A video game for ME!

This past weekend, Mike and I made a trip to Best Buy. Mike's old wireless router was on its last leg, so we decided to upgrade the connectivity in the house. But when we go to Best Buy, we don't get what we need until right before we leave.

If you know Mike, you know he likes his video games. Not overly so, but he loves some of the old classics you can now play on your PC, and I know they serve as an escape from academia. He has suggested in the past that I, too, try a game for myself.

You see, i've tried this in the past. The Sims. Roller Coaster Tycoon. I played them for about a week, if even that, and I never touched them again. As fun as it sounds or looks, I lose interest and waste the $30 on the game.

Well, this weekend, we browsed the PC game section - just to see if something popped out at me. Mike brought over a box and said, "How about this one?" It was a game I had actually picked up several times before. It was a horror, graphic adventure game called Scratches.


It has been hard for me to find a game I will actually shell out the money to play. I won't play anything where I have to shoot people, animals, aliens, whatever. I'm not shooting anything. I don't want to play any complex racing game where you have to destroy thousands of dollars of property or pick up hookers to advance levels. I just want to think. To move around, have some fun, and think about things. Pen (or keyboard) over the sword, if you will.

Scratches looked like it fit the bill. I bought it, brought it home, and once I laid out the ground rules (don't tell me what to do, don't tell me all the answers, don't say "here, let me do it"), Mike and I were ready to go. I knew Mike would give me full reign on the game, I just wanted to make sure ;-)

Oh my gosh. It is FUN. It is way creepy, pretty challenging, and it is exactly the type of game for me. It has suspense, a great storyline and no shooting. Yeah! I must admit, the graphics, the sounds and the story get me a bit creeped out at times. In fact, I am writing this blog entry rather than playing the game because Mike is out to dinner with a group of prospective grad students. It's 10pm, and I am afraid I will get too creeped out playing by myself. ha! I'll wait for my sweetie to get home. He may not tell me what to do in the game, but he gives great clues and ideas. And he keeps the monsters away.