Attention Deficit Gamer - The Roundup

In my absence from posting I celebrated my 28th birthday, and every year I feel the weight of adult responsibility grow and grow. Its seems harder to justify the time spent playing video games at home when there are a hundred things in the back of your mind; upcoming work commitments, bills, car problems, what have you. Luckily, I still have enough common sense to put all that crap on the back burner and lose myself in some sweet, sweet gaming. And with a whopping haul over the birthday and some good finds locally, it's been a good month. I finally tackled a couple of games that were way overdue to by played and completed within a decent timeframe.

Check out my impressions after the jump:



Spider-Man: Shatter Dimensions - Xbox 360

• Right off the bat this game is gorgeous. Not in the hyper-realistic over-saturated browns kind of way, but in the there are seriously colors I've never witnessed before way. Visually stunning.
• Then the voice acting kicks in. There's Stan Lee introducing the chapters in the classic cartoony way he always nails, followed up by four generations of voice actors tackling Spidey. For anyone who's watched the Amazing Spider-Friends to early 90's Spider-Man after school, this is awesome.
• Levels are lengthy, but fairly repetitious in design. When you load up a Spider-Man Noir episode, expect to do a lot of sneaking. As for Spider-Man 2099, you bet your sweet Aunt May there's going to be at least one freefall section (which, quite frankly, are way cooler than the God of War sequences).
• The developers must have realized the levels were similar, because they threw in some incredible set piece moments. While the Sandman level in Amazing Spider-Man was platforming heaven, nothing beat the final tidal wave scene in Ultimate Spider-Man's Deadpool level. They're simple, but breathtakingly cool.
• Overall, not terribly difficult on Normal. Not too long or too short, the game was a worthy experience without dragging on. Quite the feat considering some games today.

Bulletstorm - Xbox 360

• On the other hand, this one felt a little too rushed. For a game with a lot of promise, it lacked the feel of a truly epic (sorry) experience. Cutscenes used where playable sequences would have been more effective and underwhelming set pieces (the giant gear of crushing death? meh.) pulled the brakes on the otherwise frantic gameplay.
• And on that note, holy crap. Forget cover, forget roadie run. This is ridiculous, even insane action. Nothing beats sliding towards an enemy mutant while firing a shotgun, lassoing him back, then kicking said enemy into a cactus. I would have enjoyed these moments even more, had I not been simultaneously planning the next crazy way to kill someone. 
• I was never one for score based games, but tying the points for creative kills to unlockable weapons and abilities just turned me into a murdering junkie. What, launching a mutant 50-ft into the air and then blasting him with an exploding sniper bullet, all for some extra pistol ammo? Sure, why not?
• Short but sweet, and never taking itself too seriously, Bulletstorm deserves at least one playthrough. It's a genuinely funny game, mainly because it's aware of it's ridiculousness. I haven't tackled the multiplayer or Echoes yet, but my need to kill things better will eventually pull me back in.

Of course my current backlog is still way too long, between new releases, some retro finds, and demos/betas a plenty. I may have to introduce a quick rundown post of what I'm playing, maybe a sentence or two tops per game. Keep your eyes peeled in the future, for now it'll be the same ol' story. Thanks for reading!