Static Zombie

Riding the Tail

You may have noticed that a couple of weeks went by without any Static Zombie updates. There's a perfectly good explanation for that.

I'm seeing someone else.

She's black, plays games, loves spending nights in front of the TV, and... ok, it's an Xbox. Used, off Craig's List. I finally got one of the darn things, and discovered I was so very right to have resisted for so long.

The good thing about arriving late to the party is that lots of friends have games that are just gathering dust now, so I'm able to moochborrow lots of goodies to try. The three that have been sucking away my sleep time are Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, The Simpsons Hit & Run, and Project Gotham Racing 2.

Prince of Persia is gorgeous and very well-designed. The time-rewind gimmick is a brilliant way to thematically remove frustration at missing jumps or accidentally triggering one of the damn spike traps. The level design has been top-notch, and the enormous chambers that require you to criss-cross them in various ways are very satisfying to complete. I'm about 65% of the way through, and I'll be sad to finally finish. I understand the sequel, Warrior Within, goes overboard on the combat.

Hit & Run is essentially Grand Theft Auto: Springfield. The best thing about it is that it features all-- and I mean, all-- of the Simpsons characters voiced by the genuine television cast. The levels are big, varied, and fun to explore, and the script and voice performances consistently make me smile.

Project Gotham 2 is, surprisingly, less fun to me than the original. I think this is mainly because the UI downplays the acquisition of Kudos, and watching them mount was a big part of the fun. In PGR2, the Kudo count is too small for me to track with my peripheral vision. I haven't been able to finaglefind a copy of the original yet, but when I do I'll likely switch.

All three of the above titles are going on hold for a while, though, since today my copy of Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 2 and a pair of dance pads arrived. I got 'em for a song off EBay-- $75 shipped, new, for the whole set, and these are good quality pads with hard foam inserts. I expect to be burning calories like a madman. I didn't expect to like DDR, but after playing it at a friend's house I got hooked. It's addictive, and a great party game. Hmm. I guess this means I need to throw a party...

Posted by Peter at June 23, 2005 07:21 PM