Friday, August 1, 2008

July Indulgences

I swear, I only bought these to check out and then, with all probability, sell.  The material ones, I mean.  But not Diablo.  Anyway, here they are:

 Geometry Wars 2.... all I thought impossible in a sequel, done with panache.

I love the Killzone art.  Those Helghast just look awesome.  I hope the game/series is good.  I also hope ZOE 2 is all it's cracked up to be, but it'll fetch a high price online either way.  Mega Man Zero is tough! Great 2D action, though.

The Diablo Battle Chest, or, my next FFXI-sized addiction waiting to happen.  This is what I've been playing the most of this week.  I've got a level 7 Assassin on the US West realm of Bnet, and I always name my game Covenant, password kujata (keeping it simple if anyone wants to jump in!)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

NINJA DOG

Hey dude. I'm playing through Ninja Gaiden Black. Wicked hard. I decided to play on normal because I like a challenge. The mechanics of the game are sound, but I'd say GoW and Devil May Cry beat it in terms of graphics/presentation. That and the cutscenes are cheaporoni.

If you don't end up liking 2nd runner, I'll buy it off you (for hopefully less than an ebay price, but more than you paid for it)

Peace.

E.

Count Elmdor said...

lol yeah, Ninja Dog was hard enough for me. I only got stuck in one spot, and I wasn't really stuck, just tired of the game for a while before I went back and finished it off. The hardest part of the whole game is actually probably the first boss.

The mission mode you unlock after you beat the game is awesome, btw. Talk about hard.

I've never really gotten into GoW/DMC, even though I bought DMC 1 twice and liked what I played.

You need to get Geometry Wars 2, man, and witness how it incorporates leaderboards into the game and compels you to beat the person above you. Me and Sal have been going back and forth over the last week with the high scores. It's addictive as hell. Believe it or not, it makes the original Geo Wars seem stale graphically, although I do miss the upgrading guns from the first game.

Anonymous said...

I don't know. I feel like I don't need another twin stick shooter right now (remember that I bought Superstardust, which is really quite good) but I will be adding it to my "games I should buy on XBLA" list.

Yeah, what I really like about NG is how it FORCES you to become better at the game. If you can't handle the rough adjustment period, and give up, well tough shit. If you persevere the game rewards you by making you feel like a bad-ass. A unique approach in game design, but one I appreciate.

And yeah, that first boss kicked the shit out of me like 12 times.

DMC, to me, is the inheritor of the action platforming crown from Castlevania. It's what a 3d Castlevania should have been.

I haven't played 4 yet, I heard they dumbed it down, but 3 was amazing (and hard).

GoW succeeds by being the same kind of game but with a Western pedigree. The scale of the game is amazing for a third person action game, and the spectacle of it is great.

I've also been playing Battlefield: Bad Company. My hands are used to CoD 4, so I am regularly getting my ass handed to me.

Greg said...

I second Nas's recommendation on Geometry Wars 2. It is much more of an improvement on the original than I was expecting. They really came up with some fresh game modes.

I'd say it is now my pick for best Xbox Live Arcade download. And yeah, Nas and I have been battling it out. He's really got me on the evolved mode, which I consider to be the main game.

They've introduced some new enemies and formations that really up the challenge. Man, I'm with you Nas, I miss the old spread-fire gun...

Count Elmdor said...

Yah, I got lucky and went on a tear one time in Evolved, to get that 10 mil or so.

Is it just me, or is Waves super hard? I can't really seem to do all that well. My best strategy for that mode so far is to stay just near enough to a corner to have two walls in view at all times, which will let you know where the next wave is going to come from. You can either see it form on one of the close walls, or if you have a sense of timing, you should know it'll be coming from off screen momentarily.

I suck at Sequence, too. Can't even come close to finishing it yet. King I feel ok about, but I think if anything really clicks for me it'll be Pacifism.

Greg said...

Waves is hard. Interesting strategy you have. I actually have been trying to stay near the center so I can have maximum mobility. I'll have to try playing in the corners...

I'm pretty well stuck in all modes at the moment. I seem to have stopped improving. Sequence is a real bitch, especially when you get to those stages with the orange ships that spawn all around you and converge. I hate that.

I doubt if you will ever have to worry about me beating your current Pacifism score. That is amazing. I can't even get close to my old score.

Count Elmdor said...

My score is nothing. There's one guy on my friend list with 125 million in Pacifism.

It is all exponential, though. If you figure it takes 5 minutes to hit 10 mil, then you could probably hit 50 mil in 10 minutes. One thing I've started to do in that mode is go from gate to gate fast as possible, trying to kill little bunches of guys instead of huge bunches.

Instead of killing 10 @ 20x, kill 5 @ 20x, and then 5 @ 25x for max scoring.

Greg said...

Yeah, that makes sense. I try to do that in King. Kill a few, jump out of my safe zone and grab some geoms before rushing back in to shoot some more.

But for waves, I just try to survive...