The “Break it Down” Blog

Completed BioShock, Thoughts on the Sequel

Update #1: Reviews are trickling in for BioShock 2 and IGN’s in particular specifically address the much better story telling experience and a lot of my gripes mentioned below. Hurrah!
I recently got re-interested in the BioShock universe when I decided to read up a bit more about the world of Rapture and the characters in [...]

Mass Effect 2 End-Game Tip: Do all the Upgrade Research to Keep Crew Alive

*** SPOILER *** Tips on Mass Effect 2 gameplay after the jump if you are interested.

Just Cause 2 – Avalanche is Tickling My Balls

What’s the surest way to get me to blog about something? Probably asking politely, but the second-surest way is to take random ideas I have in my head about things I like, and then somehow telepathically translate them into a beautiful looking video game that makes me want to leap off my roof and grapple [...]

Assassin’s Creed II (Xbox 360) Review

Summary [8.5 out of 10]
Sequel to the 2007 original, Assassin’s Creed II again follows Desmond Miles’s adventures in the mind bending Animus as he escapes the evil Abstergo Industries and once again plunges into his genetic memory. Instead of heading to the Holy Land of 1149,  Desmond jaunts to Italy during the Renaissance taking control [...]

BioShock Story – Taking a Second Look – SPOILERS

NOTE: This post is intended for anyone that ignored BioShock or played it (like me) and then gave up half way through and stopped playing because you just didn’t care about the characters or what was happening.
SPOILERS: This article does contain spoilers down in the last few sections, it is clearly marked. If you don’t want [...]

NVIDIA GeForce 300 – Leaked Videos

Some leaked videos of the upcoming DX 11 compatible part from NVIDIA, the GeForce 300, hit the web today and look decently impressive. For example, instead of 50 FPS in what looks like Crysis, they are getting 70 FPS. Not life-changing as a lot of us had hoped, but I don’t actually remember 2x performance [...]

Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days Screenshots

At first glance I thought these screenshots were grabbed via cam, but upon further glancing at some of the other screenshots they look flat-out grainy, almost like they were grabbed from the Wii:

Click to see the full version of that screenshot and look at Kane’s beard, it’s not fuzzy it’s just really detail-less and spotty.
Details
The [...]

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) Review

Summary [9.8 out of 10]
The long awaited sequel to (in my estimation) the best Playstation 3 game of all time, Uncharted 2 picks up with Nathan Drake about a year after the events of the first game and finds him embroiled in a search for Marco Polo’s lost treasure. The story takes you across the [...]

Dragon Age: Origins (Xbox 360) Review

Summary [9.5 out of 10]
Heading back to their roots, BioWare delivers a deep action RPG in the rich tradition of Baldur’s Gate II and Neverwinter Nights. This sprawling fantasy epic offers up a role-playing cornucopia of options and interactions that will keep you coming back again and again. With a robust character creator and several [...]

Sony PS3 Will Deliver 3D Experience After All

We speculated back in August that the stars were starting to align for Sony around a Motion-controlled/3D future for the PS3. Our confidence in this fact centered around the recent motion-controlled demonstration that Sony gave for the PS3 at E3. Combined with the never-used EyeToy camera, what Sony was showing off looked comparable, if not [...]

How to Fix the Xbox 360 “MTU Too Low” Problem with the Qwest Actiontec Q1000 DSL Modem

NOTE: If you are coming to this article after Googling the subject in frustration, here’s the quick-fix for you: Upgrade the modem’s firmware to QAQ01-31.00L.33 or later and you should be fine.
Qwest has been rolling their new high-speed fiber-optic DSL service out throughout Denver and Arizona for the last year or so (it’s not fiber-to-the-house, [...]

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (Xbox 360) Review

Summary [5.5 out of 10]
A sequel to the 2006 original, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 offers up a hybrid Secret War/Civil War storyline and the same four character, top down beat-em-up action found in the first game and the X-men Legends titles before it. Vicarious Visions left the basic game play alone and streamlined the interface [...]