I’ve gotten a lot of cheap games lately so I thought I’d briefly give my impressions of what I’ve been playing.

Puzzle Quest
People have been raving about this game for the longest time, but I didn’t want to get the DS game until it went down to 20 bucks. And quite frankly, I don’t think it’s worth more than 20 bucks. It’s basically Bejeweled. And the fantasy themes are rather bland and generic. I picked a knight or warrior girl, I can’t remember. I don’t know if it really matters either. It’s not really a bad game at all, but I think I’d rather just play DS Zoo Keeper.

Picross
I’m still playing this one. It’s great. Like QuickSpot, you got a lot of DS puzzle fun for your 20 bucks. It’s like a cross between a number logic problem and a crossword puzzle. And making your own levels is fun. I need to download some off the WiFi stuff. Everyone with a DS who likes puzzles should definitely get this.

Brain Age 2
More of the same from the first game, but still pretty fun in short bursts. I like the Piano Player game because I can already read music and I used to play the piano, so I can do real well at it. The writing recognition is better, though I still have trouble making my “G’s.” And the voice recognition has definitely improved. I don’t have to say “blue, blue, blue…BLUE DAMMIT.” Though like in the first game, I can never get my ‘brain age’ very low. The lowest I can get it in Brain Age 2 is 47, and that’s not too good. What’s YOUR brain age?

Super Swing Golf
Well, actually I haven’t opened this game yet, but I wanted to try it and I didn’t want to pay 50 bucks for it. So when I saw it at Wal-Mart for 20, I snagged it. I wanted to try it and the characters just look so cute and adorable.

Sonic Rivals
There’s not any upcoming PSP games that I’ve been looking to get, and it doesn’t look like there are any good ones for a while. So I’ve been looking for old games to try on the PSP that have gone way down in price. Sonic Rivals was one of those games. I don’t care much for most Sonic games for many reasons. One is that for a game all about speed, Sonic games sure do penalize you for going fast with pits and enemies you don’t see before it’s too late. But Sonic Rivals eliminates most of this and making it a race to the end of the stage makes all the speed stuff more sensible. I also like the Klonoa-ish 2.5-D graphics. Only problem is that the other racers seem to cheat. You’ll only win by a hair. I like some of the cards you can unlock when you win stages, though. Every single Sonic character and enemy seems to be on a card.

Dig Dug
Wait…Dig Dug? Yeah, I got it on Xbox Live Arcade. Over Labor Day weekend they had a couple of arcade games for half off. I really didn’t need another version of Dig Dug, since it’s on every single other Namco Museum game, and heck, I even have a full size Dig Dug arcade machine in the garage. But aside from TMNT, I don’t have a TRUE arcade game on the Xbox, and I wanted to see what kind of achievements you could get, so I figured, what the heck? It was only 200 points anyway. Best to take up that opportunity when you can. I’ve got all the achievements unlocked except one: digging through every inch of one level. That’s harder than it looks!

Gauntlet
Another half off Xbox Live Arcade game. I kind of hemmed and hawed about getting this one. I’m not really that big of a Gauntlet fan, but again, only 200 points, and maybe I’ll get to try it on Live with others sometime. That might be fun. Does Microsoft do half off games often?

Viva Pinata
Got this game new online for 15 bucks. It’s fun, but only in short bursts. After a while, growing plants and breeding animals gets a little boring and you have to quit for a while. Plus, everything Viva Pinata does, the comparible Animal Crossing does better. Man I LOVE Animal Crossing. I’m kind of both looking forward to and fearing the alledged Wii version of Animal Crossing because it’ll be so addictive. Anyway, Viva Pinata is still pretty fun and I’ve gotten quite a few achievements for it already.

Kameo: Elements of Power
A friend got me this for my birthday. It’s definitely a typical Rare 3-D platformer, but it’s a little more combat oriented. So far the game is pretty good. Not very hard so far either. The hardest part of the game was the tutorial level, really, because they threw so much stuff at you at once. I was hoping you could do the whole quest in 2 player co-op, but from what I can tell, it looks like you can only do a handful of action levels co-op, and you have to play the solo game to unlock them first. Oh well. The game looks really good for a first gen Xbox 360 game. I can’t wait for the supposed Banjo Kazooie 3 game now! Keep it family friendly, though, I hope they don’t Conker-ize it. You know, a lot of people bash on Rare, and I think when Nintendo dropped them to Microsoft it was a smart decision for Nintendo. But I don’t think Rare is all that bad. Donkey Kong Country was pretty basic, but it was sitll a solid 2-D platformer. And Rare pretty much carried the N64 through a lot of rough years with games like Banjo Kazooie, Blast Corps, and Donkey Kong 64. Heck, I even didn’t think Star Fox Adventures was THAT bad. So far, the Rare games I’ve played on the 360 have been pretty good. Even JetPac Refueled. (Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve got Jeff a special edition copy of Perfect Dark Zero for his birthday).

Tags: Misc