Entertainment from 2005 (Games and Anime)

Originally Posted: Feb 14, 2006 on MySpace

So, looking at the amount of time I spend in front of the TV (or monitor) its no wonder time seems to fly so quickly. I guess I get engrossed pretty easily, so with games and anime being my favorite hobbies since pretty much forever, its no wonder I collect so many and try to engross everyone else into them as well. I've started keeping a little better track of my time, and this gives me a better impression of what I'm doing, and what I'm still missing. I could recommend pretty much every game or anime I've enjoyed this year to at least somebody, but not always the same somebodies. If you want to know more, ask. If you'd like to try it yourself, also ask!

My personal favorites are the ones with the box art.
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VIDEO GAMES (wow, this really doesn't seem like very many for someone who claims to be an avid gamer... in my defense, I suck at RTS so Impossible Creatures took me forever, and I'm still strongly addicted to playing REO2 with the roommates)

Amplitude - I've become more and more of a beatmania game fan over the past couple years and this is a great example why. Shooting your way down a series of popular music tracks is a thumpin' good time!

City of Heroes - I learned my lesson about MMORPGs with EverQuest, but the concept of creating and playing my very own super hero was too tempting. This game is a lot of fun and particularly action based for an ORPG. I'd like to play more, but I know better than to pay monthly when that's about how often I can find the time to commit to it.

Dragon Warrior III - Beating this game completed a missing piece of my childhood. I started the Dragon Warrior series with part one WAAAAAAAAAAY back when, but could never get my hands on III as a kid. This was a great game, if fairly simple by design.

Donkey Konga - The drum based beatmania game featuring not pop music, but even more classic songs. I borrowed this and had a blast, but I think I'm going to have to buy Konga 2 with a second Bongo set...

Doom 3 - A fun run through Mars and Hell with Chris in multi-player mode, but I'm still missing out on the creep factor and actual story from the single player mode. Oh well, I'll get to it. I bought an XBox specifically for this game, after all (though really to co-op it with Chris).

Impossible Creatures - I suck at RTS, I'll admit that, so by about 60% through the game I conceded and just game myself unlimited resources. That eased up the panic about how bad I was doing and really let me enjoy hand crafting my army of said impossible creatures. The unit production for this game is fantastic and the story is really good, too. Strongly recommended, but only if you like RTS to begin with!

Guitar Hero - This game probably gave me the most FUN play experiences of the year. Even getting my butt handed to me by Will in VS mode, rocking out on the guitar controller is a great experience.

Lumines - Music and puzzles and strategy kept me addicted for hours, and also helped keep me sane during the long nights spent working on Revelations.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within - Suddenly the magical world of PoP went goth and heavy metal (and very, very buggy). The game was alright, but nowhere near as good as it was reviewed. The Sands of Time was much better.

Prince of Persia: Revelations - Hard to review it since the only things that made this different from Warrior Within were the pieces I helped put there. Still not as cool as Sands of Time, but undoubtedly the best adventure game to come out on the PSP.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones - THIS was much better. A return to the feel of the SoT with a linear progression to the game and story. This brings the series full circle and wraps up a great trilogy (even managing to forgive WW a couple sour points).

Resident Evil 4 - The dramatic shift in gameplay aside, this was a great action game. I still miss the tension of hording ammo and being forced to flea from enemies I got from the previous REs, but Outbreak gave me more than enough of that in the meantime.

Resident Evil Outbreak File 2 - The game itself lost a little coherence from the first (which was already a step away from the originals) but provided some really cool online experiences that we're still taking advantage of almost a year later. I love it. I love playing it. I just can't really recommend it unless you're going to be playing with us in the first place...

Shadow of the Colossus - This was a spectacular gaming experience for me, and easily the best one I've played this year or for a while previous. Its hard to sell it based on the pacing and the fact that most of the story and essence of the game come from inference and empathy, but this was an astounding game that's going to be among my absolute favorites for years to come.

Space Channel 5 - Groove-a-licious! I never beat the DC version I had, but having borrowed parts 1 and 2 for the PS2, I had to replay this one first. Conceptually simple, but if your sense of rhythm is even slightly off...

Star Wars: Republic Commando - This was a really fun FPS and a great tie in between Episodes II and III. They really sold the Star Wars world and got the players involved in the war.

Viewtiful Joe - Action-o-rific, and just too cool for words! I still really love 2D platformers and this is a perfect example of how awesome they can be. Totally recommended, and an irresistible price!

ANIME
Now that Will, Chris, and I have a regular schedule and need a little something to watch in the evenings, we've been keeping a couple shows on tap.

Abenobashi, Magical Shopping Arcade (13 eps) - I saw a bit of this series and found it so hilarious, I had to buy it. As a Gainax title it does the usual thing of getting pretty introspective at points, but overall stays wacky throughout.

Dokuro-chan (4 eps) - A spoof magical girl series about an angel from the future who has come back on a (rather silly) divine mission and regularly uses her spiked mace, Excaliborg, to maim and kill the main character when he does silly or perverted things before healing him with her magical powers. Hilarious, but you kind of have to know the stereotypical 'magical girl' conventions, which I am ashamed to admit I do.

Eiken (2 eps) - Its been a while since I've seen a show this dedicated to fan service. The point of this show is boobs and how to make them bounce or get wedged against the main character. We almost died laughing trying to watch this. So bad, but so good.

Elfen Lied (13 eps) - Most definitely not for the faint of heart, this gritty scifi focuses on the emergence of a race of mutants with an incredible power and a particularly violent drive to wipe out humans. The story follows one particular mutant who escapes captivity and is taken in by a strange, but kind, family. I love the opening sequence.

(New) Fist of the North Star (3 eps) - The recent OAV of the classic series about the massive martial artist Kenshiro seeking justice in a post apocalyptic earth where the mighty treat on the weak to take what little spoils they can from what is left of civilization.

Full Metal Panic (24 eps) - The concept was fun and cool, and the series started off really strong, but the end kind of seemed forced and particularly mediocre. Thankfully, it had sequels...

Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu (13 eps) - Apparently much closer to the original manga, Fumoffu is a shorter series of typically shorter episodes that are almost spoofs based on the characters. Unbelievably funny!

Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid (13 eps) - Continuing the dramatic storyline from the original series with a much better plot and more Fumoffu-esque humor elements, The Second Raid finishes off the series with a bang!

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (movie) - An excellent sequel to the first movie and though still a bit convoluted, its not as out of the blue introspective as it was.

Giant Robo (7 eps) - I finally got to see the rest of this classic, and although I have to admit it was cheesy, it was really cool! The super power secret agents and villains and giant robots were all entertaining!

Happy Lesson OAV (3 eps) - This is a really weird form of one guy in an all female cast series. The main character lives with his five female teachers (who are barely older than him, and one is even younger) that are all acting as his surrogate mothers competitively. Really strange and funny.

Howl's Moving Castle (movie) - As a Miyazaki film, the sense of wonder and adventure that come with this movie should be without saying. This is a beautiful fairytale of love and magic.

Interstella 5555 (movie of 14 music videos) - Effectively the movie of strung together music videos to the Daft Punk album, Discovery, directed by Leiji Matsumoto, famous for Galaxy Express and Captain Harlock. This was awesome!

Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (13 eps) - I saw this show was rated highly so I got a hold of it and started it blindly. It started out so stereotypical and mushy that I was tempted to let it go as a fluke, but then episode two ended and the series really began. The first two out of this 13 episode series are a setup before real world drama comes in and kicks its teeth in. This has to be the most human and touching drama I've seen in years.

Love Hina (28 eps, 2 movies) - I may have seen it before, but I had to watch it again after helping Will finish his DVD collection. The wacky tales of a failing student trying to get into college who takes over as manager for an all girl dormitory from his grandmother. The absolute silliness and adorable characters make this a fun show to watch all the way through the movies.

Magical Play - A very charming series of almost individual comedic shorts about the magical world where magical girls are trained and compete for the privileged of fighting evil and righting wrongs on distant worlds. I didn't realize until we were finished with the series, but it was by the same director as El-Hazard and Tenchi Muyo, two of my old favorite animes.

Miami Guns (13 eps) - This series brings to mind the crazy capers of Dirty Pair, so its a lot of fun. Not fantastic, but a good show.

Puni Puni Poemi (2 eps) - The wild and crazy OAV spinoff from Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemi is a fast action, faster dialogued magical girl spoof that pokes fun at just about everything, including itself.

Read or Die (3 eps) - A really awesome series about an organization of unusual super spies trying to stop super soldier historical figures from enacting a mad plot against humanity. This show was great, and the super powers they used in it were a lot of fun!

Vandread (26 eps) - Again, though I watched it when I first bought it, I had a blast re-watching this space sci-fi adventure with the roommates. The pacing and energy of the series are really strong and even though it was on the verge of being a 'harem' anime, all the characters were well developed and not stereotypically after the main character.

Voices of a Distant Star (short movie) - This was a short, and not terribly high budget, but a very touching movie on its own. It struck kind of close to home as a story about a love so far separated by distance and war. I really liked it.