Collective level up: GoW2 Horde Mode

(tags game, Gears of War, Halo ODST)

That Halo 3: ODST Live Action Trailer "We are ODST" was riveting (Joystiq, IGN). Yes I know it doesn't have anything to do with the actual game play. But it had me thinking about the upcoming Halo 3: ODST game. As far as I know, it's a single-player campaign and an online co-op "us vs lots of AI enemies" expansion to the old Halo 3, called "Firefight". I was previously only interested in the single-player.

Then I remembered how much fun I had leveling up in an unofficial Unreal Tournament mod that was similar to "horde" gaming, back when I played it some years ago. I am currently finishing up the single player part of Gears of War 2, and its Horde mode was convenient so I gave it a whirl this weekend. Wow, it's pretty fun. I don't hear any audio, and people start to quit after level 30 but it is pretty easy to play. I didn't feel lagged.

This makes me reconsider buying ODST near opening day. I wonder if I am locked to the Japanese version though.

Two clear: Gears of War 2, ToHeart 2 and 1 Hoshina scenario

(tags game, Xbox 360, Gears of War, ToHeart, PlayStation Portable, gal-ge)

Woops I wrote this about two weeks ago:

I finally saw the localized version of Gears of War 2 for the Xbox 360 on the store shelves recently. Before that, I picked up the Chinese/English version of GoW2 for a nice used price of 2000 yen (yes A-Too rocks). I plodded through Normal difficultly with probably less than 30 continues. Yeh, 30 continues. Still, I couldn't believe how fast the single player went by. Then again I played it for one day straight plus this is a sequel. I like how there is now a partial indicator for Achievements. The "Seriously 2.0" Achievement requires killing 100,000 enemies. Going through the normal campaign was about 1000 enemies, and I completed it in a day, so it will take about 100 or more days. Without that partial indicator I would not even consider it. Of course, I rejected it.

And I picked up ToHeart 2 for the PlayStation Portable. I didn't pre-order, so I missed the special first edition. I got the regular edition after bugging the store clerk and holding up the purchase line. It includes ToHeart 1 (finally ported to the PSP) because it was the "W pack". Only after realizing the difference between the SKUs, I came to accept that I didn't need 2 small figurines and a bigger box. Well they weren't cute enough. I was satisfied with getting at least the Gamers tokuten: telephone card, paper fan, and PSP sticker set.

Yes! ToHeart 1! I put that in my PSP and smoked it. I put the ToHeart2 away. I cleared the iincho or 保科智子 Tomoko Hoshina scenario immediately because she's one of my favorite tsundere characters. And Aya Hisakawa is always alright with me. Even though this is the PSP version, it's full voice. Visuals are switchable from original 4:3 ratio and PSP 16:9 pan-and-scan mode. Both look passable. Unfortunately I was feeling nostalgia remorse for some reason. I didn't remember this scenario being so short, just 5 hours from the start. Plus I forgot that the scenario climaxed in bed, literally. (No sex scene of course CERO C but first kiss?!?). I was expecting a less vigorous ending, lol. It's that feeling of reading one's favorite book again and feeling the diminishing returns.

There is no force skip for unread sections, but thankfully I found the fast skip. Also Multi's seiyuu Yui Horie is as recognizable as ever. If I get back to this game, I will probably want to finish the other scenarios in this order: Multi, Remi, Kotone, Shiho, Akari, Kurusugawa-senpai, etc. Running this visual novel game on the PSP-2000 was pretty fast.

Now that I think about it, this is my fourth copy of the game. PS1, PS2, Windows (all ages), and now PSP. Geez.

I put Hatsune Miku Project Diva back in the PSP though because I want to finish that.

Hero worship d00d huge

(tags game, design, creator, Unreal Tournament, Gears of War)

I don't know why Cliff Bleszinski is called Dude Huge by the Kotaku's editor. Maybe it's just a reaction from the man trying to disassociate himself from his old nickname CliffyB. Anyways, The New Yorker had a wordy interview with the Gears of War designer and long-time Epic Games employee. It's a pretty good read, even if I didn't get all the references. I always liked the man, especially when he introduced Gears of War with references to the old Bionic Commando.

At least my personal programming hero Tim Sweeney gets a line or two in, even though the spotlight is focused on Bleszinski. And yes, Unreal Tournament gets a mention, but only as "an uninspired but popular game". WTF, oh okay, so my vapid entertainment is uninspired. *fume* :-)

The last take-away quote was pretty good.

"You tell people what you do for a living," Bleszinski said later, "and they’re like, 'Oh, you play video games for a living.' No, I play a game that’s not as fun as it should be, that’s broken, until it’s no longer broken. Then I give it to other people to have fun with."

Great!

Gears of War, and 2

(tags game, Xbox 360, Gears of War)

The rumor that Gears of War 2 won't be released in Japan is annoying me. I am having so much fun with the first one's campaign. I beat the Hardcord difficulty. Now I gotta do Insane.

Back in yer hole: Kumatanchi, Gears of War, Raiden IV

(tags game, Xbox 360, FPS, Gears of War, shmup Raiden, Kumatanchi)

I have been gaming but not blogging about it. Now that my Information Processing test is over (but probably not done with, boo hoo), I've got a little bit of free time.

I'm on my third week of Kumatanchi, but I'm supposed to commemorate the second week because that's when the casual gamer's ending appears. Now it's just collecting some stuff and treating Kumatan with lots of Habanero candy, tee hee. It really plays like a Tamagochi, but with more depth. I like it. I want to send it-off with a picture blog post, sometime.

Oh yeah, I finished Gears of War on Casual difficulty, now I'm working on Hardcore. I though it was going to be really hard because I was stuck, but I figured it out. Reloading is pretty cool. That last boss really really makes me angry, but now I know for sure the movie skip button is X, hahaha.

Um, I credit-feeded my Raiden IV playing, so I unlocked a bunch of undeserved Xbox 360 Achievements. I write this down so I don't forget my gamer score is a bunch of fail.