I played through Quantum of Solace earlier this week. It took me all of 2 days to beat, but it was fun while it lasted. I’ve got a full review over on AC. Here is the link for those of you interested:

Quantum of Solace (Xbox 360) Review

After playing some public matches (because that is all there is) on LotR: Conquest I realized that a lot of people playing have no idea how each character is suppose to be played. They don’t play to their strengths or exploit their opponents weaknesses. So, I put together a Guide for the different character classes. Check it out here and let me know what you think.

Lord of the Rings: Conquest Character Class Guide

I played Spider-Man: Web of Shadows last weekend and really enjoyed it. Kind of like the last Hulk game you get to roam the city and take out bad guys whenever you want and then go do missions when you’re ready. I really enjoyed the story of the game, but I’m glad I rented it since it was about 8 or 9 hours total. You can check out my full review here.

I rented Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels for the Wii in my continuing quest to find games that justify buying the console. I liked it pretty well, but it is very short. Still, as a Star Wars fan and a gamer I like having a game where I can use the controller as a lightsaber. I gave it a 7 out of 10. You can see my full review over here if you’re interested.

With all the demos coming out this week I’ve been putting off doing a real review of Tom Clancy’s EndWar, but I finally got a chance to today. There were a few minor annoyances, but overall I really liked the action focused RTS. You can check out my full review here on The Break It Down Blog, but for those of you to lazy I gave it an 8.5 out of 10.

I should start by saying I’m not very good at flying games. I played Crimson Skies on the Xbox and enjoyed it, but games like Ace Combat 6 just are not my thing. However, Ubisoft has been saying since the announcement of HAWX that the controls will be setup so that both beginners and veteran pilots can both enjoy playing. So, I decided to trust Ubisoft and check out the demo.

Before we start digging into the controls I have to say that the graphics are gorgeous. At times it looks eerily realistic. The sound in the game is also really nicely done. The combination of audible alerts with the on screen warning lights really let you know when you’re doing something wrong. For a beginner like me it was really helpful to know when I as about to stall and when targets had a lock on me. If I missed the audible alert for whatever reason there was also a corresponding on-screen warning to get my attention.

The demo has two missions available. The first is a training mission to get you the basics of the controls. It is here you learn about the pilot assist option you can turn off/on at any time. When the assistance option is turned on it keeps you from stalling by going to slow but it also limits the maneuverability of your plane. When the assistance option is off you can perform much more tight rolls and turns for dodging and targeting, but you can also stall your plane. The assistance mode also gives you the option to use the Enhanced Reality System (ERS). The ERS will show you on screen where to fly to get the best trajectory for target locks, missle evasion, and bombing runs. Even though the game’s graphics are really realistic the controls and flying have enough of an arcade feel that it is accessible for someone like me. Plus, with the assistance mode turned on you have the option of 3 different camera angles. The third person view is helpful targeting and dodging, but the cockpit view is really fun. It makes things a little more different since you only see right in front of you but it is much more realistic.

After playing for about 10 minutes with the assistance mode turned on, I turned it off to see how I did. Once I got the hand of the new camera angle with assistance off I really started to like having it off. The camera jumps to a third person view but it is not just right above the plane like with assistance on. Instead, it is quite a distance back and does not follow the view of the plane. So, it takes some practice to get use to flying strait at the screen, but once I got use to assistance off (and quit stalling out) I was getting kills a lot quicker and easier. Since the plane is more maneuverable with assistance mode off I also found it much easier to doge incoming missile locks.

After the training missing completes there is another mission available to be played. It is actually a pretty good length for a demo. It took me around 15 minutes each time I played it to complete the whole mission. As you play through this mission in the demo you earn experience points. Even in the demo there are two additional planes you can unlock by getting up to level 3 experience. I got to level 2 after playing through once and then level 3 unlocked after my second play through of the second missions. The first plane you unlock is pretty fun because it swaps out your multi anti-aircraft missiles for free falling bombs. These bombs made the second mission a lot easier for me because of all the ground units that need to be destroyed. I have not tried the third plane yet but it looks to be similar to your starting plane, but with better air-to-air capabilities and a faster speed.

The HAWX demo does not have any verses modes available to play but is does support up to 4 player co-op. I played the second mission in co-op with a friend and it was exactly the same as the first time I played it except my wingman could talk and coordinate attacks with me. I’m really looking forward to trying it out again with 4 of us playing together.

Even if you’re not really into flying games I’d recommend checking out HAWX. The controls are friendly for beginners, but there is a lot of depth for hard core flight enthusiasts. Plus, 4 player co-op where you can jump in/out is always fun.

I watched Hancock this weekend without knowing much about it before starting. I had seen the trailer, or at least part of it, when it was in the theater and the general idea is that this guy John Hancock (Will Smith) has super hero abilities, but he’s also a drunk. The movie then goes from him destroying large parts of LA and everyone hating him to sobering up and really helping the way we think a super hero should. There was a twist part way through the movie that I was not expecting but it did not really change the expected outcome of the movie. Hanock goes from being a public menace to a real super hero. Overall I enjoyed the movie. Seeing a guy with super strength, the ability to fly, and a bit of a temper makes for some funny situations. Him flying around drunk was really funny. I think Hancock is worth renting. It is not Will Smith’s best movie, but it was fun.

I agreed last night to let my wife pick the movie we would watch and she went with Get Smart. If my wife had not picked it out I would have turned it off 30 minute in. It is really cheese and dumb. If I had been in the mood for that type of comedy maybe I would have liked it, but as it was I really did not like it. It might be the worst movie I’ve seen in a long time. Unless you’re a huge Steve Carell fan I can see any reason to watch this.

I decided to take an early lunch today and check out the Halo Wars demo. The demo has three parts. First there are the tutorials, there are two campaign levels, and then you can play 1v1 skirmish against the AI.

I’m a long time Real Time Strategy (RTS) fan, but I tend to play more on my Xbox 360 than my PC because I prefer to game sitting on my couch looking at my 42″ tv and not sitting at my desk with a much smaller monitor. I’ve played a lot of the RTS games (Command & Conquer 3, Universe at War: Earth Assault, Supreme Commander, Battle for Middle-Earth II , & Band of Bugs) available on the Xbox 360 so far. For pretty much all of these the controls are the biggest issue with the game. The controls are generally complicated and there is a lot of navigating through menu trees. Yes, they are workable, but they are far from ideal. I think the issue with most of the control schemes is that they try to let you do everything you can with a keyboard. Halo Wars went a different route and has a very simple control setup. There are no multi-layer menus of building options or grouping setups. Yet, even with the simple controls I felt like I had plenty of options to do everything quickly and easily. For example, hitting Left on the D-Pad takes you to your base so you can train more units, research upgrades, and build base expansions. You move and attack with your selected units by hitting X. No, need to highlight unit types, then select a target, and then choose an attack type. Just grab your units, highlight an enemy and hit X.

I found the tutorials to be a little slow paced, but for general fans of the Halo series who are not familiar with RTS games the tutorials will be really helpful. The basic tutorial covers moving and attacking, and the advanced tutorial covers special attacks, base expansion, and unit upgrades.

After completing the two tutorials there are two campaign missions available. The first one was pretty quick and involved gathering together some scattered troops and then retaking a base. The second mission was much longer and more involved. You get full use of your base and can train troops as you see fit. Like most RTS missions once you have your troops you proceed to destroy all enemy forces off the map. I plan to replace the second mission another time or two to check out all of the optional mission objectives and try different troop combinations.

In addition to the two campaign missions you can play 1v1 skirmish against the AI on a single map. From the available options that are grayed out it looks like there will be skirmish options for up to 3v3 battles on a lot of different maps. Plus, there will be all of the multiplayer options available that the demo doesn’t let you check out.

Graphically the game looks great. It is beautiful really. There are tons of details in the units and level layout, and I did not notice any repetitive textures like many RTS maps are plagued with. The cut scenes are some of the best looking that I’ve seen in a long time. Frankly, it lives up to the Halo name and the level of quality I expect from the franchise. Even the menus have a similar layout and feel to what we’ve gotten use to in Halo 3.

The the little bit of the story you get in the demo seems pretty cool. It is set before the Halo games and covers some of the UNSC battles 20 years before the events in Halo: Combat Evolved. I’ve read all of the Halo books and really enjoy the Halo Universe in general, and I like that they are basically giving more back story to the Halo games through Halo Wars.

I really like how the game focuses around the battle and not about micro-managing resources. There are still resources, but once you build a supply pad on your base they will start rolling in resources automatically. Build a second supply pad and have double rolling in. For the first couple missions it seems like two supply pads was more than enough. As long as I did not get all my troops killed I never really ran into issues with not having enough resources. This simplicity in the resources is nice because it lets you focus on the best part of RTS games…The Battles.

I really like just about everything in the demo, other than it would be nice it had more levels and maps available. But then, that is probably true of most demos. Still, it does a good job giving a feel of how Halo Wars will play once it releases on March 3rd. I really like the direction that Ensemble Studios is taking by focusing on the fighting and not the resource managing parts of RTS games. I may not be getting it the say it releases depending on what game I’m playing a month from now, but I’ll have it by mid-March for sure.

After playing the demo and really enjoying it I decided to rent Lord of the Rings: Conquest. I’m glad I did not buy it because the multiplayer has no options to play with your friends. There is no party system or private rooms for the regular verses multiplayer. The single player campaigns are fun and they do support co-op play but once I finished those I was done with LotR: Conquest since I can’t play with my friends easily. I’ve got a full review up on The Break it Down Blog if you are interested.