I'm sure some of you have noticed the Summer Gaming fever running around rfgen and racketboy. It got me too!!

Here is the list I'm currently attempting to complete before the summer is over:

1. Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (Wii)
2. Vay (Sega CD)
3. Super Mario Sunshine (GCN)
4. Wario Land (VB)
5. Battletoads/Double Dragon (SNES)
6. Panzer Dragoon (Sat)
7. Kung Fu (NES)
8. Gex (3DO)
9. FFVIII (PS)
10. FFXII (PS2)

I wanted to make sure I got a good variety of systems included in there and I think I achieved that. Genre-wise there are quite a few Platformers and RPGs, but also a couple shooters and a beat em'up.

First game I crossed off the list was Kung Fu. I had about an hour to kill and decided to finally sit down with it for more than 5 minutes. Turns out it didnt take much longer than that to finish it off. Even had time to finish it on Mode A and B. Was decent, but not something I'd go back to often. Might be a fun one to try with the U-Force controller though so I should give that a try some day.

Next game to go down was Super Mario Sunshine. I tried playing it many years ago and got about 30 stars in when I gave up on it. I was more determined to beat it this time though. I found the lack of direction very frusterating. Luckily after mentioning it over at racketboy one of the members let me in on a secret...... In order to get to the last level you have to beat the seventh star in each level. Why wouldnt they ever point that out at some point during the game? I spent a lot more time than I should have on this title by collecting Blue Coins and stars in Delfino Plaza. I expected some event to trigger when I got X amount of stars. I found the lack of long jump to make the game feel sluggish compared to any other 3D mario I've played also. The platorming was basically non-existant thanks to the hover nozzle on your back pack. The music, setting, enemies, missions all felt out of place for a Mario game. And to top it off the camera had some major issues depending of the type of mission and level I was playing.

Really wasnt a fan if you cant tell. At least its over and done with now though. I dont have to be curious any longer.

Right now I'm around 16 hours into FFXII. At first I wasnt really enjoying the battle or levelling systems. Somewhere along the way though they have grown on me a bit. I am enjoying the story and characters (with the exception of the main character) and that is mostly what is motivating me to keep plugging away at it. I continously find myself getting lost and having no idea where to go or doing something unnecessary (like grinding in order to fight a boss that turned out to be optional). While a bit frusterating I'm finding my party is quite overpowered because of it, so when I eventually find my way I can rocket ahead.

Once I'm done FFXII I'll probably dive into FFVIII. In the mean time I havnt decided if I should start Gex, Sin & Punishment, or Panzer Dragoon to go along with FFXII. Any suggestions?

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