I had a lot of work to do for the last month, and I still do. Plus, the European soccer championship started, so I spend what little free time I have watching the games. I did play some games also tough. I finally have my DS operational again, so I’m mostly playing all the DS games I planned. I finished Ninja Gaiden (I had to play from the beginning), and I recently also completed Summon Night Twin Age. It’s a hack & slash game similar in style to Diablo. It’s nowhere nearly as good as Diablo, but it isn’t bad either. I finished the main story in about 12 hours, and completed the Ex chapters in about 2 and a half hours. I also started playing Super Mario 64 DS. It’s a great remake, and the graphics are actually better then on the Nintendo 64. I got about 35 stars collected, and have also unlocked Mario (you start the game with Yoshi). I tried some miscellaneous other games, but none of them are good enough to mention. I have about two weeks of exams left, and after that I will be spending most of my time playing games that got released recently. I promise I’ll try to post more often…

So I finished chapter 8 of Ninja Gaiden today, and decided to take a break. After studying for my exam tomorrow, I loaded the game again and noticed the screen was right oriented (I’m a lefty, so this was a bit weird. I get to the main menu, and what do you know, MY GOD DAMN SAVE IS GONE. GONE!!! Chapter 10 was probably the last chapter and now MY SAVE IS GONE. I usually make backup saves, but I do this every few days, and since I got to chapter nine in less than a day, there is no backup to speak of. I can’t even begin to explain how angry I am right now. This game is going on hold until my nerves get settled (which will be at least a few days…

This game came out, and after watching the trailers, I just had to get it. I’ve been playing it for a bit, and I’m not disappointed. The controls are awesome, the game play is even better, and the story isn’t bad either. I got to Chapter 6, and have already collected three dark dragon stones. I upgraded my sword up to level three, bought two max health upgrades, and learned a total of three spells. I have jet to master the fighting system. The system is easy to get used to, but complex enough to require skill in mastering it (another thing I like about the game). The only thing I don’t love about it is the cartoony character style. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind cartoon characters in games, but I think they don’t fit so well with the theme. Another style of anime should have been chosen, IMHO.

A homebrew port of Tyrian from the PC is now also available for download. I loved this game on the PC, so I’m really enjoying it on the DS. It’s still in beta (version 0.2), so not everything works quite yet, and the game loves to crash every now and then, but that didn’t stop me from playing it. I finished 4 episodes already, and I’ll probably finish the game soon (Tyrian is about replay value anyway).

EDIT: I’ve played Ninja Gaiden a bit more tonight. I’m now at the beginning of chapter eight, and have already collected five dragon stones which means there are three left. I learned another spell, but I haven’t tried it out yet (all I’m using is my healing spell). IMHO, the game is a bit too easy on normal difficulty. I hope a hard difficulty will be unlocked after I complete the game.

I didn’t play much of anything lately. I installed Civilization IV again (my secret addiction), and have finished a few standard size games. I tried Shiren the Wanderer for the DS but I didn’t like it (it seems a little too slow paced for me). I don’t have much time because I need to study for my exams next week, so my gaming addiction is on hold for a while. Good news is that Assassins Creed is being released right around the time my exams are over, so ill have something to play then.