GTA4 must own

Great story and characters make it the essential title for this generation on PS3 or 360.

I take .25 off my score because the custom radio and parachute are missing from San Andreas.

The first thing I wanted to do was go to the top of the Empire State Building and parachute off but no luck. lol. Don't let the minor things get to you though. The cover system does have it's quirks and you appreciate Gears of War in some tight spots.

I'm still trying to figure out how to look at the pictures I took. HAHAHA. Great game though and the Cell phone integration is great.

Viking battle for Rental

Viking is kind of a game that if you don't spend much time with it you'll hate it. You really have to get to the second map to appreciate the gameplay. If anyone played Double Dragon on the NES or River City Ransom you'll remember having to earn or buy your new moves and Viking takes that concept with arenas you use to buy better fighting moves. It's like Golden Axe 3-D with minor RPG elements. I enjoyed the game but after beating it, I don't see a reason to return for another go at it so the replay value is low for me. One question that bugs me though, Why does water kill me? Vikings don't swim I guess.

The graphics are great and the maps are large to navigate through without loading screens which is really nice. The enemies and your army of Vikings are very limited so you'll see a ton of the same characters over and over but the graphic fatalities add a little to make it okay.

The thick and juicy sound track rocks. It's a lot like the Lord of the Rings type stuff and the swords and axes meeting bone sound great. I also recommend Manowar for custom soundtracks. They sing about Conan and Vikings most of the time anyway if you need metal with your combat.

Overall it was fun but I can't really see spending 60 bucks on it. It could have been a little more fun with Online Multiplayer...like Golden Axe on XBLA. Oh well. I still love the Viking mythology and will enjoy the weekend or so you spend with it.

Carcassone is underrated

Carcassone is a strategy game that was a board game first but I never played it until I got it for Xbox Live for free. I ignored it for a long time but decided to play it and get some achievements only realizing how addicting the game can be. The object is to get the most points buy building castles, churches,roads, and farming land and capturing the points for owning them.

It sounds simple but you can play smart and actually attatch on to other player's pieces to steal their points or to keep them from getting the upperhand. I highly recommend playing this with a few friends on Xbox Live. It can get dirty.

This is what I call the perfect Xbox Live Arcade game. Simple enough to jump into and get a few games in while you are waiting for your buds to play a league football game or some multiplayer Gears. Keep them coming XBLA!

Quake 4 needs grenade button.

Quake 4 is one of those games I put off getting and I recently picked it up at a budget price. It was a great find when I found the bonus disc was Quake 2 one of my favorite PC games ever. I only wish it would have adopted Halo's grenade button. I really missed it running through the corridors.

Quake 4 is a great looking shooter. It's on par with what people have seen from Doom 3 on PC. They use the same engine and it runs great on the 360. The lighting keeps you on the edge of your seat waiting for the next bad guy to jump out from the darkness. There's a nice twist in the early going when you'll find yourself getting transformed into one of the "freaks". I don't want to spoil it for anyone but was really different.

Great game for your FPS collection if you don't have enough of them laying around already. I actually played through Quake 2 first because it was a blast back in the day and is still pretty good now. Quake 2 also has it's own set of achievements which was a pleasant surprise to the Achievement whores out there. I'd give Quake 4 a 3 out of 5 but because of Quake 2 it gets a 3.5 from me. Nice find overall.

Bully is just a fun package.

Bully took me by surprise. I actually liked going to the school trying to pass all my classes and wearing silly outfits to get a laugh from my classmates. I perfered the wrestling helmet and the tighty whitey look. HA HA.

The game is fun it's got it's little missions like GTA and the fighting system is a lot like the Warriors game. The graphics aren't a big step up from the PS2 version but it's like getting an Xbox one game for 360. Nothing wrong with that. The fun factor makes up for it.

Great overall game. Skateboarding makes getting around the town easy and you'll keep pushing on to see what you get to do next.