It's Dai Time

Katie & Scott & Simon & Cecily.

Author: Scott (Page 8 of 104)

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

May 30, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I finished the single player campaign of BF:BC2 last night. It’s the first game that I’ve beaten since Simon’s birth (although I’ve been playing several others) and I have mixed feelings about it. I’ll start by saying that I loved the first Battlefield: Bad Company game, so my expectations of the sequel were pretty high. And overall, I enjoyed the game. A lot. Had I played this game first, I might have enjoyed it more.

But there was something missing. There was a blend of just the right amount of vehicles, gadgets, and different guns in the first BC that made each level exciting. The multiplayer progression and unlocking system in the first BC felt new (though, to be fair, this may be because I played it before I played Modern Warfare). BC2 felt a bit like more of the same.

That isn’t to say the game isn’t fun. I had a lot of fun, especially because the characters I had grown to know and love in BC were back and as ridiculous as ever. Having played Modern Warfare 1 and 2 in the interim, the little jabs (both written and visual) were enjoyable. And there’s no other game out there that can quite match the pleasure you get from flying a helicopter into someone or collapsing a building on top of them in Bad Company.

It’ll be interesting to see just how much multiplayer I go back and play with Bad Company 2, now that I’ve beaten the campaign.

Dante’s Inferno

February 22, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Not a very long game, I finished Dante’s Inferno late last night after about 10 hours of gameplay.  I unlocked a few bonus features, as well as the ability to play through the game again with all of my powers, although I don’t know if that’d be enough for me to rent it again.

I’ll say this: I had fun.  There were parts that made me a bit squeamish and there was definitely what I’d deem excessive amounts of nudity and gore, but the actual button-mashing combo-unlocking gameplay was exciting.

Spoilers after the break.

That’s not to say there weren’t things I found annoying.  There were certain enemies that, without buying a particular combo, are frustrating to kill simply due to the amount of time it takes to wear them down.  There are certain jumping puzzles that, with the fixed camera, simply aren’t fun; dying while trying to judge camera distance is never fun.  Lastly, the first half of the final fight with Lucifer had me spamming my ranged attack and using my healing spell for five minutes with little variation.  Was I doing something wrong, or was it really meant to be that boring?

Either way, it was a fun game to play through and the game works best when I’m feeling super powerful.  Other times, when I fail to make a jump because of collision I didn’t know was there, the game feels stupid.

Day 365: this is it

February 11, 2010 / / 1 Comment

The last day.  The final piece of this year-long puzzle.  The coup de grace.  My 26th year of life.

In some ways, this was an ordeal.  There were days when I had to actively remember that I had a blog post to write and stumble to my computer, fighting off sleep, only to stare at an empty text field for fifteen minutes before going to look at random stuff on Facebook.

But in many ways, this wasn’t that hard.  Once I got the ball rolling by not failing to write a post for the first month or two, it was pretty hard to miss a day.  It became part of my daily routine.  Much like Katie always takes her prenatal vitamins before bed, I always write my post before I go to sleep.  I’m sure having a small (but devoted?) readership that would judge me harshly if I slipped was also a good incentive.

Really, it became just another thing I did each day.

And I liked it.  I think I’ll be done now, for a while.  I think 365 daily posts in a row is enough.  While I enjoyed the routine of forcing myself to write each day (maybe something I can use in next year’s NanoWrimo?) and I loved the conversations it would occasionally bring up with the friends who read these posts, I think I’d enjoy a nice break.  After all, any day now, the amount of free time I have is going to change forever.

I appreciate any of you who stuck with me for a whole year, anybody who joined midway through, or even if this is the first blog entry of mine you’ve ever read.  Knowing that there were people who were interested in my rants and thoughts and ideas was great.

Thanks especially to my wife, Katie, for putting up with me coming to bed half an hour later than I would have otherwise for an entire year.

That’s it.  We did it.

Day 364: birthday burger

February 11, 2010 / / 0 Comments

There’s only one day left until my birthday.  And the week that leads up to my birthday is great.

Why?  Because, as an avid joiner of restaurant mailing lists and “e-clubs,” I get inundated with coupons and free meals or portions of meals from many different restaurants the week before the big day arrives.

It usually starts 7 days out, and none of them really require them to be used on the exact birthday anyway.  It’s more like all of mid-February is a big cheap eats zone.

My favorite consistent birthday treat is the Red Robin coupon, which nets me a free burger with no purchase necessary.  What’s more, telling the waiter that it’s your birthday also gets you a free sundae dessert.  It’s essentially a completely free meal for me, which is something that most other places can’t match.

Being on the Dave and Buster’s email list is also rewarding, although we don’t go there all that much, as the nearest D&B is a good half hour drive away.  Still, I get small amounts of free game play to add to my card throughout the year, meaning that I rarely have to spend much to play games when I get there.

I like it when huge faceless corporations wish me a happy birthday a week early by giving me a coupon.  A free Arby’s shake with a combo?  Yes please!  A free milkshake or dessert from Armadillo Willy’s?  Why not!  20% off DVDs from the Warner Brothers online store?  That’s just what I always wanted!

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