Yes, there was a little lapse between this one and my last blog. I had a very bad weekend, and it spiraled up until Tuesday. I am already looking forward to this weekend. I have a few updates from the past blog and yes I am still working on the Hitman review. Ever since I have been off my reviewing gig, I find myself losing deadlines when it comes to writing. I think it has something to do with the fact that I had deadlines for 8 years (and always met them) and the last two months, I try to give myself deadlines with various writing tasks and mostly miss them. Somewhere, I will find a happy balance. Alright enough of that, let’s go.
Puzzle Quest DLC
So, some 5 years after Puzzle Quest had been released on Xbox Live Arcade, they finally decided to have a sale on the downloadable content. For the longest time, it had been 700 points or roughly $8.75. Even though it sported 4 new classes, several new achievements and a new storyline, it just was not worth the extra dough. I had beat the game easily, and the achievements were a piece of cake for the most part. But then last week, they did a sale, the DLC for 400 points or $5 smackers. I decided I could live with that and quickly purchased it.
I beat it over the weekend. Read that again, I beat it over the weekend. I lost one battle and that was to the end boss (which I quickly rectified). It was some of the easiest DLC that I ever had played. I wouldn’t say it was crap but whoever charged the initial $8.75 for it was on serious crack. None of the weapons or armor, save for the Stormhammer were worth putting on my Wizard and most of the new enemies rely on disease which even though irritating, isn’t all that difficult. Perhaps my build for my Wizard is just so fool proof that there wasn’t going to be much that was going to dent me computer wise (I’m sure I would get my ass handed to me by a person who has spent way more time with the product), but I think the added quests just were not very well thought out.
Needless to say, I got all three of the extra achievements. The DLC pack also raised the level cap to 60, but I didn’t have to make it to even 53. I just don’t even see myself going back to learn and try out new spells for the monsters I did capture. I would not say the $5 was wasted, but we’ll go with a D+/C- range for the DLC when said and done. It is truly a shame when the original game was clearly an A or A-.
WWE ’13
One of the games that I got over the holiday season was WWE 13 for a mere $25 dollars. My last WWE game was from 2010 in which I one hundred percent-ed in achievements and gameplay. I’ve always been really good with wrestling games even if there is a learning curve. I guess I understand the psychology and watching the sport for 30 years, and some of it rubs off. Thankfully, they have not really made any wrestling game I’ve seen into some technical nightmare where you have to be a genius to play.
WWE 13 does have a learning curve of sorts in that you really have to learn how to reverse moves on a regular basis. The Right Trigger has to be your friend or you will lose matches quickly. But its a lot of fun and the wrestling is very fluid. Furthermore, graphics look dead on and the audio is of course off the hook. But where the game really shines is the Attitude Mode as well as WWE Universe.
Attitude Mode describes the time period from the mid 90’s up until early 2000’s in the WWE when greats like Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and The Rock ruled the wrestling ring. It had great creativity and some really awesome characters. In this mode, you play as various wrestlers from that era and recreate classic moments like the evolution of DX or the rise of Austin 3:16. Furthermore, you can gain rewards for achieving certain milestones as you progress. Very nice job done here.
But then there is WWE Universe mode. Ever wanted to manage your own wrestling fantasy league, well here you go. You start off with your roster and the two shows but then after that a lot of it is up to you. You can simulate or play as much as you want. Random story lines are thrown in and you can watch teams form and alliances dissolved at the blink of an eye. This mode is also super addicting, I found myself switching around everybody. From making Ziggler and HHH into a face tag-team and then turning Kofi/Truth into a heel team TO having Sin Cara feud with Brock Lesnar over the United States championship. (yeah Santino did not make it very long as US Champion in my fantasy league).
In addition, I decided to make my own TV Show with just Divas (and have Zack Ryder defend his “Internet” championship as a joke) and quickly ran into one of the limits of the mode. It seems you have to have 15 wrestlers (or divas) on the roster before it can have its own show. They start you off with 7 females on the roster. Seven, it looks like I am off to Community Creations on Xbox Live. I put in my Online Pass (I hate those things, but I am not talented enough to pull off my own creations) and off we go.
Uh oh, the servers are not showing anything. This whole THQ bankruptcy thing certainly put the shitter on these servers. After fiddling with it for minutes, I was able to download a few wrestlers including divas. But the servers are very difficult and you have to be very careful with it waiting for it to load in certain places and not skipping along. I also noticed something else a little annoying, they really push this whole Season Pass concept. Such as the case, some of the community downloads require you to own that pass because of custom clothes and face styles. But its hard to rationalize that this game I just spent $25 bucks on, that I should spend another $20 so I can get DLC and access to all of the community creations. Assuming a sale is even possible with THQ going bankrupt, I could be interested at that point. Worst case is I’ll just download the DLC wrestlers I want at a $1 a pop (I’m thinking no more than 5 of them).
However, with enough searches I did secure enough females to make a roster (also thanks to WWE for making Layla on the DLC free to download). It’s a start and I am thinking that maybe I need to give the creation a shot and see if this mode is a little more forgiving than past Smackdown vs Raws. Needless to say, I will be playing with this quite a bit and having fun doing it. And folks, that’s what counts. (You can stop poking fun at me now :))
Quick Hits
Over this weekend, I did have a little bit of time to myself and I went back and played X-Com: Enemy Unknown for about an hour. That’s not really a game you can just come back every so often or else you will get your squad absolutely massacred by aliens. I did get a couple of achievements, but I will have to replay the part I messed with because the outcome will severely cripple me going forward. But I do want to go back to it eventually and finish it.
I also received in the mail this week my Hitman:Blood Money guide from Ebay. Perfect condition, seriously. But it is also one of the early 360 guides meaning it also supported several other systems and was written more so for those systems(PC, PS2, etc) and not the 360. So, if I want help with anything besides the walkthrough, I’m outta luck. Well worth the money and the review will be much easier if I run into tight spots. It’s coming, I promise.
I also received my copy of WWE All-Stars, brand new, pretty as a picture for less than $20 shipped. I was actually between opening that game or WWE 13 but the temptation of Universe mode won me over. However, I know that I will come back to this one as the allure of playing with legends is too great. Even if it is done in a very arcadey style.
Also, Happy Wars I’m done as far as playing it on a regular basis. Too much frustration, too much crappy servers. I’m actually pretty decent, now level 32 and all three classes have pretty good equipment. However, the one last achievement I was hoping for (40 quests complete) is stuck at 38 quests completed. 100 wins is still about 10-15 away and one would have to think that something like kill 500 of a specific class will randomly pop very soon. But I just can’t do it, except an hour here or there. Eventually but probably not in good time.
As mentioned last week, I am reading House of Serpents by Lisa Smedman, a Forgotten Realms Trilogy. I am through the first book, and half way through the second book, about page ~400. Still fantastic. I really like her style of writing and am seeking any of her Shadowrun paperbacks. The trilogy should only take me another couple of weeks tops and then I hope to have one of her Shadowruns by then.
Final Word
So, work is letting up just a little bit which is a very good thing. At the stress rate I was heading towards, I was about two steps from a mental or physical breakdown. Even my father who I had spoken to recently and of course my wife were concerned. Truthfully, I let things get to me too much and put the weight of the entire department often on my back. But damn it, I try to be the best at what I do. And I know most of my department respects me for just that. Anyway, until next time, keep smiling and keep loving what you do.
