Month in Review: November 2009

Well, I managed to get myself stuck with yet another console this month. The space under my TV is at a premium right now, not to mention the constant battle for plug sockets.

New Acquisitions

It's been a long time since I squeeed like a little girl over a game. It's been even longer since I bothered to go out of my way to pick up a game on release day. In fact, I know for a fact the only other two games I have purposefully gone to the store on release day to buy were Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate II (a.k.a. Best Game Ever). Which is appropriate since Dragon Age is like totally awesome and combines the best bits of both of those games to make a game which, while not perfect, is pretty darn close to it. Anyway, that's the brand new game right there, next to the brand new and very shiny Collector's Edition strategy guide, bought solely for the last 60 pages - chock full of concept art, world background and lore and other goodies.

One shiny new Wii. Not the black one I was eyeing so enviously, but a vanilla white one. Not pictured are the free boxed Sports Resort/Motion Plus set or the (highly impractical) bigger outer box that containeth the whole shebang. One hundred and thirty-five squids only.

A handful of Wii titles to get me on my way. Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Dragon Quest Swords were brand new and bought online, while Super Paper Mario and Red Steel were used pickups from Game. Red Steel is a bit naff but it was only £2.97 so can't complain much.

One reason the Wii appealed to me was the ease with which light-gun styIe arcade action could be applied to the system's control scheme, and with some juicy Resident Evil and/or House of the Dead zombie holocausts looking ever more likely I decided I needed an appropriate weapon to dispatch these foul foes. Obviously the official Zapper was right out, the whole two-handed cramp-o-rama design put me right off, so my weapon of choice was narrowed down to two: the pump-action shotgun I'd seen in Game or this epic HOTD Hand Cannon. In the end, the cool factor won out. Blam!

And here are the first two games to benefit from my nifty new peripheral. HOTD Overkill was brand new, while Ghost Squad was bought used.

Just so my 360 didn't feel left out after all the attention my Wii and PC have got this month, I picked up Wet new for £15. It's been on my radar for quite a long time now so I'm glad I managed to get hold of it.

Games Played

Dragon Age: Origins (PC)

Absolutely spiffy. As you may have gathered from my gushing above, I'm a tiny bit of a Bioware fan. Stemming of course, from the fact that everything they touch is gold. Dragon Age: Origins (okay, we get you're looking at a franchise here, still, the name could do without the sutitle) is to my mind, everything Neverwinter Nights 2 should have been (Obsidian, if you are ever called upon to make a sequel, take notes). It's a great PC RPG - yes, it's a PC game and no amount of shoddy last-minute ports can change that - that takes right back to the beautiful CRPG glory days of a decade ago, except that now it's gorgeous to look at too! If I have a complaint, it's that Dragon Age as a whole lacks the cinematic quality found in Mass Effect and even Jade Empire. I also would have preferred a dialogue system closer to ME's. Anyhoo, enough blathering. I'm 42 hours in and while I'm a fair way through the main quest, I know I've barely scratched the surface of this thing.

Fallout 3 (PC)

I'm on my second full run-through of Fallout 3. This time I'm playing as a complete and utter bastard and my word, isn't it fun? My initial plan was to play the DLC I've obtained since my first play-through, but I haven't got to that yet. The sheer scope of the original game is keeping me occupied. Also, I've devoted most of my playing time of late to a certain other PC RPG. I have managed to ding another four achievements though, for 80 points.

House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii)

Let's face it: as a non-American I'm pretty clueless about the whole grindhouse 'thing'; my own personal experience of the genre is limited to whatever Quentin Tarantino tells me to watch. But if there's one thing us Brits appreciate it's satire, and satire done well, even if in this case we can't really relate to the thing that is being satirised. I've read enough harsh reviews of Overkill to come to the conclusion that 90% of the people who've played this game don't even realise it's a pisstake, let alone a pisstake of a genre based on taking the piss. And it's a (insert F-bomb here) good pisstake. Parody by imitation and all that. So I'll just say that I've really enjoyed this House of the Dead incarnation, of which I've played about halfway through so far with my trusty Hand Cannon.

In Conclusion...

So many games, so little time. Can't believe it's December now...