I’m a long time Wii Fit Plus user. When I don’t feel like heading over to the gym I can just pop it in and get a decent light workout in. I decided to give EA Sports Active 2 a try after seeing it in action at E3 last year.  I was a little skeptical of the arm and leg bands, but the idea of not having to use the Wii balance board was enticing. I’m actually don’t really notice the bands once they are on.  Sports Active 2 does have the option to use the balance board, but I specifically chose not to use it because I’ve found the board to be very inaccurate and frustrating to use.   The setup for Sports Active 2 is pretty simple.  You tell it your weight, or use the balance board to take it, and then pick how intense of a workout series you want to do.  I chose the 90 day moderate workout series.I then picked which 4 days of the week I wanted to be my regular workouts and which 3 are for resting.

The daily workouts are about 30 minutes long and each one focuses on activities relating to a specific sport. There is your general warm up activities, then a solid 20 minutes of intense exercises and finally wrapping things up with a few minutes of cool down.  The middle set of activities are where you do activities related to a sport.  I like this setup as each day is a different set of items in the workout regiment. So while there is a routine pattern to the workouts the individual pieces change each day. Sure, they seem to find a way to tie in squats and lunges into almost each sport, but sometimes it will be to block goals in soccer and others it will be tied to running.  The variety keeps things fresh and interesting.  By then end of the workout I’m definitely sweating and have had a much more intense workout than anything in Wii Fit. I can’t imagine how hard the activities for the even harder workout series would be.

Ive been using EA Sports Active 2 for a couple months now and one thing I’ve come to really enjoy is how the game tracks my stats online as well.  It lets me see quickly how I’m improving without having to dig around inside the game to find that info.  Like most at home workouts, EA Sports Active 2 is only as helpful as you make it.  If you’re disciplined and do each activity without cheating it can be a useful fitness tool.  For me I’m liking it a lot more than Wii Fit Plus.  The games in that have a place and my son likes doing them but for a more active and sports focused workout EA Sports Active 2 is the way to go.

I was luck enough to get a chance to review the Dead Money DLC for Fallout: New Vegas for VGRevolution. I did not really know what the DLC was about before I started playing other than it involved robbing a casino. The real challenge is getting into the casino and then into the vault to rob the place.  The actual robbery takes just a few minutes. I don’t want to spoil any more of the story but I actually really enjoyed it.  What most surprised me about the DLC was how much fut it was to completely change my play style to deal with the enemies and challenges. I normally avoid up close combat in Fallout, but in Dead Money that was not an option.  Maybe it was because I spent 30 levels (and over 40 hours) playing as a run and gun shooter, but for whatever reason the complete change in tactics really rang home for me.  I’m looking forward to whatever DLC they make next for Fallout: New Vegas and would recommend giving Dead Money a try.

After playing through the Call of Duty: Black Ops campaign this week and being really disappointed I moved on to playing a bunch of downloadable titles. I’m glad I just rented COD:BLOPS because I’m not really into the multiplayer style and the campaign was not great.  The actual story was pretty interesting this time around but the game play was really annoying.  Too many times I would shoot enemies only to have nothing happen.  Plus,all of the enemies seemed to be able to kill me with just one or two bullets.  Shouldn’t I be able to do the same to them?

Fortunately, X-Men Arcade released on Xbox Live Arcade this week to distract me.  I’ve got a quick review of it up here, but basically it is as fun as I remember. The 6 player co-op over Xbox Live is great when it is not lagging or kicking people out of the room. Still, overall if you enjoyed the arcade game I think this version is worth getting to play with some friends.

Radiangames Crossfire 2 is quickly becoming one of my favorite Xbox Live Indie Games. Radiangames has not made a title I’ve not enjoyed yet, but Crossfire 2 night be their best one.  It takes a Space Invaders fixed cabinet view and adds a full upgrade system.  Plus there is a score based mode with online leaderboards for when the campaign has been completed.  I’ve got a full review on XBLA & XBLIG Ratings here.

I’ve also started Soulcaster II. The way it mixes tower defense and action RPG is really nicely done. The first game was great and the sequel only improves on it. I’ll be getting a review together later this week over here.

After enjoying the demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 I was very disappointed with the full game.  First off, it was short, like 6 hours short.  There were only 5 missions.  A couple of them are fairly lengthy but still 5 missions is not much.  SW:TFU2 could easily be a $20 expansion to the original game based on the size.  Yes, there are new enemies and you dual wield light sabers this time, but nothing so outstandingly better that it deserves its own game. I found the story line frustrating because I had no choice in the decisions that my character made until the very end.  He consistently did things that in an RPG I would not have done. But, since this just an action adventure title I was stuck just playing through the story.  There are still too many jumping and quick time events for my tastes.  Just let me attack the large boss enemies and don’t make it be a stupid quick time even to kill them. When you are just fighting storm troopers the game is fun.  The force powers and the  combos that use end with using the force are really nice.  Unfortunately, a lot of the times you get a couple storm troopers and then a mini-boss instead of large groups of fun enemies. If you enjoyed the first SW:TFU then the sequel is probably worth a rent. Just don’t get your hopes up to high.

I’ve been playing a lot of downloadable titles this week with a mix of Rock Band 3. I’m working on getting better playing keyboard, but that gets mixed in with my normal gaming most of the time anyway.  This week has been heavy on Xbox Live Arcade and Indie Game titles.  Harms Way release on Xbox Live Arcade for free this week so I checked it out a little.  I played some of the single player mode and I’d like to try the multiplayer but every time I try it tells me there are no rooms available.  I tried hosting my own room but after 15 minutes no one had joined and I gave up.  I’ll try it again over the weekend and hopefully can find some people to play with because it seems like it would be fun against actual people.

Costume Quest for a DLC pack titles Grubbings on Ice. It release Wednesday for $5 and I finished that night.  It was only about 3 hours but I had a lot of fun playing it.  The new costumes were fun and the story was a nice addition.  I really hope they release more DLC like this for it. I’ve got a review on XBLA Ratings: here.

I also have been playing Commander – World 1, Epic Dungeon, Decimation X3 and Score Rush on Xbox Live Indie Games.  All are $1 each and well worth checking out.  Hit any of the links for my review of the game on XBLIG Ratings. The Xbox Live Indie Game devs have been really stepping it up with great $1 games recently and I’m taking full advantage.

I’ve been playing Marvel Pinball for about a week now for a review on XBLA Ratings, and now that the DLC pack for Pinball FX 2 is out I can finally talk about it.  I’ve been having a blast with it.  I enjoy Pinball FX 2 and these 4 new tables are even better than the original ones because they add fights between Marvel characters.  The four tables are Spider-Man, Blade, Wolverine and Iron Man.  Each Marvel hero has 3 enemies to face off against. The Blade table is my favorite, but the Iron Man one I found really frustrating.  Still, for $10 I think this is a good addition to the game. You can hit my review for a full breakdown.

It is not very often a game surprises me these days. Generally, I can tell if I’ll like a game based on the game play videos and trailers.  I was expecting to enjoy the campaign in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood since it is a direct continuation of Assassin’s Creed 2 which I really enjoyed.  While the campaign is a lot of fun and a great way to continue the story it is the multiplayer that caught me off guard.  The verses modes in AC:B are AMAZING!  I’m having some of the most fun I’ve had in years playing with the guys from AGE.

The multiplayer is sort of like hide-n-seek for adults with lots of stabbing.  Each map is filled with NPC characters who are the same skins as the players.  You have to mix hiding and blending in with crowds with trying to escape people chains you. There is a constant tension as you play because you never know who around you is about to stab you in the back.  There are three main multiplayer modes in AC:B.  The ‘Wanted’ mode is an 8 person free for all where you always have one person you are trying to hunt down. The better you’re doing the more people you have hunting you. This mode is good for beginners because if they are not playing well then no one is hunting for them.  The ‘Manhunt’ mode is my favorite.  It has 2 teams of 4 with one team hiding and the other hunting.  Ten, half way through the roles switch.  The hiding team gets points for staying alive and hidden and the hunters get points for their kills. I think what I like about Manhunt is you don’t have to focus on killing and being killed.  It is just one or the other. The third mode is ‘Alliance’ which has 3 teams of two.  Each team has one that they are hunting and another team hunting them making a triangle of targets.  Again, half way through the targets switch.  Part of what makes the multiplayer so great is that no tow matches are the same. Plus, the pace is much slower than shooters I normally play.  There is a lot of strategy involved and when you get a really great kill on someone you are rewarded with a ton of experience points.

The single player campaign is really nicely done.  It directly continues the story of Ezio/Desmond from AC2.  There are a few new mechanics like a crossbow, poisoned darts and the ability to throw heavy weapons. All of these little additions make for a fun playing experience, but what I really like is when you start to build your own Brotherhood of Assassins. As you recruit them they start out as lowly apprentices but you can then send them out on missions to get them experience. Eventually this gets them levels up to full fledged assassins. As soon as you have them recruited you can call your brotherhood members to help you.  If you get into a fight or get spotted and need a guard taken out quickly just tap the left bumper and from around the nearest corner an assassin comes running in to help.  Once you have three groups of assassins you can also have them do an “arrow storm” which kills off all the enemies in an area. There is a recharge time for having the brotherhood come help you but it is not overly long.  In many of the missions having an extra person help is really useful.  I really hope this is leading into having full co-op play in Assassin’s Creed 3 because having a team help me was a lot of fun and made for some fun strategies.

If you have not played the campaign in AC2 you really should before playing Brotherhood, but you can skip AC1 and still follow along with the story.  AC2 dis a great job filling in the back story for new players.  AC:B does not do that.  It instead assume you are ready to continue the AC2 story. The story itself in AC:B ends with a cliffhanger that clearly sets things up for the next game.  I plan to be playing the multiplayer for quite a while but I’m already looking forward to AC3 for the single player (and hopefully co-op) portion.

I’ve been playing Rock Band 3 since the day it released and I figure it is time I share my thoughts on it. I’ve only played the keyboard a little but it is fun so far.  I always intend to play it more, but then I start playing guitar/bass and have so much fun that I forget to switch.  I’m going to make a conscious effort to play the keys more now that I’ve finished all the Road Challenges.  The Road Challenges are essentially the single player campaign where you work your way up from local venues to a world tour.  One thing I really liked about the Road Challenges is that instead of making you play a specific set of songs each portion gives you three song sets to pick from. That way you’re not stuck playing songs you don’t like as well. Because of the option to pick which set this is the first “campaign” in a music game where I did not get stuck on a  hard song and get frustrated.

The whole interface for Rock Band 3 has been improved for people like me who have a large song library.  I’m at just over 500 songs and I’ve been having a lot of fun playing through each song and then giving it a rating.  The ratings lets  the game pick songs you like for the random setlists and lets you quickly find songs you like. You also have options to sort the song list by not just the ratings but the genre, length, difficulty, release decade and more.  So, if I’m in the mood for some 80’s Metal or 90’s Rock it will quickly show me just those songs.

I find myself constantly going back to the “My Goals” section to see my progress through completing every song and the other achievements.  I also like that after playing each song it tells me if I did better than my friends or how close my score is to theirs.  The only thing I find a little annoying at times is the “recommended” songs.  Basically when you see a song list it will sometimes show DLC songs that it thinks you would like that you do not already own.  I’d like an option to turn that off and only see the recommendations when I’m in the music store.

For a long time fan of the Rock Band series with a large library of songs Rock Band 3 is a mus have, but for gamers new to the genre it also has the best set of tutorials for learning how to play not just the fake instruments, but real ones in the pro mode as well.

Having finished Fallout: New Vegas I spent the last couple days playing Rock Band 3 (review coming at some point), Radiangames Fireball and Faery: Legends of Avalon.  Fireball is similar to passivism mode in Geometry Wars but expanded to a full game.  At just $1 it is my value game for the week because I’ve easily put 4 or 5 hours into it already.  It is a blast to play and with online leaderboards it keeps me coming back to try new tactics.  My review for Fireball is up on XBLA & XBLIG Ratings here. The challenges modes are my current addiction.  At just 3 minutes they don’t take very long but are a lot of fun.

Faery: Legends of Avalon hit Xbox Live Arcade this week and with my saved game at 8 and a half hours I’ve finished it already. It is fun, if linear, RPG that explores the world of Avalon as you try to save magic from extinction.  The combat is turn based and with 6 or 7 companions to choose from on your quests there is a wide range of attacks and spells to use.  I had fun going back to a fairly classic RPG what was not overly complicated or fast.  My full review is up here.

I’m sitting here watching the final credits for Fallout: New Vegas and my save game is sitting at nearly 50 hours.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time in New Vegas and I look forward to any DLC that Bethesda releases.While I don’t have anywhere near all the achievements and I don’t plan to get them.  With RPGs like this I don’t really like to go back and replay just to complete the story line in another way.  For Fallout New Vegas I would have to do that 3 more times, plus spend a lot of time grinding, to get all the achievements.  As much as I love getting every achievement in the games I play I’m ok with not having them all for RPGs. Going back into a game world like New Vegas’ just doesn’t sit right with me.  It would be like watching a movie and the going back later and changing the last act.

Anyway, I had a blast playing Fallout New Vegas.  I think anyone who enjoyed Fallout 3 will like New Vegas.  Sure, the graphics are a little dated at this point since both games use the same engine, but for me that did not take away from my game play.  There were however quite a few other things I found frustrating while playing New Vegas.  None of these things are so bad that I ever thought about not finishing the game but if they were fixed Fallout New Vegas could easily be my game of the year.  As it is now that will not happen.

The main things that bother me are related to the pace of the game.  Because Fallout New Vegas has such a large game world it makes for slow game play at times. Yes, once you discover a location you can fast travel to it and that does help somewhat.  Even with the fast traveling the pace is slowed because the load times are quite long each time.  The load times apply not just to fast traveling but to going through any door to a new building or area.  I even have the game installed to the hard drive to help speed things up but the load times are rough.  To the point that if I forgot something in a building I regularly just decided not to go back in for it so I would not have to deal with the loading again.  Before you have enough locations discovered you’ll spend a lot of time walking through the wasteland.  In these times I was really wanting an option to sprint.  Sure I can put my gun away and move a little faster but it is still quite slow.  It was so bad at one point I stopped playing to go search online to make sure I did not miss a way to sprint.

The other thing that was really frustrating is that minor side quests do not show up in the quests list.  Instead you get a note about them that tells you what someone asked you to do.   The main quests it tracks what the next steps are including optional ones.  For minor side quests there is none of that.  Most of them I just skipped doing because it was too much of a hassle to try and remember. For the few that seemed fun I kept a notepad handy to write notes to myself on so I would not forget to do them.  I should not have to be doing that for a video game.

I know a lot of folks have run into major glitches in Fallout New Vegas, but I thankfully did not.  I had a few minor ones, but none so bad if totally broke the game for me.  In one tunnel I found I would fall through the floor each time I passed a mound in roughly the middle. Fortunately it would just jump me to the other end off the tunnel when that happened.  Another time one of my companions got lost. I never did figure out where he went.  I even went back and checked the last place I was but he was not there.  Luckily after a while the game told me he returned to the Lucky 38 Casino.  While he was lost it would not let me replace him because I already had 2 companions with me.  At least that did not last too long.

So, while not perfect Fallout: New Vegas is a great game.  If they had just spent some more time with testing out the little things and speeding the game up it could have been even better.