Here’s my weekly log of what I played this week, ranked roughly in order of how much time I spent on each game. At the end, I’ll also recap what I hope to play in the coming week.
“Super Mario Galaxy 2” (rated E, $50 on Wii): This one has been eating up the bulk of my playing time. Man, back in my day, you could finish a “Mario” game in an afternoon. I should have a review ready for the Friday, June 11, paper, which is good because the next week is going to be devoted to E3. (I’m actually going this year!)
“Borderlands” (rated M, $40 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and $30 on PC): I never reviewed this game from last October because it took me until January to get around to playing it, but this game has been keeping a few friends and me entertained on Thursday nights, when my wife is off at grad school. After a brief hiatus so my buddy Carl and I could play through the co-op missions in “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction,” we returned to Pandora this week.
“Culdcept Saga” (rated T, prices vary on Xbox 360): I made it to the semifinals of the league I run with a perfect 8-0 record and promptly got bounced, 2-0, in a best-of-three series. Andy, the webmaster for Culdcept Central, just flat-out has my number in what the game calls a standard match, in which you build your own decks of cards. In blind matches, where both players use randomly created decks, I usually come out ahead. I’d call him my nemesis if he weren’t so darn polite.
“Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers” (rated T, $10 Xbox Live Arcade download): Last night, I decided to go for the only achievement I was missing on this game: Win a 3- or 4-player online match. I nailed it on the first try.
“Red Dead Redemption” (rated M, $60 on Xbox 360 or PS3): I fired this up for a few minutes Wednesday morning to check a couple of facts for my column for Friday’s paper, about the game’s use of GPS. My nongamer wife, who happened to be in the room, thought it looked amazing and seemed like she might be up for watching me play a bit. She never watches me play video games, so consider that a compliment, Rockstar.
Purchased, but not played: I grabbed the pack of Spoon songs for “Rock Band 2” and took advantage of Impulse’s sale on PC strategy game “Sins of a Solar Empire.” I haven’t cracked either of ’em.
Coming up: Once I finish “Super Mario Galaxy 2,” I expect to give myself over to “ModNation Racers” on PS3 and “Red Dead Redemption” on the 360. As I mentioned, the week of the 13th will be really E3 heavy, but I plan to spend my free time in L.A. passing the time with the PlayStation Portable build of “ModNation” so I can review that for my column on the 18th. I’ll probably continue slowly chipping away at “Borderlands” on Thursday and could play a bit of “Red Dead Redemption” if I’m feeling good about my “ModNation Racers” progress.
