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The views and opinions expressed in this blog are totally awesome.
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I thought I might as well update this thing. I'll do it GameFAQs style.
RP - I wrote up a Full Auto 2 (PS3) review a couple of days ago, and about a week before that, I reviewed MLB 2K8 (PS3). I like my MLB review a lot more than I thought I would, considering that it's only the third or forth sports game I've reviewed, and two of those were for the DS.
GP - I played through Call of Duty 4's single player last week. It was quite good, but it was as short as everyone said. I was surprised at how interested I became in the plot and I was very happy to see one of my favorite series evolve. I've since been hopelessly hooked on GTAIV. I'm sure I haven't put in as much time as some other players, but I have a life and I think 19 hours is a major accomplishment in less than a week for a single game for me. I also installed Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and played through the first few checkpoints. That game has a lot to live up to considering how excellent the first game was. Mostly, I'm trying to catch up on a lot of games that I've missed, but my backlog still seems to be growing....
LP - About to graduate college and "enjoying" all of the stress that comes along with that. I'm busy trying to keep my grades up because I need all of .04 extra points on my GPA to graduate Magna Cum Laude, which wouldn't look too shabby. I'm in the process of applying to The Institute of World Politics in Washington D.C. I'm hoping to get accepted into their Strategic Intelligence Studies program because I'm reasonably positive I'll be able to get the type of job I want with a degree from there. For now though, just focusing on having a good time and enjoying the last few weeks of the incredibly awesome experience that was college.
In about 3 weeks, I head to Thailand for four glorious months of studying in Bangkok. DjSkittles, my real-life best friend, will be joining me on the adventure.
And I'm starting to freak out.
I have so much I feel like I have left to do before I go. I have to delegate all of my responsibilities out at Thunderbolt and show other staff members the ropes. I have to apply to the four graduate schools I'm hoping to go to. I still need my visa. I want to visit one of the schools I'm interested in. I need to work more so that I have more money. Uhg, too much to do!
But, the experience is going to be gnarly. I got all of my shots, so when I go to Cambodia and Vietnam and Thailand I'll be protected against most every virus that tries to attack my body. My parents are getting me a new digital camera for my birthday, I got a new laptop that's more travel-oriented, and I got an R4 for my DS, every ROM imaginable for the DS, and season 4 of 24 to help us survive the 17 hour non-stop flight.
When I get stressed, I just have to keep reminding myself how awesome of an experience it's going to be. I'm going to practically an entirely different world and it should get me prepared for my next adventure, which is backpacking through South America for two months after I graduate next May.
I've got a four day weekend, so I used the time to catch up on some stuff. I started playing Hotel Dusk yesterday. I'd like the game a lot more if the main character didn't try so hard to go out of his way to be so smug. He's like the kid that tries too hard to fit in and everyone knows he's a bitch. I don't really know how much more of it I can stand truthfully. I also loaded up Rush for the PSP, which is a very average game. The damage modeling on the cars is pretty cool, but the actual textures on the cars are amazingly dull and flat. Thunderbolt's redesign is finally up. I think that looks great, but we're still catching up on some glitches. I just need to get myself interested in doing some actual school work for this "vacation" which is hard for some reason...
I've been incredibly busy lately.
I just finished an essay on nuclear proliferation for an essay contest and, of course, one of my professors also gave me information on another essay contest on US-European relations, so I have yet another paper on my plate (which, of course, is due on the same day as a paper for my Critical Thinking in Politics course).
Of course, I'm actually interested in gaming now that my semester is at it's busiest point. I've been playing way too much Counter-Strike lately, particularly Gun Game, a mod for CS: Source. I also played through Garfield and His Nine Lives, which was boring but short enough that I bothered to beat it. I've got Hotel Dusk and Rush (PSP) coming from GameFly soon, but I think Deus Ex is going to take up my time instead of them for a little while.
Work has been fun and I seem to be doing well because they gave me more hours and a raise. I've also been accepted to study abroad in Thailand, so from September ~15 - December ~15, I'm going to be off in Bangkok studying and hopefully traveling throughout the country and South East Asia. I've also been busy over on Thunderbolt. We're about to roll out a completely new version of our site and I think it looks fantastic. I think the new version of Thunderbolt is one of the reasons my interest has been renewed in gaming and reviewing. Whenever Thunderbolt or HG releases a new feature or contest, I'm always more interested in writing something fresh.
I finished my Rainbow Six Vegas review last night, but after reading it over, I hated the introduction so I scrapped the introduction and decided to come up with a new one. Now I'm struggling. I don't really know what to think of my review right now. I don't know how much I actually like it. Vegas was a hard game to review because for a lot of the game, I was really frustrated because I kept dying, but by the end of the game, it easily vaulted itself into my "best games ever" list. It's hard to describe why that is, and I'm afraid that my review ends up reading as a list of cool battles and me saying "the battles are hard, but worth it" without any other substance. I think I'm going to need to keep working on this one...
I beat Rainbow Six Vegas, which turned out to be one of the best games I've ever played in my life, even if it was very challenging to a tactical-newbie. Just you wait for the HOT NEW REVIEW from asherdeus. Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Scarface are coming from GameFly soon, so I'm going to work on those. I've never been a huge fan of the Splinter Cell games, but after beating Vegas, I thought about giving Tom Clancy another chance. For some reason, I'm also interested in Medal of Honor Heroes for the PSP, even though I hear it's terrible. I'm chugging through Medal of Honor: Spearhead (a PC expansion to Medal of Honor: Allied Assault) and enjoying it, but I don't think I can tolerate a PSP FPS.
I also have bronchitis, which is probably one of the worst things I've ever suffered.
I hope that everyone had a good Christmas and that Santa came through and delivered them everything that they wanted. I got pretty much everything that I hoped and expected this holiday season. I got a few games, some new clothes, but mostly cash to pay off my computer (I'm not complaining).
Games:
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Shadow of the Collosus
EverQuest 2: Echoes of Faydewer.
Parasite Eve
DVDs:
Seven Swords
Books:
Eragon
Eldest
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
In addition, I got a few ski passes, but the good news is that my computer is half paid for. I've spent the last few days torrenting PC games that I've wanted to play. I think I need to pick up another hard drive.
I finished up my FEAR: Extraction Point review tonight. I wrote it a week ago, sat on it for a while, and then I editted it tonight. I felt a lot better about the review after the edit than I did before it. Trying to shake the reviewing rust off. It's been three months since I last reviewed a game.
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Finally, after working non-stop seemingly all semester, my classes are over. I took my last final today and handed in all of my papers. Since I'm done with classes finally, I took the time to play through Gears of War (not quite the 10/10 that everyone painted it, but a fun game) and FEAR: Extraction Point. I may review GoW, probably not because there's enough out there already, but I'm writing up an Extraction Point review now. Then it's on to the X-Mas Battle. I'm excited about that. I've got a solid team of contenders that I think is going to be at the top of the field. I'm just happy to be going home to play videogames and ski for most of the winter. I'm also looking forward to hopefully picking up Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops at some point in the next few weeks.
I just picked my classes too so I'll post them up here.
POL 203: Critical Thinking in Politics
POL 213: History of Political Thought
POL 359: Nation, State, and Global Order
HIS 102: History of the 20th Century
HIS 329: History of the Cold War
SPA 102: Continuing Spanish
I finally bought a new computer. My first one since June of 2004. I bought a brand new Dell desktop. Check out the specs:
EDIT: I cancelled that PC and bought a different one.
- Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (1.87GHz)
- 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
- 19 in (19 in viewable) 1907FPCFlat Panel Display
- 256MB nVidia GeForce 7900 GS
- 250GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
- 16X DVD-ROM and 16X DVD+/-RW
I'm pretty excited. It should play all my games well, and it's very upgradeable. With the newly ordered rig, the graphics card is quite a bit better, though I did sacrifice some processor speed. It'll play games a lot better now. As soon as I get it, I'm installing all my games and seeing how they're supposed to look, and I want to pick up copies of Battlefield 2 and the new F.E.A.R expansion pack which is coming out soon and play them in all their glory.
I found God of War at a pawn shop near my school for $7. The game is good, but it isn't nearly as great as everyone says it is. It feels like the developers just combined Devil May Cry, Baldur's Gate, and Greek myth into one game. A solid 7/10.
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I don't really look forward to a lot of games, but I was looking forward to Half-Life 2: Episode 2 a lot. Now, there are rumors that it's going to be delayed until the first quarter of 2007, instead of coming out at the end of this year. That's annoying and disappointing. I figured that, since the game is going to use the same engine as HL2: E1, they already know where the story is going, and they don't really need to develop anything new, that the game would actually come out on time. Guess not. Hopefully SiN: Episode 2 will come out on time.
I bought more games.
- Tony Hawk 3: I never beat this Tony Hawk. I got the GameCube version for Christmas. Bad move. The GameCube's kidney shaped buttons and awful trigger/shoulder things don't work well for Hawks.
- Tony Hawk 4: Eh, it was $2.99 and completed the collection.
- Extermination: A game produced by Sony that sucks! What a surprise!
- Turok Evolution: Seriously, it was a dollar. I know it's awful, but it was an FPS for a dollar. I can't pass that up.
- World Poker Tour: Yep, another poker game.
- 007 - Agent Under Fire: It isn't good, but the multiplayer is fun. Q-Claw rocks.
I reviewed World Series of Poker and Painkiller: Hell Wars. I think both of those reviews will stay on Thunderbolt though. They aren't bad, they're just short (600 words each), and nothing particularly amazing. WSOP got a 3/10, Painkiller: Hell Wars a 4/10. I might bring over Painkiller.
Other than that, I'm going on vacation to the Poconos in a week. I'll bring my laptop there and probably play my "I" game for the Alphabet Olympics. I'm "playing" Iron Storm. By "playing" I mean, I installed it, played it once, and haven't touched it since then. Hopefully I can get motivated and write something good. I just don't like feeling like I have to write something.
I still need to review Prey. I also should play it too.
Bah.
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