Finish it!

I read on the internets somewhere that only 10% of game players actually finish the games they play. I am definatey NOT one of those 10%. My so-called 'pile of shame' is more like a 'mountain of shame.' I did finish the excellent Darkwatch on the XBox a few weeks ago, and yes, that game is over 6 years old. Before that, I cannot remember when I have beaten a game. (Except for FFVII. See below.)


It's never the game itself; I usually either get stuck at a certain point where I keep dying and give up. I then fire up another game which I hopefully won't suck at (those are very rare.) This is often a game I just bought at a cheap price. (I enjoy buying cheap video games for the PS2, XBox, Gamecube, and DS just as much as as I enjoy playing them...to a point, obviously.)

Although knowing that close to 90% of gamers don't finish the games they buy, I still feel like a loser. I sure as hell will never finsh current gen games if/when I get a 360 or PS3, as I would never take the time or effort to get all the trophies or achievments, which seems to be the mark at which the game is finished. Not that I have anything against trophies or achievements, I'm certain they add to the gameplay.

Also, in my case, I love JRPGs, but most of them take 40-60 hours to complete. That's a lot of time for me to get bored, stuck, or distracted by another shiny disk. In fact, last JRPG I finished was FFVII...no joke...and I have at least 50 excellent JRPGS that I have barely gotten into. Sounds screwed up...and it is...but damn I like JRPGs. (And since fewer and fewer are being made, never mind being ported to North America...well, at least I have a stockpile that I can enjoy in the meantime. Gotta think positive.)

Then there is the ongoing debate of whether games, especially open world ones, just take too long to finish, and many people can't because of time restraints. That seems like a good topic for another blog, though.

So are you able to finish most games you have? If not, why do you think that is? I could chaulk it up to Adult ADD, or the fact that as I've gotten older my reflexes have gotten slower, or I have less time to play....



.....



Yeah, I just suck at video games.

So you want to be a doctor...

Got this game:Trauma Center Under the Knife 2 at Sears for the sweet, sweet price of 6 bucks. I've been interested in trying one of the Trauma Center games and no way could I pass this up at that cheap price. Haven't played it yet but have looked through the instruction manual (I love that new game manual smell!) and operating using the stylus looks really cool. Good thing I have a steady hand...must be from all the video games I play.

Is that a zombie at my door? Plants vs Zombies

I'd been wondering why the game Plants vs Zombies had been so popular for years now (since supplanted by Angry Birds, which I honestly don't think is that great a game.) Starting on the PC and then ported to virtually every other game system, I recently got the game for the DS, and now I realize why this Popcap-created game is still popular...it's very. very fun.


An organic version of the tower defense formula, you use dozens of imaginatively created plants to defend your house against waves of many different types of zombies who want to snack on your brains. By gathering sunlight beamed from the sun or generated by sunflowers, you can plant peashooters and walnuts to fire upon or block the zombies advance on your house. However, you can only have a certain number of plants on which to call upon in each level, although you can buy more spaces to hold plants (or 'seed packets') as the game progresses.

As I said before, this game is a hell of a lot of fun, not to mention very funny. There is an in-game encyclopedia that describes all of the plants and zombies in the game, and it is well written and hilarious. The game can be nerve wracking, as you frantically gather sunlight and plant plants to stop the zombie hordes. Although it seems limited, with the playfield only being around your house, there are different scenarios that keep gameplay fresh, such as zombies attacking at night (in which you use deadly fungi and mushrooms, since they don't require sunlight, although they need to 'recharge' before another one can be planted). Or the zombies try to attack from the backyard, where you have a pool and need to put down a lily pad before you can set another plant on it.

The game uses the stylus for everything,and this works very well, in my opinion. There are also minigames that can be unlocked as you progress, and even a mode where you can create your own custom made zombie, or 'zombatar'. If you still have not played this game yet, I highly recommend this version. Now if you excuse me, I hear some zombies coming, and I've got some planting to do.

Two DS games that don't suck

Let's face it, a lot of DS games suck, and suck badly. Any of the dozens of Imagine titles, for instance, or anything with 'baby' or babyz' or whatever in the title. They kind of make me puke in my mouth a little, and also make me very embarrassed to look at the wall of DS games at Gamestop. I'm 41, makes me kinda feel like a perv or something to even glance at that crap.

Fortunately, there are a whole lot of good games for the DS that don't involve babies. I was very lucky to get some GS giftcards and a little money for my birthday, so I recently got two very good DS games:Glory of Heracles brand new for 15 bucks and Portrait of Ruin used for the same amount.


Glory of Heracles got mediocre reviews when it came out, but it's a pretty decent little RPG. Yes, you play a character, apparently an immortal demigod, with amnesia (an incredibly overused JRPG cliche), but the story is interesting and quite funny. The battle system is the standard turn-based affair, but each character has different passive and aggressive skills and magic abilities, which you can choose to 'soup up' by performing minigames on the touch screen. The music is nice, and the graphics are a little better then those you'd see on the PSOne, which is definately not a bad thing.

Overall, this JRPG does nothing radically different, but I am very much enjoying playing through the adventure and highly recommend it to anyone who like JRPGs, especially for the sweet $15 price.

Castlevania:Portrait of Ruin is your standard 'metriodvania' game, but when is that ever a bad thing? I've been wanting to get this game for quite a while, and when I saw it used (with case and instructions!) for $15, I snagged it. Haven't gotten very far, but what I see I like. The graphics are definately more detailed than than the GBA trio of Castlevania games (I have all three), and I like the fact that you can 'swap out' the two main characters, or even play with both at once, a nice touch. Plus the titular 'portraits of ruin' are a cool gimmick enabling players to visit different locations other the usual dreary old castle. I even like the story:set 1944, a really bad vampire dude named Brauner brings back Dracs' castle by collecting the tortured souls of those who died in World War II, and thus got his magical vampire powers back. Plus a whole bunch of hideous monsters to loot and pillage as a bonus!

I recommend this game also, but at this point anyone who is a Castlevania fan probably already has it. I have about 20 bucks left from my birthday, anyone recommend a good DS RPG? What about the other two DS Castlevanias?