I've heard nothing but mixed reviews about this game. Turthfully frustrating when you're looking for a new game to buy. However I decided to play for a bit and this is what I encountered. (For the record I played this at a Friend's house considering I myself do not have xbox live yet.)

Yay Valve! Boo Source Engine >.>

Don't get me wrong, the source engine still packs little surprises here and there. However the gun handling and the way some of the animations are set up is a tad bit outdated. I have little complaints on the graphics consideringthat more things to kill is absolutely worth more than a little extra shinyness. However it would have been really nice to see a bit more detail in certain areas.

I can only describe the gameplay as fun incarnate, I just never got tired of fighting back the horde, and my heart was pounding at certain moments such as when I was pulled away by a smoker or ran straight into a witch. I know, I know, blah blah blah it gets repetitive. But then again, doesn't every shooter? You always shoot stuff, and you run through areas shooting stuff. What matters is the variation of enemies, fun factor as well as level variation. Honestly the director does a pretty good job at providing a balance between challenge and fun as well as a "OMFG" factor with surprises such as a tank, hunter jumping on top of you, or smoker pulling you away with your teammates chasing after you going "OH NoES!!"

Now before this becomes a review, I would like to go back to the mixed reviews. I've constantly been told this game is going to get very old very quick. Can someone please tell me...why?

I think we all remember Assassin's Creed, the game was hailed for it's sheer awesomeness as well as gameplay and eyecandy. But it got old after a while because of the way it ends (no spoilers here) as well as the way you simply didn't want to spend 40+ hours getting all the achievements and flags everywhere.

Every game gets old for certain people after a while, but is that what we value all games on?

Games like Ico which you could beat in 8 hours were short and had little replay but they were memorable in their own way. Those 8 hours were well spent and satifying contrary to the 8 hours say a WoW player would spend leveling and getting a few items ( don't get me wrong WoW is a great game).

What I am trying to say is perhaps the value of games is not measured by what they used to mean, which was "How much fun would this provide me?" but rather by "Is it worth buying?".

I know I am jumping around quite a bit but my purpose here is not to go on a rant and criticize or try to get you to agree with my point of view. But to provoke some thought and maybe open the eyes of some of those individuals that constantly put games down just because of a tiny smidge or flaw they see in it. *cough* People complaining about Ninja Gaiden 2's camera *cough*.

Oh and just to clarify:

Xbox live will come for me soon, just need a router, some time, and a subscription.

Then it's a trip to Gamestop and BAM ...Zombie killin time XD.