So I've been playing Fallout 3 like crazy lately. That's the only game I've been playing since my last blog. I've put about 25 hours in and I've completed the story and have done most of the sidequests.

Here's my review.

Fallout 3 has gotten mixed reactions from me in the 25 hours or so that I've played thus far. There are times where I'm really liking the game and everything just flows so well while there are times I just hate the game with a passion because of the difficulty or the amount of glitches or load times. Anyways, let's break the game down.

Going into Fallout 3, I felt that the story had an amazing premise. It was a post apocalyptic world and you were born in some kind of Vault and it was just all intriguing. I was never a Fallout fan before so I knew nothing about the world or the series but since you didn't need to play the other ones I definitely had to try this game. Anyways, the story starts off solid and it picks up pretty fast. Unfortunately, I think the climax of the story is you leaving the vault which happens within the first hour of the game. After that your just searching for your father and when you eventually find him your about half way done the game. The story's conclusion happens way too fast and its just a short game. Overall, Fallout 3 had a great premise for a story but the story just did not live up to the premise but fortunately there are so many more things to do in the world of Fallout 3.

There a ton of side quests in the game. Right now I have done all of them except 3 so I've basically beaten the majority of them. There are some pretty interesting side quests and some of them can be pretty lengthy which is a good thing because the story is so short. From atomic bombs to vampires to nuca cola to zombies, these side quests can be hilariously entertaining and some have pretty awesome endings. You decide whether or not you want to blow up an entire city while watching from a tower miles away.

The graphics in the game are done really well. It is definitely one of the better looking games thus far on the 360. Even though the graphics are well done, it is the technical aspects that make the game less fun. There are some long and boring load times which really take away from it since your always going from city to city or room to room and you always get about a 20 second or so load time. Theres also some terrible glitches in some quests that make you want to ripoff your hair (especially if your an achievement whore like myself). These aren't huge problems but they can really detract from the game.

The gameplay is where I was really disappointed when I began the game. It was confusing and just felt way too hard for me. Thank God though that Bethesda is always smart enough to include a slider. On very easy, this game was a blast. It was fun and I wasn't dying every 5 minutes. As a terrible Western RPGer, this game was very tough for me on the normal setting but on the easier settings it allowed me just to have fun.

The gameplay also began to get extremely fun when I was very easy. I started understand which stats were important and where I should put my points for the next level in. Things just started to flow. Also, it just never gets old blowing off a Raiders head.

The Fallout world is massive. Probably too massive for my likings but it adds a ton of gameplay for the hardcore fans which is a fantastic thing. There are loads of things to collect, loads of quests to complete, and loads of places to explore and that is what makes Fallout 3 such an awesome game. 25 hours in and I still have a bunch of things to do so I can get all the achievement points. If your a fan of WRPG's or want to be immersed, then this game is for you.

Resistance: Fall of Man

- I've played a couple more chapters. The story thus far is very generic and not really interesting. I hope it picks up soon but I'm at the part where you are underground in a facility where you get split up from the British chick. The game is still pretty fun, after getting use to the controls its been a blast going through the chapters. Hopefully it keeps up and hopefully the story actually finishes good because if it does I may have to buy Resistance 2.

Dark Sector

- So I beat Dark Sector. The game started to suck in chapter 5 for about two chapters but then picks up again when the stupid and unfun hard enemies stop appearing and it goes back to the easy funner enemies. Story gets a big meh overall but the gameplay was there and it was pretty fun. The glaive is an awesome weapon and for a $6.00 game is was amazing. If there is a sequel they just need to tool the gameplay but make an awesome story that will intrigue people.

Fable II

- So I started Fable 2 again. I got the first Hero. I'm going to slowly be playing this game along with Fallout 3. The game isn't as bad as I recall but its still a WRPG and those are hard and boring for me usually.

Fallout 3

- I also started playing this again. I did two more missions and now I'm in Tranquility Lane. The game is OK. I'm not the biggest WRPG fan like I just said so I get frusterated really easy by them. However, the story premise was very interesting at the beginning but now every mission ends with the classic, "Your Princess is in another castle?" (Aka your DAD isnt here). It's getting to a point where its just lame. But I'll play it out and will beat the game eventually.

In other news I bought The Last Remnant and Battlefield: Bad Company. I haven't played them yet and most likely I'm going to hold off until I beat a couple more games. I have too many on the go.

So I haven't been blogging in awhile. A big reason is because Ive been so busy with work, school, and gaming that I haven't really had a chance to blog.

Anyways these are the games I've been playing.

Folklore

- I finally beat Folklore today after a good couple weeks playing it and taking my time. It was a solid action RPG and you can check my full thoughts in the review I wrote today. Overall, Folklore is a solid game that if you like entertaining stories full of twists (yet some predictable ones) and decent gameplay then you might want to check this one out.

Dark Sector

- So I bought this game for $6.99 on Boxing Day. So far the game has been pretty good even though I just started Chapter 6 and there are some pretty annoying baddies that have been appearing. The first 5 chapters were so fun because the enemies were easy and the glaive was fun to use but now the enemies are tougher and it just takes the funfactor of running around and kicking ass away. Hopefully, these baddies don't appear for the rest of the game. Anyways, game is pretty solid. Takes the Gears of War gameplay and I love Gears so its been pretty fun. Overall the game right now is probably an 8/10 but we'll see how the game concludes and hopefully it doesn't start to get reptitive.

Resistance: Fall of Man

- So about two hours ago I put Resistance back in and boy was I wrong. I got use to the controls and I just started playing and couldnt stop. I played 5 chapters and got to the Cathedral so I think I'm going to be playing alot more of Resistance in the next couple of games. Hopefully the story is good, I like it so far.

Anyways, those are the 3 games I've been playing. I started Fallout 3 and Infinite Undiscovery but I haven't put enough time to judge them. So far I think Fallout 3 has a great premise but the gameplay is so boring...it's a game I rather watch someone beat. So far Infinite Undiscovery is a big old meh but I haven't played too much and I heard the start is terrible but it really picks up so we'll see. Anyways heres a list of games I have to beat before the 4 games in Feb/March that I want to pick out get relased (Killzone 2, Halo Wars, Star Ocean 4, and Resident Evil 5). Theres also these 4 games that I missed in November that I have to play (Left 4 Dead, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Last Remnant, and Mirrors Edge). But these are the list of incomplete games:

Condemned 2: Bloodshot - Havent Started
Dark Sector - Completed 6 out of 10 Chapters
Fable 2 - Played a bit when I bought it but haven't played since.
Fallout 3 - just got to the place where I met a black dude who met my father.
Infinite Undiscovery - in the forest where you meet up with everyone
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts - got about 10 jiggies.

Little Big Planet - played a couple levels but not alot
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - just met meryl
Resistance: Fall of Man -Completed 7 out of 30 Chapters
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - Stuck on CHapter 5. Glitch :(

4 Games I still want to get more achievements in:
Dead Space - On Hardcore
Saints Row 2 - Achievements
Gears of War 2 - Insane and Dog Tags
Prince of Persia - Achievements

So Christmas was awesome. I got Folklore, Uncharted, and Metal Gear Limited Edition. So I've been playing alot of games but unfortunately I havent spent alot of time in any game.

Prince of Persia

This is probably the game I've put the most time into over the past week. So far its awesome. The game is a bit repetitive but its still very fun. The graphics and artstyle are fantastic. The orchestrated music is also good. The gameplay is pretty fun. I was never a big PoP fan but this game is overrall very entertaining. I'm almost done the game so expect a review on this shortly. I hope the story ends with more of a bang because thus far it hasn't been THAT good but the gameplay is very fun.

Little Big Planet

So I decided to play this more the other day and instead of playing the actual story I decided to play the community levels. All I can say is wow. These levels are amazing, some people have such an awesome imagination. I can't wait to go back to play more of them. I played a bunch of themed levels, my favourite being a recreation of the first part of the original Metal Gear Solid. It plays out exactly how the game goes and its just wonderful. Its not complete but the guy who made it is slowly continuing his work. But yeah since I hadnt played LBP in awhile this was surprisingly entertaining and gave me the push to go back and play it.

Uncharted

Put this is yesterday and it looks and plays really good. I beat the first two stages and I love the Tomb Raider / Prince of Persia feel to it. Nathan Drake seems like an awesome character and I can't wait to see how to the story plays out. Also, the game is beautiful in 1080p.

Metal Gear Solid 4

So I've already 'see' the game on youtube so its not a big surprise. I never enjoyed the gameplay but I want to watch the story on my big tv instead of a small youtube video. So far I just met Meryl and her gang but I'm going to slowly beat this overtime.

Folklore

So far the game is pretty fun. All I did was the Prologue section for the two characters but the premise seems good. It looks like it may be a repetitive game but we'll see how it goes. Like MGS I want to beat this overtime.

You'll get my full opinions and reviews on all the games when I feel like I put the right amount of time in. These are just some overall thoughts.

So I've been playing 3 games lately but I've also been buying more games which is a huge mistake. I got 3 games because Toys R Us had a buy 2 get 1 free. I picked up Resistance 2 (which I may be returning...read Resistance section why), Uncharted (hopefully its awesome), and Infinite Undiscovery. I also bought Condemned 2 for 360 for 20 bucks and Resistance for PS3. With all these new games I'm also playing Gears of War 2, Dead Space (on my 2nd playthrough), and Saints Row 2. Theres also Banjo, Little Big Planet, and Fable II that I still need to put alot of time into. But anyways...

Gears multiplayer is still very addictive but its just not as fun as the original. I played alot of horde last night and things got insane. I'm on the 38th wave and wow its getting hard...especially with only 3 people. I'm going to try and play the campaign again and get all the COG Tags so I can finish up the single player campaign achievements. Besides that the only other achievements are Seriously and the complete 1999 games achievement. Gears 2 will keep sucking away my time.

I've put alot of time into Saints Row 2 lately. I beat the campaign on coop and did all the activities. I still have a bunch of stuff to do but I'm slowly trying to finish off all the achievements. Multiplayer achievements are going to be hell because I suck at the game online for some reason.

Also, I started Dead Space again yesterday. I put 6 hours in and I'm already done 10 of the 12 chapters. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have the game beaten a 2nd time. Im going for the Single Gun Plasma Cutter achievement. The gun is upgraded so its not too hard but still very scary and because of it challenging. I'll probably have to replay the first couple chapters for a 3rd time to get the Equipment and Weapon upgrade achievement and then maybe play the game on the hardest difficulty which is going to be absolutly hell.

Yeah so basically I am so screwed with gaming. This is the first time I've been swamped because usually I like to put alot of time into all my purchases but I think I've bought too many.

Resistance

- So I haven't played my PS3 too much since I bought it. I played a bit of Little Big Planet but I still havent played that too much. Anyways today I put Resistance in and played the first two levels. First off, I'm pretty disappointed. I thought the graphics would be better. Yeah I know its a launch game but still I'm a bit disappointed when you compare it to Gears of War which came out at about the same time.

The biggest disappointment with the game is something that can't be fixed. I don't like the PS3 controller. It's uncomfortable in the hand and it just feels weird. I had the same problem with Little Big Planet. The controller is holding me back from enjoyment. I also bought Resistance 2 (but havent opened it) but I might return it because if I cant enjoy the controls Im not going to waste 60 bucks.

Alright I dont have a Game of the Year yet because I havent played all the titles of this year that I've want to. I also haven't put enough time to games I own like Little Big Planet and Banjo to judge. But anyways heres the contenders so far for my Game of the Year.

1. Rock Band 2
2. Devil May Cry 4
3. Burnout Paradise
4. Lost Odyssey
5. Tales of Vesperia
6. Dead Space
7. Gears of War 2
8. Grand Theft Auto IV
9. Saints Row 2

Games that have a chance to be a contender if I get to play them in time / if I get enough time to play them more.

1. Little Big Planet
2. Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
3. Prince of Persia
4. Tomb Raider: Underworld
5. The Last Remnant
6. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
7. Valkyria Chronicles
8. Resistance 2

I'll also be having different awards such within genres, biggest disappointment and biggest surprise and stuff like that. Also biggest news. All that should be coming near Christmas time when I have played and beaten all the awesome games of 08.

PS I dont get why people are declaring their game of the year so early.

So I haven't posted in awhile so here's what I think of the 360 update.

It looks nice. I still don't know how to change the theme but I'm sure I'll find out eventually. Avatars are pretty sweet. I like how themes and gamer pics are still incorporated. The only thing I don't like about is that theres still too many options in the menu. I thought the point of it was to make it even easier to access everything but it seems to be just as confusing.

Avatars are sweet so heres my guy rocking the glasses.

Gears of War 2

- I know most of you are jumping in Gears of War 2 and loving it but as an experienced player of the first game I still find it disappointing. I beat the campaign tho and I thought it was pretty fun and the story was obviously better than the first game. Coop is still fun but damn the game is as challenging as ever. Not looking forward to beating the game on Insane.

- Multiplayer still is hit or miss.

1. Lag is happening more often in games.
2. When your in a 5 person party you basically find a game instantly but takes alot longer with 1-4 people.
3. I hate the chainsaw still. If you shoot someone coming at you with a chainsaw it should lower the gun and it should take longer to charge the chainsaw up.
4. Shotgun is pretty useless.
5. Flamethrower is way overpowered and gay as hell.
6. Levels are still pretty boring and too small for 5 v 5.
7. Hail and River are the two standout maps for me.
8. Canals is as awesome as ever.
9. I hate the grenades and I hate how you can put them against the wall. They are cheap and so gimmicky. Epic needs to remove them and just put the regular nades back.
10. Also, I also hate them swapping the weapons every round. Its so annoying.

Gears of War is still way better than the 2nd one online in my opinion.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts / Banjo Kazooie

- Got the game last week but I still havent really put in too much time. I've been playing the arcade version more...which I've gotten to the Haunted Mansion level. But yeah Nuts and Bolts is pretty fun. I find it a tad confusing and would have much prefered a standard platformer but the game isn't bad just takes a lot of time to get use to which I haven't been able to do beacuse of school, work, gears, and socializing.

PS3 + LBP + Wishlist

- Havent spent too much time with my PS3 or LBP. I rather play Gears or Banjo. PS3 looks beautiful. I cant wait to start watching Blu Ray DVDs on it. I Got Tropic Thunder which is a hilarious movie. Watched a couple minutes and it looked awesome even though I only watched it on my 720P TV not my brothers 1080p tv.

- I don't know what it is but I just haven't gotten attached to Little Big Planet. Just like Banjo I rather play a traditional platformer instead of something unique and innovative such as LBP or Nuts and Bolts. I'll give both games the time of day eventually and I can't wait to start customizing.

- I want to get

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Special Edition
2. Valkyria Chronicles
3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
4. Folklore
5. Resistance

I finally did what I've wanted to do for a long time - get a PS3. Got it for both Blu Ray and PS3 and it only cost me 360 after taxes because I got 20% off of it at Walmart because I work there.

I'll get my impressions later but I'm very excited. I also picked up Tropic Thunder.

So I posted before about Gears but I'll talk more about it now.

Gears of War 2

Campaign

So I haven't played too much of the campaign but so far its fun. Storyline so far is nothing special but I'm sure it'll pick up soon. Tonight I really want to marathon the campaign even though I'm only still on the 2nd chapter. I'll have more impressions about the campaign after I beat it. Also, coop is fun as ever and the game is challenging on hardcore which is good because insane will be worth the achievement and time spent.

Multiplayer

I won't spend too much time on the positives of the game because in a nutshell its Gears. Everything that was done in the first one I still love in the second one.

Horde is fun and adds a new dimension. The waves are increasingly difficult. I just wish that one of the achievements was beating 50 waves of Horde on insane which would be fun as hell. Wingman is amazing. Playing 2 on 2 on 2 on 2 on 2 is intense even though there are still a few problems with some spawn positions. Canals is still so awesome. Finally, Guardian is probably the funnest mode when you have a 5 on 5. There is so much strategy involved.

If you like the multiplayer in this game and didn't in the original then you are either a NEW fan of the series or you sucked at the original. Most of my Gears buddies are on the same page as me about the issues. Here are my problems:

1. Getting into matches is just way too hard with 1-4 people. The only times when its a breeze is when you have a team of 5 OR a team of 2 when playing Wingman.

2. Matchmaking is broken. The original Gears was about being able to play what you want whenever you wanted it. Now you may have to play submissive when you want to play annex or you might have to play Avalanche when you want to play Hail. Also, you can't even choose how many rounds you want to play. Theres so many other faults with matchmaking that I hope are addressed in patches in the future.

3. Chainsaw too powerful / Shotgun does nothing. The chainsaw is overpowered. You usually can't stun it even when you shoot a shotgun right in the belly. Chainsaw's are too easy to pull of and the shotgun is unreliable. I rather risk chainsawing a guy right infront of my who doesn't see me and is shooting somewhere else rather than using the shotgun.

So even though the multiplayer is slowly growing on me there are some moments that just make me want to toss my controller across the room. Hopefully Epic can fix the problems I have addressed because they seem to be universal problems.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts

So this comes out today and I am going to get it as soon as possible. Hopefully the code comes in as well for the original game because I'll probably want to play that first because I never beat the original Banjo....as a kid I got stuck on Grunty at the end. So yeah I'll be adding this game to...........

Dead Space, Fable II, Saints Row 2, and Gears of War 2.

I'll be updating my 360/DS wishlist for the year in my next blog probably later today or tomorrow with overall summarys of my likes and dislikes of all the games.

I still haven't technically bought Gears of War 2 yet because my friend who works at Rogers hooked me up with the game on Wednesday but I have been playing it alot.

I havent touched the campaign but I've played about 20 hours of multiplayer.

Pros

1) Wingman mode is awesome. Intense, fun, and your always looking over your shoulder. (Btw this is 2 vs 2 vs 2 vs 2 vs 2)

2) Guardian mode is also awesome. Playing 5 vs 5 on this mode is so sick. You guard your leader while hunting for the other leader.

3) Horde is fun but hard. I haven't really played too much of it. I want to play with 5 people until I officially say its awesome.

4) Active reloading sniper is removed which was a HUGE problem in the first game.

5) Boomshot less effective but on a negative note you are given 3 shots instead of 2. This I guess can be positive if you are the one with the boomshot.

6) Pretty and destructive environments are neat.

CONS

1) New maps are boring, small, and just not that good. There are a few standouts. I like Avalanche, River, Security,Hail, and Stasis but even those are just OK compared to the original maps. Since I don't have my copy yet I havent downloaded the flashback maps but I hope they aren't changed too much because those 5 maps rocked.

2) New weapons are all sucky. The 2 big guns - Machine Gun and Mortar are just stupid. They shouldn't be in the game. Very gimmicky weapons that don't add much. Flamethrower is overpowered. New pistol is terrible.

3) Shotgun is weird as hell. A shotgun should be most effective when very close to an enemy. Instead the shotgun is most effective when your about 5 feet away. When your 1 or 2 feet away the shotgun is USUALLY not an instant kill which in the first it would be.

4) Chainsaw is way overpowered and sometimes when you shoot the guy coming at you with a chainsaw it doesn't stop them from continuing forward which is stupid. Chainsaw needs to be fixed. Its one of the biggest problems in the 'gameplay' department online.

5)NOT SURE but from what I can tell there is NO Customization in ranked games which are also unranked games under the PUBLIC search thingy. If your playing with random people you have to play up to 5 in warzone and execution. You cant pick the level you want to play in which is terrible. Now I read somewhere that in the PRIVATE matches you can customize your game but still if I dont have 9 friends I have to play public. Overall, this is the BIGGEST problem for me. I want to choose what I want to play against people. This is a deal breaker because I hate execution and I don't want to play it. I also dont want to play maps I dont want to play. AND I dont like playing games up to 5 which are WAY too short.

Anyways I gotta take a shower...I'll have more thoughts later but Epic didnt do what I wanted. Instead of fixing the host advantage (which Im still not sure is actually fixed), taking out active reloading for sniper, and adding a matchmaking thing like COD4 and Halo 3....Gears added way too many gimmicks that most fans dont really care about. The gameplay is still great but it isnt as amazing as the near perfect Gears 1.

Multiplayer - 9/10 as of now.

Gears 1 Multiplayer - 10/10

but who knows things can change...