Can I just be a little school girl for a second?  Oh my gosh Killzone 2 multiplayer is sooooo freakin awesome!

Ok, now I’m done.  I picked up Killzone 2 last night at Walmart.  I was the only person waiting for it, felt pretty dumb being “that guy” in my pajamas standing in an invisible line.  After learning that my local Game Stop wasn’t having a midnight launch due to no reservations.  No reservations?  Seriously?  Not a really good start for the game that will save the world and put Sony back on top.  I guess I live in an Xbox and Wii town.

So I popped in Killzone 2 as soon as I got home, instead of starting the single player missions I decided I wanted to try out the multiplayer first.  Guess what?  No game install!  Can this be true?  What has happened to my PS3?  Did it change over night?  I set up my region settings and got right into a game.

I played all night with 31 other people online, that’s a lot of people to kill.  Thankfully due to Killzone 2’s unique experience I didn’t have to focus on killing everyone all the time.  As each game progresses you have different objective to overcome.  Just as we explained in episode 98 of the Hardcore Christian Gamer Cast, you can start off killing as many of the opposing team that you can.  Then you move to escorting a propaganda speaker from one location to another.  Next you may have to find the target and assassinate him.  It keeps changing throughout the rounds keeping things chaotic and fun.

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Love Foul Language? You’ll Love This Game!

When I say adults, please know that I am specific when I say that only adults should be playing this game. Although House of the Dead Overkill is a rail-shooter with arcade aspects, the language alone is enough to take the genre to a different level. The amount of mature language in this game would make Samuel L. Jackson blush, it’s completely unnecessary and gratuitous.

Language aside, the game introduces a whole new element to the HOTD series. If you are a fan of the recent Tarantino Grind House films you will definitely see where the developers drew their inspiration from. The game does a great job evoking the sense of watching an old Grind House movie including fantastic voice over acting and narrative.

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As a sucker for scary games/movies F.E.A.R. 2 is right up my alley.  Monolith has a way of scaring the pants off me.  I am not sure if it’s just me but every time I play a game I literally loose my pants.  (probably cause I usually play in a robe) sorry for the visual.

I enjoyed the F.E.A.R 2 demo on the marketplace immensely and even the demo scared me but it was only a slight tease compared to what I experianced in the first few hours of gameplay with the final version.

F.E.A.R 2 starts off approximately 30 minutes before the ending of the first game.  You play as Michael Beckett, part of a team of special ops personnel who are dispatched to rescue Dr. Genevieve Aristide from a facility that has been breached by black ops operatives.

Instantaneously I was immersed in the atmosphere of the game.  The game is so well done in environments and graphics.  I even noticed a little AI at the very first part of the game.  As I was exploring the outside of the building we were getting ready to enter, I walked into a giant water fountain and my partner said “What you want to take a bath?” and then upon entering and our platoon leader asking what took us so long my partner said “Becket decided he wanted to take a bath in the fountain”.  It’s the little things like that-that set the game apart from the first version of F.E.A.R.

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I want to like this game.  I truly do.  I want to like it so much that I even recommended a friend to create a European account just to try the demo early.

I don’t know much about the Killzone franchise, so please don’t butcher me with my knowledge of past games.  From what I understand is that the first Killzone was a rather mediocre game on the PS2 scoring a 70 on Metacritic.  So why all the hype about Killzone 2?  Apparently a video surfaced before the release of the PS3 and had people going crazy over the graphics and fluidity of the game.  The video turned out to be a CG experience however the developers promised that the game would look as good upon release.

So, as we are close to release the Killzone 2 demo became available for pre-orderers and the European market.  I want Killzone to be an awesome experience giving me a reason to love my PS3.  In fact Sony seems to believe that Killzone 2 is going to be the game to make the PS3 a household name.

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I played through F.E.A.R 1 when it first came out.  It was a direct port from the PC to the 360 which was obvious in a lot of aspects.  The shooting was off, the graphics seemed blocky, the hit detection was lacking and much more.  However the first F.E.A.R. wasn’t really that bad of a game at all and it certainly had it’s scary moments.  One of the best parts of F.E.A.R. was the bullet time sequences that you could use, where you would literally slow down time and take out your opponents before the time had elapsed.

So I played the F.E.A.R. 2 demo with high expectations, thinking that they would capitalize on what worked with the original and fix the things that didn’t.  The end result?  It worked!  The F.E.A.R. 2 demo is amazing and it truly looks like it will be head and shoulders above the original game.

The first things I noticed was the graphic upgrade.  Everything in this game looks better.  The backgrounds look real, the enemies are smooth and seemless, Alma (the creepy little girl) looks like an actual little girl-and creepy.  The shooting is spot on, the hit detection actually registered when you hit an enemy and the bullet time was stellar!

I am not completely sure on the plot line for this game aside from the fact that Alma is back and she is causing havok.  There were some very noticeably creepy parts in the demo, even one where I jumped from fright!  My kinda game.  Monolith does a great job making you feel like you are all alone in your environment, there are crazy things going on around you-lighting effects add such a scary mood.

I am very impressed with this demo and even more excited for the release of the game.  If you have not checked this game out yet you need to.  Be aware however that it is an M rated title.  There are lots of bloody moments and it can be pretty disturbing.

Thanks to the kind folks at Valve I was able to get my hands on Left4Dead a day early, which really wasn’t that early as it turned out that 2 others from our community had the game last night as well.  After a straight two hours of game play I can farely say that Left4Dead has fully exceeded my expectations.  My only recommendation thus far is if you play on any mode other than normal is it’s imperative that you have a full squad of 4 players to play with.  Read more after the jump…

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These impressions come from DarthYoda19 from the Off Topic Gamers.  Thanks Darth!

So if you listen to Major Nelson’s podcast or subscribes to his Twitter or generally are a game geek, you heard about the NXE preview program. I was lucky enough to be drawn as a tester of the New Xbox Experience. It is pretty cool and I am really enjoying all the features. I am hear to set some of the rumors straight about NXE.

How does it download? SIMPLY! On the 19th of November, once connected to XboxLive, the user will be prometed to update their system

Are the Avatars childish like the Mii’s? NO! First, the Avatars are NOT childish and are NOT a distraction on the “dashboard”. Secondly, if anything they are underutilized at the moment. I hear there are more clothing options coming in the future, including professional sports license (football, baseball, and hockey jerseys). Right now the Avatars are generic and not unique to the person themselves.

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Okay so this isn’t a review because the game isn’t released yet but the demo is and it was launched yesterday on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

In the demo you can play cooperatively with 3 of your friends, each taking the role of one of the surviving four humans left in this city.  The demo starts you on a rooftop at a weapons cache and you must make your way from safe zone to safe zone.  Each time I played the demo the experiance was different thanks to the AI director who ensures that your experiance matches your play.

The demo is chaotic and frenzied, the infected come from all over.  There are different varients of the infected as well each with unique characteristics in how they interact with you.  The demo truly has some scary moments, in particular the Witch.  If you hear a woman crying, beware that close by is a witch and if disturbed she will do some damage to you and your crew.

Unfortunately the demo is so short that it is going to leave you wanting which I am sure are the intentions of the developers.  I have heard mixed reviews on this game, mostly from people whom I knew probably wouldn’t like it however I must say that my appetite for zombie survival was only fueled by the short demonstration of this beautifully crafted game.  It may actually pull me away from Fallout 3 for awhile.  Oh Teh Noz!