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Darker Souls (spoiler free. Let me start by saying that DSII is awesome but very hard, duh! If you disliked Dark Souls you most likely won't enjoy Dark Souls II since they are so similar, but if you did enjoy Dark Souls then you know what you're in for. DSII is familiar in a way DS vets will understand (controls, mechanics, UI mostly the same), with enough new material and variation to keep things fresh. The "Black Armore Edition" arrives in an awesome metal case and includes an audio CD of the game's music. You also get a few basic weapons to use in the early game and so far none of them are terribly amazing but at least it's something right?
A few great changes: you can warp from any bonfire to any other bonfire you've already discovered, basic fast-travel is fine and unlocked at the beginning of the game; secondly, DSII holds a solid 30fps at all times even when there are a dozen things happening on screen at once (remember how awful Blighttown was in Dark Souls?); thirdly, DSII has an updated game engine and visually it's an obvious step above DS, the lighting is especially enhanced and really makes for some fun exploring - especially when monsters come sneaking out of the shadows! You're also able to light torches at bonfires now which helps you explore extra dark areas, it's a very cool feature.
Souls `vets will find just as much difficulty as DS offered and new players may find the game a bit strenuous. Players who explore, persist, and learn from their deaths will find great reward in the new challenges DSII offers - especially those players who explore each nook and cranny in the world. The stakes have never been higher in DS, with each death your total life will be reduced, and while a rare human effigy will restore this, it makes each venture into the unknown a tad overwhelming (which is kinda the point, amirite?).
Multiplayer is monstrously improved this time, connections are smoother, and joining another player is much easier - the best part, if you summon another player you get an immediate response whether or not it was a success, thank goodness! It wasn't as hard for me to buddy up with a phantom in the first few hours and we had a jolly good time breaking faces. There are new covenants this time around, each offers a different take on multiplayer, but I won't spoil those here.
New-Game+ is here as always but now you can choose when to begin, very nice if you're holding off for late game PvP. Over all it's a really dang fun and a worthy successor to Dark Souls, definitely a must buy for me.
One thing is for certain though, DSII is not watered down.
Prepare to die, over and over and over again. | video-games_xbox |
One of my top 5 games of all time. This is a masterpiece. The Good: Rapture is a beautiful underwater city with amazing graphics and ambiance, wonderfully crafted enemies and characters, very deep and intriguing story, plasmids really mix up gameplay, decent length
The Bad: No multiplayer what-so-ever, not enough enemies and characters, even though there's a lot there for you it leaves you wishing there was more
BioShock is awesome! Buy it!...that is probably all you need for a review...but that's not a review really. Anyways, if you don't know the plot of BioShock then you've been living under a rock for the past few months. You play a nobody who crashes in a plane and discovers Rapture...a failed underwater city who's founder, Andrew Ryan, turns crazy and all the people of Rapture have gone nuts. They goes nuts due to the plasmids they use to gain powers. Also, the ADAM that can make you turn into anything you want is very valuable and is the key to Rapture. The Little Sisters gather the ADAM and the Bid Daddies protect them. The story is full of plot twists and secrets. It's probably one of the most original stories in any game period. The gameplay is like the average shooter...if you want it to be or can it can be a genetically enhanced one. That's the beauty of BioShock. It can be anything you want it to be...boring, fun, stupid, lame it's all up to you. The graphics in BioShock are the best in any game we've seen so far and the voice acting is superb and amazing. The game is very surreal and it just sucks you in. The big thing here is the gene splicing and all the plasmids. There are so many of them and you can do whatever you want with them. You can shoot fire from your hands or freeze your enemy with an ice blast. There are others as well that let you gain more health or hack turrets and safes better and faster. There is just so much detail here it's nuts. You can use a camera and research your enemies to learn their weakness and gain new plasmids and tonics. The only disappointment was the lack of any multiplayer what-so-ever. All you can do it play this game to experience the true beauty of it all. BioShock is one of best, and rare, games in years and I assure you will have more fun with BioShock than Halo 3 or Metroid. | video-games_xbox |
Sometimes great value comes with great defects. The other reviews are true-- This is a headset with qualty and compatibility beyond equally priced competitors. In the wireless headset category, HUHD is directly competing with the PS3/PS4/sony 1st party wireless headset, which I do not own. I think the sound quality is great, the only drawback being the sound periodically cuts out. Also occasionally deliver a static *POP* out of nowhere that will bring pain to your eardrums and makes me question my purchase.
I obviously feel very ambivalent about these headphones because when they work, they are wonderful... 7.1 sound that is very easy to set up and to switch back and forth with home sound systems. The ear muffs feel awesome--they are soft to the ear and light enough not to be uncomfortable at all. I often forget I have them on because the high quality sound is so immersive. The volume for game and chat is separate and easy to adjust on the fly with thumb-adjustable dials on the rear of the right earmuff.
I found the mic was better than other reviewers have stated in my use on the PS4. The exception that comes to mind is that the PS4 and PS3 allow you to control mic volume separately from headset hardware.
I am going to return this headset only because of the sound cut out issues and the LOUD POP sound that I am afraid will hurt my ability to hear if I continue using these. Even with that said, I love everything else about this set and if there was any way to fix this problem, I would gladly work with the distributor and change my review.
UPDATE: I as contacted by HUHD to resolve the issues with this and they sent me another pair, which they called the "New" version. The headphones were exactly the same, and retained that painful, unpredictable pop issue. But... that said, I am still using them, the price v. quality is too hard to beat. Seems like when they are fuly charged the issues happen less frequently, so always charge them when not in use! | video-games_xbox |
Love this Headset! UPDATED. "Headset is comfortable for hours of play, but can eventually leave your head sore in some spots for extreme periods of gaming (+4 hours). Sound quality is great for games, decent for music. These don't entirely block out exterior sound but do create a nice shell from the outside world, allowing you to focus on your game. Using this on my Xbox one, I have noticed some issues with mic functionality when using the additional plugin that comes with the headset (the audio controller). If the audio controller is plugged in while I am also using my plug and play cable (charging the controller through the console while also playing with said controller) the Xbox will recognize that my mic is plugged in, but will not pickup any audio through the microphone. I simply have to unplug the audio controller when using the plug and play cable, no biggie since the Xbox controllers already have a built in 3.5mm port. Otherwise the audio controller works entirely; I can control chat and game volumes, master volume, and mute the mic. There is also a bass boost button with two 'levels', but I can't really tell a difference when gaming or even listening to music. The microphone can be easily removed from the headset, making them a hybrid headset since they can be used as standard music headphones or simply gaming headphones without the mic in your face. If you're playing alone you can take the mic out; if you're partied up with friends you can just plug the mic back in. Great little feature that I feel goes a very long way in securing the value and lifespan of this product. Overall a solid purchase, these feel like they will last for years."
UPDATE:
I have noticed some static in the headset when the microphone is plugged in, but if I remove the mic the static goes away with it. I am not sure why this is, maybe from plugging in and taking out the mic so often it starts to screw up the connection, though I don't see why this would be the issue. The static can be quite annoying, especially if I'm not talking to anyone over the mic to distract me from the static.
I have also recently updated to an iPhone 7, which requires a dongle in order to use ordinary headphones on it. The headset is basically just unusable when plugged into the required dongle (a dongle in this case is the adapter cable which is female 3.5mm auxiliary on one end and lighting cable on other). This is not the main function or even an intended function of the headset so I will not mark it down for that, I only brought it up because it was mentioned in my original review how it worked great for music as well as gaming. However, the static while gaming on my Xbox one is directly impacting the main function of this product, so I have retracted a star from my review. Otherwise it is still a solid headset that works very well. For clarity, my headset is already over a year old. | video-games_xbox |
Emphasis on "Destruction. I didn't realize the Hulk was a supervillain. Within the first half hour of play, I had caused enough death and destruction to make Lex Luthor cringe. But it was undeniably fun.
The game looks great in 720p HD, with sharp detail and brilliant color in its comic book inspired environment. Sound design is perfect, too, with grade A voice acting and stunning destructive sound effects. While it's clearly a cartoonish world, the landscape of Ultimate Destruction is just as immersive as any of the best open-world games.
The amount of environmental interactivity is amazing, with vehicles, bridges, and even skyscrapers placed under the Hulk's big green thumb. Certainly my favorite parts of the game were the epic boss battles, which more than made up for some of the mediocre story missions. While they appear to be massively overpowered behemoths at first, each can be surmounted with careful observation and prudent attacks. The boss battles are the kind of white-knuckled sweaty-palmed experience that action gamers dream of.
The only things preventing Ultimate Destruction from being pure joy are the spastic camera and excessive numbers of enemies allowed to attack the Hulk simultanteously. Picture a wildy swinging camera while ten helicopters barrage Hulk with disabling missile attacks, and you can imagine what a brutal mess some of the missions are.
The quality and quantity of attack moves is stunning. I enjoyed trying random button combinations just to see the spectacular animations, even though many attacks require such complicated button combos that they're useless in battle. I would have preferred a smaller, simpler, easier to master move set, but I know many action gamers enjoy the Street Fighter control philosophy.
I really appreciated my time spent with the Hulk, even though I'm not a comic book fan. I'm sure a dedicated Hulkophile will love the game all the more. | video-games_xbox |
The Best of all the Tales. It's really a shame that game reviewers have started reviewing Japanese RPGs from the perspective of mainstream American gamers recently. Let's face it, most Americans don't like anime, and they don't like RPGs, so trying to tell them whether they'll like a game like this is pointless.
However, to any Japanese RPG fan who might actually play this game, it is unquestionably a 9 or a 10. It is the best Tales game ever, better even than the early Tales games from SNES and PS1, and better than Tales of Symphonia. It's miles beyond Tales of the Abyss for the PS2, which despite having decent gameplay, had characters that were the worst mutations of anime, who got really annoying and made parts of the game a chore. Tales of Vesperia, by contrast, focuses on the simple humanity of its characters, and always keeps their individual thoughts and desires in view. Not only does it stay true to its characters, following their adventures with humor and empathy, it's also conceptually the best cast any Tales game has had, for so many reasons.
The game is full of characters who, despite being based off of obvious anime cliches (like the individualistic hero dressed in dark clothing, Yuri) really jump off the screen. Even the 99% pink princess is charming because she's realistically naive but also well educated, and it doesn't hurt that she isn't voiced by an annoyingly high voiced little twit. The best of these are characters you'll remember after you play the game, like the characters of a good fantasy novel.
The world of Vesperia is actually rather innovative as well, I thought, though I haven't seen this mentioned in any of the press reviews, all of which spend a good portion of their time stating the bloody obvious: (WARNING: this is a Japanese RPG, which means it is from Japan and is an RPG, and so on).
What makes the game world feel unique is that, instead of being a normally peaceful, ordered place that is threatened by some mad Machiavellian villain or organization*, Tales of Vesperia begins in a world in which humans are a minority, struggling for survival. Early in the game you are shown that the only reason humans are able to survive at all in the harsh environment is because of magical force fields created by artifacts called Blastia barriers that protect the cities of the world, barriers that people rarely leave (anyone else smell a recipe for adventure?)
I'll stop there, because I don't want to spoil any of the game. Let me just say in conclusion, to anyone who's still undecided about this game: I have never played a Tales game that I would rank anywhere near my favorite JRPGs. My favorite JRPGs are Final Fantasy 4, 6, and 7, Suikoden 2 and 5, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, the original Final Fantasy Tactics, Lunar, and the Grandia 3 combat system (though the game itself sucked after 5 hours). I've played a lot of JRPGs (too many...) and the above are the only ones that I've ever replayed. Tales of Vesperia is actually worth replaying. Every aspect of it is enjoyable, from the fast action combat to the beautiful graphics to the great characters and surprisingly great voice acting (no whiny main characters here!).
What's sad about the reviews this game has received is that you can tell most of the reviewers really enjoyed the game, and had almost nothing negative to say - they just felt that scoring it too high numerically would get them in trouble with the mainstream audience, and they may be right (I'm sure they know about that better than I do). What's a real shame is that as a result of all this, a game that is clearly the stand out in a long series (the Tales games have been around for years) is receiving a lower metascore than most of the previous games in the series! For example, Tales of Symphonia: 85. Tales of the Abyss: 80. Tales of Vesperia: 79. Sure, that's not a huge difference, but this is a game that should be scoring five points above Symphonia, not six points below! One last thing I didn't see mentioned in ANY of the reviews - and I obsessively read these things - the game has four player co-op! So if you like playing RPGs with a girlfriend, wife, sibling, or just some good friends, consider this review score an 11. Going from exploration to cut scenes to combat in this game is like going from a candy store to a game store to glorious paintball. Two thumbs up and all that, what what.
* (For those who play lots of JRPGs, this setting should sound familiar)
Pros:
Pretty much everything. See above. To me, the story is the most important part of an RPG, and the characters and how they interact with their world is the most important part of a good story. But the combat and graphics are also incredibly polished and probably better than any other RPG on the system.
Cons:
Every fourth cutscene or so isn't voiced, but because all the inter-party banter is voiced, the game still has more voice acting than a Final Fantasy game, and probably better voice acting too (and I love the Final Fantasy games).
I've heard the boss battles can be too easy if you control the mage character Rita for most of the game.
Oddly enough, the worst voice actor out of the main characters in the game seems to be the dog, Repede, whose bark lacks... um... conviction. That dog needs to stop smoking (and walking around with knives in his mouth). | video-games_xbox |
Fun way to Fitness. I have always been a little skeptical of video game fitness stuff. I have a wii and never wanted to spend the money on the fit since it didn't really seem that great to me (No judgement on the Fit as I have never tried it). I saw this game and that it was on lightning deal during xmas so thought I will try it out. I am actually glad I did. I really like it. I like that it has some stuff like the smash the wall one and the stepping on the right color that you can do battling someone else. I think it has a good variety of things to do so your not stuck doing the same repetitive thing like a fitness video. I like the boot camp a lot. The guy makes me laugh yelling at me but I still find it encouraging. I like that bombs go off and barrels are thrown (it is all really ridiculous, but I still find it so fun). My mom HATES video games but she actually did this with me and liked it as well. Now I have to teach her how to run it so she can do it when I am not there.
Now to a few things I do not like. I wish that you could do two player on all the things as my mom and I like to do them together. If you have a big enough space this isn't as much of a problem as the second person can just mimic what is going on. It would be nice though if they had that feedback which encourages you to do it correctly and keep going (to get higher scores!). I also wish some of the programs went on for longer periods of time. It gets annoying when you work out for 5 min then have to spend another 2-3 min to load, get back to the menu, select something else, and then for it to load. I wish there was a way to choose what you wanted to do and in what order and it just gave you 30 seconds in between as a pause period and cycled through them automatically.
This is not a perfect game (face it nothing ever is, right!) but it gives you a fun option to working out. Even though I wish some slight changes overall the game is awesome. Well worth the money. I would definitely suggest to anyone who asks. | video-games_xbox |
Very Good on Xbox 360, Great on PC. Dragon Age: Origins is a very fun and immersive game. It is not perfect but it is as close to it as you can get in today's dilluted game market for the masses. I completed the game on Xbox 360 (a total playthrough of 69 hours without doing all the side quests but most of them# and then went back from 3/4's of the game through on a saved game to see a different ending. That should tell you the amount of content and entertainment for your buck that you get. And that doesn't even count different origin starting points. The games' strenghs are it's engaging main stories (in plural b/c the main story is very simple but gathering your armies are actually separate stories), openness to decisions and varying consequences, engagement with companions (they vary but most are well done and belieavable within the world) and overall mood. The weaknesses of the game are the graphics (they are not up to current standards), some lagging in cut scene transition on Xbox 360, and awkward controls during combat. I recently also bought the PC version b/c I heard that these weaknesses were diminished and I am in my first playthrough with the PC version (different origin of course and making different decisions, so still very fresh). I must say that the PC version (if you have the PC to manage it) eliminates the weaknesses mentioned: in PC version you get an overhead camera that can make battle planning and controls much easier and intuitive; graphics are much better and my computer has had absolutely no lagging [AMD Athlon X2 7580 @ 3.3Ghz, 4GB DDR2 ram, Saphire Radeon HD 4870 with 1GB RAM]. So my final veredict is that this game is VERY GOOD on the Xbox 360 and EXCELLENT on the PC. I recommend getting the PC version if you have a good PC and it suits your playing style. However, if you are strictly a console gamer by choice or circumstance (old PC etc.) the Xbox version I think is still a must have. The depth, entertainment and fun to be had with the game is well worth the money and time you will invest in it (and I assure you, you will invest tons of time b/c it is very addictive). This is a unique experience for the Xbox 360 offerings if you are an RPG fan, and a fresh and recent addition to a PC catalogue that follows the tradition of Baldur's Gate I and II (Better than Dragon's Age in terms of story, depth and play) and Neverwinter Nights I and II (which I consider not as good as Dragon Age in some respect and better in others). | video-games_xbox |
Too many glitches to be worth buying. There is no denying that Rainbow Six is a gorgeous game and I enjoyed playing it. However, it suffers from a number of programming choices and problems that may drive you crazy.
First, there are some basic things about the game that are just odd. Such as you can not run. You can walk, or walk in a crouch, but you can not run. Also, you can not climb anything other than a ladder. Boxes are off limit as are cars. Also, you can not crawl on your belly. And you can not jump. Anyone who has played Metal Gear Solid or SOCOM or Gears of War will miss some of these things. Along those same lines, there are odd inconsistencies about what you can and can not shoot. Some things like TV screens on the wall you can shoot and bottles will blow up. Other things like plants on a desk -- not so much. It is as if they made some things shootable objects and then ran out of time and just painted the rest in.
Second, despite the fact that you are a highly trained military expert carrying enough weaponry to kill a small army, you can not push, move or blow up a tiny wooden saw horse. It is clear that they are there to keep you "on the map" but it really is strange to come to a 5 pound piece of wood and not be able to move or shoot it or blow it up.
Third, and most important, there are several places in the game where you are likely to get stuck and not be able to continue until you search the internet and find out how to deal with a glitch. For example, when you are on the Dam and trying to have your guys program a computer you will get a failure message over and over until you read about how you have to go to a certain spot and kill a bunch of guys in a particular way. Also, in the second to last scene of the game you will try to kill the boss over and over and it will tell you that you failed because of some reason you could not possibly know about in advance.
For all of these reasons, mostly the third, I recommend that you rent this game and not buy it. When the game works well it is a lot of fun. | video-games_xbox |
Personal Opinionated Review. Anger Inducing Game. HeadLine Fact:
90-95% of the population does not know what is good and what is bad, indeed fitting us into the saying "pearl to a swine". Most of us are content with stuff that is unoriginal, people don't see the higher possibility, but only see what's in front of them. That is why the world is blind and that is why creativity has died. The proof is in the constant remakes and reuse of old movies, games, etc. We continuously fall into that hole of mediocreness. Be different, demand better! This is a message brought to you by me, nonrelated to this game.
GAME REVIEW
I've been playing this game for about a week or so. I have played Gran Turismo 2 and 3 before and started Forza for the first time. This is an opinionated review about how I feel about this game.
This game is well made, the graphics is nice and all, however my experience with this game has not been very pleasant. It's not that there's anything wrong with the disc or my system. I was expecting to enjoy this game a lot, however, I found it to be one of the most unpleasant, stressful, anger inducing game ever. I like racing simulation games, but either this game is too real or not real enough, I have found the gameplay to be ridiculously frustrating.
I'll elaborate and also add some flaws:
1. Saving. This thing has autosave, once you buy a car or buy certain upgrades, you're stuck with it if you let the autosave kick in. You cannot buy a car and upgrade it and test it out and see if it's good first and if it's not reset your game and try another car. Once you buy the car, you're stuck with it and the consequences of buying it.
2. Tuning is just crazy in this game, but I've seen it in GT and such, but you have to be quite knowledgable in tuning to get it right. A lot of time is wasted, imo, in just sitting around and tuning it. Tuning is hard because sometimes you can't tell the difference or it's simply because you're driving bad in one race and good the next. I find it hard, it's probably just me.
3. I spent 3 hours or so trying to beat the first track, partially because I didn't know about the tuning option because I was new at the time. However, after tuning I would expect that turning would be a lot easier. However, this was not the case. If a fully upgraded car has problems turning a U or L shaped turn at 50-70 mph, then you got issues. I find myself continuously spinning out of control, tuning doesn't seem to do too much. I suppose this is a personal thing hence this is a personal review. It just might happen to you too. Also, you got to watch out for ur opponents accidently nugging you. One nug means losing control, smashing into the wall, and ruining your race. Resetting is a continuously option you must choose if you play this game.
4. Again with the autosaving issue. Many of the races require a specific class of car, a specific weight requirement, model type, HP limit, etc. That requires you to buy cars and upgrades. However, cars can be expensive and the upgrades maybe even more. I fully upgrade one of my cars (sometimes u should and sometimes you shouldn't fully upgrade base on race requirements) and it costs me about 30-40K give or take. Now, autosave is the issue because you can't actually buy a car, test it out in the race you want, and choose whether to keep it or not. Once you buy a car, you are stuck with it even if you hate it. You can't change your mind. Autosave just makes the game worse, I dislike it very much.
5. You can't sell the cars that you won. So far from what I see it's cars that you win in a tourney or when you reach a certain level (every 5 lvls u get a car). Your max resell is 100cr, which is worthless. So winning cars many times won't help you unless maybe if you plan to use them.
6. Funky physics. What do I mean? When you hit the side wall in a parallel direction, physics would probably have it that the car just slides against the wall instead of bouncing me perpendicular off it. I'm talking about the non-cement type walls. It's like I'm hitting a spring and even springs shouldn't do that. It's like you rub your hand against your table and instead of it going across the table surface, your hand gets bounced upwards away from the table.......
In conclusion
This game is either a love it or really really hate it kind of game. If you know exactly how to tune then you can get the most out of ur drive or else you'll end up like me. There are many people that have succeed without knowing much about tuning, but it is frustrating imo.
I have progressed so little in this game, I have played it and now I no longer want to touch it for at least a few more months. Whether you find this review useful or not is up to you. It doesn't matter to me, it's just my opinion. I also got this game for [...] total. | video-games_xbox |
Listen to the verfied purchases customers only. I've never seen so many bogus and fake reviews in my life and Amazon should remove them so people can get honest takes that people that actually have played and own the game. The E.A. hate train has started again, and it's unwarranted. I've been playing Madden since it was introduced on the Sega Genesis in 1989. Mind you, I've been disappointed with Madden this gen with the exception of Madden 10 which was actually very good. 11 and 12 were actually worse. But now we got Madden 13. It feels and plays great! the new animations and physics engine is pretty tight. It has some weird moments at times, but 90% of the time, it feels very smooth and convincing. Canned animations are definitely a thing of the past. Graphics are amazing. Great life on the sidelines, great weather effects and field degradition and excellent presentation. They actually did away with ESPN, taking a big risk, they went with the guys from CBS. Sims and Nantz are at the helm and do a pretty good job. A few hitches here and there, but we got a very decent presentation. While not endorsed by CBS, it still feels like CBS is doing the presentation stuff. I love the game speed also. I actually prefer to play at a "very slow" game speed and it feels like a real game. The passing feels very organic and sticking in the pocket is key. Throwing on the run again is very risky this year and you can't make the cheese plays like you used to. Online seems veyr stable. I actually played 3 games my first night on launch day and amazingly they booted right up and I had zero lag. People complain so much about online but E.A.'s servers are actually very good compared to the 2K servers which I continue to struggle with on their NBA franchise. As for people not saying Franchise is on the game. Guess again, it's just embedded through Connected Careers and there is tons to do. Go to Connected Careers, choose "Coach" mode, and start your franchise. It's just a different approach. Lordy haters. You can also play as a Legend from the Past like Barry Sanders or Reggie White. Great stuff. So now...I have to say... First play the game before making a review.
Make no mistake. Madden 13 is not a perfect football game, but it's more than likely the best Madden ever made. They listened to the fans and they got a new engine and new physics engine. It's got some issues here and there, but overall you will love it. I highly recommend it for any self righteous Madden fan.
For a good solid review from an unbiased sports game site, Operation Sports has a very honest and straight up review on the game. 8.5 out of 10. I'm agreeing totally, best Madden ever made. Enjoy it for what it is, a great playing football game. If something is missing from last year that annoys you, then that's fine. But for me, I'm all for fixing the engine and making a new game before adding goodies.
[...] | video-games_xbox |
Best since GTA: San Andreas. INTRODUCTION
This is easily the best open world crime game I've played in a long time (and yes, that includes both GTAs 4 and 5). That's because you can really tell the developers put a lot of thought into every aspect of the gameplay itself, as opposed to spending 99% of their time on graphics and map size (ahem). What's cool about it is the graphics are still really good, and the map is satisfactorily big. Cruising through the streets of Hong Kong with some smooth hip hop, classic rock, soothing pop or old school soul on the radio is truly a pleasure both day and night (That's assuming you don't want to just throw on some speed metal or techno and floor it, you can do that too). The streets are particularly beautiful when it rains, and the water is always beckoning you to take a dive or hop in a boat! There are tons of interesting locations to explore, indoors and out. A good selection of vehicles, including motorcycles and boats. No flying, but that's what Just Cause 2 is for! Besides, who would want to leave this place?!
GENERAL GAMEPLAY/MOVEMENT ON FOOT
There isn't a ton of gunplay. There's enough to keep you in practice and spice things up at just the right moments (and they even spiced up the gunplay itself with some really nifty incorporations of bullet-time, borrowed from Max Payne), but the combat is where SD shines brightest. It functions a lot like the combat sequences in Assassin's Creed but to me looks and feels quite a bit better somehow. You can use objects in your immediate surroundings to perform "environmental kills", take a human shield, or even throw a guy in your trunk and drive around! You can learn combo attacks that are actually pretty easy to master, and it doesn't take long before you can take down a whole mob of enemies with ease. But just like everything else, it stays fun. They did a remarkable job in making things challenging but not frustrating. There were a few missions I failed more than once, but none that made me want to give up or shout obscenities. Also borrowed from Assassin's Creed is the parkour. Free-running, jumping over objects, climbing short walls is a delight! You HOLD the button to run instead of tapping it repeatedly like a lunatic as in some other games, and the same button you use to run with is the same button you use to jump with, so there's no switching buttons when you want to climb or jump a short wall quickly. All in all, movement in Sleeping Dogs is quite smooth once you get used to the controls (as you have to do with any game).
GENERAL FEATURES
There are literally countless little features in this game that you can't find in games like GTA. Things like having your favorite vehicle (indeed, ALL your vehicles) accessible in garages all over the map instead of just the one you happened to store it in, and a valet service you can use to have your favorite vehicle delivered to you (He's more dependable than the mechanic in GTA 5). You can save outfits, which makes deciding what to wear next a snap, and the clothes you buy often provide some sort of bonus in the experience points you earn while wearing them. Food/drinks give you temporary boosts in stats like health regeneration and melee damage. It goes on and on. And collectibles? LOTS of 'em! But just like so much else in the game, finding them is neither too easy nor exasperatingly difficult. Plus, you actually WANT to find them because they all unlock different rewards to keep you motivated.
FEATURES (DRIVING-RELATED)
...No... I'm not done talking about the features. The GPS puts arrows on the screen itself so you don't have to "play the mini-map" (keep your eyes glued to the mini-map so you don't miss a turn) like you do in GTA 5. Also unlike GTA 5, Sleeping Dogs gives you two buttons with which to change your radio station instead of just one, and you can adjust the volume of your radio without going into settings. You can change objectives (where your GPS directs you to) with the press of a button so you don't have to pause to look at your map as often. Abilities are like no other in this genre. You can ram enemy vehicles much more effectively, go into slow-motion while shooting at enemies in front of and behind you WHILE DRIVING, and perform action hi-jacks in which you leap from one moving vehicle to the roof of another to steal it.
STORY/MISSIONS
The story is great, really keeps your interest the whole way through. Much more serious than GTA and Saint's Row, though there are pleasant moments to uplift your spirits in the midst of dramatic events. You actually come to care about several characters in the game. And the missions never seem repetitive. Maybe that's because they aren't, or maybe it's just because everything's so much fun you can't get enough of any of it! While similar to other games in this genre in that the mini-games are lacking (with the exception of karaoke, which is surprisingly entertaining when you want a break from all the seriousness), most of the side missions are a blast. Whether you're chasing down a purse thief, racing through checkpoints in the street, or putting the beatdown on a local gang guarding a camera you must then turn around and hack into, you won't be disappointed!
SUMMARY
Point is, you should definitely get this game! That's especially if you like any of the GTA or Saint's Row games and are just in the mood for a change in scenery or mood.
Oh, and in case it matters to ya:
This game contains fairly graphic violence, extensive use of obscenities (though half of them are spoken in Chinese and subtitled in English), no nudity/strip clubs but a few explicit sexual references, references to drugs and alcohol abuse but none that promote it, and the story won't make you torture innocent people by slowly pulling their teeth out with pliers to progress the story like some games that shall remain nameless *cough*GTA 5*cough* | video-games_xbox |
The best console out today, although with some problems. The Xbox One is arguably the best system out there because of its features and in my opinion, its games! I don't like the games from PlayStation. And although Nintendo's are probably the best, the Wii U (my previous favorite system), are just lacking in games. The Xbox One delivers with games, including all kinds from Independent to First and Third Party. My favorite Xbox exclusives are as follows:
Sunset Overdrive (Excellent unique third-person shooter, hilarious and fun to play), Forza series (The Forza series is my favorite racing series because of the rewind feature that allows you to wind back your race when you screw up), Gears of War (Gears of War is available as part of the backwards compatibility, they also have a remastered version of the first Gears of War), And Halo (Halo 5 is actually a really good game, despite Amazon's horrible reviews, people review it badly because there is no split screen! There's more to the game than just split screen! Although it would have been nice if they added it.)
The Xbox is powerful and it features a nice interface newly updated as of November 2015. The backwards compatibility works with xbox 360 games, albeit only about 115 right now. But most of the games run smoothly. The only game I noticed skipping in was Mass effect. This probably has to do with the fact that the xbox 360 games are run through an emulator, not the actual hardware. So, basically the Xbox One is using a OS being run from the main Xbox One OS. It's a new feature so there is bound to be bugs. But most games like Gears of War 3 and Assassins Creed II run better than the originals (most of the time).
The Xbox One games are a big upgrade for any last gen or Wii U fan. I didn't think the difference would be so dramatic, but when I first put in my Forza Horizon 2 disc in my Xbox One, and played it, I was surprised by how real it looked. The world looked so real it was crazy, the people were rendered but still looked like actual people and the game felt better because of the impulse triggers. The triggers made the racing feel like I was in the car and helped me with cornering. It was a much better experience than anything that would be found on a 360.
The features include being able to use multiple hard drives of any type with the Xbox one as long as it's bigger than 300gb and usb 3.0 compatible. This dramatically increases storage space and the games run perfectly fine on it. No lag. There is a playing while downloading feature where you can play a game while it's downloading in supported titles. The interface is fast and has a good guide with all your friends and party and snap within reach.
Speaking of snap. you can snap a supported app to the side of the screen and view both at the same time. This is very much useful when playing a racing game, and you don't want to hear the racing soundtrack. You can snap the Groove Music app and listen to your own music while playing the game. Just turn off the in-game music from the menu and then you can hear your music while racing. I love this feature! You can even connect your cable box to the Xbox One and snap the cable feed to the side on your Xbox One, that way you never miss a moment of hockey (or whatever you watch)!
The snap feature normally works fine, but I noticed lag in the cable box video when playing a game while having cable box snapped. Good news, though, the game ran at full speed, but the cable box didn't. So, hopefully they fix that.
There is compatibility for almost any type of media from CDs and Super Audio CDs to DVDs and Blu-ray. There is a media app which lets you connect to your pc to view almost any type of media. I found that it's easier just to add the media to your OneDrive and then you can find it in the Groove Music and OneDrive applications. No real need to use that unless you prefer it that way.
Another thing, game streaming. This system provides Xbox One game streaming to Windows 10 devices like tablets and computers. I used it before, it works great, but never found a use for it. To me, it's kind of a gimmicky add-on to Xbox One. Why wouldn't you just play the games on the TV, it looks the best there. The video is streaming quality at best on the computer or tablet, because it's literally streamed to the computer or tablet. I don't use it but it works perfectly for people who do.
Now, negatives. The fact that there is lag while playing some 360 games is annoying, even if it runs in an emulator considering that the Xbox One is as powerful as it is, it's pretty much unacceptable, hopefully they fix that. There isn't enough first party that is new out right now. The only games that are new and Xbox One exclusives are Sunset Overdrive (Again excellent game, my favorite on Xbox One and almost any platform.), Forza Motorsport 5 and 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider. And that's pretty much it. Titanfall and Forza Horizon 2 are also on Xbox 360. There is support for a surge protector but most surge protectors aren't supported, which is stupid if you ask me. You have to hook up the Xbox One to the wall in order to get the best processing power required for games like Assassins Creed Syndicate. Another downside are there are not as many apps as 360 to choose from. But that's pretty much it.
Some people will tell you that the Xbox One isn't as powerful as PS4, it's not much of a big difference. When you look at the quality of the games on Xbox One, the performance in comparison with previous consoles and the quality of the system. That becomes less important. You get 360 on Xbox one (you have to pay for backwards compatibility on PS4), the console is superior than 360 and ps3 in terms of power and features. The console has support for almost all the third party games on next gen. There is independent and great first party games, dvds cds and Blu-ray. MP3s and game streaming. It's got something for everybody. To me, even with it's flaws, It's the best console out today. That's why I'm giving it 5 stars. | video-games_xbox |
Finally a good X-Men game. In an age where big name licenses never live up to the hype (Enter the Matrix, Bruce Lee, the list goes on), I must admit that even after all of the coverage, screen shots and FMVs of the actual game play, I was still a tad bit skeptical on my latest purchase of X-Men Legends. The plain fact is, just about anything that has "RPG" tacked onto its genre, I need to have because of the scarcity of quality RPGs on the XBox. I was lucky enough to get the last copy at my local video game store. That should have been my first clue that this game was worth the purchase. After getting home, pressing the "A" button through all of the publishers when the game first loads, I got to an unimpressive menu screen. Ooooo, Cerebro...Anyway, then I started the game. My initial reaction after watching a well done CG intro, I'm looking down on the man himself, Wolverine. Experimenting with the attack buttons, fighting Anti-Mutant soldiers, I'm thinking to myself, "Typical hack-n-slash". That was, of course, until I hit the 'game tips' icon that was ominously glowing. What's this, combos? In an action-RPG? I haven't had this since Xenogears! This turns out to be a great addition to this game. Finding different ways to string together combos to dish out maximum damage is really cool, especially when other X-Men are available for 4-man missions.
Raven Software did a great job with the presentation of this game. The characters in XML (not to be confused with the mark-up language, people) are very colorful with black outlines to give them a more comic book look. The most surprising thing is they brought in the voice talent of Professor Xavier himself, Patrick Stewart. Unfortunately, they didn't bring in Rebecca Romjin-Stamos for Mystique.
The story of XML is around Magma, the newest member of the X-Men. The first stage plants you in the middle of a rescue where you use Wolverine to release the soon-to-be Magma from the clutches of the Brotherhood of Mutuants, while giving you gameplay tips along the way. As you progress through the game, the X-Men are trying to uncover the reason for Magma's attempted kidnapping and fight through Anti-Mutant soldiers and Brotherhood mutants. The action is fast paced, and sometimes confusing when you have a four-man squad fighting off hordes of enemies. Other than the bane of all video games, camera angles, this is a top-notch addition to the X-Men franchise.
Leveling up is cool in XML. You can choose new abilities for your heroes, or improve the ones already in your inventory. In battle, they are accessible by pressing the right trigger, then A, B or X, making the beauty of decently-stringed combos easier to come into fruition. The level-up menu is a little confusing, so after a while, I just let the game level up my character with the recommended abilities by pressing Y. Just make sure you press the start button to accept the changes, or else the level up won't take.
Just about everything displayed on screen is destructable, from park benches to bus stop shelters, sometimes yielding energy and health potions.
Once more X-Men are unlocked, you can pick and choose which X-Men you would like to use for missions. Note, some X-Men are better than others for certain missions, as you will need their abilities to access unreacheable areas or to even advance. The game supplies you with decently placed X-traction points where you can modify your team of X-Men so you can, for example choose Iceman so that he can make an ice bridge to cross over to the next section of the stage. During battle, you can call for help from the X-Men that you've chosen, by simply pressing the left trigger. This will call your other heroes to your side and attack the enemy that you are currently locked onto. Doing this can give you more experience if they use their powers. For instance, using Iceman's freeze blast on an enemies and calling for aid from, say, Cyclops by using his optic blast will give you extra experience. The cool thing is that the name of the special combo appears on the screen. In this instance, the combo is called the Optic Freeze. Nice.
This game isn't always as perfect as I'm describing. It does have it's glitches, some of which is annoying. As an example, I destroyed a garbage can to find some much needed energy, and a potion popped out and disappeared into the frickin' wall behind the garbage can! Also, the AI for the enemies that you encounter can be a little, hmmm, how do I put this, stupid? If you are not close enough to the enemies that are on screen, they run towards you and....turn away? It's like they're trying to get to you, but they realized that it's too far to travel to fight your mighty X-Men. The last thing really urked me, but it only happened once. I was walking up a hill on my first mission, that was off to the side of the screen. As I was walking, the character I was controlling fell through the ground and died! Other than that and the fact that if you corner an enemy with your attacks, sometimes they get knocked back up a wall and don't come back down. This doesn't happen that often, just often enough that it's noticeable.
The game isn't always battling the Brotherhood. You can always retreat back to the Xavier Institute to visit with other gifted youth and X-Men, or you can even go to the danger room to practice honing your skills. By taking Danger Room "courses", you can obtain experience for your X-Men. This comes in handy if you take a mission and get destroyed every time. You can go to the nearest X-traction point and head into the Danger Room. Once you have enough experience, you can pick up where you left off, hopefully with better results. You can also visit with Forge to buy items and armor, most of which can be found in destructible items on your missions. Every now and again, you'll find "rare" items to equip your team with.
X-Men Legends is a pretty decent action game with good RPG elements to customize your X-Men with the powers that we only read about in comic books. Other than some slight oversights by the programmers, this is a pretty decent game. You'll spend a lot of time experimenting with a lot of different heroes and combos. You'll also spend a lot of time leveling up your characters if you want to do this manually. It's a well-rounded action RPG with a famous franchise. Who would've thunk it?! See below for my stars.
Graphics - Very "Marvel"ous. Nice comic book touch- 4 stars
Sound - Decent voice acting, superb voice acting from Patrick Stewart. Music is ok, but not annoying. not noticeable, either - 3.5 stars
Gameplay - Hack-n-slash with hot combos a la Marvel vs Capcom with above average RPG elements. Some of the same moves too! Knock a character in the air and continue to combo? Oh yeah. - 4 stars
Controls - Very responsive and accessible. What else do you expect from an overhead action game?! 4 stars
Replay - I'll let you know when I finish the game. Long levels, a bunch of stuff to destroy and find. Good deal - 4 stars
Downside - 1. The camera angle is a little too overhead for my taste. You rarely see your characters' faces.
2. The glitches in design and AI!
3. When the screen is filled with enemies, this game changes from an action-RPG to a button masher...but you can't find your character
in all the melee. So press buttons and pray.
Overall? - The best game out with the X-Men name on it.
Questionable stuff - The best line in the game is when Magneto says, "I must put my house in order!" Why couldn't they sneak the arcade version of the X-Men in as an unlockable? I can just walk right into Cerebro. No eye scan, no voice prompt, nothin'.
Finally...who would've thought that by smashing a park bench, you can find a cool X-Men utility belt?!? | video-games_xbox |
Not all changes are for the better. Deathsmiles IIX (that's Two X, not a reversed roman numeral 12) is the sequel to Deathsmiles, an arcade shmup from developer CAVE. Note that the disc-based released is region locked for Japan; I play it on a Japanese 360. There is a Games on Demand version available for North America, which is download only. I don't have the Games on Demand version, however I've heard it's the same as the retail release.
The gameplay in IIX is similar to the first game. You can shoot left or right, use a lock shot to target enemies in close range, change up hyper attacks to increase firepower, and use bombs to clear the screen. The lock shot works differently in this version, and even allows you to attack enemies in the background.
For the scoring system, there are a lot of changes from the first game. Gone is the cool item-breaking system which encouraged strategic placement, replaced with a simpler point-blanking system. Not that point-blanking is bad (some of my favorite shmups feature it, such as Omega Fighter or Ketsui), it's just less interesting compared to what we had in Deathsmiles 1.
Also related to scoring is suicide bullets. These slow moving bullets with a long tail slowly home in on you, and can be cancelled out for points. This most useful when you've maxed out your multiplier. The problem here is that these suicide bullets are excessively slow and not much of an immediate threat, removing the excitement of mass bullet herding/cancelling found in similar games. Scoring in Deathsmiles IIX just isn't as fun or fulfilling as other CAVE games.
Now, I'm normally not the type of person who puts a lot of emphasis on graphics. Really, I've placed favorable reviews for games like Shooting Love 200X or Radirgy Noa. But in the case of Deathsmiles IIX, the graphics are such a huge step back that it negatively affects my impression of the game. The in-game graphics are rendered in 3D this time, and very bland looking. All of the charm the graphics had in the original Deathsmiles is pretty much gone, leaving a very plain husk behind. Also the character designs used in cut scenes are vastly different and not for the better. Enemy designs have a Christmas theme, which is as strange and hilarious as it sounds.
The 3D graphics also negatively affect the gameplay. In the first Deathsmiles game, enemy borders and danger points were always very clear. Here however, there's a bit of a learning curve to how far you can push into certain objects, because the 3D borders are not always easy to discern.
For fans of Deathsmiles, this sequel offers some new twists and a different look. I can't recommend it as an impulse buy unfortunately, definitely try it first before making a purchase. | video-games_xbox |
SPOILER FREE*They needed a cash infusion, not new fans*SPOILER FREE. MY PERSPECTIVE: I have been playing RPG's for about 10 years, since the first KOTOR got me into it. At first I was really hesitant to get into the any Final Fantasy games. It just seemed too kiddy, the character design was fruity, it seemed like a mish-mash of fantasy / sci-fi that just clashed, and was filled with mellow drama (all the same reasons I don't like any current anime series). I tried 11 and gave up 25 hours in. Then I tried 12 which I played the h*ll out of. It was HUGE, had a top-notch story and cinematics, was very original, and really gave you way more than your money's worth. It was too much game for me, but I was happy not completing every little thing or getting fully leveled. So I played 13 and it surpassed my every expectation. The story and the way it's told was the best I've seen in a game, and rivals the best of fantasy / sci-fi movies. The characters were well developed, realistic, and extremely well voiced. The fully rendered cut scenes are the best out there and plentiful. In the current gaming world, where games are rushed and buggy, good designers are undervalued, good writing is none existent, and programmers are a dime a dozen, this game shows how good a game can be if you do it right. This is my personal favorite of the current generation.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: It throws you right into this awesome battle, I would have liked some explanation, but it was fun. I'm not a huge fan of quick time events, but the way they're done is good and adds to the action, spicing up the battle. The battle system's the same as 13 more or less. You unlock moves WAY quicker, which those of us who played 13, it gets you into the advanced tactics quick and makes the battles more fun. The live events (mostly dialogue choices) seem tacked on. If I want character-controlled dialogue, I'll play Mass Effect. They really should have put that effort into developing the main characters and story.
STORY: It seems odd they didn't just introduce a new Fal'Cie or L'cie, go from there. The story really seemed underdeveloped and not well thought out. The first 15 hours really lack any real plot or character development. The story that is there is seems more like a rough draft or after thought. The premise supports separate plot lines, but none of them really grab you or are well thought-out. Even the main story grabs you for hour or so only to leave you adrift for 10 hours, then grabs you again but going in some other direction. There plot points that seem they should be major that are given only a passing glance and themes that are belabored. The characters aren't well established and their development is sporadic. There are parts that are really great and get you going, but they are just too few and too thoughtlessly developed. This is where good character development could have picked up the slack but it seem that they just took the bun out of the oven a year too soon and you know it's not going back. What really added insult to injury was the to be continued ending. Really?
OVERALL: If this were any other title I'm sure I wouldn't be as critical. Final Fantasy has consistently set the bar extremely high. Of course, if this were any other title I wouldn't have pre-ordered it and most likely would have abandoned playing it 6 or 7 hours in due to the lack of compelling story. It's really the underdeveloped story and characters that bother me. I feel like this game took advantage of my love of 13 and I'll be extremely wary of any forth coming squaresoft game without at least a three year development time. I thought a sequel this quick was too good to be true and it was. That being said it is not an altogether unenjoyable play especially if you go in with no expectations. I tried my best keep an open mind. Now that I have beaten it (I didn't 100% it but I have ~120 fragments) I am purging my disappointment with this review. I really, really liked 13 and wish I could call this a worthy sequel. | video-games_xbox |
Not the Greatest Wrestling Title Out There. I don't understand why people are saying that WWE '13 is the greatest WWE title to date. It's not. Now, I haven't played WWE '12, and a lot of people are saying that '13 is an improvement over that game, but I just can't agree that it's an exceptional wrestling title.
For one thing, what's up with the roster? Where are the real legends like Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Sgt. Slaughter, Mr. Perfect, etc.? There are some really notable exclusions from the game. The Attitude Era campaign is fairly decent, as it brings back great memories from when I really used to watching wrestling (throughout the 1990's). My only gripe with the campaign is that some of those historical objectives are next to impossible to complete (i.e. hitting the ref with a title belt in time before he wakes up). Completing those objectives are critical to unlocking extra features (wrestlers, matches, arenas, etc.). When you can't accomplish those objectives, things get uber frustrating. I guess it's a good thing that the WWE Shop has a fan axxess pass that you can purchase to unlock all the wrestlers, but still...you gotta pay money for that. Not too swift, THQ. Then when you're done with the Attitude Campaign, what else is left? I wish you can play through a whole campaign season mode that changes constantly with new cutscenes, stories, etc. That's nowhere to be found in this game.
As for the online multiplayer component, I haven't tried that since I'm more interested in the single player aspect of the game.
I'm also not interested in the create-a-wrestler/story/arena feature either, which is a huge component of the game. For those of you who like to create stuff to your heart's content, you'll have orgasms over that mode! Not for me.
And what's with WWE Universe? I don't quite understand that mode at all. You're given a bunch of pre-set scheduled events (which you can modify yourself however you please), but what's the point? I feel like that this Universe Mode is there in case you want to see CPU opponents battle it out. You can simulate the matches, too (which doesn't help). And where are the story cutscenes that are supposed to occur in Universe? I never saw one. I was literally watching every match for a whole month's worth of events and nothing spectacular happened. From what I gathered, Universe Mode is completely pointless.
Overall, you should rent this game first rather than purchase it. It's a great rental, that's for sure. Gone are the days of WCW vs. NWO World Tour and the great N64 wrestling titles. WWE '13 is most likely the last wrestling game I'll ever play.
PERSONAL NOTE: Looking back at my reviews, I haven't given a five-star review for a video game since I reviewed Sonic Generations in January of this year (2012). What's going on? I guess this year just isn't a good one as far as video games go (so far). | video-games_xbox |
Your typical Licensed game. Most experienced gamers know that licensed games are usually hit or miss, leaning largely on the miss side of things. Most of them are just hashed out off the base code of a similar original title and they are almost never finished or polished. Worst of all, most Licensed games never really stand out. Tron falls pretty much right in there. It's a fun game for a short spell but it carries little to keep the gamer involved long term.
The game suffers from the basic flaws of most movie tie in games. This game was probably rushed int he final stages to meet a pre-film release. As such the game doesn't feel entirely polished. Therefore the game suffers from numerous issues.
1. Controls. The game functions much like Prince of Persia. It's basically the same engine with the player running up walls and swinging from ledges. The controls are quite touchy though. If you aren't lined up just right your character will fail in their jump or whatever else they are doing. Plenty of times things are just sticky. Like jumping from magnet nodes lots of time you will be mashing the keys to prolong the jump only to watch your character plummet to their death. The controls on the Tank segments are flat out lousy as it is infuriating trying to drive the tank in a straight line. Light cycle is also awful as we will address later. Basically everything in the game feels as though you have to be so incredibly precise. You will get better as the game goes on but you will miss a lot of jumps simply because the controllers just aren't good enough for the constant precision the game demands of you.
2. Camera. This leads to even further control problems. The camera is only partially fixed. Meaning it is loosely fixed on you but in no particular direction. What happens is that as the environment changes and you are jumping around the camera swings wildly often times making you quite dizzy and disoriented. When you add the camera spinning wildly to the touchy controls and well you can imagine the horror that will ensue. You will find yourself jumping into chasms in no time for no apparent reason other than the spinning camera has you completely lost as to which direction you are moving. This gets worse in combat. Often times the camera will spin or even get stuck on walls to the point that you are either starring at yourself in closeup or fighting enemies blind. This gets particularly annoying when fighting multiple enemies. You don't have time to adjust the camera while fighting. Just adds to the frustration and gives a strong feeling that the game was never finalized.
3. Gameplay. There are 4 basic play modes. There is the platform game in which you run and jump off walls. There is the combat sequences, Lightcycle and tank scenes. The platformer is fun for a while but gets pretty old fast. Also you will die alot when you try to figure things out. The developers knew this. There are no "lives" in this game. You have an endless supply so don't worry about dying. Also there are checkpoints about every 5 feet which at least prevents a lot of unnecessary repetition. Combat modes are pretty stale. The game is basically a glorified version of rock paper scissors. Each enemy has a particular weakness which is one of 4 types of your disk. Just switch to each type and slam away. It's not overly challenging. Basically both the platform and combat modes are just a lot of trial and error. There isn't an awful lot of variety. Healing and charging your character is quite ludicrous. Basically you have to climb on specific walls to heal and vault garbage cans to recharge energy. This is kind of silly and frustrating in boss fights or even regular combat. You will find yourself running in circles trying to vault that one garbage can (and often missing in your haste and the camera spinning wildly) while the boss slams away at you.
Tank play. For a couple segments the game throws you into the famous tank. These sequences do a little to break up the monotony but overall are pretty blah. The tank driving controls are abysmal. I found it virtually impossible to drive the tank straight and even got myself stuck in some instances. It was quite annoying. Furthermore these segments were really short anyway.
Light Cycles. Easily the biggest disappointment in the game. After watching the movie I felt the very long Light Cycle segment was really pushing to set up the video game. Well, the Light Cycle segments are easily the worst parts of the game. Basically the cycle is 3rd person but you run on small fixed tracks. You fight a handful of other bikes but you basically just kill them with your disk rather than the tail. Like the rest of the game the cycle segments are basically trial and error. You race through and try and avoid the obstacles. The cycle handles worse than the tank. Turning is slow and clumsy and it is way too easy to over-correct. Worse, you need to brake ALOT. Basically the slower you go the better off you are which kind of defeats the purpose haha.
I would imagine most Tron fans will be easily disappointed and outraged over how bad the light cycle segments truly are. Easily the worst part of the game.
4. Story and Graphics. The story is kind of a companion to the movie. It is not vital to the film however and it takes some liberties. For those who have seen the film you will be questioning certain aspects as being insanely redundant. The graphics are pretty nice though. I was very surprised at how crisp everything was however the environments get very stale. There isn't much variety just like the movies. The only really background change is a cheesy gimmick.
The music is excellent. Just like the film. One of the best parts of the game.
5. Multiplayer. I don't play on Xbox Live so I can't comment on that but you can do multiplayer offline as well. It's not terribly fun but it does allow you to level your character up which is a bonus.
Overall I found the game to be fun but not so challenging. The challenge of the game basically was a test of your patience and ability to deal with constantly dying. There was little challenge in the fun department. Instead it was all just frustration challenge. If you love Tron and can handle dying a hundred or so times on stupid jumps then you can handle this game.
Just bear in mind that this is a licensed game and is not particularly deep. I personally recommend it as a rental, not a purchase. You will beat it fast and it has little re-playability. As a bargain game, 20 bucks or under it is recommended. If the developers had spent a little more time polishing the controls and camera, as well as making the Light Cycle and Tank segments better this game could have been very strong. | video-games_xbox |
If judged just on "being fun" RE 5 prevails. RE is a series that at times I've danced with and at other moments I've tried to avoid like the T-virus. I never was a huge fan of the first RE but RE 2 and RE 3 Nemesis held my fascination and scared the crap out of me though I was not the best at playing them. By code name Veronica I was tired of the bad controls and "same old puzzle schemes".
Luckily capcom must have had some mind reading psychics because with RE 4 the game play was fine tuned to perfection, the environments were made fun to explore, and the over the shoulder perspective and laser scope ensured even novices could jump right in and have a fun time! The only qualm I had with RE 4 is it seemed a bit disconnected from the other games with its' las plagos plot. Yet most of us got so much enjoyment out of the game we did not care.
So here is RE 5. Everyone had high expectations for it. Some even thought it was going to bring another revolution to the series like RE 4 did. The first thing I'll say is RE 5 does a great job of combining what we liked about RE 4 and fusing it with a story-line that is actually tied to the RE mythos. The fact you are Chris Red-field who has flash backs about fighting Wesker with Jill Valentine should be testament you are in familiar territory and for the most part it is great to be back!
However before I go on I should tell you this is not a revolution in the series. RE 5 is very much like RE 4 as far as game play, camera, and creature designs are concerned. While there are nuances later on devoted more to the old school fans (lickers anyone?) this is akin to playing RE 4 in Africa. So for those of you that expected RE 5 to be the next Gears of war 2 or wanted another re-haul you may find yourselves disappointed.
This poses a question I would ask you though. If every game in the series is a "revolution" and completely changes all the ground work laid before it is there a big risk in losing what we the fans love about the series? Personally I expected RE 5 to be very similar to RE 4. I did not expect it to go so far off the beaten path I did not know what the heck I was playing.
A lot of the complaints people give RE 5 can be easily rectified. For example if you dislike the control scheme there is a menu to customize the game functions more to your liking. If Sheva is constantly dying it is due to the fact you are either a. Not providing her with enough weapons or b. not upgrading her weapons. RE 5 is not about being a selfish miser. If you put everything you have into improving Chris but leave Sheva Alomar by the way side you will suffer for it. Both of these characters are equal in importance not only to the story line but also to the actual missions. I suggest improving them both on equal terms.
This brings me to the next topic. Many believe that because Sheva is with Chris and combat capable it kills the suspense. While that is true in mild regards it creates a whole new tension of not only having to worry about yourself but also be concerned about your partner. If either of you die the game ends. I found this can invoke its' own type of anxiety and apprehension.
The bottom line is the reason RE 5 is not as scary to us action/horror junkies is because we have been playing these types of games for a LONG TIME. We cannot expect to have that same amount of wonderment, awe, and dread for RE that we did when we were much younger. As time goes on things become more predictable. There's no getting around that.
So what is the story? A new strand of Las plagos have infected a fictional city of Africa. Sheva has personal stakes in it because her people are being oppressed and experimented on due to the greed of the Umbrella cooperation and Chris is part of a new group that cracks down on biological terrorism. I would say more about "awesome cameos" but that is spoiler classified information.
Another concern the fans might have is "are the boss fights fun?" I suppose that depends on what you expect. I did enjoy having to incinerate the first swarming larvae boss by trapping it in an industrial flame thrower room . It was interesting to lay proximity minds to paralyze the next vampire bat headed boss that had a abdomen more like a caterpillar. Only it's inner thorax was a vulnerable point. Blasting away the el gigante with the big guns mounted on an over turned truck was not truly challenging but it was very satisfying. Like-wise the "button time sequences" are not too unforgiving and the vehicle stage in which I mowed down enraged biker minions in hot pursuit was a hoot! Admittedly I have fought harder RE bosses and a few which were more interesting but overall your encounters will still get your pulse pounding and bring a masochistic smile to your face!
The enemy roster is more of the same but also has been tweaked. Some las plagos parasites can now fly by beating their bat like wings against the air and the chainsaw massacre sac headed executioners make a return. Defeating even the basic horrors in RE requires brains. For example the chainsaw executioner is highly immune to pain. Simply unloading your bullets into him is ineffective unless you also throw in powerful close range melee attacks. Infected dogs will literally jump at your face if given the opportunity so now you have to throw them off you or get mauled. Fortunately Chris and Sheva have a variety of close quarter throws, kicks, knifing slashes, and elbow maneuvers so though you are only human at least you are not completely pathetic once you hear that all too familiar "click,click,click" after you pull out your favorite fire arm only to discover it is 100% empty.
The "item market" makes a return. You can buy healing supplies, upgrade weapons, and purchase new side arms and protective vestments. Sadly "the stranger" is not to be seen and your actions are done from a menu between chapters or when you die. The thing that makes me gnash my teeth is you use items and reload in the thick of battle. On one hand this adds more tension (which is good) but would it be so much to ask to "pause the game" as you fumble through your inventory? This was made more tedious than it should be.
So what of the environments? The truth is though the areas are engaging and fun they are also much more linear. They are not as expansive as the huge castle in RE 4 . My favorite place was the swamp in which you got to ride around in a fan boat while visiting different huts to collect pieces of a door crest. One could make the argument encountering tribals with spears and giant masks in a murky marsh land is unrealistic or uses blatant stereotypes but honestly do any of us think all that when we are in the thick of shooting angry hordes and running for our lives?
Next I have heard this game is accused of using racial stereotypes. The thing is you are "the heroes" out to destroy the greedy cooperation exploiting Africa. Sheeva herself is African and Joshua her best friend and trainer is black. In the first city there were white infected people mixed with the darker skinned infected people so I did not see any subversive racial under tones. It's true you meet "tribals" later on that don the usual spear and giant mask cliches but these are simply variants of the shield wielding robed clergy men Leon faced in RE 4. The thing is this is "fiction" my friends. Take it for what it is and do not read too deeply into it!
The last thing I will mention is that there is co-op. I don't know about you but for me that is "revolutionary" for an RE game considering they have been single player up until this point. If Sheva's ai is giving you a lot of trouble simply have your buddy drop into her shoes! This can be done online or on the couch next to you.
In closing RE 5 is everything "I" expected it to be. While it's shorter than RE 4 which went through a few expansions later on it is still a rip roaring good time and now you can experience it all with a friend!
Pros
+Gorgeous graphics
+A story that ties into the RE mythos.
+Familiar villains
+ Sheva is hot and a great heroine.
+More of what we loved about RE 4.
+Co-op play
+You can take cover and press up against walls to pick enemies off from a safer vantage point.
+ New creature types have been added and a few "classics" make a return!
Cons
-The scare is gone because face it us RE fans are jaded. We know what to expect. Horror movie shock tactics don't make us jump anymore.
-The environments are more linear so there is less to explore
-While it's good to burrow some things from RE 4 you will get deja vu a lot. There was a marsh land village section that reminded me of the one in RE 4 only "re-skinned" to look African.
-The quick button press sequences are unnecessary. For friggin sakes just give Sheva and Chris a dodge/action button! The tougher enemies would be hard to evade regardless.
-The inventory sharing, trading off, and item usage is done in real time. In most parts of the game I enjoyed it because it made the experience more suspenseful and realistic. However later in the game it gets frustrating as the challenge level heats up. Yes, RE 4 had a better inventory system.
-If you pride yourself on being an unyielding RE traditionalist who disliked RE 4 sad to say RE 5 is not going to do much for you. Besides for an appearance of Wesker and the lickers being remastered in all their horrifying splendor RE 5 is essentially more like RE 4.
-If you hate "standing and shooting" as opposed to "running and gunning" getting used to this style of game play maybe a bit frustrating. | video-games_xbox |
finally, a game worthy of my awesome ninja moves. Alright, time to review my favorite xbox game of all time.
First off, let's take a different approach from the previous reviews and start off with the controls (not the camera), what I consider the most important part of the game.
NOTE: When you get to reviewing a game this good you get VERY nitpicky, the slightest detail will be mentioned, most of the stuff I complain about is so subtle it dosen't change almost anything about the game (unless noted)
CONTROLS 9.8/10:
The controls are basic, intuitive and easy to use, wich is a very good thing considering how much your going to need them. One problem however is in the camera control, the right thumbstick, when moved (even slightly) will enter you into a fist-person view, this is an annouance since sometimes you will accidently reach down and move the stick, forgetting that the camera is not controlled that way. You'll eventually drill out that habbit, and it's not that much of a problem in combat beacause you can't enter first person while blocking, moving or attacking.
By the way, get ready to use the L-Button (block) A WHOLE LOT.
GRAPHICS 9.9/10:
Why even mention it? There awesome, there so good that they make the CG cutscenes from recent titles look like Space Invaders, seriously, the only thing beating this is maybe Pandora, or Riddick. Unlike riddick it dose not suffer slowing framerates or litter jaggies, fuzzys etc. The CG cutscenes are amazing; you could play through an entire level just to be rewarded by the cutscene, wow.
Ryu's (the main charecter) animation, as well as those of all the enemies are awesome, every move is pulled of with such smooth animations your actually playing it.
By the way, plenty of blood in this title, fountains of blood gushing from every sword-swipe, head's flying off in a fountain of blood and bodies bursting into a puddle of blood (the bodys dissapearing are a clever way to keep clutter away, leading to a better framerate).
CAMERA 8.4/10:
A lot of people are having trouble with the camera, (Personally, I think there making excuses for not having enough skill) but I just don't see what the whole problem is. The camera cleverly aligns itself with important objects such as enemies and items, there is a camera-centering button in easy reach and it is definitly not so bad it will kill you. Let me say this right now, the camera system in NG is the only camera system that could work for a game of this caliber, believe me, the diffuculty level is so extremly high you couldn't take one millisecound to worry about cameras. I see no seriouse problems with the camera, and if you think it's so bad download the Hurricane pack to manually contol the camera by clicking the right thumbstick.
GAMEPLAY 9.9/10:
Ninja Gaiden is all about pushing you beyound what you ever considered your limits, it's all about making you a better player than you ever imagined you can be. There is nothing more satisfactory than losing to a boss hundreds of times and then finally smashing the punks face into the floor.
Some say the difficulty level in Ninja Gaiden is too high, I don't think so, I think Team Ninja finally got it right. There were plenty of games for NES, SNES and GENESIS were harder than this, not to mention arcade games. If you think it's just to much for you, than back out, maybe this game just isn't for you.
I have only one problem with the diffuculty of Ninja Gaiden- they call the two diffuculty levels easy and normal- EASY! YOU CALL THIS EASY!!!!... excuse me.
REPLAY VALUE 9.6/10:
Replay? You could spend six months playing through the game one time. But they do package the origianall three gaidens cleverly into the title, and those could take you just as long to beat. This game will be played for years to come. Also, the Master Ninja tournament will test your skills against players around the globe (all who are way better than you) so you could spend plenty of time doing that. To bad it dosen't have multiplayer.
TOTAL SCORE: 9.6/10
Well, that about sums it up. If you aren't too anoyed by the difficulty than don't get it, if you've been aching for a game that will actually challenge you, buy it- NOW! | video-games_xbox |
A Great Find. I have always been a fan of the quake series and I still have the originals. I read some of the reviews on amazon and due to many negative reviews, I decided I wouldn't buy it without trying it out. I downloaded the demo off of xbox live and I was very impressed with ID's work.
The gameplay is just like the originals. It is fast paced and requires good accuracy and fast reflexes. I finally found a game that isn't as slow and boring as COD.
The strogg and the humans sides are balanced with creative vehicles and equally powerful weapons. I have heard complaints of not enough weapons. That is completely false. When you first start, the game lets you choose a class. Each class has different weapons specific to that class, as well as a basic rifle availible to all of the classes. The weapons cover the basics, as well as some extras. For the humans, there are shotguns, machine guns, a sniper rifle, a rocket launcher, a heavy machine gun, an uzi type sub machine gun, a standart pistol, a silenced pistol, as well as several variations of each of these. The strogg have several alien weapons including a rail gun, a plasma rifle, a lightening gun, a hyper blaster(kind of like a chaingun that fires lasers), a blaster pistol,a nail gun (kind of like a shotgun), and the dark matter gun. There is no lack of weapons unless you are used to the insane amount of weapons in COD4, which in my opinion has too many weapons. Why does a game have to have 9 different sniper rifles?
I admit that the sounds in this game aren't the greatest, but they are perfectly acceptable and they pass my standards. For those who think that the sounds used are very outdated then you should pick up a copy of Wolfenstein 3D which was made in 1992. I can still enjoy that because I don't absolutely stress sounds. You don't buy a game because it has good sounds or because it has state of the art graphics, you buy it to experience the game play. Do you remember the game "Black"? Probably not. That game was supposed to be state of the art, it had the best graphics, best sound, and the best game engine. But then, why doesnt any one remember it? It is not remembered because the game was BORING and no one would play it.
The accusation of bad graphics is also false if you play the console version or if you have a decent computer. This game runs off of the doom 3 engine, which has some pretty good graphics.
I think that if you are another COD fanatic then you should avoid this game because it is not as boring, slow paced, and easy as COD. You should expect the fast paced, frenetic, intense experience as well as the quality that comes with all of the games in the quake series and all of the games made by ID software. | video-games_xbox |
Pretty good. Play for yourself to decide. I'm working on the 5th mission at the moment, and I've played a little bit of all of the versus modes (except Nemesis mode). I preordered the Special Edition, so I'll also review the bonus content that came with it.
Campaign: The campaign is fairly short. I take the RPG approach to most games and try to explore everywhere I can, so I don't ever make the target times for the missions. This adds some time to the game, especially on the levels where the zombies are constantly coming nonstop. I haven't beaten it yet, because I don't have time to just sit down and play constantly. Even with the short campaign, though, I feel like it has a lot or replay value, especially as the different classes. Then with the Spec Ops missions coming out, it should add some length to the game. Some parts of the level design could be better, but there's a lot of nostalgic value if you look close enough. A lot of people mentioned the game being too dark to really see, which it was by default. I just turned the brightness up a small amount. I didn't make it bright enough to make it look like day, but I made sure I could see in rooms with less than adequate lighting.
Versus: I'm not a huge multiplayer person, but I gave this a shot because I was hoping it would be different than normal FPS multiplayer modes. For the most part, it's pretty standard. You're on teams, you try to kill the other team, sometimes you capture the flag, etc. However, just being able to be all the awesome characters in Hero's mode is pretty fun. That plus the fact that I think every mode has constant zombie hordes trying to kill you while you try and kill the other team adds to the difficulty, especially when you turn a corner and run straight into a Tyrant. I liked it, and I'll probably be playing the versus on and off for the next few months before everyone quits playing. At this point in gaming history, if it's not Halo, Gears, or CoD, the online gaming is very short lived, sadly.
Controls: This is probably the worst part of the game for me. I've seen a few other reviews that mention problems with the controls. While I've never had my character try to cover in midair, the autocover feature is terrible. I'm used to playing Gears of War and being able to tap the A button to duck. If I hit and A and my character doesn't duck, I know it's not a valid piece of cover. In ORC, if my character doesn't duck automatically, I don't know if it's not valid cover or I didn't press up far enough on the thumbstick. There are also a lot of times I'll be behind a car, but not be able to pop up and look down the sights or be able to fire at all because I'm not in the right spot. The aiming system is pretty rough, and it's almost impossible to shoot between gaps in boxes or staircases. If you've got a gun with the red laser sight on it, you can notice the poor aiming system the best. When you turn, your reticle and the red light don't match up until after you stop moving and if you turn to fire and the light and reticle don't match back up before you shoot, the bullet lands somewhere in the middle of the two sights.
AI: None of my friends have this game yet, so I've been playing with the AI. Everyone complains about how stupid they are, but for me, they've been extremely helpful. They're a whole lot better than Sheva ever was in RE5. They (usually) heal me when I need it, instead of wasting a first aid spray on me when I'm down half a bar of heal like Sheva did. A few times I've seen them try to run through a door, but that's usually right after the game warps them to my position. Once I get into another fight they show up knowing what they need to do. I've never had an enemy just stop moving in the middle of battle like a lot of people have reported, though I have had a few hunters turn and run.
Gameplay: Make sure you ignore every 1 star review that simply complains that this game does not play like a normal Resident Evil. That has been common knowledge for a long time. This game is more fast paced and much more reminiscent of modern shooters. There is a lot of nostalgic moments going on, as well as a lot of variety of enemies (compared to most popular shooters). Sometimes it seems like enemies of the same type have different health or damage resistance, which gets really annoying. I've put two bullets in a Spec-Ops solider and dropped him, followed by unloading a clip and a half into another one to put him down. I'm not sure if that's inconsistency with the enemies or the guns. I've not noticed problems like this in the multiplayer, though. A few people with the PS3 version have mentioned freezing and skipping issues. I haven't noticed any of those problems.
Special Edition Content: 6 costumes, 8 guns, 2 patches, a steelbook case and a slipcover. Honestly, the Special Edition didn't blow me away (though I really hope the RE6 SE does) but I preordered just so I could reserve a copy, figuring I could cancel if I decided I didn't want it. I got lucky and Amazon did the price drop, so I decided I was definitely keeping it. I think the cover art for this edition is a lot cooler than for the regular edition. The patches look really neat, but I doubt I'll put them on anything. The costumes are just different colors, but they're nice for mixing it up and not having the team in solid black all the time. The guns don't seem to have any real edge on the normal guns available, but they look cool. However, I haven't used every special gun yet, so I might be wrong on that aspect.
I know this review was a bit wordy (and possibly inconsistent at times, for which I apologize), but I feel like the longer, meatier reviews are a lot more useful than "Don't buy this game! It sucks! Cr@p-com screwed us again!" or "OMG this was so amazing! Go get it now!" I'm going to break the sections down now, for anyone in a hurry or whom I might have lost somewhere along the way.
Campaign: 4/5 It was shorter than I would have liked, but a very enjoyable experience none-the-less.
Versus: 4/5 The constant threat of zombie attack is a nice change to the otherwise standard slayer/deathmatch style multiplayer that dominates XBL/PSN today.
Controls: 2.5/5 They're frustrating at times, and feel almost unfinished. If Slant Six releases a patch to fix them, I'll be back to update this review.
AI: 4/5 Better than RE5 for teammates, and not nearly as bad as everyone else says for enemies.
Gameplay: 3/5 The inconsistency in how much damage an enemy can take is pretty annoying, but can be fixed in the same patch that fixes the controls. Again, I'll update this review when a patch is released.
Special Edition Content: 5/5 This one is admittedly an unfair rating, but I got the content for free, which means it's the best it can be. But what is good bonus content is always a big debate between gamers, so I won't count this in my overall game review.
4/5 overall, with room to move up based on any upcoming patches and the quality/length of the Spec Ops DLC. | video-games_xbox |
Rainbow Vegas Rocks. Rainbow Six Vegas is an incredible game. The graphics,the gameplay is amazing. You start off solo in Mexico,yes Mexico, before you'll eventually get to Vegas ,but not to worry mexico looks just as detailed as Vegas and Mexico is only 4 of the 21 total maps in the story mode. The enemies,at times,will flank you and your squad very very agressivly and are pretty good shots. You'll hear your squadmates say"there flanking us".Likewise your squad A.I. responds very well to your orders and will go just about anywhere you order them to. Some of the commands are 'fire at will' or 'return fire only' or 'stack up' and prepare for entry into door. You can order your men to either assault upon entry or check your fire upon entry some the door entry commands are as follows -frag&clear-breach&clear-smoke & clear,flash & clear etc. Your men will also line up just about anywhere you point your crosshairs & (press A button) .You and your 2 men have ability to Rappel and fast rope. While rappeling down the side of a casino you can invert yourself (click left stick) and still rappel down and fire your handgun. ALSO you can order your men to 'ROPE UP' and they will wait for you too order them to rappel, or they will fast rope down if given the opportunity. There's lots of rappel/fast rope opportunities on each level. The story was quite good and kept me interested in the characters you play with . I liked the cutscenes riding in the helicopter looking down at Vegas. The story also plays out in your HUD too kinda like a PIP on your TV,you'll get plot twists or story info on your P.I.P. or HUD while you and your men are stacking up on a doorway. It makes a nice twist to the old standard watch a 5 min movie cutscene between levels. Onto another issue the checkpoints came at the right times , sometimes I was relieved when I saw the 'saving now' signal. Personaly I like nicely placed checkpoints,I like the fact that you don't have to save every 10 feet just to survive to next level idea,and your not constantly going to your save screen in a game. This game might be too hard for some novice or intermediate gamers,as you have to plan your assaults wisely by using solid flanking technics and using your 'snake camera' under the door to spot enemies locations before assaults begin. In some of the casinos you'll have more than a dozen door/rappel/fast rope entrys to attack enemy. Not just the simple 2 door only flank entry. You can TAG up to 2 enemies for your men to take out first & second upon entry into the room.(press back button) to red tag enemy when using your under door (snake camera). You have 2 levels of difficulty'normal' or 'realistic' I beat the game on both and found that realistic wasn't too much harder than normal. As far as bugs go ,Ive completed the game 3 times through and can only remember once where my squadmate got (buggy) stuck behind a door, and there was some very minor issues with my player not taking cover with the left trigger. But overall this game was very smooth ,no serious bug or slow down lag issues in my experience to really effect the gameplay. Onto weapons you have the ability to put silencers on about 75% of the weapons,when you do go silent your squadmates will do the same, you'll see them switch to there silenced sub-machine gun,I like the fact too that you can take the silencer off in game while playing. The weapons all fire and have a 'real world' feel. They sound and look good. Some of the weapons included are the MP9-MP5N-MP7A1-P90---UMP45-552 COMMANDO-AK47-AUGA3-FAMAS-G36C-G3KA4-M8-MTAR21-SCARHCQC-ETC.ETC. all of which can be customized by adding rifle scope,laser sight,reflex scope,acog scope,6x scope,etc.etc. Dropped enemy Ammo automaticly picks up( by walking over it) when you have the matching weapon for it, likewise you can pick up/switch enemy weapons with yours. You'll also have Ammo/weapon switch out Box (like the one in GRAW) in some locations in the levels. The surrounding areas takes damage as well like the slot machines will spew coins out when shot, the (fish shaped) lights hanging in the atrium of the Calypso casino shatter when shot, etc. etc. All this adds realism and nice effect to the overall feel of the game...When you use cover (by pressing left trigger) it switches to 3rd person view, then when you leave or peak out from cover it goes back to 1st person. This transitions very well and never feels awkward or clumsy. Ive never played a game that felt so realistic graphicly ,there's so much detail everywhere I look. Some of the stuff I didn't see the first time through the game adds a nice touch, like the flower petals flowing out of the dragon heads mouths in the Buddah/asian themed 'Red Lotus'casino. The music/sound effects are done nicely as well , sounds very good on my stereo. This Game truly feels like a next gen game. A lot of work went into this game ,just walking back through a level youve just cleared of enemies and looking at all of the detail all around made me appreciate the game more. With the exception of the Dam level there's no bland industrial grey wall look to the game. You also have single player 'Terrorist Hunt ' mode ,the objective is to eliminate all terrorists on each map. And get this.. almost all 10 maps are completely different than the story mode and some of the maps aren't even in the single player story campaign at all. With only a few being 'slightly' simular to the main campaign story mode. I cant remember if the 'terrorist hunt' mode opens up after finishing the main story campaign or not.... anyways its a HUGE bonus to the replayability of this game even without xbox live online. In terrorist hunt mode you play 'solo' and its hard but not to hard. You can set the difficulty level and set the enemy density from low-med-high. Anybody who is a fan of FPS/Squad games should definatly get this game. It has a HIGH replay value even for someone without Xbox Live. I didn't think there would be a game any better than Gears Of War (which is awesome too!) But along comes Rainbow Vegas in my opinion is even a step better. Rainbow Six Vegas is a definate must own game. | video-games_xbox |
Appeals only to the mindless "gamer. This game really brings nothing new to an already mediocre and highly-overrated franchise. Halo's characters have also been one-dimensional cliche machines, and this game tries to address a deeper side of the characters in the prologue, but then just drops it. (Probably because there is no way to make the "hero" Halsey look good. The fact is, she is despicable. She kidnapped, killed, and tortured kids. She turned them into mindless killing machines just to crush a legitimate rebellion.) I respect that 343 attempted to make Halo their own by adding some originality to it, but unfortunately they did a pretty bad job of it. The prometheans are a more annoying enemy than the elites, and they just feel like targets to be filler in the game. The new art styles don't feel like Halo (which may have actually been the intention), and they don't look great for the most part. The marines look pretty silly, very similar to STAG from Saints Row 3.
Once again, the Spartans are portrayed as these gods that we're supposed to fawn over, and every other "normal" soldier is apparently completely incompetent. 343 tried to make Cortana feel more interesting by placing her in pain and danger, but that character had been so boring for the past 4 games that it's hard to feel any emotional concern for her now.
The muliplayer really just isn't any different than before, except that it steals the things we hate from COD. Killstreak rewards, supply drops, perks, and loadouts. They all feel like complete rip-offs of COD, which is also a terribly over-rated franchise. The new Spartan armor in particular looks horrible. Now, instead of picking the armor that looks coolest, you are forced to pick the armor that is the least ugly. The different variants feel like the artist was trying so hard to make them appear random and weird that he forgot to make them look good or practical. The "skins" only apply to one specific armor, and don't really change the appearance at all.
I could go on, but the game itself has already been a pretty large waste of time, so I'll I just end by saying, I would rent this game. Then you can judge for yourself whether or not you want to buy it. If you are the kind of person who thinks James Cameron's Avatar was a work of art, you might actually like it. If you're the kind of person who thinks Citizen Kane or Children of Men are works of art, play Half life. | video-games_xbox |
Solid, but not as deep as Origins. *INTRODUCTION*
Alright, so I bought Dragon Age 2 the day it came out and I have to say I was a little disappointed. Dragon Age: Origins was one of my favorite games of 2009. I thought it was a great balance between a more cartoonish game like Fable and a more serious game like Elder Scrolls IV. The characters were deep, the story was immersive, and being able to customize your character down to their personality was a blast. The most common complaint with Dragon Age: Origins was that the graphics were pretty bad. Screen tearing was frequent, as were various other graphical glitches. Even when the visuals weren't acting up, they still looked subpar.
Dragon Age II's graphics are a big step up, but they're still not stellar by any means. In a story-based game like this one, though, I don't think getting hung up on the visuals is that helpful for a review... So let's get into the plot and the characters.
*STORY*
In Dragon Age II, you get to choose whether you're a male or female warrior, mage, or rogue. Before I began playing, I was worried I would have to go with some preset character like the generic "Hawke" on the cover, but this sequel does retain the appearance customization of the first. The start of the game is actually concurrent with the events of Dragon Age: Origins. You and your family are Lothering refugees fleeing the Blight. Once the Blight has been successfully fled, you reach the city of Kirkwall where you spend... the rest of the game. Yes, you heard right. You won't be traveling around some map going to multiple cities and visiting multiple civilizations like in Origins. Instead, you'll be stuck in the city of Kirkwall for the entire game, with the exception
of brief ventures into the mountains of the Free Marches.
Basically, the idea of the game is for you to work your way up from an indentured servant to the ruler of the city. The main quest consists of various conflicts between certain groups or castes within Kirkwall, and you have to either pick a side or try to be neutral and make peace (which NEVER works, by the way). Templars vs. Mages. Qu'nari vs. Humans. Remember Sten from the first game? His race, the Qu'nari, play a big role in Dragon Age II. They're stubborn, belligerent little ruffians, so they're a pain to converse with.
*DIALOGUE*
Speaking of conversing, one of the biggest changes in Dragon Age II is the addition of a conversation "wheel" a la Mass Effect, giving you the choice of three distinct attitudes to take when dialoguing with another character. This may seem like it's not a big deal, but when you start to realize that about 95% of the time
the three attitudes on the wheel are the EXACT SAME ONES over and over (you can choose to be helpful, sarcastic, or rude) it's a HUGE change. Remember the deep maze of conversation you were able to have in Dragon Age: Origins? Yeah, well, that's gone. In addition, if you want to initiate a conversation with someone in your party, you have to initiate their SIDE QUEST first! In Origins, you could just walk up to that member of your party and initiate dialogue any time you wanted. In Dragon Age II, forget it, they'll just spew a one-liner at you over and over. Essentially, you're stuck with conveying general attitudes to other characters instead of customizing the exact responses you want to give. I know some players want to get into the action instead of standing around and talking,
but I feel like they took away a lot of the depth of the previous game.
OK, back to the story. In Origins, you were part of this crazy, overarching goal to save the world. In Dragon Age II, you're uh... trying to make a name for yourself? Trying to make money and buy a mansion for your refugee family? Does that sound like some epic main quest to you? Sometimes during the first half of the game,
I wasn't even sure what the main quest WAS. I found out later that I was supposed to be earning 50 gold so I could go on some Deep Roads expedition for fame and fortune. Compare that to Dragon Age: Origins where your main quest involved using blood magic to free a possessed boy from a demon and slaying huge masses of Darkspawn. So yeah,
slay Darkspawn, fight demons and save lives... or find artifacts and sell them for money. I think that comparison sums up the differences between the first game and this sequel pretty well.
*CHARACTERS*
Next problem, the characters. Remember how complicated and deep some of the characters from Origins were? You could have a five-minute converation with Alistair and feel like he was almost a real person, or you could listen to one of Leliana's annoyingly detailed bard stories, or you could try to get Sten to say even one word
to you. None of the Dragon Age II characters are this deep. Varric, the dwarf rogue you meet once you reach Kirkwall, is probably the best-developed and most interesting one, but even he doesn't really cut it for me. Aveline is your stereotypical law-abiding city guard, Merrill is some annoying yip-yap reject, Anders is just a
drama queen, and Fenris... Well, he's a former slave that hates mages. That's about it. Remember Isabela, that floozy from the Pearl in the first game? Well, she's a playable character in this one, and the only female character worth trying to hook up with because the rest are either related to you, look like a man, or are just
irritating.
Bioware really pulled a fast one on you nerdy male RPGers looking to getwith some cute new girl in Dragon Age II. The cutest character in the whole game... IS YOUR SISTER! I swear, some Bioware game designer is still snickering about this cruel joke. Hey gamers, guess what! There's a real cute chick in the new Dragon Age,
but what we won't tell you is that she's RELATED TO YOU! Of course, Bethany can look pretty ugly if you decide to customize your character, because she's just supposed to be a mirror image of yours, so I guess whether she's hot or not is up in the air. As for other love interests, you can flirt with Aveline if you're really desperate
for a woman that looks like a man, or you can hook up with Merrill if you're cool with marrying a hyperactive blood mage. The only real choice if you're a straight male player is Isabela. Anders and Fenris also go both ways, but I can't see why you'd want either of them, they're both annoying. One thing I enjoyed doing during my first playthrough was pissing off Fenris. All you have to do is put him in your party and defend mages any chance you get. Yes, he's that one-dimensional that that's all you have to do.
That's one last thing about the characters in this game that's way different from Origins. In Dragon Age II, gaining party members' approval is really easy, and pissing them off almost doesn't matter. The characters are so one-dimensional that you know instantly which choice to make if you want their approval. Aveline likes anything you do that's consistent with the law. Fenris likes anything you do that hurts mages. Anders likes anything you do that supports mages. Varric has a man crush on you and like what you do no matter what. It's not like the first game where you had to struggle to get Alistair to not take things the wrong way, or to convince Morrigan that the path you chose was advantageous. In addition, if you do each characters' side quest, you're basically guaranteed their Friendship unless you're excessively rude to them.
*COMBAT, ETC.*
One cool thing about Dragon Age II is that you can import your save file from Origins to change some of the elements of the world. For example, at one point King Alistair will come to visit you in Kirkwall, but if you chose to make Anora queen in your save file, she'll come visit you instead. Many characters from Origins make cameos in Dragon Age II, including Flemeth the Shapeshifter. In addition, every important choice you make affects which way the story goes. When I say "important choice", I mean whether you side with the mages or the templars, or with the Qu'nari or the humans, stuff like that. Little side quest conversations don't have much bearing on the story, though sometimes you'll find out that helping someone in the first Year of the game will affect something down the road in Year Seven.
One aspect of the game that's consistently complained about is the new combat system. It's faster, flashier, and easier. Like many other aspects of Dragon Age II that have been simplified from Origins, like the characters, the dialogue, and the plot, combat is also simplified. I didn't have much of a problem with it, though
I can definitely understand why some players are disgruntled about it, particularly PC users who blame console users for the watered-down battles. The only thing that gets on my nerves about it are that enemies will just apparate into existence in the middle of a fight! It's like when I play Left 4 Dead and a horde of zombies just comes out of nowhere... In Dragon Age II, you can be fighting a boss and have killed all his flunkies when sudenly, a NEW wave of flunkies appears and you must overcome THEM, too! Where do these things come from? Sometimes it'll make sense because you're fighting a blood mage and he conjures more demons into existence, but other times I found myself wondering where this group of ten extra fighters came from? Occasionally you'll get ambushed by one extra enemy towards the end. Why is he suiciding into battle? Doesn't he know it's four against one?
One final thing I would like to rant about before concluding this review is the character of Merrill. I have to say, I don't understand her as a character at all. When you first meet her, she's some quirky, hyperactive, semi-annoying outcast. But you soon learn that she's a blood mage, and the first thing she does is bring Flemeth back to life with some mysterious amulet. Later in her side quest, she tries to summon a demon with blood magic and endangers her Dalish village. So you've got this cute, seemingly innocent character who even carries her sweet banter into party conversations with Fenris, but then suddenly she's a DEMON-CONJURING BLOOD MAGE! There's a difference between a character being one-dimensional and a character that just doesn't make any sense within its own context. It's like if you met some sweet stray dog at a park that you decided to adopt because it was licking your face and wagging its tail, then once you took it home you discovered it was secretly rabid and hungered for
human flesh. Yeah, that's basically Merrill in a nutshell.
*CONCLUSION*
So there you have it. Simplified story, simplified characters, simplified dialogue, and simplified combat. Remember Mass Effect 2? That's basically what happened to Dragon Age II as well. It's still an enjoyable game, and I'm not sorry I purchased it, but if you came into it expecting a flashier version of Origins with the same amount
of depth you'll probably be disappointed too. My rating would be a solid 7 out of 10. It was fun and overall a fairly good game, but definitely plagued by comparisons to a superior predecessor. | video-games_xbox |
Can someone please translate. whatever message Microsoft is trying to convey into something that I might better be able to understand, like Yiddish or that Bushman clicking language? As it stands, I have no idea whether Microsoft is seriously claiming that the world's salvation comes from whims, irrationality, and delusions or if it's simply the case that it could really use a heart, just like the tin man in The Wizard of Oz. As this review will make clear, its precepts have caused widespread social alienation, and from this alienation a thousand social pathologies have sprung. Life isn't fair. We've all known this since the beginning of time, so why is Microsoft so compelled to complain about situations over which it has no control? Apparently, even know-it-all Microsoft doesn't know the answer to that one. It wouldn't matter if it did, given that its cause is not glorious. It is not wonderful. It is not good. A small child really couldn't understand that Microsoft's encomiasts want so much to ascribe opinions to me that I don't even hold that the concept of right vs. wrong never comes up. But any adult can easily grasp that Microsoft bickers and argues over petty things. It's that simple.
Unfortunately, Microsoft's scabrous invectives neglect to take one important factor into consideration: human nature. If Microsoft were to require religious services around the world to begin with "Microsoft is great; Microsoft is good; we thank Microsoft for our daily food", it would be a grave insult to everyone who devoted his or her life's work to helping the less fortunate. Why? That's easy. Microsoft argues that a totalitarian dictatorship is the best form of government we could possibly have. To maintain this thesis, Microsoft naturally has had to shovel away a mountain of evidence, which it does by the desperate expedient of claiming that McCarthyism is the only alternative to neocolonialism. The poisonous wine of Comstockism had been distilled long before Microsoft entered the scene. Microsoft is merely the agent decanting the poisonous fluid from its bottle into the jug that is world humanity.
Microsoft's shills remain a small isolated minority, except during times of economic or social stress, when a mass following develops to blame rude beggars for the problems besetting society. How does Microsoft deal with this fascinating piece of information? It utterly ignores it. In the course of my work, I regularly come in contact with intrusive extortionists, and most of them also feel that everyone ought to read my award-winning essay, "The Naked Aggression of Microsoft". In it, I chronicle all of Microsoft's obiter dicta, from the ignominious to the drugged-out, and conclude that I normally prefer to listen than to speak. I would, however, like to remind Microsoft that even if one is opposed to stentorian favoritism (and I am), then surely, I wouldn't want to gag free speech. I would, on the other hand, love to give our young people the values that will inspire them to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. But, hey, I'm already doing that with this letter. There's a lot of talk nowadays about Microsoft's ridiculous offhand remarks but not much action. I have seen what Microsoft is capable of, and I am afraid. I am very afraid and I am very angry. What we are dealing with here is fashion, politics, and money. And that's all I have to say. | video-games_xbox |
Good old fashioned Chaos! The best kind. After seeing the displays in every store I went into, i finally decided to break down and buy this game, and boy am i glad i did. This game is super simple to play with really only two buttons used (triangle and square on the PS3) and no jumping makes this game really easy to play for the younger players and i think fans of the old school platform games will really enjoy this one as well.
The game comes with three characters (Gill Grunt, Spyro, and Trigger Happy) These three are a great trio to start with, (Trigger Happy is my favorite) however you will need to buy more characters to access certain parts of the game. I bought one of each elements so that i could go everywhere and do everything. This can get expensive, but it is well worth it for the quick changing that can be done via the portal of power. If you need a different Skylander, just remove the one that you are using and replace it with a different one.
The game play is simple with very little reading for the little ones that still have trouble reading, however the speech is audible and the kids can just listen.
All in all i would recommend this game to anyone who has little ones or is a fan of the platform games. The game offers a two player co-op mode so parents can play along. The game also offers a few mini games including battle mode, a football type game and grab the gems. These games are fun and a good way to test drive new characters.
One of the most amazing features is the fact that the figures are cross platform compatible. For instance, if i want to take my figures for PS3 over to a friends house who has an XBOX 360 or Wii, then its no problem all of the information is stored in the figure.
(Updated Review 28 October 2012)
Having owned the game now for about a year I have the following comments about the game now.
1) I now have 20 different Skylanders. I am one of those guys who has to get all of them. However, some of them are just no good. Wrecking Ball so far i have used the least with others i personally don't care for are Sonic Boom, Warnado, and Lighting Rod.
2) The game looses some of its play value over time. It gets to the point after you have beaten the game you find yourself replaying the levels trying to earn money and level up the Skylanders you don't use as much (The Quick Silver Vault is the best level for this you can usually gain at least two levels and earn about 1500 "dollars" in the level.)
3) I found my "dream team" when it comes to skylanders. They are as follows: Trigger Happy (This guy just throws lead everywhere), Zook (He gets super powerful by level 10), Gilgrunt (He shoots harpoons three at a time), Ghost Roaster (When he turns into a giant flaming skull he can't be stopped), Drobot and Double Trouble.
4) Finding the remaining Skylanders i need to complete the collection is the hardest thing EVER! And no way am i buying them on the secondary market. No skylander is worth 45 dollars.
Skylanders is still a really fun game. I can't wait to play Skylanders Giants. | video-games_xbox |
Rent First, Seriously Over-Rated. This game looks, feels and sounds epic...but it falls short in overall fun and entertainment. It is obvious by alot of reviewers and their comments that many of these 5 star ratings this game is geting is based on the strong sexual content of this game rather than gameplay. The story is awesome the characters are awesome but the game,,,not so much.
The difficulty level on normal is ridiculously hard and the easy level is waaay too easy. You spend most of your time wondering around lost with no sense of direction. The game omits certain parts of your quests to the point where you will sit and be like " how would I have ever figured this out?" I am a hardcore gamer, and problably have played more games-more frequently than several people on here- and this has to be the hardest game (besides Dark Souls) I have played in years. Which typically isn't a bad thing when you are rewarded properly. In this game, the loot is BLAH..boring and everything looks the same , does similar damage unlike games like Skyrim and Sacred 2. The battle is sub-par , cool at first and then just boring after that.
There is no fast-travel, really confusing and vague side missions. (You have to make sure you read your quest book that comes with the game because they purposely leave things out to make you read it...IF YOU BUY THIS GAME AND THERE IS NO QUEST BOOK SEND IT BACK.
On the bright side the story is intriuging and well-thought out,, the characters are great and really make you laugh and ofcourse the sex that everyone raves about is a nice touch...a little odd at points but nice. The only character I have a problem with is Geralt is talks and acts like he is on Lithium and never changes his tone of voice or expressions. This is just my opinion, I don't mean to put down anyone else's review I just feel this game is honestly geting unjust ratings for what it is. The gameplay is the most important thing and overal it just falls short and its sad because this could seriously be an epic game.
Update...invisable walls and insanely confusing and frustrating navigation did me in by about the middle of chapter 2. Amazon is offering 30.00 for trade-in credit at least lol | video-games_xbox |
My Pregnant Wife and Mother in Law. This is not meant to be a big in-depth review. I merely want to state the features from Dance Central 1 (DC1) that were important to me and how they are matched or better in Dance Central 2 (DC2). But first I want to say that my pregnant wife and mother-n-law are having a blast playing it.
Menu/Navigation:
DC1 was my favorite Kinect game to navigate, second is Your Shape. It just is so intuitive to just stick out your hands and swipe. I find menus that require you to hover more annoying and difficult to navigate. DC2 maintains the DC1's navigation style and adds a nice click sound to it. Doesn't really add anything but more importantly doesn't take anything away. What makes navigation in DC2 better though is the incorporated voice controls, they are responsive enough to use and have so far been coming in very handy. What I like most about the voice commands is that you don't have to pause after you say "xbox" and then say "Dance", you just say "Xbox Dance". Nice. I use it most in break down mode, Love it.
Learning Moves and Slow Mode:
I think something that all people enjoy about DC1 is how accurately you have to do the moves to make them count. But this requires a good system to help you learn them. DC1 had an adequate system. You always had the option to slow down a move and learn it in slow mo and then speed up once you felt ready. The only issue was when it let you continue onto the next move before you wanted to, there was no way (that I know of) to go back. DC2 incorporates the same slow mo training but adds a few extra options. It allows you to go back to previous moves if it skips on to another move before you are done, Big Plus. You can do this by either saying "Xbox Previous" or lifting your right arm at 45 degrees to bring up the menu and select "previous." To go into slow mo you must say "Xbox Slowdown" or use your right arm. I kind of miss the old swipe left at the top of the screen to slow down as it was fast, but I understand why they took it out; I can remember several times when I'd accidentally swipe upper left and go into slow mo when I didn't want to. Using your voice to give the xbox commands to go to the into slow mo is just as fast, but you can't turn your music up so loud your neighbors can hear because you xbox won't be able to hear you. But you can have the volume at a decent level. My voice had to be nice and firm though (not shouting), of course you can probably speak quieter if you reduce the TV volume even more. You can of course skip ahead a move as well and you now have the ability to focus on specific moves from the menu. This is a huge plus. So happy to see all these additions.
Accuracy of Moves and 2-Player:
While I loved DC1, like everyone else I wanted 2 players to be able to be tracked at the same time. As you know DC2 does. My main fear was a loss of accuracy with tracking two players. I have not yet noticed any reduction of accuracy. This is such a big accomplishment for DC2 and probably the biggest plus. No more feeling dumb dancing by myself. Now I just have to make sure I don't knock out my wife when I swing or kick out my arm/legs during some of the moves.
Funny Videos of yourself:
DC1 as you probably know had moments during each song when you could self-dance and then it would play it back to you and you could laugh at yourself. DC2 continues this but also incorporates and self video when you are learning a move. You have the option to record and view yourself trying to do a move. This is a cool feature. Not sure how useful it is yet.
What Else:
There are a couple more things worthy of note.
-First: The music selection is great, no complaint there.
-Second: It allows the second player to jump in and out of a song. This is one of my favorite features in these types of games.
-Third: it identifies each player pretty well and will ask if it's confused. I like that. Games that don't do this well are annoying, sometimes I have had to restart such games just because it identified the wrong person and had no way to correct it in game.
-Fourth: There are some minor additions to graphics and play cards that make the experience just a little bit more fun.
I hope this review has helped. There has been nothing yet that I liked about DC1 that is not in DC2. I am very happy to say that DC2 keeps what was good about DC1 and adds only what will make it just that much better. A hard task too accomplish that many companies do not always accomplish. | video-games_xbox |
A good final effort from Ascaron, but not enough. With Diablo, Torchlight, and Borderlands all having lavish sequels, it's a good time to look back at Ascaron's Sacred sequel, which ended up being their final game before bankruptcy and closure.
The original Sacred was something of a sleeper hit. With solidly 2d environment graphics (the characters were 3d) it actually looked a little more dated than Diablo 2, but it had a very clean sharp aesthetic and its intense customization, huge open world, and streak of cheeky naughtiness made it a star, particularly with older gamers. In my heady college days it was a recurring LAN party favorite, although Titan Quest effectively dethroned it.
Sacred 2 was a bold attempt to do all that Sacred 1 did but with modernity. Now in full 3d, with a detail level comparable to Oblivion, dynamic lighting, and tons of environments, Sacred 2 was certainly a quantum leap forward in looks for the series. It also features a huge volume of voice acting, customizable skills (narrowly sneaking in ahead of D3's rune system) and just as many Easter eggs and rare items as its predecessor.
And yet, something about Sacred 2 feels off. The controls feel a little less responsive, and the skills feel less balanced- generally within an hour of starting you will know what moves your character will use for the rest of the game. The world is huge and visually gorgeous, yet you feel very confined to artificial paths through it- much of what you see on the map is inaccessible obstacle terrain, and by the final quarter of the game it has become hopelessly linear. And while the characters look vastly better than they did in the first title, they lack the appealing oddball character of the characters in the original (with the exception of the inquisitor, an awesome villain-protagonist who seems to be channeling Emperor Palpatine by way of a Luc Besson gangster film). Sacred 2 bombards you with exotic locations and numerous characters, but they quickly become a slog, a grindy obstacle course you shoot your way through without paying much attention. In Sacred 1 there was a joy to discovering new areas, but in spite of the lavish artistry on display 2 does not capture this fun.
Part of the problem may also be the story. Sacred 1 had a pretty easy to follow one: There is an evil wizard who has summoned a demon and you must go swat them, and also a crooked baron who is using the chaos to take over the kingdom. In the expansion it was boiled down further to "go to hell and rescue this lady." Sacred 2 has a huge incomprehensible plot which is never well explained, but which I will try to summarize:
-God is an alien
-The Seraphim (chesty warrior cyborg women with a predilection for laser guns and jailbait haircuts) work for God but they get tired of doing nothing all day, so they build their own planet (this all directly contradicts the lore of the first game in which Seraphim were mutant elves bred to fight demons but whatevs)
-The Seraphim's crapsack planet goes all to pot, the inhabitants all start fighting and the pipes that pump the planet's power source (a blue goo called T-Energy) start bursting, mutating wildlife into monsters and also somehow teaching people magic
-The morally gray elven government finds the source of all T-energy, a wrecked spaceship that the Seraphim apparantly did NOT build, and which is full of robot dog men
-Everyone starts fighting over T-energy and you have to make your way to the spaceship and fight giant robot ants so you can either shut it off or exploit its power
Not one bit of this makes sense or is worth following, and indeed the game is at its best when you are engaging in a series of unrelated quests.
I am picking on Sacred 2 awfully hard, but the truth is that it was a step in the right direction. Unlike Sacred 1, it was visually modern, sumptuously designed, and in spite of being total nonsense, worth playing at least once. If you choose to however, I recommend against this version. The more complete Sacred 2 Gold, which includes the Ice and Blood expansion is now available on Steam, and while you can modify the US release of Sacred 2 to accept the Europe-only expansion, the all-in-1 represents a better value proposition.
Mention must also be made of multiplayer: It was horribly laggy at launch, and as far as I know, is now dead (unless current IP owner Deep Silver maintains it). Were I you I would not buy this game expecting a satisfying coop experience.
PROS:
-Looks Great
-Soundtrack includes music by German epic metal legends Blind Guardian!
-Tons of skills, loot, and customization
-Huge gameworld to explore
CONS:
-Less rewarding and re-playable than Sacred 1 or many competing contemporaries
-Awkward feel to controls
-Largely forgettable cast
-Quickly becomes numbingly easy
-Little incentive to complete higher difficulties
-Requirements far exceed what you get visually
OTHER NOTES:
-The collector's edition of this game came with a high-def texture pack that confers lag-inducing beauty upon the world. You can download this both as an official patch and unofficial mod pack.
-One of the game's strongest points is that each character has their own campaign alongside the main story, and this campaign further changes depending on your alignment. This feature was meant to appear in Sacred 1, but except for the Vampiress, all the character's arcs end when the reach the first hub town.
-Sacred 1 was released censored for violence in the US. Not so with 2; you can dismember your enemies with abandon now.
-For all its mucking about with Canon, Sacred 2 is a solid prequel in many ways. The high elven society in 2 will eventually collapse into the aescetic wood elves and depraved, decadent dark elves of the first title, and the Dryads will eventually be trapped in the underworld by the time of the first game. Dwarves, for some reason, are absent from Sacred 2, although by all rights they should be all over the place. Then again, this game could easily be a prequel in name only, nothing that happens in-game explicitly precedes the first title.
-The high elf's story arc is entirely about her trying to get out of Student Loan debt. Methinks one of the writers was a little bitter about college. | video-games_xbox |
A Huge disappointment. The graphics are an improvement they look pretty impressive. However the gameplay seemed to have decreased in quality for example: Ducking wasn't like the first Mass Effect this seemed to have gotten ruined, i died several times because of this. The problem was when ducked you suddenly stand up in a gun fight and get shot up, due to changing a weapon or using a power like unity. And when a heavy weapon blast hits where you are ducked you stand up and get shot; and you take like almost a second to be able to reduck, in some situations you die. On M.E.1 when you were ducked you would stay put which is what i liked.
Another problem was ammo you now run out of ammo. Unlike the first M.E. where you had unlimited ammo which was a good thing, it is now gone. You only get like 60 rounds in the pistol , and about 20 rounds in the shotgun. I thought according to M.E.1 that ammo was no longer a problem; on one of the codec entries, it expained the ammo situation. Looks like the creators didn't live up to the fans expectations on this one making it a typical game.
The third problem was the storyline it started good at first, but if the reapers are the ultimate enemy and shepard defeated one, how did the collectors defeat shepard and the normandy that easily? rediculous. Then the crew missions were kind of stupid but understandable; the only problem was there were too many crew members to recruit, basically taking up a majority of the game. There weren't enough missions on the collectors, which i thought were the main enemy for this game. The ending was stupid it was basically the same reason saren on the first M.E. was killing human colonies. And they have to make part three now.
And the final problem was the dialogue system and the women. The problem with the dialogue was you cant really choose what you want to do, basically making you decide what to do by force on some situations like choosing in the end what woman you want. Why can't you have both or all, if according to the advertised feature was taking control of a situation, it is untrue.
My conclusion is the creators should have left everything almost the same like the first one; the duck button was a good idea if only the player would stay glued to the ducking area to avoid getting killed and the unlimited ammo feature was stupid to exclude. On M.E.3 they should bring that feature back and fix the ducking problem.
If you are interested in M.E. games it doesn't matter which one you buy first but the first one explains who the reapers are. | video-games_xbox |
Mediocre game ruined by Blizzard. Let me start by saying this game has its good points, and that I can't speak for every console, but no matter how many good points it might have it doesn't out weight the fact this is a steaming pile of refuse on the Xbox1.
Let's start with an itemized list of pros and cons.
Pro:
1. Fairly well made as far as FPS goes, characters are fun and maps are pretty solid.
2. Good tone, everything seems in line with what you'd expect as far as "feel" of the universe goes.
3. Only a few balance issues. Characters are all pretty much in line, but certain maps are dominated by certain heroes and there's still a few "throw away" heroes in the mix.
Cons:
1. You're paying full price for a game that isn't finished. This would be like paying for a pizza and day one they give you the bread, but then over the course of several months they give you one topping at a time. And maybe if you're lucky and the pizza hasn't gone bad by the time you get each individual topping, they will cook it for you.
2. Repetitive as hell. Refer to first con. The game is small by indie definition let alone AAA gaming.
3. It's a poorly done clone of several good games. Now there's nothing wrong with clones, sometimes they can be better than the original, but this game is the equivalent of soggy bread. It's still bread, and people like bread, but there are way better options out there.
4. Reward bait. This is basically, in my mind at least, a criminal practice. Most people, because human psychology is sadly predictable, will continue to play this game only because they want to unlock things. Knowing this Blizzard is using skins and s*** spray paints to keep people hooked long enough to get their s*** together to finish what is a full priced BETA.
I've logged something like 200 hours in this game, in the hopes that it will get better because it has so much potential, but at every turn I am met with let downs. This game feels like the CEO of Blizzard didn't want to make this, and rushed it out the door only to be surprised that people bought it. The same CEO is now trying to turn this into a competitive game inline with DOTA, which would be awesome. If it was a finished game. Or good. Or wasn't just a generic FPS that is trying to be fun and serious but manages to do neither. It lacks the brevity and skill of games like DoTA and LoL, and lacks the soul of TF2. What you're left with is a series of round based King of the Hill games, because somehow the only mode they could think of was "capture the point" and "escort the payload" which is basically capture the point but with more walking.
Oh, and matchmaking is awful. I have no idea what kind of ELO system they use, or even if they use it, but if you are in solo que on the xbox one you are basically throwing glass into a hurricane and hoping it doesn't get in your eyes. If you want more proof on this, google "Overwatch Matchmaking sucks". At the best of times in solo que I have about a 50/50 win loss no matter what "rank" my team is, or how many golds I consistently get. Now I'd say about 80% of those wins / losses are complete curb stomps. I'm talking people on one of the teams only getting 1 or 2 kills after 20 minutes of gameplay, or no one ever captures the first point. I remember one loss in particular where the enemy team captured both points in under 2 minutes without ever losing a single person in competitive play. I rarely, if ever, get games that feel either enjoyable or where both teams are equal or at least within a certain range of skill. This new competitive season that number has dwindled even more. Team que isn't as awful, but is still pretty horrible compared to other games.
I've actually had the pleasure to talk to a few people that work at Blizzard, note that they weren't the creators of the game, just a few of the lower tier employees that work in various departments that I've got to know over the years. And most of them feel that the game was indeed rushed out the door, and one even said that a few of the higher ups knew it wasn't really fit for a full release. Of course whether if this is true or not, I guess that is dependent on faith in me and my faith in friends. But I think at the very least it's a good indicator you've been scammed when employees in the company admit that they have the same complaints as the customers.
To sum it up, Blizzard probably willingly sold you a beta for full price. Which should be illegal.
The game itself is overall, awful compared to the other options out there unless you plan on playing with 5 friends who all happen to be the same exact skill level. | video-games_xbox |
THE reason to have an Xbox 360. I have now played through this game three times in campaign mode. I have solved it on Casual, Hardcore and Insane difficulty levels. It doesn't get old. I have not played a game more than three times over since the first Tomb Raider on the original PlayStation back in 1996-97. Now after over a year since this game came out and playing other titles such as BioShock, Lost Planet, GRAW, GRAW 2, Rainbow 6 Vegas, Medal of Honor: Airborne and now Halo 3...it is my opinion that this is THE best title that the Xbox 360 system has to offer! If you have a 360, then you should be required to have this game...actually Microsoft should just load this game on the hard drive of all 360s from now on...
The graphics are the most amazing and impressive I have seen on any game console ever! The story is well written and compelling. Your earth-like world is being taken over by creatures from underground...and you have some cool weapons to use in the fight. A machine gun that has a chainsaw bayonet is the main weapon...and my favorite. You can blindly shoot over walls while taking cover or you can zero in with the sights with your finger on the trigger. For close quarters, you fire up the chainsaw and hack your enemies in half. The action is non-stop! There are grenades that stick to your enemies, smoke grenades, grenade launchers, shotguns, sniper rifles, pistols and crossbow styled weapons that shoot exploding arrows that stick to your targets!
The online features are packed with replay value...you can play the campaign in CO-OP mode with a friend from Xbox LIVE, or in a death match Xbox LIVE mode with multiple players. I just have to say again that the REPLAY VALUE is great with this game...there are essentially three ways to play...by yourself in campaign, online with a friend in CO-OP campaign mode, or online in team based multiplayer games. There are multiple maps and even more downloadable through Xbox Live. | video-games_xbox |
Same old great gaming platform, new design. First off, let's hope these new designs don't suffer any of the same (or new!) problems -- RRoD anyone?
You have a few options in what bundle you get. You can choose between a 4GB and 250GB hard drive. Kinect will be bundled later this year with some other packages.
These pros and cons are really for comparing the new 360 S with the older 360 models.
Pros:
- New sleek design. Smooth black matte finish. Meshes nicely with my other A/V components.
- More vents. New side vent. Top and bottom vents seem to have a little more airflow.
- Quiet. Runs much more quietly than the previous models.
- Built in Wi-Fi supports 802.11 b/g/n. Mine connected flawlessly to my wireless router initially. I then changed it to work over Ethernet since I already had it wired.
- Additional USB ports. Five total - two in front, three in back. Easy to add additional drives.
- Optical audio port added for those not using HDMI but want the better audio fidelity.
- Hard drive is internal - helping make the design smaller.
Cons:
- Bottom vent, if unit used vertically, completely blocked and very warm. Doesn't make me feel good using it in this position with all of the heat problems of the previous builds.
- No HDMI cable included.
- No support for Blu-Ray. OK ... I know Microsoft doesn't want to cozy up to Sony and pay licensing fees, but this would have made the 360 a complete system and could have really crushed PS3 sales.
- Still lacking in support for some codecs for playing video files, but this is more of a software issue than hardware at this point.
- Runs hot. Not sure if the cooling is adequate but time will tell. With that said, my other A/V components can run just as hot but they never suffered the fate(s) of the original XBOX360s.
- Initial storage options are limited. 4GB or 250GB -- and expensive $ per gigabyte. Better off buying your own non-Microsoft external HD.
All in all, it's an excellent unit for under $200. Some of the general features of the 360: Compatible with all the old games as well as the new Kinect sensor (sold separately or bundled). It makes a very good media player that can play files from attached drives or your media server (PC) and has a Netflix application for streaming movies for those that have XBOX Live and a Netflix account. | video-games_xbox |
Gears 1 (A-) Gears 2 (A) Gears 3 (B. Game Play:
This review is based only on the single player campaign on hardcore difficulty setting because the insane one that I would have pick was locked. First off the Gears series as a whole have nice graphics and usually tight cover based gameplay. This one in the series I felt seriously lacking as far as the hardcore difficulty setting was. The settings seem too vast for the action that was taking place (in other words the map was too big and the enemies were too few). Enemies were not intelligent and were pretty easy to take out. I was nearly able to run up and chainsaw my way through half the game. The rest was just run up and gun. That's all I have to say for the gameplay at that setting. Tonight I'll may give a try if I could even stand to go through it again on the insane setting.
Plot:
Now the story (no spoilers contained). The story in the game was decent. I think they were trying to go for an emotional pull but from my view it didn't work the characters remained lifeless. And some of the voice acting felt forced. The story felt like a typical popcorn action flick. Main characters want to save the world and a few perish along the way but in the end everything is set.
Graphics:
And finally the graphics which I believe is the main reason plenty of people bought the game. From the previous two this one goes to plenty of different locales showing nice vibrant colors. In other words it looks pretty spectacular on screen. Some minor graphic complaints are I noticed when turning to view other areas at times places will flash. Also upon transitions from cinema scenes to in game graphics the engine takes a while to get the environment back in form. As far as the cinematics go they really do pale in comparison to the in game graphics. Probably because they had to compress them is why they look so different.
Parental Advisory:
And for parents who want to know about the maturity level as far as in game action lots of blood and slaughtering of fictional beings that barely resemble humans. No sexual actions or sexual innuendo has taken place. The dialogue has obscenities that are not really used smartly in fact some of the obscenities were placed there just to be there.
Purchase worthy:
Well I received this game on release date 20 September and beat it on 24 September. Playing roughly two hours or less a night per night till Friday which was four hours and Saturday which was around six hours. If your going only for the multiplayer and love it purchase away. If your only going to play the single player campaign I suggest a rental. Full admission for the single player campaign is not necessary. | video-games_xbox |
Average Addition to a Now Average Franchise. I have been playing this franchise since BF 1942 was first released for a PC. So, its been a while. Starting with BF 3, the franchise started a slow slide into mediocrity. Because of my very lukewarm love of BF 3, I decided to not buy this on release day like I had all prior entries in this franchise. Glad I waited given all the now legendary launch problems, gameplay glitches, and massive patches. I picked this up on sale for $30.
The good news is the bugs appear to be gone. The multiplayer plays as it should. The not so good news is the gameplay is identical to BF 3. It looks the same, plays the same, and for all intents and purposes BF 4 appears identical to BF 3. The campaign is the exact same tired formula you have played in every other modern military shooter. Even on the hardest difficulty setting, I am a bullet sponge who can absorb absurd amounts of damage. For a game that prides itself on being a bit more grounded and realstic than COD, I find this to be immersion breaking. My AI teammates also appear immune to enemy grenades. Of course when I go into McDonalds I expect McDonalds food. But even McDonalds adds some new menu items from time to time to keep things fresh. No such variety in BF 4.
I was also disappointed with the graphics. I am not one to overlook gameplay in favor of graphics, but I was really expecting BF4 to pop on the Xbox One. Instead, the MP maps look muddy and muted. It is actually difficult to see at times. I am switching back and forth from this game and the new Wolfenstein - and the latter game's graphics really pop and are impressive on the Xbox One. So, I know it's not just me or my TV. I also googled the issue and saw similar complaints. I point this out only so you don't pop in the disk and expect "next-gen" graphics from BF 4. The campaign graphics are a little better than the MP, but they are nothing that will make you go "wow."
The other item I have an issue with are the game modes and multiple weapons that are shown as menu items and weapon options but are only available with expansion purchases/premium membership. It leaves the impression that EA has sold me 80% of a game and if I want the remaining 20% I must pay another $50. It's not a consumer-friendly business model, especially after how they have botched and degraded this franchise. Frankly, these "pay-to-win" additional weapons and extra game modes/maps should be free to restore some good will from players. EA is crazy if they think customers will flock to the already announced next addition to this franchise.
If you decide to try this game, I can't recommend spending a dollar more than the $30 I spent. Better yet, wait for the inevitable drops to $25 or $20, especially if you think you might also purchase the premium content. | video-games_xbox |
One of the Best Superhero Games. I have eagerly anticipated the Spider-Man game for about two months now, and I'm not disappointed at all.
The game is supposedly loosely based on the movie, although they've thrown a few wrinkles in, like adding supervillains Shocker, Vulture, Kraven the Hunter, and Scorpion, in addition to the Green Goblin. Tobey Maguire is the voice of Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe is the Green Goblin, with Bruce Campbell voicing the "tour guide", who explains how things work in the game.
The gameplay is very well done. Spider-Man moves just like he does in the movie previews. Fights are well done, especially the boss battles, which are unpredictable and difficult, but not impossible. The control scheme, even the "enhanced" version, is easy to master and use. The only problem is that, occasionally, when you're crawling on a wall, Spider-Man won't go the way you want him to. Also, you constantly have to readjust the camera so that you can see what you're doing. The one other complaint is that certain "stealth" missions are almost impossible to stay stealthy in.
The game is absolutely stunning to look at, especially the outdoor areas. The cityscapes are huge and highly detailed. You can't tell the difference between foreground and background. The enemy characters are also highly detailed and look as real as the main characters. There is also no hint of slowdown at all.
The music in the game is also excellent. I'm not sure, but I think it comes straight from the movie. Most of the voice acting is top-notch, especially Dafoe's Green Goblin. Unfortunately, the exception is Maguire as Spider-Man. He's extremely low-key and at times seems like he's disinterested completely. Making up for that is some snappy writing, especially the trademark Peter Parker sarcasm.
Overall, the game is exceptionally well done. There are little problems that only slightly lessen the experience. The bonuses they included also make this a worthwhile investment. I'd recommend to any Spider-Fan or action game fan. | video-games_xbox |
And enjoy when I see innovation in technology What the console . Disclaimer : I have had the console for 1 week as of the time of this review, I've owned ljust about every major video game console since the 64. And enjoy when I see innovation in technology
What the console does good : even though the console is from a technical standpoint inferior to the PS4 it still looks very sharp, and experiences no trouble loading a game or other such simple tasks.
Everything else : unfortunately that's where it ends and a polotgyst of disappointments begin, the Controller... While it feels great in the hand.. People we are in 2015 and I get a controller with a standard battery pack and no charger, that's outlandish, the 360 came with one and at least the original came with wires so you didn't have to worry about charging it! Although I'll give it some credit the controller has lasted a decent amount of time in the 20-25 hours I've spent playing (keep in mind this is not the fault of the vendor, I checked on Microsoft website to ensure this was what would normally come with the xbox one and this is the same as what they would provide.)
Next the aesthetically difference, while it does look glossy on one half of the console it's huge, it looks like a VCR I actually had my father ask me why I bought a VCR lol
That being said I do understand that Microsoft was attempting to alleviate any further ring of death style problems with plenty of vent space, that being said Sony PS4 has a much nicer more futuristic design with more processing power and has had not problems with heating, and looks much nicer in my opinion, this could just be me though
The kinect..... Oh dear Microsoft I understand you were under different management during the initial realise of the console... Especially since you can clearly tell Microsoft newer approach to the consumer however some old mistakes still Haun the xbox one, what I mean by this is that by choosing to not purchase the kinect your loosing out on an absurd amount of features that are integrated into the consoles software, like voice activation and Skype, it's not that these features are bad per say, but I don't particularly appreciate having to buy a superlative glorified video camera to use these features on my already high priced console. You can clearly Tell that the One and the kinect were built for each other.. That relationship has been pretty one sided if you ask me lol
Finally the storage, so with one update and three games I'm down to 267 gb out of a supposed 500, but you'll initially loose about 75 gb on updates alone, so be prepared to either by the 1tb which I should have done, or to buy some external hard drives, cause that space will go quickly. I understand that due to the I crease in graphical capabilities games will naturally be bigger to incorporate all the data necessary for such stunning games to exist, but in my opinion Microsoft should have released the console with 1tb, same thing for the PS4 and don't even get me started on Nintendo mesealy 32 gb option lol that being said I also understand that it's all clever marketing to sell more consoles in the future, brilliant for the company, disappointing and frustrating for the consumer
All this being said the console runs great I here virtually no noise from itit, start up times are quick, and the software is alright but that's just it, it's a good console where it could have been a great console... I recommend this model if your looking for a cheaper option, however be prepared to loose some functionality without the kinect, if you can afford it then I recommend waiting on the 1tb version bundles you'll get much more for your money but without a bundle the don't bother. simply buy an external hard drive which is a great fix for the cheaper model down the line once you aquire the necessary funds as well,
So their you have it an okay console due to hinderences taking away from its ability to be great | video-games_xbox |
Great game, but there IS room for improvement. Fight Night Round 3 was one of my first experiences with the Xbox 360 and next-gen gaming in general, and I was definitely impressed. Graphically speaking, this game is beautiful...the level of detail is superb; 2 years later it is still hard to find games that outshine this one in that regard. The controls were very intuitive with a low learning curve; within 1 or 2 practice rounds I was able to pull off some great combinations...pretty impressive since the last boxing game I played for more than 10 minutes was Mike Tyson's Punchout about a billion years ago. If you're looking for a button-masher then this is not the game for you...this game does well to encourage you to box strategically, through blocking and parrying to well-timed counter-punches. If you're the type to run out swinging, be aware that while you can bully your way through your first few fights, you will quickly be knocked down once your career starts to take off and you start fighting some real opponents. Fighting your way through career mode is very rewarding, and through the training mini-games you can really tailor your fighter to fit your style of playing, be it as a hulking powerhouse or a lightning fast counter-puncher.
However, there are some downsides...by far the most annoying thing is the fact that this game is one giant advertisement. While prominent placement of brands like ESPN and Under Armour is to be expected in a game of this nature, and the Dodge stuff is almost excusable, the ridiculous amount of Burger King flair detracts from this game quite a bit...I mean, c'mon, the Burger King himself is a trainer (whose specialty is "heart")...wonder how much EA made from that deal? Also, the repetitive nature of the ring-side commentary gets a little grating at times (you'll hear the same phrases over and over and over again). Another gripe is trainer interaction...you'll hear your corner-man bemoaning the amount of "blood in your eyes" or "swelling" quite often...regardless if there is cuts or swelling at all. All in all, a little more work could have been done on the AI in this respect.
Much more minor gripes: The customization level is really good in terms of shaping your fighter's face and body, but other areas leave something to be desired, such as hairstyles (both head and face). A little more variety would have gone a long way in this regard, and being able to change the color of your gear would have been a great addition (I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to wear all black :) The soundtrack is pretty limited...I love hip-hop as much as the next guy, but hearing the same tracks over and over again gets old also. Luckily, it's only between fights, but an import feature for music would have been great, or even a little more variety.
All in all, despite these flaws, this is still a great game. Since it's pretty much as cheap as 360 games get at this point, it's value is hard to deny. I can honestly say I'd recommend this to almost anyone. | video-games_xbox |
A seismic shift forward in the FPS genre. At the Xbox One launch, I reluctantly purchased Call of Duty: Ghosts and instantly regretted the decision. The thrill that I had when I played Call of Duty 4 urged me to continue purchasing the annual release, but with each year's release (Especially beginning with MW3, BlOps2, and now Ghosts) it is blatently clear that the FPS formula is tired and uninspired (honestly having few major refinements since Quake). Call of Duty: Ghosts made me sad. Call of Duty: Ghosts made me feel like the FPS genre (that I love) was running on fumes and had nothing left to do to reinvent itself. Then the Titanfall beta happened.
Titanfall feels familiar to Call of Duty in the button configuration and basic mechanics, but the addition of jetpacks brings the consideration of verticality into the players equation. While "camping" had its benefits in COD, this is not the case in Titanfall. The verticality forces the player to continue moving as there are few "safe" areas to camp. Similarly, the inclusion of jetpacks for brief double jumps and wall runs creates opportunity to scale many buildings and jump across rooftops. I found myself having to relearn the FPS formula as Titanfall's fluidity offered so many more options for the player.
Graphically, the game looks great (not outstanding). But that is second to the level design and sharp controls. If you want a game that looks great (at the expense of gameplay) please buy Ryse. If you want a game that plays well and truly feels "next gen," Titanfall is the game for you.
Unlike others, I do not have a problem with the lack of a single player campaign. There is an "attempt" at a campaign (labeled "campaign") but i'm not sure I could write a one-sentence synopsis. But is that really a bad thing? Many FPS gamers only pay attention to the multiplayer component and this practice (of not including a single player campaign) isn't being pioneered by Respawn here. It's a AAA title without a single player (but with a REALLY good multiplayer).
My only gripe is a lack of multiplayer diversity. One would think that if the game lacks a single player then it would be brimming with multiplayer options. That isn't the case here. Don't get me wrong, the included modes are fun (expect for "Last Titan Standing"), but I do think more variety would be nice. Articles on the web suggest that DLC and updates should add modes (and up resolution. Gotta have more "P" because more "P" is better! Sigh. This resolution bit reminds me to the "bit" wars of the 90's. Few could tell you what a bit was then, few can explain the significance of a game in marginally higher resolution now.)
Pros:
+ Spectacular controls and gameplay
+ Takes the FPS genre forward by throwing verticality and significant movement into the equation
+ Good, balanced maps
+ Nice balance between pilots and titans
+ Great (not outstanding graphics)
+ Good online service (no server problems to date)
Cons:
- Lack of variety in multiplayer
4.75/5 (Five Stars) | video-games_xbox |
Dead Rising 4 Fails To Live Up To Expectations, But Is Still Enjoyable. I've played Dead Rising since the original, & this game has had both positive & negative updates since that time. Overall, I would rate the game 3/5 due to the pieces below. I would only recommend spending $35 +- on this game, not the release price:
Positives:
1) Graphics are intricate & you can tell developers spent a lot of time & effort building realistic environments & characters.
2) The game provides a good 48-72 hours worth of single player content (which can be spread out, depending on how often you play video games).
3) Capcom followed the Frank West MO & personality very well (EXCEPT for one highly disappointing piece later in the game).
Neutral:
1) Bringing back photography, which was a great part of Dead Rising 1, was a great idea, but overall it doesn't add much to the overall game experience.
2) Taking away the time restriction that was in previous Dead Rising games allows you to better explore the mall & town... but the time restriction also enhanced the experience by forcing the player to have to make choices of how to spend their time since time was limited.
Negatives:
1) One of the great themes of the Dead Rising series has been an immersive story line, which was supported by Psychopath cutscenes. These cutscenes were entirely eliminated in Dead Rising 4, which surely will disappoint any Dead Rising fan.
2) Occasional bugs/glitches. I had audio cut out during cutscenes twice (lips move, no volume), which made me force quit & restart the game.
3) Replay value is very low. The new multiplayer mode seems to be a big flop - but I wasn't buying a Capcom game expecting a great multiplayer experience.
4) Without spoiling too much, the ending is incredibly disappointing.
Buy Dead Rising 1, 2, or 3 before buying this game so you can see what a Dead Rising game is supposed to be like (preferably 1 or 2). | video-games_xbox |
GOOD but not Great. Here is why SF fans. BOTTOM LINE:
If you're a SF die-hard but can't justify the stick prices this is your BEST (and only) solution for now. It is a good (but not great) SF pad that offers a lot more than a 360 pad but in the same breath leaves a lot to be desired.
PRO|CON list. If you want the details behind my assessments then refer to the detailed explanations below.
PROS:
* 6 BUTTON LAY OUT
* WEIGHT, GRIP & CONTOUR.
* 2 SPEED TURBO FEATURE
CONS:
* D-PAD FUNCTIONALITY
* BUMPER QUALITY | NO TRIGGERS
* NO WIRELESS
DEBATABLE:
* PRICE TAG
Here's why in DETAIL:
*6 BUTTON LAYOUT.
This is extremely relieving after developing fricking arthritis from my 360 controller. The Size, Spacing and Depression of these buttons are great.
* WEIGHT, GRIP & CONTOUR.
The pad is VERY light, feels like a piece of Styrofoam in your hands. The rubber side grips are very helpful for maintaining control and the contour of the pad feels great. (Keep in mind I have big hands so historically this has been a gripe for me.)
*2 SPEED TURBO.
I never really used this feature in past pads, but for those of you who like "scrubbing" down your opponents with cheezy Honda slaps, Blanka voltages and BS Ken/Ryu crouch kicks & jabs - YOU will NOT be disappointed! This feature is brutal, works flawless and comes with 2 speed options.
CONS:
*D-PAD:
My biggest let down!
After using it's DP for a few hrs, regretfully I must say I was unimpressed. I can't count how many times I *intended* on jumping forward or backwards and ended up just jumping straight up and getting owned by the mistake.
One compliment, executing uppercuts and fire balls is very easy, almost TOO easy which is a bad thing if that's not the move you meant to do.
I had high expectations for this feature. Sure it beats the hell out of the 360's DP and analog, but for those of you who were broken-in on the SNES and SATURN DP - I feel your pain.
* CRAP BUMPERS NO TRIGGERS:
Some people may not care about triggers, but having that additional feature for EX Charges, Throws and Ultra Combos is one feature on the 360 I grew to like. All the other MKs 360 pads have it, why not here?
The bumpers are crap, they have poor button depression and feel very "plastic-clicky".
* NO WIRELESS:
Not the end of the world, but when you're shelling out more cash for a corded pad than an actual wireless 360 controller. Seriously.
* PRICE TAG:
Is it worth $60+ Bucks? Mmmm debatable. Right now because of supply and demand I guess you can't be anal about this. 3-6 mos from now when MK supply is in abundance and competitor pads | sticks are also available? Most likely NOT worth the present price tag.
ADVISE:
Unfortunately Mad Katz's controllers have never been known for stellar quality to say the least, but you get what you pay for right?
If available BUY the replacement policy! It's worth the extra 10 bucks! I know Best Buy offers one and I believe a few of the Amazon suppliers do also.
MY 2 CENTS:
Negative reviews based on "screw-jobs" by suppliers have zero relevance to the performance of a fight pad. This logic baffles me. | video-games_xbox |
SteamPunked. I really wanted to like this game. For one the atmosphere is really cool. The old style western meets futuristic steampunk is pretty neat and the set up for the story is certainly interesting. The whole thing kind of reminded me of an old 80's cartoon called Bravestarr which I thought was awesome when I was eight years old. I also like the alternate history of the civil war where a weapons dealer sells measures and counter measures to both sides extending the length of the war and ultimately rising to power. All this is well and good but the story following a small group of freedom fighters against said arms dealer is very poorly told with a ton of awkward voice acting.
Really, that's the entire problem with this game, with every good thing it does, it turns around and does like two things wrong. The graphics are good from a technical standpoint, the draw distance and scenery look breathtaking at parts but then the textures look like something running on a PS2. The shooting is lacking and the biggest problem is that the A.I. for your allies and enemies sucks and there's absolutely no cover system which is odd as this game tries real hard to be Gears of war. The jumping mechanics and climbing are all well done with lots of polish so it's really baffling how they screwed up the shooting and drving so much.
Another strong gripe is that the boss battles are bland, all four of them and two of the fights are with the same girl whose voice acting is awful. Seriously, I think someone on the dev team had their girlfriend read the lines because they went over budget. On that note, this game is full of weird glitches and bugs and the game has random loading sequences that literally stops the game for like ten seconds. In one case they put a loading screen in the middle of a conversation.
So overall, it's not really terrible, but it sure is sad that this up and coming studio took a great concept for a game and nearly ruins it with lots of stupid problems. I can't really recommend this but if you find it under ten dollars like I did, you can certainly do worse, just make sure you jump in with lowered expectations. I say pick up Gears of War instead but if you want to try your hand at something a little different and aren't afraid to over look some of the serious issues, then give it a spin. | video-games_xbox |
A Good Game with a few flaws. First off let me say that NCAA football games have always been better than Madden on PS3. The NCAA games feel more realistic than the unbelievable antics of the Madden players. I love how WRs adjust to a play breaking down and change their routes. I also like how the RBs can break more tackles and assert their power. Gameplay is amazing and I have no complaints about that part of the game. My problem with this game is that it freezes from time to time. The auto save feature is great because if it freezes you don't lose much but it is still an inconvenience. Especially, when your team has a fantastic game and you rack up some impressive stats for your players' desires to win the Heisman Trophy. I just wanted to add that I am referring to Dynasty mode and it is the offline version. My other problem with this game is the recruiting process. I think the "updates" this year are awful. The developers and the guy in the tutorial claim that recruiting is now more competitive and gets you out of menus faster but it is so stripped down it makes recruiting pointless! Long gone are the phone calls, promises (unless I can't find out how to do them? There is a screen for managing promises but I have no idea how to promise something to a prospect), and promoting yourself as a coach to the recruit or preaching how great your school and its football program are. Basically you just dedicate points to the recruit and sit and hope they choose your school. You can schedule visits but only if you are in the recruit's top 5 list. Large schools have the advantage but if you are a person like me that likes to take small schools and make them winners you will not have any luck getting the highly touted prospects. It is a bit strange because you can take a small school all the way to a National Championship victory and a prospect will still choose LSU over your team even though LSU went 5-7. Overall it is a great game if it didn't freeze so much and if recruiting went back to what it was in previous titles. | video-games_xbox |
Jack of all trades (with a Live Gold subscription,) master of none. I expected this when I bought it, but I don't like the fact that I can't use a LOT of the features Microsoft touts without a Gold subscription. This includes Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Internet browsing, advanced TV functions, even some of the video recording features are all locked behind the Xbox Live Gold paywall. I don't want a Gold account at the moment because I don't care to play much online or communicate online with any friends. Being punished for this by blocking many services I already pay for or that are otherwise free feels like a kick in the balls and the system is really gimped and really sucks without a Gold account. It's almost like you pay for the hardware, but it's no good unless you pay a subscription fee.
My qualms with the paywall aside, the system is just OK. Games don't look much better than last gen and that too is expected. It'll take a while to fully take advantage of the additional power, but I noticed a lot of dropped frames playing the only game I have at the moment (Dead Rising 3.) I have a feeling it is due to the system running too much in the background and the hardware just can't keep up. The online experience (during my trial) was less than stellar, too. Took a while to find a person to join, then combined with the long load times and many players immediately leaving when I joined just made for an annoying experience. I figure if Microsoft wants you to get a Gold account, they could focus on making the online experience better instead of holding most of the other good features you shouldn't have to pay extra for as hostage.
Voice commands are amazing when they work but very frustrating when they don't. And they don't work a LOT. Most times, I like my gaming experience accompanied by loud, bass-heavy sound. This doesn't combine well with Kinect voice commands. Same goes for the TV viewing. Overall, the voice commands are gimmicky at best and not intuitive at all since it's not intelligent enough to know what you're asking it to do. You have to speak specific phrases. The snapping feature is terrible and usually adds noticeable performance degradation.
Hopefully, many of the issues can be resolved with software patches and such, but this system was a major letdown to me. Especially, again, because of the paywall holding hostage many features you shouldn't have to pay (or pay extra) for. | video-games_xbox |
Incredibly Comfortable - Flawed Dpad. I'd like to start off by saying that I have used literally TONS of controllers throughout the years. From Atari 2600's joystick to NES, Sega Genesis, N64 and Playstation (to name a few). Original controllers, third party-- you name it I've probably used it. I don't discriminate against brands when it comes to controllers. Ultimately the most important things to me are how comfortable the controller is and how well the buttons and sticks hold up to the test of time. I still have original NES controllers that perform flawlessly to this day (They're not very comfortable but hey they still work!).
I personally felt that the Xbox 360's controller was the most comfortable on the market but had one terrible flaw-- the dpad was janky and poorly designed. Fast forward 8 years after the inception of the 360 and here comes the Xbox One. The controller notably showed refinements such as better ergonomics, textured analog sticks, redesigned triggers, and most importantly a four-way directional pad.
When I received this controller I was amazed. It's more comfortable than the 360 controller, the proportions felt much better and less cramped. However, I have large hands so this may not apply to everyone. I feel that I should also note that I do not own an Xbox One, I specifically used this controller for PC gaming which it does flawlessly. It's plug and play with no hassle at all in Windows.
Fast forward approximately 10 months after my initial purchase. Slowly over time the dpad began to wear internally somehow. What I mean by this is when I press left or right the button skips back and forth very quickly. Pressing left once causes the button to go left, right, left, right. This is incredibly noticeable when trying to navigate menus in one of the main games that I play, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn / Heavensward. I have had this problem cause me to use skills/abilities when I don't intend to, and makes menu navigation a nightmare. I can honestly say that this disfunction negatively affected my gameplay many, MANY times. I have tried calibrating the controller numerous times to no avail. In my opinion it seems that there is some type of component in the controller that wears out with use over time. For me this happened in less than a year of this controller's life for me which is completely unacceptable. I still have a 360 wired controller and the dpad is horrible on that as well.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for people to review products after they have used them for some time. If I reviewed this controller when I first purchased it I would have given it five stars easily. Knowing the issues at hand I cannot recommend this controller to anyone based on my experience. If in the future Microsoft decides to fix this with a revision to future models I may try the controller again... For now I will be using a Playstation 4 controller on my PC.
PS. If you're from Microsoft and you're reading this send me an updated version of this controller if you have one! | video-games_xbox |
Boring. I had high hopes, being a veteran of RPG, action RPG, and everything in between. After about 8 hours, I'm just bored. I don't find the gameplay to be nearly as interesting as Fable or Reckoning (or even old 'action RPG' games like Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance). You can literally stand in one spot and hold the A button and bash wave after wave of enemy. There isn't any sort of strategy (such as in Dragon Age) to the combat. It's a repetitive cycle of 'use most powerful attack, while waiting for cooldown use next most powerful attack, drink a potion, start over'.
It lacks the story of games such as Dragon Age or Skyrim or Mass Effect. There isn't any real 'role playing' as there are no decisions to be made, no character developed. You go where the people tell you and you wander around large dungeons and simply bash thousands of mindless monsters. From what I've seen there is no real customization to the character - you just get piles of different items that fill a variety of slots. You don't spend XP on 'customizing' your character. There is no variance to the game play (melee vs stealth, for example) like you see in Skyrim.
The graphics are nowhere near what I expect in a 2013 game. Your on-screen PC is tiny, as are the enemies.
There is just no depth to this game. It almost plays like a 20 year old action masher - maybe it would be fun if I just had the A and B buttons of the NES controller.
If branded an 'action game', it would be weak in that regard. If branded an RPG, it would be weak from that perspective. It has a premier title, and falls short everywhere else. I should have spent $20 on an older game.
Edit: I went ahead and finished the game playing the Barbarian. It never got any better. I guess Blizzard wants me to play the game, again, on a more difficult setting. This game has nowhere the value (in terms of gameplay) as anything I've played lately. One reason I get RPGs is because you can normally play through the story in 40 to 60 hours. This is only a fraction of that and I can't see why I'd play through it again. | video-games_xbox |
Developer must fix the screen tearing issue. Wow! The game is rather vast open-world..type of game. There are just too many tiny details which plays out in real time which is rather too overwhelming at first but as you play you can appreciate the details. Remarkably similar to 'Just Cause' series of games with slight hint of Far cry 4 and has all the elements of various popular games third person shooter type of game.
Overall I must admit that this is a rather nice game ruined by terrible on screen tearing which is pretty apparent when you drive around in a vehicles or pan around at random. I fail to fathom that in this day and age XBOX one S having screen tearing issue is just unacceptable in modern games. I understand especially on certain older consoles that there are technical limits, that's why many games still run at 30 fps etc. In the end I don't care how good detailed and colorful game looks, this screen tearing drove me mad while playing this game, 4k UHD Resolution and visual fidelity mean nothing if the image is getting chopped up constantly when you are driving around in a vehicle. This just ruined the gaming experience.
EDIT: March 24, 2017 : Occasionally playing despite the bugs - Still waiting for fixes
-------------------------------
The developer issued a second patch called as "TITLE UPDATE 2:" on 21/03/2017 09:00 AM which addresses several of the other bugs that players were experiencing (See the comments below for full details) but the issue of screen tearing and low frame rate on XBOX one S still remains albeit little less frequent than before but it could be just a placebo effect? But in heavily populated areas especially noticeable when driving around in a vehicle it is very apparent. I hope the developer does further optimization for XBOX one S so that this screen tearing is completely eliminated.
EDIT April 14, 2017 : Enjoying the game but frequent screen tearing / frame drops still happens on XBOX one S
-----------------------------
The developer issued a third patch called as TITLE UPDATE 3: on 04/12/2017 09:00 AM which addresses several other bugs (For details please see the link in the comments section) but Please beware that this still does not fix the screen tearing and frame drop issues that I have mentioned in my comments. Hopefully they will notice this review as well as other users who have reported this to UBISOFT and fix the screen tearing issues which is very apparent while driving vehicles.
Bottom-line: Please fix the screen tearing issue by patching the game and I will update my review to rate this game with four stars it otherwise deserves! - Thank you for reading my review. | video-games_xbox |
the very definition of a killer app. What is a killer app? An app that is so strong and valuable that it drives users and usage to a platform. By this definition, Braid is absolutely a killer app. [UPDATE: Well, it was a killer app for the Xbox 360 in 2009. Now you can play Braid on a wide variety of platforms.]
I'm a lifelong gamer. In fact, I'm a borderline game system collector. (I finally managed to part with most older systems, but I still have my beloved Dreamcast and even my Atari 800 cluttering my garage shelves.) Plus, many of my friends urged me to get an Xbox 360. Despite all this, I was not convinced. The Xbox 360 had serious hardware issues at launch (which now appear to be resolved), and there just weren't any games that demanded such a hefty platform investment.
Braid changed the equation.
Two gaming friends insisted that I give Braid a chance. In fact, they sat me down and forced a controller into my hands, and they watched -- for two hours, because I coldn't put it down. The next day, I spent $600 on equipment (the best Xbox 360 system with all the bells and whistles), just so I could continue playing this $15 game. Braid is *that* good. And I've introduced other friends to Braid and they, too, ran out to buy the console.
Normally, I spend review space describing the game, especially for off-the-beaten-tracks titles like this, but I won't do so in this case. I had the rare opportunity to experience a masterpiece cold, with no spoilers, and I really appreciated it. So instead, I will merely say this. If you enjoy puzzle games or platformers, if you enjoy games with intriguing and unique mental challenges, games that require more thought and less button mashing, if you enjoy beautiful artwork, both audio and video, you will definitely enjoy this game. If you need more information, other reviews and this site will no doubt provide it. (BTW, you likely won't spoil yourself on Braid's "plot" by reading other reviews, you'll just spoil yourself on the groundbreaking game mechanics. If you play the game cold, you can discover the game mechanics yourself and have many fun "aha" moments in the process.)
I've heard that Braid is coming out on PC soon. I can't speak to the PC version, but I can say that the investment in the Xbox 360 was well worth it, and not just for Braid. It's the strongest game platform available today. These opinions are best saved for a review of the platform, but my point is, if you want to play Braid but don't have an Xbox 360, you can either wait for the PC version or take the Xbox 360 plunge. If you play a fair number of video games, you definitely won't regret getting the Xbox 360 platform. [UPDATE: Braid is now available for Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Mac, Linux, and possibly other platforms.]
Regardless, Braid truly is an exquisite game and work of art, and I believe it's a worthy contender to be added to all-time hall-of-fame game lists everywhere.
P.S.: in case this helps anyone decide about this game, I'll point out that I view Braid as great in many of the same ways as I view Portal as great. The two games are quite different, but they both have excellent finishing touches, groundbreaking game mechanics, and are both transcendentally impressive. | video-games_xbox |
A breath of fresh air! (spoilers. I honestly can't think of the last time I played a game like Mass Effect. That's probably because it has a very unique feel. From the highly customizable player-character to the expansive, free-roaming universe you traverse through on your interstellar spaceship, the "Normandy"; this game has it all.
Aspect 1: Guns - If you love shooting things you'll love Mass Effect. With 4 different weapon types (all visible on your person due to a compactible nature) you have your choice as to how to blow holes in your enemies. The assault rifle for maximum carnage, the sniper rifle for deadly accuracy, the pistol for short-range headshots, and the shotgun for in-your-face destruction. Each weapon can also be upgraded with a special type of ammo (e.g. incendiary, poison, armor piercing) and up to 3 types of upgrades (e.g. stability, heat reduction, accuracy). The best part ... NO AMMO! The only thing you need to worry about is not overheating your weapons and you can go trigger happy all day. Oh and there's grenades ... of course ... The body armor you wear can also be upgraded (e.g. health recovery, dmg reduction etc)
Aspect 2: Abilities - The two weapons you have at your disposal aside from weaponry is "engineering" and "biotics".
Engineering has to do with your ability to hack locks, droids, and anything else mechanical. The non-utility use of engineering skills is simply EXPLOSIVE. Literally ... almost all the engineering abilities involve some kind of explosive radius. Whether it overloads shields or short circuits robots it probably blows up. In addition you can also take control of virtually any AI enemy unit with a fully powered up version of the skill.
Biotics are essentially implants that give you abilites that harness and control small scale "mass effect" fields to wreak havoc on your enemies. The skilled biotic can throw, lift, pull and warp the enemy into submission. Fully skilled up you can manipulate even some of the larger enemies. Biotic abilites are perfect for infliction confusion and dissorientation on the enemy while the rest of your squad tears them to shreds.
Aspect 3: Storyline - You are thrown into a universe poised on the brink of destruction from an alien invasion. The best part is ... no one knows that yet :P. And even as you progress through the story and figure it out for yourself you still can't convince the powers that be to do anything about it. (sound familiar? :P) Anyway it's kind of a choose your own adventure deal except you will always follow the same general outline. You DO however get to choose your ending ... there are two separate ones and they are both awesome so don't hesitate either way :P.
Aspect 4: Squad combat - You get the traditional "3-man group" in Mass Effect. With the main character always required plus 2 others. With all characters unlocked you have 6 options. Male or female human, 2 male and 2 female alien types. Each one has their own specialties and strengths. To get the most out of the game though I recommend building your party to have at least one heavily specd engineer type and a biotic. Based on what class you chose for your character of course. (E.G. if you chose a soldier type [weapons expert] then you should have an engineer and biotic as backup.)
Aspect 5: Free roam - In your military, experimental ship "Normandy" the universe is your playground as you hop from one galaxy and star cluster to the next. The universe is loaded with side missions that can weild awesome gear, sweet cash and nice reputation ~_~. While you could just go exploring, you will most likely get sent to almost every planet out there if you search for and find all the bonus missions. A little tip though: each cluster usually consists of 4 to 8 planets (give or take); and among these planets there will usually be only one that you can actually "land" on .. that is ... be dropped from orbit in your ATV. The rest are merely eye candy that you can often "examine" for a quick quest item gather. Basically if you have a quest in the cluster and you find the planet that has the "land" option ... you're on the right track ^_^.
Aspect 6: Replay - It's been a long time since I found a game that made me want to play it over and over and over. Not only does Mass Effect have 6 different classes to choose from for a different experience each time, but after you complete a playthrough you can run through again with your same, leveled-up character with all your gear and items still intact. The mobs also level up to keep it interesting. It took me 3 full playthroughs to get to the maximum of level 60!
My number one favorite thing to do in the game: use the biotic ability "singularity" in the midst of a group of enemies creating a miniature black hole that they all started spinning around and then hurling a grenade into the center and detonating it ^_^. I called it my "big bang" :P
All in all Mass Effect gets a huge 5 out of 5 rating from me. | video-games_xbox |
Fun Game, but Last Gen Gameplay and Graphics in HD. Wow, where to start? I received this game last night from Amazon and let me tell you, I was excited. You see, I saw these awesome screenshots in the official Playstation Magazine about 2 or more years ago and I thought this was going to be game of the year. Ohhhh... how the years have changed you....
Basically, it's the same as the screenshots, it's just, 2 years ago those screenshots were amazing. Now the game looks terrible. After MGS4 and Gears of War, it's hard to go back to 2005-2006 graphics and design and be impressed. The models would all move the same way if they were in a line, the characters were stiff and robotic, the story mode is THE EXACT SAME but with different characters. Wait, wait,... I'm not done. It looked like an Xbox game with new textures.. It was frustrating trying to get away when I was swimming in a foot of water as the enemies were standing in it shooting at me... the AI was so stupid the main enemies would have RPGs and be hiding behind walls. I would walk up; they would magically know I was there, from 30 feet away and shoot right into the wall killing them self in the process. Now I could go on and on, and guess what... all of this happened in the first contract, first 30 minutes for the game.
I was so excited for this game, pandemic is one of my favorite developers in the business... but this just fails. It's not all bad, the explosions are great and the game is fairly action packed. But the bar has been raised so many times since this game's conception... that it just doesn't hold up to even a similar first gen on the Xbox 360 game "The Outfit". Not even close. It's so buggy it's almost unplayable. I usually don't preorder games, but this seemed like a sure bet. No wonder you didn't hear anything about it before it released. It's terrible... I can think of a number of similar games on the 360 for 10-15 bucks that are better than this. It's a shame; I really wanted to love this one. The first one was amazing, but times have changed, and pandemic dropped the ball on this one. I just don't know how a 3 year dev time can make a game feel so rushed. | video-games_xbox |
Buying guide for Xbox One bundles. Presently Amazon is offering all current bundles (excepting Halo 5 bundle) with an extra game (Mad Max or Just Dance), or a $50 gift card (including Halo 5 bundle). I'd say the gift card option is preferable, but if you like the game option and don't want to mess with another purchase. Starting November 6th you get the game of your choice AND the $50 gift card, so wait until then at least!
A short list of features that may interest you, current and upcoming (November 12, 2015), shared by all Xbox Ones (more details can be found in product descriptions and Microsoft sites) -
HDMI pass through. You can hook up an HDMI device to the back of an Xbox One to view the content from that device without changing inputs or leaving the X1 interface. This allows for split screen viewing and if a cable box or the official TV tuner, you can view the channel guide, watch TV, and set recordings.
It is backwards compatible with some Xbox 360 games. This is great for those with backlogs (like me...) or those who want to revisit finished games without having another console plugged into the wall/TV. In the fall, owners of publisher approved disc or digital 360 games will be able to play them emulated on the X1. Some X1 games also include their 360 precursors with purchase for play on the X1 in case you missed them. Gears or War Ultimate Edition includes all 4 Xbox 360 Gears games and Fallout 4 includes Fallout 3, for example. List of games and other info here -[...]
It will stream content to Windows 10 devices.
Xbox Live Gold now applies to households instead of individuals; meaning that multiple accounts on the same console can have access to the same features but have differing account restrictions (I.E. parental controls). So you can let your kids play Garden Warfare online, but not Gears of War.
External USB 3.0 storage. This is great because, 1) you don't need to open the console and replace a hard disc to add storage, just plug in and the X1 will format the drive, 2) even disc-based games have compulsory installs and can be upwards of 50GB each, eating storage space quickly, 3) external drives can be spacious and cheap, and last but not least, 4) USB 3.0 is actually faster than the internal hard disc interface. This means that a game on an external drive will load faster than one on the internal drive, usually by a significant amount.
The bundles-
The bundles can be split into 3 different groups based on time of release. The upcoming and current bundles include a newer controller that has a standard 3.5mm audio jack built in and output both game and chat audio through it (excepting the new Kinect bundles). Legacy consoles include an older controller without the standard audio jack and shouldnt be expected to be widely available at the suggested price (and some I haven't included, due to their rarity at this point). There are no other functional differences. All bundles include a controller, HDMI cable, chat headset (with exceptions), and a 14 day Xbox Live Gold trial membership (paid $60/year service to play online and download the Games with Gold, a monthly rotation of full games you're free to download and keep (forever for 360 games and as long as you have Live Gold in active subscription for X1 games).
Upcoming bundles (with rating based on what you get for the money. Star and letter ratings are intended for the suggested price listed next to the bundle, not whatever current prices are.) -
Fallout 4 1TB bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, Fallout 4 game (download - Per Microsoft Support - All bundled Xbox One games will be download codes, to avoid damage to discs in shipping), a download of the Xbox 360 version of Fallout 3, and a chat headset. Releases November 10th. B+ rating. Two open-world RPGs for grownups.
Rise of the Tomb Raider 1TB bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, downloads of Rise of the Tomb Raider, DLC, and its predecessor, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and doesn't appear to include a headset. Releases November 3rd. B+ rating. The Tomb Raider reboot from 2013 was pretty good and I expect the sequel will be even better. Great for adults who love action adventure. Amazon won't be stocking this one, unfortunately...
Xbox One Elite 1TB bundle. $499. Includes a console with a 1TB hybrid SSD and hard disc for quicker load times for the items you access the most and the Elite controller, which has replaceable/customizable sticks, buttons, and triggers for the professionals or tinkerers. While the internal storage on this will be better than the standard HDDs in other X1s, the performance increase PROBABLY won't match external USB3.0 drives, due to the continued use of the SATA interface. There's little information about the size of the SSD partition and many hybrid drives don't allow you to choose what content is on which partition. The elite controller isn't yet available, but will retail for $150 (about triple the price of a regular controller). If you want the best/most storage and best controller out of the box, this is the bundle for you, but you won't get any games with it, or a headset, from the looks of it. B rating. Also note that this version releases earlier if purchased from the Microsoft Store or Gamestop.
Current bundles -
Kinect 500GB Bundle - $399. Includes 500GB console, the Kinect camera, a chat headset, the old model controller, and three Kinect-focused game downloads: Dance Central Spotlight, Kinect Sports Rivals and Zoo Tycoon. Finally another Kinect bundle! The X1 UI is made better and more easily navigable with the Kinect, and there are fun, energetic games to be played with it. A rating. Great for those who want to move and enjoy motion and voice controls, but its expensive and has little storage.
Holiday 1TB Bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, Gears of War Ultimate Edition (as well as all 360 Gears games if you play online before the end of the year), Rare Replay, and Ori and the Blind Forest game downloads, the new controller, and doesn't appear to include a headset. Releases October 27th. A rating. Something(s) for everyone in this bundle, with 36 games included.
Halo 5 Limited Edition 1TB bundle. $499. Includes custom console with Halo sounds, and custom controller, with the Halo 5 Limited Edition (steelcase, guardian figure, game download and add-on content). Why a limited edition would come without a physical game is beyond me... It may not bother some, but it will upset many. This is a higher premium than the Forza 6 bundle (charging an extra $100 for an extra $40 package). For Halo aficionados/console collectors only.
Lego Movie 500GB bundle - $349. Includes 500GB console and download of the Lego Movie Videogame and no headset, apparently. C+ rating. Game is a cheap one and good for kids, but little value in this bundle compared to others.
FIFA and Madden 16 1TB bundles. $399. I'm grouping these together because other than the type of football you prefer, they are the same. Both include either the latest Madden NFL or FIFA soccer game download and a year of EA access, a paid ($30/yr) service which allows Xbox One users early access to EA releases, extended demos with progress that can be saved if a full game is purchased, discounts on EA games, and free access to the Vault, currently 13 (soon to be 14) full games. Great if you like EA's games. A- for each.
Gears of War 500GB bundle. $349. Includes Gears of War Ultimate Edition download (as well as all 360 Gears games if you play online before the end of the year). This 500GB model includes the new controller, but does not include a headset. B+ rating.
Legacy bundles-
Forza 6 1TB Bundle. $399. Custom Forza-inspired console with racing sounds and custom controller, and download code for Forza 6 and extra content, and a chat headset. A- rating, though some may not like the custom design and sounds.
Halo Master Chief Collection 1TB bundle. $399. Looks like this being phased out. Standard console, plus download code for the Master Chief Collection (the four numbered Halo games in a single package). B rating.
Halo Master Chief 500GB bundle. $349. If you can get it at the retail price, I'd consider it an A-, since the cost to upgrade storage to 1TB or greater is around or less than the $50 to get the 1TB model, and it'll perform better.
Keep in mind that the lowest prices and best bundles tend to happen around the winter holiday season, so unless you really want to get one now, you're probably best served waiting till around Black Friday, when multiple stores will be trying to entice you with lower prices and more pack-ins. This is especially true since Sony recently cut the price of the Playstation 4.
Hope you found this comparison useful. | video-games_xbox |
Very nice headset. Initial impression: Out of the box, I'll admit that the headset looked very impressive. Everything came in its own little labeled box, and the overall presentation was very nice. It comes with a detachable mic, 3.5mm jack to connect it to a phone/handheld gaming system, charging cable, wireless receiver, and instruction manual.
Hardware: Construction of the headset seems very solid. The edges are smooth and the headset has a good heft to it (not too heavy, but not so light as to feel cheap). When I put them on, the first thing that I noticed is that the ear cups are SUPER comfortable. On my PC, I normally wear my SteelSeries Siberia V2 and these feel much more comfortable. The mic is easy to install and remove, and the knobs and buttons are clearly labeled. The only non-obvious button is the power on/off button, which is integrated into the right cup's logo. The charging cable provided is ridiculously short, though.
Installation: Very basic setup. I turned on my Xbox One, plugged in the receiver, and within 10 seconds the headset was working. It came paired in the box, but if that fails for some reason re-pairing them is also very straightforward (i tried it just to try it).
Software/Sound: I tried these in 3 different modes: I played an action movie, the sound was very crisp and nice. Explosions were particularly full. I had a little trouble hearing voice over some of the music. I turned on the voice-amplifying equalizer and it helped a great deal. Next I watched about 15 minutes of stand-up comedy. Without a great mix of sounds, the voices were easy to hear in all equalizer modes. Lastly, I played about 20 minutes of a first-person shooter. Again, with the bass/treble amplification some in-game voices were drowned out, but vocal-amplifying helped with that.
Lastly, while wearing the headset, it has a voice feedback system that lets your hear your own voice while speaking. This can be a little disconcerting, but it actually is a nice feature to make sure that you're not too soft or too loud. A couple of cons with the headset are that it seems like the mic needs to be awfully close to your mouth for good sound, which makes it difficult to drink/eat while wearing (I dunno, hidden perk maybe?). Also, it is pretty difficult to hear others in the room while they're speaking to you.
Overall, this headset is quite nice, built very solidly and very easy to use. | video-games_xbox |
GooD VisuaL DisplaY of power and Game Play. This game is just that, a game. The first thing that I want to say is that for this type of game the graphics are first class. Just imagine playing a Mario Cart Burn Out Mixed together. Now unlike Mario the wepons are more realistic and can be tuned when new power ups are earned in career mode. You can get rear or hood mounted shotgun which can be aimed with the right analog stick like a 1st person shooter, or rocket launchers which are also upgrade able and aimable like the shotgun, and two high powered mashine guns that reimind me of the smg on Halo 2 but much larger. The other wepons are grinades and land mines.(also upgrade able) While playing the game It has the effect of sucking you in to the action. Mainly because you just don't know what will happen next. The out come to every desison you make will have a different effect every time. There is a unwreck feature that has been added to the single player mode which allows you to rewind time and save your self from destruction or watch you destruction over and over. There is also a instant replay feature too. I use this feature to watch the realy good action and the 360 shows alot of power through different effects that are cinima worthy. Like ripple effects added to explosions, the ground cracking from the focus point to the outer edges of the impact area and the sparks and bullet holes which is not new or special just look great. Oh before I forget you driver gets hurled from the car and smacks concrete like some thing out of cops or Americas worst police chases. So over all the is a good game for stress relase with easy to use controlls and options. X-box Live play is smooth and fun too. I say buy it, you will always have fun but if you have to have a story line dint buy it because there is none. 5 for fun, 4 over all because the cars are not licensed so they look off but resimble cars we know an love. | video-games_xbox |
Is this the best game of the year. Is Mass Effect the best game of 2007?
Mass Effect has been in development for several years, and now that it is finally out, we can see that it was worth it.
GOOD STUFF:
The gameplay, graphics, story, characters, and voice acting is superb. (Voices from actors like Seth Green. Also the voice actors for Carth Onasi and Bastila from Knights of the Old Republic.)
The dialogs are amazingly well done, with so many different options, that you're left stunned with the effects of your decisions.
Lots of different weapons and armour for you to equip, upgrade, and use to your disposal. You also get a lot of magical abilities like being able to hold a guy up in the air while you pump his body full of shotgun shells.
Let's not forget the character creation, it's incredible. With so many options, you can make almost anything. (The scars look grizzly, sick and awesome.)
There's lots to do, first time i played through it, i spent a dozen hours and didn't even scratch the surface of things to accomplish.
You'll find yourself playing through this game several times just to see what kind of stories unfold.
BAD STUFF:
The graphics load in slowly, environments, characters, everything, can take awhile to be shown.
The Squad Commands are pretty pathetic, you can tell them where to run to, but they mostly just run into walls and you give up on the whole thing early on in the game.
Lack of direction? This game can get very overwhelming fast, especially when you start to explore the galaxy. Hard to find out what to do, and so you basically just run around wondering what the hell's going on.
The planets you land on are pretty much all the same, just with different textures.
OVERALL STUFF
Mass Effect is an awesome game, but has it's flaws.
Is Mass Effect the best game of 2007?
Close, top 5 for sure, but no, it's not the best game of 2007.
Definately worth buying though. Any RPG fan MUST have this for their own. | video-games_xbox |
IF YOU ARE UNSURE ON PURCHASING THIS THEN READ ! SORTA OVERHYPED. If you only own a 360 or you just love Gears and you are obsessed with 2's multiplayer then u should MAYBE buy this game . If you have a ps3, a casual gamer or if you are sketchy /gave up / hated Gears 2 then don't buy this rent it). Its not much diffrent, ITS REALLY NOT. ITS MORE THE LESS A RECYCLED GAME WITH SMALL Good NEW ENHANCEMENTS. And lets be honest , Epic coulda done way more. This game should honestly be called Gears 2.6 cuz REALLY its not diffrent at all. Dont get fooled by hype, save your money. ONLY buy if you are a DIE HARD FAN! RENTING THIS GAME IS HIGHLY ENCOURAGED !! There are just way too many games coming out, especially if you are a ps3 owner !
Pros
+ Pretty OK Story, not over the top but OK.
+ If you like Gears EXACTLY how it was from 1 n 2 then u'll love this, lol
+ Multiplayer has better servers now * MAJOR *
+ Improvements in Horde mode * MAJOR*
+ Beast mode, it was alright BUT ITS FUN
Cons
- ITS SERIOUSLY THE SAME EXACT THING ! NOTHING REALLY NEW
- Graphics are dated and SUCK This maybe bias since I OWN PS3 * SO SORRY *)
- NOT for Single Player, or soley campaign
- repetitive campain gameplay Fight loads of locus and glowies, Cutscene, new objection, INTERRUPTION, Shoot more
monsters, a mini boss, Cutscene, A bigger boss REPEAT
- Same Clunky Controls Compared to newer 3ps games or games like Uncharted 2 , Vanquish, MGS4, Socom etc )
- Glowy Monsters( necromorphs and las plagus rip offs lol are really annoying, Their EXPLOSIONS ARE TOO......
I hope really hope im not coming off as a fanboy or nothing, because that is not my objective. I bought this 60 dollar game and thought I was gonna get a MIND BLOWIN GAME LIKE the First Gears but instead kinda got
a recycled game. Its fun it doesnt suck or anything but 60 bucks is asking for alot. Wait for a price drop, or rent. Only buy if you can yourself playing this for soley multiplayer only! Cuz if not will be over this game quick fast. | video-games_xbox |
Mannyrue's just reviews ModStickPros. MannyRue's Just Review's
Review From A Gamer For Gamers
Today I Review the Overshadowed ModStickpros,Are these the holy grails of gaming?,Or are they just a new product to suck more money out of your already expensive gaming needs?Keep reading to find out.
In this day of age most people seek out new way's for a quick advantage in the world of gaming,be it a rapid fire controller,mod's,to even using piece's of paper to make a hair trigger.
Well today I will introduce you to a revolutionary new product from modsticks.com
These new variants on the standard thumb-stick's breath new life into the market of mods.
Each set includes:
Qt 2. Aluminum Dome Base
Qt 2. Aluminum dish top grips
QT 1. Modsticks Pro D-Pad
Qt 1. Optional D-Pad stick (can also be used on Modstick dome base)
Qt 1. Modsticks T8 Security wrench
Qt 1. Philips tip screw driver for D-Pad
Qt 1. Allen key for changing screw driver tips.
Qt 6. Steel threaded set screws 3 short 3 long for assembling toggle grip tops to base.
Qt 6. Aluminum spacers 1mm 2mm 3mm Fine tune the height of your toggle sticks
Qt 2. Steel Philips machine screws for D pad
[...]
What you have to look forward to in the packaging
Perhaps the best feature of the ModSticksPro is the added range to the stick's with out having to always change your game's sensitivity,the stock xbox 360 sticks bases are much thicker and have a certain range till they hit the side walls,the modstickpros bases are much thinner and give you a slight advantage of free roam in the base,this I have found best work's wonder's in fps game's where sniping is the key to life or death.
I did not have to change the game's settings much to adjust to the stick's for the easy quick movement of my rec-tile on screen.
Also the next best feature is the option to change the height of the analog stick to different levels.
This I have found to be a nice add-on for people that like different game's you can easily switch them out for racing game's/sports games/or back to fps game's with out missing a beat.
Included in the set are three different levels of internal set screws which can be changed out to swap the height to something you prefer. included in the package are spacers to keep the base and the top from unscrewing themselves in the heat of the moment game play. Now with the grip's modsticks has also looked ahead and saw that people might prefer different variants over the original xbox 360.
They have at the moment have Six grip's to choose from Dish/Fusion/Gearz/Dome/Low-riders/Arcade
The dish grips are what come standard in each set of the modstickpros and these will be the most familiar to anyone that owns a xbox 360 controller,these little beauty's are well made with aluminum and a very high quality paint that has a nice finish and shine to them,Now I have been asked since they are made of metal if they do hurt after a bit of game play,and I am here to say I have put easily over 30 hour's so far in on them and have yet to come close to crying about cramps in my hands or the such.
The only fault's I can seem to find with these being made of Aluminum is that I tend to sweat while I game and my hand's slide some what off of them,I suggest investing in some cheap rubber grip's to slide over the top to fix that little annoyance.
[...]
Easy on the eyes and also a great feeling to them
Sadly I have not had enough time in to review each grip so will do that at a later time.
For the people that do not want to shell out the money for a new controller for the reason the original xbox 360 d-pad had a lot to be desired are in luck,included in the package is also a d-pad that has a option to add a base in the center of it and add in it's own stick to almost make a whole new thumb-stick on the controller.
The d-pad is like a gift from above for people that tend to play game's such as Call Of Duty or Gears Of War that are dependent on the d-pad to ether call in that care package you worked so hard to earn or to swap out weapons in the heat of battle.
But with a plus there is always a negative tho,I have found myself at time's rolling my thumb off my left thumb-stick accidentally onto the stick on the d-pad,It can be over commed in time and getting use to them.
[...]
D-pad is like the stock but has the option for a third thumb-stick
Also if you are anal like me about how your controller look's and want a certain color scheme the site also is nice and has a nice selection of color's so your option's are vast to choose from.
The packaging they do come in has to be overhauled they are generic and do not have the name of the product's listed on them,the manuals that come with them as well are not very well written or displayed so I suggest if you are a novice to modding I would suggest looking on YouTube for tutorials how to install.
Verdict:
After many hour's of game play on various game's I would suggest these over the stock xbox 360 controller's stick's,they add a new fresh breath of fresh air into that old wore down controller you might have laying around.
If you are looking for a slight advantage over the competition I would suggest investing in these new products.
The packaging need's a overhaul and less of a generic look to them.
The price point is also another down fall with the modstickpros being at $34.99 but like the old saying goes you get what you pay for. | video-games_xbox |
It is Grand Theft Auto, afterall. Here's what I don't think many people touch on in their reviews, or maybe I just don't read enough of them. This game is Grand Theft Auto, it's not anything else so don't expect it to be, much like I did.
That said, yes I was a little disappointed when I first started playing GTA IV after several very long, anxious days at work before its release. The reason being that I was spoiled by games like Saints Row etc.. and forgot how the GTA series played. Yeah Saints Row is a rip-off in many respects but it is not the same game at all.
With this new installment I expected the GTA series to evolve, but it didn't, it upgraded. Yes the graphics are better, the characters are more real, the physics engine is pretty darn awesome, the combat is more fun, the list goes on but ultimately the game is what it is. If no one told you this game was GTA before you played it, you would be able to tell by the way NPCs move and act, the way you learn things with on-screen dialog, the way the character controls, and just the general feel of the game. Certain aspects have been the exact same for years, ever since GTA III.
If you found some of these aspects annoying, (like not being able to simply move a foot in one direction to get closer to a rack of clothing without passing it up entirely because there is no fine movement at all) it is irritating and quite frankly makes the game actually feel very dated.
Instead of droning on... If you expect this to be an improved version of Grand Theft Auto, you're going to love it. (with some possible exceptions like the driving mechanics). Everything you yearned for from previous GTA's is back and better than ever. However, if you wanted the next-gen evolution of a sandbox, do whatever the hell you feel like it game with mind-blowing innovations and new things to learn about and do, you will most likely be disappointed.
After coming to this realization I found the game much more enjoyable and that's why I gave it five stars. As a GTA game, that's what it deserves. | video-games_xbox |
I updated my review from 4 star to 3 star. Pros:
- Campaign is fun. It's setup similar to Mass Effect or Splinter Cell Blacklist in that you have a base/ship to upgrade gear inbetween missions, which is a nice addition to a CoD campaign. Also, the addition of space combat/flight simulation in this game are great! I wish games like Elite Dangerous made flying like this. Well done.
- Zombies is good. Lots to do.
- Multiplayer is hit and miss. The exo suits are customizable with different abilities. Guns are pretty cool. Supply drops are good. Overall just a much more developed class creation system. Similar to DOOM on the game ending podium, the top 3 players of the match can do different poses/salutes, just cosmetic but fun.
Cons
- You'll need 51+ Gb of storage space on your xbox or usb hdd to install/play the game.
- The miss on the multiplayer is that its pretty fast paced with the futuristic additions, makes it feel more akin to halo or DOOM than CoD was traditionally.
- MW remastered isn't a stand alone purchase...yet
I don't understand why this game is getting ripped so badly. However my experience with this game was as a gamefly rental, so I don't have the "I bought this" feeling weighing me down. I can also say after returning it to gamefly, I don't miss it. A lot of the negative reviews I see though aren't really based off IW per se, many bash it for not having MW Remastered separate and others bash it for their opinion of what CoD should be. Really its up to you, try the game for yourself if you enjoy CoD in general. Every CoD game is pretty well put together, this one is better than most. There's a lot to like and a lot to dislike depending on your opinion but this is by no means a bad game. There are many games worse than this. If you take the game as it is, no comparisons, its a solid and good game.
Update 1/15/17:
Okay, I got nostalgic, went back and played CoD 4 and MW2. Those games are wayyy better! The pace in multiplayer, the killstreaks like gunning down perps from a C130, the grittiness, etc etc. And Spec Ops, don't forget about Spec Ops! I'm lowering my IW rating to 3 stars. The fast pace of today's CoDs 'ruin' (spoken like Stewie Griffin) the feeling of battle we used to get. I think the exo suits, wall running, etc, could work but for now its just not implemented well enough. If they stick with it, I hope they get it right soon. Otherwise investors/gamers may turn the other cheek. | video-games_xbox |
The Banshee Run. Rather than pontificate about how great Halo is, here is an excerpt of a specific episode in multi-player.
The tranquil surroundings beguiled the enormity of the task that laid before them. Two covenant tanks spitting out the deadly but beautifully lit bombs, two heavily armoured hunters with their grenade launchers, two gun turrets, half a dozen of those pesky shield guys, a dozen of the pathetic grunts, 5 elites including the ultimate GOLD elite and most deadly, 5 invisible elites waiting to ambush the two intrepid heroes.
And what did these two have on their disposal? The clumsy and slow grenade launcher, a sniper rifle with only about 10 bullets, a couple of puny pistols/AR, a few lame grenades and a battered Ghost Hovercraft which had definitely seen better days.
But despite the overwhelming odds the two marines were up to the task. Tetsuo Shima said a short prayer before beginning the assault, quoting from Winston Churchill, "We shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them in the air, we shall fight them in our homes... we shall never SURRENDER!"
And so began an epic battle of enormous proportions. Using the cover of a couple of dim witted Flood who actually tried to attack this Covenant force with bad body odour, the two marines tried all sorts of tactics to crush the soul the Covenant. Grenade attacks on the tanks from long range, hit and run tactics on the Ghost, patient build-up by pinpointing certain areas/enemies - everything was tried but to no avail. Word had gotten down to this Covenant force at the hard hitting tactics of these two marines so they were nobody's fool. The seem to read everything the marines were doing and were effectively able to counter punch them, forcing them to hastily fall back.
The two marines were at their lowest point at this stage. They were enveloped in a heart of darkness and having been mentality scarred by their failures they started singing a song written by a fallen comrade, Neil Halstead, repeating the same line over and over again, "The only thing I asked her, was if she'll give me a plaster, oh for the pain... oh for the pain..."
However Ah Chai, who had faced the same situation single-handedly in a previous tour of duty, realised that the goal here was not to destroy the Covenant force but instead, to finish the mission. And the mission was to destroy the generators. There was one left but unfortunately it was located high up in the Covenant structure. The only way to get there was to get onto a Banshee. Ah Chai did a quick scan of the Covenant force with the sniper scope and realised, right in the rear were two Banshee ships! Ah Chai mentioned this to Tetsuo Shima who was now lying in the snow trying to catch snowflakes with his tongue and BANG! The fire that had been extinguished in Tet's eyes quickly flamed back on!
So a decision was made; Ah Chai would make a final run to the Banshee while Tetsuo, in a supreme act of sacrifice would create a diversion and launch his final kamikaze attack. They fondly remembered the times spent on the tour, steaming up some sticky rice after a long hard day. But they knew this was the only option left to them and with little fuss, they said their goodbyes and marched to their positions.
Tetsuo raced in on foot, fighting off the cold and death, firing off rockets into the Covenant force. However due to his wounds and the bitter cold they were a bit off but it didn't matter, the Covenant raced over to him, leaving the centre open. And so Ah Chai made, into what now is remembered fondly as, the Banshee run.
The dash to the Banshee, only lasted a few seconds, but to him,it seemed an eternity. The winter winds were buffering his Ghost and upon encountering the Covenant, he could see the shock on the Covenant faces, as thinking the Ghost was just a patrol unit, realised that they had been played the old Trojan Horse trick started hastily attacking the Ghost. The adrenalin was pumping as he rolled out of the Ghost to get to the Banshee, and he was hoping to god that his shields would hold out as over 15 guns were pointed at him. The pull of the after burners kicking in hit him like a ton of bricks as he pointed the Banshee straight to the heavens. Through all that, he remembered his favourite childhood tale, about the little red train, and he repeated the train's words like a mantra, "I think I can, I think I can..." The pain was incredible, he could feel his ear drums explode from the noise, he thought he would die... and then.. silence... just the prevailing winds as the Banshee cut through the air.. He had made it! He couldn't believe it.. he had gotten through!!
What Ah Chai remembers is after surviving the Banshee run, he looked back on the battle ground, and he saw his comrade, Tetuso Shima still fighting the Covenant off. The Banshee itself was just running on fumes, so he could provide no air support. Tears welled in his eyes as he saw Tetsuo make his last stand. He wanted to do something, to make one final gesture. But it was Tetsuo that did it. As he could feel his life force slowly draining away, he made a final glance in the sky. He saw that Ah Chai had made it. A feeling of peace and tranquillity overcame him. He dropped his weapons and gave the thumbs up to him. Ah Chai saw it and gave him back the thumbs up sign. The final words that they both uttered to each other, which to this day, Ah Chai swears he could hear hauntingly echo through that valley was | video-games_xbox |
60 Demo/ Worse WWE Game EVER. Fanboys/Marks will have you believing this is the best wrestling game ever. Don't believe them, they are nothing more than graphic wh*res. Graphics aside this is the worse wrestling game ever. The cons far exceed the pros (if you can call them that). Lets start at the top.
The Roster:
This is the smallest & worse roster in WWE video game history. The amount of space taken up by duplicate wrestlers is insane. There are about 10-12 slots on this already limited roster dedicated to duplicates of wrestlers already on the roster. There are little to no legends & the Divas roster is even smaller. There are a lot of people missing & there is no reason why they aren't there other than they aren't.
DLC:
The amount of DLC in this game & what they are charging for is a scam, there is no other way to put it. This DLC structure is completely out of hand now days, it's been this way. Charging people $25 for a Divas that should be on the game because she's a current roster member should not be patronized, it should be shunned. Everything being sold should be a given.
Missing Match types & features:
The amount of match type in here is also a shame. There are significantly less match types then there were in the past 20 WWE/F titles, even dating back to the PS1. I see no reason for match types to be removed from a wrestling game that go on to this day. Where are the tornado tag team matches, mixed tag, tag vs tag vs tag, and so on? They've removed custom soundtracks, create a Diva, create an arena, create a finisher, create a story, countless entrances, and items from the create a character mode. It seems to me they removed more than they added.
Career Mode:
This is one of the weakest career modes I have ever seen in my life. They've simply take out what few cut scenes there are from the story creator in previous games & pasted them in here. There are no voice overs aside from he first scene, you fight the same people over & over & over due to the fact that the roster is so limited. There is never any story you're actually following. Simply beat this guy & be told by the GM we have nothing planned for you. You never get to form any alliances, tag teams, rivalries or anything interesting. It's a boring slobberknocker of matches.
I could go on & on about this game, but to sum it up from here this game was a train wreck. Graphics aside which aren't as great as they should be either, this game blows. You'll be better off buying last years version over this one. It's way too much missing & way too much BS involved to recommend this game to any long time playing wrestling game fan. | video-games_xbox |
Infuriating. I'll start first by saying that I like first both person shooters and military games. I've been playing them for more than 15 years now, and I always play them in the most challenging difficulty level.
Having said that this game is just plain frustrating, but its difficulty does not stem from intelligent enemy A.I., on the contrary, enemies stand in plain view to be shot at. They don't try to flank you or out-maneuver you, they are simply dumb, but so are your teammates.
I like realism in a videogame, especially in this kind of game, but I don't think it is too realistic when you tell your squad to stay close and the moment you call for support or a medic they are wandering more than 100 feet away.
In one instance I was turning around a corner when I encountered an enemy so I tried to back up, but behind me was one teammate than not only obstructed my movement but also pushed me towards the very enemy I was trying to get away from.
Most enemy encounters are from very long range, and very often you will die from these encounters. The problem is that while you can't spot the enemies they sure can see you. How is this realistic?
Another problem with enemies is that they can take a lot of damage before they go down than the player's character. Is that what happens in real life?
Striving for this emphasis on realism the developers implemented a cumbersome system to command your teammates and to choose your equipment that is very time consuming.
The game saves automatically after a checkpoint, but there is no apparent logic as where or when the games saves your progress, and very often you are forced to play again the same segments over and over and some of them are really boring and some very frustrating.
Driving portions are terrible; whenever you are driving you can't turn your head to see what's on the sides, for that you have to steer the wheel, which obviously you don't want. If you get out of the vehicle where there are attacking enemies swarming the area your teammates will stay in the vehicle unless you take the time to command them to get out. That's ridiculous! In my opinion, if a developer wants to include a driving segment it should be really good, just think of GTA and how seamless the experience is in that game.
The audio in this game is good and the graphics look outdated. But these aspects are irrelevant to me. When game play is great the game is great even if the graphics aren't topnotch.
Ultimately, any game should be as realistic as it intends to be, but it should always be a fun game to play first and foremost. This game looks realistic, but it's not, and it's not fun either. I cannot recommend this game to anyone. | video-games_xbox |
Glitches and annoying changes. I really loved and completed the first Suffering game. I believe I am almost all the way through this one, but I am considering not playing it anymore. First of all, the game is virtually unplayable sometimes if you are using 480p HD. During the scene where Torque is riding in the back of the truck shooting, it literally dropped down to 1 frame every 5 seconds toward the end. Also, when using HD, you can't go into the archives and open the journals. It instantly locks up. I found all of these problems pretty quickly. If Midway doesn't want to hire game testers, I'll do it for free to keep them from ruining what would have been a great game.
After turning HD off (no biggie...graphics aren't everything) most of the bugs went away but it has still locked up a number of times. I could swear I'm playing an unpatched PC game. That out of the way just leaves me with my complaints about the game itself. Torque has apparently promised his parole officer that he won't carry prescription drugs on him anymore because now he will only consume them on the spot. What is annoying about this is that if you have just one tiny bit of health missing and you open a locker with pills inside, he eats the whole bottle and it was pretty much wasted! When that isn't happening, I'm usually low on health and have to backtrack looking for more that I passed over earlier. I guess wasting health unintentionally and backtracking was supposed to make the game scary, but I just find it annoying. Also, Torque can now only carry two weapons. Aren't characters supposed to gain NEW abilities in sequels instead of lose them? Can he seriously not stick a revolver in his pocket and a shotgun on his back? Just plain dumb.
Due to the way this one is set up, I find myself saving in every room and reloading to try again if I get hit. The first game, I just played through it without saving except for the checkpoints. It was a much more immersive experience. On the plus side, the levels are well designed as are the enemies, I just find the problems make it difficult to enjoy. | video-games_xbox |
Great for added comfort, grip, and sweat control. Years ago I happened to run across trigger treadz while looking for controller upgrades. At just $8 we rolled the dice. Me and my kids are so happy we did. These helped us to complete the rubberizion of our controllers. If you can put a sticker on something then you can add this mod. The rubber these are made with is perfect. Soft but not sponge feeling. Both the tread pattern and the rubber itself contribute equally to give you a comfortable grip. As a added bonus they will not make you sweat preserving the killer grip during all long night/day gaming sessions. Every new controller we buy gets these first thing before it's used. The 4 star instead of 5 is for two issues. The minor issue is over the availability. These are not easy to find except in England. When they are available in the states it has always taken a good while before delivered. So hard in fact my family keeps 1 spare pack at all times. The major issue is over like everything else don't last forever. Even when that is expected the rubber is not the issue that ends up retiring a pair. The sticky is the issue. Although at first they adhere well and will not fall off or move. Over time the adhesive fails and the tread starts to peel off. Once it starts to peel it is going to fall off. I've tried everything even the dumb idea of super glue "DONT DO IT". Finally I found gorilla glue double sided mounting tape works like a dream. A year later still there instead of replacing them every 3 or 4 months. The tape is thick so it does raise them up off the trigger about 3x. This not only adheres better and longer but actually improves the product across the board. The thickness of the gorilla tape makes it give just enough to make it form a little to around your finger kinda like hard memory foam. This greatly improves the comfort and grip to go along with the added life from better adhesive. Anyone who buys these I'd highly recommend the gorilla tape day one cause it makes it better in every way over the stock adhesive. You cannot go wrong purchasing these. | video-games_xbox |
Over Anticipation Makes The Game Seem Worse. After recently completing Awakening and seeing the varied opinions of my fellow gamers, I thought that I would take a moment to share with everyone my experience of the game in the form of a review, highlighting what I did and did not like in the game, as well as my own personal rating of this expansion pack and what I hope to see in future installments.
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Storyline:
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Being someone who read "The Calling" by David Gaider and loved it, I went into this game with many expectations and expecting the game to live up to those standards. And thankfully, in my opinion, they did. Balancing between politics and war, your Warden has much to do and plenty of twists and turns along the way. Finishing my first playthrough, I am left wondering, "What would have happened if I did `X' instead?" - A signature question any good RPG will leave you with.
I found myself surprised at some of the references made to Origins, and although they are sparse, they are apparent enough to make you feel like not everything you did was irrelevant. Since this is not a spoiler review and instead my attempt at telling the hesitant buyers how much I enjoyed it, I cannot get into too much detail in this section.
In a lot of ways, Awakening does a much better job at conveying the urgency of the task at hand. I felt as if the clock was ticking, even though it was not. Where as in Origins, you can make a pit stop to deliver lyrium to a random Templar or otherwise perform trivial tasks that have no attachment to the roles of the Warden recruit.
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Companions:
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I found the companions of Awakening to be exciting, humorous, and very deep. I was worried originally that I would not allow myself to be attached to new characters in quite the same way as I was in Origins, but boy was I wrong. These characters live up to the standards of the original and then some. Again, I cannot get into details without ruining it for others, but expect there to be a number of twists and turns with these companions that will shock you. I was especially happy that Velanna did not ignore that my Warden was Dalish.
For whatever reason Oghren was truly brought back, they definitely improved him as a character. However, he went from being the last minute companion you didn't quite get to know, to the has-been companion who was not as exciting as the shiny new friends you've made.
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Voice Acting:
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Some of it was amazing, in fact, most of it was amazing. However, there are too few voice actors overall. You'll hear a side character sounding vaguely familiar to your latest companion, or have a brief chat with the Senechal will make you say... "Lord Harrowmont?" This is not drastically different from other RPG's or even from Origins (nickel for every time you heard Jowan's voice), but was a mild immersion breaker, especially reusing companion voices.
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(Lack of) Romance:
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We all know that there should have been more information on the romances in Origins translated into Awakening. There's no doubt it would have added a richer feel to the game, and make players feel a little less cheated. But no reason to dwell on this. Hopefully in the future Bioware will take into account the subtle nuisances of a game that makes it great, and translate it better to its expansions.
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Villains:
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The Darkspawn have a real face of evil now, and it is your duty to stop it at all costs. But what will you choose? Even the villainy of Awakening is a deep shade of grey. The new types of darkspawn are very fun to hack and slash, and some of the minor villains are deep and make storming their lair and gutting them that much more sweet.
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Side Quests:
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These quests were phenomenal and much more immersive than in Origins. In Origins, you'd be doing side quests that seemed to divert your attention away from the main threat of the Blight. However, in Awakening, every side quest has some relevance to your duties as both Warden-Commander and ruler over Amaranthine. Anything from the stopping of smugglers bringing in illegal goods, to meeting with the court of Amaranthine and making the tough decisions. There's even a Romeo and Juliet-eqsue tale that you have to uncover the clues to determine their fates.
There was one awkward quest description that tells you to find a woman in her home, and it turns out she's in a Chantry (hindsight is 20-20), but typically the journal is pretty detailed and easy to follow.
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Abilities, And Spells:
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Some of the new abilities in the game are amazingly exciting (Rain of Arrows!), but overall there were just too many of them. By the end of the game, leveling up became much more of a hassle than a decision. Nearly all of my companions as well as my Warden had far more spells than could fit on the toolbar, and most of the collected dust as I used the few spells I needed to perform the task. This was probably inevitable as the design of Origins pushed the number of abilities to the limit by the end, but it really hurt Awakening as a whole.
I feel as if a better system of managing spells, in particular "Activated" and "Sustained" abilities having a separate toolbar, as well as cutting down on the overall number of abilities to a more manageable level. I hope that, in future DA games, the sheer number of abilities will not drown out the specializing and decision-making process of leveling a character, because having a Battlemage who can heal and tank and use supporting abilities downplays choice.
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Runecrafting:
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I did not take the time to invest into this system, but it seemed fairly simple. Convert a lesser rune to a higher rune, then that rune to a better rune, and so on. It could have been a little more introductory and allowed more gradual usage of it (they toss out recipes like candy), but like I said I didn't fool around with it enough to claim good or bad.
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Items:
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Lots of amazing stats that will overshadow your cheap gear from Origins. One aspect that I found odd, being the packrat for rare items that I am, was that random merchants carried the rare items you'd expect to be unique in the world of Thedas, even if you brought it over with you. The legendary blade Yusaris magically gains an identical twin sold by a generic weapon merchant in Amaranthine. Nice for those who sold the original. Not so nice for those who kept it as a collector of rare treasures.
My Warden chose to bring Leliana's pendant (Restricted to Leliana necklace) with him into Amaranthine to remember her by while he was gone. He must have lost it on the trip over because it vanished from his inventory when he arrived).
Random DLC items also carried over into Awakening, such as the Harvest Festival Ring from the Shale DLC. Not sure if more items will carry over, as I did not take the time to check (perhaps it was because it was equipped on my Warden?)
The ability to add heraldry of many diverse backgrounds to your shields is really cool, and an example of something small that Bioware didn't have to do, but made the game that much more fun.
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Graphics and Textures:
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Overall amazing. There's some new weapons and armors (an AMAZING looking bow you'll find where you least expect it), although the generic rogue and mage armor has not changed at all. There are a beautiful array of new landscapes and a gruesome slew of new foes to slay. There is nothing overly groundbreaking or extremely different, just more of the same design that made Origins great. A few things here and there were a bit buggy, especially the Architect's facemask glitching into his face at some of the more pivotal moments (immersion killer).
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Playtime and Replayability:
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Complaints of the game being too short and not worth the money are relative to the amount of time you want to put into it. If you're constantly skipping dialogue, side quests, and non-essential areas, of course you can finish it in plus or minus 8 hours. Given that it is a smaller realm to explore, Bioware does an amazing job of making each area much denser and giving you much more to find that you wouldn't expect. Each area can have anywhere from 3 to 8 quests to complete.
Skipping most of the Runecrafting and only 2 side quests, I finished the game in about 15.5 hours. Granted, I took the time to read codex entries, double back and vendor goods when my pack was full, and respec'ing companions to suit my team. That being said, expect around 15 hours of gameplay if you intend on experiencing the game and not flying through it.
Naturally this expansion does not hold quite the same amount of replayability as Origins. I'd suspect you'd want to play it at least twice: once for your favorite Warden and once as an Orlesian Warden.
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Conclusion:
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This expansion does not expand your previous game so much as it expands the universe of Dragon Age. You will experience all of the thrills, twists, and turns that you came to love from Origins. There are tales of love, rejection, betrayal, and misunderstanding that all boil into a great expansion that you'll be happy you took the time to play through. It would be easy to blow through this game's smaller region in 7-8 hours and complain that it's too short, but if you take the time to explore and complete everything there is to offer, you'll find a lot of hidden treats in Awakening.
4.0 out of 5.0 | video-games_xbox |
Free Your Mind. Words cannot describe this game. I could end the review there but instead I'll try. Rez is the shooter sequel to Space Channel 5, wherin you navigate the inside of a Network as a polygonal avatar, destroying enemies in an attempt to bypass security and hack a sort of confused Master Control kind of program in a trippy philosophical 3D flying adventure. Oh, and the whole thing features graphics that look like tron and pulses to electronic music which changes because of the beats of firing your weapon. Sound crazy? It is. And oh-so-awesome.
I've never found another person loved Space Channel 5 the way that I do (despite never being able to beat either the first or the second game in the series), but I have met a few people who liked Rez. Only one seemed to really REALLY enjoy it, but no one is as ga-ga over Rez as me.
I love Panzer Dragoon, love Sky Gunner and Star Fox. I love shooters and 3D shooters (though I'm sometimes luke-warm and usually downright hostile toward the first-person variety). I also happen to love music games like Parappa the Rapper, Um Jammer Lammy and the like. So when you combine a music game with a shooter and give it visuals like this, I'm bound to love it.
I've been saying for quite a long time that what games need is to throw out the insanely high-polygon graphics and instead focus on simple high-resolution graphics so we can have games that look like the ones from Tron. I never really imagined I would see it, but nowadays they are everywhere. From the remake of Battlezone and Missile Command, to Geometry Wars and Schizoid, that kind of graphics is here to stay. Rez may not be the first of it's kind, but it is definitely a work of art. The splashes of color that accompany shots, the catchy music and ulockable bonus levels and modes keep you playing in classic Sega fashion, while the stellar gameplay, and incredibly exhilerating and soothing experience of actually playing the game ensure you will never get bored.
I keep finding myself returning and returning to the game to have just one more play-through, just one more feel-good, toe-tapping moment of enjoyment. This is a very enjoyable game. And now that it's available for download on the cheap in high-definition there are no more excuses. Every serious fan of video game art and unique play experiences needs to own Rez, if only to ensure that games of its caliber and recognized for their excellence and new ones like them are made. I love Rez, and hope you will too. | video-games_xbox |
Great console for gaming. First off, let me say that I own both a Xbox 360 Elite and an 80gb PS3. I enjoy both consoles and am no way bias towards either.
The Xbox 360 Elite is a console specifically for gaming. I would not consider it a true multimedia device because it lacks so many things that the PS3 has. For example a true "HD video format" (such as Blu-ray). It lacks wireless connectivity to the internet without a $100 dollar attachment. And, it is truly hindered by Microsoft's lack of want for any third party peripherals.
For gaming, you can't get any better than this machine. It still has the best exclusives and has many more games than the PS3 in general. However, the PS3 is closing the gap and is starting to have some spectacular exclusives as well. With that being said, I still enjoy games better on my Xbox for a few reasons...
Xbox live:
This is so much better than any online play system in any of the PS3's games. Yes, you do have to pay for Xbox live. But, buy for a year and it doesn't cost more than $40. Demos come out sooner on the Xbox, online matchmaking is simply better (more users, easier to find games, easier to play with friends, etc.)
Controller:
This controller just feels better in my hands. I don't have particularly large or small hands. I'm pretty average for a 19 year old male. But, the controller contours to my hands and just fits. The weight is also just right. It doesn't feel like a feather, nor does it feel like an overly heavy, obtrusive brick. The D-pad is not as good as the PS3's however, Microsoft just came out with a new controller which does fix this problem. So my recommendation is to get the new controller.
Achievements:
This is so small but something that the PS3 has yet to implement completely. Every game on the Xbox has what is referred to as "achievement points." What these are is little objectives in the various games that essential give you points. And, while they truly do nothing for you or add any special experience to the game, they do add re-playability to many games that I would have otherwise just let sit around.
With all of this being said, you really can't go wrong with either console. A few big things to pay attention to when deciding to choose one are:
-Exclusive game titles
-What you plan on doing with the console (gaming, watching movies [Blu-ray?], online gaming, etc)
-Cost | video-games_xbox |
Forza Horizon 3 - Been There, Done That. The only Forza I've never played was Forza 1 because I never had an original Xbox. When I finally hopped off the Gran Turismo hype train and caught a ride with Forza, I felt like I had been lied too for all those years as to what a true racing game was all about.
Forza Motorsports 2 was fun - a ton of fun. I actually padded my wallet not so much with race winnings but with the auction of hand-"painted" cars. I literally built a pretend business out of it, selling cars via auction which newer players could not buy through the in-game store unless their player level was high enough. These same cars however could be purchased via auction as long as they could afford them, and that's how I became a virtual millionaire.
Fast forward several Forza titles later though and a lot of that content has been stripped away in favor of multiplayer capability and "easing" new players into the genre. With the Horizon series we saw some new ideas - open world environments, a less linear progression through challenges, and of course multiple road surfaces and such.
But staring at the screen with Forza 3, I really feel like they've run out of ideas. There is so little difference between Horizon 2 and 3 that I feel cheated by the Forza franchise for the first time.
Billboards littering the map to bust for bonuses, speed cameras, challenging AI racers for quick cash, the prize wheel, perks, tracking exploring of mapped roads, silly races against trains or helicopters... these have ALL been done before and are not only still included in Horizon 3, but you're forced to sit through a long, drawn-out explanation of how these features work and what to do and how you should "get goin'!"
I mean sure there's a few new ideas tossed in for filler content - you can unlock new radio stations... You can, uh, you can unlock new car horns... You can pretend-hire crew-mates who use the same names as your Xbox Live friends even if you know for a fact that they don't OWN Horizon 3... (I have yet to know what benefit this actually serves as I've found no way to manage this crew or do anything with it...) About the only feature I find somewhat neat is the ability to create your own racing event. Of course, all that means is that you can play most of the game without ever buying or upgrading a car.
That brings up what I feel is the saddest issue with this game - it has gotten too easy. Right off the get go you're given a rather-capable vehicle, and at several stages you're given even better cars at no cost of in-game currency. In fact, I had logged SEVERAL hours before an achievement popped up that I had purchased my first car... With a garage of over 20 vehicles, I hadn't realized I had yet to actually purchase one until that point. There's also the Forza Hub - a separate app on the Xbox that provides in-game rewards to all of your Forza games. As someone who's played all but one of those titles, and been a VIP member of all but maybe 2, I get a ridiculous amount of in-game currency that virtually negates the REASON to play it in the first place. I remember grinding in old games, running races over and over again just to afford that next dream car, and upgrade it to the hilt. At the time I remember thinking it was a chore, until I realized that I was probably so familiar with those virtual tracks that I could take my REAL sports car out there and probably turn in a pretty decent time. It also made the purchase of that next car so unbelievably rewarding, and that experience has simply been lost. I was actually surprised and excited to see the return of auctions within Horizon 3, but with already more than $2 million in-game currency, what do I need to sell cars for?
Even the value of upgrading cars has been lost, since the game simply pits you against cars in the same class. The only real challenge is set by the difficulty level you've selected in the menus. If you're having a hard time winning, upgrading your car won't help as much as just setting the difficulty down. I actually have yet to upgrade a single car in the game except some cosmetic add-ons.
Yes, the graphics are incredible. Is that even surprising any more? As I've asked however in several reviews of game prior - is a beautiful game worth playing if it isn't fun to play?
I used to think that Forza had such emergent and innovative game play. Now, I'm wondering what the next Gran Turismo might look like... | video-games_xbox |
Pretty much, hands down, the greatest video game ever. Anyone who knows me knows that I loathe, with an unhealthy passion, First Person Shooter games; well, to be more fair, the Army FPS, the Call of Duty series is so dull it's put me to sleep, not a fan of the Halo series either, as it seems to polished and over the top; BioShock is the anti-Halo, it's a murky, dark, disturbing, creepy and absolutely brilliant game.
Long has it been, actually since the first Fable game was released, that I was in such overwhelming awe of a game, but oddly enough, like with some of my favorite things it took some initial warming up to. I had bought a 360 with Dead Rising (disappointment) Overlord (waste of money) and this game, based solely on my cousin's comment of "you can kill little kids." I laughed and said "Alright, sold."
What I got, my word, was so much more than a mindless sandbox game like the GTA series or something boring and predictable like the Call of Duty games, I got a game that was dangerous to a degree because although it was interesting at first it became absolutely enticing eventually, mainly because to quote Videodrome "it has a philosophy".
I'm a sucker for dark science fiction; dystopian worlds, strong positive ideals turned to complete trash by the inherent evil in man; that is what BioShock is; a world completely torn to shred by ideals gone horribly, horrible wrong.
Science has failed, Ayn Rand's philosophy has failed; it's an underwater world of dismay, disgust, failure, anger and bitterness, where all are trying to coax or demand you into following what they want; it's up to you, in the end, how you go about it.
I could go on and on about details already covered in previous reviews; how absolutely beautiful the game is, how intelligent the story is, how much of a great replay value this game possesses, but you already know that, I simply wanted to profess my admiration for the greatest video game of all time.
I CANNOT wait for BioShock 2; a prequel.
However, I'm peeved beyond belief that Hollywood has found fit to turn this into a movie. | video-games_xbox |
These headphones kicked the Sony Gold Wireless butt! Coming from someone who's had the X12's for 5 years. I feel as though this review is pretty legit considering I've owned my X12's for almost 5 years. I have not had one problem with them during that time. The reason I'm writing this review is because recently I ordered 'No Man's Sky' and I wanted to upgrade my headphones. Felt I had used them long enough. I researched headphones for over a week and finally nailed it down to the Playstation Gold Wireless. They amped those things up to be killer surround and sound quality in general.
I got them last night and hooked them up and sure enough they sounded good. Although, I was really curious to compare the Gold Wireless Headphones to the X12's. SO, during a 2 hour play session I switched back and forth in different moments of the game. Least to say I was blown away. I was blown away at how GOOD the X12's sound. The Gold Wireless did not pump out any bass (Even after I tweaked the bass in the settings via the Playstation) and the virtual surround was okay. To my shock, the X12's pumped bass and actually rivaled the surround sound the Gold Wireless Headphones produced. NO frickin joke!
Seriously, I immediately took the GOLD wireless phones downstairs, packed them back in the box, put them back in the shipping box, taped it up and requested a refund on Amazon and UPS picked them up the next day.
SO i'm sitting here looking at my X12's and debating whether I purchase a new set of X12's or upgrade to a better Turtle Beach set only because after this I'm confident Turtle Beach is going to produce the same quality sound in their headphones as the X12's.
SO if your on the fence about these X12's, get them. It's worth the $40 bucks. These kicked a $100 headphone in the butt. ALSO, in case you didn't know, you can easily hook these up to a PS4 using Toslink and a mic wire specifically made for X12 to PS4.
If you want to know how shoot me a reply and I'll explain what I did. These headphones aren't only for just Xbox. | video-games_xbox |
Better than its made out by some . I remember when I ordered Shadow the Hedgehog and decided to read some of the major reviews for it, from the large gaming sites. The first one that I found was trying to portray the game out to be terrible, I didn't believe it though. I then moved on to another site to find the same thing, review after review from the top sites all saying it was pretty bad. I firstly though of cancelling it, then though, they might not be right. I was right in thinking that.
The game isn't like a normal Sonic game, obvious because; it isn't Sonic. I have seen countless reviews complaining about the game having guns and it not suiting a Sonic game, but the fact is it isn't one and that's all there is to it. I go as far as to say the guns are a nice touch.
The game graphically is pretty similar to Sonic Heroes as far as level detail is concerned, although the characters seem to have been updated. The game still suffers from occasional game play issues such as the homing attack having a mind of its own, but that's just a small setback. The game has a fair selection of guns to choose from, ranging from pistols to rocket launchers. Aiming is pretty simple and easy to work. It's basically face the enemy and shoot, that's it and the game has slight auto-lock to make it even easier. The enemy AI was something I felt let the game down, most enemies just stand around and some don't even attack. The biggest killer in the game ended up being falls from cliffs and ledges, infact the only trouble killing the monsters caused was the time consumption. This ultimately effecting your rank at the end all for stopping to kill the enemies to complete the good or dark missions. But apart from that the game play seems to be quite solid, the camera is occasionally awkward but most of the time It's good when you need it. The music for the game is good as always, as are the sound effects. The voice acting is alright, its one thing that could have been better. The size of the game was great, spanning over 20 reasonably sized levels each with their own twists and turns to keep you happy and then you have the two player battle mode (which I haven't yet seen). And to make it even better the game has level select and allows you to re-watch cut scenes and listen to all of the games music from the main menu.
Overall I found the game to be quite good, like every game it has some problems but I found it made up for them. Totally worth it. | video-games_xbox |
I love it, OS needs work though. I've had the PS4 since it launched and I just purchased the Xbox one, for $414 including taxes with titan fall. So all in all it came out to be equal to the PS4. Lets jump into the review.
Hardware:
Custom 1.75 GHz AMD 8 core APU (2 Quad-Core Jaguar modules)
Memory
8 GB DDR3 32MB ESRAM (5 GB available to games)
It is less powerful than the PS4 in brute force therefore equaling the 900P games less than 1080P like the PS4. What is failed to be mentioned is the fact that ESRAM(204 GB/s) has a higher bus than GDDR5(176 GB/s) even though it is not unified nor a huge amount of ram but its all about optimizing. Think about it like this. The PS3 Last gen developers had issues with developing for the console it's the same with the Xbox one, in which they will be optimizing for it in a later date for the newer games to come. As well as Direct X 12 software optimization being introduced later this year to the Xbox. Providing twice as much graphics processing power due to access of lower level hardware API. I think in the future that 1080P 60FPS is not a far goal that can be achieved. Plus if you tend to have a smaller screen and you sit far away you won't be able to tell the difference unless you're looking for it. So therefore I believe that this will be on par with the PS4 soon, sucks having to wait. A consoles life is somewhere between 5-10 years so I'm sure it will happen.
The Kinect two also works really well compared to the previous one, and it is nice having the edition when you are too lazy to get up and get the controller or simply you want to show of and it also works really well in games. The voice recognition is lacking and needs work, but when it does work it's good.
Software:
The Xbox one OS is fantastic and has a lot of potential, seems about 75% done as a new console it does have some issues. One would be the issue the fact that you cannot hide some snapped applications without it taking up 1/4 of the screen. EX: Xbox music. As well as some grammar lessons and speech recognition for the Kinect to better understand what you saying and processing it. Another gripe about the product the fact that you can't put a lock on the Xbox itself before accessing any of the tiles or games. I have siblings and other family I do not want touching my Xbox or any of my stuff and I would not like to resort to taking the power cord with me everywhere I go to make sure they don't access anything on my Xbox. You can lock your account, but they can easily add there's and be on their way to using your Xbox. This is something personal since the Xbox is mostly meant to be the entertainment in the family room, but I'm selfish. Some of the party features and friends feed are hidden which I can live without as of right now since not too many people I know own the Xbox one.
Games: Well, Titan Fall looks damn good as well as Ryse too. as well as possible incoming patches to make them look better in higher resolution. Excited for up coming Halo as well. At lot is in store for both consoles as well as games.
Controller: Controller is absolutely amazing, I love it better than the PS4 controller. I love that they also took out the battery pack and made it more streamlined with the controller itself. People complain that there isn't a chargeable battery pack, but I love that it and heres why. The PS4 controller would maybe last a couple of hours on a full charge of gaming which is fine and all but if I wanted to continue gaming I would have to sit 2 feet away from my tv and make sure to keep the thing plugged in to keep it going. Plus the cord barely worked have the time without me fiddling with it. With the Xbox one controller I can swap out the batteries and be on my way. Get rechargeable double A's boom your done.
I say I love this product because I do! Even in its current state I love it. Does it need work? yes, but I'm so excited for the features to come with this Xbox one! | video-games_xbox |
Really great game, but not worth $60. I'm generally more of an RPG fan, but I do tend to stray from RPGs from time to time. I recently got an Xbox 360, saw this game, and felt the need to have it. I was concerned about the price, though, since I heard the game was very short. I got lucky, and ordered the game from another site when there was a promotional code for when you order from the EA site (the code is no longer valid), and with the discount already on that site, the game cost me about $25, shipping included. I feel that's how much this game is honestly worth for how long it is.
Graphics: The graphics are amazing, the visual in Hell are stunning and magnificent. If Hell really does exist, I'd imagine this is as close as you'll get to seeing what it looks like. (Note: I've never read the Divine Comedy, all I've done is read little pieces of it from Wikipedia) From what I've read, and from the reviews I read before I purchased the game as well, the scenery really does go by The Divine Comedy, each layer.
Gameplay: Hack 'n slash combat style. With one button you control death's scythe, and with the other a cross. The scythe is for close range combat, the cross is for long range. The combos work very nicely, too, I love them. You also get to level up Dante's cross and scythe. As well, you also get spells which each serve a different purpose, although I found myself only really using a couple of them, to be honest.
Story: The story, while not amazing in any way, is not bad in the least. You play a crusader who committed each sin while on the crusade. His love gets taken by Lucifer into Hell, thus Dante descends into Hell to rescue her.
Audio: Basically, all you hear in the background are the screams and cries of the damned. Which actually fits nicely, this never bothered me in any way, shape, or form.
Replay value: Not really a lot, there's four difficulty settings, so of course you can play through each one. You also won't level up your cross and scythe in just one play-thru, you'll need two.
Overall, I love this game, and do not regret buying it. However, buyer beware, the game IS short, I beat it my first time in around five and a half hours. While there IS replay value, I still don't feel there is enough of it to warrant a $60 price tag. The game has stunning visuals and amazing game play, but $60 is basically you paying $10 an hour for one play-thru. If you can, get it cheaper. | video-games_xbox |
good game but it has its problems. It's a good game and if we could give half stars, I'd give it 3.5.
The Good:
-London looks amazing. the sights and sounds, the hustle and bustle, really make the city come alive. I stepped off a train, down an alley and there was a staggering drunk there singing away a silly old drinking song (one I don't doubt was authentic). There are all sorts of little gems like this: you might step into a courtyard and here music (which is obviously not just the background game music) only to find a little gazebo with a brass quintet playing Bach or perhaps a young couple having a hushed conversation about whether they should sneak off somewhere to express their affection in a more personal nature... They also did a great job with much of the historical aspects. For example, the fact the Thames river was nearly as crowded with cargo boats as a modern day interstate and the amount of trade going in and out of the city just to name one. The game has made me want to visit England!
- The "guild" aspect. This is a game mechanic that has popped in and out of the various AC titles (I've played them all). IMHO, this is the best implementation of this part of the game yet...manly because it was actually useful. They have replaced the secretive commando style assassins with a good ol' fashioned gang of thugs. And if you invest heavily in it (via the gang upgrades menu) you can have a carriage full of tough, loyal brutes come rushing to your aid at a moments notice.
- having 2 protagonists you can switch between at will. While there are a few missions where you must use a specific person, most of the game allows you to choose whichever Frye twin you prefer. They are largely the same but have just enough variation for the game to remain staunchly politically correct but also to keep your choice of character interesting. 90% of their skills are the same but each of the twins has a small handful of abilities that are unique. Evie is a little more crafty and sneaky so she gets a few exclusive skills to reflect that while Jacob gets a few that reflect his more confrontational nature. I found that since I prefer a more sneaky approach, I usually played Evie and focused on maxing out the stealth skills for her. However, when I felt like changing things up (kicking in the door and rushing in guns blazing, so to speak) I would play Jacob. This helped to make the game a little more varied.
- the variety of equipment. now you don't just have armor, knives, swords and smokebombs.... you have all that plus you can choose between the kurkri, cane sword or brass knuckles. each has their own strengths and there are numerous ones to be found or crafted throughout the game
- conquring the city: the variety of the missions for you to have your gang take over control of each segment of the cities was very fun. By the time I'd gotten to my 5th "templar hunt" I was getting a little tired of it but it was easily fixed by doing some money making missions or going back to the main story.
Now for the bad
- the combat system: this is not the first time an AC title has suffered from this but it seems to be more pronounced than most: the combat is visually interesting, with dramatic moves all cleverly choreographed....the problem is that for as interesting as it is to look at, the player's role in the fights can be a bit dull. Gone is the ability to grab a rifle dropped by a soldier and turn it against them...or to grab them and throw them from a ledge. In their place is a VERY simplified combat system. Basically, you have insta-kill with the your hidden blade gauntlets, so long as you're undetected. However, once you're in open combat, things change and you go into fighting mode.
With the exception of using an ammo consuming tool (throwing knife, smoke bomb etc...) there are a grand total of 3 things you can do. You an strike, stun or counter. period. No longer does a skilled player have an option to wield nothing but their hidden blades, blocking, dodging, rolling and countering their adversaries. When you strike you go through a series of flashy looking moves where you switch between smaking them with your equipped weapon (kukri, brass knuckles, or cane sword), various punches and your hidden gauntlet. The effect is that you basically just mash the strike button until they go down...or until they "put their guard up", which is represented by the bad guy putting their fists up. now, you must do the very complicated thing of hitting the stun button once to "break their guard" before resuming your strike button spamming. When one of them is going to hit you, you have ample warning indicators on the screen and you push the counter button. I don't like that you MUST counter to block. You can't block then decide to reposition, strike a different target, use a tool, flee OR strike back. you automatically counter attack. This causes you to finish off a lot of guys you would prefer to leave staggering around because of the finisher mechanic.
To relieve the monotony, the game now encourages you to (in the style of the arkham batman games) setup finisher combos. So if you leave 3 or 4 bad guys stumbling around near death, you can then do a combo finisher. which again, is you watching one of a handful of various pre-scripted cinematics of your character running around between the dazed foes, breaking bones and slicing necks in dramatic fashion. This LOOKS very cool but once you've seen each animation a few times, they start to get very boring...and they also amount to several seconds in the middle of the fight where you just watching your character fight independently from your control.
While it does get improve once you get better skills and weapons, for much of the game the number of times you have to hit someone to put them down borders on the absurd. I don't know how many times I can made to believe a thug could get stabbed in the chest, clubbed on the head or slashed in the throat before they cease to be a threat but apparently, 19th century Brits were made of VERY tough stuff. Again, this is to support the game mechanic of leveling up and buying better gear but when your combat system relies on looking cool to be fun, one should REALLY try to avoid looking silly instead...I had several eye roll moments where I stopped hitting someone to focus on his friend, only to realize the hapless bloke I stabbed and smacked upside the head a dozen times hadn't had enough punishment to throw in the towel.
Since I prefer a stealthy approach normally, I don't get into open brawls all that often, but for those of you who would enjoy the "direct" approach, beware you might ultimately find this game very boring.
- the voice acting: the frye twins themselves and many of the supporting characters did a good job but there are numerous exceptions. maybe it was the directing or the dialogue I don't know but a lot of the conversations you have with the various denizens of London just sounded stiff and stilted. it reminded me of games 10-15 years ago before most of the game industry realized the value of good voice acting.
- the story: maybe it wasn't all that bad and maybe it was. Honestly, I couldn't tell you because I was bored with it and stopped paying attention about an hour into the game.
**tiny spoiler**
Okay so Jacob wants to focus on the gang war and Evie on getting the pieces of eden.... but wait, what is it again she thinks they're for? And why are karl marx and charles dickens involved? and how exactly did they get themselves into this gang war, squaring off against the cliche super villain who owns all of London? Maybe it's because I started playing this right after finishing Witcher 3 (which has the best video game story I have ever experienced...and that's going back as far as the 80s) but I just didn't care at all about the who and the why. AC games often have convoluted stories that are hard to follow (or at least hard to muster the motivation to follow) but this one seemed worse than most.
Conclusion: for a casual gamer (and I do NOT mean that term disparagingly) and/or one who has never played an AC game, the polished, cinematic nature of Assassin's Creed Syndicate will probably delight. Unfortunately, I think more serious gamers and AC veterans mind find it diverting but too easy and ultimately, somewhat boring. | video-games_xbox |
Really, Really Disappointed. I am yet another sucker who plunked down extra cash for this version and have received nothing -- I mean NOTHING -- for my extra money. This is a widespread problem that Turn 10 appears to be completely ignoring. Hundreds of people have reported the problem on their forums and they have not even acknowledged the issue. Instead, they are putting out press releases about adjusting the economy in response to player feedback, as if to suggest there are no more serious issues that warrant acknowledgement, like how about underlying defects which essentially break the most expensive version of the product on the market and screw their most loyal fans out of their hard earned money.
Why would anyone ignore such issues? To avoid bad press that could hurt launch sales of the new console or this game? It's hard to tell, but a smart company doesn't ignore their best customers, especially when an ounce of accountability and a pledge to correct the problems is all we are looking for. Do they seriously expect this to just go away? There is a right way and a wrong way to treat customers and going this route will have repercussions, at least for this customer.
You should heed my advice and stay far away from this version of the game until the forums reflect that they have fixed these issues. If you've already bought it, keep in mind that there is no way to communicate directly with Turn 10. I spent half an hour finding a support email address and sending them a detailed message explaining the problems I've been experiencing only to get an immediate auto-reply saying they weren't going to respond and forwarding me to the Xbox "terms of use" legal page. I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but those "terms of use" don't override laws that prohibit misrepresentations about products and the failure to deliver goods as advertised.
Please someone from Turn 10 read this and make things right. | video-games_xbox |
The Water Weenie of Remote Controls. Since there aren't a lot of games for the Xbox One, I find myself using it for NetFlix and Amazon streaming more and more. I got tired of using the standard controller for basic playback functions so I decided this remote would be a good purchase. Unfortunately, the remote control seems hastily designed and not very well thought out.
Although Xbox One controllers use a wireless signal similar to Bluetooth, this remote control uses an infrared transmitter, and instead of pointing it at Kinect, you must point it at the console. For all the function that Kinect is supposed to add, apparently it does not include the IR receiver, and that seems incredibly foolish since the Kinect unit has to be centrally located, and many people may have their Xbox One consoles hidden away (especially in a projector setup). The IR also doesn't seem to be very sensitive. I have to point it within a few degrees of my Xbox One or it will not read the signal. I am not sure if that's the fault of the console, the remote, or some combination of the two. Sitting on my couch, I am 10 feet away from the TV. The console is two feet to the left of the TV, and if I point the remote at the TV it will not pick up the signal. I have to consciously aim the remote at the console.
Excluding the ABXY buttons is a big mistake. Yes, I know the center cursor button acts as the A button and the back button acts as the B button, but there will be times in apps that I need use of the X and Y buttons. For example, in NetFlix, if I'm searching a title and make a typo, I normally would hit the X button to backspace on my controller. Now I have to use the d-pad to highlight the backspace button. It can be a dozen or more button presses to correct a simple typo.
The form factor and design of this remote is horrendous. The bottom of the remote is curved at such an angle that it will not sit flat. This is mildly annoying when you want to set it down on a coffee table and have to pick it up again to hit a button. I normally sit my remote on the arm of my couch, but I have to put this remote face down do it doesn't slide off. It is constructed out of a slippery material that reminds me of those old "Water Weenie" toys that constantly jump out of your hand if you squeeze it. The remote is unusable in dark conditions until you move it around a little bit and get the LED backlight to come on. Act fast, because the LED only stays lit for a second, then you have to shake it again. When the LED backlight is not lit, it is impossible to read, and there is no bump on any of the keys to act as a locator key. Other than the main Xbox button and the d-pad cursor buttons all other buttons are tiny. Given that the remote is small and slippery in your hand it requires a juggling act to hold onto it and press some of the playback buttons.
Wait for a third party remote, use a universal remote, or hold out for the inevitable Microsoft redesign that will include a better form factor, Bluetooth, and ABXY buttons. For as something as simple as a remote control, Microsoft managed to screw this up in nearly every possible way. | video-games_xbox |
A ton of potential with a sub-par execution. This seems to be one of the more controversial games out there. Critically it reviewed quite low but gamers tend to review it quite high. I'm somewhere in the middle.
There is no doubt that this is one of the most beautiful games out right now for consoles. This game gave me a great first impression. The voice acting is above average, the characters move very smoothly even when the screen is cluttered with action, and the executions are neat and varied, but unfortunately this game suffers where it matters most - gameplay.
The problem with this game is that it's very button-mashy and it's filled with quick-time events which really don't matter. The windows for blocking and attacking are huge, so once you get used to the controls after an hour it becomes very repetitive and quite easy, even on harder difficulty levels.
After a few attacks your enemy will glow a sequence of colors corresponding to the buttons you should push to perform an execution, so for example they might glow yellow, then blue, then yellow so during this sequence you should hit Y, then X, then Y. One of the issues is that this is just a clever way to hide quick-time events but the larger issue is that it really doesn't matter if you perform these actions correctly as you will still execute your opponent. You just gain a few extra points and a cooler execution animation if it is done correctly.
There are a few more elements to combat, for instance you can use the directional pad to set what kind of bonus you get after performing an execution. For example if you have 'health' selected then you'll get a bit of health after executing your foes. Also, there is a nifty focus attack which will stun your enemies and put your character in 'bullet time' mode for a short period of time. The focus attacks are very powerful and very easy to abuse making the game even easier.
Ryse is worth a play through if you can find it for cheap but ultimately I found it to be very repetitive and all too linear. It's a short game that I will probably not visit again in the future. However, if you want a taste of the potential the XBOX One has in regards to graphics then Ryse certainly delivers on that front! | video-games_xbox |
This game is almost golden, but it's really just Pyrite. Overall: 3
Graphics: 3
Controls: 5
Sound: 3
Extras: 1
I bought this for the simple reason that I like scrolling shooters, ever since I was a child at the Arcades, and have specifically enjoyed the "Manic Shooter" games over the years. I've played the big names of R-Type and Gradius, and have also played and own many others, from multiple sequel releases like Contra, Raiden, Dodonpachi, Touhou Project and Metal Slug, to those that are unique releases or only have a single sequel like Einhander, Gunstar Heroes, Space Harrier, Ikaruga, Tyrian, Sin and Punishment, and Deathsmiles. I've played enough of these games to have a good reference of what makes them great, and what should be better.
This game says right on the box that it was inspired by the Gradius series, but that's not quite accurate. This is a game series that is actually a parody of Gradius, just like Parodius, a previous parody series that was also produced by Konami. This is somewhat obvious by the ship design and the fact that all the pilots you can play are members of the St. Gradius Academy. The game certainly does have that daunting feeling I've found in the Gradius games of being a tiny ship trying to take down an enemy space fleet. For those who've never played these types of games, try to picture your self in a canoe with mines limiting your maneuverability to a tight lane that changes shape while avoiding a ship the size of an aircraft carrier surrounded by battleships, destroyers, and other canoes that move in various predetermined paths based on your position. In addition, all of those ships are trying to take you out, and you have to avoid their fire while returning your own and picking up new weapons as the drop from enemy ships you've just destroyed. This is very daunting indeed. However, Otomedius Excellent does not seem to be a game that is as punishing of poor performance as many of the others I've mentioned, at least, not until later in the game, possibly making it more accessible to younger players without the honed eye-hand co-ordination of an adult. Additionally, the game offers you unlimited continues, so young players can just keep trying. Like many games of the shmup genre there is little to no story provided in the game, as often the story is found in comics, books, or even just advertisement campaigns in Japan, when they even bother with a story in the first place. Overall, I found the game to be fun to play for short periods of time, but limited in key ways.
PROS:
The vibrant music fits to the gameplay well, although some may not appreciate the often upbeat tones found during boss fights.
Tight control response ensures that your ship moves where you want, when you want it to.
The unique Gradius style power-up system is present giving a little more strategy in when you use your power-ups.
Excellent ship variety with different weapons availability enhances the fun and replay value of the game.
Great backgrounds and enemy designs with lots of colors catch the eye and look great.
CONS:
The weapon edit system was a little confusing and seemingly unusable at first, since you didn't really have any data in the manual, until I played Score Attack mode which unlocked new weapon cards.
No save between stages, one of the most needed things for shmups. Life is rarely co-operative to video game playtime.
There are different endings for the game based on the pilot you select, whether you defeat or let some bosses flee, and even whether you die.
There is very little localization for the game, as all the characters still exclaim or talk in Japanese, and only the actual game levels have any translation text to read. It would have been nice to have the characters voiced in English.
Enemy fire needs to be more discernable. Sometimes, the enemies fire as they explode and you can't see it through the explosion. Also, enemy fire cannot be seen through your own weapons fire. In later levels, so much is going on screen that you almost can't discern enemy fire moving through other enemy fire, almost ensuring that you'll fly into some.
As many other reviewers pointed out, it is often times hard to tell what is part of the background and what is going to crash your ship. Whether flying through tight spaces or shooting at parts of screen filling bosses, you end up running into things that you just didn't think were in your way. This is the single worst flaw of the game, requiring lots of trial and error, memorization, and repeated plays to figure out. Correcting this will make the next release in the series a great game.
SUMMARY:
For a game that seems to be trying to follow in the footsteps of the Gradius 5, it's still got a long way to go. I haven't played any of the other Otomodius games, however, so I can't say that this is better or worse than them. | video-games_xbox |
A fun, visually stunning, romp through Rome with more "sizzle" that "steak. Cryteks Ryse: Son of Rome on the Xbox One is, first and foremost, a visual marvel. Crytek has, again, produced a game with incredible graphics and high production value. But as I played through the single player campaign, I began to feel that the game offered a next gen faade rather than a true next gen experience. While the visuals (textures, lighting, facial animations, body/execution animations, flame effects, etc.) certainly could not be achieved on the previous generation of consoles, the next gen-ness of Ryse stops at the visuals. Nowhere in the game did I feel that the computing power of the Xbox One was utilized to drastically change the paradigm of gameplay. Instead, the player is left with an incredibly beautiful, albeit generic, brawler. Does this make Ryse: Son of Rome a bad game? In short, no. Ryse: Son of Rome is still a very good game with a compelling story that does make you want to finish the campaign, but the game feels like it has a tremendous amount of potential that is untapped.
Visuals:
Visually, Ryse: Son of Rome is the best looking action game Ive ever seen on a console. Cryteks attention to small details like the feathers on the helmets and reflections on the armor make this game the kind of title that a player would like to have in their console to silence skeptics that might doubt the graphics capability of the Xbox One. The upconverted image (from 900P to 1080P) certainly addressed my fear that the Xbox One couldn't deliverer the same level of resolution fidelity as the PS4 as most of the Xbox One games are not in a native resolution of 1080P. Granted, I am playing the game on a mid-tier, 47 HD (1080P) TV with 120hz refresh rate, but I would imagine that I would still be satisfied if the image were on a larger TV. There were so many times during the campaign that I was floored by the animations (especially facial expressions), scenery (Crytek can render forests. Wow.), and lighting. I have been playing video games for 25 years and have owned at least one console in every generation beginning with the NES, so I notice the graphical leap between the Xbox 360s capabilities and what I am seeing on a launch title and I can safely say that the Ryse: Son of Rome is a graphical showpiece and a glimmer of the graphical capability of the Xbox One.
Controls:
If you have played any of the Arkham titles or (to a lesser extent) Assassins Creed, then you would feel at home with the combat mechanics of Ryse: Son of Rome. Combat essentially boils down to opportune timed attacks, block, and counters. While the implementation of varied weapons in games like Arkham or Assassins Creed helps the simplistic combat system keep its luster, Ryse: Son of Rome does not add any combat variables (like new weapons or gadgets) to keep the combat fresh. What were left with is a combat system that is, in essence, fine, but lacks any sort of progression or evolution. For this reason, the combat can grow a bit stale as the campaign progresses. To make matters worse, the lack of enemy variety creates a lot of combat monotony. Luckily, for Ryse: Son of Rome, an engaging story and high production value keeps the player interested in progressing the story.
Story/Production Value: Ryse:
Son of Romes story is engaging (it even has a twist) and really helps keep the player invested despite the monotonous combat. Dont get me wrong, the story does not explore deep existential truths (this is not Bioshock), but it feels like playing a mindless (but still awesome) summer blockbuster movie. I frequently rolled my eyes at the obvious use of themes/scenes/quotes from movies like Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan, but simple tale of revenge helped give me just enough context to kill more barbarians and bask in the beauty of Cryteks beautiful environments.
"Next Gen-ness":
As previously stated, Ryse: Son of Rome is a graphical benchmark for the next generation (PS4/Xbox One) and an exciting glimmer of the future potential of video game graphics. Next gen-ness, however, isn't just expressed in stellar graphics. Unfortunately, thats where the next gen-ness stopped with Ryse: Son of Rome. What I mean by that is that, aside from the graphics, animation, and lighting, everything else about the game seems to be possible on the previous generation of hardware. The power of the cloud could have been harnessed (as it was in Forza 5) to give greater enemy variety and less combat predictability. Voice functionality could have been implemented better (as it feels like more of a gimmick than an enhancement). The point being that the computing power of the Xbox One seems very underutilized. I do hope we see a sequel that is more next gen in these (and other) areas.
Final Remarks:
While Ryse certainly delivers the sizzle, it offers very little in terms of steak. The short (6-8 hour) single player campaign is visually stunning and has a captivating story (in the same way that a summer blockbuster has a captivating story) but the lack of combat variety or progression/evolution can leave the player with a simultaneously beautiful and monotonous experience. | video-games_xbox |
One of my all time favorite games. Mass Effect, is one of those once every five year come along games if that pleasantly often.
The story is rock solid and very well executed. But what really drives this game home are the side stories, (such as the ones related to your character's background, or the Asari Consort quest) which really help you believe that this is a living breathing universe.
It's an interesting contrast between say, Fable II which relies on a more active and direct form of immersion to the game world. But every bit as valid. The characters in the game are all likable except for those two stupid human side kicks. (Kaiden and Ashley I hate you both and wish I could kick you both out an airlock some day). Which is nice, except for the fact that in my opinion the characters I would want my Shepard to hook up with romantically speaking I can't because they limit your choices to either the almost creepily innocent Asari Scientist, Liara or Kaiden and Ashley..
Those two... ugh I hate them, Kaiden less than Ashley perhaps they just aren't that enjoyable as characters, and I felt compared to the Xenos in the game they were weak sauce thrown in so you could have a "pure" non xeno based love story in the game.
Couldn't I have Tali instead? Or heck Garrus or Wrex instead of Kaiden?
That is probably the second biggest weakness of the game are two characters whom you don't even have to use in your party ever (until it comes time for those last two achievements). I have noticed very rarely that the game will freeze, but that's only happened to me maybe twice out of over 60 hours of combined play.
The game's biggest weakness to me are the planets you go to. I understand most worlds aren't like earth, heck most probably aren't even terrestrial in the galaxy. But do they all have to look nearly identical with different colors slapped on? I mean really. Could ya'll have just thrown us a frickin bone once in a while aside from Virmire? I shouldn't be thinking "Man the moon is more exciting!" when I'm on a multiple worlds flung across the galaxy.
This leads to the next big drag. The Damned Mako, maybe if the scenery was prettier I'd feel like driving this thing around would actually have a point besides using it to run over Geth and Raiders.
This game is every bit as good through multiple play throughs. There's just -that many- choices in this game. (I would like to see more variation on effects these choices have on the area I'm in at large though)
Get a 360 get this game. Trust me, good gaming isn't dead yet. Far from it. | video-games_xbox |
Indeed, not like Halo 3. The game is not really short. The cinematics are, the difficulty is what makes up the time. The more enemies, the harder it is, the longer you will play, and easier is faster. ODST was rather boring than fun or exciting to play. Rated:3. Maybe it just didn't grow on me. As written on the cover it is a new hero and therefore another game,not like Halo 3. But the fact is that there can't be just one hero. All ODST members are more or less heroes.
Spolier: Basically they just went into a fight and came back with their data. They didn't win over the city or that major fights. Therefore it's either all of them are heroes or none of them are.
End of spoiler.
I wanted the game to be better, I expected a lot from it, I hoped that many reviewers were wrong, but they were mostly right. It's not the best Halo game out there. You got your chance to play as ODST trooper, but I liked none of the ODST team members from this game. None but silent me, rookie. From all the money that was made from Halo games, they could have done so much better game. ODST is very repetitive. It has tactics that you must use yourself, but basically they all repeat. If they make ODST again, I want it to be fun and exciting. And new members would work best. Since it's a story, if they will suddenly change everything about the members of this ODST group it will be fail as well. I simply do not enjoy those characters. None of them. They seem to me to be boring and uninteresting.
What pissed me off mostly about this game is that when AI's drive, they get stuck so easily. Imagine, a warhog hits a tree, they get stuck for a long time. If there is remains of some machine, the driver will probably unable to get past it. You often need to exit your vehicle, kick the other driver from their vehicle, move it through the obstacles, run after previous vehicle. Oh and the worst about it is that sometimes they turn back and drive the whole way back just to come back to that obstacle or not come back at all. I lost in a very mysterious way a few vehicles. They just disappeared. And on the map, it is not always possible to find them. Soldiers of UNSC are unfairly weak. Just a few shots in them and they turn dead. So no matter what you do, how you try to save them, take all the fire on yourself, they will die and not accompany you. Very weak, extremely weak soldiers. I bet that grunts are stronger than soldiers of UNSC. A few grunts vs. one soldier and I bet the soldier will loose. Yet I still have a hope that 1 soldier vs 1 grunt will be victorious. But that's hopes. | video-games_xbox |
Fun Arcade Game..."Blockbuster" oriented. I would have to put this game high on the list of games to buy for those who like "Arcade/Fantasy" games. It is very Similar to that of other street racing games gone Exotica. Those looking for a good Simulator, look else where(NFS shift 2, GT5). This game in a short summary is Rockstars "Midnight Club" meets Codemasters "Dirt" and had a baby...then that baby was adopted by EA and taken for a "test drive twice" -_-. Its really fun, really corny, and has great sound and graphics for what they jammed in here, and on top of that they are continuing to throw out pretty good DLC's that will leave you broke. The customizing is what you would hope for, but is still lacking detailed tuning, which may be a plus/negative, but as i stated, this is not SIM racing. For those wishing to have the coolest cars on the street and drive like a complete maniac, this game is for you. As i stated, this game is a hybrid of race games that have previously ventured into street racing, mixed with rally hype. My guess is Turn10 decided to go the rally route given how much success Codemasters have had with there "Dirt" series, no problem there, only thing is, even after all the collective idea's this game has emulated, its not as detailed. If you are still a race game fan and have no idea what the other games i mentioned are, then this may seem like the best game on the market, and for 2012 lineup, it very well might be.
Pros
-Clean Graphics/styling (would be even better on PC -_-)
-Sound and music
-Wide Open Map
-Amazing AI
-Massive Car list(not as big as GT)
-Can drive almost all the cars within a matter of hours of gameplay
-Car Club
-Customization
-Map hub
-Race line(for those who need it)
-Multi-player abilities.
Cons
-Corny MC's
-Driving physics(very dull and unresponsive stock)(still dull after mods)
-Poor driving adds
-Way to many cut scenes and cinematic race starts with no skip options(seems to be the thing to do nowadays)
-poor race routes
-low number of race routes
-very tricky terrain
-narrow point of view/viewing angle.
Highly Recommended when price drops to 30 bucks or less(DLC's will no doubt stay the same).
-Purchased Via, GameStop* | video-games_xbox |
Believe the Hype. Graphically this is the best-looking Halo game ever released. I realize that sounds a little obvious considering that it's the first game in the series designed for this generation, but it's also the best looking game I've seen on the XBONE. Developers routinely struggle to pull off 1080p on the XBONE (HD remakes of older games notwithstanding), let alone 60fps at the same time, but 343 managed to make it look easy. Every scene, every background, everything was polished and razor sharp.
The controls in Halo have always been particularly good, but this felt like a cut above the rest. Aiming felt intuitive - the aim assist features were subtle enough to convince you were doing all the work while still being effective.
The campaign, while a good length for a Halo game, still felt short - it took around 8 hours on normal difficulty (admittedly I should have been playing on a higher difficulty if I wanted a longer experience). Another standout is the story. Halo 4's story was transitional and frankly a confused mess. Without the benefit of having read nearly all of the companion novels, I would have had a hard time making sense of it. This game's exposition, on the other hand, does a much better job of delivering a self-contained narrative. There are enough plot twists and surprises to keep things interesting without becoming convoluted.
I don't think this is a <SPOILER!!!!> but just in case you don't want to know *anything* about the story ahead of time, Nathan Fillion's return as "Buck" is one of the unexpected highlights of the whole thing <END SPOILER>
One thing that I was particularly concerned about was how the game would play completely offline. Microsoft's recent obsession with exerting control over everything they sell and harvesting customer data by forcing customers online whether it makes sense or not has completely ruined the offline experience for games like Rare Replay and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. When they decided to test the waters by removing the physical disk from the Limited Collector's Edition of Halo 5, I was worried they might also have hobbled the disc version of Halo 5. Thankfully that is not the case. The game installs and plays from start to finish just fine right off the disc, no connection necessary. Hopefully that will be true of future installments as well.
In conclusion this game lives up to the hype and left me hungry for more. | video-games_xbox |
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Need a replacement? These will do. I ordered these for my original Xbox 360 controller. The controller's thumb sticks have worn down so much, the 4 points on the face, have washed out, and can't be felt anymore. So I decided in the past I was going to get them changed out. I now take better care of them. I recommend weekly cleaning, even after you begin the procedure, you should start cleaning as you go. If there is dirt on the controller shell, and pieces, scrub them with soap, or rubbing alcohol. You can use rags, cotton balls, cotton swabs etc.... (Whatever is best for you)
Here's what you'll need to install these lovable left and right sticks:
1. Torx T8H Tamper Proof Security Screw driver. (These are so cheap at price!)
2. Something to put the screws in, so they don't get lost, while disassembling them. (Optional)
First, start unscrewing the screws in any order you wish. I always do the sides first, then the top, and finish with the screw under the battery pack sticker, but that's up to you.
Second, to open pull the back shell a bit from the top over the LT and RT buttons, then part the sides of the controller until it clicks open on both sides. Pull the back shell off and set it in a safe spot.
Third, when you get it open you'll find yourself with the back of the motherboard, and two rumble packs connected. Carefully take off the gray piece for the microphone at the bottom, so it does not get in the way. Now part the mother board from the front shell of the controller, by making sure the thumb sticks get pulled out from the holes on the shell. Lay down the front shell with the buttons and rubber pieces still in them.
Fourth, now you should have the motherboard all on its own (Green wooden board with two thumb stick holders, LT/RT and key components.) All you need to do is carefully pull up the thumb sticks to the side, and they will pop right off, it may be quicker depending how clean they are. After this, look into the holes on the new thumb sticks underneath them, and insert them correctly into the stick holders on the motherboard. Make sure they are completely firmly pressed down the furthest they can go.
Fifth, now all you have to do is put the controller back together. I would start with the motherboard and front shell. Bring the motherboard to the front shell and put the thumb sticks back through the holes on it. (You may have to jimmy it a little from side to side to get them through.) Then place the rumble packs into the front shell, by having them face horizontal with the cords behind them, so they fit in without hesitation. All you have to do now is grab the grey piece, re-connect it to the bottom, and finish by replacing the back shell on top making sure the pieces fit in and close correctly. I would start screwing in the top screws first, the battery pack one, and finally the sides.
Congratulations, you just replaced your thumb sticks with newer ones! :) | video-games_xbox |
Open ended stealth gameplay with a steampunk vibe. Dishonored is a good, solid stealth game that teters on the brink of true greatness. I'll get to those areas where it falls short in a moment, but first let me tout its virtues: In short, Dishonored is one of the best stealth/ action games I have ever played. If you enjoy newer stealth games like Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell or fondly remember games like Tenchu, Thief, and the original Deus Ex, you'll probably enjoy Dishonored. While it is certainly a stealth game, getting noticed doesn't end your game. You can choose to use stealth or choose to fight. You can choose to be aggressive and take the lives of your enemies or you can choose to use nonlethal measures. Trying to bring down a high profile target? Choose to physically assasinate them or politically assasinate them. Dishonored, while not a sandbox game, does allow you to make some pretty important choices in regards to how you play the game, many of which do have some effect on gameplay.
Story and Atmosphere: Dishonored is a revenge story set in an early industrial age city, probably similar to London in the late 19th century. It has some steampunkish elements to its design, but also blends early technology with some darker magical elements. The game takes place in the fictional city of Dunwall during a time when a mysterious plague is ravishing the city. Mysterious forces are looking to bring about a new totalitarian regime in the city and everyone is suspicious of everyone else. Its a simple revenge story, but it is told quite adeptly in an excellent atmoshpere. There are plenty of story elements to be gleaned not just from ingame cinematics and gameplay, but from books, journal entries, and overheard conversations between NPC's.
Graphics: The graphics in Dishonored aren't anything that's going to stun you, but they're nice and serviceable. I had no problems navigating the game and enjoyed meeting new characters and exploring grim and gritty new locations in the city's underbelly. Character models are somewhat stylized, but overall the game has a realistic look to it.
Gameplay: Dishonored uses a firstperson camera style, forcing you to be more immersed in the world. For the most part, the controls are crisp and responsive. You might need to play for a level or two before you feel confident using them, but the learning curve is fairly mild. While the game uses a linear mission structure, the levels do allow for a variety of gameplay options. In order to complete your tasks, you can confront challenges head on with combat, stealthily eliminate your opponents, sneak by everyone, cause distractions, find alternate routes, and even rewire machinery to cause distractions or eliminate enemies. Obviously not every one of these options is available to you at each point, but there is at least always a stealthy/ non-violent option and a gung-ho/ kill everyone option.
Your arsenal, while not mindboggingly massive, is fairly robust. You almost always have a sword, flintlock pistol, crossbow w/ various bolts (sleep, explosive, and regular), grenades, and blade launching proximity mines. Of course, your character also has some "magical" abilities which you can upgrade. Teleportation, the ability to possess animals and humans, enhanced agility, and the ability to slow/stop time are all open to you. Items are upgraded by collecting and looting valuables in the levels. Abilities are upgraded by finding "runes" and "bone charms", forbidden magical artifacts hidden in remote locations. Runes allow you to purchase and upgrade standard abilities while bone charms give you minor boons and perks to your character.
Replay: For me, I believe that Dishonored has at least three good playthroughs in it before I'm just hunting achievements: a regular playthrough, a no-kill extreme stealth playthrough, and an all out combat playthrough. My biggest complaint with Dishonored is that it has a clunky "replay a mission" system." Because you learn new skills and gain new abilities (similar to an RPG) you can't simply begin a mission midway through the game with a set kit and character. The game doesn't allow you to come back and play previous missions with your leveled up character, either. Now does it seem to let you play levels over just to pick up collectibles you missed. If you want to do something different on a mission, you might just be best to start a new game. It can also be frustrating when you go back to play a mission with a particular purpose (not being seen, causing no deaths) because the game doesn't tell you until the end of the typically lengthy mission whether or not you have succeeded in your goal. Sometimes you won't know if you've been spotted or if an unconscious body you have carefully hidden was eaten by rats.
Overall- Dishonored is quite a good game: Great atmosphere, solid story, fun gameplay and choices, and a nice element of character customization. The only thing I would change would be the way the game allows you to replay missions and adding in a few more missions early on to help the story pacing and to give you sometime before hitting the "big" missions. Otherwise, if you enjoy games that allow for stealth and decision making, give Dishonored a try. It is a very immersive and worthwhile experience! | video-games_xbox |
Repackaged RB2 kit with new cymbals. Beware, these drums are not anything new. The kit is the RB2 kit that's just been repackaged and called Pro because it contains three cymbals as well. If you have a RB2 kit already you will not be upgrading your drums if you buy this kit. You're better off waiting for the cymbal expansion pack that's to be released, I think, when the game drops. I'm not sure if the RB2 kit came with this too but in the box was an adapter that enables you to use two kick pedals.
Out of the box, the setup was the same for the drums. The cymbals are another matter. The plastic parts need a significant amount of force to snap closed and if you don't snap them, they will slowly ride down the pole when you hit them.
I had a problem with the blue and green cymbals. Since these cymbals are fully covered in rubber unlike the old ones which only had a section of rubber, the rubberized surface adds a significant amount of weight to them. Once I had the clamp tightened as far as I could get it, the clamp still started to slide down. I put some clothy-type tape over the plastic rim that the clamp covers and it's been working okay so far.
I gave it three stars because I really wish they provided sturdier plastic on these cymbal holders since they feel very lightweight for the cymbals that now have some weight to them. If they were stronger material, they probably could have made them longer so you could put the yellow cymbal more to the left.
Also, the blue and green are right next to each other so even with the blue elevated to a reasonable height, half of the green cymbal is covered by the blue one. I'm not a drummer so I don't know if on a typical kit these are so close but it looks way too close. I'm sure once you play a while you'll get used to it though.
Overall, it's a great kit and doesn't take a up a lot of space. The pads are not as loud as I thought they would be so that's helpful. The cymbals make a thunk sound but nowhere near the sound that the original RB kits made. That was tapping on a tabletop. | video-games_xbox |
More work, less play. In redesigining Dead or Alive for the XBOX 360, Team Ninja seems to have systematically removed any element of fun from the game. By drastically changing the countering system, by increasing the challenge, and by introducing a new boss, somehow they lost that which made the other games enjoyable in the first place.
First, the countering system. Since the inception of the Dead or Alive series on the Playstation One, the countering system set DOA apart from other fighters and became, next to the female characters, the title's major gimmick. In DOA 4 that countering system has been complicated by adding a counter-intuitive command for middle and jumping kicks. Instead of entering back and the free button, one has to go forward instead. Compounding this, the window of opportunity for successfully countering an attack has decreased substantially, making it more difficult to break a combo.
This in itself wouldn't have been so bad if the same treatment had been given the CPU opponenet, but no. They counter more often...as if at will. The opponent also blocks more effectively, severely limiting your offense. But not only has the CPU's defense improved, but offensively the CPU is a rediculous challenge. You will find yourself consistently being pummeled by perfectly executed combos, juggles, bounce combos, chain throws, and counters. Meanwhile, your ability to defend against these attacks is nearly absent. There are gaping holes in your blocking, you can't seem to break a chain throw, and if you do somehow manage a block the hardwired CPU executes a throw instead. Overall this challenge makes the game more frustrating than fun. Yet, as NORMAL level is the lowest difficult setting available (and their definition of normal is other games' hard or hardest), that is your only option. Even sparring mode proves to be a pain as there is equally no easy setting. However, by varying your attacks, you can catch the opponent off guard and manage a few good combos. The problem is, you go from entering known commands to random direction and button combinations. DOA goes from a fairly sophisticated game to a mindless button masher. Combine all this with a controller that cannot seem to register a simple crouch command and makes you jump forward when all you want is to step forward and you have a recipe for a lot of swearing and control throwing. There are some moments when you cannot do anything at all, and you wonder why you're even holding a controller in the first place.
If you do manage to slog through these hyped-up, Wheaties-eating, omniscient opponents you eventually meet with the game's new boss, a poorly coceived Kasumi made out of bluish plasma, Alpha-152. This boss will go down in history as one of the cheapest, most difficult of all bosses. Not only can she string together 10 to 12 hit combos, but she has a counter attack that takes nearly half your life bar, she teleports, and she can seemingly complete a throw from anywhere. Even still, once you figure her out, she is surprisingly easy to beat provided you have the right character (Kasumi seemed to work best for me). If you only had to face her once, it would be no big deal, but you have to face her again and again if you want to unlock more features. Honestly, I don't know why fighting games even need a boss.
Your reward for all this work is, excpt for a few exceptions, a lame movie and or an equally lame new outfit. Apparently all the best outfits have to be purchased online. As I am not an online player, there is very littly reward or satisfaction in this game. What happened to Leifang's leather one piece spy outfit. And though her movie is quite funny, it is not taijiquan. Tai Chi is about maximum result with minumum effort. Spinning around a pole by your hands in order to kick a guy is more in the style of a ninja. And do we really need Tengu? Moreover, you can also unlock a Spartan from Halo. What a Halo character is doing in Dead or Alive is anyone's guess. I suppose as Mario is to Nintendo, Halo is to the XBOX.
Story wise, DOA is also lacking, but fighting games were never known for their depth. There seems to be little reason why any of them, aside from those with connections to DOATEC, would even be fighting in the first place. The new characters Eliot and Kokoro are kind of boring compared to the old cast. What is with Kokoro anyway? An apprentice Geisha studying Chinese kung fu? Besides, she too much resembles Leifang which creates some confusion. La Mariposa is slightly better, but suffers from too elaborate moves. Her acrobatic attacks often take to long to be effective.
What has improved are the environments. The interactive nature of the stages is by far the most enjoyable new aspect of the game. It is satisfying to knock your opponent over a table or log, or smash him into a cart of fruit. Sadly, there is little else of any appeal here. Even the much touted graphics were not as impressive as what I had first heard. The hair looks like ribbons of plastic and, like scarves and jewelry, seems to move of its own accord. Fabric often looks fake escpecially in some of the textures and in the movement of skirts. Otherwise, it is a beautiful game, but still too frustrating to actually be enjoyable. I play video games to aleviate stress, not add more. I think many players would agree. | video-games_xbox |
A great game, but noticeably flawed. Released in 2003 by LucasArts and Totally Games- remember the guys who brought you "X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter"?- "Secret Weapons Over Normandy", or SWON, is one of the most entertaining World War II games on the Xbox. It's better in a lot of ways to see it as a combat game in which the action simply happens to be flying, rather than as a true flight simulator, because if you insist on looking at it that way you'll probably never be at all satisfied. The game just isn't but so accurate as a flight simulator; as an example, I cite a secondary mission in which you fly a single TBD Devastator torpedo bomber against a 10+ ship convoy of Japanese destroyers and troop transports. Protected by numerous AA guns and a A6M Zero fighter escort, one would expect the Japanese to punch through the light P40 escort you are given and absolutely destroy the slow-moving Devastator. Instead you have an easy enough opportunity to sink the entire convoy, mostly because... the Devastator carries multiple torpedoes. Nevermind that torpedo bombers could only carry one at a time, and sinking more than ten ships would require flying back and rearming that many times, along with the need to score a critical hit on the target ship each time. But nevermind that! This is SWON, and such logic is usually if not always unwelcome. But that doesn't mean the game can't be played, and enjoyed. It's just that to make the game more entertaining, its makers clearly sacrificed on the realism front.
As the game's case says on the back, SWON features more than 20 aircraft, most flyable in both the campaign and instant action. Some however, such as the X-Wing and TIE Fighter, Messerschmitt Me-163 and Junkers Ju-87, are only flyable in instant action. Others, most frustratingly for me the Bf-110 Zerstoerer, are never flyable at all. The game's aircraft are numerous, and if you got the downloadable content while the Xbox still had Live available, you get a few more, among them the awesome and powerful F4U Corsair and the unreasonably small and fast Heinkel He-163 Volksjaeger. But again, the aircraft fly more like a game than a simulator. Just keep that in mind.
The campaign spans some 30 missions, counting primary and secondary. The opportunity to complete secondary and hidden bonus objectives is present in almost all of them, the reward for doing so being extra field upgrade requisitions and, in the primary missions, medals and promotions. I find it very strange that while SWON starts on the premise of you being James Chase, a volunteer pilot in the Royal Air Force, it uses American ranks and mostly American medals. The Air Medal, Silver Star, Air Force Cross (named the Distinguished Service Cross), and Air Force Distinguished Service Medal are all awarded if you complete the secondary objectives throughout the campaign. The only British decorations at all are the highest possible in the civilian and military fields- the George Cross and the Victoria Cross. I get the feeling that the game makers included a minimum of RAF detailing to make the game more appealing to American buyers, but I felt cheated: if I'm playing as a flier in the RAF, then that's what it should be. And the fact that two of the decorations you're given don't even exist yet its very odd indeed. I found the plot of the game- flying with an elite special operations squadron of the RAF on operations that take you from the Europe to the Pacific and back- plenty interesting and entertaining, though that lack of realism becomes glaring at times, most notably when you shoot down what must have been several entire squadrons of Japanese aircraft at Midway. The fact that you never, ever get shot down in a single mission is unrealistic too- even Erich Hartmann, highest scoring fighter ace of World War II and all time, lost aircraft to combat damage from time to time, even if he wasn't actually shot down. But the game's most glaring flaw as far as realism goes has got to be the mission "Low and Slow", in which you accompany a formation of B-17's- only 20 or so- to bomb an airfield in Germany and after parachuting out over the target steal an Me-262 jet fighter. What's unrealistic about that? The fact that besides you, riding in a B-17's ball turret... not one machine gun on one B-17 in that formation makes a sound. So many .50 caliber guns stay stone cold there and back. Because apparently the game makers thought it would be delightfully fun if they made you entirely responsible for defending the formation... from the underside of a bomber. And don't even ask about the fighter escort...
But I'm probably being too harsh. Sure the dialogue is at times laughably bad, and those who know enough German will testify that the subtitles say one thing and the German itself something else way too much. And when flying at night, it's entirely possible to count the number of stars in the sky. That's all true, yes, but the flaws are made up for by one simple fact: "Secret Weapons Over Normandy" is fun. A lot of fun. The characters you fly with in your RAF squadron, the Battlehawks, each have their own role and personality, and grow on you after a time. The wide range of missions, aircraft and armaments ensures that you will always have a new way to play a given mission, staving off that enemy of any entertainment device, boredom. You may have some dated graphics, and some awfully translated German, but the wily and arrogant Oberst Krieger and his squadron Nemesis keep you busy from Dunkirk through to the Normandy invasion. The game-makers did put a lot of work into this game, despite not doing so in some areas- if you look close enough on any given bomber, you can see the crew at their posts, usually firing back at you. Countless small details like that can be observed throughout the game. And SWON does have a high replay value- I've played it at least 6 times by now, and could still see myself playing it again. Because SWON is just good enough that you can keep coming back, having the chance to still find something you haven't done before. And the ability to, if you either have enough time or activated the unlimited ammo cheat, level entire German airfields and military complexes is just awesome, considering how much it infuriates the Germans who before long know you and your squadron by name. Brad Pitt's band of boneheads have nothing on the Battlehawks. | video-games_xbox |
Stick with the first game. I'm a fan of the original Left 4 Dead. My girlfriend and I still regularly play co-op campaigns, and though we've memorized the basics of all four campaigns, the director aspect still keeps the experience new and challenging.
We were of course excited to play L4D2, since we had heard it was basically just an upgrade to the original. And, on the surface, it is an upgrade. More campaigns, more diverse weapons, more throwable items, more special infected, more regular infected to kill...it sounded great. And there are some good aspects to this game. I really liked the level design in this one, and the added diversity. Mission objectives are much interesting than the first, whether it be filling up a car with gas, retrieving gas for a boat, retrieving cola for some clown, etc., it's a lot more interesting than the original's "get to the safe house 4 times, then fight a massive horde and jump on a rescue vehicle" approach. I also like the fact that there are daytime levels. I have an issue with many games being so dark that I can't tell what's what, and the original suffered in that regard (it also made the game a bit more intense, but since neither game is "scary" in the least, that's not an issue).
So what's the problem, then? With all these improvements, how could a 4.5 star game regress to a 2 star game? Well, to be frank, Left 4 Dead 2 just isn't very fun.
I know, it sounds ridiculous that a game with nearly identical gameplay could be exponentially less fun than its predecessor. But Valve has taken nearly everything enjoyable out of this game. I'm far from a master at the original, but at the end of a campaign, I almost always have the most special infected kills. In L4D2, the bots somehow manage to shoot all the special infected before they logically should even be able to see them. There's no challenge in that. I have yet to see them pounced by a hunter, or grabbed by a smoker. The jockey occasionally gets them, but one of their buddies is always around to shoot it right off. It almost seems like you're a spectator, or that your only purpose in the game is to advance them along, since they make unbelievable shots nearly all the time.
EXCEPT when you need them. The AI in the first game wasn't brilliant, but if you were in trouble, you could count on them to rescue you fairly quickly. I just attempted another campaign this evening, and while we were running across the roller coaster, a jockey jumped on me. The three bots ignored me for nearly a full minute, until the jockey had taken my health from 90+ down to less than 10. Meanwhile, the three of them were grouped together doing nothing, essentially. Seconds later, I was attacked by TWO hunters, and they did nothing to save me. You might say that I need to stick with them, but when you're trying to shut off a loud alarm, THEY should be keeping up with YOU. At least the bots in the first game stuck fairly close to you (though their intelligence often went out the window on the finale levels).
Finally, I feel the new special infected are just...cheap, I guess is the word. Jockeys sneak out of nowhere, chargers take several shots from your best weapons to kill, and spitters can fling that acid even farther than the boomers can vomit, and that was already a ridiculous distance.
I'm sure this game is better with four human players, just as the original is, but unlike the original, I can't sit down by myself or with my girlfriend and enjoy a campaign now and then. When the game is not insanely difficult and throwing horde after horde of infected at you while you attempt to defend yourself with guns that carry less ammo and a soft melee attack that now has a wait time, the friendly AI is doing all the work for you and forcing you into a passive observer role. Neither option is very much fun.
I'll stick with the first game, repetitive campaigns and all, thank you very much.
EDIT 2-22-11: I added a star to the game because the DLC (The Passing, The Sacrifice, and the update of No Mercy) is fantastic. Having played multiplayer for the first time, I am underwhelmed. The community seems packed full of kids who try to kick you out of games for no reason at all. When you do settle into a game, most people don't seem to understand the point. They run off ahead of everyone, trying to get the most kills or something. The game is supposed to be cooperative, and it's very tough for anyone to survive if they're on their own. Of course, I can't knock the game for the poor quality of online teammates, but I thought it was worth mentioning. | video-games_xbox |
Good fun in a good game. I got this game a few weeks ago and it is spectacularly fun offline. There are a very large amount of game modes and enough characters to be able to entertain anyone for several weeks or more. If you try to unlock everything it takes a good amount of time, which is great because I personally think that games are becoming too short. It is quite challenging at first, even in the story. The initial fighting is easy to comprehend, but then it has some tricks that you have to have pretty accurate timing for and it might discourage some people because the computer (on higher difficulties) can choose to use these tools whenever they feel. I'm not saying it's terrible, it is the computer so I expect it to be good, but it can be frustrating when 75% of your attacks are being dodged. The story mode is neat because you fight in basically every battle that took place between the saiyan and buu sagas. You also have a couple fights as Bardock and you get to go into Broly's saga. They also have some What-If stories and these are pretty funny. If you want to unlock all the missions you have to go back through each battle at least one more time to get stars. The stars are used as currency to buy Costumes, Music, and more Missions in story mode. To get the stars you need to satisfy certain parameters during the fight.
The menu music isn't the most entertaining sound in the world, but the only time I heard it for extended periods was when I was customizing my character. They do have some spiffy musical scores in some of the fights though. Mostly I did not pay attention to the music while playing anyway. I was more focused on the fight.
Customization in this game is really great. It has tetris block style customization which I personally like better than the previous capsule thing in the games I played before. There are many different blocks that enhance attacks, defense, ki attacks, and other special things including a few graphical changes. The character customization and special attack selection are separate areas of customization so you do not take up space choosing special attacks.
I did not buy this game for the online play, which is good because I did not like it. I played 10 matches online all against different opponents of varying ranks (mostly lower) and lost all of them. I did not expect to win a large amount of them but I thought maybe one or two. The reason I did not like the online play was that everyone I played against (even the bottom ranked people) chose the very cheapest tactics to win. Mostly it consisted of a 4 hit combo then a sidestep into another 4 hit combo with some ki blasts thrown in to keep me off balance repeatedly. I got some hits in and got my opponent down a few bars some times but I would always fall prey to the same tactics. Had I more experience maybe I could have dealt with it a little bit, but honestly if that's all most of the fights are I don't want part in it anyway. I'm not saying they should stop and give me a chance, but a change of pace in a few fights would be nice. I can't imagine its entertaining too repeatedly hit X and double tap left or right hundreds of fights in a row. Some people may find juggling enemies in this way entertaining, and if that's fun for you then by all means go for it. I just wanted a bit more to my fights then that. There was really no energy beam usage or special skills except by a few people who knew they had me beat. I admit they are pretty easy to dodge at range but there are ways to almost guarantee a hit. I'm not blaming the game creators; it's just how people played to win. I did not like it so I will not play that part. Maybe I just got a bad set of matches, but it was annoying.
I only saw a 3 or 4 different characters being used as well (which were the real fast ones). Most of the fights I did also did not allow the use of the customized characters. I assume this is an option chosen by the lobby creator and it seemed like a waste to get rid of a large portion of the game. It would help to keep it more balanced, but it is still depressing. I did not have many lag problems. There were a couple fights where my character would not do anything for a second or two until after I hit the button, but I would most likely have lost those fights anyway. Even a little lag could affect the Vanish times to avoid something though and that would be cruddy if you were really into the online play.
I had one major thing that bothered me in matchmaking. I would search for a game, find a bunch of people, try to join one and fail to join it. Then I would look for another game (because it kicks you back to a menu when you fail to join one) and I would find only 1 or 2 lobbies. I don't know if this was a problem or suddenly everyone found a match but it kind of confused me. I also rarely ever found anyone that played just player matches. Most of the players were in the ranked matches
Overall the game and fighting was pretty great. I liked it more than the previous ones; it seemed a bit faster paced since you did not have to use a combo before a special move. There are tons of game modes and options to keep you busy and entertained for long periods of time and each one is pretty fun. I did not find one I absolutely hated. I would easily recommend getting this game. If you are like me then do not get it for online, but the offline is still incredibly fun. If you are not like me then get it for the online and the offline because you will probably like it. | video-games_xbox |
So far so great. Xbox One version.
This stick is great so far. Not only does Razer make it super-duper easy and accessible to customize, but they even incluse the tools you need to do it. The top panel opens up with the press of a button, and a hydraulic arm holds it open so you don't have to worry about it slamming down while you're working . All the buttons and the joy stick are easily swappable, and it even includes a spare bat-style joystick grip; it comes with the ball-top grip installed, but switching it out for the bat grip is easier than cake. Aesthetically, the Atrox looks pretty cool with the typical green color scheme and design Razer is known for. It's got a very simple layout with a lock switch and Xbox button in the top left panel, the stick and 8 buttons on the face, and the "start/select" buttons (whatever they're called on Xbox One now) on the right side of the body. The 13 FOOT cable, which is just an INSANE length, is completely detachable and storable inside the stick with all your tools and spare parts. The cable has a breakaway at the end, typical of Xbox controllers over the last 11 years.
There is a lot of room to rest my hands when other premium sticks are just a little small; I love the TES+ from Madcatz, but it's a little smaller than I'd like. I did get this stick used, so I'll see how it holds up over time. It arrived in great condition and I'm very happy with it so far.
Update - So far this stick is holding up great, and I customized the buttons and artwork! It looks sick and was the easiest stick I've ever customized. For the price, I'd say this is the best stick on the market, although it doesn't work with steam games, only Microsoft Xbox games on the PC app (Killer Instinct). This is severely disappointing as I would like to play games on Steam with this stick. I bought a CronusMAX Plus so , can use it on PS4 anyway, but it's kinda ridiculous that I have to use it to make it compatible wirh Steam, too. | video-games_xbox |
I think I figured it out! Might help you too. I purchased this product even though there were very mixed reviews. My space is right at 8 or 9 feet in length, so some of the games don't work properly since I can't move back far enough. Attaching the zoom is super easy because it's setup to give an audible click when it fits into place correctly. After initially putting on the zoom and running through the setup, I found that it wouldn't see me at all. Every time I opened the tuner it just showed a black blob with small green dots, but no visible people. I also noticed that when the xbox first turned on I could see myself sitting on the couch but when I waved the Kinect was not registering any of my movements. When I removed the zoom the Kinect started working just fine.
Frustrated, I was already deciding to return this product like many others. Then I decided to try something weird and it worked. What did I do? I just moved closer to the Kinect. I moved up to about 4 feet away instead of my normal 8 feet and it picked me up just fine. I was able to play Dance Central 3, Just Dance 4 and Nike+ Trainer with no issues at all. The Nike+ trainer was even able to see my feet, which didn't happen when I was further back. Since it creates a fish lens effect, I think you just have to move closer to the sensor than you're used to without the zoom being attached. The only downfall I've had so far is that I can't control the Kinect with my hand movements when I'm sitting on the couch, but I just use the controller or voice control for that piece. Up close, all hand and body movements work with no issues. One weird thing with the Nike+ Trainer is that I appear half my size now, I think this has to do with the fish lens effect. It still registers that I'm doing the moves, but my avatar on the screen is a little small.
I hope this helps you out too, and that the distance is the actual problem and not a faulty device. Some people have asked about posting setups, so I have the Kinect attached to the top of my 55" LCD. I'd give this thing 5 stars if it could see me at a distance. | video-games_xbox |
Bad, Bad Bad RIP-OFF. This will be a Christmas gift for my son, I am sure he will love it. Will update after Christmas. Update OK so now it is after Christmas and I am furious as to find out what I paid for, which is just 1 episode and have to download 4 other episodes. Downloading these episodes is not such a big deal but should have been on the disc. Now my other problem is so far only episode 2-3 are available for free. You do have to pay for episode 4 and 5 what the hell kind of crap is this. I did read somewhere on these reviews a customer stated all episodes are free well that is a lie don't beleave them I can tell you episode 4 is available but they want you to purchase it BS this is a RIPOFF. If anything changes I will update.
Update 1/26/16
I have saved e-mails as proof this company the maker of the game and Microsoft state they are working on a fix however one is still not available. They are hoping for a fix by 2-1-16 well then what? This should be illegal WTF is going on. All this is not any fault of Amazon but now that Amazon knows of this issue they should entitle a caution when people make this particular game purchase. Anyway if you are looking to purchase this game hold off till they fix the problem or you will be purchasing the game for the price it is being sold for plus a $5.00 fee for the other episodes that's lets see Game at Amazon cost $25.00 each episode is %.00 the episodes to download are 2,3,4 and 5 that's a grand total of $45.00 plus tax for a game that don't work 100%. Hope I have helped anyone interested in this nightmare. I will come back with an update once they have a fix for all the problems..... On the plus side my son loves the game it only has episode one installed on the disc, I personally think this game sucks it is so dumb but the kids love it. The regular Mine craft is awesome bottom line don't spend your money on this junk.
UPDATE:8/14/2016 Came back here to update everyone all problems have been resolved by Microsoft and the game maker works perfect also at this time new episodes are becoming available episodes 7-10 my kids play this all day great game keeps them imagining many scenario. | video-games_xbox |
Not a bad game, but Oblivion set the bar pretty high. When it comes to console RPGs, Oblivion was in a league of it's own. And while Dark Messiah is not a bad game, I found myself comparing certain aspects to the infamous Elder Scrolls game again and again. It may just be personal preference, but I enjoy customization and a free-roaming world. The extremely straightforward nature of Dark Messiah and lack of options was not what lessened the experience for me.
Several factors lowered my rating of the game:
1. The game's biggest problem in my opinion was a lot of technical problems. Environmental, audio and control issues.
a. Environmental: More times than i care to remember i found myself inside of walls. Usually it was when i hopped on a rope or chain to climb or descend and it was hanging too close to a wall. Basically i would be stuck in the wall until it "swung" free ... it sometimes took a while. (i guess this would be a environmental and control issue)
Also a couple of *traps* that were set up in the game were bugged and would kill you even if you avoided them using the means provided to you. Example >>> You enter a hallway and the gates seal on both ends. The walls on either side start to close on you (typical right?) above you are wooden beams that you can use your *rope bow* on to hoist yourself above the trap. The first time i did this i was hanging on at the top of the rope and as the trap closed below me i died. I assumed my *feet* had still been in range of the trap and that had killed me (even though i was as high up as i could go). So i did it again with the same result. At this point i realized i needed to figure out an alternative method. So as i was hanging there the 3rd time i hopped off of the rope onto the upper part of the wall that was closing in since it looked wide enough to stand on. Sure enough it worked and i survived the trap and progressed onward. (i know what you're thinking [oh that must have been the right way to do it]) .... well that's what i thought too ... until i played through it again with a different character .... THIS time the *jump on top of the trap* trick failed 3 times in a row. So i reverted to the *hang onto the rope for dear life* trick ... and it worked first try -_-. This is just one example but by far it was the most annoying of the glitches i came across.
I also fell through the level once (i made sure to save OFTEN in this game and i recommend you do the same :P)
And finally there were several times i found myself *stuck* ... yes just *stuck* the ground was flat ... there was nothing on the ground ... no enemies or objects near me ... and yet i couldn't move ... (no it was not a cutscene or a cinematic -_-). Didn't happen too often but it did happen.
b. Audio: Many times i found myself hearing a sound that applied to something in the area (i.e. bugs buzzing over a dead carcass) and that sound would follow me .... into the next room .... and the next ... basically until i zoned into a different area i would still be hearing the same bugs buzzing over and over again even though there were no dead things anywhere near me :P. Again this is just an example but the times this did happen that sound would *overpower* the other sounds you SHOULD be hearing (i.e. weapons swinging, footsteps, attacks landing etc). So not only was the constant replaying of the sound annoying it was taking away from the other aspects of the audio experience.
c. Control: In general they were very *choppy*. The time this is made most evident is in the >>chase through the city<< chapter. While you're running after the creature that took your crystal, you are forced to execute constant jumping, running, and climbing maneuvers. The jumping and running weren't so bad it was the climbing that would kill you. Supposedly if you jumped and held the button you would climb over whatever was in your path if it was doable (i.e. ledges, rocks, crates, etc) At one point the creature knocks over a bookshelf in your path. It's now laying flat on the ground, easy obstacle right? Wrong. Took me 5 different jumps before it finally registered and let my character run over the shelves. I don't know if it has something to do with the object not registering in the environment as a horizontal, scaleable object quick enough or if the jump/climb function was just being sketchy but it took way too long each time i did it to pass that point. The jump/climb thing was pretty much the biggest issue i had with controlling the character.
So that's it for the techincal evaluation. The game itself as i said was not *bad* per se. You have 4 classes to choose from: Warrior (sword and board), mage (staffs and spells), archer (bows, daggers, and spells), and assassin (daggers). I'm a big fan of customization ... from characater design to skill sets. The lack of either was a let down but the game was still fun for a play through on each class. With only 15 levels and preset skills there would be no point to play each class more than once really. The storyline is very linear. You follow the same path no matter what choices you make. Sure there optional quests (very few) and choices to make (even fewer) that will give you a slightly different outcome. There are 2 different endings ... no i won't spoil it :P. The voice acting wasn't bad but it lacked a little flavor .. at least for the part of the main character. I will say that i found myself with my jaw dropped open and laughing at some of the things your *guardian demon* sometimes said ... O.K. i'll admit it the whole *hot demon chick that acts completely subservient to you but is really out to get what she wants* bit was amusing each time i played through.
Overall the game was O.K. ... hence the 3 star rating and 4 star fun rating (one star for each class :P) I understand that i SHOULD not compare it to Oblivion and i tried not to. So other than the technical problems, the lack of optional and side-quests, and the total lack of any customization, the game was enjoyable .... and will probably collect dust from this point on :P. | video-games_xbox |
Not Perfect, But Oodles of Fun. A lot of people would disagree with me on this subject, but Halo is NOT a perfect game. There are problems with the level design, and the graphics are far inferior to what they should be. However, this game is still a truck load of fun.
Do I really need to tell the story? Sure, why not. Earth is at war with the Covenant, a bunch of bad alien dudes (like there are ever friendly aliens in video games). After Reach outpost falls to them, and most of the Spartans (superhuman battle cyborgs) are destroyed, the Covenant is at Earth's doorstep. Desperate to draw them off, the PILLAR OF AUTUM, along with the last surviving Spartan, jump blindly into deep space, and come out near the world Halo. After a crash landing, it's up to Master Chief (the player) to help lead the guerilla war against the Covenant, and find out what Halo is.
This is, in the end, an elaborate excuse to kick some serious alien but. And kick it you will. The idea of only being able to carry two weapons at once was genius and makes the player think about what they're likely to need in a certain part of the level. The weapons are all nifty. None really stand out, (except the needler) but they all get the job done, and the ability to use Covenant weapons provides some cool variety.
However, the graphics really disappoint, which is sad considering all their hype. For a system that is touted as the strongest in the current console war (of which there has yet to be definite proof), this game sure doesn't impress. The animation runs at a mere 30 frames per second, and sometimes dips below that. The textures, though used well, are far to few, especially for what the XBOX is capable of. However, things like this happen when a game is switched from one medium to another during development (Halo was originally going to launch on the PC). The visuals aren't bad per say, but they aren't anywhere near what the system can and should handle. Luckily, Bungie has learned from their mistake. Check out the videos from Halo 2 and you'll see what I'm talking about. Still, there are certainly some great animations in here, and the lighting is really good.
Unfortunately, the level design gets repetitious, especially past the halfway point of the game, where you essentially play the first half of the game again in reverse order, as you try to escape from the facility on Halo. It's still fun, but it would have been nice to switch pace from "Here's another room full of aliens to kill" every once in a while, although the vehicular levels almost make up for it. It doesn't kill the gameplay, but it's kind of a let down after all the praise the game has been receiving.
However, Halo truly shines in its gameplay. It controls like a PC game, and the XBOX pad, provided you have the smaller version, not the building-sized original, works very well. It takes some getting used to if you're more used to Goldeneye-style settings, but it really is the best it could be on a console. The aiming is easy, and the weapons all have secondary functions. The ability to use vehicles was a nice touch, and adds a nice layer to the experience. And the AI really is impressive. Your fellow soldiers will lay down covering fire for you, accompany you in vehicles, and even dive for cover when grenades are thrown. The covenant troops will hide behind shields, rocks/trees, or other troops, throw grenades back at you, and even imitate the death screams of the marines. Listening to the grunts will provide some of the best laughs of the game ("Ahh, they're everywhere!" "We're all gonna die!" "Little people first!") There are some truly great moments to be had just from watching your opponents.
Halo's second, and arguably greater feat, is the multiplayer. The maps are huge, and the game modes are many. Not only that, but the vehicles are all available in multi as well, adding all the more to the carnage you can inflict on your friends. However, it would have been nice to see some bots added, using the excellent AI from the game. Sure the multi is fun, but deathmatch can get old after long enough, and it would be fun to sit down with four friends and just wage war against a squad of Covenant troops. Luckily, for gamers who actually have friends, there is a great co-op mode, with the entire game available to play through with a buddy. It's a nice touch, and adds a feel of being part of a team to the gameplay, and a human will be an infinitely better back-up man than your unfortunately human marines.
All in all, anyone who enjoys shooters should already own this game. If you don't, go pick it up, and you won't be sorry.
Hail to the Chief. | video-games_xbox |
An open world experience you don't want to miss. Fallout 4 is the followup to 2008's knockout open world game, Fallout 3. In this 1950's retro-future post-apocalyptic wonderland, you are allowed to totally customize your character and explore a highly detailed New England wasteland 200 years after the world was scoured in atomic fire, searching for your child that was ruthlessly stolen from you, and ultimately decided the fate of the Commonwealth Wasteland.
This will be a long review as I want to provide as much information as I can about the game so that I can help you make a more informed decision about buying this game. I'm going to start off with the few technical hiccups of the Xbox One version and move down the list.
By and large I absolutely loved this game, though not as much as I did Fallout 3, or The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. While Fallout 4 makes incredible technical and graphical leaps forward for Bethesda, on the console the game still suffers from muddy (for this console generation) textures and a sometimes stuttering framerate when the action on screen is heavy and intense. Or whenever the game decides to drop a rainstorm on you. There is also the problem of NPC AI not being all that smart, blocking you from moving in tight spaces or bugging out entirely. Sometimes creatures, people and Companions will glitch through the world, or simply just disappear, making certain quests very hard or downright impossible to complete. While I was lucky enough not to run into any gamebreaking bugs (And indeed this has been the most stable Bethesda game I have ever played), I was unable to complete a certain quest the way the I would have preferred to complete it due to a character just taking off and walking away, making talking to him impossible and forcing me to complete the quest in a way that left me very dissatisfied.
As for the main gameplay, Fallout 4 relies heavily on you exploring the expansive world that Bethesda has dropped you into. From the thick woods of the Northern Commonwealth to the ruined urban expanses of Boston, through the southern suburbs of the city to the oppressive, deadly nuclear wastes of the Glowing Sea, the game contains so many hidden nooks and crannies to explore, kill, and ultimately loot. Bethseda's improved gunplay means that you no longer have to rely on the VATS targeting system to enjoy the combat of the game. Indeed, you can play Fallout 4 entirely like a normal first prson shooter game if you so desire. Going back to the VATS system, this system itself has received a small change that makes it more interesting and keeps it from becoming 'scan and shoot'. When you activate VATS, instead of completely stopping time, time now only slows down which forces you to make more time sensitive decisions on where to shoot your enemy if they're about to hit you.
Another major change in the gameplay is the streamlining of the leveling system. In Fallout 3, upon reaching a new level you were awarded stat points, which you then had to choose how to spend on a large number of different stats, such as health, charisma, agility, etc, and were occasionally awarded a perk point, a special ability which would alter combat, speech encounters, or normal gameplay in some way. In Fallout 4, the stat system is completely gone, replaced with an Skyrim-esque ability chart filled with many different perk columns, which determine your skills and abilities in the game. While it is somewhat frustrating to be limited in what you can do and no longer passively level up skills while doing things such as hacking or lockpicking, I did find this new system to be much less time consuming overall and allowed me to get to the more entertaining stuff far quicker than in previous Fallout games.
And unlike previous Fallout games, there is no hard level cap in Fallout 4. While most people will complete the game to their liking well beforehand, players now how the ability to completely fill out the Perk Chart by continually gaining experience.
Another gameplay change is the large difference in Power Armor compared to Fallout 3 and the older Fallout games. In Fallout 4, power armor greatly increases your weight carry limit, endurance, and defense and is highly customizable with different armor model types, different classes of armor, different modifications that allow your armor to perform new abilities (such as a electrical field or a jetpack) along with distinctive paint jobs. However the one large caveat to having such an amazing piece of technology is that the redesigned power armor requires a fuel source: Fusion Cores. Without a fusion core, your suit of power armor will not work, even if you remove every last bit of armor down to the frame itself. Fusion cores are scattered throughout the gameworld (much like random power armor suits are) and are far more rare than other items, which will force you to spend most of the game in normal armor. Which for me was both disappointing but completely fine, as it balances the overpowered nature of the power armor, but yet by the time you might actually need to use it, you may be able to simply trudge through using normal armor.
Also the fact that your power armor can also be stolen by NPCs or enemies is amusing, but also annoying and lends to you locking your precious walking tanks up in a secure facility before wandering out into the wastes.
One last major change to the series is the removal of the in-depth dialogue options. In previous Fallout games, in speech encounters you could, if you had high enough points in certain stats, talk your way into receiving larger rewards, lower vendor prices, completely bypassing difficult quests or even turning enemies against each other. In Fallout 4, one of the best features of the previous Fallout games is removed in favor of a Mass Effect style dialogue wheel, in which only the charisma stat truly matters. And even then, it is largely limited to haggling for better reward money; using your charisma stat in quests is a uncommon occurrence. This is, for me, the most negative change in the gameplay for me, as it changes the formerly complex character interactions into little more than a Yes/No choice.
The inclusion of the settlement crafting system is admirable, though not what I was interested in. In Fallout 4 you are given the option to rebuild settlements and fill them with civilian traders, thus improving the game world, along with crafting new items for your weapons and armor. However all of this requires gathering resources from the Commonwealth Wasteland, which has felt like an artificial lengthening of the game. While still very much playable, here are some problems I experienced. During crafting and storing items, should you have too many Legendary weapons ion one container the console will lag, and moving in and out of workbenches is not as quick and smooth as you'd expect. Field repairing armor and items has been removed, but so has item and armor durability (aside from Power Armor). While I see this overall as a positive change for the series, I feel that at a certain point the lack of needing to constantly keep your items in good repair eventually undermines the combat in the game as now these enemy combatants are just in your way, as opposed to having resources you need. IT also creates the problem of being able to continually farm enemies and sell their loot to vendors, creating a 'infinite caps' problem that removes further difficulty from the game.
The constant need to save scrap also presents a problem of tedium and artificially lengthening the game, as you'll need to grab every piece of scrap and junk that you can to turn into usable resources for building materials. That means that once you complete and clear an area you'll spend almost the same amount of time or more combing the area for junk items, as well as looting bodies for their scrappable items. This means that you'll be pressured to put your leveling points into improving your carry weight and not the more entertaining perks, and making many trips to your base to unload these resources.
However I did greatly enjoy item and armor customization, even if I felt the options were limited in what I could create. Any weapon or piece of armor can be upgraded either via building upgrades (which relies on selecting the appropriate perk abilities) or stripping looted weapons of their parts. While each option requires resources, I found it far quicker to simply strip enemy weapons for mod parts. As for armor, you can use stripped or created mods to improve your survivability against radiation, energy weapons, or overall damage as well as improve your carrying capacity.
One thing however that I did feel was missing from the crafting element of the game was the inability to create my own ammunition for my weapons. This was something that was available in previous Fallout games, and I sorely missed it in Fallout 4 as it prevented me from using the weapons I wanted to use in the early game. Although lack of ammo quickly becomes a non0issue, I still felt that the inability to craft our own was a bit of a bummer.
And although I never used the settlement crafting system to build my own towns or homes(check out videos on Youtube for this), what little I did use I found to be clunky and definitely not designed for use by a console controller, which lacks the precision of a PC mouse.
You also have to defend settlements, which will require you to stop what you are doing and go defend them from enemies, which I eventually ceased doing as I found it really annoying.
One last thing about the gameplay of Fallout 4 on the Xbox One: As the Xbox One is a console and not a PC, there is currently no way to modify your game to add different features, or access console commands to revive NPCs that accidentally died, reset NPCs that bug out, or just spawn whatever items or monsters that you want. This is all my own educated guess and is in no way official, but there is expected to be a supported modding tool for both the PC and console versions of Fallout 4 some time in 2016, though unlike PC I do expect console mods to work very differently than how PC mods will. These differences could include only a limited amount of mods running at one time to having to pay small fees in order to use them.
In Fallout 4, a longstanding tradition of both the Fallout series and Bethesda games returns: Companions. At certain moments in the game you will discover NPC characters that can be hired or convinced to follow you throughout the game, providing you with help in combat and carrying items. In Fallout 4, Companions are far more interesting as they have their own plots and personal quests, and in the case of certain companions, the main plot can actually involve them. They also provide their own commentary on events in the Commonwealth, and have their own moral alignment. If you make decisions that run counter to these characters, they can and will leave you if their approval of you gets too low. On the flipside, companions that you impress enough will unlock special hidden abilities on top of a unique dialogue encounter.
I myself however, found it far more enjoyable to play through the game alone as I felt the companion AI still lacked good AI, and would often get in my way, attract enemies when I really didn't want to fight them, or do things that would end with me dead because of their error.
As for voice acting, these NPCs have a much larger variety of voice compared to other Bethesda games, and this applies to the game overall. In Fallout 3 and Skyrim, there was a definite problem of there only being a handful of actors playing multiple roles across the game. While there certainly are cases of repating voices in Fallout 4, Bethesda has hired enough actors that it's no longer an immersion breaking problem; indeed there are plenty of characters that pull off a convincing Bostonian accent. The companion voices are all distinct, and with the personal exception of two, don't have voices that annoyed me.
Environment wise, the Commonwealth is a much more interesting place than the Capital Wasteland of Fallout 3, or the disappointingly small and drab map of Fallout New Vegas. While not as large as the world map of Skyrim (nor as visually arresting), the Commonwealth still provides a well needed injection of color into the typical post-apocalypse. The map, while still predominantly different shades of brown, has plenty of blues, greens and various other colors that help the world feel much more alive than in Fallout 3, though there are only so many ways to do this particular genre.
In regards to enemies, there isn't much of a change in enemy types from Fallout 3. You still have mutated wildlife, raiders, super mutants, ghouls and robots (on top of the faction enemies), and these enemies will scale to match your level as you grow more powerful in the game. The main difference is that the game will spawn 'Legendary' enemies, which have much higher health and do more damage, but always drop powerful unique weapons or armor upon death. Aside from Legendary enemies, not much has changed from Fallout 3, aside from molerats and radscorpions being able to burrow underground and quickly pop up next to you, changing those encounters from annoying and backpedalling to more intense mobile fights.
Storywise, while I will avoid spoilers, the story of Fallout 4 is easily superior to Fallout 3. With more fleshed out factions and characters, along with the voiced player character, Fallout 4's succeeds in pulling you in and making you care about the conflict taking place in the Commonwealth. the game allows you to fully customize what your character looks like in appearance and allows you to be either male or female. Bethesda also went the extra mile and hired voice actors for both genders, and each provides their own take on the same dialogue (aside from the rare gender specific moments). The game's story also cleverly disguises it's tutorial mode in a look at the 'pre-war' civilization of America, all of which is done in a 'retro-future' design that harkens back to the science fiction of the 1950s. During the introductory sequence you get to see what life was like only moments before the nuclear apocalypse and (perhaps) form a bond with your spouse and newborn son, Shaun. While the game quickly shifts away from that and delves right into the apocalypse, it did find it really cool to see the world as we had never seen it before, though previous experience with the Fallout games did lessen the impact of returning to the wasteland after the tutorial section was over. Needless to say that the search for your son quickly turns into a plot that involves the four major factions of the Commonwealth. Detailing these factions would only spoiler the story, but rest assured that while two factions are certainly more favored in the story department, the lesser two factions have their own charms. Each faction also comes with a unique bonus ability that can change hostile encounters in the game, either directly or indirectly, but I largely ignored these in favor of finishing these fights myself.
At a certain point in the game you will be faced with a decision on which faction you want to fight for into the endgame. This choice is not reversible and will make two/three of the factions in the game hostile towards you, so choose carefully.
Overall I was satisfied with the story, though I wouldn't rank it as the best I've ever seen in a video game.
In closing again I loved Fallout 4, though I did have some complaints against it. The game does have some technical problems but was the most solid Bethesda game that I have ever played. In terms of graphics it is also the prettiest Bethesda game I've played. Gameplay wise the game runs very smooth and I have no real complaints against the gunplay, though I do feel settlement building could be more engaging and precise, along with the item and armor crafting. Companion AI is still a bit of a letdown, though the variety of different characters almost makes up for it. And the story is definitely one of the most engaging of the Bethesda games.
All in all, if you need something to scratch that open world itch and either don't have access to Skyrim or simply want something new, Fallout 4 is your game. You'll be massively entertained and kept busy doing things to complete the main quests, the hundreds of side quests and just exploring and leveling your character for weeks of real life time. | video-games_xbox |
Fun, but frustrating. Kinect is a lot of fun, but it can also be extremely frustrating for younger kids because the Kinect will frequently lose track of them and they'll simply disappear from play. Getting the Kinect to recognize a little one again can be an extremely time consuming process. My 4-year old has a profile, and we helped him go through the Kinect ID so Kinect would visually recognize him. That has helped somewhat, but if he is playing with one of his older siblings or an adult, the Kinect has a tendency to lose him in between game segments. To sign back in, you have to be pretty specific about your gestures. Your hand waving can't be too slow or to fast. It also has to be a big enough wave that Kinect can "see" it, but not so big that it can't recognize it as a wave. And you have to avoid waving directly in front of your face. This is a fairly simple process for a teen or an adult, but younger kids are far more inconsistent with their ability to wave in the same correct way at the same correct speed every time, so be forewarned that Kinect may be frustrating at times for younger players. Once in the games, however, they'll absolutely love it (and so will you).
UPDATE: The game works pretty well for two players if you both sign in at the beginning. It's less than 25% successful in correctly identifying a second player once you have already started a game. And, if the first player is a little one, it's next to impossible to get the Kinect sensor to recognize a second player who is an adult. This is a really amazingly detailed and innovative game, but Kinect is very unreliable as an input device, and needs a lot of work to improve the ability of the game play. I am sure the problem is because of the height difference between a small child and an adult. The game also does a very poor job or recognizing the "two hands up" gesture of our little one to bring up the game options. It works fine with an adult. Likewise, the Kinect sensor only recognizes children's voice commands about 30% ofmthentime, but is very good with adult voices. We haven't yet tried any other multiplayer games for Kinect, primarily because we are doubtful about how well they will work and are reluctant to spend $50 on a subpar experience.
Overall, a fun, clever, and visually stunning game, but frustrating as a two player game. | video-games_xbox |
Ultimate Fun (with Microsoft/Marvel causing one serious problem. This game is a total blast. I played through it once when I got it, purchased the downloadable extra characters, and played through it again on the hardest level. I had a blast. I have been an X-men fan for as long as I can remember, so I played the game mostly with characters from the X-men universe (Wolverine, Storm, and Magneto are very good additions to your ultimate alliance). So I can't speak for how well all the characters work in the game, but I can tell you there are A LOT of teams you can make and try out.
If you played Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1, the general game play is the same: beat baddies, crack open crates, find hidden objects, level-up your characters. There is an added "Fusion" combo power that uses two of your team members' powers to make an awesome bad-guy smashing attack. Graphics have been upgraded from MUA1. Great story with two diverging story arcs to play.
I am not great at video games (generally speaking), and I hate jumping-at-precisely-timed-moments-to-avoid-bottomless-pits-only-to-fail-and-restart-the-whole-level genre, So I LOVED Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. I play to relax and have fun not for frustration-induced stroke. MUA2 is wonderful game that has challenges without headaches. I loved it so much that I bought my brother a copy for Christmas (2009).
Here is the big problem I have with Microsoft and Marvel about this game. I have the downloadable characters, my brother does not and CAN NOT: after January 1st (2010) the DLC was no longer available on Xbox live. So my brother and I can NEVER play this game together over xbox live because we do not have compatible versions of the game. Were I to delete the DLC from my xbox 360 (to mike mine compatible with his), I would not only NOT have the extra characters, but could NEVER GET THEM BACK because they have been removed from xbox live. So if you buy this game and your friends and family have had the game for a while, check with them to see if they have the downloadable content. If they do, you CANNOT play with them over live (you guys can of course share a console--the local multiplayer is fun too, but not possible if friends and family live far away) | video-games_xbox |
Everything the first was, times 10. The first Splinter Cell was just...stunning. It changed the spy genre forever. It took a fairly small genre, and turned it into one of the biggest. Splinter Cell changed gaming forever, and sold millions upon millions of copies in the process. It won dozens of awards, was hailed as one of the top 5 games of 2003, or even one of the best games of all time. All that is to give you an idea of how good the first Splinter Cell really was. Well, Splinter Cell #2, Pandora Tomorrow, is everything the first one was. And much much more!
1) Gameplay~ Most of the controls in this game are exactly the same as the first. A few things have been changed. For example, the black button is now the "whistle" button. You can do a half jump in a smaller hallway, and of course the full split jump in the larger hallway. They also changed a few buttons. When hanging from a ledge, the B button is now the button that drops. You can also do a Swat Turn when having your back against a wall and pushing A. All this and more have been changed from the original. And in my opinion, it's an improvement.
This game has about a dozen levels, and yet again, an amazing story. There are many more cinematics, bringing the story closer to home. The levels look amazing, and are a blast to play. Each level is fairly large, and every section requires a new talent and skill to beat. It is so much fun to play, and each thrilling minute will keep you coming back for more. The gameplay is amazing, and ups in every way on the first.
2) Graphics: The graphics are, yet again, jaw dropping. The shadows, lighting, texture! It's like REALLY being a spy. It looks so real! The grass blades blow as the wind blows, everything, even the wires on a fence, have a shadow. All of Sam Fisher's moves look cooler, yet more realistic, then before. It just looks amazing, pushing the limit for even the mighty XBOX. Using every last ounce of power to provide that last detail of the crack in the wall, or the crawling of a bug. It really brings this amazing game to life!
3) Online: This is where this game really shines. Once online, you start off as a level one. You can join any number of games (there are always several dozen to join at any moment). There are about 8 maps, and 3 gametypes. Each gametype is a little different. Once in a game, you are either a spy or a mercenary. The spies try to either A) Neutralize console (or extract a tube from it), usually of these consoles. The mercenaries try to prevent the spies from doing this, and protect the target for the set time limit (usually 10 minutes). Also, each team has a certain number of lives. Mercs have 3, and Spies have 4. Each has their own gadgets and moves unique to them. The spies are fast, versatile, and can go anywhere. They can also sneak up behind a merc and grab him. From here, the spy can either hold the merc until he dies (usually 10 seconds), or break his neck. They also see in 3rd person. Mercenaries on the other hand have a deadly gun, mines, grenades, and the ability to kill from a distance. They see in first person.
Overall the online game balances out, and both sides have their disadvantages and advantages. Yet, the talent really shows in a good player, as a good player will always beat a bad player, and the best spies and mercs almost never lose. This game does take a lot of teamwork as well, perfect for friends wanting a game to dominate...together. There is an amazing ranking system, as for every few dozen points, there is a level. Everyone starts at Level 1, and at 0 points. Once they earn 100 points, they increase to Level 2. The rankings work like this, and you can perhaps someday become the best player in the world! (the stats don't reset also).
So as you can see, this game is everything the first one was, and more. It was worth every penny in my book, and is addicting (both offline and on). It is the most popular XBOX Live game right now, and there are always a lot of games to join. It's addicting, fantastic, and overall just a great game. One of those classics that you'll be talking about even years after you beat it. And of course, the game never ends with XBOX Live. A great game, I recommend it 100%! It won't disappoint!
Thx!
obryanstars* | video-games_xbox |
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