If Squee were alive, he'd be so proud of me.

Call of Duty 4: I picked this up month's ago and just never really got into it until last weekend. Single Player was a blast especially the parts in the helicopters and the snipe missions. Multiplayer is starting to grow on me but there just seems to be something missing for me. It is definately not a game newbies can pick up and learn quickly on with the super quick deaths after a couple of shots. But I am learning and getting better each match. Overall it's a great game A-

Now I just need to hide the Gears of War disk so I can start opening up all the new games I have so I can catch Tony in acheivement points

I wasnt able to explain Too Human in detail with dolemit because my message had to be short.

Pros:
The graphics look very crisp
The loot system is very similiar to Diablo where you can attach stats to it almost anyway you want
The controls at first are pretty hard but once you get use to it, they are actually pretty fun
Action wise its great and you sometimes get over 2.5 dozen foes at once where you banish off screen
Class selection lets you almost play the game any style you wan

Cons:
Voice acting is rather cliche where it comes off like a cheesy RPG, they even rehased some lines in movies like "its a great day to die"
Other than being an action game, its rpg elements are even worse than Diablo were at least in the latter you have a few towns you can sell to, TH only has one town. Theres no interactions with npcs in towns. The skill system doesnt give you too many options
No banking system to hold items you want to use in the future. Its a pain because you can only carry 4 of the same item at once and you will be force to choose which ones to salvage
I mentioned the controls can be fun once you master it but my only gripe is you dont have much freedom with the targetting system. Think of it like the old GTA games
The game is too short and ends abrupty. The game was like only 12 hrs long and probably will be 8-9 hrs if you just concentrate on the objective. That wasnt so much the problem as the game just ends without any resolution with the main villian. You dont even encounter him and it really looks like Silicon Knight was milking it for a sequel
Multiplayer co-op is only limited to two players but I think its probably unneeded because your character gets resurrected on spot without any set backs at all


In short, if you like games that are in the style of Diablo, the game would be for you but if you are expecting a long RPG, I could see you being disappointed with the game

Conan (Xbox 360)- I loved both Conan movies and I haven't played a hack in n slash type game in years since the original God of war on the PS2. Conan is basically a GOW clone. It was fun and bloody as hell. And with some extra developement time it might have even been better than GOW. It's a short game clocking in about 7 hours from start to finish. The boss battles were interesting and the story shedded a little unknown tale in the Conan universe. The last boss battle will have you cursing worse than Tony after getting his second RROD. Deaths are never cheap and if you study the moves the game gets a little easier.

Pros:
Over two dozen moves to learn with a decent upgrade system
Bloody and violent (Limbs, legs, heads, torso's, of enemies can be chopped, pulled, and sawed off)
Lots of bare tits and ass shown during cut scenes and when rescuing maden's in distress (To show their thanks the let you "Crush them with your love")
Good boss battles (Favs- Sand dragon, Octopuss, and the final boss)

Cons:
Could have used some extra time in developement to upgrade some of the visuals and gameplay
Bigger enemies are hard to perform special moves on.
Length of game

Overall- B+ 8/10

I'm in an achievement whore mood (I want to get to 100,000 someday). So, I've been buying up achievement friendly games that I passed up earlier. Here is one:

TMNT: (Xbox 360)
Length of Game: 4 hours, 19 minutes
Achievement friendly?: Yes - 1000 points EASY. Definitely the fastest 1000 points that required no achievement farming (tedious work or specifically playing it in a manner just for points). Play the game as UbiSoft intended and in around 4 hours (or less) you'll have 1000 points without even trying.
Verdict: Never watched a Ninja Turtle movie/show and know very little about them, but I found it mildly entertaining. A mixture of Ninja Gaiden and Prince of Persia in kids form. It's a little repetitive, it felt a like it was lacking something extra, and at times you die cheap deaths due to poor control or level design. However, it was fast paced, looked decent, and overall played smoothly.
Grade: C+

Geometry Wars 2: (Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade)
Length of Game: 2-3 hours to complete, but endless replay value
Achievement friendly?: For an arcade game it's ok. An easy 115 points in about 1-2 hours, but the rest are really tough and would take days of work.
Verdict: The first one is my all time favorite XBL arcade game. #2 adds a few new enemies and a slightly fresher coat of paint as well as new modes - such as pacifism (no shooting), king of the hill, time limit, scenarios, etc... It's as fun as ever, but just not sure it's as much of an upgrade or change over the first one.
Grade: A-

Jumper (Xbox 360) - This is the biggest turd of a game that I have played in years. It makes those Burger King games from a couple years ago look like GOTY candidates. Horrendous on every level... except for achievement points!!! It's an easy 500+ points (in under 1 hour), and it looks like I'll be able to get 800-900 in around 3. As a game it's an F-, As a game for achievement points only, it's an A-

make it stop!!! Such awful titles with Jumper and Avatar:Air Bender. Pretty soon Tony will play Dance Dance Revolution and Sing Sing Star to get points

Are those easy point games?

And this train ain't stopping any time soon... I just got some Bionicle game and Open Season.

Once I complete this fantastic Jumper game, I'm moving on to them!

Stranglehold (Xbox 360) - Finally completed this sucker. It had a couple things going for it, but it just never clicked for me. At times the level design was horrendous (especially the dock area). The game felt slightly repetitive (you see one gun battle in this game, you've seen them all). It was all a bit much at times, to the point that everything shattering and the constant stream of enemies got to be a bit dull. It needed more subtle moments to make the crazy ones stand out. Still, it was an interesting concept, and did have some cool moments. Oh, and it was terrible for points (about 300 in 6-8 hours of play).
As a game: C
For achievement points: C-

Anyhow pick up Mercenaries 2. It was easy achievement points. I already have 110 in less than one hour of gameplay. You can pick up the game earlier from any stores called Game Play

Tiger Woods 09 on PS3. Just awesome, especially the online features

Open Season (Xbox 360) and Bionicle (Xbox 360) - Open Season was played almost entirely by Mrs. Montana, but I helped with a couple parts. An easy 1000 points, she reports that it was "ok". She liked being a bear and harassing hunters, and thought the levels were diverse. But, ultimately it was movie game-ish.

Bionicle was a game that Mrs. Montana started, but I had to help a lot, and ended up finishing it on my own (she's not used to the over the shoulder 3rd person control scheme). A lot more similar to Lego Star Wars than I thought it would be (it is a Lego game). If the levels/boss battles weren't so repetitive, it really could have been something impressive. Even with the repetitiveness, it was more entertaining than I thought it would be, and an easy 800+ achievement points.

Open Season: C-
Bionicle: B-/C+

On deck: Condemned 2, Surf's Up

Mercenaries 2. Decent game but buggy at times. Nowhere as good as GTA and I have never played the first Mercenaries. It seems similiar to Just Cause than the gangster style. I do like the faction implementation but if you were just to concentrate on the main objectives only, I believe the game can be finished in 10 hours. Otherwise if you were to do the other side missions, the game could last you up to 24 hours. What dragged me behind the hours was that I was trying to maintain my faction and everytime I triggered it into hostile I restarted over.

I've been debating Mercenaries 2... the thing is that I almost liked the first one, but it was kind of repetitive and I got bored with it halfway through and never finished it.

The one thing that I really liked about the first was that it had MUCH nicer graphics than any other sandbox game at the time. However, I have a feeling that won't be true this time around.

Started in on Condemned 2. I'm still early on, but just not feeling it yet like I did with the first one. The first one was more of a subtle creepy. This one feels like it's trying too hard. The level design is a little confusing at times, and the lighting is often a little too dark to see what you're doing. The expanded fight controls seem unecessary and a little overcomplicated. It's by no means a bad game, and perhaps it'll grow on me as I play more... but, it looks slightly disappointing so far.

Also, finished suffering through Jumper. This is no exaggeration... it took me a hair over 45 minutes to go through the entire game the 2nd time to finish off a couple achievement points. I am more convinced than ever that I have never played a game this bad... the camera got stuck behind objects many times (to the point you could not get it un-stuck), I fell through the floor into "no man's land" once, the graphics are absolutely horrendous, and the game is 2 hours long - *if* you play it as slow as possible. It's so bad, that it was well worth playing just to appreciate how bad it was.

Surf's Up - Mrs. Montana wouldn't play this one for me, so I had to endure it. Surprisingly, it was a little better than I expected, and there was some entertainment value in between the quick and easy 1000 points. It's main flaw is that it there isn't an ounce of depth to it... ride one of 12 waves (or so) and push a couple buttons while doing so, rinse and repeat. Grade: C+

Condemned 2 - Finished this one. I stand by my initial assessment - it's not as good as the first. The combat is way too confusing - after 12 hours of gameplay, I still don't have a firm grasp of it. There were some very good moments and some good scares, but overall it was a definite disappointment compared to the first one. I can list 2 problems I had with the game for every 1 great thing about it. Grade: B

On deck: Transformers and Rock Band 2

Geometry Wars 2 -

Spore - Im liking it so far. My gripe is that during the tribal and Civilization stage, it gets pretty bland. I wish the game would stay longer in space colonization and in prehistoric age. Other than that its one of the most original games Ive played and it definately is one of the best simulation games since Pirates and the Sims. Grade: A

Warhammer(360) - The controls dont just translate well into the console version. I have yet to find a command to pause my game so that I can strategically command my units without wasting those precious seconds. The graphics also seem quite outdated. I actually prefer Kingdom Under Fire in the old xbox over this. As for now a grade ofC+/B- grade until I finish the game

Mercanaries 2 - B despite all the glitches and how easy it is to knock a soldier down than to shoot at them

Next up Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise

My amazing run of movie based games has come to an end, thanks to Transformers. I played one too many of these crappy games, and they finally broke me.

Transformers was a game that had potential, but boy did the developer screw up the details. The missions were frustrating, repetitive, and boring... most of them were timed as well as a healthy dose of escort missions... 2 things I hate in missions.

The open world idea was a good one, and the Transformers themselves looked cool, but all that was lost in the execution as the gameplay was shit. I still *have* to finish a couple things with it, but am not looking forward to it. Overall it was a D+

So, it was a wonderful month for me and my better half... we got nearly 13,000 achievement points in a single month by suffering through turds like Jumper, TMNT, Open Season, NBA Live, Bionicle, Viva Pinata Party Animals, and Surf's Up, Now it's time for some good games... I'm hearing good things about this Meet the Robinsons game.

Fable (PC) - great game I had a lot of fun playing it

Infinite Undiscovery - 360

Few hours in, it has issues but I'm enjoying it overall. The combat system has alot of promise I feel like its the beta test for Star Ocean 4 thou. The graphics are nothing to write home about and the voice acting is beyond horrendous.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn


On my third playthrough (hard difficulty this time), and I've only lost 2 characters after finishing Part 2 of the game. Very good. Meg is like... IMPOSSIBLE to keep alive unless you just refuse to use her or put everything you have in her (exp.....). And I didn't want to restart one of the longest chapters in the game, Part 2 Chapter... I think 5 that takes over an hour to beat, so I had to sacrafice one of my characters in the final turns because my Battle Save I made wasn't a very good one at all.

I need a new game to keep my busy. But I'm holding off until November for Animal Crossing: City Folk, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, and Pokemon Ranger 2. I don't think I've ever been so hyped for a month in gaming, for game releases anyway. Wii Launch night was pretty cool.

Crysis and its add-on, Warhead on my new graphic card Radeon 4850. It looked AMAZING! Hands down the best graphics ever. The gameplay isn't half bad either.

Currently playing Tales of Vesperia -- looking good so far, the story is way better than Eternal Sonata's, so is the graphics. The GameStop clerk also talked me into pre-ordering Gears of War 2

The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360) - Overall a solid game... good combat, nice graphics, and a decent story. However, there are a couple terrible levels and a few frustrating parts that try to kill the game for no apparent reason. Grade: B

Lego Batman (Xbox 360) - I've only played a few levels in the co-op mode as this is Mrs. Montana's game. All the Lego games are fun, but I'd rank Batman as better than Lego Indiana Jones as there is more variety in the level types (lots of vehicles) and Gotham is a better fit, but it's not as good as Star Wars.

On deck: Viking: something or something