Mass Effect, Banjo Kazooie, Beneath A Steel Sky & Heroes Of Might And Magic III

That's probably the nerdiest blog title I'll ever have. It was like a sliding scale really. Part of me was tempted to mention the football happenings of the last couple of nights but there's not an awful lot to say. Liverpool played terribly and so did Man United. Well, from what I saw of both anyway. I had them both on while I was playing the previously mentioned games. So, Mass Effect. That was a good game wasn't it? Yeah it was and still is. I decided to hop back in and whore a few achievements I'd missed. I know, its low isn't it. I feel dirty just thinking it. Knowing the shame I've committed. But hell, I got an easy 100G or so and remembered why I loved the game in the first place. For all its flaws, its a lot of fun. I'm now super-ready for number two. I'm not paraphrasing a constipated child there, merely trying to reveal my excitement. How many more games are going to creep on to that must buy list for next year?

I'm going to stay with a friend this weekend and I figured that if gaming happens then Fifa and Modern Warfare 2 are going to be on the cards. So I should play some stuff I won't play while I'm away. Phrasing it like that makes it sound like I have an addiction. I don't. I think. My 360 has been played every day for the last 5 days now though. Hmmm. Anyway, Banjo Kazooie is a fair bit of fun. Starting to get into making my own vehicles now. I'm still not very far though, got about 15 jiggies or so. It can be frustrating, destroying some balls attacking a crocodile's eyes was a real teeth clencher for me. Looking back on that sentence though, it sounds riveting doesn't it? Still, glad I picked this game up on the cheap. My new Swapgame will be here next week, so I can put it back on the chill pile till the next drought.

I also found out today that Beneath A Steel Sky was going for free on GOG.com. So me being the tight-fisted mofo I am, rushed there to pick it up. First thing that struck me is the interface on their website, its fantastic and you can download a game however many times you want. Awesome! The game itself is a point and click classic from before my time. I mean I was alive. But I was six when it was released. A game based around post apocalypse Australia was a little beyond my reach. First game I loved was The Lion King on the Mega Drive. Used to hate that level with the monkeys in the trees, was always shit at it. Oh, and the Mickey Mouse one too! The ghost level used to get me on that game. Anyway the game is a complete throwback, it feels dated in most ways. But it was free and came with a walkthrough so even if I don't play it, it at least deserves to be cheated through so I can see what I missed out on all those years ago. Which finally brings me to Heroes Of Might And Magic III! Which has just finished downloading! I'll be brief: I want a game to play on the train and I absolutely loved this when I was younger. Finally convinced myself its worth the $9.99 I paid for it and I'm going straight for "Vikings We Shall Come" (I think it was called). Its exciting fucking times.

Gaming Tuesday

Seems quite strange really that Modern Warfare 2 has been out for only a couple of weeks because its already slipped from my disc tray. I just haven't found the will to throw myself into the multiplayer yet. Instead I've thrown myself back into my Fifa 10 management career. This has probably happened after my inevitable downfall in the new Football Manager. But anyway, its been a successful return to the helm of St James Park. Just finished my second season third in the Premiership with both the FA Cup and the League Cup under my belt. Not bad considering I haven't bought any new players, only signed a few scouted ones. Just won the Charity Shield in my third season and about to kick it off proper, but I'm going to take it easy. Trying to make my "EA Game Face" for my Be A Pro player now. Hahaha. Oh dear me. Just finished it. Its terrifying. I look completely evil, even complete with the "Glitler" moustache from the photo I used. Knew I shouldn't have used that photo from Reading. Anyway, going to dive into it proper now. Lets hope its more fun than it was last season.

500 Days Of Summer

Reading back through some of my posts I realised that the majority of the updates of late seem to be around three in the morning. No wonder my sleeping pattern is so out of whack. I would have left this till tomorrow but its still very fresh in the mind. This is the last of my little romance binge and probably better for it. If I watch one more romantic film I think I may unwittingly swap genders. I'm pretty sure I'm generating a large quantity of oestrogen at the moment already. No wonder I can't grow a beard. Anyhow, the aforementioned film is something rather special in my eyes. Quirky, individual and very warm-hearted. I found it a genuinely touching movie with the two leads both absorbing you in from the off. It helps that Zooey Deschanel is beautiful. I mean stunning. But, restrained lust aside, its just the kind of romantic comedy you don't get enough of these days. There's a few staples of the genre in there, and it does stick to the blueprint in its own way but it really is just a lovely little film. Although, I think I might give it a little while before I watch it again. Overall I found it a fantastic little gem. I really can't stress that enough. Right, probably time I shot some civilians in the face on Modern Warfare 2. I can almost hear my sperm count dropping with every positive I lavish upon this film.

Adventureland

This may well be turning into an indie film binge at this rate. 500 Days Of Summer is lined up next as well, might try and save it though. Anyway, Adventureland is apparently "by the director of Superbad". Luckily this film only shares a few surface characteristics, this film is more a slow burner than an in your face laugh fest. Or however Superbad professes to be known. I must admit I was rather taken with the movie, this film is very charming. Although the film begins by putting our lead in a rather unlikely setting, it slowly distills him over the film showing him to be a much likable person. There's a pretty fantastic soundtrack throughout as well, but you expect nothing less in an indie flick these days right? It may not be radical in its formula but before you get to the somewhat predictable final third you're already too deep in to notice. I think I'll be making some amendments to my favourite films of the year. Its definitely the best romantic comedy I've seen since Juno. Which feels like a long, long time ago now.

Wristcutters: A Love Story & 1 vs 100

You can tell with a title like Wristcutters: A Love Story you're going to be in for some indie melodrama and the film, in many ways, lives up to these preconceptions. The plot is thus; boy goes through break up, kills himself, enters limbo, finds out ex is also there, road trip. In many ways the film is quite close to the narrative track you'd expect once you disregard the setting. In writing the film seems like an appealing prospect but watching it is a very different experience. In all honesty, its just quite boring. There's a few nice scenes and having Gogol Bordello and Tom Waits featured is always a winner. But there's not enough to make it stand out from the rest of the indie crowd. Its a 5/10 if I ever saw one. I will say this though; the ending is lovely.

Tonight (well yesterday I think) saw the triumphant return of 1 vs 100 to Xbox Live. I'm assuming you saw the ticker tape and news specials dedicated to its explosive appearance back in our lives? No? Neither did I really. Logged on today to get some Last FM fuelled Football Manager happening and noticed the little logo winking at me from the Spotlight section. I thought "Why the hell not?". Well I soon found out why not. Firstly I had to download the game. Which is fine. But it came in three sections. Why? Surely its just one game? But once that wait was over (I cooked some food while waiting, oh the joys of having an evening to yourself) I was finally chucked in to the middle of the prize game. I got 7 straight correct answers over two rounds, the questions seemed easier this time than season one. Then the game crashed. Oh. Cheers for that. So booted it back up again, got in and then bang another crash. Then got into extended play and a few questions in ANOTHER FUCKING CRASH. I thought we'd already had the beta for this? Are we in the gamma now? Come on Microsoft, just pull it and sort it. I'd rather that than maybe fluke my way into a prize winning position and then have you crash the game.

On a final note Football Manager has driven me mildly insane. Two 94th minute losses on the bounce to Preston and Swansea respectively. I almost ate my own face. Luckily Last FM has been streaming me the pleasing post-rock plumage of Sigur Ros radio. At least Microsoft included one good, working new feature recently.

Martyrs

I'm a pretty open minded person, I'll watch most things on TV really. You can't say you hate it if you haven't seen it. Of course you can say it constantly during and after but not before. I'm also a big advocate of foreign cinema, little bit of reading never hurt anyone. Unless its a blind guy reading braille on a touch sensitive bomb. But the chances of that happening are unlikely outside a new season of 24. All of these reasons is why I decided to watch Martyrs which is a French horror/mystery according to Wikipedia. Now firstly, most horrors are mystery films but don't claim to be. "Who's murdering", "Why are they murdering", "Was it with the crowbar in the kitchen?". All of these I would class as mysteries really. Of course it depends on the film but lets not get bogged down in the details. I'm not adverse to gore really, I found myself tittering my way through Saw VI. But this film was a bit too much. It was just foul, I felt like giving up defending any film with graphic content and just supporting anything that Chris Tookey at the Daily Mail reviews well. It was just plain horrible. But maybe the story would save it. Would it fuck. I won't spoil it for you, but the films spoils it itself. Just by it being plainly shit. It makes sense, but I just thought "Naaa". Overall, I feel a bit emptier inside and very let down.

To cheer me up though I slotted into episode two of Misfits the new superhero show on E4. Its pretty good still, the writing is actually quite witty. Its just the coiffured fool delivering the lines the irks me. I hope they go a bit Skins with it and focus on different characters every week though. Not sure I can take an entire series of his Irish "charm".

Gaming Tuesday (On Wednesday)

So its been out a week now, well for those who didn't get it delivered early and Modern Warfare 2 has has the majority share of my disc drive. I polished off the single player campaign on the day I got it, not a massive achievement as such as it was only on regular difficulty. I'll wait until next year to tackle Veteran mode I think, it worked with COD:4 anyway. Apart from that damn aeroplane level. Never even got close on that one. Brrrr. In the time since then I've dabbled both in Spec-Ops and online multiplayer, with mixed results. Spec-Ops is a pretty addictive little pack of bonus missions based around levels from both Modern Warfare games. They work much better when played with a buddy too, as me and mine found out when our desperate calls of "Juggernaut!!!" before our demise after 7 constant failures on "Snatch and Grab" grew too much. Online multiplayer is a different kettle of fish. I've always been a Halo man myself, been playing them covenant since I was yay high. Not that much shorter actually. I'm a little bit older than the Halo franchise. This is why I never really got in to Call Of Duty multiplayer. Its all stealth, one shot and skill. Where Halo is mainly madness, beat downs and sticky grenades. I played a few rounds but I grew frustrated quickly. Getting thrown in with people 40 levels higher than you is not fun for a start and then being killed by campers as well did not help. I did ok for a first timer, generally one or two places from the bottom. I'll need to give it a lot more time to get any good. Something I may or may not do depending on what Swapgame send me next (No time for Batman's challenges I'm afraid).

In between all the face shooting and airports I've managed to knock in a bit of virtual lego 'em up (kind of) Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Its a sweet and fun little game basically. The humour isn't as sharp as good old Conker's Bad Fur Day but it brings a smile to your face. The difficulty isn't overly hard yet although I've only been messing about in the first two or three zones so far. My own problem is that I really cannot be bothered to try to build vehicles yet. I know this is essentially the whole game, but I'd rather just do the little challenges. My heart genuinely sinks when I realise its a "build it yourself challenge". Still, it was a cheap purchase off eBay so I'll keep it for the down time in between Swapgames I think.

Finally I come to temptation that's been knocking on the door. Part of me is referring to Left 4 Dead 2, which I'm going to forward to Santa I think. But no, its Football Manager 2010. It is the most addicting game of all time. I caved in and got the demo from Steam and I've already got to November. Its been one day. I have of course made a bit of a shit up already with my Newcastle team. We're only third. I've signed Danny Simpson, Jack Wilshire and Nathan Delfounso. Delfounso has played two games and been awful (good recommendation there coaches), Wilshire has been good though. Anyway, £29.99 off Steam. Its really tempting and considering my disc drive is buggered I can't shop around either. We'll see how long I can last. I give it one to two days.