It's time to run down the list of GameCube games on Metacritic. It's fun and brings up memories and helps me decide what stays in my collection and what I need to pick up. Here goes.
I only have a few here I put on my must-play list, but I like to look at everything anyway and perhaps try something new if I can find it for cheap enough. Remasters are also of interest since sometimes they vastly improve the experience. So this is Metacritic's top PS2 games 26-50 with comments.
So I'm 18 chapters into Uncharted 2 ... 1) because I was sick in bed yesterday and woke up with nothing immediately better to do I didn't have to go to my office for through the rain/cold (rather not risk the extra sickness effect) and 2) because HOLY CRAP, THIS GAME FIXES EVERYTHING WRONG WITH UNCHARTED DRAKE'S FORTUNE.
It was a busy and productive weekend. Also, tomorrow is the last day of BaD! I made it! Er, barring some unforeseen occurrence, that is.
Ever since I read daftman's blog about Castlevania coming to Netflix, I've just been listening to this YouTube video with all the different versions of "Bloody Tears" throughout the series.
Another year in the bag! 2016 broke new ground in the "Whaaaaa-! It's already over??" category. Somehow I managed to play some games in there, so let's take a look. First up are all the games I beat this year and then how many I bought or somehow acquired (don't worry, I don't list those specifically). Be sure to stick around for the Golden Hippo Awards after that!
So it's been like 4 months since I was last active. Those around February when BaD was going on may remember that I was commenting on the blogs of early February, maybe with the hope that I would catch up on the thing. Unfortunately, I lost the energy to continue (I had less than 150 notifications up that point) and very much was inactive here. Since i'm in my quite long summer break since the 25th of May, I thought i'd be a good time to update my page here and also tell you all how i've been.
Happy new year people! It's been a few weeks since the last time I did a blog, so much like daftman does on his updates, I decided to show everything I bought ever since this blog and perhaps make this something montly, unless I simply do updates on everything that include other non-gaming related stuff.
May was my best month so far this year for getting things done, though one of these was in the works for quite a while.
Two blogs in the same day? I know. I'm like an attention cannon, seeking to explode all over the faces of women and children. That... may need rewording at some point, but fuck it. Some things have happened and I need to talk about them!
Looking at my past blogs, I guess it hasn't been that long but it feels like it. I've gotten a few things done in the meantime, like a read Marvel 1602. It's a graphic novel with the Marvel universe set at the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. It was really cool. Nick Fury was the head of the Queen's intelligence, Dr. Strange was the court physician, and Dr. Doom owned a castle in Latveria. There was also the X-Men, Peter Parquour 
, and the Fantastic Four, among others. It was a really good story and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. (Is it any surprise that it was written by Neil Gaiman?)
Recently I started playing the new Strider. It was on PS+ at some point for PS4 and I finally fired it up. It's pretty cool. Rather than a level-based game, it has one big world divided up into several different districts. The auto map is super useful. It fills out as you explore, of course, but it also lists all kinds of useful info, like save points, different kinds of doors and breakable gates, items, powerups, and your current objective. There are also secret things to find that don't show up on the map, like concept art and enemy info. It's not the kind of game you'd really invest yourself in exploring every nook and cranny, unlike the portable Castlevanias, for instance. It's more a fun game you can breeze through, and I can certainly appreciate that. It's a Metroidvania-lite, I guess.
Over the past couple of weeks I've been reading Deus Ex: Icarus Effect, a prequel novel to Human Revolution. I finished it last night and while it started kind of slow—lots of character building and situation set up—it eventually became a real page-turner. It did touch on a few things from the game, specifically the attack on Sarif Industries at the beginning of Human Revolution, and featured some characters you'd cross paths with in the game, but it mostly did it's own thing and that was fine. It was a good story. But now it has me jonesing for more Deus Ex! So last night I downloaded the mobile game, The Fall, which is a direct sequel to the book. After installation it's the largest game I've ever had on my phone—1.5 gigs! I haven't started it yet but I've heard lots of good things. Once I get through that I plan to tackle the Director's Cut of Human Revolution. I loved that game in its original incarnation, so I know this will be even better. Can't wait to see those redone boss fights!
This is definitely the latest I've ever posted one of these recaps. I had the one-two punch moving last week, not having internet, and then heading straight back to work. (I guess that's three punches lol.) The new apartment is great but we still have stuff everywhere. But that's not what I'm here to talk about, so let's get to it!
One of hallmarks of the archtypical indie game is that it has a cool art style that catches the eye, and Penumbear certainly nails that. When you get down to it, it's a puzzle platformer but it's presented very well. The graphics aren't as stark as LIMBO but they are mostly black and white with colors used to denote actual light, and light plays an important role in this game.
Sam is a penguin who somehow keeps getting separated from his girlfriend. Your job is to draw lines that will help guide Sam back to his beloved. You plan everything out and then send Sam on his way. Things are further complicated by three stars you can collect in each level. To be honest I'm not very good at this game but it's fun. And who wouldn't want to help a penguin in need?
RGB Express is a delightful little puzzle game where you use colored trucks to pick up correspondingly colored packages and deliver them to the correct buildings. But your trucks can't use the same stretch of road twice or run into each other, which can make it a rather tricky business. You map out the route the trucks will take and then push a button to send them all on their way. I'm still working on the training levels (there are a bunch of them!) and already there have been a couple that took a few tries to figure out. I imagine this game can get very hard later on, especially in the set called "Super Hard" lol. It's good fun though. I like the graphics too. They remind me of Advance Wars.
I'm told there are other games like this on the App Store but Earn to Die 2 seems pretty unique to me. Well, not in theme—it's the zombie apocalypse!—but certainly in structure. You're trying to get from the west coast of the United States down to Florida to join the other survivors. It's a long road! So you jump in your piece-of-junk car and see how far you can get. Naturally, this game isn't very realistic. You earn money from running over zombies that you can spend to upgrade your ride, like a bigger gas tank or a better transmission or armor to protect you from the zombies. There are eight categories in all to upgrade and you can get new vehicles altogether later on. I've seen pictures lol.