Week 1 - Rough Start

Just got back from my trip to New York City, and I must say that it was an awesome experience. I wish I could describe it to you, but it's something you have to try out for yourself. Movies and stories just don't do it any justice.

When I got back, the next day (Monday) I had to be at class which was awful. Taking 15 credits led me to do my homework and finally unwind from my trip, and was not able to put in any time to my PS3. A lot of time was spent talking to family and friends about the trip. On Tuesday I got called into work, so after class went straight into work. Didn't get home til 8 and this was when I said to myself this isn't going to be possible. I can't work, and take 15 credits. I was so exhausted I had dinner and went to bed. The next day I ran some errands, and dropped my classes. Just a temporary thing, I had no money from being in New York. I could barely afford my books, I still don't have a car from when it was hit and ran by some douche (I know I could take the bus, but that's just another stress), and I just got back from my trip. Next quarter I'm all for it, but this one I had to hold off.

My next road bump is that my recently acquired Fiancee is still on vacation. This isn't a bad thing I've just been spending some time with her before she goes back to her job.

I'm left at the weekend with no game play in, which isn't a problem for most, but I work on the weekends too. Not off to a great start, but luckily me I squeezed some time in on Friday and Saturday morning. Also I gave myself some room by starting this goal with 1040+ trophies, so it gave me some space for these type of problems.


(Just a heads up this will be an extremely long blog, due to me being mid-game going into this goal, so basically I will be giving you the 1-2 weeks I spent on this game before I started the goal.)
Before my New York trip I've been trying to down Dead Space, mainly due to the sequel coming out at the end of this month.

First I want to talk Dead Space, and how much I've enjoyed it. Normally I will review after I have completed the game at least once, which I did, but if I'm in the middle of my first playthrough don't think you'll find a review of the game. Also they will only be short reviews, you'll get what people are basically looking for when they review certain games. In other words I'll be cutting all the filler. This is an older PS3 game that I picked up when it dropped on the greatest hits list. I knew the game was gonna be good, but I'm what you call a "Pansy" I hate these thriller games. Literally I could only beat 1 level at a time when I started playing it. Bioshock took me forever to complete because I would play half a level ever day. Usually I can only stand playing these games once. Once I got use to it it just seemed like an everyday game to me. I was completing 3-4 levels at a time, this is the only thriller game that made me want to pick it up and play some more.

Review:
Sound -The sound and ambiance gave me the feeling that I didn't like, but somehow it drew me closer to the game.  You would hear creeks and clinks in metal or unstable platforms. Surround sound was used in full effect here. Most of the time when I heard a suspicious from the surround sound I would immediately turn that direction to. Sound as usual is always a major factor in thriller games such as this, and it's top notch!

Lighting - Lighting goes hand and hand with sound when it comes to thrillers, and like the sound they did a great job with the lighting to. A lot of points in the game where the lights just shut off, you can barely see and Necros may or may not pop out at you. A few times I found myself running to a door and watching the power shut off and not being able to open the door (due to the power outage) freak out and hide in a corner until power came back on. This game was definitely a "mind fuck" When it came to lighting and sound.

Gameplay- The gameplay was smooth and solid piece of work. You weren't forced into any menu or inventories. It was all done by your characters (Isaac) HUD, which made navigating easier and more visible on what was going on around you. They used the an upgrade system, but was different than the others. It was very unique in a way, almost as if you were re-wiring your weapon to it's max compacity. You would need power nodes to fill the gaps that needed power, so you could get to the good stuff. Power nodes could be found on the floor or purchased for a high price in the store. Many different types of enemies also left the game interesting.

Playability - The controls seem a little sluggish. A lot of times I tried to alternate fire mode or reload or even use a module, and it just wouldn't until I hit it again. Stomping was slow, but I thought it added to the effect of it being one hell of a stomp. I mean he's dismembering people breaking through unknown material boxes (not cardboard) and other things. You expect that stomp to be sluggish due to the power behind it. The HUD menus were also kind of sluggish when you had to flip through the pages using L2/R2. After playing Assassin's Creed series though I can't complete about the way they did the button layout. You have your everyday normal buttons then you have hold down L1 and get a whole new set of things to do like in Assassin's Creed.

Story - The story to me was also very drawing, I won't go to much into detail if you haven't played it yet, but you and your team are headed to this ship that is known for it's planet drilling (gathering resources). Your headed to this ship because you got some distress calls saying they needed repairs. Once you land you find out nobody is alive on the ship. As your progress through the game you find out what was found on the planet they were drilling and the effects it has on the people of the ship. Each level draws you onto that, and you just keep playing because a little more of the secret is revealed.

Replay Value - There isn't a whole lot of replay value in this game. They do allow you to replay on the same difficulty with all your upgrades, money, and items in a New Game+. Also If you want to beat it on hard you have to beat it on a lesser difficulty to unlock the harder difficulty. Really there is only so much you can do, but replay value is there so I can't say this game doesn't have it. Some people might enjoy replaying the game on the same difficulty with all there awesome upgrades.
 
I am glad that I purchased this after it was released on greatest hits, because it lacks multiplayer, which is a standard for today. Paying 60 bucks for a game you would play maybe once or twice (7-8 hours per playthrough) wouldn't warrant the 60 bucks.

Platinum Strategy:
My strategy coming into this plat was very simple. I knew it would require at least 2 playthroughs, because you had to unlock hard to get the hard trophy. My first playthrough I made sure to get the 1 gun trophy (allowing me more freedom in the hard playthrough.) as well as the other missable trophies, Ragdoll Check; Playing Catch; Don't Get Cocky, Kid; Slugger; Crackshot; Zero-G Baller; and There's Always Peng! It's always a good idea to check you missable trophies before you play the game. (I use http://www.ps3trophies.org/index.php for all my Trophy information. They also give you the difficulty to platinum and time to platinum, which can be helpful.) This will prevent you from having the play the game more than you have to. Unless you feel you want to play it that many times. There are only a few games that made me want to continue playing it after I got the platinum. I beat my first playthrough before my trip to New York, so when I came back the only thing left for me to do was get my hard trophy, maxed out, and kill X enemies with X gun. I started a game+ (can only play on the same difficulty) and got all the non hard trophies. I finished that on Friday. Basically I just saved all my health packs and unused ammo, stasis, and air cans in my storage. Then when I started my New Game+ I sold all those items purchased all the power nodes I needed and maxed out each gun after purchasing them. After I upgraded them all I used them to unlock the kill trophies. Pretty simple straight forward. I think I made it to level 6 or 7 before they were all complete.

Hard Strategy:
Saturday morning is when I started my hard playthrough, which took me about an hour 15 minutes to get to level 3. A few things I found that could be difficult. It takes more bullets if not the same amount to kill 1 Necromorph, than you pick up from 1 ammo drop (6 bullets for the cutter) for your gun. My suggestion is you sell all your stasis and air can to supply you with money to buy extra ammo. I also would suggest using your kinesis module to pick up any exploding cylinder things to blow up the Necromorphs. Another thing I suggest is using chopping off their legs, so they end up crawling. Use your Stasis module to slow them down and stomp on their head to finish them off. Also upgraded your cutter to give you full damage should be done first. More Damage = less shots to kill.

Added Backlog:
I found out there are few more games that I forgot to mention that I was interested in. Ico/Shadow Colossus collection, Sly Cooper Collection, Bulletstorm, and Mass Effect 2. A lot of games that I want to complete before next year... haha :(

That concludes this weeks blog, next week I will continue to give more tips on playing the game on hard. I Should also be starting my next game (Demon's Souls) this upcoming week. Please share this blog with your fellow friends and gamers. Many thanks and appreciations to the people have been and continue to do that for me.