Final Fantasy VI

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

I played a bit in the southern continent but I didn't actually make much progress. I explored a town and set out to infiltrate a Magitek factory. I am still using Locke, Celes, Sabin and Cyan. Sabin and Celes are by far the most useful of the four. Sabin's Aura Beam and Fire Dance inflict huge damage while Celes's spells are very powerful.

I have four Espers and while I don't use their summon ability much, I am teaching all my dudes a bunch of spells that can help in a pinch. The Magitek factory is a standard type dungeon. Lots of enemies and treasures but nothing else of note. 

New Super Mario Bros U

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

FUCKING SHIT THIS GAME GETS HARD! I played through about four levels of the Mountain world with my girlfriend and wow, this is getting tough man. While with one player, I think it would be more manageable, some of the tighter jumps are a lot more difficult when there is another bozo in the way. We have started using the bubble technique on some of the harder sections where if one of us fucks up, we just bubble and hope that the other player makes it through. When we fought the Sumos in one of the levels, we had to use it to progress as those guys are a pain with two players.

Sumos are back

There was a level that was all dark where it was hard to see enemies, platforms, coins and hidden pipes. We also found a hidden exit in one of the levels which added a new path on the world map. I have also used my first continue and my girlfriend is up to four or five... The game is still fun and the levels are still really creative but wow, it gets frustrating sometimes.

Assassin's Creed 3

Date played: December 9th and 10th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

Hey, stuff happened in this game. I must have missed some crucial line of dialogue somewhere but I am not playing as Haytham Kenway anymore, I am playing his son, Connor, first as a child, now as a teen. It seems like our friend Haytham had more than a kiss with the Mohawk lady! I also figured out that he was a Templar, not an Assassin, though at this point it makes no real difference I guess.

As a child, Connor played a game of hide and seek with his friends that was a pretty cool mission. It turned sour pretty quickly though when Haytham's old crew showed up and burned the village to the ground, leaving Connor's mother dead in the debris. Years later, he is now a teenager who hunts and gathers for his tribe. The hunting is actually pretty cool. I could set traps and lay out bait for different animals like deer, hare and fox. I even got attacked by a bear though he seems to have run away before I could kill him. Soon after, Connor had a meeting with an elder who gave him a precursor artifact (it looked like the Apple from AC2).

Connor in his teens

One of the weirdest missions so far played out after that where Connor is turned into an eagle and must follow a mysterious lady in an ethereal world. Either way, he now knows that he must find the league of Assassin's and give them their help for him to save his tribe.

I am in the Frontier, a large, mostly undeveloped area. There are view points, side missions, hidden collectibles and even famous explorer Daniel Boone. I spent some time exploring and got attacked by some cougars, bobcats and even elk. I soon turned the hunter into the hunted though. It seems like the game has just started really, even though I've been playing for hours. I can't wait to see how the game progresses, it's a lot of fun so far.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

I love sentry guns

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

I'm getting real comfortable with this new gun now... I almost never go below 1.0 kill/death ratio anymore and if I do, it's usually my first match (gotta warm up) or my last match (I'm too tired for this shit). Otherwise, I've been getting consistent high scoring and positive K/D. I mostly play Domination now since it reduces the amount of people spawning behind our team and it's more rewarding to play the objective since you get a ton of points. Even if I only have a few kills in a match, I am usually one of the top scorers because of flag captures and shooting down enemy aircraft. This allows for more sentry gun score streaks which works great in Domination. Bouncing Betties are a bitch there too.

I also prestiged my weapon, a new feature. It brings your weapon back to level 1 and you lose access to all attachments but you get a nice tag to put on the weapon and new challenges to complete. I still haven't unlocked the stock for my gun yet but it's coming up in only two weapon levels so I should be back to full force soon. I am also using Dead Silence instead of Dexterity as one of my perks now. I think this perk is under valued as I use sound to locate enemies all the time and I assume others do the same.

Nintendo Land

Mario Chase is always fun

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

My friend came over and we played a few rounds of Nintendo Land. We started with an FZero duel which I won, but only by a hair. Then we played two matches of Luigi's Ghost Mansion with my girlfriend and this one, again, was a total hit. It seems people really like to play games where one player has more information than a team of other players. Lastly, we played a quick round of Mario Chase which was also a lot of fun. It was too bad we didn't have more time though as he was starting to show some skills just as he had to leave. There's always next time right?

New Super Mario Bros U

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

I played through the end of the forest world and the first half of the mountain world with my girlfriend today. Again, the difficulty is way up there for a modern Mario game. It might be because there are two of us but man, some of those levels are real tricky. The forest world had some really good looking levels, using a sort of Van Gogh art style. Even the pipes and blocks were stylized.

We played some beautiful levels

The boss level wasn't as hard as Wendy but it was still challenging. The mountain world had some very tricky stuff too, this time revolving around rotating platforms, moving blocks and a old favorite enemy, the fuzzy's. Those little black bastards move on tracks and always seem to be in the worst possible spot. Thankfully, we made it through, sometimes with Yoshi's help as he can safely jump on them.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

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

YEAH BABY! I had a good time playing Black Ops in Domination and Team Deathmatch. I am starting to like Domination a lot more in this game since it really values the players that try to win the match by giving a ton of points for captures, defends and other support methods like UAV's. I was pretty damn good too, scoring an amazing 15-1 during one of my matches.

A lot of it has to do with my new weapon, the QBB LSW light machine gun. At first, I didn't like it at all but as soon as I got a few attachments, it started to show it's strength. While it doesn't work as well at very long range as my last weapon, it has a really good fire rate and high damage. It fucking spits yo. I do very well with it now, taking down even close range SMG and pistol users with ease, something that was almost impossible with other LMG's. Since most of the maps are not very long range, this seems to fit my style a bit better. The only real problem with it is that I have to put a red dot sight on it since the iron sights are a bit large and clutter my view of the battle more than I like.

Assassin's Creed 3

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

Urgh... I realized that this game's pop up tutorials are really bad. I had no idea I could take down a guy without killing him using only my fists. This ruined the first mission I played that asked me not to kill anyone. I had to infiltrate a redcoat camp to steal an important map and gain information on General Braddock. I got caught about five times before I paused the game and looked at the on-disc manual (a cool feature of both the Wii U and the Vita). It turns out, I can knock out guys with my fists in stealth...

Braddock on his last mission

This made the mission very easy... With the information in hand, Kenway and his new Mohawk lady friend intercepted the expedition. We dressed up as redcoats and managed to surprise Braddock, but didn't kill him right away. There was a really cool horse chase next full of exploding barrels (VIDEO GAMES!) after which I caught up to the Bulldog and killed him. Braddock's Defeat indeed.

Unfortunately, we found a precursor site but it was just writing, nothing special. Kenway and the lady did kiss though. I imagine that Connor will be their son but I am still not 100% sure. 

Final Fantasy VI

Celes as Maria

Date played: December 7th
Platform: Vita
Session fun rating: 6/10

I only played a few minutes of FFVI, but it included one of the most memorable scenes in the entire series, the opera scene. Celes masquerades as Maria, the famous opera singer, during an opera in order to get in contact with Setzer, the owner of the only civilian airship in the world. This scene, in all it's 16 bit glory, still works.

Of course, the whole thing gets crazy with the intervention of the purple octopus dude we met earlier. Locke and friends end up fighting him right there on the stage! We met Setzer and with a bit of trickery, we managed to convince him to get us to the Imperial lands with his ship. We made a short trip towards the spot lights of the Imperial lands and are ready to explore it!

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch demo

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

WOW! I am a huge Myazaki fan, Spirited Away and Ponyo are easily in my top 5 movies of all time and I've been salivating over screenshots of this game forever. Finally, I get to see it for myself and it did not disappoint. Ni No Kuni is an old school RPG by Level 5 that uses Myazaki's art style and plays like a mix of Eternal Sonata and maybe Pokemon. It feels like the JRPG that people have been asking for since the start of the generation, it's what Final Fantasy XIII should have been, it's what Blue Dragon could have been, it's what PS1 and PS2 RPG fans enjoyed.

The demo has two levels, a forest and a volcano. I started with the forest and it sticks you in a boss fight right away. The first thing that struck me is simply how amazingly beautiful this game is. It really took my breath away... Unfortunately, I got killed quickly in the first fight because I didn't know I could move the character. When the battle starts, I got to choose between fighting as Oliver, the hero, or a cute little orange beast with a sword. I went with Oliver, casting spells, using skills and blocking. The game uses a weird turn-based/real time hybrid system in conjunction with cooldown and mana limits. It's hard to explain but it works really well. I could easily dodge enemy attacks, reposition myself and choose spells without feeling too much pressure.

Yes, the game looks that good.

After the boss fight, there was an adorable voiced cut scene that led me to the world map. Yes, this game has a world map and it looks amazing. I should also note the fantastic orchestral music that plays throughout. I eventually reached a lovely town. I couldn't enter though as one or two guards felt really depressed. So I used some spells to borrow enthusiasm from one guard and share it with the other who was then willing to open the gate. Yep, you read that right, I borrowed enthusiasm.

The volcano level was a timed affair complete with dangerous paths to navigate and an evil fire boss. This time though, I had another party member and more creatures to play with. I had three little beasts to control (one at a time) as did the little girl in my party. Combat started to feel more strategic as I brought out different monsters to fight different enemies. Honestly, this is the most fun I've had with an RPG in a VERY long time and am now totally hyped for this game.

Assassin's Creed 3

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

Silas got shot in the face yo

I played the best mission so far yesterday. Haytham Kenway and his ragtag band of like-minded dudes went on their first real covert mission. We set out to infiltrate Southgate, a large redcoat camp, to free some Mohawk slaves and gain their favor. We disguised ourselves and took out enough guards to free the slaves there. Unfortunately, we were found after freeing the slaves and had to fight our way out, killing dozens of guys by stabbing, slicing and shooting with extreme violence. Feels good man.

We managed to kill Silas, their leader and are now waiting for Mohawks to contact us. It's now winter in Boston and snow surrounds us. The guys are getting antsy though and I have a feeling they will stop waiting if Kenway doesn't do something about it shortly. The mission was great because it was the first where I got to be stealthy and kill a ton of dudes, hiding in haystacks and bushes. It plays great.

New Super Mario Bros U

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

I played through four or five levels of the Forest world with my girlfriend yesterday. I have to say, this game is way harder with two players than it would be alone... For example, in the mid-world fortress level, there was a scrolling block-snake of sorts and with two players riding that thing, it becomes REAL tight. We died more often than we should have but we still had a ton of fun. The coolest level was a nice callback to SMB3 where all the enemies and blocks are giant! The art is really good on those and it's fun to see that stuff in HD.

This level was awesome

There was a level with a purple lava floor where the squirrel suit was handy and a tricky ghost house where we managed only one star coin. I wonder if there's a reward like a new world or level if we get all the star coins?

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

The Hellstorm missile is effective and it looks cool!

Date played: December 3rd
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played a lot of multiplayer Black Ops 2 yesterday, mostly in Team Deathmatch though I dabbled in Domination and Mosh Pit as well. I did pretty well for the most part with the exception of one awful match where I got sniped a lot. I'm still relying a lot on smoke grenades for difficult to approach situations and it works well but sometimes it's hard to obstruct high vantage points.

I had a few amazing games, notably on Carrier and Express, maps that really allow me to use the power of my mid range LMG. Bigger maps like Turbine are a bit tougher for me since it seems to favor close and long range. When playing Domination, I got a ton more kill streaks due to the capture points I was getting. I'm using the care package and got a stealth chopper and a hellstorm missile. Both of those are pretty damn powerful and I got a lot of kills with them. I'm also starting to know the maps a lot better as I play and of course, this helps my performance. This is my favorite Call of Duty multiplayer game in the series.

New Super Mario Bros U

Date played: December 2nd
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 10/10

I played through the Water and Ice worlds with my girlfriend today. What strikes about this game is that is feels a lot more difficult than NSMB 2 and NSMB Wii. We have to be more careful, my girlfriend had to use two continues already and we sometimes struggle to just get through a level, let alone get all the hidden coins.

Wendy, the bitch on skates

The Water world had some cool moments but it's boss fight was pretty simple. The Ice world had a some weird stuff though. The ghost house had us running around trying to find hidden doors until time ran out, the fortress was hard to survive and Wendy, the little wench turtle, had a difficult fight due to the slippery floors, her fucking projectiles, her movement pattern and her damn ice skates. We then had a nice level aboard Bowser Jr.'s ship with a ton of callbacks to SMB3 such as giant screws and bullet bills all over the place.We are now heading to a forest looking world where I hope to see some Wiggler action. It's weird though, we haven't actually seen Bowser yet. Only a mechanical arm and Bowser Jr... I wonder if there's something to that or if I just missed something.

Nintendo Land

Luigi's Ghost Mansion

Date played: December 2nd
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

My brother and his girlfriend were visiting so we took a 40 minute ride on the Nintendo Land train, playing about 8 games. This was my first time playing with four players and I have to say, it was even better than with three players. We played some Chase Mii, some FZero, Donkey Kong, the Octopus game, Balloon Fight, Animal Crossing and even some Zelda but the biggest hit was Luigi's Mansion by far.

Luigi's Mansion is a really cool game that takes strategy, communication and good control. It's really fun to be the ghost but it's even more fun to catch the fucker. The only thing that is pissing me off about this game is that I haven't been able to try the Metroid game since it requires nunchuks and I have none of those. 

Assassin's Creed 3

Miiverse is really cool 

Date played: December 2nd
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

My assassin dude is building a posse it seems. I've now recruited two more dudes to help find the precursor site. The first I saved from torture by sneaking around some docks and killing his captors stealthily. The other guy I saved from some red coat thugs but I had to tail them for a while. I found that using the rooftops was the easiest way.

Most of my time with the game today was actually spent exploring Boston to find all the synch points, usually on top of very high buildings. It was fun to find all the little notes on each historically significant place I ran into, like the Tree of Liberty or all the important churches. I also took advantage of Miiverse features I hadn't tried yet. For example, when I press the home button on the Gamepad, it takes a screenshot that can be posted on that game's section of Miiverse. So far, it's a really cool community, it feels like a mix of a gaming message board and Facebook. I like it a lot...

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Date played: December 1st
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 7/10

I just played a few matches of Team Deathmatch and had a mixed performance. I had two or three good matches and two or three bad matches, nothing in between really. I seem to do much better on maps that have longer line of sights than the smaller maps. On smaller maps, my huge LMG is overcome by SMG's easily. I tend to use smoke grenades to confuse people a lot, it doesn't seem like many players use them. I usually throw it in a spot where enemies would expect then I flank them, ignoring the smoke screen completely. I think I should try a different mode too, it would probably help with some of the cheap spawns.

Paper Mario Sticker Star

Date played: December 1st
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 8/10

I finished Paper Mario Sticker Star today. The last world was really just one level and two boss fights. It turns out Mario's flying friend was Wiggler who has evolved into a butterfly. He gave me a ride to Bowser's fortress in the sky but we got intercepted by Bowser Jr.'s air ship. This turned out to be a really cool level, full of bullet bills and a few new enemies. The puzzles were fun too. The boss fight against Bowser Jr. was cool and fairly easy although I was lucky to have some tail whip stickers in my album.

After taking him down, I headed to the last level, Bowser's fortress. Again, I needed a FAQ. Even then, I almost ran out of stickers since it's such a long fucking fight. He has five phases and he regains his health after each... Either way, after a long, FAQ-assisted battle, I took down. There was a cool twist during the fight that I won't spoil that put a nice spin on the system. Then of course, I took out Bowser, rescued Peach and revived the sticker festival. Last but not least, I watched the expected character parade during the credits.

Mario VS Bowser, Part CXVII....or something.

I have to say, this was a good game and I'm glad I played it. It was funny, pretty and had some really good ideas as well as amazing music, it's just too bad that I had to use FAQ's so often to avoid the tedium of trial and error.

Paper Mario Sticker Star

Date played: November 30th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 8/10

I completed the fifth world and I am ready to head out to the final world. The fifth world's boss was Petey Piranha. This was a more interesting, natural boss fight compared to the others. I had to simply damage him until he went off balance then use a stunning item like a POW block. I then used all my strongest stickers and he went down pretty easily. The stickers are really powerful now with almost everything worth using being either a giant sticker or a flashy sticker.

They look like they're having fun aren't they?

Petey's level was cool too as I had to free some Chomp-Chomp's that would hit an elevator-type platform to help me navigate the level. My sticker museum is now pretty full but I have no intention of filling it as it seems mostly useless. I now have to find a flying friend (???) to gain access to the last world. I have no idea who I need so I guess I'll check out Decalburg and talk to my sticker friend. If that doesn't help, I'll end up reading a FAQ again.

New Super Mario Bros U

These puffy dudes are cute but deadly

Date played: November 30th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played a few more levels of NSMBU with my girlfriend and daughter. We are working through the water based world which has tons of underwater levels. One of the levels that really stood out is an underwater chase where Mario and company must escape from a large dragon-like creature. It was pretty tricky since we had to keep moving and because there are two of us, we sometimes got stuck on geometry and died.

My daughter also seems to enjoy using the Gamepad. While she is only 2 1/2 years old and usually can't play normal games, she can tap on the touch screen and put blocks near us to help us out. She's actually really useful sometimes and has saved our sorry asses more than once. I'm really happy to play with her!