Achievement Unlocked! (Rant Version)

Thank you for indulging me. Now that I've had a couple of nice days off, I'm ready to get back into ranting before the REAL holidays begin.

Most importantly, graduation. It is a very strange feeling, not having school to worry about. Ever since I started school at Georgia Tech it was like all I ever did was worry about school: what's that next project? When's the next test? What's my grade? What classes am I going to take next semester. Limitless questions, endless options, tons and tons of problems and always something new to look out for meant that even holidays were spent doing homework, working on group projects, or studying for tests. Now that I'm done done - not just "done with this semester, on to worrying about the next one" done - life seems so much more... enjoyable. Not that life at Tech wasn't enjoyable; while it was grueling and taxing it was also loads of fun and I made a plethora of new friends that I still talk to on a frequent basis. But when I was in school, I could never seem to really enjoy myself because there was always that other thing I knew I should be doing: studying, working, organizing, updating, researching.

Even though this week hasn't been easy on me - finding an apartment, setting up internet/gas/electricity, changing addresses and phones and all that moving nonsense - I've actually found that I enjoy myself even though I still feel rather busy. Maybe my mind has finally released its death grip from my emotions and allowed me to enjoy my free time with friends and family for a change, but after being home for the holidays it makes me half wish I had just taken a job here to be even closer to home because, aside from a few people, I really miss them and they are all people I really enjoy being around. Things have been so hard on my family recently - mother getting engaged, grandmother dying, my moving, brother bombing in college, lawsuits and financial issues and all that jazz - that I'd feel better being able to keep up with them week to week instead of month to month.

But, I know I'll enjoy myself in Austin - I still know quite a few people there, and I'm really near to 2 great friends - and being close to Houston will at least give me the capability of coming home if need be, even if $4 gas starts to scare me away from doing so.

It is odd to think of myself as a "adult", and I suppose that on some level I will never feel that way. I've always been a "son" and even though now I'm out of college and well on my own I still find a need to have a "parent" watching over me to make sure I'm not screwing up. Not of my own necessity, but just as a matter of... it has always been there and feels odd when it isn't. Finding an apartment on my own was probably the first LARGE decision I've made without ANY input from my parents, and while I know I did my research and know that I made the "right" decision, not having someone there who knew "the ropes" to look towards for a thumbs up or thumbs down kind of approval was very strange.

We'll see how life takes me from here: next up is actually moving - which should happen sometime before I start work on the 7th. Once I do start, my family swears up and down I'll be clamoring to go back to college... but at this rate, I sincerely doubt that.


In staying with the title, I'd like to take a few minutes to talk about Microsoft's "Achievement" system, which is a cross between the most genius and most fiendish thing I've ever seen added to a game system. While at first it seems like there isn't much to it, just some "score" to tell you what you've done in the game, if it is done right it really adds a lot of value and replayability to a game, not to mention challenge and, perhaps, bragging rights. There are several games that I've played on 360 that had their "game lifetime" extended significantly because I was trying to get more achievements points. XBLA games benefit from this especially, since theses kind of games tend to not have "goals" or a purpose and I would have quickly lost interest otherwise.

I am mesmerized by Hexic HD, stuck trying to get 75,000 points in timed or multiple black pearls simply because they are achievements. Kameo (which I'll talk about later) has some replability to it.... assuming it is not next to impossible to get "A" rankings in the score challenge mode. Carcassone was fun on it's own, but achievements made me play it more to try and get better and to challenge others online. Marble Blast Ultra (also later) gave achievements for both just beating a level and beating it on par time, which made me more likely to give levels several attempts when otherwise I would've just moved on (see: Mercury Meltdown). And while games like Metroid Prime: Corruption for Wii added an achievement-like system (basically playing Corruption gives you a type of "currency" you can spend on bonuses to the game depending on what you do), the system is not as well thought out or goal oriented as the 360 seems to be. In a day where games are taking fewer and fewer hours to beat (because they are charging you more for less), it is nice to have these extra "goals" to try and accomplish that add replay value and challenge to games I already own. Overall, it is an incredible system, and while it is not as "revolutionary" in terms of gameplay as the Wii was, it is still an incredible addition and I wish that all Wii games had the same thing.

Speaking of my 360, Rock Band has seen an INCREDIBLE amount of play recently. My roomates and I at GT became "Hall of Fame" inductees on medium (with me playing guitar), my other friends and I ended up getting about 3/4 of the way to Hall of Fame (with me singing), and even now my friends and I in Houston are attempting to play through the game on hard (with me playing drums). For the record, drums are HAAAAAARD. However, I find the drums the most fun to play, only because A) I'm already very good at singing so there is no real challenge aside from not falling asleep B) Drums are much more involved than singing or guitar and, while difficult, not as annoyingly difficult as guitar can be and C) because drums just feel more like playing a real instrument. My arms are flailing everywhere, sweat dripping down my brow, foot spasming from trying to do double taps without also tapping on the drum... all very difficult, but also very entertaining. I am getting better at them, but there are 1 or 2 rhythms that I just cannot for the life of me seem to be able to do, mostly revolving around alternating hitting the drum pad and tapping the foot petal during fast songs. Here's a hint, though: DON'T PLAY METALLICA. Songs are so much fun to play, but you basically just lose fans left and right because they are so hard. I mean, for us anyways. Not like we are the best of the best, I guess.

On other 360 news, Kameo (a launch title for the 360 back in 2005) is a rather fun game. I am not quite as sold on the way that their scoring system works, though. Basically, there are three different types of score multipliers: Carnage, Brutal, and Frenzy. As an action-adventure style game, there is alot of sort of free-range fighting with waves of enemies and mobs of trolls for you to dispense at your leisure. Every time you kill a troll, regardless of the circumstance, you get a "carnage" multiplier added. When you kill them in creative or especially brutal ways (for instance, pushing them off a cliff or throwing them into lava) you get a "brutal" multiplier. If you two trolls within 5 seconds of each other, you get a "frenzy" multiplier. So, obviously, it is better to get a hoard of trolls together and try to dispatch them as quickly and mercilessly as possible. Sounds easy, right? Ha. Think again. If you get hit, you lose multipliers. You also have a very limited set of movements and number of times you can use them before you have to wait for your power to replenish. By the end of the game I had somewhat gotten the hang of it, but I'm probably nowhere near to getting "A" scores on levels (required for Achievements), especially considering how many levels have random projectiles or awkward platformer-esque sequences. The game was certainly worth the $15 I paid for it, but at only 11 or so hours for game completion (if that, I'm being rather generous) and how bland the game looks (although for a launch game of the first "next gen" system, I may have been more impressed 2 years ago) I might have felt a little cheated if I had purchased it for $60. I'm glad I played it, but it was certainly no Banjo-Kazooie... which makes me worried about Banjo-Kazooie 3.

Marble Blast Ultra was a cheap little XBLA game that I purchased with some left over MS points after purchasing the Metallica songs for Rock Band... and a new Gamertag Avatar. (P.S. Can we please stop it with the point systems already? What am I going to do with that random 20 MS points or whatever that I have left?) The game is not nearly as difficult as Mercury Meltdown - most levels were beaten under par time on first attempt until I got up to the last 10-15, as opposed to Mercury Meltdown which has taken 3+ attempts since about the first 15 levels or so. Some of the last few Marble Meltdown levels, though, would be nigh-impossible for me to even consider getting under par time on. Just finishing them was impressive to me. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes marble-type games, it is fun and the online multiplayer could really extend its life, and for $5 or whatever the equivalent is you can't go wrong with a purchase. It is one of those games that I may play for a few minutes once a week or every other day just to have some fun and (slowly) work my way towards the online point collection achievement.

Lastly, let me leave you with a few impressions of Assassin's Creed. Having not played it extensively myself, but at least having a bit at a friend's, the game is quite fun and really achieves a good mix of "Prince of Persia" and "sandbox". I am amazed at home much fun simply climbing walls, running on roofs, or (my personal favorite), jump-assassinating guards can be even without following the actual plotline of the game. The game looks AMAZING in HD and, while it did have issues with freezing and glitching at first, it seems to have been fixed since then. Personally, I cannot wait to get this on my 360... but I'll have to hold out on playing until I get my HDTV so I can play it like it was meant to be played. No worries, though... I'm sure Super Mario Galaxy will keep me MORE than busy until then.