With much trepidation I ventured out to Gamestop on my lunch break and looked at the game case for Star Wars: The Old Republic. It had been out for a few weeks and had been getting good reviews. I had given up on World of Warcraft for the second time in my life earlier in the year. Knowing my rabid addiction to the previous Star Wars MMORPG, Galaxies, I wondered if I could moderate myself and not fall hopelessly addicted. Maybe some of the negative things people were saying about the game would turn me off. After all, it IS a Bioware game, a developer I have disliked for a long time. Only one way to find out, play it for myself. So home I went, after sending a picture of the game to Weasel to make him jealous.

I was wrong on all fronts. I am addicted, and the game is pretty damn great.

JD, Jedi Badass

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Kills = Points, With a twist

I had a chance at PAX to chat with Joel DeYoung, producer for HotHead Games, about their upcoming release Swarm. In Swarm, you play as a group of small blue aliens called swarmites.  The swarmites have landed on a planet filled with deadly objects and traps.  The goal of each level is to simply reach the end with at least one swarmite alive. The group moves together as one unit, and with the controller you can spread the swarmites out, pack them densly together, stack them up, jump, etc.   Throughout each level are collectible orbs which boost your score, as well as DNA items that you can bring back your “mother” to help her grow.  One thing that is different about this game is that you get points for dying.  For each swarmite that dies, you get more points, as well as increase or extend any score multiplier you may have.

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Ravenholm in Half Life 2. Survival horror at its best.

Inspired by this week’s show, episode 137, I thought I would take a second to extol the virtues of one of the greatest gaming compilations ever put together – The Orange Box.  The Orange Box consists of  three games and two expansions from developer Valve.  Portal is an action puzzle game that must be played to believe.  Team Fortress 2  is a team and class based shooter that is great fun when you have friends to play with.

The gem of The Orange Box, however, is Half Life 2 and its two expansions.  Half Life 2, in my opinion, is the greatest game ever made.  It was voted so by PC Gamer Magazine as well.  When you play it, keep in mind that Half Life 2 was released in 2004.  I believe the graphics still hold up, which is impressive.  I still remember playing this game on my PC in 2004 and being flabbergasted by the graphics at the time.  Gameplay is second to none.  This game was an innovator in many ways, especially how it integrated fast paced first person shooter action interspersed with puzzle solving.  This game has it all, great weapons, varied enemies, vehicles, puzzles, hair raising suspense, and creepy look behind your back survival horror.

Possibly the greatest weapon ever used in a shooter, the gravity gun, is one of my favorite parts.  You just need to fire a saw blade through three zombified head crab beings, cutting them in half as they slowly march toward you.  Just something that everyone should do.  And the change that the gravity gun goes through at the end of the game is epic.  EPIC.

The Orange Box is less than $20 new.  Go get it if you haven’t played it.  Please.

Yes, those are my feet

The following blog post is in response to GHR Episode 118, “Matrimony vs. Mancaves”; and the subsequent comments in episode 119.  If you haven’t listened to them, please do!
To start with – in regards to my wife putting a bid on a house without me seeing it – you have to look at it from our point of view.  We had been looking at houses for months, only finding one house that we both agreed deserved a bid.  That bid expired because the owner was dragging his feet and it was an estate sale, plus we didn’t get a good vibe from the realtor or owner.  After all of this house searching (we walked through probably 20 houses) my wife had a good idea of what my expectations were in a house.  While I was at PAX, my wife looked at another house and fell in love with it.  She said it had everything we needed, but there were multiple parties interested in the house and we needed to act immediately. 

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For FREEEEEEE?

After a few weeks of patient waiting, THQ announced today that the code included in new retail copies of Darksiders will allow you to get a free ($5 shipping) copy of Red Faction: Guerrilla!  Awesome news, and even more reason to go out and buy Darksiders.  Both are great games.  Check out my review of Darksiders if you’re curious.

Offer ends March 7th, and is only good in the U.S.