XVI_MPFW

Time for Sweet 16 of "Mike's Place For Words" Since I've had my Xbox 360 online, I've been having a field day with the Xbox Live Arcade games. You can tell if you look at my gamer card on the right side of this page. Before we get to some quick reviews of all those arcade games, I just have some notes from life.

Notes from Mike

-If you read my note from Facebook, you'll know that I will be skipping the CHIKARA event "Vanity and Violence" on Sunday, August 10th. I just feel I need to take a break. I've been to every CHIKARA show at ECW Arena since King of Trios 2007. I do plan on going to the Philly show in September. I hope everyone who goes on Sunday will enjoy the show and have a great time.

-On CHIKARA's Myspace page, they recently posted a link to the album with all of the wallpaper contest entries and mine is included in there. So if you want a full-size version of my Equinox/Vin Gerard wallpaper, just go here.

-Speaking of Equinox and Vin Gerard, at Vin's Myspace you can now purchase the DVD, "The Absolute Worst of Equinox". I was originally doing the cover, but unfortunately it didn't happen. Go buy one for your collection.

-This past Wednesday, I began classes for Westwood College Online. I'm working towards my Bachelor's degree in Visual Communications. It's very interesting and looks like a lot of work.

-I recently completed the story missions in Grand Theft Auto IV. The story is very good and I love that there can be two endings. I actually like this game more than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas since there is less tedious side missions and no lousy toy plane controls. Perhaps in the near future I'll have 100% completion.

-More stuff about Xbox 360: Add my to your friends list! My gamertag is izzy2287. For now I think I have all the Xbox Live Arcade games I want until Galaga Legions, Portal: Still Alive and of course, Mega Man 9 are released.

-I'm watching the opening ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympics and it is just phenomenal. The technology put into this as well as the previous years is just amazing. Go USA!!

-R.I.P. Bernie Mac. He was a funny guy.

Heavy Weapon review

A demo for this game came with my 360 and I enjoyed it. You play as a super tank shooting through endless enemies. The locations are funny, for example, penguins walking around the arctic level. The only problem I have is one of the enemies drops an atomic bomb that is instant kill unless you shoot it before it hits the ground. Other than that, it's pretty challenging and I recommend it.

Aegis Wing review

This was downloadable for free to get some free achievements. It's a good side-scrolling shooter, but looks pretty ordinary. You can't upgrade your primary weapon. Instead, you get one secondary weapon that you can use one at a time. It's also quite short. It's a good challenge and it's free so I say go check it out.

Yaris review

This is a driving/shooting game based on the Yaris car commercials. Another free downloadable game. This game looks like it was thrown together in a week and it's not very fun. I don't recommend it, but it's free if you want to give it a try.

Rez HD review

I played a demo for the original on Playstation 2 and could never find the game. It's a very interesting game, but very short. It looks great in HD. If you already had the PS2 version, then I guess you can skip it. If not, I recommend it.

Smash TV review

This was another game I had a demo for on the PS2. I had fun with it and decided to purchase it on the Xbox Live Arcade. It can get very hard if you're playing by yourself since there will be tons of enemies after you play for a bit. It's a fun arcade game and I recommend it.

Pac-Man Championship Edition review

I love anything Pac-Man, so I obviously had to get this one. I love the look of this game with all of the neon lighting. It's very fun and I'm working on beating Joe Negron's high score. Go download this one.

Braid review

This game is the most recent and probably the best Xbox Live Arcade game I've played. I got the demo and just had to buy the full game. First off, you shouldn't be complaining that it's 1200 Microsoft points ($15) because it is worth it. At first I complained because it looks like a short game, but I think it may take me some time to solve most of the puzzles.

Anyway, the gameplay is great with the time control and rewinds similar to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. This game might seem a bit like early Super Mario games with similar-looking enemies, and even a dinosaur at one point says "Sorry, but the Princess is in another castle". My favorite thing about this game is the artwork. The game looks like a painting brought to life and very peaceful to look at. This game is fantastic and I can't recommend it enough. Stop being cheap and complain about the price and go buy it!

Be sure to check out the links over on the right side and feel free to leave comments on this and any others. I don't know what will be on the next MPFW. I haven't had much time to watch some of my DVD's. Until then, stay in school kids.