PixlBit

I'm sitting here waiting for fireworks. Immediately, of course, I think of a video game. This one is Rocket Mania. It's a fixed screen puzzle game I played way back in 2003 on PopCap.com. Reconnect the fuses as fast as you can and watch the fireworks. I just noticed there is a Deluxe version on Steam for download for $1.25. Yippie! But that's not all my droogs, I've been playing lots of other things too. Details!

 This is the first week of July and so I started some 1995-99 retro. I hooked up my Sega Saturn and played Shinning the Holy Ark. Someone who knows this game, please tell me where the Inn is. I got to Desire town and was supposed to meet a new team member in my room, but no building is marked Inn and I can't seem to reach the stairs in the Pub, where I think the rooms are.

Aside from that annoyance that made me put it down for now, I was very happy with the game. You roam a grid in dungeons ala Wizardry or Etrian Odyssey and fight turn-based battles with the strange and unreal.

You begin in a cave and find yourself caught in a cave-in that leaves you badly hurt. Aliens appear and possess you in order to heal you. They're sorry their ship caused the cave-in. Thus you survive and return to the surface. From there you enter the overworld, which is a map basically. I went to the next town, Desire, and bought equipment and met fellow warriors in the Pub. And, as I said, I couldn't find a bed to heal up for the life of me. I got to the church, though, and saved my game. Then I ventured into the Forest and did battle with giant wolves and other weirdness. I like the enemy graphics. They're quite scary the way they rise up from the ground. But, when I got back to town, all beaten and bloody and still couldn't find a room to bed down for the night, I saved in the Church and stopped. How can I play without an Inn to recover HP?

Well, I may sell this game. I have it complete in the box and it's worth around $150 right now. Or. . . I might save it, but probably not. I wish it could be remade or ported at least.

Then I returned to the current time and started Rage. Three discs but you only need one to download it on Xbox One. This game looks pretty amazing. 2010 and it looks current gen in 2018. It's an very solid FPS with lots of driving. It takes place in a post apocalyptic world that reminds me strongly of the Mad Max world (and sometimes Borderlands). Gang warfare threatens normal settlers and you are released in the middle of it to try and help. Of course, that means you are the errand boy for every darn NPC in the game. I'm already feeling the "i'm really a slave here" feeling I got from Disneyland Adventures. But it gets you to travel the land in a dune buggy and ATV and hunt the world for refuse that you can craft into useful items and, my favorite, upgrades for your rides. There's a whole racing section just for that.

Voice acting is incredibly good. I mean, the story is pretty simplistic but the characters are really interesting and the world is a joy to explore with all it's attention to detail. I'm picking up collectable bobble heads here and there. I got a Pip Boy and a Doom Marine so far. I imagine other ID games will be referenced along the way.

I hear the wingstick is really powerful once you get used to it, but I haven't used it much yet. I've been all pistols and grenades so far.

So that's a fourth. Go watch Indepence Day or something.