Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Esther joined us!

Date played: January 30th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

After killing the nightmare haunting the girl's father, he went back home and convinced his daughter to go outside a bit more, which in turn opened up Esther's heart in Al Mamoon. I went back to see them and of course, the father is now ready to help and after a bit of enthusiasm juice, Esther wants to join me in fighting Shadar. I learned a bunch of new spells from the father and now have a second party member as well as a new familiar. We are now headed to a temple of trials to meet a great sage that can teach me more.

I took the opportunity to do some side quests. I went back to Golden Grove to deliver a lunch to a dude from his wife. The other side quests were all about fighting monsters. Esther's familiar is chubby bird magician thing. Having a new party member changes things up in combat a lot... I can switch between characters at will and I now have a tactics option in combat to set how the other person behaves. For example, set to heal, backup, attack, defend, etc. I gave Esther the monkey familiar since it's pretty strong and I figure I could do some heavy damage by having two strong familiars out at the same time. It works really well and hits like a truck. 

Resident Evil 6 demo

Giraffe blowjob

Date played: January 30th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 6/10

Well, this wasn't as awful as people said it was... although I only played 10-15 minutes. I played through the Leon portion of the demo which was really a lot like RE5 but a little bit faster. I liked RE5 but with Dead Space 3 around the corner, this game isn't going to get my attention. The demo featured lots of zombies, a couple of pistols and some fire grenades. The whole thing was set on a campus which me and my lady partner escaped.

There's not much to say, this is a regular ass third person action game with a lot of quick time events and zombies.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time demo

Date played: January 30th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 4/10

Disappointing... I used to love Sly Cooper but it turns out that this plays exactly like the old games. While that's not really bad in itself, it really doesn't bring anything interesting to the table. The demo features a section with Sly, the turtle and the fat pink hippo. The Sly part was all about simple platforming, avoiding spot lights and pick pocketing some mice. The turtle part was platforming and hacking. The hacking was actually pretty fun since it plays like a simple dual stick shooter. The fat hippo part was some of the worst brawling I've done in a game in a long time. Too bad, I used to love this series...

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Babana splits are famous in Al Mamoon

Date played: January 30th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 7/10

I spent most of my time exploring the desert city of  Al Mamoon, famous for it's milk fountains and babanas. I bought some new equipment, talked to some folks and picked up some errands. I love the fact that resting at an inn fills out a new page of the Wizard's Companion with lore about the area.

I met the sage I was looking for but he stopped using magic because the evil dude Shadar stole a piece of his daughter's heart. Now he's too scared to do anything so naturally, the answer lies in Motortown, Oliver's regular world home town. It turns out that the sage's soul mate is afflicted by a Nightmare, a sort of dark curse and that the only way to save him is to fight the damn thing. This was one of the tougher fights where I really had to take my time and be careful to defend well. I'm really liking my little monkey familiar, he can dish out lots of damage. After the fight, all I had to do was give the man some kindness and I stopped playing. 

Wipeout 2048

Altima's big drop

Date played: January 29th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played two quick races while on break at work in the 2050 campaign. The races are faster than ever and I seem to favor agility ships as the speed increases. I've taken a liking to the Auricom agility ship for the higher speed classes. It's fast enough and handles like a dream. I won the first event but it took me two attempts. The first time I tried, I quickly realized this was a new track and crashed a bit too often to win. The next time though, I made it to first place after only one lap.

The track itself is Altima and is quite fun as it features amazing speed, a spectacular drop and a portion of the track that is littered with patches of water. It's actually one of my favorite tracks and I only played it twice!

The next one was a rude awakening though. Sol is a crazy fucking track that is literally in the sky ans has almost no borders on the side so it's very easy to fall off. I had to learn it the hard way by replaying the event 5 or 6 times before I managed to squeak into third place at the last second.

The track looks amazing, plays well and is fun, but to win I had to use a ship with the maximum handling stat. Wipeout 2048 is awesome.

Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation

Date played: January 27th and 28th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 8/10

I finished Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation. I actually played through about half the game in one go. It was fairly short and the story was kind of all over the place but it was pretty good. The game isn't nearly as good as AC3 but it still managed to be interesting.

In one mission, I made a ship crash by turning off a lighthouse. One of the better missions in the game had me stalk a group of dudes in the Bayou and hit them with poison darts without getting caught. The catch was that the dudes thought it was a voodoo spell because of signs that were put up by my former master.

I went back to Chichen Itza to get the second piece of the artifact. This was another linear platforming section, then another simple puzzle. Back in New Orleans and Bayou, I completed a bunch of little side missions for smugglers where I had to just kill a bunch of bad guys. I rescued a slave named George who eventually betrayed me... I attended a fancy party where I had to make small talk, dance (with touch controls) and eventually charm Vasquez and kill his ass.

Connor and Aveline, being all assassin-like together

It turns out that I've been chasing the wrong guy where I was led to New York where I met Connor! Unfortunately, he only had a few lines of dialogue but it was nice to see a familiar face. He helped me kill the traitor George who revealed the final villain. As in many fairy tales, it turned out the enemy was Aveline's step-mother all along...

She is a templar and she seemed to have convinced Aveline to join her cause and kill Agaté for good. This was the real boss fight as I had to fight through all the game's bosses in a gauntlet, justified as being one of Agaté's spells. After all that shit went down, I was inducted as a Templar, only to quickly kill every one and end the game. This was a good, but very buggy game.

Rayman Legends demo

Date played: January 27th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

Wow, I thought I would be a bit lukewarm on this one but it turns out it's really fun and interesting. The demo had three levels. The first was to show off the multiplayer portion, where someone has to use the Gamepad to touch different things on screen to help the characters progress. In the demo, this was done using an AI partner. I just hope in the real game, this stuff is optional... It looked really fun but only with a real person.

Castle Rock is epic!

The second level was a more traditional platforming level that played exactly as you would expect it to. The third level was by far the best of the bunch, so good in fact that I played it twice in a row. Castle Rock is a fast paced, music themed level. I basically ran really fast across the level and every action was a musical sound that combined into a weird Black Betty wannabe song. It worked amazingly well honestly. I should also point out that the graphics are even better than they were in Origins. While Origins was all 2D, this one has some 3D models, mixed with 2D sprites. It might sound awful but it actually looks fucking great. I wasn't sold on this before but now, I have to play it.

GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony

Date played: January 27th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

These are some of the best missions I've played in a GTA game. It all started with a girl, as it often does. Tony sent me to "make friends" with a rival club owner's girlfriend. After some mini-game induced dancing, she took me to the back room for a nice friendly blowjob. It all seemed great (if dirty as fuck) until the boyfriend barged in and beat her up. I had to shoot my way through the club...

Then Tony asked for my help to convince our blogger friend to stop talking shit about Tony's clubs. That meant giving him a friendly helicopter ride, throwing him off, then jumping after him to grab him and parachute him down to earth. Needless to say, he won't be talking shit again.

This is where Tony got his dick sucked...then shot anyone with a gun.

Then, the three GTA IV stories collided again when I helped Tony pick up with the diamond deal. This is where Johnny from Lost and Damned messd up the deal. I had to shoot my way out of the ambush with plastic explosives, one of the most satisfying weapons in the game. This all led to the famous museum scene. It turns out Luis is the guy who interrupted the deal and actually made off with the diamonds... It took him Yusuf's attack helicopter though, which happens to be painted gold now. I fled the scene and shot down three LCPD helicopters before I could deliver the diamonds to Tony.

Balloon Fight

Date played: January 27th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 5/10

Nintendo recently announced it was finally bringing the virtual console to Wii U. To celebrate, they are offering a 30 cent game every month, starting with Balloon Fight, the NES classic. I played only a few minutes and clearly, the transition to Wii U is perfect. The game itself is still good enough but it was never my cup of tea. On the bright side, the virtual console has many great features such as save states and fully customizable controls. I like the service, even if I don't love the game that much.

Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition

Date played: January 26th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 6/10

After some satisfying NBA Jammin', we played another new game I got from PSN Plus, SSFIV:AE. I played the original SFIV quite a bit on 360 and a good amount of SSIV on 3DS but I never played Arcade Edition. As far as I can tell from the brief time we played it, it has a few new characters and modes but it plays the same. That means I'm still pretty good at it while my guests were all new to the game.

I played only two or three matches and only once as Dhalsim, my main. When I did, it all came rushing back to me and I was pulling off teleports, yoga fires and fireballs in no time. It was quite unfair... I then played as Ryu to help my brother learn a few basic moves like hadoken and shoryuken. 

NBA Jam: On Fire Edition

Lebron!

Date played: January 26th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

My brother and his girlfriend came over for dinner. After all that was done, we sat down to play some games. I recently subscribed to Playstation Plus, Sony's premium online service. It seemed crazy that I hadn't subscribed yet, considering that I have a PS3 and a Vita, and I play both pretty frequently. As part of that package, I got NBA Jam: On Fire Edition which I hadn't tried yet.

We played one game, couple vs couple. Me and my girlfriend won by about 12 points. The game is obviously simple to play but it took us a few minutes to get the "hang" of it. NBA Jam is fast, frantic and most importantly, really fun. Soon enough, we were dunking, alley-ooping and putting nets on fire. Oh yeah, I played as Lebron!

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Date played: January 26th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

Amazing. I played through two dungeons and am now in a large desert. It all started in Ding Dong Dell, a large city ruled by cats. I have a fancy new outfit, a new wand, tons of new spells, two new familiars and even tons of equipment.

I completed a good amount of side quests. Most of them are just simple fetch quests, though I also hunted some bounty, followed directions to a small island and saved some savages from some wild animals.

Golden Grove

The main quest led me to find the cat king in the sewers of Ding Dong Dell so that he could give me his magic wand. The dungeon was pretty long, though it wasn't very hard. The last boss was a bit tougher though, a giant mouse. At that point, I had two familiars, my trusty Mite and his new friend, a monkey. The monkey thing can't block but he can run quickly and has high evade stats, I really like using him.

The next portion of the game was a trek through some woods. I gathered my third familiar, a little fairy wizard thing. It seems to be a healer/support familiar though it's not high level enough for me to use it yet. There was another boss at the end, Gladiataur. This was a really cool fight and I'm really starting to get a good hang of the combat. The key is to use the right familiar at the right time and to be quick on the trigger to defend and heal. I am totally invested in this game now, I love the mechanics, the story, the characters and the systems in place. Now, for the desert!

Oddworld: Munch's Odyssey HD demo

Date played: January 26th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 2/10

This game is a boring mess, or at least it's demo. This is exactly the type of game that doesn't age well, even in HD. This is an old ass fucking game that plays like and old ass fucking game. I love the world though, Oddworld is always interesting, too bad the gameplay wasn't. Most of it was about picking up tons of mushroom thingies while gathering Mudokon friends. This is a puzzle platformer game that could have been cool when it first came out but at this point, it's just been done way better and I see no value in playing this.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

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

I finally took my nose of the Wizard's guide long enough to actually play the game. I found a wand and opened a portal to the other world.We got into combat right away and since I had played the demo, I already knew the basics. Drippy wanted us to get to the city of Ding Dong Dell but the guard at the gate is brokenhearted. Naturally, we sent out on a quest to mend his broken heart and that meant talking to a large tree in Deep Dark Wood. He showed me how to summon a familiar from my heart, in my case, a mite. The thing looks a lot like Ponyo (another Miyazaki character) when she is in half human form. It's really similar to how Pokemon works actually, however, the creature and Oliver share HP and MP.

First boss!

This was my first real dungeon and understandably, it was pretty easy and linear. I sent out my mite to fight most of the time. The combat mechanics are really cool. It's almost like a mix of Star Ocean, Pokemon and MMO-type cooldowns. So far, the system works, we'll have to wait an see what happens when I meet stronger monsters and have more dudes in my party. I fought the guardian of the forest and since I had more time to practice, it was a lot easier to win. I was switching between my familiar and Oliver on the fly, casting spells, attacking him and defending when required. That's pretty much where I stopped playing.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Date played: January 23rd
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

Well this is it, Ni No Kuni is out. I am a huge Studio Ghibli fan and I enjoy the occasional JRPG so this seemed like a good game for me. When I played the demo, I was really impressed by the visuals, style, characters and combat, so I pre-ordered soon after. I even got a nice Steelbook case out of it...

The game starts very slowly. Oliver, a young boy, is the hero. He lives in a small country town with his mother. Without spoiling too much, he gets into a bit of trouble with a friend that has terrible, non-magical consequences. This is where the game really starts. Oliver meets a funny magical creature named Drippy that claims to be from a parallel universe. This is where the typical "hero must save the world" plot starts. Oliver was given a Wizard's book and must look for a wand to make a portal to the other world and save it.

The thing is, I've barely played the game at all. My time has been consumed by the Wizard's book. It's basically an in-game database but it's presented in such a beautiful manner, I wasn't able to put it down. I read almost everything in there and it's HUGE. There are tons of beautiful hand drawn images and interesting text. Subjects include armor, weapons, alchemy, familiars (creatures), spells, world areas and most importantly, how to become a real wizard. I can't wait to actually play the game but I had a really good time reading the book.

GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony

Date played: January 20th and 21st
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 9/10

Boy, after playing Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony is absolutely refreshing. It's colorful, it's happier, it's clean and the characters are way more interesting. Luis is the main character, an ex-con who is trying to have a clean life as a business man. This being a GTA game, that all goes to shit real quick. He works for Gay Tony, a night club manager.

I played quite a bit and as usual, there are a ton of cool missions to play. This time they are more varied and exciting though. For example, I've helped my two little drug dealer buddies get a big stash from boats. I helped my own little mama take care of her loan shark problems. I helped Gay Tony keep his clubs clean and out of trouble. I met Yusuf, a weird dude obsessed with getting stuff he can't buy, such as an attack helicopter and an armoured personnel carrier. I fucking parachuted off the tallest building in Liberty City after throwing a gangster off it WITHOUT a parachute. I met Brucie's brother, a midget asshole. I stole cars for him, I even took part in a triathlon race with parachutes, boats and cars. I blew up a crane, a train and a plane during the same mission. Long story short, this game is fun as fuck!

Luis enjoys a hotdog in front of the museum

The new weapons help things a lot too as they are more powerful and less frustrating to use. The P90 machine gun is powerful, the explosive round shotgun can take out helicopters in a few shots and the C4 is powerful and easy to use. This is a much better game than Lost and Damned, at least so far.

Rayman Origins

Date played: January 20th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played through ttwo worlds and a few levels in Rayman Origins. I like the way the game revisits the first four worlds for a second round of levels. The levels are more challenging, elaborate and the bosses are even nastier. One of the standout levels was about staying within lit areas which are scattered throughout. Outside of the safe zones are nasty little bugs that kill Rayman, kind of like one of the levels in the first Gears of War actually.

One of the bosses

Then there were the two bosses... The first was a nasty, multi-legged octopus looking thing. I had to run up the walls to eventually hit it often enough for a kill. The second boss was an mohawk looking giant bird dude. This fight was a bit more elaborate as I had to float in the air currents to avoid his attacks. After being defeated, the two giant dudes turned into cute little critters. Two down, two to go.

Super Hexagon

Date played: Janaury 20th
Platform: iPad
Session fun rating: 10/10

One word: PURE.
My best time so far is about 27 seconds on the first difficulty level. That is all.

Final Fantasy VI

Date played: January 19th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 9/10

Cid

I completed the Magitek research facility. After the usual random battles, I found four more Espers to join my cause but I also found out that Celes is actually one of Kefka's generals... Cid showed up (yay!) and kind of spilled the beans. It wasn't long until Kefka came in to do his thing. Celes left but Locke, Sabin and Cyan made their way out of the facility using a mine cart. A glorious mode 7 sequence followed, we beat a bunch of enemies and a minor boss then got out of the city. We are now headed back to Terra in Zozo without Celes. 

GTA IV: The Lost and Damned

Date played: January 19th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

I finished The Lost and Damned. The last third of the game was a lot better than the rest of it. It all started with a great getaway mission, an on-rail sequence. I rode on the back of Malc's crotch rocket bike with a full automatic shotgun with unlimited ammo and no reloading. I blew up tons of cop cars and helicopters and I had a blast doing it! Then Ashley, Johnny's junkie girlfriend, called for help. She got in trouble with some Russians and Johnny had to kidnap a dude to pay off her drug debt.

That dude was none other than Roman Bellic, Niko's cousin. After the kidnapping, Johnny was called by Ray, the Italian gangster, to help his crew (and Niko) steal diamonds in the memorable mission from GTA IV. In the end, Johnny ended up with the cash but Ray found out. Hell broke loose and I had to kill a ton of bad guys until I found out that Billy had been ratting Johnny out to the feds.

Johnny on his bike in downtown Liberty CIty

The last mission was a crazy assault on the Liberty City prison to get to Billy and kill him before he could talk... Honestly, that has to be one of the stupidest plans I've ever heard, good thing it was still fun to play. In the end, Billy is dead, the Lost club house is destroyed and Johnny is sort of depressed. I liked this game, but I still hope the shooting and movement controls are better in GTA V. Next on the list is The Ballad of Gay Tony. 

Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation

Date played: January 17th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 6/10

I played one story mission that had me kill a dude without being caught. I had to infiltrate a fort-like structure and get to the guy, kill him and loot him. I mostly used poison darts and regular hidden blade kills. This game has a much bigger focus on stealth than AC3 and while it's kind of cool, it's also more frustrating due to having to restart many missions. I spent the rest of my time completing about five side missions to eliminate rival merchants. Those had more variety than I expected. The best had Aveline charm a well-dressed guy with her lady persona's good looks. I now own a bunch of useless shops in New Orleans and will make my way back to the bayou soon.

GTA IV: The Lost and Damned

Date played: January 15th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 7/10

Man, this game has a way of being interesting, yet being really frustrating to play. Lots of shit went down, most of it revolving around drugs. We tried to sell the heroine we had stolen from the Angels of Death back to some Asian gangsters but it turned out that it had been their drugs the whole time. Needless to say, they were fucking pissed. Things got weird though as Johnny and Jim killed a bunch of these dudes as the leader of the gang, Billy, and his little bitch Brian were waiting for us in the street. Cops came in and arrested Billy, but Brian got away.

Johnny Klebitz, looking cool on his chopper

This is where the gang fell apart. Brian accused Johnny of being a snitch and splintered the crew. After a few missions, we basically went after him and killed him. I also went on a few missions for Liz, the crazy Puerto Rican drug lord from GTA IV. She had me do a bunch of drug related missions. This is where things got a little frustrating. One mission had me wait at a toll booth to take out some competing gangsters which should have been pretty straight forward. However, I got stuck in geometry more than I should have and had to restart multiple times. I also had to pick up a drug mule at the airport and outrun a helicopter. It did it, but it was with the help of shitty AI that crashed the helicopter into the ground by accident. Another mission had me dropping pipe bombs to take out cars but the whole mechanic is shitty. What I'm getting at, is that I don't really like PLAYING this game, yet I enjoy the experience anyway. It's weird, I hope GTA V has more solid gameplay. 

Joe Danger 2: The Movie demo

Joe Danger 2 bored me.

Date played: January 14th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 3/10

Well, this game sort of sucks I guess... It's a pretty simple, 2D vehicle based platforming game. The demo had a mine cart level and a ski level. It might have had more but I got bored quickly. The mine cart level was sort of cool, mimicking Indiana Jones, but really, this is just a game about memorizing the track and timing your jumps right. I mean, it's well made and all but it just didn't grab me at all. The ski level was worse, as it required better timing and memorization. I don't know what else to say, this game just didn't click with me.

GTA IV: The Lost and Damned

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

With AC3 completed and GTA V coming soon, I thought it would be a good time to start the GTA IV episodes that I got for 5$ during the Steam holiday sale. It's been a while since I've played a GTA game and it's weird problems were more obvious than I expected. The cars and bikes have fun, but difficult to handle physics. The shooting sucks and the cover system isn't helping much.

The Lost ride

Still, there's a reason GTA is a series I always come back to. I think it's the great characters and stories. The Lost and Damned is a story about a tough motorcycle gang and it's vice president, Johnny Klebitz. The game starts with the crew going to pick up it's leader, Billy, after he is released from jail. It's quickly made clear that he and Johnny have a different view of how the Lost should be run.

I played through half a dozen missions or so. There's some good variety in the missions so far and there are a ton of cool original characters to talk to. I stole some bikes, I shot hundred of enemy gang bikers already and even broke a bus full of criminals out of jail. Johnny has a weird, drug-addicted girlfriend and an odd relationship with a doorman. There's even a scene where the mission giver is buck naked, and yes, we see his penis.

The game looks great on my PC but I have to run it in 720p to get a smooth framerate. I got killed a lot in two missions, mostly because of the weird controls. It's fun though and I'm excited to see where the story goes.

Assassin's Creed 3

Date played: January 12th and 13th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

I finished Assassin's Creed 3. For me, it was one of the most enjoyable games of the year because of the setting, gameplay and story. People give this series shit all the time but as long as you don't play it every year, it's still quite fun. There's a lot that went on in the last 10% of the game. I started by finishing off all Homestead missions as well as any other outstanding side missions, such as the hunting challenges. It was fun to track down unique animals like the man eating bear and the cool looking elk.

Most of my time was spent on main story missions though. It all started when Connor teamed up with Haytham as they were looking for the same man, a Mr. Church. Eventually, they went on a few missions together, Haytham always being the more ruthless one. However, it does seem like Templar and Assassin interests aren't so different. Then there was a huge battle, the battle of Monmouth where Connor was in charge of a lobsterback decimating cannon. This is where Charles Lee was relieved from the army and labelled a traitor as he ordered a unauthorized retreat. Then, Washington betrayed Connor's trust as Haytham exposed Washington's plan to raze and destroy many native villages, including Connor's. It turns out that the whole time, Washington was responsible for the attacks, not Haytham.

I alerted the village and stopped it's warriors from confronting Washington's. It's all a bit blurry but shit got crazy from there. There was a really cool sequence as Desmond where he and his crew rescued his father from Abstergo as he had been kidnapped while looking for a power source in Egypt. The sequence had Desmond kill a ton of guards and being all Assassin-like in their compound, eventually killing Vidic, the head scientist there.

I hope to see more of Connor's story

Back in the animus, Connor eventually faced off against Haytham in a weird, barrel destroying fight. Then there was Lee. I chased this guy all over the place including on a prison ship and through a burning building. Eventually, I killed him and finally grabbed the key.

I don't want to go into too much detail but that's where the ending started. Let's just say that Connor's story was good and is finalized, though there is room for a sequel. Desmond's, however, is filled with alien conspiracy, sacrifice, comparisons to Jesus and a really cool alternate future cinematic. In the end, I think the series will have to go in a different direction but I wouldn't mind seeing more of Connor, he was a good character, if still immature. 

Borderlands 2

Date played: January 11th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played some Borderlands 2 with my buddy, a level 20 commando, while I was still a level 12 siren. Obviously, he did a lot more damage than I did and at first, we were doing it wrong since we went to do some low level quests. Eventually, we realized the XP was awful so we bumped it up a notch and completed a story mission where we had to go rescue Roland, the commando from the first game.

This game looks great on PC.

This was kind of like a dungeon in an RPG with multiple rooms, layers and a linear path. There were tons of enemies and thank God by friend was there, otherwise I would have had a really hard time getting through. Eventually, we found Roland but he was kidnapped once again, this time by robots. We then went on to kill dozens of robots. My phaselock ability combined with it's healing abilities helped us out quite a bit for some of the Badass loaders as they could overwhelm us quickly. I picked a huge upgrade for my shotgun and my pistol at the same time.

After all that, my friend left the game but I kept playing a bit and completed a weird mission where I had to bring a midget to the mouth of a giant mechanical dragon for him to be burned alive as a reward for his hard work... Weird.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Patience by Doug Savage

Date played: January 11th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

Boy, I was on fire for a bit there! I haven't played this for a while and my first game was more of a test than anything else. I set up a new, gun free class focused on explosives and equipment. While it was really fun, it was also very difficult to get kills. I had the shield, the RPG, some C4, equipment and explosive related perks and the Black Hat. The Black Hat is really cool as it allows remote hacking of enemy equipment. Paired with the perk that lets you see that stuff in red from a distance, I could easily hack bouncing betties and turn them on their owners. I think this setup would have been pretty good if I had an actual gun but the shield is something I wasn't used to so I performed poorly.

Soon after though, I got back to my roots, the  MK48 light machine gun and I completely dominated all subsequent games. I had a pretty fun rivalry with another Quebecer who used a shotgun. He seemed to stay in the same general area of the map so I kind of stalked him a bit. I love shotgun users because they are always in such a hurry. Patience usually wins against them unless you encounter them by surprise in close quarters. I think patience is my best quality in this game. People are always so eager to get to the fighting that they forget to be careful.

Assassin's Creed 3

Date played: January 10th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played through a ton of side missions and I think I've done everything that was available in New York, Boston and the Homestead at the moment. I've liberated all areas, I've found all the Peg Leg trinkets, I've opened every treasure chest, I've taken over all the forst, I've killed all the assassination targets and synchronized all view points. There are still weird little challenges that are outstanding but those are really minor quests with no visible benefits like the thieve's guild challenges and the delivery requests.

Captain Kidd has the best side missions in the game

The best side quest so has been the Peg Leg series. It's deep, it's fun, it has different environments and naval battles and it has a cool story. Connor is basically looking for the famous pirate Kidd's treasure. I explored the last area which was some crazy guy's mansion in Jamaica. After some platforming and investigating, I found the last piece of the treasure map which led to Oak Island off the Canadian east coast. There, I had to find four markers and align some weird signals with some rocks and trees, eventually pointing Connor to a big rock in the middle of the island. With the help of some explosive barrels (really), we managed to blow the hole open. After more platforming, I found a precursor object, a ring, with a very strong magnetic field which is how Kidd managed to seem invincible to bullets as it would simply redirect them. Apparently, Connor will now evade bullets more often. Sweet!

The only thing left for me to do at the moment is to finish off side quests in the Frontier. That means feathers and a few hunting related things, then I'll move on to the next sequence.

Mario Tennis Open

DK's early tennis career

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

I played some Mario Tennis Open with my buddy over our lunch break today. I don't own the game but thankfully, it offers a download play mode. We played two matches, the first had him playing as Mario and myself as Donkey Kong. Even though I had never played, I won! The second game was Mii vs Mii and again, I won!

The game plays really well because it's very responsive and is simple. I mean, it is still tennis. There are about six different types of shots; lobs, straights, top spins, slices and two others that I forget. Of course, positioning is always important in tennis games but in this one, it's even more important as there are colored circles that appear on the court. Depending on their colors, hitting the ball from within the circle creates a special shot type that has a better chance of scoring. For example, the special slice has a monster curve to it, confusing the other player easily. I also played through a single player tournament later as my friend lent me the cart for a bit. It was cool but nowhere as fun as playing with a real person.

Mario Kart 7

Maybe I need this bad boy

Date played: January 9th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 5/10

I was fiddling around with my 3DS, watching some Dinosaur Office and since my MK7 cartridge was already in there, I played a quick Street Pass Grand Prix. I'm not 100% sure how this feature works but I know that I get random tracks and I race the other person's Mii. As usual, I used Donkey Kong and his green kart and while I won the GP, I was rusty as hell.

I had forgotten how to get a boost from jumps and if I had to wiggle the stick or not when drifting to get boost. The biggest thing that surprised me was how uncomfortable it was to hold the 3DS for this game. My friend recently got a 3DS XL and I realize now that while the bigger screen is nice, the real benefit of the XL is ergonomics. My relatively small hands felt cramped as hell as I was trying to race and power slide efficiently. Maybe if I find a good deal on an XL I'll go for it...

Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation

Date played: January 8th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played through sequence 4 which turned out to be one of the coolest sections of the game so far. Aveline follows her investigation all the way to Mexico! I started by pretending to be a slave and getting on board the ship to Mexico led by De Ferrer, a sinister templar. At the site, I investigated a little bit and quickly found out that there is something important being dug up in some caverns. I also found out that Aveline's mother seems to be at the site for unknown reasons.

Aveline fights near Chichen Itza ruins

The area was pretty small but it was refreshing to see some new scenery and climb some old ruins. Eventually, I found myself in a cave system where I had to go through some really fun platforming. Unfortunately, the controls betrayed me a few times but it was still fun to play. At the end of the cave was a weird machine and an odd puzzle. The game turned into one of those little wooden puzzles with a marble in it where you have to twist and turn the device to get the marble into a hole. Obviously, this was all motion controlled and worked better than I expected. What didn't work as well were the stupid "hold the Vita to a light source" puzzles. While in theory, this stuff is cool, in practice, it seemed really buggy.

Either way, I rolled the ball to the middle and found a disc that must be from the weird alien race that was revealed in AC2. Then De Ferrer showed up. I stabbed his ass. Oh yeah and I found a whip that can be used as a weapon. The next sequence takes place a few years later, I can't wait to see what happens.

Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation

Aveline is pretty awesome

Date played: January 6th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 6/10

I've been in the mood for Assassin's Creed lately I guess... I played through a few missions in the Vita game while watching some TV shows. It's weird, after playing AC3, this game really feels like it's ugly cousin. The framerate is really noticeable now, the animations are less intricate and the platforming is clunkier. It's still fun though!

I assaulted a fort in the Bayou with Elise and had to chase down one of the leaders there. Unfortunately, I was too slow a few times due to the finicky platforming. I helped a ship captain get his money back from a competitor and he has pledged to help me in the future. That should come in handy... Another mission had me blow up a ship, it was pretty spectacular. I also had a crazy horse carriage ride where I had to avoid obstacles, but honestly, it controlled like shit. Then a pretty major mission played out. I set up a huge ambush on a guy by knocking down water towers to block the streets. Eventually, I caught him. I was supposed to kill him as per my mentor's instructions but I offered him mercy in exchange for information. It seems that he was shipping off slaves to Mexico! I wonder what that's all about...

Frog Fractions

Date played: January 5th
Platform: Browser
Session fun rating: 8/10

What the flying fuck did I just play? It was late at night, I should have gone to bed. Giantbomb talked about this game on their podcast and I figured I would give it a shot. I really don't want to spoil the whole thing but let's just say there is more to this game than the first screen. You know what, I'm just going to post the link to it and leave it at that. Just know, this game is fucking insane in every way and is definitely worth 45 minutes of your time. 

Assassin's Creed 3

Date played: January 5th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

I don't really know why people seem to be disappointed with this game... It reminds me of when I played Mass Effect 3. I'm having a great time but the entire internet looks like it disagrees. They say it feels rehashed, I say the new setting, characters, weapons, animations, music and quests feel fresh. They say the combat is boring, I'm loving every violent tomahawk kill. Maybe it's because I skipped Brotherhood and Revelations, maybe I'm just a schmuck or maybe the internet is a jaded fucking place. I'd say it's the latter.

Either way, I played a ton of AC3 without ever touching the main story missions. I've done a lot of stuff in New York but I'm still not done. I've collected almanac pages and chests, I've synchronized a few view points, I've completed assassination missions, I fought a bunch of brawlers and I liberated a large fort on the west side of NYC. The liberation missions were a bit different in west New York... I'm playing during or right after the great fire of NYC which destroyed something like a fourth of the city. The liberation missions were mostly focused on helping with the smallpox problem that followed the fire. I killed infected dogs, burned infected blankets and carried infected people to a clinic. I now have five recruits that can ambush, riot, assassinate, escort or snipe enemies.

Connor's home in the Davenport Homestead

I did a few challenges as well, though they seem fairly pointless. To complete some of them, I had to dabble in the crafting system which I have to admit, is one of the worst of it's kind that I've seen in a video game. The interface sucks balls, most of the items are completely useless and the game isn't clear at all on how all this stuff works. I won't go into details but after a lot of trial and error, I managed to make some good stuff. For example, twin holsters so that I don't have to reload my pistol every shot, larger arrow and bullet pouches and a more powerful tomahawk.

I also played through a large number of Homestead missions which is turning into a full blown village. We built a church, had our first baby, hosted a wedding, recruited a tailor and even got ourselves a flag. While the in-game benefits are minor, these are some of the best side missions so far.

Civilization V

My current leader

Date played: January 2nd
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

Damn this game, damn this game and all it's awesomeness. I installed Windows 8 yesterday (it's pretty great!) and as part of that process, I tested all the games I have installed to see if they all work. For everything else, it was just making sure it ran. For Civ V, it turned into a two hour, elephant-filled Carthaginian empire run.

I picked completely random settings including civilization, map size and length. I ended up on a small map with lots of other civs around me. I now have four cities from north to south and I have a relatively small piece of land. I am well positioned though and have two city-states to the west and two city-states to the east. The Romans are dangerously close though and I can see a war breaking out at some point. I decided to take over one of the nearby city-states to have a bit more land to my name and have been using elephants and Carthage-specific ships to attack it but it's kind of slow. We'll see where things go next time.

Borderlands 2

Date played: January 2nd
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played alone for the first time. The Siren is not very tough, but I have been improving her survivability by boosting her shields and shield recharge time and rate through bad ass points and the shields I equip. I tend to run in, deal heavy damage and run the fuck out to heal. It works in most areas but sometimes I can get swamped.

I love my fire pistol

I am now rocking a fire pistol with high damage, a fire SMG that deals with most, regular enemies and a powerful shotgun for when shit gets bad. I also have access to a new vehicle, the technical. It can accommodate four players, which doesn't matter for me, but also has some cool weaponry which helped me take out some pesky bandits in cars. I've been mostly catching up on low level quests, killing vermin and such. It's been fun but the best part of this game is the loot.

Assassin's Creed 3

Date played: January 1st and 2nd
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

I love New York! I took my first steps in New York City and it was a rough fucking start. I went there to warn others of the plot to assassinate George Washington only to have the whole thing pinned on me! I spent some time in prison, talking to other prisoners, eventually learning of another inmate's plan for escape. I convinced him to let me join and he told me to get thrown in the "isolation" room of the prison so I could swap a fake key with the warden's real key. I forget the details but in the end, I was on my way to the gallows to get hung in public. Thankfully, Achilles and my fellow assassins were there to help. I was freed, ran the hell away and found the man who was really plotting on killing Washington. Needless to say, I stuck a blade through him.

The game then opened up quite a bit. It is winter again and I now have NYC to explore. It's smaller than I thought it would be but it's still a full city. I spent the rest of my time perching myself on a few viewpoints as well as gathering collectibles like chests, almanac pages and trinkets. I also did a few liberation missions, assassination missions and courier missions. NYC is nice, it's a bit denser than Boston and a bit rougher around the edges. The architecture is also different, it's nice to be able to climb a few new structures.

I also played a whole lot of naval missions and they are definitely one of the better parts of this game. I really like the mechanics of aiming the cannons and firing the smaller gun. I sunk my first Man-O-War, then I sunk some more. What's cool about those fights is that I had to immobilize them by shooting different ammo at their masts. It's really fucking cool... When there is a storm at the same time, it's totally epic.

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine

Date played: January 1st
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 8/10

I finished Warhammer 40k: Space Marine. The last time I played this it must have been November but I still had it in the back of my mind to finish. I went through the last two acts where I shot hundreds of orks, but also demons. There is a great demonic lord of some sort that opened up a portal to the world and will basically take over the world.

The demon lord and his minions as they prepare to attack Titus

The demon enemies are mostly the same as the orks except they have more health and hit a bit harder. I activated the big weapon we had and we shot down an orbital thing that was causing some sort of issue. Eventually, I killed the ork leader in a bloody battle and went after the demon lord dude. The last level was really the toughest section of the game. It starts with an arena scenario where a bunch of demons attacked me in close quarters. It was tough but with the help of the powerful shotgun and all my other big guns, I made it through. The very last playable section was an epic fight against the demon lord while free falling. I could shoot him and I had to avoid projectiles but the bulk of the battle was a series of quick-time events.

I really liked this game. It was fun, simple and not overly ambitious. It was a story of Ultramarines and the bloodbath they leave behind them. I loved it.

Assassin's Creed 3

Date played: December 30th and 31st
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

Whew, a lot went on in the last two days of AC3! I started by being a key element to the Boston Tea Party, an event where citizens raided three British trading ships and threw all it's tea off board to make a political statement. As Connor, that meant throwing boxes of tea out of the ship and killing any enemies that made their way onto the ships.

I also rode with Paul Revere, an important name in American history. I'm not the most knowledgeable about the American revolution but I had heard of Paul Revere's Midnight Ride before. Connor ends up being the chauffeur for Mr. Revere as he warned colonists of the imminent war.

Paul Revere's Midnight Ride

Then war happened.

One of the missions had Connor run through a real ass battlefield to reach his target. It was awesome, going through the cannon shots, hiding behind rocks and watching as tons of people are getting blown to bits. Part of this mission had me infiltrate two ships off the shore who were offering cannon fire support and disable them. Eventually, I killed my second target and crossed off another Templar name from my list.

I also played a few more naval missions which are still as fun as ever. There's the matter of Peg Leg as well. Peg Leg is a pirate that hangs out on the Homestead and has been giving me cool missions as a reward for returning his trinkets. I spent a lot of time getting all the trinkets I could and have completed 3 out of 4 missions for him. The last one was a dangerous trek through a ship that wrecked in the ice near Labrador that was all about the platforming.

I then played a few side missions in the homestead including getting wild flowers for the very French Norris who is courting a lady. I also helped a pregnant woman and her husband get medical attention from a doctor in Boston. All these little missions help build up the homestead and while it seems a bit pointless, it's really fun.

I was surprised at all the bad reviews for this game and honestly, I don't really see what people were on about... This game isn't the best thing ever, but it's certainly fun, well made and interesting.

Hill Climb

Date played: Every day for 5 minutes since I got an iPad...
Platform: iPad
Session fun rating: 8/10

Hill Climb is better than it should be

My girlfriend and I share an iPad that we got ourselves for Christmas. While I know there are tons of great games on iOS, I haven't messed around with it myself so I have been trying out what my girlfriend plays. Hill Climb is a really cool, 2D vehicle platformer, akin to Trials in a lot of ways. The game has tons of levels, vehicles and upgrades to unlock by spending points won during runs.

The objective of the game is to get as far as possible in the level without crushing the little guy's neck. So far, I have unlocked the jeep, the dirt bike and the monster truck. The jeep is a ton of fun but eventually, even with many upgrades, it's easier to get through with the bike. The game controls surprisingly well since there are only two buttons, negating any issues I usually have with touch controlled games. Anyway, I've been playing this thing way too often not to post about it so there you go.