
I beat Bulletstorm (360) about a week ago in one sitting and it was a blast. Incredibly fun with a lot of variety in the levels. The ability to grab most enemies and chain moves for various combos never gets old. The weapons are all incredibly powerful and satisfying. Controls are spot on and easy to pick up and play. Gorgeous graphics with many amazing vistas and visual designs. I found myself pausing a few times during the quiet moments.
The story is silly and not deep but that's how it was meant to be. I admit that they do take themselves a tad too seriously later in the game. But at least 80% of it is just a wild ride. The characters all have great banter and there are many genuinely funny lines and moments. I really enjoyed the chemistry between Gray and Ishii through the whole game. Btw, if you want to hear Jennifer Hale (aka Female Commander Shepard) curse like a sailor, this is the game for you. Overall, fantastic game and highly recommended.

I decided to finally open up my copy of Dead Space Extraction (Wii) in preparation for the DS2 DLC: Severed. I also have the PS3 version but I don't have a Move so I went with the Wii version. I want to play it the way it was meant to be played. I beat it in one sitting which wasn't difficult since all I did was shoot.
Anyway, great game. The gameplay is your typical Wii lightgun shooter so it was easy to get into. What really surprised me were the story and characters. I really loved the pacing and interactions between the people you encounter. It was really well done and always exciting and suspenseful. The actual game wasn't scary at all like with DS1 but it was a fun adventure. Some nice twists and turns and I was really glad to see what happened before DS1 started. Overall, a must play if you love the Dead Space series or lightgun games in general.

Finally, beat Killzone 3 (PS3) as well and it was a pretty epic experience. The game is drop dead gorgeous and real eye candy. The game was also surprisingly colorful. Unlike KZ2 which was drab and gray/brown, KZ3 has a ton of color especially in a few levels which wowed me. I liked that the devs added more visual variety this time. It was a good move.
So while I praised the visuals, the audio was another story. There seemed to be some weird glitches and quirks with the audio in the game. The AI allies would have their audio cut off without finishing their lines and some lines would repeat on a loop for a bit which made them sound like malfunctioning robots. It was REALLY annoying and really pulled me out of the experience. Not sure how this problem wasn't fixed since it's not random. Thankfully, it seems like it only happened in the first third of the game. I also found that the surround during the FMVs were not as good as the in-game stuff. Another inconsistent issue which also annoyed me. Ah well.
The story is a direct sequel to KZ2 so it was nice to see what happened after that cliffhanger. The characters were better written this time and feature some actual development with their personalities. The villains were the most fun to watch. I dunno about you guys but KZ1 (YES, the first game) had a really good villain that I liked. I'm glad KZ3 returned to its roots with the storytelling. But the game had some pretty jarring transitions that didn't work at all from level to level. You would sometimes jump from one location to another with barely any idea how the characters got there. Bummer.
Overall, I liked the new weapons (you can carry 3 this time!) and the jetpack was actually fun to use. Some of the later levels were really well done and exciting. I haven't tried the MP yet so I'm not gonna comment on it. This is worth playing for the visuals alone and if you enjoyed KZ2, KZ3 is a much improved version of that.
Some notable pick-ups this month:
Killzone 3 CE - UK edition. I love steelcases so I bought this version in addition to the US Helghast version. Yea, Bulletstorm is there too, BROS!


Radiant Historia (DS) - It's getting a ton of great reviews so I bought it. But I haven't been in the mood to play it yet.

Dragon Quest V and VI (DS) - Bought VI from the Amazon sale BUT V cost me $20 more than retail. I was surprised that V was OOP and prices on eBay and Amazon resellers were pretty high. I found a seller who had it brand new for the lowest price available from my search on eBay so I jumped on it. Now my DQ DS collection is complete.

Muchi Muchi Pork & Pink Sweets LE (360) - Another CAVE shmup and it's a combo pack this time. Both games are really fun and HARD. Pink Sweets in particular is incredibly brutal and one of the hardest bullet hell shmups I ever played. The LE comes with an OST.

Gray Matter (PC) - It's a NEW adventure game from legendary adventure game writer/creator, Jane Jensen. It got positive reviews so I splurged on it blind. I wish it was Mac compatible cuz I've been too lazy to turn on my main PC to play it. ^^;;;

CAVE artbooks. Awesome art for Mushihime Futari and Espgaluda II.

Finally, Samanosuke 1/6 figure from Enterbay. Pretty expensive but it was an impulse purchase. I'm glad he finally got a high quality face sculpt.

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