Paper Mario Sticker Star

Date played: November 26th, 27th and 28th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 8/10

Being in Montreal for four days again, I went back to my 3DS and Paper Mario to keep myself busy after work. I played shit ton of this game and I'm probably in the last quarter of the game and about 20 hours in. I played through the entire fourth world, set in a snow world. The enemies are getting stronger and I'm having to use some much stronger stickers, shiny's being the minimum and flashy's being best.

There were some cool levels (no pun intended) including the game's best level so far, a ghost house that seemed loosely based on Luigi's Mansion. This was one of the longest levels and felt more like a real dungeon as opposed to a side scrolling level. Mario had to gather all the Boo's in the house and seal them in a special sticker book. The Boo's were hidden all over the place and unfortunately, I had to resort to a FAQ for two of them that I missed. It was still a ton of fun, I was taking out entire walls and sticking them in other areas to progress. To finish the level, I took on a giant Boo that I beat by blowing out candles with a vacuum and jumping on his head for a while.

The fourth world's boss was pretty fun too, I simply had to use all my fire based attacks and he went down quickly. I also had another encounter with Bowser Jr that was pretty easy to beat. I then headed to the fifth world, a jungle and volcanic world. It's full of Shy Guys with spears, carnivorous plants and Hammer Bros. One of the levels had me chasing three Shy Guys to build a bridge while another had a leisurely ride on a little  raft in a river, avoiding obstacles and collecting coins.

Fuck this raft.

Unfortunately, this also had one of the worst levels in a game; a horrible raft ride while being chased by a giant fish. I had to avoid his attacks by sliding to the right and left of the river. The problem is that if I get hit directly, it's an automatic game over and the attacks are random... So I tried four or five times until I got lucky and got through.

Nintendo Land

Date played: November 25th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played a bit more Nintendo Land, this time with my girlfriend and my very non-gamer mom. A cool thing about this game is the train that roams the park. Get on, pick a time slot of 15, 30 or 45 minutes and the game sets up some events to fit your needs. We picked a short 15 minute event, basically three events, where each player gets a turn at the Gamepad to pick the next game and be the Gamepad player in that game if it's simultaneous.

We ended up playing one round of Luigi's Mansion, two rounds of Animal Crossing's mini-game and an extra round of Chase Mii for good measure after the train ride. Luigi's Mansion didn't work out too well. It's a bit too complicated for a first time player and I had the Gamepad so I caught them both in less than a minute. Animal Crossing is quite another beast though. The player with the Gamepad actually controls TWO characters at once, one for each analog stick, and must catch the other players who are collecting candies. If the others are caught, they lose their candy. The game is won when either the remote players carry enough candy on them or time runs out. This was a ton of fun...  Of course, Chase Mii is pretty damn brilliant as it's basically Pac-Man VS, this was easy for everyone and was just good old fashioned fun.

Assassin's Creed 3

I haven't seen this guy yet

Date played: November 25th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 8/10

Well, I'm in Boston now. There wasn't a mutiny on the ship but we did get attacked by another ship. We ran away and hid in a storm... As you can imagine, things didn't work out too well and I was tasked with fixing some ropes and stuff. It was epic really, the storm roaring in the background, the huge waves crashing against the ship and the amazing character animations made it really believable and exciting. Soon after, we reached Boston.

I made a friend quickly and settled in, meeting Benjamin Franklin along the way. The poor bastard lost his precious almanac pages in the city... First side quest! Anyway, after meeting up with my comrades, we assaulted a small red coat camp to recover a treasure that would help find the hidden precursor location. There was a lot of fighting, a lot of killing and a bit of escorting going on but the most interesting thing was the gun combat. As we all know, muskets are shit. Well guess what? They're shit in this game too. It takes forever to reload but they are still kind of fun to use. That's where I stopped playing but this is a lot better than I expected so far.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

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

I was on fire on Sunday. I was just in the zone and had some great Team Deathmatch and Hardpoint matches, including a glorious 18-6 match, the first real dominating game I've had in this game so far. I played with some friends too with which I played a ton of the first Black Ops. It felt goooooooooood baby.

Wii U launch special

Date played: November 23rd and 24th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 10/10

The Wii U is here! I pre-ordered a deluxe set with New Super Mario Bros U, Assassin's Creed 3 and ZombiU. The deluxe set also includes Nintendo Land, a charging cradle and stand for the Gamepad, some discounts on the online shop and a little stand for the console. My first impression was pretty bad since I had to do a massive update for the system and all the games. Once all that was over though, it was all good.

I made some Mii's and setup my online profile. Finally, Nintendo moved away from friend codes and has a simple, user name based system. The interface is very similar to the 3DS since it is setup with some squares in a grid layout. The Miiverse is the biggest change, it's sort of like Facebook for games, or a message board with graphics. People can post in a certain game's section and talk about all sorts of things, as well as make drawings using the Gamepad's touch screen. My daughter had a blast drawing scribbles, but others have made some truly remarkable drawings.

A new hardware launch is always super exciting for me!

Then I played some fucking games baby! We started with Nintendo Land. My brother was visiting and my girlfriend was there also so we played a ton of three player games. This may look like just another mini-game collection but it's a notch above every other similar game. The HD graphics look damn good and are very colorful and the individual games are a lot of fun, with a few exceptions. Pikmin is cool, the player with the Gamepad controls Olimar and the other players control large Pikmin. Chase Mii is tons of fun, the player with the Gamepad must escape and the others must catch him. The trick is, the guy with the pad can see the entire play field and the regular players see from a 3D perspective, making communication the key to winning.

There are a ton of other games that I'll talk about in a future post, but most of them are really fun,, even more so with other players. Then we jumped into NSMBU. I only have two Wii remotes, which meant that we could only play with two players and had the third player using Boost mode. Boost mode allows the pad user to place blocks in the game to help with tough jumps, tap enemies to stun them, find hidden items and even interact with some of the level geometry like wheels and levers. It's cool and fun but I wish we had to option to use the Gamepad to control a third character. Otherwise, this has to be the best 2D Mario game since World. The world map is interesting, the levels are well designed and full of surprises and the game is just fun to play.

Last but not least, I played a bit of Assassin's Creed 3. It feels and looks just like I imagine it does on PS3 and 360, although the frame rate seems more stable. The story's beginning surprised me as it stars an Englishman sent to America to find some Templar shit. So far, I've been just talking to people on the ship and there seems to be a mutiny brewing. I learned how to fight with my fists and I imagine I will soon be foiling the crew's mutiny plans. The Gamepad is used as a replacement for the on-screen UI, so nothing crazy. I haven't received ZombiU yet.

Paper Mario Sticker Star

Date played: November 23rd, 24th and 25th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played another large portion of Sticker Star, some of which was done during the disturbing long updates to the Wii U and it's games. I played through the entire third world, by far the largest and longest so far. I had to recover the parts that Wiggler lost to Kamek throughout different levels. They even run away and hide in different levels sometimes.

Wiggler is such a nice guy but don't fuck with him!

One of the highlights of the forest world was an amazing level set in a Snifit game show. Mario had to answer trivia questions, play a game of whack-a-snifit and play a hidden marble game to get through and gain some thing stickers. After recovering the Wiggler parts, he helped me get across a large body of poisonous water to take on the boss, an Octopus. Again, I resorted to a FAQ to avoid trial and error frustration but otherwise, it was a cool fight. I had to use a sponge to absorb the octopus's poison spit.

Finally, to reach the fourth world, I had to cut the ropes off a boat with some scissors, light a dark room with a light bulb and put a helm in the boat. As soon as we set sail, we got attacked by a gigantic Cheep-Cheep. I had to use a giant fishing hook to keep him on the shore and whittle down his HP with stickers. The next world is an icy mountain, I can't wait to see what happens there.

The Walking Dead Episode 5

Date played: November 22nd and 23rd
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10

Holy fuck, I finished this sad story. I mean, I went into this game expecting the worst, and it was even worse than that. This is by far the saddest, most emotional game I've played. The last episode ended things on a bad note but this episode just plain old ends. On the gameplay side though, it has to be the worst in the series. I basically did nothing but talk to people the whole time and made decisions. I started the episode with Kenny, Omid and Christa by my side, trying to find Clementine's kidnapper.

Clementine is the bravest little girl in the history of storytelling. 

We found him all right. I don't want to spoil anything but shit goes down, fucked up shit. This has to be the single best ending in a game this year, by far. The credits roll with dramatic timing and left me, I'm ashamed to say, in tears. Along with XCOM, this stands as one of the best games I've played this year.

Sega Saturn special edition

This magazine ad is ripped right out of my early teens

Date played: November 22nd
Platform: Sega Saturn
Session fun rating: 8/10

I never had a Sega Saturn. I remember reading old issues of Gamepro when I was first in high school and salivating over games like Bug!, Wipeout, Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter and others. While I was working in Montreal, I met up with a friend who sold me his Saturn with Daytona USA, Fighters Megamix, Sega Rally and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 with two controllers.

I played a bit of all the games with my daughter, she seemed to Enjoy Sega Rally the most since she could just hold down the gas on the easiest track be fine! Fighters Megamix seems like a competent that plays a lot like Virtua Fighter. MK3 is just that, another MK game. I was never a big fan. Daytona USA is just as fun as it still is in arcades, even if it looks really old now.

The Saturn seems to be way more competent than the PS1 in terms of 3D rendering. I mean, I was actually impressed at the frame rate in Sega Rally. It feels like 60 FPS (it probably is) and plays beautifully. The hard part about owning a Sega Saturn is finding good games for a decent price. I will start scrounging Ebay for some inexpensive classics!

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

The LSAT

Date played: November 22nd
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 6/10

I wasn't feeling it. I'm rusty. I played a few rounds of Domination and had quite a highlight during a match on a large cruise ship. I killed 8 or 9 guys in a row from a good spot near one of their domination points. I use the LSAT as my primary weapon, an LMG. I unlocked a nice perk that allows three attachments on one gun so I don't use grenades anymore and removed one concussion grenade. I now have quick draw, a grip and stock, which allows faster movement while aiming. This makes me much more dangerous and ressembles my playstyle from previous games more closely. I wonder what other perks there are, some of them might help even more than what I have now...

Paper Mario Sticker Star

Date played: November 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 9/10

The coolest Toad around

I went on a work trip to Montreal for 4 days and most of my free time was spent playing Paper Mario. I played a ton of the game and made my way to 3-7. The second world, based in the desert, was full of fun enemies and cool levels, including a Yoshi Sphinx and a 2D pyramid maze. The only thing I really dislike about the game is that I've resorted to guides and FAQ's for the boss fights since the only way to know which stickers you'll need is to start the fight, fail, and try again with the right stickers after getting hints mid-battle. The boss of the second world was a giant Pokey and I tried to fight him normally but he just had too much health. It turns out I needed a baseball bat sticker to really hit him hard.

Then I went on to the third world, a forest, home of Wiggler, the friendly but hot-headed centipede. He lost all of his body parts to some nasty Kamek magic and Mario now has to recover the parts from the different levels. Most of the levels were cool and lots of fun but again, I had to resort to a FAQ to find one of the parts that was too well hidden in the level.

Overall, I really like this game but there are some bad design choices all around. The game's charm, humor and pacing are still great and that's why I will definitely keep playing it.

Need for Speed Most Wanted

Date played: November 16th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 8/10

I finished Need for Speed Most Wanted.

I started by taking down car n.2 which I had unlocked online the last time I played. It was a Pagani Huayra, a madman's car. It's extremely fast, it controls well and looks like a spaceship. I then played a few races online until I reached my million point mark and finally opened up the last most wanted race, this time against the difficult to spell Koenigsegg Agera R. After the gruelling 16 kilometer, cop-filled race, I beat took down the Agera and have seen the credits roll.

Of course, this game still has a lot of life, mainly as a multiplayer car playground. I expect I will be back to this game quite a bit whenever I feel the need. The Need for Speed.

...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was really fucking corny but I had to do it.

Paper Mario Sticker Star

Date played: November 15th and 16th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 9/10

Well, I figured out that sometimes, you have to jump at an angle in this game. I feel like such an idiot, I've been playing video games for more than 25 years, you would think I could figure this out right? Anyway, I made my way to the boss of the first world, a giant Goomba. He was easily the hardest fight in the game so far. He hits hard and has very high defenses. I whittled his health down slowly and when he seemed weak, I fuck him up with a Fan sticker. The giant fan rises in the background to blow the stickers away and deal big damage.

Megasparkle Goomba was hard to kill

Now I'm off to the second world and played through 2-1 and am making my way through 2-2. This is a desert world and there are new enemies here. Those cactus people are back and have a lot of HP. There are tons of hidden areas and blocks all over the place and even getting through the level itself is some sort of puzzle.

NHL 13

Date played: November 15th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 9/10

Me and my buddy played a few games against each other online. The funny thing is, we haven't played with a single NHL team all night. We started with an Ottawa 67's and Gatineau Olympiques match up, then tried a few European leagues and ended with a Finland versus Sweden epic.

When we played with some German teams, some of the players there were regular NHL players that must be playing there during the lockout. My friend had both Giroux and Briere on his team... Overall, I played really well and won a couple of games. I even won a game while accidentally using Classic controls, something I haven't done since NHL 2007...

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

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

I like this

Well, Black Ops 2 is amazing, So amazing in fact that it's really fucking hard to join a game without crashing. It seems that there is a PS3 specific problem as reported by Activision on Twitter. I've had a scary amount of hard freezes while playing multiplayer. At one point, I was playing with a friend and according to him, the only modes that work every time are Zombies and League play.

League play is pretty cool, it's essentially a ladder system that is separate from regular multiplayer. All items are unlocked and the game modes seem to vary a lot. I played some Search and Destroy, Hardpoint and Domination. I did pretty well but I am really itching to get some new attachments for the gun I'm using.

Paper Mario Sticker Star

This was a fun battle

Date played: November 14th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 7/10

I played through a few more levels. One of the highlights was a boss battle where I had to kill a giant Beetle. The trick to kill it was to use the game's slot machine system. During a battle, Mario can pay a fee to spin a slot machine to gain additional attacks per turn. To beat this thing, I required at least 2 attacks so that the first one would flip the beetle over and the second one would damage it before it flipped back, it was a cool mechanic.

I also started using "things" to create new stickers. The first one was a fan that I had to put near a windmill to open up a new path. I then uncovered the sticker museum in town where I can collect stickers. It seems the goal is to fill up the place with all the different types of stickers. I reached the end of world fortress and managed to block some vents from blowing Mario off a ledge but there's a fence in the way and I have no idea how to get past that yet. I think I'll just ask my little buddy sticker guy that follows me around, he might know.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Date played: November 13th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10

BLACK OPS 2 FUCK YEAH BITCHES!

Man, I wasn't even going to buy this but just about everyone I know that plays games is getting this so I just cracked and got it anyway. Honestly, I was super impressed. I only played multiplayer so far (it's the only mode that really matters anyway) and it is noticeably improved from MW3 and the first Black Ops. The classes work differently now. You basically have 10 slots to choose items, perks, guns, equipment and attachments. That means I can have two level 1 perks if I want but I might be sacrificing some concussion grenades for it. It works well so far and it's fun to really customize your class as you like it. The graphics are also much better, everything just seems cleaner and smoother.

I played a ton of Team Deathmatch, enough to bring me up to the mid-teens somewhere. As usual, I stick to the LMG's but the multiplayer is set in 2025 so that means the guns are a bit different than usual. Honestly, I have the same play style I've always had which is to be a big, slow, bullet spitting motherfucker. I cover my angles and don't sprint much and that is usually very successful. I am sitting at a 1.0 K/D ratio which indicates   I should be much better than that when I learn the maps and get more comfortable. The kill streaks are now point streaks now and that means I can gain some kill streaks from my constant destruction of aircraft. The kill streaks are pretty cool too but I'll get into that another day, I need more hands on time with them first.

Paper Mario Sticker Star

Date played: November 12th
Platform: 3DS
Session fun rating: 9/10

I love Paper Mario as a series and I was really happy to hear there was a 3DS version in the works. So far, it's pretty good but it's also very different. The game is ALL ABOUT STICKERS. You know, like kids play with. Mario has to save Princess Peach from Bowser and rescue some fancy stickers in a story that makes absolutely no sense.

There are some really cool things related to stickers and paper in the world. The first screen of the game is full of stuff to peel off and discover. I saved a ton of toads by peeling off some stickers and they helped me "unroll" a portion of the map. It's clever, funny, cute and makes sense as a game objective. The game is set in levels now, 1-1 and all. It works well and keeps the levels short enough.

Combat is cool but it's so weird... There is no attack button. Instead, you have to use the stickers that are found in the world to fight. There are tons of these. All sorts of hammers, jumps, fireballs and other special items. The action buttons still have to be pressed at the right time to attack and block. Either way, the game is really cool so far, is pretty funny and lots of fun. My only problem with the game is that since there isn't EXP anymore, it seems pointless to fight enemies if I don't have to.

Need For Speed Most Wanted

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

I am completely in love with this game. I was stuck on n.4 of the most wanted list in single player and found out that my online speed points counted towards my single player progression so I spent most of my time online, getting points and having crazy fun. After a few events, I had enough points to unlock the Lamborghini Aventador in both multiplayer and single player. I won it's 10 km single player versus race and took it down. I like the Aventador quite a bit. While I still prefer the R8, I don't have it in multiplayer and the Aventador is currently my most driven car in multiplayer.

The multiplayer is really brilliant, for the most part. The only bad part is when you're playing with assholes since they can prevent the rest of the group from completing certain challenges. For example, there was an event where we had to all go on top of a train track and a few idiots thought they had to wreck everyone, which of course prevented anyone from getting any points.

My current favorite car in multiplayer, the exotic Lamborghini Aventador

For the most part though, it's really fun. I tend to do a lot better in races and team races than any other mode. I am almost always a good driver in racing games and this is no exception. One thing that really sets this game apart is the loose way races start. Everyone starts by meeting up at a pre-set location. Once everyone is there, the race starts. The trick is, a lot of people like to just mess around at the meet up location, doing donuts and shit but they don't seem to notice that the minimap will show the direction of the race while the countdown starts. That means, I almost always have a head start since I see it and start gunning it as soon as I know which direction the race will be in. It's a really cool mechanic and makes the start of races much more interesting.

Mega Man 9

This little fucker's game is brutal

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

After dozens of Soul Calibur V fights, we cooled down with some Mega Man 9, passing the controller around at every Game Over. I had played the demo for this and was never able to finish the first level so never bothered to buy it. My brother bought it though and managed to beat a single level. That's it. So we bobbed our heads to the amazing music and died multiple times in multiple levels until it was time for breakfast. Maybe I should get Mega Man 10 one day...

Soul Calibur V

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

Well, I just love playing Soul Calibur with friends on a couch. Four of us played a few hours of Soul Calibur V's versus mode. This was my first time playing V and while it has a few cool new things, it's still Soul Calibur as I know and love it. As usual, I stuck mostly to Astaroth. He fits my style. I like to hang back and control the pace of the fight, like I do with Dhalsim in Street Fighter, and Astaroth's long range and powerful attacks make him perfect for me. I did pretty well when I picked him, having the stiffest competition from one of my brothers, the one who uses Nightmare all the time.

I also played a few other characters. Lizard Man has a new name and he doesn't play the same, yet I still had fun with him. There's a new dude that is straight out of Odyssey to the West, monkey tail and all, that was pretty fun to play. Hilde also plays a bit better than before and is sort of becoming my second best character, slowly but surely. Again, she controls the battle with pacing and range. There's even Ezio from Assassin's Creed in there, and he plays surprisingly well. My other brother uses Cervantes which is good, but vulnerable to side steps, or at least my brother is. The lady of the group usually used Ivy and despite being a complete button masher, she seems to have found a button mashing rhythm that works well with Ivy. She is not to be under estimated. I'm not sure what I've played warrants upgrading my copy of IV to V but I still had an amazing time.