Crysis

The newest game to come from EA Games, is Crysis. The game is based on a futuristic setting with a Spec. OP Team that is called in to help rescue researchers from a island in the south pacific from the Korean Army.

What I truly am happy with this game is that the game resembles so much of FarCry and great budget game, brought to us by the same creators. It incorporates a similar setting (the island) and this mercenary army that you need to defeat. On top fo that, the physics and the overall settings are great. The idea of on the fly modding of your weapon is great. Having an assualt rifle that you can add a grenade launcher or a scope, or even a silencer is pretty cool. Another bonus is the ability to take your armor and add more strength, agility, speed, even cloak! All pretty cool and they do come in handy at times.

The story, as some might say, is not bad, but could have had a little better explanation. Being a spec ops solider on an island trying to rescue some scientists is not new and is kind of ambiguous. None the less, I felt that the game play was smooth and the features made this one of the best games of the year, beating Bioshock by leaps and bounds. Good job EA!

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Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Tomorrow is the big day for the release of the newest installment of the action shooter, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The difference with this version is that this is set outside of the WWII genre of first person shooter games. There have been a number of really good reviews, I only hope that that is correct about this game.

**UPDATE**

Having been able to play the game now all of the way through, it was awesome, despite the shortness of the usual long game play typical of the earlier call of duty games.

Some of the great new things in this game that are picked up in more recent present day titles is the use of night vision, which is not as easy to pull off as you might think. The weapons, which there are a number of them are well done in their skins and their sounds. As for the accuracy, as a friend has pointed out to me, is a little too good. When you fire an automatic rifle, you loose a tremendous amount of accuracy and for some reason that accuracy is still held in some of the firearms in this game.

One of my favorite parts of the game is the sniper episodes. They use some of the best newer firearms like the .50 cal Barrett which is a wonder of a rifle. On top of that you get to use some M1A rifles, a hopeful for my future collection. I do enjoy these types of games that allow you to play a little recon, a little support and a some assault.

The downfall of this game is that the ending came too quickly. I really am unsure as to why Activision didn't have a title, like this one, lasting much longer on the campaign modes. I beat the game in a few hours and that was with little effort. If Activision is reading, please understand that all of the bells and whistles are great, but here is the thing, if you do not allow for a longer game time, we move on and do not buy your titles again. Especially of you play games that your putting out like Solider of Fortune: Payback.

Overall Verdict is I would still buy it of I hadnt already. It was fun and I still play the arcade modes.

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Rock Band

Rock Band, a new game by the makers of Guitar Hero have taken it further. With Guitar Hero, you were able to simulate the chords of a song from numerous eras. In Rock Band, not only do you get to do the chords on a Guitar (a Les Paul of all guitars too!) but also a drum set, a microphone (yes you can sing too) and if you have another guitar, like a guitar hero guitar, you can add that too for a bass. With the powers of the accessories combine, you get a rock band.

This allows for a fun mixture with friends who can create their own band that plays great songs like Nirvana’s “In Bloom”, Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, Queens of the Stone Age’s “Go With The Flow”, Foo Figthers’ “Learn to Fly”, The Hives’ “Main Offender”, Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen”, Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, The Strokes’ “Reptilia”, The Ramones’ “Rockaway Beach”, Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So”, David Bowie’s “Suffragette City”, Rush’s “Tom Sawyer”, Stone Temple Pilots’ “Vasoline”, Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive”, The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and plenty more!

Now, since I am a total n00b at this type of game, I played it a friends house for a couple of hours and was hooked from the start. I never really was into guitar hero since I was sick of an ex-gf who played it all of the time. With this, I was able to play all the other parts and really got into it. Plus, how could you not like the play lists in this game. This was my kind of game. Thats not to say that the Guitar Hero games didn't have good music, I just needed to get this game 1st. I may try and tackle the Guitar Hero games if I can find a game and controller for cheap. now you might ask, why get another controller if you have the one guitar.....well folks, its cause they are not compatible....thats right, they are not.

With the cost, Harmonix was lucky I purchased it. But I feel that it was well worth it. I recommend this to any good rock loving person, especially of they love the Guitar Hero line of games.

Platforms: XBox 360, Playstation 3


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Solider of Fortune: Pay Back

Well, when you hear that a game is banned form being played or even owned in a country like Australia, you think, this has to be a great game, right???? I guess not. Welcome to Solider of Fortune: Payback, the craptacular game of 2007.

Now, I was a huge fan of the 1st 2 Solider of Fortune games that were highly rated (at least the 1st of the 2) and were quite graphic in nature. With the heads being blown off, the blood spurting, and the limbs flying, these games were seen as the worst, most violent games for a kid to play. On top of that, the actually look and feel of the games were nice. In the latest, we lose the main character, Jon Mullins and are brought a new person. before I go any further, this game just sucks and should not be known as a SOF game.

On top of bad graphics, the physics and the realism was shot form the beginning. and being a Activision title, like its predecessors (Quake IV, COD, and various other action titles), this is nothing like it's cousins. The heat being dispersed from the firearms and the fires is ok at best the skins on the models is what gets me. From the 2 previous games, you see such detail being placed into the people and the environment, and I put the settings at their max and it was horrible.

With that said, I do not recommend anyone getting this title. I would say to get the older versions of SOF and play those. It is a shame that this is what happened to the game series. I hope that if this is not the end of the game series that they wire up and try to at least make it somewhat playable.

Platforms: PC, XBox 360, Playstation 3

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BlackSite: Area 51

Well, I will say that if anyone who has had time to play this game, for any of the platforms, will tell you that this is a terrible game. Having purchased it for PC, I tried playing it a couple of times and really, the game is very arcade like. Meaning that the game would be better played with a hand full of quarters at the bowling alley than on the home PC. The graphics, even at their maximum are mediocre at best and the story is old and sketchy.

The game's premise is that you start off in the middle east as a solider on a mission to stop chemical warfare. From there, you go to military installations and fight middle easterns. Eventually you start to fight people mutated and then eventually aliens.

The one good thing is that if you do not mind a game that takes little to no creativity, than I suggest taking this one on. It really is a game for people not worried about

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