Leveling Down

If you can tell, the little black box on the right side of this shot is my mailbox. The snow was practically up to that level.

For many of you around the country (and world!), this was a normal work-week, but if you were in the DC metro area like I was, you had a blizzard that had you stuck at home for practically this entire week. The blizzard got things off to a bad start for me by knocking electricity out early on last weekend, but it was restored by Sunday and I can’t imagine if I were stuck at home with no power for the rest of the week. Otherwise, it was pretty much a nice extended little 6-day weekend. I’m not going to complain about being home for so many days (I”m grumbling that I actually have to go into work today since it took me 4 nearly hours to get in), but I will mention one problem that this blizzard has caused: I still cannot get my hands on BioShock 2. Instead, I’ve settled for playing Brutal Legend. Read on for my “BioShock 2″ wait and initial thoughts of Brutal Legend.

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Nathan Drake is a modern day Indiana Jones

There is a short list of games on the Playstation 3 that make me wish I had the console, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is at the top of it. So the first thing I did after borrowing this PS3 was to go out to Blockbuster to rent the game. Alas, my local Blockbuster didn’t have it, so I ended up driving 20 minutes (and waiting 20 minutes in line) to the closest store that had it in stock. After playing through the game, I can see why it was the Game of the Year 2009 for many media outlets. Uncharted 2 stands as a supreme example of why it sucks for consumers that the console wars exist.

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Bayonetta is my hardcore action gaming “comfort food.”

After completing Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and the Damned, I had some gaming time before Bioshock 2 would be delivered to my door. I didn’t want to get into anything too lengthy, so I figured diving right into The Ballad of Gay Tony would be an optimal choice since it would allow me to close the book completely on the GTAIV universe and move on. Unfortunately, after playing the first couple of missions, I realized that I needed a break from the GTAIV world. I needed a game with just better gameplay in general.

As I recently lay in bed one morning, I came to the realization that I had to go back to Bayonetta since it was the game that defined what good gameplay is in this generation. Those of you that have read my review of Bayonetta know how much I enjoyed the game. It’s most likely the best action-adventure game I may have ever played within the last several years. So when I was growing tired of the lack of enjoyable gameplay in the GTAIV universe, who did I come crawling back to so that I could remember how much fun playing games could be? Bayonetta of course. And Bayonetta greeted me with open arms.
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I managed to get my hands on a PS3 (temporarily) and the first thing I did was download the Heavy Rain demo, which isn’t officially out, but can be accessed early. Despite not owning a PS3, Heavy Rain is one of my most anticipated games of the year, so I was thrilled to take the demo for a whirl. My enthusiasm was tempered a little bit after playing through the demo, although I still think the title shows a lot of potential. Hit the jump to find out why.

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The galaxy of Puzzle Quest: Galactrix is wonderfully designed, but hacking leapgates dissuades one from being able to explore it.

Being a current resident of the DC area, we got hit with a major snowstorm this past weekend (almost 3 feet around these parts). 250,000 homes in the DC area lost power for a greater part of the weekend including my own. Being stuck at home with no power meant no electronics, very little lighting, and no heat. What do people do with no power for extended periods of time? Read? Fortunately, I had a fully charged DS ready to go, and ended up spending several hours playing Puzzle Quest: Galactrix. It’s somewhat of an old game, but with my love for Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes, I’m more into puzzle-based RPG games as of late, and so I decided to put several hours into Puzzle Quest: Galactrix.
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I dropped my DS Lite recently, and was quite dismayed to discover that the touch-screen no longer works. I actually thought Nintendo’s hardware products were more durable, so I was surprised that I busted part of my DS Lite by dropping it. I’ve had this DS Lite since its launch back in June 2006, and it has really served me quite well these last few years. I’m also slightly annoyed that this is the first portable Nintendo device I’ve had (and I’ve basically had them all) that I’ve broken. The original Gameboy, the Gameboy Pocket, the Gameboy Advance, and the original DS were all in my possession at some point and I’m pretty sure I’ve dropped each of them at least once and they all functioned fine. Now I am at a crossroads though as to what to do next. More »

1011101100101010011 (Translation: Buy Mass Effect 2)

If you’ve been paying attention to this site at all over the past week and a half, you probably know where this review is going. The original Mass Effect remains one of my favorite games of this console generation, but the experience was marred by some bad gameplay design and glitches. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the game for the great dialogue system and its powerful storyline. I found myself sucked in by the tough choices and situations the game forced upon me. Mass Effect 2 keeps in the great story and dialogue elements, throws in stronger character development, and streamlines the gameplay – effectively dumping most of the bad design choices from the first game. The result: Game of the Year 2010 in January? Maybe…

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The snow-based Port Valdez is the one playable map in the demo

The Battlefield: Bad Company 2 demo was just released last week on the Xbox 360, so I got a chance to play around with it for a couple hours in the last few days. PS3 owners have been lucky as they had access to the beta since last November.

Read on for my likes and dislikes, as well as my initial comparisons to the first Bad Company.

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Mass Effect 2 – an RPG with a shooter soul, or the other way around?

We live in an interesting time for games. In the not too distant past, gaming genres were clearly delineated: you’d play Doom to get your first-person shooting on, Starcraft to focus on real-time strategy, platformers like Super Mario Brothers 3 for throw your controller out the window experiences, and the turn based Final Fantasy role playing series for some heavy stories and to prove that “video games can make grown men cry”. But then, a funny thing happened on the way to the 21st century…

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Unlike Niko, Johnny has a gang that he rolls with throughout his missions in The Lost and the Damned

Several of you are aware of my chagrin about having to play The Lost and the Damned during a time when Mass Effect 2 is out, but I made it through the expansion this past weekend and am ready to share my slightly subjective review on it. While this expansion was released on the 360 about a year ago, it was just recently announced that it would be released on the PS3 and the PC in the coming months so perhaps this is a good time to review it now that I’ve noticed that we are getting more PS3 owners (welcome!) here at Leveling Down.

NOTE: I am playing The Lost and the Damned off the retail disc, Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City, which does not require the original GTAIV disc to play. I will be getting through The Ballad of Gay Tony and reviewing that hopefully in the near future.
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