Yes, it's true. Just when you thought the blogosphere wasn't going to be cluttered with my gaming insights, I'm back. Sure it's been a while, and alot has come and gone, but why let that stop me? Time to get back on the horse and ride it for all it's worth.

I think the first thing to mention is the fantastic game that Lord of the Rings Online is. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn close, and I would consider it a must play for fans of the trilogy. Turbine really has done a great job making the world feel like Lord of the Rings and not just a World of Warcraft knockoff. Also, it has a strong story component that really cements the deal. The downside is that the game play really doesn't do a great deal new, and there still is a grind to a certain extent, but there are some systems in place to keep that to a minimum. Anyway, I'll be on Gladden and hope to see you there too.

Tags: WoW, mmorpg, gaming, rpg, role-playing, pc, computer, game, lotro, lord of the rings, fantasy

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Posted by the Captain at 11:50 PM CDT

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Posted by the Captain at 10:54 PM CDT

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Enchanted Arms has been the almost sole focus of my gaming for the last two weeks. I had taken an extended break from it to play Test Drive Unlimited, but have now left TDU to go back and finish it up. The new found dedication has yielded results, as now I am at 84% completion, up from only slightly over 50% not too long ago. I'm really looking forward to finishing up the game and finding out how the story ends. It has been a great time playing this game, and I have to say, it is currently one of my favorite RPGs.

In the moments between my marathon sessions of Enchanted Arms, I have also been playing some High Seize on my N-Gage and Lunar: Dragon Song on my Nintendo DS. I've previously explained my love of High Seize, and I still am enjoying it immensely. I still haven't played enough of Lunar to have a good feel for whether I will enjoy it long term or not, despite my love of previous Lunar titles.

captainzoli

Tags: Nintendo, Nokia, Microsoft, RPG, review, video game, fun, gaming, gamer, 360, xbox, x-box, ds, N-Gage, high seize, lunar, test drive unlimited, tdu, driving

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Posted by the Captain at 4:00 PM CDT

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Yep, I'm still playing Test Drive Unlimited on the X-Box 360. Almost exclusively, this past weekend. Almost. I also fit in a bit of Lunar: Dragon Song on the Nintendo DS and High Seize on my N-Gage. Actually, I play a bit of High Seize almost everyday.

As for TDU, I now have forty cars and nine houses (at least I think it is nine houses now, could be eight or ten). Also, I've past the eighty percent mark for driving all the roads on the island, and hope to be finished with that achievement by this coming weekend. I have a few more cars I definitely want to pick up, and have a great many missions and races to finish, so I have a lot left to do in this game, despite the time I have already put into it. Then there is word that more content is to be coming down the pipe on X-Box Live Marketplace, so that should be great as well. This game has most of the makings of a great game, sadly the lack of polish really holds it back and makes it just a good game for everyone but the dedicated race gamer, but we dedicated race gamers have already picked it up anyway. Now Atari would just get the damn market place working so I can buy and sell cars, and fix the club bug so I can race with my friends...

Lunar: Dragon Song is decent so far, despite some unusual (and dubious, to say the least) choices. I don't understand the point of running causing my Hit Points to decrease. It just slows down my travel time, and pisses me off. There really isn't any purpose in it that I can see. The next issue I have with the game is the reward system. Again I must ask why? Why can I only earn experience points or items for winning a battle and not both? It isn't the greatest idea or game mechanic and I don't have a clue what could have possessed the developer to think that it was a good idea. These items are clear indicators that different isn't always better. Despite these shortcomings, I have been able to enjoy the game so far, but I am an admitted Lunar fan from the day.

As for High Seize, it is a great game. Buy and N-Gage and play High Seize as soon as possible. You won't regret it.

captainzoli

Tags: 360, Microsoft, x-box, Xbox, Nintendo, ds, lunar, dragon song, test drive unlimited, tdu, high seize, n-gage, nokia, console, gaming, portable, review

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Posted by the Captain at 12:28 PM CDT

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The title of this one pretty much says it all. I played Test Drive Unlimited all weekend, at least all of the parts of the weekend in which I gamed, that is. Actually, that isn't entirely true. I also spend an hour or two playing Lego Star Wars II, for the 360, with the wife. It has become one of my all time favorite racing games, despite its nagging technical issues (frame rate hits, pop up, club issues, etc.). Percentage wise, I'm a bit over half way through the game. I currently have six houses and twenty four cars, so I'm not doing too bad. I still need to get back to Enchanted Arms and finish that one up. I will probably work on that this next weekend.

Oh, and on the topic of the Lego Star Wars II game, that was a great time playing multi player with the wife. Actually, the game is fun single player as well, it is just mind boggling that they chose to not include co-op, or any kind of multi-player option, over X-Box Live. I would have thought that would have been a no-brainer standard feature in games for the 360 by now, especially games like Lego Star Wars II, but apparently the developer and publisher didn't get that memo. It also has frame rate issues. For those interested in the games, I wouldn't go out of my way to get the 360 version. I haven't seen anything in it that justifies the more expensive price tag, especially if you played through the first one on one of the current gen consoles. A save from the first game will open up playable characters in the second. 360 owners get the privilege of paying more for the game, then we get to buy the extra characters. For the price tag, they should have included the characters in the 360 version for free instead of trying to gouge us 360 owners a bit more.

captainzoli

Tags: multi-player, multiplayer, video game, game, review, xbox, 360, xbl, live, star wars, lego, gaming, test drive, unlimited, tdu, weekend, fun, gamer, ps2, playstation, gamecube, gc

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Posted by the Captain at 9:45 AM CDT

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