Sigh, back to work.

So I sit here today, back to the routine of life. Work wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be when I got back. (thank you Steve!) I'm trapped again, as Steph has the car today. I should be used to it by now, but I still really dislike being stuck. Oh well. At least I can make a good sandwich and validate my existence with the hopes that people are actually reading this.

I haven't spoken much about gaming in the past few weeks because my game time is considerably down. I still play, but more so when it's bad out or in the evenings. I've noticed a significant drop in most of my gaming contacts game time as well. It being summer tends to do that I find.

I picked up a couple of games over on the west coast. A seriously discounted "Scene It! Bright Lights" and Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper, also heavily discounted. Sherlock is a fairly decent diamond in the rough, with a classic "Kings Quest" feel to it. I ran through the first case, and it was enjoyable enough. The graphics were a little weak, but overall the voice acting was very well done and the methodical approach to forced deductive reasoning was very engrossing. The opening scene where you see through the eyes of Jack the Ripper himself as he performs his first grizzly murder was a little shocking, but really sets the mood for the title. Scene It was just the same as the first two scene it titles, lots of movie trivia and puzzles. IT's a great title to sit down with your non gamer wife or girlfriend. It's nowhere NEAR as polished as the last title, Box Office Smash, but it's trivia. Really, how fancy do you need it to be?

I've been playing a title recently that I first played, AND finished, when I first got my Xbox. Tales of Vesperia is a Namco Bandai game with STRONG Japanese influence. It's very beautifully done, with gorgeous backdrops and some fantastic cel-shaded characters. (This makes the typical game character look like a cartoon instead of a videogame character) The battle system is great, and the story twists and turns nicely. I won't get too deep into it, but I will recommend it to the RPG fan out there. Lots of gameplay and a good story will make the RPG fan in any home very happy.

I also played a little Mass Effect 2 recently as well. I'm in the middle of the Firewalker DLC. You use a tank that is apparently made out of Paper Mache to take on hordes of the Geth, a robotic race of aliens who had the perfect guns for burning your craftily-made tank of newspaper and wet paste. Gah, it's very hard to the point of frustration, and the first black mark against a game i felt owned my soul for two weeks back in January. I did Kasumi's memory as well, and that was fine, just a week bit short. Coming up in that one is Overlord, the major expansion recently released. It sounds great.

No camera talk today as it's monopolized this blog for the past few weeks. I'm pictured out, honestly. It'll be put away until the wedding season starts. Go Maps are a great success, and I'm now starting to reach outside of the St. John's area! Hopefully we'll see Go Maps in a few locations across the island in the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading, and we'll see you back here soon enough.

C