...I've got my A Licence, so I'm quite far into the main game, so far I've got this to say:

The graphics, well not exactly the best on 360, are still pretty darn good. What's really special though is the crash physics, which are quite amazing (although they do have the very occasional hiccup).

The game's sound is good, though I'm not exactly into the sounds cars make. What does lets the sound down, however, is the soundtrack, which has about 300 Criterion Games tracks from the older Burnout titles and about ten other songs...of which only four of them are even half-decent (and one of them is Avril Lavine's Girlfriend - the worst thing in pop since Yoko Ono).

The game is astonishingly fast, words can't even describe it when you're driving the fastest cars at full boost; it's quite something to behold. The inclusion of events other than races is a good idea, and the marked-man events are really fun (you get chased from point A to B with the other drivers trying to smash you to pieces). The road-rage events are a bit pants though (you basically have to smash up a set number of rivals before they smash up you), although they're great for relieving tension they're just far too easy, to the point that I can use them simply as an easy way to rack up wins.

The free-roaming idea looks great on paper and indeed, finding the races can be fun and it's great if you just want to drive around for a little while say, when you don't have time to get into a serious game but when the races start it's just infuriating. Although it works in the marked-man events because you can take any street to get away from your rivals and it works in the road-range events (because those events start at one point but simply finish when you've been destroyed) it really doesn't work in the races. It's a lovely idea to race from a random intersection to a set location say, the naval base, but when you drive a perfect race only to take a wrong turn at the end you won't believe how angry I get. For example, say I'm racing east, I see a nice straight road heading east, only to find out later-on in the mini map it u-turns west for fifty miles. SO ANNOYING. Other times I've over-ran a corner and ended up on a railroad surrounded by ten meter high walls and no exits. Annoying. This could be fixed with something so simple: the wrong roads could be cut off for the races or; the right roads could be highlighted blue on the map or; there could be a button for resetting your position (like the SSX snowboarding games).

The other thing that really irritates me is that there's no way to restart, or even retry an event - you have to drive all the way back to the event after loosing it. So, you've taken a wrong turn onto TRIPPLE WATCH and you can't turn off it, you know you're going to come last but you can't restart the racem so you turn around and drive like a looser all the way to the finishing line, then you have to drive all the way back to the start to have another go. Ridiculous. One final thing that angered me is that the game doesn't actually get any harder, it just gets REALLY REALLY repetetive. It doesn't get any harder to advance through the game, it just makes you do more and more and more and more events. Also, the AI doesn't get any better as you go, they simply start driving Formula 1 cars in the races and monster trucks in the marked-man events. How the hell is that fair!?

So, based on my first two hours of playing I'd give this game an 8.5, based on my last hour of playing I'd give it a 7.0. It really is a shame.

PS. Sorry about my unusually bad grammar and over-use of the word "really"; when I get into a rant like this my schooling goes out the window and I work on "cynical-power" alone (of which I have plentiful stores).

UPDATE: Apart from Runescape this is THE worst online game I've ever played. Yes, even worse than Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, YES even worse than...dare I say it? I dare. Counter-Strike: Source. Even with friends Burnout Paradise is the most infuriating thing ever made. Ever. Period. More irritating than a rubix-cube, more irritating than the kids on Halo 3, more irritating than the freaks on Counter Strike and World in Warcraft. More painful to play than listening to Avril Lavine's Girlfriend, more painful to play than listening to the terrible script and voice acting combo in Mass Effect. Yes - it's just that bad. Only good if you've got a 1080p TV that you sit so close to that your eyes have merged with the screen to form the first ever half man, half machine being (yes, that's directed at you, Joe).

So this is the news that my Dad has recently aquired a friend from EA, to be more exact, EA's chief animator. As a result I've come to aquire Burnout Paradise for free! Huraah! Now I'm not one for racing games (racing games don't have guns), nor have I been since TOCA Race Driver and Grand Turismo 3 on the PS2, but I'll give this a try...especially for points. From what very little I've played it appears fairly decent, if not a little too open-ended.

I'll see you on the road!

Well...here it goes (thanks Tom).

1. Well, probably not much of a secret but those who don't know me so well won't know that I'm an...how do I put this nicely...absolute nutcase about military history, historical accuracy in games and military hardware (especially firearms and aircraft). I don't know how I can prove this too anyone reading this without you meeting me in person...let's just say I've played enough video games, that are realistic enough as far as detail is concerned, to operate a number of weapons. Note how I said operate; I'm far too weak to actually hit anything with them!

2. Again, no big secret, but I'm a 1st Degree Black Belt of Tae Kwon-do. But I just said I'm weak! Yeah, well, it's all in the technique as Tom'll tell you. Don't think being a black belt makes me able to kill you with a finger, however, anyone can get to black belt with some time and effort (and their are some truly terrible black belts at my clubs); it's 2nd Degree that seperates the boys from the men.

3. Yet again, not exactly mind-blowing news, but I play alot of piano (which I'm fairly good at) and some guitar (which I'm...okay at). About the hardest thing I can play is Knights of Cydonia by Muse which is also in Guitar Hero III. I love learning tunes from games and films on my instruments; I can play a number of Final Fantasy VII numbers, the Lord of the Rings theme and Halo 3, amongst others.

4. Cake or pie? To be truly honest I'm completely undicided, I love mince beef pie as a meal, but I love a good cake. Then again...the cake IS a lie...then again...you can't keep crying over every mistake; you just keep on trying 'till you run out of cake. Hmm...

5. Not terribly exciting, but I used to be really into Warhammer and I mean REALLY. I have draws in my room full of old models, most of them broken now...I must have spent hundreds of pounds on all that and now it's just rotting in my room. Shame. But I just don't have the patience for painting any more.

So there you go. The most boring 5 points ever.

In other news, much like Halo 3, the best thing in Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 is definetly being able to customize your guy. I've spent alot of time recreating soldiers from real life, films and other video games including a US Marine, a Gurlukovich Soldier from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and an indoors Genome Soldier from Metal Gear Solid.

Oh, and to further point 1, the guy in the forground of the US Marines picture has an Fabrique National M249 Light Machinegun, the guy in the background most likely has a Colt M16A4, though it might be a Colt M4A1 Carbine, though that's unlikely as most M4s have tactical stock.

:)

The new Rainbow Six installment is very much like it's predecessor; good. Only small changes have taken place in the new game, but they're ones that fans of the previous R6 will notice make a huge effect on the overall appeal of the game.

Sprinting

The first addition to the game is the ability to sprint. How exciting. But seriously, it does help to update the game and it definetly speeds up both the singleplayer and multiplayer very well. However, it is simply a sprint button, nothing else, so it's hardly going to effect my final review of the game - in fact, it only makes me realise what the previous game was missing out on.

Ranks and A.C.E.S

The most noticable edition to the game is, although it was in a lesser form in the first Rainbow Six Vegas, the most extensive player-customization options in shooter history. You're singleplayer character is also your multiplayer character and he, or she, can be outfitted with an incredible amount of different clothing options and diffrerent armour (that actually has an effect on your ability to withstand damage, your stamina and your speed), then these can be covered in any of...well, it must be more than 20 different camo patterns, oh, and not to mention that you can make your own camos later in the game. Your character also ranks up, unlocking new weapons, armour, clothing and camo patterns.

Camo and armour is unlocked by earning XP awarded for kills, this XP also increases your rank in the military (ie. you start at Recruit, rising up the ranks to Private 1st Class, 1st Sergeant etc.).

Unlocking weapons is done through a clever A.C.E.S system (don't ask me what it stands for) that awards you points for Marskman, C.Q.B (Close Quaters) and Assault. Marskman points are awarded for headshots and long range shooting, C.Q.B points are awarded for shots to the back and short-range kills and Assault points are awarded for kills through cover, killing shielded opponents and kills with explosives. Marskman points award you sniper rifles and assault rifles, C.Q.B points award you shotguns and pistols and assault points award you machineguns and sub-machineguns. The only problem with this system is that it's far to easy to get Marskman and C.Q.B points and far too difficult to get Assault points, it's also irritating to recieve Marksman points for, say, shotgunning someone in the head at point black range.

Finnaly, I need to talk about the multiplayer and its many many problems. Now, don't get me wrong, every now and then you can manage to find a good game that's not laggy, has grenades turned off and isn't full of spawn camping so-and-so's. Most of the time though every game I find is any combination of the above. How to solve the horrible online play:

Introduce a Party System

The two most popular consol shooters; Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 both have something in common - a party system. The lack of it in Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is, quite frankly, pathetic. When I was told that a matchmaking system was to be introduced, I assumed that included a party system. Alas it did not. So, the only way to play with your mates is to find them in a game from your friends list, but chances are you won't even be put on their team when you join which is a simply out-of-date way of playing online games. This lack of party system also means anyone can host a game with their own match setting like some dodgy PC shooter from eight years ago, as a result the match settings are always pants and you always end up with some moron on dial-up hosting a 16 player match. "It's sooo laggy!" we, the players, declare. "No it's not! It's fine here!" argues the host. "That's because you're the host you moron! Do you not understand how the internet works!" we shout back. This lag can either be so horrific it's impossible to even walk across an empty room or it can be background, which is actually more annoying. This "background" lag ruins the game. I've had instances when an empty window spits bullets at me and I die. Later I worked out that, when I watched the window down my scope, the host leaps into sight, he dissapears, then a muzzle flash appears in the window a second later and I die. This lag ruins the game.

Tone Down the Grenades

Grenades do NOT work on Rainbow Six. In the last Vegas, pretty much ever server had grenades turned off. Now, with all the noob hosts, pretty much every kill comes from grenades. People don't even use their weapons. In more than one instance, I've seen people who could've easily shot me and instead they simply throw a grenade. There are ways to stop this happening: turn off grenades; only allow one type of grenade per person instead of people having frags and incendaries at the same time; only allow one grenade; make the grenades take longer to set off; add a grenade warning indicator (like CoD4).

Tone Down the Shotguns

I used to quite like the way the shotugns were realistic in Rainbow Six as they're fairly long ranges and incredibly powerful. Now though, they're just irritating and the best guns in the game on all but two maps. I've had moments when I've put a whole clip in a guy with an assault rifle and he's just turned round from 30 foot away and got me in one blast from a shotgun. Ridiculous. Although unrealistic, the shotguns should be far more like the CoD4 shotguns, which are pretty much innefective at all but 12 foot away.

RANT OVER

Expect a review soon.

UPDATE: I've just started playing "Team Leader" gamemode (like Halo's VIP except each team leader can end the game by reaching an extraction point on the other side of the map) and it's actually really really good, and for some reason I'm yet to encounter a laggy game of it. So, perhaps this one game mode will save this multiplayer yet.

Recently I embarked upon a quest for armour and points (gee, this is starting to sound like World of Warcraft) through Halo 3's 'Legendary' level of difficulty. This is one of those things that's pretty much on accomplishable coop play....unless of course your incredibly patient - i.e. weird (Tom), as a result I decided to take up the services of a Halo veteran (also known as a fan boy), my good friend Ben Stokes. Even with two people some areas of the game are incredibly difficult and it gets to the point that one of the pair has to simply hang back and work as a spawn point, the other person then proceeds to run forward and kill an enemy and then die almost immediately. So, in an attempt to stop the incessant swearing at the game coming from my mouth we took on my mate Rob to help...who Ben previously hated for some unknown reason and vice versa. But after playing half of Halo on Legendary together they suddenly became pretty good mates. Amazing. I like to think of it like the brotherhood of soldiers at war; a brotherhood so close it's unrivalled by any other, one formed by the terrors of war. Well, it seems Legendary has the same effect - yes, that's just how terrible it is.

On the gaming front though, I quite like Halo. It's by no means a bad game, not like the original two; in fact it's a fairly good game with some quite brilliant moments. However, I don't understand why so many people believe it's a definite 10 out of 10, or even a 9...or even an 8 (well, maybe just). I think the thing that makes me like it so much is the fantastic soundtrack, well done Martin O'Donnell.

Well, expect a review soon...along with all those other reviews I was supposed to do.

I've been trying to squeeze a few more points out of Call of Duty 4's Veteran difficulty level and I'm borrowing Call of Duty 2 of a friend, again for the points Veteran offers. Veteran ruins Call of Duty.

The CoD4 singleplayer experience is fairly good and varied from start to finish, on Veteran however it is a highly depressing and infuriating experience throughout. CoD2 is the best CoD in my opinion, especially as it is one of those few WWII games that manages to show that the US didn't win the war single-handedly, it is a bit repetetive however, as most of the missions simply involve taking gun implacements or clearing house after house or bunker after bunker. Again, on veteran it is a terrible, pointlessly difficult experience.

The developers would like you to think that Veteran mode is "realistic". It's not. I have absolutely no problem with games that kill you in a couple of shots; I love Brothers in Arms and Rainbow Six, but unless the game is designed for realism, one-shot deaths just don't work. The enemy might be happily firing away at your useless, blind-firing chums but the minute you put your head above cover the Germans seem to scream "There's Player 1! Get him!" as the entire Third Reich storms over the horizon to the tune of Wagner's Ride of the Valkryies, oblivious to your many mentally retarded comrades around you, intent only on eliminating you. Also, the second you try to hide from this marauding hoard they assume your a coward and throw 100 grenades each at you.

It sucks

To conclude, Veteran mode turns the average point-seeking gamer into a swearing mess, throthing at the mouth like a rabid wolf.

Rant over.

...about when Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway comes out in the UK.

As many of you may know, the new BIA is my most anticipated game of 2008, especially seen as it was supposed to come out in November last year. Well, I've been doing a lot of snooping around for a definite release date lately and I've found so many that's it's incredibly hard to know what to follow.

My most hopeful date is the end of this month; 29th Febuary found on Amazon.co.uk and gamestation.co.uk. I'll keep checking up on this date every week or so, then go into my local GameStation on the 29th demanding the game. Chances are though this release date is a dud.

The nest most hopeful I found on a forum saying that the game is scheduled for March, which wouldn't be so bad, then I've got the April 1st date (which is a US date because April Fool's Day is on Tuesday this year) off UK Gamespot and then I've found a June release date off a couple of sites and forums.

The most depressing release date is one I heard in a rumour on a forum, but that rumour was at least partly justified by my look at amazon.com (the US site) which seems a fair bit more organised that the UK site as they have release dates down for things that arn't scheduled for some time like Far Cry 2. I did read some where else that the US release date is supposed to be after Europe's, strangely, but I doubt there'd be such as big gap as Febuary to October between the releases.

So, to conclude, my results are...well, incunclusive, to be honest. I'm just going to remain positive and hope for some where before June. If the **** hits the fan though and October is official, I'll just buy Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 next month.

Happy gaming all, and I hope you have more luck than me.

...is a rubbish film.

I'm very depressed at the moment as nothing good has come into my life for some time, at least as far as the media is concerned. I've played a multitude of terrible demoes lately, I played Crysis only to find that it's very mediocre, I'm getting sick to death of Call of Duty 4's multiplayer and Rainbow Six: Vegas has little or no replay value at all...yeah, so life is dull.

So I went to see the very secret and hyped Cloverfield today, only to find that it sucks, thus propelling me into even deeper dementions of depression. The whole film is done on a shakey, hand held digital camera that provoked the laughter-enducing sign outside the cinema: "The feature Cloverfield uses camera techniques that may provoke motion sickness".

The film begins very slowly and boringly but then, suddenly, the monster appears...well, actually, it doesn't appear at all but the consequenses of its angry, desructive actions appear. First the head of the Statue of Liberty rolls down the street, then the Empire State Building falls down then the Brooklyn Bridge collapses. So great, looks like everyone'll be just fine. Happy ending here we come! The rest of the film is centered around some moron who is desperate to find his girlfriend, despite the fact the whole of Manhattan will be leveled at 6:00 in the morning, and his equally moronic camera loving friend, who manages to keep his camera secure while being attacked by the giant creature's giant lice (yes, you read correctly, lice) and while travsering partly collapsed building. If he were to get out alive I would recommend him doing some sort of balancing tight-rope act in the circus while filming the whole thing; what a show it would make!

Anyway, the ending is pathetic and useless and I'll tell you now,

(*SPOILER SPOILER*)

the monster, although scary at the start when you don't know what the 100ft tall beast is, is just funny to look at mainly because it looks like a skinny whale with arms and legs with the head of that demon from Doom. Oh yeah, and it's also invincible...seriously, it can feel pain but it's invincible. It gets shot with 120mm rounds from M1A2 Abrams Tanks (I like specifics), 5.56mm rifle and machine gun rounds, 40mm rockets, artillery rounds, air-to ground missiles from F-18 Hornets and eventually bombed with 2000lb bombs from a B2 "Stealth Bomber" and it STILL SURVIVES. Rediculous.

(End of Spoilers)

Now I know I agreed with Joe on Ben's blog about Cloverfield about taking it too seriously, but I retract that comment. This film takes its self waaay to seriously for a cheap monster film and therefore I can criticise it in a serious manner. This isn't like Godzilla, an almost jokey, almost childish kids film about a big lizard. This film thinks it's something else, you can just tell from the opening where, before the filming starts, it says "Taped document found in trauma area 7712, codename "Cloverfield", formerly known as "Central Park", property of the United States government, not to be copied or reproduced." or words to that effect. Also, you'd think a film so up its own arse would bother to explain the monster at least a little bit, instead of just ending the film so abruptly and unsatisfactorily. Well, there are rumours of a sequel, so I hope that has some explanation in it.

In other news the best thing I saw at the cinema was the latest trailer for the new Batman film and, although I've already seen the trailer before it was absolutely brilliant to see it on the big screen! I can't wait! Come on Batman, I need something good to bring me out of my depression...ooh, I just rembered, Brothers in Arms can do that for me, especially seen as I've seen some very recent screens of the game and the graphics looks AMAZING, better than Gears of War. Seriously. CAN'T WAIT! HAPPINESS IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER...unless it gets put back. NOOO! Must think positive!

I think I'll end this rant there people. Thanks for reading - oh, and remember to check out my other 3 or 4 blogs if you havn't already; sorry, I've had a lot of rubbish to write about lately.

Yet another blog in such a short space of time...

It's my Rainbow Six: Vegas review! I picked this game up pretty cheap in the January sales, so I'm quite satisfied with how it turned out.

...the worst first-person-shooter ever? Probably.

As you may have guessed I've just finished playing the Conflict: Denied Ops singleplayer demo. It is terrible. Words cannot describe the utter hate and disgust I feel for this game, especially seen as Conflict: Desert Storm II is a pretty decent game, and one of my fondest PS2 memories. Okay, it wasn't without its problems but it was just what I needed as a young, war-obsessed video gamer; something mascarading as a realistic game, as there weren't any at all on consoles until Brothers in Arms.

Firstly, the game isn't 3rd Person as all of its predecessors were, instead, they've taken everything that made Brothers in Arms, Rainbow Six and Call of Duty good, and utterly remade it, but while doing so they managed to ruin it, strip it of all its dignity and couple it with the worst graphics, worst shooting mechanics, worst weapon designs and worst voice acting of all time. The only good thing I have to say about it is that stuff breaks apart when shot in a half-decent way...it's hardly what Hell's Highway will do but that's another story.

So, to conclude, the Conflict series was never anything spectacular, but at least it was good solid fun and I thought, after Conflict: Global Storm they would've just left the videogame scene quietly and in a dignified manner, instead they hid under the radar and then soiled my console with this utter disgrace of a demo.

NOTE: Check out my previous two blogs if you havn't already. Sorry, I made three blogs in the space of two days; a little too much to keep track of really. :P