Too lazy to write the descriptions. More pick-ups from June and a sprinkle from July because they arrived today.

Not shown: Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Sam & Max Save the World and King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match. All from XBLA.

I just finished Red Faction: Guerrilla (360). What an awesome game! The final 4-5 missions were just plain epic. Nice satisfying ending too. I was quite surprised with what new mission types they added near the end.

So the ability to destroy any building and vehicles was just plain fun. But what really surprised me were the large variety of mission types. Even if the mission types were the same, the way you approach each one is different. Even the main missions have their own unique missions from time to time that kept things fresh. It was really fun playing all of them. FYI, there are a few different mechs in the game and they're awesome to drive. I won't spoil it for you guys but the demo is just a taste of it. ^_^

The graphics are nice solid even though some textures may not be the most crisp. There was also some screen-tearing in the early area (Parker). But I didn't find them popping up in the areas after it. The explosions and damage in the buildings were pretty spectacular. The world looks fairly nice even if some locations may seem bare. But dust is constantly flowing around and the various day and night times look very nice.

The music and sound is equally impressive. The creaking and metal/stones getting crushed adds so much weight to the graphics. I was also impressed with the various sound effects the sledgehammer would make depending on what you hit it with and how you hit an object. The devs really put a lot into the audio. The voice acting is quite good too. Everyone was well cast and did their job well. The music was surprisingly good. When you're just roaming around, there's some Blade Runner-esque tracks which add to the sci-fi feel. And when you're in some action-packed missions, the music really revs up and adds to the drama. I really dug the soundtrack.

The story is nowhere near as impressive as inFamous and GTAIV but it's not bad. It's a rather simple story with some simple characters. There may be a few twists here and there but it's not crazy. But what I really like about the game is that the main character, Mason is a really good guy. This may be the FIRST open-world game where you play a REAL good guy. Mason is patriotic and stoic, not arrogant. It's really refreshing when the main character for these types of game is such a stand-up guy fighting for his rights. Thank you Volition.

Anyways, awesome game. It's really fun and destroying stuff never gets old. This is one of my fave games this year. Everyone should definitely check it out. MUST PLAY!

Btw, make sure to set the game to Casual difficulty. This is the best way to play the game. The enemies are overly aggressive in Normal mode and higher so it's not worth it unless you want to torture yourself or want bragging rights. There are no achievements/trophies for self-torture people.

So I finished Ninja Blade (360) on Normal last night. Great game! Not sure what the haters were talking about. I found the game fun and many of the bosses were challenging and enjoyable. There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about the game from either the demo or the presentation itself.

The game is an obvious parody of Ninja Gaiden BUT it also contains elements of many other action games that people haven't mentioned. The reason I know the devs didn't take this game seriously (aside from the crazy QTEs) were the unlockable costumes that included patterns like a clown or jester. They are totally hilarious and crazy. One of them even looks like a stab at an unlockable costume for Ninja Gaiden II which had animal patterns.

Here are my thoughts of what influenced the game:

Ninja Gaiden - The most obvious one from the design and graphics. Even the main character Ken acts like Ryu Hayabusa. But NB actually has more of a story and they have a much more useful camera. The story (or lack there of) is comparable on so many levels.

God of War - I'm not sure why people never mentioned this one. The combat engine plays a lot like GoW instead of NG. You mash buttons and there's also QTE finishers as well. Some other crazy QTE events are also similar to the GoW boss battles except NB's buttons make more sense. Ex: "A" is always for Jump or Land.

Devil May Cry - Everything over the top in NB was obviously influenced by DMCs cutscenes. I think NB actually beats DMC in terms of pure insanity. The mission structure is also similar. You can revisit any mission and keep all upgrades. Some of the boss battles are similar as well including the final sub-boss in NB.

Resident Evil - The least obvious one. The whole "Alpha-worm" breakout and mutations look similar to some RE cutscenes from the older games.

So even if Ninja Blade ain't as good as those titles, I think From Software still made a fun crazy game. The QTEs and cutscenes are WAYYYYY over-the-top and just entertaining to watch. The gameplay is satisfying as well. I really loved the boss battles.The game's level designs were the worse part of the gameplay. The levels are boring and they even repeat some layouts later in the game. But they're not frustrating to navigate through so that's a good thing. The graphics are mediocre but the animation is excellent. The voice acting is alright and it was really weird when they kept jumping between English and Japanese for NO reason, lol.

Overall, if you like decent action games then this is worth checking out. It's just silly and hilarious. Don't take the game seriously and you'll have a good time. Worth checking out.

I also started Red Faction: Guerrilla (360) today and it's fantastic. I love the ability to destroy almost any structure and vehicle. The missions are fun and the motivation for your character's actions was well thought out. Really fun so far. You guys need to play this game.