I picked up God of War a while back when the hype train for the third iteration was building. It took a little while for me to beat it since I would play in short bursts, maybe one or two save points, whenever I could fit it in. Released way back in 2005 there isn’t much new to add to the discussion about it. I had a great time playing it and recommend it to anyone looking for an action game fix. Once it was over I really wanted more…

God of War II (PS2)

The PS2 didn’t even have time to cool down before I put in God of War II, I booted it immediately after the credits of the first came to a close. That being said I’m not very far in it yet since I’m still playing with the schedule that I used with the original. It’s great to be able to see the improvements made over the first game without having to wait through the actual development cycle. So far everything feels pretty epic. It’s probably going to be at least a month or so before I work my way all the way through.

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II (PC)

Speaking of finishing games. I bought Dawn of War II on Steam and much to my surprise finished the campaign mode. I have to say I really enjoy breaking away from the normal RTS staple of base building. My favorite part of the game is the length of the missions. Most of the missions can be finished in fifteen minutes or so, some much faster if you push it. As usual though I haven’t had too much time to play multiplayer. I did get in a few games though and it was pretty fun. Once I’ve finished off some of these other games maybe I’ll dedicate more time to that.

Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (PC)

I was real excited for Tales of Valor to come out. I bought it on release day and waited through crap download speeds from Steam to get it. To be honest, I wish I had waited. It wasn’t until I reached the end of the first story arch, I was just getting into it starting to enjoy myself and just like that it was over. So, I started up the next chapter, I guess it could be called. I’m not sure how long it was but, before I know it, it was over. Ever since then I’ve been dreading going back to the game. There is one chapter left and I really just get it over with. Anyway, this one is a definite wait till the price drops release unless, your really into multiplayer CoH, which I’m not.

So far, I’ve only put a little time into Killzone, since I’m going to work through each title before starting the next. Killzone, came out back in 2004 right around the time Halo 2 came out, in fact I think it was the same week. Since, I didn’t own a PS2 back then I didn’t really pay much attention. I do remember a fair amount of hype surrounding the game, can’t remember what the hype was about but, I do remember that the game didn’t quite live up to it in some reviewers eyes.

I’m only around thirty minutes into the game so it’s not fair to start judging it yet so we’ll have to wait and see how it goes. Maybe I’ll post a follow up after I make it through a couple of chapters. For now though it’s time to get back and fight off the invading Helghast forces.

Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online (PC)

The day Siliconera ran, what was at the time a rumor, about Imagine coming to the US by way of Aeriagames I decided it was time I finally checked out Imagine Online.  After a bit of searching, I was able to track down a wiki page that had all the info needed to get up and running.  I haven’t put too much time into it since, it’s a bit difficult to play since I can’t read Japanese.  I could just use a walk through but whats the fun in that.  I probably will shelve this though and wait for the US release to come along.

Persona 3: FES (PS2)

I’m still working my way through the first part of Persona 3.  I’ve been slowly grinding through the levels and finally got around to fusing my frist demons to get Jack Frost.  I’m still really enjoying the game.  I still have mountains of work left to do in the game and even after that, I still have the FES portion to do.  Expect to see this here a few dozen more times.

Max Payne (PC)

All Rockstar games were on sale this weekend, over on Steam, so in a moment of weakness I decided to pick up the Max Payne collection.  After all, I need to be ready for when the movie comes out (hah).  I’m already on to into the second part of the story – although I can’t remember how many where in it total.  I figure with a couple of more sessions I’ll have this beat.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (360)

A friend of mine picked this up the week it came out, went home to play it and just moments before taking control of Darth Vader was treated instead to the “Red Ring of Death”.  That’s right I finally know someone who has encountered this problem.  So, I managed to get my hands on the the game since, I wasn’t about to actually buy it.  Like most people I really enjoyed the demo when it came out.  So, I was looking forward to the game.  I’ve only played a couple of levels – starting as Vader was pretty awesome.  There is nothing like force choking wookies and then throwing them off a bridge – I could have done that for hours.  Unfortunately, there are a couple of little things that just don’t feel right in the game.  I found myself fighting with the camera a bit more then I feel I should have and the enemy AI is a bit spotty at times.  My biggest gripe with the game – and it may be just a technical issue – but when Vader attacks a fern (or any number of objects) with a light saber that fern better take damage…

I still don’t know if I’ll be picking up anything else from the site once it goes live, I just can’t let go of the fact that it isn’t Steam.  I’ll keep an eye on it and see how it developes and what games are added…

Good Old Games is open!  Well, the beta is open anyway.  Developed by CD Projekt (they made the The Witcher) the site offers up DRM free copies of some classic games.  Currently, the site carries games were published Codemasters and Interplay – such as Fallout and Fallout 2, as well as, surprises like Kingpin: Life of Crime and Shogo: Mobile Armor Division.  During the “beta” GOG is having a buy one get one special for people who signed up for early beta access.  All of the games are decently priced coming in a either $5.99 or $9.99, at the moment only six titles carry the higher price point (four of which can not be purchased yet).

Each game purchase comes with some extras, for instance, Shogo:MAD includes the manual, an avatar, the game reference card, hi-res wall paper and the in-game soundtrack.  It may not seem like too much but it’s pretty much what I got when I bought my boxed copy back in 1998.  The payment system appears very straight forward – accepting only Visa and Mastercard at the moment.  So, I jumped in and grabbed a copy of Kingpin (listening to the Cypress Hill soundtrack right now) and the check out was relatively painless.  However, my bank or Visa (they can’t decide who did it) charged me a 6 cent currency conversion fee.  I’m still waiting to hear back from GOG on that topic.

Anyway, a few minutes and three hundred megs later – the game was installing.  GOG has packaged each of the games in custom installer that takes care of all the hard work.  This alone should make it worth it to people who can’t be bothered to download and configure everything needed to play old games.  I’ll decide what my free game will be over the next day or so.  I guess the big question is – Will I buy anything else?  Well, at this point I don’t know, it’s just that I like purchasing my computer games over Steam…

I happened to check the balance of my PayPal account a day or so ago and I noticed I had just over $19. Just enough to pick up a new title on Steam. So, I logged in just a few minutes ago and was greeted with the above image. Since, I’m an X-Com fan from way back – in fact I have box copies UFO Defence and Terror from the Deep at my parents house. Anyway, coming in at $13.49 for 5 games this comes in as a must buy – so go buy it!

Parasite Eve (PSX)

It’s been such a long time since I’ve played this,  I can’t even remember if I ever beat it.  Anyway, thanks to an incredibly slow work week I managed to play up to Day 5: Liberation.  If this next week stays just as slow I’ll be able to finish it off.  Parasite Eve is a great RPG one you should go back and revisit if you have the means.  It’s such a massive departure from the Final Fantasy series, that’s probably what appeals to me the most.  I think I’ll pick up a copy of Hideaki Sena’s novel, which from what I understand is fantastic.  That reminds me I still have to pick up a copy of Birthday…

Company of Heros: Opposing Fronts (PC)

It’s been a while since I’ve played COH and I noticed this weekend that the expansion pack Opposing Fronts had finally dropped below $29.99 on Steam.  So, I picked it up and immediately rejoined the fight.  I really want to see Company Of Heros Online.  I’m not sure it will see a US release, for now it looks as if it is only being release in Korea and China as free to play.  Free to play and microtransaction games starting to gain a foot hold here in the US but, we still may not see a release here.  Even if we don’t see see the Online game it is possible we will be seeing another expansion soon.

Team Fortress 2 (PC)

Heavy!  Actually, I haven’t played Heavy since the update.  I started to play last night and then noticed the Opposing Fronts price drop.  But, I swear I’m devoting some time to it this afternoon.

Persona 3: FES (PS2)

I’ve only been able to squeeze in a little bit of time leveling since returning to work after my whole broken wrist saga.  I didn’t play enough of Persona or any of Persona 2 but, it appears that all of the games are not connected – one of these days I need to seek out a Persona wiki and read up on what the hell is going on.

Final Fantasy IV (NDS)

Not too much to say about this – it’s a updated release of a classic game.  I’m currently about half way through and not sure exactly when I’ll be finishing it since I don’t have to commute to work anymore.

It’s not really easy to play with the broken wrist – holding the mouse is very difficult and just a bit painful. I did put in a bit of time against the bots which was fun – I’d be absolutely destroyed if I played on-line in this state so I skipped that.  Anyway, I should probably go get some ice to put on my wrist.

Other then my time playing Space Invaders Extreme, I haven’t been gaming all that much.  While I have played to much I have picked up a couple of games on Steam.  With all the news of Beyond Good and Evil 2 from Ubidays I decided I should probably go back and finish the first one.  Since, I lost my copy for Xbox long ago Steam was the obvious place to get it.  Of course, I haven’t made it past the point Jade recieves the mission to take pictures yet.

I also picked up a copy of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One.  The longest video game name that I can think of is a pretty decent game.  It is a point and click adventure role playing game.  Which almost makes me wish there was a version on the DS as well, since I would love to play on the train.  I’m actually a bit glad I’m not just playing through in one sitting since, it seems to have fallen into the “kill x number of y” game play mechanic pretty early in the game – Steam reports that I’ve played for about 1.3 hours.  I have faith that it will break free of that as the time goes on – I hope.

Other games I’ve played for more then ten minutes include: Metal Gear Soild (ePSXe), Resident Evil 4 (Wii) and Shadow of the Colossus (PS2).

If you saw my PS2 pile of shame list you saw that one of the top titles is Persona 3: FES. It made the list because I’ve heard from so many people that it’s a great game. I have never played any of the Persona titles – actually, I’ve never played any of the Shin Megami Tensei titles. I’m not sure why, it’s just that these games just never crossed my path when they came out but I’m going to do what I can to make up for this. As with all Atlus games the Persona titles are going require a small investment if your getting them from eBay. I got extremely lucky with my copies and managed to actually hunt down both Persona: Revelations and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment and stay under $20. As always the cheapest way to pickup older games is yard sales or thrift stores, although finding exactly what your looking for right when your looking for it is a

At this point I’m only around two hours into Persona: Revelations so I can’t really say too much about it yet. I can however talk about why I decided not to play it on my PSOne. That’s right I decided to begin playing using the ePSXe emulator. Why would I do this? Well, I’ve got some trips to NYC coming up in the near future so that means time on the Metro North Railroad. So, I’ll be playing on my PSP as well since, the save games between the PC emulator and PopStation are compatible.

Also, it looks like I’m going to pick up a copy of Persona 2: Innocent Sin from eBay. Innocent Sin was never released here in the states but, a few days ago Siliconera posted a link to a blog about a fan translation project.

*Note* The last screen shot is from the released version of Persona not from the fan traslation.