OK, so in response to my previous blog, I want to clarify that being given an overabundance of enemies to wade through isn't entirely the fault of Call of Duty's self-healing crutch, but is also a way of lengthening otherwise short games by lowering progressin through the narrative to a halt while you deal with a hundred randomly appearing bad guys, then die, and have to start it again. The generous placement of checkpoints is also a leading contributor. Virtually gone are the game in which you have to start a whole level/mission over when you die. instead most games will put you in the room just before you died, so all you have to do is open a door and then get yourself killed again. LoL. And these trends are really starting to disturb me. Again, I use Uncharted as an exampe since its the game that has been frustrating me lately. If not for the ridiculous (and unexplained) sudden appearance of wave after wave of enemies that ALWAYS take three shots with whatever gun I'm using to kill, the game would be great. If I could do the platforming segments, then stop and sneakily kill three or four badguys, that would be cool. The game would be totally awesome! But instead, I get the entertaining platforming segments, then have to stop and sit behind cover for ten minutes as 5 waves of badguys come through the door across the room. It takes me out of the experience, since I'm supposed to be a dude on an island with a small group of pirates. and yet by the third level (levels take about 20 or 30 minutes to complete), I already had earned the "kill 50 enemies with the handgun" achievement. That's just with the handgun! You know, the gun I use when my assault rifle runs out of ammo. LoL. Then there are jet ski levels that would be fun if not for the fact that you have to stop ever ten seconds to shoot more badguys. Yes, you have to drive and shoot. Even though there is an NPC on the back of the jet ski with the gun. You have to stop the jet ski, then aim with the other character and shoot, then proceed to next area. In a later jet ski level, you have to do this same thing, except as an added challenge, you must do it while going AGAINST rapids, and with an endless stream of exploding barrels floating towards you. Where did this "little band of pirates" get all these exploding barrels? I don't know. Nor do I know where they got all the damned pirates.

Anyway, sorry to rant. its still a good game. If you get a chance to play it, you should. It has gorgeous graphics, amazing animation, and the main character is basically Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the jungle. Just play it on the easy difficulty and expect to die many cheap deaths at the hands of poorly balanced difficulty. Heck, even the main character exclaims "What the hell?!" or "Where do these guys keep coming from?" whenever he gets into a gunfight. So maybe its all just a big joke by the developers.

But anyway, the fact that we are being charged an extra $10 a head for this generation's new games, I would really appreciate more GAME. Not just more enemies to kill. At least Metal Gear Solid 4 gives you a pretty good 6-hour, high definition, CG movie to watch. And at $60, that's even cheaper than buying 3 blue-ray movies.