PixlBit

Started early yesterday with River City Random on NES. This is a brawler, but unlike most brawlers of the time, you feel surprisingly free to do what you want. I think it's from the variety of things you can do and places you can go. You can kick, punch and throw enemies; pick up items and use them as melee weapons or throw them. There's the usual street fighting stuff like sticks and chains, but there are also every day items like baseballs and just blocks of stone or building matterial. You move in a 2D side-scrolling world but you can open doors or enter passageways in the background and enter a park or shopping district. This gives the game a good illusion of being in a 3D world.

I really liked this game. It seems ahead of it's time. But there are a ton of enemies trying to beat you up on every screen except in the shopping district. I found it hard to keep going as these enemies are pretty aggressive. I wanted to explore a bit between fights but the game gives you little rest. You can play 2 player and it may be that it's a bit better that way. Anyhow, I went back to Ratchet & Clank.

I got all but four of the trophies in this game. One I missed was the Bolt Multiplier. I wrecked house many times in my second and third playthrough but didn't get this. I'm not sure what I did wrong. The other three were: two timed challenges in the Hover Board Races and one in the training area where you practice some platforming. I did the hover board races half a dozen times each trying to get my time down, but I didn't enjoy it much after a while and decided not to beat my head against a wall. The races are fine, but I really didn't like the analog stick much for this stuff. You're given the task of making tiny movements of the stick with the finger with the least degree of fine control, the thumb. I could do much better with my whole hand and a bigger stick (sounds dirty, but nevermind). I did the training area blazing fast, but I wasn't sure just where the starting point was. You hear a horn go off after you start, but then I killed the thing and no trophy. I tried it again but there wasn't an announcer like the first time, so I think you can only do it once per playthrough.

Anyway, I'm satisfied with what I've done. I maxed out all the weapon upgrades, hunted down every golden bolt and did a lot of interesting "hidden trophies" - yes, I looked then up after my second playthrough. The RYNO weapon is the badest weapon in the game and even on my third playthrough, on Hard difficulty, it wrecked the place, even bosses. I had to avoid it a lot though to level my other weapons, but I brought it out for bosses to let them know who's the REAL boss. 

Oh yea, I posted some screen shots on my Twitter. 

I think I'll play Saints Row IV next weekend. Mark was playing it alongside me today and it looks funny as heck and a whole lot of fun. I can't wait to dig into that on Xbox 360 and maybe do some co-op too. 

Until then, [sound of tires burning out].