Sunday Round-up: 7/31/11

A new 3DS title, the original Fallouts, and the official expansion set to the first Diablo. This week’s haul of games is all over the place! With ten new entries into the collection, let’s dive right in…

Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions
Nintendo 3DS

I was able to grab this game for my next Machinima review. I’ve played a few hours of it so far, and I’m liking it so far. I plan on getting an Initial Thoughts blog about it soon, so look forward to that.

The game is actually six games in one: The original Pac-Man, the Xbox 360 downloadable title Pac-Man Champion Edition, and the entirely new Pac-Man Tilt. Being the only new game in the package of Pac-Man titles, Tilt is the lure of the package, utilizing the handhelds motion control to make for some truly interesting platforming. The other three games are from the Galaga universe: The original Galaga, Galaga Legions which also comes from the Xbox 360, and the new title Galaga 3D Impact. 3D Impact is a first-person style on-rails game. There’s few thrills so far, but I’ve mainly been focusing on the Pac-Man titles over the these. Full review to come soon as well 🙂

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Nintendo DS

I picked up this game from a friend who was looking to sell it for the extra cash. I actually own the entire Wind Waker series, but I’ve yet to beat any of those games. Spirit Tracks was supposed to be pretty sweet, but I don’t know when I’ll be getting to it, just because I feel I should really play and beat Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass before I dive deep into this one. But if it’s anything like the other games in the series, I know I’ll love it.

Shadowbane

PC

Some friends and I were in Indianapolis this past weekend for a wedding and during our off time we visited some used movie/game places. This is the first of several PC titles I grabbed for only a few bucks ($2 to be exact). Shadowbane is/was an MMORPG that was somewhat popular, I suppose, in the 2000’s. It servers have since shutdown, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still marvel in the minotaur artwork. Haha. I am sure the game won’t work without the proper servers to play on, but it’s still worth having for only two bucks.

Fallout
PC

Ahh, Fallout. Easily one of the best games I’ve played on the PC (albeit the very few I’ve played). I remember playing and beating this game while borrowing my cousin’s copy of the game. This was years before Fallout 3 (another excellent game) was released. Fallout is balls hard, too! Even now, the game is still incredibly difficult. Regardless, I’ve had some great memories with this one: Knifing those fucking radscorpions right outside the vault, watching chunks of flesh explode off foes as I kill them mercilessly, being pretty scared when I had to go into the blast site of the atomic bomb, and having about 12 days left to get the water chip. This is a DEFINITE must-play for fans of PC RPGs and strategy games.

Fallout 2
PC

Another game that I have previously beaten, but this one I actually already owned. I just saw it there on the rack for $2 and felt I had to free this gem from it’s purgatory in the clearance section. Fallout 2 isn’t as memorable as the first game in my opinion, but it’s still just as good. I think the ideas in 2 are a lot darker than in the first: Drug addiction, slavery, and gangs banding against the corrupt government to name a few. Honestly though the game is just a continuation of what made the first Fallout great, and shouldn’t be missed again by fans of the first. Oh, and this one is ridiculously hard, too. Until you get a generous supply of armor/caps/ammo, you’ll be saving the game and reloading the game constantly.

Hellfire: The Official Diablo Expansion
PC

I couldn’t believe it when I saw this game at the store! I have never even seen this one before in my life, but I knew what it was immediately. There were no official expansions released by Blizzard for the first Diablo game, but this one was started by the company and then finished by Sierra. Many people don’t even realize this expansion existed, but seeing as it offered virtually nothing of value to the already excellent Diablo, there was really no point in even giving it a try. That, and Diablo 2 was only a few years away from completion, which trumps even the first game in terms of awesomeness. I’ll have to re-install the game and give this one a whirl…

Resident Evil: Director’s Cut
Playstation 1

Switching over from the PC to the PS1 we start with Resident Evil: Director’s Cut. This game was a sort of remix to the original game, if video games can have remixes. The Director’s Cut had a new layout for the game’s mansion, enticing players to play through the already year old game again to test out their skills. I have never actually played this one, but enjoy the series quite a lot. Aside from the new arrangement of items and enemies, there’s really no reason to have this game if you own the original version (or better yet the GameCube remake). Alas, I’ll have to give it a try to see if it really is any different.

Dino Crisis 2
Playstation 1

Keeping with the Capcom survival horror feel of things, the next game I picked up was Dino Crisis 2 for the PS1. If you don’t know about the Dino Crisis series, then here’s the basics: You take the zombies of Resident Evil and replace them with dinosaurs. Honestly, this is the only real difference I can tell between the two series. The awkward controls and sense of looming fear are retained. I have yet to play this title, but thought the first was interesting at the very least. I have read and seen videos on the third and final game in the series (aptly named Dino Crisis 3) and really want to find that one. Dinosaurs with jet packs and robot body parts? How could it be bad?….

Midway Arcade Treasures 1
Playstation 2

I think the only real reason I picked this one up was because I own Midway Arcade Treasures 2 and thought it be nice to at least have the first one. While this actually is a decent collection of Midway’s games, with the exception of Smash TV, Rampage, and I suppose Spy Hunter there really aren’t any games worthwhile here.

Interesting factoid: This is actually a repackaging of the game. The first package features the same games as this one, but completely different box art. The change was made to this style after the release of the second collection of games, to further match the style of the series of games. The subsequent Midway Arcade Treasures 3 features this new style of art. Go marketing!

Painkiller: Triple Dose
PC

I have to admit, the only reason why I know about this game was because of the Zero Punctuation review. Yhatzee put the game in such a light that I could think nothing less of it being a game the gods would play should they chose to play violent shooters. The variety of guns and ways to dismember enemies sounds like a good time. Even if that good time is actually a terrible time for anyone else other than you.