text stringlengths 503 33.4k | labels stringclasses 23 values |
|---|---|
Really shows off the gorgeous graphics of the XBox 360. If you're a racing fan, this is a must-have game for your XBox 360. If you're just looking to see how good the graphics are on the XBox 360, at lesat rent this game. It's quite impressive!!
You choose from a number of real cars. There are Ferraris, Jaguars, Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, McLarens and much more. The cars look AMAZINGLY good with full detail, and you can choose the color as well.
You race your car through a number of circuits around some quite recognizeable towns. You end up in London, Las Vegas, New York City, Tokyo and Nurburgring. Each location is full of detail. When you drive down the river Thames in London you pass Big Ben. Vegas has gorgeous hotels that I remember from my visits there.
Doing fun stunts earns you Kudos points, so not only are you aiming to win your races to earn cash, but you also want to rack up Kudos points. That makes even the easier races fun, as you do spins, slides and much more.
The world you're in is quite interactive. The people watching the race take flash pictures as you drive past - but if you crash into a fence near them, they all cringe. There are clouds floating by overhead. Mostly, though, there are other racers on the track trying to get by you and steal the lead.
We found the controls to be very intuitive, and the cars handled quite nicely. Note that this is a GAME racing system - i.e. it's not pure realistic. If you smash into a wall at 100mph, your car does not explode into a thousand shards of metal. You simply spin off gently and keep going. That being said, most gamers really don't want a "realistic" racing game. They want a fun one, and this game delivers across the board.
I have to admit that for me, half the fun in this game is the gorgeous landscapes. In Vegas, you drive past the Excalibur and Treasure Island, and the details are picture-perfect. New York, New York is by the track in quite amazing clarity.
I also love the sound in this game - because the soundtrack options are simply awesome. You can choose from a number of soundtracks, from classical to alternative to J-Pop and more. You can even stream in music from your iPod or other MP3 player!
I suppose if you hate racing games, you probably will find this game to be boring. You're just racing cars around in circles with pretty scenery and great sound. But you'd have to be in the minority to not enjoy this game. The cars are amazing. The graphics are amazing. The sound is amazing. Because of the multiplayer options, including up to 8 simultanous live players online, you could play this game for eternity and still find people to challenge you.
If you want even MORE of a challenge, you can even create your own custom route through their maps! You can design your very own custom lap system and challenge others to play on it. Talk about variety!
Highly, highly recommended! | video-games_xbox |
A Must Play. "In days of old, when knights were bold, and journeyed from their castle.."
Okay, so it's an almost but not quite by the books Japanese RPG. I say that because you'll find all the staples of your typical Japanese RPG. Hero out to save the world? Check. Turn based battles? Check. Random battle sequences? Check. The good news? It adds a lot of refinements to the system, allowing for a great balance of nostalgic JRPG with a breath of fresh air.
The fresh air mostly comes from the heavy refinement of the battle and skill system. While it's not revolutionary (you'll still select battle commands, with usual attack, defend, item, magic, etc.), it definitely adds enough improvement in enough areas to keep you always improving and intrigued, and improvising strategies against the pretty clever enemy. To start, you have two different types of characters: Immortals and Humans. In any given battle, you can have a combination of up to five. You can put the five characters in to a formation. The formation allows you to have a Guard wall, which can drastically reduce the damage received by the party members in the back. The more characters you have up front, the stronger the wall, but the more damage the front takes, the weaker your wall becomes and more easily damaged your back row will be. Balancing the formation becomes key in protecting the weaker members of your party (health wise) so they can provide support and magics.
One of the main differences between the two is that Immortals will actually revive themselves after so many turns, no matter how many times they die, while a mortal must be revived by an item or magic. Another is how the learn their skills- A mortal learns skills by leveling up, while an Immortal learns skills by earning SP points from battles, that allow them to learn skills and magics from either equipment or from "linking" to skills known by mortals, which encourages using all of your characters on a regular basis.
Last but not least with the battle system, there are "rings". These provide different boosts (including extra damage, elemental damage, damage against certain enemy types, stealing items, absorbing health, etc) when the activated during the battle. When a character performs a regular attack, a circle appears on the screen, with another circle rapidly decreasing in size until they overlap. The idea is to try and pull the trigger when they exactly overlap to pull off either a "good" or "perfect" attack, increasing the effectiveness of the ring.
In regards to the story, the story itself is pretty good, with the typical plot twists and personal challenges and saving the world you'll find in most well regarded JRPG's. This game goes an extra mile in two ways, one with character development, and the other with presentation.
The characters are developed by using in game actions, cutscenes and dreams. And I must stress this, there are a LOT of all of them (especially dreams, although these can be skipped- however I recommend reading the dreams that appear in key events of the plot). This is very much a story centric game, with incredible detail and effort put in to the characters design, stories, backgrounds, and motivations. And the payload is incredible. By the end of the story, you will know come to really understand each and every character, and what lead them to where they are now, and why they are even involved at all. Every single one has a reason, and the player is pulled in to caring about every character. There are very few games that pay such attention to detail to breathing life and sustainability to their characters.
So after having spent so much time praising the game, there is one drawback, that while is annoyance, just barely stops the game from getting a perfect score. While the game is absolutely gorgeous (and I mean gorgeous, from the environments, to the enemies, to the cutscenes), the game suffers from constant struggles with the framerate. Once in a while is okay, but unfortunately it occurs just a little too frequently. Much of this can be alleviated by installing each disc to the 360's hard drive, but that shouldn't be needed on a console that sells arcade (units without hard drives) versions of the console. While none of them are showstoppers, they can have the ability to jar yourself back to reality after having been being pulled so deep in to the game.
All in all, the game is beautiful, fun, refined, and easily one of the best RPG's (and probably THE best JRPG) on the system, and is a must pickup for any fan of the genre. Despite the graphical slowdowns occuring just a tad bit too often, the occasional annoyance can be overlooked in favor the epic. This is a must play! | video-games_xbox |
Hardcore Action. As a worthy sequel to Sands of Time, Warrior Within dishes out the pain with brutal bling. Ubisoft Once again proves that they're out to make great games for GAMERS. The prince's loyal subjects will find their ruler a darker characer this time around. Love him or hate him, he's back for a final act...
Graphically, Warrior Within shines among the dank decreped ruins of ancient temples. Every character is lovingly rendered with detail and fluid animations. As for the fluidity of the gameplay, frame rates never drop. The CGI movies are beautiful and imaginative, however in game cutscenes could have used a bit more work.
Sounds are also amazing. Swords clatter and crash, enemies slice and dice and the backgrounds offer an entertaining ambient atmosphere. The only personal problem I had with the score was the inclusion of the alternative rock. Thats just something I don't like when I'm playing a game. Not to mention it brings back memories of "The Scorpion King". Those who have played Warrior Within and seen Scorpion King will join me in shuddering; and for those who enjoyed the poor man's Conan rendition via The Rock- I'm sorry for the last comment.
The gameplay itself feels easy and deviates little from the original. Gone is the nifty-swell blade of time. The prince sports his own death dealing bling in the form of a visceral scimitar like sword. He also has the ability to pick up and use the weapons of fallen enemies. Although these weapons aid and offer new moves-isn't duel wielding great?- these weapons can be thrown or used until they are destroyed. Time play is still at the heart of the gameplay. The prince will still use his command over time to get out of some sticky situations. Warrior Within feels much like Sands of Time, just darker. The one frustrating problem with the game is finding out where you're supposed to be and how to get there. Players can expect to pull some hair for a while before they make progress to new areas.
All in all, Warrior Within is another great title from Ubisoft. Althoguh some people will be turned away by the newer darker prince, a majority will bond with the character and newcommers will find the experience enjoyable. Great graphics, reallistic sounds, intuitive open ended combat- it all adds up to a great game. | video-games_xbox |
Double Edge Sword. Ok first off I used to be only about the Playstation, saying I would never by an xbox. I decided to lessen my stance on the whole idea, bought an xbox 360 and was throughly impressed. Well that is for about 5-6 months. But lets get this straight I'm not some playstation fanboy trying to rip the xbox360 because as of right now it has the better games and online features, but that is only one side of the sword. The other edge is where my disatisfaction with console begins. Granted I did not experience the red ring of doom but rather a problem with screen freezing and going black. So I called up xbox 360 support and what would you know they try to take me through the self fix steps I have already tried (asking me first off was the ring red). So after about 20 minutes on the phone they said I was starting to experience hardware failure and would have to send it in to get fixed. This is where I knew my support of the system would begin to fade, because I know what my friend had to go through when he got the red ring of doom. For all of you out there he is on his 3rd console and gave up when the third only worked for a few weeks. So as I wait for the box to get to my house so I can ship off my xbox 360 I can now see the future and its me without an xbox for the next 5 weeks. Yes they say it only takes 3-4 wks to fix but that doesn't include waiting for the shipping box to arrive or time to ship to microsoft. So let me again state I loved it while I had it, and the game selection as of now far surpasses the wii or ps3, but every coin has two sides, and the other side of the xbox 360 coin sucks. When you dish out that much for a system you expect them to tell you it has a 30% failure rate, guess I should have expected that from microsoft. So buyer beware you may be one of those lucky few that never has a problem or you could be like me and my friend, stuck without a game system for 5wks, waiting to get it back so it has the chance to break again. So cross your fingers because buying an xbox 360 from 05, 06 or mine the 07 is just like flipping a coin in terms of lucking out with a trouble free console. | video-games_xbox |
successful reinvention of the franchise. Splinter Cell always had limited appeal due to it's high degree of difficulty, and methodical pacing. The developer's put forth a concerted effort to make this franchise more commercially viable with Conviction.
Now Splinter Cell purest's have mostly criticized this installment for basically being dumbed down for mass appeal. I do sympathize with their point of view, and to some extent their constructive criticism is valid.
However, the revamped gameplay provides far more depth in my opinion. What was once an unapologetically conventional stealth experince, has now become a tactical 3rd person shooter/stealth hybrid. These new mechanics are visceral, and fluid in execution. The player can storm an enemy location with guns a'blazin like John Rambo. Or, remain quietly in the shawdows, identifying ambush points, and striking with deadly precision, all while remaining undetected. This freedom of choice provides a more engaging and balanced gaming experience.
Naturally, with the new TPS mechanics, the stealth aspects have been scaled down a bit. You can no longer drag enemies, or chose between kill or takedown. Also, whistling and throwing objects are a thing of the past too. However, the newly implemented "mark and execute" feature compensates rather nicely, and serves as an adequate replacement for the previously mentioned removed features.
People do seem rather disheartened that the single player campaign is uncharacteristically short. But to be honest, there is so much replay value in Deniable Op's that the shortened length of the campaign mode really just seems like an afterthought to me. Plus, there is a co-op campaign that is even more enjoyable. That coupled with single player story provides a decent amount of playing time, probably around 10-12 hours combined.
Conviction may disappoint the stealth enthusaist, but will undoubtedly reward the casual gamer looking for a fun stealth/action hybrid. The control scheme is relatively simple, but yet involved and engaging. There is a ton of replay value with this title, so the $60 price point is a worth while investment. | video-games_xbox |
Solid headset, and quite comfortable. I'm usually skeptic about voice accessories for game consoles. They have a reputation of being overly styled, cumbersome and just uncomfortable. Several products--including the original <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Xbox-Headset-with-Communicator/dp/B000CBQ70E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Xbox Headset with Communicator</a>--lived up to these expectations with depressing regularity.
Even the so-called "elite" headsets, like <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Xbox-Plantronics-Gamecon-Halo-2-Headset-Communicator/dp/B0002ZI4LK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Xbox Plantronics Gamecon Halo 2 Headset Communicator</a>, don't really do it for me. I don't know about you, but I can't really stand anything that goes into the ear. (ick!)
I had given up on mainstream voice hardware, but then I saw this model <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Xbox-Headset-with-Communicator/dp/B0000BY1ZS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Xbox Headset with Communicator</a> and decided to give it a try. The price is reasonable enough to justify a trial use.
To my amazement, it's incredibly comfortable. The microphone is actually shrouded in foam (to muffle those staccato P's and T's when speaking in the heat of battle) and the behind-the-neck design is no more uncomfortable than a heavy-duty pair of sunglasses. (just don't try to lean back in your chair)
As an insightful bit of design, the neck-piece is a masterpiece. Each side has a soft-rubber strip that gently rests on the backs of the ears. The neck-band is rigid and comfortably grasps the sides of the head. These two features combined make this headgear on-par with my studio-quality stereo headphones in terms of comfort.
The controller adapter is standard Microsoft specifications and features a 'mute' button right on the front, so you can easily talk to someone in the room as you would to someone online. Volume control is on the top and just as accessible.
Add to these the ability to switch the earpiece and boom (detachable) to the left or the right of the neck-band, and you have a solid performer. Looks cool, too... it has the 'old-school' charm of the original Xbox, but in a headset that's also compatible with the Xbox 360; A good find! | video-games_xbox |
The greatest of all the Kombats. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance revived the series when it had been dying out for quite some time. It did a lot of good, and offered a whopper of a twist to the story with the brutal murder of the beloved Liu Kang. Deception picks up right after Deadly Alliance. Shang Tsung and Quan Chi won. The game begins with the final showdown between Raiden and the two sorcerers. The quality of the FMV sequence is leaps an bounds better (and longer) than the sequence for the last and sets up the most intense MK installment since MK 2, despite the lack of some of my all time favorites, and the not so surprising return of Liu Kang from the dead (which does disappoint me, but oh well. He's not the main focus of the game.) Kitana, Johnny Cage, Shang Tsung, and Quan Chi are missing from the roster, especially disappointing considering the events of the last game. And the roster is cluttered with new generic fighters that I wish were replaced with the more recognizable such as Sonya, Etc. So while the roster is a disappointment the game is not. Graphically it is absolutely brilliant. It looks superb on my wide screen TV, with nary a flaw in the game. More importantly the game play elements that were innovated in the last game have been perfected here, added to multi-tiered environments (ala Dead or Alive) and fatal ring outs that put Soul Caliber to shame! It's also twice as fast as Deadly Alliance, with much less stiff animation. Also featured is a Mortal Kombat Puzzle Fighter (which my wife loves I might add) and Chess, which is interesting, and the game can be played online. It's a good thing that I have no Internet connection right now... Otherwise a whole lot of people would fall to my Scorpion! I'm already perfecting the art of those ring outs too!
The additional packaging is great, but somewhat misleading. The "Arcade Perfect Port" of Mortal Kombat 1 is a less-than-perfect emulation. The graphics are perfect, the game play is there, the voice sound effects are present, but the music cuts out from time to time, and some levels there is no music at all due to the poor quality of the emulation. I wouldn't mind this, but I paid $10.00 for the collector's edition for this reason. Had Midway gave it away as a preorder bonus or something I wouldn't complain, but I paid for an "arcade Perfect Port" And that is not what is on the bonus disk. The history of Mortal Kombat, and the character profiles, however, are very interesting and informative, even though I was disappointed they had no interviews with the actress who played Kitana. Over all I loved this game and appreciate the bonus material, but Midway aught to be more careful with terms like "Arcade Perfect Port", especially when you're paying for it. | video-games_xbox |
Most awesome and emotional game I played. The Walking Dead is a rare gem for me. For one, there are only two games to date that really got me emotionally invested in the characters. The first being Final Fantasy 10, with the story of Yuna and Tidus, the other is the Walking Dead video game. The game is rare in the sense that its major selling point is the story, not the gameplay itself. The casting of Walking Dead is memorable. You play as Lee a man who was on the way to prison and along the way got free because of the zombie Apocalypse. During the first few minutes after being free, Lee comes across a little girl by the name of Clementine and the two quickly clicked together. The game centers around Lee and Clementine but each significant character you meet is expanded and played out across five episodes.
The big selling point of the game as I said is the story. The story is probably one of the most thought out stories I ever seen in a game. Choices you made at the start can have drastic effects later in the game and episodes are connected. Your choices also can determine who lives or dies. And even more so characters may be on your side when tough decisions are going to be made depending on little things you done with them earlier. It's difficult to give specific examples without spoiling major plot points.
Otherwise the game is mostly a point and click style adventure. There are "bubbles" on important objects and you hover a cursor over it and do an action on it. Even when you are under attack or fighting, the game has "bubbles" that you hover over and click to do whatever it is that is needed. Now sometimes quick timing is required otherwise another action may take place. For example, you're running to jump on the other side of the building and you have literally a few seconds to hover over someone's hand and click it for you to make it across. Other times might be that you are running in a group and a quick comment that can change the story might appear for literally a few seconds. You have to constantly pay attention. What I'm trying to say is that precision is not really necessary in this game other than having the ability to quickly pick up on things at a moment's notice.
One thing I liked about the game is that there are many surprises. There are a few times in the game where I literally say, "Whoa" out loud like in shock. The game is that awesome. Each episode is about two hours and you get a total of five episodes. My knowledge is that the disc version and dlc versions are exactly the same. With that in mind, if you already own the 5 episodes as a DLC then you might just get by with that unless you want to get the disc to contain the episodes. As you play each episode, there are some key decisions being made. You know that you made an important decision when in the upper left corner pops up a notice that something happened. For example, you might say something negative, and someone in the group might take notice to that. In other circumstances, if you saved certain characters, they might know something about you that you might not want to share with someone.
In all the game is about the people, not the zombies. When you play the game, most of the drama comes from people and each group member plays into that as you try to live and make things right.
Each episode is a bit different in what it focuses on but overall there is a singular goal that everyone is working towards. At the start, you might get confused as to who to trust and who not to trust. Or you might try to gain everyone's trust. There are pros and cons to every thing you do in this game. And some of the saddest things occurs when you least expect it.
Overall I say get this game. As a zombie fan myself, I had to get it but on the flip side it's one of the best games I have ever played. At the end of Episode 5 I was in shock and never had I been so emotionally invested into a digital character. Lee for all I know will go down as one of my greatest hero in any game. The sad thing though is that this game is broken up into seasons. This is season 1 and apparently there are plans for season 2. I don't really know what to make of that other than to say that I can't wait to see what folds out. It's hard to say this game is complete as the Walking Dead is generally a continuously moving and evolving story. From the comic books, this game is one of the closest and you meet I would say a few characters from the comic books in this game though you don't meet Rick and the rest. Who knows what might happen in Season 2.
Get the game. For 29.99 this isn't that bad. You get about eight to ten hours of gameplay with each episode being 2 hours. You can replay countless times too knowing when key decisions are made and to see what will happen throughout the game. Once you know the whole story, you might want to replay just to see how it would fold out the other way. | video-games_xbox |
Good buddy game. Blood Bowl has got one of the most action-packed game covers out there, complete with a monster chasing a human while both of them are wearing football gear, that I've seen. It's one of those images that deliberately instills curiosity and fires up the imagination.
I knew the 360 game was based on a table-top game, although I'd never played it and wasn't interested in a turn-by-turn competition with "fantasy" football. However the representation of the game on a video game platform just seemed too interesting to pass up.
I still don't know if I like the game, though. After playing so many of the other games out there for the 360, Blood Bowl feels ponderous and slow while playing in single-player mode. Things just take too long to set up, and then the play is almost anti-climatic, almost like setting up rows of dominoes only to knock them down so you can set them up again.
Furthermore, the game interface is awkward. It takes some serious time and effort to simply get into the game. A player can't just intuit what to do in the game. Considerable time spent in the tutorial is necessary before you begin playing, and then I found it somewhat confusing as to what I could do with all my hard-earned knowledge and skills.
The game AI (at least to me) also has the disconcerting habit of beating you more times than you can beat it. After a while, that's not very fun because you don't get to learn that many more moves.
Playing with a friend is better because both of you are on equal footing: translation, unskilled, so any victory you have against your opponent is cause for celebration. My son and wife played for a time and I saw her frustration become evident quickly. She's a good game player, but things got too complicated and took too long to set up.
The gameplay is kind of like chess mixed with paper, scissors, rock. Even if you get a play off correctly, there's still the possibility the AI or another player can kick your butt or cause a foul-up. It's kind of fun to watch everything spin through, but you spend a lot of time to make that happen. The payoff just doesn't feel deserved for all the effort required.
The graphics aren't truly 360 level. They look a little grainy and dark compared to so many 360 games (like Mass Effect 2), and the motion is a trifle clunky instead of smooth. The color is vibrant, but a neon colored coloring book is still a coloring book.
One of the things I noticed quickly was how obnoxious the sideline commentators became. At first, the sarcasm and blatant insults were funny, but without true depth or a rich reservoir, the comments rapidly became repetitive.
The ability to design your own team is truly weak. You can't change colors, you can't mix and match humans and monsters, and the built-in limitations choked the imagination. Discovering this wasn't a happy moment.
On the bright side, limited though it might be, games don't last long. So this is a game you and your buddies can play against each other while waiting for other things, or can play round robin in a winner-takes-all combat fest.
My recommendation is to wait for this one till it hits the bargain bin. At $20 it's a decent investment as a buddy game, but at $50 you're just not getting your money's worth. | video-games_xbox |
One of the Best Brawlers of All-Time. I have yet to see the movie so I don't know if the game is the same. But what I can tell you that this is a heck of a game and a must-buy for this holiday season.
The game starts of with a cutscene of the meeting with all the gangs. The gang leader of the Riffs, Cyrus, is giving a speech. He is talking of unity between all the gangs. Then, all of a suddenly, you see someone pull out a gun and shoot Cyrus dead.
The game then flashes back to 3 months prior to the meeting. You are playing as Rembrant, the newest member of the Warriors. You learn the controls and most of the major aspects of the game. You learn brutal combos, "Rage" moves, how to steal car stereos, pick locks of stores, mug people, throw items, uncuff fellow gang members, and tag other gangs territory. Now your on your way to becoming the baddest gang in New York City.
This may sound like a typical Rockstar game but believe me it is not. You have a main objective that you must complete and bonus objectives that help you unlock additional things. And its not like all you do is beat people up and move on. Your main objective may be to outrun a gang(Baseball Furies), cause a cetain amount of destruction(Hi-Hats' art gallery), tag a certain amount of territories(Boppers), or earn a certain amount of money. Oh, and if that doesn't sound good enough you can do everything in the game co-op. That's right, the entire campaign mode can be played co-op, but the only drawback is that it goes split-screen once you get too far from each other. But you can control your our screen so its not that bad.
Now that's just the campaign mode, you can also unlock missions to see how each gang member joined the Warriors. It will first start off as a cutscene but then you can play as that gang member as he goes through his initiation process.
This game also has its fair share of "minigames". You can do a wheelcahair race. King of the Hill and Survival mode. Duke it out with rival gangs and many other things.
Last but not least, you can leave the Warriors hangout and just screw around GTA-style. You can do all the things mentioned above, but get caught doing it around the cops and then the fun beings. If the cops catch you mugging, breaking and entering, vandalizing, or assaulting an officer then they chase you. Fighting cops while people are watching is another no-no. The witnesses will run to the nearest payphone and call more cops. Sounds fun right? It is. | video-games_xbox |
A thrilling, if momentary, diversion. "Black" is a thrilling, if temporary, diversion from other games with more depth and replay value. This is a fast-paced shooter that the developers have described as "gun porn". It's made by Critereon, the team that does the outstanding "Burnout" racing series. If you've ever played those games, you know they specialize in spectacular scenes of destruction.
"Black" doesn't disappoint in that regard. In fact, that's the whole point of the game. Basically, you are handed an arsenal of weapons and expected to expend as much ammo as possible shooting everything that moves, and a great deal of what doesn't. You shoot until something either dies or blows up, and there ain't much that doesn't blow up. Wooden planks blow up in this game, for crying out loud.
The gun models are highly detailed. Supposedly the head of Critereon decided to make the game after spending time at a Las Vegas gun range. The scenery graphics are decent, perhaps on par with "Mercenaries" but well shy of the Xbox gold standard set by the likes of the "Splinter Cell" series. From what I've seen of the first couple levels it's a bit dark. The trick is to find the fuel cans and crates of explosives littered around the maps, and blast those to light up the area with serious fireworks.
Let me talk about the sound. Oh, the glorious sound! This game probably has the best sound of any Xbox game I've played. Despite the inclusion of 5.1 Dolby on a lot of Xbox games, I have never found in-game sounds to be especially satisfying. Not so here. Each gun sounds distinct, and deafeningly loud. Since I can only enjoy the smell of virtual napalm and cordite after my kid goes to bed, I have to keep things quiet. But this game is so outrageously noisy that I have to turn the sound system down to a setting that, if I was watching a DVD or TV, would be nearly inaudible. I'm not complaining, mind you. This is a good thing. At a normal setting, the sound effects rumble and boom like a thunderstorm in your living. Seriously, this is a huge component of the game's enjoyability, and I find it puzzling that more developers don't get this right.
I said "Black" will only be a temporary diversion for most people. That's because it's apparently really short. Seasoned FPS fans will probably be able to blow through it in 6 hours or so. I expect it will take a butterfingers like me more along the lines of 10 hours or more. There's no multiplayer whatever and very little replay value beyond unlocking silver weapons with unlimited ammo and finally an M16.
But what a ride in the meantime! | video-games_xbox |
Save Money and use the charge cable for free! Does not work with Steam Link. I was very disappointed with this device. I was so excited to use my xbox one controller to play PC games (mostly games downloaded via steam). Here is where my dissapointment began:
1) I plug my controller into my computer with the charge cable to charge the battery and then begin setup to get this dongle working. Well to my surprise, just plugging in my controller was enough for windows and steam to recognize it and for me to begin playing. I didn't need this dongle at all!
2) When I use the dongle I will get intermintent cutting out, where my controller struggles to connect to my computer even though I am sitting within 2 feet of my computer tower.
3) I was most excited to use the steam link to play my PC games on a TV. I read countless reviews where reviewers stated that this dongle worked with Steam Link. Apparently this USED to be the case and is not the case anymore. Valve (the company behind steam) released a statement back in November 2015 that Microsoft has withdrawn access for the xbox one controller to be used wirelessly with the steam link. Valve has got it working if you plug in directly to the steam link with your cable, but this dongle no longer works. This is annoying because the only reason it doesn't work is because of a power play by microsoft. The steam link risks microsoft losing a foothold on their media-centric Windows 10/Xbox 1 relationship to own the house from TV to computer. The fact that it worked fine with the Steam link and then stopped is very annoying, especially since this is not a technical problem, it is a political problem.
PlotTwist: ironically the xbox 360 wireless dongle works with Steam Link! Just more proof that this is simply Microsoft resisting competition to their xbox one/windows 10 ecosystem.
4) Steam doesn't recognize the xbox button when using the wireless dongle, this means you still need to use your keyboard and mouse to pull up the steam menu to accept game invites, or send invites to friends, etc.. However, as luck would have it, this seems to work when I have the controller plugged in directly. Again im assuming its another Microsoft excuse having their heads up their arses.
Basically everyone, save yourself the money and just use your charging cable (or any micro usb cable) to play with your controller. You don't need to mess with any drivers (drivers for xbox one controller via cable are built into Windows 10) and it has better functionality, not to mention it charges as you play. How far away from your computer do you really need to play anyway? Isn't a 4-6 foot cable probably good enough for computer games? I wish i had known this. I am really disappointed and will probably be returning this product and buying a Steam Controller or using my Xbox 360 controller to play on my TV via Steam Link. | video-games_xbox |
For 20 Bucks, I would buy 3 copies. For 20 Bucks, I would buy 3 copies......and then give a copy to my other buddies who own the 360. Please note, I am not giving it 5 stars for the price. I really thought that this was a fantastic game. I have played a ton of FPS games, and this felt a bit like a great big melting pot of all of my favorites. It was like having Bioshock, Wolfenstein, Dead Space, Half Life 2 and a little bit of Lost all tossed into one game. The story was very interesting, and I was addicted to finding out what was going to happen next. I couldn't put the game down, so I beat it on hard in about a day and half. Here are my pros and cons:
Pros:
1 - The many different weapons and upgrades you can pick from give you a ton of options to choose how you fight. You can really get crafty with the TMD powers and then finish things off with the conventional weapons. I think my favorite weapon was the alternate fire on the grenade launcher where you can roll the grenade using Left Stick into a group of creatures and then watch them go boom!
2 - Really interesting story. Period. I am not going to say anything more cause I don't want to spoil anything. The ending was really cool....three different choices you can make!
3 - Play on hard. The AI was much better, and in many places, puts up one heck of a fight. Also, there are many places where you can turn a soldier into a monster, and then watch as it takes out the other soldiers in the room.
4 - Cool supporting cast of characters.
5 - Switching between the present and the 1950s.
Cons:
1 - The saving system. It autosaves for you, and you cannot go back. Most of the doors close behind you, so it is tough to go back if you missed something. I prefer to make my own saves, so I can replay cool fights or levels.
2 - No level select. You cannot reload a level once you finish the game. You have to play through again. This isn't so bad though. It's worth a re-play or two.
That's all. I got this game as part of Gamestop's buy 2 get 1 free pre-owned sale. So I got this game for about 14 bucks. And it was totally worth it. I would have paid full price the day it came out, and I will do that for the second game if they decide to make another.
Enjoy! | video-games_xbox |
One of, if not THE best RPG out. Period. Dragon Age: Origins was always one of those games I overlooked on the store shelves for months. Always assuming I'd just despise it because I despised Mass Effect.
Well, I had some money left on a debit card and thought "what the heck" for only 13 bucks..
The game arrived about 2 days ago and I'm highly addicted and slapping myself silly for not buying it several months ago. This may very well be the best RPG I have ever played, mixing elements of several different rpg genre's, like dungeon crawlers for example, or even tactical rpgs and yes, Oblivion.
However with that said this game very much stands apart from the crowd with superior gameplay as a whole, so don't get me wrong!
The world is beautiful, and sprawling. While not as huge as Oblivions or Fallout 3's, it is of nice size! You don't travel anywhere you want via sandbox style world though, instead you're offered a map of the world and can pinpoint where you wish to travel, from town to town, dungeon to dungeon, etc.
Combat is amazing. If you're a very involved and tactical player you can use the pause menu to lay out battle commands, queue potions, spells, etc. You can also take control of each person on your team on the fly, and use their abilities as you see fit. Furthermore you can customize how each member of your team acts when controlled by AI. For example, you can set your healer to automatically cast heal when an ally drops below 50% hp. Very very nice!
As far as Dungeon Crawling elements go, there are a TON of chests to be found, drawers to be opened, closets to be opened, and corpses to be looted. You can find rare weapons, armors, trinkets, etc, and of course standard gear as well. And yes, potions, and professions materials can be found as well.
Character customization is done extremely well. You can change every aspect of your character from the beginning. Hair, eyes, lips, nose, makeup, I mean everything. Also once you begin your journey your look changes depending on what you wear, which I love.
Characters also develop quite nicely in terms of skills and ability. You have very nicely structured skill/spell trees that you can develop as you see fit. For example, a mage may choose between a fire tree, or maybe an earth tree? you want to cast earthquakes or fireballs? and it's a lot deeper than I can even give it credit for being. You have a LOT of skill/spell options, as well as passive abilities, professions to choose from, like trap making, or herbalism? it's amazing.
The story draws elements from the standard RPG save the world from evil storyline, but it's set apart by EXTREMELY well written dialogue and personal choices that effect the story deeply in some cases. It also has very nice plot shifts, and a TON of side quests that in most cases, further or add to the story on the whole. And make no mistake about it, the character development is done SO WELL in-tune with the story, that you WILL care deeply about the characters in this game!
Now in my opinion, the overall game score is laid out as follows:
Graphics = 7. Not as good as say, Oblivion, despite being a newer game.
Sound = 9. The music is beautiful, and my only gripe is some of the combat music can become tedious.
Overall Depth = 10. The game play, options, story, everything is absolutely wonderful!
This game is a MUST buy for ANY fan of RPG's, period. You are MISSING out on a GEM of a game, and a almost perfect gaming experience! | video-games_xbox |
Still the best "pure fitness" game you can get for the Xbox Kinect. The original Your Shape: Fitness Evolved provided an excellent showcase of what the Kinect was capable of in regards to fitness and exercise. Its motion detection was revolutionary in terms of how well it detected how well you were performing exercises, and the mini-games it included were both tons of fun and moderately good exercise.
I'm happy to say that Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 does push the platform forward, in an evolutionary if not a revolutionary way. Still, it is by far the best "pure workout" game that you can get on the Kinect.
When you start out the game, you see a blue screen which adjusts the sensor and detects who you are. You're then brought to a home screen, where you see a stylized cartoon image of yourself. That's right, there's no need to create an avatar, because you ARE the avatar. This little change was a huge improvement over the first version, where you played as a brightly colored silhouette. It makes a world of difference, because now you can see your limbs and your body position much clearer than before and match them against the on-screen trainer. More on that below.
The home screen shows a number of different counters: medals won, badges won, and percent of content you've played through. On the right you can see the total number of calories you've burned playing the game. I do like the fact that there are clear milestones and targets to aim for, which will keep you coming back to the game. (One question a lot of people have is--did Ubisoft fix the annoying bug from the first version where it'd lose track of which sessions you've finished in a given routine. The happy answer is yes--now, no matter what order you do the exercises in the system will keep accurate track of which ones you've completed).
At the main menu, you have a variety of choices which are color-coded into categories. The blue icons represent your tools. You can keep track of your overall progress, set objectives and take a fitness quiz so the system can recommend specific workouts for you, or go online to share your progress with the community. I do like that they made the fitness test optional in this version, so those who want to can just jump into the exercises.
There are three remaining categories: Yellow icons represent "Activities", which are mini-games. Red icons represent "Workouts" which are traditional generic calisthenics and strength building exercises of the kind you might find at a gym. Finally, purple icons represent "Classes", which are essentially themed Workouts.
Under the yellow "Activities", you have the following mini-games:
1) Wallbreaker: This is essentially the same game as "Virtual Smash" in last year's version. In it, you have to punch across your body to hit blue blocks that appear next to your virtual character's body. The more blocks you punch accurately and quickly, the higher your multiplier will go up and the more a grid behind you will fill up--fill it up completely and it'll collapse. As you get to higher levels you'll have to kick blocks as well and avoid red blocks and giant anvils swinging at you. Even though this is basically a rehash of last year's version, it's still immensely fun, and the fact that you're controlling "you" and not just a silhouette of you adds a certain dimension to the game. I'd rate this one a 4 of 5 for workout intensity and a 5 of 5 for fun.
2) Stack 'Em Up: This one is essentially the same game as the game from last year's version called..."Stack 'Em Up". This is the one where you're holding a plank and trying to catch and balance blocks that are falling from the sky. There are some new twists this year--to make your bar longer you have to raise a leg in the air. Also, the blocks come in different sizes, and they can even turn into ice or catch on fire (you need to kick a giant water drop to make it rain). Interestingly, I found the graphics of last year's version much clearer than this year's, especially when it tells you where to drop your blocks. This one gets a 3 of 5 for workout intensity and a 5 of 5 for fun.
3) Run the World: Ah, finally something brand new. This is an activity where you "run in place". But there's a twist. You can choose either New York or London and basically "run through" the city from landmark to landmark. When I first heard about this one, I was excited--I thought it might be a virtual reality experience where you could literally run through actual streets (if this sounds outlandish, remember that the technology is already there with Google Maps and Bing Maps, not to mention driving games that have mapped out those cities' streets). But in reality, the experience was much less impressive than that. You basically just run in place on a blank white screen following a line of stylized "yellow dots" on the road. As you run, you do see buildings to your left and right, but they're just generic grey outlines. As you "approach" a famous landmark you'll see that building's distinctive outline, see a tiny photo of the building, and read some trivia about it. Note also that the distances you run are not literal--I'm quite familiar with downtown New York, and there's no way you can run from 40 Wall Street to the Woolworth Building to City Hall in 5 minutes. Still, I did like how the system was able to detect how fast I was "running" and how at least captured the feeling of running through a city. Overall, this activity definitely made what was otherwise a tedious activity pretty interesting. Workout intensity of this one was a 5 of 5, but for fun I give it a 3 of 5.
4) Jump Rope: This is another new activity, and it's a winner. It's a twist on jump rope. You start out by holding your hand as if you're holding a jump rope, and an energetic beat will start playing. You'll see icons of two feet under you, and need to jump to the beat while matching the pattern of feet (either two close together, two far apart, or just the left or the right). Even on Easy mode I was wiped out after this one, but I found it immensely fun. 5 of 5 for workout intensity, 5 of 5 for fun.
5) Stomp It: This game is very similar to "Light Race" from last year's version, where you stand in the middle of something similar to a "Simon" game and move your feet to correctly hit the colored panels under your feet. This year, they've improved it by matching the colored lights to a beat and give you a visual cue of which panel will light up next, so it's more like a step aerobics exercise (versus last year's version where you were just randomly stomping). You still need a ton of room for this one, and if your Kinect doesn't have a clear view of your feet at all times it's not going to be fun for you at all. This one was a 4 of 5 for intensity, and a 4 of 5 for fun.
"Workouts", represented by the red icons, are basically traditional calisthenics, cardio, and strength building types of activities that a trainer would do with you at a gym. The workouts are categorized by the part of the body or the exercise goal you want to focus on. They include the following (the number of exercise routines under each is in parentheses):
1) Arms (12)
2) Abs (13)
3) Cardio (10)
4) Toning (9)
5) Back (12)
6) Sports Preparation (8)
7) Glutes (12)
8) Health (3)
9) Legs (12)
They've got all the basic exercises covered pretty well. For example, when I selected the first workout under "Arms", the exercises were knee push-ups and slow mountain climbs. A typical exercise under "Abs" will have you doing all kinds of crunches, from basic crunches, to V knees to the chest, to up and down planks.
As in the first version, to the left of the screen you'll observe your virtual trainer doing the exercise, using the proper technique. You'll see an image of yourself to the right of the trainer. I really liked how the cartoon trainer and the cartoony you looked very similar, both in terms of size and visual style. As I said, new to this version is the ability to see your arms and legs clearly, so you can work on matching the trainer's body position and moves precisely. There are also visual cues that'll show you exactly where your head should be and where your feet should be. Finally, there's music so that you can time your reps to the beat perfectly (you'd be surprised at how many workout games just play random music and don't bother to match it to your reps).
A woman's voice will talk your through all the exercises, calling out instructions and encouragement. Regarding the latter, I found that she tended to err a little on the "overly encouraging" side--even when I wasn't doing the exercises right, she'd be shouting out compliments and encouragement. Happily, the motion detection is definitely spot-on--after the workout you'll see precisely what percentage of the workout you nailed, and I found it to be remarkably accurate.
"Classes", represented by the purple icons, are very similar to workouts. You go through a series of set exercises, you have a virtual cartoon trainer who will demonstrate the proper moves, and you'll control the cartoony "you" standing next to him or her as you try to match the moves. The difference is that while "workouts" were like generic exercises you might do at the gym, "classes" all follow a specific theme, such as a certain style of dance, a boxing training session, and even a military bootcamp. Here are the options and the number of routines in each:
1) Africa Rhythms (12)
2) Boot Camp (6)
3) Hip Hop (12)
4) Cardio Boxing (14)
5) Destination: Bollywood (12)
6) Yoga (4)
7) Latin Dance (12)
8) Zen Energy (8)
I tried the boot camp one first. Sure enough, you and your virtual trainer (a gruff drill sergeant) are in the field of a military boot camp complete with a helicopter and occasional explosions happening around you. Even at the easy levels, you're taken through a grueling set of exercises, from running to "Olympian squats" to "stun attacks" to push ups. The trainer stays in character throughout, shouting instructions to you amid various random interjections ("you're tired? I don't care!", "does it hurt? Good!").
I also tried the Bollywood one. Like the rest of the dance-themed classes, it had different levels with names like "Learn it", "Rehearse It", "Speed It Up", and "Show it Off". I tried the beginning level, and it brought me through some very authentic Bollywood dance steps with names like "Bolly Arms", "Aarti Step" and "Blossom Step". The moves were very authentic. I wouldn't say this part of the game is exactly Dance Central, but it's not bad either.
Overall, I'd say this is a worthwhile purchase if you're serious about using your Xbox for fitness and exercise. Those who purchased last year's version (especially if you purchased a lot of the DLC) may find a lot of what's in this year's version redundant. But I'd say there are enough improvements to make it a worthwhile purchase. I loved the improved avatar, enjoyed the new activities they added, and appreciate the fact that they didn't skimp this year on the number of exercises you can do before resorting to purchasing more as downloadable content. From the title, I'm assuming Ubisoft intends to release one of these every year; here's hoping that they continue to innovate the series moving forward and don't get lazy and rest on past laurels. | video-games_xbox |
Easily the Game of the Year. With the Playstation 3 on the horizon, Microsoft releases the Xbox360 exclusive "Gears of War" to convince players to "jump in" with the 360 and forget the PS3. If it were any other game, most would balk at this attempt, but Gears of War alone is reason enough to buy an Xbox360 over a PS3, if you're on the fence about which console to invest in. Gears of War, along with the rest of the 360's strong and large library, make a huge case for the 360 as the dominant console.
I played the game for several hours today and was simply blown away. The game's main selling point is that it simulates intense violent and realistic warefare that requires players to seek cover while fighting, just like in real combat, in order to survive. When I first heard this, I thought it would make for a boring and teadious game...nothing is further from the truth! This is so fast paced, so action packed, so real and intense that it's sure to be the first game in a future franchise that gamers will be talking about for years to come. There are numerous things about the game that I love, but I'll hit the most important points here:
First, the enemies are not stone statues, like in other games. What I mean is, the enemy will take a position for cover and from that position attack you and your squad. However, if the enemy realizes that they're in a bad spot...they move. Also, the enemy is always trying to get closer to you to go in for the kill. In other war games, enemies just stand in one spot and are always in the same places when you play....not here! The gameplay is realistic and intense and ever changing, just like real combat.
Second, the game itself is very cinematic. It feels like you're inside a red hot sci-fi action movie and living the action. The music is powerful and top notch, like what you would expect from a big budget Hollywood feature film. The sound effects are huge, organic and terrifying. The storyline is original and very exciting and the enemy is really cool and memorable. The character designs are gritty and disturbing, and the weapons feel big and powerful.
Third, a friend can team up with you using the split screen co-op mode during a campaign. Yes, split screen! That way, if you don't have an Xbox Live account, you can still play a co-op mode! As for Xbox Live, I haven't played it yet, but you can play against or as the Locust Horde in massive online deathmatches. I'm going to renew my Xbox Live subscription solely to play this game online.
Finally, if you're ready to go next gen, but can't decide between the 360 or the PS3, this game makes an excellent case to purchase a 360. I was at my local video game store yesterday and saw the PS3 display. Most of their games will be on the 360 too and the exclusive titles didn't look all that great. So, I can't see why anyone would spend more money on the PS3 and miss playing what is obviously not only the game of the year, but one of the best games to come along in years, "Gears of War". | video-games_xbox |
The Rocketeer meets Independence Day (not as good as it sounds. Games come and go. Some stay in your head others buzz off and are forgotten. And then there are the few that you sit down and play through till it's done and then can't help but ask yourself, "what the hell was that?" Dark Void is that game.
You play as Nathan Drake, as The Rocketeer. No, wait; you're Will, my mistake. It's so easy to confuse the two (damn you Nolan North. How about taking a little break before over exposure gets us all Northed out). The story takes place in the ever popular, rarely ever used in video games, World War II era. But there is a twist. You get sucked into the Bermuda Triangle and get thrown into another dimension where there is a war going on between the Survivors, humans who have gotten there the same way you have, and the Watchers, a sort of alien/robot species that once ruled over humans and who are trying to get back into the regular dimension to take control and enslave humanity once more.
And that's about where I lost track of everything.
Somewhere between bad story telling, mediocre third person shooter gameplay, and trying to not fall off cliffs and ledges to my death, I was starting to lose interest really fast. It's as if they wanted the gameplay to tell the story for them so they didn't bother introducing characters or explaining who and what. This is fine. But not when what you're doing is boring and slowly paced. That is, until you reach the later parts of the second half of the game. That's when someone pushes the Ludicrous Speed button and passes by the stuff that you were actually wanting to know.
So why did I keep playing? Simple. I'm a sucker for flying. I love flying in games. That coupled with my love for the 1991 Disney movie The Rocketeer, Dark Void had an unfair grip on my jetpack ignition. Don't get it twisted, the flying is not the greatest, but if you need a fix and want to do some air combat then this will tie you over. They had some neat ideas when trying to put this game together, it's just too bad they were poorly executed. Like hijacking a UFO, which sounds like fun doesn't it? Well it was the first time. But doing it's drawn out button pressing over and over isn't exactly a good time. And then there's the "which way is up? Oh, never mind, I just found this nice hard wall" problem that kept popping up for me. If that wasn't when I was trying to follow something in the air, it was the kickback from initially turning the jetpack on where I'd go shooting off flailing in the air for a few seconds before I rocketed head first into a wall. Apart from a few annoyances, I can't complain about this aspect of the game because it is what I was looking forward to the whole time. I guess you can say I had fun with it. Sadly, those flying levels took up about 35%-40% of the game itself.
The rest of the game you were on foot shooting different colored robots. This gameplay is what made me grow weary. It was playable, but there just didn't feel like there was any depth to it. And then you had this weird vertical cover system. Where you would rocket up to a ledge, and hang underneath it but not like you would think. You're crouched behind a vertical ledge in a very uncomfortable and unnatural looking position especially for someone with a jetpack on their back. And if you think that would mess with your head and cause you to go a little dizzy, trust me, you are spot on.
In the end, it's hard to say go out and play this game. Because I for one would be happy never touching it again. Sadly, the ending leaves it wide open for a sequel. It's too bad you'll be left wondering what the hell just happened when the game ends, leaving that want and need for a sequel nowhere to be found. The story felt very slow and then very rushed with no happy medium. And the only part of it all that's enjoyable is a small percentage of the game as a whole. When it was over the smile on my face was priceless, because I knew that I can finally toss Dark Void into itself. (Get it? A dark v... nevermind.)
Final Judgment,
2.5 Water Bottles Full of Pee, out of 5
Speaking of which, be careful after you play a lot of the flying levels and then go to pee. This surprisingly deadly combination caused me to get dizzy and almost fall over into my toilet. | video-games_xbox |
Epic game that requires time and effort. I found out about Dark Souls through one of my close friends who is an absolute Demon's Souls fiend. After reading all the previews and checking out the game play footage, I decided to buy this game and give it a try (and yes, I knew about the difficulty going in).
After spending about 10 hours on the game, I eventually decided to trade it in. Contrary to what most people are probably thinking (and before any of you Dark Souls fan boys start bashing me), I didn't trade it in because of the insane difficulty. I traded it in because I am a new father and after playing the game for about 10 hours, I knew I would not have the necessary time and effort needed to complete this epic game. If you are a dedicated gamer like my friend, I salute you. There were plenty of moments in this game that left me with a terrific sense of accomplishment after completing a certain area or defeating a certain boss (asylum demon, gargoyles, taurus demon, etc.), but in the end, this game just wasn't for me.
One word of advice to anyone who is considering purchasing this game and has not done any research on it... DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT buy this game if you are susceptible to gamer rage, or if you are prone to getting frustrated very easily. This is not the type of game you buy if you want to relax and take your stress away.
PROS
* The level of character customization is ridiculous. There are plenty of classes to choose from and plenty of weapons, armors, spells, rings, etc. to equip on your character throughout the game.
* The unique multi-player experience is second to none. The ability to read messages left by other players helps tremendously, not to mention the fact that you can summon another player to help you defeat a difficult boss.
* The world of Dark Souls is HUGE. There are a ton of areas to explore in this game. The graphics were superb in my opinion. The enemies looked great. And the music was tension-filled during boss battles.
* You really get a sense of accomplishment when you complete a certain area that you've been playing for a while, or you finally defeat a boss that has been giving you problems.
CON
* I would've given Dark Souls 5 stars if not for the fact that you lose all your souls if you die before reaching a bonfire. Yes, you can reclaim your lost souls if you make it back to the place where you died, but you only get one shot at it and the repetition of having to play the same area over and over again just kills it for me after a while. I just felt like it was a layer of difficulty that wasn't needed and doesn't add much to the overall experience of the game. I can deal with the challenging gameplay, the inability to pause the game, the limited number of bonfires, the dying after getting hit 2-3 times, etc. But I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to play an hour or two, collect thousands of souls, then lose it before reaching a save point. This is where "not having the necessary time and effort" comes into play.
So overall, would I recommend Dark Souls to someone? If they have patience, dedication, and are not prone to frustration, then hell yes I would recommend it. But if they are just looking to relax and get away from their everyday lives, then I would steer clear of this game. | video-games_xbox |
Top Notch. I've had these headphone for about 4-6 months now, and they are spectacular! I should mention that for Xbox 360 having A40 MixAmp is aknist a plus as it allows you to adjust for Game and audio volume, so you can find the perfect balance for you. Now I'm going to break it down into pros and cons.
PROS:
Very comfortable to wear...I've had these on for upwards of 6 hours at a time for long gaming sessions, and have had no problems with comfort.
DURABLE...These are solidly constructed and have never felt like I was in danger or them wearing out (granted it's only been about 6 months)
Sound Quality is very very good. With the MixAmp you get very accurate positional Audio so it makes gaming that much better (it even works well with movies too)
Microphone...top notch microphone, that also detaches so you can just use them as regular headphones, and it comes with a quick mute switch so u can quickly turn off your mic for a private conversation if need be. Only caveat is that the noise canceling could be better, but it's not really an issue in the grand scheme.
Cables...the audio system comes with pretty much every audio cable you could ever need (minus fiber optic game, which is an option to purchase) so that, to me, is a plus.
PS3 compatibility, yes it works with the PS3 as well, and sounds fantastic when watching Blu-Ray movies.
MixAmp. The mixamp can also be used a headphone amp for your PC, or iPod, and the results are impressive. It's also portable as it has the option for battery power that lasts for roughly 12-14 hours using 4 AA batteries.
CONS
Price, Yes these are expensive, and cheaper from Astro Gaming directly, but I've used them so much that, to me, they were worth it
Music...Now I've put this in the cons but there's a catch. If you plan on using these for music from your 360 or PS3, well it;'s not gonna sound that good, but to me Music doesn't sound that good on 360. However, I use these on my computer as I have a Sound Blaster X-Fi, and after some tweaking, the music is fantastic on them, good base, and excellent treble. Having Said that, getting high quality stereo headphones will still be a Better choice for music, but again these sound great to me. | video-games_xbox |
Only for Die Hard Scooby Fans - a Mom's Review. Okay, put in the disc; watch the re-vamped 3-D classic Scooby intro while your kids dance around. Now turn your x-box back off -- nothing good will come of actually *playing* this game.
Really. If your kids are good enough gamers to successfully play this game, they're going to find it repetitive, confusing, and stupid. If they're too young or unskilled to successfully navigate a mine cart through about ten successive rounds of 'turn left!', 'turn right!', 'jump that boulder you can't actually see!', 'ooh, you missed -- start over again at the beginning!' you're either going to find yourself playing the blasted thing for them or hiding it when they're not looking. As a not-so-hot-gamer, it took me about an hour to get through the aforementioned mine cart level -- I vote for hiding the game.
Which is really my biggest complaint: this game is just too hard for young kids. Had they included an actual 'easy' level your average five year old was capable of finishing, it wouldn't be so awful. As it is, with the lack of save points, even fewer save slots (why!?), and scooby-snacks (necessary for restoring health) that don't regenerate, you're going to find yourself playing certain pointless and frustrating sections of the game over, and over, and OVER again, until you finally get it perfect.
And as I can vouch, my 10, 8, and 5 year old Scooby-Doo lovin' gamers handed me the controls over and over again. (Did I mention the importance of hiding the game *well*?) And by the time I finished whatever stupid thing they were stuck on, *none* of us cared anymore. Total target market failure, imho.
But what about the plot, you wonder? While you *can* collect clues and take them to Velma (good luck on finding all of them, btw) your characters are so busy being pushed on fetch quests, monster hunts, or mini-games that the mysteries serve only to begin and end each level. Controls? Mushy. Sound and picture are the only things I can even *begin* to recommend.
Sadly, this is yet another francise game that *could* have been fun -- the concept is okay. Too bad they couldn't actually build a game worth playing. | video-games_xbox |
solid shooter. i admit it, i thought this game would bite when it first came out and didn't pay any attention to it. but then i read some good reviews (obviously, not here, not sure what that's all about) and played the demo- wow, this game is fun after all... after i actually played it... imagine that.
so, are the graphics the end all and be all? umm, did anyone say they were? look, this is a port of an older pc game and the port job wasn't the best. yes, there are better looking games on the Xbox, but Double Helix looks like a lot of others (GR doesn't look any better, with the exception of the character models- and I love GR, but this game is a lot faster and more intense). the only time i didn't think the graphics looked that great were during some indoor scenes. even then, the graphics are, at worst, the same as most PS2 games. otherwise, the game looks decent, especially the sense of scale when you're looking around a large cityscape.
yeah, this game has some collision detection issues, but this has become more of the rule than the exception- so what's the problem? a lot of Xbox, PS2, and pc games i play have collision problems (you can see a guard's arm or gun coming through a wall or door, etc.). however, i haven't seen any seam tearing in this game yet, which most games can't claim. i don't know anything about a leaf deflecting a sniper shot. i've never seen anything like that happen in the game. a fluke?
the AI can be on the weak side... but it's a lot better when you jack up the difficulty level. considering the number of enemies this game throws at you, i didn't spend much time with strategy and just fragged everyone in sight without waiting to see if they would run or work together. just shoot 'em and move on.
the online play = you've seen it and played it before. the only advantage this game has online is that all of the weapons are available and there are a TON of cool weapons. It's fun to hop online for a few games, but i wouldn't buy this game for the online play alone (and i have yet to run into issues with lag. yet).
the gameplay? here's some of the action during the first few levels alone:
- i was taking out two guards, i accidentally hit a tanker truck behind them and the thing blows sky high taking them and the building behind them out = pretty sweet.
- i'm running through an alley blasting guys in front and behind me and all of a sudden this wooden crate comes smashing down. there was a guy above me pushing crates off of a ledge trying to crush me = nice touch.
- I grabbed a fixed, heavy machine gun and wasted a courtyard full of guys = bloody!
- wasted an entire hotel full of guards, including various body parts being blown off here and there = extra-bloody!!
- escorted a scientist (the objective) back out of the hotel.
- took over a heavy machine gun in the back of a truck while the scientist drove, blowing away tons of guards of guards, trucks, and one helicopter.
- snuck around a train station to try and get the scientist on the train without being seen by any guards = stealth action. somewhat. a little.
- once you get back to headquarters, they have you find your way up to a secured conference room for the next mission = changed the pace up a little.
- then dump you in a lush jungle where your camp is attacked by rebels and you work with friendly AI to take them out = back to the action!!
and that's only about an hour into the game with over 50 more missions like that to go. it's odd that no one complains that the pc version has repetitive levels, and yet this version has the same missions (plus a few extra, but you know what i mean).
i agree with Game Informer on this one = it's not the best, but it's a lot of fun and there's a ton to do in this game. if you're a fan of FPS's and action games in general, this game is definitely worth checking out. I would say the RTCW: Tides of War is a much better shooter online, but, for me, the single player game of Double Helix has a lot more action and that's what I was looking for. If you only like games that look better than all others and/or offer incredible new gameplay, wait for Half-Life II, Halo II, and Doom III (and then realize that most games don't fall into that category, anyway). and for reference, right now i'm also playing: Aliens vs. Predator 2, NOLF 2, ut: 2003, ToW, Midtown Madness 3 (xbl only, the single player game is useless), DMC II, Tenchu, and Midnight Club II. so yeah, i like games :)
((honestly, this game is worth it just to see a guy's bloody stump flop around at your feet after you've blown both of his arms off with an automatic shotgun...priceless.)) | video-games_xbox |
New to Video Games? Let me help. Okay, I'm a complete beginner to video games and Xbox was my first system. When my grandma offered to get us one, Xbox looked the best for us.
I'll run through some of the "complaints" people have:
-PS2 and GameCube have more games!
That's probably very true. But when you buy a system, it's not how many games you have, but what KIND of games you like to play. (For example: I like big, giant adventure games. You're gonna need a bit of memory for those!) Besides, Xbox has nearly 500 Games, and more are made all the time.
-The Xbox is too big. I can't take it with me on trips.
Come on. I'm 14 and I've carried bigger things than this on my lap. And you can always put it in the trunk. I would not take it on the plane, but then I wouldn't take any other video game system in a plane. Too risky.
The fact that it's bigger doesn't spoil anything. Just don't drop it! Any electronic device (computer, other consoles, etc,) would break.
-The Controllers are too big.
I'm a beginner to video games and this controller S fit my hands perfectly. This console comes with Controller S, and my little 4-Year brother could hold it and play games. I don't know what the "D" controllers are like.
Now I'll go through the features:
+Controllers:
As I said before, this controller S totally agrees with me.
The best thing about this controller is the "inline release". About mid-way through the cord there's a spot where the cord will pull apart, instead of yanking on the console. This comes in real handy because we're always tripping over the cord.
+Graphics:
Everyone says Xbox has the best graphics, so I'll just have to take their word for it. The games we've played have AWESOME graphics. I mean really, really, realistic graphics.
+Memory:
Oh man, this thing has so Much SPACE! How much space? Well, it has 50,000 "Blocks" for memory, and our games normally take up about 20-100 "Blocks". And you can always go back and delete saved games if it takes up too much space. If you're driven off PC Games because your computer can't handle it any longer, then this could be the system for you! And you have to buy extra memory for the other systems. Who wants to do that?
+Games:
I've only played a few games, but Xbox has some very sweet-looking games! We've got Voodoo Vince, the most original game I've ever seen, and only on Xbox! There's tons of great-looking games out there, and I've only tapped (err, played) them!
Someone complained that it's mostly Mature titles on the Xbox. Well, the most popular games (Halo, etc.) are often the popular ones. But there's still plenty of other games without Mature ratings.
+Four Controller Ports:
I'm the oldest of four kids. Naturally, we fight, fight, and fight. Especially over the computer. So these extra controller ports (along with a bunch of four-player games) look mighty fine...wouldn't you say?
+System Link/Xbox Live:
I haven't tried either, but it's a cool idea. System Link is where you hook up one Xbox to another, so that 8 people (4 to each Xbox) can play the same game. You just need one TV for every Xbox and a game that's compatible.
Xbox Live looks very, very cool. That's pretty much all I can say. You should talk to someone who has tried it!
+DVD & Music:
I don't care much about this feature, because we had a DVD Player before getting an Xbox. Still, the Remote is expensive, but hey! It's cheaper than getting a DVD Player.
As for Music, I haven't got the "Xbox Music Mixer", but we have played CD's in it, which is a breeze! They sound great!
+Cables, Wires, etc.
If you have an older TV (which we do), then you'll need to get a RF Adapter. If your TV has those Audio/Video outlets (the red, white and yellow plugs) then (I think) you got nothing to worry about.
Closing Comments:
Being new to Video Games, the Xbox blew me away. Great games. Awesome graphics. Tons ands tons of memory...yep. This thing totally rocks.
Still, I can understand why PS2 fans hate the Xbox: Microsoft. That company is so dominant it's incredible. I haven't tried their "Customer Support", mostly because I don't need to. But still, Microsoft does stink (my dad owns a Windows XP).
(...) | video-games_xbox |
Great Music, Great Solo Play, Great Group Play. I adore the Guitar Hero series. It is incredibly fun, can be played co-op, and exposes players to all sorts of great music. Guitar Hero III ups the ante with even more fantastic songs plus a new battle mode for fun head to head gameplay!
Once again you're a small time band starting off in your garage - or make that, your back yard. As you play through songs on your guitar controller, your career begins to take off. You make videos, play larger arenas, and earn money. The money lets you buy yourself new outfits and guitars. As you battle special players, you unlock their characters - like Slash from Guns 'N Roses.
In every Guitar Hero game there have been songs I've liked and other songs I haven't liked. That's going to be true pretty much no matter who you are. They try their very best to provide a wide range of music to suit all guitar tastes, and they do an excellent job at it. Some of the songs are SUPER in this set and got me up off the couch dancing around while I played along.
The new battle mode is a ton of fun. Before, you'd get a simple encore at the end of each set. This time you occasionally have to fight a newcomer for guitar supremacy. In battle mode you earn "attacks" that you can then lob at your opponent. These do things like break strings, make you play double notes, make your screen shake, and much more. It is super fun. Near the end of the game when you're down in "Hades", you have to battle the devil himself playing ... Devil went down to Georgia!
There are of course the extras to unlock by doing things like playing 100 notes in a row, the ability to play against friends head to head locally, plus the new ability to play against others online! Talk about a true challenge! It was always scary enough looking at XBox Live and seeing how amazingly high some of those scores were. Imagine trying to play those people live?
The graphics are great. Each location is fleshed out in fantastic detail, from the flickering flames of Hades to the glowing red lanterns of your back yard. The audience always seems a little robotic, but heck, how much do you want from a guitar game?
Many of the songs are now original band-sung songs - including a Living Color song that the band re-recorded specifically for this game! There are still a collection of songs that are "in the style of" - some are good, some are really not so good. The Stevie Ray Vaughn song stands out as the not-so-good reproduction. Still, what can you do. Why aren't those bands giving the Guitar Hero guys permission to use their real tracks? Don't they know how immensely popular this game is?
The wireless guitar controller and it's worked pretty flawlessly so far. We've noticed a tiny amount of 'misses' with the red button, but that may be us getting used to it, we'll have to see.
Highly, highly recommended. It was so much fun that my boyfriend, a guitar player, would occasionally try to play the "real notes" rather than the Guitar Hero game notes. It really is absorbing!
Make sure you get TWO guitars to go with it, so you can play with a friend! | video-games_xbox |
Game for a good time, many laughs, and full of satisfaction. I saw this game a few years ago on my Japanese PS3 account and thought it looked interesting. I, however, did not know it was coming to the U.S. as well. Being a person who has never played the series nor heard of it till this installment, I had no idea what to expect upon playing it.
Upon starting the game, the first item that appears is the option to create a save file, standard game setup. Once you have created a file to your liking, you are then brought to a screen where you have the options of offline missions, online missions, and versus (pvp). Offline missions allow you and/or a friend to go through the game. Online missions allow the player and/ or friend to go online and play co-op with others online in the same missions as offline mode I believe. Finally, versus mode sounds exactly as it sounds. You and a friend go one on one in combat to see who has better skills. Going back to the missions, they can takes place across levels featuring destructible environments, taking place in settings such as cities, beaches, hills, underground tunnels and more. There is no penalty for collateral damage that is inflicted on the environment by the player, for instance when buildings crumble after sustaining a few hits from a rocket launcher or grenade. Other EDF soldiers can be recruited or followed, and attack enemies on sight, as well as provide radio chatter. There are several difficulty levels. More effective weapons are dropped by the enemies in the game at the higher difficulty levels, encouraging players to repeat the missions. In addition to weapons, armor enhancements which function as permanent maximum health bonuses are dropped along with healing items.
The difficulty levels are:
Easy
Normal
Hard
Hardest
Inferno
Before you start a mission on any mode (not sure about Vs. though), you will have options to start the mission, change class and weapons, and game options. I was very pleased with the class options and the choices for weapons. The weapons start few in number but grow more as you play the game. On the other hand, each class feels very unique and useful in their own way in combat. The four new soldier classes are ranger, wing diver, air raider, and Fencer.
The Ranger is composed of foot infantry capable of using several vehicles and mechas. The weapon selection for the Ranger class is the most versatile out of the four. Using assault rifles, shotguns, snipers, rocket launchers, missile launchers, grenades, flame throwers, acid guns, the genocide gun and more. Many variations of each weapon type are also available to the ranger. The Rangers travelling speed is average.
The Wing Diver, the airborne class composed exclusively of women who use high tech weaponry and jet packs. Their weaponry is primarily based on plasma and laser technology. The Wing Divers travelling speed is average, unless the class is using the jet pack. In which case, the Wing Diver has the fastest travelling speed in the game.
The Air Raider, class specialized in the assistance of infantry and airborne soldiers. He uses special explosives and grenade launchers. The Air Raiders travelling speed is average. He is also capable of:
o Deploying health recovery field generators and force shields.
o Summoning vehicles into the battlefield
o Ordering air raids over designated targets.
The Fencer, a heavily armored class with a variety of weapons. He is capable of taking four weapons into battle. The Fencers travelling speed is slow. Unless he is using his thruster. In which case he is faster than both the Ranger and Air Raider. His weapon selection includes:
o A deflective shield that cuts all damage taken while readied, although it overheats and goes offline if used for too long.
o A blast-hole spear that fires high-pressure plasma into anything you can stab it into, destroying it from the inside. It also has a side thruster that lets you thrust-dash around at high speed.
o A handheld Gatling gun that your suit is just powerful enough to carry around. It takes time to spin up and doesn't boast tremendous accuracy, but its rapid-fire properties are reliable in a pinch.
o A vibro-drive hammer that smashes anything in the vicinity.
o An armor-piercing hand cannon that deals a powerful blow, but leaves you unguarded for about a second after firing due to recoil absorption.
However, if you are a person looking for detailed customization of these characters, this is not the type of game for that. The only option for customizing is the characters armor color.
The game uses several vehicles such as:
Ground vehicles
SDL1 Motorcycle: a motorcycle with a sidecar capable of transporting up to two players.
Armored Ambulance: armored ambulance that transports ammunition and heals up to four players.
Armored Personnel Carrier: an APC that can hold up to four players.
Multiple Rocket Launcher: a one-player MRL vehicle.
Tanks
E551 Gigantus: a one-player tank.
Epsilon Armored Railgun: a mobile railgun vehicle that can carry up to three players. One player uses the railgun and the other two use turrets to shoot enemies while the railgun recharges.
E651 Titan: a tank that can carry three players. One person fires the Requiem cannon and the other two use the side turrets.
Helicopters[edit]
EF24 Bazelato Combat Helicopter: a one-player combat helicopter.
EF31 Combat Helicopter: a one-player advanced combat helicopter.
HU04 Bruto: an armored helicopter with two turrets players can control. While they can shoot enemies in the sky, the Brutos side turrets cant aim downwards. Up to three players can ride the Bruto.
Power Suits
BM03 Vegalta Standard Ver.: One-player bipedal mecha that can take to the skies using jets on its feet and back. Armed with a Gatling Gun and arocket launcher.
BM03 Vegalta Close Combat Ver.: One-player bipedal mecha that can take to the skies using jets on its feet and back. Armed with aflamethrower and a shotgun
BMX10: Bipedal mecha armed with railguns and missile launchers.
The extraterrestrial invading forces known as the Ravagers are composed of two types of units: biological and mechanical.
Biological Units[edit]
Black Ants: giant black ants that attack in vast numbers. Known attacks: bite, acid shoot.
Red Ants: giant red ants, with stronger attacks and resistances than the black ones. Known attack: bite.
Flying Ants: winged giant black ants. Known attacks: acid shoot.
Spiders: giant tarantula-like creatures. Known attack: spider web shoot.
Retiarius: giant spiders. Known attack: spider net.
Bees: giant flying bee-like creatures. Known attack: sting shot.
Giant Spiders: larger version of the spiders. Known attack: spider web shoot.
Dragons: giant Chinese dragon-like monster that can fly at high altitude and walk in four legs. Known attacks: mouth flames, bite.
Mechanical Units[edit]
Gunships: flying mechanical units. Known attack: energy shots.
Red Gunships: flying mechanical units. Known attack: energy shots.
Hectors: large bipedal robots with an assorted variety of weaponry carried on their arms. They can be deployed by carrier airships. Known attacks: energy shots, plasma shots.
Giant Hectors: larger, stronger version of the regular Hectors. It is hinted that some may carry new defensive measures, such as force shields. Known attacks: energy shots, plasma shots.
Unidentified flying vehicles: flying winged mechanical units. Not much is known about them.
Shield Bearer: four legged unit capable of generate large force fields that can be penetrated only at slow speed (i.e. walking inside the protected area). Known attacks: none.
Walking Fortress: giant four-legged, heavily fortified vehicles that can deploy biological and mechanical units. Known attacks: Plasma shots, laser shots.
Carriers: giant airships that can deploy biological and mechanical units. Known attacks: none.
Red Carriers: giant airships that can deploy biological and mechanical units. Known attacks: none.
Mothership: gigantic airship that can deploy gunships and are armed with several laser cannons and a super cannon at the bottom. Known attacks: energy shots, laser shots, giant beam.
UNKNOWN: mysterious ground mechanical unit. Known attack: laser shots.
Lastly there is DLC for purchase. Some DLC is exclusive depending on which system you have it on (PS3 or XBOX 360).
My overall final thoughts on the game are as follows:
Very unique game-play
Great and odd enemies
Funny kills/deaths
Interesting setting and plot
Good replay value
Fun online play (could add more)
Unique classes
Good controls | video-games_xbox |
The Saints come marching onto Xbox 360. Grand Theft Auto, like it or not, should be credited as one of the most important video games in the last decade. It created a genre, reinvented several others, and for better and worse put video games out in front of a bigger audience than ever before. Not the first developer to attempt to imitate this formula, the Champaign, Illinois-based Volition has created Saint's Row, another game with high hopes of giving Rockstar's bad-mouthed baby a run for its money. It does this better than any game before it and ends up as one of the best titles on the Xbox 360.
So many sandbox games have been done before and one might wonder just what Saint's Row does to be unique. What's new here that wasn't in Grand Theft Auto, True Crime, Driver or The Godfather? Well, fundamentally, nothing. You've driven cars, done drive-bys, taken out gangs, run over pedestrians, and rode shotgun-why do it all again in a $60 Xbox 360 game? Well, despite the fact that Saint's Row takes you down several familiar roads, it does everything Grand Theft Auto and its imitators did, but a lot better.
Saint's Row throws you into a city called Stilwater. In the wrong place at the wrong time, you're the sole survivor of a brutal gang scuffle. You're rescued by Julius, the leader of the Saints, a lesser-known gang in Stilwater. With nothing else to do, you embark on a bloody journey with the Saints to claim Stilwater as their own. It's an all-out territory war between the business-savvy Vice Kings, the gearhead Westside Rollerz, and the drug-dealing Carnales.
Saint's Row has a story that's worth listening to. The different lieutenants of the Saints are all colorful characters indeed, and their enemies for each gang are equally interesting. The story isn't an all-out win for anyone, with tragic losses, betrayals, and more for each warring faction. An interesting choice was to keep the main character silent except for a few interesting times throughout the violent campaign-and when the man finally talks, it's always something that'll catch you off-guard. I especially enjoyed his quip during the final Vice Kings mission.
Before I get to the open-world things you can find in Saint's Row, I'll explain the mission structure. Unlike other games, where completing story-based missions allows you to continue onto more missions, Saint's Row forces you to earn respect points. These points are a reward earned by "spreading the word" and causing havoc throughout Stilwater in the name of the Saints. This is done by taking part in various Activities, like playing the pimp in "Snatch," the chauffeur in "Escort," shooting everything in sight in "Mayhem," or slowly taking out targets in "Hitman." Once enough respect points are earned, the player can continue through the story. Not only does this system nudge the player to explore Stilwater and play the game at a less-focused, slower pace, it allows the player to see all of the different gameplay concepts found in the game.
As I mentioned, Saint's Row is a story about a territory war, so a large percentage of your time will be devoted to earning 36 different sectors in Stilwater and defending them from the three opposing gangs. These territories are unlocked naturally throughout each gang's storyline, so you'll take over the west side of Stilwater before you're done with the Rollerz, win the south while fighting the Carnales, and raise your flags in the downtown area during your conquest against the Vice Kings. After winning territories, you'll occasionally have to defend them against the old owners. This is done in a way that seems random, so sometimes you'll be cruising along and receive an in-game message that your territory is being attacked. It's not mandatory to fight back for the territory, but it helps greatly when you have to drive through that territory and you don't have to worry about being shot at.
On top of the game's 36 story-based missions and the 36 territories, there are Stronghold missions that also help in the territory take-over. When you've earned additional respect points, you'll sometimes be able to take over an enemy Stronghold. Stronghold missions, alongside the Activities, are my favorite part of Saint's Row. These are generally all-out assaults on an enemy base that is filled to the brim with angry defenders armed with bigger guns. There are some Stronghold missions that play things differently. For example, while taking over one Carnales Stronghold, you'll do a little demolition by planting bombs throughout a factory. Sadly, Stronghold missions don't come around as often as I'd have hoped-I would have loved to see a Stronghold in every single sector of the city.
I can't go much longer without crediting Volition for giving Saint's Row a typical first-person shooter control scheme. Unlike the abysmal "lock-on and shoot" style of Grand Theft Auto, Saint's Row plays very smoothly in every way. Running around and aiming your weapons are both controlled by the analog sticks, and there isn't even a lock-on button to be found. If you're a fan of first-person shooters (if you've got an Xbox 360, you probably are), you'll feel right at home with this style. Fortunately, shooting isn't the only thing that's really easy to do. The cars in Saint's Row all feel very stable and controllable, which I strongly prefer to the buck-wild vehicles found in Grand Theft Auto. It doesn't matter if you're driving an old beater, a high-end sports car, or a delivery truck, the controls never become a frustrating issue. That's more than Grand Theft Auto could ever claim.
There are some gameplay touches that fans of this genre should be very happy with. Volition made this a peoples' game by toning down the backtracking and retracing of the steps-if you're taken out in a mission, you have the option to restart the mission from its beginning with everything you had prior to the mission. This is a simple and small touch, but it's one that I'm personally very fond of when I think back to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and I remember driving for several combined hours to retry missions at their starting point. Also, throughout the game, there are a ton of save points. Capturing an enemy stronghold or crib will spawn another save point location, so by the end of the game, there will be more than two dozen save points across the city. Add the ability to save anywhere on the fly, and you've got a very easily accessible game.
Saint's Row runs on all four cylinders in terms of presentation. The visuals are fantastic, spare for a few genre-familiar problems (pop-up, bad draw distance, etc.). The overall look of the game is very bright and colorful, giving a rather comical appearance to a very brutal game. There are so many little touches that make this game look smooth. For example, your characters will hop into the seats of a convertible rather than open the doors to slowly get in. The particle effects and physics engine are definitely the highlights, though. After blowing up cars, you're treated to some of the best explosions ever seen in video games. Don't gawk too long, though, because the debris will eventually come crashing down, crush your body, and then burn it to a crisp if you manage to survive!
The sound is fantastic in every way. The radio stations don't rival those of Grand Theft Auto but they're still entertaining. The sound effects are great as well. But what has to be credited the most is the dialogue. Saint's Row features the most ridiculous but excellent dialogue I've seen from a game like this. There are a few too many f- and n-bombs for my taste, but in the actual story scenes, the dialogue is believable and well-done. Some of the other dialogue is so raunchy that you'll definitely want to keep any kids away. During some of the Escort Activity missions, I heard the most perverse sexual things I think I've ever heard in my life. Still, this is a game you'll want to listen to-keep that Xbox 360 Soundtrack turned off!
The raunchy dialogue is accompanied by a generally sick sense of humor that mimics that of Rockstar very well. Volition pokes fun at several different things in this game, and you'll catch a lot of them in no time. For example, a common one is the "grown-up, mature" version of the late Dave Thomas's Midwest-based food chain, Wendy's. The commercials heard in the game are pretty ridiculous. Friendly Fire, Stilwater's firearm store, is a complete rip-off of Ammu-Nation, Grand Theft Auto's equivalent. The commercials make this especially noticeable.
Saint's Row's online gameplay is something that has never been attempted before in the sandbox genre. Online, you can choose from several gameplay modes. The online gameplay modes are all a lot of fun when the connection isn't awful, but in my experience, the connection was almost always awful, so I didn't have the most fun on Xbox Live with this game. There was severe lag, a ton of disconnecting, and a lot of quitters. Also, I felt like the characters died and ran out of stamina far too quickly. Rather than being a fast-paced game where players were free to run around, the lack of stamina made everything a much slower affair. Still, there's a lot of potential whenever the servers are more stable. The Gang setup (basically the exact same concept as Halo 2's clans) is great, and the lobbies are fun, letting you cap and chat with your buddies while waiting on the game to load.
Overall, Saint's Row isn't without its problems-frustrating missions, choppy online play, and a few graphical glitches show that Saint's Row is human. Add those to the familiar ground tread in the game's storyline, and the lack of some of GTA's newer features, and you've got a game that is a few years behind the competition. But does that mean that Saint's Row is bad? No! Far from it! Saint's Row is a fantastic game that had me glued to my seat. I was so glued, in fact, that I played it for more than ten hours after putting it into my Xbox 360 for the first time, completing more than 30% of the game in a single sitting. Then the next day came and went. And the next day. And the next day. Saint's Row's got the great graphics, excellent presentation, control style, online gameplay, and entertainment value to make it more than worthy of your $60. | video-games_xbox |
Somewhere between 4 and 4.5 Stars for Me. I am years behind on this review but I felt like I should write one, mainly because every other game review I seem to produce on Amazon is either bad or merely decent.
A year or two ago I got my home theater set up and I was trying to decide on which RPG to get into for the 360 (I'm a pretty big RPG fan). Sadly, there isn't a large selection for the Xbox so it didn't take me long to find competition between a few titles. I won't list any other possible selections because I haven't played them, although it should be noted that there are some other RPGs and even JRPGs out there with good or very good reviews as well (as you can see Tales has very good reviews here).
I am a traditional kind of RPG player (I enjoy games such as Final Fantasy 1,6,7, Xenogears, Lunar Silver Star Story Complete, Chrono Trigger) although I am open to anything with a good story, graphics and sound. One of the first things that really appealed to me about Tales is the beautifully crafted artwork. As others have mentioned, the game consists of cell shading, and while the graphics are relatively simple, they remain very vibrant and fun to view. I found the villages very comforting, and even the dungeon-type landscapes were still nice to look at. Also, I thought the camera angles were original and made the experience unique. For example, while running down a stairway, the camera will sometimes follow right behind you, so you really gain a depth of perception into the setting.
The music was also enjoyable. It has been years now since I played it but I still find that I remember many of the tracks. It was also nice on my surround system because some of the background effects (such as running water or blowing wind) were truly surround. Audio is one of the biggest aspects for a game to me and Tales does well in this department, albeit they also play it relatively safe.
Although there is a large open world with a traditional world map, I did find the game in general as relatively linear. Not in pacing or completing missions or the storyline, but in the layouts of platforms and dungeons and paths. What I mean is, everywhere you encounter enemies (other than the world map) is a bunch of small paths in which you take them left or right, up or down. This effect is more easily experienced than explained. However, due to the beauty of the landscapes, I was able to look past this flaw for the most part.
While the villages and environments are beautifully stunning, I found that most of the large cities were not quite as explorable as I had wished. You may enter a few buildings and participate in a few side quests, but for the most part the huge metropolises are pretty much inaccessible for you. While some games I feel present TOO much to explore and other areas of the game suffer for this, I feel as though Tales of Vesperia was shortcoming in variety and being able to really become a part of the settings in which you explore. Sure, there are minute side quests and interactions with NPCs, but I feel that there could have been much more. For example, think of the Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy VII. Well, Tales offers an island in the game much like it, and really, it is more or less an equivalent to the Gold Saucer. Actually, the FF7 recreation area was probably MORE in depth, and it was released in 1997! Of course, Final Fantasy VII was a masterpiece and lives as one of the great JRPGs, but still, Tales of Vesperia released over ten years later. While the graphics may have improved, the overall immersion in the environments was little or not improved from a decade prior. I did, however, become addicted to playing the poker on the island, and it is also a great way to make money in the game.
The fighting is somewhat dissimilar from traditional RPGs in that it is not turn based, and you have the ability to run around a three-dimensional sphere as a combat area. While it is relatively primitive, the battles are rather fun. I like the option of being able to put the other party members on auto, so your healers and magic casters will stand in the back of the battle (hopefully!) and cast as you choose to physically attack (which is what I most often did). There are "fatal strikes", which are basically death-blows and they are the most fun thing in the combat to me. And throughout the game, including boss battles, I felt as though the battles were hard enough to be competitive but not horribly unfair. I rather enjoyed fighting many of the big monster bosses, which often were completely optional for the player.
I think the biggest drawback to Tales of Vesperia is the story. It is only good enough to keep you playing, and actually many of the other perks in the game (such as the fighting and artwork) probably kept me playing more so than the storyline. And this is an RPG we're talking about. While I rather enjoyed all of the characters (even Karol!) and all of their dialogues, I felt that the main story was weak and that the conclusion of the game was severely disappointing. All of the ideas that I had in my head about how the game would end came crashing to a halt when I finally completed the game. I think I was looking for more of a dialogue between my characters of which I'd come to love, and in that department Tales pretty much let me down.
There are other aspects in the game (such as cooking, fighting in arenas or finding rare collectibles) that were enjoyable, but again they were pretty much tertiary and did not leave me with a feeling of accomplishment. Cooking for example could have developed into something really fun and novel, but in the end it was kind of a letdown.
Overall, I still rate this game at over four stars. If you enjoy RPGs that are aesthetically pleasing and traditional, Tales of Vesperia is a great choice for you. I actually traded my game in and I wish that I had kept it now, if only to jump on every once in a while and listen to the soundtrack and fight some battles. Namco did a great job with this title and I would look forward to another in the future, as long as the storyline comes off as a little more compelling. | video-games_xbox |
MORE of the same. well this game sure is exactly what i expected sad part is even knowing what i was in for i still went ahead and bought it..game is average think of mw2 with a map pack the campaign was a step up because it actually followed some what of a storyline.. so i give it credit there.. but lets face it we are all here for the multiplayer the joy of beating your friends online seeing how your stats stack up against them etc. well if you liked MW2 you will love this game because its the exact same thing in my opinion.. guns feel cheap and fake, u can still spray in a general direction and get the kill even with the sniper (oh yea quick scoping is back *sigh*)its still uses the prestige edition which in exchange of your unlocks gives you a new emblem and the level cap was raised some new guns were added to the roster as well as some old from previous games the good ol' mp5 from cod4 is back as well as the g36c among others. all in all if your the type of person who still played mw2 until recently then you will probably love this game since its identical except for some minor things but its still manages to feel slightly fresh. now on to spec ops this is by far where the game shines.. i loved the spec ops mission mode in mw2 they've brought that back and added and additional mode called survival which is like zombies on steroids u face multiple enemies including choppers juggernauts suicide bombers suicide bomber dogs armored enemies as well as others the only down side is its only with a partner not a squad of 4
in the end if your a major COD fan you will like this game especially if your in the youtube scene since quickscoping is back, if your new to the series then by all means check it out since it will be fresh too you and all you vets well you most likely already bought it anyway if your on the edge then just don't get it there are many other titles out at this time that mw3 jus gets left behind i played mw3 for 2-3 days the day skyrim came out i didn't touch mw3 until this friday.. | video-games_xbox |
don't buy the hype. I'll give the EA madden team an A plus for marketing and buying out online reviews of this game. But the proof is in the pudding. Madden 15 comes in at a paltry 15 GB. compare this to EA UFC at 16 and you get the idea how much the maddenites have spent in devolping this game. by contrast, NBA 2k14 have a whopping 44 GB! The developers (a bunch of 20 somethin rich kids who never played the game) want you to believe that tackle cones, community play calling, and play wheel are what people have wanted for years. the truth? NOBODY cares! Graphically? hmm, not what you think. the crowd is still 60-70k males only, with every 4 or 5 the exact same model. Yep, next gen. you want fumbles and penalties that makes real football the drama it is? won't see it in this game. it's all about looking up what some people have called versus this play. Yea, That is what the fans wanted!! the Commentary is still the same from 2 yrs ago. And how about the "tackle cone in order to make tackling easier"? they had it for years with the tackle assist on settings menu! And how many people cried for a golf arc for punting? And for the love of the game, get rid of the tone dead jim nanz and phil simms with comments like "it is always better to play with the lead" comments. The developers at madden truly do need your wrath. Don't market a 15 GB game, and then tell us how hard you have worked to make this a next-gen. experience. That is both laziness and lying. if you can't make a 50GB game to compete with 2k sports, then, well........you don't deserve my money. period. Thru all the hype, madden still plays, like, well, madden and that is a shame!
***second update*** So let's sum up what is wrong with Madden and could have been easily corrected had EA Orlando got off their rear ends: Gameplay sliders are still broken and need to be fixed. Lack of listening to what fans want like season mode, create a team, gameface, the ability to play has the '67 packers, the 70s steelers, etc. lack of a truly dynamic interactive broadcast system. Broken online gameplay issues. unrealistic gameplay: too many sacks, interceptions, and lame duck QB's who throw like dan marino. lack of living worlds in the crowd. if madden 15 is going to come in at a disgraceful 14.79 gigs (especially unforgivable seeing how much money EA Orlando rakes in every year), they need to spend it on the above, not tackle cones, community play call, etc. designed to attrack new gamers while shafting their loyal customer base. period. | video-games_xbox |
Dragon Age 2 Review. It is apparent this game was rushed in comparison to the first of the series. However, it is a good game for the time they put into it. This game was lauched in roughly 1 year from the last or close to it. The following aspects are rushed consequences:
1. Small area to explore (revisit the same places too much)
2. Companions have limited equipment that can be changed
3. Only 1 race to choose from
4. Several silly glitches such as equiping a shield and the defense not removing when taking it off
5. There is some glitch that causes you to lose your target at times and the computer either has to take over, or bring up the radial (sometimes works) will at times fix this. <--rather annoying..happens usually later in the game.
6. Maps are sometimes re-used. It is apparent that many parts of maps/complete maps with some areas blocked off are re-used time and time again for mines/dungeons/sewers.
Here are some of the positive aspects added from this game, at least many find them positive.
1. We now have something to do other than stand there and watch the character auto-attack. There is a button-smashing combo sequence for each class.
2. Graphics are improved
3. Character interactions have been improved. Many of the conversations that your party members have among one another while you are traveling have been improved. They each have something to say about nearly all members of the party and it will randomly select a sequence when traveling and not in combat.
4. Companion involvement in decisions. In this game there are great advantages to having certain individuals with you for specific parts of the game. It will often give extra insight or an option to let that character get involved in the situation to resolve it for you.
5. The game focuses more on upgrades to current skills and less on having a mass of skills/spells to choose from. Though this sounds like a bad thing, it's rather difficult for many players to have to pull up the radial and select a skill/spell to use during combat since they only have 6 readily available options at hand. This is a positive for the console version, I haven't played the PC version to see if it works the same.
6. It will carry over decisions made from the first play though (Dragon Age 1) and use those decisions to determine some situations in the game. (For example: Who is king/queen)
7. Story is interesting and each companion has a long series of their own quests you can help with.
8. The rivalry/friendship change was an intersting new feature. It is now possible to have people in the party that do not agree with your decisions but respect that you are doing what is best and will continue to follow you.
Overall, I found it to be worth the investment. However, it could have used some work before it's final launch to get some of the silly glitches out and perhaps allow more customization to companions. Bioware has been known to do a good job in the past and I'm sure they will continue to do so. It would have been nice in the future to work out a few more of the bugs and give players more race options/companion customization. More thought was put into the first one it seems. | video-games_xbox |
Excellent new multiplayer maps to energize Halo 2. I've been playing Halo 2 for quite a while now, and most of the time I play split screen with my brothers. We had gotten bored of the old maps, although many were really cool (Zanzibar, Ascension, Lockout). We had simply played them too much. So when I heard about this new multiplayer map pack I knew I had to get it, to have some fresh new maps to try and experiment with.
This map pack has 9 new maps, which are all unique and suitable for different game types (capture the flag, team slayer, oddball, territories, etc.). Some of them are really huge, the largest being Containment, Terminal, and Relic. Containment is a huge, snow-covered map with huge fortified bases that look awesome, good for 8-on-8 or 4-on-4 team CTF or slayer. This map has new interactive objects on them that blow up if you run them over or shoot them, which can be moved around and used like a mine (watch the mini-documentary called "Killtacular" that comes with the CD you'll laugh at what one guy at Bungie coins these explosive devices). The other gigantic map is Relic, which is a really cool and awesome-looking map. It's a huge island with lots of new scenery and it's also great for big CTF or slayer matches. Terminal is another large level that looks really cool and futuristic, and features a fast train that runs through the middle. If you get hit by the train you die (apparently killed by the Guardians, whoever they are), and there's an energy sword on the train tracks. Since I usually play split screen 2-on-2 team slayer with my brothers these huge maps aren't really suitable, because you get bored if you run around for five minutes before you see someone.
My favorite maps are Sanctuary, Backwash, Turf, and Elongation (in order of descending size). Sanctuary looks beautiful, with waterfalls and really cool tunnels and bridges. It has two distinct bases and some really clever sniping spots. Elongation is an interesting level, because it has two conveyor belts that move in opposite directions. It also has big blocks on these belts which are great for hiding spots. Turf is in a urban street environment, and has alot of hiding spots and tight alleys. This level definitely has the most detail in it. Backwash is a humid and spooky-looking level that's pretty cool and weird looking. It's like a swamp and you can't see far because of the green fog. It's pretty good for close battles with energy swords and shotguns.
The last two maps I didn't mention are Warlock and Gemini. Warlock is an interesting map because it is perfectly symmetrical. This map is dark and has a great environment, and features shotguns, battle rifles, SMGs, plasma rifles, and magnums. This makes it a close-combat type level. Gemini is a very cool and surreal looking level that is supposed to be a holy shrine for the covenants (see the video "Killtacular" for more information about the maps) I really like this map also, although it's a bit too dark.
Overall, these maps are a great addition to the Halo 2 multiplayer maps. My only gripe is that most of the maps are really huge, and the games I play are usually 2-on-2 split screen. I gave this map pack 5 stars because these maps have really been produced excellently, the detail is great, and the originality of the maps is definitely evident. In my opinion Sanctuary and Turf are the best additions. However, you'll probably have different favorites. Basically, the best way to know about these new maps is to play them and see them for yourself, because as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words." There is definitely a great variety of maps, and these are original maps that are very different from the ones that came with Halo 2. So I think all that's left is for you to purchase this map pack, which I believe is a good deal at $20, considering that you get 9 maps and some neat movies on the disc. Granted, the map pack disc will probably not be touched after downloading the maps and seeing the movies, since the maps will be on the X-Box's hard drive and you'll just play Halo 2 regularly. So if you're a Halo 2 multiplayer fan who either plays on Live or has big multiplayer parties, and you're tired of playing Zanzibar or Ascension for the umpteenth time (like I was), then go ahead and get this Halo 2 Map Pack. The guys at Bungie worked hard to make fresh, new maps so that all of us Halo fans can still have fun playing awesome multiplayer games into the wee hours of the morning. | video-games_xbox |
A Solid Couch Co-Op Game! One of the best. Let's just get to it! I really liked this game, and playing couch co-op, it was impressive all the way through.
PROS: Good graphics, good plot, very customizable weaponry/armor/characters, many hours of gameplay! For the battle tank in you, there was a lot of combat, but some fun sidequests here and there that involved finding things or saving lives. For the strategist in you, loot drops created a lot of time comparing gear and examining magic items to see if you wanted to equip them or break them down into materials for the blacksmith to create better gear for you. I personally love that part, my gf not so much because I wanted to compare new gear with old gear during gameplay a lot and she got bored. You can choose how much time you want to spend with that, so it's not a big deal. Skill sets were interesting, and I was impressed by the thought put into them. You can alternate between special skills if you feel like one is stronger than the other, rather than the traditional customizable tree that you can't change or alter, which I thought was unique in this game. And did I mention many many hours of gameplay?!
CONS: At one point, my co-op partner and I reached a level where our gear wasn't matching the level of enemies, and we kept dying for a bit (this was early during gameplay, perhaps around level 14 or so), but after that, the combat just got a little too easy once we got the legendary gear and solid weapons, and we never reached that point again throughout 15+ more levels of gameplay. In short, combat (even with bosses) ended up mildly easy overall and this was a bit disappointing. To be fair, we didn't play the harder modes of play (i.e. Legendary, etc.), but I did expect combat to be a bit harder the first time we played through. Even so, it took awhile to finish the game, which left me feeling pretty satisfied.
Despite the bosses being a bit easy for my taste, I still give this game a solid 5 stars, especially as a couch co-op game! Nice work! | video-games_xbox |
After 4 Years Saints Row is Rebranded and Rebooted 9/10. I'm a huge fan of Volition they are hands down the working class Developers of the gaming industry
They try and do the best they can and don't get nearly enough respect for there efforts
First things first as someone who payed there hard earned money for this game I have a much better opinion then so many people who have a agenda
65% of online reviews on game sites,blogs and YouTube are shills they are known for blackmailing Publisher & Developers into payola
Angry Joe comes to mind when it comes to this but, he isn't the only one
Most of these same clowns don't pay a dime for the software or even hardware
The biggest problem with the Internet is the over the top negativity over good and services It's very Toxic
Before Agents of Mayhem even dropped people online were quick to knock in (No Online Co-Op fail) It's not Saints Row fail
Good lord I hope half these people are high school kids that are just stupid and don't fully understand the real world
I've put a good 12hrs into it already just doing side missions and exploring the massive world
Agents of Mayhem is in fact Saints Row
(I can bank the Developers only put from the Creators of Saints Row 1-IV in some of the teaser trailers) to troll the internet Community who are massive babies
If you played and beat SR Gat out of Hell you'd understand this Universe/Timeline
Plus Johnny Gat is going to be a playable Agent
The negatives: There are minor bugs I've been stuck in the Ark, sometimes the game has lag usually during odd things like when you fall from a super high spot
Once in a while the audio drops out But, on 8-22-17 (There was a patch/update so hopefully it fixes the small issues
No type of Grinding on anything there are strange polls in high spots you'd think you can jump on or even grind on/across
But, you can't Not sure why these are even in the game I can't help but, think there was a grinding mechanic but, it was removed due to Sunset Overdrive
Another massive Negative is the load out screen (This game takes the over complicated characters upgrades Boardlands has and throws it into a Sandbox/Open world game
You only get 3 Agents of Mayhem Characters out of the gate which i don't mind but, it would've been nice to have a few more
I'm on Level 11 so not sure when other Agents are unlocked
Graphics the look is a bit different from previous SR games (It's very much Crackdown mixed with Far Cry: Blood Dragon, meets Sunset Overdrive)
It's very 1980's Neon If you are sensitive to colors watch lets plays before you buy it (I can see some people falling out and having a Seizure from this game)
If you are a child of the 80's your love what you see there are so many cleaver references all over the place
Depending on what type of tv you are playing on you'll want to adjust the settings to your liking
The cut scenes are straight-up 1980's looking Saturday morning cartoons in a awesome way!
The controls are so/so not horrible by any means but, seem a bit "off"
The climbing up building in Saints Row IV and SR: Gat Out of Hell was almost perfect in Agents it's not as easy
While it's not over complicated like GTA5 it's a bit stiff and takes a little getting use to
The driving is spot on much like in other SR games it's easy to get into a vehicle and drive
The switching on the fly works and the more you play you'll understand this concept
The Audio is very good
The DTS 5.1 adds a lot of theater quality sound to the Chaos going on
(I haven't spent enough time in vehicle to even check out if there is any Licensed music)
The V/O cast is very good, all types of solid sounds
The Story: Is a bit simple much like Just Cause 2-3 and the previous Saints Row games
You don't play games like this for the deep social commentary you play it for the shallow Open World expiernce
It's very much like a extend Adult version of G.I. Joe
Is it fun and worth your time and money
Without a doubt yes if you love Sunset Overdrive, Just Cause 2-3, Crackdown 1-2, and all the previous Saints Row title you'll dig this
While it's not perfect (No open world/Sandbox title is) There is a lot of content in the game
The best way to try to explain this re-imagining is to compare it to
Dead Rising 4 = DR4 was a solid fun game but, overly dumbed-down to appeal to the masses/mainstream gamers
Agents of Mayhem isn't a dumbed-down sequel it's just a little to bloated in a sense (Volition went all out to expand on a open world game
trying to take concept done by Boarderlands, and Overwatch and a hint of Crackdown
This game is super ambitious Volition could've done the lazy thing and just took Saints Row IV and reskinned it and added more HD textures
I'm not sure who this game is meant for though
It's a odd mash-up of a True Open World title with elements of other game genres
It shouldn't work but, it really does
Is it the best Sandbox game I've played this year probably not but, it's super close
Hopefully there is real HQ Season Pass unlike the garbage Capcom gave us with the Dead Rising 4 Season Pass
I hope this direction continues But, Volition remakes Saints Row in this time line that way both games can share the same Universe
Much like Saints Row and Red Faction shared the same Universe previously
This could be a build up to a Saints vs Agents of Mayhem game
The game is a solid entry into the sandbox genre that changes the rules and should be given a lot more credit then JohhnyGamer1988 says or the other brave internet trolls that hide behind a phony online name to express there point of view
I gain nothing for talking up this game i have no angle and not looking for clicks
I think it's being ripped apart to be ripped apart while garbage like Friday the 13th The game gets a strange pass at being garbage
It's a solid 9/10
My Gamertag Duckman 1979
UPDATE: 9-10-2017
Once you complete the first main mission 4-5 missions appear and you can unlock each new Agent by taking the said mission
Once you complete there specific story mission they are playable
Each unlocked Agent has there own play style and identity
Oleg Kirlov from Saints Row is Yeti
Yeti a cross between Sub Zero and Mr. Freeze (Just a very cool unique playable agent)
Pierce Washington also from Saints Row is now The "Player"
he is the leader of The Saints and goes by Kingpin
At first seems a bit different then the Pierce we all no and love
But, despite the change of name and the more cartoon look
This is Pierce Washington in a different time line
Braddock is Foxy Brown meets GI Joe
Rama is the most distinct using a bow and arrow and being able to turn invisible
each one of these Agents add replay ability, and different play styles throughout the much bigger picture | video-games_xbox |
DOA4 an average fighter. I have played Dead or Alive since the second one released on the dreamcast and have enjoyed the series up until this one. Dead or Alive 3 being my most favorite. I really tried to enjoy this game but through all the changes I couldn't enjoy it as it was more frustrating than fun.
Graphics: As always the Tecmo team does an excellent job with graphics pushing them as far as the system will let them take it. All you have to do is look at the characters and the different levels and know that it is gorgeous.
Storyline: Well, as always the story rarely makes sense and doesn't explain why you're fighting who you're fighting. Its a common thing between all fighter games. Unless you've played DOA from the begining don't even try to make since of it. The story mode is alright and the end boss is crazy and hard as can be. Unless you wanna buy the costumes online you will be going through storymode a bunch of times which I have and it sucked. I have only one character to unlock and that's Tengu, as for the others Ein is awesome, Leon and Gen Fu but why Tengu and Alpha-152?? The new characters added to the linup are Kokoro, Eliot and Lisa. My favorite one was Kokoro who is hard to use in fights and no flashy moves. Eliot took Gen Fu's spot and with Lisa all you do is push buttons and she goes crazy.
Combat System: They sped up the character movements and changed up the counter system, which makes this game tougher and very very frustrating. As always you have a list of moves you can go through in sparring mode to learn the new moves and old ones to try and come up with chains and all that on your own. However, when fighting against the cpu (on normal or hardest, I found to be the same) you end up getting mad because the cpu counters 75% of your moves and blocks 15% of them so that leaves you 10% chance of hitting the cpu. So what happens, you forget trying to string up a combo and just start mashing buttons and dont' even think about trying to get a grab combo on the cpu.
Online mode: Its hard to say as its different with everyone's connection and one second you can be hitting someone the next you're getting the beat down. I didn't play it that much and with the lag and all I didn't find it that much fun.
Music: The music goes well with the fighting and the creator loves Aerosmith which is fine by me.
Overall the frustration of trying to get combos off and getting countered and blocked most of the time get very annoying and are not easily overlooked because its a fighting game. One of those things where you get mad throw the conroller across the room and scream "I'll never play this stupid game again!!" but five minutes later your back trying to win. This game gets a frustrating 3 stars out of 5, which kills because I love the dead or alive series up to this point. | video-games_xbox |
A fresh feel to point-and-click shooting. Overview:
Pros:
Perspective on sniping feels fresh and engaging; kill-cam always a blast; single player provides plenty of tension-filled challenging moments; multiplayer fairly solid.
Cons:
Linear mission design; campaign can feel repetitive well before it's over; A.I. spotty at times; graphics have room for improvement; lack of enough voice acting and music.
The game brings a pretty unique feel to traditional point-and-click sniping. Bullets drop almost as soon as they leave the barrel of your rifle, and when this is coupled with wind, there is a good amount of fun guesswork involved in trying to get that bullseye headshot. When you make a particularly good kill, there will be a very grisly, spectacular, and satisfying killcam showing your bullet going through an X-ray rendering of the enemy's body, piercing through bones and organs. The single player overall is worth a playthrough, as it definitely throws quite a few curveballs that'll challenge even the oldest veteran of the shooter genre. The multiplayer is pretty solid and models itself closely after the gameplay of the single player.
On the downside however, the mission design itself is quite linear. All missions lead you through a narrow set of waypoints that don't allow for even the slighest veering off-course. You never get the sensation that you can approach a battlefield at a different or better angle, as encounters feel very much scripted. Also, the campaign itself becomes a bit formulaic and dry well before it's over, as each mission is nothing but a "go there and kill those guys" type of thing. The enemy itself slowly starts to feel like rifle fodder once you become used to the generic A.I. You will run into quite a few situations where enemies foolishly run out into the open and turn your backs against you. In one encounter, I threw a grenade towards a group of two soldiers that was a bit inaccurate, killing only one of them. The other just stood there and was completely oblivious.
The graphics are fairly decent, but start to look very rough around the edges, literally speaking, at farther range even on maximum settings with maximum antialiasing. Lastly, there is a lack of enough voice acting in the game. The single central character carries the majority of it, who does a fair job, albeit it being somewhat corny with its deep voice. There is also considerable room for more soundtracks in the game.
Overall, it's worth the buy and playthrough, mainly because it'll likely feel fresh if you're a seasoned veteran of the shooter genre. The multiplayer may also keep you there for a while if you enjoy live tactical combat with others.
Final Score: 7.0/10 | video-games_xbox |
Welcome to the CIRCUS OF REAL VALUE. This game is not a publicity stunt to get money, this is a homage to what some people consider the greatest trilogy of games of all time. While that's arguable, the original Bioshock is easily one of my favorite video games I've ever played. You'll never play or experience anyting like like it. The collection includes newly remastered versions of the three titles in the BioShock video game series, Bioshock, Bioshock 2 and Infinite. It's available for XBOX One, PS4 and PC for Windows. I kinda think this collection, even for as good as it is, it should be around 39.99 or 49.99. The full price tag, maybe a bit much. But for someone who has never played the series, you're getting a bargain for 3 games that will keep you occupied for some time.
The collection includes the single-player content and all the dlc packs, including Minerva's Den and Burial at Sea. That said, if you have not played this series yet, then by all means, now is the perfect time to pick up this game. For a game that came out in 2007, I normally would say this game has not aged well but it certainly has aged quite gracefully. But even if we didn't have the upgrade in graphics and audio, I'd say never fear, even without the graphics upgrade, the game holds up nicely. Bioshock is more about atmosphere before gameplay. The gameplay is rock solid, don't get me wrong, but as first person game, it may not feel up to par with current standards, but it's certainly no slouch even if it was launched new here in 2016. 2K blew fans and critics away when Bioshock was released.
The atmosphere is the main appeal here and you won't want to leave the claustrophobic world of Rapture. This not a happy game. There is so much terror and madness going on but again, that's part of the appeal. You've never played an unsettling game like this before. The weapon variety if fantastic and I'm amazed how I never get tired of finding new weapons and abilities. I still love mowing down those houdini splicers with my trusty Electric Shotgun! Not to mention my machine gun and my amazing plasmid abilities. As Jack, you are able to defeat foes in a number of ways by using weapons and utilizing the unique plasmids. The plasmids is one of the most enticing aspects of this game on taking out those nasty splicers and enemies you come across. Do you want to burn them a live with your inferno? Sure thing. How about shocking them with electricity when they're standing on water? Of course you can. How about using Telekinesis to throw large items at enemies? You know it. The game starts you out with basically nothing ,but the more you continue on, the more weapons and ADAM you can attain to survive. The unique abilities you attain seem a bit overwhelming, but you'll catch on in no time.
The level design is second to none, a masterpiece of craftmanship. I've never been so impressed by level design before. The places you visit are huge, but they're easy to navigate and that map obviously comes in handy. There's so many secrets and things to find an rewards to find depending on your decision making (I won't spoil that) but it will keep you constantly guessing what you missed if you go to the next level too soon.
The setting in BioShock takes place in 1960. That's one of the unique aspects of this game. It is a bit bizarre but this era fits with the weirdness of the story and the city of Rapture will be embedded into your mindset till your death bed! It's really that memorable! Story is fun and will keep you entertained throughout your visit in Rapture. You as the player guides the protagonist, Jack, after his airplane crashes in the ocean near the bathysphere terminus that leads to the strange underwater city of Rapture. As you play Jack, you try to find your way out and survive the onslaught of fighting through hordes of ADAM-obsessed enemies, and the iconic, deadly Big Daddies! Oh watch out for those Big Daddies! And that creepy girl never gets less creepy, yes, she's creepy! The twist to the story I will not spoil for you (for those who have not been to rapture yet) but it's a mind bending story that will throw you in many loops and that ending will turn your head for sure.
So what can you expect from this collection? Just a ported over collection? Heck no! But this is not just a trilogy, these are remastered games that run in full 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second across all platforms. I played a little bit of Bioshock and Infinite and I can say you will not be disappointed. The added details of the levels are quite noticeable and if you have any doubts about it, don't worry. I'd say these remasters look just as good as any current gen game out there. Nothing really mind blowing, but the upgrade is very apparent from the 2007 original. I haven't determined if I can tell if there are any changes in audio that I could pick out of the clear blue, but I do think it's been cleaned up and it sounds fantastic. Crank this game up for full effect and play in the dark. The added touches of the 60's vibe music, the fantastic cast of characters and Big Daddy and that creepy little girl that walks around, this game is a must for you to play and for me, it's worth playing all over again even if you played it before and now it looks better too!
I won't review the 3 games in detail, as most already know what you're getting into. All 3 games are fantastic. 2 probably gets the least love from most and critics, but I've heard from people in my circle and on many forums who actually prefer it more than the original. My personal preference is the original Bioshock, then Infinite then Bioshock 2. Again, I think they're all fantastic. Play them in order. Infinite doesn't seem to have gotten as much of an update, but also consider it not being as old, so it looked pretty good in the first place! The more openness of Infinite is an entirely different feel from 1 and 2 in the claustrophobic world of Rapture, but you'll love the story in infinite and I think the first person aspects are also improved from the previous game.
There's no better trilogy than what you have right here. If you have an XBOX One, or PS4, do yourself a favor, this get this trilogy now before the world of Rapture disappears forever! :) | video-games_xbox |
Great Game and Story. To start off my review, this game is the definition of perfection. At the start of the game, things kick off with training for the newbs or you can just go right into the thick of it. The controls are really good, command and response is really good. But it could have used a command option for your squad. But hey it really didn't need it because the AI is really impressive. Baird, Dom, the New Guy, and the Cole Train are really good team members. They will save you butt a here and there or when your in a jam. With the difficulty, the enemy AI, Locust, learn how to kill you and your squad. But there is a draw back to the AI, when they bring you down to be revived they have the tendency to charge for you to end the game, leaving them wide open. But they sometimes succeed with this tactic. The AI on Insane and Hardcore love to flank you like crazy. They will prevent you from moving by keeping 2 or 3 locust on you while they flank your position. But that is why you have your squad. The story is also really good. There is soo much detail to this game, from the beginning at the hospital to the end with the sinking of the last human city. This story grabs hold of you and never lets you go. You can feel the sadness from Dom when he finds his wife that he has been searching for since the last game. Even Marcus has a sad part in the game, but it comes in the end. Baird and Cole are still your regular team mates with the addition to Carmine, Diz, and Tai. They are real helpful even though Diz isn't much of a fighter because he drives Betsy, his truck. Graphics are really good also. Especially inside the worm. The blood on Marcus and the squad looks real. Great detail to the characters and weapons. The story leaves enough for a Gears of War 3. Online play is also really good, with all kinds of matches from the classic deathmatch to the new addition of Horde. You will be playing over and over again to better your rank. Playing horde is also a great experince to play with friends, and i recommend you play with a friend or 2. Because this game will kill you easily. It is you and your team vs. 50 waves of Locust. And the catch is every ten waves the enemy gets stronger and smarter. With health and accuracy bonuses, you will have to fight for your life. This game is really good and fun to play with friends. I would recommend this to any fan of the gears series and any newb to this game. It is really fun and enjoyable with tons of replay value. | video-games_xbox |
Just not what I thought it would be. I'm not a big RPG fan, but on occasion I can play one and truely enjoy it (i.e. Fable). So when I bought Marrowind [...]I thought that it should at least be worth the money I put into it. When I first started playing I began walking around talking to people, having more or less no idea what I was supposed to do. So I left town and came across a 'Mud Crab.' It killed me, and not know I was suppose to save, I was sent right back to the beginning of the game, where I had to re-pick my charector. I wasn't happy.
From there I learned more about the game, including the incredible usefulness of using codes (e.i. heath replenishing). I've faught bandints and beasts and wizards of all kinds in the 15+ hours I've put into the game, taking on quests and wandering aroudn through the vast map. I still don't know what I'm supposed to be doing and as far as I can tell, I haven't even started the main quest. There's no sense of direction and the term 'open-ended' is taken to a new extreme to where you just wonder aimlessly. The 'combat' is hardly that. It consists of rapid 'hack-and-slash' style fighting thats about as fun as fighting battles in the boardgame "RISK." It was a huge letdown compared to the combat in so many other games (Zelda, Fable)
But while there is plenty of 'bad' to the game, there is more than enough to keep certain gamers happy (especially RPG fans)The graphics are amazing for their time and still stand up against most of today's games graphics (Grand Theft Auto). the story line is VERY deep, and while many gamers will be turned off by this (myself included) plenty of people will love emersing themselves into the rich history of the island (marrowind). The map is huge, the biggest I've probably ever played (except for maybe San Andreas) and the climate changed along with your sorroundings depend on where you are (forests, swamps, mountains, ect.) Your customization abilities are incredable. Theres so many differant ways to change you appearance and abilites. You can make your own potions out of things you find throughout the island and build your own spells. Theres so much to do its unbelievable.
But don't make the mistake of thinking this was a game you could cruise through with engaging combat and a set path for you to fallow. Its just not there. I don't think I'll ever finish this game, its just to big.
[Out of 10]
Graphics: 9
Gameplay: 5
Storyline: 9
Overall: 7 | video-games_xbox |
Surprising diamond in the rough. Apparently Amazon has inexplicably decided to lump reviews for this game (MotionSports Play for Real) together with its sequel, MotionSports Adrenaline. They're two different products, Amazon. Would you stick all disposable razor reviews together onto one page? Because that makes about as much sense.
So my review for Adrenaline will appear at the end. I gave it four stars. My three stars are for an average of the two. Maybe this was the only way to artificially inflate the final rating so anyone would give Play for Real a second look.
Because Play for Real absolutely sucks. Games like this are the reason people hate Kinect. Clunky, inconsistent motion recognition. Pointless mini games that seem to only be trying to showcase the miracle of controlling a video game with your body, ignoring whether it's fun to do so or not. And interminable loading screens and menus to swipe through. Play for two minutes, stand still selecting stuff and waiting for four. The only activity I thought was worth a replay was hang gliding, and even that ticked me off when I kept failing because the game wouldn't respond to my motion. I am perhaps more forgiving than most when it comes to Kinect games, but boy, do I regret trying this one.
MotionSports Adrenaline, on the other hand:
I bought this on impulse to have something to play with my friend. To my surprise, it has become one of my top three favorites. It's not perfect -- you don't get to use your avatar, and motion tracking/animation isn't nearly as smooth as in other games. Also the menus are extremely sensitive and it's hard to avoid choosing the wrong thing. After every event you unlock special suits, rewards, and new tracks, but it's hard to care about them if your own avatar isn't involved.
The rock climbing activity is a complete waste of time -- I can't even figure out how to make the character move, let alone move to where I want it. Kite surfing was better but failed to keep our attention.
The best games in here are without a doubt wing suit, mountain biking, kayaking and skiing. Skiing in particular absolutely took my breath away -- it's practically worth the purchase price alone.
I've only begun playing, but it seems like the number of courses for each event is way too few. Last night I did purchase the Urban Jungle add-on and I'm excited to see what that brings to the game, but I can see the possibility of becoming bored eventually once I've memorized all the tracks. Still, for what I got it for (used at local store), it's well worth the money.
Edit: The Urban Jungle add-on, as far as I can see, only added a single course to a few events. Not sure if it's worth the extra dough. Also, if anyone else like me noticed parkour and trampoline advertised, not true. I suspect those were mentioned in pre-release notes and none of the sites that reviewed early versions bothered to update. Ubisoft themselves confirmed they don't exist.
But for god's sake, avoid Play for Real at all costs. Complete garbage. | video-games_xbox |
An excellent reason to hunt down and shoot some more zombies. Rebellion is the development studio behind the Sniper Elite series of which we here at Chalgyr's Game Room are pretty big fans of, so when we heard that their Zombie Army Trilogy was coming to the Xbox One we were itching to be able to get at it. Zombie Army Trilogy contains both a remaster of Nazi Zombie Army 1 & 2 as well as the stunning conclusion to the trilogy.
Based on an alternate reality where near the end of World War II Hitler initiates "Plan Z," which reanimates slain members of The 3rd Reich as zombies. Zombie Army Trilogy is a cooperative 3rd person shooter with an extremely heavy emphasis on the concept of cooperative play; this is no game for solo-players. Does Rebellion's latest Zombie Army release bring the fun back into the oft-overused shooting of zombies?
The makeover that the first two Nazi Zombie Army titles received is actually quite nice; higher resolution textures, better lighting/LOD, and superior explosions fit right into the high quality graphics of the third title. One thing I wish was a little nicer was the lighting; currently the lighting is on par with common shooters but seeing volumetric lighting in Zombie Army Trilogy would make the game far more atmospheric. Right now while attractive, you simply feel like you are running through one generic level to the next and when you hit an invisible wall it will make your blood boil.
Given that this is World War II there is plenty of rubble to be had and to limit the areas that you are running through a bit of creative rubble-placing could have been done to make them feel a little more closed in and tense. Though the levels are fun if stale at times, the models are excellent. Beyond excellent really, with shambling zombies that are in varying states of decay and shamble and stumble along to great affect. The larger more brutish elites look excellent in their Hugo Boss-inspired Third Reich uniforms move along like fleshy tanks (and they are a pain to take down) and they compliment the overall fodder quite well. There are some models like skeletons, that are just plain in comparison, though admittedly you can only do skeletons so many ways and after a while they all begin looking the same.
To compliment more-than-passable graphics and some excellent models Rebellion has thrown together some excellent sound effects. From the realistic staccato of 1940's era submachine guns like the Thompson to the crack of a Lee Enfield battle rifle, serious time was put into ensuring the audio sucked you in and did not let you go. Out of all of the weapons available to you (and there are a ton of them) my personal favorites are the Kar98 rifle and the Colt 1911 sidearm. Each shot sounds real and you can almost feel the recoil; it is obvious that a significant amount of time was spent perfecting the audio and we are all quite thankful for it. Along with the rat-a-tat-tat of weapon fire the gurgling, grunting, and growling of various zombies or the click-clack of skeletons are done impeccably with rich and deep ranges for the various enemies.
Sound queues tend to be just as important in Zombie Army Trilogy as they are in other zombie horde games such as Left 4 Dead 2, though I found myself more invested in Zombie Army as the sound seemed to carry better than in the older titles, though a part of that could be due to the PDP Afterglow Nur's that I have hooked up to the TV, not to take away from the game though, as Rebellion did a phenomenal job with the audio. The soundtrack is where I myself found any real disappointment as the music tends to be hard and harsh and with the graphical aesthetic, choice of weapons, and overall feel of the game I found myself wanting music from the 30's and 40's rather than a more modern take. More a personal preference than anything else, but I think that the clash of era-correct music with the extremely tense action would have melded quite well and taken an already-memorable experience and driven it home.
Music choice not-withstanding, Zombie Army Trilogy is an excellent shooter. I will fully admit that going into it I was concerned, after all the zombie trope in gaming is simply the most played out and bland style that you can find these days; you could walk into a gaming store and throw a stone and it will hit at least a dozen games that have some sort of stale zombie mode that is uninspiring and brings no life to the title whatsoever. When I first loaded it up the first thing that I thought of was "Gee, this is just a 3rd person Left 4 Dead during World War II." Man, was I wrong. Very wrong.
The basic concept of hordes of undead rushing you is the same but the end goal is not really to just escape, it is to end the war. As mentioned there are a ton of weapons to choose from, located throughout each of the levels or in Safe Houses (which is essentially identical to the safe houses in other zombie horde games) and having a smart spread of weaponry throughout your team is essential to survival. Which brings up a good point, "team" is the single most important aspect of the Zombie Army Trilogy. I consider myself a good gamer, especially in shooters and even trying to take the game on by myself ended with pitiful results managing only to get a few hours in before I got stuck. Another contributor here, Jeff, and I have been gaming together for near on two decades and we were far more successful yet we still found points where we were just stuck and needed additional support. This game is designed to punish you in all the best ways and it is great, just do not expect to run this series solo without dying often.
I will be the first to admit that I am done with zombies; outside of the ghouls, ghasts, wights and other undead found in RPG games, they are simply played out. Rebellion however did the impossible with the Zombie Army Trilogy and made them fun again. Not because there are new zombies with new abilities, but because of the excellent balance between World War II-era combat, great graphics, difficult battles, and fun, if shallow story. The first words out of my mouth after the first few hours of gaming with Jeff were "this is not what I expected" and I cannot stress enough how complimentary that is. Rebellion's Zombie Army Trilogy breathed life back into an old trope that I was so tired of I would never have given it a second thought were it not for Rebellion's work with the Sniper Elite series. | video-games_xbox |
I need a little help here. Prepare to hear that a few thousand times, because the NPC's yell it in every encounter. Also the ever popular "I have visual contact".
I am very disappointed with this game. It's hard after playing the PC version not to compare the two. The graphics are really sub-par compared to the PC version. It was crystal clear, and you could see forever. In this game everything seems a bit blurry, and far away objects are in a mist. Lighting and colors seem a little off at times.
Probably the worst aspect of this game is the terrible AI. The NPC's just kind of mope around. Even when they see you they just stand in one place and shoot you, maybe move around a bit, but even their movements look VERY awkward. I find no need for stealth at all. I can simply run up to them and shoot them in the face. In the PC version I had to plan my attacks because the NPC's were smart.
In a way I think there are too many vehicles. My problem with them is that you can jump on a vehicle and bypass tons of content. You'll pass little groups of NPC's and have no reason to shoot them, just drive right past them. I've probably bypassed half the content in this game by simply driving past it.
Sniping was amazing in the PC version. Now there just isn't much of a need for it.
Voice acting can be rather lacking. Sometimes I can't even hear important parts of the dialog because background music or sounds drowned it out. And some text that explains certain aspects of the story flash by so fast you don't have a chance to read them.
Get yourself ready for the "F" word. I'm 33. I have no problem with cursing if it serves a purpose and creates the right emotion. It seems they use profanity in this just for the sake of using profanity. Maybe they think it will impress 13 year olds, but I just found it cheesy.
Not backwards compatible with the 360. Thank goodness I didn't have to pay for this game, as I got it from a friend who can't use it on his 360.
I'm not going to go into the story because I really don't care about the story. They didn't do anything to peak my interests with the story. I just ran around shooting stuff.
Much more linier than the original. I find invisible walls everywhere. Even in boats. I got in a small boat and couldn't figure out what I kept running into. I wasn't near the edge of the map, I was in a little cove. I jumped out too see if I was hitting some kind of reef or other obstruction. Nope, just an invisible wall. All I wanted to do was go around the island to flank them. You don't have near as many choices in paths to take.
The PC version was a masterpiece. Trying to compare Farcry Instincts with Farcry is like trying to compare Halo 2 to Halo 1. Sometimes they just can't top the original, or you just expect way too much. It really feels like a whole different team or company made this game. | video-games_xbox |
Very boring, but couldn't stop. Honestly this game was super disappointing to me. It felt monotonous after about 15 minutes. It doesn't bring much more to the table after that. I only kept playing the game for the achievements, sadly.
Visual:
The visuals in the game aren't bad, in some places looking very good -- conversely in others looking very bad. The locations you fight in are varied and each have their own look. Models are decently detailed while textures seem to run on a decent TV.
3/5 stars.
Game Play:
This is where the game really falls apart. The game play is simple button mashing with a few block, roll, etc. buttons added for no reason. You can easily take on the hardest difficulty without ever blocking. Enemies are dumb and always do about the same thing no matter the play through so learning their patterns is simple and required. The player will have a lot of quick-timers evens through the game to open doors, command troops (which die always -- don't expect to keep them around), etc. While there is a level of persistence which you can buy upgrades for your hero in both the "good" and "evil" trees of skills, there's only a few of them that actually matter. The game even has spears strewn around the game areas that will instagib just about anything, which constantly respawn -- so just throw throw throw. The redeeming fact is this game is a REALLY easy 1000 gamer score on the 360, making the journey just worth it enough to finish.
1/5 Stars.
Audio:
The games music is decent enough and a large number of scores come from the movie this game is based on. While sound effects and decent at most and monsters mostly sound like 12 year-olds gargling into a microphone. The game does have 5.1 output in Dolby digital but does not use the channels at all, I recall only a single cinematic having any back channel output at all. Short of the music, this game really falls apart in the audio department as well.
2/5 Stars
Overall:
This game will only be fun to the most easily amused gamers and it does not bring anything exciting to the table after about 15 minutes of game play. The easy gamer score make the game bearable for a play-through but it's barely a reward. I give this game...
2 out of 5 stars. | video-games_xbox |
I Love the Borderlands franchise. I Love the Borderlands franchise. I know...seems like an odd way to start a 3 star review. Anyway, if this was the first installment of the franchise, I would tell you about all the great things about the game. And trust me, there are many great things about this game as with its predecessors. But since we are all familiar with the Borderlands formula, I am just going to point out the areas where I think the title (and game developers at 2K and 2K Australia) has opportunities for improvement.
#1. Line of sight shooting. - One of the things I loved about Borderlands games was the ability to snipe or just aim and shoot for very very very far away. Shots were accurate. the programming of the "proximity" factor was spot on. This game's accuracy is not spot-on. You can have a clear line of site and shoot and there will be zero effect. Many times I found myself having to reposition myself to try a different line of sight.
#2. Maybe its because of the gravity, but in this installment, when you get attacked by a horde of enemies, they are all over the place with guns and bullets and lava spit-balls, etc....Its all very confusing and haphazard. many times I found myself needing to just jump up and float away from the action just to stay alive.
#3. Many mission and side-mission requirements are so esoteric (specific) that I often found myself spending many minutes roaming a small area trying to figure out how to complete my objective. A couple of times I had to refer to YouTube videos. One mission required that I equip a shield that gives an electric overload when depleted. It turned out that was the only way to disable the cameras that were monitoring a safe that I had to break into which wound up holding worthless loot. Then I had to equip a particular gun that would make friendly beasts angry at me and try to roll-attack me so that I could jump out of the way and let them hit a pile of junk that was blocking the entrance to my objective's location. Yikes.
#4. Along with #3 above, you absolutely have to pay attention to everything that is being said or you will miss vital instructions.
#5. Vehicles. The "moon-buggy" vehicle that you drive is required in many places to jump over chasms to get to your destination. The controls are clunky, especially in 0.5 G. You so often do not make your jumps and have to respawn. (and Borderlands is known for very lengthy respawns.)
#6. With a diminished gravity environment comes a lot more vertical areas to access. So many times you are in the right place but have to figure out how to get to the top of that building, or rock face, etc...
Although there are a few other issues I won't trash the game any further because it does in fact have many of the Borderlands elements that we all love so much.
This game is the worst of the 3 entries but still should be tried by Borderlands fanatics. If you are not one, and have a next-gen system, wait for other great titles to come out. | video-games_xbox |
Good idea, but you're never given a reason to care. Homefront was hyped up for a long time. I fed into the hype and got way excited that it may actually deliver an amazing story and have gameplay that ups the Call of Duty ante. Rarely do I buy games on release day and unfortunately I've been reminded why. Homefront is a game with excellent ideas, but just fails to fully realize those ideas.
Here's the campaign in a nutshell: A quick montage showing Korean unifying, US deteriorating, Korea taking over the world and occupying the US. Things are bad, very bad, Cut to you (a faceless person that has hardly any back story and barely talks) getting arrested by the Korean regime, you're shown horrifying scenes as you're taken away, members of the Resistance (who somehow know more about you than you know about yourself) free you, barely introduce themselves, throw you a gun, and tell you to just start shooting. All of this happens repeatedly with small scenes interspersed to try and make you feel emotion and hate the Koreans. It fails miserably because you're never given much back story on anyone you're fighting for, so when they die you have zero emotional attachment to them and you're just left waiting for the next shootout. Cut to maybe 4 hours later (not the 5-10 hours they promised), a very abrupt ending occurs that leaves you confused because you expect more.
The game starts off decently strong, but as it progresses and weakly tells a story you start to lose interest. Towards the end I didn't care any more. I found myself trying to shoot my one teammate, Connor Morgan, who just swears constantly and yells at you. You have no real clue who he is, but he hates Koreans and loves mindless profanity. I think the biggest disappointment for the campaign is the possibility the game had. I often found myself wandering off, completely ignoring what my teammates said because I didn't care at all, and trying to find the newspaper clippings because they had more story to them and informed you more.
It's supposedly written by John Milius who wrote Red Dawn and co-wrote Apocalypse Now. Either he just came up with basic plot ideas and not full dialogue or he was just completely uninspired. If he did write a full story I have trouble believing Kaos used it all considering how much this pales in comparison to the classics he is known for. The game had the perfect setting to build a great gut wrenching story, but it just doesn't deliver. It's like ordering a pizza and getting uncooked dough, sauce, and cheese. You have all the right ingredients, but not the finished product you paid for.
With the multiplayer you fight for either the US military or the Korean army. The Resistance is not a part of this. The play is very familiar as in it's setup pretty much just like Call of Duty. The gameplay is seemingly smoother than the campaign. The battle points currency is the coolest part of it which allows you to spend them in game and buy weapons. With my limited time spent on the multiplayer it seems like Call of Duty and Battlefield Bad Company 2 had a baby. That's not necessarily a bad thing at all, but other than the battle points it doesn't bring much new to the table. That doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable though.
All in all the game just comes across as average and a letdown considering what they could have done. It's certainly not worth $60. If I didn't preorder at Best Buy and get the free Turtle Beach headset with it I would be a whole lot more upset. If I look at it as I paid $30 for the headset I only paid $30 for the game and I think I can get $30 worth of enjoyment from it. It's still hard to shake how much promise this game had. | video-games_xbox |
Worth Delving Into. Darksiders, whose atmosphere and artistic style owes itself from Joe Madureira, completely took me by surprise. I'm currently sitting my life away in Afghanistan and I've never heard of the game prior to loading up the disc; I had not seen any advertisements or trailers and had no reservations in mind when I started playing. The game just pulls you in strong initially; you are War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, a force of balance between the kingdoms of Man, Heaven, and Hell. A war breaks out and demons invade Earth and you are summoned to do what you do best...bring balance. However, early on you are defeated by the armies of Hell and become stripped of your powers...you learn you were not supposed to be summoned. Throughout the course of the game you unravel the mystery behind the war and enact revenge on those responsible. The premise, somewhat simple; it brings about a plot which may not be deemed 'deep,' but it definitely engages.
//Graphics// Fluid and stylish, the universe of Darksiders is not only beautiful but believable. Characters have a distinct Madureira-look to them and are rendered well. The environments are of a variety of landscapes and all of them I couldn't find fault with. Animations are crisp and well-done to the extent that it is believable.
//Soundtrack// Can't comment too much, it's barely noticeable and I find it hard to recollect any of the pieces. If there is anything that is lacking would be the soundtrack, however sound effects seemed natural and non-problematic with me. Voice-acting is top-notch and definitely add to the atmosphere the game projects.
//Gameplay// The action is plentiful in the game, however within the second hour you'll come to realize that the game has a heavy puzzle foundation. If you dislike puzzles of any sort, you will probably have a lot of issues throughout the game. Many of the puzzles are easily unlockable, but they do become amazingly repetitive by hour 10+. Usually they can be solved by trial-and-error, however that usually adds to the frustration. Boss battles especially are not necessarily a skill of button-combining and mashing, but is more puzzle-based with intermittent combat. Why? Because every boss has some sort of gimmick to beat it. Honestly, I would say the combat is similar in many ways to The Force Unleashed, you hit'em a couple times, the B button pops on screen, you press the B button, enemy gets jacked up. Now The Force Unleashed usually had a slew of buttons you had to sync up, and there is a fair bit of combat required before the button messages start flashing on the screen, but you get the gist of it.
Now the only issues that I had with the game was that it was too puzzle-focused. It's a testament to someone's endurance to finish the game from start-to-finish. Certain puzzles will drive you insane. Others you will question even trying and reserving for later. The game doesn't furnish much in hints, you have to use some sort of 'game logic' to navigate through. However, there is a fair share of bosses/puzzles that will require plenty of experimenting to find out what works. The game may seem short but the world is rather expansive and the puzzles...will...stall you more than a few occasions.
But overall, I'm pleased with the game. It's certainly unique in its' presentation and is honestly worth at least a rental in my opinion. I'd gauge the game at around 12-16 hours, and there are plenty of things to run around and try to find for perfectionists.
// 4/5 // | video-games_xbox |
If You Liked Diablo and Oblivion. ...then Two Worlds is the game for you! I see and hear many people trying to compare Two Worlds to Oblivion and frankly, I just don't think that's a fair comparison to make. When it comes to western RPGs (by western, I mean those that don't have a real Japanese flavor to them, like Final Fantasy, Blue Dragon and Infinite Undiscovery), I like to view things as being on one of two extremes: tactical RPG (like Oblivion and Morrowind) and experiential RPG (like Diablo and RuneScape). Reality Pump took Two Worlds in a different direction; they attempted to blend the two styles, and for the most part, I'd say it works. You still have the 3rd-person (and occasionally 1st-person) view of the character. You're directly in control of swinging your sword and casting spells. Unlike Oblivion, though, you have more of a Diablo-like inventory system and can stack items to improve them (which, albeit less realistic, makes collecting items a lot more fun).
Graphically, Two Worlds is up to par for what you should expect from the 360 at this point. It's not earth-shaking (even though it does look beautiful in HD), but you can still tell you're playing a 360 game. I'd say it at least matches the graphics of Oblivion, for the most part.
The audible aspect is a bit of a touchy issue for some people. Yes, the dialogue can be laughably bad at some points, but I personally view it as a welcome comic relief. It's humor seems unintentionally tongue-in-cheek. (Think of it like Mystery Science Theater 3000 or The Bard's Tale for original XBox.) Allow me to illustrate:
True Story: I'm playing Two Worlds and my character is running through the woods when he comes upon a guy standing outside a cottage. I run up to him and enter into a dialogue that goes something like this.
Man: "I have the finest horses in all of (such-and-such a place). Would you like to buy one?"
I didn't, at the time, so I exited dialogue... but accidentally pressed the button to draw my weapon (which is X, by the way. I'll never forget that now.) My character says something to the effect of "IT IS TIME TO DO BATTLE!" ...and that it was.
I tell you that to make one point - the dialogue is unintentionally funny, and if you can accept that, you'll enjoy the game - and segway to my next point. Your enemies are TOUGH in the begining of the game. In this instance, because it is similar to Oblivion, I will draw a comparison. Two Worlds doesn't level enemies up with you, like Oblivion does, meaning that when you're level 1 in Two Worlds, a villager will WHOOP YOU. (I got mine handed to me by the horse guy.) On the same token, once you've level up sufficiently, you can return and exact your revenge like the barbarian you are! I deffinately found this to be an improvement over Oblivion's system of leveling up enemies as you leveled up. (It felt like you were never getting anything accomplished.)
I will admit, I haven't tried the online mode yet. I'm waiting for a friend to make some money and buy the game as well. I hear it's a little buggy online, but hopefully it's only minor issues that can be worked out with updates via XBL.
Overall, my experience with the game has been positive. I think Diablo fans who would like a little more control over their character, or Oblivion fans who really wanted to just hack and slash, will really enjoy this game. It's not brimming with excitement for the first half hour or so, but if you give it a little time, it really becomes quite fun. :)
I hope my review has helped. Sorry for the less-than-formal style. | video-games_xbox |
Honestly, here's what I think. I know that the 360 has become a love/hate system. Boo on microsoft for using shoddy parts on their next gen system, but at the same time at least they own up to their mistakes (the recent repair refunds and extended repair warranty being prime examples). I'm currently on my second 360 and the troubles I'm had with the first, mercifully have not followed me.
On my fist 360, I had several problems, the most prominent being repeated profile loss and the red ring of death. Yet a strange thing happened with the RROD, my console still worked, STILL WORKED! I was confused and shocked. The problem that plagued and killed other 360's didn't effect mine, so I kept it (partly due to a Best Buy two year replacement policy). It played fine for the most part, with occasional crashes, but I enjoyed the time I had with it for the most part. What finally killed my first console was a single flashing red light and a black screen of death message that would come up every time I turned on the console.
At that point, I could have sent the box to microsoft ( a few months prior to the warranty extention) but instead opted to cash in my Best Buy Replacement Clause. That was in May 07, my new console is working fine, under a 3 year warranty, and I have taken precautions to halp protect this one (surge protector, external cooler, etc.) The 360 is recieving a lot of Hate from people that have been burned by this console. Some of it is going to far, but is understandible.
My opinion is that despite the problems most of the 360's are having, it is still a good system. MS fixed most of the problems with later shipments so I've heard, or will now with whats been going on, and if you take care of the system you should be fine. That said, it doesn't hurt to take out some insurance in the form of a gaurantee, like what I did with Best Buy. Do your Home work, and know what your getting into, and you'll have a console with a growing selection of good games, and have a blast at that, hopefully. | video-games_xbox |
Perfect PC wired controller. Everything good that people say about this is true. It's lightweight, responsive, the customizable LED lights look great. Never needs re-charging. I like that because it's an x-box controller it has a breakaway cable so my motherboard doesn't get destroyed when my dogs run bye, or anyone else for that matter. The rubber on the analog sticks and side-grips feels nice. The buttons are solid, the d-pad feels much better than a 1st party x-box controller, as do all four triggers. The analog sticks are kinda light, that's not really a gripe, but I wish they felt a but more solid, however, because of this I think it gains responsiveness. It's the best for twitch gaming. I've played a lot of games with it now including Assassin's Creed 3, Hitman: Absolution, Deadlight, and I even played in the Firefall beta (1st and 3rd person shooter/MMO). It's absolutely perfect. PLUG AND PLAY on Windows 7. Drivers download and load right up. No work whatsoever! ...Now wouldn't it be a better world if everything was the same way? I've had mine for 2 weeks and everything feels exactly like it did upon unboxing. The mappable back buttons are responsive and have a nice light click, it's good to have the ability to map those, being that a lot of PC games have more complicated or numerous control schemes. I'm not crazy about the blue color, and I wish I had black (I just think it looks nicer, personally. Especially since the LED colors are yellow, red, and lime green. They just don't look good in contrast. That's a purely aesthetic preference. It was the last one Gamestop had though, and I had to have it right then and there. The reason I agree so heavily with the positive reviews of each feature is that I checked the Amazon reviews in the store and put my faith in every positive (and negative) thing I read. The negative reviews are completely off-base. That is, except for the DOA ones...which happens to even the best of companies, even for the best computer hardware. That said...
I worked at Gamestop for years and have been an avid gamer all my life. The rule was NEVER, I mean NEVER EVER, buy MadCatz anything. By official or the Logitech(huge Logitech fan here) was always the only safe bet. Brand new MadCatz controllers, among other things, were being returned left-and-right on the same day (It was such a pain in the butt shipping those defected peripherals back to the warehouse). Well, apparently they have quality tiers and this is the Cadillac-Level tier, OR they stepped up their game in a big way. Okay, I'm off to play Xenoblade Saga on my Wii emulator with my favorite controller I've owned. Time to see how well it handles JRPGs, I'd be willing to bet anything that it will do just fine.
Hope this helped you...and Game On! | video-games_xbox |
Terrible Multiplayer. I never write reviews, but wow, this debris (I won't give it the honor of calling it a game) is so awful that it's inspired me to warn people of the monstrosity that it is. If any of you even bothered to read the title of the review, this is going to focus on the multiplayer, because honestly that's the only thing people buy this for (however, if you plan on buying it for the campaign and/or zombies, then you should get it because the campaign and zombies are pretty good, which is the only reason I'm giving it two stars).
First, the spawning is absolutely awful. The debris does nothing other than promote spawn camping. There have been numerous (probably 30-40% of the games I've played) where you literally can't move more than one step without dying from someone just standing there holding down the trigger. Indeed, in capture the flag there's a couple seconds' wait before you're allowed to spawn, during which time you'll be watching a feed from your teammates playing, and it's very common to only be watching footage of your teammates getting slaughtered like lambs the instant they spawn until it's your turn to drop into immediate death. Other than constant spawn camping, the spawn system also sucks because it spawns people in the most terrible places. It's very common for you to be just walking through your team's territory and then magically die from behind, discovering that the person who mowed you down simply spawned right behind you. There have actually been a few times where I've been playing hardcore capture the flag and right when I spawn, an enemy carrying my team's flag is literally about two feet in front of me, so of course the other team gets completely screwed over.
Second, the tyranny of lag compensation is just awful. Basically, lag compensation is when someone with a bad connection gets an advantage over people with good connections simply because it's "unfair" that they have to play with their lousy connection. So, if you're playing with a consistently good connection, you lose. You always lose. There will be many times where on your screen you gun someone down with about eight shots and they turn around and blow you away, with the killcam showing their perspective in which you shot a wall ten times while they blew you in half, chuckling heartily the whole time. There are also times where you'll run into a building or run behind a wall and die out of nowhere, so you'll watch the killcam and see that on the other person's screen, you were still completely exposed, far from cover and out in the open.
Third, the servers are just absolutely atrocious. It is extremely common for you to be playing a game, only to have it close out from nowhere with the message "Connection to server has timed out" or something like that explaining that the servers are terrible and can't manage to keep a game going. There's not much to say about this. I've never had this happen in any other game I've ever played, so that probably means the Black Ops 2 servers are something special.
Fourth, nothing in hardcore makes any sense. There are so many ways in which hardcore is flawed that I probably won't be able to cover them all, so I'll make a cute li'l list of what I can:
1) You aren't allowed to cancel tactical insertions. Whenever you play core and have a tac insert placed, you might get killed and see that the person who got you is standing there, staring at your tac insert waiting for you to spawn so that they can get a free kill, so it gives you the option to cancel the tac insert and spawn normally so as to avoid getting owned immediately. In hardcore, you don't get that option, so if you see that someone's just waiting for you to spawn, you must spawn there and you shall be annihilated.
2) At the beginning of a round, attacking your teammates kills you. Now normally, that's not a big deal since you can simply refrain from killing your teammates. However, this also applies to care packages. If you earned a care package in the previous round of a game (like if you're playing capture the flag or search and destroy) and save it until the next round so that you can throw out the smoke at the beginning of the new round and your teammate gets hit by it (which they often do on purpose), then you die and your team steals your care package before you can spawn. Of course, you can wait until later to call in the care package, but that's incredibly inconvenient since that wastes a lot of time and gives the other team a great chance to scuttle over, kill you, and take it, so your options are: get a free betrayal or take a seemingly unnecessary risk to use a care package.
3) Pistols are #1. Basically, every single pistol kills you in one shot, which just makes no sense. Why in tarnations should a pistol be more powerful than half the primary weapons in the game? Although, I have to admit guilt to exploiting this stupid idea, since I often run around with a B23 as my main weapon, blasting away the other team since it's so devastating.
4) If your teammate shoots your bouncing betty, you get credited with a betrayal. Since a lot of the people playing this debris are super cool, if you or a teammate is trying to defend a spot with bouncing betties, your teammates can run up and shoot it so that the debris thinks you're on a murderous killing spree, mowing down your own team. Once that happens three times, you get kicked from the game. This has never happened to me, though, but I've seen it happen a few times before, and you might be thinking that you can simply stop putting down bouncing betties, but the people who get screwed over by this never know that their teammates are forcing betrayals since the debris doesn't tell you anything, so they keep laying down betties, none the wiser, until they get kicked.
5) If you betray teammates with scorestreaks, you get kicked. Many of you noobs out there are probably thinking that it's as simple as trying not to kill your team with scorestreaks, but that's typically impossible if you're using something that uses explosives like a lightning strike or a lodestar. There have been a few times where I've been kicked because I'll call in a lightning strike on the enemy, only to have my moron teammates run into the strike areas, getting killed and getting me kicked, which is why I learned quickly that these scorestreaks shouldn't be used in hardcore as they do more harm than good.
6) Teammates' names don't always appear. In the middle of battles, this is very malevolent since it causes you to inadvertently mow down your own team, since you can't tell what team they're on. This time, you noobs are thinking that you can merely look at what the people look like before shooting at them. That's actually possible if you're playing on a map that's Mercs vs. SEALs/FBI, since the characters actually look different, but if you're playing SDC vs. SEALs - where both teams wear all black - and you have a garbage TV like I do and their names aren't showing up, you'll probably gun them down and get kicked.
Fifth, melee is useless. If you've ever played the debris before, you know that using melee is the stupidest idea ever, since you NEVER hit what you're aiming at. I would estimate that 70% of the time you try to stab someone, you either lunge right past them or you stab them and nothing happens. In fact, a lot of times when someone actually does die from melee, it's because whoever stabbed them was WAY off target.
Sixth, scorestreaks don't stack. In this debris, you can cycle through scorestreaks, meaning that once you've earned the highest of your three streaks, the meter resets and you can go through earning all of your streaks again, which is pretty cool. However, if you have a streak waiting to be used and you earn it again, the first one is deleted from existence. This is especially frustrating if you're saving your highest streak for another round or something and you find yourself in an epic firefight, doing back flips and gunning everything down in sight, earning enough points to re-earn your highest streak, causing the one on standby to automatically be deleted forever.
Seventh, there's no sudden death in capture the flag. In most games (like in Halo), if one team is holding the other team's flag and the time runs out, the game goes into sudden death (I can't actually remember if that's what Halo always called it) and gives a little extra time for the team to try to capture the flag. In Black Ops 2, if you're the slightest distance away from the capture point and you have the flag and the time runs out, the round ends right there. There have been countless times where this has happened to me and I've lost a game because I was one millisecond too slow, which is incredibly annoying.
Finally, there are two things in the debris that make no sense that I feel like I have to mention. The first is "prone blocked". In this debris - along with all other Call of Duty games I can think of - if your character can't comfortably lie completely flat on the ground, you are absolutely not allowed to lie down; the debris just tells you "Proane Blawked!11!!1!!" I can't even tell you how many times I've died because I've tried to go prone and the stupid thing says, "Are you kidding me?! There's a cup behind you, buster! You can't lie down on that!" or your stupid character refuses to lie down, saying, "Get THIS shirt dirty?! I don't think so!" If any of you have ever done some sort of "mil-sim" (military simulation) in real life like airsoft, paintball, or have actually been in the military and used something like simmunition, then you'll know that if you don't have a full six feet behind you and you have to crawl, then you'll find a way to go prone. This debris simply can't comprehend that. The second thing is that flares can counteract blackhats. To elaborate on this, a blackhat is tactical equipment that can either hack enemy equipment making it yours or it can hack enemy scorestreaks to destroy them. It's implied that blackhats use some sort of electrical attack to work, but if you use a blackhat on something like a stealth chopper, the chopper will just pop out flares, rendering the blackhat useless. If you don't know how flares work, what they do is they counteract heat-seeking missiles by confusing the infrared sensors on the missile, making it go after the flares instead of the target (I'm not sure if that's 100% correct, but I think it's accurate). If what I just said is correct - and I'm pretty sure it is - then flares should not affect blackhats at all, but they do.
Well, that concludes my rant/review, but you ought to keep in mind that this is completely based off of my own experience with the debris of course. Due to that, I recommend that the two or three of you who actually read this look at other reviews to get a good idea of what other people thought about the debris so that you can get a good idea of what you might think of it. | video-games_xbox |
A big letdown for a huge Gauntlet fan. I am a HUGE fan of the Gauntlet series by Midway. I raced home with this newest version, eager to re-immerse myself in the Gauntlet universe. We finished the entire game in FOUR HOURS.
I'm not saying this to say we're Game Gods. I'm saying this because we were in utter shock that the game is so short, so boring, and so completely unlike the previous games that we loved. I can't even imagine how the company that created the previous, fantastic Gauntlet games could be responsible for this release. Maybe they lost their good programmers and were under contract to release a new Gauntlet by X date, so they had their newbie coders kick this out? I am just horrified at how poor this game was.
First, you get a choice of four charaters, of course - the elf, warrior, mage or valkyrie. However, you don't get to choose their color! I know it's a small thing, but I was ticked at that to start.
Your character has 3 main attacks plus 1 long-range attack - so the elf gets 3 sword swings plus his bow attack. In addition, there are combo attacks and d-button super attacks that you can pay to unlock over time. You then move from map to map, bashing away at enemies, killing the enemy generators and finding keys for doors. That part of the gameplay is similar to previous games. You can't shoot your friends in the back of the head, which my fellow gamers appreciated greatly. I was notorious for standing in the back area as the elf and just letting the arrows fly.
Really, the huge issue is the game's shortness. If it was 3-4 times longer, at least, it would seem perhaps worth playing. But I really found its entire layout much less interesting than the previous Gauntlet. In the previous one, you had a central area from where you could go out to various worlds, each with its own theme, going back and forth as you wished. In this one it's just a straight line, and while there are some thematic elements, it came across as a dungeon crawl that just plodding on for a few hours, then stopped.
Also, in the previous games, when you got character upgrades it was really exciting. You clearly saw the change and it was something fun to pay attention to. In this one when you get weapon and armor upgrades, you can barely tell. We would even stare at our characters before doing an upgrade, and it was hard to see anything had even changed.
The vocals really didn't impress me much. Part of the problem is that they would tell you "elf needs food" when the elf still had a ways to go - but then they would tell you "starving" and "has died" right on top of each other. So you were always being harassed about needing food, but never when you really needed to know. Also, with death being able to be slain with a mana blast, you pretty much were able to kill off death in .2 seconds any time you opened a chest. So Death was barely announcing his presence before he vanished again.
The graphics were good. There were many spots that looked walkable that you were magically blocked from going into, which was a bit annoying. If an area isn't open, don't put a wide open door pointing to it :)
I just don't know what went wrong here. I am extremely disappointed. Be sure to rent this game first, to see if it's something you would enjoy more than a day or two. | video-games_xbox |
Make it longer and not just an advertisement and you'd have gotten a 4 easy, maybe even a 5. I'm gonna be brutally honest here. The game is pretty much what I expected but exceeded expectations in one area but tore them down in another once I completed the game. So here's the SPOILERIFIC rundown:
Pros:
- The Gameplay - Probably the absolute best thing about the game is, of course, actually playing it. It is incredibly fast paced and exciting. Platinum Games did an astounding job in the combat aspect of the game
- The Appeal - I did not grow up with G1 Transformers, however I am a 25 year old manchild who will likely continue to be a manchild for at least 10 more years. To this regard I can completely relate to how the G1 look and feel to the game will draw in G1 fans like moths to a bugzapper. And yes, they tried their best to keep it as accurate as possible. From the designs, the art style, the voices, the characters, and even the cookie cutter plot, it's straight outta the glorious '80's. Certain things might be different for certain reasons. Like a voice actor who couldn't reprise their role due to their passing or whatever reason, to Megatron being a tank instead of a gun. Whatever the reason I'm sure it's sound. I'm just waiting for a Beast Wars game to wash the taste of that abysmal Playstation 1 game.
Cons:
- The Length - This game makes Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes look like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Seriously, it's TINY. There are literally two stages. Only TWO, count 'em TWO places you go in the game. 1) A city that the Gamecube would laugh at and 2) an underground Autobot ship called the Proudstar with rooms that I could build in 3DS Max in about an hour. Not impressed.
- The Product Placement - Not gonna give away anything, but in the end you see Optimus looking at a computer screen discussing what kinds of drastic measures that might need to be taken in the future. It's blatantly obvious that on the screen is a blueprint for the Optimus combiner toys that form Ultra Prime. Plus the Devastator in the game is CLEARLY not modeled after his G1 look, but rather the Combiner Wars toy.
So it turns out that although the game is fun to play, it is incredibly short and is basically one big toy advertisement. Sure, you could argue that any medium that the Transformers appear in that isn't a toy is in some way advertising that toy, which I can definitely agree on, but this was just way too blatantly obvious. Sure I bought toys associated with the Cybertron game titles, but at no point did it feel like the games were just big pop-up ads for the toys that you couldn't click the "x" on. There are just much better ways to do that. Plus we already have the Combiner Wars show coming to Machinima, so this wasn't needed.
Granted, the gameplay is AMAZING! If you get it, awesome, play the crap outta the thing. But don't look to keep it. Unless you find way more out of it than I did, be prepared for some disappointment. Just keep a level head. Try not to gush too much. | video-games_xbox |
Checkpoint saved progress not adequate. First off this a Platform scrolling type of game which seems very rare these days on a console. These sorts of games from others seen in the past are generally poorly made and the graphics are either bad or too difficult to play. But this game is totally different when compared with most other platform scrolling game I have seen thus far. This game clearly shows passion in which the developer created the animations. Kudos to the developer. Excellent job in rendering the graphics. Love the background and music is soothing. The game-play starts out to be very simple but beautiful to look at. The puzzles starts to get progressively hard but still not too hard to give-up easily. It has a good balance of fun and frustration to keep going. (Essential hallmarks of a good game)
But my main gripe has been the way the game saves the checkpoints as it progresses into levels. There is few I mean very few valid checkpoints that are automatically saved by the game and the user does not any choices. Having said, When you choose "Restart Level" or "Quit" you will not receive a second message asking "Are you sure you want to Restart Level?" or "Are you sure you want to quit?" which can be a challenge if a young child is playing as they assume that the last checkpoint would be maintained but I was wrong. Depending on how far out you are in a level you may have to start the progress of that level all over again which makes me feel slightly frustrated. Please make sure that if you want to restart your level or quit the game you must complete a level before choosing these options.
The beauty of the game is the depth of field which is particularly amazing treat to watch and play and the overall style definitely makes me want to forgive any issues that one faces regarding checkpoints offered in the game but in reality I am forced to rate this with 3 stars and hope that the developer will issue a patch update with more checkpoints that are saved when one quits the game. If frequent checkpoints ideally whenever it finds new yarn would be ideal to make this game more enjoyable for little ones who play these.
Thanks for reading my review. Rating with 3 stars! | video-games_xbox |
Great wired controller, but cord is too short for my needs. I recently purchased the " Uniway GK08 Game Controller Wired Gamepad Xbox One Console Joystick Compitable With Xbox One Game Console And Supports Win 7 Or Above System PC-Black."
I have a ten year old son who has an Xbox One. His friends like to come over and play but there are only two controllers so they have to take turns. Both controllers are wireless, but the cost is so much more than wired that I thought I'd look for a wired controller to see if it would work to mix with the wireless controllers. I saw this Uniway wired controller on Amazon at a reasonable price so I thought I'd try it out. I ordered it and thanks to Amazon Prime it was here two days later.
My son hooked up the controller and tried it out on a couple different games. Here is what we found:
The Uniway wired controller works in conjunction with the wireless controllers with no conflict.
The Uniway wired controller works just like the wireless - and all buttons function flawlessly.
The Uniway wired controller has a cord that is about 7 feet long... I do wish it were a bit longer because you lose a couple feet wrapping it around the equipment in our setup.
Conclusion:
If you can use a wired controller, the Uniway wired controller is a great bet at a good price. Although I would have liked a longer cord, it was clearly advertised as to length so I cannot deduct any stars for being too short for me...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I received this product at a discount in exchange for agreeing to provide a review. Any references to the value for the cost is based on the current price offered as of today rather than the discounted price I paid. I have given an honest review despite the discount. Saving a few dollars here and there is not going to buy my exaggerated review!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As a buyer myself I rely on these reviews when I purchase so if you appreciate the time I spent on writing up this review, please mark the "yes" at the end of this review when it asks if it was helpful. | video-games_xbox |
Finest Golf Game Ever. I SHOULD be one of the biggest Golf fans ever... I spent 12 years living 15 minutes away from the Augusta National - home of the Masters Golf Tournament. However, I've never been the National, and I've spent no more than an hour total watching the Masters on TV.
But I've played countless rounds of golf on computers, dating back to the original "Microsoft Golf" that came included on our 166 megahertz PC in 1996.
Tiger Woods 09 is the culmination of countless "greats." The stick swing - a method entirely new to me in the 2008 game - was incredibly cumbersome in Woods 08. I could never figure out what the game wanted me to do, so I skipped the method altogether in favor of the 3-click method.
With the inclusion of the real-time monitor - a picture of a golf ball with a yellow line that draws your stroke path, as well as arrows at the top and bottom of the ball showing your precise alignment - accurate swings are easier than ever.
If you're still having a hard time, you can go to the Club Tuner - a remarkably easy-to-use interface that allows you to adjust everything from power, loft, workability (amount of possible "curve," left to right,) spin, and more. Of course you trade in the increase of these attributes at the loss of sweet spot - the amount of "fudging" allowed when you swing.
The graphics are simply dazzling. The water areas are just beautiful. Trees have a nice three dimensional look to them. Everything is just very nice. Even the menus and scorecards are nice and clean.
The newest inclusion is that of simultaneous multiplay online - a feature I actually got to try myself. It makes for a game that's actually faster than singleplay because it skips the flybys and such. The only thing I don't like is the shot clock, limiting players to no more than 60 seconds per shot. This is golf - it's not supposed to be a race. I realize the pros probably play against a shot clock, but we're not the pros. Still, at 60 seconds, you have plenty of time to aim, analyze the course and make your swing.
There are tons of ways to customize your character. Even without using the Game Face feature (yet,) I was still able to create a golfer with a striking likeness to myself. I just wish there were a few more facial hair features - I can't replicate my goatee. The only bummer I still feel is that they give you a wide range of clothing to wear, but certain pieces have certain attribute increases. This is nice, but if you want to dress your character a certain way (I REALLY like black polos!) you're either stuck with the attributes that those clothes boost - even if they're not what you want - or you're stuck wearing non-flattering outfits in the interest of getting the desired boosts. It obviously doesn't hurt the game, but why can't you just let me change colors?
Lastly, the greatest feature in my opinion is the ability to switch between the analog-stick swing and the 3-click swing with the click of a button, mid-play. This allows you to make drives with ease and the realistic feel of golf, but switch to a 3-click for those challenging putts. Unfortunately, the 3-click is not available in the Hard difficulty setting, which is what I wanted to play with. I don't understand why - the 3-click has it's own challenges. Why can't it be included in Hard play? Using the stick-swing to dial in 62% power is nearly impossible.
But all issues aside, Tiger 09 is a fantastic game that rewards golf enthusiasts of all ages and skill. The Gamernet feature from EA is very inobtrusive and gives players the chance to challenge themselves just that little bit extra, if desired. Challenges may pop up to drive further than another player, land within a distance of the pin, etc. You can also go online just with the purpose of taking on various challenges - some of which are quite difficult! It's amazing how many different ways of enjoying Golf this game gives you.
Makes me want to go get a set of clubs and hit up a local course. Maybe I will... | video-games_xbox |
Big, Bloated, Intrusive and Overpriced. Ironically, as I was writing my review my PC had to turn back on to install Windows 8.1 update which supposedly fixes a lot that is wrong with Win 8. The Update keep saying almost there, yet it took over an hour for an update.
Despite my trials and tribulations with Microsoft I decided to get the One only because it was supposed to be better for kids, and I have a young son. So I thought it would be a perfect match, especially with the Kinect to show movement and follow voice commands.
The system arrived and right after setup the system froze, then froze again. I downloaded the free, trial edition of the Sports game, but sure enough that didn't work because it said the Kinect couldn't get a clear view of my room. Seriously? A $500 video game system that couldn't see my room "properly" despite being placed in the exact recommended spot and a large, open room. It wouldn't even attempt to play the game...just gave me an error every time.
As far as the great entertainment available, it's only available if you fork over about $100 to Microsoft for a Gold account, every year. And honestly what you get after shelling out that much money to MS isn't much: Skype, which is free elsewhere, HBO GO, also free elsewhere, some short Kinect exercise games, and MS movies and music, not nearly as good as ITunes or Amazon. The TV guide/ control isn't that great either--can't control your DVR, and the best case scenario, you can watch TV on a half screen and play a game on the other half. Although if you want to do that doesn't it defeat the purpose of the game.
Then, lets get to the Kinect, the other big "selling feature" of the One. The voice control was pretty decent but more of a gimmick than anything else. I was losing my voice by the end of the night from all the yelling at Kinect. Just about everything you can via voice you can do simpler and faster by pressing a button. The gestures recognition was a joke. Over half the time it didn't even recognize my hands. It was an exercise in frustration and I cannot believe a major company would put out a product as glitchy and faulty as the gesture recognition is--it is a joke!
Now, the motion recognition could be something great, kind of like the Wii; however there are almost no games that take advantage of it. In fact, there are very few games to begin with for the One. And all my thoughts of this being a great game system for kids were squashed when I realized there are no games right now dedicated for young kids, and the Kinect is really a gimmicky joke.
Unless you want to fork over $100 every year to Microsoft for "apps" which are free elsewhere, you can forget about this being an all in one entertainment system. Then you realize the Kinect is a joke, you are down to a game system which frankly loses to the PS 4 in nearly every category. I cannot comment further on PS 4 because I haven't used it yet, but I do know the Xbox One is like most things from Microsoft: Big, Bloated, Intrusive and Overpriced! Yes many people are concerned with the Kinect that Microsoft can monitor you and with many tech companies more than happy to fork over your records to the NSA, it is concerning to have a company which can essentially spy on you at any time.
Realize that many people pay extra to get an Apple computer just to not have to deal with Microsoft or Windows. Windows phones are a joke and will soon fall out of the marketplace, and I'm afraid the Xbox is just another over-complicated product from Microsoft which isn't really about fun but more about Microsoft milking you for all it can. What MS was trying to do before the Xbox One was even released was disturbing--thanks to the tremendous backlash they finally gave up on their devious plans. The One had a lot of potential but sadly MS was more focused on rushing out a glitchy, gimmicky product that it could use to try to sack consumers in as many ways possible! So in the end the One ended up being a real Zero with me and I returned it! | video-games_xbox |
Impressed. Beautiful Katamari is a very interesting game. The main concept of the game is that you roll up stuff in a Katamari (literally translates to bundle of stuff). Each level you roll things up to make a planet, Star, or a whale? It has some great aspects about it and some which are not so great.
Good:
First off Ill go into the positive pieces of the game. The gameplay is very abstract which is what makes it so interesting. Although many people might say that the random music and themes deems it a senseless game for kids, I argue that it really depends on your style of gaming whether you will get into this game or not. Me and some of my college friends really get into the coop of this game because how chaotic it can get. If you like games that make sense, but lack a logical concept, you will enjoy this game.
The levels are interesting. One of the reasons I could play this game excessively without getting bored was due to the levels and there transitions. One minute you will be rolling up candy in a candy store, the next minute you will have so much stuff rolled up in your Katamari, that you can roll up the earth.
If you are an achievement freak, like myself, this game will offer you fun game play and 1250 achievements. Note: take a look at my last bad aspect of the game.
The music is so catchy. You will probably find yourself humming it to yourself when you least expect it.
Bad:
The controls. This can be a double edged sword. I personally like them. They remind me of the old mech arcade games. Right stick forward Left stick backward makes you turn Left, Right stick backward Left stick forward makes you turn right, Both sticks forward is forward, etc. It was a very familiar concept for me. On the other hand people who are not use to these controls, I noticed they take a while to grasp the concept and become better at playing the game. If you are open to learning a new control style if you aren't already familiar with this one, you will learn pretty quick.
The graphics are so so. Nothing fancy but very crisp.
You have to pay for the expansion levels. I am pretty sure that it is impossible to get all the achievements without buying them.
Fairly short game. I beat it in a day. Probably could have 100% complete in a day if I had worked for it. | video-games_xbox |
Old School Gamers Unite. If your a fan of Splatterhouse get it, For sure, Its really good!
I already beat it on the hardest difficulty and S ranked all the survivals but one so far and I gotta say they did an excellent job on this game.
Think of side scroll meets free roam, although the rooms are not very big, ya still get to walk around wherever till a door closes...sorta like darksiders a bit (though i wasn't big on darksiders), the moves are really easy and efficient, grapples, splash damage, rush attacks, combos etc...
The mask is hilarious, him and rick are so cool to me, i mean both speak their minds immediately in comical senses..
The graphics to me are actually pretty good, i mean its not the most graphical game ever by no means, but not to say they did not do a bad job....
You gotta remember this game is a Tribute more over to the old school splatterhouse and they tried to make it as splatterhouse as possible to appease to the fans like me...I seriously do love this game, otherwise I would not have played it so much already lol...
The game is short though, not a long game at all, annnnnnddd there is an occasional glitch i noticed on both play throughs with normal (slaughter?) and brutal mode it did the same thing with me, where for some reason the text on screen the mask says something like (Watch out!) and stays on screen till you exit and come back in...which does not really effect anything since every time i have seen it, it's right after a save in the tunnel you enter.
Also want to note once you beat the game everything does get carried over to a +new game and you can change the difficulty over to Brutal while still having all your previous skills from before...(makes Brutal a breeze)
I did see the elevator glitch, where he hits the button and for some reason the game freezes...only had that problem once....reset and fixed right away, it saved there at any rate so no big deal since no progress lost...
Music is pretty cool, I'm not a huge heavy metal fan, I mean i like alternative like white zombie, powerman 5000, god lives underwater etc, but i gotta say the music follows well with it...i mean for slicing enemies up and squishing their brains out of their head what else would you listen to.... Opera....? :O
Survival mode is just a nice extra to have just to add to game play really, you don't have to do it, but if ya want you can go through these locked rooms with gobs and gobs of monsters to kill while you pick up nude photo pieces of jen your girlfriend or if you want you can just go through it for the heck of it and kill for fun....like 10 to 30 minutes a room i guess depending on how good or bad you are at fighting...
Then you got the basics like, Jens photos you can view of all her nudey goodness and Dr Doosh-t-bag McGuillacuddy's journals you can listen to...
And also the ability to play all three original games as well, you gotta unlock them , but its really easy, just beat certain stages to unlock...
Story is well...i liked it, but its really just for fans of the series...i mean the basic, rick and his girlfriend are together, rick gets killed, jen gets captured, rick comes back to life with ancient entity attached to face...
you know the story...well us old school gamers do lol...
So yeh, if your an oldschool gamer then its really right for you I would say...especially if you like beatem up games...
If your a newb spitting young prancy wanna be calico vision player...then no this games not for you....
Noooooo sir, you just go right ahead and play your Calico vision black ops....
Btw if you don't want to buy it...rent it at least, that way you won't miss out on the old games which are on there...and the new...Experience the fun of the old vs the new....pretty crazy comparison actually
Such an old game appearing is truly awesome and Thank Namco and their teams for making it happen is all i gotta say.
Music- 10 for heavy metal fans
Graphics- 8 Really cool, but the backgrounds need more work as in their a little to simple...character models are awesome though.
Story-8 Story isn't much, but for this game it works out great since they stuck to the original layout of the old school mad Dr takes girlfriend, rick gets killed, gets mask, goes on slaughter rampage, save girl type scenario.
Gameplay- 10 I LOVE THE GAMEPLAY, its strictly beatem up, but its just so much more than that though. | video-games_xbox |
Thank u Rocksteady!!!!!!!!! thank u so much. Ok, first of all I want to personally thank Rocksteady!!! Excellent job!!!! I love this game! For the first time ever I feel like I am Batman!
This game is my fav 360 game, I have GTA 4 n Prototype n all that good stuff, but this game took me by complete surprise! I never thought there would be a good Batman game ever, somehow Rocksteady created the ultimate Batman experience n I am so grateful 4 this game!!!
The Story is great(I'm sure some 1 on here has told u it so I'm not even gonna bother)
Now, the graphics, where do I start? WOW!!! Excellent! Now I know why they kept delaying this game, Rocksteady really set out 2 make the best game they can make! Just look at the detail! Picture perfect, I thought Batman Begins was the best looking Batman Game ever , but this WOW!!! No comparison!
The Gameplay- I have a 9 year old lil bro n he is a beast at this game! The combat is so smooth u will be doing 20 hit combos in no time, definite plus! I love how this is pick up n play, something earlier Batman games really struggled with, remember the Splinter Cell type levels in Batman Begins? They are gone, no longer are u tryin to scare thugs, now u r kickin butt n taking names. Oh the combat is so sick, especially when it goes into slow motion n u see Batman crack some1 hella hard in the face! It makes me cringe sometimes- no mercy!
The detective mode- I know a lot of people r raving about it n they r absolutely rite, its the greatest thing! I get 2 see through walls n the enemies turn into skeletons, it also tells u how many of them r armed, so that's a great feature
Also the upgrade system is good, the more u string combos the more points u get towards upgrades, n they range from the inverted takedown 2 all sorts of crazy combos that will have u whupping every1 that gets in your way
Replay-now I have a good feeling that I will be playin this game 4 a long long time, even though I think it will be pretty short like all the games out there(prototype was way shorter than I expected it 2 be) but u have plenty to keep u playin 4 a while... Riddler throphys scattered thtoughout the game, Bios. Audio tapes that delve deep into the criminal mind of Arkham, all the upgrades, and iam so happy Robin is no where in this game, its just the Batman n that's exaclty how it should be,
Overall- bottom line, I know all of us have been waiting 4 a Batman game that doesn't blow well.... this is it!!!! U want it u got it! Every1 should at least try this game, u won't regret it, Batman has finally been given his due after what about 17 years or so? The voices r straight from the animated series, Kevin Conroy n Mark Hamill! Adds so much 2 the game, my only gripe is I think Penguin n Cat woman r no where in the game, but I could be wrong, my lil bro ni r only 5 hours into the game... we r NOT DISAPPOINTED WHATSOEVER WITH THIS GAME!!!
Best Batman game of all time!
Check it out 4 urself!!! | video-games_xbox |
Wow. This game was 50% of my motivation for purchasing an XBOX.
The single player game is good. It gets a bit redundant in the second half of the game, but if you learn to love Halo, you'll eventually want to go back and finish the game on the highest difficulty setting: "Legendary." There is some replay value in the single game, but it is definitely finite.
Cooperative play is good, but System Link would've been so much cooler than split screen for co-op mode. The split screen using one XBOX makes for some staggered frame-rate when things get really hairy, but Halo was one of the first games that I've experienced that even lets you play through the single player game with a friend, so I shouldn't complain. I just wish they'd gone that extra mile and enabled the system link feature for co-op mode.
The multiplayer is where the magic is. You could potentially get up to 16 players with 4 TVs, 4 XBOXs, and 4 copies of Halo. The beauty is that even if you usually only get to play with 4 guys, you can each have your own screen (provided you have 4 of everything lying around). Don't get me wrong. Even if you have to all play on the one TV, it's amazing. But having the option of using 4 machines in a console-LAN is really one of the neatest features of the XBOX and Halo, and it was the first game I experienced that pulled off the "linkability" factor of consoles so well. The vehicle interaction in Halo is unlike anything I had ever experienced in gaming. Imagine loading up your tank with all of your teammates or hopping in a Jeep with a .50 cal machine gun and running off to stick it to your buddies on the other team. Or get in on some free for all action. The multiplayer options keep things interesting for a loooooong time. If you've got a bunch of friends that like playing video games, you need this. If you remember the days on the N64 when you and your buddies shot each other up as Oddjob and 007, you'll appreciate Halo to the nth degree. | video-games_xbox |
Great for the price, if you modify the mic. I was a bit aprehensive to buy this headset after reading other reviews that mentioned mic issues, but seeing how many other positive qualities it had, I decided to buy it and try it for myself.
First, the sound. This thing sounds awesome! I had prevously owned Tritton headsets almost exclusively, and while they pack a good punch, they're cans on a string compared to these. The sound is clear, the range is pretty decent, and they don't distort at higher volumes. Chat audio is clear and being able to balance chat and game audio is a plus. The bass boost mode is very bassy and I recommend leaving it on all the time for the best experience.
Now for the mic. Let me start by saying retractable mics should be standard on gaming headsets. It's a huge convenience not having to frantically search for my mic when someone invites me to a party. The mic also has status lights that light up blue for the standard sound mode, red for the Bass Boost mode, and flashes twice every minute when on mute. It would have been nice to have it flash more often when muted. Voice monitoring is a nice feature, but it cannot be turned off, which may be bad for some but I don't mind it. Maybe because after all, reviewers were right, the mic does sound pretty low. I had friends telling me they could barely hear me, and I found myself yelling or putting my hand in front of my mouth to boost my voice a bit. I accidentally found out that covering the noise cancelling mic did the trick! Now people can hear me pretty clearly and the mic is no longer an issue. I ended up putting a couple layers of tape to cover it for now. Add an inch to the mic and it would have been perfect.
This headset is truly wireless, so besides plugging the USB dongle into your XBOX One, there is nothing in terms of setup. It's really that easy. Battery life is excellent. I have been using it for about 3 days and they're still kicking on the original charge.
The headset also lights up when in use, which can be turned off if needed. The lights pulse nicely while the headset charges, which is a nice touch. They're very comfortable and I had no discomfort or fatigue, despite having a big head and using glasses.
Another convenient feature is the aux jack so you can use them as a regular headset with mobile phones, or any other device with a headset jack. The mic even works with cell phones, which is nice. Sadly, the Bass Boost mode does not work in this mode.
Overall, this headset is the best wireless headset you can buy at a sub-$100 price. Hack the mic like I did and you'll be a happy camper. | video-games_xbox |
A fun 360 exclusive racer. PGR3 is a 360 exclusive title that came out at the same time as the console's launch. It is a racing game that was above and beyond what was available, in terms of graphics and sound, in that genre when it first came out. The graphics was better than any other racing game available due to the power of the 360. And the sound, when played through a capable audio system, really brought the engines of these exotic cars to life in your livingroom.
As I have said before in my review of the console itself, I do not like First-Person Shooters. I much prefer all of my games in the third-person perspective. Mainly, I prefer Japanese-style RPGs and Fighting games. I bought the 360 mainly because I wanted to experience XBox Live and see what the Marketplace had to offer, in terms of content. Once in a while, I will play a racing game even if the view perspective is not what I prefer in gaming. I make that exception because I love cars. And PGR3 is one of the few racing games that I enjoyed.
The most enjoyable aspect of the game for me is the chance to "drive" the exotic cars. Sure, it would be a whole lot more fun to drive them in real life, but Citan is not a man of means. The best he can do is to play simulations such as these on his video game consoles. And PGR3 is not the worst substitute for that sort of fantasy trip. However, do keep in mind that the best cars will not be available to you at the start of the game. You will basically have to earn (unlock) them in order for them to become available for you to use. But don't despair. You do have some interesting cars at the start, like a Lotus or a Honda/Acura for example.
How does the game play? You've got different modes that you can play. I have only played one mode. I do not own the racing wheel. I am having to make do with the wireless controller that came with the premium system. I am sure that takes away some of the realism. Yes, the car responds to controller. I have no complaints there. I just want a more realistic experience. I hope to be able to purchase a racing wheel at some point. The only negative there for most people is that the game is included when you buy the Microsoft racing wheel set. I knew that going in, so I am just borrowing the game from my friend. He owns the racing wheel set from Microsoft.
I recommend this game to you, if you like this genre. However, by this time, I am sure there are more games in the genre that can match this one in terms of graphics, sound, and all around realism. I would also recommend for you to buy the MS racing wheel set, which includes the game. It is expensive to buy. I can understand people hesitating. But, in my opinion, this type of game just doesn't feel right using the normal controller? Do you drive your car with a controller? No. So why should you drive a simulated car with a controller? There is no reason to do so if you can afford the racing wheel. | video-games_xbox |
One title update away from being truly great. I have played all of the Call of Duty titles, with the exception of CoD 3. Having said that, it is my firm belief that the Call of Duty franchise peaked at Modern Warfare, and has since resorted to releasing tired rehashes of the same game, just with tweaked weapons or game modes, and each with more adrenaline-fueled moments to try and keep you interested. I felt it was time for me to find something new, something that could breathe some fresh air into my interest in the FPS genre. That is where Brink comes in. Let me start with a list or pros and cons.
Pros:
-Excellent customization
-Awesome team-oriented gameplay
-Unique gameplay elements
-Nice art style
-Just fun to play in general
Cons:
-Team A.I. is horrid
-Imbalanced A.I. difficulty (Team vs. Enemy)
-Some graphical issues
-Plot sin't well presented
Pros:
(Customization) The character and weapon customization in this game is tremendous. There are dozens of options for clothing and hair, and mods for almost all weapons as well. It would be very difficult to find someone dressed exactly the same as you.
(Team-oriented) The game emphasizes team play. You get more experience points when you revive someone, heal them, give them ammo or complete objectives than you do if you just kill people. This may be a con for you lone wolves, but I enjoy games where you have to be a part of a larger force to succeed.
(Gameplay Elements) Brink features several unique elements, such as the S.M.A.R.T. movement system, which allows you to vaults, slide and climb your way through the levels. Another feature is the RPG-esque skill sets, which better your character in a specific class. This allows for even more customization.
(Art Style) The art is different, featuring cel-shaded graphics and slightly cartoony models. Again, could be a turn-off for some.
(Fun to Play) Pretty self explanatory. The gameplay gets frantic at times, pushing you to complete the last objective before the clock runs out.
Cons:
(Team A.I.) The bots on your team are mentally incapable. They seem to refuse to complete the actual objectives until you only have a couple minutes left to complete them. At all other times, the bots only care about capturing command posts and hunting down the other team.
(Imbalanced A.I.) The A.I. is serviceable early on, but once you get close to maxing out your character, the differences are very noticeable. Your team appears to have just graduated from boot camp, while the enemy is comprised solely of SEAL Team 6 veterans.
(Graphical issues) The textures in-game seem to take a long time loading, so that when you start a match the objects are all muddy looking. This fixes soon after, but it is very noticeable, even in cut-scenes.
(Plot) The plot isn't very well presented. To be honest, I still don't know what the hell is going on, though I've made no attempt to learn it.
In short, Brink is a great title that is too often compared to other behemoths, which isn't fair. The game is one or two updates away from being a must-have title. | video-games_xbox |
Decent Game. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is a GOOD not great game. There are several things that make it just be good and not great.
The Bad
This game has some of the worst glitches I have experienced in a game before. There was one glitch in co-op campaign where my guy began issuing random commands. The button was not stuck and I was not pressing anything. The orders would continue even after I put the controller down. Another problem is the difficulties. Often, the game can be inconsistent on the enemy AI to the difficulty you are playing. Speaking of the AI, they are quite dull. The enemies usually use the same tactics which can make for stale game play.
The Good
Now, I didn't just come here to bash on the game. This game does many things right. I want to say that the AI and glitches can be explained for the fact that the game is older. The campaign takes the chess metaphor too far, but I guess that's Tom Clancy for you. But, the campaign, although kind of short, was a lot of fun. Also, co-oping it is great. As for terrorist hunts, they are fun little maps to play with friends. The community of players is full of great people for the most part. Finding a co-op campaign match online is a challenge. The competitive multiplayer is okay. I myself like co-op but the competitive seemed like fun if that is what you like to play. If customization is something you like then this is the right game. You can pick different helmets, shirts, pants, armor and even more. Nearly all of these items come in different camos as well. The cover system in this game is AMAZING. At its time, probably spectacular, now, still holds up well. Plainly put, hiding behind cover in this game is just fun. You can blind fire or peek out with sights and shoot.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In summary,
GET THIS GAME! You'll be glad you did. If you don't believe me, just look on Youtube or read other reviews. This game is just fun to play. Add me on Xbox 360 Live and I'd be happy to play. My gamer tag is Stag Zealot. | video-games_xbox |
The only thing it assassinated was my wallet, and fun. Ok, as someone who has played, and owned most of the Assassin's Creed games I hated this entry, as well as the last 2. Every single time I fall for their slick marketing and BS game play videos. The game is repetitive, just like the rest. The story is lame, and the controls and game play are a joke. No way this game is rated as high as I have seen it, it's just not a good game at all.
Where to begin? You start the game in a long, and pointless journey to America that could have been a 5 minute long video, instead of the hours you are required to play doing absolutely nothing. You end up inseminating a Native American woman, and she has a fatherless child named Connor.
Firstly, this game is racist as hell, the Indian voice acting, and actual translation into English are bogus. I speak this language fluently. Fortunately, you only deal with it a short while. Secondly, the Native Americans hated the British because they murdered them by the thousands.
All of that aside the story is just plain horrible, the controls are not streamlined as they say, but rather simplified, because obviously the other simple controls weren't simple enough. You still do everything nearly identical to the previous versions, except this time you get a whole bunch of very lame cut scene counters.
The worst part about this game is the absolute non existent fluidity it should have. Walking, and even riding a horse through the vast wilderness is more of a chore than it should be. The whole running through the trees add on is a joke. You can run through some trees, but only if they are made into a specific path for youy to do so, and you can only do this as Connor. White people apparently couldn't climb trees in the 1700's unless they had some Indian in them.
The hunting and trapping is absolutely useless. Apparently stealth killing a deer from a tree is the best way to get meat, as an arrow causes to much damage. You know of all the hunters that hunt with their knives right? And all of the old Indian tales of the great knife wielding deer hunters. They wanted to make it like Red Dead Redemption, but failed miserably in that aspect. RDR's hunting was fun, and fluid, the exact opposite of this games.
Glitches, glitches, glitches. I pre-ordered at Gamest** to get the extra map, and guess what happened? When I download the map, it makes the game unplayable. It stop's loading. If it does manage to load, the game freezes, Connor get's stuck in trees, invisible wolves attack, and kill you. I even had a tree attack me, growling like a wolf, started the cutscene to kill the wolf, and stabbed a tree to death. Delete the file from my X-box and it will load just fine, but it's still a glitchfest. Running through the trees should be fun, and add to the game play and stealth, but it just frustrates you. How about going into an assassination, only to have the target disappear completely. yes, completely vanish before your eyes. Sometime you can still see them on your map, and they are simply not there. It was also really cool playing in a wilderness that consisted of lines of code, devoid of any color but green. or how about riding a horse who's legs grow to be 40 feet long? Running through the snow, and then falling into the ground. Or running tree to tree, and then having all of the trees disappear. Remember pop up in games? You know you're playing a racing game lets say, and can clearly see the map loading as you get closer. This game has tons of that. And on, and on, and on, and on.
Stealth in this game is a joke. You can be completely hidden, and still be found. Also apparently being a higher ranking soldier makes you have eagle eyes, and you are able to instantly spot a non soldier, dressed as a soldier from 100 yards.
The game is just flat out repetitive. Go here, deliver this, kill this guy, listen to some guys dying story, jump out of the animus, do some acrobatic stuff to get to a place as Desmond, go back in the animus, rinse repeat. The game starts out extremely boring, get's better for a few minutes, and then snowballs into the most boring, glitch filled game I have ever played.
Multiplayer. How much real life money do you have to sink into this game? Because the only way to advance your multiplayer is to buy Microsoft points. What the f***. I just paid $65 for a game that doesn't even work, and the only way for me to be able to compete online is to PAY more money.
Avoid at all Costs. I returned this to Gamest** as defective, they gave me a different one, same issues, even tried it on PS# same issues, minus the bonus map loading issues. Finally they gave me store credit refund. Get any game besides this piece of junk.
Even if this game weren't so repetitive, the glitches kill any chance of having fun. | video-games_xbox |
Good B movie quality game. The overall ratings for this game are spot on--this is a four star game. This isn't a big budget, high production value game, but that's okay because the game is still very fun to play if you come in with moderate expectations. The graphics are average, the color palette, very limited; the controls are fine for the most part but gets sticky at times. The game could have come out a few years ago because there isn't any innovation here. The deal-breaker for some will be the aiming mechanic. Like others have mentioned, this feels like Resident Evil 5 and it feels like you're aiming with a telescope. I don't expect auto assist with my aiming in these types of game, but they could have made it more like the Dead Space series which would have been great. Head shots are cool to pull off, but you'll be spraying bullets more often than not than pulling off precise shots. I'll also note that the "zombies" in this game are of the slow, clumsy variety rather than the ones on speed like in Left for Dead. As long as you're in constant motion in this game they'll inexplicably miss you. I played this game on normal and it was rather easy because you can basically walk/run circles around everyone. The boss battles aren't the best and are equally as easy, but they are long and dragged out. There are also health drinks you can buy at about every turn and you'll have stockpiles of currency to load up on them. There's also some side-scrolling sections, but nothing worth mentioning except that they exist. The journey will last about 8 hours or so and there is no game+ so I'll leave it to you whether it's a rental or low price pickup.
Now, it sounds like I'm negative on this game, but I'm not. I just want to set appropriate expectations. The game does a great job of creating urgency and tenseness by the use of the darkness. Your energy drains after a few seconds in the dark so you'll constantly be under duress to flip the switch back on. But there are times, you'll need to be in the dark to solve puzzles or defeat bosses so you'll have to do this tap dance going into light and dark to avoid having your energy depleted.
And I still haven't touched upon the d*ck jokes yet. The extent of your enjoyment with this game will be measured by whether you feel the pubescent humor and dialogue add to the charm of this game or is a major detraction. If you find yourself rolling your eyes more than chuckling at the game's attempts at humor, then this will be a forgettable title for you. If you view it as a late night B horror movie, you may just have a good time. All it's missing is Elvira doing the commentary. | video-games_xbox |
Massively overhyped. By now you have no doubt heard about how this is the Best Game Ever TM. I mean, it even has shocking PG-13 cutscene "s" "e" "x"! (No, not that kind of "cut scene" you naughty people.) Also, it has such a Deep and Involved Story! With Galactic Politics! and Analogies to Racism!
So...kind of like half the Heinlein JA novels and...yea a whole bunch of stories that are now 60-70 years old. Innovative, that.
This is not an RPG. At least, not one worthy of the title compared to something like Fallout (1 or 2, I'm not even talking about 3) or an Elder Scrolls game, where you get to pretty much have your character do and be anything you want (within the restrictions of the game world.) No...this is more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, in game form. You can get (pretty much) all of the dialogue options in any conversation, and only very occasionally do you get to pick if you want to choose The Good Path or The Bad Path. So that's supposed to, you know, make you feel like your choices matter, or something. Each of your flat, one-dimensional companions has some Deep Thoughts and Secret Stories they can tell you if you screw around with the dialogue options and do missions and things. For example, the Cold Blooded Mercenary Soldier actually has kind of a soft spot! Who knew! Didn't see that one coming AT ALL. (Don't worry, I haven't spoiled anything, I didn't tell you which one.)
Each mission is entirely linear. You go somewhere, you go through a linear map, you do stuff, you talk to people, you shoot people. The end. Depending on how much you micromanage the Gears of War - lite combat, you will spend about 50% of your time pressing the analog stick forward to make your Mako landing vehicle climb over yet another boring, featureless aspect of Mountainous Terrain some art department entirely too full of themselves wants you to make sure you appreciate in Detail as you slowly roll over and around it for minutes and minutes with nothing happening. You will spend another 30% of your time running from place to place very, very, very slowly - it's more of a weekend marathoner shuffle than a run actually. Again, while nothing at all happens. Look at the interesting graphics that look exactly like the other "background graphics" you've already seen 50 times!
You can presumably skip a lot of the side-missions which involve this sort of mindless grinding, and then the game will be over really really fast because their really isn't much in the way of main content.
Another thing that is extra special and fun about this game is that you get to ride elevators. Yep, you don't have to go to a highrise near you to experience the pleasure of standing in an elevator as it slowly ticks off the floors. You can play it in a video game! In a couple of the elevators there are some "funny" automatic dialogues that couldn't possibly have been fit in during the 80% of the time you are mindlessly driving or running around.
There are also mini games. You, an experienced gamer who has played some of the best older games out there - Chrono Trigger, say - will now think. Oh cool! Mini games! Like Square does! Or...like playing pool in GTA IV.
No. These mini games involve pressing a series of buttons the game tells you to press. No, it's not even a series you have to remember. The game tells you "press x" and then you just have to press x fast enough, then you are told "press y" and so on. Now, if you have severe Parkinson's or you're like that really awesome Ask a Capper guy (sign his petition) and you play games with your chin, this might actually be a challenge. You have to do this garbage to get into pretty much every chest or other openable container in the game, by the way. The first 200 times are kind of boring, but then it gets even more boring.
Finally, there is the dialogue, which as mentioned follows a very set and linear structure in which usually you can explore the whole tree but on rare occasions you have to Make a Choice. If you want to pretend you are watching a movie, you can sit there while the character models cycle through their 3 different facial expressions and list to some voice actor talk at you and tell you Deep Thoughts which might include some tidbit of juvenile humor like references to some alien testicles. Ha ha hee hee hoo hoo. Now dialogue in pretty much any game is like this, so other than the fact that it really seems like you are just along for the ride rather than doing anything important (and, BTW, you're supposed to feel like you are Saving the Galaxy) there's nothing wrong with this. Some of the voice acting is quite good - those actors deserve a way better script! Anyways, as with most games of this type you have the option of skipping through dialogue. Unlike any other game I have played, the button you press to skip to the next step actually has a function. That's right. They didn't map the "skip" option to, say, one of the many buttons that aren't used in dialogue. No, they mapped it to a button that also always serves as one of the dialogue selections. That means if you press "skip" at the wrong time, you will automatically "choose" yet another dialogue option, and then you will automatically skip into more dialogue. Or you will exit out of the dialogue prematurely, and then have to start the whole scene over again because you wanted to talk about something else. You're wasting your time doing that, by the way.
If this game had been made a movie on the Sci Fi channel, I...okay I probably wouldn't have watched it. I would stick it in my (online streaming video service that starts with "N") queue and pretend I would get around to watching it sometime when I am really bored, though! As a game, it stinks. I've played most of the way through the game and I doubt I will finish it. It's mind-numbingly boring. I'd rather play Zork. | video-games_xbox |
An exercise in frustration. Pros: Cheaper than a gym membership.
Cons: Lots of mediocre content. Poor body tracking. Annoying instructor.
Last year I worked out with a personal trainer twice a week for three months. It was great--I could lift more, jump higher, move faster; my girlfriend complimented me on how muscular I looked ("for a nerd"); and most importantly, I learned a lot about how to work out properly.
"Your Shape" strives to be a virtual personal trainer, but for all the talk of personalization, it's as impersonal as any gym. For instance, some of the routines instruct you to use dumbbells, but there's no indication of what weight you should be using (5lb? 10lb?). Worse, the comments on your form are rarely accurate. When you're doing push-ups or mountain-climbers, expect a constant barrage of "Face the same direction as your coach!" no matter which way you're facing. When you're asked to do tree pose (standing on one foot with the other foot on your ankle), you'll get full credit if both feet are on the ground.
All of this would be fine if there were a way to turn the instructor's verbosity down. Just about everything she says makes my workout experience less pleasant. She sometimes says "Take 5!" when what she means is "The next routine will start in a few seconds." Does Ubisoft know what "Take 5" means? Why do they think I need to hear either "Good job!" or "Keep trying!" every 10 seconds, when I already have more than enough information for me to know how well I'm doing?
Recently, a software update was released. I'd hoped that it might address some of these issues, but of course it didn't. Instead it just made some DLC available. For a few bucks, you can get... more difficult variations on two of the routines that came with the game. Great.
"Your Shape" doesn't do itself any favors by including several dance-based routines--"Latin Dance," "Hip-Hop Dance," "African Dance" and "Bollywood Dance"--which mostly just remind you that you aren't playing the superb <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Dance-Central-2/dp/B0050SYYEK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Dance Central 2</a>. The Dance Central franchise remains *the* reason to own a Kinect, thanks to Harmonix's passion and attention to detail. "Your Shape," by contrast, is like working out with GLaDoS: chipper friendliness on the surface, terrifying contempt for humanity underneath. | video-games_xbox |
Titanic Anyone. Pardon my ranting.. but really gearbox? You sidetrack it for 4 years and THIS is what you come up with?!
Onto the review... Most of what you guys have been reading, is 100% completely true. This game has so much untold potential it is embarrassing that they released it in the shape it is currently in. The one question that constantly runs through my mind about this game was, Did they even listen to their beta testers at all?! Most of the things that are bad about this game were caught in beta testing (saw the beta notes) and it seems Gearbox just chose to ignore it. In particular the enemy AI is nothing short of insulting. Aliens that seem to just throw themselves at you with no rhyme or reason, or any particular goal. Face huggers that act like flowers with 8 legs on them instead of the sneaky, deadly little suckers we all remember from the movies. The story-line, was decent, but made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Some pretty cool tie ins (cant name them without giving up spoilers), and some decent weapons (except for the fact that you somehow fit every weapon of yours in an imaginary pocket that can hold everything, golden eye much?)
Multiplayer... quite possibly the ONLY thing that can save this game. The bad? Single host lobby's. So basically the host gets to stomp the entire enemy team and the rest of the room is left to suffer with lag spikes, players skipping across the screen, and magical deaths seemingly out of no where. Two words gearbox DEDICATED SERVERS. Next on the list of embarrassing moments for gearbox, was the doorways! Yep, that's right! a doorway 7 feet across feels more like 1.5 feet because if you don't enter it at just the right angle, you hit an imaginary wall and end up dying trying to get through it... all goes back to beta testing, right? All in all, i'm pretty upset about this game. I was a sucker who spent $100 on the collectors edition, thinking this game was going to be as good as they hyped it up to be, and was let down.. hard. This game needed a serious patch by end of week 1 after release, but not a single word from Gearbox to fix these issues. This has shown me the true colors of Gearbox, and subsequently I will look upon their other games with the same level of laziness that this one demonstrated.
Finally, my recommendation? Rent this title. Red box it, gamefly it, but don't you even dare spending the $35 to buy this game new. Its simply not worth it. | video-games_xbox |
I've never written a review for Madden Before but this was so bad I had to. I've purchased and played Madden every year with the first being for the Commodore 64. Later I got an IBM compatible computer and wow was the game better. Actually, I believe the best game was the PC version in 2008. You had to use the right stick to look at the field with the QB before you threw to your receiver. You could actually look off the safety with this feature and the better QBs had broader ranges of vision which I think was pretty realistic.
Now this game came out. I've played it and then watched numerous plays afterwards to see how things transpired. Zone defenses are useless. I watched more than one play where the defensive player in zone is standing there while the receiver runs by him. That can be ok. Then the QB throws the ball and the defensive player continues to just stand there on his spot while the receiver continues to run. The receiver runs a full 5 yards before the defensive player reacts to the ball having been thrown. This is the first version of the game that does this. Every other game, once the ball was in the air the defender would start to move. Not anymore so the zone defense that is intended to stop long passes is useless if you know what you are doing and run the receiver past the zone defender who will just stand there.
Man coverage is a bit better. On long throws, if the QB does not lob it, take control of the defender and hit the "Y" button. Unless your DB or LB has total rocks for hands, he will make an astounding leap and intercept the ball. This will happen ~75% of the time if the receiver is covered. If you want to always have an open receiver, run hook patterns to the wide-outs. The new physics engine will always make the defenders run at least 3 to 5 yards beyond where the receiver has hooked if they are good defenders. If they are bad, they will start their turn to run deep with the receiver just as he hooks making him open by 7 yards. With the new run controls, you have a better than 50% chance of trucking or juking the defender to score.
These 2 things make it so that all quarterbacks now regularly complete 70%+ of their passes while the rest are intercepted or dropped by the receivers. Oh yes, the receivers now have rocks for hands. Andre Johnson and Calvin Johnson are no exception. That may be good because that is the only way you will stop an offense. I have yet to play a game where there was a punt without there being a dropped pass that stopped the drive. The punts were because I was playing somebody who believed in trying to maintain some semblance of realism; otherwise, always go for it because the odds are you will make it.
Blocking in the game now is as though the blockers have a very strong magnetism and the defenders are made of steel. It used to be you'd have maybe 4 or 5 pancakes in a game from the outstanding linemen. That number is now up to 18-20. Blitzing up the gut, again with the new physics engine, means your own defensive players will block themselves while only one lineman will block the front guy for 4 second or longer. If you hate the nano-blitzes, you'll be glad to know they are impossible now. Getting off of a block and trying to go in the direction you want to go is now impossible because of the physics engine. If you manage to get off the block, you will continue in the direction you were moving for 2 yards. You better hope it was in the direction of the runner. If you do hit him, even with 3 or 4 guys, the new trucking/juking will render you moot. If you want to tackle, you must use the hit stick or dive at the runner. Diving at the runner, you do not actually have to touch him. If you are within 1 yard in some cases, he will fall down as though you did hit him. Looks hilarious but not funny if you want to play some football.
I think a lot of the glitches are due to the physics engine. It is a video game, not a physics simulation. I know for years people have complained about how the ball looks like it goes through somebody's hand in coverage or something. So what, it is because the actual play behind it was working. Yes, you had LBs who could jump 7 feet in the air but that made it so you could possibly play defense. I don't know if the XBOX One version will be better because it has the horsepower to handle more calculations that this attempt would require to play better. I doubt it because I don't think the designers are worrying as much about the gameplay as they are about the physics. From so much I read, they seem to be more concerned about how the stands and sidelines look. I couldn't care less how they look. Give me a playable game that resembles football. I learned how to handle the quirks and it was still playable. I just would have liked to see them let you know when your opponent was going to do an on-side kick and maybe have LBs not be quite so fantastic at interceptions. Another thing they could have done was simply have a "team" rating that would have been used to slow nano-blitzes because the line was just that good not that you really had to see it on the screen. The thing I liked most was the QB cone of vision because on defense you could also see where the QB was looking and play centerfield safety on him.
This game is pathetic. I do not recommend that anyone buy it. The price has dropped 28% in less than 1 month. That tells you there's something really wrong. I really doubt they can provide a patch to fix it because again I think most of it has to do with the physics engine. Maybe they can roll it back to 2013 at least to make it playable although that will be a huge download and make people like me who paid $60 pre-distribution for it mad but let's face it, we're mad already.
Edit: I just played it again and the final score was 84-63 with my son beating me. I had 6 ints but over 700 yards of offense. I watched multiple videos online to try to see how maybe the game could be salvaged and playable. Even the experts say you have to do this or that to stop a guy who only runs power off-tackle runs. I tried that in this game because my son runs the option play like crazy. I followed the experts' advice and it worked to stop the option but my son just audibled to a pass and bombed it over me for 8 td passes. He had RGIII, so if I tried to play the pass, he ran him for over 100 yards. The defense simply is non-existent. I suppose you can move the sliders but not if you want the games to count online. This franchise is ruined. All of these years I've played this game and now it is ruined. I see the new ratings by people giving the game 5 stars are by people who don't play the game: grandparents or girlfriends or people buying it for little kids. This game was for teenagers, college students, and young adults who have the money and were devoted followers. The NFL gave the exclusive rights to EA and have got to be wishing for something more soon. I re-affirm, if you want it to play real football, do not buy this game. If you don't care and want your 5 year old to have something to play, ok they can run up lots of points which is all I think they care about. | video-games_xbox |
One of the Top 10 Games on the Xbox 360. Period. It was absolutely intriguing. This was a game I was very happy to play through. This setting was superb, and the gameplay was agreeable.
However, I will speak on something I was not fond of. There is a character, Triss, that loves the character you play as, Geralt. I even read Triss's character page and it read, "She loves Geralt and wants more than anything for him to choose her" or something. So I got to know Triss, and I liked her. The voice actress portraying her was a good choice, she has a very sweet voice, and her character design is different than most women, as she has a unique hairstyle. Also, they give her good dialogue and she feels like a real person, as is the case with many characters in this game. So, anyway, there are whores in the game that you can have sex with, but I never had sex with any of them or did anything with any women in the game. I was hoping that there would be a dialogue option to tell Triss, "I choose you," but, there wasn't. Nothing happens. At all. So for me I felt like there was no payoff for being faithful to Triss...
Anyway, a lot of the quests in this game are pretty interesting. I really have no complaints when it comes to the setting and story and what not. Except that I would have liked more options at some parts to choose what happens. So storywise and setting was pretty solid.
Combat was pretty lame in some parts of the game. After you get the hang of it, it is decent, but nothing special. It just doesn't feel satisfying enough, and it sucks when you leave a village and immediately a giant scorpion will just kill you in a few hits. And enemies always try to outnumber you and then you have to try and roll around and separate them a bit so you even have a chance to get some offense in. So the combat is acceptable, but by no means is it good.
The map was not the most cooperative, and sometimes I was not sure where to go or how to get to the next section. Also there were several quests that I did not know how to finish and ended up skipping them unfortunately.
A downside is how the game is fairly linear and has a beginning, a middle, and then an end, and that is it. There are no other game modes than Story, and after completing the story I haven't touched this game since. Well, I tried to play through it again, but after 10 minutes I stopped. Most games I do not like replaying the Story. After hearing the same dialogue a second time, it loses the appeal. And in a game where you level up, going back to level 1 and getting killed easily is just not fun and leveling up again is not at all fun.
So I give this game a 4/5 for the reasons above. But this is a review of the game itself, if I was comparing it to other RPGs, this is better. It's not really something you can compare to games like Skyrim, as that scratches a different itch, but for me, as RPGs go, this is certainly one of the best on the Xbox 360. | video-games_xbox |
another hit for bio ware. the cover of this video game is a dragon made of blood.thats so cool! i noticed the dragon pic on commander john shepherds dragon armor on mass effect 3,years later.the buzz on the net was big for this one.i don't usualy let something like that make me buy a game.then someone told me about how it was made by bio ware who also made some of my all time favorite games like mass effect and star wars:knights of the old republic.he said it was like a mid-evil star wars video game.
the game rocks! i would have given it a 5 star rating exept for a few annoyances.one was there is violence against children in 2 parts.another was that there was no real indicator as where i was supposed to go.i don't like to think to much when im playing a video game.lastly.there was a demon level that required LOTS of thinking.plus it was,well,a demon level.i think demons are getting all too common in video games these days.remember,when you look into the abyss,the abyss looks into you.
well,besides that,its great fun.unlike countless other rpg's,you get to fight not one but many many many dragons.i would go so far as to call this game iconic.before this,there were few dragons in video games.i remember the kryat dragon from star wars:knights of the old republic.there was a dragon on fable:the lost chapters.now,theres lord of the rings,mass effect 3,elder scrolls 5 skyrim and even gun stringer.there are pretty cool characters in your party.especialy this hot mama red head thief chick.
the story is ok.the action is cool.there are a lot of moral decisions to be made.you know,the old good dwarf bad dwarf routine.you can exact revenge on most anyone you want to.
some weird things you might notice are purple flames around your characters.i beat the game and don't know what thats about.also,blood is all over your party all the time after fights.
as far as mid -evil rpg's go,i'd rank this one 5th of all time behind fable 3 and 2 and elder scrolls 4 and 5.just don't look at your character when he's leaving the brothel or you WILL be freaked out. | video-games_xbox |
Hooray for overhype. I remember that fateful day. I sat down to my PS2. Popped in the disk. Watched as GTAIII came up on my screen...and as my expectation of video games changed forever.
Fast-forward to today. Rockstar games is under pressure to sell out to EA Games (the mindless zombie gamemaker that will own all video games by the end of days), and has been resisting until the release of GTAIV.
Rockstar should have sold out. It would have been a chance for EA to review GTAIV and MAYBE stopped it before it was too late.
This game seems...forced. I am a Russian fresh off the boat complete with annoying accent that sounds like "I am toolking veeth da bouldars in da mou-tah." I have to listen to the "F" word about sixty times in the opening credits of the game. I have to hear the word TEEETIEEES and have them described as "like MEHLOHNS".
I like boobies as much as the next guy...but come on...I really don't want to hear some borscht slurping sack of crap describe them in a WAY over-done cutscene about "LIFE IN AMER-R-R-REEEKA". Well, GUESS WHAT, BORIS!? R-R-R-R-R-Ruffles have R-R-R-R-R-R-Ridges, mofo, and I'd rather eat a whole bag than pay $60 for this overhyped piece of crap! This isn't the 1940's anymore. Everyone KNOWS that America is just about as overhyped as this video game! I LOVE America with all of my heart...but I was born and raised here and have all of the amenities of this country being my home. Basically...if you come over here be ready to bag my groceries or drive the taxi that takes me where I need to go because the American dream doesn't really exist anymore for you.
Anyway...the storyline is forced upon you as if you'd gone out to buy a new sportscar to drive around and have fun in...but then you open the glove box and find out that you MUST use the car to go certain places. If you don't then there is an ANNOYING beeping that will go off in random intervals to annoy the crap out of you. Yeah...I'm talking about the cell phone. WHERE'S THE OFF BUTTON!?
Listen up, Rockstar. The little fanboys and kiddies (who shouldn't be playing this anyway) are going to bow down before you and talk about how l33t this game is and how it is so great...but you and I...we know the truth.
The real truth is that somewhere along the line this franchise got old and tired...but still worked. You felt the need to improve upon something that was already great and you screwed it up. Dates!? Is this GRAND THEFT AUTO...or is this the Sims - Real Life? I want to steal cars, run over pedestrians, and shoot police officers...I do NOT want to go bowling with an annoying Mid-West chick (I live in St. Louis...there are PLENTY of those around here).
Anyway...another over-hyped OKAY game for the X-Box 360. If you're expecting something amazing...try again (unless you're 12...and then the strip club scenes will seal the game for you as teh numberest oneest EVAR!)
TEEEETIIIIES!!!!
Edit: After playing this game a bit more...I would like to add something.
I think the previews for this game should have been edited slightly to be as follows...
A car pulls up and parks. Niko gets out of the car and, gun in hand, walks in slow motion up to a man who is facing the other direction...
A voiceover begins (with a crappy Russian accent)... *I am new here to Amereeka...eet ees strange cauntree... I have bought peepel...sold peepel...keeled peepel...I am mercenaree...I keel for mahnee...*
Niko then raises the gun and...
The scene blinks and Niko has no gun in his hand at all. He yells, "Hey...you peese of sheet...Broocie told me to keeel you so that is why I am here...to keel you weeth a gun...the gun here in my pants!"
Guy yells, "[...]!" and runs over and jumps in a crappy car.
Niko then, in slow motion, tries to get a gun out but heaven reaches down to the rusty beat-up Pinto that the target has jumped into and turns it into a rocketship that zooms offscreen faster than any other car in the game.
Niko runs over, getting stuck on some pedestrians and a tree, knocks over a hot dog stand, and then gets into his car that is now facing a completely different direction. He has to back up and move forward for a 10 point turn before he can get to chasing the bad guy, who is still flying at well over 200 mph in a rusty beat-up Pinto...until finally the guy reaches 10 of his buddies and God ceases to empower his Pinto with the fires of heaven.
The voiceover finishes... *Yes...Amereeka ees strange country. My car...eet moves by eetself and I must warn evereeone here before I keel them if it is relevant to thee storeeline...but I am now an expert in thee game of darts and can heet bullseye every time.* | video-games_xbox |
Invalid Code in a "New" Product. I may come back to change this review after I receive a replacement from Amazon.
UPDATE 12/05/13 Afternoon:
After the issues earlier today I contacted Ubisoft and let them know what was going on. Ubisoft sent me a new code via email and I cancelled the 3rd set being sent out. Overall, I am incredibly disappointed with Amazon and will avoid it for any major/gift purchases in the future.
UPDATE 12/05/13:
I received the "replacement" today and again attempted to input the code to redeem the Upper Echelon pack and the extra co-op map. I got the same message stating that the code was not valid. I am beyond frustrated at this point. This is the 2nd "new" product that Amazon has sent out and it is still not working like it should. I can't just take it back and get a refund considering it was a Christmas gift and that is just not right. And the fact that I bought it on sale from Amazon means that I cannot get a replacement from another store for what I paid. Amazon should step up and take responsibility. I called Amazon and have been transferred now twice and have been on the phone over an hour and a half trying to resolve this with Amazon. I keep having to repeat myself and tell the next person the same thing I've had to tell the person before and the person before that and the person I had initially contacted 2days before today and to add to it, no one seems to know what they need to do to resolve this so I keep being put on hold for 10-15-mins at a time. At this point I am extremely disappointed in the lack of help that I have gotten today for this issue. They keep trying to pass the blame. I was told to contact xBox to see if they would help, (I would take that as an option had it not been for the fact that we had a code for another extra in game and it went through just fine), then it was let me put you on hold for a "specialist", and it went from that "specialist" to a "special department". This is NOT the customer service I would expect from Amazon as many years as I have used them. After spending an hour and a half on the phone, I now have to wait on a THIRD product to be sent out. I have little faith that it will be of a different result. This is beyond ridiculous and quite frankly I'd expect better from Amazon. He enjoys the product as a whole, but the code is causing the issue. I may attempt to take it up with Ubisoft and see if they will issue us a new code. If anything changes I will update the review.
Original review:
I ordered this for my boyfriend for Christmas. He and I were both excited to get it since it's something he's been looking forward to. The plane (as of right now) he is pleased with. However, when he attempted to input the code for his goggles, suit, and bonus co-op missions it said that the code was invalid. We attempted to re-enter the code several times thinking we had entered it incorrectly. WRONG. Someone had already redeemed the code that was included in my "New" box. (The box looked like it had been tampered with, however, I assumed it was because the entire box sits inside a sleeve and figured it had been shifted around and what not.) Overall he is pleased with the game and the plane (we haven't gotten to attempt to fly it yet) and the extras (the graphic novel and poster). I contacted Amazon and they are shipping a replacement out as I type this. Hopefully, the code in this one works. | video-games_xbox |
Yet another disappointing Aliens game. The graphics aren't horrible, but they definitely could have been much better. It doesn't compare visually to Halo4 or COD. It doesn't even compare the Halo3. Even Duke Nukem looks better.
For that matter, Duke Nukem plays better. The control layout is pretty much the same as most of the top FPS games, but the look reaction is horrible. All movement is basically slow and laggy. You can increase sensitivity on the look stick, but even increasing by one bar, and the reaction becomes way too fast to control. There's no middle ground.
There is virtually no interactivity in the environment, and that is a big disappointment. You hit a box or a helmet on the counter and leave a black mark, but it doesn't move. The only things that react are your mission objectives and your pickups. This becomes quite an annoyance as well. To pick up armor, health, or ammo you have to LOOK at it and then fob it with the USE button. Having to pick up certain things isn't new (you pickup HP in Halo), but it is especially cumbersome in ACM. Your ally AI's often become stuck on the environment as well. Occassionally, you also get stuck in "listen mode" where you aren't allowed to pick up items or run, but there are pickable items around and there is no conversation you need to be listening to that warrents freezing you.
The alien AI could be better. Their attacks are fairly basic and non-varied claw attacks. Movement could be better. They tend to be predictable. What really gets me is the "magically appear" effect. You'll clear a room with no other entrances, turn around and suddenly you're being attacked from behind. I've noticed the Human AI's doing the same thing. The spawn points for the alien AI are really weak. There may be a small hole in the floor (too small for anything to fit through), which often times looks more like it's just a skin than an "actual" hole in the level model, and the alien will just sort of shoot up out of it. I've noticed bugs where your ally AI will disappear and reappear randomly, so this may be just more of that. Motion of basically all the AI is kind of rigid and unnatural looking.
On top of all the crap they screwed up, the game is still kind of fun in small doses. They did a decent job balancing weapon power with AI hp. The weapon upgrades are somewhat amusing, but mostly useless. They really screwed up the pulse rifle with 40 rounds to start, and then a 60 round upgrade. The fact that I can buy both the holo sight(for aimed fire) and laser sight(shooting from the hip), but can only equip one or the other is kind of stupid. There are a number of other weapons, but there is so much ammo, I only ever end up needing to use the pulse rifle. Grenades are pretty scarce though. There are a few missions where you won't find any grenades for the pulse rifle, and only 1 or 2 hand grenades. The smart gun is frigging awesome, but it is a single use weapon, and cannot be reloaded. It is also only placed in only a handful places throughout the game. The assault rifle is pretty good, but doesn't really serve any advantage over the basic pulse rifle. The pistols are the pistols, the damage from them is low compared to the rifles as expected, but ultimately are only really used if you get knocked down. Unless you are a horrible shot and waste all your ammo, you'll never NEED to use the pistols. The shotgun is about what I'd expect. The flamethrower on the assault rifle is pretty useless, it doesn't have much range, and it seems like you need to hit your target for a long time before they actually ignite. You can swap that out and upgrade to a shot gun or grenade launcher.
They did a pretty good job with the music and cuing it with major action points. | video-games_xbox |
Call of Duty + Battlefield = Medal of Honor. I bought this game because I thought it looked pretty fun and I am a big fan of the Medal of Honor series. However I have to say this game is somewhat of a disappointment.
Single Player:
After a long cut-scene you go to another cut-scene, which sets the tone for the game, lots of cut-scenes. You fight as Tier 1 Operative "Rabbit" and Army Ranger Spc. Sgt. Dante Adams. There is no storyline, plot, or character development. I can honestly say I know nothing about any of the characters except that one guy has a nice beard. In Bad Company 2 I knew that Haggard was from Texas, and hates "Hippie-Pinko-Commie-Liberals". Sarge was from Alabama and was only joined Bad Company to get early retirement. It always helps in a campaign when you know who your teammates are and your actually angry when/if they die (Flyn in Bad Co. 2, Pvt. Chernov and Sgt. Roebuck in Call of Duty WaW). However the graphics and sound are excellent, the realistic recoil is a bit tricky to master, and scopes look very realistic while aiming. There are some very fun levels, they are not original concepts for epic battles (Holding out in a hut against an infinite number of talibani soldiers, while waiting for air support) but it's still very fun. I love that there are a lot of times where you have to use stealth to complete missions, I love that. However this campaign is so short. When the game came to its final cut-scene I was thinking "Wait, this is it? That's all?"
^Summery:
Nice looks, Nice sound, but lacks character development, and a plot. Very short, but very fun. 3.5/5*
Multiplayer:
You fight as either OpFour (Taliban) or the US Army. The guns look great, sound great, and have realistic recoil. The maps are fun but 24 people on these maps are a bit to many. They are a mix between CoD maps and BF maps. There is nothing to set it apart from other shooters.
Over All: For $12 dollars, why the heck not. You'll have some fun with it but it won't replace BF or CoD any time soon. | video-games_xbox |
Not that good. I think the biggest flaw of the game is that they focused far too much on the Batmobile and not enough on the open world. Everything you do in-game revolves around your vehicle, So much so that you will spend roughly 65% of the campaign inside of it. They have pretty much stripped the open world/exploring part of this game and replaced it with a vehicle that suffers from poor controls and just doesn't look that good.
Then again, The whole game doesn't look that good either. It's a painfully dark and poor mess that just fails to impress like previous Arkham games. The scarecrow is the main villain and he's just sort of eh. The Arkham Knight was a great potential villain that is teased through out the whole game as Batman's equal with some obvious past history between him and the dark knight. In the end, You don't even fight. The boss battle is all about stealth and it's just an awful disappointment considering how much potential he had as a villain.
And then we move onto similar issues with what Arkham City had. They try to cram in a lot of popular villains and it just doesn't really work. I loved what they did with Man-Bat and Firefly, That showed potential. I think they'd be better off focusing on 3 villains and giving them a story arc that spans several missions instead of trying to cram 5-7 villains into several short and boring missions. And least we forget all the lovely bugs and glitches that the game still suffers from despite several patches, That's disappointing as well.
Overall, I enjoyed AK for the most part, Certainly more so than Arkham Origins. I just don't think the potential was fully used. They don't make use of the graphics despite being the first Arkham game on a next gen system. They also focus far too much on the Batmobile instead of crafting the open world that we are so use to playing and exploring. It just leads to a lot of lack luster and boring game play. I wouldn't say I'd recommend it but if you can get it for cheap (under 15 bucks) then I'd say give it a shot. | video-games_xbox |
Glitchy, unrefined, frustrating, and just not fun. College Hoops 2K8 marks the end of an era, as 2K9 in the series will not be produced due to contractual issues with the National Collegiate Athletic Association and 2K. Thus, we are discussing the last College Hoops game which will ever be made by 2K. Sure, you'll still have March Madness from EA Sports to gulp down every year, but many gamers' preference lie with 2K Sports. With that being said, the idea behind College Hoops 2K8 is awesome, but in the end, the gameplay falls short and renders the game frustrating more than enjoyable. I almost get the feeling that if the series were prolonged to 2K9, everything would work out better because I felt the game was maybe one year away, but of course, we will never know.
First, the good about the game...
The visuals look fantastic. I have a 32' Sharp Aquos 720p HDTV and the visuals are absolutely stunning. The game itself has every major D1 team, and their home courts look absolutely outstanding. You can see players' emotions erupt on the court after missing a layup or after drawing a foul, the animations look beautiful...I can't really say much else other than the game just looks good...
2K Share is a great idea. 2K Share gives users the ability to upload Rosters and Sliders into the 2K database for others to share, so instead of running a team with #2, #3, #4 and #5 on your team, you can have real names. I have my sliders at default, but if you please, you can get someone else's sliders also.
All American mode teaches you the nuances of the game, from running lines to defending and utilizing low post moves. The player ratings are pretty accurate and the Soundtrack (with College Fight Songs) is relatively impressive also...much like the EA versions of the college games.
Of course, with any sports game, you have your Legacy/Dynasty mode also where you can take on a team for many years, There are two of these modes in 2K8. First, you can do a Career Legacy, where you're given a list of 50 schools from Mid-Major Conferences (that are relatively bad), where you try and build up your team and move to larger schools through the process. Or, if you don't want to do that and just want to dive into the LSU's of the world, you can just do an Open Legacy, where you can just choose any team you want. No matter which you choose, the first screen will introduce you to the ABL (American Basketball League) where you can scout and play as the recruits and receive bonus points. In season, you need to train your players, do bonus drills (similar to the All-American Challenge), Recruit, and all that fun stuff. The review show at the end of the week is vastly improved also, with Clark Kellogg and Bryant Gumbel at the desk. All in all, the mode is pretty well rounded and fair.
Now, to the negatives.
The reason why I rated the game so low is because of the gameplay. The gameplay just has so many glitches it makes it impossible sometimes to really enjoy the game. For example, getting a hand in the face to disrupt the shot is easy for the CPU to understand, but you have to really disrupt the shot in the exact right place, otherwise they make everything. If you get a blocking foul, 75% of the time even if it's a continuation, you have to take it out of bounds. Your tall players are basically idiots in the low post - If you're matched up against a smaller center, you have no idea how easy it is for the smaller player to rebound and reject you, even if you're almost half a foot taller than them. Tall players don't know how to dunk, which leads to many, many, MANY missed layups each game. The missed layups is absolutely ridiculous, especially the ones where the player is wide open with no one around them. The CPU plays their players about 85% of the game, and they never get tired, which means while they should be on the floor breathing heavily, they're draining shot after shot. You'll get a ton of fouls called on you, and even if you get some steals, you'll see the ball almost spin right back to the other team because the ball physics are so out of wack.
You know the saying 'Defense Wins Championships'? It doesn't apply in the game. If you are facing ANY team with good 3 point shooters on the perimeter (80+) and you don't know how to defend to the CPU's standards, you're gonna be in for a ridiculous display of shooting. Why? They drain everything and even if you're flying in their faces, the CPU doesn't process your blocking of shots as 'disrupting the shot', so you're gonna see them shoot over 85% against you. I'm not even talking about someone like UNC having great shooters...I'm talking about the Gramblings of the World...a great offense in the game will destroy a great defense.
The '6th Man' idea was conjured up this year to really feel home court advantage. At Wisconsin, we had the Grateful Red, and we carried the longest home winning streak in the nation for a brief period. The idea is beautiful, but the execution is poor, to say the least. The crowd yells at inappropriate times, and when a game is close and you hit a key basket, they stay quiet. Kinda unrealistic. I would hear the crowd turning against my players, telling me I can't do that after a foul or telling me thanks for coming after I loss a game. Also, when you're in the Red (meaning huge momentum boost), you'd figure it'd keep going up if you continued the run, but it gradually decreases for no reason. Just bogus sometimes, especially when I need the momentum, being the small school that I am, I need to use every advantage I can.
So just know, if you decide to purchase the game, it's alright. The modes are there, and gameplay up to a certain difficulty is realistic. But once you push it too far, you'll see some steals spiral back to the CPU, you'll see CPU defenders jump exactly at the right time the ball comes down (while you can't, because if you wait too long, you won't get any rebounds), and just random stuff that makes you mad throughout the game. It's frustrating, and if 2K8 were given one more year to work out all these glitches, the game might've rivaled NBA 2K8 is one of the better sports games on the Next-Gen consoles. | video-games_xbox |
A beautiful and enchanting game. If you are an action or first-person shooter (FPS) gamer interested in trying something new such as a role-playing game (RPG), I highly recommend Final Fantasy XIII.
I have played action and squad-based FPS games beginning with the DOOM series on MS-DOS through the Halo and Call of Duty series on Windows PC and Xbox 360. My only other experience with a RPG was the excellent Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (Windows PC version), and I had no experience at all with previous versions of Final Fantasy, so I was able to appreciate this game in its own right without expectations or bias.
First, as even most of its critics will admit, it is visually stunning. The eye candy in this game is simply beautiful, even with this slightly lower resolution Xbox 360 version. (If you have both an Xbox 360 and a PS3, get the PS3 version of this game). The settings and people in the game are attractive (even some of the villains), the battles are colorful and lively, and the cutscenes are cinematic. It is a pleasant change of pace from the often dark and foreboding battlefields of FPS games. The musical score adds to the beautiful aesthetics of the game.
The story and mythology are confusing at first, but the details of the plot become subordinate to the fact that you begin to care about the characters and want them to succeed. The six main characters have distinctive personalities, and the voice acting brings them to life.
Several critics have complained about how "linear" the game is, but that shouldn't be an issue for action gamers, and it wasn't for me. We are used to starting at point A and fighting our way to point B along a predetermined path, so the "linearity" of this game was familiar and no problem at all. In fact, it helped the story to move along and it made sense for the storyline, since the main characters are essentially fugitives from justice. They have a short amount of time to accomplish a goal before being turned into either crystal statues (if they succeed) or monsters (if they fail), while also being on the run from the authorities. It would have been inappropriate to the storyline for them to spend much time wandering around aimlessly, shopping and chatting with random people in villages or wherever.
The battle system seems simple on the surface but there is actually a lot of depth underneath it. While some critics bemoan not being able to micromanage each individual character in the battle team, the chore of managing the non-leader character(s) is (thankfully) well-handled by the game's artificial intelligence. The battles are too fast-paced (a good thing) to allow that kind of micromanagement of 2 or 3 battle team members. The challenge during battles is to intelligently and frequently reassign each of the battle team characters to one of six roles or jobs during the battle, which the game calls the "paradigm" system. That will keep you plenty busy during some of the tougher battles. There are also the many decisions that have to be made about which characters to use in a battle, which one to use as the team leader, how they should be leveled-up (powers/strength/abilities enhanced), which weapons and accessories to equip them with, which weapons/accessories should be upgraded, when scarce "shrouds" should be used to buff up a team before a tough battle or to enable a decisive preemptive strike, etc. All of these decisions determine how the battles play out.
In summary, if you are new to the Final Fantasy series (the games are not really related to one another so there is no need to have played any of the other ones to enjoy this one) or RPGs in general and want to try one out, I highly recommend Final Fantasy XIII as a stunningly beautiful, well-paced, and enjoyable way to experience a role-playing game. Search for "Final Fantasy XIII international trailer" online, watch the trailer and see for yourself. | video-games_xbox |
Assassin's Creed with Pirates and Ship Battles. This game is great.
I played the original AC years ago but couldn't get into it and shelfed it. Fast forward to Black Flag. I decided to give it a try because of the pirate theme. You spend the game as a ship captain that gets mixed up with the Assassins and becomes part of their order. The traditional "run and climb anywhere" ability is present and the world is quite large and the cities are very diverse and full of items to collect, places to unlock, and side missions to complete.
The story of the game is engaging and the characters are entertaining and well played and voice acted. Not having played the other games in the series was not a detriment to either story or actual playing experience. The in game tutorial plays out as the game progresses and isn't forced, but feels like a natural part of the learning process. As for the over arching story itself, you learn a lot about the past characters and the theme of the struggle through in game dialogue and cutscenes as well as through the "present day" Abstergo missions. The characters all have their own personalities and the great graphics of the game help to portray them as individuals with emotions.
Controlling your own pirate ship was a great deal of fun. You have the ability to upgrade your ship with reinforced armor, upgraded cannons, and customizable visual features. As you explore the world you can engage other ships in naval combat. This plays out by sailing around, or into, them while firing cannons and dropping exploding fire barells. Once enough damage is done you can sink the ship or board it to fight the enemy hand to hand and capture the ship. Once captured the ship can be used to repair your own ship, the Jackdaw, it can be added to your fleet (which is a mini game in and of itself where you can complete side missions and earn additonal gold/rewards), or it can be used to lower your 'wanted level' in order to keep bounty hunter ships from coming after you.
The handling of the ship is not necessarily easy at first, but after some time at sea it becomes natural. I like that the developers have you battling the ever changing sea through large waves and storms, this adds some realism to the time spent navigating or ship battling. While at sea you may come across harpooning location that starts yet another mini-game . In it you are in a small boat trying to take down any number of sharks or whales with harpoons in order to harvest their valuable hunting good. These are used for upgrades to your character or they can be sold.
One thing that really made me fall in love with this game are the seas shanties. These shanties are one of the many collectible things you can find and chase down in the game. While at sea your crew will burst into song as your ship crashes through the waves and you speed past the beautifully rendered islands of the Caribbean under a bright blue sky. Being a fan of of folk music and sea shanties in real life I was elated to hear my crew out of no where start singing sailing songs that I myself know. This small touch really cemented my love for the game.
This game is a must have in my opinion. It has something to offer any type of gamer and should not be missed. | video-games_xbox |
Gorgeous, but flawed. The first thing everyone (or at least "I") noticed about this game was the graphics. When it comes to creating pretty, intensely visually realistic games, Ubisoft are basically the masters. Look no further than the Splinter Cell series or the Prince of Persia games for proof, both of which have graphics that still look impressive years later. If all you're really concerned about is a playable game to drool over, stop reading right now and just buy it. You'll be more than happy.
The plot is basically as follows: you're playing as a medieval assassin utilizing some kind of crazy medieval version of free-running who targets powerful rulers suspected of corruption. There's also some time-travelling aspects, which are interesting, but don't do a whole lot of plot advancement.
The game controls like a dream, not unlike the Prince of Persia games (I'm sorry to compare them so much, but they are honestly very similar). You'll rarely have a moment where you'll get frustrated because the game's being unresponsive. Altair's movements are fluid and lifelike. The only downside control wise are the fighting mechanics. With some practice, you can battle dozens of guards without taking a scratch; the fights are just too easy and repetitive.
Speaking of repetition, that's a huge downfall for the game. Every assassination mission is almost identical in their execution. You'll be in vastly different surroundings, but each one will probably be handled the same way. This game isn't too linear (you can choose which missions you want to undertake to get the required amount of info about your target) but the missions are constructed nearly identically.
If you can get over these issues, the game's still a lot of fun. It's not often where you can honestly say that just controlling the character is fun, but this is definitely the case. The main plotline doesn't take very long to get through, but there's also a lot of extra stuff to keep you busy. Some of this is a little dated (why are we still collecting flags in a next gen game?) but it will definitely keep you occupied and might even turn into some kind of obsession. Plus, the game's now really cheap, and you get a lot of great game for this price. | video-games_xbox |
More than a game. I've been waiting for the release and have already logged a few hours. I've been a moderate/casual guitar player for several years and am already comfortable with the basics. This has been just the motivation I've needed to pick up my Les Paul more often and start challenging myself to improve. To anybody in the same boat as me that has a few bucks to spend, I would highly encourage you to do so. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Time will fly and you will feel like you've had a lesson, however let me be clear; It STILL feels like a game. I've messed around with the mini-games and have played through several tracks. The game has done well to adjust to my skill level keeping me challenged, but able to get through the song.
I don't yet know know how this will handle somebody completely new to guitar, but I feel like it will still be entertaining. I'll know once I have some friends play and will edit this post.
I like the soundtrack, but understand it's not terribly well rounded for everybody. These are songs they picked, because the technicality that they need is present. I'm sure it won't be long before DLC's are available to expand the catalog.
Gotta stop typing, I've got riffs to play...
Edit - 11/8/11
I'd like to add to my initial thoughts now that I've put many hours into the game.
First, I'm still in love. I still play nearly every day and have seen most everything the game has to offer. That's easy for me to say, as I am probably exactly who this game was meant for. I've came into the game already knowing the things that the game doesn't teach, and I'm a long experienced gamer. My background was strong in basic chord play, and I've been able to expand that into being more comfortable with single note solos, technical riffs and melody playing. I have a ways to go before this game has little left to offer me, and they've already released additional songs.
One thing that I have come to realize that I did not initially expect, is that this can be very intimidating for those that are not comfortable with game mechanics. Us gamers are used to things coming at us on screen and making our fingers match our thoughts quickly and accurately. My friend (or pawn if you will) did not have the same experience as me. He's enjoyed watching me play, but trying to follow along with the game himself he finds very difficult. He has a background in basic guitar and if I go over something with him 1 on 1, he can pick it up. However, he's never been one to play video games (apart from Scrabble on his cell phone) Not to fault the game; I couldn't design a better platform. I just point this out to admit that this may not be for everybody. | video-games_xbox |
Hardly legendary. Legendary is one of those games that seems like it was created for me. It combines fantasy monsters and lots of guns to create a modern-day first-person shooter that takes on the creatures of Greek myth.
Wait, did I say Greek myth? Where did you get that idea? Oh, probably from the notion that Charles Deckard opens Pandora's Box (which is, you know, Greek) and unleashes: griffons, minotaurs, werewolves, firedrakes, Nari (evil little pixies), Tscuhigomo's Children (spiders that explode), a golem, a kraken, and poltergeists. Minotaurs and griffons make perfect sense. You could make an argument that the myth of Lycaeon places werewolves in Greek mythology. The firedrakes are modeled after the mythical salamander, a myth that harkens all the way back to the Talmud. But the rest? The rest is an excuse to throw monsters at you to blow up.
My delicate historical sensibility aside, Legendary is still a peculiar beast. Deckard's supposedly a jewel thief, but his lock-picking skill consists of standing at electrical panels and waiting for a counter to finish so the door opens. It seems like there was supposed to be a lock-picking mini-game that didn't make it into the finished product.
Deckard also has the ability to absorb energy from every monster he kills. This allows him to heal, shoot a burst of energy at his opponents, and power certain gadgets to defeat bigger monsters like the golem and the kraken. Reminiscent of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, this "kill more to survive" game mechanic is only slightly less forgiving.
Every game has a developer's favorite monster, the one that the designers clearly put a lot of thought into, sometimes to the exclusion of the actual focus of the game. In F.E.A.R. it was the amazingly life-like, intelligent, and vulgar clone soldiers. In Legendary, it's the werewolves. They climb, they throw stuff from afar, they regenerate unless you chop their heads off, and they're hideous-looking. You will learn to hate werewolves with a passion in Legendary.
What's curious about Legendary is that it wants to be a horror game. There are several scenes wherein everyday citizens are torn apart by the supernatural horrors unleashed by Pandora's box, right before your very eyes. Which seems a bit out of place for a game about mythical creatures taking over the world. Given the range of monstrosities foisted on thus in most modern horror games, a man being eaten by an eagle/lion isn't all that scary.
Legendary is pretty linear too. You can only shoot the bad guys you're allowed to shoot (no putting those civilians out of their misery!). You can only go in the designated areas not blocked off by debris, which is everywhere of course. And you can't jump. Period.
The ending has to be the most hilarious, over-the-top, death scene of a villain ever. Assuming you even make it to the end (spoiler alert!), you will have the distinct pleasure of watching the main villain killed in a Rube Goldberg-ian game of monster volleyball, with each monster mangling and then tossing the bad guy off to the next until he it tossed over a ledge...and then bounces on the way down!
This isn't a bad first-person shooter, merely a mediocre one trying to compete with superior action horror titles. | video-games_xbox |
Its absolutely wonderful!... Except the casing. This stand is fantastic. The stand is lightweight (which is also a con, I will tell you later about), slick looking and extremely functional. It is a very sleek design and doesn't have any extra bells or whistles. It does what you need it to do, and it does it well. I was excited to find such an inexpensive charging dock ( $17.29 at the time of this review) that came with space for TWO controllers and included TWO batteries!
I originally bought this item because my Xbox One controller has decided it didn't want to charge via USB. I had the wireless with the play and charge kit, and I refuse to use normal batteries because of how much I play. When I first opened the box, I set everything up right away. I plugged the USB cord that comes with the base into the Xbox One itself, and it has been working perfectly. I immediately changed the battery and set the controller on the base to charge. It does have a blue indicator light, but from what I can tell so far, that only tells you that the connectors are touching, it doesn't seem to have a full or empty indicators. However, I was able to let it charge for about an hour, and my Xbox One said the battery on my controller was full. I played Overwatch steadily for about an hour and a half, and when I was done, the battery (according to my Xbox One home screen) wasn't even a quarter of the way gone. Since then, I have not seen my controller go below half. And I game a lot, so this battery has to be good.
For the design of the base itself, this is where the fact that it is lightweight also turns a bit negative. This base appears to be made out of the thinnest, most flimsy plastic on the planet. I have seen Happy Meal toys that appear to have better plastic built on them. (Now granted, this doesn't immediately mean it is bad, I just have 2 kids [a 2 year old and a 5 year old] and I always assume the worst with what COULD happend, and this feels like it would break in two very quickly.) Also, the batteries get EXTREMELY hot when it sits on the base for an extended period of time. As I mentioned before, it doesn't appear to have a "full" mode, so I think it is trying to pump juice in to it non stop?
Full discloure: I received this product at a discount and / or for free in exchange for an open and honest review. Which is what you have just read. All opinions are my own.
Overall; I really do recommend this charging dock. The only real negative things I have to say about it is a plastic that very well may end up being very strong, lightweight plastic ( I am just assuming the worst) and the fact that the batteries get hot, but that is because I can only play for about 2 hours a day at the end of the day and set them right back on, maybe it would be best to let them die and then put them on? | video-games_xbox |
Darn good price for a darn good headphones. I read a lot of reviews when looking for headphones to play my 360 with. I read good and bad reviews on all of them and no products (that I could afford) stood out. I saw these on amazon and pre-ordered them for a few reasons. 1. They weren't crazy expensive ($60) which is what I was prepared to spend anyhow and none of the other headphones in that price range had all glowing reviews. 2. They were sold as HDMI compatible. 3. They looked SWEET.
In a lot of the other reviews with headphones like this, there would be a hiss or buzz when you plugged the microphone in to the controller. Well nothing has changed. As soon as you plug the cord in to the 360 controller there is an immediate ringing in your ears. I don't know why they haven't figured out how to stop this but by and large, this is a consistent complaint on darn near every set of headphones out there.
Besides the the mic problem above I don't have an issue with these headphones. Bass comes through clear without being overwhelming. I like the removable and flexible mic. The HDMI pass through works very well. I have my 360 hooked to my surround sound system. If I plug the headphones in, the sound comes through both the speakers and the headphones. Then it is just a matter of turning down the surround sound. If you are not running HDMI you are still good to go with these as they provide whatever plugs you will need. There are separate volume controls for the game and chat and also a mute switch. I have worn the headphones for hours at a time now and they didn't become uncomfortable. The padding on the ears is very soft and incredibly comfortable.
Now these are sold as strictly 360 but if you take a stereo cable like you would use to plug an MP3 player in to an aux port in the car in place of the 360 mic plug<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/3-5mm-Stereo-Male-3-5mm-Stereo-Male-2-ft/dp/B000I20BBI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">"3.5mm Stereo Male / 3.5mm Stereo Male, 2 ft"</a>, they work just fine on the computer.
When I pre-ordered the headphones I was slightly nervous. When I plugged the mic in to the controller and heard the ringing noise, I was bummin. Now that I have used them a while I love them. I only notice the ringing at the dashboard or at the lobby or in menu of the game. During actual play I don't notice it at all. Bottom line: the AX120's are a solid choice for a $60 price tag | video-games_xbox |
Superb follow up to Disney Infinity. Open world superhero gaming? Incredibles all over again (in a good way. The original Disney Infinity was great. Open world roaming? It's like GTA, but for kids! My son & I loved the Pirates of the Caribbean playset most of all... the pirate ships, the freedom to explore, the swords and pistols - great fun! Looked absolutely amazing on a Xbox 360. The Incredibles playset was a close second with the super powers, and the Metroville environment.
The DI 2.0 Avengers playset (which comes with the Starter Pack) is like the Incredibles playset in many ways, except it's Manhattan & not Metroville. And it's the Avengers instead of the Incredibles. Monster spawning (where you could not take many steps in Metroville without a swarm of bad bots attacking you) is very much toned down in Manhattan, which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your opinion of fighting the bad guys.
Characters? At our house, we have (as of now) the starting 3 (Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow) plus Captain America. (Father Noel will provide us with the Guardians of the Galaxy set at Christmas.) In some ways, Thor and Captain America remind me of each other with the way the Hammer or Shield works, while Black Widow and Iron Man have similar ranged attacks.
Each character has their own Skill Tree, which allows you to create different "builds" of their characters. With limited skill points, you can't do everything well. You have to specialize... hand-to-hand? mobility? healing/party support? ranged combat? All have their pluses & minuses. This is a huge plus in DI 2.0.
ALSO, DI 1.0 characters like Captain Jack Sparrow & Mr. Incredible? YES, they have skill trees as well! So in the Toy Box mode, you can build them up how you like!
Other DI 1.0 compatibility issues? Those little plastic power disk? They STILL WORK with DI 2.0.
Biggest negatives so far?
This is clearly intended to be a Xbone/PS4 title. Things look more muddy & fuzzy on the 360. Now, there is so much more going on with DI 2.0 compared to DI 1.0, so the fact that DI 1.0 was more visually impressive is not a huge concern.
The other thing is the load times. Swapping a character in DI 1.0 was very fast, but that's not the case with DI 2.0, as said in other reviews. I notice the load times for characters now, and I didn't notice them in the original.
The least "negative" negative... character death. It's much more harsh now. You have to rez your buddies. They don't auto-respawn. The game lets you hot swap to any viable character to continue the fight (and any "dead" characters are resurrected at the end of the fight). This makes boss battles a lot more challenging in DI 2.0. My son needed my help to get past Loki (his sister was not good enough). So if you have little ones, definitely get the original Disney Infinity first.
EDIT: The starter box also comes with 2 additional "discs" - Assault on Asgard & Escape from Kiln.
Assault from Asgard is like a tower-defense game (think Dungeon Defenders, Orcs Must Die, etc), mostly built from what looks like Disney Infinity Toy Box bits.
We've been spending the most time with Escape from Kiln, which is a Diablo-like 3rd person adventure RPG game. The camera is set back like Diablo, and you go around and "kill" bad guys, and collect loot to put on your minions.
What we're doing now is the "Survival Mode" from Escape from Kiln. This presents you with randomized levels (using, again, Toy Box bits) where you beat up all the bad guys to get to the next level. It's a good way to score tons of experience sparks in order to level up. I don't know how they do the randomized thing, but it's pretty cool.
What's more, the Survival Mode is good for your old Disney Infinity 1.0 characters! So if you like overpowered characters like Elsa from Frozen, you're all set! (Elsa is totally OP, though) The Survival Mode really breathes more life into the Toy Box-only characters from version 1.0, where characters like Wreck-It-Ralph didn't seem to have a real reason to exist compared to Jack Sparrow and Mr. Incredible. | video-games_xbox |
Well Worth a Buy. The Chronicles of Riddick- Escape from Butcher Bay
After the success of the movies, <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Riddick-Trilogy-Pitch-Black-The-Chronicles-of-Riddick-Dark-Fury-The-Chronicles-of-Riddick/dp/B000EQHXN2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Riddick Trilogy (Pitch Black/ The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury/ The Chronicles of Riddick)</a>, it is destined to have a video game to go along with it. Luckily, this game did not follow the storyline of the movie. This game had perfect graphics for it's time and had near perfect gameplay. This is one of the very few movie games that actually turned out to be any good.
Graphics- 9.5/10
Everything is perfect. Things are shaded well, people look good, your weapons look good, everything is good. The load times are the only drag on this game. They aren't too long, but they are constantly being pushed on you.
Story- 10/10
You are Riddick. You are a murderer. You have been sent to Butcher Bay, an extremely secure prison, to rot the rest of your life. You do not like this idea and decide you escape. Along the way you meet an interesting cast of characters that will either help you or halt your progress. Just when it seems like you are going to escape, you are stopped, and pushed further into Butcher Bay.
Sound- 10/10
Vin Diesel does the voice of Riddick in this game. Very rarely do video games have their true voice actors. Every character in this game has voice-overs. Machines and guns have brilliantly put together sound effects. Sounds fade in and out as you get closer to the sound.
Gameplay- 8.5/10
This game is less of a shooter and more of a fighting game. In the beginning of the game, they hint a lot of gun fighting. Don't be fooled by this. The game is more of a stealth/fighter game. This is not a bad thing, and is in most ways very refreshing. A good portion of the game consists of running between people in the prison to get what you need to advance. This slows the game down a lot and gives you a lot of backtracking to do.
Difficulty- 8/10 (Note- This is how much I like the difficulty)
When you have guns, this game is simple and very easy. The rest of the game, around 75% of it, is a lot harder. You will become stressed out trying to get past 10 enemies with nothing but a shiv.
Overall- 9/10
I can't give this game a perfect score due to its difficulty, backtracking, and pacing. Don't get me wrong; this is a fantastic game. It's one of my favorite games in fact. I just can't give it a perfect score due to some minor problems. | video-games_xbox |
Pretty Decent. I picked up this controller at my local game store on 10-24-10. Obviously this controller is intended for Black Ops but since the game isn't out yet, i've had a few nights to use it on Modern Warfare 2.
The first thing you'll notice is that Mad Catz did a great job with concerns to the overall appearance and feel of the controller. The artwork on the controller is Top Notch. Personally I wouldn't care if it was just a plain black controller but they really went the extra step in making it look cool. The red backlight on the analog sticks adds to the atmosphere, especially if you like to play late at night with the lights out. The cord itself is made up of a durable braided material that is designed to withstand a lot of coiling and twisting. I remember with the xbox 1 stock controllers my cat would chew on the wire and ruin the thing! Unless you have a sabre tooth tiger this shouldnt be an issue! haha. I found the cord length to be just fine and that's with a 50" plasma TV.
Alright, so how about the actual usage of the controller? The grip is very comfortable and the analog sticks, buttons and triggers feel just like they do on the stock 360 controllers. That's all fine and dandy but the main selling point is going to be the combat buttons. Do they feel natural? Easily accessible??? Honestly, it may really come down to how you hold the controller in your hand. I am left-handed and found that the combat button underneath the right analog stick is in a perfect location. On this side of the controller you can set the button to function as RP (Use your knife), X (Reload), Y (Switch weapon), and RSB (PrecisionAIM Mode/Sensitivity Decrease). I don't see the advantage of RP as your thumb should already be on the right stick anyways.. I primarily use it to switch weapons and you'll notice that this can give you an extreme advantage. I can't count how many times ive been in a one on one confrontation and needed to reload or switch weapons in mid firefight. being able to switch weapons while also keeping a continuous aim on your enemy is HUGE. The extra second or two that you save really does pay off. Sadly, the feature I was most looking forward to, the PrecisionAIM mode is not what I hoped for. To be fair I hardly snipe with a sniper rifle. The sensitivity drop when you hold the combat button down in this mode is too low in my opinion. If I were able to adjust that sensitivity to a higher setting I could see myself using it a lot. But the only real advantage is when your opponent is waay across the map and far off. Mid-range not so much, as the sensitivity is not quick enough to keep up with a running or 'dancing' enemy. Hopefully Mad Catz will release a program for the PC where you can manually set the sensitivity for PrecisionAIM Mode. Again, this is just my opinion and if you are a sniper who likes to have Insane sensitivity you may come to love this feature. Phew... Now on to the left analog stick combat button. The problem for me is the way that I grip the controller with my middle finger, used to press the combat button, naturally rests south/below of the button location. I have to awkwardly adjust my left hand grip to compensate and thus find myself not really using that button at all. It's a shame because you can set it to LP (Run), A (Jump), B (Prone), or RSB (Precision AIM, why in the world you would want to slow your movement stick is beyond me). I could definitely see myself using it as the B button and would be able to dropshot or duck out of cover in an instant. This I am sure would increase my K/D ratio significantly. I haven't ruled out hope yet and may learn to eventually hold it so that it feels comfortable and I can use that button with ease. I have medium sized hands I would say and that it may be drastically different for folks with small or large hands as well. Again it really depends on how you grip the controller. Unfortunately, even though it is packaged entirely, you would still need to test it out in actual gameplay to get an idea of how it would rest in your hand.
So what's the final verdict? This is definitely a solid product and I think with some patience I will truly come to appreciate this controller. at $50 it can be a sizeable investment for a gamepad but you'll have to ask yourself.. How much will i play MW2/Black ops? If your answer is a LOT like myself.. Go ahead and pick it up, you shouldn't be disappointed. It won't make you a killing machine, but if you give it time you should notice an improvement in your K/D ratio. I never tried the MW2 mad catz controller that came out a year ago, but from what I hear this is a major improvement. My only suggestion for Mad Catz would be that next time they make the combat buttons elongated in an elliptical shape running north and south to compensate for grip and hand size. If they do that, an experienced player would have an unfair advantage in my opinion by far : ) | video-games_xbox |
The Next Step In Gaming. Once in awhile, a great shooter game will come out that everyone will be playing. It started with Doom, then Duke Nukem and Quake. Now the next step in shooter gaming has finally arrived. I remember seeing a ten-minute promotional film for Halo from Bungie about one year ago. Needless to say, I have been waiting for this game for a long time.
Halo starts out pretty much like Half Life. You awake on a ship. You are actually a special type of soldier with some great armor. Just like Half Life, you are thorwn right into the fires of war. After you meet up with Captain Kees, you must escape the ship and make your way down to the planet to find out what the Covenent are up to. From there, an innovative story begins to unvold revealing the true horrific power of Halo that the Covenent want so badly.
Through out this game you get to pilot a Warthog that has two seat and a machine gun on the back, a Covenent hovercraft and a Covenent fighter ship. There is also a good line of weapons. You get everything from machines guns to odd Covenent energy guns. Thats one of the fun parts of Halo. It's so real. After you kill of Covenent, you pick up it's weapon and use it. You can even hit physically knockout the Covenent with your own gun. The enviornment is incredibly well composed. Everything from the blue water, to the strands of grass, to the big sky. It can almost be mistaken for the real thing.
I guess my only complain about Halo would be that it's too short. There's only about 7 stages. However, I do like this multiplayer system. You can actually play through the story mode with another player. My brother and I had a load of fun playing this feature. The actual designs of the characters are really well done as well. The human players look human and the Covenent look like oddball aliens. Watching the little turtle-like Covenent run in horror from you screaming is hilarious. Escpecially when you throw a gernade on one of them and they yell "OH NOOOHOHOHOHOOOO!"
Overall, out of all the games out for the X-Box as of this writing, I would say this is the best game out there for the X-Box. Get this is game and get in on what everyones talking about. | video-games_xbox |
Good, But lost some charm. I'll try to make this short and sweet. Army of Two TDC is a good game. It"s fun. the controles are smooth. If you like 3rd person shooters there is really no reason why you wouldn't like this.
I will also say that I am glad that I got a $20 amazon credit with my pre-order. I honestly think i would be a little disappointed if I had paid a full $60 and not received the $20 credit.
I'm not going to bother going into details about the pros of this game. The images are great, the sound is great, the controls feel a little more smooth compared to the previous army of two, and the story is just about what you would expect from an Army of Two game. Like the previous titles, money is what you use to purchase better weapons and equipment. The thing that is different is, you get bonus money for doing coop actions; Flanking, decoy, combo you get the idea. Y ou unlock equipment by leveling up (the highest level is 25 I believe)
Now on to the cons,
I honestly think that this game is lacking in some of the areas that made the previous Army of Two games so special.
1. When you do a step jump the lifting play no longer has control over how high to lift the other player up, it simply goes to a cut scene. This means that there is no action durring this part of the game. In previous titles, one player might lift the other player up just high enough so he can shoot some baddies before lifting them all the way up. There were also times when the player lifted chose to dispatch all the baddies in the room before choosing to help his buddy up so... Sadly, these scenarios don't happen, instead it comes across a little generic
2. The human shield does not exist! Remember how you could grab an enemy and use them as a human shield? Well, no more it can not be done. Your best option if the fight gets close is to simply use your melee attack. While melee is very powerful in this game (more so than the previous titles) I still miss the human shield.
3. You remember how your buddy could grab a car door or a riot shield, and you could follow along behind him blasting enemies? Well, this feature is gone too. I did see something in the loading screen about commanding your AI partner to grab a shield, I couldn't read it fast enough before the game started. I am about half way through the campaign and I have not come across one shield.
4. No mock surrender, this is one of the features that I miss the most, I loved this part of The 40th Day. I mean, who didn't like raising your hands in the air pretending to surrender only to pull a John McClane and blast the baddies in the head. Yippee ki yay
I5. No Paper Rock Scissors! How do you take this out!!! it's simple, but awesome. it was something to do in between firefights and it was hilarious. It not being in this game, makes the game feel less like Army of Two and more like (insert generic 3rd person shooter here) oh, also praising and punching your partner is out too.
In conclusion. the game is fun, if you have a coop buddy then I'm sure that this game will provide you with hours of fun. however with all of the features taken out, the introduction of two new characters. It feels less like an Army of Two game then it should. It lost some of the charm.
****Update**** I reached chapter 19 and was able to take a shield from an enemy and command my AI partner to take cover behind me. the ability to do so is in the game, though the opportunities do not come along that often. | video-games_xbox |
A classic fun game for the 360. I bought this game about 5 years ago and recently got it out to play again. It is still a fun game.
Story: Set 3 years before the events of the N64 game, the story is set in 2020, and Joanna Dark (AKA Perfect Dark) is a bounty hunter working with her father Jack and her friend Chandra. The group is given a job to rescue a scientist from a Triad crime lord. The scientist is killed before the rescue but he uses a brain device to implant all of his research into Jack's mind. Jack then gets captured by a mega corporation named dataDyne and you seek out to free him. The story continues with a double-cross and another agency that wants to take down dataDyne.
Gameplay: First-person Shooter with some stealth. You traverse multiple levels using stealth, combat, and gadgets to accomplish your objectives. Some of the weapons include a pistol, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, rifle, plasma rifle, grenades, etc. You have 4 slots for weapons but some of the larger weapons take up multiple slots. Also, the more weight you carry, the slower you move. When using gadgets, it often takes you into a mini-game to complete in order to pass the objective.
Multiplayer: You can play a split-screen campaign with a friend. Some levels are altered to include both players to reach objectives, such as opening doors. If one of you dies, the other player must locate and revive you. In some levels, the 2nd player takes an AI controlled character and may start far away from you. Aside from split-screen campaign, there is also a Combat Arena. I haven't played this much but it's a typical death match mode shooter with different options like capture the flag, defend a location, etc. You can play up to 32 players but I don't know if this is still supported today.
Conclusion: the missions are fun and challenging. The controls are easily executed. There are 4 difficulties such you can try and beat it on Dark Agent after defeating Perfect Agent. Worth picking up. A solid 4-star game for the Xbox 360. | video-games_xbox |
A very good game. First, I want to say that I have not played a Tales game before this one, although I've played many JRPGs since the NES days. This game's quality caught me by surprise and I'm glad I gave it a try.
It is to my belief that the most important attributes to a RPG are the storyline, cast, and the gameplay, and I will be discussing each of them in order.
Storyline:
The setting is a bit standard - it's a fantasy world populated by monsters and the only things keeping them away from the cities are these barriers powered by a technology called Blastia. The adventure began with the protagonist attempting to track down a thief who had stolen the Blastia Core from the poor sector of the Capital. As per usual, during his quest the protagonist uncovers a greater conspiracy and soon the fate of the world becomes at stake. The story starts off a little slow but picks up the pace quite nicely as the player advances farther into the game. The objectives are always clear, although some of the plot elements aren't always logical. This is not a masterpiece storyline by any means, but it has more than enough twists and thrills to keep you interested and entertained.
Cast:
The cast of this game is wonderful. Certainly you can ascribe each character to an archetype, but they express enough personalities to let their individualities shine through. A substantial amount of the character personalities and developments are revealed through "skits", which are short, primarily-vocal equivalents of cutscenes. These skits are often both interesting and humorous. There are over 1000 skits in the game, and they give the player more than ample amount of information to understand each personality. Due to these skits' heavy reliance on voice acting, it's a good thing that each voice actor/actress did an exceptional job. The main cast is especially strong and fitting; they are practically flawless. Those familiar with Persona 3 will recognize many voices here.
I also find myself enjoying these characters a whole lot. Often in a JRPG, the personality of the protagonist will make or break the game for me (because let's face it, it's difficult to devote tens if not hundreds of hours into a game if you believe your avatar's sole purpose is to rain misery upon you), and while there's a great deal of subjectivity in this, I believe Tales of Vesperia pulled it off. The protagonist, Yuri, is a likeable person. In a way, he's somewhat similar to the protagonist of the first two Shadow Hearts games (who's also ironically named Yuri) - they are both Anti-Heroes who are able to remain cheerfully optimistic even when burdened with an enormous amount of stress (in contrast to the overly moody Anti-Hero of FF7, Cloud). In ToV, Yuri is charismatic, light-hearted (mostly), and heroic, and his voice actor did a fantastic job on actualizing all of his qualities. The supporting cast is equally strong and charming, but that's just icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned.
Gameplay:
This game utilizes a real-time combat system that's somewhat akin to a fighting game. You can certainly get away beating the game using basic options but there's a surprising amount of depth and advanced techniques in the game. I think it's a lot of fun. Bosses are aptly challenging and the game is also quite lengthy (~50-60 hours without you having to grind levels or doing many side quests), which are both positive points in my book. There's also a lot of hidden content in the game and you're bound to miss quite a lot of them on your first playthrough if you aren't using a guide. Thankfully I would definitely say this game is worth playing through multiple times.
Presentation and summary:
The game uses cel-shading and its overall look is somewhat simplistic but pleasing. Each region is smartly designed to provide you with a nice vista and leaving you with the impression that there's more to than just what you can interact with. It's an intelligent approach to visual design. Audio is again excellent if for nothing else but the voice acting (the music is fitting but forgettable). A small glitch that I must mention - the audio level appears to be a bit lower during the animated FMVs than the rest of the game.
This game pretty much delivers on every aspect for a JRPG fan. It has both quality and content, and I would recommend it to anyone who has a remote interest in JRPGs (and even those who don't). It's simply a quality game. | video-games_xbox |
After All, You're A Croft. I dislike giving games a perfect 5, but Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition absolutely deserved it.
I'm a n00b to the Tomb Raider series, and my best friend has been begging me to play them. I figured I would start myself off easy with the reboot (plus I was interested in the next-gen graphics.) One of the best decisions of my life.
You can really feel the leap to next-gen with the graphics of this game. The island, although chaotic, is absolutely beautiful. Cut-scenes means so much more because characters look extremely realistic. The definitive edition looks spectacular.
The gameplay is phenomenal. One of the best things about this game is that you feel that you are ACTUALLY in all the action. My pulse quickened every time I was attempting to stealth my way through a level. The sequences where everything is falling apart around you and you have to keep moving are incredible. Never have I been so a part of a game. Button pressing sequences are brought back in this game, and I think they are done correctly. Combat is great in this game, but it wouldn't be Tomb Raider without tombs, right? Everything to do with tombs was done perfectly. The look of the tomb, Lara's dialogue regarding it, and the puzzles you have to solve in order to get to special chests. The island is littered with tombs, relics, documents, and so much more; get out there and explore!
The storyline was riveting and engaging. I didn't want to put my controller down. The characters are well written and definitely interesting (villains included.) I think they did a fantastic job on Lara. She is everything she should be; intelligent, resourceful, brave, strong, resilient, and of course a total badass. Sam is another character I adore. VOICE ACTING WAS PERFECTION.
I strongly recommending renting this game. Whether you are new to TR or not. It's great for old fans and newbies. This reboot looks incredibly promising. I'm absolutely hooked. A great way to introduce new players and welcome back old vets. Well done, Crystal Dynamics. | video-games_xbox |
Decent Game, Sub-Par Collector's Edition. This review is more about the extras in the rather lackluster collector's edition than the excellent, excellent game itself. If you wish to read a review about Saint's Row The Third the game, then I suggest going on the regular edition page, or perhaps go to another website. I am here to talk about the collector's edition, which in my opinion is quite disappointing considering its high price point.
The Collector's Edition comes with the game, pre-order DLC content, game soundtrack cd, as well as a high quality "headset." Now, I put "headset" in caps because although the box and item description on Amazon calls it a headset, it's really just a set of headphones since it doesn't come with a mic. What's more is that it comes with no instructions, so I spent 40 minutes working with the darn thing before I figured out there was a battery cover on the right earphone that you needed to pop open to put in two AAA batteries. (Also not included.) The headphones is probably the main draw of the Collector's Edition as they are touted to give you an auto-tune effect when you use it; this of course means that its main draw won't work unless you have a separate mic. It also doesn't work on xbox live, so I don't see any reason for any xbox 360 users to purchase this. The soundtrack cd is also a bit sub-par, as it features no licensed songs.
All in all, I give this package 3 stars merely for the fact that it includes the awesome third installment of Saint's Row. I do not recommend the collector's edition, as it is much too overpriced for what it has; if it were priced at $79.99 to $89.99 like other collector's editions are, then I may have given it a higher score, but for a hundred bucks it really isn't worth it. I suggest going with the regular edition and skipping the useless extras on this one.
EDIT: After beating the game, I gotta say that I am disappointed. SR2 was definitely much, MUCH better. It's still fun, but they removed so many features from the previous iterations that it just feels hollow. I definitely should have just shelled out for the Skyrim Collector's Edition. :( | video-games_xbox |
Rock Band 2 for Rock Band 1 owners. Yes - it is worth the upgrade. It's not bad value for 104 songs alone, never mind that the game itself is better in every area.
So what is moved over from Rock Band 1?
Songs and Downloads
Make sure your xbox is internet connected, start up Rock Band 1 and accept the update. A new menu option lets you export all the songs to the hard disk. It doesn't take too long (less than 30 mins), but does chew up a lot of space. Go into your options menu and note your current calibration settings. Now start Rock Band 2...
"Hello there, ladies and gentlemen.
Hello there, ladies and gents, are you ready to rock?
Are you ready or not?"
That's all that gets moved unfortunately... nothing else. First run is a little annoying because of that. It will prompt you for the save location for the song cache, band data, calibration data, etc. etc. and then you have to recreate all your characters, bands and recalibrate. Audio Visual calibration is new, looks prettier, but didn't give me a great result - so I manually set the values I used in Rock Band 1. Worked like a charm. The manual says the new Rock Band 2 Fender guitar has an "auto calibration" feature which sounds cool. Oddly enough all the audio previews in the marketplace don't move over.
Do Rock Band guitars, drums and mic work?
Yes. I tried the wired and wireless Rock Band Fender guitars, Guitar Hero III wireless Les Paul, drums and mic. All worked with only one glitch - the 4-way switch on the guitar is upside-down on menus. Strum down goes down a menu. 4-way switch down goes "up". Strange.
What stays the same?
The menu structure and overall "feel" of the game is the same. The world tour looks very similar, e.g. same venues, same cities, same tasks like "play to get a Van". Izzy from Death of the Cool has a new VCR, but delivers the same Freakin' Hard guitar tutorial.
What's new and worth having?
** Song selection. Shows difficulty for each instrument just like in the online marketplace. Much better than before.
** Solo world tour. Solo career mode is gone, but you can play the world tour on your own... yup you can finally do a Bass tour!
** Band Challenges. Just themed "gigs" really, but Nice. This is the way of unlocking songs. I was pleasantly surprised to see it give extra challenges based on your downloads. For example I got an Oasis challenge.
** Drum Trainer. A completely new feature. Lets you pick your beat pattern, fills and speed and play along. Really nice.
Anything frustrating?
Of course if you've been playing RB1, it's annoying to have to start again and unlock all the songs. I haven't minded too much. It forced me to start on Hard and progressively learn the songs - that's been more fun than I expected.
~~~ It's great. It's what you expected. Just get it. ~~~ | video-games_xbox |
Same Old Crap. This game is basically a collaboration of unoriginal ideas. You start off in a mental hospital filled with dead bodies. At this point I thought 'D' (Acclaim/Warp;1995). From here you check the security cameras to find some guy jumping around like "The Fear" from Metal Gear Solid; 1998. He's dressed in an outfit resembling the main character from Assassin's Creed. Next comes the complete Resident Evil 4-feel, controls and all. Chainsaw guy comes out of nowhere and if he catches you, does the same things as Resident Evil 4. If you're facing him he cuts your head off. If your back is to him he puts the chainsaw in your spine and lifts you up. Many elements stolen from Tomb Raider (2013) here, such as the "falling aspect, dead pools of bodies and fire- just not as well.
Then there's the mirror taking you to another world which is essentially the old hospital, much like a torn-down version of the original Silent Hill idea. Chapter two you're in the woods and come up to a cabin where a guy is knelt down eating something. You see legs, yep.. They did it, ripped off the original Resident Evil complete with the scene removed from the original & director's cut where the head drops down detached from the body and the zombie then turns to you. Controls are completely Resident Evil 4-ish. The camera is that 'too-close' third person. THIS is the most annoying part about this game. There's a lot of wasting time by running and hiding in obvious places (such as wardrobes or cabinets; think Thief). The AI is all off. You think, "how are these zombies setting all these traps? I mean, they're obviously not too intelligent.". You would think if they saw light they would run after it but they just stand there repeating their course. Traps. This, again, Resident Evil 4. Slop bins with disgusting liquid and flies flying around it- Resident Evil 4. You're a cop- Resident Evil. The characters, come on.. They're a mix of Resident Evil 4 & the Silent Hill series.. One of the bosses, the 'Shrieking Beast', is basically the boss from Nightmare Creatures. It keeps its head down and has the face of a Fatal Frame boss (or 'The Ring'). I've seen all of this, not interested. I've made it to chapter 7 and it seems like I've been playing the same level over and over. A hallway with doors finally leading up to a room that something different happens for a minute then back to that same hallway. It's been extremely boring, I play for about a half hour and get tired of it- most of the time not even saving my progress because I can't care enough.
Chapter 7 has characters ripped off from Sword of the Berserk. The end of Chapter 6 has a big mutated dog with (gasp!) a mouth on the side of its' neck (Resident Evil 5). Now I'm fighting Pyramid Head (Silent Hill), I mean.. "The Keeper" aka 'Box Head'. Literally, a safe on his head with barbed wire around it. Incredibly dumb. Stupid things, such as having to point directly at things in able for them to work will continuously annoy you. Your character will think your friends are dead over and over while showing no emotion when seeing them alive again; like they never disappeared in the first place. Every time you get close to either of them the ground collapses under your feet. "Creepy" baby dolls, mannequins, broken down escalators, crashed subways to venture through.. Yeah, it has all of this nonsense you've already seen before. QTE events will be either shake the left thumbstick from side to side or press 'A'. It will be displayed on the screen as if you have to press it rapidly but really it has the same effect if you just tap it. If an enemy grabs you just shake the left thumbstick about twice to save you some trouble because it won't make a difference if you keep doing it.
Visually this game is pretty impressive at the beginning (what's to be expected at the end of a console's lifespan) but that doesn't stand up to the plethora of clichs, unimaginative actions/controls and outright copyright infringements. I mean, it's bad enough to steal other people's ideas but when you reuse your own ideas for future projects, that's just pathetic. Not that you can interact with most things and since you don't drive in this game the cars will look like Driver on PS1. The areas are linear as well. You can almost see the path you have to go. It feels empty like an old-school PS2 game a lot of the time. Your character has a face resembling Bruce Campbell and a suit to match the character from Murdered: Soul Suspect or L.A. Noire. Every time I hear him say, "out of ammo?" I swear he's about to say, "have a Snickers.". Some of the scenes are pretty brutal but again, not a selling point. There are things such as a zombie with a pole through his head so you sneak up on him and stab him in the head with your knife (::cough:: Manhunt). NOW he's dead.. Lighting bodies on fire.. I don't really see the point here. Plus the fact that most of the time you can't holster your weapon fast enough to drop a match regardless.
Collect pills to upgrade your skills. Syringes for health (Far Cry).. Why is this crap a standard in video games these days? When you finally kill 'ol chainsaw guy you get his chainsaw- for a minute- to cut through a chain that opens a door. Then, like anyone fighting for their life would do, you throw it on the ground discarding it completely. Don't be surprised to fight the same bosses you've already killed in previous levels, often repeatedly.
Axes break after one hit, you know, just like real life. Sometimes they just completely disappear when a cut scene is triggered or by simply going into the save room. Enemies will drop other weapons but that's none of your concern considering it just disappears. A lot of the time I don't know what I've picked up because the sound makes the noise of a bottle clinking rather than whatever it actually was. I find it funny that you find a box of bullets a lot of the time and it registers a one bullet gain. Sometimes when aiming at someone the camera will decide it's time to change your direction and you'll waste ammo. This especially sucks since most of the time when you shoot someone directly in the head it completely misses them anyway. Remember to take a second or two between shots or you'll just be wasting bullets.
Later on it seems as though the sniper rifle suddenly gets less accurate and since I've upgraded the reload speed it actually takes longer than it did to begin with. A lot of enemies can't be killed, of course you don't know this until you've wasted all your ammo and you're forced to run to the next save point. No crouching while aiming or shooting! There are narrow holes in walls sometimes that makes your guy look like a mime sliding up against imaginary glass. He takes no curve to the wall and keeps looking back and forth brainlessly. Same goes for traps- it looks like he's casting some sort of voodoo magic about three feet away from what he's disarming and suddenly it's done. Kinda like a Sim working on something or finishing his plate. You can almost imagine this guy gleefully talking gibberish and gaining a confidence skill point on a stat bar.
You'll see enemies far away looking directly towards you as you stand out in the open and yet they won't see you. At one point a truck pulls up with no driver and a Payday-mask guy using a heavy machine gun on the back that shoots you from a mile away. When you finally get to it and use it, it only harms whoever stands five feet in front of you. Sneak kills don't work most of the time, even while your foe is noticeably stumbling around with their hands over their face after being hit in the face with a bottle. A lot of the time the bottle will just pass right through them after throwing a direct hit. If you get a health 'syringe' for full health, you'll be punished for using it and spend ten seconds getting shot back down to the same amount of health or less because your character is uncontrollably stumbling around. The city starts falling to pieces but rest assured, you already know you can't fall off of cliffs or anything like that so just run ahead and watch everything fall apart around you without fear. Chapter 14 there's some sort of creature growing throughout the building, you know, like that level on Resident Evil 2 but more blocky, like Run Like Hell.
And where am I keeping this knife of mine? (or what I like to call, my "cut scene knife".) I'm completely out of ammo but I'm going to use my fists instead. And I'd better upgrade my matches, I couldn't possibly hold another one.. Oh! A harpoon! *Yoink*.
I walked into this one unaware it was about zombies, I was thinking "evil" like "demons" or ghosts, not that same worn-out zombie concept that hasn't been interesting since Night of the Living Dead. Seriously, somehow a decomposing body has super-human strength and can run fast? Again? Has no one ever heard of rigor mortis? You know, 3-4 hours after death? That's what made Night of the Living Dead exciting, the zombies were slow but they were after you. They didn't set little traps and fires, shoot guns and take prisoners. They came right for you from the shadows. And what's the deal with all this octopus face bs? And zombies wearing masks like in Payday? Kinda hard to find it frightening considering it just looks ridiculous. The sounds are annoying, basically the same grunts and groans on repeat the whole time. Actually, some of the zombie groans are taken directly from Resident Evil 2 and reused here. The game as a whole is typical and pointless. Another thing, you install the game, around 7 gbs or so and you would think the disc would stop spinning- the XBox 360 has one of the loudest drives, I swear. If this game were even worth playing for hours on end I know this is one thing that would ruin it for me. About the only 'pro' to this game is the fact your can skip cut scenes. If still interested, I would recommend just waiting until it's down to about $20 which probably won't be too far off in the future. Actually, I would borrow it off of someone who got conned into buying it because there is honestly no replay value here. I keep picturing someone smiling while opening the shrink wrap then opening the case, cracking the disc in half and tossing it all in the trash. You might as well. I've had more fun at the doctor's office. | video-games_xbox |
ADDICTIVE space-combat simulator action. I wasn't expecting too much on this one, given not many games approach sci-fi space combat in a realistic manner.
I was extremely surprised that this game exceeded my expectations in every particular. More to the point, this is about the first space combat game that uses principles of naval warfare in realistic fashion - a surprise and delight all the same.
The story has been covered in other reviews - I'll skip on that for now, except saying that it would have been nice for the story to be longer. Coming from an older 360 game, no big deal; this was one of the first releases, and the dev team probably didn't have a lot of time to flesh it out.
The combat is the major selling point. Your fighter, in typical super prototype fashion, can carry a rather massive arsenal and enough ammo to put a serious dent in an entire enemy fleet. This is, surprisingly enough, a very good thing - you will need that much ammo, and you will need to RTB for reloads and repairs frequently enough. Trust me on that if nothing else. You will have over 300 warships to slag in the course of a single run through on a game, and if you scrap half of those, you are doing good.
Of course, being a fighter in a game about fighter aces, you will have more time doing fighter-on-fighter engagements than you will be doing fighter-on-ship. This is where Sylpheed really shines in the realism department. In proper simulacrum of combat at astronomical ranges in space, very often you will not see your enemies before you shoot them down. Your radar is your friend; learn to use it properly, and you will prosper, young ace. Another thing that is properly realistic is your arsenal mixes energy, ballistic, and most helpfully, missile weapons. Chasing down enemy fighters and gunning them into salvage is possible, and in some cases is your best bet, but when doing crowd control against masses of fighters your missiles will be your go-to solution for clearing the unfriendly skies.
Replay value is extensive. It is effectively impossible to unlock all the arsenal in the game with one pass, or two, or even three. Thankfully, your unlocked weapons stay with you, allowing you to rack up higher scores on your second and subsequent passes. If you want to see the glorious heavy-hitter weapons, you will have to work the game over a few times to score the necessary points, but it will be worth it. And, if you are a compl33tionist, the tour-de-force challenge of the game is to sink 1 gigaton of enemy forces - yes, you read that right, 1 billion tons of bandits need to fall under your guns. Given that your average pass through the game will net you roughly 80-100 megatons of sunk battleships, you'll be at it for a while. On the plus side, it does count enemy fighters in your kill tonnage, so every little bit helps.
If you want a good immersion in futuristic space combat done as an extension of modern-day warfare principles, this one is a keeper. And, at around 4 hours a playthrough, with plenty to unlock on another round, you'll want to play it several times. | video-games_xbox |
Turtle Beach's spiritual successor to the X12's have arrived with the help of the Asguardian God himself. Hello, everyone, this is D-Day, here, bringing you a review of the Turtle Beach Marvel Seven. With that, let's get started.
Introduction:
The Turtle Beach X12, a headset regarded by many to be the pinnacle of Turtle Beach's wired gaming audio systems. Ever since then, however, Turtle Beach couldn't find a way to recapture the magic the X12 had. Their latest model in the XP Seven had the audio side down, but the longevity was gone. Turtle Beach took those criticisms to heart, teamed up with Marvel, and brought the Marvel Seven, a headset that uses the XP Seven build, but comes with a Dolby Stereo mixamp. Even with that said, how well does Turtle Beach improve, and, for $149.99, can it even match the spiritual success of the X12? Read on to find out!
Design/Appearance:
Upon unpacking the box, I was very impressed with the way Turtle Beach had packed their headset this time around: much neater and more streamlined. After further revealing the contents, we get a Marvel themed headset, two Thor speaker tags, two marvel tags, an inline amp, and other accessories you will need. Simply put, it is one of the best offerings Turtle Beach has done so far, harkening back to the X12 days. All cords are well strong, and the Marvel Seven is well built, albeit for this price, I wish there would have been more metal components. Apart from that, the Marvel Seven is easily geared for the Marvel fans, and Thor's speaker plates drive this cosmetic home. The inline amp is also streamlined: A much better cry than the nightmarish ACU Turtle Beach had.
So, the Seven can easily deliver on the looks and retain the simplicity of its successor. However, build is something Turtle Beach has struggled with wired headphones. How does the build hold? Read on to find out!
Build Quality:
One week: That's the expectancy I have had with many of Turtle Beach's wired products after the X12. I also have had this headset for one week as well. What do I think? I think that Turtle Beach FINALLY learned their lesson. I have had ZERO problems with this wired offering from Turtle Beach, nor did I find any problems with the inline amp either. This is phenomenal, to say the least. The whole "Left-Turtle" issue that Turtle Beach has had with other headphones? Throw that notion out of the park with the Marvel. Those days of shipping back your headset are GONE! Turtle Beach has hit this one out of the park, as it lives up to its predecessor in the X12. This headset does have the profile of the build-prone XP Seven, but is everything the XP Seven wasn't: A nice piece of audio gear that can last you months or even years.
Everything that sucked about other Turtle Beach wired headphones, especially the XP Seven, doesn't on the Marvel Seven. Turtle Beach must have heard the complaints of the XP Seven and made it a point to add durability to make Marvel and the Asguardian God himself happy, along with the fans. What about comfort? Let's continue on to that.
Comfort:
For comfort, while the inline amp is simple to use, the Marvel is good. While the neoprene mesh earpads are great, the clamping force is not. This thing is like vice-grips! They hurt that much, and it really is too bad, for the breathable ear-cups would make me wear these for hours on end. Thankfully though, if you do wear them enough, the clamping force does go away. The amp, as stated before, is simple, and that's what you want out of such a high, expensive device. All the volume roller's have good enough tension, and they are easy to use.
In the end, the inline amp was great, but while the comfort of the Seven was good, it's not what I have experienced with the X12 due to it's heavy clamping force. Again, let it wear down for improved comfort, but you will have to weather the pinch on your head. How well are the Marvel's features? Read on to find out!
Features:
All right. Now time for the meat 'n potatoes of this. To get this out of the way: no. This isn't much different from the ACU. I mean MUCH though. There are volume rulers for your mobile, treble, bass, and chat. There is also a switch to change your mobile settings from talk or music. While I am happy that these aren't touch-sensitive, I am disappointed that you cannot tell how much volume there is upon each setting. Apart from that though, not much else. No Dolby Digital 5.1, which is a MAJOR disappointment at this price, but there is one good catch. You can use the Marvel Seven as normal headphones and to plug in to a mixamp, like Astro, but that is asking for a bite out of your wallet. You can also use these as mobile headphones on the go, and rest assured, just about every type of device can be powered by it. Although no other headphone in its price range, sans the Spectre, uses these features, there is just one problem: the PX22 does, and that headphone costs much less. Sure, you cannot remove the microphone from the PX22, but the inline amp is the EXACT SAME THING. I kid you not, they are virtually identical, minus there color palette.
Well, the Marvel Seven has great features, but the price you are paying for them is too much. It's cousin, the PX22, has the EXACT same features, and that headset is $70-80! Can the performance help? Find out!
Performance:
The Marvel Seven performed up to its price tag. While I am still disappointed that there is no DD 5.1, the Pro Logic IIx did work well enough to create a good gaming experience, so much so that I felt like I was almost experiencing borderline DD 5.1. In games like Uncharted 2, dialogue, explosions, and gunshots were all defined and clear. The mobile chat/music was For other games like Black Ops 2, footsteps were good to discern, but that lack of DD 5.1 made it feel a bit awkward. It's not that the Marvel doesn't do Pro Logic IIx terrible, it is just that, without those other 3 channels of audio, you get a "left or right" direction. Again, not too hard, but won't be easy. For music, the Marvel was really good, much to my surprise. Low end could use more definition, but mids and highs were great. Disturbed's "Ten Thousand Fists" sounded awesome, with the Marvel easily handling the distortion and mixing of various instruments. Mozart's Requiem, however, sounds awesome. These headphones aren't analytical like the Sennheiser HD 595's, but using these can be a good alternative. Trumpet cues, tympani beats, and vocals could be heard very well. If you do get the Astro Mixamp, the Marvel sounds phenomenal. Not as great as the MMX, but slightly better than the Astro A40. Everything got kicked up a notch, and games like Battlefield 3 showcase this with the Sevens easily handling high intensive sections of matches without blending in to the overall sound mix too much. While the driver size doesn't matter, the distortion between the two is this: The Marvel Seven is better, but not by much. Bass wise, again, I wish that the Marvel Seven had I bit more decay, but that is okay since the sound-stage was very pleasing to, even for closed back headphones, which usually have problems due to the compression of audio going into your ears. For the inline amp, it performed flawlessly with no hitches. Not one time did I receive any static or distortion when using the call back feature. Turning up the treble and bass worked wonders, as clarity for those spectrum got even more so great. Clarity wise, the Marvel Seven does very well. I could easily pick off enemy footsteps in Black Ops II, and could hear dialogue in heavy intensive movie sections like 300.
Overall, very pleased with the Marvel Seven. The sound sings better swan songs than the X12, and almost as good as the A40. With that done, time for the verdict!
Design/Appearance: 5/5
Build Quality: 5/5
Comfort: 3.5/5
Features: 3/5
Performance: 4/5
Total: 20.5/25
The Marvel Seven: A love letter to Marvel Fans. Built for the fans, this headset encompass everything that Thor himself would be proud of: A piece of gaming audio that can handle many situations well without a hitch and can easily go up against its many foes. If you are a die-hard Marvel fan, and you need Marvel paraphernalia, the Marvel Seven is an excellent choice. Even if you aren't a Marvel fan, the Marvel Seven is a sweet pair of headphones to have, and it is everything that the XP Seven should have been, but Turtle Beach got it right this time around. | video-games_xbox |
SMURFtastic! SMURFtabulous! Smurf 2 Is Fun and Challenging. The X-Box version of Smurf 2 is surprisingly more detailed and challenging than other film adaptions that were made into video games. The details are incredible and the storyline follows that of the film fairly closely. (Although it would have been nice to see Neal Patrick Harris involved injecting his brand of humor - with his real self in this game. Probably too much money to ask him to do it.) However all the other cast came back to recreate their Smurf alter egos.
You start out in Smurfland and in the Smurfvillage where you get to pick from five starting characters. As you progress in the game you unlock many characters and at the start of each section you can always choose anyone you want. If there are two players you both can be the same Smurf. Fun! And, it looks like there are many characters from the long history of Smurfs to eventually choose from. All in all you have to save Smurfette and conquer Gargamel.
Each Smurf has his or her own special ability. Each area you adventure into has certain obsticles that only certain Smurfs can deal with. Catching Smurfberries is your goals as well as avoiding all the creatures, leaves, flora and obsticles that will try and stop along the way. You also collect coins and abilities that help unlock the many characters in the game.
Did I mention that Gargamel is always try to stop you as well as his not so friendly cat Azreal often getting in your way. The levels are challenging and the difficulty is fun and increase as you excel in you r goal of getting through each level.
As a Smurf, you can float, fly, jump, pound, smash, run or many other traits depending on who you are. Bottom line is you need all the Smurfs and their abilities to get through all the levels. Definitely geared for the kids but it has some challenging adult's twists too!
The music is fun and appropriate for the scenes and the graphics are sharp and crisp. There are also a few hidden `Easter Eggs' if you can find them. Overall it's a fun game to play with two people, but even on your own and can open a lot! You can find Smurf 2, XBOX format, on Amazon.com. It's Smurftastic! | video-games_xbox |
If fire emblem was insano-difficult, and cheated. First and foremost, i want to go on record saying im no griefer; i don't arbitrarily assign bad scores.
I really wanted to like xcom, since its a tactical rpg, but i will go into depth some of its major problems
Graphics:
Pretty good, nothing outstanding, but the cut scenes were really nice and made you feel like you were in some kind of alien flick.
Story:
Not too hamfisted, you get to command a global responce force against the alien threat. I did not get to beat it sadly due to the SHEER difficult (more later). Your troops are fully customizable but otherwise you get no interaction with them off the battle field. fair variety of enemies, though you'll see more variety (and hate it) as the story progresses.
So, why the 2 stars?
TOO. DIFFICULT. Even after dropping to the easiest setting, i still was unable to beat the game.
Now, i (usually) like difficulty. Challange is a (usually) good thing! But the game outright cheats.
See, when you fire upon a foe the heads up display grants you a percentage to hit, based on core weapon stats, how tactically positioned your troop is in relation to the target, perks and mods, you know, all that RPG goodness you'd like!
Well..it means about jack squat, the game lets you hit when it feels likes. 25% or 100% chance to hit all have the same effect. Im no dummy, i stick to cover, don't cluster my guys, move to more advantageous positions but i've lost /countless/ units to these shinanigans.
Oh, and remember how i said you'd grow to hate enemy variety? Well, when you start out you fight sectoids which have about 3-4 health. Not to bad right? Well, *spoilers* you eventually encounter far worse enemies that have 8+ health (highest ive seen was 15).
Naturally i assume its my fault and im doing something wrong, but no. Upgrade your weapons, add new gear, research new techs all you want it won't do an ounce of good when you CANNOT land a shot at a critical time. Like when of those 8+ health enemies start turning people into zombies and one-hit-killing your team.
And then the panic, which usually results in friendly fire.
As i said, i really wanted to like this game, i love the concept of one-life, balls to the wall high stakes tactical RPG, fending off the xeno hordes by researching new weapons, vehicles, and gear but at its core lies a series issue with the gameplay.
Of note, there are cheat codes to unlock "super soldiers" with 100 hp, but wouldnt you like to play a game where you didn't have to cheat in order to win? | video-games_xbox |
Halo 3: A. After loving the original Halo, and being somewhat disappointed with Halo 2, I did not know what to expect with Halo 3. I still, being a fan of the series decided that this game would be on my must have list regardless. I wasn't "dying" for the game to come out and in fact I actually missed the release date and ended up picking it up the day afterwards. After playing the game for a while I must say that I am very impressed with the game overall.
First things first, if you get the Limited Edition, then know that you run a HIGH chance of having damaged game CD's due to the poor case design. Luckily in my case, the only CD that was damaged was the "Essentials CD", but still with me paying $70 for a game I would have liked to have both CD's in new condition. In any case Microsoft realized the issue and decided to replace all damaged Halo 3 CD's free of charge for the next few months.
With that out of the way let's get to the actual game.
When I first started playing the game, I thought it was going to be another disappointment like Halo 2 was, and ended up finding another great game, Bio Shock more fun to play. However after progressing further in the game, I am finding Halo 3 to be nearly as fun as the original. One reason of this is because of the new weapons, and vehicles. In addition you, Master Chief, no longer have to be driving a vehicle (with the exception of the scorpion). So if you want to man the turret on the warthog, while your computer controlled teammates drive, you can do it, same hold true for most every vehicle in the game. This makes things very interesting and fun. One of my favorite new vehicles in the game is the Hornet. My first air battle with this machine was an absolute blast. I enjoyed flying over beautiful scenery shooting down banshees while two of my squad mates sit outside on jump seats supporting me with fire of their own. I was having such a good time just admiring the scenery, I decided to fly the hornet high in the air and jump out mid flight into the sparkling ocean below. It was a looooong way down and needless to say I died, but boy it sure was fun.
Flying the Hornet allowed me to appreciate the incredible detail of the graphics on this game. In HD, the graphics are stunning. Whether it's walking through the jungles, flying through the air or scaling snow covered mountains, everything looks amazingly real. Aside from the detailed scenery, the characters themselves are also done very well. Characters move, attack and even die realistically. Its things like this that separate the average FPS's from the great ones.
I also am very pleased with the audio. This game boasts true surround sound and if you already haven't then I highly suggest getting an optical sound cable to experience the movie like experience from you're A/V receiver. Many gun sounds have that "punch" that I was missing in Halo 2. The grunts usually are the first ones to die, and for a little comic relief, many times you'll hear them saying things like "He killed my friend", or "How will I go on with him?" In addition to the exceptional in game sound, the soundtrack itself is very well done. Very often, after I finish playing for the night, I often leave the game on the main screen just so I can hear the music on the title screen.
The controls in Halo 3 are still quite intuitive with only a small complaint; in many other FPS games, the reload button is often the X button, but not in Halo 3. In Halo 3, the X button is the "Equipment" button. So whenever you pick up items like auto turrets, bubble shields or radar jammers, if you are not careful you may accidentally use them instead of doing what you really wanted to do. In Halo 3, LB and RB reload the weapon, and I suppose this was done to accommodate dual wielding, which is back in this game. In addition to the two standard grenades from the previous installments, Halo 3 has a couple of more grenades types; one is called the Spike Grenade, and the other...well I'll leave that up to you to find out; it wasn't in the manual so I was quite surprised when I picked one up during campaign mode. In addition to the equipment I already mentioned, there are lots of others.
As good as the single player is I must say that I am quite impressed with the multiplayer mode. If you know me I am not a big fan of playing online, but one night I decided to try my luck at Halo 3 on XBOX Live....and let's just say, I didn't get to bed until 5 in the morning. First off this game runs very smoothly online with no noticeable degradation in the graphics or performance and I haven't once encountered a laggy game. Best of all the game is very playable online, and not the chaotic mindless shoot fest that I experienced with Unreal Tournament. This was my first time playing online in a long time and I even ended up winning a Slayer match. One thing that makes this game playable online is that nearly every weapon either has a weakness or a counter thanks to the additional of the new equipment items. Sure the insanely good players will mop up the floor with people like me, but its still very fun playing just because it just seems fair. Games like Capture the Flag which proves to be nothing but a disaster in Unreal Tournament, is a true pleasure to play in Halo 3. And hey, if this game is good enough to allow ME to enjoy online games, then it must be pretty darn good.
In my opinion Halo 3 does not disappoint one bit. It was a slow starter, but now that I am finally somewhat deep into the game, I must say that I am enjoying this game VERY much. It's a blast to play both in campaign mode and in addition the online play will be sure to keep me playing this game long after I have beaten campaign mode multiple times. Other than the small issue with the controls, I can't find anything else really wrong with this game. On a 10 point scale, I'll give this a 9.7. While Bio Shock (another 5 star game IMO) is definitely more original and just as fun, Halo 3 is the best of the breed when it comes to your "typical" shooter, and the added fun one can have playing it online make it 5 stars in the fun category. This is a great game across the board. | video-games_xbox |
Fun for all skill levels. Topspin is an awesome sports game! I had the original and loved it so much that I decided to upgrade when I got the 360. Its a game that can be played by people of all skill levels and the simplicity of the swing types matched to buttons is something that I love. The "A" button is a safe shot and will always be inside the strips, "B" is the Topspin shot, "Y" is the lob shot and "X" is a slice shot. As you get advanced and used to playing the game, you can add in the Right Trigger button with the above shots to do advanced versions of each.
When You start out the game, you have minimal skills and ranked 200th in the world. Each week of the season you can perform one of two or sometimes three actions.
You always have the option of training. This will provide you with a short drill that changes based on type of training and the level. The task ranges from serving to specific areas of the court to knocking over walls and bowling pens. These can be quite fun in themselves and really don't take a lot of time.
The second action you can take is to participate in a tennis tournament. These include small tournaments up to Grand slam events. There are four levels of tournaments and each one gets progressively harder and more rewarding. Some tournaments require your rank to be above a certain level or for you to go through a qualifying round.
The final action isn't always available but is often very beneficial. I have seen challenges from Top Ranked Players, Fund Raisers and even managed to get invited to the National Team for my country! After completing the fund raising challenge, I had the luxury of having a Tennis school named after me and was rewarded with several silver and gold stars! These are used to increase your skills by first adding bronze, then silver and finally gold stars in increments of 10.
As you compete in tournaments, you'll start to achieve rank and earnings. These will also unlock new coaches, sponsors and clothing that you can take advantage of during the course of your career. Coaches allow different levels of training, sponsors offer you rewards for achieving certain milestones etc.
Multiplayer options include 2 player at the console or 2-4 on xbox live. There are doubles matches, singles matches and several variations on tennis for playing with friends called "party games"
All in all this version of Topspin is as good and even better than the original. My only complaint is with the load times as there tends to be quite a bit of load screens in the game.
I highly recommend this game if your remotely interested in tennis! | video-games_xbox |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.