XXIV_MPFW

24 is now here! This time, we got some notes from myself, Age of Booty review, CHIKARA "Vanity and Violence" DVD review, Portal: Still Alive review and my review of Rock Band 2. Let's get right to it.

Notes from Mike

-I've been a little sick these past few days. I even went to my cousin's wedding (which was fantastic by the way) a bit under the weather. Hopefully, I'll be able to go to work.

-JOIN THE MPFW FACEBOOK GROUP! The link is on the right side. Start some discussions!

-There's been some strange happenings at Ring of Honor Wrestling, my favorite independent wrestling promotion. Gabe Sapolsky has been removed as booker for ROH, and has been replaced by Adam Pearce. According to Dave Meltzer, "The new direction will feature less high spots, more traditional wrestling, more simple heel vs. babyface booking, and less complexity". I don't really like where it's going, but I'll wait and see. I've heard the changes are because they are losing money and they are trying to get a TV deal. On the bright side, Samoa Joe is returning for one night only at the PPV taping in Chicago. I still haven't made any plans about going to either the ROH show in New Alhambra Arena or "Final Battle 2008" in Hammerstein Ballroom.

-I've been meaning to get the WiiWare game, World of Goo. I think I have enough from on my Wii now, so I just got to put out $15 for it. It has gotten great reviews and I look forward to beating it. Speaking of WiiWare, I haven't touched Mega Man 9 in a while. I've gotten halfway through the second Wily stage. Also in Wii news, Earthworm Jim was released on the VC. I remember playing that game on the Super Nintendo and how hard it was. I might get that too so I can finally beat it.

-There's a link on the right side where you can purchase the DVD for CHIKARA "Laying in the Gutter, Looking at the Stars" for me. I made a wish list on Smart Mark Video, but it's not one of those public wish lists, like Amazon where you can buy it for me. I wish it was that way though. If you want to get it for me, email me at tmarkcomics@hotmail.com. I'm sure I can think of something to do for you in return.

Age of Booty review

I purchased this game on the Xbox Live Arcade when it was released. I played the demo, enjoyed it, so I bought it. It's a hex-based sort of strategy pirate game. You command your pirate ship to take over towns while your enemies take over towns as well. You get resources so that you can upgrade your ships and towns.

You can create a custom map to play games on. I started mine and I plan on finishing it soon. I have played online and it's very good since you're playing with actual people. The game is very short and the achievements are pretty easy to get. Perhaps in the future there'll be some DLC. My biggest complaint about this game is the AI pirate ships. You can't control your allies and they usually go off and do their own thing. I liked it, but try the demo to see if you like it. If you do like it and have 800 Microsoft points, go for it.

CHIKARA "Vanity and Violence" DVD review

I haven't done a DVD review in a while. I decided to watch this one before I went to the Global Gauntlet show. I didn't go to this show live and I've heard good stuff about this show, so I was looking forward to watching this.

Los Ice Creams vs. Las Chivas was a very fun opener. Chuck Taylor vs. Fire Ant was very good. Both guys are great as usual and there was a sick spot where Chuck powerbombs Fire onto the edge of the ring apron. Vin Gerard is now in the ring and introduces Shane Storm. Vin talks about how all his friends left him and I can't understand what he says at the end.

The Fabulous Two vs. Sara Del Ray and Bobby Dempsey was OK. Sara did a very good in this match. Jimmy Olsen vs. Worker Ant was pretty good. Jimmy was still doing his mask hunting and Worker was channeling Stan Hansen in this match, like he is currently.

Gran Akuma and Icarus vs. The Super Smash Bros was good. Player Dos using Karate Kid was pretty funny. Player Uno has a plush Yoshi which gets involved in the match at one point. Also a great spot where the lights go out and "Finish him!" is shouted, just like in Mortal Kombat.

Vin Gerard is talking about why Drake Younger is getting a shot at the Young Lions Cup. Vin vs. Drake was good. Drake hits the Drake's Landing (Kudoh driver). There's a weird ending, but it makes sense. Mike Quackenbush, Tim Donst and Hydra vs. UltraMantis Black, Crossbones and Dr. Cube was OK, not as good as I thought it would be.

Lince Dorado promo talking about how he will continue to stand after getting murdered by Eddie Kingston. Their match was pretty good. Kingston was awesome in this match. Lince botches a springboard at one point. I'm predicting for their feud that Lince will earn Kingston's respect and Kingston will put him over, hopefully resulting in Lince getting more over with the crowd.

Main event time! Incoherence and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brodie Lee and The Osirian Portal was pretty good. Claudio and Brodie brawl at the end, and the entire locker room is cleared in order to separate them. Leonard Chikarason then comes out and announces they will face off in a cage match, which happened in September and it was awesome. Post show, there's an awesome Kingston promo talking about why he isn't sure Lince keeps going.

Good DVD overall. There isn't really any must-see matches here. It's hard for me to pick a favorite match from this show, I'd say either Chivas vs. Ice Creams or Gran Akuma and Icarus vs. Super Smash Bros since they were the most fun.

Portal: Still Alive review

When I got my 360, this was one of the games I was looking forward to most since I've never played the Orange Box or PC version. It was recently released and I LOVE IT! I have nothing negative to say about this game. This is a first-person puzzle game where you use your gun to shoot portals in order to make it through the rooms guided by GLaDOS, the computer voice. This is basically the same game from the Orange Box and PC version, but with added challenge levels.

GLaDOS is now one of my favorite video game characters ever. The whole atmosphere is great and gives off a really mysterious vibe and all of the humor makes it more fun. I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm sure you've heard about the cake and the boss fight is just great. If you haven't played the Orange Box or PC version, then spend the 1200 points for this one.

Rock Band 2 review

I got Rock Band! WOOOOO!!! I wasn't originally going to get this game, but since I got some gift cards on my 21st birthday, I went ahead and got it. I'm sure you all know who the game works, you got your guitar, drums and microphone to play along with the music. I've always been good on guitar, I'm getting used to drums on medium, and you should be glad you don't have to hear me sing. The controllers are more sturdier than the previous ones. I actually like the Rock Band guitar better than the Guitar Hero one since it's easier for me to do fast strumming. However with the drum controller, I wish there was an AC adapter or something since the batteries get drained rather quickly.

The tour mode is a pretty nice length. There's a nice selection of songs in here. The amount of songs you can download is fantastic. I just wish there were more songs that I've heard of. There are 20 free songs that you can download. I thought it would be any song you want, but it turns out it's actually 20 songs from unknown bands. I've got a list of songs I want to get, I just need to get the Microsoft points to get them.

If you got the cash, get this game. It's fun for everyone. From what I'm reading, Rock Band 2 is better than the recently released Guitar Hero: World Tour. There have been many problems reported with the World Tour instruments and I'm not sure about what kind of DLC is currently available.

That's going to do it for now. Hoped you liked this one. Not sure when the next one will be posted, most likely when Quantum of Solace is released in theaters. Fallout 3 and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe will be releasing soon, so the next one will probably have reviews for both those games. Until next time, take care everyone.