Up late talking games & writing? You're...

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Games: This weekend is another one of GameStop’s heralded ‘Buy 2, get 1 Free’ sales, and being the bargain shopper that I am, I couldn't resist.
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I try to make it down every time the sale happens, but my biggest problem is that I can usually find two games and never a third. I leave empty-handed more often than not simply for the fact that I can't find that third game to make it worthwhile, but this time I got lucky.
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I guess.
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Picking up a copy of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction for PS3 was a no-brainer. I've been a fan of the lombax and his robotic sidekick since day one, and although I beat the game quite a while ago, I still didn't own a copy.
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The second sure thing was Lock’s Quest on DS. Sort of a quasi-RTS (but not really) that involves a character usually rebuilding and fortifying bases to stave off oncoming hordes of enemy robots, I had a great time with this a while ago and was glad to see that the copy I found today was in great shape.

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With these two games in hand, I was quite determined to find a third. There wasn't a lot that I wanted for a reasonable price, my oldest was with me and he was getting a little bit antsy, and the wife was outside with the baby, so I knew the countdown to go-time was ticking. Taking one more sweep through the PS3 section, I decided that it was finally time to give Lair another try.
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Put out by Factor 5, you may recall Lair as one of the most-hyped titles when the PS3 launched. The main idea is that you control a huge dragon and fly around fighting other dragons, burning things on the ground, and so on.
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Just from the description it sounds like a can't-miss, but it was savaged in the reviews at the time for a number of reason-- one of the primary ones was that control of the dragon was linked directly to the motion of the sixaxis instead of a more traditional setup. I tried it briefly and found the controls as atrocious as most said, so I quickly moved onto other things. However, I was aware that Factor 5 had produced a download patch that gives players the options for standard flight controls using the sticks, and considering that I needed a third game to get one free, I was willing to give it another chance.
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That was $18 wasted.
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Although the new non-motion controls work and do make the game better than it was, there are so many other things wrong with it that to call it anything other than a wet, dripping mess would be completely inaccurate. Honestly, I have no idea what the developers thought they were doing when they put this game together. I mean, the terminally flawed idea of basing the entire thing on motion controls aside, it was as if they had completely forgotten everything they had learned creating the lauded Rogue Squadron series.
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For example, at times it's practically impossible to tell enemies apart from allies until they start squawking at you to stop firing. There are no maps or on-screen indicators to let you know where enemies are, and the arrow in the top corner of the screen which is supposed to point towards your objective is rendered in such a way that it's extremely difficult to tell what direction it's even pointing in.
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There are scores of other problems with the game ranging from embarrassingly bad graphics (enemies on the ground look like orderly rows of LEGO people) and unexplainable dragon actions (move the stick left and it goes forward, or try and fly up and all you can see is the dragon clipping through the ground) and given the generally execrable quality of the title, it really puts the recent allegations of financial misconduct at Factor 5 in a whole new light… money for margaritas but not for map markers, eh?
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In other game news, I decided to send Red Faction: Guerrilla back to GameFly unfinished. I think I saw perhaps a third of the game, and felt like that was enough.
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Although I was quite impressed initially by the physics and the destructibility of the environments, it soon became clear that the game didn't have a lot else going for it. I mean, don't get me wrong… I'm not saying that it's terrible, but it follows the guidelines for typical ‘open-world’ design very closely and after having played quite a few of them, I need something a little more exciting than destroying buildings with a big hammer to get my juices flowing. Driving from location to location just to knock down a silo or barracks got old fast, and after not having played it for a couple of days, I felt virtually no desire to get back to it.
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Food: If you’re in Seattle and ever find yourself in the Ballard area, there is a little coffee and toast place called Nervous Nellie’s on the corner of 17th and 56th. It's easy to miss driving by, but it's definitely worth swinging back around for.
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The drip coffee is good (and after having been quite disappointed with the drip at a few places, this was a huge relief) but the real draw besides the caffeine is getting a piece of toast. I admit that it doesn't sound exactly thrilling, but they have some very substantial, hearty slices and they’re topped with all sorts of goodness. I've had the cinnamon toast a few times, and there is so much sugar and spice on top that it seems as though it was applied with a trowel. (In case you're wondering, this is a good thing.) They have a number of jams and jellies, and also have some Scandinavian choices like butter and cheese, or butter and caviar.
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One thing to be aware of is that they are debit-phobic and only accept cash or check (check?!? Seriously?!?) but to be perfectly honest, the toast/coffee combo has been so yummy that I've actually gone out of my way a few times to make sure I'm packing the right tender.
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Recommended!
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