What am I playing?

Sam Hart

2009-08-24 12:52:43

I'm going to start writing now and then about games that I'm personally playing that I think you should know about. It's a bit narcissistic, I know, but then again, so is having a "blog" at a domain name which is your name.

In this maiden voyage of this series I'll talk a bit about the games that I have recently finished (some of them more than once), those that I am currently playing, and what I plan on playing next. We'll be getting off to a semi-poor start considering my 360 is currently on her journey back to the homeland for repairs, but I'll do my best to include her anyway.

So, without further delay, here are some of the games I've been playing...

Xbox 360


We'll get the temperamental bitch-cakes out of the way.

Fallout 3


I had beaten Fallout 3 last year when it came out and absolutely loved it. I played as good and then as evil, but neutral I had put off because of how difficult it seemed. Additionally, I wanted to wait and get a few of the expansions before trying again. Unfortunately, working on Duologue pretty much derailed those plans for many months and I wasn't able to return to Fallout 3 until after we had wrapped Duologue up. Of course by that time all of the expansions had been released- which honestly was a good thing :-)

Anyway, played the game again in its entirety and loved it again. But I've been a bit irritated at the press coverage of the expansions because I tend to completely disagree with the average reviewer's opinions on them. Most tend to view "Brotherhood of Steel" as the "best" of the bunch and view others like "The Pitt" or "Mothership Zeta" poorly, which seems very ass-backwards to me. So, here's my personal preference of the Fallout 3 expansions:


Miner Dig Deep


Currently rated #1 over at Xbox Indies, and it is very deserving of that rating. I'd go further by suggesting this is easily in the top 10 games available for the Xbox 360 (including retail and XBLA games). Before my 360 bit it, I was playing this game daily. It's such a simple idea you wouldn't think it would be as much fun as it is, but man is it fun. It just has a great balance and flow- every time you start to feel tired of the game it throws some new thing at you that sucks you right back in.

The game is currently 200 MS points (or $2.50) and is an insane steal at that price. Every 360 owner owes it to themselves to check it out.

Livelayer Prototype


The reviews for this Xbox Live Indie game are mixed- some people love it, others hate it. Personally, I'm of the "love it" mindset. This is a fun and original game that reminds me very much of my old 8-bit gaming days. Really, this game feels like an old NES or Sega Master System cart reborn in HD. It's only problem is that the graphics and text can be a bit small and hard to make out if you don't have a decent HDTV. If you can get past that wrinkle, however, this is a very cool game.

The game is a "prototype", which I take to mean it's a preview of something the developer is working on. This basically means there's only one level and one "boss" battle. But considering the game is a buck (80 MS points or $1) it's totally worth it. I'm really hoping the developer continues this and we get a "Livelayer Full" at some point in the future.

A Robots Conundrum


This is the last game I downloaded before my 360 died, and I only got to play it for a few hours. That being said, I have nothing but positive things to say about it. The game is basically Penguin Land with a robot instead of a penguin and some unknown block instead of an egg, but that's not a bad thing by any means. Penguin Land is still one of my favorite games of all time and I've always wanted a sequel to it. A knock-off with new features is probably as close as I'm going to get :-)

Nintendo DS



Dark Spire


You know what's funny? The DS is known as this casual platform, but all I ever play on it are the hardest of the hardcore. Between Shiren, Ninja Gaiden, and this, there's been no shortage of hard core titles for it.

Dark Spire is basically a very classic WRPG in the same family as the old Wizardry games. It will also eat your face and anally rape you if you aren't prepared for it. Very fun game :-)

PS3



Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction


Thank goodness for PS3 games that I haven't beaten yet while my 360 is in for repairs.

Folklore


A few weeks ago I finally managed to track down a copy of this game. Excellent title.

inFamous


You know the whole inFamous versus Prototype debate? Yeah, well, it's stupid. The clear winner is inFamous. This is such an incredible title. It's also insanely polished, more polished than just about anything I can think of. It makes owning a PS3 worthwhile.