Once again...

Oh yeah. That's right. I got the Red Ring of Death! This seems to be a yearly occurance, and it's the second time since I've owned my 360... since I sat those 12 long hours inside Wal-Mart... that this has happened. At least the repairs are free, but nevertheless, it's pretty absurd that we have to lose possession of our hardware for a month at a time.

I just got two games from Gamefly, and they have to sit there, unplayed, and I get to pay for a month of the service without being able to use it. Oh, but at least Microsoft will give me a gift card for a free month of Live. Conveniently, I just got charged for a non-existent month of Live at the same time. So it comes out to a big ol' zero anyway.

I don't want this post to be comprised entirely of a rant, so I do want to let it be known that I'll have a review up soon for the out-of-nowhere hit Sins of a Solar Empire. In a time where it seems the only games to make are sequels, this is a genuine, unique title that has succeeded in its entry into the market. So, you can probably tell it's a good game, but I'll need a good bit of time to write a thorough review on it. Until then, may you all be free of red rings of death and any other malfunctions.

Take a moment.

I wanted to post my thoughts about the massacre at Northern Illinois University. Being a college student, it's always frightening to hear about these utterly unfortunate events when they occur. You can't help but think about what would happen if it were to take place on your campus.

I've read some opinions on the issue of the frequent shootings that have been taking place, and one struck out at me. Licensed, permit-carrying teachers and well-qualified students should be able to carry weapons on campus. It just makes sense. In the worst scenario, one of these lawfully-registered gun-toters would lose his mind and draw his weapon. If 4 people in a classroom are carrying a weapon along with him, you can bet he'll be dropped before he can do the complete damage he intends to do, which certainly is the case as it stands today, reliant on police presence that is simply too limited and sparse, especially on a large campus like my own at the University of Florida.

Just my thoughts on the issue, and my best wishes to everyone at NIU.

Gamefly, Rental Service (All consoles)

I've always been kind of nervous about these mail-out rental things. I mean, could it possibly be more efficient than the ease and tradition of driving to a store to see exactly what you're getting, before you get it? It just didn't seem like it would be as efficient, but being curious and being so carefree with my money, I went ahead and gave it a shot.

I was pleased to see that the website has all kinds of information about each game. Everything from screenshots to player reviews. This makes selecting a game more intuitive, allowing you to hear other peoples' opinions before you send out for the software. Gamefly keeps you updated when you select a game. It adds your preferred titles to your "Game Q" which functions as a wish list of sorts. When one game on your list becomes available, it is shipped to you. You receive an e-mail notification so you know when to expect its arrival. It comes in a sleeve, you pop the game in, and you play the hell out of it. You don't worry about due dates, crazy times of the day that count as "late," and of course, fees.

I mean, I was a big skeptic on the program, but it's smooth, efficient, and I've no complaints. If you've got a little patience (the popular titles can be in demand for awhile... but once you've got it, it's yours to enjoy as long as you want) then it can end up saving you a bunch of money. You've got options to suit your style, whether you want to take one, two, or three games out at a time, with corresponding monthly rates.



The customer service, from my experience, was fabulous. When I ordered a game over the holidays for purchase, it got lost in the mail. Gamefly quickly refunded the money to my account, no questions asked.

Gamer to gamer, I'd recommend you give Gamefly a shot for a couple months, see how you like it. That's what I said I'd do, and I've been a member for 6 months now and have zero complaints. Go here to sign up.

Call of Duty 4, FPS (Xbox 360)

I'll begin this review with a suggestion. Go buy Call of Duty 4. I'm serious. I don't care what system you're going to play it on, this game is worthy of your hard-earned money. Are you still here...? Okay, I guess you need more than that to be convinced, so I'll continue.

I didn't play CoD4 when it was first released. I waited a month or two. That was my mistake. I knew that the franchise was moving away from World War 2, and for some reason this didn't fly with me at first. I mean, sure, WW2 games are quickly running their course and seem to be beyond their heyday, but there's a ton of modern-day shooters, and futuristic shooters out there that are also sort of diluting the market. Infinity Ward definitely took this opportunity and ran with it, however. The setting changes throughout the game, placing you in different boots for different missions, a'la past Call of Duty games. Your British SAS unit sees most of the action in Azerbaijan, and your U.S. Marines, while the game does not overtly say where it's taking place, judging by the satellite image it seems to be in northern Saudi Arabia.

The campaign storyline is compelling, addicting, well-written, exciting, and a whole bunch of other positive adjectives. I won't spoil anything in the story, just as I would want the same courtesy if I had not yet played the game. Just trust me when I say that even the single-player mode, in a world where multi-player seems to be taking a leading importance over solitary play, it's refreshing to see that it's still capable to feel the excitement of watching a great movie while playing a great game at the same time. Admittedly, the story is a little bit short, and the 'Acts' or chapters of storyline are disproportionate. The first one is rather long and makes you look forward to a nice, long game, but then the last two go by like lightning, and before you know it, the game is over. However, for your efforts, you'll get some extra fun out of the 'Epilogue', a mission aboard a hijacked airplane that can only be a preview into the plans for Call of Duty 5. And let me tell you, attempting to beat the Epilogue on Veteran difficulty will have you pounding your head into the wall before long. But it must be done!


Screenshot courtesy of www.gamepro.com

Now, once you're done with that, and you've got a nice feel for the game, dive straight into multiplayer. This is some of the deepest multi-player that I've seen, and perhaps an even better system than Battlefield because ranks are not so daunting to reach. There are challenges that provide bonus XP, support call-ins, such as UAV radar, helicopters, and airstrikes, and new guns to unlock and show off against other players. In all, it provides a system that will have you hooked, whether it's trying to get the next Headshot challenge, or trying to do some crazy stunt like triggering C4 with a bullet through a wall to get a kill, or just straight up playing the game for what it's worth, trying to get a win for your team. Either way, it's fun, solid, good entertainment.

The audio quality of the game is great, all the way from the sounds of reloading guns to the psychotic growls of German Shepherds that are trying to rip your Jugular out. The graphics are superb, especially if you can enjoy them on a television with 1080P resolution.

So, now that you've heard it all, I must once again urge you to go and buy Call of Duty 4! You're going to get your money's worth out of it, and then some.

Burnout Paradise, Racing (Xbox 360)

When I played the demo of Burnout Paradise on Xbox Live, I was pretty excited to see that it had moved away from the arcade-like feel of the past versions. No longer did you just get one shot to crash, and then go back to the main menu. No, this was far different, and much a change for the better.

The world is open, free-roaming with tons of stuff to find, unlockables to smash and do stunts through, and secret jumps and shortcuts to stumble upon. It almost feels like a driving RPG in the way that, as you complete events and move up in License-rank, you are given better, stronger, faster, more nimble cars, each with strengths in either taking down other cars, doing stunts, or just flat-out speed cars.

The old Burnouts got old fairly quickly, but this game's lifespan is still strong and I've been at it rather constantly for the past few weeks since launch. Further increasing the replayability of Burnout Paradise is the online mode. The game changes almost entirely, moving away from events versus AI players to challenges that will see just how good you are at different aspects of the game, whether it's driving into oncoming traffic for a certain distance without crashing, or doing multiple barrel rolls in one jump.

DJ Atomica, the omnipotent voice on your in-game 'radio' gives you little hints and cracks a joke here and there, most of which are not funny, but the randomness of his speech is good enough that it doesn't get overly annoying. But, after playing the Madden games of old, featuring the *cough*...marvelous*cough* commentary of Pat Summerall, it's nigh impossible to find a voice so redundant and repetitive. Uploading your own tunes into your Xbox make for a much more entertaining experience.

The audio quality of the game is great, and the visuals are pretty nice, too. The world is seamless, and you only have to load the game at the very beginning. This game really puts to use the system's individual processors.

Buying Burnout Paradise at the now-standard price for console games of $59.99 was a bit risky and I was afraid that it might not payoff, but confident thanks to the joy I got from the demo, I was pleased to find that it is certainly one of the best games out there for the 360 right now, with killer replayability as well as an addicting online mode.

If Xbox achievements are one of your addictions, like mine, you'll find a pleasant array of objectives that are not overwhelming or impossible, but rather logical and with a bit of work, many will come along with normally playing out the game. One peeve of mine, though, is that a couple achievements -require- that you own a webcam for use with your 360 to send photos to people.

I would recommend picking up Burnout Paradise, at least for a rental, though I'm sure you'll find that you won't have your fill if you just grab it for a week's play.

Pirates of the Burning Sea, MMO (PC)

So, when I heard of this game, I was excited. I'm always excited when I hear about a new MMO, because who doesn't look forward to purchasing cases of Monster or Red Bull, guzzling them while ordering pizza online (lest we lose valuable playtime in actually ordering via phone) in order to get a character leveled as fast as possible?

Ok, so maybe that's not the most popular way for someone to spend a night. But regardless, I was excited to hear about Pirates of the Burning Sea. I mean, how could this not be interesting? It involves real countries, real(ish) situations, and tactical combat! I admit, I was hoping for a completely different gameplay style, but I won't get into that fantasy that's long been quashed.

PotBS, as you might know, allows you to make a character who sails under the flag of Britain, France, Spain, or as an independent Pirate. Each faction holds territories on a map consisting of the Caribbean Sea's various islands, then-colonies, as well as colonies stretching from South America all the way up into Florida. In order for these territories to become unstable, or able to be conquered, you form a group and grind NPC ships that sail near the port you want to take. This is an extremely long process, and once the other faction realizes that you're after their land, they're going to come do missions there in order to reduce the unrest that you are causing. Therefore, this process of 'flipping' a territory could, and usually does, take days.

Once the unrest of this land is high enough, a date and time is set for a final sea battle to take place between randomly chosen members of the battling sides. To the victor go the spoils. Sadly, this method feels somewhat unrewarding. You receive nothing to show for this victory or your efforts, aside from personal knowledge, and maybe some recognition amongst those in your 'society' (guild). For some reason, even though the game has a somewhat decent melee combat system for swashbuckling integrated, the port battles contain none of this. To me, it would be more exciting if, after the sea battle, the port-holders had one last chance to defend their territory on land against the invaders. The sea-based PvP is rather disappointing, however. It is extremely slow-paced, and most of the time a faster, smaller ship will have advantage over a large, heavily-armed warship, which leaves those who choose the Naval Officer profession at a constant PvP disadvantage due to their 'special ability' of being able to use these heavy warships. Without escort (and finding groups is quite difficult) a heavy ship is open game for the pirates and their fast, captured ships.

The quests in the game get very old, very fast. The melee/swashbuckling quests take place in three or so instances, so the environments are always the same and unchanging. Ship combat quests, while better, can be very misleading. The difficulty ratings are practically meaningless, as one 'green' quest might be practically effortless, and another 'green' quest will be a true test of strategy and superior firepower.

As far as the technical aspects go, the visuals are good (though the character models could use some work). For sound, the guns are identical (until you get into some really heavy guns) so that prompted me to start listening to music and muting the game during play. Repetitive NPC speech with awful voice acting will drive you crazy while you're in the auction house or outfitting your ship.

To sum it up, I was really hoping for more from PotBS. The concept had potential, but I feel that it just came out the wrong way. With weak PvP as its leading detriment, I would recommend that you hold off on this game until some sort of major overhaul.