Battlefield 3 beta

Date played: September 29th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I won't be able to play Battlefield 3 for a while due to life so I was really excited to play the beta.  While it's too bad that there is only one map and it doesn't feature any vehicles, I still had a lot of fun in the three matches I played.

There are four classes in the game, assault, engineer, support and recon.  As usual, I like big machine guns and that meant support class.  The first match was pretty short as I joined a game in progress but I still managed 4 kills and only 1 death while learning the controls and the map.  The next match was a lot more interesting.  In the end, I was 32-14 and was the top player in the 24 player lobby.

I wish I had a better PC just for this game...

I think one of the reasons I did well was that I had a good squad and I was using the RPK.  When I was on the other team, the support gun wasn't nearly as effective, at least not for my style of play.  I held choke points pretty well and wasn't afraid to sprint through some dangerous areas, unlike many other players who camp in bushes. The last match I was on offense and I was using that other gun.  I wasn't as good but I still had a positive k/d ratio.

The one thing I was not impressed with were the graphics and performance of the engine.  I really hope this is only a problem because it's a beta and not because it's a bad engine.  The shadows are screwed up, there is a lot of pop in and the framerate could be better.

Bastion

Date played: September 28th
Platform: Xbox 360
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played through about three areas of Bastion.  I found a shrine of sorts that gave me the ability to make the enemies more difficult but also increase XP and loot by 10%.  Since I haven't really struggled with combat yet, I figured I might as well enable that.

Bastion is pretty

I also found my first survivor, a young rich boy with fancy clothes.  The Stranger also introduced himself but I already forgot his real name, he's still the Stranger to me.  This game has fairly basic mechanics but it's all elevated to a higher level because of the beautiful art, the suave narrator and the amazing music.  It also seems kind of long for a game like that... I hope I stick with it but there are a lot of other good games to play.

EVE Online

Date played: September 28th
Platform: PC
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I started off by setting up two custom fittings for my Tristan, one for mining and one for fighting.  It's pretty useful, instead of dragging everything from the items window to the fitting window, I just click a button!  I also started training skills based on the core certificates.  These seem to be the basics that every corp looks for in a pilot so I thought it would be a good idea.  I bought a lot of skills like targeting, long range targeting, electronics upgrades and a bunch more.

Well what do you know, Plagiocase is a real mineral

Then I played one mining mission.  It asked that I manufacture some items using Pyerite and Mexallon, both of which are refined ores.  The problem is, I didn't know what ore would refine into Pyerite and Mexallon and I didn't know where to find it.  I looked it up online and my best bet seemed to be mining Plagiocase which I found out is found in Gallente 0.9 space.

What the fuck?

That seems like a lot of work for one mission but then again, it's a great learning experience.  I headed out to the three asteroid belts present in the Couster system but all I found was Scordite and Veldspar, neither of which would yield Mexallon.  I then decided on a whim to head out to the closest system one jump away.  I headed to a random asteroid belt (there were more than a dozen of them in this system) and found some Plagiocase right away which I mined then refined to manufacture the items I needed and complete the quest.

I spoke to my buddy about my experience and his answer was "Oh I just bought it off the market.".  He saved time while I made money and learned a few things.  Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Gears of War 3

Date played: September 27th
Platform: Xbox 360
Time played: 70 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

Amazing.

That is the only word I can use to describe what I played of Gears of War 3 last night.  We commandeered a giant blimp creature and fought off a few Reavers and such with the on board turrets.  We stumbled onto an old friend of Marcus, Dizzy, who was fighting some Locust while gathering ammo near Anvil's Gate.  We saved him from attacking Reavers and foot soldiers.  The One Shot came in really handy against the Reavers as did the Hammer of Dawn.  The Hammer of Dawn is still as great as ever.

Back on our way to Anvil's Gate we got shot down by the fucking Queen again.  We were stuck defending Anvil's Gate.  This was one of the most amazing moments in a video game!  We had to shoot down as many Locust as we could before being overrun.  It was just so fucking cool, the COG's really had their backs to the wall.

Then we went out to rescue Anya and....someone else, I forget who.  We got attacked by Lambent, including a Berserker.  It was a pretty tough fight, I had to shoot it's glowing chest but she charges around the area like a crazy bitch so I got killed a couple times. Did I mention I'm playing on hardcore difficulty?

A Berserker is bad enough but a Lambent Berserker is even worse!

After all that, I'm not quite sure why but we took a tanker and started heading to Dom's wife's hometown.  I think we're going to get fuel for some reason.  Cue another vehicle sequence full of turret shooting.  That's where I stopped playing for now.

EVE Online

Actual Simulations, my pilot

Date played: September 27th
Platform: PC
Time played: 80 minutes
Session fun rating: 5/10

I started the mining tutorials and.... it's not for me.  I learned how to fit a mining laser, how to find an asteroid belt and how to mine ore.  It's pretty simple but it's also quite boring.  Once the cargo hold is full of ore, I had to head back to the station to reprocess the ore into minerals.  Then from that, I had to learn how to manufacture an afterburner from the minerals.  It's really useful and it seems like everything in EVE is built by players but it's just not my cup of tea.

My friend is a miner/industrialist so he will manufacture a lot of stuff I'm sure.  The last mission I did was a simple courier mission where I had to deliver goods to another station three jumps away.  That was oddly relaxing and fun for me.  I might like doing delivery work when I'm bored later on, we'll see.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

Darunia can fucking dance baby!

Date played: September 26th and 27th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I had a bit of time to play in bed today so I popped in Zelda.  I headed to Kakariko village and herded the lady's chickens into their pen.  It really wasn't worth it as she only gave me stupid rupees.  I then went up the mountain to go see the Gorons.  I fell down the big hole in the middle of the city and accidentally found the Goron elder's room.  I played the Royal song to get in then played the Forest song in front of the Goron.  He started dancing like a madman!  I didn't remember that part hehehe....

He then gave me the Goron bracelet which allows me to lift the bomb plants that grow around the area. I explored a bit of the Goron city, blowing up walls and such but there are still a lot of secrets to find I think.  I can't remember what I'm supposed to do with the giant spinning urn in the middle....

EVE Online

Date played: September 26th
Platform: PC
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

Well, I've suffered my first ship destruction.  My trusty Atron got blown to bits when I was investigating some sort of facility.  It blew up in my face and I got attacked by powerful pirates before I had time to realize what was going on and warp out.  I warped back home in shame, riding my pod like a defeated boxer or something.  Thankfully, my ship was well insured and I got a good chunk of money back but I didn't spend it on a ship just yet.

I used the rookie Velator ship, bought some new guns and ammo and went out to complete the other missions in the shitty free ship which worked out pretty well in the end.  I eventually did the last mission of the military tutorial where I had to find Wolf, the elusive pirate.  He was stationed in a stasis tower that slowed me down to a crawl and had two small ships and one bigger ship protecting him.

When I warped in, I took out one of the smaller ships but had to retreat to repair.  Once repaired, I warped back in, took out the second small ship and attacked the tower while ignoring the third ship.  I effectively shield tanked the last guy where he was damaging me but I was able to keep my shield up by using a civilian shield generator until the tower was destroyed.  Then I took out the third ship and lastly, I destroyed Wolf's pod.

It was worth the effort to say the least.  I got some good money and best of all, a new ship, the Gallente Tristan.  It seems like it is the best of the Gallente frigates for a fighter like me.  It's faster, bigger and stronger than the Atron.  Now that I'm done with the military tutorial, I am not quite sure which tutorial I should do next.

The Tristan, my newest ship

Gears of War 3

Date played: September 24th and 25th
Platform: Xbox 360
Time played: 160 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played through a good chunk of Gears 3 over the weekend.  It's kind of tough to get time to play since I really can't play this in front of my 17 month old daughter...it's way too violent.  I've been able to play when she takes naps or after she goes to bed at night.

I gibbed my first Brumak!

I managed to find Marcus and the rest of the crew with Cole, shooting a few locusts along the way.  We found chairman Prescott just before he died of injuries and he gave us a bit of info on what we had to do next.  He told us to go to Anvil's Gate to find a dude that can decode a disc or something.  I didn't really get it but all I know is we have to go somewhere far.  The COG's decided that the best way to get there was to hijack a blimp like creature the Locust use as transportation so when we spotted one in the sky, we ran after it.

That meant lots and lots of fighting in canyons and such.  I shot living catapults and shot a Brumak to bits.  The Locust seem to be setting up bases on the surface of the planet.  I picked up a Mortar, a Digger (a special explosive device that crawls under cover....not as useful as it sounds) and the One Shot.  The One shot is essentially a giant sniper rifle.  It looks awesome but the aim time is slow and the reload time is long.  I'm not a big fan of it.

I also beat a gigantic Corpser by shooting it in the eyes until it went blind and ran around like a coked up teenager.  It was a cool fight.  After beating that thing, I met with the Locust Queen who we met in Gears 2.  Apparently, she survived the flood and is back with a vengeance.  It's interesting that she has a human face and can speak English... I can't wait to see where this part of the story goes.

NHL 12

Date played: September 24th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 80 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

The NHL pre-season is in full swing right now and on Saturday, there was a televised game between the Ottawa Senators (GO SENS GO!) and the Montreal Canadiens (BOOOOO!) so I went over to my brother's place to watch it with him, another of my brothers and three friends.  That meant 6 people that know how to play NHL 12 and we had 6 controllers.  That meant my first 3 vs 3 game in an NHL game and it was amazing!

The PS3 makes it easy to plug in 6 controllers

We played at least 6 matches while changing up our team mates and NHL teams.  It kind of looked like a 4-6 year old girls soccer game where everyone is going for the puck and people are out of position all the time.  Lots of offsides, lots of fighting, lots of penalties and ultimately, lots of fun.  Most games were pretty close as we tried to keep the skill level even between the teams.  I scored a few goals but I ended up being a key defense player and I had many assists.  I can set up good plays and play good defense but I still have trouble scoring goals.

I really hope we get to do this again.  Six drunk guys, six controllers, a PS3 and NHL 12 is one of the best gaming experiences I've had.

Renegade Ops demo

I love these new "flexible" split screens

Date played: September 24th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

Holy shit I need to buy this game.  Two of my brothers came over and we played some Renegade Ops in split screen.  The game does the "moving" split screen thing that was seen in the Lego games where the split is variable.  If we are close to each other, the split disappears and it becomes full screen.  It works really fucking well actually.  It was really cool shooting a bunch of dudes together, we were able to complement each other by using our EMP intermittently.

I love this game, I need to buy it.

EVE Online

The Atron, my new ship!

Date played: September 23rd, 24th and 25th
Platform: PC
Time played: 180 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I started really cutting my teeth into this game.  I did a bunch of missions for the military tutorial agent so that combat and ship fitting is starting to make more sense to me.  I've been using a new ship that is bigger, faster and stronger than the rookie ship, the Atron.  I've fitted two close range hybrid weapons, some armor repair modules and shield modules.

Missions have been about going someplace, shooting dudes or structures and looting the hell out of everything.  I've been learning to use the market a bit as well, selling redundant loot and making decent money.  I've learned combat skills like shield skills and targeting skills.  There isn't much else to say really, it's a slow game and it is an MMO after all.  I'm kind of hoping I get a new ship with more power soon but we'll see.

Mario Kart Wii

Date played: September 23rd and 24th

Vanilla Ice?  He's still cool right?

Platform: Wii
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 4/10

I did some time trials to unlock some characters and vehicles.  I seem to do better in time trials with small characters like Toad.  On some tracks, like the one that is in the ocean, I had to use a vehicle that was better off road because I was struggling with the normal karts.

It's interesting to have to choose the right car and character for a track, it's something that wasn't really present in the other Mario Kart games.  I managed to unlock Funky Kong, a weirdo from Donkey Kong Country.  He really seems out of place here.... the other characters are all pretty well known and current but Funky just feels like the uncle who used to be cool but is now a remnant of a bygone era.

F1 2010

Date played: September 22nd
Platform: Xbox 360
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I wasn't planning on buying either of the Codemasters F1 games since I have so many good games to play already but a coworker of mine was interested in getting Guitar Hero and I happened to have an old wired guitar, Guitar Hero 2, 3 and Aerosmith so I offered to sell these to her.  She received F1 2010 in her Xbox bundle so I asked if we could just trade instead and she accepted!

F1 2010 is a pure bred simulation game.  This is a far cry from games like Need For Speed, Split/Second and Mario Kart.  This is even more of a simulation than Gran Turismo...  I start out as a rookie pilot and picked Lotus as my team.  I set everything to easy and only turned off braking assist and set the racing line to corners only.  The game is still fucking difficult.

I practiced on the first track for a few minutes, trying to get used to the controls and feel of the car.  Then I qualified in 15th place, pretty good considering my target was 20th.  The race is a 10 lap event where I managed to overtake quite a few racers early on and was in third place until the third lap.  I had set up my tyre strategy to pit stop at 3 laps.  When I pitted, I was passed by everyone and was 24th....  I did my best to catch up but I had to wait until the 7th lap where most of the other racers stopped to change tyres.  I took 5th place for a while (in front of Schumacher!) but I messed up on a corner and was 7th for the last two laps.

F1 2010 is a game that I wasn't expecting to play

The only little problem is that I hit a guy pretty hard and got a time penalty so even though I completed 7th, the penalty dropped me to 9th.  I was really happy with that position as this was my first race, I even got 2 points in the championship!  I even had a little interview with the press that had dialog choices, it's a nice touch.

Gears of War 3

Date played: September 22nd
Platform: Xbox 360
Time played: 90 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played through Act 1 and everything except the first couple of chapters I was controlling Cole.  He, Baird, a new lady and the newest Carmine were working together to try to find supplies and food in Hanover, home of the Cougars, Cole's Trashball team.  A lot happened in 90 minutes....

COLE TRAIN WHOOOO!

I met a Stranded camp that basically told me to fuck off...  Then I went through a supermarket where I fought a bunch of Lambent.  There are a lot of new enemies with cool and deadly abilities.  Some of them spawn a worm type creature when they die, others shoot giant yellow balls of death, etc.  We found some food and I had to use a mechanized loader to carry the crates.  It had some really cool animations.

I then found a friendly group of Stranded that recognized the Cole Train and were very helpful, providing us with supplies.  It was interesting to see how popular Cole was before E-day, people were cheering for him and stuff.  Then we headed to the Stadium, fought a lot of giant bullet sponge enemies and eventually reached the play field.  Cole had a flashback of his days as a player.  It's the first time in the series that Cole is more than a buff black dude with guns and funny one liners, I hope there is more of this in the game.

The last part of the Act finally introduced some good old fashioned Locust.  It felt good shooting enemies that don't explode...  I found a lot of new weapons too like the powerful Boomshot, incendiary grenades and the Retro Lancer.  The Retro Lancer is powerful, has a bayonet and is fun to use but the recoil is a little harsh.  I eventually reached bridge above Marcus and company's ship and dropped some tickers on the Leviathan as seen in the second chapter.  We then fell off the crumbling bridge and are now trying to meet up with the other COGs.  This game rocks.

EVE Online

The Velator, my first ship

Date played: September 22nd
Platform: PC
Time played: 40 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I completed my second tutorial mission!  I am starting to understand the interface a little better now, this is a complicated game and the interface is proof of that.  It's a good interface but there is so much content, it's quite a learning curve.

I managed to add my friend to contacts, start a fleet with him and voice chat.  So that's progress I guess.  I went out and learned how to use my ship by going through an acceleration gate, found cargo and brought it back to my mission agent.  I can see myself getting really engaged in this game but it's a big time commitment I think.  I hope I get to shoot stuff soon!

EVE Online

Date played: September 21st
Platform: PC
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 5/10

Will I lose my free time to EVE?

Oh boy.... I don't know what I'm getting into here.  My friend started playing EVE and I've always had an interest in the game since it's all about giant spaceships and has a crazy community that runs itself.  I didn't actually play the game at all yet, I just created a character and started learning some skills.  I kind of want to be a fighter but this is such a huge game, I'm not really sure what will happen.  Next time I play I will go through some of the tutorials.

Gears of War 3

The Leviathan is fucking awesome!

Date played: September 21st
Platform: Xbox 360
Time played: 10 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I really didn't have time to play but I wanted to show the game to my girlfriend for a little bit so I completed the second chapter of the first act.  I got into an exoskeleton mech thing and shortly after, we got attacked by a Leviathan, a giant sea creature with slimy eyes and a glowing mouth.  I shot it's eye until it oozed little spider beasts then took it down by shooting rockets in it's mouth.  It was a pretty cool fight and the Leviathan is really cool looking.

Then the chapter ended and I saw a glimpse of the next one which takes place one hour before and features Cole.  I can't wait to spend more time with this game, it's amazing already.

Gears of War 3

Date played: September 20th
Platform: Xbox 360
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

MANLY!

YES!  Gears of War 3 came out and I have it!  Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to actually play but I did get to play one chapter and see the beginning of the next chapter.  Gears of War is one of my favorite series.  People bitch and moan that it's grey and brown, they complain the story sucks and they say the big bad dudes in armor are not good characters.  While some of these complaints may be valid, the fact remains that Gears has the best mechanics and game play of any third person shooter in my opinion.  The shooting feels right, the cover mechanics work well, active reload seems like a gimmick yet it really adds something to the game play and it looks absolutely gorgeous.  It's not surprise then that I was excited for Gears 3.

The game starts off with Marcus having a dream of when his father died.  He soon wakes up and we find out that he and the other COG's have become Stranded.  They have no food, no supplies and not many men.  It doesn't take long before the shit hits the fan and Lambent attack the ship.  It was like getting back into old slippers.  Same old mechanics, same old sounds, same old fun.

There are a lot of new enemies, the Lambent have obviously evolved.  When I stopped playing, I was about to get into a exoskeleton with rockets and a minigun.  I can't wait to see what I'll be shooting at with that thing!

NHL 12

Winter classic rocks!

Date played: September 20th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 40 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

I went to visit one of my brothers yesterday to watch the Habs first pre-season game on TV with some friends.  During intermission, we played some NHL 12 together but ran into a few little technical problems.  The first game we started playing, when we paused to go back to the TV game, my brother accidentally turned off the PS3 instead of his controller so we lost those two periods of play.  Then the next game we started, the PS3 froze on a face off in the second period.... talk about bad luck.  We finally managed to play a full game after that.

This was the first time I played a 5 player game on PS3.  Everyone had brought their own controllers so we decided to do a 3 vs 2 match.  Ottawa VS Montreal in the Winter Classic, fucking amazing.  It turns out that playing on a three person team is really tough.  Our defence men were out of position all the time, we had more offsides than usual and more penalties.  In the end though, it was the most fun I've ever had playing NHL.  Unfortunately, we lost 8-2 but we still had a great time.  I scored one goal and had an assist on the other goal.  I hope to do this again sometime, there's nothing like playing a game like this with friends in the same room, online play just isn't the same.

Deus Ex Human Revolution

Shanghai is cooler than Detroit in Deus Ex

Date played: September 19th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I found the prostitute that was being held against her will to be augmented.  She was guarded by three guys which I took out easily with my trusty silenced pistol.  Once saved, she decided to escape the city and I reported back to her friend to get my money.  The girl then had another quest for me where I have to find a dude, knock him out and either throw him off the roof to kill him and make it look like an accident or I can also plant drugs in his house and have him arrested.

When I was making my way towards that, I got distracted by all the locked storage units, safes and apartments that were ripe for exploration and looting.  I guess I'll find out what happens with that dude next time I play.  Maybe Gears of War 3 will push that into "later" territory, we'll see.

Ghost Recon Shadow Wars

Even hamsters play DS in bed!

Date played: September 19th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 50 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played one mission while sitting in bed before going to sleep.  It was a pretty big mission with lots of objectives and enemies so it took a while to complete.  Essentially, I had to help four dudes repel an attack which was pretty tough since there were a lot of them rushing us.

Then I had to get to some civilians and escort them out of the area.  One of the more interesting upgrades I obtained recently is a new medkit for my healer.  She now has a stim option which can reactivate characters that have already acted this turn.  It really makes things more strategic as an extra turn can go a LONG way in this game.  Also, my stealth character is starting to be less effective since it only deals 20 damage and most enemies have more than 20 hp...

Deus Ex Human Revolution

Date played: September 18th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 40 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Shanghai, meet Adam Jensen.  I was sent to Shanghai to investigate the lead I was given by Barrett, the mercenary I killed in the FEMA facility.  As soon as I got there, I was overwhelmed!  There is so much to explore, so many people to talk to, so many things to find.  I spent my time exploring a nearby strip club/brothel, looting items, stealing shit from rooms, I even killed a guy who spotted me stealing his pass card.

Shanghai is built on two levels, it looks fucking amazing.

I also bought a bunch of upgrades for my weapons.  My combat rifle is now equipped with a laser sight, silencer, faster reload times and more damage.  I can't wait to shoot some fools to see how well it performs.

I found a side quest.  It seems that most prostitutes are now being augmented to enhance their sexual abilities.  Those that refuse are met with angry bosses and fewer clients.  I walked into an argument between a whore and her pimp.  He wanted her to get augments, she didn't want to.  When he left, she asked me to help her find her whore-friend who she suspects is being forced to get augments.

These are the kinds of questions that make me think of the bigger picture.  These philosophical questions are interesting and don't really come up in other games much.  I hope I get to influence what happens to the lost hooker, it will be an interesting choice that's for sure.

God of War Ghost of Sparta demo

Date played: September 18th
Platform: PSP
Time played: 10 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

Here's a funny story, I was cleaning things in the bedroom and I found my PSP 1000 in a drawer!  I don't play that thing much anymore.  In fact, I don't think I've played it this year.  I don't dislike the games on PSP but I have a few issues with the machine itself.  The battery sucks (although it seems that 3DS and Vita aren't any better), it's heavy, the load times are long, Memory Stick Duo's are too expensive and my hands get cramped when I play it for too long.

Everybody LOVES tentacle monsters!  Right?

I found a demo for the second God of War game on PSP that was sitting on my Memory Stick that I hadn't played so I fired it up.  I love God of War and I really enjoyed Chains of Olympus when I played it a few years ago.  This one looks a lot better and plays about the same.  The demo is a fight against a giant tentacle creature and some regular ass God of War fighting.  The normal fighting is exactly what you would expect.  The boss fight was more interesting as I had to fight off it's tentacles before attacking.  Then I killed it off with a nice quick time event.  Oh yes another thing that was cool is a new weapon, a spear and shield.  It's actually really fun to use and I wish it had been in God of War 3.

Renegade Ops demo

Date played: September 18th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 25 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

It's not often that I will replay a demo, let alone immediately after finishing it, but Renegade Ops was good enough that I wanted to play more of it right away.  This is a twin stick shooter featuring vehicles.  It's been done before with games like Assault Heroes but this is made by Avalanche Studios, makers of Just Cause 2 and their pedigree shows in this game.  Big explosions, flashy graphics and insane weapons are all important parts of the game.

Jeeps, tanks, bullets, explosions and power ups.  That's Renegade Ops.

There is only one character available in the demo, a lady who drives an armored mini van.  There is a strong machine gun, a rocket launcher and an EMP blast, the lady's special weapon.  The demo is a mission where I had to go save civilians by transporting them from their stranded location to a nearby church.  I also had to take out missile launchers and a fleet of tanks.  The last little tease is a short stint in a helicopter.

This game is really fun.  The physics bring a lot to the game and it's just plain old twin stick shooting fun.  I will buy this game once I have time to play it, that's for sure.

Ace Combat Assault Horizon Demo

Date played: September 18th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Wow, I was not expecting anything good from this but I was thoroughly impressed.  This is an air combat game and I played two missions, one in a jet fighter and the other in a hind helicopter.  The game is really flashy and well presented.  There are lots of cool effects with the camera angles, slow motion and even a few quick time events.  Flying a jet plane has never felt so intense, that's for sure.  The missions were standard fare, featuring dog fighting, escort missions, ground assaults and crazy RPG wielding terrorists.

Yes, it looks that good

The jet plane has some really cool functions.  The main thing that makes this game fun is an intense lock on mechanic.  It almost acts like aiming down sights in Call of Duty or something.  The camera goes crazy and the action is more intense.

Then there was a helicopter level which was less intense but still fun.  I had to protect ground troops as they raided a large building in the city.  The mission was long but it was pretty varied, having me take out technicals, APC's and other helicopters.

When this hits the bargain bin, it might be worth my time, we'll see.

FIFA 12 & PES 2012 demos

Date played: September 18th

Nobody wins, I hate both games!

Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 2/10

I hate football games.  I never really got into them, the exception being Gamecube's FIFA 2002 which I got as a gift.  FIFA has good graphics, animation, music and is generally well presented.  The game is easy to play and I even managed to score a goal, winning the game 1-0!  Usually when I play football games I get obliterated but this was a nice change of pace.  Too bad football doesn't interest me or I might have enjoyed myself.

PES 2012 is a different beast.  It's drab, technical and quite boring.  The graphics are boring and colorless, the framerate is unstable, the controls are weird and the AI is way too tough.  If I had been a football fan, I might have appreciated the subtle nuances between the two games.  Good thing I'm a hockey fan!

Deus Ex Human Revolution

Date played: September 16th and 17th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 180 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

So I went on my first real mission, I had to investigate a lead I found from the neural hub I looted from a corpse in the police station's morgue.  It turns out that the building I was sent to was FEMA, some sort of organization that has something against Sarif Industries.  It's all really unclear what the hell is going on but I don't care, the game is fun even if I don't really know why I'm doing what I do.

Barrett, the first boss, sports a nice minigun arm.

I spent a lot of time going through the facility which is a boring looking office/research building.  There are so many ways to do the same thing in this game it's a bit overwhelming.  I am relying mostly on my upgraded pistol which is silenced so that I can get some silent head shots.  When shit hits the fan, I go with the combat rifle and the shotgun.

I hacked some computers, I hacked a turret (a new skill) and I destroyed a giant mech with an EMP grenade.  Then there was a boss fight.  I had heard people bitch about the boss fights but it wasn't so bad.    I just stunned the guy with EMP grenades twice, shot him with the combat rifle a bunch, threw him a grenade and even got him disoriented by shooting a nearby gas canister and a fire extinguisher.

After I beat him, he said something about Shanghai and I left to go back to Sarif Industries.  I imagine I'll be heading to China soon, we shall see.

Mario Kart Wii

Baby Daisy is a new character.... I think

Date played: September 16th and 17th
Platform: Wii
Time played: 180 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I unlocked a bunch of crap.  Baby Daisy, Bowser Jr, Birdo and a bunch of karts and bikes.  I did some time trials and some Grand Prix but I spent most of my time playing online with my girlfriend.  She seems to like the middle class characters and she's been doing pretty well.

I had a few really bad races but mostly, I was finishing in the top 4.  I seem to do better on the circuits than the crazier tracks.  Also, the online interface sucks balls.  You can't quit in most cases, you have to wait until the end of the race.  You can't change characters after every race, you have to back out, which sucks.  Also, there is no way of communicating with these people.  I hope Nintendo gets their shit together because they are starting to smell a lot like 1999.

Wipeout HD/Fury

Date played: September 15th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 25 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played a few Flash class single races in a lobby that had between three and four people so it made for some pretty tight races.  With more players, the gap between first and last place is always bigger than when there are only a few players.  I placed second, fourth, first and second in my four races, a pretty good session IMO.

Also it was cool because our lobby had one American, one German, one Belgian and myself, Canadian.  I like it when there is a good mix of nationalities, it kind of makes it seem like it's an olympic race or a world championship.

There is a Vita Wipeout game coming out and while I don't really want a Vita just yet, Wipeout makes a strong fucking argument for me.

NHL 11

Date played: September 15th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I wasn't in the mood to play a single player game and Black Ops is still out of commission and hockey season is coming up so I decided to play a little online game of NHL.  As usual, I picked my trusty Senators and to my great joy, the other guy picked the Leafs!  The Battle of Ontario baby!

Spezza scores! Sens win!

It was a pretty tight game.  I think I was a notch above the other player's skill level but I had a lot of trouble finding the back of the net.  We battled it out for two full periods without a goal, trading some good back and forth with me having a few more shots and more puck possession.  Then in the third period, I got a short power play and managed to score on a rebound.  That was enough to win the game, even though the opponent came dangerously close to scoring late in the third.  I hope this is a sign of things to come for Ottawa.  Go Sens Go!

lilt line

Date played: September 14th
Platform: Wii
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

lilt line has a great retro art style

Let me tell you how I found this game.  Someone on Gamefaqs told me that there were DS demos on the Wii store so I tried to find it but as I was navigating Nintendo's horrible excuse for an online store interface, I stumbled upon this game.  I have no idea what "lilt" means, I never heard of the game before and all I had to go on was the shitty description from Wiiware and the name of the developer, Gaijin Games.  While I haven't played their other games, I've heard good things about the Bit.Trip series.  I also don't know why the title isn't capitalized but whatever.

I had 600 points sitting in my Wii wallet (it's been there for years!) and this was only 500 points so I said "Fuck it, I'm getting it".  The game is weird, it's very minimalistic in style and gameplay.  Basically, this is a mix between an obstacle course and a rhythm game.  You control a line through a maze by holding the Wii remote sideways and tilting it forward to go up and tilting back to go down.  Then there are highlighted areas where you have to press any button to the beat.

It starts off really easy but after the first three levels, it started really ramping up.  By the 6th song, I hit a wall and couldn't pass the level.  The game basically makes you lose health if you hit a wall or miss a beat.  Now the best part of the game is actually the soundtrack.  DUBSTEP BITCHES!!!

That's right, the music is all dubstep and pretty much the only reason I even considered buying this game.  The music is actually great but I wish I was better at the game so I could see more songs.

Mario Kart Wii

This thing is freaky

Date played: September 14th
Platform: Wii
Time played: 70 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I completed one 150cc Grand Prix and won first place.  I spent a lot of time trying to win the first cup in 150cc and every time, I either got hit by a blue, red or green shell at the finish line or I've been hit by lightning, a star or squished near the end of the race.  It sucks but I'll get it eventually.

I spent most of my time playing online with my girlfriend.  I was using Rosalina with the off roader and my girlfriend was using Yoshi with the little fish looking kart.  I did ok, won a couple races and placed in the top 5 for most of my races.  My girlfriend was mostly in the middle of the pack.  There were a few times where we kind of helped each other by not shooting ourselves.  Mario Kart Wii is really fun, I just wish it was prettier, had better online features and had more tracks.

Mario Kart Wii

Date played: September 13th

He's so cute and bony

Platform: Wii
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

I don't like playing Mario Kart by myself.  However, I want to unlock some karts, bikes, modes and characters so I have to play some single player Grand Prix.  I completed the 100cc cup which is bikes only.  I thought the bikes controlled a lot differently than karts at first but then I realized, there are two drift types for bikes.  One is an "innie" and the other is an "outie".  Innie means the bike drifts INTO the corner and outie means it drifts out of the corner.  I was used to the outie method since that's what karts use.

I've found that I like the default bike a lot and if I need more speed, I go with the second one which is fast but innie.  I've managed to unlock two bikes, Mii's as characters and Dry Bones, the skeleton koopa guy.  I also played two or three online races, second place being my best performance.

Marvel Pinball demo

The Spidey table was my favorite

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

I love pinball.  I kind of like video pinball but I never really played a recent pinball game.  Marvel Pinball is pretty awesome, at least the 10 minutes of it I played was awesome.  There are two tables in the demo, Wolverine and Spider-Man.  I preferred the Spider-Man one but both were cool and fun to play.

The key is ball physics of course.  These guys know how to program a video pinball game.  The ball feels right and it's easy to predict where your ball will go based on how the flippers hit it.  The graphics are really nice too.  I don't know if I would pay money for a pinball video game but if I did, this would be my first choice.

Deus Ex Human Revolution

Date played: September 12th and 13th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 150 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Holy shit, I know I've played a lot of this game in the last two days but it seems like it's all a blur.  I know I've done a bunch of missions and I know I've explored a lot of places and hacked a lot of computers but I can't seem to recall many of the details.

My social augmentations came in handy with this guy

A few things do stand out in my mind though.  I took out a neural hub (wtf is that??) from a corpse's skull that I reached by infiltrating a police station.  I kind of just talked my way in and the cops didn't mind me too much unless I hacked computers in front of them.  I really liked that mission, there was a lot of stuff to find in the police station and lots of cool info and back story.

I also did a mission where I had to basically go take out a gang leader without killing him.  He was holed up in an apartment with four of his thugs.  At first, I tried just walking in and got shot dead.  Then I tried being a bit more tactical and it worked out but I shot the guy I was supposed to knock out.  Third time, I put boxes in the hallway outside the apartment so that the guys would not be able to chase me.  It worked out well and I was taking out the bad guys with my pistol as soon as they were coming out of the room but again, I shot the guy by accident when he poked his head out.  Frustrated, I decided to try something else.  I used a silenced weapon and took out the first three guys as they were in view and I managed to do it without getting noticed.  Then I threw a concussion grenade in the room with the target and the last thug.  I then ran into the room and knocked out the target with my stun gun and killed the other guy with melee while they were still stunned.

I thought it was a great little mission that shows all the different ways to complete an encounter.  I am slowly falling in love with this game.  It really reminds me of Alpha Protocol but with more polish and more content.  That's a good thing.

Battlefield 1943

Date played: September 11th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

Seeing as my Call of Duty Black Ops disc is scratched beyond repair, I've been trying to fill the multiplayer void in my gaming life by playing other games like Wipeout HD, Blur, Mario Kart Wii and even Killzone 3 and nothing has been able to live up to the rush of getting a headshot with an M60 from 300 meters away.  I was hoping Battlefield 1943 could help so I booted it up late last night.

Two tanks = RAMPAGE

I like this game but I felt like it was a bit empty.  The maps are large and there aren't really enough players in a match to fill it up.  That means that a lot of time is spent travelling or capturing flags that are undefended.  I had a good time though, I captured a lot of flags and teamed up with a few guys to have strong assaults on enemy positions.  For instance, me and another dude took a jeep together, rode to the enemy base and stole their two tanks.  We then made our way to enemy flags, tearing shit up as a two-tank army.  It was really cool.

It's too bad this game only has three maps, if it had more, it might hold my attention until Battlefield 3 comes out but that's not gonna happen.

Dirt 3

Date played: September 10th and 11th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 180 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I completed the third season by winning the Winter X Games, including this perfect little run in a Ford Fiesta!  I played a lot of Dirt this weekend and completed a variety of events.  I did some head 2 head, buggy racing, regular ass rally, extremely fast trailblazers, some Gymkhana sprint and even raced a bobsleigh!

The game is starting to ramp up the difficulty quite a bit.  I spent at least half an hour on one trailblazer event which had three segments.  I think I might have chosen a car that doesn't suit me but so far, the fourth season is definitely tougher.  One of the reasons is that the races are longer and events have more races.  I'm almost done with the first "triangle" of the fourth season.

I raced against a bobsleigh.  In a Mini.  Badass.

I also played online a bit but I'm not a huge fan of this game's online play as players play pretty dirty, crashing into each other and just being dicks.  I didn't even come close to a podium in my three ranked races.  Maybe I should try the unranked lobbies, people might be nicer.

Mario Kart Wii

This was my bike of choice

Date played: September 10th
Platform: Wii
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played a few single player cups in 100cc which features bikes only.  It took me a few races to adapt to driving a bike instead of a kart.  They control pretty well but I definitely prefer the drifty karts to the stiff bikes.  I won the first cup with a bad rating and placed second in the second cup.  I wasn't very focused and I was still learning how to ride the bikes through tight corners but I should be able to win next time.

I also played a few online matches but have nothing interesting to report.  My best performance was a second place finish.

Pilotwings Resort

The graphics are great and they look even better in 3D

Date played: September 10th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 40 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played more missions in the fourth cup.  One of them was a simple hand glider course that I three starred pretty easily.  The next was a plane mission where I had to repeat Miguel's (just a random mii I guess) stunts while going through rings.  There was another one where I had to push giant balloons in a jetpack, that one was pretty hard because I screwed up my angle a lot.

The last mission I played had me trying to reach 1500 meters altitude in a hand glider then land on the target when three minutes has passed.  I did pretty good but I lost a lot of points in my landing.  I only got two stars so I'll have to try this one again next time I play.

Bloodrayne Betrayal demo

Date played: September 10th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

Blood!

Way Forward is such a cool developer.  In my opinion, they do the best 2D animation in the business.  Games like A Boy and his Blob (which I still have to play more of) and Shantae Risky's Revenge show off their skills well.  Bloodrayne Betrayal is even smoother AND it's in HD.

The animation in Bloodrayne is easily some of the best I've seen.  The characters are pretty, the backgrounds look great and the blood splatters are almost symphonic.  Then I played the game.  It's difficult.  It's really a brawler, in the vein of Shank or Dishwasher.  The combat system works well and the controls are accurate but the enemies are relentless.  I couldn't finish the second mission because I died too often.  It's a cool game but I think it will be a little too hard for me.

Pilotwings Resort

Date played: September 8th

The plane is really fun to pilot

Platform: 3DS
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I was on a very boring phone call for a little while so I busted out my 3DS and won three stars in two missions.  The first had me extinguish half a dozen little camp fires by shooting water from my plane at them then land on the water.  It was pretty easy to complete but as usual, getting three stars is much more difficult.  In this case, I had to improve my time.  The reason I was slow was because I was shooting too much water and had to go pick up more from the river.  After a few tries, I was more accurate when shooting the water gun thing.

The next mission was more difficult.  It was a simple jetpack course that I just had to navigate quickly while gathering as many points as possible.  It took me a good six or seven attempts before I got three stars.  The course was narrow, the point  balloons were hard to reach and the time limit was rough.  I eventually got three stars by going quickly.

Space Marine demo

Bloody!

Date played: September 6th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I didn't really know what to expect from Space Marine, the third person action game from the Warhammer 40k universe.  It turns out it's a shooter with a lot of melee.  It actually felt a lot like Transformers War for Cybertron.  There is no cover and no stealth, no warthogs and no active reload.

There were two simple missions in the demo.  Both missions had my guy and his two heavily armored buddies mow down dozens upon dozens of orks with their high powered guns and chainsaws.  The graphics are decent, the framerate is good and the combat is just plain fun.  There are a shit load of great games coming out soon but I might pick this one up from the bargain bin next year.

Deus Ex Human Revolution

Date played: September 6th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 90 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Oh man, this game is starting to really pick up steam.  I got a few upgrade points after doing some side quests and invested them in two sections, hacking and speech.  Hacking is now up to level 3 so I can open pretty much everything I've run into so far with a few exceptions.  This is useful but not really that interesting.

The more interesting upgrade is the speech one.  Whenever I have a conversation with someone now, I see a little side bar that gives me information on the person and a "persuade" meter that shows if the person is responding well to my words.  There is also another meter that sort of shows you what kind of personality the person has which you can use to secrete corresponding pheromones to influence the person in the direction you want.  It's kind of like a charisma check from Fallout or Baldur's Gate and it works really well.

Augments for EVERYONE!

My next upgrade will probably be lifting big objects, it seems that there are many opportunities to find new paths when lifting dumpsters, fridges and soda dispensers.  I did side quests mostly today, exploring apartment buildings and stealing information.  I investigated a neuropazyne neurapazine drug thief who was redistributing it to the poor, Robin Hood style.  These people need the drugs to prevent augment rejection so when I was presented with the choice, I chose to support his cause.  I think it's pretty fucking noble, even if it's illegal.

I also visited the LIMB clinic where I was able to buy some upgrade points.  I love this game, it's a big rabbit hole.  I just have to make sure I don't stop playing because it will be difficult to come back to after a long break.

Wipeout HD/Fury

Wipeout XL was my first Wipeout game

Date played: September 6th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 25 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

I needed my competitive online fix again today so I played some Wipeout HD.  I wasn't very good today, I think my reflexes were a little bit off because I am tired as fuck.  I really need to take a break and sleep sometime soon.

Anyway, I played normal single races in Flash class as usual.  However, I played on race in Rapier class by accident and I felt the difference right away.  I was hitting walls a more often, absorbing weapons more often and lost control of my craft more than usual.  It's almost like going from Medium to Hard on Guitar Hero.  Maybe one day I'll get used to it but for now, I'm sticking to Flash.

Deus Ex Human Revolution

Date played: September 5th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

My pilot friend

Oh boy, I think I'm starting to get it.  Deus Ex is really starting to feel like Fallout mixed with Mass Effect.  I finally got to an area where it's a bit more open and I had flashbacks of Fallout 3 and New Vegas.  Adam Jensen explores a small part of Detroit and can find TONS and TONS of little tidbits of information.  In the two hours I played, I didn't get into combat once.  I was reading ebooks, magazines, PDA's and emails.  I was gathering credit chips.  I was hacking computers, etc.  I also have started developing a relationship with the helicopter pilot, a nice lady who seems to be on my side.  I've also been leaning towards a pro cybernetic augment position, I don't know how that will affect the story yet, if at all.

I invested my first cybernetic upgrade point in hacking since it seemed to have immediate benefits.  I fully explored the Sarif office building I was in then explored a bit of the streets.  I picked up some regular quests and some side quests, all of which seem very interesting so far.  This game has taken me by surprise, I was not expecting it to be a real RPG, I thought it would be more like Alpha Protocol where there are RPG elements but it's really a stealth action game.  Deus Ex is a pure bred RPG, at least so far.

Mario Kart Wii

Wario fits my driving style

Date played: September 5th
Platform: Wii
Time played: 40 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played some online Mario Kart with my girlfriend.  I did pretty good and she was better than last time.  I used both Wario and Boo.  Boo is good but I don't like the sounds he makes so he gets annoying.  Wario is good too.  It's clear that I prefer the heavy karts.  My girlfriend used Luigi and Koopa.  I was mostly on the podium except one game where I was destroyed and placed 10th.  My girlfriend's best finish was 4th, a new record for her.

She's definitely better than before, if she can start doing tricks on jumps for the big boosts, she'll be pretty competitive I think.

Infamous 2

Date played: September 5th
Platform: Playstation 3
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I've finished Infamous 2!  I only had two missions left, the first was very simple, Cole simply activated the last Blast Core and got a new power, a giant lightning bolt that rains down from the sky.  The power is awesome but unfortunately, I only got to use it on the final boss...

Speaking of which, there was a weird decision I had to take which I won't spoil for you.  What it meant for me was that I was to fight the beast.... and Kuo!  The final fight was pretty cool, they had me jumping across a bunch of boats to run from the beast until I got to a nice spot downtown to duel him.  It was actually a pretty easy fight, I just had to keep shooting his face with lightning while keeping Kuo out of my way.  The beast had a cool attack that sucks people and objects in around his fist.  The effect on Cole is that he is sort of flying for a short period.  Then after I dealt him enough damage, I finished him with the new super power.

Infamous 2 was awesome

The ending itself was a bit underwhelming but let's just say that Cole did his service to humanity, saved the world and sacrificed a lot to do it.  Based on this ending, I have a hard time seeing a sequel but in the world of super heroes, anything is possible.  I truly enjoyed playing Infamous 2 and found it was better than the first game in many ways.