Gears of War 3: San Francisco Jam!

There aren't too many releases that get the blood flowing quite like a new Gears game. The latest one, which came out this week, is the third and supposedly final game in the Gears series...I doubt that. The game sells way too well for them to just stop making them. Something tells me we'll see a Ge4rs of War before too long.

If you've ever played Gears of War or the sequel then you basically already know what to expect from the single player campaign. Visceral cover based combat against relentless enemies, huge boss fights set in a post apocalyptic world, guns and bullets and blood and guts and boomers. Aside from new locales, new enemies, and new weapons, there is little changed about Gears of War 3. It plays basically exactly the same as the first two games and that's alright with me. If it ain't broke...don't fix it.

The story is excellent and has quite a few BIG moments to it. I'm not going to talk about it because I don't like taking the chance of spoiling anything for anyone, but they big moments are quite BIG. All I'll say is at the end it does wrap up in a way that makes it look like the trilogy is over, but I just won't believe it until I see it. The franchise is far too valuable to just stop making games with the Gears name. The game is pretty short, about the same length as previous games which means it can easily be beat on normal difficulty within the first or second day. However, there is a ton of online content, and I'll be talking about that some more...next Game Beard. I haven't played enough of it to talk about it here.

Next is my surprise game of the year. Crawling from the depths of franchise hell comes a shocker of a good game...Driver: San Francisco. I, like many others, assumed the Driver franchise was done. After some mediocre to bad games, I figured they were done with it. When I heard about this game, I was surprised, but my expectations were extremely low based on the previous entries. However, I am very happy to say, Driver: San Francisco shattered my expectations and pulled this dead and bloated franchise out of the murky water and back into the hearts of gamers everywhere...or at least back into my heart.

The game is good...very good. They took the formula, distilled out all the extra crap, and just left the meat of what makes a good driving game...driving. There is nothing on foot, the only time you aren't in a car is when you're floating above the city deciding which driver to possess next...wait, what? Driver handles the out of car stuff very simply. You're character is in a coma, so he can enter a ghost mode at any time and switch cars. This extends beyond just picking a car for a challenge. If the challenge is to take down a runaway thief, you can possess the cars ahead of them and drive them directly into their path to take them down with vicious ferocity. The story is out there a bit, but honestly, I didn't care. I was having too much fun possessing drivers and racing cars.

The story is a bit bleh, but I barely noticed. Honestly, there really could have been no story and just a series of challenges and I still would have loved the game. The driving is a nice arcade style that requires skill, but also can be handled by gaming novices. Some of the late challenges get downright brutal and only the most seasoned player will get through them. There are a ton of different licensed vehicles, from super cars to pickup trucks to DeLoreans, the latter of which has a special bonus if you go over 88mph.

Finally I'm going to talk about a game that's been out for awhile but I only just recently played. The new and improved NBA JAM! I waited a long time to get it because frankly, I didn't feel it was worth full retail price. I finally found a price I could swallow and purchased it. I was definitely right in waiting, it's a really good game, but there is very little meat to it.

It's the exact same formula as the original NBA Jam, 2 on 2 basketball with 3 players per team being available. You push and shove opponents while dunking from the free throw line with great ferocity. Hit 3 shots in a row without your opponent scoring and you go ON FIRE! This doesn't seem to have the same impact it used to. I remember in the old SNES game when you were ON FIRE! pretty much every shot went in. In the new version the difference seems to be negligible other then your dunks getting bigger and better. I can't say a whole lot more about it...it's NBA Jam. It's basically the exact game they made in the past with some shinier graphics. This isn't a bad thing, per se, but I was hoping for a little more. Worth the $15 I paid for it, but not much more.

Another brilliant installment of The Game Beard will be coming your way soon. Next time I'll be talking about Resident Evil 4HD, maybe some about upcoming games I'm interested in like Batman, Skyrim, and Uncharted 3. Also, look for a new top ten list coming your way hopefully sooner rather then later.