Short and Sweet!

I'm quite convinced nobody reads this blog but myself. Not a problem . It's all just for practice anyway. The good news is I'm slowly coming out of the GTA 4 stupor. The bad news is I'm quickly falling into an Age Of Conan one!
Expect articles on both sooner or later.

A Return From the Grave!

Monday, my birthday coincidently, saw the return of my Xbox 360 from the repair center. It doesn't look good. Obviously it's not the same 360. (different serial #). Last night while trying to set up a terrorist hunt mission in Rainbow Six Vegas 2 I got the dreaded dirty disc error. Ughhh. How long before I have to call Microsoft technical support again.

Should Lair be Reviewed Again?

When Lair was released near the end of August last year it was met with less than stellar reviews. While the game looked good and the premise was solid developer Factor 5 decided to only include motion control (through use of the sixaxis PS3 controller) in the original release of the game. It's safe to say it didn't work quite as well as they had hoped and review scores were quite low because of it.

Now, 8 months later however, an add-on patch available though the playstation store includes the missing analog controls to allow players to use the thumbsticks instead of the motion control.

Similarly, "Hellgate London" was released to poor reviews. However though patching and updates the game, while still far from perfect, is noticeably better. It's nothing new to online multiplayer pc games. Everything from "Star Wars Galaxies" to "World of Warcraft" are constantly being patched and added to in order to keep players happy and interested.

Is this enough to warrant the major gaming outlets to pull their original scores for the game? Maybe not entirely, but it might be fair to add an amendment to the original reviews. Now that gaming has shifted heavily into the online world of patches, fixes and add-ons where do reviewers draw the line. If they do start to re-review or make amendments will it start a snowball effect where developers receiving a lower range of scores constantly patch their game in hopes of bringing up their original score?

Or should they just learn from their mistakes and move on?

Ratchet & Clank Future Tools Of Destruction

I got around to finishing Ratchet & Clank: Future Tools of Destruction last night. I have to say that over all I was very impressed. The only Ratchet and Clank game I had played up to this point had been "Deadlocked". It was good but it didn't quite grab me the way FToD did.

Because at first it seems like a standard platform adventure game I found myself comparing it to Super Mario Galaxy a lot. I don't think thats really fair though. FToD is pretty heavy on the platforming action but the weapons make it more of a Platforming/ 3D Person Shooter hybrid. You'll spend just as much time in wide open areas taking out waves of baddies constantly scrolling though your arsenal of weapons looking for the right one for the job. At times it gets hectic but it never feels unbalanced. Insomniac must have spent a great deal of time making sure the game and weapons progress though out the game but never to the point where you feel like you're stuck in a position you can't move on from.

It's the definition of a Triple A game if there ever was one. Beautiful graphics with big open environments, just about perfect control and gameplay, great voice acting, and a story that funny and well thought out. A definite buy for Playstation 3 owners.

The Coffin Arrived Today!

So just over a week later the Xbox coffin has arrived. A much smoother first half than the last one. Took nearly a month of phone calls to even get a box shipped last time. Fingers crossed the second half of the journey is just as quick.
On a side note. It's kind of a blessing in disguise. Finally got around to playing some Resistance: Fall of Man. While it's not the system seller the fanbots like to claim it is, it is a very solid and fun FPS. Good story too!

Easy Like a Sunday Morning! A Haiku!

Sunday morning fun,
Vegas two to start the day,
Five minutes then death!

Wii owners. Why the hell aren't you playing Zack and Wiki?

The title says it all. It's a brilliant puzzle game that kinds of reminds me of those old Lucas Arts games like "Full Throttle and "Monkey Island" but simplified to perfection.

The tutorial seems a bit of a chore at first and the first few levels seem extremely simple but don't worry the difficulty ramps up nicely and soon you're in the middle of an amazing point and click puzzle game. Don't let the sugary anime graphics stop you from playing one of the years best Wii games.

Game of the Year..... well for me anyway.

When I played Zelda: Twilight Princess last year I came to a sad realization. About half way in it dawned on me that in all my years as a gamer I had essentially been playing the same Zelda game over and over. I guess I'd known it before then but this time it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Just before inserting the the disc for Super Mario Galaxy the same fear set in. What if this was just going to be another rehashing of the same old Mario mechanic. At first it felt a little bit like that. All the set pieces are intact. Collect a certain number of starts to carry on to the next level, the princess is missing and its up to you to save her. Bowser is an evil prick who insists that this time he's actually come up with a way to defeat you this time with turtles and goombas. It all seems so familiar and then you start playing.

The single greatest thing you can say about Super Mario Galaxy is that every other time you end up in a new world you're doing something different. It starts you off simple enough with the basic jumping and stomping but before long your holding the wii remote up right to balance on a ball to roll around the level, or you're in a 2D world where the gravity changes from section to section, or you're floating through space using the controller to act as a sort of grappling hook to propel you from star to star along the level. It goes on and on changing from level to level. Just when you think the game has run out of tricks you get dropped into another level and find yourself doing something completely different yet again.

So just in case you haven't figured it out Super Mario Galaxy is my game of the year!

Games of the Year in Review: Part 3

The Game of the Year in Review continues yet again!

September: Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
There is no doubt that Halo 3 owned September. If nothing else, Microsoft sure knows how to throw a media blitz for their flagship title. Up to four player online co-op in the campaign mode gave us the opportunity to live out the final chapter with our friends by our side and we loved it. The story might be over for now but not to worry. Halo 3 has probably the deepest, most customizable online multiplayer ever built into a game. Play the built in game types or make your own in forge. Don't like a weapon placement on a level? Change it. Think another level should have a few more vehicles? Go ahead and drop them in there. Then record it all for with the built in game recorder. Love it or hate it there is no arguing that Halo 3 does online like no other game.

October: The Orange Box (Xbox 360/PC/PS3)
No game released in 2007 can match The Orange Box in pure value per dollar. It includes the previously released Half Life 2 and Half Life 2: Episode One. As well as the latest in the series, Half Life 2: Episode Two. Valve could have stopped there but they didn't. Team Fortress 2 is one of the fastest and funnest multiplayer experiences available with a class system that has something for everyone no matter what way you like to play. Then you have Portal. A first person platforming puzzle game that description doesn't do justice. Worth considering by itself as game of the year Portal proves that with a great story, interesting characters and challenging game play you don't always need to be shooting at people in first person perspective to have a great time.

November: Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360/PC/PS3)
The first game in the Call of Duty franchise set in present time proves that infinity ward can do modern warfare just as well as World War II. Wave after wave of opposing armies pour on the pressure from beginning to end. No game captures the hectic pressure of being dropped into a war zone and trying to stay alive like Call of Duty 4. On top of the single player is an incredible multiplayer game that introduces RPG elements for leveling up and collecting weapons that gets you hooked and encourages you to keep going.

December: Unreal Tournament 3 (PS3/PC)
As far as twitch shooters go you can't do much better than the Unreal Tournament series. Built with the Unreal Engine 3 it has that unmistakable Epic games look with larger than life characters and huge detailed levels. Most impressive though of Unreal Tournament 3 is that the PS3 version marks the first time users will be able to build original levels outside of the game and upload them to their console. Hopefully the beginning of something more console developers are going to look at in the future.

Tomorrow: Over all Game of the year 2007!