Just finished Bioshock - for the first time. Yes, I realize how uncool that makes me, to just be finishing it, but that's how the life of a married, full-time working at a game publisher, game reviewing on the side man goes sometimes. You just don't have time to play anything for yourself if its not portable. But at least the first thing I did when I shed my account manager duties and went on a writing hiatus for AceGamez.us.com was bust open Bioshock. And had it not been for more tragic events in a month than I've experienced in my 25 years of life, I'd have had it done weeks ago. But alas, it could only happen today.

I didn't harvest any of the Sisters, so I got a happy ending that was so sugary sweet. Sarcasm aside, it was a nice ending, even if it says NOTHING about the "Kraut." The final boss was a bit lame too, as I just powered through that shit. Frag grenades, ho!

But it was relieving to actually finish a game from start to finish (which my wife and I also did two nights ago with Zack and Wiki), its not too often I accomplish that anymore. When reviewing, I had a rough time line where I had to have a game played and written about in so many weeks so the publisher got the most out of sending us a review copy, which meant that I would log between 5-10 hours into each game (depending on the game's length and how much I needed to play to make a fair opinion on the game). I played some pretty awesome games over the year and a half I was reviewing full-time and maybe finished a fraction, at best, of them. Which hurts, because I invested well over 20 hours in both FFXII and Twilight Princess and have yet to return to them because of the need to play and review other games until just now.

I'm not complaining, it was a choice I made without a fight, but there is this satisfaction and closure that comes with completing a game - especially a good or excellent one - that can't be beat. And I began to lose a bit of interest in gaming because I was beating so very few of the games I was reviewing, not to mention the overload of games I play through at my day job every week.

Anyone looking to pick up Bomberman Wii this week only need to know this - single player is a ton of mini-games that use a variety of control and waggle schemes stuffed into a retarded story about some douche bag Bomberman douching around a resort. But multiplayer is tried-and-true Bomberman with loads of options (play modes, items, maps, etc.) and does a nifty thing in allowing one player to use a Wii Remote and the other to use a Nunchuk for two players using "one controller" action. Very smart of them and makes it so you don't need 8 controllers (especially since the Wii can't handle that many at once). Just make sure you like the person next to you or they don't smell. Graphics are meh, single player is meh, but multiplayer and its bucket of options are so much fun that if you are into that, it's hard to ignore. I'd give the game a 5 out of 10 if you don't plan to multiplayer much, a 6.5 if you do plan to multiplayer the hell out of it.

All the Brawl news that's been making its way out already is pretty neat, especially since I've seen every secret character in photographic proof form except for Wolf (but I'm sure there's proof out on the Web somewhere). Brawl really is an amazing game, as long as you like Super Smash Bros. There is NOTHING there to convince anyone who didn't like the series before that they should change their mind. Its just Melee but bigger, tighter and prettier. So if you love Smash Bros, you will love to no end Brawl. Me, I love the hell out of the Smash Bros series and having spent time with much of the single player modes as well as a few four player brawls, its easily a 10 out of 10 game. Fighting is as over the top and simple to enjoy as it ever was, none of the control schemes really bother me (though I still prefer the Gamecube controller), the addition of the Masterpieces is brilliant (especially after U.S. fans find out what's coming in theirs), and when people put this much love into a game, its hard to not feel it coursing through your veins while you play. Just the sheer about of shit to do, not to mention all the characters, options, modes, secrets, etc. make Brawl such an easy purchase that will last until the next Smash Bros game comes out for whatever Nintendo's next system ends up being, since Melee proved that you don't need to release sequels every year to keep selling and selling and selling.

Now that Bioshock is done, its time to finally hit up another crictially-acclaimed game I have yet to ever play - Resident Evil 4. I've got the Wii Edition and its time to finally play it.