PixlBit

Started my gaming today with a bunch of retro titles from Taito Legends Vol. 2 and Atari Flashback Classics. Then I saw the Necromancer DLC for Diablo III was on sale, so I used my MS bucks on that and played a bit. Then I got back into Forza Horizon 2, since Mark got FH3 and started playing that. 

Retro. I played Lunar Rescue off the Taito Legends Vol. 2 collection for PS2. I kept playing it until I got on the high score board, so I could put my initials in and give myself a goal next time I play it. I like the game a lot, so I didn't mind replaying it over and over. I've got to find an original arcade cabinet of it one day. 

Then I loaded up Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 1 on Xbox One to play Lunar Lander. There are a few achievements for this game. One I got, the other not. I discovered Command mode, which is a more realistic difficulty. The gravity is stronger and there's no resistance on the capsule so it doesn't stop when you spin it to change direction. It's very challenging. I also played Atari 2600's Blackjack thinking I could get the achievement for doubling your money. Not. Then I played Canyon Bomber to see if I could clear a screen with limited bombs, another achievement. Close, but no cigar. 

Then I loaded up Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 2 to play Adventure. I went after two achievements, one for speed and one for winning without fighting a dragon. Didn't get either. I kept getting stuck on the bridge piece escaping the black castle with the chalice. Those dragons are fast. Then I played Asteroids for a two achievements, getting neither. One was for clearing a screen without scoring points. You have to avoid everything and let the UFOs break up the asteroids. It's harder than it sounds because it takes a good long time for the UFOs to do the job. The other was for killing ten UFOs on one screen. Like other vector graphics games with ships that drift after a thrust, control is tricky. 

I have to say, these Flashback collections for today's consoles are pretty good. They give you a render of the console so you can virtually jiggle dongles. It was easy to adjust difficulty and game modes. 

Then I was done with retro for the day. I saw the Necromancer DLC for Diablo III was on sale and I snatched it up and started playing. There's a Season Mode that I don't quite understand, but I created my necromancer (named him Mantic after reading Clark Ashton Smith's poem "Song of the Necromancer") and started playing the campaign. There's fresh voice work and cut scenes for the Necromancer that I'm digging. His early skills are fun too. I can explode corpses. Me likey.  

But, I saw Mark playing Forza Horizon 3, which he just got in the mail, and got all excited to race cars. I decided to pick up FH3 tomorrow with some trade-ins and in the meantime played Forza Horizon 2. Mark then switched to FH2 also so we could compete and trash talk. I've already done all the exploration in the game. I'm just doing championships for eventual achievments and the end of the "story" of the game. It's darn fun, but I want to start FH3 as soon as possible. 

Well, that's a day. I'll be hooking up my original Xbox for a few Namco retro titles from 1979 (my theme year for this month) tomorrow before I get back to Forza or whatever.