Man Of Bravery

We're finally back in business! Tweaked the play schedule yet again, no more one month exception for RPGs because I just don't have time, and I'm not renting any repeats until I'm through the entire alphabet. Blitz mode is on.

So anyway, here's the one game that was left after I sent a bunch of other stuff back.

Conan
Achievements: 49 (all offline, 1000 gs)

God Of War lite, but with the original, cinematic god of war. I'm down with this.

Thirty minutes in: Yeah, it feels like God Of War to me. I don't necessarily like comparing games simply to other games, but this time, it kind of fits. A hack & slash fest, Conan has similar boobage and crazy combo content, while a bit more toned down on the acrobatic side of things, and to some extent, the graphics.

Still, you're collecting "runes" (instead of orbs) to refill your health and gain experience to buy new moves, there's some weapon changing available to you on the fly, and as you progress through the game, you collect pieces of the armor you lose at the beginning to gain special powers. Nothing like GoW at all, right? Right.

Whatever, it's still pretty good fun, worth a rent, and the achievements are a fairly simple spread. Most of them come from killing in all the interesting ways you can find, including special parry moves, training up all your special moves, and throwing rocks at people or impaling them on spikes.

The best part is, two thirds of the combat achievements, if you still don't have them by that point, can be acquired in the second to last boss battle, since the boss generates an endless stream of wussier enemies for you to massacre. Woot!

I'll admit to FAQing it to make sure I don't miss any of the secret treasure chests or maidens (read: fanservice), but really? They haven't exactly been all that well hidden, and that's already two or three acts in. There's two early on in the exposition section that you need to grab that aren't in the best FAQ out there for the game, but just remember - living statues, head left and right real quick. Easy.

All in all, it's a decent choice if you've already played the entire God Of War series, or don't have access to a PS2 or PSP to do so. Not the best, but I had fun. Rent it, tear things apart.

Rest of my gaming night looks like it's going to be Beautiful Katamari, and some Mario Kart Wii since I still have unlocking to do. Peace out.

Half a year.

I'm surprised I managed to stick with this, even half-assedly, for six months. Here's some data on what all is going to change around here, with my recent epiphanies.

You may have noticed the change in secondary tagline. That's because it's pretty appropriate for the shift of focus. I am definitely a "working" nerd, as I hold down two or three jobs, depending on how you look at it. Between my full-time job, a side job cooking at a bar, and helping maintain the grounds around here, things get busy. This doesn't even include keeping my own place in decent shape, which really hasn't been happening quite as much lately but I'm working on it.

As for the nerd thing? I want to cover more items, diversify a bit. The Godlike deal may have fallen through, but I've not dropped the idea of a podcast, so it would be nice to have more to talk about than just "Hur hur I got more points this week." The x360a podcast does that already, and it kind of sucks save for the British dude being funny.

So yeah, I'll probably start talking about my other dorky hobbies, like watching anime, reading manga, music geeking, cosplay, and dropping convention reports when I find time to go to them. I'd like to talk about other gaming systems a bit more, too.

The "play every 360 game" project is still on, if in need of a slight reboot and possible scaling back. Right now I've got Conan, Cars: Mater-National, and Chromehounds, and Bioshock's waiting for a finish. Reviews on the first two coming soon, as well as an XBLAW catchup day. Play Rain-Slick Precipice. Do it.

I don't know how on track I might manage to be over the next couple of weeks, since I'm headed out to Vegas next weekend, but we'll try to get back up and running here. Until I have time to post, here's some teasers on forthcoming features.

- Chris Dresses Like A Douche: The Road To AUSA
- For $90, You Too Can Have Nintendo Call You Fat
- BOOTYCON 2008 REPORT (possibly liveblogged if I can leech enough wireless and post from my DS)