New Addition: Pandora’s Tower Arrives!

Posted on April 19, 2013 by geelw

rainfall trio

So, I ended up getting all three of these seemingly final US version Wii RPGs and I’m very pleased that I did this when they were their normal prices and not overinflated eBay purchases. I fired up Pandora’s Tower for just over an hour today and it’s pretty interesting so far. It’s a mix of elements from Shadow of the Colossus, God of War, Castlevania and a few other games with a nice JRPG look (some pretty visuals and an appropriately unique color palette). On the audio front, the UK dub is solid and the soundtrack so far is excellent with its bombastic classical and choral elements driving the action and some cinemas. So far, it’s not really “innovative” in any major ways, but developer Ganbarion has done a solid job in taking the hack & slash and having a bit of fun with it. OK, now I need to get a few more posts done so I can get back to playing this one…

VGA 101: What Do You Get The Guy Who Has Everything? A Bigger Closet And Some Shelves, Perhaps.

Posted on March 16, 2013 by geelw

OK, I have TOO much stuff. Actually, it would look a GREAT deal less cluttered here if I could afford the room/office design I have in my head but not enough in the wallet to even think of. The obvious running joke here is “sell your games so you can afford to get more space!”… which (ha ha) would leave me with money to buy some nice shelves and such but nothing to put on them.

Ah well… I guess it could be worse. I could be keeping rabbits here in the apartment. Or running a mushroom farm from the closets here. Hmmm… that might work for some good cash after all. Where can I find good truffles around here to raise? And a dog that hates expensive fungus?

(Note: pigs are allegedly illegal to keep here in NYC as pets despite some people owning them in a few spots)…

Video Game Appreciation 101: Wii Library Update (New Additions)

Posted on July 23, 2012 by geelw

A few new (and used) titles for the collection, mostly thanks to some trades and a few others snapped up at really cheap prices. of course, I haven’t even finished all of these (my time machine is still busted), but have played enough of each to offer buy or bust recommendations. Then again, something I don’t like might be something you may fall over backwards over – that’s one of the more interesting things about gaming for you, right?
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Video Game Appreciation 101: Nintendo DS (New Additions)

Posted on July 20, 2012 by geelw

I need to do this on a more regular basis like some of my other fellow game bloggers (you know who you are, but I need to list you guys on my sidebar at some point today), so here you go, six new DS games added, all picked up quite cheap.

Aliens: Infestation is a pretty challenging side-scrolling shooter/adventure from WayForward Technologies (makers of some of the best “retro” style games out there) and Gearbox Software. Hop aboard an alien packed Sulaco as a squad of Marines as you search for survivors in this sort-of sequel/side-story to Aliens. With a limited number of squad members available (one they’re dead, they’re gone for good), some mean bosses that take a bit of work to put down and a decent amount of replay value, it’s not a bad game at all if you’re a fan of this sort of game.

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Gallery: Wii Library (A Work Back In Progress!)

Posted on April 25, 2012 by geelw

I’ve actually owned and played a LOT more than I’ve kept in this photo, but I’m in the process of adding a few more games through trades and tracking down some dirt cheap titles in a few clearance bins. I actually have a few more games on the way thanks to a small trade I made recently, but I wanted to post this picture up now. I guess, I’ll update a few months from now when I have more interesting games to show.

That said, sometimes, it makes me want to (gently) sling an untethered Wii Remote at the heads of those who say the system ONLY has “kiddie” or family games or worse, slam the console without having played a single game on it because they just don’t see how motion control would work on a favorite genre. While, yes, there are a lot of not so hot games on the system, you can absolutely say that about any console from any generation. As far as the Wii (or any other system) goes, when you have a developer who gets what can be done, it works – when you have one that doesn’t quite get it right, it doesn’t. Of course, even a “bad” game can be enjoyable if you’re in the right frame of mind…