Xbox 3Shitty Part 4 - Download Again - Download Again - Ad Nauseum

I found out something interesting after my internet connection died on me. I decided to play Peggle because I don't like getting achievements while offline. But since I got my new(ish) 360 back I can't play any games offline I haven't re-downloaded, apparently including Peggle. While going through the list of XBLA games I have I noticed something interesting. Every game you have purchased, so not trial games and demos, shows your gamerscore. Games you can't play offline don't show the list of achievements on the right. So I made a list of games that showed the gamerscore but not the achievements and re-downloaded them. It was around 20 and it took a while. I realized afterward that it probably would have been faster if I had used Xbox Marketplace to download them.

Harmony of the Castlevanias

Apparently the new xbox.com broke all of my links so I'll have to redo them.

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is definitely not HD. That being said I didn't hate the graphics. The sprites were reused but as far as I know the stages were all new and they looked better.

Before I bought this game I thought it was going to be in the style of "metriodvania" like Shadow Complex. The ability to zoom out and see the entire level is an interesting feature. Once you have cleared a level it's pretty useful to get around. There are similarities to Symphony of the Night. Specifically the large number of equipment and spells.

Right after I bought the game I was worried that the single-player game wouldn't be that fulfilling since it was designed to be a multiplayer game. I decided I would play through the entire game on normal solo. Then I started playing multiplayer on hard.

I was obsessed with this game.I played it almost every day for about a month  After a while the online community died down. It became more difficult to play Co-op and Survival games are non existent.

Edit 1: When the first DLC stage came out, teams would be disbanded if someone didn't have Chapter 7. I finally broke down and bought chapter 7. Then I promptly lost interest. 400 msp's well spent. Hopefully I will go back to it when more DLC becomes available.

Edit 2: First 2 DLC characters came out: Yoko & Julius. They're interesting but not interesting enough to keep me playing for long. How much money will I sink into this game?

10/12a
175/200g

A. Wake. I see what you did there.

I loved this game: the story, the atmosphere, the flashlight combat system. It's just a very different game. I haven't played survival-horror games in a while but this is one of the few games I actually found scary. Well, maybe not scary, but creepy. The fact that I have a fear of the dark didn't hurt either. I'm not as bad as Alice though. When enemies are coming up the game starts to get blurry, the music changes, but you don't see anything yet. Then they jump out at you. It really gave me a sense of peril. Even worse are the poltergeists. Having a truck flung at you and being unable to dodge it easily adds to the "Holy Crap I Don't Want To Die" feeling.

Having to reload while surrounded by enemies in cramped spaces balanced out the abundance of ammo, a thing some people frown upon in the survival-horror genre.Who cares that you have a chest of unlimited bullets if you're getting hit to much to shoot.

I've got a funny story. During Episode 4, after the car crash you and Barry are separated. He is armed with a flare and he gets attacked. When he kills a Taken an achievement popped up for me.
-Collateral Carnage: 20 Taken have been drowned, electrocuted, or dispatched by some other indirect means.
I guess Barry counts as indirect means. But the fact that he gave me the achievement was hilarious to me.

With a game like this where I'm trying to follow a story I just like to play through it and immerse myself. I don't go through and try to get achievements. I really only went out of my way to get...
-Carny: You have heartlessly knocked over five defenseless can pyramids.
,which I did.

There are collectibles. I HATE collectibles. As mentioned above I didn't really try to get all of the collectibles. If I saw a thermos I picked it up. And who are all of these people leaving their thermoses everywhere. The manuscripts I tried to collect because I wanted to read them to get more of the story. And the hidden chests were just useful but I guess I didn't get them all.

I played on hard knowing I wouldn't go back on nightmare. So getting all of the manuscripts wasn't going to happen. Some of the manuscripts are only found on nightmare difficulty.

Stats:
Kills with revolver: 260/100
Kills with flare gun: 19/50
Kills with shotgun: 88/50
Kills with hunting rife: 32/50
Kills with flash bangs: 61/50
Kills with vehicles: 23/15
Indirect kills: 72/20
Poltergeist objects destroyed: 87/20
Birds Killed: 646/1000

Batteries used: 193/100
Manuscript pages found: 86/106
Coffee thermoses found: 81/100
Can pyramids knocked over: 5/12
Chests found: 27/30
Radio shows found: 10/11
TV shows found: 13/14
Signs found: 15/25

35/50 a
560/1000 g
0/2 dlc - aside from the price these actually look pretty interesting. If I owned the game I might have bought them. Well one comes free with the purchase of the game.

Blood of the Gods

I finally tried Mountain Dew Throwback. I love that little hillbilly. Then I found out that all Mexican sodas have cane sugar rather than High Fructose Corn Syrup. So I go down to my local supermarket to buy a MexiCoke which I actually had a few weeks before. While I'm in the "ethnic" aisle buying ramen because I'm as broke as an HP laptop, I see bottles of Jarritos Mandarina and this Sangria flavored soda.

I drink the Jarritos and it's just ok. I actually think Orange Crush is better. Then I drink the Sangria Señorial. This stuff is awesome. It tastes a lot like my favorite carbonated beverage of all time, Black Cherry Faygo (reppin' the D). In fact it might taste even better. It is more expensive unless you count the cost of shipping it takes to get to Colorado.

Sam Fisher: Not So Stealth Assassin

Despite what people have been saying I liked this game. It allows you to be as stealthy or as run-and-gunny as you want. My poor memory is keeping me from remembering why this game sucks compared to previous installments.

It wasn't that long but I didn't expect it to be. Deniable Ops is really fun. I found the level design of Deniable Ops better than the campaign.

It definitely needs more suppressors. Half of the pistols aren't even silenced. I would like to have a suppressor on every gun. Hell, give me silenced grenades.

Weapons unlocked through Coop? When will these companies learn that I don't like multiplayer and start catering to me instead of the millions of people who do.

*Update*
So I cheated and played through the multiplayer game by myself. Unlocked and upgraded all of the weapons and beat all of the levels by myself. Take that social interaction. Let it be known that Nic is very good at playing with himself.

*Update 2*
I finally beat all of the P.E.C. Challenges. It took longer than the game did.

35/54 a
700/1000 g