Well as per usual I'm way behind in my gaming. I'm still trying to beat GTA IV (and man am I loving this game), as well as Sins of a Solar Empire (another great title), and The Witcher (which never seems to end). Of course I'm also madly in love with Empire: Total War, which, in my opinion, is the best title in the series to date. I just can't get enough of watching my companies of redcoats pummel enemy formations with volley after volley of musket fire :D. I also have delved in to an older title; SWAT 4. While somewhat older (2005), it's still a really great game when I'm not in the mood for a run and gun shooter.

The title says it all; it's been literally MONTHS since I posted on here. To be honest since I returned to Canada in September I haven't done a lot except game, party, and then start back at work in November. Sure i've logged in to Gamespot often, and noticed my blog was woefully outdated, but I couldn't be bothered to DO anything about it. I suppose I was too busy beating a whole hockey sock full of games that i'd missed while I was in Afghanistan. I systematically hammered my way through; Front Lines: Fuel of War, Mass Effect, Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway, and Call of Duty: World at War. To add to the backup (as I mentioned in my previous post) I bought an XBox and have become utterly addicted to Guitar Hero (2-4). I play it ALL the time, and i've FINALLY got the girlfriend in to it...granted she still plays like a retard Oh and to make matters worse I'm in my second season of NHL 2K8 as the Edmonton Oilers. So where am I at as I type this post at 4am? Well I'm on Christmas leave until January 6th, which is nice, some dedicated gaming time to be sure. But seriously, I'm currently trying to put down some key titles that I've had for a while now; Fallout 3 (loving this game, there is a god and Bethesda Softworks is her name), Sins of a Solar Empire, The Witcher Enhanced Edition, and Assassins Creed (I know it's how old and I haven't beaten it yet?). Quite a list of titles to beat hey? Oh and then there's the punch line...Wrath of the Lich King. Yup, World of Warcraft keeps SUCKING me back in. The guys from work keep hounding me, and I keep buckling like a belt. So right now i've got a level 71 Human Paladin running around Northrend trying to reach level 80. I won't lie I'm half-assing WoW, and i'm spending more time PVPing than actually trying to hit 80, but it's still tying up HUGE amounts of my time *sigh*. So what's in store for the future? Well I want to beat Assassins Creed within the next day or so, I need to see how it ends, badly. Then I suppose I'll fire up Sins of a Solar Empire and try to finish taking over the galaxy. No doubt I'll head back in to the Capital City Wasteland and try to beat Fallout 3 (I'm REALLY close), and maybe The Witcher will be completed? Maybe? Who knows though, that game seems to NEVER end. Oh and of course I'll still be playing WOTLK...forever. Oh man and I almost forgot; I also received an early Christmas present from the girlfriend; Grand Theft Auto IV. No I haven't installed it yet, hell yes I want to. Ugh so there's where I stand, swamped (as per) with computer games, and I leave for a Caribbean Cruise on the 28th. Times a ticking.

Well, I last was in Canada on February 12th 2008, and I finally put my boots back on Canadian soil on September 15th 2008 after many long months in Afghanistan. It feels great to be home, and i've got my work cut out for me in the way of gaming. I had the girlfriend pick up Mass Effect, Front Lines: Fuel of War, Assassins Creed, and Sins of a Solar Empire (I know they're old news but not much gaming was done over the past 7 months). So i'm almost through Mass Effect and I love it, Bioware make great RPGs. Assassins creed is excellent and Sins of a Solar Empire is bad ass...some deity bless Galaxy Forge. Front Lines I haven't even cracked yet, but will do so ASAP. In to the mix there is the always present World of Warcraft...which i've had to pretty much relearn as I was a total moron at the keyboard when I booted it up. Lastly, I finally buckled like a belt and bought an Xbox 360...yup, Mr. PC Gamer finally folded like a cheap suitcase. But there is a reason why; the girlfriend and I can't share a keyboard to play games, so I bought the 360 for something to do together. I get to game, she stops flaking out on me, it's genius. So i've been rocking out the latest NHL and a few others...including Lego Star Wars which she's in love with. Anywho, I also played Guitar Hero (II and III) tonight for the first time ever at a party. So i've literally caved and entered the console world much to my chagrin. Oh well, Viva La Games!

So before I left for Europe this Christmas, I made a valiant attempt to knock off some of the games i'd neglected over the years. I did just that, putting down Shivering Isles and KOTOR 2 in rapid succession. However I bogged down (due to WoW) on Europa Universalis 3 and Frozen Throne. I'm happy to announce that I DID manage to beat down every other nation on the planet in EU3....sadly Frozen Throne was barely touched. It's now my main focus of gaming, having finally beat Gears of War for PC this past weekend. We'll see if I actually manage to beat Frozen Throne any time soon, as I just reinstalled the first HALO to give it another play through, and i'm still way involved in Crysis, COD4, and of course WoW.

So it's 4:30am, December 20th....wow Christmas is getting close. Anywho, I felt the need to update my gamespot blog at this moronic hour. Why you ask? Well i'll tell you; because I just completed Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Yes, i've had the game since it was released *cough*2005*cough*, and as i'd made mention of my previous post, i'd never completed it. However at the crack of dawn I did. I hacked my way across Malachor V, and put to rest the convoluted and seemingly endless storyline of KOTOR 2. I won't lie, I was disappointed, it didn't pan out how I wanted it to post Onderon, but that's life right? Regardless I had put down one of the forgotten titles i'd planned to put down over Christmas. But wait, it gets better. Earlier in the day, say around noonish, I put down another great title. The Elder Scrolls IV expansion; Shivering Isles. That's right, a two game completion in one day (ok so not on the same calendar day, but cut me some slack here). I was near the end of Shivering Isles' main quest when I ditched playing it a while back, so it really wasn't much work to put the final few hours in to it, but KOTOR 2 had a long way to go, i'd say about 2/3 of the game still, and I managed to power my way through it in around 7 hours. Not bad considering World of Warcraft almost dashed my plans for completing the games i'd over looked. Anywho, so two games down, and only two more to go (Europa Universalis III, and Frozen Throne)...and we leave for Europe on the 26th. I've got my work cut out for me, I guess we'll see if I can obtain my goal.

Well recently I undertook a long overdue task; finishing games that fell by the wayside. As I alluded to in my previous blog post, I feel a deep need to see every game I own completed in good order, call it a sort of gaming OCD. Anyway there are a few games that for whatever reason, were never completed and have always remained somewhat of a thorn in my side. They are; The Elder Scrolls IV expansion Shivering Isles, KOTOR 2, Warcraft 3 expansion Frozen Throne, and Europa Universalis 3. Over the years these games have kind of just been "over looked", whether it be they were over shadowed by newer games, or I simply was swamped with work, these great titles never were completed, and i'll admit i'm somewhat curious as to their outcomes. Therefore I made a deal with myself that over the Christmas Holidays (December 7th to January 7th...man I love being a Government employee) i'd work to complete these games. I was all set for my first weekend off to sit down and delve back in to these bad boys. I was stoked. I figured i'd start with Shivering Isles first, get some great RPG action on the go, and rest easy knowing i'd then beaten every Elder Scrolls game ever produced. However, life had a different plan. On the last day of work (December 6th) my friends asked me to join them that night to run an instance in World of Warcraft. Now I know what you're all thinking; WoW? Cyber Crack?. But to be honest I hadn't played much of WoW in the last 6 months. I'd been too busy with work and life that I found myself unwilling to pour hours in to it. Couple that with the fact that the character I was playing on my friends server was an alt that seemed to be perpetually hovering around level 45, and you can really see my disinterest in playing. However to be a friend I agreed to help them run an instance and promised myself no more than a couple of hours on WoW. Well a few hours turned in to a few days of hacking my way across Azeroth with my friends. My character went from level 45 to 55 in a week (which is extremely fast considering the slew of Christmas parties, nights with the girlfriend, and hang overs I had on the go). The whole week from December 9th to 15th was spent, at some point or other, logged in to WoW. I'll be honest, from time to time upon sitting down at my computer, i'd see my Oblivion icon on the desktop and wince to myself, however i'd ignore it and log myself in to WoW. I suppose it didn't help matters that the girlfriend doesn't start holidays until the 23rd, and therefore I had NUMEROUS days, sitting at home by myself, with nothing to do but play WoW, with all my Government employed friends who are also on vacation. However a break came today. It came in the way of boredom. Boredom with WoW. You see folks, i'm not like most WoW players. I can't sit for hours on end, for months on end, and slave over WoW. Eventually, to me, that becomes a hell of a lot like work, and frankly, live every other 20-something year old, I loathe work. So on Monday, December 17th, I logged in to WoW and stared at my character sitting in the Inn in Gadgetzan, and logged out. I didn't want to play WoW, the interest, as it always eventually did, had waned. So what did I do? I loaded up Europa Universalis 3, and played that for a few hours. And when my mind was numb from micromanaging my vast British Empire. I logged out, and loaded Shivering Isles. Which brings us to now; 1am on Tuesday morning. I sit here updating my blog after coming off of 2 hours of playing Shivering Isles (preceded by an awesome dinner and horizontal session with the girlfriend). So you see, i've started my game of catch up, albeit somewhat late, but the game has begun all the same. Hopefully before we head to Europe on the 26th i'll have Shivering Isles beaten, not to mention one or two of the other titles. I just have to avoid eye contact with WoW.

It seems like all the best games of the year decided to drop in to existence at exactly the same time. While it's awesome to see such a plethora of excellent games available, it's frustrating as a gamer to try and keep up with them all. I work a full time job and have a full time relationship (yes with a girl, and no we're not related) so my "gaming time" is desperately in short supply. These days I've been forced to remain awake long after the girlfriend in order to get a few hours of uninterrupted gaming in. In fact i'm writing this blog at 5am after coming off a 4 hour gaming bender which included such greats as; Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, and Gears of War. I'm one of those gamers who's not content until a game has been soundly beaten, and I take great pride in having beaten every game I own, with a few exceptions that i'm trying to rectify. However as of late i've fallen behind the proverbial curve, so to speak, and the list of games to beat has been piling up. On my plate I have; Gears of War, Bioshock, Stranglehold, and Crysis. Also I have a few older games that I either overlooked or simply wasn't able to beat at the time that i've decided to revisit now, they are; The Oblivion expansion Shivering Isles (i'm devoted to The Elder Scrolls series), Europa Universalis, and yes KOTOR 2. As you can see I have quite the list of games I need to complete. Some are almost finished like Bioshock, or KOTOR 2, but others such as Crysis and Gears of War, require many more hours until I can log out and breathe a sigh of relief. On the bright side I have managed to put down Call of Duty 4 (granted it was insanely short) and World in Conflict (was hopelessly addicted to this one) so I don't feel too bad. Don't get me wrong either, I love the quality games put out as of late, some of them are nothing short of ground breaking. I myself just wish I had more hours in the day to devout to such great titles. However until such a time as I find a way to freeze time i'll have to content myself to complaining to my girlfriend (which ends up with me receiving perplexed looks) and complaining on my gamespot blog ;)

I've been waiting for this game for a LONG time, eagerly watching the release date creep closer and closer. I expected another Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, I was let down. I guess I should first start out by saying MOHA runs great on my system. I've heard horror stories (well read actually) about how it crashes, fails to load, etc. Yet none of that nonsense reared its ugly head at me. Instead I was let down, not by shoddy programming, but shoddy developing. When you make a knock-out game (in my opinion) like Pacific Assault, people expect you to come through with the same pizazz in the future. Not the case with Airborne. From the get go, the whole story feels COMPLETELY rushed. No intro as to who you are, where you are, or what you're up to. You start in a plane and are pushed out the door and told to aim for a marker on the ground. I'm one for learning on the fly, sure, in fact that pretty much sums up high school for me, but I like to be entertained as well. For a moment lets be honest, I didn't really NEED an involved tutorial as I'm, with out any doubt in MY mind, a seasoned veteran of FPS. So I was willing to sacrifice that little slice of my comfort zone, for more detailed mission outlines, action packed levels, and a drawn out campaign, in the game itself. MOHA 1/2 delivers on this as well. The briefings themselves are horrid. A few fancy slides and a general gist of what you should be doing when you hit the ground. No flair to it, just force-fed info (that you forget as soon as your guy jumps), and a pat on the ass. I almost forgave them for the ad hoc briefings when I got to the weapon load out screen. I thought, "hey a cool addition", as I honestly hated being slotted with weapons I didn't want in previous Medal of Honor games. However, as with the briefings, it was missing that polished feel. First and foremost, what's with the German weapons? Why on EARTH would American paratroopers be issued German hardware? That is intellectually bankrupt. Furthermore where's the M1 Carbine? That weapon was issued in large numbers to American paratroopers as it was light and easy to jump in to combat, not to mention it was my mainstay firearm in Call of Duty. Yet it doesn't even exist in the game. At this point I had to say to myself, no big deal, so a few MINOR issues that only a WW II buff like me would care about. Then I jumped in to Sicily. The jump looked amazing, I loved the detail and the ability to land my trooper anywhere was a great touch. The initial combat was excellent, things were picking up for me. Then I realized, I was all alone. All the guys i'd jumped in with, were no where to be seen. Had they been killed? Was I lost? No, there were swarms of Germans everywhere. That's when I realized that they'd halted at the previous alleyway, letting me go ahead to clear out 10+ Germans by myself. Not exactly a plausible situation. Once i'd done the deed, they bounded forward to engage the next lot of Germans. This situation was repeated throughout the level, and the more it happened, the more annoyed I became with the apparent lack of creativity in the game. The coup de grace was the constant shortage of fellow soldiers around me. Apparently the whole 82nd Airborne Division had jumped in to Sicily, yet myself and two others were fighting the war on our own. At least in Call of Duty you're surrounded by numerous comrades and you actually feel like you're fighting a battle. In MOHA it felt more like being a lone wolf running the gauntlet. One last bad point I HAVE to touch on, is the awkwardness of the enemy when under fire. In one situation I was firing an M1 Garand at a German Grenadier behind a row of sandbags, after my third shot, he promptly did a 180, and ran TOWARDS my fellow paratroopers (shockingly they were around for this fight), seemingly incognizant of their existence. I have to ask at this point, how is that even logical? Why script an action in to the enemy that makes them perform ridiculous tactical maneuvers, all for the sake of getting away from the player? Intellectually bankrupt. Medal of Honor Airborne is a good game, not a great one, good. It has some excellent aspects; graphics, scenery, sounds, in combat chatter between soldiers, and some INTENSE firefights. But when all is said and done, and the smoke clears, the game simply fails to live up to what I expected. Maybe I got my hopes up. Maybe Pacific Assault lead me to expect more. Regardless, Airborne let me down.