It’s been almost two weeks since my previous gamerscore update and I feel I haven’t done so well this time. Whilst I’ve been playing a few games, I seem to have been distracted by other hobbies lately. That said, let’s see what I’ve been up to.

Lego Indiana Jones
Not long to go now with this game. I managed to bring my gamerscore up to 940 out of 1000. Not bad really, with only a few achievements left (which will be quite boring and repetitive, especially the one where I need to disarm numerous enemies). I should be able to 100% Lego Indiana Jones if I can gear myself up to finish up on the loose ends.

Scene It? Box Office Smash
With the new Scene It downloadable content me and my girlfriend have been playing this quite a bit recently. We played it quite a lot before, but it’s nice to have some new questions and clips to watch. We also managed to get what I would consider to be the two hardest achievements in the game requiring a score of 300,000 and 330,000 with DLC, bringing the total gamerscore for this game to 1100 out of 1250.

Burnout Paradise
I couldn’t wait for the release of the new Ultimate Box edition, and I wasn’t disappointed! This version of Burnout Paradise contains a lot of (or all of) the previous DLC on disc, saving some room for quite a small hard drive (yes, even on the elite. Why don’t Microsoft release a huge and cheap drive? Well, we all know why. But I wish they would do it!). Anyway, the game still looks gorgeous and is very exciting and fun to play. I love the takedown game modes and exploring the huge map. I haven’t had time to play this as much as I’d like to, sporting only a measly 185 gamerscore for this game.

Recent Gamerscore Summary:

• Street fighter IV – 130/1000
• Fuzion Frenzy 2 – 25/1000
• Scene It? Box Office Smash – 1100/1250
• Dawn of War 2 – 35/1000
• Lego Indiana Jones – 940/1000
• Lord of the Rings: Conquest – 85/1000
• Burnout Paradise – 185/1050

Total Gamerscore: 33,610

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There’s nothing quite like inviting a few friends over, having a couple of beers, ordering some pizza, and enjoying an awesome nights gaming on your Xbox 360. But what games are best for events such as these? Here are a few suggestions.

1 on 1. Winner Stays On
Fighting games are ideal for quick plays whilst those not playing can enjoy watching the intense action. Each bout should only last a few minutes, meaning those on the sidelines can enjoy a quick beer before leaping back into battle.

Game of Choice: Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix – For it’s great mix of nostalgic fun, intense battles, fluid fighting, and great new graphics.

Other Recommended Games:

• Street Fighter IV (4)
  
• Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting
• Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
• Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe

4 Player Chaos!
Much like the 1 on 1 battles, these 4 playered games are great for short rounds. However, these games are better suited for larger crowds. So if you have a lot of friends over, you can easily entertain four of them at a time.

Game of Choice: Small Arms – With power-ups, interesting characters and stages, it’s great fun trying to blast each other off the level (a bit like Smash Bros. on the Wii).

Other Recommended Games:

• Worms
• Bomberman

4 Player Party Games
Sometimes it’s nice to take your time over games. You don’t always want intense and aggressive action to fill your evening. Here are a few games where you call each sit back and use your brain instead of your fists (or guns!)

Game of Choice: Scene it: Box Office Smash – With the ability to have your own Xbox 360 avatars appear within the game, this really adds to the fun. Also, the questions are a lot better than the previous instalment.

Other Recommended Games:

• Scene it: Lights, Camera, Action
• Monopoly

Playing Sweet, Sweet Music
This section probably best suits an evening with friends. I’ve been to a lot of parties where it’s not long before someone either gets out some microphones or starts singing along to a CD.

Game of Choice: Guitar Hero: World Tour – 4 player fun with a microphone, two guitars and a drum kit. This really is an entertaining game for a group of friends.

Other Recommended Games:

• Rock Band 1 or 2 (equally as good as Guitar Hero)
• Guitar Hero 2 or 3
• Lips
• Disney Sing It (if your really drunk!)

Football Games
I’m not a huge fan of football myself, but with friends it can be a lot of fun. These games are ideal for 1 on 1 matches, or a tournament to mix things up and see who comes out on top.

Game of Choice: Fifa 09 – The best football game currently out on the Xbox 360.

Other Recommended Games:

• Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

Arcade Action!
Fancy some entertaining Xbox Live Arcade games? Then check out these great 4 playered titles.

Game of Choice: Castle Crashers – One of the most enjoyable, funny, and overall entertaining games I have ever played.

Other Recommended Games:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Arcade
• Track and Field

Only have 1 friend over?
Not to worry, try out…

Retail Games:

• Halo 3 co-op
• Gears of War 2 co-op and Horde Mode
• Rainbow Six: Vegas 2

Xbox 360 Arcade Games:

• Streets of Rage 2
• Golden Axe
• Metal Slug 3

I hope this post helps many of you in finding great games to play when you have friends over. Please feel free to comment on any recommendations you might have, or some of the xbox 360 gaming nights you have experienced.

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It’s been 10 days since my last gamerscore update and I don’t seem to have made a huge improvement really. I guess it’s because I’ve mostly been playing Guitar Hero games this past week which are quite hard (or time consuming) to earn achievements on.

The best game for earning achievements this past week has been Lego Indiana Jones. So far I have managed to scrape together 540 points, but I intend to reach the full 1000 gamerscore. For me, Lego Indiana Jones is probably my least favourite out of the Lego series (Starwars: The Complete Saga, and Lego Batman), but having said that it is still fun to play in short bursts.

Another game I have just started to play after a HUGE break is Two Worlds; an RPG which has had some pretty awful reviews. After playing Too Human a lot of you must wonder what attracts me to negatively reviewed RPGs. At first glance (especially after the intro) I was turned against this game, but after giving it a chance and playing through it for a couple of hours I’ve grown to like it (eventhough I can’t seem to find any lockpicks ANYWHERE!). It’s not too bad, and I may review my experiences playing it fairly soon.

Recent Xbox 360 Gamerscore Totals

• Guitar Hero 3 (125/1000)
• Guitar Hero 2 (320/1000)
• Two Worlds (125/1000)
• Lego Indiana Jones (540/1000)
• Bionic Commando (20/200)

Total Gamerscore: 32,525

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It’s been just over a week since my last gaming update (previously named “weekly update”). I haven’t really managed to settle on a naming convention for this regular post, but for now “Gamerscore Update” seems most fitting as it might be a little tough sometimes to post an update on the same day of each week. Anyway…

This week I haven’t managed to play on my xbox 360 as much as I probably would have liked (I had 3 days without playing anything!). That said, I did manage to have some fun and earn a few achievements along the way.

Too Human (675/1000)
I finally got around to finishing this game (although by finished I mean just the main story, not the full 1000 gamerscore). Overall I really enjoyed this game. Sure, it got some negative reviews and there is a lot of room for improvement, but I will definitely be returning to Too Human for some more online co-op and a few more achievements.

The Maw (180/200)
I’ve already written a post about how awesome Maw is. This is definitely one of the top 5 xbox live arcade games I have ever played. (Castle Crashers still holds the number 1 spot for me I’m afraid).

Assault Heroes (50/200)
This is one of those games I thought I’d try as it was only 400 points. So far I’ve only had time to blast through the first level, but this is an incredibly fun arcade game. I can’t wait to try it co-op with a friend.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (300/1000)
I managed to get quite a good deal for this and purchased it for my Girlfriend’s son as a birthday present. Eventhough it mainly consists of Aerosmith songs, there are quite a few others to make it not too samey/repetitive. The game feels fresh and exciting and we all really enjoy playing this game. For those who love easy achievements, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a lot easier than the other Guitar Hero games.

GRAW 2 (45/1000)
This is another game I managed to get a good deal on. Infact, I got a very good deal on Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter: Legacy Edition (£9.99 from play.com). I’ve always loved the Rainbow Six games, but never really enjoyed Ghost Recon. For the price though (with all the additional content), I thought Id give it a try. So far I have only got through the training and it’s… okay. I think I need to play this more before I can really find out if I like it or not.

Current Gamerscore: 31940

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This week I have mostly been enjoying Too Human as well as setting up this blog and a brand new HD TV with stand, so I haven’t had much time to play many games. However, here is a list of the games I have been playing this week:

Too Human (390/1000)
As you already know if you have read the blog post this week, I have been enjoying playing this in online co-op mode with my girlfriend’s son. So far we are both about level 20 and have completed the first 2 level’s/worlds in both single player (to watch all the cut scenes) and multiplayer.

Scene It? Box Office Smash (855/1000)
This is the game I play most with my girlfriend. We both make a great team and often play online together. This is a fantastic family game and a HUGE improvement over the original. One of the best features of this game is that you can play using your own Xbox Avatars.

Gears of War 2 (495/1175)
One of the best games I have ever played! I have already finished the game on normal and am currently playing through on the insane setting. I’ve got to about Act 3 now. I’m also enjoying this game on Horde Mode (I got to about 30 waves) and various online multiplayer matches.

Guitar Hero: World Tour (170/1000)
This game is SO addictive! I used to think that this game would be pretty pointless as I can already play the guitar. I thought that spending time trying to master this would be wasted when I could be spending it developing my real guitar skills. However, this is really fun to play and is great fun with friends! Unfortunately I only have the guitar version (not the full band set) so I can only play this with friends on guitar. This also limits me quite heavily in obtainable achievements.

Current Gamerscore: 30,950

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