This place is The Pitts!

Fallout 3, the winner of 5 “Greggies”! My own brand of game rewards. (difference between these awards and others being thatthe designers dont really care about Greggies)

1.Game of the year 2008
2.Best for keeping me sane during unemployment
3.Coolest game in which you get to nail a mutants head to the wall at long range
4.Best supporting dog (was a close competition, Fable 2 came in 2nd as theirs was straight up annoying!)
5.OMG IT'S LIAM NEESON!!!!!11oneone


With the release of the first DLC I got very excited, at last something new to do during my 3rd runthrough.... But operation anchorage was a bit of a disappointment. It was short, it was really rather dull, and I got shot up before I could get all the shiny loot on my favourite (evil) character.

When the Pitt was released I set off the download in the morning before I went to work, dearly hoping that it would revitalise my love of the game. And that it did. (After i had re-downloaded it due to Bethesda releasing a graphically effed up version on release day. Round of applause for that one)

One could argue that equipping the player with a circular saw that turns “Meanie mutant” into “Badguy smoothie” is bound to draw players back, or deeper, into obsession, and one would be right. Lopping off limbs with a portable circular saw-cum-angle grinder is just plain, unadulterated, gratuitous awesomeness!

The story-line is generic RPG stuff... You follow a radio signal to a chap who needs your help and you agree to go on with it, because hey, its not like you have anything else to do. you go off and are wonderfully railroaded through the next few hours of gameplay and it's a sublime ride.

Your journey through The Pitt sees you completing a surprisingly enjoyable collection quest, a pit fight, a couple of “go here talk to them” type quests and a good bit of fighting that, thanks to the new melee weapon, is a blast.

This expansion was everything operation anchorage wasn't, and everything fallout 3 should be. I have the new expansion downloaded now and, dependent on time (and my continual addiction to resident track and field 5) I may get a review of that up soon.

I considered rating games at the end, then decided i wouldn't as i could be told I'm wrong or be held responsible for someone buying what they see to be a crappy game.

Peace out

G

If war never changes.... it's clothing expenses must be nominal

Braaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinsssss

One of the few games to truly titillate my technological taste-buds this year has been Capcom's latest zombie-fest, “Resident Track and field 5”.... **SORRY** Resident Evil 5

“Resident Track and Field?” I hear you questioningly muttering into your corn flakes! (unless you are reading this in the afternoon or evening, in which case you may be eating a sandwich..... or maybe some form of pasta dish) "What's that all about?" Well it's time to get one of my 3 main gripes about the game out of the way...

Button bashing..... a lot of it! I am pretty certain the A button on my controller is not going to survive another play-through, what with sequences involving pressing it a billion times a second to run away from falling pillars to random spasms of bashing to avoid massive claws courtesy of the latest boss type. I don't get it! There is one boss battle where you have to remove a gem from the baddie by spamming the X button as fast as possible while your partner holds them (which requires, oh yes, hammering the A button). Now this is all well and good but in Veteran difficulty they don't make the enemy harder to grab, faster or stronger, they just make you do the mindless mashing more, AND MORE! It's infuriating!

Rant 2: The controls... The main character, Chris, is plugged as some kind of super soldiery elite bloke. Hell! Look at his arms!
I doubt he could even scratch his own chin! Yet he is also incapable of moving whilst aiming or firing his gun..... Did they not cover simple multi-tasking in STARS basic training?

*Final rant* The partner AI: Ridiculous! No other word for it! I have taken to using her as a pack mule and health item administrator.... If I give her a gun she tends to put a few magazines into my back before running off in search of more ammo to irritate me with. That may be enough, but imagine my displeasure when, during my speed run last night, I got to a door that requires both characters to open. It turns out I had to leg it back to the start of the area to find her as the poor thing couldn't quite work out how to get around that monumental hindrance to human foot travel: a tire on the floor.... that was it.... she was stuck behind it, unable to fathom its secrets.

So, 3 rants = poor game right? WRONG! I am hooked on this game, I have completed most levels in veteran when co-op-ing with my friend Dave (which is, by the way, the only way to fly in this game*) Andi have finished the game on easy mode (yeah yeah! n00b etc! I present infinite magnum ammo, suck it). The story is good if a little over acted at times, and the weapons upgrade system is fantastic (even if it did lead to Dave and I spending a fair while pondering the practicalities of a 100 round magazine for a M92.... I mean, how would you holster the thing?)

I am hooked on this game and will not be done with it until I have sucked every drop out of its smooth shiny existence..... Once you get around the RSI from button bashing and frustrating AI, there is good fun to be had, I even got used to the controls (which for me is a big thing, Transformers got returned within the day due to control annoyance!)

I would like to sign off my first review by mentioning a subject that surrounded Resi5 in controversy and that is the subject of racism....

There, I mentioned it! Hey I don't do politics!

Thanks for reading

Peace, out


*Other friends can be used if you don't have a Dave to hand

My new reviews blog

Howdy all!

I have decided that I would like to begin writing a blog where I write independent reviews on different video games.

I will be featuring all kinds of games, new and old, mostly on the XBOX 360 system, but may occasionally venture into the realms of PC, Nintendo DS or, very rarely, the Nintendo Wii.

These reviews will mostly be written very much in my own opinion, which should obviously be taken as such (and my opinion is, in general, rather cynical).

As I feel I should add something of value to this first post I would like to note my complete lack of enthusiasm for the recent and coming releases. The only game released since January that got my blood running is Resident Evil 5, which I am considering for my first review. Generally the release schedule is not exciting me the way I usually expect it to.

But enough for now, keep your eyes peeled for the first review soon.

Peace, out

Gregatron