My Gaming has been a little quiet this summer, I suppose that is the norm what with the nicer weather and a much more hectic social calendar to juggle.


I've got by though ;)


A few months back After Burner Climax was a nice treat. One of my favourite arcade games of yesteryear and an unforgettable soundtrack helped me relive my childhood with a few extra bells and whistles of course. A fantastic addition to my slowly growing XBLA collection.




Managing to avoid the pull of Red Dead Redemption (it can wait, I only completed GTAIV not so long ago), the rest of the summer saw me picking a out a few bargains.


Mass Effect 2 took me a couple of months to slowly plod through, having not played the first ME game the story was a little baffling to begin with but the production values really are superb as well as the story, typically for Bioware. The 30 hour game makes it a little shorter than KOTOR and a fraction of Oblivion's size, but ME2 is the greater spectacle not least due to the well polished real-time combat scenes.


I've just started Batman Arkham Asylum which also seems as equally polished as ME2 and a welcome tribute to such a mainstream licence. 


I also picked up Street Fighter IV from a bargain bin. A very well made remake of one of the most successful (and one of my most fondest) games ever. Of course the key to longevity (which was the same for SFII) is getting involved in multiplayer sessions, either with your mates or via Live. 


Other than that I have naturally made use of the occasional LOTRO free weeks. I'm basically stuck now until I can level a couple of times, as the final quest of Volume 2 Book 9 is sadly level gated. LOTRO becomes free to play next month, so looking forward to that.


I also ordered Metal Gear Solid : Peacewalker on eBay for my PSP for when I go on holiday next week. It is not very often a truly great game comes out for the PSP, so I had to grab it and looking forward to playing my first ever MGS game.


Later next month also sees F1 2010 released, a much anticipated game for me, but more about that in my next post...