Struggling To Move Forward.

Demon's Souls still sits, unplayed, on the top of a stack of PS3 games into which I have yet to delve.

It is extremely frustrating, and it mirrors my inability to write lately. I have so many games I want to play, so many things I want to talk about, so many ideas for directions for the blog. And yet, school and life keep getting in the way of a good solid gaming session, and a good blogging session.

Not only that, when I do get a free moment, it ususally ends up getting usurped by NHL 10, which I've played to an obscene degree (it is as good as I'd hoped it would be). Or, my new obsession, Strat-o-Matic Hockey. We won't go there.

Oh, and I did manage to finish Uncharted, the most cinematic game I've ever played. "Drake's Theme" really drove that feeling home every time I fired up the game. Sorta excited for Uncharted 2, but again, this requires me to dig myself out from under that giant pile of unplayed games.

With exams looming in a month's time (less, actually), I fear I won't have as much of an opportunity to write as I'd like. I do have a mini-reviews thing that's in the draft stages, however, it's just a matter of me sitting down to properly finish the reviews, or in some cases, the games I'm reviewing.

It is not a lack of things, but a glut, that has prevented a move forward.

This weekend I am going to try and post some mini-reviews, and maybe, maybe, some impressions.

In the meantime, I've been playing Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrows. I had a game in progress, but then, as is my custom, I got distracted by something else and forgot about it. In the tradition of many other gamers of my ilk, I decided to restart from scratch. I dabbled in the GBA's Circle of the Moon, and I straight out gobbled up Dawn of Sorrow's sequel, Portrait of Ruin, but something about the Metroidvania style that's become so prevalent in the series lately rubs me the wrong way, especially considering Super Castlevania IV is my choice for best game in the franchise.

Dawn of Sorrow is a really solid platformer, with some neat concepts thrown in (and it's nice to have a break from the "Charlotte! Jonathan! Charlotte! Jonathan!" back and forth character switching gimmick from Portrait of Ruin). The touch-screen "draw the seal" mechanic is a bit difficult to do on the fly in a game where you're primarily using the directional pad and buttons.

There's something to be said for games that encourage some free-roaming exploration, but I find more often than not I get frustrated because I can't remember the places I need to go back to once I find the item I needed to access them. Maybe I'm overly nostalgic, but I'd really like a throwback, no-frills, level-based Castlevania game. Every other fucking game is getting a retro-remake! I guess Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth could be that game, but I don't have high hopes, given that the original Castlevania: The Adventure was a boring and rather awful Game Boy game.

Note to Konami: Let whichever Belmont is in charge this time around flick his whip in eight directions again! Why would you introduce such an enjoyable, heralded mechanic, only to remove it in every (as far as I know) subsequent game?

Alright, Demon's Souls tonight, dammit. Tonight!