Do you ever get the feeling you are being watched?

-The Stanz

Multiplayer is always a top priority of mine and this game delivers quality. I have dabbled a little bit into the new "Spec Ops" co-op with a buddy of mine but for the most part I have been playing death matches. Since I am not a hardcore player and do not plan on participating in any kind of clan organized gaming, I truly appreciate the developers adding in the Mercenary game type. When I have time to play multiplayer video games and especially something as aggressive as FPS'ers, the very last thing that I would want is to be pitted against a very organized clan who will inevitable wipe the floor with my face.  Mercenary mode allows me to have a fighting chance against the opposing team by randomly matching players and balancing the teams out as evenly as possible. Additionally, xbox live parties and not allowed in Mercenary mode to allow for a random team experience.

The complex but not overwhelming reward system makes for a very addictive experience. The hardest part is finally calling it quits for the night because there's always that little carrot dangling just outside your reach and when you finally attain it - there's a juicer one right behind it.

I am very pleased with this game and would recommend anyone who hasn't bought it yet to do so immediately.

The Stanz

Both singleplayer and competitive multiplayer modes are available .

Try it here:
Geosense

Apparently there is also an iphone version for all you apple junkies.

The Stanz

If you've played the game before and have made your way up to at least level 45, you should know exactly where I am coming from with this graph. The game takes a steep dive when you finally realize the content is gone, the story line was left unfulfilled and you begin playing the same missions all over again. Diable 2 had a similar style where you would just complete the game in a harder mode but it didn't feel the same. It felt more like a chore and I couldn't bring myself to completing my character.

In my opinion, to improve the quality of the game I think the level cap probably should have been opened a little higher (say 80?) and the skill trees redone with more options and better choices. I don't think the skill trees as they stand now are incentive enough to keep on grinding through the levels for a second time. I am open to the suggestion that it may have just been the class I decided to play (Siren) but grinding from 44-45 to add X% critical damage was just.. yawn. I didn't feel rewarded enough.

Those are my two cents. Remember, I still had a blast with the game hammering through the storyline with 3 other friends but it just didn't last more than about a week.

-The Stanz

A short list of things I've learned from playing Borderlands and living on Pandora:

1. If you get dirty don't worry - there's always a washing machine within walking distance.
2. It's never a good idea to store highly explosive barrels at your own defense positions.
3. You're never too high of a level to go through the tutorial AGAIN.
4. If something is difficult to kill, just run it over with a vehicle.
5. I don't blame the bandits for trying to kill claptraps.. By the 3rd hour, I tried to kill them myself.
6. Most people are perfectly content with leaning up against a wall for their entire existence.
7. Toilet is just another word for 'compartment'.

The Stanz

http://www.shackvideo.com/?id=15501

For those of you who read my brief review of "What The Doodle!?" and don't own an Android powered device and feel a bit left out... sob no longer! Brush up on your doodling skills with iSketch. iSketch is an equally fun and feature-rich flash counterpart. iSketch is available to play best of all with no signup or registration which in my book always scores extra brownie points. You can join in on the fun and play as a guest in a matter of seconds. I sunk about 2 hours into this game last night alone.

iSketch

Enjoy!

-The Stanz

Left 4 Dead has an additional game mode called 'Survival' which is part of an addon on the Xbox Live Marketplace aptly named "Survival Pack". I understand that this pack has been out for a while but I figured I'd post a thought on it after finally getting around to playing it. For those of you not familiar with this mode, it's basically a live-as-long-as-you-can-without-being-zombowned. Now, I like the idea behind this concept because it forces you to think of new strategies around the map to see which places gives you the best advantage against the horde. This is dandy and all but the problem with this mode is that some crafty players are finding glitches and bugs that the developer probably didn't intend. This completely ruins the experience for me because no matter how long I last in these matches legitimately - my efforts are always in vein. The top leaderboards are always plastered with some ridiculous unattainable scores usually ranking somewhere in the DAYS. C'mon, it's kind of obvious when the top 10 on the leaderboards have scores EXACTLY IDENTICAL. Devs... why aren't you patching these glitches? It defeats the point of the game mode and makes a mockery of the leaderboard. It's "Survival" not "Glitch through a wall and leave your game on".

If you don't plan on taking the leaderboards seriously by patching these glitches, take them off line

-The Stanz