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!