skondo

Having taken a little break, I’m now back on my Gears play through. Having had a magnificent time with 1 to 3, Judgment was somewhat lacking. The combat was great, but the story and how the game was structured was poor. On to 4. Early days, but initially seemed rather dull, almost as if the developers weren’t quite sure where they should go. However, have just finished the ‘steal the fabricator’ level and, apart from a rather poor ‘is the lift working?’ section, it was quite superb. Excellent cover shooting, fun weapons and just enough challenge. Admittedly the enemies are not as interesting as the locust or lambent, but kicking the ‘ball explosives’ away is huge fun.

I know most CE's are overpriced, but for the content this seems hugely overpriced, or is it me?

Thanks Calashnikov.

Is there somewhere I can invert the y-axis on this? So irritating that the controls are the wrong way round.

Finished. Really enjoyed this. I will miss these characters so much.

My copy arrived from Simply Games yesterday. Having played this briefly (for about an hour or so) on Wii many years ago, this will largely be a new game to me.

I'm glad this is back, but the first episode of S3 is terrible. I was waiting for it to do something and then it finished. Really hoping episode two increases the pace a bit.

I’m booked for Ladytron at Koko in March. Been a fan for years, but I’ve never been able to see them live, so I’m quite excited.

Four episodes into the final series and it’s just brilliant.

Somerville. It looks great and has a beautiful soundtrack, but I found this too dull most of the time and some of the puzzles were a bit daft. Not much to say about it really, 5 out of 10.

Gears of War Judgment. My Gears playthrough continues. So far this is probably the worst. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with it, but the campaign doesn't feel like a campaign, it feels like a horde mode or score attack game with a flimsy story attached as an afterthought. At the start of each section I can choose whether I want to make the section harder, with stronger enemies or by restricting my squad to particular weapons. I get to the end of a section and I can choose to continue or I can try again. In certain sections it tells you when the next wave of enemies will come. It just doesn't sit well in a campaign. However, the cover shooting etc...is still excellent. Also played the Aftermath Gears 3 story. This felt better, but was very slight. Overall it was still fun, but just too disjointed. I guess a 6 out of 10 would be fair. It's possible I'm a being a little unfair as I was definitely experiencing 'Gears fatigue', having played 1, 2, 3 and then Judgment. Time to give it a break before moving on to 4.

For me it’s a rather dull Diana Ross ballad, but number one when my wife born…….Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas.

Out today, woohoo!

I do regret not buying Blur when it launched. I remember thinking ‘it’s Mario Kart but with real cars, what a stupid idea’. Eventually I bought it when the price dropped and I absolutely loved it. Online with friends was loads of fun.

Gears of War 3. Never played before and it was an absolute blast. Cover shooting is superb, writing is better than previous games and the plot is actually okay. If anything, when playing on normal the game is a little too easy. There was one section when fighting some lambent humans and Locust, where I felt slightly overwhelmed, particularly when three or four lambent stalks sprouted and started spitting out more lambent. At this point there was genuinely too much going on, but it was the build up to a key scripted moment that cleared the battlefield. Any grief/loss in the game is handled a little clumsily, which is a little disappointing, but the worst element is having to play as Cole as he's just so damned annoying. The game built to the finale well and it wasn't disappointing. I really enjoyed the whole game so have to give it a 10/10. Brilliant stuff. The one thing lacking when compared to Gears 2 is a sense of tension and I missed that. Scariest part was probably Marcus removing his head scarf, what the fuck is up with his hair? Now on to Judgment, which apparently is a prequel. I hadn't realised that.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. What an utterly ridiculous film. Very silly and Nic Cage does seem to have a lot of fun being Nic Cage. 7/10.

Decided to do a 1 to 5 play through having only played and completed 1 and 2 previously. Have just finished 2 which is still magnificent. Just started 3 and thought, hold on, is that Chloe? Yes, indeed it is.

Continuing my Gears run through, today I completed 2, which I had expected to complete over Christmas, but simply didn’t get the time, so finally completed it today. Lots of fun with some simply epic set pieces, highlights being the Sires breaking out of the incubation tanks and also riding the Brumak. Highly recommended 9/10. Now on to 3.

Slightly optimistic suggesting my games would be Gears 2 and 3. Still playing 2. Mind you I’ve just completed the section with the Sires breaking out of the tanks. Simply magnificent, tense with a slight sense of panic. That whole chapter was superbly paced, just brilliant.

Midnight Mass Effect.

I fancied a Gears series play through, so I'm a couple of hours into Gears 2 now, so Christmas will be a combination of 2 and 3. I've only played 1 and 2 before.

Don’t Look Back in Anger Wonderwall Livin’ on a Prayer