It's Raining XBox Games!
I've moved. Not just a small move from one downtown apartment to the next, nor a medium move from one suburb to another, but a full-blown one city to another move. I just thought I'd get that out of the way so that when I start on this next bit about EB Games, you'll understand that I'm not referring to my old stompin' grounds, but to an entirely new stompin' grounds--for whatever difference that makes. This will also explain why I've got so much news and am packing it all into one disjointed post rather than making several smaller and more coherent posts.EB Games has been liquedating tons of games lately. In fact, I've never seen "red tagged" products at EB Games until today, and man they are cheap. I cracked and bought Prey for $10, which I've played bits and pieces of before, and which I know will compliment my gaming PC nicely. As good as F.E.A.R.? Hell no. As good as Doom 3 or Max Payne 2? I'm not sure--I haven't played those. :) Worth $10? Obviously, I think so.
In addition to Prey, lots and lots of XBox games were red-tagged for anywhere from $10 to $15. These included games like Dino Crisis 3 and Silent Hill 4. In spite of the fact that I don't actually even have an XBox, I ended up getting two games: Capcom Fighting Evolution (yeah, I know, it's pretty crappy), and King of Fighters Neo-Wave. (If I'd seen Capcom vs SNK 2, I would have jumped all over that, even though I already have the GameCube and PS2 versions.) I was tempted to get more, but... well... it is kinda hard to justify given that, like I said, I don't have an XBox.
So why bother at all? Yes, I am something of a collector, but really, I'm buying these games because I do know other people who have XBoxes, I have access to XBoxes that I can play on at work, and it's likely that I'll end up owning an XBox 360 at some point in the not too distant future. So jumping on really good XBox game deals does make some sense, if only a little.
I should also point out that I once bought copies of Shenmue and Chu-Chu Rocket regardless of the fact that I didn't have a Dreamcast. I later acquired a Dreamcast and continue to get mileage out of it to this day.
Moving along, there is one last game that I picked up at EB Games today--not red tagged (although that would have been appropriate), but certainly not a budget-breaker at $20--which I've already played some with Sunny and will likely get to play through again with Matt: The Red Star (and yes, it is based on the graphic novel series of the same name.) It's an old-school style shooter meets brawler, with loose lock-on targetting controls, bosses that spew blankets of bullets (sometimes vaguely resembling Ikaruga), and a great deal of melee combat. Visually, The Red Star definitely doesn't look like a hit title, and gameplay-wise it's not offering anything that gamers haven't seen before, but these criticisms do little to detract from the hardcore appeal of what is a simplistic shoot-em-up extravaganza for one or two players. There is enough variety in the levels, the weapons, and the earned power-ups to make this title well worth playing. Sunny also approves of it.
Oh--and I pre-ordered Odin Sphere, which has been getting tons of buzz since Gabe of Penny Arcade started ranting about it. The footage of it on GameTrailers.com blew me away; it looks something like Valkyrie Profile 2 meets... Castlevania? Or maybe Guardian Heroes? At any rate, I'm going "all in" on this one and praying that it doesn't disappoint.
While in the process of unpacking a bunch of the stuff that made the move, I happened to gather together my library of hand-held titles and platforms into one convenient place so I could casually enjoy them more conveniently. One game that I briefly pulled out for fun is the original Seiken Densetsu, or Final Fantasy Adventure for GameBoy. That one is an old classic and resembles Zelda: Link's Awakening crossed with Secret of Mana (actually, that's pretty much exactly what Final Fantasy Adventure is, in a nutshell.) Another original GameBoy game that I popped in is Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land, which actually stunned me with how good it still is after all of these years. I may end up addicted to it and play it through to the end. And then I should go get Super Paper Mario, I suppose. :)
Speaking of Wii games, I finally put the wraps on Zelda: Twilight Princess. It only took about 90 minutes from where I'd left off, and that includes the time that I spent watching the end credits, putting my playtime total at about 42 hours, which is amazingly little considering I first got the game back in November. I really need to do better at sticking to only a few games at a time until they're finished.
Sunny and I have also just picked up our second WoW subscription, which is very exciting because it means that we can finally play together. In a somewhat cliched (but still romantic) move, we've re-rolled Nightelves on Rivendare. This playthrough is interesting because we've both chosen to roll our main classes (she's a Warrior, I'm a Priest) and because it's the first time for either of us on PvP server. The general idea is to take these characters the distance to 70 and then move on to other classes.
I'm not much for sports games, but recently I had the chance to play NHL 07 on XBox 360 and it is actually quite good. There's a new control scheme dubbed the "skill stick" under which the left analog stick is for movement (skating), the right analog stick is for shooting (stick handling), and the right shoulder button is for passing. Simply put, this is the best interface for playing a hockey game that I've ever played, and also the Oilers lineup that's in the game is the same that the team had when they went to the Stanley Cup final last year. I had an opportunity to get the game for cheap on PC, so I did just that, and was I ever dissappointed.
As it turns out, not only is the control scheme for NHL 07 completely different on the PC version than on the XBox 360 version, but the PC controls actively suck and are very difficult to configure. I've had an easier time configuring control schemes for emulators than trying to get my XBox 360 USB controller to work with my EA Sports game on Windows XP, which I think is safe to say is a common configuration for PC gamers trying to use a gamepad. The PC version says "join the skill-stick revolution" right on the back of the box, and I didn't see any information on EA's web site to indicate that the PC controls would differ so much from the XBox 360 version, but several reviews (including GameSpy's and GameSpot's) for the game have confirmed my experience that the PC control scheme is crappy. Dammit. EA, if you are listening, please patch this game.
Random thought: I wish I could get a copy of Einhander.
posted by Parappa @ 3:27 PM
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