So I got my copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen in the mail today, for those of you who don't know, Activision had a deal going that allowed people who pre ordered Guitar Hero 5 to get a copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen in the mail for free, before it's official release. I had actually forgotten that it was coming because it's been a month since I sent my info off, so it was a pleasant surprise. I was a little disappointed because the game came in a cardboard sleeve instead of a regular Xbox 360 game case, but I guess I can't complain too much since it was free. 
 


      The first thing that I noticed about the game was that it was obviously made before Guitar Hero 5 because it has none of the new features from GH5 nor does it sport GH5's new flashier graphics. I'm gonna assume it was made on the same engine as GH World Tour as it looks just like that game. It still has the full band mode of course although I only played on guitar. I actually don't like the new graphics in GH5 so I was happy that Van Halen has the "old" GH graphics.
 


      As someone who has never really been a big fan of Van Halen but has enjoyed some of their music, I was impressed with the setlist. The songs I played consisted of Panama, Running With the Devil, Eruption (which is just the solo, no song ), Hot for Teacher, Jamie's Cryin', and You Really Got Me. The guitar was really fun but not too hard (except for Eruption, which was redonkulous). All in all I enjoyed what little I played tonight and look forward to playing more tomorrow. I'm already enjoying it more that Guitar Hero 5.
 
       Here is the complete setlist for those that are interested:
 

• "Ain't Talkin Bout Love" by Van Halen
• "And The Cradle Will Rock" by Van Halen
• "Atomic Punk" by Van Halen
• "Beautiful Girls" by Van Halen
• "Cathedral" (solo) by Van Halen
• "Dance The Night Away" by Van Halen
• "Eruption" (solo) by Van Halen
• "Everybody Wants Some" by Van Halen
• "Feel Your Love Tonight" by Van Halen
• "Hang 'Em High" by Van Halen
• "Hear About It Later" by Van Halen
• "Hot For Teacher" by Van Halen
• "Ice Cream Man" by Van Halen
• "I'm The One" by Van Halen
• "Jamie's Cryin" by Van Halen
• "Jump" by Van Halen
• "Little Guitars" by Van Halen
• "Loss Of Control" by Van Halen
• "Mean Street" by Van Halen
• "Panama" by Van Halen
• "Pretty Woman" by Van Halen
• "Romeo Delight" by Van Halen
• "Running With The Devil" by Van Halen
• "So This Is Love" by Van Halen
• "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" by Van Halen
• "Spanish Fly" (solo) by Van Halen
• "Unchained" by Van Halen
• "You Really Got Me" by Van Halen
• "Come To Life" by Alter Bridge
• "White Wedding" by Billy Idol
• "First Date" by blink-182
• "Space Truckin" by Deep Purple
• "Best Of You" by Foo Fighters
• "Double Vision" by Foreigner
• "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne
• "Pain" by Jimmy Eat World
• "Painkiller" by Judas Priest
• "The End Of Heartache" by Killswitch Engage
• "Rock And Roll Is Dead" by Lenny Kravitz
• "I Want It All" by Queen
• "Sick, Sick, Sick" by Queens of the Stone Age
• "Master Exploder" by Tenacious D
• "Safe European Home" by The Clash
• "Pretty Fly For A White Guy" by The Offspring
• "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind
• "Dope Nose" by Weezer
• "The Takedown" by Yellowcard

First allow me to clarify on the "xbox guy" thing ; I do almost all of my online gaming on Xbox with the exception of Socom and Killzone 2. 
 
Ok, with that out of the way I'll get to the point.
     So I just got through playing my first 10 or so games of Uncharted 2 multiplayer and I think I'm already addicted. I downloaded the demo not really expecting anything special (even with all the reviews gushing over it), hell I wasn't even expecting it to be multiplayer, I thought it would be a single player demo. I enjoyed the first Uncharted but I didn't think it was as amazing as alot of people and so I kind of expected all of the gaming press to go crazy over it, they tend to cling to certain games sometimes (while they can also be shitty towards others, but that's another story). So when I saw that it was a multiplayer demo I almost didn't play it, but man am I glad I did. 



    First the map design is really good and the locations are varied, giving each new map I played a fresh look. The guns are very fun to use and the game types are great. I played elimination, regular team deathmatch, pistols only team deathmatch and a shotty snipers game. I played more than that but those are the ones that stick out. The climbing is really fun and the gunplay is very satisfying. The only times I had trouble with aiming was in close quarters, but I get that same problem in Gears of War so it's no big deal. 



   Overall I am very  excited for the release of this game now and, surprisingly, am itching to play more multiplayer. Here's to hoping that the rest of the game is as good as the multiplayer.

I know I may be a tad late on this, but I wanted to write something about my time with the Brutal Legend demo over this past weekend. First I'll say that I wouldn't have even known that there was a Brutal Legend demo available were it not for the Forza Motorsport 3 demo. the reason is that I just wasn't very interested in the game at the time. Anybody who keeps up with the games industry has at least heard of Brutal Legend and I was no exception, it's just that the things I had seen and heard did not seem very appealing to me. It also didn't help my opinion of the game when the guys were talking about it on the Giant Bombcast a few weeks ago as they too did not seem very enthusiastic about the game. 

    What a difference actually playing something makes.
 
    First off let me say that from the time the demo starts you know your in for cool ride, even the menu's are cool. the opening story is hilariously awesome and the character animation is great. Jack Black does an amazing job as Eddie Riggs and seems to fit the character really well. The game (at least what I was able to play in the demo) is a 3rd person hack 'n slash with great feeling controls and cool, fun moves. You start out with a big ass double bladed battle axe called "The Separator" which does a fine job of cutting dudes heads off, and soon add a "flying - V" electric guitar to your arsenal named "Clementine". Hitting power chords on Clemetine sends out a shockwave that can knock back enemies and bring down the house, literally. Soon after you meet Ophelia, a girl who is after the Separator, and she joins you in battling evil dudes.
 


    Soon after you come across a slab of stone with carvings that appear to be a blueprint for building a hot rod. When prompted you enter into a kind of Guitar Heroish music mini game in which Eddie plays shred-tastic solo, bringing forth the parts need to build his hotrod, the Druid Plow, or the Deuce. Eddie and Ophelia jump in the Deuce and haul ass down the road running over demons as they go. Not long after you find yourself fighting a huge worm type creature after which Eddie tells Ophelia that he will teach her what "french kissing" is. 
 
      I went from not caring one or the other about this game to it being a must have for me, all because of the demo. Makes me wonder how many other have been sold on the game by the demo. If heavy metal music were a video game, it would be Brutal Legend. Everything from the kick ass music playing in the background to the world itself just screams metal. This game also screams high production value, it's obvious that this game is a labor of love for the guys and gals at Double Fine. If you have access to an Xbox Live gold account then you owe it to yourself as someone who enjoys video games to at least try it, I think you'll very pleased with what you find.

 
 


Badass. That's the first word that comes to mind when thinking of ODST. Having just finished the game about 30 minutes ago, I'm still reeling from Bungie's latest offering in the Halo series.

  So first things first: Is it worth $60? Your damn right it is. Hell, I payed $100 for the limited edition and I still feel it was worth it (albeit mine came with the limited edition ODST controller). It also depends on what defines "worth it" to you. Is it long enough to be a full priced game? In a word, yes. I wasn't keeping track of how long it took me to finish ODST, but I've played it every night since Tuesday, for several hours a night and I just finished it. Hell, once I got the Mongoose I just hauled ass from one clue to the next, I didn't even find all the weapon caches or audio logs (I'm saving that for my Legendary play through). So to get the question of if it's worth it or not, yes, it's worth it.

 Common logic says that I should have been able to jump into ODST and feel right at home but that's not exactly the case. Not being the Master Chief takes some getting used to, requiring you to change your tactics when fighting the Covenant. Not having shields takes the most getting used to as you can't just run out into battle and wait for your shields to recharge after taking some hits, well not exactly anyways. In ODST you have stamina, which acts like shields but isn't quite as strong as Master Chief's shields in prior Halo games. Visually the effects of stamina look the same as when you take damage in a Call of Duty game in that the screen gets all red and your guy starts breathing heavy.

Don't get me wrong though, ODST is still unmistakeably Halo. The graphics really do the most work when it comes to letting you know you are in fact playing a Halo game, because the game looks almost identical to Halo 3. But that's fine with me because I love the way Halo 3 looks, but I could definitely see where improvements were made. There seems to be a slight film grain look that appears to try and represent what it would be like looking through the ODST's visor. The character's faces and animations seem a step up from Halo 3 as well. The lighting is amazing as usual and even better than Halo 3 in a lot of ways.

The new weapons, which are the suppressed and scoped smg and automag pistol, are really fun to use. The automag can be very deadly when laying down head shots and the smg is accurate enough to hit enemies at a distance but still enough of an uzi to handle multiple enemies in close quarters. I must say though, it feels weird not having the Battle Rifle, almost as if it were "less Halo" if that makes any sense. I found the best way to take down brutes quickly was to "noob combo" the plasma pistol and the automag. Also, it could just be me but it seemed like it was taking more shots to kill Covenant than it did in Halo 3 even though I was using the same weapons (from Halo 3) most of the time.Weird.

The story is really cool especially for someone like myself who has read all the books and generally soaks up as much "Halo" as they can. Bungie did an excellent job of flexing their creative muscles in order to bring some innovation to the tried and true Halo series. Some might argue that mechanically the game hasn't changed, and I would not argue with them. But that's the beauty of it, they managed to make it feel fresh while keeping it familiar. The way the game is set up is that you have the city of New Mombasa, in which you can roam through freely and as you make your way through the city you find clues, these clues when found trigger a sort of flashback that then puts you in the shoes of another member of your squad showing you what happened to them.

Other things like how the superintendent guides you through the city using pay phones, car alarms, police sirens, and detour signs are all really well done. Also, the visor which has been called a night vision visor in some media outlets, is not exactly that. It does provide limited vision in low light areas, but some areas you may be just as well with it turned off. The cool thing is how it outlines structures and things of importance like enemies, weapons, and clues. It's also a must for finding the audio logs scattered throughout the city. The audio logs are cool because they add another layer of story to the game and give you a better look at the civilian side of the Covenant invasion.

I think Bungie's decision to use the voice actor's likeness' in the game really payed off as well. Nathan Fillion is incredible as Buck as are all the other characters. The character development is some of the best yet seen in a Halo game and really shows how good Bungie has gotten at telling rich, compelling stories. I also enjoyed the fact that Buck and Captain Dare had once been a couple and the extra layer that brought to the story. This game really made me care about the characters and what happened to them. There are other things that are introduced later in the story that are really cool and well done, but I won't spoil the game here.

Overall I was very pleased with ODST. The fact that the game was made in a year just blows my mind and really shows how much time is spent just building the game engine. ODST's single player alone would be enough to justify a $60 purchase for me, but when you add in Firefight mode AND the complete Halo 3 multiplayer disc it becomes a no-brainer. I can't wait to play through the single player campaign co-op with three friends. ODST is already my favorite game this year and with all the multiplayer content I imagine I'll be playing it well into next year.

 


 
I just got through checking out the Forza 3 demo and man, that shit is sick. I already knew the graphics were gonna be great from the trailers I've seen but seeing them first hand  is incredible. The frame rate is silky smooth and the controls feel spot on (as usual). The new "rewind" feature is great too. By hitting the "back" button at any time during the race, the game will rewind a few seconds back so as to retry any mistakes you may have made (you can keep hitting "back" to go back as far as you want). One of the things that always pissed me off in racing sims were those moments where you tryed a race multiple times and finally have a chance at winning only to wreck on the last lap and lose the race. For me personally, something like that can ruin the whole game. 
 



  I played using my official Microsoft wheel while in cockpit view. Cockpit view is something I've never been very fond of all the way back to PGR3 "the first game to feature a fully modeled cockpit view, that I know of). For some reason the cockpit view always felt too claustrophobic to me, while in Forza 3 it doesn't feel that way at all. I also tried the "easy" difficulty in which all assists are turned on and to my surprise it was quite enjoyable. The new auto braking feature seemed to work well, handling all the braking duties and leaving you to steer the car and control throttle.I seriously cannot wait until this game comes out. If you have an Xbox360 and are at all into racing games (sims or not) you should download the Forza 3 demo and give it a run, I think you'll come away impressed.