by N Rumas - 02.29.08

While most of us here at 4cr spent February playing our games all quiet-like and mannerly, Shaun insisted on treating his aparment complex to some hardcore Rock Band action. His neighbors were none-too-happy, however, and after the break you can see proof in the form of a hand-written ‘please be quiet’ note. Keep reading to find out what we played during the month that was, and be sure to let us know what kept you entertained, too.

Shaun:
This month I had been playing a lot of Rock Band. I’d been playing it at very loud volumes so I could hear the music over the sound of my Bonham-esque, drumpad-destroying, stick-splintering drumming.
I live in an apartment with thin concrete walls between the units. So in general, we can hear it when neighbors so much as cough. Well one night I had some friends over – the “band,” if you will – and when our lead guitarist left at around 2 am, I found the following note on my door:
It’s the most well-written and most polite complaint card I’ve ever had the pleasure of receiving. I wrote them back, saying I was sorry for making so much noise so late and night and then when we saw each other in the mailroom, we joked about it and had a good laugh. Since then, I’ve been spending my time playing quieter games such as Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and the fantastically swell Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. All games should have colons in their titles.
Well imagine my surprise when I returned home from work a few weeks ago to hear my neighbors playing Rock Band as I walked by their apartment door. What’s funny is that they seem to be playing it all the time. Of course, they’re way quieter when they play than I ever was, so it’s all good.
Jody:
I have been sticking to the handheld front for the most part. Most of my gaming time has been split between Professor Layton for DS and Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee for PSP. Finally got around to picking that one up. Really wish I would have picked it up earlier!
On the console side of things, I’ve been playing Endless Ocean on Wii. Such a relaxing game to play. Grab a beer and swim around for an hour or so. Great, great game.
Lastly, I have been waiting patiently for Patapon for PSP. I have played through the demo I got for preordering it like 3 times now. So much fun! I can see that taking up a good chunk o’ my time.
Vinnk:
Wii Fit every day. Beyond that I don’t have much time for other games. On weekends I play a little No More Heroes. I’ve beat the game several times now, but it’s so much fun I find myself replaying it a lot. As for portable games, I have been playing GunPey DS a lot, the music is fantastic and I was a fan of the Wonderswan original.
Evan (aka rbelmont):
This month, Endless Ocean and Advance Wars DoR took the backseat as I finally bought Dewy’s Adventure and decided to finished Rocket Slime. Both games are fantastic, and I wholeheartedly recommend them. Dewy reminds me of Nintendo 64-style platformers, which is good in my book, and you can find both games for $20 each now.
June got me thinking about Pokemon again, so I decided to transfer all of my Pokemon from Leaf Green to Diamond and do a good ol’ fashioned restart. I’m about 3 hours in and, not surprisingly, it is just as good as it always has been.
And of course, I have to mention the absolute masterpiece that is Picross DS. I have been playing this game daily since it was released (I’ve probably made it to the triple digits in hours played) and am on my third playthrough. Surprisingly enough, it is just as good now as the first time I played it.
June:
After hearing only brilliant things about Endless Ocean I decided to give it a whirl. I swear, the game was made for people like me. The last time I went to an aquarium, I made it my goal to touch every single ray in the petting tank. Endless Ocean is my endless petting zoo, and I love it to bits.
I’m also playing Pokémon Pearl, which is an ongoing project, and slowly transferring creatures from Pokémon Fire Red just like rbelmont. What can I say? I love the Kanto critters! In anticipation of Brawl, I’ve also been hitting the Super Smash Brothers Melee gym.
A friend gave me Riviera for the GBA, so I’ve been tackling that as well. While I’m not a fan of the level-up process (which involves training with new items for stats), exploration in the game is pretty refreshing. I’ve got to hand it to Atlus; they know a good game when they see one.
Rumas:
For me, February was about Super Mario Galaxy and nothing but. I’m 108 stars in at the moment, and I’m savoring every second. What a fantastic piece of work…it really is a celebration of what video games are all about.
On the portable end, my beloved DS has laid dormant for a while, but I’m about to change that. Problem is that I’m always busy reading or writing or drawing on public transportation, and as such it’s been ages since I brought my DS along for the ride. Anyway, my thirst for Yoshi Touch & Go is so intense right now that I can barely resist the urge, so after I find my 120th star in Galaxy I know what I’ll be playing.
Greg:
My parents actually gave me Rock Band as a birthday gift, awesome surprise! My *amazing* vocals have probably either annoyed the hell out of my neighbors or amused them greatly. I’m kind of thankful that they haven’t said anything. I’ve also been dabbling in a bunch of other games. I love No More Heroes, but I can only seem to play it in small chunks. Just defeated Destroyman! I’ve also been playing Persona 3, which is one of the best RPGs that I’ve played in some time.
On the DS, I’ve been sinking time into Professor Layton. The game is fantastic, and reminds me of a Ghibli movie at every turn. I was actually most amazed by the voice acting. Best voice acting in a DS game ever. I’ve also started on Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, which is pretty good, even if it is the weakest Ace Attorney game yet.












Ah, Rock Band. I live in a condo and have also had “the band” over a couple of times, but haven’t gotten complaints yet. I think everyone in the complex is just used to constant noise from the construction that’s going on all over the place… Still, I feel kind of guilty whacking away at the drums, they’re so noisy! I think modding them with felt or adding a buffer to the stick tips might be in order…
Anyhoo, after finishing off No More Heroes earlier this month, I’ve basically been playing Rock Band and the Orange Box for the duration. Haven’t touched my portables in a while, though Prof. Layton and Patapon are looking mighty tempting…
ExMachina - 02.29.08 12:06 pm
Been gearing up for Brawl by playing Melee in my spare time. Although last week, the Gears of War 2 unveil made me want to play the original for a bit, so I went back to that. Dabbled back in Pearl a bit too.
…Rereading that, that is a freakin’ wierd combination of games o_0′
JonEthan - 02.29.08 12:07 pm
I’ve been playing Digimon World: Dawn and Animal Crossing a lot lately. I slowly plod along in Pokemmon Pearl when I’m so inclined (I keep putting it down for a while them coming back to it and playing it nonstop).
jgoreham - 02.29.08 12:10 pm
It’s been mostly about No More Heroes, such an excellent game, I would love to have Travis’ t-shirts collection - my new strange (and useless) gaming obsession. All in all, this game is fantastic.
On the DS, it’s Professor Layton - what is basicaly a puzzle collection, ends up being a beautifuly presented game with great characters and a superb production value. It migh have tested my patience lately, but I really like this game.
i_am_error - 02.29.08 12:22 pm
I am not too worried about the volume in Rock Band since I try to be courteous about that, but the drums are another story. They are going to make noise no matter what, but the main issue is the sharp “clack!” that goes along with it.
There’s a few different drum pads on eBay, some of which are pretty decent. It doesn’t totally fix the issue, but it dulls it enough that I don’t think it would carry through the walls to other apartments. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
Tony - 02.29.08 12:25 pm
I’ve since silenced my Rock Band drumkit by cutting our smaller circles from old drum silencing pads I happened to have lying around:
It’s a bit of a ghetto solution, but I found that I like the feel of the pads a lot more now. Also, cutting down on the impact noise makes the game sound a lot better.
Megashaun - 02.29.08 1:37 pm
Lately for me, it’s been a bit of Earthbound (on my DS via emulation) and Riviera. I’ve beaten the game before, but I know there are a few endings you can get and I have only seen one. Indeed, it’s a fantastic game. Other than that, on the consoles, it’s No More Heroes, Ghost Squad, and a bit of Starfox 64.
9th Sage - 02.29.08 2:58 pm
Tons of Professor Layton. The game is tons of fun, even when I want to throw my DS across the room after getting stuck for 20 minutes on a few of the puzzles. For the consoles, Rogue Galaxy on the PS2 is a ton of fun. My husband is playing Mario Galaxy so I’m his little helper star. FABULOUS game but again, occasionally wanting to throw the Wiimote when the camera changes perspective in mid-jump.
Vanessa - 02.29.08 3:20 pm
I’ve been playing a lot of Rock Band as well, and I also think it’s a bit loud, so I’ve got a question to anyone that’s muffled their kit: does it affect accuracy at all? It seems like it would have to, since spreading the shock through more matter means less of the shock is going straight down(to make the contacts touch, or however it works). If you ended up hitting the thing harder to ensure your hits were registering, it’s a moot point.
Also this month I played through Portal, and the 3 installments of Half-Life 2. Hard to find a better deal than the Orange Box!
scott - 02.29.08 3:55 pm
Finishing up No More Heroes again. I need a few more trading cards, so I may have to go through one last time before Brawl. Also spending a lot of time with Audiosurf and Mario Kart DD (getting ready for MKWii).
Kyattsuai - 02.29.08 4:32 pm
Not much time to play due to work, but here’s how february has been made the most of.
Wii: Tomb Raider Anniversary, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, RE: UC.
GC: Resident Evil 2
PS2: Guitar Hero Encore: 80’s
DS: Contact
GBA: Eragon
EdEN - 02.29.08 4:49 pm
I’ve mostly been replaying Yoshi’s Island DS (and rediscovering what a great game it is in the process), with some occasional bouts of Phantom Hourglass and some random homebrew stuff on the DS. I’ve also been practicing my Super Mario World speedrunning on the VC. I can beat the game in about 15 minutes right now — only four minutes away from the world record.
jam - 02.29.08 6:25 pm
Also, “I hear everything from your unit while lying in bed” deserves a quote.
jam - 02.29.08 6:28 pm
Oh since Persona 3 was mentioned by Greg…
Atlus is releasing Persona 3 and Persona 3: Fes (essentially an expansion) together for $29.99. Everyone with a PS2/PS3 should pick this game up. Personally, I would way it’s the best Japanese RPG in quite a long time and makes a lot of others still coming out seem completely stale. It’s an incredible deal.
Tony - 02.29.08 6:33 pm
You’re right, that was the nicest complaint letter ever!
Qbert - 02.29.08 7:17 pm
@ Scott: It does, unfortunately, reduced the responsiveness of the drums, but only slightly. Once you get used to it, it’s fine.
Megashaun - 02.29.08 8:13 pm
Professor Layton and the Curious Village has owned my DS for the past couple of weeks now. Fantastic game!
Jake - 02.29.08 9:27 pm
Mostly No More Heroes, which has gotten slightly better in my eyes once I learned not to expect anything fun from the sucktastic in-between segments. Glad to see Layton getting lots of love. Next month I really ought to get Time Hollow.
Shih Tzu - 02.29.08 11:32 pm
I too have been catching up on my SSB melee and remembering just what a fun experience it was. I’ve been trying to play Rock Band, but it’s just not the same since no one ever plays it with me (they got bored a week after christmas).
Jordan - 03.01.08 1:01 am
Smash Bros Brawl
Etrian Odyssey 2
Shushu - 03.01.08 5:30 am
man, i really need to get my layton on.
N Rumas - 03.01.08 12:43 pm
My month was spent playing Metal Gear Solid 3, Tales of Eternia (PSP), and some Tetris DS on my brakes.
Oh yes, can’t forget DDR SuperNova and Super Smash Brothers Melee.
Overall, typical month.
Mune - 03.01.08 1:54 pm
rock band! all my friend are used to watching me play gh so they take the chance of playing guitar on rockband. also i got the lost game. took 4 hours to beat, not the best. it was pretty much one HUGE eateregg for a die hard lost fan like me, so id say it was still worth it. also, got full 1000 gamerscore on halo3, so id say that means i officially dont have a life. havent touched the wii, but i havent had a reason to. Oh, and i rented ace combat 6, which is a BEAUTIFUL game! i lost on the first mission because i couldnt stop staring at all pretty graphics. ace combat is still my favorite game, and has, in my opinion, the best story of any game ive ever played.
Ian - 03.01.08 8:45 pm
ace combat 5**
Ian - 03.01.08 8:47 pm
I picked up Etrian Odyssey recently and can’t put it down anymore. Good that it loses at some of it’s difficulty after a few levels. Highly addictive!
siro - 03.02.08 8:03 am
I got Duck Amuck and Apollo Justice for the DS this week, and while I tried out Duck Amuck briefly (and it amused me), Apollo Justice looks to be the big timesucker for me. At least once I finish FF12. The clock reads 83 hours, and I, uh, THINK I’m getting close to the end.
MrP - 03.02.08 9:01 am
No More Heroes, Team Fortress 2, Audiosurf. Cant wait for Assassin’s Creed for PC and Brawl to come out!
kojo87 - 03.02.08 4:26 pm