Lawn of the Month

I said that I was going to do a video review but I’m lazy, with limited time so I decided to go the more traditional approach. Let me start off by saying that I’m not the biggest fan of games where I have to sneak around everywhere and I know a lot of people are with me when it comes to this. I have also played one installment of this series and it was decent at best. I love the MGS series and I don’t care if I watch more movies then I play during the game.

With that being said, SC:DA is awesome! I’ve only played through the training courses and all the way to the 4th level so far, but I already know that I will be playing this game at least one more. (and for me, that’s saying a lot.) Already I have been faced with a difficult decision in the game which shapes the type of ending you will received and for my first play through I will be doing everything bad as possible. Innocent victim? I have to shoot them? Consider it done. I will give you a quick insight of why I love this game so much covering controls, story, and visuals/gameplay.

Controls:

The controls took me a while to get use to but after about 30 minutes to an hour in training they became really second nature to me. Sneaking around the everywhere isn’t so bad and it all becomes natural after you get the hang of it. If you have never played a Splinter Cell game before, don’t worry, you’ll pick up the controls in no time.

Story:

In my opinion, the story is awesome so far. Basically, you have to gain trust between the good guys and the bad guys. The game will face you with decisions sometimes that will piss off the good guys, thus gaining trust with the bad ones and vice versa. This twist to the game not only drives the different endings you can achieve but also changes the way you play the game. I can’t wait to see all of the moral decisions that Ubisoft has come up with to make the player thing hard before acting. This part of the game alone excites me because it means extra replay with extra endings which is a big plus in my book. And yes, I said excites me.

Visuals/Gameplay

If you haven’t seen a video or screenshots of the game, do yourself a favor and do so. This game looks amazing to simply put it. For me to be excited about a game it must meet three simple criteria: 1. It must be fun, simple as that. 2. The controls must make sense for the game. 3. It must look good at best. This game plays good out of the water! I can’t wait to get a HD-TV this fall to see SC:DA in all it’s glory.

I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this game and I can’t wait to start it up and get into it some more. I’m also looking forward to the multiplayer experience it offers. If you haven’t planned on paying any attention to this game, I urge everyone to at least rent it and see what you think. Like it our not, Tom Clancy games are awesome for next gen.

Sorry for the delay in posting some new material but Nate and I had to…well you know…work. But new stuff will be coming shortly including a unboxing of the Wii (when it comes out) and possibly a video review of Double Agent for the 360.

As a child growing up in the 80’s/90’s, the teenage mutant ninja turtles became a huge part of my Saturday morning rituals right along with a big bowl of Captain Crunch. I was lucky enough to have a NES while growing up and then Ultra Games decided to release a child’s dream: TMNT for the NES. Wow did this game suck! It was the hardest game ever and I have yet to meet someone who has beat this game! Hell, I even rented the game genie and still couldn’t beat it. Here’s a video by a somewhat famous guy by the name of Angry Nintendo Nerd. He’s pretty funny and I totally related with the video below. Enjoy. (Beware the vulgar language. NSFW….unless you have headphones.)

My long job search is finally over! Last Friday I received a call from EA Tiburon, offering me a position. These last few months of job hunting have been incredibly frustrating. Constant replies of “Your work is great, I’ll keep you in mind down the road…”, really start to get to you. All that is over now and I am pretty excited about my new career. I can’t wait to start making games! I don’t know much info right now, but so far everything seems great. Also, the benefits are awesome, I get a number of free and discounted games every year plus $100 off any gaming console I want (I’ll take one Wii for $150 please). I start next Monday and early reports have me working with the Wii team. Not exactly sure what games I will be working on but I’m guessing it will be Madden/NCAA for the Wii. Any way it works out, it is still a very exciting time in my life.

-Nate

A reader and designer over at Joystiq has made the Mii Channel of the Wii in flash! Now you have the ability to make your own Mii character before the Wii comes out November 19th, 2006. You won’t be able to do anything with the character but it does let you play around with the options to see what you might look like come the 19th of November. You can play with the Mii creator here. It looks nothing like me but I wanted to have an afro!

Try and create someone famous and post the link in the comment section.