Borderlands set to hit store shelves in a little over a month

"Pfft, mines bigger"

In a little over a month North America and Europe will be able to finally get their hands on 'Borderlands' quite possibly the most anticipated RPG(/FPS) since 'Fallout 3'. Many are already comparing it to Fallout 3, in fact some even consider it a rip off of Fallout 3. Of course there are several obvious differences.

The game's mood/setting. Compared to Fallout 3 Borderlands takes a more light hearted approach to the whole wasteland survival thing. Not only are the characters flamboyant and are drawn in an exaggerated style, but their personalities are supposedly just as over the top and outrageous. You are basically trying to make your fortune on an alien world, but I am sure there is more meat to the story then that.

There is also vehicle combat in the game. You will be able to fight with the vehicles of course, but you will also be able to jump from vehicle to vehicle! I am rather excited to see how this feature will be implemented. Will you be able to crawl around on different points of the car? Will you be able to shoot the occupants or will you throw them out, or both? Can you stick some sort of explosive on the vehicle and roll off just in time? Yes it will be very interesting to see what you can do, hopefully they didn't water it down.

"This is really going to suck if I miss"

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to interesting features, there is of course a danger in that. Sometimes you can be overly ambitious and you end up with a lot of half thought out and half finished ideas. Sure you can list 100 million different additions to a gaming genre, but if they are not fully developed you end up with a true mess. These games are often buggy and have plenty of dead end story arch's and building blocks of quests but no quests to be found. What you are left with a large world and plenty of fetch missions, but you feel detached from the game's universe and you simply stop playing half way through.

2K has a game with tons of potential where it could even rival Fallout 3. The question is, did they come through and deliver a great game, or is this another Two World's type flop? Look for my review of 'Borderlands' this October!

Worms 2: Armageddon Review

Worms 2: Armageddon

-Developer: Team 17

-Publisher: Microsoft

-Platforms: XBOX 360 (Xbox Live Arcade), Playstation 3 (PSN eventually), Mac OSX, Windows

-Genre: Strategy Games

-ESRB: Everyone 10+

Review

Once upon a time there was a little studio Team 17, they were able to combine action, explosions, talking worms, and flying sheep all in one game, you just have gotta hand it too those wacky Brit's. The original worms (for the PC) was a cult hit, filling our hearts with joy and well, exploding sheep. The studio also made a great sequel called Worms Armageddon (well there were others…but they shall not be named).

Thankfully for all those who missed PC Gaming’s glory days you have been brought a gift. Both Worms and Worms Armageddon were redone and made into XBOX Live Arcade games. Just as the first Worms, Worms 2: Armageddon is selling rather well and is one of the top Arcade titles out there.

Because Worms 2 sticks with the same 2D side view game engine as its predecessor Worms, you will find the same down to earth simply game mechanics. You basic goal is of course to hit the enemy (or blow up, gun down, knock off the edge of the map, castrate, etc). To do this you are given your own personal worm forces of 1-4 worms. You can create a team name, give your team a funny accent (more on that later), and add funny tombstones so your worms can go out in style.

To crush your enemy you are given a wide variety of weapons and tools. You have your bazooka, a machine gun (Uzi), you even have shotguns and guided missiles. Those of course are your basic weapons, if you truly want to piss your pants you can send in the sheep. Yes you can actually release a sheep that will hop around and explode on command, by the way did I mention it is one of the most powerful weapons? And just like the original you can use jet-packs, ropes, and teleportation to speed up your worm’s travel.

There are several new weapons in Worms 2, such as a flying version of the sheep called a super sheep, it puts on a little cape and flies around, it moves fast and is somewhat difficult to control in the beginning, but the hilarity factor is a 10/10. Some other new weapons are the bull of lies, the banana bomb, and the dreaded holy hand grenade, yes a grenade that will sign Hallelujah before it explodes killing those enemy worms (or your own, eventually everyone misses!). There are two new super weapons that exist in the game, but I would rather you use them for the first time to experience them. Generally speaking the weapons are funny and provide a good deal of enjoyment as you struggle to use them without pissing your trousers. The only negative I can give the game as far as how they managed the weapons was that they did not bring back the Old Lady or mad cow’s from the PC version of the game, but of course if you didn’t play the PC version you won’t miss it.

Perhaps Worms weakest aspect was it’s single player. Although the campaign did provide a bit of a challenge it seemed short and almost boring. Thankfully the people at Team 17 decided to expand upon the gameplay and increase the number of missions (now up to 35). The missions vary from simple kill your enemy to new missions that test your ability to think your way out of a problem or testing your jet pack or roping skills. Besides the campaign you have a training min-campaign that allows you to pick up some core skills, this is recommended for beginners!

After a short time the single player campaign will be beaten and you will move on to what is perhaps the games greatest asset, it’s multiplayer. Both local and online multiplayer support up to 4 player (except online ranked matches which only support 2 players). There are 5 online game modes, beginner, standard, pro, rope racing and crazy crates with the first 3 being essentially standard game modes and the later two being specialty games. All multiplayer levels are randomly chosen and no two are ever the same (although they may be similar).

Wait a minute, that airstrike wasn't there before!

A worms famous last words

There is an in-game shop (don’t worry you basically earn all the gold you will ever need). There you can buy things such as new tombstones or levels. Oddly you have to buy the final 5 campaign levels.

The game does look somewhat better and crisper then its original PC version but not much better then its Xbox Live Arcade predecessor. That being said the game’s 2D cartoon feel means you are willing to forgive them on that point. The levels themselves look good and variable. With giant clocks or buildings, even soda cans. With 100% destructible environments it is easy to fall in love with blowing up the landscape. The game’s graphics while not stunningly beautiful fit with the game’s not to serious attitude.

The game’s menu’s are simple and straightforward making navigation a non-issue. The menu is bouncing and funny just like the rest of the game, throughout the game you get a sense of fun and a laid back atmosphere, something that is sorely missing from the gaming industry in recent years.

The sights of the game are accompanied by appropriately humorous voice acting. Your character’s will make fun of their opponents and themselves, even occasionally you while they go about the worm business of kill or be killed. There a wide variety of voices to chose from, each with its own accent and list of dialogue the worms will say. Still the dialogue often repeat (even in one game which may only last 5 minutes), so it would have been nice to see some more dialogue added.

Even though most of the weapons seem to share the same 4-5 sounds some of the more radical weapons such as the holy hand grenade, super-sheep, or a certain weapon involving a donkey have simple yet perfectly appropriate sounds attached to them.

Overall the game delivers excellent value for an Arcade title. It is primarily a casual multiplayer game but offers enough nuisance’s to keep you entertained for a long time. This sequel is an improvement worth paying for.

Gameplay: 85%

The game delivers a wacky cartoonish feel. The weapons are impressive as is the team customization, something that could easily have been forgotten when making the game, (attention to detail! I love it). A solid single player campaign now accompanies the great online play. The only real improvement would be to expand upon the specialty game mode’s

Presentation: 85%

The game’s wacky humour and interesting landscapes make for a good time by all. I would like to see a few more options and items for you to customize your worms. The worms are funny as are the weapon's. The comedic laid back attitude that is sorely missed in video gaming today is well represented in this game.

Graphics: 65%

This game is not the most graphically gifted game, that being said it does look great for what it is so it gets an above average score. Still it will not blow you away by any means.

Sound: 70%

Good voice acting and funny dialogue. That being said the dialogue will run through itself very quickly so you will have to continually change your accents to maintain a sense of variety, and frankly some of the accents are just much better then the others (not the others are bad, simply not as good).

Value: 75%

This game is a must buy for anyone who has a sense of humor. The game’s improvements warrant another 800MS point charge and is great value for money. EVEN if you have Worms Armageddon on your computer I would say get this game from Xbox Live Marketplace, play with some friends and have a good time!

Overall: 79%

The game delivers very well on the humor front, a great game for you and your friends to play if you are just looking for a casual game packed with laughs.

Halo ODST

Halo 3: ODST is coming!

Many Halo fans have high hopes for Halo ODST. Wait sorry, Halo 3: ODST, apparently it is just an expansion. An expansion that has few if any recurring characters, follows an entirely different plot, at a different time, and moves into an entirely new direction as far as how the campaign goes. I hope video game developers take note of how ridiculous it is to call this an expansion, it does not expand on the gameplay at all, it creates an entirely new game!

I myself liked all three Halo games, but I am happy to see the franchise go in a different direction. The series, although graphically enhanced over the years has really not delivered any major forward movement as far as gameplay. Of course some can argue that really there is no way to improve the gameplay in any major fashion. There in lies the delyma, how do you improve a game that really came out incredibly strong in the first place? Well you really can't so you make a sideways move an milk the game's universe for all its sweet universe milk...or something....anyway moving on.

ODST takes place after Master Chief and the gang follow the Prophet of Regret's ship into slipspace. You take the role of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper who is sent in to well, do all the cleaning up after New Mombasa has all its charm and beauty beaten out of it by the Covenant. Luckily it was just East Africa and probably wasn't too built up anyway.

This game will play different then games previous. Since you lack Master Chief and his ability to take an amazing amount of abuse you have to be a bit more careful as to how you go about the game, and since you aren’t a super-human and lack the super-spartan armor you can't jump 5-6 feet in the air. That’s right not only can you no longer take 3-5 shots to the chest, but you cannot Halo jump your way to safety!

Since the physics engine is the same as Halo 3 the game's mechanics will largly remain (apparently Microsoft wanted this out in 3 instead of 4 years so the team couldn't make a new engine). But because of the aforementioned ODST vs Master Chief differences you are basically like a well equipped Marine. So after all those years of making fun of the marines and cursing them for getting in the way you now get to be in their shoes. Knowing one or two good shots will down you means that you may think twice about running through the wide open spaces you come across, or peaking around the corner that second time.

Man, I shouldn't have wasted the spartan laser on those grunts....

Hopefully this game will not backfire for Bungie, but I have faith in their staff, they are a good company, take good care of fans and generally don't screw up to badly when they screw up at all. The big question is whether Halo fans will get on board. Sure casual Halo fans like myself will probably like the change of pace, but the Halo fanboy community (and it is a large community) may very well compare the game to Call of Duty and curse ODST.

I will be curious to see how this unfolds on all fronts, will the fact that this is Bungie's second to last Halo game hurt the game at all? Of course we will just have to sit back and wait to see the result.

Look out for my game review of Halo ODST later this September.

PS, sorry for taking so long for a new post, have been trying to find a job (well two actually) etc, etc.

Disney Takeover of Marvel

Marvel's Characters are Just plain cool, but could their gritty nature be threatened?

Yes you read the title correctly, Marvel the iconic anti-hero comic book giant has been taken over by Disney, the ultimate conformist and kid-friendly corporation in the world in a 4 billion doller deal.

Like many my first reaction was one of shock. After all this deal came completly out of left field. Virtually no one had heard anything that would have lead one to believe that Disney was in the process of taking over Marvel. And like most my secondary reaction was on of disgust.

I like Disney just fine, but it is a company that caters to young suburban youth. This demographic is the opposite of what Marvel caters to. Marvel's 1000's of characters usually fall into the category of the anti-hero. Troubled heros that save the world (or not) all while dealing with various addictions or past sins. My fear is that Marvel may become so Disneyfied that it will lose its character.

My second fear is that the already shaky comic book market will become even more uncertain. Comic book sales have already fallen roughly 1/3 this year. This is after years of steadily falling market share and steadily rising costs. What Disney is really buying is the right to all the intellectual property. Although Paramount owns the rights to Iron Man, and 20th Century Fox has the Fantastic Four there are 1000's of characters yet to be pimped out. Disney wants to expand into a more adult oriented market (as they have been over the past few decades). Having a company under a different name allows Disney to keep its kid friendly image while having access and older and generally more financially flushed age bracket.

You may be asking, "Why is this important, this is a gaming blog?". Well the Marvel Universe has dozens of games attached to it. Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Marvel Ultimate Alliance just to name a few. There are so many sequels and future titles to be released Disney has bought into the video game market. With the way the entertainment industry is heading Video Games are going to be more important then the movie or TV industry. In this way Disney will have better connections with game studios and more market exposure. Whether or not Disney planned this is debatable. They have done a piss poor job of entering the video game market thus far. One would assume that the Marvel licenced video games were considered as they have become an increasingly important part of the company.

In the end I expect Disney to roughly stay true to the Marvel Universe. After all why buy the company just to tear it apart. But a little piece of Marvel has died. It will slowely be engulfed by Disney, such is the way of nearly all takeovers. Hopefully it will retain some of its character and against the norm charm, only time will tell.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Review

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010

-Developer(s): EA Tiburon, EA Mobile, HB Studios (PSP, PS2)

-Publisher(s): EA Sports

-Platform(s): Xbox 360, PS 3. Altered versions made for the PS2, Wii, iPhone OS, and PSP. (Reviewed on Xbox 360).

-Genre: Sports (Golf)

-ESRB: E (Everyone)

Review

The core gameplay and mechanics of the Tiger Woods franchise really hasn’t changed much since well….ever. In all fairness there are only so many ways you can actually improve on the concept as it came out strong as the only real golf simulator out there. EA is trying however! Some things that have happened in the last few years include the throwing out of the power boost for shots, loss of your caddy and the ability to tune your clubs to fit your swing type.

Tiger Woods 10 maintains a relatively high level of realism, rewarding planning and patience just like real golf. And just like real golf rushing your shots will usually result in disaster. Driving, fairway shots, and even approach shots are all fairly easy. Putting is the real challenge (as it has been through all Tiger Woods games).This becomes blatantly apparent after missing 3 putts in a row and finishing the hole 3 over.

Speaking of putting, you now have “precision putting” which adds a power of putt meter in the corner of the screen, it helps you determine how much power you require by telling you how much power you would need if the green was in perfect condition. As such you have to factor in whether and hole elevation. It is a noticeable improvement as the old system did involve a certain degree of guessing as to the power behind your putt. Once before every put you can do a preview shot, which will show you your balls path, basically the putting system has been made generally easier. If you prefer the old putting system you can go into options and put classic putting on.

Weather is a huge factor in golf, it is no different in this game, the wind will kill a ball and the rain will cause fairways and greens to stop a rolling ball dead in its tracks. But EA added a new feature called “Live Weather”. What live weather does is it tracks the whether at course locations and emulates those conditions on the course, so if it is raining and windy at pebble beach and you play at pebble beach you will see rain and wind. This feature can be turned on or off (although not in the middle of PGA Tour Events). It is a quirky feature forcing you to take real world weather patterns into account.

A MAJOR improvement in the game this year is the fact that there are now 4 different difficulty levels! This allows you to actually scale the game’s difficulty to your skill, something sorely lacking in past games. The golfers you face are no more difficult, nor are the courses. But the game is far less forgiving of mistakes. You will lose things such as putt preview and the ability to spin the ball post shot as you go up in difficulty. This lack of difficulty setting was always one of my sore spots as the game had a steep learning curve, but once mastered became rather boring and playing seemed more like a chore then entertainment.

When you first put the game in you are required to make a golfer. The hair styles like past games are generally humorous, with a few “normal” cuts. Beyond that gender, race, specific facial features and build are all customizable. After creating your character you take a sort of competence test which tests your four skills driving, accuracy, short game, and putting.

Your score on these tests determines your starting attributes. Now if you’ve been away from the series for a while you are probably going to be either horrified or ecstatic that you no longer buy your attributes but earn them based on your play. Beyond that your attributes will rise and fall based on round performance and how well you do in post-round practice sessions. These practice sessions are under your coach’s (Hank Haney) guidance and you gain attributes for completing his skill testing challenges. These challenges consist of hitting the ball into a variety of increasingly smaller circles.

As always you can still buy articles of clothing and golf club sets to boost your attributes (how a watch makes you a better putter is beyond me). As in past games the price of such equipment is rather low, so after winning only 1 or 2 large torments you are essentially set for life. That being said you have to achieve certain career milestones and goals before you are actually allowed to buy most of the equipment.

Your golfer has no shortage of game modes to play as there are plenty. Your main money maker will be playing on the PGA Tour which is sadly capped at 5 years of Tour play, which seems like nothing more then the game developers attempting to force you to go online.

Other then the PGA Tour you can still play with your friends (or by yourself) in classic game modes such as skins game or match play. Slightly more abstract games such as “Bingo Bango Bongo” (a particular favorite of mine) or “Target to Target” add some variety to the game. Sadly in essence these games are all virtually the same. I do not blame EA, there is only so much you can do with golf. There are over a 20 game modes to choose from, and although many are virtually the same there are a few gems.

Possibly the greatest improvement in the game is the online multiplayer. Now you can play a variety of online tournaments at a variety of skill levels. Warning! The top golfers online are extremely good, 30 under (or better) rounds are the usual for the best players. This means that the it can seem daunting to newer players and can turn them off of the game as the best players are so much better that there is virtually no way to win (or even place in the top 20-50) unless you want to put in many hours of gameplay.

There are however many positive things to say about online play. You can play many of your favourite game modes such as skins and stroke play online with your buddies. And the best part, you no longer have to wait for everyone to take a shot, you now simply take your shots one after the other until done the hole. The advantages are easy to see, how wants to watch 3 other people play (especially when they are doing rather poorly), it does however take away from the social aspect of the game, you feel less like you are playing with your friends and more like you are playing against their scores.

Another new feature to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 is the “Play the Pro’s” game mode where you play against actual professional golfer scores from real tournaments that were played that week. Again real pro scores are completely destroyed by many of the best players.

As solid as the online play is in my opinion the most underrated part of the Tiger Woods franchise is the local multiplayer component. I have had much fun with friends just jumping into a friendly game of golf. And although it is rough going for a while, after a few games your friends generally get to the point where they can hit par. This game can be a party game so long as everyone some experience with the game. This game is adult friendly in that you don’t have to have lightning fast reflexes, in fact a calm demeanour is the most effect way to go about the game. I would recommend this game for families as it is a game that everyone regardless of age can enjoy, and if accompanied with a sense of humour can be a great way to have a fun time with everyone in the family.

I have always seen the Tiger Woods franchise as an above average game when it comes to presentation . It is nice to see that so much work was done to make sure that golfers and their skills are portrayed accurately. The developers also added some fictitious golfers such as “Happy Gilmore” (from the movie I hope everyone has seen). Well usually statistically unimpressive it is a nice touch and shows a sense of humor, which is sorely lacking at EA. Tiger Woods of course is overall the best golfer in the game, no doubt about it. After using my decent but underpowered golfer I often underestimated Tiger’s power to get to the green in 2 shots on a par 5.

The courses you play on also look fairly good. No major improvement but they are fairly accurate and do convey some feel that you are actually in your golfers shoes looking out at the Ocean or at the Rocky Mountains. The two most impressive courses in my opinion are downloadable content (“Banff” and “The Predator“). The only problem is that they cost 800 MS points each. Sadly I do not think they are worth $13-$15. It would be preferable for EA to have packaged two or three downloadable courses together as an 800 (or even 1200) point bundle instead. But if you have some MS points that are lying around and don’t like arcade games then feel free to spend them on those courses.

Banff Looks Great, but is it worth 800 MS Points?

And just like all recent EA sports games there is a sports news feed at the bottom of the screen that pops up with various scores from different sports. Although not entirely useful for the game it does provide accurate and up to date information about the days sports action (although it is heavily Americanized).

For those who haven’t played a Tiger Woods game in a few years, yes the spectators are now 3D and there are more then 5 outfits (actually there still are but an abundance of colors creates the illusion of many outfits). And unlike so many sports games, they bothered to put child fans in! On the tee box you see officials holding up signs quieting the crowd. The best part of fans is that they react to the ball like a human being. They duck and cover if the balls is heading towards them, and should it hit them they grab that body part and jump around comically. And like in the past they will react to your shots (as will your golfer). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8D98azheVU

The only real issue with the fans is they clap in unison. Come on EA it takes little to no effort to put some love in and just create 3-4 different clapping speeds. Or at least have them start clapping at different times, anything.

Contrary to what many seem to think I personally have never seen Tiger Woods as a graphically strong franchise. To me the characters and environments were at best average or just barely above average for a sports game considering that they only had one golfer on the screen at any one time, so much more could have been done but wasn’t. This has changed in the last few installments of the franchise. The golfers are highly detailed and expressive and the fauna looks much better then games past. The one thing I was hoping was that there would be a better sense of depth and texture, although far from crippling it does take away from the look of the game.

And we must move onto audio. Sound may very well be Tiger Woods 2010’s weakest component. The games sound’s really hasn’t changed much since its inception but it has continually been refined. As someone who actually plays golf I find that the contact sounds are very good, although not perfect as there is a slight issue with lack of variety. The sound of the environment although not stunning is sufficient. That being said I would like the environmental sounds to have more of an immersive feeling to them, more birds, etc.

Of course that is a minor issue when compared to the commentary. With Scott Van Pelt of ESPN and Kelly Tilghman of the Golf Channel as commentators you would assume that the commentary would be at least ok. Then of course you realize that this is EA and they will find a way to make you hate another set of good commentators. Beyond the usual inaccurate commentary of shots, generally poor writing and complete lack of solid jokes EA managed to step up (step down?) to the plate and make yet another mistake. Normally in a sports game the two commentators sometimes get behind in the play, that is annoying enough. Now in this game virtually every shot is “predicted” by the one of the commentators. When wrong the other commentator corrects their counterpart, good idea just like real life….expect that half of the predictions tend to fail, this means you constantly have them correcting each other, and yes it gets rather annoying. Beyond that you get ripped apart for things such as missing a 50 foot putt by just inches. I would like to thank the guy at EA who made sure the “turn off commentary” option was available, you sir are my hero.

Thankfully the music is good, although not quite appropriate for golf (then again what is). You have your Hip Hoppers and your Rockers, and some hard rock/light metal thrown in for good measure.

Sadly all the praise I have given this game may be for not. Although a very good game it still feels much like games past and one has to ask themselves if it is really worth the extra $70 to buy this new title. In my personal opinion you would be best to buy last years game (Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09) at $30 unless you plan on a lot of online play, in which case you basically have to move with the herd and purchase the new game. For those with 08 I would recommend you wait until next year before buying another title.

Score

Gameplay: 85%

The game maintains its high quality of play as well as adding a few new features. New putting engine is a godsend for new players to the series, or those who have just had troubling with putting in the past. Single player remains largely the same although levelling up has changed since the good old days. Magic golf-boosting clothing still a staple. Improved Multiplayer tournaments add to what was very light online play. Local multiplayer remains good and suits a small party/family atmosphere.

Presentation: 80%

The game's menus are easy to navigate and there are well placed shortcuts. Both the courses and golfers are fairly accurate. The game makes it fairly easy to find what you need and the attention to detail is good (not great).

Graphics: 85%

Strong player characters, fans are well done. Courses are beautiful although the trees and fauna could use some work. Downloadable courses are especially good but hardly warrant the 800 point each price tag. Overall above average graphics with especially good player models and fans.

Sound: 70%

Good environment and gameplay sound. Good music selection, although not entirely appropriate for golf (which may be a good thing). Commentary is repetitive, annoying, and often inaccurate and hurts the audio component of the game considerably. So basically what you expect from an EA sports game.

Value: 60%

The game simply feels too much like games past to warrant dropping another $70. Go out and buy 09 instead, or keep your copy of 08. If you play extensively online then you are obligated to buy the new title so your hands are tied.

Overall: 80%

A good experience with noticeable improvements, such as precision putting and improved graphics. Online play is much improved. That being said it may not be worth dropping $70 at EB games to upgrade from 09 unless you plan on playing online.

For the Month of September

Every month I will be making a general list of upcoming features on the blog (check in often as opinion columns and general news are NOT scheduled. Plus the odd game review may slip in under the radar).

Well technically my “September” schedule actually includes the last week of August. But I don’t think my one follower will mind (hey I got one follower after only 1 post with NO advertising, I am proud). But I digress.

Things to look for this September (cough September/last week of August):

-Game Review (August 25th) : Tiger Woods 10

-Old School Review (September 1st): Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

-XLA Review (September 8th): Worms 2: Armageddon

-Verses (September 24th): EA’s NHL 10 vs. 2k’s NHL 2K10

-Game Review (Sept 27th): Halo 3: ODST

(All dates subject to change)

Features!

Besides general industry news and opinion pieces I will have game reviews. Now the vast majority of the reviewed games will be for the XBOX 360 console. That being said in 2-3 months I hope to branch out into the PS3 and PC world.

Game Reviews: Roughly 2-3 times a month I will review a recently released game and tell you what I think. Hopefully my lack of connection to the video game establishment will allow me to give a useful and truthful review of the game (as opposed to the rather pointless and exaggerated reviews that come out of the major gaming publications and web sites).

NOTE: Old School refers to games that have been out on the market for at least 12 months. These games are games you may have missed. XBL Reviews are Xbox Live Arcade games.

Verses: Two similar games are reviewed to see which one is better.

Both Verses and my game reviews use the following marking system.

Review Scoring

-Gameplay = 50%

-Graphics = 25%

-Sound = 15%

-Value/Replayability = 10%

Final Rating (The games score based on the above factors)

Now I personally think that the review itself (ie all those boring words and researched facts that take hours to compile) is more important then the score, but even I am guilty of skipping to the score right away, so I will try to give the score the same care as the review.

From time to time I will have a guest reviewer come on. I will accept anyone regardless of experience or age (so long as they are 14+). But two things have to be clear. The guest will not receive any compensation (ie money) for their review (do not worry you will receive the credit) . And I reserve the right to reject any articles submitted to me if they do not meet quality control standards.

Now that the boring details are done I hope you find my blog informative and entertaining.

Welcome one and all!

Hello and welcome to the grand opening of Reviews For Gamers! Here you will find my reviews of games and general information about the gaming Industry. Hopefully you will follow (or favorites me on your internet browser) this blog and keep coming back for more...and more UNTIL I RULE THE WORLD!.....Uh....I mean, I hope you continue to come back so that you can stay informed and enjoy my game reivews......

Anyway some general info about me:

-I am 19 years of age.

-I am Canadian (B.C.) (so watch out for Canadian spelling! OH NO COLOUR WITH A U!)

-I have been playing games for over a decade.

-Favorite game ever is Counter-Strike (1.6).

-Elder Scrolls Morrowind, Starcraft, and Fallout 3 are close seconds.

-Contrary to Counter-Strike being my favorite game of all time, I am a strategy/RPG (Adventure) fan. That being said I enjoy other FPS's (shooters).

-My life revolves around, well, my girlfriend, my dog, and my 360! Oh and Friday nights out with the boys (yes I am a bar hopper).

I hope to see you around. My blog really starts off on August 25th so be there! Tomarrow I will post out a basic outline of the blog so you can see what the first month has in store!

Also if you are a PC gamer (or anyone interested in computers or requiring help with computers) visit my good friends blog http://pctalkonline.blogspot.com/ It is an excellent resource for those interested in building a gaming computer, and he is always willing to answer your questions.