It was good for its time.

Halo 3

iSaruh rating; 5.5 / 10


It seems that everyone has the idea that Halo is the best shooter ever. I do believe the first and second Halo games were ahead of their time and extremely fun. However, as time went on I expected so much from Halo 3. I was so excited I preorder my copy over a year before its actual release.

First let me talk about the first Halo. A very good and balanced game thats for sure. Great graphics for its time and very addicting. It defiantly was the best shooter for its time. I can't stress that enough though.. for its time. Just because Halo used to be at the top of the charts for the best FPS doesn't mean it deserves to stay there. Though I will admit Halo set the bar pretty high for other game developers. I don't even think Bungie (the game creators and developers of Halo) knew that they were making one of the best selling video games ever.

Halo 2, was highly anticipated from the massive success that was the original Halo game. This game surely was all I expected when it hit the stores in 2004. Amazing graphics, a good story line, and of course what Halo was known for.. its addicting multi player. I know a lot of people may and probably will disagree, but I am one of those people who believe Halo 2 was the better than the original.

Halo 3, this game was even more anticipated than I thought. Flipping through the TV channels and stopping on G4 TV I noticed they were having a 4 or 5 hour show BEFORE the Halo 3 release. It was that big of a deal to some people they literally had a show of them showing the first person who received their copy of Halo 3. Not to mention the specially made Halo 3 Xbox 360's. When I first played my copy I jumped right to the online co op mode. After a full day of beating it on legendary I didn't feel as happy as I thought I would watching the ending of the game. The graphics were of course good, but I've seen better graphics in games released way before Halo 3. The multi player is what I thought it would be, but why was I so disappointed. It wasn't much of a difference from Halo 2. Other than the replay feature that lets you watch all your games after you have played them and the customizable armor. It just wasn't enough this game did not live up to the hype it had in my eyes.

So many other games are pushing the limits and surprising us with new features and abilities. Bungie seems to just either be playing it safe or they are just being lazy. I expected something that would blow me away and the most I saw was the female voice you could switch to with a male body. They couldn't even design a little smaller spartan with a bigger breast plate. All in all this game was as big of a disappointment as a fat man walking in on a closed all you can eat buffet.

The effect of the masses.

Mass Effect.

iSaruh rating; 7 / 10


Finally a game where you can choose the way you want to play. This game has so many customizable features which makes any hardcore gamer excited. Some of the customizable features are: The background, attiude, appearance, and of course armor and weaponry of your character. I've hardly ever seen a game where the gamer gets many choices. The choices normally consist of "Would you prefer to go left or right?" In Mass Effect everything you say to another NPC character is your choice. You can go paragon or renegade, paragon being the good and of course renegade being the evil. The dialog, the player stats, etc. One thing after another is customizable and I can't speak for all gamers, but that was something I believe more games should incorporate into their games.

Of course everyone wants to know, "How are the graphics?" They are outstanding and the facial movement of the characters is very life like, but the graphics aren't too much different from other Xbox 360 games I've seen. The cut scenes usually are a lot better graphics wise than actual game play, but I don't see too much difference on this game.

Sadly, the environment isn't very interactive which in a game like Mass Effect I sort of expected it to be. There are some objects that when you walk up to them you press the A button and you get some experience and maybe some more information in your journal, but other than that there isn't much. As well as the aiming and weapons was a disappointment. Most games have some really fun and powerful weapons you come across and mass effect makes every weapon look the same, just different colored.

All in all this is a good RPG and full of customizable features, but still lacks in many areas. Its worth a buy if you are an RPG space fan, but other than that I'd recommend just renting it.

Time flies.

Gears of War

iSaruh rating; 9.5 / 10


One of the best video game shooters ever in my opinion is Gears of War, actually make that the best video game I've ever played. With its incredible graphics, wonderful controls, realistic features, and addicting multilayer and co op game play this game in almost perfect. Theres always room for improvement however, but that applies to every video game. Halo 3 being one of the top shooters out there confuses me because the moment I picked up Gears of War is the moment I realized the poor quality that Halo really is. And how high Epic Games (the game creators and developers of Gears of War) just set the bar for other shooter games. Bungie (the game creators and developers of the Halo games) has a lot to live up to now, but frankly I don't think they will make another successful game like Halo was. Enough about Halo, thats getting into a completely different blog.

I personally am hoping Gears of War 2 has dedicated servers and more customizable character features or maybe even some customizable weaponry. The game runs smooth and is always amazes me with the amount of detail put into it. Gears of War has now been added to the MLG gaming list and they have also won the 'Game of the year' award as well.


Its definitely a gaming experience you shouldn't pass up.

Gears of War 2's release date as of now is November 2008.