PixlBit

I ripped through some Xbox 360 games with rather little patience and then got sucked into Doom: The Dark Ages, as did my gaming buddy. 

Backyard Baseball: Sandlot Sluggers (X360) - A neat and simple to play baseball game. There’s even a story mode where you play local teams of kids until you beat the bully’s team. You can customize your players too. I found the opposing teams kind of difficult though. They rarely made mistakes, and I’d lose almost every time even though I kept it respectable. I may go back to it, though, and practice a bit in the other modes.  

Pure (X360) - I finally started playing this ATV racing game more than the demo I fell in love with years and years ago. Its controls are pretty good, which is what won me over in the first place, and pulling off tricks is easy to do. Tricks, like drifting in car racing games, give you boost power, and so are essential. There are lots of tracks. This day though, I was not in the mood for a lot of trick-move gameplay. I kind of just wanted to race. So, I did several races, unlocked a new location, upgraded my ATV and took a break for now.  

Condemned 2: Bloodshot (X360) - So I was happily surprised by the first game when I played it on the cheap for achievements years ago. The first-person melee fighting was tense and exciting. It’s the same here as you are in an all-out brawl in the first moments of the game. It can be a bit tricky to pull off the special combo move which goes in slow-mo with timed button presses. The enemies wail away at you like the crazed lunatics they are, and it’s a little frustrating as you try and get a combo going. But it’s a solid game, and I enjoyed it until I lost my patience, which wasn’t very long this week. I shall return.   

Doom: The Dark Ages (XSS) - I never lost my patience with this on Game Pass, as I’ve returned to the subscription service realizing how many games I wanted to play there. It’s fast and satisfying in every way: melee fighting, shooting, grappling with your chain-shield. There's dragon riding and giant mech levels too. I was surprised at how fast the levels loaded even though it is loaded with fantastic visuals and sometimes very large maps.  

I finished the game and started replaying levels to find all the secrets, toys, gold and various gem types used in upgrades. I was surprised there weren’t achievements for beating it on higher difficulty levels. I played on the lowest and it seemed almost too easy, but what’s the point of killing myself on harder difficulty if there’s no reward for it. So, I’m exploring instead, and it’s fun to do. I may actually 100% this. Funny, there’s no multiplayer that I can see, making it feel like a standalone DLC game even though it’s sold at $70.  My friend bought it and I feel kind of sorry for him, even though it’s so good. It’s done in 12 hours, although, not for me as I must find everything.  

Bought via trade credit 

Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat (PS) 

I didn’t know they even did a Warhammer video game back this far. This is a RTS, I believe with a story line. Should be interesting but it might be a challenge on console since back then PC was the way to go for RTS games and still is for the most part.  

Panzer Tactics (DS)

I’d been eyeing this at my game store since I learned about it looking up WWII games. Tactics style games are just great on handheld, especially DS. I hope it’s not too darn complicated though.  

The Beatles Rockband (X360) - I’m saving this for next month when I do the 60s. I got a guitar peripheral from Goodwill a few months ago but have yet to test it. I hope it works because these peripherals at game stores areway higher priced than I expected ($50 or thereabouts). $5 at Goodwill suits me though.  

The Bigs (X360)

This is an arcade style baseball game I never knew about until I looked up the following game in the store. There’s a sequel I’m going to try and find as well as it seems to be even better than the first.  

Nicktoons MLB (X360)

This is a baseball game with real players and Nicktoons show characters like Ren & Stimpy and Invader Zim as well as many others. Those two characters sold it for me, and it’ll be worth it just to hear Zim andGir in the game and bat as Ren or Stimpy.  

Forza Horizon standard edition (X360) - I got this to replace the scratched disc in my steel box edition. I may try and get that resurfaced though and see if I can salvage it. But at least I can play it either way. I’m considering getting an Xbox One again since they delisted FH 3, 4. It’s the only way to play those games now, but the system is still over $100 and I like $100 or less for that. I’ll wait.  

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Racing Transformed Bonus Edition (X360) - I can never get enough copies of this. Even though I have the digital version to play on Xbox Series S, I had to have a complete copy for my Xbox 360. Plus this has the DLC as part of the Bonus Edition. It's a game I will always want to replay. I can't wait for Sonic Racing: Crossworlds which looks like a part of the series. 

Happy Father's Day.