More on the Recession

For a gamer, the recession can hurt us pretty hard and cause us to cut back on what we love to do most. Thats play video games for those of you who had to ask.  I’ve been taking steps to get as much enjoyment out of my games as possible such as replaying on harder difficulties, going for special achievements, changing up who I play my multiplayer games with, and using various game altering codes, i.e. cheats.

I have also run into the instance where I’ve played a game to death and if I have to replay this level one more time I think I’ll shoot my Xbox360. Here are a few recession smashing tips for acquiring something new to play.

Trade Ins can be a great way to get rid of the old and bring in the new. Stores such as Gamestop offer who in-store credit for your used games. Then you can use this credit to buy either a brand new game or other less expensive used games. The only downside to this that I can see is the a game that you feel is great may not bring in the value that you hoped.

Ebay and other online stores are a great way to get new games that are at a really low cost. An added bonus is that since this is an internet based purchase you can have your new, or new to you, game shipped right to your door. I do want to caution you that everyone may not care for their games as you did so some of the actually conditions of the games may be questionable. To avoid bad dealers or rip off artist. search for someone that has done a reasonable amount of business or has been doing business for a while. These people have worked hard to make a name for themselves and wouldn’t want to ruin that by trying to rip you off.

Game renting is always a good option. Not for me, but for other people. I live in the real world and it takes more than 5 days to enjoy a game. There are places that offer extended rental such as Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, and my chart topper GameFly. These places offer you unlimited rental time for a recurring monthly fee. The fee is usually less than the cost of a new game but I do want to point out by going this route you have just created a new monthly bill.

What I have been doing is going download crazy. Xboxlive offers a plethora of free downloads and trial games. There’s not to much that can beat free in my book. The obvious downside to these trial games is that they are TRIAL GAMES or DEMOS. For most of the games you won’t get more than 10 minutes of real game play. Just enough to make you want to break the piggy bank and go out and buy it. The second downer is the need for a high speed internet connection. If you don’t already have one now I wouldn’t tell you to start a $60 a month bill for free trial/demo games.

My final tip for this blog is having good friends that play games. When you have friends that game you can usually find a game you can borrow, for free. Trading games with friends cost you nothing and there is no real time limit. Just take care of your friends property and they will take care of yours.

I hope this helps you beat these hard economic times

For more on games check out http://www.maxatplay.com

Top 5 most recently played games

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

Halo 3

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Grand Theft Auto IV

Red Faction Guerrilla

Fight the Disease!

     There are many diseases in the world but non as devastating as The INC disease. The INC disease is better known as The Incomplete disease, or I started it, then started something else before finishing the first thing.  This usually leads to never finishing the first thing.  I deal with this when playing video games as we can see with Prototype. 

 

     Prototype is a great game with impressive graphics, an engaging story line, and tight controls, but its always about what’s new. Prototype was forced to the bench so that I can play the new DLC (Downloadable Content) for Rock Band and play Red Faction 2. I will be doing a review on Red Faction 2 later this week.  Back to Prototype, I have spent the first 20 minutes getting my butt handed to me since I have to relearn all of the controls. I predicted I would have this problem since the other games have a different control scheme, not to mention I’m at the end of the game so its beyond difficult.

 

     One Hour Later….*insert twilight music here*….I have become frustrated with getting killed in this game and have decided to take a break and do something totally unrelated to video games…yeah I’m lying…going to surf the internet for tips on how to beat this level.

 

     Ok Breaks over, just made it to the last boss and he’s a toughy. I tried using some of my heavy hitting attacks but he was able to block them with ease. Not to mention he was able to use area attacks like me. The key to winning is keeping your distance and using your whip attack. Just so you know the military will ignore you during this fight until you attack/consume a solider then you will have more on your hands to deal with. My advice is to keep your target locked on the Supreme Hunter and run.

 

Final Review

     I must admit that after so much great game play that I expected the ending to be a masterpiece in story telling and cg animation. Instead it was about 45 secs of hi res cg animation and then red and black stills with voice overs. I’d still play through the game again for kicks but I wouldn’t let seeing the ending drive me.  The highlight of the ending was getting that big 40 point achievement.

 

Gameplay: Great

Storyline: Great

Controls: Good

Glitches: A Few but not too fustrating

Ending: Disappointing

Overall: This was a great game and I would recommend it to any one who enjoys a well written progressive storyline. 4 out of 5

Stand By For An Update

Hardcore Gaming/Prototype pt. 2

Welcome back everyone!

You would think after all this time I would have finished Prototype and could give you my final review of the game. The game leaves room for you to get distracted with side missions, races, and the beloved free roam, lets just say I roamed freely. I sat down in front of my Xbox 360 at 6pm and when I decided I was done playing for the night it was almost 4am. I failed the helicopter mission enough times to get pissed off and switch games for a bit, Halo Wars if you were wondering.

(Spoiler Alert)

During the helicopter mission you have to eliminate multiple helicopters before they make it out of the city.  One of the helicopters has the commander in it but they never reveal which one it is and if any one helicopter makes it out, you fail. The best way to take down the helicopters would be to use another helicopter to fire missiles. In the event you can’t get a helicopter, I found using my whip technique to sky jack the target helicopter worked just fine.  After I  completed the mission, I started going for all of the achievements in the game.  

Most Recent Achievements:

Surface-To-Air Achievement :         10GP

You’ve shot down 50 helicopters while driving armor

On Instinct Achievement:                         20GP

You’ve completed the Mother Boss Battle

 

In The Web Achievement:                                20GP

You’ve consumed 50 Web Targets

I’m just wondering whats the longest amount of time you spent playing a video game of any kind?

Stay tuned for updates and the conclusion