I just got Mercs 2 in the mail and had an hour to play it. My immediate reaction was disappointment, but after a few gun fights I really started to like it. Its probably to early to judge. I have yet to endulge in air strikes.

Tomorrow I will have an update on my experience!

Peace.

Hey Gamespot! My name is Mitch, gamertag is theFALLofTR0Yx. I have an Xbox 360 with live and a Nintendo Wii. Today I will be talking about some games that I've been recently been playing and looking forward to. As soon as I have the ability to upload videos to my blogs, you'll be seeing some video reviews and such.

To get started I'd like to talk about Spore, it's coming out on September 7th? which is sometime this week, so I'll sure to buy that on its release day. I purchased the creature creator like a month ago, its great stuff. I've made 52 cool creations. Whats really neat about the whole shared content idea is that you can actually go to spore.com and check out all your creations, plus everybody elses content. Some of the featured creatures are just incredible, so I can see how Spore is starting to become a great game for some hardcore RTS gamers. I know it will occupy a ton of my time already... So anyway. I've been watching some videos that pre-release copy owners have been playing, and the gameplay just amazes me. Some games you over-anticipate and then are let down at release, and Spore won't be one of them. The user-generated content will just make a neverending thrill to the whole experience. I know I'll have no trouble dealing with those genetalia ghouls with Garriton, who's gonna be my main creature. Plus, galaxy domination draw that humongous sandbox-loving crowd. Seems to have something for everyone. I definitly recommend buying Spore at release, my guts telling me (and some players who got a pre-release) reassure me of this games excellence. Cool.

Onto Mercs 2. I haven't actually played this game yet... the reason is only that I was so excited for it, I preordered it before Labor Day weekend, only to realize it wasn't going to be shipped until today... bummer. But I am pleased with all the reviews and videos I've seen. Apparently the Co-op play was perfect like they were saying. Blowing s*** up with a friend never felt so good (or so I've been hearing >=]) Yeah. So I had Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, and in my opinion it is way better than most recent games of its kind. It really blows Just Cause and the like out of the water. I want to say it beats GTA4, but you can't compare the two. You really can't. You had the awesome ability to (use cheats) and plant 8 C4s around an unoccupied vehicle, run away, and blast it into the sky, where an hour later would fall out of the sky and land in your path. That was the magic of mercenaries. I know Mercenaries 2 won't let me down either. I didn't want it to change too much from the first, I just wanted cooler explosions, better graphics, and BURNING FOLIAGE!? But yeah, very excited to get that in the mail.

And recently, I've been playing Saints Row. This game does not get NEAR enough credit. It owns San Andreas with its artistic graphics, and the gameplay just never gets boring. This game actually stands a chance against GTA4 with having police stand-offs. Don't get my wrong, GTA4 has much better AI, but there are so many hideout areas where you can attract police attention, call your "homies", and wreak havok. Every time I do that, I'm entertained for a solid hour... Great stuff. Oh yeah, and there are cheats. Or as I like to call them "Tools of Fun". Never hate on cheats, guys. I believe in games that are free-roamers cheats are just what you need to have crazy hi-jinks... Story mode is different, I can understand if you want to play it right there, but man, the possibilities with having infinite ammo and such gives you many opportunities to tickle your free-world fancy. Besides the amazing free-roaming mayhem, car handling is EXCELLENT, and of course, the soundtrack. As you may have acknowledged, I like the band The Fall of Troy. Only Saints Row would inclue one of their hit songs, plus add great tracks like "Everything's Alright" by Motion City Soundtrack, and "Of All the Gin Joints..." By Fall Out Boy (I make an exception of their whole sell out, thats a good song.) And of course there are many other genres of music, from Dirty South to Classical to Easy Listening and Metal. It's a good soundtrack. So besides from the soundtrack, the story mode isn't bad. It's actually pretty good for a gang-themed game. Probably beats out San Andreas. Maybe it is just me, I don't know. I don't want to tell you too much about the story mode, but you design a character, who is at the wrong place at the wrong time, and gets caught up with gang violence. The gang called the 3rd Street Saints find you and save your life from a nasty gangster. They invite you to their gang, which is in a run down church. (Get it, the 3rd Street SAINTS.) I'm a fourth of the way through it, just beat one of the main gangs. Lots of good missions that are not at all repetitive. Very good replay value, gotta say. Because you are in a gang, your gang brothers, clad in purple, roam all of your territory, and are more than willing to beat up anybody who crosses you. Even the daring police officers who foolishly enter the Row. (Your first territory.) As you progress in the story, more territory becomes the Saints', and less from the other 3 gangs. Saint's Row borrows this element from the Godfather (or maybe its the other way around?) But anyway, great game, I recommend it. You may want to wait for Saint's Row 2 to come around, though. Sometime in 2009, I presume. So Saint's Row, for the Xbox 360 ONLY.

That's pretty much it for this blog. Look for future blogs as they come. Hopefully I level up soon enough to present you with some cool video reviews and the like. Until next time, this is Mitch.

Peace!8)