I’ve been distinctly lacking in inspiration lately. Various things have come up in my personal life that’s made things a bit difficult of late, meaning that I guess my brain just hasn’t really bothered with thinking creatively. So for now, and to show you readers that I do still exist, you can have a fairly predictable games update to see what I’ve been playing lately!

I went on a bit of a points spending spree not long ago, acquiring Peggle, both Fable 2 DLCs, the newest Tomb Raider Underworld DLC: Lara’s Shadow and the Fallout 3 DLC: Broken Steel.

Peggle is horribly addictive just as people warned me. It’s the kind of game that I play for five minutes and then an hour has passed without me even blinking. However, now that I just have the challenges to complete, it is annoyingly tough too! I wouldn’t be surprised if I purchase it on the App Store for my iPhone too despite it being the exact same game.

I’ve purchased Broken Steel for Fallout 3 but I haven’t played it yet. I’m saving it for when I’ve got plenty of time to get absorbed into it. However I did have a brief go of Knothole Island for Fable 2 earlier and it didn’t go as planned. I felt no urge to really play it and ended up playing something else as it just wasn’t interesting me. I found it quite shocking. At launch, I adored Fable 2. It was hugely flawed but I still loved it, more so than Fallout 3 in fact. But this just felt wrong. Maybe it was the extended break, or maybe it was Knothole Island being a bit rubbish. I’m not sure. I will go back to it and figure it out though, hopefully things will improve. I don’t want my fond memories being tarnished by this dull return trip.

I’ve not played Lara’s Shadow for Tomb Raider Underworld yet, been busy completing the game. Underworld was good fun, it was very predictable and essentially the same gameplay that the original Tomb Raider introduced but that’s no bad thing for me. I enjoyed it enough that I think I’ll return to Tomb Raider Legend sometime and possibly pick up Tomb Raider Anniversary too. Underworld has also been quite generous with the achievement points, meaning I’ve nearly reached 81k despite not really playing the game for the points. In fact I’ve lost my achievement whoring urge at the moment. I had both Paintball 2009 and Disney’s Bolt to play for that and I just couldn’t be bothered. Paintball 2009 just wasn’t my kind of thing and I didn’t want to waste my time, and Disney’s Bolt was initially ok but quickly became very dull. I’m sure my achievement whoring days aren’t over forever, but for now there’s just too many good games to play, to bother with average ones.

Unfortunately there are still times where I’m forced to play average games, namely when I’m reviewing them, as is the case with Afro Samurai. The game’s not great. It is stylistically fantastic, however the camera is iffy to say the least and the action is mediocre, your typical hack n slasher. I’ve no doubt that fans of the anime series will like it, however I very much doubt gamers will. Certainly not when there are better games such as Ninja Gaiden 2 or Devil May Cry 4 are available.

On the reviewing front, I’m also busy with Ninja Bee’s Kaloki Adventure for the iPhone which is great fun. The review should be up shortly, along with other iPhone reviews as I haven’t got round to posting them on here yet. I’m also reviewing Grand Ages Rome on the PC, it’s not bad but nor is it particularly special either. Again, expect a review of it over the coming days.

And finally, I’m loving Rock Band 2. I’m so glad I found the Rock Band Band in a Box reduced, it really was worth the initial outlay. It’s just pure and simple good fun. Plus the drums are ideal stress relief! All I can request is I’d love to have more Muse and Killers tracks but I’ll live. Plenty of The Who tracks which is good!

Oh and in case you’ve got to the end of this and you’re still wondering ‘what’s with the pigeon picture?’, I received a new camera today and I’ve been out taking pictures I really liked this one and didn’t know what to use for an image for this entry anyway, so it made sense! If I get a chance, I might set up a gallery or extra category for ‘proper’ photos now that I’m not restricted to my iPhone camera!

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!

So what’s been happening the past week or so? Quite a lot but not necessarily much of interest! I’ve been quietly musing upon my future business venture, I’ve been working, I’ve been writing reviews and occasionally I’ve been playing games purely for fun! Shocking I know.

Work’s ok, nothing exciting at all really. I mostly spend my time labelling stock or alphabetising DVDs, it’ll do for now. Not sure how much good it’s doing me mentally but I don’t fancy going into that on here.

Reviews wise? Well as you can see, I’ve recently had reviews of Fifa 09 and Wrath of the Lich King uploaded for XboxGameZone and play.tm respectively. I’m now working on Dungeon Maker for the DS for play.tm and Spiderman: Web of Shadows for the 360 for XboxGameZone. No rest for the wicked! I’m really enjoying it of late though so that’s good Considering how I can expand this into a paid role somewhere but we’ll see. The quality might not be up to it anyhow!

So in between all that work, what have I been playing? Oooh there’s been lots, and I’ve been very lucky with how many new games I’ve played lately. I have of course been playing a fair bit of WoW but I can’t see anyone that reads this blog really caring about that so I’ll not bother writing on it.

I’ve done some point whoring thanks to a newly activated Lovefilm 3 month trial (again). Currently I have Madden 09 (not played it yet), Summer Athletics and NBA2k9. Despite Summer Athletics being theoretically an easy 1000, due to my inability to be able to hammer buttons quickly or waggle joysticks (in this case, joypads), I can’t see me 1king this. At least not without severe friction burns or dislocated fingers. NBA2k9 is much more my sort of pace, I enjoy Basketball games anyhow and the points are flowing nicely here. Nothing overly special but if you like previous 2k games, this one will suit you just fine.

I’ve also been playing a number of the bigger games of the season. I rented Quantum of Solace from work Sunday night. With the newest releases, I only have them for 2 nights (albeit completely free) so I didn’t get round to completing QoS but got to see enough to judge it. Much like the film of the same name, this game lacks a certain something that makes it any more than average. Maybe it’s down to Treyarch, the developers, who have the uncanny knack of making games that are fine but lack a little bit of soul that makes them stand out. Just look at CoD3, it should have been as good as CoD2 but somehow it didn’t quite hit the spot. QoS is just the same. It is nice how it ties up a few missing bits in between Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace the film though. And admittedly in my case, the same rule applies as with the film. I’ll forgive Daniel Craig anything! The likeness is a bit poor though, but it’s still his voice so I’m happy!

I’ve 1ked Fable 2 now and it was very satisfying. I know everyone else did it within a week of launch but I enjoyed taking my time and I enjoyed the game itself immensely. It is very flawed at times and lacking a lot of the promises that Peter Molyneux made, but I’m content with what is there.

I’ve still not finished Gears of War 2, got near the end of Act 4 while co-oping with my friend Daz but since then one or the other of us have been busy every evening. Hopefully Thursday we’ll manage to meet up again to finish this off. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far, much the same as the original but that’s no bad thing at all. Not played multiplayer yet but I have played Horde with Abooie, DaveyPitch, Daz and Leowyatt which was excellent fun. Hopefully be doing that again soon!

Finally, I now have Fallout 3. The new 360 for the living room arrived yesterday along with the GAME limited edition of Fallout 3.

Nice figure, eh? Second figure I’ve had in 2 weeks, I’d love to collect more…….must resist!

I’ve only played the game for 30 minutes or so yet and for some of that, I was so tired I was falling asleep at the controller. So no real first impressions yet. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll find more time to do so and I’ll post my thoughts.

A long overdue update from me, and as you can see quite a change in looks too!

I spent the first part of last week trying out Joomla and seeing if that would match my needs. It was brilliant as a CMS for showing off my reviews, but I just wasn’t happy with the blog element of it as well as a few other bits and pieces. Essentially, although fun to try out, it was just wrong for this site. Given me some much needed experience in it however.
Anyway, I then spent the second part of last week sorting out this new change as well as the change located at Halycopter Reviews. That part of the site still needs some serious work, I’m not happy with the skin and a few other things just don’t sit right with me.
However, I’m pretty happy with this part of the site, hence the update! Oh and as a side comment: Don’t mind the RSS feed for the Reviews site that shows not very recent reviews, it’s down to how I added them to the new site. Once I’ve added some new reviews, it’ll all balance out

Besides this, it’s been all go for me. I’ve been keeping myself to myself a bit as it’s not been a great week for me emotionally (probably why I stuck at Joomla for so long, nice distraction!) but I have had some good news. I have a job! I’m now working at Blockbuster at weekends, only evening work but hopefully it’ll be good for me as well as my bank balance. Also it means 10 free rentals a week and 20% discount off games and DVDs so not bad at all! I start Thursday.

Gaming wise, it’s been sequel fortnight for me! Meaning Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Mercenaries 2, oh and Force Unleashed.

I still haven’t 1ked Fable 2, been taking my time with it. It won’t take long now though, mostly finished my second playthrough, just need to get the Perfectionist achievement sorted and that’s pretty much it besides a couple of simple achievements I’ve not done yet. Despite everyone else trading it in, I can’t. Been looking forward to it for too long, so I just don’t think I’ll be able to bring myself to sell it.

Gears of War 2:
I went to the Midnight launch at my local Gamestation Thursday night. Sure, I paid over the odds than if I went to a supermarket but it was fun and different. Somehow never been to a midnight launch, so that needed rectifying anyway! I also picked up a Splatterhead model as I couldn’t resist at the time (I should never be allowed to spend money at midnight, all my inhibitions go!).

Don’t mind Sonic in the way :p I’d love to own more gaming figurines, damn lack of money.

Oh and for my final thought: Quantum of Solace = good but not as good as Casino Royale. However I’ll forgive Daniel Craig anything

I do have more good news to post. I got a trial reviewer’s position at www.xboxgamezone.co.uk the position I mentioned last week I’d applied for. Got a game winging its way to me now which I should have by Wednesday to review Whole thing looks really promising at the moment.

Since Thursday, all I’ve played pretty much has been Fable 2. And I’ve played a lot of it. I’ve not completed it yet but that’s because I’ve really been taking my time rather than rushing through. I’ve also aimed to buy as much property as possible. All but 5 of those 450 points since the 22nd are down to Fable 2. It’s nice to play a game that gradually rewards you with achievement points for doing fun, but not outlandish, things. They feel earned yet not in an overly difficult manner

The other 5 points were from Marble Blast Ultra, an arcade game that I have thanks to Zico. He was kindly offering out XBLA game codes and upon Nokkon’s recommendation, I went for it. Played through a fair bit of the Beginners levels, picked up one achievement and loved it. Really fun little game. I’ll be playing a lot more of that soon. The same has to be said of Mercenaries 2 as well. I’m glad I sold so many games, Fable 2 is really sapping my time!

I’ve just sold my regular copy of Fable 2 as well as a few games so all nice and sorted on the financial side of things. So onto my thoughts on Fable 2 then!

Best to point this out first, this won’t be an unbiased look at Fable 2. It could probably punch me in the stomach and I’d still think of a redeeming feature about it, despite the pain. I like it, I really like it. Unlike Mass Effect from last year, it hasn’t disappointed me hugely nor have I had the urge to rush through it in the hope it improved. Now I’m not saying Fable 2 is perfect, far from it in fact. The amount of bugs that are emerging is incredible and yes, it isn’t the ultimate game. It’s still fairly linear and probably not the huge leap in game design that Peter Molyneux hoped for. However, I’m still very happy with it.

The game starts out very slow (don’t all RPGs?), but the start still shows off the impressive graphics. Sure they don’t look photo realistic (and the character models are a bit lacking), but the cinematography is great if you ask me. 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 quandries 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. Lots of sidequests are great but only if they’re enjoyable to play, not just for the sake of it but for fun. In the case of Oblivion, too many side quests felt like work and so I could stretch the game out further. I know others adored it but I didn’t. Anyway, enough of Oblivion. I like games that guide me through a set plot but also with some flexibility. Fable 2, so far, is doing this just fine. It gives me a certain amount of freedom, 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 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. I spent a good 45mins earlier reaching Level 5 of Woodcutting just so I could earn enough money to buy the local pub. At that point, I didn’t want to carry on with the main quest, I was happy to earn some money to buy property, then maybe do a sidequest or two.

Fable 2, as I said earlier, is far from perfect. A friend of mine has already encountered a game ruining bug associated with the game’s co-op facility (which I haven’t tried yet). As well as this, various other glitches have occured for people, ranging from minor things such as the breadcrumb trail (which guides you to quests) vanishing to game breaking problems such as main story quests being bugged if you walk away from the NPC while it’s midconversation. Hopefully all problems that will be sorted in a forthcoming patch. A lot of the irritation I think stems from the fact there are no multiple save files, just the one for each character. A design feature to ensure that the player’s actions are permanent, and the player can’t just revert to a previous save if they didn’t like the consequences. Of course that makes things difficult if something glitches as there’s no way of reloading previous progress.

However, despite the bugs (and I’m lucky to have hardly experienced any so far), the only downside I can find in the game for me is it’s just not very challenging yet. I say not very, I’ve not died yet! It’s obviously not been designed with difficulty in mind, unless it suddenly ramps it up soon, but I don’t mind as I’m enjoying it so much. Sometimes it’s nice to not be challenged and to simply enjoy the experience.

Anyway, told you I’m biased

As you can see in the past week and a half, it’s not been a big one for points. The vast bulk of the points came from Halo 3 which we finished on Legendary the other night. It was brilliant fun, a true testament to how a relatively average game can become something special when you play it with friends. If it wasn’t for the fact Bungie upped the game’s points a few days ago, I’d have a fairly respectable 760/1000 but as it stands, 760/1750 is a bit poor. I doubt I’ll play much multiplayer though, just not my thing, I much prefer CoD4 online. I’ll keep Halo 3 in the hope for the rumoured expansion pack though and our team of four can return to it then!

In somewhat shocking news, I’ve sold (yes sold, NOT bought) 14 games! I had a bit of a clearout of games that I keep intending to go back to, but never actually do. This also included Infinite Undiscovery which I realised I just wouldn’t get round to properly completing, so figured I’d cut my losses and sell it while it still had some value to it. Not like it cost me anything in the first place anyhow. Didn’t get much for many of the other games but I should now have enough set back to be able to fulfill my pre-orders of Fable 2: CE (despite its lack of figurine, fate cards and fancy box anymore ), Gears of War 2: CE and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (with a free copy of the original on XBLA).

I did however somewhat impulsively buy Fifa 09. The first football game I’ve bought since buying PES6 for about £10 two years ago when I first got my 360, and possibly the first football game I’ve ever bought in the first week of launch (I can’t remember any others at least). I mainly bought it on the strength of its demo, a few forum threads and Nokkon raving about it, and I’m glad I did. The tides really have turned in Fifa’s favour rather than PES. It’s truly the full package with manager mode, be a pro and updated stats for the year. I love Be a Pro, it’s a feature I’ve wanted for years in football games and it’s finally been realised! And I love it Plus the achievements aren’t bad to achieve either. The game’s definitely going to take some practice but it’s very rewarding to score an impressive goal.

The only other noteworthy game I’ve been playing is Viva Pinata. I returned to this as after playing Viva Pinata:TIP I felt like going back to the original until I have a vision cam. It’s at a nice and relaxed pace so far but the micromanagement hasn’t kicked in full time yet so I’m sure that’ll change things a bit. I still feel pangs of guilt when I have to sacrifice my Bunnycomb to attract a Pretztail to my garden…..I’m sure that makes so much sense to someone who’s never played it

Birthday Thursday, and I’m fairly certain I’ve got either Too Human or Brothers In Arms:Hell’s Highway. Either will be good by me I think, I love WW2 FPSes and BiA has had some ok reviews. Too Human is a little hit and miss but hoping my RPG loving nature will convert me to the ‘liking it’ side.

Operation Find the Dog that makes me and my Mum think we must have it (catchy title eh?) isn’t going brilliantly. Just not found the one yet. We are pretty exact with what we want. We want a rescue dog, young dog (well, under 5 but not a puppy), reasonably active but not crazy active, good with kids and cats and small to medium but not too small as my Mum wants to feel safe walking it on her own. Bit like Goldilocks isn’t it?
We’re regularly looking on a few sites and visiting our local RSPCA so fingers crossed we get lucky soon We’re not rushing into a dog that’s ‘ok’, it just seems like something that instinctively we’ll know when the dog is right (even if half the things I just listed aren’t the case, the only true essential is being ok with the cat), but it’s just not happened yet!

Gaming wise, it’s been a bit bitty. Not really sunk my teeth into anything other than the two review games (which doesn’t really count as I had to do that!). I’ve played a bit of Halo 3 on Legendary with friends, started with just one friend but it was getting hard and tedious so now there’s four of us which has made it much quicker and more enjoyable. Got the first three levels done last night, and doing more tonight. Not overly impressed with the game but it’s ok, worth it for a laugh with friends but I doubt I’d play it single player. It was the same with the first two. I played the first one with my ex a few years ago, we played it solidly for the day and it was great fun. But when I had a chance to play it in single player, I really wasn’t interested. We started on Halo 2 but broke up before we finished it so I’ll probably never get that done now. I hope Halo 3 doesn’t have an annoying library part like in Halo 1, that was sooooooo dull! Halo 3 online doesn’t appeal to me at all so doubt I’ll get any multiplayer achievements but I might give it a go.

Played through Prince Caspian slowly. It’s a total Lego Star Wars clone but without the charm. Identical game engine and identical bugs (such as not being able to pick up an item because it’s sticking halfway into a wall), it’s just not overly fun. It’s ok, it passed the time and I stuck by it to 1k it. That’s my only real score whoring I think, otherwise I’ve played purely for fun and gained a few achievements on the way.

I’m still liking Forza 2 but it is getting a bit boring now. The tracks are repeating themselves over and over again, so it’s getting a bit predictable. I love the RPG like elements of collecting all the cars (like Pokemon for petrolheads!) though so I’ll keep working on it. I’m over half way anyway now at level 35ish.

I picked up Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise for £25 when Morrisons were doing a week of cheap games. Paid for it by also buying Guitar Hero on the DS and ebaying it! Selling the review games has also helped me nicely. It’s just like the first game, so if you liked that, you’ll like this. It’s encouraged me to go back to the first game, which I suppose slightly ruins the point!

Birthday’s coming up fast and I keep being asked what game I want….and I don’t actually know! Lots of reasonable games about, but they all look like rentals to me, like Mercs 2 and Force Unleashed. Fable 2 comes out a couple of weeks after my birthday and I’ve got it pre-ordered anyway so that’s no good.

Not bad going that I mentioned in my last entry that I wanted both Viva Pinata:TIP and Infinite Undiscovery and now I have them both! At least I didn’t pay for one of them and hardly paid for the other in the end

More entries to come eventually….