Bioshock Infinite

Date played: August 14th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played through two very cool levels, one on Monument Tower, the other on Battleship Bay. Monument Tower is where I met Elizabeth. She is introduced as specimen in a science experiment of some kind. She seems to be able to open portals to...well she tried to go to Paris. There was only a short shooting portion against humans before Booker was knocked unconscious.

Battleship Bay

The next segment had me find the girl again, this time in an amusement park. The art style really helps set the mood in this game. Coupled with the awesome rail travel, it's a pleasure to see the world they made. The combat is all right, but not tight enough for my tastes.

Gravity Rush

It's over 9000!

Date played: August 12th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played through episode 6, a battle in a rift plane or something. I fought little red and black creatures again and followed a path shown by flowers blooming purple lights. Yep, this game is Japanese. Next, I fought a boss where I had to attack it's tentacle eyes, then attack it's single glowing testicule. I died a couple of times because it retaliates with a stream of projectiles that hurt a lot.

This opened up the next portion of the city, the entertainment district. The open world structure of the game really helps it I think. It's a lot of fun to just traverse the city, searching for crystals and man holes to Kat's house.

Pikmin 3

Date played: August 12th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 10/10

I'm really having a great time playing Pikmin 3. I played through a bunch of in game days, I'm probably on exploration day 12 or 13 now. I've befriended yellow pikmin who can be thrown higher, can conduct electricity and are immune to electric attacks and barriers. The blue dude and the pink dudette got separated on one of the maps, so I built bridges and threw pikmin over rivers to reunite them. I've gathered tons of fun fruit like kiwis and oranges. It's tons of fun to play.

Scary insect!

The highlight of my time was a battle with a giant insect of sorts. An armored centipede that had to have it's protective shell broken with rock pikmin, then attacked in the soft parts by red pikmin. During the battle, the day ended! This forced me to retreat back to the ship. I was surprised to find out my progress on the boss had been saved so that I could continue the battle the next day! I find little touches like that quite entertaining. I also went back to the previous levels and opened up a few new areas with my yellow and rock companions, but didn't find much beside fruit.

Gravity Rush

Date played: August 10th and 11th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played a few challenge missions. These are specific tasks that award some gems to upgrade Kat's abilities. There are checkpoint races, battles and other activities. After at least trying a few of them, I moved on to the main missions. The first order of business was finding a home for our hero. She talked to a few people around the city, picking up a chair, desk and bed. This introduced a new ability, a sort of gravity field that forms around Kat, picking up any nearby objects or people. They can then be transported elsewhere or used as a projectile to attack enemies.

The next mission was about stopping the creatures from attacking the city. I kind of lost the plot, but I was tasked with replacing a gem at the top of a statue with a fake one. This turned out to be somewhat of a stealth mission. I had to navigate to the statue by using the walls and ceilings of the area to avoid being spotted. It's a cool idea but it's really hard to see all the enemies and which way they are facing. I could have done without this segment... Eventually, I made it, only to realize that the dude I gave the gem to was an impostor!

Story segments are really stylish

For some reason, the next mission had me visiting a fortune teller, who told me I needed to follow a white bird (using gravity tricks), go see a blue flag and pop some red balloons. This led me to a storyline about a boy who lost his father. I reunited them which opened up a portal to another dimension or something. This was an area where Kat had no gravity powers... I made my way through the area, avoiding enemies, only to find myself back mysteriously back in town.

I then played a couple of challenges, levelling up my skills along the way.  I also started the next mission but there wasn't anything I hadn't seen yet. 

Skylanders Giants

Ignitor is my favorite

Date played: August 10th and 11th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 6/10

I played some Giants with my brother who was visiting. He saw the figurines on the shelf and was curious to see them in action. We played the second level (very casually...) in co-op. He played most of the way with Tree Rex, swapping out a few times to use Cynder and Hex. I played most of it with Ignitor and a bit with Whirlwind. The level was pretty simple, though we didn't find all the secrets. There was more combat than the first level and the enemies were definitely stronger and more resilient. Archer enemies were a pain as they would hide on top of ledges. Ignitor's bombs proved useful in that situation. Both Ignitor and Tree Rex levelled up, though I didn't take the time to figure out what that really means. All I could see is that they have a few more hit points than before.

I then nought an upgrade to sword damage for Ignitor. I also played a challenge map that had me save rainbow colored singing geckos from rock prisons. It was easiest to use Tree Rex as he is could knock down walls easily. I was rewarded with a stat upgrade.

Gravity Rush

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

I played the demo for Gravity Rush about a year ago and enjoyed it. Then, when PS Plus came to Vita, I got it for free and never booted it up until now. I only played a the first two chapters of the game, mostly just tutorial stuff. Kat wakes up next to a weird cat with no memory of anything. She walks around a bit until someone asks her to help save his son who is trapped in a house. There's a giant wormhole of sorts above the city and it was sucking up the house. I was confused, but went on to save the boy using the amazing gravity shifting mechanics of the game. After saving the boy, I met another gravity shifter, a lady with a crow companion but she floated away before we could talk.

This game is pretty awesome

I was then interrupted by a city worker, asking why I wasn't at work yet. It seems Kat has a job with the city somehow. Either way, he tasked me with fixing a nearby fountain by collecting gems in the neighborhood. I also fought a few monsters, little black creatures with a red weak spot. The game controls really well, giving the player an amazing sense of freedom. It's not uncommon to be flying around, changing gravity at the touch of a button and it all feels great. There are also stats to level up like health, speed and gravity shifting. The story is simple so far, but presented in a very cool, motion comic style. 

Storm demo

Pretty and shitty

Date played: August 6th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 1/10

Bleh. This game sucks. This is a 2D puzzle game that has the player move fruit around to grow trees using the elements. For example, using wind to push the seeds towards the next patch of fertile soil or using lighting to burn things that are blocking the path. While the game looks great, it plays like shit. The controls are iffy, I had trouble setting up my wind streams more than once. Secondly, it's really hard to know what is possible and what isn't. I got stuck on the third level simply because I couldn't figure out how to have the seed climb a steep slope. I'm really glad I didn't spend any money on this one...

The Last Of Us

Date played: August 5th and 6th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

I finished The Last Of Us.

I think this is my favorite game this year so far... The hero finally reached the destination but gets ambushed by the cannibal dude from before. I ran away outside the building but was blinded by a large snowstorm. This was one of the coolest sequences graphically. The snow is completely blinding and also reduces the effectiveness of hearing mode. It was cool to stealth my way through the area and kill dudes from behind in the blizzard. There was then a stealth fight against the cannibal which I won by using bricks to distract him and stalking the guy from behind. He had to be knifed three times before going down for good.

Cut to Spring.

Ellie and Joel made their way to Salt Lake City, the city where we expect to find the Fireflies and their research facility. This chapter takes place around a bus depot. After a few ladder puzzles, Ellie spotted a herd of giraffes (!) roaming the city. The scene was very calm and seemed to revitalize Ellie, who was a bit depressed after the encounter with the cannibal. The game wasn't shy about using music to enhance the experience and this was one of the best examples in the game.

The last pleasant sequence in the game

The beautiful view didn't last. We headed towards the hospital where the Fireflies should be located. This took us through another underground tunnel, completely infested with infected, including a spot with three bloaters and a couple of clickers. I climbed on top of a bus, threw a brick in the middle of the pack and threw some molotovs and scissor bombs in the pack of creatures, resulting in a screaming, fiery pack of mushroom people. Then we reached the hospital.

It didn't take long for the Fireflies to spot us. Marlene, the woman who gave Joel and Tess the mission back in Boston, was there. It quickly became clear that Joel and Marlene disagreed on how to handle the whole vaccine situation. To create a vaccine, the Fireflies must remove parts of Ellie's brain, killing her in the process. Joel has become attached to her so much that he opposes Marlene.

Ellie being stuck in the operating room, Joel makes his way through the hospital to go rescue her. I found an assault rifle along the way and loved using it. It's very powerful and has good range. I fought dozens of armored enemies in the hospital until finally reaching Ellie and running away with her. Unfortunately, Marlene intercepted us and confronted Joel on his decision to kill all hope for a cure. In the end, he killed Marlene to prevent her from going after the duo in the future. Joel finally escaped, with Ellie still knocked out from the drugs.

The epilogue has Joel flat out lying to Ellie about the whole thing and convincing her that they didn't need to operate on her because they already had all the info needed for a vaccine...  In the end, Joel saved the life of one over saving humanity. Pretty fucking selfish man. This was easily one of the best games I've ever played and look forward to playing it again one day.

Skylanders Giants

Date played: August 5th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

It's not obvious to me that I am a gamer dad. My three year old daughter has been in many video game stores with me and has always loved looking at the Skylanders figures. I saw the starter pack on sale for 40$ and caved. I bought the starter pack as well as three additional figurines, one for each member of the family. I got the game on Wii U which includes the portal of power, the giant Tree Rex, Jetvac and Cynder. I bought Hex, Ignitor and Whirlwind separately.

The game is a sort of brawler with loot. It's obviously aimed at kids, with shitty graphics, a cartoon art style and a very dumb and light story. The key feature is the portal of power thing. Dropping a Skylander figurine onto the portal spawns it in the video game. Swapping Skylanders works very well, is fast and tons of fun.

I played in co-op with my girlfriend and put my daughter in charge of changing the creatures. She got a real kick out of just putting different characters on screen and was nice enough to put on the needed creature when the game required it. We only played the first level, though we played it three times to unlock all hidden items. I also scored some hats that act as stat increasing equipment. While I'm not expecting much from the game itself, the figurine stuff is really cool.

Pikmin 3

Date played: August 4th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 10/10

Holy fuck, Pikmin 3 is amazing. I had played the first Pikmin game, back on Gamecube, but never played the second. I still don't know why because I really love this damn game. This is really still just Pikmin, but with up to three leaders, a few more pikmin type and some amazing graphics, mainly due to the art style and heavy depth of field effects.

The game starts with a stranded green commander dude, he discovers yellow pikmin but gets ambushed by an unseen creature when the game cuts to the second little commander dude. Blue dude. That's where the game really starts. The old formula still applies. Gather stuff, bring back to ship, grow pikmin, carry bigger stuff. Also, fight bugs and shit. I've rescued the third member of the crew, pink commander dudette, who can be launched up to solve some puzzles. It all feels great.

Pikmin 3 looks amazing

The only problem is, I'm using three physical devices at once. The pad on my lap to see the map and use the radio, and the nunchuk and wii remote combo to control my aim and character. I tried playing with only the Gamepad and it was just difficult to aim well.  Either way, I'm LOVING this game.

Final Fantasy VI

Date played: August 3rd
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 9/10

Well, I think I've made it further into this game than I ever have before. Terra, Locke and Shadow investigated the small town of Thamasa. I observed some weird things around town such as a young boy practising the Fire spell, a child begging her mother to cast Cure on her and most importantly, a old fart and what appears to be his grand-daughter or child.

When a fire breaks out in one of the houses, the town reveals that most of it's habitants are descendent of the espers and stuff. The old man, Strago, joins us while Shadow leaves again. Strago is the blue mage of this game. He learns monsters magic basically. I hate these types of classes generally but he dealt good damage with his spells and ice rod. We fought some fire based enemies and a boss, none of which were very difficult.

Strago is cool, but I don't like blue mages 

We then left together to investigate the mountain where espers might be. We climbed the mountain, fighting enemies until we reached three statues of old goddesses. We fought Ultros again, the blue octopus. That's when Relm came in, Strago's little girl person. She sketched (!) Ultros and he died. I have no fucking idea what happened there and don't understand the ability... That's where I stopped for the night.

Frobisher Says

Date played: August 2nd
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 7/10

Uhh...sure?

Frobisher Says is a weird, free to play Warioware clone of sorts. While it doesn't have as much speed and has fewer minigames than Warioware, Frobisher Says is still a lot of fun to play in short bursts. The games themselves are varied, crazy and mostly fun. One of my favorites had me search for a bird in augmented reality using the Vita's gyroscope and camera. Another had me guide a pixelated crocodile to a giant flan dessert, hidden under a Pitfall style map. I smiled for the ladies and frowned for some penguins, again, using the camera. I squashed Englishmen using the back touch and touch screen at the same time. I even drove a smiling, three bladed helicopter through a smiling thing infested sky. I like this game, it's just that some of the games suck a bit.

Dokuro

Date played: August 1st
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 6/10

One more time, PS Plus delivers a nice free game. Dokuro is a 2D puzzle platformer that plays a little bit like Ico, but simpler. A Princess is captured by an evil overlord guy when one of his skeleton minions falls for her and starts rescuing her. The catch is, she can't even see him! The skeleton dude can transform into a hero to carry the princess and battle enemies, but only for a short time. In skeleton form though, the guy has a double jump and a push back move that makes him the most useful form.

The puzzles are pretty clever, involving some timing based events that require some skill as well as good thinking. The art style is pretty nice too. I played the first two chapters of the game, including a cool boss that required spiky boxes to be moved in his path. While this is not an amazing game, it's definitely a good one.

Earthbound

Date played: July 31st

Ness rocks

Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 7/10

Grind grind grind.

I levelled up Ness all the way to 6, bought him some stronger equipment and fucked up Frankie and the sharks. The battle was a piece of cake after a couple more levels. After being congratulated by Frankie himself, the mayor saw fit to give me the key to the entertainer's shack that led to a cave. The cave is overrun by insects of all types but I mainly fought little snails and bugs. I think the next boss is coming up real soon. There have been rumors of a giant ant wrecking havoc in the cave. 

NHL 13

Date played: July 31st
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

I. CAN'T. FUCKING. SCORE. A. GOAL.

It's crazy... I feel like I'm really good at NHL except the part that matters most, putting the damn puck in the net. I played very well against my friend as the Sens and the Oilers but got blanked 2-0 in both games. Hell, I shot more, I hit more, I won more faceoffs, I even got fewer penalties but it wasn't enough. I set up awesome plays, yet can't put the fucking thing behind the goalie.

Metal Slug XX

Date played: July 31st
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 6/10

I've always been interested in Metal Slug but since it's such a ruthless arcade game, I never dropped any cash on the series, having only played a few demos and a couple of runs in real arcades. XX was made free on PS Plus, this being a PSP release of Metal Slug 7 on DS. I must say that I really fucking love the art style of these games. Enormous 2D sprites display the explosions, the streams of bullets, the blood and the gorgeous vehicles look amazing. The game handles well too, feeling a lot like the old Contra games.

The problem I have is the game is just too damned hard. So I played on Beginner mode... I have powerful weapons all the time and seemingly infinite continues. This makes the game way too easy but it's also really fun to just mow through all enemies. I made it to Chapter 4 but it's clear that I need to play a harder difficulty to have any real fun here.

The Last Of Us

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

The hero is still trying to reach the hideout. I fought a bunch of dudes, using stealth kills, scissor bombs, molotovs, the rifle, the bow and a shotgun. I only really played one encounter when I ran out of time to play. I did get a nice cut scene where Ellie gets captured by the deer dudes from before and is put into a cage. It quickly becomes clear that they intend to eat her when they run out of food... that shit is creepy. That's where I had to stop playing...

Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition

Blanka is awesome...

Date played: July 30th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played a bit of SSFIVAE on the couch against my friend. He's usually pretty good at games but is not experienced with Street Fighter. We played a few rounds where he just picked characters he thought looked cool. Having played this series extensively, I beat his ass into the fucking ground. To assert my dominance completely, I even played a round with Blanka and cheesed him the fuck out. I rolled into him a few times until he reached the corner, then I jumped in and just used the electric punch attack over and over again, netting me a perfect, cheap ass victory.

I then offered my friend some mentoring. We both picked Ryu, we removed the time limit and I just had him practice basic moves like Haduken, Shoryuken and the flying roundhouse kick move. Eventually, we started having some much closer battles, even though he only managed to win one round. I also played a very successful round as Crimson Viper (she is really fun to play) and a few rounds as Sakura.

The Last Of Us

Date played: July 29th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

Naughty Dog fucking knows what they're doing! I played through the Colorado University chapters. Most of it was pretty standard stuff. In one of the battles, I threw a molotov at a clicker, which proceeded to scream out in horror and attract every other bad guy through the flaming doorway, leaving me only a Bloater to kill. I took out my new flamethrower and burned him until he died. It's super effective! Eventually, it became apparent that the Fireflies had left the school a long long time ago. One of the staff members left a recording indicating that the other Fireflies headed west to a city I forgot the name of...

Then Joel gets badly hurt. A piece of reinforcing bar went through his stomach as a result of a fight. Ellie then had to help Joel fight off some bandits, get him up and off the rebar and help him go through the school again to get back to the horse. This was one of the coolest sequences yet. Joel is hurt, his vision is blurred, his movement slow and wobbly and his aim isn't as good as usual. Ellie shot more than a few guys and saved us both. After we got on the horse, the game makes another hard cut.

Winter.

YEAR OF THE BOW, BITCHES!

I don't want to spoil too much so I'll try to stay as vague as possible. The chapter starts with our hero catching a rabbit out in the woods using the bow. Then, a deer walks by! Sure enough, I had to track it down through the woods without making a sound. I shot it three times with the bow but it was still alive and I had to chase it all the way into a large outpost of some sort. I was then ambushed by two men who wanted the deer. I agreed to trade the deer for some important supplies. We got attacked by infected while talking though, so I ended up pairing with one of the guys to overcome the clickers. The rifle came in really handy as it killed all enemies in one shot. One sequence even had us hiding out in a shack, trying to repel the zombies, kind of like the cabin scene in RE4 or the zombie mode in Treyarch's Call of Duty games.

After taking care of the infected, I got my supplies, got on my horse and escaped the facility by completing a cool chase sequence. I had to pick the right paths to avoid enemies while galloping full speed....then the trusty steed was shot and killed. I am now on foot, trying to make my way back to camp.

Lego City Undercover

Date played: July 28th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

Fly Lizard man thing, fly.

I played through one story mission and a few side things. The mission took place inside one of the large banks of Lego City where Chase had to steal a huge diamond to get on the mobster's good side. The mission was fairly basic though. Most of the gameplay revolved around using the paint gun to change the color of different things in the level to progress. For example, Blue paint can turn a normal white wall into a climbable surface while green paint turns on electronics. The problem is that you have to find changing stations to change colors and those are pretty rare in the over world, leaving a bunch of areas inaccessible until I find the right color.

Earthbound

Frank is a douche, but his robot is worse!

Date played: July 28th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 4/10

Urgh... I forgot this game requires farming. I explored Onett and talked to almost all of it's residents. The writing is easily one of the best qualities of this game as everyone has something funny to say. The dog that channels the game developers voice is one of the funniest... I'm trying to get to the mayor so that I can have access to the road to the next city but that requires a daisy chain of events to be completed before that. The first thing I must do is rid the town of it's little hoodlum gang, led by Frank, the red jacket wearing greaser.

I tried to take him on and I beat him, but there is a second boss fight against his robot right after that and I was just taking too much damage. That means I have to farm experience for a bit... I've upgraded most of my equipment but it still isn't enough. I fought some greasers in the streets for a bit but when they gang up, they can easily take me down. I think I will have to just level up a bit more before moving on.

The Last Of Us

Back to school!

Date played: July 27th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

Horses! At Tommy's hydro dam camp, Joel tried to leave Ellie with Tommy and his wife Sara. They refused and unfortunately, Ellie heard the conversation. Shortly after that, we find that Ellie is missing and seems to have taken off on a horse on her own. Tommy and Joel then grab a pair of horses of their own and go out looking for her. After a bit of horseback exploration, the two siblings find a ranch house and Ellie's horse. It turns out she was angry, left to let off some steam and was chilling out in a room of the house. After fighting a bunch of bandits around the area, When we got back to the dam, it was predictably being attacked by more bandits. We cleared out the place pretty quickly.

Eventually, Joel came to his senses and decides to accompany Ellie to the Fireflies hideout which Tommy informed us is in the Eastern Colorado University. Once we got off our horses, we started making our way through campus. The first combat scenario was pretty easy, I managed to clear out the room almost entirely stealth with the exception of two guys at the end. I also scored a new flamethrower which I will keep for Bloaters as they seemed to be weak to molotov cocktails. I reached the football field, now populated by monkeys. 

Scott Pilgrim VS The World: The Video Game

Yup.

Date played: July 27th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

I farmed some cash in the third level, the one that has me fighting "The Clash At Demonhead". I just wasn't hitting hard enough to make it through on three lives. Maybe I should have focused on defense but went with the Bionic Arm upgrade, a +50 STR item. I also unlocked a very useful move, a sort of bounce attack that got me out of trouble more than once already. The next time I play, I should be strong enough to finish the level.

Scott Pilgrim VS The World: The Video Game

Date played: July 25th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

Rock on!

I played some three player Scott Pilgrim with my brother and his girlfriend. We managed to get through the first level and first boss but we got a bit bored after that. My bro's girlfriend used my level 11 Scott while my brother used the level 3 Ramona. I used Stills for the first time and while he has some really cool animations, I didn't get to a high enough level to be able to use ground attacks. We had a lot of fun laughing at the idle animations too, mainly because, well, boobs. :-)

Zen Pinball 2

This is a fun table!

Date played: July 25th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

Zen Pinball 2 is turning out to be quite a hit as a hotseat multiplayer game. I played a few four player games with two of my brothers and a girlfriend. We started with a bit of Street Fighter which is actually a pretty good beginner table since it's pretty simple overall. Once people got a bit more comfortable, we jumped into the Clone Wars table, one of the highest scoring and combo heavy tables. Each person's skill level became a lot more evident here. We ended our session with a round on the Plants vs Zombies table which was a hit with one of my bros who is a huge fan of the regular game. 

Earthbound

Fuzzy Pickles!

Date played: July 20th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

Finally, Earthbound is re-released for the first time since 1995. My love for RPG's started with Super Mario RPG, but it grew with games like Earthbound. It's a game that I've never owned though. I rented it many many times, usually having to play from the beginning of the game and never having enough time to finish it. I've always loved the unique setting. There aren't enough games set in a bright, cheery modern day. Every little thing makes a difference such as making a call on a payphone, using an ATM or battling wild snakes with a cracked bat.

I only played through the intro where the meteorite crashes, Ness investigates with his dog and dumb neighbour and meets Buzz-Buzz, the powerful bee who gets hilariously slapped to death by the ugly mom next door. At 9.99$, Nintendo is really pushing it, but I love the game too much to pass up playing it again. 

The Last Of Us

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

Holy fuck.... This game is heartless. Joel was separated from Ellie for a bit and was left with Sam, Henry's little brother. We made our way through a portion of the sewer refugee camp together, killing a few infected until we regrouped with Henry and Ellie. We finally made it out into an open area that was guarded by a very skilled sniper.

This combat sequence felt very different as I really just had to avoid his line of sight. When I got closer, he let out a few goons which I dealt with using mostly molotovs and the pistol. I then sneaked into the house, took out the guy and took his spot at the sniper rifle. This soon became a really fun sniping event where I was forced into aiming mode and had unlimited ammo. I had to take down dozens of infected to protect my three companions until Henry and Sam got pinned down by clickers.

Then it happened. The game fucked with me. Let's just say that Henry and Sam are no longer part of the group and that the game made a hard cut to "Fall". Joel and Ellie went to meet Tommy, Joel's estranged brother and received a warm welcome from their group of survivors. I can't wait to see how this chapter develops!

Zen Pinball 2

This table was fun!

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

I played a bunch of demo tables, I kind of want to buy a few more. The first Marvel pack seemed pretty damn outstanding. Spider-Man and Iron Man seemed to be the strongest overall, both having fun ramps and a good flow. Blade and Wolverine felt pretty good too. I also tried a few Zen original tables and they definitely felt older and less... fleshed out. Maybe I'll buy that first Marvel pack soon.

Final Fantasy VI

Date played: July 19th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 8/10

Whew! Lots of story developments going on here... We opened the gate for the Espers but they flew off in a rage and started destroying shit. As soon as we got out of the dungeon, we got on the airship and headed for the empire's continent to see if we could talk to them. As soon as we got there, the ship was attacked and crashed.... boo! Unfortunately, that means walking is back in style. We made our way to the capital where were to meet with the Emperor. Before the big talk, there was a cool sequence where I had to go speak to as many guards as possible in the castle to gain some support for our cause. I think I managed to speak to about 20 in four minutes.

The Emperor's banquet

We then had a very interesting meal at a banquet with the Emperor. He claims that the war is over and that we must fight together to save the world from the Esper's destructive rampage. Terra agreed to speak with the Espers and will go with Locke. The others will stay behind. I think I will get to see their adventures later, but for now, I headed to a nearby port to get on a boat. Terra and Locke had the surprise of being joined once more by Shadow, the bad ass ninja with a cute puppy. Our three man team is now ready to go meet the Espers. 

Zen Pinball 2

Moon Knight is a sexy table!

Date played: July 19th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 7/10

Zen Pinball 2 is a great way to kill a few minutes on the go... I played a bit of Ghost Rider, Plants vs Zombies and X-Men but most of my time was spent with Moon Knight's amazing ramps. That table feels just right. The ramps flow well, the missions are cool and the bumpers are not too nasty. I've noticed that a few tables piss me off every time. Ghost Rider seems like it's too big, Plants vs Zombies has one ramp that is a bit too steep and X-Men has occasional shitty bounces that kill a whole game. Moon Knight does it perfectly. 

The Last Of Us

Date played: July 18th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

Joel and Ellie made it out of Pittsburgh. It all started with a sort of duel between our dynamic duo and the god damned Humvee that's been fucking with us since we arrived. We had to hide from the truck's field of view, often while taking out other bad guys. Eventually, we reached a safe spot, only to be ambushed by a black dude.

After a brief brawl, it became obvious that the man was just another survivor, named Henry. He also has a little teenage partner, a boy named Sam. All four of us made our way to their hideout, an architect's office. After resting, we decided to try making it out of the city. With two extra pairs of hands, it should be easier.

At night, we sneaked out, took out a bunch of guards and hid from the Humvee again. Then, shit hit the fan. Our two new friends abandon us in favor of saving their own skin. Ellie goes back to Joel where they are eventually forced to jump down the giant bridge. Considering Ellie can't swim, that was a dangerous proposition. Thankfully, the Henry and Sam felt bad about leaving us and saved us from drowning. We explored the sandy beach for a bit where we discovered a sailor's abandoned fishing boat and a sewer entrance. We are trying to reach a communications tower where Henry's friends are waiting.

In the sewers, we found evidence of a large group of survivors that has been recently wiped out. The place is rigged with tons of traps and alarms but we still had to fight a few infected. I stopped playing once I reached a depressing room filled with toys, a man's corpse, about three children's corpses and a message scrawled on the floor. "They didn't suffer..." it said....

Lego City Undercover

Gelato!

Date played: July 16th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 7/10

I didn't have much time to play but I still managed to play a mission, got a new costume skill and explored a new area. Chase helped out the mafioso from the previous mission by ramming a car into a large airport transport truck until it's driver ran away. Chase then stole the truck and brought it to the big boss. The scene where they meet feels straight out of an 80's spoof movie like Airplane or Naked Gun, it was genuinely funny!

After that, I just explored the new area, a sort of Italian district of sorts, complete with canals and gelato shops. I also unlocked a new tool for the robber costume, a paint gun. It seems that all the weird grey objects I have been seeing in the world need to be colored with this gun. The catch is that the object must be colored the correct color. For example, a tree should be green. The gun comes in pink by default, it's colors must be changed at little color stations around the world. It seems like this will open a whole new set of objectives! I also completed one car robbery mission.

The Last Of Us

It seems even the apocalypse can't save us from Twilight-mania

Date played: July 14th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played through a gameplay heavy segment in Pittsburgh. I made it out of the hotel alive, thanks to a surprise save by Ellie. She thought Joel was taking too long and started looking for him. As luck would have it, she shot a bad guy in the head just as Joel was about to be drowned by him in a small pool of water in the hotel dining room. We then made our way out of the place through a beautiful room, a sort of piano/dining hall.

After all that, Ellie pressured Joel (again) to give her a gun. He gave her a rifle and she was extremely useful in the next encounter. The local militia is starting to be really scared of our duo. They speak of the pick-up truck team in hushed tones, making up stories and stuff. I fought about 12 guys in an open area. I took out most of them stealthily, but then resorted to pistols, the bow, molotov cocktails and scissor bombs. Ellie saved my ass once and killed two or three guys. She now has pistol at all times and has helped a few times. 

Rayman Legends Challenges App

Date played: July 14th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 7/10

Once again, the awkwardness of the eShop has hidden a good download from me. I seemed to have missed this completely but in lieu of Rayman Legends proper release, Ubisoft has released this challenge app that serves up daily and weekly challenges. One level was an endurance run type of event where I had to go as far as possible through the level before getting swallowed whole by the chasing flames. It was really fun and I ran a good distance, though I could have done a lot better if I tried a few more times.
The second map was more of a time trial event. I had to fall down a huge ravine bordered by spikes. It's a very short level, my best time was around 21 seconds. 

Tank! Tank! Tank!

Date played: July 14th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 6/10

The eShop could be a lot easier to use... I was navigating through the convoluted menus of Nintendo's digital store front and randomly found out that there is a free to play version of Tank! Tank! Tank!. The catch is that there is a three play per day limit. I played it in two player mode. We tried to complete a city attack event but we didn't manage to kill the giant three headed mechanical dragon...

We couldn't bring this fucker down...

The game is actually an enhanced port of an older arcade game, and it shows. The graphics are pretty ugly and it's a very simple game. However, it's actually really fun. I played on the tablet and my partner played on the TV. The first part of the mission has us destroy 100 arachnoid enemies with rockets and machine guns. The second part is where it got really interesting though. The giant mechanical dragon attacked us and yes, defeated us. After the three allowed attempts, we figured we would have to try another day.

Lego City Undercover

Date played: July 13th and 14th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played a few of the story missions and a couple of side quests. The first mission I played had me investigate an alarm at the limo company. The two guards in front of the place had to be distracted first though. Time for a pool party! I rebuilt a BBQ, got some chicken and played DJ for the party people. Once I distracted the guards with the beautiful smell of chicken and my crazy beats, I found out the limo place was broken into by a ninja, which I chased down through the rooftops. As it turns out, it was Chase's ex-girlfriend! She seems to be running her own little investigation.

Yeeeeeee-awww motherfuckers!

The last mission I played had Chase building a motorcycle for a police officer in exchange for access to a patty wagon. This unlocked a new activity type, a sort of checkpoint time trial event. Once I got that done, I was equipped to bust out a Mafioso from prison to gain favours from the criminals. I picked him up and ran away from the cops. 

The Last Of Us

Date played: July 11th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

I only had time to play for about half an hour but I still made a bit of progress in The Last Of Us. I played through an interesting area, patrolled by a ton of human enemies. I sneaked around and strangled most of them. At the end, I was spotted when there were still three dudes around so I shot two with a revolver and bashed the other's face into a concrete wall. We then navigated through an elevator shaft, only to have it collapse of course.

The human shield ability is very useful.

Joel and Ellie are now separated. Joel is making his way through the lower floors in the building, trying to get back to Ellie. The area is filled with evil spores, fungus people, clickers and even a bloater. I was taken by surprise during the encounter and didn't manage to make it out alive. I will have to try again with better strategy and stronger weapons.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Date played: July 11th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played a few rounds of Team Deathmatch with my roommate, each on our own TV this time. I did pretty well, scoring above 1.0 K/D consistently. The highlight of the night has to be my friend's highest scoring match. She was in the zone for this one and racked up an impressive 21 kills in a short amount of time. It's kind of weird though, as big a fan of this series as I am, I just can't get excited for the upcoming Ghosts. Maybe it's because I haven't loved Infinity Ward's games as much, maybe it's because next-gen is right around the corner or maybe it's just COD fatigue... 

Lego City Undercover

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

I played some Lego City Undercover last night. This game is such a fucking blur because outside of missions, the game is just a giant playground. I explored the city a bit, built some changing rooms, collected fancy bricks, unlocked tons of characters (no vehicles this time though...) and even moved a bear from his sleeping spot by building a fishing pole, catching a fresh fish and throwing it at the bear so it would move.

Downtown is really cool to explore

This game is full of funny little quests, items, characters and locations. One of my favorites was the amazing Lego store in the downtown area. Not only is it very cute and pretty, it even has a little quest to go inside and build a pirate ship, a dragon and a space shuttle. If only it was 2 players...

Zen Pinball 2

Date played: July 7th, 9th and 10th
Platform: Vita/PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

I was playing some Zen Pinball 2 on Vita while I was watching a movie with friends. I played mostly the Star Wars tables. For some reason, they are always a ton of fun to play and I couldn't even tell you why!

After the movie was over, I booted up the PS3 version and downloaded four new tables, one of the Marvel packs. Ghost Rider is my favorite so far, though I've only played it once. Moon Knight was kind of ok, but nothing special. Thor was cool looking and fun, but I'm not sure it has staying power. X-MEN was a bit poor honestly, though I was tired by then and didn't really play well.

Scott Pilgrim VS The World: The Video Game

Matthew Patel, the first evil ex.

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

3 player Scott Pilgrim on a couch and an HDTV? Sign me right the fuck up please.

I loved my time playing this game with two friends. One of them doesn't really play a lot of games so she used my level 11 Scott while the other picked the bassist. I used Ramona, mostly for the panty shots...and her sick hammer. We played through the first level and boss then called it quits.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

I thought Trasher would be better... I was wrong.

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

This game has NOT aged well at all... Wow.

My friend busted out this copy of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater out of a drawer and asked me if I wanted to play. I've always been a fan of the these games, I was really into it until THUG. Then I played Project 8 which I liked at the time.

The first game is uglier than a 60 year old Vegas crack whore. It handles fairly well for it's age, but it still controls badly. There aren't enough moves to have fun and some of the levels are just awful, like the Mall. 

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Date played: July 7th

PLAYERS

Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played a lot of split screen online matches with my friend. It always a lot harder playing in split screen, mostly because of the audio... It's freaky having a grenade explode when there is no one else around. We played Ground War so there was a lot players, which was refreshing, except that the lag was awful. I barely stayed above 1.0 K/D ratio. There was only one match where I scored a nice 21-5 or something, that was nice.

LittleBigPlanet Karting

Date played: July 5th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 6/10

After waiting more than 20 minutes for this game to patch, my brother and I finally got around to playing a bit. It makes a good first impression with a very cool intro video, good art and the always pleasant LBP narrator. The tutorial quickly makes it clear that this is a straight up Mario Kart clone. It controls the same, it feels the same and it drifts the same. Those are good things.

Explosions!

We exclusively played online with some user created levels and other players. We are both pretty damn good at racing games and have been playing kart games together since the original Super Mario Kart so we fucking destroyed all other players. The first level we played was a complete remake of Moo Moo Farm from Mario Kart 64. It was very well made and even had custom built items. We played that three times in a row...

We then tried two other maps. One was completely borked. The interface was absent, the split screen wasn't working and we got stuck in a corner somewhere. Still, it had some amazing jumps, some crazy crocodiles and even an avalanche. Overall, I liked my time with this game but it could be a lot fucking better.

Rayman Legends demo

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

My brother was visiting and we wanted to try LittleBigPlanet Karting. I downloaded LBP Karting from PSN Plus but had never played it. The PS3 being what it is, it had four patches to download. That's right, a game that was downloaded directly from the internet required four fucking patches. To kill time while the PS3 did it's thing, we played the Rayman Legends demo again...

Scott Pilgrim VS The World The Video Game

Date played: July 4th and 5th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

For 2$, I couldn't pass this up, even if I already have the 360 version. I played through the first two levels and bosses. I had a much easier time with the game than the last time I played because I started abusing the shops to boost my stats. I didn't realize that the food was giving me huge stat boosts when I first played and this made it a lot more enjoyable.

AKIRA!

The game controls really well and of course, it still looks amazing (I can't wait to try it on my big screen tv...).  I'm having a hard time beating the third boss but I'm getting really close. I think if I'm just a little more careful, I won't have any problems next time. I also played a bit of multiplayer as Ramona with my brother playing as Scott. It's a lot easier to get juggles going with another player present...

Gran Turismo 6 demo

You look great baby, too bad you can't race.

Date played: July 4th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 3/10

Polyphony Digital just doesn't fucking get it do they? This is one of the most boring racing games I've played in a while. Don't get me wrong, it's a great driving game, but it's not racing game. The AI is dumber than Chris Brown, the collision physics feel like they are straight out of early '90's Stunts and sounds are as boring as a lecture on chemistry.

To be fair, it looks great, runs great and has some amazing replays. It also drives pretty damn well. It's just too bad that it feels more like a time trial simulator than a racing game. Plus, the game starts you in a fucking Nissan Leaf. Come on. I eventually graduated to the beautiful 370z which is a lot more fun to drive. I think I'll stick to Grid.

Jurassic Park: Builder

Date played: Almost everyday
Platform: iOS/Android
Session fun rating: 5/10

I've been playing this game for 5 minutes every day. This is another one of these free to play building games, but this time, you're building your own Jurassic Park! I'm up to level 15 after months of very casual play. I have five herbivores, seven carnivores and two underwater dinosaurs. I've always loved dinosaurs so this fits perfectly. I play it mostly on iPad but I've recently discovered that it's also available on Android so I play it a bit on my Galaxy S3 also. It plays a lot better on iPad honestly. My favorite dinosaur is my Brachiosaurus!

My Jurassic Park

Final Fantasy VI

Edward is in my active party now

Date played: July 2nd and 3rd
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 8/10

I needed a relaxing game to play while in bed last night so FFVI seemed like a good one to continue. I initiated my travels with a visit to the auction house, where I scored two new Espers, for a hefty price of course. Since I just got the airship, I looked up a few FAQ's to see if there was anything useful I could do and found a spot to steal some Genji Gear from some monsters. The gear is stronger than anything I've had before so I farmed for three of them.

I then headed for Narshe where I had a conversation with a wise dude about what to do next. We decided that the only way we could take out the Empire was with the Esper's help from the World of Ruin. Terra seems best suited for this task as she is a human/esper hybrid. Before heading to the dungeon that opens the gate between worlds, I recruited Mog in a fun side quest through the mines of Narshe.

I then started the dungeon, a place filled with lava and fire-resistant enemies. I found a lot of cool gear in there and the enemies haven't given me any real trouble yet. I've swapped out Setzer for Edward as he seems a lot more powerful and versatile. 

Zen Pinball 2

Date played: July 1st
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

To celebrate Canada Day, I spent some time with my family. It was also a great time to finish my man-cave, which is almost complete now. That means I now have a very comfortable spot to go play games, so I had to test it out proper! I played some split screen Zen Pinball 2 with my brother. The mode is essentially a race for the highest score. While the concept is really good, the interface kind of sucks and often would obscure the playing field and made it more difficult to see all the ramps and knick-knacks at the top of the table.

My man-cave

We had a lot more fun with the hot seat mode and we added a third player. Each player gets three balls and you pass the controller to the next person when a ball is lost. We had tons of fun exploring the tables together, trying to learn their more obscure features. It's a lot easier to learn a table when watching someone else since you don't have to focus on the ball so much. The table we had the most fun with is the Avengers. That table is complex, fast and has some really cool features that could never be done on a physical table, such as a jet launching and all sorts of crazy shit.