Mal

Final boss battles where you have to use everyone. This sort of thing kind of irks me in RPGs. Compound it with a four stage boss where you have to repeatedly defeat side enemies to even hit the boss and you got Ys Seven final boss. I swear, all told it can be a 30 minute crawl on a PSP. At this point it is a pain in the ass since you will be sent back to the second stage if you die. I much rather fight Dark Fact than this boss.

Wolfenstein The New Order (Slight spoilers) In short, this game blew me away. Specs Ops The Line wished it had this good gameplay. This might be the Sleeping Dogs of the FPS genre. This game is the prime example of what devs can do if they focus on one part of the game, single player in this case. First off, the levels are made in similar ways to Wolfenstein 3D where there are hidden secrets or passages within the level. So while the game is linear, the gameplay isn't. You totally can start on top of a building, working your way down or you can just start on the ground floor then get to the basement. You can also suddenly become quite powerful if you manage to get to some hidden weapons (Who knew a pistol or knife is so useful?). Overall the levels are designed really well in which it is old school in a good way (Unlike say Doom where you can get totally lost). The levels and the enemies are also quite varied. The enemies will all function the same but they will visually be distinct with their appearance based on the levels they are found in. For example, you will be on the Moon (MOON NAZIS) and you'll reenact Star Wars where the stormtroopers, who fire lasers, can aim and murder you. Gameplay wise, it feels meaty and dense but it doesn't mean that you can go total BJ on some Nazis. So this game allows you to approach the enemies however you want. So your first playthrough you might find yourself playing a cover shooter with a healthy dose of stealth but later on, you might go Rambo even though ideally you may want to be stealthy. Weapon wise, it is nice and concise without being boring. You'll find yourself using most, if not all, of the guns. They all have their place. Surprisingly enough, it has a decent story. Okay, some of the stuff doesn't make sense but then again, this is Wolfenstein where Nazi science experiments meant something. One of my favorite parts isn't even where I shoot people but merely interacted with characters. Since I mentioned Specs Ops The Line, I don't think I need to say more but say that you should just play the game. Like Spec Ops, this game is rated M for good reasons. --- So the problems... there are a few cases of bad level design and/or coding. The most glaring one is one level you'll find yourself without much cover in a level which can spawn in a totally different item set than that you jump into if you die and respawn. You could potentially miss out on a collectable which is needed for unlocking a special mode. Not to mention you respawn in a condition lower than which you checkpointed with. I do not recall any other spots that does all this. Everywhere else, everything respawn as is as do me. The passive AI really suffers from being near sighted, with the dogs being notable. Think MGS1 bad. What am I standing in front of, a Jurassic Park T-rex? Lastly, you would think shooting or tossing munitions up there should change things but no (also I should mention that you have the option walk away certain stuff which is nice, not sure if that changes anything though...). Uncharted 2 won't feel samey coming from Uncharted 1. From 2 to 3, though, now that's another story. Quoting for emphasis. As a whole package, U3 is pretty shitty compared to U2. I love U2.

Gneiss, you'll fit right in. Welcome aboard!

Wolfenstein is awesome. I'll do a mini write up once I'm done.

Totally forgot about The Stick of Truth. Not deep at all but it is pure fun. It is the type where I will be doing a yearly replay.

Just got done with my yearly replay of Ys I and II so... back to killing Nazis with Wolfenstein: The New Order. I absolutely hated the last game (I think it was the one that came out early in the PS3's lifetime) but I've heard good things about this one. Also people I know on Steam seem to like it enough to put in 30 hours. So this should be good. Now come on Mecha Hitler.

Ground Zeros would be but as you've said, its too short. Phantom Pain will steal its year however. With that said, nothing really springs to mind since I haven't really played much games so this year games are quite sparse. I suppose I can shoot in Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition for PC. Only real thing it is missing is online multiplayer. Absolutely shameful that they didn't put that in but besides that, it is indeed the best DW since 3/4.

I was going to do a status update but it was getting lengthy. Anyways, my setups at my parents place. Internet browsing station. I got a micro-HDMI cable today and it works out really well. The monitor is at 1920x1080 while the sound is going to my speakers. No crappy monitor speakers here! I suppose I could do some light gaming here but this is mainly for streaming and internet browsing. Main issues are the T100 weak wireless (I should look into it) and the overall system hangs a bit ever so often. No biggie. On a side note, this is a test run on me using the T100 for use with a projector or any other setup at CSUN. Unless something blows up, I think I can manage screen projection now... Here's my big tower. Big Picture mode works out really well. I also got my phone setup to control the mouse cursor so I can sit on the couch and watch shows and junk. Everything worked out better than expected. I just need to grab some good surge protectors for everything since all the ones around the house don't cut it...

Done with the sale, I think.

Dynasty Warriors 8 Might as well out this on here even though I never really consider the game beat until I unlock most of the stuff... Besides that... it scratches that itch left by DW4. DW5 failed to completely scratch it and DW6 was just plain heresy. I ignored DW7 due to DW6 but after seeing DW8 on Steam, I decided it was time and oh man, was it time. I bought it about 48 hours ago and I logged about 20 hours (So much damn free time). While I know some if not most of the improvements was done with DW6/7, I love... 1) Calling the mounts. It makes it pretty simple to move quickly through the battlefield. 2) The levels can be quite big. 3) Holy balls, the screen is filled with enemies. I think part of this is due to being on PC. 4) Weapon swaps. This is the best of both worlds that was done horribly wrong in DW6. If you skipped DW6/7. I think this is a good point to jump back in. Now for the mighty question... Do I see myself getting DW9? Hard to say but it'll depends on what they do with it. For DW8, it is nice to see characters to be more fleshed out instead of having same faces with tons of people (Still happens). Doing more of this for DW9 might get me to get it. I just don't know right now on what they can add or improve on.

To be sure, not having this in season 5 would be heresy. Another problem is at the cave... Looked sweet but that is a problem.

Hello! I'm Mal and I'm the residential not-so-official geologist. Think of me as Randy and it will all kind of make sense. And yes, alcoholic as well since beer.

I'm just waiting for Metal Gear Rising and then I think I'm good.It doesn't make sense at all to get Dark Souls 2 if I still haven't beaten Dark Souls 1.

Suddenly. People gives a shit about soccer.

Lena Headey played us like a harp. Season 5/book spoiler. Oh well. It'll come. Well played... Anyways, overall I thought it was great finale. It kept alive theories which is nice.

I just mount it low...

One last look before I take it all down in a day or two. My PS3 is behind my TV. It is holding up so far. If it starts to get hot in my room (which it can with my computer, monitor, TV and PS3 running), I turn on a fan to blow some air to that corner. I also would if I could mount my TV on an arm mount but those ones are expensive and I don't feel like drilling into the walls in a rental as a student. Besides, I have no idea if such a mount exist and if my wall can hold it up. And yeah, you can see my rock collection. More space for stuff. In TCP case, it makes sense to wall mount his TV. For you, you have a similar problem to me with a TV in a corner.

Wall mount. That will secure your TV. Add in some rocks/weights on the bottom stand and it might work out. Worst comes worst is that any potential kids will become your child laborers.

Looks alright. It will really benefit from multiplayer once that comes around. Also good initiative on charging the wizard with a shotgun.