Impressions - Battlefield: Bad Company Beta (Part 1)

I woke up excited to get my hands on Bad Company for the first time. Without even getting out my bed I had turned on my Xbox and queued up my freshly downloaded beta. After a nice video detailing the gametype we’ll be playing I was ready to defend or steal me some gold. Then I met a foe that I never want to see, an enemy known as server issues. Turns out that are a limited number of servers up for the beta at this time, therefore only a certain number of people are able to play at a given time. Basically a one person leaves another person gets in kind of deal. Later there was a greater success rate, and I was able to fit a few games in. While it didn’t exactly wow me, I was sticking to my usual style of run and gun, that has already gotten me into trouble with Vegas 2 this week. This means I’ll have to readjust before I can give Bad Company my true opinion. I’ll be posting more of my thoughts throughout the beta.

Impressions - Condemned 2: Bloodshot

This week I've gotten the opportunity to check out Condemned 2: Bloodshot. I've only made it through the first couple of chapters so bare with this post, and next week I'll have a full fledged review. Condemned 2 takes place sometime after the first, where we our find our hero Ethan Thomas drunk in a bar, and literally battling his inner demons. In the sequel Ethan is almost a totally different person, his physical appearance has changed greatly and his attitude and demeanor are very different as well. I felt that you are only in name playing the same character, it works for what the game is trying to illustrate with Ethan being a broken man.


The game play is virtually the same, you walk from point a to point b and along the way battle scary bums and beat them with various items you find. Major differences in the game play come in the combat system and the investigation themed areas. The combat is still, up until the point in the game that I am currently at, very melee heavy. Using things like 2x4's, pipes, and bricks or what ever you can find in the current environment to defend yourself from your attackers. What is different is that this time around Ethan can gain different items and equipment as you progress in the story to help you out. For example last night I was given brass knuckles for my left hand, and earlier today I earned a Kevlar vest to protect against gunfire. So far the upgrade system has been pretty cool and it keeps you trying to do your best when you do a mission.


There are several other changes that I've encountered, but I'll save them for the final review. So far Bloodshot has been pretty cool, equally scary as the first and just innovative enough to make the game fresh but not lose any of the qualities that made it awesome to begin with.