Dead Island

Is good. Will review it on PEOWW this weekend but fucking hell, I didn't expect to like it. It's overly long and has zombies in it. Zombies can fuck off. But despite all that, it's decent.

Finally, a good game.

The aborted PEOWW awards this year were showing, in the raw data, that Mass Effect 2 was basically winning every meaningful category. As such, it was about time I gave it a go - especially with LewieP's SavyGamer helping me nab a copy for three quid - and having just maxed the frankly risible Hasbro Family Game Night 3, I was looking for a bit of quality.

Oh my, Mass Effect 2 delivers. The first game, despite being loved by everyone but me, got on my tits thanks to the overly complex weapon configs, rubbish shooting and tedious sidequests. Mass Effect 2 fixes all of this and has some stunning setpieces and brilliant action.

I just gotta ketchup with my life.

Oh, the blog. I knew I'd forgotten something. Between running ting over at PEOWW and contributing to the fabulous Gaming Lives, I've not returned to Kai Temple since July 2010. Poor show, Rich. Okay, what's happening?

2010 was shit. End of story. The only upsides were Chime (lovely puzzler that I'm still playing despite maxing it months ago), Pinball FX2 (oddly brilliant sequel to a game I hated) and Pacman: Celine Dion (fucking gorgeous sequel to Pac-Man: CE that mixes things up enough to keep it fresh). Favourite full-retail games? It's a sorry fucking case of affairs when we're talking about these lemons as my favourites;

Splinter Cell: Conviction: story mode was flashy but shit. SC1 still rules supreme. That said, the co-op 'Deniable Ops' missions were glorious. I went through them with Odiedodie from PEOWW and we had a lovely time didn't we?

Darkstar One: remember Freelancer? This is like that but way less good. That said, a nice and relaxing jaunt through various solar systems is always nice and in the end even the extreme grind to 1000GS didn't stop me having some warm and fuzzy feelings for this game. It was full of bad design choices and it's roots as a three year old PC game are evident. Worth it for a tenner though.

Apart from that it was all shitty sequels (40th Day, Crackdown and Dead Rising were all soured by inferior sequels) and pointless fucking shooters.

One 2010 release that I'm only just getting into now is Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. Our boy Danny gave this a go and the promise of co-op play and light RPG elements meant I was powerless to resist. Strikeforce isn't a great hack and slasher but it's crazily addictive and is totally my cup of lemony tea.

The Godfather

It's a sandbox game with PS2 graphics and repetitive missions but it's already vastly better than GTA4. Go figure.

It's keeping me mildly diverted anyway. Certainly more interesting than seeing Rooney and the rest capitulate.

I was a little wrong.

I said Splinter Cell Conviction was a bit gash. Well, it is but the Deniable Ops mode, in co-op with the right partner - Peoww's own Colin - is the most fun I've had out of a full retail game this (horrible for gaming) year.

Well maybe that and Skate 3 co-op with Lurk.

Tenchu

Fucking.

Maxed.

That can fuck off.

Games that never fucking end #1

Lord Goda expect much of me.

It takes twenty-five hours, roughly, to beat all fifty levels of Tenchu Z at the ineligantly titled Ninja 5 rating. For some reason, From Software decided that it'd be a good idea to make achievements for doing this on Easy, Normal and Hard and then make those achievements non-stacking.

Now given that Hard doesn't seem any different to Normal, this seems like the work of cunts. I've done all fifty levels on Normal and thirty-five on Hard and my pain has only just started.

Fucking Tenchu.