Quick Reviews: Dead Space 2, Bulletstorm, Call of Duty: Black Ops

Dead Space and Dead Space 2

I waited a long time to play Dead Space. It was a gift from my daughter for Christmas, but I the demo had been so hard I was hesitant.

That was stupid. The game rocked. Totally, utterly rocked. Great plot. Loved it. You can pick up Dead Space at Amazon as a $20 special edition.

Dead Space 2 is out now and I loved it. I've played it through 4 times now. I enjoyed the plot, and the gameplay was just as good as the first. It was a continuation with some evolution, not a whole new game, and that was fine by me. It's a 2 DVD game. The need to swap is a pain. But being able to play the second portion without putting in Disc 1 and then Disc 2 is good.

And as if that wasn't enough goodness, March 1 brings new DLC that includes single person gameplay (since I stay clear of the XBox Live ghetto.)

The game leaves an easy opening for a third installment. I can only home we see Issac again.

Note, there is also iPad version. It has a different take on things though, you play as a Unitarian (the religious nut jobs in the console version). The graphics are good and it's pretty fun. Worthy of the minor investment. Sorry, no link. But it's on the iTunes App Store.

Bulletstorm

Bulletstorm: part campaign, part arcade, part multiplayer. Violent as hell and the language is something that even I was hesitant to let my youngest hear (and I'm not a parent who believes that swearing in front of children will cause them to do the same, and it seems to have worked fine). And Triska is totally hot while Grayson Hunt would make a great Halloween costume.

The campaign is short. And hard, even on Very Easy. But it is fun. The arcade aspects will be re-playable. I don't know anything about the multi-player. 

Update on Bulletstorm

OK, still great game, but deployability and the arcade version just doesn't seem to be what I had hoped. Call of Duty is back in the Xbox tray, and I'll likely be sniping NPCs until Portal 2. Or the weather gets nicer and I can go and snipe in my back yard with my Talon SS. 

EA: Death by a thousand cuts

But it does bring up an issue I have with both Dead Space 2, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Bulletstorm. EA now requires that you have a separate code for playing online for each member of your family. So I pay $60 for a game, and then another $7 so my teenage son can play. I so love getting bled to death. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops: OK, so I wasn't going to buy this. I didn't play the earlier games much. And again, I hate multiplayer because of the horrible experience that Xbox Live is. I can't believe the blatant racism present online. But the Combat Training mode makes up for it, you get multiplayer of sort, but without the name calling.

The campaign mode is all over the place time-wise. Hard to follow, but fun nonetheless.

The zombie mode is awesome, especially playing a split screen game with one of my kids, as is Combat Training.

And I've played Combat Training dozens and dozens of times by myself. The new DLC that included 4 new levels is awesome. I love playing the Berlin and Stadium levels with 4 good NPCs and 8 bad.

Waiting For...

So, the next little bit looks like it'll be replay time. At least until Portal 2 comes out on April 19. It's been moved up by months and I hope its worth the rush. And F.E.A.R. 3 in May. And beyond that Bioshock Infinite, December 31, 2012.

The LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean and LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars games come out March 22, my little guy will love those.

One other surprise was the trailer for the Dead Island zombie game. I wish there was in-game play though. Trailers and previews without in-game play is kind of a lost leader.

BTW - All of those links do take you to Amazon and I do get a cut if you buy through them. I'm not going to hide that. :-)