I'm so glad February is over. It's my least favorite month (followed very closely by January). Winter just drags on forever and, for a kid who grew up playing baseball all summer, that can be excruciating. Lucky for me, I have video games to dull the pain of ice, snow, and single-digit windchills.

I was able to meet my two-game quota for the month:

2. Champions of Norrath: Realms of Everquest (PS2)
3. Max Payne (PS2)

Champions is an excellent hack n' slash title from the folks who made the first (also excellent) Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. If you're a fan of this type of game, give it a try. It's a ton of fun if you just feel like turning your brain off and killing stuff. As a matter of fact, if anyone knows of any similar titles (outside of BG: DA, the Champions series, or Gauntlet), let me know. I love my dungeon hacks!

Max Payne is one of those games that got hamstrung by it's control scheme. While it's a great game...I love it's premise and overall vibe and the voice acting is delightfully cheesy in a nod to campy old film noir...it could have been legendary. Unfortunately, the controls are terribly mushy and a bit counterintuitive to begin with. Try the drug trip scenes or any part that requires any type of platforming to see what I mean.

I spent a paragraph last month talking about how I was going to play Super Mario RPG, Saints Row 2, and Fallout 3. Obviously, it didn't happen. I've started Mass Effect, but I highly doubt you'll see that on my completion list for this month...it's LOOONG! I'm looking at Rygar (NES), Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (PS2), and Champions: Return to Arms (PS2) as possible gap fillers/change-ups. But, to be completely honest, I have no idea what I'll be in the mood for by mid-month. Plus, I've got the collector's edition of Street Fighter IV on the way. Which is a perfect segue into:

February Acquisitions
-Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (X360)
-Word Puzzle (XBLA)
-King's Knight (NES)
-Spy vs. Spy (NES)
-Target: Renegade (NES)

That's about it for now. Until next time...