Games Rebels Play — June

The first month of summer has come and gone. We here at 4cr ran the gamut during June, playing everything from SMG2 to Persona 3, Sakura Wars to Wii Music, and yes, even Craigslist. Oh, and then there was that E3 thing. Be sure to chime in and let us know what your gaming recipe has been for beating the heat as well!

Nick Sadly, the only gaming I’ve done this month was… E3 baby! I guess moving and starting a new job and not getting to play any games at home kinda sucks, but when you got to play with the 3DS, the new Zelda, Kirby and Donkey Kong, there isn’t much to complain about.

Although I have been playing this fun online game called Craigslist. Heard of it? It’s really great. You can sort through hundreds of listings and try to out battle people to find an apartment that will just barely fit your bed. You try to spend as little coin as you can, but find a place that will replenish all your energy after a long day at the office. So fun, I recommend it to everyone.

Greg Despite the E3 madness, being temporarily between jobs gave me quite a bit of time to game in June. On my big-boy consoles, I’ve been slowly butting my way through Super Mario Galaxy 2. That game is amazingly fun. It’s colorful, ambitious, and just a joy to play. The level design is incredible. Despite all of that, I’m only on World 4. I only play the game a level or two at a time, savoring every little bit.

I also picked up The Saboteur, which is an open-world game set during the French Resistance. I don’t quite know why, but I love the thing. I dig the over-the-top tongue-in-cheek nature of the entire affair, and I love the protagonist, Sean Devlin. Yay for more Irish heroes in games. The thing has all sorts of technical problems, but I just love sneaking around Paris and the French countryside blowing up Nazi encampments and just causing general mayhem.

I actually dug out my PSP this month for Persona 3 Portable. That game is incredible. I sunk about seventy hours into it on the PS2 years ago, but I had forgotten just how good of an RPG that it is. The PSP version is missing some of the content from the FES rerelease, but I’ve been having fun playing through as the new female character. Quite a few minor differences for fans to pick up on. Plus, it’s nice having it on the go.

Oh, and I’m still playing Picross 3D. I’m pretty sure that game just never ends. I haven’t even touched the DLC yet.

Edgar This month has been pretty much Team Fortress 2 (PC) and Borderlands (360) exclusively. I was never a big FPS fan, but look at that, a full month of only FPS.

Jody I played through all of Wind Waker. Probably my favorite fight against Ganon, and still the best looking game I have ever played. After finishing up Wind Waker, I’ve started on Final Fantasy XIII on PS3. Looks good and plays well. I am enjoying the battle system. Don’t know if I’ll end up sticking through the whole thing yet, but it’s been a good time so far.

GK June has been an interesting month in terms of gaming for me; I’ve been having the hardest time deciding exactly what I want to play right now. I’ve been off and on in playing the following games: God of War Collection for the PS3, Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (So many 2s!) all on the PC, and last but not least, Dungeons and Dragons Online. I think I’ve figured out what I really want to play, however — I reinstalled Fallout 3 on Steam so I’ll try for another playthrough of that. Let’s see how long that sticks.

Vinnk Got an iphone so I have been fooling around with apps on that a bit. Really like Zen Bound and iAssociate 2. On the “real” gaming side. I am still playing (and loving) Sakura Wars on Wii, I will be sad when I finish that one since I am really getting to like the characters and world it is set in. Also I am back on the Wii Fit. The birth of my daughter and things stopped me from doing it but I am into it again and feeling good.

Rumas I wasn’t able to do a whole lot of gaming during June, but toward the end of the month things settled down for me, and I bought some Wii games that had been on my list for the longest time, including…Wii Music!

I had promised myself that I would ignore all of the derision and pick it up one day, brand new. And that I finally did. And guess what? I love this game. It’s awesome. Having so much fun with it, just like I knew I would. I bet I’ll even love Wii Party. This stuff was made for me.

Sean I picked up a Sega Master System II in June, along with a bunch of games from the person who sold it to me. Did you know that there’s a passably decent 8-bit Rocky game out there? I had no idea. (What does “Two-Mega Cartridge” mean anyway? Bits?)

What I did have fun doing was playing Castle Crashers for Powet Game Night, and getting just about all the remaining non-multi-player-based achievements. I also had a friend show me Snoopy: Flying Ace, which is also passably decent — certainly made for a younger audience. It did make me want to play Starfox 64 again; I didn’t get around to that, but I’m all the more excited that it will be ported to the 3DS. (Commence: Drool.)

Other than that, the end of the Halo: Reach beta got me into playing Halo 3 multi-player again, which is just a terrible time sink. I mean, have you tried to get to level 30 on a playlist? Madness. But this exemplifies the underlying theme of my June gaming: I haven’t had a lot of time to sit down and enjoy a deep, immersive experience for a long while. I think Dragon Age: Origins is calling me…