Our dear friend Nex came, saw, conquered and departed, leaving a Destructoid crew shattered and picking up the pieces. Being a vulture who’s always after an easy job, I quickly sniped the Games of the week feature that Sir Earnest so lovingly brought us before being whisked away in the scarlet talons of big business pelicans (pelicans represent corporate Web sites sometimes, if they feel like it).
Nex, you were my personal favorite Destructoid writer and I’m sad to see you gone, but on the bright side, now I’M my favorite Destructoid writer, so it’s all worked out quite nicely. Also, with you gone, I only have to murder Rev Anthony and claim the “cynical and snarky wanker” crown all to myself. Every cloud has a silver lining, you see? A Sterling silver lining.
On that selfish and egotistical note, I invite you all to check out what the Destructoid staff have been playing in our first Nex-less week.
Hamza “I’m a shark” Aziz: I played Halo 3, Bomberman Land 2 for the Wii, DS, and PSP, and Pirates vs Ninja. I just downloaded Uno for the Xbox 360 for free too. How did I pull this off? Because I’M A SHARRRRK.
Leigh “Lady lay” Alexander: I was playing on the Virtual Console. I finally beat Dragon’s Curse, something I’ve been wanting to do since I was nine and it is AMAZING. Also Donkey Kong Country, still hacking at Phantom Hourglass , and Galaxy.
Grim “Callin’ mah duties” Grim: It’s so great to finally have my Xbox 360 back from the repair center. I bought Marble Madness because it dropped down to 400 Microsoft Points, so that’s been fun — except for the last 20 levels, which I can only assume were created by Satan himself. Other than that it’s been mostly CoD4 multiplayer and a few Guitar Hero 3 sessions.
Dick “Gundam” McVengeance: I’ve been bouncing around between projects, so I don’t get a good amount of time to dedicate to any RPGs. That’s left me with Madden 08, Panzer Tactics DS, and the Sega Genesis Collection for PSP. I never realized how much I suck at old games.
Jim “Pelican + monocle = unstoppable” Sterling: I finished Eternal Sonata, which was an awesome game apart from the confusing, vague and preachy crap that made up the last hour of it. It was trying to be emotional and dramatic, but it was so confusing (and the communism so annoying) that I got nothing out of it. Still a terrific RPG though. Also, Call of Duty 4, which needs more pelicans.
The Golden “Fake nickname doesn’t quite work here” Donut: Aside from some Halo 3 during Friday Night Fights and a few rounds of Rome: Total War all of my gaming time this week was devoted to progressing through Persona 3, which has easily become my favorite RPG released this year.
Nick “Get your damn arse on CoD4 multiplayer” Chester: I’ve been playing The Orange Box on the PS3, and I’m angry, because it’s missing the “slideshow” feature I’d been hearing so much about. Also, I’ve working my way through Call of Duty 4 ‘s single-player campaign; still playing Lumines 1 & 2 on the PSP; Geometry Wars: Galaxies and this really, uh, interesting John Deere game on the DS. Oh, and Black Sabbath as performed by Unicorn Death Foetus (by way of Rock Band).
Blindside “Nickame really, really doesn’t work” Dork: Again with the ever so lovely Team Fortress 2. But I will try my hardest to never play the wretched map that is 2Fort. It’s no good. But other than that I have almost all the puzzles in Picross DS done, even the downloadables cause it is crazy addictive!
Dyson “Dyson” Dyson: Continuing on the premise that I never play anything new, I’ve slowly been working through Kid Icarus on my not R4. I’ve never actually played through the whole game, but I think that this time I’ll make it happen. Also, I was so distraught by the incredible greatness/difficulty that I encountered when reviewing Contra 4, that I went back to the original Contra and started to play through it again. Believe it or not, I think that Contra 4 is a far, far harder game than its namesake and am somewhat surprised to find that I can now get all the way to stage 5 in Contra with out even using the Konami Code. Beating the original Contra without the Konami Code is now my new mission in life.
Topher “Hamza’s a shark” Cantler: I played Passage, if that counts as a game, and made two runs through Ikaruga. Other than that, I haven’t played any games all week. At all. It’s a weird feeling, I guess I was just too busy doing other stuff. Also, Hamza is a shark.
Gameboi (Damn you one-name jackasses!): I spent this week revisiting a few GameCube hits that I adored: Viewtiful Joe, and Super Monkey Ball. Yeah I could’ve played them on the Wii, but that would’ve been a pain in the ass. Little, purple purse FTW!
Tristero (I didn’t think this through): Beats for the PSP is a super fun download at the PlayStation Store. They kind of plopped it out there with very little fanfare, but I swear to you, if it catches on it might be the thing that starts pushing more PSPs off the shelf. It syncs with your music library so that you can play fun little Gitaroo Man rhythm games along to the Richard D James Album, The Futureheads, or whatever else musically floats your boat. There are tons of options for customization and it’s so relaxing to zone out to visual color explosions while you essentially play your iPod.
Dale “75% of Dtoid posts” North: I’m at the North family holiday celebration, and while the Wii is always a hit, Wii Sports is already kind of tired around these parts. My brother and I picked Super Swing Golf and love it. We’ve played the game non-stop for days now. Also, Super Mario Bros. 2 speedruns with Luigi.
“Gotta have” Faith: I’ve been playing Viva Pinata and that’s about it. My perler beads have been calling me for a while now, so I’ve been crafting videogames this week, instead of playing them.
Colette “This is a great Chocobo” Bennett: I’m playing Tao’s Adventure, Myst DS, Rampage for NES and BioShock for new plasmids!
Orcist (beef stew): I’ve been going through Phantom Hourglass and Puzzle Quest DS in my spare time, but my main squeeze has been Killer 7. Even that only gets played sparingly, however — it’s exam week.
Chad “Dolphin + pelican + shark = AMAZING!” Concelmo: I finally finished Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (awesome, btw), played through the highly underrated Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (anyone who doesn’t like this game will not survive the great dolphin apocalypse of 2010 — I’m just saying), and began touring with the Bee Suit Boyz in Rock Band. If you are curious, this kick ass band is composed of Tristero on bass, Dexter345 on lead guitar, Charlie Suh on drums, and me as the lead singer. We are rad and will destroy Unicorn Death Foetus someday soon. Bring it on, Nick. Bring it on.
Joe “Dirty legend” Burling: I finally got through Mass Effect and played all the way through Call of Duty 4. When I wasn’t making out with hot blue aliens or killing terrorists with my MP5, I was embarrasing myself with a Rock Band mic in my hand. I was pretty deep into Zelda Phantom Hourglass before I finally decided that the Temple of the Ocean King is the most horribly frustrating thing I’ve layed my hands on since trying to remove my first three-clasp bra, so I traded it in for Phoenix Wright Trials and Tribulations.
What have you fine folks been playing this week? It’s time to sound off and share your own games of the week with the Destructoid community. Let’s do this, Marines!
