And It's Good to Have You With Us, Even If It's Just For a Day

Random Updates:

I got to see David Beckham bend in a penalty kick. That like seeing Ali or Jordan do thier thing. People talk about going to see a real soccer match in England as something you have to do once, Ill do it, but I think this will be so much more memorable. I still dont like or dislike soccer (watching it), but that was really something special. Here it is, for those who werent there (sucked in).



Damn game companies. Coming out between now and christmas are:
Rock Band - Like Guitar Hero, but set up for a band. A guitar, a drum kit and a mic. Guitar Hero was great, this looks exponentially better. The only problem being that I have to find two (or three) other people who are willing to be in a room with me. A difficult problem.
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men - I was initially sceptical of this game, I'd heard it has a great story but still wasn't impressed. However I recently bought Hitman: Blood Money (Made by the same people). This game is so much fun, so well made, that I now have complete faith in the developer.
Assassins Creed - This was a much hyped title. I bought it the other day, havnt had a chance to play it yet, but I am excited. I know that some people might not like it, but I am sure I will.
Mass Effect - Another game I had heard of, but wasn't all that excited for. Then I heard more of it, saw more movies and so on. Now i'm excited for it.

Who knew that vegan was pronounced vee-jan?

Caught in the Web:

Drunken Slash is awesome. His band mates staring in awe of his drunkeness is even better.


List of things that I hope dont come to Australia:
Columbian Devils Breath - The only thing in Columbia more scary than the Cali Cartel were, the Columbians Devils Breath. Its bad stuff. Kind of like the ultimate date rape drug.

Japanese Hornets - These hornets are two inches long. Think about a nest of these damn things, its insane. Their sting can kill humans, even if they aren't allergic. Just a few of them can destroy a whole european bees nest quite easily. Fortunately the asian bee has developed a defense, they surround the hornet with hundreds of bees, heat up the bee ball and cook the hornet alive. If that isnt evidence of evolution then what is.

I am now addicted to these sites. They are PostSecret and OneSentence. PostSecret involves people sending in homemade postcards with secrets written on them, if they are all true, they provide a fascinating view into other peoples lives. OneSentence is quite similar, it has people submitting stories in one sentence. I guess its no different to watching big brother, but then again, Im dont care about the things these people do. I just like seeing what some people are too scared to say in person.

Reviews:

Halo 3: To really review a game such as this you have to break it down into its parts, review each, then decide how good the sum of those parts are. So to begin, the parts

Single Player, Multi-Player and Extras.

Single Player:

The Good:

• Level Design: Gone are the repitious nature of the first game (excluding a trip to a ring, where, as assumed, it is quite similar to the first ring). The levels each feel different, the jungle shows signs of a prolonged campaign against the Covenant, lots of small battlements litter the land scape in between larger bases, while the mission set inside a flood infested ship shows how virus like they are, with floodling spores and organic doors throughout the ship. There is one part of a mission, where you are tasked with taking out three anti-air ships, here the sections are quite similar, however it does end with a fight against a scarab, so it redeems itself.
  Speaking of, at one point you are against two scarabs and have a small ship to gly around, I landed on the the first, pushed the ship off the edge, destroyed the scarabs power core, jumped off and managed to get into the ship and sly away as it was exploding. It made for one intense experience and rewatching it was just as fun.
  
• A.I: Both the allied and enemy A.I. is much improved, and considering it wasnt exactly bad in the first two thats saying something. As before the grunts will attack, untill you fight back, in which case they turn and run. The brutes use their items (Bubble Shield, etc) well, although they do seem to act independantly when in a group, which can result in Bubble Shields overlapping.
  
• Scope: Everything seems, grander, in this encounter. The set pieces are bigger and with more players, the levels are not always larger but seem more real. You feel like you are fighting a war, not rushing from one set of corridors to another. Being able to take on a Scarab (or two) is also amazing.

The Bad:

• The Weapons: As with Halo 2, some new weapons are added, some are kept some are changed. Overall however the newly added weapons don't add much to the gameplay. The sword was introduced in Halo 2, and the Gravity Hammer, while immensly satisfying to use, feels very similar in terms of tactical use. The brutes weapons mauler is fun to use, although its limited ammo and slow rate of fire mean that as soon as you can replace it you will.
• The Enemies: Through out the game you fight the Covenant and the Flood. Fair enough, but the Covenant have lost the elites, as they are now your allies, so as far as the Covenant are concerned you fight Grunts, Brutes and Jackals. You also fight the Hunters and Drones, but so rarely as to barely warrant a mention. Fighting the three main enemies does get repetitive. Mixing it up with another level, between Brutes and Grunts would have been good. Perhaps a larger kind of jackal, as they are relegated primarily to snipers.

Multi-Player:

• Its all good. There might not be enough maps for some, but the maps they have are SO solid. I play primarily team objective, which changes between Zanzibar, High Ground and Valhalla, primarily, and honestly these three are all I need. Being on a good team, using lots of communication and teamwork, makes a big difference but its fun either way. Although I have spent a lot of time playing it online, as I said, 95% of it has been on the one mode, so my analysis isn't as in depth, its good.

Extras:

• Skulls: These are hidden, well hidden, throughout the levels. Once you collect them they change the game a little, making it more challenging / interesting to play. You can turn them on and off. I am currently going through collecting them, then I will play with them on and see how good it is.
  
• The Forge: I havent used it but its basically allows you to edit the multiplayer levels on the fly, as you are playing them.
  
• Saved Films: This i have used. Wipe out an entire team, no one else saw it? Doesnt matter, go to the save films and relive the glory over and over and over. So much fun to watch it and see just how much is happening at all times, in both multi and single player.
  

King of Kings Recommendation: If you have played the first two it is a must have, if you havent and have no interest in going back and playing them / finding out what happened, I might find something else. For me anyway, its probably top three from all my 360 games.

Hits of the Week:
1. Sams Town (Abbey Road Remix) - The Killers
2. Lonely Soul - Unkle


Babe of the Day:
Jennifer Ellison