Although I was not able to get his name, I do know this. This guy is freakin' cool. Some AT&T customer support dude came to my house to fix the cable, and I thought he was going to be either an asshole with a goatee, or some boring dude with a goatee. Well, I was pleasantly surprised (not about the goatee) when he walked into my game room. He asked me if my ION Drum Set was an electric drum set, and I told him that they work for Rock Band 2. He said that he also had Rock Band 2, but had a drum set that was nothing like the one I had. He then asked me what level of difficulty I play and stuff, if I had beaten the game, blah blah blah. When he got into my mother room (where apparently the problem was coming from), he started telling me about how he has PS3, Wii, 360, and apparently all these other consoles and how he's been a gamer for longer than I've been born. He ended up being a Sony fanboy, but he was cool. He also seemed to know a lot about the industry as well. (Oh, I remember! He said he was 29!) Although he told me that he had to go (because there was no one older than the age of 18 in the house), he asked me to prove that I am indeed awesome. While I was setting up Rock Band 2, he was also telling me that he has been in a couple of real bands as well (he plays the drums). I amazed him with my completion of Painkiller on Expert Guitar. Soon after, he was telling me how playing the real guitar was not that hard, that some of the notes you have to hit aren't really there (I knew that) and there aren't as much strums as it sounds (which I didn't know!), While I was switching for Guitar Hero III just because I wanted to, he told me how he plays the Rock Band Drums on Expert but only played Guitar on Hard. I then wondered for a while why he could be that good (the drums are HARD!) but not be as good on the Guitar. He answered my question pretty quickly after he showed me that his middle and ring finer are half gone (I didn't hear the story of how that happened, though. I think it would have offended him to ask), which really surprised me! Now I was even more impressed that he could play the Guitar at all! I then passed the TTFaF intro riff for him, we said bye and he left. I wish I could have caught his name, because that guy, is awesome.

It's true, it has been a while since I have actually purchased a new game. Watching this video has made me pretty jealous. I miss the 'going to the store to purchase the game', the 'asking my mom to use her nails to cut the shrink wrap open in the car', and the 'opening the box and pulling out the instruction manual and reading it during the car ride back home and super-hyping myself'...

God, school sucks.

I remember the first time I heard about Rock Band: The Beatles, and I thought, "Wait, are they taking the Guitar Hero route? They're just gonna make a bunch of games featuring a specific band with a bunch of songs by that band and sell it? Damn, Harmonix must need money bad!" Nope!

When I read Patunga13's newest post, I thought he was talking about the new iPod nano. That would have been WAYYYYY too coincidental...

Anyway, the blog actually seems to be taking life again! Maybe school has a slight good affect on my work ethic...

Although I still won't bother with the new map packs (even with the $15 value of the All Fronts map pack), I still kind of enjoy Gears of War 2. Either that, or leveling up and seeing all those EXP points rack up makes me feel good about myself. Either way, this game knows that I'm leet!

Ok, so what if I'm still a scrub?

[UPDATE] Coming to the website on my iPod, I come to the sad realization that the sidebar pics are very oversized. So you don't have to alert me. I will be on the case by tommorow.

To alert the people that read this, I am a freshman in high school now. That's huge news for my mother. So huge, that my mom doesn't want me to think about video games at all until school times end. Which means that I won't be able to play video games until the weekends of every week. For now, I'll have to watch TV and learn...

That's my sad 360 staring at me in the face. I'm so sorry.

To bring breath back to this lifeless blog, I've decided to bring back my old reviews back from Gamespot that I posted about 2-3 years ago. They were slightly amateurish, but hey, they are good filler as I decide what I could do to make this blog worth it again. UNLIKE MY OTHER REVIEWS, this one was never posted on Gamespot. Instead, this was posted a couple of months after this blog was made on a separate website. This was my final official review of a video game, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.


I got COD:4 for Christmas and I’ve had high expectations for this game, and I wasn’t disappointed.
First, I’ll talk about the single player mode. The story is pretty much fighting a war and trying to end it. Now, I’ve had the game for about 4 days now, and I’d like to say the game is so hard, that even for a five-hour game, this will take a while to beat. The good thing is that there are 4 levels of challenge so it’s good for both pros and people that have never played a first person shooter before. And for a five-hour game, the campaign feels a lot different from other first person shooters. Most games try to make a place feel dirty by just adding lots of broken stuff everywhere you look, but it just feels like something has gone terribly wrong(don’t worry, you aren’t reading a BioShock review). I wouldn’t say that the characters are very deep or interesting, but they have great voice acting which really keeps you in the mood of what is going on in the game. The soundtrack doesn’t give the game an emotional feeling, but more of a dramatic mood. The enemy AI of the game is very smart, but you won’t see you allies helping you very much. I mean, they don’t shoot walls or anything, but they take cover most of the time and when they do pop out, they usually on shoot about 3 to 4 bullets and most usually don’t hit anything. Another thing that I don’t find bad, just very unrealistic, are scripted enemy pop-outs. I mean, you could sit in cover for about 4 to 5 minutes and then go out and more enemies will come out. But you could also take about 10 to 15 seconds in cover then come out for the same effect, so the game makes it feel like they only come out when you are open. Another thing that gives the same effect of unrealism is respawning infinites enemies that only stop respawning when you get from one place to another. Like in one level, I could spend the whole day killing enemies, and then get shot and die, or just run as fast as you possibly can from one place to another and not shoot ANY enemies and they will stop respawning. Sometimes I think of my allies as distractions more than actual allies. There is one level where there is a helicopter and there is a barn I have to get to. Once I waste almost all my bullets trying to kill the gunner, I desperately run towards the barn to get inside, only to find a scripted gunner come out and shoot me. I have been working on the same level for hours and hours and I still have not passed it.
One thing I would like to say though is that this game actually good use of special grenades(unlike most games), like a flash bang is very helpful at getting enemies to daze of while you start aiming at their heads. Or while enemies are coming you could throw a smoke grenade and place a claymore right next a door, then once the smoke goes out and they run through the door, BOOM. Sadly, weapons like C4s and Claymores are really only found useful in multiplayer games, whereas in single player mode they are usually only used for objectives like plant a C4 on something important and detonate it.
Now, even though the single player has different levels of difficulty to choose from, the multiplayer might not be the best place for beginners but something that someone will really get into. The reason I say that is this isn’t a game like Halo or Gears of War where there are weapons pickups and you will have to shoot a load of bullets to kill someone, Or if you have one weapon where even the inexperienced could get many kills. Nothing like that. This is a game where if you get shot by even a few bullets, you will die. It is a very fast paced game similar to Unreal Tournament but a little slower so that the sniper could be found useful XD. There is, however, the importance of having the right weapons at the right situations. Now that I think about it, it feels a lot like Team Fortress 2, except that you can mix them up to your play style. Something very rarely found in a first-person shooter is the integration of experience points. You get experience points for killing other players in multiplayer. The more experience points you get the closer you get to leveling up, like a role playing game. Once you level up, you unlock more weapons, attachments and perks. Perks are like bonuses to add onto your character. You can have three perks on your character at a time and you get to choose which ones you want. Like a perk called Stopping Power where your bullets have more damage, and a perk called Sleight of Hand where you can reload faster. There are also perks that let you hold more grenades. Attachments are like add-ons to your weapons to make them a little more useful, like a silence could be attached to make sure that you don’t appear on the mini-map when you shoot, or a red dot scope so you can aim better and not have to use the iron sights. The weapons in the game are very modern(hence the name Modern Warfare) and different from the weapons older Call of Duty’s had. They are split into 5 groups, Assault Rifles, Sub Machine Guns, Light Machine Guns, Shotguns, and Sniper Rifles. One game element which adds a whole lot of realism is being able to shoot through thin surfaces. So a bullet being shot through a very thick wall might not be able to penetrate a wall, or penetrate but it won’t be very damaging, and a bullet being shot through things like wood or sheet metal while lose a little bit of it’s damage but still be deadly. So now there is a difference between cover and concealment. There is also a system in the multiplayer called air support, where if you go on a 3 kill streak without dying, you can use UAV recon to have the mini-map scan for enemies for about 30 seconds, while if you go on a five kill streak you could call an air strike where a map of the level is shown and you could choose where you want to fire the air strike. So you could use an air strike in conjunction with a UAV to know where the enemies are and land a few bombs on them. If you get 2 kills from that or from your own fire without dying you go on a 7 kill streak where you can call a helicopter to come and support you(very useful too).
Just to include a little snippet about controls, you can hold down a button to look down the iron sights/scope/attachment, and fire. Or you could just press the fire button and fire directly from the hip, which is not as accurate(like Gears of War). You can also melee with you knife by clicking into the right thumb stick and switch weapons and reload. You can also crouch or go prone(lay on your stomach) by clicking the B button. And jump or climb over objects with the A button. Moving around is done by the left thumb stick and air support or perks(like RPGs, Claymores, and C4s. Don’t worry, other perks are passive) are used with the D-Pad. And the use the left and right bumpers to throw fragmentation grenades, flash grenades, stun grenades and smoke grenades(Sorry, but you can only have frags and one of the other three at a time).
Graphics are very cinematic and realistic(hehe, does that sound familiar to anyone?). The game also has a very cinematic feel. Just watch the intro and credits and it might remind you of a movie. And the final level(or the level after the final level) feels Soprano like. And the cut scenes give the game like an interactive movie, except deeper than that. When you get close up to sandbag walls though, it looks 2-d, but the environment looks very realistic, and the explosions are also very realistic. But there are some questionable rag doll physics, but they only popped up when I played split-screen games. You’ll see many people having their hands stuck inside a wall and hanging off of it in split-screen games. Though it destroys the feeling of darkness in Call Of Duty 4, it gives more of the feeling of hilariousness. Graphics look DirectX10 for computers but are still only DX9. Lighting also gives a great feel and realistic, though you will never see your own shadow. But these small mistakes are usually ignored because of the realistic graphics.
Sound design isn’t perfect, but is damn well close to it(also sound familiar for you G4 watchers?)! Bullets being fired, bouncing off of different surfaces and explosions being heard from afar are also very realistic. Music also gives this game a very dramatic mood, similar to the emotional mood in Halo 3. Voice acting is AWESWEEXCELENT! Even the intro of the game will make you say WOW! The voice acting gives you the feeling of being your allies but also makes you care about all of the characters in the game.
And now for the final verdict. One of the most anticipated games of the year did not let us down and then some.

Deep story, even for 5 hours(even more when you play on Hardened, a LOT for Veteran), fun and addicting multiplayer, not as much variety as a next gen game might truly have, but is still one of the greatest “interactive movies” of all time.

Gameplay: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Graphics/Design: 9/10
Extras/Variety: 8/10
Tilt: 9/10

To bring breath back to this lifeless blog, I've decided to bring back my old reviews back from Gamespot that I posted about 2-3 years ago. They were slightly amateurish, but hey, they are good filler as I decide what I could do to make this blog worth it again. Anyway, here's my review Oblivion!

Let's start with a summary of this review. This game is awsome.

Now let's actually talk about it.

The Gameplay is a real BIG improvement after Morrowind and is still keeps the fun of Morrowind and a lot more. The main quest will keep you playing for a few hours, and after that, a whole world of fun and intresting side quests awaits you. There is also a very cool and intresting thing in this game called radiant AI, where the AI seem like real life characters, going around walking, shopping, sleeping, talking to other NPCs, and even stealing for themselves. Combat and magic systems have been greatly improved. Instead of Morrowind's, swing and hope to get a hit, you will always get a hit, and something that adds to the real life combat system is block, not avaible in Morrowind. And now, instead of switching from your weapon to you pair of hands, you can use magic without taking the time to switch your weapon. The NPCs also add on the gameplay, all having different personalities. Also something that was not avaible in Morrowind is voice commentary. When you talk to someone, they actually say something, unlike Morrowind, where it was just text whenever you asked an NPC about something. Also, the voice syncing with the NPCs' mouths is phenominal. It is almost a complete match with what they are saying. The only thing that is bad about gameplay is loading. It appears frequently slows the game down a lot. But that's only a minor complaint. All and all, the gameplay is downright awsome.

Now the graphics, the graphics are great. Everything seems very realistic. Shadowing, lighting, coloring, everything. The only thing thats bad about the graphics is that they take very long to load, and they make the game very laggy and glitchy. The game is very broken, so you can find yourself walking into a big blue of nothing a lot in the game. Going through walls, jumping outside of the actual area, all that stuff. Now straying away from the laggy part of this game, NPCs look like real life humanoids/lizardoids/tigeroids/elfs. Buildings and animals are very detailed. Nature is huge with graphics, and everything responds to the lighting of the place. Water textures are great too, responding to you moving in it to raindrops falling into it. Pretty much this; The graphics are great except the lag made by all the detailed graphics. and the glitches really take away from the realism.

Morrowind had great music and so does Oblivion. The sound, both effects and music, are outstanding. The musical compostions really give some excitement and calmness in the game. The sound effects and voice commentary really give some realism into the game. From swords clanking and banging, to getting struck with and arrow and the sound of pain it makes. From the differents sound of footsteps on different terrain, to sound of fireballs passing by and the sounds the storms make.

Now the replay value. Once you complete the Thevies guild quests with a theif, you can make a new game and make a warrior for the Fighters Guild, or a wizard for the Mages Guild, or an assassin for the Dark Brotherhood, or an all-around player to try to beat all those quest lines including the main one, or be a barbarian and join the Arena, or just an adventurer going around town completing mini-quests. You can do it all and the intresting quests give this game a replau value so big, it might take years to days just to complete them all.

I had a very fun time with this game, And you should too. Everything is almost perfect. The only guys I recommened not buying this game are those people who get bored running around vast landscapes. All those other people though, are gonna have a awsome time with this game.

A 9.9

out of 10.



Originally posted Jul 8, 2007 7:13 pm GMT

To bring breath back to this lifeless blog, I've decided to bring back my old reviews back from Gamespot that I posted about 2-3 years ago. They were slightly amateurish, but hey, they are good filler as I decide what I could do to make this blog worth it again. Anyway, here's my short review of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition!

This game is good, good graphics, good story, good sound effects, (kinda) good music, just average gameplay.

You play as a amnesic guy named Wayne, and picks up his memory the more you play the game. You are on a snow covered planet E.D.N III infested with a alien type creature named the Akrid. And you have to save the planet.

Everything looks very realistic. The snow moves around like it should. It makes you feel like you really on a snow covered planet. Everyone also looks very realistic. The characters are very detailed. And the environments are very alive.

The sounds are very realistic. It really sounds as if your shooting a machine gun. It also really sound like an alien was screaming at your face. It'll be really be worth your money.

The only lacking thing. Gameplay. Running around the snow is kinda slow, even with a VS is just slow. I mean, some innovative things like hangin' and climin' a wall with a rope attached to a gun. But sometime (most of the time in multiplayer), you just don't feel as if your gun is actually damaging a player/Akrid. And it's just not for everybody. This game is good. But just not for everyone.




Originally posted Aug 8, 2007 4:17 pm PT

Rooster Teeth has been making new episodes specifically featuring Halo 3: ODST. They have already released the first two episodes in this four-part ODST series.







See more at the Rooster Teeth website.