WOW! Simply amazing. Even though I watched it with the crappiest of all subs, it was still amazing. The art is just woah and then the action and gore is simply breathtaking. I don't think I ever watched anything so badass. Not to mention the music is so sick!

Judging from the first episode, it is somewhat similar to the games. I haven't really played any of the games all too much, so don't take my word for it. The anime starts out fast paced. Dante is sitting at a pub and asking the bartender about a violent pub that does not rob humans, but kills them. This then sets of the demons (who can take the form of a human) and they attack Dante. Dante of course puts a bullet between their eyes and owns them up with his sword. The whole fighting scene was just WOW. I was HIGHLY entertained, and that was only the start.

After that Dante is at his home and he gets a mission to get a girl, Patty, to a house so she can claim her heritage. Patty is an orphan but apparently her parents or someone in her family was quite rich. However, they passed away and it turns out she is the one who would be getting the house and the money if she showed up. If she didn't show, the house would be going to other people.

For some unknown reasons, it's not clearly explained, the demons want to kill Patty. Maybe to take the house as their own? Maybe because they took her mother and they want her as well? On their way to the house there are countless meetings with demons, in the car, on the train, at the hotel, and at some weird opera house.

While on the train and in the hotel, we learn a little bit about Patty's past and what type of person she is. Her mother was claimed dead, but she feels she was taken by devil... (demons?). While spending the night in the hotel, Patty is drawn to the opera house because she can hear her mother sing. When she enters, she sees her mother standing there and singing. She then rushes the stage and hugs her.

It turns out that it's a demon and Patty fears for her life. That's when Dante comes in and saves the day. Good ol Dante. He then ends up fighting two other demon but making it so Patty can't see. He also did this while in the car with her. He pulled down her hat so she does not see the fighting. Could be something important, could be something totally nothing.

Anyway, they finally get to the house and it turns out one of the people that would claim it if she did now show up is a demon. A big one! He attacks them and Dante shows him who's boss (not Tony Danza) by chopping off his arm and shooting the heck out of him, eventually killing him.

Patty claims the money (not to sure about the house) but ends up buying things for her friends at the orphanage. She also buys a lot of crap and puts it in Dante's house. It seems like she will be living with him, which is interesting because they seemed to have a connection. Not a love connection or anything but a big brother to younger sister one.

Episode one was really interesting. Can't wait to see what will unfold in episode two. If you're a fan of DMC check this out. Even if you're not a fan WATCH THIS! Click Here To Download This Episode

First off I'd like to say that I had no idea Gunslinger Girl was also a manga. It is also quite new seeing as it is still on going. I've seen the show and enjoyed it a lot. The manga is no let down. I loved the first volume and can't wait to read the second, third, fourth and fifth. For those that are unfamiliar with Gunslinger Girl, it is about an agency who finds and gathers injured girls (kids) and gives them cybernetic components. Then they go about brainwashing them and turning them into assassins doing the dirty work for the government. The girls still think for themselves and can feel love. However they don't remember their past and they must obey or listen to their handler/master. They must also protect him. It's a really good anime and the manga seems to be really good as well.

What I enjoyed most was Henrietta's love for Giuseppe and his love for her. I think it adds a lot to the manga. Not to mention the killing, action, suspense, drama, mystery, etc that unfolds. Oh yeah, and the slight random comedy bits which aren't all to funny, but you laugh anyway beacuse of how silly and random they are.

Lost Planet [360] Review
My Heart Is So Warm In The Snow
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Graphics & Design [9.3/10]

From the moment I started my first game on Xbox Live or from the moment I started to play single player. I was overwhelmed with how great this game really looks. Though it lacks a little because most of it is in snow, however the snow looks pretty. The snow effects are spectacular leaving footprints in the ground, snow blowing on you screen, or diving around and then standing only to see that the snow is stuck on your body until you go inside where it is warm and it melts. After getting in my first mech. or VS I blew u another mech, and my jaw just dropped. The explosions have to be the best of anything I've ever seen. It looks so cool when you are online and there are constant explosions going off, it's almost blinding.

Other neat little things this game has is when you look at the sun and look back down it is very hard to see! It's kind of annoying at first because when you have to grapple up somewhere sometimes you just look at it on accident, but if you think about it, it's a really cool feature that lots of games lack.

The Acrid or the "monsters" that you are fighting even look great. The bosses look creepy scary and the little monsters looks awesome as well. This game just looks amazing on an HDTV.

Game-play [9.0/10]

The Bad:
There are minor flaws to the game-play that aren't to big but could piss off most gamers who can't just have a good time. One thing is, when you are getting shot at, it's hard to move. Also, when you get shot it tends to stop your shooting so you have to constantly be running, diving, crouching, etc to avoid bullets. Another minor flaw is if you got knocked on the ground, you can't get hit. Awesome for you, yes, but if you knocked a guy down and wanted to finish him, you'd have to wait till he gets back up. Spawn camping with mechs is another thing people enjoy doing. Even though you have a shield for a few seconds when you spawn, the mechs just keep shooting and eventually kill you. The final flaw to the game is that if you shoot a rocket and it hits the wall behind or the ground right next to a person they sometimes don't die. However, a patch is coming out to fix a few minor things. Some could say that the controls are "clunky" but after you played a game or two, like most games they will seem perfect. Not much of a problem, but people complain about everything these days.

The Good:
Now that I told you the negative part about the game, time to hit you guys up with what makes this game one of my favorite Xbox 360 titles. First and foremost are the weapons. They are just awesome. There are your simple guns like a machine gun, a rifle, a shotgun, etc. Then there are your futuristic weapons like homing lazers (which can be dodged by diving or hiding), and mechs. Oh, did I mention that you could walk up to a mech that isn't being manned and take off its gun. Yup, you can take a shotgun, a gattling gun, and a rocket launcher, off a mech and run around with it to kill the other team or other players. The reload button is also great. You reload by clicking in the right thumbstick, seems odd, but when your running and looking around it works out that you never have to take your thumb off the sticks.

The grenades are also pretty sweet. Even though you can only one type of grenade at once, that's all you need. There are two grenades that can stick onto people. There's the "Gum Grenade" that can stick to people and walls but can't be thrown that far, then there is the "Disc Grenade" or as I call it the Frisbee grenade. This grenade can be thrown across the map and can stick to people. There is also a regular "Frag Grenade" and a "Plasma Grenade". The plasma grenade stuns opponents and mechs temporarily allowing you to unload on them. Last but not least there is the "Dummy Grenade". When this is thrown, it pretty much makes a cheap imitation of you that doesn't look even close to what you look like. It also floats. However, it is super powerful and if you shoot it, it will explode. It's probably my favorite grenade because you can throw it at the stop of stairs so it floats and gets stuck on something. Then when someone runs by you shoot it and explode the person. Resulting in a death for them, but a kill for you.

Grenades are very helpful (try to have them on you at all times) because any grenade can be shot to have it explode. So watch out when your throwing a grenade that it doesn't explode in your face.

You can also pilot many mechs online. One of my favorite mechs is the one that has chainsaw attached to it. You can press the "X" button to use it or hold it to keep it out. If you ever find yourself going up against another mech and your in the one with the chainsaw, here's a tip on taking it down. Press and hold the "Y" button, this enables a dash/slide that allows you to get behind your opponent. Next, press and hold "X" to chainsaw him or her in the back.

Online is also similar to an RPG. As you win or lose you gain experience points that go towards your online level. The points system is based on how good you do, not your team. You could lose and have 8 kills and 2 deaths and still get a good 3000 experience. Unlike Halo where if good, but your team still loses, you have to suffer. As you level up, you gain new character models to play as and you also gain new patterns for them to wear online. The max level for online is level 99, I've seen countless players at that level so it is actually attainable. An easy way to gain levels is to just host a ranked "Fugitive" match and have a friend join. Then kill him and grab a post to get a nice 4000 experience. Then have him host and kill you. If the fugitive wins, he gains lots of points. It takes about a minute to do if you are on "Pirate Fortress" and have the starting weapon as the "Rifle".

There are multiple game types to play. There is "Fugitive" which is one guy (the host) has to survive against a bunch of other players. There's also "Post Grab" which is similar to Halo's territories. The game also includes "Elimination" and "Team Elimination". Another cool feature about online is you can join ranked games with your friends, or host ranked games and have your friends join. While they won't be able to receive an invite, they can still search for your game in the list of lobbies.

Overall new players might be put off if they lose their first couple of games, but once you start getting a hang of it and learning new strategies the game is a blast to play with solid controls and enough online game types and features to please anyone.

Sound [9.5/10]

Lost Planet has a fantastic soundtrack. To me, it sounds similar to the Batman Begins soundtrack. Nothing is better then running in the middle of plain of snow and all of a sudden a Giant Worm Acrid comes out of the ground and the panic music starts. The music fits perfectly for the game and is probably one of my favorite soundtracks to any game.

Some guns sound kind of weird but nothing to drastic. Firing the mech shotgun makes me laugh because of the noise it makes. But if you think about it, that's the type of noise it should make. If you want a good laugh, shoot your grappling good "X" a bunch of times in a row. The explosions on the other hand sound sweet. There is nothing better then trying to escape from someone in a mech and you hear the explosions happening behind you. I enjoy rotating my camera while running just to watch him shoot at me.

The sound effects in the game are also very pleasing. You can be inside a building and hear the people running around outside because of the noise their feet make while running in the snow. Or you can be on lower floor of a building and hear someone running around on the top. Also if you taunt, hold start in game and press any direction the D-Pad (each direction does something different) you can hear your guys cloths move, his hands clap, or hear one of the characters slap his ass.

Entertainment [9.2/10]

To wrap things up, Lost Planet is a blast to play alone or with buddies. Great graphics, great music, and great game play lead will put you in a happy place. However, some gamers will be put off from a) getting owned right as they start to play b) not taking the time to get used to and appreciate the controls or c) they aren't big fans of third person shooters.

Initial D: Street Stage [PSP] Review
Become A Downhill Specialist
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Overview:

Initial D Street Stage is a touge (downhill) racing game, based of the popular anime and manga Initial D. If your looking to pick this game up after reading this review, you'll have to import it, I suggest play http://www.play-asia.com. Or, you can go to your local Japanese mall and see if they have a copy. I got mine at my Japanese mall, so I know they have the title there.

Graphics and Design: [8.2/10]

For a PSP game, it has surprising good graphics. I was even more shocked that they are better the PS2 version's graphics. All the cars looks exactly like they do in the series and in real life. There is a wide rage of cars such as a Toyota AE86, a Nissan Skyline R32, an RX7 FD3S and FC3S, and so a bunch more. To put it short, if they drive it in the series, you can drive it in the game. There is a nice range of mountain passes that you can race on. On each mountain pass, you can either choose to drive it uphill or downhill, unless you are doing story mode.

There are plenty of fun gamemodes as well. In the series, Takumi's dad would always place a cup of water in his car when he would go make early morning deliveries. If the cup spilled, the tofu in the back would spill. One of the gamemodes is race down or up a hill and try not to spill the water. The less water you spill, the better you score.

Game-play and Controls: [8.8/10]

The Bad:
One minor flaw that this game has is upgrading your car(s). In order to upgrade your car(s) you have to race people. It doesn't matter if you win or lose. When the race is over, you get a card. That card can either be a performance upgrade, an exterior upgrade, or a useless card that you collect. It gets kind of annoying when you need a performance upgrade and you get stuck with a pointless one. In my eyes, that is the only really issue with the game. Another tiny flaw is that it lacks some of the mountains from the original arcade stages.

Initial D Street Stage is mainly for the fan base of Initial D with the cars and mountain passes from the series. For you exotic car lovers and tuners, I would suggest checking out something from the Need for Speed series. However, you should check this title out if you enjoy racing games in general.

The Good:
Where to begin, I think staring off with the fact that I'm a huge Initial D fan is a great place. If you're a fan of ID, there is no doubt in my mind that you will be hooked to this game for a long while. Believe it or not, some races are actually a challenge. Letting your opponent have a head start then kicking his ass down the pass is a blast. There's nothing better then drifting past the computer or a friend on the last hairpin and winning.

The controls are also very solid. I couldn't picture them any different. It's really easy to steer as well. You'd think it be kind of difficult on the PSP because previous racing games on it were a tad hard. This feels just right. Remember kids, it's not the graphics that makes the game. Just because I didn't give it a 9 or a 10 doesn't mean the graphic suck.

TIP: When racing, race in first person. You will be able to corner a lot better.

Sound: [9.2/10]

The cars sound great (Though some might sound the same. I've noticed that different from person to person.) as does the tires screeching while drifting. I tend to turn most of the in-game sound effects down and listen to the awesome soundtrack. The eurobeat in the game is just amazing. It makes you want to drive faster and always seems to put you in the right mood for each race.

Entertainment: [9.5/10]

Overall Initial D is a great game especially to fans of the anime and manga. Solid gameplay, graphics, and music make this to be a fun title, not to mention one of my favorite racers to date. While you can't modify your car like you can in Need For Speed and Forza Motorsport, it is still an amazing and well put together game.