Unfettered Blather

There is nothing that will put a dent in my game purchasing habits then receiving a game that sucks away my limited time budget. This month is extremely slim not due to lack of funds but entirely because of Fallout 3. Actually, my playtime has rotated between Fallout 3, Rock Band, and Rock Band 2, and many nights would see me only playing those games. After exploring the bleak radioactive wastelands of what was once Washington D.C., it takes a game of pure fun like the Rock Band series to keep me from sliding into real depression. All the same, Fallout 3 has taken up so much of my time that I pretty much just spent my birthday money on Rock Band 2 Special Edition (surprisingly difficult to find for the 360!) so that I could at last have a drum set and we needed a spare guitar.

GAME OF THE MONTH Rock Band 2
I think this game would win most any month, but this month it’s not a special achievement seeing as how it’s only competition was an overglorified expansion pack. Still, for me to purchase the full set after Fallout 3 demanding so much of my time really does say a lot about how compelled I was to get this game. All because I picked up a used copy of Rock Band last month.

BEST OF THE MONTH
	#1 Rock Band 2 (X360) Harmonix continues to impress me with their games. I didn’t have much hope for Rock Band 2 and really only bought it because I wanted the drum kit and microphone and everything else in the special edition was gravy, but overall was a good enough deal to get it. I’m annoyed that the solo mode was replaced entirely by “Challenges” but the ability to play the Band Tour mode on your own more than makes up for it. For a mere $5 I was able to import all of the Rock Band songs into it and DLC is fully interchangable between the two, which gives Rock Band 2 an impressive setlist. I’m still playing the original alternating between the two games. This is definitely the superior product, giving the most flexibility and options while greatly improving certain frustrations that were present in the original.
	#2 Rock Band Track Pack: AC/DC Live (X360) I’m an AC/DC fan, which probably shows my age, and so this was a must have purchase for me. Between the Wal-Mart exclusivity and the general lackluster cheap cash-in though I can’t imagine why anyone would pay $40 for this. The band philosophy is that they don’t want to offer individual songs, which is entirely contrary to a 21st Century business model. Purchasers are thrown a bone in that the game can be played standalone, which I did play through a solo career just for grins. Once I beat it I didn’t bother with it anymore. A lot of the songs I could do without and while the price tag is entirely consistent with what it would cost for individual downloads the fact that it includes songs I don’t care for or just don’t care about it doesn’t really seem like a good value. The real irritation is that the game comes with a download code, so you actually have to DOWNLOAD the songs to use in Rock Band or Rock Band 2. Be warned if you see this game used because you won’t be able to download the songs! Also, it downloads as one big pack. I would much rather download the songs I actually wanted. Instead I get a bunch of songs camping out on my hard drive that I didn’t want. Also, “Let There Be Rock” is the most overrated song of all time.

BEST SO FAR

1. Fallout 3 (X360)
2. Rock Band 2 (X360)
3. Rock Band (X360)
4. Boom Blox (Wii)
5. Portal (X360)
6. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (X360)
7. Guitar Hero II (X360)
8. Sid Meier’s Pirates (XBX)
9. Mass Effect (X360)
10. Soul Calibur (X360)

WORST SO FAR

1. Call of Duty 3 (Wii)
2. Road Trip: Arcade Edition (GCN)
3. Carnival Games (Wii)
4. Yaris (X360)
5. Virtual On Marz (PS2)
6. Rock Band Track Pack: AC/DC Live (X360)
7. Hexic HD (X360)
8. Pac-Man: Championship Edition (X360)
9. Bankshot Billiards 2 (X360)
10. Fable II Pub Games (X360)

YOU’RE OUT OF THE RUNNING
And now we bid farewell to those games that won’t make either list.

• Crackdown (X360)
  The end of the year means some real painful choices start taking place in the top ten. Crackdown is easily the best sandbox game I’ve played all year, even superior to Mercenaries 2. I hate to see it drop off the list but the quality of the games I’ve been playing is not something I can ignore. I highly recommend this game if you have not played it yet. It’s worth noting that Crackdown debutted at #1 back in January, taking the top spot from Guitar Hero: Encore Rock the 80’s. Not much of an achievement, but Crackdown remained #1 until March when it was knocked off the top spot by Portal. No other game lasted so long on the Top Ten.
• Small Arms (X360)
  Among the worst games of the year, the bottom half of the list really represents the most mediocre of what I’ve played. So Small Arms has been sitting at the #10 spot for awhile content at being the least of the worst. I still see it as a knock-off of Super Smash Bros. and it’s not a game I highly recommend, though I was amused to see it during an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. While it may be priced cheaply, I don’t think the difference in price makes up for the lack of value you receive, or quality. All that said, it’s not a truly terrible game and so off the list it comes in favor of those that are even worse.

NOVEMBER STATISTICS -
Average Cost: $42.50
X-Box 360 - 2 Titles (100%)
2 Titles

STATISTICS SO FAR -
Average Cost: $17.55 per game
Gamecube - 5 Titles (4.5%)
PC - 2 Titles (1.8%)
Playstation 2 - 10 Titles (9%)
Wii - 14 Titles (12.6%)
X-Box - 18 Titles (16.2%)
X-Box 360 - 63 Titles (56.8%)
111 Titles

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