Agentpheonix is back, after several years since I was frequenting this site.

I have a lot of downtime at work, which means surfing the web. This site seemed like a good place to waste some time.

I'll be surfing the boards regularly, and I also plan on spending time writing a lot more reviews. Working on one for Crysis right now.

Hello again to all my old friends!

It's very different.  Some of the little "Simon"-esque sequences can be too long, but the story-driven gameply has me hooked.  I am about 90% of the way through my first playthrough, and so far this game is looking at an 8/10 from me.  Hopefully that will rise on consecutive playthroughs, as I am going to do everything in the exact opposite way I did before, just so I can see exactly how much the game changes based on your decisions.  If it doesn't change much, then I have to admit that I probably won't play it through again.  But, if it varies greatly, then more playthroughs are sure to come.

Let me know if you know anything about how much IP can change, and let me know what you thought of the game.  If you've played it, that is.

I'm usually not one to brag, but I sure like to hear others brag.  So, what I would like you guys to do is post your five greatest gaming accomplishments.  No harm in tooting your own horn, right?

My top five:

1.  Of all of the games in the Metal Gear Solid series, I have beaten them for a combined total of 57 times.

2.  I have beaten Ikaruga WITHOUT infinite continues unlocked.

3.  In Soul Calibur 2, I have beaten Survival mode (all 30 battles without dying) on Hard mode.

4.  I have never sold a single game.

5.  I am the 2005 second place XIII champion.  (If it's second place, I guess its not the champion, but whatever...).

Also, I got Black the day after it came out.  It's probably the best FPS I have ever palyed, as I dont play Halo much.  It's graphics rival God of War for the best on the PS2, and it is extremely realistic.  It's also the most intense game I have ever played.  Expect a review from me soon.

Yay for me! I got Half-Life 2 for Xbox, Ratchet: Deadlocked for PS2, and Timesplitters: Future Perfect for PS2.  Also, as an extra gift, my fully reserved copy of Black comes out in 3 days!

I have too many games and not enough time to play them.  I am still addicted to Diablo 2, and Ratchet is one of the best, most exciting, most action packed games that I own for PS2.  Half-Life 2 is a blast, and I am sure that I will be replaying levels for months to come.  As of now, I have yet to play Timesplitters, but I'm going to dominate a few of my friends in a couple minutes...

All in all, this has been one of the single greatest "game birthdays" of my life.  Great haul, and Black is still on the way.  So far, each of the games that I have received and played are so good that I plan to write a review for each of them...eventually.

That's about it for me, until next time.

Whew, it's been a few months since my last visit to GS.

Christmas was a major gaming haul, as I received Soul Calibur III, Gun, a racing three-pack, and the autobiography of my hero, Bruce Campbell.

After reading the book, I decided to give Mr. Cambell an e-mail, letting him know how cool he is (as if he didn't already know).  Yesterday, I received his reply.  I printed out two copies of the e-mail, one of which I am going to frame and hang in my bedroom.  With this, my life is complete.

Plus, I recently started playing Diablo II and Starcraft online.  I just realized how bad I suck at Starcraft, but Diablo is going well, and I seem to have an addiction on my hands.

Also, my birthday is coming up in February, and so far I hope to get Half Life 2 for Xbox, and Ratchet: Deadlocked for PS2.

On a side note, I finally broke the 100-game mark!

That's about it in the life of agentpheonix, but it's good to be back.

I wrote another review, this time for Shadow of the Colossus.  Check it out.

Not much else has happened, my life is pretty boring.

Well, the new GS is finally here.  I have to admit, at first I was a bit skeptical, but it seems to be growing on me.

I made a banner for my profile, but as you can see, it isn't that great, not to mention that half of the text is cut off by the tabs.  That's another thing that I don't like:  they took our old profiles, that were what, seven pages, and turned them into at least a dozen pages.  I don't know where to go to read my friends' journals.

Anyway, I have really been getting into this sport that my friend, his brother, and I made up, it's called Concussion Ball.  You take a basketball onto a trampoline, and you have to bounce on your knees.  If you stand up, it's a foul.  Anyway, you have to get the ball to the other end of the tramp, and then back again to score.  But, the other team can do whatever they can to stop you, i.e. punching, kicking, tackling, elbowing, you name it.  It's pretty fun, but I'm sure that I'm going to break some ribs one of these days.

Not too much new for me in the gaming world, except that I've started to play Phantasy Star Online again.  Oh, and I'm going to go see Corpse Bride tonight, my brother said it was really good.

Thanks to a recent journal entry of one of my friends, I have started to think a lot about storylines in games.

Metal Gear Solid 2 has a great story, but it seemed a little stretched with the whole, "vampires, powerful psychics, and huge metal gears that somehow were undetected by anything while under construction", but it was still great. Snake Eater still takes the cake for the MGS series for me, it's simply spellbinding. While playing it, MGS 2 was still in the lead, but after you beat it, there is one particular cinematic that puts it all together: the revealing of the true intentions of Boss. That cinematic nearly brought a tear to my eye, and left me thinking long after the game was over. Vulcan Raven? Ha! Boss is the coolest character now, all because of one cinematic. Not to mention the whole, "Philosopher's Legacy", and the timeline that it shows at the end of the game really adds some depth to the series.

XIII also has an amazing storyline, but it's been so long since I've beat it that I don't remember much of the details. All I remember is that it is a politically charged, revenge filled, in depth, immersice, and all-in-all incredible story. And I remember that at the final unveiling of Number I, I was so shocked, and yet I knew all along.

But by far, the greatest story to this day is Killer 7. I can't say much without spoiling anything, but you can read one of my previous entries to get a good feel of how complex it is.

Anyway, I would like everybody to comment and tell me any games that I may have missed, I love a good story.

And on a side note, I was looking at my legs today, and the hair on them made it look as if they were outlined in black. Then, the Nike shorts I was wearing reflected the light in a weird kind of way, and I started thinking...wouldn't it be cool if life was cel-shaded?

Well, recently life has been treating me well. I've had a lot of time to play video games. It's about four weeks into another year of school, and so far, it's not too bad! Almost none of my classes have homework, including Chemistry and US Government, which I thought would be classes with a lot of homework.

I watched Unbreakable over the weekend, and remembered what a great show it is. I've been playing Mercenaries a lot lately, mainly because it's one of those games that you don't have to be in the mood for it to play it. I beat it as Jacobs, started a new game as Nillson, and beat it with him. He's funner to look at than the other Mercs, with his black outfit, his mohawk, and his sweet handlebar mustache. He's not, however, as pleasant to listen to. His voice actor is HORRIBLE. As in, comparable to Baten Kaitos.

Also, my friend let me borrow Final Fantasy X. I usually despise FF games, but he talked me into it and I actually enjoy it (damn my biases!). I beat it the other day, but I am still playing it to collect all of the legendary weapons and such. When I beat it, I think I had a total time of 56 hours and...some amount of minutes.

I also borrowed Viewtiful Joe from my friend, and I am thinking about trading my True Crime (horrible game...at least compared to Mercenaries) for my friend's VJ 2.

Well, that's about it. Oh, I am supposed to go to this restaurant to apply for a waiter position, but I have suddenly fallen ill to either the flu, a very bad cold, or maybe even bronchitis.

I wrote another review for Killer 7, and I am really starting to enjoy reviewing games. I doubt anybody actually reads mine, but whatever. Anyway, I'm going to start composing more.

I just beat Killer 7 this morning, and all I have to say is that you have to be prepared, mentally, just to beat the game. Throughout the entire storyline, it is relatively simple, and then on the last one or two levels, they pile it on like there is no tomorrow. All of a sudden, everything falls together, and yet there are still so many questions that are left unanswered (to me, at least). How anybody on the face of this earth can possibly grasp this story and actually understand it is beyond me.

This game is a lot like the movies 12 Monkeys and Memento. The story is just...complicated and confusing.

NOTE: If you have not, but intend to in the near future, beat Killer 7, PLEASE, stop reading now.

Anyway, this is what I have gathered thus far: Kun Lan has the "Hand of God", which is what allows him to create the Heaven Smiles. When in the car where Mills is killed, and Mills says, "Garcian, 30 years ago you and Harman--", I think that he is referring to Harman being the principle of the school where the elite assassins were trained, and where Garcian, a.k.a. Emir Parkreiner, attended, 30 years ago. I am still a little unclear about the "Third Eye".

Well, I could go on for ten more paragraphs about the questions and theories I have about this game, but I'm sure I'm boring you. So, Eribuster, Shadowcuz, hopefully you guys can answer some of my questions...