Hydrophobia: Prophecy - PlayStation Network Review

Halloween is right around the corner, and with it - my slighter darker themes and wallpapers for about the next month.  Hope you all have a good weekend planned.  Mine will (surprise!) consist mostly of gaming.  I have a few different things I'm juggling going into this weekend: Actually getting some decks revamped for my weekly Magic: The Gathering card night on Monday, reviewing the Magic: The Gathering expansion DLC for Planeswalkers 2013, catching up in my Madden online franchises (I have 3 and I'm behind in two), trying to make some headway in Dragon's Dogma (big game, and I've easily sunk 30 hours into it while only having gotten through about half the main storyline) and I've been trying to work on some new things for my MUD as we usually have a Merriment of Masks festival on there around Halloween.  We will see just how much of this stuff I put a dent into by Monday morning when I post here.  For now?  I have a review of a game that is not necessarily a horror one, but has some tense moments that fit decently with the site update.

I remember seeing some footage of Hydrophobia back when it was first announced for the Xbox 360.  The water-related physics and graphics looked pretty impressive and it was officially on my radar.  Then it came out to tepid overall reviews while I was in the middle of playing quite a few other games, so I just never bothered to pick it up.  Since then it has been re-released with the 'Prophecy' addition to the title, and by and large the reviews were much more positive afterward, claiming that this was the definitive release to try.

The game has a Tomb Raider in water feel to it.  You control a female protagonist who uses guns to deal with enemies while you solve environmental puzzles via lots of climbing and jumping.  It is a tried and true formula that has been imitated quite a few times over the years, with some examples being more successful than others.

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Super Penguins - iPhone/iPad Review

With my new iPhone has come a lot of new games to try out.  Most of them have been of the slower-paced variety like RPG or CCG style games.  However, it is nice to try out some other types of titles, especially those that make better use of the iPhone as a whole.  One such game I have been sinking quite a bit of time into lately is Super Penguins.

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Tuesday, huh? Pure Chess Gaming Thoughts

This will be a brief one - I spent most of the weekend and yesterday sick.  Never any fun.  The good news?  Even when sick, I was able to camp out in bed and play some video games.  Mostly Dragon's Dogma, Madden, Guardian Cross, Rage of Bahamut and Pure Chess.

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Diablo III - PC Review

Took me long enough to finish and prep my review for the following game - but here it is.  Also, sometime tomorrow I will be picking the winner for my Double Dragon: Neon PSN code giveaway.

In my mind, this was the most anxiously awaited PC game since Starcraft II came out.  Opinions formed on Diablo III often and early, ranging from the online connectivity to the style of the game's graphics.  Still, as we have seen in the past, great expectations can often lead to great disappointments.  We have seen that with other titles like Mass Effect 3, when many of its loyal fans felt let down by the ending, the multiplayer component or that it seemed more focused on action than tactical or roleplay elements.  The other side of the coin is something like Skyrim, that generally was well-received (though bugs - especially on the PlayStation 3, really hampered its release).  So how does Diablo III hold up?

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Reminder: Contest for a free PSN game

I haven't gotten much traffic on this yet - good news and odds for the few who have.  I don't have much to toss out today - hoping to have a fairly decent review up Friday though.  In the meantime - the contest for Double Dragon: Neon for PSN:

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Busy weeks, and a contest - quick Gaming Thoughts

This feels like a theme right now.  Lots of time spent at work, lots of time at home doing work for work, and then in my spare time spending what time remains sleeping or with family.  It does look like things should return to 'normal' (no one's ever actually accused me of being normal, mind you) this week, at least for a few weeks.  Sadly, my Lions let me down last night against the 49ers (I had a hunch they would, but hey - you can still hope.  That is why they play the games), but I've still had enough time to rattle off a few hours of gaming here and there.

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Double Dragon: Neon - PlayStation Network Review

I have a pretty longstanding history with beat 'em up style games, and for the most part I have enjoyed the genre.  Double Dragon still ranks as one of my all-time favorite arcade games, and I would guess I played through Double Dragons 1 & 2 on the NES several dozen times each.  I am one of the lucky few who still has the arcade version of Double Dragon on my Xbox Live account as well.  So it is safe to say I was more than a little excited when I read about Double Dragon: Neon several months ago, posting about it here at the time.

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Some quick Wii U thoughts

Like everyone and their mom yesterday and today, I have been pondering the various Wii U announcements and trying to figure out just what my thoughts on them and the system are.  I have come away decidedly mixed at this point, but then I have been since the beginning I guess.  I plan to get one more post up for the weekend by the end of the day (a review of a new game release), but I figured I'd hop on the Wii U conversational bandwagon real quick this morning.

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What have I been up to? Some Gaming Thoughts...

It would seem like with me regularly working 55-65 hours a week over the last month, my dad visiting from Florida for a couple of weeks and the kids starting up on school again that I would be struggling to find time to play games, but that really has not been the case.  I think what I'm sacrificing (other than sanity) is sleep as a result.

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Legends of Pegasus - PC Review

Kalypso media has released some good, ambitious games in the past.  Sometimes however, their ambitious outstrip their resources I think.  Dungeons was a title that I thought had a great premise, but a fairly poor execution as I said in my review.  When I read about the 4X strategy title Legends of Pegasus, I immediately liked what they were trying to do - but I also was a bit worried that the game itself might come out a bit lacking in the end.

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Madden 13 - PS3/Xbox 360 Review

Here it is - my Madden 13 review.  It is a fairly sizable one, complete with some video clips as well as images so I do hope you enjoy.  I was going to post this tomorrow, but seeing as my dad is up visiting from out of state and there will be plenty of football to watch this weekend?  I suspect I'm going to have a busy few days on my hands.  Hope you all have a great upcoming weekend.  And now?  For the review...

I really, really love the fall.

Crock pot meals (like chili and beef stew), the cooler weather (I was not cut out for 100 degree + high humidity), the kids start school again (okay, my wife's probably more excited for that one than I am) and... oh yes, the NFL kicked off last night.  I am a huge fan of the National Football League and have been since Barry Sanders was making defense players around the league look foolish years ago.

 

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Super Puzzle Fighter II HD Remix - Xbox Live Review

I hope all of you had a really nice weekend.  Seeing as that here in the States it was a holiday weekend, giving me an extra day off of work - I particularly enjoyed it.  I spent a large chunk of time working on Madden and Dragon's Dogma.  So, now for the lats of my 'Street Fighter' posts - this one with a slightly less serious theme.

I figured with all of the 'hardcore' fighting posts that I put up over the last several updates, I would cap things off with a related, but still slightly less serious post.  For all of my history with the older Street Fighter games, I completely missed Puzzle Fighter until it came out on Xbox Live a few years ago.  I picked it up on a whim one day while it was on sale.

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