Happy Holidays!

I’m sorry I haven’t been updating recently. The holidays kinda got in the way … that and my Prince of Persia addiction. But lets start with the holidays.

Christmas Eve: I put this on the list because that’s when my girlfriend came down to do the presents exchange and hang out stuff. It was really fun. I’ve been sitting on some of these presents for sometime now so it was actually quite a relief to give them to her. I was especially pleased that she liked the necklace and earring I gave her. I am not much of a jewelry expert but I remembered a piece she had worn before and used it as the template for the purchase. She really liked it! I also got really nice things from her too. I got Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Metroid: Zero Mission, oh and a wicked cool record of Invader Zim songs. But the best part of the LP is that it is decorated with images from IZ! Sweet deal! After that we hung out for a while, before Christmas Eve service, and I played a little of PoP:Warrior Within. I didn’t play much since I had not yet defeated PoP:Sands of Time. I have been stuck in this one battle in PoP:SoT for more than a month, it was really demoralizing. But this is when I learned that my beautiful lady has another excellent attribute. She can affect probability! Well … sorta. She seems to improve my luck. Because when she was over I was playing PoP:SoT and with considerably less effort I defeated that battle that had held up my progress. I then continued to play after she had left and … not to boast but I was burning through the levels! Till I met up with another nasty puzzle … then, for entirely separate reasons, I called my lady and after talking with her for a little while, I easily moved through the puzzle and on with the game. She helps me even when she’s not here! Sw33t! Then today at around 7:30 I beat Pop:SoT. It was worth every hour I put into it. And it made the intro movie make so much more sense. For some reason I was thinking the boss battle would be more difficult but … it was easier than I thought. Though that is probably due to my enhanced skill in fighting defensively, which is vital, and even more so in PoP:WW.

Yes I have now begun the adventure that is Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. OMG it is nuts! Graphically it has not changed too much. Which is a good thing. There is a difference in the tone though. This new one is much … much darker than the first. In many ways it is the Batman game we all wish someone would make. The hero is agile, kick ass, and has lots of cool moves and smooth animation. Did I happen to mention that the game is dark? Yeah when the Prince cuts open and off the heads of the enemies there is a nice little spray of blood. It’s kinda satisfying but does really push the game in a new direction.

There is some nice graphical tweaks that make this a more lush visual experience. I’m guessing this has more to do with their growing familiarity with the system. The controls are a little different. Not so much that you’ll have to relearn, but they added a new feature or two that requires the use of buttons that had been used for other things in the last game. They have also re done the camera, I’m not sure I like it as much … but I can see how it is better that the other one. I am still getting used to it so the jury is still out on how much I like it. One of the new features that is pretty cool is the addition of changeable weapons. Yep, the second weapon will change over a lot! Apperently there is also some change over in the main weapon too but that has yet to be seen. But so far I like what I have played. The battles are friggin insane! These enemies just don’t take the hint and stay down! You have to hit Hit HIT and hit again! These are some tough buggers. That and now they have added enemies that are more of a pain in the butt to hit in the first place. Yeesh. But it is still good times, although the music is kinda intrusive … but hopefully I’ll either get used to it or I’ll learn to ignore it. In short PoP:SoT = awesome! PoP:WW = freaking awesome!

Christmas day: Well this was less eventful … well a little bit less to talk about at least. We had home made cinnamon rolls in the morning then a pot luck supper (aka lunch) with a bunch of other families from church. My cousin brought his GameCube, which was really cool. We played a little of Call of Duty: Finest Hour. Hard, but fun and rewarding. Although I’m inclined to prefer the Metroid way of doing FPS on console, the dual stick thing although not bad … can get confusing some times. Still Call of Duty lives up to it’s standing as the standard by with the other WWII FPS games are measured. We also got some four player Mario Kart Double Dash action too! That was fun! Oh! and when a lot of the other families had left we hooked up the GC to the projector in the room we were in so we had huge Mario Kart! Boy was that fun. It was almost like everyone had their own TV.

Well it’s late and I’m tired. Take care all.