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Great wheel for the price, really improves the experience of driving games. I was excited to try the new Thrustmaster TMX Force Feedback racing wheel with my Playseat Evolution racing seat. Previously, I had an old Logitech G25 attached for use with my PS3, and sadly that wheel doesn't get much use these days. I didn't ever purchase the new Logitech G920 because of the cost, and so I was excited to try this new Thrustmaster wheel, even though it didn't have the clutch or shifter. To be honest, I prefer the paddle shifter anyway for games, and a manual with clutch in real life. It isn't really fair to compare the 2 wheels since they are different price points so I will say that the thrust master is a very nicely built wheel with good force feedback, and good button placement. I was always frustrated having to reach down to the shifter on the G25 to press the start, select and 4 PS buttons. All the buttons you need are on the Thustmaster wheel and you can get to them quickly without looking after getting used to the placement.
The steering feels good on this wheel and compared to a controller, which is what I was using for Forza 6 and Forza Horizons 2, the wheel is exponentially better. It's so much more immersive and fun, especially with the Playseat Evolution, which I've had for years and will probably see several more wheels as consoles progress. Most people will not having a racing seat, and that's fine. If you have a small table or even some types of chairs, this wheel mounts to it just fine in most cases, and you will be racing in minutes. I was able to test installing the wheel on my coffee table, and it worked well, and I was able to reach the pedals sitting on my couch.
The pedals are good quality as well. Again, not as nice as some of the higher end pedals, but they work fine and you can operate them just like a normal car, either heel-toe or left foot on the brake and right on the gas. I was happy with the brake and throttle pedals and They also mounted just fine to my old Playseat.
Overall, I do feel this wheel is slightly expensive as an XBOX accessory, and if you are really serious about driving, you may want to go with the Logitech G920 for $100 more. However, that is not to say there is anything wrong with this wheel. There is an optional shifter available and an optional 3 pedal setup, but by the time you purchase those things, you are closer to G920 territory as far as price goes. Thrustmaster also makes some fairly high end wheels, and I do believe much of that technology has been used in this less expensive but still very nice TMX wheel. I am enjoying this wheel a lot and see no reason to get anything else. It's so much better than just using the controller and I think Thrustmaster has a great product with this TMX force feedback wheel for XBOX One (and PC).
I did want to mention that my XBOX is positioned in a corner which was too far for the USB or power to reach. I was able to use a cheap USB extension and extension cord for power and it works just fine, so no worries if that is your situation as well. | video-games_xbox |
A treat for the eyes but much more as well. Too many sandbox games are bad for your health - probably. At one time they were new to the industry, an exciting and new formula in the first days of GTA, the formula of which has seeped into the ingredients of todays gaming blockbusters. This broke barriers in terms of how restricted video games were with their levels and sequential structure. Around the mid-2000s, sandbox was no longer intriguing, and had the potential to bore players to death by permitting aimless wandering with no direction of the character or storyline.
Far Cry 2 actually had many gamers highly annoyed at some of its features, which are no longer an issue. The world actually feels like its breathing, pumping blood around its tropical veins whereas the former was a body on the brink of death. A huge part of the atmosphere stems from the addition of animals and their AI, which is at its best convincing not only as to suspend disbelief but also to occupy the player during the many treks over the map. Hunting animals allows materials to be created to carry more ammo or objects. Leaves can also be combined from plants which enhance the players ability for a short while (more specifically, by injecting syringes into your veins). The player can paraglide off mountains which overlook harsh seas while the sun sets in the distance. Crops can be set on fire and the terrain burns to ashes. Its all atmospheric, engrossing stuff.
The storyline is not the best, but perfectly acceptable. As a twenty-something male, you go on holiday with a bunch of almost-alcoholic friends who end up being kidnapped by modern-day Pirates Of The Caribbean enthusiasts. Escaping their grasp, the campaign consists of finding your friends who are located somewhere within the two large islands. Your character goes from being nothing to a full-force fighting machine by the end with the aid of an XP system which allows perks to be activated to change how the game plays. The game is addictive though, and allows you to gain all the perks before long. Even with all the perks and upgrades, the difficulty level never promotes you to a god, which is important as to make the game sustain its challenges.
As expected, the campaign has several different mission types, which for a sandbox game didn't seem unreasonable or predictable in any shape or form. The missions are completely relevant to the storyline which chugs along nicely. Its also hugely eventful without reverting to EXPlOsIoNS!!! Drugs play a part of the game and allow the player to hallucinate in some cut-scenes, and some playable areas too this is intriguing and improves the pacing of the story from stark seriousness to the plain weird and exciting.
Outposts are back in Far Cry 3, and play heavy relevance to ranking up of your character, as without performing them using a certain method, new abilities cant be unlocked. Stealth is encouraged, although definitely harder to perfect than using the guns blazing approach. Enemies can be marked by sighting them with your camera, at which point you can view them through walls. They can be influenced by throwing rocks, where they can be silently melee killed although doing this anywhere near conscious enemies fails as their bodies cant be disposed of once they fall. Alarms can be called unless you cleverly disable them first which ensues in havoc. Once you unlock silenced weapons, stealth does become easier but many players will choose to take the messy route at least after the stealth perks are unlocked.
The selection of weapons is impressive. New guns can be unlocked by collecting hidden items such as Relics and Letters Of The Lost scattered around the map. That this is completely optional does provide rewards for players who wish to experience all of the game. Achievements are perfectly laid out and players are enticed into completing all the activities by experiencing all the optional features. There are hunting quests, hitman quests, as well as other trials that break up the main story.
Visually, the graphics are something else, definitely the best we have seen this generation. Very reminiscent of 2007s Crysis. This was a game which tested PCs to their limit and honestly the first title Ive ever played where the graphics completely made the game. FC3 does this also with sights which can and will make your jaw drop over its stunning beauty. Its expertly done, and makes the game great to look at all times. How FC3 does this with minimal load times and slow down, is incredible. The fetching landscape consists of tropical terrain, with a classic colour pallet - lush green, sky blue and sandy yellow. Its definitely nice to look at not just for this but the fact the textures are highly detailed and the effects are fetching.
The campaign lasted me a good twenty hours, which is rare nowadays I even rushed through several parts to grab some achievements. To complete all the side-quests and extra activities (which are optional), you could probably squeeze a good thirty-five hours out of Far Cry 3.
Overall, this is a title which has been overlooked by many, but captivated me with a surprisingly fresh campaign, incredible graphics and addictive XP system which consumed many of my hours. Well worth a buy. | video-games_xbox |
Here. Hey this is still going to be a kick ... game but its not what you expect check this out
In the past, THQ has relied on AKI and Yukes to develop its wrestling games for the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, respectively, but the publisher has opted to bypass those developers in favor of some new blood for its upcoming Xbox wrestler, WWF Raw is War. This time out, Anchor--the developer behind the excellent Ultimate Fighting Championship game for the Dreamcast--has been selected to take on the task of developing an original wrestling game for the Xbox. Of course, there are a few differences between the action in the octagon of UFC and the squared circle of the WWF, but Anchor has adapted the pace of the UFC into a wrestling game that isn't quite as slow or methodical as AKI's No Mercy but doesn't really match the faster, more arcadelike speed of Yuke's Smackdown series. In fact, Anchor seems to have stumbled on a recipe that blends a little of both worlds, which should go a long way in appeasing fans who have a preference for either simulation or arcade-style wrestling games.
I'm talking to you!
The philosophy of creating a balanced game that doesn't lean toward any particular gameplay style extends to the types of modes that are available in WWF Raw. There are no table matches, there are ladders but no ladder matches, there are no casket matches, and there are no other match types that would seem a little too over-the-top for the casual wrestling fan. Instead, in the exhibition mode, you'll see matches that are a little more basic, such as one-on-one, tag team, two-on-two tornado tag, triple threat, fatal four-way, battle royal, two-on-one handicap, and three-on-one handicap matches. In the tornado tag match, you and a tag team partner take on another tag team, but the tag rules no longer apply, so all four men are in the ring at once. A triple threat match pits three wrestlers against each other, and whoever pins another wrestler for the three count first wins the match. The fatal four-way match is similar, but four wrestlers participate. In the battle royal match, four wrestlers can also participate in a contest to eliminate each other by pinfall or by disqualification. Wrestlers who have been eliminated in a battle royal match can remain at ringside and attack any other wrestler who happens to fall outside the ring. Lastly, the handicap matches let you take on two or three opponents at a time.
This seems a bit unfair.
Before starting any of these modes, you have a few options that change the stipulations of the match. First, you can decide if it's going to be a normal or hardcore match--the major difference being that you can pin another wrestler anywhere in the hardcore mode, whereas in a normal match, you can pin them only in the ring. There are options for changing the time limit for the match, as well as the count-out time limit when a wrestler leaves the ring. You can also toggle pins, submissions, rope breaks, disqualifications, and outside interference off and on to suit your preference. If the exhibition mode isn't enough to get you excited, WWF Raw includes other features, including a separate title match mode
Though the exhibition mode will probably offer plenty of excitement for the wrestling fan, there are other modes that will occupy an equal amount of your time. The first of these is the title match mode, in which you can select a wrestler and go after the WWF championship, the intercontinental title, the European belt, the hardcore title, the light heavyweight championship, or the women's title. In each of these categories, you'll encounter a varying number of wrestlers who are waiting to sabotage your shot at a specific title. For example, if you choose to make a run at the women's title, you have to face only three other wrestlers, but as you try to win belts of higher prestige, the number of opponents you have to get through increases. In the WWF title match, you'll have to go through 12 other wrestlers before winning the title. Unlike in the exhibition mode, you won't be able to change any of the rules for the match, so if you're not aware that disqualifications are turned on and you happen to swing a baseball bat at another opponent in the ring, you can lose the match.
Ouch.
The title matches have some quirks in the current build of the game. For whatever reason, there aren't any restrictions on the title matches, so if you want The Rock to win the women's title, you can go ahead and make it happen. Or if you think Rikishi deserves to be light heavyweight champion, you can go right ahead and enter him in the light heavyweight title mode. In addition, there is no tag team title option, which is somewhat understandable, considering the present lack of active tag teams in the WWF--though, there is a king-of-the-ring tag team option, but more on that later. The hardcore title matches are also worth noting because they can be quite difficult, due to other wrestlers constantly interfering in the match. Indeed, one match saw up to six other wrestlers run down to the ring to disrupt action, and though they'll eventually enter into a passive mode and remain on the outside of the ring, their presence dilutes the entire purpose of the hardcore match. But these are all problems that can be and, hopefully, will be addressed before the game's final release.
Bringing a little pain to an opponent.
If you happen to win certain title matches, you'll be rewarded with a brief celebration sequence of the selected wrestler jumping around in the ring with the belt on, and you'll unlock additional wrestlers who aren't available in the default roster. Moreover, the belt that you've won becomes available in WWF Raw's create-a-wrestler feature, so your wrestler can strut to the ring, sporting one of the WWF titles. Unfortunately, unless you plan to make one up in your head as you play through a title match, there is no story to accompany the gameplay, so when you win the belt, that's it--Vince McMahon won't be brooding over the fact you won the belt, and other wrestlers won't challenge you. Still, the title matches offer a substantial challenge that should keep you busy for a while
The last of the actual gameplay modes is the king-of-the-ring tournament. When you select the king-of-the-ring option, you'll have four match types to select from, including one-on-one, tag, triple threat, and fatal four-way. The match you select is the type of match that takes place throughout the entire king-of-the-ring tournament, so if you select triple threat, you must compete in two triple-threat matches to win the tournament. If you select singles competition, you have to go through three other wrestlers to win it all. But before the tournament actually begins, you can select the participants and even adjust the rules, which are identical to the rules available in the exhibition mode. There doesn't seem to be any sort of reward for going through the tournament in this build other than to see your wrestler dance around in the ring with pyro igniting all around the ring, but fans of tag team wrestling should have a great interest in this mode, since a tag team championship mode is noticeably absent from the title match option.
Bring it on.
As previously mentioned, WWF Raw also includes a create-a-wrestler feature that lets you build a wrestler from the ground up and enter it in any of the gameplay modes, like king of the ring. The current version of WWF Raw's create-a-wrestler is impressive, if not a little restrictive, in the early going. Within a few minutes of tinkering, we had respectable versions of Rob Van Dam (complete with thumb gesture on the prematch screen), Hawk from the Legion of Doom, Kevin Nash, and Bret Hart participating in matches. Clearly, Anchor anticipated a wrestling fan's desire to create popular wrestlers who either are no longer with the WWF or weren't available to the development team while creating the game. As such, you'll find some textures and pieces of clothing that are suited for specific wrestlers but have received subtle changes to avoid any legal trouble. There is a pair of tights with a pink streak and the word "Hotmax" going down the side of it--a perfect fit for your version of Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Additionally, there is a tank top that reads "Yosh" in the same font and color that Kevin Nash uses on his gear. There are little hints of other wrestlers throughout the entire create-a-wrestler feature, ranging from tights with two scorpions going down the legs to a save icon that looks suspiciously like a bald version of Booker T.
We just had to do it.
If you want to create an original wrestler, there are plenty of options to manipulate to your liking. WWF Raw's create-a-wrestler mode lets you change just about everything, from the type lighting and pyro for your wrestler's animation to your wrestler's hands or the moves that he or she can execute. This mode becomes even more versatile as you play through other parts of the game and pick up items that are lingering about ringside, including sunglasses, cheese heads, and swan tutus.
When it's finally | video-games_xbox |
Starts out great, becomes worse the longer you play it. At first, I thought this game was cool. And it is, for a little bit. But the slow-motion Kill-Bill-inspired shoot 'em up kills wear off pretty quickly and by the game's end, you're just glad it's over.
There are two issues I take with this game. The controls, for one, are not very good, at all! Rubi Malone can do so many acrobatic stunts and obstacles, but the controls are not very tight and you'll OFTEN find yourself doing one thing instead of what you meant to do because every tiny little detail or change in an action or motion makes up an entirely different move or stunt. Often, you'll find yourself running across walls instead of up them or leaping off walls instead of grabbing onto them because every action is so specific. Some aren't even control specific and totally rely on the game, such as the shoddy and terrible auto targeting. You see, Rubi dual wields weapons and the left hand automatically aims at a target. But as is the problem with many automatic actions, it'll often aim at something you don't want or miss something right in front of your face. This isn't so bad in the easy campaign modes, but it makes the ANNOYING and frustrating obstacle courses that much more difficult because you have to depend on an undependable left hand to auto aim. I'll get those obstacle courses shortly.
Another annoying "auto function" involves some stunts, such as leaping onto high platforms or poles. You can't just leap onto them because Rubi doesn't jump high enough. You have to leap at some random invisible spot so that the game "leaps" for you, higher than usual and right onto the platform ledge or pole. As you can imagine, this will lead to OFTEN deaths or leaps onto previous parts on the stage because you didn't leap at the invisible, randomally assigned "hot spot" where the game will let you jump higher than usual. Stuff like this kills the game on harder modes and the obstacle courses. Not to mention COUNTLESS invisible walls, un-crawlable low spaces, and other parts of the set that were made due to poor level design and bad collision detection physics. Basically, you'll think you can slide under some spots that you CAN'T or run across some platforms that have an invisible brick wall or something in front of them which is really just a single brick or something on the ground, blocking you entirely. Stuff like this make the obstacle courses beyond frustrating and annoying (when trying to pass them on Silver or Gold, at least.)
And that's the other problem I have with this game. The Obstacle Course challenges. Four of them are mandatory IN-GAME! The rest are "fun, bonus" challenges that are anything but fun. Basically, you race to the finish, shooting targets in various acrobatic ways to decrease your time by two seconds per hit target. There are Bronze, Silver, and Gold you must complete the challenges in. Completing all 20 or so with all Silver or Gold gets you two big achievements. Unfortunately, the above mentioned problems of the unreliable left hand auto-aim (which you must rely on to trigger the targets to pop up in the courses) and the poor physics of the level design will have you messing up constantly due to problems that most of the time, aren't your fault. The challenges while difficult, actually can be learned quite dilligently. In fact, one challenge in itself can usually be mastered from no experience of doing it in under half an hour. But the problems of the game will cause you to mess up a lot. And since this is a race, literally every half second counts. In some challenges, getting Gold rank requires a precise, flawless, absolutely perfect run and one mistake of the darn auto-aim not working in time or Rubi running across a wall instead of up it or vice versa or not leaping in the invisible "hot spot" to trigger the auto-grab of the pole will ruin it.
This is why the game isn't all that fun, in my opinion. The more you get into it, the less you like it. An dthat's the opposite of how games should work.
Overall, I'd say it's worth a rental if you enjoy any of Tarantino's films and always wanted a Kill Bill style game with guns. But it's only worth a playthrough about once or twice, and there are a TON of achievements to get in this game, if you're into those. Play it, but don't get suckered in and try to start "enjoying" it like I did. You'll soon grow to hate the game. | video-games_xbox |
Hatred, Death, Courage, and Faith Symbolized. Based on the short stories and novels of Polish economist and fantasy author Andrezg Sapkowski, and brought to digital life by the endearing and rogue Polish developer CDPR (CD Projekt Red), the saga of the medieval mutant warlock Geralt of Rivia is definitely an unusual one to say the least.
To begin with, in agreement with some other reviewers here, be sure to shoo the kids away and out of both visual and audible range, because the "Mature" rating for TW2 is well implemented and well deserved. In fact, if you are sensitive a about 'sax and violin', please be aware that there are scenes and references of profanity, nudity, sexual intercourse, rape, torture, mutilation, and violent death here (ever wonder what 'impaling' or 'impalement' is all about or why Vlad Drakul (AKA Vlad Tepes, Vlad The Impaler, or Dracula) is so feared and hated by both friends and enemies alike? You'll see a part of it here.)
With that out of the way, in term of technicality, having played both the PC and the Xbox 360 versions, I have to say that the Xbox 360 is very good; and although it is not as good in the graphics department for obvious reason, in some ways, it is better than the PC version. Two things stand out: Even though you can also play with the controller on the PC version, the Xbox 360 version controller layout is more intuitive. And although still rough around the edges, the inventory system is much better implemented in the Xbox 360 version than the PC version when using a controller.
To be sure, I've seen some reviews that criticized the game for being too PC-ported. The interesting thing here is that some PC Gamers are criticizing the PC version for being a console-port. As is, I think the truth is somewhere in between. CDPR's main goal is to develop a true multiplatform game - and some drawbacks are inevitable in order to achieve this goal when dealing with a complex action RPG like TW2. Based on my observation, and taken into consideration that there are some who thought that TW2 cannot be ported to console, I think CDPR succeeded brilliantly.
There are some minor technical problems with TW2. For long duration of playtime, I noticed that the game froze approximately every 3 hours - almost exclusively during loading screens. In addition, there is one small but mean bug: My storage chest content disappeared between chapter 1 and chapter 2 on Roche's path. A veteran like myself will have no problem with this bug (I've played TW2 3 times on PC and 1.5 time of Xbox 360), but a novice player might.
As for the product itself, TW2 comes in a very nice and *complete* package that focus on value for the Customers - something I seldom see anymore. As indicated in the product description, along with the 2 game discs, there are: A map, soundtrack CD, manual, and a game guide.
In terms of gameplay, TW2 is a very good hack and slash action RPG. Although the control is not as crisp and sharp as I'd like (I longed for a classic Ninja Gaiden type control feedback), there is a feel of weight and inertia in your sword movement. And when you learn to combine your swordplay with signs (magic) and mobility (dodging is better than blocking), and supplemented with oils and potions, combat is fun and exciting.
In addition, the RPG elements of TW2, like its PC based predecessor TW1, are very well done - not so much in the leveling system itself, but in terms of story progression. In other words, as you progress through the story, you are leveling up at the right time and the right place, which means that you can concentrate on playing the game instead of grinding it in order to level up.
Another thing to take into consideration is that TW2 is a game with true non linear and branching story path, which is not to be confused with the free roaming elements in games like TES (The Elder Scrolls) series or the Two Worlds series. In other words, a complex story driven game like TW2 does not mesh well with a go-anywhere and do-anything at anytime elements of a free-roaming type game. Therefore, what is "non-linear" here is the story elements - not the geographical gaming area.
To be more precise, depend on the choice you made at the end of Act 1, almost all of Act 2 will play out differently with a different story and in a different location. In addition, about 1/3 of Act 3 will also be different. Needless to say, the replay value is way off the chart here; and in order to see the whole story, you will have to play both Roche's and Ieorveth's paths. Thus, be sure to keep at least one game save for the quest "At a Crossroads: Vernon Roche" or "At a Crossroads: Scoia'tael" near the end of Act 1 after you bid farewell to Cedric the elf.
Finally, the story elements of TW2 are what makes it stands head and shoulder above the rests. In addition to the aforementioned unflinchingly mature elements, the complex and layered story of TW2 is firmly set in a world saturated with different shades of gray. Indeed, with only one possible exception, there is no black and white; no good and evil; and no light and dark here - whether we are dealing with the protagonist, the antagonist, or the supporting characters. Hence, the decisions to be made - which, in conjunction with your own logic and morality and along with the half-lie and half-truth that you gathered - is neither right nor wrong... There are only consequences. And regardless of where you stand on the notion of 'the end justifies the mean', tread carefully, because you may need to do just that. Granted, although there are quite a few games that claim to do this, very few can do it well - and The Witcher 2 is one that does it exceptionally well.
In conclusion, TW2 earned a solid 4.5 stars - to which I rounded up in appreciation of CD Projekt Red. Thank You for reading. | video-games_xbox |
I will compare to my PX51 headsets. UPDATE: I've Had these headsets only 4 months and there is a HUGE flaw in the adjustable headset band connecting the speaker. Right where the adjustable band connects to the speaker it breaks in half. I had the exact same problem with my old PX51 (Had to use duct tape). I'm not a kid and I'm not rough with my headsets, especially since I paid so much for them, but this is ridiculous especially since its the same break on two versions. See the photos!!!
Turtle beach obviously knew there was an issue because the newer 800X has a much beefier head band...
*******Old Review until they broke********
I will compare to my PX51 headsets...
Quality of sound while gaming is great. Those people that are complaining the volume is too low must be deaf! It is set to a maximum level that isn't agonizing like my PX51, but both have great sound.
Rechargeable versus batteries - Love the fact that I'm not burning through batteries every other day. BIG plus for 500X
Play time on charge - Although the 500X says up to 15 hours of play on one charge, it's been averaging about 10 hours of play in COD AW with settings pretty loud. If the battery dies you can plug in any USB and play while charging.
Craftsmanship of the headset - For the price, I would have expected a little sturdier construction. I know the goal is to make it light enough for comfort, but it seems a little fragile. Compare to Triton systems and you'll understand what I mean.
Now for the meat and potatoes!
Wireless play - wireless gameplay sound on both the X51 and 500x are awesome. The X51 mode change is much better, because there is actually a voice telling you what mode you are selecting. The 500X only beeps for the mode you are in (Mode1=one beep). The X51 also has a voice stating powering off/on, the 500X doesn't make a sound either way
Chat - This is where the 500X blows the X51 away! There are three modes of chat playback on the 500x so your not yelling. This 500 X mic is super strong! It will transmit everything (Mouth breathers and coughers BEWARE!) so you don't have to put the mic directly in front of your mouth. If you do, you'll most likely get muted during play.
The X51 is known for popping and clicking during chat, but the 500x is simply amazing.
XBOX ONE CHAT - there is no cables or controller connection required with the 500X (Finally!!!) | video-games_xbox |
Psychonauts - Clever, Imaginative, Fun. Let me start off this review by saying that I play a lot of different videogames, and owe allegiance to no genre in specifics, which is why I'm not going to compare this game to others. There are a variety of aspects that the game has which make it awesome, and I will cover these individually, in seperate paragraphs.
First off, creativity. This is not a spoiler, so have no fear as I progress. The game revolves around a ten year old child with psychic abilities by the name of Razputin, or "Raz". Without his parent's knowledge, Raz sneaks into Whispering Rocks Psychic Summer camp, a secret government training facility for young psychics. Once discovered by the camp counsellors, he is informed that his parents have been called, and will pick him up in a couple of days. Until then, he is not allowed to participate in any psychic training or activities. Of course, this doesn't stop our young adventurer from doing exactly that, and this is where the game begins. The game invites you to actually explore other character's minds, usually to help them solve an internal problem (frequently due to insanity), and each of the levels creatively reflect that character's problems. For example, you are invited into the mind of Fred, a distant relative of Napoleon, who has a split personality disorder as a result of continually losing strategy games to one of the inmates at the asylum. As you enter his head to kick Napoleon out and restore Fred's sovereignty of his mind, you are invited to play a game of strategy versus Napoleon's embodiment in Fred's mind.
Humor: I have to admit that I have been particular to Tim Schafer's sense of humor ever since playing Grim Fandango, and this game made me laugh a lot. For instance, at one point in the game you find yourself in the mind of a former high school wrestler. The walls inside the sewers of his mind are decorated with high school lockers, and one passageway is designed as a gym shower room, at which Raz remarks "Man, I feel like I'm back in High School...Which is wierd, because I'm only ten years old" The game is full of clever little side comments which make the game a blast to play, and the interactions with the other characters are constantly amusing (My favorite character is a psychic camper by the name of Mikhail, who is from Russia and has an obsession with finding a hairless bear)
Gameplay: I like the style of gameplay a lot. This is one of the first platformers I've played in a long time that seems to actually get everything right. If it's possible, you just have to try. If it's not possible, then there's no way to hack around it until you're supposed to. Some games tend to screw this up and allow the impossible, and it's nice to play a game that has a good environment to it. Moving on, the control system is nice. You move with the left analog, adjust the view with the right analog. You can assign three psychic powers (out of a possible 8) to hot buttons, and the game pauses while you assign them (you assign by pushing right on the d-pad). You can pull items out of your backpack, which never gets full (which doesn't break realism because at any given time you only have a max of something like 13 items of small-medium size). The game allows double jumping, which I usually think is cheap, but Psychonauts excuses it by defining it as an innate psychic ability which can be improved once you get the active psychic ability "levitate". The only thing I disliked about the gameplay was the fact that when you tried to target things, you had to be fairly close to your target, which seems silly when the main reason you would target something in Psychonauts is to use a ranged weapon like Psi Blast.
Sound/Music: This game has an awesome soundtrack. Every mind you invade seems to have the perfect music written for it, from the Mexican-themed "Black Velvetopia", to the Godzilla-like "Lungfishopolis". I'm not really an expert on describing music, which is why this part is going to be short, but let it be known that the music is just as awesome as the rest of the game, I just can't describe it owing to my own deficiencies.
Graphics: This game uses the xbox's graphical potential fully. I experienced no lag at all while playing, and yet could see clearly that everything was richly textured, high on polys, and gorgeous to look at. The graphical style is a little cartoony, which is something that I love in videogames, but I understand it is an acquired taste, so that is something you should definitely be aware of. In addition, each mind uses the game's graphics slightly differently, and gameplay varies a lot from mind to mind. For example, the earlier mentioned "Black Velvetopia" has a somewhat inverted color scheme, as if the world was being viewed under a blacklight.
So here we go with a final summary, which is probably the only thing most of you readers will read anyways.
Creativity: 10
Humor: 9.5
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 8.8
Graphics: 10
Overall: 9.5 - This game is one of the best games I've ever played, and is one of the best out there for xbox. Get it! :) | video-games_xbox |
Character Driven Story. - Overview: Dragon Age: Inquisition is an amazing game with a very involved and thoughtout storyline. This game really feels like you're planning a war, turning you into a tactician in a way. If you get it, you may want to clear your schedule for about a week, though, because it might take you that long to really get through it.
+ Graphics & Atmosphere - I have mixed feelings about the graphics in this game. Overall, it has incredible graphics, but then there are those glitch moments--missing shaders in cutscenes, disappearing hats, etc. But this game has an amazing atmosphere, and it keeps me coming back to it.
+ Dialogue Options, Game Comparisons - Dragon Age: Inquisition truly has something special when it comes to its dialogue. A lot of the dialogue options usually have consequences--good and bad. Both these consequences are usually not as immediate as games like Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning or as severe as games like Fable. In fact, the dialogue runs a lot like Skyrim usually. Your decisions during your campaigns affect how your party gets along with you. If one of your characters consistently disagrees with your stance on a quest you're on, you might find yourself going back to your home base and getting in an argument when you try to talk to them about it. Have no fear, though, this game is good at smoothing things over usually. What DA:I offers, however, is something none of these other games do--random AI sparked conversation. There is absolutely nothing more grueling and boring than getting stuck in a party of characters in the CGI wilderness for hours days even, and never hearing another voice until you start a quest or you check in. I feel like the makers of Dragon Age understand this, because at completely random times (maybe it only feels random and its actually a scheduled thing every 30 mins or so), one of your companions will start talking to another about something relating to their character in some way. Some times its relevant, sometimes it's respectful, sometimes its hateful, and sometimes its downright random. Depending on the mix of the party and what kind of people are on your team, as well as their varying belief systems, classes, and races, you might find yourself listening to a warrior class describing his favorite material for weapon making, and ending with "it's pink! and it's pretty!" or three mages arguing about the fade. Both true stories.
+ Relationships & Romances - This game has a great system when it comes to relationships. Unlike other games like Fable which include romance, but only within about a 3 minute window, and only with random villagers, Inquisition only allows romance with select main story characters. And there are quite a few to choose from--including those in your party. In my game my character was with Cullen. Each character has a different kind of romantic relationship to offer, so depending on who you want your character to be, you can find someone that really fits your character's personality or your personality. That said, if you start romancing other people at the same time in the beginning of the game and then choose someone out of the bunch later in the game, you may find that once people start finding out, one of the other people you romanced might be slightly bitter about your new relationship.
+ Team Options - The only complaint I really have about your immediate team is that you can only have 3 of them besides yourself on your party at any given time. I get why this is, but I still think, in order to get a good sampling of skills, the party would be better with just one more member. What I do love about the team options though is how customizable they are. Your team starts out small--Cassandra and you. Then you add Varric and Solas. As time goes by you gain many more members, and all of them have customizable skills and equipment. I have made many a custom weapon or armor for one of myself or my party members. Later in the game, each member also has an individually specialized skill path that is theirs and their alone--making them special in their own way. Sometimes it's tricky finding who works best with each other, and who works best with you. You might find yourself excluding someone pretty much all together because they don't have much to add to your party because of who your character is. For example, I usually exclude Sera because my character is a better archer, and include Cole instead. On the other hand, my version of Vivienne has mostly lightning magic, Dorian has mostly spirit magic, and Solas has a mix of healing and party support magic, so being as diverse as they are, I sometimes choose to put them all in a group when facing undead enemies. Don't get these three near a a large animal that's minding his own business, however, as they often don't know which direction to aim their staffs, and you'll find yourself fighting everything nearby because of their stupidity--even Solas. And though their magic compliments each other well, their personalities clash horribly, and conversations between these three are almost unbearable, whereas Ironbull and Blackwall act like bros from the second they meet each other. Their party conversations are often hilarious, and they fight well together. Now, with all that, if for some reason your own character gets on your nerves or you die, have no fear, you can fight as another member of your party.
+ Glitches & Game Issues - One of the main weird factor moments of this game are the many glitches than can occur. Usually the game corrects itself after the glitch, but once and a while, it doesn't. Most often my glitches occurred when my rogue (an archer) used a specific skill that would fire off a shot at an enemy and then make her flip backwards. If I had my stick aimed down, sometimes she would flip so far back that it would glitch and she would literally fall off the world, even when she was in a place that only had mountains, buildings and other solid ground. This particular glitch was reoccurring, and when she finished falling and dying (maybe), my character came back to her original spot with a significant chunk of health taken out of her character. This was actually a huge annoyance a couple times, since the game allows your character to move anywhere there's open space with very little restriction. I once backflipped across a railing at an elven temple and ended up two levels down and in a totally different room than the one my other party members were fighting in. Then there was the mechanism to lower the dam and drain the caves. Someone copy and pasted the mechanism and forgot to animate it, so it looked like my character was pushing this rotating bar and walking through another. The most severe glitch I experienced was when I was in an elven tomb and had Dorian energize a veil fire lamp. Immediately, the game threw me into some alternate game dimension where my character and her party were walking through weird floating polygons and a raised room with skeletons, and no way out. And if you ventured to far in a certain direction, you would seemingly fall off the world in this weird dimension and then be put back in it afterwards. I had to reload the game.
+ Customizable Options - This game has an amazing range of stuff that can be customized--from people's skills, to their weapons and armor, and even your relationship with each of them. Too often in open world games, you can't make items quite as good as the ones you find around places. Inquisition isn't like that. Sure, you'll find a lot of stuff, and some of it will be a lot better than the stuff you have, but I've often found that the stuff I made for many of my characters was far better in quality than a lot of the stuff I found. You can also customize how you play the game. With the exception of the main quests, you can kind of pick and choose which quests you do in what order, and which part of the world you want to explore. And even among many of the main quests, there are big choices that you have to make that will affect how you end up playing your game--choosing templars or mages, figuring out who should die in the rift, and deciding if you want someone to join your cause. In fact, there is so much in this game, that I'm not entirely sure how I could ever do it all. I will say, the one thing that was done less well in the customizable features was the ability to customize voices. There are two of each. Two male, two female, which make 4 total. On top of that, only one of the female voices really felt like it was something I was okay with hearing speak for several hours/days of gameplay. This was a bit disappointing to me, since there are 4 different races to choose from. Truly, I think each gender should've had around 8 different voices to choose from (2 for each race) just to give some real variety.
+ Storyline and Replay value - The beginning of this game is the same thing over and over and over again, so the replay value truly isn't very high. In fact, most of the first act is like that. You do a lot of the same stuff over and over. That changes, though, when you decide to choose sides and back either the mages or the templars. Immediately your decisions start carrying weight, and by the end of the first major battle, you realize that your crew has truly been through something unique, because their attitudes towards you warm up quite a bit. Instead of being mindless computer drones, they actually seem to think and feel. What I will say about this story is that it's very well written at points, but it has problems executing. Minor missions and things like nobel parties mixed with battles is something the game does well. It loves puzzles. It has hours and hours of puzzles--thankfully not all are required. It's the major missions really that are the problem, which is well. bad. Inquisition has this thing where it seems to fear actually letting people win a battle or actually do a battle at all. Cutscenes take the place of a couple big events, which is really bothersome. It almost diminishes your hard work--and that's from me, someone who loves the story way better than the game itself. That said, if you like stories, the payoff is still pretty big, especially if you decided to take the time to pursue one of the many possible romantic relationships in the game. I also like how the game tailors itself around your character. Depending on what race and class you are, your companions will react differently to you. Some even react slightly different depending on your gender when it comes to personal story lines. Overall, the replay value is still pretty high, as long as you can get through the beginning.
+ Carry over - Like a lot of games that have become franchises, Inquisition has characters that carry over from the pervious games. You'll be happy to know that several characters from Dragon Age 2 show up in Inquisition, and sad to know that Fenris is not one of them. Sorry, girls. Though, if you load a world state from a different dragon age game, its possible relationships in past characters could become a subject of conversation at some point. :)
+ Battle Mechanics - The last thing I really wanted to hit on is something that a lot of people take for granted in these kinds of games. Inquisition has probably one of the best battle mechanics--better than Skyrim and better than Fable 3. The only other game I've played that has it beat is Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and that's only because Reckoning has quite possible the best made battle mechanics, as well as the most customizable, of any game ever. Inquisition isn't really that far behind, because its also highly customizable, and allows you to switch between party members in the middle of a fight, on the fly.
- Overall Impression - This game isn't something you should get just to "beat it." It'll make you miserable, because it's so involved and you just can't immerse yourself in it in just a few hours or even a day or two. Dragon Age doesn't really work like that. But for someone who's looking for a great story and a game that's not all about level grinding or finding monsters around every bend, you'll love this game. The characters in this game bring it to life like only a couple I have ever played. I would recommend it to most anyone who likes role playing video games. | video-games_xbox |
It's More About Women Than Cars. I admit it. I fell into the hype that this game built up weeks before it's initial release and I thought this game would be a real contender. Well, it isn't. It does have a few interesting quirks but overall, it's a mediocre, Need For Speed Underground-wannabe that lack overall polish and finesse.
The usual suspects for a street racing games are here: fast import cars, performance tuning, pimp graphics and parts, and modern urban pop/rap music but the primary attention-getter that gets the lion's share of the DVD bits are the models. Real models. The ones that have graced many of the import tuner mags you see on the magazine racks. This is where it gets tacky in a hurry. In winning certain series races and beating special challenges, you can "win" these models. And you can "hook up" up with them before you start to run more races. If you lose too many races, they dump you like a sack of old cat litter. Win some races and they will want to go back to your place to "give you a reward". And we ain't talking about baking cookies! Is this really appropriate for a video game that will be played by young kids? Even though the rating is for Teens, I can guarantee you that many, young, pre-teen males will probably spend more time watching all the model's videos than really enjoying the game. The videos are sexually suggestive to downright erotic and this type of titillating tripe has no business in a game like this. The amount of space these videos consumed could have easily been used to make a better, more appealing game.
OK, now for the game itself. It's got its good points but it mostly falls short in a number of areas. The selection of cars are reasonable - over 40 in all with Mitsubishi, Toyota, Volkswagen, Lexus, Subaru, Mazda, and Nissan as the manufacturers - but the only problem with the selection is that many of them are virtual duplicates as opposed to truly different cars. If Nissan wants to have 2 Skylines, fine, but so we need more than five? Most of the selections from Mazda are RX-7's. For the fan of these cars, it's great to choose from them, but since there are no differences in how they perform, it's moot and a waste of space.
Overall, the car graphics are about average. The detail is OK but it lacks any real definition. The streets and surrounding areas of Miami, Philadelphia, and L.A. are actually pretty good with no pop-ups. The streets are less "wet" than in NFSU but they do reflect the lights and neon of the streets pretty well
Sound wise, the cars don't always sound authentic but it's decent enough. As far as the music is concerned, it's your usual rap/hard pop fare but since I always take out the music in these kind of games, I can't say if it's good or not. All I know is that it's distracting.
Playability is good. The learning curve for controlling the car is easy which makes it nice to jump right in and drive. The feel of the different powertrain configurations (rear, front, all-wheel drive) is accurate and precise which is kind of surprising for a game that feels more arcade-like than an actual driving simulation.
The goal of SRS is to gain money, respect, and girls. In Street Mode, you can run in the Respect Challenges and earn respect points by completing certain task. The Crew Meets offer you a chance to participate in series races. You win money and respect for winning these series while the street challenge races let your opponent (and you) puts up a wad of cash that can be all yours if you can beat him (or all his if you lose). The only thing that can improve here is to have a greater variety of drivers and cars in these challenges since the same few people in the same few cars will challenge you over and over again. There's also the Roll Up Races where you flash your lights behind a challenger with a "Race Me" arrow above the car, very similar to the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series. There's also a Cruise Zone you can go into that lets you cruise the city (controlled by the AL) but you can control the camera so you can get some pretty nice angles of your ride.
The game also comes with a multiplayer feature, Split Screen, and online play as well as Quick Race, Checkpoint, Iron Man, and Speed Trial in the Arcade Mode.
I could go more into this game but I'll let it stand as is. It has such potential to be a much better game but it only comes across as a cheesy, assemblage of parts, experience that is made worse by the equally cheesy, assemblage of "parts", female models. OK, the game itself can be fun to play and it's involving to a point but it needs more than gyrating, overly exposed women with suggestive lyrics to make this game worthwhile. Rent if you must, but look for something better. | video-games_xbox |
Great XBox Live Arcade games bundled together. My brother brought this over to my house around a month ago and introduced me to two of the three games: Trials and Splosion Man. I liked them well enough to buy my own copy, which was cheaper than any two of the three included games.
Pro:
+ Games are good quality, though nowhere near the complexity of a typical triple-A title (e.g. PGR4, COD)
+ Trials - nice XBox Live integration, I spent a lot of time working on getting my times better than my brother and nephew's times.
+ Splosion man - my toddler loves watching it! For some reason he calls it 'sauce', but it's a game I can let him watch. It's also fun to play!
Con:
- Consider whether you want the production value of a AAA title, or three fun games to play. I think this is better value than a AAA title, but lower production value. Still great though!
Trials is a motorcycle trials game: you ride a variety of obstacle courses left to right, with the screen scrolling. You control throttle, brakes, and leaning forward or backward to get on top of crates, Jump over rocks, pits, fire barrels, and other obstacles, etc. I'm not a big fan of motorcycle games, but I've put maybe 6 hours into this one so far and am still enjoying it. The graphics are very well done for a live arcade title, and the gameplay is good. A large number of levels, and each level tracks time and crashes, giving you multiple criteria to try and improve each run. A lot of fun!
Splosion Man is a twist on a 2D scroller, though instead of jumping to different platforms, you can make yourself explode and get propelled a bit further. Naturally the puzzles are designed so you have to place your explosions just right to solve them. While not terribly sophisticated, it's fun and engaging, and also enjoyable to watch. In addition to solving the basic navigation puzzles, you also track down scientists and equipment and blow up near them (with the obvious consequences) for points. Fun!
I haven't played Limbo, so check out other reviews to see what people think.
Many of the 360 games I buy get played with once or twice and put on a shelf. This set is fun and diverse enough that it's already gotten at least 10 hours of play from me, which is pretty good for my short attention span. Well worth it! | video-games_xbox |
Quite possibly, the shortest single-player campaign in video game history. I was excited to see this game ever since I read an article about it over a year ago. Unfortunately, it didn't come close to living up to the hype. My biggest gripe: I beat the single-player campaign in about 5 hours!!! It's not like I set it to the amateur mode and mowed through everything in sight without dying once. I left it on the default mode and I died...A LOT! If you take out my deaths (not to mention the sometimes poorly-placed save points, which could make you replay several minutes worth of action only to have to play it over again), the total time for the campaign might actually be closer to about 4 hours.
The story, which in every preview I read was supposed to be the strong point of the game, left a lot to be desired. The opening sequence was as good as any I've seen, explaining how the Koreans came into power and taking over the USA, and seeing how badly Americans were treated as your character is transported to a prison camp was as powerful as anything I've seen in games or film, but that's about where the story stopped getting interesting. You never feel like you get to know your character, or why the resistance wants him so badly, aside from him being a pilot. After your character joins the resistance, the game devolves into another run-of-the-mill 1st person shooter, the only difference being this one takes place on American soil.
This game isn't horrible; it's got some solid controls, and decent voice acting and sound effects, and some of the levels, particularly the last one, were truly enjoyable. To be fair, I haven't tried the multiplayer. However, if you're like me and online gaming isn't your thing, the ridiculously short campaign is unforgivable. Combine that with poorly-spaced save points and a story that feels incomplete...well, I feel sorry for those of you who didn't rent it first like I did. | video-games_xbox |
Not so new, but improved. Update: 3/6/2015------
Now that I've had a chance to play through this for a few weeks, there are a few things carried forward from earlier installments that I do not like.
Defending opponent- You are assigned one person to block on defense. At times, however, this person changes for no apparent reason. There have been times when I was assigned one person, and within about 10 seconds it switched to 2 different people! It makes things hard to follow at times. Why is this important? Because if your assigned man scores, it reflects poorly on your grade.
Grading system- It is not as bad as it was in 2k13, but it can still be unfair. You can work all game improving your score, but thanks to only a few minor mistakes it plummets like a rock. How can I be player of the game and still only earn a B- score? Something seems wrong with that!
Lack of grading system for teammates- I cannot begin to tell you the number of wide open shots, passes in the lane, or general infractions my teammates have caused/ignored. There are times when I feel like my grade should be a "B" or "A", and everyone else on the team should receive an "F". The game makes you feel guilty about letting other assignments score, but if you do step in and leave your assignment, you'll be punished. Catch-22! Do you want to win or do you want to play well? The two should not be mutually exclusive, although they can be at times.
__________________________ Original review below________________________________________
I own the 2k13 version and spent many hours building up my player for an amazing career. After playing a huge number of games, I gave up and shelved it.
When enough time passed, I considered revisiting 2k13 but decided to see what the latest installment had in store. Note that I had no expectations other than being at least as good as 2k13, which might have helped me avoid disappointment in a lack of additional features available on other platforms.
The two games are remarkably similar. So much so that you could put down one game and immediately start playing the other with only a few minor kinks (I did this). The shot system, defensive aspect, and graphics are the three things with the most noticeable difference.
Shot system- In 2k13 you try to release your shot at the top of the arc. The major problem with this approach is the lack of feedback other than missing. Did you miss because you held the button too long/not long enough or because you shot a 3-pointer with someone who has a zero 3 point rating? Like I said, no feedback. With the 2k15 setup, I at least know where I am releasing the button in relation to where I should. This does make it feel more like a video game than a basketball simulation, but it is after all a video game. I would probably prefer the 2k13 approach with a kinect sensor and the 2k15 with a controller. My major gripes with the 15 approach both involve the meter. Because you are trying to time your shot via the meter, you take your attention away from your character and instead focus on the meter during shots. This could lead to blocked shots, steals, or who knows what. The other issue is that it takes what seems like a long time for the meter to fill. I can imagine being called for a 24 second violation, or even worse losing the game, because I wasn't quick enough with the meter.
Defensive aspect- In 2k13, pressing one button meant you guarded a person to the best of your ability. The same is true in 2k15, but to a lesser extent. Most of the time you can get away with only one button, but it is a much more active setup. The second the ballhandler tries to run past you, the one button approach doesn't work as well as it used to. Instead your left scrambling trying to chase after the person. Right now I prefer the old system, but perhaps with time I will learn to enjoy the new one even more.
Graphics- The difference in graphics isn't mind blowing. After all, we're not switching from Nintendo NES to an N64 here. There are definite improvements in the players and things appear to be more HD than they previously were (if that is even possible). Sound records are markedly improved for this installment.
Is it a game worth playing? Once you adjust to the new shot system and learn the minor tweaks they've added like social media, this is a game that will offer many hours of entertainment. But if you want all the bells and whistles that were added to the newer, next gen systems, you're better off sticking with your older version of the game or picking up 14/15 used later. | video-games_xbox |
dont flip a coin over a ps4 or xbox one purchase. I was like many of you when these systems were initially released. What one do I get? Why spend so much money on something if im not sure itll be the correct system for me? Why choose one over the other?
In all honesty, ill eventually get both in the long run. But im sure that isn't helping your huge financial decisions at the moment. But I've personally made up my mind and after having researched these systems I can say I made my mind up and settled with the xbox one.
How? I simply researched what exclusve titles each system has to offer. After E3, microsoft had a second conference where they discussed the future of their new console. In this meeting they told people that they knew people were sick of the same old games and only getting sequel after sequel of the same game franchises, ie. Halo, gears of war, forza and fable. So they apologized and announced a slew of new exclusives that they had been working on for the better part of 6+ years. Here is a little tidbit I found for you ([...]) you can find more info if you just research last years E3 event.
Another thing I really thought about was, what system my friends will be buying and playing. So maybe you should also take that into concideration so you do not buy a system that none of your friends are playing. Games are meant to be enjoyed with friends, so get the system that allows you to do so. My friends all went with xbox one because we are avid killer instinct and dead rising fans, so I went with a xbox one. The fact that killer instinct was free with xbox live was a huge factor in our personal decisions, considering that we are all huge killer instinct fans and to this day, still have retro fighting game tournaments.
The price point. Yeah both are pretty intimidating. The ps4 is a cool 100 dollars cheaper, but think about it. Microsoft packaged everything you will need into one purchase price with the xbox one. In the very near future you will need a ps4 camera for the system and now they charge to play online. If you're a preexisting Xbox live member, you're membership transfers between the 360 and the one so that eleviates that money transaction. The fact that you will need a ps4 camera and psn to play online bumps up that price point for the ps4's playability and connectability and pretty much uses that 100 dollars you were trying to save. So in the long run, both systems will cost roughly the same.
The fact that the new generation is here is exciting. I really do hope that these buying tips will help you make a purchasing decision because I know how crazy it can be when trying to decide. But just go with whatever system has the most games that you want and enjoy. hopefully your friends will follow suit so you can experience these new systems together. Game on fellow gamers. | video-games_xbox |
A nice polished FPS - But has some shortcomings. So Titanfall has finally dropped out of orbit. A lot of folks have been waiting for this title to hit the Xbox One and PC computers.
You can tell that a lot of work went into the multiplayer aspect of this game. It's very polished. Considering the folks behind the Call of Duty Franchise (who moved on) were the brains behind Titanfall, it's expected that they know how to put out a first class FPS multiplayer shooter. But I still can't help but to be impressed on how balanced the game is.
Every time a titan drops out of orbit, I can't help but to be impressed each and every time. The Titans are as awesomely big and packing a large amount of firepower. All the same, the pilots on the ground have multiple ways to take them down, but at the same time have to be pretty careful about it. It doesn't take much for a titan to squash a pilot.
The multiplayer matches are six on six with some grunts thrown in to keep the action going. Admittedly I groaned a little when I first heard the player count would be so low, but it works. I can't imagine an 18 on 18 big team battler with that many Titans running around. It just wouldn't work.
Titanfall does have some shortcomings. First, there is a complete lack of a singleplayer campaign. It would have been nice to have one because I have no idea what the storyline is thus far, even with playing the campaign multiplayer, which attempts to provide a backstory, but fails.
There's also slim pickings when it comes to a variety of multiplayer matches. One would think that if a game was going to be strictly an FPS multiplayer, that there would be where it's strength lies. Hopefully Respawn can fix that with some downloadable content.
Titanfall isn't the game that is going to revolutionize the somewhat stale FPS genre, but it certainly is a breath of fresh air.
I'm glad I bought the game, and am having a good time playing it. | video-games_xbox |
Don't Read This Review. This is only the second video game of this kind that I've played -- the first being GTA5. When I say "of this kind" I mean a console game that is open-world game with a clear narrative through line. I'd give GTA5 five stars because it's freaking HIGH-larious with all of it's riffing on southern California living, middle age, and criminal living in general. The game play in GTA5 is also great, with so much to do all over the world.
I'm giving Watchdogs 4 stars having now played it all the way through, completing the story. The story itself is great -- underworld hacker gets even with everyone who's ever wronged him -- and the gameplay is excellent. Tougher cops than in GTA5 takes some of the fun out of it, but it's a nice ride overall. My deduction of one star is simply because it's so repetitious: every "campaign" (quest) is pretty much the same in that you hack into some compound, either sneaking past or killing everyone. They're still fun to complete, and the story is compelling.
In one of the guides to the game that I read, the author suggested you hack your way through everything. I tried that and did some sneaking, but ended up being more of a blaster. Convoys got blasted. Cop cars got blasted. Thugs got blasted. Blasting your way through this game works just fine.
I said that you shouldn't read this review because it's really just for me: my notes on having played the game. If you did read it, though, I feel I might as well give you a few pointers so you can rate my review as "helpful" or whatever.
TIPS ON PLAYING WATCHDOGS:
- keep your supplies up; you'll want to use Jam Coms all the time to keep the cops off you and to keep back-up from arriving; crafting Jam Coms all the time is the way to go
- spend some time running around town in posh neighborhoods; that way, you'll be able to ATM hack plenty of people for their cash; 1 in 10 people (roughly) also drop materials for your various creations (grenades, Jam Coms, etc) which come in very handy
- if you just follow the story line, you're missing out on some fun convoy jobs, fixer jobs, and general jokes in the game
- hack and sneak when you can; when you can't start blasting; the deal is that you can blast your way through just about every compaign
- hit the gun stores regularly, buying the 5-star weapons; you don't need to buy every weapon; instead, focus on getting the 5 star babies
- the most useful weapons are, in order, the two grenade launchers, the AK, and the high-powered pistol
- when you get stuck, try a walkthrough; only once did I get stuck and need to reboot the campaign because of a glitched camera that was in the wrong place
- listen to everything, as most of the story is cool and conveyed via the spoken dialog
- hang in through the credits at the end, as one final job shows up that is very, very satisfying | video-games_xbox |
Great keyboard, but needs an audio jack. First off, I must disclose that I did receive a coupon to try out this product.
Okay the review.
My son is an avid player of the xbox 360 and part of the reason he did not want to switch to xbox one (besides the fact that most of his friends were on the 360 but are now moving to the One) was the lack of a keyboard.
So it was really cool to have a chance to try out this keyboard for OKCA.
The keyboard comes in a small unassuming box with the keypad and a small mini usb dongle which fits almost flush to the outer casing of the xbox one. Removal of this dongle is a little difficult especially on the side dock but due to the small profile but if you wiggle it back and forth it will come out.
At first when you pick up the keypad you wonder how this can be so light. When it is attached to the controller it feels solid. I was a bit worried that it would scratch the finish of my son's custom evil controller but no scratches so far. The pad has plastic guides to make sure that the connector fits into the controller properly. The keys are soft rubber and they depress and bounce back easily. They are responsive. I did not notice lag.
It has a full four rows of letters and numbers, so you don't have to press an alt key to get the numbers in. The caps lock is on the fifth row so that it does not get pressed accidentally. However, there was some time getting used to the shift key on the bottom fifth row. The spacing of the keys are okay for big hands as well as smaller hands.
My son also tried the keyboard and he really liked it. He was able to do much of what he did when he was playing the 360 more.
The only problem is that you cannot use the headset while using the keypad as it occupies the headset connector. Perhaps on the next revision they should include a pass through or if they make a keypad for the new elite controller they utilize the 3.5mm input.
This keypad does what it was intended to do and it does it well. But it needs an audio jack.
Thanks for letting me review it. | video-games_xbox |
Clearly worse than Lego Marvel Superheroes, with major issues. Lego Avengers, while a decent effort for a Lego game, doesn't even hold a candle to the first game (Lego Marvel Superheroes, hereafter LMSH). It has a much, much worse selection of characters (no X-Men, Spider-Man, etc) because it is sourced from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel doesn't own the film rights to the X-Men or Spider-Man. They were able to have pretty much every Marvel character in the first game because it was based on the comics, not the films.
Aside from character selection, there are a bunch of other annoying niggles. The sensor/discovery UI is just terrible. It brings up a weird screen full of dots where you have to move a cursor over certain spots and press a button. It's terrible. It takes about five times as long as it should (in LMSH it was just press one button and discover what you need to do), and isn't fun in any way after the first time you do it. I don't see how something like that got past testing without somebody noticing that it wasn't fun or rewarding in any way. Here's a hint for you, TT: if something isn't fun and you have no compelling reason to include it, DON'T.
As some other reviewers have mentioned, the Iron Man suit-choosing UI is horrendously annoying when in two player. It also takes FOREVER for the new suit to arrive, for Tony to get tapped on the shoulder (again), and to get in the suit. It makes me want to almost never use Iron Man and use War Machine instead when I have to.
The flight system is also demonstrably worse than LMSH. The up-and-down stick or button is way, way too sensitive. Pressing up or down on the analog stick or the button makes you fly upwards and downwards so fast that you literally can't see where you're going. It's nearly impossible to do some of the races in two player because of the split screen and the difficulty of making minor instead of major adjustments to your vertical direction.
The only redeeming feature of Avengers is that it is a decent way for my son (age 5) to get exposed to the Marvel films, which we haven't yet let him watch. As in other Lego games, there's a decent amount of humor in the game, and we found most of it funny. I do think that LMSH was equally or possibly even more funny, though.
On the whole, we mostly enjoyed playing through the story mode, but there's no way LMSH is worth $50. I would pay $15-$20 for it, but it just isn't $50 worth of entertainment. Given the stability problems detailed below, two stars is fair. Had I been smart at purchased it at Costco like I should have, I would honestly return it. As it is, I'm considering selling the game.
Edited to add: the game also has some major stability problems on the Xbox 360. It crashed three times in a row at the end of the last story mode mission, between the end of the credits/cinematics and the beginning of unrestricted free play. We finally got past that only to find that it has also crashed at least four times at random since then, with a hard lockup of the Xbox. Poor stability overall, especially for a console game. | video-games_xbox |
Sneaky M***** F. In the latest installment of the Splinter Cell series, Sam Fisher hides in shadows and kills bad guys who cuss like drunken sailors after a bad night of gambling.
Story: 7/10
In Conviction, Sam comes out of retirement and goes after corrupt government officials who are intent on throwing the country into chaos.
The story is well told through cut scenes and in game dialogue, with some great voice acting by Michael Ironside. If I said any more, I think I'd spoil the story so I'll stop here.
Gameplay: 8/10
I'd categorize this game as a stealth / shooter. Faithful fans of the series may see these new innovations as dumbed down, and action fans may find that the new innovations assist them with the stealth gameplay. Like previous Splinter Cell games, Sam hides in the dark. You can shoot out lights, use EMP pulses and grenades, or flashbangs to disorient your enemies. You also get sonar goggles late in the game, that detect enemy positions through walls (Similar to Batman: Arkham Asylum.) Sam is also equipped with various weapons: One pistol, and one other weapon that is a submachine gun, a shotgun, rifle... Once you are discovered, the game becomes a shooter, causing you to rely on frag grenades and your secondary weapons to take out the bad guys. In Splinter Cell Conviction, the game also shows a ghosted Sam if you are detected, which shows the "last known position" of Sam. If you see this appear, you can expect the enemies to converge on your ghost or throw grenades. It's best to distance yourself from this position ASAP. The good news is that you are fast. So if the enemies do spot you, you can quickly circle around them and flank them. Another mechanic at your disposal is the Mark and Execute Attack. If you take out any bad buy with a melee attack (stealth neck break, disarm, jumping down from above, pulling them through a window...) you can mark enemies. To mark an enemy, put the cursor on them and press RB and you will see an icon above their heads. You can mark 2 or 3 at a time depending on your gun. Once marked, you can Execute them in slo-mo by pressing the Y button. So, if you encounter 4 enemies, and one has his back to you, you can melee kill him. Mark 2 of them while you are still hidden. Head Shot Kill one of them. Then quickly press Y to insta-kill the remaing 2 that you marked. This technique makes Sam awfully powerful if you want to rely on this strategy.
Levels: 7/10
Most of the levels in the game require you to stealth around and take out bad guys. A few of the levels are confusing, where you aren't quite sure what to do or what constitutes a "fail." Some of the levels are straight up Gears of War style action gunfights.
Graphics: 6/10
Splinter Cell Conviction uses the Unreal Engine. The game looks good, not great. But the game also does itself a disservice. When you are stealthed, the game desaturates the colors, so the game appears dark and black and white. If you are in the light, the game saturates the colors back to normal. So, if you are playing correctly, the game is very dark and colorless. This doesn't help at all in the graphics department.
Sound: 8/10
The music is exciting and the stealth tracks are suspenseful. The gunfights and gear do a great job at punctuating the action.
Replay Value: 8/10
The Campaign is only 5-6 hours long, but the game makes up for it with their Mission Modes. Play solo or with a friend, to enter a level and take out all of the bad guys. If you are seen, the bad guys get reinforcements, which increases their number by about 10. I felt that these Missions were more fun than the campaign.
Maturity: M
There're head shots, a bit of realistic gun violence, no sexual situations, and CRAZY amounts of profanity.
Pretty much every bad guy says stuff like, "I'm gonna get you Fisher! When I find you, I'm gonna **** you with a puppy that I ****** to death, then **** your grandma in the *** with it while I **** a ***** then **** a **** down your ******!!!!" Yeah, it's a bit much.
Overall: 7/10
If you're a fan of the series, you'll enjoy playing this game. Hardcore stealth fans may be turned off by the new mechanics and shooter aspects, but these same mechanics make the game more fun for action fans. If you are great at shooters, you could probably play this game barely using any stealth at all.
Buy it if you're a fan of the series and you have friends you can play with online.
Rent it if you want to play an action / stealth combo.
Rent it if you liked the older Splinter Cell games, but thought they were too hard.
Avoid it if you'd rather be playing Halo, Gears of War, or Call of Duty. The strategy and pacing may be too slow for you.
Avoid it if you don't like profanity. | video-games_xbox |
awesome for fans who like a good game. ive quite the video game review here so i know what im talking about. if you want a good review look for ones by me. ive done quite a few. trust me here. this game has little likeness to the orignal alice for the pc. while purchasing a new copy you recieve an online digital code for consoles and pcs to recieve a free version of the original alice for free. food for thought. if you are an achievement hunter the original does give gamerscore points and trophies. that being said you don't have to play the first one to enjoy and understand this one (madness returns). okay.
for fans of: Kingdom hearts series. Darksiders series. and virtually and platformer with a large emphasis on button masher style rpg weapon upgrade system. that being said the gameplay is awesome. its a bit blotchy in some scenes but rarely noticed. expect invisible walls. its not super aggravating but it does get a bit tedious. there really isn't a quest locator in the real world but when teleported to wonderland just follow the teeth. youll know what i mean. immediately when you recieve the pepper grinder start looking for flying nostils. youll see. the vorpal blade is pretty much the basic square, X command and the Triandle, Y is a hobby horse. a basic slow heavy hammer style weapon. large damage. i won't say too much more but you definitely get an arsenal. the music okay. not a soundtrack id buy or download but it fits with the tone. dresses the best. they all grant power ups. for console users, heres a tip for item hunters and collectors; for 160 microsoft points or 1.99 at PSN you get a plus one level max upgrade to all weapons. and you get ALOT of dresses. all with powerups. to be honest, some are lame, but for the a weapon level boost and like 6 or 7 dresses its worth it. they all have ups and downs. pretty much its basic DLC costume rule. the sicker they look the lamer the power up. that being said there are 5 (out of all dresses collectible) dresses that i switch through regularly during sessions. heres a hint, one grants you more teeth.
have fun. ;-P | video-games_xbox |
Hrm... yeah. Kengo Legend of the 9....
For those of you who aren't too keen on reading though a whole review to see the overall feel of the game here you go: Its a simple game, rent it, and IF you love it buy it...IF you love it...If you cant find it to rent...dont bother, really don't bother. Even if your very tempted.
Ive played the 1st Kengo years ago when the PS2 was just entering the gaming world. Ah the primitive days of "next gen" Bouncer, Kengo, Twisted Metal Black ect ect. The days of simple, pretty, and moneywasting games. At a quick play through the game one thing is clear- graphics aside this one was obviously meant to be on the ps2.
The Battle system is configurable yet the moves are still simple 123 combos that you interchange. And actually fighting is a dull few moments usually ending in alot of enemies yelping to death. The Majority of them just crowd around you gawking untill they're quick demise. The controls are slower than wanted and very simple , vert slash, hor slash, scoot slowly, or attempt to grind your sword up to the enemy. The swordgrinding was a good idea but poorly played out. swordgrinding is just push, pull, break away, or try to shove and attack. The "boss" battles are just some slightly more agressive enemies with fancy clothes. One nice feature that it has is a instakill/major damage movement you can take out any enemy with(including a boss..or even yourself).
There are some features that make this game unique compared to the usuall samurai/fighting/hackn slash genre
#1 feature is that you gain experience!!! cool right!? no they ruined it with the fact that whatever experience you don't use is thrown away after each fight. and like it would matter the only thing you can use xp is for "secret" moves that are just simple strikes for your 123 combos. OH WOW I unlocked the Tiger's Fang Wave technique! oh wait its just a diagonal slash.... Ive found that after 2 or 3 battles worth of xp (usually 2 or 3 new "techniques") I have enough moves to do what I need.
#2 You play as real famous samurai from the past. This is one of the major things that got me interested in even playing this game. How many samurai games out there blow their horn about loving samurai, yet they don't even have a real one in them? thumbs up for that feature.
#3 Fighting mutiple enemies- a feature I think really makes or breaks a fighting game for me. so many times I play through soul calibur or ( insert fighting game here) Im siiting there stuck chopping up one loser when I could be doing it to 7 at once!
One "feature" about this game I really didn't like was that during the main "story" mode your stuck fighting a bunch of 1 hit kill nobodies who every now and then do get in a lucky shot, and then going straight up against a boss might or might not be able to instakill you. Sucky thing is when they do....bam you have to reload and start the WHOLE fight over. And man seriously, its like re chopping firewood-pointless and boring.
Other than that-
Graphics-are slightly better than ps2
Sound- well its japanese music and japanese voice so depends on the person.
Control- yikes someone was sloppy when they pulled this one together. workable yet very lacking
Replay- yup theres alot of that- different modes, lots of usless moves to get and more characters to use them.
Fun factor- hrmm its ok.. bit dull most of the time. | video-games_xbox |
Finally A Good LOTR Game. Gameplay: 9
Story: 8
Sound: 10
Picture: 8
Learning Curve: Moderately High
Comments: Although I would have preferred a game mimicking Assassin's Creed and Batman Arkham Asylum/City to be set in the original trilogy or even just the same cities and landscapes of the original trilogy, this game did sate some of my longest desires in a LOTR game.
The gameplay is excellent. Combat rocks once you get the hang of it and some new powers. Movement is a little quick for my liking, but they had to speed it up so it wouldn't feel exactly like AC or the Batman series. Climbing is sometimes a little choppy, as you have to press another button to climb over the top of a wall or building. I also wish the camera was set back a bit more, but that would take away from the intensity of the game. Once again, I'm just spoiled from playing other 3rd person combat games. Otherwise, it is fast and fluid throughout.
The story is plenty good and drives you to complete more tasks, but as a fan of the original series and The Hobbit, this didn't even come close to my expectations in either scale or detail. You don't get the same feeling of the importance of your actions. That being said, Shadow of Monday's story stands on its own two feet. It gives fans new material to salivate over, and refreshes the series for those hoping someone would actually take the universe and create something special. It's like a really good fan fiction.
Sound is superb. The voice acting even for the Uruks and Orcs is great. Battle sounds like a Symphony of clashes and grunts, and never once feels over the top. The brutality of the game's combat comes out in the sound effects really well. It was strange playing a LOTR game without the score from Howard Shore, and it would have been nice to have some bright moments in the game with some singing or lighthearted string instruments. The music for the most part is intense and tension-ridden, just like the game itself.
The graphics rock, but cut scenes need more attention especially since this is "next-gen." Really, that's all there is to say there.
The learning curve is a bit challenging because combat is hard in the beginning. I can't stress that enough. You get swarmed by reinforcements so much so that you begin to be impressed by the amount of live characters on the screen. Don't worry; you'll get the hang of it and dominate soon enough.
All in all, just buy it. | video-games_xbox |
Son of a...taint? What. I have played three of the characters so far at least till level 5 so I have a decent grasp of the game. At first I was rather dissapointed in that the game looks almost exactly like the previous game right down to the menu screens. Though that was a mild deterrent. The game is still borderlnads and that means excitement my friends.
So far my favorite character is the lawbringer. She is a gunzerker type from what I have seen so far. The gladiator is also pretty cool with her lady-captain-america vibe. I once read a comic book where captain america almost got turned into a woman...but that has nothing to do with this review.
Anywho, I played as claptrap and he was not too bad at least considering that the game spends 15 minutes trying to talk you out of your decision. His main skill is using the skill sets of other vault hunters. For example, clappy might throw down a turret or summon a minion like the commando or mechromancer. Nice. Also claptrap doesn't need oxygen and if you play the game you will soon see this is a huge deal. Not enough to play him if you find him annoying but still a point to consider. Nothing like looking for some item or room when your dude can't breathe! "I gotta find this echo recording. Oh crap. I am out of the oxygen. Total recall time!" The game, being set on the moon has plenty of fun with the low gravity. Gravity slams are fun but hard to pull off at times.
Well, I guess I don't have too much more to say. It's a fun game with the shooting an what not and all the stuff that borderlands intails. It's a worthy purchase. Though I may have to revise my opinion if the ending sucks. Buy and enjoy,
P.s. I also like the fact your characters talk. It makes you feel like more of a part of the story. The silent protagonist thing is better in games like oblivion where your dude is meant to be more an avatar of yourself than a part of the world. But these are characters with formed out backstories (or frontstories...I don't know) you kinda want to know what they are thinking about during the quests.
P.p.s. Son of a taint. People use this expression in the game. It's real, it exists.
4-25-15
Well, since I have been playing a lot since my first review I will update my review with the new information I have gleaned. I have beaten the story mode in normal mode and on true vault hunter mode with Wilhelm, Nisha and the dlc character Jack. I enjoy Wilhelm quite a bit even though he doesn't seem quite as powerful as some of the other characters. Yet he seems quite good at the holodome dlc. Who knew? I am having problems with the final boss of the claptastic voyage dlc. That dude is way too hard for me to beat. Well, I mean, I did beat him but only with Jack. I have to have spent the better part of a day trying to kill this dude with Wilhelm. I just can't do it. And my dude has a legendary weapon so his gear isn't the problem. Oh...the baby. Aurelia the baroness is also good dlc but her one of her skill trees focuses almost entirely on co op play which is not my thing. | video-games_xbox |
Is it the Ultimate Good Time. I've played many fighting games in the past (every Capcom game since Street Fighter 2, Guilty Gear, Soul Calibur, Virtua Fighter, Tekken, Arcana Heart etc) and many games in general so I think I'm pretty qualified for this review.
I'll get to the point. If you played Marvel 3 and didn't like it for whatever reason, you won't like this version so save your money.
Let's talk about this game's value. For less than the price of a full game (if you didn't purchase Marvel 3 already)you get Arcade mode, Versus, Training, Heroes and Heralds, Mission, and Online, and 12 new characters.
In Arcade you fight against the CPU and the difficulty scales somewhat but this mode won't really last you. Unless you are a completionist I doubt many of you enjoy fighting the same AI over and over.
Versus will only be used when your fighting locally with friends so it depends on how often your friends visit, if they like this game and are as good as you are.
Training mode is an place where you will spend a lot of time in and it is loads of fun. Learning new combos and set-ups, what team combinations and assists work with what is really what makes Marvel 3 fun.
Mission mode is an extension of training mode where you learn basic combos to get you started. Great for learning a character for the first time but once you finish the missions (15-20 minutes probably) you won't go back.
Online. The bread and butter of any fighting game and is the ONLY reason you will ever come back to it 1 year, 2 years, 3 years later (just look at Super Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tekken 6). I have yet to play a fighting game with better online that Super Street Fighter 4 and this is no exception. If people remember Marvel 3, online was atrocious and almost unplayable. Between lag and finding people to play, not being able to see other people fight or save replays, this was the number one reason I stopped playing Marvel 3 after 2 months. How does this version compare? Finding people to play is quicker but not really faster and you will still need repeated searches (maybe a 1-2 minute wait). Also, now you can watch other people fight. Besides that it's just like the original.
Heroes and Heralds was the one mode that I thought would save the game and it is an excellent mode. You attach a deck of 3 cards to your team with various buffs and this changes the game a lot (e.g., cards that give you hyper armor, health regen, meter regen, allow you to use the same character in all slots etc. ). This mode is really broken but that's not the point. Its tons of fun. The number 1 BIGGEST Disappointment is that nobody plays this game mode online. The game tells you how many people are in the Heroes camp and Heralds camp and the total came up to around 1500. That is nothing. Really could have been fun but really a waste because everyone plays ranked or player matches.
Now for the most important part of the game. IS IT FUN?
If you like to see flashy things happen on screen, combos that are not that hard to do and play more offensively than defensively, this game is for you. This game is catered towards rushing down and using the CHEAPEST combos and set-ups. Any character can kill another in a single combo. This is really awesome and satisfying if your delivering the hurt but if your new and trying to learn how to block and make some combos, set-ups work it can be very frustrating. You might mess up less than a handful of times and lose the game. If you like the game enough and have the will to push through that to try to get better go ahead but be warned. You will lose often. Most of the people online have probably played plenty of the original after all.
I hope this review helped some people out! : ) | video-games_xbox |
EVERYONE NEEDS TO RELAX. At this point, I honestly can't tell if people are just trolling for the sake of trolling, or they actually dislike the game that much. I have now spent about a week playing it after buying "The Golf Club" first. I have to say, I disagree pretty strongly with all the negative comments about this game. This review will do a lot of comparing to TGC for those of you trying to decide.
The PROS:
-The graphics are good. They aren't phenomenal for what you would expect from XBONE, but they completely put to shame "TGC" which had pathetic graphics. The wildlife is a bit over the top, but the courses and the players look great!
-The gameplay is fantastic. The fact that there are 3 different ways to play and on top of that you have the ability to customize it to any combination of the 3 is by far the best thing about this game. The putting seems to be relatively true and not super easy and i like that the lies play pretty realistic. The "tour" controller mode takes both your back and front swing into account, which i think adds a nice dynamic and makes it more rewarding to hit the perfect shot.
-Career mode is a nice touch. I play golf games for the career mode and to play locally with friends. The career mode is dumbed down, but still fun. This is the first attempt for this series on a new-gen system, so i expected it to be pretty basic (madden, nhl, nba live all had the same thing). It sucks, but it's come to be expected and it looks like EA is going to continue to support the game. There are enough clubs, apparel, options to make it fun to switch things up.
-Night Club Challenge. A lot of people were hating on this mode, but I think it's a great breakaway from the traditional round of golf. There is variety to it and it's better than having nothing "extra". I would really like to see them add mini-golf to future iterations.
CONS:
-LACK OF CONTENT. This is the one GLARING negative that I will agree with a lot of you on. To launch with 8 real courses and a couple BS fantasy ones is a slap in the face to people who spent 60 bucks on this game. I personally bought it on ebay for 35.. and at that value, it's well worth it. Adding two courses here soon is nice, but they should have been on the game at launch and then they should add another 10 courses for free. I don't mind the fantasy courses as they are decent as well, but there really should be more. The amount of golfers on the game doesn't really bother me that badly. It would be nice to have a roster of 20 or so, but i play with my own character more often than not.
-create-a-player is very basic. This doesn't bother me that much, but i can see why it might others. I could care less what my character looks like as long as he has my name, but they could have incorporated some variety.
OVERALL:
I have had a lot of fun playing this game in the first week. The Golf Club offers more by way of courses, but the graphics suck and there is virtually no customization to character, progression system, and a dumbed down career mode. This game provides all that and although it doesn't give me the fully baked game we were all hoping for, it still does what I was hoping it would. Which is provide fun golf with a decent career mode and solid graphics. I would give it 7.5/10.
EA DOES NEED TO MAKE UP FOR THE LACK OF COURSES THOUGH, so let's hope they keep the free DLC coming. | video-games_xbox |
Great! Best game in the Call of Duty series. I wasn't sure what to expect from this when I put it into the tray. On one hand, I had enjoyed CoD2 but I didn't find it to be anything mind-blowing. On the other hand, I had heard many great things said about this game, so I was more than a little hyped to be able to finally play it.
Story:
The story featured in this game is a bit mundane, but at least it ties all of the epic set pieces together. Most of the time I was too busy marveling at the scope of the game, and getting lost (in a good way!) in the gameworld to really pay much attention to the story. Most characters--excluding Captain/Lieutenant Price--are of card-board quality in that you don't care what happens to them, or really remember them after the game is over. Personally, I think this game would have benefited from a better, more in-depth story, but the intensity of the game might have been bogged down from that, so maybe it is best like it is. You decide.
Gameplay:
Gameplay wise this game is very good. The campaign is fun and immersive, but it is also very, very linear. You basically just start at point A and progress to point B with little to no freedom except the occasional alley, building, or extra room for you to explore. Luckily the campaign is cinematic enough to keep you hooked in spite of the general lack of freedom, and shooting baddies has never been quite this fun. I highly doubt that this game would have been as well received had it featured the openness of a game such S.T.A.L.K.E.R. because it is rather hard to keep a compelling narrative when the player is granted as much freedom to go where you want to as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. featured. Luckily this game features such large and epic set pieces that is doesn't need to be open-ended.
The set pieces I mentioned in the last paragraph are the meat in this game. Said set pieces are quite spectacular and feature everything from escorting a tank through a tightly packed alley in the glaring, Mid-East sun while enemies shoot at you from all directions, to storming a hill and clearing baddies out of ramshackle buildings in the dead of night somewhere in Eastern Europe. The mission "Operation Shock and Awe" is quite amazing, but I don't want to spoil it for you.
Graphics:
Yes, the graphics are as good as you have heard. Everything from the PC and NPC animations to the gun modeling and texture work are perfect. I especially liked the iron sights and scopes you could put on your gun, and the way they become the focal point of your vision is an especially nice effect. The only qualm I have with the graphics are the textures a bit muddy when you get up close, but I don't foresee any situation when the player will be observing the ground or buildings too closely. It's a rare treat to play a game that runs at 60 FPS, especially when the game looks as good as this one does, and it's quite hard to go back to playing games that run at 30 or below like most games today do.
Sound:
The sounds of battle are crisp and clean. The gun sound like guns and explosions sound like explosions. I don't recall any use of music throughout the game except in the menus, but I might have just not noticed any.
Achievements:
Since this is an Xbox 360 games, the player will be able to gain achievements to add to their collection. As of the time writing this I have 37 achievements out of the 37 that the player is able to gain. I didn't find any of them to be too hard, except for a few levels on the Veteran dificulty and the Mile High Club achievment.
Multiplayer:
Ah, multiplayer, the best part of this game. The multiplayer levels are open and well designed. Most are distinctive and cater to all play styles (sniper, close quarters, gunner, etc) and each level is distinctive, both in design and atmosphere. Multiplayer features a ranking system that is similar to Halo 2 and 3, but it is allot easier to level up in this game than it was in those two. You gain experience for winning games, completing objectives and challenges.
The multiplayer has a feature called challenges. Challenges are optional to complete, but you'll get experiance that will go towards advancing your rank for each one that you do complete. There are two different kinds of challenges: level based and player based. Level based challenges include killing a set number of players with C4, blowing up a certain amount of C4 set by someone else, killing a certain amount of players with grenades, and there are quite a few more, and some are just for fun like falling a certain amount of feet to your death, etc. The weapons based challenges include killing a certain number of players and getting a certain number of headshots. The level based challenges don't reward the player with anything other than a set number of experiance points that go towards the player's rank. However, the weapon based challenges reward the player with both experiance and a weapon modifciation. Each weapon in the game (excluding pistols) has its own set of challenges. For completing a challenge with a specific gun, the player is rewarded with a new addon for his gun (a new color, a new sight, a new grip, etc).
The developers added an incentive to level in the form of rewards. For every fews ranks that you go up, you'll get a new weapon, perk, and new challenges. I thought it was a rather ingenious thing to do because it adds a bit of an RPG element to the game. How many times have you played an RPG and thought to yourself, "just one more level so I can get that new skill"?
The perks that I mentioned before are what really make this game stand out from the rest of the pack. The perks allow the player to model their character in any way they se fit. Want to make a sniper? Use whatever perks you think best (My personal favorites are Stopping Power, Claymores, and Iron Lungs). The perks allow an almost RPG level of customization that I have yet to see in a shooter since.
Summary:
A great game that's definitely worth a purchase. Both the single-player and the multiplayer are fantastic--especially the multiplayer. The game features both great gameplay and great graphics. Easily the best game in the series! Highly recommended! | video-games_xbox |
Ryse: A Great Start for the Next Generation of Consoles. I normally prefer open-world games, but Ryse reminded me of God of War 3, which I loved, so I tried it out. I'm very glad I did, as it is a pretty remarkable experience. I've never reviewed a video game before, so hopefully I don't get too rambly.
1) Graphics. Stunning. Five stars. The detail during gameplay is jaw-dropping. The environments will make you slow down to appreciate them, and there are a few markedly different types of environments in the game, from the glory of Rome to the forests, marshes and towns of Britain. As great as the environments are it's the people that really astonish me. Their expressions, the imperfections on their skin -- just wow. Not long into the game the face of a dying enemy actually made me think, 'These people aren't monsters, they're just protecting their home,' and that's a weird thought for me to have playing a video game.
2) Battle. Four stars. For whatever reason I thought this game would be ridiculously easy. At first it kind of is, but after not too long it becomes more challenging and you have to really pay attention. The feel of the combat is excellent, including a dodge-roll you'll want to master. There's no proper 'block' with the shield, rather it is used for deflects, guard breaks and attacks. Guard breaks you'll use A LOT, as some shielded enemies require you break their guard to be able to damage them at all. Also, while it isn't necessary to do the Quick Time Events, doing so can either replenish health, boost XP gain, or do a couple other things; use the d-pad to assign whichever you want and it can be changed easily and as often as you like, even in the middle of battle.
3) Story. Four-and-a-half stars. The story is so well written and acted I'd love to give it the full five stars, but its premise is fairly standard so it gets 4. The extra half-star is because it isn't the typical, black and white, good vs. evil thing. Thought went into it. I found myself sympathetic to both sides at times, and despising them both other times.
4) Replayability. Three stars. I'll modify this later if needed, but once I unlock and beat the 'Hard Mode' I'm thinking I probably won't come back to it too often. That may not be a big deal to some gamers though.
5) Enemies. Three stars. As much as I like the battle in Ryse, the game's nature simply doesn't allow for a variety of enemy types. It's all human vs. human. The humans you fight are fantastic, very realistic and, like I hinted above, there are times I actually feel for them, but that's all there are, it's all human vs. human. I understand they probably wanted to keep things realistic, but on the other hand they took SERIOUS liberty with realism in a certain Colosseum boss fight, so I wish they'd gone the monster route to some extent.
6) Progression. Two stars. Linear. EXTREMELY linear at times, you'll feel pretty boxed in. I'd love to be able to explore the amazing locations in this game.
7) Gear variety. One star. The combat is very fun, but there is ZERO flexibilty on your gear; you have your Roman short sword and your shield. That's it. If anyone knows otherwise please inform me (excluding MP), because while I wasn't expecting the option for axes or spears or whips necessarily, I was at least expecting a variety of swords to choose from. If they're there I didn't see them.
8) The camera. This beautiful game would really benefit from adding the ability to control the camera zoom, like Skyrim does when played in 3rd person. Through much of the game the player-character is too close to the camera for my liking, he fills too much of the screen.
9) Multiplayer. Dunno. Haven't gotten into it yet, but like most other games' MP you'll probably like it when you win and you probably won't when you don't.
10) Saves. The game autosaves often, so dying isn't too upsetting since you don't have to go too far back.
I'm hoping that, as this generation of gaming console progresses, we'll get this kind of graphic quality in our open-world RPGs as well. | video-games_xbox |
An RPG like none other. RPGs come in many flavors and styles. This one happens to be an epic set in a dark fantasy land, much like the original Dragon Age: Origins. But it has a lot going better for it than its original (and maybe a few things less as good). Let's run through them.
Story
-----
Most BIOWARE fans want a stellar story. And any avid reader will tell you that a strong story is only as good as its characters. In that way, Dragon Age 2 delivers. Almost all of the characters you run across have depth. And tons of the story feels very personal. And with the succinct and overflowing displays of culture, you'll even get a feel for the history of all of the NPCs you meet.
As you progress through the story, you'll get the chance to visit small story segments from the original Dragon Age (which have some effect on our story). But, for the most part, you'll engage inside of a whole new land with new cultures, new characters and new mysteries.
Dialog/Cinematics
-----------------
It's rare in a game that you can combine cinematics and dialog in one section of a review. But in DA2, it's not a problem to lump them together because they seamlessly flow together. It's one part "Choose your own adventure" and one part "Watch a movie."
The voice actors are spot on and the graphics are some of the best you'll ever see for an RPG (top 10% for sure). Unfortunately, character's hair is still a bit distractingly bad.
Combat
------
Combat is "button-mashing" to some, but it actually gives the game a more visceral feel. You'll see real pain on the faces of the enemies as your mage lights them up with a stunning jolt of electricity. And you'll feel the control as you slice them up.
That said, a few parts of combat were a little ridiculous. I saw an animation of a character "throwing" a bomb by tossing it up then doing a leaping round-house kick to send the bomb. It really breaks the feel of the otherwise serious action.
The absolute best part of combat is the speed. Everything is blazing fast. You'll be blown away for your first several fights. But as you get a hang of it, you'll enjoy the speed at which the hordes are brought down.
Graphics
--------
I'm sure you've heard that they've completely revamped the graphics for DA2. They look beautiful. Everything has its place. The new dynamic skies are fairly impressive. The terrain is near-top-notch. It has beautiful vistas. Character animations are very well done. Hair, as I said before, just isn't quite working for me. It makes people's faces look like they're floating in front of their head.
There are also many sections of the game where they rely on the suspension of disbelief. For instance, your weapons float on your back as if attached only by tractor beam. Your weapon often never touches the enemy or it'll slice clear through them without leaving a mark. Small daggers are shown to pierce through heavy steel with seeming ease.
Sounds/Music
------------
The game sounds a lot like the first game. If you don't have a subwoofer, get one. Its bassy undertones give you a real feel that the world is dark and that danger is imminent.
Characters will talk while out on the field. And their voices sound like they're really where they are. For instance, their voice echoes in caves and is washed away by the wind in large fields.
The Manual
----------
As I played through this with a buddy, we were constantly looking at the manual during our first few hours of play in order to understand how some mechanic worked. Unforunately, we couldn't find a lot of the information we were looking for. Luckily, with a little trial and error, we figured everything out just fine.
Character Advancement
---------------------
As with any RPG, character advancement is probably more important than graphics or sounds. And Dragon Age does this well. You get circular skill trees that have level restrictions and plot restrictions. So, as you level, you'll gain more spells and skills with greater power as time goes on.
Some may feel limited on the number of skills. Older BIOWARE Dungeons and Dragons titles provided hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of skills, feats and spells. Dragon Age: Origins have several dozen. And DA2 has even fewer. But I never felt limited too much. Everything seemed to have a logical place.
Inventory Management
--------------------
Tired of contantly going through your 100 items to trash the useless junk? BIOWARE figured that you were, so they made it so that the game can automatically do it for you now.
Feeling of Amazement after DA:O
-------------------------------
If you've played the first DA on your XBOX, you can continue your game here. And it's a pretty neat feeling when you see some stories that you thought were concluded open back up again. Even if it's just for a brief fight. I appreciate that BIOWARE put things like that in. It really is neat.
How to Decide to Purchase
-------------------------
If you like dark fantasy RPGs, get the demo first. Several people have felt cheated because Dragon Age 2 is so different than Dragon Age Origins.
The demo is as similar to the game as any demo can be. Also, completing the demo will give you perks in-game, so it won't be a waste of time if you decide to purchase.
If you like it, then go ahead and feel confident that your $60 won't go to waste for Dragon Age 2.
EDIT: I had to knock a star off (I gave it 5 stars originally). The dungeons get reused a lot. But overall, this is still a fun game. Just very different from the first DA. | video-games_xbox |
Fantastic headset. I must say I am shocked at the bad reviews on these headphones. I feel bad that some people maybe got bad ones. I love these for gaming. I use them on my ps3 mainly for battlefield:bad company 2 and some MW2.
Let me start by saying the sound on these is incredible. I really can't believe how some couldn't be happy with it. They almost had to have gotten a bad pair. I started playing with my 5.1 surround sound system and it was good, but loud. Then I switched to these, and wow. They sound even better than my 5.1 system, and it's all contained so you don't bother anyone else in your home/apartment. Playing games almost gets scary because it gets you so into the game. It just drowns everything else out. They have plenty of sound volume. I could never turn them up all the way. And I have never heard any distortion yet at even the higher
volumes for me. The sound is very clear, and it's nice to be able to adjust each speaker on its own. As for bass, again, wow. I almost can't believe it's coming from headphones.
Cable length is really good too. I keep these in my tv stand behind a door so they are hiddin. When I play, I just open it up and take them out. The cable easily reaches to my couch(I sit back far enough to play on a 60in tv) and I leave the decoder box right in the stand. So that is nice. Plus, like others said, just down from the headphones, you can disconnect them, so you don't have to take them off if you need to move around.
The microphone. I must be doing something wrong. I have yet to get it to work. I actually bought a set at a local retailer and it didn't work. Ordered from Amazon, same thing. It crackles and pops, but won't work. The headphones will pipe in audio from other chatting to me, and the separate volume control on there is nice for that too. Two workarounds I have tried.
1 - if I plug the mic into the xbox 360 port on the volume controller box, that works, it's just not connected to the headset right by your mouth, so you have
to slouch down a bit.
2 - I clip my bluetooth headset on the cord. Use that for input, and the headphones for output.
I have a call/e-mail into support, but haven't heard back yet. If anyone has any ideas on this, please pass it on to me.
Yes, there are some cables to deal with, but not the end of the world. To me, it is easily worth it. I saw some reviews saying the included optical cable wasn't
the greatest. I already had one run so I just used that, so no comments on that from me.
P.S. I almost kept the second set instead of returning them because these are that good. I am in the process of building a home theater/gaming room separate from my home. I can honestly say that even when that is done, and I can game as long and as loud as I want without disturbing anyone, I will still probably use these headphones. They are that good.
In closing, I would buy these again for sure. Quality seems very good to me. I read a lot of reviews before buying and there is a lot of talk on the turtle beach or the astro's. I have never used either, so I can't comment. But I would recommend these and would buy again for sure. If I had a 2nd person that was over to my place even on a remotely regular basis (1-2x's per month), I would have kept that 2nd set for sure.
Edit : I got my mic working. As I thought, and another reviewed did too, I just didn't have it plugged in right. You have to plug it in sticking straight out from the headset, so the little tab goes into the headset. It is then open in there, so you can turn the mic to your mouth. I was just nervous and I didn't want to break it. It is pretty tight, but that is good, as it doesn't move and it works great.
I have to say again how great these are. I couldn't be happier. Buy these. You will like them. | video-games_xbox |
Great game, crippled by a disastrous flaw. For a while, Fallout 3 was fantastic, ranking not only among the best games on the 360, but one of the best for this console generation.
Then I hit the level cap, and everything changed.
I'd played for 60 hours when I reached level 20. I'd barely touched the main quest, spending my time exploring and doing side quests. By that time I reached the cap, my character could kill just about any enemy in one go of VATS, so there was really no combat challenge. And with no combat challenge, there's no longer any reason to collect ammo or weapons. I could attempt to change my character's strengths, but without further level progression, I'd never get any better.
I can understand why Bethesda put a cap in the game, but the problem is it comes far too early for a game with this scope. I was having a blast exploring new locations, but in sixty hours, I'd searched only half the map. Sure, there are still locations to discover, but I don't feel the same motivation - most of them look the same, anyway. After all, levelling up and gaining new abilities is the focus of RPGs, and the remainder of Fallout's gameplay isn't quite good enough to make up for the loss of character development.
Can I still follow the main quest? Sure, but the game's narrative isn't top quality either; not enough to keep me going, anyway. During my sixty hours, the joy came from gaining experience and increasing my stats. With this removed, I no longer have the push to see things through.
That's not to say I didn't love what I played. The open-ended structure is phenomenal. During the first 20-odd hours, I was ready to christen Fallout 3 as the best game I'd ever played. Unfortunately, now that I'm unable to continue developing my character, the magic is gone. I'm probably done playing, despite not being close to finishing. Yes, there's the morality system, but the impact on the overall picture is negligible, and yes, there are skill books to collect, but they also won't make a major difference now either. In addition, the world isn't quite versatile enough to support statless wandering.
I do certainly recommend Fallout 3. I paid full price and got my money's worth (about $1 an hour - better than most games these days!). However, I think it's important to realize that the experience may peak before you've finished. | video-games_xbox |
One of the worst combat systems. I rarely ever review games I haven't played through to completion. Even if I think the game isn't that fun, I still try to stick with it to give a full comprehensive review. This game, however, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. As my title suggests, the main reason I couldn't do it was the combat system.
When I first loaded the game I thought the opening sequence took far too long. I was afraid this game was going to be trying way too hard to be cinematic. Sometimes this works out well, but other times it's just overdone. I feel like "Headhunter: Redemption" is overdone. When I was first playing around with the controls I thought you could do some pretty cool stuff with your character. When I first used the combat system I didn't think it would be that much of a detriment. Then I went into live combat...
Basically the aiming reticule moves around like your hands are shaking uncontrollably. Even when your character is standing still it does this. Now, I've fired guns in real life, I can hold my hand far more still than this game. You spend most of your time aiming all over the place waiting for the "auto aim" to lock onto the target. If you're moving this is ten times more difficult. And yes, you have to use this functionality because you have to hold down the trigger to go into the aiming mode then hit "A" if you want to actually fire the gun. It's stupid and I hate it.
A way to balance the dysfunctional combat would be to have health packs all over the place or make your character invincible to enemy bullets. Neither of these is true and the latter is usually absurd in a video game as standard functionality. There are health packs, but they don't work the same way in other games. They're more like medkits that you pick up and then you have to "equip" them in a totally different screen. So, if you're in a major fire fight there's nothing you can really do about it, but die. There's no health you will run over and it will automatically heal you, you have to stop and go into that other screen. Granted the game pauses when you do this, but it disrupts the combat elements so much that getting back into it could be a death sentence in the long run.
I've never played the first game, but if it's like this I don't want to. The story line is based in the future and you're trying to help the "authority" in that universe control the criminal underground. I think it wants to sort of be a "secret agent" type of game, but it just wasn't fun at all. You go in and investigate security breeches and what not, but once the combat starts the fun ends. I think this could've been a decent game. | video-games_xbox |
A worthy JRPG. When I got Magna Carta, it was a on a whim after a I traded a previous game that was terrible (even though it got good reviews). After playing through some of it, I have to say that this title is being overshadowed and should get more publicity that it has.
STORY:
One of the ley aspects with any JRPG is the story. I am happy to say that this story is easy to get into. The people who wrote this kept the plot pretty much simple; Your character, having lost his home and his foster sister, joins the Southern forces to fight the encroaching Northern forces in a Civil War. There are other elements involved, but that is the story in the beginning. There are some nice twists that happen, and the hero starts to discover things about himself over the course of the game. There are also some political and romantic twists involved as well.
CHARACTERS:
A story isn't good without supporting characters either. I am happy to say that this story holds true to that. No character appears to be second throughout this story. As you go threough the story, you begin to understand who they are and learn their history. Even Celestine, the girl with a squeaky voice, has her moments and is used to support another character who feels guilt over certain events.
GAMEPLAY:
This category take a little practice. When I first tried it, it was very complicated and I didn't understand how the magic worked (getting overwhelmed in the process). I decided to restart my game and try it again and learned how it worked. The second time proved more beneficial and I was able to create some very powerful characters. I won't go into the details, but I will say that this game makes you have to think about your moves. If you charge in, slashing crazy, you are so dead (Like I was on the first try). Once you get used to the combat system, it is fun. The only gripe I have is that in order to use certain skills, you need certain types of weapons. It is possible to sheath your weapons and switch them out in combat, but it is a small hassle.
GRAPHICS:
These are not top notch like FF13, but they are still good. Also conversations are like those use in Tales of Vesperia's box picture scens, only you see the whole characters sting in front of a backround picture. If not for the story, I think people would get turned off by this. Fortunately, the story and characters catch on quickly, and this becaome something you do not mind as you play the game.
OVERALL:
Good story and characters. Combat needs some time to get used to, but can be fun once learned. Conversation scenes could be better, but I'm willing to ignore them for the better plot. In the end, I was happy for the trade and wished I had known about this game sooner. NAMCO/Bandai, you have good RPGs. Advertise a little, okay. | video-games_xbox |
Major problems for me, an early opinion. first i'd like to say that i still gave it FOUR stars so please don't take my negatives with too much weight: I hate to bash a game that we-rgp-fans so highly anticipated, but here are my major flaws with the game, I'll admit I've only partially played so far:
1. Very much like Blue Dragon as far as game play (ooo, they added the ring system and made the battles a little more interactive (which also personally i don't really care for). Everthing else from ring accessorizing, to gaining SP, to how you learn spells/buy spells, to checking every nook and cranny for hidden items (thank god no more 'nothings', to level up are the same as BD.
2. Loading times are ridiculous, each and every battle you will experience a wait for loading, plus of course any cut scenes or location changes and anywhere else i've forgotten to mention
3. Random battles are back! argh!
4. Maybe its my older TV, but the camera angles/view are horrible.
5. BIGGEST CON: If you've play it or read about it, you know its about a man, Kaim, who is an immortal who has lost his memories and he slowly starts to recover them in the form of DREAMS! I love cut scenes and cgi effects, however, these so-called-dreams, aren't wonderful cut scenes, but PAGES AND PAGES of paragraphs and paragraphs of words. It really takes my patience to the limit. I don't understand why they would have these 'dreams' not as video but as soooooo manyyyyy words!
6. They've put a limit on how many times you can level up in an area. Meaning: if you like to level up extra in some places anywhere, they've put a cap on it so that if you've fought their limit of say 15 battles in that area, on the 16th battle you won't earn any experience anymore. I can see where they are trying to keep the game hard and challenging, but leave that to the player, don't put in limits and capping - are we TEN years old?!
PROS:
1. Let me think... its beautiful and interesting and fun to play (which very frustrating at times) and suck-you-in plot.
2. The cons listed above aren't enough for me to stop playing, but i have considered it... lol!
3. The game does have a level of challengingness that I can appreciate, especailly after how super easy BD was. | video-games_xbox |
The Force Could Have Been Much Stronger. The concept behind The Force Unleashed is outstanding.
Play an action game as a sith under Darth Vader and hunt down Jedi.
However, there are quite a few bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay.
STORY 9/10
The game takes place between the two trilogies. You are Starkiller and you're Darth Vader's apprentice. You begin the game hunting Jedi, trying to prove yourself to Lord Vader. Once you earn his trust, he sends you on an important mission for the Empire. At your disposal is a small crew. A sexy pilot named Juno Eclipse and a droid named PROXY, who uses holograms to transform himself into other characters when they contact you. Complete with twists and character development, this is the best Star Wars story since The Empire Strikes Back.
GAMEPLAY 6/10
Starkiller has some amazing force powers. Force Grab, Lightning, Lightning Shield, Lightsaber Throw, and lots of melee attacks. Defensively, he can dash, jump, block, and counter attack. The Powers are great!
However, the enemy AI is pretty bad. Lots of times, they just stand there. The control scheme is ok, but locking onto an object or enemy is broken. Many times, you grab the wrong enemy or object. MANY TIMES!!! This is frustrating.
The Bosses... if you don't play the way the designers want you to play, you die. This is frustrating and very unfortunate.
The Levels... Some of the levels are great, while others don't work with the camera at all. The camera in general is bad, but levels 3 and 9 really show how bad it is. You can expect to die a lot from enemies standing right next to you, that you never saw.
Sub-Bosses. You can finish them off with a press the right button when we tell you - mini-game. However, you don't know when the mini-game starts, so a good deal of the time, you're mid combo on an enemy and the game decides that you missed the first button press. In God of War, the Player initiates the mini-game. In this game... good luck!
ART 8/10
The level artwork, character art, and effects are all great! Some of the levels look better than anything seen in the movies.
SOUND 10/10
Complete with the Star Wars soundtrack and sound effects that all the fans love.
INTERFACE 1/10
They're awful, clunky, slow, they load in... they even manage to take the fun out of leveling up. Also, at no point is a complete list of moves available to the player. You have to click on each move and read the button presses one at a time. Then back out of that screen and go to the next move.
Overall, I gave the game 4 Stars. If you're a Star Wars fan, you should like this game. It could have been a 5 out of 5, if the game wasn't so buggy. The concept is awesome, the powers are great, the scenarios are great, and the story is great. However, the execution ranges from good to poor. You'll have fun about 70% of the time and be frustrated 30%. The game is about 10 hours long. 1 hour of great story, 6 hours of fun gameplay, 3 hours of turd-dom.
You can replay the game again on different difficulty levels and keep all of the powers that you earned in your first playthrough. Aside from collecting light saber crystals and xbox live achievements, there's no reason to replay it.
It's a good rental! | video-games_xbox |
I can't quit you, Dom. Gears of War has done what almost no one in the history of anything has done - crank out a near perfect trilogy (eat me, <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Halo-3/dp/B000FRU0NU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Halo 3</a> and get bent, <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Aeschylus/dp/0140443339/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Aeschylus</a>!). It's a powerful, satisfying and suprisingly emotional close to what has been my favorite video game franchise in years. A well played end to one heck of a ride.
Take a bow, everyone, you deserve it.
But... Note that I said "near perfect" - there are some flaws and short comings that I'll be happy to point out in obnoxious detail below. But if you read no further, know this - if you enjoyed anything at all about the previous Gears games, even in the slightest bit, then this is a must play. It's a wonderful blend of story and gameplay successes and a deserving end to a bloody romp. Seriously, I could end the review here, because that's all you need to know... but how is that any fun for ME?
Commence my pointless bitching...
Vissually, Gears 3 is both a huge leap forward and a huge leap in the wrong direction. Now stay with me, because I may be the only person alive who's going to gripe about this game's visuals. They've given it a much shinier, smoother, more photo-realistic look and it's truly impressive to see - until you start to move around with any speed, that is. The color palette (the infamous Gears of War brown on grey on bleh) that has worked well in the past is now too muddled and blurry to actually SEE anything. And don't give me any crap about my eyes not working, because I'm playing this one on a 40" HDTV, where I played the others on a 26" tube TV and was able to make out what I was shooting at just fine. They've put such wonderful visual detail into the characters and the enemies (especially the newly intorduced breeds of Lambent locust) that to lose them all among the backgrounds and foregrounds in a mess of brown and grey is a real shame. I know Gears is supposed to muted and muddled and to do anything else would make it not feel like Gears, but they've kept a small portion of the tone at the expense of my eyesight. Though changing that would have made it feel like a different world, I suppose. Now get ready for a big ol' paragraph of contradiction, because...
They've made unecessary artistic choices that start to make it feel less like a Gears game and more like a different world. ...Why? How come, all of a sudden, no one has any sleeves? I guess they were like "huh, they've been living on a boat for a while, they should probably look like they're all beat up and tired... Eh, take away their sleeves, that should do it." That's... that's weak. It just looks like they're sporting their summer armor or something. If the desire was to give the impression that the COG soldiers were short on supplies and living thin, they should all have, like, partial armor. And patched up armor. We should see more guys sporting those silly Baird goggles instead the full helmets - things like that. And how come Anya is now in full armor and has a big gun? I get that they wanted to put women on the front lines (something curiously lacking in the other titles) and I've no problem with Sam, or the gal with the white dreadlocks - I buy them just fine. But Anya? Shouldn't she be on the bridge of the destroyer with, like, a compass and a... protractor or something? Giving her the full Gears armor just felt out of character. And who the hell is this Jace Stratton weenus? Is this my new sidekick? Could they have found a WORSE actor to play him? He doesn't sound like a Gear, he sounds like glass-jawed weenus. Seriously, screw that guy.
Some other strange things happen - the locust no longer appear out of big holes in the ground, they now pop out like lemurs. Why? You spend a half chapter with Cole as the lead character all of a sudden... why? Sure, it was cool to learn more about him and he feels less like a racist charicature than he ever has, but it's a little late to back-track him from the last two full games. All it does it break continuity and lead to some awkward story transitions.
And oh, God, don't get me started on the story elements they don't follow through on and the plot threads they introduce just to forget about... just, just don't even go there.
The biggest sin throughout, however, is the refusal to simply give us what we want - more old-school Gears action. The last level of the game is incredible: it's an old-school, no-holds barred slog through waves and waves of locust grunts with your lancer at your side and a shotgun in your back pocket that leads to a neat and challenging boss fight that fits fluidly into the rest of the combat - tride and true Gears of War awesomeness. But... about halfway through that level I realized I had to wait THE WHOLE GAME to get what was the staple for the other two. I should be SICK of that by that point and ready for some kind of endgame treat (like the Brumake ride in Gears 2 or the showdown with Raam in Gears 1). All the other chapters a sprinkled with so much arcade-ish feeling BS. Silly weapons (oh... a 'one-shot'... cool) and unncessary new eneimes (look, a centipede... that shoots lightning... neat). There's no painful and obnoxious "drive the vehicle" level (thank God) but there are plenty of "man the turret and shoot at something silly" levels. And for the first time, we have Gears standing toe-to-toe with a Brumak... you know, the giant dinoaur with rocket launchers on it's arms?... and surviving. After they spent two games establishing that you don't take those (or other monsters) on without some sort of heavy weapon or high-tech advantage, now you just shoot it in the eyes... like everything else... "eh, just give it a glowing and obvious weak spot, they'll figure it out". It's a laundry list of tone altering and genre bending sillyness that is just so unnecessary. I can't tell if it was all added because the developers were worried they were boring us or if they were bored themselves... I'm inclined to believe the latter.
All in all, I'm glad this is the last installment. Sera's a broken world, our protagonists have been beaten to and battered to the point of no return, and delving back in for another go just wouldn't be fun anymore. They've lowered the curtain on the series, taken a final, beautiful bow and I truly hope it stays that way.
Oh, wait... I just read about the prequel they're planning... with a different dev team...
...oh... | video-games_xbox |
While I had them like this, I would hold the buttons down in . I had the infamous pairing issue. The transmitter and the headphones would both go into pairing mode but would never connect. I tried everything I could think of to get them to pair, including removing batteries and unplugging the transmitter. While I had them like this, I would hold the buttons down in an attempt to drain any residual power from the circuit boards/capacitors. This did nothing to help the situation, so I then disabled the 5ghz band on my wireless router in an attempt to remove any possible causes of interference, despite the fact that my router was on an entirely different channel. I was about to give up hope and attempt to contact Turtle Beach for an out of warranty repair in which I would plead for a warranty replacement.
Then out of desperation to find a solution, I tried one more thing. I used a completely different USB power source, one that I was sure had at least 2.1 amps of power, such as an iPad, tablet, or select smart phone chargers. It then immediately paired up, the pairing light on the transmitter actually blinked slower in pairing mode than it had been. When it was failing it was a very rapid blink, but working properly it was about 1/2-1/3 slower.
I then turned everything off and plugged it back into my computer/xbox usb port and it continued to function properly and has been going strong for some time now.
Hope this helps anyone else who is experiencing the dreaded pairing problems.
Note: Others have noted that the pairing instructions are incorrect in the manual. The correct way is to hold the transmitter pairing button until it blinks and then release it. The headphones must be off initially to place them in pairing mode, then hold the power button as if you were powering them on, don't release the power button until you hear the second set of beeps and the light starts blinking consistently, then release. The headphones will remain in pairing mode for only 30-60 seconds and then will beep indicating it is exiting pairing mode (battery saver?). You then have to turn them off and then back on to get back into pairing mode again. | video-games_xbox |
Best game ever made. OK. most of you reading this review are familiar with the previous installments of the series. So all I am going to do is touch on the points that make this game Soar above all of the previous ones.
1. The graphics. Of course we would expect this out of a 360 or PS3 as compared to the previous versions, but I should tell you exactly what makes it different. Wreckage. Far more realistic than before, the wrecks seem far more fluid, and realistic than before, If a wreck is pretty bad, the car just stops working, rather than bursting into flames, which is not very realistic. When you wreck into things, the damage that occurs is more realistic than before. For example in previous games running into bushes was like running into a wall, yet running into a light pole at a slow speed was quite destructive. Not the case here. When you run into a light pole something actually happens, the light goes off and live wires spark upon the street. (No, you can not get electricuted buy the wires, but still its pretty cool.) You will not just barrel over trees either.
2. Save points. Finally, after a mission is over it saves the game, no more running back to the "safehouse" and getting in trouble for something minor and ruining it all, that is a GREAT advantage of this game.
3. Losing a warning level over 2. It was really aggrevating that if you managed to get to a 2 level warning, you were done for, unless you made it to a safe house, now, there is a radar range meter that lets you know where to go and how far to go to start hiding from your warrant level. That is brilliant addition to the game.
4. Taking the taxi: If you don't feel like driving to your next mission, then dont, just take the taxi. While it is a little tricky to get in the taxi without truing to steal it, it can be done, and it is a great feature.
5. Going to the hospital: You don't lose your weapons. Also another great addition. No more going to the hospital and having to load the previous game to get back to where you were. Just take the Taxi and be on your way.
6. Realistic car handling/better "dash view". For most cars, instead of the old bumper view, which is hard to navigate around on, this view includes the hood and looks just like you are driving the car.
7. Body reaction to pain. there is no more just running out in front of a car to stop it...If you do that you will be run over and it looks very real, your body flys about in a random manner. (It does affect your health.) Also, there is no jogging down the street faster than a car is driving, if you miss your chance to take it, then too bad, better look for another.
8. Weapons and explosives: I cant say enough about how much better the sounds of explosions, and bullets firing sound. It is far more polished and realistic than any other installment.
In short, its the same game you are used to loving, just much more polished and realistic. Check out new york city vs GTA IV comparisions on google to see what I mean. There is a tremendous attention to detail in this game. So much that I think It would rival many major motion pictures.
Have fun my friends, its a helluva ride. | video-games_xbox |
T.R.O.N. = Totally Relying On Nostalgia. As the title suggests, this game will most likely sell thanks to its namesake and all the fond memories that go along with it. Is that a bad thing, not really but is the trip down memory lane worth the cost of the full price of admission or should you wait and purchase your ticket when the prices come down? The answer is, it's best to wait honestly besides the history there's no real reason to pick this title up for full price.
If you're a big fan of the series (which I am and the main reason I picked it up) or have someone on your holiday shopping list that is then take the chance. The nostalgia alone may make for an enjoyable gaming experience. However anyone with no exposure to the franchise and/or grew up with the belief that videogames started with the PS3/Xbox 360 then you should probably stay away. Honestly there is nothing new or mind blowing here, just a game that's better suited for the PS2.
The cons:
1. The camera is horrible at best; it would have been so much better if it was fixed. The majority of the time you're fighting with the camera at the same time you're fighting with the enemies on the screen which doesn't make for a fun experience.
2. Speaking of the enemies, most of them are very easy and the few who aren't don't really take too long to figure out before you're able to make it through them.
3. The controls are very sensitive, push on the stick that controls the camera a little too hard and you could find yourself suffering from vertigo.
4. The environments are interesting at first but get stale quickly, visually nothing stunning or breathtaking, let's just say you won't find any of the scenery on the back of a postcard anytime soon.
5. The character designs seems as if they would be more at home on a last gen system, nothing really next gen here either.
6. Multiplayer is fun, but again will get old really quick. After a couple of matches I felt as if I experienced all there was to experience and didn't really feel compelled to go back to the grid (multiplayer).
The pros:
1. The history.
2. For being a game based on an 80's sci-fi movie the story isn't too bad, actually pretty entertaining.
3. The music.
4. Um.........I guess that's really all the pros.
Overall if you're a fan of Tron pick it up when it goes down in price by at least half, if you're not a fan wait until someone gives it to you as a gift.
Michael
PSN/Xbox Live gamer tags-MikeJMele | video-games_xbox |
Losing The Fun Factor. I've purchased and played every Lego game that Tt games has released. I have seen them go from fairly easy to play intuitive games that younger kids could easily play to a game that even harder core gamers are struggling with. I am not a hard core gamer, but I'm no slouch either. I like a game to be challenging like the next player, but retain that fun element that keeps on giving by way of beatable missions and challenges. In the beginning, Lego games were a lot simpler right down to the dialog which was basically mumbles. Players, especially kids could figure out what to do and where to go without too much difficulty, challenges were fun and beatable. With Lego Marvel Superheroes a new level of difficulty has been reached. Why Tt got away from their roots is a big question for many. Maybe to appease big time hard core gamers who thought the earlier games were not worth the money because they were too easy. Who knows. All I do know is that the Lego games have gotten to the point that they are not much fun any more.
There have been many reports of games freezing. I have been fortunate in that I have not had that happen to me yet. I have had characters get stuck in simple areas and not be able to get out. In the free world of New York City this is not too much of a problem as you can just switch to the other character and play on, or return to the Heli-Carrier. Sometimes the other character will eventually free itself and appear where you've gotten off to. Otherwise you have to listen to them grunt repeatedly as they try to get out of where they are. I also have frustrations with characters not performing as expected when needed. Sometimes this can be avoided by selecting a different character. Getting used to the free world map takes a little time but is well worth your effort if you want to understand where to go in most cases. Characters, Vehicles, and Side Missions that you complete disappear from the map generally. So as you play and complete tasks the map gets cleaner. I have had task icons reappear and I would go play them only to find that I only get a stud. There is a bus token for example under the expressway you have to use jumping walls to get to a token up in a box at the top. I obtained this bus yet the icon still appeared on the map. Another is a character token you get by blasting a frozen Spiderman on the roof of a building. This icon reappears as well. There are probably more. Just a small section of New York is visible at first on the map, you should fly all over the whole island including the prison island and Ellis island to reveal all of the map areas and their mission markers.
In past games, the developers were very good with giving you hints as to where to go, what to do, and who to select to get the task done. This made the game very intuitive. This is lacking a lot in this game. Many missions are a bit self explanatory, others you have to think about for a while, and others there are some hints by the commend center on the Heli-Carrier. But there are quite a few missions where the player has no idea what to do, and who to use. I have a green female character to get on the east side. I go to the location, and there is a metal platform that goes up to the railroad tracks. The token finder arrow (A red brick extra), shows the character to be under this platform or the railroad. I've used dozens of characters to try to move or destroy the platform to no avail. This character is not in any of the hint guides so I am stuck and cannot figure out what to do. At first I got stuck on the JJ/Peter Parker missions. Getting to a location and not knowing what to do is frustrating. The Trax character wanted a Lion for his show on a roof top. It was not clear at all on how to get the Lion up on the roof. One had to search surrounding buildings and find a ramp that was not exactly obvious unless you knew what it was for. A stud trail would have helped a lot here. Talking about stud trails. These too were poorly designed. In one mission you had to use Wolverine and find dig spots. But the dig spots were not obvious and out in the open, you needed to find the special spot that triggered the characters special ability. But this required you to break stuff near by to reveal this trigger. This was a big area so you could be breaking stuff for a long time. Once you found the first one and dug it up a stud trail was obvious, but when you followed them they abruptly ended in the middle of a large walkway, and you could not see the next spot. Once you found it and dug it up, another stud trail appeared, but the camera ended up behind a tree so you didn't see it, and when you went to search you didn't know which trail to follow as they lined the route with studs on all sides. When you finally figured out where to go because this stud trail ended in the middle of nowhere too, the next dig produced an arrow as a hint, but the arrow was so poorly done you could not tell which direction it was pointing in. This type of poor design was apparent in several areas. There was also a DeadPool character that would show you the way around New York and take you to your next destination once you selected it in the map. Many times he would take you right to where you needed to go and it was obvious. But other times he would stop in locations nowhere near where your next task was to start so you ended up frantically searching for something you didn't know how it looked or what it even was. Sometimes he stopped on a street, and the location was way up on a roof. I still have missions that I don't know what I'm doing wrong or what to do. I have gold statues near Fisk Tower. One is on the roof and several surrounding the building on the streets, and one inside. I've blasted them all and never got anything. Other missions don't work like this either. Up near X-Mansion you have a woman who's dog has buried his toy and she needs you to find it and dig it up. Use Wolverine and follow the studs. I dig up all of the spots and follow the studs back to her and she just starts the mission over. I never find a dog toy to pick up even though the studs lead me back to her.
There are missions where its impossible to find what your looking for. On the Heli-Carrier your supposed to find a lost document. The DeadPool guide takes you to the middle rear of the deck. You can look for ever on that deck and you'll never find that document. Its stuck, hidden under debris, on the intake vent under the carrier. You have to fly down off the back edge, see the well hidden debris and remove it, then use a different character to get it out of the intake. Why not make it a little harder??? Another is a crewman on the carrier that has lost a companion during a game of hide and seek. You need to find him. The DeadPool guide takes you to the left front near some guns and that is it. It's not even close to where the character actually is located. You have to go to the edge of the carrier there, and go right and traverse all the way around the engine, there you'll see nothing. You have to somehow know your supposed to use a character to make this guy appear because he is invisible. Ridiculous.
Then there are the controls. Touchy is putting it mildly. As your running or flying just the slightest movement of the stick causes your character to go wildly where you don't want them to go. In New York on the streets this is a nightmare as there are people, vehicles, and objects everywhere and they love to get in your way and cut you off. Running is not too bad if you stay on the middle of the road. But driving, forget it, its a lesson in frustration. Its not impossible if you are not in a timed event, and you can crawl little bit at a time to your destination. But a timed event, forget it, you'll be lucky to finish in a dozen dozen tries or more if you finish at all. Vehicles are nearly impossible to control, and aircraft are worse. There sadly are many timed events, mostly races in this game. Some are just running events. These used to be a decent challenge until in this game where they made them so long and complex you cannot finish them in the time they allow. Many times they go from one area or building to others. This is where characters fail to do what you want them to do. They will start to fly instead of jumping down, or they will fail to grab a rope etc. There should be precious few of these timed events and they should be much more forgiving. Then there is flying with characters like Iron Man. Its impossible to properly go up and down. He goes left and right fine, but the controls are so anemic on the up and down, you can forget most flying challenges.
Outlined above are some of the frustrations I've had with this game so far. I've completed 75% of the game and I am down to the timed events and races which I have not even wasted my time on. Tt needs to go back to the roots of the Lego games and make them simple and fun like they used to be. A few minikits, a decent grouping of characters to obtain, and some red and gold bricks, maybe 10 Red and 50 Gold. Its obvious that a lot more thorough testing during development is needed as well. Too many things don't work at all or work improperly. Clues and hints are missing, and missions have too many hidden tricks. Is it a good game, yes, but not for $50. Maybe $25 is a better bargain so when you discover you cannot complete it because its too complex then you won't be out so much cash. Is this game for kids. Unless they are master gamers, no, not with this one. Its for kids only in subject matter and title. | video-games_xbox |
A Lot Of Improvements, But Has A Ton Of Problems. I have always been a HUGE fan of the Madden series, currently owning 5 of the last 7 games. The changes this game had was very impressive when I first played it. The graphics are just simply amazing as compared to previous years. However graphics don't make a game great...they can make them good, but not great. However Madden 09 has a ton of problems that void it from even being called GOOD...and this is from a very big fan of the series.
PROS
1. Updated Graphics Look Great. Again, I was very impressed.
2. Game Is A Lot Harder. One would wonder why this is a PRO, but it makes the game more of a challenge instead of being able to murder the computer every game. It can get frustrating, but I think it's something that adds a more realistic feel to the game.
CONS
1. Freeze problem. What everyone is saying is the TRUTH. I've had this problem happen to me over 10+ times since I bought the game (on the day it came out.) It will hit you during a game, after a game, going through the games menu, and basically everywhere else. I've never had this happen in the earlier Madden games. This is a very disappointing issue with the game. I've won the Super Bowl every season in my franchise except for one year, and every single time the game ends and I go to exit to the menu, it froze. So I would have to go back and just sim it until I won. It happens way to much, and when I'm in the menu I find myself saving every second. I hate feeling like any minute the game is going to freeze. NO ONE IS SAFE.
2. No Franchise Practice Mode. I couldn't remember if the previous games had the ability to practice with your actual franchise team...and if so, then Madden 09 abandoned that feature. I like being able to practice with my current team and get a feel for who can do what in different situations. But without that option you basically just have to play and see what they can do.
3. Custom Playbook/Franchise Mode. You can not create a playboy and use it in a franchise mode. I was looking forward to creating an offense and defensive playbook and using it in the franchise....but you can't. So I was let down.
4. Sideline Players. This is kind of stupid, but you think by now they would do something with the sideline players. I was watching a reply from a play I did and noticed that I saw a 350 Pound Player wearing #12. I was the Packers, therefore I'm talking about QB Aaron Rodgers. They just threw people on there like always, but seriously...have the guy look somewhat like the people. Or atleast have them jump up and down when you score.
5. Rewind Option Is Lame. I never use it. I don't see the point of it. When playing in 2 player mode, the rewind option (the ability to rewind the play and start over again if you make a mistake) is crazy. You can basically be playing your friend who will throw an interception and you get the ball back. He will see how many rewinds he has and then use one. The play will rewind back to the snap of the ball and he gets another shot at it. S-T-U-P-I-D!!
I would seriously wait for Madden 2010 and see what it has to offer. This would would be "Ok" if it wasn't for the freezing issue. But I can't return it since it's opened and it's not the disc...it's the game in general. So I'm stuck with it and I'm still playing it. | video-games_xbox |
Atmosphere is everything. Normally, I find games made for multiple systems to be generally weak, or only as good as the weakest platform on the market. Since the Xbox is the baddest machine on the market, even though it might not always have the baddest games to accompany it, a lot of these games seem really watered down. The Thing is a nice exception to this rule. It's not the greatest game I've ever played, but it's definitely the best Xbox game I've played since Hunter: The Reckoning.
Ok, while the use of such an old, relatively tired license might seem a bit odd for those who don't remember the eighties as clearly as old guys like me, it lends itself perfectly to the survival horror genre. "Half-Life" always sort of reminded me of "The Thing" so it's nice to see the game steal a lot of inspiration back from games and movies it inspired over the years.
The one thing the game nails right on the head is the atmosphere. Paranoia rules the day. Are your allies infected, waiting to turn on you at any minute? Do they think the same thing about you? Are you all infected? The use of NPC's to further the plot and mold the atmosphere is used to perfection. NPC's might not be infected when you start, but in the heat of battle can become infected and turn on you. Everyone is a potential enemy. The game tries to further this by creating a NPC interface that revolves around building trust and quelling suspicion. While it's not a major part of the game, it does serve the atmosphere and keep you on your toes. The sound also helps build paranoia by doling it out in small or large doses. Footsteps in the snow or something banging on the wall can be really freaky. Aside from adding to the paranoia, the sound really isn't exceptional.
The graphics are good, but not the best. You can tell the graphics have been cleaned up considerably for the Xbox, but they are still a wee bit grainy and even laggy at times. I found the lag to be a personal irritant. This is the first game I've ever played on the Xbox with any lag at all, and although its minor compared to a lot of PC games on the market, it was still a little irritating. I personally think console games have no excuse for lag. It's not like they're dealing with an aging PC or something, they already have the specifications they need to build the game. The lag isn't horrible, but it's noticeable. Most people probably won't care.
The game-play itself is quite good and is what puts the game over the top in my book. All of the monsters remain threatening no matter how small they are. The big monsters are very difficult and the AI is exceptional. I spent a lot of time sneaking around with practically no health trying to avoid monsters, and it was easier said than done. A lot of times you are forced into combat, and when you are, get ready for a lot of gun switching. You have to beat the big guys down to nothing with machine guns and shotguns and then turn the flamethrowers on them which requires you to get very close. Not easy.
My only complaint about the control is the duck feature. In the control configuration I used, the stick for movement made you duck when you pushed it. In the heat of battle while running for my life, I would suddenly find myself in a duck walk getting beat on by some nasty critter. My only other complaint has to do with the save game feature. I'm sure checkpoint saves, or in game saves that require some device, in this case a recorder, are necessary for games that require memory cards, but with the Xbox's big hard drive, it's just irritating. Please, someone out there figure this out.
Anyway, there are lots of new Xbox games coming out, many of which I've played, few of which are good. The Thing is a good, safe bet. It's not the new Halo, but it's a great single player game. It's well worth your time and money. | video-games_xbox |
The definitive review for this controller. Ok so heres the deal. I am a hardcore Street Fighter gamer. I've played this game for years and years be it Super street fighter 2 turbo, Street Fighter Alpha 2 or 3 (1 sucks^^) Street Fighter 4 and my very very favorite Street Fighter III 3rd strike "Fight for the future." I even played all the EX versions.
At first I used to play with the playstation controller so D-PADS were what I started with. I didn't quite like using that because of the need to hit shoulder buttons when the rest were on the face and that just threw me off alot. Thats why I first came looking to this controller because of the nice 6 button face. As of now, I much rather use an arcade stick but some people just may not be great with them because of the learning curve that comes along with it. Regardless, after a few hours of breaking this thing in and you can play extremely well with it. Sometimes when im just dishing it out on a noob I just rather use a pad if I'm sitting back in a chair and what not. Using a stick you have to be up straight and its not relaxing at all. So consider this a review from a D-PAD master. Also note that I have owned 8 of these and have had tons of experience with them. These controllers are not all the same! The ryus ones so far have been the worst in build quality. The D-PAD on the ryus ones feel very loose and misses excecutions time to time. Meanwhile Akuma ones are kinda unresponsive to dashing at times. The best of these controllers are the Ken and Blanka ones. *I haven't used a chun li one. The below review is for the ken/blanks ones.
PROS:
Many people online have felt the wrath of yours truly from this controllerand thats because it does great on several levels. Six button face, Nice round but accurate D-pad that won't give you huge painful blisters like a playstation controller would. The shoulder buttons are fine too. If you need to use macros I.E (punch X three or kick X three)
Some people made the comment that they don't like the feel of the shoulder buttons and that its a little more "clicky and not as smooth feeling to the buttons on the face" but there is good logic to it. If those buttons were like the ones on the face they would be getting pressed on accident all the time because people rest fingers there and often apply tension up there that would make the lighter button press. So the more firm button up top doesn't bother me at all. Infact; I prefer it.
*advanced players note* you can do charge partioning and buffering with this D-PAD. It's well sensitive enough to do moves like Uriens TTH or throw and endless stream of discs with remy. Granted if your a seasoned enough player to do that. Although doing Kara throws are going to be harder just because most of the time your not going to have multiple fingers on the face. I can do Kens KARA Shoryukens on this but it is a pain. Thats just something much easier to do on a stick any day of the week. But seeing how most people cant do that anyway it really doesnt matter.
THE CORD IS A PRO NOT A CON! I have also gotten this controller for PS3 and the piece of crap lags! it actually lags! Having a controller that lags in a fighter renders it useless. USELESS! The corded 360 ones I have never had that problem. Again this could be just a problem with the one I had but I'm not willing to risk that buying another possible POS.
This controller also works very nice for Tekken 6 :)
CONS:
AUTOFIRE- Even though this is more of a feature Autofire has alot more advantages to it than mashing out of a stun. Autofire is for players who have no backbone. Obviously if you went to a tourney they won't let you use it so why try here. Autofire is for the weak. But if you want to be a baby. You can use it. I personally believe auto-fire needs to be taken off of all controllers at least if there used in a fighter.
The switch on the back which controlls whether the D-PAD is controlling the Left stick or Right stick or actual D-pad is in a Horrible place. Too many times have I accidentally moved it while in game and caused my player to stand still like a moron taking blows because the controller config is set to D-PAD.
Another complaint is that this controller doesnt have a very long life-span for a serious fighting gamer. I play street fighter 3rd stike online on a average of 14-16 hours a week. Thats usually 2 plus hours a day. I'm here to tell you this thing will were out faster than you would like and will not stand the test of time unlike a good old fashioned PS controller. After all this is Madkatz. After a while you'll notice your d-pad doing random movements and excuting supers or shoryuken movements will become a pain. For advanced players knowledge you can do charge partioning and charge buffering very well on this D-PAD but when this D-PAD starts acting up forget about it.
Overall this controller will get the job done if your a good enough player. Street Fighter is all about experience anyways. People who are lessed experienced are gonna get beat any day of the week. Don't ever count on what you use to make a better player. Its about your ability to use it. An arcade stick will always be better if your serious about the game. If you know you wanna start out right just get a stick. | video-games_xbox |
Best Game I Ever Played. *This is a detailed review with NO SPOILERS for those who want to know a lot about the game- so sorry to others for the long review*
First, I want to start off by saying that this game is absolutely gorgeous. You can immediately tell that the developers took an immense amount of time to create this game. To my delight, this game won a lot of awards just for the design and art. But, it won other awards for the story and messages that are given throughout the game as well. (I'll get to this topic later in the review.)
Next, the game play is very addicting and challenging. So yes, you will die. A LOT. I died so many times that I lost count but I managed to beat it within 14 hours. If you're the type that gives up easily and gets frustrated, then I wouldn't recommend this game. If you're stuck, however, you can easily look up cheats online is you're having trouble. However, I found myself quickly forgetting my incompetence and frustration by just admiring the beauty of the art. The reason why I was so addicted to this game is because the game play is very different (in a good way). You collect green life orbs for health and blue orbs for powers. You'll get a lot throughout the game- more than 20 powers and abilities. (I included a picture where you can see the life orbs and blue orbs.) Also, this game is addicting because the puzzles are challenging so every time I died I subconsciously told myself, "Bleep this- I can beat this stupid level!" There aren't any chapters really ( I guess the places you visit are considered chapters), but you just explore all the places in the game. If you missed some things, you can go back and get them. However, for certain places like the Ginso Tree, you can't go back after you beat that place. ( I won't spoil anything, though.) Oh and when you beat the game, you can't go back to it ever and have to start a new file (which I didn't find a problem with because I would play the game again in a heartbeat.)
Now I'm going to talk generally about the story without any spoilers. This game is basically about the main character, Ori that travels through the "Blind Forest" to restore it. (Sorry if that didn't make any sense) But, you're immediately given a narrative as soon as the game starts so that's why I won't give away much. The messages that are given within the story hit you right in the feels... you get really emotional because this game is ultimately about love for your family. (That's what I got from the game but for others it's different, which is totally fine because what matters is how YOU perceive things.) I found myself tearing up in a couple parts of the game because of how emotional the story is. I got attached to ALL the characters in the game because of their back stories (past) and one of the most impressive things about this game is that there is VERY FEW dialogue including the narrator who speaks in some parts of the game. Some of my friends that I talked to got annoyed that the characters couldn't speak English but they don't have to- they're amiable for their personality, actions, and their past. (And each character have their own distinguishable sound- no words needed.) If you're a sucker for a good story about family, friendship, loss, and valor then this game is for you.
Finally, my overall score for this game is: 10/10 or 1000/1000. I would give it an 1,000,000/10 stars but Amazon's highest score is 5 stars. When I beat the game, I squealed and cried at the same time. (My mom got mad because she said I was too loud but IT WAS WORTH IT.) I was happy because for me, it was the perfect ending and I was sad because I didn't want it to be over. My advice is: PLAY THIS GAME. You won't regret it and it's cheaper than the other Xbox one games that I've seen available in stores. I am honored to write a review for this game and I only hope that this review can justify my absolute love for Ori and the Blind Forest. | video-games_xbox |
Review of bot support and general offline entertainment quality. [UPDATE: Somewhere in here I noted how smooth the aiming is... well a recent patch seems to have increased the "look acceleration", which is a setting independent of look sensitivity. Unfortunately, look acceleration cannot be adjusted by the player, so now we're left with something more akin to Far Cry 3's more chaotic feel. I will try higher sensitivity levels to see if this makes them more fluid and intuitive, but it sure makes playing on 4 or 5 a different animal from what it used to be, causing me to easily over shoot my enemies again and again >__<
A recent patch also pushed the A.I. towards the "Mary Sue" side of the accuracy and awareness spectrum again. Playing on regular, the enemies have recieved a difficulty boost, yet recruit seems even less challenging than before, making the "casual" level of difficulty even less existent now. There are of course two difficulty levels above regular, so challenge is in large supply, but if you're looking for something that you can also play to "casually unwind" from a long day, Blops 2 has less of that capacity now, at least until the next update perhaps.]
The last few times I've played Blops2, I've felt obligated to work bit-by-bit writing this review, because this is a game that has been giving me countless hours of enjoyment. Take right now for instance: I just finished playing four games of Domination with all A.I. allies and enemies (regular difficulty), and boy did those games feel close and fair. Are you one of those gamers who has spent many hours playing against bots in free-form "instant action" or "skirmish" modes that some games offer? Well Black Ops 2 delivers this, to a degree that I didn't expect. I thought that the A.I. would be serviceable, but that they would basically put an average amount of effort into it or withhold features from offline players as if that would get us to play online... but boy did the people at Treyarch actually come through for offline gamers!
Now I was proud of my 1.66 KDR in Modern Warfare 3, I had some fun online, but as I write these words I have been playing this game (mainly multiplayer against bots) daily since mid October, and it has kept my interest well. I was playing Far Cry 3 a lot for awhile and then I found myself going back to Black Ops 2.... I never would have expected this (and I like FC3, but damn it I wish they let you adjust look acceleration in addition to sensitivity, because the mix they have going just feels awkward to me). I exercised a bit of restraint earlier and decided I should stop playing for awhile... now that is a good sign :D (unless, like Skyrim, it devours your life ). Just like any game in the Unreal Tournament or Halo game series, one can tweak a lot of different options (i.e. health regen, hitmarkers on/off, whether teams lose points for deaths) for each round. I like playing with a full 17 points to use in create-a-class and sometimes toning down player health by 10-15% , and there are many subtle tweaks one can make to change gamemodes in meaningful ways [though there is no 3rd person view option or gravity tinkering :-( ].
The A.I. recently received an update, which has made them even more balanced enemies or allies, and with the history of console FPS games I wouldn't have expected Treyarch to actually take the time to release such free updates for the A.I. ... Thanks guys! That said,gamers will notice how murderously effective the enemies can be at times, and how comical they can feel at other times. Their ability to spot you from far in the distance is as strong as it was in Black Ops, but happily they aren't as unrealistically deadly with their aim, especially when the player doesn't stand still.
There have been enough times where I have been "in the zone" with regards to skill and smarts and I have been able to fight and win against multiple bots bearing down on me in very crazy situations, which gives one the same kind of satisfying memories of victory that online play sometimes does (without the memories of homophobia and people getting emotional of course).
When one wants a change from the multiplayer there is some good fun to be had in the Campaign. However, it is a fairly different animal, an experience that throws different things your way and puts you in control of characters and missions which you may just not connect with. In my opinion it also suffers from the same un-engaging beginning syndrome that afflicted Skyrim. To explain, I went into the campaign going "yeah! we're gonna be in the future, with cool future stuff" and then I was immediately dumped in the past, with a mission I didn't understand, isolated in a hostile yet linear jungle carrying a wounded main character who I had forgotten all about. Then again, that beginning sequence featured a variety of basic combat, sneaking, sniping, gunning down patrol boats from the back of another boat, and shooting down a helicopter...
The campaign features a lot of variety as well as a heaping backbone of basic gun combat, and if you don't like the lack of hitmarkers then rest assured, they are only not available in the "past", but in present time (or future to us) they are on by default, and I believe they can be turned off for those who detest them.
I found strikeforce missions to be every bit as cumbersome as others claimed, which is unfortunate, but I also found other moments in the campaign, such as the mission where you get to use the wall-piercing Storm PSR a lot and pilot a futuristic jet, to be fun, memorable, and repayable.
I've also had some fun making a few solo forays into zombies, which comes with an "easy" difficulty and ability to remove hellhounds for those wanting a more relaxing, mystery-box mining experience ^_^ . It strikes a nice balance to me, and I would love to playing it with my friend just as we played the old zombies mode, but as I enjoyed the experience of running backwards from hordes of zombies in a frenzied and hilarious manner, I quite object to the ubiquitous placement of fiery cracks all over the ground that damage you viciously. The "Die rise" DLC doesn't appear to have these.
Speaking of the DLC, this game includes the peacemaker as a weapon that allied or enemy bots will spawn with in multiplayer, regardless of whether you've purchased the DLC. Because you can pick it up (with randomly spawned attachments) and pick it up again if you find your dead body, this feels like a really cool touch, adding this versatile weapon as a piece of rare technology that you can occasionally get from enemies or fallen teammates :D
I hope to find said DLC on sale sometime, because getting four more levels for endless dynamic instant action fun, a new weapon, and another zombies map sounds pretty sweet indeed. As someone who loves having the multiplayer experience offline as a free daily convenience, I find myself considering taking my game online again to test out the class setups and roles that one inevitably has pop into their head. Plus it's fun practicing going unseen as a sniper or a ninja-like character with a MMS (reflex sight that sees slow-moving enemies through walls). But it's nice to know that Treyarch has given gamers the freedom to enjoy so much content in so many ways without being constantly coerced and prodded into buying an xbox live gold membership.
-Alexander | video-games_xbox |
A Different FPS. This FPS is much different from Halo's 1-3 but the question becomes, is that a good thing? I'm on the fence. With Halo 4 on the horizon and gameplay previews already available to watch, I have begun to reminisce about the "good ole days". Halo has always been unique in comparison to other FPS Multiplayer games, and yes, the bread and butter of Halo was Multiplayer. Halo's 1-3 brought together millions of people. It brought games like capture the flag, king of the hill and many others to a gaming format.
Halo has always had a somewhat strict standard. In this I am referring to the physics of the game and the way it is played. Though there are many multiplayer maps, weapons, vehicles and other methods with which to give the game variety, Halo has always been strong about "fairness". Though it can be "hacked" and people have found ways to cheat, compared to other games it is relatively tame in that arena. People have been able to excel at this game based on their ability to specialize in the game, itself. The "headshot" of an opponent was in roughly the same place at all times. Besides jumping, crouching, and changing terrain the requirements for a "kill" are fairly straight-forward. X amount of headshots with Y weapon is a guaranteed kill. However, with the addition of armor abilities in Halo Reach, some of that has been lost. Armor Lock, Sprint, Jet-packs and more have changed that standard for Halo and taken away its unique standard. These, initially immeasurable variations in the game were frustrating to many of the long-term gamers but exciting for those who were not as "skilled" in the previous games. Though it may have leveled the playing field across skill levels, it alienated many of the more dedicated fans and went a long way to decreasing the success gap between Halo and other FPS's.
As has been said in many reviews, this game is still a "must play" but I'm crossing my fingers for a return to stricter standards and that elitist mentality in future games. | video-games_xbox |
This is the Future of Home Entertainment. You may not buy it now, but you will buy it soon. I'm not going to go into the details of who is going to win the console war. All I will say that hardware will become a commodity. If something like Steam sells, and we have OnLive-"esque" rendering in a cloud, then we will soon be able to play Forza 5 with a $99 Roku HD running a virtual machine with Steam OS. So consoles will die.
but Microsoft is creating a truly new category here - the "HTPC". Nobody ever made this work, because the software wasn't ready yet. There are many amazing features (and also many issues to fix). It is definitely an early adopter device. By buying into it, you can influence this category.
- Multi-tasking rocks. I can stap TV to the right while playing a game, Go from a game directly to Skype when someone calls me.
- Skype on One is incredibly good. The camera follows you around and zooms into your face. Sweet.
- The new interface is excellent. I never use Bing on browser or laptop, but it works very well on the Xbox One. You can search for a movie and the UI tells you the tomato score, link to a trailer and if you can rent/buy it from Microsoft store, Vudu, Amazon Prime or Netflix subscription. It is 4 steps in one.
- Xbox TV is excellent. Takes some time to set up, but once it is done, you can wuickly see new releases on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and current shows within the same UI. You can also set up the IR blaster. My Xbox One turns on my receiver, speakers, cable box and TV when it turns on. Same when it turns off.
- Forget about hardware and software to record your cool moves. You'll never miss anything with "Xbox Record That".
- Kinect is very very good at identifying everyone in the household and your motions. The audio controls need more calibration and training. I believe Microsoft is holding back because of consumer privacy, as the hardware has potential. Keep out for updates.
- I love that they got rid of family xbox live accounts. I can now share my standard xbox live account with my family. Perfect. More value for money.
- Xbox Fitness app is NO JOKE. It is very very good.
- Instand on is kinda cool (turn on xbox with your voice), but I had to turn it off as it can get buggy.
But everything isn't rosy in Microsoft land, especially for those coming from the Xbox 360. If you're the person who buys a game and finishes it in 20 hours, you'll be disappointed with the changes. I personally like to savour and enjoy the experience over weeks or months. So while there are changes, doesn't affect me much.
- no backward compatibility with 360 games
- every game needs to be installed. could take 15 minutes for this to happen
- console takes much longer to load if there is no instant on.
- games take longer to load, but the resolution is much higher as well
- some games (like Zumba dance party) struggle to recognize the right face.
- kinect voice recognition needs to improve
I feel sorry for PS4, as it is truly a remarkable piece of hardware and design. Unfortunately by focusing only on gaming, it is only a matter of time for the studios to kill exclusives and move to Steam OS and make more money for lower development cost.. | video-games_xbox |
Best snowboarding game on x-box. This game differs from most other snowboarding games on the market, in that Amped 2 tries to base itself on real snowboarding. Other snowboarding games (e.g. SSX Tricky), have more of a video game feel.
The game play is fairly simple to get the hang of, if you have ever played snowboarding or skateboarding games before. The goal of the single player mode is to move your way up the snowboarding ranks to #1. You accomplish this by getting high scores, media scores (tricking near media icons), sponsors, and by beating pro.s (a little like follow the leader). As you beat levels, your rider increases in skill level. (i.e. turns faster, jumps higher, etc. etc.). After you reach #1, you unlock "legend" challenges on each mountain. These are incredibly difficult challenges similar to the ones above (high score, media, or pro).
The graphics and sound are really good. The trees and the snow look real, and the lighting looks pretty real as well. The sound is dead on, whether you're snowboarding on ice, packed snow, or even rocks. And, one of my favorite features, this game allows you to play your own music on the soundtrack (although I have to admit some of the songs that came on the game were pretty good).
The online version is good, but nothing special. The game types are: king of the hill, trick race, high score, or just ride. Typically, you'll ride with about 7 or 8 other players. The game is pretty good about not lagging online. The downside is that playing with other players doesn't really add much to the gaming experience - you're still riding and tricking down the mountain.
My only beef with this game is it's a total consumerism sell-out. After accomplishing a goal (such as beating a pro or getting a sponsor), you're "rewarded" with a video of a snowboarding company or a rider you've never heard of. I want my commercials on TV, not on my x-box. | video-games_xbox |
They Should Have Named it Something Else..It is NOT Fable. What I loved about Fable was the exploration and ability to engage a variety of characters and take many paths through the game. It is possible to have fun in the earlier Fables without even trying to "WIN". From the beginning this game did not engage me and I'll say up front that I HATE puzzles. They were not part of the earlier Fable. If you love your Kinect more than life and have a passion for horses you might find this game more enjoyable than I did. You get to brush your horse and care for it and worry over it...but by and large there are only so many places you can go and ALL are controlled by the game. And add to this list of woes that driving a wagon gets very very OLD. No exploring that isn't completely scripted in advance. This also means that once you play it you are done with it unless you want to go back for the arcade version.
The earlier versions also had so many cool things that were of interest to women players...not the least of these was to actually BE A WOMAN and interact on an emotional level with characters. Sorry but puzzles just don't do it. They have no emotional appeal at all for me, and that was what I loved about Fable. It wasn't just about murder and mayhem like the majority of Microsoft's games. It had heart level interaction and character. This has NONE of that.
I should have noticed that this was a Kinect game when I bought it, but then I have seen Kinect do some nice things in other games. I have exercise Kinect-based games that allow a huge range of movement and work very well. The use of Kinect here is limited to commands best left to a game pad and the game is "REDUCED" to the limitations of the Kinect menu rather than enhanced. I waited MONTHS for this game and feel robbed. If you are a devoted fan of the series make sure you play with someone else's copy before you drop the bucks on this. I find it to be an abysmal end to a great series. I'm going to reboot Fable III and have some REAL fun. I still play the earlier versions. This one is going to be sold or traded ASAP. | video-games_xbox |
An Amazing game that does justice to the series. Amazing, I was anticipating this game for such a long time and today when it finally came out I remembered it was coming soon, so the first thing I did was go straight to Amazon to get the special edition, unfortunately they were all sold out. I kind of panicked because I really wanted the special edition, long story short I called my local Gamestop, they had one left and of course I drove over there right away and picked it up, and so far not regretting it.
Ok, so whats in the special edition? You get a pretty damn cool Aluminum case that slides out of the cover, you get one month free of Marvel Digital Comics, and you also get two exclusive DLC characters. Jill Valentine and Shuma Gorath. Both will be available on March 15th for download, they send you a redemption code to your email and then you redeem it through Live. Overall for an extra $10 it was easily worth the hassle.
So now for the review.
Graphics: When you start up you are greeted with a cool intro video like other Marvel vs Capcom games. This game will seem familiar from the get go, the graphics have changed (for better or for worse) and they have gone with a cel shaded/comic style look instead of the regular 2D visuals of the other games. Its a good way to pull you in to the Marvel characters, in my eyes the graphic style benefits Marvel characters more then the Capcom characters. For example some Capcom characters really look off. The first person that jumps to mind is Ryu, I cant explain it but his face and body heck everything seems different from SFIV. Amaterasu on the other hand looks amazing, and being a real admirer of Okami the way they did the appearance graphically really does the character justice in this game, another character from Capcom that is awesome was Zero, he really looks like himself and everything down to this moves are so familiar. So yes overall the graphics for characters are good but you may need to adjust to that if you are coming from Marvel vs Capcom 2. The stages are really well done, I love all of them. Some that stand out to me though is the Daily Bugle, and the resident evil stage, and especially the Ghouls and Ghosts Stage (Loved that game!) but where are more stages? I'm kind of disappointed about that I'll explain later.
Sound: Its great, a lot of new songs for this game and they are great, it really sets the tone before the fight starts, Capcom has always done really well here. The English voices are OK, and I don't have a problem with them, I haven't run into anyone's voice and thought to myself that it was annoying so it looks good so far. You can also change to Japanese voices only in the options. The part where the sounds really got me going was the take me for a ride character select screen, of course its a remix of the one in MvC2 but it still sounds good to me and does justice to the original. There is also a menu that you can access that allows you to listen to just the soundtracks which is great.
Controls: Controls are as good as any other Capcom fighting game, the controls are familiar. There is a lot of customization. I should note that I use a Hori stick to play this game. I have been thrilled with it so far, its responsive and I really couldn't have asked for more precise controllers with the way I have it set up. It works fine as well with the normal controller but I tell you, once you use the arcade stick there is no going back. They also have other pre-installed controller options that you can choose from without having to customize, so take your time and really go through it.
Gameplay: Its good ol Marvel vs Capcom. The formula after all these years really has not changed. The gameplay revolves around specials and combos. What has shocked me so far about this game is how balanced it is. Marvel vs Capcom 2 was not balanced at all, some characters were clearly stronger then others. It seems like they have sorted it out now with the damage that can be dealt and the defense that characters have. It's the same fare as before as well, three vs three and of course there are team combos, which are amazing and get things hectic but it doesn't slow the system down, lag or delay one bit it runs buttery smooth. The Single player is short, You could actually beat it in about 10-15 minutes, and whoever you beat the final boss with is the character who gets their ending shown. The final boss was kind of tough, but the strategy is just to block the incoming attacks. It had one of those typical over the top boss battles that the other Marvel vs Capcom games had. Its no where near as hard as trying to beat Seth in Street Fighter 4, which on hard difficulties was pretty challenging. I have yet to play online but once I do I will update my review to reflect it. I have always been the type to learn everything I can about a game before I take my skills online and this is no different. Now my one grudge for Gameplay? Its not really a grudge but I absolutely hate the fact that there are barely any stages! A game like this should have 20+ stages, I cant understand all these characters with just a few levels. I'm not sure if there is still a lot of levels to unlock or what but so far it's been annoying. I'm thinking Capcom must have some DLC as well in the works so that will be interesting to see.
Overall: Its a great game, was it worth the hype? Probably not, after ALL these years. But to me as someone who grew up with this series since the very first game I'm satisfied. If you are new to this series there will definitely be a bit of a learning curve, however it not much deeper then any other fighting game. Overall, I like this game and I think that over time it will develop a wonderful and thorough online community that will have you coming back for more and more. | video-games_xbox |
Great, campy fun. The Earth Defense Force series is one of my favorite video game series of all time. Despite not having the best graphics, story, music, voice acting, or sound, I always find myself coming back to the series when I am looking for some great, mindless fun.
The premise is simple. Aliens and insects are invading Earth and it is up to the Earth Defense Force to send them packing. Essentially, you are the star of a campy 50's alien invasion story. You can choose between one of four classes to play the game. The Ranger is your standard infantry soldier who has access to very powerful weaponry, including sniper rifles and rocket launchers. The Wing Diver can fly and has access to exotic alien weapons. The Fencer is a power-armored death machine that can equip up to four different weapons and can either enter melee with giant hammers & swords or just shred bugs with dual gattling guns & artillery pieces. Lastly, the Air Raider can summon tanks, helicopters, & mech suits to the field, and place markers for massive artillery strikes. Throughout the game, you can increase your health and find new weapons by picking up boxes dropped by dead aliens. Some of the the later gear is absolutely nuts, ranging from massive scythes that leave a swath of destruction, tanks that fire shells so large the recoil sends the tank back 5 feet, and even hijacking orbital lasers to annihilate ants.
The game is about as deep as a puddle. You spend most of the time killing ants, spiders, wasps, robots, bigger robots, ships, dragons, and the like. The graphics are so-so, especially for an end-generation title. The music is functional but not exciting. The sound effects likewise are nothing interesting but the voice acting certainly helps. As I mentioned, this game is campy. Very campy. Your AI squad mates talk, often having hilarious disjointed conversations like "Why did you get married?" "For justice!" or breaking into battle chants while Hell is breaking loose on the field. It really adds to the camp factor and makes the game enjoyable.
While EDF 2025 will not win any technical awards, it is a blast to play and to me, that is all that matters in the end. With over 80 missions, 4 classes, multiplayer, 5 difficulty levels, and a $40 price tag, Earth Defense Force 2025 is an easy recommendation. | video-games_xbox |
Best Stealth Action Game Ever Made. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a unique game - it is not like any game you've ever played before. Other stealth games, such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and Hitman 2, are much different. On Splinter Cell, you are Sam Fisher. Fisher can do a lot, such as double jump off of walls to get on a pipe or a higher surface, back up against a wall to avoid detection, walk on a pipe like a spider, sneak up behind enemies and grab or interrogate them, and more. You can turn on thermal vision to detect mines, enemies, and on one mission, you have to use the thermal visor to detect the heat signatures on keypads to get access to other areas. Fisher also has night vision.
Fisher has a wide variety of equipment. You can use an optic cable to see under doors. When you need to knock out enemies rather than kill them or make less noise, you can use sticky shockers or ring airfoil rounds. Sam also has diversion cameras, which you shoot from your SC-20K gun to see an area. With the diversion cameras, you can release the gas to knock out your enemies or make noise to distract them. You can also use sticky cameras if you just want to see an area. Fisher also has frag grenades, a lockpick, and disposable lockpicks for quicker access to locked doors.
The game of Splinter Cell very often comes down to trying out different things. If they work, then you move on, and if they don't work, you have to load your game. You get checkpoints for saving on every level. The game can frustrate people easily, so the very short-tempered may have some problems with this game. The game has nine missions, but each mission except for the first is extremely long. The game took me around 40 hours to beat.
Splinter Cell has the best graphics of any Xbox game to date. The lighting is probably the best in any game out today for any console, including the PC. The game looks extremely realistic. Good graphics are required because you need to see enemies from afar or when you're hiding in the shadows with your night vision on, but the graphics are beyond good. They're amazing.
The sound is great, too. You know when you've been heard or seen, because the game makes a low-pitched sound to let you know. Once you get shot at, the game plays some fast-paced music. The quality of the sound is great, too.
Splinter Cell is the best stealth action game ever made. The game says it itself - it's "stealth action redefined." The incredibly fun gameplay, the beautiful graphics, the great sound, and the longevity of this game make it easy to recommend. | video-games_xbox |
Responsive, Comfortable, Reliable. Feel
These new controllers feel great all around. You wouldn't think that a controller could improve much from the Xbox 360 but Microsoft figured it out. The sticks feel lighter and are much more responsive. The bumpers are positioned slightly differently which is nice in my opinion because to press them, I simply roll my finger up so I don't have to literally pick my finger up off the triggers to press them. The other buttons feel great as well. Another huge improvement is the grip on the sticks. The grip seems to last much longer and feels better than the older controllers. The plastic where your hands go feels very nice as well, it doesn't feel too slippery, even after hours of gameplay. The infared feature is nice too, the Xbox One can see who is playing depending on who is holding the controller. My favorite improvement would have to be the triggers with the new rumble feature. That improves the feel of the game 10-fold in my opinion. Its great to be playing a game like forza, slightly drifting off the track on the right or left side and the triggers will rumble accordingly making you feel more connected to the car in the game. The rumble changes according to what weapon you use in FPS too. I still have a couple Xbox 360's, when I play games on them such as halo, the controllers feel heavy and non-responsive compared to these new ones.
Charge/reliability
I bought the Nyko charge base which came with 2 rechargeable batteries, they last a very long time, much longer than the previous Xbox 360 controllers. I have put many hours into these controllers and so far they work just as well as they did the day I got them.
Look
These new controllers sure look slick. They center Xbox One logo has a very cool looking lumination that looks chrome when the light is off. The A,B,X, and Y buttons are one of the best looking features of the controller having a 3D inlay. The rest of the controller looks fantasic as well, with gloss and dull black plastic fused together, it looks agressive. | video-games_xbox |
8.0 out of 10) fun, but flawed. Okay, so everyone is nuts about this game. and when i finally played it, i understood why. the cutomization options are such a fun gimmick- i had a lot of fun turning an ugly yellow VW GTI into a drag racing monster with beautifully tinted windows, custom decals, and rims of my choosing. It's what everyone wants when they play a racing game- the ability to craft a car that suits their taste, right down to the type of exhaust. And i have no problem with the fact that this feature was implemented. i think it was a good idea. The problem I have is with the way that it was implemented.
Why am i still unlocking decals and vinyl at level 100? who cares that i finally unlocked the nitrous express decal; don't i deserve more than that at level 100? and why don't i get the wide body kit until the 3rd to last race? great! i can throw this wide body kit on my car, which does absolutely nothing for performance, so that i look good for the final competition.
Money is never a problem in this game. You always have more than enough to unlock anything you want, because you get money after every race. So, a better way to do this would have been to make everything availible from the start of the game, with higher prices on the performance parts and consistent lower prices on the things you don't need (like decals and vinyl). That way, the player can see what they could potentially be unlocking and work for it, instead of just having it blindly handed to them when they can most definately afford it. But because of the way the customization system was implemented, theres really no point in having money in this game.
My other complaint is with the AI. its not like you're actually racing to gain distance on other cars, ever. its more like you're racing against other cars that will always either be ahead of you, or slightly behind you, and catching up fast. This is especially true in later races, where even if you set the difficulty to easy, cars will catch up quickly, and most likely, pass you. I did an experiment to see how the AI worked, and what i found was kind of dissapointing. In later races, when i would perform almost flawlessly (because i'd had to do the same race about 50 times over and over), another car would always be right behind me, or in front of me. But when i slowed down to the pace of the rest of the group, the AI was more lenient, and waited for me. An advantage to this is that the gameplay always provides tension. But the disadvantage is far greater: having to do a six or seven lap race over and over, possibly doing a single circuit a hundred times, just because you crashed once.
Of course, these are technical flaws, and the game appeals to people at an aesthetically pleasing and fun level, rather than a technical one. its an arcade racer, and it doesn't dissapoint at it's arcadiness. You customize your car because it makes it look better. You race against difficult AI becase nothing beats the thrill of seeing the screen blur all those downtown lights into a complete euphoric mass when you use your nitrous to barely pass up another car, just before the finish line. The graphics are amazing, and are a complete evolution from previous nfs games.
This game has conquered it's niche, with cutscenes and music straight outta the fast & the furious (the drawbridge jumps are a complete rip-off of the second movie's drawbridge scene). And the cars are awesome in that they're actually licensed, and you treat em' like your babies as they go from crap to demi-god machines. And i guess thats what matters most with this game- fun. And you'll have quite a great deal of that, as long as you're willing to put up with a slightly less amount of frustration. | video-games_xbox |
good and bad stuff about game--- mostly good. Hh 2004 was a pretty good game and probably the best one out there considering that ive only played this game and triple play 2002....but i think its still the best game after reading reviews.
The cons{bad stuff} about the game are the
announcing not verry good.....They will say something like "the batter homered his last at bad" when he really struck out....but that doesnt happen too often. Also, they sometimes say things twice.
You cant bring back legends of baseball....or people that played before this time.........That part isn't too bad tho.
Create-a-player sucks.......:You don't even see the character you make..... you cant make faces or body shape for the person.....it doesnt hav as good of detail as i thought it should have....its still pretty good tho.
Also it occasionly freezes, but not very often.....it usually does it right after u play it for the first time.....or if its after you save, or if you leave it sitting for an extremely long time. Its only froze 3 times since ive bought it so its not really something to worry about.
The people don't really look how they do in real life.
PROS.......................................................
The graphics and Realism is great...other than the faces.....they turn the double plays how they do in real life. The playing makes it feel as if it were you were controlling real mlb teams in career and franchise modes. Its very realistic gameplay.....It has a lot of good features which are cool. yOu get to controll your team the way you want too in career mode. The PROS beat the cons, and you hardely ever notice the cons when you are playing.
There is a tuning menu that you can customize every little playing detail which is great....yyou cann either make it really easy or really hard.....or iff you are Playing a hard team like the yankees or cardinals or giants....you can make it harder...but if you are playing an easy team like the devil rays or the tigers you can make it easier.... you can also ajust it any time during the game!!!
There are more great things about this game that i cant remember....it has really good gameplay.
Overall i really recommend buying this game iff you like baseball games.. its probably the best one oout there and its a great game.
YOu could rent it but i recommend buuying it... thats wat i did and i like it. | video-games_xbox |
Better than Raw, at least. Here's a game that should take us twenty-something fans back to our youths--King Kong Bundy, Greg "the Hammer" Valentine, The Rock and Roll Express, Ricky Steamboat... Ahh, those were the days.
Of course, a great deal of "Legends" are missing in this title as well, (and there are also some downright weird additions; is RVD old enough to be a legend, and was Koko B. Ware ever a legend?) but, oh well. You can't expect them to possibly put every single one of your erstwhile favorites in this thing, now can you?
Somehow, though, this game fails to take me on that proverbial trip down memory lane that I'd been hoping for. The music is all wrong, and that oldtime feel is just missing.
Gamewise, though, is where is really counts, and, on that, this title is hit and miss.
The Create-a-Wrestler feature in this one is quite good. Here's a novel concept: you can use music from the Xbox soundtracks that you've created for your entrances, (are you listening, THQ and Anchor?) but you can't really customize your guys's face, nor can you really play with the hues. That's odd, considering that you could do so with Aklaim's old wrestling games.
The menu could have used a bit more planning. When you set the options to your tastes and save them, it makes you load those options every time you start the game. I constantly forget this, and then start matches with the wrong setting. Also, when you load your created character for career mode, it makes you load it twice. What's that all about?
The list of features are adequate, but not great. Missing are hardcore matches, cage matches, battle royals, and lumberjack matches. But at least this thing has a career mode.
Speaking of career mode, this game has an interesting way of doing it. You go region by region, taking on opponents. Once you've won the belt in a particular region, you go to another, conquering each one until you finally are the unified champion. And, instead of having a prescribed amount of matches to win before taking on the champion, you build up your popularity to 100%. The better you do in each match, the more popularity you gain.
There are no announcers in this game. Why not?
Graphics wise, this game in average at best. It doesn't take full advantage of the Xbox.
Gameplay here is good...not great. It's a bit slow, and you can't use the digital pad, you MUST use the analog stick to move your wrestler. I hate that, especially since the analog stick sucks for button combos. Health meters are a tad longer than they should be. After you get your opponent out of the green, their health meter turns red. According to the manual, your opponent is pinnable once you have him to that point, but, in reality, pinning is impossible unless you have the guy almost dead. More often than not, I end up winning by TKO.
Also, we need to talk about finishers. If you have an opponent's health in the red, and you do your finisher on him, that should be it. He shouldn't be able to kick out of it. But, in this game, he does it routinely. Once, I did my finisher on an opponent whose health was red, the guy kicked out of it, then he got up, did one move on me, and pinned me when my health was still in the green! That's just ridiculous. I probably didn't button mash well enough, but still...Also, you have to have your opponent "in the proper situation" in order to do your finisher, but the manual provides no indication of just what that situation is for any of the wrestlers. How annoying.
Still, the controls here aren't nearly as sluggish and they are in Raw. One interesting feature is the reversals. By pushing buttons at the right moments, you can reverse most of your opponents moves. This can lead to some pretty hottly-contested bouts, as the windows get smaller and smaller for each reversal button until somebody finally gets slammed. I like this feature, even though the CPU opponents sometimes reverse too many of your moves.
Actually, the four stars that I gave this game may be a bit generous, but I'm sticking with it. If you are an Xbox owner and you like wrestling games, obviously the abysmal "Raw" hasn't fulfilled any of your needs. This one should tide you over until the (hopefully far improved,) WWE Raw 2 comes out. It's at least worth renting. | video-games_xbox |
Gaming desirables NBA 2k16 like all the others before it came with significant upgrades . Gaming desirables
NBA 2k16 like all the others before it came with significant upgrades from the last. This years upgrades include graphics, career mode and gameplay. For graphics, since the move from old gen to new gen consoles in 2014 all of the NBA2k games have had great graphics, so a problem 2k sometime faces is increasing the graphics from one year to the next. This years graphics were done very well, due to the face scan technology 2k has; NBA players in the game look true to their real life counter parts. The next very prominent change that was made to 2k16 was the change in its career mode component. The career mode component of 2k16 is a story mode that gives users a taste of what being a professional basketball player in the NBA is like. 2k16s career mode came with a scripted story written by a renown producer and director called Spike Lee. The story kept me very engaged as it follows the users created avatar from his senior year in high school as a basketball Phenom, to playing basketball in college, and then playing in the pros.
Reliability
NBA 2k16, since its release has been judged for reliability in one specific component and that is its connect ability. 2k16 like almost every new game being created has an online function to it. This function allows users to connect with their friends or other anonymous users online to play and interact; this is done on the 2k servers. NBA 2k16 have also been criticized about their servers. The servers have been accused on being too slow, disconnecting from time to time, and just plain don't work. My experience with the 2k server has been very good to great this year. I have not been disconnected from an online game or anything of a sort since I purchased the game.
If you are like me; a basketball enthusiast, then I would greatly recommend this product to you because I believe you will enjoy it and be entertained as I have been | video-games_xbox |
Are you ready for some football. Had 10 hours to paly this bad boy before the release today so I thought I'd give my two cents. First of all, I usually go with ps4 games, but I couldn't resist having the ability to play it for 10 horus before release with EA access. EA access basically lets' you play games early, which is a good thing. And I have to say I'm very pleased with the XBONE Version of Madden.
Madden took years to come to form. I've played it since it's first arrival on the beloved Sega Genesis and look what we got now? It's had a rocky road here and there, and I understand it's been under heat for being too much like the previous years game, but no worries, they give you just enough to make it feel new.
Madden 16 is the first game to utilize penalties to their potential. We finally have them and they work! Pass interference calls? Yep sure are. Holding? Yep. Defensive holding? Sure thing. Late hits penalty calls? You bet! This makes the game feel more like a real game. I haven't decided if they're over done yet, but so far, it's pretty standard on what you see in a real game. It really adds to the realism if you're into the more simulation aspects. It still has the classic controls of Madden. Truck stick, hit stick, spin move, hurdle, juke, etc.... Long time madden fans will be right at home with it. The newest things are the aggressive catch and possession catch functions. The aggressive catch can make for a amazing eye candy that you have never seen in a football game before, it's so real people walking into the room are thinking they're seeing ESPN highlights. With aggressive catch activated with *Y* on the XBONE you can make for some spectacular catches and they look spectacular on both sides of the ball. Defensive will also make some amazing attempts to gain possession. Defense can do the same thing, so it's kind of a crapshoot what happens depending if they go up for the aggressive catch. You can make some mistakesif you get hit using the aggressive too much and interceptions can be more gracious. I do like the new function, but as with anything, including the penalties, if you don't like them, turn them off.
The game feel more organic than ever. 15 was great IMO already. Sure, you get the occasional times where guys flop around on piles and play possum on the field till they want to get up. Yeah, I understand it looks silly, but does it really interfere with the game itself? A lot of review sites already say this is unacceptable. I say, it's no big deal. When the game is in play, that's what counts.
The game has a fantastic running game. Blockers seem to make holes and are smarter around running down the field with you. The classic truck stick is still there, although I don't think it's as powerful as it once was as a veteran Madden player will probably agree. 16 has a ton of new animations to make the game feel more awesome. There's some brutal hits going on in this game. Although I've probably put in 10 hours already, I haven't had any injuries? hmmmm.
Passing feels good. I actually prefer to play on the game speed on "very slow". I think normal or even slow is too much speed for me, but that's just a preference. QB's with lower ratings finally are making more incomplete passes and they are definitely inconsistent! That's good! I noticed in 15, QB's with bad ratings were sometimes going 25 for 27 in one game! Now if your QB is just a bench guy or not very good in general, you'll see a lot of short and overthrown passes. This is a good thing again if you're playing a team with strong running game, but a passing game, not so much. QB's seem to get more rattled. As mentioned above, you're going to see some great one on one battles with the new "aggressive" catch option. IF you want to play things safe, you can go for the regular catch or possession. Going for strictly possession, you lose the ability to get yards after a catch. Some people like to just let the cpu do all the work, that's fine, but you lose your ability to make big plays. That's the rules with madden for years, if you take over, you have a better chance at making something big happen!
Defensively is still fun with the "behind the back perspective" Sometimes I feel like the camera does some funky things after a pass, but I can usually play good defense sticking with this angle. The hit stick, while still there, doesn't seem as intense as past years? (Is this the NFL saying tone is down EA?) I sure hope not. Either way, it's good we still have the ability to make a big hit to cause those fumbles!
Presentation is better than last year, but it's not light years better. Some new commentary lines here and there, a bit more details, but they still sound like they're reading too much. Not horribly bad, but needs a rehaul for next year.
The graphics are stunning. The players faces got the most love, you'll see that in the intro. Very detailed stadiums, amazing use of lighting and shadows and spot on reflections on the helmets. Some of the cut scenes they show in between plays etc are a bit over done, but hey, if you like presenation, there ya go!
The classic and most beloved mode is back, the Ultimate Team mode. Build your team of scrubs into the ultimate Madden team and take them online!
Speaking of online, I haven't had any major issues, EA has always had decent servers. I've only noticed a few games with a little input lag, but it's very good considering how many people were playing at once.
Madden 16 is a great game. Anyone new to the series should pick it up. I don't know if I can justify 60 bucks if you have 15, but if you're a Madden fan like I am, I already know that you probably already have it. God bless. | video-games_xbox |
Very Good, but Not Great. I'm about 8 hours into the game, and have enjoyed it quite a bit so far. I have to be honest though, I think it's a bit overrated at this point.
Starting with the good:
1) The game has incredible atmosphere. Some of the best I've seen in fact. You really feel part of frontier country at the turn of the century. And if you are a western fan then purchasing this game should be a no-brainer.
2) The story is pretty interesting thus far as well, and most of the characters are amusing, if somewhat redundant (I'll get to this last part later).
3) The mini-games, hunting and side quests are pleasant distractions as well and add to the depth of the game.
Now the bad:
1) The control/gameplay of RDR is VERY dated. This is my main problem with game. After seeing how other titles have progressed with cover systems over the past two years, I wonder why RStar hasn't gotten on board. I'll say it flat out, John Marston handles poorly. Compared to the use of cover in Gears 2, UC2 and SC Conviction this game feels second rate.
2) The dialouge gets extremely redundant. Almost every main-plot conversation you have in the first half of the game goes by the exact same script (excluding convo with Bonnie). People who have gotten far enough in the game probably know what I'm talking about.
3) I'll just say a bit about the multiplayer, as I haven't really done the free roam too much yet (I didn't base my review score off of multiplayer at all as I haven't put in a lot of hours yet). As for the actual competitive multiplayer games, yawn. Nothing here that impressive. I won't get into it too much, but if you are an online player, there is nothing here taking you away from MW2, MAG or BFBC2. Those games have a much tighter and more intersting multiplayer.
To Summarize:
The highlight of the game is definitely the world itself. Beautiful environments and many intersting things to do will keep you entertained and coming back to see what you can find next. Where RDR is lacking is its gameplay. John Marston doesn't handle well and the cover system is poor.
Hope this review was helpful. | video-games_xbox |
First impressions from a beginner. I purchased this game after a lot of decision making on whether or not to buy it.
I did not own or even played a guitar before so I purchased the bundle for the 360. The reason that I could not decide to buy this game or not revolved around two items. 1:Was I really going to play it, with my knowledge of the guitar it will take a lot of commitment. 2: I heard that there was a audit lag. this was a break or not break deal. I did not want to put a lot of extra work and configuration into getting this game playable.
Here is my experiance with this game (I played about 1 hour so far). First of all I have a old Xbox 360 using component cables and the HD TV internal speakers. (with this setup, I cannot detect any audio lag additionally there was some instructions to set the TV and Xbox to the TVs native resolution (I did noting about this - works great).
Guitar tuning: Knowing nothing about the guitar, I was very nevous with this point. The game does a volume test (annoying)and a Guitar tune up. the Guitar in the bundle had very loose strings, So it took me a while to get what the game told me to do. But I did get the guitar tuned after about 10 minutes on trial and error. The game does do a excellent job in this area, I was just dense and did not what to screw things up.
Game play: This was very fun. I picked up the concepts very fast. I did put on the fret number stickers (Very helpful to me). Played the first song, and felt very satisfed with my first attempts. With the first song on Rocksmith, The difficulty started to ramp up rather quickly, this also made me feel that I do have some hope with a guitar. I also have Rockband 3 and the PRO Fake guitar. the Rockband guitar tutorial is not so intuitive, I usually drop the guitar part and go to the Key Board which is more fun on that game. To wrap this up, I am very glad that I bought this game, and I am very happy with the included guitar and quality of the interface. | video-games_xbox |
A Last-Minute Savior for 2012. It's been another let-down year for gamers in 2012. Sure, a couple of good titles - the CoD guys are happy as usual. What'd you guys get - 3 new games this year? And how much per-pop? $60 bucks huh? Wow... Of course there were delays again - some of us were hoping for GTA V by now. A little while longer won't kill us I guess...
And then Far Cry 3. I approached with caution... Poked the disc with a stick a few times... Is this one going to bite my a$$ like the last one did? I mean, Far Cry 2 was technically impressive. Gorgeous graphics, a ton of content, but oh my GOD - driving from location to location and constantly getting stuck in little camps with enemies that respawned the moment you were out of eye-sight... It was a good idea on paper, but the game itself frustrated you long before you could finish it. What bad ideas would carry over into the third installment??
Short answer: None.
Your character no longer suffers from a useless illness that requires medicine every hour of play while adding no actual gameplay elements. There are enemy installments, but you can actually clear them out - PERMANENTLY - and gain a new place to swap weapons, load up on ammo, and even FAST TRAVEL TO (Hallelujia...) And... Oh yeah - you can fast travel!
Far Cry 3 is one of those games that for the one or two Amazon customers who might have read my other reviews, will know that I love because it causes players to ask themselves, "What do I want to do next?" You literally have to strategize in this game - and not just as far as "How do I want to kill this particular bad guy?" or "How do I beat this mission?" For example, in my previous play session, I needed to hunt an animal because I needed it's skin to craft a new ammo pouch... However, the hunting ground for those animals was currently in enemy territory. I couldn't really take out the enemy camp because I couldn't carry enough ammo, and thus had to really carefully pre-plan before leaving my current base. Once I managed my inventory and filled my ammo, I went to the hunting grounds. I managed to gnab two boars before hostiles arrived, only for us all to learn that a tiger had made his way into the area... The hostiles started throwing molotov cocktails at it, setting the entire hunting ground ablaze, and I had to haul a$$ out of there! My escape route of course lead me right into the enemy camp, and the resulting gun fight was quite chaotic! As my friendly rebels raised their native flag at the newly commandeered camp, the camera panned around to show the smoldering grass and trees surrounding the area. Gotta admit, that was just cool.
Far Cry 3 is a bit of a challenge for the single player. It's more than just running-and-gunning. You have to craft materials to carry more weapons, ammo, etc. Some of this can be a bit frustrating. For example, I maxxed out my potential cash-supply because my wallet couldn't hold more than $2000. Really? I think I could find a place to cram some bills... It can also be frustrating when you come across a much-needed plant or animal skin, only to learn that you have no more room in your lootsack, and have to stand there in a pause menu cleaning house just to pick up something else.
On the goodside, it's still not nearly as time-consuming or demanding as - just for comparison - Skyrim. Despite numerous plants which you can harvest (for the purpose of making medicine, or other injectible potions such as hunter's awareness, fireproofing, etc) they are actually just organized by color. It doesn't matter WHICH "red" plant you grab - just as long as it's red. Also, most items are relatively easy to come by, with the only exception perhaps being predatory animal skins. Actually, it's not that they're hard to come by... They're just hard to get without being viciously slaughtered in the process...
The most phenomenal aspect of FC3 however is it's map. After several hours of gameplay I assumed I had explored much of the map, and most likely only had a few more strongholds and radio towers to "liberate" - which was disappointing because both are pretty fun. I brought up the map and zoomed out, only to realize that I had only uncovered 1/4th or so of the play area... Then I realized that the entire map didn't even display when fully zoomed out, and I had in fact barely uncovered 10% of the play area. I finally had to pull up an online image of the map on my laptop, and was absolutely bewildered at the size of Far Cry 3.
This is no 10-hour game, folks. This title is well worth the $60 admission price. And for gamers like me who enjoy shooters but not the 12-year-old kids we always get saddled with online, rest assured that there is AMPLE single-player content to enjoy here. I haven't even registered my online "code" yet, and I suspect I never will.
Expect some crazy events to take place, expect some simulated hallucinations and some frantic game play, and even expect a laugh or two... I was lining up the head-shot on a guard some 100 yards away when the tiger suddenly tore into my a$$... I died, but I had to laugh about it.
And expect none of the nuances that made Far Cry 2 "almost great." This time, they got it just right. | video-games_xbox |
The best Gaming device, Very good Media Device. I will start off by admitting that I never purchased an original xbox and was a big fan of the Playstation consoles. I did purchase my first xbox 360 on release day. I was loyal to Playstation for a while, but the controller is better, the the games are better, live is better, and the entertainment side was developed and added quicker. It didn't take very long to make it my console of choice. Originally, the xbox was just the best gaming device out there and I now have 4 xbox 360s which I use on a regular basis.
I use the xbox a number of different ways.
First of all, it is the console I turn to when playing games and xbox live works really well for online gaming.
The controller is comfortable (when compared to the <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/PlayStation-3-Dualshock-3-Wireless-Controller-Black/dp/B0015AARJI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">PlayStation 3 Dualshock 3 Wireless Controller (Black)</a>). I have never had controller connection issues like I had with the PS3. The PS3 is based on bluetooth connectivity technology which is nice for finding/using headsets, keyboards, etc to connect to the PS3, but it doesn't as well as the RF based xbox 360 controller.
I am an ATT U-Verse subscriber and have dropped my $7/month rental of the U-Verse TV receiver. Instead I use my xbox as my ATT U-Verse TV receiver. The only issue I have found with the xbox 360 acting as my U-Verse receiver is the "40 second advance" button doesn't work. You can also use the xbox as a Verizon Fios TV receiver.
I also stream videos from the internet on my xbox 360. Netflix, Hulu, HBO to Go, MLB.TV, Youtube, Crackle and more can be played on the console. I use Netflix and Crackle on a regular basis. I tired Hulu Plus on a free trial and although I didn't find a need for the service personally and canceled my service, it worked flawlessly.
you can rent or buy movies through the zune marketplace or services such as Vongo or Cinemanow.
You can listen to internet radio through the xbox with last.fm or you could download music to your xbox's hard drive and listen to it that way.
The xbox 360 can also be used as a windows media center extension which works really well and I can stream movies, photos, or music from my Windows Media Center computer.
One of the nicer things is I can use/set up a Logitech Universal Programmable Remote Control to work with my xbox 360, which I can't do with my PS3 unless I buy a separate adapter.
If you still have the need to watch DVDs, your xbox will play them as well.
Xbox Live is $60/year, but it isn't hard to find codes on sale for $40 or $50 and even at the $60 price point, it is worth it.
The Xbox would do well to add BluRay capability, but with everything going digital and being licensed by Sony, I don't see that happening. Also, the console lacks Amazon Prime video support. Microsoft is constantly adding streaming content and it would help to get apps such as TBS, Comedy Central, NBC and obviously Amazon Prime. It wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft isn't already working on that.
The Xbox 360 is a great all around device. It does a lot of things well and several things really well. It doesn't have the content of a Roku or Apple TV; it doesn't have the music of pandora or SiriusXM; it doesn't have BluRay, but it does have the best gaming, TV service, streaming video and they are constantly adding more content.
The price is becoming more and more reasonable for what it does. | video-games_xbox |
Still needs some work. UPDATE: I have downgraded this from three to two stars. This product has MAJOR issues around users being able to sign into XBox live. On probably 2-4 occasions there have been outages spanning multiple hours. During these outages the ONLY thing this product can do is play DVD's and BluRay discs. You cannot play video games, regardless of their need for an Internet connection, nor can you watch Hulu or Netflix... this is a BIG problem, and if you are only an occasional gamer like me, you are better off purchasing an Apple TV or Roku. If you are buying a true gaming rig, get a computer or PS4.
Obviously this console was rushed a bit. On the whole it is an impressive bit of tech. It is powerful, responsive and whisper quiet. I like the Kinect integration and with some OS tweaking it'll be awesome, but as of January 28th, some pretty basic things need to be addressed.
1. The controller burns through batteries. FAST. Which wouldn't be an issue except for the fact that there is no indicator that you are low on batteries. The controller just turns off. That makes for a crappy experience. The 360 controller would warn you for about 2 hours that it was low on the juice.
2. There is no software eject mechanism. I spent about 10 minutes trying to eject a disc using Kinect and the user interface. I finally had to look online to discover that there is a button on the front of the console and that's it. That may not seem like a big deal until that button breaks (happened on my 360). You should be able to just say "xbox eject" and be done with it.
3. Crummy media apps. The apps (Hulu/Netflix/BluRay) so far are glitchy/mediocre or they are non-existent (HBOGO, COMCAST Xfinity). When combined with the fact that you need to pay for XBOX Gold **cough ripoff cough*** to use them and the XBOX One is a supposed "media center" this gets frustrating. XBOX needs to get HBOGO settled before Game of Thrones comes back on or they'll have a riot on their hands.
4. No support for external media. This is huge. One of my favorite things about the 360 was its support of DIVX codec etc. You could literally put any file type on a USB and put it up on the big screen. No such luck with XBOX ONE.
5. I've had a lot of luck with the voice controls of the Kinect, but not so much with the gesture control. I have an oddly shaped living room and the TV isn't the center of everything. This apparently confuses the Kinect and it doesn't work as well at detecting hands. Sometimes it even confuses left and right... on the whole when the gesture commands work, it is the coolest thing I've ever seen.
6. Internet Explorer integration sometimes is amazing. I streamed Sherlock off of the PBS website and was a hero with my lady friend yet I couldn't stream anywhere which required flash. COME ON. Yes, sites need to stop using flash, but XBOX you gotta step up your game here. Also, sometimes browsing is nooooot intuitive. Example: you need to enable popups to allow links that open in a new page to work. It doesn't tell you this. You just need to figure it out. Another example: it is really hard to close your tabs. I had to go online and find a tutorial to do so. Not a good sign.
7. Achievement integration. they set up achievements so that you can hit a button in-game as you receive them and it takes you to a description - pretty cool and nice use of the multitasking feature - but when looking through your collection, you need to select each achievement individually to see what it is for, which is a pain in the butt!
That's about it. Think it is a machine with a lot of potential. Was shipped without the "little things" built into the dashboard. | video-games_xbox |
Downgraded. Tiger woods 06 for the 360 has lost many features (so have many EA titles for the 360, they need to slow down)There aren't anywhere near as many gameface options as there used to be. (there is a decent amount know but don't expect to create a similar image of yourself like in the previous version.) They have eliminated create-a-swing, there selections of golf club brands is really decreased, there is also a lack in clothing and misc. items. The graphics aactually didn't deliver as well as you would imagine for a 360 game, they still even have 2-D trees, looks very much similar to the PSP version (I thought they could of done a better job in graphics, like madden for instance). You alos don't have to pay for your items, once you unlock them you may switch between them as you please. The made the game more challenging as putting and chipping go, Its difficult to make an accurate assumption of where the ball goes on the green. You do have putter vision which helps but you still really have to be cautios. Now to mention some of the Nicer additionts to tiger 06 for the 360.
1. Better graphics (they could of done ALOT better for a 360 though)
2. You must physicially earn your PGA tour card by qualifying in a series of mini-games, tournaments, and matches.
3. They have added a "Mental" attribute for your golfer
4. There is an audience (thats right you will no longer actually hear clapping, but you will see it to!) It gives the game a GREAT realistic feel.
5. They have added the classic Pinehurst course.
6. They have added chris dimarco as a playable golfer.
7. The online play is good, nothing bad about it, nothing really new about it.
8. The grass looks fantastic graphics wise (now they just need to get the trees to look like it and were talking BIG TIME)
9. The replay system is excellent as always.
10. Almost no waiting time is required.
Deffinatly a rent, and if you like Golf an easy buy. | video-games_xbox |
A Surprisingly Good Game. I initially was annoyed that this game got sent to me sooner then I expected from Gamefly. I didn't have very high expectations of it and it was rather low on my list. However, I found out that there's a bug of sorts over at Gamefly where even if a game shows high availability, it may only be high in either the west or east coast warehouses. Such was the case for me where the games I wanted were in low quantities coming from my warehouse so Crackdown got sent to me. Oddly enough, Forza 2 was shipped out a day later which was number three in my que. Oh well.
So, I got the game and decided to play it last night (gamertag on Xbox Live: ky0t3). It is actually really fun. What's interesting is that when your playing, people can ask to join you and play with you (and vice versa).
The game mechanics are fairly simple. You go around and beat up/kill thugs. Depending on how you do it, either strong arming them, shooting, them, running them over various characteristics about your character will change. Shoot someone, your speed and accuracy at shooting will increase. Run them over with a car, your driving abilities will increase. There are other ways to increase certain activities as well. Racing your car through the streets will help, jumping ramps and landing your car on all four wheels also helps driving. Doing roof top racing will increase your agility.
Since your some super bioman, your strength will increase to the point that you can lift cement trucks and toss them at foes. More and more of the world becomes a weapon you can use to help clean the streets.
Jumping and scaling buildings is pretty fun, too. And you'll do a lot of it as you hunt down agility balls (there name for them, not mine). The harder it is to get to them, the more their worth. As your strength and agility increases you'll be able to jump far and high. You'll begin to ask yourself if you even need a car.
So, give the game a shot, it's actually pretty fun. | video-games_xbox |
A lot better than I thought it would be. While reading about this game over the last year or so before it came out, I was interested in it even though it seemed like a child's RPG. While it is geared towards younger players, it's certainly not a child's RPG and will appeal to older gamers as well who grew up playing RPG's in the 8 and 16 bit era.
The only two complaints I've really heard people gripe about for this game is that the story is cliche and it doesn't offer anything new. I agree to a point, the storline is cliche, but it is still full of plot twists and has a rather flushed out story. True, the characters aren't really flushed out, but the story of the gameworld and its inhabitants is. While the game is totally turn based, a majority of the story oddly takes place via numerous in-game and cutscene action sequences. There always seems to be something flashy and exciting going on, so if that talkes the place of flushed out characters, it's almost an even tradeoff. The gameplay doesn't offer much new either, but it does do things other RPG's have done before better. Getting enemies to battle eachother really helps your party out in battles. Another cool thing is almost every rock, tree, table, cable, etc., anything casual lying around has items or gold in them. Sometimes you'll even find experience points lying in places, and I've never seen that before. The boss battles are awesome as well, and they can be a bit tough unless you know their weaknesses. Most bosses are tough to beat if you simply attack and attack, they usually have numerous weak points you should try and exploit.
There are a few things I didn't like. One is that the in-game tutorial doesn't explain very well how to do some things. Like I thought you had to equip Lv. 2 Lv. 3, etc. skills in your basic skill slots to use lv. 2, lv. 3 spells, but I figured out later on you can just automatically use then as soon as you're alerted of the fact you acquired that skill. The other problem I had was the uneven difficulty of the enemeis. Some areas had mosnters so tough that every battle was a tough fight, then the next area would be full of enemies that I could plow through with no problem.
In the end, I think most people say they don't like this game simply because they played the awful demo. The demo dropped you into the middle of things with no backstory, not much interaction and a sense of being lost. I really love this game, and I find it kind of odd that I was looking forward more to Eternal Sonata, but everywhere is giving Blue Dragon a higher score. I guess it's true better graphics don't mean a better game! | video-games_xbox |
From Bad to S*storm. Issac escaped the Ishimura, the ship infested with an alien virus that took control and mutated the occupants. Surely things can't get any worse, can they?
Story
Without giving much away, Dead Space 2 takes place 3 years after the first, with Isaac on a mysterious ship called the Sprawl (you know it's gonna be bad already). He has no memory of the last 3 years, due to allegedly being in a coma and suffering from dementia. The game opens with him being released as the player hears screams and sees blood splattered in the background and is soon forced to flee for his life while in a straight jacket (also note, this is one of the most expensive opening scenes in recent gaming). Once he is freed, a women named Diana contacts him and says that he will die from his illnesses unless he comes to her, left with little choice, Isaac makes his way to Diana, surviving encounters with Necromorphs, insane survivors and Earth Government troops ordered to kill him.
Graphics
The graphics are excellent, when they can be seen. The game, true to its nature, is mostly littered with dark halls with very little lighting (typically coming from from candles, broken/tipped over lights, etc). When one can see the environment, it's very well designed and feels like if a outbreak like this were to occur, this is the place for it to happen. The characters are also very well done, expressions and emotions can be seen and are well crafted.
Controls
The controls, for the most part, stay the same from the first Dead Space, and are therefore, easy to master for players who've played the first. If you haven't played the first, go play it, it's like $20 if even.
Voice
One thing players will notice is that Isaac has a voice this time around, and speaks often. Both Isaac and other characters are very well done. The acting is top notch, to me anyways, and not overly dramatic or forced.
Other
Dead Space 2 does have Multiplayer in it. Not campaign wise, but for Vs. If you bought the game new, you received a code to access the online parts of the game. If you bought used, you'll need to buy a one-time pass for $10. Online consists of the Security Team trying to survive and neutralize the Necromorphs in various manners while the other team trys to kill them using one of 4 different Necros. You also level up and unlock different weapons and skills as you play.
Once the player has finished the game, they can play New Game+ which will allow them to replay the game with current weapons and upgrades, you also unlock Hardcore mode after completion. However, you can't carry data over to Hardcore mode, Hardcore will force you to start a completely new game. In Hardcore, you are given only 3 saves, and if you die, you must restart from your last save, this mode is for skilled players.
Overall
Dead Space 2 is a excellent horror game that, if you get into it, can scare the crap out of you at many points in the game.
8.0/10.0
Pros
- Great story
- Excellent execution
- One of the better horror titles out there right now
Cons
- Story can be short (finished din 8hrs, could have beaten much faster)
- Online is limited, meaning it's not as good as other games with MP | video-games_xbox |
Disappointing but still fun for this "MLB The Show" convert. I recently traded in one of my PS3's (and will probably trade in the other one eventually) for an XBox 360 because I tend to enjoy the XBox games more. However, the one sacrifice for this avid baseball fan is going from "MLB The Show" to "MLB 2K". I think MLB The Show is great, but it might be a little too good for my skill level because I seem to have a tough time hitting.
Hitting does seem a little easier for me in 2K, and I actually enjoy the pitching mechanics better in 2K as well. However, the presentation and animations need polishing. Some of the screens seem cluttered to the point that you aren't sure what you are looking at or why that information is important.
I think my two biggest gripes are the base running and the player likenesses. When coming out of the batter's box in The Show, the runner puts his head down and sprints to first. In 2K, the runner throws his head back and jogs to first. It's like he is running with a refrigerator on his back.
As far as the player likenesses are concerned, some look good, but many are pretty bad. The Show definitely does a better job in this department.
I know that many people are complaining that this game hasn't changed much since last year. Luckily, I didn't have this game last year. However, you would think they could update the head shots. Chris Stewart was traded to the Yankees during the 2012 Spring Training, and he still has his old cap on in his head shot.
Even with these problems, I am having a lot of fun with this game. However, for a company that has the MLB exclusive and has done well with their NBA and old NFL games, you would think they would get it right one day. That one day never seems to come, however. It almost seems like they feel their game is good enough, and there is no need for any changes. Let's hope 2K turns things around now that they renewed their contract with MLB.
Wishlist: Legends and old stadiums (I haven't seen either yet) and mini games. I loved the mini games that EA's MVP baseball used to have. | video-games_xbox |
Overall, the Best Call of Duty Title to Date. Campaign - About 5 hours long, but very exciting in every measure. There were some shocking moments in this campaign and it may be the best in the Modern Warfare series. The game takes place right after Modern Warfare 2 and it's a great conclusion to the trilogy. It's World War 3 and the job is to take out Makarov, a terrorist leader. 100/100(A+)
Graphics - Not one of the best first person shooter graphics I have seen, but it's still good to look at. The environments and character detail is good and I don't see a reason for a new graphics engine as of yet. It has the best graphics in the Call of Duty series. The graphics still could have been better and I don't see much difference compared to MW2's graphics. I felt that the developers came off kind of lazy. 90/100(A-)
Gameplay - AI is smart and dumb at times which is alright for catastrophe like World War 3, but playing on Hardened or Veteran difficulty is no joke. The game runs smoothly at 60 frames per second and it couldn't be any smoother. You have 4 modes to play within the game. There's Survival Mode which is in the Special Ops mode, Special Ops missions, Campaign and Multiplayer. The games has enough content to keep you going. 100/100(A+)
Multiplayer - The best multiplayer experience ever. It's good if your a team-oriented player or even a loner. It's for everyone because there's 3 different strike packages and one might be best for you. The perks are better, killstreaks are better and the gun selection is better. There's even theater mode to capture you match and you can upload 30 second clips to Facebook. I don't see why YouTube wasn't an option. I just wish there weren't so many modders and glitchers. I definitely wish there weren't so much campers. 90/100(A-)
Playing Time/Content: There's probably not a week that will go by when I won't play this game. Even if I have a really bad match with a very horrible score, I would still play again until I'm done prestiging. You have 4 modes to play within the game. There's Survival Mode which is in the Special Ops mode, Special Ops missions, Campaign and Multiplayer. The games has enough content to keep you going. 100/100(A+)
Overall Score: 96/100(A+)
To the people who think this is Modern Warfare 2.5 or the same thing over again, it's not. I bet the people complaining about it will still play it or be interested in it. It's part of a series, it's not suppose to change much. I seriously can't find much wrong with the game. It's great.
+ Spec Ops Survival
+ A better balanced multiplayer
+ Works with Call of Duty Elite
- Little to no graphical improvements | video-games_xbox |
A Welcome Addition to the Bioshock Series. "Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt."
You are Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton agent sent to the floating city of Columbia in 1912. Your task is to find a
mysterious girl named Elizabeth and return her to New York unharmed. Seems easy enough, right? Wrong. During your journey in Columbia, you'll really question your motives and learn more about who Elizabeth really is, and why these people want her so badly. I won't spoil anything, but the story of Bioshock Infinite is fantastic, and you'll really grow to love these characters. The ending is truly satisfying, and it doesn't leave any questions unanswered.
The visuals in Bioshock Infinite are amazing, and they really help to suck you into this immersive world. As you're shot up into the sky and see Columbia for the first time, you'll be left in awe at this gorgeous place. Many people roam around the city, filled with cheer. But you'll soon come to realize what a horrible place Columbia really is. Its people hate foreigners of any kind, hurting or even killing any person that isn't white (provided they aren't already being forced to work in the factories). The citizens of Columbia worship the Founding Fathers, and are wholeheartedly devoted to their fanatical leader, Father Comstock. At one point in the game you'll even see people revering a statue of John Wilkes Booth! Some foreigners, tired of the discrimination and abuse of their races, make up the Vox Populi ("voice of the people" in Latin), a ragtag group of common people who lead a civil war against the ultranationalist Founders, who blindly defend the Prophet. DeWitt is caught in the middle of all this, and doesn't want any part of it. Booker is a very cynical and reserved fellow, one who doesn't care much for the people of Columbia. But that all changes when he finds Elizabeth, an intelligent, optimistic young girl who has been locked up in a tower for all of her life. She tries to bring out the best in Booker, who has had a dark and troubled past. You'll quickly find that Elizabeth has an astonishing ability; she can open up tears in the environment, objects or weapons brought in from another dimension. These really change combat, as you can have Elizabeth conjure up some cover, a shotgun, or health kits and nearly any point. She'll also toss you ammo, coins, or salts (your fuel for using Vigors) at just the right time during combat. All of these don't make the game too easy, though: you'll find quite a challenge in Columbia on some of the higher difficulties.
One of the best new additions to Infinite was the Sky-Line system. With the push of a button, your character can use his awesome Sky-Hook to attach onto a Sky-Line and travel around Columbia in a fun and easy way. The controls on the Sky-Line are extremely intuitive, and you'll quickly learn your way around the sky. You can also use these to get an edge during combat, whether you slow down and do some precision aiming, go by your enemies in quick and lethal assaults, or even drop right onto them with a Sky-Line Strike. You can also use your Sky-Hook to perform brutal executions on your enemies when their health is low enough, and I'm sure you gore lovers out there will get some fun out of this.
There are many weapons available in Bioshock Infinite: this is a very good thing, but one of my major gripes with the game are that you can only carry two at once. This really limits some of your strategies during the game, and it can be quite frustrating if you keep on dying during a tough fight just because you didn't have the best tools for the job at hand. There are eight Vigors in total for you to use, and some of these are pretty cool. However, I didn't really use them that often: I played on Medium difficulty, and rarely ever needed to use them. That may not be the case for the higher difficulties, but so far for me, they haven't been all that useful so far. Many vending machines are scattered throughout Columbia, where you can buy health, salts, ammo, gun upgrades, vigors, and vigor upgrades. Money can be found all throughout Columbia, and I've noticed that enemies' bodies drop many more items than in the original Bioshock. When you die in Bioshock Infinite, there isn't really that much of a punishment: you simply lose some money, regain a bit of health and ammo, and respawn a few paces away from where you died. Your enemies regenerate a bit of health, too. There are 80 Voxophones (audio journal entries) and 37 Kinetoscopes (brief silent films) hidden throughout Columbia, and locating these will reveal much of the backstory, giving you a deeper understanding of Columbia. Bioshock Infinite is mildly difficult: I'm a decent gamer with a lot of FPS's under my belt, and I didn;t have a lot of trouble on Medium difficulty. Sure, there were some challenging bits, but nothing way too frustrating. However, for the ultra-hardcore gamers, there's 1999 Mode, a new difficulty level unlocked after your first completion of the game (or with a special code activated at the main menu). In this mode, you're severely punished when you die, enemies are much more lethal than before, items are scarce, and you don't take nearly as much damage as normal. I've heard that this is insanely difficult, and I'm sure that you hardcore gamers will get a kick out of it.
Overall, Bioshock Infinite is a fantastic game. The characters, visuals, voice acting, gameplay, and story are amazing, and it's a fun and perilous journey through Columbia. There are a few gripes that I have with the game, but in the end, they don't really detract from the overall experience that much. If you buy one game a year, then this should definitely be a consideration. If you're a huge singleplayer fan like me, then this should be right up your alley. Even if you're a more multiplayer-oriented player, then you should still give it a try! I promise you that it will be worth your while. I hope that this helped, and thanks for reading! | video-games_xbox |
Notes from a dance mom. My 12 year old daughter and 7 year old son have had a great time with this. They both take lessons; he takes about 3 hours/week and she takes over 12 hours/week. She is a very good dancer, and although most of her training is in classical ballet and modern, she has fun with this program. (Modern is very different from the style of dance in this program). I watched her play for about a half hour, and she maxed out the score bar several times with over 10,000 points; her brother was usually somewhere in the lower third of the score bar. I mention this because it demonstrates that the program is really judging based on dance ability and not, say, on amount of movement (although there is a bonus for `most energy' that my son often received).
Part of the way this program attempts to appeal to various ages is through the selection of songs and costumes. Some of the songs are a little sillier, for example the song by the Wiggles, the Mary Had a Little Lamb remix, and the "I Like to Move It" featuring three kids in goofy giant animal costumes. Others seem more targeted at older kids, like "Firefly" and "One Thing." As far as I can tell, the dances for the younger kids are not necessarily easier than the dances for the older kids; there is a range of difficulty at the interest levels. Also, the style of dance is not calibrated to the "age" of the song but more to the style of music. Example: "I Like to Move It, Move It" had a lot of hip-hop to it.
I also really liked how boys show up throughout the program. There are several dances that feature boys doing solos, a few more that are partnering, and a boy in the group for others. Boys are like gold in dance programs in this country (hey, if you're reading this and you have a boy who likes to dance, sign him up for classes!) and it's great to see them showcasing boys dancing. Yay, boys!
As far as maneuvering through the program, my daughter clearly had the knack for it. Her only difficulty was that the song choices kept flipping by too fast, so she had to go back and forth (like spinning a virtual Rolodex) to land on the right one. I admit I tried manipulating the program and had some difficulty with it, so this might be an experience thing. (She plays many more Kinect games than I do.)
Another reviewer complained that the style of dance needs to be updated and isn't cool; I would respond that it is mostly a very current style of dance as currently seen on competition stages everywhere. The kids doing the dance are obviously competition dancers; they have exaggerated facial expressions which add interest to the dance but can start to be annoying once you start noticing them. The style of dance is almost all what is generally known as jazz in the competition dance world, interspersed with a few numbers with a flavor of hip-hop, and a hilarious disco number that had me choked with laughter watching my kids perform.
I think the biggest question about who will like this game is not so much how old they are but how much they like jazz dance. Older kids who do jazz will have plenty of fun with this program, but even a seven year old who doesn't much care for this style of dance could dismiss it as silly or babyish or I don't know what. I did not get the sense that my 12 year old is at the outside age range of the program, although she is fairly near the outside range of ability (on the upper end). I thought my four year old might like to try the game, but she had no interest in even trying.
Oh, and by the way, I tried it with them for a single dance--the kinect seemed to have no trouble tracking all three of us dancing--and I can assure you that there is a LOT of moving in these dances! I know they are definitely getting a workout because I was wiped after a single dance.
Anyway, great program; I'm very happy with it. | video-games_xbox |
It Functions Well, But it Still Needs Some Work. The "earloop" design is a little unsettling at first, but with a little readjusting it will fit quite comfortably (for many people, anyway). It does happen to be twice the size of most Bluetooth headsets currently available, but since this is the first wireless headset for the Xbox 360, I'll give them a little bit of leeway. Also, the lightweight nature of its design somewhat negates this fact. The unit also has no problems connecting with a 360 controller either. The real fault actually comes from using the headset on Xbox Live. You won't really notice any difference hearing other people than if you are using the regular wired headset, but the microphone is just the way too sensitive. While hosting a number of games, I noticed every once in a while there was a player whose microphone would seem to pick up a constant string of background noises, if not, the player breathing himself. That players mic always seemed to be constantly sending feedback (or white noise), as if they were constantly rubbing up against the mike. I now learned that it was actually a byproduct of the Wireless Headset itself, not the fact that someone just had and "over-sensitive" mic. Now that I knew the problem was in fact the wireless headset itself, I found that the only thing you could do was to turn it OFF and then back ON again, which would alleviate the problem. Depending upon which game you're using at the time, this might happen to you at least once every two hours. Yet, on other games it might not happen at all.
It's nice and having a wireless headset, but if you like to play a lot of Xbox Live (20+ hours a week), you might just want to stay with the standard wired headset. It might have an extra lyre going from the headset tier controller, but if you're like most people you probably don't really find it in the way that much. Unfortunately, since Microsoft has proprietary technology on any wireless product, will have to wait until they decide to fix the problem themselves. Honestly, just find yourself a normal headset for around $10-15 and you'll never have any trouble, because even though the wireless headset has dropped in price recently, it's really not worth the frustration at even $40. besides, we'll probably see a "streamlined" wireless headset version for Microsoft not too long from now -- then we don't need to deal with that "earloop" thing. | video-games_xbox |
Well. First of all, this is the first review I've ever given to a video game... because I feel that strongly about it. I've never wanted to return a video game for something that is so easily fixable, but it's bad.
The game itself is fine. If you're buying it for the online multiplayer experience, consider other options. The servers are absolutely terrible. Horrible. Ridiculously BAD. And they make the game not very much fun. My sister and I play together regularly (we're on opposite coasts, it's a weird way to bond I guess), and we get disconnected, on average, 2-3 times per night from the game. There are issues trying to join games. There are constant problems of lag - and even when my connection seems fine I frequently see other players who look "stuck." I've gotten shot so many times by players who, on my screen, are literally looking the other direction. I thought perhaps it was MY connection so we played MW3 one night instead and had no problems whatsoever so I'm not sure what they did differently for this one. (I do, however, think that the maps are better than MW3 where camping was much easier.)
Then there's the re-spawning problem. Some of the maps are so small that you are frequently re-spawned in front of the enemy. I think it's some kind of design glitch, but once I was killed three times by the same person within seconds of each other because he just kept his crosshairs on the area I kept re-spawning. I know it's impossible to NEVER have this happen, but it's all too frequent - even with maps that are huge. I guess it evens out that you are also frequently re-spawned directly BEHIND the enemy, but that's obviously not fair to the other player.
I gave the game 2 stars because I do enjoy the Zombie part of the game - when you can play with others who can stay connected and not get kicked from the server - but it seems to happen less often with the Zombie multiplayer.
So the game has potential. If there were never any server issues I'd give the game 4-5 stars. Hopefully it will be fixed soon and this review can be deleted. Until then... | video-games_xbox |
Flightstick not worth it. Some of the reviews of the AC6 Flightstick Bundle seem to be only for the game itself. I reviewed the game itself separately. This review is for the flightstick bundle, which comes in the box displayed by amazon here.
I bought a used set that came complete with everything from the original purchase, box, cords, faceplate, etc. And, everything worked fine and as intended.
However, I found these controls to be not really much fun at all. My experience with them showed they were slow, sluggish, and difficult to be precise with. I went through AC6 entirely, on two different levels. The only way I could get anywhere beyond about the first 5 missions was to revert to the standard hand-held controller. With that, I could control the plane very precisely.
The flight stick is a great concept, but I feel it's actual performance is much below what I anticipated. It really boils down to being able to control the plane quickly and precisely, which just wouldn't happen with this flightstick for me. Others may have a completely different experience. Read the reviews here to gain an idea of what some gamers have to say about their flightstick.
No instructions come with the bundle, this is the way it came from the factory. There is a somewhat confusing schema on the side of the box which attempts to explain what the function of each button/movement will be. I also bought a game guide which devoted a page to labeling the buttons and trying to correlate them with what the buttons on the hand-held controller did. This helped, but some of it you really had to figure out by trial and error.
Again, some gamers perhaps have had a stellar experience with this Flightstick Bundle. I did not. My experience with the Ace Combat series includes all of them from Air Combat (the first one) through Ace Combat 6, including Ace Combat Zero. All completed at multiple levels. For whatever reason, I was never able to become good enough with the stick to even approach what I could do with the standard controller. | video-games_xbox |
Beck 2/10/16 Assignment 2 The Xbox One is a great next generation game console for all and if you . Robby Beck
2/10/16
Assignment 2
The Xbox One is a great next generation game console for all and if you are looking for that new console this one is perfect for you! If you are an Xbox user than you should really appreciate the new capabilities that are possible with the new console. This console is faster and able to process many more things at once than before. This allows for the players to access multiple apps at once and more seamless gameplay for the games. This console also seems to have far more app capabilities than previously such as Netflix, Hulu, Comedy Central, Crackle, Game Demos, Pandora etc. just to name a few. One of my favorite perks about this system is how with the purchase of a year Gold Online Membership, you will have access to download different free games each month that Microsoft releases for their users. This is a fun little present that gives people a wider gaming experience to games that maybe they would never play unless they were given to them free. It still has a lot of the same amazing qualities that were there with the original Xbox and the Xbox 360. But this system builds upon that and brings a whole new experience to their consumers.
Like every piece of technology today, there is sometimes hiccups and technical difficulties with the product, some of the instances are making a weird noise while running and it sometimes freezes. These things are very minor though and really do not hurt my views on this product, too much, overall. The Xbox One is a worthy investment for someone out there looking for that new gaming experience on one of the next generation consoles or for the gaming veteran who expects a lot out of their consoles. This system also could appeal to the not so game heavy consumer and really appeal to people who want more movie and T.V show watching capabilities. Like I touched on before there are numerous apps that could be utilized to watch different programming on, plus there is a whole Xbox Movie section where you are able to rent or fully purchase movies right on the console in your house. So for anyone looking for that multi-purpose gaming console that could appeal to a wide audience, then why not purchase the top game system on the market right now! | video-games_xbox |
The first Assassin's Creed I played to completion. I played both AC1 and AC2, and while I found them fun initially, I found myself tiring of them and casting them aside for other games. The major problem with these two games was that yes, the combat was pretty fluid and yes, it was fun watching your character pull off superhuman acrobatic moves... but neither game ever really got much beyond that. Combat became repetitive and it was easy to begin learning tricks to rig the system that made combat too easy. After all, how many different ways can you tail or assassinate someone. Climbing to reach a synchronization point becomes more of an annoyance as you have seen every impressive acrobatic move 100 times before. Not too mention, while the universe of AC is compelling, the first couple of titles did not do a very good job in telling the story in a compelling way.
AC4 fixes much of this. The combat system hasn't changed all that much from its predecessors and the "tail, assassinate, eavesdrop" type missions again becomes extremely repetitive. However, this becomes less of a problem because it is broken up fantastically by your time spent pirating. Similar in purpose is the Kenway's fleet minigame... which, again like the other elements standing alone, does become a bit stale toward the end. However, because you are switching so readily between it, pirating, assassin missions, and even the Abstergo employee hacking it never got me to the point where I just became bored and tossed the game aside. Also, I was surprised by how much detail regarding the AC universe you could gleam from this game. As someone who only got about 50-65% of the way through the first two titles and had a seriously lacking understanding of the plot up to this point, I was able to put the events of the previous games together fairly nicely. Additionally, I thought they did a great job with moving the plot along and pacing in a game where it was very easy to get sidetracked pirating for a while.
One minor complaint that I have is that I enjoy games that are very challenging. This is not one of those games (and neither were the predecessors). In this game, the further you progress and the more upgrades you get the more powerful you become. Obviously, it should be this way as it makes you feel like you are truly "making it" in the world, but enemies and situations don't really increase in difficulty as you progress in the main story. As such, the final missions are more of a cakewalk than the earlier ones which is kind of a let down. I am not sure how they can rectify this in future ACs, because the upgrading and collecting aspect is definitely an appealing one.
In any case, for those who are like me and never found AC an appealing series before despite giving it a few tries... this might be the game to change your mind. AC4 has made sure that I will be eagerly awaiting to see what Ubisoft has to offer for the next installment of Assassin's Creed. | video-games_xbox |
Disappointed Fan. About me, I am a gamer who really loves and enjoys video games that challenge my skills.
Years ago a friend of mine had loaned me Ninja Gaiden black, and it was Incredible.
It was the first game that had ever really challenged me, and i loved it.
Currently i have Platinum trophies in both Demons souls and Dark souls (Two other excellent and Challenging games)
I have even beaten some of the more ruthless Rougelike games in my endless quest to challenge myself.
So when I heard that a New Ninja Gaiden was finally coming out, I remembered what had first started me out on my journey of greatness.
Needless to say i got the collectors edition.
Then... then i started to play Ninja Gaiden 3.
At first glance nothing really appears wrong with it. Then i slowly started to realize things.
For example:
Camera goes all over the place, making it difficult to figure out what is happening.
Your health regenerates in between battles
There are no items, or pick ups.
Inconsistent and terrible story. (Story focuses on how murder is bad, then requires player to murder hundreds)
Millions of cut-scenes to force said terrible story down players throat
Player is given two separate overpowered instant kill moves. (these moves are also easy to execute and do not need to be unlocked)
Level design is repetitive and boring. (kill all enemies, move to next area, repeat)
Player is required to do the same quick time events dozens of times.
All of the enemies are cowards and unintelligent.
Repeating bosses.
Boss difficulty is low.
No amount of skill required for success (smash a button until you can use a kill move, repeat)
Those choices result in a game that is not challenging. I can understand why Developers like to make a games that are easier and more accessible.
However THIS is Ninja Gaiden, it was once the very pinnacle of difficulty and challenge.
It is very disrespectful and misleading to make a Ninja Gaiden game that provides the player with so little challenge.
If you are looking for a challenge go look at Dark Souls, if you have not done so already.
It will provide you with the challenge that this game lacks. | video-games_xbox |
Technical issues aside(short cables, no audio), this monitor delivers the goods (PS4 and XOne hands on. Technical issues: the cables are just long enough to place the monitor on top of your console while using it. I don't use it this way because it causes the console to heat up and damage over long periods is possible. I had all the needed cables to make it work on my set up, but this is something to be aware before buying. No audio is a risky move because out of the box one already needs another accessory to start gaming something i don't appreciate. In my case i have a nice portable speaker which sounds good so im all set thanks to all the accessories i already owned. Be aware of using usb extension, i tried two older 2.0 usb extensions and neither worked, so the monitor is being powered by one of the xbox one usb ports since they are always powered. A 3.0 usb extension did work with the wall adapter.
Note: the monitor can be powered with portable batteries that have an output of 5V and 2A. I have one and it worked very nicely.
My unit had a dead pixel on arrival, but no problem thanks to amazon customer service.
Now lets go into using the monitor. The screen factory settings are terrible, but easily fixed by adjusting them on the menu. I played all types of games on ps4 and xone including Child of light, halo collection, forza 5, diablo 3, CoD AW, Sunset Overdrive and all performed great. Visuals are good enough since the monitor is not meant to be a show stopper in resolution, just good enough to endure family vacations and other on the road events. As other gaems product, the gameplay looks as fluid as ever thanks to their virtual lag free technology. I find this monitor more practical as a compliment to a whole arsenal of gaming accessories, like a nice carrying backpack (i got both Astro's bags), unlike the vanguard or sentry which are stand alone all in one products. I would not reccommend this over the other gaems products if one does not have the accessories to complete the experience, but for those like me that are fully loaded with accessories i say go for it. Now i can go around with my backpack and have a ps4, m155 and A50 ready to deploy. The usb powered monitor makes things a lot nicer too.
Pros
+ light weight, usb powered
+good cover included for protection and adjusting viewing angles
+easy access to ports and buttons
+performs great on all type of games, colors and resolution are just good enough.
+works with my HP Pavilion dv6 laptop, just plug and play
Cons
-out of the box is not practical, needs too many extra accessories to make it practical
-lack of audio, even if it was poor audio it would be better to just have it
-included usb cable makes the included wall adapter impossible to use
-included hdmi cable is just too short
Neutral
~the screen could have been less glossy (like the vanguard)
~price seems ok
~the screws for the screen protector seem too rough
Overall
This is one of those products that one either enjoys or does not. Is not for everyone, is very much for gamers like me that just need to ride with their console of choice when going on the road for a few days. I do like how i can place the console behind the monitor and only see the screen right in front of me, it makes for a very clean set up. | video-games_xbox |
Not perfect but a pretty good JRPG. I am currently about 20 hours into the game. I would first point out that all the bluster about the graphics being much worse on the Xbox 360 vs. PS3 is a lot of talk. You can maybe see some differences in a few screen captures, but most of that is coming from sequences with fast paced movement and a few textures that have been toned down on the 360 really don't stand out. The only thing that can be jarring at times is the hair. On a few occasions it can look pretty badly pixelated.
The combat.. yes, a lot of mashing the A button. Seriously, even after getting deep into the game, you can stick with the A button for 80% of the battles. The combat system is pretty fun and quick. Paradigm shifting allowing you to completely change your attack style at any point during combat gives you a chance to try different techniques out. But even with that, you rarely need to go hand select individual skills during combat as more often than not, the Auto Attack will do just fine. Also, you are only controlling the party leader directly. No more selecting combat options for each individual member during combat. In the end, this makes combat much faster paced and streamlined, which I think is a good thing.
The story really takes a bit to get into. It's got a lot of the 'weirdness' I would expect from a JRPG. A world that is very fantastical in how everything works. It will take a few hours for some of the major elements to click into place before you will really get a good understanding of what is really going on. But once things really pick up, it does have a pretty engaging story overall.
20 hours in, I would say the maps are 98% linear. The very first few are almost straight corridors with a few obstructions to slight veer around. Later on, the maps get to be winding, but basically no deviation from the path takes place. There are a couple points where you can avoid maybe a single fight by taking a 'shortcut'. Point being.. 20 hours into the game at a minimum, everyone is going to have exactly the same experience.
All in all, it is a pretty fun game. I rated it 4/5. I think there is some issue with the voice acting at times, or the dialogue in general but that's alright. If you are a fan of Western RPGs like Mass Effect, Oblivion, Dragon Age.. this may not be the game for you. I generally prefer the Western RPGs nowadays compared to JRPG, but this game is definitely worth a playthrough if you enjoy the Final Fantasy style stories and graphics. | video-games_xbox |
Lego Star Wars is the best. I owned both Lego Star Wars for the xbox and Lego Star Wars II for the 360. When this came out, I traded them both in and bought this new. It might not be worth it for everyone to do this, but it was for me. If you're already familiar with LSW, here's the differences I've noticed between having this edition vs. having the original two games:
- Episodes I, II, and III (the first Lego Star Wars game) are now fully 360 compatible, so they're in HD and you can earn achievements
- There's a new Cantina menu, so you can access all six episodes from one place
- The improvements made for LSW2 have been retroactively applied to LSW1, like being able to use vehicles
- Twice as many power bricks, which means twice as many special powers (consistently, many of them are funny and useless)
- The levels are the same, however there are several additions such as "power-up" bubbles (which make you briefly invincible and I think increase your weapons power) and blue minikit canisters
- A two-player section was added with a variety of arcade-style games.
- The points where the game was notoriously prone to crashing (crossing the river in Ep. VI superstory, for instance) seem to have been fixed. These problems didn't seem to affect everyone, but they did happen to a lot of people, and prevented me from finishing LSW2.
For me, it was worth buying just to get everything in HD and for the possibility of actually finishing the game this time!
If you haven't played the LSW games before, they're awesome. It's redundant for me to give all the reasons the games are awesome, so I'll just mention that one of my favorite things about it is that it's pretty easy. I can play it and unwind without worrying about dying over and over, and I still get through a level even if I'm distracted or not 100% sober. However, if you're a hardcore gamer, you may find the game to be too easy. The changes for The Complete Saga have made the game even easier. On the other hand, if you go for all the achievements, like undefeated on some of the vehicle levels, you will be challenged. | video-games_xbox |
Pretty Satisfied. Some things don't make sense though. It was pure luck that I decided to check out GameStops website on Sunday and be reminded that this deal was going on (which I heard about on YouTube earlier last week). I had been waiting for an excuse to pick one up and it was finally here. I immediately went to Amazon and started looking at bundles. It was a no brainer that I wanted this one. Since my primary console is my PS4 I'm only using this for exclusives and COD. I placed my order and double checked the status on Monday, only to find that the price had gone up $100. I'm glad I took advantage of this opportunity when I did.
Aesthetics: The console is huge compared to the PS4, so make sure you have space for it. The white looks very sleek, but you can tell some of the plastic used is rather cheap. Controller fits well in my hands and is quite comfortable and responsive. I don't understand why there are no USB ports on the front.
Dashboard: I don't like the windows 8 aesthetic and at times the menu just feels way too cluttered to me.
Performance: I haven't had a chance to play on it very much, but so far Sunset Overdrive has been a smooth experience. I'll be receiving Advanced Warfare in the mail today, so I'll update this later.
Value: For $350 this was a steal. For the first time I can now experience both sides of the console titans (sorry I left you out Wii U.. I'll buy you eventually).
Gripes: The hard drive space is a lie. I had around 360GB available before installing anything. What could possibly be taking up that much hard drive space? I don't plan on downloading very much anyway since I prefer disc based games and find that using external hard drives shouldn't be necessary, but come on..
Overall though I'm pretty satisfied with my purchase so far. MAKE SURE YOU BUY A PLAY AND CHARGE KIT WITH ANY VERSION OF THIS CONSOLE. Using batteries is ridiculous and should be abolished forever. This isn't 1998. | video-games_xbox |
Amazing headset with a few glaring issues. Very long review below. Proceed with caution!
I've burned through 2 headsets, one of which included a Turtle Beach X12. Just going by the pictures, I knew I was going to love these far more than my X12's. I was never a fan of the kinds of mics the X12 had how uncomfortable it could be wearing that for long periods of time.
It was a toss up between these Afterglow headsets and a pair of SteelSeries. They both had retractable, small profile mics which what I was looking for in a new headset. What made me buy these instead was the fact that they were wireless. Not only are they wireless, it's incredibly easy to set up. It comes with its own soundcard that you just plug into your PC and that's it. No software. No hardware. No real configuration required. As someone who uses a laptop, I learned very quickly how much I loathed the extremely long wires that came with the Turtle Beach headsets (I honestly think I could reach the other side of my room without even making it go taunt). I just simply can't describe how important it is that these headsets are wireless.
I do find the glowing aspect of the headset very dorky, but it amuses my friend and family. They think its cool so I guess good job on PDP for a cool (subjective) feature. I kinda do wish that it would remember the lighting mode you last had it on before you switched it off. There really isn't a reason to keep the lights on when you're by yourself in a well lit room. However, when you charge it, there is no option to turn the lights on. They just stay on so long as you keep them plugged in with the charger, though once you take it out, it goes back to whatever mode it was on.
I was very skeptical when it came to the nonadjustable straps, but after I've had these for the past 4 months, they are sufficiently broken in and are very comfortable. Initially when I had first bought them, I found that it was slightly too tight and the headsets pressed together very hard on my head. Though I suppose it's like a good pair of shoes now that it had time to conform to my head. I find them super comfortable and just the right shape even though I wear glasses.
For the earcups, they are very comfy. Very soft. Plenty of padding. Any more and they would be the kind you only see in over the hear noise canceling ones :P Speaking of noise canceling, these obviously are not. However, if you do have the volume on anywhere between medium-loud, you can't hear anything at all. So while these are not really "noise canceling" headphones, they do a great job of making it unable to hear anything if you have your volume set to a decent level. And even if you do set your music to loud, they don't really leak that much sound out.
For the mic, it picks up your voice without any trouble at all. With some of my previous headsets, I either had to have the mic very close to my mouth to the point of eating it, or speak loudly on the verge of yelling. I also love the fact that the mute mic button is a quick tap on the left cup. It sounds a very audible 'beep' when you have pressed on. It comes in handy when I'm using Raidcall that doesn't really have a mute mic hotkey. The audio quality for the mic is also far better than any other headset I've used just based on what my friends say. According to them, I actually sound like a girl now, haha.
Now comes the time for the cons. There are very few negative aspects about this headset, however they are very serious and the only thing holding them back from getting a perfect score. The first issue with the Afterglow headset is a very minor one. The soundcard that transmits the wireless signal constantly glows. It can actually be very distracting at times. It's probably less of an issue to those with actual desktops since they can just plug it into one of the USB ports in the back of the tower, but for anyone with laptops, it's a constant glow within your peripheral vision. I just wish there was an option to turn the glow off.
Now the second issue is a HUGE problem and the sole reason it is not 5 stars. The problem is in 2 parts. First, there's a little toggle in the same vein as a volume up/down for most headsets that lets you switch back and forth between focusing on the game you're playing, or focusing on the chat/voices for VoIPs or ingame VoIPs. However don't even bother switching the toggle to Game. You won't hear anything. The only way you'll get sound is if you leave it on Chat. Okay, so that just means you have an extra toggle on the headset that doesn't do anything. That would be okay and just sorta weird. That nuisance is just exacerbated by the fact that sometimes the sound will just straight up FADE OUT. It took me a few minutes when it first happened to me to understand why my headsets were just not emitting sound when I had music running. The problem is that if you like to listen to your music with the volume low or enjoy listening to the ambient jungle/rain/waterfall/etc. noises from your game, you better crank the volume up higher otherwise the headset will think that no sound is playing at all. This is a very huge issue. I find it more of a very big annoyance than a detriment because the games I play don't require me to have to listen to even the most minute of details (like the footsteps of an enemy about to stab you from behind) but I can see how this would be an extreme deal breaker for some. Don't get me wrong, as long as it detects loud enough noise, you won't ever hear sound fading, but its very iffy on what it thinks is "noise". For me, I have to constantly keep music on in the background via Spotify/Youtube/Pandora to ensure I can still hear some ingame noise.
(Though I should say that going to PDP's site recommends that you set the headset to pick up noise from your internal sound card instead of just the headset. Well, I'm terrible at explaining this. It makes more sense if you watch their video. So maybe if you set it up like they recommend you do, the sound fading becomes a non-issue.)
Another big issue about these headsets are such a big aggravation that when I think about it, it makes me want to vote 3 stars. Very rarely, they will emit a very loud and prolonged beep. It's a very high pitched beep that will last 2-3 seconds before the headset turns itself off only to promptly turn itself back on again. And when you turn the headset on for the first time, you have to fiddle with volume because it'll think you have it set to 100. Just a quick tap on the volume up/down on your laptop/keyboard should set it back to normal volume. But the very weird prolonged beep is ear shattering, plus you combine that with the fact that once it turns itself back on again, your music/game/friends will be of an equal ear shattering volume before you lower it again. This isn't a problem that happens regularly (in fact it's only happened about 3 times) but I can't find the cause for it and it's so frustrating to deal with.
This is an amazing headset (especially since they're wireless) but it has such huge issues that I just cannot give it a perfect score for. If you're a gamer that relies on hearing the faintest change in noise, I am very sad to say that I just can't recommend this to you. However if you do not need to listen to very soft sounds and you can forgive the headsets for their few but very big problems, then these are a fantastic addition to your gaming gear. | video-games_xbox |
Gets it right in so many ways. <NOTE: I beat this game on my first playthrough at around 18 hours. I finished every sidequest; tried to complete every collectible category (chinpokemons, gear and equipment); and took my time exploring every nook and cranny. Earned 32 out of the 50 achievements the first time around.>
If you're a fan of 'South Park' you'll really have a good time with the 'Stick of Truth,' a spot-on homage to JRPG/Adventure games wrapped around the well known environs and characters of the series. You really have to think of the whole experience as a bonafide 4-episode arc of the animated show adapted to the videogame format. Basically the whole experience seamlessly floats back and forth from feeling like you're watching new episodes of the show (the story is written by Trey and Matt with all voice acting done by the main cast) to really fun exploration and gameplay that feels 'authentic' to the world of the show.
Action combat is turn-based but similar to games like 'Paper Mario' where you need to be very precise with the timing of your attacks and your block defenses. If you're new to this style of combat the game does a good job of initial tutorial explanation and you'll get the hang of it after about a hour of play. Graphics manage to hold up well on the 360. For all intents and purposes it looks straight up 'South Park' animations included so there's really no complaints on that front. One word of caution - this is a 'M' rated game and it certainly lives up to its classification. This game pulls no punches pushing the boundaries in regards to gross-out humor. Just when you think it can't anymore extreme something else comes up that makes the previous 'wtf' moment look tepid. Personally I loved how far the creators stretched the limits of taste with their humor but you will certainly need to exercise some caution if playing in front of other people. | video-games_xbox |
Another In Turtle Beach's Superior Line of Gaming Headsets. Both my son and I play on-line games that require Vent/Mumble/Team Speak while playing and we are constantly on the lookout for gaming headsets. After buying several, we have landed on Turtle Beach as the superior brand for mid-level headsets ($40-$90) as they are well-constructed and sturdy and have great mics and headphones. The Turtle Beach Ear Force Disney Infinity headset is another in Turtle Beach's line of superior electronics.
Although my 12 yr old and I were not interested in the "Marvel Super Heroes" marketing/decals that came with the headset (although I'm sure younger gamers would like the decals), we still found the appearance to be impressive and the headphone cups and headpiece are well padded. Although the mic is overly large, it performs well and rotates 180 degrees to allow you to wear the mic on either your right or left side. The headset itself expands enough to even allow it to fit on an adult. The earcups have good ear coverage and again are large enough for an adult without it squishing your ears.
Since I used this on my PC, I had to use both the speaker cable, the mic cable, and the USB connector in order to power the headset. The cord is SUPER long which is not really needed for my PC, but would be great for XBox, Playstation, or Wii gamers where the control box might be across the room. The Turtle Beach Ear Force Disney Infinity comes with a cord-mounted control box that allows you easily adjust the game/headphone volume, the chat/mic output volume, the bass boost volume, and turn the mic on and off so you don't have to open up the PC speaker/mic controls in-game to adjust your game input/output which I thought was FANTASTIC!!! There is nothing more irritating than to have to minimize your game screen and open up your volume control while game action is going on without you.
Overall, I found the Turtle Beach Ear Force Disney Infinity to be a superior piece of equipment even for the $70 list price. My only minor complaint is that I prefer the single-ear headphone so that I can hear things around me (like my wife) and my son can hear my wife and I telling him that game time is done. However, the surround sound of the dual headphones is pretty nice. | video-games_xbox |
Terrific, Gorgeous Guitar Controller. Ever since my Gretsch controller arrived, it's been my instrument of choice in playing any version of Rock Band or Guitar Hero. It's slightly larger and longer than the stock Rock Band 2 Stratocaster, and feels a bit more like a real guitar as a result. It's also gorgeous, with several little details, like the chrome clip on the pickguard, or the plate on the headstock, adding up to make a pretty convincing replica of the real guitar. At first glance, it might easily be mistaken for the real thing.
The feel of the strum and buttons is about the same as the Rock Band 2 Strat, which may or may not be your cup of tea, as some prefer the clicky strum bar and raised buttons on the Guitar Hero controllers. I prefer the Rock Band "feel," so this guitar suits me fine. As some have mentioned in other reviews, the right-angled edge of the guitar can feel a bit uncomfortable when you first start playing it, as it can press into your wrist. I've just adjusted the way I hold the guitar, and don't even notice that small problem anymore.
There are a few little things that keep me from giving the guitar 5 stars. One, my whammy bar has an annoying squeak, and at some point I suppose I'll have to open up the guitar and hit the innards with some lube. Also, the whammy is supposed to be a Bigsby, and while it has some cosmetic detailing to approximate one, it's actually the same whammy as the Strat with a flat plastic "shell" over the thin metal bar. I understand the cost savings in recycling parts, but this results in a less authentic design. When compared to the actual Bigsby-style whammy that Mad Catz put on their recent Telecaster controller (and compared to the accurate in-game version of the Gretsch seen in Beatles Rock Band), this cut corner just keeps the guitar from being the full replica and visual treat it could be. But it plays beautifully, which is why the "fun" rating is five stars, while the overall is just four.
While the connection to the Beatles is a bit tenuous (George only played this model in the early days of the band), the classic Duo-Jet design is still lovely, and was preferable to my eyes over the more iconic Rickenbacker, at least when comparing these replicas. While I'm a Beatles fan, I chose the Gretsch less for it's connection to the band, and more for overall looks.
As a final, silly note, I put this guitar next to my original PS2 guitar for Guitar Hero 1, and it's just amazing how this whole concept of fake game instruments has come since then. The original Guitar Hero controller looks like a tiny Fisher-Price toy next to this gorgeous Gretsch controller. | video-games_xbox |
It's simply fun. As you can see, I actually purchased this game from Amazon unlike a lot of the reviewers here who don't even own the game.
If you are seriously considering buying this game wait 3-6 months to save $20 bucks? Buy it now and have some fun now! You know you want to try it. Why wait for black ops? If you can afford both, buy both!
This game is fun. It's in between BC2 and MW2. In my opinion. BC2 had the best single player campaign. The story, graphics, and game play is great. MW2 had the cleanest and best looking campaign, however, I found the story to be lame. I didn't care about it or even know what was going on half the time. I was just shooting people.
MOH, like BC2, has a story that sucks you in. The guns sound and look great! The enemy occasionally does fun stuff like sticking their rifles over barriers and around corners and shooting wildly as they are afraid of getting blasted. Some people say the game isn't challenging, however, I find that it is. The AI takes cover well, so you can scan an area, run in, and a guy that ran in earlier will pop up from behind cover. It has it's glitches! Bullets getting deflected by air surrounding an object that you are behind for instance. AI has to lead into rooms most of the time. I found myself wanting to kick in more doors than I had the option too.
Multiplayer is definitely also in between BC2 and MW2. It is fun!... when the servers work. I assume they will be resolved soon. It is faster than BC2 as the maps are smaller, but still slower than MW2. However, like BC2 it is not as clean as MW2 and has less customizable load out options. Bullet damage seems higher than MW2. You'll find yourself get wacked and die occasionally without even seeing a muzzle flash or enemy. As it lacks a kill cam, this can be frustrating. I also find it hard to read the names of who is getting killed. I have gotten a few kill streaks and looked down to see the names and they are already gone.
If you like FPS, you should at least try it. | video-games_xbox |
For Xbox one voice chat, you may need an adapter. Very comfortable fit, padded headband made them comfortable even with extended wear.
Ear cushions are very well padded, rest well on my ears.
Headphones came with all cables needed for use with major gaming consoles.
Compatibility:
There is a dongle that you have to plug into your controller. For PS3 and PS4 there shouldn't be any problem using these as wireless headphones. There is a dongle you run into the USB port on the Playstation system, and you use the optical audio port (with a provided cable), and you're in business.
But for Xbox One, whether its completely wireless depends on what you are going to do. If you just want to use it for listening to game audio, then they will be completely wireless and work as described above. But, if you want to use them for voice chat in game, you are going to have connect the headphones to your controller with a wire.
If you want to use voice chat on Xbox one, there is another detail. Check your controller for a phono jack. If it has one, then you are in good shape. But if your Xbox controller has a square plug (not a round one) you are going to have to buy an adapter to be able to do voice chat. This is the adapter you will need: <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Xbox-One-Stereo-Headset-Adapter/dp/B00IAVDOS6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter</a> Its $24.95 at the time of this writing.
I had to buy the adapter, and once I did, it worked great.
The Microphone is on a flexible wire, so you can shape it to fit and work well for you - a nice alternative to a rigid mike which might not have best placement.
Sound directionality was good overall - it was a lot easier to gauge positions of sound cues than through standard tv speakers
Ring dial controls placed on the cans made adjusting volume and equalizer very easy to do, even mid-game. I really liked this design. You can adjust volume on the left ear and equalizer on the right ear. Its a really great idea.
Tested on Destiny and the Division on XBox One, worked great in both. | video-games_xbox |
I ain't drinkin' this kool-aid. This review takes places at 9:00 p.m. on Madden NFL 10 release day (8/14/09). I picked up the game at midnight on said day--yes I'm a nerd--and played two full preseason games (simulated two), 6 regular season games (simulated the rest), and one full off-season rotation. I spent several weeks watching ads, preview videos, interviews, and developer comments about the game. I loved--unequivocally and fervently--Madden NFL 09.
Madden NFL 10... underwhelmed me. It is disappointing. It was overhyped. If the developers took into account comments from fans, then I'm way out of step with what the fans of Madden NFL are looking for in a good football game. On to the points of my review... This is by no means an exhaustive review, since I'm exhausted after wrestling with this *bleep* game.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
Improved visuals and on-field audio were a hyped part of the new Madden. Okey-dokey, where are they? The visuals are the same and, in some spots, not as crisp. To my eye, on a 1080i Samsung 40" LCD, it appears they added some more contrast and livened up some colors. That's it. The animations and player models aren't any better than 09. Many folks seem to think so, but I'd say it's likely wishful thinking. Some of the animations during plays looked better in 09.
The menus are gaudy and remind of me of the transistion from Windows XP Pro with classic menus to Windows Vista. Shiny, colorful, and distracting. The functionality is essentially unchanged from 09, but the navigation and placement of selections is different enough to be confusing for a little while.
The sound and music are the same as Madden 09 in quality. Some different sounds and songs, sure, but no better or worse quality.
GAMEPLAY & FRANCHISE
Here's the biggest letdown of all. The much-touted PRO-TAK system is a sham. Gang tackles? Okay, big deal. Didn't anyone have more than one defender come at them in 09? It's a visual trick that doesn't add to the gameplay at all. If anything, it makes the plays more arcade-like; if you like that, right on brother.
The playcall system isn't as smooth as 09. Each play is assigned to a different button as you scroll through the playbook. It isn't hard to use, it's just not an improvement and hence not a feature to go touting around as such.
The game's default speed is MUCH lower than 09. You can change this in the game's options, but I wonder why a speed setting is even relevant. If it's an NFL simulation, why add an arcade-like setting to play tortoise ball or hyper-ball? Weird.
Ouch... ouch... No training camps, none... nada... You don't progress your players until the end of the year. But wait! The CPU does it for you. How quaint! Go from being able to train as you please in 09 to not at all--awesome!
Injuries are abundant. You can turn down the injury slider to reduce the frequency, but I never had to do that in 09. It seemed to be pretty balanced right out of the box last year. But, hey, we're progressing right? Don't matter that EA has no competition.
Fumbles are frequent and frequently annoying. EA added a new, albeit optional (turn on / off) fight-for-the-fumble button-mashing contest. Even if three of your players and one of the opponent's fall on a fumble, you may lose the ball if you don't press that crazy sequence of buttons properly! Yeah arcade! As an addendum, have fun trying to grab interceptions or control the receiver. It's an exercise in futility. How does a cornerback rated at 88 have three interceptions bounce off his outstretched hands in the same quarter? Just asking...
There's really no change in the trading, free agency, draft, etc--at least in the core way it operates. The presentation is different for the draft and the CPU will sign players with a bit more attention to detail. Shouldn't that have always been present?
There's an annoying quirk that was with us last year that hasn't been remedied. Given all the hyped-up improvements, I'm greatly disappointed these weren't addressed. First, why can't I get a basic, number-displayed total of assets when I'm upgrading the stadium? A simple "here's what you have in the bank and here's what it costs" would be great. Second, where is the owner mode that was in 08? Where did it go? I still can't set ticket, concession, etc prices. Not a big deal, but come on--it's a simple detail.
MISC
This one really sent me rolling. You can download and add in cheats from the "Madden Store" for your franchise. Some of them are one-time "get out of jail free" style cards that heal an injured player or give your players a 10% boost in their stats for a game; others are more long term, like effective scouting for a season. Downloading cheats for Madden is sad in and of itself, but here's the best part: they're NOT free. You have to fork over real, hard-earned cash for them! Isn't that great! Pay $60 for the game and then a few bucks per cheat! RIGHTEOUS!
EA Sports... I love you guys... | video-games_xbox |
Online options make this version worthwhile. Okay, first things first. The gameplay in Tiger Woods PGA Tour doesn't change all that much from year to year, and the 2008 edition is no exception. Sure, there are some new features and more golfers to choose from, but the improvements in gameplay itself might not be worth upgrading if you've already got Tiger 2007. Where this game does come through, however, is in the online options. The ability to play a match online is great, and Gamernet, which allows you to post challenges for other people to attempt and beat, is a lot of fun.
THE GOOD:
-If you're a fan of the franchise you'll enjoy the gameplay in Tiger 2008
-The inclusion of more LPGA golfers is a nice development for female players
-Gameface, when/if it works (the site seems to be unstable and many people haven't been able to make it work), allows you to use a picture of yourself to customize your golfer's face!
-online options are great, and the Gamernet challenges should appeal to people seeking producer points for posting difficult challenges, and those who want to earn player points by beating or "busting" those challenges.
THE BAD:
-New features are, for the most part, good, but Tiger Woods '08 is still basically the same game. Some more innovation would be nice.
-Gameface doesn't work very well for a lot of people, and I've found Gamernet to be pretty buggy as well. You can only have 3 clips up at a time, and taking down your old challenges so you can post new ones can be frustrating. EA seems to offer little to no support for anything related to the online portion of the game.
-The game is STILL buggy. EA released an update that fixed a bug preventing the Tiger Challenge from being completed, but the game still freezes up at times and some of the animations don't work. I've played entire rounds where my opponent didn't have a ball--he was just swinging at the ground and launching nothing into the air.
Overall, Tiger Woods 2008 is probably worth picking up if you don't own any of the recent titles. If you're thinking of upgrading from '07, however, you might want to rent this one first and see if the new stuff is really worth the price of a new game. Personally, if it weren't for the online aspect of the game I'd recommend buying '07 and saving the money, but if you like to play online this one might be worthwhile. | video-games_xbox |
redone cutscenes look great and its the same story we all played years . Having played Gears of war since the first one when i got an xbox in 2007 I have seen the series up's and downs (Gears 2). Having heard about this game I was so psyched to get to play most played game on xbox again on xbox one, it has only taken me 3 days to realise what a mistake I have made.
Story mode is same as always, redone cutscenes look great and its the same story we all played years ago. Despite the single player being good it is comparatively short, where this game shines is its multiplayer; oh dear.
What can I say about this multiplayer, having played across 4 of the previous games extensively this is one of the worst online experiences I have ever had on xbox live. If you have any competitive side at all the online will be hell, the shotgun online - the staple weapon which made the series so much fun is one of the most random gun's you will ever experience in a video game. Players will eat lead and moments later snipe you from miles away despite yourself having a clean low ping connection to servers. This doesn't happen rarely, this is almost every death. The fact they had a beta and is a remake and still managed to balls this up is heart breaking. Much like the halo series remake it is a clear cash grab to fans where development was rushed in order to get it out the door for the planned release window so they could move onto Gears 4. When a game is so fundamentally this broken with damage inconsistencies online it is clear patch's will not be able to fix what is a mess in the core of the game that even the original didn't experience somehow. Now I'm stuck with a digital copy gutted knowing I can't get my money back and I have now got dead game on my hard drive.
If you want to play for the single player go ahead its a great (but short) blast for 6-8 hours but if you play for the multiplayer do not even bother even if your a hardcore fan and it really is a shame to say this.
Well back to backwards compatibility for me. | video-games_xbox |
Two Worlds V.2 worth the wait. I will admit I was one of the few who did not absolutely hate the first Two Worlds. Yes it had problems but the core for a great game was there and the world was huge. Well pretty much all that remains of the original is the core and it is hardly recognizable. The world is absolutely gigantic. I spent the first twelve hours on the first three islands which are smaller than a few others and they keep you busy by sheer size. Each island has a different culture and architecture scheme from Middle Eastern/Persian to Asian/Japanese to forest island to Old European/typical D&D landscapes. I am amazed at the amount of detail to each city, village and individual building inside and out.
Having split the different worlds between islands was a smart move as it definitely gives a big world feel with a sea dividing the regions rather than having the different cultures packed together on the same land mass. There is music that culturally fits each region.
I cannot comment on the magic unfortunately because I am all warrior:) The main draw to this game is supposed to be its massive magic system and effects. I level up on armor and fighting styles but after I get settled and start to roam this massive world I think I will go hunting to level and try my hand at some magic.
The combat is loads of fun. Alot of weapons. All sorts of colorful and varying armor. Character animations are great. Slight rag doll physic to death blows. Enemy AI is about as good as Oblivion was..but Oblivion is in a class of its own.
Graphics. A new engine has done wonders. Trees, grass, sky, buildings all look incredible. Draw distance is superb. Character animations are good. Lighting and shadows are excellent. A few glitches here and there that I am sure will be complained about but hardly noticeable when taking into account the size of this world and how it can all look this nice.
Voice. Many will find fault here. There is incredible improvement over the last. The guy sounds like Bale in Batman. This is not a story driven RPG ala Dragon Age or Mass Effect. This is an open world RPG and the voice acting is more than sufficient.
I could go on for a while more about how much I really like this game. Easily my favorite RPG to date. I recommend this on easily to anyone who liked Oblivion. It is not perfect but it is far from flawed. | video-games_xbox |
Could Have Been So Much Better. I would usually set my review telling you why to buy it,but let's face it if you are A Old School Wrestling Fan chances are you are already getting this Games. So,for the rest of the undecided here are the best reasons-Relive,Redefine and Rewrite Game modes as well as Legend Killer are challenging and will provide for some fun Gameplay. The Roster of Legends are impressive and the Stages are well done as well as the mini movies in between the Game Modes. One of the best additions to this game is the abilitie to import your SVR Created Characters and some current WWE Superstars. Also,giving created characters attributes is A lot simpler.
However,I'm afraid (if you noticed) I didn't mention Gameplay. That's because the best I can describe it as A broken Arcade circa 1987-type control. If you think for one hot second that this game will have the exact same controls as Smackdown VS. Raw you are very sadly mistaken. Let's start off with the most frustrating things in the game to do-Blocking! You have to hold back against your opponent and press Y,A lot of the time it's unresponsive and when you face another direction you're never quite sure which direction to hold back. This leads to the opponent weakening you enough even if you're dominating and eventually knocking you down and getting A cheap pin and winning the match! It took me A Week to figure out how to Irish Whip someone and even longer to figure out how to get A weapon. This game I swear to you is out to get you at every turn and too bad because the presentation is spot on.
So,it's like giving A wax to wrecked Car. Why?I can not understand why they did not go with the SVR control scheme. It would of make the game perfect,but as it is it's not the best-far from it. It's A game you'll find in A bargain bin A couple of years from now unused for twenty Dollars and few copies of that will sell. It's A grave disappointment and one that if the sequel does not address it will truly be the end of this Franchise. But just going on the merits of this game alone I don't think anybody will feel bad to see it go away forever. | video-games_xbox |
Wish I didn't hesitate. Close friend received this game as a gift and told me to pick it up. Coming from someone who had bf3 + premium opening day I decided to give best buy $35 for this game. I hesitated in purchasing the game due to all the negative reviews. But saw a glimmer of hope in the latest patch and decided to put my gift card to good use.
First, I expect a lot of down votes but I need to put this out there...Read the packaging/back of the game- it says right on the game that you need a hard drive to play, further more, the back reads the following, "hard drive sold separately for xbox 360 4g, and original xbox 360 arcade, core consoles." So don't blame anyone but yourself for not reading the packaging before cracking out the game...I for one appreciate the extra downloading for a better core game experience. Especially if you download maps, I think I have ~30 g of space tied up with bf3. Don't down vote the game, call amazon and complain so that they may update the description of the game. DICE continues to support their games for multiple years.
Game is fluid on a very old console- and it performs really tight. The controls differ a little from bf3 but sometimes change is good. The matches are up to 24 players and have dedicated servers (super nice and little lag)...can't imagine the 64 player matches like the One has, but it's fun...I'd stick to the mode 'Rush' since it's forces you a certain direction thru the map, it keeps things hot and tight- but that's my opinion.
Pick this game up used if you'd like, no authentic online code required for this installment (yay!)
I reduce one start with the 'party feature' that is missing in this game (what the..?). Check it out, you won't be disappointed.
EDIT #1 I have now found out how to party with friends. Have a buddy join a server first, and then all you do is click in their name via battlelog in the upper right corner of the screen. Easy. | video-games_xbox |
Great Sound, but Set up is OK. I needed a new headset and had heard good things about the SLYR. I have used Skullcandy headsets for gaming before and they all have great sound. This one is no exception. It has 3 presets that go from bassy to precise. I played Gears Judgment and COD BOPs 2 and was pleased with the range of sound. Footsteps were clear, shells hitting the ground were crisp, and fire in the distance was distinct. I must also explain that I played with these connected through a turtle beach dss Dolby decoder (dss1), but these are the 4th headset I have used in the same setup and these sound the best. They aren't top of the line, but for the money, they're hard to beat.
As far as comfort, they sit on ear...don't like it, but it's not uncomfortable. It takes time to get used to it though, especially when you are used to over ear.
The main draw back is the lack of connection options out of box. It only has RCA L and R connections. I had to rummage around for an adapter to 3.5 mm jack for my set up. The Xbox voice chat cord included sucks. It kept popping and clicking, so I switched with one of my many turtle beach cords...much better quality. You can also disconnect the headset at the mixer and use it like headphones. The cord is plenty long for that, but too long for using with the mixer. It puts the controls near one's ankles, so I'll need a new short cord for Xbox play.
To summarize: sound is great, comfort is good, but cords are few and some are poor. If you are as picky as me you will buy a few cords if you don't already have extras about. I would recommend these, even for the hassle. Once you are setup, you're set and the sound is worth it.
UPDATE 2-27-14
I have used this headset for several months now and like it more than ever. I have also purchased an Xbox One and have used this same setup. Once Microsoft releases the Dolby update and the adapter for chat, this headset will be hard to beat. The extra nice thing about this headset versus a Turtlebeach, is this one has a cord that detaches from the in-line mixer. You can then plug it straight into the stereo chat adapter for stereo audio and chat with no wires to the console. You can't do that with headsets that have a fixed cable like most Turtlebeaches. So, with the Xbox One I have more choices than ever. As a side note, out of the box, this headset will not connect to the back of an Xbox One; but, like I said, it can connect to the chat adapter.
All things considered, this headset is fantastic! With the DD decoder box hooked to this set I can hear everything: footsteps, reloads, etc. It really gives you the advantage. I highly recommend it! | video-games_xbox |
Best Pirate-Ninja Game Ever. Have you ever wanted to be a Pirate with Ninja Skills? Look no further! Assassin's Creed Black Flag is the best Pirate game of all time!
Story: 10/10
You are Edward Kenway, a privateer who looks for easy riches as he steals the identity of a Royal Messenger and gets drawn into the war between Assassins and Templars and the world of piracy on the high seas. Throughout the adventure, you meet famed pirates like Blackbeard, Black Bart, Charles Vane, and others as you assemble your crew and sail into the pages of history. The story is well told through in game cinematics featuring great dialogue, memorable characters, and interesting plot twists.
Gameplay: 10/10
The Single Player Gameplay of Assassin's Creed Black Flag is broken up into 6 major parts: Simple Stealth, Assassinating, Ship Battles, Diving, Harpooning, and Fleet Management.
The Stealth is incredibly easy, but the variety of options available to you prevents the game from being boring. Many of the missions require you to follow enemies, hide out in one place and eavesdrop, sneak up on a victim and kill them, infiltrate a warehouse and steal the goods, or follow other characters to a secret lair. You can hide in bushes, hide in trees, on rooftops, behind objects, blend into crowds by standing near others. The only way to get caught is if you stand out in the open for a long period of time or attack someone in the open. While you are hiding, you're free to knock out or kill enemies in your path and loot them for cash and supplies.
Assassinating an enemy is also easy. Hide near them and kill them with a sword, a hidden blade, or even a blow dart. If you're caught by enemies, the combat is straightforward. Press A to knock an enemy off balance and break their guard, Press or Hold B to parry, Press X to attack with a weapon combo, and press Y to use a special weapon: Pirate gun, blow dart, smoke bomb, etc. If you're having trouble, button prompts appear onscreen to tell you what to do. If you know how to play, the combat is also very easy.
The Ship Battles in the game are amazingly good and it builds on the Ship Combat introduced in Assassin's Creed III. Your ship has armor, side cannons, exploding barrels that can be dropped from behind, chain shot fired from the front, mortars, and a special ram dash. All of these things can be upgraded multiple times. Hunting down a ship is easy. Look through your telescope and you'll see how powerful the enemy ship is and what it is carrying. When you see one that you want, you attack it.
For most of your ship's weapons, the Left Trigger Aims and the Right Trigger Fires. The weapon that you fire determines where you are looking. If an enemy ship is in front of you and you are looking that way, you fire your chain guns from the front. If they're on the sides, you fire your broadside cannons. If they are behind you and you are looking back at them, you drop explosive barrels into the sea. Once you damage an enemy ship, you can press Y to fire swivel guns for additional damage. They auto aim, so you just have to press and hold the Y button. When enemies fire, you hold X and your crew braces themselves to take less damage. At times, you may have to fight 5 enemy ships at a time. If you know what you're doing, the battles are really fun! The weather also affects the battle. More wind leads to larger waves and they'll affect your aim. If the waves are high enough, they even block your cannonballs. When you deplete the health bar of an enemy ship, they are capsized and from there you have two options.
Attack it or ram it again to sink it. You get half the loot and some additional crew members you fish out of the ocean. Or, you can board it. Hold the X button and your crew throws grappling hooks to bring the ships closer together. While this is happening, you can man a swivel gun and take 5 shots to weaken the enemy forces. The larger the enemy ship, the more difficult it is to capture. You may have to kill 5, 10, 15, or 20 enemies. You may have to climb the main mast and cut down their flag. You may have to detonate some powder kegs, kill the Captain, kill a few officers, or climb a mast and kill their musket scouts. When you board, the combat is just like it is on land. Use combos, guns, smoke bombs, etc. to kill the enemies. Once you complete the objectives, the enemy surrenders.
When you take control of their ship, you have 3 options: You can salvage what you can from it and sink it to instantly repair your ship. You can spare their miserable lives and reset your "Wanted Level." Attacking ships raises your wanted level over time, the higher it gets, the game spawns more powerful hunter ships to come after you, so it's a good move if you don't want to be bothered. OR you can add the ship to your fleet and perform simple mini-games to collect more cash over time.
At certain points on the map, you see a shipwreck. You can use a diving bell and explore the ruins. Return to the diving bells for air when you start to run out of breath as you explore. If you're lucky, you find special plans that allow you to unlock the highest upgrades for your ship. However, guarding the treasure are sharks, eels, jellyfish, rays, and urchins. If you are in the open for an extended amount of time, a shark will attack. You can hide from the sharks in the ruins or in beds of seaweed. But you can't hide for too long because you will run out of air. If you die, you keep what you found and can return to your ship at any time. Because this isn't overly punishing, it's kind of fun.
Harpooning is easy and fun. You can upgrade some of your gear by obtaining 2 great white shark skins, 2 killer whale skins, etc. To kill them, you head to a shark or whale icon on the map. You begin in a small boat with a certain number of harpoons and you see your prey. As it swims near the surface, you hit the creature with a harpoon which is connected to your boat by a rope. When the barbed harpoon hits your target, it pulls the small whaling boat through the water. While the creature is pulling the boat, you can hit it with more non-roped harpoons to deliver extra damage. After a certain amount of time, the rope breaks and the creature charges your boat. If you hit it with a harpoon as it charges, it will turn away. If not, your boat takes damage and if it takes too much, it sinks. You aim your harpoons with the analog stick and hold one button down to ready your throw. As you ready your throw, your aim becomes more accurate and damaging. When the creature takes enough damage, it dies and it's hauled up to your ship.
The game also has a Fleet Management Minigame, using the ships that you capture. You see trade routes, difficulties, and a percentage of surviving the mission. You can send ships on the routes for cash, or use your heavily armed ships to attack enemy ships on the routes, making them safer for your weaker ships. The battles are simple tactical battles. You pick 1-3 of your ships to fight the enemy. Your first pick gets a speed boost, your second does more damage, and your last gets an armor boost. Once the battle begins, all of the ships auto attack based on their speed. The AI on both sides pick their targets and once the battle starts, the only thing you can do to control it is to drop a barrel bomb on a random enemy ship. Your bombs are damaging, but limited. If you pick tougher ships than your enemy, you should win easily. The trade route missions are passive and take minutes to long hours to finish. When the mission timer expires, you are awarded a bunch of cash.
Upgrades: 8/10
The Upgrade Systems are similar to FarCry 3. Hunt 2 specific animals and you get your upgrade. You can improve the damage and carrying capacity for your special weapons. If you don't want to hunt, you can buy the skins at a high price from a trader. For example, you may need to jaguar skins to upgrade your health max. So, you go to the jungle and kill, then skin 2 cats. Go to your upgrade menu and select the upgrade to improve your max health bar. It's that simple. Also, there are different ways to upgrade your health bar and you don't have to do them in order. Each Health Upgrade or Ammo Upgrade can be accomplished independently of others. So, you can complete Health Upgrade 3 before you do 1 and 2 if you have the necessary components.
You can also upgrade your outfits, your swords, and pistols. It's really easy to get the "best gun" and "best swords" about a third of the way into the game. But you'll be spending most of your pilfered loot on ship upgrades. In order to upgrade your ship, you'll need cash and supplies like wood, metal, and cloth. You get these supplies by raiding other ships, which is Great Fun! The beauty of the upgrade systems in AC Black Flag is that every action you perform usually rewards you in some way. All of the missions give you cash, piracy gives you cash and supplies, hunting gives you cash and animal parts, and exploring the city will get you cash and more pirate songs for your crew. If you don't feel like hunting or whaling, it's ok, you can take your cash and buy the skins that you need for upgrades. This allows you to focus on the parts of the game that you enjoy the most. Also, some of your accomplishments in Single Player unlock cosmetic items in Multi-Player, so you're constantly being rewarded for playing.
The World: 10/10
It's incredibly easy to get anywhere you want in Assassin's Creed Black Flag. If you capture any fort or have been to a location, you may fast travel there. If you are on shore and want to insta-travel back to your ship, just find a rowboat along the shore and press B. You can also fast travel to any synchronized tower on land, too. The islands are also fairly small and the naval objectives are easy to get to, so you never have to travel for a long time. When you are sailing at top speed, the camera pulls back and your crew sings famous pirate songs called shanties. You collect these in towns as pages blowing on the wind. If you catch one, your crew learns the song and sings it when you sail.
Graphics: 10/10
The world is beautifully rendered and who doesn't want to look at the Caribbean Islands all day? The characters look great and animate fluidly. The serene beaches, stormy seas, and lush jungles also add a great deal to the atmosphere of the game.
Sound: 10/10
The dialogue is well acted, the background music adds to the intensity of the game, and the battle effects really make the combat feel alive.
Multiplayer: 10/10
Assassin's Creed Multiplayer is back and they've added a Game Lab, where you can play designer and create your own multiplayer games with their own parameters and release it to the public! There are also a ton of unlockables, perks, upgradeable abilities, and the game modes have all been polished! The basic gist of the game is to blend into crowds and assassinate other characters, while you avoid being assassinated yourself! The quality of your kills is more important than the number of your kills.
Replay Value: 10/10
You can blow through the campaign in about 20 hours, or 50 if you want to fully upgrade everything and have fun with all of the side missions and activities. If you like Multiplayer, there's another 100 hours of fun there, too!
Maturity: M
There's swearing, piracy, drinking, wenches, adult themes, and pirate violence. This isn't for kids, but it doesn't have anything horrifying or gory that will scar you for life either.
Overall: 10/10
Although it's very easy, Assassin's Creed Black Flag is a Great Game. It's fun to play through the adventure and you feel great doing it! The story, characters, gameplay, upgrade system, and mini-games are all really easy to learn and reward you instead of punishing you. With an arsenal of assassin's tools at your disposal, it's up to you how you complete the objectives. The game is also full of small perks that make you happy. Did you know that your crew cheers when you take the wheel? There's nothing quite like a crew of maniacs cheering and singing for their captain as you plunder the high seas. The collectibles also tie back into your upgrades, too. So, no matter what you do, it feels like you are progressing through the game! If you ever wanted to be a pirate, you'll love this game! | video-games_xbox |
Phenomenal Game. This game is awesome! It is by far my favorite RPG since KOTOR. I don't think I've ever been as immersed into the world of a game as I have been in this one. One of the biggest complaints I've heard about this game is the combat, and how it doesn't stand up to the action of a Halo or COD. If you want an action shooter, play those! This is not an action shooter. The best thing I can say about the combat in this game is that, unlike all the RPG's I've played since KOTOR(Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Dragon Age) the combat doesn't detract from the overall experience. The combat isn't a selling point or a reason to play the game in itself, but, unlike those other RPG's, I don't cringe whenever combat comes up because it isn't frustrating or a pain in the butt. You have two choices for combat: you can use the traditional RPG turn-based combat with VATS mode, in which you freeze the game to target specific body parts on specific targets and then watch the fun gratuitous gore in slo-mo as you kick butt, or you can just try to aim the cross-hairs in real time and pull the trigger as fast as possible. Depending upon the situation, both can be very effective. But, in the end, this is an RPG, and you don't play this for action, you play it for the story, the choices, the character interactions, and to be immersed in a whole new world. And wow, the world of Fallout 3 is awesome! Set in a lawless, post-nuclear apocalypse wasteland, your character can be as bad or good as you can imagine. The game is laced with a great dark sense of humor, and some of the evil things your character can do are so over-the-top its just ridiculous, but to the point where its incredibly creative and entertaining in the process. That said, you can also do dark and terrible things that will make you feel dirty. I like to save like crazy so that I can try out multiple choices in each scenario, to find out a) which is more entertaining and b) which one I actually feel is the right one for my character and how I want them to progress in the game. I've logged in over 60 hours of gameplay and I'm still not even close to finished with the main quest, let alone the 5 expansions that come on the second disc of the game of the year edition, so the bang for your buck here is unbelievable for a single-player game. I have heard that you can fly through it quickly if you focus just on the main quest, but I've barely touched that since my interest is in exploring the world and seeing all there is to see and do. One of the coolest things about this game is that for every 3-4 hour gaming session I put in, I always seem to stumble across something awesome, whether it is a strange settlement, a weird new character, gaining a new skill or ability or weapon, etc. Sure, the world is so huge that I can easily spend an hour or two wandering aimlessly, but it always seems to pay-off. My one gripe about the game would be how much of the time is spent searching through loot and managing inventory, it's probably taken up about 60% of my game time, but aside from that it's just awesome. So, in conclusion, I would highly recommend this game to any fans of RPG's, especially those who have a dark sense of humor or an appreciation for the odd or the absurd. | video-games_xbox |
Better than previous entries in the series, still has room for improvement. So many crazy weapon combinations along with some ridiculous outfits while dismembering hundreds of zombies in the devastated city of Los Perdidos results in one incredibly fun game that brings much needed improvements from previous games in the series while still lacking some refinements that would've made it an amazing game. The loading times unexpectedly long but once you get to the game you can start having fun right away.
While the graphics are not any indication of the power of next generation consoles, it does represent a great technical achievement that you'll notice when you smash through hundreds of zombies on the screen riding a steamroller that spits fire (which sometimes lowers the frame rate that makes you wonder about the X1's capabilities). Yeah, it's as amazing as you are imagining right now.
The world is many times larger than Dead Rising's 1 mall and Dead Rising's 2 post-apocalypse Las Vegas but still not as big and beautiful as GTA V's incredible open world.
I've yet to find all the blueprints for the weapon combinations but from what I've played, in addition to all the previews I've seen. We're in for some crazy zombie killing spree. A teddy bear with an automated machine gun, pogo sticks, chainsaws, you name it. Few games that show off all their weapon creation features reach the heights of Dead Rising's possibilities. Even more with the Super Weapons you can get by combining two or more previously crafted weapons.
The controls is where this game falls short. It's all good and fun when you're in the middle of the zombie horde; a swing of your weapon or two can clear a path for you to run to safety. The imprecise controls will end in very frustrating boss fights that require a little more precise fighting controls.
The story is full of clichd characters and your typical hero trying to escape the city. Nothing groundbreaking in the story that you'll care very little about Nick Ramos' story and focus more on killing and dismembering the undead and every once in a while think "Oh, yeah, there's a story to this game"
Some characters might join you in the fight against the zombies and opposed to previous games were the main focus was to save extra characters to complete the missions. This game is all about your killing spree racking up points and leveling up your character. If you're playing on normal, the frustrating time limits are gone, giving you more freedom to complete missions. Some players might like this, some won't it's up to you. If you're more hardcore and like the sometimes maddening challenge, you can play on Nightmare mode for that.
Overall I think it's one of the better games of the Xbox One launch lineup. It's definitely fun so you won't regret it. As with both consoles, we're gonna have to wait a few months until the good games come out. | video-games_xbox |
Well done redo. After a little worry about reliability, I took the plunge Yesterday 6/18/2010. I had read horror stories about heat and DOA units. I'm proud and happy to say I had niether problem with my Shiney new 360S. From the fine styling, to the 3 extra USB ports and the much needed dedicated Optical out (that's right not funny dongle thingy). This console screams quality. I like the fact that it also has a dedicated Kinect port which means you won't need and extra outlet for Kinect when it comes out, like any older 360.
I tested the 360S all day and most of the evening so I could report with some degree of certainity that it runs as quiet, and smoothly as it does. The reported heat problems/??? I don't know, I think its overblown. It might also be people who don't even have it yet or will never have it. there are a lot of very silly people reporting some untrue things. That's all I will say. Yes it gets warm, but no warmer than any other piece of eletronics used for hours at a time. WARM not HOT big difference. Now I have to say this, I'm not placing it inside any type of cabinet or enclosed space, so maybe that makes a difference, but I think any item you would use in that way would get hotter. Now on to to how amazingly quiet it is, I had to put my ear right next to it to hear anything, even then. I so love that compared to my old refurb launch twice replaced unit. My Wii now makes more noise than either my PS3 Slim or my 360S.
The controller is pretty much the same, but somehow I felt it was slightly more accurate, it might be my imagination. There are few things I don't like, I'm using a USB stick for my gamer tag so I can use it between my two 360's the problem with the back USB ports is they are recessed so a slide out type USB stick won't fit the recess. A minor quibble as you can use the two front ports no problem. The other thing I don't like, the DVD tray beeps when you open and close it. No big deal I just don't like it.
Overall though this is a class a system and it is what it should have been from the beggining. I have not tried Wifi wireless N yet, I find wired connection is better in every case. But I will try and add to this review later on when I do try it. I can say as a gamer for many years, over 30. If your thinking about picking one of these up, do not hesitate. It's the best console for gaming no doubts in my mind. We will see on reliability in few years I guess. It seems pretty solid as of now. | video-games_xbox |
An amazing new story, characters, and world. The Good: 30 hours of game play, tons and tons of new content, better story, great new quests, new art style is wonderful
The Bad: After you finish everything you'll want more, feels too much like Oblivion
The answer is yes plus some! I enjoyed Shivering Isles a lot more than Oblivion (not saying I didn't enjoy Oblivion!) and there's just so much here! First off, the story is wonderful, exciting and better than Oblivion's. You enter Shivering Isles via a strange gate just out side the Imperial City. After entering and talking to the people who've apparently gone mad you find the realm's creator, Sheogorath, and help him stop the Greymarch and the Order of the Knights who are trying to destroy his realm. Underneath all this two factions known as Mania and Dementia (basically insane and REALLY insane!) are battling it out. While you help Sheogorath you can change the storyline by deciding which faction to help out and join. This makes you want to play through twice! While Shivering Isles is about 25% the size of Cyrodill you always feel like it's bigger in some ways.
There tons of side quests and lots of main quests to complete with hundreds of new items, tons of new enemies and characters, as well as more dungeons and places to loot. There are three main towns you can do things in, Passwall (which is before you head deeper into the Isles), Crucible (which is the town of Dementia), and Bliss (the town of Mania). You can forge new types of armor using Madness Ores (heavy armor), and/or amber (light armor). Another thing I need to mention is the new art style for Shivering Isles. Everything is twisted and deformed like like an insane person's mind. The new style is great and give the graphics engine a shiny new touch. There's just so much here you'll stay busy for hours and hours and it's well worth your $30. You may not feel that way until you delve deeper into the game but I promise you Shivering Isles is well worth you hard drive space and money. | video-games_xbox |
MASS EFFECT DESERVES BETTER THAN THIS. I'm rating ME3 with one star ,not for the fact that it's a terrible game ,no in fact it's a great game if anything it's a little bit inferior to it's predecessor ,in gameplay ,graphics and voice acting ,though it is still a great and deeply emotional game. But the main reason I'm rating it 1 star ,it's because the conclusion of the story it's just an insult to the thousands of fans who eagerly awaited this moment for a long time. After having invested more than $260 dollars (not including DLCs) on the Collector's editions of ME1 ,ME2 and this one ,as well as hundreds of hours of game play ,just trying to twitch every part of the games to get the most out the story ,after all that I'm extremely disappointed and angry at EA and Bioware ,apparently they decided to reward us loyal fans with one of the worst possible endings you could give to an amazing series like this.
I will keep the 1 star rating until they give me what I was promised, which is complete closure to the full story and an ending worthy of the series. I say "until they give me" because having read Bioware's blog and other info websites, I came to the conclusion that this current ending was probably all part of a marketing experiment from Bioware just to get people talking, according to them they did not want the game to be forgettable (and so far they have succeeded) I read many articles about this ,but one of them specifically caught my attention, when an angry disappointed fan asked them ; "Is that it ,that's all the story for commander Shepard?" they answered ; "Hardest. Day. Ever. Seriously, if you people knew all the stuff we are planning...you'd, we'll - hold onto your copy of me3 forever." "We caaan't say more" Does this mean that they were planning all of it from day one and they are planning to give the complete ending in additional DLC? I think yes. like many of you I'm extremely disgusted with the ending of the game and I think it's not worthy of the series, but I for one will give them a chance to redeem themselves ,I want to see what they hold for us in the next month(s) with the upcoming DLCs if they fail to deliver closure once again ,then this rating will simply stay as it is and will not buy another Bioware tittle again.
Why would I give them a chance at all? Well many people don't know what it takes to make a game like this ,it takes endless hours of work and requires a lot of sacrifices from a whole group of people ,and well they did such an amazing job with the previous 2 games and if they actually do what I'm hoping they will do ,then I'd say that is worth giving them a chance. Many people say ,how is Bioware going to fix the current ending? Well there's a theory circulating around the web that by now a lot of people heard about, that the almost fully identical endings are not the real ones and that supposedly all the events from the last minutes are happening in Shepard's mind ,allegedly he is fighting whether he gets indoctrinated by the Reapers or not (represented by the choices made in the last minutes) and that the supposed continued ending (not changing the current one) will be in either a DLC or an update. Now ,I really have no idea if this if this is true ,but it's what people ,blogs and a few websites are assuming ,though it seems quite reasonable given the facts of the current ending making no sense and Shepard's attitude is questionable. And also, having seen what EA's greediness is capable of (by charging extra for DLC) the pieces seem to fit together and as much as I'd like to say that I will not be paying for extra for DLC ,I think I'd be lying because all I ever want is closure to the story.
I understand that some people would call me a whiner and spoiled because I demand a better ending and closure to the series ,well frankly I don't care what they think, this is how the game made ME feel and I can't help it. It just feels like Bioware rewarded us with a slap in the face for all of our time, money and support ,it feels nothing less than a betrayal. I believe that the conclusion of the story it's probably the most important part in a trilogy like this ,because it should offer complete closure, it's supposed to show you the consequences of your decisions in the 3 games and how they have affected the galaxy ,tell you how things turned out for each race. Not just have 16 tiny variations and one definitive ending with 3 colors, that's just BS, the current ending doesn't offer any kind closure and it's just unfitting for the ME standards ,it seems like a 10 year old wrote it. I don't really know what people who like this ending must be thinking, perhaps they're not as passionate as I am towards the series. Though I seriously doubt that someone who has played the 3 games (and has paid full price for them) will be satisfied with the current ending, if they are ,then they belong to the rare 1%. I've also seen a few internet reviewers that think we are making a big deal out of it ,well of course they don't actually have to pay from their pocket to play the games. We do. They do not have that same sense of loss that the rest of us have and seriously I don't care if someone doesn't like this review because I'm complaining or by my 1 star rating ,you are welcome to put as much negative feedback as you want , it will not change how I feel about the game. I will keep this rating it for as long as it takes until Bioware and EA give me what I paid for and I know that giving one star rating to a game in protest may not seem like much ,but the internet and people united seem to be doing wonders now in days.
Now ,how can I review a collector's edition when I'm this disappointed towards the game itself? well in short I would say that the items you get in the C.E are unique but nothing too special ,2 XBOX avatar items ,there's a nice hoodie for Shepard for when you are not on a mission ,a robo-dog that all it seems to do it's walk around the lower part of the ship ,the alternate look for the squad members is nice but it makes almost no difference in a firefight ,there's also a few unimportant really short missions that are almost detached from the main story ,the art lithograph is OK I guess. Although the N7 patch looks nice ,it has Velcro on one side only so it can only be added it to certain surfaces. I think what I like the most of the C.E is the the steel case, it has that cool holographic color with the pictures of male and female Shepard on each side ,so in my opinion it looks great ,so I'd say that the overall package it's just OK , the ME2 Collector's edition in my opinion was way better and it offered more in game content with better missions. I'd recommend that people should only buy the ME3 collector's edition if you truly are a hardcore fan that must have every item of the game and you have a very optimistic attitude, because after finishing the game you will need all the optimism you can get your hands on. Other wise just rent the game or buy it when they release the DLC/update or the price drops. | video-games_xbox |
Fun Arcade 3rd Person Shooter, with Some Neat Spells. Its very interesting reading various peoples comments on this game, very mixed. The game looks ok, sometimes better than others.
I am playing on easy as I am more interested the first time through just to get the feel of the game and the expierence. Here
are my thoughts so far:
Good:
1)There are some good ideas here, I do like the various spells, world, etc.
2) The destruction is nice, quite a few things can be shot up and destroyed.
3) As you progress there are different zombies or what ever they are, some quite fast, strong and hell bent on killing you and
other wierd creatures.
4) Alica the witch can do some interesting aerobics. Jumping and twisting quite nicely.
5) The spells are fun: Calling ravens to destract, throw pedtels that turn into spikes, push cars,
lighting bolts, and tornatos, a few others I think. And then a few gun elements, like fire bullets, etc.
6) Linear but still some open spaces to run around in.
Bad:
1) The controls are clumsy and hard to manuver spells, etc.
2) It is dated, the graphics, game play, etc.
3) AI is pretty bad, but still playable.
4) Story pretty iffy, but alot of games are that way. Typically I do not by for the story, otherwise, I would by a book.
5) Some parts a litte frustrating, but fun enough to play a few sections over numerous times wihtout
too much frustration, at least on the easier levels.
6) Snipers can take you out with one shot and are very good shots (fun when you can actually see them, possibly zooming in with
the cannon element would help.)
What this game is NOT:
1) A AAA game
2) A simulator of any sort.
3) An RPG
4) Open World
5) Next Gen
6) A "10" game
What the game IS:
1) A fun Arcade shooter (Do people understand what that means)
As an Arcade shooter, it passes as being pretty good and fun. As a Next Gen, AAA title game with tremendous depth it fails. And
even some of the AAA games have serious flaws and glitches.
Final Thoughts:
I would say the game is a mix between Bayonetta, Saints Row and Red Fraction. I do not see how you
would compare it to Gears of War, which I did not like (I liked Fuse better). Someone said about an hour a level, of which there are 6, sounds about right. There is no map is sometimes you will run around in circles, but the levels are not huge anyway. Yes, I wish the controls and graphics were better. $60 is too much for the game. $5 is a good price, and what I paid. If you like 3rd person shooters, and can get at
a reasonable price, and realize its a fun arcade game, not a AAA game, then give it a try.
Update: Finished on Easy mode, starting on Normal mode, with all my wepons second time around.
My review stands its still alot of fun, in fact more so now on the second go through. A few more zombies and snipers so far, nothing too difficult. People complain about the AI, but zombies are suppose to be stupid. The final stage is a bit of
a grind, but I made it through the final scene without dying. It stands as a very good "B" arcade game. Its too bad it was given so many bad reviews. At $60 it may be a little disappointing, but at $20 or less very worthwhile. | video-games_xbox |
This game is fundamentally broken, do not buy. Before you automatically thumb this down, read up, because this game is broken on a base level.
I love Full Spectrum Warrior. It's one of my favorite tactics games ever. Ten Hammers would have beaten it but the mechanics have been utterly destroyed, and this is caused by one tiny change: Ten Hammers introduces something known as precision fire mode. You basically hold the right trigger (don't know what the key is for the PC), which then brings up a reticule. You aim it at an enemy, wait for a red dot to appear, and fire. This gives you a bit more of a "hands on" feel to the fighting and allows you to kill enemies behind cover using some skill, but it also makes you vulnerable for a short period.
And here's where the problem arises: in the first game, each of the team's abilities (M203 grenade launcher, suppression fire) were able to be done from the team leader's (TL) perspective. You gave him the order, then the respective soldier with the desired ability stepped out and did their thing. In this game, if you wish to use a specific ability, you must manually switch to the soldier and use precision fire to launch a grenade or suppress. This is all well and good, until you enter corner cover (which is by far the most common type). Then both the grenadier and the assault rifleman line up behind the TL who is the only one who's able to peek around the corner. So switching to the relevant soldier and holding the trigger brings up the reticule......which aims it directly at the wall. There is no way to move them to the corner to be able to aim and utilize their particular skill.
Needless to say, this completely breaks the game because two of your soldiers are effectively rendered unusable in the most common type of cover. I have tried every conceivable way to be able to use the M203 (and at times suppression fire.....sometimes it's possible, other times it's not) from behind corner cover to no avail. Now I've seen some questionable design decisions in games before, but it is inconceivable to me how this was missed for a game like this. It's like if Mario was made and they forgot to add the ability to jump. The name of the game is tactics. This flaw removes the ability to implement them.
I still think it's something I'm missing, but I've gone through the tutorial, have scrutinized walkthroughs on Gamefaqs, asked everywhere, have watched videos, and I've not seen it done once. It's not there. Which is a shame, as the rest of the game is great and there's many good additions on the first. But in the end, this game is broken and you've been warned: do not bother.
If someone wishes to tell me in the comments something that I don't know, I'm all ears. | video-games_xbox |
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