Welcome back Agent 47

The cold calculating killing machine returns for the first time in 6 years, and the developers did a great job of keeping the Hitman feel but improving the game and mechanics so that it didn't feel like rehash. I of course bought the collectors edition and it was not worth the extra scratch. This is the last "special edition" I'll ever buy, no fault of the core game, just fault of the "extras" which was just a gunpack you can unlock by playing the game anyway, and a behind the scenes DVD. The case was pretty baller though.

The "story" goes that your handler , Diana Burnwood went rogue for no apparent reason so the agency hires you to do the deed. When you pop her, she tells you to save a little girl named Victoria. Any more that than and it's spoiler central. Now while the story isn't Pulitzer prize winning it's enough to keep you going. I havent gotten to the end yet but I do kinda want to see how it all turns out.

Challenges are really the bright spot of this game. It sort of artificially extends the game by getting you to replay the same missions in different ways. In example, in the first real mission you can poison your target's cocaine and kill him, or you can poison his coffee to kill him, or you can poison his food to kill him. All 3 of those ways are a challenge and doing all 3 is in itself is a 4th challenge. Completing challenges increases your score multiplier and getting a high enough score unlocks new abilities for Mr.47 like decreasing damage taken or reducing recoil and reload times. So you'll run each mission a few times in an effort to make your abilities better to make the latter levels just a little easier.

Another innovative feature is the "Contracts" mode. This is where you can pick any completed mission and pick out your own targets and kill them in your own way. Once you complete the mission, and you have to escape the level for it to count, you can save it and upload the mission. The method of killing (weapon), outfit worn, hiding bodies, not getting caught are all factors it tracks. In china town you can kill cooks, cops, or vendors and not bother dealing with the kingpin or the drug dealer; so its very refreshing to play the same levels in new ways. You can also save the challenges you make and have a competition with your friends, unfortunately Im the only guy I know who has the game.  Best part? NO ONLINE PASS

I'm still working my way through the campaign mode, the learning curve is pretty steep, even on normal difficulty. If you get caught there is a very small window of opportunity to get away without having to pull your guns and clean house. The way disguises work is a little suspect. If you take a cops outfit other cops can tell you arent a cop, and that totally makes sense to me, I guess there are no rookies on the force in Chicago, heh. I just dont see how if you wear a street vendor's clothes all the other , but I digress. Once you understand how the game works, you can deal with it. SOme of the missions have a suit only challenge and for some I just dont see how its possible, but I suppose when Im going for all the other challenges I'll find a way (or I'll google it). I can tell Im getting near the end because not only are the levels getting redonk but both sides of the story are coming together.

Up over 93,500 gamercore, hopefully I can finish up this game so I can go back and finish AC3, but Connor is a dooshbag :(

till next time
~Malenko

I cant think of a clever title.

So after playing both WWE All-Stars and WWE Smack-down vs Raw 2011 I needed a break from crappy games and achievement whoring....... Castle Crashers.

This is one of, if not the only game, I spent 1200 M$ points on and didn't regret. I know I missed the sale a few months back, but hey I didn't have the cheddar and buying a point card on a Best Buy credit card @ 26%APR isn't a smart thing to do.

Anyways, back to Castle Crashers. I've only played single player, I feel the need to level up my guys a little before going on line and doing what ever it is you do online with this game. I am in love with the graphics, even though they mostly reek of "flash game" the animation is both well done and fluid. My ONLY gripe so far is the music, its very MIDI-esque and repetitive. The controls are tight and responsive and I cant wait to get my fight stick back from a co-worker and play this shit ARCADE style. Sadly enough Ive only saved 1 princess and only unlocked 1 character (the grey knight). I don't mind the grind when its fun.

Before I forget, Fenix and I are making steady progress through a co-op play through of Dead Rising 2. I'm up over level 20 and suck a lot less. I still have no idea where anything is in the mall, which makes this game pretty realistic, because I don't know my way around the Mall down the street from my house. We're trying to get the "co-op" story achievement (at least I am) and the "Save Bug" is really annoying.

I still have just a ball hair under 18,000 gamerscore to get by the end of the year and I'll be honest I dont think I'm gonna make it. Not from lack of ability, but because Mortal Kombat 9 comes out in 2 weeks and I see myself playing the ever loving shit out of that for a WHILE. MvC3 is already collecting dust :/

Stay frosty,
~M

Big whoop, wanna wrestle about it?

Ugh, the things I do to be a gamerscore whore. After I threw my 10,000th (thats OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!!!) jab in Fight Night Round 5 errrr Champion, I Fired up the old SmackDown VS RAWs (2007 and 2008 since I already 1K'ed 2009 and 2010.)

Painful. Thankfully I had all the super shitty achievements done and just had to mop up. I don't even wanna rent/borrow/whatever SmackDown VS Raw 2011 (not just because John Cena Penis is on the cover again either) I'm sure its just as terrible as these. I might just take a day or two break from the whoring and get my ass handed to me in some Marvel VS Capcom 3 Online. I read they are patching it and nerfing the Sentinel.

I only have 1 more achievement I can get in Fight Night without buying an online access code, so that game will never get 1K'ed (my buddy Pat offered me his code, but Im still torn on using it or not)

My turn to quick blitz games:

TMNT (1989 arcade): Still a blast, get it if you have friends and or are as old as me and remember dropping a shit ton of quarters into the arcade machines.

Xmen: Man I used to drop all my spare change into the giant 6 player version of this at Vince's Batting Cages; if I would have saved up my money back then I could have bought this 100 times over. PS I hate "Play this game with 5 other people at the same time" bullshit achievements.

Carcassonne - Prolly the dumbest game I ever got, I'd ask for a refund but Microsoft gave it to me for free...I still think I overpaid.

Pinball FX/FX2 - The free upgrade is awesome, Im waiting for the price of gas to go down so I can afford to buy the Marvel expansion tables. I was a Wolverine mark before you ever heard of Hugh Jackman. That reminds me, I need to DL the expansion for MAU2

~M.

shit, almost forgot; 18043 to go. Im way ahead of pace, so its time to slack and pull it off at the last minute.

Big whoop, wanna fight about it?

Fight Night Champion.

I like the new name, I kind of like the new mechanics of the game. I'm on the fence about the blatant racism though. I mean when you got called "white bread" in Hitman it was kinda funny. But when all the white guys in prison are tatted up skinheads calling them "crackers" seems a little over the top. Spoiler: The white guys cheat in the prison fights and stomp a mud hole in you after you win the first fight. Fuckin' crackers.

I'll be honest, the story mode is a joke. SPOILERS: I mean the story itself is laughable, but the actual mode can be done in a couple of hours and it's just a string of gimmick fights. Prison fight, amateur fight, untimed spar, don't let the cut on your eye get worse, left hand only,etc,etc I only went through the mode for the easy achievements. And they were easy. Hey, I'm in operation 100k, what did you expect?

Legacy mode is where its at. Start a new boxing career and see what you can do with it. Get XP to build up your boxer skills, play training games to boost your stats, balance all that with rest and promoting yourself all while trying to retire as the Greatest Of All Time(GOAT). My only real complaint with this mode is getting flash KO'ed my Marvin Haggler on the first punch of the fight. Even Glass Joe can take a couple shots to the face (that's what she said) before going down (that's what he said). If you arent into all that , theres the classic Fight Now option, where you can match up boxers from all eras in the "sweet science". If you suck at boxing, just be Lennox Lewis and jab your way to victory.

I couldn't play the online mode, its a used copy and EA doesnt think I should be allowed to play without giving them $10 even though I already pay Micro$haft for the right to do so.

Keep them gloves up kiddos,
~M

PS: 19,813 points to go. Think I'll make it?

And then he ran me over with his pink bike.

Two days in a row? no waiz! yes waiz.

So I had Dead Rising 2 on PS3, and all I could do was play solo, because no one I know has a PS3 and uses it to play games. Thanks to the debbil, aka GameStop I traded Dead Rising 2 PS3 and $20 for Dead Rising 2 on xbox360, hilarity ensued.

This is just a quick pro tip before I get started. If you're playing with someone and you want their weapons and don't wanna play with them anymore, just save. It kicks them out and they drop their gear; way to bug fix capcom! In their defense, its only been what, six months?

At first we tried to keep the story going, but that's just not all that fun. Kill more zombies and make neat weapons, or run across the mall to stop someone from breaking into slot machines? Yeah, that kill 72,000 zombie achievement isn't gonna earn itself. So after about 2 1/2 hours of making knifed boxing gloves and lightsabres (lightsabers?) out of flashlights and gems , numerous zombies felt our wrath! There is a douche-bag on a motorcycle (with chainsaws) that will put a hurtin on ya pretty early in the game. We lucked out and he got stuck in a corner, Fenix took him out after I revived him with a rotten hamburger.......lol. In case you're curious about the title, right before we quit for the night, Fenix ran me over while riding a little girl's pink bike and it was HILAROUS, I couldn't even be mad. I think it was my pink hat and super hero boots that made him want to do it.

I did play a LITTLE Castlevania:Lords of Shadow..... it doesn't rip off god of war like everyone says, it rips off Dante's Inferno...which ripped off God Of War. So far, I like it, but it doesn't feel like Castlevania to me (it feels like the other 2 games I mentioned). Patrick Stewart is awesome as the narrator and the game has some of the most beautiful backgrounds Ive ever seen. I totally peeked at the cheevies...... why does every game maker think we want to scavenger hunt in every game? 50 life gems, 50 light gems, 500 agility orbs.....ooops, wrong game for that last one.

Small update on operation 100k: 20,343 to go. At this pace I'll make it, but I'll need a metric ton of new games.

~M.