Playing Today: Loco Roco, The Bigs, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

It is about time, right? Two new games played today and one game finished. Finally, Loco Roco is complete and I can still say it is the best game I've played on the PSP. In fact, it is one of the best games I've played ever. This bizarre platform-style game is easy to play and fun to explore. It is reminiscent of Mario Brother but without that silly Bowser guy. Having completed the game I can officially grade it an A.

I picked up The Bigs today and it was a worthwhile purchase. Basically, this is the NFL Blitz version of baseball. Only a few of the big name players are missing and the baseball parks are incredibly well designed. Some of the fielding and base-running is frustrating but maybe I just need to give it more time. And that I will.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End arrived in the mail today for my PSP. This looks a lot like the Pirates game I played on the DS but the controls seem better. The voicework is above average and the actors are hard to differentiate from the real actors. This might wind up being an above average game.

Playing Today: Ratatouille, Cloning Clyde, Loco Roco

This past weekend was pretty quiet for gaming. Nothing new in the mail and I stuck with the regulars: Texas Hold 'Em, Guitar Hero II, Forza Motorsport 2, Alien Hominid HD, Wii Sports, and Loco Roco. I finally finished Guitar Hero II on Medium difficulty and survived some atrocious playing. Free Bird is pretty tough and gets harder as you get further into the game. I can't see playing that much further into the game unless I'm hanging out with a bunch of people. My final grade on Guitar Hero II is a B+.

Ratatouille appeared in the ol' mailbox yesterday. To say that this game is going to be frustrating is an understatement. The graphics are above average (and way better than Shrek the Third) but the control is already problematic. The animations are well made but the rat just doesn't respond as I would have hoped. And the tightrope walking isn't very much fun either. And these are my thoughts just on the first level.

Thanks to the new Play & Win contest I will be playing Cloning Clyde multiplayer for the next two weeks. I've already earned all of the achievements for Clyde so this will be just for the contest. The multiplayer is fun at a very simple level and shouldn't eat up too much of my time.

I smell the end of Loco Roco... any day now. :(

Playing Today: Texas Hold 'Em, Dead Rising, 300, Wii Sports, Loco Roco

Nothing new to really add today except that I've officially wrapped up playing 300: March to Glory. I failed to reach the ending but I figure my 80% completion total is good enough to support my upcoming review. Overall the game earns a B grade mostly due to the great voiceover and cool cut scenes. The gameplay and in-game graphics leave something to be desired and hopefully a new console version will take care of that.

Working through Dead Rising for what must be the tenth time now. I played through hoping to earn the 20 survivor achievement and was stuck with saving only 19 people. That is quite the frustration.

Time was spent with Wii Sports, Loco Roco, and Texas Hold 'Em and it really isn't worth going in depth.

Playing This Weekend: Loco Roco, Me and My Katamari, Dead Rising, Texas Hold 'Em, Guitar Hero II

I was on the road on Friday and was stuck playing quite a bit of Loco Roco. The difficult continues to creep higher, but never gets so hard that you can't progress. Now being at stage four (and with 4 hours played), I wonder how much longer this game could possibly be.

Dead Rising took up most of my console time today. I still need to go back and earn the Mega Man suit (technically, I already did) to get closer and closer to unlocking the full 1000 gamerscore. This might take a few months (or years).

And some minimal time was spent in Texas Hold 'Em, Me and My Katamari, and Guitar Hero II. Damn, Message in a Bottle was hard on Medium.

Playing This Weekend: Forza Motorsport 2, Loco Roco, Shadow of the Colossus, Pac-Man Championship Edition

Not a lot of time for gaming this weekend, sorry. I played mostly Forza Motorsport 2. The game continues to entertain and suck away hours that should be better spent. Oh well. Same deal with Loco Roco. I've reached level three and the difficulty doesn't seem to have changed and the similarities to Super Mario continue to grow. This game is easily one of the most innovative 2D Platformers ever.

I spent about twenty minutes with Shadow of the Colossus. The into movie is really long and quiet, which is strange for a video game. Its almost as if they didn't make this game for 13 year olds. I haven't found a colossi, so giving a review just yet wouldn't be very fair.

And Pac-Man Championship Demo is still quite fun. Who knows, maybe I will buy it.

Playing Today: Forza Motorsport 2, Guitar Hero II, Fuzion Frenzy 2, Loco Roco

Nothing new played today, although I wrapped up one game (hopefully) forever. The majority of my play time was with Fuzion Frenzy 2. After several hours of play, I have all of the achievements and I don't think I'll ever play it again. The game isn't extremely difficult and can be fun in groups, but playing alone or online is frustrating. As many other reviewers have said, the card system is completely screwed up and should be optional. If I want last second cards to completely screw me over, that should be my choice. Fuzion Frenzy 2 is likely the last game in this series (please!) and will disappear into history as an awful follow-up to a mediocre game. Fuzion Frenzy gets a D+.

My time spent with Forza Motorsport was a lot of experimentation with hiring drivers and tooling around in the Auction House. Now with Fuzion Frenzy done, I expect to spend more time racing around and leveling up.

Guitar Hero II continues to give me a case of tendinitis. I tried out the Lefty Flip and decided... I'm very much right handed (at least when playing a plastic guitar). I've mastered Possum Kingdom on Medium and I have no idea how much time Expert players have invested in this game. I'd rather play Open Season than listen to Cheap Trick hundreds of times.

And, finally, more Loco Roco before I went to bed.

Playing Today: Forza Motorsport 2, Guitar Hero II, Fuzion Frenzy 2, Loco Roco, Grandia II, Pac-Man Championship Edition

A whole bunch of sequels have been in rotation this week. I finished up some achievements in Fuzion Frenzy 2 and I have one more left to go. This game is still absolutely redonkulous to play but once you've figured out some of the mini-games, the computer is pretty easy to beat. Soon enough I'll never have to play it again.

More time spent with Forza Motorsport 2. The graphics continue to amaze and staying on the track continues to frustrate. I was able to win a race with all of the assists of and while driving manual. Doing so took multiple tries but is fulfilling in the long run. Also, figuring out that you can hire a driver to win for you is a nice little bend-of-the-rules.

After a few days off, I picked up the axe and returned to Guitar Hero II. Possum Kingdom is like second nature now and I wasn't very far away from my first 100k performance. Too bad when I tried hard & expert I was annihilated. For now I'll stick with Easy & Medium.

I bought Grandia II used for the PlayStation 2. I loved this game on the Dreamcast but memories and video games tend to warp drastically. The dialogue is still corny and silly, but for some reason I remember the music being much better. Who knows if I will ever pick this game up again.

Loco Roco is still awesome and the new Pac-Man was better than expected. Although, I doubt I'll end up buying it.

Playing Today: Loco Roco, Fuzion Frenzy 2, Mad Tracks

I am moving to a house. Real quick. Mad Tracks is fun but not very deep. Loco Roco is lots and lots of silly fun. As good as Katamari and as simple as Mario. Fuzion Frenzy 2 is still frustrating.

Playing Today: 300, AstroPop, Loco Roco

I spent a lot of time with 300 yesterday. I still find myself having to go to GameFAQs for help. That's just fine because I know that eventually I would have figured the bosses out. I just didn't have four hours to spend. This game continues to grow on me.

I found Loco Roco at the ripe price of $10 yesterday. I also found Oddworld Stranger's Wrath for $5. I didn't play Oddworld because I don't have an XBOX, but my fingers are crossed for this game to be backwards compatible in the future. Loco Roco is silly fun and kind of like a side-scrolling version of Katamari.

Do I need to mention Astropop? I leveled up and earned a new achievement. Hurr-ay.