Split/Second

Blackrock Studio was wrecked by Disney

Date played: June 2nd and 3rd
Platform: PS3
Time played: 90 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I finished Split/Second! I played through the last two episodes without too much trouble except for one of the last eliminator events. I've now unlocked all the tracks and cars so that's gonna be the last time I play this game in single player. I also played a little bit with my brother when he came over and he was pretty good the little fucker. I won the first race but he was getting used to the controls, then he owned me in the second race and I won the last one by a hair. RIP Blackrock Studio, you did good work.

Split/Second

Date played: June 1st
Platform: PS3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played through four events of the 11th episode. There was a race, an eliminator, a survival and a detonator in the episode so it was quite varied. I didn't manage to unlock the bonus round but I did play the elite race and ended 2nd. I ran out of playing time before managing first place so when I get back to the game, I should be able to finish all golds in episode 11 and start the season finale!

Diablo 3

WIZARD!

Date played: May 31st
Platform: PC
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

My brother decided to play Diablo 3 so me and my buddy made some new characters to play with him. Unfortunately, my brother wasn't online but we still played up to level 5. He made a Demon Hunter and I made a Wizard. One thing that was apparent right away is that I'm going to have to play this differently... The wizard is squishy and ranged while my barbarian is tough and melee.

My wizard has a magic missile combined with a sort of ice beam. He also has frost nova which freezes enemies in place around him. The ice beam is great because it slows down enemies and being with a demon hunter, enemies died before they even got close to us. I also tried out a lighting spell that could become very powerful depending on the runes. It sends out a bunch of lightning on the ground in front of the wizard, acting as a sort of area of effect attack. I'm really more excited about just playing with my bro.

Super Mario Bros.

SMB holds up, 25 years later

Date played: May 30th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 10 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

This was my first time playing this game since it was patched. It turns out, Nintendo now has a proper virtual console setup for this game, as opposed to all the other freebies given to ambassadors. Basically, it adds save states which is great! I used the shortest route to the last world, using the warp pipes in worlds 1-2 and 4-2. When I got to 8-1 though, I was kind of tired and failed to get past the mid point. Thankfully, with the save state feature, I can try again anytime I want!

Split/Second

Killer trucks!

Date played: May 30th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 90 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played through another good chunk of this game, I now only have two episodes left! Things are starting to get more difficult but what's great about this game is that even though the Power Plays change the track and attack other racers, there's almost always a way to avoid crashing if you're careful and skilled. I think I'm pretty good at this so far, I have all golds for the first ten episodes! I think one of my favorite non-race events is the survival mode. It's the mode where huge trucks drop explosive barrels all over the track. The reason it's so much fun is because of the combo system. Every time you pass three trucks, you get a multiplier for your points. This makes having extended runs without crashing very valuable and gives the game an arcade feel. Survival mode would have made for a great arcade machine on it's own if you ask me. I plan on getting all golds on all events before getting Dirt Showdown.

Metroid Fusion

Those guys killed me. Twice.

Date played: May 30th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 3/10

Urgh.. I played a bit of Metroid Fusion while lounging on the couch and was at a section that requires Samus to shoot five fans to remove some weird gas infecting certain rooms. My mistake was that I didn't go back to the save and recharge rooms between fans so when I got to the last one, I was too weak to survive. The worst thing is, I made the same mistake twice! I will try again one day but this time, I will run back to the safe areas between fans...

Split/Second

Date played: May 29th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 20 mintues
Session fun rating: 7/10

My mom and girlfriend were busy talking about relationships and other things I don't care about so I booted up Split/Second to have something to do except listen. I only played two events, one was a race that took me two or three attempts and the other was an air revenge that I restarted only once. I really need to get Dirt Showdown, I crave good online racing for some reason.

Syndicate

Date played: May 27th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 150 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I finished Syndicate's single player mode last night. While the story was a bit dumb and hard to follow, this was some of the best first person shooting action I've played in a long time. The last shooter with shooting mechanics that felt this good to me was Crysis 2. I fought a few bosses including one that was quite different from the rest. It felt more like a Ratchet and Clank or a boss from the 3D Mario games. Basically, I had to hack a guy's missiles in mid air until I hit him with them often enough. At first it was easy but it didn't take long before he was shooting five fast missiles at once and was even dropping EMP grenades. I had to use the DART overlay and sprinting to get passed it, it was quite a challenge while still being fun.

The last boss had a section where two high powered agents are after me and they can revive each other. It took me a while to realize this so they kept reviving each other. It wasn't until I understood this that I was able to kill them. The last boss was a fairly standard fight but the stakes were higher. The last boss is fast, tough and hits very hard but since he's a traditional fight, I didn't have much trouble.

Syndicate is a great, underrated shooter.

I used two new weapons also, a flamethrower (AWESOME) and a sort of laser weapon. While the laser weapon is very strong, it has a slow firing rate and doesn't have much ammo. I went through two big areas, Downzone in New York City and The Spire. The Downzone was more interesting because it's in the gritty, dark streets of the city where people run around without chips. This also meant that I couldn't use advanced powers on them. The last area was more boring and was filled with kill rooms basically. The conclusion of the story is pretty cool too.

The game was short but didn't outstay it's welcome. It's a very impressive game from both a technical and from a mechanics perspective. I was also excited to try co-op but I wasn't able to find a game at all and no one joined mine for 10 minutes. Too bad, it looked fun...

Rayman Origins demo

Bad 3DS version, bad!

Date played: May 27th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 5 minutes
Session fun rating: 1/10

Wow, what a garbage fucking port. I played some of Rayman on the PS3 and was curious to see how it looks in 3D on a handheld so I downloaded the demo for it. First, the 3D is awful and reminds me of the 3D in the Nintendo Video app. Two, the graphics are bad simply because of the low resolution, this is a game with high res in mind. Three, the controls are fucking sluggish as hell. I don't know why but it just wasn't as responsive. I imagine the Vita version would be the best on a portable device.

Split/Second

Power Plant is a cool track

Date played: May 24th and 25th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 200 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played through a big fucking chunk of this game on Saturday. Basically, I completed about four complete episodes, getting all golds on each event. One of the detonator events took me as solid hour on it's own but I just couldn't walk away without winning. It took all my skill and I had to learn the event by heart but I finally got it, with some help from a friendly Youtuber.

There is also a new event, air revenge, that has me build up power by avoiding missiles from a helicopter then unleashing the built up power as a missile deflector. It's a pretty cool concept and to win first place, I really had to get almost all perfect missile dodges. I also enjoyed one of the new tracks that is set in and around a nuclear power plant. There are two cooling towers that can be destroyed and some tough turns in there so it makes it a really fun track. I now have four episodes to go before the end.

Diablo 3

Date played: May 24th
Platform: PC
Time played: 150 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

Diablo is dead yo.

Holy shit, I finished Diablo 3 and it was fucking amazing! I can't say much without spoiling the whole thing but I beat the Act III boss by myself and it was super easy. Act IV is simply amazing, if a little short. The pre-rendered cut-scenes are some of the best I've ever seen and the final fight was pretty cool. I died once near the end but thankfully, I was playing with my witch doctor friend who revived me. I also replaced most of the gems I had with higher level ones and saw a massive increase in DPS.

I think I may have to go sword and board at some point soon though because I take a lot of damage sometimes, even with all my healing stats. I guess we will see when I get deeper into Nightmare mode!

Blur

Blur is starting to feel like this

Date played: May 21st
Platform: PS3
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played a few races against my buddy, in a 12 person lobby. He sucked for some reason and I placed between 4th and 6th in the four races we did. I still love this game and am super excited for Dirt Showdown as it seems like it will have similar experiences. It's funny how Blur and NHL 12 have become sort of evergreen games for me. If I have nothing to play, these two games are always there for me and fun. The only problem I have is that I'm afraid people will stop playing Blur on PS3. Already, there was less than 100 people on the servers when we played. I hope Dirt Showdown can take it's place... Shit, that reminds me, I have to buy that!

NHL 12

Date played: May 21st
Platform: PS3
Time played: 70 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

NO GOAL!

I played three games against my buddy Dan over PSN. He won the first game 4-2 as the Habs while I lost as the Sens. He played well as usual... I had one weird goal though, a shot from the point hit the goalie in the mask, then rebounded off my forward's thigh into the net. It was waived off at first but was deemed a goal after video review. It was a funny scene though since my girlfriend was watching and was captivated by the ref announcing his verdict.

I won the second game 2-1 in a shootout with an amazing wrist shot. I was playing the Devils and he was playing the Rangers to match the current playoff matchup. The last game he won 2-1 but it was a really close one that's for sure. I had better puck control in the last two games, it felt good.

Split/Second

I unlocked this track where a motherfucking train falls from the sky.

Date played: May 21st
Platform: PS3
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played a lot of Split/Second today. My daughter was playing by herself and having fun in the living room so I booted up the old PS3 and played one of the few non violent games I have for it, this fine racing game. Having completed Dirt 3, I had no where else to go so I played through two episodes of the campaign, getting golds on all events but not without having to retry some of those detonator events multiple times.

Detonator is really just a time trial with shit exploding around the car and track. Some of them are really tight to get the gold time though, I had to be nearly flawless on two of them... This game is still a lot of fun and is still one of the more enjoyable racing games out there, it's just too bad there won't be a sequel and that no one plays online anymore.

Diablo 3

Date played: May 20th and 21st
Platform: PC
Time played: 345 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

Blizzard is really good at making pre-rendered cut-scenes...

Well, Act II was awesome and Act III is shaping up to be just as cool. I don't want to spoil much but me and my witch doctor friend beat the living shit out of the messed up creature in charge of Act II, Belial. The fight itself was pretty cool, forcing us to move constantly to avoid poison pools and AOE attacks. We also killed another boss in Act III, a giant spider lady thing. We chopped her to bits by just spamming stuns and damage...

The highlight of my long session has to be the CG cinematic between acts II and III. Blizzard really has a knack for making the most cutting edge, coolest looking stuff out there. My character is also progressing nicely, at a strong level 26 and some 230 dps or so, he seems to be doing well for himself. This game addictive like a slot machine. Except it's the slot machine isn't covered in blood, guts and limbs...

Diablo 3

Date played: May 19th
Platform: PC
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I didn't have as much time to play and I was too tired so I only played a short portion of a new area in the desert with my witch doctor friend who is level 23. He has lots of cool new spells and summons, it's great!

Click click click, loot loot loot.

Syndicate

Date played: May 19th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I shot my way through La Ballena, mostly fighting on exterior balconies and ledges. One of the fights killed me at least 3 times....it was those stupid shielded fucking drones. They suck. I made it eventually using a new weapon, the rocket launcher. It has a lock on feature and can hit three targets in one salvo, it's very satisfying!

Tropico 4

Mining is easy and profitable

Date played: May 19th
Platform: PC
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I completed the first mission, but I'm not exactly sure how... I just completed a bunch of objectives such as export 500 crude oil or hire a ministry. The ministry is one of the more important new features as it unlocks the higher level edicts and buildings.

Then I played a good chunk of the next mission where I had to help an American set up a successful mining operation. I focused on production and cash and spend less on other things. It works so far... This is the best version of Tropico yet and I actually find it better than any type of sim, including Sim City.

Diablo 3

Date played: May 17th
Platform: PC
Time played: 170 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

Amazing. This time, I played with my witch doctor friend again but he brought in two of his friends, a monk and a demon hunter that were all close in levels. I really can't stress this enough, Diablo 3 is meant to be played in co-op. We had voice chat going through Steam and basically ploughed through most of the second part of Act 1, ending our run with the iconic Butcher.

I mean, there isn't much I can say here, we fucked up baddies, we picked up and traded loot, we fought a few mini bosses and took a ferry to another down being ransacked by Diablo's minions. The environments were more varied than I expected though, we saw everything from a prison to rainbows and lush waterfalls.

It was cool seeing the monk and demon hunter in action. The monk is fast and seems to focus on single enemy DPS. He hits hard but can get overwhelmed quickly. The demon hunter is an archer as far as I can tell. He shoots people from the back row with the witch doctor while me and the monk jump in the middle of the pack.

The Butcher is scary

The Butcher was an awesome fight as he hits really hard and forces players to move around to avoid fire on the ground. It was tough, our two ranged guys died. I survived probably simply since I have way more HP than the other classes because I was kind of sloppy. I reached level 15 by the end and had replaced most of my gear, some from crafting, some from random drops. I have a few new skills too like a passive thing that increases armor and a weapon throw. I found the weapon throw to be useful against the Butcher because I had to stay at range but otherwise, it seemed useless so I guess it's situational.

I love this game but don't get caught playing alone, that's boring!

Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 demo

This may look fun but it's not, trust me.

Date played: May 17th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 5 minutes
Session fun rating: 1/10

What a shitty demo. I kind of like Sonic games in general and this one has good graphics, nice music and some cool stunts but the problem is that Sonic is SLOW! What the fuck Sega... Plus, the enemy and level design is really boring. The demo was very short but I can't imagine this game being very good. The Sonic Generations demo blew me away compared to this steaming pile of shit.

Syndicate

La Balena is fucking cool

Date played: May 16th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I had a bit of time to kill this morning so I played a bit of Syndicate. I completed chapter 8 and started chapter 10. I had a frustrating experience though, the game/PS3 froze several times in the same section, a fight with two normal enemies and an armored minigun wielding guy. Eventually, it worked out and I killed them but I had to restart the PS3 about five times...

The sequence ended on a balcony where the hero almost got ran over by a transport ship but he managed to get on it and hold on for dear life for the duration of the trip. Eventually, we got to La Balena, Cayman Global's giant floating city and I was tasked with infiltrating it, though I'm never quite sure why. As usual, the game mechanics and cyber-punk aesthetics steal the show. The shooting is still top notch which is really the only reason I'm still playing this. It's a top tier shooter that seems to have been overlooked by pretty much everyone. 

Diablo 3

Date played: May 15th
Platform: PC
Time played: 160 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

I haven't been hyped for a game on PC for a long time now, I think the last one must have been Civ V, but Diablo 3's hype got to me. Everyone at work was talking about it, all my friends were talking about it and of course, the Internet is ablaze with comments, criticism and glee. I was not disappointed. In a way, Diablo 3 feels old. I mean, it plays a lot like the first game which came out way back in 1996. But see, that's not such a bad thing since the concept still works 16 years later. It also may not seem like it to younger or jaded players, but they really did a lot to bring this game into the modern era of gaming.

My young barbarian

The quests are like WoW, exclamation point and journal included. The party system is super easy, no need for stupid server browsers. The tutorials are helpful. The interface is clean and simple. Simply put, the game may feel old to some but it is modern, no doubt.

I played with a friend from work who had played the beta. We started our characters together and played co-op the whole time. He plays a witch doctor, a sort of ranged voodoo chick who summons creatures from the dead and spits poison from a little wooden tube. I chose the barbarian, to fuck shit up in close quarters with giant weapons. We made it to the Skeleton King and killed him which was the end of the beta.

Tropico 4

Date played: May 15th
Platform: PC
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I bought Tropico 4 for my girlfriend's birthday, she's been a huge fan of this series since the first game. Tropico is to my girlfriend as Civilization is to me. I didn't have time to do much but I created a customer leader who wears a pirate outfit and a pipe, is a farmer, scholar and financial genius. Seems like a funny mix I know...

I started the first mission, built some corn and tobacco farms, set up a church, police station, market, clinic and added some very cheap housing. So far, it seems like a better version of Tropico 3, so this is not a big upgrade but it has a lot of new buildings, edicts and seems a bit deeper than before. 

Just Cause 2

Yes, Rico can stunt jump on a passenger jet

Date played: May 11th
Platform: PC
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

After some Audiosurf, my friend and I jumped into Just Cause 2. He loves open world games and blowing shit up so this was right up his alley. He was really impressed with the graphics, noticing the higher resolution and better lighting compared to his PS3.

We just messed around for a half hour, stealing cars, grapple-parachuting, base jumping, shooting dudes, stunt jumping and even stealing a commercial jet. This is easily the most fun I've had just fucking around in a game. We also took the jet to the highest possible point and just jumped down. It was amazing, parachuting above the clouds and free falling for minutes... Not to mention our amazing run in a high powered speed boat, filled with crazy jumps and stunts.

I wonder if the missions are any good?

Audiosurf

Date played: May 11th
Platform: PC
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played some Audiosurf with my friend who was visiting. He had never seen the game and liked it right away. We played a few songs, taking turns at the controller. The highlight of the session was clearly a two-ship ride to Pearl Jam's Alive, a great American classic song at this point. The guitar solo alone is one of the best in the genre, great for Audiosurfing.

The Walking Dead Episode 1

Date played: May 9th
Platform: PC
Time played: 160 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Whew, I played through the first episode of The Walking Dead, the five episode adventure game series by Telltale. I won't spoil any of the story stuff since really, this game is ALL about the story. The game is actually a lot like Heavy Rain. I'm a big fan of The Walking Dead comics and the story here fits the series perfectly.

You play as the dude with the hammer, Lee who protects Clementine, the child in the window.

Graphics are good because of the nice art style and it even helps make the characters look more like something from a comic or cartoon than a movie or tv show. The game plays as an adventure game, collecting items and all, peppered with quick time events and gory zombie kills. The music helps set the mood too but there are some weird audio glitches. Nothing major though. The best sequence had us rescuing a major character from the comics. There were some cover based shenanigans going on that made the sequence very interesting.

The characters are cool, the decisions are interesting and I cannot wait to play the next episode! I don't really know what else to say without spoiling the story except that I'm really loving the game and that if you go into it expecting an interactive mature cartoon, you'll have a good time.

Syndicate

Date played: May 8th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Whew, what a ride! I played through about four missions in Syndicate, the latest futuristic shooter from EA. I fought my way through hordes of enemies with a fucking bad ass minigun that has infinite ammo and even used that thing on top of a subway train to shoot at drones, flying bikes and even took out a giant gunship. The gunship fight was really cool and memorable.

Fighting the gunship was amazing!

I also fought my first boss, a crazy dude with super human speed and the ability to clone himself. It was a hard fight and had to retry at least five times before killing him. It turned out, the key to killing him was to be patient, to use the DART interface and to keep the grenade launcher for when he clones himself. There were times where the rain of fire coming from the bad guy were too much if I didn't stay mobile.

Then I spied on a chick by hacking into her condo's CCTV feed and saw her get abducted. The rest of the mission was about finding this lady for God knows what. The story is kind of unimportant it seems. I also gained a new ability: Persuade. This convinces an enemy to join my side and shoot his buddies. If he survives, he then shoots himself in the head. It's a good ability that makes combat more interesting. I love this game. It knows what it's good at. Shooting shit. I like games that have self confidence hehe!

Audiosurf

RIDE IT!

Date played: May 8th
Platform: PC
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I just wanted to play some music and thought, why not RIDE MY MUSIC instead? So I did. I played some Katy Perry, Aerosmith and Skrillex to appease the varying tastes of my crowd. E.T. by Katy Perry was actually really fun to play, full of tempo variations and fun beats. I played two songs in the "solo" mode and one with the two vehicles instead of one. That one is my favorite but it's also pretty difficult so I play it only when I am well awake. I also played some tunes using the built in visualizer which looks really cool.

You Don't Know Jack

Sunny Corleone at his best!

Date played: May 8th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 40 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

I wasn't feeling it today. I played YDKJ with my girlfriend and sister in law and ended 2nd in both matches with my girlfriend nabbing both wins. I played well enough but wasn't paying full attention during the Jack Attack and that's what killed me. We had a really good Dis or Dat also that involved Godfather characters and something else. Being a huge fan of the movies, it was and easy one for me.

Dirt Showdown demo

Date played: May 8th
Platform: PC
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I had low expectations for Dirt Showdown simply because it wasn't a rally game. Well, it's definitely not a rally game but it's sure is a ton of fun! There was a race event that is just a figure 8 with lots of cars ramming each other. The other is a multiplayer online destruction derby type event. The first match I played was kind of boring because there were only three players. Once I played a match with six players, I saw how this game is going to be fun. It reminded me of the old Destruction Derby games but with good physics and amazing graphics. Speaking of which, my PC is really showing it's power with this game.  I have a hard time going back to consoles after this...

N64 emulation test run

Date played: May 6th
Platform: PC
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I decided to try some N64 emulators to test it out and just see how it plays on PC. The first real problem is the controller. I use an Xbox 360 wired controller on my PC and the N64 has more buttons. I ended up mapping the C buttons to the second joystick which seems to work well in most games but not all of them. Extreme G is still kind of fun but feels slow. Re-Volt is clearly a bad port full of fog, it plays better on Dreamcast. Smash Bros is still cool.

I tried a bunch of games, most of them only for 5 minutes or less. Perfect Dark was unplayable because of the controls but I didn't spend time customizing. Beast Wars is one of the shittiest fighting games I've ever touched. Snowboard Kids 2 simply doesn't hold up anymore, it sucks. The two games that kept my attention a bit longer were F-Zero X and Robotron 64. F Zero X is a good game, that's for sure. I only played one race but it was clearly well made, is still fun and ran flawlessly. Robotron 64 is less impressive. It was a twin stick shooter without two analog sticks back in the N64 days. Because I had mapped the C buttons to the right stick, it actually played like a real twin stick shooter. It was pretty fun and fast paced, I played that one for a good 15 minutes straight.

F-Zero is WAY overdue for a new game... 3DS? Wii U?

The best part about this emulation stuff is that I can add anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. This may sound minor, but it makes the graphics look MUCH cleaner than on the real thing. It caused a few weird graphical issues with Beast Wars and Perfect Dark but overall, it makes playing these games less painful. Maybe I'll play some hard to find games like Mischief Makers and such.

Sonic Generations demo

Sonic Generations looks amazing on PC

Date played: May 6th
Platform: PC
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played this demo on PS3 and thought the fluctuating framerate ruined it, so maybe the PC version on my new rig would fix this problem. It did. The game runs almost flawlessly in 1080p and looks amazing. It's the same demo as on PS3 so it only has two short levels, one as old Sonic and one as new Sonic. It was really fun actually and I even replayed the second level twice. This seems like a good buy but I'll wait for a Steam sale.

Mutant Mudds demo

Date played: May 5th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Mutant Mudds is a simple, retro looking 2D platformer. It's challenging, uses 3D effects well and is just a lot of fun. The hero is a little blonde dude with glasses and a little gun. The enemies are brown blobs. The environments are Super Mario Bros like. The guy has a hover jump. These features are all very generic. The only "hook" in the game is that there are little jump pads scattered about that allow the hero to jump to the foreground or background of the game. It's a really cool effect and it mixes things up a little. There are also enemies that move between the three planes to makes things even cooler on the 3DS screen.

Moving between planes is really cool

I played the four levels in the demo and really enjoyed my time with the game, some of the levels were pretty tough. At 9$ on the eShop, this seems like a good proposition so maybe I'll buy it sometime.

Crushed 3D demo

Crushed is pretty cool

Date played: May 5th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

I was sorting my games and apps on the 3DS since they patched in folders and decided to pay a visit to the eShop. I downloaded the demo for Crushed 3D, a puzzle game where the player can "crush" the environment and basically turn the game from 3D to 2D. Combined with a flexible camera, this makes for some cool puzzles.

I played through what the demo had to offer and beat each level pretty easily but there are also hidden items that were tougher to find. This would have been an immediate buy at 5-10$ but I found out after that it's a retail game. Too expensive for a little puzzle game, even with a great concept. Maybe when it hits the bargain bin?

Team Fortress 2

The Brass Beast has it's uses

Date played: May 2nd
Platform: PC
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I had an amazing time playing TF2 on 2_Fort with my friend all night. It was a good server with lots of voice chat and organized teams. This was a capture the flag match but the score was set to 5 points to win which is completely ridiculous, but also really fun. Basically, I was in the same match the whole time I played. I stuck to the Heavy with a quick stint as a Medic.

I've tried out a new gun I picked up which is slower but also more damaging. I don't like it for all game modes or maps but it works wonders when I have good support. It turns the heavy into a walking turret. We also had a very good run taking over the other team's sewers with two engineers nesting there, my friend included. That made it easier to assault the other team's defenses.

The stint as a medic was short but also really fun and successful. I was tired of seeing most of our team defend and noticed a zealous and skilled Demoman on our team. I switched to medic, charged my uber and helped the demo destroy the engineer nest in the enemy flag room. He grabbed the flag, I followed for a long as I could healing then died. The Demoman made it through though and scored to tie the game! I love TF2.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

MW3 is the first Call of Duty game since 2 that I haven't bought

Date played: April 29th
Platform: PC
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 3/10

Steam had a free weekend for Modern Warfare 3 so I decided to try it out, given the new PC and all. The game runs great at 1080p and high settings all around, with a smooth 60 fps. The bad news is, I'm still tired of playing COD. I've played too much Black Ops and MW2 to enjoy this for the moment.

The few matches that I played, I sucked but that's pretty normal considering I don't know the maps, have no customized classes and haven't played a shooter that requires precision with a mouse and keyboard in a long time. I can aim badly in TF2 and still be successful, not in MW3. In the end, the game looks about as good as I expected. It certainly seems like a great game but it's just not the right time for me. Maybe Black Ops 2?

SSX

Date played: April 29th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

SSX rocks!

For all intents and purposes, I finished SSX's story mode, or World Tour as they call it. I don't like this mode very much, it focuses too much on navigating the courses rather than doing crazy tricks and riding super fast. I finished the Alps, Africa and tackled New Zealand, the last area. New Zealand is fucking sick. It's full of gigantic jumps and crazy rails. It was easily the most fun in the World Tour. It also featured the best survival event, a whiteout. The boarder has to equip some pulse goggles which show a grid-like view of the mountain every few seconds to help navigate through the blizzard. It was actually pretty cool.

I then had a final event against Griff with wingsuits, armor and a headlamp. It was crazy, difficult and really cool. So the credits rolled and now I get to just play random drops and Global Events!

Skullgirls

Date played: April 28th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

Oddly enough, this seems to be my favorite fighting game since Street Fighter IV. It's not just the beautiful animation, cool character design or weird style though, it's all about the actual fighting. Since we are far from being experts in the game, my brothers and I have a lot of fun beating the shit out of each other.

I stuck to Valentine and Double this time around, being pretty successful. I didn't always win but I definitely won more than the last time I played with these guys. We even did a mini tournament where each player had a chance to play two matches and whoever had more wins at the end would win or fight for a tie breaker.

My first match in the tourney was an epic, 5 minute two vs three epic struggle for survival. I basically made a big comeback and won that fight by a nose hair... It was intense! I ended up winning the contest but it was super close. I also tried a match online while I was waiting for someone and lost but managed to hold my own.

You Don't Know Jack

Trust you? Of course I trust you!

Date played: April 28th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 75 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

We played a whole bunch of You Don't Know Jack since I had three of my brothers and two girlfriends visiting. This was actually the only game where everyone had a chance. I won most of the games, as usual (hehe) but I did lose a few times. It was also the first time I played this with four players and it makes things a bit more interesting.

I also ran into a new type of question, one that plays sounds and asks to answer a question about the sounds. While it sounds like an innocent enough idea, it has a loophole. The problem is, my brother decided to screw me, the pot leader, before I had a chance to even hear the sounds! The answers were only sound 1, 2, 3 and 4 so there was no way to answer the question without guessing. I used the same tactic the next time I question like that showed up...

Just Cause 2

Date played: April 28th
Platform: PC
Time played: 20 minute
Session fun rating: 9/10

Jacking a helicopter mid flight is madness!

Again, messing around with my brothers, showing off the new PC and blowing shit up in Just Cause 2. We did everything from fighting a general and his minions, getting chased by their buddies, jumping from one of the cars to a helicopter in mid flight, beating the shit out of the pilot, shooting up a huge casino with said helicopter, base jumping off the casino into a waterfall, falling in the middle of the sea then high jacking a speed boat. We even managed to run the speed boat so fast that we were able to jump over a section of land that was at the very least 200 meters.

The point is, the game is fucking crazy, I just wish the missions had been more fun.

SSX

RiderNet is...motivating

Date played: April 28th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 70 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I fiddled around with SSX for a while today, playing a track here and there. It was really casual play, passing the controller around to my brothers and just generally messing around. I played in a few Global Events and seem to be doing pretty good, usually placing at least silver, mostly gold. I even got my first diamond today! I fucking love the trick events in this game.

Team Fortress 2

Date played: April 24th and 25th
Platform: PC
Time played: 210 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Wow.... It's been a while since I've played this. Surprisingly, the game is still a lot of fucking fun, I thought the love story between me and TF2 had run it's course but it seems like we've rekindled our love. I played a few rounds on a random server, always as a heavy.

I did well considering I'm a bit rusty. There were a lot of changes to the game too like new game modes and a giant stable of items. So far, the items seem to be pretty balanced and seem to be more about fitting the player's play style than it is making you stronger. The items are essentially random drops. I got a new shotgun for the scout and a sandwich for the heavy. The only thing I miss is the music in the main menu which seems to be gone for some reason.

The next day, I played with my friend who plays pyro, demo and engineer. He was clearly better as a pyro and was a good fit with a heavy. I occasionally play as medic or scout but usually, I stick to the heavy, it feels a lot like a support type of class which is always the best for me. I played well, being defensive and covering my angles well. The heavy is super slow so position is extremely important for him. I think this game has dug it's claws into my back again and won't let go. 

Civilization V

He swears he isn't gay....

Date played: April 23rd
Platform: PC
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 3/10

This isn't really about playing Civ V as it is about setting up Civ V for future play. Being one of my favorite games ever made, it was high on the list of downloads from my Steam library to my new PC. It turns out my computer can eat this game for breakfast and shit it out my noon. I run it at highest settings at 1080p with a beautiful 60 frames per second. Also, the leaders are animated much better than with my previous PC.

I tried two scenarios briefly, one about Vikings and the other about 1492. The Vikings one was a little unclear but I didn't bother to read the instructions. I quit out after two turns to try 1492 instead. That was more fun as it was a race to China, starting from Europe. Once that was done though, the goal wasn't clear again so I quit. I should read the instructions next time, it looks pretty fun.

Just Cause 2

Date played: April 22nd
Platform: PC
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 5/10

My trusty Dell XPS 1640 bit the dust this weekend, after two and a half years of perfect service. The monitor went out and Dell was asking 499$ to fix it. At that age and price, I decided it would be wiser to just get a new gaming laptop. I went with another brand, MSI and got the GT683, an I7 processor, 12 GB or RAM, 1 TB HDD, a 1080p matte anti-glare display and GTX 560M.

Testing out the MSI GT683

I spent most of the day getting my old data back, installing software and configuring Windows but I did manage to find half an hour to try out a game. I went with Just Cause 2 since I have it on Steam and never really played it. I really just messed around with the settings and such, haven't really played the game itself. The good news is that the laptop can handle the shit out of Just Cause 2, running in 1080p with AA and high quality shadows. I found a helicopter and explored a bit, blowing shit up and watching my new beast of a machine cut through like it was butter. I can't wait to try another game on it and see how it performs.

Rayman Origins

Date played: April 20th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played through the first world of Rayman Origins in co-op with my friend when I was visiting him. It was a better experience than with my girlfriend, simply because he's much better at platformers than she is, making our runs faster and more fun! It's too bad he doesn't have the game, I would have played the whole thing with him online...

Skullgirls

Date played: April 19th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I convinced my girlfriend to try Skullgirls with me. She liked it I guess but she wasn't blown away. She seemed more comfortable using only one character and managed to snag a few wins along the way. Myself, I'm getting better at this game slowly, I can now do super moves and am starting to understand the mechanics better. I also played through a short portion of the tutorial which is very well made compared to other fighting games.

Syndicate

Date played: April 15th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 90 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played through the first three levels of Syndicate. It's still a little bit in tutorial mode but the game is slowly setting in. I finally got access to some new guns like a sniper rifle, a rifle that aims around corners (like the Bullseye gun from Resistance) and a regular ass assault rifle. The game also introduced it's "hook", special hacking abilities that are applied to "chipped" people. The first is suicide, where the target freaks out, pops a pin from a grenade and blow themselves up. The second is backfire, where the target's weapon overheats, knocks him down and makes him more vulnerable to weapon fire.

These abilities are pretty cool and can be pulled off from behind cover when the DART interface is active. They recharge based on skill shots and other cool moves. It's not as important as the Crysis suit abilities or something but it definitely adds a bit of flavor and fun to the combat. The real reason I'm loving this game is combat though. I mean, the combat just feels great and that's something that's hard to appreciate sometimes.

Give me your CHIP!

The missions I played seemed to be all about infiltrating some facility, getting to a guy, putting a scary device in his ears and pulling out the chip using the DART interface. Then I fought my way out of there, fighting regular ass dudes. The enemies are strong and intelligent, making combat fun, if generic. The slow down effect of the DART interface is almost required to win in many cases. I like this game, it's a good, normal sci-fi shooter that plays super well.

Skullgirls

Date played: April 14th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 70 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

I had downloaded the demo for this game a few days ago but never got a chance to try it until last night. Honestly, I just wasn't expecting much except for good graphics but what I got is a fun, simple to pick up fighting game. Me and my guests started by playing the demo for a few minutes but soon enough, we wanted more characters to play with so I just bought the game.

This is a 2D fighting game with 8 female characters and some tag team mechanics. It reminds me of Marvel VS Capcom with less "impossible to understand mayhem" and  more "Ohhhh shit I beat the shit out of you when I had 5% health left!!!!". The coolest feature so far is that someone can fight someone else using different sized teams. Players can choose a single, very powerful character, two somewhat powerful characters or three regular strength characters. This might sound like a clumsy mess but after over a dozen rounds played, it seems to balance itself out, at least with novice players.

These two sexy ladies fit my play style

I think I found my sweet spot with a two person team, using Parasoul and Valentine, two of the sexier ladies in the game. Parasol is good in close quarters and has some nice launching moves. Valentine is similar but is more about lots of very fast hits and less about juggling. My brother's girlfriend was really good at the game, as she was with Soul Calibur. She doesn't have much technique but she is efficient and very aggressive. She beat me a few times but we were pretty close in the end.

This seems like a great little fighting game. It may have the best 2D animation I've ever seen, it's fun to play, the characters are funky and original and the different sized teams make things interesting. I don't see myself playing this unless I have friends over though.

Blur

Date played: April 14th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I LOVE SPLIT SCREEN!

I had some guests over last night, all of them gamers, so I thought I should take advantage of that and play a 4 player game. Blur is always a good candidate for that so we played a few races. I was winning the first race for the first two laps but I got fucked in the ass by some well timed barges and ended in 7th, behind two of my friends. I won the rematch by a huge margin though. Our fourth player isn't a big racing game fan and she was in last place on both tracks so we stopped playing Blur in favor of Skullgirls.

Rayman Origins

The mosquito levels are a nice distraction 

Date played: April 14th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played a whole lot of Rayman Origins, finishing off World 3 and completing World 4. I even started World 5. World 4 was mostly underwater where the music is captivating, the game plays differently and the overall atmosphere is slightly different. I still think the chase levels are by far the best in the game. I also learned a new technique that allows Rayman and friends to run on walls, taking this game closer and closer to Sonic the Hedgehog territory.

I stopped playing when I was unable to finish one of the chase levels. I must be doing something wrong because I can clear the entire level easily now, but can't get past an area that has a falling ship mast that I have  to jump on to. I always miss it and die. I think I'll have to rely on Youtube....