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

Withdrawls

Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentleman,

Its been a busy week working on my own website maxatplay.com and job hunting. Being busy means my time to play video games is limited to almost non existent. I was able to check out a few demos this week, but no serious game time like I’m accustomed to.  Its driving me freaking crazy. I swear I have the shakes from not signing on to Xboxlive and pwn a few noobs in Halo 3 or knocking down some walls Red Faction. I can hear Niko from GTA4 calling me for back up. This is serious! Gaming is just like eating, you can only go for so long without it. 

Downloadable Content

First things first checkout http://www.maxatplay.com/

With the release of next generation systems, broadband connections, and buy it now, gaming has been enhanced by the ability to download a full video game straight to your console at home without putting on pants.  DC, or downloadable content can enhance old games and give you new games to enjoy.  Now all that is fine and dandy but I really want to talk about these so called trial downloads.

Its my understanding that a trial download is supposed to give you the opportunity to play a small portion of a game to help you decide if this is a game that you’d enjoy.  Its my belief that the download should contain enough content to make you drop what your doing and go out and purchase, download, whatever game it may be.  In some situations this is not the case. The supposed trial demo only last long enough for you to get pissed off about there not being enough time to really feel the game out.  

Here is a brief scenario:

I sign on to Xbox Live and see an advertisement for Hoob A Joob: The new adventure. I’m a real gamer that lives in the age were you can try it before you buy it. I download the demo and before I can get a good feel of the game in any aspect the demo is over, and its not even followed by any catchy screen shots. Since I work hard for my money, I decide I will not buy this game since I’m not worth having a decent demo delivered to me.

Scenario 2:

I just downloaded  the Game Blow ‘em up and it introduces you to elements that look cool but can’t be accessed through the demo. They give me a good idea of the story line and then end the demo at a point that makes me wonder..”Whats going to happen next? I must have this game!” Not to mention it shows a nice collaboration of what the full game has to offer.

Long story short…Stop being so cheap game companies and bait the hook with real meat instead of thrown together trash.

Knock it down or blow it up you choose!

Gaming

Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Its currently 1 in the morning as I write this out for you, but I felt the need to share the game that is currently holding my attention. Red Faction Guerrilla is addictive but a little simple. Before I get into all of that just a little background on the story and when I say little I mean I’m going to sum it up in as few words as possible, it is 1 in the morning. You play Alex, a young man that traveled from earth to join his brother on Mars to be a miner/salvage yard agent. You find out your brother is part of the resistance trying to over throw the EDF which is the group that has pretty much enslaved Mars. In the process of him trying to talk you into joining he gets gunned down which results in you seeking revenge by joining….The Red Faction.

Now that your caught up on the story I will tell you that the greatest part of this game is that it has FULLY DESTRUCTABLE ENVIROMENTS. You can literally knock down buildings, bridges, walls, and anything else in your way and it stays destroyed permanently. Too Cool! The downside is that this is another free roaming game and it’s being played after I just finished another great free roaming game, Prototype. Lets just say I might need to diversify my game play for a little bit to truly appreciate this game.

 

Standby For an update! 08/13/2009

I designed this logo myself, what do you think?

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

Anticipated Games

This list will probably change or have additions to as we go on. As of right now we are going to my top four.

4. Mass Effect 2 by Bioware

If you played the first one your already aware of the detail in this excellent RPG. Highly detailed graphics, a detailed story line, and multiple paths make this a highly anticipated game.

3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 by Infinity Ward

Infinity Ward does it again with the 6th installment of the COD series. They have improved on the already great perks system. I can only imagine what the multiplayer is going to be like. *mouth watering*

2. Halo: ODST by Bungie

Another great installment in the Halo series, taking place just before the events in Halo 3. When I heard that Master Chief will NOT be a major player in this game my heart sunk. I decided to check it out anyway and discovered that the story revolving around these events are truly engaging and worth the money it takes to get it the first day. The story is told thru the eyes of the ODST that assist Master Chief in the battle against the Covenant 

1. Bioshock 2 by 2k games

The story is set 10 years after the events of the first game in the city of Rapture.  There were times when this game was so scary it worked my nerves. When I played this game, I turned my tv all the way up and turned off every light in the house and eliminated as much background noise as possible. This game allows you to now play the role as the Big Daddy, which was one of the enemies you battled in the original. But beware the Big Sister, she is watching your every move.

 

Stay tuned for updates

Persistence and Dedication

Before I begin let me set the stage for you.

     This battle takes place on the ice covered tundra known as The Chasms. Set on the hardest difficulty, Legendary Mode, I want to once and for all settle this skirmish between The Arbiter, played by Halo Wars A.I., and Captain Cutter, played by yours truly. I’m expecting a cake walk of a battle, seeing that I have been undefeated for the last 20 or so battles. 15 minutes into the battle I am wiped clean off the battlefield by The Arbiters all out attack.

     So, Legendary Mode in Halo Wars is no joke, just like in Halo 3. My feelings were hurt and I know I wasn’t jusy going to go to bed defeated so I tried again. From 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. I was being destroyed like never before. Humbled and tired I retire for the evening.

     1 a.m. I’m up pumped and ready to kick some covenant butt. And for the first 3 hours of game play it seemed like an instant replay of the past night.  I tried focusing on building my supplies to afford an even amount of Good Technology and Good Solidiers.  CRUSHED! I tried the numbers game and built the largest military force I ever built without focusing on tech. CRUSHED! I even tried dumping everything in to technology…CRUSHED!

     You would think after all that I would have quit or at least backed down to Heroic Mode. Not me, I don’t know the meaning of the phrase back down or give up, because I can’t find my dictionary.  What I did do was cheat. Bountiful Harvest is an in game cheat that allows your supplies to accumulate 25% faster. This allowed me to spend more in both the major areas. At about 9 p.m. I defeated the Arbiter in  our 1 on 1 skirmish.

Yay me!

Need Game Tips Or How To Cheat? Let me know and I’ll post them here.

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

Prototype Review

Good Afternoon Gamers! This is my first post here but I’m not going to delay what I have to say. I have dedicated the last 2 weeks of my life to climbing buildings, consuming infected, throwing military tanks, and scaring civilians. Prototype is currently the best free roaming game I’ve played since Spider-man 2. Activison has done a marvelous job on putting together a great game. Alex Mercer is our Anti-Hero and he has no memory of who he is. All he knows is that he is no longer human and he is going to kill who ever did this to him, and anybody that gets in his way. Personally I wouldn’t be upset at all if I could leap 100ft in the air carrying Tank above my head. Not to mention I can use my limbs as an form of non-projectile weaponary. The game play is fluid with excellent collision sensoring. And the story and transition is engaging. I have found a few glitches that have caused me to reset my game. The most annoying of the glitches is during a mission if I wonder too far from the path they want me on, Alex would just sink into the ground and disappear from the screen. It pissed me off for awhile but it only takes place during the later stages. Other than that, I see no problems with this game. Except that I still can’t turn my hand into a 5ft blade that can slice thru a helicopter. More to come….