Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Apparently, this game doesn't want me to finish it...

Some time ago, I was playing X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, until the game refused to let me fight the final battle. I don't know if the disc was bad, or the file on the memory card corrupted, but it quit and that was that. Then, over the weekend, I hit up a local pawn shop for DVD's. I swear I was actually looking for something specific, something I thought said pawn shop would have...no idea what, though.

But, the Oldest wanted a couple PS2 games, and had saved some. Then the guys there offered some overstock PS2 10 for 10 bucks. Fine, sold. Among other nonsense, there was a copy of Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death, which like many of the games I buy, probably isn't amazing but will be good enough for me. And, I bought a new X-Men Legends II, which I've been playing when I should be blogging or something. I used some cheats, since I played my way through most of the game already...and now it's locked up twice on me today. I'm starting to suspect my frankly ancient PS2 now.

Fortunately, I did a good bit of reading before getting these games and devoting all my time to them: I read Greg Cox's novelization of Infinite Crisis. Which I got for a couple bucks in Borders' closeout sale, which is the only reason I gave it a try, because I didn't really like it any more than I had expected I would. (Which, I should underline, is not Cox's fault, but the state of DC's comics at the time.) In case you've forgotten, and I wouldn't blame you, this was the one with Superman from Earth-2, Superboy-Prime, Brother Eye and the OMAC's--which should be a band, right now--and our Superman as uninspiring and indecisive, Batman as a control freak who has lost control of his giant evil satellite, and Wonder Woman as a murderer on a mission of peace.

Frankly, I thought it was a bit of a trainwreck, and reading it reminded me I really haven't liked a lot of DC's superheroes since the end of Identity Crisis--I maintain, I was expecting a murder mystery that made a damn bit of sense; and that wasn't what that book was going for at all. But, the upside of reading Infinite Crisis is that it really sold me on the idea of the DC reboot. Seriously. The novel convinces you that tossing a ton of continuity out the window is absolutely not the worst thing in the universe.

In better reading news, I'm in the middle of Ralph Steadman's The Joke's Over, a memoir of his life and work with Hunter S. Thompson. Enjoying the hell out of it. And I read Darwyn Cooke's adaptation of Richard Stark's Parker: the Outfit. Even without reading the first book, you'll pick it up, and it's a solid read. I don't know if I enjoyed it as much as the New Frontier, but still good.

3 comments:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

You're not alone w/ problems w/ X-Men Legends 2 Goo; I too had the game freeze up on me right when I'm in the temple of Apocalypse. My memory card was fine, but I think it was either my PS2(which was re-furbished at the time, but still practically brand new) or the disk itself. I'm leaning towards the game disk, or game itself having massive flaws/defects.

Especially since you're having the same problems but w/ a different disk. Maybe your PS2 is to blame; how long have you had yours?

But I share your frustration because just when it was getting good, and I was all set to face Apocy, wham, freeze effect!

As for IC and InfCr making a case for a reboot, yeah it would lean that way when Didio and crew write the situations that lead to that clusterfuck of a world, and totally mis-write the characters to such a degree they're hardly recognizable.

I wish they had just given them the same reboot they've given them now, since the DCU really needed it back, as opposed to this now-previous one not needing it at all.

Crap like this is why I no longer buy comics, well that and the prices, but you get my drift.

googum said...

How old is my PS2? I may have to saw it open and count the rings...suffice it to say, old.

For some reason, when I started reading Infinite Crisis the novel, I thought it was going to be Final Crisis. That was a little disappointing, since I've read some or most of IC out of the quarter boxes, but not FC. Really hope DC does a moratorium on Crisis for a while.

chiasaur11 said...

I got The Outfit just recently myself.

2.50 at a closing Borders. Man. Darwyn Cooke draws good.