After five installments of God of War, there's not much for me to say about my most recently-played entry- Ghost of Sparta. The gameplay is almost exactly the same as every other game in the series, except for the magic and weapons that change in each game. If you've played any other God of War game, you know what you're going to get here. We see Kratos lament the abduction and possible death of his brother Demios as a child (he had a brother?), and after Kratos becomes a god (this one fits in right between God of War and God of War 2) he sets out on a journey to find out Demios' fate and hopefully rescue him from the afterlife somehow. Along the way we sort of get a bunch of levels that don't feel all that connected- Ghost of Sparta seems like a grab-bag of ideas that didn't make it into the previous games, but were worth pursuing anyway. Most of them worked- sure it didn't make much sense for King Midas to show up randomly, but chasing after him and finding random items turned to solid gold in his wake is probably what I'll remember most about the game. Also of note was the fire-meter, where Kratos can temporarily light his Chains of Olympus on fire to do extra damage and break shield and armor. Then there's a little more on Kratos being worshipped by Spartans- we see him merciful to those who obey him, and there's a even a quick part of the game where Kratos walks through Sparta, smugly basking in the glory its citizens give him, and unable to kill anyone. They even give you a spear and shield combo that felt like a wink at 300. Hmm, now that I think of it, maybe Ghost of Sparta did switch up the God of War formula more than any other game in the series, but at this point it's too little of a change too late. Not that that's a bad thing- Ghost of Sparta is still a very fun game that I'd recommend to any fans of the series. I'll play God of War: Ascension eventually, but probably no time soon.
April was another good month of logging, although I came up a little short of my goals. I posted 5 of the 7 games I planned on, as Stan and I weren't able to sit down and beat Gears of War 3 yet, and Pushmo turned out to be a little longer than expected. Both seem like very quick finishes when I have the time, so I'll plan on beating those two, plus The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, which I'm a few levels into, in May. None of these should take up all that much of my time, so in addition I'll chug away at Trev's copy of FF13- I'm an hour or so in, and I'm already seeing what people complained about there. It won't get finished in May, but as long as I make significant progress there I'll be happy.
ReplyDeleteMay's a little bit of a wild-card month, since I'll be on a cruise for a significant chunk of it (Will I read more than usual on my cruise? Maybe I won't read at all), and since the book I'm currently reading, Stephen King's It is 1100+ pages, I'll similarly plan to just make significant progress there. It probably won't be posted in May.
Finally with vacation and likely a few weekends at Lake Winnipesaukee, there won't be all that much tv time. I'll try to work through Boardwalk Empire's second season, which seems do-able as there's just ten episodes to go.
This means only 4 expected posts from me- Pushmo, Gears of War 3, The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening, Boardwalk Empire Season Two, but I'll be plenty busy all the same.
I'm still stuck in my comic book rut. It's distracting me from completing everything else... reading the last 100 pages of Bonfire of the Vanities, beating the last boss to FFX, finishing the last temple to Phantom Hourglass. Luckily I have that trip home next weekend. So should finally be able to tie-up some loose ends.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, just got the complete works of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman (75+ issues) and the first two seasons of Game of Thrones. If I don't finish these lingering items soon, I fear I never will.
Trev - Watch Game of Thrones. Ability to keep up seems to vary, as some get lost pretty easily early on while others blaze through the first season in one day, but there isn't a person I've met who's seen it but doesn't love it.
ReplyDeleteGoals - I go back and forth wildly on monthly goal-setting, and whether it's helpful to set a bar for myself or just frivolous as my mind can change whimsically. This month I'm leaning toward the latter. Plus, May is a really busy month for me too, so I'll promise nothing specific. However, it would be great to finish up at least two of the four video games I'm currently roughly 2/3 done with (Gears 3, Twisted Metal, Puzzle Quest 2, DKC Returns) and at least one of the two lengthy science books I've been visiting intermittently (A Short History of Nearly Everything, How the Mind Works). Know what? I can make ONE specific promise, and that is Six Feet Under's second season. Four episodes left there. That's a May lock for sure.
Oh, and I do intend to put in work on a 1000-page Stephen King novel of my own: Under the Dome. Gotta prep for the CBS summer series!
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