Game Journal: 01/18/2010

Well, this past weekend wasn't terribly much on gaming. After a fun night of poker on Saturday, I was encased in my home working all day which sucked, but least I was getting paid to do it. And with that time besides watching the Vikings pound the Cowboys and the Jets stun the Chargers, I did get a decent amount of video game time playing Darksiders.

For those of you that haven't purchased or tried the game yet, its a pretty damn good game. Based of the classic tale of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, you play as one of them in particular by the name of War. The premise of the story being that the battle between Heaven and Hell had now begun on Earth on the plane of Man where one of the 3 sides will inherit the Earth based on its outcome. And that's where the Horsemen come in, to help restore the balance to the battle. No one side is to have the clear advantage, and the Horsemen come to restore, but the Horsemen only come when they hear the call to do so in which all 4 are summoned to the Earth to balance the battle. War hears the call but is misguided as the call was somehow staged, and when War came to balance the battle, he had done so outside of the perspective of his purpose. He had brought unbalance with his presence, and for that he was banished from the plane and essentially killed. Now before the council, he faces his judgment where he pleads to them to allow to return to Earth and find those responsible to throwing the balance out of order, for without the Horsemen, the balance will not be restored. It's story conceived through another story, but that's just how it seems most stories are created these days and this game does it very well not just with its script, but its art style. Controls are easy, action is fairly consistent, graphics are rather amazing, the scripting and scenes work very well, and its fun. Though it is violent, so you may not want the kiddies playing this game, but for you mature gamers like myself, its right up our alley.

Besides that, I didn't play much else. Uncharted 2 and Wet have been eyeballing me on my shelf lately to play them and I think I probably will once I'm done with Darksiders. But I'm also urged to place my focus back on Assassin's Creed 2. I loved the first one, but playing this one after quite some time after of playing other games, I found it a bit difficult to get back into the swing of things. But I'm sure if I put enough focus on it, it will be like riding a bike.

I have also have had quite the urge to find another co-operative game to play. One can only play the Gears of War games co-op so much, but I'm eager to find another one to play along side some friends. My friend and I are probably going to play Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, as he's never played much of it. I myself have already completed the game, but I wouldn't mind at all playing it again with a friend as the story itself was just so good, it would be like watching a movie I really liked that I hadn't seen in a while. Shame it didn't get the attention it deserved, but there were enough problems with it to warrant as well. Such as not being able to switch the split screen to horizontal mode. For those with smaller televisions, it can make the experience quite uncomfortable. More so that the co-op was only local play instead of placing it online. But if you like surprise endings, this would be a game to play. You can find it used for probably under 15 bucks now.

Someone asked me now that the holidays are over, what's good that's coming out? Well, if you haven't already got some of the games that have come out over the holidays such as Modern Warfare 2, Uncharted 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and such, here are some titles that have already caught my eye. Darksiders is one if you haven't gotten it already, but as a its a single player experience, you can probably wait on it to go down in price and pick up later and enjoy it just the same. Army of Two: The 40th Day returns Salem and Rios pairing up again in over the top battles with interesting new tactics that you and a friend can pair up with. Probably play this one with my best friend. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will return soon as well with more guns, more explosions, more devastation, and more comedy from the B-Company squad. If you haven't played the first one, its another I recommend on a cheap deal if you are looking for a good shooter. Mass Affect 2 on Xbox 360 will release its second installment of its trilogy, a much awaited title with plot twists and turns, as well as a decent fighting and control scheme. I still have to finish the first one myself so this one can wait on my list. Dante's Inferno lights it up later this month and is definitely one I am looking forward to as I am a fan of the book. I will be purchasing this one on PS3 as it promises to include a digital copy of the book included with it.

The long awaited White Knight Chronicles for PS3 comes forth in the early weeks of February. Most of us saw videos for this one at the release of the PS3 itself nearly 3 years ago. This interesting take on an MMORPG looks very interesting but it may have lost a bit of its fire for me as its delays have disappointed many. MAG for PS3 also lands next month to bring us the largest scale virtual war on a console yet. 256 players all in one battle. Sheer madness will ensue with this title, but I don't think it will take a lot away from the Modern Warfare 2 crowd. The ever popular Final Fantasy series returns with Final Fantasy XIII coming in the first week of March, if its not delayed that is. The series has always sold well, and this one should be no different.

But one not so much heard of title I'm rather interested is Blood Bowl. What is it you ask? Why its football that's what!!! For those of you that were thrill by the days of Mutant League Football, this game is trying to return those warm and fuzzy feelings of detonating football passes, weapons on the field, and killing the referee, this game looks to try to bring it all back. Though the mechanics don't seem to be the same, the premise looks the same. It's slated for a $49.99 release which seems like a lot for a title like this, but I'll keep my eye on it for a price drop and see if I can pick it up.

Well its time for me to get some game time in, but be sure to return for journal updates. Thanks for reading.