Afternoon Quickie: Borderlands 2

The gamer got Borderlands 2 for his birthday (you know, because I'm an awesome wifey =D). He's been playing pretty much as often as he can. He seems to be enjoying himself. Here's my impression of the game: It's neat and fans of the original will love it. As far as the wifey watchability test: it kinda sorta passes.

It's not the prettiest game, but it's not meant to be. It has some funny elements to it (Claptrap's beatboxing is probably my favorite part) and has a pretty good story to it. All the favorite characters from Borderlands reappear and the guys seemed to really pay attention to their fans and include jokes and whatnot that were well loved. Side note: there's a character in the game based on a big fan of Borderlands who passed away (that just's cool of the developers to include). There are also some neat Three Dog (Fallout) jokes.

Now, it is basically a run around and shoot stuff game. This means lots of lots shooting sounds, and you all know how much I loooooove endless shooting noise! The fights and quests can also take a bit of time which means you might watch a lot of game play without getting much in the way of dialogue and watchable story.

Overall, it's a really neat game and the gamer seems to love it. It's fun to watch for the little jokes here and there and the bits of humor sprinkled throughout, but I don't know that I could sit and watch it for too long.

Afternoon Quickie: Sonic Generations

Played on PS3

There's a new Sonic Game! Woo! Essentially, they remade Sonic into a 3D world. They made some new levels/remakes, but also included some of the favorite older levels. The game is pretty cool to watch. I will be honest though, the 3D levels messed with my head at first. Sonic speed, really colorful three-dimensional levels flying by you... I felt like I was tripping. However, I soon got used to it. The only thing I didn't like was the same thing I don't like about old Sonic games, or really, any old games from that era: Everything has a sound effect! Sonic can't pick his nose without some loud high-pitched noise accompanying it!

But honestly, that's the only downfall. It was fun to watch. The story was simple, but cute and allowed you to see all the side characters. The levels were well made and fun to watch. There weren't really many options for the observer to get involved, but I would say, your girl could just pick up a controller and play a little bit. Sonic's too fast for me, I'm more at the speed of Tails, but it's a blast from past that really works and is worth playing.

Me as Gangster Sonic. Word.

Afternoon Quickie: El Shaddai

Ok so, to say this game is beautiful is a total understatement! The graphics are amazing and each new area takes your breath away. The backgrounds range from the serene looking like Japanese watercolors to the wild looking like an intense acid trip. The soundtrack is amazing and incredibly relaxing. (If it weren't for all the fighting going on, it would be great for meditation.)

You are Enoch and you are on a mission to retrieve the fallen angels. The came combines platform and 3D qualities and is mostly a fighting game though some levels have some puzzle-like qualities. There aren'y many wifey/girlfriend-involvement opportunities, but I enjoyed just sitting back and watching. Overall, I would recommend this game, and the husband seems to enjoy playing it as well.

Afternoon Quickie: Castlevania Harmony of Despair

Played on: XBox 360

The Gamer is a huge fan of this series, even collects and sometimes plays the older games. Therefore, he was very much looking forward to this release. You can play on your own or in teams online. He seems to favor the online play. So, let me explain a little more here. In online play, your team captain (I don't know what they call it, but that's what it is) chooses which Chapter of the story (level) you want to play. You all then fight through the level and beat the boss gaining equipment as you go. The game has multiple characters and each character has their own stuff you can get for them. I don't really know much about the characters other than one's name is Soma and it makes me think of A Brave New World each time I heard it and then the soma poem gets stuck in my head. But, anywho...

So, let's start with what I like about the game. First, it has Dracula in it. I'm a fan of Dracula and find that to be pretty cool. Second, the music has a gothic rock opera sound which I very much like and greatly appreciate for its departure from the norm. Here's what I don't like. I have seen the level where you fight Dracula (Chapter 6, I believe) about 1,337 times. While the music is still pretty awesome and Dracula still scores some cool points, I just don't get how playing the same level over and over again can be entertaining.

Now, before you gamers get all upset, and before you girlfriends start dreading this game, here is a valuable tool. My gamer has this great headset, which I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before. Not only does it allow him to hear and speak with other players, but it also carries all the sounds from the game straight to his headset. This allows him to mute the TV and play the game through his headset. I can then play some music or watch something on my laptop without hearing Dracula's two corny lines every ten minutes. He gets to be happy playing with his friends and getting all the gear and what not and I get to listen to some old school 1960's Jazz.  Here's a link to said headset:


[P.S.- If you are a high enough level geek-wife to find the hidden joke, you get a brownie point.]

Afternoon Quickie: Street Fighter

So... I won't limit myself to any specific Street Fighter as I have basically the same opinion of them all. Street Fighter is how pasty-faced gamer boys get out their aggression. These boys aren't going to go out and start fights all West Side Story style (they don't have the grace nor the body to pull off the tights). So what do they do? They mash buttons. If they're in an arcade, they mash bigger buttons. Street Fighter, I would say if anger management for the gamer crowd. Supposedly there is some sort of story, but who knows what it is. There's a lot of noise and not of all it is in English. Most of the time, they're just yelling at each other (the snapping and songs from West Side).  Now, the game has some risque parts. When one of the girls jumps up, you get a panty shot (compare this to the low-cut shirts of the Puerto Rican chicas). Basically what I'm saying is that Street Fighter is like a Japanese game version of West Side Story. No one knows why the characters want to fight each other, but they do and they make a lot of noise in the process.


Now to sit back and watch all the gamer's freak out that I just compared one of the most beloved video games of all time to a musical...