Playing This Weekend: Burnout Legends, Super Mario Land, Call of Duty 4, The Orange Box, Lumines, Lost Planet

I achieved a couple of milestones this weekend. I completed the single player storyline of Call of Duty 4. I sold Halo 3. I played Burnout Legends and rekindled my love of speed. And I picked up Half-Life 2 again.

I finally wrapped up Call of Duty 4 and really enjoyed the experience. While playing on normal difficulty, I found that the game wasn't incredibly hard. The experience is more akin to an interactive movie than a game. That's fine because I know that the harder difficulties add that aspect and there's never-ending multiplayer gameplay available.

I sold Halo 3. The game has been sitting on a shelf alone for weeks now and I didn't expect that to change any time soon. Perhaps if new single player modes are added I might pick it back up. For now it is time to move on.

I cracked open The Orange Box for some more Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 goodness. TF2 is a great fun multiplayer experience kind of like Halo-lite. It has the complexity of a high end game without the seriousness. I think making the game look like a Looney Tunes cartoon helps.

In regards to Half-Life 2, I've kind of lost grasp on the story but the game continues to give me chills. I've reached a prison area that even in daylight is creepy. I can't have a whole lot more to play - so, at least I have Chapters 1, 2, and 3 to look forward to.

Lost Planet received some multiplayer face time. I played two games, one of which was over in nearly 30 seconds. I wish I had more time to invest in this game, but like Halo 3, I think it is time to move on. Lost Planet wound up being a far better experience than my earlier impression - however, nowhere near as fun as the demo lead me to believe.

Two retro games I plugged in were Burnout Legends for the PSP and Super Mario Land. Burnout Legends is a great game for the PSP and in my top 3 games on that system. It takes all of the great levels I played in Burnout 2 & 3 and condenses them on a tiny UMD disc.

In retrospect I have fonder memories from playing Super Mario Land than from Super Mario 3. Each game brought more complexity to the simple Mario design. However, Super Mario Land had so much to do that I could play it for quite a long time without feeling repetitive. Nintendo took a lot of bold leaps with the game and most worked out in the long run. I love playing this game again on the Wii and look forward to playing Super Mario Land 2 if it ever comes out on Virtual Console.