I have been playing a few games lately:
World of Warcraft
I got the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. I liked it quite a bit, but have not played in a while due to raids requiring lots of time and the fact that my guild starts raiding around midnight my time. This is not good for the job.
- I never did much reputation grinding, but the curve seems to be much lower.
- The new vehicle/mount system is neat, but I find it very confusing because the mount’s name is shown instead of the person riding it.
- The story line, quests, and cinematics were nice. I really enjoyed playing some of the quests and learning more about the story.
Dead Space
This is basically a survival horror type game on a space ship. (Read: Resident Evil 4 in Spaaaace) I finished this recently, and, while I don’t really understand the ending or some character motivations, it was a lot of fun.
- One of the big features is limb dismemberment. I thought it would become silly and old quickly, but it turned out to be surprisingly entertaining and even satisfying.
- I purchased a suit off of the xbox live market place for a modest fee, not knowing that it was a fully-upgraded suit. I am slightly disappointed that I did not experience the suit upgrade path.
- I really like the weapons. They are different enough from the standard game weapons to be interesting but familiar enough to be comfortable.
- The answer the question “Could things possibly get any worse?” is always “Yes!”
Windows Solitaire
Yes, Windows Solitaire.
- Vista’s Solitaire is superior previous Windows’ versions of solitaire. Multiple levels of undo is very nice, but not the only improvement.
- I don’t win very many games of solitaire.
Gears of War 2
My brother and I played through the campaign together on regular difficulty, and I have been playing Horde mode with my friend. (Coop multiplayr against increasingly difficult waves of computer-controlled enemies)
- The game’s plot is once again a mess and unsatisfying.
- Fortunately, the gameplay (once again) makes up for its shortcomings in other areas. (Seriously, coop is really good)
- The Hammerburst was changed from a 3-burst firing mode to straight semi-automatic. (I guess… it’s single fire, though holding the trigger down will fire continuously) I really preferred the burst fire from the first game better.
- Bloodmounts in Horde mode are ridiculous. Perhaps they were tuned with more players in mind? I found them really really difficult.
- The new mortar weapon is fantastic.