Alan Wake Prequel "Bright Falls" Finally ... um, Falls

Here are the first two episodes of "Bright Falls," the Alan Wake live-action prequel.  Pretty weird.  Definitely set the tone of the town ...

Final Fantasy XIII - Review - Satisfying From Beginning to (Eventual) End

A long time coming, huh?  Final Fantasy XIII came out on March 9th and here it is April 27th, 7 weeks later and I'm just now starting my review.

I think it's pretty appropriate in a way actually.  The commitment to play Final Fantasy XIII (I call it a commitment because it is much more than just playing a game) itself takes a long time to see through.  First, it took me around 64 hours to get to view the end credits, which ended up being exactly one month to finish the story. Second, I'm still playing as of today to get all the achievements and I have currently accumulated over 90 hours of total gameplay.  My prediction of how many more hours it will take to get the rest of the achievements?  Another 30.  If you're keeping tabs, any post-game leveling and achievement hunting could take upwards of another 60 hours depending on how much you play it the first time through.

Make no mistake, Final Fantasy XIII is a long game. Not only is the complete package time consuming, but the course to get there is practically a straight line that doesn't break wide open until after 20 hours (and even then it's deceptively large).  Does this construction limit the game's enjoyability?  Is it a monotonous trudge-fest that lacks depth and choice, instead funneling the player into predetermined choices making you feel like you're in an aggravatingly long QTE?

In an attempt to offer a breath of brevity:  No.

Final Fantasy XIII is a giantly fantastic game in more ways than one, and in the first four months of 2010 has captured my attention like nothing I've played since the original BioShock or Half-Life 2.  Heck, I'm still playing it and wanting to whenever I can get an just an hour to play.

Continue reading for the full review.

Halo: Reach "Carnage Carnivale" Vidoc - HO ... LEE ... CRAP

"'Campaign' prepares an amazing table, but 'Multiplayer' is your meal." - Luke Smith, Bungie Designer

These are the first words of Bungie's latest video documentary titled "Carnage Carnivale" (it actually has some accented letters to sound more French or Italian or something; I don't know how to put those in).  These guys make probably the best vidocs across the gaming world.  Plus they love their job.  And when you watch them talk about what they're making, it doesn't look like they're doing a "job" but doing what they love and it's then you know that they're putting their hearts and energy into the best product they can make.

Halo: Reach could possibly be the best game of the year.

Watch the video below and TELL ME that you don't feel a sense of excitement and anticipation.  Ten days!  That's all we have left for just the multiplayer beta.  Things will change by the time it's released so who knows how much better it will be when it's finished.  In the video (below), we get some great new gameplay, showing the Armor Abilities from first person (there's an Elite evade at the 1:12 mark!), the new weapons (the DMR looks like a beast, and the new Covenant weapons look great), the bigness of the maps, and the graphics looks even more polished than Halo 3.

Did I already say Halo: Reach could possibly be the best game of the year?

I did?  I'll say it again in bold, all caps, italicized and underlined and ending with an exclamation point.

HALO: REACH COULD POSSIBLY BE THE BEST GAME OF THE YEAR!

(I have to say, there is some bleeped language I'm not a fan of, but the overall video is amazing.)



The Reach beta and Alan Wake are tearing my heart apart!