Tenth Muse » Can’t I Just Collect Cute Mushrooms or Something?

Can’t I Just Collect Cute Mushrooms or Something?

June 20th, 2007

I’m not a big gamer by any means, but once in a while I do enjoy a little romp with the ol’ Playstation 2. I have a decade-old ex that was a game programmer for Sega, so I used to be fairly well-versed in the home-console stuff. But, it never really “took” for me and decided my foray into computers was leading me in another direction. Last year, I broke down and bought a Playstation 2, even though I knew that PS 3 was coming out — mostly because it was less expensive and had plenty of games. I have no interest in paying $599 or whatever for a game console I’d use sporadically at best.

Anyway, so I bought this game called Spyro the Dragon: A Hero’s Tail. It was one of the few games that appealed to me. Most of the games available seem to be shoot ‘em up, kick your ass, battle to the death-types or geared to a much younger audience. Where are the fun, relatively-easy to grasp, run along and bop ‘em on the head for a coin-games of my youth? On another console, that’s where.

So, I get this game and I make it all the way through. I’m pretty proud of myself because my patience level on stuff like that is pretty minimal. But, over time, I managed to finish the entire game. Except… it insists I’ve only completed 99% of it. Supposedly there’s a “dark crystal” somewhere that I haven’t smashed or some nonsense. I’ve used walk-thrus of all varieties, but for the life of me, I can’t find it. I see right where they tell me it should be and it’s not there. Since I bought it used, it makes me wonder if that’s why someone returned it. Really frustrating. I got the next Spyro for Christmas, Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, but discovered it, too, had become a more battle-centric game.

I also have We Love Katamari, which I thoroughly enjoy for it’s complete weirdness and simple concept. But, once you’ve finished that game, you can only roll up so many roses before you’re ready to move on with your life. I’m not looking to become a professional gamer. I’m not even looking to make it my hobby, but it’s something fun to do that releases my mind from all the day’s goings-on and let’s me refocus my eyes and whatnot elsewhere.

I just want some fun games that are relatively non-violent, simple, fun games. I’m not big on ‘cart’ games (though I’m open to them). I like platform games or stuff like Katamari, I guess. Puzzle-y stuff, too. I’m not big on role-playing, anything that involves long-term commitment or hinges on me interacting with anyone else. (That sounds like a really bad personal ad.) I’ve been considering the Wii and the XBox 360, but I need to find that happy balance of enough games that intrigue me vs. price. Bang for the buck, I guess. Three to four hundred dollars still seems like a lot to me.

So, gamers. What say you? Any recommendations?

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Cheri said on 20/06/07 @ 11:38am

We love the Wii. Have an Xbox (not the 360) and I haven’t found anything I like minus poker games and that’s not very exciting past 30 minutes. I love the Wii sports games - bowling, golf and tennis are my favorites!

katie said on 20/06/07 @ 12:48pm

We have the Xbox 360. My gamer honey uses it quite a bit more than I do to play the kill you, beat you, role-playing blood and guts games (that I also don’t like) but I’ll tell ya why I love it. You can download all sorts of retro games like Frogger, Donkey Kong, Qbert, Ms. Pac-Man and tons more. I even play Scrabble on the Xbox 360. So that’s why I like it. That and Guitar Hero 2. If you want mushrooms I hear the Wii is the way to go.

chepooka said on 20/06/07 @ 1:29pm

It is because I love you that I share the following embarrassing information:

Xbox (not 360)

Harry Potter.

That is all.

That Geeky Chick said on 20/06/07 @ 2:33pm

4 words…Wii, Super Paper Mario

Joelle said on 20/06/07 @ 2:34pm

@that geeky chick:i saw that in the store and added that to the “pros” for a Wii.

Trix said on 20/06/07 @ 2:46pm

Wii! Without a doubt. It has the fun Wii Sports that we actually play at home every night for at least an hour. Plus you can play older Nintendo Games like all the Mario Bros. and … I love my Wii! I play it way more than my PS2.

OMG, I totally have to get Super Paper Mario on my way home tonight.

:: jozjozjoz :: said on 20/06/07 @ 4:18pm

I’ve no idea about any of the PS games, but I’m waiting for my Wii.

antisocialite said on 20/06/07 @ 4:31pm

i’m not that great at games and don’t have any advice, but i LOVE the spyro games. i have 2 for the old school PS and one for the xbox. i *heart* spyro!

Ro said on 20/06/07 @ 4:52pm

Dude! I so had that same problem with SPYRO. My son (who was SIX at the time) got 100% in that game, me? Still at 99% for over a year. Suckage!

Salena said on 20/06/07 @ 6:11pm

I love Spyro games too! I’ve also really enjoyed Croc and Tak too. I usually just play on a Nintendo Gameboy Advance though.

Kathy said on 20/06/07 @ 9:23pm

Tell that game it can shove its dark crystal where the sun don’t shine.

Michele said on 21/06/07 @ 4:49am

Try Kingdom Hearts for the PS2. It’s a role playing game using Disney characters, but it’s not as childish as it sounds. It’s pretty challenging and a lot of fun.

Tina said on 21/06/07 @ 5:30am

I’m not a gamer which is evident in my having the Nintendo Game Cube. I play games like Mario Party and especially MARIO KART! Its so much fun!

My brother-in-law has the 360 and I have become addicted to Guitar Hero 2. I mean, ADDICTED.

Maine said on 21/06/07 @ 7:13am

I love questions I can actually answer.

I’m like you in that I don’t care so much for violent games, kart games or gaming with others. Because of that, I play sports, but if you’re not into those, you have options. On the PS2, you’d do well to get yourself a number of the games listed here (Kingdom Hearts being the very, very best of them), but to get non-violent truly fun platformers, you might have to go with some of the classics including:

Wallace and Gromit (tons of fun - highest recommendation)

Crash Bandicoot

Sly Cooper

Ape Escape

Pac-man World

And if you just want something mindless to obsess over and giggle at, The Sims are very popular for that sort of thing.

Summer said on 21/06/07 @ 7:24am

I recommend the Wii from what you’ve said about your gaming wishes.

geeky said on 21/06/07 @ 7:48am

You and I sound like we have similar game playing styles. I don’t like shooters or online games, and I don’t have the patience for RPGs or anything that’s too hard. I’ve never played Spiro, but it sounds like something I might like. The only game I’ve ever played all the way through? Luigi’s Haunted Mansion on Game Cube. Except I gave up before I beat the final boss because I got frustrated. I hate having to do the same thing 15 times in a game because you can’t get the timing right, or you keep dying, or whatever. I play games for fun, not to be frustrated until I throw the controller!

We have a Wii, and I dig it. The Wii sports game is fun, especially if you have someone else to play with, but I even like to play bowling and golf by myself. First sports game I’ve ever liked! Plus, with all the controller swinging you do, it doubles as exercise in my book I’m hoping Mr. Geeky buys Paper Mario for the Wii soon because I keep hearing great things about it!

the slackmistress said on 21/06/07 @ 4:08pm

I so so so so want a Wii. We even registered for one for the wedding, ‘cause we’re dorks that way. Mario Party is tres fun. I also like Burnout ‘cause you get to crash cars. A LOT.

Les said on 21/06/07 @ 7:28pm

Since you already have a PS2 just get Guitar Hero and/or Guitar Hero 2. GH2 adds a coop multiplayer (if you have people over) instead of just head-to-head so you can actually finish a song with new people.

Both games have thier hits and misses for songs though.

Kevin Parrott said on 21/06/07 @ 8:52pm

Try Shadow of the Colossus. It has a haunting story that’s very cinematic, and it’s sort of beautiful. You can almost consider it a puzzle game in some aspects.

Also try Lumines, which is a quick time-killing tetris-reminiscent puzzle game with good tunes that change beats as you play, and I second Guitar Hero if you want to spend the money (there’s an 80s expansion coming soon, and GHIII this fall - once you buy the guitar it works for all the other releases).

Love your blog.

Deltus said on 22/06/07 @ 8:37am

Wii. My friend has a Wii. And get the Marble Madness game for it. And Wii Sports. There’s your console right there.

autumn hour said on 22/06/07 @ 5:30pm

i’m a long time lurker, but i can actually give some insight on this. i have similar tastes as you do and i wanted a game cube FOREVER. never got one, but now we have an xbox and a wii. the wii is awesome! i highly recommend it. my daughter, husband and i play wii sports and the original super mario bros all of the time! oh, and if you buy an extra controller, you get wii play with it and it has some pretty cool games too. we have rented the paper mario game and sonic and the secret rings. very entertaining! i definitely need to check into that marble madness game deltus mentioned.

oh… and if you haven’t played sims, it’s highly addictive. we have sims2 and if you ever want to kill a day, this is the game for you.

Joelle said on 22/06/07 @ 7:34pm

@everyone: thanks for all your tips!

@autumn hour: thanks for commenting. I’ve tried playing the Sims on PS2, but i find it takes too long. I’m used to the PC version, i guess.

Stacy said on 25/06/07 @ 9:16am

Monkey Ball. Super Monkey Ball. It’s monkeys, in balls. Oh, and puzzles. PS2 version here. This game has single-handedly saved people’s lives, no shitsky.

Amy Bo Bamy said on 25/06/07 @ 3:27pm

I know I’m late to the game (me punny! jk) on this but I’ll add my input:

We have all the game consoles, minus the ricockulously priced PS3 (but I’m afraid that purchase is right around the corner, the way my boyfriend keeps on about blue ray discs). Don’t spend any kind of money on a 360 because the warranty only lasts a year and so many people are already having problems with it (see “ring of doom”). Unfortunately we’re currently experiencing the dreaded Ring of Doom and MS customer service has been virtually nonexistent.

According to your likes/dislikes, I highly recommend the Wii. The games I recommend are Wii Play (comes with an extra controller), Super Paper Mario (this has some throwbacks to the original NES version, which is lots of fun), Wario Ware and Legend of Zelda. All GameCube games are compatible for play on the Wii, and eventually all of the NES, SNES, N64, and Sega Genesis games will be available for download to play on the Wii (sorta like Xbox Live). Right now there’s actually a good bit currently available for download; word is they’re trying to make new ones available every week. I’ve been recommending the Wii to everyone I know.

Also, if you’re not up for spending the cash on that right away, I also recommend a DS Lite. Not sure what you think about handhelds, but I’m practically addicted to mine. And it comes in handy when I’m sitting around somewhere with nothing to do/read, as it’s always in my purse. And they have a PINK one!!!