24 Feb. 04

Well, as you can plainly see, I've been falling down on the job around here. What can I say? Things have been pretty crazy for me the past couple of weeks. My involvement with the Glee Club musical has a lot to do with it, but on top of that I have suddenly found myself talking on the IM a lot more ;). To make matters worse, I have been using a little bit of my loan to buy a few games. In the space since my last update, I have gotten Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Beyond Good & Evil, Robotech Battlecry, and I also downloaded the newest version of the Desert Combat Mod for Battlefield 1942. I will eventually be posting some more in-depth impressions/reviews on these games, but I'd like to say a few words about a couple of them now.

First, Crystal Chronicles is a fun and extremely well-made game. I have played single player, two player, and three player, and had a blast with each one. The single player isn't pointless, but it does feel awkward after playing the multiplayer. Also, the dialogue and cut scenes have obviously been set up with multiple players involved. I can't understand why critics are so eager to bash this game as a whole because of its relatively weaker multiplayer...it didn't seem to matter in the case of, oh, say, Battlefield 1942. That game's single player experience is an absolute pile of steaming excrement, but it was still given the Game of the Year honors.

Speaking of Battlefield 1942, the new Desert Combat mod is truly an exemplary piece of work. This mod has single-handedly rekindled my BF 1942 addiction, which has been in remission for going on two months now. There are some truly fascinating and well laid out MOUT-oriented (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) maps, as well as more new weapons and vehicles than you can shake a stick at. If you have them means, I definitely encourage you to check out this mod.

Robotech Battlecry and Beyond Good & Evil are two GameCube games that I picked up rather inexpensively for $15 and $20, respectively. Both of these games have proven to be well worth that price. Robotech Battlecry is based on an anime series that I have never seen, but nevertheless, I find myself being drawn into its story and its excellent, though subtle, cell-shading graphics style. Beyond Good & Evil, on the other hand, is an adventure game in the vein of the Zelda series. I am having a good time with it, but I don't think that it is as good as some claim. This game does do a really good job at capturing the "stealth" aspect of gameplay, where you sneak around to avoid detection. In Wind Waker, such elements seemed almost out of place, but this game integrates them pretty smoothly.

Well, I will try to get a few more updates posted later this week. Like I said, I'd like to get some more in-depth features on these games done, plus I have some more anime to review. Then there is that little question of doing a feature on Katsucon, which I attended almost two weeks ago already!

12 Feb. 04

It has been a busy week so far, but I wanted to put up a quick update to talk about the skin I just got from GBAmod. I'm not one of those people that goes around modding everything in sight, but I just couldn't resist this deal. Check out the pictures and in-depth article below!

08 Feb. 04

Exams week is kicking off early for me, since I have a test first thing tomorrow morning. The subject is Naval Architecture, and will involve a whole lot of math equations that I learned a year or so ago (but have mostly forgotten). At least there is a review session to help me get ready. The past week has just been crazy...my classes and ECA's all seem to be kicking into high gear. I am keeping up with the workload without a whole lot of difficulty, but there isn't a whole lot of time for other stuff, such as updating the ol' site.

Yesterday was a great day, and a good respite from the busy week. First of all, I got to meet Gwen, who is my roommate's girlfriend's roommate (sounds like something out of Space Balls, I know). The four of us spent the day together, and (speaking for myself, anyway) had a great time. As an added bonus, while we were out I ran across a copy of Robotech: Battlecry for my GameCube for only $15. My initial impressions: the game is worth it. If you happen to find a similar deal, I recommend you jump at it.

Well, it is time to chalk up another completely reviewed series in the Anime section. The review for the final volume of Dual! awaits.

01 Feb. 04

This has been a pretty busy weekend for me, what with a warship meeting, a community service project (involving clearing trash out of a frozen creek), handing out promotional flyers for the winter musical, and getting a reservation for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. The warship meeting on Friday was a great time, as usual, and I got a lot of interesting tips and pointers that I will be incorporating into the Warship section sometime this week.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles has been on the periphery of my radar screen for a while now. While I am intrigued by the GameBoy connectivity features, I will have to admit that the Final Fantasy name alone is enough to convince me that this game is going to be a quality product. Perhaps my blind faith is unjustified, but the fact is I haven't played a bad FF game (Not that I've played many, but FF Tactics Advance was sweet).

Anyway, I am continuing to burn through Dual! and having a great time while doing so. The review for the third volume is below.