Pleasure!

Few things bring a bigger smile to my face than thinking about Brian Mihaich screaming Pleasure during our first night of Rock Band. So when the birthday money came rolling in I was forced to purchase Rock Band to try to recreate this experience. Of course I could go on and on about Rock Band, but I think we've done that enough through old posts and podcasts.


Speaking of pleasure, Rez HD was released on XBLA this week to the masses. I for one missed Rez the first time around, and its no secret that I love games made by Q Entertainment (endless hours of Lumines are proof of that). For those that don't know Rez was a cult classic on the Dreamcast and PS2. Rez didn't sell very well, so there weren't too many copies floating around in the used piles at your local Gamestop. I gameplay of Rez best be described as a rail shooter, but its the look and feel of the game that makes it stand out. With music and rhythm that has never been used in a such a genre, Rez grabs you and puts you in a trance like state. You could take this a step further with the trance vibrator or up to three other Xbox controllers that will vibrate to the beat of the game. At 800 MS points Rez HD is the perfect game to throw on your hard drive and pick up anytime you wish.

What the hell we were talking about

For those of you that have listened to episode 21 of the podcast, what follows is the news clip that we were talking about from fox news. Enjoy and try not to get to enraged.

Episode 21: City?.... Paradise City?

Can you smell episode 21. It smells like sweet burnt tires. We've had a solid week in Paradice City and something seems a little off. Could it be the lack of crash mode or the lack of drivers in the cars? Maybe its that huge baby head in the sky known as DJ Atomica. Either way we bring you the latest news, DLC and a debut a new weekly feature entitled " Brian's Day Off" Chick-Chick---Chick-Chicka. Episode 21 is GO!

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The Implosion of Earth

Dragon Force
+
Ellen's very gay show
+
Soul-less Asian Prodigy
+
Proud Mom (of what?)
=
4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Take Me Down To The Paradise City

For the past week I have been burning through the streets of Paradise City. Like each Burnout game before it Paradise comes with its own share of new features and tricks. Most noticeable is the open world replacing a menu system. Some will say that this slows things down, but I much rather prefer driving around from event to event than waiting on a loading screen to select and event and then wait for yet another load screen. With the exception of some of the online play like racing there is no loading once you are inside Paradise City. Even getting online is done in game, with the press of the right d-pad button your easy ride menu comes up which allows you to select challenges and send invites without taking out of the action.



There are plenty of things to do in Paradise to keep the experience fresh. Old standbys like race, road rage, and burning runs are all there. Traffic jam and crash mode have been replaced with new game types like marked man, stunt run, and showtime There are also time trials for all 64 streets in the city, with a showtime score to beat as well. Cars have also been divided into three new classes, speed, stunt, and aggression. These new types allow you to focus on certain types of events with greater ease.

I would spoil more of Burnout Paradise, but thats what we do a weekly podcast for. Be sure to download our upcoming episode for impressions from the rest of the crew.

Clip of the Week: 01 - 25 - 08 Goodnight Mushroom Kingdom

This Internet thing is full of jerks recording themselves playing guitar hero or some super shredding of castlevainia songs. Personally I need more Neil Pert wanna-bes covering Super Mario 2 songs on drums. I dare you to not get the underground key music stuck in your head. Lets see some saxophone MegaMan next.

Clip of the week?

Dare I say it... I may have found the new clip of the week.

Somebody Rock Me

If you head over to the Xbox Live Marketplace this week you'll find a good amount of great content. First off the Devil May Cry 4 demo is live, and while it has a ten minute timer on it I found its fairly easy to get through the first level in that time. Don't forget that for a limited time Xbox Live users can get Undertow for free, but this offer ends Sunday the 27th. I have yet to test out the full version, the trial held my interest and made me consider purchasing so I guess you could say the price is right now. One final note the new classic rock pack for Guitar Hero III is up with Boston's "Peace of Mind", Foreigner's "Jukebox Hero", and Journey's "Any Way You Want It". I've played through one once now and they're well worth the 500 MS points. There isn't enough time in a day to go through all this and freeburn through the streets of Paradise City, especially with this stuck in my head all day.

Thanks for not being like Lair

So as most of you know I've been playing Ratchet and Clank: Future Tools Of Destruction, and it hit me today while I was playing through the last part of the game, how well the Sixaxis controller works with the game. I'm sure this sounds pretty boring but it was really cool and I thought that it should get some props. It wasn't over used but everything you did with it worked perfectly. So thanks Insomniac for an amazing game with awesome game play and not giving me Lair.

Episode 20: Most Anticipated in 08

Welcome to Zombie Island. Episode 20 is ready to go. We listed our top 5 most anticipated games for 2008, then Max told us that it was going to be 8... Listen in as I struggle to come up with an extra 3 games, Gurney and Max give a solid list, and becoming regular, Stephen, adds a couple more interesting picks to the list.

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And for all you skittles fans out there, I leave you with what Max was talking about.

Touched

Smash Bros Delayed Again: March 9th

Apparently there was a few last minutes changes to that Nintendo wanted to tie up. I guess we know what his final smash was.

Top 5 Games of 2007: Platinum Gurney Edition

A top five you're not ashamed to show your mother.

#5 Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords



Puzzle Quest is the most surprisingly addicted game I have ever come across. Purchasing it via Xbox Live Aracade basically for scraps (1200 MS points) to pass the time when my Call of Duty 4 was almost a week late, and couldn't believe or understand the time that invested into it. Puzzle Quest is now available for just about every portable and home console, but I would go with the Xbox version since comes out to about half the normal $30 price tag. While the puzzle aspect of the game can best be described as bejeweled its turns out to be much more with quests, levels, spells, skills, mounts, weapons, and every other RPG cliche. Puzzle Quest is the game that you turn on waiting for a friend to come on Xbox Live to play some Halo, but end up playing for six hours racking up those four of kind black skulls only to realize its now 3 AM.

#4 God of War II



The most brutal game that I have ever crossed paths with. Kratos' second adventure is a tale of revenge against Zeus who stripped him of his powers as the god of war. Kratos most battle against hordes of enemies in order to find his way to the sisters that can take him back to the time when Zeus betrayed him. God of War II more than any other action title stands out because of the scale of everything that you're doing. Whether its slaying a colossus, riding a phoenix, wiping horses the size of skyscrapers, or simply fighting the king of Olympus the action almost never stops. There are a few puzzles in the game, but nothing that will require you to bang your head against the wall. God of War II was sadly forgotten by a lot of people because of was released on the PS2 of all things very early on in the year.

#3 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare



Beating out the most brutal game of the year has to be what is the most intense game of the year. From beginning to end every corner, every alley, ever room is filled with danger. Call of Duty 4 is a game with absolutely perfect pacing. Playing as two soldiers on different missions in different areas of the eastern hemisphere of course is an easy way to keep things fresh. Call of Duty 4 is a game that must be experienced first hand in order to appreciate. With fantastic level design, an explosive climax, and an ending that leaves you satisfied in every way, Call of Duty 4 is hands down the best first person shooter single player of 2007. I would go into the multiplayer as well but I would be writing this all day.

#2 The Orange Box



Yeah I know we've talked about Orange Box as different games during all of our awards, but I'm picking Orange Box because of my love for both Portal and Half Life 2: Episode 2. We've talked about Portal and its humor and wonderful gameplay to death, so I'll use my number two space to talk about Episode 2. As anyone who has been around gaming in the past ten years knows Half Life is the story of Gordon Freeman, and I promise not to fill in all the back story here. Episode 2 does just enough to rejuvenate the Half Life universe. New enemies keep you on your toes, along with more than enough striders to mess your day up. The storyline holds up and leaves us with still plenty of questions, and an ending that is almost second to none. Its not a cliffhanger ending that makes you wonder if your console just died, or if there is another level if you beat it on hard, its an ending that makes you want to play the next one. With that said Episode 3 can't come soon enough.

#1 Super Mario Galaxy



I had a smile on my face the entire time I played Super Mario Galaxy, and saying anything more would only take away from that statement.


I hope you enjoyed our top five lists from 2007, somehow we ended up with fifteen different games without even trying. If you'd like to see how some other games that I played this year stacked up, check out my personal blog.

Top 5 of 2007: Brian Edition

Here it is my crazy top 5 personal best games of 07... enjoy.

5# 3D Ultra Mini Golf


3D mini golf of XBLA fame, I loved this game for one simple reason, it was one of the few games I was able to beat Max at. It was fun, easy and highly addictive. The courses were genius and the game physics was perfect. The variety in courses was awesome and it was different every time you played it. My favorite set of courses had to be the Space course, where you were mini golfing on the moon and various other planets. If you hit a ball to hard you could send it into orbit around a planet, really really cool.

#4 Uncharted: Drakes Fortune


Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. Drake made it to my personal top 5 because it was a brand new game on a brand new console that I really had a lot of fun with. Drake made me excited to play my PS3, and gave me a nice 10-12 hour game. Drake, on a personal note, also gave rise to my room mate Zac, making some crazy predictions that came true. When he watched me play it for the first time, he kept saying how there should be monsters running around on this island... little did I know how right he was going to be. He didn't shut up about it for 2 weeks. All in all a solid number 4 spot.

#3 Bioshock

I hope this doesn't piss to many people off, but I just thought there were so many good games this year. Bioshock really took to a different light and made a new experience right from the start. The plasmids were so cool and the upgrades to your weapons were great too. I think that if I had been better at Bioshock it would be higher on my list, and if the ending was so terrible, but oh well. Here's to you number 3.

#2 Scene It


Scene It: Lights Camera Action! OK this might be a lame choice for some of you, but damn it this game is awesome! My friends and I have had some amazingly heated games of the board game scene it, and now being on a console with actual buzzers takes this franchise to a whole new level. Its perfectly balanced, the mini games and questions are new and the saving system so you don't repeat scenes and questions is fantastic. Thanks number 2 for more nights to come of scene it craziness.

#1 Guitar Hero 3


And my number 1 personal game of 2007 is... Guitar Hero 3. I know that Rock Band totally destroyes Guitar Hero as a rhythm game that you can play with your friends, and that rock band has a way better DLC library, but Guitar Hero 3 is simply amazing. The wireless guitar is the definition of a perfect upgraded peripheral. The buttons are easier to press and the strum bar makes much less sound. Battling against the likes of Slash, Tom Morello and the Devil were a true test of your skills and the online was again flawless. The songs were tougher than last year and there is a crazy variety so I know I'll be playing well into next year. Everything about the game was great and I've had an amazing time playing it every night. Thanks Guitar Hero 3 for being my number 1.

Top 5 Games of 2007: Max Edition

So if your done slamming your wrench into wall after Bioshock didn't win our game of the year in the first annual Shear Awards, than here comes a few more logs to throw on your fire, in the form of the Personal Top 5's. These are games that you wont see in the back of Maxim or your local newspaper's year in review because they maybe they didn't crack a million units in November or show up on Spikes yearly shit fest of a show. These are games that for no rhyme NOR reason were great to us. So I'm gonna kick this pig started with my number 5 pick , Skate.

# 5 Skate

Skate was hard. Painfully hard. The controls could be brutal and made me weep for Mr. Hawk at times, but in the end, I came out of it feeling like I shredded like a monster. Sure I have no idea how to skateboard but after trying the same kick flip on the same rail for over an hour, I think I get the overall feel. The style and presentation are top notch and the crush effect overlayed on top of the graphics was on par with 300. This game was greatly overlooked at the end of the year.

#4 Crackdown

This was a blast online. Running around a city, trying to throw cars at a friend from the top of skyscraper, thats just quality fun. This is as close as we are going to get to playing with action figures in your bedroom. And lets not forget collecting orbs, I miss those orbs.

#3 Rouge Galaxy


I don't know what it was about Rouge Galaxy, maybe it was my destine or FFXII or my love for the studio's previous game Dark Cloud 2, but HOT DAMN did I love me some space pirating. This is one of the MOST over looked games of the year and will mostly likely find popularity in the bargain bin.

#2 Rock Band


This game has more value and things to do that PS3 had for a year. There is offically nothing left to say about this game.

#1 Team Fortress 2


Not Orange Box. TF2 all by itself. Thats right. In case you haven't noticed I have major wood for this forest of a game. I love EVERYTHING about it. The style. The humor. The levels. The weapons. The simplicity and the depth. Team Fortress 2 gets up in the morning, shits style bricks, and then eats cel-shaded cornflakes and bullets.

Episode 19: Podcast... Phil Podcast?!?

Episode 19 of the Scissors 61 podcast is up and ready to go. This week was our return to the internet, covering some news stories, including blu-ray hd dvd news, and all the latest and greatest for your psp. All of that plus Max gets a couple of things off his chest about some other podcasts around the internets.

Get Episode 19 on MP3 (right click to save as)

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The Scissors 61:Shear Awards 07!!!

Ok gang, its finally here! The moment you've all been eagerly awaiting! The Scissors 61 Shear Awards are up and dear God is it fantastic. Join Max and I as we run down the categories that really matter. This video podcast pisses excellence. Big thanks to Max for the long hours and crazy work he put into this project. Hope you guys and gal enjoy the first ever SHEAR AWARDS!

My Tonsils Are In Texas

It has been quite some time since my last post so I'll just have to make this epic multi game review post. I've been out of commission for a while after catching some flu like symptoms but was left with losing the ability to speak thanks to my tonsils swelling to the size of golf balls. All was not lost, as I was left with nothing to do but play video games. While I am aware that the internet has created a generation like myself that hates endless posts filled with text that just seems to run together, I promise to use pictures as an aid to break up what may seem as a rant to end all rants.



As has been talked about many times in previous episodes, everyone wants a Wii, and now we have Wii. My Christmas day was made with a Wii and reintroducing myself to my old friend Mario. Meanwhile I got my mother a DS and she has taken quite well to it, not quite the Nicole Kidman stage of taking it everywhere, but already it has been received better than expected. Back to Galaxy, where I have been so pleased and cannot help but smile when do those backflips, long jumps, and triple jumps I fell in love with so long ago. The gameplay is as solid as ever, with new moves such as the spin attack with a waggle of the Wii remote, and new suits like bee spring and ice.



It seems that most people that have yet to play Galaxy believe that all you do is jump from sphere to sphere, when that couldn't be farther from the truth. The pacing and variety of the worlds in Galaxy are bigger and better than any previous Mario game. One second you're slinging Mario through a space fortress, flying from flower to flower as a bee, walking on caterpillars as they extend from one apple to another, jumping as a spring on a giant toy robot, to walking on ceilings and walls in the gravity puzzles. In short the spherical worlds that are shown off in the beginning are just to give you a taste of the new gameplay elements you'll need to use in order to collect all the stars in the game.



With the addition to the Wii to my entertainment center I made sure to snag a couple games off of Gamefly. I figured I'd give Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Tresure a try. Zack & Wiki is a point and click puzzle game that has you play as Zack who wants to become the greatest pirate ever known as he is joined by his golden monkey Wiki who he found in his earlier travels. You start each level with the goal of getting to the treasure chest. Its up to you to find the items to interact with like turning a enemy into an totem with Wiki's powers and putting the totem into a crack so you can cross it. Zack & Wiki is more challenging than its cute exterior leads you to believe. You can quite easily get yourself stuck in a spot where an enemy or the level will get to you and cause you to start over. One problem with Zack & Wiki is that you can make it so that you can't possibly solve the puzzle, but the game does nothing to stop you from keep trying. I wouldn't call it broken, just a design choice I don't agree with. Zack & Wiki is a great game to check out if you're looking for something new, its challenging but not to the point where you want to pull your hair out or throw the Wii remote through the TV by any means.



I have yet to play enough of Twilight Princess to really give it a review, especially since Zelda is my most beloved franchise. Yes I'm aware that it came out over a year ago, but I never got around to it, so with the Wii now in my possession I figured now is the perfect time. The beginning to Twilight Princess left me thinking I might end up disappointed with its very slow start, and something about this Link at first just seemed a little off. Now that I have crossed Hyrule Field and about to enter the second temple I am feeling much better about the experience and expect great things by the end.

Up next is Metroid Prime 3, and in less than two weeks Burnout Paradise. After this month of no releases its been nice to catch up on these Wii titles and I can't wait for all the great titles of 2008.