Overlord's Glimpse into the Future

Late last week, Soulstealer and myself got into a huge discussion on what our future purchases and non-purchases were looking like at this point. After the conversation ended it was if I almost felt a little overwhelmed and nervous at the sheer amount of triple A titles coming out in the next 6 months. Think about it, you have Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Halo: ODST, Lost Planet 2, Brutal Legend, Crackdown 2, Dragon Age, Left 4 Dead 2, WET, Alan Wake, Darksiders...and that's just to name a few. In retrospect, its phenomenal that we (as gamers) will witness perhaps the greatest year for games releases since, well...ever! But it's also extremely daunting and overwhelming to even fathom playing all these titles let alone buying them. So, after days upon days of sleepless nights, cold showers and a grand heaping of crumpled up stationary (games lists to be exact) I have crafted my most epic list ever: OverlordStrider's Must Own and Must Rent List for the Foreseeable Future (insert evil laugh here).

The list will be broken down like this: The top 5 game choices (of mine of course) for "must buys" and "must rents" will be listed in descending order from five to one. Attached to each listed game will be bullet points covering a broad assortment of certain parameters met. These points will ascertain the following structure:

• Game Name
• Reason for Inclusion
• Notable Hype

Let's begin this mascaraed with the top 5 rentals for the foreseeable future

5. The Darkness 2

• I had an absolute blast with the first Darkness game. It came out of left field and didn't disappoint one bit. Staying true to its comic book roots, The Darkness delivered a gritty look into the new age world of gangster life. Trifled with inner demons, super natural powers and one hell of a violent demeanor, main character Jackie Estacado has to unfold what has become of his life.
• The Darkness 2 hasn't quite made any headlines as of yet; mainly because it was just recently announced. But, if its anything like the first installment you better believe that its going to be a fun ride!
  
• Meta-Critic Score of 8.6 The Darkness 2 has some serious shoes to fill

4. Army of 2 (the 40th day)

• The original Army of 2 was met with criticism. Critics dubbed it shallow and pedantic in many reviews but it was the consumers that made it one of the best selling EA games (selling well over a million copies). The single player campaign wasn't anything too special, however, it was the co-op game play that made the first installment so special. Never in my life have a I played a game with such over the top bravado. High-five's, air guitar's, references to the Gza from Wu-Tang Clan and a solid co-op structure (with hundreds of unlockable's) made this a worth while experience to play through with a friend.
• Said to have a longer campaign, drop in and drop out co-op and even more customizable options, AO2 is shaping up to be just as fun as its predecessor.
  
• The game was met with mediocre scores (meta: 7.5) but still holds as one of the funner co-op games I have played in a long while.

3. Alpha Protocol

• Ok, so the main reason I put this on my Must Rent list is pretty much out of respect for Obsidian (an excellent developer). Totted as Mass Effect meets present day international espionage had me interested at first and in all reality I had this on my most anticipated list (almost a year ago). However, after seeing this game at this years NYCCI was left a little unsure and disappointed. Things looked overly slow and clunky. Interestingly enough, the one saving grace I saw was the U.I. (user interface) and all the awesome gadgets you can get your hands on in the game. High hopes/hype from many gaming websites have kept Alpha Protocol in the limelight...here's to hoping they are all correct!
• Made E3 08's Top 5 List
• New screen shots (post NYCC) are looking promising
  
• Extremely noteworthy track record of making great games (Neverwinter Night's anyone?)

2. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

• Believe it or not, MUA 1 was my very first Xbox 360 game. I got it for Christmas alongside a brand new 360 way back in 2006 and played it for weeks. Though not the prettiest of games or the most innovative, it did give me the "fan boy" chance to kick some Marvel villain ass with Deadpool. Did I mention it took me over 45+ hours to beat the game?
• Production on this sequel has been going on for over a year now. Stills are looking good and the gameplay footage that every so often surfaces on youtube looks promising.
• Have added new combat team attacks
  
• Marvel has perhaps the most rabid and loyal fan base of any multi-media outlet in America. If Raven (developer) messes up this sequel...god help us all.

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

• Yeah, I know. Everyone is looking at me like I'm a goofy bastard for not including this game in my upcoming "Must Own" post (hitting tomorrow). Listen, in all honesty the first game was great and I had a blast playing it. But when all was said and done and I had finished the game I was left wondering what all the hype was about. The single player campaign only lasted me maybe 6 hours, the multiplayer was nothing special and there was no co-op. For sixty dollars, I'll pass. I guess I'm one of the very few who feel that the sequel will be a definite rental....a big time rental.
• "Best Game of E3 2009"
• Joystiq's Best of E3 Award
• Gamespot's Best of E3 Award

So there you have it. Those are my most anticipated Rentals for the Foreseeable Future! Now, I know almost all of those games listed above aren't coming out until next year but who are we kidding if we said we weren't already thinking that far ahead? Tomorrow I will be posting perhaps my most important list I have ever created: The Top 5 List of Upcoming Must Owns. Some of you will be happy with the list and some of you will say to yourselves, "This dude's on Crack." Either way, I can't wait to show you the list! Until tomorrow.....

-GAME HARD-

Scheduled Maintenance For The Weekend!

As of right now, I am planning on doing some "home cleaning" on the site. I will be experimenting with some new color pallets, a brand new layout for posting and a new comments scheme that has just been implemented into the Google system. Scheduled maintenance will subside on Sunday afternoon when not one....BUT TWO brand spanking new reviews of Shadow Complex and Wolfenstein are uploaded!

So until Sunday rolls around...................

-GAME HARD-

PC Debate: AION Online

Blizzkid back in action. Sorry for the vacation fellas, I had to get away from all this Blizzard drama. Battle.net 2 pushed back, Starcraft 2 pushed back, Diablo 3 pushed back. I cant deal with this right now, so lets focus on something making virtual headlines during a Blizzard push back bonanza...

AION Online has been in development for some time now. Beta testing has just finished, and they are ready for a September 2009 release. There have been several reviews claiming that World of Warcraft will soon be overtaken by this new title. A friend at work has been talking it up, so its time I started throwing ideas around. Like I always say, only serious debate will lead to the truth.

First of all, no game will ever beat WoW. It is the Legend of Zelda of RPGs. It is the Michael Jackson of Hip Hop. Enough said. It is actually funny to read the comments that promise this game will bury WoW, its just not realistic. Aion Online, like many others, and many others to come, have taken the WoW foundation and tried to make it their own. Whatever product NCSoft releases will be judged by the market for the quality of the game, not by comparing it to WoW. If you want a sneak peak of that quality, check out Guild Wars, which is the first MMORPG released by NCSoft. Im my opinion, the game tanked hardcore, which is why they fired their development team, hired a better one, and carefully followed the recipe used by Blizzard while creating WoW.

Ok, the graphics for Aion Online look way better than WoW. From what I have seen, it is true. But better graphics don't always make for a better game, in fact, I tend to agree with the complete opposite. My theory, better graphics equal less control. When you talk about gameplay, control is the key. I'm sure they may find a way to have the advanced graphics retain similar gameplay, but Guild Wars was horrid, so what happened there? If you can have better graphics without sacrificing gameplay then you win, and Aion Online should win, considering a late 2009 release compared to WoW, which released mid 2005. It BETTER have better graphics, LoL.

From what I understand, Aion Online only features 2 races, with only 4 hero classes, within which you can choose only 2 specs per class. My math shows only 8 playable hero types. WoW released with 36 (9 classes x 4 specs (including hybrid)). Diablo will have at least 5, and if they follow the three column talent tree from WoW, they will have 20. With only 8 playable hero types, I expect early massive expansion, or early massive loss of sales. That's just my advice...

More to come...
Stay tuned for

PC Review: Aion Online (part 2)

and

PC Review: Heroes of Newerth

GamesCon Gets Over 245,000 Attendees

Germany's quintessential replacement for the Leipzig Games Convention, GamesCom, has officially surpassed its' former incantation in attendance. Numbers were said to be in the 245,000 mark which is up almost 42,000 more than last years Leipzig convention. Bigger venue, more developers, a plethora of game demos and announcements are credited for bringing the usual hermit gaming crowd out of their shells and into the limelight.

Gamespot's Matthew Peter's has a solid write up on the convention and breaks down just why this years "new" convention has already surpassed its "big daddy" in numbers, size and commercial status. [link to story]

-GAME HARD-

Digital Foundry on Mass Effect 2's Tech Upgrades

Now, I know this may be a bit "techy" for Warp but I found this article on Digital Foundry earlier and thought it was pretty interesting. Plus, you all should know by now that any Mass Effect 2 news will always be posted immediately regardless of how inconsequential or pressing the news is. In retrospect, ME2 is not only shaping up to be 2010's biggest game but its also looking at setting some pretty high bench marks for graphical processing...awesome.

"Last week BioWare demoed a short 15-minute sampler of Mass Effect 2 at gamescom, and the overall impact of the game is hugely positive, with a far more confident and impressive implementation of the Unreal Engine 3 technology in place. The litany of technical issues found in the Xbox 360 version of the original game is expansive. For instance, the game had clear texture-streaming issues whereby gameplay would slow down or even freeze when the DVD drive was unable to keep up with the demand for new data - an issue that an NXE hard disk install would only marginally improve.

There was also the sense that original Mass Effect was somewhat too ambitious for the Unreal Engine 3 technology that powered it, with some serious frame-rate issues both in the cinematics gameplay."

Unfortunately, there weren't any new images or screens floating around for us to upload. But, with comments like these from multiple sources pretty much confirms that we may be getting some new vid's soon and possibly a good helping of stills.
------
BREAKING:
Achievements List Leaked for ME1 DLC [Pinncale Station Achievements]
------

-GAME HARD-

Warp 9 Gaming Marathon Tonight!

I just wanted to inform all the readers of tonight's events. BlizzKid is in town and we have one hell of a gaming marathon planned! Here's the full itinerary:

• 6:30pm - Blizz and Seim arrive
• 6:45pm - PBR's Break Out of the Fridge
• 7:00pm - Dinner begins (home made wings and pizza)
• 8:00pm - Sampson (hard)
• 8:30pm - Wii Sports Resort Bowling Tourney (my belts on the line)
• 9:30pm - Sampson (even harder)
• 9:45pm - Street Fighter II & IV Tourney
• 11:00pm - 4 Way Castle Crashers Commences (all the way through)
• 2:00am - Kingdoms (after samps)
• 3:00am - TBD

So, there you have it. A full fledged gaming bender set to commence at 8:30pm. Check back here to see how were doing and/or follow my twitter account for live updates and comments (most likely drunk comments). Until it starts............

-GAME HARD-

Dark Void Rocketing to Stores in January

Dark Void has been officially dated for the 12th of January 2010. I have been watching this one since Overlord told me almost a year ago. I will admit, it is a bit gimmicky but Capcom usually delivers more often than not. Flying with a jet pack, vertical combat, and hijacking space ships seems to sum it up thus far. My only hope is that the camera in this third person shooter is super fast and responsive. I don't want to be sitting there tilting my head trying to look up past the actual TV screen. People prone to motion sickness - you may wont to skip this one. Anyways, I'm not gonna say much about it because this video, compliment of Gamespot, sums it up nicely.

OVERLORDSTRIDER:
"Jam packed with over the top physics based jet packing, Dark Void sure does seem promising. After garnering much praise at this past years E3, developer Ugo has upped the anti by toting this game as, "the next big thing." My opinion still stands: if you put way to many gimmicky things in a game it takes away what the core gamer really desires - the fun factor. Time will tell."

UploaDING!

In the works right now:

1. Fable 3 Has Been Announced. Didn't Everyone See This Coming?
2. Full Review of Shadow Complex (coming Friday afternoon)
3. Fancy Friday's Playlist
4. Wrap Up: Lost Odyssey (a year and half later-better late than never)

-GAME HARD-

Mass Effect 2 Update

A new squad member has been revealed today by Bioware. His name? Grunt, "a violent and unpredictable Krogan." With a crew like the newly announced Thane, Grunt and a slew of other uniquely individualized characters, Commander Sheppard has seriously invested some time in "recruiting."

Referring to the series very clearly as a "trilogy" BioWare's Ray Muzyka says, "Building out a diverse and loyal party is one of the features that makes the Mass Effect series quite unique. The characters Commander Shepard recruits are not only pivotal to the storyline, but essential to the player's overall success."

Count me in as one of the people that is so hyped for this game that my head might actually explode...or would it implode? Regardless, ME2 is set for release in q1 of next year so until then we all have to sit around and wait for these types of updates to hit the news circuit.

-GAME HARD-

Lost Planet 2 Co-op Demo Coming to XBLA

As the highly anticipated sequel to 2007's critically acclaimed hit, Lost Planet approaches, it seems as though Capcom is sticking to its word that LP2 will be released in the Winter (2010). The bold statement proves genuine and is validated (somewhat) with the recent news of a co-op demo releasing on XBox Live August 19th. Why August 19th? Well, it's the first day of GamesCom in Cologne, Germany...which Capcom will be attending!

Some rather odd news: Xbox Live Silver members will have a chance to try out the shooter on August 26; Almost a week after it's gold membership counterparts get to rip into it (cue: demonic laughter).

The co-op (showcased in the video below) has players teaming up to take on gigantic Akrid (also known as the G-Type Salamander), who were pretty much the antagonists in the first Lost Planet. Commands can be given to your A.I. counterparts (or live for that matter) and you can take on the "bugs" in any way you deem fit...just don't die. Also rumored to have a level in which takes place inside (yes, inside) one of the large Akrid, you can be sure that lots of the glowing yellow ooze will once again be present!

Can't wait to get my meat hooks on this demo!

-GAME HARD-

BREAKING: HALF LIFE 2 EP. 3 STILL COMING

During last nights episode of Gametrailers (TV hosted by Geoff Keighley), Valve CEO Gab Newell spilled the beans on Half Life 2 episode 3...kind of. Before the show went live, Geoff had asked his followers on Twitter to give him some questions for Mr. Newell. Funny enough, the majority of the questions submitted all concerned Half Life 2 ep. 3 and where in the development cycle Valve was.

One specific questions asked, "Are you still even working on Half-Life 2: Episode 3? When can we micro-invest in it through Steam so it will actually come out?" Laughing, Gabe at first ducked the question and explaining that he had no news and nothing to say about it. However, after the usual "Geoff Keigley pressure questions" started flying Gabe broke down and stated, "Yes, of course we're still doing it." BOOM!

Yeah sure, its confirmed to be still in the works. That's all fine and dandy but what we really need is a release date! Oh well, until then........

-GAME HARD-

ME2 Update: Let Me Introduce You To Thane...

Mass Effect 2 has just finally started revealing in depth details in regards to the main story lines protagonists and antagonists. Bioware has boasted over the past few months that there will indeed be new main characters, a slew of new villains, a minor plethora of new alien races and a couple "badass assassins." Well Mass Effect 2 goers...Meet Thane! The smooth talking assassin hell bent on doing things his way: the hard way.

Going on right now over at the Bioware website is "Meet Thane Day." Pictures and an in depth character exposition show you just how integral of a part Thane is shaping up to be; in regards to the games plot. Accompanied by this meet and greet session were these kind words by Dr. Ray Muzyka (GM and CEO of Bioware) :

“We’re going to surpass the extraordinary gaming experience we brought our fans in Mass Effect by delivering intensified combat and expanded weapon options as well as increased depth of planet exploration, all while delivering a powerful, emotionally engaging story,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA when announcing the game. “Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be an unforgettable RPG-shooter experience, taking players on a non-stop roller-coaster ride filled with stunning plot twists and no-holds-barred action.”

Is it just me or is this game shaping up to be one hell of a ride? Let me answer my own question with this: Hells yes. Now, I know you all have a keen understanding that this game means a lot to both Soulstealer and myself...but come on, how can you not get pumped after seeing these types of stills, watching those epic E3 demo's and hearing the CEO of the company making such bold statements? I think my head might explode the day I bring home ME2. Until that day comes...

-GAME HARD-

Stride Gum Giving 25k To Help Support Arcades

Stride Gum, "the super duper long lasting gum" has been trying to win the hearts of hardcore gamers for a few years now. Donating money to gaming groups, supporting gaming laws (for the gamers) and now giving away $25,000 to help struggling arcades around the United States. For me, this was an extremely heart warming gesture. I, myself, am a huge advocate of saving the arcade scene here in the states. I have such fond memories of going to Aladdin's Castle and Funspot and spending my hard earned allowance on Mortal Kombat 2 and Street Fighter 2 CE. So its with great joy that I bring you the story as reported by Joystiq. Enjoy!

"Let's face it: the arcade scene in America has seen better days. The availability of peripheral-based games on home consoles and the kinetic gameplay offered by the Wii have put many arcades out of business. Stride, in its continuing efforts to gain the respect of hardcore gamers, has begun an interesting new promotion called "Help Save the Arcades." The gum company will be awarding 100,000 quarters (or $25,000) to one of four struggling arcades: Arcade UFO in Texas, StarBase Arcade in California, Game Galaxy in Tennessee or Star Worlds Arcade in Illinois. Which one of these four takes the grand prize will be determined by you, the internet.

Players will have to play a free Flash game, Zapataur, to take part in the promotion. After playing, players will be able to don points to one of the four arcades. The one with the most takes the cash -- and presumably, survives for just a little bit longer."

-GAME HARD-

The Pro Goes Bye Bye and The Elite Gets a Price Chop!

"An elite price drop will never happen!" Well, guess what nay Sayers? It just did. As reported by Kotaku Microsoft has waved bye bye to their Pro SKU and chipped the price for their Elite box.

"Looks like we have an execution date for the Xbox 360 Pro model, with this shot from a Meijer catalogue due on August 30 indicating the 360 Elite is in line for a Pro-sized price cut. You'll remember, of course, that the origins of this rumour - Ars Technica's ever-reliable Microsoft mole - are that the 360 Pro is being phased out, taken off the market entirely, and that the 360 Elite will have its price slashed to that of the Pro to compensate. This will leave only two 360 consoles to choose from: the cheap, hard drive-less Arcade and the 120GB HDD Elite. 'Lo and behold, according to this catalogue, that move looks like it'll take place a couple of weeks from now. So long, 360 Pro model."

Now, my question is this: why in the blue hell have they waited this long to make the move? I could have saved a bundle on mine, dammit!

-GAME HARD-

Current Play-lists

So, Ive gotten more than one PM in regards to posting our current play-lists. If you haven't already noticed, you can see SS's play-list as well as mine on the right hand side of the site (our gamertags are right there). However, since Ive gotten a few request to make an entire post out of what we are playing I will oblige humbly and snap right to it. Here are our current play-lists as of 8.11.09, 12:00pm!

OVERLORDTRIDER:

1. Re-visiting the world of Deadspace on the 360 (great game)
2. Wii Sports Resort for the...Wii (9.5 outta 10)
3. New Super Mario Bros for the DS (2nd play through)
4. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger for the 360 (Excellent Fighter)
5. Jobby Job for the Life Simulator

SS SOULSTEALER:

1. Mass Effect (2nd playthrough on hardcore)
2. Everyvideogame.com (NES emulator)
3. Gears of War 2 (public multiplayer and horde)
4. Scarbble Blast (PC - guilty pleasure)
5. Online Banking (prepping my savings for new releases)

Best Buy Getting into Used Games...Sorta.

A LA RESISTANCE! Apparently Best Buy has joined the "used games resistance" and is now test selling their 'new' games at used prices. A Utah branch of the super franchise has started offering their new games at a similar competitive rate in order to combat the used games industry; which has been plaguing big time companies such as Best Buy, Target and even the recently bankrupted Circuit City.

As reported by CAG (Cheap Ass Gamer) forum users, a sign stating: "Best Buy now price matches NEW video games at USED prices from GameStop or Game Crazy," is what they were greeted with near the games isle. After about twenty pictures later (of the sign) the users posted the story and began what has now become a huge ordeal in the games industry.

No one really knows if Best Buy will test this new skew out anywhere else or what regions they would consider doing this at. Evidence at the moment points to Best Buy placating this test module in a relatively large scale market (Utah) to see whether or not this is something that is feasible and in the right interest of Best Buy shoppers. Uhh, my hand is raised...I want to join the resistance too!

Until further information is leaked out we really don't know anything else. Here's to hoping that BB shows some muscle and creates a new gaming market for new games at used prices! But until then.......

-GAME HARD-

The Fancy Friday List

Another week has flown by in this already lightning fast summer. Friday is upon us and we all know what that means...wait, do you? Well if not, its the Friday Fancy List goofy! These are the top stories hitting the news vine as we speak. Fancy isn't it?

LETS GET IT ON!

1. Mr. Kotick opens his mouth once again [here]
2. Avatar Golf coming to XBox Live [here]
3. Giantbomb Smashes Mothership Zeta...kinda [here]
4. Sega Teasing new RPG [here]
5. A Brutal Court Settling for Brutal Legend [here]
6. Scratch Delayed alongside minor plethora of other titles [here]
7. Fallujah Developer cuts jobs and downsizes more [here]
8. Edge of Reality working on Sims Game for 360/PS3 [here]
9. Konami slipping big time in sales [here]
10. Tales of Monkey Island continuing August 20th [here]
11. Wii's profit numbers nearly quadruple due to Monster Hunter [here]
12. New racing game Blur set to make quite the impact [here]
13. Are these the first FFXIII Screen Shots? [here]
14. Next X-Wing Game Confirmed? [here]
15. XBox Adds PayPal Support [here]
16. Serious Sam HD seriously looking good [here]
    

-GAME HARD-

Starcraft 2 Officially Delayed to 2010

It seems as though delaying your game has become the "cool" thing to do now these days. Bioshock has been pushed, Splinter Cell Conviction's been delayed, Alan Wake is a no go for 2009...and that's just to name a few of them. Since we are on the "doom and gloom" train right now, lets continue with another big delay: As reported by Gamespot; Starcraft II has officially been pushed back to 2010.

Now it should come to no surprise that this game has been delayed. Looking back at Blizzards track record of past game delays and flurry of "it'll be released when its done" statements, this delay shouldn't really even be on our radar. However, with all these titles being pushed to an already jam-packed release year it makes you wonder how in the blue hell your going to afford to play all these titles.

Starcraft 2 is now scheduled to be released in the first half of next year (detailed announcement, right?) alongside a slew of other titles. Good luck saving you hard earned cash for what is shaping up to be the biggest release year in the history of video games.

-GAME HARD-

Dust: An Elysian Tail = Looks Amazing

There isn't anything else to say about this trailer for Dust: An Elysian Tail other than WOW. If this comes out on the 360 (which is my prediction), consider my Most Anticipated Games List updated. The game is being submitted to Microsoft's Dream-Build-Play contest, which in return gives it a pretty good shot at a 360 release. Here's to hopefully seeing this in 2010. Enjoy!

TMNT: Turtles in Time Getting High Praise

Cowabunga! I apologize for that but for some reason I just want to scream it out every time I think to myself: Holy sh*t, I have Turtles in Time to look forward to when I get home! Remember the good old days when Aladdin's Castle or (insert your arcade of choice here) was still around? I do, and when thinking about the arcade days a few titles always come to mind in which I played the ever loving snot out of:

1. Mortal Kombat II & III
2. Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting
3. Golden Axe (1-2)
   
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time

Well, guess what? TMNT: Turtles in Time has once again graced us with its presence...albeit a re-boot of sorts. Available now on the XBLA service for a meger 800 Micro-Points (roughly 10 dollars) Turtles in Time is sure to make a splash with old schools gamers as well as new school TMNT fanatics alike. With the upgraded visuals, new music score (which has actually garnered some flack) and pateneded hack-and-slash game play, Turtles in Time is a sure bet for a good time. Expect a full review tomorow and here's to marathoning the game tonight!

-GAME HARD-

Left 4 Dead DLC Dated for September

Amidst all the commotion that the Left 4 Dead 2 announcement has created, Valve (developer) has opted to pump out some well needed DLC for the first installment.

"Targeted for this September, "Crash Course" is an entirely new campaign that "bridges the gap" between the end of the "No Mercy" campaign (think: rooftop helicopter evacuation) and the beginning of "Death Toll" (think: turnpike riddled with abandoned cars). The new campaign includes "new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and an explosive finale," and it spreads the mayhem across a co-op campaign, survival maps, and a "streamlined version" of the Versus mode experience lasting 30 minutes." JS

The one stinky thing about this release is that it's free on the PC and 7 smacks on the 360...and that's not Golden Smacks; talking 'bout money here folks. Why? Dunno. Will I buy? Yup. Will I be happy with said purchase....YES!

-GAME HARD-

New Gears DLC = Same Old Song and Dance

This is old news by now but EPIC released an All Fronts collection that includes every multiplayer map available along with a expansion to the campaign which they refer to as a "deleted scene". Since I already purchased the previous two map packs, I was able to download the stand alone Dark Corners DLC and deleted scene for 1200 M$ points. I had actually been taking some time of from this game so it was nice to get an injection of DLC.

Let me state that I am no Gears of War fanboy, I play a lot of other games too. Yes, I do love the franchise and have a blast with the mulitplayer and yes, I do know that this game has it's fair share of problems, bugs, and glitches. For the most part, EPIC has solved all the issues to date and I have been enjoying playing the multiplayer aspect more so than ever. I have been getting in matches much faster after title update 4, and believe it or not, I have not had a laggy game since last week....which is astounding.

The 7 new maps were a much needed shot in the arm. I can honestly say that these new maps are very fun but there are some exceptions. Two of the maps, Highway and Waystation, are larger than the usual size and it makes it easier for people that want to hide and force a draw. That is the only complaint thus far. My favorites have been the revamped War Machine from Gears 1, as well as the new Sanctuary, Nowhere, and Memorial Maps. There is a good distribution of power weapons and plenty of open areas for deadly shotgun battles.

The "deleted scene" is a different story however, and after playing it I can see why it is called a deleted scene. You have the choice to go in guns blazin or try your hand at the art of stealth. I of course went in guns blazin (is there really any other way?) but it only took me an estimated 20 minutes to get through it. There really wasn't anything special about it. I can't comment on the stealth aspect because I haven't tried it. That is just not Gears to me, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. The worst part is that every time you load up the deleted scene you have to watch a movie of Cliffy B (no I don't hate the guy but it's a bit much) talk about why they made it. Luckily I found the back or select button cancels the movie...I had watched it a few times before I figured that out so it was getting a bit old.

This is just the same old Gears and if you are a fan then you owe it to yourself to try it out. It is most definitely a buy just for the new maps, but if you aren't into multiplayer you can probably pass on this latest offering from EPIC.

The worst part is that the All Fronts collection costs 1800 M$ points and the stand alone Dark Corners DLC costs 1200 M$ points. Let's do some math here. I have purchased all Gears 2 DLC, which is essentially 3 map packs for a total of 2800 M$ points. 2800 - 1600 = 1200 and a good bending over of the fans. Why, as a loyal fan who purchased maps and put money into EPIC's pockets so they could continue making DLC, was I taken out back for some x-rated gangbang? I'll be sure to get back to you once they are done with me.

I'm gonna give this a 7.0/10.0 since the new maps are really fun and unique but I think that the deleted scene does nothing to warrant this purchase. Like I said above, if you like the multiplayer aspect of Gears, this is a buy for sure but for those looking for a new single player campaign challenge you won't be finding it here!

Uploading: Back to Gears 2

Currently in the Que:

1. SS Soulstealer is currently putting the final touches on his review of the new DLC for Gears of War 2: All Fronts/Dark Corners
2. Full Review of Sam and Max Season 1
3. League of Legends hot debate

For now.....Game Hard.