An update of sorts, mainly bits and pieces

Hmm, it’s been a pretty busy weekend/week, and sadly that means I haven’t had much time for videogaming. Between the day job, revealing the website for my forthcoming comic Supertown, and the cursed return of all my favorite TV shows, I just haven’t had the (mental) energy to plop down and game the night away. Sure, I could watch less TV, but The Office and House are too good to not see.

Okay, enough excuses. Here’s some tidbits.

Bought Scribblenauts. It could easily be summarized as “a fantastic toy, but a flawed game.” The very first word I typed in was “LOLcat,” which did not work, but then I remembered I was thinking actually of “keyboard cat.” That did work, and I quickly summoned a dragon to eat it. Feel free to analyze that as you wish. The one nice thing is that you don’t have to play every single level, just a few to open up more, and then you can hop to and fro from the world map. The music is pretty fantastic though.

Beat Shadow Complex. For a second time. This trek though was to get 100% of items, and man it was a bit tricky. Sadly, I had to rely on a guide to get two or three of them, but once you have everything you totally feel like a badass walking into battle. Will probably play through one more time to get the Level 50 achievement, as well as the less than 13% items achievement (which I’m anxious to even try). All in all, a really fun game, and I generally don’t play ’em more than once so this is obviously saying something.

And I finished up the main campaign in Magic: The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers. Did not take very long to knock Tezzeret on his butt, and I’m still unsure how I feel about this stripped down version. Sure, it’s a wonderful introduction to the trading card game, but man does it feel so empty.

Full reviews coming on all of these games. When? Whenever.

Scribblenauts comes out today!

Yay!

::types in confetti and streamers and ice cream cake and go-go dancers::

But I’m not allowing myself to purchase Scribblenauts until Thursday evening so I can get some comics work done this week and not feel guilty about the whole thing!

::types in sad face and spoiled milk and stereotypical drill sergeants yelling about my pansy pants and keyboard cat::

September 2009 game releases that interest me

Well, here we are, in September, with cloudy skies and cool breezes and the unrefutable knowledge that autumn is closing in. Truthfully, this is one of my favorite seasons for gaming…though I can’t specifically say why. It just feels right to bunker down inside on a crispy afternoon and punch buttons until your fingers hurt.

Anyways, lots of games coming out this month, and though I don’t have the money to get them all (or even maybe more than one), I’d like to mention the ones sitting quietly on the edge of my interest.

XBOX 360

Mini Ninjas – released on 09/01/09

I had a pretty good time with the demo, but I still don’t think this kid-friendly ninja romp is worth a full retail price of $60/$50.

The Beatles: Rock Band – released yesterday on 09/09/09

I still don’t think I’d enjoy any of these plastic instrument games (been playing real instruments since I was 15), but if there’s one to change my mind…well, it’d be the one with “Octopus’ Garden” in it. Heard only good things so far, too, which is always a plus. Granted, I don’t have anyone to play with so it’d be a waste. Still, I’m curious…

NINTENDO DS

Scribblenauts – being released on 09/15/09

Oh man, oh man, oh man. Everything about this game screams FUN. The art style is quirky, the game is meant to be played differently by everyone, and there’s just something about knowing you can totally summon Santa Claus to duke it out with an Elder God that is initially pleasing. This will most likely be my big purchase of the month, but it’ll be worth it, I’m sure.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days – being released on 09/29/09

I know nothing about how this fits into the whole storyline of things, but you can never go wrong with this Disney/Final Fantasy-like mashup.

…

And that’s pretty much all I’m interested in this month. Sure, there’s some big releases like Batman: Arkham Asylum and WET and Halo 3: ODST, but those don’t really speak my language. Oh wells.

Also, on the radar for October is Fallout 3: Game of the Year edition. Eee. I’m not even allowed to think about that game any more until I get some comics work done. Eeeeee.

Level-5 bringing “Fantasy Life” to Nintendo DS

Oh, Level-5. How I love thee.

Seeing as how I grew tired of Animal Crossing: Wild World and am currently meandering through Magician’s Quest Mysterious Times with little care, the prospect of a “city sim” with actual endings sounds simply wonderful. Mix that with an art style that is eeriely close to Mother 3, and I’m in:

Retro goodness for everyone!

First Impressions on Magician’s Quest Mysterious Times

So, I’ve had this for a few days now, and though my play-time with Magician’s Quest Mysterious Times has been very limited, I’ve schlepped around the village/school/whatever long enough to express some thoughts on the Animal Crossing: Wild World clone. Now, let’s see…if I want to post my first impressions I have to select…incantation, cranium, and videogame.

…

Woo, success!

Things I like

• The variety of life on-screen, from the vibrant mushrooms to the buzzing bugs to wandering classmates.
• More storage space means more looting from dead bodies.
• Collecting bugs and fish actually earns money/rewards, much more than AC: WW ever did Making money is a lot easier, which means no more frugal spending, just buy what you want.
• “The Nutcracker” plays during Mystery Time, which is surprisingly fitting.

Things I hate as deeply as Voldemort hates Harry’s never faulty haircut

• While having a magic wand that contains many things (shovel, fishing pole, net, watering can) is nice, whenever you switch to a new screen or enter a door you revert back to being empty-handed. This is stupid. And a waste of time as now I have to cycle through the items again just so I can catch a butterfly or cast a spell.
• You can only take three classes a week. Once they are done, be prepared to be bored. This week I’ve learned the “treasure hunting” and “cloud hammock” spell, the incantation for “love,” and that when you talk to someone their name is added to your list of name-names. I now have to wait until Sunday to learn anything else—it better be worth it.
• Spells—I already know it’s going to be such a pain later on to have to manually add them every time I want to use them. They should do that upon first usage or maybe set a limit, like after five times manually entering them now you can just select it from a list.
• What’s the difference between a wig and a hat? (This is not a joke, there is no punchline coming.)
• Mystery Time is not all that exciting. It’s just a special section where you can collect weird bugs and fish; it is after Mystery Time that is most important because that’s when you go investigating the weekly whodunit.

So yeah, at this point, I’ve only solved the first mystery. I have the generic staff and hat, very little furniture in my room, some Ritch, a couple of lessons under my belt…and that’s it. I kind of have to wait for real-life time to pass just to enjoy some aspects of Magician’s Quest Mysterious Times more. Hopefully, it’s worth it.

The start of becoming the greatest wizard of all time

Okay, I gave into the crack and thanks to some bonus b-day money I now own a copy of Magician’s Quest Mysterious Times.

And so far, after about forty minutes of play, I’m digging it. Of course, the entire time I’m comparing it to Animal Crossing: Wild World, and so with that MQMT has much sharper graphics, a better menu system, deeper pockets (!!!), and a wider selection of things to do, see, interact with, and collect. I’ve only just started taking classes at my school (properly named Hogwarts) and am still figuring out what exactly I should be focusing on, but yes, so far, it’s pretty much what I wanted.

Hello, my name is Paul, and I’m a collectaholic

Collecting has always been a part of videogames. Mario went after coins for extra lives, Link had to gather slew of weapons/items to further travel Hyrule, and Samus was always on the lookout for new toys and upgrades. Roleplaying games gave players the chance for amass weapons (Rogue Galaxy, for example) or pieces of music (Eternal Sonata) or even books (Fable II and the Elder Scroll games do this pretty well). Other games took this even further, often to the point where they are trying to drive those with ADHD crazy. Case in point: Assassin’s Creed and its myriad of pointless flags.

But one of my all-time favorite games for collecting random pixels is Animal Crossing: Wild World, especially with its incentive to play every day and check out what new items were up for sale. Hats, shirts, furniture, wallpaper, and more. Mmm. Granted, I haven’t played in many months now (my villagers probably assume now that I’ve gone off the deep end and am in county jail), but the crack collecting is still deep in my blood, which I why I stopped and stared at the following game tonight in the game shop for a good ten minutes:

Ah, Magician’s Quest Mysterious Times. The obvious clone to AC: WW. But that doesn’t matter. For those not in the know, here’s its description:

Magic academy is in session and enrolling kid wizards! Attend classes with your friends to learn the mysteries of magic and the art of casting spells to experience the wonders of this mystifying land. Exchange secret letters and spread rumors about other students in order to become the greatest magician of all time. Creating or sabotaging relationships will determine the way the adventures are told. In this magic adventure, time flows as it does in the real world and each week your wizard skills are put to the test in a new magical adventure. Solve these quests by gathering information from friends and mythical characters you encounter and by using all the magic you’ve learned. Experience a world of magic, mystery and adventure just waiting to be told!

Truthfully, all I took notice of was the claim of “Collect and customize over 350 varieties of currency, clothing, furniture and more!” How I walked away from purchasing the piece of collect crack, I’ll never know.

Okay, I do know: I’m poor. $29.99 is too much for crack. But still…

Suikoden Tierkreis Finds the Eternal Darkness

Here’s the cover art for…hmm, let me start again actually. Here’s the “cover art” for Suikoden Tierkreis, which evidently came out today for the Nintendo DS:

And I thought Chrono Trigger DS barely tried.

Anyways, for those too lazy to flip this over in the game store, this cover art tells them absolutely nothing about Suikoden Tierkreis other than it’s made by Konami and has WiFi features. Considering how rocking the artwork for the first two entries in series were (unarguably the best games in the series, too), this is a shame and a waste of space. The game’s biggest draw is the ability to collect 108 characters for your army and castle, always has been. Granted, there’s the European version of cover art floating around, which is much better at presenting the sort of game Suiko fans are expecting.

Yet what do we Americans get?

Blackness, the evergoing dark, a void to fall into and never return from. In short, nothing at all.