Games, games, games! Coming out of a solid month or so of nothing but Final Fantasy XIII, I’m in a real FF mood. I don’t think there is any other gaming series that is just so enticing, drawing you in for literally days and weeks at a time. I thought I’d take another stock of the gaming situation and pick what I want to concentrate on next.
Over the last couple of months, I’ve also gained a few games and things. Jen has been good to me and we managed to get a joystick to play fighting games with (it came with a free copy of Tekken 6) and more recently, a DSi XL has replaced my ageing DS lite which now has a problem charging up. The DSi XL is quite a lovely beastie, perfect for DS gaming in the house though, as Jen points out, if I were a ‘play the DS on the bus’ type of person, then the normal DSi would have been better. Most of my DS gaming happens in the bedroom though, and the larger screens of the XL are just a joy.
The joystick is a cool thing too. I thought that it’d be a little cheap (£40 for the stick and the game, reduced from £150. Couldn’t walk away!) but actually it really feels like having an arcade in your living room - something companies have been touting since the MegaDrive, but a joypad’ll never give you that feel. Sticks though, big fat sticks with big buttons you can really slam… Works for me!
I have so many games on the go, and a few still unopened and ready to play. Time to take a quick look and give a few thoughts.
Final Fantasy XII : Revenant Wings : DS
I just started this beastie. Coming out of FF XIII I needed an FF hit, and with my new DSi XL, I wanted to use that. I wanted something I’d not had a go at, and have been saving Revenant Wings for some time. I’m not disappointed; only two hours in and this is my kind of game. I hope the later levels get difficult though - at the moment it’s a little below my skill level. It seems that there are plenty of variables though, and strategy games thrive on variables.
Final Fantasy IV : DS
I actually put this away a while ago because I didn’t want to complete it too quickly, and I’ve not picked it back up! Time to go back to that (now with more screen!).
Final Fantasy CC : Ring of Fates : DS
Ring of Fates is quite fun. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s as much fun as Revenant Wings, so it’ll probably have to wait for me to finish until I’ve completed the other game. It does have a cool DS-oriented combat system though, which’ll be improved with the bigger XL screens.
Final Fantasy CC : My Life as a Darklord : Wii
This Wii game is awesome, and for some unknown reason, I stopped playing about three levels from the end. Must get back to it!
Final Fantasy VIII : PS3 / PSP
I played this years ago, but I can’t remember much about it except being generally impressed. With the PS3 store making this available for download, and my completing XIII… well, I thought I’d do it again! Either on the PS3 or in bed on the PSP (or a little of both). I do love the PS3/PSP switchover for PS1 games. Rumours say not long until a re-release of IX!
Kingdom Hearts : PS2
Almost the end of the Final Fantasy list! Kingdom Hearts is awesome. I completed it when it first came out but when KH2 came out, I felt disconnected from the storyline and wasn’t able to get into it as much as it deserved. Jen loves KH more than FF and is hammering at me to play 358/2 Days with her. I’m only going to do that if I burn my way through the previous games so…
Prince of Persia - the New One : PS3
This is the next new release I have my eye on. It’ll come out soon and if it is even half as good as either the last PoP game or the Sands of Time game it is referencing, then it’ll be awesome! Looking forward to it a lot.
New Super Mario Bros Wii : Wii
This is so hard! Maybe I’m just shit, but seriously, hard! I’ve been enjoying it but it’s been gathering dust since FF came out and deserves some more time.
A Boy and His Blob : Wii
What a beautiful game! I’m half way through this and it’s the kind of game you pick up and play for an hour then can leave for a week. It’s not long, but what is there is beautiful, calming and terribly satisfying.
Mass Effect : XBox 360
Look - I do have an XBox!! I started this and was only mildly into it. I feel it deserves another go, as everyone tells me it is awesome. It’s not very high on the list, and it may be months before it goes back into the machine, but I don’t want to forget about it.
Gears of War : XBox 360
I’ve not opened this yet! I enjoyed Modern Warfare and thought I’d enjoy this too, so I bought it and it’s been sat on a shelf ever since, taunting me with a ‘come on, you want to play me’ look on its face.
Pokémon Pearl : DS
I only half-enjoy the Pokémon games. I want to enjoy them, but after a few hours of play I get annoyed and find it hard to go back, but I want to have some big hard Pokémon to fight Jen with…
Advance Wars : Dark Conflict : DS
This game is cool! My DS started to die while I was playing this and it got shelved. Now, armed with the new DSi, this should see its way to completion.
Tekken 6 : PS3
This came with my joystick. The game is one I want to enjoy, but the loading time is so excruciating that I don’t know if I can be bothered with it, especially with Super Street Fighter IV around the corner.
And More…
And there’s more and more… I have Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (came with my new DSi!), Sin and Punishment 2 is out, Scribblenauts and Soul Bubbles are still sitting in my DS game box waiting to be finished, I’m still in the middle of de Blob and Super Mario Galaxy, I have Mirror’s Edge, Fallout 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4 in boxes still unopened, I’m in the middle of a game of Assassin’s Creed, Jen has Mini Ninjas that looks cool and I want to play, there’s still all the Guitar Hero / Rock Band stuff to complete, and I got Ghost Recon for the Wii so that I have another gun game to play through (it was only a fiver!)… and there’s more… and more…
Guess I really don’t need to go into Game any time soon!
