Jigsaw's Rants & Reviews

Blog is Moving

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:14:00 +0000

I’m part way through moving from Blogger to Wordpress. Things are progressing pretty well but I’ve still got more stuff to do. Over the next few days I should get everything finished…hopefully.

The main URL for my Rants and Reviews is now http://www.andymerrill.com/blog/ so update your bookmarks and RSS readers.

Lost Planted 2 Demo Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:48:00 +0000

I took an early lunch to play the Lost Plant 2 demo that released today on the Xbox 360.The demo supports both playing solo as well as four player co-op over Xbox Live. You can setup the co-op room with 0 to 3 private slots for your friends and then fill in the remainder of the spots with people on Xbox Live if you want.

The entire demo consists of one huge boss fight in a large, but enclosed, valley area. The enemy is a giant six legged lizard with a spiked tail. You can take out the legs to slow it down or jump on its back to take out the large energy filled spikes on its back. Also, if you time it right you can get inside the lizard beast and shoot it from the inside. Assuming you can survive the ordeal it will shoot you out the back end.

There is a wide variety of weapons and grenades in the game to choose from. One thing I found really helpful is that the guns list next to them if they are a heavy weapon (plasma cannon, rocket launcher, or hand cannon) or a close range weapon (flamethrower). This came in handy as I was learning all the different weapons. I lost count of how many grenades there were but it was at least 5 or 6 different kinds. Additionally, there are also at least three different types of VS suits around the map you can climb into to attack it with. These mech suits have a gattling gun, shotgun, rocket launcher, and rocket pod that you can find and attach to them to fight with. Most of the VS suits have the ability to fly for short bursts using jets on their backs.

The boss lizard is pretty tough to take out. After taking out all of its legs you head inside it to take out the equivalent of the heart. There are some smaller enemies in there to slow you down and if you take too long it will grows its legs back. Also, while inside the beast you're fighting the current of its digestive track. I learned the hard way to be extra careful with grenades while on the inside. It is a very confided space that makes it hard to throw them far enough not to hurt yourself too.

The one thing I found a little frustrating about the demo was the tips. They have tips and instructions scattered around the level that you can walk up and read. This can be hard to do with a giant lizard trying to stomp on you. I died more than once trying to read one of them.

The graphics and music in the demo were really sweet. I found the battle to be quite challenging but not to the point of frustration. In fact, I played through the demo 3 times before even getting to the point of taking the legs out and being able to go inside the lizard. It definitely helps to be playing cooperatively so that you can focus your fire on one or two of the legs at a time. Plus, you can get one person up on the back while another grabs a large VS and the remaining two provide coordinated fire. I was looking forward to Lost Planet 2 before playing the demo and it does not disappoint. I'm now really looking forward to its release.

Overlord Dark Legend (Nintendo Wii) Review

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:35:00 +0000

My plan was to play Overlord II but apparently I was not pay attention and I rented Overlord Dark Legend for the Nintendo Wii instead. Fortunately a couple people pointed out that it has a different story line and I decided to check it out. I'm assuming that Overlord Dark Legend is the version for younger gamers because it was pretty easy and the whole game was maybe 8 hours long. However, it was pretty fun. They call you an evil overlord in the game but you don't do really any evil stuff like you could in Overlord. Again, I figure this is because the game is aimed at younger gamers.

The story was pretty good. You play as a 16 year old Overlord who has his birthday and gets his magic abilities. You then go one to defeat your older sibling's evil plans for the world and rule the realm yourself. As you progress through the game you get more and more abilities and minions to control. However, the most minions you ever get up to is 20. Whereas in Overlord I am pretty sure you got up to 40 or 50. The puzzles in Dark Legend are all very simple. They all wind up being kill person with the key or wheel piece and then use it to unlock the next area.

This game is the first one I've played on the Wii where it uses literally every button on the controller. However, the controls were never really confusing. There were just a lot of options available. Most of them I used once or twice but the main controls of moving yourself and the minions are very smooth and simple.

My one big complaint about the game is that the finally was weak. You get your siblings to fight each other and instead of having one final epic battle against both of them the game ends with a very lengthy cut scene of you making them both work to clean your castle. It is really a shame because you work to get all your minions leveled up and all your spells, health, and magic but then you never get to really put them to use.

Overall I had a good time playing Overlord Dark Legend and it got me excited to play Overlord II. It is simple and clean enough for younger gamers, but with enough Overlord style humor for adults to enjoy too.

Indie Game Playing Tonight

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:16:00 +0000

I had a couple hours tonight with no serious plans so I decided to play some Xbox Live Indie Games. I started off playing some Horn Swaggle Island. If you missed my post about it before it is a pirate themed tower defense game. I wish it had an option to control the speed because at times it is slow as I wait for the enemies to work their way across. I figured out a solid strategy that I can adapt to pretty much all of the maps so I've been working through them pretty quickly. The only real difficulty is getting the turrets setup for the map layout. Then it is waiting for the waves to arrive and upgrading. I played 6 maps tonight and I probably should have stopped after 3 or 4 because the last couple I was having less fun. Mostly because it was starting to feel repetitive. I still plan to finish the last couple maps but I need a break from tower defense for a while.

Fortunately, after getting done with the 10th map I saw a lot of people posting on twitter about a newly released game called I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1. Yes, that is really the titles of the game. But, don't let the name throw you off. It is a really fun game. It was made by Jamezila who also developed Dishwasher: Dead Samurai on Xbox Live Arcade. The game is a two-stick shooter (like Geometry Wars) where you are shooting at waves of zombies. I generally stink at these type of games, but I was doing pretty well. The song that plays is really funny and the game play was fun. There are a bunch of different weapons and power-ups. Personally, I like the flamethrower and shotgun. The waves of zombies, and the lights, tie in with the music and make it even better. The screenshot does not really do justice to how much fun this game is. It has 4 player local co-op and for a $1 I'm not going to complain that there is not co-op over Live. But Live co-op would have been really sweet. Even without it you should still check this game out. I'd pay $1 for just the song let alone a really fun game.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Demo Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:58:00 +0000

I played the demo for Batman: Arkham Asylum over the weekend (twice) and really loved it.It has a great mix of fighting, stealth and puzzles all wrapped in a dark, gritty Batman story. The fighting is simple but there are some combos, blocking, and take-downs. Batman feels like you'd expect, super strong, but not invincible. A lot of the game seems stealth focused with you being able to get up in the rafters and move around quietly to get the drop on unexpected enemies. The puzzles come in when you use your 'detective mode' to see weak spots in the walls, loose grates, and grapple points. What makes it so great is that all of these parts work so seamlessly together. Plus, the graphics look really nice and the audio seemed well done. From the demo and the trailers it looks like all the classic Batman villains are in the game. I'm really looking forward to playing the full game when it releases.

I Hate Bionic Commando

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:36:00 +0000

I decided to rent Bionic Commando because the swing mechanic looked like it could be really fun. Wow, was I wrong. After thoroughly enjoying the swing mechanic in Spider-Man Friend or Foe I'm shocked at how much I hate it in Bionic Commando. You can only lock onto structures that are within a very short range. Then you have to time your swing release perfectly to land where you want or swing from the next point. Time it wrong and you call almost strait down. In addition there are a lot of areas in the game that you can see but can't go to because they are covered with radiation. Yet, in a lot of cases you can't tell the top of a building is covered in radiation until after you get up there and are dead. I'm about 40% of the way through the game and I'll not be finishing it. I'm tired of dying and I'm not having fun. It is going back to GameFly today. Unless you are an absolute glutton for punishment don't bother with Bionic Commando. It is not worth the frustration you'll get from missing the perfect timing by a fraction of a second and then dying.

Playing Catchup - XBLIGs, Road to Ruin, and the Dashboard Update Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Since finishing Damnation I've been playing catch up on a lot of the recent Indie Games. You can see my recent ratings of them here. Nothing super outstanding but a few fun titles. I did get to try out an early release of Horn Swaggle Islands and I'm really enjoying it. I need to put more time into it before giving everyone a full review. Still, how can you go wrong with a pirate themed tower defense game?

I also have played through the new Gears of War 2 single player DLC Road to Ruin. It is not really that long but I had a surprisingly fun time. I had forgotten how much fun the single player is in Gears of War 2 and the DLC has really gotten me wanting to play through the main campaign on Insane with a friend in co-op.

I also got into the new Dashboard Updated Preview this week. A few quick thoughts on that.

I have noticed that the Guide seems much faster and smoother now. I use to get a lot of hang ups and lag when in the guide if I opened it while in a multiplayer match. Since getting the updated I've not had that happen once.
Also, the My Games list loads much quicker. It use to populate very slowly and it is much better now.
User Ratings - The option to have user ratings for everything in the Xbox Live Marketplace is a nice touch, but should people really be able to rate games they have not played? How long until that is abused?
Avatar Marketplace - I did not buy gamer pics and themes, and I'm not buying clothes for my Avatar. However, I am looking forward to unlocking Awards for my Avatar to wear just like unlocking achievements.

Damnation (Xbox 360) Review

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Despite the less than stellar reviews, the trailers for Damnation kept me interested and I decided to check it out. I'm glad I did because despite its flaws I had fun playing through the campaign. Damnation is a third person shooter with a steam punk theme. I really enjoyed the aesthetics of the game even though graphically it was not great. The character models looked really good, but the backgrounds and building look a little little generic and out dated. The bid feature of the game is the vertical scale of the environments. The levels pretty linear but they are huge both in height and square footage. I'm not sure exactly how long the single player campaign is but I would guess somewhere around 8 hours since I completed it in less than a week on Hardcore difficulty. The game only has Casual, Hardcore, and Insane modes, but no Normal difficulty setting. The Hardcore setting I played on was a bit rough at points because you can only take about 2 shots before you get killed. They did a good job of making steam punk styled weapons. There is the normal sniper, shotgun and assault rifles like most shooters have, but there were some really fun unique guns. My favorite was the arrow rifle that just decimates enemies.

The main gameplay focuses on getting around the vertical environments while taking out enemies. I actually played it a lot like a shooting gallery and them a platform puzzle because I would snipe every enemy I could and them work my way though the level until there were more enemies to snipe. It was actually a lot of fun to play like this because I could figure out the vertical platform puzzles without having to worry about enemies sneak up on me. Early in the game they give you the ability to see where enemies are through walls so this combined with the sniper was a lot of fun.

The gameplay mixes in some driving sections as well. You have a motorcycle with a turbo boost. The driving sections were frustrating at first because at times you have to make jumps and run up on the side walls, but once I realized that you don't have to boost to stay on the side walls it was much easier. The driving sections are actually very forgiving because they give you a lot of checkpoints and you stick to the walls when you drive on them as long as you do not stop. My biggest complaint about the driving sections was that you can't adjust the camera angle and it sits directly behind the bike making it hard to see what is right in front of you. This made it hard to time jumps properly.

I did like that you can use the cheat codes available to unlock power weapons and big head mode. Even with the cheats turned on you can still get achievements so I recommend turning the power weapons and custom weapon load-out as soon as you start the game.

The biggest complaint I had while playing was that the game would randomly pause and pop up a "Loading..." message. However, there is no progress indicator and the loading times seemed to occur randomly. I never know if I was going to have to wait 2 or 40 seconds for the loading to finish. Most of the loading was on the longer side and since it would just pop up randomly mid-level I never figured out how to tell if a load screen was coming or how long it would be.

I'm not saying this is a great game or anything. It has flaws. A lot of them. The graphics are date, the loading is long and random, and the achievements are really few and far between. But, I went into playing Damnation with low expectations and I was pleasantly surprised with the vertical platforming and shooting gallery sections. If they were to make a Damnation 2 that is up to the standards of games like Gears of War 2 and Assassing Creed it could be a really great game.

Madden NFL 10 Demo Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:27:00 +0000

I got a chance to try out the Madden NFL 10 demo today. I like how they have slowed the game down and made it a little more playable. I'm interested to see how it plays having 2 people on the same team playing 2 on the other. I plan to have some frines over to try that out this weekend. The one issue I did have with the demo was that once you start the game there is no way I could find to see the controls. So, once a player had the ball I did not know which button dives, which one charges, etc. Same on issue Defense, I could not figure out what button jumped for an interception and which one dives for a tackle. I'm planning to try it more over the next few days, but this could be the first Madden game I play for many years.

Let's Tap Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:56:00 +0000

I decided after seeing the trailer for Let's Tap to give it a try. I like the idea of playing a game just by tapping since I tend to tap on my desk all the time. I might as well trying it in game format. I got the game from GameFly yesterday and I sent it back this morning. It was at my house less than 24 hours. I tried 3 separate times play it and I just cannot. No matter how lightly I tap it keeps registering a "Hard" tap which makes many of the games unplayable. I tried every box I could find in my house; shoe box, kleenex box, cereal box, and even a diaper box. All of them I had the same issue. The game has a setting for the tap strength which I adjusted as far as the slider goes but it did not help enough to make a difference. The game has 5 different mini games and I can't beat the first level of any of them. Gaming is suppose to be fun and fighting with the core controls of the game is not. So, after a third try today I gave up and sent it back to GameFly. It is a shame too because it looked like some of the mini games, especially the rhythm game, could be really fun.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Boss Fight Hints, Tips, and Strategies

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:23:00 +0000

After having a lot of trouble with the final boss fight in X-Men Origins: Wolverine I found that a lot of people are having trouble with the majority of the boss fights. So, I've compiled a list of hints, tips, and strategies for facing the various boss and heavy units.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Boss Fight Hints, Tips, and Strategies

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Xbox 360) Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:34:00 +0000

I finally got around to playing X-Men Origins: Wolverine after really enjoying the demo. I started off thoroughly enjoying the game. However, by the end fight I pretty much hate it. Probably that is my frustration with the final boss fight coming through so I'll start with the good stuff.

This might be the first X-Men game I've played where I actually felt like Wolverine was not toned down to useless. The game is brutal. You can complete shred people to pieces. The story follows the same plot as the movie for the most part, but with a lot of back story added. I enjoyed the game's plot and setting variety. Graphically it looks good and the watching Wolverine heal from the inside out never got old. The game is actually much longer than I expected for a movie based game. I was about half way through when I thought it was about over. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a lot more to play.

The game alternates between button mashing and pattern recognition fights with few puzzle/platform elements thrown in. For most of the generic people attacking you can pretty much button mash or find a couple combos you like and just repeat them over and over to kill enemies. For the bosses you just need to dodge for a few minutes until you figure out their attack pattern and then exploit the weakness in it. Between these two main parts of the game there are a few puzzle and jumping platforms that I found really annoying. The button mashing and boss fights are fun because you're making Wolverine tear guys apart, but the puzzle/platforming completely break the flow of the game. You have to stop fighting and time jumps correctly. Then, if you don't you have to start that puzzle whole section over again.

Up until the final boss fight I was enjoying the game for the most part. There were a few moments that were annoying. Like the sequence in the spillway where you have to outrun a wave but you camera does not show you where you are going. Then I got to Deadpool. It took me a few minutes to finally figure out his attack pattern and start to exploit it with block combos and special attacks. After you lower his health all the way down the first time he teleports to the top of the nuclear power plant and start the fight all over again. However, you can keep the the same pattern and take Deadpool's health down pretty quick. After taking the health down the second time Deadpool teleports away and starts to shoot sections of the wall out from under your feet. Most of the time you can jump out of the way and land one section over. However, if you lunge at him during that part it knocks you off the edge and you have to start the fight over. Also, after the first couple laser shots enough pieces of the wall are missing that you have to jump over holes to get to Deadpool. Of you don't then he just keeps shooting you until you die. But, if you do try to jump he shoots the ground out from under you as you land and you fall to your death. After over a dozen tries at fighting Deadpool I gave up, put the game back in the envelope and sent it back to GameFly. It is not fun enough to keep trying.

After sending it back to GameFly earlier today I was talking with some friends who already played it and found out most of them never finished the game either. Some of them did not get through earlier boss fights. If you like Wolverine or nuttom-mashing stule games this one is pretty good. Just plan on either playing on Easy or not finishing.

Peggle World of Warcraft Edition Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Being a Peggle addict that I am when I saw the announcement today that PopCap was releasing a WoW themed Peggle that has 10 levels for free today I decided to waste my lunch break playing it. I'm not a WoW player but new, free Peggle levels is something I just had to try.

I played through all ten levels and they were pretty fun. A lot of the levels have movement on them making them a bit more difficult but really the levels are pretty easy. I think there were only 2 I had to play through more than once. I'll go back later and see if I can clear the levels completely but for now I got my Peggle fix that had a interesting twist on their normal theme. It starts like the adventure mode of Peggle so you don't get to choose your Master (or which special you want) but the levels are easy enough it does not matter.

If you have been interested in trying Peggle out but did not want to spend any money the Peggle WoW Edition is a great place to start because it is free and the levels give you a taste of what the full game offers. Just keep in mind that Peggle and Peggle Nights are not normally WoW themed like this.

You can get Peggle WoW Editon here

Guitar Hero Metallica Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:12:00 +0000

Despite the fact I tend not to like Guitar Hero games as much as Rock Band I decided to check out Guitar Hero Metallica anyway. I'm not a huge Metallica fan but they have more songs I like than Aerosmith. Plus, a couple friends of mine kept telling me how much fun it was. So, I decided to give it a try. While I did like playing some of the songs I just find the really hard solos annoying and then overall difficulty curve for the campaign seemed way off. I started off on Expert Guitar getting 5 stars and working my way through the song list. about 1/2 way through through I hit a wall. The difficulty seemed to jump from manageable on Expert getting 4 stars to where I had to drop down to Hard and was getting 3 stars. It was not like I was slowly getting worse scores either. Just one song was the cut off and it went from songs that I could play on Expect to so hard I was failing before 20% of the song. This reall turned me off. I went ahead and finished the campaign on Hard doing just the required songs, but then I sent it back to GameFly. There were some little improvements to the user interface but nothing major that I noticed from Guitar Hero World Tour. I have no plans to play Smash Hits.

I actually may not play any more Guitar Hero games not that I've got Frets on Fire X working on my PC. It has pretty much every good song from the past Guitar Hero games available to play but I can set it to use Rock Band 2's theme and scoring. Sure, I'll have to wait a few weeks or even months to play the newest songs from Guitar Hero 5 but I'm ok with that. The Guitar Hero experience is just not for me and there is no point in forcing myself to try and enjoy it when I don't.

Red Faction Guerrilla Hints,Tips, and Strategies

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:11:00 +0000

I've notice a lot of new players joining the Red Faction Guerrilla matches over the last few days and getting frustrated trying to get a hang of all the maps, weapons, and backpacks. So, I've put together some hints and tips for new players that I've picked up over the last few weeks.

You can check them out here:

Red Faction Guerrilla Multiplayer Tips and Hints

Trying Some New Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:18:00 +0000

I've been playing and absolutely loving Red Faction: Guerrilla this week. I also started playing some Guitar Hero: Metallica but I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the guitar career. Hopefully you'll be seeing a review (or rant) about it next week.

Today though I was checking out Droplitz and Scallywags. Droplitz was pretty fun but not as addicting as some other puzzle games on Xbox Live Arcade. Scallywags not that good. I've got longer reviews of both on XBLA Ratings.

Also, I see there is an add-on pack for Yosumin Live for $1 on Xbox Live Arcade that I want to check out ... just as soon as I sit down and buy Yosumin Live. I loved the demo but just never went back to buy it. Maybe tomorrow or this weekend I'll get a chance for that.

My First Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:40:00 +0000

That title might be a bit misleading. I'm not starting my own podcast. I was on a podcast for the first time this last week. It was the AGErocks.com Podcast. We discussed video games and the events going on at AGErocks.com. You can go here to download and listen to the mp3 (59.2 MB).

Or I've embed it below.

Top 5 Xbox 360 Games of the Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:48:00 +0000

With summer upon us I thought it would be a good time to take a look at 5 of the best games that just came out or are coming out this summer. I'll give you a hint. I just reviewed one of them. To see all five you can check out the article here:

Top 5 Summer 2009 Xbox 360 Games

Red Faction Guerrilla Review

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:11:00 +0000

It has been a while since I've come across a game that I truly enjoy as much as Red Faction Guerrilla. When they released the single player and multiplayer demos on Xbox Live I had a good time with them but normally a demo just gives you a feel for the best part of a game. When you actually play the full release there end up being little annoyances that you do not find in the demo because it is so short. However, with Red Faction Guerrilla that has not been the case for me. I'm not saying the same is perfect or anything but that I've yet to find any major things that bother me about it. The destructible environments are not just a gimmick, but a core part of the game that fit well with the story and the setting. Every structure, building, and bridge in the game can be destroyed. Some easily with just a few swings of your sledgehammer and others only with large amounts of explosives. The destructible environment is what makes the game so fun. Deciding if you want to just run in and hit a few key pillars, drive a truck through, or use some rockets to level a building never gets old.

Starting off with the single player I really love that the game opens up the world of Mars and lets you choose how you want to play. There are some missions that are required to advance the main story line but you can do those whenever you want. In addition to the main missions there are dozens of different side missions you can complete for moral and money. These side missions can also be completed at any time and vary from escort and driving missions to defending and area or destroying a certain amount of property. Later in the game these side missions would be tedious if you had to do them all, but you don't. You can play the ones that are fun to you and ignore all the rest. For me, that means playing all the missions where I blow stuff up and skipping all the escort and driving bits. The main story missions are also really fun to play. They vary quite a bit in length and structure, but it seemed to me that the later in the game you are the more fun the main story missions were. Once you complete the main story arc of the game it does not just end. You are back on mars with all of the side missions available for you to complete if you want. The overall world is quite large and there are tons of hidden things to find. Some which will get you achievements, like radio tags, and others that are just funny, like NASA's Mars Rover. Overall, I really enjoyed the story of the game as well as the openness of how the world is laid out.

The multiplayer is a little different than the campaign because there are no vehicles but there are a lot of different packs you can use. Effectively combining the packs with a complimentary weapon and then getting a team of friends who are doing the same is great fun. The different packs really lend well to good team working winning matches. For example, one person on your team might grab a sniper and a jet pack and head up high to provide covering fire while someone with a fleetfoot pack goes in full speed to try and capture the enemies flag. The game has the normal deathmatch and capture the flag modes which are fun, but the modes specific to destroying stuff are some of the most fun I've had in multiplayer in years. Siege mode is possibly my favorite game mode. In it one team defends a building or set of buildings while the other attacking team tries to knock them down. Then, after a set amount of time the teams switch. It requires good teamwork and communication to win as Siege because you need to figure out where enemies are attacking from. If anyone already repairing a building or should you stop trying to kill enemies and repair it. Or, does one of the buildings have a structural weakness you can exploit. There are a ton of maps to play through and even more customization options that keep things fresh and interesting even if you play the same map all night long.

In addition to the single player and multiplayer there is also a pass the controller verse mode called Wrecking Crew. In Wrecking Crew you play against up to three friends and try to destroy a level with a set amount of time or ammo. Then, the level resets and your friends try to beat your score. It really is a fun mode that I think gamers might overlook because you have to play it locally and not over Xbox Live. However, it is well worth having a couple friends over to play because the face paced destruction focused game play is fun over and over again.

As you can tell by now I love Red Faction Guerrilla and I would highly recommend people try the demos if they are even remotely interested in it. Once you see the real physics based destruction you will be hooked.

Boom Blox Bash Party Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:42:00 +0000

Not long after I got my Wii I picked up Boom Blox and really had a pretty good time playing it with my wife. So, when Boom Blox Bash Party released I decided to grab it to add to the small set of games that I can get my wife to play. Bash Party has a lot of the same game modes that the original has, but they also added a bunch of new modes including slingshots, paint balls, cannons, and virus balls. The game mechanics are pretty much the same with a lot of throwing balls block towers, blowing up bombs to get the most points, and variations of Jenga towers to take apart carefully.

The new modes are fun for the most part and seem like a natural extension of Boom Blox. The mode with the pant balls was probably the most different because it was much more puzzle and strategy heavy than the other modes are. The ability to create your won levels is still there as well as the co-op and verses play, which my wife and I have been enjoying. Bash Party has less levels than I remember from the original, but they have added a quick button to each game mode section to download more user created levels. I really like this option because for the game modes that I like I can quickly go out and grab more of them from the Most Downloaded and Highest Rated lists they provide.

If you enjoyed Boom Blox you will like Bash Party as well since it is more of the same with some improvements. If you have not tried Boom Blox yet I'd recommend going strait for Bash Party since it has all the original game modes and the new ones plus the option to download more levels for free.

1 vs 100 Beta Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:25:00 +0000

I was planning on playing Red Faction: Guerrilla all weekend and while I did play it some I got side tracked playing the 1 vs 100 Beta on the Xbox 360 Primetime Channel a lot. I play first during the 2 hour play on Friday night by myself. Well, my wife was sitting there with me but she was not as much help as I had hoped (don't tell her I said that). I really had a lot of fun trying to get into the Mob or to be the One. I spent the whole night in the Crowd but it still was really fun to try and get a high score and keep a streak of correct answers going. The pace of the game was ok, but it could be a little bit faster. Still, with almost 100,000 people playing at the same time over Xbox Live in the beta it ran remarkable smooth.

After that I joined an Xbox Live party with a couple friends and played in the E3 Questions Extended Play. In the Extended Play there is no One or Crowd. Everyone is in the Mob trying to get high scores. The Extended Play was a lot of fun trying to keep my score higher than my friends. Also, it is much faster paced since there is no One to wait on. In 30 minutes of Extended Play there were 37 questions that got progressively harder. I also liked that if you get a streak going in Extended Play you can earn the ability to skip a question you don't know to keep your streak going. I also played in the General Questions Extended Play Sunday afternoon with a party of 6 to 8 friends over Live. It was a blast playing with a group of friends who where helping each other but also trying to throw in a few false answers to mess up each other.

I'm not sure that I'll be playing this every time it is on or anything but when the full game launches I'm sure I will play it at least occasionally with some friends. The lure of prizes is to strong and the game is too fun. The only thing keeping me from playing it regularly will be when they have the shows scheduled. Since you only win prizes in Live shows it will depend on my schedule if I can play frequently or not.

Overlord II Demo Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:26:00 +0000

A demo for Overlord II went up on Xbox Live this morning. It has been almost 2 years since Overlord released and it still ranks up there as one of the funniest games I've played. The demo seems to be the first level of the game. Because of this you are not very strong yet and you only have brown minions. But, it is still really funny and dark. I had a blast running my minions around beating down people and furry little animals. They have added mounts for the minions to ride which are really fun because they let them move around quicker and jump across gaps. They brown minions get wolves to ride. The graphics look better than in the first game. There was just the one level in the demo so I don't know about the full game but that level looked really nice. The first Overlord you were "evil" but ended up helping people. It seems like this time around they are going to let you be really evil. No accidentally helping people in the demo. Just a lot of slaughtering. The controls are pretty similar to the first Overlord so I had to get use to them again, but by the end I was running my minions all over like a pro. I would really recommend people check out the Overlord II demo because it is really dark and humorous.

Download the Demo to your Xbox 360 download queue here.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:44:00 +0000

I watched Underworld: Rise of the Lycans the other night and I was really disappointed. I like the first Underworld because of the cool gun fights, but since Underworld 3 is set in as time period before guns they only have swords and crossbows. The crossbows did hold 3 bolts at a time but really it is not the same. The sword fights were mostly just a couple people hacking Lycans apart, but there were a couple decent sword fights. Really thought it is just not that great of a movie. The story was not that good and there was not enough good action scenes to make up for it. I would not recommend even renting it. Just watch the first Underworld again. It is a much better movie.

Project Natal Thoughts & Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:09:00 +0000

The more I see about Project Natal the more I'm excited to see some of the great developers who make Xbox 360 games get their hands on it and make some games.

If you're not familiar with Project Natal there is a recap here and below are some trailers.

Mass Effect: Revelation Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:26:00 +0000

I finally got around to reading Mass Effect: Revelation last week. With all the potential Mass Effect 2 news coming this week with E3 I decided I should be ready. The book is a prequel to the game and I'm actually glad I read it after completing Mass Effect. There are not any huge spoilers in the book but there is a lot of foreshadowing that would have made the big reveals in the game less fun for me. Overall, I enjoyed the book but it could have used a little more action in it. Still, it has me pumped for reading Mass Effect: Ascension and playing Mass Effect 2.