New Super Mario Bros. Wii -- Final Opinion.

I have fully completed New Super Mario Bros. Wii as a single player game. That means I completed every level. I found every secret exit. I found all of the star medals hidden in the stages. I completed the bonus world nine stages and collected those star medals. Although not flawless, I do have to say I thoroughly enjoyed New Super Mario Bros. Wii and I come away with another serious Game of the Year contender. The developers of New Super Mario Bros. Wii have seemingly combed the entirety of the Mario series history and cherry picked the absolute best moments for each of the titles and included them in the new game. The game just never stops with the nods to previous titles, be it enemies, stages, music, or gameplay concepts that haven't been seen in ages. Stuff you just never expected to see again. Barrels and conveyer belts from Donkey Kong? Airships with the guys throwing wrenches at you? Bowser's floating clown face propeller thing? Fortresses and castles and ghost houses? Switch palace blocks and P blocks and those damned biting things you had to use the boot to walk on in Super Mario Bros. 3? And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii is like a great walk through Mario nostalgia. Aesthetically the game looks amazing. The character and world designs are perfect all around. As far as the graphics are concerned on a technical level, they suffer from the system's lack of high definition output. On an HD TV you'll see an abundance of jagged lines on the player characters. But at least Nintendo is finally outputting in a true widescreen format. New Super Mario Bros. Wii will fill your widescreen TV entirely. Musically the game is rather impressive. It's great to hear new mixes of so many older classic themes. Especially in the underground levels, as well as the ghost houses, fortresses, castles, and airships. The level designs are wonderful and are just filled top to bottom with true platform greatness. The numerous boss battles are fun and about as inventive as can be while staying true to the series' established concepts. The controls initially felt kind of floaty to me but you'll quickly adjust to them and be pulling off all of the needed precision in no time. The game does include a fair bit of waggle, and said waggle will kill you from time to time. That's easily the biggest blemish on this nearly perfect title. The difficulty is balanced with the gamer in mind more so than the casual focus Nintendo has been on this generation. The much talked about Super Guide system makes its debut with New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Gamers are up in arms about the end of video games because of this new system. It allows players struggling with the game to have the game finish a level for you. If you've died eight times in a level a green block with an exclamation point will appear. Hitting the block will have Luigi appear and show you how to finish the level and you'll be taken back to the world map. The Super Guide will not show you how to get the star medals and it won't show you the secret exits. I never used the Super Guide, and that's the bottom line on the guide. You don't have to use it, so don't. Does it offend you that it exists? It exists to help a new player to continue to play and grow and become a gamer. How the hell could that bother you? I was hoping for a return to classic Nintendo and it's good to be able to say that Nintendo delivered with New Super Mario Bros. Wii in more ways than I could have hoped for. New Super Mario Bros. Wii for me is a brilliant nostalgia trip that I'm giving a 9.5. I think I'd go so far as to call it the best Mario title on the Wii.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -- Final Opinion.

I had no choice but to play more than a few games at once given this holiday's plethora of titles and as a result I've taken far more time to work through games. I've finally completed Modern Warfare 2 with the full one-thousand points. Modern Warfare 2 is a strange bird for me as technically it's rather impressive but overall I'd have to say I didn't really enjoy it. Graphically the game is gorgeous. It's really impressive looking down to the smallest detail. And they nailed the details. From the way blood and brain matter splatters to how the environment takes damage to how the enemies move. Everything is great and moving at a solid sixty frames per second. The sound is equally as well handled. The voice work is top notch. The pop of the weaponry and the whizzing of bullets all sound lush and spot on. The controls are also rather perfect. No complaints there. If everything seems so great then why didn't I enjoy it? Here comes the hard part because some of these might be considered intangibles or even irrelevant by a lot of people. I had issues with the pacing, the story, the controversy, and the manufactured difficulty. Like Uncharted 2 before it Modern Warfare 2 hits the ground running and attempts to keep the pace of a runaway freight train going down a mountain. Having to constantly feel like you need to save the entire world right this second for hours on end has a dulling effect. It backfires. I don't get more excited, it doesn't become more intense. I grow bored and or annoyed. Modern Warfare 2 doesn't let up at all really from start to finish. The story doesn't help things much as it's so freaking ludicrous and silly that Kojima himself couldn't have done better. I don't wish to spoil it even though I find it to be insulting. You've probably heard about the No Russian mission. In my initial impression I said I got the feeling that they were out to push buttons. Having seen the story through numerous times now for the full thousand, I still come away with the sense that that's what they were going for. And it goes beyond the No Russian mission. Later on in the game you'll be fighting in Washington DC and the score is soaring and you're obviously supposed to feel this massive wave of patriotism. I do understand that in storytelling and musical scoring that manipulation of emotions is the goal. The problem is you want to feel moved, you don't want to feel manipulated. And that's what I felt. I felt manipulated in the most heavy-handed way imaginable. This current generation has really nailed the online aspect, and we've come to amazing graphical and gameplay highs. It's got me thinking that the final frontier of gaming we still need to crack is artificial intelligence and the problem of manufactured difficulty. Just ramping up the difficulty by dialing up the AI's accuracy and field of vision and rate of fire and the like just doesn't cut it any more. I do understand that that's how games are made, but something needs to be done. There isn't a need for skill to finish these games on the hardest difficulties. It's more about patience and a willingness to suffer through it. I don't know how people can find it fun to have it so that when you peek out from behind cover just an inch an enemy from a hundred yards away instantly sees you and fires on you with exacting accuracy even though he's under fire from a vehicle and a few other AI. Somebody needs to figure it out, and the rest will follow. As I previously said, a lot of these criticisms won't matter to a lot of people, but to me they made all the difference in the world. I'm giving Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 a 7. I didn't enjoy it that much but at the same time I can see how a lot of people will call this their game of the year. It doesn't offend me in the slightest. It's not on the same level as someone calling Final Fantasy VII the greatest game of all time or anything like that.

Left 4 Dead 2 -- Initial Impression.

I have yet to actually play this game to form an initial opinion but this one is a no-brainer. I'm expecting nothing beyond more of the same. The game is developed and published by Valve. I'm going with the Xbox 360 version. The game is providing four new characters, five new campaigns, a bunch of new items and weapons, some new special infected, and a new online mode or two. I never played the original game offline. It was completely an online experience and I'll be doing the same thing with the sequel. All I'm really hoping for is a slight overhaul in the fairness of the game's AI director. Not that it goes easy on us and it doesn't pile on the special infected, just that it spawns less hordes out of closets and other already cleared rooms. My only real complaint with the original. We played the hell out of Left 4 Dead, and I fully expect to play the hell out of Left 4 Dead 2. Hours and hours of zombie killing fun to be had... and really, what's more fun than that?

New Super Mario Bros. Wii -- Initial Impression.

I have completed Phantasy Star Zero's offline playthrough on normal, but of course that's just the beginning. I have completed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's story and online co-op mode, but I'm going to play through the game a couple times yet so I can get the full one-thousand points. I still have Demon's Souls out as I'm hoping to ever work towards the platinum trophy there. Assassin's Creed 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii all arrived at my door today. I'm out of my mind starting another game, but I'm going to be doing just that. As as you've probably already gathered from this entry's title, it's going to be New Super Mario Bros. Wii. And as you should have also already gathered, the game is for the Wii, developed and published by Nintendo. New Super Mario Bros. Wii marks the return of a traditional 2D Mario title to a Nintendo console. It's been fourteen years since Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is the all-new follow-up to New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS. What am I expecting from the game? I'm hoping for that old Nintendo magic. When I first saw the game revealed at E3 I was instantly excited. When they started selling it as a multiplayer title I still had a glimmer of hope. Then when it became known there wasn't going to be any online play to the title I lost hope and essentially forgot about the game. I sort of would check back in on the game from time to time over the months since E3. Then they started saying that it contained a full-on and proper single player experience, I instantly started anticipating the title again. And as the release date grew closer so too did my anticipation. That got me thinking about why. It seems part of me still wants that old time gaming experience of my youth. I'm not one of those games were better in my day retro morons by any means. I enjoy games now as much as I ever did as a kid. Pretty much everything about gaming is better these days. There is just an intangible something connected to this title for me. I've played through world one. From my time so far I can say that the game initially looks good. It's not wowing me by any means. Issues inherent to the Wii are present. But I can say that the game supports true wide screen. Which is awesome, and a little shocking, coming from Nintendo. The music is catchy, and filled with remixes of classic Mario tunes from all through the series and a heavy dose of the New Super Mario Bros style. In fact I'm greatly surprised at just how much they've gone back through the older games and pulled this or that. Things I never expected to see used again. From an interpretation of the Super Mario Bros. 3 athletic theme from the Akihabara Electric Circus arrangement to Kamek using magic to power up the bosses ala Yoshi's Island to an ordinary POW block to the return of the Koopa Kids. I sure never thought I'd see Bowser Jr and the Koopa Kids in the same game. All of this from just world one. I do have to say that Mario feels slightly floaty at this point. I'm sure it's just the matter of a small learning curve. New Super Mario Bros. Wii has been sold as a more difficult than average Mario title. It'll be interesting to see how that turns out. Initially it looks like Nintendo still might have a little bit of that old magic left in them.

Phantasy Star Zero -- Initial Impression.

Here we go again with another Phantasy Star title. I have spent more time with the Phantasy Star Online series than I have with any other series in video games. This time it's on the Nintendo DS in the form of the all new Phantasy Star Zero developed and published by SEGA. The challenge for SEGA is offering the full Phantasy Star Online experience within the confines of the Nintendo DS. Judging by my initial playtime I'd have to say that SEGA is more than up to said challenge. Given the state of the Nintendo DS' 3D capabilities I find the visuals to be rather impressive, especially in motion. The controls likewise seem about as good as can be expected when shrinking a title down to fit a handheld. What's actually most impressive though is the online aspect. We had no real issues connecting to each other and once on we stayed on for as long as we kept playing and all the while there wasn't a single hint of lag to be found. SEGA's fifteen years worth of online experience really shines through here. I played through the Japanese version of the game up until the final boss and decided to wait for the North American release. And what a wait it was too, almost an entire year. It'll be interesting to finally see what's going on with the story. A story which promises a rather decent and interesting connection to other titles within the Phantasy Star Online series. It's been a pretty good season so far, and it initially looks like we've got another winner on our hands.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -- Initial Impression.

Next up for me is the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from Infinity Ward. I'm not the biggest fan of the Call of Duty series from what I've played thus far which arguably isn't much. I bought Call of Duty 2 as an Xbox 360 launch title and I've yet to actually get around to it. I fell for the hype with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The issue of spawning literally endless enemies until you cross some invisible line broke the game for me as it annoyed me that much. I skipped out on the online aspect entirely as a result. And of course, like Halo, the online aspect has become the heart of the title. It's because of this online aspect that I'm even here for Modern Warfare 2. The game offers the standard campaign, and all the traditional online modes and variants, but this time they've added a co-op mode. The co-op isn't an online enabled campaign unfortunately, but it's the next best thing. It's a series of challenges made up from campaign locations. I'm going to make it through the campaign hopefully, but I'll be spending most of my time playing online and going through the co-op. From the time I've spent with the game thus far I can say that it sure looks amazing. The controls function rather well. The story is just traditional military blather even though they're trying for something more controversial with the No Russian mission. I'll have to see it through before deciding but initially it seems like they're just out to push buttons. The spawning enemy issue in the campaign is still present but seems to be hidden better. The co-op and the online modes seem like they will make the purchase worth it. As always we'll have to see.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony -- Final Opinion.

I have completed Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony with one-hundred percent completion and a total time of thirty hours and forty-nine minutes. That's considerably longer than the twenty-two and a half hours I spent with the previous expansion of The Lost and Damned. I have to say that I enjoyed the player character of Louis Lopez. His story is far less serious than those of Niko Bellic and Johnny Klebitz. In fact the whole of The Ballad of Gay Tony is far more out there and over the top. The game provides all of what you've come to expect from a Grand Theft Auto title and basks in the unrestrained outrageousness of it all. Beyond the gameplay, The Ballad of Gay Tony provides a satisfying conclusion to the events of Liberty City. You get the conclusion to the events surrounding the diamonds and questions are answered concerning characters like Bulgarin, Gracie, and Brucie. I've really liked this multiple character concept they've employed with Grand Theft Auto 4. I hope they continue this with Grand Theft Auto V. Like The Lost and Damned before it, The Ballad of Gay Tony is more focused than Grand Theft Auto IV's sprawling epic and is the better for it. I'm giving The Ballad of Gay Tony a 9. I've spent over a hundred and thirty hours in this version of Liberty City and have thoroughly enjoyed myself, but now it's time to move on. In a year or two, bring on Grand Theft Auto V and it's probable new setting.

Demon's Souls -- Final Opinion.

The credits have rolled on Demon's Souls, but I'm not sure if I'm finished yet. You see, I want that platinum trophy. I want it a lot. But the problem there is obtaining the platinum trophy on Demon's Souls would take roughly four complete playthroughs. As you know we're right in the middle of a very busy holiday season and I don't have the spare time. It took me around sixty-eight hours to complete the game the first time. I finished it at soul level ninety-three. Each successive playthrough and the game gets much tougher. It all tops off at soul level seven-hundred and twelve, to give you an idea of the potential commitment involved. Demon's Souls is something rather impressive. What's so impressive about it one might ask? It feels highly original. Which is all the more impressive considering it's essentially a 3D update of old PC dungeon crawlers like Dungeon Master: Skullkeep and Eye of the Beholder. Originality is a rare thing these days. One of the more original aspects of the game is its online mode. If you play the game online, you'll see other players roaming around the world in spirit form. You'll catch glimpses of others in their struggle. You'll be fighting a boss and see another spirit rolling out of the way of an attack from the very same boss. It was rather fascinating to see other players, most of them melee based, as I was playing a magic focused player. You could place an invitation on the ground to join a living player while in spirit form. And if you were going through the world in physical form you would be living in fear that another player would invade your game and attempt to kill you for your collected souls. You have the ability to create messages from word trees to be left on the ground anywhere you wished. You could create hints or warnings to help other players. These were often of great help when playing the game. Although some more unscrupulous players would leave false messages otherwise intended to cause the player harm which actually added to the original feel of everything. Another thing Demon's Souls succeeds at is providing a true sense of accomplishment. I've never felt a better sense of accomplishment in gaming. It does this by making you fight tooth and nail for every single step forward you make in the game. I know you might be thinking that doesn't sound very fun, but it is. It's great fun. You see, the game is entirely fair. Oh, it's tough, but it doesn't cheat. The game is entirely out to kill you and you'll have to learn how to deal with each creature decisively. Each and every encounter has to be met with strategy and skill. The story of Demon's Souls is sparse but at the same time it's exceedingly cool. The characters and story are smart. You're not sitting there through scene after scene of characters talking their heads off. You get a tidbit here and a tidbit there and you sort of piece it all together. The worlds themselves are wonderfully designed in both layout and aesthetic. It's as if each one becomes a character unto itself much the same way that the city of Rapture did in Bioshock. The look of Demon's Souls is amazing. While the graphics aren't taxing the PlayStation 3 at all they have such great art design that they're impressive. The game has a decidedly western approach to the art design while retaining some Japanese flourish. The voice work is very strong with European accents that fit the high fantasy setting perfectly. I thoroughly enjoyed Demon's Souls. It's actually my frontrunner for Game of the Year 2009. Of course there are potential contenders yet to be released and played. And as much as I enjoyed Demon's Souls it's not entirely perfect. The game's lock on system can be finicky to the point it will cause you some trouble from time to time. Trouble enough that I have to dock the game half of a point although I realize that the lock issue might only really show itself with magic users. Melee focused players might never encounter the issue. I'm giving Demon's Souls a 9.5. I'm probably going to fiddle with the new game plus aspect while awaiting next week's must play releases. My PlayStation 3's library is nowhere near as large as my Xbox 360's library, but the PlayStation 3 now has two extremely original and impressive offerings in Valkyria Chronicles and Demon's Souls. The kind of stand out experiences that would rank high in my personal best games of all time list.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony -- Initial Impression.

Next up for me is the conclusion to the Grand Theft Auto IV saga with Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony. For those who don't know, Grand Theft Auto IV's second downloadable expansion, The Ballad of Gay Tony, provides the third side to a major Grand Theft Auto IV mission and subplot. It all concerns some stolen diamonds and where they actually ended up. You saw Niko Bellic's perspective in Grand Theft Auto IV and Johnny Klebitz's in Lost and Damned. Now you'll get the final side of things from the perspective of Louis Lopez in The Ballad of Gay Tony. What am I expecting in my second return Grand Theft Auto IV's version of Liberty City? More of the exact same actually. I'm expecting about another twenty hours of sandbox mayhem. All of the chaos, the over the top missions, the man dates and mini-games, as well as a return of the base jumping from San Andreas. But more importantly I'm expecting a great story and some great new characters. I'm hoping the game provides a fitting conclusion to Grand Theft Auto IV. I'm also hoping that The Ballad of Gay Tony provides the same focused experience as Lost and Damned. From the time I've spent with the game so far it seems that they've lightened up a bit and The Ballad of Gay Tony has a bit of the far more over the top Vice City vibe. At least initially, I'm not very far in the actual main story. As with every Grand Theft Auto title I tend to avoid the story missions and work my way through the side activities. I've been going through the gang wars and have begun looking for the seagulls that make up Liberty City's hidden packages. We'll have to see how it all turns out of course. But this one is looking like a sure thing at this point.