Game of the Fortnight

I say unto you: screw the other games that are being released this fortnight. Halo Warz, Tom Clancy's Hawkxz, Killzones 2, whatever, those games are total garbage. (Disclaimer: the author has not actually played any of these games and he is neither qualified to comment on them nor spell them correctly. The author hasn't even gotten around to playing Fabled Deux.) The new best game on the earth is the Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble album Texas Flood.

It's been a looong time since I've played the Rock Band solo. It's weird: because playing Rock Band with your friends is exponentially more awesome than playing solo, standing alone in front of your television plinking away at a prosthetic guitar, which I did on an almost-daily basis throughout 2006 and 2007, feels-- less than; intercourse robs masturbation of its charm.

And this is the great thing about Texas Flood: it's a guitar album. It will hold no interest for your drummers or Bon-Jovi-lovin' social set. You'll never get a group of friends over on Saturday night to belt out Lenny, it just isn't that type of experience. What it will do is transport you back to late 2005, when you were huddled in front of your Playstation 2 with your headphones on at 3AM, playing the title track on repeat and feeling your newfound guitar skills converge on the ludicrous fretwork. (Speaking of which: how did we ever play Texas Flood with the utterly broken hammeron/pullof system of the original Guitar Hero?) And you will think to yourself: making great guitar music by tapping away fisherprice guitar is damn fun. Someone should make more of this game.