Since its the end of the year, how about a review for GAME of the year? Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.

Ok so it's kinda hard to find screenshots of the new Call of Duty, which is weird, but even if this is from Call of Duty 4, the simple fact about these games is, they daaaamn pretty. CoD 4 was one of the best looking games ever, and CoD 6, or Modern Warfare 2 if you prefer the long version, continues that tradition and adds its own flavor of kickass to the mix. As with Uncharted and some other reviews here, I'll get one fact out of the way right away - as far as the world of gaming in 2009 goes, what the masses SHOULD be saying at least, this is it, this is the game of the year. It's the game of the year for three seperate reasons too, and those reasons are the fact that you are pretty much getting three different games all for $60. The multi-player is of course why many people will come back, and what will pretty much immediately grab any dude that picks up a controller and spends a few minutes getting used to the controls (assuming they've never played a console FPS, which is possible, just cuz I'm a freak doesn't mean everyone else is, I repsect that!), and honestly could cause problems in relationships or friendships. It's like MMORPG type addictive, its that bad. Bad to the point that I MIGHT pass on the next Call of Duty, because I seriously play the damn game TOO much. I still have a few games from the onslaught of awesome that I haven't gotten all the way through, and the only reason is this damn Call of Duty game. It creates some sort of visceral, primitive reaction in dudes that you find yourself "ok! One more game, for real this time!" well past 6 in the morning. It's incredible what Infinity Ward (developers) has created here, this experience that should make just about any sane human being want to stay as far away from war as humanly possible, I might add, but it just invokes this reaction in men that makes it damn near impossible to put the freakin' controller down. For some, this makes it an immediate must buy. For others with an addictive personality, you have been warned.

So with that warning aside and me using big words such as "visceral" and "invoke" to help instill that this game's multiplayer is some of the most fun a person can have in a video game, we'll go on to the graphics, and then on to the first of three reasons why this game is the best game of 2009 - which is the story mode. First I'll address the complaints that lots of people will whine about - its too short! Waaah! It only lasts about 7-8 hours! Boo! I want to have at least a 15 hour experience! Ok, sure. When you pick up a game, anymore you want at least 10 hours or more out of your single player story mode, and Call of Duty 6, especially if you play the whole thing over, can barely top half that time. Guess what? It doesn't matter at all. Because the story mode on this game, will ROCK YOUR F:!(*&* FACE OFF DUDE. Seriously. I didn't WANT to like this game this much, I'm serious. I didn't want to be like the masses of frat guy morons and gangsta thugs who are like "oh HELL yeah BRO! I wanna do all this stuff in RL BRO, BUST SOME SKULLS!" while they waited in line to get this at midnight just like I did. But after the first stage, I was sold. I watched a friend play the first stage where they strap you into the gunner seat of a humvee and all freakin HECK breaks loose soon after the intro, and I was actually, physically NERVOUS just watching someone ELSE play the game. It's that intense. There are entirely too many memorable and awesome scenes in this game to mention in one review. If the first area doesn't pique your interest on what the heck else this game will throw at you, then the second area most assuredly will have you hooked. How about a freaking INSANE snowmobile chase where all kinds of dudes are shooting at you and you have to make all sorts of sweet jumps (Napoleon Dynamite style) while being shot at from all kinds of angles? How about being nervous the entire time leading up to that scene where you have to sneak through a blizzard and pick off enemies without alerting anyone? There are a couple of winter scenes in the game and they are all incredible. That's not even mentioning the scenes that take place in the US, where once again, all freakin' HECK has broke loose. Theres a part where all kinds of junk is falling out of the sky. There's a part where you grab some satellite controlled missles and drop them down on peoples FACES. Theres a part where you storm a prison, just like the movie The Rock, except more awesome. The whole game is intense, and you have never played anything like it. Whereas Uncharted 2 was like playing a really well-written action game, Call of Duty's story mode is like playing a completely over the top action movie where explosions are plentiful and you never really have a chance to catch your breath. Which I guess means...there hasn't ever been a movie like that (they usually try and fail horribly. The Marine, anyone?). The Call of Duty 6 experience is one of a kind, and just THIS mode blows Uncharted 2 out of the water. The entire GAME of Uncharted, has gotten its ass kicked by just 1/3 of Call of Duty 6. THIS is why this game is game of the year.

This is a picture of one of the stages where America is under seige. That's in game graphics. See why Uncharted 2 has some competition just a few weeks after coming out? Ok, so I think I just elaborated maybe a bit too much on the story mode. Suffice it to say, this was one of the few games where I got to the end, and IMMEDIATELY after the credits rolled, I said "ok, lets do that all over again!" and played through the first two stages on veteran. It's that good. I can count the games I have done that with on one hand. And thats only 1 part of 3! The next part is the spec ops mode, which is the mode that should make anyone who whines about the one player mode (*cough* people that play on the PC! *cough cough*) immediately shut the hell up. Spec Ops mode takes many of the scenes from the story mode, adds a few more original ideas, and has you do all sorts of cool things inside those zones. Some are specifically made for two players - one particularly awesome one has one player up in the seat of a sweetass helicopter raining hot sweet death upon anything that gets in the dude on the grounds path. Just that area right there provides you a couple hours of fun. Another two player only one has one player in the gunner seat of a helicopter, again raining fiery painful death upon people shooting at the dude on the ground trying to get picked up on the helicopter. And thats only two of about 24 missions. Some are very cool, and some are very frustrating. But rest assured, you will have a damn good time playing this with another person. Some are doable by yourself if you like being punished, but for the most part spec ops is for two people kicking ass. You can do this online with a friend so you get all the screen real estate for yourself, or you can do split screen, which is good that this game still lets you do that, a lot of games don't anymore, which is sad. Whereas your story mode complainers will say that thats only a good 7-8 hours (which in my opinion is still worth $60 in itself just to experience once), spec ops easily doubles that time. To pass all of these missions you are looking at at LEAST another 10-12 hours, and thats even IF you pass some of the later completely ridiculous and unfair missions (Breach comes to mind, its one of the last ones), you better have another person who knows what hes doing to even stand a chance with some of the later ones.

Pretty sure this is a picture of the Breach stage, if it isn't, its close enough, you have to bust in a couple of doors and shoot all the jerks inside before the slo mo gimmick is up, and make sure you don't shoot any stupid hostages in the meantime, or its back to the drawing board. It's unfair, and it'll kick your ass. It's also pretty damn fun and you'll keep coming back to it after you fail for the 100th time, at least I still did. And check THIS out, I haven't even gotten to the third reason why this is the game of the year, except for my warning at the beginning - the multi player. Here is where your game time will quadruple, sextuple, octuple, whatever - at any rate this will increase your time with this game EXPONENTIALLY if you enjoy yourself. And by god you will. The multiplayer from Call of Duty 4 has been tinkered with just enough to make it an even better and rewarding experience, where you will constantly be getting experience boosts for killing so many people, getting so many headshots, using a certain attachment to a gun, not to mention all sorts of other bonuses - heck they even give you a bonus for falling a long ways, or blowing up a car, and lets face it, who DOESNT like blowing up a car? And nearly every level (out of SEVENTY, which will keep you busy for DAYS if you want to make it all the way through) has some sort of cool unlock - be it a new gun, secondary gun (like a cool shotgun, machine pistol, or *gasp* DOUBLE SHOTGUNS OMG), or some sort of new perk to help you waste people better. And in this game you can even level up your perks (of which you assign three different ones when you play) so that you can do more cool things with them - for example, the commando perk, one that I highly recommend everyone use for a while, especially when you start out, lets you stab some faces from further away. Say you have some jerk comin around the corner, well with the commando perk, he can be a few feet away from you, you mash the button quick enough to stab em and you lunge at them and stab they face. It rules. Like I said, most any DUDE that reads this is probably oh man, VIOLENCE, YES. I don't know about the appeal this game has to girls. For girls, I'd say this is probably NOT the game of the year. In fact this is probably the most HATED game of the year for some girls in serious relationships. This is why I say I might honestly stay away from the next Call of Duty game, because its crazy messed up addictive. It also glorifies violence, I'm not going to skirt that issue. Like, bigtime. I mean, if you do well on each multiplayer game, you are a serial killer. You've killed 20-30 people, and you are damn proud of it. Yes, it's just a game. But I can't address the fact that I love this game without admitting that I probably SHOULDN'T like it as much as I do. But thats neither here or there, and I think I've said enough about what SHOULD be the game of the year, so here are the scores!

Graphics - 10/10. If Uncharted 2 hadn't come out, this would be the best looking game of the year. In fact it still gives Uncharted a very decent run for its money, especially when you consider that the multiplayer section looks nearly as good as the single player, and thats pretty much unprecedented in a video game (and its CERTAINLY not the case in Uncharted 2's multiplayer - which I admit I didn't really touch)

Sound - 10/10. All the guns sound like they should and some make you feel like a real badass because they are MEAN. Things blow up real good. The voice acting has a couple of famous actors in it and it doesn't sound like they are just reading off a script. It's great stuff - no Uncharted, but great stuff.

Challenge - 9/10. This game is tough. Especially on veteran, or on the three star difficulty in spec ops mode. But, for the most part, not impossible. And not mega frustratingly hard like Uncharted 2, because you are warned before you jump into something that will kick your ass, MUCH unlike Uncharted where it just springs it on you. It doesn't mess around on difficulty toward some of the later parts but thats fine, a game like this is supposed to be tough. It IS really hard, like takes a lot of freakin' time hard, to get really good at the multiplayer. It's a steep learning curve and you need some ridiculous reflexes to get to the top of that list during every game, but its a damn good feeling when you get there.

Fun - 10/10. So much replayability. Basically endless if you consider the multiplayer component, but add in that you will want to play through the story mode at LEAST twice, not to mention all the spec ops stuff you will at least want to try, and you got yourself a stew right there, baby! (Oh how I miss you, Arrested Development).

Overall - 10/10. Get this game. It's one of the best games that has EVER come out, not just this year but ANY year.

Now remember, for ME, MY game of the year is BlazBlue. I'm going to do a top 10 list on my next post and explain why I made my choices, cuz hey, well, its my freakin' blog, and I can damn well do whatever I want on this thing, plus I'll mix it up from the reviews. But alright, Clev has spoken about the game of the year!

Since its close to the end of the year, time for ME to review what many are calling Game of the Year: Uncharted 2.

We'll get this out of the way immediately: this is the best looking video game that has been made to date. It's going to be tough to top this one for quite a while I think. Sure Final Fantasy XIII will probably give it a run for its money early next year, and the new Call of Duty is definitely a contenda for best looking game ever made as well. But Uncharted 2 is probably still going to stomp those games faces into the ground just on the basis of its epic locales and sweet ass explosions that happen entirely too frequently (and thats a good thing, by the way). With that being said, the best graphics ever do not a classic game make. There has to be other factors of course, specifically, is it fun, are you enjoying yourself and not annoyed when you play it, are you playing just to see the next cut scene or to see what truly awesome area those crazy folks over at Naughty Dog will throw at you next? Because if you are, then that isn't the makings of an epic game. I'll say this before I get too much further into it: Uncharted 2 has all the makings of a summer blockbuster put into video game form. And what do we usually think of a summer blockbuster? If you are like me or have the mentality that I do, which is to say, that of about an oh, say, 21 year old male who LOVES to watch crap blow up and bullets flying all over the place, not to mention a couple of hot girls to save and a whole mess of people that you have to shoot, punch, kick, maim, definistrate (how many people had to look that word up?), set on fire, etc. along the way, then you are probably first in line to see alot of these summer blockbusters that come along every year. And each year they seem to up the ante on junk blowing up and sweet explosions. I myself am ok with it (I saw Transformers 2 three times in theaters for instance, and I'm not even really sure I liked the movie), but the question that I asked myself as I played through all of Uncharted 2 was, do we need this feeling in a video game?

Well, by the end of Uncharted 2, my answer was a pretty resounding..."well, I guess?" Cuz honestly, is this the game of the year? No. Does it make the top 10? I suppose, but barely. This is the game that many are calling the "system seller" for the PS3. Which, when I think about it, I guess the game equivalent of the summer blockbuster probably WOULD be a system seller, a lot of easily amused people (such as myself) out there. So I guess, since you have obviously figured out that I have some problems with the game, I'll start with the good first. Which is odd for me, because I'm a pessimist drinking my half empty glass of coke as I type this. But anyways, so the obvious first positive this game has is the graphics. That should be readily apparent in the two screenshots I've got here. Everything is incredibly detailed, and the characters are some of the best animated characters I've ever seen. Nathan Drake and the two hotties (well...the blonde is at least, but I LOVE blondes, so my opinion might not even count) that accompany him through most of this adventure really come to life like a character in a movie would - and actually more so than many of the flat (*cough* Megan Fox in the Transformers movies! *cough cough*) one-sided characters that are in most action movies. Nathan's characted, voiced by a dude who does quite a bit of voice overs for main characters in games (he was the Prince in the newest Prince of Persia - which btw, is a better game than this one, and cheaper...just saying, and also the main dude in Shadow Complex, a game a reviewed in summer time) and for good reason, is one of the most likeable characters to ever come along in a video game. He isn't a pussy like Raiden, he isn't a douchebag like Nathan "Rad" Spencer from Bionic Commando, he isn't just a man with a one-track mind on his mission like the protagonists of the Assassins Creed games. He's certainly an action hero and not just your average Joe, but you could compare his persona to an Indiana Jones or a Han Solo (in fact if Harrison Ford was oh, say, 20-30 years younger I'd say that he would be born to play this role when the inevitable movie is made, but instead I'll go with Nathan Fillion...partly cuz the voice actor and Nathan sound very similar, and plus, main characters name is Nathan anyways!), which means, hes very likeable. He's hilarious, too. You will find yourself smiling or even laughing out loud as some of the things he says either to his enemies, the hotties hes with, or just some of the stuff he yells mid fight. He's very entertaining. And it can't go without saying that his main female counterpart, Elena, is very much his equal in this game. Which is great, because we need more tough female roles that don't always need to be rescued by their dashing male heroes, or even sometimes do their own bit of rescuing. I credit the first new James Bond movie (Casino Royale) with creating females like this in movies, but Elena is definitely one of the pioneers in gaming - not because she kicks her own share of ass in games, we've had heroines like that since Lara Croft, but because shes the equal to her male counterpart. That, frankly, is pretty neat. So the characters are great in this game, some of the best I've seen in a video game, and the graphics are top notch, need to be seen to believed. What this all boils down to is something that you probably knew I was getting at: it's like playing a really well-written action movie.


So here maybe even Nathan is thinking, does it all work? Well, for me, yes and no. So now we get to the gameplay. In some parts, the answer to this question is a resounding yes, absolutely. There's one chapter on a moving train that is quite honestly incredible. Not only do you have constantly changing scenery the whole time you are on this moving train (and I seriously just let the game run for ten minutes one time and never saw anything that repeated), but you are fighting for your life the entire time. There's another scene pretty late in the game where you are jumping from truck to truck while shooting all kinds of other vehicles. It's completely insane and over the top, just like a good action movie should be. Perhaps the most mind-blowing part of the game is where you are fighting through this village that is completely under seige, in particular by a big ass tank that is gunning for you more than anyone else (of course, we wouldn't want it any other way). All of this is definitely awesome. However, I guess just like most action movies, there are definitely some low points as well. Unfortunately, a lot of these low points come toward the end of the game - and actually, for me, the entire beginning scene was a miss too. Some people - certainly most critics - would say I'm nuts for saying this. But frankly the game starts out trying WAY too hard to grab you and say "pay attention, this is awesome, I promise!" by having you climb up this train car that is about to fall off a mountain. Sounds awesome, right? It isn't handled properly and you essentially just keep mashing x hoping he'll hop to the next spot. Like I said, trying too hard. And the end falls into the same pitfall that everyone bashed the first one for (although thats still a good game, too) - waaaay too many gunfights that essentially just feel like the developers threw in to extend the length of the game. Uncharted 2 doesn't have the problem with length that the first one did, so this is an odd choice - whereas you could probably blow through the first one in 7-8 hours, this one will probably take you about 10-12. Which is fine for an action game in my opinion. So why add another hour or so of pointless gunfights? Especially toward the end of the game, where everything is coming to a head?

I don't even think this is a picture of in game graphics, I just wanted to have a decent picture of Elena for the review, since shes basically Nathan's equal. But anyways, so the gameplay never really falls apart, it just gets...annoying in some parts. Which leads me to another problem with this game - the difficulty. This game is HARD. Like, STUPID hard in some parts. Which is fine - for some games where you expect it to be hard because the game itself has eased you into the fact that you are going to get your ass kicked repeatedly (Valkirya Chronicles comes to mind). But Uncharted 2 has parts that are stupid hard for no freaking reason at all. It just becomes ridiculous in some parts. Again, this is mostly towards the end, although there are some parts in the game that just spring up on you that are insane. Half the time these come after a really cool platforming scene or cool part of the story, so you are all the more pissed off when they come up. It's another odd design choice that pulls you away from the experience. You may have seen those commercials (that were admitedly hilarious) about the guy who is talking about how his girlfriend thinks they are actually watching an action movie and she won't believe its a game? I used to yell at the TV when those came up after I beat the game. I'd yell "oh hey, mr. ps3 representative? What about those super gay parts where you keep dying over and over again because the game engine for some reason becomes ridiculous? How about the parts where 950,000 dudes keep pouring out for you to shoot for no reason? Pretty sure she'd figure out it was just a video game then!" So yes, I think I've established that the difficulty is idiotic in some parts. It isn't all bad though, just like the gameplay - we'll say about 75% of this game is pretty much smooth sailing. It's just the other 25% that keep this from being one of the best games ever made.

So I think that just about covers it. I hope I've established why this game doesn't deserve game of the year in my book. The game of the year for ME is Blazblue, but thats because I'm a fighting game freak. When I spent two months of playing that game exclusively, I knew it wasn't going to be topped this year. It hasn't been. The game of the year as far as everyone else goes, and a title that it deserves, is Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. That's whats up next for me to review, but this is not to say that Uncharted 2 is a bad game that shouldn't be played by anyone. If you own a PS3, get it. Is it a reason to buy a PS3, a "system seller" if you will? Nope. Metal Gear Solid 4 already had that covered last summer. But Uncharted 2 isn't so completely mind-blowing that you need to run out and get your hands on the closest PS3, punching and kicking kids out of the way or whatever you must do to get there. It's good, its even great, but it isn't a classic for the ages. To the scores!

Graphics - 11/10. The best you have ever seen, and probably will see for quite a while. Incredible. Mind-blowing. Other descriptive words that mean cool.

Sound - 10/10. Fantastic presentation. The characters have some of the best voice overs ever done in video games, and rival many characters in action movies. The sound effects are top notch, things blow up real good, guns sound real, atmospheric, epic music kicks in sometimes on some great scenes, and basically, everything sounds like it should. Right up there with the graphics.

Challenge - 10/10. This 10 isn't a good thing. It's stupid and ridiculous sometimes, and you WILL get pissed off. And not in a good way, like with a game that's really testing your abilities. In a bad way, where the game is just being hard just to be hard. Where the difficulty is increased not because of good programming, but because you have to mow down 6,000 dudes just to get to the next part. It's dumb, its pointless, and it drags the game down quite a bit.

Fun - 7/10. Definitely where the game takes a hit. Yeah you'll have a good time through some of it, even an incredible time in some parts (particularly those scenes I mentioned up in the review), but for almost every one of those epic parts, theres a part that will piss you off for no good reason. It's a bummer, and what truly keeps this game from greatness.

Overall - 8/10. Yeah yeah, if you average out the scores, it probably would deserve a 9. But that 10 in challenge isn't really a good thing, and I suppose shows the weakness of numbered scores sometimes, if you are going by how unfair and pointless the difficultly can become in some parts, it'd deserve about a 5/10. So yes, the best graphics and sound you will probably see and hear in a game, incredible, top notch stuff. A great story that will keep you as riveted, if not more so, than any well-written action movie. But the stupid hard difficultly and the pointless inclusions of too many gunfights make true greatness just out of reach for this game.

So here's the first time where I've really disagreed with critics. This is not the game of the year. The Clevman has SPOKEN!

Classic Video Game Review #3: Secret of Mana

So I think its time for a review of this classic since an awesome friend of mine (her name is Meredith! She is great) got this for me for Christmas, box and strategy guide and all, because it was time to play and own this masterpiece again. This was a game that came right out of left field when it first hit the super nintendo scene of October 1993 (thank you wikipedia for the actual date!). Yeah we had already been blown away by Final Fantasy II, and Final Fantasy III would be about another 8 months away. But in the meantime, we got this gem. This was an action adventure game that was kind of like a Zelda game in that you had a top down view where you controlled your characters and hacked up enemies on screen without any menus to get in the way like Final Fantasy games, but it had a lot of other novel ideas as well. In particular, you would be using a lot more than just a sword in this one. You had eight different weapon varities to switch between eventually - a whip, an axe, a spear, and even some good ol fashioned brass knuckles for some punchin. It also had an awesome upgrade system that definitely made you feel accomplished every time that you kicked a bosses' ass. And there were ALOT of bosses in this game, and the length was nothing to laugh at either. I'm getting off track here, so we'll start where we usually do: with the graphics and sound.

First of all, lets remember that this was 1993. Thats SIXTEEN years ago, which is messed up and makes me feel old as hell. Perhaps because I am. But anyways, this game was gorgeous, colorful and lush then, and you know what? It still is today. This game pushed the Super Nintendo's color palatte to the maximum, and had even better graphics than Final Fantasy III in my opinion. Just because it was so different. Yeah it's all just a bunch of pixels and sprites and we've come a very, very long way since then (see the new Call of Duty game or Uncharted 2 for a fine example), but still, for the time, this was some ground breaking stuff. However, you can't talk about Secret of Mana, without talking about the soundtrack. The soundtrack to this game is so incredible and well done, that they still sell the freaking cd of it on amazon.com. To this day. See? I still get the amazing flute jams from the main overworld in my head often. I hum them in my head or sometimes randomly when I'm doing something. Whoever composed all of this was a damn genius. A GENIUS I say! It melds perfectly with the game world and what happens, the perfect music for exploring a large unfamiliar world. It's sinister when it needs to be. It's sad when it needs to be. Everything works on the soundtrack, and while some may laugh at the graphics if they grew up in this fancy new HD era, no one will ever have anything bad to say about the soundtrack. Some of the songs are still on my Ipod, and I'd love to see them performed by a symphony some day, just like I did with the Final Fantasy jams a few years ago (by the way that was also incredible).

So ok, I've gushed about the graphics and the sound already, but those don't (entirely) make a game, of course. What about the gameplay? Well, it was completely novel for the time, and frankly, they never really replicated enough after this game was made, either. They made a sequel to this, which any good gamer probably knows, but it was Japanese only. You can find it emulated and translated online now if you ever want to check it out, and you should, because its just as good as this one. But the Mana name has continued on, and to be honest, none of them have ever lived up to this classic. Legend of Mana was the follow up on the Playstation, and while it has somewhat similar gameplay, it tries to introduce too many dumb new ideas that just didn't work. There was Children of Mana which was a remake of the first version of this game (Secret of Mana was actually part 2 in the trilogy) on the DS, and that's worth playing, if a little repetitive. Which is possibly the only complaint about Secret of Mana - it DOES get a little repetitive. You start with just your nameless boy character that you can name whatever you want, I recommend a name to strike fear in the hearts of your enemies, such as JEFF (read the instruction book to get this, it seriously says that - to come up with a fearsome name, and in the picture, he is named JEFF. In all caps! How OMINOUS!), and you later take on a cute girl, who basically becomes your defensive magician/healer, and then a goofy looking sprite kid, who is your black mage/attack magic guy (er...thing). Heres another area where this game shines....it can be played with two other people. This was another novel idea for the time, where multiplayer games hadn't really taken off. You had to have a multi-tap adapter to get three people on the game, but it was worth it if you had the extra cash. This game is a blast with two other people casting your backup spells and wasting stuff along side you, and definitely helps out with the sometimes shoddy AI of the two characters that follow you around (this WAS 1993, after all). So yeah, the gameplay is just as great and memorable as the graphics and sound, it wouldn't be in the classic games section if it wasn't.

Look at the pretty colors! Oh and theres that queer little cat that follows your team around and shows up at odd places throughout the game, his name is Neko, and he sells you overpriced stuff. Stupid cat. But yeah, so gameplay, music, graphics, all spot on. How about the story? Well, it might not be quite as memorable as all those other good things, but thats partially cuz it was 1993 and we didn't have the people that put all the care into translating and story that we did now. It's the standard issue orphan boy is brought up in a small town, does something bad, gets outcast and has to set on his own to save the world story. You know, that old chestnut. However, it was sixteen years ago, and that story wasn't quite as cliched in video games as it is today (still cliched in fantasy books, though). It works for the story, and that cute blonde girl is a little hung up on her stupid boyfriend (the dudes name is DYLUCK, for gods sake. DYLUCK, really? If that doesn't scream tool, I don't know what does) who gets all sorts of possessed in some parts, and the sprite doesn't really do much of...well, anything, except sling sweet spells at people. But it'll hold your interest and there are some pretty cool moments and some moving ones too, although thats partially due to the incredible soundtrack.

So where else to go with this? This game has made the top 100 games of all time list time and time again, and with good reason. I'd put it in my top 20, easily - maybe even back in the top 10 after I play through it again for Christmas. It's still an awesome multi-player experience, you will remember the music for the rest of your life, and the bottom line is, they just don't make games like this anymore. They really don't. The Mana name continues on but nothing has ever even come close to matching this one in quality. The good news you can download this bad devil for 8 bucks on the wii if you want. Cost you about 30 or 40 otherwise if you are a purist like me and want to play it on Super Nintendo again. For 8 bucks you are silly not to own this immediately on the wii. Thats how much some fat people will spend at Arbys for lunch. You could be playing a masterpiece just for that. Anyone who calls themself a gamer owes it to themself to play through this game, its still talked about today for a reason, and like a great painting or memorable book, it will stand the test of time. Play it.

Keep in mind with my scores we are talking about in context to 1993 - except for the sound, which was a 10 then and is a 10 today.

Graphics - 9/10. Colorful, vibrant, incredible. There were a few hiccups and some slow down when too much stuff is on the screen, but overall some of the images will stick with you forever. Some of the palattes are swapped a few too many times, but it doesn't matter much, still a beautiful game.

Sound - 10/10. A 15/10 even. Incredible. Memorable. One of the best things ever done in a video game, even still to this day.

Challenge - 8/10. It's pretty tough in some parts, but nothing that will make you toss your controller. It's easier with two people to do all the spell slangin of course, but its functional with one player as well and you'll be having a blast the whole time, even if you do get smoked by a couple of bosses along the way (and you will).

Fun - 10/10. A great action game, everything works perfectly and the sense of achievement works perfectly because you are always getting sweet new weapons and upgradges.

Overall - 10/10. Its a masterpiece. It wouldn't belong in my classic reviews section if it wasn't. Anyone who has been a gamer for more than a couple years owes it to themselves to play it. Dust off your stupid wii and download this for a reason to actually turn it on once in a while, or if you are purist, get the super nintendo version. Even the cover on the game is pretty!

First music game review....Beatles Rock Band!

Ok, haven't done any music game reviews yet, and really for good reason. They are all kind of the same, have been since Rock Band busted on the scene about two years ago. Now Guitar Heroes and Rock Bands and Band freakin' Heroes and whoseewhatsit, theres been an absolutely ridiculous amount of music games that have came out in the past two years, and ESPECIALLY this year. Frankly, theres been toomany. You had Guitar Hero Metallica in the summer time, and yeah those guys had some jams in the 80s, they probably deserved their own game after all these years (as long as they kept most of the newer stuff out of there), but then the onslaught began - Guitar Hero 5 like a month later, then freaking Band Hero, and here at the end of the year, Guitar Hero Van Halen (and c'mon...did that even really need to happen? The answer is no). But the one standout, at least for me, and for a few other critics if I've done my research right, was Beatles Rock Band. Now HERE is a group that truly deserved their own game. I'll put it right out there first before you get much further...The Beatles are my favorite band of all time. EVER. In my humble (humble but AWESOME, and therefore RIGHT) opinion, there was no band like them when they came out, and there never will be again. They did some mind-blowing things and some of their songs are even considered to be the first songs to start an entire GENRE ("Helter Skelter" is often regarded as the first heavy metal song), and they were a band that truly evolved on each record. They were incredible, and their music is timeless. If a band like that DOESN'T deserve a game, then I don't know what band does.

But this is, after all, a video game review, because thats what I'm in the business of doing here. It isn't supposed to be a long diatribe about how great The Beatles were and are, even though I could probably do an entire blog about that. For example, I think John Lennon is the biggest musical genius of the past decade. I'd even put him up there with Beethoven. This is just to give you an idea that, if you hadn't figued it out yet, this review is going to be a little bit biased. But anyways, so on to the game. Theres a picture of the amazing intro right there, and what an amazing intro it is. To be honest with you, I was moved the first time I saw it, I was in awe. I was skeptical of how exactly they would handle the glut of songs that The Beatles had and if they would just do some lame cop out (like a lot of the Guitar Hero compliations did and what they DEFINITELY did with *shudder* Rock Band: AC/DC) and just smash a bunch of songs on the disc. Most of those fears were immediately put to rest when I saw the few minutes long intro. It encompasses much of what the Beatles music was about - from the early days where they were essentially the first boy band, to when they started getting surreal and otherwordly, to the end of their career where they truly went out with a bang by having one final jam session on a rooftop. An epic beginning for a truly epic band. So I was sold on the intro, but you may not be. As with any music game, the main question here is the song list. Does it work, are you getting your moneys worth?

The answer is, for the most part, yes. There are some songs that should have made it in here and some of their omissions are kind of unforgivable (really guys? No "Happiness is a Warm Gun"? No freaking "Yesterday"? Thats probably their most popular song for Gods sake!), but whats here is pretty great. Helter Skelter is in there. Alot of the great songs from Let It Be made it. There are a few too many songs by the "lesser" Beatle, Ringo, but can we really be upset about that? Because Ringo was one of the producers of the game, of course he will want himself to be well represented. But really "Octopus' Garden" is a song that probably should have remained dead, and "Yellow Submarine" can just stay in our childhood memories, I don't need to be banging out that song on some plastic instruments in my mid-20s, I'm too old for it (even though yes, it IS about drugs), and frankly so will most people that buy this game be too old for it. But thats ok, because theres a lot of good in here too. There isn't a World Tour mode or anything like Rock Band 1 or 2 has, its more of a Guitar Hero like progression because you've got a little over 40 songs to play through and they are split up between eras of the band.

Heres a few more pictures of what some of the in-between eras cut scenes look like. It's very well done and a nice slice of what The Beatles were all about. I don't really think I need to go over the graphics here, because anyone who has played a Rock Band or Guitar Hero game basically knows what they are getting themselves into. If you haven't played one, well, get with the program first of all, and second, its just a big wall of notes that fall progressively toward the bottom of the screen, and its your job to either strum the guitar when the lines hit the bottom, bang on the drums, or sing the note the way the game wants you to if you are singing (which is probably the most fun part of Beatles Rock Band). This one adds a new game mechanic which is another example of how they went and above and beyond for this one - it introduces harmonies where you can plug in two more mics and those two people can back up the lead singer. This is an awesome idea, and its also DIFFICULT. A friend and I tried to just do harmonies and it is TOUGH because you are so used to singing the song a certain way. This adds some replayability to the title however and is something that I hope we see in other Rock Band games, although I'm not sure how well it would work with like, EVERY song.

You might have seen me mention that the singing is probably the most fun part of Beatles Rock Band. It really is, because of the harmonies, because some of the great lyrics that Lennon and McCartney (and Harrison too, he was great as well!) came up with, and just because its damn fun to be singing some of these old classics that nearly every one will remember. It's also the most fun because the rest of the instruments are kind of easy. Yes, guitar is hard on a couple of songs, but not many. An expert from Rock Band or Guitar Hero 3 (in my opinion the toughest one so far) can come through and blaze through all of these songs. I've also had more than one complaint from a drummer. "It's too slow! There isn't enough notes for me to hit!" are common. This isn't to say that some noob won't have a rough time with the game, they will. But to veterans, this game is cake. And thats kind of a bummer, but might not really be the developers over at Harmonix's fault - Ringo wasn't a very complex drummer. Not to say he was bad - he was much like Meg White in The White Stripes - he was an absolutely perfect addition to the geniuses that he was playing with. He just wasn't a magician on the drums, nothing wrong with that. So there you have it, the singing is the best part of Beatles Rock Band, and while this game has some tough songs (of course Helter Skelter is tough, along with Come Together, some other greats) its nothing an expert won't be able to take down easily.

So what about the fun though, the lasting appeal? Well thats where this game delivers, and kicks other games asses that are less fun. Did that make sense? Who cares, point is, this game rocks. You tell me you don't have a big ol' smile on your face if you are singing the lead vocals to "With a Little Help from my friends" and you are playing with some good friends. There is some great, timeless stuff on this disc, worth every bit of the price of admission. Much like all the Rock Bands, it should be played with friends, but it has a pretty good offering of stuff to do by yourself if you want to brush up. There are trophies for getting 1,000,000 points as a guitarist, bassist and drummer, and you can five star all the songs as a singer for extra bonuses, and there are extra challenges galore. This one will keep you busy for a long time if you really love music games.

So what to do with this one, who to recommend it to? Well, I am biased, but frankly, everyone in the world should play this game. But then, I think that everyone in the world should listen to The Beatles. And ALL of The Beatles I mean, not just the old boy band stuff everyone knows like "8 Days a Week", "Hard Day's Night", "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and other stuff, but their entire catalog. You've heard the saying "This movie/game/awesome thing has to be seen to be believed", well, The Beatles need to be heard to be believed. If you are a young person and don't know much about them and have a passing interest in Rock Band, go buy this game. If you are an older person who doesn't know much about these newfangled "videomagames", go pick this up, theres never been a better game to start on, especially since this one is much more beginner friendly than others. I recommend it for anyone and everyone, and if this type of music REALLY isn't your thing, like you are a straight metal head or love the rap or whatever, then at least give this one a look, I promise you you will not regret it. Harmonix (the developers, to those not in the know) have done The Beatles justice with this beautiful game, and the songs will keep coming too, with three full albums already available for you to download and more on the way as I type this up. So that is all, and on to the scores!

Graphics - 8/10. The intro is amazing, the cut scenes are great, and some of the backgrounds while you jam out are nice. Overall though, nothing you haven't really seen on any other Rock Band or Guitar Hero. You got your falling notes and such and your scrolling lyrics, and these games aren't really about the graphics anyways. But the added stuff on this one is truly beautiful.

Sound - 10/10. Obviously much more important than graphics, and where the game shines. The lyrics are represented well, all the guitar, bass, and drums is well represented, and it has an incredible (if lacking some truly high notes in The Beatles career) setlist.

Challenge - 7/10. Can be tough for a newbie, but an expert may complain about some of the songs after a while. I can sing most of the songs on Hard with very little difficulty, and the guitar isn't much more difficult. This is at the bottom end of the spectrum as far as difficulty goes with the music games (where Guitar Hero 3 will probably always reign supreme for me).

Fun - 10/10. You'll be playing this one with friends for a long time. I was honestly moved the first few times I played through all the songs with everyone, something I did four nights in a row when I first picked it up. Playing through the first time is something I'll remember for the rest of my life. It's an incredible experience that shouldn't be missed.

Overall - 9/10. If you have even a passing interest in music games or video games in general, you owe it to yourself to at least check this one out for a while.

Trying to start a three day a week thing, so here we go, Borderlands review!

So, Borderlands. Let me get this right out of the way first - if you have played WoW for more than a month and enjoyed yourself to any extent, go pick up this game. If you played Fallout 3 for a while and got into it in any way, go pick up this game. It's like the creators of this game new exactly what they liked and had played WoW since its early inception, and they really liked that whole post-apocalyptic setting, and they also really liked...well, guns I guess, cuz theres a whole BUNCH of those in this game, and they said "DUDES! Lets smash those games together and come up with somethin that will BLOW YO MIND SON!" and alas, Borderlands was created. And make no mistake about it, they have done a very, very good thing.

We'll start with the good stuff, which is the whole point of the game. The point of this game is to blow a whole BUNCH of stuff and shoot a bunch of people in the face. I honestly don't know remember what the story is, but it's nothing to write home about, because its basically this...you are one of four mercenaries, you got the standard cliches here - the hot chic that prefers lighter weapons and is quicker than most, with the added bonus that she can go invisible sometimes. You got the skinny dude whose good at sniping, you got the big bulky guy that can take more hits and slap down a sweet sentry gun every once in a while when things get hectic. Then you got the kinda all around dude. So you got these mercenaries, and they take this bus out to this big apocalyptic wasteland and they are there to kick ass. They help the locals I guess, but mostly just because that's what enables them to kick more ass. Like Bionic Commando, like some other great games recently, the story doesn't matter at all. You are here to kick ass and chew absolutely no bubble gum whatsoever. One of the better parts of this game that is one of its (quite a few) steps above Fallout 3 is that you can grab a few friends with you and go a-ass-kicking with them. Wasting stuff is always more fun with a couple of friends, and plus the more friends you get, the more phat LOOTZ you get too, so everyone wins.

I'll be the first to admit that this game pretty much came out of nowhere for me. During the awesome video game onslaught that happens during the end of the year, I just pretty much assume there will be at least one good game I'll be buying each week from about September to November. I'm ok with it, I've come to terms with it. My bills might not have, but thats another matter. Borderlands just happened to be the "game to get" during that particular week. It looked cool, I figured it'd be fun, and basically anything that is post apocalyptic, be it a movie, book, or game, should just have the words FOR JASON stamped on it. I love that crap, I have since I was a kid and I read the book Alas, Babylon. Check it out if you've never heard of it, it may be a little trite now but I bet you'll still be entertained. Anyways, so I love me some post apocalyptic-ness. This was why Fallout 3 blew me away last year. This is why I'll be seeing the movie The Book of Eli at midnight when it comes out in January (which they should just stop screwing around and call that FALLOUT 3: THE MOVIE, WITH DENZEL WASHINGTON). Borderlands definitely takes place in a post apocalyptic world, and its a pretty big world at that. It's also a very stylish looking world. Cel-shading is a term that might have made others shudder in the past. Anyone remember the trainwreck of a game called XIII back on the gamecube? Probably not. But anyways, cel-shading graphics is a cool style that has kind of a bad rap when it comes to video games. No more should this be the case after Borderlands.

This is a very cool looking game, and there aren't many others out there that look like it. Some of the lighting effects in the game are very cool and almost better than anything out there. While the story isn't going to impress you, you won't care. I'm going to be honest with you here and tell you that I played this game until my eyes hurt the first night I put it in. My eyes literally HURT. I stopped because the sun came up. I had to work the next day, didn't matter. What's funny is, when I talked with a few friends of mine who had it, and people at the local Gamestop, they said about the same thing. This game will suck you in. You may fight a boss of some sort and think "well...there could be some sweet ass guns around this next corner" and you'll keep playing. This is why the game takes a lot of cues from WoW, and why anyone who comes over from that game will want to give the developers of this game a big ol hug. So, we've established that the graphics are neat. I think that having mentioned I was addicted to this game from the first hour and that many other people had the same problem, I've probably just demonstrated that, gameplay be good. Gameplay be very good.

Oh another thing that sets this apart from Fallout 3 - there are vehicles in this one. Which is good, because frankly, a little too much walking in that one. Yeah its a pretty game and theres maybe a few more things to see in that than there is in Borderlands, but cmon, gamers nowadays have the attention spans of gnats. Cmon have you ever PLAYED Call of Duty or any of those other twitch FPS games, not to mention twitch action games like Devil May Cry, God of War? We don't want to walk around looking at the flowers and the grass and crap. We want to blow crap up and shoot people in the mouth. Borderlands knows this, and just when you start thinking "maaaan, I gotta walk all the way ove THERE?!" they drop a big ol' vehicle in your lap. So if we get down to brass tax and really compare Fallout 3 with Borderlands (its honestly impossible not to, they have very similar ideas), the bottom line is this: Borderlands is much more fun to play. It has alot more ways to hold your interest than Fallout, but Fallout 3 also has the story and the emotional impact, and frankly maybe a little bit more realistic and interesting graphics. Thats not to say Borderlands isn't pretty, it is, it's just that with Fallout 3...sometimes you just felt like, you were THERE, man. You were THERE. And some video games are all about atmosphere, and Fallout 3 absolutely nailed that. Borderlands...not so much. But you'll be too busy shooting things by yourself or with friends and picking up new guns and flamethrowers and other crap that goes boom to care.

Heres an example of some of the many, maaaany people that you will be shooting. They are just random bandits (or, fodder, if you will) to help you level up and make money to either buy more sweet stuff or find more sweet stuff. I'll be honest one more time here too, since its 130 in the morning and I feel like it...I haven't beaten this game all the way through yet. I plan on it, certainly, but fact of the matter is, when I still had a job (I don't now, but thats another story), this game scared me. I played it until my eyes hurt MORE THAN ONE NIGHT. It's amazing, its mind blowing. It has such a simple formula to it, the phat loots/blow crap up formula, that it has so greatly perfected that I had to stay away from it for a little while. I'm going back, don't worry. Probably even after I finish this up. But I guess I'll put this out as a warning to anyone that has a pretty taxing job - be careful with this one. The good news about this is that, unlike WoW, it has a legitimate ending. Probably around 30 hours or so your first playthrough, I'm told. And if you want to get everyone up to level 50 (the max), thats about another half playthrough. You could sink a lot of time into this game and have a big smile on your face the whole time, and again unlike WoW, it will come to an end. So theres a light at the end of the tunnel, and everybody likes those (well, cept people that don't want to die yet, I guess). I think I've said enough here, so on to the scores!

Graphics - 8/10. Very cool stuff. Makes cel-shading in a video game look like an awesome idea, and thats no small feat. Everything moves well, blows up real good, and the violence is cool and not too overdone (well, you CAN blow someones head clean off, so maybe it is, but still! Its cartoony, not kinda realistic and brutal like Assassins Creed II). Me like.

Sound - 8/10. All the guns sound very cool, the voice overs (when there are some) are good, the goofy robot pal at the beginning will make you laugh, and theres some atmospheric jams in some places too. Just as good as the graphics.

Challenge - 8/10. I'd almost do two scores here, cuz you can probably knock that down two points if you grab some friends. By yourself though, some of this stuff SUCKS. Yes the enemies scale in difficulty if you have a couple friends with you (did I mention it can just be you and three others?), but by yourself some of the bosses in this game are JERKS. The good news is, normally there will be a regeneration station close to where you get killed, so you won't lose much but sweet, precious time.

Fun - 10/10. This is where the game nails it. I'd even give it a 12/10. How many games have I given a warning about at the end, that you might be TOO addicted? It hits everything right - the level progression is perfect, the amount of phat lootz you get is always on par with the difficulty, everything works. Even if everything else sucked about this game the main reason we play video games is to have a blast, and this game provides that more so than almost any other game this year.

Overall - 9/10. Put this ahead of Assassins Creed 2 on my list. It's incredible and one of the most fun games I've played in years. If you are curious about this game, just go buy it. And ESPECIALLY if you played Fallout 3 or WoW for any amount of time, go get it now. You will not regret it...but your significant other might.