Golden Sun Dark Dawn

Date played: June 29th
Platform: DS
Time played: 65 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

Sand Prince, you so ugly

I explored the underground city of Ayuthay.  I spent a lot of time looking through stupid pots and crates again.  most of them don't have anything in them but when there is something, it's usually worth it.  I also bought a lot of new equipment again.  I focused on armor and ignored weapon upgrades since I have other ways of dealing damage.

I then fought a boss when trying to activate the Alchemy Well.  It was a pretty easy fight but I did have all my Djinn on standby, ready for my biggest summons.  I even hit for 395 once!  Then I focused on staying alive through healing and kept damaging the boss with magic, Djinn and weapons.  After beating him I received a new psy power, Arid Heat which allows me to evaporate water.  That allowed me to drain the water from Ayuthay and find a few treasures and one Djinn.

Then began the big underground dungeon that reminded me of the Water Temple in Zelda Ocarina of Time.  I had to train and fill little bowls of water to raise and lower water levels.  I stopped playing after a few rooms though.

Dirt 3

Date played: June 29th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 50 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

This is one of my favorite racing games ever.  It's up there with Wipeout HD, Blur, Forza 3 and previous racing games by Codemasters.  I played one Rally event in the snow that was mostly uneventful and one Trailblazer event with super fast cars.

My trusty Audi Quattro

I spent most of my time playing split screen with my friend.  We did Rallycross on multiple courses and he really struggled in the first few races because he was playing this like it was Gran Turismo.  The difference is that the cars are more twitchy and the brakes are MUCH stronger.  This means that he was over steering a lot and over braking.  He also was not used to using drifting as a viable technique so that took some adjustment.  Eventually, he was taking corners properly and we had a close battle.

Dead Nation

Fucking awesome

Date played: June 29th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

While I like Dead Nation, it's one fucking bleak and depressing game.  As mentioned in the previous post, my friend wanted to see if this game was better than Wipeout for him for the Welcome Back PSN program.

It is not.

Just from the look and atmosphere, he knew he wasn't going to get this.  He's not a big fan of twin stick shooters in the first place and not a big fan of zombies.  We played the first mission together in co-op and it was kind of fun but nothing to write home about.  He was pretty good and upgraded his rifle to shoot faster and hit harder.  I knew the game already so I went for the fun but limited SMG upgrades.

While Dead Nation is a good game, it's a bit too dark for it's own good.  I wish it was less serious...

Wipeout HD/Fury

Date played: June 29th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 25 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

My friend came to visit with his wife last night to chat and catch up.  At one point, he mentioned that he had gotten Infamous from the PSN Welcome Back program.  He was still wondering which game to get as his second game.  He had already played Little Big Planet and wasn't interesting in Super Stardust HD so it came down to Dead Nation and Wipeout HD.  I own both of these so he asked me to show him the games so that he could choose.

Magnetic pads confused my friend's wife

We started with Wipeout HD.  I played three online Flash races.  My friend knew the franchise but was impressed by the visuals and music.  His wife was getting a little bit dizzy and was impressed with the speed of the game (and this is only Flash!!!).  I placed fourth, third and second in the first, second and third races respectively.  In the first race, I was three hundredths of a second behind the guy in front of me, it made for a spectacular finish.

Then my friend played.  Oh. My. God.  I forgot how difficult this game is to learn at first.  He destroyed his craft three times, once per lap!  He also did a few funny things like stop holding the throttle to use a a weapon or to absorb a weapon.  He did start navigating a few curves properly in the third lap and I'm sure he could learn because he has played racing games like Shift and Gran Turismo.

Magic The Gathering Duel of the Planeswalkers

Date played: June 28th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I got this game for free with the Playstation Plus welcome back program.  I know how to play Magic from my high school days so I didn't bother with the tutorial and it's obvious that I didn't need to as I was able to win my first game and didn't have any problems understanding how to play and the controls are very simple.

Using a virtual board is much easier than using physical cards

I did three battles from the campaign to familiarize myself with the game and prepare for online play.  The first game I played as green against red.  I won but it was a close battle.  I took the lead early and brought the other guy down to five lives but after that, he took out some stronger creatures and we had a bit of a stalemate for ten turns or so.  Then I finally beat him in a war of attrition.  I then lost my second match but it was a really close match and like any card based game, it seems like the game was won or lost based on luck in this case. For the last game, I used the red deck and while it's pretty good, I preferred green.

I know a lot of people complained that they couldn't create their own decks but I really like the fact that all the decks seem to be balanced,  I am ready to try out online modes and am looking forward to seeing how real players behave.  I think this game would work really well on 3DS come to think of it.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

Date played: June 26th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

Saria and Link hanging out

I was tired, sitting on the couch and didn't feel like playing something that would require quick reactions so I grabbed my 3DS and played a bit of Zelda.  I first tried out the slingshot mini game in the town and failed horribly.  I turned off 3D and was aiming with the gyroscope which turned out to work very well but takes a bit of getting used to.  I didn't have enough rupees to try again but I'm sure it will work out when I have more cash.

Continuing the story, I ran into something I had completely forgot, the stealth infiltration of the castle to reach Princess Zelda.  It's weird how much this stuff has been appropriated by other games.  This is a very basic stealth mechanic and kind of sucked honestly but it was cute.  Then I had the iconic scene where Link first meets Zelda.  It looks great in 3D.

I then went to Lon Lon ranch and won a bottle of milk and learned Epona's song.  I was about to go to Kakariko village to move the story along and the guard mentioned that there was something in the graveyard to the East.  The graveyard must have been inside the village because when I went East, I ended up back in the forest.  It turns out that Saria, the green haired chick, wanted to see me in Lost Woods.  So I went in, got a big bag of slingshot bullets and found Saria who taught me another song.

I forgot how open this game really was.  I seem to have done this stuff all out of order but then again, maybe that's the way it's meant to be.  The only complaint I have so far is that they haven't fixed the stupid save system.  Every time I start the game up, I start at my fucking house which is far away from anything interesting.  This is not 1998, let me save anywhere and don't make me walk back to wherever I was.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Date played: June 26th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 90 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Burning these Borgia towers down is really fun!

I spent almost two hours playing Assassin's Creed and I didn't touch a story mission.  I spent more of my time kind of screwing around the world.  I burned down one Borgia tower and actually spent most of my time roaming around buying properties.  Since these properties generate cash, I figured it would be a good idea to start investing early.  I now get about 3500 Florins per 20 minutes of game time.

I actually can't believe I played so long without really doing anything but one Borgia tower...  Oh yeah and I've been renovating tunnel entrances which are supposed to allow me to fast travel but whenever I try, I get an error message.  It will probably sort itself out as I progress.  I'm a little disappointed with the game's frame rate, it's not as smooth as it was in Assassin's Creed 2 but I played that on 360 so maybe it's just a bad port.  Next time I play I will definitely play some story missions.

Golden Sun Dark Dawn

Date played: June 26th
Platform: DS
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

What he said

I met two of Emperor Wu's generals who didn't seem to want my party's help even after presenting the letter from their leader.  They sent me to the ruins of the enemy city to destroy "evil spirits".  While I was exploring, fighting and looting, I found an old tree and used a flute a dude from Passaj had given me which opened a secret passage to the real city, hidden underground.

I was greeted by the Prince of Ayuthay, Amiti.  He then introduced me to the Emperor of Ayuthay who was hanging out with his fanning bitches.  He told me I could find what I need to activate the passage in Passaj by exploring an underwater temple.  There was also some news of a woman not being a real adept/virgin, I didn't really pay much attention. I then did a few battles and stopped playing.

The story is convoluted but it's pleasant enough and the characters are mostly interesting so I'll stick with it.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Date played: June 25th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

After controlling Desmond to find four power generators near the villa, we were finally able to use the animus at our leisure.  It seems like the game is finally really starting.  I took control of Ezio and did a few quests.  One thing that's new is that when completing a memory, if you complete certain requirements, you'll get 100% synch.  For example, in a mission where I had to assassinate an executioner, I got 100% by using the hidden blade to kill him.  It's a nice touch.

I then played one big mission with Machiavelli who is helping me.  I bought some armor with his money (where did all of Ezio's money go???)  then killed a captain of the Borgia.  I then burned down a Borgia tower, something that seems like it will be a major part of the game.

Ezio de Auditore and Niccolo Machiavelli

I also discovered a hidden message on a building which prompted me to play a little mini game, just like in the last game.  I then unlocked one segment of "The Truth" video.  This is starting to feel a lot like Assassin's Creed 2 and that's not such a bad thing.

Just Dance 2

Date played: June 25th

Duets are awesome

Platform: Wii
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Fiew!  What a workout!  My girlfriend asked me about Just Dance out of the blue.  She said it looked fun and decided to buy it today.  We played a few songs together and after 30 minutes, I was out of breath and sweating!  Of course, I'm not in great physical shape but it was still pretty intense.  The game is all about moving the Wii remote to match the coach on screen.  It's a bit difficult to understand the moves at first but once we started to understand, we did better.  She mostly beat me though.

There are some decent songs on the disc including D.A.N.C.E, one of my favorite dancing songs.  We also played some Jackson 5, Avril Lavigne and even the opening song from Austin Powers 2.  Just Dance 2 is not my kind of game but it will be fun when we have guests who don't give a shit about video games.  It's like karaoke for your body!

Wipeout HD/Fury

Date played: June 25th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I needed my online competitive fix today so I booted up Wipeout again.  That reminds me, I should try Dirt 3's multiplayer...

Wipeout HD supports custom soundtracks (something Microsoft got right by building it into every game) so I made a playlist with the music from all mainline Wipeout games.  The only I'm missing is the N64 version I believe.  Hearing some new beats is always welcome.

One of the photos I took in a Zone Battle

I played a few single races in Venom class and I really only had one real competitor in that lobby, the others were always far behind.  We had some good heated races together but it was all on Vineta K.  Maybe I'm not "getting it" but why are single races always repeating the same track?  So I jumped into a Flash tournament and managed to get third place overall.  It was weird, in all four races, the first three were always in the same order.  I placed third in all four races of that tournament.

Lego Pirates of the Carribean demo

Date played: June 25th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 3/10

Another Lego game.... when will it stop???  I played the demo for this with my girlfriend and while it's still the same old shit as in every other Lego game, this one has a few major improvements.  First, the graphics are nicer than ever.  Texture work is starting to look decent and the animations are better.  Captain Jack Sparrow in particular has  a very distinctive way of walking.

Captain Jack Sparrow

The second improvement is the new way Traveler's Tales decided to handle two player.  In previous games, the two players were confined to the same screen which made for some frustrating segments where one player wants to go one way and the other wants to go the other way.  This time, the screen automatically splits in the middle when the players are too far apart and merges back together when they get close enough.  This technique works wonders and I hope it makes it's way into other games that have same screen multiplayer.  Outside of that though, we didn't really have much fun.

Outland demo

Date played: June 25th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Another twenty minutes, another great looking game demo.  Outland seems like a mix of Ikaruga and Super Metroid.  It's mostly an action platformer that moves very fast and controls as well as any Mario game and that's saying a lot.  The demo was long enough for me to know I want to play it eventually but I have other shit to play first.

Metroidruga

When I say it's like Ikaruga, I mean that the character can change colors at will, red or blue.  When blue, blue bullets don't affect you and when red, red bullets don't hurt.  It also has a great contrast heavy art style that makes the game easier to play since the colors stand out more.  It also looks fucking great.

El Shaddai demo

Date played: June 25th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

El Shaddai has an amazing art style

Japan, you so crazy!  I tried out this demo because I was curious and it's one of the weirdest games I've played in a while.  It has a sort of Suda 51 vibe but with decent gameplay, something Suda never got right.

What stands out the most is the art style, as you can see from the image.  The gameplay is pretty simple though, it's an action game that is actually pretty close to God of War but simpler.  It's interesting that's for sure but the gameplay didn't really hook me.  It sure looks fucking awesome though.

Golden Sun Dark Dawn

Date played: June 24th
Platform: DS
Time played: 40 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Kaocho looks nice but the Emperor is a dick

I explored the town of Koacho, run by an ominous emperor, Emperor Wo.  I inspected a multitude of pots, shelves and crates, as per usual in JRPG land.  I also found two new Djinn who were well hidden.  I then had a long conversation with Emperor Wo who seemed to think he owned our party and ordered us to find the mask hidden in the labyrinth below his city.  He also wanted us to help fight their enemies in the land to the south.

In the end, he got mad when I said no and dropped us through a trap door just like Mr Burns does in The Simpsons.  I also met three of his advisers who were all more evil than the next.  I managed to escape and went to the land in the south to see what I could find.  I had managed to get a letter of recommendation from the Emperor before he dropped me in the hole.  I also bought a bunch of new equipment!  Yippeee!

Ridge Racer 3D

Date played: June 24th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

I still haven't seen this car....

I had a few minutes and played through the last Category 3 Grand Prix.  There was nothing special that happened, Ridge Racer is as predictable as ever.  However, I now unlocked Category 3 races so I'm kind of excited to try it out.  I also still don't understand why I keep getting street pass challenges but there are never any new lap times to beat.... WTF?

Dirt 3

Robot killing cars are awesome!

Date played: June 24th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

I fucking love rally racing.  Dirt 3 seems to be the only contender in this market right now but it doesn't matter, Codemasters always delivers quality racing games. I spent about an hour playing through one event "triangle" which included some muddy rally, a crazy fast Audi Quattro S1 trailblazer and an intense head to head race in the snow.

I also cleared a DC challenge event where I had to destroy some cardboard alien robots and avoid cardboard skyscrapers.  It was short but fun!

Pop Island Paperfield

Good graphics for a 2$ game!

Date played: June 24th
Platform: DSi Ware
Time played: 5 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I had downloaded this game before transferring my DSi games to my 3DS since I had a few Nintendo points left.  I wasn't expecting much.  Then my friend saw it on my menu and asked to see it then while in the menu, I discovered that it supports game sharing!  We played one quick round to just kind of see what it's all about.

This is a capture the flag game with vehicles.  I chose a little hovercraft and my friend chose a tank.  We quickly understood how to play and had fun in the small amount of time we had.  The graphics are nice and the controls feel good.  There are two buttons, jump and shoot.  It's interesting and I have to see if it supports online play (I doubt it).  If so, this could be a surprise gem!

Sonic Generations demo

Finally, old, chubby Sonic is back

Date played: June 23rd
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 10 minutes
Session fun rating: 5/10

After finishing Resistance 2, I needed a bit of a palette cleanser and the demo for the new Sonic game just came out .  I haven't played a Sonic game properly since Sonic Adventure 2 although I did try Unleashed so my expectations were pretty neutral.  It turns out, Generations has good ideas but the frame rate killed it for me.

The game seems like it wants to remake memorable levels from previous Sonic games and the demo is a single Green Hill level.  While the level is cool they went back to the old Sonic model (thank God!), the frame rate is not good enough for a game this fast.  It was hard for me to see enemies when running.  I've never been a Sonic fan but I'm always willing to give any game a shot.  If they fix the frame rate before release, this could be fun.

Resistance 2

Date played: June 23rd
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I am done with Resistance 2.  Thankfully, the last level was pretty damn good.  The level design was interesting, the story was kind of cool and SPOILERS, Nathan Hale gets shot in the head by his squad mate Capelli, the real hero of this story.  He had a good reason though, Hale was becoming a Chimera.

There were lots of fights with big enemies, lots of space to fight in, lots of weapons and ammo, essentially, it fixed all I hated about the game so far.  I still had a few cheap deaths but it was nothing too frustrating.  The last boss was pretty cool but nothing to write home about.  During the very last section after killing Daedalus, Hale gains a sort of Jedi force push spell thing that kills everything in it's path in one fell swoop.  After the frustration, it really felt like a big release.  Thank you Insomniac for letting me obliterate some Chimera for a few minutes.  I'm glad I played this game but it's definitely not the best it could be.  I have no interest in it's multiplayer so I'll be shelving this game.  Now I'm ready for Resistance 3....maybe.

Resistance 3 has great art so far, let's hope the game is better than 2.

Resistance 2

Emperor Palpatine.... I mean, Nathan Hale looks like shit now.

Date played: June 22nd
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 40 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

This wasn't as painful today.  It took me a few attempts to clear out the plantation house in Louisiana but after that it was almost smooth sailing.  I didn't finish the game though, it seems Chapter 7 is a bit bigger than the others.  I cleared out the plantation house, I killed a giant, two-legged, slimy, slug like creature who conveniently died in a spot that allowed me to progress (sigh...).  Then I remembered what the objective of the mission was, to find some sort of powerful fission bomb.

I fought some dudes, including three titans in the same fight, and finally found the bomb where I had to defend it against a large number of attacking aliens.  While this would not have been very difficult normally, but my stupid fucking squad mates made me die three times because they blocked my view of enemies (who kill me very quickly of course) or because they put their big fucking heads in front of my grenades which bounced back to kill me.

Either way, I made it through and then had a big ass shootout where dozens of Chimera stampeded towards us.  It was a cool fight.  Now I'm flying the bomb to Mexico and that's where I stopped playing.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

Date played: June 21st
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 80 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Top: 3DS Bottom: N64.  Go compare for yourself on Games Radar.

Let me preface this by saying that I was not going to play this game.  I've played it twice already, once on N64 when it came out and once on Gamecube when I got it as a bonus to Wind Waker.  Then my friend came into work with it and he let me check it out for a minute and I was sold.  The screenshots do not do this game justice at all.  It's amazing how cool this game looks in 3D and how much they improved the character models and textures.

I played through the first dungeon, the Deku Tree and made my way to the main city.  While I've played this before, I didn't remember much in terms of the actual dungeons which made the game still fun.  It's crazy how much this game has sculpted the way we play games today.  Lock on targeting, context sensitive buttons and night/day cycles are common elements of current games but back then, this was all new stuff.  The best part is that this fucking game still holds up and is still fun to play.  I was expecting disappointment but I got hit in the face with quality and fun.

I won't detail the dungeon but I didn't have any problems.  I even forgot that this game had an item that stuns enemies....  I'm glad I bought it and I hope it keeps my interest as the wow of the graphics becomes a lesser factor.

The 2D Adventures Of Rotating Octopus Character

Date played: June 22nd
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 10 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

Best. Title. Evar.

This is a Playstation Mini that is part of the Playstation Plus program.  Basically, I got this for free because the PSN was down for a month.  It's a simple platforming game where a funny looking orange 2D Octopus Character rolls around the edges of objects, walls and ceilings and has to collect baby octopus to finish the level.  The character moves on it's own and you only get two buttons.  Jump and change direction.  It seems simple but I think it will get much more complex as it progresses.  I only played through the first part of the game which consists of about eight levels or so.  It's a good little forgettable game that wastes time perfectly.

Oh yeah and the chiptune music is really nice.

Resistance 2

Date played: June 20th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 190 minutes
Session fun rating: 5/10

I decided that I should just finish this game so that I can get it off my backlog.  I played through the end of chapter 4 up to the beginning of chapter 7, the last one.  I will finish it next time I play for sure.

I have a love/hate relationship with this game.  I love almost everything about it but the few things I hate, I hate with a passion.  Let's start with what's good.  The story is interesting and unique.  The graphics are good enough and visually interesting for the most part.  The guns are cool and fun to use.  The shooting feels good.

On the other hand, the game is just fucking cheap.  I'm not amazing or anything but I'm pretty good at shooters.  I play through a lot of them and as you can see from other post on this blog, I also play a lot of online COD where I usually do pretty well.  This game however, seems like it wants to punish me every single minute.  The enemies hit hard and Nathan doesn't have a lot of health.  I wouldn't mind that too much if I had a lot of space to move or if the enemies didn't have guns that shoot through fucking walls.

Most of the combat is pretty cramped and once you take a few hits, it takes a while for health to regenerate so that meant a LOT of cheap deaths in my three hours of play.  I hate this but I want to see the ending and will give it my best shot.  I may have enjoyed this game more on an easier difficulty.

As for the levels, I activated some air defenses in Idaho, shot down a big crawling creature, rescued a Russian scientist, met Daedalus, a human injected with Chimeran DNA, killed the Swarm (a swarm of flying creatures resembling a school of fish) and rushed off to Chicago to disable some sort of tower.  Then in Chicago, I went through the streets killing a bunch of weak but numerous enemies, navigated some stupid platforming on floating cars and met the Leviathan.  The Leviathan is a gigantic, Cloverfield type monster.  It was all very scripted but exciting nonetheless.  I shot him down eventually, after being flung through buildings by the thing.

The Leviathan, one of the only really memorable sequences in the game.

I then went to Iceland to disable another tower.  This was pretty tough for the most part.  There was one room that was completely ridiculous.  I had a marksman rifle (my favorite gun in the game), an Auger and a grenade launcher.  I had to hide behind a little wall while my squad mate put his head in my line of fire about two dozen times.  I died a lot here because I was stuck in the corner and had to rely on shoot and hide tactics. hoping not to get shot to bits when I poked my head out.  Either way, I moved on, killed more bad guys and reached the last level.

Nathan is going to turn into a Chimera in about three hours according to the Russian.  This is a last push that starts off near a house in a swampy area.  I tried this sequence a few times but I was tired and just went to bed.  This game is all about trial and error.  It's too bad really, I wanted to love this game but I've been disappointed.

Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Bowser's idea of a back massage

Date played: June 19th
Platform: DS
Time played: 10 minutes
Session fun rating: 2/10

I haven't played this game in a long time but I've always intended to finish it eventually.  I thought I would have had more time to play today but it turns out I only got to play about ten minutes.  Basically, I got the Mario brothers into a pipe that somehow led to Bowser's belly.  Then with Bowser I found a large lady who wanted a back massage (???) and Bowser agreed since there was the promise of loot and coins.  The massage a little mini game where I had to tap Goombas as they ran on the screen.  I didn't tap enough of them on my first try and had to turn the game off so we'll see if I can do it next time I play.

L.A. Noire

Date played: June 19th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 150 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

Well, I've finished L.A. Noire!  I have to say, I'm very satisfied with my time in L.A. as detective Cole Phelps.  While I didn't enjoy it as much as Portal 2 or Dead Space 2, L.A. Noire is still a very good game that deserves to be played.  If anything, that facial animation technology will push the industry forward and hopefully finds it's way into other games (GTA V please).

The last 25% of the game or so is where it starts to have a real story instead of just being a collection of short stories. Cole's past in the Army really starts to take center stage as the game steps into it's final stages.  Actually, you even get to play as Jack Kelso, a veteran that was in Cole's unit in the war.  It was surprising how much of the last few missions are played as Kelso but it makes sense since he is the District Attorney's investigator.

Cole becomes very emotional in the last few parts of the game.  So emo!  :-)

While I won't spoil the details, let's just say that there are a few more shootouts and fewer interrogations in the last few bits of the game  The story wraps up pretty nicely and while I'm not a big fan of one of the big spoilers, I still think the ending was good.

Overall, I think Cole Phelps is a great character but he is also a dick sometimes.  In fact, he's a great character because he can be such a snotty little fuck.  I can't wait to see what Rockstar does next.  Bullly 2 or GTA V would be great....

Oh yeah, don't forget to watch the credits until the end!  There is a scene that explains some important things.

L.A. Noire

Date played: June 17th and 18th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 180 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

PLOT TWIST!

I won't spoil the game but there was one hell of a plot twist at the end of the Vice desk.  All of the newspaper articles and Cole's war history is kind of coming together now.  The last Vice case was about more Army surplus morphine overdoses, a couple of black jazz musicians, stolen BAR's, some World War 2 vets on the run and a big heist on a ship.

Biggs, my new partner (he was also in Lord of the Rings... weird)

Just as I was wrapping up the case, spoilers happen and the game skips to six months in the future where Phelps is reassigned to the Arson desk.  I actually played through two complete cases in Arson, both of which involved investigating house fires, gas heaters that were tampered with and weirdo suspects.  Also, two more actors from Mad Men!

The first case I accused the wrong guy and got a horrible one star rating.  The second case I did much better.  Now the third case is quite a departure for the game, I was controlling another guy!  He's got a different job and purpose but the gameplay is the same.  This is really refreshing and I'm interested to see where this is going.  I think I am nearing the end of the game but we'll see.

Godlen Sun Dark Dawn

I fought a bunch of hobbles...

Date played: June 17th
Platform: DS
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

Nothing special to report here.  I played a few minutes of this before going to bed on my 3DS.  I basically just walked through the world map, fought some random monsters and reached the city I was looking for.  I forget what it's called but it's one of the two capital cities that are at war in the south.

I then explored a bit of the city, searching pots and bookshelves until I was too tired and went to bed.  One thing I should mention is that the character is much easier to control with the 3DS's analog nub compared to the DS's dpad.

Ridge Racer 3D

Date played: June 17th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

Those little pictures of players would be great for online....

I just did a quick Grand Prix because I was bored as hell.  The races are getting a little closer than before but I haven't bought a new car in a while.  I'm trying to get the car I have now to last me until the next category so that I have more points to spend on the new cars.

The game is still fun but it's clear that it's a little too long for it's own good.  It's dragging a little bit.  Also, online play would have made the game way more enjoyable.  Get on that shit Namco.

L.A. Noire

This slick motherfucker fooled me.

Date played:June 16th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 80 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I solved The Naked City and it was one of the longest, if not the longest case so far.  This was surprising to me because it was DLC.  I tailed Arnett to his destination.  I like the tailing missions.  In a car, it's pretty easy but on foot, it can be difficult because you have to stay very far away from your target to avoid detection.  Once I got him in the interview room, I fucked up bad, I failed all three questions.

This case was actually very complicated and involved many people, most of them bad people.  The final sequence was very memorable but I won't spoil it.  I also did a few side missions, one involved examining a dead body and another was a shootout in a warehouse reminiscent of GTA.

L.A. Noire

Date played: June 15th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 40 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

DLC that is well integrated in a game.  For once.

I didn't have time to solve a full case today but I think I went through a big chunk of the DLC case "The Naked City".  It's integrated in the story which is nice but is something that bugs me when the DLC comes out after I'm past that part in the game.  This happened to me in Fallout 3.  I would have bought a bunch of Fallout 3 DLC if it didn't mean reloading an old save.  Either way, for "The Naked City", it worked very well.

The case involves a model who died from a morphine overdose.  The morphine used seems to be related to a previous Vice case and it seems there might be two killers, one of which appears to have died shortly after the murder.  I interviewed a few people in the girl's life including a fashion exec.  When I turned off the game, I was tailing the man because he pawned something for quick cash.  I think he's the killer but we'll see.

I also played a fun side mission where a black dude reports a crime and when we were walking towards the scene, he steals one of our police cars.  I chased him down until he crashed into a wall.  What an idiot.

Civ World

Date played: June 15th
Platform: Facebook
Time played: 25 minutes
Session fun rating: 5/10

I very rarely play Facebook games but when it's Civilization, I can't resist.  I actually managed to get into the closed beta and there are very few players right now, less than 500.  In 25 minutes, I reached 13th place in the overall rankings, pretty impressive but it won't last.

It's on Facebook but it's not shit

The game is weird as fuck.  It's definitely a Facebook game.  The player is limited by time and there are micro-transactions.  The graphics are crap and the play window is too small.

It's also a Civ game.  It has "turns", civilizations, cities, farms, roads, temples, gold, production hammers and archers.  It just doesn't exactly feel like a Civ game.  It's hard to describe but basically every player gets one city and they can join a civ that is composed of other players in that game.  A game seems like it would last a while, a few weeks at least.

I joined the French Civilization and out of our nine members, I reached the rank of King!  The game is cool and all but right now, I have a very limited view of the game and it's mechanics.  We'll see if I stick with it.

Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars

Date played: June 15th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

Stupid bomb...

Well, I failed the bomb on a battleship mission.  Again.  This time around, it was because I was too far away from the bomb and couldn't defuse it in time.  The worst part is, I could have totally won the mission if I had moved the same character a few times with my Command Power instead of moving three different units.

I was stupid.  I knew what was happening but I wanted to cut too many corners and failed.  Next time, I will conquer this mission.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Date played: June 14th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I've played the first two Assassin's Creed games and enjoyed them a lot.  The first one was rough but I still enjoyed it.  The second one was much better though!  I loved the story, the combat and the free-running.  When Brotherhood came out, I was interested but I was busy with Black Ops, Kirby and New Vegas.  Then other games came out and I decided to wait for a price drop on Brotherhood.  When I saw it on sale for 20$ at Futureshop, I jumped on the occasion.   To get free shipping, I added Splinter Cell Conviction for 10$, a story for another day.

Ezio is cool, I like him.

When I put the disc in, I had to download an update and install the game which took about 30 minutes.  Then when I put the disc in, I launched Uplay, Ubisoft's weird virtual loyalty program.  I watched a bunch of E3 videos from Uplay which worked well enough.  Then I finally started the game.

It starts off with Ezio chilling out in his little town and the first three missions were very basic fetch quests.  Grab a horse, carry flowers and fix a cannon.  It felt all very pointless.  Soon enough though, our city was attacked by the church.  Basically, the pope is after Ezio and his followers.  I think it's because they want to get that golden ball that let out an alien chick that was talking to Desmond through Ezio in the last game.

This shit is complicated already....

I manned the cannons and fired on some enemy units while the citizens escaped.  It was kind of fun I guess.  I then fought a bunch of guys when they breached our defenses and the combat is better than ever.  I was countering left and right like never before, it's very satisfying.

The enemy grabbed the golden alien chick ball thing.  Ezio had to run away as he was shot and outnumbered. Cut to Desmond who is with his crew.  They need a new hideout so they reach Monteriggioni, Ezio's former forteress city.  Then there was platforming with Desmond and his chick where he had to help her navigate the environment.  It played similar to parts of Enslaved or Ico.  Then they reached their new hideout location and that's where I stopped playing.

The game looks great, the graphics are better than ever.  I will probably keep playing L.A. Noire for now but we'll see.

Call of Duty Black Ops

I recommended the AK-47

Date played: June 13th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 35 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

More split screen madness today!  After a few races of Wipeout HD, my friend and I were itching for something different so we popped in Black Ops.  My friend has always been interested but since he doesn't game that much, the controls are very intimidating.

We went online together and played a few matches of Team Deathmatch.  I was average at best because I was trying to teach my friend while playing.  It also didn't help that I didn't have proper surround.  Either way, he had a very difficult time at first but when he got his first kill at the end of the first match, he was hooked and wanted more.

He did much better the following games, including a record breaking 4-10 score.  Not bad for a guy who had played for 15 minutes.  I hope he enjoyed it and that he joins me eventually.

Wipeout HD/Fury

Date played: June 13th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 35 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played some Wipeout in split screen today with a friend who has no previous experience with the series.  At first glance, he told me there was a version of it on the Super Nintendo.  It took me a while to convince him that he was thinking of Fzero hehehe...

Anyway, we started off on Venom class so that he could get used to the concept and controls of the game.  He quickly caught on, being a big Blur player.  Then we raced at Flash speeds and this is where he started going off the track a little bit.  He improved a lot in 30 minutes and since he got the game for free on PSN, maybe that will get him to actually launch the damn thing and try it for himself.

I love split screen!

He stuck to Feisar since he asked for something easy to handle and I varied my team every race so that I could maybe gain a bit of loyalty and skins for manufacturers other than Harimau.  I hope he enjoyed his time playing this weird, difficult yet so very fucking sweet game.

Chime Super Deluxe

Orbital are always entertaining

Date played: June 13th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 10 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played one round of Chime on the Orbital track (level?) when I had 10 minutes to spare.  It was fun, relaxing and simple, what more can I ask for?

Excitebike 3D

Killer box art

Date played: June 12th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

After checking my daily street passes, I played a little bit of Excitebike 3D.  The icon was RIGHT THERE, I just had to click it!  It's still the same damn game but there is a reson this is a classic, it's fun.  I find the 3D adds a lot to the visuals and it makes a really cool effect when sliding the 3D slider.

I played a bit of the first mode, where your drive is alone on the track and had a some decent lap times.  This is a great game to play in very short chunks as it's fun right away but doesn't exactly get very deep.  This makes me optimistic for other 3D classics like Super Mario Bros, Micro Machines and other great NES games.  Now they just to price it properly, 2$ or 3$ sounds about right to me.

Wipeout HD/Fury

Date played: June 9th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

My favorite anti-gravity craft

More online Wipeout racing!  If it's always this easy to find a match in this game, I think I will stick with it to scratch my competitive online gaming itch for a while.  Again, I mostly dominated my opposition, finishing on the podium for most of my races and winning a few.  I was stuck doing two venom class races and I was horrible because I was so used to the faster craft.  I braked too much and cut corners too quickly.  I actually placed last in one of them...

Then I got into a 7 race tournament for the first time.  It was really fun but I think I was playing with experienced players because I placed 5th overall at the end of it and I got eliminated twice.  I will play tournaments again for sure.

Call of Duty Black Ops

Date played: June 9th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 50 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

My friend's brother was online and he invited me to play some Black Ops so I joined him for a few matches of Team Deathmatch.  He's pretty good as he had a positive ratio every game.  For the first two matches, I was pretty horrible but then I had a slick 32-6 match on Cracked.

The first real challenger to Call of Duty in years.  Will I jump ship?

I don't know what I did different to have a good match like that but I think I took my time a bit more, without camping. After E3 though, Battlefield 3 is looking better and better.  I'm not sure if Activision wil get my money again this year, we'll see what happens.

Moon Chaser

Date played: June 8th
Platform: Android (Samsung Galaxy S)
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Well, E3 has been captivating and I haven't actually played many games because I was just watching the conferences, trailers and interviews.  There is a lot of great stuff coming, this is really a good time to be a gamer.

While I was watching a particularly boring part of the Ubisoft conference (they were talking about a Rabbids Kinect game), I checked out the Android marketplace to find a free game or two.  I found a gem in Moon Chaser.  Basically, it's kind of a platformer where your little ninja walks forward automatically.  My role was to touch the screen to increase the gravity on our little ninja friend's world.

Basically, I have to increase gravity when the dude is walking down a slope and let go at the right time to build momentum and speed so that he can launch himself as far as possible when he reaches the top of the next slope.  The goal is just to get to the end of the level before time expires.

Easy to learn, difficult to master

It's tricky to get the timing right but when you do, it almost feels like the Excitebike but faster.  It's a fun little time waster that requires skill and timing.  The graphics looks good and move fast but the game is kind of difficult.  I will definitely go back to this when I'm waiting in a line or something.

Wipeout HD/Fury

1080p 60FPS looks fantastic

Date played: June 7th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

I fucking love this.  There are a lot of people online and I'm winning often!  I basically had mostly podiums, about five wins and two that I didn't make the podium.  Winning in this game feels amazing.  It really is a game of skill with the added madness of random weapons.

A lot of players don't realize that you don't have to hold down the throttle button at all times.  It sometimes helps to just let go of the gas for a second during a sharp turn.  This is where I gain most of my lead.  Slower is faster!  In one of the lobbies I played, there was one player that essentially became my rival.  We were always fighting for first place together while leaving the rest of the pack behind.  I'm still sticking to my Harimau ship so far and he seemed to change ships after every race.

I also want to mention that the music in Fury is great, it really pumps me up while racing.  Maybe that's why I'm winning a lot?!?  :-p

Blur

Date played: June 8th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Blur looks amazing

More split screen awesomeness!  I was visiting my friend and Blur is one of his favorite games so we played a few races against each other.  He's good but he mostly plays Motor Mash, a mode that is similar to Twisted Metal.  I beat him in all races except one, yay for me!  I have started using first person view in this game a bit more often.  While it's not the best for blocking attacks and judging distance for barge hits, it helps me be a much better racer.

I had a really fun run using the old beat up Beetle, it handles better than I expected.  We even did one hardcore race, where weapons are completely disabled.  This mode is kind of fun but it really shows that this game is meant to be played with weapons.  The tracks are sometimes really boring when you don't have a bunch of bolts and shunts flying around.

Excitebike 3D

Yep, this is still fun

Date played: June 7th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 5 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

Well, the eshop is finally available for 3DS.  Nintendo decided to give us Excitebike for free to show off the 3D classics.  It's actually the same game as on NES which is great but they just kind of added 3D to it.  It looks really cool!

I only played for a little while but I enjoyed my time with it.  The real question is, how much will Nintendo charge for these games?  It better be cheap.

Wipeout HD/Fury

Date played: June 5th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 140 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

Oh. My. God.  Sony's month long outage actually had a bit of a benefit for a racing fan like me!  Giving out Wipeout HD/Fury was such a good idea.  I have played all the games offered in the welcome back program except Wipeout HD's Fury expansion pack so it was the obvious choice for me.  While I really enjoyed Wipeout HD, the single player got too hard for me once I started hitting Rapier class and the online was populated by a few hardcore players that had amazing skills, which left me fighting for second to last place whenever I tried to play.

The colors!  They blind me!

Now, with the influx of new players, there are a lot of new players and average skill players.  I started off playing the single player and I wasn't expecting much so I was surprised at the amount of content.  This actually feels like a sequel more than an expansion pack really.  There are a bunch of new tracks, vehicles and even two new event types.  The first new event is zone battle which is just like zone mode but with multiple racers on the track.  The other mode has you destroying targets on the track for points at high speed.  Both modes are interesting and fun.

I also spent a bit of time to take two photos.  I haven't transferred them to my PC yet but I will post them soon.  Then I jumped online.  Wow, I forgot how much fucking fun this game can be.  As there are a lot of players online right now, I was able to select which speed class to compete in.  That way, I can stick to Flash where it's fast enough to be exciting but not too fast that it becomes incredibly difficult.  I was more successful than I thought I would be.  I managed a few wins and many podiums.  There was only one race where I didn't end up on the podium.

If this large population of players stays, I might stick to Wipeout for my online play fix for a little while.

Call of Duty Black Ops

Maybe I should...

Date played: June 5th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 70 minutes
Session fun rating: 6\10

I was either really hot or really cold tonight.  One match I would be amazing and get a 2.70 K/D ratio, the next I'm barely hitting 1.00.  Either way, I had fun and that's what counts right?  There was one match that was more memorable than the others, it was on Crisis.  While I normally don't like this map, I did very well on it today for some reason and managed a well placed sentry gun and an attack helicopter that stayed for it's full duration.

Also, the more I play it, the more I hate Discovery.  It's probably because I mostly play Team Deathmatch though, I imagine it would be better in Domination or Demolition.  Actually, I think I should take a TDM break, it's starting to get old.  Then again, I do have something like 15000 kills in this game, maybe I should just move on.

L.A. Noire

Date played: June 5th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 130 minutes
Session fun rating: 9\10

I solved the case about the U.S. Army morphine.  It was actually one of the longer cases I've played so far.  There was a lot of investigating for clues and a bit of action, not much interrogation.  It was really interesting how Cole handled the ending of that case too.  It seems like they are trying to tie Cole's past in the military with some parts of the main story.

White dude was supposed to lay down...

I also spent quite a bit of time simply driving to side missions.  The story is now set mostly in the northern parts of L.A. like Hollywood but some of the missions are really far away.  I drive most of the time but sometimes I'll let my partner drive.

The second case I played revolved around boxing.  There was a fight (the animation looked awkward...) where one of the fighters is supposed to take a dive but decides that he has pride and wins instead, upsetting a number of mobsters, police officers and anyone else that had their hands in the pot. There was a cool sequence where I had to tail a woman on foot without being seen, it was pretty long which I found interesting.  Overall, I really like this game.  It's not perfect but it has some really strong qualities.

You Don't Know Jack

Dis or Dat's are awesome

Date played: June 4th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 25 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

To end our night, my brother and I played two episodes of You Don't Know Jack.  It was his first time playing and he was surprisingly good for a newbie.  He even won the first match!

The Dis or Dat in one of the games was really funny.  Is it "A bladder control medecine" or "A Dr Seuss character"?  This was actually the first time I got all seven questions right in a Dis or Dat, earning me a trophy.

Dirt 3

Date played: June 4th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Epic

My brother came over to visit and we played some Dirt 3 split screen multiplayer.  Man, it was fucking amazing, edge of our seats action.  Most of our races were really intense.  We pretty much only played Rally Cross and one race in buggies.  The buggies weren't much fun but the rally cross was just crazy.

The game keeps a good frame rate and plays almost exactly as it does in single player, the only difference being no cockpit view.  We also recorded a video of one of our best moments, take a look here.  Split screen multiplayer is still important and more devs need to implement it.