Got back to gaming after a LONG time with King's Bounty. I installed my new Sony DVD writer today and while the writing seems problematic (need to buy another batch of blank DVDs to see if that's where the problem lies) it has at least so far none of the problems Moser Shitter had with some of my discs. Fired up King's Bounty which was perhaps the wrong 'new' game to start playing since its a totally slavish Heroes of Might and Magic clone. But when its done so well, who cares? At least I don't. I remember being a little saddened by Heroes V's total lack of personality which became apparent the further you played - and missing the little touches of really good writing the series always had. That seems to have made a comeback in King's Bounty. It looks better than Heroes V and overall feels like everything that game should have been.

Finally got a replacement video card and like Ravi got back to gaming after a longish stretch.

Based on Chax's recommendation (and a reasonable price tag) picked up a copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Sat down over the weekend and pretty much blasted through at one go. Turned out to be fairly entertaining all through and I particularly liked the stealth bits eg hanging upside down from a gargoyle, dropping down on any villainous sorts and then leave them hanging in your stead). Some levels, like the first encounter with Scarecrow were extremely well done with lots of nice little touches (which I won't spoil). However, some of the boss fights got a bit tedious with the whole batarang and repeat bits and more so with multiple minions randomly jumping in for added annoyance. Small gripe though.

That being said I liked the Riddick games more. Unlike Batman, you can sneak around a lot more and its infinitely more satisfying to have an actual corpse count (as opposed to leaving everyone unconscious thanks to Batman's thou shalt not kill commandment).

Contemplating getting a copy of Serious Sam HD after hearing about the original game from nigh everyone. No one seems to be stocking it though and I'm not too keen on sitting and downloading it off the site.

I doubt Sam HD had a retail release at all. You will probably have to download it to play.

I have gone on to replaying Serious Sam Second Encounter, which has a lot more graphical goodness than the First Encounter - using the Flamethrower on an army of kleer skeletons = supercool. Also tested the original Unreal Tournament aka UT99, which again plays flawlessly in widescreen.

loki wrote:
That being said I liked the Riddick games more. Unlike Batman, you can sneak around a lot more and its infinitely more satisfying to have an actual corpse count (as opposed to leaving everyone unconscious thanks to Batman's thou shalt not kill commandment).
Somehow that didn't bother me too much - maybe old age is mellowing me out or something. Actually, I stopped playing Dead Space because one boss battle was particularly frustrating and always ended with my character getting ripped in half. After going through that around 4-5 times, it was feeling a little masochistic and I bailed. Apparently, the game punishes you even more somewhere further on. Too bad, it had a lot of cool things about it.

Right now, all I'm playing is those flash stick sports games. And some shmups to steal ideas for my next game.

Popcap's Plants Vs Zombies is a lot more fun than I usually expect from the tower defense genre. Presentation, character design, sound and music are all great and makes this one addictive sucker.

Have turned back the clock a while and started Jedi Academy (third in the Jedi Knight series). You play one of those padawans (albeit a skilled one who made his own lightsaber) on his way to the Jedi temple for training under the tutelage of Kyle Katarn (protagonist of Jedi Outcast, the second game). Lightsaber fighting has been beefed up and since you're an initiate you can choose to learn some Dark Side powers instead of just Light Side stuff. Though if your balance start leaning towards the Dark Side, Kyle sounds out a warning. Doubt you can turn full baddie, though - think I'll have to play KotOR for that. Combat so far has been a breeze with Life Drain and Heal maxed and hotkeyed along with Force Push. The saber deflects most incoming fire anyway, so right now it's just a matter of figuring out cool-looking moves instead of wailing away like a retard. Lightsaber duels so far have been fairly untroubled, mostly thanks to the fact that the opponents are usually vulnerable to Life Drain in the middle of fighting and after I pull that off, they seem to be immobile for a few seconds as well. Want to unlock the dual saber style soon. There was also a jetbike level which I initially considered supremely pointless until I realised that you had to board the bike with your saber drawn, after which you could lash out at enemy bikers to either side, converting it into an extremely fun Star Wars/Road Rash hybrid.

Turning the clock back even further, I attempted to start on Baldur's Gate. Too many goddamn decisions to make, and in spite of scaling difficulty all the way down, I still die now and then. Gah. These damn hardcore RPGs. Nice story setting though - not the most original, but I can see myself getting sucked into whatever's happening. Wish this shit were more action oriented though. Really need to play some more good ARPGs.

ALSO the office's original Xbox, which had been in the possession of my cousin, has now made its way to my home. At the moment, all I have for the system is Burnout 3: Takedown, NFS: Most Wanted and Ninja Gaiden. Any people have other games that they're not playing or could burn a copy of, please pass em on whenever. Downloading the iso for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory at the moment, but it doesn't look like most Xbox games are that easy to get a hold of in general.

Finally finished Jedi Academy, which was pretty satisfying. Definitely the best of the Jedi Knight series. Also playing Halo 2 on the Xbox. Despite my general disdain for the series (which is mandatory, being largely a PC gamer) in the past, I've got to admit it's a pretty solid game, and definitely a benchmark for the console FPS. Playing co-op is great fun, though I first had to convince my cousin he could handle a shooter using a gamepad. After he got the hang of it, fun was had in plenty.

Played a bunch of indie games - some were straight kickass like iji (reminded me a bit of Flashback, though not as good-looking) and Time Still. Others like Lethal Application and One Button Bob highlighted that indie innovation, and took a little while to get to grips with. And finally, some were just artsy abstract (Gravitation, Judith) - the response they evoked was pretty hard to measure, but it was there.

Tried my hand at Torchlight, a Diablo-based clickfest. The company that made this is headed by the guy who made Fate, and that's pretty easy to tell, since a lot of the big features (having a pet aid you, fishing for goodies) have been utilised. Don't know whether I'll play it through, but it's a pretty cool option for all the loot-grabbers out there. And not bad for a 11 month dev schedule.

Otherwise, it's been mostly old games to work the whole nostalgia button - Death Rally, Road Rash and both Crusader games (goddamn, I love No Regret).

Did you get Torchlight off Steam or what?

Nope. I force-removed Steam in a huff when my copy of Saint's Row 2 refused to run, and then to make matters worse, Steam refused to uninstall because I had changed the compatibility settings while trying to troubleshoot the game. Changing it back didn't work either.

For those who are considering taking a chance on Modern Warfare 2, but are being put off by the truncated length of the single player campaign, I have a suggestion. Get it anyway. The short gameplay time means there's barely any filler in there, packed wall-to-wall with some of the most gripping action pieces I've gone through. So it's sort of like concentrated awesomeness. Plus, there are some challenge spec-ops missions to take on as well, so that extends the longevity a bit. There are a couple of things that REALLY piss me off about the game, but since they're spoilers, I shall keep mum.

I'm considering giving Dragon Age a shot soon.

For the PC? Haven't seen MW2 in the stores at least.

Yeah, Prachit told me the only retail version available is some monstrous collector's edition that comes with night-vision googles and goes for some 4-5k. Oh well.

At least Dragon Age is being pimped all over the place.

Torchlight
Oh my aching fingers. This is an awesomely pretty Diablo clone. After installing it, I played for more than 2 hours straight and then quit...a move I suspect I shall regret with the random dungeon generator and all. Seriously what is it that these Action-RPG guys have against people that want to save their game? Good fun spells - summon flaming sword to augment your attack, hahaa! I LOVE the pet and being able to dispatch it loaded with disposable loot to sell without having to myself trudge to town. I have a cat and he makes cute purring sounds occasionally; almost makes me want to head town-side and catch some fish for him. Does the fishing luck improve with your skill level? I caught absolutely zilch the first time around.