We’ve all had it happen before; a tricky level we just can’t seem to get the hang off, a puzzle that doesn’t seem to have any solution, a boss that seems nigh invincible.  Sometimes we hurl controllers across the room, taking out our frustration on our poor walls.  Sometimes we just curse under our breath and turn the power off, refusing to even acknowledge our seething anger.  More often than not, the game in question will end up in a dusty, forgotten pile, never to be looked at again.

sometimes, though, we can’t forget about them.  We feel them calling to us, mocking us; forcing us to never forget our failures and taunting us to try and overcome them.  These games are our nemeses – the games that haunt us.

For me, one title in particular comes to mind instantly: Panzer General 2.

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As cold as it seems here in Baltimore at 12 degrees, looking at the weather map shows it down to -40 in Minneapolis, so suddenly things don’t seem so bad.  On the final dungeon of Persona 4 right now, though I feel like I have failed to sufficiently max out several key social links; I chalk this up to poor planning on my part.  The game remains incredibly solid through and through, and is reason enough for anyone to dust off their PS2. On the PC side of things, I’ve loaded up good ol’ Panzer General 2, which continues to challenge me after all these years.  My TF2 map has been on hold for most of the week due to lack of time, so that 4 month timeframe suddenly seems annoyingly plausible.

-Joel

Due to the complete lack of efficient heat in my home, it appears my brain has completely been frozen over, and as such I haven’t been able to devote as much time to Persona as I’d like to.  Given my need to have a gaming experince that doesn’t require much thinking, I’ve turned to the old standby, the first person shooter.  I’ve been spending the better part of the week plugging through F.E.A.R., Far Cry 2, and (the not-actually-first-person-but-close-enough) Gears 2.  While they’ve all been great at passing the time, none of them have been particularly engrossing, with Far Cry being the worst of the bunch.  I’m still working on the original Prince of Persia on XBLA as well, in preparation for a “then and now” piece I’m writing on the series, but I’m stymied by the game’s completely brutal difficulty.  Finally, I dug in the bargin bin this week and nabbed a copy of Skate, and while i think my skater’s broken enough bones to be put in traction several times over, I personally have been having a blast putting him there.

-Jeff