Ahh Crysis, the game no one thought could run on consoles. The sequel to the game that brought even the most powerful PC to it’s knees.

Crysis 2 has been on the radar of every action game fan for a while now, and with good reason. Graphically, it’s without a doubt the nicest looking game you will ever see. It also features one of the most unique features found in any FPS game…. the “suit”. If you haven’t seen or heard about it, you can cloak, beef up armour and perform leaps and bounds with reckless abandon (well… until your energy runs out).

You take the role of an everyday soldier with the extra help, set to do….. something in manhattan. I’ll be honest, the story was not exactly the most captivating aspect of the game, instead, I found myself drooling over the visuals and some of the best cut scenes I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Well, that and the very original level design. Imagine a small sandbox area, which when cleared, leads to another small sandbox area. Each with a variety of choices. “Should i snipe them all while cloaked? Should I sneak up behind them one by one? Or should I go to that turret over there and blast them all to hell?”

Online is another story. While its pretty decent, it really doesnt offer much in the way of originality. The cloak offers something new, but there are many unbalanced issues happening right now that it’s tough to recommend for more than a couple of nights.

At just shy of 8 hours, it was the perfect length for me, but if you want to try different ways of clearing levels (I wasn’t too interested), you might get more out of it.

So the game with the bizarre marketing campaign has finally arrived.

I say bizarre because I never actually saw game footage, or in-game screenshots until I’d played the full release. The marketing campaign, which consisted of a visual assault of nothing more than.. let’s call him “Buddy-with-the-red-blindfold”, really did a number on me. And a number of other people apparently, the game has sold over 1 million copies as of this writing.

Anyways, on to the game.

I noticed almost immediately that Homefront takes some queues from many other games, including the obvious (Call Of Duty) to the not so obvious (Half Life 2). Basically, you WILL be immersed in the atmosphere whether you like or not. I really did buy into the whole “Korea takes over” plot and as difficult as it may be to believe, the execution was spot on.

The game controls VERY well, as expected, and as far as looks are concerned it threw me for a loop. At first, I cast them off as generic, however I frequently caught myself stopping… and looking around to gaze at the incredible lens flaring (yes, it IS really cool) and some of the very original lighting effects. You may not be as blown away as I was, but you will not be disappointed.

Listening to the various guns was rather enjoyable, and it seemed as if they leaned towards over the top, rather than realistic, which was perfectly fine for me.

Now comes the tricky part.

I sat down at 9pm to begin playing through the single player game. 1:30am rolls around… credits. Yes, it took 4 and a half hours to beat the entire game.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of short games, especially nowadays. However, due to this fact, it is VERY difficult to recommend anyone go out and plunk down $60 for a game they could beat twice while I’m at work.

Thankfully, the online helps with longevity, but without a healthy enlistment of friends, I couldn’t be bothered. I’m not one for pick up and play with strangers but if you are, you may get more out of it than me.

In case you haven’t heard, there will be a Forza 3 event happening tomorrow (Saturday, October 24th) at the Better Living Center located within the exhibition grounds in Toronto.

What it includes, as far as I can tell, is some early access to Forza 3, the opportunity to sit in a Ferrari, and the chance to drive your car around a test track with some driving professionals. Should be pretty fun!

I’ll try to snap some pictures and put them online.  Should be interesting.  Just being able to touch a Lambo is enough for me!

Sure, everyone’s heard of Blu-ray and seen the players at Best Buy and of course, heard the term HDTV thrown around.  What does high definition really mean though?  Ask most families and the results are rather frightening.  A study done in 2008 showed that nearly 75% of HDTV owners were unaware that in order to actually take advantage of their brand new $2000 purchase they would, in addition, require a source capable of delivering high definition content, such as HD movies, HD video games, or HD television.  Just ask my mother-in-law, who loved to watch the hockey game in wonderful 480i, stretched image across her brand new 50″ Samsung LCD.  *Shudder*

The recent, required transition to Digital TV has perhaps been an eye opening experience for people used to plugging in their sets and simply flipping through the channels.  Is an additional box required in order to truly enjoy everything your HDTV set has to offer? Sure, why not?  The price is right, with most companies offering rental of units at very reasonable prices, sometimes for no fee at all.  Blu-ray players are dropping in price rather fast, with good quality units available for $200 and Blu-ray movies available at nearly every store that carries DVDs.

Last but not least, there are videogame machines which are now doubling as HD content delivery machines.  Units are available such as the PlayStation 3 and most notably the XBOX 360, which apparentely is the most profitable source of HD movie content in the world.  Who would have ever thought?  The ability to ‘rent’ HD movies has become so easy thanks to the XBOX 360, it’s not really a big surprise.

Let’s hope the HD revolution (albeit a slow one) continues to grow and with the demand for HD content increasing, so must the quality of service.

After over 2 hours straight playing this gem last night, I have come to the conclusion that Peggle is the greatest game available for the XBOX360 right now. There is no need for debate, this is fact. If you haven’t played it, you don’t know what you’re missing.

In case you think I’m joking, check my gamertag on xbox.com and see for yourself.  I sincerely urge you to give it a shot, something about shooting balls into coloured dots to make them disappear is hypnotic.  I understand this post is just a sorry excuse for professing my love for Peggle, but I don’t care, I can talk about whatever the hell I want.

PLAY IT NOW!