It had been working for awhile until last week. Frank fell asleep, froze up if you will during a particularly intense firefight in Vegas 2. I just started to play this as it has been sitting on my shelf for months and I had not loaded it to the hard drive yet. So I tried that and started again. “Freeze” said Frank, and I could play no more.

I restarted Frank and this time he froze before even getting started and then I knew what was happening. Frank had the virus and only precious seconds to live. I powered him down and then back up. It was for the last time, Frank was no more.

As Frank was the 4th of his brothers that I have owned, I knew the procedure quite well. I called the number, told them what had happened, and both I and the operator on the other end shared a brief moment of silence for poor Frank.

Then ‘Nick’ as he called himself had more bad news for me. After checking his records, he noticed that it has been more than three years since my original purchase and that I would have to pay to have Frank ‘fixed’. I ‘calmly’ told ‘Nick’ that this was Frank the 4th and I would not be paying for him to be fixed, but fixed he shall be. ‘Nick’ went away to talk to a supervisor and when he came back all was well. Microsoft would take care of Frank for free.

After a few minutes of hugging and fond memories, I got Frank all wrapped up and into his cardboard coffin and sent him off to the Xbox morgue. That was on Friday, July 17th, 2009.

I am sad that I lost Frank the 4th, but am I happy because I just called home and my girlfriend told me that the gaming stork dropped off my new/fixed bundle of Xboxy goodness. So rest in peace Frank the 4th, I hope Frank the 5th lives a nice long life.

UPDATE: Frank the 5th is running like a charm, and they threw in a free month of Xbox live as well. I know that is not much, but it is something and really it only took them one business day to get Frank the 5th to me.

It’s huge! I really mean it!

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The scientist from the movies has his own facebook page where you can learn about the events happening up until the release of the film. You can also check out his lab here.

Lastly, here is a little image gallery of the 9 stitchpunk characters from the movie.

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Check out the trailer below for yourself!

So I will continue this review from my bigger TV upstairs

Here are a few screen shots and a trailer for you to check out for now.

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It is basically a tower defense game where you have to defend your house from the brain eating zombies. In the story mode each round you play earns you either a new plant to help defend your house, or a new mode of play. You can also earn money to purchase other weapons or upgrade current ones.

I have to say that this game can be addicting. I have turned it on for a few rounds quite a few times and then noticed I just burned two hours without blinking. At the very least, you need to get the demo for this. If you like it at all then I suggest you pick it up. With all the different modes, there is a ton to do, lots to buy.

Plus you get to kill zombies with plants!

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I would also like to mention that the entire Chronicles of Riddick – Escape from Butcher Bay has been re-mastered and is included on the disc as well. That’s right, two games in one. I have not had a chance to play it yet, but who cares? It’s like getting a game for free!

One more thing I would like to say before I talk about the game is that the menu screens are really cool. Never seen it done like that before, nice and quick but still very animated.

So like I said, this is not going to win any awards for graphics. Seeing as we don’t play games simply for the graphics, we can easily get past that right? Right? With this game we can for sure.

Some other reviews have stated that the controls don’t feel right, or are ’swimmy’. I have to say that I like the controls very much. It feels more real than most first person games like this. It’s hard to explain. It is not instant when you push forward. It almost feels like you would really move. Like you need half a second to get moving fully. Very fluid, not like a game at all.

Assault on Dark Athena starts off with Riddick’s ship pulled in by the tractor beam of the huge ship Athena. Captain Revas is the primary bitch, I mean antagonist of this 10+ hour campaign. Her ship is full of mercs and drones, which are former humans who are now more like zombie borg with built in remote controls. Yes, you eventually get to pilot some yourself. Let the bodies hit the floor…

So what about the gameplay? Violent and fun with some very liberal language thrown in. Skulking around in the dark using your ‘eye shine’ to sneak up and kill someone is very fun. There are lots of fantastic death animations depending on how you kill someone and with what weapon.

You will find a lot of Drones all around. I won’t spoil too much for you, but they are sort of mindless guards, kind of like the borg. When you kill one, you can pick it up and use it as a shield and can use it’s weapons on other enemies.

The story line will keep you interested, especially if you are a fan of the Riddick universe. Plus, hearing Vin Diesel doing the voice over is awesome. He does a great job play Riddick in this. Actually, all the characters have very good voice actors and you will enjoy almost all the conversations you have. From enemies to other prisoners waiting to be turned into drones, all the voice acting is great.

So what are my final thoughts? Great violent game where you control an awesome character, mixed in with tons of different things to do and great story and voice acting. Yes, that sums it up nicely. I am not sure if I have ever recommended a game on this site before, but I am giving this game a ‘Buy’ rating. Great game, and great value with Escape from Butcher bay thrown in for free.

I will leave you with some screenshots and a trailer to check out.

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