Games Played 08/16/2008

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 - PlayStation 2
Bionic Commando Rearmed - X-Box 360
Hyper Duel - SegaSaturn
Ikaruga - X-Box 360
Legend: Hand of God Demo - PC*
Mutant Storm Empire - X-Box 360
Savage 2: Tortured Soul Demo - PC**
Titan Quest - PC

*I am currently on the lookout for a good role playing game so anything that remotely resembles that genre will be investigated. Goodness gracious this game is BAD. The voice acting is one of the worst I have ever heard - and you can't skip the hero's dialogue in a conversation. The cursor on the screen is represented by a fairy who is the hero's friend... Could I say Zelda copycat? It's too bad really because the game's graphics are quite competent.

**Nice blend of RPG/strategy/first person shooter. I just don't like the fact that it is too focused on teamwork-based online play and it lacks any real single player mode. They could easily make this a full-fledged single player adventure game.

RANDOM GAME OF THE DAY:


The Legend of Dragoon (2000)
Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Platform: PlayStation
Purchase Date: 06/15/2000

The game has some of the best PSOne CG cinematics.

When it comes to Japanese role playing games, I often get into the habit of playing them all the way up until the final chapter before quitting them. For the majority of the time, I blame the high difficulty level as the main culprit behind this. Usually, a JRPG gets unrelenting during its final chapter, forcing players to grind before tackling the final assault and I normally rather jump to the next game waiting to be played. The same thing happened here with The Legend of Dragoon. I do utterly love this game to death and examining it closely again makes me want to complete it. There is an impressive humanity vs. dragons storyline and an absolutely heartbreaking love story involving one of its main characters by the name of Rose. This game has just made it into my list of games that I must play again.

LIBRARY STATUS: 4 out of 5

Games Played 08/15/2008

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - PC
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 - X-Box 360
Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2 - Dreamcast
Ikaruga - X-Box 360
Titan Quest - PC

RANDOM GAME OF THE DAY:


Hyper Duel (1996)
Developer: Technosoft Co., Ltd.
Platform: SegaSaturn
Purchase Date: 07/24/2002

Classic 2d-shooter action that never gets old.

I picked this one up during my Ebay-Scavenger phase. Technosoft was famous for their Thunder Force series but their other shooters are not well-known to the general gaming populous. Hyper Duel is unique for the developer because the player's ship can morph into a robot and the player has to adjust between using the ship form and the robot form to survive through the enemy waves. It's faster than Thunder Force - though less refined - and features a two-player co-op mode! Epic bosses, killer soundtracks... It's hyper-fun.

LIBRARY STATUS: 5 out of 5

Games Played 08/14/2008

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - PC
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 - X-Box 360
Ikaruga - X-Box 360
Omega Force - X-Box 360
Titan Quest - PC

RANDOM GAME OF THE DAY:


Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2 (2000)
Developer: Sega Enterprises, Ltd.
Platform: Sega Dreamcast
Purchase Date: 03/01/2000

Pick that nose!

This is the best version of Sega's classic Columns games that I have ever played. The game is mainly designed around the "versus" style of gameplay where the player has to completely cover the opponent's screen with colored gems. Unique here is the player's ability to choose a variety of power up to add to the playable character's individual statistics and the level up system where clearing gems would fill up a small bar at the top of the screen. Once the bar is filled, the player can opt to take an offensive, a defensive maneuver, or keep the accumulated power for future use. The game is filled with the cast of adorable characters from the "Sakura Wars" franchise, a strategy-RPG/dating-sim hybrid game series that never sees the light of day outside of Japan. I especially love some of music in this game. There is even a mini-adventure mode found within.

LIBRARY STATUS: 4 out of 5

Games Played 08/13/2008

Bionic Commando Rearmed - X-Box 360
Braid - X-Box 360
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved - X-Box 360
Ikaruga - X-Box 360*
Titan Quest - PC

*Welcome back Ikaruga! Spent about 2 hours practicing Chapter 4 last night. That stage is evil!

**I skipped my usual Yourself!Fitness routine yesterday morning because I had a terrible pain on my right shoulder blade. I must have twisted and/or pulled something. Still feeling it this morning. I am going to stop exercising until this gets better.

***Starting tomorrow, I am going to post a "Random Game of the Day" within my Daily Game Log postings. It's basically a way for me to acknowledge the great (and not so great) games sitting around me, to give them a bit of life - a way for me to say that they are a part of me even when they are not being played constantly. This section will have a snippet of information about the featured game and a profile picture of the game itself.

Review: Braid

Braid (2008)
Developer: Number None Inc.
Platform: X-Box 360
Induction Date: 08/08/2008

It's time to put on your thinking cap.

From the game's title screen all the way up to its clever ending, Braid is all about style and subtle suggestion. This bite-sized platform adventure is certainly one of the most unique games ever made and one that is serious about presenting itself as being more than just a video game.

There are objects that are not affected by the flow of time.

You play as Tim who is searching for his "Princess" and this journey will take place across 6 cleverly designed worlds. Besides the usual jump and climb mechanics, what separate Braid from the rest is its time-manipulation gameplay. By pressing the X button, all of the things that happened onscreen is reversed as far back as the player wants - thus Tim can never die in the game. Just like what Treasure has done to Ikaruga's polarity-switch concept, this simple rule is then heavily extracted into numerous madly-genius situations and combinations. For example, in one of the worlds, time only moves forward in sync with Tim moving right but when he turns to move left, time itself is moving backwards with him. Within a stage, Tim must collect devilishly-placed puzzle pieces to complete a painting that is assigned to each world. It is not mandatory to collect all the puzzle pieces to proceed to the end of the game - a good thing for those easily frustrated because getting them all is no easy task.

Braid redefines precision jumping in platform games.

The game looks like a classical painting and it is easy to forgive the stiffness of the character animations. The soundtrack is filled with slow moving tunes and they react accordingly to the flow of time. There are numerous homages to classic gaming icons that seem to work nicely with the game's overall sensibility. If you are interested in this game, do yourself a favor and avoid reading the heavily discussed story analyses found in the forums across the internet. Braid's disturbing storyline is meant to be discovered personally by its player. Only after you have finished the game should you discuss the story content with others who have also completed the journey. The only unfortunate thing about Braid is that it has almost no replay value so you should fully embrace the game to its fullest while you are playing it.

RATING: 4 out of 5