About time I did a gaming update again!

Well, after being nagged by Jen and Stevie I figured it was time I did a gaming update to go along with the Disney update I posted earlier.

The last few months have been fairly quiet in terms of new releases, as it always is. Thankfully I’ve been able to get my hands on some of the better releases to review recently, including games such as Skate 2, Rise of the Argonauts, Race Pro, Deadly Creatures, and my current review games, Blast Works on the Wii, and WWE Legends of Wrestlemania on the Xbox 360. Out of all of them, Skate 2 is my pick of the bunch. I was a huge fan of the first Skate, and the sequel takes everything that was good about the first game, improves them slightly, adds in some extra bits and pieces, makes hurting yourself an enjoyable distraction, and comes out as an exceptionally good game, with real longeivity. There’s just so much to do in the game, and just skating around New San Vanelona is fun as you find your own lines and make up your own tricks as you explore the city. If you enjoy skateboard games at all, I’d fully recommend it.

Since the last update I’ve bought and gone through both Fallout 3 DLC releases, Operation: Anchorage, and The Pitt. Both are enjoyable and for only 800 points are worth downloading, though I have to admit to enjoying The Pitt more, as it has a better story and the new weapons are more enjoyable to use (who wouldn’t enjoy chopping people into bloody giblets with an auto-axe?). I’ve put about 50 hours into a 2nd playthrough of the game as well to get all the achievements I missed the first time, and now I’m just waiting for the Broken Steel DLC which is due out on the 5th May. I’ve got the points ready for it to buy as soon as it becomes available.

I’ve also started playing Mass Effect again lately. It’s such a good game and thanks to the 3rd person action it keeps you interested, as I feel story heavy RPG games can lose some replayability if the fighting isn’t as good as it can be. I was a bad-ass on my first playthrough of the game so this time I’m going to be a hero soldier. I’ve still got about 3 playthroughs left if I want to get all the achievements, but thankfully at around 25-30 hours per playthrough it won’t be as bad as it could be. Certainly if I had to do Fallout 3 several times I’d be looking at 50+ hours per playthrough.

What has really dominated my time lately is the DLC for Fifa 09 – Ultimate Team. For anyone who collected the Panini football stickers as a kid, you’ll understand the basics of the game. You build your team up by buying packs of cards, either Bronze, Silver or Gold. You buy these packs with coins you earn for the matches you play. Each pack may contain players, staff, club information such as kits and badges, training cards, and more. If you get players, you can put them into your team if you want them, or you can send them to your collection (which is like putting the stickers in your book) for a coin bonus. Anything you already have you can trade with friends or sell it through an eBay style marketplace. While it’s hard to describe it, I think it’s one of those mades you really need to experience to appreciate properly. Building a good team takes time, as you need to get your team chemistry right, by having players from the same nationality, playing in their correct positions, and hopefully in the right formation. I’m about 120 matches into the mode, and have a full Spanish team with a Spanish manager, but my team chemistry is still out 88 (out of 100) as some of my players prefer different formations to the 4-4-2 I play. Thankfully you can get training cards which will change a players preferred formation, but these are very rare and can be really expensive to buy. It really is like crack, so addictive and browsing the marketplace looking for bargains is very compelling.

I’ve also been playing the UFC Undisputed demo a lot since it came out. It’s a brilliant game and the demo has completely sold it to me. I’m a fan of the UFC but the game was never really on my radar as I thought there was no way they could do the sport justice. It turns out I was wrong, as the game has some excellent fight mechanics for standing fighting and the ground game as well. It has proper flash knockouts as well, where a well timed punch or kick can knock your opponent out instantly. There’s never been a game that has managed to implement them as well as here, so it’s all looking like it’ll make for an excellent game. Roll on May 22nd when it’s due out.

That’s it for now, maybe I’ll do another update in a few days. It won’t be 3 months till the next update though, I promise!

New Disney Update

It’s now 3 months and 5 days until we go away to Disney for our honeymoon. It only seems a few weeks ago that we were talking about it and booking the holiday. The time really is flying by, not that I’m complaining of course. The quicker the year goes, the quicker it’ll be before we go away. I just hope that time slows down a bit when we’re actually on holiday. 2 weeks just won’t seem enough, especially considering all there is to do in Disney and all the surrounding areas.

I suspect that out of the people who read my blog (about 5 of you probably!), none of you have gone to Disney. It wouldn’t surprise me if you were wondering why I’m so excited about staying in a complex that is heavily oriented around kids and families. There is of course the fact that I’m a big kid, so I fit in nicely. However, there are definitely more reasons than that….

Firstly, the weather. Nothing to me reminds me more of being on holiday than being in weather that we will probably never see in this country. So whether it’s -15c in New York (Jan 2005, in the middle of their coldest winter for 30 years), or 35c and 90% humidity in Florida, it’s weather we won’t be getting in this country and I love being in it. I’m lucky that I’m comfortable in either extreme so I’m never too bothered by it. Either put me in a big heavy coat, or a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and I’m happy

Secondly, the vibe there. I’d never claim to be the most travelled of people, but I’ve been to a fair number of places in the UK, Europe and America, and there are only 2 places I’ve been to where there’s a tangible vibe there. New York is one of them, and it really deserves its title as “The City That Never Sleeps”. Even at 11pm in winter there was always activity and you can just tell you’re in a special city. Disney is the 2nd place with a vibe, but one completely different to New York. It’s just so relaxed and friendly, it really feels like a magical place where you can leave your troubles at the door and just enjoy yourself. You’re never rushed, never hurried, never made to feel like you’re a burden, and always made to feel welcome and special. The Americans are the best for customer service anyway, but in Disney it’s kicked up another notch.

Then of course, the parks themselves. As you’d expect there’s a lot there aimed towards young kids, but there’s still plenty of enjoyable activities in every park. Walking the World in Epcot is great, as you walk around the outside of a huge lake in the middle of the park, and each section is themed after a different country. You have places like England, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Denmark, Japan, and more, each having it’s own building style from each country, along with appropriate shops. England has a pub that serves proper lager, and a fish and chip shop. Great stuff. There’s also shows like Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and Lights Motors Action at Hollywood Studios, both of which are incredible to watch. That’s not even mentioning all the rides and stuff that adults can enjoy. Oh, and virtually every park puts on a fireworks display/show every evening at 9pm. The one at Epcot, entitled “Illuminations: Reflections of Earth” is easily the best firework display I’ve ever seen, lasting about 20 minutes and set to music. It finishes with so many bright fireworks that it virtually turns the night sky into daytime again. I’ve probably seen it 4 times now and I can’t wait to see it again. Then of course you have the other parks outside of Disney, such as Universal Studios and Sea World. Universal is amazing, probably even better than Disney for the rides that are there. Sea World is great fun as well, with Clyde & Seamore Take Pirate Island being one of the best shows you’ll see (Clyde and Seamore are seals, and very good actors too!).

After that, there’s Cirque Du Soleil: La Nouba. If you’ve never seen a Cirque show you’re really missing out on an incredible event. The La Nouba show in Florida is simply amazing, a mix of acrobats, clowns, jugglers, entertainers and great music. I’ve seen a few different Cirque shows now (on TV and in person) and La Nouba is easily my favourite. We were watching the website for weeks, and the moment the tickets went on sale we grabbed them. Last time we were only 10 rows from the front, and we’ll be even closer this time, a mere 6 rows from the front. They initially tried to put us on the back row of the front section, but a bit of ingenuity in reserving seats in seperate browser windows got us the seats we wanted

Next: Shopping! I’m not really a shopping kind of guy, it’s something that I do when I have to and not for any longer than is necessary. It’s different over there though, as everything is so much cheaper than it is over here. As an example, when we were in New York we picked up some pairs of Calvin Klein jeans for under half the price you’d pay in the UK. I’m not someone who tends to wear a lot of named brands (seeing I wear normal clothes in work, they’d get wrecked very easily), but when it’s as cheap as in America it’d be foolish not to buy some. We’re going shopping on our second day there in August so we can buy stuff before we spend all our money everywhere else!

I really could go on and on for some time about what we’re looking forward to the most over there, but it’s hard to narrow down exactly what we love about the place. All of the above, and so many other reasons, all combine to make it a brilliant place to spend 2 weeks. Roll on August 3rd!