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.