It's really a good thing there's a bit of a lull in major new releases.  I'm still buried under a mountain of great games from the past few months -- Civ Rev, Lego Indy, Battlefield Bad Company.  Heck, I was playing Puzzle Quest last night (new DLC!) and finally beat the Rock Band expert guitar tour last weekend. 

What's really been eating my precious "kids are asleep" evening time has been Metal Gear Solid 4 though.  I powered through MGS 3 in advance (which had been in "the stack" since it came out) and wasn't too impressed -- honestly MGS fanboyism was keeping me going more than the quality of the experience itself.  But MGS 4 is a different story -- I'm quite impressed.  Now I'm a sucker for the kind of overblown cinematics that are the hallmark of the MGS series, and those certainly are looking more amazing than ever (as well as being longer and more numerous).  But what I'm enjoying most is that the UI finally is catching up to other, more sane games.  When I have a combat in MGS 4 I actually kind of feel like I'm playing a competently-executed shooter.  Maybe that's damning with faint praise, but it's a huge step up from the combat in the previous games.  

Plus, it's just way more fun than it ought to be to be sneaking around in a super camo suit.

Of course, this week did bring Final Fantasy 4, this time the DS remake.  It's like the 4th time I've bought that game now, but I never seem to get past the midgame.  We'll see if I break the curse this time.  So far, I'm hooked, and actually getting into it a lot more than I was for the GBA version, for sure. 

Siren on the PSN, also recently released, is luring me in but so far I've resisted.  MGS4 and trying to finish up some Achievements on GTA 4 still are occupying that oh-so-valuable late evening time...