Blacksite: Area 51 Frustrations

I'll be the first to admit it - I don't have the highest standards to enjoy a video game. I'm not one of those snooty folks who turn up their nose at a nicely done game just because it has nothing new or original to offer. If I enjoyed Halflife and someone wants to borrow heavily from it for their own shooter several years later I don't really care as long as its fun. Sometimes it feels nice to curl up with a simple game not trying to show off any new tricks (Soldier of Fortune: Payback anyone?). So when I started seeing negative reviews about Blacksite: Area 51 I thought people were upset because it was just more of the same from the last game. Granted, I hated scaffoldings after the first but I was ready to return anyway. I was willing to look the other way and embrace the repetition. Then I saw the quotes from the old project manager who seemed less than impessed with the final code. I was getting nervous but still held out hope. Then it came in the mail. I was supposed to get a free headset but it was not in the package. The inventory list said it should be there so I called. The guy on the phone said he'd send out a replacement but... it never came. Not too upsetting because I didn't care much about it. Finally I got around to spending some quality time with BS:A51 and the first thing I noticed was that the graphics were no where near as nice looking as in the Xbox Live demo. Maybe it was because the demo takes place at night it looked better but the game looks pretty bad. Its as if the character models have been placed in front of a cheap green screen with jaggy auras around their shiny bald heads. Definitely rough, but that didn't bother me too much. The gameplay is what I expected and frankly I enjoy walking into new areas, triggering an ambush, clearing out the bad guys, rinse and repeat. This was okay until I met up with the requisite Military Shooter hottie Noa. She injected something into my arm and then blocked my only way out of the room. It didn't help that two of my crew just watched with blank stares and my 3rd guy ran up and back in front of Noa. After a few minutes I ended up having to reload my last checkpoint. Really annoying. Anyway, I hope the rest of the game is less buggy. =================

New GameStop Miniature Console Gift Card Tins

Now this is pretty cool. I was waiting for 3D Beowulf to begin over the weekend and ventured into a nearby GameStop. Upon entering I was greeted with a nice display of gift card holders in the shape of consoles and handhelds. Nice tiny replicas if you like to collect that sort of thing like me. It is kind of a pain taking pictures of these glossy items in the wrapper. Well, let's be honest, my pictures are atrocious but I never claimed to be a pro. These will look nice on my desk next to the Big Daddy figurine from BioShock. Enjoy.