience was very moving and each cinematic told more and more story.

Alternatively, I have been playing Half-Life 2 for the first time.  This game is steeped in storytelling and it's own serial mythology.  The graphics are almost a decade old, so clearly they don't come near the standard set by Naughty Dog for The Last of Us.  However dated, I am far more attracted to the story in Half-Life 2.  The only thing I can attribute this to is that the story unfolds within the game play.  I am actually playing the story and finding things out along the way.  We try something and it fails, now the team has to move on to something new.  Or we discover new types of enemies together and work out ways to kill them. 

Thinking things through, I seriously doubt that one way of storytelling is better than the other.  Cut scenes with amazing graphics have a great way of showing me what is happening in the classic sense.  It does, however, remove me more from the experience that is just playing the game.  I am forced to sit still and watch what can sometimes be a very lengthy scene.  Alternatively, Half-Life 2 allows me to stay in that character.  I don't have to leave my first-person vantage.  However, there are times when important things are being said by some NPC and I'm missing it because I'm busy shooting, or screwing around in a room trying to jump on boxes or find new areas.  In these cases, I am my own worst enemy.

It's really up to each individual which type of game and storytelling they prefer.  Both games are pretty awesome and you should take the time to check them out if you haven't already.  But this should give you something to think about and talk about at the breakfast table.

It's Like Riding A Bike

Wowzers.. I know this is not the first time I've come back and apologized for extended radio silence on our end.  My husband deployed out, so I was away for a few months to be with family.  That put me in a position to be more sane throughout my days - but without internet and therefore no Xbox Live.  Trust me when I say that I was still getting my game on to the best of my ability.

I finally entered the world of smart phone owners, which just means that while I was away I could regularly play the "With Friends" games.  I am awesome at Scramble, and totally suck at Hanging with Friends.  Go figure.  But it keeps me busy.  We also have an iPod so I got totally addicted to Tiny Tower.  I rounded out my gaming with the 3DS, and, as always, Mario is my bestie.

All of these game types got me thinking though, and in the end I realized I was getting used to what I came to think of as no-risk gaming.  Obviously the only danger in losing in the "with friends" games is just the shame of losing to your friends (in some cases over and over...)  But my fascination with Tiny Tower really got to me.  There was absolutely no way to lose in that game.  There are no consequences for not checking in, not clicking your building, not stocking the shelves.  It's a bonafide time waster.. And I still kind of love it.

And then there's Mario.  I love Mario.  He's been around a long time, and he continues to be fun and interesting.  But, again, there is no punishment for dying.  You don't lose progress.  You don't lose coins.  You just have to start again at the beginning or middle of the level.  Even if you kill off all of your lives you continue without any cause for distress.  Not that I'm complaining.  I never could get through the original NES Mario Bros.  Wayyyyy too frustrating to die and have to start at the beginning.  Now those were the dark ages.

I'm not lamenting no-risk gaming, or hating on it.  It is great for a more fun session, and perfect for the little ones.  And now that I'm back on my beloved Xbox and playing Borderlands almost non-stop, I get so furious when I die and lose money.  It's a small setback, but it is motivation to keep myself alive!  And sometimes it is motivation to turn off the Xbox, check on my Tiny Tower, and maybe read a book for a while.

Gamer Fuel?

Seriously people... I am addicted to the Lego games.  I have recently been knocking out some achievos on Lego Pirates of the Caribbean.  I got this game a while back and played a little, just enough, in fact, to make my gamerscore odd.  There is an achievement for 12 points - "Welcome to the Caribbean" - that you get right off the bat, and having that odd number on my GS was driving me bananas.  But the achievement to balance it out - "Pieces of Eight" - required me to have 888,888,888 studs total.  Talk about a time sink.  But I am proud to say I did it and my score is nice and even again.  :-)

Source: mimiandeunice.com

So why did I tell you that story, other than to illustrate my O.C.D. tendencies when it comes to gaming?  Because the thing that got me back into Pirates was popping that achievement.  It is fun, but it wasn't on the top of my list to play at the time, and yet it got a good week of my game time.  And it isn't the only one.  Bejeweled 2 has twelve achievements - I have popped one and spent countless hours on the others to no avail.  But I keep returning, keep trying, keep avoiding other awesome games (Mass Effect 2 I swear I will return to you) just to try and get a stupid 5 or 10 pt achievement!!  Also, in my defense, Bejeweled is pretty fun.

And this achievement need culminated in a conversation on the Achievement/Trophy Hunters group this morning.  Someone told someone else to avoid a game because it didn't have trophies associated with it.  That game?  Oblivion.  I feel like that was gaming sacrilege.   That game is amazing and deserves your time whether you're getting achievements or trophies or free kittens or any other arbitrary rewards system.

Ok, this would be pretty tempting.

All this said: What games have you played only to pop achievements?  What games have you avoided because of the lack of achievements?  I didn't re-play the first Fable when we got our 360 because there weren't achievements.  Instead I moved right on to Fable II.  I have considered XBLA games that I have decided not to buy simply based on their achievement list.

Hi, my name is Linz, and I have an achievement problem.

You Are The Wind Beneath My AC-130's Wings

So you and your friends are amped about a brand new game coming out and best of all, there's co-op.  You both coordinate your schedules to maximize your playing time together.  Once you put in the disc, you quickly realize that maybe it's better to just stay friends.  Here is a short guide to helping you find the ultimate partner in gaming.

It's always best to know your own gaming habits first.  Are you someone that only plays for 30 minutes or an hour at a time, or do you insist on powering through in one ten hour session?  Do you take frequent take breaks for food, phone calls, and socializing, or are you able to stay focused on the goal ?  Are you a talker or are you stickly business ?  Its important to understand what your gaming habits are so you can chose a co-op partner accordingly.

Something else to take into consideration is that it's usually much easier to run a co-op campaign from beginning to end with the same person.  Stopping in the middle and picking up with someone new can mean possibly missing parts of the mission or struggling to latch onto someone's very different play style.  If you find yourself playing with someone and it's not working out quite as well as you hoped, cut them loose sooner rather than later.  Getting off on the right foot with the right person might mean starting the campaign over from the beginning, so if you wait too long, you could be stuck with a junky playthrough or be replaying a huge portion of the game.

Not only is play style important, but make sure that your goals match up.  It's no secret that I like me some achievements, so I always try to find a partner in crime that wants the same thing.  If you happen to be looking for fellow achievement hunters, you can try www.Xbox360Achievements.org or over at the Facebook group Achievement/Trophy Hunters which services both the Xbox and PS3 players. 

No matter what your end goal is, make sure that you have fun.  If the other player(s) or even the game itself just isn't doing it for you, there's no reason to tough it out and no shame in walking away.  Its better to keep your friends than win the game.

Another triumphant return!

Like a zombie, rising slowly and menacingly from the grave, Linz returns to the blogosphere.  (Did I seriously just use that term??)  But seriously, I have missed you guys.  And gaming, big time.  You may recall from our last giveaway that 6 weeks ago I gave birth to baby Magneto, and since then my time has been totally eaten up with mothering the little mutant and taking him home to Iowa to meet the family.

So all of this has left me little to no time to game.  I finally got Super Mario 3D Land and my 4-yr-old promptly took it under her wing to play and dominate at it.  I've only been able to sneak in a couple levels.  And, as you all know, Debbie and I both got SSX upon its release and, even though it is the love of my gaming life, I have barely scratched the surface.  Pity party for me!  I am home now, and going to start re-dedicating myself to some "me time" (which translates into "Xbox time..in party..with Debbie.")

This lack of actual time to game has left me with a lot of time to think about gaming..and when I think about it, I often think about the prices of things.  Big on my radar right now: the price of games, and the chance that next generation systems are on the horizon.  When we were visiting friends I got to talking about gaming and found that I am super cheap, and often refuse to buy games when they are brand new and crazy expensive, but I am far from alone.  I have many friends who feel like they have been so burned by purchasing a game for $60 only to have it be less than 10 hours of game play, or drop in price in a week or two.  Commence gamer rage.  I am seriously questioning the logic behind the $60 price tag.  I think the companies would sell so many  more copies and so much sooner if they dropped back down to $40, or even $50..  People could buy the games when they're new, thus raising the game companies numbers, instead of just waiting around until the game is old and drops in price or they can pick it up used.  Just a thought.

And this thought that next generation consoles are coming.  I still haven't even upgraded from my ancient Xbox Elite system (meaning I don't have the fancy new slim one, or the even fancier Star Wars one ... Debbie.)  I don't want to be forced into buying another new system yet!  Granted there is no release date or really any specific news on new systems, but they are always there, hovering like expensive ghosts on the horizon.  All I can say is that when they come, they damn well better be backwards compatible because the lack of that makes me hulk-sized-angry.

The same friends I was talking to about the price of new games were saying that when new consoles come out they refuse to buy.  My own husband even said that when they come he will just play our current system until it dies, and then give up gaming instead of continuing to try to keep up with the new stuff.  I don't know if I could ever give it up..but man, if these current gen systems came out at $400+, just think of how much the next ones will be.  How much are you willing to spend to game?

Bastion

Bastion has been floating around on XBLA since last summer.  But only after it recently popped up on sale did I finally bite the bullet and make the purchase.  The only thing I regret is not buying this game sooner.

Bastion puts players in control of the main character known simply as "The Kid".  The Kid wakes up after a vague event called the Calamity which has left his world fractured into floating pieces of land.  The Kid must fight monsters to collect pieces of a monument that helps to rebuild his home world's sanctuary, The Bastion.  Most residents of the world have been turned into Pompeii-like statues, but there are a few that survived and help along the way, most notably the older character, Rucks.  Rucks also acts as the narrator of the entire game and his deep voice solidifies the sense of great story telling and helps to draw the player in.

The fighting is really easy to pick up on and pretty smooth.  There are plenty of fighting options that include guns and melee attacks as well as some minor magics.  The normal game setting was tough enough to keep my attention but easy enough that I was never stuck or overwhelmed.  For those who are looking for a more difficult experience, there is a shrine that can be activated to empower enemies or lower the players power.  For those who have younger kids or anyone that just wants the story with less struggle, there is a No-Sweat Mode.  This offers up unlimited lives and enough perks to essentially make the player invincible, the player still dies but there is no restarting the level or even going back to checkpoints.  Between the level of somewhat cartoon-ish violence and the ability to lower the difficulty, this is a great game for that age when young players are getting bored with petting animals or hanging with Dora, but aren't mature enough or skilled enough to play the adult games.

Yes, you can fall of the edge, but no, it doesn't kill you.

I thought this game was extremely charming and very engrossing.  Depending upon your skill, each level can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to complete.  I don't think I spent more than 10 minutes on any given level so it fits great into short amounts of time like first thing in the morning or the 15 minutes of energy you have left before bed.  The graphics were detail and clear, the story was interesting, and the game play was fun.  I definitely recommend downloading Bastion.

Long Term Winning

I've written about L.A. Noire several times in the past.  I did some reviews and talked about my frustrations with the driving, but through it all I still played it to the very end.  Last weekend, I took the finally few steps to 100% complete this massive game.  I obviously hate myself.

I tracked down every vehicle, every golden reel, and correctly accused every single person.  As much as that game frustrated me, I still don't regret pouring so many hours of my life into it.  As with any other game that I complete, I have been relentlessly bragging.  I feel that my bragging rights are boosted even more because it's a Rockstar game.  That company has such a history with making overwhelming games; from Grand Theft Auto to Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar games are huge in both environment size and number of tasks/missions.

Whenever I finish a game like this, I go out of my way to find some more to finish up.  I know that I only have five or six achievements left in Portal 2 that are destined to get my attention this week.  And with EA and other developers slowly shutting down servers as games are aging, I am even more anxious to wrap up past-season's titles while I still have the chance.

I encourage you to take this time to tackle a few of the older games before the next wave of server shutdowns shows up.  And while you're at it, you might as well just finish that thing 100%.  While everyone else is locked into their favorite multiplayer for the summer, you can edge that gamerscore ahead without anyone being the wiser.

Draw Something

Remember a couple months ago when everyone was playing Words with Friends?  And remember about a year ago when everyone was playing Angry Birds?  Welcome to the new mobile gaming fad, Draw Something.

Available for both iOS and Android devices, Draw Something is the latest craze in person to person gaming on the go.  While other games put you up against someone else, Draw Something has you working somewhat cooperatively in an attempt to guess what each other is drawing.  One person has their choice of three words to draw.  They draw it out as best they can and then the image goes to Player Two.  Player Two watches the drawing appear on their screen, matching stroke for stroke almost like watching a short movie.  There are twelve letters along the bottom of the picture to help Player Two guess the word.  Think of it like a cross between Pictionary and a word jumble.

There are several really unique elements at play with this game.  First, the choice of words range from car to Paul D, yoga to knockout.  There are constantly new words added, but I will tell you right now that I have drawn the word "lava" more than once.  Second, there is the option to use in-game currency to buy more colors.  The more colors you have, the easier it is to draw.  You can also use that same currency to purchase bombs that give you new words to draw or remove some of the unnecessary letters to make guessing easier.

This is what I drew for Madonna.  I also drew it for chef, pirate, and the color orange.

Not everyone is fun to play with.  While it would seem like lacking drawing skills would be super detrimental, its actually not that bad.  Its less fun when people draw only the easiest words in the list.  I know you can draw a house, but I would rather see you draw LeBron James without writing his name.  The worst is when players flat out write the word, since no one really wins, this seems kind of pointless.  But every once in awhile, you come across a player that is blow your mind amazing.

I was going to guess Madonna for this one too.

The best part of this game is that it is available absolutely free.  There is a paid version of the game which removes the ads that pop up in between turns.  But I found those ads completely manageable and easy to ignore if you really don't want to fork out the two dollars.  I definitely recommend downloading Draw Something.  No matter you artistic level, there is fun to be had.

Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 3 has been out for awhile now, but I wanted to wait before writing a review until I had finished the game.  I took my sweet time absorbing everything the finale of this great space opera had to offer.  Here is the information I can offer you, spoiler free.

Starting with the basics, this game looks great.  There wasn't any huge advancement in the graphics that made my brain explode with amazement, but it still looks really crisp, nicely saturated colors, and there was no noticeable motion blur.  The music was generally appropriate although sometimes pushed the limit of being overly dramatic.  I appreciate some high octane music when I'm in combat to keep my pulse up, but some of the fight scenes were really long and listening the background tunes began to get annoying, resulting in me going into the menus to turn it down.

The game play definitely had a few quirks that took getting used to.  There were times when ducking into cover took a couple tries, but it was also problematic to pop up and take a shot on enemy and duck back down.  Occasionally, smaller things like getting the angle correct to open doors, pick up items, or highlight objects could be picky and frustrating.  Throughout the game, I became used to slightly awkward angles and habits of the controls and it was way more manageable by the end of the game.  I thought that this could be due to my adversity towards third person perspective, but after talking to friends and hunting around forums I found that I wasn't alone.

 

I was very disappointed to see the return of the stupid power wheel with no improvements, it's still just as annoying as it has been in the previous games.  Comparing weapons was better than it was in ME2, but I still miss the actual numerical statistics that were present in the first title.  I did like the weapon customization much better and the armor customizing was also much improved.

All of those things aside, the story is what we really care about and I thought it was great.  The fate and whereabouts of all major characters including squad mates from the previous titles were addressed.  The side missions were appropriate and all really contributed to the sense of impending galactic war.  There were no little missions where I was sent to find a battery or locate someones totally insignificant brother.  Everything really seemed important and added to the sense of urgency and severity of the situation.  From rounding up other races to help in the fight, to solving generations-long conflict between species, Commander Shepard has a lot to do.

Without giving away any spoilers, I really liked the ending of the game; it was almost everything I wanted it to be.  There were sweat inducing battles, jaw dropping cinematics, resolution/closure with characters, and an amazing grand finale to this giant story.  I know there has been negative feelings in the online community in that some players didn't like how the game ended, and Bioware has responded by saying that they will address the story's ending and possibly provide a new one.  There are no details as to when or how, but there is a significant chance that story altering DLC is in the works.  Whether I agree that I did or didn't like the ending, I love the fact that Bioware listens to their fans and is willing to make adjustments to continually earn their love.

If you haven't played the first two games, don't get this one.  You will be way behind in the story and that is the most powerful part.  However, you should definitely back track and play the first two.  They are both still relevant and totally playable.  If you have already conquered one and two, three is an obvious purchase that lives up to the expectations.  I liked the game play, loved the story, and tip my hat to Bioware on a job well done.

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