Month: June 2016

Chey’s Top 25 – #17 – Puzzle Quest

Genre:  Match-3, RPG
Platform:  All, I think.  I have it for Nintendo DS and XBox 360.

Having long been a fan of match-3 type of games, you can imagine my delight at finding a game that combined that simple game play with RPG elements.  I believe this was one of the first games I downloaded from the XBox Live arcade, many years ago.  I have played the poo out of this game.  I have played it all the way through at least 10 times, which is no small feat because there’s a lot of grinding involved in it.  I personally think the DS version of the game is best due to the use of the stylus.

This game has you create a character from a few different classes and start on your merry way.  It has some “save the princess” story, but there are definitely twists on it.  For example, you have the option to help the princess escape her situation of forced marriage and be a badass with you on the road.  Of course I did this.  Screw the man!

As you play, you level up and get to assign points for different attributes which increase the game play.  As you encounter certain enemies, you can “capture” them by completing an often-challenging mini game.  Once you do that, you learn the spells it knows, allowing you greater ability to customize your character.  You can also lay siege to cities, build a citadel with various beneficial buildings, train mounts and research spells.

The “Quest” part of this game is no laughing matter.  There are a TON of quests to do, and it may take you hours of grinding to become powerful enough to complete some of them.  That was fine with me, however, because this is a super fun game.  There have been a few other versions of it.  I never gave Puzzle Quest 2 a fair shake and I’ll go back to it someday.  I didn’t like Puzzle Quest Galactrix, which is hexagonal and set in space.  There’s also a Marvel version which is quite good, too.  But I would first check out the original and its expansion, which is always included with the original game.  Have fun!

1 CommentLeave a comment

Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a must-read for any fan of video games.  It is chock-full of video game and pop culture references from the 80’s and is a brilliant story.  I don’t want to give away too much of it, but this is set in a not-too-distant future dystopia.  Life is grim for many and to escape, everyone logs into a computer with VR and lives in a virtual world.  Kids go to school here, people work and interact.  The creator of this world hid a series of easter eggs that are a part of an epic quest.  The winner gets the ultimate prize – ownership of the company that controls this online world.  Unless a player can complete the quest, control is handed over to the company executives, which have bad plans.

I don’t care of you’re not much of a reader.  If you like video games, you need to get this book.  I think I read this one in under a week and had a few sleepless nights because of it.  I read it so fast, in fact, that I need to go back and re-read it because I didn’t retain a lot of it.  Steven Spielberg is making a movie based on this book, and I’m excited to see it.  But please, read this book before you do!

 

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Oldies but Goodies – Astrosmash

Genre:  Arcade
Platform:  Intellivision

As previously mentioned, we had an Intellivision growing up.  I loved it.  This was one of the games that we had, and I remember it fondly, although I am not sure I ever reached the second level.  Games back then were so hard because they had to be – you had to keep players coming back to play, and a good way to do that was the high score.  These days, games rarely even have scores.  But it was an effective way to keep people playing and talking about your game.

This was also one of my mom’s favorites and she could get all the way up to at least level three.  The sky background changed for each level, and you could drop levels as your score was constantly changing as asteroids were either destroyed or hit the ground.  There were also satellites to shoot, an occasional UFO or other space-inspired pixelated blob.  When you shot the larger asteroids, they would break into smaller ones, which you also had to shoot.  It made for chaotic fun, and I have pulled it out from time to time on my GCW Zero.  I can only play it for about two minutes before I’m  ready to throw it across the room, but I still at least remember it as being a positive experience.

Live Astrosmash

This happens when you live near the Space Center in Houston.


0 CommentsLeave a comment

Genre:  Platformer
Platform:  XBone, PC

Let me start off by saying that this is not a bad game.  This is, in fact, an excellent game, I just don’t seem to be up to the task of mastering it.  The graphics in this game are gorgeous.  I have a 4K Ultra TV and I was blown away at how beautiful this game is.  It feels less like a game and more like you’re playing in a fantastic animated movie.  The soundtrack is also stunning and I get goosebumps when I hear it.  This is because it ties in so well with the incredible story telling, which you are immersed in from the beginning.  All three of these things make for an amazing game.  I was near tears in the first five minutes of the game, that’s how incredible the story telling is.

But, this is a platformer, and it’s not your parents’ platformer, either.  It does have slight RPG elements in that you level up your character and pick skills from a skills tree.  However, the game play is HARD.  I would frequently get stuck at sections and replay them 20 times, only to save and come back later and breeze through it.  This game requires a lot of thought and patience to get through.  I don’t have enough of the latter, I’m afraid.

It also toys with save points.  Instead of being set throughout the game, you have to absorb enough orbs, earned by killing mobs, to charge up your ability to save.  This sounds well and good until you don’t have enough for a save point after a particularly difficult part and you have to start back 15 minutes.  This adds to the frustration, but again, also adds to your sense of accomplishment.

But alas, I’m crying uncle on this one and moving it out of my “now playing” list.  I’ll likely still take a stab at it now and again, but it’s not on my immediate radar anymore.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Stinkers – Silly Bandz

Genre:  Puzzle
Platform:  Nintendo DS

First, what are “silly bandz”?  Seriously, I had no idea what they are.  Do kids shoot them at one another like rubber bands?  Because that’s what this game will make you think.  The game even came with a package of them, but I still have no idea what they are.  Ok, after a quick Google search, it appears that kids wear these things like bracelets.  They don’t look too comfortable:

Silly Bandz; NS sillybandz story pic 1 only

I guess they are shaped differently and have some sort of collectible appeal?

So how could you possibly make a game about this?  Angry Birds ripoff!  It tempted me with the promise of collecting the “silly bandz” (you know how much I like to collect things), but the collection screen only shows you a small amount that you’ve collected, not everything.  The game itself is a short one, with about 2 hours to finish.  If you strive for 3 stars on each level, though, good luck.  After playing through a few levels as well as I could, I only got two (out of three) stars twice.  The game doesn’t allow you to zoom out nearly far enough, so you’re really guessing on your shots, which can be frustrating.  The music is repetitive and doesn’t add anything to the game.  It does increase in difficulty as you progress, but I had no desire to keep playing after about 1.5 hours.

If this game had somehow made it onto your radar, get rid of it.  It’s not fun at all.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Chey’s Top 25 – #18 – The Sims

Genre:  Simulation
Platform:  PC

I had been a fan of SimCity since middle school, when we played SimCity original as a way to teach us the basics of city planning.  More SimCity versions came out, but you can imagine my excitement when a new level of granularity arrived, allowing you to actually control the people of your city.  This was Will Wright’s grand vision, and it was The Sims.

The original Sims still remains my favorite.  It seemed to me that you had the most items to play and create with and customizing your own wasn’t too difficult.  The concept of the Sims is this – you create people/families and control every single aspect of their lives.  You design their house, you buy them new objects, you decorate, you decide if they procreate, you choose when/if they use the bathroom or shower, you get them a job and help them excel at it.  You also control their social interactions.  If you are like me, you care for your Sims and try to make them as happy as possible.  Then again, there were always the players that chose this route…

Sims Evil

So, so cruel.

I always recreated the place I happened to be living at the time and my family/friends.  It was a lot of fun, but the game got challenging as you progressed as your game always tended to focus on making and maintaining friends.  I find this hard in real life, so it’s no surprise that I found it difficult and stressful in a game.  And then there were the seemingly endless expansions that were just money sinks:

Sims Expansions

Next expansion: The Sims, Just Give Us Your Money Already

I played Sims 2 and 3, and each added their own unique twists.  It was pretty impressive how much of a likeness I could get to my husband.  I haven’t played Sims 4 yet.  But, as I said, the original was good enough to make my top 25 and I would suggest playing it if you haven’t.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Oldies but Goodies – Jetpack

Genre:  Arcade
Platform:  PC

Oh my gosh I loved this game.  It was freeware, so I grabbed it up early.  This is another DOS-game, so I guess I’m really showing my age in this blog.  No matter.  All of you youngin’s  today missed out on a great generation of games!  You can get it here:  http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/jetpack/.  To play the old DOS games now, though, you will likely need the program DOSBox.  You can get that here:  https://www.dosbox.com/.  It’s a little bit complicated, but the site has some good resources to help.

Anyway, back to Jetpack.  This game had a ton of levels, and you could create your own or get them from other players.  Your goal was to get all of the orbs from platforms throughout the level and go through the door.  As the name suggests, you got a jet pack to help.  However, your fuel is limited.  More fuel packs may pop up on the screen as well as money.  There are also bad guys that are trying to keep you from the goal.

This was a challenging, but fun, game.  My 6th-grade self enjoyed it a lot on our Windows 3.1 computer.  I never beat the game, but that wasn’t my goal.  I was just having fun.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is the biggest event of the year for gamers.  It’s where all of the big players – Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony – and the not-so-big indie players are allowed space on the same floor in Los Angeles to tease us with some of their upcoming products.  It is not open to the general public, but for the week, we are bombarded with the best new thing.

I’ve always taken this week with a grain of salt.  Some of what’s shown there may never come to fruition as it’s still early in the development phase.  There are a couple of things that I’m keeping my eye on, such as Nintendo’s new project (to replace the Wii U and possibly the 3DS?) and the newer versions of the PS4 and XBone coming out.  I haven’t heard much about games yet other than your standard – new Zelda, new Mario, blah blah blah.  Hopefully, something awesome will come along and pique my interest.

0 CommentsLeave a comment