Wading through the pile pt. 2

Alright so a little later than I originally foretold, but better late than never the old adage goes. I took some time to delve into Fable 2 this week and, while I haven't really been able to get super deep into it (I'll tell you why shortly), I have come away with a decent impression about the game. First and foremost the issues with the game being jumpy during disk reads (the same with the original fable) are still present in the second installment. I was really hoping that they would have made a way for the "hero" to be able to only rely on one tree skill, strength, or will to get through the game. I tried my hand at a magic user and I have to say that the new spell system is unwieldy at best and unusable in a lot of the combat situations I have encountered. On top of this the player has to delve into the strength tree in order to get their health up otherwise you run around with the constant threat that a wayward leaf may slam your pitiful health pool down to zero. However the game play is as fun as the first one was and the interesting story and side quests/mini games make up for the failings that I previously mentioned. I hope to finish this title soon, but lately some other things have kept me busy.

I recently traded in my original launch 360 for the new, and very much improved, resident evil limited edition console. As the box says it comes with a copy of RE5 and this is the reason why I can't get anything else done lately. The game is simply stunning and the game play is compelling. I will post more on how the story works out later, but from a technical standpoint, the game is executed very well. I hope also to try out the co-op mode with a friend later this week so I will let you all know how that goes.

In the PC arena I picked up Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment. This "micro expansion" basically adds two new defensive features to the game: star bases and space mines. The star bases are tactical gems unto themselves and finally gives players an ability to counter the devastating effects of the TEC Novalith Cannon. The expansion only costs $10, but is it worth the money in this ramshackle economy we have to deal with? In my case I looked at it as, I have spent $10 on worse so I say that it was a good purchase for the money.