King's Bounty: The Legend

This game is one of the most fun games I've played in a while. I really don't play that many PC games, but I just can't put this game down. I especially like the real time Adventure mode and the turn based Combat. The tutorial for the game is adequate but lacking. For instance, you can right click on enemies and it will tell you how much chance you have of winning (Slightly Weaker, Match, Slightly Stronger, Impossible). There are a few other things that could be explained in the tutorial that you are left to figure out. However, this is also an aspect of the game I love. It doesn't hold your hand at all.

From the very beginning there are enemies around you that you will have no problem defeating and there will be enemies that you will have to face much later in the game. Also as you level up, the enemies stay at the same level of difficulty as they were before so you can come back later and have no problem with them. Another great thing is that if you fight an enemy and lose you can come back to that enemy and any troops that you defeat will not respawn in their army.

This game really has a lot of depth and is very fun to play. I definitely think that everyone should at least check out the demo and $29.99 isn't really that bad for a game even if you aren't crazy about it.

Fantastic Contraption

I really like my blog to have pictures and/or video with the text, 'cause quite frankly pot (plain ole text) has to be pretty interesting if I'm going to read it. Too bad I can't have any pictures or videos with my post this week, but it would kind of spoil the whole subject. Now for the good stuff...

I spent most of my free time yesterday playing a game called Fantastic Contraption. The game is very simple, use five types of items (clockwise wheel, counter-clockwise wheel, neutral wheel, fluid rod, and solid rod) to make a fantastic contraption that will move an object from the start area to the goal area. Sounds simple right, trust me, it's not. What I love about this game is that the physics are pretty much spot on which is good because that's what the whole game is based on. It's really great because every control works just as you think it would (BTW save yourself some time and use the shift key when resizing and moving instead of clicking the resize button).

When you make a contraption that successfully completes a level you can save it and share it with your friends. I've saved some of mine which you can see links to at the bottom of this post. Once you get the hang of it I think it would be fun to have a challenge and see who could come up with the simplest solution to each level. Anybody up for it? Discuss it in the comments and see if we can come up with some rules for what the simplest design is. Maybe see who could get the prize in the goal quickest, who knows? Write in the comments and let me know what you think.

Here are my submissions for
Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, Level 5, Level 6, Level 7, Level 8, Level 9, Level 10, Level 11, Level 12, Level 13, Level 14

E3 Update

Well, we got back from Charleston Saturday. Had a blast, while we were there we went to see The Dark Night, which was awesome. The movie was so awesome that we are going to see it again, and I usually don't watch movies a second time in the theater.
Now down to the real stuff, E3 has come and gone and some really big announcements were made. Xbox 360 Dashboard will get a complete makeover in this fall's update you can read more about it on Gizmodo. The new dashboard looks so much better than the old one. Microsoft has also contracted a deal with Netflix so that you can use your Xbox 360 like a Roku box to stream movies to your TV. To use this serviceThe update will also include what looks like the Nintendo Miis where you create your own 3D avatar.
Speaking of the Wii, the major announcement for me from Nintendo was Wii Sports Resort (seen in the video above) which is almost like a sequal to the most loved Wii game Wii Sports wich came packaged with your Wii. At E3 three of the activities in Wii Sports Resort were shown: Frisbee, Jet Ski, and Sword Fighting. Wii Sports Resort will also include a new Accessory for the Wiimote called the Wii MotionPlus that will increase accelerometer controls for the new game. Hopefully this new accessory will be utilized in future games for better control with the Wiimote and more realistic gameplay.
Some other things I am excited about are Fable 2, Lego Batman, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and a new edition of Tecmo Bowl on DS.


















Click the image for more screenshots

Lego Indiana Jones DS

Alright, last week I talked about the demo of the Lego Indiana Jones game. I got the game (fiancee bought the game for me) for DS Tuesday when it came out and have since played it for about two hours since then. I definitely love this game.

The gameplay is very similar to Lego Star Wars. Instead of Force powers you get to use Indy's whip :). I can't directly relate this game to Lego Star Wars because I have Star Wars on Xbox 360 and got this on DS. The quality of the game is still just as good, and oh yeah you get to use the whip! The game has a lot of built in replayability like Star Wars does. If you haven't played Lego Star Wars each mission has to be played in story mode first and then can be played in freeplay. When you play in Story Mode the game automatically gives you the characters required to complete the mission, but when you play freeplay you can choose your own characters to play with you. There are certain areas built in that can only be accessed by characters in freeplay and some characters that you need won't be unlocked until you finish other missions later. Another big aspect of the game is the puzzle solving aspect. The puzzles aren't super hard, but they are fun. It's easy to relax while playing just running around smashing everything collecting coins and special items.

The two screens are handled very nicely. The main game goes on in the top screen and miscellaneous options are displayed on the bottom screen. The touch screen is used in a very natural way. For most of the things you use the touch screen for you could use a button to preform the same action. The things you use the touch screen for are when the whip could be used for special reasons (eg swing across gaps, hit special switches, climb, etc), when there are special items like cranks, digging when your character has a shovel, and special weapons. There is also a room that has special touch games that you have to unlock through the different missions. I haven't unlocked many of them, but it doesn't look like it's going to add a whole lot to the game. The microphone is also used in a very interesting way. The microphone is used to blow out torches which usually triggers something to happen, you can also blow on the microphone to activate fans that will elevate you, and do more stuff with blowing into the microphone.

There is a multiplayer option for either hosting the game from one cartridge or by having two cartridges. I haven't tried this out as I don't know anyone else that has a DS, but when I do I'll let you know.

I would definitely recomment this game to anyone. You don't have to be a hardcore gamer to enjoy this game or the star wars games. I am a big fan of the Lego games genre and hope that they continue to make them (Batman should be coming this Summer sometime). I really like the way you just play and play until you finish the level because you don't really die any time, you just lose some coins and reincarnate where you were last. This feature makes the games really fun to play with kids or just to play to relax, becuase you really can't get stressed out playing this.

Lego Indiana Jones

Today I downloaded Lego Indiana Jones for Windows and played it during break. I have played Lego Star Wars Episodes IV - VI for my Xbox 360 and love it. From the fifteen minutes of playtime I got I found that if you loved Lego Star Wars, then you'll definitely love Lego Indiana Jones. Kinda sucks 'cause I don't have my Xbox 360 controller here with me at work, but the keyboard worked just fine for the fifteen minutes I played.
There was one mechanical difference that I found in the gameplay from Lego Star Wars. The way you switch players is alot easier. I don't know how it will be for more than two characters, but you don't have to be directly facing the character you want to switch to, all you have to do is press the switch button and you're switched. I haven't played all the way through the demo, but I'm sure I will tonight. I think I'm gonna try Lego Indiana Jones out on my DS and as soon as I play through it I will write a review on what I think about it.
My first impression of Lego Indiana Jones is that I'm definitely going to buy it, it's very pretty and easy to manuever. Make sure you download the demo and watch the trailer.