PixlBit

I dove through a bunch of my PS2 games in chonological order. I'm in the 2003 games now. Then I played a lot of my rental game, Mario & Luigi Brotherhood and took another stab at Ys Origin on Xbox. Also a few digital purchases. 

PS2

Star Trek Voyager Elite Force - My copy didn't work but MK got me a replacement and I played a bunch of it. I forgot it was made by the great Raven Software. It was a PC game first and then a PS2 exclusive just like Half-Life and Red Faction. As you might expect from Raven, it's a FPS. You are a member of a elite security squad sent out on dangerous missions. I got stuck in a room of the alien ship you investigate and paused it for now, but this is a keeper.

The story is overly familiar about Voyager being sent to a space ship graveyard in unknown space. I think there was a TAS episode that was very similar to this. The gameplay is solid but enemies rush you which doesn't help when you're carrying a rocket launcher type plasma gun. Ammo seems a little too precious, and I kept blasting myself up close with the bull rushing aliens. Still, I enjoyed it until I hit that room with seemingly no solution. One day I'll look up a walkthrough to get past that. 

Activision Anthology (Crackpots) - This is a great collection. I always thought Activision did most of the best Atari games. I hit a new high score on Crackpots this time. I like the virutal room you inhabit to play the games. I just wish I could figure out the conditions needed to unlock patches. I've unlocked a few just by playing a lot, but I'd like to know the details. 

Culdcept - This board game with card battles in a fantasy setting is an old favorite of mine dispite the difficult AI players. I got through a lot of matches though before losing one. There are a lot of details to keep track of in battles. Sometimes I just overlooked a particular card effect and got owned by the AI which doesn't miss much. But, this game is always fun for me - not trading this ever. 

Hot Shots Golf Fore! - The menu screen looks a little different from the previous three but it's essentially the same. However, it at least has a Rookie Tournament instead of throwing me into the pro tournment right away. I still didn't qualify though, placing 17th overall because I botched the final hole so badly. 

I tried the mini golf and various short play courses too. All are pretty great and fun. I'm excited to try and find the next game in the series, Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds for PS3. 

XGRA: Extreme-G Racing Association - It's more blazing fast, future bike racing with some combat. I still can't figure out how to switch combat options during races. I just shoot my main gun when I have a target. It results in the other players throwing insults at me but doesn't seem to affect that much in the races. I surprised myself by getting pretty deep into the tournaments. I'm still getting the hang of the controls which seem a little too sensitive at the moment (maybe I can adjust that?), but I'm staying on the course more often than not now. I love the various wild track designs. Sometimes it's hard to see what's coming though, but with practice I'll get better. 

Intellivision Lives! (Shark! Shark!) - Another great retro collection for the PS2. I don't have a lot I wanted to revisit here except for Shark! Shark! which I never played back in the day because my neighbor, who owned the system, didn't have it. But I discovered this some years ago and loved it. The PopCap series Feeding Frenzy ripped off the basic concept of this and made it even better. The basic idea is you're a fish that has to eat other fish to get bigger. Watch out for the shark, but if you can bite its tale several times, you can beat it even as a tiny guppy. This is always fun to play and I beat my high score by a lot this time. 

Maximo Vs The Army of Zin - This is the second Maximo game which is set in the world of Ghosts 'n Goblins. You only notice this, however, in the way your character gets his armor knocked off down to his boxer shorts just like in GnG. This game plays great with a really good 3rd person sword fighting, shield throwing and solid jumping and ledge grabbing. You can also power up and become a grim reaper that uses your pool of magic. It's dark visually, but I liked the aesthestic. At one point I was fighting spiders in a flooded area with water up to my waist. The spiders moved under the water so I could barely see them. It was a very interesting visual. I really like this game. It feels like proto God of War. I'm deep into it and will continue with it next week. 

Switch

Mario & Luigi Brothership - I started the week playing this rental game. I stuck with it probably 15 hours or more before I got stuck trying to gather oil on a desert island protected by bone sharks. I have to distract the sharks, who are invincible, but I don't know how. 

This is a great game and I will own it one day and finish it. It uses the typical battle system of the M&L games - turn-based battles using platform mechanics to execute moves (what a great invovative idea!). You're tasked with attaching lost islands to your ship. Each island you beat gets tied to the ship. There's a sky view mode too where you direct your ship's path and spy for islets and new islands. I love multiple levels of gameplay like this. Overall really great stuff. I can't wait to own it up eventually. 

XSS

Ys Origin - I tried this again on easy difficulty and got past the trident weilding gal but only just. Then I got a little stuck again but discovered that I just had to put on a mask I was given to see a secret entrance. This led me to the solution to an enchanted room which led me to another area and another boss, where I got stuck again. I couldn't figure out what made this beast go unconscious and expose its brain to damage. It just seemed to do it at random moments. I got really annoyed by this and stopped, but I like the regular battle mechancs of this game so much, I'll likely go back to it and maybe look up a guide. 

Purchases

Monster Hunter Stories - On sale for $10 seemed like the time to jump in to this series. I think I'm mixing this up with the game World of Final Fantasy that I liked but it does look great and has a turn-based battle system. I think I'll dig it. 

Leo & Mia Animal Rescue - The word "rescue" seems like a common thread in my gaming of late. I certainly like games where I rescue things with vehicles or otherwise. I enjoyed Leo The Firefighter Cat pretty much. Cary brought this sequel to my attention and it just happened to be on sale for $5 right now, so I scarfed it up for some easy chievos and probably just an afternoon of fun. 

Next week I have a new rental, Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom which I'll be playing. Then back to Maximo Vs The Army of Zin.