GameDad

Skyrim Tip and Guide

So many games!!!!

Just a few months ago I would do anything to play a good game. Nothing was out and I wish I had something for the late summer nights. Companies need to start taking advantage of releasing some summer games. Most come out in the fall of course and then there is a smaller wav of games from Jan-April that are good. But from May-August it’s dry. I get it, it’s summer and we are all more busy but I tend to play games at night now so it doesn’t matter what time of the year it is I want something good to play. 

That brings me to my problem. There are too many games for me to deal with right now. I want to play them all but can’t. Battlefield is still going strong even though it’s been hard to play with friends and when I’m watching the twins I can’t fully pay attention or pause it like a single player game. I’m still playing Uncharted 3 and just picked up Skyrim so those two should last me into the new year if not more. I’ll talk more about Skyrim later as I’m only a few hours into a game that could take me hundreds. It’s great so far. 

So the twins are sleeping more at night which is nice as my playing time is usually from 10-1 or so I get to play and have a routine down. That’s the key. Get a routine down and you should be fine. I do have to be careful with a game like Skyrim as my wife will start to wonder where I am. So again, be careful on how much time you spend playing as your wife and kids are #1 and get all the attention you can give. They will sleep sometime and you will play all you want. 

Uncharted 3 and Batman

I’m currently playing Uncharted 3 and it’s great. Amazing graphics, great game play and the best game acting and voice work i’ve every heard. The gun play could use some work but overall it’s one of the best games of the year and I look forward to every chapter that’s thrown at me. If I had only one complaint it would be the lack of open world. This is a classic game on rails but unlike boring single player campaigns like Call of Duty this is done right. With enough ups and downs to keep you on the edge of your seat. 

I’ll be holding on this one so my buddy can experience this game as well. He doesn’t own a PS3 but is a big gamer and will need to play what is one of the best game of this generation. 

I also recently beat Batman. Another awesome game but I felt it was way too short. Or at least it felt that way and it’s probably because it was so well done, so well paced and so well designed that I got lost in the action and before I knew it I completed most of the side missions and was on the last mission before I realized it. Maybe that was the problem. I didn’t know it was the last mission until I beat it. Oh well. This was a great game and I might go back to beat it again it was that good. 

It’s hard to say which is better. I’m more of an open world game guy that can sink 30-40 hours into a single game (Batman fell short at about 20 total) then a game on rails but Uncharted is so well done it’s hard to pick a winner here. If you have a PS3 then just get both. If not then your only option is to pick up Batman as Uncharted is a PS3 exclusive. 

One of these would be game of the year if no other games were coming out. The problem is there is one game that will rule them all. Skyrim is out this week and if it meets the hype it will be the best game of the year. It’s just too big and too overdue to not meet expectations. Then again you never know as RAGE turned out to be one of the worst games I’ve played in years. 

In the mean time I’m off to improve my K/D ratio in Battlefield. 

Holy S#^% BattleField 3!

For the 38m58s I actually got to play Battlefield 3 it was the most chaotic, frenzied, awesome multilayer I’ve ever played. There is just so much to take in and so much to do. Almost everything you see can be flown, driven, blown up and used as cover. I know I was playing Rush mode and knew how it worked but I couldn’t pay attention to any objective as I was just trying to learn my gear and where I was on the map while shooting anything that moved. This is going to be a great time when it actually works. 

Not that it didn’t work but I was prepared to play at least 3 hours. It’s just that EA’s servers constantly crashed and booted us out. Getting together with your friends was a bit confusing as well. It didn’t help that we were all ready to join a game and it only pulled two of us in the match. These are things I’m sure will be fixed.

Oh and the reason I knew I played for 38m58s is because of the battlelog.battlefield.com website that shows all of your stats. Here’s a shot of just the home page. There are pages after pages of stats to pour over here. It’s a great way to keep gamers going. With all these perks, mods, guns, ribbons and dogtags I’ll be playing for months. I’m not sure how much of course as having twins is a ton of work but I’m getting into a routine with them and finding time to play when they sleep and when they are awake it’s getting more fun as they are starting to get personalities. All good times ahead. 

STATS!

Rage, it’s shitty ending and a Boppie

I just beat Rage. Graphics are everything it was supposed to be…amazing. Just a gorgeous looking game. Other then that I pretty much hated the game and only played it since nothing else was out (Forza 4 and NHL 12 came out but those aren’t games I want to play right now.) 

This was basically fetch quest game. You accept a mission, drive a car to that mission, shoot guys in a corridor, flip a switch or pick up something and head back. This happened over and over and over. This was supposed to be an open world and it’s nothing like that at all. Then there was then ending. Holy shit it was the worst ending I can remember for a game. I was one what I thought was just another mission. In fact this one was easier then others. I flipped a switch and the credits rolled. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!?!?! 

Whatever, I’m trading it back in along with Gears and getting Batman. 

Dad Tip: Not a rule but a good tip. Dads I know you have one of those Boppies around. Well they rule if you have a fussy baby that needs to be close to you. Just put the boppie around you and sit in your gaming chair. Put the baby on it and you should be hands free to game. This is working for me for both my Son and Daughter. They are newborns coming up on 2 months so I don’t see this going on for long but for now it’s working. 

The Twins and Game Management

So being a father to twins has actually left me with more game time. I now stay up later to help out and give my wife time to get a few hours of sleep. I’m not saying this is everynight but I do what I can. Of course I help out whenever I’m up. Don’t let games get in the way!

BUT from about 9:30-12:30 I have a window if time that I’ll feed them and put them down and they are usually good for 2-3 hours. This makes it an ideal time to get some gaming in. Single player games are best so far because I can pause at any time to help the babies. I put them in swings in the office next to my system and throw some tunes on and it usually works like a charm. Now with Battlefield and Uncharted 3 multiplayer coming up I will have to expect that my playing could be interrupted. In those cases I’ll hide in a corner and hope for the best.  A few times I have been booted out of games but that’s something I need to deal with. 

Overall I’m playing more since I’m not going out as much and my wife is going to sleep a little earlier. It’s been nice as we are coming on up the best game season ever and the winter. I’m ok with staying in. 

Quickly on how i feel about Gears 3. I beat it,  I’m not sure how long it took me but I would say around 10 hours. It was fun and the graphics and gameplay are great. The characters are cheesy and I could care less about the story. This truly is a game that is better with friends and I only had one who got it. It’s fun though with Hoard mode and 4 player co-op and I would play more alone if I got to unlock more stuff. This is why I spend so much time in Battlefield or COD. There is always some cool weapon or perk to unlock and use. Gear just gives you new characters, ribbons and skins for your weapons. Gears just gives you everything from the outset and it gets boring fast unless you are playing with friends but it’s not something I’m going to always return to because I don’t have any incentive. One last complaint and it’s not Gears’ fault. I’m getting tired of games on rails as there isn’t much exploration but I knew this when I bought it. It just made me look that much forward to playing RAGE, Batman and Skyrim. 

In fact I’m currently playing RAGE and have only played about 2 hours so I’m not that far into the game. It’s amazing looking and it controls really well. I’m just not sold on the sound production. The guns sound a little weak and the voice acting is just ok. So far there isn’t much of a story but that’s ok and I look forward to getting into it more. 

Oh one last thing. LET’S GO PHILLIES!!!!!

Gears of War 3 and Tips for a better experience.

So Gears 3 is coming out tomorrow and while I’ll be picking it up it just isn’t the same as when the first one came out. Why? Well it’s not that the new one isn’t going to be better, because I’m sure it is. The multiplayer will probably be the only one I’ll be playing besides Battlefield 3 for the next year or so. But the first Gears was one that made me get the Xbox 360 and then when I had friends over and they saw it, they ended up getting the game and Xboxes.

For about 6 months we played every Tues or Wed night for hours. There was about 6 of us total and it was by far the best time I had in multiplayer. The second came out and we all got it again but didn’t play as much because the usual things got in the way - life. Now the third installment is out and only 2-3 of us will get it. Oh how I wish we stuck to the simple rule of picking a night to play. It would be like our version of Poker night. 

Regardless, I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on this game tomorrow when it comes out. From what I’m reading everything has been improved and enhanced for the better. While it’s the same cheesy story and beefy characters that’s ok to me as that’s not what I get a Gears game for - It’s to chainsaw anything that moves!!! I’ll follow up in a few weeks with my impressions of the game. 

So far you have 4 rules/tips on how to play games more or just to make your experience better. Today I’ll give you one tip that does both. 

Rule 5: Get gaming headphones. I went for years without these and could never imagine going without them now. There are a few reasons these are great. 1. Game sound and music are important parts of games. They make the whole experience better. Before I had these I would have to turn the TV up to obnoxious levels. 2. You no longer have to turn your TV up to obnoxious levels. My wife hated this as she could hear every gunshot and explosion. It was not good. I would then have to turn it down and could barely hear anything. 3. Most of these headphones come with mic’s. These are much much better then the crappy mic the system comes with. No more cutting out on your end as everything is crisp and clear. 

So there you have it. Get HEADPHONES. One thing of note. You will look like a loser with these on but you can at least play games and while you will get made fun of your girlfriend or wife will no longer complain about the noise. 

Resistance 3: Review

With the “Holiday” gaming season is full swing I wasted no time picking up Resistance 3. I never played the first two games and from what I saw I wasn’t missing anything. I would have to say the same with this game. If it came out last year it would have been worth some of the praise reviewers are giving this game but it didn’t. 

For one it’s short. I would say 8-10 hours. Unless it’s got a top notch multiplayer I’m getting pretty sick of games this length. I want nothing less then 20 hours. There were no side quests as this is a FPS on rails that flew by. Kills guys move on, kill some more and move on. I played it on normal and blew through it. There was no motivation to play it any harder as I just didn’t care.

It’s got a good setting - think Fallouts 1950’s as this is set during that time. You have to make your way form Oklahoma to New York City to close the evil portal that’s open. The story is ok as your on your own and meet people on the way. All the while you are a family man who is just hoping to see his wife and son again. Again, nothing special but not horrible.

The gameplay is fun as you have a ton of weapons to choose from and they automatically rank up depending on how much you use them. Upgrades include explosive rounds, shields and more. Each weapon has a secondary fire as well. All fun stuff and the mechanics are tight but something was missing. I never felt stressed or over-matched (yes I know I played on normal but still). I didn’t have to think too much about what path I was to take or what strategy I wanted to use. I just run and gunned my way through.

So yeah that’s it. Nothing special at all. My recommendation is this. If for some reason you beat all the other games coming up and nothing else is out and this is used then sure, pick it up. Other then that I would pass on this as the graphics feel a little dated and it’s just a typical run & gun FPS that takes about 8-10 hours to beat.

I will play the multiplayer part of this but won’t talk about it unless it’s amazing. With Gears coming out next week I don’t see myself spending any more time and again trading this in for Gear of War.

Pros:

• Tight Mechanics
• Cool weapons and upgrades.

Cons:

• Basic run & gun FPS
• 2010 graphics
• Meh

If I had a rating system I would give this game a 6.5

Finding the Time

Ok so the first items work for me and of course there are situations were a second TV isn’t needed but in my case it was so let’s move onto more tips that are essential in allowing you to play more games. In fact this will also help you avoid all the horrible TV that’s on. 

Rule 3: Women love TV. Let them love it. Don’t fight her when she wants to watch the Real Housewives of some county. In fact encourage more of it. A DVR is great in that if something else is on that you both want to watch then she has her show saved for later. Hopefully there is more then one show that needs to be DVR’d. Now a few times a week or on a weekend my wife will catch up on these shows. This is when I will play games if I don’t have other things to do. 

Rule 4: Pick a night or two: Pick a night or more that works to play games. My friends and I used to do Mon-Wed nights as times when some of or all of us would be playing. This also gives your wife or girlfriend her time to watch what she wants. I usually stick with the Mon-Wed nights as not much is going on anyway so why not. Don’t pick a night you know there are shows you both watch on or weekend nights when you should be hanging with friends and family (of course when everyone is asleep nothing is stopping you). 

The Absolutes

You want to play video games huh? You just moved in with your girlfriend or got married? No doubt about it your playing time is going to take a hit so realize that right now. I’m comfortable playing 6-8 hours a week or more and found the tools and ways that work for me. This first set of tips are ones that you absolutely must have. 

Rule 1: Marry someone cool! This means your wife knows your into this and is ok with you playing. I’m not sure why you would marry someone in the first place who didn’t let you play at all. Your bad. My wife hates video games but doesn’t care if I play as long as it she doesn’t have to sit there are watch. 

Rule 2: Get another TV. This is important for obvious reasons. How can you play games when you both have to share the TV? Get another one or if you don’t have the room and your in a small NYC apartment then get a monitor that also doubles as a computer screen.  I initially went with the second TV in the bedroom and my wife would watch TV downstairs. The problem I ran across was that when she would come up to bed I would have to stop playing.  But once we got a monitor I now play in our office on a 24” LED Samsung that is also a monitor for the computer we use. So buck up and just get another TV.  I would actually recommend the monitor since it’s much sharper looking then my 42” TVs. Now you never have to worry about your wife not being able to watch her shows when you want to play games. This eliminates that argument.