I don't have Hasbro Game Night. I do have Civ IV, though, in addition to Civ V. Civ V is awesome, and has a free demo available on Steam. Civ V is actually my brother's (Dinode) game, except for the fact that I paid the extra ten dollars needed to get the deluxe version (which has some behind-the-scenes stuff, the Babylonian DLC, and things like that). He got the expansion pack recently, which also has a demo.

I recommend that you try both the demo for standard Civ V and the demo for the expansion pack if you would like to try the game. We pre-ordered the game (and as soon as it was released my brother pre-ordered the expansion pack), however, so we didn't get a chance to try the demo. We can review Civ IV, though, if you really want to.

Hmm....if you ever want to do a multiplayer matchup on Civ IV I'm thoroughly game for that I just got two board games, and even though I got them for a real bargain it'd be hard to justify buying a whole new Civ game when I still play Civ IV to death (a testament to how good the game really is. And what is it with Boudica? The woman can't stand me ). Just as a forewarning, I usually only play the Americans, Dutch (2nd choice) or Carthage (3rd) .

I just want to do a review of it for now. I have already played it in multiplayer mode before, so I know how it is.

However, I would rather review Zuma or Peggle nights, or, better yet, Bit.Trip Runner or Bit.Trip Beat. I could also review Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (both episodes), or some old Sonic games (through stuff like virtual console).

Okay, I know this is a double-post, but it's been a few days since anybody has posted here, and this post is on a subject other than reviewing video games.

So, I've finally won the knight league on F-Zero! Yay! I won it a while ago, but I probably wouldn't have won if FencerforJesus hadn't given me any tips. Thanks!

Now I've tried the queen league a few times. Now the furthest race I've reached is "White Land II". It definitely is hard. I've only gotten there once, but I haven't tried it since the first time I've gotten there (which was about 30 minutes ago), so I could certainly reach it again.

I had a few lives at the time. The first time I crashed on the really long jump on the first lap because I just barely didn't make the jump. Then I made the same mistake again, only on the final lap instead of the first. Then I had gotten a game over. There might have been an attempt in-between those two attempts, but I forget (I sometimes forget things, even if they just happened )

Has anyone here played the original Super Smash Brothers? My brother, Dinode, got it the same day I got F-Zero. It's a fun game. Recently, we unlocked Luigi. We also have Jigglypuff unlocked, though, if you ask me, it wasn't really worth the effort. I've actually cleared the 1-player mode on hard a time or two (or possibly more ). I don't think I have played the game in multiplayer (yet), but I'll probably be trying it out soon.

Was anyone else in the Guild Wars 2 beta events?

August 28 CAN'T get here fast enough..

I played Guild Wars 1 waaaay back when it first came out. It was fun but a big departure from the norm (EQ, WoW), although the price tag couldn't be beat (free to play online). I was mystified over the fact that at the time you couldn't get more than 5 levels, and the weapons system was really weird. There weren't named weapons like in other games but some strange system of matching different components to make a unique weapon. It sounds like a winner on paper, but it didn't translate well into the game IMHO. The graphics were gorgeous and the game world was rich, but it just ultimately didn't hold my attention. My wife is a fan of it though. If it's still free to play she might go for it.

Get really good at the brake and sharp turns. You will need them for the King League. All you need, if you are at top speed, is just a tap of the brakes. You don't need to slow down to a halt. Another tip. The Blue Falcon is an all-around average car. Average max speed, average boost, average control and average 'shield endurance'. The Golden Fox is best at acceleration and turns, but has the slowest max speed and endurance. The Green Car (forgot it's name) has a stronger body, but slower acceleration and can't do sharp turns as well. The Fire Stingray is the fastest car, the ones with the greatest endurance, but the slowest accelerator. I use the Fire Stingray the most because most races will allow me to maintain the max speed without too much braking. And on those jumps, ALWAYS press down (which puts your nose into the air). It gives you greater distance and you gain speed upon landing instead of losing it.

On my own gaming, I just completed Tales of the Abyss a few days ago. It plays virtually identically to the other Tales series so in terms of game play, if you've played one, you've essentially played them all. I've played Tales of Symphonia, Symphonia 2, Legendia and Abyss. I want to get Tales of Grace and any others in the series, but they are hard to find. I played Symphonia first and still think it's the best in the series. Symphonia 2 is 2nd on my list and Abyss is third. Legendia has a great score but I found the story rather weak. Symphonia and Abyss have great stories. But I liked the characters in Symphonia better than Abyss (overall). Abyss was a worthwhile get.

The only game I would play for the next couple weeks would be Plok for the SNES (if it decides to run again). I don't want to start a new game with an anticipated job starting in two weeks from Monday (Interview on Monday). I get too hyper-focused and a game will distract me until I get my routine established.

Thanks for giving me more tips, FencerforJesus. I've found that the Blue Falcon is the vehicle that suits me best, so I'll just stick with that (I've tried every vehicle, and it was my favorite). If I get stuck on White land II, then I may try another vehicle.

Okay, now, not only have I beaten White land II, but...

IIIII FIIIINIIIIIISHED FIIIIIIIRE FIIIIEEELD!!!!!11!!!!!! YAYZ!!!

Thanks for all of your help, FencerforJesus! Your tips were really helpful, and I might not have been able to have finished the game without them. Especially the jump technique, it would have taken me forever to have figured out how to make the large jump on White land II myself!

Fire Field is quite a beast, isn't it? With all those sharp turns, it is very difficult to maintain high speeds to keep up in the standings while having your ship survive the course. Once you complete "Expert" Mode, there is also a "Master Mode". It's been a while, but I have beaten the King League on Master Mode and that is TOUGH.

What I hear though is that F-Zero GX for the GameCube is perhaps one of the most difficult games ever made to get everything. I haven't yet and I don't see how anytime soon. There still is a complete Cup that I have not been able to open up yet due to the extreme difficulty.

Personally, I have all but completely found everything for Kingdom Hearts 1. The only thing left to do is to beat Sephiroth, but that may come for a latter time. I've found and beaten all the other extra bosses and they are fun. Next on my play list is Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. (for PS2). Then KH 2 (second play through).

So after my rant several months (years?) ago, my brother informed me I was a dork and came over a few days and played through all of Mass Effect 3 for me. (He got a kick out of it too cause when he played it at home, he was able to reference the previous two games he had saved, so it was a totally different story for him.)
Anyways, I must now withdrawl all the negative stuff I said about it (except for the language, still don't appreciate it) and admit that I'm sort of a convert.
My husband and I went out and bought the first game and I've made it through the first battle series without dying... on Easy. Yes, I am that bad at fps games. I only failed to die because of the NPC assistance.
I don't know if this is the case or not, those of you who have played all three will have to say, but it sure seems like the decision making in the first game has greater impact than the third one did. I'm like, freaking out every time I make a decision or fail to have a conversation that I've screwed something up and will have to start over.
Anyways, trying to work my way through an fps is a rather slow and painful process, but one of these days I may become halfway decent.

Anybody here played Starfox 64 3D? One of my brothers (not Dinode) got it with money he got for his birthday, and it's so fun! Also, the game has some funny dialogue occasionally. Guess who said this in Starfox 64 3D:

"Do you need glasses, Fox?"

If you get it right, I'll give you a virtual plate full of cookies:

So I am now playing Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii. I am 12 hours into the game (with a lot of exploring and leveling up) and so far I am completely blown away. The graphics are on the same scale of the PS3 or XBox360 from what I have seen. The story draws you in quickly but not too fast. The characters are believable and likable. Plus, you gotta love their British/Australian (not sure which, but I don't really care) accents which are just cool. The gameplay reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy XII. It's a good mix between an action/adventure game like Zelda with your traditional turn-based RPG. I'm still getting used to the menu system but it's working. So far my favorite parts are the boss battles and the musical score. I don't like to cliche the word "epic" but that's the only word I can think of to describe it. Even though I haven't beaten it yet, I am already glad I got this one.

I've been playing Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim a fair amount lately. It's my first experience with a Bethesda game; at least i think it is. I'm not exactly knowledgeable about game companies. Dang, it's huge! Once i finish my first play-through - if i ever finish my first play-through - there will be plenty to do for a second time, and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth ...

My current character is a female Breton, with an emphasis on archery, and a tendency to ignore the main quest - or even sidequests - in favor of wandering around the absolutely gorgeous countryside. I'm planning on making a male High Elf sometime in the future, who'll side with the Stormcloaks for major irony points.

Does anybody here play the Ball revamped games? They're fun! Your objective is to get the ball to the goal without touching the walls. The games get harder as they go on, with things like moving walls, power-downs, and walls that need to be destroyed with power ups starts showing up later in the game. I've played all of the Ball revamped games, and they're all fun. So far, I've won the original Ball revamped, Ball revamped 2: Metaphysik, Ball revamped 3: Andromeda, and Ball revamped 4: Amplitude. So far, the only Ball revamped games I haven't finished are Ball revamped 3: Gemini, and Ball revamped 5: Synergy.

Also, if you haven't already found out, I've kinda become a Metroid fan. So far, our family has Metroid, Metroid II: Return of Samus, and Super Metroid. Hoping that we can get Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime soon. We won't be able to get Metroid: Other M or the other Metroid Prime games, though, as they have animated blood in them.