Welcome back!

Thought that my eyes were deceiving me when I saw your latest update!

And you finally bought Shadows of the Damned. A couple of my friends on this site picked it up recently as well.

By the way, I've played through Heroes' Paradise using a DualShock 3, and the controls were fine. There's still a motion-sensing function without Move, but it's only for recharging the beam sword.

I used to read critic reviews when I was unsure about buying a game. It's easy for me to accept their opinions, but that doesn't mean I always agreed with them. Now my purchases are based on demos and/or watching gameplay videos.

Yeah, the team that developed Shadows of the Damned is very talented. I've only played a couple of games that featured Akira Yamaoka's music, but his latest compositions are different (in a good way).

Heard about the Play for Japan charity album. Still gotta listen to it, though.

Here's what I think about Shadows of the Damned so far.

It's fairly unique for a third-person shooter. There's certain mechanics with light and darkness, which are sometimes applied to the environment, items, enemies, etc. For example, if a demon is saturated with darkness, you need to shoot it with light before any damage can be done.

Speaking of enemies, there's a decent variety that I came across up to the beginning of Act 3. Some of them are unpredictable...one moment a demon will be slowly approaching, the next moment it breaks into a run, then tries to dropkick you. Just fought two bosses at this point, but each was fun and required a bit of strategy.

Can't say much about the story, because it's not deep. I'm doubtful if the plot gets fleshed out as progress is made. Frankly, I like the simple premise for this type of game.

The characters have a lot of personality, plus the dialogue has been great in my opinion. Conversations between Garcia (the protagonist) and Johnson (a former demon, his ally) tend to have humour; not the kind that's tacky, though. Sound design is polished; the music and effects are both quite notable.

Imagery in the underworld is interesting, to say the least. You can tell a lot of attention to detail was put in the levels, from the dynamic lighting to the architecture of buildings. The art direction and atmosphere are done just right. Once in a while, you'll see a poster on a wall that can be further examined. This leads to Garcia and Johnson talking about the poster, allowing you to learn more of what it depicts. Also, I encountered a book that told the backstory of a character, which ends up being a boss. I'm guessing more of those books are placed in the later levels.

Most importantly, the game is a blast to play. An occasional puzzle or task is mixed with the combat to give a nice change of pace. Hope this comment doesn't seem too gushy. If there's anything negative about Shadows of the Damned, I haven't experienced it yet.

Okay, will do. Probably gonna start the game this weekend.

Glad I sent that message to you, then.

Only watched the EA, Ubisoft, and Sony press conferences. All of those had a decent showcase of games. I read a bit about Microsoft and Nintendo, but not much to say about them. Xbox 360, 3DS, Wii U...if there are enough exclusives that interest me, I'll consider buying the system(s). The PS Vita looks good, some of my favourite series have been confirmed for it (Killzone, Uncharted, Resistance, BioShock). Still gotta figure out if I'm picking up the Wi-Fi version, or the one that includes 3G as well. Overall, I think this year's event was pretty impressive.

Nice to see some activity going on here.

Did you watch the E3 press conferences earlier this month? Curious about what you thought of them.

I did the same. Although, I've gotta admit, putting Gil out of his misery seemed like the right thing to do. Hopefully the single player DLC gives similar decisions to make.

Dual-wielding is definitely one of my favourite additions to the gameplay. While I thought hacking in the first game was decent, I like the updated method much better. Other than that, I'd say the new weapon and plasmid upgrades have improved. As far as the story...well, it wasn't on the same level as BioShock 1, but I enjoyed it just the same. One thing I hoped for was a boss fight at the end, but that's not a big deal.

Did you rescue the Little Sisters? And what about the three characters you had the choice of sparing?

What are your thoughts on BioShock 2? I'm replaying it for the second time, and I remembered seeing it on your Now Playing list a couple of months ago.