Too Human (360): I've Never Given Up On You

As of 11am Central Time (the time this post goes up) my good friend (and boss at Evil Avatar) Nick Puleo has this interview with Too Human creator Denis Dyack available in both MP3 and transcript form on both Evil Avatar and sister site Co-Optimus that Nick runs.

I proofread the interview yesterday and the first question obviously stood out for me.

Nick - So we'll start with the big one: Are we going to see Too Human this year?

Denis - Yes! Our Launch date is officially going to be August 19th.

Finally! This game is finally coming and it is coming pretty quickly in just over 3 months from now. I've always believed in Silicon Knights and Dyack himself. This is the 2nd game that has gone through multiple systems and delays for the company. Eternal Darkness did quite well (check out my review from Console Gold a long time ago that was actually featured on Silicon Knights website for a long time) and I always believed Too Human would be a great game even with the E3 2006 fiasco.

Reading the interview I come away with the belief that this is going to be a game that is going to surprise everyone. Nick told me when he came back from the MVP Summit a few weeks ago that he thought it looked awesome and looked very different from what he had last seen. I know many people out there have put this game on the back burner, but be prepared for it to go to the front burner and get red hot.

It is disappointing that there is only 2 player co-op instead of 4, but I think Dyack does a good job of explaining why they did this. It sounds like the character classes and the balancing of them in relation to speed was problematic. I'd honestly rather have a really well done 2 player co-op experience than a problematic 4 player co-op experience.

This game is also sounding like everything Hellgate: London wasn't when being compared to the Diablo games. It also sounds like the other 2 parts of the trilogy may be coming on the next Microsoft system, but I still have hopes at least the 2nd one would find its way onto the 360.

Just be ready for this game because I think it could be one of the greatest examples of a turnaround in gaming ever.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Unscorable Game

I worked long and hard on getting everyone together and edit all the pieces that turned into the Evil Avatar: Liberty City Diaries piece that was put together for posting last Monday. Some of my co-writers on the piece asked about putting a score on the review and I noted that this type of game doesn't deserve a score and we should just hone in on our experiences with the game. There weren't any people that went against what I said, but once the piece went up there were many forum users that were asking where the score was. Personally, I feel the GTA series as a whole is unscoreable (I made up a new word..woo!). There are other games out there that share this power (another recent one is Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Wii), but GTA is easily the most visible one.

The fact that 29 sites gave its top score to the 360 version and 20 did the same for the PS3 version simply shows that these games just cannot be scored. All of these magazines and online sites of course have to give the game a score, but really is it going to make any difference to the consumer? They're going to go out and buy GTA IV, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 no matter what it gets scored. These games just rise above the review process. What strikes me as odd with both GTA IV and Brawl is how much people just default give it the top score. I haven't played Brawl, never really liked the series, but I have played GTA IV and it certainly does not deserve the top score. If I was to do an actual review of it for Evil Avatar I would most likely give it a 4/5 or 4.5/5. It has a lot of wonderful things in it, but there is also a lot of missteps that keep it from being the "be all, end all" of videogames.

I hated the last GTA, San Andreas, yet 30 sites gave the PS2 version a perfect score. Although it was the largest of the GTA games, I just didn't like some of the directions Rockstar North went with it. I would have scored it a 3/5 or 3.5/5 at Evil Avatar. The whole keeping CJ healthy (or not healthy if you're into that), which was a core mechanic to the game, was a total turn off to me as was the story itself.

Bottom line is why even give scores to these games? Why not just talk about the experiences you had and whether you liked it or not. I like what we did with the Evil Avatar: Liberty City Diaries piece and am glad we attributed no score to it (honestly it would be hard to equate 12 scores into one final score and people not fly off the handle about it). Maybe more places should take note and not score these games that are guaranteed to be picked up by the public no matter the score given to it. Why make a fool of yourself giving it your top score when you could easily give your reviews on the game with no score?

We're Back

Yep, it's been a while readers. As you can see the layout has changed a bit and I hope to finally start having more regular posts. On the right side is now the publications I write for as well as reviews of movies and games that I've been playing with links for those that are published. Any more questions, feel free to ask.

12/28/07 - The Day Marvel Pulled a Wall Punch

Last Friday will be a day that will live in infamy for comic books as a whole. It was, at the exact same point, Marvel's (or should I say Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada's) stupidest and most brilliant move ever. Spider-Man was retconned by 20 years in our time (who knows how many years it actually is in comic's time) and the 6 plus years that J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) has written Amazing Spider-Man. We no longer know if "Sin's Past" (I will get to this somewhere in this post since it does relate very closely to "One More Day") even happened, if Ezekiel ever came to Peter or even, going way back, if "Kraven's Last Hunt" ever really happened.

Most of us guessed early on when "One More Day" (OMD from now on) started (and even when it was first announced) exactly what was going to happen, but it was extremely sad to see that everything we guessed would happen came true with one stray thing we never saw that I will get to later.

Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson made a deal with the devil (Mephisto in this case). Let that sink in for a while. Remember that Joe Q was against having Peter and MJ divorce because it would send the wrong message to the younger readers. Instead he decided a pact with the devil was a far better message to send to younger readers. Good one there Joe Q! We all know Joe Q has been against the marriage for a long time and in one felt swoop he gets the ending he so desperately wanted. He says that the need for a single Peter Parker had much more story potential than a married Peter Parker has. I call bullshit on that, but what do I know?

You may ask where the brilliance in this move comes from. Joe Quesada was smart enough to totally destroy the Spider-Man universe, but have the next arc, "Brand New Day" (BND from now on), be headed by some of the best and brightest in the Marvel camp. Starting off will be Dan Slott writing and Steve McNiven penciling for 3 issues. Then Marc Guggenheim writes and Salvador Larocca pencils, then Bob Gale (best known for writing Back to the Future) writes and Phil Jimenez pencils. Finally Zeb Wells writes and Chris Bachalo pencils. This also enters the cycle of Amazing Spider-Man coming out 3 times a month. I am going to guess given the delays in OMD that these guys could be several months ahead of schedule with issues. Many people would love to drop the book from their pull list over OMD's finale, but then you look at the talent coming up and the fact that the arcs will hit hard and fast and you can't help but see it through at least through the Slott/McNiven issues, the first ones up, right? It's a tough game to play because Joe Q is counting on the issues bought increasing because of the great creative muscle behind the "relaunch" and that will validate him doing the DC Wall Punch on Spider-Man as a whole. It's an evil circular cycle and one that every comic fan has to choose to take or not. One thing I highly doubt is that an increase of new readers will come from this simply because Peter is single again.

The saddest part of the OMD ending is that JMS leaves the book on a low note. He will be blamed by many for the ending much like he was blamed with the "Sin's Past" weak reveal that totally screwed the innocence of a character long dead (Gwen Stacy). Thing is neither flub was his fault and we can lay all the blame for both at Joe Q's feet. "Sin's Past" was supposed to reveal that Gwen Stacy's twins were indeed Peter Parker's children. This is logical given the title of the arc, but instead Joe Q wanted to keep Peter somewhat pure and editorially mandated JMS to have Norman Osborn be the father of the twins. This goes down as one of the biggest mistakes in Spider-Man history and I wonder how pure Peter is going to be now that BND starts up. Supposedly there are plenty of new women along with MJ in Peter's life in BND. Is he going to live the chaste life or is he going to get down and dirty with some of the girls? If it's the latter it will make most of us laugh at Joe Q's attempt to keep Peter innocent during "Sin's Past". It is also very obvious reading the last two parts of OMD (and the extra Joe Q writing byline) that although the words may come from JMS that Joe Q is standing right over his shoulder saying what needs to be portrayed.

So, what does the ending of OMD leave us with? A whole bunch of questions that supposedly will start to be answered with ASM #546 coming in a week and a half. It is an extra sized issue that supposedly will give us info about the new people in Peter's life and, we hope, explain how exactly he can:

1. Still be part of the New Avengers
2. How the reversal of his unmasking couldn't have changed the outcome of Civil War
3. Any number of other questions

There are lots of questions and they stack up each and every day. I feel sorry for former DC editor Steve Wacker (who did half of 52 before moving to Marvel) whose task it is to sort out this mess with continuity that Joe Q has left him.

The lone hope is that this will be just as short of a change as Peter's unmasking (which supposedly had TONS of story potential, but only lasted a little over a year thanks to the Civil War delays), the Other powers and the change to Iron Spidey was. That's the hope at least, but who knows what is going to happen. In some small way I hope this is just Peter and MJ in Mephisto's little world living through "eternity" until they come together again. Maybe that is what MJ whispers to Mephisto, that she wants Peter to be in a world he can be happy and he is no longer in the Marvel Universe as a whole (but can be explained away as being gone for a few minutes from the MU after everything wraps up). That's a big wish though I think. However this could be very akin to the X-Men's "Age of Apocalypse" or the end of Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men where this is indeed an alternative universe and everything is on the up and up in the regular universe. We can only hope though.

The lone plus to the ending of OMD is that Harry Osborn is alive again. In many ways it is akin to Aunt May resurfacing years after supposedly dying in ASM #400, it's just that this is a retcon. Are they trying to say that since Peter and MJ never married that Harry didn't go crazy during Inferno (if Inferno even happened that is, remember this retcon affects the MU as a whole) and eventually die?

I am interested in what Brand New Day is going to bring, but I also hope many people are outraged enough by One More Day that they don't pick up the 3 times a month ASM. That will send a message to Marvel, but I have a feeling with the creative power behind the new arc that people will at least try the first 3 issues with Slott and McNiven.

Just pray this doesn't last very long...

Game Overload

I'm sure many of you are experiencing a gaming overload. As a freelance reviewer I have found myself having to put some pretty top shelf games on the back burner in order to devote enough time to reviewing. These are the games I am currently trying to play:

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Assassin's Creed (360)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360)
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
Mass Effect (360)

These are the games I currently have on my review plate:

Virtua Fighter 5 Online (360) for GameShark
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (PS2) for Evil Avatar

Along with those two I plan on reviewing some of the above mentioned games for Evil Avatar, but I need to pick which ones. I figure Mass Effect will take the longest, so that goes on the back burner and hopefully someone else will play through it and review it for EA. Call of Duty 4 has already been reviewed at EA, so the other 3 are fair game and I will probably review them, so they will be my next major experience after I have given VF5 enough time to write a review.

Luckily I am already a good chunk into Ratchet & Clank as well as Assassin's Creed (I just had to see how good/bad it was for myself and playing fighting games for review constantly can get a bit tiring), but I have not touched Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

I'm not sure how other freelance reviewers out there handle their load, but as soon as I get something that needs to be reviewed every other game goes on the back burner and the review games take center stage. Yes, the allure to play the other games are there, but I also have a job that needs the most time I can give it.

At least there is some time off in my future where I might be able to sit down with the other games once the reviews are done. There is also a chance that other games could enter the scene that need to be reviewed as well, so everything goes on the back burner once again. At least the light is somewhat visible...

Game of the Week (11/18): Mass Effect

The gaming crunch finally subsides after this week. What is weird is that many of the games that are shipping this week I already have in my possession, but we'll get into that later. This is another tough week to pick a Game of the Week, but I think it has to go to:



There are some other interesting games coming out (highlighted below), but the honor has to go to Mass Effect, the next RPG game from BioWare. I already have my copy and played it a bit last night (I have a lot of games on my plate at the moment, including review needs) and I have to say I am quite impressed by the graphics, the story, the huge amounts of text/voiceover in the informational screens and even the gameplay itself. I just finished the first planet and will probably play more, but it isn't on the front burner at the moment. Yes, it is a lot like Knights of the Old Republic, but things are handled mostly in real-time outside of switching your teams weapons before a fight. The game takes things from Gears of War, such as reliance on cover, and makes it an engaging experience. No question this is the Game of the Week and should fulfill everything people have been looking for in an RPG on the 360 finally.

Other games this week:

Unreal Tournament III (PC): Played the demo and was pretty impressed by it, but I am not a very good UT player when compared to the masses out there. The game is as fast as I remember the last version being and a lot of fun should be had. I'm not sure if this will stand above other FPS games that have valid online components or not though.

Link's Crossbow Training w/ Wii Zapper (Wii): Not excited in the least about this. From all accounts the actual Wii Zapper controller is a dud and really won't amount to much in the end. It is cool that it combines the Wii Remote and Nunchuck, but I can only see its validity going so far.

Rock Band (360/PS3): Yes, Rock Band. I've never really been a big fan ever since it was announced. Harmonix seems to be a highly regarded developer (which they are given the pedigree of games they've made) and everyone falls face first into loving them. From all accounts, the difficulty in Rock Band is not as high as Guitar Hero III (expert in RB is like Hard or possibly Medium in GH terms) and I would think that would turn a lot of people back from getting this game, but what do I know? I think it is cool for people that want to do stuff with 3 others, but for me I'd rather have single or dual guitars to play with.

Time Crisis 4 (PS3): Still a pretty popular series, but it would be hard to justify $80 for a short game with a gun included don't you think?

Godzilla Unleashed (PS2/DS): I did some interview questions a while ago for GameShark, but I have no clue if they were ever answered or not. The game from all the movies and developer diaries has looked good, but the play is the true test. Much like the recent Dragon Ball Z game the Wii version is delayed a few weeks from the PS2 release.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3): Sony did end up sending it out early last week, but I took that out of last week's GotW stuff since it was looking like the 20th was still the release date. I have the game, but have not gotten a chance to play it as of yet. Much like Mass Effect it is on the back burner

Soulcalibur Legends (Wii): All indications are that this is a bad game, which is too bad considering it could have been a worthwhile 3rd party release on the Wii (of which there are very few).

Game of the Week (11/11): Super Mario Galaxy

Everyone, check your wallets because this is quite possibly the toughest week this season with games depending on what type of stuff you're looking for. Next week is the only one that could come close to challenging it. This is also a tough week to pick a Game of the Week, but one key first-party title stands out:



Yes indeed, Super Mario Galaxy is my pick for Game of the Week. This should be the game that will prove whether all those millions of people who have picked up the Wii are interested in more than just Wii Sports. This was a tough one to pick out of the group, but here are some other notable releases this week.

Assassin's Creed (360/PS3): This game is either going to be really good or fall flat on its face. Ubisoft has a lot invested in this game and I have a hard time believing that a game years in development is going to flop, but then I read the latest EGM which had a small story on AC and it didn't make me that excited. Then some reviews popped out late last week, like from the hometown magazine Game Informer, that gave it a 9.5. Evidently review embargoes are held until Tuesday, so we shall see what happens then. At least they give you a day to decide if you truly want it.

Beowulf: The Game (360/PS3/PC): Another game from Ubisoft this week. This one is based upon the movie coming out this Friday. I'm interested in possibly renting this game, although it is a game based upon a movie which usually falls flat in the videogaming universe.

Blacksite: Area 51 (360/PC): The PS3 version is delayed for a bit, but the 360 and PC versions are coming out this week. I'm not very interested simply because the Area 51 game that came out last generation wasn't anything to get excited over. It is funny that Midway moved this away from Halo 3 and now it faces off against a lot of top notch games this week which are not FPS games.

Crysis (PC): What more can be said about this game? It looks nice, but many people won't be able to get the best out of this game unless they purchase an all new computer with bleeding edge components. Some people will do such a thing, personally I don't think this game is big enough to justify such an action. Having played the demo and the beta, I still feel it is a lot like an updated graphical version of FarCry with a new storyline.

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (PS2): The Wii version is coming next month, but given how good the last game was this one should be good as well. Atari is in a world of hurt right now and they could really use a sales influx in order to keep this license and keep themselves from going under.

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men (360/PS3/PC): Really haven't kept my eye on this game, but the big pull here is the ability to play co-op. EA's Army of Two sounded similar to this game and was going to be out this same week, but EA moved it back to next year. Now this game stands alone and Eidos probably has a lot riding on it.

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 (Wii/PSP): This game seems to be a big surprise in the controls section. IGN gave it an 8.4, which is pretty high. It also has a 32-player online component for the Wii AND it supposedly runs well. That is amazing in itself and should give an Wii owner something to smile about with games upcoming.

Need for Speed ProStreet (360/PS3/Wii/PC/PS2/DS): EA Canada takes the NFS series in what looks like an all-new direction. This could be good or bad. I liked the demo for what little you got to play out of it, but I am also apprehensive about changing a formula that I felt wasn't broken with Most Wanted and Carbon. This game seems to be centered around street racing and around teamplay. Supposedly I will be reviewing this for GameShark on the 360.

SimCity Societies (PC): While Maxis is still hard at work on Spore, EA moved the next SimCity game to Tilted Mill, best known for Caesar IV up to this point. This game looks interesting and looks to take the series in a new type of direction. Unfortunately it will probably be mostly overlooked with everything else coming out this week.

WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2008 (360/PS3/Wii/PS2/PSP/DS): Finally...the Rock has come back to PS3! Last year's game on the 360 was really good, but it still sounds like the loading times are here which is just a buzzkill and something that should be fixed by now several years into this series. Career mode sounds like it is more open, but I tend to wait for reviews of this game before even touching it.

Game of the Week (11/4): Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Well, I'd say last week's pick of The Witcher was actually a good one. I haven't picked up the game yet, but outside of the huge amount of loading the game sounds like a winner, especially with the version 1.1 patch. This week was not as hard as some other ones will be in November. The only true standout:



Yep, the no-brainer this week is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare coming out on 360, PS3, PC and DS. I will be picking up the PC version simply because I have been with Infinity Ward since the beginning on the PC; plus it is $10 cheaper than the 360/PS3 versions. It sounds like single-player is short (which is not unusual for the CoD games), but the multiplayer is where the action is at.

Other notable games this week:

Empire Earth III (PC): I liked the last game in the series and can't believe they'd screw this one up.

F.E.A.R. Expansion (PC/360): The standalone F.E.A.R. expansion comes out this week. I only played a bit of the original, I should pick it up now that I have a better video card.

Gears of War (PC): The game comes out on PC, now with extra levels. Wonder how powerful a computer will have to be to make this look as good as the 360 version?

Viva Pinata (PC): If you missed this game on the 360 and have a computer, it is imperative that you pick this up. The kids will love it and you will love it.

Strong PC-centric week before the consoles take over for the rest of the month.

Sam and Max Episode 201: Ice Station Santa (PC/Gametap): The second season starts for this series on Gametap this week. It is great to have Sam and Max around again honestly.

Sony Ads and Timeshift

Someone must have awoken the sleeping giant. After screwing up time and time again Sony actually has a, dare I say it, great ad campaign going on. After last year's launch campaign with the crying baby ad, exploding Rubix Cubead , and the crazy Sixaxis egg ad. The only good ad to come out was the one for MLB 07.

Sony now has brought an ad campaign that is truly the best they've had in a long time. Here is the 60 and 30 second commercial that shows off first party games via the Playstation Blog. In the 60-second commercial they show off Gran Turismo 5, Ratchet and Clank Future, Uncharted, Warhawk, Heavenly Sword, Spider-Man 3 on Blu-Ray, the upcoming Home and the Playstation Network. That is the way to make a commercial that gets people excited about a system. I already own the PS3, but man that commercial jazzed me up. I'm a big fan of the Saliva song used here, but I know many people don't like it.

Also, while watching football yesterday I saw commercials for Assassin's Creed, The Simpsons Game and Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. The funny thing about the first two is that they were PS3 ads where only the PS3 logo was shown even though both games are out for the 360 and other systems in the case of The Simpsons Game. Sony must have paid big money to advertise these games and make the illusion that they are PS3 only. I thought the Ratchet and Clank one was very funny. Maybe the new $399 price was the catalyst for Sony actually making great synergistic commercials (since they all end with the PS3 w/appendages turning into a regular PS3). All I can say is Sony has certainly brought its A game to the arena for the holiday and maybe this will finally spark some sales.

Even though they took out Backwards Compatibility, dropped the hard drive down to 40GB, took out the memory card readers and eliminated a couple USB ports the PS3 is very attractive at $399 with the Spider-Man 3 Blu-Ray movie included. It's amazing how far Sony has come since last year's $599 release at 60GB and $499 at 20GB. Now they are more in line with the 360 and even though the 360 has more software choices I think Sony is on the right track. It's just too bad it took them to wake up to reality.

OK, enough about that, let's talk about Timeshift for the 360. I will be reviewing it for GameShark and I'm close to being done with the game and then trying out the multiplayer side of things. I have not read any reviews (I like to come at my reviews from a clean perspective), but I have seen the scores. They seem to be squarely in the 7s and in the case of Gamespot a 6.5. Then again this is Aaron Thomas writing again, the guy who gave Ratchet and Clank Future a 7.5 while other sites are handing it scores in the 9s.

Just given the scores for Timeshift I have to say I largely don't agree with them. I am going to guess that many of these reviews are probably comparing this game to the ones that it is sandwiched between: Halo 3, The Orange Box and the upcoming Call of Duty 4. It's unfortunate that this game comes out in the middle of those three, but come on! This game is really good and I personally am surprised how good it is. The graphics are really good (with a little tearing here and there if you move the camera slowly), the puzzles are not too hard, the time powers are cool and the game is pretty lengthy. If there are weak points it is in the story itself and the AI is pretty dumb. The story is told through flashbacks and really doesn't get you at all interested in it. It is the standard time-travel sci-fi mumbo jumbo. At one point before the game was bought by Vivendi the main character actually had a name and I believe was going to be voiced by Randy Quaid. Now you are just an unnamed physicist who is going after the other time suit that the overall leader of the experiment stole and went back in time to change the past. The other problem is the dumb AI. You can really trick them into coming at you in smaller groups than one big group where you have to be on your toes. They are pretty good shots, but they'll stand in the middle of the road shooting at you, making them easy targets for a time freeze and kill.

Unless the game falls apart in the last 1.5 levels I just don't see this game being in the 6 or possibly even the 7 category. It is unfair to rank a game given the other games out there. Timeshift cannot compete with the total number of games in The Orange Box and it cannot compete with already established franchises (Halo 3, Call of Duty 4), so why even bring them into the review? Let the game stand on its own. It is a really good FPS game that is a sleeper in my mind, but it obviously won't get much business with it coming out this time of year and so many other games out there competing for our gaming dollar. Would it have helped to hold the game back to early next year? Well, it was already a pretty late game as it is, but what would have hurt other than the financial quarter to bring it out early next year? It could have been another success like Lost Planet was.

Game of the Week (10/28): The Witcher

This week is a tough one to pick a Game of the Week. I am expecting many weeks in November to be much the same way.



I am going out on a limb and picking The Witcher as my Game of the Week. I have no inside info on it nor have I played it at any stage of its creation. I have heard some good things about it and I think it shows the most promise this week, so I give it my endorsement. Plus its Holloween week and this is right up the alley for that.

Other games this week:

Hellgate London (PC): This game has flop written all over it. I played in the beta and played the demo and I am still not all that excited about it. It feels like an MMO (the subscriber stuff that came out a while ago is a good indication that it is an MMO) and in my mind they really should have kept it single-player and told a story. Funny how Bill Roeper has fallen so far after Diablo.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (360/PS3/Wii/PS2): The safe choice for Game of the Week, but I didn't take the bait. Everyone and their brother will get this game and I will probably get this game. I did not stand at midnight in order to get it though, was in no rush to do that.

Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (360): Another safe choice for Game of the Week. The previews on this have been gushing and everyone that has played it says it is the best Naruto game so far. It encompasses a lot of the Naruto storyline into a game, so it should be pretty long. This game is 360 only at this point and it could be a big seller given the amount of people that love the anime show.

Tabula Rasa (PC): Also played the beta in this. It was kind of cool, but the MMO grind started to take over after the initial 1 hour of pure joy. Feels like a cross between your standard MMO and a 3rd person shooter.

The Simpsons Game (All systems): I'm still not sure why EA didn't hold this until the movie DVD comes out in December. In fact, I have not seen much in the way of ads for it on television or anything. EGM gave it a review in the 7s which is pretty good by their scale. This game has money written all over it, but when it isn't advertised much how are people supposed to know it is even coming out?

TimeShift (360/PC): I will be reviewing the 360 version for GameShark. Both the demo I've played on 360 and PC make the game look interesting and the graphics, especially the rain, looks really good. This game could be different enough to stand out among the FPS quagmire out there, we shall see though.

Virtua Fighter 5 (360): VF4 was one of the best fighters ever and I have no doubt VF5 will be as well. The 360 version gets online play and I will be testing that out when I receive the game to review for GameShark as well.

Exciting week...and it only gets worse after this.