The Week in Review: Potpourri & GTA 4

Oh the tribulations of a recreational games blogger: the writer's block, the lack of monetary incentive, no VIP status, sleep deprivation and let's not forget the time-consuming nuisance of playing some great games. There isn't any one reason the blog's been quiet for so long. Let's just say the urge to blog can strike as easily and suddenly as the urge not to.

Take right now for instance. We've been blessed in our neck of the woods with a sustained 10 minutes of sunshine and only now have I suddenly felt the need to sit down and rattle out some thoughts on gaming. In particular, I wanted to do a quick recap of what has happened in the last week of the Xbox 360.

Put down the sunscreen and read my texts after the jump...

GTA 4 trailer #2
I'll admit to watching the latest trailer, titled "Looking for that Special Someone", about four times on my computer. Then I grabbed it off the Marketplace and watched it another four or five times. I even gave the French sub-titled version a spin. Reactions on the Internet are not unanimously glowing, much to my surprise. Me, I can't help but get goosebumps every time I watch it. Rockstar has really been honing their cinematic chops and it shows by how well this latest video emulates the feel of a movie trailer.

Where the first teaser trailer focused on the environment of Liberty City slash New York, the second one gives us a heady montage of plot points and cutscenes, with much screen time devoted to our gritty protagonist, Niko. The graphics, voice acting and loopy soundtrack are all superb and makes me believe GTA 4 may have the strongest narrative and characterizations yet in the series. Sure, everything is quite ambiguous at the moment, especially when trying to discern what is actually in-game graphics or a pre-rendered cinematics. In hindsight, I'm almost disappointed they didn't show us some more solid gameplay footage. The final product is only 3.5 months away so there must be a mountain of goodies they are (shrewdly) holding back on.

All the Freebies
Xbox Live Marketplace has been positively spammed with delightful, free content this week. A complimentary theme and picture pack accompanied the GTA 4 trailer and both are quite nice. In honour of Canada Day, a Canadian theme and picture pack was released in the spirit of the Xbox web comic, 360 Prophecy. Those too are delightful in both price and quality.

But stop the presses! Two established Xbox shooters got the free DLC treatment as well. Two new game modes were released for FEAR and Rainbow Six: Vegas got a slew of new maps in the form of the Black Pack. Initially priced at 800 MS points, the Black Pack was temporarily pulled from the Marketplace, then reposted with news from Major Nelson that it was now a free download, then unceremoniously pulled again. A wee bit of confusion right now, as some players have managed to snag the new maps while others like myself have yet to see anything listed on XBL about any free Black Packs. But I wait, patiently.

Another surprising move, starting on July 6th, the Rainbow Six: Vegas Red Pack will become a free download, causing gamers the world over to rejoice, except for the early adopters -- also known as Devoted Fans -- who dutifully spent their points already in the 2 months since the release of the Red Pack.

Carcassonne
I tried describing this digital translation of the German board game to a friend of mine over private chat and resorted to my cliched mash-up of older games. "It's like Rampart crossed with Pipes and Catan". It's hard to be articulate when you're gaming and talking at the same time.

I was taken aback by how charming and deep this game is. The short, stingy demo does a good enough job of teaching you the basics and a taste for the simple, strategic gameplay. I was hooked after my first game (a slight fallacy, since the demo doesn't even allow you to complete a full 71-turn game) and felt compelled to buy the unlocked version. When you consider I passed on many excellent XBLA titles of late, including Prince of Persia, Catan and Band of Bugs, that should count as fairly high praise for Carcassonne.

Overlord and The Darkness
Two well-reviewed game releases in one week equals gaming goodness for the Xbox masses. Interesting to note that while both games are in completely different genres, they both feature evil minions to do your nefarious biddings. One of these games just happens to be a lot more grotesque and brtually violent than the other!