Latest Game Purchases #19

Here we are, with my very first game purchases for the year 2012. Some pretty cheap buys here, especially on the PS2 games but I found some good deals all across the board.

I bought Guitar Hero II on the PS2 back in 2007, complete with the guitar controller. I've been wanting to pick up the original Guitar Hero for some time now but all new prices for it were $40 or more. It figures that when the series fizzled out that I'd find a used copy and for less than $5.99. Guess I'll be breaking out that guitar controller somewhere down the line.

More Guitar Hero goodness with Encore Rock the 80s, what I believe to be the series first side game. The whole concept of an 1980s based Guitar Hero games was great in it's own right. What wasn't great was the original $50 asking price that Activsion stamped on that sucker. As much as I wanted to play that game, there was no way I was gonna drop 50 clams for it. It also didn't have as much content as Guitar Hero II, which from what I've read, also hurt the game. The $4.99 price I found it for was far more reasonable.

When I went to my friend Brandon's place back in Ohio, we'd play the 360 version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and it was a whole lot of fun. At $2.99 this was the cheapest of the three Guitar Hero games I picked up. It'll be nice to play this game again as I loved the song selection.

Despite not being a huge Dance Dance Revolution freak, I do like this series. The last DDR game I picked up was the first DDR Max (DDR Max 2 was my first DDR). Since DDR Extreme was only $4.99 and I remember wanting to buy this game a few years back but not wanting to pay the full price, now was probably the lowest I'd see the game sell for. It was also the store's last copy.

Excite Truck was one of the earlier Wii games and I know it wasn't met with much acclaim but I'd been meaning to pick the game up and try it out for myself. For $8.99, this was a bit of a no brainer. Being a big fan of the Excite series, it's easy to get my attention focused on any racer with the word "Excite" in front of it.

I've only played No More Heroes for a few hours, but I really like it. It's a shame both it and it's sequel, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle have not sold well. Shortly after the game came out, the price was already cut. At most places, you can find Desperate Struggle selling for $19.99 brand new. GameStop has it for even less at $12.99 new. I ended up getting it used for a little less than that. I really do need to finish the first No More Heroes.

It's nice to see Rayman return in his own game and back to his platforming roots, no less. Rayman Origins has been getting glowing reviews but even before the press gave their take on this game, I was stoked about it months ago after reading a nice lengthy preview in an issue of Nintendo Power. From what I've heard, the game is the same across all three platforms, it just has higher resolution graphics on the PS3 and 360, but if a Wii is all you've got, you still shouldn't pass on this one just because it's only in 480p. I picked this up brand new at GameStop, where it's only $29.99. Considering, it's going for $50 everywhere else, that's a pretty good deal.

Finally, I bought Retro Game Challenge at fye. It was on sale for $13.99. I vaguely remember hearing about this game. The plot is amusing. You get sucked into an 80s gaming world and to survive, you have to finish all the games. Not an original plot, but an entertaining one, none the less. Since Sonic Colors on the DS is slow going with me, I'll probably open this one up and start it out real soon.