I’m a big fan of racing games. I enjoy the speed, the pursuit, and the cornering. Arcade-style is my preference. Games like Need For Speed: Most Wanted epitomize what I’ve come to expect from a solid racing game. Carbon is a mediocre (but playable and enjoyable) follow-up. It just wasn’t what it could have been.

Tonight I actually spent hours with a game I wasn’t sold on in a 30 minute test play.

So when jumping into Burnout: Paradise, the first thing I could tell was: the racing stinks. Seriously, the racing aspect of this game is horrible. I feel like the camera is too low to allow serious racing without looking at the mini-map every 5 seconds and hoping that you don’t miss your turn. Those little flashing, beeping road signs don’t help much at 100mph (or whatever speed you may be doing – where is that speedometer, anyways?).

As a racing game, I think it’s terrible. It simply pales in comparison to nearly any alternative.

Now, as a pursuit style game, it’s not so bad. Showtime is okay, Marked Man is good, but the most fun I’ve had so far was Road Rage: the mode where you are chasing and trying to take out rival cars. It can get pretty hectic, but you’ve got to endure all the other facets to get to this one, and while the others aren’t all terrible, it’s a lot to ask of someone that’s more of an arcade racer than a crasher.

Overall, it’s an okay game – I’ve been playing my nephew’s copy. While I’m not sold on the content, I am sold on the developer. Criterion has continued to support the game with free updates, has another one due this week (adding custom sound-tracks, 1080i support, and more), trophy support in the near future (retroactive, at that), and has announced motorcycles as well as day / night cycle for the free fall update. They’ve got another update planned after that, as well, and time will only tell what that will bring.

Considering I can snag this game used for under $30 (maybe less if i look hard enough), I’ll probably be buying it over the next couple months. I’ll probably get to it when my backlog is less… well, backlogged.

After cooking dinner and watching my niece play Animal Crossing on the GameCube for an hour and a half, I wasn’t really in the mood to play Guitar Hero 3. I just felt like some hack ‘n slash would be better for me.

That’s just one of the many reasons I picked up Heavenly Sword when I found it for $20.

I’ve played it through once before, and find myself picking it up for some good ol’ sword swinging, arrow shooting, cannon blasting action. And it doesn’t slack in that department, not for me.

I could go into game analysis, plot overview, control pros and cons, but I won’t. The reviews have been out for a long time, and personally, I partially agree with them. But I like the plot, the controls, and the button mashing. It’s not Ninja Gaiden: Sigma, and I’m thankful for that.

It is, however, a great way to get out a little angst, and stress relief is sometimes all I’m looking for.