With the demise of the TV.com blogs, Ive not felt it worth writing a new one since then. Ive been coming to Gamespot a lot more recently but with most of my friends from TV.com not likely to be on here, it seems as much of a ghost town as that site. Having burned through all of my remaining unwatched film collection Ive properly got back into playing video games this past couple of weeks so I thought Id do the occasional blog purely about gaming.

I recently finished off Battlefield: Bad Company 2. With all of the online focused games having an incredibly short single player, it shouldnt have taken me long. I started it back in May and have only just finished it! Shows how little Ive played over the summer. The single player game was pretty good purely because they packed a lot into a short space of time. Yes its very linear but I have no problem with that in games. Having too many choices in a level based game just makes me think Ive missed out on something but picking one option over another. The graphics were ace (bearing in mind Im a couple of years behind in gaming) and the shooting was definitely satisfying. I got the game cheap so thought Id do the single player. I havent got the time to play an older game online for any length of time.

Following the completion of that I moved onto a game Ive been looking forward to playing for ages Metro 2033. I love games with great settings like Dead Space and Bioshock. This looked to be on an equal footing from what Id seen of it previously. Whilst it fails to live up to either of those titles, it is by far one of the most original games Ive played in a while. The graphics do leave a lot to be desired but the dark setting and nature of the story mean this is easily overlooked. Early on the game takes a bit of getting used to as the landing shots on opponents lacks any real feeling of impact unlike AAA shooters. By the end it definitely got better with stronger weapons and just having got used to it I guess. The story was great although I think they really only scratched the surface with it. You can definitely tell this was made on a tighter budget than the games mentioned above. It sounds like it wasnt overly keen on it but theres just something about the game that appealed to me. Despite the flaws it just seemed to come together well. The claustrophobic nature of the subway system was matched perfectly by the above ground locations which had a sense of freedom to explore (although this isnt really the case at all, it just feels like you do!). Im really looking forward to the sequel as itll allow them to put that bit of extra polish on the game to make it really stand out as a great game.

As I spend my working week in my flat and the majority of my weekends back home at my parents house, I bit the bullet and bought myself a new Xbox for two reasons. I wanted one for each location and I also wanted the new, quieter one for playing DVDs on so that I didnt need to buy a DVD player as well. Im saving all my story based games and the time sucking one for my flat when I get my evenings to play them. Since I moved nearly two years ago Ive not even had time to play games at the weekends when Im at my parents but feel like I can now. Im just going to play my drop in and out games when I get chance. I didnt want anything where Id need to remember what was happening or would need lengthy sittings to make it worthwhile. Three games types spring to mind XBLA, racing, and sports games. First up is a racing game that Ive had for ages Pure. I got it as part of the double pack including Lego Batman (which I made a start on and havent gone back to yet). My first half hour on it was pretty dull and was planning just to give up in favour of a better racing game but I stuck with it and it did get better. The drip feed of achievements for each stage of the campaign means theres always one more not too far away.

Speaking of achievements, Ive all but decided to give up on my pursuit to get as many per game as possible as to me I spend more time making sure Ive not missed any as I progress, than I do actually enjoying the game. Big, open world games arent usually a problem as you can tackle them as you please, but the games where you have to do them on certain levels or miss them demand you pay attention to when you need to win them. Ive always been put off from games where the achievements look either too time consuming or unachievable without doing the game from start to finish multiple times. This is a stupid way to play as the games are probably really good! I managed fine of PS2 and older consoles so Im sure I can live without them. Ill still enjoy getting what I can but I cant see me over spending hours inching through a level to make sure I dont miss a collectable in the hunt to get them all.

My next story based game will be Too Human. I have very low expectations for this game but it was very cheap and only lasts around the 10 hour mark and Ive read it does have a couple of redeeming qualities. Whether I can force my way to the end is a different matter! It has an interesting level structure with it only have four levels but each taking a couple of hours to complete. I hope to god you can save midway through!

Ive definitely rambled on way longer than planned but future updates should be more concise than this. Its been a while since my last update! Hopefully you made it this far...