Risky Actions

Risk is probably my favorite board game, with Monopoly being a close second. So when I found out they were making a version of Risk for the 360 I rushed to...wait for it to go on sale. And then I decided not to get it because I was out of money. But when it went on sale again I scooped it up. As with all good game updates it has classic Risk hidden in there somewhere. I played it and it's just as good and excruciatingly long, but without all the tiny and sharp army men embedded in your carpet. The campaign is short and is more of an introduction to the characters than a real game. It is pretty funny and very well animated. I was actually surprised that Penny Arcade wasn't involved because the art style reminded me of them.

Update 1: If there was an achievement for 100 dice losses in a row I think I'd have it by now. The computer cheats so much. I have 10 guys you have one guy. Why can't I take your country over?

Get Over Here

Seriously, a man with a hook on a rope that he can use to pull people towards him and he's called Scorpio? It would have been less obvious to call him link.

This happens to be another third person game that gives me motion sickness. The first I ever encountered was Tomb Raider. First-person games don't make me sick. Although many people did I didn't get sick watching Cloverfield. Not all third person games make me sick. I was fine playing Assassins Creed, GTA IV, and Prototype. It's only certain games. Crackdown, for example, made me nauseous. I tried sitting far away, after resting for a day, and it seemed to make me feel worse.

Due to this affliction I'm probably not going to 100% this game. The races, which I was dreading anyway, seem out of reach.

Doritos Crunch Coarse / Frito Way

Doritos Crash Course is miles ahead of the last Doritos "game" we were given. First off this game is actually fun. It is similar to Japanese Game Shows like Sasuke (Ninja Warrior in America) (Example). They animate your avatar and it looks pretty good. When you accidentally run off a ledge your avatar pulls out an umbrella to try and slow the descent. The hammers either knock you backwards into the bars holding them or knock you forward into the TV screen.
Secondly, this game is hard. I blew through Doritos Dash of Destruction in about half an hour. Crash Course ramps up in difficulty. It starts off pretty easily but then gets progressively harder as you go through the countries.

Harms Way by Doritos is an interesting game. I'm not a big fan of racing games, Burnout excluded. And I'm definitely not a fan of xbla racing games but this one has a little twist. You can be one of 4 cars in the race (yawn), or you can control one of the turrets around the outside of the track and shoot at one of the cars. The achievements in this game are a little easier than Crash Course. I would have 200/200 but online seems to be broken in both games.

Shouldn't I Remember Harvest Instead?

That's right. Limited Edition baby. I got my copy just after midnight on launch night.

I liked the campaign. It was pretty varied. In "Long Night of Solace" you get to pilot a Sabre and enter a space dog fight. In "New Alexandria" you fly in a Falcon and set down on the top of skyscrapers. And in "The Package" you are repairing turrets and it kind of plays like a tower defense game.

This was by far the easiest halo in terms of achievements. I got all but two in under a month. They were all campaign based achievements so I didn't have to worry about multiplayer triple kills.

Update 1: Haven't played Halo in forever. Loved the single player but I kind of fizzled out on multiplayer way too early.

Update 2: The new DLC seems to have multiplayer focused achievements. Not sure if I'll get it right away. I'll definitely get it eventually.

Excitebike HD

I have been wanting to buy this game since it came out. Then I found out that it was 67% off on Black Friday so I snatched it up. The early levels are fun but difficulty really ramps up. The physics are really unforgiving. You have to remember exactly when to hit the break, hit the gas, lean forward, lean backward, go faster in this section, go slower in the next, and in later levels multiple permutations of these things at the same time.

Despite no one wanting to compare any game to Super Meat Boy I'm going to right now. They are both platformers. They both have discrete stages. They both use trial and error to pass said stages. Super Meat Boy however seems more fun to me. I played the trial of Trials HD and I thought the levels were interesting. But many of the later levels are so unforgiving about how to get to the next section I never felt that I could do it consistently. SMB on the other hand is the exact opposite. Since there are only two mechanics to worry about the trial and error actually helps you become consistent. And since most people hold down run the entire time you really only have to worry about when to jump and for how long.

I Beat The Meat

They have big box art on xbox.com now.

This game was awesome. It is in the same style as other platformers such as N+, and IWBTG. The humor is very similar to Castle Crashers, as is the art style. That wasn't surprising since it was a sequel to a newgrounds game. The game has a ton of unlockable characters, many from other platform games.

These are my current stats (will update):

Chapter 1: The Forest 100%
Chapter 2: The Hospital 100%
Chapter 3: The Salt Factory 102%???
Chapter 4: Hell 43%
Chapter 5: Rapture 36%
Chapter 6: The End 50%
Chapter 7: Cotton Alley 100%
Chapter I: Teh Internets 40% - Finish=2.5% A+=5%
Chapter -1: The Killscreen 0/?

8/12a
140/200g