To tell you the truth, I am the type of gamer who sometimes just loves to play a mindless game, with no story, that is alot of fun. That is the type of game that The Club is down to the T, and to be honest with you, there is nothing wrong with a little mindless, third-person shooting fun every once in awhile.

Let us get right into the review:

First of all, as I said earlier, there is no in-depth story, with richly detailed characters, who develop over time in The Club. The concept is that you are a participant in a Tournament that takes place in 8 different locations, and has up to 6 rounds in each location. It basically plays out like a Mariokart game, but instead of racing go-karts, you shoot everything in sight round after round, and accumulate points as you go, leaving who has the most points at the end of each round the winner, and whoever has the most points at the end of all of the rounds declared the winner of that specific tournament. A basic and simple concept, but in all honestly, it works out pretty well, and keeps the game moving at faster pace than most other shooters out there today.

The graphics are not superb, but there not bad. All of the 8 different characters are nicely detailed, and each one of them has their own attitude that is represented very well by the clothes that they wear, and the facial expressions that they make. The environments however, are simple, not full of much detail, and do not offer that much in the way of exploration. Every once in awhile you will come across a secret area, with a Skullshot (point booster) for you to shoot, but that is about it.

The gameplay and entertainment value of this game is the meat and potatoes of where this game shines. The modes that you play are not always kill everything in sight, and running to the end of the goal as fast as possible. There are also modes in which you have to stay withing a certain area, for a certain amount of time, and survive the onslaught of enemies that come out at you (Survivor). Or you can also race through the level, to the exit, as fast as possible, while killing enemies to add time to the clock along the way (Time attack), You can also go from the beginning to the end of a level, shooting down enemies, and adding points to your score as you go (Sprint). Each of one these event types is fun to play, and easy to understand. There are a few weapons to choose from, including rocket launchers, machine guns, shotguns, etc., all of which are standards of the shooter genre, and do add some variety in how they affect each one of the modes in the game, but are nothing spectacular.

Controls are about as simple as it gets. You shoot with the Right Trigger, precision aim with the Left Trigger, and perform dodging moves, or break down walls with the A button.  Even though there is no variety to the controls, they are simple to understand, and honestly, I am all about simplicity in control schemes for these types of games.

There is a little bit of replay value in this game, but not much, After you finish the Tournament, you can either participate in the Single Event mode, in which you can play each event one at a time. Or you can create a playlist of these events in the Gunplay mode. There is also a Multiplayer feature that allows you to play with up to 8 players( that is the most i played against at least) in a few different modes such as Team Deathmatch, Hunter (King of the Hill), and Free for all Deathmatch. They are nice additions, and fun to play, but other than playing through each of them to earn achievements, or to gain bragging rights, there is no reason to play any of these modes more than once. There are also Skullshot targets that you can shoot out in each level to add a multiplier to your score, but it does not unlock anything, so they are not really all that necessary to shoot.

In the end, I would have to say that I had a great amount of fun playing this game, even though the experience was short lived. The tournament and multiplayer modes were fun for awhile, but once you play through every event in each one of these modes, you have seen everything that this game has to offer.  The fact of the matter is, a game like this can still be a fun experience, even if  it is lacking in some aspects of other games that have made the shooter genre popular over the years.

My verdict: If you are someone who enjoys playing mindless games sometimes, and can find this title at a cheap price used, then pick it up, you will not be disappointed, otherwise, just leave this game alone.

Overall Score: B-

It is almost about that time for another gaming night this week. It will be this Saturday starting at 10 pm est/ 7 pm pst in an Xbox Live party room. Either join in willingly, or send us a message over live to let us know that you want to join in the fun.

It will be either myself, or one of the other hosts who will be hosting the Xbox live party, but we will let you know either way whats going on.

The only question that we have for all of you is…what game should we play for this upcoming gaming night?

Here are the games:

Halo 2

Halo 3

Gears of War 2

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Left 4 Dead

Endwar

Call of Duty 4

We can play more than one of these during gaming night, but we need your help as to what game we should start with?

Go ahead and please cast your vote by clicking on the link below, or just leave a comment here and let us know that way, either way is fine with us.

http://forums.platformnation.com/index.php?showtopic=8409&pid=39419&st=0&#entry39419

Hope to see you all there.

Until next time gamers, this is B4 signing off,

Take care,

Mr B4

That’s correct folks, we’re at episode 164 (84.0 by the old numbering scheme)! Join Kemanswar, X3R0 9, Mr B4, Silverthorne, and special guest Qualitybeats84 as we continue with the new updated weekly show. Again folks, use caution as this is an explict podcast.

Topics Include:

Obama staff member says they are now in the Atari age.

Lego Batman nominated for a TOADY.

Splinter Cell Conviction, 360 exclusive.

Gamerscore Blog nailed by Mircrosoft’s first round of layoffs.

Megan Fox is the new Lara Croft.

All this and more on this weeks show.

Thanks for listening, Please leave us a comment on the show or send us an e-mail at: xblradio@platformnation.com

Direct Download (right click, save as)

Appearances can sometimes be deceiving, especially when it comes to the front cover of a video game. I felt this way as soon as i saw the case cover art for a game on the Wii called “The Monkey King: The Legend Begins”. I thought I was going to end up with a game similar to God of War, kind of like a hack and slash type of deal, oh boy was I wrong. This is an old school 2D side scrolling shooting game, but it is mediocre at best. Anyways, let us get right to the review, shall Wii.

First of all, the story is lame, predictable, and way too short. You can choose to either be Wukung Chen or Mei Mei, who are both training to be cloud masters (whatever that means), and fight your way through 6 different levels in order to save the world from cute pets who have turned into monsters (again, very boring and lame). There is no spoken dialogue in the game, instead there are just text scenes to explain the story. These are cheesy, and are not really needed because the premise is so simple to begin with. Let us move on to graphics and gameplay.

The graphics are refreshing and simple. Everything is presented in a side-scrolling 2D matter, which is nice to see, but at this point, games on the Wii need to look at the very least a little bit better than this. I honestly felt like I was playing a game on the SNES, do not get me wrong, the SNES was awesome, but if I wanted to play an SNES game, I would just play one of  my virtual console games instead of wasting my time on this. The graphics can be summed up in one word, outdated.

The gameplay is a little too easy as well. you hold the Wii remote sideways, move with the d-pad up, down, left, and right, shoot your weapon with the 2 button, and that is about it. You can also tilt your Wii remote from side to side to tilt the screen, but this is neither a necessary task to accomplish in order to complete the game, or fun to do, it is more of just an addition that means nothing. You do also get special moves that you can use by pressing the 1 button, but you do not need them, simply because every enemy in the game can be defeated by holding down the 2 button to shoot your weapon until an enemy is defeated. The boss fights are a joke, and take about 30 seconds to complete each time, so the game is not much of a challenge either. If the boss fights were a little more difficult, and if there was more powerups to use, the gameplay might be exciting, but it is not.

If you are looking for a game with replay value, great graphics, and interesting gameplay, look elsewhere. I completed this game in less than an hour, and there ws nothing to do expect play the levels in an arcade mode, or race through each of the levels as fast as possible after I was done with it. With nothing to unlock from playing either of these modes, there is no reason to explore this game past the main quest.  You can also play through this game with a friend, but I would not recommend it, mainly because your health bar is split into halves, when it should just be one full bar for each character, very disappointing.

My final verdict: Rent it, play it once, finish the game, then return it, and never look back. Even though it is only $9.99, i still cannot recommend it to anyone, there are just way too many problems with it.

Until next time gamers, this is B4 signing off

Take Care,

MrB4

“When a spy gets fired, he doesn’t get a call from the lady in HR and a gold watch, they cut him off, they make sure he can never work again”. “They can’t take away his skills, or what’s in his head. so they take away the resources that allow him to function, they burn him”.

Welcome to the world of Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan),  a spy who has just been put on the blacklist, and has had the rug pulled out from under him. While away on a job in Nigeria, Michael makes a phone call about a job to his “employer” only to find out that someone has put out a Burn Notice on him. He escapes Nigeria, and winds up in Miami, and until he can figure out who burned him and why, he has  to deal with his ex Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), his old buddy Sam (Bruce Campbell), not to mention his mom Madeline (Sharon Gless), and his obssessive gambler of a brother Nate (Seth Peterson). He also needs to put some cash together in order to make himself a living by working as a private investigator. Let  us just say, he has alot on his plate, and sometimes, he is not always so hungry.

Burn Notice is one of my new favorite shows on television, and there is a reason why. The show, in no way shape or form, sticks to one genre at any given time. It jumps around from being an action comedy, to a drama, to a mystery, to a spy show, and so on. It is just refreshing for me to see a show with such an original idea that is executed so well. Each of the characters play off of each other perfectly, and each episode draws you into Michael’s world just a little bit more. That is why I watch this show week after week, I am interested, I am hooked, and I am, to say the least, obsessed.

Either way, check out the show for yourself, it is something that you should not pass on. The second half of the second season premieres tonight at 10pm est/ 7pm pst on USA. You can watch full episodes by clicking the link below. The first season is also available on DVD at all major retailers.

Until next time gamers, this is B4 signing off

Take care,

MrB4

Link to website: http://www.usanetwork.com/series/burnnotice/

It is almost about that time for another gaming night this week. It will be this Saturday starting at 10 pm est/ 7 pm pst in an Xbox Live party room. Either join in willingly, or send us a message over live to let us know that you want to join in the fun.

It will be either myself, or one of the other hosts who will be hosting the Xbox live party, but we will let you know either way whats going on.

The only question that we have for all of you is…what game should we play for this upcoming gaming night?

Here are the games:

Halo 2

Halo 3

Gears of War 2

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Left 4 Dead

Endwar

Call of Duty 4

Call of Duty WaW

We can play more than one of these during gaming night, but we need your help as to what game we should start with?

Go ahead and please cast your vote by clicking on the link below, or just leave a comment here and let us know that way, either way is fine with us.

http://forums.platformnation.com/index.php?showtopic=8330&pid=39072&st=0&#entry39072

Hope to see you all there.

Until next time gamers, this is B4 signing off,

Take care,

Mr B4

Join Kemanswar, X3R0 9, Mr B4, and Silverthorne as we unleash the new format. Caution this is an explict podcast, hear your favorite hosts like you never have before.

Topics Include:

The death of the 1st amendment in South Carolina

PS3 brings in the Danish SWAT team

Are we ready for the Next Generation

Guitar Hero: Metallica has a Release date

Neversoft president says studio has part ways with Tony Hawk

Your Xbox friends list limit could be increasing

Thanks for listening, Please leave us a comment on the show or send us an e-mail at: xblradio@platformnation.com

Direct Download (right click, save as)

Anyways, here is the Interview:

I like to hit the ground running, and continue with yet another issue of Better Know a Gamer! So here’s todays guest, a recent nominee you may have heard of “before” (my only lame joke, I promise), it’s Mr B4!

Nu: What’s your Gamertag, and what’s the story behind it?

My gamertag is Mr B4, the idea for the name came to me well before I had a 360. I was a part of a Halo 2 clan called the Dragon Demons with a friend of mine. Since i was single at the time, i went with the name “The Bachelor”, which I then changed to “Mr Bachelor” for no apparent reason other than I thought it was cool. Then i combined that name along with my birthdate for my hotmail email address, and after i bought my 360, i had to pick a name for a gamertag, and since mrbachelor1984 didnt work, i shortened it to MrB4, and the rest is history.

Nu: Where are you from?

I am from Cleveland, Ohio, but i live in a suburb of it called Brook Park.

Nu: Ohio and Pennsylvania! We’re neighbors! I might have some interesting news for you this summer… stay tuned! How old are you, and what do you do (school, job, family, hobbies)?

I am 24 years old, the middle child of out the 3 in my family (older brother, younger sister), and i currently work as an Independent Waiver Provider for the state of Ohio. What the title means is that i provide care and services, such as clothing, feeding, etc., for mentally handicapped children. I have been doing that for about three years now. I also am one of the hosts of a podcast called XBL Radio, and have been a part of the site for almost 2 years now.

I like to play video games, watch movies, play sports, and just hang out with my friends from time to time. A typical response for someone my age i know, but its my life, take it or leave it, lol.

Nu: Amen to that, man. And very cool doing what you can to help out in society – there will never be enough people like you out there! How long have you been gaming in general?

Oh man, since i was in kindergarten i think, when i got my first system( the NES), and beat my first game (Super Mario Bros.) Good times, Good Times.

Nu: How long have you been a 360 owner?

I have been a 360 owner since January of 2006.

Nu: What was one of your favorite Xbox / Xbox Live moments?

When i played my first madden game on current gen hardware (Xbox at the time), it was Madden 2003. I was so surprised as to the amount of content that could be in a game like that, which is the reason why i have been a fan of the series ever since then.

Nu: Which Xbox 360 Achievement are you most proud of?

Let’s see, that one is tough. The time i got the 100 revives achievement for Gears of War 1.

Nu: Are you currently working toward any achievements?

As of right now, nothing comes to mind.

Nu: What game(s) are you playing the most now?

I am playing alot of Left 4 Dead and Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which are both great multiplayer games by the way.

Nu: Absolutely true! Among the most fun games to play with friends! What’s playing now (what music do you listen to when away from your Xbox or when listening to music ON your Xbox)?

I’m a fan of old school rock and roll, maybe some Lenny Kravitz “Are you gonna go my way”, then a little bit of Billy Squires “Everybody wants you”.

Nu: Do you try to stick with one Gamerpic, or change it frequently?

I’ve only changed my gamerpic three times, so i tend to stick with one for awhile, then maybe a few months or so later i might change it.

Nu: What is your current favorite Xbox related website to visit?

www.xbox.com, its the only related Xbox website i go to, and thats mostly just to check my messages from friends.

Nu: What game are you looking most forward to in 2009?

I would have to say Madworld for the Wii. It’s the type of bloody, gory game that console needs to make the hardcore crowd believe in it once again.

Nu: Do you have an all time favorite game, for any console or the PC?

Thats tough. I’m going to go with Final Fantasy VII for the Sony Playstation, just pure awesomeness, enough said.

Nu: Do you have any gaming buddies you frequently play with / want to make almost as famous as you?

My fellow co-hosts of XBL Radio, Kemanswar, X3RO 9, and Silverthorne. They are already famous (wink, wink, lol) but I wanted to make them even more famous now. And also TXPaladin, i play games with him from time to time, just wanted to say hi, and say thanks for the nomination buddy!

Nu: Any parting words for the droves of readers?
Have fun, and dont take life so seriously all the time. Play some games and have some fun once in awhile.

Nu: 22 BKAG’s… check! Thanks to Mr B4 for taking part and I whole heartedly recommend XBL Radio – even if you don’t enjoy listening to podcasts, the site has some hysterical blogging!

Be sure to also check out the site WinBreak.com, it is an awesome video game blogging site.

Until nhext time gamers, this is B4 signing off

Take Care,

MrB4

Link to interview: http://winbreak.com/2009/01/15/better-know-a-gamer-issue-22-mr-b4/

You ever come across a movie that when you are watching it, you just say “What the **** am i watching, this makes no sense at all”. This is the exact reaction that i had when i was watching Babylon A.D..

Here is the story in a nutshell. The story takes place in Europe in the year 2017, in which the country has now turned into a war zone, and there are people who watch your every move. A bounty hunter named Toorop (played by Vin diesel), is given a job by a man named Gorsky (played by Gerald Depardieu), to transport a girl named Aurora (Melanie Thierry), from a convent in Kazakhstan to New York City.

Now on to my thoughts about this movie:

For a movie that was bashed by its own director (Mathieu Kassovitz), it is not as bad as i thought it was going to be, but i thought it was going to be crap, so it is not all that good of a movie either. There is just too much left out of the plot as to why Toorop needs to save Aurora, and why he is being followed, and why the world is as corrupt as it is.  The action is not really all that intense either. There are a couple of fight scenes and shootout sequences, but nothing more than what you have come to expect from these types of movies nowadays, but they are still fun to watch.

The dialogue spoken by these characters is dull and uninteresting, but then again, you do not hire someone like Vin Diesel for a movie, and expect him to talk all of the time either. It is just the type of movie you watch for the action, and do not really take the time to care about the story all that much. The reason for that is because you never feel any emotional connection to any of the characters throughout the story, because they simply do not do enough to make you feel as if you should care about what happens to them.

Overall, I would say if you like shootout sequences and fight scenes, and do not really care about the plot of a story, then this movie was made for you. To  be honest with you though, I need a decent story to go along with it, and this movie just did not do it for me at all.

My Verdict: C-

Rent it and watch it one time, then never think about it again.

Until next time gamers, this is B4 signing off

Take Care,

Mr B4