SWTOR was a welcome break for me. To be honest, I’ve been getting a little burned out on World of Warcraft and until Mists of Pandaria comes out this was a great change  up. The problem is, after a few weeks of playing, it’s basically World of Warcraft with a Star Wars theme. Is that a bad thing though? I don’t think so. There is a reason game developers mimic Blizzard’s work of art. It works! Why reinvent the wheel? Don’t get me wrong, there are some differences and even some improvements, but the best part about it is that it was really easy to jump into and start playing right away since I was already so comfortable with Wow.

From the very beginning of the game after you create your character you will start by following the same standard quest objectives that many other MMO’s have, however, the big difference you will see is all of the storytelling that will happen during your questing. SWTOR doesn’t have your quick little click the NPC, read his long wall of text and click accept. Instead each quest you get and turn in is typically followed up with some voice acted interaction between you and the NPC. It can really involve you in the story, but even I have to admit some of it is rather long and the side missions that aren’t part of your main story line can be a little less than interesting. Luckily, you can easily hit the space bar during dialog to skip the acting and just read the last lines to get the important part of the quest information.

The quests themselves are your standard “go kill this guy” or “go get me ten of these”, etc. type of missions. Nothing special to report on that aspect of the game.

The great part about the questing, however, is that you get to respond to many of the NPC’s dialogs and quest objectives. You can make decisions to be pleasant and helpful (light side) or you can choose to threaten people and even murder in some cases (dark side). The choice is completely up to you, but keep in mind that your alignment can affect certain things within the game such as how your companions feel about you.

Speaking of companions, I have really enjoyed the ability to have one at my side during flashpoints and even quest missions. Companions are obtained through certain quest lines and are great additions to your arsenal of whoop ass. Companions have their own set of abilities just like you do and you will gear them out as well, so don’t throw away or sell that gear just because you can’t use it yourself.

The combat is decent and works like most MMO’s with you selecting a target to attack and then mashing buttons to attack it. The major difference I see between SWTOR and other MMO’s however is there is no autoattack. That’s right children, every attack you make is purposeful and done with a manual push of the button that matches the attack you want to use. This has been a sort of love-hate way to play for me. I love the fact that it adds a bit more of a challenge in the combat, but on the flip side, it forces you to fill every single moment with a button push, and MANY of the same basic attack over and over again between your major attack rotation. It can get a little tedious and make you wish that basic attack was just an autoattack.

And how about the whole MMO aspect? Well to be honest, this game could have been a single player RPG and aside from the fun guild chat that I have joined in on, I don’t think I would have miss anything. You can complete many of the objectives like heroic areas with your companions or just choose not to do them with no real consequence. The only other conversation’s I’ve had with anyone outside of my guild has been along the lines of “Are you a real life female?” or “Tits or GTFO”. I don’t get a lot of “MMO” enjoyment from it and paying $15 a month doesn’t seem right when it could have just been a great single player game that stored all my data locally rather than on a server.

What about bugs? Unfortunately, yes they are there. Bugs usually creep out of new games for weeks, if not months, until the developer decides to release a patch to address them. Luckily, most of the ones I found were more or less related to the way the game looks rather than how it plays. For example, I kept running across these area where if your camera angle was shifted you would see this sky high large wall of digital “junk” just kind of floating there. I’ve also found many times that I would cast a ranged spell and even after stopping and moving, the particle effect would continue casting from where I was just standing. There has also been a lot of “stuck” issues even after using the unstuck command.

What’s the biggest complaint I have for this game? I would love for the UI to be more customizable. I’m really hoping that either I just haven’t found it or that eventually they will open it up for Addon’s from Curse perhaps, but right now you can’t even dock your bars where you want. As a gamer, that is a HUGE annoyance to me. I find it hard to believe that people in the beta didn’t bring this up…or were they just ignored? I’d also like to know how I am comparing to others (this is an MMO after all). Why no meter to show DPS ratings to see who is putting in their work?

There are still many aspects of the game I haven’t discussed yet, such as crafting and PVP, but I will definitely get around to it. All in all, I think SWTOR is a great game and will only improve with time. There are lots of areas to explore as you level up and the storyline is very interactive. It’s definitely a game I would recommend any RPG players to try out!

LOTR is your standard run of the mill hack ‘n’ slash with talent trees, leveling up and tons of loot. The combat itself however, is where I had the most fun. I’m not saying it’s a highly advanced system, but what do you expect from a hack ‘n’ slash? Mainly your goal in combat (aside from killing the baddies) is to land critical hits (the big yellow arrow of their head) and severe limbs (and yes this game was rated M).

Depending on which character you choose to play as will determine what your special abilities are as well. Your choices are Eradan, the human ranger, Farin a stout Dwarven warrior and the lovely Andriel, the Elven mage. I went with Andriel of course because I typically choose casters in games I plan to play for a while. Of course, I am always chided with “You can’t try to be a shadow priest in everything you play”, but anyway (yes I can!). Unfortunately, playing solo with these guys as your side kicks or even playing co-op with just one as a side kick, I found to be very useless. My fiancé and I played some couch co-op and most of my time was spent reviving Farin. He was pretty much fodder for us to keep the big mobs busy while we picked them off, but he always had highest death count at the end. After 2 days of playing we lovingly started referring to him as “Fartin”.

While the brutality of flying severed limbs and bloody drippings on the ground was nice, it did get very repetitive…very fast. In fact, by the end of the first major mission, you pretty much have seen everything you’ll get to do as far as combat is concerned. In fact, most of the game is just hack ‘n’ slash then conversation in a town…then rinse and repeat. There really wasn’t a lot of substance in the combat.

I did mention couch co-op didn’t I? This was a lot of fun for us to play together on our Xbox 360. My fiancé played as Eradan and with me as Andriel, we plowed through the first through missions together. I chose to go down the path of the healer so that we could stay alive a bit longer and his damage output was pure awesome. The part we enjoyed the most was at the end of certain mission sections the game would display your competitive stats. It was fun to compare things like number of limbs severed, damage amount taken, most valued item found, number of breakables broken, etc.

The only complaints we had on couch co-op mode that we didn’t see in solo player mode was the glitching of the text on the split screen. If you aren’t sure what I mean let me explain. When you walk to an area that lets you advance to a new area it shows a message like ‘Andriel is waiting for other party members” or “Eradan is in inventory” or other messages. These messages stayed on our screen throughout gameplay, and wouldn’t disappear after the task was finished. They would only be replaced by new text messages when something else would happen.

Overall, War in the North isn’t a bad game, it’s a great way to spend a weekend with your guy curled up on the couch, but it’s not something that I think any hard core gamer would feel is a “must have”. If they left the game play and story as is, but fixed the glitches and other things that are broken, it would be an excellent game to play on the days when your “must have” games haven’t been released yet. Will we play again? Yes! Even though I have complaints it really was a lot of fun.

Personally, I’ve watched the trailers for it and I for one am really looking forward to kicking some ass in his shoes! By the way, anyone happen to find a more accurate release date than “sometime in 2012″?

If you aren’t sure what Dungeon Defenders is, just imagine being put into a room with the sole goal of keep the baddies away from the goodie (the eternia crystal). You have your choice when you first start the game to play as a warrior, monk, mage or ranger. Since I play a hunter in WoW, you can imagine which class I chose. My partner in crime on the other hand went mage. Each class has their own special abilities and gain more as your levels increase. My ranger for example was given some traps to explode things with or gas them to death…and who doesn’t like to watch a chick blow shit up? Other classes get barriers, turrets and other gadgets to use at their disposal.

The game sends droves of mobs at you in waves that increase in number and difficulty with each wave and it’s your job to use your special abilities to keep them at bay along with your friends. Notice I said friends. While you can play alone, you really shouldn’t. Some of the arenas can be quite difficult to complete on your own and the room becomes so completely chaotic that it just overwhelms yo. Besides hanging out at the tavern after a battle just isn’t fun alone, now is it?

The local co-op is actually one of the main reasons we picked it up and it definitely does not fail to satisfy in that department. It kept my man and I busy for hours! But if you don’t have someone local to play with or want a full group of 4 you can join random multi-player matches.

Any complaints? Not much really. The only thing I wish it did offer up was some slight changes to the way you look when you wear new gear. No matter what cap you throw on your head or what chest piece you might be wearing, your character never changes the way it looks. Not a big deal I suppose, but I guess I’ve just gotten spoiled with other RPG games like WoW that changes with every gear slot. But eh, nothing major to report! For 1200 Microsoft points we are getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. You can grab it on the Marketplace if you’re online or get it on their site.

To combat this battle of boredom, Josh and I headed out to get a fix for our addiction. I’ve come to realize something about my gamer fiancé…he’s a brat. Not just a brat, but a VERY SPOILED brat! As I trailed my eyes along the shelves of Xbox games available at my neighborhood Gamestop, every time I came across something that might fit the bill for the night I just heard a whole lot of “I already have that” piercing my ears. Seriously? What game doesn’t he have? Just hang some sugar cubes around my neck and call me sugar momma! But I digress!

Even through all of this realization, it still doesn’t fix the issue that I couldn’t find a game I really wanted to play. David, my Gamestop know-it-all friend and infamous podcaster from BossBattlePodcast.com, suggested a few things, but then in the end decided I should just go home and play Josh’s copy of Oblivion. Skyrim is coming out soon so this actually sat well with me. It would get me in the mood for upcoming release and give me something to do for the night. I love it when a plan comes together!

Then again, maybe the plan didn’t come together so well. Instead of popping in Oblivion I was somehow talked into playing Mass Effect. Not the latest and greatest version either, just the plain old Mass Effect 1. Are you shocked? Well if not, you should be…or you don’t know me. I RARELY play shooters. I’m teribad at them. The ones I excel in are the ones I can just sort of spray and pray. Things like Left for Dead or Borderlands or anything I am playing multi-player in and can hopefully be carried by someone else who is good at shooters. Mass Effect has been a part of my household for years, however, so I know it well. But I’ve never tried the original Mass Effect on my own. I gotta say, after one night of gameplay, it wasn’t all that bad. And as surprising as it may be, I will be heading back in tonight to unravel more of the story.

I won’t even bother getting into my thoughts on the game play or graphics or anything like that. It’s an old game…and that means old news, but to be honest I was dreading playing the game before I even started it. Why? Because it’s a shooter and that’s the mentality I have for this shit. How fair is that? As I played, I kept asking myself “Why Don’t I play shooters?” and I think I have a list. Oh ya baby, a top 5 list!

1. I know nothing about weapons. I hear guys who play shooters say they are switching to their assault rifle, sniper rifle, submachine gun, light machine gun, etc. Is it fair to assume that I should know the difference between an assault rifle and a sniper rifle? What they look like or when I should use one over the other? I have one thing to say if you think I should…kiss my ass!
2. I spiral aim. Do you know what that is? It’s when a target comes into view and I try to aim for him, but all I end up doing is creating this sort of spiral circle to hone in on his head. Yes, I eventually get there, but for some reason I just can’t move my target immediately to a location without the “spiral”.
3. “Taking cover” behind objects doesn’t always work. I’ve seen it in multi-player and in RPG’s. A lot of times even if you hide behind a rock or a wall, people or NPC’s can shoot right through them! At least with something like a hack and slash I can block with a shield or something, but shooters just seem very finicky about cover options.
4. Gaining experience or unlocking weapons, maps or other objects based on multiplayer gameplay is just a bad idea for people like me. I feel like my only option is to play the campaign in these games (when it’s available) because taking the multi-player path would mean it would take me twice a lifetime to gain a fucking level.
5. Multi-player shooters are full of cheaters. No matter how bad I am, I do not cheat in games. I would rather come in last place and take more verbal assaults from the asshats that play and are good, than to hack my xbox or use mods to cheat. These automatic targeting or radars that let you see where people are, I’m sorry, but why am I going to pay $60 for a game, just to cheat? IMO…if you do that…you suck worse than I do!

Having said all that, I need help, maybe a 12 step program or something? I WANT to like shooters. There are so many great ones out there and I know I don’t give them a fair chance. Come on people, what can I do to fall in love with shooters like some of you are? What can I do to learn more about the mechanics of shooters? What can I do to…not suck?

For me personally, the statue is going to be my favorite part. I think it’s beautiful and I can’t wait to set it out next to our Halo: Reach collector’s edition statue. What can I say, I’m a girl, I love my toys! Now…if only it were multi-player so I could pester the shit out Josh, I’d be happy as shit.

I wanted to jump on this last week but didn’t get a chance so I’m a little late on the ball, but really Blizzard…Pandas? Ugh!

Ok well, I’m sure you can see my view on the next race choice coming up so let’s just move on shall we?

New Talent System – We aren’t 100% sure how this system will work but I have to admit by the looks of it, is it me or does it feel exactly like the opposite of what they claim they are trying to get away from? They don’t want cookie cutter builds anymore, but then only give 6 talent points? I can appreciate the simplification of how it works, but I don’t know guys, it just feels like they took a lot of choices away from me. But I guess I won’t know for sure until I get into the Beta and try it out for myself. So I will withhold to much of an opinion on it until I see it.

Pokewow? – Ok, I know we can all make fun and say it’s the WoW version of Pokemon, but seriously, this new pet battle system I am totally excited about. It just always seems that after a new xpac comes out, we level, grind heroics, grind raids, and then…and then…and then…FUCK what do we do now? This is going to be my play time! I am hard core collecting now so I am ready when it hits! Who’s gonna duel my Murcablo?

Level to 90 – Nothing out of the ordinary here. Another xpac, another 5 levels! All I have to say is…can you imagine how much HP our tanks are going to have after this on? Holy shit! Talk about a meat shield!

Pandas and Monks  – Ok, I guess I can’t really just skip past them…or can I? Street fighter ninja style animations put onto a giant panda, no auto attack and most of them looking fairly similar. Bleh! However, don’t be too down about it because you can still be a ninja without being a panda!

New zone – No matter how much I hate the idea of running a panda as a toon, the new zone of Pandaria is absolutely gorgeous! The detail they put into it, even the music, is just stunning. I’m really looking forward to jumping into this zone!

PVE Scenarios – Now this…I’m excited about! For those of us who may not have the mad skills for world PVP, arenas or even PVP Battlegrounds, these new PVE Style battlegrounds are going to be perfect! Just like in PVP Battlegrounds, you will have objectives to complete such as capturing a tower or killing a certain number of enemies but everything is done with NPC’s instead of other players. I guess you could look at these like they are similar to dungeons, except you don’t have to specify a role when you queue up in the “dungeon finder” or whatever they decide to call it. You may actually enter a dungeon with no tank or healer and still down the final boss!

Overall, I’m sure the next xpac will be new and exciting just like all the past xpac’s but is it just me or does it also convey a very “cute” feeling about wow? I’m definitely going to be playing it, so don’t worry I’m not throwing the whole “I’m quitting wow” pitty party, but I’m really hoping that maybe it’s just all been explained wrong and I will be in for a real shock and Mists of Pandaria will end up being something incredibly epic!

What’s been on our screen for the last month? Lots and lots of guns! Lots of explosions, cussing through the headset at people we will never meet and honing in our sniping prowess. That’s right, lots of Battlefield 3 multiplayer matches have been echoing through our household.

Now I have to admit, I am not a fan of shooters really. Not to play them anyway. Mostly because I have absolutely no coordination for them. For some reason I just can’t seem to get my thumb to talk to my trigger finger quick enough to actually kill someone before they kill me. But I absolutely love to watch them. It’s like watching a high action war movie. So this time around, my fabulous husband-to-be has been enlightening me on the all of the fine aspects of Battlefield 3. So keep in mind these views are simply from observation and the words of my dearly beloved. We are also talking strictly multi-player matches here because let’s face it…the best part of playing shooters is DESTROYING the self-confidence of other players…and the occasional shit talking that absolutely must happen to thoroughly enjoy the game.

First, if you haven’t seen any of the game play check this video out:

Are you in awe yet? I was! The graphics are absolutely stunning! Even if you aren’t into shooters, you have to appreciate the artwork in this game. We play it on the Xbox and it’s, well, beautiful! Oh, but one minor side not on graphics, you do not want to play this without installing the texture pack that it comes with. It’s about 1.5gigs worth of data, but in my opinion completely necessary to really enjoy it.

The multiplayer matches are…how can I say? KICK ASS! The maps are really detailed and fun to roam around in. I also like the fact that it’s not just a game of “run around and machine gun everyone to death”. There are tanks, helicopters, tactics, classes and tons more making this a shooter you actually have to have some skill in to be successful in.

The one issue we keep seeing pop up over and over again while playing Battlefield 3 is the constant server kicks. I’m not quite sure if this is a bandwidth issue, server overload or whatever reason is causing it but playing 90% of a match, racking up the points only to get kicked off the server and lose everything you just worked for, kind of pisses you off!

So if you haven’t already done so, grab a copy of Battlefield 3 and give it a try. I think you will really enjoy it! As for me, I’ll be trying the co-op campaign…just as soon as I can get him to give up some multiplayer time for me.

But what about things that are typed? Is it really fair to censor that since the crimes committed in voice are far worse? Even worse than censorship, how about actually being banned from Xbox for something you typed? Is it really the responsibility of the players to monitor what they put in their profile? Is there no responsibility anymore on the side of the parent letting their kids view this stuff? And even more-so…do we really think kids have NEVER heard anything we might type? Come on! My 13 year old son said the “f” word the other day while playing Call of Duty (which he promptly had his mouth washed out for), but seriously, I know he didn’t hear it from me, it’s everywhere! And…I didn’t see him getting banned from Xbox for saying it either.

Imagine our surprise when my boyfriend signed onto his Xbox account only to find he had been banned for a full 24 hours (which is like death to him) for his profile edit which contained a taboo word. It was the longest 24 hours of our lives, and when it finally came back up his profile had been updated with “code of conduct” in every field. The punishment maybe have been adequate for the crime he committed, but seriously Microsoft…get off your high horse, cussing, trash talking, calling names, is never going to go away.

Admit it, there is nothing more thrilling than stomping the shit out of some asshat in a match and then hopping on the headset to gloat and tell him how fail he is! Or even better, watch them pout as they quit the match early to keep you from obtaining that “win”. But that doesn’t stop you does it? You still gloat. In fact, that only makes it worse. Now you get to call him a sore lose and a pussy for quitting! And yes, we all love to talk smack in our profiles as well or gloat about the awesomeness of ourselves.

So to Microsoft…and to you loser players who report others for “offensive language” shut your mouths, you know you talk shit when the time comes! You know you cuss, scream, and call names to all of those you pound so why fight it? And to those brave souls who shit sling both verbally and textually…Shit ya!

I’ve never played alliance before, even at level 63, I still haven’t decided if I am a fan of alliance. But regardless of faction, I am LOVING my worgen!

The starting area for the Worgen, Gilneas, was a really well designed playing area. The city area you begin in was designed in a sort of Victorian gothic theme, which reminded me a lot of the old werewolf movies. In my opinion, it is one of the most beautifully designed areas in World of Warcraft. The downside is that it is a complete waste of the talents from the Blizzard team. Why? Because it is ONLY used during your starting levels.  Once you leave the area and try to come back, Gilneas is nothing more than a shell of a city with gorgeous designs but no interaction. There are no NPC’s present, no quests, and no other players hanging around. It’s just a wasteland that nobody will come back to after they exit the area. Seems like a major waste!

The storyline you follow in the starter zone was also another well thought out aspect of the worgen. You start off alongside Prince Liam Greymane while Gilneas us under attack by the worgen, a horrible beast! In your battle to fight them off, you complete several quests which progress you through the city, helping others along the way. I don’t want to spoil how it happens, but eventually you are turned into a worgen yourself. This is where the fun really starts and where you will also begin exploring the rest of the zone.

As new races are released, you can expect a grind of reputation to get the racial mount. Goblin’s received their little trike, but worgen on the other hand, did not get a racial mount. Instead, once your fuzzy critter hits level 40 you receive the “Running Wild” ability which turns you into your own mount as you run around on all fours. While I do enjoy seeing my worgen sprinting across the snow in Alterac Valley, I must admit I am slightly disappointed that there was no extra mount that everyone has the option to try and get.

What’s my favorite part of playing a worgen? Glad you asked! It’s the PVP baby! As a worgen, you are given some really great racial abilities that are HUGE helpers in PVP including Darkflight, which increases your movement speed by 40% for 10 seconds, Viciousness, which increases your critical strike chance by 1%, Aberration, which gives more resistance to nature and shadow damage and of course running wild. I’m not sure these are great for the PVE aspect of World of Warcraft, but in battlegrounds, Worgen are stomping all over the place! I don’t remember 2 shotting so many people on any other race.

If you haven’t rolled yourself up a worgen, I highly suggest giving it a try. Blizzard did a phenomenal job with this race and I think you will have a lot of fun with it!