No internet = no posts

So my internet hasn't worked in days. It started as a minor annoyance when my modem decided to die. The connection was slow for quite some time- slow but stable. They sent a new modem and the connection was spotty. Now it just doesn't work. No telling how long it'll be out because the phone people are idiots. Posting this from my cell, the final connection to the outside world. Might go crazy soon. We'll see how things turn out.

Mario Galaxy 2

I've probably played enough of Mario Galaxy 2 to review it. However, I'm going to wait until I get to the end because the game seems to never stop throwing new stuff at you. I want to make sure I cover every awesome thing this game offers. In the meantime, know that Mario Galaxy 2, though it shares a name with the original, is a very different game. Calling it 1.5 is an insult. It most certainly is it's own game, sharing only basic gameplay elements. Review should be up fairly soon I hope. My internet sucks right now, so that explains the lack of posts and possible late review of this game.

Review List

I got a request to list all the games I've reviewed and their scores, and I also recieved criticism for being too generous. Remember that under my scale, an 8 is a solid game to get. 7 is iffy territory and below 7 are games I suggest you avoid unless you find the price very cheap. So here is a compilation (from worst to best):

Resident Evil 5 - 4.5

Halo 3: ODST - 6.5

New Super Mario Brothers Wii - 7

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - 8 (7 compared to other games)

Street Fighter IV - 8

Ghostbusters - 8

Star Wars: Force Unleashed (Sith Edition) - 9

Borderlands - 9.5 (was originally a 9 but has been adjusted)

Batman: Arkham Asylum - 9.5

Assassin's Creed 2 - 9.5

While there are many 8s, as you can see when I give games like ODST and RE 5 poor scores (and this were loved by critics), I'm not being too generous.

Best Super Robot Monster Battle line Ever

I relize that this is a random post, but I was watching Dexter's Lab (yes, as a matter of fact I was reliving my childhood) and it was the one with the foreign exchange student and the battle in Japan. Anyway, at one point Dexter and his family are battling the monster and the dad throws an energy ball and says, "You're gonna get some pepper on this one". Laughed uncontrollably.

MEGA-MASSIVE REVIEWS: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Wars: Force Unleashed, DLCs, and More!

As the title says, this is the massive review I promised, plus a surprise game: Bioshock 2! Actually, Bioshock 2 will get its own post but wanted to let y'all know it was coming up. Now before I begin, since I am reviewing DLCs also, the grading scale is a bit different. It's basically a 5 point scale, where a 3 is a DLC that may be worth it but anything above 3 is definitely worth it. The DLCs will go like the lightning reviews:

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Borderlands DLC 1 - Zombie Island:

This was a very fun DLC. You traverse zombies and face an old-school boss encounter. You also see an old blind friend. Pretty good deal for $5-10. Rank: 4

Borderlands DLC2 - Mad Moxxi

Okay this DLC is a nightmare. The arenas would be cool if you could actually keep anything. Instead, you just spend all your ammo to get achievements and die. Only redeeming part is that it includes a bank for your weapons. If you really want a bank, get this DLC. If not, I'd recommend avoiding it or getting it as part of a package with the new Borderlands add-on package. Rank: 2.5

Borderlands DLC3 - General Knoxx

As far as DLCs go, this is king. Greatly expanded content. An armory full of weapons. Epic boss encounters and missions. Oh, and Cramerax the Invincible (the boss I can't even scratch). Without a doubt, this is a Rank 5

Assassin's Creed 2, DLC 1 = Battle of Forli

I love Assassin's Creed 2, so I obviously loved this DLC as well. It's not really worth $10 because the quest can be beaten in an hour if you are fooling around (I did it in about 30 minutes). However, for the duration, it's a lot of fun. You basically storm and defend a castle, engage in street civil war, kill two smart-ass brothers, and fill in a missing piece of Ezio's memories. Rank 4

Assassin's Creed 2, DLC 2 = Bonfire of the Vanities

This DLC is incredibly challenging! As a history buff, I loved seeing Savanorola introduced into the game. But, besides the obvious kill this guy, you have to kill his 9 officers in incredibly challenging ways. The hardest one is where you have to infiltrate a small boat that has no windows or doors and kill the official without being seen or noticed. Took me close to an hour, but well worth it. Rank 5

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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Sith Edition) - 360

This game brought me constant smiles and fan-boy giddiness whenever a character from the Star Wars universe came up in the game. In one word, this game is powerful. You play Starkiller, Darth Vader's secret apprentice. The game takes two major plot twists (both of which were expected), but focuses on filling the gaps between episodes III and IV through the adventure that this game provides. This is an upgraded hack 'n slash. Upgraded because you have a lightsaber that is customizable (to a degree) once you find power crystals and lightsaber mods (for example, I rolled with a purple or ebony lightsaber with a +lightning damage mod), and because, as the title suggests, this game stands out when it comes to the force. Using the force is an integral part of the game and what truly makes it stand out. Your favorite powers are there, from force lightning (my all-time favorite) to force push, force shield, etc. The game tests your usage of the force in combat to busting doors and even bringing down a starship from outerspace into a devastating crash with a planet.

The controls are very smooth and combos can be learned and pulled off easily. The graphics are awesome, and the story line is fantastic. The game takes you to diverse locations and even includes battles with Vader, Darth Maul, and [SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!] the Emperor himself (although I won't tell you how to get this battle). The Sith Edition comes with three added encounters: Tatoine (where you raid Jabba's palace, kill the rancor, and fight both Boba Fett and Obi-Won!!!), the Jedi Academy at Coursecent (with a psychedelic encounter in the hall of trials), and my favorite, Hoth (featuring battles against Ice beasts and Luke Skywalker!). Just a word of caution, however, if you don't find the Sith Edition, you will have to buy the three DLCs separately.

Overall, this game reminds me of the evolved form of, and spiritual successor of, the Star Wars Jedi Academy series. This game challenges you with waves of rancors, aliens, Jedis, Siths, and even yourself. This is a true summer game and a must-buy in my opinion.

Final Rank: 9

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Uncaged Edition) - 360

I'll start off by saying I don't know the difference between uncaged and normal other than that the uncaged has more blood and I don't believe the normal is sold anymore. So, let me say one thing: have no fear! Contrary to most movie games, Wolverine Origins (as I call the game) is fantastic! So the game is a hack and slash, and I previously boasted it was the greatest of all time. This is an exaggeration which, sadly, fails to come across in text; however, the game is very fun and does everything it does well. The graphics are very reminiscent of Arkham Asylum (I believe they use the same engine). Players of Arkham Asylum will love the "sub-boss fights" because the bosses are the same models as the Titan-infused Arkham cronies. For those who haven't played Arkham, this means that the sub-bosses in Wolverine are giant creatures (including Lava monsters and giant army mutants) that you have to roll past, jump on their back, and give them hell.

This game shines in being the first game to make you Wolverine. You are Wolverine. You feel like Wolverine as you lunge from enemy to enemy and claw and hack the enemy into limbs and pieces. You see like Wolverine when you use feral senses to find secrets and solutions to puzzles (again, this is the same as Batman's detective mode in Arkham). You become Wolverine in berserk mode, and in basically everything you do. My favorite is Wolverine's health regeneration. You actually witness it occur in real-time. Let's say you get pumped full of bullets and then thrown into a fire. Well, Wolverine becomes a gruesome sight filled with bullet-holes, burning flesh, and an exposed adamantium skeleton. As your regen factor kicks in, you see the skeleton slowly be covered up by new flesh and Wolverine's wounds close. For fighting, the game gives you tons of combos and power-ups featuring on what Wolverine does best: claw people apart.

The game's biggest flaw is also its strength. The game lets you fight hordes of enemies in the jungles of Africa (where the hatch from Lost can be found), The Weapon-X Facility, under a blizzard in Canada (where a WoW Easter Egg can be found: during the snow storm, you enter a cave and find Arthas' blade Frostmourne with a skeleton next to it. The skeleton has an exclamation point over his head reminiscent of WoW quest givers), a Robot-creation factory (where you get to fight a SENTINEL!!!! and find a Portal easter-egg), New Orleans (boring level), a bar (battle against Sabertooth), and Three Mile Island. You can also unlock costumes for Wolverine by finding action figures and then challenging Wolverine in that costume. To get the costume, you must beat the enemy Wolverine. These fights are the most challenging bosses in the game (apart from the Sentinel). These include original, classic (the blue and yellow one), and my favorite, X-Force Wolverine (which looks like Batman; it's black and grey and turns Wolverine's eyes red). WAIT! You're probably thinking: hey, he hasn't said anything negative. Well, the negatives are that the levels are way too long, and this makes the combat a bore as the game progresses. The game really only has 4 levels: Weapon X Facility, Robot Factory, New Orleans, and Three Mile Island. These levels literally go on for hours and you fight the same group of enemies over and over again. The occasional boss makes the game exciting, but you start thinking "Why won't this level end" and "Why are the enemies the same?". As you exhaust every combo, you start to get frustrated with the game. Then comes the New Orleans level which is completely unnecessary because your mission is to fight Gambit, yet the game manages to turn the level into a 3 hour chase after Gambit through what seems like the world's largest hotel. At least destroying Gambit and a helicopter made it cool. It also annoyed me how the Africa level was interspersed through the four main levels. From a narrative stand-point, this move makes sense so I let it slide.

Overall, this game is intensely fun the first day and a very nice surprise. After the outdoors part of Weapon X level (the Canada snow-storm part) you think this game is one of the greatest you've ever played! Then it starts getting stale. The Sentinel battle makes you jizz in your pants, and after that, the game starts losing satisfaction rapidly. Judging it against other video games, this game starts at a 9 and declines to a 7. However, given that this is a game based off of a movie, I will be generous because the fighting, graphics, unlockables, and story are awesome.

Final Score: 8

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So I just beat Bioshock 2 and am currently hooked on the multiplayer (which will be discussed in the next review). I also just picked up Darksiders so expect a review on that in the near future.

Play Pac-Man on the Google homepage!

Google is awesome. Pac-Man is awesome. Google has recognized this and combined the two for Pac-Man's 30th anniversary, transforming the Google logo into a working game of Pac-Man! It's the real deal, complete with all 250-something levels and even multiplayer support! Play now!

The Installation 04 Official Reach Beta Impressions

Now that the Halo Reach beta is over, it's time for impressions! So, uh, here they are.

Would you like proof that Mario Galaxy 2 is the best game ever?

Lucky for you, here it is:

Review: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is an excellent fighting game. If you own a Wii, pick this one up. That being said, let's look at why it's so awesome.

BUY X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE NOW!!!

I'm back from school which means I have time to post. As promised, I will write up the Borderlands DLC review. I also have a review for Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Sith Edition), and the Assassin's Creed 2 DLC. The post drought is over!

Also, I'm currently playing through X-Men Origins: Wolverine and let me tell you, if you haven't played it, this game is a MUST BUY! That's right! I'll take the surprise away right now and say this is one game based on a movie that is far from crap. It may be the greatest old-school style action/hack 'n slash ever made. I'm completely in love with this game!

PSA: Steam now on Mac; Portal free until the 24th

To celebrate the launch of Steam for Mac today, Valve is giving away it's first Mac-compatible game for free on both PC and Mac. Portal is free to download until the 24th, so I'd suggest you get it now. And if you already have it, download it again. Need I remind you it's free!? Also, the Diabloesque Torchlight is half off until next week. Valve is also offering a bundle with all five Tales of Monkey Island games as well as the full season of the latest Sam and Max series for only $30. Head on over to the Steam site for all the awesome deals. 

Pokemon fans are more creative than the developers.

You see those abominations there? Those are the new starters for Pokemon Black and White. I know, right? We've got a snobby lizard thing, a pig-rabbit, and my personal favorite: a clown-otter with a snowball for a head. Yes, these guys are awful, just awful. Worse than I could have imagined. Worse than a lot of people imagined, actually. You see, when this image was released a few days ago, it sent the Pokemon community into a mad frenzy trying to decipher what they might look like. And guess what, the fan's creations are better. Here's an idea Nintendo, for the next Pokemon game, how about you let the fans design the monsters? My favorites of the fan monsters are below.

Super Fun Facts About Fallout New Vegas

Well guys, while surfing around the interwebs I found out that Bethesda has announced that they will have a Collector's edition for Fallout New Vegas.

-It will include seven poker chips that represent the seven casinos in Vegas featured in the game.
-A Fallout New Vegas customized deck of cards.
-A recreation of the game's highly coveted "Lucky 38" platinum chip.
-A hardcover graphic novel entitled "All Roads". It will be about the stories leading up to New Vegas, and is written by Chris Avellone, the creative director of the game.
-A DVD about the making of the game. Apparently there is exclusive interviews and such regarding this.

I personally am really psyched about this. In case you couldn't tell, I love the Fallout 3 game, and have now come to love the first few Fallout games. This is going to be awesome and I plan on pre-ordering the limited edition. It will (as of now) cost $79.99 for the PS3 and the Xbox 360, and $69.99 for the PC. I am excited. If you want to see a picture of the Collectors Pack type: Fallout New Vegas collector's edition into Google or whatever search engine you use and eventually a pic will pop up.

Lost Planet 2

It's out right now, in fact it came out today. However, it has been getting some poorish ratings, so either wait till a friend gets it and play that or wait for it to get cheaper. I personally enjoyed the first one, just because it was a fun game, not really based on plot or any of that, it just felt oldschool fun. I plan on getting this in the near future, probably around when Reach or Vegas come out. Hey, thats just me and my opinion though, so feel free to make your own call.

PSA: Buy this bundle now!

The Humble Indie Bundle will only be on sale for another day and sixteen hours at the time of this posting. I suggest you get it while you still can and help support indie developers as well as charity. It's a pay what you want package containing six indie games that are DRM free and compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. The lineup includes: World of Goo, Gish, Aquaria, Lugaru, Penumbra Overture, and the recently added Samorost 2. Honestly, I hadn't heard of any of these besides World of Goo (this is my third copy) and Gish (which I have never played). And, once again, you can name your price. I'd suggest you snag this deal before it's gone and give your monies to a good cause. Whatever you can spare helps charity and indie game developers.

Check out these Street Fighter Legacy featurettes

These really show the teams dedication and commitment to detail.

The greatest gaming film ever is three minutes long

Man, these guys got it right. The following Street Fighter "short film" (calling it that is a bit of a stretch) entitled "Legacy" is both more accurate and more entertaining than the previous two Street Fighter theatrical releases combined. When I first heard about this "short film," I was expecting 20 minutes of epicness. Instead, we get three. Still, it's better than almost any professionally done video game film ever. And it's gotten Capcom's blessing. Usually with these types of things, the companies that own the licences want to shut down fan projects because they're jackasses that don't want free publicity. Capcom, however, has been very generous lately. Allowing both this film and another based on Mega Man to be released. Let's hope that Capcom watches this and realizes they need to hire these guys to make a full fledged movie. Or, at the very least, I'd like to see more of these shorts.

But that's not the end of the story. Who, exactly, is responsible for this film? Why it's actor, filmmaker, and action choreographer Joey Ansah who played Desh in The Bourne Ultimatum. The team he gathered to make this possible includes Top Gear director Owen Trevor, producer Jacqueline Quella, Anthony Wayne, a senior producer on the last eleven James Bond films, and visual effects studio Prime Focus. For a three minute movie. Yeah, the man is dedicated. Here's what he has to say about it:

As an actor, film maker and a fan, I have been repeatedly disappointed by the many diluted, un faithful and outright butchered movie adaptations of fighting video games. It was clear to me, that given the way the movie industry worked, we would never see a super faithful, darker toned and more adult themed (or just plain good!) incarnation of Street fighter unless a die-hard fan director or film-making team with the game canon knowledge, film making know how and connections stepped up to the plate to helm such a project.

So almost a year ago, I began writing treatments and a production design brief and partnered with Streetlight films before proposing my concept and vision to Capcom. I'm pleased to say they gave their blessing and permission for the project to move forward.

And finally, you can see the film after the break.

The Ultimate in Dessert Warfare Technology

Activision Revealed

So as we all know, Activision and Infinity ward are partner companies. Well, it may not be that way for long. As you all know from Fuzunga's post Bungie recently merged with Activision (yea!). But what some some of you may not know is that Activision recently fired (March 1) both the CEO and President of Infinity Ward, Vince Zampalla and Jason West, who are now sewing Activison for 36 million dollars in due royalties, which they were apparently supposed to recieve on March 31. Apparently back in March of 2008 Activision tasked the Zampella and West with completeing Modern Warfare 2 by November 15 2008 in exchange for complete control over Infinity Ward studios and rights to all COD brands that were based in the post-Viatnom era. Basically, the new COD black ops may be stalled if West and Zampalla don't sign off on it. Now that the back story is known,it is my belief that Activision bought Bungie so that it can recap some of its future potential losses. We will see. Also West and Zampella have signed on with a company called Hollywood's Creatvie Artists Agency, who have very powerful ties with the movie, sport and music industry. I think that we may be seeing more video game based or type movies coming out in the near future.

Gablargah

Hmmm... spellcheck isn't correcting that title. Doe that mean "gablargah" is a word? Anyway, real busy at the moment so no posts for a bit. But really, you should forget about us for a while and go play yourself some Reach beta. Seriously. What are you doing here reading this when there's heads to be hunted, stocks to be piled, generators to be defended, and invasions to fend off? Go on now, off you go!