Test Drive Unlimited 2- MMo Racing?!

I have been a fan of racing games for years. Ever since Pole Position on the arcade I have been hooked. Everything from Mario Kart to Gran Tourismo. Which the most recent installment of the latter has got me hooked, and is about to talk me into parting my long term relationship with my xbox. We'll see how that goes.

I think it really started with a game on a dos machine- Street Rod 2

 I first played this game at my cousin's when I was bout 10, you look through the papers, buy used cars and change out parts, v-6 to v-8, 2 barrel carbs to 4 barrel, to get that Thunderbird so you can take down 'The King' and you get his car and his girlfriend. That was pretty sweet. So here we are over 15 years later.

I always thought a MMO racing game would be good for the average gamer. I always ran across them late. Like Motor City Online

of

Motor City Online Wiki

or Test Drive Unlimited 1- which was visually appealing, lots of nice cars to drive, fairly realistic physics, but by the time I started up with it the online community had died down and you couldn't find another player.

I have filled my time with Forza games, need for speed shift and most recently hot pursuit. Which is something what I was wanting.  Faster cars, faster police, almost like burnout with real cars and you could play the cops.

Then I receive an email from EBGames. Could this email be what I have been looking for?
The email detailed the release of Test Drive Unlimited 2 at a price of $49.00 with no monthly subscription it got my mind going.

Then I watched this trailer

 
and it got my mind going even more.
Atari, like in the first game, had developed a massive island, with astounding mountains, forests, and beautiful beaches, expansive cities and off road tracks. You will have road races and rally style races. the interesting the about TDU2 that it's not only about racing. In a saturated Genre such as the racing market it's hard to be creative. Everyone has the same cars, everyone has good graphics, every one has the physics. So your options seem to be on how 'arcade' or 'simulation' you make the game.

TDU2- blows this idea out of the water. Why make a game about street racing, when you can make a game about the street racing lifestyle of a millionaire...in HAWAII.

You can buy cars, and customize your cars, buy a house, customize your house. There is even a virtual casino. The social aspect of the game looks to be one of the key features. Will it be a Boom, or a Bust It's hard to say right now. Is it going to be everything I wanted, probably not but i think it will be a good game

TDU2 is set to release  Feb 8th in North America Feb 11th in Europe. Currently Test Drive Unlimited has a gamers guarantee at EBGames. Meaning you can pre-order and purchase and if 7 days you don't like it, you will get a full refund also you will get access to the casino and a new car if you pre-order. If you've been looking for a racing game and then some, this maybe a game for you, and with a pre-order and gaming guarantee you can't go wrong.

Just don't be disappointed when you find out...there are no :Lamborghini's in the game at this time but stick around and check the other mouth watering motors below

Pictures courtesy of http://www.computerandvideogames.com

Fable III...a fitting end to a series!(spoiler alert)

Judging by the title you would probably assume that this would be a positive post...you would be mistaken. I would like to express 2 things in this.
1. How much excitement I had for each game before it came out.
2. How each time my expectations were shattered in the worst of ways.

The original fable game was supposed to be one where every blade of grass you stepped on changed the game. I remember that almost verbatim. It was far from that. It was a linear story with a minute aspect of free roam.

Fable 2 was said to be what the original fable was supposed to be, just add Dog and Dawg (multiplayer) Well it added a dog, which was alright, but the multiplayer was weak as you couldn't be much other than a henchman.

Fable 3, The revolution. 3rd times a charm. This was supposed to be Return of the JEDI! was it? Let's see lot's of hype, a pretty linear story arch with some side quests here or there. Then the ending ohh the . What can I say about the ending...how about the last sentence was more exciting.


your HERO!

A little history, I play games like Rapala Bass Fishing 2010, and love it. I still have a copy of NCAA 2008 I still play. There are few games I walk away from and dislike. This is definately one of them.

I picked up the collectors edition. I played through the story. I took my time, did quests, got married had children. Only to move them into the castle and have them disappear into the bowels of the castle leaving the whole point of fighting for you family pointless because you lost them along time ago to the castle or Rose Red.


New Bowerstone

Even worse, you make decisions to be a good king or a tyrant. I wanted to be good in fact I had this brilliant plan. You had to get 6.5 million gold to save you kingdom in 365 days. I had a real estate empire. I spend no money, by day 250 I had 2.2 million gold. I was well on my way to saving a good chunk of the kingdom...that's when I helped Sabine. Next think you know 200 days turns into 1, and the 2.4 million I had earned is all you get, even through I had well over a million in my personal stash that I couldn't put into the treasury.


Hollow Men, annoying but have a satisfying bone crunch under a hammer

The end... not great. the worst? all that money I saved I figure hey let's at least go buy all the weapons/clothes/mustaches? NO! All the shop owners did in the last fight, and even if you buy the whole business you have to steal the products then kill guards for your own goods and then everyone thinks the savior of Albion is a monster because you took what was yours.....

A fitting end I'd say.
All the fanfare followed up by little less than a fizzle. I guess it's fitting that everything is dead and there's no point to keep playing.

P.S. I liked making the decisions about the kingdom, and some of the quests while being a bit repetitive were pretty fun.

P.S.S.- would have liked axes in the game

Assassins Creed Brotherhood- Multiplayer to kill for

Have you guys played Assassins Creed? I have and while the first one was repetitive, I found both previous iterations of this game enjoyable. You get a great feeling jumping across rooftops and feel like a total B A when you fly from a roof to come atop a target with swiftness, and stealth. Bringing them to their utmost doom.

Ahh a feel good experience if there ever was one.

You can block with your swords counter amazingly taking large groups of people at a time. Controlling Altair, the best of the best assassins in ancient Israel, or learning along side Ezio, an amazing up and comer making a name for himself, and that name is vengeance. You can't help but feel invincible.


Assassins Creed: Brotherhood takes a bit of a different turn. In the beginning after have an extremely awkward night with a fellow NPC you are woken to your beautiful maiden and a cannonball... and not the good kind. Templar are invading, they have lots of guys, guns, siege towers and best of all, cannons, that's right, cannons, which you also get to shoot, to mildly devastating effect.

You even get to play as Desmond, who is every bit as agile as Ezio, now I know you have the knowledge of the skill but after staying in 1 room and the most action you've got, and I mean both action and 'action' is inside the animus do you really have the upper body strength for these feats? I guess it wouldn't be a game if not.

Though I think I'm feeling the bleeding effect as well. After playing the game I learned through Ezio, through the animus, through Desmond, Through my xbox these skills as well. I scaled my house and tried a 'leap of faith' into a pile of leave. I felt the bleeding effect so much I needed a doctor to stop it.

Back to the game. The best part about AC-B so far is the multiplayer. Pretend like you have this really awesome...barber, very suave with straight razors, a priest with a crucifix that springs into a knife, blacksmith with a crazy hammer, something like that. You have all the kills of an assassin, and a target. SWEET! UH OH, but this is multiplayer, if your hunting another, isn't someone hunting you?! YES! somehow you have to sneak around and kill your target with out him spotting you. While keeping enough of an eye on your back to keep from getting shanked! and while you are watching your back, some crazy friggin clown drops from the sky!!!! DARKNESS....

Need I say more?!

Gamer Blogs are for Pansies

Welcome Pansies to my gamer blog?! and for anyone who is not a Pansie...then this is not a gamer blog so keep reading.

This is basically the raving reviews, previews, general impressions, beta information of the latest, or really old games on the market. I will try to provide pictures and videos when available, while being careful not to break any copyright laws. I hope that you enjoy it because I put like, no time at all into this blog.

I have no credentials to speak of other than a gamer of about 17 years playing on systems from atari and nintendo to xbox 360 and playstation 3. I took some writing courses in college but am not a journalist by any stretch.

I'm just a regular average game Joe, not even a hardcore gamer. This a blog by the average gamer, for the average gamer.... Enjoy