FEAR 2 - Definitely better than the first one, but that's not saying much by itself as I hated the original. The level design isn't perfect, but it is eons ahead of the first, and overall the variety is good. The achievement points are still on the stingy side, but nothing like FEAR 1, which netted me a total of 75 out of 1000 points for clearing the game (I'll end FEAR 2 with around 450). But, while it's better, there is just something that doesn't click for me. It's never as scary as it seems like it should be (a lot of cheap 'monster closet' scares), and the story is so convoluted its hard to get into it. Grade: C+/B-

I havent updated the list in a long time
Madworld - Interesting concept but the game is way too short. I love the style but the control schemes for the Wii is quite disappointing and why bother implementing the motion control if you arent going to fully utilize the motion control setting. The game would have been better on the 360 with better graphics and more freedome with the gameplay-C+
Killzone 2 - I didnt play much of the game. I didnt really have time back then so I returned it by mail only to get more games I havent really unopened on the envelope seal. I never really have that much interest in FPS
Downloable content from Fable 2 and Fallout So far they arent that long but quite interesting. Not sure if its really worth the money spent but they were better than the newer games the past few weeks
Sacred 2 - A game to cure insomnia. The diablo clones are really that inferior. I need to make a note to return the game back to gamefly and exchange it again with Killzone 2 D
Punch Out - too archiac and obsolete for my taste. If it wasnt for the controllers, I would have graded it down to a C but then again how hard is it to really screw up a motion control fighting game. B-
Bionic Commando - gamefly rental again. I didnt have much interest but I just had it on queue anyhow because there really was nothing else to fill in the 3 slots. I saw the bad reviews so I decided to use my time on Infamous instead [/b]
Infamous - The longer I play it the little more I drop my grade. The game runs you around 20 hours but like Assasin's Creed, it suffers quite a bit from repetativeness. Theres like 4 types of business and they are around the same. Like Crackdown, the main missions are interesting but the sidequests lack alot of be desired. I think I would rank it slightly below Crackdown. B+
Sims 3 - Probably the best game for me so far this year. The neighborhood got expanded and alot more characters you can interact with. The vast improvements of the game for me is that it doesnt have those crazy load times if you step out into town. Its probably my highest recommendation for huge replay value and I would probably continue to play it till the beginning of fallA

Guitar Hero Metallica - GH still can't even carry Rock Band's jock strap, but it is improving the more it copies Rock Band, which GH:M does borrow a few more of their ideas. I like most of Metallica's songs, but it's about 70% great/good and 30% annoying for theirs. The non-Metallica songs mostly suck, with only a few goodies (Foo Fighters and Bob Seger). There's a healthy collection of extras, from a "pop up video" feature to several Metallica and BTS videos. Overall it's the first GH that I've actually wanted to own since GH2. Grade: B-

World Series of Poker 2008 - Really could have been a downloadable game, but it's enjoyable for what it is. The face scanning with the Vision Camera is actually pretty good, but the hair and clothing options suck. Grade: C

Trivial Pursuit - Another game that should have been a downloadable game. Really light on feature, extras, or anything that says this should be a full fledged game. At the very least, you'd think they'd throw in some video or audio questions to utilize the fact that it is on a gaming machine, but no... it's pretty much the same as the board game, but in digital form and more annoying (bad announcer, unskippable animations). Grade: D+

Call of Duty World at War, was going to play it, but Xbox Live is down for maintenance. I like my achievements to have time stamps, so won't be playing it until later today or tomorrow.

Midnight Club: LA - I can count all the unique elements of this racing game on 1 finger. The ability to actually pull over for the Police and take a ticket right away (without the mandatory beating most games make you take for any infraction) and/or pull off right before the officer gets up to your car is the only unique thing in this game. The rest can be found in every other racing game, and nothing here is done better than the others - from the graphics, sense of speed, story, annoying characters - it's all painfully average and slightly boring.

Iron Man - The poster child for a movie game... glitchy, simplistic, and dull.

Call of Duty WaW - Over the last year I went to hating the war shooters to actually enjoying a few (COD4, Brothers in Arms: HH). So far, WaW appears to be another decent one. I like the historical footage and it has decent graphics along with a good sense of action. It's not as good as COD4 or BiA:HH yet, but I think I may enjoy it.

Monsters vs. Aliens - It's really a game with 3 levels (one for each character), but then each of those is repeated 8 times. 24 levels or mind numbing repetition! Pure awesomeness - if you like crap. It does have a nice set of extras though, with in character commentary for a lot of the levels. Grade: D+

Lips - A good little party game. I like that all the songs have original videos (at least all the ones that had an original video to begin with), and the wireless sparkly microphones that pulse with the music are cool. It's not a deep, competitive music game like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, and is definitely more of a casual party game. There are a ton of downloadable songs and a good wide selection from country to pop to rock to rap that spans a lot of eras. However, if you rely just on the music on the disc, it's a little light at a mere 40 songs (by comparison, GH:WT and RB2 are well over 80 each). Grade: B

Gears of War 2: Road to Ruin (Deleted Scene)
Well I've held off from buying any of the map expansion packs for Gears 2, becuase I knew they would eventually get around to releasing a value package with all of them. This add on gave me all 19 maps and the deleted scene called "Road to Ruin". I see why it was a deleted scene now as it adds nothing new to the main game and plays out just like any battle you've experienced while playing the regular campaign. Yes you can play it in stealth mode but really it's just you following Dom around the level. 30 minutes and you can run through both scenarios with little trouble.

D- for the Deleted scene
A+ for the Value of 19 Maps

Might and Magic VII.

I'm having a great time, will replay VI and VIII after this.

Resident Evil 5 - It's not a completely terrible game, but I could go on for days listing the things that irk me about it. The inability to move and shoot is horrible (is this, 1999?). The moronic partner AI... Sheva is always doing things to piss me off, and I always have to babysit her ass. The inventory system is terrible (again... it's outdated). The whole game feels like a generic RE, and adds nothing new to the series. For the most part the level design is boring, drab, and far too linear, and there are times the game turns into a clunky version of Tomb Raider with TR style puzzles. However, despite all this it is halfway playable... it's just not that compelling, and it definitely won't be a memorable game when I'm done (I'm on the last level). Grade: C

Guitar Hero: Smash Hits - Activision is out to kill the music genre as they are releasing a new music game every week now. This one feels like the biggest cash out of them all, as the game is completely on auto-pilot. It's the exact same core game as GH:World Tour or GH: Metallica, and all the tracks are recycled from GH1, GH2, GH3, and GH:80's. The only new thing is the ability to play drums or vocals to these re-hashed tunes. There are a handful of songs that are nice to have the full complement of instruments to play with now, but this should have been DLC and not a full game. Grade: C-

Silent Hill Homecoming - I can not play the game. There is no way to invert the camera, and it's so damn frustrating fighting with it the entire game. I finally gave up.

Fight Night Round 4 - So far I'm convinced it's a lot worse than FNR3 in just about every way. But, I'm early on and maybe my opinion will change as I play more of it.

NBA2K10 Combine - This is a $5 arcade game in which you create a player and send him through an NBA combine... complete with a 6 game schedule and drills. Then you can import the character to NBA 2K10. It's well worth the $5, and kind of fun, but seems pretty hard as your player really sucks to begin with. Only downside is I believe you can only make one player and go through it once, then you're done.

Good to hear I didn't miss much. SH2 remains one of the better survival/horror games I've ever played, but none of the other SH games I've tried have been anywhere close to that one. I keep holding out hope that one day they'll recapture the magic.

Batman Arkham Asylum. So far, I find the game pretty excellent. Good balance between detective and beat-em-up. The combat system is very rewarding and gratifying when you get the hang of it. Voice acting is also top notch. I was a bit worried about purchasing this, thinking it would be easy and not worth exploring, but I was very wrong. Lots of things to explore and mini-games to complete that make it worth a purchase. A

Well I fired up the Wii again after two months, last game I played was Punch Out!! for a couple of weeks until it went dormant again.

(Wii) House of Dead: OverKill
Wow what a suprising game! If you liked the Grindhouse movies of the 70's or QT's movies from a couple of years ago you are going to love the "Presentation" in this game. It mimics the weird trailers and themes and each level is like a new movie scenario. There's a reason it's rated MA, good gory action with heads and body parts blown off with each pull of the trigger and Some of the most harsh language I ever heard in a game. It all done tongue and cheek but I would let my kids play Gears of War before I would let them touch this.
A+

Up next Wii Sports Resort and The Conduit (Wii)

Mirror's Edge - Man if I had paid more then 15 Euro for this I would have been pissed off.

Its pretty much the demo copy and pasted 15 time's. The collision detection is a tad off and the overall story is meh.

I admire the games honesty and its pretty unique but in terms of repeat gameplay its falling behind.

Ghostbusters - There are parts where this is a really good game... the voice acting, the whole Ghostbusters feel (most of the classic settings and ghosts from the movies appear), and some of the game mechanics (catching ghosts can be fun). However, it too often gets bogged down in video game cliches... sewers, tunnels, puzzles, mazes, etc... The level design could get really boring, frustrating, and/or confusing near the end, and as a result I was ready for it to be over. Despite that, however, I did enjoy the experience overall, and it was MUCH better than your typical movie game. Grade: B-

Velvet Assassin - I'm about 4 levels in, and so far I like the game. It reminds me very much of the classic Splinter Cell games (which I loved), but with lower tech stealth (it's set in WWII). But, I've heard in most reviews that the game turns terrible near the end, so I'm prepared for the worst...

I MADE A GAME WITH ZOMBIES IN IT - A $1 Indie game that is really funny. Kind of a Robotron style shooter, but with zombies and a lot of humor. BUY THIS GAME. It'll be the best $1 you ever spent.

Currently playing Batman Arkham Asylum, it's the shit!

Do you have to be a big fan of the Batman universe to enjoy it?

No, not at all. Gameplay is awesome, the combat system is one of the better ones in recent years, i love how Batman pummels adversaries senseless, the fluidity and the variety of combat moves is a sight to behold, plus you have gadgets like the batarang, batclaw and explosives. There is also stealth, you can sneak, plan ahead, set traps, surprise them from behind, above and even underneath, in short, lots of different ways to take out opponents.

The game also features a bit of exploration, for instance figguring out how to traverse a level or searching for clues in detective mode. Getting collectibles is quite a bit of fun, too, since it not only involves picking up random items in secret locations but you also have to solve riddles and the rewards for doing all this are story & character insights as well as new game modes, not just achievements.

Presentation is top notch, great graphics and especially voice acting, the story is good enough that it makes you want to continue to see what happens next. One downside i can think of is perhaps the backtracking but it gets mitigated by the fact that levels change a bit as the story develops.

A candidate for GOTY, imho.

Thanks for the info, Nazgul. My brother picked up the game and said the same thing - said it was the best thing he played all year by a long ways.

Also watched Zero Punctuations review, and even he liked it (and he hates everything!). I'm going to steal it from my bro when he's done...

Marvel Alliance 2- Interesting story involving the civil war between Iron Man and Captain America. Too bad that segment of that story only last 3-4hrs. The game itself is only 10 hours long for the main missions.

Halo OOST - meh, I played 2 hours of it and am already returning it. Too little action

Im loving the Brutal Legend demo alot. I cant wait for the full retail

High School Musical 3 - Could not get my wife to play this for me, so I "had" to earn the 700-ish points myself. Luckily I could do it with a controller and the sound down to almost nothing. Unfortunately, I lost all my balls in the process. Toughest achievement points I ever earned, and therefore the ones I'm most proud of. It also should be noted that Troy is my BFF.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate - I was promised an easy 1000 points and a really short game. Plus it was supposed to be decent. So far it feels kind of long, it's painfully average, and one playthrough got me a lowly 370 points. I have to play through it 1 full time and repeat other levels a few times to get the 1000. What a bunch of bullshit. At least it's better than the god awful movie, but not a ton better.

Before you pass judgment, keep in mind that I have so far been able to resist the Hannah Montana game. I'm not promising that it'll stay that way, but at least we know now that my line rests somewhere between HSM3 and Hannah Montana.