Well whilst it has been a while since I have typed something up, I do have a few things to say so its kinda worth it... maybe. Shit.

Firstly, I have been watching a lot of Burn Notice recently after grabbing the first season and plowing through it in a few days. Its fantastic it really is. For those unaware, Burn Notice is about a spy who gets burned and as such, is black listed and no longer a spy and in his attempts to find out who burned him, he does little jobs to help people. Simple enough formula and it is greatly enjoyable to watch. The actors all do a great job, particularly Bruce Campbell, who is hilarious. Grab it if you get a chance.

Star Wars - The Force Unleashed. This game is just taking waaaay too long to come out and its frustrating the hell out of me. I picked up the demo for the the 360 with complete disregard for my precious internet quota and have been loving it immensely. I have played it through a ridiculous number of time on all difficulty levels, just trying to kill the baddies in as many interest ways as possible. The best I have come up with so far is holding out one of the bad guys out over the edge of a very long drop and letting him get hit by an incoming Tie Fighter :D. Takes both of them out in a fantastic fashion. It comes out in 10 days from today so, soon, the precious...my own.... will be mine.

Well thats it from me for today. I should get back to work really, as i am at work.

I wish I could say the reason I have not been posting for a ridiculously long time was because of this game...but its not. Uni has decided to fuck me right up the arse with either a board with several nails poking out of it or a spiky mace and I am yet to figure out which. But either way, its has decided to go on break for a lil bit and has such given me a chance to post something. 

The Force Unleashed, if you are yet unaware, is a new story in the time between Episode III and IV in which Darth Vader trains an apprentice in secret in order to do his bidding and presumably get rid of the Emperor. Along with the new story, its seems that the force seems to recuperating from endless numbers of Jedi using it and has made every other person able to use it that much better, which is the main idea behind the name.

Anyway, lets talk specifics. I have already meantioned the story line and I have to say that it is really good. I was actually interested in the story and to see how it ended and although there is an alternative ending that does not allow the future of the Star Wars universe to go as planned, its still quite interesting.  Characterisation of the Apprentice was quite well done, but everyone else was rather dodgy unfortunately, except Vader of course but its pretty hard to fuck him up. There is a some stupid attempt at a love sub-plot but that only comes up at the last minute and you can more or less disregard it. 

Now I have heard many criticisms about this game in regards to the force. Despite claims that it was going to be unleashed, many people have said its not quite there yet. And up until a point I agree. The Force, whilst certainly unleashed, could have probably gone a few inches further. However, despite this, if you go into the game with the expectation that you are going to pwn people with extraordinary force power, which is what I did, I do not think you will be disappointed. 

One of the problems that will always plague Star Wars games in my mind, are Lightsabers. A challenge for many gamer developers is making the game hard enough to challenge the user but fun enough to make them want to continue playing it. Lightsabers throw an extra spanner into the works due to it being a ridiculously powerful weapon. Cuts through anything (practically), deflects laser blasts and makes for very cool swords fight. The downside for the Star Wars game developer is that they have to tone this down for any game to ensure that people actually get a challenge. The point I am trying to get to here is that the Lightsaber does not cut through anything in TFU. Sure it does damage but when I slice a Storm Trooper through the middle, I damn well expect his body to split apart with it. Maybe I am asking too much of these types of games but I feel that this is something that should always be included in a SW game. I would even accept the fact the opponents lightsaber could do the same to me with just as much ease if it meant the game to be somewhat more realistic on this matter.

But I think I have gone on about that long enough now. So what do we have. Level and character designs are simply stunning. Story great. Force and Lightsabers fun. Game challenging enough. So in summary. The game is fun. Pure and simple. And as long as your willing to let a few niggling gameplay issues go hide in the corner, you will be able to enjoying blowing opponents away very easily. 

Really been enjoying his music recently. The greatest hits album in partcularly which is 43 songs in length. Particularly during my internship. I am kicking myself for only really getting into it now. 

Ever since I got the new James Morrison album, I have been listening to it almost non stop. Normally it takes me a while to get into a new album because I am always comparing it to the first. The first time I heard it, I knew it was magic. Especially the tracks Save Yourself and Broken Strings. Pick it up.