The proof is in the bio.

     Recently, a friend invited me over to play a freshly purchased copy of Gradius III (SNES version).  I'd never played the game before, but who could blame me?  It came out just five months after I was born and it was never a part of my childhood SNES collection.  At first, I didn't take much liking to the game.  The ship was slow, the power-up system was a mystery (we were both new to the game, so there was a learning curve) and Game Over was becoming common vernacular.  At some point, we became sidetracked with one thing or another and set the game down and to be honest... I didn't give the game much thought after that.
     Weeks later, I found myself playing Gradius III on the PSP (On the, uh, Gradius Collection of course.  :P) and loved it.  I guess the pacing of the action just sort of clicked, finally.  Without reserve, I nabbed the game off Wii Shop around 3AM this morning and played a good four hours before logging onto GiantBomb.com to update the neglected Gradius III article.
     I guess my point is... Gradius III is fucking awesome!  How did I spend the last two decades without it?

     I've got to admit, I was extremely excited to hear there was a planned sequel for one of my favorite games, BioShock.  However, the excitement quickly subsided upon information that BioShock 2 would actually be a sequel.  To me, it doesn't feel like there's much left to be done with the original BioShock storyline after the events fo the original game.  I feel BioShock 2 would have been a lot of fun had it been a prequel.  Could you imagine starting the game viewing the magnificence of the once eutopian Rapture?
     I think the game would have heavily benefited from the strong sense of dramatic irony gamer-end while watching rapture quickly crumble.  Imagine entering Rapture as plasmids were beginning to get out of control.  I mean, you could have even played the part of assisting Andrew Ryan and eventually become a Big Daddy or something of the like.  My point being, they could have still put you behind the roll of Big Daddy without putting you in a predictably lame sequel.
     They even could have introduced a new city altogether.  Perhaps a Rapture created for the moon by Ryan's predecessor?  There was so much room for Bio Shock 2 to be great.  As a fan, I'm left feeling sorely disappointed in what I've read, heard and seen about the game.  Let's hope 2K has an ace in the hole with this one.