The influence of the Beatles’ music is undeniable, and any project involving them is sure to be heavily scrutinized by fans and critics alike. Chances are, your decision to purchase the Beatles Rock Band is dependent less on gameplay and features than your general love or hatred for the fab four. So I’ll spare you the long winded review,  and just say that if you appreciate the lads from Liverpool in any capacity (and you should), you will love the Beatles Rock Band. Read the full story

I had the chance to play through Mass Effect more than a year ago, but I sidelined it in favor of other titles at the time; Fallout 3, Fable 2, and others. RPGs, especially those that deviate from the typical turn based gameplay often put me off. I think it has something to do with the “insurmountable journey” you are about to embark on when you start an RPG. Most of the decent titles have 50 or more hours of gameplay in them; there is some degree of risk when you begin an RPG with unfamiliar or unconventional gameplay mechanics.  So you can imagine my hesitation with giving Mass Effect a try, but the Platinum Hits edition’s $20 price tag gave me little reason to say no. Read the full story

Woe is me, ladies and gentlemen. I officially have taken on too many games for myself to conquer. I realize I said this in a previous post, but I have only added to the pile these past weeks. Along with the games I already was invested in (Shadow Complex, Red Faction: Guerrilla expansion, Spider-Man, etc.), I have purchased several more games that will be tickling my fancy over the coming months. Read the full story

Here is our attempt at tackling a Guitar Hero 5 review as a group. Its like a podcast, only you read it! Read the full story

I completed Shadow Complex last night, and now I can post my number-oriented review. I promise that I’ll keep this short and sweet. I’d just like to address a few things about my completion. First, I’ll talk about the finale. The final room of this game was actually a bit disappointing. Just a bit. It was a bit anticlimactic. There wasn’t an epic final boss battle, just a bunch of guys that you had to kill and a few buttons you had to push. Also, I decided a few days ago that I just wanted to get through the game, and that I’d go back eventually and get 100% completion. Read the full story

I had the pleasure of visiting the Bioware booth at PAX this past weekend. One of the highlights of the expo for me was the playable Mass Effect 2 demo. I only recently picked up the original Mass Effect (the review of which you can expect later this week), but while I was impressed with the game’s engaging plot, the combat left much to be desired. Read the full story

One of the awesomely cinematic moments in Shadow Complex.

So I am now officially over halfway done with the Xbox Live Arcade game “Shadow Complex.” Well, I’m actually probably closer to 75 percent done with it, but I was on a roll the other night, so I just played until I found a good stopping point. What I want to try and do in this report is talk about the things I’ve experienced thus far in the game (what I’ve loved, or didn’t) and what I want to happen for the remainder of my stay with Shadow Complex (game ending, replayability, unlocks, hidden items). With this report, I’ll go into some detail about a lot of things in Shadow Complex. And then when I’m all done with it, I’ll be much more concise and give the game a more numbers-oriented review, with categories like gameplay, story, graphics, etc. Read the full story

It’s almost fall, and of course that means  game publishers are cramming every A-list title possible into a three month span, thereby dooming many releases to be lost in the shuffle. While fall is always an exciting time for gaming, nearly all the best (or most hyped) games of the year come out each september-november, but it can also be a bit stressful on gamers, especially those with a budget in mind.

While I would rather not spend my life’s savings on a plethora of plastic instruments and games with voice actors named Nolan North, I will,  as always, end up buying way too many games. Here is my lineup so far:

Beatles Rock Band- Yes, I am going to buy the super rip-off pack with the licensed instruments (for 4 times the price of the game). Why? 1: As surprising as it seems, I don’t own any rhythm game controllers (that still work anyway) 2: because they look completely awesome. Am I a bad person for wanting this pack?

Guitar Hero 5 - Why wouldn’t I buy this game, when Activision is offering Guitar Hero Van Halen free with purchase? I’m not a big David Lee Roth fan, but there are enough post-Hagar hits to merit the price tag (read: free).

Uncharted 2 - The original title was one of my very favorite games on the PS3, with superb voice acting, gameplay and a coherent story (thats all one can hope for these days), and the sequel looks even better. My purchase decision was cemented when the title won best of E3.

Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition - I played Fallout 3 pretty extensively when Zack got it last fall, but I am a completionist when it comes to RPGs, and plus the GOTY edition comes with ALL the expansion content, none of which I have played yet.

Modern Warfare 2 – The grand-daddy of fall releases. Once this hits all other games become irrelevant, so I have a bit of work to do before November. I have been a bit starved for first person shooters, with BF 1943 being the only game to tide me over until MW2 releases. I plan to buy the collectors edition for Call of Duty 1, though I don’t have much use for the night vision goggles included in the “prestige edition”

Thats it for me…what are you looking forward to this fall?

–Jeff (gamertag: Decksathron)

So just starting to post on here; got into the site by way of Jeff aka Frostfell aka Decksathron.

I’ll be posting stuff as MidwestGamer, since I’m located in Omaha, Nebraska, which isn’t really northwest of anywhere, besides Missouri.

Gonna start doing posts about my current gaming endeavors. I have a TON of games on my plate right now, and I need to get some of them out of the way before my big 3 of the fall (Guitar Hero 5, Scribblenauts, and Modern Warfare 2). So that’s hopefully what will be happening over the coming weeks; getting through games and Achieving some Achievements. Read the full story

I picked up the multiplayer-only Battlefield 1943 this weekend, moderately enthused with my purchase. I’ve played many of the BF games in the past, but I wasn’t much of a fan of Bad Company (the engine from which 1943 is built on), and in my experience big maps leads to boredom. Despite this, I picked it up based on recommendation from the folks at Joystiq, and I am having a blast so far. The game has just the right mix of weapons and classes and vehicles and whatnot…I just hope they don’t add some feature that totally throws off the great balance 1943 has right now.

For 1200 Microsoft points, or about $15, You can’t really go wrong. Three maps and three classes may not seem like much, but I have been playing it nightly and having a ton of fun. If you are starved for some low-investment online mayhem, pick up 1943! Heres hoping it can at least tide us over until Modern Warfare 2.

–Jeff (XBL: Decksathron)