2 posts tagged “games”

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Kingdom Hearts 2

Oct 18, 2006
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I finally finished Kingdom Hearts 2 last week. It was definitely a bittersweet moment. On the one hand, it was nice to actually finish a game. In addition to being a very casual gamer, I am also a game starter and not a finisher (actually, now that I think about it, the same thing could be said about my reading habits). I was especially happy to finish this game, as it had been such a long time coming. I had been waiting for this game ever since I finished the first one four years ago. I had been counting down to the release day, but since it was so close to the end of the school year (it came right at crunch time) I had to put off buying it until all of my assignments were finished (there's no way that I would have been able to concentrate otherwise). When I finally got the game, I played it everyday until I reached the final world and got stuck on one of the boss fights (Xigbar). After dying a million times, I put the game aside and didn't touch it again for months. Last week, when I was having a bad day, I decided to give it another try. Low and behold, I beat Xigbar on the first try - go figure - and after a long and intense final battle, I finished the game. For anyone who is interested, here is my less than stellar Battle Report (in addition to being a casual, non-finishing gamer, I am also not a very good one):

Kingdom Hearts 2 Battle Report
Game LV: Standard
Completion of Journal: 84%
Completion of Gummi Routes: 5% (Ha! I really don't like the gummi routes)
Healed Party Members: 65 times
Saved by Mickey: 3 times
Most Used Form: Valor, 12 times (I only used forms when I absolutely had to use them)
Used Antiform: 1 time
Most Used Summon: Chicken Little, 0 times

All in all, I had fun with this game. I'll admit that I dreaded the first five hours or so, but the game really did get a lot better and those five hours were long forgotten when I finished the game (the whole game took me around 37-40 hours). While it lacked the exploratory charm of the first game, it still had likeable (and detestable) characters, memorable worlds, and an intriguing (albeit confusing) storyline.

And this brings me to the bitter part of the sweet: now that I have finished Kingdom Hearts 2, what am I going to play?! Sure, there are plently of other games but none of them hook me the same way as Kingdom Hearts. And now that I have finished Kingdom Hearts 2, it will likely be years before I will be able to play another Kingdom Hearts game. *sigh*

In the meantime, I guess that I should try to finish some of the other games that I have hanging around the house. I am going to start with Harvest Moon: Melody Maker and then move on to (in no particular order) Ape Escape 3, Katamari Damacy, and We Love Katamari. I might also give Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic a try, as my boyfriend thinks that I might enjoy it (I personally think that it sounds too involved and complicated for me).

Game Releases: September 12, 2006

Sep 9, 2006
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As a very casual gamer, it is not very often that I get excited about the release of new games. But it just so happens that I am looking forward to playing TWO games that are coming out on Tuesday, September 12, 2006.

The first game that I am looking forward to is Lego Star Wars II, which is going to be released on the Xbox 360, Xbox, PS2, PSP, NDS, and GBA.

key_art.jpg

The first Lego Star Wars, which was based on Star Wars episodes 1-3, was a zany adventure game with reasonably simple yet unbelievably fun platforming, puzzles and co-op play (my boyfriend and I played the entire game together). Lego Star Wars II, which is based on Star Wars episodes 4-6, promises more of the same, plus more tongue-in-cheek humour (including the ability to create mutant Star Wars characters and to rip off other characters' limbs).

Here are some screenshots and of the game:

And here is a video of the game:

Lego Star Wars 2

The second game that I am looking forward to playing is a Nintendo DS game called Cooking Mama. I don't know much about this game, but from what I have seen, it looks like a Wario Ware Touched-style game with nothing but cooking mini-games.

Check out these super cute screenshots: