March 31, 2011

Dragon Age 2

Filed under: Gamer — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Yukino @ 1:50 PM

Status: Finished once as a female Rogue
Achievements: 38 of 55
Gamerscore: 665/1130
DLC Purchased: Dragon Age Legends (Facebook app) bonus items

Not really a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins with some of that TV spin-off feel, Dragon Age 2 boasts a more polished feel both in game play and graphics, but falls short in the story development category. If you can’t see how Bioware plans to tie aspects of the two together for Dragon Age 3, you might want to stop playing RPGs.

Potential spoilers lay ahead. I am doing my best to avoid them but since this game does tie into Dragon Age: Origins, it is difficult to completely ignore them.

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March 30, 2011

The Curious Case of the Never-Ending Backlog

Filed under: Journalist — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Yukino @ 10:00 AM

Nine out of ten gamers have one. We don’t mean for it to happen, but new and shinier things always seem to come our way, leading to last week’s new release finding its way to the stack of games we promise ourselves we will get back to just as soon as the summer lull comes around.

For some of us, it’s not so bad. Less than a baker’s dozen of past releases remain sealed or still have that fresh from the factory smell. And we will get to those, just as soon as we finish up a season of whatever EA Sports title or in-depth RPG is causing the hold up. For others (primarily those working in the industry, whether it be as developer or journalist), that stack of games is more likely triple what a normal gamer has waiting.  It’s not that you don’t want to play them, because you most definitely do, but in between playing or making games for work, plowing through weekly review copies and picking up the ones you aren’t comped, it doesn’t take long to watch your backlog develop into a monster. (more…)

You Don’t Know Jack

Filed under: Gamer — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — Yukino @ 9:04 AM

Status: Working through the last rounds
Achievements: 20 of 50
Gamerscore: 430/1250
DLC Purchased: None (yet!)

You Don’t Know Jack is the perfect trivia video game. No silly jumping around in front of a camera when all you want to do is veg out on the couch. Just crazy button mashing, yelling, and Screwing (no, not that kind of screwing!!) all in the name of winning. And collecting awesome prizes (but more on that in a bit). (more…)

March 18, 2011

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Filed under: Gamer — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Yukino @ 6:30 PM

Status: 1 playthrough complete, no multiplayer
Achievements: 35 of 60
Gamerscore: 690/1250
DLC Purchased: None

There are few games that cause me to scream obscenities at my television on a regular basis that I still find enjoyable and push through to complete. The Assassin’s Creed franchise currently ranks number one in that category, with Brotherhood feeling more like an extension of AC2 than being a real “third” installment. (more…)

March 11, 2011

Summer, Fireworks and My Corpse

Filed under: Bookshelf — Yukino @ 4:46 PM

Zoo introduced me to the brilliance that is Otsuichi, and Summer, Fireworks and My Corpse has me on the brink of becoming an Otsuichi-addict.

This second Otsuichi collection from the Haikasoru line-up published by Viz Media features his debut and award winning story Summer, Fireworks and My Corpse, the tale of a young girl murdered during summer vacation in a fit of jealousy. The young girl’s corpse narrates part of the story as her killer and her brother attempt to make it look as though she was a victim of a kidnapper.

Also in this volume is Black Fairy Tale, in which a high school student loses an eye and receives a new one thanks to a slightly underground operation. With losing that eye and gaining a new one, she seems to have forgotten who she was and begins seeing images in her new eye which she discovers are the memories of the young man it previously belonged to. She sets out to discover what happened to the young man, hoping that solving that mystery might help her remember who she is.

Nestled in-between these two dark tales is a third short story, Yuko. A young woman is brought to an author’s home to help take care of the cleaning and meals but begins to suspect that her master’s wife is nothing more than a doll, a figment of his imagination. Convinced she is helping him out, she decides to help him see that he is clinging onto a wife that no longer is in this world.

If you are a fan of the macabre, Otsuichi’s dark tales should be a part of your horror library.

Purchase Summer, Fireworks and My Corpse from Amazon or RightStuf

*Artwork Copyright Viz Media*

Puzzle Expedition DS

Filed under: Gamer — Tags: , , , , , — Yukino @ 2:06 PM

Status: Getting by with a little help from the internet

Puzzle solving is great for your brain, so says Dr. Kawashima, the genius behind all the Brain Age games. And if the doctor tells you to play more puzzle solving games, then you should listen to what he is telling you. While this might not be one of his endorsed games, Puzzle Expedition is definitely going to give your problem solving skills a good workout. (more…)

March 2, 2011

Dragon Age: Origins

Filed under: Gamer — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Yukino @ 6:22 PM

Status: Completed 3 times
Achievements: 57 of 76
Gamerscore: 1225/1750
DLC Played: Awakening

Dragon Age wasn’t on my watch-list when it was announced. Probably because I didn’t end up enjoying Mass Effect as much as I was hoping to which turned into lukewarm feelings for BioWare. It wasn’t that I thought Mass Effect was a bad game, more that I just didn’t find myself feeling as submersed into the universe as I thought I would. But months later my newly minted husband decided he wanted to pick it up after hearing good things from friends. I still wasn’t really feeling the Dragon Age mojo, so I watched him a bit as he played figuring I might one day get around to it. (more…)

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