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....

Motorstorm RC demo

Date played: April 14th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I tried the demo for this downloadable PSN game. It's a top down racing game, it's nothing like real Motorstorm. It was fun though, it plays a lot like Death Rally.

There were 4 or 5 events in the demo including races, time trials and an "overtake" mode. I like the races best and the courses are surprisingly varied, spanning the setting for the four previous games in the series. There's a desert, a jungle, an icy area and an urban area. If I had a Vita, this would be a great portable game. As it stands, I wouldn't play it that much on PS3 but it's still a fun little game.

SSX

Shawn White in SSX

Date played: April 10th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I beat some of my friend's scores in global events for a while. It was really cool to just follow the game's recommendations and just play the next track, usually a track my friend had played on. I also downloaded the Eddie DLC, a free addon. I haven't played with him yet because he looks like a fucking clown. There isn't much else to say about that.

Dirt 3

Dirt 4 alpha build

Date played: April 9th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

I finished Dirt 3...sorta I guess. I mean, the credits rolled, I got level 30 and it's trophy and got golds on all race events and gymkhana. I didn't do any of the world tour events, didn't play much online and ignored time trial. In the end though, this was my favorite racing game in a long time, I hope we get Dirt 4 sometime soon, none of that Dirt Showdown bullshit. A fake Dirt 4 cover is better than no Dirt 4 cover.

You Don't Know Jack

Date played: April 9th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

Whew! I sucked at YDKJ today... I played three games against my girlfriend but won only a single match, something that is very rare. She won one the matches fair and square. However, her second win was a bit different.

I don't know why but the creators of the game were messing with us in that episode... Cookie was acting as if the questions had not been ready for the show and he was making them up on the fly. This resulted in a wacky but confusing game. Answers that should be right were wrong, long silences plagued the episode and the Jack Attack was a complete mind fuck. My girlfriend adapted faster and better than me and deserved this epic victory! GG baby, GG.

Mass Effect 3

Date played: April 8th
Platform: Xbox 360
Time played: 150 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I finished Mass Effect 3! I finished off the assault on the Illusive Man's base, killing Kai Leng in a spectacular manner and finding out that the Citadel was really the Catalyst and that the Reapers and the Illusive Man had already moved it to our solar system, Sol.

Either way, that is when I started the final assault on the Reapers on and around Earth.There was this fucking epic pre-rendered cut-scene showing the entire fleet firing on the Reapers while the Normandy slips by. Basically, Shepard and cie had to land on earth, take out a giant cannon and a Reaper and eventually go up a beam to the Citadel and open the doors so that the Crucible could dock.

There was a super hard fight with a bunch of Banshees and Marauders that I had to retry a few times but I finally managed to survive. In the end, without spoiling everything, I was super happy with my ending. I feel like I got the best ending for everyone but Shepard. There are a lot of people on the internet bitching about the ending, and in a way, I agree that there should have been more exposition or a more substantial epilogue but I feel like overall, I'm pretty happy with the results.

This sums up my ending pretty well

This is easily one of my favorite series this generation and I hope they just leave it alone and start a new story with new characters. Shepard has done her (his) part. Long live Shepard!