Jeff's Gaming Blog

This blog has primarily been used to talk about the games I’ve been playing, and telling of the progress I’ve made in those games. But when I’m playing a certain game for weeks or months, there hasn’t always been a lot of variety in the blog posts. But now I’m planning to occasionally revisit an older game, discuss it, and sometimes include a gameplay video along with it. The extra variety should make this blog more interesting to read on a regular basis. This time, I’m going to revisit Smuggler’s Run: Warzones for GameCube.

It’s a vehicle-based action game from Rockstar Games. It doesn’t seem to be a very well known game, at least on GameCube. There were also two Smuggler’s Run games on PlayStation 2, although I haven’t played those. At any rate, the main story mode has 36 missions, most of which involve picking up and delivering contraband while avoiding cops. The pick-up and drop-off points will often be indicated by colored smoke.

You can choose from a variety of off-road vehicles. In some missions, you will have some computer-controlled allies who will help you out. You can even choose which vehicles they will drive.

But my favorite missions are the ones where you have to chase down and destroy another vehicle. You’ll ram into them, try to knock them into obstacles, and hopefully flip their vehicles over. Their vehicles have a health meter, so you can tell how well you’re doing. It’s definitely satisfying when you flip and destroy that car.

The game also has some fun multiplayer modes. If you ever see this game in the bargain bin for a good price, you should pick it up and give it a try. It’s a fun, overlooked game that would make a nice addition to anyone’s GameCube library.

Check out my Smuggler’s Run: Warzones review or view a gameplay video right here:

I decided to give Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate another try tonight. This time I tried a different weapon: the switch axe.

I grabbed some items out of the chest at camp (which I didn’t know I could do last time) and then I made my way to the Lagombi. I didn’t fool around with the other animals this time. This weapon is quite heavy and very slow to swing; your character doesn’t attack the instant you press the attack button. Still, I was getting some good hits in, and avoiding the Lagombi when I could. I was using potions to refill my health and I thought I was doing well.

One thing that gets really annoying is when you’re fighting near the points where one area leads to another. If you get pushed through, you have to wait for the game to load the new area, then head back where you came from, and watch the loading screen again. The loading time isn’t very long, but when it keeps happening over and over, it really disrupts the flow of the battle. And you can’t really tell exactly where each area ends, either.

Anyway, I thought I was doing good when I saw the “10 minutes remaining” warning. Still battling, I later saw the “5 minutes remaining” warning. I knew I had to hurry up, so I tried to be more aggressive. I was hoping to get another warning when it was down to two minutes, or at least one, but no. Time ran out. I didn’t die once the whole time. I didn’t fool around. I went right to the battle and fought hard, and there still wasn’t enough time. Not cool.

I decide to quickly give it another try with a different weapon. If short-range weapons don’t work, I thought I’d try a long-range weapon: the heavy bowgun.

I quickly realized I’d made a huge mistake. You can’t fight a quick rabbit with this slow thing. Even if you try from a distance, you’re going to miss or the Lagombi will quickly charge at you. And that’s what it did. It killed me quickly. It was clear I wasn’t going to beat him with this weapon, so I just went down by the river to watch the glaciers go by and do a little fishing.

At any rate, I can safely say I have no plans of buying Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. In a way, I can see the appeal of it. But it clearly requires a large investment of time put into it before it starts getting good. By the descriptions of some of the items, you can tell it has a lot of depth. You can make traps for the animals, you can go fishing, you can sharpen your weapons. But it’s really not the type of game well suited to a demo–especially a demo without a tutorial. I wouldn’t turn the game down if I received it as a gift, but I’m not eager to shell out $60 for it either.

Pre-order Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate at Amazon.com