After finishing Fallout 3 and doing my best Joey impression by 1000’ing it out, I had some thoughts that I wanted to share.  First off, Fallout 3 won IGN’s 2008 Game of the Year.  I suppose I can see why… but truth be told I personally enjoyed GTA IV more.  I know, it’s probably shallow of me but it’s the truth.  As for my top 10 list of 2008:

1.    GTA IV
2.    Gears of War 2
3.    Call of Duty: World at War
4.    Fallout 3
5.    Rock Band 2 / Guitar Hero World Tour
6.    Dead Space
7.    Left 4 Dead (tentatively)
8.    FIFA 09
9.    Ninja Gaiden 2
10.    Rainbow Six Vegas 2
11.    NCAA Football 09

Sorry, 11.

Achievements are a funny thing.  They make me want to “maximize” my gaming experience, by doing things I normally wouldn’t do (side quests, try to certain things like head shots or other trickery, pay a lot more attention to details when looking for things etc..)  Yet lately, as I’ve strived to mark them off my list in fallout and veteran world at war, it almost makes my gaming feel like a chore.  A project that has to be finished with a deadline.

When I first got my 360, I didn’t even know what the purpose of achievements were.  I played through Ghost Recon and even 50% of Oblivion having no idea what the hell it meant when my screen popped up “Achievement Unlocked”.   Obviously I had no idea it would forever change the way I play games.  When I stop to think about it, it’s almost sad that I can’t just sit down and casually play a game without doing hours of research and planning.  I suppose the trade off is while playing this way, I do get to experience a mini-gasm whenever that “achievement unlocked” pops up on the screen now.  It makes for a game within the game… but usually the achievement game is packed with frustration.

Lately I’ve been 1000’ing out games instead of just getting all that I could in a single play through and calling it good somewhere between 600-800 out of a potential 1000.  Of course I blame Joey for this.

Category: xbox360No Comments.

Guitar Hero World Tour:

 Guitar (A) Lives up to the other guitar hero guitars.  The only guitars worth playing are GH guitars.  The touch buttons are kinda silly, but honestly I will use them much more often than the “solo” notes on the RB guitar.  They don’t do anything while playing rock band however.

Drums (B+) They are definitely solid.  Amidst all the good: sturdy, quiet, good rebound, good placement, wireless, small footprint; my only complaints is that the foot pedal has to have a better way of securing it.. it goes all over the place and the little Velcro/rubberpad on the bottom doesn’t do anything to keep it in place.  And, for those of us playing RB more, the GREEN button on Rock band doesn’t get mapped to the 2nd cymbal like it should.  The green is a “tom” but when you finish your fills it would be great to slam down the cymbal instead of a tom.  I mean, this is how rock band was originally so it’s not a step backwards, it’s just not a step forward.  On the other hand, at least the hi-hat is in the right place playing rock band.  Already 10x cooler.

Gameplay (B) It’s hard to justify $60 dollars on a game just for an extra 10 or 15 songs that you really want to play (Tool songs gooooid).  They added “open notes” to the bass track which is very cool and gives people some reason to play bass over guitar.  (you have to strum without pushing a note, more realistic for sure.. it shows up as a straight line like the kick drum in RB).   It adds a much needed twist to playing bass.  The drums have an EXTRA NOTE which is botch because it really throws you off when switching between rock band and guitar hero.  I don’t think there was a need for that.  But the biggest botch of all comes with star power/failing out in GH.  Everyone shares star power!  So I could build up star power and Jeff could steal it and use it for himself.  I guess you have to do it this way if EVERYONE FAILS OUT WHEN ONE PERSON DOES.  There is no saving people and bringing them back to the song.  So I guess what you need to do, is have someone good stock pile the star power for everyone, and only the person struggling gets to use it to save them self before they fail out because as soon as someone does.. the song is over.  This sucked bad because sometimes it’s fun to try a harder skill levels without the threat of ruining it for everyone too easily.  There is also a much larger gap to hit the notes.  I felt like I was way late on some but it gave me credit.

Rock Band 2 (five days later)

 Guitar (B+) Much better this year.  The strum bar is silent but way less “mushy”.  Wireless is key.  But still, I just don’t think you could play extremely fast paced segments with it.  It was definitely the surprise of the night though.  Much more tolerable and since it’s wi-fi, puts it on par with the Guitar Hero 2 guitar.  Still, GHWT guitar owns it.

Drums (B)  They are essentially the exact same drums from rock band 1 but wireless and slightly quieter.  The foot pedal has been reinforced and stays in place when you move the thing.  Still, strictly speaking of the pads, GHWT is much better and quieter.  Like I said, the only thing I don’t like about GHWT drums is the pedal doesn’t stay put.  RB2 Drums have this down, but I just don’t think they are that much of an upgrade considering both do wireless.  It may boil down to personal preference but I preferred the GHWT’s for sure.

I also had more fun playing the Guitar Hero World Tour game this go round.  I’m coming to grips with the one fail you all fail gripe and I think it can be easily worked around.  I like the note look (circle) much better than the rock band rectangle and open notes on the bass track is soo cool it makes you wonder why it wasn’t there from the beginning.  Plus, the “slide” notes you can do with the GHWT guitar is going to be really fun to master.

Category: xbox360No Comments.

This has been one of my most anticipated games to ever be announced on the XBOX 360.  I loved playing Ninja Gaiden on the original XBOX, and still think it was one of the top 3 original XBOX games ever.  While NG2 has its own qualms, it was very fun to finish and I recommend it to anybody looking for a FPS alternative.

The best part about NG2 is obviously the combat.  The fighting system is amazingly detailed and fast paced.  Nothing’s better than turning a bad guy into a bloody stump of a torso.  Whether you’re lopping heads and limbs off with the Dragon sword or beating people down with the Lunar staff, you feel surprisingly in control.  Different this go round is all the new weapons.  While each weapon feels unique enough without deviating from the overall speed and feel, personally I wish the game forced you to use different weapons more often.  My first time through I completed the entire game using only the Dragon Sword.  Now, on a 2nd playthrough I’m experimenting with all the weapons.  I feel like I missed out on a lot of fun the first play through.  I think it would have been better if only certain weapons worked well on certain enemies.  All new weapons, plus new Ninpo powers and projectiles creates a diverse enough experience for dispatching bad guys.  You can tell the main weapons got the most attention from developers while Ninpo and Projectiles took a back seat.  There is really only 1 Ninpo worth your time (although towards the end, another Ninpo power is extremely helpful as you fight the Arch-Fiend).  Moreover, not enough bad words could suffice the description of the bow and arrow.  It’s pure crap and for some reason it’s the game’s favorite weapon to “force” you to use.  Name a game that forces you to aim with your left hand?   The game is going 200 mph where it is extremely a blast, but then all of a sudden you have to pull over and take out the bow, charge it for 10 seconds, aim awkwardly with your left hand only to miss by a few millimeters — of course, if you get hit at all during the charge up you have to start over after a “lose your balance” animation.  In summary, the bow is the worst part of this game and is infinitely worse in application.  If I never have to use the bow again it will be too soon.

The worlds are amazing but you don’t get to explore or even venture off in the slightest bit.  In NG2, you are pretty much 100% limited to the linear path the game sets out for you.  I thought NG Black was a little too frustrating at times in it’s open maps, but I can honestly say I totally miss it compared to NG2.

The enemies are great and there is enough of them that you don’t feel cheated.  Maybe the best thing the game has going for it is the lew of enemies you get to end.  At one point, in a staircase battle, you are pitted against hundreds of ninjas and it reminded me of Kill Bill — except I was more bad ass than Uma.

The boss battles leave nothing for want either.  Although, it should be said that the end of the game is extremely “cheap”.  You get the pleasure of fighting 3 back to back impossibosses without any save or healing items.  I had only died 25 times total (on Warrior mode) until I got to the very end, where I promptly died 60+ times.  It also should be said that at this point in time, I was more than ready to be done with this game.   Another testament of how cool GTA IV was.  At 55 hours, I was finally ready to hang up the gloves… only a great game can keep me entertained that long.  By contrast, I was done with NG2 at 10-12 hours.

Overall Summary: B

Pro’s

• Combat System is awesome
• Game speed is perfect
• Diverse enemies and bosses
• Fun just piling up body after body

Con’s

• THE BOW!
• Ninpo and projectiles seemed an afterthought, mostly useless
• Path is 100% linear
• Story is pointless
• Slightly repetitve (I have trouble listing this as a “con” because it’s not near as repetitive as Assassin’s Creed and others, but worth listing none-the-less)
• Ready to quit at 10 hours, by contrast GTA and others have me glued 50+ hours.

Category: xbox360No Comments.

It wouldn’t be right to tell this story without prefacing it just a little bit.  This email is a little long so apologies in advance.  If time is short, go ahead and skip until you see the —— SKIP TO HERE ——- and you won’t miss much.

It begins when our friend Tommy Whitney came in to town last week.  We rarely get to see him now that he’s a big shot in the architectural department at Marriott back east.  But for the rare occasion, we had arranged to get a bunch of guys together to play a quick nine holes before a friendly BBQ that night.  So on that same Friday, one week ago today, my other friend Adam Hilton called me around 11:00 am and asked if I wanted to go to Uinta Golf for lunch, just to see if anything caught our eye.  I was up for it, seeing as I had an unused $50 gift card that was probably procured at a prestigious BYU LAW scramble golf tournament years ago.  It’s sad that all of my golf winnings come from BYU LAW scramble golf tournaments.  Someday, I’ll show you my white t-shirt and towel collection from all the 1st place finishes our team has.  Anyways, I had recently come across the $50 gift card, otherwise it would still be 100% forgotten.  Luckily it had no expiration.  To boot, it happened to be in my  golf bag in the trunk of my car at work.  The stars were aligning.

At Uinta, I looked at a few Cleveland wedges because I desperately need to bridge the gap of my 135 yard PW and my 85 yard SW… but having never bought a golf club that I didn’t get to try a 1,000 times first (thanks Dad) I couldn’t pull the trigger.  So my attention was turning to a box of Titleist Pro v1 golf balls when Adam suggested that I buy golf shoes.  Now anybody who’s ever golfed with me before may have noticed that I wear shoes that are probably the world’s least conducive shoes to the sport of golf.  I’ve always thought proudly of myself that when I magically get par or better, I know it’s not because my shoes did me any favors.  More specifically, for the past 2 years it’s been the same old Adidas indoor soccer shoes that have absolutely zero tread left and have splits up the sides where my socks poke out.  If I’m really early for the tee time, I might bother tying up the laces.  Now, I’ve thought about buying golf shoes before, and my Dad has offered me countless hand-me-downs, but I just always thought my signature trademark I would leave on this world would be to never ever wear legitimate golf shoes so long as I lived.

But, possibly to humor Adam, or maybe to just kill more time I decided to try on a few pair.  Actually, it turned out to be close to 8 pair.  See, it’s not only golf shoes, but I haven’t purchased a pair of shoes of any kind from a retail store since 2000.  It’s either hand-me-downs from Dad if they are dress shoes, or I buy them online.  So it was kind of fun trying on all sorts of – anyways, moving on – I settled on some Nike golf shoes that looked anything but golf shoes.  They are running shoes with plastic golf spikes – a happy compromise considering my high standards on the subject.  Only the keen eye would know that I didn’t live up to my high aspirations.  All the while, I was leery of the purchase but was assured by both Adam, and the Uinta Golf stock boy that they would make a huge difference.

Turns out they were right!  They did indeed make a huge difference!  I shot the worst round of golf in memory that evening.  Although I stopped keeping official record and broke countless rules, by rough estimate when it was all said and done I was on the high side of a 50 score playing the white tees at Eaglewood back nine.  Yes, nine.  It took all of my strength not to deposit my new golf shoes in the nearest garbage receptacle on the way to my car.  Underneath my back tire was the other option…. neither happened, possibly because we were running late to the next event, the BBQ.

Fast forward to today.  I look down at my watch and it reads 5:07 PM.  It hits me that I agreed to play golf with 3 other friends this very same day at 5:30.  Trouble was, it’s Friday (traffic), I’m in downtown Salt Lake, course is Bountiful Ridge, my clubs are safe and sound in my garage in Woods Cross – hold on, see my golf clubs are usually always in my trunk during summer months, just in case.  But yesterday (Thursday), as I left my house in the morning, my car started to make horrible noises.  A tow from Woods Cross to SLC, a ride on FrontRunner and Trax, 36 hours without a car, and $1,055 dollars later and my car was back to operational with a new water pump, multiple belts and a radiator fan which is why my clubs weren’t in my car… because I took them out for the “operation”.  Sorry, back to the story.  I called my friends and told them that I had spaced it and there was no way I was going to make the tee time.  I suggested they just go on without me but being the good buds they are, they decided to wait an extra 30 minutes so I could join them.  I’m glad they did.

I had finally arrived but there I was… mad at the world (traffic), embarrassed for being late, more embarrassed about my 50 the last time I played with these guys, trying to figure out why just hours ago I had to plunk down a grand on my car and really, seriously wondering why I wasn’t simply at home in my nice cold basement sleeping my troubles away when I opened my trunk.  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  There, staring up at me, magnifying my pain, was my new super duper golf shoes.

At first, I wondered how they got out of the bottom of the well in my backyard and into my trunk and I realized that I hadn’t thrown them down the well after all… I had just meant to.  Now what I did next was something I thought I’d never do again.  I actually put them on my feet thinking I can’t possibly do worse.   So I go Par, bogey, birdie, double bogey thinking eh, this is more like it – I can live with this.  But nothing would prepare me for what happened next.

——SKIP TO HERE————

I’m 2 Over so far
Hole #5 at Bountiful Ridge
White Tees
Blue Pin
Back left placement behind the sand trap
Marker says 198 Yards to the back
5 Iron (Ping G2)
Titleist 2 Pro v1x (found on the first hole)
Broken brown tee next to my new super duper golf shoes
Adam Hilton, Ben Dickamore, and Steve Goalen looking on with me…..

HOLE! IN! ONE!

Yep, this entire email was to tell you that today, I was lucky enough to report a 1 on my scorecard.  I set the tee up on the right side of the box and aimed left to correct my slice (or patented power fade, whichever you prefer).  The ball kicked off my club and went right to left across the fairway, started to curve back right (thanks slice… I mean power fade), cleared the sand trap, landed  on the green 1” from the fringe, 11 paces from the cup, kicks toward the hole, and all of us just watch it as the ball rolls and rolls……. and rolls, only to see it instantly stop and disappear as it passed the pin.

First thoughts were disbelief.  I refused to celebrate until I saw the ball in the cup.  I thought maybe it had hit the pin and bounced out just inches away or maybe bounced behind the hole out of our view but I think we all were secretly thinking that maybe, just maybe, it was a hole in one.  We rushed to the green, Hilton was the first man out of his cart and he ran over.  His signal confirmed my happiness, but for a brief second, I thought maybe he was pulling my leg – as friends are known to do.  I ran up still somewhat in disbelief, and there she was, the prettiest looking scuffed up Titleist 2 Pro v1x I have ever found on a golf course, sitting at the bottom of the cup.

I think my excitement spilled over and disrupted everyone else’s game.  Our scores for the hole read: 5, 5, 5, 1.  I about quit the game of golf altogether, vowing to never play golf again and letting that be my last shot ever.  I laid there on the green for a few minutes, soaking it up (in the middle of my friends line on less).  As it turns out…. I decided not to give up on golf and I par’d out with 4 straight 4’s and ended the round with an even par score of 35.  One of the best rounds of nine in my life.

So yeah, maybe some of you are wondering why I wrote a short novel and wasted all of your time just to tell you that I hit a hole in one with no prize, no car, no cash reward etc..etc.., Well, truth be told, sorry…. there isn’t a good reason.  But hey…. I bet you can all guess what shoes I will be wearing while I sleep tonight!!!

Category: otherNo Comments.

From the second you pop in the game, to the last line of the rolling credits, you know you’re playing a exceptionally special game. The first thing you’ll probably notice is the great graphics. Then, as the city opens up and you begin exploring, you’ll find yourself completely immersed in the GTA world of Liberty City and what a treat it is. The attention to detail is unmatched in any game so far in my opinion. Whether you’re doing missions or just wreaking havoc, it all happens in the amazingly well designed Liberty City and as such, the gamer is left with the feeling of shock and awe. Libery City in its entirety is the best feature in GTA IV.

The game is properly paced. It took me roughly 25 hours to finish the main story where I am currently sitting at 70% complete (I did a few side missions along the way). I finished it in less than a week — it’s that good. By comparison, Bully: Scholarship Edition took me 24 hours to achieve 100% and I was more than ready to be done with the game forever. Now, sitting 30 hours into GTA IV, I still feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of the experience thus far. Side missions, racing, achievement hunting etc.. the game easily offers 50 hours of sheer gaming bliss. These days, 90% of games feel artificially long and mundane and by the time you finish it, you’re completely fed up. This game, the length is completely justified and received with open arms. More specifically, recent games for me like Assassin’s Creed, Army of Two and Bully all felt like a chore past 12-15 hours. Not so with GTA IV.

It’s not that GTA offers buckets of diversity in its missions and driving etc… You run around, killing people, doing errands, dealing drugs, taking care of rats, catching criminals, hanging out with friends, dating the occasional female and helping out with odd jobs. But because the world you operate in is ever changing and 100% cool…. it feels like everything you do is completely different from the last thing you did. I think it’s amazing that Rockstar was able to pack so many missions in to the game (94 total) while still giving the gamer a unique feel through it all, especially when you stop and think how quickly it could have gotten annoying, if done wrong. The radio stations, commercials, dialogue, basically the entire audio experience has been really ramped up this year (noteworthy when previous GTA’s were already high standards in this area). I find most of what I hear on the radio to be extremely hilarious. My favorites are WKTT’s “Just or Unjust” program, everything on PLR (Public Libery Radio), 102.7 The Beat and Liberty Rock.  The characters you meet are also extremely likable.  You have the rasta dude, the meat head, the foul mouth Irish, the mobster, all with their unique personality and great voice acting/dialogue.

With the addition of the cell phone, this version of GTA is extremely easy to control and manipulate objectives. You’ll get calls concerning the main story missions, as well as side missions and even the occasional call to hang out or go on a date. It’s really amazing how simple yet useful this feature is. The missions are straight forward and sometimes frustrating but I found that they were frustrating because of a lack in my own skill and/or preparation (guns, ammo, armor). It’d be nice for the casual gamer to get “checkpoints” for the 20-25 long missions you encounter. Nothing is more frustrating than offing 50 bad dudes but on accident you speed through the toll booth on your way home only to get caught by the cops, forcing you to redo the entire mission. But these are things you take in stride and honestly, the game would probably be too easy without them. Patience and preparation are the key. The story is especially cool and I really like how you are posed with choices on who you let live or die, or who you work with. It gives you the feeling that you aren’t a mindless killer. They did a really good job on implementing these twists.

In summary, I’ve played a completely enjoyable 30 hours of the game in less than a week and I want more. Lots more. I don’t think the game is perfect, the controls can feel awkward at times, the driving takes a lot of getting used to, and the vulgarity is excessive. But these are minor complaints because you knew that before you bought the game! Still, there is no doubt in my mind that this will be one of the best games on the XBOX 360 console. Surrounding itself in the elite company of COD4, Gears of War, Oblivion, and Bioshock.

Pro’s

• Amazing detail top to bottom (surrounding environment, cut-scenes, graphics, audio, storyline are all amazingly detailed and engrossing)
• Cover/Aim system
• Physics (water, crashes, driving)
• Cell phone system
• Extremely funny at times
• Enough content to keep you content (I’m 30 hours in and don’t see myself quitting for another 30)
• Achievements
• The characters
• Did I mention Liberty City?  Because yeah, it’s that cool!

Con’s

• Minor control gripes
• Casual gamers will feel overwhelmed with the long missions

OVERALL GRADE: A

Category: xbox3602 Comments

Bully: Scholarship Edition is basically Grand Theft Auto, but for teens. It’s nice that you can turn your brain off (which you’ll definitely want to do, especially during the cut scenes) and walk around in a tension free environment. Nothing is too hard. Everything is doable if you have the time. There is zero skill requirement in Bully. The achievements are straight forward and thanks to Rockstar’s famous tracking system, it’s very easy to see exactly what have and haven’t done in the game. It tracks everything even down to how many steps you’ve taken. You can roam around free in the world and basically everything is optional.  You walk around the school kissing girls, giving wedgies, stuffing people in lockers or garbage cans, avoiding detention, attending classes where you take English, Math, Biology, Chemistry etc.. each of which have fun mini-games, you play dodgeball, work on earning respect from the different school cliques, etc.. etc..

When you decide you want to advance the story, or get an achievement, everything is clearly marked in the radar as to what to do next. Basically, it’s mindlessly enjoyable. After playing such serious games like Call of Duty where you’re gripping the controller and stressing every minute, it’s nice to just sit back and relax in a game like this. It’s very addicting too. Games like this always are because you can almost always justify just one more mission, or achievement since they don’t take long before going to bed.

Rockstar added a surprisingly large amount of TLC in the developing of this game. I thought they would cut corners all over the place. The voice acting is awesome, everyone has different voices. The world is extremely likeable and not too unnecessarily big. Parts of it are uncomfortable: I can’t think of another game that has an achievement called “Over The Rainbow” and wants you to kiss 20 of your male classmates. And like I said, the story is pretty stupid and the cut scenes are worse (as far as dialogue goes).

My recommendation is to just play GTA instead because it offers a much more mature and rewarding experience for a similar game type.

Pro’s

• Open-ended game play with easy to follow structure
• Achievements are for the most part, fun to achieve
• Enough variety to keep you going
• Some of the mini-games are entertaining
• Fun world to navigate around
• Voice acting

Con’s

• Stupid and cliche story/dialogue
• A fair amount of glitches and bugs
• Awkward controls at times
• A lot of the “busy-work” could have been cut in half

OVERALL GRADE: B- (definitely not as good as Crackdown or previous GTA’s)

Category: xbox360No Comments.

Rainbow Six Vegas was one of the best 360 games to date. As such, Vegas 2 promised to be that much and more and while it doesn’t necessarily disappoint… it doesn’t blow your mind either. Throughout the review I compared the game to its predecessor, Call of Duty 4, Halo, and even Army of Two.

The campaign was fun but probably wouldn’t think too much of it going it alone. You definitely want to do it co-op. The AI teammates are pretty buggy, but you don’t really need them on the “Normal” skill level. If anything the campaign is too short. Deez33 and I finished the game in under 5 hours. Enemies are tougher than RSV1.. you have to get them with a couple bursts instead of one, but with anything, they get easier to kill with a little practice. The story and missions were pretty generic and didn’t have the same charm as they did in RSV1. Enter room, clear, move to next room, clear, repeat. Maybe I’m just getting bored of this kind of repetition but I think RSV1 pulled it off better, and Gears of War (similar) never bored me. The weapons are cool but my complaint with them is that they aren’t as diverse as the COD4 weapons. They don’t offer that much different feel or ability across the board. I defy someone to show me the difference between the FNC, SCAR, TAR and FAMAS Assault Rifles (all of which are unlocked by default and I’m sure aren’t that much different than the next 6 or 7 rifles you get to unlock). Shotguns, however, will be illegal if used by accurate aimers. I was dropping people online with one in the close quarters of the indoor maps (most of the maps are indoor). In campaign mode, enemies are spawned “late” in that we see them spawn out of thin air quite frequently instead of them just being there. The enemy AI isn’t anything special, but they do a good job of kicking your butt if you play stupid (read: impatient).

The reward system is there… and it works. It doesn’t seem as exciting as COD4’s rewards though but it does add a much needed twist over RSV1. You do unlock new guns from time to time, but like I said, there are so many different guns, that even the default unlocked ones give you plenty of firepower and options. It’s not exciting to unlock a new gun in other words. There aren’t things like Airstrikes and Choppers, which I’m convinced every single game should have to incorporate from now on. Even in Mario, if I jump on 5 mushroom guys in a row without dying.. I damn well better be able to call in an airstrike. I just expect it now and I feel cheated when it doesn’t happen. Whoever was the genius at Infinity Ward that came up with the Airstrike and Chopper idea needs a 5 million dollar raise.

I played several ranked matches online and actually went 7-0 the first night! This was thanks to me joining up with a bunch of illegal’s who kept adding me to their re-invite list after each game. Which leads me to a huge problem: You can only play 1 ranked match per session (maybe biggest complaint)!! After that it kicks everyone back to the main menu, and the host has to recreate the game, re-invite his friends, and wait 5-10 minutes for opponents to join. Meaning it can be 15 minutes in between each ranked match that only last 5 minutes.

The game I was playing was called Team Conquest and it’s like domination but you don’t get points for how long you hold the plots, trying to reach a score like 200. To win, you have to get all three plots, then hold them for 30 seconds straight without interruption. If at any time in the 30 second countdown, the enemy takes one back, you have to go reclaim it, and hold all 3 for 30 seconds again. It was a fun twist to domination, but some games only lasted 2 minutes … then back to the main menu, recreate, reinvite, and wait for opponents to join. Annoying! It was definitely fun for the briefs stints that I was actually playing, but I don’t know why people still struggle to make matchmaking smooth after Halo 2 was doing it perfect on the original XBOX! I’m sure we would all have a blast playing this game type. It just sucks to have to pause your fun right as you start having it by recreating the match all night. The only way it would be fixed is if we could fill the first 8-10 spots with army members and just wait for 1 or 2 randoms, or just play amongst ourselves. If that were the case, then I’m sure we’d have a blast.

Pros:

• Co-op campaign and 4-player “TerroristHunts” are sure to be fun for months to come
• Graphics
• Weapons
• Maps (if you like indoor maps, you’re in heaven, a lot of close quarters and duck and cover which may be is a Con to some)
• Team Conquest game mode
• More of the same that you got in RSV1 and it’s nice to have options when it comes to gaming.

Cons:

• Only 1 ranked match at a time. Recreate after every game?!?!?!?! WTF?
• Pin back against wall seems to be way more buggy than RSV1
• Controls seem awkward (especially compared to COD4, it’s hard to flipflop between the games)
• Only 2 player co-op even though you have 4 mates on your team. 2 of them have to be AI. (Boggles my mind why terrorist hunts can be 4 player but it was impossible to make campaign work?)
• Everyone is saying that it’s impossible to unlock the Private First Class Achievement if you’ve played RSV1. That’s because it automatically moves you past that rank if you have RSV1 experience.. Kinda gay, but not a big deal.
• Did I mention Matchmaking is broken? Patch hopefully.

OVERALL GRADE: B

Category: xbox360No Comments.

I love co-op gaming. Therefore I really wanted to play this game based on its buzz that it was going to be completely dedicated to the co-op style of game play. So Soapy and I decided to give it a go, effectively holding us over before Rainbow Six Vegas 2. We really just laughed our way through the first few missions. It was kind of homosexual in a lot of ways. We’d always be helping each other around the map. Giving each other boosts, healing each other, going “back to back” to fight enemies, dual-view sniping where your characters countdown the shot, playing air guitar together randomly, bickering in a cute sort of way…. so basically, the game was extremely gay.

We instantly noticed many flaws. Coming off such great games like Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War (which this game totally tried to emulate in every which way) made us realize just how good it was on the other side. A solid engine was definitely something this game didn’t have. The melee was broken, the aiming system flawed, the enemies were redundant and we pretty much knew that it was going to be a one and done type game. My initial reaction was to give the game a C grade. However, as time wore on things started to make sense. As long as we played how the game wanted us to (have 1 person draw fire and have the other sneak around), and got used to the timing, I actually started to have fun. The cut scenes were over the top impressive. Honestly, some of the best cutscenes I’ve ever seen (even if the subject matter was stupid, they looked amazing).

In summary, things started to get a lot better the more we played it and by the last mission, I was having a lot of fun. I guess it goes to show that given the right amount of time, any game can be rewarding.

Pros:
Graphics, especially the cutscenes!
Voice Acting
Weapons
Gets better the longer you play it

Cons:
Certain aspects of gameplay broken (co-op snipe, melee)
Story
Horrible first impression
Slightly homosexual

Final Grade: B-

Category: xbox360No Comments.

I’ve met a new road block in my fake guitar playing career. I decided that Rock Band is a lot easier on Expert than the Guitar Hero’s and since I finished Guitar Hero 2 on expert, I figured I could go for the “Lord of the Strings” achievement in Rock Band by finishing the Expert Solo Tour on guitar. Well, I am cruising along, 5-staring just about every single song and 4 starring the supposedly really hard songs until I get to the very last track. I haven’t failed any song, in fact, I haven’t even been close to failing (my bar probably never dipped to the yellow at any point) so I figure alls good in the hood and I’m about to score me the 50 point achievement. That is… until…..

The Outlaws - Green Grass and High Tides (aka Horse Dick and Balls)

This piece of shit of a band decided they’d be clever by writing a 10 minute song with 8.5 minutes of sheer mad-man guitar soloing. To be even more audacious, they thought they’d sneak in 4 solid minutes of 4 and 3 note backwards “pull-offs” at the very end and try and pass it off as good music. Well, I’m on to your tricks “Outlaws” and I can tell you one thing… YOUR SONG IS GAY AND NO-ONE WANTS TO HEAR YOU SOLO FOR 9 MINUTES!

Here is a concise summary of last night:

#@!$ Rock Band, !@#$ EA, #!$@ Harmonix, !$#@% The Outlaws, *@#$! Horses, and @$!# HIGH @#$!#@ing TIDES!!

After 2 solid hours of trying, I’ve come to the conclusion that I always get 96% through this steaming pile of crap, but by that time… 10 minutes into the song and out of star power and blood, sweat, tears, and jiizm streaming down my face, and my hand cramping like a just participated in a masturbation triathlon, I simply can’t keep up with the last 60 seconds of pull-offs.

The same thing happened to me in Guitar Hero 3 where you don’t have a whisper of a challenge until suddenly, “The Devil” has a battle with you and Red Octane thought it would be funny to ruin your life.

 UPDATE: 

I finally finished this beast and passed it.  I promise if you gave me 25 more tries, I’d fail 25 times.  I had nothing but a sliver of life left as I exited the solo and had to hit the last 6 notes.  You can bet my eyes were peeled and my palms were sweaty until the end!

Category: xbox3603 Comments

Unfortunately I wasn’t listening to the Fab 5 at 5 radio show tonight, but word on the street reached my ear that D-Will had given the good doctor some more airtime.  I just downloaded the podcast and gave it a listen, then I cut out the good part and attached it below.

D-Will Calls Out DrShaw Round 2

Now, he might have told a little white lie when he said that he only plays at night… because on that very day he logged in at about 1:00 PM and didn’t get off until 4:45 PM (just in time to do the radio show and catch the plane to Denver).  I happened to be at work (yes, I still do that sometimes) but Kacee was home singing her little heart out playing Rock Band during that time.  He definitely plays every day for a couple hours when they are in town (after practice and shoot around) and yeah.. admittedly he might have been telling the truth when he said I must be playing all the time….. nothing concrete on that though.

Category: basketball  other  xbox360No Comments.