Daily Update 8-28: Just when I thought I was out..

…they pull me back in.

What I played and the achievements I earned.

TRANSFORMERS: FoC

LAST PLAYED 8/28/2012
1000/1000

ACHIEVEMENTS

50/50

Transformers: Fall of Cybertonr Mini Review
Fall of Cybertron complete! It takes 30+ hours for the full 1,000 gamerscore.
First off, I’m not a big Transformers fan, I somehow missed out on it as a child.
That being said, this game has made me somewhat of a fan. Dinobots? Really? I had no clue such a thing even existed.
I refer to this type of game as “The Goods” since it’s the triple threat. Epic story campaign, good online multiplayer and a co-op horde mode of sorts which is called Escalation.
The single-player spans across 13 chapters with various types of Transformers to use. That keeps the gameplay fresh since the Transformers all have a unique feel and different types of abilities to use. The game essential plays like Gears of War, and looks like it too. It’s very nice to look at and the scale is quite large on some of the levels. The cut-scenes don’t look too shabby, either. It sounds really, really good and the voice acting it top-notch across the board. I enjoyed switching characters so much through-out, sometimes up to five or six times per level. Like I said, that kept the experience fresh for me. While playing through the campaign, I got attached to the Transformers characters like I’ve never been before. I think that speaks volumes.
Multiplayer is good for a while and features a lot of modes,  but I’m sure it will wear out its welcome after a week or so of being played hardcore. You’ll want to make use of the lobby system because it’s best with a group of people  – it doesn’t seem like a game suited for a lone wolf.
Escalation was fun, although, it only features 4 maps to play on. The mode will probably keep you and a few buddies busy for a day or two.
Fall of Cybertron is a good all around game that has turned me into a fan of Transformers. That’s about all I could ask for in a Transformers game.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Achievements – Nothing really that difficult. You’ll want a full room for escalation wave runs. Getting to Prime Mode is the longest achievement  – which requires one to get all four multiplayer classes to the max level (25). The only campaign achievement I didn’t like were the collectables, but it wasn’t excessive.

 

The best retail games of the year…so far.

1) Mass Effect 3
2) Max Payne 3
3) Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Note: Darksiders 2 and Sleeping Dogs are not taken into account. I haven’t played or played enough of them to make that judgment. 

Mass Effect 3

LAST PLAYED 8/28/2012
1175/1175

ACHIEVEMENTS

56/56

These are the fresh new achievements that come with the Leviathan DLC , and it will set you back $10. As you can see from the timestamps above, it took a little over 2 hours in between the 1st and final achievement, but I did take a few long breaks while playing. This means that you will get no more than 2 hours gameplay from the DLC. The content starts off fairly slow but ends with a bang, fleshing out some of the back story and doing so in such an epic fashion. Abyss and Bioshock can just eat it!!!! It is solid content, worth the price of admission just for the final 15-20 minutes.

“Conspiracy theorist” achievement is missable, you have to find all the clues in the lab so you can narrow your search down to a single objective. Pretty much the first thing you will do.

Mass Effect 3 is still the king of 2012.

Netflix

This title has no achievements.

Watched a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother.

Sniper Elite V2

LAST PLAYED 8/28/2012
510/1000

ACHIEVEMENTS

27/41

Randomly started SE:V2 up for reasons unknown to even myself. For those that haven’t played it, it’s actually a formidable shooter. The collectibles are what turned me away in the first place since collecting gold bars is the pits. 2 months later, I’m back at it, and I have 3 levels remaining with some clean up work to do. Elite V2  features one of the best slow-mo-cam-kills there is, period. 
Gaming goals for 8-28
1) Finish 1k in Transformers. It has to happen.(YESSSSS)
2) Gain 700 Gamerscore (NOOOOO!!! I only scored 350 gamerscore – BOOOOOOOO)

Gaming goals for 8-29
1) Full 1,000 Gamerscore In Sniper Elite V2 – Only Gold bars can stop me
2) Finish The Walking Dead Episode 3 which will be 100 gamerscore – if it goes up on schedule  
3) 800 gamerscore – Because I love failing goals like a champ
No messages worth sharing today, the same ol’ stuff on repeat.
Daily blogging
I actually do these blogs in between weightlifting sets to keep it going daily, keep myself motivated, and to save some time. If your not exercising at least a couple of times per week, for the love of god, get your butt up and do so.You will feel much better once you add exercise to your life. Not in a week, not in a month. Now. Every reason not to is just an excuse. There’s a perfectly fine floor right in front of you, a park, or some stretch of road to get you exercising. Diet is a big part but that can come well after so you don’t kill yourself doing both at once. Exercise and THEN ease into a better diet.
Funny story how I started working out a lot. As a kid I was always active, played a lot of sports and things of that nature. I was always outside acting a fool, either riding my bike or playing sports. I wanted to become a boxer but I guess my father didn’t want that for me. To the point,  how did I implement exercise with gaming later in life? While playing Madden, I would play my season games against the A.I and how many yards the A.I. would gain, I would do in push ups. I kid you not,  I would literally pause the game and start doing push ups if they ran for 7 yards, caught a 30 yard pass and so on. This started during the N64 days, when I was in my mid-teens. I got addicted to exercising and it helped me get better at the game for the obvious reason, so then I started doing 2x of what the A.I. would put up. It worked for me and maybe you can try something similar that could work for you.
I’m outta herre, Peace

Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes


Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Complete! It takes roughly 20-30 hours to get the 1,000 gamerscore. Not too difficult and features the standard achievement list found in most Lego games of the past.



It’s probably the best Lego game on the machine, but I’m a little burnt on Lego games since I’ve played them all except for Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.

What’s changed from the 1st Lego Batman?

Open World of Gotham City (not a ton to do in the open world, but it’s where you will find the majority of the gold bricks, animal riding, carnival games, helicopter and boat checkpoint races)

First Lego game where the characters have voices (very well done, I might add)

Features a ton of DC characters not found in the Batman series.

Superman absolutely steals the show since he is just awesome to use (flight, heat vision, superhuman breath, X-Ray Vision and superhuman Strength) and the Superman theme song is played every time you fly in the open world hub, which made me smile every time. Superman and the other characters that have the gift of flight make the helicopters pointless.

A lot to collect: 150 Minikits, 250 gold bricks, and 50 civilians.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10
It’s a must have for Lego fans and probably the best Lego game made to date.

The Expendables 2 Game MINI-REVIEW



The Expendables 2 complete! This XBLA game takes roughly 10 hours to complete. It costs 1200MSP and comes with a total of 21 achievements and 400 gamerscore to be had. 

Note: You have to fully complete the game twice since the difficulties DO NOT stack.



I bought this game for a few reasons:


1) A friend asked me to play co-op with him (it features 4-player coop, which in most cases, is a great thing.)
2) It has Sly Stallone in it!
3) 400 Gamerscore
I went into this game 100% blind to what it was going to look or play like. It’s just so bad that it’s hard to express in words that are not the four-letter variety, ESPECIALLY for the asking price of $15! But I’ll try my best.

Expendables 2 is the least interesting hybrid of a twin stick shooter/Light gun -like sequences of fail on the Xbox 360. More so a twin stick shooter but, hell, it might be the only hybrid of the sort, and I pray it stays that way.  The Light Gun sequences of fail are exactly that, FAIL, to the 9th power!! You’re stuck with aiming a reticule around on the screen with your CONTORLLER while on rails or a set pathway. I don’t even think you can die during these sections, and there are quite a few of them thrown into the mix for bad measure. The only possible way it could have been worse is if they tried to tack on Kinect Support. I really don’t think I could have handled that on an emotional level.

Note to developers: Light Gun games SUCK without a light gun. Peanut Butter and Jelly is good, but not exactly desirable when the P or the J is missing in action. Make a game for a controller. Cool! Great! Make a game for Kinect. Yes! Exercise! Make a game that supports a Light Gun. Awesome! Light guns rock!! But damn you for designing a game and a good portion of its gameplay to work with a controller type that is not even the best option for the gameplay you created. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY???? I’ll never understand this type of decision.
Gameplay is dung, graphics are crap, abilities/power-ups=super crap, voice acting is super-mega crapola on a stick! (Sly doesn’t even voice his character *RAGE MODE ACTIVATED*) It had some potential but it was clearly slapped together to coincide with the release of the movie….without any regard for a smidgen of quality control.
I really wanted to like and support this game since I’m a big Stallone fan, but I cannot recommend this heap of vile to anyone.


Not even to those just looking to blow shit up.


Save your money and go watch the movie instead. That’s most definitely cheaper IF you don’t buy concessions.

Rating: 3/10
Expendable as can be.