VGA's.....wow

And that wow is not for a good reason folks, overall the VGA's this year was a fail. Between Neil Patrick Harris' game porn titles and the most akward appearance from "online dude who has been playing for 20 hours straight" (if you watched it you know) it was full of random things that had nothing to do with games. A few redeemable moments popped up with the announcement of Mass Effect 3 (HECK YEAH!) and the fact that something other than Black Ops won GOTY (it was Red Dead Redemption btw). The biggest fail comes in the form of the-stereotype-known-as-Frank-Woods winning character of the year over Ezio Auditore, John Marston, and Kratos. To be honest I didn't know his first name was Frank for the whole game. They completely screwed up some awards like that, or left them out completely (Best 360, PS3 and Wii game were nowhere to be found). Mass Effect 2 won Best RPG (announced IN A COMMERCIAL) and Bioware won Best Studio, which I agree with. And while the trailer for Batman Arkhum City was cool, it can't make up for the fact that the VGA's were one big fat bust. Oh and Neil, most of your porn names sucked.
-Smith

Ok so two quick things.........

Ok so one of them is quick and the other is long. The quick one is that Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (ooooo scawy twitle) was announced with a short teaser and five screenshots that look freaking insane. The second is the fact that EA Games President came out and send that single player only games are dead. With all due respect to this....man I would like to tell him to Shut THE HECK UP. What is it with people (gamers and reviewers alike) who cannot accept a good single player experience for what it is?! Take one of my favorite games of all time, Fallout 3. That game is insane, with atmosphere of isolation and a destroyed D.C that is the most realistic game world I've ever played in. NO MULTIPLAYER WHATSOEVER. Do I care? Not at all. That game is amazing as a single player only experience that give you more actually fun content than any online multiplayer mode can. Or take the Mass Effect series, one of the most affecting and emotional stories in the games industry. Would it be as effective with a co-op mode, not at all. It is your choices that matter in that game, and there's not a second player that you talk to in the mic that takes you out of that world. Or take ANY horror game (besides RE5). If you are with another person, the scare factor goes out the window. Alan Wake, Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2, all amazing games this year, and none of them have any kind of multiplayer. Why can't people accept that you can get just as much content (and probably more fun) from a single player only game rather than one that has a shoehorned multiplayer mode? Now don't take this the wrong way, I love some games with multiplayer. Reach, Black Ops, Left 4 Dead, those are games where the multiplayer adds value (and in the case of L4D) essentially makes it worth playing. In some games the multiplayer is totally worth it and adds immense value, but let's not go shoehorning a crappy multiplayer mode into a game that doesn't want it, simply because it "needs it".
-Smith

I'M BACK!! (and scarred for life)

Ok, so turns out the government captured me. They tortured and interrogated me for this last month. Then they decided to take the information about my life that they got and turn it into a video game, and that game turned out to be COD: Black Ops. So yes, I feel it fit to review it. I'll start by saying that i was VERY skeptical of the first "yearly" installment of the now Maddenized COD series. Well, Black Ops both failed and met my expectations in different areas. I'll start with the account of my life, the campaign. You play as me (no I'm not Alex Mason the name was legal purposes) as I am captured and tortured by government officials in order to explain a set of numbers. Of course you (or me, or Alex Mason depending on your view) have no clue what the numbers mean. The missions are flashbacks of my (mason's yours etc. man this is confusing) service across the world, and I definately mean across the world. You go everywhere, from Cuba to Vietnam to Russia and back. The campaign was the area where the game actually exceeded my expectations. With a more personal story that has many references to World at War instead of a "this army kills this army" approach, the campaign feels different from any other in the series. It has awesome set pieces, a ton of variety, and is paced at the speed of a Michael Bay movie on crack after taking three 5-hour-energies and drinking six Monster's. Suffice to say, playing the game actually managed to wear me out. Whether this is a testament to the insane pacing or my own incredible lazieness remains to be seen. All in all the campaign will last about six hours, and has a less than stellar ending. The main problem with the campaign though is the lack of direction at certain parts. Some parts literally require you to die and then and only then will your objective be clearly stated to you. In a shooter, this is more than a minor annoyance. In the end though, it isn't enough to tarnish the overall quality of it. On the graphics side, Black Ops definately impresses. The texturing is perfect, the frame rate is solid, and the number of enemies on screen is sometimes jaw dropping (Vietnam base siege I'm looking at you. The multiplayer however, failed to impress. Essentially, it is Modern Warfare 2 with new killstreaks and guns, and instead of earning guns you must buy them. The new contract system is cool, challenging you to complete a specific task in a match for extra points. The wager matches allow you to bet the points you earn, and while the match types have awesome ideas the fact that you will most likely lose credits will keep you from playing them over and over again. Also on a side note, the return of Nazi Zombies is hilarious and quite awesome except for the fact that it is now so horrendously difficult that it verges on unplayability. Overall, the first "issue" of the now yearly COD franchise is a good game, with a better than expected campaign and the same multiplayer that people all over the world love. I'm starting to wonder though, when will players stop buying a new COD game each and every year?
Final Score: 8.75 out of 10