It is time now for the second wave of '08/'09 reviews with today's column covering video games.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008, Xbox 360)

There was quite a bit of hype surrounding this game when it came out. It was supposed to be a Star Wars IP that the world hadn't seen since Shadows of the Empire. Did it live up to the hype? Depends on who you ask. I didn't buy it until recently, but I definitely had fun playing it. That said, there were also many points where I was frustrated out of my mind to the point of controller throwing (something I've not done in years). Some of this was due to faulty game mechanics, but mostly my own incompetence. Sadly, the game is fairly repetitive in terms of combat and I found myself relying on Force lightning to handily finish off every enemy I came across. There are plenty of options for combat such as push and choke and, of course, your lightsaber, but none of these were as handy or wholly satisfying as lightning. Oh, and for all the hype about Euphoria, never once did I see a stormtrooper grab another in mid air. 7/10

2007 was, indeed, a monumental year in gaming. So many triple A titles, ninety-nine percent of which were released in the holiday season making it very expensive for those who wanted to stay on top. Today I'm going to take a look back at gaming in 2007 (the games I have played, at least).

[header]Wii[/header]

Wario Ware: Smooth Moves

This was my first foray into the world that is Wario Ware and, as such, cannot compare it to previous entries in the series. For the uninformed, Wario Ware is a collection of micro games, meaning each little game has one goal and you have about five (or less) seconds to complete said goal. The folks at Nintendo got incredibly inventive and this game shows off the abilities of the Wiimote excellently. As far as looks go there isn't anything jaw dropping, but the art direction can be hilarious at times and it certainly fits in with the zany, face paced style of the game. I only wish there were some better multiplayer options especially since this is a great party game (especially when over zealous players put their hand through a ceiling fan).

8/10 Stars

Super Paper Mario

Previous entries in the Paper Mario series have been more RPGish in that battles were turn based and you traversed the world in three dimensions. Super Paper Mario takes a more unique approach, cleverly blending old school platforming with RPG elements. There is, of course, the flip element to the game which makes you look at everything in a whole new perspective (forgive the pun). About the only caveat to this game would be the mansion level, but the clever puzzles mixed with awesome writing make this a must have game for the Wii.

8/10 Stars

Super Mario Galaxy

I will admit, I do not own this nor have I played it much. However, in my time with it I can see how it has gotten such high praise. The visuals alone are simply beautiful, I'd say the best looking of any game made this year. The music is a joy to listen to with many motifs going back to the days of Mario 3 and some Mario 64 selections as well. Most of it is orchestrated which makes it all the better. The best thing is, these are only the icing on an extremely delicious cake. The game play is simply fantastic. Gravity plays a huge role in the mechanics of this game and you had best be keeping that in mind whilst traversing the spherical levels. There's really not much to say about this game aside from that it's everything a Mario game should be.

10/10 Stars

[header]Xbox 360[/header]

Crackdown

This is probably the must underrated game of the year. If you bought this game just for the Halo 3 beta, raise your hand. (raises hand) If that's the only reason you bought this game and never even played it, then you should be ashamed of yourself. I was originally going to pass on Crackdown and the Halo 3 beta, but after playing the demo I realized that it (Crackdown) was a really cool game. I've never played a sandbox game before and just the ability to go wherever and do whatever I wanted was awesome enough. Throw in being able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and run faster than your mom and you've got one sweet game. The ending does suck, but story isn't the most prominent aspect so I'll let it slide. I spent many a good hour with this game.

7/10 Stars

Eternal Sonata

Eternal Sonata was supposed to be the Final Fantasy for Xbox 360, at least in my eyes. It was simply gorgeous and it had an awesome battle system, however it is missing the one crucial element that a good RPG needs: story. I haven't played very far into this game because, quite frankly, I don't care about the characters. In games such as Final Fantasy VI or X there was enough story to keep me going to find out what happened. The problem with ES is that no real story has been setup after a few hours of play. There's been a little bit of character exposition, but not much compelling me to play through.

6/10 Stars

Halo 3

By far the most hyped game of the year, luckily it delivers. There really isn't much of a difference from the previous games, but enough of an evolution for me to say that it is the best looking, best playing Halo out there. Multiplayer still rocks, they brought back the assault rifle, and the addition of multiplayer match replays is very sweet. If you are a 360 owner and haven't bought this yet, you need to do some deep soul searching and then go and buy it.

8/10 Stars

Rock Band

Rock Band, aka Drum Hero or the Real Guitar Hero III, is by far the best rhythm game ever. Guitar Hero was awesome, but there's not much room left for innovation in that game outside of new songs. I don't know if this is what Harmonix was thinking or not, but they definitely upped the ante with Rock Band. Guitar is more or less the same, same for vocals if you've played Sing Star or Karaoke Revolution, but the drums is an entirely different beast. Getting all your limbs to work separately from each other can be a challenge, albeit a very satisfying one once you get the hang of it. In terms of song selection, there should be something for everyone especially with new downloadable tracks coming every week. The only thing about Rock Band is that, as the name suggests, you really have to play it with other people. Playing the solo tour is fun and all, but the multiplayer is where it's at. Paying attention to our band mates and saving them (or vice versa) adds an extra element to the game. The most awesome part, though, is when your singer can't sing. It can be hilarious and horrible... all at the same time.

10/10 Stars

[header]Nintendo DS[/header]

Phoenix Wright: Justice for All

The Phoenix Wright series was already fairly well established by the time I got to it. I originally a half ass purchase as a game to play on my flight to Orlando in May. It turned out to be one of the best things I bought this year. Phoenix Wright was like an interactive Encyclopedia Brown story, only with killing and stuff. The stories are so intriguing that it is hard to put them down, and when you do finish you are saddened because the awesome ride you were just on ended. Graphically there's not much to see, though the artwork is nice. If you're into thinking type games you should definitely pick this one up.

9/10 Stars

The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass

Zelda's first foray onto the Nintendo DS brought some radical changes to gameplay; namely, a game controlled entirely by the stylus. As bad as that may seem it works amazingly well. The game's visuals and sound are near identical to its predecessor, the Wind Waker. Despite all this, I felt the game was somewhat lacking and felt very scaled down. Granted, this is a protable release and the target audience was newcomers, but it still took away some of that Zelda feel. However, they still could've made some better music for the dungeons.

7/10 Stars

[header]Portal[/header]

Just yesterday I picked up a copy of the Orange Box. Five games for fifty dollars is simply too good of a deal to pass up. At this point in time I have only installed/played/completed Portal. Portal is, by far, one of the most awesome games I've played in some time. The concept is insanely clever and forces you to think in a vastly different way. The writing is top notch and there were several things that I laughed out loud at. My only problem is that the game was far too short. I completed it in a few hours. Luckily there are advanced maps to complete yet and hopefully some stuff made by the community that I can get later.

9/10 Stars

If I had to pick one of these as my number one game of 2007 I would have to go with Rock Band. The drums are simply awesome and having a whole bunch of people doing co-op play makes for an awesome time. I would have to say Mario Galaxy would come in at a close second. It's awesome on too many fronts not to give honorable mention.

Well, there you have it. 2008 alredy looks to be promising with Brawl coming up right off the bat. Hopefully we'll see the same amount o quality games, but maybe released over a longer period of time. Happy New Year and keep gaming.

I had the top 5 post all written up and something went screwy when trying to post it. Now it's gone. Lost forever in the digital mines of hell. I'll give you the basic rundown without the commentary because I don't feel like typing it again.

Top 5 Games I Can't Wait For

5. Final Fantasy VI DS (not confirmed, but you know it's coming)

4. Pheonix Wright: Trials and Tribulations

3. Eternal Sonata

2. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

1. Super Smash Bros Brawl

I'm going to have to reserve some money because these all come out within the first couple months of school.

The list of things I have to do to prepare for college is getting shorter. Currently I'm working on picking out a roommate and after that we'll work on finding an apartment. Then I'll need to secure funds and come September 20th[ish] I'll be moving my stuff out there. So nothing new on that front, I'll move on to other things. Actually, I lied. I got a call from them the other day making sure I wanted to take the Digital Arts and Design degree because they think I'd be happier in Animation (I promptly said I'd be happy anywhere in that school). But I had actually been thinking of double majoring in either DAD and film or animation and the more I think about it animation and art as a whole has always been a big love of mine so I'm giving that some serious thought.

I'm currently getting ready to do another film project this time spoofing Elite Beat Agents. I'd give off more but I don't want to ruin anything. I'll be trying out greenscreen stuff for this. It seems Blender now has the ability to do professional green screen removal (with a little finagling) so I'm going to try that out. In particular I'll be filiming seperate elements against the screen and combining them into one shot. But I have yet to actually build the thing, something I was going to do on days off (Tuesday and Wednesday) but I felt too lazy to drive out to Lowes to buy the stuff. I suppose I'll do it next week and in the meantime I can flesh out a script. This is something I don't do often because I have the vision in my head pretty clearly and I don't want to go through the trouble of writing or storyboarding it out. I'm lazy that way and it's something I'll have to get over before I go to Full Sail.

I completed two games this week (the world must be ending). The first one was Super Paper Mario (Wii). It was, as I thought it would be, a comepletely enjoyable experience. The dialoge was top notch, as always, packed with plenty of laughs. The flip mechanism never got old and was always used cleverly. The story line was fairly predictable (I had the ending figured out about half way through). However, next to Zelda it's the best single player game out there for the Wii so if you own on I'd suggest picking this up.

The second game I completed was Pheonix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS) which, I admit, I probably enjoyed more than SPM. It's definitely not a game you buy for the graphics or sound because they're meh at best (the art's not bad, I will admit). What is crucial to this game is story and it delivers 110%. The first case, being the introductory one, wasn't the greatest but it gets you into the swing of things well enough. The second case was awesome, and probably one of my favorites. The third case had me stumped (to the point of cheating; I'm ashamed). The last case was simply amazing. Just when you think you had it figured out everything was turned on end. They also introduced some things that made things harder and raised moral questions. To say that this game on a whole was absolutely phenomenal is an understatement. If you like story type games (RPGs, text-adventures) you absolutely have to buy this game. If you're more an action type gamer you probably wouldn't enjoy it much, but rent it at least. It'll do you some good. On that note I'll be buying the first game and third when it comes out.

Now that all that's out, I'll leave you with this piece of art I finished this afternoon. Cheerio!

Comic

Another comic, yay! Anybody who has ever played multiplayer FSA will know exactly where I'm coming from... force gem hogs!

Well, I didn't think I'd be the one to be sucked in by this, but I'm now hooked on DDR (Mario style). Actually, it's an incredibly satisfying game once you really get going. Not only are you burning calories faster than Bill Clinton could put them on, but it's also insanely fun at the same time. Yeah... get DDR... lose weight... have fun...

Not sure if I've said anything about being cashier again, but I'm definitely glad I came back. I get to see all my old pals again and I get to sleep through the entire morning (not like I have :-P). However, one night they had me helping i grocery again. I was dragging palettes of frozen food taller than myself all over the place and that's scarier than any other palette dragging I've done so far (especially when there's customers around).

Got my copy of New Mario Bros. last Tuesday and I'll say this: The 11 year wait for a new Mario platformer was well worth it. If feels a lot like Mario World and Mario 3 rolled together. The only gripe I have so far is that as far as I've seen there's nothing to make Mario fly :-(.

And, on a side note, after today I'm changing the F5 release schedule to Monday and Friday. Now that my evening is occupied by work again I don't have as much time to work on the comic.

As I write this it is seven hours until Nintendo's E3 press conference and I tell you I'm currently wide awake riding a wave of excitement (which is bad because I have to work today :-P). If you've been paying attention to gaming news in the last few hours you'll know that Sony tried to pull a fast one and copy Nintendo's motion sensing stuff (a move I called a while back, sadly it wasn't on the podcast :-P). Also, you'll know that the cheapest you can get a PS3 for is $500 bucks, and that version doesn't even come with built-in wifi. I will say this only once: Sony is going to fester in their own turds this next generation.

But on to more current news. Next Monday we'll finally see the release of the first Mario Bros. game since Yoshi's Island (1995, I believe). From everything I've seen this game is going to be absolutely awesome and from the reviews it seems that it lives up to standards Nintendo set back in the 80s and 90s. I have every intention of picking up my copy Monday.

Well, that's about all for now. Oh, yeah, cashiering rocks ;-). I must try to get some sleep if I expect to be awake for the press conference. Night!

It is once again my weekend (yay!). Work the last few days hasn't been nearly as bad as it had been, but still icky all the same. This morning was rather interesting, however. The district manager came to pay a visit today and the place was abuzz making sure everything was neat, organized, etc. It's kind of like what most college kids do when their parents come over: let things slide till the man shows up.

But, anyways, I e-mailed my supervisor yesterday (yeah, I've got corporate e-mail. 'Tis cool) and asked him exactly when I'd be going back to cashiering, and, thank heavens, he said probably between the first and fifth of May. I'd personally figured on the sixth since it begins a new work week, but the earlier the better :-).

I'll be getting up early tomorrow and try to get my appointment in for the driving test again. Hopefully I'll be luckier than I was last week. If that fails I'll try again on Wednesday. I'm really itching to get the thing because then I work on getting my spice orange Chevy Aveo:

'Tis sweet, no?

I bought the new DS "game" Brain Age the other day and I have got to say it is one of the sweetest things I've played in some time. My current brain age is 28, 20 being the ideal, down from 55 a couple days ago currently beating everybody else who's got a profile on my card (Mom, Jeff, and Chris). I've also discovered Sudoku. I don't know why I've scoffed at it all this time because it's very similiar to MasterMind in terms of solving it. However, I still like MasterMind. IT RAWKS!!

Later!

Ah, the new year has arrived and with it a job change for me. That's right I achieved my life long dream and got a part time job at the Sizzler! No, really. I am now a cashier at Wal-mart. I originally wanted to be a cart pusher because cashier was something I wanted to be even less. There was a bit of confusion for a while because I told Debbie (schedule lady) I didn't really like cashiering and I'd rather be a cart pusher. My guess is she misunderstood, got it reversed and set things in motion for me to become a cashier (they even changed my job code to cart pusher so they could change it to cashier which had me even more confused). But tonight was my first night working the register (being watched, of course) and it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I have tomorrow and Tuesday off so that makes things even sweeter.

Speaking of Tuesday there's bowling again (thank heavens)! Now that I have a job I appreciate the bowling night even more than I did before. Tomorrow Mom and I are going to go to Tulsa and do some shopping. I've got $50+ dollars of spending money ($300 if I borrowed from savings, but that's college money now). I'm thinking of buying Yoshi's Island or Mairo World (if I can find it :-P). I've even tossed the idea of getting a DS and Mario Kart DS around, but my laptop is cool enough for me at the moment ;-).

But, now that I've rambled on long enough, I bid you all a happy new year. 2005 was quite an eventful year for me and 2006 will probably bring some interesting things. Stay here for the latest :-)