Game Review (Forza Motorsport 4 - 360)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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?

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)

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)

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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
[Changed to a 4.25/5 upon easy-to-get-to 100% completion.]

EDIT 11/1/12: After playing Most Wanted (2012) and looking back to this game for comparison, I've really found that the two aren't completely different. While I'd say both games are fun to play in some of their own ways, both are very shallow as far as replay value goes. I beat Hot Pursuit to 100% completion in just 8 days, and if I wanted to, I could have easily beaten Most Wanted (2012)'s single player in about 2 days. I say Hot Pursuit is the better game, but not worthy of what equates to a 9.5 by any means. If you can get it cheap, that's a fair rating. But for the lack of longevity, remembering how little this game did for me after I beat it, I'd give it more of a 4.25/5.

+: 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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

"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)

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)

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.

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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)

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)

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

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)

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)

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.