Pon Pon Pata Pon, Pata, Pata Pata Pon, Pon Pon Pata Pon.... Is it driving you nuts?

Well, it should not if you have played Patapon. I tried the demo that came out on the PSN today and I love it! I played with it for about an hour and I can't wait to get my hands on the final product. This game is so charming and unique. For now I only have two commands at my disposal and I wonder what the others are. The game could be described as a rhythmic rock paper scissor. You have different units that are better against certain others and / or situations and you command them to the rhythm of the stage. From the limited time I spent with the demo, I can tell that there will be more depth since every Patapon has it's own equipment and that you create Patapons out of different kind of materials. I haven't check this aspect fully yet and the game (the demo) doesn't really give you instructions or advice about that aspect. The levels are bite size which make them perfect for portable play. I'm a bit worried about the repetitiveness, but depending on the way the game dishes out rewards to the player (commands and whatnots) it could be fine. On a side note, it might be weird to see some one playing this game, cause he might be looking away from the screen and be nodding his to the rhythm of the game while pushing some button...

I played some more Professor Layton today. I tried this week's downloadable content (yes DLC on the DS Wow... although we might just be downloading an unlock code) and that puzzle was hard but felt so great. I really love that game. I checked the review on Gamespot and it was tagged with a bad music icon. I have to disagree. I think the music suit the atmosphere like a glove. I can't say just yet if there are more melody in the game than what I heard so far. I that case it might get repetitive but it's not bad. there should be an icon for repetitive music... but anyway....

As I booted up my 360 last Sunday, I was greeted by a familiar face. My second machine had Red Ringed. I was kinna glad since I had trouble with my disc drive, it stopped reading for whatever reason while loading, and that issue was no longer covered with my warranty. It suck cause I won't be trying Lost Odyssey this week and I won't be able to continue playing Burnout, CoD4 and Mass Effect. Actually playing Mass Effect was a chore since my machine kept crashing because of a disc read error whenever loading occurred which led me to play the some sequence twice over. As anyone who played it can attest that there are numerous instances where the game loads and I was freaking up madly saving my game every 10 minutes so I wouldn't have to play that part of the game again. It was really frustrating.

Anyway, I have plenty of other stuff to keep me occupied while I wait for a "new" 360. Maybe this is what is gonna push me over the edge and I will finally buy Uncharted. I've been willing to play that game since it came out, but for whatever reason I never bought it. I wanted to clear a bit of my "to play list" before I invested in this title. The funny thing is, that list never stopped me from buying some other games. I guess I just don't like to play games on my PS3. Here are the three reasons I don't like playing on my PS3:

1-I hate the sixaxis: The stick placement feels uncomfortable, it feels flimsy and cheap, the triggers sucks and no force feedback

2-It doesn't upscale game from 720p to 1080i. My TV is showing age and if content isn't running in 1080i it looks like **** If there is any technofile reading this thinking: OMG 720p IS BETTER than 1080i! well you haven't seen it on my TV and get a life. Anyway, thrust me it suck!

3-(Guess you saw it coming) NO POINTS..... nuff said...

All that said, I still have some Wii games I haven't finished. No More Heroes is still sitting shrink wrapped on my bookcase, and I have TONS of DS ans PSP games that need attention. I don't ride the bus as often as I used to and most of my time on the bus is spent listening to various podcasts. That said I did try some of them which leads me to my gem of the day: Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

That game is really interesting and I recommend it to just about anyone, just as long as you like mend benders. Not unlike a certain Brain Training series, PL has the seal of approval of some Japanese scientist but the approach this one takes on it's subject matter is totally different. It's amazing how Level 5 managed to make a "real" game with a start, an end, challenge and rewards instead of feeling like a toy. In fact it's much closer to an adventure game. The game tells a story while incorporating multiple puzzles as choke points. They are not really in relation to what's going on in the story and that's what so great about it. The way the story is laid out, the puzzles never seam of out place. They built a universe where it's perfectly normal to be randomly asked to solve various puzzle. The subject of the game is completely different than the setting of the game I find that particularly fascinating... Anyway I still have to play some more but I highly recommend it.....

Hey there it's been a while. Now that school is over I had time to play a bunch of games and I'll try to update this page more often with quick tidbits (ramblings) on stuff I played. Since my last post was about Bioshock and I just happened to finish the game last Monday its time I wrap this up.

Fist of all the atmosphere of the game is fantastic. The environments really bring the desolate and claustrophobic nature of Rapture. That's probably the thing I preferred about the game. I was a little disappointed when I realised the game was linear. I think a structure more akin the Metroid Prime would have benefited the game. Rapture is such a unique and interesting place to visit that a more open world structure would have benefited the game by amplifying the sense of exploration and discovery. Other than that, I didn't really like the gunplay. It didn't really feel right. I guess the enemies take a bit too much bullets to die. Speaking of bullet I had to manage my ammunition more than in Resident Evil and I hated that. it always seemed to me that I was low on ammo and I always had to buy some more. Coincidently I was running low on cash. I never was empty in cash and ammo at the same time but I really hated the feeling. Funny that it never bothered me in RE... Maybe it because Bioshock is more like a shooter and running out of ammo in such a game is weird. The developer probably intended it to be this way to make sure that the economy of the game was balanced and relevant, but as a player this system was taking me out of my comfort zone just a bit too much.

I also didn't like the audio tape. It's not that I didn't like the content, far from it, it's just that I didn't like it when I was listening to a tape and stumbled of an enemy. In such a case I have to take my attention to the fight and lost some interesting back story. Sure I can listen to it again, but I'm lazy and I can't fast forward it. I would have preferred to read that stuff.

So that's pretty much my ramblings. Amidst all that, I still think that it is a great game. It's nice to see a game taking place in such an unusual setting and I hope that we'll see more of that.