So, after about a year and a half, I ventured into the multiplayer for Grand Theft Auto IV for the first time. A mere two minutes into my first match, earned the Let Sleeping Rockstars Lie achievement, which you get when you kill a Rockstar developer in a multiplayer match. Cool! I had no idea any were playing at that moment. I certainly didn't think I'd get one so soon and in my first time out! I also did well enough to advance in rank and earn the Cut Your Teeth achievement.

I decided to download and play the trial versions of two new Xbox Live Arcade games: The Warriors: Street Brawl and Zombie Apocalypse.

Being a big fan of both The Warriors movie and the 2005 video game version from Rockstar Games, I decided to try out TW:SB first. I was really underwhelmed. I guess compared to the Rockstar game, most games based on the movie would look weak, but this was especially dismal. It's basically just a side-scroller beat 'em up game (ie. Double Dragon). Kinda like the Armies of the Night mini-game in the Rockstar title, only without the fun. You go through one stage after another, beating up various gang members to get back to Coney Island after being framed for Cyrus' murder at the Riffs' meeting. And each gamg doesn't get its own stage either. A mishmash of various gang members come after you no matter what stage you're in. You'll fight a Punk one moment. Then a Baseball Fury. Then a Lizzie. Then a Hi-Hat. You get the idea. You get a choice of four Warriors to pick from: Swan, Cochise, Rembrandt and Vermin. You unlock Ajax and Mercy as playable characters after beating the game. For some reason, Snow, Fox and Cowboy got left out.

The gameplay is pretty lousy. The fighting is clunky and picking up objects from the ground to use as weapons is a lot more difficult than it should be. The game has two good qualities: The music isn't bad. It even gives us a decent rendition of the Warriors theme. The art design and backdrops are pretty good, bringing the proper dirty and gritty look and feel of 1979 New York. Of course, that not enough to save it. And it's definitely not worth the 800 Microsoft Points. You're much better off dusting off you PS2 or original Xbox and playing the Rockstar game.

Zombie Apocalypse is sorta like Resident Evil meets Robotron. You have to survive over 50 stages, killing every zombie that gets thrown at you and rescuing whatever human survivors pop up. The controls are exactly like the controls in Robotron, where you automatically shoot wherever you point the right control stick. You can also gut zombies with a chainsaw, though this is pretty impractical, not to mention fatal, if you have a horde of zombies gathering around you. It's kinda fun at first, but gets repetitive quickly. There's also a handful of environments that keep getting reused over and over. I certainly couldn't see this game keeping my interest for over 50 stages. Pass on this one too.

Now that I've beaten Batman: Arkham Asylum (Xbox 360 version), I figure I'd post my thoughts on it.

There have been a ton of Batman games. Unfortunately, they've all ranged in quality from halfway-decent to outright awful. Some of them were so bad, they were actually roasted by the Angry Video Game Nerd. Batman: Arkham Asylum breaks that losing streak. Not only is it a solid Batman game, it's the best comic book superhero game I've ever played.

( Review below... )

Saw Chickenfoot last night. Great show! First time I got to see Joe Satriani play live and he was on fire! Michael Anthony and Chad Smith make a solid rhythm section. Sammy Hagar sounded great and knows how to work a crowd. They really seemed to be having fun on stage. Still not crazy about those acoustics at Mohegan Sun Arena, though.

It was a pleasant surprise to hear "Bad Motor Scooter." Kinda surprised they didn't play "Runnin' Out," which was the only song on the album they didn't play.

Setlist:
Avendina Revolution
Sexy Little Thing
Soap On A Rope
My Kinda Girl
Down the Drain
Bitten By the Wolf
Oh Yeah
Learning To Fall
Get It Up
Keep Turnin' Left
Future In the Past

Encore:
Bad Motor Scooter (Montrose song)
Highway Star (Deep Purple cover)

Last night, I went to see Judas Priest and Whitesnake play at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford. It was my first time seeing Judas Priest and my second time seeing Whitesnake.
( Whitesnake & Judas Priest concert review: )

I finished playing Persona 3 FES for the PS2. Overall, I loved this game!

What sets it apart from the usual RPG's is the whole daily school/ordinary life aspect. I enjoyed the whole social aspect. Making friends, dating girls, socializing, etc. I actually ended up enjoying that more than going through Tartarus, fighting Shadows and leveling up. It's got a great story and characters I really grew close to. We also get treated to some great anime cut scenes.

The FES version of Persona 3 includes two segments: The Journey, which is the part of the game included in the original release with a buunch of extra features and social links. The second is The Answer, which serves as an epilogue and ties up loose ends.

That's not to say the game's perfect. There's a lack of variety in the dungeons, which can make things feel a bit repetitive at times. The Answer only gives you the Hard difficulty mode, which can make the game really frustrating at times. There's also no social links, school activities or stats building in The Answer, turning the game into a standard "Trudge through a dungeon and level up" game. There was also a plot twist in The Answer that I didn't necessarily approve of.

Overall, a great game that really sticks in your mind. Bring on Persona 4!