When it comes to UFC Undisputed 2009, there’s only one question you have to ask yourself:  ”Do I like kicking people in the head?” If you answered yes, then you should probably take a look at this game.  Among other things, Undisputed is one of the best head-kicking simulators I’ve ever played.  3D fighting games will usually struggle to convey the brutality of what happens when one man hits another, but here every blow feels solid and devestating. Whether it’s a rising knee, an arching kick, or a fierce elbow to the face, you’ll feel the impact of every strike you give or take.  The impact of an uppercut will knock more teeth out than Frank Lester from TUF.


Undisputed’s success in mimicking the fighters versatility and is arguably its greatest strength. Whether you’re using one of the 80 something stars or an in-depth create a character, you’ll ultimately have to learn how to fight in several different stances and situations.  Some are experts in boxing, kickboxing, or Muay Thai.  Others are versed on grappling, wrestling, Judo and BJJ.  Most gamers will find the stand-up styles a little bit easier to pick up since their controls closely resemble most boxing games on the market.  Most moves will combo together pretty easily, but it requires smart timing and a range of tactics to slip past your opponent’s guard.


But above all else, the sheer joy of violence makes Undisputed so much fun. You might knock out your opponent in 30 seconds, or you may find yourself drawn into an epic five round struggle on the ground. You’re never really safe, and you don’t even have a stamina bar on the screen to let you know just how beaten up you are.  There’s a certain purity to the clutter free screen, allowing you to focus on more important things like the bruises, bleeding cuts, swelling eyes, and limping legs that make this game so realistic.  When you pin someone down and knock them out, you can carry on punching your unconscious opponent until the referee drags you away. It’s nasty and you’ll love it.  Undisputed is deeply engaging and in short, is as much a bruising powerhouse as Brock Lesnar.

Not too long ago, a little game entitled Grand Theft Auto IV just barely made headlines enough for it to creep its way up the ladder to being one of the most successful video games to ever grace this generations presence! Too bad half of you out there never even played the story-line because blowing up 16 cars on a bridge at once with a rocket launcher and then watching all the mutilated bodies fly through the air and splat on an office building half a mile away was just too much fun. Disgusting. You know who you are. Well, it appears that the folks at Rockstar are making it worth your while to replay your GTA. GTA IV: The Lost & Damned introduces a brand new story in the world of Liberty City. Liberty City as you well know is a pretty damn big place. You don’t have to be a genius to know that Niko isn’t the only person in town with a story to tell. Many of you will remember biker, Johnny Klebitz, from the main storyline of GTA IV. He fought alongside Niko for a while before betraying him. Yeah, that Johnny. Now his story will be told through an epic-sized download exclusive to the Xbox 360. PS3 owners are just going to have to wait. After downloading TL&D, players have the option of freely switching between both games. Save, load, good to go. Although set in the same universe at the same time, each game is its own unique, distinct experience. Game Informer was lucky enough to land a sneak peek (as usual) at this sure to be masterpiece. Right off the bat, one of the noticeable things about the new DLC was the improvements made to the Rage engine. While GTA IV looks great, Rockstar has applied various tweaks and upgrades to the engine alongside a new cinematic filter and revisited HUD visuals to really set the proper mood for the game. Johnny is in a biker gang after all. Things are a bit grittier, a bit tougher. The text in the menus is distressed, and even little touches like enemy health bars in the target reticule have been adjusted, taking on a look not unlike a camera shutter (or rifle barrel). Our demo started off in front of the Lost clubhouse (the exterior of which can already be seen in GTA IV), where Johnny and the gang hang out and raise hell. This is just one of many safe places for Johnny to hang out and play new minigames like arm wrestling and hi/lo cards. We found out that Johnny is just the acting president of the Lost and the real man in charge Billy has just been released from prison. But while he was locked away, Johnny had been forming alliances with the other gangs in the city trying to cut down on the bloodshed. Apparently, Billy has other ideas.  And apparently so does Rockstar, and it appears this might be their best one yet.

It’s good business. People love movies and people love video games. Combine the two and you’ve got yourself a peanut butter and jelly blockbuster. At least that’s what all these dense Hollywood producers think.  Too bad that virtually no video game based on a movie has either commercially or critically succeeded.  The same stands true for movies based off video games.  Remember Wing Commander?  Super Mario Bros.?  Double Dragon?  Of course you don’t!  They were horrible.  Bloody bloody horrible!  If by some some Twilight Zoney reason you did happen to watch these flaming piles of garbage puke, you remember how God awful each and every one of them were.  Sure they may hold some miniscule nostalgic value for the ultimate Luigi fanatic but, the fact of the matter remains; movies are like tuna and video games like ice cream.  Delicious apart,  disgusting together.  However, one man is attempting to change all that.  Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid series has taken serious steps towards bringing his most famous creation, Solid Snake, to the silver screen.  Although most talk around the movie is hush hush, IMDB reports rumors of Kurt Wimmer, made famous by his cult hit, “Equilibrium”, directing the adaptation of the Metal Gear Solid storyline.  At first glance that seems a little too easy.  It wasn’t until Metal Gear Solid on the original Playstation that gamers really started to take notice of the series.  For the time, Metal Gear Solid introduced a brand new way of video game storytelling, rivaling the concept of the Hollywood screenwriter.  It is perfectly logical to start with what has worked before but, that leaves out the adventures we as an audience know Snake has been on to get where he is now.  Its like watching the first Godfather then expecting to watch Godfather II right after.  But as soon as the movie starts, you’re right back at the wedding scene all over again.  Kojima has confirmed that it will be shot in live action, which means someone other than gritty voice actor, David Hayter, will portray the role as Snake.  Since Wimmer has already directed Christian Bale in “Equilibrium”, its a safe bet his name will be circling the rumor mill in the months to come.  Since production hasn’t even begun yet, I hardly believe this movie will be shot, edited, and released anytime in 2009 although IMDB reports a release sometime this year.  All we can do is wait and see…

2008 brought home future classics like: Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and Grand Theft Auto IV (still can’t get that 6th star), making it obvious the video game train isn’t looking to hit the breaks anytime soon.  2009 looks even more promising than the last year, building up anticipation for blockbuster titles like Resident Evil 5 and Halo 3:ODST.  Not to mention that talk is beginning to swirl around Microsoft’s next console installation, having the XBOX 360 blowing out candles on its fourth birthday this year.  The biggest speculated addition to the working titled “720″ is a large upgrade in RAM across both the CPU and graphics memory.  While most high end PC’s sport 2GB’s it is perfectly feasible for the “720″ to carry a 4GB capacity. I haven’t been this excited about the video game world since the days of the original Playstation, and for good reason.  With the market exhibiting cut-throat competition between Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all vying for your lawn mowing allowance, price cuts across the board are on schedule by this summer.  Just in time to spend vacation the way it was always meant to be spent.  Who says I need to get some sun?  It just burns me anyways.

Admit it.  At some point in time we all have created our own “Zombie Armageddon” survival plan.  Some would play it safe and hunker down with enough food and water until they could be safely rescued.  Smart move.  But who’s gonna rescue you if everyone else has the same plan?  How long would you wait?  A week?  A month?  The better question is, how long would you survive?  An hour?  Maybe two?  That’s when you realize you’ve been Left 4 Dead.

The only thing better than an automatic shotgun is four automatic shotguns.  Take control of one of four survivors, Bill, Francis, Louis, or Zoey and find your way out of the city alive.   Not that hard right?  Just make sure you steer clear of the hordes of zombies, lightning quick Hunters, razor tongued Smokers, a nut-sack ripping Witch, and Uncle Boomer who can’t stop puking all over your new work boots.  Don’t piss off the Tank either.  He’s grumpy in the morning without his coffee.

Sound impossible?  That’s why teamwork is the most essential weapon in this game. Just like in real life, no one possesses any special abilities so everyone must stay close and work together to make it out alive.  Apparently, most of the on-line players I encounter don’t understand this concept, (FARTfignewton69), so please be a trend setter and help your downed comrade every once in a while.  Controllers are expensive and I can’t afford to keep replacing mine.

All-in-all, Left 4 Dead is an intense first person shooting experience.  Not much to say about the story line but in a game like this, it’s expected.  Multi-player mode is more fun than a hooker on a Tijuana Tuesday night, especially when you’re playing as the Infected.  The video game world is finally realizing that some of us are done being heroes and want nothing more than to see the heroes fall, screaming and pleading for their lives while zombies rip apart their limbs one by one and chomp down like it’s ribfest at a summer BBQ.  Or is that just me?

4/5 STARdums

It’s here! Guitar Hero World Tour was released just this past Sunday and like a steam engine set to burst this game is tearing up vocal chords and living-rooms across the globe. Guitar Hero is a bona fide mass market appealing siren song of new technology and old fashioned musical fun for just about everybody. Turn on youtube to see expert 8 year olds shred songs or just walk downstairs in your apartment with a bottle of Vodka and you’ll find a Guitar Hero in no time flat. This game brings people together for better or worse. But don’t listen to us. Listen to this corporate breakdown of the newest installation of Guitar Hero:
“It packs in a sleek, new, wireless, six-piece drum set with fanlike cymbals; a slap-strum pad on its 25 percent larger sunburst guitar; a stunning, 86-master-recording track list; and absolutely nobody — I repeat, nobody — dies in this game. I’m talking about Activision Blizzard’s “Guitar Hero World Tour,” of course — aka “Take that, ‘Rock Band’!” — an extreme instrumental makeover for the series that launched a thousand armchair shudders. It will be available from day one for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii owners anywhere.(© PC World)”
Are you ready to rock? We said, “Did you bring any rock?” Wait, “Are you ready to rock?”

I’m going to start this off by saying for all you Star Wars fans, I’m going to make sure there are no spoilers in this review. The first thing that came to mind from the opening cut scene was that this could have easily been another installment in the Star Wars saga. The story takes place between episodes three and four. Now wether you are an avid gamer or a casual gamer, the force unleashed will be able to satisfy you. The control scheme is easy to pick up on and basic moves and combo’s can be easily performed. On the other end of the spectrum there are also more difficult combo’s that you can unlock to perform ball breaking combinations using both your force powers and your light saber. Once I got a few levels into the game I found myself playing more just to be able to see the next cut scene. This isn’t saying anything against the gameplay or that it lacks anything in the gameplay department, just that the story is very compelling. There aren’t many outstanding issues with the game that I have that really stand out. I would say that the main issue is the camera. At times it becomes hard to see a target that you are trying to hit and you find yourself guessing where to aim and relying on the auto lock feature (which does the job pretty well) and by the time the camera gets to where you need it to be, it could be too late. But again this is few and far between. Through the majority of the game you are able to see and do exactly what you are aiming to do. All in all though Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a great game and I recommend it as a must have for any Star Wars buff. As far as buying it or renting it goes, I would say definitely rent it unless you are a Star Wars Junkie and have to have it for your collection. I completed the story in 2 days, and that was playing for a few hours before work and a few hours after work. There are a lot of unlockable light saber’s you can go back and get plus some power ups and costumes. So if you want to unlock all that it may be worth your while to buy it. There is even a secret animation/cutscene that I haven’t been able to get yet but I am working on it.
Overall Score: 8.5/10

Hey readers! Rodog is back to talk smack about handheld video game players. There are four handheld game machines out now and the Rodog will be breaking them down as follows:
First, let’s talk about the most popular handheld gaming device out now, The Cellular Phone, or the cell phone. Cell phones have always been good gaming devices and they keep getting better. Today’s cell phones (standard, not high end) can play games from the NES and the Sega Genesis. They even make controller shaped attachments for some of the cell phone models. Cell phones, if you already own one, are an excellent choice to play games on.
Now let’s talk about another popular gaming device, the IPOD. The IPOD has some games on it but the controls are hard to deal with. Don’t buy an iPOD to play games with because it’s really not worth it.
The mainstream gaming devices are next and we will be starting with the PSP. The PSP is not known for it’s games but is actually more well known for it’s piracy ability. I don’t know how it works, but I can assume that anything that can be pirated through the internet can be pirated to the PSP. Of course, it would all be virus free and completely illegal. You can also surf the internet wherever WI-FI is available. The PSP is not good for first person, “through the eyes of the character” gaming because it lacks the essential, but missing right analog stick. Other games work well like fighting games or skating games, but, as I mentioned before, the PSP is known for it’s piracy, not great games.
Last but not least is the Nintendo DS, a hand-held that is known for it’s great games. The system has two screens, a regular top screen and a touch bottom screen. The DS supports wireless multi-player mode for up to four players. It does not have the internet but you can purchase optional internet online for $30. Some games have free online play, and yes, they’re all good! The DS is $130 and worth it.
That ends my coverage on handheld gaming devices. Next week I’ll cover the Big Three: Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony’s game consoles. It will be an article breaking the ice on many of the differences found amongst the Big Three.
See you next week!
Article Written By Product Review Expert: Rodog