Risky Actions

Risk is probably my favorite board game, with Monopoly being a close second. So when I found out they were making a version of Risk for the 360 I rushed to...wait for it to go on sale. And then I decided not to get it because I was out of money. But when it went on sale again I scooped it up. As with all good game updates it has classic Risk hidden in there somewhere. I played it and it's just as good and excruciatingly long, but without all the tiny and sharp army men embedded in your carpet. The campaign is short and is more of an introduction to the characters than a real game. It is pretty funny and very well animated. I was actually surprised that Penny Arcade wasn't involved because the art style reminded me of them.

Update 1: If there was an achievement for 100 dice losses in a row I think I'd have it by now. The computer cheats so much. I have 10 guys you have one guy. Why can't I take your country over?

Get Over Here

Seriously, a man with a hook on a rope that he can use to pull people towards him and he's called Scorpio? It would have been less obvious to call him link.

This happens to be another third person game that gives me motion sickness. The first I ever encountered was Tomb Raider. First-person games don't make me sick. Although many people did I didn't get sick watching Cloverfield. Not all third person games make me sick. I was fine playing Assassins Creed, GTA IV, and Prototype. It's only certain games. Crackdown, for example, made me nauseous. I tried sitting far away, after resting for a day, and it seemed to make me feel worse.

Due to this affliction I'm probably not going to 100% this game. The races, which I was dreading anyway, seem out of reach.

Doritos Crunch Coarse / Frito Way

Doritos Crash Course is miles ahead of the last Doritos "game" we were given. First off this game is actually fun. It is similar to Japanese Game Shows like Sasuke (Ninja Warrior in America) (Example). They animate your avatar and it looks pretty good. When you accidentally run off a ledge your avatar pulls out an umbrella to try and slow the descent. The hammers either knock you backwards into the bars holding them or knock you forward into the TV screen.
Secondly, this game is hard. I blew through Doritos Dash of Destruction in about half an hour. Crash Course ramps up in difficulty. It starts off pretty easily but then gets progressively harder as you go through the countries.

Harms Way by Doritos is an interesting game. I'm not a big fan of racing games, Burnout excluded. And I'm definitely not a fan of xbla racing games but this one has a little twist. You can be one of 4 cars in the race (yawn), or you can control one of the turrets around the outside of the track and shoot at one of the cars. The achievements in this game are a little easier than Crash Course. I would have 200/200 but online seems to be broken in both games.

Shouldn't I Remember Harvest Instead?

That's right. Limited Edition baby. I got my copy just after midnight on launch night.

I liked the campaign. It was pretty varied. In "Long Night of Solace" you get to pilot a Sabre and enter a space dog fight. In "New Alexandria" you fly in a Falcon and set down on the top of skyscrapers. And in "The Package" you are repairing turrets and it kind of plays like a tower defense game.

This was by far the easiest halo in terms of achievements. I got all but two in under a month. They were all campaign based achievements so I didn't have to worry about multiplayer triple kills.

Update 1: Haven't played Halo in forever. Loved the single player but I kind of fizzled out on multiplayer way too early.

Update 2: The new DLC seems to have multiplayer focused achievements. Not sure if I'll get it right away. I'll definitely get it eventually.

Excitebike HD

I have been wanting to buy this game since it came out. Then I found out that it was 67% off on Black Friday so I snatched it up. The early levels are fun but difficulty really ramps up. The physics are really unforgiving. You have to remember exactly when to hit the break, hit the gas, lean forward, lean backward, go faster in this section, go slower in the next, and in later levels multiple permutations of these things at the same time.

Despite no one wanting to compare any game to Super Meat Boy I'm going to right now. They are both platformers. They both have discrete stages. They both use trial and error to pass said stages. Super Meat Boy however seems more fun to me. I played the trial of Trials HD and I thought the levels were interesting. But many of the later levels are so unforgiving about how to get to the next section I never felt that I could do it consistently. SMB on the other hand is the exact opposite. Since there are only two mechanics to worry about the trial and error actually helps you become consistent. And since most people hold down run the entire time you really only have to worry about when to jump and for how long.

I Beat The Meat

They have big box art on xbox.com now.

This game was awesome. It is in the same style as other platformers such as N+, and IWBTG. The humor is very similar to Castle Crashers, as is the art style. That wasn't surprising since it was a sequel to a newgrounds game. The game has a ton of unlockable characters, many from other platform games.

These are my current stats (will update):

Chapter 1: The Forest 100%
Chapter 2: The Hospital 100%
Chapter 3: The Salt Factory 102%???
Chapter 4: Hell 43%
Chapter 5: Rapture 36%
Chapter 6: The End 50%
Chapter 7: Cotton Alley 100%
Chapter I: Teh Internets 40% - Finish=2.5% A+=5%
Chapter -1: The Killscreen 0/?

8/12a
140/200g

I Got Joose'd

I don't normally post about alcoholic beverages because I don't drink that often but the controversy surrounding alcoholic energy drinks got me kind of interested in trying Four. The store I went to didn't have any so I bought Joose instead. Judging from the can you would guess it's grape. Judging from the name you might guess it's dragon fruit. Research leads me to believe it is indeed grape. I required research because all I could taste is alcohol. I've had vodka less harsh than this stuff. I didn't blackout or anything though. Should this stuff be banned: no. Should there be more awareness about its dangers: sure, why not.

Comparing it to Smirnoff Ice which is the only other malt beverage I've had I personally prefer Ice.
Comparing it to Blue Ox which is my favorite energy drink I'd choose Blue Ox hands down.

It seems like drinking a Vodka Red Bull would be cheaper and taste better.

Xbox 3Shitty Part 4 - Download Again - Download Again - Ad Nauseum

I found out something interesting after my internet connection died on me. I decided to play Peggle because I don't like getting achievements while offline. But since I got my new(ish) 360 back I can't play any games offline I haven't re-downloaded, apparently including Peggle. While going through the list of XBLA games I have I noticed something interesting. Every game you have purchased, so not trial games and demos, shows your gamerscore. Games you can't play offline don't show the list of achievements on the right. So I made a list of games that showed the gamerscore but not the achievements and re-downloaded them. It was around 20 and it took a while. I realized afterward that it probably would have been faster if I had used Xbox Marketplace to download them.

Harmony of the Castlevanias

Apparently the new xbox.com broke all of my links so I'll have to redo them.

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is definitely not HD. That being said I didn't hate the graphics. The sprites were reused but as far as I know the stages were all new and they looked better.

Before I bought this game I thought it was going to be in the style of "metriodvania" like Shadow Complex. The ability to zoom out and see the entire level is an interesting feature. Once you have cleared a level it's pretty useful to get around. There are similarities to Symphony of the Night. Specifically the large number of equipment and spells.

Right after I bought the game I was worried that the single-player game wouldn't be that fulfilling since it was designed to be a multiplayer game. I decided I would play through the entire game on normal solo. Then I started playing multiplayer on hard.

I was obsessed with this game.I played it almost every day for about a month  After a while the online community died down. It became more difficult to play Co-op and Survival games are non existent.

Edit 1: When the first DLC stage came out, teams would be disbanded if someone didn't have Chapter 7. I finally broke down and bought chapter 7. Then I promptly lost interest. 400 msp's well spent. Hopefully I will go back to it when more DLC becomes available.

Edit 2: First 2 DLC characters came out: Yoko & Julius. They're interesting but not interesting enough to keep me playing for long. How much money will I sink into this game?

10/12a
175/200g

A. Wake. I see what you did there.

I loved this game: the story, the atmosphere, the flashlight combat system. It's just a very different game. I haven't played survival-horror games in a while but this is one of the few games I actually found scary. Well, maybe not scary, but creepy. The fact that I have a fear of the dark didn't hurt either. I'm not as bad as Alice though. When enemies are coming up the game starts to get blurry, the music changes, but you don't see anything yet. Then they jump out at you. It really gave me a sense of peril. Even worse are the poltergeists. Having a truck flung at you and being unable to dodge it easily adds to the "Holy Crap I Don't Want To Die" feeling.

Having to reload while surrounded by enemies in cramped spaces balanced out the abundance of ammo, a thing some people frown upon in the survival-horror genre.Who cares that you have a chest of unlimited bullets if you're getting hit to much to shoot.

I've got a funny story. During Episode 4, after the car crash you and Barry are separated. He is armed with a flare and he gets attacked. When he kills a Taken an achievement popped up for me.
-Collateral Carnage: 20 Taken have been drowned, electrocuted, or dispatched by some other indirect means.
I guess Barry counts as indirect means. But the fact that he gave me the achievement was hilarious to me.

With a game like this where I'm trying to follow a story I just like to play through it and immerse myself. I don't go through and try to get achievements. I really only went out of my way to get...
-Carny: You have heartlessly knocked over five defenseless can pyramids.
,which I did.

There are collectibles. I HATE collectibles. As mentioned above I didn't really try to get all of the collectibles. If I saw a thermos I picked it up. And who are all of these people leaving their thermoses everywhere. The manuscripts I tried to collect because I wanted to read them to get more of the story. And the hidden chests were just useful but I guess I didn't get them all.

I played on hard knowing I wouldn't go back on nightmare. So getting all of the manuscripts wasn't going to happen. Some of the manuscripts are only found on nightmare difficulty.

Stats:
Kills with revolver: 260/100
Kills with flare gun: 19/50
Kills with shotgun: 88/50
Kills with hunting rife: 32/50
Kills with flash bangs: 61/50
Kills with vehicles: 23/15
Indirect kills: 72/20
Poltergeist objects destroyed: 87/20
Birds Killed: 646/1000

Batteries used: 193/100
Manuscript pages found: 86/106
Coffee thermoses found: 81/100
Can pyramids knocked over: 5/12
Chests found: 27/30
Radio shows found: 10/11
TV shows found: 13/14
Signs found: 15/25

35/50 a
560/1000 g
0/2 dlc - aside from the price these actually look pretty interesting. If I owned the game I might have bought them. Well one comes free with the purchase of the game.

Blood of the Gods

I finally tried Mountain Dew Throwback. I love that little hillbilly. Then I found out that all Mexican sodas have cane sugar rather than High Fructose Corn Syrup. So I go down to my local supermarket to buy a MexiCoke which I actually had a few weeks before. While I'm in the "ethnic" aisle buying ramen because I'm as broke as an HP laptop, I see bottles of Jarritos Mandarina and this Sangria flavored soda.

I drink the Jarritos and it's just ok. I actually think Orange Crush is better. Then I drink the Sangria Señorial. This stuff is awesome. It tastes a lot like my favorite carbonated beverage of all time, Black Cherry Faygo (reppin' the D). In fact it might taste even better. It is more expensive unless you count the cost of shipping it takes to get to Colorado.

Sam Fisher: Not So Stealth Assassin

Despite what people have been saying I liked this game. It allows you to be as stealthy or as run-and-gunny as you want. My poor memory is keeping me from remembering why this game sucks compared to previous installments.

It wasn't that long but I didn't expect it to be. Deniable Ops is really fun. I found the level design of Deniable Ops better than the campaign.

It definitely needs more suppressors. Half of the pistols aren't even silenced. I would like to have a suppressor on every gun. Hell, give me silenced grenades.

Weapons unlocked through Coop? When will these companies learn that I don't like multiplayer and start catering to me instead of the millions of people who do.

*Update*
So I cheated and played through the multiplayer game by myself. Unlocked and upgraded all of the weapons and beat all of the levels by myself. Take that social interaction. Let it be known that Nic is very good at playing with himself.

*Update 2*
I finally beat all of the P.E.C. Challenges. It took longer than the game did.

35/54 a
700/1000 g

More Nic In More Places

On my half-birthday I decided to spread the awesomeness that is me to even more sites on the internet. I have new links on the sidebar:
True Achievements
Gamefaqs - A long time coming.
Wikipedia - I was supposed to do this on my last birthday.
Steam -Which is funny because I have yet to find a game my laptop can actually run.

I also have a couple of new Gamercards.

Past Affect 2

First improvement I noticed was the Lazarus Project Facial Reconstruction Code. This allows you to find a Shepard you like and import them instead of messing with the appearance sliders. I had a difficult time getting my Sara Shepard to look right in the first game. Yes I play a female Shepard. Wanna fight about it? This time I just found a Shepard that looked like I wanted mine to and changed it a little bit to be perfect. Well as perfect as you can get in this game. Most of the female Shepards look awful.

My Code:
731.Q9G.A1F.F8W.IDC.16W.1HG.716.LD6.C17.2G6.337

Modified From:
Ora Shepard
Jane Shepard

Like Darksiders I finished this game with abilities left to upgrade. Unlike Darksiders you can't grind for experience. There are a specific number of missions and you don't gain anything from killing individual enemies, except for ammo.

I finished all the missions with 49 Experience before I reach the next level.

3 unused Squad Points
25 Squad Points left to get.
I would have 15 if I didn't get the bonus power from Advanced Training.

Another problem is that you can't go back and collect stuff you missed. So anything you can't buy in a store is a missable item. The one thing I missed was a Heavy Pistol Damage. Also since there is a limited number of missions there is a limited amount of credits (money). And any extra credits to be found during a mission is also missable. So there are a few things I was never able to buy because I didn't have enough credits.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK I officially HATE this blog post. I stopped playing this game almost 3 weeks ago and I still haven't finished writing it. I tried to motivate myself by not mailing it back. Then came Harmony of Despair. I finally decide to work on it and I find out half of it is gone. I had a huge rant about the Cerberus Network and then my internet died so I couldn't save it. I waited for it to come back on. Then I copied the post, repasted it then saved. I thought it was fine, but no. So I'm done. No Cerberus Network rant (I don't like it), no long story review (I don't like it) and no clever closing (it wouldn't make sense now).

Final save is 111.
65h.02m
28/7/2010 5:00

44/54a
830/1000g
No DLC.
I sit corrected.

Veronica Could Take Richter And Alucard

Finally finished Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. and just before Harmony of Despair comes out.

First Achievement: Bloodlines - 10/22/2008
Eleventh Achievement: Seeker - 3/7/2009
Twelfth Achievement: Belmont's - 8/2/2010

Playing as Belmont almost requires a map, which they don't give you. Since you can't replenish your HP unless you beat a boss, you're just trying to get from one save point to the next. It's like an easy version of I Wanna Be The Guy: The Movie: The Game.

12/12 a
200/200 g

E...utopia

Bioshock 2 was a good game but I think Bioshock 1 was better. The twist at the end was one of the best I've seen in video games. Now, would you kindly read my review of Bioshock 2.













I thought the weapons were just ok.

• My favorite by far was the Rivet Gun. Strong, awesome for headshots, ammo everywhere, and "Hot Rivets=Flambé". Trap Rivets were useful during Adam Harvesting.

• The Hack Tool was pretty interesting especially with the mini turrets. I just wish you could repair them like bots or even pick them back up like spears.

• Everyone loves the Machine Gun but I thought it was pretty weak.

• Speargun was supposed to be the sniper rifle of the game but I didn't like it too much. It does awesome damage but only with headshots. And you I can't headshot while splicers are moving so It was only effective for me as a surprise attack. I only used Trap Spears during Adam harvesting. Rocket Spears were fun.

• Launcher is a rocket launcher. Heavy damage low ammo. Same as any other game. Proximity Mine was good while Adam Harvesting. Picking up unused ones makes them even better.

• I don't know why but I suck with shotguns. Halo, Call of Duty, Bioshock. Up close to the face it seems like I need six or seven shots to kill somebody. Phosphorus Buck was pretty cool though.

• Research Camera is incredibly useful til' it's not. And never having to pull it out again is the best feeling in the world. (like a vasectomy).

• Then comes the drill. I thought I would like it before I played the game. But I just didn't like the melee weapon. I didn't like them in fallout to much either. People were telling me how awesome it was but I just didn't get it. Until I fully upgraded it with tons of tonics. The thing is insane at dealing damage to boss enemies like Big Daddies and Big Sisters.

• I would like to point out that i didn't fully upgrade the Machine Gun, Speargun or Launcher.

On to Plasmids.

• Electro Bolt was my bread and butter. Cheap, Stuns, Does Damage, Is a beast in deep water which is everywhere.
• Upgraded to 3. ++

• I always had Telekinesis. Didn't use for fighting much but I did use to get items. Free if you don't throw, also good to catch and throw projectiles.
• Didn't Upgrade.

• Incinerate!. More damage than Electro bolt, Spreads like a virus.
• Upgraded to 3. ++

• Winter Blast. Expensive but Insane against bosses, especially with the drill.
• Upgraded to 2. +

• Security Command. Useless before gaining the ability to summon. Lethal after getting Upgraded Bots. A lot of my Tonics were Hacking and Bot related so this fit with my play style. Being able to repair Bots makes this Even Better.
• Upgraded to 3. ++

• Insect Swarm. I loved the idea of being able to stun enemies for a longer period of time than Electro Bolt. And it finds enemies for you. I would throw it out before entering a room so I wouldn't be ambushed.
• Upgraded to 3. ++

• Hypnotize. Didn't really use it much.
• Didn't Upgrade.

• Cyclone Trap. Sounded interesting. Wasn't interesting. Trap Rivets and Proximity Mines were more useful. And you can't pick up unused Cyclone Traps.
• Upgraded to 2 so I could charge Traps with Plasmids. Shouldn't Have. + :(

• Decoy is useless with Security Command.
• Didn't Upgrade.

• Didn't see a good use for scout.
• Didn't Upgrade

• Summon Elanor. Haxxorz level of damage. Costs a lot and it's worth it.
• Can't Upgrade.

Finally Tonics. A List of Tonics I recommend.

• Health:
• Armored Shell
• Armored Shell 2
• Natural Camouflage

• Eve:
• Booze Hound
• Cure All
• EVE Saver
• EVE Saver 2
• Fountain of Youth

• Adam:
• Demanding Father
• Proud Parent

• Weapons:
• Arms Race
• Damage Research
• Extended Reel
• Keen Observer
• Keen Observer 2

• Drill:
• Drill Lurker
• Drill Power
• Drill Power 2
• Drill Specialist
• Freezing Drill
• Sports Boost

• Plasmids:
• Electric Flesh

• Bots:
• Deadly Machines
• Handyman
• Hardy Machines

This is a quick comparison of Bioshock 1 vs. Bioshock 2 I stole from here.

CHARACTERS (Bioshock 1 on left Bioshock 2 on right):

• Jack > Delta - Although Johnny Topside is a cool name.
• Ryan Andrews > Sophia Lamb - I didn't like Lamb at all.
• Atlas < Sinclair - Sinclair was pretty cool.
• Dr.Suchong < Gil Alexander - Alexander the Awesome.

WEAPONS (1 on left 2 on right):

• Wrench < Drill
• Pistol < Rivet Gun - Rivet Gun > All
• Tommy Gun > Gatling Gun
• Shotgun-Pump Action > Double barrel shotgun
• Crossbow < Speargun - Infinite Ammo.

I'm not huge into multiplayer. I tried it out. It was kind of fun. People are still playing. Easy to get into a match.

Trying out Bulleted Lists on this one. It's a long one.
40/53 a 805/1000g.

Halo 3: OMFG

I finally finished stopped playing ODST. It's been a while and my memory is a little faulty so this might be kind of short. I remember liking the game. VISR mode was cool. The Audiophile achievement reminded me of ilovebees.

I was holding on to ODST so I could play the Halo: Reach Beta. After that I was trying to get all of the firefight achievements alone cause I have no friends and firefight has no hoppers. After getting 6 of them I decided to quit. I'm just not into it any more. These things take me a while. "Firefight: Windward" took me 3 days. And since you can't stop during a firefight I had to leave the 360 on the entire time. What I forgot was, being on Live times out. So I got over 600000 points and no one will ever know. My achievement isn't even dated. I hate that.

43/47a - 930/1000g

Legend Of Ruin: A War In The Future

The first thing I noticed about Darksiders was that it doesn't have the annoying quick time events (QTE's) that God of War does. If I want to open a door I hit (B) and it opens. If I want to open a chest I hit (B) and it opens. If I want to kill an enemy I hit (B) and they die. I don't have to furiously tap a button just to open a box. And I don't have to enter a cheat code every time I want to kill a boss.


I loved the controls in general. (X)=Sword, (Y)=Secondary Weapon, (B)=Grab, (A)=Jump, (RT)=Equipment. It doesn't have a lot of combos but I don't think it should. There are 3 types of third-person hack and slash games.
     The Devil May Cry type where the focus is on combat and you just tear into waves of enemies.
          Bayonetta and Ninja Gaiden fall into this type. They should have a huge amount of combos.
     The God of War type where the focus is more on puzzle solving.
          Darksiders falls into this type. They should have a huge amount of items.
     The Infamous type open world GTA-style where the focus is on completing missions.
          Prototype falls into this type. They should have a huge amount of attacks.
It's why I think comparisons between Bayonetta and God of War are unfair. On that note I think I like Darksiders better than God of War.

I definitely get the comparisons to the Zelda games, specifically the "Get Item in Dungeon, Traverse Dungeon with Item, Kill Boss with Item". And the Portal Gun Voidwalker is just awesome. You get to shoot portals through portals.

Liked the story a lot. I'm a sucker for anything loosely based on religion. And then you get to the ending three "fireballs" come hurdling toward you and then the game ends that's not a cliffhanger that's giving me blue thumbs.

My only problems with this game are the statistics (see achievements) the ruin controls (they're too horse like, it floats on fire but still takes 5 seconds to turn around) and the leveling curve. This problem is not specific to this game but any game where you have to level up that is not a jrpg. If I've found all of the secret locations/collected all of the secret items/fought all of the secret bosses and there is nothing left for me to do but kill the final boss and end the game I shouldn't be less than half way leveled. I get it if I was blasting through the game and not finding any secrets but I did everything you could do in this game. I spent half day leveling up my weapons, 2 levels each. And that is after I already had the experience boosting items on my weapons. My wrath abilities were all at level 1 and I still had unused vessel slots. You need money to pay for all of these things. But when you beat the boss in an area the number of enemies greatly diminishes.

I'm missing 4 achievements:
     The True Horseman: I forgot to play on Apocalyptic my first time and I didn't want to play a second time.
     Improvised Kills: I have no idea how long it would take to get. Here's a gripe I have with these kinds of achievements. If I have to do something more than 10 times I want a counter in my statistics so I can check how much I have left to go.
     Dark Rider: See above.
     BFA: You have to get all of the other achievements to unlock this one.

850/1000g - 39/43a

Proto Hype

I was eagerly anticipating Prototype, especially since the 360 didn't get Infamous.

My favorite part of the game was the story, or rather the back story told through the web of intrigue events. The story told through the cut scenes was kind of meh leading up to a "sort of" interesting twist.

I liked the varied abilities in the game although I rarely used anything other than whipfist and blade for combat. Patsy is one of the coolest powers I've seen in a video game. While disguised as military you can can convince other military that any human target is "you" in disguise and they will shoot it. The power takes time to recharge but if you have patience you can kill all but one person in a base without getting caught.

I had problems with some of the controls. The air dash is not too accurate. When just traversing the city it's not too much of a problem but when doing movement events it can really screw you up. Also glide doesn't seem fast enough to get around the city and running is even slower. Think Crackdown without cars to travel long distances.

Collectibles AGAIN! There are three kinds of collectibles in this game.

-Hints: Orbs that give you the same hints given throughout the game and on the loading screen anyways. And there are 50 Hint Orbs but not 50 hints so the hints you get repeat.

-Landmarks: These seem like they would be kind of cool. I was hoping they would show you the cool places around the city, buildings and the like. Well New York, must have some famous trash because 75% of these things are between two dumpsters.

-Consumes: These are interesting. They fill up your Web of Intrigue and unlock the backstory of the game. And as I suggested in one of my previous rants about collectibles they have unique names because they're people. But they are almost as bad as the stunt rings in crackdown. They don't always spawn. Since they're normal people running around they can be randomly killed. Even before you get to them. They don't always respawn.

I didn't finish all of the achievements for this game.

-Revenge Revisited would require me to play the game on hard which I have no intention of doing.

-Hard To Kill would require me to play the game a third time on easy. Who does multiple playthroughs of a sandbox game?

-Pt would require me to get Platinum in all events. I got Au (Gold in all events) just to prove I could. It took me a couple days. Out of 50 events I have Platinum in 15, so...no. Don't get me started on Radical

-Trail Of Corpses would require me to kill 53596 infected. I currently have 8964 infected killed on an entire playthrough of the game.

36/40 a 790/1000g
I did break 30000 gamerscore with this game.

Google is Everywhere

For the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man Google made a custom Pac-Man game as their logo. They have now made the game available on it's own page.

Reach Beta Tester Is Going On My Resume

The Halo: Reach beta is the best video game beta I've ever played. It's also the only beta I've ever played. I didn't get to play it a ton but I did get to try out most of the game modes.

Arena: I like the idea of being able to suck but not completely bring my teammates down. I didn't play enough games to get put in a division.

Stockpile: I think stockpile might be my favorite new game type. It's a little easier for me to play than 1 flag. Four neutral flags. You bring them to territories by your base. at the end of every minute the flags get collected.

Invasion: Probably the most unique new game type. Elites have 3 objectives which unlock new phases. Spartans try to stop them. 6 vs. 6 made of 3 groups of 2 on each side. It's sort of like a one sided territories or king of the hill but with phases. Each phase increases and improves loadouts and gives you more vehicles.

Invasion Slayer: Similar to Slayer but uses the territories idea to drop weapons and vehicles. The phases improve the drops.

Network Test 1: Also known as Generator Defense. Possible new game type. Sort of like Invasion. One team of Spartans protect generators. One team of Elites try to blow them up. Unlike Invasion you switch offense and defense each round. 3 Spartans, 3 Elites, 3 Generators.

Headhunter: Kill someone, a skull pops out. Collect the skull and deposit it in a territory, like Stockpile but the territories move. When you die your skull and all the skulls you had collected fall out. First to 25 or first to deposit 10 skulls at once wins.

They could sell the beta and people would buy it.

I have a snazzy new Halo: Reach gamercard at the right.

0/0g - It's a beta.

Pomegranate Coffee

First beverage post in a while. I tried this stuff today just to see what it was like. It doesn't taste like pomegranate. It just has Pomx (POM Wonderful Pomegranate Antioxidant Extract). It is probably the best iced coffee I've ever had.

Though I'm not really a coffee drinker and I probably wouldn't have bought it if it weren't on sale. $4 is a lot for 10.5 oz. of coffee.

Assassins Bleed Too

Thank Minerva. They fixed almost everything I hated about the first game.

There are fewer collectibles. You can buy treasure maps to locate all the treasures in the game. The feathers only appear in cities so you can keep track of how many you need to collect by how much of the city you have opened up.

The quick time events weren't required for an achievement. I missed more in this game than in the previous one.

There were a lot more things to do besides collecting. You have to help rebuild your city, fill your villa with art, translate codex pages, and find seals in hidden tombs. And most of the side quests are assassinations.

The only thing they didn't fix is the fact that this game randomly guesses which way I'm trying to jump. I don't know if it's my controller or if I'm physically handicapped but I can't count the number of times I jumped off a high building straight to the ground and the died. Or when I was trying to complete a timed obstacle and jumped into the water.

Assassination are much better. You can do them in many more situations.

The are a lot more weapons. The poison blade is my favorite new weapon. I just wish that you could actually own the axe and halberd instead of just stealing them from enemies and then loosing them.

All in all I would say that this game is an improvement in every way with no added problems.

1000/1000g this time. Requiescat in Pace.

Jubileus May Cry

Bayonetta was awesome. The gameplay was great. There are tons of combos but you're not required to use them all to get a good rating (DMC) or learn the incredibly difficult ones to do any damage (NG). You can just pick a few you like and use them most of the time and use a few others in specific situations. Also for the most part the combo's are the same regardless of weapon choice.

The cut-scenes are funny. The one after chapter VII is just over the top. The fact you have to keep playing after you beat Jubileus by breaking up the statue is new to me. And then there's more.

I thought most of the achievements were fairly easy. Most are unlocked by accident while just playing through the game. Touch And It Will REALLY Hurt and Fire The Afterburners were the most difficult. Angel Slayer would have been easier if I hadn't done it on hard.

Here's why I love this game though. Even after unlocking all the achievements there's still loads more to unlock: 8 Costumes, 4 accessories, 2 weapons, 2 secret characters, and a secret boss.

My only complaints are: that you can't change the guns you shoot with even when you have other guns on your hands and feet for the combos, and you have to start a new save file with the secret characters so nothing is unlocked when you play as them. This might be a plus to people who own the game and want more replayability, but after playing through the game 5 times I started to get sick of the game. And besides, I have more games in my Q to get through before Halo: Reach comes out.

1000/1000g. It feels good.

Everybody Loves Donuts

I haven't played 'Splosion Man in a while. For some reason xbox.com won't let me see my achievements for this game. I know I beat single player. I need to post about XBLA games earlier because they sit on the back burner and I forget about them.

90/200g.

More Like Lame Room

It's like a crappier version of Hasbro's Family Game Night except filled with games no one has ever heard of or wants to play let alone pay for.

Although I did realize Invincible Tiger is a massive ripoff of Shao-lin's Road.

75/1000g And that's probably all I'll ever get.

Crackup pt. 2 - The Assassins Creed Incident

Since I did this whole huge rant on Crackdown I might as well share why I hate collectible achievements, The Assassins Creed Incident.

Assassins Creed was one of the first games I'd ever played for the 360 and the second time I'd gotten close to 1000g. The first being Call of Duty 4 which was the first game I did it on. I had only two more achievements.

Assassins Creed has no less than 8 find this hidden thing in the game achievements. With diligence I had obtained seven of them. The 8th "Personal Vendetta" brought me to the brink of sanity. I had found every Templar but one. That last one. I couldn't figure out where he was. So I just decided to start over and go to where each of them were supposed to be. One by on I checked the locations. Nothing. I decided to start over again thinking I must have missed one. Nothing. I checked again, repeatedly checking in groups before I moved on to a new area. Still nothing. After the tenth time I gave up. My dreams of another 100% shattered. I contemplated starting a new game just for that achievement but I decided against it.

It wasn't until almost a year later that I had gotten another 100%. But it was an XBLA game and Dash of Destruction at that. 200 gamerscore in 20 minutes. I felt dirty. It wasn't until a full year almost to the day since AC that I got another 1000/1000g in Dead Space. And I commemorated it with my first gaming blog post.

I was only one achievement away from 1000/1000g in Lost Odyssey but it didn't hurt as bad. Probably because I knew I couldn't get "Treasure Trove" with out starting over but I was so close to getting "Personal Vendetta" in AC.

The other achievement I was missing in Assassins Creed was "Hungerer of Knowledge" and I kept forgetting to push "A" during the cut scenes. That would have required a new game.

Update: It was actually Hexic HD that I got my first 100% since COD4 and it felt awesome. "Grand Pearl Pooh-Bah" was hard as fuck.

Crackup

So here's the story. I've beaten ODST. I just need a couple more achivements and then I'm gonna sit on it 'til the Reach beta. I beat Crackdown and I was trying to get a couple more achievements for that before I returned it. But then Final Fantasy XIII came out and I was like "fuck Crackdown". I played through the story and now I'm ready for the side-quests. But then I think maybe I should finish off Crackdown first.

I'm trying to finish the "Ring Leader" achievement and I go to where the stunt marker is supposed to be but I can't find it because it won't turn on. I would just like to point out that I hate achievements where you have to find huge lists of hidden things, especially identical unnumbered things. You basically have to plan before you even start the game because if you grab a couple and you didn't write down where they were you're pretty much screwed. Even if you have a map and know where all of them are, you don't know which ones are missing. The orb achievements in Crackdown are kind of interesting because the more you collect the easier it is to find the others. It's pretty cool until you have about ten left and you don't know where to look.

"Ring Leader" is by far the worst example of this type of achievement I have ever come across. Sure there's not 500 of the like the agility orbs and they're not as hidden as the 300 hidden orbs, but the smaller number spread out in one huge area makes them pretty hard to find. A problem that can easily be solved with a map. Except for the fact that they are FUCKING INVISIBLE. Which means you can be standing right under one and be unable to see it. And even if you know exactly where it is you can't collect it while invisible. To make them visible you have to be coming from a certain angle a certain distance away. The marker becomes visible for a few moments so you can drive through it. And some of these location are very difficult to get a car to. If after the time has passed you have not driven through it, it will become invisible again. So you might be thinking you can just go to the place and where you turned it on the first time and it will come back on. WRONG. Once a marker becomes invisible again you need to leave the area and then drive back to the "turn-on" spot. Did I mention that sometimes this spot doesn't work even If you have just loaded the game. Did I also mention that you need a specific car two specific cars to reach these markers. You need to drive these two cars to almost every marker. One car that jumps that you can only get in one place and a car carrying truck to use as a ramp hidden in different places around the city. You need to take this truck and place it in the middle of traffic and pray that another car doesn't push it out of it's exact alignment while you go to the other car. If either car gets damaged you need to go find another one.

So after about ten minutes of trying to get a marker to even turn on for me I said "fuck Crackdown" and I have decided to return it. I can't wait until Crackdown 2 comes out. ODST, Final Fantasy XIII, and Splosion Man blogs to come. 790/1250g

Brunch Lunch and Dunch

Finally finished The Maw. Six Meals a Day is probably the hardest easy achievement I've ever seen. With my sleeping disorders 8am took a while to get. And when I was awake for it I forgot about it. Still, Little Planet of Horrors is technically harder. Especially because I had some Yums run over mountains where I couldn't reach.

200/250g if you're counting DLC, which I don't.

Where The Grass Can Kill And The Online Is Shitty

I finally finished Burnout Paradise. Got through all of the offline achievements. Some of the achievements required the Xbox Live Vision Camera which I do not have.

I actually preferred the sandbox style gameplay compared to the "select a track" version. It further differentiates Burnout from the "normal" racing games. Having an event at every intersection and being able to showtime and road rule every street made it feel like I was really racing in a city.

The online how ever was less enjoyable. You have lists of challenges that require a specific number of people but people can join your party at any time making them unavailable. If someone leaves while a challenge is in progress it might be canceled, depending on which challenge it is. And the challenges require participation from every member in your party. So if someone isn't helping out,which in my experience is around 60%, you have to kick them and end the challenge. Which means everyone who was working on the challenge gets punished for their hard work. If the host leaves everyone gets kicked out of the game and you have to search for another match.

Those are mostly complaints about the community so I'll separate my technical problems here. You can't track challenge progress while doing challenges, unless you're the host, which I think is weird. That means you can't request specific challenges because you can't see which challenges you have completed for that specific number of people. When creating a "room" you can't specify that you want to do challenges or races. It only displays the last thing you did, which is nothing if you just started.

To be fair, I often complain about the online aspects of games but I rarely play online games when they first come out. That means the online community is smaller and the online experience will be different than someone who played the game when it first came out.

All in all I did enjoy the game. The amount of vehicles and the customization were definitely pluses. People complain about DLC but this game did offer a lot of options. None of which were required to enjoy the game. *cough* Halo. *cough*.

I ended up with 780/1250g. Pretty good if you don't count DLC.

Suicide Missionary Accomplished

I got my 360 back. I got a new 360 back. I got a refurbished used 360 back. Set it up. Played some trials and demos I missed.

You can't use any content you downloaded when your offline unless you re-download them. I have a 120g hard drive with less than a gig free so that's gonna take a while.

And apparently you can't play games from the hard drive unless you re-download that as well. So I have the game on my hard drive and I have the game on the disc but can't play it because the 360 is different? Exactly what "crime" is this even supposed to prevent? And unlike the downloaded content they don't even tell you about this. I found out because I heard my disc spinning.

So I deleted and then re-installed Gears 2. I was pretty close to the end so it took me about a day to finish. I had one achievement left that I wanted to get. And with it came a new gamerpic.

I had this game for 4 months and Burnout Paradise for 2 months which means I payed 60$ for Games I couldn't even play.

790/1750 g. Online Achievements Suck. DLC Achievements Suck Worse. Back to Burnout Paradise.

Xbox 3Shitty Part 3

Just got another e-mail. 360 is fixed. Faster than I thought.

Xbox 3Shitty Part 2

Just got an email. My 360 was received by Microsoft. It'll be back any month now.

PS2, PS2, Does whatever 360's Do

Since my 360 is gone I broke out my PS2. Played through Spider-Man for PS1 in a few hours. Bad graphics look so much worse in 3d.

It's funny to me how everyone comes down on Microsoft for making such a bad console while I play my 3rd PS2. Does no one remember the massive amount of disc read errors the PS2 had? It probably influenced my decision to jump from the Sony ship. Well, aside from the game lineup and the fact that most of my friends have 360's. But now it seems that the disc read errors have jumped ship with me.

I'm also listening to Chatterbox, KChat, VCPR, and WCTR on old GTA Games. And I'm still missing the Sandking.

Xbox 3Shitty

I finally sent in my 360 for repairs. I tried to do it earlier but apparently UPS closes at 4:30 pm on Saturdays and doesn't open on Sundays. Not only did the people at UPS say they get 360's all the time but they have a specific "Xbox box" that you buy. There are literally two items on my receipt that say "Xbox" for the shipping and "Xbox Pack"for the box. UPS must be making tons on us.