Favorite current generation video games?

[OldWestGambler]

MGS4, but it's even better if you have played all the other games. Atleast those involving Solid Snake and MGS2. Then you acctualy get the whole story much better. My uncle bought MGS4, and I do get some questions from him about certain things that happened in the earlier games.

That's my favorite game.  I can't really come up with enough good things to say about it.

I got hold of

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Heavy Rain is a great experience, iimo.  I know that some just won't like it, as it's barely a game as opposed to an interactive story.  However, it's so exciting and interesting, and personally, I found myself really taking a liking to the characters.  While the story is great, being able to have your actions decide the outcome (as opposed to just passing/failing a level/mission and retrying) really adds a ton, as it's done wonderfully.  I don't really want to say much because I don't want to risk giving any spoilers, but I'd recommend this game to anybody, most certainly.

Heavy Rain is everything you said but I would have liked the story to randomly start with different character viewpoints and allow much more variation on how the story ends. I loved playing it the first time through though. Started a second play but sent it back to Gamefly in order to get Final Fantasy 13 on time for the release.

Bioshock 2 is a blast like the first game. That simple.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 is a brilliant. I wanted to play the multiplayer experience which I hear is the best part of the game but I had to send it back to Gamefly in order to get God Of War 3 on time.

Just trying to get my money's worth from Gamefly and loving this year's releases so far. It truly is a great year for console games.

[NotFadeAway]

A while back we got:


This game is just awesome in every way.  I hadn't played an NHL game in a number of years, which is strange since I used to get the new game every year (back in the glory days of the SNES   .)  The gameplay is addictive and insanely fun.  I love the 'Be a GM' mode and have been playing game after game with team (which is, of course, the Thrashers...)

This might well be my favorite sports game I've ever played (well except for Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball on the SNES-that game was the nuts.)

Edit to add:
The only downside to the game is that after playing for a while my left thumb is killing me.  That might be a problem with the 360 controller, though...   

[OldWestGambler]

GOD OF WAR III IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!

sorry. I got a little excited.

but, um, seriously. If you liked one and two you will love the third.
it's pretty much more of the same type of game with new weapons, new actions and new characters including a damn sexy appearance by Aphrodite, lol. The graphics in this game are outstanding.

[TwoToGo-Grave]

We got Alan Wake recently and I have to say that I really liked it.  I'll put my thoughts in a spoiler since I'll discuss the plot various parts of the game that you likely don't want to read about if you haven't played it.

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I have some complaints (the level design is fairly uninspired and the graphics are unspectacular; the villains are repetitive and not interesting are scary, and there are some seriously ridiculous moments that seem out of place-having to go through a hedge maze when a gate won't open, the fight vs. a swarm of Taken that occurs on the concert stage), but I really did enjoy the gameplay and while it was repetitive at times, it never got old for me.  Also, the story was interesting and I couldn't help but like the main character, which helps greatly in a story based game like this.  His best friend was far too reminiscent of similar character in GTA IV and InFamous (and no doubt many others), and thus uninspired, but that's okay.  I was very disappointed in the lack of a boss fight or, well, anything at the end.  I sure expected some more gameplay when I got to the cabin, but I understand it story-wise.  I hated the fact that I kept having to lose my weapons and ammo after each episode (and sometimes during an episode), but I think that made the game better.  They give plenty of ammo to defeat the Taken and other villains, and you have the option to run instead of fight at times too, which is nice.  Now, I know I've made a lot of complaints, but the gameplay is fun and the story is good, and if those parts are enjoyable, it's simply going to be a good game.  I sure hope that they come out with an Alan Wake 2 (I'm not sure how well it's selling, though, but hopefully we'll see one).

[OldWestGambler]

Red Dead Redemption is pretty amazing.
Of course the Old West wouldn't be the Old West without some poker either. You get to play all the Texas Holdem you want. and none of that free facebook crap this is the real thing where you can get shot and die if you cheat. lol.

And the new Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands is a return to the epic Sands of Time. It almost feels like they were playing a lot of God of War too because there are a lot of similarities but God of War III wins the edge here because there's much more violence and sex. This would be a good alternative for your kids if they really want to play God of War III but you won't allow them (because you're the worst dad ever!)
 

OWG

[austin5string]

I just built a new computer because my 6 1/2 old P4 finally died..  Think the motherboard went bye-bye..

Downloaded a demo of Dirt 2, the latest Colin McRae racing game..   Wow... Dunno if I'll get the full game and haven't hooked up a wheel and pedals yet, but the graphics are amazing..

[NotFadeAway]

Red Dead Redemption is pretty amazing.
Of course the Old West wouldn't be the Old West without some poker either. You get to play all the Texas Holdem you want. and none of that free facebook crap this is the real thing where you can get shot and die if you cheat. lol.

I love Red Dead Redemption.  I'll write more about it when I finish the game (which could be a while, but I don't know.)

[stooks99]

I wish I could contribute, but the last video game I bought and played was, literally, Mario Kart for SNES.  I'm not even 30, that's kinda sad.

[TwoToGo-Grave]

I wish I could contribute, but the last video game I bought and played was, literally, Mario Kart for SNES.  I'm not even 30, that's kinda sad.

That's one great game, though.

[NotFadeAway]

I finished Red Dead Redemption last night and I liked it a ton.  I'll put my thoughts in a spoiler due to length. 

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I'll start with what I really like about the game:
-The gameplay:  It's very similar to GTA IV (which makes sense considering that it was made by the same people that make GTA games and uses the same game engine as GTA IV).  Personally, I love the gameplay in GTA IV so I love it in RDR.  The cover system is back and works great, making combat incredibly fun.  The game is significantly easier though, with regenerating health and the 'Dead Eye' (which slows down time to give you time to line up your shot) being the main reasons.   Still, the combat is fun, and riding horses from one place to another is just awesome.
-The environment:  This game looks incredible and going from place to place is just so much fun.  There are mountains, deserts, forests, etc. and it all looks great is so much fun to ride through.  The animals in the game look incredible as well, and watching the deer, buffalo, etc is nice.  On the other hand, it's fun to hunt the dangerous animals in the game, and try to shoot the wolves, coyotes, boar, and grizzlies before they can kill you.   
-The story:  I won't say much about the story, but I thought it was great.  And I loved the protagonist, John Marston very much.  I played the game as a hero (as in GTA you can go around doing all manner of bad things if you choose, but in this game breaking the law puts a bounty on you and lowers your 'honor' rating) and found myself really liking the character and his story.
-Stranger missions:  In GTA IV there are 'random character' missions where you do unnecessary side missions that, at times, are pretty fun.  RDR has similar 'stranger' missions where you meet strangers and, obviously, take missions from them.  These missions often involve very little to do, but they tend to involve interesting characters and are pretty fun.
-Extra curricular stuff:  I really enjoy bombing around playing poker, liar's dice, blackjack, etc.  in the game.  The poker is surprisingly fun, but liar's dice was my favorite.  These are somewhat similar to the bowling, darts, and pool in GTA IV, but more fitting of an Old West game, obviously.
What I didn't like:
-The %#$@ing herding and horsebreaking missions:  These are so tedious and boring.  At times you have to herd cattle and break horses (meaning that you lasso them, which takes forever, and then tilt the left stick back and forth while the horse tries to throw you off.)  I realize that the game takes place in the Old West and this kind of stuff is part of that, but it's just boring, at least in my opinion.
-Camp:  First off, I loved being able to 'make camp' and save pretty much anywhere on the map (as opposed to the traditional GTA approach of having to travel to a safehouse to save), but I think it's odd that when you choose to 'make camp' you can choose to 'travel to destination' and go pretty much anywhere you choose on the map without having to take the time to go.  While I imagine some people will like this, but I thought it was sort of silly and unnecessary.
-The difficulty:  I'm not one to complain about difficulty, but this game is ridiculously easy at times.  As I mentioned before, the regenerating health and 'Dead Eye' really make it easy.  In addition to this, there is auto aim (like in every GTA game) and enemies that appear as red dots (making them really easy to find and kill.)  The game is still super fun, but a little bit more challenge wouldn't have been that bad.
Glitches:  This game is pretty buggy.  I've found times that I can't shoot a gun, can't get on a horse, can't finish a mission (despite killing every enemy, the guy I was supposed to follow just glitched out and wouldn't go forward, forcing me to abandon the mission), and other things.  I even had one point where some guy who I was assisting in a mission got on my horse and wouldn't get off.  I couldn't knock him off and he wouldn't move at all.  I was forced to shoot him and intentionally fail the mission because of this, but I had no choice.  Overall, these glitches were annoying, but certainly rare enough to not hurt the experience very much at all.

I read something on IGN recently describing this game as 'more than GTA with horses', but I disagree with that assessment.  It is essentially just GTA with horses, but it's GREAT.   While there are minor problems, the overall experience is outstanding, the game is super fun to play, the story is outstanding, there are many interesting characters (including an exceptional protagonist), the game looks great with a great environment, and there's just loads to do.  If you like open world games, Grand Theft Auto games, Western games, or just good stories, I can't suggest this game enough.

[Detroitdad]

Thanks for the review NFA. I think I will pick this game up, but not until I can get it on Half.com for about 25 bucks.

I did just order Hit Man: Blood Money. Got it for 15 shipped. Sounds like a decent game.

[Dr. Neau]

Mario Kart for DS.

[3ball]

Red Dead Redemption is the sh!t.  I did a big mission that I thought was it, but nope!  It opened up a whole new world.  Which is nice.

[TwoToGo-Grave]

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NFA and I got The Orange Box last year and I hadn't touched it until yesterday.  I played Portal and I've gotta say that it's one of the best video games I've ever played.  The puzzles were awesome, especially the last four or so levels.  The final level is so long and has so many challenges and is just outstanding.  Also, I've got to say the GLaDOS is clearly one of the greatest video game characters I've ever seen.  She is just so entertaining and full of awesome.  Oh, and I've still got the end credits song stuck in my head.   I had a couple of issues, one being that the it's not really smooth when attempting to jump down into a portal (for a momentum jump), which causes headaches-I wish the portals could be just a little larger to make it easier.  The other has to do with the PS3 version of the game-the loading times after you die are so slow, and the game froze three times while I was playing it.  Also, the loading between levels is not nearly as smooth as it seems like it should be.  Nevertheless, the game is far too great for me to worry about that.  Anyway, now I want some cake.

[Detroitdad]

I'm playing Mass Effect right now (well slowly, when I have time). So far, it seems to be a pretty cool RPG. Its really similar to Knights of the Old Republic, except easier to switch between weapons/powers.

[NotFadeAway]

After 2ToGo played through Portal I played through it as well.  I wasn't as big on the game as he was, but I liked it a lot.  The final 'boss fight' was incredible, and the game was incredibly funny.  I wasn't as big on the last couple of levels, but overall the game was very good.

Anyway, now I want some cake.

I agree, but, sadly:

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The Cake is a lie.
The Cake is a lie.
The Cake is a lie.
The Cake is a lie.
The Cake is a lie.

[NotFadeAway]

I haven't gotten that far into it (even though I've played it for like 13 hours so far), but Mass Effect is awesome.  The game is addictive, involving, and incredibly fun and exciting.  I'm not typically a fan of RPGs, but this game is amazing.

Also, it's older and pretty cheap these days, so if you have an XBox 360 and want a fun, involving game that you can put a lot of time into this one's a great choice.



By the way, I might do a more in depth write up of this game whenever I finish it (although it might be a while...)

[Detroitdad]

I haven't gotten that far into it (even though I've played it for like 13 hours so far), but Mass Effect is awesome.  The game is addictive, involving, and incredibly fun and exciting.  I'm not typically a fan of RPGs, but this game is amazing.

Also, it's older and pretty cheap these days, so if you have an XBox 360 and want a fun, involving game that you can put a lot of time into this one's a great choice.



By the way, I might do a more in depth write up of this game whenever I finish it (although it might be a while...)

I think that is what I just said, lol.

I own the ME II. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Been playing Madden 11 and Halo Reach.

[NotFadeAway]

I haven't gotten that far into it (even though I've played it for like 13 hours so far), but Mass Effect is awesome.  The game is addictive, involving, and incredibly fun and exciting.  I'm not typically a fan of RPGs, but this game is amazing.

Also, it's older and pretty cheap these days, so if you have an XBox 360 and want a fun, involving game that you can put a lot of time into this one's a great choice.



By the way, I might do a more in depth write up of this game whenever I finish it (although it might be a while...)

I kind of can't believe it's been so long since I started Mass Effect.  I had a while where I barely played in video games (instead playing a ton of poker), but this week that's changed.  I've been playing Mass Effect like crazy and finished it tonight/this morning (just a few minutes ago, in fact  ) and thought I should go ahead and do a write-up about it.  I'll put my thoughts in a spoiler for length:

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First off, I'm not much of an RPG fan and, despite the fact that Mass Effect has a ton of action, it is definitely an RPG (more of an action RPG I guess.)  This took me a while to get used to, but after a long time of playing the game I got into the RPG elements somewhat.  I'll start by saying what I liked and what I didn't like so much.

The good:
-First off, the openess of Mass Effect is incredible.  The first few hours of gameplay are fairly linear (well, the first level is totally linear, and the second is kind of that way, but not really; it's hard to explain), but after the second 'level' of the game you have the freedom to go to different planets and complete either main story missions or side quests.  It's very similar in a way to open world games like GTA or Infamous in many ways, but on a much bigger scale.  Personally, I love being able to decide what to do next in a game, as opposed to being forced to play a certain level, and this was a great part of Mass Effect.
-The combat was a lot of fun.  Right away I wasn't too sure about this part of the game, but after playing for a while I started loving the action.  I always love good gunfights in games, and Mass Effect's combat was very satisfying and fun.  I wouldn't say it's the strength of the game by any means, but it was certainly well done.
-The story in Mass Effect is outstanding, and the later the game got the more exciting it became.  I kept just trying to get through the levels/missions really quickly just so that I could see the next part of the story.  It might seem bad to wait until you're like 40 hours in for the story to really get going good, but it was well worth it imo.
-It might seem boring, but the RPG-y conversations were great.  I consistently loved seeing what people would say in conversation, and I was always excited about getting to decide what my character would say.
-My favorite thing about the game was probably the decisions that the player makes throughout the game.  Whether it's as small as whether to be friendly or rude to a random person in conversation or making a decision that truly affects the game (and maybe even the next game, although I haven't played ME2 yet, so I can't say much about that), it was consistently fun and exciting to me to make decisions.
-The menus were easy to navigate.  This might not seem like that big of a deal, but it's one of the most important thing in any game there is.  It just helps soooooo much to be able to easily navigate the menus in a game, and especially in a game like Mass Effect where you're having to constantly check the 'journal' (where you see the available and completed missions), equip your character and your squad members, assign upgrades, change weapons and use special abilities during fights, etc.  With poor menus the game would certainly not be the masterpiece that it is.
-The length was definitely good.  I played for over 50 hours (and that's not counting the many, many, many times between saving the game and dying, as it just reloads your game instead of essentially 'continuing' like many games), so there's no doubt that I got my money's worth with this game (especially considering that I bought in used for $15 in a buy 2-get 1 free sell... .)

There were some things I wasn't so fond of too:
-I was a bit annoyed by some of the side quests.  They missions where you go to a planet to do something are all the same.  There are many such side missions and they go like this:  land on the planet in a poorly controlling vehicle, drive this poorly controlling vehicle to a dot on the map, use the poorly controlling vehicle to destroy random things guarding some bunker, go into this bunker of foot (there are only a few different layouts, and they repeat over and over and over...) and kill some enemies (okay, so that part is fun), find someone/something, and leave.  It's a fine setup for the first few times, but after a while I was wanting some variety on these missions.  I did every one though (even though they're optional), so I guess I can't really complain too much.)
-The aforementioned vehicle controls poorly.  That's all I have to say about that.
-The last thing that I want to complain about is the final boss fight.  Personally, I tend to love final boss fights, whether they're tough like Infamous (well, on hard mode, anyway) or dirt easy like MGS4, I usually love them.  I wasn't a fan of this boss fight though.  The problem I had with it was that it was just too long and uneventful.  I fought two forms of the final boss, never died, and played it for over an hour (by quite a bit if I'm not mistaken.)  I just thought this was ridiculous.  If I can beat the boss on one try, I really don't want for it to take such a ludicrous amount of time.  For the first form I just hid behind cover. rarely got hit, and waited patiently for rare chances to do damage.  It was so boring, and even though the second form was constant movement, and much tougher, it was mostly dodging and waiting.  I know boss fights aren't a big part of Mass Effect, but I still think that the final one should have been better.

Overall, even though I had a few minor complaints, the game is just amazing.  If you like action games, RPGs, science fiction stories, or just great games (and if you don't mind playing a game for 40-50 hours...) I have to suggest trying Mass Effect.  It's just an incredible game.

[Detroitdad]

I completely agree with you NFA on ME. I do have ME II. I played it for a little bit, but they changed a few things about it, and I just don't care for it as much. Maybe I invested to much time in it, and just got burnt out.

Now I'm playing Black Ops, fun, but not as good as MW2.

[tator2k]

I'm not a big console guy. I do have a 360 and a Wii though.

MW2 was great after many hours of converting from FPS on a keyboard mouse to a gamepad.

I played all the Maddens in some form.

Currently playing Halo 3, EA MMA and hop back into MW2 for some great shooting.

On PC I'm still addicted to WOW and the new Civ V is fantastic.

[links_slayer]

wifey showed up tonight with black ops.  damn she's awesome!  good thing we don't have any plans this weekend or next weekend!!!!! 

[austin5string]

I'm not a big console guy. I do have a 360 and a Wii though.

MW2 was great after many hours of converting from FPS on a keyboard mouse to a gamepad.

I played all the Maddens in some form.

Currently playing Halo 3, EA MMA and hop back into MW2 for some great shooting.

On PC I'm still addicted to WOW and the new Civ V is fantastic.

I haven't been playing WoW nearly as much.. Anxious for Cataclysm on 12/7.. Although, I've got a friend visiting that weekend, so won't be playing much..

[NotFadeAway]

I saw Mass Effect 2 new for $20 at Gamestop today so I"ll probably go get it tomorrow.  Hopefully they'll have it used at the other Gamestop here (for some reason Canton, GA has two Gamestops...), but either way I hope to start playing it tomorrow night.  If so I guess it might be a minute before I play much poker again.   

[Nanook]

Civ V is just sucking up my evenings after the kids go down.  They made great improvements.

[TwoToGo-Grave]

My brother and I recently acquired Golden Eye 007 for the Wii and after playing the campaign and several hours of 2-4 player local deathmatches, I guess I'll go ahead and give my thoughts (spoiler tagged for length only):

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First off, I had not played a great deal of the original N64 game (had a Playstation back in the day, so NFA and I missed out on the N64 games back then) and maybe that helped me to not be disappointed if anything wasn't just like the original.  A friend who played GoldenEye like crazy back then loves this game, though, so maybe that shows that it's satisfying to big fans of the original as well. 

Okay, so the first thing that I noticed was how good it looks.  The graphics aren't up there with PS3 and 360, obviously, but this is made up for with great environments, both in visuals and in level design.  The texture of the screen and environments looks really good and look like GoldenEye (and not like a CoD or Killzone or whatever game) while still looking great.  It's easy to see what's going on and if enemies aren't seen, whether in campaign or multiplayer, it's your fault for missing them (I found some games, like FEAR or CoD4, to give some troubles seeing the enemy at times during the campaign mode).  I'm not going to worry about framerates or pixel count-the game looks very good and the design seems pretty well perfect and fitting for being GoldenEye

In addition, the game controls waaaaay better than I initially expected.  I was unsure about the use of dual analog controls for a Wii game, but I was very pleased with how well they work.  The Gamecube controller is my favorite to use and it's excellent, as is the CC Pro.  The original classic controller offers a befudling design choice, though, as the very tiny RZ button at the top is the shoot command (with a large R button right next to it).  That's really a befuddling design choice for the CC Pro, as the back L/R button likely should have been the L/R, with the front L/R being the LZ/RZ (since the L2/R2 location is simply easier to get to).  I assume that you can change that, but since you can't change mapping for each controller individually, it's not as effective.  Also, I wish you could map all the buttons to your liking, but I realize that's not generally a big deal.  I wasn't crazy about the motion controls, but I've heard tale that they work great for people who are used to using those controls on the Wii.  I'm not so sure about that, though.

The campaign is very fun, though I do have some issues with it.  First off, the campagin seems very fair and is extremely fun to engage in.  The Stealth elements are outstanding, but it just seems as though it's lacking.  It's mostly PP7 headshots while crouching, and felt like a bit of a poor man's Metal Gear or Splinter Cell at times, lacking more depth in the stealth aspect.  I found myself attempting stealth most of the time, but voluntarily engaging in shootouts a lot because they're just so much fun.  I know that the volume of bad guys might be pretty ridiculous, but it's obviously not like a frantic war FPS or something, and it does a very good job of scaling the shootouts to fit a 007 game, imo.  The couple of fights toward the end that involve button mashing quick time events are pretty disappointing, though, and I'd prefer to have more inventive situations and/or objectives at times (there's a cool tank level, but its controls are found wanting and while it's fun and a nice change of pace, it could have been improved).  Overall, I did great enjoy the campaign and plan to engage in the time trials (I tried one and took much longer than allowed to complete the level, so they'll be good and challenging to try).

The multiplayer is incredible, at least the local split screen multiplayer that I've played.  Anywhere from 2-4 players provides great fun for hours, with areas that are large, but small enough to encourage a lot of action.  Playing with two players creates more of a cat and mouse game, but again, since the maps aren't too big, it works out great.  I don't know how online might be, but being shot in the back by a third party while engaging in a one on one shootout against another player is entertaining and leads to many 'you son of a...' comments, at least from me.  There was one map in particular where a player who took to sniping had a huge edge, but most every map offered complete and utter fairness and action (and besides, there are modifiers if you don't want sniping, or whatever, to be doable; there are modifiers are most anything, actually).  I wouldn't have complained if they added another level or two that were designed specifically for multiplayer, as the maps are pulled from the campaign (there might have been adjustments made to them, though; I'll learn that as I replay the campaign and play more multiplayer), but the maps do work great as is.  Though there may well be unfair advantages online given to players who play a ton and level up, the weapons and options in local multiplayer are very fair.  There seems to be a fair bit of variance in the four player matches, and that's much preferable to having the same player win every time (or maybe we were all equally bad, lol).  I wish I had given the team conflict a try, as it looks to be outstanding, but I'm sure I will soon.  It's just a very easy to play and extremely fun mulitplayer.  As good as the campaign is, this far outshines it.

Overall, it's just a wonderful game and by far the best FPS that I've played on the Wii (sadly, that's not saying much, but it can compete with anything).  The story is much better than that of say, CoD4 or Killzone 2, though I'm still going to call KZ2 the best FPS campaign that I've ever played (not counting Bioshock, as that's different), and the multiplayer is a blast and among the best local mulitiplayer that I've played in any genre.  This is one of the best Wii games, for sure, and likely among my favorites that I'm played this gen, perhaps a notch below the Red Dead Redemptions, Bioshocks, and Metal Gear Solids, but at least right up there with the next level of great games.  Plus, I really like seeing the Wii getting some great games lately.  I can't speak for all the good games that have been coming out, but I certainly can say that getting Metroid: Other M and Silent Hill: SM recently as well=good times of late for having a Wii.

[NotFadeAway]

I saw Mass Effect 2 new for $20 at Gamestop today so I"ll probably go get it tomorrow.  Hopefully they'll have it used at the other Gamestop here (for some reason Canton, GA has two Gamestops...), but either way I hope to start playing it tomorrow night.  If so I guess it might be a minute before I play much poker again.  

Okay, so I finally finished Mass Effect 2 tonight (after over 60 hours of gameplay...) and have a few thoughts, which I'll spoiler tag for length.  Before that though, I should say that I absolutely LOVE this game.  I don't know that it's as good as ME1, but it's still absolutely incredible.
Anyway, some thoughts:

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First off, things I liked:
-The gameplay:  The combat is improved from the first game, in my opinion.  It's hard to explain why, but I think it has a lot to do with improved layouts for the fights.  Combat is very cover-based, and the areas with fights are set up perfectly for fun combat, so great work by the designers.
-The story:  The Mass Effect games have two of the best stories I've ever seen in video games.  I was very excited, although I realize that many will not like the ME2 story nearly as much (I would say why, but I don't want to give away any spoilers.)
-The characters:  I don't think anyone would disagree that ME2 has a much better cast of characters than ME1.  Some characters certainly reappear, but even the ones who return are often better than in the first game (they tend to be deeper characters imo.)  Also, the new characters are mostly great (although there were a couple that were pretty dull.)
-The ship:  You spend a lot of time on the ship in ME2 (as you did in ME1...), and I really liked the new design.  There was a story explanation for why you get a new ship, but it's obvious that the makers of the game wanted something bigger and better.  Given the amount of time you spend going around the ship this was a great decision.  I liked the ship in the first game, but it's much better in ME2.
-The upgrade system:  I didn't think I'd like this right away, but I wound up liking it a ton.  I won't go into details, but it's a lot less complex than in ME1 and I liked it a lot.
-The lack of the Mako:  I complained about the poorly controlling vehicle when I wrote about ME1, and I was very happy to not have to put up with it in ME2.
-Decisions:  there aren't a lot of crucial decisions throughout the game (or at least they don't appear important at the time), but near the end there are all kinds of awesome moments in this regard.  I won't name any specifics, but making decisions on the last mission was so tense and exciting.
-Imported save files:  If you have a completed ME1 save file on your 360 you can import your own Commander Shepherd and the choices you made in ME1 into the sequel.  While most of these choice aren't that big of a deal in the game itself (for what I assume are obvious reasons related to the development of the game) it's still very cool.  And I just loved to play with my same customized Shepherd that I spent over 50 hours with in ME1.  It's going to be awesome to import my same Shepherd in ME3 whenever it comes out as well.

Some things I wasn't very fond of:
-Planet Scanning:  I HATED this with a passion.  In order to get upgrades (the game was incredibly easy, at least on normal difficulty,  but you still need upgrades in order to have the game go well for you) you need two things.  First off, you need to find or purchase upgrades, which is pretty basic in games.  However, after acquiring the upgrade you then need to spend minerals in order to complete them.  And the main way to find these minerals that you wind up needing is to use your galaxy map to travel to planets and scan them.  You just hold the LT button and move the cursor all over the planet looking for your scanner to spike, showing a deposit of one of four different minerals that are required.  And it's just as boring as it sounds.  To make this worse, you constantly need to travel to fuel depots to acquire more fuel to travel around the galaxy and more probes that are needed to scan the planets.  I know I've babbled a little bit about this, but it was just soooooo frustrating and annoying.
-Glitches:  I encountered three spots with glitches that caused me to have no choice but to reload the game (twice because I started walking on the air for some reason and once because the last batch of enemies never showed up, which kept me from being able to finish the level.  All of these were on the N7 side missions, which makes me think that someone didn't test these side missions as thorough as possible.)  Also, one time I lost sound for a while.  I had to use the big 360 home/PS button (I don't really know what it's called on the 360 controller...) to get sound to come back, which was...weird.  Overall, the game was very glitchy and I kept being afraid that it was eventually going to break (there were plenty of minor glitches in addition to the ones I mentioned.)
-Never-ending enemies:  This is a bit of a minor complaint.  While I liked the combat a bunch, there were a number of times where, instead of good layouts in terms of enemy type and placement, the makers of the game just had a huge amount of enemies come continuously.  These parts weren't difficult, just annoying, and seemed very lazy imo.  Essentially you would take cover, kill a couple of enemies, a couple more would come from the same direction, you kill them, a couple more would come from the same direction, you kill them, and on and on for a while.  I assume that this was an effort at making the game seem tougher or something, but I thought it was a bit of a lazy effort.  Overall, combat was still great though.


In closing, despite a few minor complaints, Mass Effect 2 is easily one of the best video games I've ever played.  I probably would still say that Mass Effect 1 is a better game, but both are incredible.  ME2 definitely seems to be less of an 'RPG' and more of a 3rd person shooter though.  I'm not much of an RPG fan, so maybe it's not really any less of an RPG than the first game, but it seemed like it to me.  Either way, the game is incredible.

[Dr. Neau]

Well, I'm excited.

Just acquired a Wii and it's my first console since, yes.....my Atari 2600. (not including our DSi's)

Getting it for the kids for Christmas, so I won't be able to touch it much before then (I'll probably have to get it set up, try it out and rebox it...)

Along with the Sports and Sports Resort, I've got the following waiting for us:
- Donkey Kong Country Returns
- Super Mario Galaxy 2
- New Super Mario Brothers
- Mario Kart (my favorite game on the DS)
- Disney Epic Mickey

[Magoddi]

My daughter was addicted to Super Mario Galaxy and will be getting SMG 2 for X mas for sure!

[Acenoid]

My alltime favourites

Fallout 3 (post apocalyptic RPG)
MassEffect 1+2 (science fiction shooter/rpg)
Splinter cell Conviction (stealth shooter)
mangband (roguelike rpg, surely not smth for everyone)


Currently playing

left 4 dead 2
tales of monkey island

all on PC

[TwoToGo-Grave]

I wasn't sure if I should make a post about the FEAR games, but I figured that I would go ahead and do so.
Spoiler tagged solely for length:

(Click to show/hide)

Okay, so I figured that I'd throw out a mention of a couple of good games, FEAR and FEAR 2: Project Origin.  I'm not too sure how to go about this, but I'll give it a try.  These games are not great shooters, but I found them to be very enjoyable for several reasons.  The atmosphere/mood is excellent and gives the sense of the horror/special ops cross that the game has.  The blood trails and gore and dark settings do a very good job of setting this mood, and it's not really overdone or anything.  The look of the soldiers that you face fit the setting very well, also.  The sounds/score is top notch, too, and that is instrumental in helping set this mood.  I have complaints about the environments being uninspired in appearance at times, too, but on the whole, the FEAR games are great at mood and environment.

The combat is well done for the most part, as well.  The shootouts are fun, and at times can be quite challenging, and FEAR 2 does a much better job at varying enemies and gameplay (including disgusting fast critters that remind me far too much of the hunchbacks in Castlevania than they should.)  I do have some issues with this aspect that keep it from reaching the level of the better shooters, though.  Spots in which you walk crouch and slowly walk into a room unseen will trigger the same 'I hear something' followed by a shootout as running in will.  Some semblance of stealth/more tactical gameplay would have fit better in certain spots, I think, but the shootouts themselves tend to be fun enough.  The game offers the ability to slow down time, as each game's characters can go into super fast-mo.  I'm not a huge fan of how the slow-mo effect is used or how it looks, though it's certainly required at times in FEAR (I know it's not required in FEAR 2, at least at normal difficulty, because I never used it.)

Also worth noting are the story and characters.  Not knowing where it's going adds great to the games' mood, as the player doesn't know what might be coming.  The twists and turns are interesting, as the characters are very strong, particularly in FEAR.  Paxton Fettel and Alma are particularly memorable and worth playing the games to meet.  The more varied enemies, as mentioned before, are a big plus to FEAR 2, imo, even if the characters that you encounter aren't as strong.  I like having a character with a name in the sequel, too, rather than just being the 'pointman'. 

I have strong complaints about the manner at which FEAR 2 chooses to cover story/backstory, though.  The player can find many text-laden data files, and this is ridiculous, imo.  Maybe games like Bioshock or ImFamous have me spoiled with simple audio files, but they expect the player to stop and read a big block of text about 3-5 times per level?  In a 2009 game?  The cutscenes and radio contact cover things, but to know all of what's going on, those blocks of text must be read, and that just seems lazy and/or cheap on the part of the developers.  I'm sure the game's just as enjoyable if these or never found or read, though.

I also encountered several glitches, including one point at which, on two separate occasions during FEAR 2, I got stuck and a wall and couldn't move after clearing the same room, meaning that I wound up having to clear the room three times.  Also, I wanted to mention how much better the controls for the sequel are, thanks to one adjustment.  It may not seem like much, but pressing R3 on the Playstation 3 controller to aim down your sights in not very good, while using the L2 button to aim is much, much better.

I won't discuss the ending of FEAR 2, though I certainly have thoughts on it, but I can say that it was a very mediocre final bossfight.  I understand why they took that approach with it, however.  I'd have liked both games to stay focused on the story from start to finish, but both have major lulls in the middle of the games, though at the end of both (particularly the first), the story seems very good, looking back at it.  That's something about both games in general: both, though frustrating at times for several reasons, are games that you look back at after the fact and think that it was a very good experience to have played them.

[K ALL IN 9]

Why hasnt anybody mentioned:

(Click to show/hide)

[NotFadeAway]

Why hasnt anybody mentioned:

(Click to show/hide)

Your post didn't show up good for me, but when quoting it I see you were talking about Black Ops.  I don't know about other people, but I've barely played any CoD games ever so that's why I don't talk about it.

[TwoToGo-Grave]

Why hasnt anybody mentioned:

(Click to show/hide)

Your post didn't show up good for me, but when quoting it I see you were talking about Black Ops.  I don't know about other people, but I've barely played any CoD games ever so that's why I don't talk about it.

I'd love to give it a play, for sure.  CoD4 is outstanding, but didn't get MW2 and can't really afford Black Ops right now.  It looks awesome, though.

[NotFadeAway]

Just because I want to post it somewhere...
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/9WcQvjTcxY0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/9WcQvjTcxY0</a>

 

[NotFadeAway]

It's been a while since I made a post in this thread and I've played through a few games since then.  I'll make posts about them separately if I do write ups on all of them.
Anyway, I'll start with Grant Theft Auto:  The Ballad of Gay Tony.  First off, I'm a huge GTA fan, although I waited quite a while to play this game after finishing The Lost and the Damned a few months ago.  Overall, I certainly enjoyed the game and thought it was very good, but I don't think it was as good as The Lost and the Damned.  It had a few issues that I'll go into here (spoilered for length only):

(Click to show/hide)

-First off, the helicopter controls were absolutely atrocious.  I mentioned to my brother that huge Vice City fans (such as myself) must have cried when they saw a helicopter in a GTA game be so terrible.  It's hard to control and just not fun at all, which stinks, since helicopters are one of my favorite things in most GTA games (namely VC.)
-Another problem I had was with the story.  I don't need to see a good story in a GTA game (even my beloved Vice City didn't exactly have a top-notch story), but I think I've been spoiled by San Andreas and GTA IV's stories (not to mention the fact that even the Story games and The Lost and the Damned all have better stories as well.)  Again, this isn't that big of a deal, but it's a bit of a disappointment.
-The lack of stuff to do was a complaint I had about The Lost and the Damned, and it's still the case in The Ballad of Gay Tony.  While the missions are still great, and Liberty City is still great to look at and experience, I'd like to see more stuff to do aside from missions.

Of course, while I have a few minor complaints, the game is still awesome (I mean, it's still Grand Theft Auto, after all.)  There's still the great gameplay of Grand Theft Auto IV, and the missions are still very fun.  Liberty City is still awesome (although I'm very ready for a new GTA experience after playing IV and both DLCs), and tv, internet, and Lazlo are still fun entertainment (even though I'm pretty sure it's all the same as The Lost and the Damned.)

Overall, I really enjoyed the game, although it's not quite as good as The Lost and the Damned and not nearly as good as GTA IV.

[OldWestGambler]

I haven't been around here in a while. I have a PS3 but aside from a marathon playthrough of the brilliant Red Dead Redemption back in early fall I haven't played much in the way of video games on the console.

I was finally able to upgrade to iPhone 4 and I've been having a blast playing a lot of games on it. One of my faves is Robokill. Also the Need for Speed franchise is alive and well on the iphone/ipod. There was a huge .99 cent sale on the major games and I got Scrabble, Tetris, Bad Company, Sims, SimCity and a few more. There are just endless games on the iphone to explore for literally pennies.

My next task is to finally finish Bioshock 2 which I bought after I finished Red Dead Redemption. I'm also looking forward to the next Dragon Age.

Has anyone played the zombie version of Red Dead Redemption?

[NotFadeAway]

I wanted to do a write up of another game I played through recently:  Fable 2 for the X Box 360.  First off, I had a lot of problems with Fable 1 that have kept me from getting too into the game (although I think I'll play through it eventually.)  Fable 2 fixed a lot of those problems though and gives a great experience imo.  As usual, I'll put my thoughts in a spoiler for length.

(Click to show/hide)

First off, some things I like a lot:
-The camera:  This was a major problem in Fable 1, is just what you expect for a good 3D game in Fable 2.  This might seem like a given, but even some current generation games (Ninja Theory:  I'm looking at you...) still don't seem to want to give the player total control over the camera.  I was very glad to see this problem from Fable 1 fixed in the sequel.
-Menus:  When I wrote my thoughts about Mass Effect a few months ago I made a mention of how much I liked the menu screens for the game and how important I thought this was for the game to be so good.  The same is the case with Fable 2.  For an item heave RPG like this, you really need good, easy to use menus, and Fable 2 delivers (again, this was a big improvement imo from the first Fable.)  
-The combat:  Again, this is a big improvement from Fable 1 (I keep saying that, but it's not like Fable 1 is a bad game by any means).  I heard the combat referred to by the developers as a 'one button combat system' and it works surprisingly well.  Basically, for melee weapons (swords, maces, axes, etc.) you hit X.  For ranged weapons (guns or crossbows) you hit Y.  For spells you hit B.  That's all there is to combat in the game.  And while this is simplistic and button mashy, it works very well.  You hold X to start an powerful strike, hold Y to zoom in and make a more powerful shot, and hold B to charge a more powerful spell.  This style won't be for everyone and some people would probably be pretty bored by it, but I thought it was okay (and I'm much more of an action game fan than an RPG fan.)
-The open world:  This is my favorite part of the game, and undoubtedly the highlight.  You can do pretty much whatever you want, and be whoever you want to.  You can go anywhere (well, some places don't unlock until certain moments in the game, but still), and decide how to behave.  As I always do, I played the game being good (after beating the game my character had a halo on his head...), but you can be very bad if you want to (killing and stealing as much as you want to.)  I think I may very well try being bad whenever I eventually get Fable 3, but I'll probably just play it as good...like I always do.    Anyway, you can not just be good or bad, but work jobs (with minigames) to make money, buy homes to rent (jack up the rent if you want to be bad..), get married, buy prostitutes, search for treasures (usually all you get is a cheap piece of junk, but still), and many other things.  It's truly an open world.
-The humor:  The game is ludicrous, and I mean that in a good way.  Listening to villagers can be very funny, even if their repeated lines get old after a while (although the makers of the game realized that and occasionally have someone say 'don't you hate it when people repeat the same things over and over'.)  The 'info' sections on items are usually good for a chuckle, and the game generally doesn't take itself too seriously at all.  It's interesting to play a game that's so ridiculous until a cutscene starts (the story, while not the best by any means, is pretty epic), and then goes back to being ridiculous when it ends.
-The dog:  You have a dog, and it follows you wherever you go and helps you out in many ways.  I don't exactly know why, but the dog was my favorite character in the game.  I definitely think it was smart of the developers to include the dog, but not allow you to control him at all.  It made him feel a lot more real and less gimmicky imo.
-The end:  I won't say anything about the story, but I thought the next to last 'scene' of the game was incredible (if you've played it you probably know what I mean.)  Like I said, the story wasn't the strongest, but the end definitely had a surprising amount of impact.

So, while I had a bunch that I liked about the game I did have a few minor complaints:
-Glitches:  Later in the game glitches started coming like crazy.  It was so bad that I kept having that nagging feeling that the game was about to break on me, and that it would red ring the 360 in the process...   Among the problems I saw:  One of my character's wives (okay, so I didn't play it as totally good...) just disappeared (as in, literally disappeared, never to be seen again), one quest (not a mandatory one, fortunately) was made unable to complete due to a lack of the yellow 'breadcrumb' trail (so I couldn't possibly find where I had to go without searching the entire map like an idiot), and the enemy that got stuck in a rock, with only his flailing legs showing (actually, that one was pretty cool.)  I know it's a huge game, but glitches were a huge problem as the game wore on.
-Difficulty:  I'm kind of tempted not to add this, but I should say that this is easily the easiest game I've ever played (although, to be fair, I was playing on normal mode).  You can't fail.  Literally.  Well, unless you get a game ending glitch, which is probably possible.  If your health runs out, you die.  But the penalty for dying is only losing XP (that you got on the mission) and getting scars on your character.  And that's if you don't have a resurrection potion, which are just like a ration in a Metal Gear Solid game, except that you don't have to even select it or anything.  If you have one of those, you automatically get full health when you die.  And the lack of a penalty for death doesn't begin to describe it.  I died a total of two times in the game (both against the same boss early in the game) and used a total of one resurrection potion.  For a game this long, 'dying' a total of three times seemed crazy.  So, there's no doubt that if you have any experience at action games, this one is going to be insanely easy.
-Lack of customization of your character:  This isn't that big of a deal, but I'd like it a lot if you could make your guy (or girl) look however you want.  While you can get different clothes and hairstyles, you are only limited to two character models (male or female.)  I'd like a Mass Effect/Fallout/ect. customization screen, but the lack of one is only a minor complaint.

Overall, I found this game to be very addictive and fun, although it's certainly not in the same class as games like Mass Effect or Bioshock (which I finished fairly recently and should probably write about here).  It's definitely not for everyone, but I enjoyed it a lot, although, again, it's certainly not in the top tier of games from this generation.

[OldWestGambler]

I wanted to do a write up of another game I played through recently:  Fable 2 for the X Box 360.  First off, I had a lot of problems with Fable 1 that have kept me from getting too into the game (although I think I'll play through it eventually.)  Fable 2 fixed a lot of those problems though and gives a great experience imo.  As usual, I'll put my thoughts in a spoiler for length.

(Click to show/hide)

First off, some things I like a lot:
-The camera:  This was a major problem in Fable 1, is just what you expect for a good 3D game in Fable 2.  This might seem like a given, but even some current generation games (Ninja Theory:  I'm looking at you...) still don't seem to want to give the player total control over the camera.  I was very glad to see this problem from Fable 1 fixed in the sequel.
-Menus:  When I wrote my thoughts about Mass Effect a few months ago I made a mention of how much I liked the menu screens for the game and how important I thought this was for the game to be so good.  The same is the case with Fable 2.  For an item heave RPG like this, you really need good, easy to use menus, and Fable 2 delivers (again, this was a big improvement imo from the first Fable.)  
-The combat:  Again, this is a big improvement from Fable 1 (I keep saying that, but it's not like Fable 1 is a bad game by any means).  I heard the combat referred to by the developers as a 'one button combat system' and it works surprisingly well.  Basically, for melee weapons (swords, maces, axes, etc.) you hit X.  For ranged weapons (guns or crossbows) you hit Y.  For spells you hit B.  That's all there is to combat in the game.  And while this is simplistic and button mashy, it works very well.  You hold X to start an powerful strike, hold Y to zoom in and make a more powerful shot, and hold B to charge a more powerful spell.  This style won't be for everyone and some people would probably be pretty bored by it, but I thought it was okay (and I'm much more of an action game fan than an RPG fan.)
-The open world:  This is my favorite part of the game, and undoubtedly the highlight.  You can do pretty much whatever you want, and be whoever you want to.  You can go anywhere (well, some places don't unlock until certain moments in the game, but still), and decide how to behave.  As I always do, I played the game being good (after beating the game my character had a halo on his head...), but you can be very bad if you want to (killing and stealing as much as you want to.)  I think I may very well try being bad whenever I eventually get Fable 3, but I'll probably just play it as good...like I always do.    Anyway, you can not just be good or bad, but work jobs (with minigames) to make money, buy homes to rent (jack up the rent if you want to be bad..), get married, buy prostitutes, search for treasures (usually all you get is a cheap piece of junk, but still), and many other things.  It's truly an open world.
-The humor:  The game is ludicrous, and I mean that in a good way.  Listening to villagers can be very funny, even if their repeated lines get old after a while (although the makers of the game realized that and occasionally have someone say 'don't you hate it when people repeat the same things over and over'.)  The 'info' sections on items are usually good for a chuckle, and the game generally doesn't take itself too seriously at all.  It's interesting to play a game that's so ridiculous until a cutscene starts (the story, while not the best by any means, is pretty epic), and then goes back to being ridiculous when it ends.
-The dog:  You have a dog, and it follows you wherever you go and helps you out in many ways.  I don't exactly know why, but the dog was my favorite character in the game.  I definitely think it was smart of the developers to include the dog, but not allow you to control him at all.  It made him feel a lot more real and less gimmicky imo.
-The end:  I won't say anything about the story, but I thought the next to last 'scene' of the game was incredible (if you've played it you probably know what I mean.)  Like I said, the story wasn't the strongest, but the end definitely had a surprising amount of impact.

So, while I had a bunch that I liked about the game I did have a few minor complaints:
-Glitches:  Later in the game glitches started coming like crazy.  It was so bad that I kept having that nagging feeling that the game was about to break on me, and that it would red ring the 360 in the process...   Among the problems I saw:  One of my character's wives (okay, so I didn't play it as totally good...) just disappeared (as in, literally disappeared, never to be seen again), one quest (not a mandatory one, fortunately) was made unable to complete due to a lack of the yellow 'breadcrumb' trail (so I couldn't possibly find where I had to go without searching the entire map like an idiot), and the enemy that got stuck in a rock, with only his flailing legs showing (actually, that one was pretty cool.)  I know it's a huge game, but glitches were a huge problem as the game wore on.
-Difficulty:  I'm kind of tempted not to add this, but I should say that this is easily the easiest game I've ever played (although, to be fair, I was playing on normal mode).  You can't fail.  Literally.  Well, unless you get a game ending glitch, which is probably possible.  If your health runs out, you die.  But the penalty for dying is only losing XP (that you got on the mission) and getting scars on your character.  And that's if you don't have a resurrection potion, which are just like a ration in a Metal Gear Solid game, except that you don't have to even select it or anything.  If you have one of those, you automatically get full health when you die.  And the lack of a penalty for death doesn't begin to describe it.  I died a total of two times in the game (both against the same boss early in the game) and used a total of one resurrection potion.  For a game this long, 'dying' a total of three times seemed crazy.  So, there's no doubt that if you have any experience at action games, this one is going to be insanely easy.
-Lack of customization of your character:  This isn't that big of a deal, but I'd like it a lot if you could make your guy (or girl) look however you want.  While you can get different clothes and hairstyles, you are only limited to two character models (male or female.)  I'd like a Mass Effect/Fallout/ect. customization screen, but the lack of one is only a minor complaint.

Overall, I found this game to be very addictive and fun, although it's certainly not in the same class as games like Mass Effect or Bioshock (which I finished fairly recently and should probably write about here).  It's definitely not for everyone, but I enjoyed it a lot, although, again, it's certainly not in the top tier of games from this generation.

I've really been dying to buy an xbox just so I can play this game and a number of other xbox exclusives out there. It looks like fun.

And about Bioshock: That game is the best and if you liked the original get the second one. It's a blast and it's a bit of a different experience from the first one.

[NotFadeAway]

I wanted to do a write up of another game I played through recently:  Fable 2 for the X Box 360.  First off, I had a lot of problems with Fable 1 that have kept me from getting too into the game (although I think I'll play through it eventually.)  Fable 2 fixed a lot of those problems though and gives a great experience imo.  As usual, I'll put my thoughts in a spoiler for length.

(Click to show/hide)

First off, some things I like a lot:
-The camera:  This was a major problem in Fable 1, is just what you expect for a good 3D game in Fable 2.  This might seem like a given, but even some current generation games (Ninja Theory:  I'm looking at you...) still don't seem to want to give the player total control over the camera.  I was very glad to see this problem from Fable 1 fixed in the sequel.
-Menus:  When I wrote my thoughts about Mass Effect a few months ago I made a mention of how much I liked the menu screens for the game and how important I thought this was for the game to be so good.  The same is the case with Fable 2.  For an item heave RPG like this, you really need good, easy to use menus, and Fable 2 delivers (again, this was a big improvement imo from the first Fable.)  
-The combat:  Again, this is a big improvement from Fable 1 (I keep saying that, but it's not like Fable 1 is a bad game by any means).  I heard the combat referred to by the developers as a 'one button combat system' and it works surprisingly well.  Basically, for melee weapons (swords, maces, axes, etc.) you hit X.  For ranged weapons (guns or crossbows) you hit Y.  For spells you hit B.  That's all there is to combat in the game.  And while this is simplistic and button mashy, it works very well.  You hold X to start an powerful strike, hold Y to zoom in and make a more powerful shot, and hold B to charge a more powerful spell.  This style won't be for everyone and some people would probably be pretty bored by it, but I thought it was okay (and I'm much more of an action game fan than an RPG fan.)
-The open world:  This is my favorite part of the game, and undoubtedly the highlight.  You can do pretty much whatever you want, and be whoever you want to.  You can go anywhere (well, some places don't unlock until certain moments in the game, but still), and decide how to behave.  As I always do, I played the game being good (after beating the game my character had a halo on his head...), but you can be very bad if you want to (killing and stealing as much as you want to.)  I think I may very well try being bad whenever I eventually get Fable 3, but I'll probably just play it as good...like I always do.    Anyway, you can not just be good or bad, but work jobs (with minigames) to make money, buy homes to rent (jack up the rent if you want to be bad..), get married, buy prostitutes, search for treasures (usually all you get is a cheap piece of junk, but still), and many other things.  It's truly an open world.
-The humor:  The game is ludicrous, and I mean that in a good way.  Listening to villagers can be very funny, even if their repeated lines get old after a while (although the makers of the game realized that and occasionally have someone say 'don't you hate it when people repeat the same things over and over'.)  The 'info' sections on items are usually good for a chuckle, and the game generally doesn't take itself too seriously at all.  It's interesting to play a game that's so ridiculous until a cutscene starts (the story, while not the best by any means, is pretty epic), and then goes back to being ridiculous when it ends.
-The dog:  You have a dog, and it follows you wherever you go and helps you out in many ways.  I don't exactly know why, but the dog was my favorite character in the game.  I definitely think it was smart of the developers to include the dog, but not allow you to control him at all.  It made him feel a lot more real and less gimmicky imo.
-The end:  I won't say anything about the story, but I thought the next to last 'scene' of the game was incredible (if you've played it you probably know what I mean.)  Like I said, the story wasn't the strongest, but the end definitely had a surprising amount of impact.

So, while I had a bunch that I liked about the game I did have a few minor complaints:
-Glitches:  Later in the game glitches started coming like crazy.  It was so bad that I kept having that nagging feeling that the game was about to break on me, and that it would red ring the 360 in the process...   Among the problems I saw:  One of my character's wives (okay, so I didn't play it as totally good...) just disappeared (as in, literally disappeared, never to be seen again), one quest (not a mandatory one, fortunately) was made unable to complete due to a lack of the yellow 'breadcrumb' trail (so I couldn't possibly find where I had to go without searching the entire map like an idiot), and the enemy that got stuck in a rock, with only his flailing legs showing (actually, that one was pretty cool.)  I know it's a huge game, but glitches were a huge problem as the game wore on.
-Difficulty:  I'm kind of tempted not to add this, but I should say that this is easily the easiest game I've ever played (although, to be fair, I was playing on normal mode).  You can't fail.  Literally.  Well, unless you get a game ending glitch, which is probably possible.  If your health runs out, you die.  But the penalty for dying is only losing XP (that you got on the mission) and getting scars on your character.  And that's if you don't have a resurrection potion, which are just like a ration in a Metal Gear Solid game, except that you don't have to even select it or anything.  If you have one of those, you automatically get full health when you die.  And the lack of a penalty for death doesn't begin to describe it.  I died a total of two times in the game (both against the same boss early in the game) and used a total of one resurrection potion.  For a game this long, 'dying' a total of three times seemed crazy.  So, there's no doubt that if you have any experience at action games, this one is going to be insanely easy.
-Lack of customization of your character:  This isn't that big of a deal, but I'd like it a lot if you could make your guy (or girl) look however you want.  While you can get different clothes and hairstyles, you are only limited to two character models (male or female.)  I'd like a Mass Effect/Fallout/ect. customization screen, but the lack of one is only a minor complaint.

Overall, I found this game to be very addictive and fun, although it's certainly not in the same class as games like Mass Effect or Bioshock (which I finished fairly recently and should probably write about here).  It's definitely not for everyone, but I enjoyed it a lot, although, again, it's certainly not in the top tier of games from this generation.

I've really been dying to buy an xbox just so I can play this game and a number of other xbox exclusives out there. It looks like fun.

And about Bioshock: That game is the best and if you liked the original get the second one. It's a blast and it's a bit of a different experience from the first one.

I've got Bioshock 2, but I just haven't played it yet.  I will soon though. 

[Detroitdad]

The only thing I have played for the last 6 weeks is Black Ops..............Online.........................lol

[MsprinM]

Friend code DD?

[gweeb]

black ops also im a pc person but i have the ps3 it took me a long time but im finally getting it

[72]

Gran Turismo 5. wow. over 1000 cars. i love it.

[austin5string]

Gran Turismo 5. wow. over 1000 cars. i love it.

Yup, it's amazing.. That's actually the game that finally pushed me to buy a PS3.. Although I haven't played it nearly as much lately.. Got hooked on Tiger Woods golf..  Anxious for the next version which is going to have Augusta National..

[Detroitdad]

Friend code DD?

just seen this.

ypsilantidad

Jake is jb5826 I think

[Buzzerbeater]

Star Trek Online was pretty god aweful, but it's been a year since I've played so I might resubscribe for a month and see if they've fixed the problems.

[austin5string]

Bulletstorm.. Bulletstorm.. Bulletstorm..   So much fun.. 

Also finally bought Black Ops.. haven't played it much yet..

I truly suck at shooter games, though.  As a PC gamer, used to keyboard/mouse, adjusting to the PS3 controls is killin' me..

Also, downloaded the demo of MLB '11 The Show - it looks promising..

[TwoToGo-Grave]

Bulletstorm.. Bulletstorm.. Bulletstorm..   So much fun.. 

Also finally bought Black Ops.. haven't played it much yet..

I truly suck at shooter games, though.  As a PC gamer, used to keyboard/mouse, adjusting to the PS3 controls is killin' me..

Also, downloaded the demo of MLB '11 The Show - it looks promising..

I've been unable to get into The Show, which is sad to me since I love baseball video games.  I find myself spending MUCH more time on NES and SNES and Genesis baseball games, as Sony seems to have filled them game with so much technical impressiveness that they didn't have room for the fun.

As for Bulletstorm, I'd love to get it, but I know that it will be a good while.  There are so many great looking games out or coming out that I want, but the only one I can be sure I'm going to get new is Portal 2.  That should be beyond awesome.

[Ritchie21clayton]

Just loving Mass effect 2 and World of Warcraft simultaneously.... Loving it!!!
Looking for some good suggestions on new games.....