Sunday Roundup: 10/18/15

This is going to be one of the biggest Roundups for the site! I made it a goal last week to hit up literally every GameStop in the greater San Jose area in hopes of finding some harder to find gems in the ranks of old DS, Wii, and even some Xbox 360 and PS3 racks. While most of the GameStop’s I won’t be making special trips to again, there were a few stores in some nicer areas that really surprised me! Unfortunately none of these games I would classify as “Super Rare” or anything like that, but there are some fun games here that I’m happy to have in the collection. And I can safely say if you are looking hard enough, you can still find some diamonds in the rough that is retail video game shopping.

 

Skylanders Trap Team is the Best Way to Play with Toys in Video Games

By now the formula for a Skylanders game shouldn’t surprise anyone: you purchase/use toys in the real world to use the digital version in the game world. Gameplay is your standard action RPG blend of combat, level progression, light puzzles, and boss battles capping off each stage and world. I was pretty happy with the very first game, but thought after Giants came out the following year that the fad was done. Surprisingly, Swap Force released and it was somehow the best game in the series. Well surely after three games Activision and Toys For Bob have put all they could into the game and couldn’t possibly make it any better, right? Hmmm…

 

Tao’s Adventure is a Portal to When Designers Didn’t Know How to Make DS Games

You take some risk when playing games from nearly a decade ago. In that span of time many developers and game designers have time to hone their craft and really get a grip on what a system or console can do. The Nintendo DS is a perfect example of this, because not only was it a more powerful version of Nintendo’s handheld line, it also introduced a second touch screen to play around with. Early games on the DS used that second screen as an inventory management screen, a place to show the map, or a different way to control the game. Perhaps we’re all spoiled now in 2015 after 10 years of successful games on the system, because going back to Tao’s Adventure on the DS just reminds me how far we’ve come.

 

Sunday Roundup: 10/11/15

While Laura’s out of the country for work, I decided to do a bit of a game collecting experiment: Determine of GameStop’s in my area are conducive to collecting. There have been many negative comments on the internet about GameStop, how they’e a terrible place to shop for games, they charge too much for games and give too little with trade-in prices, and in general that they’re a bad place/thing for gamers. Personally I’ve never had a problem with GameStop: they don’t have all the stuff I want all the time, but I can usually find some quality games there time to time. So this week I’m going to try to hit up each of the dozen or so stores in my general vicinity and see if I can actually find decent stuff at each one. Here’s the first part of that, with two brand new GameStop’s I’ve never been to giving me some games I’ve actually been looking for for nearly 5 years!

 

Games I Wish I Were Better At Playing

While growing up, I idolized how well my brother played fighting games. Mortal Kombat II, Killer Instinct, and Street Fighter II were way too tough for me, but seeing Phil take on M. Bison and come out victorious, or somehow land Killer Combo after Killer Combo in KI was like watching a professional basketball player land 3-pointers one after another. I’d try my hand at the games, and while I did develop some skill (even enough in some games to overcome my brother/rival), I was never able to get where I wanted to get. And after a couple of decades I’ve added even more games to that list of games I wish I were better at. So here they are, and in no particular order, the video games I wish I were better at.

 

Skylanders: Swap Force on 3DS is an enjoyable, albeit simple, platformer

The Skylanders series of RPG/Platformers is the grandfather of the NFC toys-to-life genre so rampant today. With the LEGO games jumping into the fray, kids/parents/gamers have a mountain of toys to buy for a variety of games. While the first Disney Infinity attempted to bring the game to the portable 3DS (and failed), only Activision’s Skylanders series has maintained an enjoyable presence on Nintendo’s handheld since the very first game. With each iteration of the Skylanders franchise something new is added to enhance the gameplay, sell more times, and convince you that $100 purchase last year is obsolete compared to this year’s bundle. On the 3DS though, the game’s offer a completely different story and gameplay experience, and Swap Force on 3DS is no exception. It’s nothing compared to the console versions, but it’s still a good play for someone who’s invested money in lots of plastic figures and portals!

 

Sunday Roundup: 9/27/15

Collecting two weeks, this Sunday Roundup has a few targeted pickups I knew I was going to grab, as well as some totally random ones, and even some awesome sale prices! Whenever there are sales that lump together a few solid games and some average one in a bundle price, I’ll always take a look if not grab a few to add to the collection. It’s good, though, these don’t come by too often, otherwise I’d have no money at all!

 

Diablo III on PS4 is Better than Diablo III on PC

Diablo III has been out on PC for over three years, and it’s expansion Reaper of Souls for one. When it was released, I was there on day one to pick up the sequel to one of the PCs greatest games ever, and one  I have truly fond memories with (it’s one of the only games I had two separate yet significant amount of times with). I played through the whole campaign, maxed out my Witch Doctor and Demon Hunter, and even picked up a few legendaries. But when all was said and done, Diablo III just didn’t leave the same impact with me as its predecessor. Even the expansion, which added some sweet new content, didn’t pull me in like D2.

But then the PS4 version came out. More specifically, it was on sale on Amazon and I decided to pick it up.

Having cleared all five acts and taken on some Rifts, I can safely say Diablo III is a game tailored for the console crowd.

 

Sunday Roundup: 9/13/15

Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL Wii Release Date: November 15th, 2011 Purchased at: GameStop (Cupertino, CA – $5) While looking at games on the shelf, sometimes I have to reference my app on my phone to see if I already have a game. While purchasing this one I looked it up and discovered I do actually have it, but on PS3. I’m trying to recall when I actually bought this game on PS3, and I’m having a really hard time. Anyway, Punch Time Explosion XL is a Super Smash Bros.-like game but with Cartoon Network characters. I’m hoping it’ll provide some fun reminiscing if nothing else.

Furu Furu Park Wii Release Date: January 16th, 2008 Purchased at: GameStop (Sunnyvale, CA – $2) Finally! After skipping on this game a year or two ago at a separate GameStop, I’ve finally found a second copy and I was not going to pass it up. Thankfully, in that two year time frame, the game dropped even more in price! Furu Furu Park is a super old Wii title that incorporates familiar Taito properties like Puzzle Bobble and spins them in the then-new feeling minigame collection! It’s not a good game by any means, but the novelty is enough to warrant a buy.

Arcade Shooting Gallery Wii Release Date: November 17th, 2009 Purchased at: GameStop (San Jose, CA – $1) You really can’t be too upset when a game you purchase for a dollar turns out to be complete garbage. So when I eventually get around to this game and it turns out to be complete garbage I won’t be too upset! I’ve been trying gather up most of the Wii’s on-rails shooters, and this is just one of them.

Super Mario Maker Wii U Release Date: September 11th, 2015 Purchased at: Target (San Jose, CA – $55) The hype around this game is what really got me. I am not one who really latches on to games that allow you to create your own levels. For some reason I just never felt like creating a stage was all that fun, but I do know some people live for that kind of stuff in games. What really sold me on this, though, was it’s presence at this year’s E3: the insanity of some of those levels, with multiple Bowsers on screen, and inclusion of dozens of Amiibo as characters, I really couldn’t pass this by. It is also a Mario game, so there’s that seal of approval as well. Here’s hoping it’ll be a great game for the Wii U!

Laters,
Jsick

 

Sunday Roundup: 9/6/15

A much overdue Roundup brings together almost an entire month’s worth of game pickups. I’ve been quite busy this past month with work and all that jazz, and not so crazy on the video games front. That being said, I did attend PAX Prime this past weekend (you can read some articles on games I wrote here, and here!) and picked up some games there. On top of that, I’m getting dangerously close to the 2,000th game in the collection! And in a couple weeks there’s going to be a city-wide garage sale I’m hoping to utilize to reel in some great new finds. So there’s lots of exciting stuff going on, and let’s get started!