Now Playing (21/05/10)

Finished Heavy Rain! Traded it in for Borderlands. And forgot to take FFXIII back from Kenny, so I only managed to play a little bit of it early in the week. My gaming diet should be reduced next week as I plan to study some stuff on Smart.fm and maybe do some video editing and web programming.

Anyway... on to the list!

Game: Final Fantasy XIII
Platform: PS3
Genre: RPG
Playtime: ~4 hours this week (~35 hours total)
Thoughts:
The "side quest" missions are actually pretty fun and challenging. Well, fun BECAUSE it is challenging. Most of the missions can be done in one try, but some of them require a few restarts. Moreover, there's an incentive to 5-star these battles, as it would give you better spoils and unlock a trophy. These missions are scattered throughout Gran Pulse (area outside of Cocoon), which can be a huge chore to traverse. Luckily, you'll get Chocobos after Mission 14, which really helps in getting around as they move quick and allow you to ignore battles (even if you bump into enemies) as long as you keep their regenerating health up. From what I hear, you could breeze through Chapter 11 in a few hours, or you could choose to do missions and hunt treasure and grind for tens of hours. I choose to stay here longer because I want to upgrade weapons, level up, and unlock new skills. I really do like FFXIII's battle system; its a unique twist on the traditional menu-based RPG battles. Leveling up and unlocking new skills will allow battles to be more varied and strategic. Gran Pulse is also home to some of the most challenging enemies in the game, so I hope I can try to slay some. Enjoying FFXIII more for its battles and not its story or characters. Weird right?

Game: Heavy Rain
Platform: PS3
Genre:Interactive Drama
Playtime: 4 hours this week (10 hours total) (FINISHED)
Thoughts:
This game is just WOW. Took about 9+ hours to complete the game. Went back to replay the final scene just to get an action scene right and get the "perfect" ending. The emotional attachment to the characters, the heightened sense of danger as you're being chased around, the gloomy and depressing atmosphere; none of it ever drops. The ending was strong and it felt really satisfying to end this emotionally draining journey. One minor complaint would be the plot holes. There are several of them. Some parts just don't make sense or they just don't bother to explain it. For that reason, this game would fail as a book or a movie. But as a game, it is acceptable, as what's important is how engaging it was. It IS an interactive drama after all.

Game: Borderlands
Platform: PS3
Genre: FPS
Playtime: 3 hours this week (new)
Thoughts:
Traded in Heavy Rain and got Borderlands. So far, I can see myself putting as much time into this as I have for Torchlight (24 hours and counting). Easiest way to describe this would be Diablo with guns.

Game: Team Fortress 2
Platform: PC
Genre: FPS
Playtime: 1 hour this week
Thoughts:
Saw Ivan playing it and so went in to play a bit too. It's not an easy game to get into. Like Counterstrike, playing Team Fortress online can get quite frustrating because of the number of pros already in this game.

Game: Fifa 10
Platform: PS3
Genre: Sports
Playtime: ~4 hours this week
Thoughts:
Played "Be a Pro" season mode. Hated the camera. And I don't understand why they expect me, a midfielder, to score 2 to 3 goals every game. Changed camera angle to "Broadcast" and its soooo much better now.

Game: Beatles Rock Band
Platform: PS3
Genre: Music/Rhythm game
Playtime: 1 hour this week
Thoughts:
The drumming sucks. It's just plain boring. Nothing that Ringo fans can say to convince me otherwise.

Game: Rock Band 2
Platform: PS3
Genre: Music/Rhythm game
Playtime: 2 hours this week
Thoughts:
Went back to Rock Band 2 after playing some Beatles. So much more fun. To be clear, some friends came over. I don't think I'll play Rock Band any other way. I heard that Rock Band 3 is gonna be "revolutionary" though. Shouldn't get my hopes up too high; "revolutionary" is just a way to make you buy even more fake plastic instruments.