Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - PS3

I played this through in about 10 sessions, and each of them got more and more difficult as the levels got increasingly tedious. I played the first two Call of Duty games on the PC and really enjoyed it. I think the mouse made it a bit easier to control because of my experience from Unreal Tournament. I told myself to try the COD4 because it's one of the games that made the current generation systems legit. People bought their Xbox 360 and PS3's for this title and it deserved the 20 or so odd hours I put on it.

(image: battle in the night) The game is good. The game is a bit too realistic in the fact that you can die easily, like actual warfare. I'll expound on this. The next thing is the graphics. Even though all games on the PS3 are HD, most of them are 720p - not many extend to the 1080p graphics which maximizes your television's limits. You can see specs of dust from your rifle and every demolished building is rendered to the closest detail. Lastly the story is actually engaging. Pieces of it must be from actual stories from the soldiers; I recognized the Black Hawk Down episode. I mean it actually moves like a movie, using the soundless slow-motion sequences and everything.

(Image: completing the game)I have to say that the worst part about the game is that I went from playing Resistance 2 to Call of Duty and the way you play is totally changed. I'm used to being a hero and gunning down grims with a shield on or camping in far off tower trying to mow down a giant alien behemoth. But now you're doing tasks that are done in a way that if you don't do it right, you will die and start over. And there are so many ways to die: bullets, rockets, grenades, exploding cars, and even getting mauled by a dog. I guess I wanted a God-mode through it all, but hell, it probably would have made the victories less satisfying. And this game does give you some sort of warrior's satisfaction. I mean, anybody that's done mission where you're fending the farm town from four tanks and you take them down one at a time with the javelin rocket will know that when it's over, you just can't help but smile. Or the level where you're playing Price when he was a greenhorn and you had to pull your mentor to safety as you snipe down scores of enemy combatants, it goes to say that when it's done and over, you just wonder if the game changed you into a gun-wielding crazy. It feels good to kill, and if the reason is because you're doing it out of self-preservation and the bad guy is truly a bad guy, it feels even better. I'm sure the game-makers at Infinity Ward knows this. They know that there is a dormant violent spirit within us, and they're just giving it a little push with their games.

The ending, when Price tosses you the side-arm and you know what you gotta do, it's nothing but pure satisfaction.

• Game Time: 20 Hrs
• Completed the game once on normal difficulty

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - Nintendo Wii

Have you ever played a game that took so long, that life invariably gets in the way? When I first started playing this game for the Wii, I was planning a vacation and my company was going through some of the hottest summer days with work spewing out by the truckload. Now, 3 months later, I have already returned from my vacation, the DOW has lost another 1500 points, and I have found little time to pick up my wii-mote. Fire Emblem takes a long time, so don't go off buying it and expect to complete it in a week to return it to your local game store. 

t's the 5th of the series I believe, and it continues off of the Game Cube instalment, Path of Radiance. The DS version, Shadow Dragon is a remake of the first one, not sequential to Radiant Dawn. What makes it new is that it's the FIRST time I'm playing a Fire Emblem game, and I am liking it. It does make you whimper though, or as some reviewers say, "makes you cry like a little girl". Yes, the maps are difficult. Your guys are not superior to the enemy. Death occurs and there is no revivication. Death is death. It's part of the appeal of the game, the relentless difficulty of it. I've seen the Game Over sign countless times and it really makes me want to buy the guide. 

The game is like a rubix cube and a crossword puzzle; it makes you think, try new things, and build of answers for a complete solution. Well, you'd have to if you want your guys to survive.  You have to fiddle with it. Play through maps again and again until you realize your party's strengths and weaknesses.  You have to attack the maps from different perspectives. Once one segment is solved, other parts of the map is revealed. It's really a patient man's game. Whether it makes you patient or it's meant for patient people is a different story. 

The story is about a small group of rebels that are fighting back against a ruthless empire in the medieval times. Magic, might, and mayhem are all parts of the game. But there's also a big paper-rock-scissors. Lance takes swords, swords take axes, and axes take lances - I guess thats how it always have been in the series? What I find new is the "CARRY" command. I have played Disgaea and Final Fantasy Tactics, but never came across a game that lets you carry a person. I guess there's a a bit of that in Super Robot Wars as you can go back to the main carrier ship, but in this game, you have to use every command to your advantage. 

For now, I'm still learning the ropes as I play this in between Shining Force Neo and God of War.

Here's a video (set of videos) of a guy doing this game on a "speedrun". The blinking makes my eyes hurt, and I didn't watch anymore after the first video to prevent spoiling the game. I read that you can cut out animations only after you beat the game once, what an interesting reward:

Puzzle Quest DS - NDS

Last played - January, 2008

Let's face it, when you're playing the DS, you usually want just a quick game of something to kill the time before you get back to what you're doing. I usually find it that way, and the best games to play on it are puzzle games. I am a firm believer that Tetris DS is a must have for the DS owner. So of all the puzzle games that are available to the DS, one really that I find highly addictive is Puzzle Quest.

Puzzle Quest is an RPG where the battles are done in puzzles. You choose a hero and fight monsters and mages with weapons and armor - all this done with puzzle games. The game itself is a cross between Bejewelled and columns. Match things and you can unleash skills.

Somehow this game got me through 50 hours of boredom spread out workdays and outings. Too bad my save was erased not too long after I defeated Bane. It was the journey that counted.

Completion: Beat the game.
Hours Spent: 50 Hrs

Rogue Galaxy - PS2

Rogue Galaxy is a great action RPG from the guys at Level-5 Video Games. Think of it as a FF12 that includes button mashing and cell-shaded graphics that are are similar to Dark Cloud 2 and Dragonquest 8.

My first impressions of it are positive. I like the cartoon-like characters as well as it's battle system. Not much different from your usual Square-soft Game. The learning curve isn't that difficult and after an hour into it you'll become accustomed to the menus and controls.

The game itself involves eight playable characters: Jasper, Kisala, Zegram, Simon, Steve, Jupis, Deego, and Lilika. Each has a moderately intriguing back story, with Deego being the most tragic. My favorite character seems to be Jupis, with his love for coffee and wacky break-dance moves.

The REVELATION power-up system is not different from the liscence system in Final Fantasy 12 nor is it too different from the sphere grid in Final Fantasy 10. You take common items found through-out the game and place it in designated grids to reveal new skills for your characters. Not too difficult to figure out, and the ease of use makes the game quite addictive for the first 20 hours. There's a bit of a sticky point when you start running out of high level items.

Graphically, this game is quite impressive for a PS2 title. One of my favorite cut-scenes is when you see Jasper try to solve the puzzle of the ancients. As a giant pile of digital bricks swirl in algorithmic motions, the hero tries to re-construct something out of it with his hands and mind. Quite a trip, even for a PS2 hooked to a 720p HD screen with component cables.

As the game progresses, we find more about the evil forces that are trying to profit from the warring planets, and the mysteries of the planet Eden. As the story begins revealing the background of Jaster's parents and Kisala's origins, we begin to see why the game is titled "Rogue Galaxy".