4.4.07

Japan will never be the same

I've been having a really good week: I deposited my prospectus, set a defense date, won a multimedia writing award, gave a conference presentation without reading from a paper or notes, received a summer research grant, and got a job evaluating AP exams in Daytona this June. Not a bad week.

So, to reward myself, I bought a new game. I had just bought Fight Night 3 a few weeks ago, but it kinda stinks. Great graphics, cool interface (you spin the right analog to throw puches--quite cool, actually). But the career mode, well, sucks. Utterly. Completely unrealistic records, no meaningful stat tracking, and none of the depth or sophistication of Madden, NCAA, or MLB the Life. Glad I only paid 20 bucks.

New game: Samurai Worriors 2: Empires. I've played for about an hour--gut reactions:

  • Deep game, you could sink 200 hours into this thing no problem. There's somethig like 10 scenarios, each scenario gives you the option to play as one of 20 clans. So, do the math...
  • Combat is a bit simplistic, and the battle camera needs some work. But its not too bad, essentially you hit the square button a lot. So far I'm winning about half my battles--the problem I'm running into is I'll find myself (playing as the general) surrounded by about 35 opponents. And if your general dies, then the battle is over. I'm trying to get better at running away
  • The strategy isn't too deep--but you do have a number of choices (whether to research weapons, recruit armies, forge alliances, etc.)

Have to see if this one holds up for more than two weeks. I almost bought God of War II--but that's my reward for finishing my first dissertation chapter.

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