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Gaming Weekend.

edited April 2007 in Video Games
I blogged about this, but I thought I'd share it here too. For the first time in many, many months, I'm carving out some big blocks of time to play video games. Yesterday (Friday) I rented the following games for my Xbox 360:

Crackdown
Dead Rising
Gun
Kameo
The Battle for Middle Earth II
Enchanted Arms

I have the games until Wednesday. My plan is to blog about them and other gaming I do this weekend.

Last night, I played Crackdown, Dead Rising and Gun. My impression of these games comes from a different place than a lot of gamers. First, I'm old. Second, historically, I've been an RTS gamer, not a FPS gamer. Also, the place where I rented the games didn't give me any manuals.

So Crackdown, despite being a runaway hit, didn't do anything for me the first time playing it. I got into the car and drove over some people. I couldn't really figure out what was going on in the game. I think I need to read some on line material on this one before I judge it completely, but it didn't thrill me.

Dead Rising looked great as I started playing. The graphics are very good. Yet, once I got into the shopping mall and the old lady opened the doors to get her dog, I was toast. Many game reviewers billed this game as something funny like Sean of the Dead. I didn't really get that vibe. Also, I can't stand time limit games. I'm trying to escape from reality. My life is a time limit game. So even though I clearly wasn't getting the full experience out of this game, it left enough of a bad taste in my mouth to leave it be.

My thoughts on Gun are probably going to elicit some eye rolling. I liked it the most of these three games. Sure, there are better shooters, but the story has me hooked. I'm going to play this one all the way through. Look, one of my favorite games is Resident Evil 4. It's because of the story. Gun has that sort of feel (although RE4 is superior). I know, you're saying: “he likes Gun more than Crackdown? What a moron!” I'm not giving up on Crackdown yet. I'm going to go back to it. It's just that I was able to jump into Gun and start playing it. That didn't happen with Crackdown.

This morning is family time and no gaming will be happening. I might get some time this afternoon and tonight we're going to a friend's house. They have a Wii, so I'm hoping we can play Wii Sports as I haven't done that yet.

I'm hoping to write more tomorrow.

Comments

  • My thoughts on Gun are probably going to elicit some eye rolling. I liked it the most of these three games. Sure, there are better shooters, but the story has me hooked. I'm going to play this one all the way through. Look, one of my favorite games is Resident Evil 4. It's because of the story. Gun has that sort of feel (although RE4 is superior). I know, you're saying: “he likes Gun more than Crackdown? What a moron!” I'm not giving up on Crackdown yet. I'm going to go back to it. It's just that I was able to jump into Gun and start playing it. That didn't happen with Crackdown.

    I must admit, it took me a while to get into crackdown, but once you get yourself going, it gets pretty fun.
    After all, plenty of games allow you to take down your Pixelated foe with a Missile Launcher, many of RTS games let you have Missile Launching vehicles, but not many decent games let you take down criminals by throwing a Missile launching truck at them.
  • Gaming Weekend Part II.

    I finished the remaining three games I rented on Friday. I did take a little domestic heat for spending so much time playing games this weekend, despite it being scheduled activity. Ah well. I’m finished now.

    Here’s my thoughts on the remaining games.

    Kameo. I am pleasantly surprised by this game. I had seen it on display at CompUSA last year and messed around with it then, but I didn’t really focus on it. In comparison to the other six games, it holds up well with terrific graphics and stimulating game play. Along with Gun, I’m putting Kameo on my “buy” list.

    The Battle for Middle Earth II. This is my type of game, right? It’s an RTS. Having played 90% of the RTS games out there, I should be doing backflips for this one, except I’m not. It’s not the game’s fault though. It’s the platform’s fault. Don’t get me wrong, I am rapidly becoming a 360 fanboy, it’s just that consoles are not the greatest platforms for RTS games. These games need a mouse. It’s that simple. That being said, if I had a manual to look at the controls for this, I might enjoy it more. I’m not giving up on this one yet. It may make it to the buy list because the graphics are good and the units are cool looking. I need more time with the game. You can’t fault the LotR universe, it makes for an engrossing subplot.

    Finally, Enchanted Arms kind of surprised me. While I am an Anime fan, I’m no expert. That being said, I know a bishonen game when I see one. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but it’s not my thing. When the first 30 minutes of the game is silly dialog, you’re going to lose me. Apparently, if you can get past the first 45 minutes of the game, the rest of it is supposed to be good. I can’t make it that far. This is one of those RPGs that has the turn based combat that some people enjoy. I think in the right environment, it’s ok, but I could care less about this story. I think this game is supposed to be a Final Fantasy clone. Meh, it’s not for me.

    So that’s it. I have to say that the Xbox 360 combined with my new HD TV has reinvigorated both my desire to play video games and my desire to watch movies. It’s great stuff. Next, I’m going to see how well it streams video off a computer.
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