This Is It? - Wii Music

Wii Music could go down as one of the biggest mistakes Nintendo has ever made; even worse than the Virtual Boy. 'Wow' is all I really have to say about these. Enjoy, or really don't.

Cheerleader




Dog (I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it myself)

Hearsay - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

I was really excited to play The Force Unleashed, and then the reviews for it came out. Now, I don't base my opinion solely on reviews, but the review for the game, by what most people would consider 'gaming experts', have been quite dismal. It's average user score on Gamefly.com at the time of writing is a 9.1 though.

The biggest gripe is the gameplay, with claims of: repetitive combos, limited attacks available against bosses, and a somewhat broken control scheme(especially in the Star Destroyer sequence). The positives notes tend to be on the excellence of the story and the beautiful look of the game. Now, contrary to 'Hearsay' I have played the first level of the retail version, and I can attest to the great cut scenes and graphics so far. I'll let you know how the rest goes when I'm done with it.

Mercenaries 2 video

So right after I wrote that Hearsay post about Mercenaries 2 I discovered this. It makes the game look a hell of a lot cooler.

Hearsay - Mercenaries 2

I couldn't wait for Mercenaries 2 to be released. Before it was actually released I would take the time out of day to tell people how I thought Mercenaries 2 looked like it was going to be a good game.
Like the name of the segment should imply, I have yet to play Mercenaries 2; but from what I've seen/heard I'm not that impressed anymore.
The graphics don't look as good as they could be for a sandbox game(i know, i know, no one cared about graphics 10 years ago). Have you seen Grand Theft Auto 4 lately? The game is also supposed to have very bad A.I., almost to a mentally challenged degree.
The destruction does look really good, and seems even better than Battlefield: Bad Company's. I just think the graphics and gameplay combined make it a 'rent first' type of game.

Top 5 Anticipated Games

On a fairly recent episode of X-Play someone asked them what their most anticipated upcoming game was. When thinking of what my most anticipated upcoming game is I definitely can't narrow it to a single game. I think the best I can do is narrow it down to a top 5.
So without stringing you along further, here are my Top 5 most anticipated upcoming games and why....

5.) Fallout 3 -the reason this comes in at 5 and not higher is mainly because I didn't play either of the previous Fallout games, and because I'm not sure how long it will take for me to get sick of enemies exploding from single shots or stuffed bears hitting them. Thankfully though, this is just a perk and can be turned off. The reasons I'm excited for this game are 1.) There's a vast world to explore. 2.) There’s a great variety in weapons and RPG elements 3.) It's going to take a while to get through making it worth a buy. Also you should know I love the PS3 and 360 equally, but with downloadable content exclusive to the 360 if you own both systems you know which one to get this for.

Here’s a trailer and a sample of the gameplay from E3



4.) Mirror's Edge - A first-person game that rewards you for not firing off a round?! What are the developers thinking? I'll take a guess and say they're banking on people wanting a fresh gaming experience. First-person games are known to be primarily shooters and the characters usually have terrible jumping abilities, so making a game that focuses on the complete opposite of that gets me excited to play it. Just don't get too excited if you suffer from motion sickness as Mirror's Edge looks like it might cause it. This game is supposed to have six axis controls for balancing on beams and most walkthroughs have been on the PS3 so I plan on playing it on the PS3. Also within the past few week exclusive downloadable content for the PS3 was announced.

A taste of the gameplay



3.) Little Big Planet - Cute little cloth creatures and completely customizable levels which is possibly going to be creating the largest group of user created content in games ever. The only question about this game being on this list should be why isn't it higher? Which I will go into right now…

But first, here’s a little bit of the creative aspect of the game



..and a boss fight from a pre-made level



2.) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - I'm not the world's biggest Star Wars fan, but I am a fan. I've been looking forward to this game since its original release date which I'm pretty sure was sometime in April. Now that's it's finally going to be released this September the long wait is finally over.
The reason this game is so high on the list is because I have actually played it which has made me want it more. It allows you to (as the name suggests) use various force powers such as force grip, push, and lightning. The light saber combat feels good and force grip is a blast to play with. I highly recommend getting this when it releases September 16th.

Here’s a developer walkthrough



1.) Far Cry 2 - Every time I have seen anything about Far Cry 2 the word 'wow' has been uttered. Sporting a vast map editor, huge open world, and multiple ways to complete objectives. The videos of this game just look amazing. Supposedly this is going to be a 60 plus hour game (look into accuracy of that) complete with character damage and weapon degradation. That makes Far Cry 2 a definite buy. The console walkthroughs I've seen have been on the 360 making it a buy for the 360.

Here’s a deceiving enemies trailer



A developer diary



And a trailer for the map editor

Cheap Tactics?

I was going to buy Soul Caliber 4, but after seeing the Zero Punctuation review where he claims that it's a cheaply won game and you can win most fights by just using the throw button it got me thinking "I need to look into this before I buy it." Luckily for me though the demo for Soul Caliber 4 popped up on Xbox Live, and even though I planned on getting it for the Playstation 3 because of the inclusion of Darth Vader, I thought it'd be a good idea to try it out anyway and see how it felt. I played it a couple times while actually trying to fight using combos. Then I decided to give the 'throwing only' fighting style a try. I won every time while barely getting hit. What's up with that? Shouldn't they make the A.I. so it adapts to your style a bit and doesn't allow you to win with only throws? This ruins Soul Caliber 4 in my book.

So the moral of this little tale is if you're getting Soul Caliber 4 for the single player experiences...don’t. Unless of course you have really good self control and can promise yourself that you’ll do more than just throw opponents. If you're excited about playing with friends or online then maybe it's for you.


Here’s the Zero Punctuation review I referred to





And here is video proof that you can win if you only throw.

Drunk Driving in Grand Theft Auto 4

So a lot of people were pissed off about how you can drive drunk in Grand Theft Auto 4. My answer to their gripe is 'stop taking everything so seriously'. Driving drunk in the game is HARD. You can barely get anywhere without driving 5 miles an hour and it actually makes it harder to intentionally hit people. Also, if a cop sees you driving he automatically knows you're drunk and tries to arrest you. Does that sound like a game promoting drunk driving? Honestly, if I take a friend to a bar in the game we'll take a cab back to their place. It's much easier and faster.

Oh, and the most important reason why it's not a big deal......is a Grand Theft Auto game really where you want to look for guidance of how to live your life?

Check out the gameplay video below for an example of being/driving drunk in the game.