What I’m Playing – In “Bad Company” – 06.30.2008
I thought I would be in a slouch at the start of the summer. Niece and nephews around, I didn’t think I’d have time for any gaming.
Apparently, I was wrong. Very wrong.
Of the 4 kids visiting, we have the oldest, my 16yr old nephew, and his 12yr old sister. And he has a PS3, and even brought a few games with him for his 6 week visit.
In short, they both like to play games. A lot.
Personally, I’m still trying to play through Metal Gear Solid 3. That’s kinda at the forefront, but it’s not the simplest game to play when you’ve got others in the room. I can barely play it when my wife is around, as it’s easy to get distracted and miss parts of the story. But I’m not giving up 
Considering I’m playing it for the story, it’s basically in a holding pattern until my niece and nephew leave at the end of July. I don’t consider it on the back burner yet, but that may change. I may play it some, but it seems to be a scarce thing. And, I won’t start on MGS4 until I finish 3, so that game, as much as I want to play it, is still back burnered.
My nephew seemed interested in Battlefield: Bad Company, so I got that from GameFly and it came in on Saturday. I thought it over, and ended up buying it for about $47 after using a coupon (my account is being canceled tomorrow). I thought we’d be able to game together more with it, especially since I hear the multi-player is sweet. Turns out, he just kinda likes it, but then again, he hasn’t taken an initiative to play it yet. That’s going to change this week, I’ll see to that.
So now, I have more going on than I can seemingly keep track of in my head. Here’s the updates:
Games I’m currently playing:
1. Battlefield: Bad Company – PS3
2. Need For Speed: Carbon – PS3
3. Metal Gear Solid 3 – PS2
4. Heavenly Sword – PS3
5. Final Fantasy X – PS2
6. Katamari Damacy – PS2
Games I’ve back-burnered for various reasons:
1. Castlevania: Lament Of Innocence – PS2
2. Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest – PS2
3. Gran Turismo 4 – PS2
4. MotorStorm – PS3
Games that I can’t wait to get to:
1. Metal Gear Solid – PS1
2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – PS3
3. Ninja Gaiden Sigma – PS3
Games that I’ve recently completed:
1. Heavenly Sword – PS3 – 06.11.2008
2. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – PS2 – 06.09.2008
A Little Hack ‘N Slash
After cooking dinner and watching my niece play Animal Crossing on the GameCube for an hour and a half, I wasn’t really in the mood to play Guitar Hero 3. I just felt like some hack ‘n slash would be better for me.
That’s just one of the many reasons I picked up Heavenly Sword when I found it for $20.
I’ve played it through once before, and find myself picking it up for some good ol’ sword swinging, arrow shooting, cannon blasting action. And it doesn’t slack in that department, not for me.
I could go into game analysis, plot overview, control pros and cons, but I won’t. The reviews have been out for a long time, and personally, I partially agree with them. But I like the plot, the controls, and the button mashing. It’s not Ninja Gaiden: Sigma, and I’m thankful for that.
It is, however, a great way to get out a little angst, and stress relief is sometimes all I’m looking for.
Music Makes The People Come Together
My niece and nephew are up from Arizona until the end of July, and we’ve been spending some quality time together, especially on the PS3. We were able to get everyone in the living room last night, so we had to pick a good party game.
So we finally pulled out SingStar Pop for the PS2.
Let’s just say, it’s a rather depressing game if you don’t have vocal skills. Especially when a 12 year old and 16 year old can smoke you. At the end of each line, it shows a short comment on how you performed – I didn’t do well at all (unless, of course, you count awful and bad as good).
So, after making a fool of myself for the sake of others (you didn’t think I’d play that game without a really good reason, did you?), and after my wife got distracted by an audio book on iTunes, we changed out games.
And, I might add, to one I don’t particularly stink at.
Guitar Hero 3 is one of those games that I never thought I’d really like, but after getting into it, it’s just a blast to play. Solo or with others, it’s been a lot of fun. Even my wife’s played through it on easy. I, personally, have moved up to medium, and I can almost play on hard (I’m working on it, believe me).
So, I started to play after everyone went to go stare at iTunes, and my nephew wandered back in and asked to try it out. Truth be told, he didn’t do bad at all. His dad was a guitar player and did some singing, and his son is now proving that those qualities have been somewhat passed down – but let’s not forget the following:
Guitar Hero 3 != Playing Electric Guitar. We know that, let’s move on.
What’s great is that he’s proving to be more musically inclined than we ever thought. After swapping back and forth for a bit, and teaching him about the game, he got much better. Not too shabby for a 16 year old, after about 30min to an hour.
His sister, on the other hand, had much more trouble. She’s 12, and I don’t think she’s made it through a full song yet. I really don’t see this as her type of game, but I won’t stop her from playing it, either. She can sing good (thanks again for reminding me that I can’t, SingStar), but her skills with finger movements aren’t anything amazing – yet.
We’ll see what tonight brings – maybe we’ll get the wife in there and let her play “Through The Fire And Flames” on easy. She’s a bit rusty, that should get her back into top form, I’d think 
And, if all else fails, maybe I can get some MGS3 time in. I’d like to get to MGS4 eventually, but I’m not going to rush it. I’d rather have fun with everyone while they’re around, but if nobody is, well, it’ll be Snake time
What I’m Playing
Here’s a current list of games that I’m currently playing:
1. Metal Gear Solid 3 – PS2
2. Katamari Damacy – PS2
3. Need For Speed: Carbon – PS3
4. Heavenly Sword – PS3
5. Final Fantasy X
Games that I’ve gotten into that are currently back-burnered for various reasons:
1. Castlevania: Lament Of Innocence – PS2
2. Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest – PS2
3. Gran Turismo 4 – PS2
4. MotorStorm – PS3
Games that I can’t wait to get to:
1. Metal Gear Solid – PS1
2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – PS3
3. Ninja Gaiden Sigma – PS3
Games that I’ve recently completed:
1. Heavenly Sword – PS3
2. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – PS2
As you can see, I’ve been spending time getting to know the Metal Gear Solid franchise. It’s been very interesting, and well worth the time played. I’ve only completed 2 games recently, MGS2 (great game) and Heavenly Sword (hard to put down, it’s still in the current list as well as the completed).
I’ll post updates, exciting as they are, as the list changes
Missing The Most Wanted
I ordered a few games a couple of days ago. Of them all, the first I jumped into was one I’ve been waiting for a long time. I’ve just never found a good enough deal to bite – until last week.
So I snagged Need For Speed: Carbon
I’ve played for a few hours thus far, and I have to say, I really miss Most Wanted. That is easily my favorite NFS game, and while Carbon isn’t bad, it just isn’t as good as I was hoping.
I do like the wing-man aspect, owning the areas, and I think the races are decent. But so far, it’s been done all at night. Cop chases are just things to do for fun or get into in a race, not part of the storyline – yet. And what’s with the “would you like to save” thing popping up all the time? That wasn’t in Most Wanted, was it?
I like the game, and I’ll keep playing it, but I am really thinking about picking up NFS: Most Wanted for the PS2, as the Gamecube version looks hideous compared to the PS3 NFS, but that’s also using Composite cables, and not component.
Regardless, I can only hope with the recent announcement of Need For Speed: Undercover that they go back to what made Most Wanted great.
I won’t even get started on Pro Street.
And So It Begins…
I finally got to start MGS3 last night.
I can already tell that this is going to be a great game. And I’m so glad I waited to get into it until I had the DualShock 3. It makes a world of difference, and it’s causing me to think about replaying MGS2 – that’s probably going to happen after I finally play MGS4 here in another month or so.
Until then, Snake Eater is more than enough, as it’s everything good about films and gaming, combined into one. I can’t wait to continue the adventure!
And I Couldn’t Resist…
I’ve been hearing about a sale at GameStop might be having soon. A Buy 2 Get 1 Free on all used games, to be exact. I’ve actually been saving my mad money for this, and today… well, today, I found a 35% off Buy It Now items on eBay, usable 3 times. Let’s just say I’ve made some decisions…
Here’s the rundown:
$29.99 Heavenly Sword
$24.99 Ninja Gaiden: Sigma
$18.00 Need For Speed: Carbon
$ 8.50 S&H
$81.48 Total Cost
$25.55 CashBack Earned
$55.93 Final Cost
I think that’s enough games for now!
They Just Keep Coming
Weel, MGS4 is still sealed, sitting, waiting to played… it’s going to be awhile Snake.
But, I must divulge that I had another arrival to my PS3 family yesterday.
Behold!
I spent some time with Motorstorm… all I can say is, “Welcome back rumble, it’s been a long time”.
Can’t wait to put it to good use. When the kids leave (or are sparse, they just arrived around 1am this morning), I plan on putting it to more good use. With all the PS2 titles I’ve picked up recently (like Katamari Damacy), I will be getting my proverbial groove on 
Look What Arrived Yesterday…
To my surprise, I found a box when I got home yesterday. Remember, the release date was yesterday, as well…
Let me just say – thank you PrizeRebel!
