Game Review: Rock Band 3

Rock Band 3 was a long time coming. Rock Band 2 was released way back in 2008. Unlike the Guitar Hero franchise which has a seemingly endless amount of sequels and spin-offs, we only had The Beatles: Rock Band and Green Day: Rock Band to tide us over. After such a long development, will Rock Band 3 be the pinnacle of music gaming it's supposed to be?

In some ways yes. Consider that I haven't played with the actual stringed Rock Band guitar or the other advanced guitar. I have had experience with the Rock Band Piano Keyboard (smart ass EB Games employees). Well let's start with the piano then. It's fun. A lot of fun actually. The keyboard itself is well-made and the charting is stupendous. Two complaints:

1. The bar to activate overdrive and effects is way on the left side, which more often than not causes you to lose focus.
2. This is a big one, upgrading songs from Rock Band 2 and DLC for Rock Band 3 Keyboards costs the FULL PRICE of the song. Yup, apologists can "but they have to re-license the songs" to the cows come home cause that's horse shit. Sorry there's no way I can be nice about this. If they had been up front about it, say, a year ago and said "Yup your going to have to re-pay for the songs for Rock Band 3" then they'd have my sympathy. Instead they didn't announce shit and waited until two weeks after Rock Band 3 was released and the first DLC came out. Fucking cockbites.

 Okay I have to calm down. Let's get to the good part, the music and game play. If your a metal lover than your probably going to be disappointed with Rock Band 3. Thankfully I hate metal, so Rock Band 3's soundtrack was amazing (albeit confusing: Who the fuck asked for Rock Lobster? Or that llama song?). Huey Lewis, INXS, J Geils Band, Joan Jett, Dire Straits, Ozzy, Police, Who, Doors, Hendrix, Bowie and the Beach Boys? HELL YES!

I thought the feel of Rock Band 2 couldn't get any better. I was wrong. Rock Band 3 feels so solid its unbelievable. The menus are much better (although switching users is still a pain in the ass) as well. What about the campaign? It's a disappointment. The idea behind it is great: go to different cities on Tours playing your choice of various setlists with different challenges. That's totally fun. The problem is it's too damn short! I never completely finished Rock Band 2's campaign, but Rock Band 3's campaign can be done in a day! They spent way too much time on their goal system when they need to expand the campaign. This is inexcusable when they've gotten rid of other various player modes.

Overall the game is a shame. A shame that they had such good bands and good game play ideas that they cocked up the best single system multi-player game with too much other crap and (to me) shady tactics.

7.5/10

P.S. Where the FUCK are the goddamn pianos? I have not seen one single Xbox 360 Rock Band 3 piano at any store I've been to (including Buffalo and Toronto). What is this shit? I'm sure we all thought that Mad Catz would be on top of this but it's FUCKING JANUARY! And now they're just talking about not having enough MIDI connectors? And they're only shipping 4000? How many games of Rock Band 3 were sold? I'm pretty sure they sold more Stage Kits than that!

MADCATZ! PIANOS! NOW!

Game Review: Call Of Duty: Black Ops

 

I’ve finally gotten to finish Black Ops (except Zombies, but I really don’t care for zombies). Understand that I came into Black Ops sceptical.  In the first trailer the first thing you see is these explosions that look like ass. From then on I kept me expectations low. And even after the release I still didn’t pick the game up for several weeks (problems with MW2 made me finally buy it). Here are my thoughts…

Single Player

Single Player is so-so. Some missions are pretty good for their use of history. Executive Command for example has you destroying a Russian Missile which is similar to an actual accident. Operation 40 has you on the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The Vorkuta Prison escape was also really well done.

On the other hand, the Vietnam, Kowloon and Laos missions were pretty bland. The mission WMD has some good moments but the whole spy plane is such a waste. Why did they even bother on something that you spend more time getting into than actually using? Some other complaints: Why was there no introduction to the RC-XD Car? The story isn’t great and a lot of the forced scenes are tedious and its annoying that you have to go through them EVERY TIME WITH NO SKIPPING! Some objectives aren’t clear… I’m looking at you Khe Sanh Napalm Barrels.

Multi Player

The multi-player is good. There are to big problems though. #1 is the maps. They’re all pretty uninspired and too small. Rundown time:

• Array: Good
• Cracked: Bad
• Crisis: Boring
• Firing Range: Meh
• Grid: Meh
• Hanoi: Good but rarely comes up
• Havana: Okay
• Jungle Meh
• Launch: Not bad this is probably the most interesting map
• Nuketown: Okay
• Radiation: Boring No one ever goes under ground, they wasted time on a useless door opener
• Summit: One of the better maps
• Villa: Really good sniping map
• WMD: Meh

Maybe I’m just hard to please.

The #2 thing wrong is the money/experience system. There’s a lot of little reasons so I’ll try my best to explain. For me moving Modern Warfare 2 along required unlocking weapons, unlocking the attachments and completing various challenges (usually gametype challenges). So I would play like this: Level Up, Get Gun, Get Attachments, Complete Gametype Challenge (Deathmatch, S&D, Demolition, Etc.) until I Prestige.

In Black Ops all that is thrown out the window. You only need to unlock Pro Perks. Everything else can be bought. So I focus on Pro Perks, which are a pain in the ass. I can’t really go into S&D if I’m trying to get PPs so I have to stay in TDM. So my experience so far has been level up in TDM until I get the AK47 and then just play that till I either get all my PPs or prestige (so far its only been the latter).

Another complaint: Noobs. Now I’m usually not one to complain about this, I mean, were all new at some point, right? But the issue I have is that people seem to be just taking their Xbox out of the box, putting in the game and then JOINING MY MATCHES AND GETTING 0-32! It’s ridiculous! And it happens all the time that I go to check their gamercard and the have 0 gamerscore. WHAT YOU COULDN’T BE BOTHER TO PLAY THE FIRST MISSION? YOU HAD TO COME STRAIGHT INTO MERCENARY TEAM DEATHMATCH AND YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW THE FUCKING CONTROLS??!?!?

Sorry, I just had to vent there.

There’s various other problems which you can find out for yourself (just search “Black Ops Sucks” you’ll get what your looking for)

Sound

The sound is actually top notch. Excellent voice over cast and good licensed music including Rolling Stones and CCR.

Graphics

Graphics weren’t impressive. They seemed worse than MW2 for some reason.

Positive Notes

There are several great steps though. First is the fact that you can play online with a guest. The theatre mode is good too.

Overall 7/10

I don’t think Black Ops is a worthy successor to the Modern Warfare duo. It’s good and fun to play, but it just doesn’t have the same impact that they had story wise and game play wise.

Championship?

Here we are, the end of the season. My 3rd season to be exact. It’s been a long journey from September. Let’s see how we did.

Starting with the Moscow Maulers going up against the Piper Downs. Well the Maulers lost 93-63. Although Tamme, Vick and BGE all did pretty well, unfortunately VJackson, Mccoy, Bryant, the Chargers and Wes Welker all had under 10 pts, mostly under 5pts. Andre Johnson being called out of the game at 3PM was the nail in the coffin. Congrats to the Piper Downs (the team my father owns by the way)

The Norfolk Maulers  also lost their championship game to the Nessquick 99-62. Vick, Torain and Britt (a good waiver pick) all did well but Boss, Akers, the Gianst DST, Benson, Branch, and Jackson all had 4 pts or less. Congrats to Nessquick.

Finally the Hamilton Stingers are the NFL vs CFL league CHAMPIONS! They beat the Eazeland All-Stars 114-105 a bunch of player came through for me including Vick, Foster, the Patriots DST, Bowe and Williams.

So now to do something I haven’t done before, MVP awards.

MVP: Michael Vick. With a season high off 57 pts and low of 19 (barring injury) he pretty much got my teams into the playoffs. Vick also wins for Waiver Wire MVP.

Draft MVP goes to Arian Foster who did very well.

WR MVP goes to Dwayne Bowe and Andre Johnson who both did well and not well at times.

TE MVP goes to Tamme who did great replacing Shiancoe for me

K MVP goes to David Akers who with Vick did really well

DST MVP goes to the Patriots who had the most points in the final game

Worst Injury: Dez Bryant this hurt the receiving corps on my team greatly.

Lucky Break: Michael Vicks injury made another team put him on waivers, I picked him up.

Big Bust: Shiancoe and Bernard Berrian.

Congrats to the HAMILTON STINGERS WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

This Week In Fantasy Football PLAYOFFS - WERE GOING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP!

THE MOSCOW MAULERS ARE GOING TO THE PLAYOFF AGAINST THE PIPER DOWNS! The Maulers won their game against Johnnyblaze 113 to 75, mostly thanks to Michael Vick dropping bombs and the Chargers Defense. The Piper Downs defeated Teammitchell finally putting to rest the ultra competitive Central Division.

This weekend will have a classic East vs West showdown. The Maulers and Pipers faced off before in Week 7, where the Pipers beat a team missing key players (Michael Vick injured and Andre Johnson on BYE) 97-78. Will the Maulers get their revenge in the biggest game of all?

Meanwhile The Stingers and Norfolk Maulers still have a Monday game to go through.

To Play: Maulers- Bennett (WR) or Rice (WR), Yojimbo- Forte (RB) and Olsen (TE). I have a healthy 37 pt lead (107-70) but I’m still worried. The opponent they’ll face is still up in the air: Nessquick is leading Facemob 104-93 but Facemob still has Adrian Peterson to play.

Finally the Stingers have all but sealed their win against Westside, leading 134-72. Westside has A. Peterson to play as well. They will likely battle the Eazeland All-Stars barring some sort of miracle that allows the 49ers ATW to overcome a 38 pt deficit.
I will update tomorrow!

UPDATE: The Stingers won their game by default with Peterson injured. The Stingers will face the Eazeland All-Stars who downed their division opponent. The last time these teams met the Stingers had a blowout loss by a humiliating 60pts. Can the Stingers get their revenge and get the underdog win?

The Norfolk Maulers also won their game 109-81 with Benson, Torain and of course Vick getting a majority of the points. Nessquick won its match against Facemob who also had Peterson. Ouch. Remember what I told you last week about the Maulers and Nessquick? We're still battling it out for the most wins (12-3) and now the championship. Last time these teams battled it was a 51 pt route for the Maulers. GO TEAMS GO!

This Week In Fantasy Sports: Semi-Finals

NFL vs CFL matchups are
The Hamilton Stingers vs Westside
Eazeland Allstars vs 49ers All The Way (Copperheads actually lost out by a tie).

Westside barely won the West Division by a tie. Westside and the Stingers met in Week 8 with the Stingers winning 115-72. Westside's roster has great players such as Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson and the Steelers DST. However they have a weak Receiving core and their Running Back team is lacking. This should be a difficult matchup. The computer has me up by 17.

The KFP league will have
The Moscow Maulers vs Johnny Blaze
Piper Downs vs Teammitchell

The Moscow Maulers met Johnny Blaze in Week 4, handing us our second loss in a 3 game losing streak. To say the Johnny Blaze are a powerful team is an understatement, with MJD, Calvin Johnston, Miles Austin, Hines Ward and the Steelers DST (again? PLEASE New York Jets, beat the Steelers to a pulp (note that the Steelers play Carolina the week after, is that a guaranteed championship?)) The computer has me up by 11.

VAPO League has
Yojimbo vs Norfolk Maulers
Nessquick vs Facemob

The Maulers face Yojimbo in Week 7 and beat them by a little over 10 pts. This could come down to a battle of the Quarter Backs with my Michael Vick going up against Mark Sanchez. I should note that Nessquick and the Maulers are battling for the most wins. The computer has us up by 15.

This Week In Fantasy Sports

Since all my teams were going to the playoffs, I decided to experiment with alternate players and it was quite successful. 2/3 teams won their games.

So how do the playoffs look now?

The Moscow Maulers won their game and improved to 8-4 and win the West Division title (with a 4 game lead on 2nd place to boot). The East Division title goes to Piper Downs who also has an 8-4 record. The Central Division was a lot closer with Team Mitchell and Johnnyblaze being tied at 8-4. Razorbacks were kept out of the running by the Chickenhawks  who beat them this week keeping them at 7-5.

KFP League

• East Division is Piper Downs
• West Division is Moscow Maulers
• Central Division is Johnnyblaze
• Wild Card is Team Mitchell

Hamilton Stingers lost their game leaving them at 9-5, still finishing first in the Central Division. The West is lead by the Eazeland All-Stars. The East Division with Copperheads beating Westside today is in a tie at 8-4.

NFL vs CFL League

• Central Division is Hamilton Stingers
• East Division is Eazeland All-Stars
• West Division is Westside
• Wild Card is Copperheads

Finally the Norfolk Maulers won their game, winning the East Division 11-3. Facemob won the Central Division 9-5. Nessquick won his West Division 11-3. Yojimbo secures the wild card spot at 9-5.

VAPO League

• Central Division is Facemob
• East Division is Norfolk Maulers
• West Division is Nessquick
• Wild Card is Yojimbo

Updates on matches tomorrow

This Week In Fantasy Sports 06/12/10

 Moscow Maulers have cemented their playoff spot this week with a 120-54 win over the Tigers. Analysis: Vick, Bradshaw, McCoy, Welker and Johnson all had monster games which made up for poor play by the rest of the team.

Playoff wise the Detroit Lions are out being 2 games back even if they win both weeks they can’t catch me. In the Central Division Teammitchell looks to take the lead with Razorbacks and Johnnyblaze down a game. The East Division is being led by the Piper Downs with the Bone Crushers back by a game. They face off next week. Next week Maulers face the Detroit Lions.

The Hamilton Stingers won their game against 2nd place Big Boy Ballas 86-65. Analysis: Vick and Foster gave the team an awesome start. Which the team almost blew with 5 players having less than 5 points.

Eazeland All-Stars easily has the East Division down and the Westside leads the West by a game over Copperheads and M.O.H.

Finally the Norfolk Maulers won their game 103-73 against the Underdogs. Analysis: Mix bag here, Vick and Benson played well. As did Akers and the Giants D.

Standings wise this puts me easily in the playoffs. Facemob still dominates the Central and Nessquick sealed the deal in the West division.