Tom Clancy Round Up

The Goozer Says—Ubisoft is about to add another Tom Clancy title to their library tomorrow. This makes for perfect timing to round up all of the titles: including current values on eBay and Goozex, links to reviews, and a mini-discussion on the franchise and the EndWar demo.

The Tom Clancy titles never got the full respect they deserve from me. I’ve only played Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. I loved Splinter Cell and I cannot wait for the 2009 follow up. The game was a good change of pace after playing the CoD franchise religiously. On the other hand, GRAW was a bit difficult, but it was still fun to play, although I never finished the very last mission. I’ll probably still play GRAW 2, but it might be sometime in the distant future.

Rainbow Six Vegas is currently sitting on my shelf. I’ve been holding off playing it until I’m done with GRiD, Saints Row, and Battlefield: Bad Company. Currently, RSV is getting the shaft and collecting dust. But I’ll get to it, eventually, and I’m sure it will be a solid play. Yes, the Tom Clancy titles are good, but there are better games out there.

As for EndWar, I asked two other gamers their opinion of the demo, one replied back saying they couldn’t play it because he didn’t own headphones. While it’s true a good set of headphones enriches the game, you can bypass this option and still play, it just won’t be as fun.

The other gamer I asked to comment on the demo said, “Played a bit, but didn't understand really how to play. It didn't suck me in—the only thing I thought was fun was doing the voice commands. I've since deleted it and have no plans to ever play it again. BAD DEMO.”

He was right about one thing, the demo is not intuitive, and it takes several tries to figure out the game play. I really wanted to like this game. So I gave it several chances. At first, I liked it, then I didn’t like it, then I decided, yeah, I like it enough to trade for it down the line. It’s not a $60 purchase in my opinion or the opinion of the two dudes I asked to comment on it. It appears that Real-Time Strategy games on the Xbox 360 and PS3 have a very uphill climb.

But still, the TC titles are worth playing. And you can get them cheap. Dirt cheap. 

EndWar: Releases November 4

Splinter Cell: Conviction: Coming in 2009

GRAW: eBay $5.00; Goozex 350; Metacritic 90

GRAW 2: eBay $9.99; Goozex 450; Metacritic 86

Rainbow Six Vegas: eBay $10.00; Goozex 450; Metacritic 89

Rainbow Six Vegas 2: eBay $20.00; Goozex 550; Metacritic 82

Splinter Cell: Double Agent: eBay $8.99; Goozex 400; Metacritic 85

Grand Theft Auto IV Drops in Value

It's time for another Point Drop Roundup. The biggest news is that Grand Theft Auto IV has dropped in value. That’s right kids, the critics favorite has started dropping in value. It will be interesting to see if it rebounds like Call of Duty 4.

It might be time to request Madden NFL 08. It has not dropped in value since the end of August and 400 points is pretty cheap for a game with a Metacritic score of 85.

Here's a list of games to hold out for because they are dropping in value week-after-week:

• Burnout Paradise
  
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
  
• Gears of War
  
• Halo 3
  
• Orange Box
  
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 2
  

Here's a list of games that have dropped marginally in value:

• DiRT
  
• Don King Presents Prizefighter (I wouldn’t be surprised if this one starts dropping value week-after-week)
  
• Elder Scrolls: Shivering Isles
  
• Fight Night Round 3
  
• NHL 07
  
• NHL 2K6, 2K7, and 2K8
  
• Tom Clancy’s GRAW (I’m currently playing this one, and it’s HARD)
  
• Viking: Battle for Asgard