My Weekend with the Aliens

My weekend thus far has not been particularly eventful, in the truest sense, but I have noticed a common thread running through what I’ve done so far: aliens.

Friday night, I gave Contra ReBirth (purchased Monday, of course) a go on Normal. And, lucky me, I managed to beat it. It wasn’t too bad, except for the final boss you can only face on Normal difficulty and higher. He was brutal!

And besides now being waist deep in alien corpses, I’ve also unlocked the alien Contra named Plissken, who Red has taken enough of a liking to that I might actually be able to get some two-player action going. Score.

Saturday afternoon, she and I joined her father to go see District 9. And while I’m glad I got to see it, I have to admit: I don’t think it is a movie for which I would want to see repeated viewings. The beginning was good, and the end was good enough, I suppose (can you say “sequel?”), but for the most part, I found the movie to be rather disturbing and unsettling. Again, something I’m glad I saw, but am not eager to see again. Part of this being that somewhere in the middle, I was unsure if I could make it through the whole thing.

I’m usually pretty good with sick stuff, but sometimes all you have to do is press the right buttons, and this movie did.

Finally, I beat Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time tonight. And going from the last save before the final boss (not that other last extra battle) only took me the better part of two hours. Sheesh!

While I think the ending for this one was far more worthwhile than that of Superstar Saga, getting there was simply far too much work, in my humble opinion. I’m really looking forward to Bowser’s Inside Story, but now there’s a little bit of dread that while the game has scored excellent reviews, the end battles are going to be long, tedious affairs.

And they are apparently long and tedious even by RPG standards; my wife plays far more RPGs than I do, but watching me take on these time-sucking tarts has discouraged her from setting foot anywhere near them. The only thing which really kept me going to the end was my determination to beat the game; I was past the point of having fun, and it simply became work, something I feel a good game should never stoop to.

It probably doesn’t help that the enemy stats were apparently raised for the North American release.

On a related note, isn’t it about time we heard about a new Paper Mario? Preferably one that’s not quite as “Super” as the last?

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

[Shroob Image courtesy of GameHiker]

David Oxford

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

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