Not only does the staff of Spawn Kill keep readers up-to-date with news and reviews from all facets of video games, we also partake in our fair share of private gaming goodness. While we may not be writing about it, many of us are knee-deep in games both old and new. Now Playing at Spawn Kill is but a glimpse into the staff’s present indulgences.

Molotov Cupcake:
I’ll go ahead and say it — Guitar Hero 5 is indeed on par with Rock Band 2. Sure, it doesn’t incorporate an extensive music store, but as far as graphics and the fun factor go, it’s absolutely worth your time and attention. No, as many ignorant people have speculated, we’re not being paid off to tell you this. If we were, I’d be off spending that cold hard cash rather than pleading to you guys to pick up this installment of Guitar Hero. I completed it over the weekend, and it’s definitely a move in the right direction. Check it out (or at the very least rent it) if you’re not afraid to, you know, have some fun. That’s probably a no-no word these days though, huh? I also tackled the Halo 3: ODST campaign — it’s a fantastic addition to the Halo 3 storyline, though it was far too short. The brooding and oppressive atmosphere felt stark in contrast to Halo 3 , which is something I appreciated wholeheartedly, though it was far too ephemeral of an experience. It’s possible to complete within a mere couple of hours, which I did, and subsequently got cheated out of the final few achievements. Oh, joy!

Tigresa:
I finished up Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and barrel rolled right into Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. At first I wasn’t feeling Raiden’s pansy ass, but people feel the need to assure me that he gets to be on par with my definition of badassery (TM) in part four, so I am excited to see that. The last segment of MGS2 was just over-the-top, man! Those eerie robot malfunctions with Rose garbling things like “Jack, I’m pregnant!” were just awesome as I scrambled past a troop of guards, covering my naked no-no parts with Raiden’s bare hands. Shit was intense. Been traversing my way through Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box still, I think I’m getting close to the end. No verdict till I beat it fully though, though feel free to peep Becky’s review that went up today! I also dabbled a bit in Need for Speed: Shift over the weekend, sighed and stared dreamily at the gorgeous Camaro that I’d love to strap myself down in in real life. Though at first the sliding seems to feel a bit loose at first, as you upgrade your cars it gets toned down a bit. Definitely the best NFS released in years. So many changes for the better, NFS needed this!

K-Tuck:
I spent the majority of the last week finishing up with Mini Ninjas. I found it to be quite enjoyable. Before moving on to more work-related games (WET), I went back to try and finish Prince of Persia. Again, this game is amazing. I also threw in a bit more time on Shadow of the Colossus, even though someone on the internet felt it necessary to spoil part of the ending for me. Oh well, the game is still a lot of fun.

Snarkasaur:
This week tells the tale of Bioshock and I. Long ago, I began my journey into Rapture on a computer. At the time, I didn’t fully appreciate the majesty of that underwater haven. Perhaps it was a time in my life when I didn’t appreciate narrative. Then, tragically, my adventure was cut short due to a hard drive failure and life beating me in the face. A year later I bought Bioshock again, but this time for the infinitely more reliable PS3. This week saw me traversing Rapture for the second time, but with Atlas Shrugged, the novel that much of the game takes its inspiration from, freshly my mind. I finished Bioshock on Friday, and I now consider it one of the best games ever produced. It literally left me awed at the end. I also started the original Uncharted and am impressed. The demo I’d played months ago left me slightly let down, but the actual game is a treat so far.

TheHerp:
This week I’ve haven’t been able to play much but I did get a chance to play Halo 3: ODST. I played the firefight mode while I was at this year’s E3 so I was more interested in the campaign. Though I haven’t beaten it yet I like what I have played of it. I did play a couple of firefight rounds and it hasn’t changed too much from when I saw it at E3. The difficulty has defiantly increased since then which is really nice. Even on Normal it is very difficult for two people to hit the par score of 200,000 points for each level. However with four people it isn’t as much of a struggle, because of this I tend to get bored after hitting the 200,000 mark. At least on normal it tends to get really repetitive in terms of the enemies you get every round. I hope it will be different when I finally get people to play on Heroic or Legendary. Other than ODST I got a quick chance to play The Beatles: Rock Band, which I enjoyed a lot. Most of the songs weren’t that challenging at least on the drums, which I expected, so it can be a bit boring but the songs are so good I really didn’t care too much. Listening to people try to harmonize is hilarious and awesome at the same time. Definitely just as good of a party game as other Rock Band titles cause who hates the Beatles?

Cuatro Chihuahuas:
This week didn’t see me getting much play time, sadly. I was able to put a little more time into Persona 4, as well as delving deeper into The Dark Spire, which is strangely addicting once you get your bearings. I also wasted quite a bit of time on some more of Amazon’s downloadable casual games, including The Great Tree, which I got free. Persona PSP just arrived last night, so that will definitely be my focus for the coming week.

Tags: Guitar Hero 5, Halo 3 ODST, Metal Gear Solid 3, Need for Speed: Shift, Persona, Uncharted, WET

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 4:31 pm and is filed under Now Playing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.