This weekend I got the itch to play new games. Do not get me wrong, I love WoW and I love playing it for hours and hours, but other than playing Civ 5 and some Diablo I have been stuck on WoW for a long time. This is mostly due to the fact that I have very little time to play games anymore (pretty much only when the kids go to bed) so it is just easier to stick with one and WoW is such a big game with so much that I have to do, it just worked out that way where I was spending hours on there. Then my husband got Bloodborne and all this changed…
While I was watching him play I thought about all those games that I wanted to play too: Alien Isolation, Bioshock Infinite, Pillars of Eternity, and about 20 more just on my Steam wishlist. Plus since he was so enthralled playing Bloodborne, I knew it would be hard to drag him onto WoW. So over the weekend I got on Steam, looked at my wishlist, and then added a few more games (it had been awhile). The next part was the hardest. What should I play? I had a gift card so I knew I could get a few if I liked, but it is better to only stick with one or two so that I really play them and do not just game jump. Also, if I could wait on a few games they could be cheaper at the Steam sale that will hit usually around June (crossing fingers on this one!).
I ended up picking up Resident Evil 5 (only 6 bucks!), Alien Colonial Marines (I know it is a meh game, but it was 3$), Final Fantasy 8 and Alien Isolation since it was on sale for 12.49$! I know most of you are sitting here going “Final Fantasy 8?! Who would buy that? 7 is WAY better!” This is something that I have been told about a million times. But I wouldn’t know that since all the further I have ever gotten in FF7 is when…not to be too spoilery… that thing happens to Aeris and I have actually beaten FF8 a few times, it might be one of my favorite games. Let me take a quick detour and talk about Aeris and how I grew to stop playing FF7. Do NOT read the below paragraph if you do not want to be spoiled about one major thing that happens pretty early on in FF7
The Scene that Ruined FF7 for Me
When I first got a Playstation, many many years ago, I was pretty young and all I would play was Crash Bandicoot and Spyro (in fact I got the first Spyro game in my Easter basket, apparently the bunny is a gamer too). My tastes grew and evolved and finally I picked up FF7 I was so excited! In fact, I was on break from school when I started playing it. Well I ended up loving the game. It felt like I could really get into the world. Cloud was super cool. Tifa was my favorite chick but man I was really good at playing as Aeris. I had her all maxed out and she was just kicking butt. Remember people, I was young; no more than 12 or 13 so naivety comes into play here as well. Well I am playing along, enjoying myself, and in fact, having a merry old time. Then I get to the church scene. Tears….absolute tears. I was in shock. How could a game kill a great character? Plus I spent all my time making her amazing (probably what I am most mad about) just to have to die! That dang Sephiroth (PS – I ended up loving him as a character in the Kingdom Hearts games).
I promptly stopped playing FF7 and (I will never forget this) my aunt took me to Hollywood Video and I rented FF8 and immediately fell in love with it. I bought it when the rental was up! And soon after I then started moving to my favorite genre survival horror and picked up Resident Evil and Silent Hill. I know I should have kept playing, and I wish I could tell my 12 year old self that but I can play it now on Steam and it is on my wishlist!
Back to the non-spoilers!
So I played RE5 first since like I said I love the Resident Evil games. I have played this game before, we bought it on PS3 a long time ago, got kinda far and it was just OK. But I thought I would give it another chance. I tried playing it on my laptop and for some reason I just could not get the controls down. I have never played a game like this on a computer. Most of my computer gaming knowledge is WoW, Starcraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Vampire: Bloodlines, and other games like that. But playing a survival horror like this threw me for a loop and I really could not get it down. The next day I went and picked up an Xbox 360 controller and it really helped a lot. Boy could I tell a difference, I was actually killing zombies!
Next, I gave FF8 a go since it was only a 1 gig download! It was as I remembered it, well except as I was sitting there playing I would look up and see Bloodborne on the TV and weep. Oh how far we have come in all these years with graphics. Such a major change! It runs very well on the PC though and the controller works perfectly.
Alien Isolation: Adventures of the Constantly Crouched Gamer (might have minor spoilers)
What I really wanted to play though was a game I had not tried out before, Alien Isolation. After it downloaded I jumped right into it! I am a HUGE fan of the Alien games and the movies. (New Alien movie yay!!!!!!!) I really enjoyed the Alien Trilogy game on the Playstation, though Alien Resurrection was pretty good too. I was hoping that Alien Isolation took the route of those games (great story and in-depth game) and was not so much like the AvP games. When I started the game at first, I thought I woke up in a deserted ship and I moved so slowly, expecting an Alien to pop out at any turn. But that didn’t happen and I finally ran into some of the crew. Once you get over to the other ship is when things get really freaky. The music is beautiful and so are the graphics. But at every turn I was jumping or gasping at some noise. And once I found out you could crouch, I perpetually moved in a couching motion. One thing I am enjoying about the game (and I am only probably about 3.5 hours into it) is the scare factor. I have not even seen an Alien yet but my heart is still racing and I am taking my time since I have no weapons!
Oh and I accidently used my last flare….ok all my flares…This is my one major complaint so far, and I might just be missing something. Once you bring up your little menu and you have an item that can be equipped, ie a flare or your med kit, you cannot unequip it! So I had the flares equipped since I went into the menu and they magically appeared and I had no idea I even had one equipped when I hit the X button on the controller and it lit up instantly. Crap. “Ok,” I thought, “I will never do that again”…until 5 minutes later when I tapped the X button again by accident. Say goodbye to flare number 2. Then about 45 minutes later…say goodbye to flare number 3….yes I used ALL THREE flares I had by accident. UGH. I am lucky that I cannot use the medkits just by tapping the button (you have to hold it down) or else I would be out of them too.
Other than that minor issue, I love this game! It is scary, thrilling, and it is building up the fear factor! Pile that on top of not even seeing an Alien yet, it is great. The humans are scary and always trying to kill me which was something I was not expecting. What happened to ‘let’s all get along before we are killed by a giant Alien’? I am going to keep playing this in the evenings and will keep you posted on the progress!
This looks safe…
Here is the scene from Sunday at our household: Bloodborne on the TV, WoW on the laptop (had to check my garrisons before bed!) and Twiching a Super Smash Brother Tourney on the iPad. Total Nerdom.
“Game over, man. Game over!”
The Geeky Mom 