Flight of the Conchords Season 2

Most of you all probably don't know yet, but Flight of the Conchords season 2 will air on January 18th. There's no news on how many episodes there will be, but I'm hoping for at least 10-12. Anyways for those who want something awesome before the season starts, here are the new promo video's that have aired on HBO over the past few weeks.

Promo 1:

Promo 2:

Promo 3 - Flower Song:

Battletanx: Global Assault Review

Battletanx Global Assault is the sequel to Battletanx, and it shows the improvements time brought in many ways. First off, the graphics are greatly improved. The tanks have good looking textures, weapon fire look more like what it is and not a fire ball. There is a greater variety of tanks, in addition to the 3 in the original, there is now tanks such as the Rhino and the Rattler. Out of the 11 tanks in the game, Kiwi would say the only one that is really crap, it's the flamethrower touting Inferno tank, the others are all pretty fun to use. There are a hand full of new weapons, some existing weapons got improved, and some of the more powerful weapons, like the nuke of all things, got weakened. Tanks move faster in this game, and there are now ramps and such for you to fly off of. The speed does help make the game more exciting, as if tanks blowing stuff up wasn't exciting enough.

This game takes place a few years after the original. You and your wife control San Francisco, and you have a son. Everything is going well, but we can't have that, can we? An evil woman attacks to kidnap your child for something called The Edge, it might as well be the Deus Ex Machina because the game avoided saying exactly what it is (it can shoot lightening bolts and control minds apparently; it could probably wash the dishes if that's what was needed). The story seems to take a more prominent role in the game however it doesn't feel good enough to warrant this extra attention. While the story may not be that great, the game play is better then ever. This time you can CHOOSE THE TANK YOU WANT TO USE. Yes, that is big enough to warrant the capitals. This solves one of Kiwi's biggest complaints with the game. Now the levels goals, they are better as well. There are now more destroy'em all objectives, and much fewer CTF style missions. There are also some gather x amount of things and destroy a certain thing objectives. Kiwi will say that the one CTF mission is harder then previous ones in that the respawning enemies are more aggressive and there is a variety of what is being spawned. This time instead of straight forward lives, you get tank bucks, basically each type of tank is worth a certain amount and should you run out of bucks, game over. With this it encourages destroying and searching the levels even more. The AI is more willing to use secondary weapons this time, so don't be surprised to get nailed in the face with a guided missile. Even with this improvement, Kiwi found this game easier then the original. Even with this downgrade in difficulty Kiwi found it more fun, which is the most important thing.

The multiplayer got some of these delicious improvements, there are new game types. Tank Wars replaces Annihilation, this time those other tanks are live and it's the first team to get to 25 points that wins. Frenzy is where the game places Queen Lords on the map and it's a scramble to see who can get the most. Hold'em places a Queen Lord in the center of the map, the teams run to grab it and place it in their base, and hold it for about 30-40 seconds. This would be more hectic except that there are Goliath tanks guarding the bases, making it harder to take'em away. Then there is convoy, one team guards a convoy while it heads to a point and the other team tries to stop'em. The problem with this is that while the convoy vehicles aren't exactly fragile, it's quite easy for the attacker to win by ignoring the guards and attacking the convoy. You do get to choose what tanks you use after you die, but unfortunately, you don't get to choose when the game starts up. The gangs are much more balanced this time around, and the tanks each squad has is more varied. Even then, some gangs are worse then then others. The game still has one of the same problems the first one did, you can't change the scoring options and such for the games.

The graphics have greatly improved and the weapons sound good as well. The music doesn't see great improvements. The music didn't really stick to Kiwi, he found it better to just listen to some of his own music.

Overall, Global Assault is a vast improvement. The game play is just down right better, the single player is better, and the multiplayer is better as well. At the rate the developers were going, one more sequel and they would have had the perfect game, too bad 3DO went down.

GIMP review, by Lloyd Reed

Yeah the GNU Image manipulation Program(GIMP)

Looks: 8.0

With switchable themes, you can most likely make it look just about any way possible.
I personaly use the regular default theme, as its the fastest on my computer.

Use: 9.0

Its good, but its no Photoshop. It can perform guite a bit, but I hevnt seen much on par with Photoshop.

Accessibility: 7.0

Its okay, confusing as hell, but okay. You can grouped groups, so sometimes its hard to find what your looking for. Though I give it a 7.0 for easyness of adding fonts/themes/brushes/programs. Its very easy to do so.

Over All: 25/30

Like I stated, its no Photoshop, its a descent usable program that just works enough to be kept. There are saving points, and they are the easablity of installing new programs and the such.

FK Fanzine: November 2008 in retrospect

November 2008 was a little bit slower of a month for the Fanzine than I may have liked, but I do feel pleased with much of what was published. Hopefully next month goes better however, and I have every reason to believe that it will!

Once again, your feedback is always appreciated, so please let us know what you like and what you don't. December 2008 is shaping up to be possibly our biggest month yet, and none of you will want to miss what comes next!

Sincerely, LoC

Disgaea 1 Review(Expanded) by LoC

This is an expanded and revised version of the original Disgaea review I wrote on March 28th 2008. Enjoy!

I have about 1 chapter of Disgaea left to play, but I have seen enough to write a fair review.

Story: An interesting, clever, and at times
hilarious story keeps you entertained every step of the way. The cast
of characters that you meet along the way range from a bratty and
arrogant Prince(Laharl), a not so loyal vassal(Etna), a love obsessed
Angel trainee/assassin(Flonne), a space Super-Hero with a
stereotypically “Heroic” voice( Gordon), and many other interesting
characters.


Gameplay: While it isn’t quite as refined as the
battle system in Makai Kingdom, the gameplay is still superb. The game
is easy to pick up and learn, with enough meat to keep you busy and
entertained for a long time. The Dark Council system is interesting,
but can be rather frustrating at times. There is a huge number of
classes and sub-classes available to use and unlock, although most of
the best ones take seemingly forever to get.


Sound: Solid sound effects, voice acting, and a nice soundtrack. Not bad at all.


Graphics: They aren’t that fancy, but they fit the games style perfectly fine. No complaints from me.


Overall: A must for any and all Strategy/RPG fans.
Give it a try if you never did before. With many secret stages,multiple
endings, and unlockable classes, there is much to keep you playing
through numerous times. BUY IT!

Darkthrone - Dark Thrones And Black Flags Review, by LoC

Darkthrone has released many albums over the years, and usually one new album in every year. Darkthrones and Black Flags is their latest, and continues much in the same vein of last years FOAD, but with the band now sounding more focused than they have in many years!

The Cult Is Alive and FOAD were both considered controversial by some fans, for their increased punk( and old-school Metal) influences, and the sometimes less than serious song titles and lyrics. This new album retains the punk and old-school metal influences, but the songs seem more serious and better written, with some of Darkthrones best riffs we have seen in a very long time! Both Fenriz and Nocturno Culto shared writing credits right down the middle, with five songs each to their credits.

The album opens up with "The Winds They Called The Dungeon Shaker" which is one of Darkthrone's best songs to date in my opinion. The rest of the album keeps up the pace quite well, and I would consider this to be possibly the most consistant Darkthrone album ever, and you definitely can tell that they love the music that they make.

Overall this album comes highly recommended to anyone looking for just an amazing Metal album, but Black Metal purists beware. Everyone else owes it to themselves to check out on of 2008's best albums.

*Review to be heavily edited later*

Weapon of Choice video preview

Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 1 review

Who would have thought the the guys that spend so much time joking about the gaming industry in the form of webcomics would eventually grow to have their own rpg? Whatever forces were at work when this started development, it's a very good thing that it happened when it did.

Story - 9/10

Penny-arcade has become the standard that every single webcomic strives to become. That snarky wit shines through in all of the dialogue in this game brilliantly. I'm typically not a fan of rpgs, mainly because I get tired of the same storylines over and over (I'm also not a big fan of the single player portion of many first person shooters: surprise!), so it's nice that this title throws all of those stereotypes when thinking of generic rpgs on their head. Instead of taking place in some medival, futuristic, or post apocalyptic time, OTRSPOD (long acronym!) takes place during present day. Fans of the comic will instantly recognize the main villain, since it was something they joked around about for ages. While the overall game is fairly linear, what counts is that the dialogue is compelling enough for you to completely forgive that. It doesn't hurt that it was only 20$ when it came out (expensive for an XBLA game, but this IS an rpg here!). The dialogue options you have are all hilariously written, along with the omnipotent narrator that is constantly messing up important lines. As you go through the game, the enemies you encounter (which are all pre-determined. No random encounters here!) are all very...different from typical rpg enemies. Unless you count Mr Mime, I can't remember any game where I had to fight homicidal mimes, unhappy hobos, and
almost any other enemy present. From the first minute to the very end of the adventure, the writing and story are completely addictive, constantly urging you to go on just to see how far the rabbit hole goes and it will definitely have you laughing, or at the very least with a gigantic smile on your face.


Gameplay - 8/10

This was actually the section that turned me off to the game when it first came out. The actual combat strays from the traditional formulas and has a hybrid between real time combat and turn based action. For unknown reasons, this aspect didn't click in my head the first time I tried to play it, but on my second attempt, I found it to be very deep and satisfying. PAA uses the active battle system prevalent in many current rpgs, which means that all characters participating in a battle have a gauge that has to recharge before attacking. The unique part about this game is that there are technically three tiers to the three main characters combat bar. The first, which recharges the fastest, allows you to quickly use items. The second is your basic attack. The third bar is a powerful super attack (you gain more of these skills as the game progresses) where each character a mini-game like interface specific to them. While the game isn't flawless, it is pretty creative for being a downloadable game.

sound - 6/10

PA is strange here. The enemy sound effects and the familiar "Thwap!" sounds when you hit them, to the songs featured in the game aren't bad. The problem is that there just doesn't feel like there's enough content here. The music you hear in the world consists of just a few tunes and they really don't stand out. There aren't really any voice overs at all in the game, aside from the occasional scream of pain or fear, so it's just pretty quiet overall. What is there is nice, but this would have been scored a bit higher if there had been a bit more content.


graphics - 8/10

The game does a great job of capturing the art style of the comics,using a smart cel shaded look that doesn't really overdo it for the characters, and 3d models for the environment. The two mesh together pretty well, creating a unique feel for each area. Enemy designs are all pretty unique too, along with the graphics in the few cutscenes (which still use this art style). While everything I mentioned is a positive, again, it's a bit sad that there weren't a few more varied landscapes. Considering this title IS episodic and the first in the series, it's got an endearing art style for everything that is there, allowing you to almost feel like you're playing one of the comics instead of the games at certain times. In true comic form, when you get into a fight, large cartoony words appear, such as "DANGER!", which helps to push that feeling even more. The text is all presented in speech bubbles and the animations are perfect for the experience they were trying to create. Again, everything that's present is great, I just wish that there was a bit more of it.


Overall - 7/10

Penny Arcade Adventures: Ep 01 isn't a flawless game. It also isn't a 60$ game. What's important to remember when playing this game is that you have to judge it based on the content that's present, reminding yourself of the fact that it's episodic, and the gameplay is a bit different from the run-of-the-mill RPGs. With some of the most humorous dialogue I've seen all year, an engaging, yet light-hearted story, but for 20$, I would highly suggest trying the demo for before blindly purchasing it. Some of the alterations to the standard RPG formula are going to turn some people off, but for anyone looking for something a bit more original, you'll find a lot to love here.

Chinese Democracy- Guns and Roses Review by fromillusiontodemocracy

Well, it's been more than a decade and a half since Axl started working on this album and it's finally here! The big question is of course; is the album any good? Well I will do my best to answer that. While I am a huge Guns N Roses fan, I will be objective.



This album really does have something for everyone,there are killer rock riffs,massive orchestras and even some hip hop beats in there. The album starts of with a bang with the song Chinese Democracy. The song is a powerful statement on communist rule in China. It's really a direct rant and the Chinese government warning them of a possible revolution. I won't describe every song because well, you really have to hear the album to appreciate it.

Some of the songs do seem to be a little drawn out, like Axl just wanted to fill up the space in between the chorus. While this does detract from the overall score of the album it doesn't hurt it that much, after all fifteen years in the making you had to figure there would be some weak spots.

If you like guitars then this is the album for you, there are great solos all the way through the album. Axl's voice sounds great even though on some of the tracks you can tell that his voice has been digitally enhanced. Mainly on the higher parts of some songs though. I also like the way he sings the low,gruff parts...you can tell that Axl knows he has aged and not only accepts it,but turns it into an asset.

So....is the album worth the money? I would have to tell you that it is, it's a diverse musical journey through the mind and soul of a great songwriter. It's also a piece of rock history.....remember that this is the album that many people thought would never see the light of day. So if you have the means to do so, then I encourage you to purchase it, if you don't like it then you can always send your copy to me. Just Kidding.

Final Score- 9/10

Mirror's Edge review

Mirror's Edge in some ways might be this years Assassins Creed. No, I don't mean a confusing storyline, epic Crusade era biblical cities, or any of that stuff. It's one of those games that's probably going to have people divided into two or three very distinct views. On one hand, you're going to have people that are going to give nothing but praise, citing it as an incredibly creative and refreshingly new concept, which it is. On the other, you're going to have people that are going to hate the game for how difficult it is and the fact that there's no online multiplayer. Me? I fall in between the two, but for completely different reasons.

Story - 6/10

No one ever said Mirror's Edge was going to be the Final Fantasy 7 of FPS storylines. What the story does successfully answer is why you have to run and give you an objective to accomplish. Mirrors Edge is definitely about the speed, so if you're looking for a high quality storyline, you're better off in one of the other fall releases. Faith, the main character, is a runner who works for an organization to gather and deliver intel as covertly as possible, and nothing is more stealthy than running swiftly from rooftop to rooftop. While they did go through the trouble to have cutscenes and trying to establish a backstory for you and your sister, it's almost forgettable. There are only a few real characters that are even related to the story, which does help to keep you more closely knit to them, but since the game itself is pretty short (8-10 hours max), they never really let you get to know why these people are so important. Other than being your only connections, when plot twists happen or you get deeper in the plot, you almost feel as though you'd rather be spending that time playing the game than listening to it. Also, all of the story is played out through dialogue in the cutscenes rather than gameplay, which isn't really surprising since when you're running from the law, you don't really have time to think about anything else!

Gameplay - 8/10

Running through the world feels amazing, and once you get the controls down, it becomes an incredibly fluid experience. Thanks to using a first person camera, you get a sense of just how far away ledges are and exactly how amazing it is when you make that 50 foot jump away from incoming fire and barely make it onto that next rooftop. Mirror's edge also does a great job of establishing locomotion, which means that as you run, you slowly gain speed, and anything that gets in your way slows you down a bit. There are also a few melee moves, which isn't impressive for a fighting game, but Mirrors Edge is a First Person game, which notably never really have any melee attacks.. You'll never find yourself fighting with the controls, which allows your mind to focus on how to get where you need to go as quickly as possible without dying. So, why is this only an 8/10? I am completely in love with how awesome it feels to do the melee attacks. If you want to do a sliding kick, you run forward, crouch, and then kick as you slide. Same goes for jump kicks, wall kicks, etc. If you can think of how to do it, it can be done! The problem is that, as cool as all of them look and feel to do, there are portions of the game that force you to fight hand to hand, and the collision is off just enough to cause you to wonder why you're missing. With the disarming, while it's easy to master disarming pistols, it becomes a chore when you're trying to make it through an area and you feel that you need to disarm the guy in front of you with a shotgun or rifle, but the timing for it feels a bit off, so you typically end up dying as a result. If the game had allowed more diversity in the situations, such as a hidden path to continue running or something, this would have gone higher, but by the time you get towards the end, you find that there really is no other option other than to go straight through your opponents. There's also a few sections that are a lot easier to pass through with firearms (you'll see what I mean), but they don't really feel like they have any sort of power when you're firing them and the controls feel a bit off. To summarize my complaint here, Mirror's Edge is a great parkour and speed running game, but it ultimately gets to a point where they want to start showing how cool their combat looks, but technical issues get in the way preventing you from ever actually enjoying it. Also, the time trials aren't as deep as they seem. Usually, there are one or two things you could do different once you've found a good path, and then you've essentially optimized your time on the tracks. At least there's probably about 30 of them though!


Graphics - 9/10

I completely adore the look of the world in this game! It captures this incredibly sterile feel, which helps to promote the feeling that the world is perhaps too controlled. The levels each have their own color scheme, which typically consists of White/Grey and one other color, which honestly reminds me of some bizarre iPod advertisement. So far, Mirror's Edge is perhaps the most artistic looking title I've played all year! Some people have raised complaints about Faith having "man-hands" but it's understandable considering she made a career out of jumping across rooftops, off of cranes, disarming police officers, etc. The cutscenes all have this really...bizarre art style. It's almost like a better version of a really high quality flash movie, so it's a bit awkward to look at sometimes when things aren't shaded just right. Still, points go to them for trying to do something aside from CG cutscenes!

Sound - 7/10

There's not really much here. There are a lot of really neat sounds, such as the wind rushing by you as you get into a sprint, or the sound of your and enemy footsteps in the environment, along with a few songs that fit the sterile world, but there's just not much aside from that. Occasionally, you do hear someone on your radio or a guard yell something, but it's just...really quiet. Not that I think the game needed EA trax or anything, but it would have been nice if there was a bit more variety to it. On the plus side of things, all of the sound effects aside from the weapons sound spot on. When you go into a wall-run, it's nice to hear her footsteps quicken and her breathing get faster as she runs, which is something many games completely overlook.

Overall - 8/10

Mirror's Edge isn't bad at all. It's not for everyone for sure, but it could have been a lot worse. It also could have been a bit better. It's easy to overlook the bad aspects of the game since it is a completely unique experience that I'm glad finally saw the light of day. The entire game takes about 8-10 hours max on your first playthrough, but looking at the speedrun times that are up, if you really managed to find every shortcut, you could probably fly through it in less than six. If you aren't a fan of trying to perfect difficult jumps, speed runs, etc, or are expecting a first person shooter, you will be sorely disappointed. If this truly does become a franchise, it will be amazing to see how this series plays out and if they made a small number of improvements, this could become a force to be reckoned with. As it stands, this probably isn't the best purchase you could make and is probably just worth a rental for most players. For others, try to hold off for a price drop or a good deal on it.I do feel like everyone should play this at one point and think of how awesome it would be if the parkour concept showed up in other games and was executed as well as it is in Mirrors Edge!

Recipe for Thanksgiving - Creamed Spinach

This is a recipe for a delicious Thanksgiving dish my mother-in-law and I like to cook, creamed spinach. I highly recommend it; it's very sweet, creamy and tasty.

Creamed Spinach
Makes about 8 servings

2 pounds frozen chopped spinach
6 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions with tops
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 teaspoons dry tarragon or basil
8 ounces Philadelphia cream cheese, softened at room temperature
A little milk if necessary
Grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Let the spinach thaw and press out as much water as you can. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan, but do not let it brown. Add the chopped fresh and dried herbs and the sugar. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until the onions are soft but not browned. Add the spinach, salt and pepper, and stir well to mix. Cover tightly and cook until the spinach is done, about 5 to 8 minutes.
Gradually stir in the cream cheese, about a tablespoon at a time, until it melts and mixes well with the vegetable. Add a few drops of milk if the mixture is too thick. Season with more salt and pepper as needed and a generous grating of fresh nutmeg.
May be made ahead, refrigerated and reheated.

New Mirrors Edge Speed Run test (first video!)

This is a test to see if this video thing will work here or not. If it does, I'll definitely be adding more later, with actual solid video content

Gay Marraige

I dont know about the rest of you, but I think it is insane that gay marriage is not yet legal. People try and say that we are a fair and intelligent modern society, but they said the same thing years ago.


Here is something that a friend of mind, who goes by razor Blades in cup cakes, or something like that has said to me in a message on myspace, replying to a bulletin I had made

I know. Really fucking stupid.

All of the arguments against allowing gays to get married are completely fucked up.

Firstly, to say that gays can't have families is a fucking joke. Studies have shown that gay and lesbian couples have better families because they tend to be better informed, they tend to marry older (if they even can), they don't have accidental children, they are closer with their kids, and are less intolerant of differences.

To say that two gay people who love each other more than a heterosexual couple can't get married because one of them was born the wrong gender? They win out over a technicality? The definition of marriage may be between a man and a woman in the Christian church, but Christians never realize that there ARE other people who don't want their moral viewpoints imposed upon.

And science has told us again and again THERE IS NO truly monogamous, heterosexual species.

People say that homosexuality is immoral, but isn't intolerance and bigotry much much worse?

They can't even get married in a legal, non-church sense! What happened to the separation of Church and State? Is it really that bad to just have a homosexual couple sign a bunch of paperwork that lets them be legally married? It doesn't infringe on anyone's rights (except maybe the couple if they wanted to have a traditional church marriage.)

I just can't believe this obvious discrimination is so socially acceptable.

Then again, if you can ban books, make a harmless plant illegal, and search people's homes without a warrant, then I shouldn't be so surprised.

I have been posting at a few forums and blogs, and I have been happy to find that most young people are above these prejudices. But still, not all of them are. the hatred that has buil up from generations of intolerance fuiled by fear and by religion still seeps through to some.

I really had a lot of hope. California had legalized it some time ago, but then they banned it, once again. Florida and Arizone have done the same. Add in about 20 some other states, and over half the nation has put anti gay marraige amendments into their state consitutions.


Here is another quote, this one however is of myself, and a comment I made at hp forums.




I have one final thing to say. Not wanting gays to be able to marry is EXTREMELY selfish. It is, because you being strait are allowed to, and them being allowed to, would not inhibit your right to marry at all. In fact, it would not be harmful to anyone. Not a single person. No one would suffer from gays being allowed to marry, however many people would be happier. The fact that you want to take away the happiness of others because you are a major biggot is beyond me. Even if you are homophobic, there is no reason to be against it.



The argument against gay marraige has a few forms. I will do my best to counter each one in this blog.



Marriage is between a man and a women - There was a time when Marraige did not exist, this didnt stop anyone from creating it. Thus, since it not always was, it is no an absolute thing. As time progresses, so does society. Using this is just an excuse. If something can be created from nothing, there is nothing wrong with changing that something.

Marraige is a religios ceremony- if this was 100% true, I would have no urge to make gay marraige legalized. The fact is, that it is more than a religion ceremony. It is a legal stature. Because it is recognised by the law and gives special civil rights to those who attain it, it should be allowed for gays. Churches and religions have the right to disciminate and segregate, the law does not.

Homosexual couples would not reproduce- Two things, one being that they would not reproduce if they were gay, or just unionized. Another thing is that over population is the single worst problem this world faces. Penalizing for this by taking away one of the greatest rights we have may not be unethical, but it is immoral.

People will want to marry goats of gays can marry- This is obsurd, homosexuality has existed since the dawn of mankind. It was pressent in ancient china, ancient greece, and in many other ancient civilizations. Beastiality has never been, and will never be, a mainstream above ground sexual preference. Its just another argument that is made of straw constructed by men of straw to cover our eyes with straw to further viel us from what is right.

That is all I have for now, I will write more on this perhaps later. Thanks for reading.

Top 10 Halloween Themed games

You know, when I was first tasked with developing a story that fit in with the Halloween theme, I couldn’t think of anything to do. At that time, I had probably watched Friday the 13th about seven times in 3 days, which is something I could never ever advise another person to do. It wasn’t because it was good; it was just how…formulaic of an experience it was. So… unfortunately, if anyone was looking forward to it, I’m probably going to pass on writing an article about how the creepy old man is the most awesome horror movie character ever. In its place, I’ll deal with something a feel a bit more comfortable with; games. Specifically, games with a horror twist. Keep in mind that this isn’t a top ten scary games or survival horror list; it’s just games that fit in with that Halloween spirit that I highly advise people to at least give a shot. Also, the list is in no particular order, it’s just a list of stuff you NEED to play.

#10 – Zombiepox


Starting with one of the indie treasures I’ve recently come across, Zombiepox is a nice and entertaining twist on the standard destroy-all-zombies gameplay style presented in most games. Instead of trying to destroy them, you control one person with a few other humans behind you. Your ultimate goal is to protect the people behind you, but keep in mind that if a zombie comes in contact with them, they convert to the other team and you’ll find yourself trying to develop a strategy to prevent that from happening. The unique and addictive aspect of this game is the fact that instead of trying to kill all of the zombies approaching you, instead your character has brains that they can throw on the ground, which don’t go far but when a zombie comes in contact with it, they convert back to being a human, which means that in order to clear a level, you have to switch every single zombie back into a human friend, with each level increasing the odds against the player. The biggest reason this is on the list is the fact that it’s free and doesn’t require much at all to actually run it, so at least download the file if you’ve got a moment.

#9 – Cottage of Doom

In contrast to the last title, this game is everything you love about survival horror compressed into an addictive 2d experience. Instead of having to go through some spooky mansion or town, instead you’re trapped inside of a single cottage with one objective: Live. At first, the game seems easy, and it’s really creative how in this 2 dimensional game, you can actually move objects in the house to barricade doors or destroy them if you’re trying to snipe out of a window or find precious ammo, which is sparsely distributed. While it’s a simple game at its core, it’s also amazing at how you find yourself really feeling the pressure when you can tell that you’re close to dying as the zombies start to come into the rooms from every possible direction, destroying doors, windows, tables, chairs, and whatever else while you desperately fire off those last few rounds, finally succumbing to their attacks. Again, it’s another small and free game, and it’s well worth checking out.

#8 – Dead Rising

The perfect blend of action, difficulty, photography, and survival horror in my opinion. Dead Rising places you in the shoes of Frank (??), a photojournalist that has decided to investigate a mysterious barricade around a quiet suburban town. As you fly in, you get your first glimpses of the chaos erupting into town, you have no clue what lies in store for you as you’re helicopter drops you off at the top of a mall. Inside, you will literally spend hours upon hours battling your way through thousands of zombies, rescuing civilians, and utilizing any weapon you can find. From pistols, to knives to … hangers, and bowling balls, there’s endless hours of fun to be had here. While on release, many people counted off on the unforgiving save system, that part of the game is what actually gave it that survival feel, as you find yourself trying to figure out how much difficulty you’re going to have fighting back to a restroom on the opposite side of the mall and seeing if you can make it there without dying or not. While death does take you back to the beginning of the adventure, you do get to restart with all of your experience, allowing you to play through the game again more powerful than ever before, and after completing the game you unlock some nifty bonuses, such as the infinite survival mode. At it’s low price of 29.99 new, it’s a highly recommended game that is guaranteed to satisfy your thirst for hardcore zombie killing action.

#7 – Silent Hill 2


While Silent Hill 5 is the most recent entry and attempted to refine the controls and graphics, many people including myself still prefer the first entry of the series on the PS2. Placing you in control of James Sunderland, you’re sent into this mysterious town in search of your wife, who wrote a letter to you, informing you to return to your “special place.” While the graphics aren’t that incredible today, the storyline and character development, not to mention the intelligent use of the insight to each characters psychological demons if you wish to delve that far into the experience. If that’s not your game, it’s still an incredibly creepy game to this day with multiple endings and a low price if you can find it. The Xbox re-release, Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams added in another chapter to the game if you want to try that out.

#6 –RE1 Remake (GC)


Another survival horror classic. Resident Evil 4 is the one that redefined the series, and while many agree that it was a good game, it crept away from the slower paced dread and tension that the player felt entering each room. Fortunately, if you’re still looking for that classic gameplay with greatly improved voice acting over the original title, look no further than the remake of the original, available only on Gamecube. While the Resident Evil 1 on Playstation is highly regarded as the first game to ever get the gameplay of the genre right, the voice acting was one of the games that left people highly divided, mostly due to horrendous voice acting. Everyone agrees that the voice acting in the game was bad, but for some people, that helped the game engulf them, capturing the feeling of a B-movie. For others, the work was done so bad that they quickly abandoned the game. Luckily, Capcom heard the pleas of many gamers years later and decided to upgrade the graphics and quality of voice acting with the incredibly successful RE-make on Gamecube. Sporting some of the most impressive graphics ever seen on the console, or perhaps even in the 128 bit era, along with new areas for vets and an exciting story for newcomers, the game holds a special place in many peoples hearts.

#5 - Resident Evil 2


What’s this?! There’s another Resident Evil game on the list? That’s right! Resident Evil 2 is by far my favorite game in the series, so I had to throw this one up here. It’s been on Dreamcast, PS1, and Gamecube, and N64 and is, in my opinion, the definitive RE experience. Taking you away from the drab mansion setting from the original title and placing you in the midst of the outbreak, this game sets an incredible tone and follows itself up all the way through to the end. While going back to the game, you’ll notice the graphics again don’t hold up very well, the actual gameplay itself is incredibly well, improving on the storyline elements and acting that plagued the first title. Aside from that, there’s not much to be said about the game itself without spoiling the plot, but it would probably be a good idea to play through it at least once if you’re planning on picking up RE5 to catch up on some of the elements that could be included in the plot. If you don’t feel like buying it, I’m sure there’s an ISO or ROM out there somewhere, just search for it.

#4 – Fatal Frame series


Any of the games in this series are guaranteed to scare the hell out of you at least once. The games place the player in control of a few different girls, each armed with nothing except a camera and the willpower to unravel the mystery each game sets forth upon them. For the player, one of the scariest aspects is the fact that you truly feel how vulnerable you are, walking through abandoned and haunted mansions, with no weapons to defend you from any of the horrors awaiting you inside. There are three basic types of encounters you’ll come across in the game, pertaining to ghosts. The non-threatening ones are the ones that tend to scare the hell out of you, occasionally walking through a wall or appearing in the very corners of your vision, only to disappear when you look for them. There are regular enemy fights, which aren’t frequent but each one feels threatening in its own way. Lastly, you have boss fights, each with its own unique way to defeat utilizing your camera and occasionally things in the environment. Two of the best things about the game, aside from the gameplay and graphics is the quality of the sound, especially if you’re using a surround sound setup or headphones. There’s nothing scarier than walking into a room, then hearing a door slam shut behind you, and you look around to find nothing there. There’s also the fact that the game is fun for both the player and anyone else watching, since there are so many surprises. The only flaw I’d give the games (yes, all of them) is that the storyline is never very compelling in my opinion. It’s something that you want to finish, but mainly because you want to see what else you’re going to find in the world and not so much because you’re motivated by the characters. The games are fairly expensive, but if you can find them in a video store or on gamefly, give them a shot.

#3 – Splatterhouse


This was probably completely unpredictable, and a lot of people probably don’t even remember the series. Splatterhouse isn’t exactly what many people think of nowadays as a horror game, but it terrified countless gamers back in the 90’s. The main character recently had his girlfriend taken from him and is on his quest to get her back, but in order to make it there, you have to fight through hordes of demons, zombies, mutants, and all sorts of other creepy crawlies the game throws at you. The biggest thing people remember about the title is how incredibly violent it was. In order to make it through the adventure, at the beginning of the game, your character picks up a mask, transforming him into superhuman hulking beast that is completely capable of decapitating foes with a single pucn. Even nowadays, this game isn’t for the squeamish, but for fans of retro games and looking for something short enough to finish, Splatterhouse is a title everyone needs to experience. Keep an eye out for the upcoming next gen version of it!

#2 – Brainbread (Half Life 1 mod)


Brainbread is…bizarre. I came across this mod a few years ago, and though I live in Georgia, I still fly down to Florida to hang out with some old friends, and ever since I found out about it, every time we have a lan, even with friends up here, we always end up spending a ridiculous amount of time in Brainbread. The game has a leveling system in place that is client based, so you could level up your character and join a friends server with an insanely powerful combatant, or you could start from scratch. There are a few character models in the game, but none of them are all that great. What’s really amazing about the game is the how addictive it can become. While I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not the most impressive title on the market, or even in the HL1 mod scene, the zombies you fight are fun, even if they focus on just attacking you. Another thing to keep in mind is that once a teammate dies, they are transformed back into a zombie and you have to keep them from killing you, while they have to obtain a certain number of kills to return to human form against the players. That keeps the experience engaging, even though there are only a few maps. If you’ve got Half Life 1, the next time you have a LAN or just want to try a different type of game, give Brainbread a shot and let me know how it goes.

#1 – Zombies ate my neighbors


This game… Is…amazing. It’s not the most complicated game out there, but it’s a blast to play, especially in co-op. The goal is to make it to the end of the level while defeating a certain number of zombies and attempting to rescue civilians that are held up at different locations. The game itself uses this B-movie style, but plays like a weird version of Smash Tv. Instead of just fighting zombies, there are plenty of memorable enemies, such as a gigantic baby (I don’t know either). I’m keeping this brief because in my opinion, you should already be playing this instead of reading about it. The ROM has been around since 1998, so go pick it up, you’ve got no excuse not to! Oh, except..pirates are bad? Arrrr.

Honorable mentions:

Castlevania 3
Kid Dracula
Afraid of Monsters (hl1 mod)
FEAR
Dead Space
Hidden: Source

*note* this list..is ultimately just a list of stuff that has that theme. It's definitely not a top 10, so don't take it that way.

Battlefield: Bad Company review

Welcome to Bad Company, Soldier!

Battlefield: Bad Company is one of those titles that everyone had mixed opinions on. From the early screenshots, you could tell the game itself was going to be an incredible title, both graphically and conceptually, with the destructable environments playing a large role in those impressions. The thing that made many people skeptical of the title and actually kept them back from picking it up was the announcement that, while the multiplayer was going to be the core of the game, the single player was getting a lot of focused. Perhaps it was EA reacting to the mediocre sales of Battlefield: Modern Combat on 360, but I can easily say that it's got a great single player campaign in addition to endless ammounts of fun in the multiplayer.

Story - 7/10

Since this is one of the two big additions to the game, I figured I would point this one out first. BC has some very enjoyable spins on film and gaming war cliches while not really adhering to any of them. The entire concept is that you take control of Preston Marlowe, a soldier that "should have been imprisoned for what they did", whatever that is, but instead was shipped out to Bad Company, which was a squad full of all of the armies rejects when they figured they'd try to get more use out of them instead of wasting a body. You are immediately introduced to the main characters, your fearless leader "Sarge" Redford, the mouthy Tech expert Sweetwater, and the dimwitted demolitions expert Haggard. It's a nice touch how the characters actions and banter helps to develop their personalities and really help the player to get attached to them. It was nice to play an fps that didn't take itself too seriously but still managed to be compelling enough to convince me that I needed to actually see what the outcome of the game would be. If this was strictly my opinion, I'd probably score this area higher, however I understand that not every gamer necessarily wants to laugh when they're playing games in this genre, so it'se definitely not for everyone.



Gameplay - 9/10

Here's where many people have a huge schism in their takes on the game. I'll admit that with my first hour or two of playing the game, I was somewhat put off by how many bullets it took to take down enemies when I was shooting them in the chest, but the more you play, the better you become and you'll quickly find yourself taking enemies out in 1-3 hits instead of wasting an entire clip. The important thing to remember about Battlefield games is that while they can be played at high level clan style, it's still a very arcadey experience at it's core. Bad Company does nothing to hide this, which is best learned by playing a few missions in single player before heading online. While many games rely on the regenerative health system that debuted in Halo, BC uses the more tradition HP approach, with health starting at 100 and going down for all the damage that you take. In the single player game, you have some needle that you can inject yourself with to recover health, while in mutliplayer the soldier class is the only one that carries this item on them. The games other amazing feature is the destructable environments, which really do help to change the gameplay and give you all sorts of crazy options from creating cover to making a snipers nest to even exposing enemies behind their own cover. As I previously mentioned, the Soldier class has it's own weapon set, but it's also worth noting that the game does retain a bit of Battlefields classic concepts with it's high focus on having a diverse team. The kits available to use are Assualt (assault rifles, grenades, and injectors), Demolition (shotgun, Rocket launcher, mines, and grenades), Recon/Sniper (sniper rifle, laser designator, handgun, and motion sensor), Specialist (SMG, c4, tracer gun, and grenade), and Support (MG, health kits, power tool, and mortar strikes). No class is the perfect class and everyone needs to be used in unison with another to create the perfect team. Had I wrote this review earlier, I would have probably dropped this down to a 7, but as of this date, EA has developed another multiplayer mode, the old school conquest as a free downloadable bonus in addition to the already provided Gold Rush mode. There's a limited number of maps, but thanks to the two modes and EA announcing a few more should be out for download soon, not to mention the large player base, colllectable dog tags and cool squad mechanic, it's a multiplayer game you'll be playing for a very, very long time.

Sound - 9/10

BC sports some incredible voice acting. As I stated in the story section, it's a really nice touch how each of your squad mates has their own distinct personality, which their voices lend themselves very nicely to. Sweetwater has a Northern US accent and tends to spend a lot of his time babbling about topics, from the bible, to myths, while the Sarge has to constantly remind him to shut up. My favorite character would easily be Haggard, due to his constant rambling about truckosaurus rex vs tanks, gold, etc, all done in a stereotypical southern drawl. There's Preston, who's voice sounds like the intelligent, calm and reflective one in the madness that's going on around him, with the person giving you intel, "Ms. July" being the angelic feminine voice that binds you tightly to your squad. The enemies you come up against speak in english, but have different dialiects so it's a bit harder to distinguish, but it's really useful when you're engaged in a firefight and hear them yell "Cover me, I'm reloading!" The soundtrack itself is kind of forgettable, specifically in the single player campaign. There's a lot of generic surf rock that you hear, which is odd for an EA title, but fits the environment. A nice subtle touch is the fact that you can change or disable the radio stations in the vehicles by moving the d-pad down, but you normally don't hear it anyway. Last, but not least, there's the sound effects. To sum up that in one word: Phenomenal. With destructable environments playing a large role, it's awesome the first time that you hear the wall or sandbags you were using for cover get hit with an explosive and listen to them fly away, as your hearing is dampered by the ringing of your eardrums. Each weapon and every weapon sounds authentic, with each gun sounding completely different from any other. The vehicle sound effects aren't too shabby either. Clicking the right thumbstick takes you to an inside look of your vehicle, which changes the sound of the engine to a more powerful one, but following in the pulled back chase cam is just as impressive. It's a nice touch that even the mortars and missed RPGs all have that shrieking sound as the fly towards or just past you.



Graphics - 10/10

This is simply an amazing title to look at. When you consider the size and scope of the environments, the thousands of things that happen at the same time, and during all of this, the game never slows down, it's plain to see that this is no easy feat to accomplish. The single player campaign takes you through 6 or 7 stages, each looking completely different from the last. I've constantly focused on the destructable environments, but it's worth noting that in addition to that, all of the foliage, fences, doors, windows, etc are all able to be knocked over or broken down, which will constantly have your mouth agape. The in game animations are all pretty well done and fits in nicely with any other high budget title. Character designs are fantastic, from the thick ghili suits snipers wear, to your squad in single player, and extending into multiplayer with the attention to detail that was put into making the soldiers look lifelike, it's obvious that EA invested a lot of time into giving this game some polish that others simply lack. The weapons all look just like they were taken fresh from gun store and you'll notice shells ejecting from guns and accumulating on the floor the feet of the person firing. There's muzzle flashes galore constantly erupting across the battlefield at any given moment, with tanks, jeeps, helicopters, and planes each looking just as impressive as the infantry combat. Even for passengers, if you zoom in while you're inside of a vehicle, you always get a unique view that's specific to that model of whatever it is that you're in. Buildings and the world you're fighting in also have just as much effort put into them, with the houses and factories the combat occurs in all looking different and fitting for whatever map it is that you're on. Even the water has that good ol' next gen shine! It's also woth mentioning that when you do destroy something, such as a rooftop or wall, the resulting explosion leaves a very realistic looking hole, a cloud of smoke, debris all around, and a smile of your face.



Overall - 7/10

Personally, I love this game and have wasted plenty of time playing it online, trying to improve my rank, unlock weapons, and collect dog tags, but it's not a game for everyone. For people looking for something a bit different from the norm, I would highly advise checking out Bad Company, but if you're not a fan of faster paced, slightly more arcade like gameplay in contrast to the slower pacing of games like CoD4 and Rainbow Six, you're probably going to want to stay away. For people that are interested in the multiplayer, it's fantastic that EA has prolonged the life of the title by releasing content occasionally and included a phenomenal single player game that I wish more people would experience. There's always a game to jump into online, and if you want, you could always make a squad (this games version of the party system) and invite people off of your friends list to come and join you. For the completionist, there's plenty of badges to earn, ranks to get, and even collectables in the form of weapons and gold in the solo game, so you're covered. All in all, the game is just a great experience I would strongly suggest anyone to check out if you've grown tired of all of these super serious war games.

Fable 2 review

This is your story

Fable 2 is a strange beast. It’s one of those titles that actually might be overlooked by many due to its release date, but will probably stand up as being one of the better games of the year. There’s a lot that’s been improved upon while a lot that still needs to be tweaked or minor additions that could have made this game a 10 out of 10 easily. Still, it’s an enjoyable experience for any gamer, whether or not they are fans of RPGs.

Story – 7/10

With a game that’s ambitious as Fable II, it’s a bit shocking that the story is almost underwhelming. Perhaps it’s due to insane amounts of hype, with Peter Molyneux referring to the game as being the one that fixes all of the problems and missing features of the original, but after playing some other newer games in different genres, it’s obvious that this is a weak factor. As did the original, this game takes you through the life of a hero that you are able to develop throughout the course of the adventure. While there is a lot that you can do in the world, the main story is fairly linear so don’t expect to get too sidetracked as was the case with Oblivion and most likely Fallout 3. Ultimately, the game is a quest for vengeance and justice, which is kick started by a plot twist in the first hour of gameplay. Aside from that, you do meet other significant characters, but part of the weakness of the game is that it relies heavily on a reputation system to unlock new quests, which can only be earned through side missions. So, while you might want to just press on through the game and follow the main story, eventually you’re going to be forced into doing side missions that have no impact on the story and actually detract from the experience because you kind of forget what it was that you were doing. The other characters you meet in your adventure all do feel as though they have their own lives and motives, which is a nice addition, but even with them, you’re really only on a few missions directly involving them so you won’t find yourself getting as attached as you would to your party in a traditional RPG. The end of the game also felt very…forgettable. I do like the fact that the game presented you with a primary villain at the beginning and you continue to pursue him throughout your life, but the ending just didn’t feel like it was what I was waiting for. The story in the game isn’t that bad and this would probably have been more impressive had their not been such high expectations. Lastly, there’s this really bizarre feeling that none of the characters go through any development. When you meet them, because they’re only with you for a short time, whatever it is that they portray, they stay there all the way through the end. On the plus side, the world that they crafted does feel as though it is actually a living environment with real human beings instead of AI that waits until you activate their trigger.



Gameplay – 10/10

I’m not going to lie: when I first started playing Fable II, I was absolutely loathing most of the gameplay mechanics. I didn’t like the fact that there wasn’t any range with the ranged weapons and that there was no zoom, there was just a basic hit for melee, there weren’t that many expressions and they didn’t seem to have any real effects. My list could go on and on with all of the things that are broken about the game, which is exactly why Fable II succeeds incredibly well here. Using a leveling system similar to that found in Oblivion, you gain 4 possible types of experience from fallen foes: Will (magic), Skill (ranged attack), Strength (…strength?) and General (…I’m not explaining this one). When you first encounter the experience orbs, it’s really confusing on what it is that you’re supposed to do. By holding down the right trigger, the hero summons all of the experience towards them, which can be used to buy and upgrade abilities. It’s in this part where you really start to see Fable II shine. Whereas most games that have this combat mechanic automatically level you up and force you to find or buy tomes to learn spells, Fable leaves the choice of what you do with the experience to you. By accessing the abilities section in your menu, the game shows you all of the possible skills that you can learn, and there are an insane amount of them. Generally speaking, most people are going to need to use melee combat simply so they can gain the toughness and physique skills, which increase HP and melee damage, but just a glimpse into the Skill section shows you how much this plays a part of the game. If you choose to focus on the Dexterity option, you’ll slowly start to gain more and more control over how you attack your foes from a distance. By the end of the game, I had this ability leveled up so that I could quickly dodge, zoom in, then aim for a head and scoring a headshot, which is an instant kill on most enemies. The Will screen has several spells from you to choose one and not a single one of them is useless. At lower levels, there’s not too much of a benefit, but if you focus specifically on one or two of these, you realize how important they are and how quickly they can turn the tides in combat. Speaking of these abilities, it’s important to know that whatever you choose to focus on has a direct impact on your characters appearance. If you choose to focus on magic, eventually your character shows glowing will lines running across their body. Focusing on melee makes your character more muscular. Ranged attacks allow you to slowly grow in height, and while none of those affect the real gameplay, it’s a nice little addition. There’s plenty of jobs and quests to be found, so you might actually find yourself taking the WoW approach of visiting a town, taking every quest possible, then completing them and gaining the reputation boost by finishing them in quick succession.




The job system is new to me here in console RPGs at least. You can find different jobs hiring throughout the world, but they’re basically minigames that earn you money. The better you do and the more gold you accumulate allows you to increase in that job skill, which earns you a higher base pay and more money as you max out your multipliers. Something else that really is a different perspective on RPGs is that you don’t ever really level up. Because you’re constantly trying to improve your abilities, it’s technically possible to defeat everything in the game if you can purchase a powerful enough weapon and are skilled with the in game combat mechanics. There’s the real estate and homeowning systems, which aren’t super deep, but are incredibly beneficial in the long run. As you earn money, instead of investing it in items for yourself, you could go buy property to move into alone or with your family or rent it out. If it’s a shop, you have direct control of the price margin, which can also affect your appearance. Marking up prices, while it may earn you more money, will affect your corruption stat which alters your appearance and people’s response to you. Marriage and having children is in the game, and it’s another nice addition that wasn’t really necessary. In order to convince people to marry you, you just have to do things they like, give them presents and… bam. Once I reached adulthood, it literally took me 5 minutes to get married for the first time, then another 2 to find a house and have a kid. While your child does grow, it’s important to know that they don’t do anything that affects the real game, so don’t expect to go back through the game again playing as your child. Peter Molyneux got too ambitious again, I guess! Last but definitely not least is the good and evil system. Most of the actions you do don’t really affect the outcome of the game, with a few minor exceptions. I took the evil approach from the outset and as a result, one of the towns in the game looked completely different when I got older and had a different group of citizens populating it. If you chose to do more and more nefarious deeds, you’ll eventually find yourself sprouting horns, with altered skin color, and citizens running in fear at your mere presence. While this might sound like a downside, it does have some nice benefits: unless they hate you, store owners are more inclined to give you discounts out of sheer fear for their lives and villagers will be so frightened that they give you presents (…what?) Sure, you could be nice and have all of the same things ultimately, but I mean…if I see a person that has a present, instead of wasting time and being nice, I could easily just turn off the safety mode and kill them to get it! Trust me, it saves a lot of time! The total playtime for me was 21 hours, but you might be able to finish it in 16 or so if you sprinted through everything and didn’t get involved in the marriage or property owning thing. Oh. There is no minimap, which means you’ll have to go into the menu, wait for it to load, then look at where you want to go and set it as an objective, leave, causing it to load again, then load the next scene. It’s not the best thing ever, but ultimately, it didn’t detract too much from my experience.



Sound – 6/10

This was a super weak effort in my opinion. There’s nothing in the game that really stands out to me when it comes to sound, especially after having playing Dead Space right before this. While there’s plenty of talking in the town, it really does sound like there are only about 3-4 voice actors/actresses for the hundreds of townsfolk you meet. I understand that it’s impractical to hire a lot of actors, but.. even the game points out during the loading screen that all of them sound the exact same. There could definitely have been some work done here. The weapon effects are pretty underwhelming as well, even considering that they are just standard swords and crossbows for the most part. The enemies don’t really sound as menacing as they look, with perhaps the exception of the bandits that you face which do occasionally yell something at you. The banshees are particularly creepy because of the altered voices they have, voices barely emanating above a whisper, but I only encountered 5 of them at the most in my playthrough, and they aren't around until the last few hours. There’s funny dialogue written in there, but you seldom get to hear it. Lastly, there’s the soundtrack. It’s a really good soundtrack but, there’s like..1 or 2 songs, just as in Morrowind. Taking that into consideration, I’ll take my same opinion and refer to the song as The Love Song Of Fable. Thank heavens for custom soundtracks! The Heroes also have some very distinct voices and each sounds injected with their own personality, sans the main character (who is a mute hero in the vein of Crono from Chrono Trigger).

Graphics – 8/10

When you first start up the game, you’ll probably be visually offended by the horrendous character models, which are the same as the ones from Fable 1 on Xbox, but with more detail. The world is just another drab city, full of browns. The main characters walking and running animations is, to put it a nice way, very animated and cartoony. With all of those negatives, it’s amazing how the weird character designs start to grow in you. Instead of trying to make hyper realistic characters, Lionhead stuck with a very cartoon-like style, but utilized a very imaginative color palate. The easiest way to tell that this was the look they set out to achieve is that almost none of the models suffer from any texture warping or jagged edges that usually results when people try to upscale lower resolution models. After you grow, you get to finally adventure into the world and it really is quite impressive. The entire world is actually reminiscent of Oblivion, but with the character models, it almost reminds me more of World of Warcraft. Due to the artistic style though, it’s very obvious that some are going to be a bit refrained in actually enjoying the game since it’s not really designed to look like something for everyone. Just think about it as if you’re reading a fairy tale, or… a fable! Ha! I made a pun!



Overall – 7/10

If you go into this title expecting a successor to Oblivion that features a more developed storyline, actions taking a strong effect on the world (such as completely changing it), playing as your child, etc, you’ll be completely let down here. The way the game was hyped portrayed it was like that, but in reality, it’s a bit closer to being a blend of World of Warcraft and Zelda. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I do know a lot of people will probably pick this up expecting something a bit different. In terms of replayability, there are 3 different endings, but from personal experience, the one I made didn’t seem to make too much of an outcome on anything and doesn’t really make you feel like you need to play through it again. While the game is 20 hours, I would actually recommend most people to rent it if possible instead of investing 60$ into the title. There’s better purchases out there this holiday season, so wait for an inevitable price drop or pick it up as a rental.

Rock Band 2 quick review

Just one year after it's initial conception, EA, Harmonix, and MTV Games have rocked their way back into the limelight with the release of Rock Band 2. Instead of forcing you to read through this entire review, I'll be blunt: If you loved the original game, you need this installment. When they were hyping up the original release of Rock Band 1, they were referring to the game as it's own platform and that they wanted that version to be the only one that you would need, due to the massive amount of DLC and updates they promised. Fortunately, that still holds true, but the newest version in the series does offer a large number of improvements that were technically impossible to do in the original game without doing some sort of a recall on the discs.



First off, the biggest complaint many gamers had was in the World Tour mode. The mode was a feature that allowed you to create your own band with your friends and go through different cities, each with its own objectives you must accomplish to earn money, cash, and fame. THIS was the mode that separated RB from GH. It allowed for a more immersive and varied experience. The complaint lied in the fact that you were unable to play this mode in single player or online, which limited the audience that got to take full advantage of it. Instead of playing through the different venues (which was the way you unlocked songs, some appeared randomly, some were there by default), the single player experience was the traditional tier layout, which means that you went through the songs in order of difficulty. It was an effective mode, but wasn't nearly as compelling as its multiplayer component. The online mode was constrained to a quick play, in which one player was the band leader and got to pick the music that the others played, and a few head to head modes that were basically instrument vs same instrument.

If any of those things were bothering you, Harmonix has addressed every single complaint people had. First off, the single player mode is the exact same world tour mode that was only available in multiplayer before. Not only that, but now you can play that mode online, opening up its appeal dramatically. The multiplayer quick play option is also still there for people that just want to hop in, play a few songs, then roll out. Now, instead of just the leader, every member of the band gets to choose a song at one point instead of just the leader. Another MAJOR fix that they had was the simplified the way that you choose your bands and the way people join in. Instead of having to make sure the creator of the band was logged in and pressed start first, the game directs you to a list of bands created on each profile, with all of the band members linked there. Believe me, it saves a lot of time and frustration, along with allowing you to use the same character on multiple instruments.




The most important thing of all has received an even bigger overhaul too: The song list. Many people enjoyed the fact that there were so many different genres of music availible in RB1 and loved the fact that there was so much DLC, all of which was guaranteed to you on Tuesday at 5AM (Friday for PS3 owners). The game has increased the number of tracks availible on the disc from the skimpy 40ish songs before to a whopping 83, featuring artists from the 60s and on, ranging from Bob Dylan, Silversun Pickups, Alanis Morrisette, The Offspring, to Panic! at the Disco, and many more. I can say that they have managed to find something in the game for everyone. The best feature of all is that for anyone that has been considering getting rid of their Rock Band 1 disc, if you still have it lying around, you can transfer a majority of the songs from that game over to RB2, and all of your prior DLC will work with absolutely no issues on Rock Band 2, which..for me..increased the songs from 84 to around 300.

I'll be very straightforward here: I'm a drummer in this game. That's about it. I'll try out vocals, but I almost always pass on the guitar, so I can't speak for any significant changes there. What I can have noticed is that there are a few new features that actually made it into the game. There is an option to just pound away on the drums, which allows you to make your own music...or "music" for the rhythmically challenged. You are also able to play any song on your hard drive and drum away to it if that's your thing. Another thing they added in that I wish had been availible in the original is the new drum trainer tutorials, which teaches you some of the basic to extremely complex rhythms and fills you'll come across in a standard training environment, also allowing you to slowly increase and decrease the BPM in case you were intimidated by the drums before. I also went out a purchased the new drumset and I highly recommend them for anyone that's serious about the game in the slightest bit. It helped my scores dramatically, the pedal is steel [it can't snap anymore!], the entire thing feels sturdier, it's wireless, and the drum pads are a lot more quiet and "velocity sensitive" meaning that if you hit them softer, the sound in game is softer.



As a note, I wrote this article right around when RB2 came out, so Guitar Hero World Tour is already in stores. Right now, if you're looking to decide between which one of the games you should pick up, I'd recommend RB2 more because it's got that extensive library of songs (+500ish as of today), along with being able to transfer your RB1 content over to RB2 for a small fee. I'm sure eventually World Tour will be a valid contender, but I like how many songs are already available and the fact that EA has delivered on its promise to have new content every single week since the originals release, either as a single download or a bundle pack. If you're having trouble deciding, I'd say hold off on purchasing either until we get an idea of how well Activision will be delivering DLC, because it DOES make a huge difference. Oh yeah, don't buy Rock Revolution! =)