Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Review

Well I thought it would be a good idea to tell you all about this game because Star Wars rules all! Unfortunately this game does not. I was very excited to play this game because of the Star Wars factor since its release. So I rented it and found it hard to even finish the game. Surprised? I was. You'd think that just about any Star Wars game would be worth playing through, but not this one. The only reason you might want to someday is to get the George Lucas approved official story line.

This game had a great opening were you play as the Dark Lord of the Sith himself. It was fun and had me looking forward to more. But as a couple of levels went by, the excitement was drowned by repetitiveness and boring enemies. I even thought that maybe I could shake things up by entering a code to unlock all Force abilities and found it still to be dull. There is only so many times you can pick up something with the force and throw it at someone before getting old. Also, to me the most fun part about Star Wars games is the lightsaber battles. But in the course of the levels it seemed to be very insignificant. You would have to hit the enemies about 4-5 times before dying and that was on the easy setting.

The only lightsaber worthy parts of the game were the boss battles against the last few Jedi. They were a lot of fun and a good challenge.

Maybe I am being a little harsh for whatever reasons, but I give Star Wars: The Force Unleashed a 6.0 out of 10

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Gears of War 2 Video Review

This game is going to be HUGE! I know that Steven and I are both planning on having it in our covetous hands this Friday when it releases; and with Lisa and Amy heading to California to go to Disneyland, I know what my plans involve. Perhaps Steve will want to get together for a little co-op?

Anyway, this video review is straight from IGN (much love, holla!). Enjoy the video and stay tuned for the official review from me and Steven next week!

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AC/DC - Black Ice - Review

I recently heard a quote from the members of AC/DC stating that they haven't matured, musically, beyond the age of 17. And after several listens to Black Ice, the latest offering from Australia's favorite sons of hard rock, this is not a bad thing at all.

This is the first album of new material from Angus Young and company in more than 8 years, and Brian Johnson's vocals are surprisingly powerful for a man in his 60's.

The album starts strong with the first single, Rock and Roll Train, and picks up steam from there. However, the problem with AC/DC is that a lot of their music is very similar. If you were to take a list of their entire catalog of songs and alphabetize them, you would find a large number of them that begin with 'rock', or have the word 'rock' somewhere in the title. But in the end, it's AC-friggin'-DC. It's music to rock to - music to drive fast to. It is to be enjoyed and not overly scrutinized. My only real gripe is the exclusive deal the band struck with Wal-Mart... it's the only retail outlet you will find the album. But don't let the freak show at Wal-Mart keep you from picking this album up now - if you are a fan of their previous work, you won't be disappointed here.

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Little Big Planet Review

Now there are some pretty cute games out there in the world of both console and PC gaming, but Little Big Planet, exclusive to the Sony Playstation 3, has to be one of the cutest games ever made.

Basically, you are a little sack person that runs around a platform based series of worlds in pursuit of a variety of items and score orbs and stickers. All of these items can be used to customize your character, beautify (or vandalize, your choice) the world around you.

You can play co-op with up to 4 people, or you can go through the story on your own. Both offer a ton of fun. The game is a side scrolling adventure a-la Mario Brothers married with Metroid. But it moves in a 3-dimensional space - which is the one knock against the game. Sometimes it is hard to get from one plane in the world to another. Sometimes you think you are jumping on an object only to land in front of, or behind, it. While that can be a bit frustrating, it hardly takes away from the experience.

From the moment you start the game, you can't help but think, "Gosh, this li'l sack guy is pretty cute!" You can customize your little character in a ton of ways based on items you pick up as you play the game. Think of it as something in the same vein as a Katamari Damacy - only you actually get to use all of the items you acquire. There is also a very robust level creator that you can use to not only create levels that you and your friends can play - but also can be loaded for people around the world to play as well!

The music is great, the character moods and movement are smooth and adorable, and it is a great game to have on hand when you want a diversion from life that isn't going to have you pointing a gun or banging a drum.

While the game is likely to seem repetitive to some, the depth of the level creation tool, as well as the overall cute and fun factor really make this game one of the finer offerings for the as-yet-to-be-fully-utilized PS3 console. I have only just begun to explore the world, but I am having a great time with it so far. I give Little Big Planet a 9.2 out of 10.

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Premiere Review - Guitar Hero: World Tour

I wish that I had a better review for the first item out of the gate, but this one has been bugging me, and I need to get it out of my head.

On Wednesday nights, Steven and I have been getting together to play Rock Band. Over the past few weeks, our little jam sessions have grown in popularity to include Jared Blair, as well as a couple of guys from Steven's ward - A.J. and Tyler.

This past Wednesday, Jared brought over Guitar Hero: World Tour for us to try. I had been looking forward to this solely because there are three songs by Tool on the disc - Vicarious, off of the 10,000 Days album; and Schism and Parabola off of Lateralus.

Well, Tool was the only highlight. The gameplay is very loose. I did vocals the entire night and the lyrical charts are crap. They don't seem to follow the actual pitch of the song. Practical example? Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train: At the beginning of the song Ozzy yells, "All Aboard, Ha ha ha ha!!" You would think the pitch meter would be at the top of the chart. Nope, it was dead center. I yelled it out and completely missed the note. And this happened on a variety of songs. It was odd to think that they couldn't take a winning formula like Rock Band and emulate, or at least try to improve upon, it.

Guitar note charts are incredibly loose - so if you miss the note by a fraction of a second, it will probably count as a hit. Great for those who struggle with guitar - but just not acceptable for the fourth iteration of a GUITAR game.

Now for percussion. Steven can attest that drumming has become near and dear to my heart. I dream about it, I love playing so much. Seriously, it is my release, and I love to play the drums, and I especially love to play the game when Steven is acting as the human metronome behind the kit. I can safely say that drumming in Guitar Hero: World Tour leaves this reviewing drummer cold. The kick drum marker is hard to see, the angle of the note chart is odd and it just doesn't feel like you are really playing the instrument. However, they did manage to solve a problem Steven and I have with drum rolls in that the roll is not a series of notes you have to hit, but rather a single note followed by a solid line - so you don't have to be exact, you just have to roll as much as you can in the space of the solid line. Plus, there is plenty of area for free-style drumming in songs, so that's cool.

Overall, the game disappoints. We may want to rent it for BroTime (or borrow Jared's copy) so Jacob can have the joy of singing 3 very awesome Tool songs, but as for adding it to the collection - I have to say no thanks. I give this game an overall score of 7.4 out of 10.

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Bienvenidos and Welcome

I know, I know... that title is redundant, as were the first four words! Anyway, this blog has been created as a place for us, the BroTime Players, to post our own media reviews - whether it be a video game, movie, music or, heck, even a book! I think that the most trusted sources aren't IGN or Amazon or {insert-your-favorite-review-site-of-choice-just-not-this-one}, but rather those people we actually know.

So, let the reviews begin. Enjoy your stay here, and hopefully we can get a good library of information on our favorite things so that we don't waste our time wasting time with video games or other entertainment avenues that suck!

peace out, girl scouts!

h$

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