Back from the Break

Vacation over! I was away for a bit, and then took a couple of extra days off from writing once I was back -- a couple of extra days off from pretty much everything. I barely even played a game until this past weekend. Even this, I'm going to probably keep short (and my entries over the next few days as well). I somehow managed to wrench my shoulder and typing is excruciatingly painful. Pain builds character though, right? I picked up a few games this weekend, as they'd all gone pretty cheap - Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile, Kohan 2: Kings of War, and Tales of Symphonia. I've spent the most time on the last one, Tales of Symphonia, and it's pretty fun. The combat is a little different from what I am used to in a console game, as you actually run around the field and push buttons to attack. There's no turn based combat, nor that time lapsed pseudo turn based combat you'll see in some console games. It's all real time. The graphics are pretty cel shaded things and I'm enjoying looking at the game as well as playing it. The story is pretty standard console RPG fare (someone who is special in some way has to save the world, or guard the person who can save the world) but still -- it's fun. It's just original enough to be fun, just common enough to be comfortable. Kohan 2 is fun so far. I've just played the tutorial and one scenario. Again, it's a well-made well-designed game, but nothing startlingly original. I didn't care much for the first one, though I can't recall why at this point, but this second one seems worth at least the $20 I paid for it. Not buying it full price made me a little more willing to take a risk with it. I've also been looking at Immortal Cities for a while, and finally caved and bought it when it hit $15. (I would have bought it at $20 but I seem to have missed it at that price.) It's a civilization/city building sim and if I recall right, some of the key players on the development team were also on the team that made Pharaoh/Cleopatra and Zeus/Poseidon, both of which are games that I obsessed over mightily at one point. The only problem is that I can't remember how to play. The interface is familiar enough that I feel like I should know where to begin, but it's been too long since I played the others and I really just can't remember enough to dig into the game. I'm going to have to actually read the manual, I guess. There's no tutorial that I can see, which I found rather disappointing. Technorati Tags: Games