Final Fantasy VI

Scary!

Date played: October 29th, 30th and 31st
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played a large section of the game where the group is separated into three groups. I played the entire Sabin section who got jumped off a raft near a large waterfall after fighting an octopus. He ends up on the eastern side of the map. I went through the phantom train with Sabin, Cyan and Shadow. It's one of the most memorable sections in the game for me. After killing the boss, Shadow left and we headed towards the Veldt, a large open area full of monsters and Gau, the little savage kid who joined our party.

We eventually figured out how to get back to Narshe to meet up with our party. We basically found an old scuba helmet thanks to Gau and navigated some underwater caves to reach Narshe. After that, I started Locke's section who was already in Narshe and since the city is fully controlled by the Empire, I had to navigate the city by avoiding guards and fooled some of them by stealing a merchant and a soldier uniform. Eventually, I found an underground path and I saved a girl who was being beat up by some guards. It turns out it's Celes, the first magic user to join us since Terra. I went through a dungeon and beat a sick boss to finish Locke's arc. I fucking love this game.

Final Fantasy VI

A true classic

Date played: October 28th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 9/10

This is a game that has greatly influenced my gaming hobby and in many ways, my life. I first played this during my formative years on SNES. I must have been around 12 years old or so. It was a game that helped me learn English, it was a game that helped me appreciate games more complicated than NHL 95 and Super Mario Kart. It was a game that opened my eyes to different types of games.

It still holds up.

While I never actually completed it back in the 90's, I played a ton of it and it feels as good today as it did back then. I played through the first two hours of the game. I met Terra, Locke, Edward, Sabin, Shadow, Banon and even Cyan. It's amazing after all these years how deep all these characters are even with limited interaction. Kefka is as evil and funny as ever too! And that MUSIC! Soooooo good. I can't wait to relive some of the best moments in video game history.

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine

Date played: October 27th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played through to chapter 9 and my loyal space marines managed to enter an old factory (It has giant mechs!) and secure it's all important power core to protect it from the orks. In the end though, all it meant was blood, blood and more blood.

I'm gonna smash your skull in using your own shield Ork scum!

This is a game that knows what it's about and doesn't care. This is a game about killing orks with guns, mechanized swords and axes. I picked up some upgraded versions of some of my weapons like a pistol, a killer shotgun and a laser sniper rifle. The combat is lots of fun and the last minute ability that the marine can used has gotten me out of tight spots more than once. I like this game, it's a simple but fun third person shooter. I should also mention that this game has no real cover mechanic, only things to walk behind to avoid fire. It's refreshing and it feels great.

Vita game demo sessions

Date played: October 25th and 26th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 8/10

I spent some time playing some demos on the Vita last night while watching some Top Gear episodes. I started with Super Monkey Ball Banana Splitz. Yep, that's a "z" there. This game is just Monkey Ball though. Good old Monkey Ball. Not worth 35$ for me but maybe if it drops to 15$ I will consider it. It was very pretty too...

The next demo was LittleBigPlanet PS Vita. Now THIS is a good game. There were about three or four levels in the demo and while the first one was more of a tutorial, the rest was just lots of fun. It feels even better than LittleBigPlanet 2, it looks amazing, it sounds great and it plays really well. There's some great stuff with the touch screen too like small platforms that have to be moved with your fingers. It doesn't feel forced and is fun. I want to play this...

LBP Vita is awesome!

Third, I tried Silent Hill Book of Memories. Surprisingly, this isn't anything like any Silent Hill game I've seen in the past. This is actually a dungeon crawler complete with a minimap, seemingly random rooms, melee combat, level ups and even equipment. The combat is pretty cool too. It has a block button, one button for each arm (and weapon) and a lock on button. It was fun but I would get bored pretty quickly.

Lastly, I played Escape Plan, a 2D puzzle platformer in black and white. The game is really cool, using touch controls in a smart way. I sometimes had to push panels in with the back panel, I had to press switches with the front touch screen and I even had to pinch my little characters using both the front and back touch surfaces at times. Overall, this seems like a good game with Vita specific gameplay and a good price. I might buy in the future.

NHL 13

Yep

Date played: October 24th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

I visited one of my brothers last night and he had a friend over so we played some three player NHL 13. We started with a game of me vs them, myself as the Sens and the other team as the Habs. I won in 3-2 in OT with a lucky pass from behind the net that hit the goalie's skate and bounced to the back to their net.

We then played a two player game, me vs my bro. He beat the shit out of me 4-0 and while my play wasn't that bad, he is a very good shot and takes advantage of any opportunity. To end the night, we played a few online games with all three of us playing against others teams. We won both games, though it was pretty close. It was actually pretty amazing to see how much flexibility having three human players gave us. We made some really creative plays and surprised the other guy.

Ridge Racer 3D

Date played: October 24th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 4/10

I had some time to fuck around at work during lunch so I played a bit of Ridge Racer 3D, completing only two races and winning only one of them. While this game is still pretty fun, I was spoiled by newer 3DS games and Ridge Racer's bad framerate, weird 3D effects and awful ghosting during boosting just turned me off. Fortunately, it still plays well enough.

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine

Date played: October 23rd
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played the demo for this on PS3 a long time ago and when I saw it on sale on Steam for 5$, I thought it would be a great filler game when I'm between big releases. Next week I'll probably be busy with the new Need for Speed and I just wrapped up XCOM so this seemed like a nice, short game to play in the meantime. Space Marine is a simple game. It's a pure, old school, third person shooter with some brutal melee and dozens of fodder enemies to chomp through.

I played the first three chapters and as far as I can tell, it's all about Space Marines kicking the shit out of Orks for no good reason other than the fact that they are Orks. I disabled one of their large guns for what it's worth.

DIE MOTHERFUCKER DIE!

The combat is the star here though. It's a game that makes you FEEL the power of your character. He has a ton of health, kills enemies quickly and is just plain strong. The challenge comes from the sheer amount of enemies on screen at a time. There was also a cool jetpack section that includes a really fun "ground pound" type of attack. Overall, this feels like a good, if not exceptional game that will satisfy my gaming needs until next week. 

Retro City Rampage demo

RCR has a great art style

Date played: October 22nd
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 5/10

Meh. This is a game that plays like old GTA 1 and 2 on acid. While the concept is pretty cool, I found the whole thing a little bit disjointed. The demo was short and there were some really fun parts, namely driving around in a tank in the city with infinite ammo. Then again, the missions were short, the story is too dumb to care about and the actual playing part is no better than the first two GTA games which came out more than a decade ago. I will say the art style is really cool and the music is also great but this isn't a game I would buy.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

Date played: October 21st
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 6/10

By all accounts, this game should be amazing. It has fantastic art, one of the best soundtracks in a while and has an interesting world. Where it fails, at least for me, is how it actually plays. Combat is actually pretty cool, if simple. The little lady hero blocks and stabs to the beat and it works. The problem is more...well, everything else.

Sword and Sworcery looks beautiful...too bad I didn't enjoy the playing part

There's too much walking and too little to do. I found the first piece of a Trigon, a sort of magical thing that I need for whatever reason. Then it got weird. I had to go to a spot while the moon in the game is "bright". The first time I tried that, it turns out the moon wasn't bright, it was almost bright. That meant rethreading the same area while my little lady walks slowly through the same old environments. When I tried it a second time, I still couldn't find the path I was supposed to follow. I got bored and frustrated and quit. While I may be missing something obvious, I didn't care about the gameplay enough to keep going. I might go back to this one day but I doubt it.

XCOM Enemy Unknown

Date played: October 20th and 21st
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

I finished XCOM.

This is easily the best game I have played this year. It had everything I like in a video game and more. I finally managed to build a better fighter ship to intercept a large alien cruiser. When we brought it down and cleared it out, we recovered a device that allowed us to research and develop psychic abilities for a few "gifted" soldiers.

Along the way, I met my first Ethereal enemy, a sort of overlord with bad ass mind control and psychic attacks. Fortunately, they are weak physically so my snipers took it out easily. I played a ton more missions, getting all plasma weapons for my crew and even some weird armor sets. One of them has jet engines so the soldier can fly and the other increases the wearer's psychic abilities.

In the end, I assaulted the alien mothership and fought my way through to it's boss. I encountered tons of aliens but also some very large robots called Sectopods. These things have something like 45 health so they take a real effort to down.

Three of the final crew, Luc Moleski, L-A Vaillant and Olivier Allen

The last room of the level was quite nasty, having two elite Mutons and three Ethereals. The first time I attempted it, three of my guys got mind controlled and I was just fucked. I reloaded but this time, I kept my distance and used my psychic soldier's abilities to mitigate the risk of mind control. It worked out and my trusty sniper finally killed the last boss. In a cool but brief ending scene, my psychic soldier took down the mothership and stopped the alien invasion.....for now.

NHL 13

Date played: October 19th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

My buddy and I completely dominated others in four or five online games. We only lost one game 1-0 but otherwise, we were almost flawless. We set up amazing plays together and put it in the back of the net more than ten times total. We played as the Rangers twice, the Sens, the Habs and the Panthers. It's really too bad that it's impossible to play a single online game in co-op if we are not on the same PS3...
I also seem to have been scoring more than usual, I think I might be aiming my shots a bit better now.

Renegade Ops

Date played: October 19th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 7/10

Here's another great couch game. We played missions 5 and 7, my friend used the EMP van and I used the air strike girl. We shot some tanks, jeeps, soldiers and a large airship. There isn't much to say that hasn't been said before but I would love a sequel...

Double Dragon Neon demo

Date played: October 19th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

My friend came over last night to chill out, drink some beer and play some games. We played through the demo together and it was really cool. My friend seemed to really enjoy the high fives, as he should. So anyway, we kicked, punched, whipped, batted and knifed our way through to the boss. This game is lots of fun with a friend on the couch.

Pokemon Heart Gold

This is a fun minigame

Date played: October 19th
Platform: DS
Session fun rating: 5/10

I was exploring the next big town, Goldenrod City. It has a mall, lots of buildings to explore and even a little game shop. I actually spent most of my time playing this coin game. It would make a great little puzzle game to play on a phone or something. It's a grid that has single, double and triple coin cards and Voltorb cards. Hit a Voltorb and it's game over. The icons on the grid indicate how many Voltorbs and how many total coins are in a row. With this information, it's usually enough to uncover all the coins and avoid all the Voltorbs. It was actually really fun but unfortunately I only had access to two different levels of it. I hope it opens up some more later...

XCOM Enemy Unknown

Date played: October 16th, 17th and 18th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

My sniper is my favorite soldier

This is now my game of the year, easily. I've now built a Hyperwave relay and intercepted a mothership signal but I don't have any ships strong enough to take it down yet. I've also built more satellites, I now have a total of 10. I've also researched plasma weapons, which are very strong, but I'm running into resource issues. I always seem to be short on money, alloys, elerium and weapon fragments... I managed to build one good plasma rifle and have picked up a few from enemies in the fields.

My council reports have been very good so far, scoring mostly A's and one B. I have also been running into a new type of enemy, the Mutons. These guys seem like the real front line soldier of the aliens. They have a lot of health, dangerous weapons and are hard to hit. They also have a berserker variant that just rushes like crazy and doesn't take cover. There's some mini ufo's too that have high health but haven't been a real threat just yet. There's so much going on in this game, I just want to keep playing. ONE MORE TURN!

XCOM Enemy Unknown

A Sectoid Commander

Date played: October 15th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

Holy fuck I just can't get enough. My satellites are up, mostly over Asia. I have a few new promoted soldiers which I reluctantly renamed after my friends and family and I captured a badass Sectoid Commander, a powerful unit. One more turn, one more turn, one more turn.

The Walking Dead Episode 4

Date played: October 15th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

I finished Episode 4 and shit went the fuck down my friends let me tell you. While looking for a boat, Lee and Kenny met a girl named Molly who survives on her own in the town and wields an ice pick. Clementine followed us too and when zombies got to us, Molly was nice enough to help the group escape...except Lee. He had to make his way through some sewers back to the house, solving a few puzzles along the way and finding a group of survivors holed up in an old nuclear bunker. I convinced the doctor in their group to follow and help heal Omid from his leg wound.

Goodbye Ben

Then we found a boat. The whole time, the thing was sitting in a shed behind the mansion we were hiding in. Unfortunately, it's pretty small and was missing gasoline and a battery. We infiltrated Crawford's, a camp of survivalists which turned out to be now full of zombies. I found a battery and the rest of the group found everything else we needed. We got boxed in though and had to escape in a clock tower where I failed to save Ben, the kid we saved back at the farm.

Soon after, Clementine went missing. I think she was kidnapped by the doctor dude. Either way, while looking for her, the worst, most heart piercing thing that could happen, happened. Lee was bit. Can't wait for Episode 5!!!

XCOM Enemy Unknown

Date played: October 14th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

Wow, XCOM is amazing. This is a game that doesn't treat it's players like they were a blubbering preteen. It's serious, it's uncompromising and it's fucking hard man. I played a ton and I can't even begin to describe it all but one mission really stood out from the rest. The team captured a weird energy alien and managed to gather the location and entry code to an alien base underground.

I sent out the team to the craziest mission yet. To make matters worse, most of my good soldiers were wounded and only had my sniper and one of my assaults. That meant I had three fresh soldiers in there... It was a gauntlet of a level. I got ambushed by a new type of enemy which is melee only (yay!) but they have amazing range, are very strong and can turn my dead soldiers into zombies that attack their former team mates (FUCK!).

My sniper, trying to protect his low level rookies in the terrifying alien base

I now have six squad members which makes things a lot easier. I also have laser weapons that work really well and have just built a new satellite uplink center and ordered three satellites to extend my world wide coverage. So far, I haven't lost any countries and only lost a handful of soldiers. I just want to keep playing this, it's pulling at me...

The Walking Dead Episode 4

Date played: October 13th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 7/10

Episode 4 came out! While I'm still spellbound by XCOM, The Walking Dead is definitely a game I'm very interested in. The game starts out with the gang reaching the coastal city in their train. As soon as we got off, we heard a church bell toll, probably by a human. Of course, the sound attracted hordes of zombies and we lost our hobo in the scramble. We found a house nearby to hide in and I explored it.

This was a rough scene...

Then we found it, a dying zombie child. After letting Kenny "take care" of his in Episode 3, I wend ahead and decided to take care of this one myself. Then Lee and Kenny went to look for a boat at the shore but it was quickly apparent that it would difficult to find one that still floats... That's where I stopped playing for now.

Resident Evil Revelations

Hunters are fun to shoot

Date played: October 13th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 6/10

In the spirit of October, I'm trying to play creepy games and since I completed NSMB2, I looked at my 3DS library where RE caught my eye. I played through a large portion of the third chapter where the male character stars. It's set before the events on the ship and the team has to escape a large office building, shooting their way through masses of hunters. Lots of action here, felt a lot like RE5.

The next part had me back in the ship as Jill and I explored a little bit more, killing a few monsters along the way. 

Pokemon Heart Gold

Date played: October 12th and 13th
Platform: DS
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played through some ruins and then my little egg hatched. There was a Togepi inside! Either way, I swapped him out for my Rattata but soon replaced him too with a Spearow which looks cuter. I then played through a large cave that brought me to the next city where I met Team Rocket for the first time. It seems they are hunting Slowpokes for their tails and selling them! Outrageous! I then cleared out a small well of it's Team Rocket residents. I was also very happy to see my Totodile evolve to a Croconaw, a much more dangerous looking beast.

I then went ahead and beat the gym in that city, using mostly my Spearow to kill it's bug using trainer. I really like using my Tentacool and Butterfree to cause status ailments first then getting the hard hitters in there. After the gym, I explored most of the next area, a forest and reached the next city, though I didn't explore it yet. My Macheep also evolved and is now a pink bipedal sheep thing. 

New Super Mario Bros 2

Date played: October 12th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 9/10

I finished New Super Mario Bros 2. While this was no Super Mario 3D Land, it was still a really fun game. Unfortunately, it was a little bit too easy... The last parts of the 6th world were mostly lava related levels with some pretty creative use of flames and such. There was also a really cool mechanic in one level where the Koopa kids ride Bowser's old clown flying thing from Super Mario World. They use a flash of light intermittently that freezes Mario in stone which results in a deadly fall into lava most of the time...

Good job whoever made this!

The last fight with Bowser was pretty cool, based around jumping from platform to platform while avoiding his giant claw swipes. The credits were actually lots of fun too... I controlled Mario while he held the princess in his arms and caught tons of coins flying all over the place, all with the credits rolling in the background. Then I played the secret Star world which required 90 star coins to unlock. Thankfully, I had 95 so I never had to go back to gather more.

The Star world was fun, it was sort of a collection of the best levels from all the previous worlds, a director's cut of sorts. Again, while not very hard, the levels were well designed and original. To finish it off, I played through a harder version of the last Bowser castle, including his scary skeleton version. I'm really happy I played this game but it certainly wasn't as good as the Galaxy series or 3D Land.

XCOM Enemy Unknown

Date played: October 10th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

Ok, this is it, this is my game of the year so far. I'm a huge Firaxis fan, in fact, Civ V is easily one of my top three games of all time so I was super hyped for XCOM. I avoided pre-release coverage, I watched no videos, only saw a few screenshots and avoided interviews. I trusted Firaxis and boy, did it pay off.

This is, in many ways, my ideal game. Aliens, cool weapons, resource management, scientific research, alien interrogations, turn based combat, tactical gameplay and unit customization. It really fits my favorite type of gaming. It's no surprise then that I am sacrificed all important sleep for ONE MORE TURN. In many ways, I feel like this pulls the same strings in me that the Civilization series does.

A game made just for me

 Either way, I played through quite a few missions, got two of my soldiers killed, promoted six of them, upgraded my headquarters, shot down a UFO and killed dozens of sectoids and thin men, the first few alien types. I'm still in the tutorial but so far, it's shaping up to be amazing. 

Resistance 3

Date played: October 8th and 9th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 7/10

I finished Resistance 3.

Well, this was clearly the best game in the series. It looked great, it played great, had amazing weapons and a cool upgrade mechanic and was just plain fun. There were a few boring or long parts but mostly, it was enjoyable. I played through Pennsylvania which started with a crazy train ride. This was the first time in the series where I fought humans and not Chimera. It was pretty interesting but they honestly fought like weak Chimeran foot soldiers. The train ride had me shoot at those guys riding trucks close to the train and eventually blowing up every car in the train except the last one. Then we got rammed off the tracks by a Widowmaker STAMPEDE! That's right. In the end, the old doctor was beheaded by the human leader and I was brought to their prison camp.

I found out they were prisoners who took over the prison when the attacks happened. They put me in a pit, Thunderdome style, to fight some weak Chimera and other humans with a sledgehammer. Then I escaped the prison with the help of a small group of normal people, using a weapon known as the Mutator. This one turns people into explosive bubbles... kind of cool.

Fuck you Chimera. Fuck you.

After all this stuff, I killed the leader of the prison in an epic scene and headed out to NYC. This is where the game said, fuck it, you're on enemy ground and you're going to be completely fucking swarmed. It was fun, it was hard and it was just plain old combat. The very last chapters take place in a large terraformer that Capelli and Charlie take down to close the interstellar portal these bitches used to attack human kind. In the end, we won, the portal is closed and the remaining Chimera are being killed slowly but surely. Yay humanity!

Pokemon Heartgold

My new friend Totodile

Date played: October 7th and 8th
Platform: DS
Session fun rating: 8/10

All this talk about Pokemon Black and White 2 got me interested to try one of these games again. I had tried Black a while back and got bored really quick but this time, I'm enjoying myself a bit more. This is easily one of the most mindless RPG's out there....which is why I like it right now. It doesn't require good reflexes or a sharp mind, it just wants to be played.

I played kind of a lot... I managed to get to the first city and beat the first gym leader. I picked a Totodile as my starter, a water based crocodile thing. I picked a few different pokemon along the way to complement him. I have a Butterfree, a butterfly that I evolved from a caterpillar. I also have Macheep, an electric sheep; Tentacool, a poisonous octopus; Geodude, a rock thing with fists and the last member is an Egg that I am trying to evolve. Apparently, these things will hatch after a certain number of steps taken by the player.

I had a hard time with the Gym leader the first time around since his second pokemon has a healing ability. Being completely new to this series, it's kind of a lot to learn in terms of type strength and weaknesses. There are tons of different types, stuff like flying, electricity, rock, fire, etc. Either way, I managed to beat him on my second try by getting my Macheep to paralyze it long enough to kill it. I'm off to the next city I guess.

Dirt Showdown

Date played: October 7th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

It just doesn't get any better than split screen multiplayer with one of my brothers. We played all types of events all afternoon including races, 8 balls, demolition, knockout and head 2 head. Head 2 head is a flawed mode but when it works, it's really intense. It is essentially a gymkhana race where the first to finish a set of stunts and reach the finish line wins. The problem with it is that it's only fun when both people have perfect runs or when both screw up. If one of the players misses a drift for example, it's pretty much game over and the other will win. When it works though, it's really awesome.

Freestyle is lots of fun

We also played two sections of the Battersea freestyle event, each taking turns at the controller. It's a fun mode where you are thrown into an open arena and must complete specific missions and stunts. Missions include stuff like making a specific jump, doing donuts in a small area and drifting through tight spaces. There are also hidden packages all over the place to collect. It all feels a lot like Tony Hawk in a car.

Chime Super Deluxe

Date played: October 7th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 3/10

I was trying to kill some time while my girlfriend was entertaining a visitor and thought that Chime would fit the bill. Unfortunately, my measly 6 minute round was interrupted and I couldn't finish. Here's a Calvin and Hobbes comic to make up for the boring as shit post.

Resistance 3

Date played: October 6th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

Whew, this game is intense! I ambushed a drop ship in St-Louis, stole their power core and ran like hell. On the way back to a broken VTOL that could take me to NYC, a Widowmaker attacked me. The Widowmaker is a huge spider looking Chimera that spits poison. Anyway, I fought it by shooting it's glowy bits and avoiding the poison. The Bullseye's tracking rounds very effective against it because it moved really fast. After killing it, we brought the power core back to the VTOL and flew out.

Then I must have missed a part because I fell off the VTOL in Pennsylvania and I didn't really notice why... Either way, when I landed I was treated with a stealth/sniping level. It was really refreshing actually and I had to take it really slow. I used the Auger's see-through walls ability to spot cloaked enemy snipers and shot them with the Deadeye rifle. I was spotted a few times and got easily overwhelmed by enemy fire from snipers, foot soldiers and even dropships. The next chapter had me fight one of those dropships with a new weapon, the Wildfire. It's a rocket launcher with lock-on ability. While it was cool fighting a dropship, I was doing so on a bridge full of debris and holes. This being a first person game, I fell off the bridge a few times by accident because I couldn't see the ground from aiming at an aircraft...

After that, I reached a religious community that could help me fix a train to get to NYC. The repair guy was on an errand and never came back though so I was tasked with finding him. The next part was kind of a poor man's Ravenholm from Half-Life 2. Basically, it was a town with lots of melee enemies. I ended up using the Rossmore shotgun, the Atomizer (a close range energy beam weapon) and the Magnum to take out the rushing hordes of zombie-like Chimera.

Satan

Eventually, I found my repair man friend but he was on a mission to kill Satan and wouldn't help me until it was dead. Satan is a large worm creature that took over the underground mining shafts of the town. I went into the shaft and killed Satan by shooting at it's eyes until it was blind then threw propane tanks in it's mouth. I don't really understand why I couldn't just throw grenades or rockets in there but whatever, Satan is dead and I am now on the train towards NYC again.

New Super Mario Bros 2

Lol...

Date played: October 6th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 8/10

I completed World 5 and all of it's secrets. There was a cool callback to SMB3 where one of the levels was a flying ship of coins. Those would sometimes appear (randomly?) on the world map in the third game. It was kind of relaxing to just get a "reward" level. The last boss was also interesting for once because he would jump on chains hanging from the ceiling and I had to jump in a canon pipe to dislodge him before attacking.

I also started the 6th world which is also the last, although I have read that there is another secret world after it. Some of the levels are getting a bit more difficult when trying to find the secret coins but honestly, I'm a little disappointed by the lack of challenge so far. 3D Land felt the same way but then it had a whole other set of worlds at the end... World 6 is full of lava, as can be expected. There was a really fun level that focused on Bullet Bills, including a few giant ones. I always had a soft spot for those guys for some reason.

Resistance 3

Date played: October 3rd
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

Now I remember why I like this series so much. The guns. Insomniac always has amazing weapons for their games and Resistance 3 is no exception. I played through to chapter 8 and am now in St-Louis. It started with a boat ride with the crazy doctor guy. We are just trying to get to New York, I sort of forget why.... it doesn't matter really.

The boat level was cool but not that much fun to play because the it's really confined to a small area. On the bright side, it introduced the Rossmore, a close range shotgun, and the Marksman, by far my favorite weapon in Resistance 2. I also found a weird electro-magnetic shock weapon of sorts with a singularity-ish gravity well effect. It works amazingly against weak enemies that swarm you. Then there is the sniper, which is just a sniper...

Once in St-Louis, I met up with fellow resistance fighters who I helped survive a large Chimeran attack. There were some really tough enemies and I had to use everything in my power to survive. These kinds of fights are what I really like this series for. Resistance games get too much shit and are under appreciated.

New Super Mario Bros 2

Date played: October 3rd
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 8/10

I started World 5 and played through about five levels including a secret ghost house. One of the levels was memorable because it was full of Lakitus, the cloud riding guys who throw little spiky beetles. There was a golden ring on the level that turns everything to gold, including the Lakitus, the clouds and the spiky beetles to coins. MAKE IT RAIN BITCHES!

Resistance 3

Date played: October 2nd
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

I finally started playing Resistance 3 after picking it up for 25$ about a month ago. I really enjoyed the first game and played through the second, even though I didn't like it as much so I thought I would give this one a shot seeing as it got some decent reviews and looked pretty fun. So far, it's definitely better than the second game and probably on par with the first, except it looks a lot prettier.

This game has style

I played three missions. The first was pretty much just setting the tone and teaching me how to play the game. The setting is pretty cool. It seems to be set a few years or months after the second game and humans are now hiding in small pockets of resistance (!). You play as Joe Capelli, the guy who shot Nathan Hale at the end of R2 and he is part of a refugee group in Haven, a mid-western town I think. He has a family and everyone lives underground. Soon enough, the Chimera are spotted attacking the town and our silent hero heads out to shoot their heads off.

The weapon wheel is back, none of that two weapon limit bullshit from the second game. Also surprising to me, there is a health meter and no regenerating health at all! I even have to pick up health packs, something I haven't really done in a while. I shot a giant robot thing for a while and then fought more Chimera.

This seems like a good shooter so far, just like the first game was. The AI is fairly smart, the enemies have a lot of health, the fights are intense sometimes remind me of how Halo's campaigns feel. The fights are more about tactics and weapon selection than accuracy, at least so far. The weapons are some of the coolest in any game. All of them have nice secondary fire functions and many of them feel really unique. The Auger is always lots of fun since it shoots through walls! I am excited to see what else this game has in store.