XBOX GAMES EARLY REVIEWS

Allow me to turn on my geek mode today. This week has been tiring and sleepless for me. The culprit: video games!!! Well, to be honest it's mostly my fault because I know I have work, but I just can't resist the urge to play. It's really hard. The games are truly addicting and sleepless-nights-inducing.

That's basically the reason why the last couple of posts don't really make sense. My apologies. I haven't been myself lately. But I see some of the light now. Just a little.

Thanks to the pay I got a few days ago, I was able to buy six games, and I'll review a couple that I've bought. Now I haven't really logged in a whole lot of hours playing both games so this may not be complete, but I'll try my best to make some sense.

GEARS OF WAR 2
The sequel to one of Xbox's most groundbreaking games, this one lives up to the hype. Earth is on the brink of destruction, and the human race, extinction. The locusts have grown by the numbers and they aren't showing signs of ever slowing down. There's only one way of stopping them, and that's to go on the offensive. And it falls on the shoulders of Marcus Phenix and his ragtag company to stop them completely.

I loved the original game. It was 10 hours of gaming nirvana. It was violent. It was scary. And it has some of the most beautiful graphics I've ever seen. The original Gears of War was what got me to really love my console (I had buyer's remorse after I purchased the console). So coming in to this game, I really had high expectations. And I'm not disappointed. Not one bit.

Everything I loved with the first game are back. The sniper rifle, the chainsaw gun, destroying locusts, the awesome cover system, and the highly capable AI all make their glorious return. But what's really important is that there are a lot of new additions: you can now use the fallen enemies as shield against incoming fire, more weapons, there are bigger, and badder monsters to brutally destroy and the story is much MUCH better. This just isn't about Marcus anymore, even his partner Dom's story is in the forefront. I'm scared to find out if his family is still alive or not.

The CGI movies are breathtaking!!! You can really feel the sense of hopelessness the people have, seeing all the blood, destruction and fighting during cutscenes. The voice-acting is just superb, and if you have good speakers I suggest to plug it in and turn the volume to the max and just enjoy!!! I have the balls to do it now, as I'm playing in the afternoon and not late at night. I just love hearing the sound of chainsaw ploughing through locust skin.

FINAL WORD: This game looks, sounds and plays so good, this is the first game on my purchase that I'll try to finish first. And play again and again and again.

FALLOUT 3
Before my xbox originally brokedown, aside from murdering people when playing Grand Theft Auto IV, I was totally immersed in the world of Oblivion in Elder Scrolls IV. It was a very beautiful game. A lot of sidequests, a huge world where you can visit everyplace you can see, and a clocked playthrough of almost 100 hours. I'm not even halfway through the main story.

Yeah I know, I need to get a life.

Now why do I have to start my Fallout 3 review with another game. Well, for one, this game is created by the same people who made Elder Scrolls. And two, the game is pretty much similar to the prior, with the only difference is that Fallout is set in a post-apocalyptic Washington DC.

I've only played this game for about an hour and a half last Tuesday. Not because I didn't like it. On the contrary I did. But I just don't want to immerse myself just yet in the whole universe that is Fallout because I haven't incurred an absence yet at work (4 months of diligent work habit baby!!!).

You play whoever you wanted to be, you can even customize the look of your character, mine looks like an Asian, because you know, I'm one. The outcome of your abilities all depends on you. You start the game as an infant and you can be who you want to be. You can be a thief, a murderer, a hero, an assassin, absolutely anything.

I'm looking forward to continuing the story, and completing all of the quests. I'm looking forward to having my pet dog that will accompany me all throughout my journey (well, at least until I accidentally get him/her killed). This has the makings of a great game, but one that I can only play during the weekends. I miss my bum days.

FINAL WORD: Technically, one of the most beautiful games ever made. Can't wait to become addicted to this game.