Review Time.....HALO 3: ODST

I know its been a little while since my last review, but I just havn't had the urge to sit down and put the effort in to doing one latley. Now that I have spent some time with the newest addition to the Halo franchise I feel justified in putting my thoughts out there.

Halo is truly a series that needs little introduction, anyone with even a slight interest in gaming has heard of Halo, and it truly has a group of diehard fans that love the games and everything that goes along with them. Those of you that know me, also know that I am included in this group (how many other people have a 6ft tall Master Chief?)


This new game in the series however met with some criticism early on, It was orginally announced as downloadable content to the orginal Halo 3 and then grew into a full retail release including a full 59.99 pricetag, its also a departure in the series in that it wouldnt feature the Spartans. ODST highlights another group of soldiers, The Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, these guys are kind of the future version of Navy Seals and are thrown into spots not many others would want to go to. I wont delve into the story to much so as not to spoil anything for anyone but it centers around a group of ODST's thrown into the battle on Earth that begins in Halo 2. The story is definetly engaging and unique in that it uses flashbacks to tell the stories of the other squad members while one memeber is trying to locate them. Gameplay wise it is also a big change from the other Halo's obviously not playing as the Master Chief changes things quite a bit and it takes a little while with the game to adjust to this new style, you definetly have to take a stealthy approach and cant just run in guns blazing to every battle. The game does look amazing and playing in an earth enviroment also gives it a very real feeling, seeing things like burned out cars and buildings give a true sense of the destruction and the battle that is going on around you. One of the true hallmarks of Halo to me has always been the music and ODST is no different the music always seems to fit what is going on and still has a very fresh feeling, I noticed a lot of saxaphone in this soundtrack wich hasnt been featured in a Halo game before and it really gave the game a great vibe. Another hallmark of Halo is its multiplayer, ODST has a new gamemode called Firefight basically you and up to 3 other people take on wave after wave of increasingly stronger enemies and see how long you can last, its not totally orginal ( a similar mode is featured in Gears of War 2) but it is certainly fun. The entire game can also be playe through Co-op also with up to 3 other people and it definetly helps having at least one sidekick to watch your back. In addition Bungie included a disc with all of the Halo 3 maps to allow you to play Halo 3's multiplayer wich is still one of the most popular games on Xbox Live, this is great added bonus and makes the price seem a little bit more reasonable. My one main gripe with Firefight is that there is no matchmaking, you would think Bungie (a team that perfected the art of multiplayer matchmakeing) would have included some option for people to get together and play Firefight, but as it is now you are limited to your friends list and their friends, wich can make it tough to find a full game at times. Outside of that gripe I certainly found ODST to be well worth playing, while some may scoff and say the game is far to short, I say play the game solo on Legendary and see how long it takes you.... 8)

so the final verdict for this one is a definite.....


BUT IT

Poker Diary....

So I have been getting back into online poker again latley so I thought I would do a few online diaries of my sessions, I have been playing micro limit for real money its nice because people take it more seriously than the play money tables but you dont feel like your life is at stake with every hand I started playing .01/.02 ring games and trying to make a few dollars and have been doing well on those making a dollar here and there the last two nights I moved up to the .02/.05 tables and have still been running pretty well Last night I was impressed with myself and how I kept my composure after getting up about 3 dollars (I sat at the table with $10) I got involved in a really big hand I had KK and the board was 6 5 8, I had raised preflop about 4 times the big blind and he had called, I bet out 20 (4 times the BB) and he called quickly, turn came K, i bet out 40 this time and he raises to 1.20 I call thinking maybe he has like A K, river comes A, I think I have him so I bet 3.00 he raises all in wich was about another 3.00 I call and he turns over 4 7 to beat me with the straight I was pissed but I kept it together and managed to fight my way back to about 11.00 dollars before I stoped for the night wich i felt good about,

Tonight I decided to play the .02/.05 table again and try to make 5 dollars wich I would then take to a 5 dollar double or nothing table (a quick 10 person tourny where 5 people double and 5 get nothing) the first table I sat at was fairly uneventful though I made about 2 dollars before the table broke down so I moved to another one, 1 really big hand here where I won about 7 dollars I was dealt 5 6 suited clubs in the big blind, guy next to me raises to .15 folds around I go ahead and call flop comes Kspade 4club 8club, So I semi bluff with my straight flush draw with a .50 bet he raises to a dollar I call turn comes 7club, I know i have the nuts so I bet 1.00 he raises another dollar (im thinking maybe he has Kings to make a set or something that hit a flush, he has about 3 more dollars) so I put him all in he calls and turns over KK I doubt he expected me to turn over the straight flush, so with my 5 dollars I took to a Double or nothing wich im playing right now, Pretty uneventful so far I havn't been able to get any cards thus far and was down to about 600 chips (we start with 1500) Just had a big hand though, I was dealt A 3 off suit and called 150 (big blind was 50) Hit the A on the flop and decided to make a play and went all in with 2 others still in the hand first guy folded, second guy took awhile to decide and finally called and turned over KK My hand held up and I won about 1700 chips so now ihave life again, only 1 player out so far so this one might last awhile Ill post any other big hands as the happen....Everyone seems to be playing really tight in this one no really big hands have developed I am actually in second place with about 2300 chips...finally lost another one I still am suffering from card drought getting nothing I can even play with but a guy went all in with A 10 and was called by A Q wich held up, cards are killing me tonight I got down to 400 chips but survived my all in now im hovering around 1000 chips and trying to last through 2 more eliminations...went all in with Qspade Jdiamond for about 900 guy called and turned over 8 8 flop came with 3 spades and I hit the 4th spade on the river to survive and actually give myself a decent stack...promptley lost a chunk of that stack on the next hand I had QQ and guy went all in for his last 500 and turned over A Q flop came K J 9, turn was 4, and of course the river 10 to give him the better straight.....final blow really hurt got 44 in the big blind no one raised flop came A 2 4, i bet 200 with about 1000 chips left, guy raised me all in I called and he turned over A 2, but of course the turn hits the A to give him a full house and put me out in 7th place, oh well nothing you can about those still a decent night of poker and I feel good with how I played for the most part hopefully next time I can actually win the double down....LOL

Tom Clancy's HAWX Review

Let me preface this review by saying that I didn't get to play this nearly as long as I wanted to because of the aforementioned RRoD on my 360 but I did get quite a few hours in the seat...enough to give it a fair review anyway...

The modern flight combat game has been largely ignored in the latest generations of gaming, which is shocking considering the advances in technology, the latest systems really lend themselves perfectly to this style of game. Perhaps we all still cant get the taste out of our mouths from trying to land on the damn aircraft carrier in TOP GUN for the NES, but alas we may finally have a winner in the genre and who better to bring it then Tom Clancy. When you hear the name Tom Clancy in relation to video games you can usually bet you are in for a pretty solid experience. Tom Clancy and UbiSoft have one heck of a track record when it comes to military games, Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon have both been around for ages and continue to produce excellent games. However this is a new venture for both parties so what happens when these solid teams take a crack at the flight combat genre....Lets find out.

The first thing you notice when playing HAWX is the presentation is extremely solid. This tends to be the case with Tom Clancy games in this one is no different from the opening movie and the mission briefs the dev team definitely did their homework on this one. It really does an awesome job of bringing you into the game and almost allowing you to forget you are actually playing a game. Which brings us to the game play itself....again the team has done an excellent job not only nailing the flight combat elements but mixing up the game play to keep it fresh. The first mission has you eliminating some threats outside Mexico and then going on to assist a team on the ground to help extract them. Another mission sees you protecting an oil refinery from an oncoming attack. They really do a nice job mixing it up so it doesn't feel like just flying around shooting stuff. One really cool thing that they did was OFF mode. OFF mode basically turns off (get it.... 8) )all the restrictions that would normally be in place while flying a jet, this allows you to pull off some crazy maneuvers but you also have to be careful as its really easy to stall out while doing these which is never a good thing. My one gripe with the game play is the sense of speed, I'm not sure what could be done to improve this, but I never got the feeling of flying at 100's of miles per hour. I wont go into to much detail as the story for two reasons; one, as I said I didn't get to play this one to completion because of my box dying and two just in case you play it yourself I don't want to spoil anything. As for Multi player, this was another little gripe I had, multi player was limited (near as I can tell) to simply playing the single player missions in co-op with up to three other people and most of the time when you join a game you join in the middle of the mission which takes some of the fun out of it. It would have been really nice to see some kind of Dogfight mode where you could just go and fly against other people to really test your skills.

Overall, despite a few minor gripes, Tom Clancy's HAWX is a very well done, very fun game to play. If you are a fan of flight combat or military games I would recommend a BUY IT on this one for everyone else however it gets a......

RENT IT

While its a great game in my eyes it may not be every ones cup of tea. So check it out before you take the full plunge. Check out the following video (just ignore the clear typo in the title....LOL) to get a taste for it.....

Classic Gameplay - Tecmo Super Bowl Pt. 2

Classic Gameplay - Tecmo Super Bowl pt. 1

The Ring has Struck...

Well ladies and gentleman the inevitable has happened as I turned off my 360 the mighty RRoD struck....DOH!!! I will say this much at least MS is repairing them for free and the have it set up now so you can do it all online so it should be fairly speedy, Hopefully Ill have it back soon, though it will give me reason to catch up on some Wii which I truly have been neglecting lately

My YouTube Channel

Hey Guys if you havn't already please subscribe on my you tube channel, although most of the videos will wind up here as well It may be easier to follow them on you tube....thanks

http://www.youtube.com/user/neoflynn

First Take MAME Review - Armored Warriors

hey everyone here is the latest First Take MAME Review for your enjoyment, hope to have some new game reviews up soon just havn't had the urge to sit down and do a proper one recently...hopefully you guys enjoy me sounding like a dork...LOL....

The Best Games Money Can't Buy Ep. 1

A New series featuring free games, let me know what you think

Review of the Week....errr....Month...LOL

Mirrors Edge























I really wanted to like this one, but after spending some quality time with Mirrors Edge here is the conclusion I have come to....Mirrors Edge is a great concept and looks great however the controls leave much to be desired.

First off the concept is very cool, its set in a near future where corporations pretty much control everything, You play as Faith who is a Runner. Runners are a group of people who use the rooftops and city layout to get information around the city which the cops and corporations may not want getting out. It kind of plays like a modern Prince of Persia. Where you use acrobatics to hop from building to building and make your way around, if you have ever seen or heard of Free Running that's what the game is based on

The game has a really cool art style and look to it. I can best describe it as half cel shaded, half realistic. The city has a very blocky feel to it, and as you spend much of your time around the rooftops and skyline you get the feeling of the size of the city.

However once you start to play the game you realize that you cant always judge a book...or in this case a game by its cover. I'm not sure what the developers where thinking when then came up with the control scheme but it just doesn't ever feel fluid like it should. Basically you use the triggers on the left side for your up and down acro-moves, now i can understand using the triggers though I think it would be better on the face buttons, but at least if you are going to use them use the ones on the right which is more comfortable. Button placement is a minor annoyance but once you get into the game it only amplifies the problems.

The major issue it suffers from is a lack of direction. I'm not sure if they were trying to make it more realistic or what but you have no heads up display no way points and nothing to help guide you in your journey. The only help you are given is if you press B it will face your character in the general direction you are supposed to go, though often that is of no use as the actual way you need to go is in a totally different direction. The other thing the game does is highlight objects you can use in red, this does help in some cases to guide you but again other times there is nothing red to guide you so its hit and miss. The other major issue is in the timing of your moves often times you will push a button to say jump of a ledge and if you don't push it just right you will miss your jump and when jumping from the tops of buildings this can be a very bad thing.

Mirrors Edge is a really great concept and in this era of cookie cutter gaming is nice to see something original come out but sadly a bad control scheme and direction hurt this game immensely and there for i can only recommend this one as......



RENT IT!!!

Just a quick update....

Just a quick update to let everyone (all 3 of you) know that Im still around and still trying to get some stuff on the blog just havnt had much time to do the things I wanna do latley, but I have come up with a few new ideas for some features that I think might be enjoyable, in addition to the regular game reviews and the Random/First Take MAME reviews.

The first idea I came up with was inspired by an issue of PC Gamer magazine wich they compiled a list of 365 FREE games, 1up.com also did a similar article on their site so I think I am going to play a bunch of these and share my thoughts on "The Best (and maybe Worst) Games Money CAN'T Buy"

Another idea I came up with wich will be a little bit more involved but I think a lot of fun is some old school Play/Walk thru videos, In looking through some of the free games a lot of the ones that imediatley sounded interesting to me where the old school Point and Click adventure games like Kings Quest. I used to love those types of games, and through the wonders of emulation they can be brought to life once again and a trip down memory lane might be fun not sure what to call this one yet...anyone have any ideas?

So those are things to look forward to as well as the next game review wich will be Mirrors Edge, a game I was really looking forward to but my hopes have been quickly dashed my the frustrating nature of the controls but I will give the game a fair shot as soon as I muster up the courage to put it back in my 360 without fear of breaking my controller. Until then here is a special video to hold you over (especially for you James) brought to us by the great Spoony

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

here we go with the latest review MK vs. DC...

I am a big fighting game fan and have always been a fan of the Mortal Kombat series, I was excited when I heard about this one coming out as VS games tend to be some of my favorites. However it quickly become overshadowed after a luke warm reception at launch but I finally got my hands on it so in the famous words of the Joker......Here....we ......go.....

MK vs DC features two main single player modes the standard arcade option (fight through a tier of fighters) and also a story mode. The story mode is a short but decent affair, it centers around the two worlds where these characters live being merged together. The developer did a decent job of incorparating the characters into the story and it all kind of feels like it makes sense, as much sense as it can anyway.

The Kombat itself is pretty standard Mortal Kombat. I still think they should have never moved this series into 3D, it just seems to lose some of its nuance, but MK is still pretty much a button masher at heart, if you like that style you will enjoy this one for the most part. The highly touted new features Free Fall Kombat, Klose Kombat and rage mode all feel rather weak. Free fall and Klose are very similar and consist of you hitting buttons or trying to guess what button your oppent will hit to reverse it...they both work but kind of feel tacked on. Rage mode (wich is what the story centers around) allows your character to enter sort of a zen like state to deal maximum damage, this one is the best out of the three as when used properly it can make the difference between winning and losing the fight.

My biggest dissapointment came in the finishers. one of the best parts of MK has always been the over the top Fatalities, but in this one they are so toned down its almost sad in fact the DC heroes dont even have fatalities the have Brutalities where they unleash a beating but you can plainly see the oppent still alive ( I think DC was the force behind this as the wanted to keep the Heroes sacred wich i kind of understand). The toned down nature really takes the cake with one of Liu Kangs Fatalities, where he meditates and all of the sudden a MK arcade machine falls on his oppent...its funny the first time but just kind of sad after that.

While its fun to see the DC characters duking it out with each other and the MK foes, this game is mediocre at best and there for from me it gets the recomendation of.................

RENT IT

Finally its Review Time Again.....

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed




















I was quite looking forward to playing this one, as anyone who knows me knows I'm a rather large Star Wars fan (I do have a dog named Vader after all). The Force unleashed follows the story of Starkiller who becomes Darth Vader's secret apprentice. I wont spoil to much of the story but it does a nice job of bridging the gap between episodes III and IV. Basically the game progresses as Vader sends you on various assassination missions to prepare you for your ultimate goal.

The game has an amazing physics engine and it does a wonderful job of bringing the Force powers gone wild to life, I can honestly say that there has never been a Star Wars game where the player has had such use of the Force as in Unleashed. You are given free reign in how your character's skill progresses so say if like me you love to unleash force lighting on everyone and everything you can upgrade that skill or if you prefer to use your lightsaber you can upgrade those skills it really allows you to play the game how you want.

The Game play is incredibly fun but it does run into the problem of becoming repetitive at times especially with the larger enemies such as AT-STs, you find yourself doing the wash rinse repeat routing a few to many times for my tastes. The boss battles also feel a little bit weak, there is usually a trick to them and once you figure it out its a bit of a letdown. The later boss's do a better job of making you defend and then attack once you have an opening rather than resorting to tricks.

Overall The Force Unleashed was a fun game and worth playing through but once you beat it once there is little reason to pick it up again other than achievements if you are playing on 360...so this one gets a

RENT IT



Rather than screenshots here's a quick video of the game in action

Bracket Madness

Well its NCAA tourny time once again and as usual I require myself to fill out a bracket though I pretty much went on instict with this one, as I havnt follwed college bball as much this year as I usually do if you are curious here is my bracket
click to make it bigger

I feel pretty well with my picks, I picked a couple of upsets that I hope pay off (Utah over Wake, Utah St beating Marquette and Missouri) I think Louisville despite being the overall number 1 will lose I have Michigan St beating them in the Elite 8. I have Pitt and UConn making the finall 4 as #1's and Syracuse rounding at the Final Four. I like Cuse to beat Pitt and UConn over MSU setting up a rematch of the epic 6 overtime game that UConn and Syracuse played in the Big East Tourny. My bracket got destroyed last year so well see how I do this time.....Ill keep ya posted...


I created a group on Yahoo's Pick em if you would like to join and compete for fun click the link
http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/register/joinprivategroup_assign_team?GID=149014

The Random MAME Review..Now in audio format

so after a long hiatus The Random MAME review is making its triumphant return, I think I will dump the old format and just play the game for awhile and tell ya what I think, since im going in audio format now.... on with the show....err.....game......

Vacation and a Puppy

Well its been an exciting week, Sam and I took our first real vacation since the honeymoon and went down to DisneyWorld for a few days, It was a wonderful time and we got to do just about everything we wanted to. Finally got to ride Expedition: Everest which we didn't last time because it broke down, It was a good ride, but I must be getting soft in my old age because the Yeti nearly won...LOL. Sam's highlight of the trip was the brand new American Idol Experience at Hollywood Studios, we were actually there opening day and as it happened went to the very first showing of it. They have basically modeled the show with the stage and everything and they take real park guests and have them audition and the best ones perform for each show, then at the end of the night they take each show winner and the compete against each other and that winner gets a golden ticket that allows them to go to the front of the line at any American Idol audition. It was pretty neat how they did it made you feel like you were at a taping of the show. The other new ride is Toy Story Mania which is kind of a giant 3D video game, where you shoot various things and try to get the most points, naturally I won, but Sam put up a good fight.

The other big exciting news is that Sam and I adopted a puppy, We actually adopted him before we left but are going to pick him up today. His name is Vader and he is a Beagle, Doxie and something else mix. They aren't sure who the daddy was but the adoption lady seems to thing he has some basset hound in him. He is very cute and extremely lovable...lots of pictures to come soon....

Dear Florida

First let us congratulate you on beating Oklahoma, it was a hard fought game and you came out on top. Unfortunatley that trophy that got put in your hands is not something that you deserve. The National Championship should go to the best team in the country and sadly that is not you. There is a team out there that didn't lose a game all season...shouldn't that team be the Champs?
Please do the right thing and turn the trophy over to the true champions, The Universty of Utah Runnin' Utes.

Thank you ,
Ute Fans Everywhere

Utah Rolls the Tide 31-17, Huskers Clip the Tigers 26-21

Just wanted to through up a quickie to congratulate both the Utes and the Huskers on great seasons. The Huskers battled all year long and our only losses came to ranked teams. Coach Pellini did an awesome job bringing our defense back to respectabilty and I think that very good things are in store for our program. The Huskers played a great game and despite trailing most of the game outplayed Clemson in the second half. And when it came to crunchtime the Blackshirts stood tall and won the game.

As for the Utes, once again they proved that they belong on the nationl stage. The orginal BCS busters were the first non-BCS team to play in their second BCS game. And despite the fact that literally none of the so called experts gave them a chance, They rolled all over the Tide and their gutless leader the Nicktater. (who else thinks that old coach Saban might bolt for that New York Jets job). After jumping out to a 21-0 lead the Utes held fast even after Bama appeared to be taking control cutting the lead to 21-17 early in the second half. But the Utes answered as Brian Johnson lead them down the field and got the lead back to 28-17. Bama just had no answer for the speedy Ute defense, and the Utes are now the proud owners of another undefeated season.

Now how long before the honks at the BCS realize what a sorry conference the Big (read little) 10 is and replace them in the BCS with the Mountain West? or give us a playoff so that the deserving teams like Utah (and Boise State) get a shot at playing for a title