Hungry Like The Wolf

When I last posted, I was in the middle of Bully. Well, I'm proud to say that I beat that game. Overall, it was an excellent experience, remniscent of the GTA series, but with a charm all its own. I highly recommend it.

I've moved on to Okami, and decided to start over from the beginning, rather than picking off where I'd left off all those months ago. This proved to be a wise decision, as I breezed through the parts I'd played already at lightning speed and got to the point I'd been at as a much richer and more powerful wolf.

I just fought the 8-headed dragon that everybody was blabbing about throughout the entire game. When I first realized I was gearing up to fight him, I was pretty bummed out, because I assumed he'd be the final boss. I guess he's not? Or maybe I'll have to fight him again? I'm not sure, but the point is: the game is, thankfully, far from over. The boss battle was pretty creative and fun. I had to get each of his eight heads drunk on some kind of mystical super-sake, and then beat the shit out of the individual head. Good times. I look forward to seeing what this game offers up next, and from now on I will try my best to blog about my progress as it's happening.

I Like Video Games

Okay, since we last spoke, I purchased and finished Lego Batman. It's probably unnecessary for me to tell you that it fucking rules. You know how I feel about these Lego games, and this one is obviously the best one because it's the one that has Batman in it. Getting to play as all the different villains in Batman's rogue's gallery is a real treat, especially when you can doll the Joker up in the outfit he wore when he shot Barbera Gordon in The Killing Joke (which is the best comic book story of all time). I really want to unlock Ra's al Ghul and Hush, but a glance at www.gamefaqs.com tells me that it's not really worth the effort. Anyway, if you enjoyed any of the previous Lego games, and aren't sick of the formula yet (I'm not!), then you'll love the shit out of this.

So, having beaten Lego Batman, I decided to go back to one of the games I'd previously left unfinished. My choices were Okami and Bully. In my last entry, I told you about my problems with Okami, so I decided to give Bully another shot.

At the time when I left Bully behind, it was sort of leaving me cold. The game seemed to be this endless routine of: Wake up, go to class, do some boring mission, go to class, dick around a little, save, go to sleep, repeat. The teeny-tiny game world, strict time system, and bullshit daily tasks made the game seem almost Harvest Moon-ish, except less adorable and heartwarming. So it was with reluctance that I went back to it. But oh man, was I wrong!

The first thing I did when I put the game back in was finish the mission I'd failed at the last time I played, and as soon as I did, the game's next chapter happened to start - and lo and behold, I unlocked the town! I was free to leave the school grounds! This changed EVERYTHING. The town is incredibly fun, with so much to do that it's almost overwhelming (in that GTA kind of way). I know have a full-on Bully addiction, and have found myself up at 2am on more than one occassion, saying to myself, "just one more mission before I go to sleep".

So what's going on in the game, you might ask? Well, first of all, check this out: I am a god damned punk rocker! I have a spiked green mohawk, an awesome hoodie covered with patches and 1" buttons, and plaid pants. I am so fucking cool and bad-ass. I like just looking at my character. I have earned the respect of both the nerds and the preppies, and now I am working on the greasers. I kinda also have TWO girlfriends (which is two more than I currently have in real life). One is a gross fat girl, but the other one is a hot preppie bitch who loves my bad-boy attitude. I have a feeling that pretty soon I'll also be making out with the slutty greaser chick. I am quite the player.

In other news, I bought this DS game called CrossworDS and it sucks. I had bought my ex-girlfriend a copy of the New York Times Crosswords game last year, and so I'd played a lot of that, and loved it - so I figured a first-party Nintendo crossword puzzle game would be even better. Nope. The puzzles are stupid, childish bullshit, and the input system sucks. Avoid this game, and get the New York Times one.

Last but not least, I'm going to purchase Sam & Max today, which I'm really excited about. Until next time, keep playing with power.

It's Been A While! Here's An Update.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently! I don't really have an explanation - it just sort of happened. Rest assured that I HAVE been playing a lot of video games, and I'll briefly cover them here.

CSI: Hard Evidence (Wii) - I bought this game to play with my girlfriend, since she and I are both fans of the CSI TV show (with ironic detachment, of course), and of point-and-click adventure games. The CSI Wii game is surprisingly good. It's not quite the total shovelware you'd think it would be. The cases are actually pretty fun and engaging, especially if you are a fan of the TV show. My major criticism is the game's conspicuous use of the same characters and locations over and over again. Anyway, we beat this game, and at some point in the future, we're probably gonna go back and try to beat it 100%.

Harvey Birdman (Wii) - I actually bought this game, which was a huge mistake. It's a very fun game, but DO NOT BUY IT. Rent it. Borrow it. Just don't buy it. It lasts a total of maybe 3 or 4 hours and has absolutely zero replay value. It holds the honor of being the first Wii game I've sold back to gamestop. Having said that, the game itself is really fun while it lasts. Imagine a simplified and dumbed-down version of Phoenix Wright that is overflowing with Adult Swim humor.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) - This game is fucking amazing. Highly recommended. It's basically a mixture of a point-and-click adventure game and a book of brain-teasers, and the combination works surprisingly well. The story is fun and engaging, the animation is superb, and the puzzles are excellent. Not only that, but the game has a shitload of replay value in the form of hidden puzzles, bonus features, and even weekly downloadable puzzles. I beat the game, but I still have a hell of a lot of puzzles yet to solve! And I'm already drooling for a sequel!

Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations (DS) - I know the fourth game in the series just came out, but I only just now got my hands on the third one. I am in the midst of the game's second case (the one where the urn gets stolen by the masked theif), and it's classic Phoenix Wright. In fact, it even seems a tad bit more challenging than the first two games, which is great! This is one of my all-time favorite game franchises, so it goes without saying that I'm enjoying the hell out of this game.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Wii) - I never played through either of the Lego Star Wars games, but always wanted to, so I pounced all over this Wii version. It's probably the easiest game I've ever played (it's impssible to get a Game Over; if you die, you just respawn in the same spot with full health), but it's just a pure adrenaline rush of FUN. Challenge is not always necessary for fun, and in the case of Lego Star Wars, I think being super easy actually works in its favor. It makes it more rewarding to try different things, and to explore different areas that you might not choose to if you were worried about dying. Anyway, I've just finished the Empire Strikes Back portion of the game, and I'm about to take on Return of the Jedi. Then I'm done with the main game, but you can bet that I'll be revisiting these levels to try to unlock new shit. This game is even more fun and addictive than I thought it would be! I can't wait for Lego Batman!!

In other news, my birthday just passed and it brought some more awesome video game-related shit into my life. First of all, I used an Amazon gift certificate to pre-order the Wii version of Bully. I kind of love the fact that the Wii is sort of acting as a venue for enhanced remakes of the PS2's greatest hits. It allows me to play a lot of games I missed the first time around. I'm very excited about Bully and also Okami. In other birthday news, my girlfriend got me a new Classic Controller to replace the one that MY MOTHER'S DOG ATE THE WEEK BEFORE!!!! She also got me a Wave Bird, which I absolutely NEED for Brawl.

The Lost video game comes out this week and I am probably going to play through it with Jonnie Whoa Oh, so the next entry in this blog will most likely deal with that! See you then!