Christmas Is Almost Here!

It's been more than a week since my last post, and I've done quite a bit since then. Firstly, I want to talk about the epic that is: Fallout 3.

Fallout 3 is so large and full of awesomeness that I don't even know where to begin. It took me seven days to complete and a little over 60 hours, and every hour was as fun as the hour before. The 30-so quests seemed to fly by, as the main quest line wasn't very long anyway. I didn't mind collecting items (bobble heads, quantum's), but I didn't like how you could miss some if you didn't get them in certain area's that you couldn't return to.

I also didn't enjoy having to keep up a 'good karma' during the game. If I could have, I would have decided who was worth keeping alive, and who needed to die. Sadly, those pesky karma achievements decided those factors for me. After playing a few hours I couldn't decide whether I liked Elder Scrolls: Oblivion or Fallout 3 more. After completing Fallout 3 the decision was pretty clear; Fallout 3 won my vote. I'll definitely be playing the PC version after the DLC is released.

I was able to finish off that coveted 5 point achievement in Live Score Tracker for signing-in on a Saturday, dominate Dash of Destruction for 200, and finish a couple of Acts in Gears of War for Windows with Fro. I also started Hour of Victory (PC) which apparently was a really bad idea. The game itself is fairly easy (even for the PC) and the online won't be too bad, as we already have more than enough to start. The thing that really upset me was when I completed the 7th mission, and wasn't able to go any further. The game freezes or doesn't load and I'm stuck with not being able to finish the campaign, it really is a tragedy.

Some how I manged 185 in Yaris and will probably be trying for one million coins total very soon, but who knows. One thing that I'm almost done with is 1500 games played in Fracture. We've been grinding at this for several days, sometimes over 12 hours a day (switching off hosts every couple of hours) so I'm near finished with it, with probably just over 1300 games. The campaign itself is actually pretty good, and the gameplay is entertaining as well. I don't know why this game didn't do better than it did; I know I would have played it for fun online if I played it when it first came out.


Oh yes and before I forget, have yourself a very merry Christmas and a happy new year! I hope you get all the games you put on that list, even if you were a little bad this year...


Apple

Torture Games: Xbox 360

I've been referring to these a lot lately, so I've decided to make a list of all the games that have tortured me in the passed.

This includes games that have just given me a hard time in general; games that were too painful to finish or even get passed the first mission; games I had to become a kid again to play; and/or games that lasted way longer than they should have.

Here is the list (in no particular order):

Retail

Hour of Victory (PC)
America's Army: True Soldiers
Eragon
Cars
Star Trek Legacy
Fuzion Frenzy 2
Open Season
King Kong
Pimp My Ride
Jumper
SHReK the THiRD
Bioshock
Big Game Hunter
WSOP: TOC
Cabela's Safari
Meet the Robinsons
Marvel Ult. Alliance
Kameo
Shadowrun
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
GRAW 2
Army of Two
Spider-Man 3
Blazing Angels 2
Need for Speed Carbon
Beautiful Katamari
Vampire Rain
Madden NFL 07
Scene It? LCA
NCAA Football 07
Looney Tunes: AA
MOH Airborne
Guitar Hero III
Blazing Angels
Cars: Mater-National
CoD: World at War
Perfect Dark Zero
Cabela's Trophy Bucks
Paintball 2009
Call of Duty 3
Alaskan Storm


Arcade

Crystal Quest
Frogger
Robotron: 2084
Hexic HD
Undertow
Boom Boom Rocket
Marathon: Durandal
Pac-Man
Ms. Pac-Man
Feeding Frenzy
TotemBall
Wik: Fable of Souls
Yie Ar Kung-Fu
Root Beer Tapper
Geometry Wars Evolved

Painting the Town Red

Well, nine days later and I'm already back to playing Torture Games: Xbox 360. This time, the culprit is NPPL Championship Paintball 2009. Being as new as it is, of course I had to miss something in the beginning and play through the game twice, which was "...like watching paint dry." as Krueger put it. This game has graphics like Cabela games, which just reminded me of how much I hate it.

The campaign can be done in less than two hours (just playing time), but with the loading the game is doable in just under six. Yup, you're playing Loading... for at least four hours, and that's the easy part. Boosting the multiplayer takes about 12 hours if done right, and we're doing it right, as I only need about 10-15 more wins for the full 1000.

I did manage to finish up NCAA Football 09, some DLC achievements in Marble Blast Ultra, most of Scene It? BOS (which is hella better than LCA), the rest of Fable II, and Fable II Pub Games.

NCAA Football 09 was a breeze, and Marble Blast Ultra only had one achievement to unlock, so that went quick as well. The DLC had about five new multiplayer maps, and there was one that was really fun, which I played for about 3o minutes just rolling around.

The reason I like Scene It? BOS so much more than LCA is because it actually has the LIVE feature. Being able to play Scene It? online was a must have for me. LCA rendered useless after a week or two.

My most recent completions are Fable II and Fable II Pub Games. I didn't do a whole lot on Fable II, as I obtained most of my achievements online over co-op. I did however go through the story and complete most of the quests that I had left to do. I did enjoy the game quite a bit, and look forward to finishing the rest of the quests after the new DLC comes out Dec. 12th.

Fable II Pub Games on the other hand, I did not have so much fun with. The game literally is: A Button. I wish I was kidding, but this game is just too repetitive, short (kinda), but repetitive. Portions of the game are based on luck, and with any game having luck in it, you're not sure how long the game could end up taking. It probably took me around 6-8 hours of non-stop hitting-the-a-button-until-I-drop grinding.

Apple

Cabela's Trophy Bucks Gets Demolished!

This isn't a new game, but man is it annoying. With 96 missions to complete and every one of those missions potentially could have you restarting the game completely if not done right. Which, by the way, I had to do after mission 11 because of an auto-save feature that certainly doesn't work for the player.

After being frustrated for a few days and not even wanting to touch the game anymore, I soon learned the feature could be turned off. This game has more invisible walls than a mime school, rarely lets you move without getting stuck, and isn't short from one of the worst games I've ever played. This was definitely the toughest Cabela's game so far, not because of the difficulty, but because it's functionally runs along with that of a broken Xbox.

Somehow I managed to complete the game (1000) without snapping it in half, and man did that feel good. There is something about games with achievements you can miss that really gets on my nerves. I just don't like replaying games when I shouldn't have to.

I never want to play a Cabela's game again. I know, sadly, that I will probably force myself through another session of Torture Games: Xbox 360 in the near future. But, until then, and until my Xbox wakes up from it's coma, I'll be sitting back a little after this one.

Apple