A Week In Gaming

I apologize for the silent desert my blog has been for the past week. My writing bug must have wriggled away, but now it's back, at least for the moment. I started the week going through some more of Baten Kaitos. When I grew a bit tired of that, I decided to purchase Pac-Man Championship Edition, on the XBL Arcade. Prior to that, I found myself going back to the trial version over and over, so I figured it definitely has the replay value. Even with just six modes, that are all really just Pac-Man with different mazes, and speeds, it has given me a lot of entertainment so far. All the mazes are timed in the game, and even though it seemed a little easier when I first tried it out, it eventually gets so fast that it's quite a challenge. On my first day with the game, I only cleared championship mode, and it took a lot of practice, and a little patience through the week to clear the others (though I still have one yet to clear).



The achievements are fairly easy, in my opinion. Most of them you earn just from clearing the different modes, so as of now I just have two left to obtain. The only real negative thing I have to say is, although the controls are solid most of the time, and probably as good as you can have on a controller, it gets a bit tricky to maneuver at high speeds with the control stick. Also, while they did a really good job updating the graphics, and mazes, I think it would have been nice if they had added some kind of online multiplayer mode. I would still recommend it however, even at its fairly high price tag of ten dollars.

After many months of using GameznFliz as my video game rental service, I finally grew tired of their lack of new game availability, and switched over to the more reliable, and higher priced Gamefly. In the middle of the week, I received my first game: Super Paper Mario. I wrote a while ago, before it's release, that I was excited about the game, and now that I finally have it, I can say that it has lived up to my expectations. Without even mentioning the gorgeous graphics, the simple yet intelligent puzzles, and the classic Mario gameplay, there are two things that this game has; things that are found few, and far between in video games: Charm, and humor. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this is the most charming game I have ever played. From the well-written, and witty dialog, to the vast array of quirky characters, to the unique graphical look and polish they give to each level; it's all there.



Now when was the last time you laughed out loud at a video game? Having a hard time remembering? I can remember the last time for me, because it was the prequel to this game! I will concede that most of the humor isn't laugh out loud funny for me, but when I was about to fight a mechanical dragon that was experiencing errors, who, attempting to save himself pressed CTRL+ALT+DEL, among other things; that cracked me up. Speaking of cracking up, the signal on my pocket PC, as I write upside down hanging from a tree branch in Guatemala, is beginning to die away. I better post this before all is lost. Adieu.