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Monday Gaming Diary: Gaming Apathy

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Gaming BluesAfter the craziness of last fall and the sheer amount of strategy guides my staff and I had to review by the end of November, I’ve been suffering from an incredible dose of gaming apathy. I told myself I was just burned out. I blamed the holidays, and then my pregnancy, as it has made me extremely tired. But it’s been nearly three months now, and I’m still unmotivated to play any games.

This is the perfect time to catch up on my Stack of Shame, too, as I’m not personally reviewing anything until March 19th. I experienced something similar last year, and as such, by this time last year, I had completed six games (yes, I keep records). SIX. Right now, I can barely find the desire to play one for just a couple of hours!

I started Batman Arkham Asylum a couple of weeks ago, and I haven’t touched the game since I played it, which was like twice for two hours at a time. Since I have fun playing Halo 4 Spartan Ops missions, I thought maybe it was because Asylum moves too slowly for me right now, whereas Halo 4 is quite fast-paced and action-packed. It’s not that I don’t like Asylum, don’t think that at all; I’m just not feeling the motivation to keep playing at the moment, and I’m trying to piece together why I feel that way.

So, in an effort to find something from my SoS that is more fast-paced, I tried out Borderlands last night. I know there’s a sequel out now, but seriously, if you knew me at all you would know that I rarely play anything out of order (or read or watch). Assassin’s Creed 2 has so far been my lone exception.

Borderlands is a bit quicker-paced than Asylum, that’s for sure, and many snippets of dialogue made me snicker. Yet, I’m still feeling a bit of boredom that I know I wouldn’t normally have. Maybe it’s the fact that the aiming system is going to take a bit of learning (it’s no Halo or Gears), or maybe it’s that I feel like I’m always looking for ammunition (am I that bad of a shot?), but I really didn’t feel that normal happy feeling I get while playing games.

Am I trying the wrong games? Is this just a phase? I really hope it’s the latter, because I’m tired of this funk I’m in. Maybe I just need to replay a game I really liked to get back into the groove? Or should I get back to playing Dragon Age: Origins, since I really, really, REALLY enjoyed that when I was playing?

It’s frustrating, and it sucks to be a little down on a hobby I’ve greatly enjoyed for so many years. Anyone out there have any tips how to get out of the gaming blues?

Monday Gaming Diary: Happy President’s Day!

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Pixel PeopleI’ve never had President’s Day (US holiday) off. I’ve always worked for law firms, and even though the courthouses were always closed every chance they got, we still had to come in to bill all the monies. Now that I’m essentially a freelancer (not in the traditional sense, but if I don’t bill, I don’t get paid), I choose to work, even though my kid’s school is closed today. Too bad nothing is going on today to justify me working, because, as said earlier, it’s a holiday and most people have today off. Long story short, I really can’t win, can I?

Well, I may take today’s silence as a chance to play some more Batman: Arkham Asylum. I sadly have not touched this game in a week due to once again feeling sick. I know everyone is tired of hearing me whine about it, and trust me, I and sick of being sick and talking about it. I am starting to feel like more of myself, though, so I am optimistic that this hell is–if not over–on its way out.

I have been playing some games while dying, however, but they’ve all been iOS games on my iPad. I’m still playing Tiny Tower and its compatriot, Pocket Planes. These games are so mindless, I can’t stop playing them for whatever reason. I just feel the need to get all the achievements in Pocket Planes, and since I’ve already done so in Tiny Tower, I feel this need to have all the floors built and all the stores filled with dream jobs. Whenever I build all the possible floors and have them filled with tenants, I stop playing until the next game update that includes more floors. I may be playing this game until I stop owning iOS devices.

I’ve also been playing Pixel People, which was introduced to me by another podcasting cohort, Ross. It’s a more Sim City version of Tiny Tower, but is as mindless as Tiny Tower. In this game, you’re building a utopia in space, and you take clones beamed to you and splice their genes to make new jobs. When you have a new job, you place them in a new building so they can start working. You get more clones by building residences. You can only build residences if you have enough money earned by the clones while they work. Again, it takes little effort and I can’t stop. I’m mostly entertained by what jobs are created by splicing certain job genes. Sometimes I can figure out what job will be produced, and other times it completely surprises me in hilarious ways.

All three are free, so if you have an iOS device and you like mindless Sim-knockoffs, check them out and be prepared to stare at your screen and mindlessly tap it. It’s strangely soothing.

Monday Gaming Diary: Stack of Shame Progress with…Batman

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Batman Arkham Asylum

Believe it or not, I have reviewed the strategy guide for DmC: Devil May Cry. However, my MacBook Pro decided to DIE once again last week, effectively leaving me without a computer that has my images, my docs, my data, you name it. I really need to get better about storing things to the Cloud. Or I can have a $2000 computer that actually works like it should. I will hopefully get it back this week with minimal financial damage. If it’s the motherboard once again and they try to charge me for replacing it within 3 months…oh, everyone should feel sorry for the Apple Store Genius who will unfortunately incur my wrath. Since my laptop would not turn back on at all, I couldn’t even back it up before taking it in, a fact that scares me beyond belief.

But let’s get to a happier topic, shall we?

Since my jovial staff are working on reviewing strategy guides releasing in February and I have nothing on my plate until March, I figured this would be a perfect time to chip away at my stack of shame that sadly keeps growing no matter how much I work on it. I feel like I should name it Sisyphus. At least, I feel like Sisyphus when I look at it.

I’ve started 2013 with the one game I have promised numerous people I would tackle first with my stack of shame: Batman Arkham Aslyum.

After podcasting cohort Ross added Arkham Asylum in his Top 5 Stealth Games, I was instantly put on guard. I know Batman doesn’t kill anyone, and I know he has to move in shadows to get his takedowns, but I never heard once from anyone that the game was considered a stealth game. Both Ross and Blake pleaded with me that it’s not really a stealth game, that it’s more of an action game with stealth elements, even moreso than the Assassin’s Creed games. Despite my reluctance, I gave it a chance, and by the time I officially had control of the Caped Crusader, my hands were really sweaty.

I’m not that far into Arkham Asylum (long story), but what I have played has felt like more of a puzzle game, almost like Portal, than it does action or stealth. I say Portal, because with Portal, you had to be stealthy on occasion when in a room filled with turrets. You had to use the layout of the room to successfully take out each turret and hopefully not be seen by any of them. Chell can take bullets as well as Batman can. Sure, at least in Portal the turrets didn’t charge after you, but they were often so well placed, they really didn’t have to.

Every room I enter feels like a new puzzle, even the areas that offer no encounters, just exploration, as most of these areas have plenty of Riddler’s Challenges. It’s unlike any game I’ve played in recent memory, which is a great thing. As much as I love my shooters and my RPGs, it’s always nice to find joy in something completely different.

I really need to stop exploring so much for these Riddler’s Challengers and collectibles if I’m going to get through this game and hopefully one other game before March Madness begins. I’ve been told I can beat it in less than a week if I burn through it, but uh, that doesn’t seem to be happening. I get distracted way too easily.

This is why I have avoided Skyrim like the plague!

Monday Gaming Diary: Why I think I’m going to pass up The Last of Us

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The-Last-of-UsI have loved Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series, and after seeing their trailer for The Last of Us last E3, I have been greatly intrigued by the game. It’s a zombie-like game without the zombies, and it does not seem to be action-based at all. Instead, it appears to be more survival- and stealth-like, in that Joel and Ellie have to constantly sneak across areas in their journey to avoid infected humans and even other surviving humans, who have no problems stealing and killing for food and supplies. Each trailer I have seen with these encounters shows slow, strategic, and thoughtful planning on the player as Joel and Ellie are maneuvered to ideal positions to take on the threat optimally. As a result, each encounter comes across as incredibly tense to me, the viewer. I cannot imagine how I would feel as the player.

I’ve made it no secret how I feel about stealth games, and while The Last of Us definitely does not have the stealth caliber of Hitman, but it invokes that tense feeling enough to make me want to stay away. I’m fairly certain it’s a game I would greatly enjoy watching someone play, but definitely not play myself, even with a strategy guide to help ease the stealth planning.

I played a bit more stealth games in 2012 than I usually do, and I’d be lying if I said that hasn’t affected my opinion. I’m done with feeling tense while I play games. Playing games is the one hobby I can really do on a regular basis that is relaxing and enjoying, so no, I really don’t want to feel tense while doing something I’m supposed to do for fun.

I’m sure another writer on staff will be happy to take up the burden of reviewing the strategy guide for The Last of Us if there is one, so nobody worry about that too much. Of course, the game doesn’t release until May, so there’s plenty of time for me to see something that will change my mind.

Monday Gaming Diary: Does the devil cry because he’s sad or bored to tears?

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dmc-devil-may-cry-screenshots

I finally procured a copy of DmC: Devil May Cry this past week, and I finally found time to play it over the weekend. In the interest of full disclosure, I admit that I have never before played a Devil May Cry game. I played the demo to DMC 4 repeatedly when that released, but if memory serves, I never bought the game because a friend gave me Lost Odyssey as a gift and that consumed the next several weeks of my life. So all I knew of DMC was that it was a hack-n-slash game, I remember the graphics being super pretty, and I remember having a lot of fun playing. Yeah, I’m not having that same experience with DmC.

Even though I am well aware that Bayonetta was called a chick version of DMC, since I played Bayonetta first, all I can see are the incredible similarities. That said, it doesn’t copy Bayonetta enough, because Bayonetta had enough unusual and over-the-top flair as well as a completely insane, WTF-is-going-on story to keep me interested and going. With DmC, the story is laid out almost instantly. I’m sure there’s a twist coming, but as it is presented now, I’m not that interested in pursuing what the twist may or may not be.

As someone who used to really love hack-n-slash games, I don’t understand why I feel so bored with this one. The combos aren’t as fun, but maybe they will get more fun later as I unlock more moves for Dante. The platforming also makes me sigh quite often, especially when it reminds me so much of the platforming in Darksiders and Darksiders II. I’m most likely not being fair with my feelings since DMC games came before any of these others, but it’s a reality for me at this time.

I also could care less about the points system. I didn’t care about it in Bayonetta, and I still don’t care about it. Yeah, yeah, I didn’t have enough unique style points for you so my rank has dropped, but did you ever think I ever thought I could be in a section of the leaderboards that matters for any game in existence?

Most likely, this type of game just isn’t for me. Maybe I’ve grown away (not grown up, just away) from hack-n-slash games. I guess I prefer to shoot things into oblivion instead of stylishly slicing them to bits.

However, I really think that I could overlook all of this if the story grabbed me at all. That’s one thing that has never changed; I’ll always be a story-driven gamer.

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