Retirement home for random, geek related perusals.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

A quick thank you.

As I said before, I've missed out on bloggin a lot of things, but as far as I can think of, the most important right about now (other than moving in with my girlfriend) is seeing Coheed and Cambria.

The date 15/11/10 is going to be burned into my mind forever.

Southampton Guildhall played witness to the 'Heed in 2007, and I was there, and my mind was blown.

This time around I took my dubious Coheed fan girlfriend. She came out of the gig with a mile wide smile too. You can't not love them.

I'm not going to go into the set list etc, as I don't need to.

I have the memory of singing 'Here We Are Juggernaut' and 'A Favour House Atlantic' with my girlfriend until it hurt. I have the memory of 'Delirium Trigger' and of course the epic 'Welcome Home'.

So yeah, it was amazing, and still makes me smile.

Thanks Coheed, you did it again.

Well. It's been a while.

Yeah.

Something had to give. I moved house, got accepted onto a teaching course and had to start, y'know, working properly. My life has never felt so much intensity, and in the end I neglected this corner of the internet in order to keep my head above water.

But enough excuses.

I've still been able to perform some geekly duties however, and as I keep a mental chronicle of d20s I have rolled and controllers I have held, I thought I'd ease back into this blogging thing gently.

So, where to start...

Retro game:

I was recently deprived of my 360, meaning I had to resort to the ever faithful PS2 for gaming support. And lo, upon trawling through my dusty games shelf I found a hidden gem that I never got round to completing - Zone Of The Enders: The Second Runner.



My first brush with ZOE was, like most PS2 gamers, simply a game to play to get the MGS2 demo...and as a game that I purchased for a demo, it was awesome.

So when I saw this and brought it many moons ago, I was hooked on the ridiculous super robot fighting, as is normal, but ZOE 2 had even more to offer.

It is sumptuous to look at. Released during the crazy boom in cel-shading, ZOE 2 stands high above its peers. The colours are dynamic and inviting, movements crisp and clear, effects are satisyingly visceral. It's a treat.



The story too is a gem, spiced up with excellent little anime cutscenes it tells a great story of oppression and revenge, with some nice tie ins to it's predecessor.

But, what makes it better perhaps, is the gameplay. Fast, frantic, fun and above all engaging, it was an excellent game to come back to, just frustrating enough to give a challenge, but fun enough to keep you trying.
So yeah, good job Konami. Even if I am 7 years late in completing it...