Month: August 2018

Oldies but Goodies – Typing of the Dead

Genre:  Educational, Horror
Platform:  Sega Dreamcast, Playstation 2, PC

Typing of the Dead is an interesting game that spans two interesting genres – education and horror.  You are playing as a zombie hunter running through a world filled with the slow buggers.  Although, sometimes they are not so slow and will jump at you and make you jump.

You start by typing one or two letters at a time, but before you know it, you’ll be typing long phrases, including special characters that are sure to slow you up.  It really encourages accurate typing as every mistake you make costs you precious time.  It required a special keyboard for the Dreamcast or PS2, so it was likely most commonly played on PC.  It’s available now on Steam, and I still have fun chopping my way through levels.

If you never played this one, check it out!  It holds up well since its initial release in 1999.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

PSP Collection Status

My Playstation Portable (PSP) collection remained fairly in tact after the flooding.  I have them all up high and they will likely not be touched again in the event of a flood.

This collection may not look large, but keep in mind that the games in the cabinet are in rows three deep.  I also have about 150 games without a case.

Next up, sorting through and assessing the damage from my very large Nintendo DS collection.  This is a big collection, with over 800 games.  I probably gave or threw away about a quarter of those games after the flooding.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

 

I have a guilty obsession with Funko Pops!.  They are cute little figures that do nothing but sit on a shelf or desk.  I don’t know why I like them so much.  Maybe it’s the large variety of them that I can get.  Each one that I have is a little slice of my pop culture pie and some of the highlights include Sadness from Inside Out, Gilfoyle from Silicon Valley, Sophia from Golden Girls and Captain Picard.

I have run out of shelf space, however, so my collecting has slowed quite a bit.  Some of them still on my wish list include The Dude (Big Lebowski), Hei Hei from Moana and Eleven from Stranger Things.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Oldies but Goodies – Infiltrator

infiltrator

Genre:  Simulation
Platform:  Commodore 64

Infiltrator was a game for the Commodore 64.  You played the role of a secret agent and helicopter pilot.  You flew missions and performed recon.  However, to be honest, I don’t remember a lot about the actual game of Infiltrator.  My cousin had a Commodore 64 and we would sometimes play this.  I’m not sure we were ever able to get beyond flying the helicopter and would usually crash.

What we did have a lot of fun doing was dressing up like helicopter pilots, using earmuffs and a straw to simulate a headset, and pretend to be successful spies.  We would sit in our “cockpit”, listen to and accept the mission, and do our best to complete the mission.  I doubt we ever did, because the additional gameplay screen shots don’t look familiar to me at all.

I do remember this being a fun game for what it was, and provided two young girls hours of imaginative entertainment.  I went back on an emulator and tried to play it, but it just wasn’t fun without my old friend sitting next to me.  Check it out, though, and maybe you’ll discover a cool game buried under my nostalgia.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Tower Defense Games and Me

I absolutely suck at tower defense games.  If you are not aware of this genre, it’s where you have a stationary map (usually) and you are provided places to set defenders to keep your tower from being destroyed.  Then, waves of mobs come at you and may destroy your defenders, or get stronger so you need to continue to upgrade your units.

One of the pictures listed above is from a game that I thoroughly enjoy – until I get to the tower defense section.  This game is Brutal Legend and is a blast up until that point.  I have never passed that spot and have rage quit on multiple occasions.

The next picture is from a game that I’m trying to beat right now – Royal Tower Defense, the Invisible Threat.  There are over 200 levels in the game, but I can’t get past level 1.  That is how badly I suck at these games.  Why do I still try?  I assume there’s a vital piece of these games that I’m just missing and it will “click” one of these days.

There has been one tower defense game that I’ve beaten, however – Plants vs. Zombies.  I really liked it, too, and go back and play it regularly.  Go figure!

Tower Defense 2

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Steam Stars – Passpartout: The Starving Artist

Genre:  Creative
Platform:  PC

Passpartout:  The Starving Artist might be an easy game to overlook on Steam.  The graphics aren’t much and I don’t think the publisher did a good job “selling” it on their store page.  However, at $9, I have gotten my money’s worth.

In this game you play as a starving artist.  However, you are really the artist!  That’s right, if you’ve ever played with Paint and wished it was a game, look no more.  You draw pieces of art (or pieces of crap) and put them up for sale.  Eventually, critics will come by, insult you, and customers will buy your works of crap art.

It’s a simple game.  There is some progression, but I didn’t really care for that.  I just enjoyed being creative.  Here’s a few from my gallery.

I call this one “sanity”.
A girl and balloons.
Fun with music.
A ringed planet from my imagination.
This little guy sits on my desk.

So pick this one up!  It’s fun to stretch your creative muscles or to just see what pieces of crap some video game people will buy.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Genre:  RPG/Dungeon Crawler
Platform:  XBone, PS4, PC, Vita

I have spent plenty of time with Darkest Dungeon over all four platforms listed above.  This is a dungeon crawler at its most brutal.  You start with a small party of adventurers and pick your dungeon.  You have a specific goal to complete each time you enter the dungeon.  Complete it and you get valuable cash and usually a trinket for one of your party members.

This may sound like your typical dungeon crawler, but this game is not.  It is also a rogue-like, meaning that if anyone in your party dies, they are gone forever.  This doesn’t sting so much in the beginning, but when you have a level 4+ that dies, it hurts.  In addition to that, your party members get stressed while going through the dungeon.  If you can’t mitigate that stress, they risk a heart attack and could die.  Don’t pick a dungeon that’s too hard for them, or they will be stressed if you have to back out.  You can rest them when you are in town, but it costs money and an entire turn.  Which means that you need to maintain a party big enough for at least two full crews (4 to a crew) at any given time.

This game is so challenging that I’ve started it over on four different platforms and have improved greatly each time.  However, I always seem to get a bit too greedy and end up doing more than I can.  I either lose a member or end up with them seriously afflicted (very expensive to cure).  You can use the rewards that you get from quests to permanently level up either buildings, weaponry or skills.

This game is a constant balancing act, but it is very rewarding if you can get good at it.  I have probably sunk 40+ hours in it thus far, but I’m just barely scratching the surface.  I’ve only killed three bosses.  If you like dungeon crawlers and are looking for a challenge, definitely pick this one up.  Be warned, it may make you go crazy…

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Fortunately, my Playstation Vita collection was mostly untouched by the flooding.  I lost a couple of collector’s items, but all of the games, cases and manuals survived well.  They were all up on a shelf that was barely touched by water.

We did learn our lesson.  All games are being shelved over three feet high.  If we get more flooding than that, there’s not much we can do about it.  But at least they will stand a fighting chance.

Next up, going through my DS and PSP collections.  I have the most of these types of games, by far, so it’s going to take me a while to figure out where I want to store them.

0 CommentsLeave a comment