With MW2 approaching in a flurry of excitement (and for PC users, a quasi-political s**tstorm), I thought it high time to crack out COD4 for a spin. It appears that a good few months off has improved my ep1c sk1llz0rz as I was nailing the kills to the scoreboard. I did realise, however, that I was really missing the banter on the now silent airwaves. The only fragments of sound you get down the headset when not in a party now is the odd cough or nibbling sounds from some burger-bashing munchkin. Where are the good times of casual flaming and trash talk? The times where we'd all gang up on the "American one" just to find out he's Canadian and rescind all our insults?
Anyway, my excitement levels are tipping the...scales (of excitement?) for this game and when it arrives we will all be dancing in a giant pool of game-cream. Need to get my pre-order in. Goodnight, England.
August started off with a pop and a bang and a cork in the eye as the metaphorical champagne bottle was cracked open for my birthday which came and went as inconsequentially as I've come to expect it to. The earlier half of the month saw me recieving a review copy of Ashes Cricket 2009 and to get my claws into. There was little to fault so it didn't get by too badly though it had nothing to prove itself as my game of the month. (You can see my review here.)
While the Summer's heat may never have come, I've not exactly been fulfilling my status as a gaming addict lately, often settling down for a movie instead (Brick is amazing). I have however, put some time into last month's Battlefield 1943 which rather than sating my hunger for shooters, enflamed it. This led to the purchase of Bad Company and some replaying of World At War.
Getting closer to the present, I have just finished a review of the J-RPG Star Ocean which was a mixed bag as I'm never usually partial to the delights of the genre. My last purchase was a re-buy of Assassin's Creed and now I'm waiting for fate to decide whether I'll be attending Leeds festival. Wish me luck ladies and germs. Lots of it!
According to all things calendar, Summer is here. Unfortunately for all of us, the weather is in disagreement. With enough grey skies to colour an entire decade's worth of school trousers, and with England's wet climate, the mud makes that a LOT of trousers, it's a good job the faithful friend of gaming is always there, patiently awaiting my return.
This month I (foolishly) chose to review Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and by gosh, was that a mistake. A clunkier and less satisfying game I have never seen and while that lingered, waiting in the silver-touched disk drive of my 360, I turned to my dust-gathering PC for comfort. I rediscovered my passion for PC gaming; but it came at a price.
Leafing through the dusty tome of my hard drive, I found such wonders as Might & Magic VII, Heroes III, Red Alert and Age of Empires, the games that I was reared on as a child. They however, despite their glittering heritage and places in my heart, were not the particular jewels to catch my eye. As Frodo might say, the real enemy would prove to "look fairer and feel fouler". This enemy came in the shape of an entire genre. The MMO.
Flogging my cards with bills for not one, but two MMOs, World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online, I have not been kind to my bank account (and nor will my bank statement be kind to me). Since then, many hours that would once have been spent on previously important things such as eating, sleeping, socialising and honing my headshots on COD were now spent spilling blood in Warsong Gulch and wittling away the forces of Mordor.
At last, I have escaped the malaise surrounding my MUMORPUGER malady and returned from my reverie to the real world, complete with its deadlines and its Revenge of the Fallen. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted, but that review really needed doing.
May has proved to be a very turbulent month for me, being blustered around in a cyclone of games, exams and more exams. Well in between the maths and the mitchondria, some pretty hefty gaming spells have occurred.
I played a LOT of Oblivion at the start of the month, making a gloriously grotesque orc character and slaying the beasts and citizens of Cyrodiil in a maelstrom of malcontent. Moving past the RPG stage, I had a drunken game night with a friend, Tom, where I became good at 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand and he became the master at Stranglehold. I swear, my head hit the pillow for five minutes and he'd blistered through most of the game!
Tom freewheeled through most of the story.
It emerged that May would be the month of the Golden Oldies, as I trotted out Crackdown for a quick gallop. Really got back into it, picking up a few achievements along the way. I had to review the Saint's Row 2 DLC, so I got my first good ride on the streets of Stilwater and had no clue why I'd been missing out on the gangsta-greatness for so long. With my cockney-accented, old, balding man, I was definitely beyond OG. To date, the last games I've been playing are Guitar Hero: World Tour, which I picked up for £15 from Tesco and Halo, which proved to be the arena for some manly-war cries and ultimate ownage. Me and MattyElite69 kicked some serious...well, everything.
Well, that's what I could be saying were it the morning. This first post is just to bring a little bit of the glitz and the glamour that is inherent with my presence to the blogging table. Cheers to Ant for getting it all sorted out. A round of applause if you will?
With E3 just around the corner and Summer dawning, exciting times are ahead of us. So soak up the sun and pump your self full of juicy, wet E3 goodness here at Console Monster.
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