Recently, I've noticed that Kinect is going the same way as the Wii. An advert I endured with bored, glazed-over eyes spurned me to write this post after I noticed an eerie similarity between Nintendo's console and Microsoft's peripheral. Let me name the culprit: Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, by Ubisoft.

Yes - Fitness Evolved may convince even the most grossly-obese basement dweller to throw away the food-stained headset in favour of some healthy exercise, but the fact remains that, like the Wii, Kinect may become quickly swamped with so-called 'fitness' games which could dilute the few good gaming experiences Kinect offers.

This situation is incredibly similar to the Wii's. Any informed gamer can spout forth a list of widely-accepted 'good' games - Mario Kart, Super Mario Galaxy, Donkey Kong Country Returns - but for each quality title, there are five pieces of shovelware which muddy the waters of the gaming market and force well-meaning gamers into making conversation with the 40 year-old whose Balance Board is groaning in pain from underneath. It's a problem.

So, there you have it. An issue which could affect Microsoft's already-wilting, not-so-big-in-Japan, peripheral which has already come under fire from people other than dedicated Sony fanboys and internet trolls. Sadly, we could be seeing more games in the vein of Fitness Evolvedon Kinect before the hardware really has a chance to get established and release some five-star titles, something which would inevitably happen given enough time.

Condemned: Criminal Origins, or Condemned, as it's know here in the United of K, is definitely one of the 360's few horror titles. This is attributed towards the many elements which ramp up the tension and the apprehension in game, but the main cause of such unashamed terror is the first-person perspective, which leaves you immersed in the character of Ethan Thomas, all while blindly stumbling through the dark with nought but a taser, a torch, and a variety of improvised melee weapons which have to be employed to take down the game's various crazed maniacs. The mall - or shopping centre, as it's known in the UK - is where you find me, currently scrutinising a room full of mannequins, all grouped suspiciously in a dark corner. This - with close competition from the infamous locker scene later on in the game - is probably the scariest moment in the game, as you debate whether or not to go into the dark room with those somber, unflinching mannequins perhaps hiding something grislier, or move on, with unsettling doubt in your mind. Always curious, I slowly make my way into the little box-room, brandishing my improvised melee weapon in front of me in a display of false bravado. Holding in my breath, I survey my mannequin friends, knocking their respective heads off to make sure they're not more than simple mannequins - the mall's populace is clever, and they've fooled me once or twice by posing as mannequins, until they sneak up behind you and start laying waste to your back, sending a jolt of pure fear up your spine. And guess what? My mannequin friends are nothing but that - stiff, unflinching sculptures which I nonetheless devote a wary eye to.

As the white stuff builds up and authority panics, I'm faced with an ever-stretching chasm of freedom in my otherwise fairly busy life. I decided to reconnect my PS2 to my TV in order to revisit some old gems - and I chose Downhill Domination, the only mountain-biking game I've ever loved. As the game loads and the PS2's mysterious working parts begin to whir again, it seems like a long time since I've played my PS2, although it must only have been a month or two while I've been diverted with completing my large collection of Xbox games. Finally, Downhill Domination loads, and I remember how great a game it is. I choose my character - Ajax, who I always play as - and endure his over-played role with gritted teeth as I plunge into a race after choosing a bike and, more importantly, its paint job. Mount Middule, France - the first race in Downhill Domination's Career mode and the first track I ever raced. All the bikers speed off and I struggle to keep at the front, eventually easing off to let them overtake as I divert from the group and take a shortcut burned into my mind. Even though my competitors are in the distance, I can see my position climbing up the ranks until I'm first and I can only vaguely hear the pack behind me, their tires biting into the ground viciously. I pull off a suitably acrobatic move and cycle into one of the more vertical sections of the course, and I'm reminded why this game is such a classic. Powerups smash mesmerisingly on contact as I progress through a green combat powerup, then a red speed boost which sends me airborne at neck-breaking velocity, only for me to take advantage of the boost and do a backflip as lightning strikes the side of the mountain and trees burn. I enter the final part of the course, and I allow myself to slow down for some extra tricks and the following of the final Black Diamond trails. I start to feel a sort of creeping paranoia as I ride over the final ridge, sure that all of a sudden a competitor would appear on my screen, or a flying punch would leave me shamefully bailed. Thankfully, the punch never arrived and I crossed the finish line with theatrical flair, pulling one last stunt which I narrowly landed before collecting my winnings. Job done. Hurrah.

I thought I'd maybe post one 'Now Playing' a week, but as my school is closed and my exam timetable has been thrown into turmoil and the abyss of uncertainty, I decided to relax and play one of my recent acquisitions which I haven't quite given enough attention. Besides, I need the writing practice, don't I? Just Cause 2 - the decidedly-vertical open world game by Avalanche Studios is actually pretty fun, as I've discovered recently. The plot is uninspired at best (seriously, the organisation the main character, Rico, belongs to is called 'The Agency), but the action is fast and relentless and the game brings an interesting angle to the table - one of employing tactics directly linked to the vertical nature of the game. Crackdown should probably be credited as the game which first employed this new dimension for open-world games, but even that pales in comparison with the swooping swan dives and leaps from screaming jets which makes Just Cause 2 such a great success and a big hit with everyone. There's something immensely satisfying about battling with hostile soldiers in a crowded military base, and then suddenly disappearing above the treetops, leaving the disengaged troops on the ground confused and wary. Then, when all the excitement seems to be over, swooping down again on a parachute to rain hot death down upon those who have survived like a huge great blind bat. Another thing to mention is the scale of the map. Panau - the game's fictional setting - is a vast, beautiful grouping of islands with sandy deserts, tropical beaches, lush rainforests, and snow-capped mountain tops which have come straight from a holiday brochure. The island is fully functional, too, densely populated at the expense of an abject lack of distinguishing character in many of the villages, but this can be forgiven due to the robust nature of the map and the beautiful visuals which should really be viewed on a behemoth HD telly, sadly absent from my life. A lot of power is placed in your hands from the start of the game, which I was rather surprised at when I began playing. As a grouping of large landmasses, I expected Just Cause 2 to require the player to complete all of the missions on one island to progress to the next one, a la GTA IV. Instead, you only have to do one mission in the course of the entire game - the customary intro mission which sets the scene for the plot and serves as an introduction to the game's controls. After that, you're supposed to get on with the story but you're free to find and complete each one of the game's 368 (I think) locations, if you so wish. Well, there you have it. A thoroughly-enjoyable foray through a very pretty - but somewhat lifeless - map supposedly rocked by political turmoil and steadied by an oppressive force of not very intelligent military. I have to recommend Just Cause 2 sheerly for its own flavour of Hollywood-esque action which involves liberal use of jets, fast cars, and heavily-armed helicopters. If you're looking for that kind of fun to sustain you for the winter months at the expense of variety then Just Cause 2 is a great game to pick up. I've just inadvertently written a very poor review, haven't I? Damn - I need to get better at this 'Now Playing' thing.

I thought it would be apt to play Prey, seeing as I've just created a new account directly influenced by the game itself - more specifically, one of its main protagonists, albeit one who dies fairly early in the game. Again, I find myself concerned with the story of Tommy, a man simply driven by three objectives: finding his girlfriend, Jen, getting back to Earth, and - if he has time - saving the world and the wider human race in the process. I have to comment on the opening scenes of the game. A lot of it is just simple cardboard scene-setting, as Tommy takes in his mundane surroundings and converses with his grandfather, the wise old Injun who glows irritatingly with ancient, interior knowledge and mysterious content. Eventually, things get going and Tommy - his pride wounded - takes a wrench to the respective faces of two drunken rednecks making lewd comments about his girlfriend and bartender, Jen. Then, one of my favourite moments in gaming kicks in. Before the brawl with the two drunks over wounded male pride, I set the jukebox to play Blue Oyster Cult's 'Don't Fear The Reaper' (Prey features an impressive, but ultimately useless collection of licensed rock), before the spaceship rolls around to bathe Jen, Enisi, and Tommy in an ominous green light and subsequently levitate the trio into the ship's interior. This is possibly my favourite moment in gaming - hearing that particular song as I levitate towards the ship, parts of the bar surrounding me and the sound from the jukebox slowly fading. It's an oddly transcendental experience, one that is both ominous and calming at the same time.

This is my first blog post under my new username, 'Enisi_'. You may recognise the name from the 2006 game Prey, for Xbox 360. Enisi is the wise grandfather of Tommy, the Cherokee Indian protagonist of the story. More specifically, I chose it because of the highly-traumatising scene of (SPOILER) Enisi's death, when he is seen strapped to a wall, and punctured by huge metal spikes, then crushed to a pulp by a vast steel block. All this in the pursuit of food for a hungry alien race. Anyway, this is the first post of (probably) many under my new account. Salutations, and goodbye.