Why PS+ Should Be An Essential Purchase For PS3 Owners

If you own a PS3 and don't have PS+ then you are  missing out, PS+ is the on thing that Sony does right that Microsoft really should try to emulate. PS+ gives you a range of  free items each month, this can be anything from games, themes and avatars which are yours as long as you subscribe, as well as discounts on other items on the PSN store. I know a lot of people say that sometimes there isn't anything that they want the odd month here and there, but for £40 a year you get a lot of bang for your bucks. (Especially when you compare it with an xbox live subscription that only lets you play online, chat and message people on your friends list)

Another argument is that as soon as you stop paying your subscription you lose the ability to play the free games you downloaded. Yet when your live subscription runs out you get nothing either, it's subscription based for a reason and that's so you keep paying Sony money for a service that is actually pretty good.

This month alone you get the following free PS3 games.

• Awesomenauts 
• Hamsterball 
• Wakeboarding HD
• Mahjong Tiles
• Sky Fighter
• Ricochet HD
• Mushroom Wars
• Magic Orbz
• Smash Cars
• Silent Hill (PSone Classic)
• Max Payne (PS2 Classic)
• Velocity (Mini)
• LA Gridlock (Mini)

The normal combined price of these games comes to £94.32, then you have the free Themes and Avatar's which normally sell for £4.23 so that's a total saving of £98.55 on all the content, minus what you actually pay per month and it works out you have got all those for only £3.33 a month.Ok I know that this month is a really good month for Plus users, and some months we only get about 5-6 games. (Some of which suck ass) Yet can you really argue with paying so little for a good deal? That isn't including the discounts you get on other items on the store by being a plus member. Then add to this that you can download the games to two separate consoles as well and the deal gets even better.

I realise this may seem like it has just turned into an advert for Plus; yet it is just a me as a fellow gamer trying to let other games know just why in my opinion you should get something worthwhile. The fact that Sony paid me a wad of cash to write this and advertise Plus has nothing to do with it all. :p

My Top 5...er 6 Koei Games

Last night I was looking at some of my games and started to think about some of the great games I have played and what my top 5 would be from each developer. So here we go with a run down of my top 6 (Really couldn't stick to 5 games) Koei games that I have played over the years, all in no particular order of course.

This could have quite easily have been any of the Warriors Orochi games, as I enjoyed all of them roughly the same. I know a lot of people will say it's just Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors combined, but I think that the Orochi series is a lot more than just that. Sure adding the ability to swap between a choice of three characters on the fly is the main difference to this and the other DW/SW games.Yet the story-lines and slightly different gameplay make this a refreshing change from the DW series which was starting to stagnate and helped breathe new life into the game genre.

The only bad thing I can say about Orochi 3 is that you don't have to grind the levels so much to achieve 100% completion in other games, this could be due to the new Tecmo-Koei merger which seems to have resulted in making games easier in the hopes of appealing to the mass market that normally shuns them.

Crimson Sea is one game I stumbled across by accident while looking for something to play, I saw the box art and the reasonable price and thought it was worth the gamble. (To think I nearly bought Enter The Matrix instead *Shudder) Luckily for me I ended up getting an enjoyable game that played  like a cross between an adventure game than the hack n slash gameplay that Koei is known for today. The visuals probably look dated quite a bit today, yet back in 2003 the game was very easy on the eye.

The game sold well enough to receive a sequel that I remember wasn't as much fun as the first game, (although it was still a good game in it's own right) and even stranger was a PS2 exclusive. I say strange because a lot of people with a PS2 probably won't have played the first game, so probably skipped over getting the sequel as a result.

Samurai Warriors 2 may seem like an odd choice to some people especially with there being a third game out, but then when you realise the third game only came out on the Wii in the UK then it's off little surprise that the 2nd game has taken this spot.

Samurai Warriors 2 came out at just the right time for me as I started to get bored of the crap games being released on the 360 at the time. (Games like The Outfit, Rumble Roses XX and the yearly sports updates) Samurai Warriors 2 basically just took the Dynasty Warriors and added little things to make it a worth while update and fun to play. One of the things that really set it apart though is the desktop style board game included, (which was quite a strange inclusion as it really wasn't something I expected) which saw you competing against four opponents for gold. Thinking about it I may have to give the game a whirl again sometime soon.

What can be said about the latest Dynasty Warriors game; I know I should have really included an Empires version in my list, yet it's the main series that really got me hooked onto this style of game. (Strangely though I didn't like the first game in the series, yet really enjoyed the 2nd although they seemed near enough identical)

I think one of the main things I enjoy is that the characters are based on real people that lived thousands of years ago and their legend lives on today. Not only in games though, but also through films and books that are still being made and written. Number 7 though has to be the best in the series so far, taking all the best bits of the other games and improving on them.

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce took the DW series and transformed it into a  different experience by trying to replicate a few different games by adding a central hub for between quests for leveling up weapons and crafting items.  Essentially it kind of feels like an MMO with the hub being used to select missions and giving you the chance to party up with other gamers to complete your Quest....er stage.

I really didn't play the game as much as I should have done due to outside issues like shitty internet, but when I did manage to get online I have to say I enjoyed the experience and was amazed at how smoothly the game ran with all the enemies on screen at once.

Now quite a few of you will be looking at this wondering just what the crap this game is doing here, and to be honest with you it would seem like a strange choice to me if it wasn't for the fact that the game was pretty addictive to play. Back in the days of the Amiga 500 I like many used to go round to the local car boot and buy the latest games that had been pirated.

Romance is a strategy game that sees you trying to gain control of all of China, this was done by developing land, paying taxes and invading other provinces.It sound's pretty boring but like I said it was strangely addictive and I used to play it sporadically for hours on end. To be honest though I can't really remember 100% if I owned the first or second game, looking at the release dates though I am pretty sure it was the second game in the series.

Mystic Heroes reminds me of a Dynasty Warriors game for younger kids, I think it got it's teen rating just because you have at other people with swords and other weapons. (Game ratings started to get a bit more stricter after the shock horror of  GTA on the original Playstation sent the nation into an uproar) Either way I tested the game before playing it with my 5 year old son, luckily though he managed to contain himself from rampaging round town attacking people with a broom handle. 

Thinking about it now the game was alright but not amazing, it could be that because it was one of the first games that me and my son played together where he didn't suck, and that's why it sticks out in my mind and awarded it a place on this list, then again that could be what makes some games seem more fun when you think about them. 

So there you go, that's my top 6 Koei games maybe I should do a list of my least favourite Koei games next, including some of the dodgy games below....

These games suck, especially Gundam and Fatal Inertia

My (Reduced) Gaming Habits

It's a strange time for me in my life as a gamer, sure I am still playing quite often and snatching an hour or 2 here and there to game. Yet I tend to get bored quite a bit lately or will put a game in and then just leave it on the main menu and go and do something else; returning an hour or so after only to turn the system back off. Then add to this that my fiancee is heavily pregnant and I have to watch that she doesn't start to feel neglected by the amount of time I spend gaming when I get in from work, then balance that with spending time with my son at the weekend and it's surprising how much little time I have for my hobby that used to take up most of my day.

Yet still I recently purchased a new 360 despite there only being a few games on it that I wanted to play since most games these days are multi-format with the exception of a few system exclusives. The games I wanted a new 360 for where Gears and the Sega Saturn classic Guardian Heroes; other than these it was so that the 100+ xbox 360 games I already own were available for me to play when I felt like it. (Some of which I had purchased again since my last 360 died for the PS3 that I really enjoyed playing)

Since Friday I have spent about 5 hours re-downloading my purchases from xbox live to my new console and messing with my router; since the 360 decided to keep disconnecting from live every 20 minutes or so for some strange reason. Then there has been the time I spent downloading Guardian Heroes and the 3 minutes I spent playing it before realising I just really can't be arsed playing it at the moment. I have spent quite a bit of time on Gears 3 playing Horde mode with randoms that seem to enjoy playing for about 5-10 waves then quitting like little bitches, or playing with noobs that want you to help them up when they are downed yet ignore you when it's you that needs the favour returning. (Which is a pretty fucking dumbass move since its a team game)

I also popped Call of Duty 2 into my 360 and invited some of my xbox live buddies into an online game to take the piss as they were all playing Modern Warfare 3. Surprisingly enough they didn't join so I ended up playing against a random that was still playing the game online (after the 6 years or soof the game first coming out on the 360) and managed to beat him. I like to imagine that he is sat in a locked room in the middle of Alaska or somewhere eagerly awaiting another opponent that will play against him as it is the only game that he possesses; and that by joining and beating his ass (5 rounds to 1) I helped to brighten up his day.

So that is what I have been playing since Friday last week until last night, I still need to finish up Warriors Orochi 3 and grind out the last few bits before the baby gets here. Then there is still Final Fantasy XIII to finish and XIII-2 to start along with a host of other games. Oh and start to play Guardian Heroes since it was one of the main reasons why I bought the 360 in the first place in-between a bit more of Gears 3 campaign and Horde mode. Add to that all the other games that have been downloaded to my PS3 or 360 from the PSN or XBLA and the retail games I seem to purchase just to stack on my shelf means I have quite a bit of gaming to do.

So I guess the race is on to play as much as I can before my already shrinking gaming time diminishes even further with random feeding times, crying and shitty nappies taking over my already hectic household. Still I would take just a few hours of gaming a week and the life I have rather than return to how my life used to be. Lets face it my life is pretty sweet and I am more than happy with the way things are going, Plus I will always have time for gaming as my missus quite enjoys the peace and quiet of me playing something while she watches her soaps. :)