Last two Fallout 3 quests completed

Over the weekend, I jumped back into the Capital Wasteland to finish up the last two quests tied to Achievements for Fallout 3. These were You Gotta Shoot ‘Em in the Head and Reilley’s Rangers.

The former quest I avoided during my first playthrough, as it most definitely clashed with my super-duper angelic nature and soul. Can’t just go around shooting people in the head, even if they are bigots and hate ghouls of all shapes and colors. Trust me. I kinda wanted to. Thanks to my evil, I could, and each and every racist Wastelander got what they deserved. Red-headed Samantha shot them square-on with a 47 damage Chinese Assault Rifle.

For reasons I don’t know, I just never picked up the latter quest from one sickly Reilly in the Underworld. Must have missed her. You can play it evil or good or neutral, and I actually achieved good karma by accident by helping the rangers out. Don’t worry. I remedied this later when back at Ranger Compound where I planted some conveniently-placed mines and slaughtered everyone that made it safely back home. Yeah, being evil can be fun, but I still feel ultimately guilty over the action.

Okay, that’s the last two quests down and out. I’m now at 64 out of 72 Achievements, and I really really want to get a full Gamerscore for Fallout 3. Can’t just have the LEGO games riding forever high on my list. All that’s left are the karma-related ones for evil’s LV 20 and LV 30 and playing a full neutral character, as well as finding all the alien recordings and steel ingots. Gonna need a map or walkthrough for those ones, methinks.

Creeping closer though. Must finish before Fallout: New Vegas drops…

IMPRESSIONS: Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing

The kart racer is dead, long live the kart racer!

Actually, it’s not so much dead. More like…hard to stand out in the crowd. See, Nintendo created the kart racer many moons ago with Super Mario Kart for the SNES, a game that still holds up remarkably well today. The fiancée and I play it a lot, actually, and I like to throw false information at her such as telling her about secret teleports hidden in spots of water. Alas, she’s learned not to trust my “advice.” Anyways, Super Mario Kart naturally spawned some imitators, the majority of which failed to live up to the flagship’s standards. Save for Crash Tag Team Racing; I like that one for reasons I’m not ready to say.

So the demo for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing felt very much like it should: formulaic. You select your racer, you select your track, you hit the gas, you pick up weaponry from floating somethings, and you zip along until you’ve crossed the finish line. We know how to play it; we’ve been playing this game for years.

Definitely the one place where Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing outshines Nintendo is in its roster. Given the game’s title and much like in SEGA Superstars Tennis, there’s a unique gathering of characters from all sorts of previous games. You can definitely play as the blue blur himself, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Eggman, Big the Cat, moody Shadow, Ulala, AiAi from Super Monkey Ball, and Beat, among others (Banjo and Kazooie if you’re lucky to play it on the Xbox 360).

The demo only offers up one character to play (Sonic) and one course (a rather generic level). Driving is simple and fun, and getting Sonic to do his “all-star” move, turning him into Super Sonic, a speeding blue blur of death, is awesome. However, the track itself was very straightforward, and I never once felt like I would steer the wrong way or anything. Had an “on rails” sort of feel to it, despite not being that. The audio works well, with actual commentary happening live as you do stuff, but I did notice one of Sonic’s lines was taken directly from SEGA Superstars Tennis, which seems a bit lazy.

It’s not the worst thing to ever hit a console though it definitely lacks innovation. If you don’t own a Wii or dusty SNES, sure, give this a chance. Otherwise, you might want to stick with what you know already.

And of course, it’s still hard to wrap your brain around the fact that Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the fastest critters around the gamesphere, is racing in a car. And losing at times. Oh well…

Introducing PlayStation Move, Sony’s Downfall

Okay, maybe not its downfall, but really, a motion controller this late in development and then so shockingly close to that of Nintendo’s Wiimote and Nunchuk…well, I just can’t see the PlayStation Move being a huge hit. The system is full of adult-oriented games from Heavy Rain to Uncharted 2 to Metal Gear Solid 4. Rarely does a more kid-friendly game release itself unto the wild, but with this new controller will come a slew of Move-heavy entries. Whether they will be gimicky or fun is for many to decide later. There’s a reported price tag of $100 for the whole kit and caboodle, which probably has no one reaching for their wallets. Ultimately, Sony has a lot of ground to make up. Not sure if this is the right path. Guess you could say they really need to move it, huh?

Sorry ’bout that.

Trouble in the SimCity

Last night, I gave SimCity DS a second chance. I bought it a long, long time ago while on a vacation and itching for something new, and I remember disliking it instantly. It’s based on SimCity 3000, but I really wish it had aimed more for the SNES version because, to me, that game exemplified quality city-building simulation. Sure, graphically, it was pretty bland, and the same can be said about the music, but SimCity for the SNES nailed the formula. It was not too fast-paced or chaotic, and it allowed the player to learn from their mistakes over time instead of constantly punishing them.

However, thirty minutes with SimCity DS just hit home the fact that this game is not made for a portable system, especially one with a tiny screen and stylus controls (though those are optional). Controls are iffy, mostly unreliable, and it seems like a disaster struck my city every few minutes. Besides that, there’s lagging and loading screens and 937 menu screens to sift through.

All in all, not what I wanted.

Anyways, I’m finishing up writing the review for The First Hour. Will let the entire Internet know when it goes live. Unless someone orders a tornado or alien invasion on me, that is…

Fallout: New Vegas rocks the purple sky

Finally, we get some official Fallout: New Vegas screenshots to drool over. Though most of these were already leaked thanks to numerous magazine scans, they can at least be shared over the Internet without a guilty conscience. In them, we get a glimpse at the new radial menu for controlling companions, more crazy-looking Super Mutants, and lots of clear, beautiful sky. That’s pretty interesting, and I suspect I’ll get tongued to death a number of times by radiated geckos because I’m just standing there, staring at it, loving it. Can’t wait.

Still wanna see some gameplay video though…even if it’ll be exactly like Fallout 3.

You can check out all the screenshots over at That VideoGame Blog‘s gallery.

Not a videogame-heavy weekend

As usual, my weekends are pretty booked up. I rarely spend them in my apartment, meaning I can only travel with my Nintendo DS if there is time to game it up. Alas, most often, there isn’t. Like this past weekend. The fiancée and I went out to visit some family, as well as register more for our wedding in October. Busy, busy, busy.

The most gaming we did together was played some more levels in Amazing Adventures: The Forgotten Ruins, a hidden items game borrowed from my mother’s collection:

It’s pretty straightforward. You have a list, you find the items hidden in the picture, you play a mini-game, you skip the superfluous plot-only text, and you search the new locale. But it’s not the worst thing in the world, and it’s a  fun way to kill thirty minutes.

Then, upon my return to my apartment, I popped in Dragon Age: Origins to…not play it. The server was down? Um, okay. That was odd. I’ve never been locked out of a videogame I purchased for a system I own on a TV I own and so on. Restarted the Xbox 360, and got in just fine the second time around. Weird.

Anyways, I wasn’t actually having much luck combat-wise with the mage so I tried out a new character, completing the Human Noble origin with a dual-wielding rogue. She was fiesty, but still not what I was looking for. So I decided to go for another origin opening, this time with a Dwarf Noble. He specializes in sword and shield attacks and has a cool beard. I’m liking him–and his intro story–very much.

However, I might go and do the origins for everyone else left (Dalish Elf, City Elf, and Dwarf Commoner) and then pick who’d I really like to play the full game with from there. I thought the mage would’ve been great, but all my other teammates rush to their deaths too quickly and he’s just then left in the corner casting Cone of Cold like a goof-head.

However, before any of that, I want to work on whatever my next review for The First Hour will be. XIII? SimCity DS? I really don’t know yet. Hmm…

Sushi Cat is the game of my dreams

A hybrid of Plinko and Peggle, Sushi Cat takes two of my favorite things and puts them together to create an adorable if extremely simple Flash-based game. Those two things? Why, fat cats and sushi.

But yeah, you just click to drop the o-shaped cat, collect sushi, and land in a bin for bonus points. Get the set number of sushi before you run out of cats and you’ve completed the level. Onwards! There’s even a tiny story told, too, through c-word cutscenes, and the music is quirky and bouncy. Fun all around, really.

Just beat BioShock, still processing it all

I’m happy to report that I just beat BioShock, a pristine example of gaming and genre mixing done excruciatingly well. One-word summary: wow. Three-word summary: kinda crazy game. More words summary? Well, that’ll come later because there’s a lot to talk about, both good and meh. And trust me, I understand how late I am to the party, but I’ve brought everyone their very own ADAM-flavored cupcake…so don’t bite my head off.

I unlocked 42 out of 51 Achievements during my playthrough. I did not actively use a guide, but I did skim a list of things to keep in mind as I explored Rapture to potentially unlock all I could. Going in, I immediately knew that I wouldn’t harvest any Little Sisters, supposedly making Jack’s trek that much harder. I guess it was? I did miss some Achievements though, as shown below:

• Weapon Specialist (20G, Acquire all upgrades for all weapons.) — In order to get this, you must upgrade all your weapons, but I did not find all the Power to the People stations to do. Only was able to upgrade three in the end, namely the pistol, the machine gun, and the crossbow. Mmm…love that crossbow and its trap bolts.
• Research PhD (20G, Max out all possible research.) — I missed fully researching the Nitro Splicer to get this. Any time those dudes would show up, my main concern was to shoot first, snap pictures second. Guess that didn’t work out too well.
• Historian (50G, Find every audio diary.) — Hahaha no.
• And two secret Achievements — One I won’t spoil here, but it was my fault because I axed a certain someone prematurely, and the other requires beating the game without using a single Vita-Chamber. Not to repeat myself, but hahaha no.

BioShock is definitely a game I’ll remember, but don’t suspect I’ll replay. The only moral decisions are harvesting or rescuing Little Sisters, which ultimately determine how much ADAM you get and whether a certain character is nice towards you or not. Otherwise, it’s the same beautifully detailed Rapture swarming with splicers, gun turrets, and Big Daddies, which is not a bad thing, just not a different thing.

Full review forthcoming. Would you kindly wait for it?

Happy 10th birthday, Playstation 2!

Sony released the Playstation 2 on March 4, 2000, in Japan. Thank the mighty stars they did. If they hadn’t, the North American release of the Playstation 2 on October 26, 2000, might never have happened. And then my life would be completely different.

See, I’m a part of the NES generation, but the first gaming system I ever sought out and bought on my own was the Playstation 2. I’d gotten its predecessor for Christmas some years back, and the fact that the latest system worked also as a DVD player and still ran PS1 games fine was all I needed to hear to have me shell out some hard-earned buckos. So I did, some time vaguely in 2002 or early 2003, and I picked up two games to keep me busy: Dark Cloud and Red Faction.

Both blew me away. I remember being extremely impressed building the town and dungeon crawling in Dark Cloud, as well as destroying entire walls in Red Faction. The system showed great promise early on, and my subscription to PSM only reminded me more of all the great games soon to come out.

The Playstation 2 was my college (and post-college) console. I supplied the videogaming fun for all my roommates, and too many fond memories strike me now: FIFA tournaments, learning together how to roll then jump in Jak and Daxter, borrowing Final Fantasy X from an upstairs neighbor and declaring it as “meh!” after 15 minutes, Grand Theft Auto III drinking games, and using the console as a comfort buddy during a relationship breakup (many collect-a-thons were completed during this era).

I only jumped into the latest generation of systems last April or so with an Xbox 360. That’s right. I’ve been playing my Playstation 2 (the same one, actually ::knocks on wood::) since I got it. About eight years. Same single memory card, too. There’s no reason not to play it. It’s a haven system, especially for RPG fans like myself, bloated with JRPGs and big-name ones like Final Fantasy XII and Dragon Quest VIII.

With a humongous library, there are still games out for the Playstation 2 I’ve yet to experience. The latest Jak/Ratchet games, God of War II, Ico, and many more. Games are still being released for the system ten years later, which I think says a lot.

It’s a great console all-in-all. Always is, always will be.

March 2010’s interesting game releases

Well, not surprisingly, February 2010 flew by, and here we are in good ol’ March. The snow is melting, it’s raining a lot more in New Jersey, and warmer weather is just around the corner. As are some big, big videogame releases. Here’s the ones that interest me the most this month…

Sonic Classic Collection – March 2 (Nintendo DS)

The recent announcement about Sonic the Hedgehog 4 has caused a rift between fans. Or maybe that should be “fans.” I don’t know. These people really hate the project, despite knowing very little of it, and want to boycott the game the moment it comes out. Umm. To me, it looks like classic Sonic with shinier skin for current gen consoles. Not the worst thing in the world. But enough about that. I’m more curious to see how the original Sonic games in Sonic Classic Collection play on a Nintendo DS. Can the framerate keep up? And one would hope there isn’t too much touchscreen integration.

Final Fantasy XIII – March 9 (360, PS3)

I have some love/hate issues with many Final Fantasy games, and the ones I really enjoy are generally not the ones others felt were the best in the series. I’m talking about Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy XII. One was a throwback to olden days with mages and castles, and the other a mix of MMORPG aesthetics and unburdened freedom. This one, however, looks pretty, but is being touted as extremely linear. ActionButton totally ripped it a new one. Still, my curiousity has been itched, and I’m definitely pleased to see it as a multiplatform release.

Dragon Age: Origins: Awakening – March 16 (PC, PS3, 360)

Having only logged about 12 hours in Dragon Age: Origins at the moment, I’m both happy and nervous about more game content. I mean, the original is huge as is, and it’ll be a long time before I see all there is to see. I guess though, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not the worst thing in the world, going back to Ferelden for more slaughtering, more persuading, more sexy times. I just won’t be rushing out to pick this up until I’ve exhausted what I’ve got now.

God of War III – March 16 (PS3)

I don’t own a Playstation 3, but that can’t keep me away. If anything, God of War III‘s imminent release has only opened Pandora’s Box and reminded me that I’ve still not beaten God of War, stuck on that final battle against Ares. Sigh. He’s a tough god, I’ll give him that. But a bit cheap. I can only side-roll so many times before he takes me down.

…

Not sure if I’ll ultimately make a purchase this month though as I’ve still got a ton of other games to play, many that I only just started. Ahem, Dragon Age: Origins, ahem ahem, Grand Theft Auto IV ahem. We’ll see…