PixlBit

Lots of stress for me this week with a change in management at my work. The unknown, waiting for the new boss to show, is worse than anything. I think I went through several levels of depression and anxiety this week and it's not over yet, not until Tuesday and I go back to work and see what's what. So I've been having trouble completely enjoying the games I've been playing, but I played them nonetheless: a short session on Saturday playing Peggle and Defense Grid 2, and then a whole day of it on Sunday with Skylanders Superchargers. Breakdown ensues (although not my mental breakdown. That's incomplete and hopfully stays that way). 

I've finally gotten fed up with Peggle. I played all the adventure levels and then got to an extra one that was extra hard. I couldn't quite beat it. I like Peggle but not so much as to persist forever on a difficult screen. Repetition is the killer for me in games. Make me do the same something a half dozen times and I'm done. 

Defense Grid 2, though, win or lose I could keep on banging my head against that wall. I just like watching the enemy progress across the screen and laying down my towers in different patterns. I used the Meteor tower a lot this time. I beat a level with almost nothing but Meteor towers. They shoot what looks like meteors high into the air. They have incredible range and a slow rate of fire, but it's like watching fireworks. I took a video clip of it on one level. 

Sunday was all about Skylanders Superchargers. I got into what I think is the last mission of the game before I had to stop for the night. I stuck to just my Smash Hit/Thump Truck combo the whole time. Each level had alternate sky and sea levels to do, but I just forged on with the land levels. I was curious if you could finish the whole campaign with just the one figure and vehicle and yes, you can.

Mark was playing the game too on his own system and using the Lava Lance Eruptor/Burn Cycle combo.

                                         

I love that you can just stick to one figure and vehicle. That means you really don't need anything else but the starter pack to play the story campaign. Of course, new figures and vehicles add tons of replayability and new areas to explore. I think I'll likely finish the main story tomorrow and then break out a new figure like a sea or sky figure and do all the missions I missed. 

Superchargers is a fantastic looking game and so well executed. Every part of it is super fun. It mixes up your figure's on-the-ground fighting/exploring levels with your vehicle's racing/combat levels in just the right amount. There are also lots of puzzles to solve, 2D side-scrolling levels, simple platforming and even a Magic: The Gathering style card game. And oh yea, lots of collectibles to find. My only complaint really, and given that I'm an adult playing a game for kids I shouldn't make this complaint, is that's it's pretty easy. Some of the races on Hard difficulty are a challange, and I think you can up the difficulty of the whole game, I'm not sure. I've been playing on whatever was the defaut, which is probably Normal. I may try Hard on the main game to see how that goes. 

I should also mention that all week after work I've been OBSESSED with ripping sound from video games and video game commercials on youtube for my September 80s music mix. I have the Pac-Man Fever album on vinyl, which I ripped first, and then I thought to explore the sounds of video games 1980-1989. I've got TV commercials galore and 30 second gameplay sound bites from many arcade games. I'm on 1983 right now. When I get this done, I'll finally get back to my backlog gaming on retro systems.