what is it good for? something.

Game Review – Fallout 3 from Bethesda Softworks (Xbox 360)

War. War has changed. Sorta. But not really. Because war never changes. Or at least that’s what Ron Perlman tells me.

When Bethesda Softworks acquired the Fallout IP from erstwhile publisher Interplay, they announced that the isometric, turn-based RPG would go first-person with Fallout 3. And a million fanboy heads asploded in mushroom cloud rage. Those of us who took shelter in the “let’s wait and see” vault have now emerged to discover a world that is at once new and strangely familiar.

Read on, sweet America, for the full review. But please – no mutants allowed.

not human enough -or- too hubris

 

Game Review – Too Human from Silicon Knights (Xbox 360)

Silicon Knights’ Denis Dyack, the driving force behind Too Human, caused a stir when he first A) showed a painfully crude build of the game at E3 in 2006 and then 2) bitched and whined about gaming press and internet forum communities when they called him on it. Ever since then it seems like Dyack has been out there wielding both snark and unflattering defensiveness in an effort to convince us that Too Human really is a great game, guys!

i say saladin, you say salah al-din

Game Review – Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft Montreal (Xbox 360)

Hype is a fickle mistress, my friend.

The release of Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft Montreal saw quite a bit of the old ultrahype. Touted as a “true next-gen experience”, the game crafted an awfully big pair of britches for itself to fit into. Early reviews were wildly varied, but I decided to give Québécois-U.S. relations a boost and picked up the game.

So is it an assassin or just plain ass?

the galaxy is not as it seems

Game Review – Mass Effect from BioWare (Xbox 360)

Mass Effect is the latest RPG epic from the good doctors at Bioware.

I’ve played every major release from BioWare since getting hooked on 1998’s Baldur’s Gate. The one thing that ties them all together is their focus on good damned storytelling. Memorable characters and moving plights are everywhere to be found. Hell, with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic they injected magic back into the franchise for the first time in twenty years! I always look forward to throwing myself into the worlds they’ve created, and to savoring all the little details they pack in for completionists like me.

Yes, my expectations were high. Will BioWare finally strike out with Scranto? Duh duh duhnnn!

pretty prolific for a dead guy

Book Review – The Children of Húrin by J. R. R. Tolkien

I’m a Tolkien nut.

Duhhh no kidding, right? And even though the good professor has long since sailed off into the West, he still seems to be cranking out books at an alarming rate (alarming considering he’s DEAD).

His latest marvel of posthumous publishery is The Children of Húrin, a gloomy tale of revenge, hubris, and incest. Woah. Incest. Samwise does not approve.