Quiet Blog. Busy April.

Sorry for the lack of blogs this month, it turned out to be surprisingly busy April. Lots of work, a fair bit of homework, and just general social activities. But I’m here now, writing this blog. So that’s a good sign… right?

Next week WiiLoaded will celebrate its 3rd birthday!! And anyone who has been around for any of that time should join us in celebrations next week. I’m not quite sure what we have on besides a birthday card contest (which can be located here), but if anyone who reads here has any ideas for activities then let me know and I’ll pass it on. You can also reach me at lemonmanx@wiiloaded.com which is convenient.

So what is coming up? And what has just passed us by?

In April was the much hyped release of Advent Children Complete, I have watched both the English and Japanese dubs and must say I enjoyed them both a lot. Fantastic added scenes that really flesh out certain elements of the film’s plot that were touched upon only lightly. And then there are scenes they added to just make things more awesome, like Sephiroth really kicking Cloud’s spikey butt for a good 20 seconds or so. Not much but when you see what he does, it is a painful 20 seconds for poor Cloud.

And just the other day Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was confirmed to be coming to PSN and XBLA, which is awesome. I can’t wait to pick that bad boy up and play the crap out of it. Mostly because I’ve really stopped playing Street Fighter IV… not quite sure why though. Unfortunate but we persevere.

I also know that I have been lacking reviews. I have written half of my (late) MGS4 one and the first quarter of my (late) Fire Emblem DS one. Unfortunately my homework interrupted here, I couldn’t get into a suitable state of mind to write about something I enjoyed after forcing myself through several boring essays.

Also, Transformers 2 is getting closer! Let the hype machine begin rolling.

Foolhardy

Well, another April Fools day has come and gone. And for the most part it was pretty tame, only really impressive one (and that’s because they always are) was the video released by Kojima for his next MGS. Very amusing, Revenge of the Colonel.

So for the most part, tame day. Apart from that this is just a general post. I realise I’m very behind on a reviews, I’m most unhappy about that as well because I love reviewing games. But I assure you they are coming. Fire Emblem and Resident Evil 5 have top priority. But I’ll also consider reviewing Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time.

DragonBall: Evolution on Monday, should be hilarious. Bring on the destruction of my childhood!!

LemonManX’s Fortune.

Recently I was lucky enough to pick up Unchatered: Drake’s Fortune on PS3 for an absolute bargain price of $39.99AU. Fantastic!! I couldn’t have been happier to hand over that little money for a game that got such good feedback (besides a few flaws which I sadly experienced as I played it and agreed completely about them).

First of which was mentioned by a few people, in particular Ben Croshaw (or Yahtzee if you prefer), when he mentioned that you’ll find yourself jumping to pieces of a cliff-face or side of a tower that you can’t actually grab despite looking a lot like the ones can grab. Next thing you know, you are falling to your death. Which usually isn’t too annoying if you’ve just started one of the many lengthy sessions consisting of jumping all over the place. However, if you are far into it, then it gets a bit tiresome being taken back to the very start by what can sometimes prove to be a very annoying checkpoint system.

But by far the biggest thing about this game that really annoyed me, is that about 3/4’s through the game you reach a certain abandoned base kind of set up. Sure, seems noraml. But then suddenly… MONSTERS! Yes, weird creatures apparently involved with El Dorado. Plot point becomes fairly obvious but still, they are just an annoying element that really feels out of place in the game. They can kill you in only a couple of hits, and constantly appear in a couple sections of the game. Very annoying creatures, especially after you’ve spent the entire game using cover to fight guys with guns. Suddenly the game throws a new thing at you, tells you to ditch the cover system for a bit because it won’t help you against these guys and suck it up.

You’ll get through it, but I personally didn’t like it. And felt the game would have been for the better without that. But honestly, aside from a couple of those little annoyances the game is very, very impressive. And above all, fun. You’ll have fun playing it, blasting through ethnic minorities with shotguns and machine guns, whether you are shooting blindly, aiming carefully or shooting from the hip. Very fun game.

Not to forget some of the best water visuals I’ve ever seen and a great score to boot.