What I've Been Playing

After I beat GTA I pretty much started playing every other game I have but haven't had the time to enjoy. First I started with Uncharted: Drakes Fortune for the PS3. The game is like a big budget action movie, a perfect game to play in the summer that feels just like a good time at the movies. You are constantly running and jumping around a beautifully lit jungle, in between epic gun fights and jet ski chases. It feels like a breath of fresh air after playing a heavy RPG like Jeanne D'Arc.

Second on the PS3 is Assassins Creed. I bought this because it was $18 at Gamefly and I had a $5 off coupon for their store. So I pretty much couldn't lose. Assassins creed is a lot of fun when you are running and jumping on rooftops. Where it can get a little sketchy sometimes is the combat. In the beginning I found the combat to be pretty hard and I would constantly die. However, after I learned the counter move I found the combat to be a little too easy. There was no balance. The game looks beautiful and it is tons of fun running around the open city. I'm looking forward to spending some more time with it.

Last on the PS3 is Skate. I've been interested in Skate ever since I first heard about it, I just didn't have a console to play it on yet. Once I got the PS3 I got the Skate demo and have been playing it nonstop. I tracked down a cheap copy of the game on ebay and have been enjoying my time with it. It looks amazing and really feels like I'm playing in a skate video. The camera is down low and it is easy for you to set up smooth lines. The city is huge and as of now I cannot keep from getting lost. Hopefully soon I'll get a feel for where the good spots are.

A few weeks ago my girlfriend and I loaded up Mario Kart Wii and went online with it, like we always do. We didn't realize that after a few races, two of our friends had joined us. Now I know this is typical fair for most online games, but this is not how things usually work on a Nintendo system. It was nice to see that they could effortlessly join us without forcing us to back out and accept their invitation or something like that. Our competitiveness was instantly boosted and it really made the already fun online racing a lot more intense.

I also recently found a program called Crossover which lets you emulate Windows software on a Mac or Linux based machine. I downloaded the free month long trial along with Steam, a windows application for digitally distributed games. Steam installed and worked perfectly so I immediately purchased one of the games I have been waiting to play for a a long time: Portal. glaDOS's narration and the puzzle game play are fantastic. It plays like an FPS but is really a puzzle game where you use Portals to get to hard to reach areas. I can't wait to finish this one so I can finally understand all the inside jokes on Digg.

Along with Portal I purchased Team Fortress 2. I didn't want the entire Orange Box because I already have Half Life 2 on the XBOX and also don't have much space on my Mac. TF2 is great and I really love the cell shaded look. Everything about it has a comical feel to it and the games can get pretty intense. It is a team based multiplayer online shooter. You can pick from different classes of characters including Medic, Heavy, Engineer, Solider, Scout, Demo-man, Pyro, Spy, and Sniper. I found that I got the most kills with the Solider as he has a rocker launcher, but I also really enjoyed setting up sentry guns to mow down opponents with the Engineer. Each class has it's own benefits and I have yet to figure out which one I like the best.

Finally on the handheld front I have been playing Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow on the DS and Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP. There is a new Castlevania game coming out for the DS (and potentially Wii) in the near future and I wanted to brush up on the series. Dawn of Sorrow on the DS looks great and is really well animated. It's been a while since I have played a classic 2D sidescroller but I found it really fun and actually pretty deep. I never realized that the Castlevania games have pretty in depth inventory systems. The PSP game is a different story. I found the pace to be painfully slow as your character cannot run, and it can be difficult to land kills as you whip doesn't always hit the enemy when you think it will. I only really bought the PSP game because it contains as a bonus feature what I've heard to be the best Castlevania game ever: Symphony of the Night. I will probably stop playing the main game and jump into that after I beat the DS version.



I plan to review all of these games, eventually, as I beat them. A lot of them are fairly short and shouldn't prove too hard. Metal Gear 4 also comes out on June 12 so look forward to a review for that after I beat it, but that could be a ways down the road.

Labels: Microsoft, Nintendo, PC/Mac, Previews, Sony