I feel like I have no reason to ever be bored at home, just considering all of the games I could be playing, let alone all of the books and movies and good TV to watch anytime I want. Imagine the odd feeling I got this past weekend when I didn't really feel like doing any of that for several hours. I think I ended up playing some more Bad Company 2 multiplayer.
I'm playing the PC version of BF:BC2 now, since my 360 red ringed, and I had gotten rid of the console version anyway when I went "xbox live free," and picked up the PC version for like $7 during the December Steam blowouts. That game is so good, it's easily my favorite multiplayer shooter ever. I've never been extremely into any of them, really, but the only ones I've played and enjoyed anywhere near as much as BC2 are Halo 3 and Team Fortress 2. TF2 I really like, too, but only play occasionally. I can sink my teeth into BC2, though. I played somewhere around 30 hours worth on the 360 version, and another 3-4 so far on the PC version. Battlefield 3 is going to be awesome. Red Orchestra 2, also. RO is kind of like BF, but more realistic and with less servers. Hopefully the sequel gains more traction with players.
I've been playing Dead Space since last week, but I'm still less than halfway in. I'm at the beginning of chapter 5 right now. It's executed very well. It feels like next-gen Resident Evil 4 in space, like better Resident Evil in space. The graphics are very nice, the UI and general presentation is slick as hell. If I have any problem with it, it's just that this style of game has never been my favorite, and I don't feel anything drawing me through the game; it's kind of the opposite, because of the tension waiting for the next big startle. I feel more inclined to not play the game than to play it. Without the force of will, this game my fall by the wayside. It's not overly long, though, so I may push on through just to finish it off and see more of the cool graphics.
I played some more Magicka over the weekend, too. Esteban and I played a few short rounds of the arena challenge mode, and I played through a couple more of levels on the single player campaign. Magicka, in a word, is crazy. You are frantically trying to assemble any kind of offensive spell that will knock guys back and dispatch them. It's funny at times when your hastily assembled spell explodes and kills you and everyone around you, or when you somehow trick enemy wizards into frying each other with their magic. The game also has a really campy sense of humor, spoofing every RPG trope you can think of, and referencing everything from Rambo to 300. My wizard currently has an M60 machine gun instead of a sword to complement his staff. This is a great package for $10, and I hope it's unique magic system is co-opted into other games somehow. Maybe a simpler version with 4-6 elements would fit into a more serious game like a Mass Effect or something.
Demon's Souls is the Resolution game for this week, and I'm trying to pick up where I left off not too long ago, working through 4-2, getting some souls. I have still never even visited worlds 3 or 5; I should probably check those out to see if there's any useful loot or easy bosses.
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together was finally released this week, and I bought it over PSN and downloaded it onto my PSP through my PS3. So far, so good. I'm only 4-5 battles in thus far, just through the introductory stuff, for the most part. It seems deeper in some ways than FFT, but less so in others. I really love what they've done as far as UI and ancillary information to the game (the Warren Report). I haven't had occasion to use the Chariot system yet, which allows for rewinding battle turns, but I think the next battle will be a tough one, so we'll see.
I miss FFT's ability to spin the entire stage around in 90 degree increments, and the ability to tilt it up and down, but TO allows for a bird's eye view--from two different angles, which strikes me as redundant, but whatever. Also, the sprites and environments are by default zoomed-in, so they appear blurry on the PSP screen, but if you zoom the view out so they appear nice and sharp, then they're too small to see very well. More options here and there would be nice, as would an option in the store to see what all of your guys are wearing at the moment, and how that gear compares to what's on sale. That should be in every RPG, period. Come on, people!
I'm not far enough in to really be into the plot, but so far it looks like it has all of the hallmark's of a Matsuno game. I'm excited to get further in.
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