Burnout Paradise first impressions (Xbox 360 version)

I download the demo of this from XBLA over the weekend, and tested it out on Alex. Yeah, might be out of his age bracket really, but he likes Cars (also on Xbox 360) a lot, so the premise of him driving around a big city and watching how he reacts was too good to pass up. ;)

Have to say, but this game is very impressive. The city and surrounding environs are graphically superb. The frame rate stays at a constant level.. it may not be quite 60fps, but it's pretty darn smooth. The whole sensation of speed is immense, and certainly continues where the previous Burnout (Revenge) left off. Sound is as good as it ever was, with some really decent tunes in there. I noticed it had some classic tracks from the first couple of Burnout games too, a nice touch.

The whole pick-up-and-play mechanic is why I love this game. There's no need to wade through tons of menus just to get into a car and drive around. If I have 30 minutes to spare for gaming, then this game is perfect for such short stints. It plays much like previous Burnouts, in that you can compete in events, with races, road rages, stunt runs and so on all included. Or, you can simply just drive around the beautifully-realised city and cause havoc. :D

Multiplayer is nicely done too, in that it's almost seemless when moving from single player online. Once you get online, the HUD tells you who is in the game, and you just drive around as normal. You can challenge the other players to certain events, or simply just drive around and cause mayhem together.

All in all, a must have Xbox 360 title. Even Alex loves it! :D

Halo 2 is gone.. all hail Halo 3

Finished Halo 2 finally on Sunday last. The ending was very anti-climatic and left everything very much on a cliff-hanger. Luckily, I've also got Halo 3, so straight into that now. Man, the visuals are so much better (Xbox to Xbox 360, of course), and the start is straight into the action too. So far, so excellent. :D

Gears of War on Xbox 360 - next generation gaming defined

Was lucky enough to get a copy of Gears of War Collector's Edition from our perennial hero G-Lad! :D This game truly rocks! Some stunning visuals, great use of sound, and great action and pacing to boot, who needs PS3? (for the moment, that is..)

Gamespot says it nicely, with a decently high score of 9.6.