Ok guys and gals... we have a movie review thread. How about a video game review thread?

Destroy All Humans 2: We got this game mostly for the co-op mode, since we never played the first one. Graphics are just so-so. The main character has a Jack Nicholson voice/style that I find funny as hell. Play can get boring and tedious, but it is fun to 'anal probe' the humans and then suck up their brains. Definitely tongue-in-cheek humor. DH likes it, I just think it's so-so. Good enough to kill time on a Wednesday night, not good enough for up-until-3AM play.

Update: Finally finished it. A long game. It got kinda repetitive, and you can only kill so many hippies and ninjas before things get boring. I still can't figure out why they always give female characters huge boobs. Overall, an ok game but no replay value.

Oh, I'm gonna be all over this thread when I have some time.

Same here.

In the meantime, you need to see these.

Angry Nintendo Nerd

Ok sorry but this isint a review but if you grew up in the 80s then you should be able to relate to this. Its basically me in a nutshell!

http://www.pistolwimp.com/media/46722/

In the last week, there has been an explosion of top tier Xbox 360 games hit the stores. What a great time to be a gamer. Here's two that I picked up last week.

Gears of War - the hype machine has been in full effect for this one, to the point that even non-gamers in the crowd may have noticed a commercial or MTV special about this game. I'm about half way through the campaign and it is living up to all of the hype. The graphics are the best (that I can remember off the top of my head) I've seen in any video game for any system.

But graphics aren't everything and the gameplay delivers the goods, too. It's a third-person (over the should view) shooter that is all about cover and flanking. Throw in some of coolest baddies and squadmates you'll ever see, along with a chainsaw attached to the end of your rifle as a melee weapon and you have the recipe for a great game.

My favorite part of the game, and peacefrog you'll appreciate this, is that you can play the campaign cooperatively either through split screen or over Xbox Live. I've played the entire game so far with a friend of mine who lives in the midwest, all from the comfort of our own homes.

Call of Duty 3 - I'd say a more appropriate name for this would be Call of Duty 2.5. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there's nothing groundbreaking here. A spruce up on the graphics and vehicles added to multiplayer is about it. Still great fun!

I had a little retro-gaming this week, too. Xbox Live offered a downloadable version of the classic, side-scrolling shooter Contra. The old Konami code even works to get 30 lives.

And coming next week: Rainbow Six: Vegas. Terrorists take over Sin City with Tom Clancy's boys get sent in to save the day. This one might have to wait until Christmas, though.

Anyone get FEAR: Extraction Point yet and if so is it worth getting?

I got it last week dirk. It's as good or better than the original. One MAJOR PROBLEM, you can finish it in about 4 hours, maybe 6 if you really take your time. Much like Half-Life Episode One in time it takes to complete it. The chain gun and laser carbine are superb. But there's not much ammo laying around for the laser carbine. I cheated a little and gave myself ammo for the laser, it was just a cool weapon.

Alma shows up quite a bit, but this time instead of trying to kill you, she's helping you along against the replicants. It's got some really challenging firefights in it. I never did use slo-mo, I didn't find it really necessary, but then again I never used it in the original. There's some good scenes when you get that creepy feeling that "something" is about to happen. The ending/final cut scene is a major disappointment.

Whether it's really worth the 17 or so dollars? I don't know, but I enjoyed playing it. I'm going to play it again at a more difficult level just for the challenge. If you're really a big fan of the original FEAR, you have to get Extraction Point.

We saw a commercial for Fear and DH wants it.

Gears of War sounds pretty cool, too...

Hmmm... now do we go ahead and get the X360? Or wait a few months for the PS3?

Check out this article on the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Playstation 3 online.

I don't think brand name recognition is going to pull them through to be king of this generation of game consoles.

I wish I had preordered a Playstation 3 like I did with the 360. Not to play it, but to ebay it. I just looked at completed auctions (which have to list showing the preorder receipt of the seller) and all of them were over $2K. Who is buying a video game console for 2 grand????

For some reason, Burger King is offering 3 xbox/xbox 360 games at their restaurants for $3.99 each. The games star the creepy King himself. Some co-workers who know I'm a game geek grabbed a couple of them for me the other day at lunch.

The funniest one is called Sneak King. You play as the King and go around the game sneaking up on unsuspecting people and surprising them with tasty treats from Burger King. The product placement in the game is way over the top ridiculous, but for $4, it's a hilarious diversion.

Link to BK games site.

Obscure: This XBox game is eerily similar to the first Resident Evils... which I LOVE! Even better--it has a co-op version so DH and I can play together! Anyway, gamers who like thrills and excitement will probably find this game boring. You play as 5 teenage kids stuck in a school with monsters and ghosties. The school administration was obviously running some type of strange "experiment," and you're trying to find out what the hell is going on (as well as stay alive and rescue your missing friend).

The co-op mode is mildly awkard (it's not a split screen), but decent. Graphics are just decent. Game is seek-and-find, solve-a-puzzle, then shoot-something. I like this style of game a lot.

We just started... so no final verdict on it yet. But so far I'm enjoying it.

When using one tv, I prefer my co-op levels to not use split screen. I know that limits the movements of each character because they must stay on the same screen, but I don't like to give up my tv screen real estate by splitting it.

Yes, it is kind of a compromise thing.

The problem with sharing the screen: I started yelling at DH. "Dammit, I'm trying to do something over here. Stop moving!" With the split screen, at least his actions don't affect mine. I have no one but myself to blame when I die. LOL

Anyone play games on PC? I finally got a new PC and the only games I have are 10+ years old. They run well, but wondered how the PC games compare to console games and what recomendations you all might have. I played Half Life when it first came out and enjoyed it.

TIA

Yoss is your hookup, CPD. He has a good gaming rig.

Oh man... how did I miss this post?

I'm into the FPS games (first person shooters, like half-life). All the Medal of Honor games are terrific--all World War II shooters. Great action, authentic weapons and great story lines. The Half Life series is great. Halo is great on the PC, a good fun shooter is Serious Sam. I can't remember all the games I've played and enjoyed... when I get home I'll look on the bookshelf and list some of them. The absolute BEST has got to be F.E.A.R. Absolutely EXCELLENT story line and great action. Just finished the expansion pack for FEAR, FEAR Extraction Point.

Oh, DOOM and Quake are great scifi shooters. But I really liked the Medal of Honor games, more realistic.

Maybe I could borrow some from your library

Need some advice.

My nephew wants NFL Street II for GameCube for Christmas. Where would I go to find that? I am not sure what I am looking for.

Thanks for the help. I'm going tonight to do some shopping.

There's two game stores in the Valley Mall... EB Games in the main part of the mall between Bon Ton and Sears and Gamestop? which is down the new section going toward the food court. Sort of across from Old Navy.

Also Circuit City carries console games. I'm sure the sales people will be glad to help you.

Thanks, Yoss.

I'll check it out tonight! Much appreciated.

If you can't find it in the stores, the gamestop.com website has it. Plus, I have a coupon code for free 2-day shipping you can have if you go that route.

edit - the EB Games website says their Valley Mall store has 1-3 copies.

http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=916516

Hey SMan,

Thanks so much! That's so kind. But I did find it! Finally. Went to Circuit City and they didn't have it.

Went to the mall and found EB games. No go there too. So, walked up to GameStop and they had the very last one left. I got it.
Only problem was that they couldn't find the original plastic case that has the NFL Street II on it. The guy was looking all over the store. So, he just gave me a plain black one. I'll wrap it up nice and explain to my nephew! At least I found it. Thanks for the help.

I play way more PC games than console games these days. I used to play lots of shooters and played in Quake, Counterstrike and Unreal Tournament ladder and LAN tournaments for money but I have been out of the FPS scene ever since getting sucked into the world of massively multiplayer games. Heck I used to pay an arm and a leg for an ISDN connection in college to have an advantage over all of the dial-up users (cable/dsl wasn't really available to anyone). The only shooter I have installed now is Halo but I still play them when they come out until I get bored.

So, if you're interested in MMO games, I can give lots of advice since that's the majority of what I've been playing the past couple years. EverQuest, EverQuest 2, World of Warcraft, Dark Age of Camelot, Anarchy Online, City of Heroes/Villains, Asheron's Call, Final Fantasy and I forget what else.. I've played so many.

Also, I would just like to say that the people that work at EB Games in our mall are a bunch of idiots; they are absolutely clueless when it comes to gaming. I buy from Gamestop.

EB and Gamestop are the same company now. I use EB because it location in the mall seems less of a hassle to get in and out of when picking things up. Every time I go in there, the sales drones have all their friends hanging around. One time, there was a dude in EB riding a skateboard around the store while his friend was working the counter. Another time, the girl working there had some 5 year old kid (I guess it was hers) helping her work the register.

With games, like anything else, I never trust the sales peeps to give advice or answer questions.

I rarely ever need or ask for feedback on a game because 99% of the time I've already beta'd it or read (p)reviews, but if you do want an opinion on a game the guys at Gamestop are normally pretty cool to chat with.

In EB, if you manage to get someone's attention, they only want to sell you on what THEY'RE playing and they don't know jack sh!t about anything else out there. One dude had the nerve to try to insult me because I was buying an EverQuest 2 expansion (everyone else was sold out) and not playing WoW instead. When I told him I had four fully geared maxed out lvl 60's and was bored with it he proceeded to tell me how uber his shaman was and how he could kill anyone in PvP. Whatever, freakin' idiot.

It's too bad none of you play MMO's.. we could have a lot of fun!

CPD,

Did you ever try www.pogo.com? My spouse and I argue over the game Lottos, it's fun! You can try it for two weeks free. If you decide to try please let me know if you like it..

Hey Yoss - FEAR is out for the Xbox 360 now and I'm thinking about grabbing it. The demo was cool enough and the story was intriguing. My question is rental or purchase? I won't be doing any multiplayer with it, just the single player campaign. Is the single player long enough and fun enough to buy or should I try to rent it?

I would suggest World Of Warcraft... but only if you have TONS of time to devote to it

World of Warcraft is definitely the easiest MMO to get into and its a lot of fun until you spend some time at 60. At lvl 60, your advancement all depends on how much free time you have. You either go on raids that at least last a couple of hours and follow a lotto or point system for loot or you repetitively grind pvp honor. I leveled up three characters to 60 and realized that it wasn't the class I was tired of, it was the "endgame" shenanigans.

Sorry for not seeing this earlier. In my opinion... it's definitely a keeper. I've played it a couple of times. Buy it.

Shhhhh.... I picked up Black and Sniper Elite for DH as stocking stuffers. Anyone played them?

I read Black has nothing new gameplay-wise, but real purdy explosions and intense shootouts.

Anyone see this yet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWzmL05OlYA...ted&search=

Also... lot's of hype for this one.

www.bioshockgame.com

World of Warcraft. Levelling is fun. Being 60 is not bad either. It is true that the game changes at level 60. You are not worried about questing for points. First I would recommend getting in a good guild. They work together and help level other toons. With this, they always set up Ventrilo or Team Speak, and the added aspect of working together to achieve an otherwise impossible goal can add fun. Personally, I like PVP, both in BG and in the open. But I tend to pick fights with overwhelming odds, because I do not mind dying. A good friend of mine takes it personally if his toon dies. In any case, BC is coming out now, and you can level to 70. If you decide you do not want to play anymore, let me know. I have several kids that play also. Having different classes for instances is necessary.

I've been trying to find the new Nintendo console (the Wii). Every place is sold out. Ironically, most places have stacks of PS3s.

I've got 3 lvl 60s... a Night Elf Rogue (Gorgonnash), Orc Warrior (Stormreaver) and Undead Priest (Executus). I had a lot of fun with all of them but being an EQ vet, the raiding got old pretty quick. I spent 5 yrs doing that and doing it all over again in another game wasn't thrilling for me, so I spent most of my time at 60 in the Battlegrounds. Not sure if I'll get BC or not.. I have a feeling it'll just be more of the same.

As far as MMOs go, I'm looking forward to Warhammer Online... which I think will live up to the hype. Mythic was very successful with Dark Age of Camelot but the problem was that it was going head to head with EverQuest at the time and EverQuest had the advantage of being out for a year or so beforehand and hooking tons of players.

Also looking forward to Conan, by Funcom.

I used to be a big strategy gamer, the Starcraft, WarCraft, Command and Conquer, types. The issue with computer games is that as you figure their logic, they become noncompetitive, unless they throw in numbers. The thing I like about MMOs is that they have real people running toons. We need an MMO that allows people to create and use armies. Let me know if you would like to send your toons on.

I know some toons I would love to get rid of...

I am still stuck on NFS Most wanted. LOL I dont have alot of time to play anymore. I like NASCAR Racing 2003 for the pc anyone play that?

Ha! I'm not alone as an adult gamer.

Nielsen: 36.5 percent of online adults are gamers

SMan and Coma- did you see this? http://blog.washingtonpost.com/posttech/20...?referrer=email

MS has been mentioning this since last year's E3 convention. I think it goes live May 8th with the Vista release of Shadowrun*. I've long since abandoned having a PC with enough juice to game, but it'll be cool to expand the Live user base. Another cool thing is that your Live account will work on the 360 and for PC gaming, so you only pay once.

Let the mouse/keyboard vs. console controller FPS flame war begin.

*edit - changed it to Shadowrun being the first game. Halo 2 for Vista is coming later in the year.

To cross-platform play you will have to pay. Currently I think its only 50.00 per year.

$50/year is the retail. You can find 12 month subscription cards on sale or on ebay for ~$35. I know PC gamers are probably averse to paying to play online, but the service is polished and worth it for the console gamer.

I never could get the hang of the shooters on console games. I could never get the precision I could with a mouse and keyboard. I cant wait to try it out, sounds cool we all can play no matter what platform were on. My rig is battle ready to take on anyone.

Currently im playing the Fear Extraction Point.

The "public" Halo 3 multiplayer beta starts tonight and runs through June 6th. Much time will be wasted.....

After spring and summer famine, some great first person shooters are about to be released. Some are coming out on cross platforms.

Bioshock, touted to be the game of the year was released yesterday. I've had my pre-order in with Amazon and should be getting it in the next week or two.

Call of Duty, Airbourne is sheduled for release in early september. Call of Duty games are great WWII shooters.

Crysis is due out in December.

I think Episode 3 of Half Life is due after the first of the year.

I'm a huge fans of the FPS genre.

I'll be busy for the next several months... lol.

:: cough:: guitarHEROencore:rockthe80's:: cough::


what are you looking at? i dont play nerd games?