Hello and welcome to another edition of the Doctor's Prognosis! The only blog too big to really be considered a blog!

Good news is I am almost done with the semester which means maybe I can start dating regularly again.... maybe!

Also, maybe I can catch up on my backlog of games to play/finish as well.

Been playing Gears 2 quite a bit. Will probably have a mini-review next time. Also borrowed MK vs. DC so I will have to mention that in my next blog after having more playtime with it. Anyway got some new game impressions so lets get into it.

Left 4 Dead Demo Impressions

Ok so this game has a lot of buzz but I have to admit I did not like the demo. It got boring after a while. But it was pretty cool to be surrounded by zombies and then spin around really fast while holding down on the trigger. Guess what? I actually survived and killed them off like that. I thought that was kind of lame.

Now to be fair, this was only single-player campaign and I have the feeling that the game is great fun with a group of people (living and undead) to play with. I could see myself doing that for a couple of days before getting bored with that too. Because shooting easy-to-kill zombies with more people is more fun, but in the end is still just shooting easy-to-kill zombies.

Eh, I know that my opinion probably won't be very popular but it wasn't my cup of tea. And I was looking forward to it too.

Naruto: Broken Bond Demo Impressions

Ok so some will think I invalidate my previous opinion with this one but I actually liked this demo.

The first part wasn't all that great. You run around as Naruto and it does mimic the way Naruto and the other ninjas run around in the anime. But the controls for the running didn't feel as tight as I would have liked. I did like the little jumping minigame where you keep going faster if you time your button pressing correctly.

The fighting wasn't anything revolutionary but good enough for Naruto fans. It is simple but can be repetitive. The cool thing was being able to do hand signs to perform jutsus and playing as the different Naruto characters. Some of the jutsus help you solve little puzzles on the field map too.

Anyway, I could see myself having some fun with this game as a rental for a week or two. Not good for anyone not familiar with Naruto. Check out the demo if you're a Naruto fan. It even includes Japanese audio!

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts Demo Impressions

Alright so I was looking forward to playing a Banjo game for the first time and hoping this would be good. Well I was hoping for a platformer and what I got was a vehicular game instead. Epic meh!

Anyway, this demo gives you an idea of how to build your own vehicles which is a cool idea. You get to try out one stage to get an idea of the gameplay. I was not impressed.

I took my box-mobile and tried exploring the first level to find something to do and ran into some mole that wanted me to take part in a race. I did and had to maneuver through some rings while trying to outrace some other challengers. Yawn.....

Yeah so I could see some kids liking this game but stay away if you want a good platformer. It's not really a bad game, just not what I wanted.

Banjo-Kazooie Trial Game Impressions

I finally got to try out the original Banjo (on XBox Live Arcade) to see what all the fuss was about and boy was I hooked! It plays a lot like a Mario game with it's own brand of humor. Kazooie and that Mole made me LOL poking fun at each other.

Normally I hate collecting stuff in a game but I actually got hooked wanting to keep looking for more Jiggies and notes and stuff. Now I know what the fuss was all about. Very fun gameplay with tight controls. Forget Nuts and Bolts! Buy this addictive game on XBox Live Arcade instead!

Batman: Arkham Asylum Trailer

Just revealed! New trailer featuring actual gameplay footage and a brief look at some of the villains. Recognizable villains include Joker and Killer Croc. There is also some not so recognizable characters. One looks like it could be the obscure Amygdala, and another one could be the equally obscure Zsasz... maybe? Anyway check it out in Hi-Res!

(BTW... Anyone know how to embed video here?)

Cosplayer of the Blog

Keeping in theme somewhat, here is the lovely Catwoman!

Ok so that's not THE Catwoman. But I don't hear anyone complaining.

Ok now one for the women. Reno of the Turks!

Hmmmm.... Actually, that one might BE a woman. Or just an effeminate man. Sometimes it's hard to tell. But that's the way Final Fantasy characters are supposed to look anyway right?

Thanks for making another appointment with The Doctor's Prognosis! I hope next time I won't wait another whole month. Maybe that way it won't be so long. Well, at least my writing is good quality with mostly correct spelling and grammar!

See you next time!