I’ve been playing a lot of Halo 3 over the last few days and I’m having a real blast with the game. I’ve finished the campaign a couple of times now, once individually on “normal” and with a group of friends playing co-op on “Legendary” difficulty. Although the single player campaign is good I found that the real fun is to be had when you’re playing co-op and I’m sure that without the help of others I wouldn’t have stood a chance on Legendary, so a big “THANK-YOU” to those that participated!
Even though the campaign has been completed there’s still lots for me to try out as I mess around with the various “golden skulls” and try to get the scoring achievements for each level.
So far I’ve only dipped my toe in to the multiplayer matchmaking water but what I’ve seen so far has been excellent with some interesting levels and game types. The only real negatives on my experience to date has been the number of times my connection has been terminated or the lag that I’ve experienced during some on-line games. However I won’t lay blame on any particular area as there are a number of factors to consider such as overburdened xbox live servers and the connections of all players involved (including my own).
I hope to post up my review of the game once I’ve experienced more of the on-line matchmaking modes but for now it’s back to the fight!
Posted in Diary
The D.I.Y renovations are now more or less complete and my life can once again start taking on some semblance of normality. Apologies for the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks but when there’s no time to play games or catch up on the latest news then there’s really no point in just posting “for the sake of it”.
After this weekend the house should be back to normal and the 360 will be powered up once more. I’ve just picked up a copy of Stranglehold on the strength of the demo and I’ll be playing through that time permitting.
In some game related news I noticed that the Nintendo Wii has now taken the lead in worldwide cumulative sales (source:
Game Industry) from the Xbox 360 with some 9 million Wii consoles purchased compared to 8.9 million Xbox 360’s and 3.7 million PS3’s. It’s an impressive stat considering it (Wii) has been on sale for only 9 months.
Posted in Diary
It’s been a busy week for me so far. I’m on a leave of absence from my day job for a couple of weeks but instead of chilling out I’m in the middle of D.I.Y, the house is upside down, and there’s no relaxing allowed. Thus I’ve not had any time to play games, demos or catch up on gaming news this week.
I managed to finish Bioshock last weekend and I will post up some in depth thoughts on that in due course. In my book this is one of the best games I’ve played in a long time and in some ways I was saddened to finally complete the game and bring the grand adventure to a close. However, looking ahead there are some bright gems on the horizon such as Halo 3, Mass Effect and PGR4 that should provide a fix for my gaming addiction.
Posted in Diary
It’s been over a week now since the
Xbox 360 died and got sent back for repairs and I’m feeling its loss. Apart from playing full games, I tend to use it a lot to try out any new demo’s, arcade trials or view game trailers and its absence was felt all the more last week during E3 when by most accounts Microsoft did a pretty good job or releasing downloadable content. I was also in the middle of playing
Forza 2: Motorsport and
DiRT and had Overlord waiting in the wings which I was looking forward to playing once I’d finished with the other two. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be getting the 360 back anytime soon so I will have to lament its loss for a little longer.
I was tempted to buy a Sony PS3 when the Xbox 360 died and I think I would have gone out and bought one if the UK had received a price reduction similar to the one introduced in the US, but unfortunately as soon as the bundle pack was announced the purchase was put back on the back burner. It’s not that I don’t think the bundle pack is value for money (if you want those games), and yes, I could sell the games and extra SIXAXIS controller if I wanted, but it all comes down to a matter of principle. I’ve always thought 425 GBP (RRP) was far too expensive, and offering me some first party games and an extra controller (that I don’t want) as “added value” is not going to sway my mind. I’m hoping that we will see a proper price reduction later in the year and it’s then that I’ll buy into the PS3.
The Wii is still sat gathering dust as I await the release of some first party titles, the first of which will be Super Paper Mario, and I sincerely hope some “AAA” titles appear for the Christmas holiday season. I have been tempted by some Virtual Console games but I’m waiting until my 10,000 or so “Stars” points I’ve accumulated over the years as part of Nintendo 24:7 VIP Club can be converted to Wii points and put to good use.
So where does this leave me? Well at present the power light on the PS2 is burning green once more after a long absence and I’m ploughing through “God of War 2″ which I’m very much enjoying, even if it does have some frustrating, joypad throwing inducing, sections to complete.
Posted in Diary
It’s been a bit quiet this week on the gaming demo front. After the rush of the last few weeks where a number of demos were released in quick succession onto Xbox Live this week has seen the complete opposite and there haven’t been any new demo downloads made available to the UK service.
At present I’m still playing through Forza 2: Motorsport (X360) and I still need to finish off Shadow of the Colossus (PS2). I’ve also recently picked up Colin Mcrae DiRT (X360) and I’m hoping to post up a review of that as soon as I can get my teeth into it. From what I’ve played of the game so far it’s very different to Forza and requires a different driving style but it’s still very enjoyable.
On the horizon we have
Overlord,
Tenchu Z,
Hour of Victory,
Project Sylpheed, The Darkness and Call of Juarez all due to be released this Friday on the 29th June for the Xbox 360. Of those I’ve already got Overlord on preorder which I’m very much looking forward to playing. I’m also keeping an eye on the The Darkness to see if it’s worthwhile picking up a copy once I’ve finished some of my existing games.
So many games, so little time!
Posted in Diary
I’ve not had much time to play games over the last week but I managed to get an hour or so on Puzzle Quest last night. I must admit I was getting a bit frustrated with some of the battles.
The AI was chaining together better sequences and whenever new tiles appeared on the game board they always seemed to favour the opponent. I had to replay a few quest battles, and some I couldn’t win even after a couple of attempts. Of course there is a simple and logical explanation; I suck at this game! So to solve the issue I resorted to the belief that the AI was cheating. I’m sure this is not the case, but it made me feel better all the same.
Posted in Diary, Nintendo DS
There’s been no new releases to tempt me into parting with my money this week so I’ll be continuing with Guitar Hero II. I’ve also got a number of games in reserve yet to be started.
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Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
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Okami (PS2)
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Canis Canem Edit (PS2)
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Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)
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Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King (PS2)
I’m looking forward to playing them all but I’m edging towards starting Shadow of the Colossus next. I really enjoyed it’s spiritual predeccessor
Ico and I’ve heard that this game plays just as well and has an epic sense of scale.
Of course there’s always the Wii Virtual Console, With
Lylat Wars been the notable release this week. However, I could always dust off the old N64 and plug the cartridge in if I feel the need to spend some time with Fox, Falco, Peppy and slippy rather than downloading it.
Posted in Diary
