Got Me A Game Boy Advance SP

Just as the itch faded from playing the demo for the 3DS, I found myself in another Target for different reasons about a week later.  Then I found myself in the same predicament.  Another 3DS, another round of Star Fox.  This time I fared a little better, but I still couldn't get the directional controls embedded in my brain.  I was still thinking down went up and up went down.  I hit the ground a lot.

The point being, that I was jonesing for a 3DS now, but there was absolutely no room in the budget for one.  So I did what I figured I would end up doing anyway.  I fired up the internet, pulled up Craigslist and found a Game Boy Advance SP with a game for 20 buckaroos.  I jumped all over it and now, for the first time since I was a wee little lad, I have my very own portable gaming device.  (No, I don't count my phone.  As much as I love me some Angry Birds).  I'm seeing why this thing was considered so cool.  I have the purple one with the back light and it is just what I needed.  Keeping up with my tradition of getting the cool things years after they were initially cool.

Mine: Not So Shiny

Unfortunately, I don't have a charger.  I have one on order, but this one was charged up and I don't spend hours at a time on it, so I'm still good to go til it comes in the mail. For now though, I got some Metroid Fusion happening, and it is just perfect for those bite sized pieces of gaming I need when the kids are watching Mickey Mouse or whatever they do to take over my usual entertainment outlets. I've never played one of these things before, even though I have played some games (like the aforementioned Fusion) on the GameCube Game Boy player.  Portable is different somehow, it offers you a freedom being hooked to the TV doesn't.

And even more exciting, I got another game in the mail today that I found on the cheap that I have played before as well, but not getting very far.  Mario Golf: Advance Tour.  It's an addicting game that, once again, offers a nice little "here and there" type of play that I love so very, very much.  Like the Wii, it'll be slow going, but I look forward to building a small library of fun games that I've missed out on in the past for not owning one of these things.  Having had the GameCube player, I never really took much advantage of it, so now is my chance.  I'm jazzed about future rounds of Mario Kart Super Circuit and Minish Cap as well as some old SNES classics that are available.

Something I realized after I got it that I didn't think about beforehand is that I really will enjoy teaching my kids to play old school video games this way.  My three year old little girl already likes to make Samus run and jump (that's about all she can do with it, but she thinks it's awesome), so it'll be exciting to get her going on a Mario game sometime in the near future.

The 3DS will have to wait for now, until then I have a really nice substitute in my brand new used Game Boy Advance.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Skyview Temple Footage

With the Wii coming to the end of it's lifespan, there's no secret that with the lack of games being developed for the system, the biggest title on everyone's list is The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  Even if the Wii had piles upon piles of new releases coming out over the next few months, this would still be the case.  No one can resist the green tighted one on his never ending quest to save Princess Zelda and Hyrule in the process.  As much as I'm digging Twilight Princess, I really liked the style of Wind Waker and I dig the way Skyward Sword seems to be combining them.  The realistic looking Link stylized to the colorful art direction that serves the Wii best.

Personally, I would also like to see them get away a bit from the formula of the 3D Zelda games and go for a Link to the Past type of groove.  The fact that it's got the same director as the Gameboy Advance's Minish Cap is a good sign, as I thought that game caught a pretty decent LTTP vibe.

I gotta say, though, this footage below kind of feels like yet another Zelda temple, so I don't know how far they're gonna get from the norm.  I'm sure it'll still be funner than any other game coming out, so I won't complain too much.  Once again, though, I do like the style of it.

Nintendo 3DS Demo

Must look... away...

I've tried not to think too much about the 3DS.  Due to the state of my finances, I get a little bit more broke even thinking about adding a new piece of gaming hardware to my collection (which basically consists of a Wii).  I never got on the DS wagon, though I always thought one would be kind of cool.  I'm not in that position where I have to wonder if it is worth it to update my DS to a 3DS, in other words.  If a 3DS plays DS games, which I'm sure they do, that would be the way I would go, no doubt.  So I was strolling about the local Target store over the weekend and there it sat, a shiny demo of the 3DS that no one had grabbed a hold of.  So I did.  This would be the first time I'd played anything with the letters DS in the title.  The game was Starfox 64, and boy did I suck.  I vaguely remember playing this game for the 64 what feels like a few decades ago, so the demo level was kinda familiar.  My biggest problem was that I wanted to push up to go down and down to go up, like a lot of old school flying games, so I kept going off target or even off screen.

It was like this, only prettier

But the game was fun, I could of sat there and played it and got familiar enough with it to blow through the couple of demo levels they had playing.  The 3D, well, it was neat.  I don't think it's the kind of thing that would sell me on a system, the games will do a better job than that, but I felt it gave a cool little extra effect to the game that added a little something to the experience.  It was enough to make me wish I could get myself a 3DS and blow through Ocarina of Time or Mario 3D Land 3D World or whatever the confusing wording of that title might be.  Even Starfox would be a nice little addition to the handheld.  Sigh.  Sometimes living on a budget truly sucks.  Unfortunately, Daycare costs money and not a little of it.

It occurred to me that I've only had one handheld my entire life, and that was the original Gameboy.  I remember hours of fun playing Metroid 2 or Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and it hit me that you don't have to plop down hundreds of dollars for a little portable fun.  There's a vast library of Gameboy Advance games I've never played, and some I've played while at someone else's house and never got to finish, that I could dig into until I get funds for a 3DS.  Gameboy Advances run pretty cheap on the internet or craigslist and after I save up a few bucks, I think I'll get one of those and start playing some stuff like Metroid Fusion or Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap.

That should tide me over.  At least until I run into a demo version of the 3DS in some store playing a copy of Mario Kart 7.  Then the pangs will begin again...I really want one now.

Metroid: Other M

I suppose since I gave my thoughts on one of the most well loved of the Metroid series, I should say a little something about the most controversial: Metroid: Other M.

Before I even got the game, the word was out: this game sucks. At best it was a disappointment. That's what everyone seemed to be saying, anyway. Sure, there was a voice poking through every now and again saying it was actually pretty good, but they would get shot down by the more vocal "It Sucks!" group. I got the game anyways, figuring "It's Metroid. It can't be that bad."

And you know what, it really wasn't. Was it the great return to Super Metroid gameplay style Wii fun I was hoping for? The kind of thing that complemented Super Metroid the way New Super Mario Bros Wii complemented those early Mario platformers? No. In fact, there's a lot annoying with Other M. I would read all the gripes about it and think, "That's a good point," and nod my head at what everyone was saying.

Yet I kept coming back to it, wanting to play it. I actually liked the story. The story was interesting and kept me staying with it to see what would happen. The EXECUTION of the story was the flaw. The melodramatics, yeah, that was a problem. The way the story handcuffed the open exploration that Metroid was known for, that hurt the game. The long cut scenes when I just wanted to blast away at weird alien lifeforms annoyed. I would argue that of all those flaws, the worst one was the fact that, as I alluded to, the story is told in such a way that it drives the game play to where it needs to go to keep the story flowing. That door you could go down and explore off the beaten path in previous Metroid games? Locked. Previous pathways are taken away from you as the story keeps pushing you in the direction it needs you to go to keep its beats going. This is where the Prime games were brilliant, you discovered the story as you went along, whereas Other M forces it down your throat.

The gameplay itself, I don't have much of a problem with. You run, jump and shoot and it feels natural enough. It depends on if you like the auto aim mechanic and I didn't mind it too much. If it took away my ability to shoot the thing that posed the most danger, it would be a problem, but I didn't find that to happen very much, if at all. It was a bit awkward to go from first person to third person to shoot missiles. The "concentrate" to restore your missiles and health was lame.

The boss fights were challenging, but after the majesty of the Prime boss fights, they felt a little lacking. The game does hold your hand quite a bit, letting you know where all hidden objects are.

Look, I thought the game was fun. I don't regret picking it up and it kept my interest throughout the run time of the major story mode. It's just not up to Metroid standards. I do appreciate that something different was tried and I think they came close to recapturing the magic. Metroid Prime was a giant departure from the side scrolling Metroids of yore, but it still had that same magic.

In the end, the thing that keeps the game down is the fact that it got away from the fundamentals of Metroid gameplay: the isolated open world exploration. Yes, in the end when you're done with the story, the world opens up for exploration, but it's too little, too late.

It's a fun game that people are probably too hard on, but that's because they expect the best from the franchise, and this game did not deliver "the best". Instead of recapturing the glory of Super Metroid, it plays more like a watered down Metroid Fusion (and I liked Fusion) with a character backstory a lot of people didn't want.

Metroid Prime

One of my gaming regrets is not purchasing the Metroid Prime Trilogy for the Wii. Until it comes down to a price that doesn't require me to sell off my kids, I'll have to settle for the Gamecube version of Metroid Prime and the Metroid Prime Corruption only Wii disc. Sadly, I've never played Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, but I would like to. I keep putting off picking up a cheap gamecube copy, holding on to the hope of one day owning that Trilogy Disc.

Add the sound of angelic singing here.

All that aside, here are my feelings on the original Gamecube Metroid: Prime.

This game has been out a few years now and most everyone knows whether they like it or not. Playing through it again, however, it surprised me how well this game holds up. Should that be a surprise? Probably not. Most all Metroid games hold up. I still have as much fun with Super Metroid as I did when I was 12. The difference, to me, is that the old 8 and 16 bit games have their charm. The graphics are what they are and gameplay was what drew you to 'em. The same is true here. Though, it must be said that the graphics hold up very well. This is still a beautiful game. The environments are breathtaking and realistic. It definitely looks better than some of the Wii games out there.

The beauty of this game, as is true with the rest of the series, is the sense of immersion and exploration. The isolation. The sheer atmosphere of it as you discover new parts of a dying world. There is a sense of history surrounding you and you must make your way through various puzzles and enemies to find the items that let you continue to explore the world and try to take out the vile Space Pirates using it for their own Phazon-induced schemes. And you feel like you are there every step of the way.

The bosses are fun, huge and varied. I enjoyed facing the bosses in this game. The challenge of figuring out their weaknesses, learning their patterns and taking them down was quite satisfying. Also, they were neat to look at.

The scan system works, it's very effective in filling in backstory and the history of the planet, as well as figuring out how to deal with enemies. I don't mind the scan system for those reasons, but I can see how it can be frustrating for some players who feel like all they're doing is scanning objects. Especially if you are a completist (I'm an "near completist", I don't have to have every single thing, but I will put in effort to get enough to get as close as I can and also not get the lamest ending).

Though I have to throw in that this game does include 2 things I absolutely hate:

1)Water Levels: These are never fun for me. They are more a chore and I have a deep irrational fear of deep water (even in video games). It must be noted that this isn't quite as bad once you get the gravity suit.

2)Chozo Ghosts: No particular reason, I just hate Chozo Ghosts. They pop up way to often and make backtracking more difficult than it should be (I guess that is a reason after all).

Yes, this game has put a few years behind its release date and there have been a handful of Metroid titles sinc, but I have a feeling I'll be playing this game more than once or twice in the future (especially if I get my paws on that ever elusive Trilogy Wii disc!). Just a fun, immersive experience.

Super Mario Galaxy 2: Just as Fun as the First Blast Into Space

Well folks, Mario's back to his planet hopping ways that we first saw in the original Super Mario Galaxy. Once again the Princess gets whisked away by a Galactus sized King Bowser (this gal gets captured more than Nancy Drew) and Mario is off to save her. Storyline wise, I'm kind of confused as if this is supposed to have anyting to do with the first one at all. But this is Mario, let's not let something as trivial as "storytelling" get in the way of a good time.

This game is just as much a hoot as the first. The level design is nothing short of amazing. The boss battles are probably even more fun and imaginative than the first one as well. And I found those original battles full of both. I would say that I am very fond of the drill that shows up early in the game, I thought that was neat. The old powerups are all back, including a couple of new ones, including the neat-o cloud Mario and the insanely awesome rock Mario. I could still probably go through an entire game without being Bee Mario and and not lose a lot of sleep over it. And I don't know if its the fact that I'm not Super Gamer Man, but I still have a bit of trouble with the direction of the fireballs when I'm wearing Mario's patented White and Red Fireball Suit.

And let us not neglect our little buddy Yoshi, back after being absent in the first Galaxy Game. Yoshi, as always, is a helpful little dinosaur and I don't think I'll ever not get a kick out of watching him eat a red pepper. Go, Yoshi, Go!

If there's one nitpick I have, and yes, I realize its only a nitpick, it is the new World Map. I kind of miss the whole Hub World idea from the previous 3D Mario titles. Now we've gone back to Side-Scrollin' Mario's World Map where we go along a line til we get to the planet we must conquer next. Of course there are splits in the road, so you do get choices, but it just kind of loses that little feeling of freedom a hub world gives you. Like I said, just a nitpick really and has nothing whatsoever to do with the fun factor of actually playing these deeply imaginative and super-designed levels.

If Mario ever decides to take another trip out into the galaxy, I won't hesitate to follow him, even if he waits for the Wii U (which is more likely).

New Super Mario Bros Wii

Fess up time, I've had this game for a while. It's one of the very, very, very few games I bought within the first couple of months of release. But I'm not playing much new right now, so the next couple of posts will be on games that I've already played a while ago. So here are my thoughts on New Super Mario Bros Wii...

Nostalgia can take you so far,  but the sheer fun is what brings it home. Sure, playing this game took me back to playing the original NES games when I was a wee lad; same gameplay, ect, but I'm almost positive that I would find New Super Mario Bros. Wii a blast if I'd never had any inkling of what the plumbing siblings from Brooklyn were all about. Make no mistake, Mario has been a fixture in gaming for eons and its not because of the mustache (though let's be honest, the mustache doesn't hurt), it's because they are consistently top quality games. This one is no different. From the vibrant graphics and colors to the familiar and effective gameplay, this game is very addictive. The level design is most excellent as I entered each world wondering what other kind of wacky situations the game designers could possibly get the Mario Bros. and their Toad pals into and was never let down. Yes, there are difficult levels. It might take a few frustrating tries to get some levels figured out, but once you do and conquer that bad boy, it is immensely satisfying. This is simply the Mario Way.

Try activating this lever when the wife keeps accidentally leaping on it first.

And multiplayer, ah yes, multiplayer. What a wonderful creation that has been. There's nothing more fun than sitting down with a buddy and plowing through a rousing game of Mario Bros. And at the same time, there's nothing more frustrating than sitting down with a buddy (or significant other) and dying your way through Mario Bros. Just a word to the wise; if you head into a game with someone with a few less years of experience at the joystick, go with patience. Loads of patience. I'd hate to see good marriages break up over a mustached plumber in red overalls. To be fair though, once I changed my mindset from "go in to win!" to "let's just have some fun", playing with the wife was indeed fun.

It's cool that the game lets you use the controller like an old school NES controller, but this too can have frustrations. Maybe I'm just not as nimble with the fingers as I used to be or I've grown more accustomed to analog sticks, but the D-Pad feels a little small and it can be annoying when trying to hit the "down" button and going sideways or vice-versa. Just a minor quibble though that doesn't take away from the fact that this game is just sheer fun for the whole family.

How it compares to other modern Mario games just varies on your mileage, I suppose. I think I may find Mario Galaxy a bit more fun, but the wife definitely prefers good ol' Side Scroller Mario. In the end, for me, just give me a fun game with that crazy plumber in the tripped out Mushroom Kingdom, and I'm sure I can find a reason to play.

Lost In Shadow for Wii

Lost in Shadow for the Wii is a game that is different enough to be interesting, but doesn't quite get interesting enough to keep my attention to finish it. I rented this a couple of week ago and at first, I was really into it.  You start out as a boy on the top of a tower tall enough make Saruman say, "That might be a little overboard."  An evil armored Vader-like monstrosity proceeds to sever your shadow from your body and hurl it 25,898 stories to the ground.

It's now up to your shadow to make its way up the tower to join back with its boy.  It's like when the Ghostbusters had to get to the top of the building to fight Gozer, but with more platforming.  The cool mechanic of the game is that as a shadow, you can only interact with shadows.  You don't run along a ledge, you run along the ledge's shadow.  When you encounter a random sword stuck in the ground, you don't pick up the sword, you get the shadow of the sword.

By the Power of Greyskull!!!!

All in all, it is a refreshing take on the platformer genre.   You hit switches, travel through ghostly shadow corridors, manipulate light to give you different perspectives, all very cool.  But after going through a few levels, that's all you keep doing.  There are a few shadow spiders and the like you fight along the way, but it becomes a lot of slash, slash, slash, jump back to avoid the swipe!  Rinse and repeat.  Which is what I felt the game did, rinse and repeat.

I've seen other reviews that say there's a little something that happens later in the game that sort of makes up for all the repetition, but as I said, this was a rental and I don't have a ton of time to begin with to spend on video games as much as I'd like, so I couldn't give it more than a few hours.  What little time I do have, I want to spend it with games that grip me and drag me along with its game play.  

Don't get me wrong, I like what the game is attempting, going in a bit of a different direction.  I just wish they would have done more with it.  I would say it's worth a rental, at least.  I don't think I'm gonna spend any more cash to buy it and finish it up, though.  

A Little Bit About Me

Just a little info, so you know where I'm coming from, gaming wise. When I was but a wee lad an even wee-er cousin of mine would come down and visit the family for the summer. And one summer he brought forth the Nintendo Entertainment System. Much Mario was played that summer. Eventually, I got one for Christmas with a couple of games (I believe Mario 2 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). There was much rejoicing. Zelda and Metroid was played and enjoyed. Tetris came along and all the adults would steal our system away from us to play that.

The Super Nintendo came around about the time I was heading into Junior High or so and I remember wanting it so bad. We had to sell our NES, but I didn't care if it meant getting an even bigger and better version of it. With Super Mario World, to boot. The graphics blew me away. Our family never had a lot, but I had friends and cousins that had some cool games. Games like A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Secret of Mana, Super Metroid and Super Mario RPG were played and beat without ever owning them.

I never put much stock into other systems, understand, me and all my friends were about the Big N. So, Nintendo 64 comes out and it's my first big time purchase with my own cash made by myself working at a real job. I was blown to smithereens by Mario 64. Ocarina of Time eventually made it's way into my hands and I thought it couldn't get much better. I was a huge Bond fan, especially of the movie GoldenEye, the first one I saw on a big screen. I was anxious to get that game before I even realized it was gonna be the game changer it was. Needless to say, multiplayer was played and friends and family had great times executing one another. It was about the time I beat the mission part of the game when we got our first computer with internet access.

I barely touched my 64 after that. This is where I fell away. I pretty much missed the Gamecube. Until one day my friend got himself a Wii and sold me his Gamecube real cheap. Then it started again. Metroid. Mario. Zelda. Played them all and the love came back. I was eventually able to scrounge up a Wii a couple of years ago and I thnik I might play it more than when I was a kid. Actually, that's probably not accurate, what with a full time job and all. Plus raising kids. Scratch that, I don't play it as much as then, but I'm probably into it as much as I was back then.

Moral of the story is, I went away and the Wii, and to a lesser extent, my later experience with the Gamecube brought me back and this little blog is my way of chronicling my catching up.

Twilight Princess

So I borrowed Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess somewhere like a year or so ago and got a good way through it before I had to return it.  I was into it, a big Zelda fan and all, but I kinda felt it was trying too hard to recapture Ocarina of Time magic at some points.  After Wind Waker had the audacity to look like a cartoon, go and flood Hyrule and changed up the thing a bit while keeping the core of what Zelda was and being very exciting in the process, I felt this one kind of took a step back. That aside, I enjoyed my time with it and was hoping to be able to finish it.

Not too long ago, the wife found a copy for me on Craigslist for about 15 bucks and it was a near mint beaut.  So I've put it in and began playing it again.  My initial fears of it being OOT redux went to the back of my mind as I just re- immersed myself in the Zelda experience.  Man, there's just nothing like it; getting sucked into the world of Hyrule and exploring your way around it.  Before, I was all into getting as much as the story done as I could and now, I don't want it to end.  I've stopped to smell the roses.   I've begun putting the story off and seeing what surprises await me in the corners of the kingdom.  I've never been much of a complete-ist, always just satisfied beating the story part of the game.  Sure, I'd like to get as much as I can before I ended the story, but it was no big deal for me to complete it at 100%, and honestly, it's still not.

But now I've made it to the City in the Sky and I feel the adventure beginning to dwindle down and I find myself doing any small task just to keep the thing going.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that as much as I do feel like it's trying a little too hard to go back to the Ocarina well, any game that makes me want to postpone finishing the storyline is not one to be ignored.  It is still Zelda, after all, and I have learned never to take that for granted.

Bring on Skyward Sword, baby.

A Little More "No More Heroes"

I played a couple more levels of this most brutal of awesome games and gave it back to whom it was owned and came to a decision of my own. I must get this game. I know I can find it cheap online somewhere, so when I get a few extra spending dollars, this puppy is mine in all of it's "M" rated glory. The comparisons to Madworld are definitely there, but the difference is that after playing both games for the same amount of time, I was bored of Madworld and I wanted to keep on playing No More Heroes. Sure, the gameplay can get repetitive, the enemies are largely the same, mowing the grass as a mini game is a bit annoying, and if I were to ever meet Travis Touchdown in real life, I'd wanna kick is smart alec teeth down his throat; but there is something immensely satisfying about hacking your way through a throng of enemies with a lightsa... sorry, Beam Katana. The gameplay is flat out fun. And after defeating the third boss in the game, you started seeing a bit of an actual story emerge. Maybe our hero isn't as callous as he seems. Either way, after that, I had to hang it up and just wanted to keep playing. I'm also pretty keen on playing the sequel at some point, as it looks like in addition to more brutal No More Heroes' type mayhem, the mini games look retro fun.

Until then, I've re-begun an old Gamecube game I've had sitting around the house for a couple of years without really getting into. What a mistake that's been, because the game is Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and it is awesome.

No More Heroes

So I borrowed this little dandy of a game from someone and started playing yesterday. I basically have only played the first level, getting to and defeating the first boss of the game. For those that don't know, No More Heroes is a game of assassins. You play as Travis Touchdown, a bit of a modern gaming dude who needed some cash, so he killed a guy for money and then found out that guy was the number 11 Assassin in the world, making you the number 11 Assassin in the world. After finding out this bit of info, he decided, quite logically, of course, that he would like to be Numero Uno. So he's off to whack number 10 and so on and so forth. Oh, and he's armed with a sword that can only be described as a lightsaber.

That's the gist of the story and, as I mentioned, I've only played the first little bit. The game is definitely for the mature audience, with it's over the top violence and explicit language. In fact, it reminds me a little of another game I've played in the recent past, Madworld. Now, there are differences in the two games, for sure. For one thing, in Madworld, you wield a chainsaw, not a lightsaber. The point is, that while I enjoyed Madworld at first, after the first couple of levels, the spectacle of the hardcore violence and over the top-ness of it all wore off and it became a very repetitive game to me. I hope this doesn't happen with No More Heroes, as I'm enjoying what I've played of it, but I can feel the similarities in the two. Specifically, the fact that it appears to be a lot of button mashing; you hit the A button over and over again til you can swing the Wii remote to execute a sweet finishing move. It's fun now, but will it still be fun three levels from now? I guess we'll see. I hear that there are things to be able to do in between missions to keep it a little fresh, so that might help.

Overall, though, I am enjoying the game. The stylized graphics are great for the Wii and there is something to be said about swinging that Wii remote to finish off your foes. The motion controls of the ol' 'Mote seems to respond pretty well to what you wanna do. It feels like the game could get addicting. Still, it's too early to tell what I really think about it, but I'm cautiously hopeful.

More Mario Kart Wii Online

On further review, screw Mario Kart online.

I Went Online Today...

I'll be honest. I'm not much of an online gamer. I've worked with people who are super hardcore Xbox 360 Call of Duty guys who like to kill each other when they are not at work. They've told me I should get a Xbox so I can join them. I remark that if they wanna shell out the 300 bucks for the system, 50 for the game and however much for the online services, I'll be more than happy to! Suffice it to say, I'm not much into multiplayer. One of the reasons is because I don't really have the games that support it. I have The Conduit, which I've yet dared to enter into what I can only assume would be hostile territory full of people who spend way more time on The Conduit in a day than I have since I bought the game. Why not The Conduit 2, you ask? Simple: I'm a cheap skate gamer and it's not at that magical 20 dollar mark yet. And even when it hits that mark, I'll still have to have the 20 bucks to get it.

However, today the kids were napping and I had a couple of glorious hours to myself. I spent a few minutes getting a couple of stars in Super Mario 64, but that felt a little bit... unfulfilling. So I popped in Mario Kart. And I thought "what the heck?". I've raced online a couple of times in the past and did not fare so well. I thought I was pretty good. I had gotten the gold in every cup and unlocked about every character in the game. Surely I'm decent, right? Unfortunately, I do not live and breathe the game as others do and anytime I got even a 4th place finish, it was a miracle. So screw that. I'm a grown adult (as opposed to the ungrown variety of adults) and I have better things to do than have a few 12 year olds laugh at my Beverly Hillbilly-like maneuvering. After that, it was all about racing ghosts online. I've won a lot more of those than lost, so it's easier on the ego.

Today, I popped it in again. The first race I raced today, I won. I felt like the king of awesome. Surely, much like my hometown Dallas Mavericks, destiny was on my side for once. First place, baby! Then my three year old daughter started crying from upstairs and the king of awesome had to put his game away. I dealt with her and got her calmed down enough to get back to sleep and thought I'd try to put the ol' Wii Wheel back in action. Surely, momentum was on my side. Much like Dirk Nowitzki, I would rear up in the fourth quarter and will myself to victory! I came in about 4th or so, but then I won again! 3 races, 2 wins! I should have booked my flight to Vegas right then and there!

But then the mighty fell. The screen became more populated and in Mario Kart land, that simply means chaos. Red turtle shells rained down from the heavens, lightening struck me with frequency and uncanny timing (usually as I was jumping over a chasm). 8th and 9th place finishes became the norm and that was me being lucky. I started remembering why I don't visit online play very much. It reinforces how utterly mediocre a player I really am. Ah well. The throne was a nice place to sit on, even for a short while. And the memory of that might entice me to jump online more often.

Maybe tonight, after the kids are in bed, I'll even attempt The Conduit online. If I'm brave enough.

My Mario Kart Friend Code is 0303-3247-0244 if anyone is interested. If you add me, don't be surprised if you don't see me often, but I'll try to make more of an effort in the future.

The Force Unleashed II

The Force is unleashed yet again on my Wii and boy is it kinda fun. I'll be upfront: I totally enjoyed the first installment of the Starkiller franchise. The feeling of wielding a lightsaber and controlling the Force in a way my young pre-teen mind could never have ever conceived of while playing the super fun Super Star Wars trilogy on my ol' SNES is enough to make your brain explode from the sheer nerdiness of it all. The game made you feel powerful. Could it have been better, definitely. But I still enjoyed it.

The sequel, on the other hand... I should start out by saying I found it used at Blockbuster for 10 bucks. I only say that because how much money you spend on it might dictate what you ultimately feel about it. The game is short. Very short. Just when I was getting in the swing of things, the whole show is done. In short, I'm glad I only spent 10 bucks on it. The original 50 dollar price tag would have left me feeling very ripped off.

Starting out, I was a bit thrown off by the controls, as they have been changed up a bit for this installment. I'm the first in line to poo-poo change in anything, so I started out thinking it was all balderdash. These were not the controls I had grown accustomed to from the first game! How dare they! Getting used to this led to a couple of early cheap deaths with me trying to dispatch of enemies using the same gestures and buttons from FU1. But get used to it I did, and realized that the control scheme wasn't so bad after all. There are a few new Force moves, like Force Sight and Force Rage that use the Wii Remote very effectively and give you a feeling of even more power. Plus, two lightsabers. That's always awesome.

Unfortunately, there's a laundry list of things that I feel let this game down from the previous one.

- It's SHORT
- Lack of variety of levels
- Lack of variety of enemies. Stormtroopers, spider-bots, robots bearing shields and a few two legged walkers. That's about it.
- I enjoyed the story of FU1. This one doesn't feel like much of a story at all
- SHORT!

I wish they had fixed a few of the shortcomings of the first game (as much as I enjoyed it, it ain't perfect). The levels can be repetitive. The quicktime "waggle your wii-mote" scenes are nice, but I would like to be a bit more hands on in those parts of the game. After fighting through endless stormtroopers and it gets to the cool part, I wanna piece of that action, not be relegated to the sidelines to watch while I swing the remote left or right and Starkiller does something impossibly awesome.

I will say I thought it was very fun, what game there is of it. I don't regret buying it (because I bought it stinkin' CHEAP). I'm a Star Wars nerd and I always enjoy romping around in the universe wielding lightsabers. The couple of boss fights are pretty fun.

Apparently, there's a mulitplayer, but I don't really have anyone near me at the moment to jump into the arena with and kick their butts, so I really can't comment on that aspect of it.

I just felt it was waaaay too short. I got through it in about 6 hours. And the way the story ends in a cliffhanger, it really just feels like a couple of bridge levels simply to have a reason to bring the character back to life (in a manner of speaking) after the first game to kick more butt in a meatier story in the inevitable next game. I think a game like this would have been a great use of downloadable content for whatever system it was on and could have accomplished the same thing.

However, any excuse to go crazy with the Force, I'll take.

I Get Bored, Therefore I Blog

I'm not gonna say these are reviews because that would be offensive to those who actually write reviews. These are more thoughts and impressions on games I've finally gotten around to playing because I couldn't afford them when they first came out.

What can I say, I have a full time job, a part time job, a wife, and two tiny people claiming to be my kids. What does that have to do with anything? Time to play? Kinda, but I can always find a minute or two to fire up the Wii (what's sleep?). More to the point, it means there are bills to pay and tiny people to clothe, feed and shelter. So disposable income is not what it once was.

I have decided if this it the case, I shall find cheap games or, more importantly, finally get around to playing through some games laying around.