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Monday Gaming Diary: Harry Potter all the Way!

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Harry Potter all the way!I know I said I feel the need to finish what I start, and I’ve left about three games hanging, but since I started LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 last weekend as well, I couldn’t leave such a light-hearted game hanging! Everything else is pretty heavy handed, and with the review season in high form, I NEEDED SOMETHING LIGHT. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

So happy to say though that I’m super close to Platinum-ing the game. I’m really close to wrapping the game up to 100% (only one Gold Brick left), which will give me all of the remaining trophies except for a couple of bronze. Those last bronze are the most annoying out the bunch–they require reenacting random fights between characters, which wouldn’t be such a big deal except for the one that requires Voldemort to Avada kedavra ALL of the versions of Harry Potter, of which there are like 20. Going to be hanging out at a cauldron and forcing Harry to sip lots of Polyjuice potion for 15-20 minutes at some point. Tedious tasks like these make earning a Platinum trophy kind of not worth it. At least it’s something that is easy to do and doesn’t require a ton of skill on top of being tedious.

Although, it’s not like I haven’t abandoned a Platinum trophy pursuit before due to monotony. I bailed on LEGO Batman 2 just because I couldn’t take doing the same stuff over and over and over in that massive hub world. I didn’t even finish playing all of Free Play modes because I got so sick of the tediousness.

You can argue that the Harry Potter LEGO games have the same amount of tedium, but it doesn’t bother me as much with this one. I have too much fun running around Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and even Hogsmeade with the Harry Potter characters. I’m a bigger fan of Harry Potter than I am DC Comics, which I’m sure has some to do with it, but I think it also has to do with the fact that the characters don’t talk. I’ve said it before, but I really did not like the LEGO characters talking in LEGO Batman 2. I know they talk in LEGO LOTR, and the only reason why I’m not as hesitant about that game is because all of the lines are copied (literally) from the movie. It’s not a fresh script, and what is different from the movies does not have spoken lines from what I understand. God I hope that’s true.

I’ve also been exorbitantly pleased at how much the console version of LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 has NOT been like the Vita version. I couldn’t even finish the Story Mode of the Vita version since I hated the gameplay so much. I don’t understand why they’re so different either. I understand that the handheld versions can’t include the large hub worlds that the console games have, but does the actual gameplay have to be so different? Case in point with this game, the dueling for the Vita and the console versions were so incredibly different, and after playing the game on both, I don’t understand why.

After this experience and the experience I had with playing LEGO Batman 2 on both, I’m definitely not playing any future LEGO games on the Vita. The 3DS, yes, absolutely, especially after I found the absolute gem of a version LEGO Star Wars III on the 3DS over the consoles. I wonder what joys I’ve missed with not playing either LEGO Harry Potter game on the 3DS? Hmmm…maybe another time…way after I finish playing this current Harry Potter game. When you play these LEGO games to completion, they kind of suck a lot out of you and you don’t want to think of playing them again for a long, long time, if ever.

However, playing this last game has really made me want to watch the last three movies again.

Monday Gaming Diary: Finishing what I start

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Finish what you start

This weekend marked the first weekend I had alone in MONTHS. Normally my husband’s parents take Gabe for the weekends that he has drill so I can have a weekend to myself, but between my travel schedule and his parents’ travel schedule, I haven’t been able to take advantage of it in awhile. Normally I use these precious weekends to wrap up whatever game I’m reviewing. However, I’m having an unusually long break in between reviews, so this time, I played what I felt like playing and not what was in my schedule.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. I really, really wanted to play Borderlands this weekend so I could see some semblance of the hype. However, my conscience took over, dragged me over to my stack of shame, and reminded me I have GOT to start finishing what I start. Since I’m still taking a brief hiatus from Halo, Halo 3: ODST was ignored once more. Bulletstorm received the proper honors, and I’m proud to say that I indeed finished what I started.

Bulletstorm was a fun romp that I really had trouble putting down. So much so, I finished the game by Saturday evening, just before I needed to seriously think about dinner. I rarely took breaks during that session. My hands were so cramped. There was going to be no gaming that night for sure, so watching the Avengers movie for the umpteenth time (yes, I’ve watched it numerous times since picking it up on Tuesday) took over my schedule.

So now what do I play next? I looked over my stack of shame carefully, and I begrudgingly made the decision to actually finish what I start. In other words, Halo 3: ODST and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning need to be finished or tossed. Once I finish Amalur, it will then be time to finally finish Dragon Age: Origins.

That was the plan, anyway. As I sat down in front of my TV on Sunday, however, I just didn’t have the energy to play something else serious. So LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 it was! After the constant under-fire action of Bulletstorm, a LEGO game was exactly what I needed. At least I know that if I don’t finish what I start with this game right away, it won’t be too hard to pick it back up. That’s the beauty of LEGO games.

Something tells me that this new plan of finishing what I start will be like any new diet I start; I’ll do it tomorrow.

Monday Gaming Diary: Zombies give me nightmares

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The Walking Dead video game

I’m a complete wuss when it comes to horror and suspense, especially when it comes to the suspense that likes to startle you for whatever reason. I startle easily as it is, so those kinds of movies and games make me jump out of my seat. Case in point, while playingMass Effect3, I really searched every system for assets, which meant pinging an RF frequency that the Reapers really loved. If you pinged enough times, the Reapers visited that star system, and you had to leave or get captured–and I’m assuming destroyed, as I never stuck around long enough to find out for curiosity’s sake. Whenever they entered your system, their intro music was a nice, loud blaring of the horns. I jumped each time they entered, without fail. The fact that I have to wear a headset when I play to keep the noise down at night really enhanced it. I fully admit this is one reason why I haven’t started my Renegade playthrough of ME3.

What does that I have to do with anything? Well, this past week I played through the first episode of The WalkingDead. My fellow podcasters have done nothing but recommend this game to me for its story, and they assured me it was as scary as BioShock. BioShock was more disturbing than scary, so I figured I could handle The Walking Dead. Yes, I know there are zombies in it, and I know that’s potentially scary, but since they made it sound like the zombies were really second-fiddle as to what was going on, I assumed they wouldn’t be so bad. Apparently, my friends have no idea what scares me.

It’s more than the fact that the zombies are present and I have to kill them or be killed; it’s how the game presents the manner in which you kill the zombies. If you’ve played the game, then you already know what I’m talking about. The Walking Dead took many of the interactive game mechanics from Heavy Rain and greatly improved upon on them, and as such, the player really feels the absolute panic that the characters feel in how they fight for survival. You are “forced,” in a way, to feel how scared they are and how tense every encounter truly is.

The Walking Dead video game

This is brilliant for the developer, but it’s horrendous for someone like me. Every instance where I had to fight zombies, I could feel my hands slicking up my controller with sweat. I actually sat with my feet on their tippy toes on the floor, because that was how tense I became with each encounter. When a zombie surprised the characters, it surprised me just as much, and I nearly played Hot Potato with my controller. I stayed up for an hour after I finished playing, reading shojo manga, just to get the images and intensity out of my head. The attempt failed miserably, and I had one of the worst nights of sleep in a long time due to nightmares.

Am I quitting? Nope, I’m too into the story to quit. I definitely can’t play more than one episode in the same week, something that I’m certain the developers and writers definitely knew when they decided to make the game episodic. I’ll just have to plan ahead for the weeks that I do play an episode and prepare for a restless night.

The worst part is, I’m already regretting some of the decisions I’ve made.

The Walking Dead video game decisions

Monday Gaming Diary: Took the wiki way out

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Assassin's Creed Revlations - Ezio Auditore da Firenze

After completing Transformers: Fall of Cybertron last week, I really wanted to play something else other than a shooter. I know I’m the shooter expert over at Gaming Angels, but sometimes even I want to play something else, like a RPG or a puzzle game. Playing lots of Professor Layton and the Last Specter has alleviated it some, but my stack of shame has made me feel guilty about not playing something from it. Assassin’s Creed III releases in just six weeks; I need to finish Assassin’s Creed Revelations, so that was the pick of the week.

I played ACR when it originally released for about an hour or so and I got bored almost instantly. I thought Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood ended Ezio Auditore’s story perfectly, so I was never that excited about ACR when they announced Ezio would take the lead once more. My boredom didn’t stem from the gameplay so much as I had zero interest in playing as Ezio once again. Also, the weirdness with Desmond and Subject 16 and the brushing of Lucy’s death under the rug was so off-putting. Nothing grabbed me like the other games and made me want to sit and play for hours.

Sad to say, ignoring the game for nearly a year didn’t help my enthusiasm any. I started over, and within 30 minutes, I hung my head in sadness. I had zero interest in playing this game. I’m done with Ezio, I don’t care why he’s in Istanbul tracking down what Altair was researching, and I really don’t care about Subject 16 and Desmond in an alternate universe in the Animus. I always liked the weird sci-fi overtones with Desmond and what he was doing for the Assassins’ cause in present day, but this was too much. I ejected the disc, shelved the box, and read the summary on the Assassin’s Creed wiki.

If you know me at all, you know that’s something I never do. I’m a huge believer in playing/reading/watching things in order and experiencing the story myself instead of reading a version of Cliff’s Notes. It’s why I ignored friends’ suggestions of skipping the first Mass Effect game and why I’ve put myself through the torture of every Kingdom Hearts game, no matter how terrible they are. At first I felt guilty about “cheating” my way through the series like this, but after reading the summary and nearly dozing off while reading the summary, I’m so glad I’m skipping ACR. Yes, there are some story elements that progress the overall plotline, but as a whole, it doesn’t sound like I’m missing much.

So did I solve my need for playing a non-shooter? Not really. I’ve gone back to Halo: Reach, and I’m almost finished with that game, which will will be followed by Halo 3: ODST and then Bulletstorm, because I feel the need to finish what I’ve started. Dishonored may come at just the right time and save me from this infinite loop I’ve put myself in.

Monday Gaming Diary: More Than Meets the Eye

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Grimlock in Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

How fun is it to play as Grimlock? VERY.

Yes, yes, as my corny title suggests, I played a LOT of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron last week, and I actually finished it in less than a week! If I hadn’t gone out of town during the week before Labor Day, I could have had that sucker done by Labor Day weekend! Ah well, them’s the breaks. The important thing is that it is done, the strategy guide review will be up very, VERY soon, and I can get back to my pursuit of finishing the following games before October 9th:

  • Halo 3: ODST
  • Halo: Reach
  • Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

Feel free to laugh at me for having such lofty goals; I know I deserve it. I can’t promise that they all will be done, but I can PROMISE you that the Halogames most definitely will be, as I am in the middle of researching lore problems between the games and the books. I’ve been reading the Halo books since about July. I finishedGhosts of Onyx a couple of weeks ago, and on a whim, decided to fire upHalo: Reacharound that same time frame. Within the first or second mission of that game, I stumbled into a huge clash between this game and that particular book. If you accept it all as canon, it doesn’t make sense. But before I confirm this, I must finishHalo: Reach first, and due to suggestions on the Internet, must read a copy of Dr. Halsey’s journal that came with the Collector’s Edition ofHalo: Reach. Thankfully, I have a fantastic Halo fanboy friend who is willing to loan me his copy, since all of the scans and summaries I found online are sub-par at best. I have to admit, I feel like I’m becoming one of those super nerds that has to point out every plot-hole and mistaken reference in comics, like the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, just without becoming a man and gaining 400 pounds.

Also, just before the Labor Day vacation, I got my hands on a 3DS XL. After scoffing its existence since its announcement, I have to admit that I caved to its brilliance. This is what Nintendo should have released in the beginning, although we all know that Nintendo never releases final products at launch. How could I not have learned this lesson from the DS Phat? Consequently, I traded in my 3DS and picked up a 3DS XL (don’t worry…I was able to transfer all of my data). While I was hanging out in GameStop, I finally picked up the most recent Professor Laytontitle, Professor Layton and the Last Specter. I’ve always loved these games, and I meant to pick it up when it released, but obviously, that never happened. Each game seems to jump the shark more than the last, but it’s always entertaining to see how it comes together in the end. Besides, I love the puzzles! Considering how much failure I’ve had with the Vita as of late–most recent game to bite the dust was Uncharted: Golden Abyss–it’s nice to find something I like to play on the handhelds.

So what aboutKingdom Hearts 3DS? I can’t say what my issue is there, except that it’s difficult to really play that gameasa handheld game. WithProfessor Layton, at least I can easily close it and put it down at the drop of a hat and pick it up with no problems. With KH3DS, it’s not so easy. I have to remember what I was doing, how I was doing it, remember what buttons do what, etc. As much as I love KH games, this one is most likely going to sit until I have nothing huge pending on the main consoles.

And that, boys and girls, is why this series needs to come out on a console already. It’s ridiculous.

Before I go on that rant, I better end this diary entry now.  Hope everyone has a great week!

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