Congrats........

A few salutations are in order. First of all the mighty Fro has hit 200k - a mighty feat indeed considering just how quickly he has accomplished that goal, he overtook me some time ago which kind of smarts since I was 50k ahead of him at one point but what can I do in the face of such beastliness?

Second of all, Stallion has been inducted to the Book of World Records for his massive gamerscore. A nice bit of recognition not only for him but also for the entire gamerscore 'profession' as such. It certainly opens up the door for a whole slew of potential records related to points. Good to see that the authors are aware of potential hackers out there too, as there have been numerous points recently when cheaters have snagged the top spot. So congrats to the legit number one.

Now that we've got that out of the way I can talk about me, ha ha!

Personally speaking I've been edging closer to 1k in Hot Wheels, which will be a relief to get finished as the game is rapidly outstaying its welcome. The A.I is fairly cheap at times and the collision detection is a joke on certain corners and jumps - with your car being sent spiralling through the air just for hitting a slight dip in the track. Ugh!

I've also started up Virtua Tennis 2009 (my latest review) and the game is proving something of a disappointment at the moment. Not that it is a bad game as such, but the gameplay is the same as the original Virtua Tennis that I played way back on the Dreamcast. It really does seem that very little has changed? I know the adage 'if it ain't broke.....' but surely something new could have been added. It's still plenty of fun though but just seems to have become the latest in a long line of barely updated sports titles.

Next up will be Red Faction - which I have some high hopes for. Fingers crossed that it lives up to the hype.

Swinging...........

Stop your dirty minds - I was talking about Bionic Commando, obviously.

The game is really growing on me despite the few annoying niggles that have kept it from greatness. I suspect my Commando run through will run into some snags at some point but for now I'm just loving swinging around and heaving cars at people. Good times.

After my previous list (of games that I've played but not completed) I thought I'd bust out a list of the games I actually own but have never played. It's kind of shocking how big it is really and there are plenty of points on offer here that I may never get around to. We shall see.

Let's delve into my stash of games then:

A-Train HX (meant to be an easy 1k)
Afro Samurai (tough in parts but doable)
Armoured Core 4 (easy 800 points, then a slog for the rest)
Armoured Core For Answer (ridiculous online stuff)
Assassins Creed (some glitchy stuff but fairly easy)
Battlestations: Midway (tough expert campaign)
Beowulf (meant to be awful)
Brothers in Arms (completed this on my GF's account - then realised you could cheat the 100 days played stuff. I'll go back to it at some point)
Bully (easy, though time consuming, 1k)
Call of Juarez (not going to start until I find people to boost with, the online is dead)
Command and Conquer 3 (need a second machine to boost this)
C&C: Red Alert 3 (meant to be doing the online with a friend but we never got started)
Conan (three plays needed - fun)
Condemned 2 (need people to play online with)
Crackdown (meant to be awesome, think I'll play it fairly soon)
Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant (easy 1k)
Dark Sector (need online players)
Dead Space (awesome game, no excuse for not playing it. Sorry)
Devil May Cry 4 (the achievements scare me, ha ha)
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam (fairly standard 1k, with grinding)
EDF 2017 (tough single player, really want to start this)
Eternal Sonata (two plays needed but easy enough)
Fallout 3 (not playing just to spite Thrawn. Ha ha, I want to play it honestly)
Far Cry Instincts (no reason not to play it, just don't want to)
Far Cry 2 (was a gift and the MP stuff is sick)
GTA IV (Webb cries whenever I mention not playing this, but I swear I will one day)
Infinite Undiscovery (long ass game, and at three playthroughs needs a solid investment of time)
Kingdom Under Fire (needs a lot of grinding and I'm not feeling it)
Lego Star Wars: Complete Saga (going to play this co-op with the lady, as I have with the other Lego games)
Lost Odyssey (more RPG style fun, need some free time)
Madagascar 2 (fairly easy 1k, but I need to be in the mood)
Mass Effect (three more playthroughs, it's becoming a common theme)
Mirrors Edge (a game that intrigues me but not enough to play at the moment)
Naruto: Broken Bond (I actually really loved this game, so want to start it again on my own account)
Prince of Persia (an easy enough 1k)
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (need boosting pals)
Samurai Warriors 2 (hack and slash stuff I need to be in the mood for)
Secret Service (an easy 1k)
Sid Meiers Civilisation Revolution (easy enough to 1k but I need to get around to it)
Silent Hill (on my current list of games to play)
Smash Court Tennis 3 (need a second console to do this ideally)
Sonic Unleashed (bad reviews have killed this for me)
Star Wars Force Unleashed (easy enough 1k but I haven't found the time)
Stormrise (need an online buddy to go for this)
Supreme Commander (got it on the cheap and still haven't played it)
Tenchu Z (easy enough 1k but you have to play each mission three times, ugh)
The Club (need two consoles ideally)
The Godfather (have to grind to level 50 and I can't be bothered right now)
The Incredible Hulk (easy enough 1k)
Tom Clancys Endwar (the glitchy achievements have put me off)
Tomb Raider Underworld (easy 1k, just need to play it)
Tomb Raider Anniversary (same as above)
Too Human (long, tough and dull - not feeling this right now)
Turok (need online buddies)
Two Worlds (easy 1k, but time consuming)
Virtua Tennis 3 (almost impossible gold challenges have put me off)
Warhammer Battle March (need two consoles ideally)
Warriors Oroichi (grindfest)

As you can see, that is one hell of a list. Most of the reasons for me not playing a certain game revolve around either sheer laziness or the fact that the online aspect is extremely long winded. There are also a ton of RPG's on there that need a ton of playthroughs or a crapload of time. In fact I even have one or two games on here that I actually played on a backup account for review purposes (thinking I wouldn't like them enough to bother with for points) and want to go through again. If I only played for points they would probably already be on my account but I like a nice completion % too.

At the end of the day it all comes down to time. As if I had enough of it I would be playing through all of these games at a rate of knots - alas, I am forced to play what I can, when I can. So I will continue to muddle along and do what I can. Once I've cleared the backlog of games I've started but not finished then I will gradually start as many of these games as I can. Starting with an RPG or two and most of the easier 1k's on the list - things like PoP and Tomb Raider etc.

If I don't buy a new game for a year I will still have plenty to do, so that's something I guess.

150k whoop whoop!

Well, I finally hit another milestone over the weekend but it doesn't seem to hold the joy or significance that I felt when I hit 100k even though it probably should. I think the problem now is that so many people have hit over 100k that it is becoming somewhat old hat - and the next big milestone has become 200k.

Just a quick browse down my friends list shows how common 100k is, and there are a significant number of people already well on their way to 200k. It's a shame really as hitting another 50,000 points should be something to celebrate rather than a mere stepping stone. Ah well, such is life.

The tally was finally reached through a combination of Bionic Commando and Hot Wheels. I actually really enjoyed Commando though I'm not looking forward to my second run through on the hardest difficulty. You can check out my review (on the right) but I'll just say now that the game is a lot of fun just let down be some dodgy swinging mechanics at times along with some dubious instant death issues in terms of radiation and water that can kill you just be being knee deep in it for too long. Nice. I'm hoping to finish up all of the challenges and collectables this week and then move onto Commando difficulty next - hopefully that will prove to be easier than I'm being led to believe.

Hot Wheels is just flat out boring at the moment. The game itself is kind of amusing but having to replay the same tracks and challenges three times over has gotten old fast. I've polished off Easy and Medium thus far and I'm ready to get cracking on Hard this week. I've managed to get all bar three of the flames on offer from the those difficulties too, so I can now afford to miss a ton of secondary goals on Hard whilst still geting enough flames from just winning to tip me over the required number for the Beat That rank.

Hopefully I can finish that crap off this week at some point as I really hate driving games and, even though this is a fairly fun arcadey one, it is still tiresome.

Every point I get on it is edging me closer to that elusive 90% completion too - though Bionic Commando kind of hit that a bit once I started it. I think the full 1k in that game will be fairly straightforward though, so it should not be a problem for long.

Business is picking up.

Well, after a bit of a lull in the review period it looks like they are rapidly going to be picking up over the next few months. I have just finished up Battlestations Pacific (check the link on your right) and have moved on to Bionic Commando with plenty more titles looming on the horizon.

Still with things like Prototype, FUEL, Batman: AA etc coming up I can't say I'm going to be upset about being busy. Though I doubt I'll review all of the triple A stuff but that doesn't stop me from buying them..........and then leaving them to rot on a shelf while I play somethiong crap for points. The shame.

On the bizarre side, I'm actually enjoying Bionic Commando which is a shock considering all of the bad write ups it has had thus far. I put a few hours into it yesterday and actually had a lot of fun. Though I'm not sure if the game will stay entertaining throughout so only time will tell. Still, it's certainly an auspicious beginning.

I've also been dipping in and out of Hot Wheels again. The game is pretty easy but still quite long and arduous. I've snagged 130/780 flames so far, and will be doing my best to keep that figure as high as possible so that I can cruise through the harder stages. Fingers crossed.

Once that badness is out of the way (along with Commando which seems a reasonably straightforward 1k) I'll switch over to NBA Ballers and Velvet Assassin. Another new game to get through and a half finished game to tidy up.

I'm liking the way this works and I'm almost, ALMOST, at 90% completion which is nice.

Big CONGRATS to Apple who not only overtook me in the race to 200k but also hit the 150k milestone in doing so - not bad considering he was about 8k behind me when the race began. I guess I'm getting lax but such is life.

Ticking over

Well, I've pretty much finished my latest review for Battlestations: Pacific and it should be up on x360a.org fairly soon (today hopefully) if you fancy a read.

Overall I really enjoyed the game, but the initial learning curve will be a bit much for more casual players. If it takes you a few hours just to get used to the controls and strategy then are you really making the game accessible enough? I don't think so, but hopefully the game will find its niche as it has plenty about it to recommend. A good length set of campaigns, plenty of units and just plain fun in terms of dog-fighting and the like.

I've also finished off the first set of races on Hot Wheels - so just three more groups to polish off on the Easy difficulty and then I can repeat the whole process again on Medium and Hard. What fun! The game is actually not too bad, but having to repeat the same races/goals three times is pretty stupid.

On the plus side I only need to get 720/780 of the flames for the full 1k. Meaning I can miss 60 of the side goals on my way to completing the game. I plan on pretty much maxing out the easy and medium difficulties so I will need less replays on the tougher mode. Hopefully it all goes to plan.

I've also gone back to Scene It: BOS in a bid to get the full 1250 on that. Once these two are out of the way I'll only have NBA Ballers in the 'easy but unfinished' bracket on my 360. So I'll get that done next. Then I'll have no choice but to play something tough, bring the noise.