VideogameVagabond.com

Can a 45-year-old man maintain a marriage and a videogame habit? Let's find out!

Monthly Archives: February 2012

Almost no interest in the PS Vita

The PlayStation Vita, successor to the PSP, is about to be released, but I have almost no interest in the system. Apathy only begins to describe my lack of concern.

Why?

Gaming was moved on. While iPhone/iPod Touch/Android games are simpler than the average PS Vita title, they’re also far more affordable. Many ad-supported games are free, while few games for those systems ever cost more than ten bucks, maximum. The average Vita titles go for $30 to $40, and most consumers don’t see those titles as three to four times better.

Heck, the average Android game I play to death costs $2.99 to $4.99. And while PS Vita games are sure to be nice, I like my gaming affordable. Vita games aren’t. It’s that simple.

So take your Guitar Hero portable ripoffs, with their guitar chords charts, and your racing games and even your Silent Hill and enjoy, if you can afford it.

Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy the simple pleasures of TeamLava games like Night Club Story on my Android… 100 percent free.

Two memorable RPGs coming or out now

There are two highly memorable RPGs either recently released or about to be.

The first is Final Fantasy XIII-2, which looks to be a great followup to Final Fantasy XIII. I’m a sucker for a decent SquareEnix RPG, so this one’s on my must-buy list, which is getting harder and harder for games to latch onto.

The second is the forthcoming Mass Effect 3, which promises to complete the trilogy started about four years ago. I’m looking forward to it big-time. The good news for PS3 fans is this installment is not an Xbox 360 exclusive. The bad news is, the other two were, and so there’s not much chance to draw in your character from the previous two games, if you buy ME3 on PS3 instead of Xbox 360.

Addendum to my review of NFL Pro 2012

When I reviewed the Andriod pro football game app, NFL Pro 2012, recently, I neglected to add in a concern in the game’s design. It’s a pet peeve, really.

The most annoying flaw in the game at this point is this: When time’s ticking down and you’re on offense, you are not allowed to tall a timeout to save precious seconds. Hate that oversight. Hopefully it’ll be fixed in next year’s version.

Also, the AI isn’t without its flaws.

One great way to win a close contest is to go for 2-point conversion. If you get it and the contest remains close, you’re guaranteed to win.

Why? Well, let’s put it this way. In a recent game, I was leading 29-21 because I’d done exactly that… gone for a 2-point conversion and made it.

On the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, my AI opponent connected on a deep pass.

Here comes overtime, I thought.

Nope. With no time left on the clock, and me leading 29-27, the game’s AI … kicked an extra point. I won, 29-28.

So, that needs fixing, too, or the programmers behind it may as well spend their time hawking manufactured homes for sale.

REVIEW: NFL 2012 (Android)

The game NFL 2012 for Android phones is the first NFL football game I’ve played on a smart phone that actually comes close to approximating a decent football game; it actually plays a little bit like Madden, the football king of console gaming.

The game is free… kinda. It’s free in that you don’t cough up a Morgan silver dollar at the checkout of the Android market to acquire it.

However, one could be tempted to purchase an awful lot in the game. Certain plays remain locked until you win enough “game gold,” which you acquire by beating your opponents. And it takes a lot of winning to open up some plays.

I suppose they have to make their money somewhere; you can purchase game gold to unlock these items more quickly, or earn ‘em out the old fashioned way.

Beyond the costs of the game, such as they are, the controls feel natural for the touchscreen. The graphics are close to PlayStation2-era Madden games, and that’s pretty good considering that before this game appeared on the scene, some Android football games were little more than Mattel electronic handhelds of the 1970s.

And best of all, the game remains challenging and can beat you, even after a lot of games logged on the system. That, in some ways, makes it a step above Madden.

Complaints? Sure. I’m playing the game on a T-Mobile G2 with Google. And on my phone, if you play more than one game in a row, the screen starts to lose touch-sensitivity during the passing game. It’s not fun to get sacked because the screen wouldn’t read your touches of Receiver 4, or miss a field goal due to the play clock expiring because the screen couldn’t read your kick-stroke. Usually it goes away if you put the phone to sleep and then come back to it right away.

Other than that, there are the usual minor complaints such as questionable foot placement on certain catches called good or as touchdowns. And the play clock stops at a certain point on every play; meaning in the middle or out of bounds, it doesn’t matter which way the play ends, there’s no running out the clock, at least not the Madden way where you drain game clock by waiting for the play clock to almost expire.