Developed by Lionhead Studios exclusively for the XBOX 360 Fable 2 is a western RPG and apart from Oblivion a genre I haven’t really played much. As with most RPGs it is too easy to lose track of time and I’ve already clocked up around 10 hours of game play and I’m surprised to say that I am really enjoying it.

I initially called out Fable 2 as ‘The Sims for boys’ and I’m going to stick by that. Your ‘hero’ while embarking on an epic quest also deals with the mundane and can get a job, have a wife (or two), family and even redecorate one of the many properties you own. Balancing both the main story and managing your life in general can be rather frustrating but also very rewarding if you’re willing to put in the time.

The main story is captivating and from what I can see going to be very lengthy and open ended with the choices you make throughout the game altering the story and ending which could lead to good replay value. I won’t go into the story as I don’t want to spoil anything but it looks like a winner and if anything bad happens to my dog there will be hell to pay.

The graphics of Fable 2 look gorgeous (although the water could do with a little more work) and the fantasy/cartoon style fits and helps create enchanting atmosphere as does the soundtrack. Voice acting is variable and intriguing unlike Oblivion and the random comments made by the AI throughout Fable 2 is both interesting, random and humorous.

There is a lot to like in this game, the fighting mechanic is simple but effective and collecting experience to level up your character is done very well and has forced me to pay attention to the way I battle although you could hack and slash your way though if you wanted to.

I don’t want to draw too much to the negatives as it is a great game but the menu system is slow and sucks in general. Some kind of hot key (back button) access to items or quests would be helpful as clunking my way through the menus can be frustrating and disjoint the gameplay. The lack of a detailed map is annoying the hell out of me but there are maps of regions etc so maybe I just need to adjust to this. I have also found that interacting with objects and people doesn’t always seem to register with multiple attempts normally required. My last gripe is with AI getting in the way. For example walking through a busy town people don’t get out of your way and are near impossible to move forcing you to walk around them. I would love to see the way Assassins Creed handles this in Fable 2.

As I have only just scraped the surface of Fable 2 I look forward to seeing how it plays out and also how the online co-op plays as this could add yet another meaty layer to an already massive game.

The reason for this is due to Microsoft’s crippling DRM (Digital Rights Management) and not taking into account that a significant amount of their users have had to replace (Microsoft call it upgrading) their console.

Now I can understand why DRM exists however the majority of companies either take DRM to ridiculous levels or don’t manage it properly, which is the case with Microsoft.

It’s taken a couple of years but now Microsoft has released an online tool to transfer the content licenses from one XBOX to another. It is a rather simple method and can be done online in a matter of minutes (make sure you are sitting next to your console) but the kicker is that you must re-download all of the content that was downloaded on the previous console. BUT you are not really downloading it again just re-downloading the license which is OK as you’re not going to use up lots of data but if you’re like myself I had to re-download 171 items one by fucking one.

That method both sucks and took up a large amount of my time. Why couldn’t the licenses be re-activated the next time I used that content? i.e. I start to play UNO and it contacts XBOX Live and sees that UNO is in fact licensed to my new console and it authorizes it and away I go.

No matter how frustrating this is it is good to see Microsoft address this issue and as you can only do this once every 12 months Microsoft appear to be rather confident that your new XBOX won’t be breaking anytime soon…

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/licensemigration/

Get ready to cry like a little baby because the shit scare that is Condemned 2: Bloodshot will be released on the 360 next week. The first game was released way back during the xbox 360′s launch & featured the protagonist Ethan Thomas on the trail of a demented serial killer.

While the initial story was pretty simple things quickly got more complicated after you start to unravel the strands of a paranormal conspiracy that lead to a number of different endings. I don’t want to spoil things too much, but it left many questions unanswered & Ethan in a sorry state of affairs. It’s a shame that this game slipped under most peoples radars, because I found it to be the most atmospheric horror FPB (First Person Basher) that I’ve ever played.

So far it’s only received an average rating of 81% on Gamerankings.com but all the reviews concur that it improves on the original in every way. This time the cool forensic style mini-games have more substance and you’ll really have to pay attention to the clues if you want to unlock all the achievements. The impressive sound and graphics help suck you into the creepy atmospheric levels such as a bowling alley or magic shop.

It’s also been said that this game is definitely not for the faint hearted as it’s even more violent & creepy than the first one. The combat is supposed to more brutal & involving this time and has you using the two thumbsticks to control your left and right fists. This combat style sounds similar to that used in Fight Night 3 and it allows you take out your demented foes by stringing combos together.

Since weapons can be literally pulled from the environment there’s a huge selection to choose from. Locker doors, nailed 2 X 4′s, deer antlers, bowling pins and hacksaw blades are just a few of the implements at your disposal (I can still remember the sickening crunch sound that the sledgehammer made in the first game). There’s also an arsenal of guns which have an interesting twist to them. Due to previous events Ethan now has a bit of an alcohol problem. Because his hands shake too much he must now take a shot of dutch courage before firing any of the guns in the game.

So far the best aspect of the combat sounds like the finisher moves. Once you’ve beaten your enemy into a bloody pulp you can dispose of them in some really gruesome ways by dragging them through the environment. In one of the many brutal finishing moves you crush the heads of your enemies in a giant vice or stuff it into an operating washing machine or toilet (So much for censorship).

I’ve already preordered my copy of Condemned 2 from Play-asia.com & I’m really looking forward to giving it a bash. I can’t wait to turn out the lights, crank up the sound and scare myself shitless once again.

As a lot of you readers are fans of Dropkick Murphys this will be great news to you all. But the best part is still to come… the price for this kickass collection? Nothing! It’s going to be free baby! Woo!

So stock up on beers, put on your jigging boots and get ready to rock.

We’ve been blessed with such a bumper crop of quality video games this year that its going to be hard to decide which is the best. Fear not though reader as I’ve carried out the hard task of playing most of them so let me guide you through some of the best.

This year was definitely the year of the shooter as there were so many great FPS’s to choice from. These included the atmospheric & claustrophobic Bioshock, the feature packed Half life 2: Orange Box, the cinematic action of Call of Duty 4 and the Hype machine otherwise know as Halo 3.

While Half life 2 was originally released on the PC way back in 2004, the inclusion of the 2 new add-on packs, the quirky multiplayer game team fortress and the stupidly addictive and funny puzzle game Portal made it the best value for money game all year (if not all time). In fact Portal deserves a special mention due to it’s creative use of physics puzzles, fantastic humor and one of the best videogame endings ever. While this game can probably be finished in one day, the experience is so good its probably worth the full $80 purchase price of the Orange box alone.

In February we were fully immersed into the world of Bioshock. From the dramatic plane crash beginning you could tell you were in for something special. It’s jaw dropping graphics, fantastic steam punk soundtrack and slow unraveling of the story via audio logs fully sucked you into the moody underwater world of Atlantis. Like most game releases this year Bioshock stuck with you long after the credits rolled. Who doesn’t remember their first encounter with a big daddy? The creative usage of magic plasmids and old fashion weapons such as flamethrower,crossbow and tommy gun made combat exciting and flexible. The ability to customise your skills almost made this game feel like an FPS RPG hybrid. It has since been announced that a sequel is in the works and here’s hoping that it’s as good as the original.

The arrival of Call of Duty 4 finally pushed FPS’s into the modern age in breathtaking style. The stunning graphics, spectacular firefights and superb music and sound really made you feel like you were in the middle of the action and lent the game a real cinematic quality (imagine black hawk down). While the single player campaign was all over in about 5 hrs there were plenty of holy shit thats cool moments, like the level were you camouflage yourself in a ghillie suit and stalk across enemy lines. Of course there was plenty more action available in the multi-player mode which offered 16 maps, 6 game types and a unique ranking system that allowed you to upgrade your character with RPG type skills. Taken as a whole COD4 was a great action blockbuster that finally broke out of the dusty days of WWII and into fresh new territory.

Speaking of blockbusters in 2007 there were none bigger than the release of Halo 3. While the hype machine had been running since last year it went into overtime when the multiplayer Beta trial was unleashed. Apparently his wasn’t enough to appease people and the game ended up being leaked only days ahead of its release date.
During the official launch in the US Halo 3 ended up becoming the biggest entertainment release in history with $170 Million in sales within the first 24 hrs. This number then jumped to $300 million worldwide in the 1st week making it the fastest selling game in history.
So ignoring this hype was the game any good? Graphics wise, there were controversial comments that the game didn’t support full HD and it only ran at 640p resolution. Bungie defended this by most declaring that games on next generation consoles are upscaled to the resolution of your monitor/TV to run at acceptable speeds.This may therefore explain why Halo 3 didn’t look much better than its 2004′s predecessor.
It could also be said that 3 years of development could have lead to a longer and more original single player campaign, but I suppose there’s the old adage that you can’t fix what isn’t broken. The presence of a solid and improved Co-operative mode and the conclusion of the epic storyline did redeem things somewhat and pleased many longtime fans.
The strongest element of the series has always been the multiplayer side and in this regard Halo 3 definitely didn’t disappoint. The inclusion of the new fly on the wall editor called Forge allowed for interesting and unlimited permutations within the game modes and maps. The solid match ranking system and the inclusion of exciting vehicles and weapons lead to plenty of hectic shootouts which should easily keep fans busy until the next release.

While GTAIV was pushed back to next year our free roaming action/adventure fix was provided by Assassins Creed. The original Jerusalem setting, responsive fighting system and amazing rooftop gymnastics built upon the success of previous titles such as Prince Of Persia and Hitman. While the mission structure wasn’t as free form as expected and certain aspects were repetitive, it still provided plenty of exhilarating moments.

While the 360 has been typically short of RPGs, the catalog was slightly expanded with the Sci-fi epic Mass Effect and the Japanese title Eternal Sonata.
Eternal Sonata had beautiful artistic graphics and an original light/dark based fighting system that bucked the trend of most turn based RPGs. The superb original soundtrack provided by Chopan and inclusion of interesting historical facts made his classical music a strong and interesting centerpiece of the game. It was therefore surprising that even with these aspects the overall story was generic and was unfortunately the weakest part of the package (stop the evil king from destroying the world). The cutesy characters and pathetic dialog were also squarely aimed at people loving traditional Japanese RPGs games and overall Eternal Sonata was an acquired taste that will either charmed or baffled players.

Just like Oblivion the year before, Mass effect was an RPG that appealed to both hardcore genre fans or those that had never picked one up before. The superb voice acting, creative alien races and memorable NPCs lead support to a fantastically scripted storyline and made you feel like you were playing part in a massive space drama.
The in-depth character personalisation not only allowed you to choose how you looked, but how you acted. Do you want to play as a ruthless Renegade that does whatever is necessary to get the job done, do you play a paragon by following the rules or maybe you choose a gray region in between? The choice was truly your’s with a complex dialog system that made every decision feel like it had true consequences. The FPS style shooting was also a lot of fun especially when you threw biotic or tech skills into the mix. There’s something immensely satisfy about throwing enemies around or picking them up and plugging them full of shotgun blasts. The ability to explore the outer reaches of space carrying out optional quests resulted in plenty of non-linear play and the multiple endings and different ways of playing will probably make you come back for more than 20 hrs of play.
Unfortunately the graphical glitches that occurred throughout were a blemish on an otherwise perfect game. For some reason there was a delay on textures on characters and walls appearing. It was somewhat jarring to constantly wait for a character blurry features to become sharp while talking to them. The Mass Effect sequel has been since been announced and hopefully it will successfully continue the gripping storyline and rectify these graphical problems.

Throughout the year rev heads and adrenaline junkies were appeased with arcade driving in the form of Project Gotham 4, rally driving with Dirt or there was Forza Motorsport for those wanting more realistic frustration simulation.

The release of Guitar Hero III had fans slinging their new improved wireless guitars in the name of rock. The presence of a strong track list with only a few dodgy cover tracks resulted in the best game of the series. While the rival music simulation game Rock Band is said to blow GHIII out of the water I can’t include it in this years list since it’s not out in Australia until 2008.

This year there were also a few big developments on the gaming front.
Usually videogame geeks wet their pants during the massive announcements at E3 but this years expo came and went with barely a whisper. This was mainly due to last years dramatic announcement that it would be closed to the public and it would be reallocation to a smaller venue. This resulted in a lot of big games developers pulling the plug and a lack of any real gaming news.
Luckily Melbourne got it’s fix in November with the 2nd year of the Egames Expo. While most games on display had already been released it was a good chance to check out the recent releases vying for our dollar. There was also a press release from Sony Australia and while nothing major was announced it was good to see the big boys get involved and hopefully the event will be even bigger and better next year.

One development that affected a lot of xbox360 owners was the outbreak of the horrible red ring of death (RROD). While there had been talk of this problem in 2006 it wasn’t until 2007 that a sudden influx of broken consoles suddenly surfaced. Microsoft pulled their usual dodgy by initially trying to cover up the issue but they partially redeemed themselves by repairing the faulty units and announcing an extension on the warranty.
In my social circle 4/5 people received the RROD throughout the year. The problem was mainly attributed to overheating and in my case it came at the worst possible time as I had just purchased Eternal Sonata, Mass Effect and COD4.
There was a positive aspect to this debacle If you were smart enough to buy the extended warranty from EB games. My friend Count Knuckles managed to score a new quieter HDMI unit with no questions asked when he returned his busted one to EB. So let that be a warning to purchase an extended warranty if you have the chance.

The biggest videogame controversy of the year however involved the release of Rockstars Manhunt 2. While it was initially planned for release in June the American Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) slapped it with an adults only rating for ‘unremitting bleakness’ and ‘casual sadism’. Rockstar then had to edit the game as all the major consoles will not allow AO games to be sold on their consoles which ended up pushing back the US release date until December. Things were further complicated when the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) took Rockstar to court over the release of the amended game in the UK. The Video Appeals Committee ruled on the side of Rockstar, but this decision was appealed by the BBFC and the case has now been taken to the High Court with the game still not being released in the UK.
While this whole issue further highlights the frustration of Censorship in video games the case is ironically concluded with the fact that the original uncut version of Manhunt 2 can be downloaded on the internet anyway.

In other news the makers of the Halo series Bungie decided to branch out on their own and split with their previous partners Microsoft. It will be interesting to see whether this move will result in them releasing games as big as Halo in the future.

While one split another two companies joined to create one of the biggest merges in computer game history. Vivendi (Blizzard), merged with Activision in an estimated $18.9 Billion dollar deal. For those unaware Blizzard is the creator of the biggest multiplayer game in history with World of Warcraft, while Activision is the maker of COD4, Tony Hawk and the massively popular Guitar Hero series. Hopefully this outcome won’t result in a gaming monopoly that restricts the creation of original games otherwise the Activision Blizzards next step may be taking over the world.

Well as you can probably tell from the length of this post 2007 has probably been the best time for video games ever. Hopefully my wrap up of this years biggest xbox360 releases have brought back memories of some of your favorite titles. So what are you waiting for, put down your controllers and start voting.

Xbox 360 Nominees

1. Forza Motorsport: MS game studio
2. The Darkness: 2K games
3. Bioshock: 2k games
4. Halo 3: MS game studio
5. Project Gotham 4: MS game studio
6. Half life 2: The Orange Box: EA games
7. The Simpsons Game: EA games
8. Call Of Duty 4: Activision
9. Guitar Hero III: Activision
10. Mass Effect: MS game studio
11. Assassins Creed: Ubisoft
12. Eternal Sonata: Atari

Wii Nominees

1. Wariowares: Smooth Moves: Nintendo
2. Medal of honour heroes 2: EA games
3. Zack & Wiki: Capcom
4. Superpaper Mario: Nintendo
5. Resident Evil 4: Capcom
6. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption: Nintendo
7. SuperMario Galaxy: Nintendo
8. Trauma Centre: New Blood: Atlus Co.

PSP Nominees

1. Sid Meier’s Pirates: 2K games
2. Puzzle Quest: D3
3. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters: SCEE
4. Final Fantasy Tactics: Square Enix
5. Star Wars Battlefront: Lucasarts
5. Syphon Filter: Logans Shadow: SCE

I had for whatever reason at launch got sucked into purchasing the ‘extended warrantee’ (read drop pants and let me take advantage of you) from EB Games.

Although after almost two years and laughing at both Fu and Doug (both of which have had 360′s die on them) Karma had its way and decided my number was up and took the one thing I loved (sorry Hels) away from me in the form of a Red Ring.

I was shattered but slightly optimistic at the possibility of exchanging my old and floored console for a newer model which included HDMI, better cooling and a smaller chipset.

Walking into EB Games this afternoon I was cautious and guilty at the possible chance of taking advantage of their extended warrantee and getting a free upgrade to a better console.

Greeting the young service attendee at the counter I was already thinking of my excuses as to why he must give me a new console and not one of the refurbished ones out back.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

‘My XBOX is dead’ I replied.

‘Fair enough, let me get you a new one’ he quickly replied.

‘What?!’ I thought to myself. Where is the Spanish Inquisition? Are you going to run any tests on my console?

Before I could finish those thoughts our young attendant had returned with a brand new XBOX Arcade pack under his arm and proceeded to cut it open.

Within a matter of seconds he had handed me a brand new console which included HDMI and wished me better luck with my new console.

It was a easy as that? I was shocked and amazed. The company I had grown to hate for taking advantage of its customer and ridiculous prices had not only been efficient and helpful but asked no questions in the process.

So I have now ended up with a shiny new console that has HDMI, is a fuck load quieter and cooler than my previous console.

If I could I would climb to the highest rooftop and yell my unconditional love for EB Games who have looked after me but you know I have games to play so maybe next time…

So here’s a Monday morning fun one for you which I know our resident Gamer Point Whore Stu will love.

Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth has the easiest achievements ever where you can get the full 1000 points in around 2 minutes.

Personally I think it’s a joke where games like Guitar Hero makes you work bloody hard for the points and even then good luck getting all of them. Do we need to have a tribunal set up to monitor how games dish out the points and try to keep it uniform…?

Either way I think this game is for renting only.

As there’s a lot going on this week I thought I would write a little wrap up of some events coming our way.

Starting off on a reminder that the Bodyjar gig is coming up this Friday @ Rubies. If you’ve read my previous post (clicky) then you’ll know that Blueline Medic will also be supporting the jar so this is looking to be one hell of a night. For the pennies crew that are interested in going please leave a comment or send me a message to let me know as i’ll picking up tickets in the city tomorrow. Its a bargain at only $18 so make sure to get your arse down to Belgrave for Bodyjar’s last Melbourne gig of the year.

On another music related note Operator Please will be playing at the JB HiFi Burke Street Mall store tomorrow @ 4pm. I know this will particularly please Count Knuckles as he recently brought their new album (by the way I’m expecting a great review). I don’t know if The Count can make it but I’ll try and try get there just so I settle once and for all if they really did get rid of their last keyboard player.

Now onto game related news. It seems that quite a few games have had their release date pushed back. First of all Eternal Sonata was pushed back and now it looks like Assassins Creed and Mass Effect are now going to be released a week later than expected on the 21st and the 22nd respectively. Hopefully this isn’t a current trend for the xbox360 as it really pisses me off. Supposedly Assassins Creed was bumped because of manufacturing and freight problems, but the whole things sounds a bit suss. First of all they don’t release a demo and won’t reveal real details on the game and now it’s been delayed. In my opinion this could all just be a cover up for hastily trying to release a game before it’s been properly finished. Anyway time will tell, but if you’re interested you can check it out in action at the eGames expo on this weekend (clicky).

On a brighter gaming note it looks like that part the fall Summer (oops i’m not fucking America) dashboard update will soon allow people to download and play the original xbox titles on their 360. This sounds like it could be a cheap way of catching up on some classic games that you might have missed out as they are said to be priced at only 1200 gamer points. Some of the first titles being released include the grandfather of hype Halo, Burnout 3 and Crash Bandicoot. It also sounds like this dashboard update could be the best one yet as it will supposedly allow the potential to play DivX vids which should finally cement it’s position as a ‘real’ media player. Hooray people can finally throw out their modded xbox’s.

On a final note I’ll leave you with some world news. Before you think oh no he’s going to go all political and talk about the middle east, it’s actually about South Korea. Their commerce industry has announced that they will try build two robot theme parks for $1.6 billion by 2013. Awesome Assemo’s for everyone!  I just hope it doesn’t turn out like Itchy and Scratchy land and they all go nuts and start killing everyone.

Above is one of the best (and easiest) achievements from the new Simpsons game on the XBOX 360.

Receiving a somewhat respectable 7.7 from IGN (linky) this should keep Stu our resident ‘Achievement Whore’ happy.