Entries Tagged 'MMO' ↓

Aion (PC)

Back in the beginning of September I had a chance to finally sit down and play some of the Aion open beta. I had been kind of following the development and wanted to get in and play. Once the open beta started I set aside a few hours to see what the buzz was about. Overall, I wasn’t super impressed. Sure, the game looked nice but, it didn’t really grab me. Honestly, I already knew I wasn’t going to be buying the game since I don’t play MMO’s with monthly fees. It just wouldn’t make any sense when I already seem to struggle to find the time to play. Anyway, I managed to work my character up to level 12 or 13. During my play session I mostly saw the same old MMO-ish stuff “kill x of y” and “fetch” quests. Another thing that kind of disappointed me was the large wall of text at the opening of some of the quests, most people probably won’t even read it, other quests had a brief cut scene that didn’t seem all that great to me. I did have a fun time playing it just wasn’t enough to convince me to pay for the game and then the monthly fee. Maybe I’ll give it another shot once it goes free to play.

Scribblenauts (DS)

Scribblenuats has done something no other DS game has managed to do so far – convince Kris to pick it up and turn it on. I showed her the game one night and the next day she’s wandered into my office asking where the DS is. For me the game got old really fast, I probably won’t ever pick it up again, and Kris has since moved on to Peggle DS. So is Scribblenauts her gateway to gaming? Probably not, I think it just shows what a good concept the game was too bad it’s so boring. Oh, and Kris just unlocked Peggle Nights.

Plants vs Zombies (PC)
A friend of mine has been playing Plants vs. Zombies for quite a while now. Well, not as much playing now as tending to his Zen Garden. For some reason I had resisted picking it up from Steam. I’m not sure why, I just never bought it. Browsing through my RSS feeds while on a conference call the other day I read that PopCap had released a Flash version of the game. It was then that I realized this is the perfect work companion so, I immediately bought it through Steam. I finished my first run through adventure mode a few minutes ago.

The Witcher (PC)
Seeing the leaked video of The Witcher 2 made me want to jump back in and continue working my way through the game. It’s such a good action RPG, I really need to finish it up. I spent a couple of hours working my way through a few quests I had open. I’ve still got a way to go in the game but I’m working on it.

Persona 3 FES (PS2/PC)
The day before picking up Plants vs Zombies I found myself with some downtime at work and really wanted to play some Persona. However, I didn’t feel like dragging out the spare TV and setting it up in the office. I knew I should have bought that TV tuner card. So, I made an ISO out of my Persona 3 FES disc and started playing with the latest build of PCSX2. I didn’t even play too far in since I really wanted to continue the game I have already started but still too lazy to drag the TV into the office. Now I’ve got too saves and still have 100+ hours of RPG to go through…

Dominion (Tabletop)

I’ve been hearing about Dominion and never really knew what to think about it after all, the descriptions I heard were pretty odd. Well, I finally had a chance to sit down and play a couple of games and it was pretty fun. Fun enough in fact that we may even play it again.

Was just scrolling through my RSS feeds and saw that Brinstar has taken a job as a Community Manager for Guild Wars! Congratulations Brinstar! In celebration I will stop what I’m doing and play Guild Wars for a little while.

*edit* Not sure if it was me or this new version of WordPress but, the original post somehow ended up as a “page” and not a “post” so – I’m fixing that now…

Currently Playing

I’m starting to get a bit overwhelmed, trying to find time to check out all the games I want to play. Currently, I’ve got a few titles sitting on my plate that I’m going to focus on – not counting Guild Wars, which I may have to give up sleep for.

The Orange Box (Xbox 360)

It’s been a little while since it’s release but, I finally made it over to Target to grab a copy for the Xbox 360. Over the past week I put in around ten hours and beat my way through Half-Life 2 again. As expected I still love the game. My only gripe about is about the damn load times – I wish Valve had done something about that. It’s that way in all Source engine games, even Portal – which has a excellent area to mask loading during the elevator ride between levels – comes to a screeching halt. Maybe when Half-Life 2 Episode 3 comes out in a few years they will finally have taken care of it. The Orange Box is my absolute favorite game/package of the year.

Orcs & Elves (Nintendo DS)

Although it arrived on Tuesday, I did not have a chance to try it out until yesterday morning. Even then I was only able to put in about ten minutes before I had to put the DS down. It was just enough time for me to realize that this game is going to be awesome – an old-school-style turn-based 3D action-RPG hack-n-slash adventure is just what my DS has been waiting for! I was able to cram in another hour or so of play time before going to sleep last night. During that time I was able to clean out a couple of levels worth of monsters with my trusty talking magic wand. Orcs & Elves puts you in a 3D grid based dungeon where you move square by square hacking your way through enemies in an effort to save dwarves from some orcs and elves. Hopefully, during my Thanksgiving downtime I’ll be about to put in the seven or so more hours needed to complete it.

Fireteam Reloaded (PC)

Way back in 97 or 98, I was involved with a beta test for an awesome on-line only multi-player game called Fireteam. After the beta ended however, I lost touch with everyone I played with because I didn’t have the time, money or a stable enough internet connection to continue playing. I’m pretty sure it’s the first on-line arena style combat game I ever played. Fireteam did receive generally favorable reviews, if I remember correctly but, being sold on-line only at $59.95 limited it’s impact. About a month ago I received a press release for an upcoming game known as Fireteam Reloaded – and much to my joy it turned out to be a re-hash of the classic. It even has a couple of developers from the original game. The game is just entering closed beta – which you all should join – and since I haven’t read the NDA very closely that’s about all I’ll say for now…

Exteel (PC)

I remember hearing about this game a while back and then promptly forgetting about it. Well, yesterday while mucking about on the NCsoft web site I ended up over at the Exteel official site and noticed that the open beta had just started.

Exteel is in no way an MMO – it’s basically a third person giant robot arena combat game. Once the beta ends Exteel will join the ranks of free to play, pay for some item on-line games. So far it seems pretty fun, I’ve only played three deathmatch rounds so far but, I’m hoping to squeeze more in. This might be one to watch.

Upcoming – once I finish (or get bored) with something else

Assassins Creed (Xbox 360)
Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360)
Guild Wars: Nightfall (PC)
Guild Wars: Eye of the North (PC)

Earlier today Kris and I were discussing the upcoming Christmas season when she asked me what I wanted. My reply was along the lines of “A stack of games please!”. So, along those lines I was just browsing around the Internet and I ended up on the Guild Wars web site and saw that there is a new holiday promotion! It seems that with a purchase of Eye of the North you can get a second campaign 50% off! Which is right up my alley since I need Eye of the North and Nightfall. The offer is good from now until December 31 so, if you haven’t picked up GW:EN and one of the other campaigns now may be the time.

Now, all I have to do is get over my need for the physical boxed copy… I suppose paying the same price as a brick and mortar store can be over looked in this time since there are no subscription fees and there is the whole 50% off thing.