If Giantbomb were ever to not work out, as in, they somehow made it suck, I've come up with an alternative. No, it's not joining the dipsticks who went down to the second level of hell known as 1UP or even the twits who went to the third level of hell known as IGN. If you missed that, Gamespot is the first right now. Anyway, this alternative is a great gaming site known as The Escapist. The only reason I had been going there was because of Yahtzee's reviews but I inevitably would register a profile and love it.

The first reason I came to love it were the forums. It's not because they're somehow better laid-out than Gamespot, but because they actually force you to at least attempt to use capital letters and full punctuation. The users at least look like they're ten times smarter than your average Gamespot user. I'm not saying if you use bad grammar or don't capitalize letters you're officially an idiot, I'm saying you look like one.

The next point is that you never see the same thread reposted. Why? Because they ban you if you repost. You see more users banned from The Escapist than anywhere else. The worst part is, it's displayed for the public to see! Right in the forum, your post is faded over and it says that the user was banned and why, even linking to the post that got him banned.

They also feature some of the best editorial articles I've seen on a gaming website.

The only faults that I can find is that news, reviews, and previews are done by users in the forums. It's not a bad idea, but professional journalism might be needed in some cases. I guess that's why I still have a Gamespot account. Well, that and I love you guys. Also, there are no blogs. I hate that, but they do let you do nonpersonal stuff in the forums.

Here's a link for you tocheck it out.

D. Zew

This is a golden oldie. OK, not quite. It's about four years old and Star Wars: Republic Commando is easily one of my favorite games. I used to play it frequently, but I sold it and didn't feel much regret because I picked up an Xbox 360 later. Well, I just bought Star Wars: Best of PC, which includes five Star Wars games, and got a walk down memory lane.

Star Wars Republic Commando is a squad-based first-person-shooter. You play as the leader of Delta Squad, a team of crack clone commandos who fight battle droids, Trandoshans, and Geonosians. When you hear the words "squad-based first-person-shooter" your mind immediately ventures to games like GRAW or Rainbow Six Vegas. Those two are tactical shooters, Republic Commando is not. The controls have more in common with Halo: Combat Evolved than either. Yet, you still control a squad. Executing commands is ridiculously easy. Four commands are on the D-pad (form up, attack formation, secure area, cancel maneuvers) or you can press an action button (A on the Xbox, F on the PC) to have your squad do a certain maneuver. These are hilighted for you. Maneuvers include door breaches, hacks, sniping, grenade-launching, grenade-throwing, mounting turrets... and the list goes on.

The graphics are great and it's not too much of a stretch to say that they still look good. In fact, they're better than some games from this generation, especially on maximum settings. The thing that really binds the experience is the functional HUD. By functional, I mean it's an actual in-game helmet. It shakes a little at certain points, but the best part is that whenever you melee somebody (or something) you get a nice splattering or droid juice on it. It's automatically wiped off, but it's a fun effect that adds another touch of realism. Speaking of, that's what sets this game apart from other Star Wars games. It's not a bright and shiny heroic tale. Republic Commando is dark and really puts a new perspective on the Clone Wars.

Another factor that makes Republic Commando excellent is the AI. They're as smart as your squadmates in Rainbow Six Vegas and smarter than GRAW. They take cover on their own and are just intelligent in general. They won't do anything stupid at all. The smartest part is the voice-overs. You'll find yourself laughing at Delta 07 (Sev)'s bloodthirst or Delta 62 (Scorch)'s l337 HaX0r skills. The story is lame because it's not really there much. You won't care. Just punch another droid and you'll be happy.

I've decided to change my wording here. It's not appeal anymore, but fun factor.

For hardcore gamers: 9.0 for back then, 7.5 for now, and 10.0 for Star Wars fans.

For casual gamers: 8.5 for back then, 8.0 for now, and 10.0 for Star Wars fans.

Overall: 9.0 for back then, 8.0 for now, 10.0 for Star Wars fans.

I got suspended because I was caught off guard. Yeah, that's right. I'm not going to complain because it didn't really affect me, but I opened up my inbox today to discover that I couldn't have done anything yesterday. It was on a certain blog that I used gay in a derogatory manner. Well, I wasn't thinking when I typed it and it really was my mistake. I'm sorry I did it.

But I will complain about the other reason I was suspended. It said I was trolling. I wasn't! I was joking around in a comment on a certain blog about the PS3 being the ***station 3 and the BS3. JOKING. In fact, you can tell if you'd read it that I was having fun with a friend of mine. I guess it could have been misenterpreted and whoever reported PROBABLY had the best intentions. This is nobody's fault and I'm glad I took the punishment at such a convenient time. I'm sorry to anyone I may have hurt, and especially to the blogger who got the comment just in case they were actually hurt if I came across too strong.

Anyway, you know who you are moderator, blogger, and reporter. I hope we can (still) be friends.

Enough of that. My vacation's been good so far. I just saw Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda. Both were good and I recommend them. I'm hoping to see Wanted soon, but the Dark Knight is going to be the best by far! Though, Iron Man will be tough to beat.

Have a good one and be sure to, in the words of the great jpgalindo, SPAM!!!

Darth

Yesterday was our first day back in the States and we were all happy. But tired too. Despite being tired to our wit's end, we still went to a baseball game. In Memphis, we've got out triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Redbirds. We won! Great game. After that, it was time to go home.

Now, we don't own a house in Memphis. Our church, Bellevue Baptist, has a program for missionaries like us that provides cars and houses. So, we live in a mission house. We went to the game and got back to discover we were locked out. Tipically, the garage door (not the huge one) in the inside is left unlocked so we don't need a key but somehow it got locked. ALL of our stuff is inside, it's about 12:30 AM, and we're locked out. We went back to my grandma's place and called a locksmith but he refused because we had no way to prove it was out house. The second one we called said he'd meet us in half an hour. Well, he showed up an hour later. So, we ended up in bed at about 2. I have a six years old little brother too, so it was heck with him.

All things considered, it was a good day... but now I'm dead tired on the Fourth of July...

Happy Fourth!

Darth

PS: here's a patriotic image for the Fourth of July:

Well, the time has come. This evening I board a Delta Airlines plane bound for Atlanta, Georgia. After that, we board another one for Memphis, Tennessee. It's going to be awesome. I thought I'd share my plans for what to do on the first day:

First, I'm going to get some Dr. Pepper. We don't get that in Brazil and it's the awesomest soft drink ever.

Of course, I'll be getting THAT at this place, my favorite place:

And there I'll eat some (buffalo wings):

Then we'll probably head on over to Target to buy stuff. You know, video games and snacks:

And then I'll be on this:

Typing about my day onto this:

Have a good one!

Darth

I can only imagine the board room meeting when the idea of Call of Duty 4 came up. I can just imagine someone saying, "Hey, let's not do World War 2..." I imagine a gasp from his audience but then there was relief as they agreed that people are tired of fighting Nazis. "We're going deep and we're going hard," were the words of the Infinity Ward representative when it was officially announced that the new Call of Duty would be Modern Warfare.

If you've liked previous Call of Duty titles, this is a game for you. Just imagine Call of Duty except most guns are now automatic with grenade launchers attached to them. It's frenetic and absolutely amazingly well-done. There aren't many changes to the controls from Call of Duty 3, with the exception of the new era and the goodies such as claymore mines in your inventory located on the D-pad. This game is easily familiar to Call of Duty fans but at the same time, it's fresh. The controls are more complicated than simple shooters like Halo 3, so if you don't likec complicated control schemes then this might be a turn-off.

Surprisingly, Call of Duty 4 incorporates a pretty powerful story that includes a visit to the ghost town of Chernobyll and even death in a nuclear explosion. The story itself is honestly pretty cliched, but the presentation is unreal. The loading screens exist, but if it weren't for the little slider at the bottom of the screen you would notice them. Why? Because the cutscenes are the loading screens. Unfortunately, you're not going to get much singleplayer time because the game is ludicrously short, but you do get one of the best shooting experiences of all time. It really does go deep and hard.

The characters deserve a special mention. It's hard to really get attached to a character in a shooter, but Call of Duty 4 does it. You actually want to follow Captain Price, and not because it's an obligation. You gain respect for a simulated person, which is awesome!

Let's also add some stellar graphics that will leave you wowed. Parts of it are almost photorealistic, but other parts are just average. Though, the game is fast enough that you won't want to look at the scenery.

The multiplayer is easily the best part. It's well-made and absolutely fun. It isn't like any other shooter though. You can customize a class (which includes his weapons, grenades, and certain perks) and mold it around your playing style. The aforementioned perks are brilliant to an extreme. To name a few, one gives you more firepower, one makes you drop a grenade when you die, one makes you sprint longer... ect. There's a lot to choose from and you'll spend a long time trying to unlock everything. That's a gift and a curse. To truly live CoD4's multiplayer, you need to devote some time. In fact, it takes you a few games just to unlock the custom-class ability and some of the best guns don't come until later. Add to that, the really hardcore players can't get easily mixed with more casual players. But it's still some of the best multiplayer out there.

Our score is based on appeal and not the quality of the game:

For hardcore gamers: 10/10 easily.

For casual gamers: 5/10

Overral: 8.5/10

Game quality score (what Gamespot scores its games on); 9.5.

Special merits: WOW factor, Addicting, Realistic, good graphics.

Negative merits: Poor balance between casual and hardcore gamers

That's it! Have a nice day,

Darth

EDIT: I'm gonna wait until Giantbomb, but I'm thinking about transplanting my reviews to a seperate blog. I'll link them here, obviously, but I'd like a bit more freedom with what I do. What do you think?