Game-stravaganza weekend.

Kind of spent the entire weekend gaming and doing chores. Have some first impressions and semi-reviews and assorted mumbo jumbo. Thanks to Farley for the lending of the games.

1) Gears of War is/was pretty awesome fun. Amanda proved her skill with third person tactical shooters - at least providing very useful assistance in fire fights. She delights in "brokeback squad" humor though - chasing my character around with amourous intent.

2) Crackdown is fun but sort of a one trick pony. Basically a cyberpunk superhero game you control a cybernetic super cop who - after finding numerous hidden power ups - is literally able to leap tall buildings and whomp the living hell out of the gang menace that plagues the city. It looks pretty neat and it's great fun to leap from rooftop to rooftop - think Spiderman without the webslinging - and just wandering and blasting stuff. After awhile I kind of wished that there was something else to do. I'll play a bit more and see if anything worthwhile happens.

3) Just Cause is a sandbox game set in Robert Rodriguez-esque world. Some island run by a junta. El Presidente is not friendly towards Uncle Sam. CIA wants to support local rebels in order to have someone in command who understands our goals in the region. CIA sends you in. It's not all sand and surf. That's the long and short of Just Cause. The player character looks and sounds like a cheap knock-off of Antonio Banderas and moves around kind of weird - like his mariachi pants are riding up. Other than that the game seems like it's going to be right up my alley. I like being thought of as a liberator and freedom fighter.

The island the game takes place on is massive, huge massive. Maybe it's just first impressions but it took me quite some time to get to the capitol city - I eventually borrowed a Cesna and just parachuted into the city. The game looks great but is almost too vibrant - the colors are just super saturated and kind of put the zap on my eyes. I'm used to grey and muted colors of destroyed cities and smooth greens of MLB outfields so when confronted with crazy jungle and beach and sunlight it takes some getting used to.

4) MLB2K6 is my new addiction. I - quite unexpectedly - have started down the path of baseball videogaming. I haven't really ever played any sports games so it's a new experience and am very slowly learning the controls. So far it turns out I can pitch and clobber foul balls deep left. I started a season yesterday playing the Rangers. I like the Rangers - they were the first MLB baseball team I ever saw play. Of course I start the season playing Boston. Bastards. Did okay the first game - won 3-2 in OT. Second game went fine - actually awesome. Young HR w/bases loaded awesomeness in the fifth. It was magic. Led 6-3 and then in the 7th the entire game went to shit. My idiot clod third baseman got an error - the ball bounced off his foot and into the outfield. The Sox demolished my defense. My relief pitcher went noodle armed. The 7th and 8th innings were shameful. The 9th was fine. Pitching was great no problem. Couldn't get on base though and ended the game 11-6. If I had a hat I would have thrown it in the dirt and jumped up and down on it. I'll play game three tonight and see if I can't prevent another wholesale slaughter.


And that's all the news for now.