Alice in 3 Parts: Part 3

III. Final Thoughts Took a while for me to get to this post, but I'm bound and determined to get it out. My final thoughts on Alice: Madness Returns. I managed to platinum this one -- it wasn't difficult, and it helped that I liked the game enough to try. Generally once I beat a game that's it. I'd rather move on to something else. But this became my twelfth (? or thirteenth?) platinum, with only one trophy really causing me a little frustration: Neighslayer. Hitting four enemies with a hobby horse ground smash was no picnic when the area of attack was so small. There are many competing rumors and thought online regarding strategies on how to get the job done, and if I remember correctly, this was the last trophy that I got for the game just because it was so frustratingly difficult. People...

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Alice in 3 Parts: Part 2

II. Alice: Madness ReturnsI may not dress like a goth girl, wear dark makeup like a goth girl, or write depressing poetry like a goth girl, but I've always been more into the darker side of things, which is why a dark, grown-up version of Alice in Wonderland appeals to me.When this game was first released, we weren't sure whether we wanted to get it. D. probably wanted it more than I did, because I had originally attempted to play the first game on the good ol' PC and was less than impressed by it (see previous post). There would have to be a mountainload of changes for me to think highly of Madness. The review I read in Game Informer didn't help. They gave it a 6.75 out of 10, and claimed that the original Alice game was far better, but I just don't get it. They, along with other reviewers,...

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Posted in: alice in wonderland,alice: madness returns,american mcgee

Alice in 3 Parts: Part I

I. American McGee's AliceThis game was originally released for the PC in 2000, and features a darker take on Alice in Wonderland. Set sometime after the events of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, the game takes place after a horrible fire killed Alice's family. Alice begins to lose touch with reality, and is institutionalized in Rutledge Asylum. Ten years later, Wonderland draws her back in, to a place that's been damaged by her own twisted mind. This is a far cry from Disney's Wonderland creations. This place is dark, oftentimes reflecting Alice's own insanity.At one point I owned an original copy of the game for the PC, but I'll admit I installed it, tried playing a few minutes of it, and gave up in frustration over the horrible control scheme....

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Posted in: alice in wonderland,alice: madness returns,american mcgee

The Completion of inFAMOUS 2

It took a while, but I finally got my eleventh platinum trophy. Yes, that means I had to go into the user-generated content creator to design my own level, but don't get too excited. I really wanted to go in and create something fun and unique, but it was nearly two in the morning and I just wanted that last trophy so that I could call it a night, so my level is pretty bland and generic. I'm not too worried about it -- inFAMOUS 2 came out a while ago. I assume most of the people that wanted to play it already have.I don't want to give away too much of the game, but I found the endings (both good and evil) to be pretty bad overall. The final decision in the game didn't make much sense, though the good ending did bring a tear to my eye. Definitely worth a playthrough, though I did notice a lot...

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inFAMOUS 2

I just started this game a few days ago, but there are three things I can say for certain:I hate Nix.Most of the user-generated content is terrible.Kuo can get annoying.I'm playing this one much the same as I did the first game: starting off playing on Normal as a good guy. For my second playthrough, I'll switch over to Evil and play on Hard. I learned something while playing the first game: being Evil is so much more fun. Plus Cole doesn't look much like a superhero. He's really an anti-hero. He could go either way, and people seem to fear him no matter what. Jumping straight from the first game to the second was a bit difficult since they changed voice actors. They have similar qualities, but I'd gotten used to Cole's original voice. The switch was a bit disorienting, though the new guy...

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Posted in: infamous 2,sucker punch,ugc,user generated content

Dungeon Siege III

D. picked this game up and has been playing it a lot, even though hack-and-slash RPGs aren't really his thing. Here I thought he bought it more for me. He also checked out a copy so that we could play a bit together (more so he wanted to get some of the online trophies with minimum fuss, and that was the easiest way). Whatever. I haven't even gotten a chance to start the game, but here I am jumping in with no idea what to do or how to play, aside from what I learned in the demo, which I played two weeks ago. We skipped most of the story because I plan on going through and playing the game by myself, just so I can enjoy all the little nuances and story-telling. See, this is why it takes me a while to play through a game. Not only do I want to get the trophies, but I also want to experience...

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Posted in: Dungeon Siege III,hack-and-slash,RPGs

Becoming inFAMOUS

True story: The other day I was hanging out at my local video game store when some guy walked in to ask about that In Famous game. Two words. I could hardly contain my giggles. That doesn't even make any sense. Yes, people's ignorance is often amusing to me.I platinummed (platinumed? neither looks right, but platinum shouldn't be used as a verb, so...) this game last week. I finally got around to playing it for two reasons. First, it was a free download as part of Sony's Welcome Back program following the network's month-long downtime. Plus, I really wanted to play inFAMOUS 2, which looked amazing.My husband (henceforth known as D. because it's quicker to write and less pretentious sounding) played inFAMOUS when it first came out, got his platinum trophy and quickly traded it in before it...

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Posted in: glitches,infamous,playstation 3,ps3,video games