Split/Second

ALL GOLDS!!!

Date played: June 6th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 25 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

My friend was visiting with his wife and while the girls were chatting, we started talking about this game. He just bought it on PSN after seeing me play and when I told him I had all golds, he freaked out and wanted to see me play to get some tips.

I played one low level race and won easily then we played few split screen races where he held his own but was ultimately destroyed by me. Good times.

Family fun time!

Date played: June 3rd
Platform: PS3, N64
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

This was a weird day for me as I ended up playing some games with my grandmother and one of my brothers. My grandmother is a gamer and has been since the Atari 2600. She has a Wii and doesn't really know what's out there. She asked me for some good games and since she loves platformers, I suggested Rayman Origins. Then she asked to see it so we played a level together. It was hard for her but she managed to make it to the end of the level. I also played a few levels with my brother.

Couch gaming is the best

Then, after my grandma left, my brother and I played some Bomberman 64 and Diddy Kong Racing. Bomberman 64 was fun but it is NOT classic Bomberman. The game is played in an open arena and the bombs don't explode vertically and horizontally anymore, they are a normal looking radius explosion. This changes the game quite a bit. Anyway, I suck at Bomberman and my bro won almost every round.

Diddy Kong Racing is still lots of fun but the music sucks and I only had four tracks unlocked so we had a limited experience.

Midnight Club L.A. Remix

This thing is dead

Date played: June 3rd
Platform: PSP
Time played: 5 minutes
Session fun rating: 3/10

I found my PSP while cleaning and decided to give it a go for old times sake. It turns out, I really hate the ghosting on my PSP-1000. I played one race with my trusty Volkswagen and won easily. I remember that this game was fun but I don't usually like open world racing like this as it's hard to be good at them until you know the whole city, kind of like Burnout Paradise. I should sell my PSP...

Darksiders

Date played: June 3rd
Platform: PS3
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I want to beat this game before the sequel comes out so I played a bit of it when I had free time. I basically just played a boss, Silitha, a giant spider bitch. I kept getting killed by her teleport attack but I eventually managed to figure out the pattern and kill the boss in a very bloody way. I think this is the next game I will focus on...

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations demo

KA-ME-HA-ME-HA!

Date played: June 3rd
Platform: PS3
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 5/10

I don't like Naruto but the animation in this series has been enough for me to at least try it's demos. This is an arena fighting game with full 3d movement. It has weird mechanics that I didn't take the time to learn properly but I managed to pull off some fancy looking moves. I got to the third fight in the demo and couldn't beat him so I stopped but I enjoyed the animation and graphics in this game...which also has one of the longest titles I've ever seen.

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...