Backlog Shrinkage

I’ve still got way too many PS2 games to get through before even thinking about the PS3…

Radiata Stories (PS2) – A traditional Japanese RPG in many ways. I kept thinking to myself that it was a bit too cutesy and simplistic for my tastes, and yet I couldn’t stop playing it for a while. Its main feature is that there are well over 100 different NPCs you can recruit, each one a little sidequest in itself, and I guess that triggers the obsessive-compulsive in me.

There’s a branching storyline, so you have to play through it twice to get the whole story, but once you’ve beaten it once you can carry over a lot of your skills, equipment, and friend list to the second game, so it goes much quicker. Thank goodness, because I’m already approaching the 50 hour mark on my first time through…

Super Monkey Ball Deluxe (PS2) – After playing Marble Blast Ultra on the 360, a search for similar games led me to this series, where the single-player game has the same basic premise: lead yourself (in this case a, uh, monkey in a ball) through an obstacle course to the goal line within the time limit. The SMBD courses tend to be a lot shorter, with only a one minute clock versus MBU’s multi-minute courses, but there’s a lot more of them and a greater variety of obstacles. There are also a bunch of minigames that are fun to fool around with for a bit, but you really need multiple players to get the most fun out of them.

Its only major flaw is that the graphics are a bit disappointing in the PS2 version. Even though the courses have fairly simple geometry and detail, the jagged edges and swimming textures can make it a bit difficult to tell what’s coming up in the distance. I probably should have gotten the Xbox version instead, but it seems to be harder to find.

Midnight Club III DUB Edition Remix (PS2) – A solid enough arcade-ish racing game, with plenty of competition, lots of city to see, and no cheesy storyline that gets annoying fast like nearly every other racing game nowadays. I probably won’t put much time into it though, just because there are so many other, newer racing games coming.