What I (Dis)Liked Last Week

So, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was the big event of last week and I think I can say, without fear of contradiction, that we all thought it was pretty bad. Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures for the SNES, a system which saw some more use again this weekend, captures the spirit of the franchise better than the new film did; Indy swinging around, dodging traps and shooting guys. Let us not dwell on it further. In other very different Indy news, Justin is very upset that "his" Indy 500 driver was "taken out by some noob."
Wrapped up the first episode of Penny-Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One, which from here on out I will refer to as PAA:ORSPD-EO. Even though I am a Penny-Arcade fan I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this; I always expected it to be very funny, which it is, but the combat was surprisingly fun and I'm looking forward to getting further into this Lovecraftian steampunk world they've created. Took a little over six hours to get through and I think that's a fair deal for $20, I even liked it enough to play through it a second time... I might even do it a third!
Out of some strange craving for non-linear side-scrolling 2D gaming I started playing both Super Metroid and Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past again and thought about how much I would enjoy it if Nintendo returned to its 2D, sprite-based roots, if only for a moment. Basically I want them to start making SNES games again. Beautiful sprite work and animation in a 2D game can go a long way for its appeal, because there is an endearing quality when you know that it was painstakingly hand-drawn. We would probably only remember the Metal Slug series as mediocre at best if it was all done with 3D models.
Finally finished the main story in GTA4 at a little over the 42 hour mark, took the time to go back and get both endings and I sort of like that neither of them are particularly happy ones. I think I'm around the 75-80% completion mark, with only the stunt jumps, races, special car thefts and pigeon slaughtering left to take care of and I'm in no particular rush to do so. It's easily one of the best action games ever made, and surprisingly well-written, and I'm really looking forward to see what they have planned for downloadable content.

Video games!

-K.