Video Games & Me Pt. 2

Video Games & Me Pt. 2

Jersey Devil was my first game with the Playstation console. I had worked real hard with the demo, and though I thought it was okay, this seems simple enough, and before long I was knee deep in a platformer designed by a Montreal studio called Behavior Interactive. A cartoony game which has hallmarks to the caped crusader Batman but in a more comical/horror aspect.

After playing and beating the game, something very profound occurred to me, I achieved something in my life that didn't require a lot of bickering, bitching, or fighting. There were goals, dialog, and a kind of direction that gave concrete purpose and point to what I was doing with my time. I was hooked from then on.

Others that I would try: Crash Bandicoot, which annoyed me, Tomba! showed great promise but was very difficult to get stateside. Twisted Metal lost a lot of interest fairly quickly. Intelligent Qube had a very strange design to it I don't know why I never got into the game for the sake of irritation. Pac-Man World pretty much a platformer in style but had a retro feel. Soul Reaver: Legacy Of Kain for all intensive purposes I didn't quite get the aesthetics, I tried many times figuring out various tricks or things to do, but ultimately fell flat for me.  

MediEvil a wickedly funny and twisted game in the vein of The Nightmare Before Christmas design wise there are some quirky elements but it works. Warcraft II: The Dark Saga my first real taste of a RTS (Real Time Strategy) but for whatever the reason the game would always find a way to kill my setup, so I went on a search or had heard about cheats for 'God' mode. Finally all three of the Spyro games. Spyro The Dragon, Spyro 2: Riptor's Rage, and Spyro Year Of The Dragon I liked that Stuart Copeland of The Police composed the music, and what would be my eventual liking of Insomniac Games over the duration of the Sony console evolution.

I would watch my roommate get into Final Fantasy VII, Wild Arms, Wild Arms 2, Colony Wars, Armored Core, Armored Core: Project Phantasma, Blasto, Breath Of Fire III, Wing Commander, Command & Conquer, Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Grandia, Chrono Cross, One, Legend of Dragoon, Legend of Legaia, Metal Gear Solid, Star Wars: Dark Forces, Warzone 2100, and Vagrant Story.

When the Playstation 2 arrived in 2000, my old roommate was all giddy with the possibilities. Yet he often would stick with titles of the JRPG flair hence: Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Ace Combat 5, Ace Combat Zero, Armored Core 2, Front Mission 5, Legaia 2,  Zone Of The Enders, Wild Arms 3, and Wild Arms: Alter Code F.

When I was able to get my own Playstation 2 console I went nuts. I had played the demos for Sly Cooper, which was a different experience in itself. Hiding for the sake of moving the game along, to me was pretty novel. I would eventually get Sly 2: Band Of Thieves, and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. The thing with the Sly was they were pretty tough to beat, it would take a full ten years before I could really sink my teeth into the games themselves. I say it was totally worth it.

Then I found Ratchet & Clank. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the style, but I love Sci-Fi aspects, and having a futuristic vibe really sold me on it. This was my second series with Insomniac Games, and I would play and beat mightily Ratchet & Clank, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, and Ratchet & Clank Up Your Arsenal. I liked how each game evolved on the premise of as you played your weaponry evolved. I would try out Ratchet: Deadlocked yet I didn't particularly care for the confined and first person style.

I ended up borrowing a copy of Jak & Dexter: The Precursor Legacy and let me say this it is the most infuriating game I have ever played. While I did successfully beat the damn thing in 2012, the main irritation and concept remained, Naughty Dog Studios makes some very peculiar games.

I would read about various games from Playstation Magazine when I could find a copy via the local library, and Dr. Muto (released by now defunct Midway) was one that I wanted to check out but didn't get a chance to until 2006. I would try for myself the JRPG with Wild Arms 5, to be honest it bored me. I never finished it, to this day I don't really mind. I would check out Tak and the Power Of Juju which at first was cool but lost luster do to the annoying dialog, and controller issues. I would try again with the JRPG in early 2007 with a game called Rogue Galaxy, now this was a game I could play, I beat it and went after all the little lose ends, overall cool vibe, could have been better but, I wasn't familiar with Level 5 so this provided me a jumping off point as it were.

With my experiences with these two consoles, and the games I played they are very much part of my journey.  In my opinion many players don't really care about whether they remember the experiences they have, for me this was as much of a connection as it was being part of something with regards to console generation. I couldn't play every game that came out, as it is near impossible, yet, I personally believe if you know your voice, and the games you play then they will find you.

When the Playstation 3 came out, I was pushed way outside of the price, and that in itself was a sign of things to come.

B.