Ladies and Gents,

For those who do read what I post (which isn't often, so I don't expect much ) I just wanted to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving. I hope you all enjoy yourselves thoroughly and eat pleanty of turkey (or whatever)!

College is going great so far. I miss my 360, but hey, that's why we have Winter Break, right?

I recently picked up Gears 2 and I must say, it is a whole new bag of fun. I promise I will write a review after this weekend, once I spend some quality time with it. There's just something different about it. The new colors, the insane action, Horde mode, etc. These things stand out in a very pronounced way. Unlike the first, Gears 2 actually feels like a tactical shooter. If you don't work together, you're toast, plain and simple.

I've also got EndWar, so I plan on trying to get a review out on that as well. May I say, I deeply enjoy that game already! It's immensily entertaining to order your troops around and actually work out delicate strategies with a teammate. I guess that's just my RTS side taking a swipe at the world.

Catch you all later. I'll have a random rant next time.

Now, Expansion and Addition could be seen as the same thing. However, to me, they are darastically different. An Expansion truly develops and EXPANDS the gameplay of that specific game, bringing new things to the fold and allocating a variety of fun features to the original. An addition throws a couple of things in just to get people to spend their money. Arguments can easily be made for both sides. But I have to say this:

It's a little bit of both. Speaking from years of Command and Conquer sucking hours from my life (now, those were wonderous hours, mind you), the campaign has always been a crucial part of the game. I remember all the games and the various endings for each side. Yet, this expansion's campaign was not satisfying at all. Obviously, it was designed to focus on Nod and God bless Joe Kucan as Kane who carried the storyline along with his powerful look that captures your attention. At times, though, the campaign seemed confusing, even to me, as though EA was trying to throw in explainations for everything that was ever left out. Well EA, sometimes not explaining the gaps adds fun to the equation and certainly sparks debate, such as "What happened to CABAL after Firestorm?" and "What's with all the life pods with Kane clones in it at the end of Nod's Firestorm campaign?" Sounds like an addition to me.

And here's something else that continues to bug me...

The Forgotten are not SAVAGES!!! They played integral roles in Tiberian Sun and Firestorm and provided depth to the story. It also gave players a different view on the lives of those in the Red Zones. Personally, the Ghost Stalker should have been kept, along with the Titan and the Mammoth Mk 2 walker, which came STANDARD with railguns. I also enjoyed the Mutant Hijacker for Nod and the Cyborg Commando (but I understand why the cyborgs were cut).

Now, onto what Kane's Wrath truly expands upon, that being the gameplay element. The new subfactions add such diversity to the game, allowing players to find their perfect match and delve into a large number of new playing styles. The Steel Talons rock my world, since they have a Tiberian Sun-esque feel and a final steamroller attack style (for me, at least). The Marked of Kane bring back that heavy hitting Cyborg Infantry in two forms, which initially had me giddy like a little girl, but inevitably disappointed me. Just as a side note, I really wanted the guy who did the voices for the cyborgs in Tiberian Sun to do the voice for the Awakened and then the individual who did the voice for the Cyborg Commando to do the voice for the Enlightened. The other factions continue to add new and unique modifications to their parent counterparts, thus making this expansion less of an addition. The Black Hand provide superb infantry for those of you who love their boys on the ground and have improved flame weaponry, as well as the Purifier Assault Mech, but no stealth units or air units. ZOCOM for GDI have hellish sonic based weapons on a variety of different units, Tiberium Resistant Suits, and Zone Raiders, but no railguns. Steel Talons have no higher tier infantry or Sonic Cannon base defenses, but have heavier armored Titans (which can crush tanks) and Wolverines as well as new upgrades. Reaper 17 has enhanced Reaper Tripods and Shard Walkers that deal devestating damage and have powerful upgrades, but lack Planetary Assault Carriers and Devestator Warships (but they do have shielded harvesters). Traveler 59 has high speed infantry and warships (which are cheaper!!!) but lack shield generators.

So, for C&C fanatics like me, pick it up!

One question, though: Why do people rush ALL the time online? Whatever happened to the days of massive force build ups and then epic battles that decided a match?

Oh well. Maybe I'm too old-fashioned