Note about my Final Verdicts. They are not meant to be reviews on how you play the game and what its all about. My verdicts always assumes that you know what the game is all about. I always recommend reading GameSpots reviews before reading my own verdicts. Im not here to tell you how to play a game. Im just telling you whats good and whats bad about a game you already know. In this case you can find GameSpots review here 

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+ Unique, innovative and sometimes very challenging rythm gameplay. Easy to learn, hard to master. Smart control layout !

+ Beautiful, fantasticly designed and stylish scenarious filled with humour playing in the background when youre playing. Some scenes are nothing short of masterpieces and one special scene is one of the most beautiful gaming moments Ive played through all year.

+ Really good songs. A very important point for a rythmgame of course and GM delivers on every aspect. Theres crazy J-Pop, blues and rock n roll ballads. All of them sounds really nice and are fun to play. Combines with the scenarios really well. Youll be wanting to play some songs again and get better grades for sure !

+ Very accessible to everyone, not just rythmgame fanatics. Everyone can enjoy this game.

+ Contains alot of really cool and fun characters who´s got really distinct personalities even tho the game is so short. Good job !

+ Very high replayvalue. The songs are so good and the game is so short that it combines to a game you´ll be coming back to over and over for some short sessions with a song or two.

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- SHORT! And i mean to write that in caps because this game can seriously be over in an hour or so if youre good at it. The game consists of 10 songs. Lets say that they are 3-5 minutes each. If you dont mess up and finish each song on the first try it´ll be over very fast. On one hand it has good replayvalue but its still a VERY short game.

- Controls can be a bit jumpy sometimes. The analogstick wich you use to steer in different directions can sometimes feel a bit wierd. Its going on rails as long as you keep it in the genereal direction that it should be heading but feels more responsive sometimes and less responsive on other occasions. It also tends to just jump away in the wrong direction sometimes.

- I get the feeling that the buttons that you need to press in rythm to the music sometimes are out of sync. Its very rare but I cant help but feeling that sometimes i miss where i shouldnt have missed.

- Wierd savesystem. You have to go into Options and select load, the select a "load bank" and THEN back out to the main menu and into the campaign to continue from where you left off. If you dont read manuals (wich you dont) it will take a while to figure out.

- The cutscenes overall look kinda ugly. They are nowhere as good or as goodlooking as the actual stages of the game and feel kinda stiff.

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Final Score: 8.2

One of the most charming, unique and original rythmgames on the Ps2 for sure. If you´re still into playing rythmgames with the controller after the Guitar Hero revolution this is a title you will want to play !

Supporting Team Ninja for not abandoning Xbox 360. Go Ninja Gaiden Sigma on x360 !

Note: I have NOT played the original Katamari so these impressions are from someone whos testing Katamari for the first time.

+ One of the most creative games ever made seen from a graphical and artistical standpoint. The graphics and overall style of this game is just mindblowing and over the top crazy. I cant even begin to describe the cylinderheads, the bright colors, the hearts, the rainbows and the crazy transvestite king..

+ One of the absolute best soundtracks of any game ever. It mixes every imaginable genre and it more than often mixes them together so you get some kind of crazy jazz / techo / lullaby remix with happy Japanese female vocals. Or some Tom Jones dude singing mixed with some J-Rock and random soundeffects. There are no rules for the songs in the game. They are just as artistical and over the top as the graphical design and its pure heaven to listen to while rolling up your katamaris. The music overall feels VERY Japanese and I love it.

+ The general idea for the game. Yet again, its so very impressive when it comes to the creative thinking behind the game. You have a small ball that everything sticks to and you roll it. You roll up everything that is small enough to fit your ball until you grow bigger, get a better perspective on things and roll up bigger things until time runs out. Its surely one of the best and most artistical puzzlegame ideas that has ever been put into a game. Up there with the likes of Tetris for sure.

+ The scale of the game. The scaling is just....wow.. You go from rolling up pencils, dust and candy to rolling up bigger things like frogs, shovels, buckets, ramenbowls and flowers to rolling up even bigger things like bikes, persons, signs and piles of wood. After that you get to roll up things like cars, small houses and helicopters, you´ll notice how special forces gets called in to try and take the big threat to the city down. But you´re not stopping. Before you know it you´ll be rolling up entire cities, complete with skyscrapers and giant landmarks. If you think thats as big as it gets you´re wrong. Suddenly you are rolling your katamari all over the continents of the globe. Youll be rolling up the Hollywood sign, the Eiffeltower and Manhattan by just rolling your katamari for a couple of seconds. Giant sea monsters will start to appear in the oceans and big godzillas will walk around in Tokyo..and you´ll be rolling them up. Mindblowing, just mindblowing. And above all, soo much fun !

+ Bonusstages like just rolling a big snowman. Without any timelimit. Theres also a stage where you get to roll up the rainclouds in the sky to save a school fieldtrip.

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- The controls could have been waay better than they are now. The learning curve for the controls are pretty steep and they never ever feel completely good, even when you know them. Just the general handling of turning your katamari feels very sluggish.

- The game is not very long and as with other puzzlegames it can get repetative to play for longer periods of time.

- The graphics may be very nicely designed but the actual quality of the textures are downright horrible when seen up close, even for a Ps2 game.

- The design of the game can almost be to much sometimes. I found myself just thinking about how scary it really is that the king has a giant cylinder for a head. Together with pink tights.. The game can honestly seem disturbing at times.

- The game might not feel as fresh for someone who played Katamari Damacy. I dont know since this is my first time with Katamari. So if you´re already a katamarifan you might want to take that into consideration. Since this is really just, more of the same thing.

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I just did it. I now have over 20.000 Achievement Points. All of them 100% hard earned through MANY hours of Xbox 360 gaming. 30k here i come. Starting off the next 10.000 with Viva Piñata. Also Dead or Alive xtreme 2 should be arriving this friday.

Also congratulations to Jeff Gerstmann for finally breaking 30k. He didnt have the manners to answer my Xbox Live congratulation tho even tho We´ve been on each others freindslists for like 6 months. Manners Jeff, manners!

Anyways, heres the complete list of my points and games so far that together adds up to a total of 20.072, in no particular order, this is what i´ve played since the launch of the 360 when i bought it. There are like 2 or 3 games where i still have 0 points so i wont count them:

NFS: Most Wanted - 165 points  /  King Kong - 1000 points  /  Kameo - 600 points  /  Oblivion - 560 points  /  PGR 3 - 385 points  /  Ridge Racer 6 - 77 points  /  NBA Live 06 - 960 points  /  Burnout Revenge - 50 points  /  American Wasteland - 50 points  /  Madden NFL 06 - 1000 points  /  Dead Or Alive 4 - 325 points  /  Street Fighter II HF - 105 points  /  NBA 2K6 - 1000 points  /  2006 FIFA World Cup - 500 points  /  NHL 2K6 - 750 points  /  Prey - 1000 points  /  Feeding Frenzy - 150 points  /  Galaga - 200 points  /  Crystal Quest - 200 points  /  Table Tennis - 590 points  /  LOTR : BFME II - 150 points  /  Jewel Quest - 60 points  /  Texas Hold Em - 45 points  /  FIFA 06 RTFWC - 1000 points  /  Rumble Roses XX - 40 points  /  Quake 4 - 55 points  /  FN Round 3 - 1000 points  /  Test Drive Unlmtd - 530 points  /  Geometry Wars Evo - 60 points  /  99 Nights - 500 points  /  Tomb Raider Legend - 1000 points  /  Dead Rising - 640 points  /  Amped 3 - 330 points  /  Top Spin 2 - 25 points  /  Doom - 90 points  /  Lego SW2 - 210 points  /  Just Cause - 475 points  /  Saints Row - 410 points  /  Full Auto - 565 points  /  Enchanted Arms - 200 points  /  Marble Blast Ultra - 45 points  /  Time Pilot - 150 points  /  UNO - 200 points  /  NFS: Carbon - 160 points  /  Scramble - 85 points /  MRVL Ultimate Alliance - 575 points  /  Frogger - 120 points  /  Hexic HD - 25 points  /  Robotron 2084 - 50 points  /  Pac-Man - 170 points  /  Lumines Live ! - 40 points  /  Contra - 125 points  /  Dig Dug - 185 points  /  Ultimate MK3 - 45 points  /  Cloning Clyde - 20 points  /  Defender - 10 points  /  Call of Duty 3 - 100 points  /  Gears of War - 540 points  /  Small Arms - 75 points  /  Viva Piñata - 300 points

Note that MANY of these games are games i will be playing again or are currently playing so im nowhere near done with them. I can see many games when going through the list that i need to go back to and get some more achievements from. Still. its alot of games. I´ve played alot of 360.. especially considering I´ve had time to play games like World of Warcraft pretty hardcore during this time and going back to the ps2 and gamecube several times.

Gitarro Man, ps2. I saw this at at friends house and it was just so over the top loveable that i just had to get my own copy.

+ More and more varied songs. There are defenitaly more songs in GH2 compared to GH1 and there are more genres of rock in there like more Death Metal for example wich is awesome. Something for everyone !

+ More characters / guitars / skins / avenues. More of everything was appearantly the motto for the Harmonix team. Every character also has 2 different types of clothing. The avenues themselves also feel cooler than those in the first game.

+ More intense gameplay. The gameplay feels overall more intense than the gameplay in the first game. The difficulty has been upped and Expert is now INSANELY hard in some cases (if someone has beaten Jordan on Expert please comment and i will worship you )

+ Co-Op mode ! One plays lead and one plays rythm guitar. Or one plays lead guitar and one plays bass. Its really really fun. It really feels like you are a little mini band since you are playing 2 completely different streams that adds up to one great song. You both need to activate starpower at the same time and if one mess up you both lose youre scoremultiplier. Great fun !

+ Pro face-off mode. No more whining about whos got the "easier" stream in face-off. You both play the exact same stream and it results in very intense versus battles. Freebird on Expert in Pro face-off is sooooooo fun !

+ The songs overall feels more fun to play than those in the first game. They might not be as good as those in the first game but they are nevertheless very fun to be playing.

+ Buckethead ! Buckethead has a song in the game, performed by himself. AWESOME. It might just be the best song in the game. A big star to Buckethead.

+ Easier Hammer-Ons and Pull-Off´s. With some training everyone can do hammer-ons now. They have been simplified so that you dont have to actually hammer-on the notes. Just play them in rapid succession without strumming more than once (and dont miss a note). I did not master this in GH1 and i feel like i might be on my way to do it now.

+ Added progressive Scan and widescreen support. Looks SO much better than the first game.

+ Guitar Hero 2 is, just like GH1, one of the best partygames and one of the best rythmgames ever. The idea for Guitar Hero is just so fantasticly smart. Its still the best rythm game I´ve played. Just thought that was worth saying.

+ Training mode ! Train on any of the songs, in the speed that you decide. Good for practicing Buckethead on Expert. Give me a year or 2 in that practice room with that song..

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- Im still unsure about how long the songlist will be this fun. There are more "unkown" artists in comparison to the titants in Guitar Hero 1. Theres not as many gigantic invinsible rock classics as in the first game so the question is, how long will the songlist feel fresh. I dont know yet, but i fear the worst.

- Some covers of the songs sounds wierd and some sounds plain out wrong. The covers where generally really good in GH1, the same cannot be said for the sequel. There are more original tracks in this game tho, with the artists performing themselves.

- Some Bonus Songs are really really HORRIBLE. like 3 or 4  bonus tracks are songs that shouldnt be played outside of the garage where they were recorded. They are musical disasters and you dont even want to finsih playing the song. Like the HORRIBLE group Made In Mexico that i believe was contributing with a disaster in GH1 to.

- The songlist are more varied but still lacks some blues. Some Stevie Ray Vaughan. Theres also some wierd choices of songs for some of the artists where they could have picked a better song with that artist but chose one of their less attractive ones. Like Shout At The Devil by Mötley Crue for example. And WHY pick Heart Shaped Box with Nirvana when Smeels Like Teen Spirit is the obvious choice.

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Final Score: 8.9

It isnt the rythmgame revolution that Guitar Hero 1 was but its a worthy successor and its still the best rythm and partygame money can buy, bigger and badder than the first. Its occasionally more fun than the first and the difficulty makes it really intense on Expert !

Viva Piñata (x360)

Its a stupid localized Swedish version but i´ll guess it´ll have to do.

We Love Katamari ! (ps2)

New banner, new 36 x 36 pic and a sparkling new Blogheader pic. Its the first ever Blogheader picture even. They all took a couple of hours to make. Decided to keep it minimalistic. I was tired of my Gears stuff. Especially now when the hype has settled and the game has been released all over the globe. I wanted something more neutral. For the main banner i decided to go for something oldschool and something new and kinda mix it together with a smart punchline.

Anyway. Im off to bed finally. 4:37 AM. Zzzz. Nighty night GS!

The thing that can completely destroy a ranked versus game in GeoW is not people using lame tactics..its the people complaining about them. Some people (like in every other competative multiplayer game) takes the game waaaay to seriously. They start shouting at their team calling them things no-one should ever be called, especially if that someone is a girl wich sometimes is the case. Yes, i run into alot of girls playing Gears online, they are usually much more relaxed and friendly about the game to be honest. Some games are totally free from flaming idiots but those are very few. There are often at least one that just has to be sooo coool since hes playing Gears online. Yea, hes so much cooler than the rest of his team. Hes soo much better, he knows what to do, oh yes he does. And when he gets killed fair and square he has to blame it on something or somebody. These individuals often use these following methords for destroying the online experience for everyone else:

- Whistling or singing into the mic. Of course they have to whistle or sing. They are so cool they just ant sit there quiet. They have to make themselves heard at all times.

- Having loud music on in the background AND singing into the mic. The gangsta-rap is so loud in the background it goes into his mic and constantly sends out some kind of distorted version of this horrible musicpiece to the rest of his team throughout the match. He also likes to sing along to it when hes not shouting out orders.

- The "I am god, just stay back" mentality. "Hey guys, im really GOOD at this game OK? So just let me go out there and win the game while you avoid getting killed OK? Leave it to me, i am GOD." If your name is not Cliff Bleszinski you have no right to say things like that.

- The "Wow you are all so damned worthless" mentality. "OMG, guys WTF. why did you leave me like that. Why didnt you cover my back while i was sniping. Why didnt you run and take the Boomer and why didnt you kill that guy when he was at spot X. You all suck so hard OMGLOL!!"

- The "They are using cheap tactics, thats why im dying" mentality. When a round is over you can speak to the other team for 10 seconds and those 10 seconds are usually filled with "HEY player X. You are really a worthless grenade-tagging NOOB and your mother stinks of Peanutbutter. Just go and die. If you kill me again with that lame tactic i swear i will [CENSORED] your mother. Try to kill me with some skills instead you F**ker"

- The quitter. These players plain and simple leaves the game if they lose a round or 2. "Damn, we lost 1 round of 20, im outta here". When they do that it completely destroys the game for the remaining 19 rounds. Not only does that result in a 3 vs 4 situation but is also nullifies all the ranking points you rack up during the game. They will not be added to your weekly total. So the game is pretty much rendered useless.

When I have played a ranked versus game online i usually end up reporting at least 2 players for their behavoir through XB Live´s handly Report / avoid system. Some of the players ive ran into fits into all of the above categories at once and should really be banned from ranked play for all eterntity. They really have some SERIOUS issues that they need to get our of their system. They seem seriously mentally unstable. Shouting at everyone, listening to loud music, singing, whistling, insulting AND threatening all of the other 7 players at once before they quit halfway through. I mean WHAT?!. come on...

I can safely say that i have never and i never will do any of the above things in Gears of War ever. I´m more mature than that...

And oh. I forgot to mention the idiots that speaks with someone else in their room / house without turning off the mic first. So they sit through the whole game shouting at their mom, not realizing their mic transmits it to the whole team...smart.. Its like "NO MOM I WALKED THE DOG YESTERDAY, LINDSAY CAN DO IT NOW!!"

I will continue reporting people like crazy.

Over and out.