The "Complete" List

Resistance 2
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Manhunt 2
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Silent Hill 2 - (4 star rating, Leave ending)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - DS
Silent Hill 3 - (5 star rating)
Little Big Planet - Story Mode
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Killzone 2
WET
Halo 3: ODST - (Legendary)
DiRT 2 - 100%
Halo 3* - (Legendary)
Mario Kart Wii
CoD: Modern Warfare 2 - (Normal)
Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves
Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
Assassin's Creed - 360

Having gone back to this for the first time in over a year I managed to fluke the mission I was stuck on (after 4 or 5 aborted attempts) and killed the one person I needed out of the crowd of guards. There follows possibly the most annoying lead up to the end of a game in recorded history. Altair is never at his best in my clumsy hand in combat amongst a crowd.. Especially when I'd forgotten the all the controls (The manual is useless in this respect). When it came back to me I finally managed to kill the crowd of guards and then had to run around in a circle for ages avoiding the 'hit' until I got my strength back.

After that it was pretty much plain sailing until the 100g 'cheevo popped up for finishing the game.

That, if I'm not mistaken, bring my total to the year to 36 games which I'm pretty proud of. Yes there's been a few Easy ones. But not enough games let you change the difficulty mid game. It's difficult to know what kind of challenge lies ahead at the option screen.

Purchase Power

I traded in Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time for the vanilla edition of Assassin's Creed II today. Which leads me nicely on to my next post

The "Complete" List

Resistance 2
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Manhunt 2
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Silent Hill 2 - (4 star rating, Leave ending)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - DS
Silent Hill 3 - (5 star rating)
Little Big Planet - Story Mode
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Killzone 2
WET
Halo 3: ODST - (Legendary)
DiRT 2 - 100%
Halo 3* - (Legendary)
Mario Kart Wii
CoD: Modern Warfare 2 - (Normal)
Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves
Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time

Completed this over the weekend, Mostly during a marathon session on Sunday. I'd say it was probably a touch shorter than ToD. It's mostly more of the same. There are some changes. Some good, Some bad.

The biggest change was the Clank levels. ToD's Clanks levels saw him control the 'Zoni' to over come puzzles and obstacles but where mostly dull. The story of CiT see time manipulation come to the fore and the puzzles that Clank faces here have a Braid style inspiration. Suffice to say it was the part of the game I was least looking forward to and ended up enjoying most.. It's a pity there wasn't more of them. Just as I was enjoying the challenge they'd finished.

The Weapons, always a highlight of a R&C game where a bit weak this time. I ended up only using a handful. You've got to love a game where the missile launcher is called the 'Negotiator' but there wasn't the scope and variety of ToD and I didn't like the upgrade system as much either.

The space combat was improved, The bonus worlds had a sort of Super Mario Galaxy flavour to them and I enjoyed the ones I tried (at a certain point you need a certain amount of 'Zoni' to progress but I did the bear minimum of exploring side quests).

The cut scenes and story where up to the usual high standard and I found a lot of it laugh out loud funny. Especially the line 'I am your Father's Accountant.'

So overall a great end to this particular trilogy of Ratchet & Clank games but Insomniac needs to come up with something more for the next adventures.

The "Complete" List

Resistance 2
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Manhunt 2
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Silent Hill 2 - (4 star rating, Leave ending)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - DS
Silent Hill 3 - (5 star rating)
Little Big Planet - Story Mode
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Killzone 2
WET
Halo 3: ODST - (Legendary)
DiRT 2 - 100%
Halo 3* - (Legendary)
Mario Kart Wii
CoD: Modern Warfare 2 - (Normal)
Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves

I'm a huge fan of Naughty Dog and this doesn't disappoint. It's a cracking adventure from start to finish. The cutscenes are genuinely enjoyable. It does everything a good sequel should. Building on the first game but making everything better.

Personally I'd rather not have AI companions for quite so much of the game and I still think the puzzles are a bit too few and far between but other than that it's hard to fault.

Some brilliant set pieces and strong level design maintain your interest all the way to the end.

Personally I have to say I think Batman: Arkham Asylum probably just shades it as my GOTY but it's a close call.

First Look: Episodes from Liberty City

It wasn't that long ago when I went back to Liberty City to finish off GTA IV but it still feels like a while since I've been waiting for the DLC to be released on a more 20Gb HDD friendly disc.

I started with The Ballad of Gay Tony because I'd heard it been trumpted as a return to San Andreas (my personal favourite GTA) levels of excess..

Now I've no idea whether it's being spoiled by the controls and silky smooth gameplay of Uncharted 2 and Batman:AA or whether GTA IV has aged in dog years but going back now it feels horribly clunky and verging on the broken. I honestly don't know how I had the patience to complete GTA IV.

Rockstar have at least put checkpoints in which eases some of the frustration but in typical Rockstar form they've done it their own way. Having stolen an attack helicopter early on in the game I'm then tasked with blowing the yaught it was stolen from up.. Of course the guns fire forward and the rockets have a life of their own and there's no sight or recticle to show you where they're going to land.. Suffice to say I crashed into the see several times trying to bring my guns to bear on the yaught because you end up flying straight towards the sea...

No problem there's a checkpoint.. but instead of just throwing you straight back into the action it has to put you outside the hospital where you get a text allowing you to access the checkpoint. Which would be fine if it wasn't for the player character immedeately trying to phone someone. You just want to get back into the action and have another go but you can't. The whole thing, to my eyes at least, is starting to groan under the weight of what Rockstar are trying to achieve.

The "Complete" List

Resistance 2
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Manhunt 2
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Silent Hill 2 - (4 star rating, Leave ending)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - DS
Silent Hill 3 - (5 star rating)
Little Big Planet - Story Mode
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Killzone 2
WET
Halo 3: ODST - (Legendary)
DiRT 2 - 100%
Halo 3* - (Legendary)
Mario Kart Wii
CoD: Modern Warfare 2 - (Normal)

It's not a hugely long campaign. Although I seemed to die an awful lot. If you've played Modern Warfare you'll have some idea what to expect. Lots of set pieces and lots of jingonistic ass kicking! It was thoroughbly enjoyable in a sort of mindless way.

The "Complete" List

Resistance 2
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Manhunt 2
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Silent Hill 2 - (4 star rating, Leave ending)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - DS
Silent Hill 3 - (5 star rating)
Little Big Planet - Story Mode
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Killzone 2
WET
Halo 3: ODST - (Legendary)
DiRT 2 - 100%
Halo 3* - (Legendary)
Mario Kart Wii

Quite a while without a completion for me.. (I've actually got to the last boss on Uncharted 2 and have yet to polish it off). Dusted this off last night. Suitably refreshed after an evenings drinking I managed to complete the last three gold cups I needed on the reverse championship to see the credits roll.. The first two cups went down with out too much resistance..

The last Gold cup I needed was the one that ends in 'Rainbow Road'. I got a third and a first and then had a total nightmare on the third Bowsers Castle track coming in last by a huge margin.. Managed to finish high enough on Rainbow Road to score 41 points which equalled the highest AI racer and scored me the Gold Cup!

Currently Playing: Guitar Hero 5

As previously mentioned this is my first experience of any rhythmn based peripheral type game. I was rather impressed with the 'Axe' itself. There's a pleasing weight to it and the finish is rather fine. Indeed on seeing it propped up in the corner of my front room a friend remarked that he didn't know I played guiter.. I don't. The only downside, at least for me, is the strum bar itself makes quite a loud clicking noise while you're playing.

But what of the game itself? As you'd imagine umpteen sequels and band editions later they've pretty much nailed the gameplay. There's an option to create your own character, use your Avatar, several defaults and the option to unlock several celebs (my personal favourite being the lovely Shirley Manson of Garbage fame.)

Of course once you're playing the pretty characters and graphics go out the window and all you can do is focus on the notes. I'm sure everyones familiar with the fret board style conveyor belt of notes. The game breaks you in quite gently with the option to just strum but obviously you'll soon want to start playing properly. At first even just the combination of playing three notes and strumming is terribly complex and you can only wonder how on earth you're going to be able to cope with anything else.. It's all about the practice.

You're fingers soon seem to take on a life of their own as the notes roll around you find yourself doing things you'd not of thought possible. I particularly liked playing 'Symphony for The Devil' as Richards signature guitar sounds come out of the speakers as you're hitting the notes does bring out the inner rock god.

What I wasn't expecting was how much fun it is as a party game. Two other players, even if they're all playing the guitar parts too, make for an awful lot more fun. They also help you if you 'fail' the song. They get the chance to get you back in the game rather than having to start again if you make a mess of it.

For my particular tastes the song selection is solid rather than spectacular although it does introduce to some songs that you find out you like that you didn't know. I guess it's a question of my age that the focus on newer stuff is not really my thing.. where's the Pink Floyd edition?

First Look: Modern Warfare 2

As my regular reader will know I pre-ordered the Prestige Edition of Modern Warfare 2 and quite an impressive piece of kit it is. I haven't gotten around to getting the Night Vision Goggles or the Head out yet but the Hardened Edition case and the Art book where nice. It also comes with a code to allow you to download the original Call of Duty which I've never played.

But what of the game? Well I started on the Multiplayer. I got together a small bunch of Live friends and we had a go on some of the maps. First impressions is that there's a lot too them and plenty of scope for learning where to ambush people and perhaps a lot more to them then say Halo 3's maps. However as soon as you go public it's obvious that the larger number of online players per game soon renders that advantage worthless. At least at first.

The game moves at a much faster pace than Halo and a relative small amounts of hits are fairly deadly. Once in a public match it's pretty much mayhem from start to finish. The deaths, at least for me, came thick and fast. The Kill Cam is a nice touch allowing you to see what killed you but it'd be nicer not to die quite so often. XP seems to come thick and fast regardless of whether you're on the winning team and of how much actual contribution you made so it would seem a war of attrition could see even a rubbish player like me make progress..

The single player begins in a very similar manner to CoD 4 with a quick weapons tutorial and then a training area.. Although I personally thought this one wasn't as good as the last one.

The campaign get's off to a rather slow and annoying start as you take pot shots against the enemy from across a river and try to defend a bridge. Followed by an on rails section in an APC and a scripted explosion.. By this point I was starting to wonder what all the fuss was about and I'd had enough.