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.

---

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.

Food Review (Bawls Mints)

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

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

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

5/5

Food Review ("Red" Penguin Caffeinated Cinnamons)

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

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

5/5