Logan in the Old West

Logan, meet John Marston you two have a lot in common

I was in a bit of a wolverine craze of late so I dug up some modern classics to read and among them was the recent Old Man Logan by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. What makes Old Man Logan so compelling is Logan playing the role of the family man pacifist in this alternate reality future instead of his usual badass mutant berserker self. We don't know why he is that way initially but there he is, attending to his family and herds of cattle in the barn. We have all seen wolverine in action before and being the best at what he does, it's nice to see such restrain with the character until the final payoff when he does pop his claws out again.

What does this has to do with anything? Well, the character John Marston in Red Dead Redemption just reminds me of the Old Man Logan tale. But the problem with Marston is we've never seen him in action as the cold-blooded killer riding with his old gang or even this new family he talks about so fondly, at least this early on in the game where I'm playing. It hardly establish the character quite as well hearing him talk about it rather than seeing it. It's doesn't feel intimidating when Marston warns strangers not to push his buttons or take his words lightly because even I'm not sure what he's capable of, aside of picking up rare flowers and herding the cattle. The mundane task just feels that way, this is not how the cliche story of cold-blooded killers walking away from past life of killing is supposed to be. Is there going to be a huge payoff at the end where Marston goes berserk and just guns down his old gang and anyone standing in his way?

Maybe I should have just watched Clint Eastword in Unforgiven instead, I heard it's really good and has a similar story to Old Man Logan, probably Red Dead Redemption too.

I Love My Big Daddy

While I was in Singapore a couple of months back, buying the only copy of Silent Hill Shattered Memories Wii I could find there seems like a pretty sound decision. After all apart of Silent Hill: The Room, I have every other Silent Hill console game in my collection, a fact I remained pretty proud of.

Even before owning the Wii version of Shattered Memories, I have played the game pretty thoroughly on my PSP and PS2 trying to push the limits of the psychological analysis in the game. All that got me was harry ended up being too timid to the point of being abused by his wife or too flirtatious, hardly the object of poor Cheryl's admiration. This time I decided to play the game without trying to manipulate how the game is perceiving you. Turns out I must be a pretty big playboy after all since I got the ending where Harry is fooling around with the prom queen and nurse again. Sure the in-depth analysis of your character that runs next to the credits is entirely different this time but I didn't really care anymore at that point.

I should have just settle for that creepy birthday song over the phone in Silent Hill 3.

NBA 2K12 Big 3

2K sports just unveiled the cover athlete for the upcoming NBA 2K12 and much to my surprise, they went old school again with a trio covers of MJ, Magic and Bird. Up until now, I had secretly hoped that 2K sports will changed their mind about doing another NBA 2K release this year with the looming uncertainty of NBA season lockout yet to be resolved. My copy of NBA 2K11 is just barely six months old and pretty soon the online servers will be taken offline or abandoned in favour of the new version. Worse the Legend mode will be further expanded to now include Magic and Bird's championship era even though they already made brief appearance in NBA 2K11. I suspect like the Jordan Challenge which featured different era of MJ career, the Legend mode will now feature different renders of Magic and Bird so you don't have to bear with the horribly rendered moustached Bird from the 63 point MJ playoff game anymore.

Lost among the hype of NBA 2K new big 3 cover is the pre-order dlc of classic NBA teams like Webber's Kings and Mullin's Warriors.

(Double) Nickel's Back

When I first started watching NBA games, I realised there were NBA players and there was Michael Jordan. He had already ascend to NBA immortality by winning his first 3-peat of championship rings and was just in the midst of his incredible comeback. After that, he became the roadblock that prevented some of my favourite players from earning their own rings, not exactly how most NBA fans will remember him by but that was sort of how I identified him.

MJ made another comeback to the virtual court when NBA 2K11 featured him on the cover with some of his most memorable moments captured on the Jordan challenge mode. I wasn't exactly jumping to play the challenge mode when I got the game a couple of months ago, the only game that really stood out to me was the double-nickel game. Something about wearing that number 45 jersey and then scoring 55 points on Madison Square Garden just 4 games after making a comeback seems really special to me. It wasn't until after a brief spell of NBA 07 when I felt the urge to relive some of MJ's greatest games. Sure Kobe 81-point game in NBA 07 was fun but it wasn't exactly challenging with the lack of defense and simple AI logic in fact, my best score was enough to make Wilt Chamberlain sweat (97 points). I suspect scoring 50-points in NBA2K11 won't be easy even with MJ as my previous best was only 44-points with Ray Allen, thanks to some lucky 3s.

I suppose that's the beauty of NBA2K11, one week I could be totally absorbed with playing my favourite team on Association mode, another week I'm looking for live challenge online and now I'm totally wrapped in the Jordan challenge mode.

Good to be Back?

Having a really slow internet speed certainly does not bode well with Sony PSN's welcome back program this month. I'm not sure if you have to install all your free games before the program period is up so I would rather not take that chance. Further complicating the matter is that some games simply haul your download progress whether you are playing multiplayer or not. I have since gone back to playing NBA 07 instead of NBA 2K11 and realised I only have a week left to finish downloading Little Big Planet and Hustle Kings.

Don't even get me started on Infamous because i can't imagine how long will it take at this rate.

King of Anything

Being a long time NBA fan, I remember playing the early NBA Lives on my PC and having a blast with NBA Jam on the home console. I began to play a lot less NBA with each generation as it simply became too time-consuming once I get addicted to the season mode. NBA 07 was a nice change when I discovered the NBA replay mode allows you to relive players' biggest moment of the season trying to emulate their accomplishments in those game. Having a sentimental attachment to veteran players I grew up watching, NBA 2K11 was the perfect game for me to jump into the series once MJ was revealed as the cover athlete.

I decided to go back to experiencing the whole thing by going through season mode to earn a spot in the playoffs and ultimately contend for the championship. The game has evolved so much that I have difficulty even beating the low-ranked teams, there are so much involved for the simple goal of just putting the ball in the basket. You have to learn the offense schemes in the playbook, how to read and react to the opponent's defense and also get back on defense if not the other team will burn you. If you are a very competitive person, you might not get much enjoyment out of the game in the early going. Some of the trophies like beating the other team by a margin of50 points seems impossible when I can just barely squeeze out a victory most of the time.

Maybe I should have just gone with NBA Jam?

Fangs for the Memories

I have been spending a lot of time and money on Castlevania of late, picking up the Limited Edition Lords of Shadow and then the Santa Lilio artbook shortly after. The sheer volume of Ayami Kojima artwork in the compilation is simply overwhelming I'm not sure if all her Castlevania works are there as I have yet to finished going through.

Could this sudden surge of interest in Castlevania stems from the 25th anniversary of the series looming this year? It felt like only a while back when the 20th anniversary package was given with pre-orders of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin but I guess the years have a way of creeping up on you. I remember gleefully going through the package as every game in the series is nicely chronicled in an art collection booklet and a series timeline foldout pinup. Aside from Mercury Steam's DLC expansion episodes to Lords of Shadow, very little is known of what Konami has in store for fans this year. Hopefully this 25th anniversary of the series will not go by unnoticed.

Anniversary Reflections

Capcom has been guilty of their fair share of cheap port and quick remakes but Deadly Silence should not be counted as one of them. Released to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Resident Evil, Deadly Silence looks and plays like the original except now you are playing the whole thing in the palm of your hands.

The pre-rendered background could be copied over directly from the original but the 3D character and object polygons could not so Capcom had to re-draw everything from scratch. A rebirth mode was added where many of the newer RE moves were implement to the original included the all-important quick turn, knife attack and quick reload. All of these moves could now be performed without going to the item menu just like in Resident Evil 4 and 5. Some of the pre-rendered background were redrawn to accommodate the new costume and puzzles in addition to a handful of new camera views of "background" for the knifing mode.

I wasn't impressed with Deadly Silence back during the tenth anniversary but now I'm beginning to see the effort the team put into the port. It made have been all fans got ob the tenth anniversary but right now it seems a lot better than what we are getting for the 15th anniversary this year.

Hurry Up and Wait

It's no secret that I used my ps3 a lot more often than my nintendo Wii, I liked the online functionality of the system and even when i'm not busy downloading a file off PSN in the background I would still logged in while gaming. Having my live community of gamer friends there online is like a reality check sometimes if i get too carried away into the wee hours I would be constantly remind to stop soon by presence of my friends signing off.

Another benefit of being signed onto PSN network while you are playing is the immediate access to any update patch that may be been made available to the game. This will improve the gameplay experience like the ability to have game data install for Bayonetta or even provide additional content such is the case for Yakuza 3 japanese edition.

During PSN network downtime this past week I rarely turn on the system without the online functionality there. I have grown used to having my new trophies synced the moment I quit the game and without that assurance, the drive to chase trophies just isn't there. I was almost done with my third run through Dead Rising 2 at a point where I would achieve a couple more trophies and I just stop momentarily while Sony sort out this mess. Apparently PSN will be back online within a week and during this time I have been keeping myself busy with the Wii. I feel sorry for my Wii now that its impending successor has been made official as I never got the most out of it. I kept waiting and waiting for the Wii to have a truly great year to call its own with a software lineup that will shed some of the public misconception of the system and it never really happened. Instead I waited and I found out that it's going to be replaced soon now.

Dressed to Kill

Part of the appeal of the No More Heroes games is you get to play dress-up with the main hero, fashioning his clothing style to your delight. All this comes at a price from the local airport 51 store but when you see your new garments in all its glory during the cutscenes you will made the extra effort to afford these new clothings.

A glitch in the second game threatens to ruin the experience as some of your purchases tend to disappear from the wardrobe forcing you to buy them again. It isn't detrimental to the game however and appears to be unavoidable considering how much of the game consists of dressing up Travis touchdown. If you don't focus on what GHM didn't improve in the second game you will surely be impressed with what they did, the environments don't look as sparse as in the first and the wardrobe has a nice set of options. Travis is certainly dressed to kill in NMH2 it's just a shame there wasn't a worthy opponent to kill anymore.

The Foreigner

I have a very unique history with the Castlevania series considering I was more familiar with the handheld games than its console brethens. My first Castlevania game was Belmont's Revenge on the original Gameboy a game far too easy back then to seriously considered a classic.
Then on, I have pretty much possessed or played every Castlevania handheld game before and after Belmont's Revenge save perhaps the legendary Castlevania Legends. I even have the Tiger handheld game system of Simon's Quest to indicate how far my roots with Castlevania portable goes.

The Castlevania fan in me had little interest in any new Castlevania without team IGA participation like the recent reboot, Lord of Shadows. That was until I decided to try the demo on PSN network and discovered how polished the game was. Castlevania most prominent features like the art design and music remained as striking as ever despite the absence of series mainstays Michiru Yamane and Ayami Kojima. Ultimately when the Red Dead Redemption GOTY edition announcement turns out to be a little premature, I decided to get Lord of Shadows instead. The Limited Edition was still readily available on local game forums and being priced at a standard game was just too good an offer for me to resist. I have learnt to be more open-minded about foreign developers working on big Japanese game franchise after taking the chance and being pleasantly surprised with Dead Rising 2. At the very least Lords of Shadow looks like a really good horror-themed action game, whether it can do justice to the franchise would be icing on the cake for a long time fan like myself.

I Got your Back

As great as NBA 2K11 is, it's lacking the core emotions of the game which makes the real games so compelling to watch. Now before you call me a sadist for sports violence let me make it clear that when I said compelling to watch, I was referring to the bond between team-mates to stick up for one another when they get into a scruffle or in the players' words " I have got your back brother".

I remember playing the 8-bit games on Ice Hockey on the Gameboy and you could actually engage in a fight with your opponent after getting tangled up at the side. I don't watch enough of ice hockey to know how prevalent is violence in hockey but things can get real testy in a heated NBA game because players are always in such close contact of one another. Perhaps 2K sports should step up their game in making the games as realistic as possible? If the games are already simulating in-game injuries then I don't see why suspensions and technical fouls are out of the question.

Tough Guy Talk

The general complaint is that Vanquish is too short of a game but I found the length to be just nice. The game could really use some neat bonus to enhance the replay value but unfortunately there is little offered here. I didn't unlock the skill challenge yet perhaps it requires a higher difficulty level as I decided to start the game on casual auto. I wanted to be a bit more creative about adding replay value to the game so that's why I intend to work my way up from the easiest difficulty all the way to God Hard mode. Hopefully that will gently ease me into the game enough to earn all the trophies and just give me the general satisfaction of mastering a notoriously hard game. On the bright side there are six voice-over track included on the game so you can always have a little fun with listening to the tough guys talk in German or French. All in all I had a lot of fun with this game, I wasn't itching to play it everyday like Dead Rising 2 but I end up liking it a lot more than when I first tried the demo. In fact the second demo featuring on the skill challenge had me in real doubts about getting the game at all but fortunately I decided to take the risk and give the game another chance.

Diary of an Ex-Handheld Gamer

Ever watch the WWE season weekly or overseas tour as opposed to the monthly pay-per-view events? As interesting as the storyline and matches are, almost nothing significant ever happens in terms of title change even if there is a title match with the title on the line.

In some ways a handheld game spin off from a famous franchise is kind of the same thing, no matter how good the game is, it will never be as significant as it's bigger brother. This is the diary of an ex-handheld gamer back when a handheld system was all i had. It's the user base? I digress as the most popular handheld system usually have a bigger user base than its console sibling when it's all said and done. The inferior graphics? I can't really say for sure but as I observed even with the current handheld system, the trend is still happening now.

That's the fate of a solely-handheld gamer I suppose if you don't get caught up with all the hype and big franchise then it probably won't bother you at the end of the day. If not you will never be content no matter how great Final Fantasy VII : Crisis Core and Metal Gear : Peace Walker were. Which brings to the next question is it wise to pay console-price for a handheld system like Nintendo 3DS?

Vanity Affair

I was surprised to see Shinji Mikami name on the back cover of Vanquish, and it wasn't a vanity affair like how Hideo Kojima name usually appears on Metal Gear games. Mikami may have directed many great games after Resident Evil but this I believe was the first time his name appeared alongside on the box art. One of his earlier works was the brilliantly-crafted Dino Crisis on the PSOne which I'm currently playing after finishing Dino Crisis 2 recently.

It's definitely one of my favourite PSOne games which is why I felt so cold about the second game initially. The fully-rendered backgrounds are nothing short of amazing on the 32-bit hardware and suits the modern architecture of the game though it could use with a bit more colour depth. I like the decision-making aspect of the game it's not as subtly executed as Resident Evil but it helps established a bond between Regina and her teammates as you have to choose who to side with. The mixing system for the health packs and anesthetic is still confusing today and something I would rather avoid than to get into. One other thing I enjoyed is the colour-coding for the different item box in the game and how you only have a limited number of plugs to open each box. The game is packed with little clever touches to distinguish it from its more famous cousin like how Regina never leaves your sight even in a loading screen.

It's been a long time since Mikami's last game but somehow it's always worth the wait.

Devil-Bringer Back to Where It Came

Next to go on my ps3 hard disk was actually the very first game I install when I got the system, Devil May Cry 4. Sentiments aside there is really no reason to keep this game data on my ps3 as there are no patch or dlc for the game so re-installing the game in the future should be fairly quick.

I initially plan on just viewing the cutscene through the story theater and be done with it but being the sap that I am, there is no way I will be able to do that without feeling guilty. So I thought I should have a quick playthrough the game without worrying about ranking and just clear another one of the six difficulty modes in the game. A friend of mine absolutely loathe this game when he first played it for reasons I couldn't see why but I begin to have similar feeling after rushing through the game. Maybe my heart just wasn't in it this time as I was expecting enemies to be shuffled around and other surprises in the son of sparda hard mode. From what I can remember everything feels the same as before and after Bayonetta, playing as Nero just feels woefully one-dimension. In the end I just couldn't wait to devil bringer this game back to where it came - my collection where it will remain for a long time to come.

The Importance of Being Old School

I take pride on being a bit of an old-school gamer, having grown up from the 8-bit era of video games. These days when story and graphics matter more than gameplay it's scary to think how video game have envolved. A close friend often lament to me how he will never play a game without any story and it's exactly these guys why games like Heavy Rain came about. I will probably never buy Heavy Rain because the game is lacking the one most defining aspect of a game; the gameplay and I refused to campaign such a game.

As I await for my copy of Vanquish I begin to wonder how much punishment is in-store. It's going to be one of the those games which I hopelessly can't master but yet can't resist coming back for more. Somehow it's always the most frustrating game which you will eventually find the greatest satisfaction in, wouldn't you agree?

Biggest Red Packet of This Season

During my Chinese New Year break I had the good fortune of receiving my copy of Metroid:Other M japan import just in time before the break. I had envision spending the next six of days of break completely devoted to the game in between the snacking and visiting relatives of course. That didn't really happened as I never imagined bypassing the region-lock on my Nintendo Wii would be so difficult. The english patch of Fatal Frame IV was so easy to use I naturally thought I won't have any problems getting this import to run as well. Nothing would work as Gecko and Neogamma refuse to load the disc though I had a little better luck getting them to run my Biohazard 0 GC Japan import. All long I had no intentions of getting the Metroid Other M US version not only because of the horrible box art but also I have learnt that it required a firmware update to 4.3U in order to run. I was still happily playing the Fatal Frame IV using the english patch on my 4.2U system so a system update was out of the question.

In the end the Metroid Other M japan import felt like a big red ang pow which I couldn't even open. On a more positive note I finally made good of my promise to add Vanquish to my collection even though it did come a little later than I expected. The beauty of it was I didn't have to choose between Vanquish and Dead Rising 2 after all as I managed to benefit from a bit of a price drop on both.

Feeling Retro: Dino Crisis 2

I had the Dino Crisis 2 disc sitting in my PSOne disc tray for a very long time before finally feeling nostalgic about playing it. To my surprise once I started I couldn't stop as I was simply having too much fun with it. I remember when the game was first released I was reluctant to embraced it because it deviated so far from the formula and element of fear Mikami had established in the first game. The game was Capcom's swansong to the PSOne and sure enough had pretty graphics to boot but it really didn't matter as the Playstation2 had just launched.

The Dino Crisis series really went off the rails with the Xbox exclusive Dino Crisis 3 but part of the problem with the series had already begun in Dino Crisis 2. Don't get me wrong Dino Crisis 2 is certainly a worthy sequel but I always had a sneaky suspicion that Capcom felt a compelling need to introduce new and bizarre dinosaurs with each new sequel of the game. Dino Crisis 2 felt great up until the part when the Giganotosaurus was introduced into the game. I'm not sure what kind of dinosaurs were introduced in Dino Crisis 3 but from what I could remember they sure don't look like dinosaurs to me. It's almost like it's encoded into the design philosophy of Capcom for making Dino Crisis sequels at that time, to come up with new, more off-beat dinosaurs with every sequel. That's why I think the series has remained dormant for so long and will likely stay so for the time to come. We don't need new dinosaurs in every sequel Capcom we just need new ways of killing them.

No Wayne It's Luka

In an effort to clear some valuable hard disk space on my ps3, I went back to playing Lost Planet shortly after finishing Dead Rising 2. I lost my save game file a while back after updating the patch for the game so in a way, I was starting anew again. It wasn't a big loss as Lost Planet had hardly anything to unlock upon completion something uncommon for a Capcom game.

The most worthwhile was the character Luka which you could unlock for play in the online campaign as well as in the story campaign, an exclusive addition to the ps3 version. In order to unlock her you would have to locate all the hidden target marks for any one of the difficulty modes. I decided to try and do so when I started playing the game again so I had to go back and re-do all the earlier missions I cleared. What I initially thought would be a pretty quick affair turned into a long obsessive hunt as I was more consumed with finding these target marks than enjoying the game. When I finally did locate all the target marks and unlock Luka, there was a huge sigh of relief but then a quick realisation of what's the point. The cut-scenes of the game are unaffected by this change and also the viewpoint of the game doesn't really show off the character model very well. Oh well at least I achieved a new unlockable this time around and can proceed to delete the game data off my hard drive.

Unforeseeable Headache

If there is one thing that connect me to my feminine side is my low tolerance for maps in video games. It's not that I don't like them but I hardly ever put them to good use, most of the time I prefer to rely on my good memory to guide me through the game world. It helps with the immersion of the game though certain games like Silent Hill make great use of the maps, automatically noting down the locked doors and riddles so you feel that the map is actually contributing to the game.

Last week after clearing a backlog of Dead Rising games, I decided to finally get started on Metroid Prime Trilogy. What I didn't expected was to suffer motion sickness from playing the game, the thought never occurred to me from the time I purchased the game until now. To come this far from my great hunt for the game and bragging about it on my blog, only to give up now because I couldn't stomach first-person shooter was a real shame. I started to think maybe I overdid it over the weekend and intend to slowly ease myself into the game from now hopefully overcoming this problem over time. The map system in Metroid is a big help usually 3D map are a nuisance for me but Metroid's map really help me to keep track of my bearings and avoid any unnecessary backtracking. After all I'm monitoring my minutes in the game so I really can't afford to wander around aimlessly without making any progress. I managed about 35 minutes today and really thought I just about reach my limit for the day. Only time will tell if I can endure more given enough exposure to first-person games but the likes of Goldeneye will certainly have to wait.

The Other Way Around

Just as I suspected, I managed to finish Dead Rising 2 before finishing the first Dead Rising (though I made quick work of finishing that one too a couple of days later). The Wii port of Dead Rising is indeed made longer by the gameplay changes implemented and as such there is little reason to go back to it unlike Dead Rising 2. It started to dawn on me just how much content was removed from the original when Capcom ported it to the Wii so aside from the missing psychopaths I'm not sure if there were multiple endings to the original Dead Rising. The ending I achieved felt like the true ending of Dead Rising though there were plenty of surprises along the way.

I'm pretty glad I finished the first Dead Rising because I lost interest after awhile and it was just sitting there idle at one point. Then I even contemplated of selling it but couldn't bring myself to do it. It took the Dead Rising 2 to finally get me playing the Wii game again though it was supposed to have been the other way around.

Is Losing Any Different?

Is there any difference in losing by a big margin and narrowly losing? Some people tend not to think so but just ask the Cleveland Cavaliers who made NBA history by losing to the Los Angeles Lakers by 55 points. There's no doubt of the emotional damage inflicted by this recent loss as the Cavaliers were already left in shambles after last summer's Decision by The Chosen One.

Whenever I don't make it to first position in the Terror Is Reality gameshow, I find the loss more difficult to accept when the victor has a wide margin of victory over me. Coming in second is hardly a consolation when there is such a disparity in points and possibly skill though I'm not sure how the other two contestants feel. I can tolerate losing by a few points or at the last minute rather than the game being decided already minutes before it's even over.

I felt a great relief when I achieved the TK's favourite trophy for winning all 9 types of matches as I read too much into other players' frustration at earning that trophy. That affected me negatively as I began to anticipate similar frustration before it even happened but thankfully it didn't. I did win a few games at the last second or by a narrow margin but there was more to do with a lack of familiarity with the match. Once the burden of the trophy is gone, I definitely enjoyed the game a lot more and in the process, won some of these matches by a wide margin too. The only question remains is whether I should continue to play these TIR matches having achieved all the TIR trophies.

It's a Madworld on TIR

One of the nice thing about Terror is Reality is the in-game narration, it eliminate the need of online chat which might be a little awkward as you are usually paired with strangers. It reminds me a lot of Platinum Games' Madworld which also places the player in a sadistically violent game show.

Everything is pretty much set up nicely for the players in ranked match so all you need to do is just log into the server. The lack of control can be a little frustrating at times because you can only play what ever matches randomly assigned to you, there is no option to practise and get better at the certain games. There is also no way of knowing how much money you have accumulated over your TIR match in order to lock the hidden costumes. Bottom line is if you are going to concentrate on playing TIR matches instead of the main game you are bound to get frustrated sooner or later.

Terror is Real

I was pretty content with playing the story mode of Dead Rising 2 since I didn't have anyone to coop with yet and frankly I would like to see the whole story through before inviting someone into the game. I was at the beginning of Day 3 last weekend when I had to rescue a couple of survivors caught up in a poker game inside the casino. Of course they wouldn't budge from their game unless I beat them in a poker game but I didn't have enough cash to even buy into the game. I didn't want to give up these survivors so the only way I could think of raking up money without letting the game clock tick away is to earn some from the Terror is Reality game show.

As soon as I entered the tournament I was impressed by how the whole thing was set up with TK making announcements in between searching for opponents. It really helps with the loading time and the live commentary also make things a lot less awkward since you would be mostly competing with strangers. I tried out the ranked matches as I was expecting the servers to pair me up with other newcomers based on my understanding. It's certainly not the case as those combatants were clearly experienced while I was just learning how the game is played. Needless to say I end up at last spot but I still didn't have enough money to advance through the rescue mission. I thought the next match was going to be my last as it would be enough to earn my entry into the poker game but to my surprise I won the next episode with ease, beating out the competition in every match. Winning can be addictive so all week long I was thinking about getting back into the TIR circuit to win the remaining five other matches for the TK favorite trophy.

It turns out my last victory was probably a fluke as each other time since then I have been fighting hard not to end up last! The competition is pretty tough as some of these matches which I thought I would excel at are not that easy especially the shooting ones. There are plenty of incentives to keep playing on and hopefully get better at it but frustration is beginning to set in so I'm planning to focus back on the story mode which was the sole reason I got into the TIR matches at the first place. Hopefully I can find a balance between playing both modes so I don't ultimately get frustrated with the whole game.

The Great Escape

I have finished Peace Walker more than six months ago but still kept the game on my Sony PSP till this day. After the final credits have rolled, a final chapter has been revealed hinting that maybe the story isn't quite finished yet. There are still extra ops missions available but every now and again Miller will appear telling you that Zadornov has escaped from cell.

You can search and capture him again in a new mission listed under story mode and after that, nothing else happens. You spent some time building up your army nation of Militaires Sans Frontieres (Millitary Without Borders) then not long after that, Zadornov escapes from your compound again! This apparently goes on for about six times before it's all over so Zadornov must be a great escape artist or big boss really needs to invest in more security for his Militaires Sans Frontieres because Military Without Borders is starting to take a whole new different meaning now.

Wii Can't Multitask

Part of the enjoyment of Dead Rising 2 comes from improvements made to the escort mission in the game especially when compared with the Wii version. In the first game on the Nintendo Wii, you can't rescue any other survivors when engaged in an escort mission until you rescued that one survivor that's your only goal. Apparently Capcom thinks Wii users can't multi-task for making such a drastic change to the gameplay. Not only does it make the escort mission more tedious but it also make the game much longer than it originally was as you have to make separate trips from the safe house out into the mall for each time.

One of the most satisfying parts of Dead Rising is when you string together a bunch of survivors in one trip saving valuable time and effort. You can also equip your survivors with the approriate weapons turning them into valuable allies and the AI is certainly able to fend for itself in thick situations. That was one time when I had four survivors with me without knowing I was walking right into a boss fight with another psychopath lurking in the mall. Needless to say I wasn't prepared for another boss fight but luckily I had each three of the survivors equipped with a handgun to defend themselves. As soon as the introduction cutscene is over, the three survivor immediately open fire at the psychopath giving me an advantage to beat the psychopath on my first try. In another situation, I direct the survivor to stand at a safe corner while I settle my feuds with another psychopath in a motorcycle joust. The best part is you are able to carry the slow and injured survivor so none of them actually feel like a burden to you.

All this were simply not possible in the first game on the Wii, partly because the game was made from the RE4 engine and part of it were simply improvements to the game made in the sequel. It feels like this was how Dead Rising was always meant to be play and I haven't even got to the coop mode yet.

Dead Rising Redemption

I recently got Dead Rising 2 from Play asia weekly special, what you could call a rash decision as I only found out about it on the closing day of the offer. You see I have just returned from my trip to Singapore that time though I did managed to pick up Lost Planet 2 for a mere $7.50 while there. I was on a row and this weekly special on Play-asia was simply too good to be missed as these two Capcom games were only released just recently.

The first Dead Rising on the Nintendo Wii gave me fixed feelings, I felt deprived of the true greatness the game achieved on the Xbox 360 platform but yet I was grateful that Capcom even took the chance to port this wicked game onto the Wii platform. Having endured some of Dead Rising's rougher edges on the Wii platform namely the strict time clock and frequent loading time, I was able to avoid a lot of these common frustration when playing the second game on the PS3. I just don't think that would have been possible had I not "suffered" through the first game which I'm still playing through right now actually. Playing the two games has also made me appreciated the first game even more since it has not been ported to any other system, if you don't count the IPhone edition. These two games may have restored my faith on Capcom but I honestly can't say I missed Keiji Inafune departure at all though.