Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Random Musings from a Trip to GameStop

So, I stopped by GameStop today for various reasons, mostly to add money to my pre-orders and to pre-order Fable 3. While there, I decided to peruse the racks for some hard to find gems.

First one I found was Heavenly Sword. This game was a damn launch title for the PS3 and it is still $30 USED. Why in the name of Tiny Baby Jesus is this game still so much?! I know the local Fry's had it for 20 a few weeks ago, but they sold out and will not be getting more. With Enslaved coming soon, I want to experience what else that development team has done first. I hear HS was a pretty good game, and clips I see to this day still impress me.

Speaking of Enslaved, I have to say that I am very curious about this one. It takes the classic Monkey myth and gives it a neat twist. Now, I've seen said myth used in all sorts of settings (Dragon Ball including all of its iterations and 2008's The Forbidden Kingdom), and I've always liked that myth. However, Enslaved seems to be bringing some muscle to this old story, and it looks nice. Thus, why I want to play Heavenly Sword before this hits shelves. I want to see what this team did before and get an idea of the kind of design they do and what we might be able to expect.

While at GameStop, I also tried to find some of my favorite Wii games: Smash Bros. Brawl, Metroid Prime Trilogy, either Mario Galaxy and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. They were nowhere to be found. I guess these games, being among the best the console has to offer, have gotten hoarded. I can relate to that. I'd sure as hell stash those away for my own greedy purposes.

Upon mentioning this to the guys working, we started into the The Motion Control Debate, as so often does when talking about gaming nowadays. The similarities between the Wii and Move are just too hard to dismiss. Sure, Move may look better and track movements better than the Wii, but I just foresee it falling prey to the Shovelware farce the Wii has become. I love Nintendo and the risks they take to try and innovate. And the Wii did just that for a while, and as we can see, the other two big companies are following suit, but the lasting power of motion control is what has me worried. Kinect, if anything, may make a breakthrough. However, I still have my doubts about its accuracy. We'll just see.

I want a good and (relatively) lengthy game for the DS that will give me a reason to break that thing out more. I've always had a secret corner in my heart for Pokemon. Yes, I said it. But where to jump in? I'm thinking Platinum. I know HeartGold and SoulSilver just came out, but they're rehashes of previous titles. I want the most up to date roster possible, and I think that's what Platinum offers. Any thoughts, readers? Pokehaters need not respond. Seriously.

I also found a few gems in the $15 or under bin. Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and Too Human were stashed in there. Riddick got some great reviews and I'd love to see for myself. Not a huge Vin Diesel fan, but the gameplay and atmosphere seemed to be really neat from the demo I played oh so long ago. As far as Too Human goes...I liked it. Not a fantastic or supremely made game, but I enjoyed it. I liked the twist on Norse mythology, and I've always been a sucker for that sort of thing. That's one reason I love God of War and Percy Jackson (the books/movie, not any of the tie-in games). It's also why I played Age of Mythology and why I bought Nasus on League of Legends. So, say Too Human sucks or whatever. Go ahead and hate. What matters is that I like it, I have fun with it. And for $10, I'd be willing to buy it.

That's all for now. I've got another rant brewing...so watch out!

Gnome, out.

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