Playing Today: Mega Man Powered Up, Spider-Man 3

First impressions go a long way with me. Mega Man Powered Up left quite a first impression, filling the portable void that Loco Roco had claimed for several weeks. This game is really fun, playful, silly, and still very much Mega Man. Instead of grinding away at the same bosses over and over until I beat them, the difficulty system lets me explore the game without suffering from frustration I remember. The voicework is great for a portable title and the art style is way above average. I can see this stuck in my PSP for weeks to come.

Spider-Man 3 is still an exercise in frustration. The camera is still broken and the gameplay is not remotely entertaining. I can imagine that most gamers would have returned this by now...

Playing Today: Spider-Man 3, The Bigs

Oh boy is Spider-Man 3 turning into a mixed bag. I really am enjoying the size of NYC. I like how I can seemingly traverse incredible distances without any loading screens. All until you have a boss battle way underground in a box about 10 feet by 20. Kraven is obnoxious and hearing the same four lines of dialogue over and over is saddening. Why do game makers let this kind of stuff pass? Do they realize that this does nothing but make their games seem disposable and unloved? And just as annoying - I can't save the game where I want to. I fought Kraven for 30 minutes, finally beating him, but I could not save because I now have to fight Lizard. Seriously, the saving of games has existed for at least 20 years now - get with the times.

I tried playing The Bigs on medium difficultly and had quite a different experience. Gone are the 15-0 games. The ramped up difficulty I don't mind... for this game. Playing on easy difficulty is a fun option that lets me play through without hours of less fun gameplay. After a play through, if I really like the game, I'll play it on Medium. Quite a good game and well worth a purchase.

Playing Today: Spider-Man 3

Played several games today but all were repeats not worth delving into. The only "new" game I played today was Spider-Man 3. I played this game months ago and have picked it up again because I need a new review and this is all I have. The game took me a minute or two to get reaccustomed to. I forgot the controls and the combos. Nevertheless, with those memories back in place I began to remember why I stopping playing this game: awful camera, jumpy buttons, and horrible voice acting. I guess it is kind of fun playing as Spidey, but not in this game. They stole the sandbox game type from much better games and went completely half-assed on the work. This game is similar to Superman Returns in that you really want to like it because of the characters involved but you want to hate it because of the piss-poor job of the developers. I'd rather have a cell shaded side scroller (like Alien Hominid) than another GTA clone. Still, I'll keep on playing because I have to finish it up for review.

Playing Today: Spider-Man 3, Rayman's Raving Rabbids, Aegis Wing

I finished up the story mode of Rayman's Raving Rabbids. There isn't really much story to the game, but the minigames are silly enough that I had a good time playing it. Rayman is not as fun or funny as WarioWare, but is definitely worth a rental. Kids will enjoy the crazy rabbits and gamers will enjoy the sometimes difficult first person shooter levels. And everyone should enjoy the dancing rabbit sequences. Overall a B or B- game.

I'm still playing Spider-man 3. I've become more comfortable with the system of the game but I keep finding strange small quirks. If you stand on top a car (working on the Hitch Hiker Achievement) you'll see that cars drive through other cars. They also shift in strange directions and sometimes stop altogether. This game was not thoroughly quality tested and it shows. Did I mention the crappy graphics?

Aegis Wing is great when playing four player. Especially if your teammates are good and communicative. The final boss of Insane is a nail-biting experience worth every penny. And amazingly this game was free! Overall a B- game.

I played Ghost Rider on a PS2 for 10 minutes. It reminds me of God of War... A LOT.

Playing This Weekend: Halo 3 Beta, Spider-Man 3, Rayman's Raving Rabbids

I finally received Spider-Man 3 and Rayman's Raving Rabbids in the mail today. They are two completely different games and only of them is worth playing.

Spider-Man 3 is the poster child for crap games based on good licenses. Basically, the game is GTA III, Crackdown, and Superman Returns rolled into one. It takes places in the midst of NYC and spends a lot of effort encouraging vertical gameplay. Nothing is new here and a lot of the gameplay is flat out broken. The camera is super buggy and the swinging mechanics don't seem to have been tested. Fighting is even worse because there is no lock-on system to speak of. When fighting, often, you'll get stuck behind a tree or building because of a crappy combat system. The graphics are low grade, the music is repetitive and boring, and the voiceover work is unenthusiastic. This game is worse than games like TMNT and Cars because of how little the company cares.

Rayman is a collection of fun mini-games akin to those in WarioWare and other titles. I especially love the timing game that is similar to Guitar Hero, Parappa the Rappa, and DDR. The game goes by pretty quick, but it seems like tons of fun for kids and groups of people.