I’ve been playing Spider-Man Friend or Foe for a few days now and I figured I’d post a few quick thoughts about it. It is not quite a button masher, but it is pretty close. The only thing stopping it from being a button masher is that there are some cool combos that work only on specific enemies. The story is new and unique to the game. You’re play as Spider-Man who is fighting waves of holographic based enemies. There are 20 missions in the game and after ever couple missions you unlock a new friend or foe (hence the name) who fights along side you. You can only have one sidekick at a time, but by the end there are 14 different ones to choose from including Green Goblin, Rhino, Doc Oc, Venom, Blade, and Silver Sable. Because you have a sidekick the whole game you can play the full game in 2 player co-op. Co-op is on the local system only and not over Live, which is a shame. I did have a friend over who played a few levels with me and we had a blast. There are some fun co-op based moves that the co-op AI does not do very often that a real person can do all the time. Even though AI for your sidekick has a tendency to not attack when enemies are to far away it doesn’t really turn out to be that bad because the enemy AI tends to just keep walking towards you until it is close enough to hit you. So, just stand near your sidekick and he’ll do his share of fighting. The sidekicks are not quite as useful as Spider-Man though because they only have two special attacks and Spidey has like six, but they still do their share of fighting.

The graphics are cartoony but I like them because it is almost like playing through a cartoon or comic. The voice acting in the game is decent. Nick Fury, who should be a playable character but is not, sounds a little off, but the computer voice on the helicarrier is spot on. The only thing about the voices that bugs me is that if you play with the same sidekick for a while you end up hearing them say the same things a lot. For a level or two I did not notice any repeating comments, but after about 4 levels I started to hear the same one liners and come backs until I switched sidekicks.

Overall I’d recommend renting Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. It is not very long and since you can’t play over Live once you beat it once or twice it will probably loose its appeal. It does have a 2 player verses mode you can play locally as well, but even that will not keep this in my 360 much past the time I finish getting the last achievement. The game is fun and if you like simple fighting games the this one is fun one since Spidey has some fun special moves. Also, the achievements are pretty easy. You can get 11 out or 112 of them in one play through if you are careful to find everything in each level.

I know I’ve not had a good review or rant recently, but I’m still playing the same games I have been for the last few weeks; Halo 3, Team Fortress 2, and Guitar Hero III. I did however download the Foo Fighters and Velvet Revolver Packs for Guitar hero III. I was torn about getting them because they are pretty expensive for the number of songs included, but after watching some clips on YouTube I knew they would be a lot of fun. So, I caved and ignored my cheap ways and bought them both the same day. The Foo Fighters Pack contains “The Pretender”off of the “Echoes Silence Patience & Grace”, “All My life” off of the “One by One”, and “This Is A Call” off of the “Foo Fighters.” The Velvet Revolver Pack includes “She Builds Quick Machines” off of the “Libertad Allbum”, “Slither” off of the “Contraband Allbum”, and “Messages” off of the “Libertad”. Having played all 6 songs quite a few times now I’m happy with my $12 purchase. The songs are a lot of fun to play. They seem a bit harder than most of the songs included in the main game, but not so hard that I was not able to complete them the first time through or get 4 and 5 starts on them after a couple tries. I also downloaded the free Boss Battle Track Pack and the Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix previously. All four of these songs are also pretty fun today. The Boss Battle songs are actually quite fun when you’re not having to fight to beat someone while you play them. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the Guitar Hero III DLC so far. Sure, I wish the packs that are 500 points were a lot cheaper, but there are also some free songs so it almost balances out.

It was a good weekend in gaming for me. I got a ton more songs with 5 starts this weekend in Guitar Hero III. I can tell I’m getting better at it, but I’m still not as good as I could be. I also finished off Episode 2 of Half-Life 2. It was a lot of fun. The ending caught me off guard, but I’ll not spoil it by telling you anything about it. I’m really hoping there is an Episode 3 in the works or that Half-Life 3 picks up where Episode 2 left off because I’m dying to see where the story goes. I also played in a 1-Flag CTF tournament in Halo 3 this weekend with about 24 other guys from AGE. My team, despite my numerous betrayals, ended up winning by one point. It was really close, but in the end our defense held. Special thanks to my sister for babysitting my son so I could play in the tournament without any distractions. Finally, this weekend was topped off by getting an email from GameFly letting me know I had 5 referrals so I get six months of GameFly for free. Since the only place that I referred people was here on this blog – thanks to all of you who signed up as my referral. You just saved me like $120. All in all, it was a great weekend in gaming and I’m looking forward to spending more time in Halo 3 and Guitar Hero III.

I’ve been playing Team Fortress 2 for a few weeks now and I’m loving it. It might be the most fun multiplayer game I’m playing right now. For those of you not familiar with Team Fortress 2 it is a multiplayer only first person shooter. You can play as any of the 9 classes. Each class has its own weapons and abilities, but they all are really well balanced. For example, the big guy with the chain gun moves really slowly, but the little guy with the shotgun runs really fast. The best part of Team Fortress 2 is that the maps are designed specifically for certain game types. It makes them a lot more fun. You’re not going to run into lame game types like you can have in Halo 3 (4 person slayer on Sandtrap I’m looking at you). The game gives you a good amount of stats at the end of each match including how many kills, how much healing, etc. The other great thing Team Fortress 2 does is that it alerts you in game when you’ve been killed by a person 4 times in a row, or if you kill someone 4 times in a row. When I get killed by the same guy’s flame thrower over and over it lets me know and gives me the opportunity to hunt him down to get my revenge. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously and that makes it a blast to play.

I also have been spending time with Half-Life 2. I beat the main game and Episode One this weekend. I really like the way the levels are laid out in Half-Life 2. For the most part it is a linear first person shooter, but there are these puzzle elements in the game that are really cool. You’ll be running through a city and hit a dead end, and have to figure out how to lower a bridge or restore power to open a gate. None of these puzzle elements are too hard to figure out, but they help set the pace of the game really nicely. One thing I’ve found I like a lot is that Half-Life 2 lets you carry as many weapons as you find at one time. So, once I find them I can carry a rocket launcher, machine gun, shotgun, pistol, grenades, and a crossbow all at once. This is really nice because each weapon works best against a certain enemy type. Instead of always hunting down a weapon for the enemies I’m facing I just switch that one real quick. They also give you a gravity gun which is one of the best weapons in a shooter since the Shark Gun in Armed and Dangerous. The Gravity Gun lets you pick up items and launch then as a high powered projectile. Some of the most fun ones are barrels of gas and saw blades. It never gets old to cut a row of guys in half with a flying circular saw blade. Half-Life 2 has so many great little things that I’ve not touched on that keep popping up in my head to write about that I can’t get them all listed fast enough. Instead I’m just going to tell you that you should definitely gut your hands on The Orange Box. In addition to Half-Life 2 (and both expansion episodes) it includes Team Fortress 2 and Portal. It is one of the best values for your money for an Xbox 360 game. If anyone disagrees I’m going to assume your either crazy or drunk.

The Halo 3 Theme song (MJOLNIR Mix edition) was released for Guitar Hero III today. Not only is it a lot of fun to play with some really fun HO/POs in it, but they released it for free as well. When I first saw it was being released I did not thin it would be that great, but having played through it now I’m glad I gave it a try. It is a lot of fun. It is also longer than I remember, but then when Halo 3 is starting up I generally don’t sit and listen to the intro song. I normally head strait into a game right away.

By now most of you probably already have seen the news that Halo 3 is getting new maps on December 11. It is called the Heroic Map Pack and it will cost $10 when it is released or you can get it free in the Spring of 2008. I’ve listed the info about the three maps included below, but seriously, $10 for 3 maps is just ridiculous. Sure, a ton of people will buy them since it is Halo 3, but I will not be one of them. $3.33 per map is just to much money. It is worse than paying $2 per song for Guitar Hero songs and those were to expensive to be worth the cost. I realize they have a business to run and that business is about making money, but if they had just released these for $5 they would have sold more than enough to make a profit on them and then they would not have pissed of so many games with their bend over and take it high prices.

Halo 3players will be able to enjoy three all new multiplayer maps on December 11 as part of the Heroic Map Pack, the first in a series of downloadable content from Bungie Studios to come via Xbox LIVE.

Master Chief is excited about the first Halo 3 downloadable content.

Available for 800 Microsoft Points exclusively on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, each map presents a totally different play style.

• The symmetrical valley of Standoff, with its entrenched bases and fields of boulders is ideal for mid-sized objective and Slayer game types.

• The vast, labyrinthine passages of the Rat’s Nest bring something completely new to the multiplayer experience: an indoor vehicle paradise. Strongly influenced by the Campaign mode, this map is ideal for big team battles.

• Foundry is the ultimate Forge map. Players can edit every single object in this voluminous industrial warehouse, placing stairways, walls, bridges, and tunnels to create an entirely new play space and build almost any kind of map imaginable.

All three maps will become available for free download via Xbox LIVE Marketplace in Spring 2008, just prior to the next wave of new Halo 3 multiplayer maps.

We’ll have more information on the Heroic Map Pack, including how to get the pack for those who haven’t downloaded content before, as the release date nears.

Does anyone else remember last year when Amazon.com ran the promotion where you vote on what item you want them to have on sale for one day for a ridiculously cheap price? Last year is was an Xbox 360 Core for $99. This year the options are between a Wii for $79, a 40GB PS3 for $139, and an Xbox 360 Arcade for $99. I voted for the Wii since I already have an Xbox 360. Currently the Wii is winning with 55% of the vote. Assuming it wins the vote it will be on sale on November 22nd. Keep in mind that you can only buy the sale item if you voted for it so vote carefully. To vote for which sale you prefer: click here. In addition to this sale on the 22nd there are five other great deals you can vote on as well. The other cool thing I found over there today is they are having a sweepstakes to give away a $10,000 shopping spree. To enter click here. I figure I’m probably not going to win, but at least by telling all of you there is a chance someone I know will win it.

I played a lot of the demos I’ve downloaded and not gotten around to until now. The first one I tried was America’s Army: True Soldiers. What a bunch of crap. The game use based on GRAW2 but with a few changes. The game looks like crap. If you were thinking of playing this one just play GRAW2 instead. GARw2 is more refined and looks better than this garbage.

After promptly deleting America’s Army I tried out the Scene it? demo. I can see where it would be a lot of fun to play with friends. By myself it was not really that challenging since no one was competing against me, but I really like the setup and the big button controllers would be cool. If I can find a good deal on it I’ll pick it up for when friends come over. I really like that the game keeps track o the questions it has asked so you don’t get the same ones all the time. That should help me beat my friends who own the original Scene it and have all of the questions memorized. If you’re looking for a good party game then give Scene it? a look.

I next checked out the Timeshift multiplayer demo. I was not overly impressed. It was ok, but the control felt very mechanical like I was controlling a robot and not a person. I thought it was lag at first, but I tried a few matches and they were all like that. I never did figure out the control layout for things beyond the basics. I still plan to rent the game for the single player, bu I’m not planning on spending a lot of time with the multiplayer.

The final demo I checked out was MX vs. ATV Unleashed. If you’ve read my blog for very long you know I’m not good at racing games. I play the occasional race/shooter (like Full Auto) but racing sims are not my thing. That said, I had a lot of fun with MX vs. ATV Unleashed. I had no trouble controlling the vehicles, which is normally my issue, and there are four different vehicle types to play with. There are also a lot of different race an competition modes. I tried all the ones the demo had available and I enjoyed them all. Each of the vehicles and modes handle a little differently, but I was able to place in first or second in all of them. There are also a lot of little things I really like. First as the level loads they out you in a little free style arena so you can drive around and throw some tricks. I really like this because you don’t have to sit at a load screen. The other little thing I really like is that you can throw tricks over any jump in any race type. Even if you;re just doing a normal race you can throw a trick over the jump to rub you’re opponents faces in th fat you’re winning. I’m thinking I’ll rent MX vs. ATV Unleashed if my GameFly queue gets down to a few games.

I finally got my hands on a copy of The Orange Box this week and the first thing I decided to check out was Portal because all of the people on my friends list have been raving about it. After playing through the main levels twice I can definitely see what everyone was so excited about. The game is a blast. Besides the fun of playing through the levels and beating the puzzles it is also a lot of fun to just play around in the levels and see how high you can get yourself to fly. No spoilers here on how it ends, but the last level of the game is one of the best levels I’ve played in a long time. If you have not tried Portal yet go rent/borrow a copy of The Orange Box and try it. It is only about 3 hours to beat the whole game, but it is some of the best 3 hours you’ll ever have. If anyone hears any news about an expansion or Portal 2 please let me know because that it would be great to hear more Portal is coming.

I finished off Guitar Hero III’s career mode on Medium this weekend. I know, I’m not that good at Guitar Hero, but I am getting better. I also played some co-op on Live and had a blast. I was going to write up a full review, but frankly, I’ve only got enough time right now to go over a few things.

First, I’m really enjoying Guitar Hero III. There is a good mix of songs. Maybe it is just me, but it seems like on Medium difficulty is a little harder than it was on Guitar Hero II. There are more notes and more hammer-ons and pull-offs. Personally, I like it this way and it makes it more rewarding when I play a song well.

Second, I’m not a big fan of the Battle Mode. It really breaks the flow of the game for me, but with the strategies I posted the other day I did not have any trouble with beating any of the bosses in the career mode within a try or two. No spoilers here, bit I actually beat the final boss on the first try and had a lot of fun playing that song.

My only complaint with the game right now is the lack of co-op career mode over Xbox Live. Since some of the songs can only be unlocked in co-op career mode and I don’t have any friends locally who have Guitar Hero III I don’t have a way to unlock those songs except by using the cheat codes that can be found around the net. I’d rather unlock them honestly, but I’m not buying a second guitar or waiting for my friends to get the game.

I’m looking forward to what downloadable content there will be for Guitar Hero III, but I really hope they figure out a better pricing structure than the 3 games for $6 they did with Guitar Hero II because I’ll not being paying $2 a song.