Now Don't Disappoint Me...

So I conveniently get the Gamestop weekly ad emailed to me, and what do I see?  There's going to be a new Harvest Moon (HM) for the DS!  Woot!  I desperately want to pre-order it for 3 reasons:

1. It's only $30
2. I've always wanted a Harvest Moon title for my DS
3. When you pre-order, you get a plush horse!

 I tried to look up some information on it, and I couldn't find much.  Apparently you move into a town in which commerce has slowed to a trickle, and you have to re-vamp it by growing your farm to amazing proportions and selling awesome stuff at the local bazaar, which was once world renown.  And, with your help, it will be again!

Don't get me wrong, I deeply and truly love HM...but it is, admittedly, formulaic.  Dilapidated farm/town?  Check!  Grow crops and animals?  Check!  Refresh, revamp and renew the town to its former glory?  Win!  And that is why I love it.  But, I am still holding back on making that all important $5 hold on my copy of Bazaar.  Why?  I'm totally afraid they'll change it up.  What if gameplay is totally lame on this particular game?  What if you can only harvest at night or something stupid?  What if there aren't cows??

Have you ever pre-ordered a game that you thought would be so awesome that you ended up totally disappointed with?  Specifically if it was part of a series, and it turned out to be so incredibly, unexpectedly lame?  I kind of had that happen with Lego Indiana Jones.  I love the Lego series, even Jones, but I bought it at full price and that was a mistake.  28 seconds after it released it went down to $20.  Totally worth $20.  Not so much $50.  That's why I'm waiting for Lego Harry Potter to see if it drops in price quickly, even though it's killing me to wait to play it.

The Horror, The Horror

I was recently watching my boyfriend play Dead Space. I have to say, that game is crazy messed up ! I couldn't watch more than about 30 seconds at any one time before losing my nerve and looking away towards my computer. It made me appreciate how far games have really come.

I remember the days when games only had two dimensions. There was one annoying, monotone song that looped repeatedly. Your character had either a sword or a gun, sometimes they got fancy and gave you a boomerang. But they were nowhere near as engrossing as today's games.

The music and sound effects in Dead Space are almost enough to put me in the fetal position, and that's without even looking at the screen. I'm not sure if the word cinematography is appropriate, but this game has a way of making your skin crawl just by showing a flash or a shadow. The story is gripping and the gameplay is intense to say the least.

When I was a child, I always envisioned what the future would be like. I new cars would fly, humans could teleport, and that movie theaters would be interactive so you can control the outcome. Dead Space is just like living inside a horror movie. You feel the fear and run for your life. I have seen the future and it is games like Dead Space and Mass Effect. Total sensory perception with our own human involvement.

Now that's not to say that I don't periodically want to play something old or simple. There is much to be appreciated in regards to games that have a minimal number of rules and interactions. But its truly amazing how these games make you feel ! I frequently get an adrenaline rush or gamer rage, but some of these games cause fear and happiness. I have even shed a tear or two (I'm looking at you Final Fintasy X).

I'm usually bitching and moaning about one thing or another. But sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses too. And by "smell the roses", I do mean "shred mutant alien/human hybrids".