Gaming News: Xbox One Backwards Compatibilty Games List Announced.

Major Nelson just announced the full list of Xbox 360 backwards compatible games for the Xbox One. It is a long freaking list which is great for Xbox 360 players who never gave up their games and want to make some space in their entertainment unit, but bad for me who has to list all these damn titles for you, vultures. I have a life you know!

Check out the list in the full blog post.

Tags: GameTrailers.com, E3 2011: Debut Trailer, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Debut trailer for Fable: The Journey. Will have Kinect controls and due out in Winter of 2012.

Stuff I Got Excited About: Microsoft Xbox Conference Edition

Video Games | Xbox 360 | E3 2010: The New Xbox 360 Featurette

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Okay, so yesterday we had the first of the big 3 game conference starting with Microsoft and all their Xbox news. Honestly if you didn't know any better you would have thought you were watching a Nintendo conference from a couple of years ago. Kinect Sports = Wii Sports? Kinectimals = Nintendogs? Kinect Joy Ride = Mario Kart Wii? I think so.


Basically both Microsoft and Sony are now jumping on the casual and motion controller train to grab their bag o' money and its kind of sad in a way. I like to sit on my ass to play videogames and so do the rest of the real gamers in this world. Kinect will be just another gadget people will turn on once and while but will basically collect dust once the novelty wears off. I only keep my Wii around for Nintendo's core line-up of games and that's it.

Video Games | Fable III | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

So besides the dumb Kinect stuff they showed off, Microsoft did managed to bring a few "A" game items like Fable 3 *drools* and Metal Gear Solid Rising which will feature Raiden in the main role this time. He will have new precision sword control.

Video Games | Metal Gear Solid: Rising | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

They also showed off a teaser trailer for a new game called Codename: Kingdoms. Not much was shown in the preview but it looked promising. Overall most of it was Kinect games and demo time with the new device. They also showed off Call of Duty: Black Ops, Gears of War 3, Forza 4 and a little known game called Halo Reach.

But again, most of it focused on Kinect games like Dance Central, a new full motion dance moves game or Your Shape: Fitness Evolved which will also take full advantage of the Kinect system. The only cool game they talked about here was the possible Kinect Star Wars game but until I get a lightsaber with a game, I am still not jumping for joy here.

They also talked about new features coming to Xbox Live like ESPN and the games on demand feature but more than likely this will not come to Canada, so moving along.

Video Games | Dance Central | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Beside Halo Reach, Fable 3 and Metal Gear Solid Rising, there was much here to jump for joy over. Even their announcement of a brand new Xbox 360 with a 250GB hard drive and built-in Wi-Fi didn't have me jumping out of my seat. I personally don't have the money to buy a new one even though my old Xbox is chugging along a horrible rate right now. Maybe if I got a freebie like the other journalists there in studio, I could jump for joy.

Note: this new Xbox still will chew your game disc to hell if you move the system mid-play. Video via Destructoid

If you are hard up for a new Xbox though, these babies are shipping out right now and should be in stores as of next week. Considering the hard drive space, built-in Wi-Fi and the fact they are the same price as the old console, I would go for it. RRoD and disc chewing aside, the new models are still better in the long run for the price.

Review: Green Day Rock Band

Green Day: Rock Band
MTV Games, Harmonix
Available for Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3

Another day, another band inspired music game. It began with Guitar Hero Aerosmith and ever since band inspired music games keep hitting the market whether we like it or not. Green Day is the newest band to have game dedicated to their long and successful career by the developers at Harmonix. Green Day: Rock Band allows you to rock out to the boys’ career from the Dookie album all the way to the 21th Century Breakdown album.

The game has 47 songs from several Green Day albums, Dookie, Nimrod, Insomiac, American Idiot, Warning and 21th Century Breakdown. You can also purchase a few downloadable songs from 21th Century Breakdown album that weren’t included on the disc. There are no songs from Green Day’s first two albums, Kerplunk and 39/Smooth and I have heard of no plans to make downloadable packs for them either. Overall the selection of songs is excellent and the level of difficulty is perfect for a skilled Rock Band or Guitar Hero player. I was playing the hardest songs right of the bat with only a few missed notes here and there.





The gameplay of Green Day: Rock Band is your standard Rock Band game with a career mode, both offline and online with the option to play with up to 4 players. You also have a quick play mode with 4 players, both online and offline. You can play guitar, bass, drums or sing. There are also 4 part harmonies just like Beatles Rock Band, even though Green Day only has 3 members. There are three venues and three incarnations of the band you can plan during career and quick play mode. These venues and band fashion statements are from various points in Green Day’s career.

As you play through career mode, you gain cred points based on your star performance rating during a song. Those cred points can be used to unlock a song challenge and eventually, bonus materials about the band like interviews, photos and more. If you are a massive fan of the band, this is where the real goodies come in. There are also the standard achievement/trophy challenges in game that have been toned down to a more achievable level this time as opposed to the ones in Beatles Rock Band.





After playing through a hour of the career mode, I was disappointed to see a lack of real creativity in this game. For a band that inspired a rock musical, you think they could have come up with better song background then just the band jumping around on stage. Beatles Rock Band setup each song as almost a mini history music video with cool references to the song’s moment in the band’s career. Octopus’ Garden had the band change from playing in a sound studio to playing underwater in the ocean, while St. Pepper/With a Little Help from My Friends had the band in a garden playing in their St. Pepper costumes like the album cover. Green Day: Rock Band seems to lack any real imagination in this department and it made me wonder why even bother making a game dedicated to this band.

What also surprised me is the fact that this game even got made in the first place. Now don’t get me wrong, Green Day is the perfect band to rock out to but for a band that is so controversial and against censorship how could they ever agree to make a mainstream game that censors their lyrics? Guess even rebels have a price at which they’re willing to sell-out.

As far as Rock Band games go, Green Day: Rock Band isn’t offering up anything more than series of downloadable album packs that got some Green Day band avatars and few extras slapped on for show. When compared to Beatles Rock Band, this game should feel ashamed to even call itself a band inspired music game. But if you really want to purchase this game, do it cause you really love Green Day and not because you feel the need to add another Rock Band game to your collection – how else will these game companies learn when enough is enough?

Rating: 7/10
Rent it!

Review: Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII
Square Enix
Available for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360

I have been a long time fan of Square Enix products since the early days when they were known as Squaresoft and produced amazing games like Final Fantasy VI, Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger. However lately I have felt like the magical goose that once laid the golden eggs has since dried up and can barely produce a normal egg let alone a golden one anymore. I use to anticipate every game that came out of Square Enix’s roster but now I find their games feel broken and rushed.

The best example would be this week’s review game, Final Fantasy XIII, the newest installment in a once amazing franchise which now feels like an once proud show dog which has been over breed and cross breed with any dog that would sleep with it in order to produce various new Final Fantasy prequels, sequels, off-shoots and re-makes. Ultimately though Square Enix has just ended up with a bunch of sick and retarded puppies that no one wants like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles or the new Final Fantasy XIII which they revamped into some strange, overly JRPG tale that barely resembles the FF games we know and love. As the saying goes, ff it ain’t broken then don’t fix it and Final Fantasy X and XII weren’t broken, so why on God’s Green Earth did you stray from the winning formula and come up with this piece of crap?



Basically Final Fantasy XIII (try to keep up with this plot) has you following both Lightening and Sazh who are rushing to save Serah, Lightening’s sister from the fal’Cie who have turned her into an I’Cie. I’Cie are people who are marked with a focus; a vague task they must complete and if they do not complete this task within a certain amount of time, they will turn into crystal statues. Along the way, they pick up various team members, Snow, Vanille and Hope; people will similar ideals who all join in the fight against the fal’Cie. Unfortunately in their fight against the fal’Cie, the team becomes I’Cie too, and must figure out and complete their focus before it is too late. Meanwhile there is also a purge going on of all the local people which is adding to the fun of your surroundings.

If you manage to follow along with the storyline and not get confused beyond belief, then get ready for more boring fun. While past Final Fantasy games tend to give you at least a sense of freedom with an open world map, this game will never show you anything more than one long map to keep running through. You will never find a town to explore full of quaint little people that say the same thing over and over again or find a cute little airship to take over and explore your world. NOTHING, NADA! You are stuck following linear maps for most of the game and if you want to level up in order to handle new higher level enemies then you have to back track to do so. There are some side quests that pop up later on in the game but by this point, you are so use to 2 walls on either side, you really don’t care.



The characters will eventually have to you bashing your head into a wall with their annoying attitudes and even more annoying dialogs. I personally wanted to stab Hope through the eye with a pencil as he whines more than my youngest nephew and he’s a baby – he’s suppose to cry. I found it incredibly hard to believe that this little mommy’s boy was going to help save the world from the fal’cie because he can barely function without his dead Mother. I think the only character I liked was Sazh and his little Chocobo which lives in his afro but he seems the most out of place amongst all these people. He was too normal and too cool to be hanging out in a JRPG story. Overall everything character besides Sazh was either too depressed, angry or upbeat which made the game comparable to a bad anime movie.

Unlike previous Final Fantasy games, you have little control over your team members during battle which makes strategy and preparation very important. Instead of choosing your battle commands before each round during battle, you instead pick battle roles for yourself and team members and then your team members will automatically pick the most proper command for that moment from their list of techniques. Roles include a fighter type, magic type, effects type, protector type and healer type. You will have control over your main character at all times but you will only have access to their current role commands as well as your general item selection and role switch command which is why multiple role combos is important. If you diversify your roles throughout your battle, your party will live longer and kill faster with the use of effects and protector roles.

Each role type has various commands and status upgrades you can unlock with CP points you gain during battle. Upgrades are done through the Crystarium which is very much like the Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X except that each role for each character has a different Crystarium. You can also upgrade items like weapons and accessories with random item parts you find during battle. You don’t find this out until the 4th Chapter and I had sold most of my parts by this point because the game doesn’t give you a lot of gold. I was mad to find this out so late in the game because parts are hard to find. Maybe if monsters actually dropped gold like in previous games I wouldn’t have sold the parts though.

I honestly think the only reason I kept playing this game is to find out if the storyline gets any better because I wasn’t happy with anything in this game beside the usual amazing graphics and sound. Square Enix does always make pretty games and I was blown away with the great use of contrast with Cocoon’s perfect crystal world and Pulse’s junky and grungy surface world. The characters continue to look more and more like real human beings with every new game.



Created by Masashi Hamauzu who also scored Dirge of Cereberus, Final Fantasy XIII soundtrack features a song from Leona Lewis, “My Hands” and it is quite beautiful. I don’t think anything will be quite as cool as the Final Fantasy X-2 soundtrack which I still groove in my car to but I think overall this soundtrack is tranquil and franchise worthy.

2 years is a long time to wait for a disappointment and now all I can think about is Kingdom Hearts 3 and how they could screw that up too. Considering what a bastard child Kingdom Heart: 358/2 days was it is a possibly. I hate to be cruel to a company whom I loved and relied on for so long for awesome games but they just have to learn to stop messing around with their bread and butter franchises. Final Fantasy wasn’t broken so why in God’s name did you try change it? I want my good game company back!

Rating: 6 out of 10

Reviews: Dragon Age Origins - DLCs & Expansion Pack

Dragon Age: Origins - All Download Content and Expansion Packs
EA, Bioware
Available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC

Dragon Age Origins is probably the best RPG game available on the market right now and while you can play the main disc over and over again for multiple endings and different game play experiences, it’s still nice to know that there is add-on content available for the game. Currently you can download 2 new quests, 1 expansion pack and 2 item packs for the game and I’ve reviewed them all to save you from wasting some good coin on unworthy content.

Dragon Age Origins: The Stone Prisoner
Downloadable Content

This downloadable quest was available as a free extra when you purchased the initial game, so this review is really more for those who buy a used copy of the game. The Stone Prisoner starts with an encounter with a merchant who gives you a control rod for a Golem and information on where he got the rod. Following his information, you arrive in a small town which is under a Darkspawn attack and there you find the rod’s matching broken stone golem, and its former owner’s son in need of much help. Once you complete the son’s mission, you will walk away with the key to a new party member, a stone golem named Shale.

While the main quest of The Stone Prisoner will only take you a couple of hours to complete, the new character and items you gain are quite worth the money spent on the download. Not only do you get a new powerful ally who uses crystals as armor and weapons but you will gain new dialog with this character and eventually a new companion quest which is both funny and enlightening.

Honestly even if this content hadn’t been free with my game purchase, I would have purchased it anyway because Shale alone is worth the spending the all those points. If I had to recommend any download quest as your first, this would be it.

Buy it!

Dragon Age Origins: Return to Ostagar
Downloadable Content

Dragon Age Origins: Return to Ostagar was the first real download made available for purchase after the release of the game. The add-on content was setup as a quest to find the body of King Cailan and Duncan as well as important documents but what the quest really turned out was a poor excuse to get King Cailan’s armor. You end up battling random Darkspawn in the snow for a bunch of armor pieces that aren’t even worth the time unless you decide to download this quest early on in your travels. The rest of the quest is just fluff as far as I’m concerned because even though you manage to find and give final rights to King Cailan, the developers left out finding Duncan’s body which to me should have meant way more to my characters. Sure, you get to slay the ogre that killed him and Cailan but who cares ... I wanted to lay Duncan’s body to rest as well.

The quest is just too short and completely lacking any good items to make it a worthwhile download. Basically this quest was so useless to me when I downloaded it at the end of my main game that I could compare it to the horse armor download for Oblivion, so unless you are really obsessed with having every download available from this game, I would avoid this add-on like the plague.

Pass on it!

Dragon Age Origins: Awakenings
Downloadable Content or Purchase as Hard Disc

I would think that any game that starts you off naked is probably not a good sign. Dragon Age Origins: Awakening was the first true expansion to Dragon Age Origins. Available both as a download or hard disc purchase, Awakening offered a new story, new characters and a whole new land to go killing in. Playing as either your previous Dragon Age Origins character (possibly resurrected) or as a new Grey Warden from Orlais, you arrive at Virgil’s Keep in Amaranthine as the new Grey Warden commander, just as the keep is being attacked by Darkspawn. Once the stronghold is retaken, you discover the Darkspawn are different than before: they are intelligent and split into two feuding factions. With this new information, you must quickly rebuild the Grey Wardens’ defences and defeat the Darkspawn before they destroy everything.

While I can’t say this expansion was a horrible follow-up to the initial game, I can say that it sure as heck wasn’t worth its sticker price. When I spend cash on my games I expect the dollar value to match the game value and if you compare the value of the first game to the value of this game, they don’t match up in the least bit. The first game took me a week to finish roughly and cost $64.99 while the expansion took me 2 days and cost $44.99, so you can see already this expansion isn’t earning its worth. On top of that, they destroyed my favourite part of the first game which was the great characters and their dialog. You get one character in your party from the first game which is Oghren and the rest are all new plus you don’t get to talk to them whenever you choose, only when the game lets you.

There were a couple of new features that made the game a little bit better than the first like the storage chest which would have been handy in the original game and there were some new skills that allowed characters to built up health, stamina, etc. Ultimately I think the storyline is worth a walkthrough if you want to keep saving the world from Darkspawn but I would honestly wait for the price to come down as I feel the expansion is not long or good enough to paid full sticker price for.

Pass on it!

Dragon Age Origins: Blood Dragon Armor
Downloadable Content

The Blood Dragon Armor was the first item you could purchase for Dragon Age: Origins and it came as a free item with your game purchase. Again this review would be for people who bought a used copy of the game. This armor purchase had a couple of good and bad points about it which made it a 50/50 either way purchase. On the good side, it was a strong armor that once purchased all components could be found easily for sale at the camp and a couple of components were placed in your inventory for free. Also the DLC came with a bonus armor download for Mass Effect 2 which was good because it was like getting two items for one.

But on bad side of things, the armor isn’t useful until later on the game when your characters were strong enough to wear it, so you have to cart the extra two pieces around in your inventory which took up precious room and the armor could only be worn by strong characters so buying the armor for the first time is only a good idea if you have a fighter as your main character, otherwise expect a companion to sport the new goods.

Ultimately I think this armor is really only good as a freebie and I wouldn’t personally have downloaded it even if I had bought Mass Effect 2. But hey, some people are item buyers and I’m just not one of them so if you want to jazz up your characters with hot looking armor, then go for it.

Pass on it!

Dragon Age Origins: Feast Day Combo Pack
Downloadable Content

Now I know I said I wasn’t an item buyer on a general basis but I can make exceptions if the items help me rule the world as Queen. The Feast Day Combo Pack was released on April Fool’s Day and it was filled with custom gifts and pranks for your companions plus a bunch of mini gifts and pranks. While the custom pranks aren’t exactly useful in my mind unless you are trying to drive everyone in your party away, the custom gifts are extremely useful as were the mini gifts. The custom gifts will give you a 50 point boost with each companion which is some cases is enough to start a flirtation with a character. Add on the mini gifts and you have a guaranteed flawless relationship with any one as long as you don’t do anything huge to tick them off like defile an urn of sacred ashes.

Now both the custom pranks and the gifts are available in separate download packs but you can’t get the mini gifts without buying the prank pack, so honestly you may as well spend the points and buy the combo pack which is cheaper than the two packs combined. It’s worth it just to see all the funny pranks and their effects but just remember to save before you use them.

Buy it!

Dragon Age: Origins - Loving the Official Game Soundtrack

So I've been playing a lot of Dragon Age: Origins, so much so that I think this is clearly my new favorite game of all time. I recently buy all available downloads for the game from the Xbox marketplace and I've even purchased the newest expansion, Awakening which I am working my way through now.

One thing that makes this game so great is the music especially the tune that plays at the very beginning of the game as you're just starting to load up your last save. I wish developers had found more places to insert this tune because you just don't hear it enough. I believe its called "Ferelden at War" or at least this is the closest piece of music I could find on the soundtrack which sounded like what I keep hearing during that load screen. You can hear it at EA.com in their music section. Here you can also purchase the soundtrack if you like. I wish I had the cash to buy this but funds are low and also I couldn't think of a place to play this that wouldn't seem weird. This really isn't car music but I could possibly clean to this stuff.

Death to the dust bunnies!

Another Reason Why I Have to Stop Buying from EB Games

Okay, so generally I don't like to buy from EB Games unless there is some amazing deal going on there or they are having a midnight launch with cool prizes and stuff, but today I had no choice in the matter because my usual videogame supplier, Entertainment Overload didn't have the game I wanted.

I did trade in my games there because they always have the better trade in value but I ultimately had to give in and go over to EB Games to buy my copy of Dragon Age Awakening because they didn't have any copies in stock. Hell, I even had EO call over to their second store in town to look for a copy but no such luck.

So I head over EB Games with cash in hand and a small credit on a EB Games gift card that I got back in November when I went to the midnight Modern Warfare 2 launch. When I get there, I look around for a used copy but don't see one, so I ask about it. And here's where I ultimately regretted walking through the door - the clerk gives me some line about how the game is a download from disc deal and the company won't take used copies on trade because people can download the game onto their hard drive and then trade the game back.

Here's the kicker - if you go on the EB Games website which I did before I opted to buy the game, the site shows the game for sale used in the local stores. If the company didn't take the disc in for trade, then how could they sell it used? Also the game isn't a download from disc - you must have the disc in the system at all times in order to play it. So she lied on both accounts which just made me want to walk out right there but I had the stupid credit to spend, so I just swallowed my pride and bought the game.

Best part was when the other clerk offered me a disc guaranteed. No, thank you. See I won't need to buy that guarantee if I can download the content from the disc and play without the disc. I'll just keep my disc save and sound in its case the whole time. God, I hate people sometimes.

If this is not another reason to buy from local businesses then I don't know what is.

The Girl Gamer's Gaming Tech Guide - Gadgets for Gaming

Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2010 – Top Shot Pack
Activision, Cauldron
Available for the Nintendo Wii

For the hunter in the family, there’s Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2010 Top Shot Pack which includes the game and a Wii remote peripheral shaped like a shotgun. The peripheral has a spot to place both the Wii remote and nunchuk and once the game is switched to the top shot control scheme you can use the shotgun peripheral to shoot almost like a real gun.

The Wii version of Big Game Hunter 2010 gives you 12 story missions and 13 shooting gallery challenges to work your way through, each with various animal life to hunt.

Nyko Charge Base IC for the Nintendo Wii
Holds two Wii Remotes or Nyko Wands

One of the biggest problems facing gamers right now is controller battery life and Nyko is serving up various solutions for all consoles. The Nyko Charge Base IC for the Nintendo Wii is probably the prettiest and most functional of all the chargers I’ve come across. The magnetic grips allow you to stick your remotes onto the charger without removing the rubber sleeves and the blue LED lights on the charge base turn green when the charge completes. The charger comes with two battery packs to insert into your Wii remotes and also includes a USB port on the back should you choose to charge another device like your iPod.

Charge times range from 8 hours with a rubber sleeve on to 4 hours without the rubber sleeve. I suggest taken a minute to remove your rubber sleeves before each charge. The base’s magnetic grip also improves with the sleeve off.

Nyko Charge Base 360 for Xbox 360
Holds two Xbox 360 Controllers

Also available from Nyko to help you with your charging issues is the Nyko Charge Base 360 which charges up to 2 Xbox 360 controllers. I love this charging kit because my regular Xbox battery won’t last more than a few hours lately and the Nyko NiHM battery lasted the full 25 hours it claimed in the manual. One controller takes 2 hours to charge and two controllers take 4 hours. The base has an indicator on the front which glows red when the controllers are charging and green when they are done. The controllers sit perfectly in the cream coloured cradle.

The only downside to this kit is that you can’t charge the batteries on their own without the controller being attached which I would love because I only have one controller that takes a battery pack but I read on CNET.com that you can charge the batteries separate by placing a book on top on them. I haven’t tried this method yet, so don’t blame me if a fire breaks out.

Sony Playstation 3 Wireless Keypad

If you’re like me and you talk to your friends a lot online during gameplay but don’t have a headset, then you have to use the basic controller to type in all your messages which can take forever. Luckily I discovered the solution to my messaging problems with the Sony Wireless Keypad for the Playstation 3. This small keypad device plugs into the top port of your Playstation SIXAXIS or Dualshock 3 controller and fits perfectly over the top portion of your controller. The keypad has its own separate power source, so you’ll have to charge it via the USB cord that plugs into your Playstation 3.

The QWERTY style keyboard features Bluetooth functionality and a few dedicated buttons that allow you to jump to preset features on the XMB like your message box or friends list. There’s even a touch pad button that allows you to use the entire surface of the keypad like a touch pad simply by moving your finger over it which is very useful for moving the pointer while using the web browser.

Nyko Wand Action Pack for Nintendo Wii

If you’re looking for the perfect solution for the over-priced Nintendo Wii controller problem, then look no further then the Nyko Action Pack which contains a Nyko Wand (Wii remote alternative), a Pistol Grip which allows you to enjoy accurate light gun action during all your favourite Wii games and a rubber sleeve to protect your Nyko wand.

The Pistol Grip has a trigger and a button on the back of the handle which can be assigned to either the B or A buttons on the Nyko Wand which respond digitally to the Pistol Grip via its trans-port technology. Putting the wand into the Pistol Grip can be difficult as the directions don’t tell you to pull the trigger away from the wand when installing it, so please be careful or you could break the thing. Ultimately this is a great alternative to buying another Wii remote as it is cheaper and you get more.

Your Shape Featuring Jenny McCarthy
Ubisoft
Available for the Nintendo Wii

Generally I am the last person to promote exercise as I am the last person to get off my butt and game, but the toned body of Jenny McCarthy has found her way into the home of my sister along with a Nintendo Wii and I’m all for anything that will get my sister gaming again. Ms. McCarthy helps lovely ladies find their waist line again with her innovative exercise program that utilizes a Wii camera tracking system. This is a far easier system than holding the Wii remote and nunchuk in your hands or strapping them to your legs like in other Wii programs. You’ll be sweating to some general disco sounding tunes while taking instructions from Jenny and viewing yourself on screen via camera.

This is pretty much an aerobics based program which features jumping jacks, walking & running in place, etc. I suggest you alternate this program with another weight based game or a game with sports in it in order to mix it up a bit.

Review: BioShock 2

BioShock 2
2K Games
Available for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC

“I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? 'No!' says the man in Washington, 'It belongs to the poor.' 'No!' says the man in the Vatican, 'It belongs to God.' 'No!' says the man in Moscow, 'It belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture, a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well."

If you don't know these immortal words, then you need to stop reading this review for BioShock 2, grab a copy of BioShock for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or PC and play the hell out of that game because you couldn't possibly understand the epic nature of the world of Rapture without experience it all from the beginning.

If you are amongst the many who have dived beneath the waves and explored the dark world of Rapture, fought the splicers and the Big Daddies, and discovered the grisly meaning behind the words, "Would you kindly?", then by all means, continue to read all the adam filled goodness of this review.



BioShock 2 brings the city of Rapture back to life with a whole new experience through the diver helmet of a Big Daddy. You must venture through the ruined halls, cracked and leaking underwater tunnels, facing hordes of crazed and mutated citizens of the fallen city 10 years after the original BioShock events. This time you are searching for your original little sister - a girl named Eleanor who was ripped away from you by Dr. Sophia Lamb, the newest leader in Rapture who took over the city after Andrew Ryan passed on. You are aided in your journey by a familiar face, Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum who advises you that Lamb has been kidnapping little girls from the surface and turning them into new Little Sisters because the previous ones are now gone or maturing beyond their use. She asks you to find all the new girls and transform them back during your search for Eleanor.

Much like the first BioShock you will be given multiple choices through the game which will affect how the game ends for your character. Depending on how many good or evil choices you make you can apparently end up with up to 6 different ending. The great thing about this game is that the moral choices you make aren't as obvious as you would think. I played through the game thinking I made all good moral choices and apparently didn't.

On a down side, the story line isn't as amazing as the first BioShock and really feels created to fit with the new Big Daddy/Little Sister game play instead of the other way around. There isn't a lot of new information to discover about Rapture at least until the end of the game when you take on the role of a new character and most of the information is thrown at you in audio files which is hard to play between enemies attacking and other characters that talk to you during the game.

Even though you are wandering the city as a Big Daddy now rather than a regular human, you will still have the ability to use plasmids and tonics as well as the new Big Daddy weapons like the drill and rivet gun. This makes the combo still very similar to the original BioShock which allowed you to use gun or melee weapons in combination with the plasmids but now, you don't have to switch between your weapon and plasmid - you can just have both ready to fire at once.

The coolest new weapon in Rapture I thought was the spear gun which when used on enemies would actually stick them to the walls in a gory fashion and if you opted to retrieve your spear gun ammo from their dead bodies, their carcasses would drop from the wall like little bloody rag dolls. Very grim but cool. Weapons upgrade stations and adam upgrades are available again through Rapture and you will be able to use the Little Sisters to obtain adam to buy new tonics and plasmids


Multi-player modes have been added to the series this time around which was a big addition request from the first BioShock, but honestly now that it's been added, it doesn't feel that important to the game. I tried to play some of the online modes and couldn't more than one person to play with. The game had been out for 4 days when I logged onto the lobbies and I figured some people would be playing online by this point but I guessed wrong. There are 7 modes to check out for online like "Survival of the Fittest" which is you against everyone else in a free for all killing spree or "Capture the Flag" which puts you on a 10 person team either defending a Little Sister or trying to kidnap her and put her in a vent on the other side of the map. This online feature has its own story which is set before the days of BioShock when the city of Rapture was experiencing a civil war. You can learn a bit more about this as you level up one of several characters and listen to their unlocked audio files.

The world of Rapture isn't quite as awesome as it was back in 2007 when I first saw it but if you manage to get up close to some of the backgrounds and enemies in the game they still look pretty detailed and creepy especially in the case of the splicers. Problem is with this type of game that most of the environments are so dark that you really can't enjoy the details put into the world by the artists unless you take the time between splicers and Big Daddy attacks to really look at the environments around you up close. I think the only time you really get a good view of the cool environment details on a grand scale is when you venture outside the city for the first time onto the ocean floor and view all the adam infused ocean life. Water effects from the original game were still present with streaming water flows from cracked pipes to blur your vision and water drops appearing on your screen aka diving helmet.



The true darkness of Rapture decay would not be complete without the chilling sounds of creaking steel starting to give under the pressure of the ocean depths or the shrieks of the splicers ready to send you to harvest you for adam. The horrible sounds from the shadows of Rapture are really what make you walk just a little bit slower through the halls of the city. Funny thing is you forget at some points that the heavy footsteps in the dark are your own this time as you wear the giant metal diving suit. A few bits of music are spread out between the levels and the loading screens to remind you of the dangers around you or just to frighten you out. The epic battle music plays will when enemies attack like most video games but BioShock also has a few old time songs that you can hear on jukeboxes found on various levels or on the loading screens. These honestly are probably creepier to listen to then any sound in the game especially the Boogie Man song.

I wanted this game to be amazing especially since it’s been 3 years since we all took that trip down in the bathysphere and saw our first Little Sister and Big Daddy but honestly I think BioShock 2 can never be as awe-inspiring as the first BioShock for anyone because this version can never regain that stunning moment when we were first introduced to Andrew Ryan and his dream, and discovered the true meaning of "Would you kindly?". While there are moments in BioShock 2 that definitely make it worthwhile to return to the city under the sea once more, this journey back just doesn't hold the same enchantment that it did the first time. There are definitely improvements here to the weapons, game controls and more which make it a must buy but don't dive in expecting the same wow factor as your first trip to Rapture.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy it!

Review: January 2010 Downloadable Games

Fat Princess
SCE, Titan Studios
Available on the Playstation Network

Fat Princess is a 2 team, 16 player online game that is pure cartoon chaos. Two teams must work together to kidnap the other team’s Princess from inside a defended castle, while trying to defend their own Princess. To make things interesting each Princess can be fatten up by each team member with random pieces of cake found on the battle field. The more cake you feed your Princess, the bigger the she gets and the harder she is to kidnap which can help or hinder your team depending on the situation.

Each team member can choose one of 6 character classes like a mage or a warrior which each has their own abilities and weapons. Classes can be changed by grabbing hats from stations inside your castle. In addition to the main “Capture the Princess” mode, Fat Princess has a multiplayer death match mode and two single player modes: a story mode and a survival mode.

While I found this game to be clever and whimsical, overall the game has just too chaotic for me. I never saved the Princess once because I always died before I got to her and I tend to hate games that don’t give me even a fighting chance. I know some people love hard games like Mega Man but to me, this was like trying to ice skate up a hill. It just wasn’t possible.

Pass on it!

Final Fantasy VII
Sony, Square Enix
Available on the Playstation Network

Retro games are all the rage and most game companies are cashing in by placing old titles online for players to purchase and download. Now I personally would rather own the old systems and the games themselves, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to get these games instantly rather than having to hunt for them in flea markets and garage sales.

Square Enix is one of those companies that have taken up the task to re-release old titles from their vault onto services like the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console and the Playstation 3’s Playstation Network. While I’m still praying for Final Fantasy VI to show up, I have been thankful for the release of Final Fantasy VII which any fan will tell you is the most loved game in the series.

This online version of FFVI is probably as close as you can get to the actually game without actually buying yourself a hard copy – every side quest, chocobo ride and boss battle is here. So I suggest that if you want to relive the greatest heart breaking moment in gaming history, then download this game now. As for the newcomers to the game, please don’t delay – buy today, so you can finally understand what we FF fans are finally babbling about. Aerith who?

Buy it!

Sam and Max: Beyond Space and Time
Telltale Games
Available on the Xbox Live Marketplace

Sam and Max: Beyond Space and Time aka Sam and Max: Season 2 has finally made its way to the Xbox Live Marketplace. Based on the comic books series by Steve Purcell, this point and click adventure game follows up Season one aka Sam and Max Save the World which is also available on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The crazy crime fighting duo of Sam and Max bring you five of the weirdest stories for your adventure solving pleasure. Sam and Max will encounter everyone from Abe Lincoln to Santa Claus during these coo-coo adventures and you will need to think outside of the box in order to keep up with them.

Each episode is better than the last and the hilarious dialog will have you rolling on the floor laughing. While I am a fan of the old 2D graphics from Sam and Max: Hit the Road, I do like the updated 3D graphics used by Telltales. Overall, this is a great series and I suggest my readers check out both Season 1 and 2.

Buy it!

Borderloads DLC: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned
2k Games, Gearbox Software
Available on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Playstation Network and Steam

Considering how huge a game Borderlands is on its itty bitty own, it’s hard to believe anyone would want to purchase additional quests for the game but honestly offer up anything with zombies in it and I will buy. The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is the first downloadable content for the holiday hit, Borderlands, which brings your team to the creepy island of Jakob’s Cove. There you discover zombies are eating the locals and you need to find away to stop them, starting with seeking helping from Dr. Ned – no relation with Dr. Zed, your health provider in the Arid Badlands.

There are quite a few new quests, items and enemies here for your skag killing enjoyment. The humour in the main story is far more off the wall than anything you’ll find in the main Borderlands game and the new enemies will have you on your toes every minute you traverse these new swamp lands.

Zombie related content is usually better released at Halloween but I’ll take my zombies any way I can get them. Zombie lover or not, I highly suggest Borderland fans check this download out whether you have finished the main game or not. The quests are tailored to your character’s current level, so you can jump in any time.

Buy it!

The Girl Gamer's Top Ten Games of 2009

10. Resident Evil 5

I couldn’t start my list without included one of my favourite franchises, Resident Evil. Resident Evil 5 brought back favourites like Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker as well as introducing a few new characters and enemies. Resident Evil started our video game love affair with zombies and it will always be as addictive as the T-Virus is infectious. I plan to check out The Darkside Chronicles on the Nintendo Wii very soon.

9. Ghostbusters: the Video Game

This has been a good year for fan boys in the video game industry and Ghostbusters was just one game to proof that fact. Picking up where the 2nd movie left off, the excellent story line will bring you back into the world of the Ghostbusters as if you never left, and the excellent voice-over work of the original movie cast and funny humour of Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis doesn’t the nostalgia factor either.

8. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Who knew all my knowledge of logic puzzles would finally pay off in video games? Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, the sequel to the highly cool Professor Layton and the Curious Village, will have you using brain cells you didn’t know you had in order to solve all its many logic puzzles and dark mysteries. Only Nintendo could make learning this fun and addicting. Kudos to the Professor and his assistant on another excellent game and hopefully we’ll see another one of your sequels come to our shores next year.

7. Ratchet and Clank Future: Crack in Time

This was truly a year of new game experiences for me and one of those experiences was my first real Ratchet and Clank game. So many franchises don’t survive to see their next generation of consoles or if they do, they live on a series of failed titles like Sonic the Hedgehog, but Ratchet and Clank is now on their 3rd generation console and they are still rocking the platforming genre. You’ll love this dynamic duo and their crazy arsenal of weapons and gadgets. Bonus points for the awesome weapons commercials shown in the game.

6. New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Like a blast from the past, the New Super Mario Bros. Wii is like playing Super Mario Bros. 3 all over again with a shiny new coat of paint. With a new power-up suits and multiplayer modes, it’s time venture forth into the Mushroom Kingdom with the brothers and save the Princess again. Hopefully she’s not in another castle this time.

5. Halo 3: ODST – Xbox 360

I have to give high props to the first Halo FPS that managed to grab my attention. Halo 3: ODST’s film noir style story line and all-star voice cast made this a fabulous game to kill a Sunday afternoon with. Sure, the campaign mode might be short but you’ll have Firefight mode afterwards to fill the void as well as the second disc full of Halo 3 multiplayer maps if you don’t already own them all. I plan to go back and finish the fight this winter with the first 3 Halo games now that this game has shown me what I’ve been missing.

4. Borderlands – Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC

Imagine Fallout 3 – take out all the extreme walking times between missions, add a 4 player co-op mode and injected some wicked humour and you have Borderlands. This futuristic Mad Max like role-playing game will have you and your friends addicted to its vast landscapes, cool weapons and freaky looking enemies. Fallout 3’s vault will be a thing of the past and Pandora’s legendary vault will be all you can think about all.

3. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC

Batman: Arkham Asylum couldn’t have been a more perfect Batman video game and it was hard not to put this game higher on the list after all the crappy games we Batman fans have suffered through over the years, but honestly I can’t let my fan girl love of the Dark Knight affect my decisions. While Batman: Arkham Asylum did sport one of the best storyline lines, amazing game play and one of the best voice-over casts possible, the short ending, crappy Riddler reward and a few other issues kept this game at the number 3 spot.

2. Assassin’s Creed 2 – Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC

From the breath-taking digital recreation of Renaissance Italy to Ezio’s amazing killer moves, Assassin’s Creed will have you loving every minute of this sequel to the Assassin’s Creed franchise. You will be drawn into the story line here and once that’s complete, the side quests and item collection will keep the major perfectionists out there busy. This was an amazing follow-up to Assassin’s Creed which only improved upon the franchise and I can’t wait to check out the first DLC in February.

1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - Playstation 3

If you need a reason to purchase a Playstation 3, this Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is it. Heart stopping action, eye popping graphics and interactive game play unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The developers at Naughty Dog have set the bar high for what games should be – interactive Hollywood blockbusters. While this was an amazing year for games, Uncharted 2 is still the clear winner in my mind as the game’s amazing musical score still tugs at my heart strings and the graphics still blow my mind every time I see them. When my brother-in-law bought his Playstation 3 on Boxing Day this year, this was the first game suggestion that popped out of my mouth as would it be to anyone buying the console.

Honourable Mentions: Loco Roco 2, Patapon 2, Little King’s Story and Boom Blox Bash Party.

Best Downloadable Games of the Year

1. Tales of Monkey Island: All Episodes – PC Game, Wiiware
2. Plants vs. Zombies – PC Game
3. Axel & Pixel – Xbox 360
4. Machinarium – PC Game
5. Shadow Complex – Xbox 360

Honourable Mention: Farmville

Presents from The Girl Gamer: Day 1

In the holiday spirit, I've decided to be holly and jolly and all that crud to my readers this year, and give away a few gifts over the next few days before the Christmas. I've been saving up a few codes I've received and plan to give them away to my readers.

The contest is simple. Answer the daily trivia question correctly and I'll pick one winner from the comment section with the correct answer to receive the daily prize.

Today I'm giving away a free code for the Beatles Rock Band Rubber Soul Album DLC on Xbox 360.

Just answer this question and you could win!

"Name the blue creatures in The Beatles Cartoon movie, Yellow Submarine."

Good luck and stay tuned for another prize tomorrow. Note: players can only win one prize. Once you win a code, please opt out of playing the contest.

2009 Holiday Gamer Gadget Gift Guide

DJ Hero
Activision Blizzard, Freestyle Games
Available for Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2 and Playstation 3

Breaking the band music game mould this holiday season is the newest game from Activision Blizzard and Freestyle Games, DJ Hero which allows players to test their scratching and mixing skills on a turntable style controller. The game has 80 exclusive, original mixes by some of the best DJs in the biz like DJ Grandmaster Flash, DJ AM, DJ Jazzy Jeff and more. DJ Hero also sports some custom guitar riff tracks which allow players with a Guitar Hero controller to team up for a rocking DJ and guitar duet. Bring the party home this holiday season with DJ Hero.


Suggested Retail Price: $129.99

Lips: Number One Hits
Microsoft Games Studio, Inis
Available for Xbox 360

Sometimes you’ve just gotta sing your heart out and Lips: Number One Hits lets you sing to the biggest chart toppers from Coldplay to Rihanna to the Black Eyed Peas. You can sing on your own, sing a duet with your best friend or battle it out in a vocal fighters’ mode. The game comes with 40 songs to choose from but you’ll be able to purchase and download more tunes from the Lips music store or you can choose to sing karaoke to your own music sans the lyrics via freestyle mode. As a bonus feature, Lips Number One Hits comes with a microphone which is compatible with other music games. This game completes any girl’s night in and makes for a great gift for the “hard to buy for” woman.

Suggested Retail Price: $69.99


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Review: Wolfenstein

Wolfenstein
Activision, ID Software, Raven Software
Available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC

Nostalgia can be a huge motivator. You can see the effects of it in the market currently as a generation of 80s kids is now all grown up, and creating and buying icons from their childhood. The gaming industry is definitely one of those markets that is seeing more and more icons from my childhood return in sequels and re-makes. Sometimes this can be a good thing like the case of the Telltale Games and their revamp of the Sam & Max and Monkey Island franchises or a bad thing like the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise which really just needs to die.

One game series to get a next generation make over is the Wolfenstein series which was first created in 1981 by Muse Software with the game, Castle Wolfenstein. The newest instalment in the series is a direct sequel to the game, Return to Castle Wolfenstein which was made by Id software and created in 2001. Return to Castle Wolfenstein followed the story of an American soldier, William “B.J.” Blazkowicz, as he tried to escape from a Nazi stronghold and overthrow the regime.


Well, Blazkowicz is back in Wolfenstein and this time, he’s taking on the Nazi army from the outside. Set during World War 2, Agent Blazkowicz is sent to by the OSA to Isenstadt look into a mysterious medallion he finds on a Nazi warship during a mission to stop an attack on London but when he arrives, the Nazis not only knew he were coming but they have an ambush prepared for him. B.J. manages to escape but during the process sets off a strange weapon in the Nazi’s possession which removes the gravity from the area.

After B.J. meets up with his contacts in the area, you discover the Nazis have been looking into the occult and B.J. manages to steal another medallion from them much like the first one he found on the warship. This one, the Thule Medallion, allows you to enter a strange barrier dimension which stands between our world and the world of the Black Sun which is full of strange floating monsters.

The medallion also gives you special powers like veil sight which allows you to walk through walls or veil shield which protects you against bullets. In order to power up the medallion, you must find crystals called Nachtsonne to increase its power and they can only be found in Isenstadt.

Beyond the medallion powers, Wolfenstein plays pretty much like any other FPS game as you must run and gun your way through the levels. You will be given a multitude of weapons to find, purchase and upgrade throughout the game but I pretty much stuck to one gun throughout. You will have access to a black market to buy your weapons, ammos and more between each level.


The game at first starts out on a linear path but will soon open up to a sand box type world where you will have the opportunity to choose what mission you go on. After you complete a mission, you will be able to teleport back to base and purchase new weapons and upgrades. During missions, there are side items to locate like Nazi gold and intelligence reports.
The A.I in the game is horrible as most soldiers will stand still as you toss grenades at them. Honestly, the game is only really difficult because the developers decided to cram the game full of enemies and throw them at you in mass amounts. Some levels have so many enemies being thrown at you that the only way to pass them is with the use of the veil powers.

As I am not a huge FPS fan, I tend to base my love of the genre of the other aspects found in the game as shooting hordes of enemies for several hours is just not enough to keep me interested. I generally like a game with a good plot, graphics or some sort of hook. This game was lack quite a bit of those.

While the storyline in Wolfenstein is cool enough, the way it was present was poorly done in my opinion as it took forever to get the information across. Instead of giving the player a nice entertaining cut scene to explain the story, you have to instead talk to several informants and contacts to find out what is going on and you don’t get to talk to them just once – no, you have to talk to them multiple times which just seems to drag on and on.


Graphically the game is not bad with the occult special effects wowing you at every move but when you compare it to current games on the market like Halo ODST and even Call of Duty: WoW, the graphics could be better. The characters were incredible rigid in the cut scenes and there were a lot of glitches like walking partially through walls or enemies getting stuck in open doors. Such a shame that the graphics weren’t up to par since this game had huge potential.
The audio wasn’t much better as each unimportant character sounded stiff and similar as if they pulled the development team in to do the extra voiceovers rather than hire a real voiceover guy for them. The soundtrack was decent with a lovely epic battle music track following your every move as you blow those nasty Nazi soldiers away.

For a fan of the Wolfenstein series, this is a good game to pick up and relive your childhood but for players looking for something with a little more meat, I would suggest looking at other FPS games on the market before you head here. Wolfenstein is a decent FPS but decent is just not enough here to stand out in seas of Call of Duties and Halos.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Rent it

Review: Halo 3: ODST

Halo 3: ODST
Microsoft, Bungie
Available for Xbox 360

This week’s game, Halo 3: ODST was a first for this reviewer as I have never played a first-person shooter genre Halo game in my life (played Halo Wars but that doesn’t count as it’s a real time strategy game). Though I’ve had Halo games in my home because of past boyfriends who played them, I’ve never taken any interest in playing them myself even though I liked the game’s main character, Master Chief and I even liked the game’s musical score. Basically I’m pretty much a Halo virigin.


So after some many weeks of fan girl reviews from me, you now get to read my review on the new Halo 3: ODST with no previous views or fan girl love to get in the way of my opinion on this game. But unfortunately I also can’t really compare this game to its previous games, so rather than say what this game lacks this compared to Halo 3 or whatever; I’ll just tell you what I know it does have, rather than what it doesn’t have.

Halo 3: ODST puts you into the role of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper or “Helljumper” who has landed in the abandon city of New Mombasa after a failed drop. The city has been occupied by a small Covenant force and it’s up to you to find out what happened to the other missing members of your team. Rather than playing the game out as just your plain old linear story line, the developers set the game up in a series of detective missions where you must find clues around the city in order to move onto a mission where you play out what happened to one of your missing team members.

Of course, amongst the entire clue finding you still get to kill hordes of the covenant that have brought along a new alien type (a passive type that acts as a shield generator) and some new weapons like the Jiralhanae. Now unfortunately for all you veteran Halo fans, the ODSTs are not apparently as tough as Master Chief and tend to need a few more melee hits to take out enemies. Plus they don’t handle the bumps and bruises of war quite as well as Master Chief either, so don’t be afraid to retreat to safer ground when facing tougher enemies that you would normally take head on with the Chief.


Once you are done with the main campaign story mode which can be played alone or with a friend via online co-op play, you can still enjoy all that New Mombasa has to offer with the new Firefight mode. Playing with up to 4 friends, Firefight mode allows you to defend against a never ending horde of the covenant on various maps from New Mombasa. The only feature which would have been a nice addition to this mode would have been open online game play as you can only play this online with people on your friends list.

Included in the ODST box was a second disc which includes all the available Halo 3 maps you could possible own and while is a great feature for someone like me who doesn’t own Halo 3, Halo fans didn’t seem to be too impressed (what I read online) to purchase a $60 game featuring a 5 hour campaign game, a new online firefight mode that they could only play with friends and a map disc full of stuff they already owned. But taking into consideration that the game does give players access to the Halo Reach beta when it comes out, this whole deal might just be worth the $60 to fans for just the beta access alone.

Being that I’ve never played any Halo games before, this is my first time really looking at the world of Halo closely (I may have looked at it once or twice when the ex-boyfriend played) and I have to say it is darn pretty - like Blade Runner meets the US Army. The world of Halo is very futuristic from the building design to the aliens you fight to the weapons you use. There were a few glitches in the game that caused me to get stuck in a death loop after I jumped on board a banshee and somehow stand on top of a brute’s head which were both pretty darn annoying. This is something that you wouldn’t expect from a game company that has had 4 games to get it right by now.


The music I am familiar with thanks to Guitar Hero 3 and Video Games Live and while the electric rock epic track were fabulous for heading off into battle, the rest of the music didn’t seem to pop up at the appropriate times. When I’m killing covenant, I really don’t like to hear jazz music or adult contemporary, no matter how cool it sounds so please leave that stuff where it belongs – at the sappy moments in the game.

Based on my Halo newb opinion, I have to say that even though this was a short experience, it was a cool experience for me and I have the urge to check out the previous Halo titles now. I loved playing the main game with my friend as well as the firefight mode and I think this might be the perfect launching game for new Halo players. As for Halo fans, I can’t really say how you would review this game but I can saw that the campaign mode has a engaging storyline and the firefight mode I would assume should be addictive to all, but there’s still that pesky second disc with all the Halo 3 maps. Just try to focus on the Halo Reach beta and maybe you won’t be bothered by the thought of buying stuff you already own.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy it!