Waiting on Mafia II

Image by bigdigo via Flickr

I preordered Mafia II quite awhile ago, and have been eagerly looking forward to it. I must confess however, that I did not like the original Mafia game, in fact I despised it. However, that being said, I also despised Red Dead Revolver but I believe the sequel Red Dead Redemption is one of the best games to come out to date. So, I am hoping that the game is leaps and bounds better than the original, and after playing the Demo and viewing the commercials, it would seem like it is a lot better than the other one. Either way, I guess I will find out tomorrow.

Anyway, since I preordered the game from Amazon I have been extremely anxious! In fact, I have been so anxious that I decided to play an older 360 mobster inspired game. The game was called “The Godfather: The Game”, and as I am sure you can guess, it was based on the movie “The Godfather”.

When I originally got the godfather game, I wasn’t impressed. In fact, I despised the game and felt it was one of my worst video game purchases. However, when I played it again recently my whole view changed. I found myself enjoying the game. In fact, I found myself loving the game. I enjoyed it so much that I found it hard to put down, and just tonight finished it. What started out as a simple way to pass away some time until the release of an anticipated game, became an extremely enjoyable gaming experience.

I remember that there was a sequel based on the godfather game. I remember that I didn’t enjoy that either, and was glad I only rented it. However, after enjoying the original I have decided that, maybe after I finish Mafia II I might go out give “The Godfather: The game 2” another chance.

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Battlefield 1943: Xbox Live Arcade

There’s a game for the xbox 360 called battlefield 1943. It’s an online war shooter, and is available in the Xbox marketplace in their arcade section. Now, to begin with I want to say this game is a bit expensive compard to other arcade titles. However the graphics are great, the fun factor is superb and it’s exciting! Great way to kill a few mins or a few hours! Taking all that into consideration, it would be totally worth the cost.

Don’t go spending your MS Points yet though, because there’s a downside, and it’s a big one! It’s the lag! It’s insane! In fact, the lag makes the game nearly unplayable. When the game first came out, the lag was fine! So, naturally I bought it. The lag was fine for a few weeks too, I enjoyed the game, was happy with my purchase. Then the lag hit! It started about 4 months ago, and it’s a common problem, look it up online.

The lag is so bad in fact, that it makes the game almost useless! It’s practically unplayable and the purchase of the game was a waste of money. Honestly, I feel Microsoft should remove it from the marketplace until whoever is hosting the servers gets their act together and gets the lag taken care of.

Bottom line, stay FAR away from this game. Its a great game, ruined by poor servers.

Red Dead Redemption Vs. Alan Wake

There’s currently two big name titles out on your Xbox 360 console fighting for your gaming dollar. Those two games of course are Red Dead Redemption and Alan Wake. If you are into gaming, I’m sure you have heard of them. The choice, the choice, the choices. Which one to get? Is it right for you?

The first thing to realise is that these are two VASTLY different games. I don’t mean because of the era that the games take place, but also their genre! This means you will need to actually do a little searching and looking into the game titles and make an educated decision.

As for me, well I am horrible at choices, and ended up doing something I shouldn’t have done, because I told myself not to do that ever again. What I did, was order BOTH game titles. Neither has arrived, but are both in transit. This means, within a few days I will be stuck with my next choice, which to play first!

Stay tuned to my blog for my first impressions on the games, and later on more detailed reviews.

Twittering on Xbox

Ok, so I am participating in the Xbox LIVE update Preview, and I must say I am loving it! It’s so incredible. Your Xbox console becomes three times more useful than it already was, and considering I think the Xbox and the Xbox LIVE service is incredibly useful, that says a lot! It adds Last FM to your console so you can just sit back and listen to some great tunes. It adds Zune to the Xbox, which I prefer to the standard Xbox Video market place. It also adds Twitter to your Xbox Live features! So, you can add or recieve tweets while yer on your Xbox gaming console! Pretty snazzy huh? If that wasn’t enough you can also use your Xbox to hook up to your facebook account and post your current status, or check your friends status..even browse their photos right from the comfort of your Xbox 360 Console.

Incredible? I agree! All it needs now is a built in Pizza ordering program so you can order pizza without stepping away from your Xbox, and then I could just plant myself in front of my TV and Xbox, and just live there!

There are some options I wish Xbox had of course, like it bugs me that you still cant talk to someone on your MSN contact list through Voice while on Xbox live. It limits you to just text messages which gets annoying after awhile, especially if you are trying to watch a video or play a game. I would also LOVE to see a built in Email reader. If Microsoft blended Hotmail into their service I would switch from Gmail back to hotmail without a second thought.

Also, of course an internet browser would be ULTRA cool, that’s one of the only thing that makes me envy PS3 owners. It’s not the few exclusive titles, in fact I think the exclusive titles pretty much suck on the PS3 and those kind of make me feel sorry for them. It’s not even the Blu-Ray! While that’s KIND of cool, it’s not a big deal. I am fine with DVD, hell I would be fine with VHS…If it’s a movie and it plays, im cool with it! Format doesn’t matter to me.

The ONLY thing I am envious of is that they have a web browser. I’m not sure how well it works, but it’s better than the Xbox one. You know, because Xbox doesn’t have one.

Call of Jaurez review – xbox 360

This is a story driven first person shooter based out of the wild west. The graphics are outstanding, but that has come to be expected when a game rests on the sheer brute power of the xbox 360 game console.

The two main playable characters are interesting and each has their own play style and abilities. Over time you will end up having a favorite of the two characters. Some might prefer that characters back story, personality or skills and abilities.

The levels do tend to get boring and repetitive however. Though the graphics help bring the levels to life, they do still get very boring. With the game being set in the wild west, they all tend to look exactly alike. Dust covered trails, old wooden buildings and lots and lots of brush..and the occasional mine thrown in to add a splash of difference.

The weapons are boring as well, but to be fair it’s the 1800’s, and you aren’t going to get anything that screams “Wow”. Sorry, no alien lasers. Just hand guns, rifles and TNT…although the bible does prove to be an interesting “Weapon” when using the rev.

As far as vehicles go, there’s horses you can ride, though they are a bit difficult to control, and using a weapon while riding high in the saddle? Next to impossible.

The difficulty of the game isn’t really that hard either, even when on the higher difficulty settings, which means most gamers will just zoom through this title, so if you are looking for a drawn out epic title, you might be disappointed with this.

Over all, I would say this title is slightly below average, and could have been improved on so many levels. It has it’s upsides as well as it’s downsides, so it depends on what you look for in a game. To me? This just didn’t make the grade.

overall, i would give this game a 4 out of 10 stars. Not that great, but could have been a lot worse.

Missed it by….THAT much!

So, I went down to the nearest department store today, and had decided I was going to go ahead and buy that Xbox 360 game console. I haven’t gotten to spend money on myself for something fun in……several years. I always use any extra money I get by putting it back, paying bills helping family with stuff if they need it and so fourth..you know? Mature responsible adult stuff. Well I am tired of always being responsible, so figured ‘What they hay! I shall splurge on myself this one time.’.

So, I take myself right down to the department store and head to electronics…I ask for an Xbox 360 game console, only to be informed that the last one sold about 30 mins before I arrived. The friendly clerk then went on to explain to me, that their head office only sends them 6 at a time, and those 6 they only send every 2 weeks or so…and that’s a rough estimate. He then went on to tell me what a hot seller the consoles were, and how they are always sold out on the same day they come in.

Maybe this is a sign from fate telling me not to waste my money like that eh? Save it in case something important comes up…I mean, I really want this game console, mainly because I don’t have any more game systems…They have all ended up breaking down much to my dismay…and the graphics on the 360 are insane! They beat the graphics my computer is capable of handling a million to one! Hands down!

However, all my wants aside..It might be best to just forget it..keep the money for when something important pops up, and just act like an adult. That’s what I am, so I should keep acting like that. Games aren’t all that important anyway. My bubby and my family are the most important things to me..and I got both, so don’t really need anything else..heh