Month: August 2016

I have been a subscriber of Game Informer Magazine for years now.  It comes free with Game Stop’s PowerRewards program and it’s worth it just for the magazine.  This magazine features really good up and coming games and includes those indie games that we all end up loving.  Many writers tend to skip these games as it doesn’t sell as well.

The format is great as well.  The first few pages are letters, fan artwork, letter from the editor and table of contents.  Next up is their feature (cover) article, which usually spans a good 10 pages or so.  Then there are previews of upcoming games and finally reviews of current games.  I typically agree with their reviews, but there’s always a time or two when you’ll think they are off the mark.

I strongly recommend this magazine.  The artwork is superb, it’s quality writing and it’s enjoyable all around.  It is available in both digital and print.

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Genre:  Word
Platform:  Nintendo 3DS

For many of us word game enthusiasts, word searches are what we start on when we are just starting to learn to read.  I was certainly no different.  While they are not typically the most challenging of games, they are great for letting your brain idle and wasting some time.  I personally play these when I’m watching something on TV that isn’t particularly enthralling.

I discovered Epic Word Search on the 3DS store about a year ago and was captivated.  This isn’t your grandma’s word search.  Instead, it consists of five boards, all containing 9 separate sections of word searches containing a category of the big board.  In Epic Word Search 1, the categories are Rock and Roll, Movies, Food, TV and Sports.  Each sub-category as somewhere in the area of 60 words, so each board has over 350 words to find.  It’s challenging and fun and will take you hours to do.  The categories for Epic Word Search 2 are Animals, Journeys, Ancient, America and Shakespeare.

If you like small games that can take up a lot of your time, like word games and have a Nintendo 3DS, then this one is for you!

epic-word-search-collection2

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Oldies but Goodies – Simpsons Road Rage

Genre:  Arcade
Platform:  XBox Original

I was a long-time fan of the Simpsons, although I haven’t really watched much of it the last 10 years or so.  So when Road Rage came out, I picked it up and really enjoyed it.  If you’ve ever played Crazy Taxi, it’s basically that with the Simpsons crew.  You select one of the cast to play and drive around Springfield acting as a taxi.  The faster you get people to their destination, the more money you get and the more time you have to play.

You only start with maybe 5 characters to play with and can purchase the rest as you earn money.  This really adds to the replayability of the game as you’ll enjoy playing the different characters.  Here’s everyone you can play:

Simsons RR characters

I have always been a big Lisa fan, so that’s usually who I played.  I also enjoyed Homer and Mr. Plow a lot, too.  You can destroy just about everything in this game.  Springfield is fairly large, so there is a lot of territory to cover.  There are shortcuts everywhere, so once you find them, the game becomes even more fun.  I just picked this one up again and I’m looking forward to replaying it.  I would recommend it if you’re looking for a fast-paced racing type of game and you are a fan of the Simpsons.

Simpsons

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Chey’s Top 25 Games – #8 – Rock Band 3

My love affair with music games was immediate and heavy.  I had heard of Guitar Hero back in the Playstation 2 days, when I was an XBox owner, and was intrigued.  Alas, it was not released for the XBox.  When I was visiting my brother, I wanted to play it so much that I bought him a PS2 with Guitar Hero.  I was in love.  I then went home and got my own PS2 with Guitar Hero.

Guitar Hero 2 came out not too long after that and I sold the PS2.  I was just immediately good at the game, having a music background and strong rhythm skills, and enjoyed the game immensely.  I have every single Guitar Hero or Rock Band game and have played through them many times.  It was hard to pick a single favorite game for my list, but Rock Band 3 wins out.

Rock Band 3 allows you to import any songs that you purchased through their store into the game, even if you purchased them for other games.  It also allows you to bring in songs from Rock Band 1, 2, AC/DC and Greenday.  The Beatles songs were not importable.  It introduced harmonies on vocals and a keyboard controller.  It also has pro modes for all instruments, so you can basically learn a real instrument as you play.  The keyboard controller is good for this, although it’s a mini keyboard with just over an octave to play with.  I bought a real electric guitar to plug in, but the pro modes take a lot of work, which I wasn’t up to at the time.

What really makes this game fun, though, are the songs.  I have spent a gross amount of money on the songs, so I have quite a list to pick from.  This makes it a fantastic party games.  When we lived in Daytona, we were somewhat known for our Rock Band parties, and we’re starting to rebuild that here in Houston.  Everybody has fun at these parties.  It’s amazing who you can get to sing, even if they are adamantly against it at the beginning.  Add a bit of liquid courage and even the most staunch person is singing their heart out.

I haven’t seriously played these games in a long time and I’m really rusty.  They are still a lot of fun and definitely have an air of nostalgia about them.  I’m undecided on whether I want to touch Rock Band 4, but Rock Band 3 will always have a special place on my shelf and heart.

DSC00062

Who’s ready to ROCK?!?

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Look at what I found at Target for $40 tonight!  It’s an Atgames Sega Genesis mini console.  It comes loaded with 80 games and can actually play Sega Genesis cartridges!  It has ports for original controllers, but comes with two IR consoles (wireless).  I’m looking forward to playing it.  The reviews are pretty mixed on it, so we’ll see how those games stand up.  I’ll let you know more as I play.

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Between games

I was really into a couple of games before I went on vacation.  I had a nice routine down and I was kicking butt.  Since I’ve gotten back, however, I seem to be in one of those dreaded times for all gamers – the between games slump.  I don’t really have a game that has my undivided attention at the moment.  A big part of this is due to my desire to watch the Olympics, which is really cutting into game time, but I also need to find that next game.

This is so frustrating to me as I have over 1000 games to play in this house.  More if you consider internet games and the GCW Zero ROMs.  But no, my brain doesn’t seem to want to latch on to any of them right now, which makes me look and feel a lot like that girl in the picture.  I do still play for maybe an hour a day, but that is a stark contrast to the six to eight I was putting in before vacation.

I just started The Witcher 3:  Wild Hunt, so we’ll see if that one sucks me in.  So far, not really.  I try to give games a few solid hours of game play before making judgement, but it’s just not cutting it yet.  Alas, I’m sure I’ll find that next one before too long.  This is also usually the time when I break out some old favorites, so I won’t be surprised if I start playing Project Gotham Racing, Diablo 3 or a city builder or simulation game.

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One of my favorite video game review sites is a bit…odd.  You’ve got to have a quick wit to get all of his jokes as he goes really fast.  The series is call Zero Punctuation and the site is located here:  http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation

There are tons of video reviews on this page.  He’s quite snarky and the illustrations are pretty funny as well.  It’s crude and certainly not for the younger people.  However, if you need something to waste your time for an afternoon, this definitely fits the bill.  Enjoy!

 

 

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Oldies but Goodies – Titus the Fox

Genre:  Platformer
Platform:  PC

Titus the Fox was a platformer from way back in 1991.  We had it on our Windows 3.1 computer when I was a kid and I think this was my sisters’ favorite.  At least, I hope so, because when I tried to copy it for a friend and rendered the disk useless due to some copyright code, they almost killed me.  Let’s discuss why.

Titus was a cute game and took place somewhere in the middle east where magic carpets are the norm.  You play as the fox and are trying to get to the end of each level in search of your female counterpart.  But she’s always in another castle somewhere else and you need to keep running through a gauntlet of baddies.  If I recall, your primary mode of attack is picking things up and throwing them – including the bad guys.  If you could approach them from behind, you could throw them.  There was usually some sort of stacking puzzle in the level as well.

It was a fairly standard platformer, but the graphics were pretty good for a 1991 computer game running on 3.1.  The soundtrack was cutesy as well.  I can see why my younger sisters liked the game and I would like to formally apologize for destroying it.  I’m glad you’ve grown up without too much mental scarring as a result of my technical ignorance.

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