December Recap Part 1

Lots of new games acquired and played last month.

Lets start with Halo 3 ODST and Forza 3. About every year Microsoft makes a double pack of games to put in with their new systems. I got Lego Indiana Jones/Kung Fu Panda with my system. Those seem like an odd choice when you look at the other options but they're decent so whatever. I also got the Froza 2/Marvel Ultimate Alliance bundle which is way better. The funny thing about these packs is that they usually go for less (used) than buying the games individually (also used). I got the Forza/Marvel pack for $9.99. Can't beat that.

I was thinking about getting Forza 3 for a while but since I never finished 2 to my satisfaction I held off. After speaking with my brother-in-law about hanging out over the Christmas weekend, I got the idea that I would buy 3 and bring it with me and we could have a Forza marathon. Those of you who are fans of racing games know the special joy that comes from starting with an empty garage and working your way up the ranks until you have millions of credits and a fleet of supercars. We didn't end up playing as much as I wanted, mostly because we had to leave early but we still got some racing done. Forza 3 is pretty phenomenal. BIL has Gran Tourismo 5 and was constantly saying how much better Forza is. There aren't much differences from 2, just more of some things and tweaks of others. The thing I like the most is how they organized the career mode. Instead of moving up a ladder of unlocking events you play though 6 "years" of a career. Each week you pick a race event with 3 or more races each. The events offered are somewhat random but are based on the car you are in, and what you have in your garage. Then on the weekends you do one race from a championship event. At the end of the season you will have completed the last championship race. The cool part is that you don't have to win to continue, just like in real life. If you do loose a race you can go to the event menu at any time and race any of the events you've unlocked at that point. Basically you could just play though the seasons to unlock all of the races and go back and play through in any order you want. There are a LOT of events, way more than Forza 2. This is one of the problems I've had in the past. I think it would be great to be able to make custom events to see what a showdown between cars X and Y would be like. Well you still can't do that in Forza 3 but with the number of events they have, most of your fantasy scenarios are covered.

I didn't play Forza until I got to my wife's parents' house, but I did dig into ODST right away. This is actually my first Halo game. I don't know how I've avoided the series until now. I guess I initially had some distaste for Halo early on, and since I've had an Xbox I've been more interested in military shooters like COD. Anyway ODST is a pretty good game. I played through the campaign in about three sessions and it felt a little short but the gameplay was solid and I liked the way they told the story. I heard that a lot of hardcore Halo fans didn't like it. Maybe it's good that this is my first one? I haven't played online yet, not that interested really.

In part two I'll talk at length about Black Ops and Castlevania and another big Christmas gift I got.

Happy New Year!