game queue

[chronovore]

There are more games in my queue than I've got time to play. Seriously, there are so many good games already out, and more on the horizon, I've got no chance to catch up. On top of that, I've been realizing that 6 hours sleep a night is just not conducive to constructive thinking or language absorption, so I'm going to bed earlier.

I've known it for awhile, as I add to the row of games neatly arrayed under my 360, or put in the DS and PSP stuff. I've just finished Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. There is... basically no replay value in it at all, which makes no sense; they've got conditional unlockable material for a number of tricky things, but instead they just give 100 Achievement points away as each portion of the game is completed. So I've got my 2nd game with a full 1000 Achievement points.

Here are the games I want to be playing:

• Bioshock - I've started it, but it's pretty damned creepy. Arguably, my late-at-night-and-alone gaming is the best time to play it, but it's hard to sleep immediately afterward. Last night I was getting chased around by some guy who set himself on fire. That's not lullaby material.
• Halo 3 - I've started this, too... and am thinking I should really play through the whole story of Halo 2 first. But that's not going to happen. Maybe I should just read the wikipedia entry for the story...?
• Tomb Raider: Legend - I've played just a little of this, and the Prince of Persia style gameplay is SO MUCH more fun than the old PS1 game's polygonal-babe-as-jumping-robot-tank controls were. And it's pretty!
• Hitman - After the kinda-but-not-really stealth gameplay of Assassin's Creed, I'm really hopeful about this game. I recall the previous versions of the game actually reward you for getting out with minimal bloodshed, a la Thief.
• Carcassonne - Apparently I downloaded the trial, bought the full game, missed capitalizing on a free download period, and have still never even played the game. Actually, throw Geometry Wars, Worms, Bomberman, and Band of Bugs to the list of XBLA titles I own but seem to play enough to clear their measly 200 Achievement points. YAR!
• The Orange Box - Though I finished Portal, the game with the best ending of all time, I've done nothing else. At some point I hope to find out what all the hullabaloo over Team Fortress is, since I never played the first one. Or Half-Life 2. Expecting a comment from tsanders in 3... 2... 1...

I'm almost afraid of the ambiguously promised Q2 2008 launches of GTA IV and Mercenaries 2, because I know they're going to be the only thing I play until I've exhausted them, and that'll probably keep me set up for over half a year. I think I played San Andreas... and only San Andreas from November 2004 until May or June 2005.

And then there are the other games, such as Midnight Club: Los Angeles, which I hope will be some kind of balm against homesickness, which was part of the appeal of San Andreas.

Comments

[ferricide.livejournal.com]

well, KK was a launch game, and lead SKU on PS2. i don't think that achievements were at the top of the to-do list. i'm just happy that the game looks better on 360 -- i loved it on PS2. looking forward to replaying it on 360 sometime.

i am waiting for bioshock to hit $20. i can muck around with orange box till then. i will play halo 3 with my friend lucretius77 unless we never get around to this. this is the only reason i bought it, otherwise my apathy is total.

carcassone is cool. i will play that with you if we ever coincide on XBL. wait, do i have you on my friends list? mine is ferricide 360.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Added you. Thanks!

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I'd forgotten that King Kong was launch; in that sense, I should be happy the Achievements weren't massively stupid, like some games. Hell, the Japan-only launch title we made had grotesquely, stupid-hard Achievements.

[ferricide.livejournal.com]

japan seems to be kind of fail at achivements -- i beat blue dragon, played it for over 30 hours, and i got 55 points. there wasn't even one for beating the game.

lost odyssey added ones for beating each disc, i think because of that.

but it seems japanese achievements are either super obscure or super basic (beat level 1. beat level 2. beat level 3.) probably because they never play US games and because they are all making their first 360 games... meh.

[sosage.livejournal.com]

Carcassonne was pretty addictive for the first week of playing (I picked it up during the free period). It's a nice "snag achievements" title until you hit the MP related stuff. I haven't caught anyone on my friends list playing it, even though they are on the leaderboard.

Halo 3 can be missed unless you play multiplayer/co-op. Co-op just because I had other people with me to lol at the story with (and find skulls for me).

I'm part way through Bioshock right now. It's one of the few 360 games that I feel is worth 60 bucks (although technically I am borrowing my copy...and like Ferr will probably wait until used copies hit 20-ish because I am cheap/broke ;P). I just wish the game had co-op and the special abilities system was structured a tad more like System Shock 2. As in, you can't beef everything the fuck up. You're either a bad ass hacker, a bad ass face puncher or a bad ass telekinetic wizard (or a weaker well-rounded combination of the three). In Bioshock you become bad ass in everything near the halfway point, taking most of the potential replay value out of the thing. It's not that scary btw. Just leave the lights on while you're playing. ;)

Haven't gotten around to Orange Box, Hitman or TR yet.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Several friends of mine were into the board game, the actual physical board game, so I picked it up thinking it'd be a no-brainer for transpacific gaming. So far my 17 hr, time difference has prevented us from ever meeting up. I'll try the single player for some "free" Achievements in the meantime.

[ferricide.livejournal.com]

the single player is fun for achievement farming. well, it also taught me how to play.

[jonnyram.livejournal.com]

Halo 3 is a bit silly and ultra-disappointing.
I got much more enjoyment out of Bioshock, though it is a little shocking and grotesque, I must admit. That said, I have a hard time playing Silent Hill and Biohazard type games, but Bioshock was ok. I freaked out in a couple of places, though... big time :)

I have to get round to all the HL2 games too. I'm looking forward to it. I loved the first Half-life, but my PC was never good enough to run HL2, and I basically avoided all versions of it until now. Can't wait to play it!

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only pansy in this bunch. Or maybe I'm the only pansy, and you're talking about something that will freak me the fuck out. So far I got used to the lowest level "thuggish" denizen after the third one, then immediately had to deal with one of them en flambé. Then they show me a woman talking to an empty baby carriage, who was introduced by a cast-shadow silhouette.

This game was MADE to freak me out. Last night I looked forlornly at my 360 and realized I would not be able to play the game because it was 23:30, and I could only envisage scenarios which left me completely unrested.

BTW, The Orange Box Asia version runs fine on my US 360; don't know if that was a concern for you or not.

[epiphaniesrus.livejournal.com]

Dude, you are so not alone. Here's the list of games that I am either playing or mean to get back to to finish.

Assassin's Creed (actually playing)
Super Mario Galaxy (actually playing)
Ratchet and Clank PS3 (actually playing)
Overlord
HL2
Portal (get the medals)
Beautiful Katamari (finish collecting stuff)
TR: Anniversary
Metroid Prime 3
Guitar Hero II (yes two)
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (translation issues)
and I occasionally think about Bioshock in hard mode, Viva Pinata, and all the things I didn't manage to find/do in Crackdown. I think I'm admitting that I'll never get back to Gears of War, God of War II, and GTA: SA.

Meanwhile, this week Burnout Paradise, another Advance Wars DS game, No More Heroes are all out. Plus I've been meaning to pick up Uncharted as well.