Tag Archives: Gamestop

Working through the Trilogy (again)

Posted by Steve on March 26, 2012 No comments

Lately I have been suffering a little PTMED (Post Traumatic Mass Effect Depression, it’s a thing). I tried to go play some Old Republic, but found myself too distracted with all of the huge range of emotions I experienced with my playthrough of ME3. (Note, still liked the ending). As I have mentioned before, I never did a second playthrough, only the single story, and single save. The quick recap about this meant that I was able to experience the whole story in a very unique way. It didn’t get convoluted with alternate choices or multiple stories. (Not that there is anything wrong with that, just not what I wanted to do). I have now experienced the whole story, and I loved it.

So, what do you do with a story you just finished and loved? You experience it again! I made the decision to run through the whole story again, starting at Mass Effect 1, and working through the whole trilogy. I experienced a small snag in this though. My ME1 disk went missing! I had pre-ordered and bought the collectors tin for ME1 and had the tin, and the bonus discs…..but no game disk! I checked with Gamestop and they wanted $30 for a pre-owned copy (WTF!!!). Amazon had new Platinum editions for $19 (UPDATE, it’s $16 now!!!) with prime shipping so that’s how I went. It arrived on Friday.

To accompany this epic playthrough I also splurged and purchased the N7 branded G155 Personal Gaming Environment. I have a number of trips coming up that may end up with me in a place that might get boring. (assuming I don’t get out and take pictures.) So I picked up this case so I could take a 360 with me. I will probably have a post about the case after I get it wit photos and such.

So, I am now 10 hours into Mass Effect 1 and the experience is amazing. First off, it’s VERY difficult to transition from ME3 controls down to ME1, you can tell they improved on quite a bit. Outside of that, though, it’s been outstanding. It feels like one of those movies where I have been transported back in time and given the opportunity to make new choices, knowing what I know now! My favorite moment so far was meeting Wrex for the first time (again) with the Dialogue

Wrex: Do I know you human?

Me: * Not yet
* You will
* Shut Up

For those that are curious, I am playing through as BroShep. My first was with FemShep, and my Romance options were ME1: Liara (Duh), ME2: Garrus (Comedy Option), and ME3: Traynor (Stress Relief). I would be happy to explain these if you ask, but I think I know how I will steer things this time around. I will certainly keep you updated on the progress both here and on Twitter.

Naughty Bear…or….20 minutes of game play I’ll never get back

Posted by Steve on June 30, 2010 No comments

Tuesday is new game release day, and Wednesday is new comic day. Now I don’t typically buy as many new games as I buy comics, but I tend to keep an eye on what’s getting released in the same way. This last Tuesday saw two releases that I have been watching for a while now. Lego Harry Potter, and Naughty Bear. I knew what to expect with any Lego game, while they may tell different stories, the game play is similar across the board. The Sleeper was Naughty Bear. I had seen a number of preview videos and some of the trailers, and to be honest, they did their job well and I was enticed. It looked funny/cute in a “Happy Tree Friends” sort of way.

Sadly, I was wrong. I bought Naughty Bear at 7:30pm on Tuesday night, got home and played through the first “episode” and instantly knew that I had made a mistake. I toughed it out and finished the episode, then packed it up and headed back to Gamestop. Thankfully the gracious personnel there were nice enough to let me swap it out for Lego Harry Potter.

Side note here. I was warned, by Erin when I bought Naughty Bear, that it was going to be bad. I decided to make my own judgment.

So what made it so bad? Well, The idea was good and funny. Unfortunately that was the extent of the good. The Premise was that you played Naughty Bear, the bastard step child of this “Care Bear” style island where everything is puppies and kittens. Some of the other bears on the island have treated you unfairly and you decide to get back at them by being naughty. Being Naughty can range from scaring them, sabotaging their stuff, or even bashing their stuffed heads in with a baseball bat. Who wouldn’t think that could be fun?!

What it ended up being was a series of “Challenges” where you had to sneak around and scare/kill your fellow bears while disrupting their activities. I guess that you could play the game more Sam Fisher style and sneak in the bushes then pop out and scare them, but after the first time you do that they all know you are there, so no more sneaking will help you. From there is just becomes “I’m going to run around and hit you with a bat”. When you finish with the bears, you can gain a few extra points by smashing stuff. And that was it! After a while, even the narration is grating.

Now, I think the game may be not as bad as I am making it out to be if it weren’t for one more glaringly bad problem, it was release at the price point of $49.99. For the same price as something like Lego Harry Potter, you get a game that may have done well as an Xbox Arcade title, for maybe $10-$12 bucks

The Graphics were just ok, the actual game mechanics were horrible. I had to maneuver myself around and fumble with the view to get into a position where I could actually scare another bear. Just Awful, one of the worst games I have tried. This may, and I emphasize MAY, be worth it when the price drops down to like $5, which I have no doubt that it will fall to that.

Training week…

Posted by Steve on January 25, 2010 No comments

So I am in training all week for . The training class is located in the Ballston Common Mall in Arlington VA, and is right across from the Gamestop. The Gamestop of course has a metric F^%$ton of posters for Mass Effect 2 that are taunting me. I have managed to avoid all the various advertisements and trailers (with the exception of print posters and the like). I would very much like the experience I have in game to be un-spoiled. With some of the big name games I have been trying to do that more and more. It seems that lately some of the games are approaching “Avatar” levels of advertising and showing so many in-game videos and screen shots that it boggles me why I should even play the game any more! I probably would have seen all the important parts. (I know I haven’t, but still) So with Mass Effect 2 and the upcoming Bioshock 2 (another sequel!) I have avoided it all. I pick up ME2 tomorrow and will dive in tomorrow evening.