…that it might be a while before I posted again.

To be completely honest, I haven’t checked back to this blog since I started at Mousebreaker, but then it was pointed out to me that I haven’t updated this in a long time when the truth is my personal writing hasn’t stood still - it’s just slowed down to a more managable pace, like a snail deciding it’s time to take it easy.

So I thought I’d pop in tonight and put things right. Firstly the Buzzin’ Games tab has gone, because I don’t have time to do daily blogging for them anymore, and the feed was filling up with stuff that wasn’t written by me. So that’s gone.

Then there were the outstanding reviews (by which I mean ‘unfinished’ rather than ‘amazing’ - I’m not quite that conceited) to be finished. Those have been tagged up and added to the del.icio.us feed, but for completeness sake, these were My Sims PC, Madworld on Wii and 101 in 1 Explosive Megamix on DS. I also found time to polish off my first and last article for Frugal Gaming: How to be a Guitar Hero on a Budget”.

After that getting settled into my new job got in the way of things for a while - though it was quite nice to get my first game scripting credit in Mousebreaker’s Rock Band Sim (yep, around 80% of the text and random events was written by me. Was good fun, that.)

Since then I’ve been taking the odd review for AceGamez when it takes my fancy. To the best of my recollection, that’s included only a handful of games: The Path, Rock Band Unplugged and Overlord 2, all of which were pretty good fun. I like having less free time, means I don’t have to review dross all the time!

And I’ve also got a regular column on another games site, courtesy of a nice fella I met at the event I mentioned just two posts and about 6 months ago. I write for Gaming Daily every Tuesday inspiration permitting, and even generally when inspiration leaves me floundering like a fish out of water. Only on a keyboard instead of on some sands and… you know what, this similie isn’t working, let’s just cut and run. So far my sum total of columns have resulted in:
Sims Based Shenanigans, Party Games to Pass the Test of Time, Taking the Ache from Achievements (If You Spell It Wrong), A Question of Control, Bad Taste and Games PR and Diary of a Fresh Faced iPhone owner Parts 1 and 2.

Oh, and I finished a review of the last piece of Fallout 3 downloadable content last night, but it’s not gone live yet.

Phew! That’s me caught up. How are you?

Wow! It’s as if my blog post channelled the black magic of the Content Management System at AceGamez, because all four of the promised reviews have popped up on the site this morning…

So, first up we have a couple of oldies I noticed weren’t on the site, so decided to put my thoughts on. Those being Alone in the Dark on Xbox 360, and Manhunt 2 on Wii. Clairvoyants from yesterday’s entry will have correctly surmised that these were the 5/10 rated games… a bit harsh to put them on the same mark when Alone in the Dark does a lot of neat innovative stuff, while Manhunt 2 resolutely refuses to, but thems the breaks.

And I can only imagine the horror on readers faces when they deduce that this means 50 Cent: Blood on the Sands got either an 8 or a 10. Yep, I wasn’t expecting it either but despite the horrific licence, Fiddy’s second adventure is an enjoyable mindless romp with a tongue in cheek sense of humour. It also takes the best elements of Rainbow Six Vegas and The Club, combining them into some weird arcade-cover-taking hybrid. Don’t ask, it just works (or better yet, read the review).

Finally, everyone should have guessed the 10/10. Well done Rockstar Games for showing the rest of Xbox Live what downloadable content should offer with The Lost and Damned. 1600 points may sound a lot (around £14 to be exact), but it puts the others to shame with so much extra content and an enjoyable new storyline which interestingly bisects the old one. It might be even better than Niko’s adventure with hindsight…

Hoorah, my review of Operation Anchorage has gone live.

Except that as you’ll see, reviewing it wasn’t half as much fun as it should have been. Fallout 3 was brilliant because it was non-linear, wide open and with many different ways to play it. Operation Anchorage removes almost every single choice, and as such it’s a pretty average first person shooter. Two more pieces of DLC to rescue it, Bethesda…

Whoops, as I came to publish my latest review (XBLA’s The Maw) I notice I didn’t give the Christmas batch their usual muted fanfare so I’d better do that while I’m here.

First up there was You’re In The Movies - a 360 title that promised much (some entertaining minigames and friends making fools of themselves on camera) and achieved little (except some light excercise from re-arranging my front room to try and get the damned thing to work properly). There’s a great game in there somewhere, but right now the tech just isn’t good enough.

Then we have Football Director DS - the first football management sim to grace the system, and unfortunately far too shallow to be recommended very highly.

Stay tuned for a review of the first of the Fallout 3 DLC coming up in the next few days…

Hello,

As this domain has been renewed for another year, I guess I should post what I’ve been up to over the last few weeks. So here we go:

Firstly, the Xbox Live remake of Duke Nukem 3d, which has held up remarkably well for a 12 year old game. Worth the 800 points, I’d say.

Then we have Braid - another one from the XBLA vaults. At 1200 points, it may seem steep but it’s one of the most memorable games I’ve played in year, full of brilliant ideas to tie puzzles to platforming in a way unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Then we have Fable 2 - the follow up to one of the other memorable titles I’ve played in the last few years. It mostly outshines the original, but loses something in terms of memorable moments.

Finally, Far Cry 2. I didn’t care much for the first one, but this spiritual successor is a brilliant adult game which steers clear of videogaming cliché and creates an unforgettable experience despite its frustrating flaws.

Not a bad selection of review code I’ve gotten lately - there’s 2 more reviews on the way, but they’re yet to be published. Until next time!

I’ve been quite busy on various other things, and as such my rate of reviewing stuff has slowed to a tortoise-pace. Nonetheless, by stacking them all up into one post I can now surprise anyone reading this with a flurry of activity!

First, a Top Spin 3 review for Worthplaying. Executive summary: as good as a DS tennis game can get, but that’s not saying a huge deal.

Secondly: Castle Crashers for Worthplaying. A superb 4 player beat-em-up with a delightful cartoon art style.

Finally Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise: An amazing conversion of a classic 360 game to a machine a fraction of its power. Thumbs up!

2 more reviews for your delectation, and I seem to have struck it lucky in terms of quality. Soul Bubbles is the kind of game that the DS has been missing since the Lite version wowed everyone with its curves. Original, delightful, charming and with a universal appeal, it’s the kind of game everyone should play.

Then there’s Unreal Tournament 3 - a game that should need no introduction. Despite being nearly a year behind the PC and Playstation versions, and appearing on a format that has more first person shooters than the Dragons’ Quest series has spin offs, it’s a brilliant addition to the catalogue which has seen me travel back to the carefree days of 2001 when the original first appeared.

Good times, good times. I didn’t know Worthplaying.com has an “Editor’s Choice” graphic until these two gems came along…

In a remarkably similar post to my last one, three of my reviews have gone up all at once!

As you’ll see in the del.icio.us tab, there are now reviews of Sea Life Safari, Wacky Wheels: Crash and Dash and Zoo Tycoon 2 DS.

Wacky Wheels in particular is an odd licence to revive… a 40 year old cartoon doesn’t seem to fit with the DS’ demographic, but maybe all those who’ve recovered their memory through Brain Training will bask in a new sense of nostalgia. Or they would, if the game were any good.

I’ve been a bit remiss about updating. Lots of stuff going on at the moment - that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.

Anyway, as you’ll see from the del.icio.us tag in the bottom corner, 3 (count ‘em) 3 reviews have gone up since my last update. The oddly late Winning Eleven 2007 DS Review, the retro-tastic Aces of the Galaxy Review and the mediocre Big Beach Sports Review.

Busy, busy, busy. Especially as I have 3 promos in my flat that need attention at the moment…

A new review is up: Quake Wars: Enemy Territory. It’s not a bad game by any means, but it does show just how truly outstanding a shooter you need to be to make any kind of headway on the Xbox 360 these days. It’d be smarter for developers to target something with a little less competition on the format, surely?