Well, just a little while ago I got a text from Rob telling me that the fall video game review was completed and emailed to me. So, I'll post it in a sec, just a couple things to go over with. First off, Perrotti, how did you not take the Giants over the Cowboys with your 4 pointer? Yes, the game is over but I could have told you the Gmen were going to destroy them. Brad Johnson was the starting qb, you knew my boy Justin Tuck was going to kill him(to a tune of 2.5 sacks) and there was no way the Cowboys weren't going to get destroyed. I couldn't have picked any other game with certainty except this one. Secondly, sorry guys, it's football season. I love ND. I'm going to write about them. I probably won't do one like the last one it's just the only time I had to write was during the game, so there. I didn't think it would come down to OT, but it did and I didn't want to waste an opportunity like that. So suck it up. Lastly, I found out from Imran tonight that a chick won the poker tournament and I guess she took out Bagley and he was pretty pissed as usual. Can I get a better rundown so I know what happened. I also heard there was a bet that Ayo would be the first guy out and he was. Can someone please confirm this for me? A guest post with a write up about it would be sweet. Now, here's Rob's post. I hope you like it.
Fall Videogame Roundup
Well, the Fall Videogame preview is a little late this year as most of the holiday season's highly anticipated games have already been released. It seems to be the year of the sequel. I will make my preview XBox 360 specific since that's my main system. There are a lot more games being released than these, but these are the ones I looked forward to the most and it turns out that these are generally the best reviewed games. Malone, I'm not sure you would like any of these first three games. For PS3 exclusives, Killzone 2 and Resistance 2 are both really hyped shooters that haven't been released yet and should be very good. Also on PS3 only, LittleBigPlanet is a kid game that I personally would never play but was supposed to be very unique.
Fable 2 (XBox 360 only)
Release Date: October 21
Genre: Action RPG
Do I own this game: Yes
Fable 2 is the sequel to the disappointing, yet tantalizingly promising, oft-delayed original which was released on the first XBox console. Fable 2 features a fully explorable world ten times the size of the original game's world, a strength-skill-will based experience points/level up system, and a pretty well developed good/evil morality system. It's an RPG, but has an action flavor to it. There are many side quests from the main story, and you can buy any number of properties, hold jobs, and get married. You can also choose to have sex (protected or unprotected) and have children or get STDs. The graphics throughout the game are very good. To me, this game plays too much like an arcade game and needs more advanced character development options, but it is no doubt a highly polished and enjoyable play.
Rob's score: 8/10
Far Cry 2 (XBox 360, PS3, PC)
Release Date: October 21
Genre: Action/Shooter
Do I own this game: Yes (roommate)
This game is basically Grand Theft Auto, except it is set in a generic African country. You are plunged into a basic revenge/get-the-bad-guy-boss storyline. There is much to explore, from jungles to swamps to prairies to cities. The game map is very large. The game is gorgeous, and the environments and player/NPC animations are equally beautiful. It controls as a standard first person shooter, with a large array of weapons. One of the more gruesome and unique parts of this game involves healing your player - the game will show your player pulling bullets or glass out of your arms or legs in gory detail. This game will always be compared to Grand Theft auto, but it is still a terrific game in its own right.
Rob's score: 8/10.
Fallout 3 (XBox 360, PS3, PC)
Release Date: October 31
Genre: RPG
Do I own this game: Yes
Fallout 3 is, for many hardcore gamers, a perfect game. Set in a post-nuclear war Washington DC (and the surrounding countryside), you are free to explore a gigantic game world inhabited by mutated animals, "raiders", super-mutants, militias, and other characters. If you have ever seen Mad Max, this game will remind you a little of their world. The attention to detail for such a huge game world is nothing less than astounding, as you can see the former civilization reduced to rubble and debris. The RPG aspects of the game, character creation and development, are very robust and building your character's attributes, finding good weapons, becomes a labor of love. I have never played a game that was a better value for only $60. You could play this game easily for over one hundred hours. This game has it all - sound, graphics, gameplay, atmosphere, presentation - you name it. Warning: this game is not for people who only like playing sports games! This game is firmly in my top 5 favorite games of all time, and I've only played it for about 11 hours.
Rob's score: 10/10.
Stay tuned for:Gears of War 2 (XBox 360 only)
Release Date: November 7
Genre: Action/Shooter
This game is supposed to be one of the best looking games ever, and it's bound to be a huge hit since they have improved upon the already terrific Gears of War.
6 comments:
Yes Roger girls finished in places 1-3. Crystal, Lillian, and Amy. I'm pretty sure that they're all lousy poker players. The way the tournament is set up it is a crapshoot, and players who actually know how to play the game are handcuffed by fast-rising blinds and loose play from everyone else. It's almost not fun.
As for the Ayo bet, there was a pool over which of the 17 "premier" players would lose first. You could place $5 on one person, and if they were the first person on the list to lose, you won the whole pool. Well, maybe 4 or 5 people picked Ayo so they all split it and only got $15 each. Two people picked me but I didn't go out first so they didn't win.
I'd like to point out that no one picked me to go out first and they were right. Rob is correct that the tourney is a joke now. The blinds double every 15 minutes and with people like Jim O'Brien dealing, we were only getting 4 hands in per blind level. The night was fun, but the poker was horrendous. Rob we need to go play at Foxwoods again sometime.
You were right about those games though Rob. None of them sound fun to me. I don't have the patience for RPG's. I just saw a commercial yesterday for some game that is supposed to be really good, but I don't know what it is called or what it's even about. It had the word "mirrors" in the name I believe. Any idea what I'm talking about?
Oh, and Perrotti, I don't know how you did this week, but if you went with all the picks I posted you'd have 9 points right now, with a posibility for 10 if the Redskins beat the spread tonight. The stupid Texans were really my only bad choice. And why did you go with the Bills as a lock when no one else even picked them?
Additional Video Game Thoughts, crafted without the benefit of playing most of these games:
Fable and FarCry 2: You've played these games before, unless you don't really play games, in which case you haven't. But they aren't new or inspired, they are slight alterations to the typical formula. They could probably hook you for awhile, but you'll tire of them by the time get a complete set of matching armor, and/or have your savefile ruined by a damn auto-save while an exploded Jeep hovers in mid-air, 2 feet above your head, ready to crush as soon as you resume.
Little Big Planet: Though brushed off by Rob as a "kid game", Little Big Planet is deep, original gaming experience despite being a 2D platformer. A throwback to the classic genre, the main gameplay is quite simple; your character can only move, jump and grab, and must make his way from one end of the level to the other. However, underneath the simple exterior is a very complex physics simulation and highly diverse level creator, allowing for an infinite combination of unqiue user-designed levels, which are easily shared via the Playstation Network. Various unlockables strewn through the single player game, not to mention well crafted and diverse levels keep things interesting until you are ready to delve into the level maker, or to start playing other people's created levels.
Fallout 3: Do not play this game if there are people who care about you or want you to go do things, because those bastards get very annoying.
Mirrors Edge: You play as a runner, discretely delivering information under the watchful gaze of a totalitarian government. So, in that sense its very much like Paper Boy, however, instead of the top down boy-on-bike view, you are treated to a first person perception of a lush 3D city. The main goal of the game, unlike your typical first person game, is not to fill everything you see with bullets, but to parkour your way around cityscapes and rooftops with the most efficient route possible. The most intriguing aspect of the game is that the camera actually behaves as if you were looking through the main characters eyes, there is heaving and bobbing while running, spins when the character rolls, and whole varieties of obstacle avoidance. This can lead to all sorts of fun and interesting motion based illnesses for the unprepared player, bringing this game to an unprecedented level of reality.
Wow Michael I guess you're played some videogames in your day - are you on XBox Live? Or do you use PS3 or PC???
Thanks for the recap on Mirror's Edge Michael. That was the game I was referring to. I think I will at least rent that game since it sounds pretty cool. All the other RPG's I can't handle.
Perrotti, how did my 9 correct picks stack up against you this week and the rest of the people in the pool?
Malone you scored 13 vs. my 6. I did manage to get the same amount correct as you did. However, I got the 4 and 3 point games wrong. The winner had 2 wrong and scored a 23. Your 13 would have been in the middle of the pack. Also, Roger no one likes a Monday morning Quarterback. Maybe if you said on Thursday to pick the Giants, I would have.
Video games do not interest me anymore. I am not a teenage Asian kid.
I hope everyone voted for Nader.
Roger, I think we are stopping in Cleveland for our Vegas trip. You should meet up with us. Malone and Michelle will have an extra bed.
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