So another Christmas over, and as usual it went by lightning fast as was an exceptionally good few days. Wonderful gifts as always, and I am truly humbled by everyone's generosity just like every year. Here are my personal highlights from this year's festive treats:
If you haven't tasted any of Green and Blacks deliciously tasty chocolate range then go and do yourself a bloody favour and buy the 'Tasting Collection Boxset'. This wonderful gift that was given to me from both Tina and Barbie is quite simply F*CKING AMAZBALLS. It even comes with an assorted selection of recipe cards. I love the description they put on the back of each flavour as well...it just makes me drool even thinking about it! If you placed a bet on what present I opened first (i.e the one I decided to look at first), you can be damn sure that it was this one!
For quite some time now I've heard people on the Internet rattling on about how Skyrim will be the be all and end all to their life upon it's release. Apparently the Elder Scrolls series has been known to break up couples over it's almost drug-like addiction that people seem to have over it. I bought into this hype, and requested it on my wish list which Louise so kindly got for me. I'm probably a fair few hours into it by now, and yet I've been to distracted to even attempt a tackle with the main storyline, I've been mostly observing the everyday life in Skyrim (a fictional Nordic land) and just gazing at this beauty of a game. Now when I say beautiful it isn't necessary the graphics I'm talking about but instead the great detail that the developer Bethesda has put into every person and object in this world. For half an hour I watched a local woodcutter go to the forest of Mithdral, cut down this massive tree, chop it up into bits and saw it into pieces. He then took the wood pile back to the village where he plonked it all onto a bench, pulled a lever and watched as it got diced up even more by the primitive machinery of that time and dumped into a pile where a few assorted villagers would perhaps grab a log everynow and then for their fire. Thanks to the games neat dialogue system I (my character being a war torn elf from Cyrodil who had just escaped near certain death from a Dragon attack in Helgen) had a brief chat with the woodcutters wife and found out that someone had broken into their house a few night ago and stolen a precious gold encrusted Dragon claw from them. Me, having stumbled across that very same item on my travels to the village (surrounded by a heap of bodies, presumably bandits murdered by a pack of wolves) gave it back to the couple, much to their delight. I found out later that the woodcutters daughter had died in a terrible accident a few years prior and the golden claw was the only item the couple had left of her. Now that story I just told you? That was ONE tiny detail of ONE tiny couple in the vast world of this game. It wasn't even a main quest. It was just there, and that was something I only accidentely stumbled upon in the beginning of the game, located in a small village situed in the middle of who knows where! Amazing, isn't it? Such small details like this are what Skyrim has so far excelled at. It really feels like a breathing, organic world that continues to exist even after you put the controller down.
Back in my Top 5 Most Anticipated Games list I said that Arkham City looked 'f*cking amazing'. Having just finished the main Story mode, I can safely say that this is exactly how I would describe this game. Provided by Matriarch Barbie this game is what happens when you take a really good Batman Graphic Novel and put it into the interactive experience that only a game can deliver. Just like the previous entry of the 'Arkham' series, this game truly makes you feel like Batman. It nails the atmosphere, Arkham City is realised in mesmerising detail (although not Skyrim detail mind, but then again what is?) and filled with over 400 Riddler challenges, trophies and puzzles to overcome and collect. Combine that with a Storyline that could give a live action film a run for it's money (Mark Hamill delivers an Oscar worthy voice performance as The Joker, poisoned by Titan from the last game and facing his final days) a masterful soundtrack and an EXTREME level of polish and you have one of the best games of all time. PERIOD. Come on, just listen to this track and tell me you don't want to just pick up a controller and start playing this game. I. DARE. YOU.
A weird thing to put on this list perhaps, but I really do love this alarm clock! Just seeing the ball going around the little circuit while triggering the alarm is quite charming, just like one of Wallace's mad inventions. Well done Barbie for picking up on my love for Wallace And Gromit.
Saints Row The Third is one of the most weird games I've ever played. You can sort of compare it 'The Simpsons Game' in the way it manages to incorporate various elements of pop culture in a truly zany way. You name it and it's in this game: Zombies, Tron, Grand Theft Auto, Showbiz, Michael Bay set-pieces, Star Wars... the list could just go on and on. This game is insane and it's definitely the most entertaining game out of the bunch. Thanks to Dad for the great gift!
Another year has gone by, so therefore another Call Of Duty game has been released. Having only played the campaign yet it's still one of the most adrenaline fuelled, heart pumping and awegasmic action franchises out there, it's just that it feels a bit to similar to the Black Ops campaign if you ask me. Still a great game though. Thank you Dad!
And thank you Mum for finally allowing me access to Xbox Live, which opens up so much new untapped content on all my previous games. I feel practically spoiled now!
Notable Mentions (stuff that I also really liked):
- The Brian Cox book that was a nice gift from Jack & Leanne.
- The 'Photographed without Permission' T-shirt from Barbie!
- The new blanket that Mum got me, sooo silky smooth I could just die in it and feel like my life was complete.
- The Xbox Hardrive, another essential piece of equipment.
- All the other Blu-Rays (Thor, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, Super 8, Transformers Dark of the Moon)
- Watching a Muppet's Xmas Carol with the family.
- Xmas Dinner.
Well that's my 'Best Of' list done. Notice how I didn't include Doctor Who this Year? That's because it was mostly crap I thought, really scatterbrained Story. WHAT WAS THEY THINKING?! First real clunker the show's had for me since 'The Curse Of The Black Spot'.
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| HINT: The T-Shirt IS A LIE! |
P.S HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Gosh it's been a good year (so far of course, there's still a few hours left) and what a splendid way to end it! Shame Doctor Who sucked though...Sherlock anyone?
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