4th September: GS Update

From my 360voice:

I thought maybe the power was out yesterday... imagine my surprise when borandi hit the switches! Gamerscore stands at 44,999. That is a profit of 195 points over last time! He rallied BioShock winning an amazing 10 achievements, Stuntman: Ignition adding an amazing 7 achievements, Guitar Hero II, and then he had to stop because we both couldn't take it anymore... we were spent.

And the games:

BioShock	0 -> 205 of 1000 18 of 50 Achievements
Guitar Hero II	480 of 1000 32 of 50 Achievements
Stuntman: Ignition	0 -> 100 of 1000 7 of 50 Achievements
Track and Field	200 of 200 12 of 12 Achievements
Blue Dragon	15 -> 45 of 1000 5 of 43 Achievements

Bioshock is one of the games of the year, without a doubt. It's been a while since the story mode on an FPS has kept me interested, and Bioshock deserves all the praise it gets. So far I've been having fun, taking pictures and setting people on fire; as well as injecting myself with whatever shiny liquid is thrown my way :) Graphics are excellent, sound is great, storyline is way cool. Downside? Lack of a multiplayer mode, but then I suppose Bioshock is a work of art, whereas GoW is a long hard grind. If you haven't played Bioshock, go play it. Buy it, rent it (what I did), whatever. Just enjoy! (Warning to all those with a weak disposition.)

I'm now 30/48 in hard mode for GH2 - getting onto the really hard stuff. I've been stuck at 3 stars per song since song 6 or something, so I doubt any 5 stars are winging my way. My fingers feel almost fine getting to the keys now, though its a case of my brain putting them in the right order at the right time, and timing those hammer-ons/pull-offs just right.

I also rented Stuntman: Ignition. I've been told its a replica of a PS2 game (which I never played), in the same what that Flatout:UC is a replica of FlatOut 2. But besides this, the game looks very good on the 360 - basically each level is a scene you have to drive for in a film/commercial, with action and stunts that you have to do in order to pass. I've done 12 rounds so far, and it's getting a bit boring. Just the same sort of stuff - fail it three or more times, pass, then move on. Worth a rent, not really worth a buy, unless you love your driving games.

Played some T&F online - I heard that most people cant play T&F properly, so I wanted to win. Ended up playing a game for 40mins+ against one guy and we reached the 4th stage. I broke some of my records, but the lag was annoying - I had to pre-empt pressing the button at the right time on several events - long jump, javelin, hammer, high jump, etc. Good fun, shame I lost. Shouldn't really play it at 6am not having gone to bed.

Blue Dragon is still as good as ever! I'm getting into more of the non-linearity now, with options to do things and go places (sort of). I just got the thing to disable blue barriers, and I also found a room to get 10+ monsters in one encounter - actually I got 11 :D I have a picture, but not a camera cable to upload it - watch this space! That 10+ encounter took me around 20 minutes to set up (of getting mobs together, then running away from battles, etc.), and one spell each round to finish. Got that achievement 30GS, and the 'running away 50 times' achievement for 0GS.

GS: 44,774 -> 45,109

Completed XBLA:	10 / 27
Completed Retail:	21 / 100
GS Completion %:	40.44%
GS % (Non-Demo):	43.50%

Country Rank:	321/210009
World Rank:	1986/1529404

(woo! 100 retail games played :D)