Game along with the Geek: X-Blades 3rd post

It's not really fair to call this this "third day" with "X-Blades" post, since I've had to play it so sporadically, but this is the third post, for those of you still trying to "Game along" with this very tardy Geek.

Coincidentally, since this is the third post, after last night I would say I am about 75% done with the game. And actually, this third quarter of play was the most fun. Remember last post when I was talking about a one-hour of play limitation? Last night I played for a good hour and a half without realizing it, and only stopped when I noticed it was 4:30 a.m. and the alarm was set for 8.

Why was this third quarter of the game that much better, you ask? Good question. Believe it or not, this late in the game, "X-Blades" is suddenly NOT so repetitive. No longer is is simply "hack-slash-earthquake spell-hack-slash." Beginning with — again, ironically — that dark elemental I left off with after last post, the game really forces you to develop a variety of magics.

How will you be able to develop so many spells with costs so high, you ask? Another good question. Unlike our own current sad economic state, the economy in "X-Blades'" third quarter is BOOMING. Somehow, all those same villains you've been killing for so long are suddenly giving off an abundant amount of souls. After carefully using my funds for most of the game, I am suddenly buying every spell in sight, and I still have over a million more souls to spend.

And that's important, since those insanely long battles with hordes and hordes of demons have become just a little more cerebral in this section of the game. Fireball, Lightball and Ice Arrow spells are no longer interchangeable, you'll need to use specific spells to beat some people.

And my personal favorite new spell is the "Through Strike," which is simply the teleportation spell, only you attack while moving through space. I've been button mashing on that spell like crazy in melees, since it not only hurts demons but it also makes it tougher to hit you — especially those annoying sorcerer poe things flying around.

But at no time are your spells more important than when fighting this new blue wolf. Not only will you need to use the power of ice, fire and light before you can get some shots in on the wolf, but sometimes he is protected by, and connected to, 50 or so demons that you will need to freeze with your wide-ranging ice spell and then kill with earthquake before you can hurt him. While I'm sure part of this battle can be fought using those cheap special spell blades, there is still a tremendous emphasis on your projectile spells. So learn them!

And finally, as it turns out, the wolf is not the biggest of the big baddies in this game after all, it's your blue-haired friend who, empowered by the dark side (thank you Anakin), suddenly looks like the Shredder. All he needed was to say "Tonight I dine on Turtle Soup."

So, I would have to say I still have a quarter of this game to go, as I am about to go hunt down the Shredder inside a castle, but I have to tell you folks, this game has definitely taken it up a notch.

I still don't get the need for the assless chaps.