2010: A Good Year to Game

I mean that as kind of a general statement, as the industry put out a lot of quality titles. We got sequels, reboots, remakes, and even a few original games, too. Some barely got by and some made over a billion dollars. We got Microsoft and Sony trying to copy the Wii and steal the casual game audience (what a waste of time).

But on a more personal note, I'm pretty sure I've done more gaming this year than ever before. I was thinking about this earlier and it got me curious about just HOW much I've played this year. I took a look at my Achievement and Trophies lists to get a record of this and here's my list of games completed (for the first time) in 2010:

XBOX 360: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Castle Crashers, Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Red Dead Redemption, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, NBA 2K6, Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode 1, Half Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Alan Wake, Bayonetta, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Transformers: War for Cybertron, Street Fighter IV, Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing, Left 4 Dead 2: The Sacrifice, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Halo Reach, Vanquish, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Trials HD

PS3: God of War, God of War 2, God of War 3, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Resistance 2, Heavy Rain


I'm too tired to make a long list of awards, but I'd like to make 2 special "shout outs."

Shout out #1: Platinum Games just completely PWNED me this year. They made 2 of my favorite games of 2010, hands down: Bayonetta and Vanquish. Both games are so sharp in presentation, gameplay and style. It's just too bad they can't marry all that with decent stories, especially since (being a Japanese company) they just LOVE to use a boatload of cutscenes. I'll probably buy anything they make.

Shout out #2: Most addictive game goes to Trials HD. It's so simple, yet so difficult at the same time. The first time I played it, I said to myself, "I'm just gonna check this out to see what it's like." Two and a half hours later, I'm still playing trying to earn gold medals and beat friend's times. Plus, I got it on sale for 400 MS points. It's probably the best $5 I've spent on a videogame.


I'm curious what all everyone else played. Any special awards for anything?

2011 looks to be just as good, if not better, than 2010 (especially for the PS3 - LOTS of good exclusives coming up for Sony's machine).

Well, that does it for me. A late Merry Christmas......Happy New Year......and HAPPY GAMING IN 2011!!!

IGN 360 Head Switches to PS3 as personal preference....

....like me! He covers some very good points and I agree with just about all of them.

The PS3 had a terrible start, but it's gaining tons of momentum (thanks Kevin Butler!) and I'm happy that they're finally getting some positive recognition.

Uncharted 2: Among Never Ending Spawns and Shark Jumping Moments

I'm on chapter 22 of this game and it's awesome in a ton of different ways, but last night, while doing a 2 and a half hour Uncharted 2 marathon, I got really sick and tired of the infinite amount of bad guys I keep killing.

The thing about the Uncharted games is they have tons of charm and, in my mind, are somewhat realistic. The comparison has been done a million times, but it's very Indiana Jones and the games are very good. I love everything from the amazing graphics, gameplay, script, voice acting, cut scenes, humor and plot, but my goodness....can I get either some better enemies or just fewer of them? I'm pretty sure I've killed more nameless nobodies in Uncharted 1 and 2 than Grunts, Elites and Brutes in all the Halo playing I've done......ever.

Drake is not a super human and that's what I love about him. He's a normal dude (physically speaking anyways) and the fact that I've killed hundreds and hundreds of guys, tanks and even 2 helicopters is a little crazy and really hurts the overall quality of the game.

The game is amazing and I don't really know what else Naughty Dog could do when pretty much all games need a bad guy (except Flower and Flow...all you need there is a mini game with motion control and a slick spit shine finish and it's all of a sudden art).

Did anyone else feel as I do when they were playing?

PSP Impressions

I am the proud new owner of a God of War Ghost of Sparta PSP Bundle. I got it for Christmas and this is my impressions post.

After having had 2 Nintendo DS systems I have a good appreciation for what that system can offer and while I liked them both very much I never felt compelled to play them so they sat until they were sold. Considering that I may be doing some traveling in the near future for some time I thought a new handheld system with more versatility than the DS would be a good thing for me if I'm to be away from home. The only other natural choice is the PSP.

Before getting this one the other day I'd only held a PSP one other time. I only really know what I've read about it on gaming sites. It gets beat up a lot in The States as being 2nd choice to the DS and after the PSP Go launched the PSP has been considered pretty much dead ever since. The truth is that the PSP has some amazing titles (both new and old and in the future), is very functional and has a lot more to offer a gamer like me.

I bought a 16gb flash drive for 30 bucks on Amazon and am using that to store all my games on. Already I have Resident Evil 1, 2 and 3 on it as well as Final Fantasy 7 and Tekken 2. As far as downloaded PSP games I have GoW Chains of Olympus and Patapon 2 on it. I also have several hundred songs on there as well.

On the seperate 2gb flash drive that came with the system I've loaded movies (a surprisingly simple process). I have The Fountain and Inception on it (I'm thinking Pan's Labyrinth next) already and they play and look fantastic on the PSP.

Okay so now on to the "Likes" and "Dislikes":

Like:

The look of the sytem is great and I really like the feel of it. It's a relatively light system and the D-pad and face buttons are awesome! I was happy to see and feel that the buttons are all quite pronounced. It's nice that it's a handheld and that the buttons feel like they belong on a console controller. Even the shoulder buttons feel more analog than the "click" of the DS. The D-pad is much better than the DS's pad.

The large screen is a nice change for a handheld and it's menus function almost identically to the PS3.

The joystick is surprisingly good. Even though it looks more like a "nub" than anything it handles precise controls for racers (Burnout Legends) very well. Now if it only had a 2nd one.....

It's a surprisingly powerful system. Playing GoW I was very surprised and thrilled to see that the game looked far better than the GoW HD remakes for the PS3. To pack such power in a handheld is still impressive to me. I know that the ipod, iphone and ipad are all great power wise, but I still find playing serious games on any of those to be a bit of a joke at this time.

The functionality with the PS3 should obviously be great and it is. I've tranferred all the PSOne games and a ton of songs to the PSP with just a few click of the buttons.

Web browser functionality with wifi will help me kill time when it's available. Connecting to the PSN from my wireless at home was very easy and browsing DLC and games is a breeze.

It's user friendly and that was one of it's selling points. I can't tell you how excited I was to be able to easily throw ripped copies of my own DVDs on it. Watching the ending of The Fountain on it last night still gave me chills.

There's a large catalog of good games to play. I'm really looking forward to diving into more JRPG stuff when I finish what I have already. The system doesn't have the Nintendo exclusives with all the endless Mario and Zelda stuff, but it's still very solid because the PSP is still a big deal in Japan. Kingdom Hearts, Persona and Final Fantasy: Crisis Core are all games I'm really looking forward to.

Dislike:

Battery life is a given for sure. I know that I'll be plunking down the extra cash down the road for the "extended battery."

I will never stop believing that the clamshell design of the DS is vastly superior to the PSP. It protects itself and the screens are always out of harms way. With the PSP if you drop it the wrong way it could be game over. I've already placed a great screen protector on it and the hardshell case I purchased is nice as well because it allows me to play it while it's still protected in the case.

Bottom line:

I'm very happy with my decision to get a PSP for Christmas. Having only really played with it for a handful of hours I can already tell I'm really going to love having it. Having a great console, movie player, music player and an (somewhat limited/lack of keyboard) internet browser all in one is a big deal for me personally. It's a solid machine with enough horsepower to give me modern day console thrills in a handheld because that's what I've been wanting with my portable all along.

Dead Space 2 Demo

I just finished it and it's officially my most anticipated game of 2011. Even up against the mammoths of Mass Effect 3 and Elder Scrolls. While those games will undoubtedly be astounding there's still something to be said of the more contained, less epic game that bottles down so much atmosphere, action and tension into a package.

I was thrilled to find (at least from the demo) that the overall Dead Space formula is very much intact. Audio plays a very large role still and the game mechanics are all still in place.

I was very concerned that Visceral Games would Resident Evil 5 the series and take it all the action and leave out everything that made the 1st so great. Talking to Lead Salad I did admit that they did change the control scheme ever so slightly to make it more "action friendly" then the original and it's a little bit of a bummer. For example, in the 1st game if you want to heal you have to pull up your menu and manually select health. In this one you just hit a button. Your stasis recharges automatically where before if you ran out....well....you better not miss your shots.

The brutality of the original was well on display here as well. From the camera perspective while fighting to the animations when your attacked it all still looks like it really hurts.

All in all I went from super pumped to official boner of the month for this game.

"Altman be praised."

I know what brjahu will say, but I can't help it...

...that I still get a big hard one for Tomb Raider (Lead Salad too). Blu Ray FTW with all 3 games on one disc. This is a big deal for PS3 because Legend and Anniversary aren't currently available on the console.

Vanquish - Review

Picked up Vanquish over the weekend as i had a few days of gaming to fill in before Christmas break. Played the demo a while back and quite enjoyed it. Pretty much played it flat out over the last 2 nights and here's my thoughts.

Controlled-chaos. It's balls to the wall, over the top, don't blink or you'll miss something kinda game. At it's core it's essentially a 3rd person cover based shooter, it's super fast paced and exhilarating and turned out to be quite addictive.

Loved

Gameplay

There's plenty of over the top methods to go about the shooting madness. The controls are pretty standard for 3rd person shooting games but there's a nice little addition. You have a boost button which is used speed things up, you can do the boring stuff like sliding into cover but I found it far more exciting to do things like boost about on my knees while shooting, at this moment the game goes into bullet time and it's pretty badass. Bullet time can also be activated while jumping over cover and evading which makes out for some pretty spectacular shooting. I know bullet times been done like a million times before in games but this really makes use of it well and suits the game perfectly.

Spectacular moments

I lost count of the number of times I said "wow" to myself, there's a ton of show stopping moments, not just gameplay induced but stuff going on in the background was pretty impressive also. The scale of the game is generally pretty impressive, not quite as comparable as God of War say but it really does have wow factor moments.

Cinematics

Some brilliant cut scenes to go with the over the top action. Some neat touches where you switch to an FPS view where the mission briefing is delivered to you, hard to explain but it's a nice touch.

Graphics

Highly polished and super slick. The action gets very intense and the game handles it very well, no slow down or pop in.

Hated

Gameplay (variety)

Although I absolutely loved the gameplay it's a shame there wasnt a little more variety to break up the intensity.

Story

Haven't got a clue what i was fighting for or why. Some of it was a little predictable but it didnt really matter tbh.

Length

Was over a little too fast, tempted to go thru it again on a harder level as it was a little easy on Normal.

Evaluation

I'd recommend Vanquish to anyone who likes fast and frenetic action games, it's like a cross between Gears of War and Bayonetta with some God of War epic scale throw in for good measure. Although it was very short and didn't have a lot of depth to the experience I really enjoyed it and would like to hear everyone else's thoughts. Try the demo which is on the market place it pretty much gives you a perfect taste of what the game's all about and how it plays.

Diablo III

Diablo III
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc54_bK604s
Monk Gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31VpcWV2R9E

Skills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_dacPRA7p4

Demon Hunter Gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP49rxDOPHQ

Arena
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNaT19XM6SM

Mixed Gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6kYbXb1MAk

Caravan Upgrades
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i28eWXEuHuY

Poor and (never getting married)

This is a sort of add-on to brjahu's post on upcoming games. And since I'm not married, these will be the games that prevent that from happening as I turn to my girlfriend and let her know I just frankly won't have the time... :P

1. Diablo III - rumor has it it will come out at the end of next year. This is the action RPG of all action RPGs. Another product of the beloved Blizzard, this will probably force me to use some PTO days, maybe even take a weeks' vacation as I have been waiting for this game for close to a decade. There is another rumor Blizzard is hiring for potential console development. D2 was not on consoles but the first Diablo was on the PSONE. So if you like action RPGs and this comes out on consoles, get it. I love plowing through hordes of enemies, gathering tons of loot, while keeping a great story light and quick.

2. Brink - this has been looking pretty good for a while from the parkour moves, slightly cartoonish characters, to the teamwork focused XP rewards. Could be a great shooter... and could be a huge fail. Still hesitant to preorder this one...

3. Elder Scrolls - as much as I HATE teaser trailers... cuz they are just teasing me :P if this follows the path of Morrowind and Oblivion, it will eat up several hundred hours of my time. I still to this day can pick up Oblivion and be swallowed alive and have trouble turning it off and playing any other games. If they add co-op to this game, OMG! I'm always hesitant to play these on the console (since I love my mouse/keyboard so much) but Oblivion plays amazingly well on the 360 so this may be a console purchase, especially if there is co-op or some way to play with other people. Can't wait to join the thieves guild and make some of my own epic gear...

4. ME3 - I wasn't very excited about playing ME2 but after playing it through, I'm definitely looking forward to them wrapping up the story. The attack on earth seems pretty cool too. This may very well be a day 1 purchase for me.

5. Heart of the Swarm - The Zerg storyline and next expansion for Starcraft 2. The singleplayer for Starcraft 2 was amazing and I've already played through it 5 or so times. :P

6. Lego Star Wars III - and being the kid at heart, I'm always down for another Lego game, especially Star Wars. They always add just enough to each new Lego game to make it feel like it isn't just a rinse/repeat title.

...and the Vietnam expansion pack comes out today for Bad Company 2 (which I already have 5 days of play time on) so it's off to see if the servers are up... :D

Donkey Kong Country: Returns

As the only person on this blog (correct me if I'm wrong) who has the resourses to even play Donkey Kong Country: Returns (DKCR) I decided to write up a quick break down. 

Loved:

The Nostalgia - oh my goodness, Retro nailed it here.  The original Donkey Kong Country worked me over from every angle.  I got sent a VHS tape in the mail pitching all the hype from Nintendo, I got it on Christmas, something that never ever happened in my family with new releases, and I played it until I couldn't any more... then continued to play and look for secrets.  This wii-make captures the essence perfectly.  Music, style, humor, dialogue, opening, etc.... good stuff.


The Difficulty - in a time and age of video games that seems to have a trend of games getting easier and easier, this game is tough.  Not just for a Wii game, but for any game.  Retro really raised the bar a few feet on this one, almost to a point that I think this game might alienate a little bit of the Wii's fan base.  As a culture of gamers, I think we've gotten to comfortable overall with the ease of our games.  I know that most games have difficulty modifiers that make the game next to impossible (Bioshock without vita-chambers anyone?) but that leaves the difficulty of the game up to the player, not the designer.  I bet most of us could count on one hand the amount of current gen games that are intrinsically difficult, with no option to make it easier or harder. 

Step in the Right Direction - DKCR isn't perfect by any standard (keep reading), but it is a solid step in the right direction.  It shows that a series can be revamped without cloning it's old self, but still retaining the core feeling. It shows that not all Wii games need to be built for morons.  It also shows how the Wii can sidestep some of it's graphical limitations to still deliver on an impressive front.

Cranky Kong - "I can't say I expect to see you again, but you might get lucky, I guess..." Brilliant. 

Hated:

Forced Motion Controls - DKCR affords the player a few different options for play.  One uses the remote and nunchuck, a favorite for those who just love to wiggle their arms all over the place, and the remote on it's side ala NES style.  I definitely opted for the classic type, thinking I would be able to run, jump, pound, and late-jump with the same ease I did in the SNES days.  Although a majority of the simple mechanics are still intact,  the more complicated moves by Kong are done with subtle gestures, even playing in classic mode.  The ground pound (a definite favorite mechanic here) is not executed by holding down and hitting a button, but a shake of the remote.  The forward rolling attack/cartwheel aren't exectued by a direction and a button, but a direction and a subtle shake.   There are only a few instances where the shaking of the remote feels like a natural choice for motion controls.  It almost makes me wonder if Retro wasn't allowed to use the older mechanics, or encouraged to go a "fresher" route than the oldies, in order to draw in the newer, less jaded, Wii audience.

New Moves - Remember the move in the original Country games where Kong knelt to the ground and used his Kong breath to blow away dandelions and flowers to solve puzzles? Me neither...

Where are the Kremlings? - Maybe they were too edgy for Nintendo's family friendly image, but I miss the Kremlings as antagonists.  My guess is that they were tied up in copyright stuff with Rare, but that's all conjecture.  The Kremlings made awesome baddies... they didn't fit in the world, were obviously counter to your goal, and made some sweet noises when you killed them.  The new baddies are these tiki drums that hypnotize and possess the creatures of the world to do their evil banana hoarding bidding.  The saddest part to me will probably come later upon completion, when I don't get to run through the Krem-co industrial levels, far and away my favorite levels and music from the original game.

Evaluation:

I would highly recommend this to any Wii owner who is looking for something fresh and a little more challenging.  I think it was doubly challenging for me, due to the fact that I am constantly needing to fight against my natural instinct to get Kong to do some of his more complicated procedures. (still haven't quite figured out the late jump timing.)  It's a must by for anyone who's looking to the Wii for nostalgic appeal as well - DKCR doesn't disappoint.   It definitely rounds out my collection. My only wish would be for a patch that allows the player to play with the classic controller or something.

(This experience was playing through the first three and a half worlds, in single player. DKCR supports simultaneous cooperative play with two people, as well.)

January of Joy/JoJ if you will.

Just a reminder to not talk, call or text me the 2nd half of January because Mass Effect 2 and Dead Space 2 are coming to PS3!

Just read yesterday that the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 looks a lot better than the 360 because they are using the Mass Effect 3 engine on it. Looking at side by side videos on ign and it's clearly a better looking game. Demo coming within the next week.

Dead Space 2...nothing else to say about this game other than it'll own my face. Demo coming December 20th!

Poor and Divorced

The following is a guest post by former Backseat Gamers blogger Brjahu:

Poor and Divorced.

That is exactly what I will be after this next year. To be more specific, after November of next year. The list of of "must own" games just grew exponentially after watching the VGAs last night. I'll admit that I almost needed a change of pants after watching two specific trailers. Even if they were just teasers, that is all I needed to see.

The list of required purchases that keeps growing:

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (I turned and said my last good-bye's to my wife after watching this)

Mass Effect 3 (yes, I squealed a little... like a girl)

Uncharted 3 (I will have exactly 10 days to beat this game before Skyrim comes out)

Gears of War 3 (I admit, I'm pumped for the campaign)

Resistance 3 (early release as compared to the rest)

Portal 2

Assassins Creed 3 (if it is indeed launching)

Other games I'm interested in:

Arkham City (I plan on playing Arkham Asylum at some point soon)

SSX: Deadly Descents (I am a huge fan of SSX: Tricky... the source of my alias Kuix)

Killzone 3

Rage

A year with a new Elder Scrolls, Uncharted, and Mass Effect could probably equal the greatest gaming year ever... just saying.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

BOOYAH!

My Very Own Black Ops Post

Alright, I figured I would chime in after playing for a couple of weeks. I have not touched the single player yet, but now have 25 hours into the multi. I started off pretty rough just due to lack of knowledge of the maps, lack of good weapons, etc. I did some combat training to learn the maps a bit and find some guns I like, which was helpful. I moved back into the multi and started playing pretty decent once I got the Galil and the Famas.

It can still be a frustrating experience for me just because I'm a pretty streaky player. I'll have a great game, then I'll play like garbage in the very next one. I'll have a great night of gaming, then the next night it'll feel like I'm using my feet to play instead of my hands. Well, this was a really crappy week for me in the world of Black Ops. I'd like to think it's because I'm sharing a really spotty hotel internet connection, but I can't say for sure. I mean, I don't play this bad at home. Other than the questionable connection, two HUGE frustrations have reared their heads this week......

Number 1: The Knife. Ohhhh, the knife. Of all the things wrong in Call of Duty, this has to be Number 1. Sure, there's no Commando perk anymore, but the knife is still beyond busted. There are still times where players will do a short lunge, but those are very few and far between. The biggest problem for me is when an opposing player and I both run around a corner at the same time and kinda run past each other. When this happens my instinct is to turn and shoot, while the real solution (in a Call of Duty game, anyway) is to mash that melee button. Even if you knife the air, you get the kill for it. I watch the kill cams and sure enough, their knife hits nothing but air, yet I die. It makes no sense to me. It really makes me angry. I think Bad Company 2 has the right idea with the knife. In that game, it's basically for use ONLY if you've managed to sneak up on a guy, due to the fact that it takes a good 2 or 3 seconds to go through the knife animation. I also like Unreal Tournament's use of melee weapons. That is, they're pretty much a non-issue unless you go to the trouble of pulling out your Impact Hammer and charging it up for 5 seconds and actually getting close enough to a guy to use it.....which never happens. Too bad I could NEVER play a lag-free game of Unreal Tournament III because I love those games. In summary, the knife in Call of Duty can go to hell.

Number 2: Weapon damage. Is it just me, or are the weapons in the game too weak? Is the hit detection okay? I feel like the game sometimes gives me hit markers when I'm not really hitting anything. Case in point, I was using the Commando gun and had to get six hit markers to kill a guy. Yes, SIX. Granted, I was at a distance, but six hit markers? I wasn't shooting through walls, so that shouldn't have been a factor in "weakening" the bullets down or anything. There was also a time where I shot a guy with my M16 from pretty close distance (20 feet or so?). I hit him with 2 solid bursts from the gun, in the chest/neck/face, and got NO kill. I couldn't even count the hit markers on that one. The M16 has one of the higher damage rankings, too, so....I'm just really confused about that one. I've got both of these instances saved in my file share for any 360 users that are interested in seeing them. The obvious solution to this is to switch over to Hardcore mode, but that doesn't really work for me, either. I like the rules (no radar and higher gun damage) but for some reason that translates into a massive camp fest. People just lay prone and point their gun at a doorway. I can't even move.


Alright, that's about it for me. Like I said, I had a really crappy week with the game, but I'm not ready to give it up or anything. I'll try again when I get home tonight. I'm hoping that connection had something to do with my poor performance. Or maybe I just suck. But I really don't think that's true.

PS3 Super Computer

I remember hearing about this a long time ago, but it's finally done and it's pretty impressive. The fact that you can link that many PS3s together and make one super mega powerful computer is just downright impressive!

I wonder what it is about the PS3 that makes it the better choice for this over the 360? I don't know enough about that stuff to make a good guess, but my first thought would be that it would be hard to keep a super computer running when 65% of the 360s kept RROD.

Fighting Games

Any fans out there that aren't Asians? I've very recently rediscovered, along with Silent (my brother-in-law), Tekken 2. It's 6 bucks on the PSN and it's marvelous. We've spent the last 2 days playing the Arcade mode back and forth to unlock everyone and it's been a stellar experience.

Tekken 2 is a game that I only ever rented and played a lot during those times. I loved the game way back then and to this day it's still a heart pounding fighter. Silent unfortunately pounds me into the ground with Law, but when I get my Heihachi skills back up to snuff I'm hoping to embarrass him on the daily.

Were there any fighter games you played a lot and actually got good at? SoulCalibur 1 and 2 were it for me. Kalik in 1 and Spawn for XBOX in 2.

Anyways, this has inspired me to get Tekken 6 from Goozex on PS3. I've done a lot of research and decided for that over Street Fighter 4. I was never really that into SF and I keep reading that several of the characters are overpowered.

Maybe I'll see some of you online.

P.S. Don't play Mortal Kombat against Lead Salad....he'll push your poop in.

Are there fanboys amongst Popular Science editors?

I know that the Wii and Kinect have an audience, but you have to love this backhanded comment from a very well respected magazine.

I'm impressed at their knowledge of the device. I guess it's their jobs, but I didn't expect that zinger at the end.

Black Ops: Declassified

Black Ops has done pretty well for itself so far.  I don't think there's a person on this blogroll that doesn't own it.  This title provides us with a unique opportunity, however, because as a group we're all getting to know it better on different platforms.  I'm curious to what might be different about the game depending on the community of players, style of play, or open communications. I'm also wondering what set-ups are working out for you all best.  Customization has become a staple gameplay element in the last few COD games, and the game seems to thrive pretty well regardless of set-up one may use.  Black Ops balances this better than some of the preceding titles, in my opinion - the modern warfare games seemed to encourage different weapon set-ups as apposed to Black Ops that seems to make sure that everyone can have fun as they wish.

I'm currently fiding great success with the M14 and the FAL.  I do a fair amount of hardcore TDM, but the guns still pack a punch so they end up working out pretty well in core TDM as well. I've yet to venture into any of the objective playlists, but those all seem to be variations on a theme (read, "kill everyone") anyway.  Perk wise, I've been sticking to Ghost, Warlord, and Ninja, all "pro" as I've earned them.  Occasionally if I run into it more often, I'll use Hacker instead of Ninja, but I don't prefer it.  Equipment really doesn't become a huge part of my set-up, but the claymores seem to do nicely.

The reason I am curious at all about this is due to the success I've seen with this set-up.  It seems like everyone on the 360 is rolling out with some variant on this set-up.  You run into different styles of groups, but for the most part, Ghost seems used all the time.  I'm not surprised either - it seems like all of the killstreaks revolve around being seen by the enemy in some fashion and avoiding that should be priority one. It probably doesn't help that there isn't much of a better choice for the first slot of perks either.  Lightweight isn't bad, but without the runners having their dominance, lightweight seems to be a waste of a selection for me.

What's taking control of your platforms set-ups? Am I the new "runner", or "noob tuber", or is my set-up legit? Anyone else think the RC-XD should be a bonus for 4 or 5 kills, not 3?

Singularity Review

I finished Singularity last night and it's the best SP FPS campaign I've played since Bioshock. A neat trailer for you here.

The game was developed by the underappreciated "Raven Software". The guys that do a lot of work for id games with Quake and if my memory serves me right they ported Doom 3 (too lazy to fact check). Bottom line is they make a fine shooter with tight controls.

The game takes place between 1955 during the Cold War and 2010. You're a trooper sent to a mysterious island where there's been large energy readings and when you get there a bunch of crazy cool time stuff happens and to make a long interwoven story very short....you save a very bad Russian man in 1955 and he pretty much rules the world in 2010. The rest of the game is spent trying to right what you screwed up. The "butterfly effect" if you will.

Likes:

Controls were very tight and the gunplay is immensely satisfying.

Time Manipulation Device (TMD) - You'll eventually get the TMD and with if you solve a lot of puzzles and use it in combat to totally screw over the bad guys.

Time travel and pulses. Switching between 1955 and 2010 and seeing your actions affect the game world in such drastic ways is a friggin blast and is very well done. Shockingly well done at times. I found myself marveling at the details over and over again.

The story was a lot of fun to watch play out and while it wasn't anything too ground breaking it was refreshing to actually play a game where I cared about what was going on instead of going through the motions.

Puzzles are pretty easy, but nothing too complex.

Using the TMD in imaginative ways. One of my favorite ways to dispatch enemies was to basically make a "slowing time ball" (my term) and shoot it at a group of guys. Anyone caught in it moved slow and their bullets were slowed. What you do is you unload a ton of bullets into the ball and then use the TMD to get rid of the balls. When you dissolve the ball the enemies are hit with a hail of gunfire. Not super needed or necessary, but a lot of fun. Using the time ball as a sort of shield to dodge bullets was neat, too. You can def use your imagination in this game.

Perfect length for the game. Not too long and thankfully, unlike most big shooters nowadays cough CoD cough HALO cough not too short.

3 different endings and 1 of which is a mind screw!

Dislikes:

Unreal Engine 3. When the shit will developers stop using this damn thing. I hate it!

The game borrows, stylistically, from Bioshock pretty heavily at times, but they do it justice IMHO.

Puzzles can get repetative.

Really there wasn't a lot I didn't enjoy about the game. Even the boss fights were pretty cool...esp for an FPS.

All in all it's a great game that will most def get passed over by just about everyone because Activision didn't promote it at all.

It's a great game that plays like a great mix of Bioshock, Half Life 2 and even Dead Space.

I know most of you guys don't play many SP shooters, but you should def give this gem a chance because there probably won't ever be a sequel.

"Wii is a piece of s&*$!"

Ran into this a week back and thought it was funny and figured I'd repost it. It's 3 years old now and this guy was hating it back then. I like that he not only said it sucks because it's underpowered graphically, but also the CPU is too weak to make a complicated AI. Got to give him credit for not sugar coating it.

The next day he apologized, but I just read another article that was written yesterday of him defending what he said, but that he regrets the way he did it. Still funny.