inFamous sets you playing as Cole McGrath, a fellow with his own degree of haplessness who rapidly becomes a raging badass when he gets bamphed (uh huh, it’s a word) magical electro-powers.  That’s all you really need to know.  You can choose to be a nice guy and help people, or you can choose to be a total asshole and shock them to death at every available opportunity.  The really interesting thing is that, contrary to the normal way “morality”-tracked games tend to run (that is, sure, you can be the bad guy… I mean, if you really want to…. but you’ll probably regret it…. I mean, WHAT?  YES, FREE CHOICE!  HERE, KILL THIS PUPPY!), this one actually *does* give you a choice, and rewards you either way.  In fact, it seems that, given the title of the game and the fact that you’re SHOOTING FUCKING LIGHTNING OUT OF YOUR HANDS, the evil path gives you a bit of an edge.  I’m not messing around with very many of the side missions right now, as inFamous’s biggest downfall that I’ve noticed thus far is that it does tend to get a bit repetitive, but I believe I’m somewhere around a quarter of the way through the main storyline; this means that I still have plenty of time to get slapped around by the karmic retribution gods, but I really don’t think that’s going to happen.  Until it does, I’m having a grand old time shocking the manz.  They fall down, you know.

I briefly alluded to the fact that I did, in fact, finish Gardening Mama, at least as much as it can ever really be finished (I brought all of my plants to maturity and pimped out my garden to the max, which is enough for me), but the far more interesting of the two DS games I’ve played in the past two weeks is a little gem called Docomodake BOING!, which features a giant sentient mushroom off to find his giant mushroom family in time for the giant mushroom festival.  From what I understand, the characters are actually the mascots of a Japanese cell phone company, but the game itself plays pretty much like any other well-done platformer.  Actually, I was reminded most of the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, because you have to split off mini versions of yourself and use them as bricks, ladders, projectiles, and so forth to reach your goal in each stage.  It’s creative and fun, and although it only took me a short time to finish, I don’t think that’s a particular detriment in the case of games like these.  If you find a copy and are a fan of the platformer genre, I’d recommend picking it up; it’s bargain-priced, and well worth the time.

I also played about five minutes of Crimson Gem Saga (watched the opening cinematic while I was waiting for food to finish cooking), and…. well, I guess I should mention this.  I FUCKING FINISHED PERSONA 3!!!!!11!  I’m not putting it into my statistics yet, because I do still have the FES content to go (but I need a break…), but at 82 hours, I finally put an end to the storyline.  I don’t know how much I can really say about the ending without spoilerizing everything, but I will say these things:

1. The final ten or so hours are packed with Drama.  Capital D.  If you’re at all invested in the characters by this point, you will be very engaged.

2. Elaine was right; I should have been working the ladies’ social links more diligently the whole time.  They’re MUCH more entertaining when they’re maxed.

3. The final boss fight was over an hour and a half long, and I nearly lost in the last five minutes.  I think I would have cried.

I’ll definitely have more to report when I go back and do the FES content, which is reputed to take somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty hours, but I really needed to step away from the Persona for just a little while.  Soon, though.

Current backlog total: 104

Now playing: inFamous (PS3); Crimson Gem Saga (PSP)

New games added: inFamous (PS3); Crimson Gem Saga (PSP); Class of Heroes (PSP); Steal Princess (DS)

Games completed: Gardening Mama (DS); Docomodake BOING! (DS)

Gardening Mama is, put simply, Cooking Mama with flowers.  I don’t say that as a put-down, I just say that as a way to identify for those of you who may, like me, have enjoyed the previous games; if you’re looking for more, Gardening Mama is it.  The biggest difference gameplay-wise seems to be that while you do have a limited degree of choice in what you can do and which plants you can tend to, you actually get shuffled from place to place pretty directly; the “wilting” mechanic of the game ensures that there isn’t a whole lot of room for you to get started on too many things at once, at least not without suffering some consequences.  However, while this means I haven’t gotten started on my rose garden yet, it also means that the one-more-level lure is especially strong in this game; after all, I can’t very well stop playing when my anemone are being attacked by viruses, can I?  Not in good conscience.  Other than that, the game remains faithful to the franchise: Mama still speaks with a horribly stereotyped Engrish accent, the minigames are still addictive as all hell, and you still get rated on your progress at the end of each set of tasks.  I’m loving it so far!

I haven’t really made much gaming progress otherwise; I had a moment of sheer terror when it looked like my PS3 had eaten my now-62-hour Persona save (all is well, no worries), and I made it through some more of Resident Evil 5 in co-op mode (fuck.Lickers.), but I haven’t actually gone back to Disgaea yet.  I am, however, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Crimson Gem Saga and Steal Princess, the latter of which I ordered from Amazon due to its disappointing unavailability most other places, and the former of which should be coming in any day now… (neither is in my possession yet, though, so they don’t count on the backlog stats!)

Current backlog total: 106

Now playing: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2); Gardening Mama (DS); Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP); Resident Evil 5 (360)

New games added: Cross Edge (PS3)

Games completed: none

Linkage incoming!

Persona 3

Persona 4

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Gardening Mama

UFC 2009: Undisputed

Punch-Out!

inFAMOUS

Bioshock 2 dated for 11/3

Zune HD

GTA IV- The Ballad of Gay Tony

All three Metroid Prime games on one disc for $50

OnLive not coming to E3

Star Ocean collectors edition makes Leah cry big anime tears

Break music #1 is “Demon Academy Prospective Student” from the Disgaea Custom Soundtrack.

This episode’s a bit long because of our special interview segment, so you get treated to a second set of break music! This one’s “ROM Schtick” by Shale Riley, from the Bound Together OC Remix.

We looooooove listener mail!  Send it to podcast@someothercastle.com and we will smile big happy smiles!