Random thoughts

So i am driving down the road today (where i do some of my best and most random thinking) and two things came to my mind.

One if you want a quick trip to the mental hospital, here is a Pro-Tip. Sit on the side of a major highway in just your underwear and pet a dead animal like it is your best friend. 

Second, why hasn't Uno Rush come out for LIVE Arcade? They tease us with this new game like a year ago (ok more like 6 months i guess). How long can it possibly take to craft an Uno game? I mean, you already had all the foundation laid with the first one. Slap on a new coat of paint, drop in the new gimmick, and push it out to the public. Now the official write up on the Xbox home page has a date of TBD. Which means either they aren't doing it anymore and don't want to tell us. Or they have no earthly idea when it will either be done or through certification.  Well poop on you. I'll go back to shooting Nazis...

Mirror's Edge

I am sure this is pretty much what the designers had running (no pun intended) through their collective heads when they were working on this game. 

Left 4 Dead

So i don't think this needs to be said but this game is amazing. Hey have you heard that yet from anyone out there in the gaming press... no, well let me elaborate. 

This game throws you in the shoes of one of four "survivors" after the Zombie Apocalypse has occurred. Your job is pretty simple, and the game lays it out for you right from the start, "Stay together to survive." Yeah that is pretty much it. Make it through 4 movies/missions/chapters and get rescued at the end of each. If you can keep all three of your friends alive in the process, even better.

Playing alone is fine, the bots can handle themselves, sometimes better than you can. They rarely miss and hardly ever get beat down so bad they need YOU to help them. However, you will rely on THEM quite a bit. You will be beaten, trampled, and dragged to almost certain Zombie doom over and over again, and you will love every minuet of it. 

Playing with three other friends is where this game becomes golden brown. You and your buddies take on the roles of the four zombie slayers on a mission to get the heck outta Dodge. Still you NEED to stick together. Run to far ahead, or lag to far behind, and you will be in serious trouble. Especially in the final stage of each movie when your rescue boat/plane/tank gets there and about eleventy billion zombies are all biting at your heels literally. 

Once you get tired of the story mode, you can play a versus match. This also is where the game shines. Now instead of playing as a survivor, you get to play as one of the "Special" infected. 

There is the "Smoker", who uses his extendo-tounge and drags people away from their buddies to their death. He sounds like a 3 pack a day smoker that has just run a marathon.

Then there is the "Hunter". Able to leap around, move very fast, and will pounce on unknowing civilians and attack them with lethal blows until they stop moving. Always lurking in the shadows... Sounds like someone that is having really bad night tremors. 

Next we have the "Boomer". He is just a big bloated, festering corpse. Full of god knows what, and ready to throw it up all over you. When he does yack on you, beware. The horde now smells you like a pregnant lady smells ... well anything really. Also if you get to be the unlucky one to shoot the Boomer in the wrong spot, he will explode all that foulness on you as well. This guy sounds much like every stereotypical fat man in every movie you have ever seen. 

Last but not least is the "Tank". Just like the name would suggest, he is a huge beast that is very strong and hard to take down. No need for finesse with him, just smash everything in your path until it is a bloody pulp. Moves slow, attacks slow, but packs a mean right AND left hand. He sounds like, well the Hulk™ I guess, minus the "Hulk Smash!" stuff. 

Bottom line is, this game is fun. I don't normally recommend that everyone get/play a game, however this would be the exception. This is a game not to miss. If you like first person shooters. If you enjoy horror movies, or at the very least just want to have fun with friends, get this game. I can't tell anyone to spend $60 on a game, but i think this one is worth a rent for sure. 

Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

The first one looked amazing on the Original Xbox, this one is shaping up to look even better on the 360. Another game to watch out for in the coming months/years.

Watch this... Nuff Said!

Batman is Cut!

I don't mean cut like, from the team cut, I mean like he has been lifting for the past several months and been hitting the Bow-Flex a little too hard. The latest (and i guess First) trailer for the upcoming PS3 and 360 game "Batman: Arhkam Asylum" has arrived, and it looks pretty sweet. 

Batman has beefed up and is ready to take on the residents of Arkham (who were mostly put in there by him). From the screen shots I have seen and the trailer, I will keep this one on my radar. There hasn't been a really good batman game in, well forever, so it has a long climb over the empty husks of previous games. At least it looks like it is headed in the right direction. 

Batman: Arkham Asylum Trailer

Batman: Arkham Asylum official site 

Left 4 Dead

So I got Left 4 Dead in the mail on Friday of this past week, and was able to get to it finally on Sunday. A friend and I played about 3 hours of the Off-line Co-Op together. We played through the entire first section/movie/area... whatever you want to call it. 

This game is simply put, Fun! We both had so much fun running through the town blasting everything that limped, ran, and jumped our way. I have never in all my years of gaming played a game that created a more authentic feeling of fear. Not that fear like you have playing Resident Evil where you are waiting for the Zombie in the closet to get you, no. It's more the fear of if you see one zombie slowly walking your way, you are pretty confident there are about 100 behind him that are going to rush you very soon. There is also a very real feeling of being afraid of the dark. I was talking to my friend about how this game makes you afraid to be the one that is lagging a little behind. If you are the last one to leave a room or you wander too far off from the others, it could very well be the last mistake you make. The game warns you right from the beginning. "Stay Together To Survive!" So very very true in this game. 

I absolutely cannot wait to play more of Left 4 Dead. I haven't even scratched the surface of the regular sections, not to mention trying it out online as a Zombie. My only recommendation is to try this game on advanced. Sure it is a little harder but it makes it all the more realistic when that smoker starts dragging you away from your friends into the woods and they don't hear you screaming!

Fallout 3 on Google Maps

So google maps can do anything. Add in a dash of "nerd-dom" and it can do even more. 

Here you can see where people have gone through and found places in the game for you. If you don't want spoilers (I guess) don't click, but if you are stuck trying to find a location, check it out. 

Gears of War 2

The hype machine rolled into town and I had a ticket to get on. The view wasn't any different than the last time i took this trip but, the ride was still fun.

So after finishing Gears last night I realized that, as a whole this game is essentially the same as the last game. The environments all feel like Gears, the weapons all function the same, the characters all still interact the same. That being said... I am fine with all of it. I wouldn't want EPIC to change anything really. What i enjoyed about the first game held over to the second. The game is a lot of fun to play in single player and the fun factor ramps up exponentially from there when you add extra players. 

The story is (obviously) a continuation of the first. You are still trying to stop the "Locust" from destroying the whole of human civilization and pretty much destroying the planet. There are several different areas for you to traverse with you squad, including, cities, countrysides, underground levels, and a very very organic level. Like I said before all of which feel like they are part of the "Gears" world. You never get the feeling that this level is just tacked on at the end to give you something else to do. The progression of the game is very fluid. Though you make a lot of stops in different places you never find yourself asking, "How the heck did i get here?". 

As far as how the game controls... pretty much like the first. I did feel however that the controls were a little tighter. I can't really describe it in detail, it's just something you feel as you play the game. There are several different and new weapons to use, most of which make Marcus (and Dom) feel even more like the super soldier they already are. To name a few, there is the "Mulcher" which is a Gatling gun, the "Flamer" a flame thrower, and the "Mortar", which is... well if you don't know what it is then you probably won't play this game anyway. There also are some new Locust weapons but i really didn't use them at all except to get the achievements. The lancer in my opinion is still the best weapon overall to use in the game. Speaking of the Lancer, they added another "Chainsaw Kill" animation to the game, eh... I don't think it was needed but it's still there.

Multiplayer? Well do you have some friends with this game, or do you have an extra controller lying around? Then you will probably be playing this game for a long time to come. Online and off line Co-Op is still there, this time however it is drop-in drop-out, and doesn't disrupt the game. Also there can be different difficulty levels for each player. New to the game is the "Horde Mode". Which allows you and several friends to take on wave after wave of Locuts, in progressing difficulty, for up to 50 levels. The rest of the standard FPS multiplayer modes are there too. Capture the flag is now "Meatflag" where you have to grab an NPC and drag him to a location, only he doesn't come quietly.

I have been trying to think up something negative to say about the game, and I really can't think of anything. I mean I am sure that there are faults in the game, but I guess i just overlooked them b/c the total package is just solid. It feels like more of the same from the first, but as I said that isn't a bad thing. EPIC has created a world that Gears exist in and that's the point. The "Bro-mance" continues through this one, and probably the next game (come on that's not a spoiler the game has sold millions already). I had a lot of fun playing through the regular story alone and can't wait to take friends on a tour of the Locust Nexus, and the busted cities of the world in Gears.

This game has legs (lots of them) and I can tell that I will be playing it for a long time to come. Multiplayer is also an easy way to keep players coming back for more again and again. This game did not disappoint the triple A hype that was behind it I just hope that in the next game that Marcus and Dom can come to grips with their feelings for each other. Now if you will excuse me I have a Brumak to tame.

Like Roger Moore instead of Sean Connery...

So despite the fact that Daniel Craig is the new Bond, i decided to use that headline.

I finished playing through the single player story of 007 Quantum of Solace Tuesday. I don't really know what i should have expected from the game but I don't think it disappointed as much as the last several games did. That being said, this game does deliver a limited amount of the James Bond vibe. 

From the outset of the story you get the feeling that you aren't going to truly "Run and Gun" your way through this game. It doesn't go so far as to be the Gears of War 2 "Stop and Pop" either. There are situations that you can't just run in kill everyone and leave the bodies in your wake as you run out the room. Stealth does play a factor in the game as well (achievements please). Sneaking around feels correct in the spots where you need to, the silent kills are pretty brutal despite some of them not "feeling" like you are killing or disabling anyone. The gun play is nice, there are many different types of weapons to use and find through the levels. The sniper rifle as in most FPS's is still my favorite. 

The story revolves around the last 2 movies "Casino Royale" and (naturally) "Quantum of Solace". Before each mission you are given a briefing through the MI6 computer that shows some fancy animations and a time line. I don't know (since i haven't seen the latest movie) if any of it will tie in directly to the story (though I'm almost certain it will) but i always felt like i was missing something. There are people talking about the time line and discussing things that happen and i have no idea why. That and the end of the game's main story kinda ends on a cliff hanger. I guess they are setting you up for the next game? Or maybe the movie itself? Either way i thought there was another stage coming and it simply didn't happen. Time will tell i guess when i see the movie later in the week.

So keeping with the groaners in the game, i have a HUGE gripe with this game. Being that it is a Bond game after all, why is there not a single gadget in the game. None! You can't count the hacking sequences (doors, locks, and cameras) they aren't true gadgets in use. So from what i can tell there are some in the Multi-Player but still... why don't i use them in the main game. I am not expecting a million different things but even the "watch laser" was fun to use in Goldeneye. Seriously, nothing in main game. Did they fire Q?

So did i finish the game, yes. Will i play the multi-player stuff sure. Am i glad that i didn't purchase the game, defiantly. I can't call it a final verdict on the entire game, but as far as the single player game goes, i would give it probably a rent. If you want to play a great Bond game travel back in time to 1996 and play Goldeneye for Nintendo 64. If you are looking for a rental that will pass the time (why aren't you playing one of the million other great games out there) you will probably be happy, for a while. 

So like i said it's ain't Sean Connery, but it for sure isn't Timothy Dalton. 

Gonna go back in time!

So the guys at Criterion have done it again. 

Not only have they brought us new online components for their amazing racing game Burnout Paradise. They also added Bikes, and a day/night switch on time. Both for free i might add. 

Now they are bringing in some new vehicles. With the Legendary Car Pack coming some time (probably early 09 I'm guessing) soon they are adding in the "Jansen 88 Special" a.k.a. The DeLorean DMC12... The thing even fricken hovers! Also in the pack are cars with the names, The Calvary Bootlegger, Manhattan Spirit, and the GT Nighthawk. Not really sure what the other cars are modeled after, but being as the name of the pack is "Legendary Car" they will probably be very recognizable to the average gamer.

This add on will cost you some Microsoft Points or some PSN bucks, but really... flying in the DeLorean around Paradise City... Listening to GnR... its like the 80's all over again.

Bond is back... I sure hope so!

In honor of the release of the newest James Bond game AND movie; "Quantum Of Solace", I thought i would profess my love of the movies and (some) of the games. 

Though most fanboys would have you believe that the only game with the 007 moniker on it is "Goldeneye" for the Nintendo 64, it's sadly is not. Bond games date back all the way to the Atari 2600 (represent) and Apple II days. Originally just "James Bond 007" game was released back in 1983 by Parker Brothers. In the game the missions were based on three different Bond movies, Diamonds are Forever, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, and the Spy who Loved Me. Also the game is labeled as a "Role Playing Game" I didn't own this game but i am guessing that being it was on the 2600 (not known for wonderful RPG titles) it is labeled as such b/c you take on the "Role" of James Bond.

Fifteen years, and about 10+ games later, Goldeneye for Nintendo 64 hit. Instantly it was a classic. The game followed almost exactly the plot of the movie. Putting you in the shoes of Pierce Brosnan as Bond. The regular single player story was fun enough but where the game really shined was in the multi-player. 

Get four friends, four controllers (and a TV big enough to matter) and have fun for hours. I can't even count the number of times that my friends and i would go a full weekend of just playing this game. I can still remember each of the maps and could easily find each of my friends at any point in time just based on their screen. Despite what some people will tell you about the nostalgia for this game being better than the actual game, i still find it amusing to play.

So now nine years and many many bad Bond games (Including a rehash of Goldeneye, and a Racing game) later comes the latest attempt to put Bond back on the map. Enter 007 Quantum of Solace (movie and game). 

The movie picks up immediately after the end of the last flick (which is actually the first book by Ian Flemming) Casino Royale. Bond is pissed and on a mission of vengeance. Right on!

The game however is a bit of both worlds. You will complete missions based on Casino Royale AND QoS. Going back to a first person point of view the game already has scored major points with me, and with other excited fans of the series. Developed by Treyarch (the folks that did some of the COD games) and using the COD:4 engine, this game looks amazing in previews.

Accomplishing missions using stealth, gadgets, and down right brute force looks like it is a blast. The cover system borrows a bit from other First/Third person shooters, allowing you to suck up to a wall and the camera pulling back to give you a better vantage point. You can still pull of "007 Movie Moments" but they aren't labeled for you with a Giant neon sign that says "Shoot Here, It's What Jimmy Would Do!". You don't ever have to do them but when you figure out something that would make a great action moment you are rewarded. 

Being that i am a huge movie buff, and a total nerd when it comes to both Bond and the games, i for one can't wait to get this one in my hands. 

"007 Quantum of Solace" the game comes out this Tuesday on pretty much every system, and the movie will be in theaters this weekend. This IS however just a preview based on all that i have heard, seen and read second hand. So i will have more on this game as i am allowed to play it. Stay Tuned!

*Update*

Gamefly HAS sent me my 360 copy in the mail. I hope to have it by this weekend.

From the Depths of the Vault (not a Fallout Review)

So being a self professed game-aholic, i am fully aware of my addiction and the effect it has on me. Here are but a few examples of what i mean.

First, when a game comes out that has any media push behind it, my friends will almost immediately come to me and ask if i have played "Game X" yet. Because sadly they know that either i already have or am planning on it. I am thought of as the person in my circle of friends that has at least heard every gaming nugget of info out there and can explain them. 

Second, I also am a music nut. Putting these two passions together (Gaming and Music) and you get a very strange cocktail. I almost always have a song from some game running through my head. Be that the theme from Golgo13, to Super Mario Brothers, Oblivion, or even the Underground passage from Goonies II (which is currently on loop in my brain.  On my iPod i have about 600 different songs either taken directly from a game or inspired from games. 

Speaking of i would highly recommend that everyone check out several bands that are my favorites as far as this category goes. The Advantage, The Minibosses, 8bit Weapon, and Mega Drive. All of which do some pretty amazing renditions of your favorite (and mine) video games. 

Lastly, I never suffer from "Buyers Remorse". Unless the game i just got is truly horrible and i can't stand the fact that it is in my possession, i very rarely feel bad upon purchasing a game. Except for the fact that i have games now that i have yet to finish. Which brings me to the new Sidebar that i added today to the site. Taken from the 1up shows inspiration, i have added the "Pile of Shame". These are games that i own and have yet to finish. There are some very old games in there and most of them are well worth the trouble of finishing, but i just get distracted so fast to another more shiny new game. 

And on that note i am off to my 360 and the comforts of the "Wasteland" and Fallout 3. . . 

Brothers in Arms; Hell's Highway

I wasn't ready to play this the first time i sat down with it. I played thru the tutorial but then got bored. I picked it back up however when i had a little better attention span and really like it now. It takes some time to get used to the fact that you aren't a "Super Soldier" that can take down the Axis Powers on your own. You are a commanding officer and that is what you do... Command. Tell certain fire teams to set up at point A and fire on point B. There is a lot more strategy than i thought would go into this game, and this is fine by me and it works quite well. 

Scout out the landscape, figure out ahead of time how you want to approach a skirmish, then execute. Once you get used to the fact that you can't rush in, and you have to approach each fight with a certain amount of strategy most players will do just fine.  

However the down side is quite steep. The multiplayer aspect of the game is pretty much your standard FPS game. The difference being that you have a (human player) commander and they give you orders on where to go and set up and do what with whatever. The problem is that you don't HAVE to do this. So as you might expect if you get a team that is a bunch of randoms, they aren't probably going to listen to you and will just go off on their own and die. The up side is that if you have a team that works together like a well oiled machine you can dominate. 

The story really relies on the fact that you have played the two previous games (which i had not) so if you don't have any emotional attachment to anyone i can see where the story would fall kinda flat.   The game itself looks a little on the dated side as well. You can tell that this game was ment to have come out about 2 years ago. Unfortunately they were using an older version of the Unreal Engine i believe and the time shows. I guess that is what happens when delays plague your release. The sound quality is done well, nothing feels out of place, and they don't go down the path of over using words that describe "Germans" like "Krauts" or "Jerry" so frequently that you can't stand to hear it anymore.   

All in all the game is put together well and the entire package is worth checking out. It's just too bad that it was forced to sit and wait for almost 3 years before it could be released.  

 *the pic above was taken from Joystiq, only b/c of my love of the site and the picture itself*

15 seconds of fame

So i recently posted a review through the website Slapstic.com and apparently through that the website N4G.com found the review and posted it to their page. 

One step in the right direction. Now if only i can do that all the time everything will fall into place. 

"I love it, when a plan comes together."

Here is the link to the article.

Fallout 3

This is an actual shot of me, just after my "Head A Splode". 

Fallout 3 is finally here. I actually have it (lunch box and all) in my hand. This game couldn't have come out at a worse time too. I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of Fable II, and haven't even started working on my LittleBigPlanet creations. 

Well either way i can't wait to take my time and walk through the wasteland after exiting vault 101 tonight. Wish me luck on the outside. Oh and don't forget to wear your goggles.

Tears of... Er... Gears of War 2

So if anyone out there reads this then you are probably into Videogames, if so then you probably heard of Gears Of War, if so then you probably saw the "Mad World" commercial they did for it a couple years ago. This is the follow up to that commercial. The song featured here is "How It Ends" by DeVotchKa. 

It attempts to put the same Emotional twist on the fighting that the other commercial did. It works well with the video and the clip is put together nicely. I don't think anyone will be crying over Marcus Fenix or Dom but hey, EMO kids cry over all kinds of stuff. 

Clip Embedded below.

Dead Space

Ok well first things first... NOT A GAME FOR KIDS!!! 

Little kids i mean. The 12 year olds that just learned what "four letter" words are fun to say in an almost public place... they can still play b/c they are anyways b/c their parents don't care. No, i mean the little little ones. They need to have this game well out of reach. 

Second. Take a look at the pic, a good long look at it. Yeah those things are everywhere. They will attack you, from front to back above and below. They will find you and get you. 

This game is, in short, very well put together. Slick production on every level, music, sound, voice acting, lighting, everything. I don't think this game is a "Horror" game really though. I would say it falls more to the "Thriller" category. Sure there are several moments that you will jump at, maybe even yelp like a little girl that just had a frog shoved in her face like an old 1930's sitcom. More so than that though is the overall sense of dread. Turning every corner with you gun out, opening every door waiting for something to try and rip your face off. Playing last night i actually turned my ringer off on my cell phone b/c i knew that if my wife were to call me in the middle of playing this game, i could very well crap my pants. 

The rest of the game is just average i guess. Not to detract from the game as a whole, but if you are looking for a beautiful story arc or looking to gain something from having played this game, its just not there. The story is run of the mill "In space no one can hear you scream." stuff, and by about chapter 5 you pretty much have a clue of how it will all end. 

That being said this game is still great. I am very happy that i am playing it, it was well worth the wait. I just don't see a lot of "replay-ability" in it. Once you finished the story and the game itself, your done. 

They say it's not the destination its the journey that makes it all worth it. Well that couldn't be more true with this game. The ride to the end is well worth the effort put into the game, just don't expect a watershed moment when you finally hit your stop. 

Ok ok ok... not so bad

Ok so as most already know the first possible "Killer App" for the PS3 (besides MGS4) is Little Big Planet. Supposed to be coming out tomorrow (Oct. 21st) however due to some soundtrack issues, it has been delayed. 

At least it isn't as bad as would be expected. The delay has only pushed it back apparently a week. Now the release date is set for Oct. 27th, with a "No Street Date" clause on the game. Meaning that they should get them as early as Oct. 26th and can start selling them at any time. This is good news b/c i want to get as much time in with the single player game as possible before the vaccum that is Fallout 3 comes on (which is the next day actually). 

Once i actually sit down with my creation and tweek it some more i will post a video of it. Can't wait to see some more stuff from some of these people. Several stages that i played made by just random Beta testers was simply AMAZING!!

Madden 09

Ok so first off, I am not a "sports gamer". I very rarely will play ANY contact sport game on any system. It's not that i don't understand them (except Hockey), it's more that i just don't like the level of SIM that goes into playing the games themselves. Like Baseball games (yes i realize it's not a contact sport) on most systems are way more complicated that i want them to be. I liked RBI Baseball on my NES. Get up to bat, hit the "A" button to swing... and that was pretty much it. 

So imagine my surprise when i discovered that when i played the latest iteration of EA's Madden series, that i really liked it. The game can be as simple as i want it to be. Pick a play let it run out on screen. If you're on defense you don't have to do anything if you don't want to. If you're on offense you just hike and pass to an open man and run. Or this game can be as complicated as you want. Pick formations, call audibles, change pass or rush coverage... it can get really complicated. 

Not to mention that you can go through "SuperStar" mode and make a player and nurse him through the process of being drafted for a team, making the cut, and actually playing in games. Franchise mode that lets you manage the team swap players, make play changes... way complicated for my liking.

That being said i really enjoy this game. I have been playing with a group of guys recently, and was able to take part in their Madden League. Playing online games against another human that doesn't swear at you, call your mom out, or act like you are the gayest man at the gay pride parade, is nice. I can't say that i am destroying people in the league but at least i am holding my own. . . Anyway

From the graphics to the sound (except that ass Chris Collinsworth, ugh!) the presentation of the game itself, and the addition of the self adjusting game play, this game is tight. I don't mean that in a slag way of saying "It's tight Yo!", no i mean this game is actually very tightly produced. Everything feels correct. Nothing feels out of place or over done (again except Chris). 

I would give this one probably an A- or 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.