I've Started a New Site!

Hey folks, if you ever visit my site then you're likely aware that I don't post all that much. Between writing for work and school I have found that this isn't really a priority. Yes, I still love video games and all that stuff but end up writing more for other reasons. Despite this, I started my own website this weekend (registered a domain and everything)!

The site is called PixelPacas and is one of the funniest domains I came up with while thinking about this. There were actually a lot of super cool domains out there but they were either in use or simply parked. Either way, this name was free so I decided to stop dreaming about having my own site and to just go for it! My girlfriend is also on board to write on the site as well and her focus is on games like Harvest Moon and dating sims.

Because I am paying for both the domain name registration as well as hosting I assume that will be enough of an impetus to keep me writing there. So far, I've only come up with a few reviews (set to be published in the coming weeks) but want to do other things with it as well. The reviews in queue are probably indicative of what the site is going to include a lot of (rhythm, puzzle, arcade, visual novel, and indie games) If all goes well, perhaps it could even inspire me to stream a bit more gameplay in the future.

Now I've got to wonder what that means for this site. Will I still publish here? At this time, I really don't know. It has already been a pretty slow site so most likely the future for my personal writing revolves around PixelPacas. This site is going to remain online, but I won't import the content to the other one.

Backlog Beatdown: March

Hello again! I've been trying to document games beaten this year (and hopefully beat more than last year). A month ago I posted my first update on this for January/February and it was a pretty sizable chunk of games. This time around I'm making a post for one month because there were definitely enough games beaten during to warrant one.

Seven games were beaten in the month of March:

• Nancy Drew: Secret of the Scarlet Hand
• Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi
• Tomb Raider
• Richard & Alice
• Jetpack Joyride
• DLC Quest
• Incredipede

As is my new norm, almost all of the completed games are independent, although not entirely. Tomb Raider is of course the one released this year to much acclaim. I enjoyed it too, though it left me wrestling about how I felt about Lara's presentation in the game. Hakuoki was a really sad game as it isn't even a visual novel as the first was. Instead, it's a totally cheap cash grab of a game that, honestly, should have never been given the localization greenlight.

Although none of these are my new favorite, I did quite enjoy them. Incredipede in particular was visually stunning and I recommend it to people looking for a different sort of puzzle game. Nancy Drew games are also pretty awesome and it's a shame that more people don't take them seriously. I had pages of notes taken for the game and it was exciting to reference them to solve in-game puzzles. As I've not played all the Drew games I'm unaware if that difficulty continues, but hopefully so, as it really puts you in the young detective's shoes.

Right now I'm trying to work through Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory and God of War: Ascension. Hopefully they'll be beaten by the end of April!

Backlog Beatdown: January and February

Hey folks, long time no chat! This post was prompted by recalling the backlog adventure other bloggers are undertaking this year (in particular, Chic Pixel's Anne!). I used to think that reviewing games would be the most entertaining thing in the world, but it really just cuts back on your time to play other games without constraints. Well, so does any job, but at least with a job unconnected to games you can still use them as relaxation! Either way, despite being a busy beaver with reviewing tasks I've been trying to whittle away some uncompleted games in my library. Things have been going better than expected....

In January I seriously managed to beat 11 games:

• My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant!
• Zombies.
• Thirty Flights of Loving
• McPixel
• VVVVVV
• Wizorb
• Slave of God
• Kentucky Route Zero: Act One
• Moonbase Alpha
• The Journey Down: Chapter One
• The Cave

Okay, many of these were also reviewed by me but at least others like Wizorb and VVVVVV were finally taken down. As you can see, my preference in games is only continuing to trend toward all indie, all the time. It's not as if I planned it this way, but indie games tend to be shorter experiences. And honestly, most of them end up as fun as much more expensive games so why ignore them?

In February things became much busier and so I only beat Oozi: Earth Adventure, which is a pretty fluid platformer. A few days into March I manged to finish up a couple games, but those will be addressed in a later post. What games have you folks beaten in 2013 so far? Which has been your favorite or least favorite?

Killer is Dead Trailer Made Me Have An Existential Crisis

Okay, it didn't really cause me to have a crisis, but the first trailer for Suda51's Killer is Dead game did get me thinking very critically about my gaming life. It made me remember how incredible an experience playing Killer7 was back in 2005. It hooked, amazed, confused, and challenged my perceptions of games. I have rarely had such feelings with other games since. At the moment, I can't think of even one other time since, but I believe they are there.

Regardless, Killer is Dead is not a game I expect to bring back that spirit. It still seems closer to Suda's older works though (rather than his newer school "punk's not dead" credo stuff like No More Heroes, Shadows of the Damned and Lollipop Chainsaw). Granted, it looks to have a large dash of NMH anyway, but what can you do?

The trailer is a bit risque in both sexual and violent content so keep that in mind before giving it a watch.

I Beat 29 Games in 2012

Last year was very interesting for me. Although I was writing reviews before, it really seemed that a new amount of responsibility was dropped on my shoulders in 2012. With that, I ended up reviewing a lot of stuff. So much, that it quickly became impossible to beat everything. Sure, I did my best to complete short adventure games or 10 hour adventures, but when things went on and on past 25 hours, my time became truly limited. Although I always made sure to have a grasp of at least 80% of the entire game before reviewing, it was just too much to be asked to complete each and every one.

Because of this sort of forced "gaming ADD", I beat far fewer games this year than last year. Still, any amount is sizeable to me. This is because, before joining Backloggery, I would barely finish any game unless it absolutely enthralled me. Only since I have been on that site have I been able to see my beat amounts per year sit in double digit territory. Still, my beat/unbeaten ratio on the site is quite paltry, but expected.

Regardless, here are the majority of games I beat this year. It's possible I may be forgetting a few, but my list will no longer be changed/updated. The reason no titles are included is because it would make the image too cluttered for my taste:

Here's hoping that 2013 is a year when I can beat this score!

2012 Reviews in Review

With 2013 beginning, it's hard not to reflect on the past year. 2012 was a very interesting year for me in regards to writing. It is probably obvious to see that my blog has been much quieter than it was at the start, and this is mostly due to the shift in reviewing habits. As the year went on, I reviewed more and more, and became more comfortable with it.

Although it is fun to review games, it did make me think about a few things. For one, with reviews very often on my plate, I felt that I was rarely able to enjoy games that I wanted to play "just because". Instead of flipping through my PS2 collection to find a new gem, I was usually forcing myself to play a game for review. Thankfully, most games I ever review are ones I'm interested in, but there is something to be said for free gaming time as opposed to gaming with a goal in mind. In this post I will share a couple charts which show off various stats for my year of reviewing and links to all my 68 reviews.

ERIE Review

I wasn't sure what to expect upon starting up ERIE. Possibly because of that, it ended up being a very neat half hour gaming experience. The game is pretty simple overall. You begin in a pool of water with no idea of where you are. Quickly, you read papers scattered around which start to inform your understanding of the location and what happened.

Unfortunately I'm still not completely sure as to the specifics, but it seems like a game best played when you are unaware of the story anyway. Without knowing anything you can enter the game with a fresh perspective! I would recommend that as it helps make everything a bit scarier and interesting as events unfold.

In regards to gameplay, it is quite simple. There's little you ever have to do aside from marking your pathways as well as collecting a few key cards. Well, you don't have to read letters or mark your way, but it just seems something most players are going to do. Although you are not given explicit goals, it quickly becomes easy to understand what to do. Level design is also not bad. Even for someone like me who tends to get lost without looking at a map every second I was able to get a feel for my surroundings (eventually).

The game is very eerie and contains a few "boo" moments. For a little while, I felt legitimately annoyed, until discovering things were not as hard as I was making them up to be. Overall, this is a great little gameplay experiment if you want to play something spooky.

PS: The video up top is my first playthrough of the game, which took around 30 minutes.

I Won a Copy of PlayStation All-Stars!

If you are on my blog, then chances are you're well aware of Bryan over at The Gay Gamer. If not, then I don't know how you found me but you should totally check his site out. A little bit ago, Bryan had a contest to win a copy of PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale for Vita. As I have been pretty interested in checking it out I threw my name into the pot. Someone else actually won but apparently never responded. He drew a new name and... it was me!

So here's a post to say thank you Bryan for hosting the cute little contest! I'm thinking of doing my own (for a less popular game) soon, but we'll see if that works out. In the meantime, I'll be fussing around with PS All-Stars and hopefully becoming good with one of the characters. Even if I do, I'll still probably be too scared to try hitting up an online match.

As a final note I will say that anyone who is still interested in getting a Vita should make sure they grab a high capacity memory card along with it. Although I only have a few digital titles on it, I'm now required to regularly uninstall them to make room. Of course, it doesn't help that Persona 4 Golden is one game that has taken residence on my card... It is over 3GBs by itself! Here's hoping that the prices for Vita memory come down drastically in the next year.

Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill REMASTERED Review

When one attempts to come up with a list of good adventure games there are a few names that tend to come up. Series like Monkey Island are obvious choices, as are many other LucasArts and Sierra titles. But who out there who loves adventure games would think to try out something from the Nancy Drew catalog?

I gave Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill Remastered a shot and found it to be surprisingly great. The "Remastered" in the name comes from the fact that is a full on remake of the very first Nancy Drew adventure game released in 1998. This version arrived in 2010 and signaled the end of the original game. This is because, after the launch of the remake, the original was no longer available digitally from Her Interactive. However, as it will not run easily on modern machines, this was probably the only option they had left.

How is the game overall? The characters are more interesting than I expected. I have never read Nancy Drew books but they must do something right to have so many available. As such, I can't compare the characters to the fiction but they seemed fairly "real" and worth listening to. If anything, strangely Nancy Drew herself ended up being the most unrealistic of them all. I'm not sure what it was, but she seemed wholly unfazed by the fact that a murder totally occurred, and that someone was after her life as well. More than anything, she seemed haughty and above everything, including the awkward flirting from men in the game.

What really stole the show though were the puzzles. I had an expectation in my mind that the puzzles would be ridiculously easy. As such, I almost chose the harder difficulty of the two. Thank goodness I didn't though because a few puzzles ended up being fantastic and difficult. In fact, very few games I play manage to scratch that puzzle itch so creatively at any point. I would almost compare one of the puzzle ideas to things that Team Silent would put together. They worked on Silent Hill 1-3 primarily and those were the games which included the most creative and worthwhile puzzles of the series.

If there's one detriment to the game it is simply that it ends too quickly and with a silly twist. At least, it sure felt silly to me. Apparently this Remastered version features a different ending from the original and makes me wonder what the end for the first game had been before. I wonder if it was better, or somehow managed to be even worse. It's a shame, because as soon as the game starts to get into a great groove, it ends. Still, the two or so hours leading up to it are a blast.

Overall, Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill Remastered is a perfect introductory game for a "gamer" into the more casual world. Obviously the puzzles are not casual, which would appeal to them, but I assume they grow easier as the series goes on. Or perhaps these puzzles are actually much harder than the original game! I don't know as I haven't played the rest yet. Still, this is a fun, if brief adventure game.

PS: Pay attention to the little things in this game. There are a handful of Easter eggs (including one literal egg) which are quite cute.

All I Wanted to Do Was Play Nancy Drew

Yesterday, I wrote about how I have been putting my attention on "casual" games more and more lately. Excited by the post, I decided to start with the Nancy Drew series of games. There are some twenty (maybe even thirty now) titles in the series. It seemed a good idea to me to simply start with the first game! The very first Nancy Drew title is subtitled Secrets Can Kill and looked fairly promising. At least, if you listen to Nancy Drew game diehards, they seem to say the originals are the best.

The original game is not available on Steam (only the Remastered version). Thankfully, I already had it available to me so I went to work installing it. It didn't work, so my next step was to go to Her Interactive's website to see if they could help. Now, they did give tips for running their games on Windows 7 but it still wasn't working. What was my next step? Install a Windows 95 virtual machine!

The first two games are apparently the hardest to run on modern machines. As they were made for early Windows systems, it seemed to me that 95 was my best bet. It's actually harder than you might think to install an old operating system, though. I have a disc-based version of the OS, but it initially only sold as lots and lots of floppy discs. My current machine doesn't even have floppy drives but thankfully it's incredibly easy to create virtual discs and drives.

Either way, I'm not going to get too much into the installation process, but I did it, although certain features were unable to be installed. I put the game in and installed it perfectly. Unfortunately, when the time came to run it gave me the same error received from my modern Windows 7! The error is that the game cannot pump sound through my speakers. It seemed to me I could make it work on 95 because you can set up different audio methods and whatnot to better recreate the actual environment. However, I was unable to find out how to install them, even though Windows detected the old school sound option.

In the end, I was unable to get the game to run. Maybe later I'll try to learn how to properly install 95... Or I could just play the Remastered version.

I Think I'm Turning "Casual"

Video games have been my go-to hobby for as long as I can remember. Basically all my earliest memories revolve not around school or family but playing Atari 2600 and Apple IIe games. I don't remember everything about them, but little moments like being mystified by the Apple command line being used to call up games are easy to visualize even now.

I never really classified myself "hardcore" in the typical sense as that makes people think of Call of Duty or whatever FPS is in vogue at the time. However, I definitely have felt very hardcore when reflecting on my gaming habits. If nothing else, I think anyone who manages to collect some 2,000 video games and maintain them must have some serious interest in the hobby. But lately I've really started to shift toward liking games I never would have cared much about before.

During the latest Steam sale I loaded up my wishlist with items that would make me really happy to buy. Obviously it was initially too much, so my actual cart of digital goodies was whittled down until only a few were left. The main things I struggled with purchasing/putting away were the Nancy Drew, Mumbo Jumbo, and Popcap bundles. Nancy Drew games are basically adventure games but for a certain type of crowd. As such, they're fairly easy experiences overall. My interest in Mumbo Jumbo came from wanting to play simple games like Luxor but also hidden object games like the Midnight Mysteries series. All of these games are decidedly "casual".

Even when playing Persona 4 Golden for Vita I've been taking a very simplified approach. Setting the easiest difficulty available and letting most battles play out automatically, I really have little to worry about in the game aside from listening to the story unfold. In a way, it makes me nervous to see my game play style as well as interests change, but on the other hand, does it really matter? As long as I'm happy with what I play then I don't think it does. It's a bit odd that titles like Sleeping Dogs, Dishonored, and others are no longer enticing me, but I'm sure I will still get around to them. Just for now, when I need something to play it will probably be much simpler fare.

This, too, I think has complicated my personal blogging. Between writing reviews of more (serious?) games for sites, I leave myself time for easy, casual titles. But who wants to hear about my time spent playing Criminal Minds' hidden object game? Perhaps seeking out such easy gaming experiences is a reaction to the forced nature of reviewing. Either way, I'm curious... Are "casual" games something that anyone really wants to hear about? If I were asked this question a year ago I'd say no, but you'd be surprised at how good some of them can be.

Indie Test Drive: 0 A.D.

Because I simply don't have enough games I decided it would be interesting to try playing more indie games. Sure, I actually play a fair bit of them once they come to Steam, Desura, and GOG but that's not quite indie enough. Why not try out other titles that have yet to find a publisher - or might not? So, yup, that's what this and future "Indie Test Drive" posts are about.

0 A.D. is a title being independently developed by a team of volunteers. It has apparently been worked on since 2001. Back then, it was a "total conversion mod" (meaning they took an existing game and overhauled it) but it changed later into a wholly new project. The game will probably appeal most to those who enjoy historical RTSes. If you love Age of Empires or Empire Earth then this is something worth looking into.

Initially, it didn't seem like there was much new brought to the table. You have your choice of various historical troops to choose from and then can go about growing your town into a society and going to war, or forging alliances. Apparently there is a multiplayer mode which would sounds like a lot of fun, but I was unable to test it out. There are multiple gameplay modes, but I was only gave one a shot and was a bit disappointed because the "AI controlled" enemies didn't actually do anything until I came and stormed their cities.

The version I played was a bit goofy. There were birds but they simply were stuck in place and didn't ever move across the screen. Upon killing a camel, it just stood there (upright) as my troops picked at it for food. Animals also did not have any walking animation and simply slid across the ground. However, in between me playing the game and looking up the 0 A.D. website I found that a new beta was just released earlier this month. It appears to fix up a lot of stuff and even upgraded the graphics.

0 A.D. is completely free in beta stages and will be once it finally launches as well. The game runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I enjoyed it but just wish there was some sort of story function instead of simply focusing on multiplayer.

68 - Chains

Genre: Puzzle
Rating: N/A
Developer: 2DEngine.com
Publisher: Meridian4
Platform: PC (Steam)
Release Year: 2008

Chains is one of those games I put off playing every time I saw it in my Steam collection. It just sounds so dull, the graphics didn't look very great, and overall I didn't know what it was. Out of boredom (and a bit of inspiration) I decided it was time to give the game that has sat in my library for 3 years a shot.

The game is fairly interesting, and full of various gameplay mechanics, despite having only twenty levels overall. Basically, the title is a match game where you must connect orbs of the same colors together. The basic amount is three, but you can often find yourself chaining many more if they're all touching. The mechanic itself isn't the creative part as there are many games like that.

What is interesting is how many gameplay modes can be created out of it. For example, there is one mode where the circles are situated on top of gates. You must manage to keep clearing circles well enough so that X amount don't fall through the gates as they open up every few seconds. Another mode gives you a small tube for the circles to fall through and asks to keep it flowing for five minutes. If you're not able to connect them fast enough they'll clog everything up. Most of these modes are a lot of fun and only a few annoyed me.

I haven't beaten the game yet and that's just because one of the modes is a fairly confusing. I'm hoping that's the only one like it because otherwise the game is much more fun than was anticipated. Those who are fans of matching puzzle games should give Chains a look especially since it's only $5.

Would I play it again? Sure.

Transitional Gaming: How Game Culture Changed as I Became a Man

I’ve been a gamer for as long as I can remember. At two, I was fussing with the secondhand Apple II e and Atari 7800s placed in front of me. Unlike many other parents, my mother was more than happy to let me play these games. There were times when it became an issue, such as me playing The Sims from morning to night, but otherwise it was viewed as a positive hobby. The friends I had in school, both male and female, all gamed as well. I never felt out of place due to gaming.

Game Center CX DVD Up for Preorder

Game Center CX is a Japanese television show which has spanned over 10 seasons so far, but with very little attention in the US. It only really had a "test run" with one season of episodes being translated and shown via Kotaku. However, they blew it by using shoddy translators and not really caring about the property at all after the first season was done with.

What's the show about? It focuses on this guy named Arino who plays video games week after week for the show. The goal of each show is typically to finish a video game (sometimes to get a certain end in a game). However, his main focus is on retro games so it's often very hard to get to the end. Because Arino is also a comedian, he manages to make the prospect of watching someone play video games a lot of fun.

I started watching it a couple months back and it definitely is a fun show for gamers. Most of the episodes are slowly being translated by fansub teams and are even on Youtube (although some have recently been taken down for copyright). If you watch an episode though and like it then maybe you'll want to grab the upcoming DVD release sometime.

Even though it's rather expensive at $41 for 14 episodes, that's not so bad in comparison to the prices I remember spending for anime. The main bulk of episodes included are the Kotaku ones, except translated by someone much more skilled, which is a big plus. Why mention the DVD? I'm just hoping that enough people will buy it that they might consider releasing more episodes officially over here. It's fun enough to watch online but there's something about owning things you enjoy.

PS: If you've played Retro Game Challenge for the DS then you already have experienced a bit of Game Center CX. The game was based off the TV show and Arino is the polygonal "king" in the game.

3DS XL is Coming

You know, I'm not really sure how to feel about a 3DS redesign. I think it's safe to say we all knew that there would be some, like there have been for previous Nintendo handhelds, it was just a matter of when. What interests me the most about the 3DS XL is that it's not an attempt to streamline form factor in a more compact form. As the name implies, it makes it larger.

The DSi XL never seemed like a system I would want. I definitely saw its use for people who perhaps were not as mobile with their gaming, or needed a larger screen for sight purposes, but since those don't apply to me I wasn't interested much. I still only own my own "fat" DSes, though. Either way this new 3DS doesn't appeal to me much more as the screen is fine. One thing this might help with is my hand cramps on the system but that's not worth $200 to me.

What do you think of this updated system? Is there a reason that more people should pick it up over the original 3DS?

What is Nintendo Land? Is It Any Good?

One of the most interesting things to come out of Nintendo during this E3 was Nintendo Land. Well, perhaps most "interesting" isn't the right word. If anything, it seems like Nintendo Land was unveiled and subsequently misunderstood by gamers. Basically, it is a bunch of minigames which showcase different functions of the Wii U GamePad. In principle, this is a lot like Wii Sports which debuted with Wii systems back in 2006. However, there's a lot more to it than that, as surprising as it may seem.

The idea behind the game is that it's an amusement park of sorts where each minigame is it's own attraction. There are twelve included in the package, although only five were playable on the E3 show floor. Four of the five on display were based off famous Nintendo franchises. From what I played though, it seems like the title is shaping up to be a really entertaining party game, with only a little bit to tide over single player gamers.

Watch Speedruns Live

Video game speedruns are not everyone's cup of coffee. Most never attempt one themselves, and many don't even like that people can rush through their favorite games. For most of us though I think it's fair to say they're fun to watch from time to time. It's amazing to watch people blast through games since chances are we've never accomplished such a feat ourselves.

Anyway, I bring up speedruns because Speed Demos Archive is having their annual speedrunning marathon right now. I've caught it for the past few years and it's a lot of fun to watch. It'll be live for a few days and they're accepting donations for charity (Organization for Autism Research). If you're interested in seeing what games they'll be playing here's a list.

I know I'm going to be tuning in for some Portal, Resident Evil, and Hitman: Blood Money.

67 - 50 Cent: Bulletproof

Genre: Action
Rating: M
Developer: Genuine Games
Publisher: VU Games
Platform: PS2 (Also: Xbox, PSP)
Release Year: 2005

50 Cent: Bulletproof is an odd game. If there were any way to describe it it would probably be the sort of thing that musical artists 50 Cent dreams about. I don't know how much he contributed to the project, but it definitely seems like a kind of game made to fulfill some wishes.

In the game you're 50 Cent, of course, and are simply living your life out in your hood until one of your homies is gunned down. Except he's not gunned down by a rival game but some sort of super soldier guys. 50 deduces that there's someone more on his tail than usual, assembles his crew, and sets off to destroy all those involved.

Gameplay is probably where 50 Cent: Bulletproof is the worst so many people have probably never even finished it. It's basically a very simple first/third person shooter but very little is thrown in to spice it up. That means you'll be awkwardly firing at hordes of racially stereotyped gangsters. The objectives, too, are a bit difficult to understand at times. You'll get them all posted to your cellphone but from there it's often hard to figure out where the trigger for them is.

If the gameplay is lacking then why would anyone other than an obsessive 50 Cent fan play? As odd as it sounds, the story is probably the best part of it. Although the first few minutes seem dull, after the catalyst of his homie getting killed, things quickly progress into stranger territory. There are some really odd characters in the cast and it was always interesting seeing what they were up to.

I wouldn't recommend the game to most people but there is something about it that kept me playing. Now I've got to get my hands on a copy of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand and see if it improves upon the foundation of Bulletproof.


Would I play again? No. Beat it.

Yay, Thrift Stores!

I wasn't expecting much when I went into my closest thrift store yesterday. Basically the one incredible score I made there once was a PlayStation 1 development system. That was at least a year ago now and since then the shift has been toward the mundane. Recently, there was an X-Arcade controller but someone grabbed and purchased it about a minute before I could.

Anyway, there isn't typically much here. However, today there was a big garbage bin filled up with boxed (most new) PC games. They weren't exactly recent games for the most part but they were complete games all the same. Each title was a paltry 99 cents. It seemed like a bargain to me so I snapped up a boatload of 'em.

After coming home with my haul I immediately set off to PriceCharting and eBay to see what my sealed games were worth. Unfortunately, most of them aren't worth anything since nobody is interested. However, a handful of the games seem to fetch $15-$25 so that's good to know. Of interest, the one game I almost didn't even see/pick up is worth the most of them all. The Movies: Stunts & Effects Expansion Pack for some reason goes for $35-$45 on average. And yes, that's actual final bids, not just people's wacky Buy It Now prices. I'm quite happy with this and don't mind parting with the game to make back all that was spent on the PC games to begin with (plus some). Besides, The Movies doesn't even work on my computer anymore so there's really no need for me to hold onto the expansion.

Every once in a while there are some great deals to be found at stores. Sometimes I can search for months to no avail, but these moments reinvigorate me. Have you ever found a great score at a thrift store? What was it?