I Get Wet without Even Trying

I think maybe all of my posts should be titled with esoteric song lyrics. Anyway, I think it's about time I talk in length on Hydro Thunder Hurricane. This game is a hell of a lot of fun. Also, unlike the Summer of Arcade's first title this year, it is unmistakably a video game. It's been a long time since I've loved a racing game this much, and I think it may go into my all-time favorites list with Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Burnout: Revenge. As you may have gathered, it's a sequel of sorts to the original arcade game, which was also one of my favorites. It's very arcade-y in feel (I've written that word in three different contexts now) and no other racing game is so distinctly split into two types of steering.

With a water racer, you have to deal with the elements. The most prominent of these elements is waves, and waves make you go airborne. They aren't the only thing, though, so does going off ramps, launching off waterfalls, and even jumping your boat. Handling in the air is something that I've found is key to my success in the game, and Rad Hazard is the king of aerial control. While it has the worst handling in the water (it's more a hovercraft than a boat), a skilled user can strategically use boost to steer it almost as well as any other boat. What's nice is that it controls with almost same amount of ability in both the water and while airborne, so you never feel out of control with it like you do other boats.

Well, I'm not too humble to admit that I've gotten damn good at the game, and it's gotten to the point where I have difficulty finding a challenge online. The matchmaking system is very bare bones (you create or search for a match) and it can be difficult to get into a good lobby. Other than that, I fully recommend the game. The tracks are all beautifully choreographed and every single one of them could have easily been the standout in a less memorable set. Just know this: getting 200/200 Achievement points is going to be damn near impossible. The Expert Ringmaster events are brutal, and going gold in the event that does all eight of them consecutively is a task I'm sure few men have accomplished.

--Chilly P

Thoughts for Tuesday 080310

I know I haven't been posting much recently, but all I've been playing recently is Hydro Thunder Hurricane and Halo Wars. The former isn't particularly deep and I've said about all I need about the latter. Anyway, the Madden NFL '11 demo came out, and I have to say that I do like the new feel of the game. However, apparently online franchise was the least used feature in last year's edition, so word on the street is that they haven't updated it much. Since online franchise was literally the only thing I cared about last year, it may not be worth it for me to pick it up this season.


On a random side note, remember this commercial? I liked it.

For those of you who love Instant Queue-ing on your 'box, I've got three new shows to recommend. Two of them ran only one season and the other never made it through the second season, so it should be pretty easy to get through each of these shows' entire runs. They are, in order of recommendation, Better Off Ted, Stella, and The Unusuals. The first is an ABC critical darling that just never found an audience, the second is an extremely quirky comedy from Comedy Central starring that dude who loves the 80s and some other The State vets, and the last was one of the many shows to fail at following LOST's time slot during its 6 year run. Speaking of the The State, I believe that's on Instant Queue these days as well. I've never seen it, but it's apparently where all the Stella and Reno 911 guys got their starts, so that's probably next on my docket.

If you have Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on the PC and want to try making your own levels, the tools to do so are available for free on the internets. They're actually quite easy to get into (especially compared to Unreal Tournament 2004, in my opinion), and there are a good number of helpful videos on YouTube. CoD4 runs about $30 wherever you look these days, which isn't exactly cheap for a 3 year old game with two sequels on the market.

Lastly, no I don't have Starcraft II yet and yes, I wish I did. I played the beta, and that made it painfully obvious that my laptop was not capable of running such a glorious program.

--Chilly P

Thoughts for Monday 032910

Sorry I haven't been updating much this week, I've been really busy doing nothing. Plus, I had my fantasy baseball draft. Anyway, Joystiq has a PSA you should look at. Ever had trouble defusing a bomb because you kept picking up kits? There's a work-around for that. Speaking of Bad Company 2, what is with that obnoxious horn that goes off when you're about to lose in Conquest? There's no reason for that. In fact, that might be annoying enough to make a certain list.

I'm eagerly anticipating the new Left 4 Dead 2 DLC. The game has 5 campaigns, so you could say you're paying $12 for each. The new DLC is an entire new campaign for $7. Sounds like a bargain to me, especially considering the outrageous price of the "stimulus package." My understanding is that the original cast from the first game makes an appearance as NPCs, which is cool, but it could be way cooler. Left 8 Dead anyone? I guess that title doesn't make as much sense...hmmm, those who are left, ate the dead. Anyway, allowing 8v8 versus would be entirely broken and probably less fun, but it would certainly be interesting and a nice change-o-pace. It would also have the potential for hilarity akin to Slappers Only.

Mass Effect 2's first expansion, which includes a new team member, is also priced at $7. While Activision jacks the prices up, EA is bringing them back down (EA published L4D2, but it does not own Valve like it owns Bioware). I'll definitely be picking this up, as well. I'm not sure when I'm going to find time to play all this while also getting my BFBC2 fix and making my way through FFXIII, but I'm sure as hell gonna try. It'll definitely take priority over Final Fantasy. There are too many good video games these days. I'm still sitting on unfinished copies of Fight Night Round 4, Secret of Monkey Island, Red Alert 3, Burnout Paradise, Beatles: Rock Band, and Call of Duty Classic, and that's just my 360 backlog of games I already own. That's not even including the games I want but have never purchased. I can't imagine what my backlog would look like if I was still trying to keep up with the Wii and DS catalogs. If I ever did buy a PS3, I think it'd cause me more stress than anything else (but God of War III looks soooo cool).

They're making a sequel to Hydro Thunder called Hydro Thunder Hurricane. I might skip this one and just wait for the trilogy to conclude in 10 years with Hydro Thunder Hurricane Tsunami.

Lastly, Penny Arcade had a damn good zinger last week.

--Chilly P