Game of the Year Decided

Gamespot has announced the winners of all its various categories, you can see what I thought of the readers votes here

Most Surprisingly good game
I am pleased to say that my vote, Medal of Honour 2:Heroes, is also what Gamespot choose.

Best Graphics, Artistic
I am pleased to say that GS also went with me on this one, despite the readers voting, and went with Galaxy for the Wii!

Best Mutliplayer Game
This was always going to be a close one between Halo and CoD, personally I think that Halo has the slight edge. Gamespot said: Rock Band..?

Most Improved Sequel

This was always going to be a close one. It went to Medal of Honour, once again, I do agree, because the last one was appalling.

Best Use of a Control Scheme
This has to go to a Wii game, doesn't it? The voters went for Assassins Creed, which is absurd. Gamespot went for Zelda Phantom Hourglass, which is fair enough, the sword fighting is really quite good.

Most Disappointing Delay
This went to GTA, although personally it had to be Brawl for me.

Best 360 Game
Goes to Call of Duty. From this, I guess that this will also be Game of the Year, as 360 had a very good year.

GAME OF THE YEAR
How wrong could I be, Galaxy WINS Game of the Year. I knew it was amazing, but wow. Congrats Ninty, now you have sold hundreds of consoles and made great games.

On a side note, I got money for a 360, and so BOUGHT ONE!!! I have Halo 3, Forza 2, PES 06 and Viva Pinata (those last two I am going to sell) Loving every minute of it. Will bring you reviews of all them and more in the new year. On Veteran Gamers new site. Still on for launching this Jan 1st, albeit with slightly less features than originally planned.

Gamespot Game of the Year Awards

Well, as we near the end of the year, all sites start to give out their analysis of the year, and gaming sites are no exception. I don't play enough video games to do my own awards (other than the Game of the Year) but I do like to keep a very close eye on Gamespots. Gamespot have now opened up the read choice voting for all the awards, so head over here to cast your vote. Below is my comments on some of the votes and their results.

Special Achievement
Best Graphics, Artistic - Assassins Creed
Now I am not going to argue that Assassins Creed's graphics aren't good, because they are amazing. But they aren't artistically amazing, just ultra-realistic. Both Bio-shock and Galaxy are much more artistically focus and Eternal Sonata looks to be too.

Best Multiplayer - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
I was highly surprised to find that Halo didn't win this award. Call of Duty did. I have already stated my opinion on this battle, but I was still surprised as I thought that the Halo fanboyism would be far greater than that of a recently released Call of Duty.

Best Expansion Pack - Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
Nothing very surprising here, except Civ BtS didn't win. However, it wasn't a console game that got it, which is odd as normally the console support is far greater on Gamespot.

Most improved sequel - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
This was a very tight call for me, as Call of Duty 3 was bad, Halo 2 I wasn't a fan of, Medal of Honour 1 for the Wii was appalling and the last Mario was also not mean to be very good. On top of which I want to own all 4 of those titles before March next year! I went for Medal of Honour as the original was so bad. Unsurprisingly, Call of Duty won, as with quite a lot of these awards, it comes down to popularity over actually success in the area (aka. Assassins Creed)

Best Control Scheme - Assassins Creed
This is a terrible, but point proven, example of popularity winning the award. Assassins Creed beat Medal of Honour, Wario, Phantom Hourglass and Resi Evil 4: Wii Edition. Not that there was anything wrong with the control scheme in Assassins Creed, but it was hardly revolutionary like Medal of Honour, Phantom Hourglass or Wario. Unfortunately, as they were less rounded games, they loose the vote.

Dubious Awards

Worst Trend - Lousy Wii Ports
If there is one award that is spot on, it is this one, as the winner was Poor Wii Ports. Although, in my opinion, quick party games and waggles for buttons are just as guilty. Comes hand in hand with well selling console though...

Flat out worst game - Deal or no Deal
The fact that this game got released speaks great volume. The TV program was bad enough, Deal or no Deal, I mean, COME ON

Best of Genre
NONE

Best of Console

Xbox 360 - Halo 3
Call of Duty, got beaten by Halo! Not the best shooter, or the best multiplayer, but it is the best 360 game, that makes sense.

PS3 - Call of Duty 4
A little embarrassing is that all bar 1 of these games came out on 360 earlier, and the winner wasn't the best on 360. Unlucky PS3

Wii - Super Mario Galaxy
Galaxy, unsurprisingly, won this. But I was disappointed to see that Metroid Prime didn't get a mention, it was one of the highlights of the year for me.

Game of the Year
This was very close, but the read winner as of now is currently, just 1% above Crysis, coming in a close second.

Well that's all, make sure to cast your votes as come of them were very close. I reckon that Call of Duty will get the Game of the Year official award, but we will have to wait and see.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare First Impressions

Yesterday, I got the opportunity to play on the new Call of Duty from Infinity Ward, set in the modern world. I managed to play both the single player and the multiplayer, and I can assure you it is a first class shooter and a much needed break from World War 2!

The single player is, at first, a little strange, particularly if you are coming from Halo 3, which most 360 owners will be, as you can only jump about 1ft in the air. Also, if you want to shoot with any kind of accuracy, you need to enter aim mode. However, once you get in to it, the feeling is exhilarating. You genuinely believe you are in a SWAT team. This is largely due to the team chatter. Which, unlike basically every other game ever, doesn't just say them same 3 lines over again ("Tango down") Another thing which also goes quite a long way towards making you feel is the graphics. Except for the odd thing which randomly looks terrible, like the opening water,the graphics, lighting and rain are spot on. Oddly, the game doesn't apply physics to everything, like most ultra hi-def shooters do. The environments, despite this, feel realistic.

Remarkably, I didn't want to spend loads of time looking round, like I usually do. This is, once again, down to the fact you feel like you are a member of the SAS. The missions are compelling, and there are beautiful set pieces round every single corner. I am not exaggerating, there is literally no breaks in the action. Although this does make the game more action packed the Matrix Reloaded, you never get to spend half as long as you would like to at each battle because you need to keep going. Although I haven't played though all of the single player, I have heard that it is short. I think this density can be blamed for that and a little spreading out would also make the fighting even more intense.

Then, I tried the multiplayer, and while it still may need to stand the test of time, I think we genuinely have a rival for Halo MP. The fun class system, servers and very little voice chat makes the games seem more akin to a PC shooter than a console shooter. The game also adds dynamics such as being able to call in a Helicopter to aide you if you get 5 kills in a row. At first this feels cheap, but once you get near 5 kills and you have worked out you can take down the helicopter, it makes the combat much frenetic, as your death is worth more than just one point. Although I only got to try a couple of maps in Team Death Match, I am hooked. The class system, while may not be as crucial in this as say, Day of Defeat, does add an interesting dimension to the multiplayer, particularly with the perks system, where you can choose 3 special abilities, like drop grenades when you die! All in all the multiplayer is great and while on time will tell if it is as addictive as Halo, I believe this could be the game to topple Halo.

This game has jumped in to my "Want to get for my 360" list, a great honour indeed. I can safely recommend this to all PC shooters players as the game is as close to a PC shooter as you are ever going to get. Console shooters, be warned, this is NOT Halo. There is no bunny jumping and beat down really is a last resort. Please don't let that put you off though, providing you are prepared to play it realistically, you have a highly refined and truly polished game. Once again, I find myself taking my hat of to Infinity Ward (Call of Duty also warranted a nod of the hat)

Super Mario Galaxy Second Impressions

Well I got some more time with Galaxy, and it has blown every other game right out of the water. The amount of variation between the now 6 galaxies is out-standing. On top of which, I am still only a fraction through the game.

The second galaxy you get to play on is themed around Bees. The bee suit is one of the more simple suits in Galaxy, apparently, however, just the dynamics it adds are incredible. The boss in this galaxy is considerably harder than in the first Galaxy, but still shouldn't take you very long to complete.

I also got to play on the much famed Ray Surfing level. This is the first level to properly use the Wiimote, and it works fantastically. It doesn't feel gimmicky or even unnecessary. The controls are easy to use and have all the finesse of Super Monkey Ball and the whole point of that was game was its fidelity! This track is amazingly fun, and I still race down it to try and beat my time (1:01:78 if anyone wants to try) and on top of this it is accessible, with my own mother being able to play it.

In addition this, I played on the remainder of the observatory (of which I think there are 8) This included the big boss fight against one of Bowser Jr.s hench robot things. Looked, graphically, very impressive but it was easy to beat. It also included a small galaxy based on one planetoid of flip switches, but this was clearly a bonus galaxy if you like. However, possibly my high light for the entire game so far was on galaxy that was outside the observatory. In it, you are standing on this base that looks a little like party rings with cookie cutter shapes cut in to it. Sounds normal, but it is moving, and not the way you want to go. It starts off just going the opposite way to you. Then it starts going horizontally, and then swapping between the two horizontals as you go along, then switches to curves and ends with entire sections missing. It is tricky to explain, so either play on it yourself or watch this video:



Overall, I am loving every minute of this game and I can't wait till after Christmas where I can play it without restrictions. Also got to play on Call of Duty 4 for the 360. Will be doing some impressions for that too,but it is as amazing as everyone says it is.

Wii Shop and Photo Channel Updates

My Wii started glowing at some un-Godly hour this morning, so when I got up I turned it on to find out what it was. I presumed it was a new Check Mii Out/Mii Competition Channel competition, however it was a Wii Update. In this update the Wii shop would be updates, allowing you the further update the Photo Channel.

Wii Shop
Apart from the obvious change of Channel icon, the Wii shop now supports "gifting" Basically, you browse to a VC title of your choice, then when you select it, you have the choice to either download it, or send it to one of your contacts. Although I wasn't able to try this, as I have no Wii Points, this sounds like an excellent feature and I will be trying it out when one of my friends next has a birthday. I originally thought that it would be possible to send your games that you have downloaded, however it would appear that is is only possible with new games. This is unfortunate, as it would mean if you didn't like the game, you could send it to a friend, or even swap it. However, this is presumably impossible because it might make piracy possible, with people copying games on to SDs cards, gifting and then playing the SD card. When you do gift something, you are allowed to send a message and attach a Mii. Sadly no option of cheesy animated Christmas cards.

Photo Channel
The photo channel has two changes. The first is mainly technical, the channel no longer supports MP3, but now ACC. ACC, as Nintendo correctly states, is higher quality for the same file size as MP3. However, MP3 is much more wildly supported, the only thing I know to use ACC is iTunes. I am surprised they just stopped supporting MP3, I thought they would just add support. The other update allows you to choose one of your pictures and set that as the channel icon. While this is quite neat, it is a bit irrelevant, particularly as the message implied you would be able to put images in separate channel slots.

Galaxy First Impression

I got, as an early Christmas present, Mario Galaxy. I am only allowed to progress while the friend who gave it to me is here, so these impressions are based on the opening galaxy (equivalent to 3 levels)

The game starts with a very dramatic and beautifully rendered cut-scene. Warning, spoiler: Bowser steals Princess Peach...again. There is a very brief training level where you have to catch some star people. This introduces you to the basics of jumping and the idea of spherical planets. Yes, after a bit this idea works very well. However, when I first started to navigate these planets, it did make me feel little queasy and even now I sometimes find navigating on doughnut shaped planets a little confusing with only one joystick.

The two bosses I have thought have been very entertaining, if not very difficult. The graphics are amazing. Plane and simple, they are amazing. Not amazing for the Wii, simply amazing. They might not be as technically stunning as say GoW, but the fun artsy design some very impressive animations make the game easily the best graphics Wii game and wouldn't be dismissed on so called true next generation consoles.

The Co-Op experience is a little limited as the second player only controls a pointer and all he is tasked to do is collect star bits and hold enemies in place. For any real gamer, this will got old quickly. However, it is great if your non gamer friend is going to watch you play anyway, as what they are doing isn't going to ruin the other persons attempts, however, they can still help and feel a part of it. I still wish the other player could control Luigi

The music is great too with very little recycled songs so far. In fact, some of the songs are on an epic scale similar to Zelda. Overall, this game looks, sounds and plays great and I can't wait to play further in to the game. Enjoy the run up to Christmas!

2007 Christmas Guide

Christmas is fast looming, so here is my guide on what you games you should get for your relative/friend. I will be giving my top 3 recommendations for each console for the differnt age groups. First, if you are choosing a console, read the bit below. If you have already chosen/bought a console, scroll down for the games and make sure you don't have to go to Game the next day.
Which console?

Wii
I own a Wii, however, I am not going to straight out recommend it to everyone. If your relative friend, who hence forth will be known as the receiver, is under 12, then without a doubt, this is a safe choice. If it is going to be a family console, once again, full recommendations, if the receiver missed gaming when they were a kid, Wii is the answer. However, if the receiver is a "core" gamer, such as myself, you should think a little first. Providing they enjoy a bit of thinking as well as just action, then I will still recommend this console. If, however, they prefer instant and simple run'n'gun gameplay, the Wii's choice of games becomes a little restricted, with my favourite games on the Wii all requiring at least some pause. If you are sure that this won't be a problem, I once again, recommend the Wii.

Xbox 360
This is a rock steady console, I am hoping to pick one up after Christmas. The range of games covers all ages and their is no age group which I specifically wouldn't recommend it to. The younger age group's choice of games is a little limited, with many of the big blockbuster titles carrying heavy age ratings, however, there are games such as Viva Pinta and if they are in to driving games, a plethora of them exist. One thing I should point out is beware of the hidden charges. One of the main reasons for getting a 360 is the online, Xbox Live. However, this comes with a subscription charge of £40 a year, plus you will need to connect your 360 to the internet, which can also be quite expensive. If you want to use a wireless internet connection, you will be required to pay £60 to buy a wireless adaptor. The 360 comes with many of these charges to get everything out of it, but these can be added as and when needed.

PS3
I do not recommend the PS3 at this time. It has limited library of games and a low install base (meaning fewer games to come) Also, for younger audiences, there is virtually nothing. However, if you own a full 1080i HD TV, the PS3 does come with a built in Blu-ray player and is currently much cheaper than all other Blu-ray players. Unlike the 360, you pay for everything up front with the PS3, and I am not going to lie to you, if you buy a PS3, it will still be technologically impressive in 5 years time. If nothing else, it is the best media centre on the market. Despite this, if you are looking for a games console, look else where, as it does come down to the games, which there are next to none on the PS3.

Wii
Under 9s

• Super Mario Galaxy - Super Mario Galaxy (3+, £35, not available from Amazon, but in Game stores) received fantastic reviews from just about everywhere. The games difficulty is said to rise gradually, meaning it will be accessible to younger audiences and still a challenge for the elder. Also, the game features a drop in/out co-op allowing for you, if you have 5 minutes spare from the turkey, drop in, help a little, and then go back to the dinner.
  

• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz - SMB:BB(7+, £25, not available from Amazon, but in Game stores) is a fun game that uses the Wiimote fantastically. The single player will entertain most, providing they have a little patience, and the multiplayer contains a wide variety of games. Read my review

• Second Wii Remote - 2nd Wii Remote(3+, £32, not available from Amazon, but in game stores) will allow you to play games in Multiplayer. For games such as Super Monkey Ball, this is almost compulsory and I highly recommend this product to anyone, as multiplayer really does enhance enjoyment. Also, I advise you to get a Nunchuck(3+, £15, not available from Amazon, but in Game store) as it is required for some multiplayer games

9-14

• Super Mario Galaxy - Super Mario Galaxy (3+, £35, not available from Amazon, but in Game stores) received fantastic reviews from just about everywhere. The games difficulty is said to rise gradually, meaning it will be accessible to younger audiences and still a challenge for the elder. Also, the game features a drop in/out co-op allowing for you, if you have 5 minutes spare from the turkey, drop in, help a little, and then go back to the dinner.

• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - The epic conclusion(12+, £32.98, available at Amazon) to the Metroid Prime series. I loved this game. The controls are great, use the Wiimote, but doesn't over use it. The story is great, there is, unfortunately, next to no replayability as there s no multiplayer. Despite this, I recommend this to all gamers (not non gamers, as the game can be a little complicated) You can read my first impressions.

• Legend of Zelda: Twighlight Princess - This launch game (12+, £32.48, if bought from Amazon it will not be dispatched for Christmas)still stands strong. While the game might not utilise the Wii remote to its full potential, the puzzles are brilliantly designed and the plot is gripping. Some people will find this game quite tricky and if the reviver doesn't like puzzle solving, steer clear. Read my review

15+

• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - The epic conclusion(12+, £32.98, available at Amazon) to the Metroid Prime series. I loved this game. The controls are great, use the Wiimote, but doesn't over use it. The story is great, there is, unfortunately, next to no replayability as there s no multiplayer. Despite this, I recommend this to all gamers (not non gamers, as the game can be a little complicated) You can read my first impressions.

• Resident Evil 4 - Resident Evil 4(15, £25, available at Amazon, but will not be delivered by Christmas) has quite a confusing control scheme, but once you get past that you have a thrilling and tense story that will take most people quite a long time to get through. Once you have done that, there is even more. Arguably the best graphics on the Wii to boot.

• Super Mario Galaxy - Super Mario Galaxy (3+, £35, not available from Amazon, but in Game stores) received fantastic reviews from just about everywhere. The games difficulty is said to rise gradually, meaning it will be accessible to younger audiences and still a challenge for the elder. Also, the game features a drop in/out co-op allowing for you, if you have 5 minutes spare from the turkey, drop in, help a little, and then go back to the dinner.

Xbox 360

Under 9

• Viva Pinata - I am not entirely sure what this game (3+, £39.98, available from Amazon) is about. All I know is it is kid friendly, fun and was received very well by the press. The limited time I did have with it, it seemed to be about nurturing a garden and filling it with fun creatures.

• Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - This Lego game (3+, 29.99, available from Amazon but will not be dispatched by Christmas) is great fun. While I haven't personally been on this game, I have played on the previous instalment and it has kept my 8 year old brother for over 85 hours and this game includes that game and another 1, so this will occupy them for quite a long time...

• PGR 4 - This is a fun, arcadeish racing game(3+, £37,.98, available from Amazon) is fantastic racing game. It even features motorbikes! However, some less able reciverers may find this game too trick (my 8 year old brother handles it fine)

9-15

• Forza Motor Sport - This ultra-realistic racer (3+, £17.98, available from Amazon, but will not be dispatched by Christmas) is not for the feint of heart. This game is great if you are prepared to put the dedication in. The driving is hard to master and you are going to have to spend some time customising your car to get the best possible ride for the lowest cost. However, if Forza 1 is anything to go by, it is well worth it.
  

• Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock - This game (12+, 64.98, available from Amazon, but will not be dispatched by Christmas) is expensive, that is largely due to the fact it comes with a wireless guitar to play the game. I played on this game for a bit and I loved it. It is amazing fun and if you are prepared to, I would recommend getting two guitars, as the MP is said to be very good.

• PGR 4 - This is a fun, arcadeish racing game(3+, £37,.98, available from Amazon) is fantastic racing game. It even features motorbikes! However, some less able reciverers may find this game too trick (my 8 year old brother handles it fine)

15+

• Halo 3 - This is the blockbuster movie of games (15+, £37.96, available from Amazon) is amazing. I was never a huge fan of Halo 2, so take my word, this game is great. I would only have some slight reservations if you do not intend to get live as that is where the mean of the game lies. Read my first impressions here

• Elder Scrolls: Oblivion - This is possibly my favourite game (15+, £40, not available from Amazon) Now I could go in to great lengths about why I think this game is amazing, but this customer review on Amazon sums it up:

"Anyways, Once you've past the first mission, you exit through this tunnel and all you see in front of you is a open world. You can go anywhere,do anything, go north, south, east or west, over rocks, swim in the waters, fight people camping out, nick their stuff, hunt for deer, lions, bears, fish, go to towns, talk to the people, get missions, do or do not do the missions, follow the main quest, don't follow it, do side quests, join guilds, large guilds, secret guilds or smaller clans, fight in the arena, become a champion, or don't, hunt out monsters, hunt out vampires, become a vampire, collect different herbs for recipies, make potions, sell potions, find weapons, use weapons, sell weapons, enchant/enchance weapons, cast spells on yourself, cast spells on others, fight with fists, swords, bows or magic.... IT'S ENDLESS!"

Read my quick review of Oblivion here

• Gears of War - This game (18+, £37.98, available from Amazon) This game is great, it won GotY (Game of the Year) last year, which speaks a great volume considering that is the same year as Oblivion. The single player is fun, the co-op is fun, the multiplayer is intense. There isn't much wrong with this game, unless you don't like the site of blood. Read my review.
  

PS3
Unfortunately, there insufficient games for me to break down in the 3 categories, so I will just do my top 5 PS3 games with ratings and leave it up to you to decide which suits your reciver, *sorry*

• Resistance: Fall of Man - This looks to be a fantastic shooter (15+, £29.99, available from Amazon) I have heard nothing but praise for it. The single player is meant to be great, as is the multiplayer and the game's visuals look amazing to boot. PS3 exclusive and a PS3 must have

• Elder Scrolls: Oblivion - This is possibly my favourite game (15+, £40, not available from Amazon) Now I could go in to great lengths about why I think this game is amazing, but this customer review on Amazon sums it up:

"Anyways, Once you've past the first mission, you exit through this tunnel and all you see in front of you is a open world. You can go anywhere,do anything, go north, south, east or west, over rocks, swim in the waters, fight people camping out, nick their stuff, hunt for deer, lions, bears, fish, go to towns, talk to the people, get missions, do or do not do the missions, follow the main quest, don't follow it, do side quests, join guilds, large guilds, secret guilds or smaller clans, fight in the arena, become a champion, or don't, hunt out monsters, hunt out vampires, become a vampire, collect different herbs for recipies, make potions, sell potions, find weapons, use weapons, sell weapons, enchant/enchance weapons, cast spells on yourself, cast spells on others, fight with fists, swords, bows or magic.... IT'S ENDLESS!"

Read my quick review of Oblivion here

• Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction - Although this game (7+, £2.98, available from Amazon) hasn't been as well received as previous PS2 entries, it still stands to be a great game and might have had the potential to move consoles if the consoles price was just a little lower and the range of games a little higher

• Call of Duty 4: Modern - This game (15+, £39.99, available from Amazon) got amazing reviews. The single player looks, from what I have seen, amazing. However, it is supposed to be short and so I would recommend making sure you have online before choosing this game.

• Assassin's Creed - This free roaming (16+, £39.48, available at Amazon) game features heavy amounts of Parkour. The game does feature some annoying issues (such as un-skipable, dull speeches) which detract from the polished graphics and fun free-running system, but a fun game none the less.

I hope this was helpful. For most games I have provided links to Amazon, but you may have also noticed that a lot of the time Amazon will not deliver by Christmas. I recommend using play.com and local Game and HMV stores may have the products in stock. Also, remember that most shops offer gift cards, so if you can't get what you or the receiver wants, get them this and allow them to choose it themselves. Have a very happy Christmas and spread the good word (of this site!)

Crazy, Crazy World

Two random things that just make no sense (like the law against suicide- what is the point?)

Went in to Game after school today and saw they had changed the 360 bundle I was planning to purchase (the games included) The games it now includes were 2 games that I didn't want. So I asked if it was possible to swap the games, and this is their policy:

"No we are not able to do that, however, if you don't open them, after a week you can swap them for any game in our stock"

So I asked, isn't that just the same as just giving me the games when I buy it? Yes, but there isn't anything we can do. What is the point?! I am going to go home, set up my 360, add some friends, try to set up silver live and then wait a week, playing on my Wii. Seriously...that literally makes no sense.

Second thing, today the Brawl update is about friend codes. They are different from your Wii codes. So you have to add the same person twice to get them both on your Wii and Brawl. Why? Why would you do that, it is obviously possible to do MP games (Endless Ocean) so what do these separate codes add? You can read the update here

Gerstmann Story

Many of you will be aware of a editor called Jeff Gertmann. I am sure many of you are also aware of his recent termination at Gamespot, where he has been working for over 10 years, presenting all the live events and reviewing most big titles (including Halo) Visitors of GS will also know of the extensive advertisement campaign for Kane and Lynch. Jeff reviewed said game, but not very positively. I will briefly sum up the rumoured story and then add my opinion. It is rumoured that Edios, the publisher of K&L, following the review, withdrew thousands of dollars worth of advertising. The new head of CNET is apparently taking the company in a new, much more commercial direction and allowing advertising partners to have a much more editorial control on reviews. This would completely undermine every GS review as you would not know if they mean what they say, or just are being forced to.

So, what do I think of this? Well at first, I was furious. However, unlike many people, I am not going to delete my profile, as the GS community is still great and many members of staff and it is, after all, "where gamers go to know" Naturally, if there have been loads of ads on GS for a game, I will look at IGNs review and player reviews. What does everyone else think about this?