This is the text supplement to this month's Chatting with TKKN again

Well the summer's over and I made some progress on my gaming log but didn't get everything done I wanted to. Deus Ex I stopped in Hong Kong after infiltrating then escaping the Majestic 12 HQ and then being given another mission by tracer tong. So I still have yet to play Invisible war and see where the story picks up after the events in the first game I'll get around to it eventually just not anytime soon.

I also failed to make any more progress in half-life or it's sequel/expansions, I think I'll just finish watching the playthrough videos on you tube I linked last blog. In Super Street Fighter IV I've made great progress I'm now at 49.87% for vs. and 49.10% for vs. ranked matches on xbox live, I'll post my PSN stats next time because I'm not sure how much I'll be playing that this month and if I do play it I'll be on the PS3 version so my 360 stats wont change I'll add my player and battle points next time too.

I really wish there was guard break because the turtling can get so annoying, yah there's chip damage but it takes SOOO long to KO someone from just chip damage and if you try to chip them out with a super or ultra you leave yourself wide open for a counterattack.

And Mass Effect I have been playing a TON of, I used this guide to steam roll through the first game with my vangaurd getting all the sidequests done and doing all the stuff that imports into Mass Effect 2, the only things I didn't do were the planet exploration for the turian medals and asari writings because I knew it wouldn't matter. However if it does I can just load up my last save to do those, breeze through ME2 and have my character ready for importing into ME3.

It's weird after re-playing those games back to back in such a short period of time I don't see the huge difference in quality as I did after first finishing Mass Effect 2. It's basically a quality vs. quantity thing where Mass Effect 2 does EVERYTHING better than Mass Effect but Mass Effect has so much MORE stuff to do. More side quests (even if they're mostly the same), more abilities (I think…). Except hub worlds and party members in ME1 two you get to explore and do sidequests for two (Feros, Noveria) whereas in ME2 the hub worlds have more atmosphere and the missions that take place on them are very well done and fleshed out the side quest on them seemed too simple but I guess it's preferred to having someone give you a fetch quest where you have to go all the way to some random planet in the galaxy then come back.

And I don't find the gameplay as bad as I thought I would even after the flawless gameplay that Mass Effect 2 delivers it's just more clunky and less friendly whereas ME2 is more fluid and smooth. I still say this was the right call, the RPG elements are still there just more streamlined so they don't get in your way while playing. Not having to constantly switch armor/ammo is a plus that lets you keep playing instead of constantly adjusting crap in the inventory screen you looted off the last enemy. Screw the haters.

There are also things Mass Effect 2 does that I respect such as having no main protaganist and playing your allies from the first game against you since you are working for Cerberus so there is some internal conflict among your friends. I'll leave it at that as not to spoil anything, lol looks like I made a mini-review there of Mass Effect episodes I and II.

Well, that's it for the summer gaming log, now for other stuff I've been playing.

PC:

Worms Reloaded- I would be playing more of this but am having technical issues there's no sound when the game runs. I went to the steam forums for the game and tried the fixes but they didn't work so I'll wait for an official patch/update for the game.

Left 4 Dead 2- Been playing this with friends on a gaming night doing survival runs and clearing all the campaign maps on advanced and dead center (I think) on expert.

Wii:

De blob- I had this game for a year if not more without playing it and ended up playing it for a youtube feature I'm doing and I've stuck with it really fun, relaxing and easy to enjoy. I've been playing it when I'm uploading stuff to youtube and don't want to boot up my PS3 or 360 and can't play anything online or want my PC to get all the bandwith.

I would explain it but you can check out the video I put up for it here

Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen- I have Ogre Battle 64 and really enjoyed it so was interested in playing this game. Well it's just like Ogre Battle 64 except without all the cool stuff they added to it since it was on the super Nintendo. So yah I enjoy this game it just makes me appreciate Ogre Battle 64 that much more, it's like playing shining force after playing Final Fantasy Tactics but I really like shining force because you could interact with more NPCs and do way more than in this game where you just fight battles and there is very little dialog and character progression. I'm only on chapter 3 so hopefully it gets better.

At this point I'd say if you're interested in the series get the N64 version off the virtual console because the SNES version is the same game but without the enhancements and depth of the N64 version. We'll see if my opinion changes by next month's gaming log.

PS3:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2- I play this game on a weekly basis with my friends in the Gamer Advisory Panel. I'm level 70 and never prestige, I'm trying to do the challenge where you get 50,000 bullet deflections and am almost at 40k so I'm almost there. I'm sure I'd be there if I played more often but it gives me something to do for the objective matches and then I can use regular guns when we play team deathmatch.

360:

Pac-Man Championship edition- I've also been playing this when I edit a video so need to wait a while for a long period of time. I'm trying to get the achievement where you need to get 400,000 points and have gotten 380k so I'm almost there and making progress and I feel insulted that this ancient game will not submit to my will. Makes me wonder why there isn't a new version of donkey kong with the popularity the king of kong gained I'm sure people would love to topple their friends from the leader boards on their friends lists. I've never been too big on games like this where it's just arcade ****get the most points but it makes me appreciate an old game that can stand the test of time and still use the same mechanics decades later and be fun it was the inspiration for the question of the week this week.

Well that's all I've been playing and been up to that I feel worth mentioning. Feel free to check out aimlesspodcasts where me and some friends write articles about gaming and record a gaming pod cast and my you tube page where I put up recordings of video games I play.

Links:

Super Street Fighter IV battle log
Mass Effect playthrough
Modern Warfare 2 game night videos