Ever since I relocated and have such little time to play nowadays, I’ve come to the realization that I am no longer a fan of Achievements. I just don’t have the kind of time to hunt down every little thing these days, and if I had the option to, I would probably now turn off all Achievements for my 360 games. Then I could simply play the games for the sake of playing. But, I guess for now I’ll do my best to just play without caring about Achievements any longer.

I bought Bionic Commando: Rearmed a little while back when it was on sale for $5, and have spent maybe an hour or two playing it. But I can’t even get past the first level! Granted, I picked Hard difficulty and I’m still getting reacquainted with the fact that I can’t jump and have to use the grappling arm for everything, but man, it’s tough. It made me think two things: “Wow, I really beat this game when I was a kid?” and “I guess I’m getting a little too old for this since I can’t even beat the first level.”

Instead, I spend my evenings now playing Guitar Hero World Tour, EA Sports Active, and Punch Out!! What the heck has happened to me?! Who would have thought that I’d be spending more time playing the Wii than the 360. Dark times indeed…

Certain games hold a special place in my heart, a pantheon of gaming that is immune to all criticism or negativity. The original Punch Out was such a game, and so I approached the Wii version apprehensively, afraid that it would taint my 20+ years of warm fuzzies. But Punch Out Wii is a game that, like the new Star Trek movie, simultaneously reboots, remakes, and remasters an old classic.

The reason I loved the original Punch Out was its challenge: not the difficulty (though it was difficult), but the manner in which the game challenged you. It taught me pattern recognition techniques that still are vital in gaming today, and did it in a fun and enjoyable way. Punch Out Wii takes the same formula and turns it up to 11. The standard mode is already impressive, as opponents begin to try to fake you out and show off 3 or 4 patterns that you need to recognize. The title defense mode unlocks after you beat the game, and it frankly is invigorating to lose to Glass Joe. It’s almost like a puzzle game, you need to figure out each fighter’s tricks, but in title defense mode, a fighter can have upwards of 8 of them. In the harder levels, the fighters turn into multi-form level bosses, every time you knock them down their patterns change and they just get tougher and meaner.

Nintendo has proven once again that they are geniuses. The thing about this game is, I get frustrated when a fighter knocks me down, but I never doubt that I can beat them. So I just pick myself up off the mat and try again until I take Don Flamenco, King Hippo, or Super Macho Man down. Throw into the mix a hilarious cast of characters and fifteen remixes of the old Punch Out theme (each fighter has their own stereotypical remix of the theme), and what you get is a title that displaces its predecessor in the pantheon. I messed around with the original after I got the Wii version, and found it still to be charming in a nostalgic sort of way, but make no ifs, ands, or buts about it: there’s a new champion in town.

Punch Out!
This game is awesome! I’ve been spending the bulk of the week working through the normal game mode. After I finished that I started right on Title Defense mode, which features more difficult versions of all the original fighters. For fans of the classic, this game is a definite must buy. For those who aren’t diehard Punch Out fans, I’ll have a quick review up later this week. The game reminds me of a hefty old school challenge, in a good way.

Broken Sword
I finished this game and was a little disappointed by the ending. I guess in a puzzle point and click adventure it’s all about the journey, but the story got super convoluted and hard to follow at the end so that detracted from the experience a bit. This is definitely a good game, but it’s not gonna crack my pantheon of point and click favorites (Monkey Island, Full Throttle). It just doesn’t have the same charm and humor of those LucasArts titles.

Dead Space
I definitely think Bioshock is the superior experience. Dead Space is starting to feel like a poor man’s Bioshock to me, and I miss Bioshock’s “choose your own method of killing” gameplay. Like Bioshock, the game is pretty linear, which is what it is. I do enjoy the different weapons at your disposal and how they aren’t “conventional” weapons, it definitely keeps things interesting. I can definitely envision this being a game that I never finish though…

E3
Lookin forward to seeing what comes out of E3 this week. There are rumors there will be a new Mario or Zelda title (or both!), I’m dying to hear what Kojima is announcing (and tired of following his countdown to a countdown), and hoping Sony announces a PS3 price cut (I’m incredibly skeptical). Sometimes I feel silly buying into convention hype, but with this being such a boring time for console gaming, I’ll take what I can get!

Punch Out!
Punch Out Wii was in my mailbox when I got back from my trip this weekend. I proceeded to take down the first 8 fighters, but it was definitely more difficult than the original. Most of the characters are retreads, but due to nostalgia I think that’s a good thing. I like how little changes were made to their patterns, making them different (I lost to Great Tiger 3 times). The game also changes things up by forcing you to dodge in certain directions for certain punches. This isn’t 1986 anymore. I’m really looking forward to the “Title Defense” mode, which is basically an advanced mode after you finish the main game. I picked it up for $40 at Amazon on preorder, so I’m super happy with my purchase.

Broken Sword
I spent all my travel time this weekend playing Broken Sword exclusively. I brought Chinatown Wars but never felt compelled to put it in. I think I enjoy the challenge of solving puzzles more than the more simplistic gameplay in GTA. Even though the action is completely linear, the story is compelling enough that you want to keep playing.

Dead Space
Working my way through the campaign slowly but surely. Now that I’m used to the game’s scare tactics I’m making my way through pretty quickly. There are some scripted sequences that break up the gameplay and I love jumping around in outer space. It’s not as addicting as Bioshock was for me, but I’m definitely glad I gave this game a try.

Halo Wars
Still playin…