I missed you too.

Hello and Welcome.

Well you know I have been working on the site, yeah but what ELSE have I been doing?

I played a few games, and my thoughts on those:

Dead Space:
Really loved this game.  Great setting.  It really kept the mood throughout the game.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed:
I actually liked the Force Unleashed.  I hear some people saying they had a lot of trouble with the Star Destroyer pull, but I finished it in about 5 minutes, AND I didn't fight any of the Tie Fighters.

Prince Of Persia:
Basically a glorified cutscene.  I got through most of the game just by tapping the A button.  I did like the narrative, and how they told the story (through little conversations between the Prince and Elika).  But it was basically like watching a movie.  And I had to stop playing it because I got to a game breaking bug that would not let me proceed.
 
Mirror's Edge:
Oh god, I still don't know how I feel about this one.  The Mirror opposite of Prince of Persia (Get it, mirror, ha ha).  This game kicked my butt.  When I was moving, and jumping and climbing, it was one of the best experiences In games I have had in a long time.  When I stopped, well, lets just say all the happy feelings stopped too.
 
Chrono Trigger:
One of my Favorite RPGS EVER.  I will write more about this later.
 
Phantasy Star Universe:
The Spiritual followup to Phantasy Star Online.  There are a lot of things I like about this game over PSO.  But there seem to be a lot more things that are frustrating about it.  I think most of that comes from the Single player mode.  More on this later.
 
Phantasy Star Portable Demo:
This demo gets a special mention, because I spent a large number of hours playing it.  Same premise as PSU (Same engine as well) but on the PSP.  Its actually a sequel to PSU, but you get to make your own character.  You play through the very first part of the single player story, and can play "Multiplayer" (by yourself, like I did.) up to level 20.  The nice thing about this demo: any progress you make transfers into the retail product when it is released next month.  More demo's should do this.
 
Gears of War 2:
As of yet I have only played the multiplayer options, but I am really liking it so far.
 
Call of Duty World at War:
Meh, I prefer COD4
Rockband 2:
More of the same, but that isn't a bad thing.
 
Monster Hunter Portable 2:
At first I didn't really like this game, but I am really getting into it now that I am making my own armor and weapons.
 
Burnout Revenge:
A Bit of Classic style burnout as well.
 
Civilization Revolutions:
A WAY dumbed down version of CIV, but still really fun.

Read Some Books:
Making Sense of Japanese:
This is a must read for anyone studying Japanese grammar.  This book is brilliant, and funny.
 
Fables:
Still Enjoying this series.  I now know who the Adversary is!

Watchmen:
Love it.

Watching some shows:
Dr. Who:
This show is AWESOME.  I highly recommend it, if you have netflix, the first 3 seasons are on instant watch.
 
Lost:
Still haven't watched any of the current season, but I am caught up till there.
 
BattleStar Galactica:
Again, not the current season (4.5).  I still love this show.

And one sad thing:  I lost my DS. :(





So, let me apologize, I know that wasn't the most intriguing thing to read.  Word Vomit rarely is.  I just needed to get it off my chest, OK?  Now I can actually write about some good stuff!

~K

New Release Tuesday: Left 4 Dead

Ever since I heard of its existence, I have been waiting to play Left 4 Dead. When the demo finally came out a few weeks back, I logged in and played the 30 minute piece nearly 20 times all the way through on all of the difficulty levels. Needless to say, when my copy arrived last week, I peed myself.

It must be said starting out that this game is not meant to be played single player. Although the AI characters do a great job of making smart decisions and healing you (and each other) when necessary, it is nowhere near as fun to play with the computer as it is to play with friends. Friends make mistakes (sometimes on purpose), and friends know how to communicate best with you.

Outside of the horde of regular zombies that you must fight your way past as you move to the rescue station or safe house, the game introduces 5 super zombies to make your journey that much more difficult. Smokers and Hunters are similar, in that they will lurk in the dark and try to either pounce on you (Hunters) or grab you with their tongue (Smokers) at that exact moment that you weren't paying attention and deal out some damage before your buddies can rescue you. Boomers will wait just around a corner just for the chance to either vomit on you, or be close enough that when you kill them, they explode on you. Outside of this being pretty disgusting, it also draws the horde directly to you and you have to fight them off while being temporarily blinded by the green gunk all over the screen.

The final two super zombies are complete bullet sinks and require a bit of work to get past. The Tank is exactly what he sound like - huge and nigh-unstoppable. He requires that everyone in the group focus on him until he drops, because if he gets close to anyone, there is little chance that they can get away without being injured in some capacity or another. Finally, the Witch is best left undisturbed. As soon as you start to hear crying, cut your lights off and keep your eyes open. If the Witch gets disturbed by you shooting next to her or your lights flashing on her, whoever did it, is incapacitated in one hit, and if everyone isn't fast enough to take her down after that, that person is dead.

Now, all of these super zombies (except the Witch) are controllable in the Versus mode, but since I haven't had enough time to sink into that mode, I can't comment much on it yet (I've been spending my time trying to survive the story modes).

Speaking of story, although it isn't necessary at all since all you do is try to survive from point A to point B and call in the rescue, Valve has done an awesome job with telling the story just through the environment. Any time I get to a safe house, I have to hang around for a good 5 minutes to read everything that is written on the walls. Sometimes it provides some hints for gameplay (like avoiding the witches), but largely it just gives the entire world some depth, as you read about people who couldn't wait any longer for a loved one or people who have left their theories on the time it takes to turn into a zombie.

Valve is all about making quality games, and Left 4 Dead is no exception. It is the best zombie game I've ever played.