Arcade

Monday Night Combat
The first time I got to try this game was at PAX East. Just from playing a few rounds (and finding out it was an Arcade game), I knew I was going to pick it up. It looked like Team Fortress 2. You are either on the blue team or the orange team, and you can choose from several classes (assault, tank, support, gunner, assassin, or sniper). There is much more than meets the eye, though. Monday Night Combat is more like an action-based tower defense game.

Since this game was released last Wednesday, it's taken up a few of my evenings. After last night, I think I finally got the hang of it. For the first time, I had more kills than deaths. ^^; I've spent a good amount of time with every class (with the exception of the sniper). Even though they are slow, I prefer being the tank and the gunner.

I find it significantly more enjoyable (like most games) to be playing with friends. They are on my level, and we actually try to have balanced teams. It's pretty annoying to go online and have to go against teams that are all assassins or all gunners. I'm not a big fan of $15 being the standard for Arcade games, but I think Monday Night Combat is well worth it.

Last night, while playing someone made the comment, "Oh great, I'm on the girls' team." Another friend of mine (on the opposing team) taunted, "Haha! You're gonna lose!" Well, I was on that girls' team and we won that match (though, only half of us were girls). I thought the gals of Sugar Gamers might appreciate that story. ^^

Tank! Tank! Tank!
The past couple of weekends, I've made a trip out to Gameworks to hang out with some friends. One friend showed us a game called Tank! Tank! Tank!. My friend Sherwin had a time card, and kept feeding credits into the machine. So, we kept playing. This simple little game is fun and addictive. The sound is loud, the screen is long and tall, you hold on to this wheel, and you are jerked backward and forward whenever you shoot. There are pedals you press down on to move forward or backward, you use the wheel to steer your tank, and you press buttons on the wheel to shoot.


Speakers are built into the seats


The buttons used to shoot on the steering wheel glow

There are three different modes. You can be on a team and shoot at each other, be an individual tank and shoot at each other, or be on a team that shoots at giant robot bees and robot sea creatures. Well, shooting at giant robot bees and octopi was definitely the more popular option. Though, after playing that whole evening we had yet to figure out how to play against or with each other.

Another thing we had an absolute blast with is the camera. You choose a fun frame and a picture is snapped of you. This is used to represent you throughout the game (much like Mario Kart Arcade).


Me!


My friend Lindsay


Is that Rex?


TF feels pretty

Photos courtesy of my friend, Mark T. ^^

Game Break

May was for Anime Central, June was preparing for Anime Expo, July was for Otakon, and now that it's August? It's time to prep for PAX Prime! Though...*yawn*...I'm feeling pretty exhausted from the past three cons. -_- Makes me want to play games I shouldn't be playing, and you know, blog when I should be working.

Dragon Quest IX
Shortly after Dragon Quest IX was released, I went to Best Buy and picked it up. I am not to far in the game (only at level 16) and I've spent most of the clock canvassing for guests. For those of you who don't have Dragon Quest IX or haven't gotten around to this option yet, you can set your wi-fi signal on your DS to search for other Dragon Quest IX players. While sitting at my artist alley table at Otakon, I was able to just keep my DS on and search for others. Unfortunately, the maximum amount you can search for at a time is three guests. I just kept my DS open and every time I saw it reach three (which was frequent), I had to empty them into lounge. It's fun to see other people's characters, since they are so customizable. I also like how everyone can put in their own little greeting. (I wrote redstarcostumes.com as mine, a little shameless self promotion there.)

As far as the actual gameplay goes, it is a solid, basic JRPG. I dislike that you can't just explore anywhere (passages are blocked off until you get past a certain point in the game). I also miss traveling with actual characters with little stories and personalities. Now everyone in your party is "hero." Though, I realize this was to enable multi-player and that makes Dragon Quest IX a great activity with friends and loved ones. It is difficult to enjoy a single player game with multiple people (though, I try anyway). Level 5 was successful in making the basic JRPG into more of a social experience. Standard battle was kept, and we don't have to pass the controller around. I am enjoying it. Even though it completely drawn me in yet, I play almost every night before bed.

Final Fantasy XIII
I pre-ordered Final Fantasy XIII. After it was delivered, I played it for an hour, wasn't interested and didn't pick it up again until a few days ago. I went to the Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds concert at Wolf Trap in Northern Virginia. It made me feel nostalgic and I wanted to play a Final Fantasy. I played the Limbo demo. It was great, and right when I was about to "unlock the full game" I realized there were a slew of games I bought recently, but haven't' opened or barely touched. (Current stack includes: Pokemon HeartGold, Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility, Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy XII, and GameFly sent over Sakura Wars.) Before I went nuts and added to my pile of games I recently obtained, I gave FFXIII another shot.

Most of the characters are unlikeable and I have no attachment to them. Hope is the biggest emo pussy I have ever seen in a Final Fantasy (also, he has a girl's name). Vanille is your standard cute girl. Don't know much about Sazh, but that baby chocobo makes me squeal every time I see it. I cannot stand Snow; he has got to be the biggest douchebag. If Ed Hardy existed in the FF universe, he would be wearing his t-shirts. Oh and Lightning? (Who, by the way, has my namesake). She is totally bad ass. Bad-ass women don't exist in games. Usually, they are sex objects who can kick ass. Lightning is pretty, but she is definitely a rare character in games.

I am still early in the game (only about three hours), and I am already tired of the tutorials. It feels like Square picked up X and XII's gameplay, combined them and somehow made it significantly inferior. The Crystariumis like the Sphere Grid in X and choosing the character's AI via roles (magic or physical attacks) and behaviour (offensive or defensive) reminds me of the gambit system. It sort of looked like they had given XIII a basic battle system (which would have been great), but decided it wasn't fancy or complicated enough. So, they had to throw in this extra bullshit that is making me go through tutorials that apparently last up to twenty hours into the game.

Being not so attached to the characters in a mediocre story line also makes surf the internet while cut scenes occur. Yet, I am still playing it. I want to give it a chance, but I think I may tire of it soon and just buy that copy of Limbo.

PAX Prime
PAX East: It just started, so it doesn't have everything together just yet. It is moving venues, so it will definitely not have everything together. It's in a cold place. It is not before the major release season. It is closer to me than Seattle is, but I think it might be a while until I start going to PAX East instead of PAX Prime. I've got my 3-day badge, my plane ticket to Seattle, and a hotel reservation. This is the best con out there, and I am very much looking forward to it.