God of War, Resident Evil 4, Bioshock

I'm a gamer. Have been since that Christmas when I was 6 or 7 years old and my family received a Nintendo Entertainment System. From then on I went through many games and console hardware. The list of systems I've owned is longer than I would like to admit. So lately I've been on a long kick of Guitar Hero 2. I got this game as a gift, and have played the heck out of it. It has terrific replay value.

For the 4th of July week my employer gave me Wednesday through Friday off. My wife unfortunately only got Wednesday off (the 4th). So I figured I would be having time to kill, so why not pick up some new games? I picked up two games I knew as highly recommended, "God of War" and "Resident Evil 4". Both $20 bucks. Did I tell you I just bought a PS2 like 7-8 months ago? Well there is a goldmine of great games that sell on the cheap and I love it.

So anyway heres my take on these games.

God of War is an excellent beat 'em up style game. It takes games like Final Fight and Streets of Rage pushing them into the 3D era. This could have not worked so great, but the controls and camera angle make sure that you can function in this 3D world. This game also borrows from games like Zelda, where you gain more magic and life force by collecting items hidden throughout the game, and solve many puzzles. The only thing I can view as a 'possible' downside to this game is the short length. I don't really mind it though. I think the game has terrific replay value. The fun is in how fast you can play through, powering up in different ways. The battle system is so open that each time you play you may devise news ways to deal with your enemies. The graphics in this game are very good. I enabled the 480P resolution and have to say for an 'old' PS2 game it runs very smooth and is pretty detailed.

I recently borrowed "God of War 2" from a friend. Everything I said above goes for this game too. "God of War 2" seems to be a little more balanced and polished. So far I am really enjoying it, and I think I'll try to pick up a copy when it drops in price.

The other game I picked up my long weekend was "Resident Evil 4". Now I heard lots praise be lavished upon this game. I wanted to play it for the longest time, but owned neither a Gamecube or PS2. I've always been a big fan of the RE franchise. RE4 ditches the zombies for mind controlled peasants. It also adds a over the shoulder view when aiming with a weapon, making battle feel more like a shooter. Another thing was the environments are completely 3D now. I'm not sure if this was new to RE since I missed a couple games in the chain. So what made this game so good? Well they nailed the main stuff, being the controls, music and look and feel. What really shines though is the interesting story and narrative. I'm not saying that the story is perfect, it has its low points, but the story and narrative make you always feel like you are in the RE world.

So what am I looking forward to playing? I just downloaded the demo for Bioshock on my Xbox 360. This game is going to be amazing. It is a shooter, but blends in great storytelling like in RE4. You always feel immersed in the story, for the 30-40 minutes of you get to play in the demo.

Spaghetti

Man movie making has becoming way too generic. I am watching "High Plains Drifter" a movie that I would say is unmatched by anything from the past 5 years. Man I mean the whole deal. From the freaky high pitched music to the guesswork pertaining to the main characters intentions. And everyone in town is dirty, even the priest! The deal with this movie is that it doesn't cater to pop culture. I feel movies these days tie in references to events, products, people and such just to give the viewer the "satisfaction" of familiarity. Like the Apple dude in the new Die Hard movie as a computer "nerd". Or Will Ferrell showing up in way too many movies even though he is (kinda like Adam Sandler wore out his welcome...).

I think people have become trained to enjoy simplistic movies. TV too. I mean fuck, look at all those lame ass reality television shows. It's cool to be formulated. All the cool kids are doing it.