I'm on vacation this week, so don't expect to see much of me. I beat the main story on Red Faction and the 100 gamerscore achievement pushed me over the top. My brother is in town on leave and he has Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Batman:AA. I plan to play both before going back to work next week. Finally, I watched Xmen Origins and I didn't like it. I think I've seen Soap Operas with more believable stories.

I've been pretty active in the Serious Discussion Union recently. We talk about games a lot, but not all topics are about games. Some are political and some might even be about religion. There are normally a good number of posts in the forum, and I've been contributing some threads recently. I'd strongly encourage anyone who reads my blog but does not already frequent the Union to check it out. The more people, the greater persective and the better the discussion. Here's a link:

The Serious Discussion Union

I've been playing Red Faction: Guerrilla for a while now. Its fun, but a little too hardcore (even for me). I've been playing through the campaign on "Casual" difficulty because I got sick of dieing on "Normal". Also, I decided to try the online last night and the above picture sums up what happened. The game is impossible for newbies online. It strongly supports the party system, which is cool for inviting friends, but since I'm playing by myself, I am always teamed up with other noobs (also playing by themselves) against teams of experienced players in parties. After 2-3 hours online, I have yet to win a match. Its quite frustrating.

Don't eat the Habanero! I ate one raw this weekend. I immidiatly had trouble breathing and started to hiccup, then my tounge went numb. I drank a half gallong of milk to try to keep the spice down and still felt like I was going to throw up for the next 12 hours. The saddest part is that they don't even taste good. It would require some strong motivation to convince me to eat another.

Oh, I unlock all the Mass Effect Ahievements as well. I know, I'm awesome. Thanks. ;)

I actually find it hard to believe that I didn't write a review before. So, here's my review of Mass Effect, I doubt you'll find anyone who's given it a more thorough evaluation.

Great storytelling and enjoyable characters make this game excellent. Bland side-quest can get tedious.

Difficulty:Just Right

Time Spent:100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:"Ambitious"

In Mass Effect, you take the role of Commander Shepard and both Shepard himself, or herself, and the events that take place, are customizable to the players' tastes. The game is set in an incredibly well developed universe with plenty of trivia for any sci-fi nerd. In addition to great story, the game is fun to play. It is a shooter/RPG hybrid and, for the most part, it keeps the game fast paced and full of action.

The best part of Mass Effect is its story. As Shepard you'll meet up with many different characters and situations and they way you choose to react to these situations affects the entire galaxy. By the time the game ends, its very easy to feel connected to your personal version of Commander Shepard. The ending will differ based on your decisions and because of this, the game promotes multiple play-throughs.

The main quest will take about 24 hours of play time complete but that can be more than doubled by completing the games side-quests. Sadly most of these assignments are extremely boring. The majority involve driving around in the your tank-truck, the Mako, on a nearly desolate planet. While many of these side missions can add to the story, they do so by a text box popping up and explaining what happened. The nice part is that you never are forced to do a single side-quest so if you decide you don't like them then you can just skip them.

There are a few other odd items that keep Mass Effect from being perfect. There is a lot of texture pop-in and while its better than loading screen, it still breaks the immersion. Also, I find the driving sections quite boring, and its not helped by the Mako controlling poorly and sometime not shooting where you aim. Many players complain about the elevators in the game, but they are not a big issue. You can use the in game "fast-travel" option to almost completely avoid them.

All included, Mass Effect's story, presentation, and gameplay make up for its few faults. With all the choices a player can make its easy to finish one game, just to want to immediately start another. I've completed the game many times and still enjoy playing. Whether you'll play through multiple times and get the value out of it I did, or for just one quick run-through, Mass Effect is an incredible experience that really shouldn't be missed.

8.5 - Great

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"Pinnacle Station" is the new DLC for Mass Effect and of course I downloaded it as soon as I could. Its good and worth the $5, but I wouldn't say it is as good as the previous "Bringing Down the Sky", BDTS, content. What it is, is twelve "combat simulations" that test your fighting ability. You fight for high score in survival, hunt, capture, or time trial modes. While this could have made for some intense online competition, you're just trying to beat the scores of the NPCs in the game, and those scores don't change. Each of these simulations last about 2 minutes and you might have to retry once or twice beat the required time/score. There is one final mission where you are forced to survive on "the highest difficulty" for over 2 minutes, but I didn't find that mission any more difficult than the normal survival modes(in fact, I thought it was considerably easier). The rewards for playing are a powerful (but not as powerful as the spectre c1ass) weapon of your choice and your own retirement home. I havn't actually visited my new home yet, I'm too busy saving the Galaxy, but I hear its nice.

This DLC fills a hole that existed in Mass Effect and lets you fight like you've always wanted to. The reason it is not as good as the previous DLC is the complete lack of story or moral choices. In BDTS, there were a couple chances to choose paragon or renegade and it introduced a new Mass Effect alien race and some considerable back story. It also gave you a more useful reward, armor or tech upgrade. Despite Bioware's argument otherwise, BDTS is a longer experience too. The only reason Pinnacle Station would take longer is if a player had trouble getting the needed score and had to retry several times.

So, its a good package that scratches that itch of wanting to test your characters fighting ability. It could have been more by either giving more options for the matches, like say Shepard fighting alone, or having online leaderboards. It also sacrifices the story, which has always been a big part of what makes ME great. Still, its some good fun and provides much more than the standard ME sidequest. I enjoyed the hour or so I spent on it, and I would definitly stop by again in any additional ME playthroughs (though, I'm not sure how many more of those I'll do).

I've already beaten Mass Effect 4 times and I thought I would just be waiting to drop my level 60 Shepard into ME2 when it releases. Well, only this past weekend, when the new DLC came out, did I discover that my little sister DELETED my Mass Effect saves. I was a little peeved, but only a litte. Since Mass Effect give you perks based off your achievements, most of the work I had done still applies to my new games. I started new and got to level 28 in six hours, thanks to triple experience, but still haven't tried out the new DLC I downloaded. However, I am enjoying playing again, and the only reason I'm not happy about it is because I think my previous character looked better than my new one. Oh well.

Just a reminder for those who don't know, Mass Effect is an awesome game! I just wanted to let you know.

The Lost Planet 2 Demo was released on LIVE yesterday. It lets you fight one boss from the campaign with up to 3 friends. I played through it several times with my brother online yesterday, I can tell you that the game is no cakewalk. Despite having nearly beat the original on insane, I'm still stuck on the last boss, we initially had a lot of trouble taking this demo boss down. After a couple "mission failed"s we finally got the hang of things and won, then we tried a few more times to get a better grade. Overall it was pretty fun, but there were some frustrations.

One problem that I know people will have with this game are the controls. Every button on the controller is used, including start , back, and the d-pad. The four face buttons, A, B, X, and Y each have multiple functions. Its a big improvement over the first game though where everything was on B, but its still a lot to learn. Also, some controls are different once you get into a VS. As confusing as they are at first, it works well once you learn it.

What has been confirmed is that I would get A LOT of play out of the full game when its released. I've played through the campaign on the first game 5 or 6 times and I put a lot of time in the multiplayer. This game takes the best of both and shoves them together to make a more cohesive and enjoyable whole. The campaign plays somewhat similar to a multiplayer match. You get points and awards for what you're doing and there are respawns which are limited by your score on the battle gauge. Its smart and has a very high replay value. Of course, the demo is only a preview of the campaign. I can't wait to try the competitive modes out online, I'm sure they've improved as well.

The only problem I have with this game is that all of the co-op modes are online. That isn't a problem per say, but what it does mean is that my brother and I will each have to buy our own copy if we want to play together. Even though we would each only be paying $60, we're normally able to split the costs of new games. So, I'm pretty sure it will be $120 we collectively drop on this game the day its released. That is, unless one of us decides to get the collectors edition. Then it will be more.

Fat Princess is a fun and deep multiplayer game. Its cartoony graphics and playful attitude makes it very unique. There aren't a whole lot of options but any lack is made up for in depth. There are a few glitches in the initial release, but its nothing that ruins the title. The biggest downfall is likely be the communinity. It feels like an impossible task to organize your 15 teammates, but that isn't the fault of the developers. The one thing they could have improved was the in-game call for help. If it would announce "low health" or "many enemies" or "help deliver the princess" it would be nice. As it is, I would give the game a 7.5. Even though I don't think its perfect, I can't wait to get home to play it more.

It comes out this thursday. I've been waiting for it for months. I don't work Thursday, so I might stay up and download it the second it hits the store. Anyone know when exactly that is?