Dredd is a really good action movie, and you should see it in theatres before it's gone.

That is all.

Ha ha ha! Absolutely. I still haven't finished it.

For anyone who doesn't get it, watch the opening to Tales of the Abyss:

Remind me what this is from?

I started reviewing it tonight. If I had off tomorrow, I would just push myself to finish, but I've got to run an orientation for students that goes from 8am-4pm, so I'm headed to bed. I want to have this done by Sunday night.

The short version is that I'm giving it an 8/10, with potential for that to be a 9/10 before I'm done. It really is a fantastic game and an incredibly addictive multiplayer experience. My only problem comes from the overabundance of cutscenes (a disturbing trend in modern gaming) which too often breaks the flow of the amazing action.

It's months later, I know, but I'm finally setting the first words to paper in a review of this unique running game. I don't want to spill my opinion too soon, but it's one of the more conflicted opinions I've had about a "game." And yes, those quotes are intentional.

So hopefully I'll get some time to clock some hours and get a review out there before the bounty on it closes.

I can post pictures of asian ladies too.

So all of my reviews say "reviewed by John Cracker" and "Original Score for this review was lost."

Um...?

I know that some MMORPGS have packs that become useless if you buy them after a certain date (read: Final Fantasy online). Is World of Warcraft the same story or does the World of Warcraft Battlechest (really cheap now on Amazon) give you everything you need?

Link to pic

Is it worth it to pick it up, now that the servers are going offline? Or should an interested player just wait for Dark Souls? Opinionize me.

A week of gaming later and two things concern me as to the potential for success of this game.

One, the enemy AI is really stupid.

Two, while I'm not a huge Mass Effect fan, I don't believe the combat in this game can live up to its mass effect rival.

Great deal on this, cause I preordered through Amazon. 40 dollars, for the full collector's version. About to play it tonight and then I think at some point during the next month or two it will take me to finish, I'll drop a review.

Yeah, my review-time has gone down (up? It's gotten longer) because I'm incredibly busy these days. I know I've always said that, but now I've added a live-in (and living) girlfriend to the mix, as well as a second job. Also, our film has taken off (even though it's not out yet) and it looks like at some point in the next year I'll be filming in Romania, for a project budgeted at 5 million (and a paycheck over 100k for myself). Not confirmed on all that, yet, but work has begun nonetheless, adding to the ever growing list of responsibilities.

Still, I'd love to get back to reviewing. I miss you guys. I'll drop a line tonight and give you first impressions on Deus Ex.

Sorry to bring up old topics, but it felt neccessary to drop my conclusion that Metal Gear Solid 4 still sucks. That first chapter is really excellent, though. Excellent enough to trick me into thinking I would be enjoying myself for the rest of the game. I didn't. Except maybe the final boss fight of the game, which is very cool.

Also, Meryl's wedding = worst wedding ever. Held on a goddamn piece of tarmac. Attended by seven people and one monkey. One of those people is a child whose never been outside before, most of the other guests probably weren't invited, and Otacon spends the entire wedding talking politics with Drebin and crying.

Epic fail.

Infamous is totally worth some hacks taking all of my personal info. And it was definitely worth the other PSN users losing their info.

Just saying.

I'm playing Metal Gear Solid 4 for the second time and actually enjoying it. A lot.

The change of heart is due to many reasons. One, I'm playing it for the first time on an HDTV which makes a huge difference in terms of immersion (which is one reason I didn't mention graphics in my original review). It also helps the gameplay, because it's damn near impossible, on an SDTV, to tell what's going on with all the tiny symbols and little HUDS that pop up all over the place.

Another thing that affected this was the fact that I just got done playing, in a row, every Metal Gear game (excluding the handhelds). I went from Metal Gear on the MSX straight through to 4, with the order kind've mixed around a bit. By the time I've gotten to 4, I'm ready for something a little different than the usual sneaking stuff. And MGS4 does give that.

I know that this is a complete turn around from my original review, but then you have to take into account how this game was presented at the time. It was the culmination of a series that was based on sneaking and stealth... plus it had been a fair number of years since the last game had come out. There was a lot of anticipation on the part of long time fans for a return to the old style of MGS.

Another thing that's helping a lot is that I'm skipping most of the Codec conversations, or at least tapping through them rather than listening to them. It's incredible how fast my enjoyment of the game drops when I start listening to those conversations. I can't even pinpoint why, except that they break up the action and tension of the game for no good reason.

One thing that hasn't changed is my absolute dislike of the fart humour that is liberally sprinkled throughout the piece, not to mention some of the more ridiculous "plot twists." Loooong cut scenes where no one does anything also still make me want to play something else (Drebin's scenes are the best example of this).

Anyway, I'll have to get further. It's been so long since I last played that I don't even remember what happens in the later chapters. I've also yet to fight the first boss, Laughing Octopus, and I seem to remember being disappointed by that fight. While I doubt that I'll have a major turn around and call this my favorite game of all time, I am pleased that I'm enjoying it and want to take the time to explore it's little gameplay intricacies.

Some opinions from Zipp....

@ Zelda: I actually enjoyed the controls of Twilight Princess, but they didn't do anything revolutionary enough that I would've minded playing on a gamecube controller. And flipping the whole map was just needlessly confusing for someone who has played Ocarina of Time as many times as me.

My real problem with modern Zelda is that it's lost the epic feeling of the original Zeldas. I went back and played Link to the Past recently and was shocked to find that it not only still held up but actually still felt huge. I mean, bigger than Morrowind. I think that it's because, even though the game itself is DEFINITELY smaller than most of the later Zeldas, every environment was extremely unique. It had deserts, rivers, forests, mountains, even an ice land. It's the same reason that Mario 3 still feels bigger to me than Mario Sunshine.

Ocarina of Time and even Majora's Mask were similar in uniqueness (less so on Majora's Mask, by far), but then Wind Waker completely destroyed it and Twilight Princess only emulated it... by which I mean that, although it also had deserts, rivers, and ice lands, they were no longer as unique as they once were. More like staples of the series, at this point.

For a Zelda game to really impress me again, it would have to create an entirely new set of environments or else expand greatly on the old environments so that they were not just ammendments to a world map, but more like worlds unto themselves (Mario 64 was a good example of this, so was Mario Galaxy).

@ Fleinn: Dark Souls is on the list, actually. I wish Deus Ex: HR was, but I'm not surprised that it isn't. After all, we have no real reason to believe in that game, just because we've seen some pretty cutscenes and a few short demos of gameplay. There's too much promise there, not enough solid info, and too much ambiguity about whether the game had enough time in development for people to put money on the game. Except for me, who preordered it. But even I am not going into it with gusto. I am very interested in transhumanism but who knows how deep the game will take the concept. I am excited, but I have had dreams shot down so many times in the video game world and on more stable franchises.

Not that I don't have faith. It's just a quieter faith than usual.

Infamous 2, Uncharted 3... it's kind've a take-your-pick. Uncharted 2 was more polished than Infamous 1, so I imagine that's why it made the list instead. Not that Infamous isn't a good game.

As for Dungeon Seige 3, I think that's being developed by Square Enix...? If so, that's your reason right there. The only thing SE does well anymore is graphics and music.

@ Suskie: Definitely more accurate. And that sums up how I felt playing the demo of Mass Effect 2. "I'm really enjoying this!" was one side of my brain. "I have no clue who these people are or why I should care," was the other side.

Result: skip all dialogue. don't ask questions. kill things. Fun overall, but I couldn't help but feel I was missing a large piece of the point.

... I have a free access code for the DLC "Psycho Pack." First come, first serve... let me know if you want it and I'll PM you the code.

I would be wiling to bet they include only the first disc.