September 5th, 2010

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (360): Accidentally booted this one up! Good game, I like it, but that's not what I was going for, was just telling my bro about it prior to hitting up Ultimate Alliance 2 and opened it for some reason without thinking!

Dead Rising: Case 0 (360): I was only playing this till Frank got off the phone, but he promptly lay down on the loveseat and fell asleep. So I stuck with it, and what a way to get me hyped for the Dead Rising 2! I had loved the first, but it's been so long that, while I remember adoring it, the literal feeling was gone, replaced by a vague memory of utilizing just about anything to take out zombies.

What a great reminder Case 0 is! It looks a little more serious in tone than the first, but there's a new ability to combine weapons to make them more deadly, and the graphics are a nice little step up.

Case 0 is pretty thorough for a demo, but the downside is it costs $5 and is treated as an Xbox Live Arcade title, which does make it a little short. Even so, there were survivors to rescue (whoa, they can fight this time around!), tons of items to use, and just some awesome fun.

The first time through I died at the boss, only to learn my last save was from an hour earlier. With my bro asleep, I was left to my single player gaming, so I went ahead and tried again, this time finding a lot more stuff, like survivors, which I hadn't seen any of previously besides the Pawn Shop guy and the guy on the roof. This time I came across Tia, Sharon and Nikki. Sharon needed some Zombrex, which left me short on the one needed for Katey, the main character's daughter, so it was game over once it passed the time needed for her dose. D'oh!

Turns out you can replay the game and your stuff carries over (the max level is 5, but your level and some other things carry over to the full game, sweet!). Armed with both new found knowledge and power, the second time went much smoother. I found Gemini and her hubby, saved the three bachelorette party girls, grabbed the two goofy guys, assembled the bike, and then got the gun guy and his daughter, before taking down the boss and escaping town.

So cool.

I was totally going to run grab the full game on Tuesday, but it turns out it was delayed till the end of the month! D'oh! Looks like I'll be delving back into Case 0 to get my fix and finish things up!

Final Fantasy XI (PC): Not much, fed the neglected, lonely bird, and that's about it! Oh, hey, Windurst dropped to third again, behind San d'Oria, then Bastok.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (360): This one dominated most of the day. I forgot how long these games take to open up, because we've barely got a chance to use anybody besides the default characters and the downloaded guys. I had also forgotten how much this had been simplified from the original, for better and for worse.

It is pretty awesome that the download guys aren't just reskins but full on new characters. Juggernaut has his own voicework, moves and size compared to the other bruisers, for example.

Anyway, it was awesome to play four player, with myself, Frank, Abby and Mom. We made it through the first part of the game, juuuuust one short of where we choose pro-registration or anti-registration, having finished the Lucia Von Barda battle on the boat, and we finished the day by doing a TON of trivia - too bad it loops after about forty questions, we're thinking you had to unlock more in the first game and hoping it's the same here.

Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP): Just a few more missions, moving us up to the tournament qualifier match thingy. I really am enjoying this game, it really summons memories of Dreamcast-era Sega, just like it's predecessor.