Needless to say, it's been kind of a busy month. I am pretty wizziped out right now, and should probably be catching up on sleep rather than blogging. But I haven't blogged in weeks! One might say I haven't had a good sleep in at least as long, but that's besides the point. I've kind of let video games drop off my to-do list lately, barely able to find time to cram in games I've been working on for a while, much less new ones. So just so you know what i'm trying to play as of late, here are some impressions of said games.
Mario Kart Wii : Is there anything more frustrating than Mario Kart? The rubber-band AI is infuriating, but at the same time, when you win, you feel like you've really accomplished something. And of course, multiplayer is a blast too. But I think this one's even more broken than ever, because I earned gold trophies on every grand prix on every difficulty on Mario Kart DS, but I just barely struggled my way to victory in the 100cc clas in this iteration. But like I said, multiplayer really makes up for it. I've yet to win a single online match, but I've enjoyed each and every race I've participated in.
Baroque : A roguelike, but not. The only difference is that it's not turn-based. I've developed a really bad crush on roguelikes as of late (as I may have said before) and Baroque is sating my need nicely. The real-time thing makes it noticably easier than turn-based roguelikes, but that's okay. After being completely destroyed over and over in Shiren the Wanderer and Izuna, I like having a place to go where I can make some notable progress. Although it's hard to tell exactly when you're making progress in Baroque, because it's structured very differently from any game before it, but still, goodness. The somewhat macabre aesthetic really helps keep me into it too.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time : Before we move off the topic of roguelikes, I might as well mention the pokémon entry. It's probably the only roguelike that non-niche gamers will ever play, but in that, it's a great way to draw in new fans to the genre. It's not a (comparative) cakewalk like Baroque, but it's cerainly not as brutal as Shiren. It stands to reason though, because the target demographic is between the 5- to 10-year-old age range, and I don't recall children being overly fond of games that are as merciless as the common roguelike. But do I like the game? Uuuh, yeah. It's Pokémon, come on. I actually skipped the first set of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, but I'm glad I broke down and picked one up this time around.
Crosswords DS : Hey fuck you. I love doing crossword puzzles, especially when they don't reference pop culture and I'm able to solve them. But what's better? The card is not only loaded with bajillions of crosswords; it's got a vast expanse of word search puzzles too! Do you have any idea how many giant word search books I burned through in my childhood? Lots.
Final Fantasy: Crystal chronicles: My Life As A King : I am in love with this game. I'm seriously considering spending less time with my girlfriend so I can play this game more*. I even tried to write a comic about it. And I sort of described how much I like it there too, so just go there if you want to read that.
The World Ends With You : Oh, wait. I haven't actually started playing this yet. But it looks so good! Well, not literally. I'm actually getting kind of tired of Tetsuya Nomura, but the gameplay aspect seems like it's really fun. So yeah. Maybe I'll be able start it by the end of the summer. I'll let you know.
*I'm not actually considering that. I'm dumb, but not that dumb.
A while back, I sent in my Wii copy of Guitar Hero 3 to be replaced with a disc that could output audio at more than a mono level. It took a really really long time for it to come back, but it has, and about a week before it did, I received something completely different from RedOctane and Activision.
Hooray for good customer service! I honestly haven't even seen an official faceplate for the Wii Les Paul, much less was I going to pay $15 for one even if I had. But now I have one for free. And an impersonal letter of apology! But best of all, I can FINALLY play "Cult of Personality" again. It seriously took way too long to get my replacement disc.