[47]Reviews

Game Review (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Content Drop #1)

2012-01-24T23:18:00.003-05:00

The first content drop of many has come to Xbox LIVE for Call of Duty ELITE Premium Members. Infinity Ward has advertised it quite a bit (I saw advertisements all over YouTube for instance), and it got me pretty excited. This first content drop, as I'm sure you all know by now, contains just two maps: "Liberation" and "Piazza". There are no Spec Ops missions, guns, camos, or any other goodies in this content drop, just in case you're wondering.

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Liberation: Upon first screenshot, I immediately thought of Stadium from Black Ops, just because it looked similar. When actually playing the map though, it's completely unlike Stadium. Liberation takes place in what I suppose is supposed to be Central Park in New York... you can even see the Empire Stat Building in the background, for example. After seeing some early footage of this map, I was very impressed with how the map looked, but not exceptionally excited with how I was expecting the map to play out. And now, I know why, unfortunately. Liberation is pretty much a map for snipers only. Sure, there are a select few areas where assault rifles would beat a sniper rifle, but let's not kid anybody - this is a map for snipers, and if you play Team Deathmatch, you can expect nothing but a campfest.

After playing about four games of TDM on this map, that's all it was each and every time. Hell, I've hardly even gotten a chance to see the middle of this map just because it's about impossible to get through there without getting your head blown off. Other objective modes for Liberation are also rather disappointing. In a game mode like Capture the Flag, if your flag carrier dies, it's super simple for an enemy sniper to camp back and shoot anybody that's about to pick up the flag on your team. I really can't think of any one objective game mode that could be fun on this map... and if you wanted to get any enjoyment out of ANY objective mode, you'd sure as hell better have a tactical insertion in your class, because otherwise you'll be running a half mile to get to the enemy flag. Almost entirely just because of how the map looks, and not how it's played, I give Liberation a ... 3/5

Piazza: When I saw the previews for these maps before release, I was actually more excited for Liberation than Piazza. After playing Liberation, I was dissatisfied to say the least. In the initial video I saw for Piazza, I felt that from a distance it looked way too much like Favela. Fortunately for me, - Favela was one of my least favorite maps in MW3 - Piazza is nothing like Favela, and is also the exact polar opposite of what Liberation is as far as map design. While Liberation is quite possibly the largest map in Modern Warfare 3, Piazza is one of the smallest - not much longer than Dome, I don't think. If you didn't already know, it takes place at some town in Italy, right near the water. The landscape looks incredibly nice, and I really love the design of the map. But as you can see from my Liberation score, that's not what makes a good map.

Fortunately, Piazza looks great, and plays pretty decently too. While Liberation is a map that I feel is almost good for nothing, Piazza plays well in TDM, S&D, and CTF to name a few. Its small size make a shotgun (A.K.A. Striker) or SMG a necessity, while there are virtually no areas where a sniper or even assault rifle could win. Piazza is a very small map with several buildings, sets of stairs, and corners. The main problem I have with Piazza is the same that I tend to have with Dome - it can get very clusterfuck-ish, and you WILL be shot in the back/spawnkilled repeatedly if you're unlucky enough to have that happen (I didn't mention it in my review of Liberation, but the spawning in that map - even with it's gigantic size - is pretty poor as well from my early on experiences.). It's not a fantastic map by any means, but it is most certainly a better map all around than Liberation is. 3.75/5

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And that's that - the first Content Drop for MW3 reviewed. Disappointed by the scores? Did you play the maps yourself and not care for them much either? Yeah. I was extremely unhappy with these two maps. To be honest, I'd go as far as saying that this is the most disappointing content I've ever gotten from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. I sure hope Infinity Ward can 'wow' me next time, because if this Content Drop is a sign of things to come, I surely won't be happy.

3.25/5

How to Get Better at Modern Warfare 3

2012-01-06T12:34:00.002-05:00

If you're frustrated of getting your ass handed to you in Modern Warfare 3, you've hopefully come to the right place to get that turned around.

1.) Learn the Maps: This shouldn't come as a surprise, because it's really important in any game you play to be familiar with it. When I say learn the maps, I don't mean just play them a million times over going to the same area of every map (Which is why camping will not help you.), but explore. I have over 3 days played now, and I STILL see some people hopping up in areas of maps I didn't know existed.

2.) Beat the Campaign/Spec Ops Missions on Veteran: While the Call of Duties have gotten considerably easier with each coming release, if you can beat the game on veteran, then you should be in decent shape online.

3.) Do Spec Ops Survival: Sort of similar to number two, but even more helpful, as the maps you play on are the same ones that are online. When doing Survival Mode, you're both learning the maps, and getting a fair amount of experience with different guns and perks in the game. Not to mention it's actually pretty fun and challenging, too.

4.) Choose Perks Wisely: If you're playing a game mode like S&D, I strongly recommend you use a perk like Dead Silence, as it's the most useful for the game type (Although Sit Rep is also useful in S&D), and to not use something like Scavenger, as it's completely worthless in that mode. I highly recommend you make game-mode specific classes if you play more than one.

5.) Change it Up: If you find yourself playing one game type, such as Team Deathmatch, stop. Playing other modes encourages you to explore different areas of maps, learn choke points, and if you have a headset or are playing with friends, it encourages team work. That is, if you care about winning. But I'd assume you do, which is why you're reading this in the first place.

6.) QUIT CAMPING/Go for the Objective: If you happen to be one of many players in the Modern Warfare 3 community that likes to sit in corners during the length of game play, you really need to stop. What this does is two things: First of all, you only become familiar with one or a couple spots of any particular map. Perhaps more importantly, go for the objective. There's nothing more frustrating than being in a match of Domination and having somebody on your team playing like it's Team Deathmatch. I.E., in it for the kills.

7.) Pick up Black Ops: When in doubt and nothing seems to be working, get Call of Duty: Black Ops. Black Ops has the mode I talked about earlier - Combat Training - which lets you play multiplayer maps by yourself against bots at a difficulty of your choosing. It's really the best way to train your thumbs.

Game Review (NFL Blitz Arcade - Xbox LIVE Arcade)

2012-01-06T02:53:00.005-05:00

I was a huge fan of NFL Blitz 2000 on the N64, and seeing this on XBLA made it an instant-buy for me. In case you're wondering if it stacks up, the answer is yes. NFL Blitz games of old were great because they were high scoring, frantic, fast paced, and had a hefty amount of rubberbanding, which was both beneficial and not-so-very beneficial at times... but that's what made it Blitz.

All that should be said is that this game should be bought if you had any interest at all in past Blitz games. This game is what those games were and more (except for the late hits. Unfortunately, the NFL wouldn't let EA put them in the game. Bummer, right?). Blitz Arcade is a really worthwhile game if you're a fan of games that like to make you shake and nearly give you a heart attack - every game is close from beginning to end, and you'll likely find many of your games going to overtime.

While the subtractions of late hits is disappointing, the new features make up for the absence. There is now a Gauntlet mode, a la Mortal Kombat, that allows you to choose a team and go head-to-head against the A.I. until you get to the top. It's fun because there are boss modes in between real NFL teams that include the likes of cowboys, lions, and many more.

Another new mode, and perhaps my favorite, is what EA has in its most popular sports games now, and that's the whole card thing. You know, where you earn in-game currency (In this case, Blitz Bucks) to buy card packs to improve your team, team logos, banners, and even cheats -- albeit ones that are purely visual.

The graphics are pretty good for an arcade game, the game runs pretty smoothly, the commentary is funny (even if it can get a bit redundant at times), and the game is about as fun as ever. What I think will really make NFL Blitz Arcade worth going back to is its Blitz League mode (The one where you use Blitz Bucks to build a team). The thing I'm really worried about though with Blitz Arcade is that I don't know just how long the game will last.

I say that because the only way to get Blitz Bucks is to play online, and obviously, if no ones online, you won't be getting the currency, and so the Blitz League mode will die, leaving you to play with nobody but the A.I. Even if that does happen, Blitz Arcade is a measly 1200 MSP ($15), and you're more than likely going to get several hours of worth from this game... so do yourself a favor and get it.

+: Best Blitz since NFL Blitz 2000; pretty decent commentary; say good-bye to playing in the same; old generic stadium; new features are awesome.

-: As good as this game is, nothing will beat the original few games; As is a worry with any XBLA game, how long will there be an online community?

4.25/5

Game Review (Pokemon SoulSilver - DS)

2011-12-31T17:24:00.002-05:00

Graphics: 4.5/5 It's nice to finally see Pokemon with 3D landscapes. The environments look much better, and the colors and attacks are much more pleasing to look at as well. Not the best looking game on the DS, but for what it is - a Pokemon game - it's well done.

Sound: 4.5/5 People can complain all they want about the 8-bit Pokemon cries, I like it due to its nostalgia. Hearing some of the cries, in particular the first generation Pokemon, flew me back 10+ years.

Fun: 5/5 Pokemon Ruby was the last Pokemon game I played on a regular basis. About 8 years later, I finally got this and am glad I did ... better late than never. Everything you loved about the past Pokemon games is in SoulSilver, with several little things added to make the experience just a little bit different from when you first played Silver. To make things even better, the Pokemon in this game can be traded over to Platinum/Diamond/Pearl or even Black or White. If you haven't played this game yet, now's the time.

5/5

7 Ways to Get Better at Mario Kart 7

2011-12-27T21:48:00.004-05:00

So maybe you've just made the plunge in to Mario Kart 7 and it's your first title of the series, or you've been a fan of the series for a long time but just have never done that well. You've come to the right place if you want to get better at this game.

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1.) Drift!: This may just be the most important thing to do out of all of these steps - use your drift-boosts. How do you do this? It's really rather simple. Upon turns, move the left stick in the direction you're going and press the 'R' button on your 3DS. When you do this, your kart will slide. If you do this for a long enough period, your kart will have blue and then red flames. The difference between these two flames is simply that red gives you a longer boost. Regardless of whether or not you can get red on every turn (to be honest, you can't get one on most turns in this game), every little boost helps.

2.) Know the tracks: This should probably be common sense, but it has to be said. If you don't know the tracks and the short cuts and how to cut corners flawlessly, then you just aren't going to finish in a good position. Period.

3.) Use your items intelligently/Watch the bottom screen: If you're a long-time fan of the Mario Kart series, then you know that its notorious for catering the better items for those further back in the race. For instance, a person in 8th will get the lightning bolt or a blue shell, while the person in first will almost always get a banana/green shell/Tanooki tail. If you're in first place and have one of those three items, don't use them unless it's necessary - don't just plop bananas down behind you. It is much wiser to instead hold the 'L' button while you're racing, so that if a red shell is fired at you, you won't flip your kart. Also, it's easy to ignore the bottom screen when playing this game, but you should definitely keep an eye on it, particularly if you're in first place and you want to see if the guy in 2nd is about to put out can of red shell whoop-ass on you. Use my tips from this step, and he'll be screaming in frustration in no time.

4.) Collect coins: When playing online, I see very few people actually doing this. Not only does collecting coins help you unlock kart customization things, but your kart goes a little bit faster with every coin you get - so get as many as you can.

5.) Empty your load: If you happen to be in first place and a dreaded blue shell is headed your way, and you have items on you, drop them. When you do this, you can potentially wipe out any racers that would normally pass you had you not done it.

6.) Starting boost: If you're new to the series or just have a bad memory, there's a way to instantly put yourself ahead of the other racers. How? When the race is counting down (3..2..1..), halfway through 2, hold down 'A' until it says "GO!" What this will do is give you a shooting start. Be careful though - if you hold 'A' as soon as you see 2 or sooner, you'll start in the BACK of the pack.

7.) Acceleration: Last but certainly not least, this is the best thing you can do for yourself to improve your chances at winning. While you may be tempted to use the likes of heavyweights such as Bowser, Donkey Kong, or Wario, you should pick a lightweight racer like Lakitu, Toad, or Koopa, and optimize your kart for acceleration. While you may not like the idea of having low speed, the fact is, you don't need high speed in this game to be successful; basically just acceleration, and that only. The reason? Quick recovery. If you wipe out, you'll recover so quickly it's almost as if it never happened. If you're racing as a heavyweight though, you take forever trying to get yourself back up to speed.

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And there you have it. Trust me, if you follow these tips, you WILL finish at or near the top almost every single race. Of course, since this is Mario Kart, there will be times where a blue shell will strip victory from your hands literally feet from the finish line, but for the most part, these tips will help you immensely. Take it from me; I currently have a 252-24 record when racing online.

Happy racing!

Game Review (Super Mario 3D Land - Nintendo 3DS)

2011-12-27T00:31:00.003-05:00

Graphics: 5/5 The graphics are bright, colorful, and smooth. The 3D effect not only looks great, but is actually MANDATORY for some sections during the game. Simply put, if you want the best looking game currently available on the 3DS, here you have it - it completely makes use of the 3DS's capabilities, and does it very well. It really blows my mind that such a tiny little cartridge can do what 3D Land does.

Sound: 4.5/5 Beside the fact that the music likes to loop a lot, like any other Mario game ever created, 3D Land has a really nice soundtrack. Surprised? Also, even the really minor sounds like Mario's "woo-hoo" and "hee-yah"s are nice... but you can't really expect anything less.

Fun: 5/5 Super Mario 3D Land is probably my favorite Mario platformer. While it won't take many long to go through all the worlds and "beat the game," you can always go back and get all three medallions on every section on every world to get a few nice unlocks that I won't bother to spoil for you. I don't generally recommend purchasing single-player only games (due to lack of replay value), but 3D Land is a game that just has to be experienced, and seen to believe. To be frank, anybody who is a naysayer of this game is either mentally retarded and/or has a brain tumor.

5/5

Game Review (Mario Kart 7 - Nintendo 3DS)

2011-12-26T18:57:00.003-05:00

Graphics: 4.5/5 Just about the best looking game on the 3DS, and better looking than any Wii game, in my opinion. The tracks - both new and old - all look and play fantastically, and there aren't any I can think of at the top of my head I don't really enjoy... except maybe the Rainbow Road SNES track. Many people would probably call that one a classic, but I just don't care for it. Compared to the other tracks? To me, it's just really easy to overlook. The 3D in this game is also cool; while it doesn't necessarily help you with anything or give you an advantage, it's a new way to play Mario Kart, and I definitely recommend playing with the 3D on.

Sound: 4/5 Hit and miss, really. First off, I have to say, whoever they have doing Donkey Kong's voice ought to be fired... to say it's terrible would be an understatement. While mentioning the voices, it should be mentioned that they are extremely redundant. You'll hear Mario going "Wa-hoo!" "Yeah!" "Woo!" "Wa-hoo!" until you about snap your 3DS in half. On the plus side, the Retro Tracks' soundtracks bring back memories, so I naturally approve of that. While the new tracks have some decent soundtracks, there's nothing particularly memorable.

Fun: 4.5/5 Mario Kart 7 may not be drastically different from the recent Mario Karts, but it's still fun. The addition of the gliders and under-water moments are cool and interesting, but they don't change the game play much at all. Just about every single new track is worth playing over several times, and the Retro Tracks are incredibly fun, even if they were changed a bit to be Mario Kart 7-ish. The online features in this game are slightly improved from Mario Kart DS, but it's still not that deep. There are Communities, which are in a sense "clans," but it doesn't change much. The online play is still fun, even if there are blue shells a-plenty, and there are a few stats (Wins/losses, coins collected, VR rating). Mario Kart 7 may not be revolutionary, but it's still fun regardless. If you don't have a 3DS yet, you may's well buy one for this game alone.

4.5/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part XIX (May 2009)

2011-12-15T22:55:00.002-05:00

Franz Ferdinand 01
"Smooth Criminal" Alien Ant Farm
"Blue Sky" and "Midnight Rider" The Allman Brothers Band
"Drain the Blood" The Distillers
"Naked Eye" Luscious Jackson
"Idealistic Types" and "The Banishment" Prong
Social Distortion 01
"Stricken" and "Stupify" Disturbed
"Black Friday" and "My Old School" Steely Dan
"Radio Radio" Elvis Costello
Alice Cooper 01
Taking Back Sunday 01
"Kids Don't Follow" The Replacements
Ministry 01
"She's Not There" and "Tell Her No" The Zombies
"Linger" The Cranberries

Simply put, an incredible month almost all the way through. I didn't realize until typing this up that there are a hell of a lot of "The"s this month. The Allman Brothers, The Distillers, The Replacements, The Zombies, and The Cranberries. Phew. ANYWAY - as I said, a great month. I could go through and say good things about a lot of these songs: Franz Ferdinand has a couple well-known tracks in their pack, "Smooth Criminal" is a pretty nice challenge on drums, Social Distortion is some quality old-school punk, Alice Cooper is a no-brainer despite a few live tracks, "She's Not There" is a classic. Most of what's here this month is gold.

Ftw of the month: Almost everything except...
Gtfo of the month: "Naked Eye", Steely Dan; only because... NO "REELIN' IN THE YEARS"? GTFO!
Avg of the month: 4.5/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part XVIII (April 2009)

2011-12-15T22:44:00.002-05:00

After about a five month hiatus, I've finally decided to try and continue my review of Rock Band's DLC.

"New Slang" The Shins
"Warriors of Time" Black Tide
"Waking the Demon" Bullet for My Valentine
Toby Keith 01
Chinese Democracy by Guns 'n Roses
REO Speedwagon / Styx Tour '09
Hautewerk 01
Nothing's Shocking by Jane's Addiction

To be honest, I didn't get many songs from this month. I didn't get New Slang, Chinese Democracy, Hautewerk, or Nothing's Shocking. I did, however, get Warriors of Time, Waking the Demon, and most of the REO/Styx songs. April 2009's really an average month.. Warriors of Time and Waking the Demon both have some pretty sick guitar solos, and the Toby Keither pack provides a few decent country tunes. For me, the best thing from this month is the REO/Styx pack. Even though the Styx songs are re-records, the pack as a whole is fantastic on all instruments.

Ftw of the month: "Warriors of Time", "Waking the Demon", REO/Styx Pack
Gtfo of the month: Virtually everything else with the exception of a few Keith songs. Damn you, new GnR!
Avg of the month: 3.75/5

Game Review (Back to Karkand Map Pack for Battlefield 3)

2011-12-13T12:05:00.003-05:00

For veterans of Battlefield 2, DICE and EA have finally released the Back to Karkand (B2K) map pack for the Xbox 360. Contained in this pack are four maps - Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Wake Island (2014), and Sharqi Peninsula, along with 10 weapons, and four new vehicles, for 1200 MSP ($15). If you're looking for an in-depth review, look elsewhere... I'm making this one brief.

Having never played Battlefield 2 before, these maps are all new to me, with the exception of Wake Island, which I played in Battlefield 1943 (Although that version looked quite different.) After a couple playthroughs on each map, I will say that all four maps are pretty good, and I'd assume most would agree. While the maps have very similar templates (I.E. Have similar colors), they are all laid out in quite different ways.

For the weapons, you don't have them available for use right away. Instead, you have to do Assignments for each gun. For instance, for the FAMAS, you need to get 10 revives, and 10 heals. As you look through the ten guns, you'll see that some will take much more time to unlock than others. While at first I thought it was pretty stupid to be forced to unlock guns in this fashion - I still think some of the things you have to do are a bit lame - it encourages you to play until you do unlock them all, and it will take the average player a decent bit of time to do so.

If that wasn't enough, there are a few new achievements added for you achievement whores, including one as simple as swimming in a pool on the Oman map, to getting a kill with a tank, a jet, and an assault rifle all in one life.

All-in-all, B2K is a pretty good map pack, and one that was much needed, as the 9 on-disc maps in Battlefield 3 were beginning to get a little stale. Although DICE/EA haven't put up DLC specific servers (which results in a lot of leaving matches when a disc map comes up following a DLC map), and while I'm mildly disappointed that the maps are colored similarly, they're fun to play, and the Assignments give reason to keep playing and unlocking the guns.

4/5

Food Review (W Burger from Wendy's)

2011-12-09T13:30:00.002-05:00

I saw this on GrubGrade and was intrigued, so I went to Wendy's last night to try it out. The quickest way to describe this thing is that it's a double cheeseburger with Wendy's "secret sauce" on it.

In a word, unimpressed. The sauce didn't add much to the burger, despite there being a good amount of it on there, and the rest of the ingredients are on any other one at Wendy's. For $2.99 for the sandwich alone, I expected more. Something fairly unique, and something I'd try more than once... but there's nothing about this cheeseburger that's different from a single or a double, because like I said, the sauce is pointless. It's not terrible, but it's certainly "been there, done that."

3.5/5

Hardware Review (Turtle Beach MW3 Foxtrot Headset)

2011-12-06T00:40:00.002-05:00

After going through several stock Microsoft headsets, I finally decided to get something a bit more durable - what I ended up getting is the Limited Edition Turtle Beach MW3 Foxtrot Headset.

Out of the box, I was pretty quickly satisfied with the design and the feel of it. It's well-made, yet lightweight. Hook-up is also quite simple, but if you need instructions, they're there for you. As this thing is wired, it doesn't take batteries; it simply plugs into one of the USB ports on your 360.(I recommend the one in the back, just because. Well. It's in the back.)

On the cord, there's a little box that allows you to adjust game sound, chat sound, toggle mute, adjust bass, and this thing that says "Expander" ... I'm ignorant as to what this thing is supposed to be, all I know is that when you turn it to on, you get a bit more static than when it's off, doing nothing from what I can tell other than lowering the audio quality. There's also a little 360 controller on the box, which is where you plug in the little included adapter cord, so you can talk to people over Xbox LIVE.

It's really quite incredible what a solid headset does for you - how much it changes the game. You really have to hear it to believe it. While this isn't the absolute best headset on the market, or the cheapest, it's not too bad at the price of about $100. While this headset doesn't have Dolby 7.1, it has "amplified stereo," as well as an awesome thing I mentioned above - the bass boost. This thing makes the headset all-the-more worth it. Turn this up, and any game you're playing instantly becomes better. In Call of Duty or Battlefield, every shot you fire from your gun rattles your eardrums ever-so nicely, as does a nice big explosion. Perhaps even better, is using this headset while playing Rock Band or the good ol' defunct DJ Hero - never has the music sounded so good. And of course, the bass just makes it better.

Another thing that's included with the Foxtrot Headset is "chat boost." The chat boost is a built-in thing that is supposed to adjust the volume in the people you're talking to's voice, to the sound in-game. While this is great in theory, I've had issues with it. While playing Modern Warfare 3, I had the game volume about 3/4 of the way up, and chat at half way. Seemingly randomly, the chat would suddenly get incredibly loud, so I'd turn it down. After doing so, it was so quiet, I couldn't hear anybody to talk. I had to do this over and over again, and it resulted in quite a bit of frustration. What I have noticed is that the lower your bass boost, the less likely this will happen. Regardless, it seems unavoidable if you're chatting with people, and it can be either a minor annoyance, or an ear-bleeding hell of an experience.

So... would I recommend this headset? Yes. Are there other and better, cheaper options? Yes. The main reason why I really prefer this headset to other Turtle Beaches, is that it just looks nice with its sleek design. I should also let you know that even though this says it's a Modern Warfare 3 headset, the only spot you can really sense that it's a Call of Duty headset is on the box on the cord, where it says Call of Duty MW3, and on the top of the headset itself, where it has Call of Duty pressed in. Overall, it's just aesthetically pleasing all-around, and the audio quality isn't too shabby either.

+: That brand new "out of the box" smell, solid sound quality, bass boost, looks pretty cool.

-: Cord is pretty freakishly long, the chat boost has its issues, may not be the best option for the price it is - shop around first.

4/5

Food Review (New Burger King Fries)

2011-12-05T01:55:00.002-05:00

This isn't going to be a long review, because it doesn't NEED to be a long review. A couple weeks ago I decided to get Burger King, and saw that the fries seemed to be bigger than before. I didn't see any advertising for the fries, so I was pretty confused.

All there is to say is, if you liked the old BK fries, you'll like these ones. If you didn't like the old ones, you won't like these. Why? They taste exactly the same. The only difference here is the size.

Personally, I've always liked Burger King's fries, and have preferred them to any other fast food fries out there. I know, I'm a rare breed. If anything, I like these fries more than the previous version just because they are bigger. Unlike Wendy's change in fries, this change is a good one.

4.25/5

When they're fresh, they're glorious. When they're old, well. You know.

Food Review (Deluxe Cheeseburger, Mushroom and Swiss Burger, and Western BBQ Cheeseburger from Burger King)

2011-11-28T15:48:00.002-05:00

These three $2 were put on the Burger King menu about a month or two ago. How are they? Well, let me start with the Deluxe Cheeseburger.

The Deluxe Cheeseburger to me just seems like BK's way of making their own Big Mac... and I actually like it. It's a typical burger with cheese, lettuce, onions, and pickles, with a Thousand Island-esque dressing. The difference between the sauce on this cheeseburger and the Big Mac though, is that this one seems to be a little sweeter, which wasn't too bad of an idea. I'd probably get it again.

Deluxe Cheeseburger: 4/5

The Mushroom and Swiss Burger is very, very average. What you've got here is a burger with Swiss cheese, topped with sauteed mushrooms, and BK's "grill sauce." I feel like this would taste a lot better if its sauce had less salt in it. The mushrooms are what you'd expect from a fast food place (not very flavorful and sort of rubbery), and that's all that you really get from this. As said, this hamburger would be better if it just had a little less salt in the grill sauce.

Mushroom and Swiss Burger: 3.5/5

Finally, the Western BBQ Cheeseburger. This one intrigued me most - not because it was at all a unique idea, but because I've always liked somewhat out-of-the-box burgers like this one. This one is just a hamburger with BBQ sauce, cheese, and onion rings... and it's good. It's nothing most people haven't had before, but it tastes alright, and that's really all that matters.

Western BBQ Cheeseburger: 4/5

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All three of these are pretty decent, but the thing is, $2 almost seems too much for these things. The size of these are about that of a Whopper Jr., to give you an idea, and it's not like there are little gold flakes on here that make these worth a dollar more than the Whopper Jr. But if you want something somewhat different at Burger King, try either the Deluxe Cheeseburger or the Western BBQ Cheeseburger... they're not too shabby.

Drink Review (Mountain Dew Green Game Fuel)

2011-11-18T23:39:00.002-05:00

This past month, Activision reached a deal with Frito-Lay/Pepsi to get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on their products. In doing so, they also brought Game Fuel back for a limited time. The first Game Fuel being the one that was initially released for Halo 3, and then again for World of Warcraft. The second was this green version, which is described as "Dew with a Charge of Tropical Flavor."

At first smell, I didn't really care for it. To me it was kind of like the smell of regular Mountain Dew after you burp - so not very appetizing. I thought it would taste like it smells, and it doesn't really. The closest thing I can compare this tasting to is something like a mix of Mountain Dew and Sprite, with pineapple juice. If you can remember how Revolution tasted when it came out a couple years back, it reminds me of that mixed with Baja Blast from Taco Bell. It's not the most unique, best tasting Mountain Dew, but it's a pretty good one... if you have the option of this or the orange Game Fuel though, there's almost no reason to choose this one, unless you haven't had it before.

3.75/5

Game Review (Mario Kart!)

2011-11-17T00:13:00.002-05:00

Yeah... just doing this because I can and I want to. I'm going to list all of the current Mario Karts in order of how much I liked them - least favorite to most favorite - and give each one a score, this time with percentages, so there aren't three way ties with scores. With Mario Kart 7 coming out in a couple weeks, why not? (Keep in mind I won't be reviewing the two arcade versions of the game.)

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6.) Mario Kart Wii: 79% That's correct. I'm giving the most recent version of Mario Kart a C+ rating. The reason for this is that it seems like in Mario Kart Wii, more-so than any version previous, really helps out n00bs. Essentially, this Mario Kart seems to take the least skill. It's still fun, and there is a pretty great collection of new and old tracks here, but this is the most frustrating Mario Kart of them all, as well as the oddest... the inclusion of mini-bikes sort of confused me, seeing as how the game is called Mario KART. Fortunately, they're out, and hopefully for good, in Mario Kart 7. Since it's been said that Mario Kart 7 is more like Wii than any other game in the series, I'm hesitant to get too excited for it. Time will tell.

5.) Super Mario Kart: 83% I really remember playing this game for the first time when I was about four or five years old at my cousin's house. He didn't seem to want me to play, so I mostly just remember watching, but the bit that I did play, and from what I watched, the game pretty much blew my mind back then. The really cool thing about this game is that, since it was the first Mario Kart, the game was mostly RACING. It seemed like there was less emphasis on the items, and that's what sort of sets this game apart from the others in the series. It's a bit aged now and feels a bit bland, but it remains a classic.

4.) Mario Kart Super Circuit: 84% I had no idea this game even existed until I randomly went in a Target when I was 12 and got it. Super Circuit got ridiculously high reviews on almost every website on the internet, and that surprised me. It's a pretty fun game, and a tiny step above Super Mario Kart to me, but Mario Kart just can't shine like it's supposed to with 2D landscapes, no matter how fun the game may be - it just feels dated, and at times it's nearly impossible to tell where you're going. Still, as with the original Mario Kart, there's no denying this game is fun, even if it's almost entirely in 2D.

3.) Mario Kart: Double Dash!!: 88% Although I owned a GameCube, and have always loved Mario Kart, for whatever reason, I never owned this game. I'm not sure why... I guess I was just a stupid child. Well. StupidER child. Anyway, I feel like Double Dash!! doesn't get the attention it deserves. At the time this game out- and actually even now, realizing it's a GameCube - I thought this was one of the best looking games released. The cartoony, smooth look, and how well the framerate held up was just one of many reasons I enjoyed this game. The whole two players per kart idea was and still is a pretty cool idea. In fact, I wish we had this option in Mario Karts even today - one of the best Karts ever.

2.) Mario Kart DS: 91% The first-time blend of new tracks with new I thought was a brilliant idea. Couple that with online play for the first time in Mario Kart's history, and Mario Kart DS was probably my favorite DS game, period. The game looked good, the frame rate held up, the online racing was surprisingly fun and minimally laggy, and as I brought up a bit ago, the 16-new, 16-old track idea was awesome. An insta-classic right here.

1.) Mario Kart 64: 93% And here I am, the only person in the world, that would ever say Mario Kart 64 was his/her favorite Mario Kart. Compared to Mario Kart DS in terms of gameplay, I should probably give that game the edge, but this game has a certain feel to it, and the nostalgia factor, that makes me give it top honors. It's pretty simple - 16 tracks, and 8 characters, all off the bat - nothing to unlock. No stats to track... but this game didn't need it. I couldn't tell you just how many hours I put into this game as a kid, but I'm sure as hell it was an embarrassingly high amount.

Game Review (Forza Motorsport 4 - 360)

2011-11-15T01:11:00.002-05:00

The game's been out for over a month now, but at least I'm writing a review. Not that anyone cares that I'm doing one anyway. So, here goes.

Let me start by saying I never played Forza - the only bit of Forza I played was the Forza 3 (and 4) demo on the XBL Marketplace about 10 times. I really didn't have any interest in simulation racing games until I randomly started watching Top Gear UK on Netflix. Around that time, Forza 4 was getting a lot of hype in game previews, and I just wound up getting excited for it. The whole Top Gear deal with Forza helped, too.

With all of that hype, it sure would SUCK if the game sucked, but as you know by now (if you're reading this one random review in the depths of the internet), the game has done exceptionally well, with critical acclaim across the board. Now that I've said that, I suppose a review would be pointless... BUT I'll carry on anyway.

As I said, I never played Forza - I hadn't even really heard of it much because I was never big on simulation racers - I said that already too. But when I played the Forza 3 demo, I was almost blown away at the graphics for obvious reasons. The fact that each car was unique in cock-pit view, the lighting, the one track I got a chance to see ... I really didn't think Forza 4 could improve, but it did. Not a whole hell of a lot, but there is a difference. Mainly in that Forza 4 just looks more realistic. I.E., the colors are less saturated. As great as the cars look and the lighting is, the environments leave quite a bit to be desired. Some tracks look spectacular (Bernese Alps), while others look blah (Sebring International, Le Mans). Still, I'm sure if Turn 10 could have, they would have made the environments better, but the 360 can only do so much. I'm just really having to nit-pick here, because the game really just looks fantastic overall.
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Graphics: 4.75/5

Everyone knows that it doesn't matter how great a game looks if it plays like trash ... well, that's not a problem here. You go through 10 seasons in career mode, which will take about 20 (?) hours of driving time to complete. The first season is only a few races, while each season gets progressively longer as you go on. Once you've completed the career, you can do it all over again, or you can skip the career entirely and hit the Event List, where there are hundreds of races for you to compete in. For instance, Charger v. Challenger races, Autocross, Track Days, Top Gear Bowling, and more. To be honest, it's really just addicting, in particular early on. Every time you rank your Driver Level up until level 50, you get a choice between normally 3-5 cars to be gifted to you. This is great because, obviously, if there's a car to choose from that you want, you're getting it for free, and you can spend the Credits you've earned on another car you want. I played this game religiously for the first couple of weeks because I was so keen on leveling up and getting all the cars I could. After level 50 though, you get a credit bonus that goes up every time you rank up. I believe at level 51 for example, you get 105k credits, 52 you get something like 110k, etc. Getting credits is great, but there was something about getting to choose between a group of cars that was just really great.

Me going on about credits and leveling up is reminding me - it's really quite easy to get credits in this game. While in Forza 3 it was (apparently) very difficult to get credits, and players had to grind to get cars they wanted, in this game you really can earn them quickly, which I suppose is better than having them be hard to earn. Still, if you are busy or just incredibly lazy, you can get Car Tokens and purchase the car(s) you want, ranging in prices from the lowly $1 cars to the high-end $3 cars, like your Ferarris and Lamborghinis. But not Porsche - if you haven't heard by now, there aren't any on-disc, unfortunately. Still, there are just so many damn cars in this game, they won't be too sorely missed.
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Gameplay: 4.75/5

Forza 4 is an all-around great experience. Even if you're a one-manufacturer guy - or girl - you'll more than likely want to take many different cars of many different rankings around several tracks just to get a feel for them. Really, every car is unique - if you're finding that the cars drive too similarly or too easily, try driving with all assists off, and you'll notice a difference. In fact, driving with no assists is what makes this game so much fun. Personally, I couldn't imagine playing this game with assists on... flying around the tracks with them all off and getting at "Top 5%" or better on the leader board, to me, is just a really rewarding feeling. Sure, other games can give that sense of accomplishment, but not many senses of accomplishment come following an adrenaline rushing race. While I have gotten a BIT burned out on the game after beating the career mode and reaching level 50 (it goes up to 150 though, and I'm currently only only 64, I think), I still play about an hour a day or so, and it's not any less fun. As said, the only reason I don't play as much, is because I don't have the motivation to keep ranking up to get a car unlock every level. Regardless, it's still of a hell of a lot of fun in bursts, and I'm sure there are many other people out there that will have fun of it in several hour marathons. Forza 4 is simply the best racer on the 360, and there's just no contest there. In fact, it may just be the best racing option on the market. It's not perfect (it could use a few more tracks, and something else I can't quite put my finger on), but for now, this will do. Well, no, it will more than do.

4.75/5

Food Review (Triple Steak Stack from Taco Bell)

2011-11-14T22:09:00.002-05:00

While I patiently await the inevitable re-arrival of the Beefy Crunch Burrito, Taco Bell has thrown out yet ANOTHER thing of the "triple steak" variety... just how good is this thing?

The Triple Steak Stack is a pile of steak thrown on an 8ish-inch flat bread with cheese for the cost of five bucks. Yes. Five. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Simply, I can't justify paying that much for one item at Taco Bell - I'll do it once per item, just to have it once, and that's that. This thing is no exception. While it is definitely a pretty hefty portion of steak, it doesn't seem like a good value for the price. It should be noted that the quality of the steak in this is actually surprisingly decent. It's not chewy, and it tastes REAL. The cheese that's in it is almost pointless, because the amount of steak overwhelms it, so this almost tastes like nothing but a salty mess.

I said almost. While it is pretty damn saltified, it still has a decent flavor, and if you want a steak fix without having to stop at a restaurant or the store to bring it home and make it, you have this option. Granted it's not the best thing in the world, but it's decent.

Anyway, yeah. I wouldn't get it again. $5 for steak on bread, and that's all it really is. If it were a dollar or two cheaper, I'd maybe get it a few more times in the future, but it costs just too much, even if the steak does taste better than the typical Taco Bell stuff.

3.5/5

Game Review (Battlefield 3 - 360)

2011-11-12T00:55:00.003-05:00

Alright, I'm a few weeks late, leave me alone. Better late than never, right? One of the most anticipated games of the year is now available. Does it live up to the hype? Is it the Call of Duty killer?

DICE/EA and Activision had a lot of words exchanged between them in the months leading up to the release of their games, Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3, respectively. Naturally, it intrigued me, and I had high hopes for both games with all the words that were flying back and forth.

Let me just dive right in here - the campaign and co-op in Battlefield 3. Enjoyable, but in no way comparable to Call of Duty. The story is worth playing through, but it's utterly average, at best. As far as difficulty goes, for sake of a comparison, the campaign on the hardest difficulty is harder than Modern Warfare 3's, and about the same length (Roughly 6 hours). For the co-op mode, you get six missions that you can play through with a friend. I must say, these are all surprisingly challenging, even on easy, so consider yourself warned. The missions can all be completed on normal difficulty within about 3 or 4 hours, so it's not lengthy, but it's a worthwhile experience. Still, even with the enjoyable co-op mode, the single-player campaign is just not that great.
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Campaign and co-op score: 3.75/5

And the main focus of Battlefield 3, the multiplayer. Battlefield 3 launches with 9 maps on-disc, with more to come in the months following via DLC. DICE really made a huge deal about this game and its new engine, Frostbite 2, and to be honest, I don't see much of a difference at all in map destruction between this game and Bad Company 2. Hell, I don't hear much of a difference, or notice much better graphics period, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, because Bad Company 2 was already pretty snazzy. The maps in this game are pretty nice, despite there only being nine. The only map I don't particularly care for is Tehran Highway, mostly because of the lag issues there are on it, but I'll talk about that stuff in a bit. The gameplay in this game is just what you would expect from a Battlefield game. It's somewhat slow paced due to the map size, but at the same time action packed and exciting. If you read my Battlefield vs. Call of Duty entry, you'll know that I mentioned that Battlefield is for the more cerebral player, and that rings true in Battlefield 3. You really have to think about what class you want to be, and what you want to do to work your way to your objective. In Call of Duty, seeing as how there are no vehicles, you can really pick almost any combination of things and manage, but in Battlefield, you can't go it alone. You need an Assault guy to heal you up, the Engineer to lay a hurting on enemy vehicles while repairing your own, a Support guy to lay down covering fire and provide ammo, as well as a Recon guy to spot enemies, and throw down a radio beacon for your squad to spawn at. Team work truly is essential for a successful squad, and to get the most out of the game.

With all of that said, there are several problems I have with this game... really, so many that I'll likely forget a few in my list. What comes to mind first is the hit-detection. It is spotty to say the least. Some times you can kill a guy in 5-6 shots, other times it really seems to take 15, even if he's nowhere near a medic kit. This can be fixed with a future update, and it likely will be, but as of now, it's really one of the biggest frustrations I have with this game. Second, a close second, is the lag. Even with the game running at 30fps in a Squad Rush match, the game has its fair share of lag, and it's just a bummer to see. This could also be managed in coming months, but I think it'll be more difficult. My third biggest issue isn't with the game, but with some of the people that play it. I really already said it earlier - if you aren't playing with friends or a communicative squad, you will NOT get the most out of Battlefield 3. Hop into a match alone in a random squad, and you'll more than likely find yourself with some morons that are either camping back and doing nothing, or playing Rush or Conquest like it's Team Deathmatch, rather than contributing to the team. Overall, the online experience in Battlefield 3 as of now is just slightly above average. Solid, but in need of several fixes.
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Multiplayer: 4/5

And that's really that. TL;DR, Battlefield 3 is a game with a lot of potential. It looks pretty good, and for the most part plays well, but the amount of bugs in this game can't help but make me think that EA rushed this game out to beat Modern Warfare 3. In a few months, and with a few pretty drastic updates to fix the games problems, I could give this game about a 4.5, but as it sits now, the game really just feels like a beta to me in several ways, and so I give it a

4/5

Game Review (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - 360)

2011-11-12T00:25:00.003-05:00

The third and final installment - well, final installment as in MW3 will conclude the story started in the original Call of Duty - of Modern Warfare is here. Despite my high rating of the second Modern Warfare, I soon realized I basically reviewed that game out of early hype. Upon more playing, I realized the game was nowhere near as good as I had originally said. A 4.75? Much too generous for a game with so many issues... but that's said and done and a topic for another day. Right now, I'm talking about Modern Warfare 3.

First things first - the campaign. Well without spoiling anything, let me just say that if you're a fan of action, this is probably the best Call of Duty campaign yet. The story is pretty good, but not as incredible as a lot of people are making it out to be. I can tell you that there are some unexpected twists throughout. The number one issue I have with the campaign here is that, well, it's just too damn easy, even on Veteran. Having played Call of Duty 2's, Modern Warfare 1 and 2's, and Black Ops's campaigns, I can say quite easily that this is the easiest. Really, they've gotten easier to complete year after year for the most part. Although the campaign can be completed in roughly 6 hours on Veteran, the story is good enough to keep you interested.
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Campaign score: 4/5

Next up we have the Special Operations (Spec Ops) modes, which unlike Modern Warfare 2, now includes a Survival Mode. The Spec Ops Missions mode is just like it was in MW2 - you and a friend work together to complete tasks. Hey, it was fun in '09, and it's still fun now. But that feature isn't new, so I'll try explaining Survival Mode... think of it as Infinity Ward's version of Zombies. While Zombies isn't a game mode here in Modern Warfare 3, I find Survival Mode to be a more than adequate replacement, since I prefer it. The gist of this game type is that you and a friend cooperatively go through several waves - I believe it goes up to 50 or 60...? I'm not sure, don't quote me on that. - of enemies. But unlike Zombies where you shoot at the slow moving undead, these guys fire back. You can expect to see swarms of infantry including juggernauts, as well as attack helicopters. I really enjoy this mode, and am looking forward to playing it more in the days, weeks, and months to come.
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Spec Ops Mission and Survival Modes: 4.5/5

And, of course, the multiplayer, what many Call of Duty fans would argue is the most important feature. How is it compared to Modern Warfare 2, in a word? Improved. Many people are going on and on about how Call of Duty is selling the same game every year for $60 and whatever else, but the fact is, it sells as well as it does for a reason: The online play is just addicting. While not huge changes have been made to multiplayer, at its core it's still a very enjoyable thing to play. Sure, Kill Confirmed and Team Defender have been added as new game modes, and you can now level up your individual guns to get proficiencies and stuff like that, but that's not what makes this game's multiplayer better than that in Modern Warfare 2; it's simply the fact that the game is more balanced, and just feels better overall. The different killstreak packages (Assault, Support, Specialist) add a new level of strategy that hasn't been seen in Call of Duty before, and it encourages more team work than any previous game in the series. While this is all fine and good, and really does make for a great experience, there's one big thing that could make it better: the maps. Modern Warfare 3 has 16 maps on disc, roughly 12 of which are mediocre or worse. Personally, I only find Arkaden, Hardhat, Resistance, and Village to be particularly "good," and none of them are really instant-classics. Instead, they're really just buried beneath a lot of maps that are just average, or simply bad, like Downturn, Interchange, and Mission. Hopefully there will be DLC in the future that will be better than the lot of maps that are on disc. Honestly, that shouldn't be too difficult of a task. Despite the lack of enjoyable maps to play online, that's the only real thing that's stopping Modern Warfare 3 from being a great FPS.
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Multiplayer: 4.5/5

Infinity Ward has really done a lot right with Modern Warfare 3. While I tried to not to get caught up in the hype, it didn't work. Luckily, unlike with Modern Warfare 2, I wasn't disappointed with the game. Although it's not perfect, this installment really is one of the best Call of Duty games out there. The campaign is action-packed and enjoyable, albeit easy to say the least, the Spec Ops modes are there for two friends that can't find a group of solid players to play online with, and the multiplayer is, in my opinion, vastly improved over Modern Warfare 2. It may not be the best Call of Duty, but it's certainly one worth buying.

4.5/5

Game Review (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Maps)

2011-11-09T01:29:00.005-05:00

No, this is not a review of the game - this is simply a review of the maps that are on-disc for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Personally, I found Black Ops to have the best maps of them all, and apparently, I'm the only one. Why did I like those maps best? I really liked the variety - it seemed to have more than any other in the series. From the several snow maps on-disc and as DLC, to Jungle, to Nuketown, to Stadium, to Hotel, to Drive-In, to Hazard, to Zoo... I thought it was absolutely great. But here's MW3. Infinity Ward's last game was MW2, and I really disliked a pretty large number of the maps in that game. But what about this time around?

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Arkaden: 4/5 Taking place in a German mall, Arkaden is one of the bigger maps in the game, and probably the map I was most looking forward to. After a decent number of matches, I'm just not a huge fan. It's definitely a good map, and decently layed out (you'll read about stuff like that in a bit, I assure you.), but it's not the best map in MW3.

Bakaara: 3.75/5 This map just reminds me of Crash from CoD4 and MW2. (If you don't recall, Crash was remade as DLC in MW2.) The colors, the way some of the buildings are laid out, and hell, there's a chopper crashed in the middle of the map even! Thing is though, this map has got nothing on Crash. It seems like they really tried to make Crash and improve upon it or something, but they just failed. Worst part is, this map isn't really particularly good in any one game mode. Average.

Bootleg: 3.5/5 And this one? A bit of Kowloon... but I think that's really only because it's clearly in a third-world country and it's dark/rainy. I haven't played this map too many times, but I don't think I have to to see that I'm just not a big fan. It's not that the design is that terrible, but it just feels boring and dull. I'm really having trouble trying to remember all the areas of this map... I guess that's just how forgettable it is?

Carbon: 4/5 Mm. Probably being generous on this one... I sort of have a love-hate relationship with Carbon; I really enjoy a few areas of the map, and just completely hate the others. I haven't played this map yet in S&D, but I have a feeling it would be pretty fun on that, so really that's what's making me fetch this a 4.

Dome: 3.5/5 Look everybody, it's the Rust of Modern Warfare 3! Except, I completely hated Rust, and this map I just deal with. It seems to come up fairly often in the playlist, which sucks, but at least it's not Rust, which I refused to play. Dome's the smallest map in the game if you hadn't guessed by now, and there are very few places you can camp. I think for most this is a map you either like or dislike. For me though, I put it right in the middle. I'd like it quite a bit more if it was bigger... That's what she said.

Downturn: 3.5/5 A pretty big map, yet not all that friendly for snipers. I thought the idea of this would be cool, but it just turned out poorly. It's large, so games drag on (especially TDM), and it just looks shabby. Yep... another average-at-best map.

Fallen: 3.75/5 Here we have an "Overgrown" look-alike map. Fallen plays nothing like it, but the colors and buildings and things like that remind me a lot of it. As I've really said with a lot of these MW3 maps, this map is just... average. Don't love it, don't hate it, but I'll play it. For a small map, Fallen really encourages quite a bit of camping, so keep that in mind.

Hardhat: 4.5/5 One of my favorite maps from MW3... it takes place at some construction site, and it's really just a whole hell of a lot of super fast-paced action in gametypes like TDM. For being as small as it is, it somehow manages to fit in a couple decent stretches where you can look down the sites of your assault rifle and pick enemies off. Great layout. Kudos to the map maker.

Interchange: 3.5/5 Think "Ambush" from CoD 4's layout - in a way - blended with the look of "Underpass" from MW2... slightly. Both of those maps to me were average or below average, so this map reminding me of the two isn't really a good thing. The map just seems random and there's no symmetry to it. The fact that the map is pretty much solid grey isn't helping anything either.

Lockdown: 3.5/5 Another one of the very few fairly large maps in the game, meaning one of the few that is sniper-friendly. The layout of this map is decent, but having so many two-story buildings in it just encourages a LOT of camping unfortunately. Not only do the campers drag this map down a bit, but the pretty bland appearance doesn't help it much either. Still, it's a good map for most objective game modes.

Mission: 3.25/5 Favela, Pt. 2 ... that's about the best way to describe this map. Seeing as how it was probably my least favorite map in MW2 after Karachi, you can maybe guess why I gave it such a low rating. You have one area that's higher with a lot of close-quarters combat, then a lower, wide open area that's there for pretty much nothing. Not a fan of the layout, or the way the map looks - worst map on-disc, to me.

Outpost: 4/5 The lone snow map in MW3! I guess after seeing so many on-disc and as DLC in Black Ops, Infinity Ward decided to put just one in here. And really, it's not too bad. Medium sized map with a good share of inside as well as outside firefights. Nothing extraordinary, but better than most of the maps in MW3. If I really have one complaint, it's that this map doesn't come up often enough in playlists.

Resistance: 4.5/5 A great map - another one of my favorites. The aesthetics, the design, and the enjoyment to be had in TDM and objective modes is just fantastic. There's really not much else to say, other than that this could very well be my favorite map in the game.

Seatown: 3.5/5 Yet another average map. Not much can be said here other than the fact that much of the map feels cluttered and close-quarters, and there are a decent number of small rooms with two floors for people to camp in. I'm sorry I sound so redundant, but the maps have just been designed that way for the most part...

Underground: 4.25/5 A medium-large sized map, Underground doesn't disappoint. Along with Arkaden, this is a map I was looking forward to playing... this one is just better. It's nice to have this map - as well as a few others - that don't force you into pretty much nothing but cramped spaces and almost MAKE you use an SMG or shotgun. Also, there's an area of this map that reminds me quite a bit of "District" from Call of Duty 4. Oh, how I miss that game...

Village: 4/5 Here's another one of not enough spacious-ish maps. Village reminds me of both "Bitter Jungle" from SOCOM II and "Jungle" from Black Ops, almost entirely in terms of appearance. From my experience, this is a good bit of fun in Domination, but I could see it being enjoyable in S&D as well.

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How are the maps? As you can see by the scores, overall, not so great. I've found that far too many maps are close-quarters for the most part, with a little area on the other side of the map that's more open. It also seems like with some of these maps they just wanted to throw things up and call it a day, with a fair number of maps seeming "random"... having no rhyme or reason to their design. Sections or all of maps like Bakaara, Interchange, Mission, and Seatown make me feel that way. Unfortunately, I'm really not a big fan of these maps, and I'd say from CoD4 to now, this game may have my least favorite maps. The game is still quite fun, but a few great maps from map packs would certainly spice things up. Overall, I'd give the MW3 disc maps a...

3.5/5

Game Tip (Battlefield 3: Co-Op Weapons)

2011-11-02T23:42:00.002-05:00

This is the quickest way I've found to unlocking these weapons:

Go to the final mission, "The Eleventh Hour" and put it on Easy. Simply run through all the enemies (shoot a few on the way so you don't get knifed) until you get to the part where you're supposed to defuse the bomb. When you get there, press any random button so the bomb explodes and you fail the mission. You will get roughly 4500-5000 score every time you do this, and it takes just under a minute every time. Since the guns unlock once every 60k score or so, it'll take ABOUT 15 minutes to get each gun.

You're welcome. It may seem a bit tedious, but it doesn't take long, and you'll get a bunch of guns and a cool 30 GS for doing this.

Game Review (Battlefield 3 Beta - 360)

2011-09-29T12:19:00.002-05:00

I'm aware this is a beta, so I'm going to REVIEW it as a beta.

Graphics: 3.75/5 There's really nothing at all special about this game graphically - the environments are average. The character models are average. The explosions and smoke are below average. I expect the disc on the 25th to look at least a little bit better than this.

Sound: 4.5/5 A lot of people are flipping out about the sound, and I do agree that it's actually really good - even without a headset or surround sound, this game is much, much better than any Call of Duty.

Fun: 3.25/5 Based on this beta, I'm not sure who'd buy this game. It's so full of glitches, after a single 8 minute match, I experienced two. (Randomly got an ACOG on one of my guns, and one time when I spawned there was a piece of scrap metal on my gun for some reason, blocking my view.) Although it's not the game's fault, I also adore having team mates that don't even attempt to do the objective, and when the defenders run all the way across the map to camp the attackers as they spawn. Sorry, not a big fan of that. DICE and EA promised a lot with Battlefield 3. Fans can only hope that this beta is virtually no representation of the final product - but if it's not, why bother releasing a beta that has so few similarities to the game being released October 25th?

Food Review (California Whopper from Burger King)

2011-09-23T18:18:00.002-05:00

It's been out a few months, but I just decided to give it a try... while the title says Whopper, I went ahead and got the Whopper Jr. because I wasn't sure if I'd like it. Obviously, they both consist of the same stuff.

I wasn't particularly excited for this burger, hence why it took me so long to give it a try, but I finally tried it out. I don't love guacamole, but I thought it might be interested on a Whopper - it intrigued me.

I wish it hadn't.

I can honestly tell you, that when I opened the wrapping for this thing, I thought someone had put dog shit inside. It literally smells like a fresh turd dropped out of a mutt's asshole. After a bit of individual ingredient sniffing, I discovered it was a combination of the tomatoes with the guacamole, with the guacamole being the main culprit. Hey - maybe it doesn't taste like it smells.

I was wrong.

While it's a mild taste, it really almost does taste like poop. Literally. It didn't help that the first bite I had taken was 90% guacamole and 10% burger. Yeah. Have you ever had a mouthful of guacamole? Lucky you. This is one of the worst things I have ever eaten.

But hey, if you scrape the guacamole off, you essentially have a typical Whopper. I completely forgot there was Swiss cheese on it until I looked up what was on the thing. I really don't know who would want this thing more than once - I couldn't even finish it the first time.

2/5

+: It's a Whopper
-: It's a Whopper with shit on it.

Music Review (Neighborhoods by blink-182)

2011-09-17T23:46:00.003-05:00

After nearly 8 years since their last studio album, including a 4 year hiatus, blink-182 is back and they sound considerably different than they used to. I expect many people to like this change, while quite a few will be put off. The album is much 'darker' than any other blink-182 album, and shows the members have matured lyrically. This doesn't take away from the quality of the songs at all, because many of the songs still have the classic, simplistic, catchy 'blink riffs.' Anyway - I'm going to review each song individually.

1.) Ghost on the Dance Floor: 4.5/5 A nice way to start the album - starts with a really nice riff, and a bit of synth (which you'll find many of these songs have) In comes Tom's voice, and it has a veryvery heavy Angels & Airwaves feel, so if you aren't a fan of AvA, I'm not sure you'll be crazy about this song. Fairly simple, but it sounds great.

2.) Natives: 4.5/5 Even though the riff is recycled almost entirely from Angel's and Airwaves' "Young London," it doesn't bother me. Unsurprisingly, Travis's drumming is ace. What really makes this song though is the chorus, which is primarily Mark, while the verses are sung by Tom.

3.) Up All Night: 4.5/5 The long awaited first single. At first, I wasn't a big fan, but it quickly grew up on me as I learned the lyrics, and it got stuck in my head. The chorus is sung by Tom, while the verses alternate between him and Mark. Not a bad first single at all.

4.) After Midnight: 5/5 Fairly simple drumming much of the song with quick triple-hits on the hi-hat starting at the intro through the song just draw you right in immediately. In comes Tom, and you start the 3:26 long After Midnight. I can tell you now this is probably my favorite from Neighborhoods - love it. Oh, and in case you're wondering, both Tom and Mark sing in this one.

5.) Snaker Charmer: 4.25/5 Just a catchy song. Took a few listens to really appreciate... it's quite far from the best on Neighborhoods, but at the same time it's far from the worst.

6.) Hearts All Gone: 4/5 One of the first songs released from the band for Neighborhoods. This one's sung by Mark, and to me, it has a real Millencolin/Offspring feel to it. I don't care for it TOO much, but at the same time it gets stuck in my head more often than any other song on the album. This song also features Travis's quickest drumming.

7.) Wishing Well: 4.5/5 Another Tom song. The "la-da-da"s make this song insanely catchy, as if it wasn't already. You'll probably find the chorus stuck in your head after a few listens. Not mind-blowing musically, but it's a good one regardless.

8.) Kaleidoscope: 4.5/5 It sounds like I've heard this song before... I'm just not sure where. It takes awhile for the song to really get started, but once it does, it's a dandy - nice drumming as usual from Travis, and both Mark and Tom's parts are great. Despite the feel that it's been done before, it's freakishly good.

9.) This Is Home: 4/5 I dig the stutters - but that's about it.. nothing remarkable about this song. Still veryvery listenable, but with the other really good songs earlier on Neighborhoods, it's just sort of THERE.

10.) M.H. 4.18.2011: 4.5/5 Mark's best song on Neighborhoods. He didn't have too many, he never does, but this is very nice. A gem at the bottom of the Neighborhoods set list. This song also has what is probably the best line on the album - "Stop living in the shadow of a helicopter." I have a feeling this song will be quite under-appreciated.. for SHAME.

11.) Love is Dangerous: 3.5/5 Initially I really disliked this song, but after about 5 listens, I've really started to like it. Even though the song title and that line is all sorts of cheesy-lame, it's really a good song after a few listens.

12.) Fighting the Gravity: 3.75/5 Thismakesnosensethismakesnosensethismakesnosensethismakesno - kind of sucks you in a bit with that. Sounds dark, and pulls you in. Fighting the Gravity is the slowest song on this album I'd say, and for that reason, and just the way it sounds and ends, I feel like it should be the last song of Neighborhoods, yet it isn't, unfortunately. I think this song could grow on me.

13.) Even if She Falls: 4/5 Solid. Not a stand-out track by any means, and fits well near the back-end of this album, but it shouldn't be the last song. It should definitely be Fighting the Gravity! This was one of the most underwhelming songs to me initially, but it's quickly moved its way up.

First listen through of this CD, I would have given it about a C+ or B-. Upon more listens, I'd give it a B+, or potentially an A-. I'm pleasantly surprised at Neighborhoods. I was almost scared that after the band's hiatus, they'd come back a bit dull, rusty, or just out-of-sync. Something like that. I was wrong, for the most part. From just about beginning to end, this is a fresh, new, and welcome blink-182 sound, and I'm looking forward to what this brings from the band.

4.5/5

What is the best Call of Duty on the Xbox 360/PS3?

2011-09-09T00:32:00.002-05:00

Six, and soon to be seven, Call of Duties are available on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Which CoD is best? Which is the worst? From CoD2 to Black Ops, here we go. NOTE: These rankings are based solely on online play.

6.) Call of Duty 3: Forgettable at best. It's worth mentioning that CoD3, along with WaW, is one of two CoDs that feature vehicles in online multi-player. That alone isn't my sole reason for giving Duty 3 the 7 spot, it's also because the maps online were almost entirely BLAH. Just not much of Call of Duty 3's online-play is memorable.

5.) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: After Call of Duty 4, I expected big things out of Modern Warfare 2, and I was absolutely, completely, and utterly, disappointed. I'm not sure what it was - maybe the addition of some stupid things like the heartbeat sensor. The not-so-great online maps. Whatever it was, MW2 was nothing but a letdown for me. Just to give you an idea of how huge of a bust it was in my opinion, I got to rank 67 of 70, no prestige, and sold the game towards Black Ops.

4.) Call of Duty: World at War: I'll admit - I didn't exactly play WaW a lot online. And it's also the only CoD I've played where I didn't finish the story. Although I didn't play a lot of the online play, I did enjoy the maps. I didn't care much at all for the tanks online, but WaW was a solid game. It also helps that my K/D in World at War was one of my highest in any Call of Duty.

3.) Call of Duty 2: This game was absolute GOLD when I first got it. It was my first 360 title, and I loved it. So much in fact, that I didn't mind that there weren't online statistics, and for me to say that, shows how much I enjoyed it, because I'm a big stat whore. Small maps for the most part, more tactical gameplay, no perks - the last 'naked' Call of Duty. While the game feels dated by today's standards, at the time of its release, Call of Duty 2 was completely brilliant.

2.) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare: As great Infinity Ward did with Call of Duty 2, they made the game WAY better with CoD4. How? I have no idea. The maps were fantastic, the game was balanced, - for the most part. Juggernaut, Stopping Power. Meh. - and it was just utterly addicting. The only downfall the game really ever had, was that it only got one map pack. Other than that, one of my all-time favorite FPS's.

1.) Call of Duty: Black Ops: I'm not sure how many people would agree with me on this one. Probably not many. But I feel Black Ops is perfect. The best CoD since the original Modern Warfare. Little things like an emblem editer, combat training, and theater mode. The number of solid DLC packs. Black Ops is really, without question, my favorite Call of Duty. I'm not giving many reasons here, but I just feel like Black Ops is CoD perfection. And to think I almost didn't even get this game. Ha! I really don't see Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 3 outdoing this game, but we'll just have to see. Nice job, Treyarch.

Food Review (Cravin' Chicken Sandwich from Arby's)

2011-09-04T20:33:00.002-05:00

A little while ago, I reviewed the chipotle chicken sandwich - now the Cravin' gets its turn. Arbys.com sez:

"Crispy, all white-meat Prime-Cut™ chicken breast fillet topped with crisp lettuce, juicy tomato and a jolt of zingy, zazzy, zaucy, zesty Cravin’ sauce. It’s one sandwich that’s anything but boring!"

Right away I'll just say, I prefer the chipotle chicken sandwich. The Cravin' Chicken Sandwich is your typical chicken sandwich filet with a couple ordinary toppings - lettuce and tomato - with a special sauce that Arby's calls "Zesty cravin' sauce." The Cravin' Sauce is good, but it's not that great. To be honest, it almost tastes like a salad dressing. The 'zing' and tang that it has is what you'd expect from an Italian dressing. That's not to say it's bad, because it's not, it's just sort of odd.

If you go to Arby's and want a chicken sandwich, either get the cordon bleu one, or the chipotle - neither of those will let you down. This sandwich is decent, and that's all.

3.5/5

Food Review (Bacon Ranch and Original Chicken Flatbread from Taco Bell)

2011-09-04T11:30:00.005-05:00

The chicken flatbread has made its return to Taco Bell, alongside a newer one: the bacon ranch chicken flatbread. First time around, I never reviewed the original one, so I'm going to do it now.

Taco Bell sez:

"A warm, soft flatbread layered with 100% marinated all-white-meat chicken, a blend of three melted cheeses — mozzarella, cheddar and pepper jack — and topped with Bacon Ranch sauce." (For the bacon ranch)

The original is the same, but with a different sauce. It should also be noted if you didn't know by now, that these are 99 cents a piece - which is a DECENT value. Considering you can get other things at Taco Bell that'd fill you up better for the same price, there are other options.

The thing about these two sandwiches that's odd to me, is that they both taste very similar. I'd say the bacon ranch tastes a little bit better, but it's really very subtle. And it's not because of lack of sauce, I had plenty on both.

My two flatbreads were also much different in amount of chicken on them. My bacon ranch one was probably 85% bread, while my original flatbread had much more chicken. Was sort of bummed, but not surprised - it's not like they officially have a chicken-to-bread ratio. Though they should.

Overall, two good 99 cent options. I've noticed a lot of people comment on these, and it seems you either love them, or you hate them. For me, that also means you love both flatbreads, or you hate both flatbreads, because as I said a couple paragraphs ago, they taste pretty similar. Think of it as Sprite and Sierra Mist. If you weren't really paying attention or trying to guess which was which, chances are pretty decent that you wouldn't have a definitive answer.

3.75/5 for bacon ranch
3.5/5 for original

+: The value of the sandwiches is determined by who makes it for you, nice to have something on the menu that isn't a burrito or a taco.
-: The value of the sandwiches is determined by who makes it for you. Enough said.

Franchise Battle: Call of Duty vs. Battlefield

2011-08-31T21:36:00.002-05:00

It wasn't much of a battle before this year, but with Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 being released less than a month apart from each other this Fall, it's really started to heat up. But which franchise is better?

If you ask me, it's a short argument. As with most disputes between two things, it's a matter of personal preference. For that reason, it's hard to really say which is better - especially since the two games really do differ quite a bit.

Similarities first, they're obviously both modern war-time FPSs - that's essentially where the similarities end. If you've played both of these games, they play completely differently. Battlefield makes teamwork a necessity, while in Call of Duty, you can hop in a match of Team Deathmatch by yourself, play without a headset, and do quite well. If you aren't in a good, communicative squad on Battlefield, you can bet your ass is going to be had more often than not.

It's not to say Call of Duty doesn't require tactical skill, because it does, but in comparison to Battlefield, it's not even close. Call of Duty's maps are minuscule when sided against Battlefield's, and in most game modes, allow for 12 players tops, while in Battlefield 3, you can have 12 per team. While Call of Duty has more gametypes that require objectives to be completed online, it's more of a challenge, and feels much more rewarding in Battlefield for the most part, for that reason.

It may be stupid of me to say, considering I prefer Call of Duty to Battlefield, but it's just the truth. Battlefield is a much more cerebral game overall than Call of Duty. As you've probably read elsewhere, Call of Duty caters more to the casual player, while hardcore players will tend to maybe prefer Battlefield. It's not to say there's only one way to go - there are plenty of people that play and enjoy both games.

In short, again, it's about personal preference. These two franchises are really quite different, and there just aren't that many similarities between the two. Tend to play alone? Go for Call of Duty. Like communicating and teamwork? Battlefield. Either way you go, you'll more than likely have a good time.

Food Review (Smokin' Chipotle Chicken Sandwich from Arby's)

2011-08-22T12:10:00.002-05:00

Getting this, I'd've actually been shocked if I didn't like it. I've never gotten chicken from Arby's and been displeased. I randomly went to Arby's yesterday and saw this, so I decided to give it a try.

Arby's sez: Kick up your mood a notch with Arby’s® Smokin’ Chipotle Chicken Sandwich. A new crispy all white-meat Prime-Cut™ chicken fillet topped with Chipotle BBQ sauce, pepper bacon, cheddar cheese and diced jalapenos on a toasted bun with lettuce and tomato. It’s spicy good!

Sound good? Good. Because it is good. If you've ever had Arby's chicken, you really don't need me or anyone else to tell you it's some damn fine fast food eating. I find myself almost routinely, when I got Arby's, getting the chicken cordon bleu sandwich. Anyway, this sandwich was really good and surprisingly spicy. Not because of the chipotle sauce, but because of the jalapenos, which came as a pleasant surprise to me, as I didn't know they were in the sandwich. My sandwich was almost picture perfect, with one exception - the cheese wasn't melted. Still, that didn't take anything away from its appeal.

If I were to have one criticism - I guess it'll end up being two, although the second one doesn't apply to me - it would be that the bacon is almost unnecessary. I know everyone believes, "bacon makes everything better," but the truth is it doesn't add much to this sandwich outside of sodium. You can taste it a little bit, but it's almost a waste. The sandwich has enough flavor without it. The second criticism, although I actually enjoyed it, is that the jalapenos may burn people's mouth to the point they can't finish the sandwich. But hey, you saw the picture on the menu, what'd you expect? I have a pretty high tolerance for heat, and my nose was started to run a bit, and my mouth had a nice burn. This is the spiciest thing I've ever had from Arby's, and may be the hottest thing I've had at any fast food restaurant period. Thumbs up!

4.25/5

+: Delicioso.
-: Bacon's not really needed; some may be over-whelemed by the heat, although I find it to be perfectly spicy.

Game Review (Pinball FX 2 Review - 360)

2011-08-11T10:10:00.002-05:00

After going to Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills, Michigan, I pretty suddenly got a quick erection for pinball. Instead of trying to save up about $5,000 for one pinball machine, I found this game on the Xbox LIVE Arcade. Pinball FX 2 is a game that has no tables with it. To get them, you need to purchase them. In the description it says it comes with one free table, but I never got it for some reason. Anyways, there are a good bunch of different tables to download, including Marvel Comic tables.

Graphics: 4.25/5 Pinball FX 2 looks actually very good. The ball is nice and shiny, and the tables, for the most part - it varies, look great with a lot of flashy lights. Another big plus here is that there is absolutely no drop in frame rate during online play. Huzzah.

Sound: 3/5 Meh. The main reason why I give this a 3 is because of the pretty horrendous voice acting coming from the tables. There's nothing wrong with the sound of the ball hitting the bumpers or anything, but the voice acting is pretty atrocious. Luckily, that alone is the one bad thing about this game.

Fun: 4/5 It is what it is. If you want to play a pinball game, XBLA has you covered. It's an entertaining game, with good graphics, and a pretty decent variety of tables. As fun as this game is, it only is in bursts. It's pretty hard to want to play this game for very long, as it just isn't addicting. Then again, that's likely a matter of opinion. Still, Pinball FX 2 is a game worth playing if you have any remote interest in pinball.

+: Pinball, nice graphics and table variety, a helluva lot cheaper than buying a real pinball machine.
-: You can't buy individual tables from packs, gets a bit old after a little while, terrible voice acting.

4/5

Food Review (BBQ Pulled Pork Sub from Subway)

2011-08-10T17:46:00.002-05:00

The commercial showing the black dude eating one of these subs at a fire station. Before long, it's gone. In my head I was just saying, "Yeah. He probably threw it out. Subway? BBQ? Hahaha."

I highly doubt he did - this sub should be a mainstay on the Subway menu. The pork is surprisingly good and flavorful. While the BBQ sauce isn't anything eyepopping, it tastes alright - it should be known it's quite sweet. One thing that surprised me a bit is that it's cold. I guess that's my fault for not getting it toasted. Instead, I popped it in the microwave. It just didn't seem right to eat this with the meat being cold. Anyway - that's about it. I may have found a new favorite from the Subway menu.

4.25/5

+: Pretty freaking tasty.
-: Just seems weird to eat cold, this and every other sub should always be $5 for a footlong, BBQ sauce is average.

Rock Band DLC Review Part XVII (March 2009)

2011-07-20T23:21:00.002-05:00

February had a few crappy tracks, but had plenty of stuff worthy of a download. On to March:

"New" No Doubt
"Texas Flood" album by Stevie Ray Vaughn and the Double Trouble
"All I Want" and "The Kids Aren't Alright" Offspring
"Losing My Religion" REM
"The Way that it Shows" Richard Thompson
Get The Funk Out 01 [3 pack, including "Sex Machine" and "Pick Up the Pieces")
"Thrash Unreal" Against Me!
"All the Things that Go to Make Heaven and Earth" and "Use It" The New Pornographers
"Last Resort" and "Lifeline" Papa Roach
"Ten" album by Pearl Jam
"Don't Stop Believing" Journey
"Heartbreaker" Pat Benetar
"Geraldine" Glasvegas
"C'mon, C'mon" The Von Bondies
SpongeBob Squarepants 01 [3 pack, including "The Best Day Ever"]

This was a huge month in quality and quantity, including two albums from entirely different genres - "Texas Flood" and "Ten." There are a bunch of must downloads from this month, and very few tracks I wouldn't recommend - The New Pornographers, "Geraldine," and the SpongeBob pack I'd say pass on. Also? "Last Resort." As I'm sure you all probably or should know, it's not the 'real' version we're all familiar with. Instead, it's a demo version, and sounds pretty shitty. As I said - an incredible month.

Ftw of the month: The Offspring, "Thrash Unreal", "Lifeline", Ten, "Don't Stop Believing"
Gtfo of the month: "Geraldine", SpongeBob SquarePants 01
Avg of the month: 4.5/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part XVI (February 2009)

2011-07-20T15:23:00.002-05:00

Last month proved to be extremely average... but February is a new month.

Thin Lizzy 01 [3 pack, including "The Boys Are Back in Town (Live)"]
"Precious" The Pretenders
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot" Pat Benetar
"Break My Heart" and "Don't Tell Me" Nikko
The Fratellis 01 [3 pack, including "Flathead"]
"More Human than Human" and "Black Sunshine" White Zombie
"Wasted Again" Turbo Negro
Alt-Country 01 [5 pack, including "3 Dimes Down" and "Can't Let Go"]
Jimmy Eat World 01 [3 pack, including "Sweetness"]

Thin Lizzy? Yes please. "HMWYBS?" I'll take it. Fratelli's and Jimmy Eat World? Consider it downloaded. A lot of blah stuff can't get in the way of that. "Precious"? Bleh. The Alt-Country pack? No thank you. For the amount of good stuff this month though, it's a winner.

Ftw of the month: Thin Lizzy, Fratellis, Jimmy Eat World.
Gtfo of the month: Alt-Country 01
Avg of the month: 4/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part XV (January 2009)

2011-07-19T12:19:00.003-05:00

It's a new year! I know, it took me forever to get from December '08 to January '09, but here it is. Let's see if Harmonix celebrated 2009 in a big way.

Roy Orbison 01 ["Pretty Woman", "You Got It", 4 others.]
Lenny Kravitz 01 [4 pack, including "Are You Gonna Go My Way"]
"Megasus" Megasus
"Entangled" Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives
Steve Miller Band 01 [3 pack, including "The Joker"]
"I Stand Alone" Godsmack
"Feed the Tree" Belly
"Wind Me Up" Ghost Hounds
"Typical" Mute Math
"War Zone" Rob Zombie
Grateful Dead 02 [6 pack, including "Fire on the Mountain" and "Uncle John's Band"]

A big fat ass 'MEH' from me. Two of Orbison's most popular songs being released was nice - and "Are you Gonna Go My Way" was as well. "Megasus" was a pretty pleasant surprised, especially being that it was only a dollar. The Steve Miller Band pack could have been better, but I still enjoyed it. "Typical" is a song many may overlook seeing as how they likely haven't heard it, but I'd highly recommend it. For the final week, Grateful Dead 02. I'm not a huge fan of the band, but the first pack was actually pretty fun. This pack? Not so much - I didn't particularly like how the songs sounded, and just wasn't thrilled.

Ftw of the month: "Megasus", "Are You Gonna Go My Way", "Typical"
Gtfo of the month: The rest of Lenny Kravitz 01, "Feed the Tree", Grateful Dead 02
Avg of the month: 3.5/5

Arcade Review (Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum)

2011-07-18T23:09:00.003-05:00

Arcade review - how often will I review an arcade? That's right, this time. And this time only.

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Also known as Marvin's, Marvin's 3M, or simply 3M) is an arcade/museum that's located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Chances are, you already knew that and were just probably looking for a review of some sort. Were you? Yeah you were - you've come to the right place.

Maybe... I suck at writing reviews. But I'll give it my best shot!

I went to Marvin's about a month ago, and I can tell you before saying anything else, I plan on going back quite soon. Unfortunately for me, I live over an hour's drive away, so it's not exactly practical for me to stop by very often, but this place is fantastic. Basically as soon as you walk in, it's like stepping into a carnival, that at the same time is an arcade with probably hundreds of different games to play. While there are a lot of games and such in the museum, there is still - surprisingly - plenty of room to get around. Near the front door, there's a wall of pinball machines from different decades, including several different themes from movies (Iron Man) to TV shows (The Simpsons), as well as a couple DDR machines - yes, two.

As you walk a bit more into the arcade - er, museum - you'll find more and more games to play, from old-school to current, from Galaga to shooters and racers. And not just games, there are also several pretty interesting things besides just them, my favorite being a large made-just-for-Marvin's jukebox, which contains several instruments, and a library of hundreds of songs to choose from. It's super unique, and anybody will easily find a handful of songs they'd recognize. Where this machine is located, there are also a few tables and an area where you can get food, candy, or drinks. Since this place has a carnival theme, that's just the kind of food you'll find here. There's popcorn, cotton candy, hot dogs, ice cream, and things like that.

On the far side of the museum you'll find what I'd say is the kiddy area, where the ticket arcade games are found. And being as there are tickets, there is also a ticket counter where you can, you know... redeem tickets for stuff. To me, the coolest thing that's back there is this little hockey foos-ball table. I had played with one YEARS ago somewhere else, and was pleased to be able to play it again.

All-in-all, 3M is just a must-visit if you're into entertainment whatsoever. And I'm going to guess, since you're HUMAN, you'd NOT regret going here. To top if all off, this place doesn't get very busy - perhaps because it's somewhat tucked away in the shopping center where it's located. Whatever the reason is, it's great. You don't have to wait in line to play anything, and there's always something to do. Marvin's has a great atmosphere, and for just about $10, you can entertain yourself AND your kids - if you have them - for a couple hours, which is pretty much obscenely cheap this day and age. So think to yourself, would you rather sit and see a movie, or visit a year round fun house? The choice is yours, but I know what I pick.

5/5

Game Review (Need for Speed Hot Pursuit - 360)

2011-07-10T23:41:00.004-05:00

Graphics: 5/5 Without a doubt the best graphics I've seen in a racing game, and one of the best games I've seen period. Not only are the cars ridiculously realistic, but the attention to detail from crashes, the weather effects, and the landscapes, are all really nice - not to mention the frame rate's pretty perfect as well. The one slight downfall, although it's understandable, is that the load times take a tiny bit of time... but that's a minor annoyance, and with the way this game looks, it's worth the wait.

Sound: 4.5/5 The cars, the police radio chatter, and all of the sounds you hear when racing are all well above average, but I don't find the soundtrack to be too great. There are a few pretty decent songs, and there is also a lot of variety - from rap to rock - but I haven't found anything mind blowing.

Control: 4.5/5 If you've played Burnout, this is essentially that. All you really need to know is how to steer, gas, brake/drift, and use boost. That is it... extremely simple first glance, but the drifting will take awhile to master. Speaking of the drifting, I've found that seemingly every car controls identically or similarly... it's like every car is just slapped with a new face with a different top speed. Other than that, quite alike.

Fun: 4.75/5 If you're a fan of the Burnout series, as well the previous Hot Pursuit games, there's no reason to not at least try this game out. While this game is almost perfect - there are a couple minor flaws. Firstly, there is no in-car view in this game. While this isn't particularly surprising, it's disappointing nonetheless. Secondly, you're required to pay $10 to play this game if you don't have a 'pass' that comes with a new copy of the game. And lastly, there is NO SPLITSCREEN multiplayer. While this may not be a huge problem for most, it is to me, seeing as how the only time I do play splitscreen in a game, is with a racing game. Anyways, you can play as the racers or the chasers in Hot Pursuit, and there are different ways to get in the lead, including spike strips, and the use of helicopters. If you can only have one racing game on the 360, make it Need for Speed Hot Pursuit - not only does Hot Pursuit look great on the surface, it also has the goods under the hood.

4.75/5

+: Fantastic graphics; good variety in tracks, as well as solid variety in events; entertaining online play.
-: If you don't buy the game new, you have to pay $10 to play online; many of the cars seem to control similarly; No in-car view; No splitscreen; As fun as the online play is, when it lags, it lags terribly.

Food Review (Bacon Cheddar Ranch Tendercrisp from Burger King)

2011-07-03T14:59:00.002-05:00

Well, any time I see something new at a fast food restaurant, I tend to try it at least once. How's the BCRT from BK?

First things first, it should be know that this big boy has 900 calories, 2100mg of sodium, and a gram of trans fat. Seeing as how it's fast food that shouldn't be too shocking, but fast food should at least taste GOOD for that kind of intestinal beating, and this sandwich simply doesn't cut it.

The BCRT is almost, dare I say, disgusting. The ranch smells and tastes like it's old and been sitting out for a long while... it's actually, very, foul. I actually wonder if they taste-tested this thing before putting it on the menu.

I got some of the ranch on my finger, and I can still smell it. I'm not the biggest ranch fan, but I don't know WHO would find this tasty. Hell, maybe I DID get some old-and-been-sitting-out ranch - I hope, because I find it hard to believe Burger King would sell this.

2/5

+: It's edible!
-: But barely. Not good, and way too salty.

Game Review (Call of Duty Black Ops Annihilation Map Pack)

2011-06-29T00:38:00.004-05:00

After quite a break between "First Strike" and "Escalation," the one between "Escalation" and "Annihilation" was much shorter. In what felt like no-time, a third Black Ops map pack was released. How does it compare to the first two?

Drive-In: 4/5 This map has a feel, to me, quite similar to that of "Trailer Park" from Modern Warfare 2, and somewhat like "Firing Range" from Black Ops as well. Treyarch says they added this map due to the popularity of "Nuketown," but I don't really see any resemblance. "Nuketown" is a super-tiny map, and "Drive-In" seems to be at least twice that map's size. Anyway, "Drive-In" is the smallest map from the pack, and it's really a good bit of fun. As the name states, it takes place at a drive-in movie theater, with a whole bunch of different areas to go into including food stands, and an arcade. Above average map, but nothing that'll make you jizz yourself.

Hangar 18: 4.5/5 I can just tell you right now, this is the best map of the pack. It's not so much that Hangar 18 is super unique, but it's laid out very nicely, and there are just some nice areas in and around the map. Another nice thing about "Hangar 18" is that it'll cater to pretty much anyone's play-style - there are a few areas to snipe, there are some medium range areas for those who use assault rifles like myself, and there's also the hangar itself, which is close-quarters for those who use SMGs and shotguns. "Hangar 18" is, to me, is a good example that mapmakers don't need to try too hard to create a winner.

Hazard: 4/5 Treyarch states that this map was inspired by "Cliffside" from World at War, although the maps are really unlike each other, aside from the fact that they have a cliff. "Hazard" takes place on a golf course in Cuba. This is most definitely a map for snipers - it's a large, mostly open map, with several areas that are just screaming for snipers to sit near them. "Hazard" is a pretty solid map, but its absolute biggest downfall is the fact that the majority of the center of the map is pointless if you want to actually survive. To get around the map effectively, you'll have to run almost in a giant circle, unless you want to risk getting killed running through the golf course.

Shangri La: 4/5 I'm not a huge Zombies buff, as I've stated before, and I tend to only really play Zombies on each map a couple times until I get the achievements, but Shangri La is actually a pretty cool map. The spike traps, quick sand, and things like that are quite the nuisance, but Shangri La's a fairly good Zombies map - I don't think fans of the gametype will be all-too disappointed with this.

Silo: 3.5/5 In the video preview, "Silo" looked and was said to be the biggest map in the game. Uh, no. While it's a pretty large map, "Silo" is probably about the size of the on-disc maps "Array" or "Crisis." Immediately in the screenshot showing the map before the game started, I thought this looked like Black Ops's version of Modern Warfare 2's "Quarry" ... a fairly large map with different levels to walk up, as well as its share of buildings. "Silo" isn't a MISERABLE map, but it's definitely the weakest of the four. It's also not helped by it's pretty bland, grey appearance, and the fact that you'll find yourself almost exclusively in and around area D3 on the mini-map. Essentially, that's where you'll find both teams - in Team Deathmatch - trying to camp.

---

Annihilation is a pretty decent map pack. "Shangri La" is much different than any other Zombies map in terms of looks, and is also quite challenging as there isn't really one great spot to camp - "Hangar 18" is far and away the best map here, but both "Drive-In" and "Hazard" are also worth playing. While "Silo" is a blah map at best, it's hard to expect every map in a pack to be very good or better. For $15, you're getting 4 maps that offer great variety: golf course, a drive-in movie theater, an aircraft hangar, and a Russian silo place dealie - varying in sizes as well. The multiplayer maps in Annihilation aren't the greatest of the current three choices available for Black Ops, but I'd still recommend downloading them.

4/5

Food Review (XXL Steak Burrito from Taco Bell)

2011-06-16T18:48:00.002-05:00

Let me just say first of all, you can get beef, steak, or chicken in this burrito - I'm not positive, but I believe steak's the most expensive, at $4.99.

The Taco Bell website says this, "The New XXL Grilled Stuft Burrito is our biggest burrito yet, STUFT full of grilled, marinated steak, a blend of three cheeses - cheddar, pepper jack and mozzarella - flavorful seasoned rice, hearty beans, reduced-fat sour cream, chunky guacamole, avocado ranch and fiesta salsa, wrapped up in a warm flour tortilla."

As I said, you don't have to get steak - I have also gotten beef, and to be honest, I think I preferred the beef. Anyways...

How's it taste? Good. There's nothing in this burrito they didn't already have at Taco Bell, but it's "Everything but the kitchen sink." To be quite honest, I really dislike the avocado ranch sauce - at least I think that's what i was tasting. Maybe it was the guacamole. Either way, there's something in there I don't particularly care for - it's one of those two things.

How big is it? (That's what she said. Er. Asked.) I think according to the website and doing a little conversion, it weighs about a pound, although it varies. I've had two of these, and the beef burrito I got felt like it weighed considerably less than the steak one I got. Then again, that can also depend on the person making it.

Is it worth it? As with the Double/Quad steak burritos, I can't recommend something from Taco Bell this expensive. It's just not worth it. Why would you spend about five bucks on one burrito, when you can get five different one dollar burritos? Sure, I'd say try this at least once, as it does taste quite good, but because of the price, I can't recommend this too much.

3.75/5

+ Tastes good, and is a good size.
- Expensive as a Thai hooker. Eh. Maybe a little more expensive.

Rock Band DLC Review Part XIV (December 2008)

2011-06-10T19:19:00.002-05:00

It's the last month of 2008 - will Harmonix end 2008 with a bang..?

"Are You Dead Yet?" Children of Bodom
"Tutto E' Possibile" Finley
"Hay Poco Rock 'n Roll" Platero y Tu
"Tempted" Squeeze
"Ready, Set, Go!" Tokio Hotel
"Real World" All-American Rejects
"Headphones On" Miranda Cosgrove
"Body I Occupy" Naked Brothers Band
"I Don't Want to Go to School" Naked Brothers Band
The Singles 1992-2003 Album by No Doubt
Going Country 01 (Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, etc.)
Rockin' the Holidays 2008 (Barenaked Ladies, Billy Squier, The Pretenders)
Foo Fighters 01
"Space Truckin'" Deep Purple
"Funk #49" James Gang
"Hymn 43" Jethro Tull
"Take Back the City" Snow Patrol

Eh... nope. Sum-41 and AC/DC made their Rock Band debuts this month though! Ohp, nope. Finley and Platero y Tu respectively sound like those bands in ways. You know, minus the English language. "Squeeze" is a simple, but great song most people have probably heard. "Real World" is a poor AAR song choice, and the Nickelodeon tracks can be done without, even if the Cosgrove one is free and the other two are a dollar. The No Doubt Greatest Hits album has a decent number of songs I would suggest others to download, and is a welcome addition to the Rock Band catalog. Country finally gets its own pack in Rock Band with Going Country 01, and I can tell you "Free and Easy" is well worth downloading, country fan or not. Rockin' the Holidays 2008 pack disturbs me. We got Barenaked Ladies and Billy Squier, but HOLIDAY songs - for shame. Barenaked ladies could and should have a pack, as should Billy Squier, yet these were their first songs in Rock Band, and we've gotten nothing since. The song choices for Foo Fighters 01 I didn't really care for, but there are a few singles from the final week of the month, "Hymn 43" and especially "Funk #49", that should be purchased. There are a few good songs this month, but there's a hell of a lot more of a disappointment than anything else.

Ftw of the month: "Tutto E' Possibile" is way too overlooked and actually a good song, to me at least, "Tempted", a good portion of No Doubt's Greatest Hits, "Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)", "Funk #49"
Gtfo of the month: The Nickelodeon tracks, Rockin' the Holidays 2008
Avg of the month: 3.25/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part XIII (November 2008)

2011-06-10T19:03:00.002-05:00

October was pretty average... there was good, there was bad. November's got a pretty huge list of songs, but are the songs any fun to play?

The Presidents of the United States of America 01
"Use Me" Hinder
"I Don't Care" Fall Out Boy
Rock Band 2 20-Pack (The Cab, Underoath, Endeverafter, X Japan, Shaimus, Between the Buried and Me, etc.)
The Colour and Shape Album by Foo Fighters
Dead Kennedys 01
Mission of Burma 01
Century Media Girls of Metal 01 (In This Moment, Lacuna Coil)
"Gone" Crooked X
The Killers 01
Yngwie Malmsteen 01
"Jesus Christ Pose" Soundgarden
"Pretty Noose" Soundgarden
"Laid to Rest" Lamb of God

Man. That's a huge month in terms of number of bands and tracks - but just how much fun are these songs? Well, skip right down to the 20-Pack that was free for those that purchased Rock Band 2 - a lot of the songs, to me, were not good at all, but there were a few gems in there. "I Wanna be Your Man" and "Like a Fool" are probably the best two of the entire pack. They both sound great, and are a lot of fun to play as well. For The Colour and Shape, I'll just say I'm "meh" on Foo Fighters. They have some good tracks, but I'm not a guy that enjoys their entire discography. For me, "Monkey Wrench" and "My Hero" were enough for me, and I passed on the rest. Mission of Burma 01 has terrible reviews, and rightfully so. That week and the next, with the exception of The Killers 01, we got heavy/hard stuff. Yngwie Malmsteen isn't especially heavy or hard, unless you're talking about difficulty - "Caprici Di Diablo" is a hammer-on fest that'll give your fret fingers a work out. November is a pretty typical Rock Band month - some good, some bad. This month's a good example of quality > quantity.

Ftw of the month: "I Wanna be Your Man", "Like a Fool", "Monkey Wrench" and "My Hero" from The Colour and Shape, mostly because of the drums, The Killers 01, "Caprici Di Diablo" is you want to see just how fast your fingers can move.
Gtfo of the month: "Use Me", "I Don't Care", A LOT of the 20-Pack songs, Mission of Burma 01
Avg of the month: 3.5/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part XII (October 2008)

2011-06-09T22:39:00.003-05:00

September made up for August in a big way with three albums from three WAY different genres, and a pretty great selection of singles. October, make it two good months straight!

"All Right Now" Free
"Stop!" Against Me!
"Bad to the Bone" George Thorogood & the Destroyers
"Cream and Bastards Rise" Harvey Danger
"Nearly Lost You" Screaming Trees
"Push It" Static-X
The Offspring 01
Dr. Feelgood Album by Motley Crue
Nirvana 01
Siouxie and the Banshees 01
"Dammit" blink-182
"Well Thought Out Twinkles" Silversun Pickups
"Melatonin" Silversun Pickups
"Pretty in Pink" The Psychadelic Furs

For the most part, this month is disappointing to me. There are some pretty big names, but poor song choices. For instance, Harvey Danger's best known for "Flagpole Sitta", yet we got a song by them that pretty much no one has ever heard of. I consider myself a fareweather Static-X fan, and we got "Push It." Nirvana 01 is a BLAND pack almost all the way through with the exception of a few tracks, the SSPU tracks are just 'meh,' and Siouxie and the Banshees 01 is a turd - as is "Pretty in Pink" for that matter. The Offspring pack was pretty decent, Dr. Feelgood has some stellar songs on guitar, and "Dammit" is a quick song on drums that requires some serious stamina. There are some songs that should be bought this month, but it's average overall.

Ftw of the month: "Stop!", The Offspring 01, some tracks from Dr. Feelgood, a few keepers in Nirvana 01, "Dammit"
Gtfo of the month: "Cream and Bastards Rise", Siouxie and the Banshees 01, "Pretty in Pink"
Avg of the month: 3.5/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part XI (September 2008)

2011-06-09T22:20:00.004-05:00

After two great months, August came, and Harmonix shat on our faces. Well, September's a new month, and Rock Band 2's release is on the horizon.

The PAX 2008 Collection (Coulton, MC Frontalot, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets)
All That Remains 01
"Charlene" Stephen and the Colberts
Rock Band Live 2008 Tour 01 (The Cab, Dashboard Confessional, Panic at the Disco, Plain White T's)
Peace Sells But Who's Buying? Album by Megadeth
Moving Pictures by Rush
"Sorrow" Bad Religion
"She Sells Sanctuary" The Cult
"Bandages" Hot Hot Heat
"Shoot the Runner" Kasabian
"You're No Rock-and-Roll Fun" Sleater-Kinney
"Love Spreads" The Stone Roses
Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Well. That's a big month, to say the least - I suppose in celebration of Rock Band 2's release. THREE albums in one month, including one in back-to-back weeks. I'll start at the top - PAX 2008? Pass. Easy pass. All That Remains, I'm just not a fan of. "Charlene" seemed like a joke. Some of the songs in the Rock Band Live 2008 pack are worth checking out... Peace Sells is, in my opinion, extremely overrated. I'm not a HUGE Megadeth fan - I like some of their stuff - but I don't care for that album. Rush, same-ish story, but Moving Pictures was well worth the purchase. Then, we have all the singles that were released with Moving Pictures. "Sorrow" is WELL worth downloading in my opinion, as is "She Sells Sanctuary" for nostalgia purposes, and "Love Spreads" by The Stone Roses due to its radicalness - yes, radicalness - on just about all instruments. As if that wasn't enough, BSSM by RHCP was released for the final week of the month. In my eyes, easily the best of the three albums for the month. September is WAY better than August - not even on the same level. There are some duds this month, but that's pretty much unavoidable. Despite those few songs, the amount of worthwhile songs drastically overrides the turd tracks. A solid month, to say the least!

Ftw of the month: Most of Moving Pictures, "Sorrow", "Love Spreads", a selection of songs from Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Gtfo of the month: PAX 2008 Collection, "Charlene", Peace Sells, But Who's Buying?, "You're No Rock-and-Roll Fun"
Avg of the month: 4.25/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part X (August 2008)

2011-06-08T23:53:00.003-05:00

After two above average months of DLC, would we be lucky enough to get three straight months of DLC to make us go :O--? Let's find out... NOW!

"Toxicity" System of a Down
"B.Y.O.B." System of a Down
Cruefest 02 (Motley Crue, Buckcherry, Sixx:AM)
Roadrunner Records 01 (Dream Theater, Megadeth, Killswitch Engage, etc.)
"Girl U Want" Devo
"Through Being Cool" Devo
"Rio" Duran Duran
"Girls on Film" Duran Duran
"Get Your Rock On" The Janitors
Locksley 01

Nope! The streak couldn't last. Although I find SoaD to be an okay band, I just didn't find the two songs particularly fun to play in Rock Band. Challenging for sure, but not very enjoyable. "Life is Beautiful" by Sixx:AM in Cruefest 02 is a keeper track, and "Sleepwalker" and "Constant Motion" from Roadrunner 01 are as well. It should be noted that Airbourne's "Runnin' Wild" was in the pack, but has since been removed from the pack, and Music Store for whatever reason. The two Devo songs are passable, and the Duran Duran songs aren't anything to really jump up and down for. "Get Your Rock On" is a song for 11-year-old girls, and Locksley I'm just not that big of a fan of. There are a few songs this month that I'd recommend getting, but most of it can be passed up without much thought.

Ftw of the month: "Life is Beautiful", "Sleepwalker", "Constant Motion"
Gtfo of the month: "Get Your Rock On", the Devo songs.
Avg of the month: 3.25/5

Food Review (Frozen Strawberry Lemonade from McDonalds)

2011-06-07T22:46:00.002-05:00

These have been out for awhile now and I finally got around to having one. I saw a bunch of reviews claiming "It's just average." but I was craving one regardless. I must say, the reviews saying that? Are right. To be honest, I was put off by how tart the lemon was - it was okay at first, but then it just seemed artificially tart, and almost bitter. Also, to get the strawberry and lemon in one sip, you need to stir the thing around yourself, as the strawberry stuff will just sit at the bottom if you don't. The drink is a reasonable price, and tastes pretty good at first, but it's hard to even finish a 16oz one of these, due to its intense tartness and somewhat bitter aftertaste.

+: Not a terrible price, tastes good at first.
-: Way more lemon than strawberry, need to mix manually, becomes somewhat difficult to finish drinking about halfway through the 16oz.

3.5/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part IX (July 2008)

2011-06-07T22:35:00.004-05:00

June 2008 was the best month of DLC to date - to me - but could July surpass that? Yes? No? ...Possibly maybe?

Cruefest 01 [Motley Crue, Papa Roach, Trapt]
"Promised Land" Vesuvius
"Snow ((Hey Oh))" Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Tell Me Baby" Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Closer to the Heart" Rush
"Working Man (Vault Edition)" Rush
The Best of 'The Who' 12-Pack
Nine Inch Nails 02
"Devour" Shinedown
"Junkies for Fame" Shinedown
"They Say" Scars on Broadway
"This is It" Staind
"Electric Crown" Testament
"Yomp" Thenewno2

Ironically, the worst song from Cruefest 01 is Motley Crue's track. It's a shame we didn't get "Headstrong" from Trapt, but "Who's Going Home With You Tonight?" turned out to be a lot of fun. "Promised Land" is a super solid free track. Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rush MASTERS in the same week? Sound good to me. An epic twelve pack from The Who? Really now? First half of the month was ridiculously good. Nine Inch Nails 02? Eh. Shinedown's alright, but nothing compared to what the first half of July brought. The last four singles of the month - underwhelming to say the least. "They Say"? Lame. "This is It"? Wtf... why? Lame. "Yomp"? Lol... enough said right there. "Electric Crown" is a bit of a hidden gem, but other than that, after The Who on July 15th, the month was meh.

Ftw of the month: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rush, majority of The Who 12-pack
Gtfo of the month: "They Say", "This Is It", "Yomp"
Avg of the month: 4.5/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part VIII (June 2008)

2011-06-07T22:15:00.003-05:00

All of the months with the exception of March have been average or worse. Is June the first BREAKTHROUGH month?

Disturbed 01
Jimmy Buffett 01
MTV2 01 [The Material, The Myriad, Them Terribles]
"Girls Who Play Guitar" Maximo Park
"Critical Acclaim" Avenged Sevenfold
"Afterlife" Avenged Sevenfold
"Hammerhead" The Offspring
"Rock 'n Roll Dream" Crooked-X
Doolittle by Pixies
Weezer 01

New Disturbed? Eh. Decent fun, but where's the old!? (It was soon to come.) Jimmy Buffett? I'll take it. MTV2 pack? What the shit? What bands are THOSE? Turns out I really enjoyed all three, especially since the pack was a measly 240 MSP. "Girls Who Play Guitar"? Another song I loved listening to and had fun playing. Avenged Sevenfold I don't really care for, but both songs this month are fun, and "Afterlife"s guitar solo is killer. "Hammerhead" is a newer Offspring song, but one of the better ones. "Rock 'n Roll Dream" is easily worth $1, and Weezer? Even if it's from Red Album? Take my money. The thing from this month that I didn't care for was Doolittle. I'm not a huge fan of the band by any means, so I come in without bias - the songs SOUND decent - some of them - but virtually the entire album is TERRIBLY boring to play. June 2008? A good month? Damn right.

Ftw of the month: A7X songs, Weezer 01
Gtfo of the month: Doolittle, Disturbed 01 (Only because they're new songs!)
Avg of the month: 4.25/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part VII (May 2008)

2011-06-07T20:45:00.002-05:00

April outside of Screaming for Vengeance was a drag... please, May. PLEASE be better to me.

Scene 01 [Fall Out Boy, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Angels & Airwaves]
"Hanging on the Telephone" Blondie
"Train in Vain" The Clash
"Kool Thing" Sonic Youth
European Singles [Muse, Tokio Hotel, Oasis, Die Toten Hosen, and others.]
The Cars self-titled Album

A lot of songs this month, for sure. Angels & Airwaves made me pretty happy when I saw they were having a song, but was bummed when saw it was "It Hurts", one of their weakest songs in my opinion. I'm bummed to this day that we've still yet to get even one more song from them. I really dislike the song "Kool Thing" itself, but it's a fun workout on drums. The European songs are hit and miss, with Beetlebum's "Blur" being the final cover in the Rock Band catalog. Muse also made their debut in the game, with what's currently their only song in Rock Band, "Hysteria." The second album was also released for Rock Band, and it turned out to be The Cars, a pretty solid album, but only about half of the songs are worth playing over again many times on any instrument.

Ftw of the month: "Countdown to Insanity" (Love that riff), "Hysteria", "Rock 'n' Roll Star", select tracks from The Cars' album.
Gtfo of the month: "Beetlebum", "Manu Chao", "New Wave"
Avg of the month: 3.75/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part VI (April 2008)

2011-06-07T20:32:00.002-05:00

March was the best month of DLC since Rock Band's launch in my opinion - how does April 2008 fare?

"Still Alive" GLaDOS
Harmonix 01 [Bang Camaro, Count Zero, Freezepop]
Classic Rock 01 [Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Police, Blondie]
"Saints of Los Angeles" Motley Crue
Screaming for Vengeance Album - Judas Priest
"Red Tandy" and "Time-Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear" The Mother Hips
"Zero" Smashing Pumpkins

Well, we got our first album in Rock Band. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out it was Judas Priest's "Screaming for Vengeance" which is one of the last albums I'd've expected to see be among Rock Band's first albums. Welp, there's really not much to say for this month, in my opinion. "Screaming for Vengeance" is great for the most part, and the Classic Rock 01 pack is pretty good, but there's nothing else to really speak of. "Red Tandy" is fun on drums, "Zero" is an average Smashing Pumpkins song... meh. As great as Screaming for Vengeance is, it can't make up for the rest of the weeks.

Ftw of the month: Screaming for Vengeance, "Message in a Bottle"
Gtfo of the month: "Still Alive", "Shake", "Sprode", "Time-Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear"
Avg of the month: 3.5/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part V (March 2008)

2011-06-07T11:07:00.002-05:00

Oh, March 2008. Since Rock Band's launch, I'll just tell you right now this was probably the best month of DLC. A lot of songs, good variety, and lots of money spent.

Grateful Dead 01
"Crushcrushcrush" Paramore
"Beethoven's Cunt" Serj Tankian
Shockwave" Black Tide
Earache Thrash 01 [At The Gates, The Haunted, Evile]
Boston 01

Without listing each song from the Grateful Dead and Boston 6-packs, this month on the surface looks kind of short and weak - BUT, if you have any good taste in music whatsoever, you'd know that isn't the case. I'm not exactly a big fan of Grateful Dead at all, but I wound up getting the entire pack and ultimately had a pretty good time with it. Paramore released their one and only DLC track this month as well. Earache Thrash 01 threw some of the hardest songs we had seen in Rock Band up until this point, "Thrasher" on guitar and "Blinded by Fear" on drums in particular. Boston 01 needs nothing said for it. To be honest, at the time, I hadn't heard too much of their stuff, but I got the pack, and to this day, the songs remain some of my most played songs in Rock Band 3.

Ftw of the month: "Shockwave" Black Tide, Boston 01
Gtfo of the month: If I had to choose, just because I dislike the genre, Earache Thrash 01
Avg of the month: 4/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part IV (February 2008)

2011-06-07T10:54:00.002-05:00

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe February 2008 had the fewest songs of any month in Rock Band's history, with just 12 downloadable tracks. Hm. How's it look...

"Roam" The B-52's
"We Care A Lot" Faith No More
"Calling Dr. Love" Kiss
(Arguably) Punk 02 [The Clash, The Police, The Ramones]
"Sex Type Thing" Stone Temple Pilots
"El Scorcho" Weezer
"Why Do You Love Me?" Garbage
Nine Inch Nails 01

And that does it. It should be noted that this is also the first month of DLC that didn't feature a cover - it wasn't quite the end of them, ("Beetlebum" by Blur was the final cover.) but almost. February 2008 was just another average month of DLC. Kiss made their DLC debut with a somewhat surprising/strange song choice, and The Clash, The Police, The Ramones, Stone Temple Pilots, AND Weezer added to their own DLC catalog this month. To me, this month's quite forgettable. Nothing outside of "The Perfect Drug" by Nine Inch Nails on drums is particularly memorable.

Ftw of the month: "Sex Type Thing" Stone Temple Pilots, "The Perfect Drug" Nine Inch Nails
Gtfo of the month: "Teenage Lobotomy" The Ramones
Avg of the month: 3.25/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part III (January 2008)

2011-06-07T10:41:00.002-05:00

With the short year of DLC in 2007 over and done with, Harmonix starts its first full year of DLC. What's in store...

"Gimme Three Steps" Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Hard to Handle" The Black Crowes [Cover]
"Limelight" Rush [Cover]
"Die, All Right!" The Hives
"Interstate Love Song" Stone Temple Pilots
"Number of the Beast" Iron Maiden [Cover]
"Action" Sweet [Cover]
"Last Train to Clarksville" The Monkees [Cover]
"All the Small Things" blink-182
Oasis 01
"Siva" Smashing Pumpkins
"Working Man" Rush [Cover]
"Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial)" Coheed & Cambria [Cover]

7 of the 15 songs for January 2008 are covers. The entire month, with the exception of the second to last week, was nothing but singles, something else Harmonix didn't do all too often. I'd say the biggest thing that was released this month was either "Gimme Three Steps" or Oasis 01. Sure, you see Iron Maiden and Rush, but then you have to remember they're covers. We wound up getting masters in the future though. Overall, a decent month. One of my favorite bands, blink-182, released their first track on Rock Band, and there's certainly nothing wrong with an Oasis pack and a single from Stone Temple Pilots. A few things worth getting this month, but the slew of covers is a bit of a bummer.

Ftw of the month: "Interstate Love Song" Stone Temple Pilots, Oasis 01
Gtfo of the month: "Action" Sweet, "Last Train to Clarksville" The Monkees
Avg of the month: 3.5/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part II (December 2007)

2011-06-06T22:41:00.002-05:00

The first full month of Rock Band DLC - December 2007. Anything good? Wellll... let's take a look, shall we?

Black Sabbath 01 [Covers]
Punk 01 [Buzzcocks -Cover-, The Clash, The Ramones]
"My Iron Lung" Radiohead
"Brass in Pocket" The Pretenders [Cover]
"Buddy Holly" Weezer
"Attack" 30 Seconds to Mars
"The Kill" 30 Seconds to Mars
"Dirty Little Secret" All-American Rejects
"Move Along" All-American Rejects
"Song With A Mission" The Sounds [Cover]

And that's the month. 6 of the 14 songs are covers, including the entire Black Sabbath pack. Starting at the top, Black Sabbath 01 was actually, to me, a pretty good pack. Despite the songs not being masters, they sounded alright, and were - not too surprisingly - quite fun on all instruments. Punk 01 is a different story - while the Buzzcocks and The Clash songs are super awesome on drums, The Ramones' "Rockaway Beach" is a drag, and the guitar on all three tracks is underwhelming. The following week was the first week I saw a song I immediately recognized and wanted - "Buddy Holly" - which isn't exactly the most fun song to play, but it's a keeper. For Christmas '07, Harmonix threw some modern songs at us, two of which, at the time, I was super excited for. Those songs being All-American Rejects, which only were really fun to play on drums.

Even though almost half of the songs from this month are covers, December '07 remains pretty solid with some decent variety. While there aren't many songs from this month that I'd consider a lot of fun to play, there are a few big names here, including Radiohead's one-and-only DLC track to date.

Ftw of the month: Black Sabbath 01
Gtfo of the month: "Rockaway Beach" The Ramones
Avg of the month: 3.5/5

Rock Band DLC Review Part I (November 2007)

2011-06-06T22:23:00.002-05:00

"Are you really going to review every month of Rock Band DLC?"

Want an answer to that? Okay. Well. My answer is MAYBE. With over forty months of DLC in the books including 1200+ songs and constantly growing, it'll take a long time, but I will try to review each and every month.

I will start with November 2007, which is the shortest month of DLC in Rock Band history. With the original Rock Band launching November 20th 2007, there were only two weeks of DLC. However, Rock Band's launch-date DLC line-up looked like this:

"Fortunate Son" Creedance Clearwater Revival [Cover]
"Jukebox Hero" Foreigner [Cover]
"Bang A Gong" T. Rex [Cover]
"My Sharona" The Knack [Cover]
"Cherry Bomb" The Runaways [Cover]
"Joker & the Thief" Wolfmother
Metallica 01
QotsA 01
The Police 01

Now THAT is a pretty huge week to say the least. Although all but one of the singles were covers, the launch DLC for Rock Band was actually very good with a few exceptions. Personally, I didn't care for "Bang A Gong" or "Cherry Bomb" in particular because they were just BORING. The best DLC of the launch week in my opinion would have to either be "Joker & the Thief" or the Metallica pack. "My Sharona" is pretty close too, despite it being a cover.

And, for the second and final week of November 2007, we have

David Bowie 01

In my opinion, an average week. Throw in the fact that two of the three songs are covers, and you have a below average week. I'm not a huge Bowie fan, but all three are quite alright, and are decent fun. This is the first time Harmonix almost always started releasing just three songs a week.

Ftw of the month: "Joker & the Thief", "My Sharona", Metallica Pack 01
Gtfo of the month: "Cherry Bomb", "Bang a Gong"
Avg of the month: 3.75/5

Food Review (Beefy Melt Burrito from Taco Bell)

2011-05-13T12:00:00.002-05:00

The Beefy Melt Burrito was just released this week at Taco Bell, apparently replacing one of my menu favorites - the Beefy Crunch Burrito. Is there new love with the Beefy Melt. READ ON TO FIND OUT!

The Beefy Melt Burrito is pretty simple. You have beef, rice, sour cream, and three different kinds of cheeses - no, the nacho cheese sauce is not one of them - rolled up in a tortilla for 99 cents.

So, is it a worthy replacement of the Beefy Crunch Burrito? Hell no. The Beefy Melt Burrito is nothing but a disappointment. It's hardly something NEW - it's just 99 cents. To me, the burrito lacks flavor, somehow. The cheese doesn't have a lot of taste, (it is all melty-like, so if you have a hard-on for that you'd like this) and it's just a below average burrito. The fact that this DID replace one of my favorite Taco Bell items makes me dislike it even more.

If you're going to ingest something from Taco Bell that's 470 calories, I suggest something else - just about ANYthing else. Taco Bell, I am disappoint.

3/5

Game Review (Call of Duty Black Ops Escalation Map Pack)

2011-05-03T14:16:00.004-05:00

It's been over three months since First Strike was released for Black Ops. At last, Escalation is here on XBL exclusively for a short time, again at the price of 1200MSP.

Call of the Dead: 4.5/5 I really, really like Call of the Dead, and that's saying something, considering I'm not much of a Zombie fan. While the George Romero guy is a bit more of a nuisance than anything else - I guess that's why he's there to begin with - the map plays well. A couple of the added achievements are tough and will require you to use a YouTube tutorial, but Call of the Dead is fun - it's laid out nicely, and the few newly added weapons are a welcome addition.

Convoy: 4.5/5 I actually kind of.. REALLY like Convoy the more I play it.. This is about a mediumish sized map - there are two pretty distinct sides to it, both of which are really different. Then, of course, you have the area in the middle with the blown out express way. This map kind of really feels really random - there's not much if any symmetry at all, and... I really like Convoy the more I play it.

Hotel: 4.25/5 When I first saw Hotel, I figured the map would be a medium/small-ish map for some reason. Well. I was wrong. Hotel's one of the bigger maps in Black Ops, and that's kind of what keeps this map from a higher rating. There are a bunch of buildings, highs, lows, a working elevator, and a nice casino area. A map that this reminds me of Waterwork in Call of Duty 4 ONLY because of the upper area that face each other on each side of the map - thankfully, this map's nothing like that one in any other regard. Hotel's downfall is its size - it could be a Black Ops classic, but it seems like Treyarch tried too hard with this one.

Stockpile: 3.75/5 This map looks like it was based off of part of the Vorkuta missions in single-player. Stockpile is an average map, at best. That's about all I can say for it. A small/medium map with a feature of a controllable door. There's really nothing exciting about this map. It feels like it should be in Call of Duty 2, to be honest, or maybe even Battlefield. Nothing to jump up and down about here.

Zoo: 4/5 I give this map a four, and not higher, because it looks and feels a LOT like Carnival from Modern Warfare 2... I thought that the SECOND I saw it. The whole atmosphere of the map just screamed that at me. It's laid out differently in some areas, but a major map feature that was on Carnival, the roller coaster, is here again, in the form of what I think is a monorail..? I'm not really sure. But it really just feels like I pretty much paid for the same map twice. Had Carnival never been released, I'd've given this a higher rating.

---

Is it worth it? In my opinion, if you were to have to decide between the maps in First Strike versus Escalation, I'd pretty easily have to pick Escalation. While Stockpile is a very, very average map, Hotel is great, Convoy's fun, and Zoo, while it reminds me of Carnival, is also pretty good. In First Strike, I only really like Stadium. Berlin Wall was decent too, but Discovery and Kowloon were just meh. As for the Zombies choice, you can't really go wrong. I think Call of Dead is a bit better than Ascension, but I'd definitely recommend both. In short? Escalation > First Strike.

4.5/5

+: Call of the Dead is a must-play for Zombie fans, overall solid multiplayer maps.
-: $15 is going to always be a downfall for some, two of the achievements for Call of the Dead are a bit ridiculous.

Food Review (Arby's Angus Three Cheese & Bacon)

2011-03-28T17:35:00.002-05:00

I don't necessarily review EVERYTHING I eat... but this one was necessary. The Angus Three Cheese & Bacon from Arby's is one of the best things on the menu - but it comes at a cost - the sandwich alone is $5. Now, I know fast food looks nothing like it does in pictures or in commercials, but my eyes almost shot out of my sockets when I saw this sandwich - it's absolutely PUNY. There isn't much roast beef, and the bread is squished down. I would say, compared to the pictures/commercials, that the height of the actual sandwich is 1/3 of what's shown.

How does it taste? ... Did you read the first couple sentences? You actually taste each bit of this sandwich - the roast beef, the bacon, the cheese, AND the sauce, which I must say, is very good. Only problem I had was that there was a bit too much of it.

That about sums up all I had to say.

How's it taste? Ridiculously good.
How's the value? Pretty effing bad.

It tastes good enough though that I may get it again, even though I know I'm paying way too much for what I'm being handed.

4/5

Food Review (Wendy's Premium Fish Fillet)

2011-03-14T14:28:00.002-05:00

I've eaten more seafood in this past month than I have in the past 19 years of my life - I never used to like it. Anyway. The Wendy's Fish Fillet is back just in time for lent. Here are the nutrition facts for this sammich:

500 Calories (210 from Fat)
24 Grams of Fat (4 Saturated)
1010mg Sodium
52g Carbs
18g Protein

Not much else worth listing.

First of all, I don't know much about seafood, but I've been told that the freshest seafood has hardly any flavor and smell - and I'll say this sandwich delivered that. I personally don't understand why you'd want to eat something you can't taste, but I guess in seafood-speak, this is a surprisingly fresh piece of fish, considering I hardly got any taste or smell of fish off of this thing.

It's of a decent size - quite larger than the McDonald's Filet 'o Fish - and has a little bit of lettuce and tartar sauce. The tartar sauce is alright, but I prefer what's on the Filet 'o Fish at McDonalds.

My Premium Fish Fillet was actually so hot when I got it, it nearly burnt my tongue - and when I bit in initially, fish juice actually squirt out... or maybe it was grease. Whatever it was, I don't normally get a sandwich from a fast food place that tastes as fresh as this one did.

Would I recommend this? Sure, if you like your seafood nearly flavorless like it's... supposed to be..? It doesn't taste bad, but doesn't taste great either beCAUSE it has such a subtle flavor - I'll stick to the Spicy Chicken Sandwich for the most part, but if this were a mainstay on the menu, I'd probably get it time to time.

Is it better than McDonald's Filet 'o Fish? To me, no, because I actually like the fish-taste you get from the Filet 'o Fish, even if that means it's not quite as fresh as this one. Both of them are pretty good, but in very different ways. It's really personal preference - either way, you can't lose. They both taste good.

4/5

MLB 2K11 Soundtrack and Ratings

2011-03-14T14:21:00.003-05:00

It's been nearly a week since the release, and there are still no 'professional' reviews out there, and the soundtrack isn't listed ANYWHERE, so I'll present it to you:

"Rearview Mirror" by Pearl Jam: 4.75/5
"Please Please Please" Shout Out Louds: 4.5/5
"Bad Reputation" Joan Jett: 3.5/5
"Repitition" The Willowz: 3.5/5
"Bought and Sold" Tab the Band: 4.75/5
"Pourin' Rain" Trenchtown: 4.5/5
"Unpaid Holiday" Trenchtown: 5/5
"Come On In" Corroded: 4/5
"Hard to See" Five Finger Death Punch: 4.25/5
"Better Days" The Wolfmen: 4.25/5
"The Hi Hi's" Double0Zero: 4.5/5
"You Should Learn" We Are Scientists: 5/5
"Anti-Venom" USS: 4.5/5

Overall, MLB 2K11 has a damn good soundtrack. I personally don't care much for Bad Reputation or Repitition, but then again, I don't care for female singers for the most part anyway. I think you're guaranteed to like at least one track in this game. Me? I like almost the whole thing.

Food Review ("Pacific" Shrimp Burrito from Taco Bell)

2011-03-12T00:37:00.002-05:00

Just in time for lent, the "Pacific" Shrimp Taco is back at Taco Bell, with a new Taco Bell concoction, the "Pacific" Shrimp Burrito. Here we go!

Straight out of a fish farm in a random third-world country, there are 6 pieces of "Pacific" shrimp found in each the taco and burrito - that's correct, 6. And the pieces aren't large at all. How much does the taco cost? The burrito? 2.79 and 3.69 respectively. Ridiculous, right? The burrito costs nearly a dollar more, and you get the same amount of shrimp.

Anyways, the flavor... I absolutely HATED seafood up until a few weeks ago when I randomly had a craving for fish. Today, I decided to give shrimp a try, which I always hated. For 3.69, I was expecting some kind of wonderful - welp, I got let down. The burrito is a decent size, so 6 measly shrimp were hidden in little areas. It seemed like every second or third bite had a bit of shrimp, while the bites in-between just consisted of the bread, lettuce, crunchy red strips, and the sauce. Mmm, DELICIOUS! (Not really.)

How's the shrimp? Well, I'm not necessarily a seafood aficionado, and haven't eaten a LOT of it in my day, but it tasted DECENT. Reasonable flavor, fair marinade... Worth-paying-3.69 decent? Hell no. This is one of those things you try just to say you had it, and then move on.

Pass.

2.5/5

Game Review (Major League Baseball 2K11 - 360)

2011-03-11T23:29:00.005-05:00

Finally - Major League Baseball 2K11 has been released, and to me, this is when the road to Opening Day seems less torturous. Is MLB 2K11 better than 2K Sports's past iterations? Read on to find out, or skip to the end for the TL;DR version.

[I should note that I have not played many 2K games the past few years. The last MLB 2K game I played frequently was 2K7. I played 2K8, 9, and 10, for very short periods of time.]

Graphics: 3.75/5 Initially, I found MLB 2K11 to be extremely underwhelming graphically. After playing about 5 games in different stadiums and getting a chance to immerse myself in the game, I'm actually fairly impressed. Regardless of that, I'll talk about the low-points first - I'm disappointed that 2K Sports has still not fixed the robotic/glitchy/snap-motion movements. I'm not SURPRISED none of that has really been patched up, but it's a shame - it really takes away from the experience, and just gives you constant reminders you're just playing a game. Another downfall for me would have to be the shadows on the players - they seem jagged and extremely unrealistic. On the field though, the shadows look pretty good, and the fact that the sun moves during games is a fantastic feature, as it affects the game quite a bit when the shadow creeps between home plate and the pitcher's mound. With all the criticism, you're probably wondering how I could score the graphics a 3.75. I'll tell you why, though - there are a couple big reasons. First of all, although the shadows on the characters are a HUGE bummer, the uniforms look really nice, and some of the character models are spot on. While lesser known players, like say, Brennan Boesch or Alex Avila of the Detroit Tigers, look nothing like their real-life counterparts, (understandable, as they can't very well face scan all the MLB players.) the likes of marquee players like Derek Jeter, Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander, among many, many others, look very well done. The second reason I score this as I did is that I REALLY like the menus in this game, whether it's the in-game pause menu, or at the main menu - not too busy, pretty clean, and just very well laid out. 2K11's got nothing on The Show as far as in-game graphics, but it's nothing to sneeze at.

Sound: 4/5 Gary Thorne, Steve Phillips, and John Kruk offer commentary in MLB 2K11, and do it quite well. In my opinion, Gary Thorne has one of the best voices for a baseball game, so for him to do MLB 2K11 was really great. While this isn't necessarily a comparison review between MLB 2K11 and MLB 11 The Show, the commentary in this game blows The Show out of the water. It's more interesting, and just seems more real and enthusiastic. The soundtrack in this game, as well as in many sports games I've played, is actually quite good, featuring some really nice songs from bands I hadn't really listened to - like We Are Scientists - and ones I had never even heard of, like Trenchtown, whose "Unpaid Holiday" is probably my favorite of them all. Other artists that offer their tracks include Pearl Jam, Pat Benetar, among others. There aren't very many songs on the track list, but the vast majority are nice choices.

Fun: 3.75/5 It's quite hard for me to score MLB 2K11 - it's really somewhere between a 3.75 and 4 rating (7.5 and 8). Seeing as how there is such a lack of polish and the game costs $60 and lacks any real new features causes me to give it the 3.75. Sure, they added the Dynamic Player Rating system, which makes the real-life players' performance effect the in-game players', is pretty cool, but that's not going to happen until the season starts, and that's about the only significant new feature added to 2K11. It's not at all a bad game, but it could really be a lot better. Whatever happened to setting concession prices in sports games? Sure, maybe many people thought it was lame and gimmicky or whatever, but I actually enjoyed things like that. Why do the players have to be so jerky and glitchy and botch plays that should quite easily be made? 2K Sports got a lot right with MLB 2K11, but they also could have done a lot more. For $60 every year, you expect something really new, and there isn't much here. My Player - keep in mind, haven't played much in the past - is fun and all, but the fielding (at least in the outfield, haven't tried anywhere else) is just awkward due to the camera angle, and the base running is an absolute chore. Basically, MLB 2K11 is nothing that will blow your mind. Is it better than recent MLB 2K games? In my opinion, yes, but not much better, so don't expect MLB 2K11 to be the greatest baseball game you have ever played.

3.75/5

+: Commentary, soundtrack, graphics grow on you - somehow, Dynamic Player Rating System, pretty solid baseball game.
-: Nothing special, STILL glitchy and buggy in many areas, injuries seem way too frequent.

Food Review (Bawls Mints)

2011-02-23T15:00:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite candies ever! Bawls Mints are made from the same people that brought you Bawls Energy Drink (which I also recommend). Why they're called mints, I have no idea, but they taste really, really good. Each tin contains 75 'mints', with 1mg of caffeine per 'mint.'

The taste of these 'mints' I guess I could only maybe describe as a fruity vanilla flavor. And since they're carbonated, they fizz on your tongue. Drop one of these in a carbonated drink, and watch the bubbles fly.

While they won't perk you up quite as much as the guy on the packaging is, I can almost assure you you'll enjoy eating these things. Highly recommended!

5/5

Food Review ("Red" Penguin Caffeinated Cinnamons)

2011-02-23T14:57:00.003-05:00

If you like cinnamon, you'll like these mints, simple as that. If you like caffeine, you'll like them even more. According to the packaging, each mint contains 7mg of caffeine, as opposed to say, a Bawls Mint, which has 1mg of caffeine per mint.

The mints are oval-shaped, white, and have little red-speck crystal things. They're a bit 'hot', but that's to be expected with cinnamon candies. A good buy.

5/5

Food Review (Uncle Oinker's Savory Bacon Mints)

2011-02-23T14:52:00.002-05:00

As stated in my Onion Ring Mints review, I got these from ThinkGeek.com.

For $3, you got 100 of these little mints. I really got them expecting a mediocre bacon flavor, and I didn't even get that. These 'mints' are ALMOST nauseating. First smelling them wasn't so bad, but if you keep wafting, it smells pretty unpleasant. It's hard to really explain the smell of these mints... B.O.? Maybe that. B.O. and Band-Aids.

But these mints taste neither like bacon nor mint. They taste SORT of like they smell - yes, B.O. and Band-Aids - but it's really rather mild, and they make your breath smell like B.O./Band-Aids when the mint is gone. As with the Onion Ring Mints, would be a good gag gift, but aside from that, I wouldn't repurchase.

2/5

+ Good gag gift.
- Price, smell, taste. Just not very good at all.

Food Review (Onion Ring Mints)

2011-02-23T14:48:00.002-05:00

These mints, along with my Bacon Mints, Penguin Mints, and Bawls Mints, I got from ThinkGeek.com.

First off, 100 mints are $2.99 from the site, which isn't outrageous, but then again, it definitely seems overpriced. When I opened up the top and took a whiff, I definitely could smell onion. After sniffing completely, the after-smell is almost that of a firework or burning tire. To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if bits of fireworks or tires WERE put in the mints.

To be honest, they taste very little like onion rings. They don't taste terrible, but they also don't taste great. Once they're in your mouth, and you smell your breath, THEN you actually smell like onion rings.

These things are definitely good for a joke, but aside from that, I don't think anyone would really walk around with these in their pocket every day until they themself ate all 100 mints.

3/5

+ Smell like onion rings, great gag gift.
- They don't taste very good.

Game Review (Call of Duty: Black Ops "First Strike" Map Pack)

2011-02-02T01:14:00.002-05:00

A little under three months after the release of Black Ops, the game gets its first map pack released for a short-time exclusively on the Xbox 360. If you don't know already, it features four multiplayer maps: "Berlin Wall", "Discovery", "Kowloon", and "Stadium", as well as a new Zombie map called "Ascension."

---

Ascension: 4.5/5 "Ascension" is the one and only Zombie map in the First Strike Map Pack. I've only played it about four times, but already, I'm enjoying it. I'm not 100% certain, but I'm pretty sure it takes place at a Russian nuclear facility. In my opinion, Ascension blows Kino der Toten out of the water, and may even be better than Five. I really like the map design, and it's relatively easy to find yourself around after two or three goes on it.

Berlin Wall: 4.25/5 As you could PROBABLY guess, "Berlin Wall" is supposed to take place in Berlin, Germany, near the Berlin Wall. Snow's on the ground, and turrets are ready to fire at those who walk into no-man's-land, which is a little strip of land (which is red on your mini-map) that ensures death if you can't run through it fast enough. The map is, I would say, medium to medium-large in size... with a good amount of areas to run to and around. To me, a bit, in a way, there are parts of this map that remind me of "Skidrow" from Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer. But anyways, this is a fair map. It's got some windows and pretty open areas for snipers, but still has some areas where it's pretty close quarters, encouraging others to use SMGs and assault rifles. I guess the downfall of this map is simply the fact that it seems to encourage camping a bit more than most maps. I've played Berlin Wall four or five times, and none of the times I've played it on Team Deathmatch has a team reached the 7500 score. Regardless of this, Berlin Wall is, in my opinion, an above average map, and a welcome addition to Black Ops.

Discovery: 4/5 This map, simply, takes place at an abandoned Nazi base. I must say, it's starting to grow on me. At first, I got a really bad impression, because a back quarter of the map - I can't really explain without saying the side with the catwalks, even if that's not what they really are - seems to house a good number of snipers. Not only there, but in many other buildings on the map, you will find a lot of campers in windows. I guess that shouldn't be unexpected, as people like to camp windows regardless of the map, but it's quite frustrating on Discovery especially. I've found that the absolute best way to navigate this map is to really be on the outside of it as much as possible to pick of snipers from the side, as well as anyone trying to cozy themself in a camping spot. Discovery is really, to me, a pretty average map to the average Call of Duty player. However, if you're a sniper, you're likely to like this one more than me.

Kowloon: 4/5 Kowloon takes place on rainy rooftops in Kowloon, China. This map features something no other Black Ops map does - a zipline. Two of them. They are what you'd think, they zip you from one area of the map to another. While that's all fine and good, while doing this, you are vulnerable to enemy fire. I must say, even though this is a pretty cool idea, I don't see it really ever working out unless you're in a situation where it's 1-on-1 on Search and Destroy and you need to plant or defuse a bomb quickly... it's just not very practical. With all the amount of shooting going around on map, it's almost impossible to use the zipline without at least being shot at. To me, Treyarch could have made it more useful by allowing those with a pistol secondary to be able to shoot while ziplining. Anyways, on to the map itself and not just the damn ziplines. Kowloon's a medium sized map that's pretty packed in with very few really open areas - it's definitely a run-and-gunner's kind of map. The map's template in my opinion isn't exactly pretty - dull, rainy, blah - but the map design isn't bad at all.

Stadium: 4.5/5 Stadium takes place at what I THINK is a Russian hockey arena. This is probably my favorite map out of this pack, and I may be the only one that thinks so, seeing as how I see a lot of people complaining about it. It's the smallest map from the pack, and the most action-packed. Stadium is the REAL run-and-gun map from First Strike. While Kowloon has that feel through most of it, Stadium features virtually no worthwhile sniping area, which I can approve of. There are a few little windows and whatnot a sniper could sit at, but they don't give a real good vantage point for them, and the map's just not big enough, but I can definitely approve of that. To me, it's a shame there isn't more to do inside the stadium itself, but the map is still a lot of fun.

---

"First Strike" is a decent first map pack release from Treyarch - more than decent for the Black Ops snipers. "Berlin Wall", "Discovery," and even some bits of "Kowloon" all have pretty good sniping areas. Me not being a sniper, as said a bit above, I'm not COMPLETELY satisfied with this map pack, but it's quite alright. Even if there aren't any instant-classics from the four multiplayer maps, "Ascension" is a Zombie map that will certainly be played the hell out of by many for months to come.

Basically, if you're tired of Zombies, then 1200msp for 4 multiplayer maps may make you think two or three times before buying this pack. If you only like Zombies, odds are you won't pay 1200msp for this pack, unless you're desperate for a new Zombie locale. It's really unfortunate that they don't have separate packs for multiplayer maps and Zombie maps, but I guess Treyarch/Activision figures this is the best way to make their moolah. Lucky for me, I like multiplayer, and don't mind Zombies, so I didn't so much mind paying 1200msp. A lot of people will complain about the $15 price on this pack, but really, I don't see the problem in spending a bit of money to give a game you already enjoy playing something new - it gives the game staying power. And when you get a map pack like this, I really don't mind.

---

4.25/5

+: "Ascension" may be the best Zombie map in Black Ops, Good pack for snipers, pretty decent variety in the maps.

-: 1200msp seems a bit high but it's not a big deal, no new guns/camos/titles or anything like that.

Food Review (Double Steak Burrito from Taco Bell)

2011-01-28T19:12:00.002-05:00

Just thrown on the menu this past week, the Double Steak Burrito is along side the Quad Steak Burrito, as well as the Double and Quad Steak Quesadillas.

None of these options are particularly cheap. The Double Steak Burrito is $3.99. and you don't need me to tell you that for a Taco Bell item, that's pretty expensive.

The DSB has rice, fire-roasted salsa, sour cream, and cheddar cheese. I will say that they do give you a lot of steak on this burrito. Not just that, but the steak seems to be of a higher quality than the other steak on the menu.

It tastes pretty good, I'll give it that. I don't care for the fire-roasted salsa at all out of the packets, but with this burrito, it tastes pretty good. The marinade the steak is in with it ... they taste good together.

3.5/5

+: A lot of steak that seems to be of a higher grade than the other steak on the menu.

-: Pricepriceprice.

It's good, but I'm not sure if I'd get it again for the price.

Game Review (Battlefield Bad Company 2 Multiplayer - 360)

2011-01-27T02:35:00.002-05:00

Graphics: 4.5/5 Given that the maps are so large, that there's so much going on, that there are 24 players online, and that the frame rate holds steady almost all the time, I'd say the graphics are stellar. They aren't exactly 'clean' and looking quite as pretty as, say, a Gears of War or Modern Warfare 2, but like I said, for what it's running on, very nice.

Sound: 4.5/5 A good variety of voice overs, the explosions, guns, and vehicles all sound really great. I wouldn't say it's quite on the tier in some aspects as Call of Duty is - gun sounds in particular - but it no doubt sounds fantastic.

Control: 4.25/5 If you've played Call of Duty, you've played this, with a few subtle changes. There's no prone, for one thing, knifing is used with RB, throwing a grenade is LB, etc. The main problem I seem to have with the controls in this game involves walking. Sometimes when I walk through open doorways or in what seems to be an open area, my character will get stuck on seemingly nothing, sometimes resulting in a death. This is obviously frustrating... I'm not sure the cause? But it seems to happen sometimes. Luckily, the maps are huge and the areas are quite open ... this doesn't happen TOO often.

Fun: 4.5/5 Battlefield Bad Company has, from what I can see, just one flaw - lack of maps. I'm not sure of the number, but I'll guess 12... and it just doesn't feel like it. I guess maybe the maps seem to feel a bit too similar in some cases...? I can't put my finger on it, but that's about this game's only downfall besides the doorway glitching I've noticed. There's in-depth stats, a living community and devoted fan base, and a lot of fun to be had. If you've lost interest in Black Ops, you should try Battlefield. They're both completely different games in many ways, so if you don't like one, you're likely to like the other.

4.5/5

Game Review (Skate 3 - 360)

2011-01-27T02:26:00.002-05:00

Graphics: 3.75/5 I don't know if it's just my 360 or what, but Skate 3 is very underwhelming. The game doesn't look sharp, the game seems fairly bland, and it just looks about average... in fact, I feel like I remember Skate 1 looking better.

Sound: 4.25/5 You get a nice blend of music styles on the soundtrack, as well as great voice acting from pro skaters as well as some no-names. Not extraordinarily good, but I approve.

Control: 4.5/5 Skate 3's controls are about identical to games past. The controls are pretty precise, and it's obviously what's made Skate stand apart from the Tony Hawk games.

Fun: 4/5 Skate 3 is a good game. There isn't much to say about it. The story's pretty straightforward, and you'll have all of the stuff unlocked before too long. There's not much of anything new in this game that wasn't in Skate 2, so if you have that game, you probably have no need to get Skate 3, but if you haven't played Skate since the original, then for the $40 or less you'll pay for Skate 3 now, you should get it. It's not difficult, it's not extremely lengthy, but it's entertaining. (That's what she said.) I doubt you'll sit and play this game for hours at a time, but it adds variety to your game library if you don't already have Skate 1 or 2 there.

4/5

Food Review (Beefy Crunch Burrito from Taco Bell)

2011-01-25T23:46:00.002-05:00

I haven't made a food review in awhile, so here goes!

The Beefy Crunch Burrito from Taco Bell is a 99c limited-time item that has nacho cheese sauce, sour cream, seasoned beef, rice, and, the star of the show, Flamin' Hot Fritos. I've already had at LEAST 10 of these things by now, so here's my review.

First of all, I will say I don't care much for sour cream - Taco Bell ruined my like for it by putting so much of it on their burritos in just one corner of it. But ANYWAY, I must say, I enjoy this burrito - when the Fritos aren't soggy. The crunchiness of them just adds to the experience. So if you buy this burrito, don't let the steam get to the Fritos and make them soggified - it doesn't take long. For 99 cents, you can't really go wrong. I really recommend you try it.

4.75/5

+: Price, value, crunch.
-: The soggy ass Fritos when the burrito sits awhile.

Game Review (DJ Hero 2 - 360)

2011-01-25T23:23:00.002-05:00

Graphics: 4/5 DJ Hero's never looked stunning. The characters, venues, colors, and everything just look about average. DJ Hero 2's menu is very nice though. It's simple and clean, and that's just why I like it.

Sound: 4.5/5 To be quite honest, DJ Hero 2's setlist doesn't QUITE appeal to me as much as DJ Hero 1's. From what I can tell, DJ Hero 2 has mixes that have more hip-hop/rap/house/dance songs. In DJ Hero 1, they had a wider variety of mixes. Not to say DJ Hero 2 has bad mixes by any means, but I feel like DJ Hero 1 was more diverse, and I'm probably the only one.

Fun: 4.25/5 DJ Hero is an all-around fun, unique experience. Not too much has changed since the first time around - freestyle scratches is probably the biggest new feature - but the formula still works. While it's not a game you can play over and over and over again and for hours on end, it's a good bit of fun if you pop it in every once in awhile. If you liked DJ Hero 1, odds are you'll like this game as well. It's really just a matter of which disc has more mixes you prefer on it.

4.25/5

DVD Review (The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season)

2010-12-27T23:52:00.009-05:00

Finally, I've gotten the 13th season of The Simpsons. While this is supposed to be far of a stellar season, I picked it up anyways. Here's my review for each individual episode, and the season as a whole. Enjoy!

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[*] Indicates an "Epicsode"

Treehouse of Horror XII: 4.25/5 I thoroughly enjoyed House of Whacks, and Hex and the City and Wiz Kids were both pretty good. Not the best ToH, but pretty memorable in my opinion.

The Parent Rap: 4/5: A judge sentence Homer and Bart to be tied together. After Marge cuts the rope, her and Homer get their heads stuck in wooden stocks. Decent episode at best.

Homer the Moe: 4.25/5 Homer takes over Moe's Tavern as Moe decides to go back to school in hopes of getting a better bar. After doing so, he regrets it entirely.

[*] A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love: 4.5/5 C.M. Burns meets a girl whom he falls in love with and plans to marry (Played by Julia-Louis Dreyfus) but she ultimately leaves him for Snake.

The Blunder Years: 4/5 Homer gets hypnotized and starts screaming uncontrollably. It's soon found out that he had a run-in with a corpse when he was 12-years-old. That of which was the corpse of Smithers' dad.

She of Little Faith: 3.75/5 Homer builds a rocket with a hamster that crashes into the Springfield church. To raise money, advertisements are plastered everywhere. Lisa decides to switch religions, and is coerced back with Christmas.

Brawl in the Family: 3/5 Maggie calls the police on her own family while they are strangling one another, and get sent to a camp dealie with some guy. Bad episode. Forgettable.

Sweets and Sour Marge: 4.25/5 Marge gets sugar banned in Springfield, but Homer fights to get it back.

Jaws Wired Shut: 4.25/5 Homer breaks his jaw and needs it wired shut. While it's shut, Homer completely changes his attitude on life.

[*] Half-Decent Proposal: 4.5/5 Artie Ziff offers Homer and Marge $1 million dollars to get Marge for a weekend - one of the best episodes of the season.

The Bart Wants What it Wants: 4.25/5 Bart begins to date Rainier Wolfcastle's daughter. Soon, he breaks up with her, and realizes it was a mistake and tries to get her back.

[*] The Lastest Gun in the West: 4.5/5 Bart becomes interested in the cowboy look because of Buck McCoy. Bart soon learns his idol has alcohol and drug problems, and tries getting him back on track.

The Old Man and the Key: 4/5 Grampa begins to date a woman and finds out that the only reason she's really with him is because he can drive. Homer essentially becomes his dad's dad, and bans him from driving.

Tales from the Public Domain: 3/5 This episode contains 3-mini segments involving Homer, Lisa, and Bart, and are from the Odyssey, Hundred Years' War, and Hamlet. A very forgettable trilogy episode.

Blame it on Lisa: 3.25/5 The Simpsons head to Brazil to find an orphan boy. While there, Homer gets kidnapped, and the family needs to find money for ransom.

Weekend at Burnsie's: 4.25/5 Homer gets medical marijuana for his vision, and everything ends up going well for him. Homer on drugs? It's hard to dislike this episode.

Gump Roast: 3/5 In a super forgettable episode, Homer has a run-in with Krang and Kodos. To me, this episode didn't make too much sense, and seemed like it was just an episode full of clips of Homer from previous seasons.

I Am Furious (Yellow): 4.25/5 Bart creates a cartoon titled Angry Dad after Homer and uploads it to the internet. Homer finds out, and is soon infuriated. Stan Lee guest stars.

The Sweetest Apu: 3/5 Apu has an affair with the Squishee lady, and tries his best to keep it hidden from his wife, Manjula -- simply put, one of John Swartzwelder's worst written episodes.

Little Girl in the Big Ten: 3.25/5 Lisa befriends college students to get into college, while Bart gets bitten by a mosquito from China and put into a giant bubble. This episode has its ups and downs.

The Frying Game: 3.5/5 Homer gets arrested for killing a screaming caterpillar, and ends up having to do community service. Ultimately, he and Marge get accused of killing an old lady, but it turns out it was all a hoax and they were part of a TV show.

Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge: 3.25/5 The city loses power and sees an increase crime rate for that reason. As the crime rate rises, the police force dissipates, and Homer and SpringShield control the city.

---

Well, as expected, this season is disappointing to say the least - there are only 3 "epicsodes" in my mind, and even those episodes aren't exactly MUST SEEs. There are the standard extras, including every-episode commentary, a 6 minute "Best Of Ralph" video, commercials, slide shows, and more. To me, this may just be the worst season yet on DVD. It's not a terrible season, but it's still quite a disappointment.

3.25/5

Game Review (Call of Duty Black Ops "The Multiplayer" - 360)

2010-11-24T14:42:00.002-05:00

Call of Duty has, for recent years, been among the most played multiplayer games on Xbox LIVE, and Black Ops will no doubt continue to maintain similar popularity.

I've logged about 42 hours into the multiplayer so far, and while not too much has changed, the game remains as fun as ever. Unlike Modern Warfare 2, this game - in my opinion - has great maps top to bottom with maybe one or two exceptions, which is really great. [See my review of the maps in my past post.] Most of the changes/additions to Black Ops, like extra gun camos, recticle customization, emblem creation, and so on, don't change how the game is played, but do add a little extra fun to the multiplayer, I guess.

Black Ops LIVE has very few flaws. Fortunately, with Treyarch, you can trust that when a problem arises, they'll get off their asses and do something about it ASAP, unlike Infinity Ward. Some glitches worth naming have now been patched, leading to this waste of a sentence.

Trying to keep this review short, I'll go ahead and talk about Zombies - I hadn't played too much WaW, and didn't touch Zombies in it at all, but it never REALLY appealed to me. Black Ops has two Zombie maps on disc - one during World War II, and another to be unlocked after finishing the campaign. [Future Zombie maps are very likely to become available via DLC.] While I don't find Zombies awesomely fun, it is entertaining for about a half hour/hour at a time. But hey, to each their own. Future map releases for the Zombies gametype may change my opinion, but as of now, I only really enjoy the "Five" Zombies map. [The one unlocked after beating the campaign.]

Dead Ops is also available to play once you unlock it. [See YouTube if you don't know how to unlock it yet.] I guess the best way to describe Dead Ops is to compare it to Contra, but instead of being a side scroller, it's played bird's eye view. It's fun, and plays a lot like Smash TV, if you've ever played that game. The game looks good, there's a lot of Zombies to kill, and it's really a fun little addition to the game.

Overall, Black Ops - to me - is the best Call of Duty since the original Modern Warfare. The game feels more balanced, and despite a small handful of flaws, is much, much, MUCH better than the mess that was Modern Warfare 2. If you don't already have the game, pick it up as soon as possible.

4.75/5

[Few minor flaws keep it from being perfect, but they should be fixed in future updates ... Map packs will also give the game more variety.]

Game Review (Call of Duty Black Ops "The Maps" - 360)

2010-11-10T11:03:00.003-05:00

This is part one of three reviews I will have for Call of Duty Black Ops. Maps being part one, online play being part two, and the campaign being last - maybe I'm doing this in the complete reverse order as many other people would do, but I don't plan on playing the campaign for awhile.

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[*] indicates a bitchin' map.
(S) indicates a small map.
(MS) indicates a medium-small map.
(M) indicates a medium map.
(ML) indicates a medium-large map.
(L) indicated a medium map.

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(L) Array: This is one of four maps on-disc for Black Ops that is snowy. Of the four, I'd say this one's my least favorite, mainly because it doesn't fit my playstyle. Being a big map, it tends to have long, drawn out games on Team Deathmatch, as people seem to camp a lot, and there are also a lot of snipers on this map as opposed to most others. It's not a terrible map, but it definitely caters more to the snipers. 4/5

(MS) Cracked: There are very few maps on this disc that I dislike, and Cracked is one of them... it just feels blah. Blown out buildings as a map has been done several times before in Call of Duty 2/3/WaW, and I'm pretty much over them - they were boring then, and they're more boring now. Not much to say about this map besides the obvious - don't get caught out in the open. 3.25/5

[*](L) Crisis: Some sites claim this is a medium map... to me, it sure as hell doesn't feel like it - BUT - it's a great one. It doesn't come up often in matchmaking for me, so when it does, it's a treat to play when it gets voted for. I think I like this map more than most people do because it's sort of nostalgic - it feels a bit like Death Trap and Enowapi from SOCOM II. Fun map, a ton of different areas, and it encourages all of what you'd expect to see in a Call of Duty game, with camping spots for snipers, as well as close-quarters areas for those that like to run-and-gun. 4.75/5

[*](S)Firing Range: Not quite small, not quite medium small, Firing Range is a SMALL-ISH map that I find a lot of fun... then again, I always tend to prefer the smaller maps. There's nothing particularly unique to be said about this map besides the fact that it's a hell of a lot of fun on virtually any game mode from my experience. 4.5/5

(M) Grid: The first Black Ops map I played, Grid is the second of four snowy maps on Black Ops, and what I would have to say is my favorite, although I'm not sure why. The way it's set up, it feels great on objective-based matches, but of course works fine and dandy on Team Deathmatch as well. Grid's almost a prime example of how I like the size of maps to be in games I play, and it's just fun all-around. 4.5/5

(ML) Hanoi: Hard to judge the size of this one as well - although I haven't played it much - but Hanoi, to me, is just a 100% average map. The fact that it's night-time and so blah on colors doesn't help. I've played about three matches on it, and I just think this one's utterly forgettable. Not terrible, but nothing awesome. 3.5/5

(ML) Havana: Feeling a bit bigger than Hanoi, Havana is said to take place in Cuba (Hence the map name.) This maps feels to me a bit like Crossfire from CoD4, but instead of such an open area in the middle, part was thrown behind a row of buildings. I'm probably the only one in the world that feels that way. Havana encourages a LOT of camping, as there are plenty of areas to do so, and I've yet to be in a game in Team Deathmatch where the game ended at 7500. If people stop camping this one so much, it could be a much more fun map. 4/5

(L) Jungle: When you hop online and see Jungle as an option to vote for, you may notice that it tends to not get picked. You may ask yourself, "Why?" and I'll tell you why - it sucks. I understand why they put a Jungle map on-disc, but it's just a frustrating map because it's essentially just one giant campfest. It looks cool upfront, but when you're actually playing it, it's very underwhelming and controller breaking. Eh. MAYBE it'll grow on me, but for now, it's in the pooper of Black Ops maps. 3.25/5

[*](M) Launch: This is the map I was most excited to play before release. I must say, I am a bit disappointed. The fact that when the rocket launches, those beneath it die is a pretty cool idea, but other than that this map's not that great. Like Havana, I found that part of this map reminded me of a CoD4 map - Ambush. The middle area of this map feels that way to me for some reason, except where the area is dipped down in Ambush, it's raised here. As said, fun map. Because of the atmosphere on this map - I can't believe I said that - it gets a star. 4.25/5

[*](S) Nuketown: Thank GOD! After the abominations that were the smallest maps in CoD4 and CoDMW2, ("Shipment" and "Rust" respectively.) Treyarch gives is something to smile about. Nuketown, by and away the smallest map in Black Ops, is fantastic fun. The games are quick and sweet with a lot of running and gunning and grenade chucking - a classic. 4.75/5

(M) Radiation: In a thawed out version of WMD, - eh. Almost. Sort of. Maybe. Feels inspired by - Radiation's good fun. The factory area where you can be incinerated is cool, but unfortunate for those that don't realize they're on a belt to the fiery pits of hell. Again, not a ton to say, but Radiation's just another good map - whether it be on Team Deathmatch, or especially on objective modes. 4.25/5

(MS) Summit: Don't plunge to your DEATH. This map's pretty narrow, but a lot of fun. Obviously, this is the third of four snowy maps in Black Ops - it's not the best one, but it's a close second I think. 4.25/5

(ML) Villa: This one seems to come up a lot, so get used to it. I didn't care for it much at first, but after playing several matches, I think I've accepted the fact this one's going to be thrown in my face a lot. It's a pretty big and open map with a few areas for snipers - but they can easily be flushed out. If you don't like sniping, an accurate assault rifle should do the trick. 4.25/5

(ML) WMD: Reminds me of Radiation, but a bit bigger with a few more buildings thrown in there. Hell, if you don't think they look similar, just look and compare the loading screen pictures! While they are quite similar, I prefer WMD to Radiation. And, oh!, this is the fourth and final snow map - alphabetically - in Black Ops... it also happens to be one of the best. 4.5/5

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PHEW! That's it. Pretty half assed, but yeah. The maps in Black Ops, overall, are MUCH better than those in Modern Warfare 2. Next: Online play.

Game Review (Rock Band 3 - 360)

2010-10-27T18:16:00.004-05:00

After over 2 years since Rock Band 2's release, Rock Band 3 is finally here with many new features. Quite understandably and obviously, Rock Band 3 is even better than the second.

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Graphics: 4.5/5 I could go for paragraphs and paragraphs - the graphics have quite vastly improved here over Rock Band 2. Despite a lack of many new venues, the character models are sharper, and shinier than in past games. Not only that, but the menus look absolutely fantastic. The whole new drop-in/drop-out at any time thing is really cool, there are extremely short load times that seem to be almost non-existent... the game just looks and runs greatly.

Sound: 4.75/5 Obviously, you can't please all people all the time with a soundtrack you put in a game. I am pleased with nearly the whole set list - even songs I didn't know and assumed I wouldn't like before playing, turned out to be a blast. You really have to give Harmonix credit - imagine you being in charge of finding a good balance of songs for keys, guitar, drums, and bass - Harmonix did it here almost flawlessly. And of course, just about ALL of the Rock Band songs that worked on Rock Band's 1 and 2 will work here, which is obviously great news to those like me who have invested hundreds, or even over a thousand dollars on DLC.

Fun: 4.5/5 Before I praise, I want to say that there are only two things that gripe me about this game. The first is that Rock Band 3 does away with the Career Mode that was in Rock Bands 1 and 2. Instead, there are maybe a dozen Road Challenges you can do. They feature random setlists, pre-made setlists, as well as make your own setlists. My second issue, and I suppose it's a minor one, is that it's very easy to 'beat the game.' While Rock Band 3 never really ends, as there are always challenges for you to do, after the Road Challenges, the game's 'story' is over with. Biggest bummer about that, is that it only takes a day or two of solid play time to finish it. Band 3 is Rock Band 2, and more. Was that obvious? Despite the minor flaws, Harmonix has done really everything fans requested. If you're burned out on the rhythm genre, then you should probably pass on Rock Band 3. But if you think you were just in need of something new, maybe the keyboard, pro guitar, or pro drum modes will do that for you.

4.75/5

TL;DR
+: Overall fun-to-play setlist, easy to search for songs you want to play, great new menus, updated graphics, hardly any loading times.

-: Not all songs that worked in Rock Band 1 and Rock Band 2 work in this game,(Anyway You Want It, Spoonman, Creep, Battery, Paranoid, etc.) including a few DLC songs as well. (The European songs that were on the Rock Band 1 disc don't transfer over.)

NOTE: Keyboard peripheral review coming later. Pro guitar peripheral coming much later - if ever.

4.5/5

Game Review (NHL 11 - 360)

2010-09-26T00:23:00.003-05:00

Graphics: 4.25/5 Pretty good looking game - with just a few flaws. First off, when playing with classic/action/overhead/etc. camera angles, at the bottom of the ice/screen, the game will lag - online or off. Not terribly, but it's an annoyance. Another thing I noticed was that the character models are terrible. Even the big-name players hardly resemble their real-life counterparts. The ice looks nice, especially with the scratches from skates and the reflections. For ONCE in an NHL game, the fans look actually very good, and interact. For instance, if up against the boards, they stand up and bang on them. If you're the home team and leading, they stand and wave towels.

Sound: 4.25/5 The commentary in this game is about average - you will hear the same lines ad nauseum before too long. However, all the sounds on the ice, as well as the soundtrack in this game, are pretty excellent.

Control: 3.75/5 For the love of god, this nearly ruins the game. The controls are extremely precise - which is great for experienced players - but if you're just starting out, expect a frustrating experience if you try using the right stick for shooting/deking and what-not.

Fun: 4.25/5 While this game is superbly frustrating much of the time, it is still fun - scoring a goal in a hockey game has never felt more rewarding - it's just that much work to get one in the net. Anyways - back to the frustrations. When playing online right out of the gate, you have a skater with an overall rating of about 70. While online, you will encounter a lot of douche bags, on different levels. You will have the douche bags that love to go offsides even though there's a warning on-screen, the douche bags that don't know how to pass, the douche bags that play as goalie but could't catch a snail, and, of course, the douche bags that play this game 24 hours a day, 8 days a week, and are impossible to defend against with their 100 skater rating and insta-goal capabilities. This, coupled with the fact that good team mates are hard to come by, make NHL 11 one of the more frustrating games I have ever played. Online or off, expect a lot of unfairness. If I've learned one thing from this game, it's that, it doesn't matter how great of an offense or defense you have - it's about how good your goalie is. You can have a 99 offense and 99 defense, but if your goalie is below a 75, say hello to a giant deficit by the end of the first. As I play this game more and more, I will either enjoy it more, or just want to get rid of it. As of now, it's a love/hate thing for me. Ah, yes, and I'd also like to point out that the difficulty levels aren't very well done. Pro is far too easy for the most part, while Superstar - or whatever the next difficulty level up is - is just too hard most of the time. This is more of a rant than a review, and I could go on for paragraphs, but I'll sum it up for the ninety-third time; NHL 11 is well worth playing for its My Player mode, as well as its Card Team dealie, if you can get past the many frustrations along the way.

4.25/5

Game Review (Guitar Hero: Van Halen - 360 )

2010-09-22T16:50:00.005-05:00

Sure, it's a super delayed review, - this game came out forever ago - but I just got it via GameFly. Here are my thoughts on GH:VH.

Graphics: 3.5/5 Meh. The main thing that bothers me about the graphics, although it's not so much the graphics as it was Activision/Never Soft's choice, is that the members of the band are OLD. Rather than take on the late 70's/early 80's appearance of the band, they did what they look like now. I'm sorry, but to me, that's just stupid. Graphically though, this game's about average. The model movements aren't anything spectacular, the game doesn't look really any better than Guitar Hero: Metallica... it's nothing that will blow your mind.

Soundtrack: 3.25/5 Meh as well. There are flaws on top of flaws involving the soundtrack. First, as everyone should know by now, there are a number of bands in this game that have zero relevancy to Van Halen. Let me list a few: blink-182, Weezer, Foo Fighters, Fountains of Wayne, Yellowcard, among others. Uh. Hello? What the hell are bands that weren't formed until two/three decades after Van Halen in the game for? Another massive flaw that may be worth noting to fans of Van Halen - there is no Sammy Hagar in this game at all. Not as a playable character, and none of Van Halen's tracks from his time in the band are included in this game. That doesn't bother me any, since I'm not a massive Van Halen fan anyway.

Fun: 3.25/5 Meh for a third time. Guitar Hero: Van Halen is average at best. Shredding some Van Halen classics and whatnot may be fun, but only for so long. For just about every Van Halen song, you've got a Lenny Kravitz, Alter Bridge, or Tenacious D song to play afterwards, making this game quite the disappointment. Guitar Hero: Van Halen may appeal greatly to hardcore fans of the band, but outside of that, it's just another game to rent, get the achievements for, and then dump off at your local Blockbuster or mailbox.

3.25/5

Food Review (KFC Doublicious - Original)

2010-08-09T15:28:00.002-05:00

After the Double Down scrutiny, KFC has decided to make what is essentially the same thing as the Double Down, with the same core ingredients, but this time on a bun, and this time they've decided to dub it the Doublicious.

The Doublicious is, in a word, delicious. It is about the same thing as the Double Down, but a few things make it better. First of all, your hands don't get greasy because of the bun - no need for a stack of 48 napkins anymore! Second of all is basically the same as the first of all - the bun has a sweet taste to it, making the experience all the better.

Writing this review has made me hungry... hungry for another Doublicious. The only flavors you really get out of this sandwich are the bun, chicken, and sauce, but it's still damn good. The bacon and cheese basically just add sodium and not so much flavor, because the chicken is the bulk of the mass of this sandwich.

4.75/5

Note: 480 calories in the Doublicious Original, while 540 in the Double Down Original.

Game Review (Green Day Rock Band - 360)

2010-06-12T21:53:00.002-05:00

Graphics: 4/5 Green Day Rock Band looks pretty great in my opinion. Tre Cool looks and acts like the real Tre Cool, and Mike Dirnt and Billy Joe look quite a lot like the real thing. There are only three venues, which kind of makes me feel like Harmonix skimped a bit on this game as opposed to The Beatles Rock Band, but it looks good nonetheless.

Sound: 4/5 I have a question for you - do you like Green Day? That's the obvious question. Secondly, do you like old or new Green Day? Odds are, if you're above the age of 15 or so, you prefer the older Green Day. This game includes the full albums "Dookie" , "American Idiot" , and "21st Century Breakdown" if you didn't know that already. "Dookie" is one of the bands earliest albums, while "American Idiot" and "21st Century Breakdown" are the bands most recent. I really was disappointed in the lack of older songs by Green Day. There are absolutely no songs from 38/Smooth or Kerplunk!. And also, there aren't many songs outside of the three full albums. A good number of the band's singles are in the game, but I'd very willingly sacrifice some songs from "21st Century Breakdown" to get some 38/Smooth, Kerplunk!, Insomniac, or Nimrod.

Fun: 4/5 Green Day Rock Band isn't like a Guitar Hero version of a band game; Harmonix KNOWS how to make a successful one-band game. Green Day Rock Band is a success, but it's not without its flaws. The lack of older songs - I've already said this about four hundred times - from the band is a little painful, and having only three venues is a bit of a bummer, but any mid-range to super fan of Green Day will probably buy this game. There are extras, of course, like The Beatles Rock Band, but that's really it. The career mode really has a quick play feel - beat five songs, unlock about five more. There are challenges you unlock, which you play to get achievements and get videos.

On a final note, Green Day Rock Band really isn't for the guitar heavy music game player. There are a few fun songs in this game on guitar, (most of the fun songs, in my opinion on all instruments overall, are those from "American Idiot" ... there's the most variety on that album.) but the game just shines on drums. Tre Cool is a pretty underrated drummer. He's fast, has some really crazy fills, and it makes for a sweat dripping fun time. Guitar on most songs is essentially a chordfest, with a few songs here and there having a solo or something, while bass really is quietly more fun than as a whole than guitar. Ahh "Longview" how I like your bass line.

4/5

+ Green Day!
- Leans a little heavy on the newer Green Day, although "21st Century Breakdown" isn't as bad as I initially thought.
- Not for those that have guitar as their instrument of choice.

Game Review (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Resurgence Pack - 360)

2010-06-04T09:57:00.002-05:00

fourzerotwo promised another Modern Warfare 2 back, but I don't think anyone thought it would happen so quickly. Released June 3rd on Xbox LIVE, the Resurgence Pack is yet again another $15-for-5-map download. Is it worth the money?

Strike: 4.5/5 As you probably know, Strike; along with Vacant, is a rehash from the original Modern Warfare with a few subtle tweaks. The map takes on a new skin, there's more detail, and the game just looks better. If you liked it before, you'll like it here. If not, nothing will change... that goes for Vacant as well.

Vacant: 4.25/5 The only difference here; outside of the new look, is that in objective modes, that little gate blocking the doorway in the bad guys's spawn opens up, allowing for a new tactical advantage for the good guys. Nothing else has changed from what I can tell, but it's just as good as it was in Modern Warfare.

Trailer Park: 4.25/5 This map is probably my least favorite of the pack. It's not bad at all, but there has to be a least favorite, right? Trailer Park is just as it says - a trailer park. You basically run in and around trailers on this small/medium sized map. It encourages easy camping, but it's easy to flush guys out with a quick M67 or Semtex.

Fuel: 4.5/5 I must say, Fuel looks really awesome. But on the flip side of things, I'm disappointed in the map for one reason. The one half of the map with all of the buildings is great, but I can't help but think the other part of the map - where nobody EVER goes - is simply for boosters. There is almost nothing there, and there's no reason to even go there. Still, Fuel looks great and plays very well on the other side of the map.

Carnival: 4.5/5 I thought this would blow the other maps out of the water. Not quite, but it's still a fantastic map. People say it's a huge map, but I seem to get around it pretty quickly. There's something amusing about hearing "Claymores on the carousel."... I don't know what it is. A very fun map.

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The Resurgence Pack is really quite a bit better than the Stimulus Pack, but that's expected for sales. Naturally Infinity Ward (or any company) would put out the less appealing pack first, to try and get better sales off the second. That's how it works. Hey, I payed $30 for 10 maps - half the cost of the game - only 6 of which were new. A lot of people whine about it, and they have the right, but so long as they don't start charging $20 for 5 maps, I'll be fine.

4.25/5

+ Carnival and Fuel are maps that really any Call of Duty player needs to try.
+ Strike and Vacant got a bigger make-over than Crash and Overgrown in the Stimulus Pack.
- Still $15, a reason many will not buy.

Game Review (Wizard 101 - PC)

2010-06-03T00:41:00.002-05:00

Wizard 101 is an MMORPG developed by KingsIsle, released September 2nd 2008, and targeted for a 10-15-year-old audience. Think of it, in simplest terms, as a game with a World of Warcraft atmosphere at times, with battles similar to that of something from Final Fantasy. Instead of really using magic, you're using cards, so MAYBE it's actually more like Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh. However you compare this game, it's very solid overall.

Graphics: 4/5 Wizard101 doesn't have anything that will blow you away, but the game just looks pretty. It should run smoothly on most newer computers on the higher difficulty settings. The game occasionally lags, but that's usually only when you're in The Commons. The particle effects are nice, and the bright colors throughout most of the worlds really make the game shine.

Sound: 4/5 Pretty surprisingly good! Although I normally skip any dialogue, I have heard a good bit of it, and it is pretty well done for the most part. From what I can tell, every and any person you talk to has dialogue - human or not. The battle sounds are decent, but the music in the game is pretty simple and enjoyable.

Control: 4/5 I find the game to be very simple to control for the most part, but for someone that's 10 years old? I could see how this would be frustrating. There is a good bit to learn, but if you've ever played an MMORPG in the past, I think you know what to expect here.

Fun: 4.25/5 Wizard101 is a very solid game, but it's obviously not without flaws. Excuse me while I rant. First, I think KingsIsle is really a big scam of a company. The subscription is only $10 a month compared to the $15 for the giant World of Warcraft, but to really buy the spiffy things in and outside of Wizard City, you will have to buy Crowns, which cost real American dollars. You can very easily get along using the game's simple gold currency, but those who get Crowns will get distinct advantages, including much stronger, faster, and smarter pets. One of the biggest things that upsets me about Wizard101 is that although there are several different worlds to explore, and they appear to look different on the surface, they really are all quite similar. It doesn't take long to realize that; for the most part, the worlds have almost an identical layout anywhere you go, and the quests are also pretty redundant. (Pick up these barrels or crates, go inside this building and defeat these guys, etc.) This is to be expected, seeing as how MMORPGs tend to sort of... HAVE to follow this formula, but Wizard101 just doesn't seem to mask it quite as well. However, if a 10 year old were to play this game, they'd probably hardly even notice. The worlds, as I said, look very cool, the different creatures you run to along the way are interesting, the pets and mounts are spiffy, and the game is just expanding as KingsIsle is hard at work trying to keep the game fresh. While Wizard101 isn't the best MMORPG out there right now, it's a bit cheaper than World of Warcraft (if you're just talking about the subscription.) and simpler as well.

4/5

Things you may want to know:
- Subscribing ranges from $9.95 a month to $79.95 a year, depending on how you have it billed. If you don't subscribe, you will be unable to leave the core of Wizard City.
- Chat system is terrible. It's intended for a younger audience, so even words like 'crap' are blocked. But that's not all, I've experienced random words like 'so' to be censored, making for difficult conversing.
- Crowns, although not necessary, you may want to get eventually. Sadly, KingsIsle is trying to get kids to make their parents buy them, and I guess it's working. Sort of disappointing... almost like a scam.

Game Review (Stick Skater - iPhone App)

2010-05-16T00:46:00.001-05:00

Graphics: 3/5 Completely simple, but the game runs smooth.

Sound: 3.5/5 Pretty good for a low-budget looking game. The sounds get a little irritating after awhile, but as usual, you can listen to your music while playing.

Control: 3.5/5 Almost too simple. There are two options - one that allows you to press a button to do a random trick, or one that allows you to flick in a certain position to do a specific trick. This makes it simple for any one of any age to play.

Fun: 3/5 Stick Skater is decent, but it won't keep you entertained for long. It's a buck, and that's all it's worth - if that. The game is redundant, plain, and simple.

3/5

Food Review (Lean Cuisines)

2010-05-12T22:02:00.002-05:00

So, you're looking to lose weight ... or maybe just find some new frozen meals. In this - hopefully brief - post, I'll rate the Lean Cuisines I have had.

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Alfredo Pasta with Chicken & Broccoli: 3.75/5 As with any other Lean Cuisines I'll be reviewing, lacks a strong flavor. Cheese is of course quite fattening, and the alfredo sauce here doesn't have a LOT of flavor. The vegetables are nice and the noodles are good, but you only get about 2 or 3 decent sized chunks of chicken, and a somewhat bland tasting sauce.

Baja-Style Chicken Quesadilla: 4.5/5 It's a new one, and a good one. The only thing upsetting about this thing is the fact that it doesn't last long at all. It's one of the smaller Lean Cuisines, but I'm telling you the only downside is the size.

Cheese Ravioli: 3.5/5 First time I had it, I really liked it. Each time I've had it afterwards, I've grown to like it less and less... the cheese just... doesn't taste very good. The sauce is great, don't get me wrong, but that cheese... ehh. It should also be known that from what I can tell, this has the lowest amount of calories of all the Lean Cuisines at 220.

Chicken Carbonara: 4.5/5 One of the first Lean Cuisines I had, the Chicken Carbonara is delicious. Good chicken, even better sauce. Definitely one of my favorites.

Chicken Enchilada Suiza: 5/5 Has to be my favorite of them all. The official website has this given a 3/5 rating, which I think is pretty unbelievable. The chicken in the enchilada, the sauce, the rice... everything's perfect. As with the quesadilla, the only problem here is the size. I wish there was MORE!

Chicken Parmesean: 4.5/5 The box lies as far as the amount of cheese on the chicken - there is quite literally none to be seen after cooking - but the chicken tastes good, the noodles and sauce are basically perfect. Impossible to not recommend this one.

Chicken Philly Flatbread Melt: 4.5/5 What can be said? Good chicken and cheese, but the peppers really make this stand out. More calories than most Lean Cuisines, but it really is worth it.

Grilled Chicken Caesar: 2.75/5 It's edible, but one of my least favorite Lean Cuisine varieties... it's just about flavorless. The chicken has a decent flavor, but there are some disgusting looking pieces in there, and... this is just overall pretty bland.

Lemon Chicken: 3/5 The sauce is pretty decent, but the rice isn't very good, and the chicken that you get is two VERY small patties that taste processed up the ass. It's not my favorite thing in the world - it's far from it - but it's not the absolute worst Lean Cuisine out there.

Sante Fe Style Rice and Beans: 5/5 One of very few vegetarian Lean Cuisine options, but even ones with meat don't get much better than this. It tastes quite similar to the Chicken Enchilada Suiza one - minus the chicken enchilada. Completely nomnomnom.

Sesame Chicken: 4.5/5 Not a LOT of flavor, but enough. I would probably give this a 5 if it weren't for the fact that I've had this a couple times where the chicken has had... bones, or so it seems, in it. Okay, that sounds disgusting. REALLY disgusting. But yeah. yo uneed to try this if you haven't yet.

Steak Tips Portabello: 4.5/5 The steak tips are tender and delicious, and the broccoli ends up perfectly steamed after being cooked. I add just a bit of salt to the broccoli, but this is just another really, really good Lean Cuisine.

Sweet and Sour Chicken: 4/5 I hadn't had sweet and sour chicken before this dish, but I must say, I am a fan. I don't like pineapple, so that turned me off a bit, but the sweet. The sour. The taste. Very unique and I like it quite a bit.

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That was just a review of one-tenth of all the Lean Cuisines currently available. In case you don't want to look, that makes for a total of 120 out there. About 80% or more of the ones I have had I'd try again, and most of these I highly recommend. Lean Cuisines aren't cheap, or largely portioned, so I'll just say if you do decide to eat them, do it slowly. That way it feels like you're eating more than you actually are.

Album Review (The Outsiders by NEEDTOBREATHE)

2010-05-07T10:52:00.001-05:00

This kind of music isn't generally my thing, but NEEDTOBREATHE's Bear Rinehart has a ridiculous voice that almost reminds me a bit of the singer from Kings of Leon. Thing is, I find that Bear has better range. The Outsiders has some ridiculously catchy fun-to-sing songs while still having a good number of slower tracks as well. I basically like every song on this album a lot with a few exceptions. "Stones Under Rushing Water" and "Let Us Love" are decent, but are clearly the weak tracks in my opinion. I didn't care much for NEEDTOBREATHE much at all at first, but 214 listens later, they're my 9th most listened-to band on Last.FM.

4.5/5

Food Review (Double Down from KFC)

2010-05-06T19:38:00.002-05:00

Apparently the Double Down came out last year in Rhode Island and Nebraska... why? I have no idea why such random ass states. Anyways, it came out recently nationwide and I had one like... 3 minutes ago. Basically, it's called the Double Down because it's two pieces of bacon, two pieces of cheese, Colonel's Sauce, [Cum?] and two pieces of original recipe or grilled chicken. (your choice) Like probably 80% or more of people, I got the original recipe. The thing costs five bucks so I was expecting something epic. You know what? I was disappointed... for a few reasons. First of all, the thing is pretty small. The cheese was hanging off the sides, and wasn't even melted... bummer. As for the taste, all you really taste is chicken. I found the cheese to be pretty much tasteless. The bacon was pretty decent, but the two little pieces you get go away in a bite each. The Colonel's Sauce [Cum?] is pretty good, I would probably ask for extra sauce if I were to get this again. Overall, the Double Down is... decent. $7 for the sandwich, a 16 oz. drink, and a side of potato wedges. Pretty expensive, but it's worth a try. The chicken is of course good, but that's almost all you really taste. I might get this again, but not in the near future.

+ Cool idea. The bacon and sauce are nice additions.
- Cheese is pointless, bacon sort of is too. Price is too high. Greasy as all hell.

3.5/5

[By the way, the original recipe variation of the Double Down has 540 calories - the same amount as a McDonald's Big Mac.]

Food Review (Filet 'o Fish from McDonalds)

2010-05-06T17:28:00.002-05:00

Now, I don't normally review 'regular' items from fast food menus, but I figured this one is worthy since I had my very first Filet 'o Fish yesterday. Not being a very big seafood fan at all, I was very skeptical... but I wanted to try something different... and so I did.

First impression was, "Shit, this thing's tiny." I don't remember what the cost was, but I know that normally, they're pretty expensive. I took off the top bun and took a whiff. It smelled pretty fishy. There was half a slice of American cheese underneath the filet, and a nice glob of relishy tartar sauce.

I took a bite. The smell is a lot stronger than the taste is, I can say that. Personally, not being a fan of fish, I didn't care for it - that's not to say I hated it - but the relish-tartar sauce concoction really made the sandwich. The bun was also soft and had a hint of sweetness to it. The American cheese, other than seeing it was there, did nothing for me. I didn't taste it at all.

The Filet 'o Fish from McDonalds isn't a very big sandwich at all, yet still weighs in at - I believe - 380 calories. If you like fish, you probably won't care for this too much because it doesn't taste very fishy. If you don't like fish, you'll probably find it quite edible, mainly because of the sauce, but might not buy it again.

3.5/5

+ Sauce!
- Price, size. Just not a good value.

Game Review (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Stimulus Pack - 360)

2010-03-30T22:23:00.003-05:00

Some hacker awhile back managed to dig up a good number of maps that are SUPPOSEDLY going to be coming soon to Modern Warfare 2. I must admit, when I saw "Stimulus Pack", I thought that maybe - just MAYBE - the pack would be available on discount. Perhaps 400 MSP or even FREE, if generous. Well, yeah, no. It's 1200 MSP. ANYWAYS, So far, we've gotten five of those listed. Three new maps, and two older ones.

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I'm going to start with the ports first. "Crash" is, of course, the first of two from Call of Duty 4. It looks almost exactly as it did in Call of Duty 4 with a few very minor changes, including a few new paint jobs in buildings, and more detail in them as well. Basically, from what I can tell, nothing else has changed. Maybe a few more graphical improvements, but other than that, nada. 4.25/5

"Overgrown" is the second port in the pack. Like "Crash", there aren't very many changes to speak of - a few minor graphical improvements - and the map remains almost exactly as it was in Call of Duty 4. Some people were hoping for a snowy version of the map, which I think would have been cool, but of course, that was too much to ask from Infinity Ward. Speaking of snow, that brings me to something else... 4.5/5

"Salvage" is the first of the three new maps I'll be going over. First impression in seeing videos was that it looked like something straight out of Spec Ops - I forget the mission - mixed together with Scrapyard, and dusted with snow. While I thought this was going to be byfar the worst map in the back, it isn't so bad at all. While I haven't played it nearly as many times as the other two new maps in the pack, I have - so far - a generally positive opinion on this map. 4/5

"Storm" is a map that at first glance reminded me of a combination of "Downpour" and "Shipment", but I soon realized it was much better than "Downpour", and worlds better than "Shipment", which I think is probably the worst Call of Duty map in the history of the world. This is quite a large map, but at the same time, feels small, and very familiar, after just a few run throughs. I thought "Bailout" would be my favorite map from the pack byfar, but I think it's actually a pretty close call. 4.5/5

"Bailout" was definitely the map I was anticipating the most after seeing pictures and the trailer. It's much smaller than I thought it would be, but it's still a pretty perfect map. Plenty of rooms to hide in, different buildings, a street level... a bunch of change in elevations and... yeah, I just look forward to playing it every time it comes up. Due to the fact it's smaller than I imagined it would be, I will give it a 4.5/5

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Basically, the Stimulus Pack is a disappointment for the obvious reason - the price. Why we have to pay for 2 maps that are virtually identical to ones we already paid for is beyond me. Why Infinity Ward/Activision tries to possibly 'more justify' the price tag with emblems/titles is also pretty ridiculous. Really what you're paying for here, in my opinion, is $15 for 3 maps. Sure, "Crash" and "Overgrown" are both great, - at least in my opinion - but we already had them, and they've hardly changed at all this time around. "Storm" and "Bailout" are both great worth-your-time maps, but are those two stand-out maps really worth $15? Probably not. Will you, like I did, if you haven't already, buy these maps? Probably so.

4/5

+ "Storm" and "Bailout" are two of the best CoD:MW maps to date, in my opinion.
+ "Crash" and "Overgrown", although relatively unchanged, are still fun to play.
- $15 is just too expensive for what you get.
- Many, if not most, will be turned off at the idea of paying for old maps.

Game Review (MLB 2K10 - 360)

2010-03-07T13:57:00.003-05:00

Graphics: 4.25/5 A slight improvement over last year in some aspects, (such as the more subtle things, like parts of the field and whatnot) but overall, a bit of a downgrade from 2K9. I can give a lot of credit to 2K10 for getting rid of the ugly dust effect on the infield from last year... in the words of White Goodman... "What the hell?"

Sound: 4/5 Another great cast of commentary, this year also featuring ESPN's own John Kruk, but the soundtrack in my opinion is pretty weak. There are some good songs, but overall it's quite underwhelming.

Control: 4/5 The pitching mechanics this year are better than last year, but at times, it can get frustrating. Telling you you're overthrowing or doing an odd gesture, even when you swear by your life you did it perfectly well. The hitting is the same as it has been for the past few years, using the sticks to hit, but also allowing the option to hit with the A or B button.

Fun: 3.75/5 MLB 2K10 is about as good as last year in my opinion. While the game is more than playable, and enjoyable, it's just not good enough to warrant a purchase in my opinion - there are too many bugs, ranging from minor, to somewhat major. One of the two bigger bugs I've found is occasionally, when a ball is blooped into the outfield, the ball SHOULD hit the ground, but it will instead slide across into the outfielder's glove... that's just lame. Another one, which has cost me a game twice now, are the retarded as fuck catchers. On two occasions there should have been a VERY close play at the plate. Upon watching the replay, the catcher would catch the ball, unnecessarily HIGH, and refuse to crouch down to tag the runner. I lost two games because of this glitch. Anyways, as said, MLB 2K10 is enjoyable, the My Player mode is pretty decent, but could use some work, as it does have pointless features itself, (unable to be traded unless you do it yourself...? really?) but I'm not too sure I'd want to pay $60 for a game I'd play for maybe 2 months then get $8 trade-in credit for afterwards. Once again, I guess we can only hope next year a more 'The Show'-esque game will arrive on the Xbox 360. Until then, I'll just make the MLB series a yearly one week rental.

3.75/5

Game Review (PGR 4 - 360)

2010-03-07T13:49:00.002-05:00

Graphics: 4.5/5 Very good graphics - but not the best on the console for racing games. GRID is newer, and just looks better. The rain effects in this game are also weird looking. Some people say they look fantastic, but I don't know what they're seeing - it looks like your car gets wrapped in saran wrap when it's covered in water.

Sound: 4/5 The soundtrack is fitting, interesting, and has a lot of variety. A good portion of the cars sound great, but then some others just sound unrealistic. I can't think of any in particular, but when you hear one, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Control: 4/5 As I'm sure you know by now, bikes are drivable this time around. Many fans thought this was a bad addition, and I find it hard to disagree. The bikes are pretty pointless, in my opinion. They drive a lot like the cars, and you also have to go about 50 MPH to fall off the bike. I know they did this for balance, but it is irritating when you hit a guy on a bike with your car and he doesn't fall off. So basically, the bikes and cars control pretty well, and the driving conditions (snow, rain) DO affect the way your car turns and whatnot, which is cool, the cars and bikes both just control too similarly.

Fun: 4/5 PGR 4 is the first PGR game I've played, and I find it pretty enjoyable. It's not the best racing game on the console, but it is still worth a try. There are a ton of cars, an online community that tracks stats, and a bunch of cool tracks. If you're looking for an entertaining, cheap racing game for the 360, buy PGR 4. Or, better yet, get the Messenger Gold Pack with, for $55 on Amazon.com, includes a 12-Month Gold card, a headset, a chat-pad, and of course, PGR 4.

4/5

Food Review (Bacon & Bleu from Wendy's)

2010-03-02T18:24:00.002-05:00

Another new thing from Wendy's... this time, the Bacon & Bleu burger! I just got done eating one and I must say... not impressed. The bacon is half soggy, and the bleu cheese leaves a bitter aftertaste. Not my favorite. Had Wendy's decided to use a creamy bleu cheese instead of the chunks of bleu cheese, there would obviously be more calories, but it would taste much better. The sauce that's on the burger is pretty good, and the onions are alright too - although hard to notice for the most part - but the bleu cheese just... ruins the burger, ironically.

I'd have to give this burger a D overall... just based on the flavor of the bleu cheese. Not a fan of the aftertaste one bit.

3/5

Food Review (Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet)

2010-03-02T17:43:00.002-05:00

So Taco Bell has had this diet thing for I guess maybe a little over a month now...? and I recently finally finished eating all 7.

All of the tacos on this menu seem to have more lettuce and tomatoes than the regular ones on the menu, and about the same amount of meat. The meat is of the same quality as what's on the ordinary menu, but I guess it's just portioned correctly. The least gut-busting on the menu is the 150 calorie hard shell taco, while the 340 bean burrito has the most on the menu. My two personal favorites from the menu probably are the chicken ranchero taco, and the bean burrito. That's not to say not everything else on the menu is ECKK, I just think those two stand out. Personally I don't see the point of this 'diet menu', seeing as how if you were to go to Taco Bell and just buy one, maybe two small items, it would have the same amount of calories as getting one item from this menu. I think it's just to increase sales.. surprise?

Anyways, these seven items are all pretty good, and would recommend anyone to try each one at least once to find one they like. If you're seriously trying to diet, I still wouldn't tell you to eat this as your ideal food. Despite being low in calories and whatnot, there is still a pretty high sodium level here, and god knows what is added to these meats, but we all know they aren't fresh and the best quality!

I'd have to give the menu, overall, about a 3.5 or 3.75 out of 5. Why? Well, although the items are generally tasty, I can't see the purpose of this menu, and to think that people will be going to Taco Bell and eating this every time thinking they're going to lose weight, I can tell them this - it won't happen. Especially if you're going to get a pop with it... I mean honestly, how many people are going to ask for a water?

C rating. That's what I'll give.

Candy Review (Whoppers)

2010-01-15T13:02:00.002-05:00

This is as random of a review as it gets right here, I know. This is a review of the three different Whoppers available - anywhere? - right now.

Whoppers Original
Whoppers Strawberry Milkshake
Whoppers Reese's Peanut Butter

First of all, I must say that as much as I enjoy Whoppers, I can never eat too many of them. Same goes for those Combo pretzel things... I can only have a few before I call it quits. This is a pretty easy choice here.

Whoppers original wins easily. The chocolate + malt is just perfect. I doubt there's a way they could have a chance of making it any better. My second choice would probably be the strawberry milkshake flavor, but not by too much. It's good, but doesn't taste like strawberry a LOT - that is to say it's not overwhelming - and it is only so-so. The Reese's flavor is good, but I'll take a regular Reese's peanut butter cup over the Whoppers any day. If the Reese's Whoppers were maybe chocolate on top of peanut butter on top of the malt, then I'm sure it would be better.

Original: 4.5/5
Strawberry Milkshake: 3.5/5
Reese's Peanut Butter: 3.25/5

The strawberry milkshake and Reese's flavors were alright, but I wouldn't get them again.

Rock Band Songs: 2008 vs. 2009

2010-01-01T01:04:00.002-05:00

Now that we have two full years of DLC in the books individually, (really over 2 if you include 2007 DLC) there can finally be a debate of which is better - 2008, or 2009.

We will start with 2008, naturally. Some big hits came out last year, including the most downloaded "charged" song, "All the Small Things", as well as a bunch of other hits including "Wonderwall", "Don't Stop Believing", "More than a Feeling", and much more. 2008 was also the year we got our first album - "Screaming for Vengeance" by Judas Priest, as well as plenty of others. The Cars, Pixies, The Who, Megadeth, Rush, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Motley Crue, and the Foo Fighters all had also had albums in '08. If you haven't heard of at least half of those bands, please - GTFO.

Now 2009... a year full of diversity and a bunch of new bands, as with 2008. Bands from '09 that had albums included Stevie Ray Vaughn, Pearl Jam, Guns 'N Roses, Janes Addiction, Spinal Tap, and - oop - Pearl Jam again! If you include Beatles Rock Band and LEGO Rock Band into the equation, '09 would win pretty easily in my book. But since I'm just referring to DLC for the core Rock Band game, this could be a tough choice.

Let's take a look at my numbers. In 2008, I downloaded 252 songs. In '09, 236. A pretty - if not very - close year in numbers. As you can tell, for me it's a tough call. I'm tempted to give '09 the edge, but I downloaded more in '08, so I think that year should be auto-given the better of the two.

Anyways, now there are over 1,000 songs for the Rock Band platform, and the library keeps growing each and every week. I'm looking forward to another year... and then another... and another year and then some of Rock Band DLC being released for the platform. What will 2010 bring? We'll have to wait and see. Until then, you have quite the selection to choose from and rock out to.

Happy new year!

Game Review (DJ Hero - 360)

2009-12-28T16:45:00.003-05:00

Graphics: 3/5 Just doesn't look that great. The characters are uninspired, the venues only look ALRIGHT - there's nothing stunning - and nothing exactly STANDS OUT.

Sound: 4/5 I give this a 4/5 despite about half the mixes being great, and the other half being mediocre or worse. A good number of these mixes will have you bobbing your hit while you DJ and the some of the others are just not-so-fun to play along to. There is also DLC, although not a lot, and it is sort of expensive.

Control: 4.5/5 This is a very great, new, innovative game. The DJ table is well built, heavy while being light and sturdy, and it's just really fun, including the scratching and whatnot.

Fun: 4.25/5 DJ Hero is music game of the year in my opinion just because of the innovative part. It's probably not quite as fun as The Beatles Rock Band, but it's new, and quite a bit of fun. I just wish there were more GOOD mixes, and better/cheaper DLC. Still, if you're curious and wondering if you'll like this, odds are you will, even though the learning curve is somewhat steep, and you will quite likely get dyslexic playing this game.

4.25/5

DVD Review (Spongebob Squarepants: The First 100 Episodes)

2009-12-25T10:56:00.018-05:00

Spongebob Squarepants: The First 100 Episodes is the ultimate collection for any fan of the show. Seeing as how the first 100 episodes are from the first five seasons, these are the best of the best episodes. This DVD has 14 discs, and a bunch of bonus features. For about $80 you get HOURS of Spongebob Squarepants action. I can't recommend this DVD enough if you're a fan of the show. Enough said.

5/5

Hardware Review ( Premium ION Drum Rocker - 360 )

2009-12-22T16:50:00.002-05:00

At Best Buy I saw this ION sitting on a shelf in a beat up box for $159 on clearance down from $300. Apparently it was sitting there for awhile and they just wanted to sell it. I got it, brought it home, and set it up in a little over an hour with two people. All the stuff in the box makes everything seem intimidating, but it's not very difficult at all to set up.

After setting it up, I played a few songs. I instantly felt like I went into a timewarp to over a year ago. Although I set the drums up the same as the Rock Band kit, I was missing the pads now and then. This will take some time to get used to, as will the cymbals.

The pads are nice. I can tell right now they won't peel off or bubble, for sure. They aren't quieter than the stock Rock Band 2 drums, but they are quieter than the Rock Band 1 kit. There is a nice rebound, and they feel good and sturdy. The same can't quite be said for the cymbals. They seem to register flawlessly, but they don't register at all if you hit gently. Also, they are LOUD when you're hitting them constantly. (Like the hi-hat.)

The bass pedal was, and still is a bit funky to me. It's heavy metal, and won't move at all if it's on carpet since you get velcro strips to put on the bottom of it. Thing is, it feels almost broken because it's so easy to use. I really prefer the Rock Band 2 pedal, but this will do for now.

Overall the Premium ION Drum Rocker is a solid and sturdy kit that was well worth the $150 with cymbals. As for someone paying $300 for this kit, I would not say it's worth it. That just seems awfully expensive to me if you're using it just as a Rock Band kit. That's freakin' 150 DLC songs.

+ Well made kit.
+ Looks nice.
+ Well worth $150
- Takes awhile to set up.
- Lots of cords
- Standard price of about $300 is too a little high.
- Questionable bass pedal.

4.5/5 if you get for $150 or so.
3.75/5 if you you have to pay $250+.

Drink Review (Monster Assassin NRG Shot)

2009-11-17T00:49:00.003-05:00

This is only my second time ever having an energy shot, but basically my first since the original one was just so long ago... okay, enough idiocy. First of all, if you know anything about me, you'll know I'm one out of basically every ten people that prefers Red Bull to Monster... I do by a longshot, actually, but I got this at the Modern Warfare 2 midnight launch for free so decided to give it a try. First off a quick look at the nutrition facts shows that this is indeed a condensed can of Monster, in case you didn't know that. Here are some quick facts: 3 fl. oz., 30 calories, 6g sugar, 2000mg taurine, 5000mg 'Energy Blend', 400mg Panax Ginseng, etc. Anyways, whatever... then I opened it and took a whiff...

Appearance: 4/5 A bit lame reviewing the appearance, don't you think? Anyways, it comes in a small black plastic bottle... I'm sure you're looking at a picture or have already seen one by now. The Monster logo is in the middle with a crosshair on it, and there is shiny silver around the container. Pretty cool and simple, but nothing to cream your pants for.

Smell: 5/5 It smells indescribably awesome. I wish I had an air freshener that smelled remotely close to this. It's got almost a sour appleberry aroma to it. I could sniff the bottle all day.

Taste: 2.5/5 At the very second you put this on your tongue it doesn't taste too bad at all... probably because you're still thinking about the smell... but soon you realize this IS an energy shot, and it basically tastes like poopy cough medicine or mouth wash. It has a syrupy consistency to it, and the aftertaste is pretty appalling... like that of diet pop. To give you an idea of how foul I thought the taste really was, my eyebrows went crazy... in the bad way of course. Blech! Not very good at all.

Overall, I'd just have to give this between a 4.5 and a perfect 5. It does what it says. It's energy in a bottle, and it gives you just that. While I wish the taste was as good as the smell, it gets the job done. I have just one tip - choke it down quick.

Recommended.

400th Review! Game Review (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - 360)

2009-11-17T00:31:00.002-05:00

Alas! Over two years later, Modern Warfare 2 has finally been released. While World at War was decent, I really didn't care to play ANOTHER World War II game... so Modern Warfare 2's release was super exciting for me. This is my review.

Graphics: 4.75/5 I didn't think so at first, but looking back, it's plain and simple to see that Modern Warfare 2 just looks much better than the original. Everything about it is just sharper. The only real reason I am not giving this a perfect 5/5 is the simple fact that there seems to be a bit more lag online than there was in Modern Warfare 1. I'm not sure why this is, but I can hope it ONLY improves.

Sound: 5/5 Great, as all Call of Duty games are. The explosions, the guns, the dialogue, everything is basically perfect. The only tiny flaw I have with the sound is the same I had in the original - the online dialogue is repeated over and over again. Still, that's small potatoes compared to the game as a whole. Beautifully done, again.

Fun: 4.75/5 Not a perfect score!? Are you MAD, man!? Hear me out. While Modern Warfare 2 is an easy candidate for Game of the Year, the game is not completely perfect. While all the minor and bigger additions are nice, including custom kill streaks, new third person mode, titles and emblems, new weapons, etc., the game just could have had MORE of those minor things, including a character creation thing. While this may have kind of been a strange and maybe even unwelcome addition to the series, I can't help but think Infinity Ward is holding off until the NEXT Modern Warfare to add that feature just to say they added something new. Modern Warfare 2 is near perfect, but some of the additions just have me scratching my head. The first and biggest thing that comes to mind here is the heartbeat sensor, which just screams for campers. There is a perk to block yourself from being seen, but really there just aren't THAT many people running around with them... so really, I guess I should shut up. Next is the kill streaks. Ha ha ha, yes, all fine and cool that you can customize them, but the 11 kill streak AC-130 / Chopper Gunner option is just completely obnoxious. Every now and then you'll play a game with someone that got one of the two from either a Care Package or just has it as their 11th kill streak. While they seem very different, in the end their very similar, and end in the person using it adding 6 or more kills easily to their killstreak if they have any talent at all. This feature essentially ruins the game, especially Team Deathmatch.

Anyways, moving on, the maps in the game (as seen in a previous preview) are pretty good for the most part with a bit more variety than Modern Warfare 1. However, after playing all the maps, and seeing what was in Spec Ops and in the campaign, I have a sick feeling in my stomach that Infinity Ward plans on releasing Map Packs in the future for multiplayer that resemble or are identical to ones in those modes. If that's the case, I will feel cheated. I mean, yeah, I'll still buy them day one, but... eh. I'll just hope they don't plan on doing this. Although the thought of battling it out against terrorists in Washington D.C. or Pittsburgh sounds pretty tasty...

Overall, Modern Warfare 2 is a near perfect game with a few minor flaws. While it is a lot like the original, - shocker! - Infinity Ward knew they didn't have to change much and didn't... they essentially took the original and added a few small things here and there to make the game better, and succeeded for the most part in doing so, although some things aren't very welcome additions, in my opinion. I'm pretty confident this game will be Game of the Year... developers didn't push back the dates on their games until after November 10th or until next year - they know Modern Warfare 2 will dominate this 2009 season.

4.75/5

+: Improved graphics, same great online play, a few very minor but fun additions including emblems/titles, Spec Ops is great.

-: Nothing major has changed - I guess that could be a bad thing?, some weak maps online, (Although that's inevitable, really I think.)

The Review in a Nutshell: Buy it... duh.

Game Review (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Part 1 - The Maps)

2009-11-11T01:33:00.003-05:00

This is part one of a two or maybe three part review of MW2. This one features strictly around the multiplayer maps in the game, giving a brief description, and my opinion.

Afghan: 3.75/5 This map is hard to rate in my opinion, because it really depends on the opposing team more than any other map... or so I've noticed. Since a good majority of this map is really open, there are snipers aplenty - normally - inside of bunkers and the like. What makes this map more playable and enjoyable is the fact that there are some great places for cover including a mini-cave area which is a nice addition. I must say, I had some fairly high expectations for Afghan, thinking it would be a really great map, but it's really just average to play... most of the time.

Derail: 4/5 This is one of the larger maps in online play, or so it seems anyway. Derail is a very open map with trees and hills including two main buildings in the middle and one far side of the map. Because of the map's huge open areas, if an opposing team gets a helicopter/AC-130... really, anything in the air, and you spawn on the far side of the map away from basically no buildings, you're almost guaranteed to die at least once. The middle building of this map almost makes it. It's large, with two stairways, lots of windows for a bunch of vantage points, and it's just fun to play. Only downside to this map really is its large size.

Estate: 4.5/5 I was looking forward to this map more than any other - besides maybe Terminal - and it didn't let me down. Although parts of this map, and the fact that it does go uphill, remind me of one of my most loathed maps of Call of Duty 4, Creek, this map is a complete blast. It's large, but the different areas are really diverse. There is obviously a large house at the top of the hill, with a greenhouse and barn surrounding it, including a garage at the bottom of it. This is just a very fun map, and hanging around the house inside and out is just a lot of fun. One of the best maps in the game, in my opinion.

Favela: 4/5 Favela, I believe, was the first map to be shown in a multiplayer video... in full. The unique thing about this map is that virtually every rooftop you see you can get on one way or another. There are also a bunch of alley-ways and streets to walk through, making for some really great close encounters. While this map really encourages rooftop/window camping, or just camping in general, the fact that it's so busy makes it easy to escape firefights and thus makes the map more enjoyable to know you won't get shot in the back or get spawn killed every few seconds. A fun map, and the rooftop jumping is cool, but it still doesn't really seem to stand out.

Highrise: 3.75/5 One of the last maps I got a chance to play in MW2, Highrise is a map that just has a Rainbow Six: Vegas sort of look to it... I'm not sure why. Basically, there are two offices on each side of the map, with two open sides... you're on the top of a skyscraper, and if you fall off, well... you're going to die. There is also a lower section of the map that will allow you, and your enemies for that matter, try to get a surprise attack in. This is one of the smaller maps in online play, which will make this a favorite to many, but it just doesn't seem super unique.

Invasion: 4/5 While this map is pretty forgettable - as a matter of fact I had to go on YouTube and see what this map looked like in full as a refresher - by name, it's actually a really cool map. Parts of it remind me of a map from Call of Duty 2... I can't think of which, but it does. A cool desert-like map that takes place in a little town... not much else to say but it is enjoyable.

Karachi: 3.25/5 Ahh.. Karachi. This MAY just be my least favorite map in the game... or basically it. It's hard for me to even stand this map - the camping seems to be out of control on Karachi in particular, and it's just a map that seems to encourage it, even though it is pretty small. The buildings and close quarters all around make this a s'mores making borefest for the most part. I've played this map about three times so far, and every map has been very similar. Frustrating as well as boring. Just not very good.

Quarry: 4.25/5 The first map I played in MW2. I thought I was going to be let down by this map but it turned out to be a LOT of fun. It's pretty big, and the one side of the map is WAY different than the other. There are some buildings to sit in, but there is also a large portion of this map that is laid out with what is basically a concrete graveyard. A fun map for any playstyle.

Rundown: 3.75/5 Rundown is really an average map and there's something about it that makes it feel like it could have been in Call of Duty 2, 3, or World at War. It's not terrible, but it's not great. I have had some pretty awesome firefights on this map, so I will give it recognition for that.

Rust: 4/5 Here we have the Shipment of Modern Warfare 2, but instead of being a tiny map loaded with random boxes, Rust is a small map that basically stacks and there are a bunch of places to go, making the map feel bigger than it actually is. While I didn't care for the oh-so-small Shipment in CoD4, Rust is unique and fun here in Modern Warfare 2. I've enjoyed the games I've played on it so far - just nonstop firefights, really.

Scrapyard: 3.5/5 Another map that sort of feels like it could be in Rainbow Six: Vegas. It's decent, but nothing overwhelmingly special. One building on the four sides of the map, two of which don't face eachother, and a bunch of, well, SCRAPS in the middle of the map. It's a decently fun small/medium sized map, just nothing that will make you say "wow, this is different."

Skidrow: 4.5/5 One of my favorites. Skidrow takes place in an urban city and it's just a lot of fun... you can go inside of apartments all over the place. Up and down stairs, look out windows on two sides of the map - both of those sides which have a lot of space - and there are just some really epic firefights in the hallways on this map. To be honest, it has a Halo feel the way it is played, from what I've dealt with.

Sub Base: 4.5/5 Although it is basically NOTHING like it, I just want to say one... or is it two...? word. Frostfire. That is, Frostfire from SOCOM I/II. It's a snow/cold looking map. You play on a boat of some sort. You can play as the Navy SEALs. There are boxes in the middle of the map... I don't know why I'm giving these comparisons, seeing as how the two aren't even comparable... blah blah blah whatever. They're both a lot of fun. Sub Base is yet another map from this game I really enjoy a lot.

Terminal: 4.5/5 I thought this map would be hands down the best map in the game. Turns out I was wrong... it's still completely incredible to play, but I just got my expectations too high. A great map, and one of the most unique of the disc's sixteen. The only people I say really disliking this map is snipers, but even they could appreciate this map.

Underpass: 4/5 Underpass is a map that seems to, imagine this, take place underneath an express way. There are a good number of war torn buildings though out as well, and the map is of ideal size for a Call of Duty map in my opinion. A medium sized map that I think most will enjoy.

Wasteland: 3/5 I have a lot of dislike for this map. For one thing, it seems to be a map just made for snipers. At first glance, looking at this map you will just likely see slightly hilly land with a few trees and a lot of tall weeds, but after just a few minutes you'll realize there's actually a bunker around most of the map, making this map a BIT better than I would originally say. The center of the bunker will be the hotspot for most gunfire in nearly every game. Basically, without the bunker on this map, it would easily be the dud of Modern Warfare 2... through my eyes, anyway.