The story mode is the usual; survive as best as you can while getting through the entire campaign, especially when playing by one’s self. Instead of fighting the typical Locust, you will be fighting more Lambent, including the infamous Lambent Berserker. Even on the easiest of difficulties, the game can be quite difficult if you don’t know what you are doing, or where you really have to go to get the best out of the game; especially if you have friends playing with you… Thinking about playing with friends; remember when in the old ones you could only play with one person? In Gears of War 3, you are now able to play with not only one person, but three other people! Talk about some awesome-sauce, right?

The game on Insane is terrible; once you’re dead, you are dead, meaning, no one can pick you back up as soon as the wonderful looking COG skull comes showing up in the middle of your screen. It would be best to play with your friends, mainly ones that know what they are doing, and have a plan put together, or you will be playing the Campaign on Insane for weeks upon; staring at your lovely achievement of 75 GamerScore from afar. Good luck!

Horde:

Horde has changed from the older Gears, now being called Horde 2.0; they have completely upgraded the entire thing. Working from Horde level 1 to lever 50, you are able to buy many items, such as turrets and barracks. By leveling up more and more, and unlocking other things you can upgrade, these weapons you create by buying, first by buying an outpost, these weapons will assist you in completing the entire wave list, especially with the many bosses that appear after every 10 waves. The bosses include the Reavers,  Brumaks, the Berserkers from Gears of War 2, and the new infamous lambent filled Lambent Berserker, the harder ones appearing mainly in Wave 50.

It is best to play Horde with friends; there will be no remorse if you play by yourself. The same number of locust and lambents will be after you, and it won’t take long for you to be overwhelmed with enemies; being surrounded everywhere you go. If you do play with your friends, or even with randoms, you can have up to four other people in your party, excluding yourself. That means you can have five people in a lobby for horde! So, it will be best to play with your people, yo!

Beast:

In this short mode, you get to play as the locust while fighting the COG soldiers. It’s very similar to Horde, but reversed. The COG still get to upgrade their turrets and such, and each wave, up to 15, give you multiple chances to kill each of the enemies, you having to pay to use whichever locust you would like to give. Playing this mode with friends will be fun, considering you all can help each other in getting rid of the enemies. Have fun playing each of the locusts!

Multiplayer:

Just like any of other gears games, multiplayer is almost the same. Only thing is though is the introduction to two guns; the Retro Lancer, which is basically a regular Lancer without the chainsaw and with a bayonet at the end of it, and the Sawed Off Double Barrel. Both are abnormally strong, but are hard to use if you just like to use up all of your bullets just like that! It is highly recommended that you have short controlled bursts in order to have a high accuracy with the Retro Lancer. The Sawed Off Shotgun is best used if you are directly on the person, dead on aimed and everything. Really noobish guns, but are okay… if you use them. ;D

All in all, this game is great; the graphics are great, and the story mode. You can constantly have fun with your friends either in campaign or in the other multiplayer. So grab your friends and have fun!

Baja: Edge of Control

Overview:

            Ever wanted to know what it was like to go out of the ordinary and race out in the desert? Baja: Edge of Control does just that by putting you behind the vehicles that race in the Baja 1000 which is one of the most prestigious off-road events in the world but, be warned that the desert and its racers are unforgiving with the sight that anything goes even if it has to follow the motto of “rubbing is racing.” You have the opportunity to race behind eight different vehicle classes in four different game modes. If you think you are just going to be able to pick up a controller and mash the gas coming out of a corner you are in for a big surprise. The reality of the physics in here has you feathering the throttle or else you spin out from your tires having no traction in the loose dirt. You also have to take care of your vehicle throughout the event, if you go in guns blazing pushing the clutch in and sliding your tires after exiting every corner then you are going to have to either go into the hot pits if in a race or call down a helicopter if in a rally which causes you to lose valuable seconds. Oh, and did I forget to mention the cute and furry animals that scamper across the track as you race? Don’t worry though; you don’t kill them when you run them over.

Career:

            In here, you start off with $25,000 to buy your vehicle and maybe some upgrades if you wish. You will start off in the low speed, easy to handle Baja Bug class earning money and experience points after every event and gain extra depending on how you finish within the short championships you run. Every league has a certain amount of Race championships, Rally championships, one Hill Climb event and one Open Class event; I will go into detail of what they are later. You also earn money when you unlock sponsors and accept them to be on your car but they only pay you for keeping your body panels on the car so if you wreck a lot and finish with only a bare chassis then you don’t get paid by them. Each league grants you the ability to earn more money and experience but the vehicles in which you race in also cost a lot more to buy. The upper most class, Trophy Trucks, average over $600,000. You should have enough money to buy these vehicles if you don’t waste all your money on every upgrade for every vehicle.

Event Types:

            Circuit Race: It’s you against a certain amount of competitors in your class around a circuit with the laps varying depending on size and your class, or can be determined by however much you set it to.

            Rally: An event in which the objective is to get from one checkpoint to the next in less time than your competitors. This can either be split up with multiple checkpoints or can be run in an all out dash from point A to point B. Be careful though, there are other class vehicles racing at same time but your time only compares to those in your class.

            Hill Climb: You against competitors in your class where the objective is to work your way up the hill and back down and complete 2 laps the fastest but, this can become very annoying as you need great control and finesse in order to not stall out or slide back from your tires constantly spinning but getting no traction.

            Open Class: In here there is one car from each class where the slowest being out front and the quickest in back. You start out well spaced and everyone has an even chance to win. Everyone must cross the start/finish line twice and first to do it, wins.

            Baja: This can only be done in single player by choosing the main menu “Race” tab. This is where you can choose to do one of the Baja 250 (avg 1hr), one of the Baja 500 (avg 1.5hrs), or the all mighty Baja 1000 (avg 3hrs).

            Free Roam: This is also only under the “Race” tab and allows you to roam the desert/city streets with no boundaries.

Race:

            This is where you create your own custom events. You can choose the driver difficulty by percentage where 70% is lowest and can move it up 1% at a time to the difficulty you feel is challenging but not to frustrating up to over 100%. You are also able to choose how many competitors there are to race against and almost anything else you wish. Not much can be said about this portion since it is almost the same in all race games where you chose class, track/course, laps and race basically the way you want to.

Multiplayer:

            The multiplayer in here, like with most old games, is all but gone. It is however still open to where you can create your own lobby and invite friends to play but there is very little chance to find a random match up.

My View:

            I thought this game was pretty challenging but fun at the same time. The frustrating part is that most of the “tracks” are about as wide as a trail you go jogging down at a park; the tracks are completely unstable bringing more reality to game and on top of all that, the competitors are ruthless. After getting use to the racing styles of this game, it’s a fun and enjoyable game but another of its annoyance factors is that on the tracks where you cross public roads, you have a chance of ramming into a pedestrian vehicle. The pedestrian vehicles are good though at some times because the AI hit them too which may be the difference of you winning or losing. Overall, I feel that this game would be best suited for an intermediate to hardcore racer. I don't think a casual racer would enjoy the challenges that this game has to offer.

*I don’t do a rating system like most people who write reviews because all that is opinionated and not important to the concept of the game at all. I want others' judgment to be on what the game has to offer not “10/10 graphics” and other nonsense people throw in to try to sweeten up a game.*

Forza Motorsports 3

Overview:

Forza is a racing simulator that puts you behind vehicles from some of the most prestigious manufactures out there. You can choose to race in high performance race vehicles used in various racing divisions such as the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), exotic cars like the Ferrari FXX or Maserati MC12, or just kick back and relax in a normal street car, truck, or SUV. It also has you driving around some of the most prestigious tracks out there like the F1 circuits of Suzuka, Silverstone and Catalunya; the MotoGP circuit Mugello and the ALMS circuit of Sebring are also in there along with a lot of other tracks and different variations of the track. If you are not a conventional racer then you can always set your car up for drifting and got out drifting, only downside to being a drifter would be there is no drifting series within the career. If you are more of the artistic type, you can always use the paint shop to create your own custom designs to either use for yourself while racing or sell in the auction house.

Career:

After the “introduction” to the game, you can choose to start your career; this will start you off racing in F class vehicles on small tracks. As you progress through the years you will gradually be put in faster series, bigger tracks which essentially makes the time spent per race longer. The longest races will take place during the Endurance Races which should take somewhere around an hour to complete depending on your driving ability. Overall the whole career takes over 100 hours to complete if you choose to race every event.

Multiplayer:

The multiplayer in this game was great as you can set it up to do whatever you want. If you and a couple of friends wanted to have a Demolition Derby you can change the settings in the lobby to have the winner be whoever caused the most damage. You can also set them up for games like Cat and Mouse, Tag, and Football. All in All, there is a little for every type of person, you just have to learn how to manipulate the settings to get it the way you want to play.

My View:

I absolutely loved this game; I have spent countless hours just in the paint booth creating designs for myself and friends. I enjoyed the tuning factor of games because nobody has the same racing style and I can’t seem to fully implement mine in arcade racers due to the cars being either too loose or too tight for me during a corner. I didn’t really care for the extremely long career but I did complete it because I just got addicted to this game for awhile. I loved the look of all the cars and tracks but as with most games, I didn’t like the sound track that much and that’s just due to me having a weird taste in music. This game remains as one of my favorites and one of the games I have spent the most time on.

*I don’t do a rating system like most people who write reviews because all that is opinionated and not important to the concept of the game at all. I want others' judgment to be on what the game has to offer not “10/10 graphics” and other nonsense people throw in to try to sweeten up a game.*

Project Gotham Racing 4

Overview:

PGR4 is a decent arcade racer that puts you behind the wheel of the world’s most iconic cars and bikes racing on Fantasy and Real World tracks such as the Formula 1 Nurburgring Circuit and even the Nordschleife Circuit. One of the unique things about this game is the weather system which has you driving in clear sky, fog, rain, and even snow. Another unique quality is the currency system. This game does not use dollars like most games do; it uses “Kudos” which are earned by doing various driving styles during a race, such as drifting, drafting, smooth corners, driving on 2 wheels or popping a wheelie, clean sectors, and passing. You also get 2,000 Kudos per position you finish. The final unique aspect of this game was that it is not just running circuits around a track like most racing games, this has many different game types you can perform, but I will go into those later.

Career:

You start out as an Amateur class and at the bottom of the ranking board with a rank of 72. The way to rank up is to finish ahead of the competitors around you in the standings during each championship. Championships in the Amateur division (ranks 61-72) give out 25 points for winning, the Pro division (ranks 45-60) give out 30 points for winning, the Hotshot division (ranks 23-44) give out 35 points for winning and the Master division (ranks 1-22) give out a whopping 40 points for winning. As you can expect, the higher your rank and the competitors around you, the harder it is to score those points for winning and ranking up. While trying to rank up, you will also have Invitational events to where you can win certain cars and also Major Championships Tournaments, where you will get a 50 point bonus for each event you win in the championship if you qualify for it.

Arcade Mode:

This mode is just a bunch of little quick races where you can go to try to get the highest medal you can; but the only problem is, you have to pick the medal you want to go to before the event. In order, from easiest to most difficult, they go Steel, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and then the most frustrating of all being Platinum. In the first 8 chapters, you have to earn 6 medals in a car and 6 on a bike, totaling to 12 per chapter. In the final 2 chapters, one chapter focuses solely on bikes while the other focuses solely on cars.

Different Race Types:

Breakthrough-Basically a checkpoint event where you start out with a certain time limit and every time you pass under a checkpoint, time is added to the clock.

Cone Sprint-You must carefully navigate through the cones set around a track. If you hit a cone or fail to go through a gate, you suffer a time penalty.

Eliminator- You must try to stay out of last place as the timer ticks down because every time that timer hits zero, someone gets eliminated.

Hot Lap- The game starts you off with a rolling start and gives you 1 lap to run as fast around the track as you possibly can.

One on One- It is basically a street race with only one other competitor.

Overtake- There are cars of a lower class than you roaming around the track, you have a set time to try to pass as many of them as you possibly can before that timer hits zero.

Speed Challenge- There are 4 checkpoints (most of time set at the worst possible spot on the track) that record your speed as you pass under it, the driver with the highest total speed is the winner.

Street Race- It is you against multiple opponents.

Super Cone Sprint- An entire course made of cones that you must navigate as quickly and cleanly as possible. Penalties are given for going outside the course set and/or knocking over cones.

Superstar- You must earn as many Kudos Stars as possible. 1 star is given for every 100 Kudos earned before the Kudos gets banked.

Time VS Kudos- This is basically a Timed Run to where you can stop the clock by earning Kudos.

Timed Run- You must try to complete the course as fast as possible.

Multiplayer:

You can still play online if you create a lobby and invite your friends to play; but, you’ll be lucky to find someone in matchmaking.

My View:

Overall I feel this game is a great buy at $4. Most cars are easy enough for a novice racer to pick up and race in while others are a real handful; and, even though the multiplayer in the game is about dead, the Single Player portion is great and tons of fun. I didn’t care too much for the music track but that’s an easy problem to solve, just turn the music volume all the way down and play music from a computer or just plug in an iPod.

*I don’t do a rating system like most people who write reviews because all that is opinionated and not important to the concept of the game at all. I want others' judgment to be on what the game has to offer not “10/10 graphics” and other nonsense people throw in to try to sweeten up a game.*

Project Gotham Racing 4

Overview:

PGR4 is a decent arcade racer that puts you behind the wheel of the world’s most iconic cars and bikes racing on Fantasy and Real World tracks such as the Formula 1 Nurburgring Circuit and even the Nordschleife Circuit. One of the unique things about this game is the weather system which has you driving in clear sky, fog, rain, and even snow. Another unique quality is the currency system. This game does not use dollars like most games do; it uses “Kudos” which are earned by doing various driving styles during a race, such as drifting, drafting, smooth corners, driving on 2 wheels or popping a wheelie, clean sectors, and passing. You also get 2,000 Kudos per position you finish. The final unique aspect of this game was that it is not just running circuits around a track like most racing games, this has many different game types you can perform, but I will go into those later.

Career:

You start out as an Amateur class and at the bottom of the ranking board with a rank of 72. The way to rank up is to finish ahead of the competitors around you in the standings during each championship. Championships in the Amateur division (ranks 61-72) give out 25 points for winning, the Pro division (ranks 45-60) give out 30 points for winning, the Hotshot division (ranks 23-44) give out 35 points for winning and the Master division (ranks 1-22) give out a whopping 40 points for winning. As you can expect, the higher your rank and the competitors around you, the harder it is to score those points for winning and ranking up. While trying to rank up, you will also have Invitational events to where you can win certain cars and also Major Championships Tournaments, where you will get a 50 point bonus for each event you win in the championship if you qualify for it.

Arcade Mode:

This mode is just a bunch of little quick races where you can go to try to get the highest medal you can; but the only problem is, you have to pick the medal you want to go to before the event. In order, from easiest to most difficult, they go Steel, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and then the most frustrating of all being Platinum. In the first 8 chapters, you have to earn 6 medals in a car and 6 on a bike, totaling to 12 per chapter. In the final 2 chapters, one chapter focuses solely on bikes while the other focuses solely on cars.

Different Race Types:

Breakthrough-Basically a checkpoint event where you start out with a certain time limit and every time you pass under a checkpoint, time is added to the clock.

Cone Sprint-You must carefully navigate through the cones set around a track. If you hit a cone or fail to go through a gate, you suffer a time penalty.

Eliminator- You must try to stay out of last place as the timer ticks down because every time that timer hits zero, someone gets eliminated.

Hot Lap- The game starts you off with a rolling start and gives you 1 lap to run as fast around the track as you possibly can.

One on One- It is basically a street race with only one other competitor.

Overtake- There are cars of a lower class than you roaming around the track, you have a set time to try to pass as many of them as you possibly can before that timer hits zero.

Speed Challenge- There are 4 checkpoints (most of time set at the worst possible spot on the track) that record your speed as you pass under it, the driver with the highest total speed is the winner.

Street Race- It is you against multiple opponents.

Super Cone Sprint- An entire course made of cones that you must navigate as quickly and cleanly as possible. Penalties are given for going outside the course set and/or knocking over cones.

Superstar- You must earn as many Kudos Stars as possible. 1 star is given for every 100 Kudos earned before the Kudos gets banked.

Time VS Kudos- This is basically a Timed Run to where you can stop the clock by earning Kudos.

Timed Run- You must try to complete the course as fast as possible.

Multiplayer:

You can still play online if you create a lobby and invite your friends to play; but, you’ll be lucky to find someone in matchmaking.

My View:

Overall I feel this game is a great buy at $4. Most cars are easy enough for a novice racer to pick up and race in while others are a real handful; and, even though the multiplayer in the game is about dead, the Single Player portion is great and tons of fun. I didn’t care too much for the music track but that’s an easy problem to solve, just turn the music volume all the way down and play music from a computer or just plug in an iPod.

*I don’t do a rating system like most people who write reviews because all that is opinionated and not important to the concept of the game at all. I want others' judgment to be on what the game has to offer not “10/10 graphics” and other nonsense people throw in to try to sweeten up a game.*

Age:  19

Location: North Carolina

Home Town: North Carolina

Occupation: Owner of iPlayGames

Position in EGC: Elite Ops

Time with EGC:  2 year

Favorite Game:  Predator: Concrete Jungle

Favorite Drink:  Green Tea

Favorite TV Show: Nightmare before Christmas

Favorite Candy:  Crunch Bars

Hobbies:  Gaming, Poetry, Watching Movies

Best Ally: No one. Lone Wolf.

Worst Enemy: IETKI KOOLAID

Motto: Better to die on your feet, than live on your knees.

1 Word in Order to Describe One’s Self:  Asshole

2. All interviewees must be a member of EGC for at least two weeks and an active member.

3. An interviewee can only be interviewed once.

4. The questions are simple. A picture of one's self, though, is recommended, but not required.

5. Times can be set up via the EGC Website, Email, or Xbox Live.

6. If one does not wish to participate in the interview, they are able to send a message when asked to say one is not interested.

Please note that if there are any sports games, I will suggest someone else to write a review on said game, unless it is a racing game.

Nyx

• Research and posting news of upcoming releases of games, games that are currently out and should gain more recognition.
• Gain information from events such as E3 or any related events.
• Post general news going on in the world
• Interview members new and old, preferably one member per week
• Find info on new accessories such as but not limited to: headsets and controller

            I feel that by doing this it may be able to bring more interaction within the community.  If anyone would like to join msg me on here or live or post here.  Basically anyone who accepts will be the "Media" section of EGC.  Any questions, comments or suggestions post and I will keep an eye out on the forums.  

guessing they delayed GOW3 cause the carmine debate. i was looking forward to that game the most

BioShock2 At first it does not give you the pleasure of Bioshock 1, but once you really get into the story you enjoy the game a lot more.

All the weapons are very fun to use. You also get more free will as to your choices. Such as Instead of going for revenge you can

forgive. I can't say anything for multiplayer never got around to it. But using your powers,  with your environment is a great asset in the

game. Over all the game is amazing, the ending is beautiful and the story is touching. I recommend this game to anyone (old enough

to play it.) who has some spare money, and some time to spend.

Black Ops. I will not say much for the single player except it does not look as intense as MW2s single player.

The Multiplayer looks out of this world. Graphics are a step up from WaW's but that is a perfect level in my opinion. The fire fights

look fierce, and kill streaks look like much fun. Cameras-Remote control explosive car. Along with the usuals. Now the weapons

M16A1, Famas, SV-98, Crossbow, and MP5K. The new ballistics Knife is a step up from a throwing knife, now making more

sense in killing someone. And of course being able to tape the match and save it like in Halo is a perfect add-on to this game

now everyone can save their favorite call of duty moments. The way people are going to play this one will probly be camping

still, but also it seems to have the CoD4/WaW feel to it so we will see more open combat. This game looks to be a great add to

the series. Recommend for any old enough to play it. 

One specifically for this interview :) Come on Coldsnaaaaap you know you wanna :D

Age: 34

Location: Lake Arrowhead, Ca

Occupation:  Electrician

Position in EGC:  Council Member,  He started with us after being a General in XGC and has since spent his time as a Section Leader, and Division Leader.

Time with EGC:  Since the beginning Nov 2009

Favorite Game:  Modern Warfare 2

Other games recently played:  Gears of War 3, Lost Planet, Assassins Creed

Motto:  Check ur Head

If he could describe himself in 1 word his would be:  Laidback