Well, okay, since I'm too stupid to go to work on time, I get an extra day off. Whee. You know, it's not like my job sucks. I work in a comic book store. I get to sit around all day doing paperwork with occasional breaks to go be Register Monkey, I work with mostly very cool people who are into all the same geeky crap that I am, and it's okay to spend an hour talking to a customer about comics, video games, movies, and shit like that, because I'm trying to sell them something. And I get to feel good about trying to sell people stuff, because it's stuff that I love, and when I go for the hard sell, it's because I honestly and truly believe that they will be better off for having it. Anyway, that's all neither here nor there.
Metroid: Zero Mission is a remake of the original NES Metroid, for the GameBoy Advance. It follows the same basic plot and layout of the original game, but with updated graphics and gameplay, plus all the new toys that Samus has gotten in the games since then. Actually, I'm not sure all that stuff wasn't in the original, because the original is insanely hard and I've never gotten very far into it.
Zero Mission, like all Metroid games before it, has something that I think should be in more action/adventure games: Multiple endings. Actually, I think there should be multiple endings in pretty much all games, and I think the criteria should be pretty much the same as they are in Metroid: How much stuff did you find, and how long did it take you? The how long did it take you part wouldn't really translate very well to, say, RPGs, which should take a long time, but adding in multiple endings adds immensely to the replay value of the game. In games where the gameplay itself is pretty much the point(actiony ones), the different endings need not really be all that big a deal; in the Metroid games you just get different pictures of Samus, in various levels of undress, from full armor to helmet off to halter top and shorts. In games where the story's the thing(RPG-y ones), the endings should be pretty dramatically different, and each should add to the story in a different way.
Anyway, I'm pretty tired and have forgotten my point, but I want to keep typing, so, to give you an idea what kind of gamer I am, here is a list of the games that I have close to hand. I'm not going to list the ones I have in storage, because I'd have to go get them out of storage, and fuck that.
Currently installed on my computer:
City of Heroes
Thief II: The Metal Age
Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast
Neverwinter Nights(plus Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark)
X-Change(Japanese anime-style pr0n; finished)
X-Change 2(more of the same. Mmm, pr0n; finished)
StarCraft(plus Brood War)
The standard suite of Microsoft time-wasters
Currently in my GameCube:
Metroid: Zero Mission(in the GameBoy Player)
Currently in my PlayStation 2:
West Wing Season 2 Disc 2 Side A(not a game, but still fucking awesome)
Currently in my Xbox:
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
Currently on my table:
PC games:
Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
Final Fantasy XI
WarCraft: Orcs vs. Humans
The Ultimate Wizardry! Archives(never played)
WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness & Beyond the Dark Portal(never played)
Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire
Magic: The Gathering Online
Freedom Force
Grim Fandango(finished)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos & The Frozen Throne
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn & Throne of Bhaal(finished)
Icewind Dale(finished)
Return to Krondor(never played)
Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator
The Curse of Monkey Island(finished)
Fallout 2(never played)
Fallout
Aliens vs. Predator
Blade Runner
Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
Icewind Dale & Heart of Winter(yes, another copy of Icewind Dale)
Icewind Dale II(never played)
Rainbow Six Covert Ops Essentials(not mine, never played)
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel(not mine, never played)
Civilization II
The Longest Journey(finished)
Civilization III
Escape from Monkey Island(finished)
The Temple of Elemental Evil
Tron 2.0(finished)
Darkened Skye
GameBoy games:
Dragon Warrior I & II
GameBoy Color games:
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
Pokemon Silver
GameBoy Advance games:
Metroid Fusion(finished)
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Golden Sun
PlayStation 2 games:
ATV Offroad Fury 2(unopened)
Final Fantasy X
Tony Hawk's Underground
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3(finished)
Devil May Cry(finished)
.hack//INFECTION
Disgaea - Hour of Darkness
Final Fantasy X-2
Legacy of Kain: Defiance
Beyond Good & Evil(finished)
Legaia 2: Duel Saga
GameCube games:
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
Soul Calibur II
On the floor:
Xbox games:
SSX3
Star Wars: The Clone Wars/Tetris Worlds
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x
Dynasty Warriors 3(not mine)
Shenmue II
GameCube games:
Resident Evil Zero(finished)
Metroid Prime(finished)
Super Mario Sunshine
PlayStation 2 games:
Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven
La Pucelle Tactics
Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
Suikoden III
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec
Street Fighter EX3
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2(finished)
Silent Hill 2(finished)
Okage Shadow King
Ico(finished)
Dark Cloud
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4(finished)
Man, I got a lot of shit. And like I say, this doesn't include any of my PlayStation 1 games, my Dreamcast games, my SNES games, my NES games(not that I have a working NES...), my N64 games, the other PC games I have...I have a lot of goddamn games. Probably more than anyone I know. And look at that list and how few are finished. *sigh* I suck.
Well, whatever.
Well, well, lucky number 13. I don't actually believe that 13 is any more or less lucky than any other number, except of course that I do. I can't help it, despite knowing better.
Anyway, I came late to the Metroid franchise. I had heard of Metroid and Samus before, the games looked cool and all, it's just that I didn't ever own an NES and so I had never played the original, to this day I've never seen a copy of II, and Super Metroid was touted to me as the hardest game ever, which is probably not true, but could be. Still, though, I was a big fan of the story, which I'd read on various websites over the years, and I was stoked for Metroid Prime. It was gorgeous, and the reviews were favorable. I didn't own a GameCube, though, nor did I have the wherewithal to buy one when Prime came out, so it looked like I was going to miss another iteration of Metroid. Until a certain crazy man I know decided to buy me a GameCube, just for...um...taking him to the dentist and then home again. I mean, yeah, there was supposed to be more to it, but it turned out to be largely unnecessary. Still, I am not about to turn down free stuff, especially free stuff that cool, so I got it anyway, and at the time, 'Cubes were being offered with a free game of your choice(from a limited pool, of course), and one of the games was Metroid Prime, so I finally had a Metroid game. (Also, we got Resident Evil Zero, which is also very cool, but not anywhere near as good as Metroid.)
That weekend, I played the shit out of that game. My god, it was so fucking good. One of the best games ever, really. And in addition to the gorgeous graphics and entertaining gameplay(it's not really a first-person shooter; it's a first-person platformer, and while I normally despise platforming in FP, this game was built as a platformer, so Samus can actually fucking *jump*, unlike the anemic little hops you make in most first-person games), there are all these little touches, things that made me just stop and look at them and say, "Oh, wow, that is so cool." Like rain on your visor, or the way the barrel of your gun will give off a little heat haze after a protracted burst of firing, or the way you can see Samus's eyes reflected in her visor when there's a flash of light underwater, or the little idle animations where Samus fidgets with her gun. And the X-Ray Visor, which is only useful in-game in a couple spots, but is just so freaking cool to play around with; you can see Samus's bones through the arms of her suit, and, in what I think is actually the coolest touch in the entire game, if you do the Metroid Fusion link thingy that lets you play through wearing the suit from Fusion, when you turn on X-ray vision and look at Samus's hands, you see that her fingers are slightly elongated and end in claws, and I dunno about you, but for me, that is just...Way cool.
Anyway, I was actually planning to write this review about Metroid: Zero Mission, which I picked up the other day and have been playing a lot, but I got lost in gushing about Prime, to the point where I'm going to be late for work, because I am an idiot. Anyway. If you own a 'Cube and not Metroid Prime, I strongly urge you to rectify that situation. If you don't own a 'Cube, well, it's worth it for Prime alone, and Prime is not alone. I have played through Prime to the end 10 times now, which is way more than I've ever finished any other game. I played Prime so much that first weekend that at the end of it my fingers were cramped into that position for a couple days afterward.
ATV Offroad Fury 2. I have no idea if this game is any good. It came with my PS2 and I never bothered to even crack the cellophane, that's how much I cared.
In other news, I've finally grown just a tiny bit of self control. As proof, Thief 3 has been out a few days, and I don't own a copy yet because if I buy it I won't be able to pay my rent. This hasn't stopped me in the past; several times I've bought video games and then bummed rent money off my roommate or parents. All the while knowing that it was sheer stupidity to do so. Usually I ended up not even liking the game all that much. When it comes to my own gratification, I can be pretty stupid.
You know, there's a real temptation to really open up and say some intensely personal things about myself in this blog, the way one would in a paper journal, but unlike that kind of journal, this one I know will be read by other people, and especially by people that know who I am, and there are things about myself that I don't want my friends and acquaintances to know. And yet it would feel good to tell someone, you know, to get it off my chest, as it were. Maybe I should find some sort of anonymous forum or something.
Well, I thought I had more to write, but apparently I'm done.