What does Fable + R-Type Final equal? One hell of a weekend! I don't believe I've had this much fun gaming since I was about 12 or so. Friday I played Fable for at least 6 hours straight although the I can't remember the actual time. The game clock says I beat it in 7 hours and 23 minutes so it had to have been 6 hours since I had played only an hour the day before. Then again game clocks are screwy. As you can tell from my time, I pretty much rushed through it since it has to be back at Blockbuster in a certain time but I still had a blast. Watching your hero (or villain) grow from a scrawny nobody to someone to be reckoned with is quite rewarding. I also though the story, for the most part, was really done. The music is gorgeous and very atmospheric. Probably my only gripe is with the animations, which are a little stiff at times. Overall though, this is a great game and one that I will pick up once the price goes down.

I picked up R-Type Final last night and all I have to say is wow! This is THE most fun I've had with a shooter in ages. Granted I suck at the game (I can only get to the third level, and that's on the kids setting) but holy hell this game is fantastic. Probably the most ingenious play mechanic ever introduced into the vertical shooter is the ability to attatch your force in front or in back of your ship. This makes for some interesting design choices and enemy placement. Do you keep your force if front and double your fire power? Or do you move it to the back and take out those annoying enemy fighters? This game, in my opinion, is a couple of steps up from Ikaruga and probably the best shooter of all time.

Another thing I'd like to share is my choice to become a budget gamer. Recently I've been finding it extremely difficult to justify spending $40 -$50 on a single game. When I picked up Ratchet & Clank: GC when it first came out I wasn't very fond of the game. Last night though I bought it new for $19.99 along with R-Type Final for $19.99 and I haven't regretted it yet. Strange isn't it? So from now on I'll probably be either renting on waiting until most games drop in price to buy them save for the huge ones like Halo 2 and Metroid Prime 2.

Happy Gaming,

Systems_Id