Having had a small clearout of games earlier today, I’ve picked out a few games in my collection that I want to concentrate on for a while. Knowing me, I’ll change my mind within the week but you never know, writing it here is good motivation It’s in no way because the games are bad (they’re all pretty good really!), it’s just that my attention span is pretty poor at the best of times. Anyway, on with the list!

Call of Duty 2
I’ve recently got this back after lending it to a friend for a while. It’s one of my favourite 360 games and also one of the first I bought for the system. I started playing it on Veteran back in 2007 and never really progressed very far. It was part down to lack of patience, and mostly down to my crap attention span. However I fancy going back to it so I’m determined I will now. My Dad used to love watching me play it so it makes sense to finally do it on Veteran!

Condemned
I’m roughly halfway through this now so I’d like to get it done. It’s a good game that holds up well despite its age (both it and CoD2 were launch titles at the end of 2006) that deserves my time, especially as I’ve owned it for about 2 years now!

Dead Space
I’ve only owned this a couple of days thanks to trading a few games in. Initial impressions were very good. The graphics are very impressive, the HUD is an interesting concept and I love the audio logs. However now I’ve reached the fourth chapter I’m starting to realise its flaws. It all seems a little repetitive without really mixing anything up. It’s also only made me jump once which is surprising!

Fallout 3
I want to finish off the last of the achievements before Broken Steel. There’s not much left to do but I feel a bit burned out after obsessively playing it the last couple of weeks, so I’m leaving it a little while first. I have points waiting for Broken Steel’s release.

Grand Theft Auto IV
Yes I’m rather behind! Some very good friends of mine got me this at launch last year but my life was a total mess at the time and despite playing it a fair bit back then, it somehow got left behind a little, and I’d really like to return to it now. Plus I might get The Lost and The Damned once I’ve completed the main game.

Tomb Raider Underworld
I recently won a DLC code for Beneath the Ashes thanks to NowGamer, primarily the Twitter feed of one of its journalists. So this seems a perfect excuse to go back to Tomb Raider and try out the DLC and go back to the main story.

So yes, I have plenty to get on with! And that’s even before I mention the rental copy of Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars on the Wii, GTA:Chinatown on the DS and my forthcoming copy of Resident Evil 5 that I’m reviewing next!

However finally today I thought I’d give it a go. Initial reactions? Jack Bauer’s in the Second World War! Poor Kiefer Sutherland, I know he did The Lost Boys etc but he’s always going to be Jack to me. Although I’m sure the countless fortunes he’s made from 24 must make him feel much better about things, there must be a niggling thought in the back of his head thinking ‘Nooooo I’m more than just Jack damnit!’. According to IMDB, he has spent 15 hours a day, six days a week, for the last five years on the set of “24″ in which case I hope he gets paid bloody well as surely that would get tedious after a while!
Anyhow, excluding the Jack Bauer in the Second World War thing, the early stages of CoD:WaW weren’t overally amazing for me. It didn’t really grab me, it just threw lots of Japanese soldiers at me to shoot and a few Banzai attacks for good measures too. I can see how this would be horrendous on Veteran though!
However, just before turning it off to go get some dinner, I started the Stalingrad level which is just plain nasty at the start, watching ‘your’ fellow countrymen get shot by some nasty bloke, while lying dying anyway. I liked the way the story was going, it felt more personal than usual and less gung ho than the previous level. I had to sneakily shoot some German soldiers, as they’d helped kill my countrymen, all very vengeful stuff that kept me quite hooked on the story, I was forgetting to go make dinner. And then a damn dog came jumping over a wall and killed me in two bites…..I need food!

Game of the Year and Single player gaming experience of the year:Fable 2
I have to admit this first of all. I never played the first Fable much. I bought it at launch and played it a bit but in the end, it just got left by the wayside in favour of so many other games. But when I started hearing bits and pieces about its sequel, I realised I had to have it. In fact, I needed it so much that it was a huge deciding factor in my decision to buy a 360.

Eventually, a mere two years after buying the console, I had the chance to play Fable 2. Was I disappointed? Hell no! Sure it was far from perfect and it was missing a few promised features, such as the much mooted ‘Plant an acorn as a child, come back as an adult to see a fully grown tree’ feature but for me, it was an amazing experience with my only real complaint being that it ended a little too soon for my liking. The game starts out very slow (don’t all RPGs?), but the start still shows off the impressive graphics and made me stop and stare for a few moments. Sure they don’t look photo realistic (and the character models are a bit lacking), but the cinematography is great if you ask me. It makes the opening city, Bowerstone, seem huge when actually it isn’t really.

There are a few simple quests set up to give you a taste of the moral quandaries you’ll be facing in the future once you’ve reached adulthood. Some nice comedic moments abound such as an arrest warrant stating: ‘assault with a weapon we can’t believe could possibly be deadly but unfortunately was’. The sort of thing that makes you smile at the thought put into the writing. The narrator of the game is voiced by Zoe Wannamaker which is nice casting, I’ve also noticed a cameo by James Corden (of Gavin and Stacey fame) and I’m sure I recognise other voices from somewhere too. After childhood has passed, the game opens up much more. It doesn’t open up to the levels of Oblivion but to the sort of level I’m most happy with. This might sound strange but I don’t strictly want an entirely open ended and non linear game, I like the interactive fiction part of games, having a story unfold around me.

It gave me a certain amount of freedom without feeling overwhelming, with often funny consequences (try walking into a city naked, yet another nice touch), but not so much that it detracts from a good narrative structure. In Fable 2 you can do various jobs, buy property and rent it out (and earn money while not actually playing), get married etc. All a bit Sims like, and it is in places, certainly when it comes to keeping your husband or wife happy, but it’s nice to have the option. The game feels full of options even if they’re not quite as open ended as they appear to be. The jobs, such as bartending, blacksmithing and woodcutting, are all a little samey (basic press the button at the right time games) but they’re still strangely addictive. Of course as I said earlier, Fable 2 isn’t perfect. Many people reported game ending bugs and glitches, but somehow I was lucky. Despite playing through it twice from start to finish, not once did I have a problem.

The only downside I could really find in it is it’s just not very challenging, instead it feels like it’s aimed at those who want to simply enjoy the experience rather than those wanting a challenge on their hand. In summary I really can’t recommend Fable 2 enough. It may not be the longest game in the world but it truly is one of the most memorable gaming experiences I’ve had in years, certainly compared to anything else on the Xbox 360. The game is now available for under £20 and with new DLC coming soon, there really is no excuse to not give this game a shot. I hope you will be as pleasantly surprised as I was. I’m really glad it lived up to my expectations as far too many games don’t, most notably Mass Effect last year.

Multiplayer game of the year: Gears of War 2 Horde mode
This is a tricky one for me to award as, at time of writing, I haven’t yet played Call of Duty: World at War online and I’ve only played the single player segments of Left 4 Dead, both games that I suspect rightfully deserve this title. However Gears of War 2 Horde mode is brilliant fun and certainly the most fun I’ve had in multiplayer since Call of Duty 4. It is such a simple concept, 5 players versus an array of enemies in one small enclosed area. Of course this is a concept that Left 4 Dead improves upon hugely but as I’ve not played it with friends yet, it’d be wrong to vote for it.

Original IP of the year:Mirror’s Edge
Such an unique premise for a game and from EA of all places! I didn’t really pay much attention to this until friends started playing it and raving about it. I still wasn’t too sure but rented it from work as I figured, I might as well while it was free. I only had it for a night but instantly loved it. Much like Left 4 Dead and Gears 2 Horde, it was a simple concept that I couldn’t help but marvel that no one had thought of it before, but it worked so well. Then of course, I was extremely fortunate that Nokkonwud got me it for Christmas so now I can play it to my heart’s delight! If you’ve not played it and you love the concept of freerunning, you need to get this.

Story of the Year:Lost Odyssey
The only game to make me cry this year. The Thousand Years of Dreams segments were always touching and really evoked such emotions that I’m sure non game players would be astonished by.

Biggest Letdown of the Year:Spiderman: Web of Shadows
I haven’t really been let down by a game this year so it was a bit tricky to decide. It was between Sonic Chronicles and Spiderman: Web of Shadows. When I was sent Sonic Chronicles to review, I was really looking forward to trying it as I figured Bioware + Sonic must equal excellent. It was just too kiddy and basic, seems like a terrible waste of a game. However Spiderman was such a waste. The first half of the game was brilliant fun and Treyarch completely blew it for the second half I didn’t actually have high expectations of this till I played the first half and if the whole game had been like it, it would have been in my top 10 games of the year. Instead, it became merely average and deeply flawed. I’ve still yet to complete it.

Surprise of the Year:Fifa 09/Quantum of Solace
Joint winners here as I couldn’t decide between the two. Fifa 09 might seem an odd choice to some but I haven’t played a football game in a couple of years. The last ones were Pro Evo 6 and Fifa 07 and Pro Evo ruled entirely but was a little limited in options. I didn’t really pay attention to the 08 varieties. So when I heard such good reviews about Fifa 09, I risked it as Tesco had it quite cheap. Really glad I did. It is great fun and feels like the full package to me. I especially love the Be a Pro mode, something I’ve wanted for years in a football game! Really glad I bought it.
Quantum of Solace was the first Bond game since Goldeneye that was actually good fun to play, so it deserves to win something. It’s unfortunate that it arrived in between so many huge games such as Gears 2, CoD:WaW and Fallout 3 because it really did deserve more attention. At only around £20 if you look around, it really is worth a go.

Game or gaming innovation you’re most excited about for 2009: Apple iPhone
This might seem an odd one too, but have you seen some of the games on offer? Sim City, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid Touch, Guitar Hero Rock Tour along with many attractive independent releases such as Rolando and Doctor Awesome. Mark my words, 2009 could be a big one for the iPhone. I’ll write more at a later date as I’m currently writing up an article on this for play.tm

Stay tuned for the Personal Review of the Year!

Two new reviews are up in the review section. Lord of The Rings Online: Mines of Moria and Scene It? Box Office Smash. Enjoy. I’ve got Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe coming soon to review, otherwise not sure what after that but I’m sure I’ll be busy again soon enough!

As you can see from my gamercard, I’ve finally hit 70k! Might even manage 71k by the end of the year, but I doubt it. Certainly pretty close though. This time next year 100k? Certainly achieveable. On a gaming note, I still can’t decide with Fallout 3. I’ve played it a lot more and I am wanting to play it but I’m not craving it. It still just feels alright to me. I love the VATS system but some other parts of combat feel irritating to me and clunky. I guess I’m just the exception, as I don’t know anyone else who hasn’t been impressed by it. I was the same with Oblivion, so maybe it’s just that I don’t get on with the game engine. Who knows! Still, I’ll press on and get it completed. The story’s not bad, it’s just not provoked much emotion from me, certainly not compared to the likes of Lost Odyssey. I’d probably give Fallout 3 7/10 which funnily enough is the same score that Edge gave it so at least I’m not entirely alone!

I’m saving my main gaming rambles for the end of the year round up so onto the personal stuff. My elbow is much improved, it’s still a bit lumpy and sore at times but well on the road to recovery. I’ve got an appointment about it on Wednesday but I’m hoping I can cancel it. In not so good news, the puppy (named Charlie in the end) didn’t work out Despite being great with people, he went ballistic at the cat and attacked him, so we just couldn’t keep him. Luckily for ‘Charlie’ he now has a good home with an RSPCA Inspector’s family so I’m sure the two kids there are keeping him very entertained!

Despite the build up to Christmas being incredibly difficult, the actual day went pretty well. The first roast dinner me and my Mum have ever made without my Dad (so 24 years worth) went well and was very nice and we managed to eat it too. My Mum loved the presents I got her (2 of which were PS2 games, I’ve created a monster!) and I was very fortunate for presents too. I received Prince of Persia and PGR4 from her, as well as a few books, a Frankie Boyle DVD, Mock the Week DVD, the new X-Files movie DVD, Family Guy Season 7 and some new trainers (which I desperately needed as the sole’s worn down on my old pair!). As well as that, my good friend Nokkonwud bought me Mirror’s Edge which was a brilliant surprise Really enjoyable game too, certainly unique both in terms of graphics and control system. Not going to be the longest game in the world but with enough replay value to it thanks to the time trial system and achievements. Thanks again Nokkon, really very kind of you

I’ve also been given some money to spend, as well as have plans to sell some old games so expect me to have even more games sooner or later! Probably Left 4 Dead at least, and possibly CoD5.

And finally……I’ve upgraded to WordPress 2.7 (doubt anyone can tell the difference! Think it was all behind the scenes) and I’ve also applied Lightbox to some of the pictures. As an example, click on the Quantum of Solace Faceplate below and see what I mean. I’ll be using that more in the future so I can have thumbnails leading to the full image without you having to click away. Clever eh?

I’m definitely enjoying it but it’s not a game I could play for an entire day, instead it’s a game I’ve played in parts, just enough to enjoy fully. I can see why it hasn’t had brilliant reviews though, it doesn’t really add anything to the genre so 60-70% seems quite reasonable. It seems to do a lot by the book. Oh and the multiplayer is shocking! But I’m not fussed about multiplayer at all so no big deal there.

First Impressions of Too Human

I’ve only played this for 30mins but I’m very surprised. After so many unsure reviews, I resisted buying it for a while. But thanks to some birthday money and it being £20 in HMV, I picked it up. Like I said previously, I’ve not played it much yet (was just a brief play before going to watch the England game) but first impressions were great. Again, it might not be anything unique but the presentation was fantastic and I got used to the control system much faster than I expected. I was worried about using the right stick for combat instead of the camera, but it does work surprisingly well, at least so far. It’s a game I’m looking forward to going back to later on today.

Boosted a couple of games partly for my benefit but mostly at the request of friends. First up was Yaris, a truly awful game, even if it is free. But a friend wanted to get 10 points from it so he hit 25k on the dot, after doing that multiplayer game, I played for 5mins and got another 10 points. Evil game though, so embarrassingly bad.
As well as that, I boosted for the online achievements for Football Manager 2007 with Nokkon and gained 36 points. Suppose I’d better do the single player achievements…meh :p

I’m renting Two Worlds and Cabela’s Alaskan Adventures at the moment, both of which are pretty dire. I’m only on 40/1000 for Cabela’s but that’s getting sent back tomorrow I think, it’s crap.
Two Worlds: I’ll try to keep going with, but it’s not really very appealing. It’s still very buggy even after being patched.

So we come to my two current favourites of the week. Civilization Revolution (again) and Viking. 105 points from Civ and I’m still enjoying it loads, the harder achievements are to come but I’m a big fan of the series so hopefully it won’t take long.
Viking I bought today (with the £20 as previously mentioned), only 82pts so far from an hour or two this afternoon, but I really like it. It’s pretty simple so far, a basic RPG mixed with hack n slash but it’s good fun. Shouldn’t be too hard for points either. Nice, mindless distraction.

I also bought The Bourne Supremacy on DVD for £1.99 and ordered The Bourne Identity for £2.50, yeah I thought I’d give it another chance. Hopefully I won’t be disappointed, or else I’m coming after you Nokkon :p

Finally, I’m working on another piece for play.tm: a preview of the new World of Warcraft expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King. So far, it’s looking very promising! Really pleased to be doing it too, gives me an excuse to go back to it. Although currently I’m only playing as a Death Knight, not anything else.

As well as this, I’ve started writing for a forum set up by some old 360 friends of mine at http://www.360-hero.com/forums/ and I’ve just received a promo copy of WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2008 which will be reviewed by the end of the week too.

So not bad going at all

For other gaming news, I completed Eternal Sonata and absolutely loved it, I recommend it to anyone who likes RPGs just a teensy bit. I very briefly had The Orange Box then traded it in for Call of Duty 4 which is much better if you ask me. I should also have Mass Effect at the end of the week but I’m away for the weekend so I probably won’t get a chance to play it till Sunday night at the earliest.

I’ve also played a few rental games and arcade games. Got Carcassonne and Hexic 2 free courtesy of XBL being 5 years old which was nice. So all in all 1530 points since last month, not amazing but not bad considering I’ve been pretty busy.

Onwards and upwards! Still aiming to get to 40k by the New Year but I do want to get on with reviews so I’d never leave that slide. Assume the next entry will be a while

Been a productive few weeks though and the number of games I own have certainly increased!

In that time I’ve played 12 new games and I’m currently waiting for Eternal Sonata to arrive too.

In case you hadn’t guessed, it was my birthday over this period (last Tuesday to be exact) and many relatives sent me money which meant by the end of it all, I had £115 to spend! So I went games shopping on Sunday and returned with 3 new games to include alongside the 2 games my parents had bought me and a few arcade games I’ve picked up along the way. Also picked up Ghostbusters 1 and 2 on DVD which is awesome.

So games, games, games.
In no particular order:

Stranglehold – I played the demo of this Saturday night and instantly loved the simplicity behind it. So Sunday i picked up the collector’s edition (mainly because I like the tinned versions as I already own the Bioshock tin and Dead Rising tin). Funnily enough, now I’ve not quite settled into it. It’s fun, just maybe not as amazing as I thought it would be. Probably something I’ll play through once then trade in.
Either way, I’m up 25 points thanks to it, so far.

The Darkness – I didn’t know too much about this game but NokkonWud recommended this to me (when I say recommended, I mean he said ‘you must buy this or else’ ) and he’s usually right so I picked it up for £20. So far, it’s good. It’s keeping me interested but I can’t quite put my finger on why. I definitely like how it’s giving me achievement points gradually, it’s keeping my achievement whoreness keen. The story’s interesting and the graphics are sublime.
Currently I’m up to 150 points on it, just got to Chapter 2.

Flatout: Ultimate Carnage – I fancied another somewhat mindless game so got this alongside The Darkness in a 2 for £40 deal. I haven’t touched it much but figure it’ll be nice when I just want a quick 10 minute bash at something. I mainly went for it after playing it with DaveyPitch a couple of months ago. It was good fun, and I need some 2 player games in my collection I think.
Only got 10 points on this so far, like I said, I’m keeping it really for later on.

Condemned – Birthday present for me I played this while visiting friends in Liverpool. We all sat round the TV as I played through it, scaring the crap out of me as well as them. I wouldn’t have the nerve to play it on my own But it looked great, had tremendous atmosphere to it and was really impressive for a launch title.
Again I’ve not played it hugely but in this case I’m saving it for when I can devote a few days to it (probably a weekend) and simply play my way through it with no break. I’ve played the start of it and it’s instantly hooked me.
10 points here.

Blue Dragon – My other birthday present, Blue Dragon. I love RPGs, I’m a total nut for them so this was an obvious one for me. It’s a bit slow starting so far but I’m hoping it picks up soon. Again, one that requires a fair amount of time devoting to it, hence the paltry 10 points so far.

Besides these, I’ve also finally played Gun and it’s excellent! Really been enjoying it and surprised it hasn’t had better reviews. That was a nice 650 points so far, with more to do yet.

I also rented CSI – Hard Evidence which was exactly what I expected, a fairly average point and click game with incredibly simple achievements, so that was an easy 1k! It was good fun though, even if it did only last me a day.

Finally, I’ve acquired 5 new arcade games. 3 were free and the other two were just tempting me too much.
For free, I gained Robotron, Joust and Yaris. As soon as I played them all, I knew why they were free. Oh dear.

I then purchased Tetris Splash which was fun but probably not worth 800pts in hindsight but oh well. And finally the best arcade game I’ve ever played (with Puzzle Fighter and Zuma coming up strong behind it): Puzzle Quest. Such an amazingly addictive game and so much fun! It might have cost 1200 pts but it was worth every penny. Go download the trial NOW!

So 2020 points, not bad going.
I feel like right now is a great time to own a 360, I’ve got so many games to play and I’ve still got November to follow with Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4 and Guitar Hero 3 amongst others. Plus there’s still plenty from the October line up I wouldn’t mind owning.
If I feel that happy about the 360 line up, imagine how happy the Halo fans must feel!