I looked forward to getting home from work all day so I could play through Act 5 in Gears and finish the campaign for the first time.

If you don't want to read anything about how the game ends, you probably want to click over to another blog.

*FINAL SPOILER WARNING*

I never anticipated the game ending on a moving train. That was an interesting choice. Not that it was a bad choice, just unexpected. I always assumed we'd end up going deep into a Locust hole to deliver a charge before having to race out of it.

The final fight with RAAM was just difficult enough, at least the way I approached it. Maybe there is a trick I didn't figure out, but I started off with the Torque Bow, tagged him 7 or 8 times while Dom tangled with him. Once Dom went down and RAAM started coming towards me, I switched to the standard rifle and picked my spots while moving around the map in cover. After 4 or 5 clips, the SOB went down. It took me a while to realize those bugs that he sends after you won't attack you if you stay in cover. I thought you had to get to the turrent and blast away at him with that, but after dying twice in a black cloud, it dawned on me that probably wouldn't work.

Visually the ending was impressive. The landscape and the sky looked gorgeous as the train sped on. The Matrix Sentinel like creatures were cool, but seemed to be a blatant rip-off. Killing them with the turrent was none the less enjoyable though. The explosions and ultimate ground collapse was satisfying. There is one thing that left me sort of puzzled, maybe I missed something in the narrative. Did they know that the bridge was out right above a tunnel that led all the way down into the heart of the Locusts? Was that the plan all along? If the bridge was out, where was RAAM going and why was he on the train? I hope to run through the game a few more times so I'll pay better attention during Act 5 next time.

I can't wait for the sequel, that's for sure.

*END SPOILERS*

All in all, it was a short, but as sweet as a fistfull of sugar packets. I look forward to firing it up on Hardcore next. If anyone out there hasn't started Gears on Hardcore, and wants to go through it on Co-Op, send me a message. I'll be your Dom. (yes I'm an achievement whore).

I did get a scare last night. As I was watching the credits for Gears after beating it, I received my first "Dirty Disc" error message. It kicked me back to the dashboard, but no red lights thankfully. I hope this isn't a harbinger of problems to come.

I then played some Hexic and unlocked 2 more achievements while listening to the latest episode of Gamers United to wind the day down. I love listening to video game podcasts while playing games for some reason and the GU crew put on one of the better non-professional ones. Check it out if you haven't before. I also enjoy some of the "pro" ones from 1UP, even though they can come off as way too cynical and jaded, as well as the UnNamed Podcast put together by another group of Gamespot users. I enjoy listening to real gamers opinions so I'm glad people are taking the time to produce these. The best one is still the Hot Spot though. They mix humor with insight and opinion in a tight package that is always fun to listen to.

Anyway, hope you all have a Happy Tuesday.

After a long work week, I spent a healthy (or un-healthy depending on your perspective) amount of time with my 360 this weekend. These were the highlights:

Gears of War

- Completed Acts 2, 3 & 4 on Casual, gained the perfect reloading achievements (both the 5 in a row and 25 total), and found all 27 COG tags through Act 4.

I am loving this game. I'm taking my time going through it though to soak it all in. I'm sure when I get to Hardcore & Insane I'm just going to try to burn through it since it's such a short campaign, so I'm not rushing things on Casual. My favorite part so far was Act three. The rain effects were great outside and the lighting and the sounds as you walk around those tight corridors inside that dark plant were awesome. You never knew when a Wrath would jump out at you and it made things really intense. I hope to have Casual done in a day or two.

Project Gotham Racing 3

- Won 13 Steel level championships, earned over 3 million credits, bought 3 Ferraris, made it to Kudos Rank 7, unlocked five achievements (Pro Racer Badge, Gotham TV Sports Fan, Photographer, Track Builder & Arcade Player)

I was able to spend some serious time with this game for the first time over the weekend and it quickly becomes addicting. There is so much depth to this game, so many cars, so many different challenges, so many different ways you can play...and it looks beautfiul. Living in NYC all my life and visiting Vegas at least once every year, I was really impressed with how detailed those cities are.

Uno

- Won my 40th game and unlocked the last achievement, making it the 2nd game I've gotten 100% on. I've also gotten my online ranking under 7,000 and my TruSkill level to 28.

Uno is a lot of fun. Something you can unwind with at the end of the day. It also allows me to use the Live Camera to show off the nice view of the East River and Manhattan from my apartment. It always seems to get nice comments.

Hexic HD

- Finally reached 75,000 in a timed match.unlocking the Tick Tock Doc achievement

I enjoy puzzle games like Bejeweled and Meteos so Hexic is right up my alley. Another good game to play before bed. I was trying for the 75k for about a week and finally got it before starting to write this entry.

All in all I gained 195 achievement points this weekend and I'm knocking on the door of 1K. The highlight of the weekend happened when my roommate and I figured out how to split screen our big 62" HDTV so we could watch hockey on one side and play the 360 on the other. Now we can multi-task!

Well it's back to the grind tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

The day after my 360 arrived, my roommate ran out and picked up all three of the recently released Burger King games. We needed something to occupy us besides XBLA until Amazon delivered the games I had ordered and for $4 each, it was worth taking a chance on them. The commercials starring the King have always been amusing, especially the ones where  the King is superimposed over an NFL player in an actual replay, so we thought they would be good for a few laughs at the very least. We ended up being surprised at the actual value they represented. Here are my impressions of each game, from my least to most favorite.

BIG BUMPIN

Big Bumpin consists of a collection of driving mini-games in which you compete against three others driving carnival bumper cars. Games include Last Man Standing (where your goal is to bump your opponents into hazzards until they explode), Own the Puck (where your goal is to have control of the puck the longest when the match is over), Shockball (which is like a game of Hot Potato only with an explosive charge), Power Surge (where your goal is to collect energy from different points on the map and deposit it before your opponents bump it out of you) and finally Bumper Hockey (where you compete in two car teams to score the most goals in a set time period). Each of these games can be played in one of the five different arenas, either as a single event or in a tournament, with single player, local multiplayer and XBox Live multiplayer options, giving the game a good amount of variety.

Unfortunately variety doesn't guarantee the game to be fun. While the controls simply use the left stick for movement with the A button supplying a speed boost, the cars are still hard to control. I had a hard time turning accurately and overall it just didn't feel that responsive. It was also difficult for me to find a game on XBox Live. Either the host would lose connection during a game or we would sit at the lobby screen waiting for people to join. After a few attempts I decided to let those 200 achievement points go because I really wasn't enjoying the game to begin with.

I'd say you should pass on this one unless you want to have the complete Burger King games collection.

SNEAK KING

Sneak King, the single player only stealth game with the creepy promotional screen shot, puts you into the role of the King himself, whose task is to surprise people with tasty Burger King food products, but only when they are hungry. You'll be able to tell which people are craving some food by the thought balloon that appears over their head. In that thought balloon is a picture of a burger with a colored ring around it that progresses from green (meaning not that hungry) to yellow, to red. After red, the burger starts to blink. If you do not deliver food to them before it stops blinking, the person passes out from hunger. You can be "caught" if you touch anyone's Metal Gear-esque blue vision cone that each person has, or if you run too fast and fill up the Splinter Cell-esque noise meter when someone is near.

There are twenty challenges to complete in each of the four different environments. Only the Sawmill is available at the start of the game, but as you complete challenges, other areas will be unlocked. You will be asked to feed a certain number of people in a set period of time, to feed a certain number of people in a row without being spotted, to score a certain number of points or to feed people with a certain level of "Flourish". Flourishes are how the the food is delivered. When you are near a hungry person, the game will prompt you to hit the A button to trigger a delivery. That will bring up a "power meter" of sorts, along the line of kicking in Madden. Where you stop the meter will determine which of the three types of flourishes the food will be delivered with. The more full the meter, the more elaborate the animation that plays and the higher your score.

The score you receive for each delivery is determined by a few factors: 1) How hungry the person is 2) how close you are to the person when you trigger the delivery 3) whether you are hiding when you trigger the delivery and 4) how many deliveries you make in a row without being discovered.

The part I enjoyed most about Sneak King was employing some strategy in deciding where to hide so a very hungry person would walk by right before they collapsed so I could score the most points. You get graded on each challenge based on certain time or point goals that must be met so going for an A grade on every challenge helped keep my interest in a game which gets repetitive awfully quick. Twenty challenges per area is way too much for a game where all the action is done with one button. After you see the goofy dance the King does for the 3rd tier Flourish for the 25th time, the novelty has worn off. The amount of the places you can hide, from an outhouse, to a trash can, to a pile of leaves etc, is nice and substantial, but if you are looking for an experience with a lot of variety, this isn't the one for you. I would still recommend it though, because there is more than $4 worth of fun inside that lime green case and the flourishes, which are different in each environment, are funny.

POCKETBIKE RACER

Pocketbike Racer is a well done Mario Kart racing clone and easily the best of the three games available at Burger King. As the title implies you race goofy little mini-bikes around 5 different tracks which include a Burger King parking lot, a suburban neighborhood, the King's Garden, a high rise construction site and the BK ranch where the streets are paved with slices of cheese....

There is a surprising amount of depth to the gameplay options. As with Big Bumpin, you can race as a number of different BK related characters including the King, the Subservient Chicken, Whopper Jr, for some reason Brooke Burke and a host of other more generic characters. You can also customize your own racer as well.

There are four game modes you can choose from. Classic Racing is the traditional Kart mode where you race against 7 other bikes to finish first while blasting your opponents with crazy weapons. Instead of getting random weapons, you fill a boost meter by driving through active cone gates on the course. The higher the meter, the more powerful the weapon. The meter keeps filling until you use a weapon once, then it resets to zero.

The second mode is Battle Royale where the goal is to be the first to hit a set number of other racers using the weapons. This is where boost meter strategy comes into play and you have to decide if its better to use your boost meter often for the weaker weapons or to save it up to hit someone easier.

The third mode is Cone Challenge where the goal is to drive through a set number of active cone gates before the rest of the pack. The catch here is when one bike goes through a gate, it becomes inactive for a period of time. This is where driving backwards on the track towards active gates becomes a good strategy.

The fourth and final mode is Hardcore Racer. This is just the Kart mode without the weapons. You against the pack and the track, first to the finish wins. Your choice of bike and ability to drive determine your success in these races.

Each of these modes can be played as either single events, both online or off, or as tournaments. Each event also has a tournament at each of the 3 bike levels, 50 CC, 100 CC, and the most powerful 150 CC. You start only being able to compete in the 50 CC events. Finishing in the top 3 of those unlocks the 100 CC event, finishing 1st in any event also unlocks an additional bike you can use.

The controls handle great. The right trigger is for accelaration, the left trigger for breaking, the A button for power sliding, the X button for weapons and the B button for speed boost. Once you get used to how a bike handles, and learn to power slide around corners, the game really gets to be a lot of fun. The tracks are unique with most having short cuts which reward those who explore the maps in full, as well as some nice big jumps that are fun to boost off of.

I really enjoyed this game and to me would be worth at least $20 all by itself. It's not the best racing game available for the 360 by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it is surprisingly good for being part of a marketing campaign. This game will always hold a place of honor because it's the first game I unlocked 100% of the achievement points in. So it's got that going for it....which is nice.

Overall, I think Burger King did a great job with these games. They have a good deal of variety and depth which you wouldn't expect for something that you pay $4 and comes with burger meal. If you are looking for something a little different between sessions of Rainbow Six or Gears of War, pick up the title that appeals to you. I don't think you will regret it.

After almost a week of waiting and playing nothing but arcade games, demos and marketing ploys, I finally have some real, non-arcade games for the 360.

Amazon delivered an extra wireless controller, the play and charge kit, Project Gotham Racing 3, Burnout Revenge and the game that finally forced me to buy a 360, Gears of War.

While I have been really enjoying my new console, I've been dying to get the games I ordered to see what the 360 can really do. Part of me is glad that I had the last week to explore the marketplace because I played, and really enjoyed games which I probably wouldn't have gotten into for a while, if ever, if I had Gears to dive right into on Day 1. Uno, Geometry Wars, even Hexic have all been great experiences, but it's time for the main event.

I haven't played much of Gears, but the game doesn't require much exposure to it in order to be extremely impressed. The controls are well executed and make this a must have title as much as the eye popping visuals. The cover mechanic is a nice change of pace from the normal "run and gun" style that most action/shooters employ these days. There is something very satisfying about hiding behind a wall, peering around the corner and squeezing off a few shots at a filthy Locust before retreating back to safety. It is definitely truer to what I imagine an actual firefight is like, forces you to pick your spots and turns up the feeling of intensity as you make your way through the shattered streets cutting your way through the waves of enemies coming at you.

The "mini-game" for reloading your weapons is also something unique. Instead of just making reloading your weapon a dead time while a canned animation plays, it becomes somewhat interactive. Getting that timing down becomes a critical part of the game. Either get better at it, or leave yourself exposed to enemies with a jammed gun.

Speaking of the weapons, those are also an enjoyable part of the Gears experience. Everyone talks about the chainsaw, but the Hammer of Dawn is just as fun to use. Painting those giant spider creatures or the Berzerker with the laser and raining hellfire from above might be my favorite part of the game so far.

Needless to say, I couldn't be happier with my decision to add the 360 to my collection. I just hope I'm not too late to the Gears party. I've seen people say they are already "over" Gears which I think is crazy to say about a game that is barely out a month. I haven't tried the on-line multiplayer or co-op yet so I hope there are some cool people still playing when I do.. I think I should at least play through the campaign on casual so I'm 100% comfortable with the controls before mixing it up with real people. All the horror stories I read about the jerks that populate the ranked matches make me a little hesitant to join in as well. Hopefully I'll make a few friends along the way that'll help me get into it because this is a game that I really want to get the most I can out of.

If anyone wants to do co-op sometime or needs someone to fill out a match, my friends list is wide open :)

I've been spending a lot of time (and losing a lot of sleep) in the last two days getting into all the goodness that is the XBox 360. Learning the dashboard, downloading demos, trying to beat high scores in the Arcade games, and taking my first steps into the world of hardcore on-line gaming (Uno counts, right?). I know I've barely scratched the surface, but I think the thing that I am enjoying the most is the achievement system.

Like a lot of people, I've found the frenzied quest for points by the Gamespot crew amusing, but my appreciation for the system goes beyond the mere accumulation of a statistical variable. The whole concept, when executed properly, gives the player extra incentive to go deeper into a game, to play longer, and ultimately to get more out of your investment. The best achievements ask us to approach a game differently than we normally would.

Take for example the Pacifist achievement in Geometry Wars. If it weren't for the developer setting a goal of staying alive for the first 60 seconds of the game without shooting, no one would have ever attempted that. It was an enjoyable challenge because I ultimately got better at finding openings through the swarming enemies and avoiding crashes. That skill is essential to succeeding in the rest of the game.

Another task I enjoyed completing was the Big Air achievement in the Burger King game, Pocketbike Racer. Your goal in this one is to fly 50 meters off a jump. There are only a few spots on certain maps that can allow you to get that kind of distance, so searching for those spots gets you to explore the track and discover shortcuts which will help you finish first down the road. It was fun trying out different ramps to see which one would give me the biggest air and it improved my time because I learned to use the acceleration boost in the right spots.

Of course not all achievements are done well. I unlocked the points for the Big Wheelie achievement in Pocketbike Racer, which sets the goal of holding a wheelie for at least 2 seconds, by getting stuck on a fence and the Big Stoppie achievement in the same game, which asks the player to do a front wheelie for at least a half a second, by crashing into a wall. I've read about people getting all the points out of certain sports games by playing as few as one game. I think it's taking developers some time to really get their head around the concept, like the motion controls on the PS3 & the Wii, which feel tacked on to most of the launch titles. Much like the games, the achievements will get better over the life of the console.  

I think it's a brilliant concept and gives the 360 a unique advantage over it's competitors. With more and more games losing their exclusivity to one console, achievements may be the deciding factor as to which system you pick a game up for if all other factors are equal. It also gives a person some incentive to try a game in a genre they wouldn't normally have played. It's a big plus for Microsoft.

I am already showing my first signs of addiction as I forced myself to stay up to reach the 40 card achievements in Uno last night. For me, it's not so much the gamerscore as the completion percentage. I am going to strive for 100% in every game I own, although some of those goals already seem daunting (1,000,000 pts in Geometry Wars without dying?!?). Regardless of my success rate, I will end up spending more time with my 360 than I probably would have otherwise and will finally try to play on-line for the first time in my life because of the achievements. As a consumer, your goal is always to get the most value you can out of your money and the achievement system is one of the best examples of this in the video game world.

Happy Point Scoring!

I decided to do two things recently which I've contemplated for a while: I bought an XBox 360 and after 2 or 3 years of lurking, I've joined Gamespot to blog about my experiences using it. 

I've been sitting on the sidelines of this whole "next-gen" thing waiting for something to make me want to take the plunge on one of those shiny new boxes. All three new consoles have intriguing aspects about them, but nothing about them moved me to open my wallet until Gears of War.

After reading all the glowing reviews, hearing all the praise on various podcasts and seeing it in motion in game videos and On The Spot, I decided the potential of this new hardware has begun to be realized and I wanted to be a part of it.

I left work last Wednesday on a hard target search for a Premium 360 and Gears of War. Unfortunately, every electronics store I visited in Manhattan was out of Gears, so my dream of spending the four day holiday weekend chainsawing Locusts was dashed. Instead I came home and hit the internet looking for the best deal possible. I decided to go with Amazon since they were bundling Burnout Revenge with the premium console for free, so even though I didn't get to play during the break, I got a free game and saved on the sales tax. Also ordered was Project Gotham Racing 3, Gears of War, an extra wireless controller, the charge kit, and they had the XBox Live bundle for $40. Since a year of Live alone is more than that, I jumped on it. Even if I never use the camera it was worth it.

It felt like Christmas Eve for the last week while I "patiently" waited for Amazon to ship me my box of goodness. I can't remember how many times I visited my Order Summary page to track the packages. Yesterday, at 3:53 PM EDT it arrived.....at least the console did. The games, extra controller and charge kit are still in transit. That didn't discourage me from diving right in. I figured last night would be all about the Arcade. I activated my Gold account, redeemed my codes for Uno, Robotron & the 200 points which came with the camera and started downloading things.

When I opened up the box my roommate seemed more excited than I was. We have a 62" HDTV in the living room, but we've never done much gaming on it. There wasn't much incentive to hook up the PS2 to it since there weren't many widescreen games or games that would look good blown up that large. That's all changed now.

We tried to download the demos to the racing games that are coming, but those files were taking forever. After 4 or 5 games of single player Uno, Burnout was still only at 18%. So we grabbed a bunch of arcade demos instead. Dig Dug & Lumines Live! were decent but didn't make us pull the trigger. Geometry Wars was a completely different story. What a great game. The controls are smooth and easy, the action is frantic and the visuals are amazing. Those sparking black holes, the wave effects on some of the heavy weapons, the explosions when you use a bomb....we were impressed. Buying the full version was a no brainer. My roommate lit up when he saw they had Doom so he had to have that too. He spent a good while with it last night, looking for all the secret areas he remembered.

Needless to say, it was a really fun night. The best part is it's only going to get better. Sometimes you get "buyer's remorse" after buying an expensive thing you don't really need, but I don't anticipate ever regretting my purchase. I'm glad I waited for the hardware issues to be worked out and for the software catalogue to build up, but I'm glad it's now sitting in my living room.

Thanks to everyone in the Gamespot community for sharing your experiences with your XBox and video games in general. I really have enjoyed reading your blogs, watching your videos and hearing your stories. My friends list is currently empty, but I hope to have a bunch of the fine Gamespot folks on there soon. If anyone is up for some online action in any of the games I have, please hit me up on Live!

Thanks for reading...now I have to go to work.