Double R’s Top 10 Games of 2009
It’s the end of the year people. All the big titles that were gonna be released for 09′ have come out. It’s that awesome time of year where hopefully we get some extra time to spend with our family and friends, but also enjoy some quality gaming time.
Man, it’s been a heck of a year for gaming. For me personally as well, I mean, I got to feel the sting of a PS3 and an Xbox360 dying on me, which really sucks cuz I show so much care for my systems. But I kept on truckin and was able to play most of the awesome stuff I wanted to this year. There’s still a bunch of titles that I haven’t played or barely spent time with, though I’d like to. This list is the stuff I got to play through or spent enough time with to know they’re my favorites this year. You can say it’s in order, the best being no. 1 of course. All these are great and deserve some kind of attention when you guys get the chance.
1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
-Probably the best cinematic adventure I’ve ever played, so many memorable moments.
2. Batman: Arkham Asylum (Xbox360, PS3, PC)
-A comic book super hero game that kept me engrossed from beginning to end. I even wanna play it again!
3. Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox360, PS3, PC)
-Incredibly exciting, like being in an awesome summer action blockbuster, without the corny stuff in between!
4. Assassin’s Creed 2 (Xbox360, PS3)
-Part one was an awesome skeleton to a great title to come. They actually built an interesting game and world that I love getting lost in.
-It’s Halo, man we love Halo around here. The fun and shooting strategy this invokes just doesn’t get old.
-A 15$ downloadable game that kept me sucked in and having fun a lot longer than a lot of 60$ games.
-Intense….makes me feel like I’m in a real war.
8. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
-It’s side scrolling Mario! ’nuff said!
9. God Of War Collection (PS3)
-It’s the same awesome God of War games from the PS2 cleaned up for HiDef. The PS2 versions were like old DVD picture quality, this is remastered Blu-Ray baby!
10. Rachet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (PS3)
-The classic 3D platforming series still holds it’s own….and looks damn good doing it.
Happy Turkey Lurkey Day Southpark Style
So, yeah, turkey day tommorow for us American’s. The day we feast on being the greatest nation in THE WORLD YEAH. MAN. I’m kidding. Naw. I’m not. Anyways 
From the 64 days an entire south park game was devised on killing turkeys. So. yeah. Watch and enjoy like I did in the 90’s. lol. I gotta play this game again sometime soon.
World of Warcraft 5 year anniversary video
Blizzard created a little microsite for their 5 year ann. They go through and interview all the big boys. It’s pretty awesome. Man I want to work there. lol.
Summing up how I feel about The office
“The Office ended abruptly Thursday when documentary filmmaker Ian Sheffield announced that he and his crew had all the footage of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company’s Scranton branch required for their project. “In retrospect, we really over-shot this thing by an enormous margin,”"
Exactly. Fine whatever you like the US show,you think steve carrell is funny, i dont, or that All filming is done in LA thereby negating the existence of the show and all your Broll. yeah..palms in scranton. Whatever. I dont really give a crap over your bad ideas. So lets just widdle it down to one statement. This is a documentary based on a simple office and the silly things that hapen. And …….. In 6 years you’re still shooting…am I really to believe that this is still a documentary after >6< years. End the show.
Back to the Future Delorean Crysis Mod
Ahhh, modders…..is there anything cool they can’t do?
33rd Podcast
We get together after a Kmart shopping spree and discuss lots of stuff. Rich talks a little about Overlord and Modern Warfare 2 while I spout some dragon age dragon tales. But not duck tales. quack quack. We also discuss some HDTV deals going on Black Friday and of course what video game deals are out there. News of the xbox crackdown. We dont believe the 1 million either. <3 xbox. Enough already, check out the 33 Podcast!
Best show on TV (LOST, duh) returns February 2010!
ABC confirms that Lost will kick off its sixth and final season (sad face) with a two-hour premiere on Tuesday, Feb. 2 from 9-11 pm. The requisite recap special will start things off at 8 pm — though I suggest spending all of January watching season 5 on BluRay in preparation instead. Lost will return the following week, where it will own the Tuesday 9 pm time slot.
I don’t mind the switch to Tuesdays, and I’m very happy with the 9 pm slot. Unavoidably, after each episode my guests and I sit around for at least a half hour discussing the WTF moments and commenting on: how badass Benry is; how Juliette is eleventy million times better than Kate; how Jack needs to STFU and stop crying; how our theories from last week are totally null and void this week because the writers just introduced another mind-blowing revelation; and how much we still miss Charlie. Ok, maybe that last one is just me.
Speaking of MIA Lost characters, this article/press release mentions that a character we haven’t seen in a while will be returning full-time in season 7. Can you spot it?
GBU Game Review for Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox360)
Here’s what’s probably the biggest release of the year. I can’t remember the last time a game sold 5 million copies on it’s 1st day of release….dang. How do those guys sleep at night….probably on mattresses of money Anyways, I’ll be reviewing the single player campaign, which gets a 9/10 from me. I played through the 360 version but the game is also available on the PC and PS3 as well.
The Good – Like the last Modern Warfare game, this is top notch first person shooter action. The action here is simply explosive, think of the good summer blockbuster movies out there, take their most exciting parts experienced over the length of a game and that’s what you got here. The story picks up 5 yrs. later, and keeping form you play as a few different characters throughout, all tied to the big picture at hand. Which obviously has to do with war, deception, and sometimes just downright insanity. The feeling from fighting in the streets in a random suburb of America is just crazy. It’s fun, exciting, over the top cinematic style is not something you see performed consistently in alot of games. It’s pulled off here with panache.
The graphics are some of the best this console generation, all moving at a fast, silky smooth framerate. I feel the campaign is a good deal longer than the 1st game, I’d say it’s just right. There’s a ridiculous amount of ‘holy crap’ moments, to the point where I would just need a break cuz my nerves would be rattled. The gameplay feels great, controls are tight and feel just right. There’s a crap-ton of different guns everywhere at any given time. Being taken to all kinds of different locales gives every level a distinct feel. The action changes up sometimes with short vehicle sequences that keep you charged. This game’s a good substitute for Red Bull Highly recommended.
The Bad – There’s a few parts in the game, I can think of maybe 3-4, where things just get ridiculously difficult. I played on regular, which is the game’s normal difficulty, and just couldn’t understand why it was so tough to get through these few parts. Except in the Rio de Janiero level, getting killed by guys standing on the roofs of shacks is just annoying when you don’t notice them at first. I spoke with our friend Jack, the super hardcore mouse/keyboard PC shooter guy, and he had the same issues on the same sections playing on PC. A little more tweaking on those few portions would’ve made the campaign almost perfect. While the story is really good, narrative needs a little work. Sometimes the plot gets a little confusing when the game switches up the characters you’re playing as.
The Ugly – It’s pretty obvious, anybody who knows the game enough knows about the controversy with the “No Russian” level. It’s dark, grim and uncomfortable. You have the option to not play it at all, but it works in the context of the story. It isn’t till near the end where it kinda makes sense for the devs to make you feel this way at this part in the storyline.
Insane Knife Throw in Modern Warfare 2
Just watch.
32nd Podcast
MAN. THIRTY TWO podcasts in. That’s just buck wild yo. Rich and I get together to talk our latest video game names. Rich has been Enjoying Modern Warfare 2, Ballad of Gay Tony, a dude in Kmart LOL RICH SHOPS AT KMART fronting on him, and some ..Tropico? Bam. I’ve been hitting up Borderlands, Brutal Legend and yet more complaining about EA Sports games. We also talk some news and 2012. Yawn. Check out the 32ndpocast
GBU Game Review for GTAIV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Here we are with the second piece of promised DLC for GTAIV. Exclusive to the Xbox360(for now, if rumors are to be believed that is), for 20bux off of the Xbox Live Marketplace, or on the “Episodes From Liberty City” disc. Which is 40bux but it also comes with “The Lost And The Damned”. I liked this DLC even more than the last one, this gets a 9/10 from me.
The Good – Rockstar has really gotten the whole storytelling thing down, everything from the dialog, the voice acting, heck, even the way the cutscenes are directed…all top notch and masterful. Wanting to find out what happens next really keeps things moving. Liberty City remains a lively gaming world with plenty to keep you busy. While GTAIV toned down alot of previous GTAs’ insanity in favor of a more realistic crime drama style, TBoGT has some new activities that brings back some of the craziness of San Andreas that are fun as hell. Stuff like parachuting, helicopters that pack some serious artillery, even the police APC.
New weapons turn the fun meter up a few notches too. Machinery like the automatic shotgun with explosive shells and the silenced machine gun just tears things up with a prowess that makes sure the enemies hide from YOU. Radio stations, a GTA staple, have been updated with newer songs that keeps you draped in the atmosphere of the character(Luis Lopez) you’re playing. Luis has part ownership of a couple clubs that Gay Tony owns, you have to option of running one of them certain times at night. Again, the feel has been fitted to a tee. The thumping music, people dancing, drinking, the whole package. Some cool mini games for dancing and drinking are there as well.
The campaign is lengthy and the mission’s fun to frustration ratio is the most minimal yet. You’ll hardly come across a mission that’ll give you a hard time, the feel and pacing swim along just right. It’s nice starting off and your character already has a nice place to live, nice clothes, and he’s already established in the city. No need to build up, you just jump right in. I know some people who fell outta love with GTAIV, they felt the story just took too long. Not an issue here, the fat’s been trimmed, so to speak.
The Bad – Basically, if you’re not a GTA fan to begin with, this game ain’t changing your mind. While driving still feels great, it would’ve been nice if the on foot controls were updated/tweaked. They get the job done, but nowhere near where they could/should be in feel. With the disc version of the game, licensing issues prevented Rockstar from carrying over all the music from the original GTAIV game, to make up for it they threw in 3 new radio stations. While the downloaded version gets access to ALL of the original disc radio stations/songs, but not the new stations, it’s too bad this small feature separates the two since music is such a big part of the GTA experience.
The Ugly – If you don’t like The Sopranos way of things, or any crime drama of that sort….stay away….The title of the game has “Gay Tony” in it, and you play as a latino character in quite an ugly crime underworld. Take a guess at some of the things you’ll hear from some of the game’s less than savory characters.
Modern Warfare 2 out tommorow?
Ask me. Go ahead. Ask me. No? Ok fine. I’ll ask myself.
Jamie: Do you care about modern warfare 2?
Jamie: Not as MUCH AS I CARE ABOUT PLAYING SUPER MARIO BROTHERS WII.
There I said it. I’m really excited about this game. There’s something to be said about a game you can play WITH someone. And we all know nintendo loves to bring nerds together. Ok. Ask me another question. Go ahead. Ask me. No? WELL FINE. GOD.
Jamie: Are you totally pumped about Dragon Age coming out and the fact it’s SINGLE PLAYER.
Jamie: Yes, Dragon Age, in every single RPG way has me totally excited. Bioware is a Devloper rich and I love butttttttttttttttttttt. Single Player? Come on. I’m in a group of 4 fools, why cant I have a friend pop in? It’s very very dissapointing. There’s always Super Mario Brothers Wii?
GBU Game Review for Brutal Legend (XBOX 360)
I found out about this game based purely on hype. Sure we’ve spoken about this on the podcast but alas my memory is not like the old days. I’m glad the hype machine worked on this one. Now I cant recant to you the process why this game was developed in the manner it was or what game was the most influential one before that one but…I can tell you I had a lot of fun playing this. Not only just with gameplay but also laughing which very very very rarely happens while playing a video game. So..enough…with the REVIEW ALREADY.
Good: Jokesin,Jokesin, Jokesin’. The Metal Jokes abound in this game. There’s a mention of a Headbangers that still has me laughing when I think about it. Dont worry, it’s no spoiler. The Map is huge and the gameplay is similar in it’s ease to Fable but, ok, i’ll be a jerk this gameplay is what star wars force unleashed wished it could be. The moves are not hard to get down and they actually DO something. Hold B and you create a fire explosion! Sweeeeeet. There’s a special’s menu, bound to the shoulder button, where you play riff’s, think Wind Waker here, that summons various things or special abilities. Kind of like World of Warcraft 51 point talents. You can summon an animal aid, or your car or my personal favorite Melt Faces where you melt the faces of the enemies nearby. Yeah. Awesome right? These effects come into play during the battle matches you have both in game and with another person. In essense you are given the command of an army and attempt to manage it’s resources duking it out with another player by sending your army to take control of their towers. If you think it sounds like an RTS but in first/third person, you’re totally correct. And if you say that’s the 4th type of game I’ve mentioned you’re very smart. This game takes a lot of what works and puts it into a game, and well. So this multiplayer is a nice additive and completely unexpected. But there’s more that I’ll get to in a bit. You are also given this weird way of upgrading your character by finding relic’s and doing missions. You earn these fire of the god points that you can use to spend on upgrades in a garage run by Ozzy Osborne of all chracters. Given how completely easy it was to understand ozzy, I think the whole drunk ozzy thing as a reality is bogus. Dude knows his product and sells it. and we eat it up.
Bad: The Multiplayer match appears out of nowhere after a short “how to” session. The multiplayer while fun is not really perfected and a little overdone. I did not expect it to be the last 3 stages of the game. Which it very nearly was. If you want to complete a lot of the side missions (and you will) you’ll have to treck all OVER the map. It’s fun but it gets a tad overwhelming due to the map size. I’m talking the hunting mission. UGH. That was an achievement I worked TOWARDS.
Ugly: The game tends to get a tad long in the tooth near the end. While almost not wanting the game to finish the Devloper got a few things really right and then OVERDID it. I guess it’s the metal thing where it’s just done to death. I guess in the sense it’s not ugly.
Rock Band 2 SE Bundle, $99 through 01/01/10
What used to cost like $190, then $160(I think), can be had for the cool price of $99 according to a Harmonix post on the Rock Band forums. This applies to the Xbox360 and PS3 versions of the bundles. You get the game, guitar controller, drums and mic. All wireless with version 2 improvements, such as the drums being velocity sensitive. Heck of a deal if you ask me.
GBU Game Review for Uncharted 2 :Among Thieves (PS3)
Man, the PS3 has been on a roll this year with it’s exclusives and Uncharted 2 is no exception. Read on for some thoughts on one of my favorite gaming experiences of the year. 9/10
The Good – Please excuse me if I happen to repeat certain things from my review of the first game. But what was good there returns and is even better this time around. The Indiana Jones style adventure is back and even more exciting and multi-layered than before. Once again we have a third person action game with platforming/climbing elements, and some fun shooting action that’s mostly cover based. The story keeps you sucked in, wanting to find out what happens next. The characters are well developed and interesting with some great writing and dialogue. There are so many ‘holy crap’ moments, and most of the time the creators don’t even milk them when they could’ve, so many awesome moments that only happen once. The gameplay has been tweaked and revamped, adding a ton of new moves as far as the climbing/exploring action goes. The shooting elements are tweaked to where most of the time it’s really fun, headshots actually register normally this time around. There’s plenty of weapons, some light stealth scenes and just an all around solid action package.
The graphics this time run at a solid framerate, never dipping, and none of the ugly screen tearing that happened sometimes in the first game. There are plenty of scenarios, from jungles, to ancient ruins, to snow mountains, and more. What really got me was the amount of detail packed in, it really is astonishing when you stop and look at the scenery. Simply, these are some of THE best graphics this gaming generation, period. Great lossless audio quality makes a return as well, supporting 7.1 surround if you got the setup.
There’s a hefty multiplayer component, which I haven’t tried, but is said to be strong and a ton of fun. This is a game that every PS3 owner should at least try, good stuff.
The Bad – Some of the action ‘issues’ I had with the first game briefly rears it’s head near the end. As in way too many enemies spawning, with only a few parts requiring multiple tries. While the enemy models look great in-game, you kill ALOT of them, problem is seeing the same guys way too many times can pull you of the adventure experience a bit.
The Ugly – My treasure finding skills. There’s hidden treasure items(just for the fun of it) hidden throughout just like the first game. In this one there’s 100, I was only able to find around 35 or so my first playthrough :-\
Man this is a hilarious, a Sesame Street Yip Yip Martian Rap!
yeah yeah yeah…blam blam blam… just watch and laugh as Yip Yup starts blastin’
31st Podcast
Some indepth discussion of…TROPICO. A game similar to RailRoad Tycoon due to using the same engine. Squeeeee. We also talk Army of Two, Sim City 4, The DSI getting a bigger and needed screen size increase, The PS3 getting netflix, A Crazy from the Netherlands who blamed silent hill for a crime? New Video game releases AND Boondock Saints 2? Really? Surprises abound in the 31st_podcast
Reminder: GTA IV-The Ballad Of Gay Tony -it’s out
Yup, the day I’ve been waiting for as well as other Grand Theft Auto junkies. Exclusively on Xbox Live Marketplace(for $20) and bundled with “The Lost And Damned” on disc(for $40) as GTA: Episodes from Liberty City for the Xbox 360. Here’s a trailer(language a bit NSFW) introducing you to the guy you’ll be playing as, Luis Lopez….oh yeah, I got my hands on this yesterday, and I’m lovin it
Horror Corner ZombieLand
I was hoping to be more active this month. I was hoping to have a satisfying career and a huge plot of land with a concrete bunker stocked with weapons ammo and food by this time in my life. Things don’t always happen like ya plan em though. Just sometimes things happen. So I’m going to make the best of it and plod on as always, albeit a bit late and WAY off track. So lets just say im undependable and we can all love me for my faults. Let’s get back to what matters.
ZOMBIELAND!
OK. let me just say that as comedic as this movie really is it’s SPOT ON. the rules to live by, the realities wrapped in humor, the relationships forged and the absoloute horrible truth of surviving in a zombie apocolypse.
The characters are fun and likeable, and the suprise cameo while shortlived is absolutely PERFECT for this movie. Woody is an absolute perfect match for the character and plays his role to an absolute T.
The Zombies while not completely Romero Zombies are still mostly believable, no superhuman strength and no weird flying powers are bestowed upon them. They are in fact the living dead. Good old plain and fancy Zeds.
The story while not gripping does get you involved, it makes you laugh, and it allows you to immerse yourself.
All in all this is more of a good time fun movie than an all out comedy laugh fest, and its definately not a horror movie per sea.
Go see this movie, horror fans and stiffs alike will love this movie. Something for everyone and blah blah blah.
GBU Game Review for Half-Life 2: Episode Two (Xbox360, PC)
In a bit of bass ackwardsness, here’s my review to the 2nd expansion pack to Half-Life 2. One of my all time favorite first person shooters EVER. Why this one first? I just played through it for a 2nd time last week so it’s fresh in my mind. The first time was when it was released 2yrs. ago on the Xbox360, then last week on my fairly equipped PC. I’m gonna go ahead and give this one a 10, that’s right, I went there Somewhere down the line I may review Half-Life 2 and the it’s first expansion Episode One, but this is where the game is tops, until Episode Three drops maybe. But only time will tell, especially since we’ve been waiting for it for 2yrs. now :-/
The Good – Awesome continuation of the Half-Life 2 saga. You, playing as Gordon Freeman, are put to the task of trying to save the world from the Combine. An alien race that terrorizes the human race into a concentration camp like lifestyle. The first person combat continues as you battle Combine soldiers(humans converted to do their bidding), striders, a new combine enemy, the hunter and other nasties as well such as antlions, headcrab zombies and more. Everybody (or creature) has their own tactic to be taken down with, so you’re sure to have a different experience in every section of the game. The action is incredibly thrilling, never boring, sometimes scary, and thankfully never overbearing. Puzzle sections help to break up the action, which usually has you making use of the gravity gun, something that was revolutionary in 2004 when Half-Life 2 dropped. This “weapon” lets you pick up most objects and place them down, or for fun, shoot them anywhere. In some sections you can defeat enemies just with this and whatever is laying around, this makes for some cool creative fights and definitely something new and different in the shooter world, even 5yrs. later. The story, which is strong, is uniquely told entirely through the eyes of the hero, the camera NEVER leaves his perspective, and he NEVER speaks….this is interesting in a strange way, but it 100% works. The characters on your side are likeable, they just make you give a damn, which means the voice acting is there in top form as well. Sometimes you’re paired up with an NPC(usually Alyx), which can spell annoyance in some games, but they never get in your way, always help and are never annoying. One of the last things I love about this game, unlike most shooters today, every gun that you find throughout the game, as long as there’s ammo, is at your disposal. Sure, games like Halo and Call Of Duty started the trend where you can only carry two guns at a time, and while it sets forth an interesting strategy for those types of games, almost every shooter(1st and 3rd), has copied this. Sometimes I just wanna use it all, when I want to. And oh yeah, sorry PC junkies, but the PC version lets me use my 360 controller and the controls are fully configured exactly like the 360. Guess what I used
The Bad – Pffffft….hardly….but I’ll be a little nit-picky for review’s sake……A first person shooter with no dedicated melee button? Really? I know I can use the crowbar for this function, but I have to switch to it, inconvenient if I ever ‘need’ it. In old shooter fashion, you have to “find” health, yup, nearly every shooter today has regenerating health or shields, here you have to find it when you need it, like the old days. It makes for an interesting strategy for me, but some cats may not like that. The Source Engine graphics, while still great and pleasant to the eye, are starting to show their age….in the age of Gears of Wars, Call of Dutys, and your Uncharteds, it’s true.
The Ugly – The timing of these “Episodes”. Valve was supposed to start a new era by helping to introduce us to episodic gaming. We were promised 3 episodes to continue the Half-Life 2 storyline, it was basically supposed to be Half-Life 3. They were supposed to be 6 months apart. So Episode One drops a little over a year and a half after Half-Life 2, Episode Two drops nearly a year and a half after that…..and here we are almost 2yrs. later waiting for Episode Three with no announcement in sight 
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