After playing through The Conduit extensively I have come to the realization that this game’s sequel needs a few things to change for the game to be “truly awesome” instead of just “very good.” Below are the features The Conduit 2 needs to have: Single Player Multiplayer
1/28/10
Conduit 2: Things to Change
1/20/10
Luigi's Mansion Trademark Renewed (Vitality Sensor Related)
AND
It appears one of my predictions, the most far-fetched in fact, has already got some potential weight behind it. If you'll recall I predicted this year the Wii Vitality Sensor would be used in a new Luigi's Mansion game on the Wii. Well look who just renewed their trademark for Luigi's Mansion... Nintendo.
That's right, let the Vitality Sensor mansion hunting commence.
1/7/10
2009 Games Completed
I managed to fully complete 16 games this year with a lot of games I didn't get to finish. Some of them were because they were far too difficult (Henry Hatsworth), I just wanted to try it with no real intention of beating it (Devilish, Incredible Hulk, or any iPhone game), or the game doesn't ever seem to end (Okami, Boom Blox: BP, Scribblenauts). Completed Game Played Most: Peggle: Dual Shot Not Completed Game Played Most: GTA: Chinatown Wars Complete Game Most Enjoyed: New Super Mario Bros Wii Not Completed Game Most Enjoyed: Wii Sports Resort Completed: Partially Completed: Played at E3
8/22/07
Metroid Prime 3 is Getting Noticed, Why Didn't Hunters
There are a few things I have noticed recently while reading up on gaming news prior to the release of the new Metroid game. And the major thing, along with the fact that the game should be awesome, is that other developers are actually taking notice of the way Metroid plays rather than ignoring it like they did with Metroid Prime Hunters. Now let me give you a little bit of history on this subject. Metroid Prime Hunters came out for the DS in March of 2006 with the best FPS controls that any handheld has ever seen. Not only does the game control like a dream but the game had some really well implemented online features too. There was voice chat, a rivals system, and multiple games modes to choose from. Since Hunters came out and sold just over a million copies I figured other developers would start pumping out FPS games on the DS with similar features and controls. But I was wrong. Since that games released there have been zero FPS games released for the DS and only one game with voice chat over WiFi Connection (Pokemon Diamond and Pearl).
Recently there have been a few interviews with various game developers that are currently making FPS games for the Wii. There is EA Canada making Medal of Honor Heroes 2 (with 32-player online multiplayer) and there is Demiurge doing the bulk of the development for Brothers in Arms for the Wii. In both interviews they have been asked about Metroid Prime 3 and they have both agreed that the game is influencing the way they control their new games.
IGN: Have you been following Metroid Prime 3? Because people have been saying it really nails FPS controls on the Wii.
Reed: We have absolutely been following it. Every time the tiniest bit of press about Metroid would come out we'd grab it and we'd ask Gearbox and Ubisoft to talk to Nintendo and see what information we could get about what they were doing.
This can only be good news for us gamers, considering Metroid controls wonderfully, but it makes me wonder why this hasn't happened with the DS Metroid. The next DS FPS is Call of Duty 4, one of my more anticipated games for the holiday, and it looks great. But why did it take over a year for this to happen?
8/21/07
Metroid Prime 3 to Use Wii Codes for WiiConnect24 Features
I found this over at the Nintendo Forums and I got pretty excited. Apparently Metroid Prime 3 will draw from your Wii Address List and not require separate Friend Codes for the exchange of tokens. Basically the tokens are a way to allow your friends to know how much you have accomplished in Metroid Prime 3 and to what degree. For example, if you kill 50 small enemies in a room you may be rewarded with a red token (small reward) but if you kill the final boss in under 2 minutes on the hardest difficulty you could receive a gold token (high reward). This is sort of an "achievement" system similar to the Xbox 360. The best part, however, is the fact that you don't have to insert more 12 digit numbers for the WiiConnect24 features to work.
If you watch the Gametrailers preview at 4:45 seconds it shows the page for exchanging tokens, after that it shows your friend roster and says "Friends in black currently have a save file for MP3" so does that mean it's looking in your Wii adress book and at your friends data to see if they have saves? I hope so! I don't wanna keep using different FC's for every game." Click here to see the video.
8/20/07
Metroid vs Super Mario vs Smash Bros
In honor of the great (or at least we all hope) Metroid Prime 3: Corruption coming out next week I thought I should do a little research (and I use that term loosely) to see which of Nintendo's big games will sell more this year. With Nintendo claiming this month to be the month of Metroid I figured there would be no better time to compare Metroid Prime 3 to Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros Brawl. According to the popularity of Google searches, Super Mario is a far more important and searched brand. Somewhat unfair though due to the fact that "Super Mario" could easily be connected to a game like Super Paper Mario or New Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo DS.
In the end Metroid is the weakest of the brands and, in all reality, will most likely sell far fewer copies than that of the other two. But who really cares if it sells less than those other behemoths if the game ends up being as fun as it's past games in the series.
8/14/07
Sonic the Hedgehog in Smash Brothers Brawl?
Not sure if Best Buy actually knows anything at all about a certain game they will be selling in the next few months, Super Smash Bros Brawl, but they appear to think that Sonic the Hedgehog will be making an appearance in the game. At this point he still seems like a very likely choice for a second third-party character to join the ranks (alongside Snake from Metal Gear Solid) but nothing has been confirmed. If you're a Sonic lover, looking at this promotional material from Best Buy, there could be a chance your dreams come true. Or maybe the guy who made this has no clue about gaming and thinks Sonic is a Nintendo character so he thought he'd put him on there. Who knows?
8/2/07
Grand Theft Auto Delayed Til Next Year
Oh my goodness, Rockstar Games is simply struggling right now. Today Reuters announced that the hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV will not release this year but rather sometime in the second quarter of '08. This is a total disaster considering they have already announced they are no longer releasing Manhunt 2 for any system. So my question to them is what games are they going to release this fall in order to make up for the loss of revenue this year. I seriously doubt a few Wii ports of Table Tennis and Bully are going to ease the pain.
Honestly, I think this is far worse news for PS3 and Sony fans because they don't exactly have that many huge games (Heavenly Sword could be awesome) coming this fall to replace the lack of such a huge title. Xbox 360 on the other hand has Halo 3, a total huge seller that is now in no way being combated by any other game. If only MGS 4 were coming out this year that could help lessen the blow.
8/1/07
Picross Marketing Got Me
Nintendo's (if it was even them who did it) marketing worked on me. I heard tell of a certain new Nintendo DS game that was released this week called Picross. It's a new puzzle game with similarities to Brain Age and Sudoku. A new website was made available this week to coincide with the game's release that allows you to try the game using the Wii Web Browser. Head on over to WiiPicross to play the game yourself on your computer or hit it up on your Wii. One way or another, I fell in love with the demo online and now I am heading to EB Games today to pick up the game for my 24 hours car ride to Canada next week.
The best part about this game though is you can create your own puzzles simply by drawing shapes and designs using the stylus and the game alters the image into a Picross puzzle. So if you ever need a new challenging puzzle you can always close your eyes, draw some lines on the screen (or have a friend do it), and then turn it into a puzzle. This is all done at the awesome Touch Generations price of $19.99.
6/28/07
Resident Evil 4 is Still Awesome
Let me put this simply... Resident Evil 4 is still an incredible game. I originally played this game on the Cube when it was first released and managed to beat the game 4 1/2 times. That sounds like a lot for a typical game yeah? But not for this one, the game is much different in it's design. The game dangles new weapons and modes in front of you so you're not just playing through the game another time for the sake of having fun, but for the sake of getting money to purchase newly unlocked weapons. I actually remember playing through the game for the 4th time simply because the massive magnum at the end cost a million pesetas (RE4 currency). After I unlocked that wonderful weapon I played through the game about halfway another time and understood at that point there was no one who could even touch me. How could they with a magnum that killed everything in one shot?
With the success of the Wii the developer of RE4, Capcom, decided to remap the controls to the Wiimote and re-release the game with all of the exclusive PS2-extras (about another 5-6 hours of gaming). At first I was a little skeptical to buy a game that I still owned on the Cube and had beaten 4 1/2 times before just for some new controls and a few more hours of gameplay. The price is $29.99 if you buy it now so I thought to myself, "you can hold off until the game drops down in price." Well I managed to find the game at a discounted price so I had to take advantage of the opportunity. Let me just say I am extremely glad I made that choice because this game is still awesome. The new controls make the game all the better, literally shaking enemies off of Leon (main character), aiming with the IR-sensor, and slicing my knife with a short Wiimote slash all feel just great.
The game feels so fresh, and for a game I've played as much as I have, that's saying something. Having never unlocked the PS2-extras I also now have something to aim for, something to unlock again. The graphics may be unchanged, aside from 16:9 and progressive scan modes, but with my new TV it looks better to me. I could go on and on about the greatness of this game but I will have to let you try it and see for yourself. Get this game, or borrow it from a friend, if you had any interest or have ever played the game in the past.
Still don't believe me, check out its awards:
2004 IGN Best of E3 Awards
GameCube Best Action Game
Best Graphics
Best Sound
Technological Excellence
Game of the Show
2005 CESA Game Awards
Prize of Excellence
2005 Spike TV's Video Game Awards
Best Graphics
Game of the Year
IGN Best of 2005
GameCube Best Action Game
Best Graphics Technology
Best Artistic Design
Best Original Score
Best Use of Sound
Game of the Year Runner Up
IGN Best of 2005 Readers' Choice
GameCube Best Action Game
Best Graphics Technology Overall
Game of the Year
2006 IGN
Ranked #1 on "Reader's Top 99 Games"
2005 Golden Joystick Awards
GameCube Game of the Year
Editor's Game of the Year
2005 GameSpot Best of 2005
Best Action Adventure Game
Most Improved Sequel
GameCube Game of the Year
Game of the Year 2005 (GameCube Version)
2005 GameSpot Reader's Choice
Best Action-Adventure Game
GameCube Game of the Year
Game of the Year 2005
GameSpy Best of 2005
Best GameCube Action Title
GameCube Game of the Year
2005 Edge magazine Awards
Best Game Of 2005
Telewest Shiny Awards Games Digest
Game Of The Year 2005
2005 Nintendo Power Awards
Game of the Year (Staff and Readers)
Best Graphics (Staff and Readers)
Best Storyline (Staff and Readers)
2005 X-Play
Best Action Adventure Game of 2005
Game of the Year 2005
Ranked #1 in the "Top 10 GameCube Games"
Ranked #4 in the "Top Ten Scariest Games of All Time"
Five-out-of-Five (GameCube version)
Five-out-of-Five (PlayStation 2 version)
GameFAQs 2005's Best
Best GameCube Game
Game of the Year
GameFAQs Tenth Anniversary Contest
Ranked #14 on "Best Games Ever"
2005 Game Informer
Game of the Year
2005 Metacritic
PlayStation 2 Game of the Year
GameCube Game of the Year
2005 Play Magazine
Editor's Choice Game of the Year
Best Graphics
2005 EGM Magazine
Game of the Year
2005 Games Master's Gaming Awards
Game of the Year
GameCube Game of the Year
2005 GamePro Magazine Editor's Choice
Game of the Year
Best Action-Adventure
2005 UGO.com
Game of the Year
2005 Game Revolution
Game of the Year
2005 Blender Magazine's Reader's Poll
Game of the Year
2005 NGC Magazine
Game of the Year
2005 1UP Awards
Game of the Year
Best Action Game
2005 GAME
Game of the Year
People's Choice
2005 Gamefly Q Awards Favorite
Game of the Year
GameCube Game of the Year
2005 Gamecentral's (UK)
Game of the Year
Viewers' Game of the Year (both PS2 and GameCube)
2005 "Nintendo Power Awards"
Game of the Year - GCN
Best Graphics - GCN
Best Sound / Voice Acting
Best Adventure Game
Game of the Year (Overall)
2005 Nintendo Power "NP Top 200"
Ranked #2
Gaming Target
52 Games From 2005 We'd Still Be Playing
2006 Famitsu
2005 Game of the Year (tied with Kingdom Hearts II)
2006 GameSpy
Ranked #1 on "Top 25 GameCube Games of All Time"
2006 PSM10
Runner up for "Game of the Year"
Best Graphics
2006 IGN
Ranked #3 on "Readers' Choice 2006 - The Top 100 Games Ever"
6/22/07
What Happened to Cheat Codes?
I was playing some classic games the other day and it hit me, why aren't there really "cheat codes" anymore. Everyone remembers the great days of resetting your NES after failing to achieve the infamous Konami Code in Contra. Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. So I have to ask myself, why hasn't Konami used that code in the last two generations of gaming? And for that matter, why is it so rare for games to use codes in games?
There's the argument that using cheat codes makes the game easier thus shortening the length of the game. Because of this I could see developers wanting to disallow cheat codes in their games. I can recall multiple times that I rented a game and realized I needed to return it the next day so I inputted some codes and went straight for the big guns. This allowed me to get through the game much quicker and only rent the game rather than buy it; not exactly what companies want is it? But this argument can really only hold itself together if you implement the cheat codes into the game in a lazy fashion (press Up, Down, and A at the pause menu). But if you spend some time programming, cheat codes can actually add length to your game.
Now I would be more than fine if games followed the same way of unlocking codes that Goldeneye introduced back in the Nintendo 64 days. For those of you unaware, Goldeneye challenged you to beat each level within a certain amount of time on a certain difficulty level. Not only was it a unique way to use codes in a game but it was really an early version of Xbox 360 Achievements and extended the life of the game immensely. If you accomplished the challenge, you were awarded a new cheat that could be used in the game. The more prestigious the code, the harder it was to get; oh the pain and memories of Invinciblity, Invisibility, and Unlimited Ammo. The only issue with this form of cheat code was that no other company really ever tried to mimic it. Perfect Dark was the only game that used a similar code-unlocking tactic but that was made by the same company.
So where have the codes gone? Am I not looking in the right place, or are they becoming a thing of the past like starting over at the beginning of the game when you run out of lives?
6/19/07
Manhunt 2 Ban Really Necessary? [Update 2]
Just today CVG Online alerted us that Manhunt 2, the sequel to media-frenzied Manhunt for the PS2, will not be sold in the UK. Manhunt 2 is a game published by Take-Two, the same company responsible for controversial games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Bully, and is set to release on the PS2, PSP, and Nintendo Wii. According to the article, right here, the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) refers to the game as offering "casual sadism." But the question here is does this game really need to be banned?
Let's begin this discussion by first pointing out a few of the features of Manhunt 2. The premise of this game is quite gruesome to start with, basically you are a scientist who wakes up to find himself in a loony-bin filled with crazy people caused by your failed experiments. Essentially, and there is much more to the game but this is the jist, you sneak around the environments and you kill people in unique and creatively gruesome ways. One example, you grab the testicles of said enemy and tear them off, thus, killing him. There is actually a feature that allows the player to decapitate the enemies and wear their heads as a prize. And if that's not enough, you can later throw the heads near other enemies in order to distract them. Things get even more interesting when it comes down to the way you play the game on the Wii. Rather than seeing an animation of these kills like in the PS2 and PSP versions, you actually act out the kills by way of the Wiimote.
So this leads us to the ultimate question, is it really the responsiblity of the government to ban the sale of games like this or should it be handled on a per-store basis? If a game can legally be sold in a particular country it doesn't mean that Joe's Game Shack is required to sell the game, or that Little Tommy Thompson is required to play it. In fact, it could even be argued that games of this nature could save lives. Imagine a man or woman with homicidal tendencies who gets uncontrollable urges to act out acts of violence on other humans. Got them pictured? Good. Now imagine them being able to purchase a game such as Manhunt and act out these disgusting urges in a virtual environment rather than in real life. We just saved a life. Now obviously the opposite could be argued, someone buys the game and loves it so much that it turns them crazy and they try it in real life, but that's the great thing about debate, playing both sides.
So why the ban? Do you guys agree or disagree?
[UPDATE 2]
The official ESRB rating for this game just came out and it will be rated AO (Adults Only) here in America meaning many huge retailers won't carry the game in stock. Only GTA: San Andreas was rated AO after the "hot coffee" sex scandal but it was quickly edited and rereleased with a Mature rating. Take-Two has a chance to appeal the decision or edit the game content and release that version instead. So we'll see what they choose, my guess is they will edit it and try to actually sell some games.
[UPDATE 1]
First review for this game is up: 92%. Check out the full review right here. Either the game is actually really good or the guys over at CVG are just sick and demented.
6/18/07
Prediction: GTA: San Andreas Stories on the Wii
It's that time of the week again, prediction time. Here at the Game Gym we like to be at the forefront of the gaming industry in regards to future games, even those that haven't even been announced yet. Well just recently Take-Two announced that they are planning on ramping up Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS support for the near future. So basically this news, and the fact that the Wii is soon to have a massive market-share, means that there's no other choice for Take-Two but to release a Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game on the Wii.
There are a few different options that Take-Two has here and one of them, the easiest choice, is the least likely to happen. That option is the one regarding the brand new entry in the GTA series, GTA IV. This is a game completely designed from the ground up to work on the PS3 and Xbox 360 systems and would take a serious drop in not only graphics but pretty much every other department. So basically this isn't an option. Instead, the game that makes far more sense to produce for the Wii is the next game in the GTA Stories series. The first two games in this series (Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories) were released on the PSP and then months later released on the PS2. With the somewhat similar specs between the PS2 and the Wii it's in no way impossible to release such a game on the Wii. This would be a great test for Take-Two because they could release a "new" GTA game on the Wii with minimum production cost and see how well it sells to the different Nintendo market. From there, who knows what types of GTA games we'll see.
So don't be surprised this July when you hear GTA: San Andreas Stories is going to be released on the Nintendo Wii.
Pattern Recognition VS Skill
It's official, I am absolutely, totally hooked on Ninja Gaiden. This game is so great because the level of difficulty is high but not for the typical reasons most NES titles are hard. One thing in new games these days (at least the good ones) that people take for granted is the fact that enemies don't react the exact same way with every interaction. There are slight differnces in the way enemies move even if you're doing the same actions to them. This really keeps you on your toes because you can't just pull some "one step to the left --enemy moves to the perfect spot-- then you stomp him" repetetive movements to defeat a vilain. Ninja Gaiden is not the type of game that allows you to memorize enemies movements and simply learn the pattern to beat the level. Obviously certain enemies have certain weapons and movements, but it's when they use them and how they move that makes it great. In order to defeat the number of enemies that come at you, especially in the later levels, you really have to become skilled at the game. The Knife Guys (that's what I call them) never throw the knife with the same pattern, and for that matter, neither do the Flying Ninjas With Stars (oh how I hate them). This is when you really get rewarded from a game, you know you're good at the game and not just the pattern.
One perfect example at this is the simple change between Pacman and Ms. Pacman. Here's looking at you Pinky, Blinky, Inky, and Clyde.
6/15/07
Cheating or Skilled: The Fine Line
There is a very fine line between what people consider cheating and what people consider being a skilled player taking advantage of what the game has to offer. Obviously using a “cheat device” such as an Action Replay or the infamous GameGenie is cheating but that’s not the issue here, we’re talking more about the in-game manipulation. Let me first give a few differences between cheating and taking advantage of the game’s design. There is a simple test you can run to determine if something someone is doing (or even yourself) is really cheating. Just ask yourself this simple question: “did the programmers implement this feature in the game knowing full-well that it exists or are you working outside the confines of the programmers’ intentions?” If the programmers planned for you to be able to shoot without aiming, then it IS NOT cheating. If the programmers had no intentions of allowing you to shoot without aiming and you are doing so through some special means, then it IS cheating.
How about some more specific gaming examples. I have been playing a ton of Gears of War recently so I have to use this game as my examples here, also having the voice chat is nice because I can hear other people’s opinions while they play the game. Two of the biggest complaints I here (“that’s cheap” or “quit cheating”) are in regards to Frag Tagging, sticking a grenade to someone using the grenade’s melee attack, and the use of the Lancer, close combat chainsaw. Both of these tactics are totally designed by the programmers and are not even close to the range of cheating. Considering the fact that developers demonstrated both of these tactics at various E3-type of events to promote the game is proof enough of that. Frag Tagging and Lancer usage: NOT CHEATING. There is another little tactic in Gears of War called the Rowdy Run. This is a tactic, I watched my partner do it online a few nights ago, that requires you to stand in a corner with someone next to you and you shoot at the ground while tapping the evade button. You then glitch out of the position and start running around the environment at double your normal speed. This is a technique that I guarantee was never planned or designed by the developers. Rowdy Running: CHEATING.
There are some tactics in games that are not so cut and dry though, some skills that cannot so easily be answered by asking the Programmers’ Intentions question. One very good example of this is “snaking” in Mario Kart (most notably Mario Kart DS). This is a skill that allows you to be in an almost constant state of mini-turbo. The programmers designed the game to allow you to drift around corners and gain a mini-turbo as a reward for performing the drift. “Snaking” is when a player snakes back and forth on straight-aways to obtain the mini-turbo multiple times down the road. It can be argued that this isn’t cheating simply because the game is in no way being manipulated and it is simply a skill to be learned. On the other side of the coin however is an insight into the minds of the programmers themselves. In Mario Kart DS you can unlock a mode in Time Trials that allows you to race the ghost of various programmers and attempt to beat their best times. Of the 25 some ghost racers I’ve seen, not a single programmer used the “snaking” technique. Does this mean they are unaware of this tactic and never had the “snaking” in mind or were they merely attempting to keep the tactic hidden from gamers? In the end, it really is up to your own personal interpretations, because in all honesty, if you think cheating in games is fine then that’s your interpretation.
6/12/07
Will Bioshock Actually Be Any Good?
For anyone interested my roommate decided not to keep Shadowrun for the Xbox 360 after the unimpressive reviews of the game. It's kind of a shame considering how pumped he was to get the game ever since our first play-through at E3 last year but sometimes that happens. It actually got us to talking about hype and how this game was all hyped up to be a sweet multiplayer only game and then it turned out to have more issues than fun (or so the reviews said). We also watched a few Bioshock videos last night, the new ones, and we were only mildly impressed with the actual gameplay footage. This game could very well end up being the next great game for the 360, but honestly, I was thinking it would look a little more fluid in the animation department and the aiming looked a little off for some reason. I know it's hard to tell how great the game controls just by watching videos but it does give you a decent idea. So my wonder for Bioshock is how will it turn out. Will this super-hyped game turn into the next Gears of War (exceed the hype) or the next Shadowrun (underwhelming)?
6/11/07
Capucine for the Nintendo Wii
A new game was announced today for the Nintendo Wii named Capucine. The game, developed by Game ID, is categorized as an exploration / adventure game "formulated as a tale and based on shadow and light opposition." There are some more details and screenshots that you can see here and some of them look very promising. I'm sure this won't be anywhere near as dark and gritty as Sadness, being developed by Nibris, was suppose to be but there appear to be a lot of similarities. The game will be very story driven and put the Wiimote to good use.
And for anyone interested, Capucine is a type of flower. The main character actual holds a magic capucine that can alter the environment, so that could lead to some really cool gameplay mechanics. These are the types of games that are just perfectly fit for the Wii and would never have been possible if the Wii weren't so popular. Developers are coming out of the woodworks for games like this, and I love it.
6/4/07
Twilight Princess Wii Speed Run
Welp, it's happened. Someone (Daniel Hart) has successfully completed the first official speed run of Twilight Princess for the Wii. I haven't seen the entire thing yet, seeing as how it's just over 5 hours, but the few snippets I have seen are quite impressive. This is just the sort of thing that will humble you as a gamer, this guy is good. The total play time is 5 hours and 39 minutes from start to finish which would be a decent amount of time to watch the entire thing in one sitting, but for a game that took me into the 32 hours zone to complete really is saying something.
So if you are interested, or just want some helpfult tips on how to beat a certain section of the game, check out the video for yourself at Speed Demo Archive.
6/1/07
Super Smash Bros Wii Update
Smash Bros Site has been updated again and this time there are two things of interest. First of all there is a new battle stage announced located in the great Delfino Plaza (Super Mario Sunshine) and a brand new weapon called the Cracker Launcher (no clue where this is from).
The Super Mario Sunshine inspired level is a rotating stage that revolves are various locales from the Isle of Delfino. Depending on the speed of the rotation I think I will like this level but I have never been a huge fan of the levels that force you to concentrate more on staying on the level than fighting other players, but we'll see later this year. The Cracker Launcher is a weapon that shoots fireworks that can be aimed for shorter or longer shots. And with the news from a few days ago from the site that you can now be fully mobile while shooting projectile weapons this could be quite a deadly attack.
5/31/07
Shadowrun for 360: To Open or Not To Open
That really is the question here. I just recently received Shadowrun and my roommate and I cannot decide if we want to open it or not. It was he who bought it so I don't want to go open it up and play it but then again I am wondering why he bought it. Well we both played it at E3 last year and it was a pretty fun time, difficult to get the hang of it with all the races and weapons and whatnot, but fun nonetheless. He has been extremely excited for this game to come out and then he comes home with it and he seems undecided. No where online has reviews for this game and even the boards are very quiet about it. So what should we do? Is there anyone out there that has played this game and can give me some reason for him to open it?