That's gonna be my break time, before I start preparing for the 'big bang', the Cambridge May/June 2007 international examinations. Until then, I'm free to sleep well, game, and be merry :) .

So with the mock exams finished (on the 16th of March), I've been able to add a couple of games to my collection. Here's the list : -

1. F.E.A.R. (X360)
2. Call of Duty 3 (X360)
3. Project Gotham Racing 3 (X360)
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II (X360)
5. Hitman: Blood Money (X360)
6. Saints Row (X360)
7. Galactic Civilization II: Dark Avatar (PC)

I haven't tried out games 3 and 4 much, but from what I've played of PGR3, its pretty good. The best feature has to be the in-car view. Absolutely immersive! I'm a little concerned about the aliasing though. It's quite visible and dampens the feeling of perfection.

LOTR: BFME II.....

Well its not easy to play on a controller when you've spent most of your RTS hours using a mouse, but I've played enough of it now to get along. What bothers me is that the game seems to stutter alot, as if 360's got some RAM problem. I don't know why....it doesn't hamper gameplay much (the stutters are measurable in milliseconds), but it just doesn't FEEL right.

F.E.A.R......

During the early levels, I wondered what the fuss was all about. Dual wielding pistols wasn't much fun, the little girl wasn't much of a scare, and the graphics were sloppy (GoW must be to blame). But I decided to go on, and slowly, the game became better and better. Sure, the environments are repetitive and depressing, but the A.I.'s rock solid, and flanks left and right without hesitation. As the arsenal grew in size, the shooting improved, and when you're lugging a rocket laucher that spits hot projectiles at rates that rival machine guns, its hard not to break a smile.

Call of Duty 3....

Not much that's different from the previous installment. More of the same room-clearing and cinematic weapon slinging that was present in CoD2. You still have the same stupid team A.I.. They find it hard to shoot Germans half a metre away, and some of them seem to have a watered down damage rating. One baddy took 8 shotgun blasts at point blank range before expiring. The graphics, however, are up a notch, in terms of clarity and texturing. But herein lies the unpleasant part. The frame rate can be a problem, and in some fights gets below 30. The controls get a bit sluggish during such scenarios, and its extremely irritating. I'd rather have performance at the expense of some quality, instead of the other way around.

Hitman: Blood Money....

One rather underrated game. Yeah, I've never played any Hitman title before this one, but still, its an excellent third person game, and highly recommended for fanatics of assasination and impersonation. The options you have for silently finishing a target are numerous and varied, and usually humerous too (watching an FBI agent sniff a panty dunked in ether.....LOL). The graphics aren't next gen though, what with the people roaming around looking more like LEGO characters, with flat hair layers (no seperate strands of hair) and blocky outlines. Also, EVERYBODY stares at you, no matter how many other NPCs there are around you. Its pretty unnerving for the first few times when you're in a disguise, and is plain unrealistic.

Saints Row......

Another underrated game. The gang members are much, much more intelligent than those in GTA: San Andreas. They'll efficiently cover your ass as you fight hordes of colourful enemy gangs, and even pick up guns dropped by the dead. The unlimited healing system is great, and allows the fights to go on for much, much longer. Starting these gang wars, however, is pretty tedious. You only get a few rival members here and there. Kill one, then move to another spot, find another fool, then kill him, rinse and repeat, while the bar slowly rises with each downing. Boring!

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar.....

I'll recommend this to any turn based strategy gamer. Many of the glitches and quirks present in Dread Lords have been patched up, and overall the expansion's additional features like asteroid belts, better A.I., and stabler gameplay make the game alot more pleasurable to play.



That's it. A happy gaming weekend to all of you. And if you've played LOTR or Call of Duty 3, please comment on the stutters and frame rate drops. Hopefully, it isn't because of a faulty 360, is it? :? *Fingers Crossed*