Well, it was fun while it lasted.

With December and its myriad holidays out of the way, everybody’s got something to keep them busy. Doug’s back to work on his master’s program, Aaron has transformed into a job-applying machine, and I’ve thankfully found a job once again. Unfortunately, that means we all have a whole lot less time to be playing games, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to turn a blind eye to our sacred obligation to Silicon Sasquatch. Don’t worry! We’ve got a couple great articles that are almost ready for publication, and we’re anticipating a full run of content next week.

In the meantime, here’s what we’ve been keeping ourselves busy with.

Aaron wouldn't say 'I ain't afraid of no ghosts': he has much less bravado toward specters than you might think.

Aaron:

Now, the game I actually have something say about is Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Maybe it’s because I only paid a meager $12.99 at GameFly’s used game store (with free shipping), but I can’t help but like what I’ve seen. I’m perhaps halfway though the story now, and while the camera and controls are a bit rough around the edges, Ghostbusters is pure fun for fans of the movies. It’s by no means perfect, and that’s fine. The humor is there, the attention to detail in the firehouse headquarters is there, the proton packs are spot-on and the thrill of catching a ghost in a trap still makes me giggle just like my 6-year-old self used to with my toy Nerf proton pack and authentic jumpsuit. Ghostbusters is simple fun layered over a strong IP, and I truly hope Atari gives Terminal Reality another shot in future sequel. Maybe when the third movie finally (maybe) sees release next year, a tie-in game could coincide with the film’s debut.

In case you'd like some added context, here's what's happening. Man on the left: "Colonel! What have you been hiding from me!?" Man in giant robot: "Snaaaaaaaaaaake!"

Doug:

Much like Aaron, I’m just going to list out most of what I played over our holiday break because, being a degenerate graduate student, I had almost nothing productive to do between Thanksgiving and this week, when classes re-started up in earnest. Because that means a lot of time to play games, I’m just going to cut the fat and go list-happy.

I finished Brütal Legend (which seemed like it lost its storytelling steam a bit at the very end) and am close to finishing Batman: Arkham Asylum (trap-laden gargoyles are my kryptonite right now). I almost have what the gentlemen at Giant Bomb would term an “S-rank” (or 1000/1000 achievement score) on Forza Motorsport 3, which I also did a lot of online racing on during the break. I was definitely happy to hit Level 50 in that game and get the last gifted car.

The only game really worth the meagre Xbox Live sale over the holiday break was Marvel vs. Capcom 2, which was marked down to almost 60 percent off the regular list price and is worth every penny. Better than arcade-perfect, with every character unlocked from the start and online multiplayer capable? Yes, please. I also received a kind gift in the form of Shadow Complex, which scratches my Metroid-vania itch in so many ways. Definitely one of the best Xbox 360-only games of last year.

Lastly, my sports game fix has come in two forms — first, as part of multiple trips to downtown Portland old-school arcade Ground Kontrol, I’ve fulfilled my basketball jones by playing a bunch of NBA Jam. Nick and I (and friend of the site Andrew) went to GK on New Year’s Eve, and besides crushing the X-Men 6-player arcade game, the most fun had was running the two-man game with the Blazers on NBA Jam. The other sports game I picked up was, finally, Pro Evo Soccer 2010…which definitely lives up to the expectations I had for it based off my playtime with the demo. It may not be as pretty as FIFA 10, but it provides a much more challenging and fulfilling soccer experience. Crank the difficulty all the way up and enjoy smart AI in a sports game for once.

The story of a witch, her hair, and gratuitous almost-nudity. This is gonna be awkward.

Nick:

As a test to see who’s interested in the blog, I offered up a vote on our Facebook page to ask people which game they’d rather see me purchase and review first: Demon’s Souls or Bayonetta. Although there was support for both, Bayonetta got the nod and I picked up a copy last night. While I’ve only had time to play about ten minutes of the game, those ten minutes were extraordinarily promising. I just hope the game’s rampant, bizarre sexuality doesn’t weird out my friends and loved ones.

The majority of my free time has been spent on — yeah, you guessed it — Dragon Age: Origins. I keep thinking I’m getting close to the end, and then another 15-hour sequence of quests pops up. I’m absolutely enamored with the game, so I think I won’t have any complaints if it turns out the game just never ends.

This, metaphorically, is what the release calendar looks like for the next few months

It’s been a busy week for all of us here at Silicon Sasquatch. Doug’s been camping in the cold-yet-wait-it’s-hot-again Oregon weather, and enjoying the rebirth of his broken Xbox 360; Nick’s been playing through five or so games at once while writing, writing and more writing; I’ve been composing an extremely long review of Batman: Arkham Asylum in addition to enjoying a social life and trying to forge videogame industry public relations contacts.

Oh, and that feeling creeping down the back of your spine and into your pocket to make your wallet tingle with fear? Well, that’s the start of the Great Game Goldrush of 2009 — this previous week had quite the prodigious release schedule. Among the horde of games were NHL 10, NHL2k10, WET, Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Scribblenauts, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Need for Speed Shift.

Next week, Halo 3: ODST releases. You can discuss (your praise for or condemnation of) that fact in our comments section.

See what we’ve been up to, game-wise, after the break.

Doesn't it seem more logical to call soccer "football" in the states? This guy is clearly using his foot on a ball.

Doug:

It’s baaaaaaaack! My 360 has risen from its grave and, despite how angry I could get over the fact that this is the third time it’s happened, I don’t care.

I don’t care that I had to re-download everything because of a license transfer, and I don’t care that I had to re-set a ton of console settings; I don’t care about anything else.I have my console back and all is well.

So I’ve started to play some 360 games again — including some demos. I’m glad to have NCAA 10 back to sate my football needs, and I’m going to go get Madden 10 as well to engage in some online shenanigans with friends. I’m also putting money down to reserve my copy of Forza 3 — all the content coming out of Turn 10 looks absolutely awesome, and the game will likely suck my soul away this fall.

Demo-wise, the two titans of soccer gaming put demos up for their new titles on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network this week. PES 2010 is an Xbox Live Gold special for the next week or so, and FIFA 10 is now up as well. FIFA feels good — like an updated version of FIFA 09. It plays well, yes, but the graphics, interface and front-end are all carried over from FIFA 09.

PES 2010, though, is something of a revelation. One of my favorite games is Winning Eleven 9, Konami’s soccer game from the 2005-06 season, and that’s for the deep feature set, huge amount of customization and great gameplay that creates a very different game each time you step on the pitch. The PES games on next-gen consoles, however, have lost that feeling — they’ve been too fast, too arcadey and controlled too loosely to match up to the gains EA has been making with FIFA.

With that knowledge in tow, I stepped back into the stage of history and downloaded PES 2010. Last year’s demo felt seven shades of wrong — it was terrible enough to turn me off of the game for good. 2010, however, feels like a return to PES of old. Despite me fumbling with the controls (FIFA’s are ingrained by now), the game just feels right. Passing the ball around has a heft and weight behind it that feels almost perfect, and the way players interact in the build-up feels much better than FIFA, which can sometimes feel formulaic and stale.

Watch for both soccer games this fall, but I definitely know which one I’ll be scouring over reviews for — and which one’s demo stays on my hard drive.

Speaking of which…anyone want to sell me a 60 gigabyte Xbox 360 hard drive for a song?

The Beatles: Rock Band boasts some inspired artwork that, if you're a fan, will consistently delight

Nick:

Never mind that we’re 40 years late to the party: My friends and I have all been swept up in Beatlemania. Without incriminating myself, I’ve spent enough time with The Beatles: Rock Band to have earned 46 of the game’s 50 achievements — and I’m still having a blast. Meanwhile, I just wrapped up Guitar Hero 5, which will be getting a review soon. And nearly a year after I last played it, I managed to finish off Dead Space. Despite its minor faults, it still stands as an exemplary survival horror game; the fact that it was the first entry in a new franchise is all the more impressive.

With the majority of my backlog polished off, I’ve been able to return to Batman: Arkham Asylum. It’s an extremely rare breed of game in that it only gets better the more I play. It was impressive from the outset, but now that I’m approaching its conclusion I’m prepared to place it on my shortlist for best game of 2009.

I also picked up 5TH Cell’s charming and ambitious Scribblenauts, a game so bursting with ingenuity and cheer that even its horribly imprecise stylus-based control scheme can be overlooked. Frankly, any game that lets you apply shark repellent to yourself to swim unharmed past a shark deserves recognition.

Agents definitely are GO!

Aaron:

Like Nick, I’ve been sucked into the vortex that is Beatlemania. Sure, the band’s music has been on a variety of my playlists for years now — thanks to my eclectic musical upbringing — but I didn’t fully appreciate the band until I received The Beatles: Rock Band in the mail yesterday, and proceeded to beat it in just a few hours. It sounds like overkill, or even tragically short, but the craftsmanship that went into the game is dripping from every pixel. Plus, there’s a lot more to do after finishing “The End.”

It’s readily apparent that Harmonix loved working with such a historic body of work, and I only hope future band-specific rhythm games are a quarter as neat as this one is.

Aside from enjoying the lads from Liverpool, I’ve spent some time becoming reacquainted with my DSi. Here and there I’ll play some Suikoden: Tierkreis (I promise, eventually a review will be written) and Elite Beat Agents. I’m realizing I need to purchase more games for the system, and Scribblenauts seems like a safe bet.

Otherwise it’s been a low-key kind of week for my tastes. A few rounds of Marvel Ultimate Alliance with Nick and some solo singing in Rock Band 2 topped off my free time. I’m hoping that, come October with its influx of amazing-looking titles, I’ll soon be busy playing, writing, reviewing and recording all about videogames when I’m able.

Well, PopCap, you’ve done it again.

I was all set to get the Backlog out the door so I could enjoy my weekend, and you had to stumble in out of the cold, like an estranged lover drawn back to rekindle a long-burning flame. All those hours we spent matching jewels, the dizzying ecstasy of our peg-filled Extreme Fevers…you’ve always been good to me, baby.

And now you show up on my doorstep with this new game, Plants Vs. Zombies — a clever and hilarious twist on a revered casual genre — and I can’t help but fall in love with you all over again.

Um. So yeah, that’s where I’ve been for the past three hours. Read on to see what the rest of the gang’s up to!

Subtitle: Except for this album cover. It's pretty shocking.

Nick: Aside from the freakishly addictive Plants Vs. Zombies, I’ve been trying to find good music I haven’t heard. And one of the best ways I’ve found for discovering new music is to check it out in Rock Band 2, naturally. There are two reasons:

1. I love playing Rock Band 2.
2. Harmonix has impeccable taste in music.

So I’ve been catching up on some of my favorite artists — Neko Case, the Allman Brothers Band, and, uh…REO Speedwagon. But the biggest gamble I made turned out to be a fantastic decision. I picked up Nothing’s Shocking, the debut album from Jane’s Addiction, and I’m shocked by how much I’m enjoying the thing from start to finish. The funky basslines, the intricate drum patterns, the awesome guitar solos, the…well, whatever Perry Farrell’s singing about, I like it too.

I’ve also got several games I’m pushing myself to finish in order to review them next week: Halo Wars, Resistance 2 and GTA: Chinatown Wars, primarily. But you can also look forward to another hand-picked iPhone game review this Monday, and I’m sure I won’t be able to stop blathering on about Plants Vs. Zombies anytime soon.

Aaron: So, this week I managed to download and explore the 10-day free trial for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. I’ve heard decent to average things about the game since its release, but after playing for a few days I’ll stick my neck out here and say this: Warhammer is more fun and better-crafted than World of Warcraft in terms of player vs. player content.

The Realm vs. Realm aspect of Warhammer is tighter and more fast-paced than Warcraft’s frustrating and sometimes inaccessible Player vs. Player feature. In Warhammer, players are in and out of battles quickly, they can queue from anywhere for numerous different battlegrounds and characters are even returned to their previous location, post-battle.

Even Warhammer’s quest system is more intuitive, though the myriad of “Kill this” and “Collect that” missions are pretty standard. I also enjoy how the minimap in Warhammer will lay a red hue over the area where your quest can be found, reducing the need for a multitude of add-ons just to find something, as is the case with WoW.

I doubt I’ll subscribe, as any MMO is a burden of commitment, but I’m quite impressed with what Warhammer has to offer.

Aside from all that online kerfuffle (there’s an antiquated word), I got back into some of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition and enjoyed it a lot. I’ve also been plowing through Fallout 3‘s three packs of DLC for our review feature, and I finally got around to Suikoden Tierkreis. Man, the voice acting in that game is absolutely horrendous.

Otherwise this weekend I’ll be watching some movies, enjoying the weather and the apartment to myself and probably reading. I’m a bit “gamed out.”

Doug: More of the same for me this week, as time-old traditions continue anew: Sports and racing games have dominated my gaming time this week.

Of course, my go-to has been FIFA 09. I’m hooked now on the main Manager mode, where I’m trying to guide Italian side Sampdoria to glory; I also have saves in that mode with my favorite soccer team, Arsenal, and an English side called Leicester City. The latter will be a challenge run, trying to build the team up from the third tier of English soccer up into a powerhouse.

Even better, word through the grapevine is that Sasquatch editor Nick Cummings is thinking of dipping his toe into the sports gaming world by giving FIFA a try. My evil plan, it is working! Seriously, soccer is almost the perfect sports game to start with: The sport is very accessible, the current (since the 08 version) FIFA engine has great flexibility with its control scheme so beginners can start with some very good training wheels, and it’s loads of fun. It’s not overly complicated and, much like a fighting game, the way you play is very tailored to the individual.

The other game I’ve been spending lots of time on is Project Gotham Racing 4. I picked this up with Assassin’s Creed a few weeks ago for cheap at GameStop; both games cost me less than $40. I honestly can’t believe I shrugged PGR4 off the first time because it is rather amazing and, fitting in with the theme, it’s a great racing game for somebody interested in the genre to start with.

It’s really also the ultimate evolution of the work Bizarre Creations started with PGR2 on the original Xbox: You’re driving fast through real-life cities and doing a variety of race types to not only finish first, but finish first in style. The controls are great, and while it’s not the most realistic racer in the world (Forza 2 beats it, and that gets stomped by myriad PC simulators in terms of realism) it has a heft and feel and gravity to the driving that just feels more hyper-real than arcadey. The feeling of driving fast and attacking corners in PGR4 is what car geeks like myself like to remember our real-life Sunday drives feeling like.

It also does weather effects rather well, especially the rain. The moment I knew that was driving in one of the wet cities and feeling both a rumble effect and a slight pull from a large pool of water on the street. Being a native Portlander, I know driving in the rain – and PGR4 nails that feeling really well.

I hope to take more chunks out of Assassin’s Creed and maybe my second Mass Effect playthrough this weekend; might hop into Rock Band 2 a bit, too. But don’t be surprised if I’m still on FIFA.

Berserker Barrage

Ah, blessed weekend. You couldn’t have arrived any sooner, particularly as I seem to be coming down with a decidedly non-porcine illness. Unfortunately, the workload doesn’t let up for Doug and me — we’re tackling that most coveted of challenges in fake-rockdom bright and early tomorrow morning. And not to be outdone, Aaron’s looking at a full course of superhero do-goodery this weekend. Let’s just hope X-Men Origins: Wolverine shapes up to be a bit better than its movie counterpart — any game where I can leap onto a helicopter, yank out the pilot and decapitate him with the blades is just dandy.

Nick: Look upon this symbol, ye mighty, and despair! The coveted Bladder of Steel is without question the most difficult achievement/trophy available in Rock Band 2, and nearly impossible for the incontinent. It’s awarded to any players who complete the Endless Setlist 2 — all 84 on-disc Rock Band 2 songs — without failing or pausing once. It’s roughly six hours and ten minutes of non-stop rocking, and it’s a needless, arthritic exercise — not to mention a waste of a perfectly good Saturday. But hey, bring a couple friends along and keep a couple alternates on hand, and it’s not so daunting.

Assuming I’m not wracked with crippling wrist pain, I’m hoping to finish up Halo Wars and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars in order to whip up a couple of reviews for next week. And my most recent impulse buy, Bionic Commando Rearmed, is giving me a run for my money.

Aaron:

It’s been another week of playing games I’ve reviewed, or am currently reviewing. Aside from Fable II’s Knothole Island and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (review pending!), I put in some quality time with Left 4 Dead once more. As always, it’s best served amongst friends. Oh, and I certainly enjoyed Stevie Ray Vaughan in Rock Band 2. I treated myself to Texas Flood.

Now, here’s my videogame ordeal for the week: Battlefield 2.

See, one of my friends and I played that game absolutely to death for nearly two years post-release. A little over a week ago I heard of the new beta patch for the game, the first patch at all in about three years, and decided with its Vista and widescreen support, it was time for me to once again crash fighter jets into the ocean. My friend agreed to the suggestion, and I expected nothing less than kittens and rainbows to lead us to our glorious Battlefield 2 promisedland.

Unfortunately, after hours of installs, recovering old accounts, dealing with EA’s download manager and finally downloading patches (nearly two gigabytes worth), the game decides to crash everytime I try to join a match or change the audio settings. At least I see the menu screen, I suppose.

So, the remedy is to uninstall and do everything over but leave out the beta patch — the problem there is I don’t know if Vista will even run the damn game without it.

I swear, the one thing about PC gaming I simultaneously love and hate is its complexity.

Next week = Suikoden Tierkreis, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Assassin’s Creed, Fallout 3 DLC and, hopefully, Battlefield 2.

Doug:

Along with usual recent standbys Assassin’s Creed and FIFA 09, here are some things I’ve put just a little bit of time into this week…

I got the chance to go through a bit of a game that I loved when it came out last summer: Castle Crashers. When one of my friends sent a voice message asking to play, I sent him the Castle Crashers invite post-haste and man…man is this game fun.

I’ve played a metric ton of demos the last few days, both for Xbox 360 games and Xbox Live Arcade titles. Quick hits on some of these titles:

-UFC 09 Undisputed (Demo): Despite being based off the biggest mixed martial-arts championship out there, UFC 09 is not a fighting game in the strictest sense; rather, it’s an incredibly technical sports simulator. It’s like a fighter filtered through the Madden NFL series in terms of the tone and, especially, the control scheme of the game. I’m sure UFC fans will love how in-depth that means the game will get, but if you’re looking for something to move onto after Street Fighter IV, you might have to reconsider.

-Outrun 2 (XBLA): Completely unadulterated classic arcade action, updated to Xbox-quaity graphics. Doesn’t mean it’s worth $10 or $15 on XBLA, though.

-Skate: I wish I could get more into this. This is one of a few games absolutely suffering from the terrible old TV my Xbox 360 is shackled to at the current moment.

-Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram (XBLA): YESSSSSSSSSS. I wish I could justify spending the money for this, because it is, in baseball terminology, a fat meatball right in my wheelhouse. Sega? Check. Dreamcast generation? Check. Great old game that suffers a bit translated from two gigantic sticks and an arcade cabinet to an Xbox 360 controller, yes, but it still looks so good.

-X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Demo): Because I need more chances to lock-on and leap onto helicopters in my life. Much like the recent 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand, this isn’t made for discerning audiences; it’s the gaming equivalent of a popcorn movie. It’s nigh-on being a carnival ride, especially on Easy mode. It’s fast, fun, and really, REALLY bloody.

It feels a lot like that. (Photo by Bruce Ely/The Oregonian)

I’m slowly coming back into the fold as a Portland Trail Blazers fan after hearing some really exciting things. The thought of a mostly young team making such a strong effort this season has got me eager to see what the future holds.

Unfortunately, the Houston Rockets don’t seem to share my enthusiasm, as they’re currently making the Blazers’ lives a living hell. But hey, at least I can seek respite in my recently repaired Xbox 360!

Nick Cummings:

What can I say? I’ve been busy. Other than a few short-but-sweet play sessions on the newly-released Left 4 Dead survival mode (which Aaron was kind enough to review,) my gaming has consisted almost exclusively of games I was playing for review. Fortunately, Prince of Persia’s Epilogue wasn’t half-bad, and Galaga Legions was an awesome, albeit sadomasochistic, experience.

"Young Folks," by Peter, Bjorn & John

I’m looking forward to delving into Fable II‘s Knothole Island DLC this weekend, and maybe I’ll even give The Path another shot. But I’m most excited to bust out some incredibly awkward karaoke on my buddy’s copy of Lips.

Aaron Thayer:

At this juncture, my weekly gaming intake has been quite average.

I played a bit of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars to help with the DSi overview, which, while enjoyable, wasn’t what I really wanted to play — Suikoden Tierkreis will have to wait until next week (full disclosure: Suikoden is my absolute favorite RPG series, ever). Fearless fellow editor Nick and I had a blast for a couple of hours in Left 4 Dead thanks to its wonderful new DLC pack, and I romped through the first hour-and-a-half of the Knothole Island DLC for Fable II as well; so far it’s visually captivating and typically Fable, to say the least.

But the mediocrity will dissipate tonight, as one of my dear friends is coming for a weekend visit and we plan on getting some old buddies together to play the following in between bar-hopping and such: Rock Band, Guitar Hero: Metallica, LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2, Resistance 2 and probably 20 other games. As you might have gathered, he has a PS3.

Doug Bonham:

Honestly, gaming hasn’t been at the forefront this week — I’ve been busy starting up a part-time job and going on wild adventures with the City of Portland’s parking bureau. I’ve played a little bit more FIFA 09 and Assassin’s Creed, but the only really great time I had was last weekend with Nick and another of our friends. We all played a bit of Rock Band 2 now and then — including at Ground Kontrol on Tuesday nights — but an extended play session was a long time coming.

We rectified that last weekend, playing for a good four or five hours. Hanging out and rocking out like that is one of my favorite things in all of gaming, ever, and it’s great to get to do that with people who have similar tastes in music and song choice. Rumor has it we may be tackling the Endless Setlist at some point in the near future, and I can’t imagine a better crew to play with.