Well I'm finally back, over a month of no blog posts (assuming anyone missed them) so I figured I should check in. I'm now a married man and have enjoyed a blissful two week honeymoon sampling the varied delights of L.A and Hawaii. I would recommend both to anyone (I spent a month in L.A a few years back and it's still good times) though Hawaii is a total tourist trap and some of the prices were ridiculous - I mean $25 for a medium pizza? You're having a laugh.
I did buckle though and visit the Cheesecake Factory a few times, even paid $8 for slice of the good stuff too, which was nice. I suppose when you are on holiday you can justify splurging a little, though I certainly wouldn't do it at home, ha ha!
Before I headed off I went and decimated my tag with a bunch of games, so on my return I had hoped to tidy the mess up somewhat. FAT CHANCE!
Instead I had a bunch of games waiting for review, namely Front Mission Evolved, Fallout New Vegas and Naruto Shippuden 2. I figured I would feasibly want to get the full 1k on all of them in time so went and slapped them in my card. Front Mission gave up the points easy enough, and I just need to finish off the hidden items and online modes. However.........
After close to thirty hours on Fallout (not including the time spent reloading bits when I changed my mind on a decision etc) I've only got 155 points. It's my own fault really as I tend to take on all of the little side missions I come across, and explore random little nooks and crannies that yield nothing but a few semi useful items. Time I probably could have spent advancing the story or doing some of the quests that yield points. Ah well, at least I'm having fun.
I do stand by my dislike of Hardcore mode though, as I know Thrawn has spoken about his difference of opinion with my review which is fair enough. I'm sure that people who enjoy the minutae of the Fallout universe and got a lot of pleasure from playing the first one multiple times etc will really get into it. But, for me, all if really adds are three more 'radiation' equivalents that are constantly increasing. Let them get too far and you will suffer ill effects, or you can click a few buttons and solve the issue. The thing is, every location has a variety of food/drink items and usual a bed as well, meaning there is no real challenge to finding anything you need to survive. Instead it is just a laborious task that takes away from the fun side of the game namely quests, combat and exploration. I do like the gradual healing though and need for a doctors bag, but again they don't really add anything but a nuisance and I personally don't play games to experience realism.
Is surviving in a post apocalyptic wasteland hard? I've no doubt it is, but I'm not going to run off into a desert to try it out so why would I want the boring nitty gritty in my games either - which are meant to be an escape from reality. If you like it, great, but I think I'd rather focus on having fun myself.
The real shock is that I managed to tear myself away from Fallout at all as it was doing a good job of sucking time away from me - especially after I sank nearly eighty hours into Fallout 3 only a few months ago, ha ha! Instead I've been captivated by the newest Naruto title.
My Naruto style love actually started with the last game, Broken Bonds, which impressed me so much that I immediately went out and started watching the manga. It is safe to say that I loved it, hell even my wife got into it and she hates manga normally. So I was totally looking forward to this game, especially after playing it at Gamescom where the graphics just looked amazing. The final game is not perfect, as it can drag in place, the loading times are ludicrous at times and newcomers probably will not have a clue what is happening, but I'm loving it anyway. I've already spent sixteen hours on the adventure mode and will probably put much more than that into it too. Considering it is basically a fighting game too, which I normally steer clear from, I'm shocked by how much fun I'm having.
Despite my love of Naruto, and the time spent, I've only snagged 200 points thus far - as it is one of those games where all the points will come in a deluge right at the end. So it means three new games added, oh make that four as I started Halo Reach before my blessed marriage too, and my card is even more of a mess than ever. Throw in a bunch of other games that I've chucked on there: ODST, Planet 51, Beatles Rock Band, Lego Star Wars, Madden 11 and things look murky. I guess the foreseeable future will involve me cleaning up all of this crap. Ho hum!
Expect me to pop up another post with all of my recent reviews and shenanigans over the weekend at some point too. Yay!
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