Holidaze

I am not a "bah humbug" kind of a guy - far from it. I legitimately enjoy Christmas and New Year's, especially with a little one now in the picture. Heck, next year he'll be 2 and a half, and will actually start to "get it" with Santa, presents, and so on.

But I am also not going to kid you. I am glad that the holidays are over. It's simply too busy too much, and I don't even do the shopping! Between furiously trying to make sure work is covered, packing up and going to all the different places we have to go, and meeting all the obligations we have, Christmas and New Year's are exhausting. So while I love 'em, I'm also glad that I am heading back to work and a normal schedule in a couple of days.

I have been able to take a little time and play some games over the past month or so, though, which has been a nice bonus. With so many games in my backlog, it's been exceedingly hard to figure out which ones to choose from. Luckily, I had one choice made for me due to a review. So here's the rundown:

Call of Duty: World At War (PS3)

I've played plenty of CoD's, and they're almost always terrific. Modern Warfare was a particularly high watermark in the series, and to be honest I was not exactly clamoring to jump right back into World War II (especially after spending November in Brothers in Arms). However, World At War takes all of the things that make CoD great and puts them together in a package so polished, gritty, and complete, I was blown away.

The single player campaign was simply tremendous, especially the Russian campaign into Berlin. Full disclosure: I am a big WWII buff and my favorite battles have always been Stalingrad and Berlin. The developers did such an amazing job with the final battles in Europe that I was stunned. The final levels, putting you in the shoes of the Russians storming the Reichstag and planting the Soviet flag on the roof, were just incredible. I can see how some people might not "get it" - it's just another level in another linear shooter - but damn it to hell if I didn't love every second of it.

Yes, it's hard. Yes, it's another WWII game. But it looks amazing, sounds terrific, controls perfectly, and you get to get yelled at by Keifer Sutherland. What more do you need?

Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360)

This one had been sitting on my backlog pile for over a year, and I finally decided to give it a whirl. Man, it looks good. But that can only take you so far. About 3 or 4 hours in, after caling the same tower about 5 times, and committing the same assassination 3 times, I decided I was bored. As an added "bonus", none of my Achievements were saving. While I know that shouldn't matter, it was the straw the broke the back, and I put it back on the pile.

I don't have time to play games that I don't like, after all. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Godfather: The Game (Xbox 360)

This one had been sitting on the backlog even longer. I'm not exactly a Godfather fan (hell, I never even saw the movie front to back) but I had always wanted to spend some quality time in the universe that EA created.

Remeber all that complaining I did about Assassin's Creed? You know, repetitive missions? Doing the same thing over and over? Well, take that, and add in the fact that the games looks ass ugly, and that's Godfather.

However, and this makes no sense, I'm enjoying it immensely. It's basically a GTA clone with lousy cars and an ordinary story, but I am getting a big kick out of taking over neighborhoods, advancing up the Corleone family ranks, buying properties, and taking over gambling and prostitution rackets. I also like the RPG-esque character upgrades; I have dedicated all my skill points to shooting so far, and with fantastic results. My dude can take out a kneecap at 50 yards no sweat, which comes in very handy when you're trying to eliminate a couple of dozen rival family thugs.

So that's where I am on New Year's 2009.

Happy New Year everyone!