H A L F - L I F E 2

Okay, I'm now really really pissed at Blogger. I've tried to post twice and both times my entries have been lost.

In summery? I loved playing Half Life 2. It was a truely great game. Long (for a FPS), yet it never got boring. I loved the driving areas (which is unusual: I can't play GTA games due to my lack of driving skills. The only game that I can drive well is in Halo).

However, I did have some PC issues. I really do hate playing PC games. Even with a gaming computer and all the newest graphics card and dedicated RAM, I had issues. Updating drivers and tweaking the settings did it, but it's such a pain in the ass.

I was just going to wait until it came out for the Xbox, but Matt got it for me for my birthday. He said he didn't think the guy at EBGames believed him when he said it was for his wife.

It's funny, I read in EGM about how the gaming stores (like EBG and Gamestop) are to bug buyers about selling their used games back to the stores. I have NEVER been asked about used games. I guess they assume I'm buying the games for husband/kids or whatever. Little do they realize that I'm the gamer in this house. As more and more females are starting to play games, this may change, but I'm also guessing my age has as much to do with it as my gender. (however, I have a 60+ year old aunt that has played every Zelda game made.- so they shouldn't even be making age assumptions)

So what's next? I'm not sure... I've got my eye on God of War or Psychonauts. We'll see (I'm guessing Psychonauts will go cheap a lot faster... which is a shame. I want Tim Schafer to make globs of money so he can make more games).

Psychonauts

First, let me just say I'm a big fan of Tim Schafer games. Grim Fandango is one of my favorite games of all time. I loved most of the Monkey Island games I've played (and Guybrush is one of my favorite charactors).

Seconed, let me say I'm not a big fan of platformers. I usually find them tedious and frustrating. I enjoyed Oddworld and Prince of Persia, oh wait, and Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy. Okay, maybe I like platformers more than I thought?

No matter what, Psychonauts is on my list. I played the demo yesterday for a bit (it was a huge demo, I might add) and it was funny and clever. Just like all the Tim Schafer games I've played.

Actually, all 4 games on the demo disk this month from OXM were games I wanted to play with. I did a little Doom 3 (it's what I expected so I'm looking forward to it, too), but I haven't played Darkwatch or Pariah yet. I think Darkwatch is gonna be my kind of game. Old West with Zombies... how can they go wrong???

Long Time No Post, eh?

So I was informed today that I hadn't posted on this blog for a while. Geez, how long did it take before anyone even noticed?

I'm still playing away on a couple of games, but I just haven't been keeping up on the game blog.

I did finish up a game today, actually. Psi Ops. Not bad. I sort of like Midway games (I think that says a lot about me... their reputation is for ultra violence. I actually like gratuitious violence in my games).

I'm not sure what's next. I got a few used games for Christmas and I'm not thru them all yet. I did put the Chronicles of Riddick in, but after the initial cut scene, the disk stopped working. It's used, and I didn't check it right away (which I usually do with used games). Now it's been 4+ months since it was purchased, so I hope I can use the disk cleaner on it and it'll be fine.

I also have Siberia and Broken Sword to play. I did get the sequal to Max Payne. I'm in a tough spot (and stupid, at that... you play as Mona and have to protect Max. Geez, can't he protect himself?).

I did play thru Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Again. I've lost track how many times I've played it. It's my "I'm annoyed with everything and I just want something fun to play" game. It never fails to entertain me.

Well, I'll try a little harder to post a little bit more regularly.

Never say never...

So I gots me a new laptop. My old one was just horrible to deal with (constantly froze and the disk drive was more or less useless). After some discussion we decided to go "new" instead of digging in the dumpster at work or refurbished off the web. (yes, that's where all my other laptops came from.)

My new computer has all the key markings and it's huge. I got an HP Pavilion zd8000 custom. It's a multimedia/gaming system. We can use it for taping TV shows (for Matt) and we got it powerful enough that I can play games.

Yep, I said I can play games on it. I know I swore I would never do the PC games route again. Too many bugs, too many patches, too many driver upgrades and too many "incompitable files" issues. Oh well. Sometimes you just have to accept that once a gamer, always a gamer.

Saying that, my preference will still be to the consoles. It's just simply easier. If a game is going to be available for the consoles, then I won't both with the PC version. Some games never make it to the consoles, tho and now I can play them.

I played thru Uru again. I'm not sure why they decided to take one of the best 1st person adventure/puzzle games and turn it into a 3rd person platformer, but it didn't really work. There really was only one level that I couldn't do the puzzles, the rest of the time I struggled to hit the right spot on a tiny ledge with crappy controls that really weren't designed for platforming. I still enjoyed it more the second time thru.

I went ahead and got the anniversary DVD edition of the first 3 Myst games and the new Revelation. Myst is why I became a gamer. I had tried games in the past, but Myst is what got me addicted. I'm going to play around with them for a bit, then I'll probably get myself Half-Life 2. The main reason I wanted gaming PC... even tho' I do hear rumors that it's going to be released for the Xbox... not sure I want to wait for that tho'

So I guess I should never say never, eh?

The Sphinx is Done

Well, I finished up the Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy yesterday. A really nice game. Not enough mummy levels (but I heard that in almost every review). As an action/adventure player more than a platform player, you would think I would enjoy the Sphinx levels more. Well, the Mummy had great personality and his puzzles were a lot of fun. Not hard to figure out, but not always obvious.

So, I think Deus Ex: Invisible War is next. I did a little of it one night just to get started with it. I think it's going to be my kind of game. We'll see!

Matt started playing Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora's Tomorrow last night. These games are so well done. Takes a lot of patience to play them, but the strategy is a lot of fun (and beats the button smashing killing games).

Woo-Hoo

I'm sure all my loyal readers (Ha!) have been worried about my complete lack of health in Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy. Well, I found some health. I did a little backtracking and found a health source. Whew!! I really didn't want to have to go thru the whole thing again, even though it's been a fabulous game to play. So just finished boss #2 and I think I'm winding down a bit.

Now here's the weird thing. The bosses haven't been that hard. As soon as you figure the strategy, they're actually very easy. It's some of the lesser multiple monsters that I have problems with. Go figure

Anyway, I got a bunch of used games for Christmas and popped Duex Ex: Invisible War in last night just to see. It reminds me a bit of Half Life a bit (the animation and perspective, but I haven't found a crowbar yet...) I'll play it after I finish up with Sphinx.

Ooops, I'm stuck

Well, I sorta screwed up with Sphinx. I did a puzzle area that cost me a lot of health. Then I saved. Now I've got nasty battles with next to no health (one hit and I'm dead). I can't find any sources to reload my health either. I think I'm royally screwed (and this is an over-ride game save system so I don't have a previous save that I can load). I've put so many hours in already, I'm not sure if I have the heart to stop playing, but I know I can't go on with this limited health. I'm afraid that I'm back to the beginning and start over? (I guess part of me hoped that I would "replenish health" if I died. Nope, no suck luck... royally screwed)