Punch Out (Wii) - The Wii-mote responds well, but it's definitely better to play with the old school method. I'm a little torn on the fact that's it's almost a note for note recreation of the older versions, just with fancier graphics (at least compared to the last version). On one hand it fits like a glove and is fun to take a trip down memory lane. On the other, it is kind of disappointing it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. Grade: B

Since when has Tony a Wii?

New Super Mario Bros. Wii- Wow what a fun remake of a game that's been redone dozens of times but yet they find another way to pull you back in. Multiplayer is so much fun but at the same time very frustrating when the other players intentionally F things up on you. B+

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty Xbox 360A by the numbers FPS that worth just about the $5 I paid for it, It has an interesting story but they really don't flesh it out. Graphics are slightly better than the Wii if you can beleive it and it runs on the same Unreal 3 engine that Gears of War uses Good thing the Acheivements are pretty easy C-

Left 4 Dead 2 - Completed all the chapters on my own. It's definitely not a big departure from the first game, but overall I do like it better than #1. The level designs are much more interesting on the whole, and I like the daytime setting better. The melee weapons are a nice addition too. The achievements are on the stingy side and the game isn't groundbreaking, but it is enjoyable. Now I just have to play the game with a few real people, which I believe I have arranged to do over the holidays with a couple other people. But, overall I'll give it a B+

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - The Emperor has no clothes! After playing the last two "real" Mario games - Mario Sunshine and now Mario Galaxy, I'm convinced this is the most over-rated series in existence. The worlds I've been to so far are small and uninspiring, and the level design is bland. The "story" is on auto-pilot at this point... the only thing that really changes is the setting. I don't understand how this game is the highest rated game this generation. Grade: C

Madworld (Wii) - Definitely one of the better games on the Wii I have played so far. Nice graphical style, good use of the Wii-mote, and pretty fun so far. It's shaping up to be in the B+ area.

Wet (Xbox 360) - I like the style - the music and presentation are very Quentin Tarantino-ish. There are a lot of flaws with the game, though, like ridiculously crazy combat - and not crazy in a good way. For example, the main character, Rubi, can slide on her knees up a flight of stairs while shooting bad guys in slo-mo. Plus, there is far too much platforming for a game of this style. It thinks it is Tomb Raider at times. However, despite all the flaws, it is playable and semi-enoyable at times. Grade: C+/B-

Call of Duty 4...

now I see what all the hype is about...

these games are epic.

Playing Dragon Age on the PC.

Interestingly enough, one of the writers for that game has just signed a contract with me to open a chapter of my LARP in Canada.

Always bragging i see.

Borderlands (360) - So far it's very good. It's like Fallout 3, but without all the talking and dialogue. It's still RPG-y, but it feels a lot less so than F3 or Oblivion.

Dead Space Extraction (Wii) - This isn't a bad game by any stretch, but it just makes me want to play the 360 version. And it tries to walk an odd fine line of being on rails, but not being a "cheesy" rail shooter... not sure that works as well for me. I'd rather it give me full control, or just be a full on rail shooter.

Madden NFL 10 - 5 years later and they are finally incorporating some of the better feature of NFL 2K5 - like halftime highlights and a weekly recap show (in franchise mode) that gives a rundown of all the week's events. The overall presentation is pretty good, and the graphics are top notch (particularly the stadiums). It doesn't make me completely forget 2K5, but it's getting close to being a viable replacement. It's just sad it took Madden 5 years to nearly catch up to 2K5. That game was so far ahead of its time...

Did you play the downloadable content on Borderlands? The game is actually alot more fun with 2-4 people since the loot drops get better and alot more enemies spawn. Price has Left4Dead 2 so all we need is a fourth stooge to make a kj game

I think I saw that dolemite had the game too. Anyhow, I'm down for L4D2 almost anytime...

Super Mario Kart

Finally downloaded this one from the Virtual Console. I used to play it daily before and after going to school, so it's amazing playing it for the first time in no less than 14 years ( ).


Mario & Luigi 3: Bowser's Inside Story

Only an hour into the game so far, so little has happened aside from the basic level letting you learn how to play the game (no need if you've played the previous two).

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Just a little too much like New Super Mario Bros. DS, but that's ok. I'm on World 3 right now (didn't find a single Star Coin in the Ghost Mansion first time ). Love that the Koopa Kids are back, even if Roy was the boss of a different world this time, not sure why that is. The game is really fun though, and the new suits are great.

I took a temporary break from Borderlands, and felt like a little achievement whoring:

History Channel Civil War - I kind of like Civil War stuff, so the game was more appealing to me than it should have been. It's a really bland/outdated shooter at its core, but the Civil War era is pretty unique to shooters. And, it's a very easy 950 points.

Spongebob: Truth or Square - Fairly easy 900 point game, if you don't consider that the actual game is kind of painful to play, due to it being a boring platformer that was designed for an 8 year old to play. My inner 8 year old thought it was kind of boring too, though.

Sonic Sega Collection - Neat to relive some of these Sega classics, and many I've played for the first time. But, games have come a long ways in the last 20 years, and mostly for the better. I sometimes forget how arcadey the games were in this era... usually you have "xx" amount of lives, and when you're done, you have to start all the way over. That makes the frustration level off the chart at times. I'm still playing, but it looks like a fairly simple 900-1000 points, and a fun/short lived trip down memory lane.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360) - I like the Modern Warfare games infinitely more than the CoD WWII games, which I find boring. There is definitely a lot to like about MW2... it was full of epic moments, and had an amazing set of diverse levels. The graphics and level of detail were very impressive, especially with the character models. On the negative side, I think the developers are over-using a few story elements... the characters/story always seem to come to the same conclusion. And, I still prefer my FPS with a sci-fi element (or zombies!). But, this was definitely one of the better 2009 games.

No More Heroes 2 (Wii) - Finally had a reason to fire up the Wii again. I'm early in the game, but I love the over the top immature (but mature rated) humor, and visual style. Not sure I dig the combat though.... it can be very confusing at times, and feels like it requires too much flailing. Of course, I may get better at it as I go along...

Still playing Borderlands, but man... I'm getting bored with the game. It seems to go on forever and all the missions feel the same... I thought I'd like the lack of story or talking, but with no real plot or nothing happening, the game just can't support 100+ missions.

Tony, do you need someone for the Spec Ops missions? The only achievements that I have still to earn are related to the Spec Ops missions (as there are some that require 2 players and cannot be played alone) and others that will probably be easier to obtain if played by the pair.

I'd love to give the Special Ops missions a spin and earn a few more achievements! But, it'll be a few days.. I lent the game to my brother.

That's OK. I also cannot play every day and weekends are better for me. The moment he gives you the game back just drop me a line and we can try to arrange a session.
In the meantime I will try to get the last 2 achievements for Bioshock (this one's a bitch on hard) and play some more Oblivion and Dead Space.

I got COD:MW2 back...

Dante's Inferno (360)

Although at times repetitive, I found the game pretty fun. Lots of boss fights which had a variety of weaknesses, rather than simply pummeling. The game looked pretty great too, not just the graphics, but some of the level design had a lot of thought put into it. It also had the most nudity, male and female, that I have ever saw in a game.

Good:

-Boss fights
- Level design
- Good achievements (i.e, you can get about 700 on a single play through or more if you use a strategy guide).
- CGI and Animation (yes, it splices in animation from the newly released cartoon) looked wonderful.
- It did a good job of following the punishments and some of those punished from The Inferno poem.
- If you are religiously inclined, I do not think the game will offend you from a religious standpoint (it will on a violence and sex standpoint).
- Only takes about 9 hours to complete.

Not as good:

- Level structure, from a gameplay standpoint, is a bit repetitive. You do some Prince of Persia style climbing, fight some minions (you will probably kill about 2,000 of these guys throughout), do some puzzle solving, fight some more minions, then fight the boss. Repeat.
- Lots of combos you could purchase, but I found that I could beat 95% of the non-bosses simply using my ranged attack.
- The "holy" powers that you gain seem much more powerful than the "unholy" side of things (you get to decide how you level up, but it doesn't change the storyline any, just your powers).

B+

February game list


Bioshock 2 As I stated it doesnt give you the excitement of the first game since the graphics, background and options( other than being a big daddy) are updated. Still it has a better story line, quite fun and the multiplayer makes it worth its money.
Grade: A- (since it has multiplayer which was quite nice. B/B+ if you take out multiplayer)

No More Heroes 2 I like the No More Heroes game and it was probably the best game on the Wii however I dont understand them taking out the free roaming traveling that you had in the original game. It was fun in the first game to travel in your motorcycle. The other thing I didnt like was them making the side missions into old 80s/90s style arcade mini-games. It didnt happen in the first.
Grade : B

Heavy Rain I really love this game. Its very reminiscent of the old PC, click a mouse or keyboard button adventure games. We dont really have many of those on the consoles. The graphics are very detailed and like I said in my review, these games could only get better if they fine tweak them. Mass Effect 2 still remains my favorite game of this year but I think HR will be a very genre defining game. Ive finished my second playthrough in 6 hours and the outcome was very different. Great story especially for a video game, great graphics, intuative.
Grade: A

Dante's Inferno I rented this game because I liked the demo much better than the Palinetta demo. First 2 hours of the game was awesome. The next 6 hours it went downhill from there. What happened? The problem lies with inconsistency. While I was in the beginning of the game, you could encounter a Boss character in a 30 minute interval time. After beating the Cerebus Boss, you dont encounter a Boss guy until 2 hours later in the game. It seems like they werent done polishing the game and left out alot of Boss characters. How can you explain 4 Boss creatures in the first 2 hours and then 3 Boss characters for the remainder 3/4s of the game? The other complaint was the combat is easy yet the stupid platforming of jumping gets me killed most of the time. I hate fighting games with too much emphasis on jumping patterns rather then beating shit up.
Grade: C

Dragon Age Origins

Awesome game tough the main plot could have been a bit deeper and better told.

9/10

My available game time had been slashed down to just the occassional NBA 2k10 game lately, but in need of some points I played Backyard Football and netted 1000 points in approx 10 minutes (less than 1 quarter of gameplay). I don't know if it was a great game, but it was definitely satisfying hearing a "plink" and seeing a 100 point achievement every 60 seconds. I'm tempted to give it an A just for that.

Assassins Creed II - I started it and played a little bit, but it's too involved until I get more time. Looks pretty much like #1 so far.

Oh really? I started it up and almost immediately noticed a bunch of changes. I'm only about 3 hours in max, but I love it so far.


Totally agree about the time investment though, it's going to suck up a lot of time to beat. Sadly, I'm totally hooked - contemplating staying in this weekend and playing.

I haven't played enough to know for sure, but except for the part where you fight your way out of the present day complex, the "memory" world felt and looked an awful lot like the last game. Not that I expected anything too wildly different... like a game set in outerspace with jetpacks and zombies, but most of the rest felt like AC1.

I'll probably jump back in the game soon, and should have a more informed opinion then.