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An Honest Halo 4 Review (From a Gamer's Perspective. This is a review after having played the game for about 7 months.
Campaign
The big thing about this game was renewing the master chief's story for the halo franchise. Halo 3 ended with a cliffhanger and it only seemed right to continue off of that in order to create a new game. I personally enjoyed the campaign. The connections between the main characters (Master Chief and Cortana) were great, the enemies (Prometheans and Storm Covenant) were well used in order to create a balanced difficulty, and the weapons were fun to use as well. I didn't really enjoy the length of the game. I was really hoping for something around the 8-9 hour range, but that just didn't happen. Overall, I'd give the campaign a 4/5 St*rs. I personally enjoyed the previous halo campaigns(including Reach and ODST) better, but I still recommend trying out Halo 4's campaign.
Spartan Ops
Now I think the main reason the campaign was so short was because 343 put so much time into Spartan Ops. Now I can't really say I enjoyed it too much. MINOR SPOILER: The story of these missions mainly revolves around the abrasive female Spartan Palmer barking out commands to your squad Crimson team. The majority of the dialogue involves Palmer making fun of scientists and calling other Spartans ladies. The combat is pretty stale as it is just you and your team trekking to various locations (Some of them from the campaign!) and fighting against hordes of enemies. And by hordes, I truly mean hordes! Even with teammates the number of enemies will be very difficult to defeat. On many occasions, you will have just finished taking out a group of Prometheans and a few seconds later, unannounced, another group will spawn directly behind you, destroying you instantly. The placement of the enemies is extremely unforgiving at times and really doesn't give you a fighting chance to succeed. Rather than give you skilled enemies, 343 just decided to throw bunches at you with stronger shields. Spartan Ops really doesn't add much to the story and is purely meant to act as a story-based replacement for firefight (from Reach and ODST). The CGI scenes are really not that great and Spartan Ops was a big disappointment for me. I liked the idea of episodic fresh content, even after the release of the game, but really, the campaign and Spartan Ops as a whole seemed rushed and didn't do as well as I would have hoped. All in all, I give Spartan Ops a 2/5 st*rs.
Multiplayer
Now for multiplayer, 343 took some different steps in order to make it seem fresh. The big difference between Halo 4 and previous games was the use of customizable load-outs. The game has taken a few pointers from Call of Duty and has allowed for complete custom weapon loadouts in some multiplayer playlists. This hasn't really been much of a problem. In fact, I think it helped to expand the game a bit more. There have also been a few other additions like newer weapons (Promethean), personal ordinance (which allows you to spawn instant weapons or upgrades), and non armor-ability sprint. Al of these are decent additions, but the big thing that has been plaguing multiplayer, as of recently, has been the poor map selections in multiplayer matchmaking. More specifically, infinity slayer and big team slayer. At the beginning of Halo 4 these two playlists did not have any PRO SLAYER or Community maps. Ever since, I believe May, these two things have been consistently the majority of the options for choosing a game.
Today, you will rarely see an infinity slayer match with non-community maps. The problem with community maps is that they are all pretty much similar to each other, are small, and are all open. By being so small, you cannot get any distance from your opponents and you will constantly be swarmed by double team attacks. And by being so open, grenade kills are more encouraged and easier than before. Making it even easier to be killed. And then there are the dreaded "PRO" Slayer matches.
The big thing with pro slayer that is bad is that it is basically SWAT with shields. You can't choose your own loadouts, you have no motion sensors, and personal ordinance is not available. And with this, matches are more stale and are even more difficult. I personally don't enjoy these as much as I like to have all of my abilities available. The big thing with Pro is that it is more MLG related, which seems to be the majority of the current population of Halo 4 gamers right now. Also, MLG has a decent impact on the decisions that 343 makes for multiplayer. MLG isn't the only one. Other gaming leagues have an impact on matchmaking as well and because they all enjoy pro so much, 343 has decided to make the mathchmaking to their desires which ruins it for casual gamers, like me, who enjoy more fun, non-competitive, matches. Pro slayer also is a problem in Big Team Slayer which makes vehicles more powerful when the loadouts do not give you much help against them. There is only one loadout (the one with the carbine) that has a plasma pistol (which is the only gun that can stun s vehicle) and even then, no loadouts have plasma grenades (which are extremely effective against vehicles). And without radar, you can easily get run over by a ghost because even just listening for one can be difficult when there is so much going on in Big Team Slayer.
Point is that matchmaking has been drastically changed compared to what it once was at the beginning of Halo 4 and has made it so much less enjoyable than what it once was.
I give it 2/5 st*rs. It used to be good, but now that most of the casual gamers have moved on to different games, 343 now only listens to the majority, "pro" gamers.
Overall this game gets 2/5 st*rs. You can enjoy this game for the campaign, but not for spartan ops or the multiplayer. You can only enjoy multiplayer if you do a custom match with friends, but aside from that there really isn't much to enjoy. | video-games_xbox |
Not all imitation can be flattering. Part of the first quarter of the year is filled with massive games that nearly everyone's going to buy with stuff like Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, God of War 3 or Final Fantasy XIII to be sure fire purchases for many gamers, there's the occasional in-between title that will act as a sort-of side game to work on when you aren't busy with another game. So this week we have to highly anticipated Bioshock 2 coming out at the same time as this game, an action title developed by Visceral Games, same dev team who made Dead Space, the Simpsons game and the Godfather game. How does the title stack up? Not well considering it's sort of sandwiched between 2 games: the smooth-as-silk combat found in Bayonetta and the PS3 mammoth that is God of War 3 and playing through Dante's Inferno made me realize how much I miss Bayonetta as this game personally doesn't feel polished or the least bit fun as so many annoyances bother me. Ever play a game that gets compared to another one but you realize the original was better just because of how better it felt compared to the other one? That's what Dante's Inferno was to me; a game that is inspired in places yet a game that stumbles way more times than it should.
Story: Taking inspiration from the first book, "Inferno" by Dante Aligheri as part of his "Divine Comedy" poem, you control Dante, a warrior in the Crusades who comes across his dead wife, Beatrice only to have her soul spirited away by Lucifer right to the depths of Hell. So with the help of a huge scythe taken by Death himself, Dante literallys goes through Hell in order to save his beloved. Here's where it gets interesting: the story in this game is actually well told and the cinematics are quite cool so unlike Bayonetta where the story was secondary to the combat, here it's the reverse: I kind of lamented that I had to play the game itself in order to see the story unfold. I'd rather watch someone else play this one.
Graphics: Dante's Inferno is, no pun intended, cursed and blessed with the subject matter as the art team can go to town on the enemy designs and there's some stuff that makes me wonder the mental stability of the individual. I'll just say one thing: scythe for arms on a baby that crawl out of a nipple. I'll leave it at that, rest you have to discover for yourself. Clearly the game goes crazy with the designs and there's some messed up stuff. However this also means that the game gets unbelievably same-y after awhile and there's only so many shades of dark red, brown and grey that it becomes slightly monotone; hell even some enemies can fade into the background given the right kind of shade. Framerate issues are practically non-existant and like I said, the mixture of rendered cinematics and the weird animation look great but the look of the game just feels so bland.
Sound/Music: What you'd expect from a game inspired by Hell: slashes, screams, belches and farts of all things and unearthly roars populate the sound mix but when there's one sound I love: when you press RT near an enemy, you have an option to Absolve (save) or Punish (condemn) and picking the absolve option, one move is where you do a "mash B" event where you inch your cross closer to their face but once you win the event you hit their face with such a satisfying slam effect that it might listening to the overbearing soundtrack filled with "epic" choir and bombastic music more tolerable. Voice acting though is quite well-done and well the occasional line is spotty, I didn't find it too be an embarassing voice acting job.
Gameplay: In my review I believe for Bayonetta I mentioned that there's some combat systems you button mash and some you have to learn in order to really exceed. Well I button mash this one with the occasional block and unfortunately the combat was the first thing wrong I noticed with the game. First of all I find the controls at times to be unreliable or unresponsive as holding Block when I wanted to actually block the attack resulted in a hit anyway and just pressing A didn't result in a jump since it was like I almost had to actually press it more than once just to get him to actually do the move. In a game where timing and keeping an eye on the battlefield is crucial, I find it poor that I can't do a certain move whenever I need to and certain encounters were literally infuriating because dodging resulted in a hit anyway and enemies that do the background blend mentioned above got a hit on me before I even realized they were going to attack. One cool thing about the combat is in regards to the holy/unholy options for move purchasing with unholy favoring outright power moves while holy favors buffs such as heightened attack power or health upgrades. What this means however is you either have playthrough 1 doing unholy only which doesn't have the health upgrades and buffs of holy or vice versa or you have playthrough 1 being half and half where you don't have any of the larger upgrades of the higher tier.
Dante's Inferno in terms of other features are just as poorly implemented like puzzles that are either too easy or too vague that you feel like "how do you solve this anyway?". There's some platforming parts that are literally timed and you have to run your ass off only to not actually know how to get through it and one part, the chains you're swinging along Uncharted-style catch on fire where you not only have to jump before the fire reaches your hand but also time your jump so it passes by the occasional flame burst. Oh and occasionally you run into a lost soul that you can either punish or absolve and these are people like Elektra or Pontius Pilate so let's say you want holy points and well you play a little mini-game where dragonballs (cause that's what they look like to me) float towards a display of the face buttons and you have to time it so that you press the button as it reaches the icon. Basically a PaRappa the Rapper-type minigame but it's incredibly flow-breaking, it's boring however getting an upgrade that automatically does it doesn't give you as much points so you're almost encourage to play it. A late-game gauntlet of challenges of the "kill x amount of enemies or kill enemies in mid-air" variety make it poorly placed. At least Darksiders had it to brighten up the exploration, here it feels like "but we don't want you to beat the game yet! Hm...I know! We'll have them play little arena matches!"
Last month a game came out called Army of Two: 40th Day which was either a cool game for some but for many others it was just "eh, I've played better". This to me embodies this game: sure it's occasionally fun and I really enjoyed the story...however the more I played, the more complaints I lobbied at it. Do yourself a favor and get Bioshock 2, try out Aliens vs Predator next week but you need your action fix and you're tired of Bayonetta or need a new action fix, go ahead but personally there's other games are better money purchases. | video-games_xbox |
Why So Hard to Play a Game. I constantly think to myself, "Why do you make it so hard for me to play a game?".
Everything about the Xbox is difficult. It's like using an old windows computer packed with garbage software.
Terrible Interface
The massively clunky and laggy interface is extremely difficult and non-intuitive to navigate. Everything takes a second or two to register, including just moving the cursor. The amount of steps it takes to do anything is....obscene. Why does it take me 8 steps to load a game I own? Why does it take me 9 steps to launch Netflix? It's filled with useless menu items that make absolutely no sense, and only serve to get in the way of going to where you need. I'm constantly barraged by ads that ad additional difficult in navigation. The controls to move around are very non-intuitive. The cursor is not very present and makes it difficult to actually see what you are selecting. The list goes on.
The product manager here needs to be bloody fired.
Filled With Garbage
I'm constantly inundated with useless feature and software. They get in the way of doing anything. More over, all of the default software is GARBAGE. They lag, provide dated selections and are far inferior to modern counterparts. Its akin to having a windows computer and using the default services. For example, the Game DVR system. Holy smokes. Literally the definition of garbageware. It has a limit of how much can be recorded. It takes several steps to record. It takes upwards of a minute, mid-game, to record a clip. What? It takes a minute to record a minute? There goes valuable gametime. This is 2015. I purchased a system with Terabytes of memory and internet access. Not only should I expect to have everything pre-recorded for me and easily accessible, but this was provided on the previous Xbox AND is something the Playstation does seamlessly. Garbagewear. I was forced to use Twitch.
Online/friends
Again, the terrible interface makes it very difficult to play anything with anyone. Constant notifications are incredibly annoying as well. I add people I don't know who I had fun with in previous games. I don't need to know when they are online or what movies they are watching. Shoot, I don't even want to know that about my friends!! More over, why do *I* need to keep track of how I know this person? Can't you tell me what game we played together, specifically, and when it was I added them? let me take some notes? This is 2015, this isn't an unreasonable expectation.
Games
Great selection of games, but you can forget about multiplayer. I purchased this to play Halo 5 and Star Wars Battlefront. Awesome games, but they seem to want you to play solo for the purposes of a ridiculous obsession with 60 FPS gameplay. Halo has been a time honored tradition with friends. And now, we can't play together anymore. We like to play shooters, why is it so hard to find one to play together? Oh well, guess we'll stick to smash brothers, and mario kart. | video-games_xbox |
Halo 3 Edition Xbox w/ HDMI. I had done a lot of research on this product before buying it, and there were some conflicts between whether or not the Halo 3 Edition had the Falcon Chip. Mine unfortunately did not come with the Falcon Chip, but has yet to come to the Red Ring of Death. I've had mine for roughly a year and a half, and use the HDMI to connect to a HDTV. It's locked up a few times, but when dealing with any hardware you have the potential for problems.
Overall I am satisfied with my purchase, and besides the current Modern Warfare 2 Edition Xbox; I wouldn't switch it for any other version. I do dislike that I don't have the Falcon Chip, and if you add on an Extra Intercooler it could cause some overheating issues. If you do add on an extra Intercooler, my suggestion would be to get one that constantly runs and is powered by it's own supply. Those new Temperature Sensor Intercoolers constrict airflow once it decides to turn off, which is backing up the heat inside your Xbox. I suppose it does a decent job, but stay away from the ones with the Interlocking Power Supply... there is a known problem to cause overheating issues.
Halo 3 did not come with the system, but that's because of the Halo 3 Bundles that were sold separately. It would have jacked up the price of the Halo 3 Xbox, much like the Modern Warfare 2 Edition price. If you want a Limited Edition Xbox, I'd recommend this one because it looks good, plays good, and comes with everything needed: 1 Wireless Controller, Plug and Play Charge Kit, Chargeable Black Battery, Halo 3 Edition Headset, and of course the Xbox itself. The HDMI Port is absolutely a must for anyone who owns a HDTV, the RCA Hook-ups for HDTV just doesn't do your games justice.
Also on a last note, when Buying games be sure to look at Resolution Sizes on the back of the Game Case. If a game doesn't clearly say 1080i, or 1080p, then it will never get to that excellent quality. | video-games_xbox |
Great fun, but equally frustrating. Good game, but not without flaws. Lag comp is still pretty bad 5+ months after launch, this means you will die when you made it cleanly past corners often. Graphics are good, but you pay for that 1080p 60fps with characters that become little more than grey shaded figures much past 25 yards away from you. The maps are not the best CoD maps ever, but not the worst. My main complaint here is the fundamental design is almost always the same in this game with the maps, 3 lanes and the middle lane is always where the action is, with campers roaming the outside lanes. The shape changes, but the 3 lanes are always a given. I found this very disappointing being we have awesome jetpacks and just 1 level of verticality to use them, this means you will always be in eye sight of the main street level even when above. It's literally street level and short rooftop on every map.
The gun balance is also pretty abysmal. This is Bal of Duty, referring to the Bal-27. That and the ASM1 are the hand of God guns, everything else is seriously sub par to these weapons and you are at a big disadvantage if you are using something else and running into people using them. The DLC so far which is the Havoc map pack is meh. The Exo Zombies is great, and a lot of fun, but the maps it offers are not very good, other than Sideshow which is a blast. The problem is these maps are only available in a random playlist lobby and cannot be selected in your favorite game modes. It has to be voted in from the Mosh Pit lobby.
With all that said, it's still a very addictive and fun game to play. They did a stelar job incorporating these new exo suit movements and making them feel intuitive and easy to master. But as much fun as you will have you will be frustrated just as much. Whether it is from the poor lag comp, poor weapons balance, mediocre maps, or supply drops that continue to give out crap knee pads while everyone else runs around with awesome Elite weapon variants you want. There is always something that is just frustrating enough to pull your hair out. | video-games_xbox |
Beware: It's Fun, But Requires a Lot of Time Investment. Upside: Deep grappling system that gives you plenty of options. Much improved over the first game.
Downside: The system is so deep that the tutorials and drills aren't adequate; No practice mode with your Ultimate Team characters; You better have a lot of time on your hands if you want to compete, especially if you want to play online.
The big thing to note starting off: UFC 2 is every bit as twitchy as a first-person shooter, and takes a LOT more time to get decent at. If you don't enjoy twitch-reaction games, then pay $5 for EA access and give it a try first.
There are a ton of moves and a ton going on, and a LOT of what you do mid-match is based on reaction time to your opponent's moves. This means you need to put in a lot of work on practice mode to commit all of your fighter's options to muscle memory. This is no small feat, considering the huge amount of moves and options available. Imagine a first-person shooter sort of twitchiness, except you have about 12 moves to remember in a split second, and you get the idea.
The depth makes grappling fun in theory, but in reality it's a beast to get good at. While there's an on-screen HUD to show you your transition options, transition defense is a matter of memorizing every transition movement and being ready to hit RT + a direction immediately. Even then, depending on other factors that aren't explained in-game, you could inexplicably fail your attempts. There's a concept called Grapple Advantage that affects transition speed, but you'll not see it explained in-game -- it's only explained by a dev on the EA forums, for some reason.
If you want to play online, you need to put in hours of time on practice mode to get decent on the ground, period. It is not enough to "practice" through in-game matches; the action is too fast and there's too much going on to learn on-the-fly. Most matches right now are kickbox-fests where people avoid going to the ground as much as possible -- except for those who are so good at it that they can ground and pound you for a TKO before you know what hit you.
In that sense, the game's depth is both its best asset (for hardcore fans) and its biggest liability (for everyone else).
Other game modes: Knockout mode is fun, but shallow and gets old really quickly. It's "Street Fighter 2" health bars with UFC fighters, that's it. Career Mode is also extremely shallow, since Ultimate Team acts as a sort of Career Mode with progression and obviously EA is putting their resources to the modes which make them money.
The game actually is fun to play, but if you want to play online and don't have hours upon hours of time to commit to developing your twitch muscle memory, then pay $5 and download the 10-hour trial via EA Access. | video-games_xbox |
Great if you LOVE racing, but sparse on pretty much everything else. I LOVE this game. I love racing in general. I watch Formula 1, ALMS, LMS, SCCA Racing, WTCC, and Rallying. Forza Motorsport 2 provided me with my racing fix on 360 for a long time, but RACE Pro replaces it almost completely.
RACE Pro is about one thing: racing. Don't expect to be able to buy new wheels, turbos, or cams for your car. Don't expect to be able to apply custom paint jobs or sell cars in an auction house. Don't even expect to take place in online tournaments (unless they are organized by a fan community) or play split screen.
DO expect to have realistic physics (seriously). DO expect to have a BLAST racing online. DO expect to be punished for any mistake you make when you have all assists off.
Overall, this game replaces Forza in the "I want to race online against my friends" catagory (thankfully, I have a group of friends who also have the game - racing against them is obviously more enjoyable than racing strangers). Unfortunately, it does NOT replace Forza in the "polished game I can have fun with when I'm not online" catagory. In RACE Pro there are only two reasons why anyone would want to race the AI: To unlock achievements and to unlock cars. In Forza, you really don't want to race the AI either... but at least you can have a slightly less-boring time doing it (you can rank up in career mode, and the types of races are much more diverse and interesting). But to me, there is no denying that the physics and actual racing are better in RACE Pro. For example, you can rub without spinning instantly (like in Forza) but if you hit someone on the wrong way, you both will end up in the wall - the way it should be. The tire model is fantastic, and the way the game treats braking without ABS is 100 times better than Forza's system. These are just small examples - you really need to experience this game (WITH A WHEEL!!!) for yourself to appreciate it.
The Good:
-Awesome physics
-Racing is great
-Microsoft Wheel is implemented beautifully (almost - see cons) - you don't have to struggle to be fast with it like in Forza
-Interior/Cockpit view
-Diverse range of race cars
-Sound effects are awesome
-Flag Rules! Both offline AND online!
-Qualifying rounds! Again, both offline and online.
-Cool lobby system. It's like NASCAR 09: you join a room and enter a pre-race practice mode where you can drive the track, adjust your setup back in the garage, and then head back out to check how your changes affect your lap time. The host can choose when to end the practice session and move on to qualifying (or skip to the race if he has qualifying off).
-My favorite console racing game I've ever played
The Bad:
-So far, the online service is kind of lame. Sometimes you randomly lose connection to the host and you are booted back to the main menu. Adding to the frustration, if the host goes off the track and gets frustrated, they sometimes just quit - closing the entire game for everyone else. Hopefully a patch can fix at least the game drops.
-Force feedback is very weak with the wheel. This doesn't seem to be a constant problem for everyone - some people report that their feedback is fine, and others, like me, feel amost nothing. Some people don't have any feedback. This seems to me like a bug in the way the wheel and the game see each other, but who knows. If you have a modified MS Wheel where you can adjust the FF level right there on the wheel, then you should be fine - but for the rest of us, you can adjust pretty much every parameter of the racing wheel in game EXCEPT for force feedback (so we're SOL).
-Graphics are pretty meh. I wouldn't say the game looks worse than Forza but it doesn't look better (except for Cockpit View! That makes everything look amazing - seriously).
That's it! If you are expect GRID, don't buy this. If you are looking for a sim, buy this. | video-games_xbox |
A very mechanically-sound, basic golf simulator that is visually weak, but structurally sound. Let me start by saying this is the first golf game I have played on the Xbox One and I have a copy of EA's offering on the way as well. I played this game quite a bit over the weekend and feel like I have enough play time to make a relatively in-depth review.
THE PROS:
-The variety in the courses thanks to the Greg Norman course designer is a huge plus. When you are being compared to a game that has 12 courses to choose from, it is a big advantage to be able to make your own from scratch or play on those made by gamers all over the world.
-Season Mode being added to the game for the "collector's edition" actually ended up being the biggest reason for me buying this. Mind you, I wouldn't have paid more than the $30 I got it for on Amazon, but nonetheless I like the feeling of accomplishing something and this allows you to do that while making the competition tougher the deeper you go.
-The gameplay is pretty solid. Although it's very vanilla, the mechanics of it and the controls are easy to learn. It took about 2 full rounds on very difficult courses to feel comfortable putting and chipping and there is enough variety to keep you coming back to play more.
THE CONS:
-The lack of customization is a bit frustrating. There are about 6 "models" to choose from for your player and it's just very blah.
-The gameplay is very good, but the fact that you can't alter the spin on your shot makes the learning curve very basic. Also there is no way for someone to drop out of a round once you start which i thought was dumb.
-Season mode is a big plus, but the fact that there is no progression at all leaves a lot to be desired. You never get to hit the ball further or master certain shots. You just are that one player from the first time you step on the course.
-The graphics are terrible. A lot of these reviews on here have positive comments about the visuals on this game and to me you are just flat out wrong. This is a next-gen game that looks more like playstation 2 graphics engine. All of the grass/trees/surroundings look flat-out bad. I guess that's the price you pay for the variety in courses, but to me there is no excuse this far along in the next-gen game to fall this short.
OVERALL:
I personally like the game overall. I wanted to be able to give this a 4 or 5 star rating, but after playing it, i just can't justify it. The gameplay is fun, but the graphics and lack of a real progression make it a pretty basic golf simulator. Even with the welcomed addition of season mode and the course creation, it still leaves me wanting quite a bit more. I feel like the season mode will keep me playing and if I want to play a round online or with friends I would probably be happy with doing it on The Golf Club, but the Tiger Woods games of old were addicting and had enough variety to keep me playing. This just doesn't have that. I think this is a solid first effort, but I feel like PGA Tour is going to have more to keep me coming back. Even with all the negative reviews, I look forward to being able to compare the two.
I will update this when I've had a chance to play Rory. | video-games_xbox |
The Best Madden Yet. Not only the best Madden but the best NFL video game yet. I've been as jaded as anyone about EA's monopoly on football and their mostly lackluster games. I'd only buy Madden every other year because of the small changes from year to year and usually felt like it never gave me my money's worth but that's all changed with 17.
This game feels new. Almost built from the ground up and most importantly it's really fun. I haven't done all there is to do yet so I'll just comment on what I have done. Already in exhibition, I could tell things had changed. The tv style presentation is better than ever and the multi angle replays really sell illusion. The new commentary team is the best one yet. It feels new, accurate and is regularly updated to stay relevant and keep from getting stale. The graphics are better than ever and do a great job of representing most of their real world counterparts. The new gameplay changes are really engaging for both the offense and defense. There's just a lot more to do as a ball carrier with new moves and button presses to escape tackles. Defense also feels revamped when contesting catches and tacking. I found the tutorials very helpful to learn the new moves. The overall gameplay feels as challenging as ever too. I've already had some really intense and exciting games so far.
Franchise feels fresh too. There's a lot of things to do and ways to play that keep it interesting. Whether focusing on offense, defense, both or just playing the critical parts, there's no shortage of variety. Practicing and managing your players with trade options and XP earned in games adds to the experience between weeks. I also like the individual player goals as incentives during the games. Every throw, catch, run and tackle mean that much more knowing that they'll help improve your players and overall team as the season goes on. I'm more interested to take part in the players than I've ever been. Usually I just play out the season but all the options make it much more of an experience.
As I said before, the biggest factor is fun. Madden 17 is fun. More fun than its ever been and I've been playing for over 20 years. I think the comparisons to NFL2K5 should be put to rest now too. I loved that game and series too but if compared side by side, Madden 17 is far superior in every way. Sure, I'd like competition in the video game football market and I don't like exclusive deals either but this years Madden helps me forget that. It feels new, fresh, exciting and most importantly fun. I finally feel like I got my money's worth this time and not just a roster update. Recommended. | video-games_xbox |
Really Serious?...Not. Serious Sam II, is a first person shooter (FPS) where you you are attacked by waves of alien creatures. The character you play named, Sam is a gung-ho character, dressed in jeans and t-shirt, he's a smart aleck and will spout funny one-liners during the game as he frags aliens with the variety of weapons. To progress to the next areas of the map you need to destroy all hostile aliens, some maps are closed off by some sort of gate and need to be unlocked; this is usually done by finding a switch or key somewhere or requires a minor puzzle to be solved. The gameplay is similar to the DOOM series in that aspect, but Serious Sam is more comical in nature. Serious Sam II just like its predecessor is serious about the shooting aspect; it has a very arcade-like feel and it is nothing like other FPS which are more like a simulator. Fans of the Rainbow Six series might not enjoy the aradey feel of this game because there is nothing cerebral about it. Most of the levels take place in lush tropical environments, lots of fauna and colorful palattes are used which look just a beautiful as the island levels from the game, FarCry. The alien creatures are unique in design and most of them are really mean demon/hybrid looking. The sound effects are just awesome and really take advantage of your speakers surround sound and subwoofers. Right from the start of the game you are equipped with a electric saw, dual revolver guns and one energy weapon. Of course you'll aquire even better weapons as you progress through the game, they all kick "serious" [...]! If you like FPS that are very arcadey I highly recommend this game, I also recommend DOOM and Red Faction II.
Pros:
+excellent action
+excellent weapons
+excellent sound effects
+excellent graphics
+excellent level designs
+excellent controls
+excellent enemies
+bloody shoot-outs
+smooth framerate
+Sam is a funny characters
+very arcadey | video-games_xbox |
Pros and Cons to KOTOR II. obviously like many star wars fans i was drooling over the release of this video game since the first one simply became a classic and i had high expectations. most of them were met yet other aspects of this game fell disapointingly short. heres a list below.
Pros: Decent story line,
good character dialogue,
higher replayability than the original because there are simply more characters to explore throughout the game that are determined by your alignment and descisions,
more force powers and feats,
you get force powers the moment you start the game,
civil war on onderon, best part of the game,
interesting characters,
feeling that your actions are having, and will have, consequences,
sweet kick ass light saber motions,
blasters are somewhat less wimpy,
nice CGI movies, however short...,
Cons:
Sharp, loud music score is irritating rather than the soothing music from KOTOR,
mediocere graphics, and an UTTER lack of color diversity means you'll mostly be looking at gray, brown and black,
long loading times,
cliff hanger ending that left me feeling dissatisfied,
Korriban has virtually no role in this game and the planets all seem too short, plus theres no tatooine,
repetative gameplay,
you never once get the choice to kill or spare your party members like in the original KOTOR, so influencing your characters is solely if you enjoy the dialogue theres no ultimate end where some join or leave,
ultimately, you will regretably feel like you're forcing yourself to finish this game for the ending which was a major let down,
and lastly... no Bastila! she plays a cameo many players may not even find since she's hidden on korriban and all she does is whine about Revan.
Bastila's VERY brief cameo was the only cameo i found from the original KOTOR characters,
Overall: overall this actually is a very good game dispite the many cons i have listed and i still give it a 4 star rating, it's a let down though in that this game could've been much better but it felt very rushed and i didn't even know what was happening nor did i care much when the ending came about, unlike the original KOTOR which had me gripping my controller at the end. so if you liked KOTOR, buy this game. if you hate linear gameplay with virtually a 4 color scheme and having little free roaming ability then go and buy Elder Scrolls III Morrowind or something. | video-games_xbox |
for Beatles fans... but less so for Guitar Hero and Rock Band fans. The bottom line is the top line, for your convenience: Get this game if you are either a) a huge Beatles fan, b) have all of the main Rock Band and Guitar Hero games already and all of the download content for them that you want.
My big complaints with this game:
1. The guitar parts are not separated, of course. If you and a friend both select guitar, one of you gets assigned to play bass. Any idea about one person playing George at the same time as another plays as John remain fantasy... even in video games.
2. There are no audible mistakes. Unlike every other Guitar Hero and Rock Band game, the producers decided that the Beatles were simply too legendary to make any mistakes and thus the performance con only be good or better. The audible cues that you missed a note are completely gone. In some ways this may make the game more pleasing to listen to but in that case, you are better off buying the CD box set than this game.
3. Song selection. Did you notice that the deluxe edition of the game came with a drum kit and a bass but no guitars. That's because there were actually no guitarists in the Beatles... oh wait, maybe it's because Ringo and Paul have no respect for the better half of the band. This is reflected in the song lists too. Songs you would expect to be in any Beatles compilation are utterly missing while every one of Ringo's cheesy crap songs are present.
4. Stage progression. This is related to my third complaint, above. You would think that in a game like this that each album release would be its own stage/level but you would be wrong again. Because so many songs are missing, some of the albums were combined into stages representing eras.... e.g., the Abbey Road Studio sessions.
5. Paul was so clueless about this game that when the game was presented at E3 he said, "Whoever thought we would all be androids some day... you know, because the motion is so stiff." I wondered if he meant Animatronic but a lot of people think the real Ringo is an Animatronic anyway. Someone call Chuck E. Cheese, there's an escaped mascot pretending to be a drummer. Ok, I admit it - this isn't even a complaint about the actual game, But it did strike me that Paul must not have been very impressed with the character animation. So, either the animation isn't as good as reported or Paul was a lot more stiff in his early days on stage than he remembers.
It's not all bad, though, so here are some good points...
1. The look of all four band members changes as you progress through their career. This alone makes the game more worthy than Guitar Hero Metallica, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, and Guitar Hero Van Halen. In those cases, the band's look and even line-up matches their current incarnation as if there was never a Cliff Burton or Dave Mustaine and Wolfgang was cutting albums before he was born. As much as I think this thing was (despite Dahni's efforts) a bit of an F-U to George and John, it isn't nearly as much so as those games are to some of the awesome band members that those bands once had... Burton, Mustaine, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony... and uh, whatever that guy's name on Aerosmith's Night in the Ruts was... sorry dude.
2. It is the Beatles after all. In other words, even if you agree with my assessment that we could have done without some should-have-been B-Sides from Mr. Yellow Submarine man and that some killer tracks are missing, there are still of course a lot of good tracks here. It remains a testament to how great the Beatles song catalog is that so many songs can be in the game and still leave you feeling that there are so many missing. This is a complaint perhaps that you would not have about a band who simply didn't have so many awesome classics.
3. The presentation is good. The game feels very polished and professional. For this reason alone, I may suggest that it would at least make a good rental.
I don't regret the purchase since I am obviously quite a fan of all of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games. I certainly fall into at least category B if not actually both. That is to say that I do already have all the main Guitar Hero and Rock Band games, most of the downloadable songs, and the side games that I think are less worth your attention (the previously mentioned band specific games and Rocks the 80s). That said, I am still a Beatles fan too. I'm glad I talked myself out of the Ringo & Paul Limited Special Deluxe Expensive Band Logo version but there was room in my heart and my budget for the stand alone game... and of course, I already have more than enough instruments from my many prior indulgences.
Personally, I still hope to see some of the missing classics show up as downloadable content. If there's ever a Wings or All-Star Band game, I may have to pass, though. | video-games_xbox |
Know What You're Getting. 343 Industries has done an absolutely amazing job of redoing Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. However, there's been some confusion about the purpose of the remake. Because we're still talking about a ten-year-old code base being brought forward into new hardware, a new engine, and having a lot of new technology rolled in, the people involved in putting together this game could not make it all things to all people. They had to pick and choose.
So here then is what Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is:
- A complete end-to-end remake of the Single Player campaign, with an added side-story and a few discoveries that lead to that
- cooperative single-player Campaign play over XBox Live
- A new set of multiplayer maps designed to give those more familiar with Halo: Reach a chance to play the original game through the newer Reach engine. Not everybody has played the original Halo: Combat Evolved. There are some people who still think the original Halo won't play on an XBox 360--it didn't at the 360's launch, but that issue has long been fixed and yes, it does run...this Anniversary edition is just a tremendous overhaul.
- The addition of Trophies and Skulls for XBox Live achievements and added gameplay depth on multiplayer
And here is what Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is NOT:
- A perfect conversion of multiplayer over to XBox Live. While there are a ton of customization options for your multiplayer fun, it's still all driven by the Halo: Reach engine and thus behaves like another flavor of Reach's multiplayer features.
- The full feel of the original Halo: Combat Evolved multiplayer over Live
If it were a full conversion, then 5 stars would easily be the best rating. As it is, this game is 5 stars of fun and almost 5 for the features it *does* carry over. When I installed the game, I got a code to download 1.2GB of multiplayer maps *in addition to* the few that came with the game. I also got some tinier perks, like downloading male or female Master Chief suits for my XBox Live Avatar.
Here on CE: Anniversary, multiplayer is Reach-driven, and so that means jet packs, power shields, etc.--just with the addition of CE's remastered maps plus a few newer maps. You DO NOT have to own Halo: Reach to play the multiplayer in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.
None of the goodies really compare though to the original intent that shines through in this game: a complete, end-to-end remake of the Single Player Campaign.
The bad news is, in order to help you understand what you get, I have to give you a few spoilers.
The good news is, I'll keep them to a minimum, and only talk about the opening level, in which you have to escape the Pillar of Autumn.
I've recently replayed Halo for the PC, overriding the game's settings to crank it as far as today's gaming PC hardware can go. It's awesome to play, but it can still only get so good. When you see how stiffly people move and how simple their textures are, you're reminded that gaming has come a long way in the past decade. Popping in the Combat Evolved Aniversary was exactly what I'd wished my PC could do (and boy do I wish they'd make this for the PC!).
- Everybody has entirely new "everything": newer face models, more polygons, and they all move a lot more naturally because they've got more 'bones'. When the sirens go off in the original Halo, you see stiff-legged jogging. In CE Anniversary, ONI's bridge crew lean forward, bend their knees, and break into a real run.
- Levels don't just have a lot more color: the 'set' has been completely re-dressed. The same objects have more color, walls and bulkheads have more definition and lighting, and the overall lighting is not only more natural, it shows how much shadow had to be crammed into the indoor sets in the original game to keep things running smoothly. The shadows are lifted and there is a lot more to see now.
- The Environment has been given an overhaul: when explosions rock the Pillar of Autumn, your camera gets jostled and you feel like the Master Chief shifted his feet to steady himself. Bodies lying on the deck will go flying if a grenade goes off. Your enemies will get knocked over or tumble forwards just like in the original game, but now their arms are pinwheeling and their limbs are flailing. Explosions knock objects around, and just like Halo 3 and Reach, you can get splash damage a bit easier because the physics is real.
- Visual Effects get an upgrade: flames look much better, Covenant grenades give off blue flashes, and volumetric lighting effects like explosions, fog, and neon glows look more realistic to the eyes.
- There's a broader sound palette. Best example: the smaller race of Covenant (Grunts) wear breathers that feed them the gas of their home planet's atmosphere. If I'm sneaking around, I can actually hear their respirators purring their air supply to them.
So then there are the story extras. I'll give you just one example here--the moment you finish talking to Keyes and he hands you your first weapon, there's a console right next to you that says, 'Press 'X' to activate terminal'...and when you do, you get to see that the Halo is communicating with your ship. It's a very interesting embedded cinematic that adds depth to the story and helps explain the whole idea that humans are the chosen descendents of the Forerunner race. The ring's keeper (Guilty Spark) discovers you and your cyborg armor and uses that knowledge to decide that humanity is ready to be allowed aboard and discover the technology of the Forerunners. It's an interesting aside, and right in those two minutes is a nice level of extra detail to the story.
My only real quibble with the new look is that Captain Keyes is very different looking. He appears younger to me, and his face is more like that of an aging combat soldier than it is a space-naval officer. I believe they did this to bring him inline with the Halo novels, though: Keyes is supposed to be relatively young for a ship's captain.
Despite the fact that newer code is running, the enemy aren't capable of some of the things you see in the other Halo installments. For example, even though the Elites (taller Covenant) can still leap very high in the air, I haven't seen Covenant climb over anything to get at me, or leap onto or off of a platform--they still seem to be stuck to ramps and a bit limited in their movement. Since Halo 1 did not contain the big gorilla-like Brutes, you won't find anybody picking up huge objects and throwing them at you. You also won't have the larger set pieces get scattered everywhere like they do in Halo 3 and beyond. Still, there are times the enemy makes up for their movement limitations by being much more clever: I've been flanked a bit more in CE: Anniversary, and if they see me, enemies are also quicker to pick up on me trying to come around behind them.
If you're a fan of the original Halo: Combat Evolved single player campaign, you will very much enjoy this remake. It is money well spent. If you are a fan of the multiplayer element to the original Halo: Combat Evolved, this is not the same animal, but if you can forgive the differences, you will still be rewarded with some new maps, your favorite maps in the Reach engine, and a slew of customization options that should offer you hours of gameplay. If you're new to the Halo series and would like to see what the original story was about, you won't find a Lucas-style rewrite of key story elements: you'll instead find an original story, with some added detail. Multiplayer is not a perfect XBox Live matchup system and it's not a detailed recreation of the original, but I believe that, given what they had to work with, 343 Industries has done a great job here. | video-games_xbox |
Decent But Frantic. From the buzz around this game, I was expecting it to be considerably better than past CoD titles -- but it seems like it has a lot of the same core issues. I've had fun with CoD -- this one also -- but the way people are treating the game like an infallible, beyond-reproach religion seems uncalled for.
The campaign modes on CoD have always been very linear, even by FPS standards. To me, though, this one feels even more that way than past entries. Playing through the campaign, it felt like I was on rails. There are a number of stages in the game where it just up and tells you to "press X to do [special action]". Er, if the game's just going to tell you to do that, what's the challenge? Beyond that, though, as with past CoDs, most levels of this campaign involve the player standing somewhere and shooting wave after wave of bad guys until the game lets you move on. There are no alternative ways to accomplish objectives and, really, no rhyme or reason as to how many bad guys happen to be in a particular spot. You just keep shooting until they tell you it's time to move on. To me, that makes for dull, repetitive gameplay.
I've spent a lot more time with the online play -- I have online friends who are fervent believers in the game (they treat it like religion, yes), which makes it an appealing title for hanging out in. However, online play suffers, to me, for some key reasons. For one, the game has "power ups". I can see having power ups for Mario Modern Warfare, but for a game that tries to pass itself off as a "realistic" modern shooter, that seems a poor design decision. How is it "realistic" that every time a player dies, they're able to pull the pin on a grenade and punish their opponent for having killed them at close range? You get to a particular level and *now* you can choose to have your bullets hit harder?
It's also aggravating that power-ups and additional weapons are only made available to more experienced players. That wouldn't be such a bad thing per se, except that noobs get dumped in the same games as vets, which means that the more experienced players not only have the advantages of knowing the maps and the intricacies of the gameplay, but they ALSO have better weapons and more useful power-ups.
Apart from visual display, realism was never a strength of past CoD titles. Nothing different here. In online play, you can put several rounds into your enemy's chest without much happening. And if you ever actually get hurt -- by having an M16 round pass through your carotid artery let's say -- just find some cover and wait a few seconds: all better! (Unless someone re-spawns right behind you, in which case the miracle never quite gets completed.)
Finally, gameplay is outright frantic -- moreso even than with past CoD games. I'm sure this is mostly a matter of taste, but it always feels like there are too many players on too small of a map. There are many instances where players are getting capped before they realize where they've spawned. As such, the game rewards hyper-aggressive gameplay and punishes players who are more methodical (guess which camp I'm in?). Really, what's the sense in giving a player in Team Deathmatch a higher rating for having 10 kills but 25 deaths than a player who had 8 kills and 0 deaths? (I realize there are other game types that reward persistent survival -- but that doesn't explain why Team Deathmatch runs the way it does.) I don't mean to imply that the game favors brain-dead button-mashing -- it doesn't -- but it does severely favor one style of play, which limits the breadth of its appeal.
All that said, the game's not exactly worthless. You can obviously have fun with it, especially if you got an itchy trigger finger and enjoy racking up spoilsport "martyrdom" kills. The way your character advances through online play makes it interesting and even if I think power-ups are a stupid idea, the progression they go along with can be compelling.
If you *loved* past CoD titles, you'll probably love this one as well. For me, though? My favorite CoD title was #2. Not coincidentally, I bought it used for only $15. That would've been the right thing for me to have done with CoD4 as well. I can only hope that when I reach the next level I'll get the go-back-in-time power-up. Could use it to save myself $45. | video-games_xbox |
Still an Action RPG. Before I begin this review, I would like to say that I have made my first run through the game (completed, from beginning to end), own and have played both the first Fable and Fable: TLC from beginning to end, and that my review may or may not contain some minor spoilers. I won't give away particular happenings, but I may hint at some events. This review will focus on some aspects of Fable II, but will mostly be a comparison between both Fables I and II and made for those who have played both.
I am a dedicated fan of Fable, and have been avidly awaiting this title ever since I finished with The Lost Chapters. And perhaps I hyped myself up far too much for this game because I loved the last so much, but I somehow felt very unsettled and disappointed after completing the game. I have done quite a bit of exploring, though perhaps not as much as I should have (I'm not certain yet, though I have done a fair few quests). And in regards to the storyline itself, I didn't like it that much. I found that while they repeated some aspects of the original Fable, which can only be expected, it really did fall short. I wasn't as interested in the events, and after a while going about the storyline just wasn't really that enlightening. The characters seemed hollow to me, and while interesting and eccentric in their own ways I just didn't connect to them, though the voice-acting was once again brilliant. The villain was the biggest disappointment of all to me. The previous villain was a mystery, and while his motives remained uncertain that was what gave him his charm and made him memorable. With the Fable II villain I kept expecting something interesting. I understood his motives, yes, but instead of that giving him depth (which had so much potential) he ended up seeming bland and cliche in the wrong sort of way. And the ending felt very anti-climatic to me. For anyone who plans on playing Fable II due to the grandness of the original Fable, don't expect too much here.
As far as the options for clothing and weaponry goes, I found that while there was plenty, none of it really appealed to me that much, and the items that did appeal to me were much too expensive for me to afford when I was focusing on gathering up a stock of potions when I found that perhaps I'd need them more than I expected. It's great that you can have jobs in this game and such, becuse earning gold in the original Fable was a bit too easy and therefore a bit boring, but I found that earning gold in Fable II was just as boring and more a hassle than an 'enlightening' experience. I enjoyed the simple repetitive activity of working when I found I'd rather wait around for shops to open, but when I'm playing a video game I don't want to sit there for seemingly endless amounts of time. The lack of making gold on quests also seemed to make it less exciting when I finished running around to do whatever task had to be done, and this leaves me feeling that an aspect of the good/evil thing was lost. What about a hero who doesn't necessarily care about renown, but would rather do quests for the gold? While that was never an actual moral issue when it came to the game, it was also a reason to do more quests and that thought just makes it more realistic. Quests weren't as fun anymore, and I didn't feel the need to go about fulfilling them just for renown. And rather than seem fun, they were just another chore. They had a repetitive feel that I didn't always experience when playing the original (and yes, I am well aware that Fables I and II are different games and a grown up world, but I am also dicussing improvement). It's wonderful that you can own so many buildings and buy so many new things, but where, pray tell, is this gold coming from? I found that I had an abundance in the original Fable with nothing to spend it on, and quite a lack in Fable II with much more available to purchase. I also don't have Xbox Live as I don't enjoy online play, so while I preordered I did not have the option to play any pub games, and felt no desire to play them when I actually owned the game. There's an augment you can get for your weapons that allows you to earn gold for every kill, but I didn't encounter that until much further into the game. And to be honest, I didn't find a point in doing quests unless I wanted to get through the storyline. Just about everything in Fable II requires gold, which you cannot earn by completeing quests... a bad decision there, I think.
As far as family goes, I found the courtship process to be very similar to the previous Fable, as well as the marriage process. Having a child was no large feat and not all exciting, and I found that the family became a bit of an annoyance. They repeated the same dialogue while I roamed around the house, and both the husband and son nagged at me about having an even nicer house (their's was mediocre; not poor not rich) everytime I came around. I can only imagine the headache I'd have if I'd decided to have more children or have another family (well, there's the realism for you, but I do mean this negatively and not in a cliche manner). Also keep in mind that now when you marry and have children, you are expected to give gold to them daily (it will be automatically drained once you set the amount to give them), and I'm pretty sure that for each member of your household the amount of gold you are expected to give goes up. I found this to be irritating when I had to make a large drain on my funds in order to upgrade my equipment.
The good or evil aspects that Fable is so well known have seemed to remain the same, so I'll spend no time focusing on that. What I do want to mention is the dog. I found this to be a unique and enjoyable aspect of the game, though it did sometimes get in the way (not so as to slow you down too much or prevent you from doing something, but he did get in the way when you are in a tight space and wish to get out). This dog will show you where to dig and where to find treasure chests, and while that is also a good thing it also is a bad thing. I found that because of the dog telling me where to find items I didn't feel as much of a need to go out and explore things. However, I did enjoy the dog. And when he wasn't around because he got stuck somewhere (another slight glitch) or was off for whatever reason, I discovered that I (being a little nerd) missed having the dog running alongside my hero. That is an accomplishment in itself. But I also must mention that while you can train your dog, teach him to fight, and get him to find better items for you (oh yes, see, those nice items aren't going to be that easy to find) it will likely cost you money. You need books to train your dog to do these things, and unless you can find them you'll need to buy them.
What I do wish to say here is that I believe that the developers spent far too much time focussing on expanding the amount of items available to you and enlarging the world rather than focussing on the storyline, which really needed improvement in my opinion. I also found it to be very depressing, and again, anti-climatic. I was stunned when the storyline ended, and sat there through the credits wondering "is it over? is that really it?" I can't get over my disappointment there. It seemed even shorter than the original Fable, and to be honest I never had a problem with what was available there and felt that they delivered exactly what was promised. I expected a more enhanced storyline, and I was also irked that I didn't get to know more about the characters. And while there is much more available to purchase and to explore, you really need to work at it, and now it seems to me that Fable is becoming more of a Sims game (sorry Sims fans, but I like action RPGs and I find the Sims to be horrendously annoying) than an action RPG which is the genre it is supposed to be part of. For people who don't enjoy repetitive tasks, I suggest you think carefully about purchasing this title.
In the category of the creatures you face, I found that there wasn't a large improvement here, and that they brought back most of the old creatures with little variations (not a negative thing). But I also found that it seemed like they had less creatures to fight than in the previous title, and while I don't care either way I did expect something new and more creatures to face. The change in the troll creatures was annoying (a good idea, but annoying) as you have to attack certain tendril-like parts of the troll, and I did this with a gun and found that I'd be there for ages trying to get rid of the troll while I was being smacked around with rocks and the like. I enjoyed the combat much more in the previous title.
I hope this assisted any readers in some ways, and that my thoughts weren't too all over the place. I personally find that this title falls short of the original Fable, and wasn't exactly an improvement. The graphics are beautiful and the world is quite intruiging, but I found that the action aspect of this RPG title was lost somewhere and became just another aspect of the game. Because of this, I give Fable II a 3.5/5 rating. | video-games_xbox |
Good, but. I expect a lot more from an X-Box game. I understand that this is a game with multiple versions on all the major platform systems. The problem with this type of game is that it's only as good as the weakest system it's made for, in this case the PS2. I don't have any problems with the PS2, but having seen the graphic possibilities from my other Xbox games, I'm a bit spoiled. If this were my first Xbox game, or it were another PS2 game for me, I might be able to go up another star.
The big highlight of the game is the excellent CGI cut-scenes featuring the voice-actors of the animated series. It was those scenes that really created the atmosphere of the animated series and made the game worth playing. Each scene was like a little reward that reminded me of the old-school games from my youth. The in-game graphics also retained that art-deco quality of the series, but not without flaws.
Of course the coolest thing about the game is being able to control Batman and all of his cool gadgets, and it does an excellent job in that respect. I was a big Batman fan as a kid, and even as an adult I have to admit that Batman is still uber-cool to me. It's hard NOT to like Batman. In the game you get to fly the Batplane, beat the crud out of henchmen, whack the Joker with Batarangs, and swing from building to building on a grappling-line. The game tries to do so much, that inevitably there are some weaknesses in the interface, but I didn't find that too irritating.
Unfortunately the novelty of being Batman wears off pretty fast. Some of the missions get tedious, especially the Batplane scenes. If I were a kid or a young teenager this game would be a lot more fun, but as an adult whose played WAY too many games, I found the game play a little too antiquated. It's not bad, but it's old-school console roots made me realize how far games have come.
My biggest complaint however is the graphics. While I like the simple deco style taken from the series, I found the visuls a bit too grainy and rough. As I said before, the graphics are on-par with a PS2 game, but I think other Xbox gamers will agree it doesn't really meet the bar. If I were writing this review for the PS2 version it would be much different I'm sure.
So in summation, if you are in the 14 and under crowd, or just a major Batman fan, you'll probably really enjoy this game. If you're and old fogey like me that expects performance from a game rather than novelty, you might want to skip it or rent it. Either way, it's not a bad game, just not up to my standards. | video-games_xbox |
Welcome and Farewell to Noble Team. Anyone who has read Eric Nylund's novel "Halo: The Fall of Reach," or actually listened to the in game dialog from Halo: Combat Evolved knows the fate of the planet Reach as well as all of the Spartans save for Master Chief. If anything, the advertising campaign of Halo: Reach makes the game out to be a memorial to those who were lost in the fictional world of Halo with the moniker "Remember Reach."
It is truly ironic that Bungie would decide to end the Halo franchise by going back to the beginning, just before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.
However, with this in mind Halo fans, like myself, felt compelled to see the story end and begin anew similar to watching the end of Episode III of the Star Wars saga. We know Reach fell and that Master Chief was the last of the Spartans hinting that all others perished, but fans want to know who the past Spartans were and how they met their end. Halo Reach provides such closure by showing the Halo universe, more specifically humanity's war with the Covenant, in the most gritty and desperate way possible.
First, the story. Halo fans have been somewhat cheated in recent years with the unanswered questions generated at the end of Halo 3, an almost campy story from Halo: ODST, and the completely unrelated one from Halo Wars. While both games had their strong points, and believe me I still play ODST with my buds online, their stories proved very lacking in the end.
Reach redeems the franchise with a gritty portrayal of a desperate battle in an even more desperate war. The player follows the not-so-silent protagonist Noble 6, the newest addition to Noble Team, a group of Spartans tasked to investigating and later defending the planetary hub of Reach. Each mission getting more and more desperate than the last as the team struggles to survive knowing full well that they are losing the war and death is getting ever so closer. Imagine WWII in space, the Allies are losing, and the Nazis want to kill everyone and I do mean everyone in the name of a psychotic belief; THAT is how desperate humanity is just at the beginning of the game. The extinction of humanity is a very possible outcome should Reach fall.
With this in mind I can safely say that I was generally moved by the flow of the story. It was not complicated, boring, overly-emotional, or just downright campy. It was tough, gritty, and downright nasty, but compelling at the same time.
The characters themselves were unique and easy to get along with without getting into the traditional racial and cultural stereotypes that typically accompany military-style games. While Noble Team is diverse in race, gender, and culture, there are no clear stereotypes, which has really been a big nuisance in recent games such as Final Fantasy 13.
To amplify the story and atmosphere the player is treated to beautiful visuals as well as wonderfully composed music that doesn't seem out of place. If I can credit ODST for one thing it was well-placed music that helped move the story along. Halo composer Martin O'Donnell certainly has come of age since he made the interesting compilation of Halo: Combat Evolved almost 10 years ago. The music isn't exotic and abstract but, like the story, gritty and mean. Select guitar riffs combined with O'Donnell's love for African drums really intensifies the player's attitude to something akin to, "I'm gonna kill all of you" when you assault nearby Covenant forces.
The visuals are very stunning. In one of the earlier missions when I was dangling my feet out of a VTOL craft, bored out of my mind while waiting to be inserted in a very hot landing zone, my buddy Tom told me to look out over the horizon and "enjoy the view." I panned the camera upwards to be treated to a very beautiful landscape of grasslands and forests. The more I took the time to admire the landscapes the more I realized just hot well it looked. To make it more realistic, the landscape becomes more charred at the battle goes on from a lush world to something the resembled photos I've seen of battle-sites from World War 1.
As for other visuals the character and weapons details are astonishing. The weapons no longer look like smooth plastic toys but something you can beat a Brute to death should you run out of ammo. The character graphics were not as impressive, but still better than most FPS games that have been cranked out in recent years (Save for Modern Warfare 2). My only beef with the graphics is that there is so much going on that it causes the frame rate to seriously slow down. Limitations of the XBox360, there are greater tragedies in life such as Justin Bieber and Alpha Protocol.
The game play itself is very smooth and surprisingly well balanced. It took me some time to get used to the new controller scheme (right bumper is melee and not reload like in Halo 3 and ODST) although this is fairly adjustable. Unlike other Halo releases, players cannot simply skate through Legendary, the hardest difficulty setting, by having a 4-player online co-op as done so in Halo 3 and ODST. Surprisingly, Reach has the hardest campaign I've played to date and actually adjusts for difficulty if co-op is used. I do not know if the game utilizes an AI Director, but it sure seems that way at times.
One vast improvement to enemy AI is their ability to utilize your own vehicles against you. It caught my by surprise when I was trying to retrieve my warthog to find myself being shot at by it. It took me two seconds to realize that elites LOVE to steal cars and pummel you to death with them. Next time I'll use The Club.
One of the things I liked best about Reach is the complete customization of your own character. In previous Halo games, you can only adjust color and maybe a few other details but such changes are only available in multiplayer. In Reach not only can you customize EVERYTHING from helmets to knee pads to voice, but it is shown in campaign mode and even in cut scenes. When I first started a campaign and noticed Noble 5 in the cut scenes was wearing an ODST helmet with a crimson on gray color scheme I'd picked out when I first booted up I knew that Bungie had done something REALLY right.
Another one of my favorites is Firefight. In a word; perfected. In ODST firefight was a novel idea but only good for gaining achievements and gamer score in the end since it was overly repetitive and lacked any real customization. In Reach you can choose everything from rounds to kind of shields used. Hell, we had a blast for over an hour by enabling infinite ammo, shields and seeing who could get the 10-kill combo or "Killionare" achievement first... I lost.
From what we fidgeted around with in Forge, the map creator, it seems as though Bungie fixed most of the problems that plagued Halo 3 and ODST. It is easier to place objects and have a LOT more control over features. This is good given a good percentage of the 12 maps are classic Halo maps or remakes. While I'm not a true fan of user made content, I think this is a step in the right direction.
Lastly is online play. I'm not a true fan of online multiplayer since I don't have as much time to practice as your average hardcore gamer. What I did like was the matchmaking ability that allows you to find online co-op games with certain difficulties similar to what designers did in Left 4 Dead 2. What really impressed me, however, is how the servers did not spaz out even when I had a 4-player co-op going with people from around the US and on opening night no less. Kudos.
All in all, Reach is an excellent game, a truly good way to end the franchise... assuming they will. Halo Fans will be delighted while casual gamers may find the ideal FPS game albeit with a little more difficulty than they're used to.
All in all, a 9.5/10. Solid A! Kudos Bungie!! | video-games_xbox |
An absolute joke of a controller. In July of 2017 I decided I wanted to get a controller with paddles and opted for the Microsoft model over a Scuf for pure convenience (controllers I had at the time were drifting, I could go to GameStop and buy a new controller right away, etc.). Within a month of purchasing my "Elite" controller the left bumper broke, leaving it dangling off the controller. I called GameStop and was just outside my warranty with them so I contacted Microsoft and they offered to replace the controller. Great, right? Well when you send a controller to Microsoft they tell you to take all the hardware off, and when the replacement "Elite" arrived the lower left paddle didn't work. So after I then spend $16 to ship a new set of paddles that situation was sorted out, but before the paddles could even arrive the left joystick on the replacement started to drift. Microsoft said I could open another ticket for that issue but I'd played with drifting analog sticks before and chalked it up to "them's the brakes".
Let me take a moment here to state that everything I'm writing about has been known by Microsoft FOR YEARS. The controllers for the Xbox One are notorious for breaking bumpers, left stick drift, etc. I accepted my drifting analog stick as just the price I pay for being a Microsoft customer which is BS to even have to do as a customer for a product which retails at half the price of a new console.
So a few weeks go by and the start button begins to stick. And the B button begins to stick. Again, I just figure, "This is what I get." Then the rubber grips start peeling off. I try to Gorilla glue them back on but as the peel off apparently they stretch a bit so they don't even fit the grips anymore. Then to top it all off about a week ago, not even 5 months after deciding to purchase the first "Elite" controller, the left bumper breaks on this one.
These things are garbage and Microsoft knows it. If it were an actionable claim against them (I have actually sought legal advice on this issue) I'd be filing TODAY. No controller that costs $160 should break in as short a time as the ones I've purchased. Microsoft provides some form of customer service, but it's slow and apparently they send you partially broken controllers anyway as I assume my was a refurbed replacement. | video-games_xbox |
A little to much realism. First off, I must say that the game has a interesting story.
It can be sort of funny telling the king why you are there in blunt terms. Also it can be the same response no matter what you say or do.
There are some very distrubing parts of the story, which I think is taken a bit to far.
*spoliers* and warnings.
Granted you can skip parts of the game, but it's better to do almost every quest you can get your hands. Since some will not be available to you after a certain point in the game.
The biggest problem is supplies for heals and magic durning combat, because they can go fast in about 3 major fights. Which there are a lot of major fights, where you are fighting at least 3 to 1 odds against you and they are not push overs in most cases. Granted for the Playstation, the only control you have is your choosen player. using the wheel to pause the game and then scroll to the player you want can help, but most times you either have to be in control of the healer to get the needed heals and save your supplies of potions. If you don't they can be gone in one battle, for example I had 30 potions for mana and in one fight the healer went through 20 of them. most cases you can not go to the shop and buy more, since if you been there once there won't be any more. You have to get the items to create most potions, since they can be few and far between in the world you travel. even then you have to remember which ones supply what, and then have the gold to buy the items needed.
Of course all this depends how you choose to make your characters, since you only have a few points per level and there is no taking back a oops once you accept the choices. Crowd control is the best option I was able to advance with, like sleep and freeze speels and such. Still when You have 20 guys attacking your 4 players, it can be more a series of lucky breaks and critcal hits to win the fight.
The biggest thing I had a problem with, was the story line had to many distrubing plots in them. This game is very dark and not even close for kids in any way. The game has a lot of blood in, where just after one fight and your characters will be covered in blood. Sort of over kill on the blood splatter if I do say so, to the point of unreal. Then the matter of real world combat area events, which no one or age is spared. Murder, mass killing, torture, beating, mutilations, and rapes are all to common in this game. your characters are not the direct players in these events, but in few parts of the story do you deal with the victims and the rest are after the fact.
Adding realism to the game if fine, but sometimes it does kill the fun of the game. | video-games_xbox |
Epic Headsets 4.5 stars. <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tritton-AX-Pro-Dolby-Digital-Precision-Gaming-Headset/dp/B0017IUFAE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tritton AX Pro Dolby Digital Precision Gaming Headset</a>
Sound
Very impressed with the sound. Out the box without tweaking they sound like I just got ripped off... But after you tubing how to set them up properly, I'm very impressed with how they sound with music & movies. Not an expert yet on tweaking it for MW3, but other games sound epic.
Design
Super comfortable, can wear them entire weekend without any trouble. Super sad material is plastic. If one isn't careful these can easily break... Was hoping to bring these to work and listen to music but their not office friendly due to the fact that the music will leak out and they more then likely will break if your trying to carry them around everywhere without a proper case. The plastic design make them not mobile friendly in my opinion and greatly increase chance of them breaking for mobile users.
To many cords. Could of design wiring better. The wire from headset to base is super long so you won't be affected by the mess at the base...
Design flaw - Lights on the headset... Turning off power to the headset on base will not turn the headsets off. The headsets have another wire running from outlet to headsets... This has to be unplugged else lights remain on throughout the night or until you get back to them... Read a review from a customer whose headsets lights burnt out... More then likely from leaving them plugged in. Epic pain to remember to unplug headsets after long hours of gaming or before bed.
Side Note
Heard the support for these products suck, so I'm hoping I don't run into any issues!
Straight plug in play into ps3, PC, Droid X2 :D, very very convenient.
Overall I give these products a 4.5. Loses a .5 star because material and wiring could of been better and having to remember to unplug after use. | video-games_xbox |
Not the proper sequel I was hoping for. Earth Defense Force 2017 became a cult-classic due to the excessive, B-movie style cheesiness combined with the solid shooter mechanics and huge variety of weaponry, ranging from hilariously useless (firecrackers) or unnecessarily dangerous weapons (Air Tortoise), to the incredibly powerful weapons (Goliath). When I found out a sequel was in the making, I got all giddy, my prayers had been answered! All they needed to do was add online co-op, what could go wrong?
Quite a lot apparently.
I want to start right off the bat and say that Insect Armageddon is not a bad game, and in some ways it improves upon it's predecessor, most notably by not only including online co-op, but upgrading it from only 2-players to 4. Technically speaking, Insect Armageddon looks much better than EDF 2017, and it adds several new types of enemies for more variety (my favorite being the wasps zipping around the battlefield shooting acid at you). The turrets and vehicle segments feel more fleshed out and much more fun overall than EDF 2017's frustratingly awkward vehicle controls.
Unfortunately though, I feel like the sequel gets more wrong than right, and fails to recognize many of the aspects that made Earth Defense Force 2017 a uniquely enjoyable action game.
The biggest disappointment comes from the "impact" of the weaponry. As I described in my EDF 2017 review, the impact of the weapons is one of the most enjoyable aspects of Earth Defense Force. It's not just about bigger explosions and higher stats, it's about seeing those insects rocket into the sky. In Insect Armageddon, the corpses vaporize almost immediately after killing them. So while the insects may start to fly into the sky, they vaporize before flying 10 feet in the air most of the time, so the impact is not as apparent, so killing all the bugs starts to feel more like a chore. It's not just the bug enemies either, in fact, many of the other enemies are much worse. The Hektors, once towering robots that recoil and bend and contort from every powerful blast of a shotgun or rocket launcher, now are agile robots that run around somewhat aimlessly, and have no reaction to your supposedly powerful weaponry. I actually thought I was doing something wrong in the first level, as my attacks elicited no reaction and it took so long to kill I honestly thought I was doing no damage. But I did end up killing it, and the result was nothing but disappointment, compared to the epic explosive awesomeness of destroying hektors in EDF 2017.
The b-rate movie corniness is also a bit annoying. While it tended to grate on the nerves a tad in EDF 2017 as well, it felt a bit easier to forgive, as the corniness felt genuine. In Insect Armageddon, the game knows all too well of its corniness, and almost attempts to be a parody of itself, except that it's not quite clever enough to pull it off. It's a bit like the latest Duke Nukem. It tries a bit too hard to make fun of itself, and ends up appearing insecure rather than funny.
Unlike in 2017, in Insect Armageddon there's 4 distinct classes to choose from. At first I thought this was to the game's benefit, as it gives the game a bit more variety. The classes include a zippy speed-based character with a jetpack, a standard soldier type most similar to the trooper in EDF 2017, a support character that can drop a turret, and a hulking heavy armor type with a shield and area of effect explosion attack. The reason why the classes fail in Insect Armageddon is because, by comparison, none of the classes are half as fun as the "Jet" class. Why bother running around when you can slide across the ground twice as fast and jet rooftop to rooftop instead? The heavy armor seems particularly useless, as the shield and area of effect attack do little to make up for the agonizingly slow movement speed and lacking ability to dodge attacks. I think Insect Armageddon would have been much better if it had focused solely on the Jet class, and just focused on more and more weapons.
But worse than the imbalance of classes is the requirement to level up each class, and how all the weapons are now split up. In EDF 2017, it was frustrating to keep picking up weapons you already have, but in Insect Armageddon this problem is made much worse, as you frequently get weapons for classes that you're not playing, and even if you do get weapons for your class, there's a good chance you won't be a high enough level to use them yet. And by the time you level yourself up and try it out, disappointment sets in when you realize it's just a marginal improvement over a weapon you're already using. The variety of weapons is simply lacking in Insect Armageddon. While it does have the occasional charming and quirky weapon, most weapons are just improved versions of previous weapons. There's also far fewer "niche" weapons that work great against specific enemies (such as the flamethrowers in 2017), making for less strategy. Having to level up classes is also detrimental to the online co-op. If you don't keep up with your friends and find yourself several levels lower, it's like bringing a pea shooter to a nuke party.
Another disappointing aspect comes from the scale of the game. EDF 2017 captured a truly epic scale, and while you would run into the occasional invisible wall, that was usually just a problem with a handful of levels. Insect Armageddon, however, has more invisible walls than you can count. Even if you're going "where you're supposed to go" you'll more than likely run into plenty of invisible walls. This is a huge problem, as a big part of EDF comes from dodging like crazy and getting a comfortable distance between you and your enemies to properly launch huge explosions. In Insect Armageddon, I died many times unfairly simply because I was dodging and retreating from giant spider web attacks only to find myself cornered against an invisible wall. This problem feels exponential when playing as the Jet class. That skyscraper right there, that one you can scale, but the one right next to it you can't. Why? Invisible wall.
In the end, Insect Armageddon is a fairly fun co-op shooter with both online and split-screen options. There's not too many like it, and fans of co-op games will likely have a blast in spite of its many flaws. It just feels like this title could have been so much more, if only the developers had recognized why EDF 2017 was so successful. The grand scale, the enormous weapon variety, the satisfying sound and impact of your over-the-top weapons is far more important than improved graphics, classes, and cheesy one-liners. | video-games_xbox |
A game that doesn't like gamers. Now, I like Infinite Undiscovery, I really do. The problem is that the game doesn't like me in return, and it's not the typical problems that make Infinite Undiscovery such a pain.
Combat is reasonably simple and fun. You can attack with two buttons, and hold them down for special attacks. The enemies are pretty varied, as are the terrains you cover; you fight through forests, grasslands, deserts, castle interiors, and on.
You are given a good assortment of companion characters as well, so you never really get bored of your party. (You can swap them out while staying in towns.)
Cut scenes are well done, although the lip-synch is little more than an afterthought, and in game movies are done without voice whatsoever. In spite of it all, the story is pretty interesting, and the playful dialogue between characters is funny at times.
Even though I've really enjoyed the game, there ARE some definite problems. The 'Connection' feature, where you take control of one of your three party members, is poorly implemented and not worth the time- except when you're forced into using it by the game. It's tedious, but it doesn't happen frequently enough to make you throw your controller.
There are other things that annoy, only it's difficult to pinpoint, other than saying 'this game hates me.'
But I'll try:
Example: You're given a quest to find a pet bear. Yes, a pet bear.
You talk to the townspeople and they tell you to talk to the local cats.
Yes, cats.
You 'connect' with the character that talks to animals, but none of the cats seem to have any information.
You talk to the townpeople again- now, you're told that the bear left the town, so you go outside to find him.
Only there's no bear.
You go back into the town and ask everyone again - no new information. Finally, you talk to the person that gave you the quest, and it triggers a cut scene where you TELL her the bear MIGHT be outside. Only NOW can you actually find the bear.
This is one of numerous scenes that occur in this way. Sometimes, the game is completely counter-intuitive, for any number of reasons.
It's not unforgivable, but it's still annoying.
And yet, I continue playing it . . . | video-games_xbox |
Best Headset I Have Ever Owned. I bought a pair of Turtle Beach wired headsets a couple of years ago and loved them. I have bad hearing so playing certain games wearing headsets helps me out a lot. But since buying my TB, I gained a Wii and a PS3, therefore found my TBs a little useless if I wanted to play games on other systems. I started looking around for a new set of headsets that was wireless as well as easy to connect and works with multiple systems. I went to my local Gamestop and they just so happened to just put out the new Afterglow Wireless Headset and were absolutely raving about them (I guess Gamestop awarded several of them with a free pair to try out and keep for themselves). I paid $90 for them, which I couldn't argue with since all of the other wireless headsets were $100+ at the time.
Took the headset home, quickly hooked them up with no problems, and fell in love with them! They were physically comfortable on my head, especially for long period of time (I can also tell that this may be uncomfortable for certain people however). Sound quality was absolutely amazing, possibly even better than my TBs. Everything was easy to adjust- in game sound versus chatting was easy to adjust. Didn't have any problem understanding people nor did they have any issues with understanding me.
I had some problem with redeeming a code for a tshirt that PDP was giving away on select headsets (I ended up ordering two more, as gifts, after this purchase but I ordered them directly from PDP instead (I quickly found out that ordering the headsets directly from PDP was much cheaper, especially since they have free shipping). I shot customer service an email about having issues with their site. I quickly got an email back asking me if I was ever able to redeem the codes (I said no) and they proceeded to assist me by asking me for the necessary info for the shirts and I received the shirts within the next week. So their customer support is freaking amazing! I wasn't expecting such assistance on a free thing that I wasn't expecting at all to start with. | video-games_xbox |
Best of the Lego games ... For now. The Lego video game franchise is consistently a sure thing for game buyers with the best replay value for your money, especially the DC line. This one looks to be the icing on any gamers cake. With the largest yet of DC Universe cavalcade of guest spots and playable characters we've yet seen, it even includes the likes of Comic Artist Jim Lee, Conan O'Brien, writer/ filmmaker/fanboy fluent bat talker Kevin Smith. Speaking of talking, how's this for voiceover talent: Michael Caine, Russell Crowe, VoiceOver Goddess Tara Strong, (there can only be one) Clancy Brown, Arrow's Stephen Amelie, Gilbert Godfrey, this one has even has TV's ADAM WEST as classic '66 batman! Really the retro Bat-level alone is worth the price of the game!
Besides numerous Batman & Robin variants the Playable/unlockable Characters include: Superman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Firestorm, Solomon Grundy, killer croc, Joker, Cheetah, Thunderer, Etrigan, Ace the Bat Hound, Swamp Thing, Poison Ivy, LOBO, Mister Mxyzptlk, Firefly, Hawkman, Lex, Hal Jordan, Black Canary, Black Manta, Ambush Bug, Red Tornado, Sinestro, kid flash, Martian Manhunter, Ms Martian, cyborg, the Flash, ALFRED, lots and lots of Goons. There's free downloadable extras and add-on content for $15 too (75th anniversary Batman characters & stories)
Although Gotham is gone (except for the Batcave hub & one battle sequence) there's plenty to see between and lots of features like the ubiquitous Bat tips from Bat-Mite!... a chase thru the sewer... a battle to stop possessed batman... a super villain siege of JLA HQ... Space shoot outs... swampy sidebar encounters... Even a European level, lots of GL worlds ...Ultimately to a Face-off vs the power/property-hoarding-mad Brainiac. As always the replay value of Lego games is enormous, you finish the story at an average of 15 to 18% completed... then the fun really begins, going back in with various unlocked characters to free-play levels and save imperiled Adam West while your at it.
Special suits and powers includes old favs like Magnet, Power suits, toxic protection and infared bat gear, to new perks like spare Batcave batcomputer via wrist-coms, Space suits (obviously) even a Tron tribute within the Cyber-bat space, a Virtual training area, the Bat Rocket ship and oh yeah ALFRED is flameproof!
Old school gamers and fans will appreciate the 70's JLA Hall of Justice hall of doom, and locations like the Watchtower as a hub
Codes & Extras
Festive Hats PHHGPH
Fight Captions EWTPKA
Minikit Detector JYJAFX
Quest Detector KNJBD8
Studs x2 5MZ73E
Aquaman V3GTHB
Atrocitus ZGCEAJ
Bane XZKLKQ
Batgirl 4LS32K
Batman (Planet X) ZWQPJD
Beast Boy YC3KZZ
Blue Beetle APEKBV
Deathstroke 5SW59X
Doctor Fate 4HRERD
Frankenstein FQ4ESE
Giganta 95U7BM
Kevin Smith J6ANCT
Lobo B5ABPQ
Music Meister S7GSDE
Nightwing N9CZ7S
Plastic Man H2VB8Z
Red Hood TRQTPS
Superboy QDQ3YL
Fierce Flame NQ46RC
The Joker 9WYGLP
You can find Secret 1966 Batman TV Show level ...mostly Complete the game to unlock the "Same Bat-Time! Same Bat-Channel!" bonus level. Go to the Batcave's main room, and fly up to the elevator with the Bat-logo to the left of the Batcomputer. When in the trophy room, fly to the far right to reach the studio set, which looks similar to the Wayne Manor study in the 1966 Batman TV show. Switch to any character with a grapple gun. Pull the grapple point to the left of the bookcase to reveal a secret passage.
Bonus characters
Some characters are be unlocked naturally by progressing through the storyline, while others require a character token to unlock them for purchase at the store. Successfully complete the indicated task to unlock the corresponding character:
Other Extras
Festive Hats PHHGPH
Fight Captions EWTPKA
Minikit Detector JYJAFX
Quest Detector KNJBD8
Studs x2 5MZ73E
Character cheat codes
Aquaman V3GTHB
Atrocitus ZGCEAJ
Bane XZKLKQ
Batgirl 4LS32K
Batman (Planet X, Zur-En-Arrh) ZWQPJD
Beast Boy YC3KZZ
Blue Beetle APEKBV
Deathstroke 5SW59X
Doctor Fate 4HRERD
Frankenstein FQ4ESE
Giganta 95U7BM
Kevin Smith J6ANCT
Lobo B5ABPQ
Music Meister S7GSDE
Nightwing N9CZ7S
Plastic Man H2VB8Z
Red Hood TRQTPS
Superboy QDQ3YL
The Fierce Flame NQ46RC
The Joker 9WYGLP | video-games_xbox |
Great especially if your a fan of the original. I don't know how I would feel about this game if I didn't love the original so much. I still have the original PC game and played it many times, never actually beat it though. I would pick it up from time to time, play for a little, put it down, and then would have to start from the beginning each time I picked it up again years later. The original is a cult classic for me, a sort of enigmatic attraction that I can't explain. It was way before its time visually speaking, and I always felt that it never really received the praise that it deserved. Anyway...
I looked forward to this game for about a year, ever since I heard that American was making a sequel. Madness Returns (IMO) is still very faithful to the feel of the original. I have played a good 3 hours into it so far. It just has this quality that appeals to me. I am more of a FPS shooter gamer and usually bypass "Action" or 3rd person view games altogether. I am also a sucker for visually oriented games such as this one. The story, dialog structure, and voices are totally captivating, but for me this games appeal is the eye candy and atmosphere. Not to mention the battles mechanics are very fun too.
AMR is creepy, action is solid, it is engrossing, challenging in parts, beautiful, and is just good old fun to play. If you are a fan of the 1st - pick it up! If you haven't played the first, I don't know what to tell you since my perspective is heavily altered by my love and nostalgia of the original.
If you buy it new you get the free download of the original Alice. If you get the game secondhand without the code in it, it will cost you a $9.99 DL from XBL. The original game requires the AMR disc in the machine. It is accessed through the main menu of AMR.
I only played 10 minutes of the original Alice, just to check it out. At first the quality during the intro movie was a bit iffy but once the game started I was very impressed at how good it looked considering it's a 10 year old port from the PC. I can't wait to finally finish it. | video-games_xbox |
Alright game, but can get annoying. This is the first prince of persia i got, i never played the first one but i heard it was really good so i decided to get this one. From my opinion this really isn't my kind of game. I thought it was pretty bad and got annoying and boring.
STORY: A few yearws after the first chapter. The prince has returned home to babylon, to find himself hunted by a supernatural creature bent on his destruction. Forced to live a life on the run, he seeks councel from the Old Man, who explains that his actions have spawned a creature known as the Dahaka. The Duhaka now wants to end his life to solve a problem. Now the prince must travel back in time and stop the sands from ever being created.
The story line is ok, but it starts you off with no clue what is going on, u just see the prince running from a shadow it seems. There aren't that many cinematechs and cut-scenes so the story seems to drift into nowhere. And this is a great problem with games because it is the story line that keeps you interested even if the game has good gameplay.
The gameplauy is another midpoint. ITs ok, from what i thought. I thought it was way to repetitive. I mean its like this: walk in a room, kill the bad guys then find a way out of the room and into the next. And its the same thing over and over again. You keep on dealing with the same enemies over and over and there is barely any new ones. And the game gets confusing and annoying, like say you are hangin from a wall. You have to think so much: ok well i can either run up the wall and get on that platform or run of the wall and grab that or swing on that to get there or slide on this or walk on this or reverse time and try a super jump....I mean it just gets rediculous that you can do all these things and when you get to the point you don't kno which one you have to use to get on the platform. And its a long period of time before you get any actions when u are trying to figure out how to get in the next room, jumpin on this, climbing on that. Its just too much and after you die you have to start from ur last save point, they don't even give you checkpoints and you will fins yourself doing the same things over and over again until u beat it the right way. The other thing i hate is the camera angles, everything is so far away and the enemies look like little bugs, you cant see any detail on any characters while you are playing.
The controls are good but get confusing. What i mean by this is that there is way to many things jumps and kicks and running techniques you can do so you will find yourself going "wait is the white button to roll or is it the Y button?" and you will hit the wrong button and end up by accident jumping off the cliff and having to start at your last checkpoint unless you wanna use your rewind time thing, but you end up running out of that a lot. Or you will also be like this "is A-A-A a tripple jump or is it A-B-Y?" there is too many combos to remember.
The graphics i thought were only good in the cut-scense. In the actual game play they suck. The characters and people even look odd, like there heads are huge and legs are really short, they look like cartoon characters. And even if the graphics were good you cant see any detail cause the camera is too far away to see.
This game is just not for me, i mean if you like the type where you need to find a way out of a room kind of game then be my guest and by this game but it just gets boring especially since all these new types of more fun games out there. | video-games_xbox |
HALO= BEST GAME EVER MADE. The game Halo in my opinion was and still is the best game ever created for a game system. It's filled with tons of killer fps (frist-person-shooter) action and is nicely complemented by and amazing story-line. You take control as a character only known as the master cheif, a genetically enhanced cyborg with a virtually indestructable suit of armor. (for more information on the master chief i would recomend reading Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric S. Nylund. It's a great book filled action and sci fi themes that could put any other sci fi writer to shame. Eric Nylund did a great job on this book and I would recommend buying it also. 5 stars as well!...) As the master chief you can choose between an arsenal of 7 human weapons including a rocket launcher,assault rifle, and shot gun, or 5 alien weapons including a plasma rifle and a gun that shoots explosive needles. Both races also sport grenades. Besides the weopons there are also a variety of vehicles you can use in the game such as a human all-terrain vehicle sporting a 50mm chain-gun or a human tank with a 90mm barral and a 7.62mm armor peircing machine gun. The aliens in this game known as the Covenant also have some intersting transportaion including a one person reconnaissance vehicle that sports 2 plasma connons and a ground assault aircraft that has 2 fuel rod cannons as well as 2 plasma cannons. Besides these vihicles there are many other that you will see but not be able to operate. (Find out about them in the book or in the game what ever u like.) As u play an incredible story unfolds that will be unforgetable, and it even has an unexpected plot twist at the end. But,even with all that I think the best part of the game is the multi-player mode which allows for cooperative play or just playing against friends. But its not just fragging, o no its much more than who can kill who more times, u can play in variety of modes such as king of the hill or capture the flag or a game where u have to have possecion of a ball for a certain amount of time. All are fun and even just that regular fragging style is fun too. In conclusion all i can say is buy this game and buy the book too because they will keep you entertained for a long long time(I've been playing since February) So in conclusion all I can say is you won't regret buying this game and I would suggest playing the game before reading the book, it's better and easier to understand that way.
P.S. if u like the feel and sheer size of computer games better than system games than don't feel sad. Halo is coming out for the pc also. So have fun gamers and buy this game!... | video-games_xbox |
One of the best in the Lego series: Review from a parent's perspective. My son and I just finished the co-operative single player campaign and are starting to go back and re-do the levels to get the extras. We have played many of the lego games (Indiana Jones, Lego Batman I and II, Pirates of the Carribbean, Lord of the Rings) and can compare between them. While Lego Batman will always be a favorite because of its simplicity, I can firmly say that Lego Marvel is a huge improvement over the ambitious Lego Batman II. New York City, in Marvel, is easy to navigate, and you will not spend inordinate time reaching your next level location (as you did in Lego Batman II). The city is bright and colorful, and full of side missions.
The first mission, with Ironman and The Hulk, starts off with a bang. Hulk is yelling "Hulk Smash" and throwing cars. Ironman is flying and shooting. It's all kinds of fun, and it only starts there. I love how Lego incorporates humor, and there's plenty of it with these characters. Ironman and Wolverine were my two favorites, as well as the Black Widow, for their commentary.
Flying characters are a bit difficult to navigate until you get the hang of it, but definitely FUN to play. There are many characters in this game, and all have different and interesting abilities suitable to their superhero background. As a sidenote, you can always switch to their alter-ego, like Peter Parker in the case of Spiderman. I am not familiar with all the superheroes, but the ones I recognized definitely acted like their comic book forebears. Sometimes they did so in a winking, "in the know", kind of way. I definitely see Lego games as something fun for kids, but also fun for the adults, much like the best Pixar cartoons appeal to both audiences.
The story was uniquely lego, yet also reminded one of the Avengers movie. All the super-villains, led by Loki, are working together to get power bricks for some devious plan - which I won't reveal here. You'll have to play and find out. The levels are highly varied, from factories and office buildings within New York, to Asgard and a mysterious jungle island. You'll have the opportunity to fly planes, and my favorite, skydive.
If you haven't played a Lego game before, you should know a few things. First, you can play alone, or cooperatively. Secondly, you have a main series of missions that you play through, but you can go back and infinitely replay previous levels with additional characters to unlock more secrets and collectibles. Third, it's quite easy to play. You should have no problem beating the game. You can't die, basically. You may lose all your "coins" as a punishment for being broken up, but you don't die. And frankly, neither does anyone else, if you're worried about violence, basically the lego figures just break up. I find it's one of the best games to play with your kids for this reason. It's very forgiving. You can always restart or replay levels. The only frustration is that you can't save except at specific checkpoints, so it's not so easy to put down. That said, each level has 2 to 3 checkpoints so you should be able to finish before dinner gets cold on the table. With the missions in nice succinct packages, you can easily partition the game over days, saying that you'll do a mission a day. That said, if you play with your kids, you may also come back and play the game on your own time. It can be that fun. Now if you have played a LOT of Lego games, there isn't a lot new here. Buy this game if you enjoy the Marvel universe. | video-games_xbox |
Inexcusably bad. This review is from: Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (Video Game)
Experience:
Level 1: Begins with cover based shooting. Glad to see Capcom is blazing new trails in the 3rd person shooter genre. Also you can't "vault" over cover. I mean it only took them how ever many years to give you the ability to run AND shoot. Maybe in 3 more games they'll include this option.
Cover based shooting takes forever. Your guns are inaccurate, head shots don't drop enemies, frag grenades do pitiful damage, enemies take entire clips to the chest (on normal difficulty), and the only thing more inaccurate that you with guns is your NPC squad with guns.
Encounter Birkin boss fight. Birkin nails me with pipe and locks me in perma-stun until death. 2nd encounter knocks me down. This time analog prompt appears (rotate analog stick to dodge) to allow me to roll out of the way. Why it didn't appear in the first encounter I have no idea.
Birkin kills squad member, move to revive...die
New strategy: Use squad as meat shield, sprint like crazy while hearing their cries of anguish fade into the distance...pass level.
Level 2: Unlock stealth for Vector. Encounter military types in City hall. Stealth and sneak up behind enemy when I realize I have no stealth kill...on a STEALTH character. Sigh, in perfect position to set up cross fire. Execute..enemy begins melee combo attack while I'm pouring a clip into his chest. Locked into perma-stun until death.
Crossfire attempt 2: Watch my team flail about as if they're trying to target everyone at once and some enemies that don't exist. Use all stun grenades. Team refuses to acknowledge my assistance by actually killing a single soldier. Survive encounter with 1 bar of health. Remaining squad memebers...KIA. Developing hatred toward moron in charge of AI.
Get to archive room to burn evidence. Can't see a thing. Turn up gamma no effect. Wander around library beginning to wonder if my purchase was worth it.
Get to ending with multiple Lickers. Watch as animators were too lazy to give the Lickers an actual "death" animation. Licker stays in attack pose after 2 clips or more until finally disintegrates; was dead the entire time. Other Licker models merely go "limp" and fall from the ceiling. Very lazy on Capcom's part.
Level 3: Exploding zombies...this is getting stupid. Am becoming bored, and really wishing I'd read the reviews.
Hospital catches fire. Hunter mini boss fight occurs.
Use team as meat shield. Hunter kills "Lupo" and "Beltway" but I'm alive and that's what's important.
Revive Lupo. Revive Beltway. Beltway then runs directly into a fire and stands there until he dies. Revive Beltway. Move to next room. Lupo suicides on trip mines that were guarding an aid spray. She can't even pick them up! Why is she going for an aid spray!?
Turn game off in disgust.
Update: Continued to play and got to one of the end levels where I had to re-enter Birkin's Lab.
On the elevator and attacked by lickers. Killed lickers but one glitches and gets stuck in the freaking wall. My cracker-jack team decides the best thing to do is to just shoot the wall...forever. After the Licker has disappeared through the wall. I am not kidding. They all lined up and proceed to shoot at NOTHING. And because you can't issue team commands, the only way to make them stop is proceed to another check point.
This is one the biggest things that I am hating about the game industry. EVERYTHING MUST have multi-player.
I know that a ton of people who disagree with me will say "Play on Xbox Live DURRR"
The thing is that I shouldn't have to. That's an excuse and bull**** one at that.
I understand that there are some games that have a single player campaign added as an after thought. Battlefield Bad Company 2 is a perfect example. I didn't get that impression from "RE: ORC." I thought it was going to be a mixture of Dead Space, and Gears of War. A solid single player experience with a strong multi-player element. And Capcom was more than happy to make people believe that. Instead they give me an amalgamation of Gears of War, Jericho and Vampire Rain.
THIS GAME SUCKS. DO NOT BUY! Seriously. Spend your money on ANYTHING else. Burn it if you have to. You will get infinitely more enjoyment from the outcome of torching your hard earned cash than spending it on this travesty of a "game." | video-games_xbox |
A surprisingly mediocre follow up to an all-time classic. It really pains me to write this review, because I was a hugely vocal fan of the original Kinect Sports. In fact, it was the game that convinced me to buy an Xbox 360. In many ways it was the perfect showcase for the Kinect's potential for virtual reality and video game exercise.
The best analogy I can come up with for Kinect Sports Season Two is that Kinect Sports Season Two is to the original as the movie The Matrix Reloaded is to The Matrix. On its own merits it's not a horrible game, but when compared to the iconic original there's just something really lacking.
Much of the feel of Kinect Sports Season Two is carried over the original, for better and worse. The graphics are still cartoony and your Kinect avatar is still there. There's still a loud and exuberant announcer with a quasi-European accent. After gameplay, you're still treated to videos of yourself looking silly.
There are some interesting improvements. For all the sports you have the option of competing as a single player against the Xbox, head-to-head against another human, or online through Xbox Live. There's also a mini-game associated with each sport.
What's completely different, of course, is that there are six new sports. Some of them are excellent, others not so much so. I'll provide my take on each.
1) FOOTBALL: This is a "simulation" of American football. I put the word simulation in quotation marks because this isn't exactly John Madden Football.
You start out by receiving an opening kick. There's no challenge in this, you just raise your hand when you're ready to receive it. Then you run in place as opponents try to tackle you. Oddly, there's no way to break nor block tackles--you just keep running in place as fast as you can until someone takes you down (In fact, I found just flailing my arms was good enough).
Whoever designed the game either didn't understand or decided to take liberties with the rules of football. In real football, you try to advance 10 yards in four downs by rushing or passing. In this game, there's no rushing, only passing. And you have to move down the whole field in four downs and score a touchdown or a field goal.
In order to pass, you need to choose a play from a "playbook" (or have the coach call it). The "plays" are all simple patterns that all end up with one receiver to your left, one in front of you, and one to your right.
To start play, you're brought to a screen where you're the quarterback in back of your offensive line. You need to crouch down and then jump up (or say "Ready, Hike") to receive the snap. When a little green icon appears over one of the three receivers' heads, you need to make a passing motion with your arm in that receiver's direction. Time it right, and you make a completion. Once that happens, you run in place at breakneck speed again to try to gain more yardage.
Once you score or if there's a turnover on "downs", the system will simulate your opponent's drive (you don't play defense). The opponent will either score or punt, and then it's your turn again. Score more than your opponent and you win the game.
All and all, I thought the game was fun enough, and all that running in place was certainly good exercise. But there was just so much potential lost. At the end of the day, this was a game that really didn't use the Kinect's capabilities as well as it could have to come close to simulating the real sport, whether it was letting you catch a football, evade a tackle, run a pattern, or throw a football in something other than three general directions. I give the football portion 3.5 of 5 stars for fun, but it could easily have been more.
2) BASEBALL: In this game, you play offense and defense in a quick baseball game.
To bat, you stand with your side to the TV, and assume a batting stance. A ball is pitched toward you, and you swing an imaginary bat. If you make contact and hit a single you have to run in place as fast as you can (but strangely, this isn't needed if you hit a double, triple, or home run). Worse, whether you run fast or slow it doesn't seem to affect the speed of the on-screen player. In another case where the game developer clearly didn't understand the rules of baseball, you have to slide into first base (this doesn't happen in real baseball).
To pitch, you make a throwing action towards the TV. There are two types of pitches, a fastball (where you make a throwing action to the TV) and a curveball (where you make a throwing action across your chest. You can control the speed of the pitch by how fast your arm movement is. There's no defense or fielding, except in the case where a batter hits a fly ball directly to one of your players, in which case the player reaches his left arm out and catches the ball (seemingly in the same place each time, again not much of a challenge).
Sadly, I found playing baseball in this game to be a bit tedious and contrived. In some ways, the game shows the limitations of the Kinect; while the Kinect excels in games that require full body motion detection such as dancing games, it's at a bit of a disadvantage to systems like the Wii and PS3 for games that simulate holding an object like a sword or a bat (where the game needs to detect things like speed, angle and torque). The Kinect is certainly capable of this (all a developer needs to do is have the player hold a stick), but unfortunately we don't see it in Kinect Sports Season Two.
Overall, baseball gets an unfortunate 2 of 5 stars from me, although again the running in place gives some decent exercise.
3) DARTS: This is where things start to turn around a bit. You start out by telling the Xbox where your TV is--above your head, at face level, or below.
From there, you're treated to a pretty realistic game of darts. To play, you hold your hand up as if you're holding a dart. A "cross hair" will appear on screen corresponding to your hand (and it's extremely sensitive). You "aim" your dart by moving your hand back, and you release it by moving your hand forward. The ensuing action feels much like genuine darts.
The rules are traditional. You start with 501 points and need to get down to exactly zero by scoring points on the dart board, which are subtracted from your point total. Some parts of the dartboard are worth more than others. In you find this a bit confusing don't worry--the program tells you exactly which part of the board you should be aiming for.
I'd say the overall feel of this game is excellent and really feels like real darts at times. Although I won't lie--there were some times when I'd be thrusting my hand forward and the system didn't even recognize me, or worse, causing my shot to go awry. I never really felt in 100% control of the dart as I would be in real life. Still, this one is 4 out of 5 for fun for being a realistic simulation.
4) GOLF: Here you can choose a 9 hole, 3 hole, or 1 hole competition. You choose different courses. To play, you stand with your side to the TV. Aiming your shot is extremely non-intuitive--you need to step forward or back to pivot your character's aim. And you really have no context with which to swing.
As for the swing, as long as you pull back and swing with one fluid motion, the game will let it fly, even if your actual technique is horrible or non-existent. Overall, I think the same gripe with golf that I have about baseball (and which I'll have later about tennis). Since you're not holding a controller, the Xbox will just interpret any wild swing you make with your hands as a swing. Sadly, I didn't find golf very realistic; in fact, if you're not careful it had the potential to ruin a real golf swing. The golf game here may appeal to very casual players who have never picked up a golf ball, but otherwise is forgettable. 2 of 5 stars.
5) SKIING: This one was a bright spot. The only other video game skiing I've done has been in games like Wii Fit Plus and We Ski which use the Wii Balance Board. In all those games, the balance board was just too sensitive and inaccurate to simulate skiing. With Kinect Sports Season Two, your body is the controller. To pass through gates, you lean to the side. To build speed, you crouch and lean forward. When you see a green zone, you jump to earn points.
Overall, this was a game that truly showed what the Kinect is capable of. 5 of 5 stars.
6) TENNIS: Finally, we come to Tennis. Again, with the Kinect's potential, you'd think that a tennis game would allow you a lot of great simulation--the ability to serve and volley, the ability to chase down shots, and so on.
But sadly, your range of actions is again extremely limited to serving, basic backhand, basic forehand, and no running or volleying. Even your swing speed doesn't seem to make a difference. About the most complex it gets is hitting a slice (or as they describe it "slowing the ball down") by swinging your arms from high to low. And as I said, there's something "missing" when playing without a controller or at least a prop in your hand so the system could detect racquet angle, type of shot, etc. Without these things, I'd give Tennis 3 of 5 stars.
To sum up, I'd give Kinect Sports Season Two a solid 3.5 stars (which on Amazon I'll round up to 4). It has some very bright spots and carries over much of what made its predecessor successful. But there just seems to be a lot of missed opportunity as far as innovation and pushing the platform and the series forward goes. | video-games_xbox |
Fun and Immersive Shooter. GoW was the game I most looked forward to when I got my 360; so much so that I refused to play it until I got my HD home theater system in place.
Now that I have completed the single player campaign on "Casual", I am ready to finish it on "Hardcore", a testament to the replay value of this game. (And that's not even touching on the multiplayer elements...)
First of all, the game is beautiful. It takes full advantage of your High Definition display to render crisp, detailed environments. The game designers also make good use of the 5.1 surround, making the experience even more immersive.
Gameplay is not overly complicated, and allows the player to do what he wants without too much problem. A VERY important aspect of gameplay is getting into cover, which is accomplished with a single button. The same button also allows various ways of getting out of cover. This, combined with the ability to shoot from cover, and "active reload", makes you feel like you're really fighting the Locust.
The story line IS quite linear, although you are presented with branching choices at a few points in the game. You are also given very simple control of your squadron, although this does not seem to accomplish much.
Speaking of your squad mates: they are ALWAYS injured and you have to go help them recover and get back into battle. This gets a tad annoying at times, and often you just fight on without them, as completing a stage always brings them back to health. I call this my "victory is the best medicine" strategy. Your squad mates are also a source of amusing dialog. (Cole's "Hells to the no!" is now part of my vernacular.)
One of my favorite things about GoW is the design of the many building interiors you encounter during the story. They are simply works of art, and you will find yourself enjoying just looking at the environment.
I have already mentioned "active reload", which at first seems like a trivial detail, but is actually an important part of the game. AR permits you to reload much faster by hitting the reload button a second time after a precisely timed interval. If you do not use AR, you just reload at normal speed. However, be aware that if you AR and FAIL, you reload REALLY slowly, which can mean your death when Locust are bearing down on you. It adds an element of realism, because it's really easy to screw up, or forget AR when a bunch of Lambent Wretches are bearing down on you.
There are also plenty of Achievements to earn in GoW. Many of them are awarded for just completing the various Acts of the game at the various difficulty levels (Casual, Hardcore, Insane). There are some fun ones based on gameplay elements, such as active reload skill, or killing certain boss creatures, etc. There are some Achievements awarded for collecting "COG" tags, which are dog tags shaped like little gears. COG tags mark the locations where soldiers have fallen fighting The Locust, and they are hidden in 30 locations throughout the game. This is a fun detail, and encourages you to completely explore your environment, rather than just completing the levels and moving on. Some of them are pretty hard to find, and, to date, I have only collected 25. I like the COG tags.
A few minor gripes. The grenade throwing in the game is actually pretty cool; you hold down the left trigger and you see the trajectory, complete with bounces, your grenade will take when you throw it. The problem is you often cannot see where the trajectory will take your grenade because you are looking UP at the arc. Since where the grenade will land is pretty much what you care about, this is a little annoying. Another annoyance is that sometimes the getting into/out of cover can be a bit of a pain. Often time you are frantically trying to get into cover only to go into a headfirst dive roll into the wall you are trying to get into cover behind. Sometimes you get stuck on cover you don't want.
These are minor quibbles, however. This game has everything: lots of cool weapons, lots of cool monsters, lots of cool levels, lots of achievements. Heck it even has the obligatory "Driving a Vehicle Now" level. (Is there the obligatory Lava Level? There must be...) Also, the game is sufficiently challenging for ANYONE. I initially jumped right to Harcore (cause I think I'm Hardcore) but I was getting killed in the TRAINING LEVEL. It may, in fact, be impossible to beat the game on Insane without a partner.
Anyway, you will get your money's worth on the single player campaign alone. Then there is the MULTIPLAYER aspect, which I will not even touch on here. Needless to say, if you have a 360, this is a must-own game. | video-games_xbox |
Very comfortable, not the best sound. These headphones are extremely comfortable. They fully encircle my ears, the padding is soft, and the headband is just right. The quick disconnect feature is really nice because these headphones need to be plugged into the back of your computer, with several plugs, and unplugging them to walk away is out of the question. 4/5 stars for comfort and convenience. (Minus one star for too many knobs, see below)
The sound quality, however, is average. I'm a hardware enthusiast, and an audiophile. Great sound really makes a tremendous difference no matter what your doing (video games, movies, music, etc). I have a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series (it'd be great if there were a shorter name for that...) sound card in my custom built, high performance gaming/multimedia PC, and a great Logitech speaker system. I just moved into a townhouse, though, and I needed a way to keep from shaking the walls on weeknights when the people on the other side of the wall were sleeping. A friend of mine recommended these headphones, and since it appeared they would make good use of my hardware I decided to give them a try. It took a lot of fine tuning to get everything working properly, only because I like to do everything manually, but once they were up and running the way I wanted I played a few movies, a few albums, and a few games, all that support 5.1 channel sound. My conclusion is that having a volume knob for each individual speaker is a really bad idea. Imagine having a volume knob on each speaker of a 5.1 surround sound speaker system, and having to walk from your seat on the couch to each speaker and back again until the sound for the movie you're watching is perfect. Not a pleasurable experience. The worst part about all the knobs (or wheels, whatever you want to call them) is that they don't lock into place. As soon as you brush your arm up against the amplifier, all you're settings are lost. I resorted to cranking all of them to max and leaving them there. The sub-woofers are pathetic. The sound coming through the center and side speakers is 100% treble, so with poor sub-woofers the sound is high pitched and tinny. I put on some music with a wide range of bass, and brought up an equalizer. I cranked the bass all the way up on the amplifier, and the front and sides all the way down so all I could hear was the sub-woofers. Even with a very small amount of volume, they sound "maxed out." Overall, the sound quality is only average, and for what they cost, average just doesn't cut it. 2/5 stars for sound quality, 4/5 stars for comfort/convenience, 3/5 stars overall. | video-games_xbox |
skip this one. This is a completely unremarkable first-person shooter. Evidently some alien robots are plotting something dastardly in the jungles of Central America, and it's your job to make your way through their base of operations, shooting them as they obligingly pop out from behind obstacles in native villages (whose city planners for some reason seem to have designed their living quarters to resemble paintball arenas).
One thing that makes this one different is that, from time to time, you get to use a jet pack, and that offers moments of good clean fun floating about.
But there are problems.
The first is that you don't get to simply float about with this jetpack exploring the world: this is not one of those games that encourages you to explore the world. Every time you get to use the jet pack, there are aerial enemies that must be defeated.
Sadly, it's this very combat that dampens the fun of this game. While exploring with the jetpack is fun in theory, fighting with it in the air is typically not, on account of your usually not knowing where enemies are, the way you certainly would if you really were flying through the air with a jetpack. Instead, getting your guy to face the enemy can be tiresome and annoying. Usually, if there's an enemy in front of you to be shot, it's just a conincidence: it's not like you were able to hunt him down or guess his next move. Most of the time you're flying in the wrong direction.
Another problem is that this is another one of those cookie-cutter adventures. We present these problems for you, and there is only one way to solve them. No other ways will be accepted. You're going to follow the path this way, in this order, and accomplish the goal in this way, regardless of what your other ideas might be. For example, you're only allowed to use your jetpack to jet to pre-approved places that the programmers provided the coding for. The world you're in may appear open and inviting, but in reality you're forced to walk a narrow but invisible gangplank to get from here to there. There are many cases when you can think of ways of flanking your enemy, but no such luck: invisible walls prevent you from going any further in that direction, or landing on this or that ledge. Why? Do I have an effin' jetpack or not? Then why can't I use it?
Most troublingly, though, the game falters storywise. The whole premise of aliens setting up shop deep in the jungles of Central America during WWII was certainly a worthy one, but only if you allow yourself to be restricted by it. The gamemakers certainly did not. Suddenly they all speak English? And your native guide suddenly starts talking like he's from Southern California? And they go nowhere with the story: I was taken by surprise when the credits rolled. That's the end?! I felt the story had gone nowhere. | video-games_xbox |
Great game, new player point of view. Let me start out by saying I'm new to Dragon's Dogma, so I purchased this game to start from the beginning. It includes the full original game plus expansion. So basically I paid double the current price of the original game which is selling for $18, because I figured I'd want the expansion eventually and I wanted some of the improvements (ie. better travel options) that were added with Dark Arisen.
After about 8-10 hours of gameplay I can already see that this is a great title. Heck, I already feel like I've gotten nearly 30 bucks worth of enjoyment and I'm still in the earlier portions of the game. As a veteran of Dark Souls (having beaten it twice with 2 different classes) I can say that there are some similarities. That's a good thing. Dragon's Dogma doesn't seem quite as polished in several ways (combat not as varied, quests/lore not as good) and does not have the online interactivity with other players like Dark Souls, but it has strengths in other ways. The pawn system is really cool and original, and having lots of NPCs and a large city to interact with is a good change of pace. You don't feel alone in this game the way you do in Dark Souls... And difficulty is more relaxed than Dark Souls. So basically I'd say it is as much fun so far but less hardcore, but not to a fault.
My character is a ranger and it's been a blast to level him up. Character customization is quite varied, the game world is very engrossing, combat is fun... Just a whole lot of good things about this game. I do wish that multiple save slots were available, otherwise not much to complain about. Overall, the game is definitely 5 star worthy, especially if you're someone like me who had never played the full game. Now, if I were not new to this game, I wouldn't be thrilled to fork out this much cash just for an expansion. But heck, as much as I'm enjoying Dragon's Dogma I'm sure I would do it anyway!
***UPDATE - After 25+ hours of play, I had to write an update. It's safe to say that this is now one of my favorite games all-time. The quest line has gotten good (about half way though I believe), and some of the boss battles and random mini-bosses that ambush you in the fields of Gransys are amazing! I would suggest that any fan of action RPG's pick this game up as soon as possible. It's that good, I'm shocked it wasn't more highly publicized! The main criticisms I've seen of the original game by the way, are both resolved in this release. Fast travel works now thanks to many available port crystals and the eternal ferrystone. And pawn "chatter" can be lessened by using the knowledge chair. Kudos to Capcom for this gem of a game, looking forward to more sequels or DLC!! | video-games_xbox |
Full Featured and Fully Wireless Xbox One Headphones. These feature-rich fully wireless Xbox One headphones were a breeze to set up, incredibly comfortable, and produced beautiful sound.
Set up was a breeze. A small USB stick plugs into the Xbox One. Then you turn on the headphones. That's it! These headphones come pre-paired to the USB stick. There are small red and blue lights on the mic that flash as the headphones search for the wireless signal. The light will turn a solid color once the signal is connected.
The power button also functions as a mute button. It is easy to tell if the mic is muted because these headphones utilize a brilliant mic monitoring system: you can hear your voice through the headphones when the mic is on. Headphones without mic monitoring tend to muffle your voice which leads to yelling/speaking loudly. When the mic is muted the mic monitoring is also off, so you can't hear that audible feedback.
A small button at the bottom corner of the headphones toggles between two available modes. The mode displays a color code on the tiny LED on the edge of the boom mic.
"Red" mode is a bass boost. Explosions and rich thunderous sounds are perfect for gaming.
"Blue" mode is pure audio mode. This mode is perfect for watching TV.
The padded headband adjusts for different head sizes. The leather-like ear pads are both soft and reduce external noise. Above the ears, two volume wheels control the overall volume and balance between game and chat volume. The fit was overall very comfortable.
The retractable boom mic worked well. My friends reported a clear voice. I really liked that the mic stows inside in the headphone for storage.
The only "negative" I found with these headphones is the same negative I find with all the Xbox One wireless headphones. The headphones work best with a fresh boot of the system, and the signal can be a little touchy if you move your head. Overall, I can recommend these headphones for anyone searching for a fully wireless option for their Xbox One. | video-games_xbox |
Not as good as the first, but still an excellent follow-up. After the incredible installment of Halo it seemed like every gamer around simply couldn't wait to play the follow up! Well here it is, finally in my hands! I'm happy to report that overall this is a very solid follow-up to the first installment. There are a couple minor things that I didn't like, but there are a lot of things they added into the game that are just awesome.
After the first game I was kind of wondering how they would follow it up since the Halo facility blew up and the Master Chief with Cortana were the only two sentient beings left alive. Well Halo 2 brings us deeper into the lore of the rings and their Forerunner builders. Apparently there is definitely more than one ring, or else this game wouldn't have made as much sense without a Halo facility. I really don't want to give away any of the story line because it's a really intriguing story so far. To be honest the story is really what held this game together for me, but let's just say that they end up coming upon another Halo ring and there is already a major Covenant armada on site. The best chance for survival is to get onto Halo and fight from there because we all know the Covenant will not destroy the ring. The best part of the story is that the covenant between the species that make up the Covenant doesn't seem to be nearly as strong as we all assumed. In order to take us down that path we get to play as a Covenant elite named the Arbiter. This is one of the better changes they made to this game! It was a lot of fun to play on this side of war and see things from their perspective.
That's all I'll get into for the story. Honestly the game play and mission details are fairly rehashed from the first Halo. This is sort of unfortunate, but somewhat expected because what's Halo without Halo? But running missions through the Library to find the Index again seemed tedious and uncreative, although they managed to spice them up a little by throwing in the new Brute character named Tartarus (and the brutes in general). The thing that really saved these repetitive elements was the backdrop story of the Covenant. Also they threw in new lush atmospheres found on Halo. Halo is a big place and it stands to reason that not every place is going to look the same, so it was nice to see them try and capitalize on newer elements. This gives us some familiar maps and ground as well as giving us whole new terrains to explore. One of my favorite is that at one point we end up on Earth and go through a whole urban warfare sequence. That was probably one of my favorite parts of the game.
Aside from the repeated levels the only other major problem I had with this game was the HUD. If you read my review for the first game you would remember that I mentioned that the view was great because it gave you sort of a mock peripheral vision. In this game it feels like you're looking through a very confined screen, which makes it a little more difficult to play in co-op mode. This is unfortunate because it feels like they removed something that I thought was an improvement to a First Person Shooter game, maybe they felt it was an error? Of course I think this was more than made up for by being able to dual wield weapons and being able to use the Covenant energy swords. Though they got rid of the MA5B standard issue assault rifle from the original game and that made me sort of sad. Oh well, I can now wield two Needlers!
Overall I thought this was a very fun game. I even enjoyed going through the Library again, so while some may find that "uncreative", which it is, I still enjoyed it. The Flood takes a bit of a back seat in this game and show up more as an annoyance until a big revelation at the end. Story wise this game is much bigger and more ambitious. I think if you were into Halo for the unique world and story you will also like Halo 2 just as much. So be prepared for a wild ride to save the universe and see how precarious the Covenant's species allegiance just might be.
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 | video-games_xbox |
Tough Call in 2004 between Tiger and Links. Links 2004 is a beautiful game. I have been avid golf game fan way back to the Commodore 64 so I have some knowledge of the games.
If you owned outlaw golf and enjoyed it (uhhg) this is not the game for you. Tiger Woods 2003 was a great game and for those who own it will be hard to get back to the shot bar method. However if you play in advanced mode you can get rid of the bar.
The choice for you to purchase Tiger 2004 or Links 2004 is a tough call. If you owned TG Woods 2003 you might want to try something different. I have played TW2004 and enjoyed the many un-lockables its great game and you really can't go wrong.
I give a very slight edge to Links. I am in the middle of Links 2004 and the putting is much better. Though I got sort of use to the caddy telling me exactly what to do in the TW. I think the graphics on links are better. I think the flight of the ball is beautiful. I suggest starting the game in the middle setting. If not you will get use the yellow bar telling you exactly where to hit. Links is more a golf fans game. I think TW2004 is more of an arcade type game. I think it is fairer to call the spin as you shoot not after the ball is in the air. I bet the demographics for golf games are more for adults so why do they slam the rap and loud music in TG franchise. (To get younger fans) I like in Links that I was able to drop my own music in the game. I put in an Enya CD and it is really kinds nice.
I took one star away because of Microsoft's pushing of the LIVE system. I imagine live is great but for those of us on a budget it's a tough cost to swallow. I hope in links 2005 they focus more on un-lockables. The one problem with LIVE a lot is they forget that most people play the games by themselves but don't have high speed and a LIVE subscription. TW2004 does have a lot more stuff you can do by yourself.
I sound back and fourth because I am. It's a tough call if your rich buy both. | video-games_xbox |
Bug-Riddled and Bland: A Huge Disappointment. I was apprehensive when I first found out that WB Montreal and Splash Damage were going to be taking the reigns from Rocksteady in developing this game. Still, I loved Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, so I pre-ordered Arkham Origins and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, the game turned out to be incredibly bland: the storyline is extremely basic, none of Batman's rogues gallery feels particularly well-developed, and there's almost zero mechanical innovation compared to its predecessors. The combat also feels more frustrating than it did in the previous two games. The time window for counterattacking is smaller, and the camera has a bad habit of zooming in way too close to Batman while he's in melee, meaning that you'll get your combos interrupted frequently just because you can't see what the fifteen guys surrounding you are doing.
And of course, AO is incredibly buggy. I've had the game hard-lock my console some 14-odd times in the five days that I've been playing it - lately, I'll feel lucky if I can play for 30 minutes straight without it freezing on me. There are times when Batman's movement will slow to an agonizing crawl for no reason at all. Thugs will fall waist-deep into the pavement and become stuck, making it impossible to defeat them or in some cases, clear side missions. A handful of mission objectives (most notably, the comm towers scattered around the city) are glitched, so they will randomly be flagged as completed/incomplete. I've also heard numerous reports of save data being corrupted randomly due to these freezes, but I've been spared that, at least.
I know that the developers are looking into patching the myriad of problems that have cropped up with this game since its release, but the bottom line is that AO should not have shipped in its current state. AO is, by far, the most unplayable, broken mess of a game that I've ever played on a console, and it feels like it went through almost zero quality assurance during its development.
Assuming that the above mentioned problems are fixed, I'd raise my rating of this game to three stars. It's a decent title, but its a big step down quality-wise from its two predecessors. As-is, you're better off waiting for a price drop and a series of patches to make this title worth your time. I'm so fed up with AO that I'm returning my copy to Amazon tomorrow. | video-games_xbox |
Microsoft is the worst. It's a shame I can't give it a 0 star. This whole thing is just a joke. It doesn't come with a physical disc, so I opted to participate in the "disc exchange program". However, I was just denied of it simply because I don't own an Xbone. Apparently you MUST own an Xbone in order to be a part of it, and they never bothered to make a statement that owning an Xbone is a prerequisite in their press release. They expected each and every one who would possibly buy this to have already owned the console. They didn't even bother to consider a 1% possibility that someone without an Xbone would get this in haste because he/she wants to own both the collector's edition items AND a physical copy of the game.
What kind of high school dropouts are running this thing?
As usual the Microsoft support basically gave me a shrug and said if I want to own both collector's edition and physical copy without Xbone "it's too bad". They treat their customers like dirt - even someone who cared enough to blow over $250 on their product.
I pointed out that "ownership of Xbone being a prerequisite" was never mentioned on their own website (http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/games/halo-5-guardians-disc-swap), and they just went "So? It's not our fault we didn't make ourselves clear". It's a blatant false advertisement at best, fraud at worst. I wouldn't have blown over $250 had I known that they never intended to give out physical copies of the game to those without Xbones. I was going to get this first and maybe an Xbone down the line when holiday shopping season starts (the upcoming Elite bundle is a big thing for them, right?), and they didn't even think that there are people like that?
I was outright told that they don't care about my purchase because "[you're] minority". Apparently as long as the majority of their "customers" who already own Xbones are good, they don't care what the rest of the gaming community thinks.
I mean, I'm their customer that paid $250 for their product, and they're unwilling to just give a physical copy? Are they just that cheap?
No wonder PS4 is dominating. I'm done with microsoft. | video-games_xbox |
Shiny with no soul. I bought my copy from GameStop, thinking this would re-capture the amazing glory that was the first two Battlefronts. I should've known better. EA doesn't do glory; they do cash grabs. And that's exactly what this game is. Those people who are giving good reviews are probably too young to remember how amazing the first two games in this series were. And I'll admit, the first hour I played, I thought "damn this game looks amazing." But that's all it does. LOOK amazing. It's shiny with no soul.
The gameplay has been gutted from the previous installments. Gone are your class choices. You have to level and level and level to get any access to decent guns. This takes away the strategic thinking you could do by thinking about the benefits of choosing a sniper vs engineer vs heavy weapons expert (ARC trooper). Ammo and health packs have been woefully replaced by a cool down system for both blasters and health. At first I thought this would be a good mechanic: It's execution is poor. It works for Halo, Gears, and Mass Effect, but not here.
The charm of the original Battlefront's campaign is gone. As is the grit and storytelling of Battlefront 2. You'll be relegated to training missions and no storyline whatsoever is visible in the "campaign proper." (I use the term loosely.) If you were planning on playing through the Star Wars original trilogy, you'll be able to recognize the battles, but without any context.
My biggest issue: NO GALACTIC CONQUEST??? This was the staple to the Battlefront experience. You had to use strategy. You had to weigh risks. You had to play the battles juuuuust right to win. It was a genius game mode. Perhaps it will return in the four new expansions, but you'll be dishing out an extra $50 on the season pass just to access that gamble. $120 for that? Don't do it. Wait. Maybe a GOTY edition will come out in a year or two. Otherwise, wait until this game is $10, get your 10 hours out of it (if you don't have a better game to occupy your time), and be done with it. EA destroyed the series, I'm oh so sorry to say. It's an okay game on it's own, but NOT remotely a Battlefront game as we old-school gamers have come to know. The shiny graphics and Star Wars skin get it a two stars. Barely. But don't be deceived. If you want to buy this as a Christmas gift, I'd recommend buying your loved one Halo 5, Fallout 4, CoD Black Ops 3, or just a gift card. There are way better options out there for you. | video-games_xbox |
Top of the line product. I used to own an Astro gaming A40 headset with mixamp back in 2008, which I ended up selling. I rebought this one in 2016 because it was about $85.00 off on sale for the headset and amp. The Astro A40 headset and mix amp pro is a MASSIVE upgrade over a standard Xbox mic that comes with the console. The regularly Xbox mic will break with just regularly use and at $29.99 to replace them and using an Xbox for multiple years it can be quite expensive to routinely replace a $30 mic when you could just buy a top of the line headset and not have to worry about replacing it.
The quality of the headset is top of the line and very comfortable to wear. The top band of the headset is adjustable. The boom mic picks up audio perfectly and is flexible to allow you to move it closer and away from your face. I went with the A40s instead of the A50s because I prefer to have the mix amp separate and like not having to charge the headset as it is wired. There's only 3 cables that need to be plugged in; two run to the backside of the Xbox to provide the sound and to keep the unit charged up, and the other runs from the front of the amp to the headset. I also like the customizable features of the A40s like being able to switch the speaker tags which are magnetic on the side of the mix amp, and also being able to alternate which side the boom mic goes on your head. With A50s it would have to be on the left side of your head (I prefer the right side) because the mic only moves forward from the left side and you cant reverse the headset because the left and right side makes a difference if you wear it incorrectly.
The Dolby surround sound does help hearing footsteps on first person shooters. The mix amp allows you to be able to raise the overall volume while also being able to adjust game and player voice volumes. It also has 4 separate settings for the surround sound. Although don't think you can't hear footsteps without this headset, if you were to turn up the volume on your TV it would do the same thing because I went years without using an Astro gaming headset.
I also own a PS4 and my understanding is if I bought the mix amp pro TR for the PS4 I could use the same headset for both amps. Otherwise I could hear sound but would be unable to speak to other players with the Xbox setup on PS4.
I would recommend this to any casual or competitive gamer that plays Xbox / PS4 frequently and wants a great quality headset that may give you a leg up on the opposition. | video-games_xbox |
Unexpectedly awesome. I'm very surprised to be reviewing this game -- let alone giving it five stars. When my husband received "Mass Effect" for Christmas, I thought I'd be spending a lot of time rolling my eyes and reading a book while he was shooting stuff, not fighting him for the Xbox controller!
So, I'm not a hardcore gamer, and I'm not going to review this game pretending I'm one. I'm writing this from the perspective of a 31-year-old wife and mom whose interest in Xbox games has mostly been limited to "Oblivion" and "Guitar Hero" until now.
The graphics in "Mass Effect" are unbelievable, even better than "Oblivion," I think -- particularly when it comes to the characters. One thing I didn't like about "Oblivion" was that it was nearly impossible to make a female character who didn't look like a man. Maybe that seems like a minor thing to other people, but when I spend a lot of time playing a game (about 30 hours in this case), I want to be happy with the way my character looks. My "Mass Effect" character came out pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself! (One of my husband's friends was over once when I was playing and said, "Whoa! Who's she? I haven't met that character!")
In addition, the alien worlds that you visit look great. There are tons of them, and there's a lot of things to explore on each one (including stuff that doesn't show up on your map.)
The controls were easy for me to use. Normally, I hate "shooting games" because it's too hard for me to aim (I'd just rather hack away at something with a sword), but after a little practice, I was doing pretty good. By the end (with upgraded weapons), I found I was actually taking out guys with one shot. Sweet!
The way the weapons and armor were displayed also made it easy for me to figure out which was the best choice for my character or other team member. In some games, particularly "Neverwinter Nights" for the PC, I've had to ask my husband to help me figure out which one will do the most damage. Not a problem here. One small complaint: In the screen where you switch which weapon you're armed with, it'd be nice to have them labeled with the TYPE of weapon (pistol, assault rifle, etc.) -- I'm not gun-savvy enough to figure out which is which based on the little sketch.
I really liked the RPG aspects of the game. At times, it was a little talky, but I really liked that the focus wasn't 100 percent on combat. I also liked the option of incorporating romance into the game. (So sue me, I'm a chick!)
The plot -- about a rogue Spectre (sort of a special agent) who's trying to bring an ancient power back to the galaxy -- kept me interested, too. I guess it's just a variation on the standard RPG plot of "cult tries to take over the world," but it's done well.
The end does seem to leave the game wide-open for a sequel -- and I think that's a good thing. I'll definitely be fighting my husband to play that one, too. | video-games_xbox |
Good and Bad. Amazon used LazerShip to deliver my package and they managed to loose it. The whole ordeal took about a week. Nobody knew or could tell me what was going on with my shipment and then after a week I canceled. By that time all of my friends had already accumulated enough EXP that it will be impossible to catch up. I also lost out on any preorder bonus. So thanks Amazon and Lazership.
The Good:
The game has great graphics - the textures and lighting look fantastic. Also the sound is phenomenal. The weapons and vehicles sound very visceral and everything alien sounds very unique and interesting.
The Bad:
WHY WHY WHY can't they just give you the ability to customize your controller layout. It took a long time to get used to one of the terrible preset controller layout options they have available. Each layout has a button or two that just doesn't feel right to me. So many other FPS games give you the ability to customize your button, why can't/won't they just do it for Halo!???!
The gameplay for the campaign is boring. Its shoot shoot shoot get to point A push a button shoot shoot shoot get to point B and push another button. Some vehicle levels thrown in, but nothing seems interesting. They have done nothing to move the series forward and anybody I have talked to is getting very tired of playing essentially the same game repacked and I completely agree. I won't give away spoilers but some character design in the game looks laughable.
The multiplayer is fun, but nothing is accessible unless you devote a lot of time. The problem is the progression of unlocks doesnt make sense. There should be clear cut goals of what you can unlock based off of your experience. Since you can spend your spartan points on unlocking certain items, it makes the whole system very inconsequential. For example, if you could unlock a silencer at level 40 it would give you something to work towards. Or special camo at level 60 for example. These items would give your character a slight gameplay bonus over others but you would have to work hard to achieve them. And the bonus would not be enough to cause a gross gameplay imbalance. But instead almost any item is unlockable with just an hour or two of play. Spending hundreds of hours playing will only get you special emblems, character poses, or minor bonuses like making your footsteps quieter. Wow big deal.
Also, the armor system is mindless. In Halo 3, when you saw a player on the battlefield with certain kinds of armor you could make an inference about their skill level. Instead of having so many mindless armor combinations, how about having about 10 sets of armor that look very different from each other and a player is rewarded with that set after progressing to a certain level. Then on the battlefield if you saw someone with a certain type it would mean something to you and the player wearing it. For example, "oh that player a promethian visor," so I can tell he has promethian vision. Or, "that player is wearing a special ops spartan suit, so they must be a level 50."
Also, the music in the game isn't terrible but it is very unmemorable and often doesn't seem to match the action or location on the screen. It's like he made a lot of music with just knowing the bare minimum about each level, instead of scoring it after it was nearly finished (as they do in movies). I had high hopes for the music but I hope they choose a different composer, one who is more masterful at creating epic soundtracks - perhaps hans zimmerman, james horner, clint mansell, james newton howard, etc. They would have shorely came up with a truely memorable theme and award winning soundtrack. It may have not been as radical as neil davide's work, but I am sure they could have came up with something equally sci-fi oriented yet more meaningful sounding. Also, Cortana is extremely annoying, and the actor who does Master Chief just sounds terrible. Also, while there are cool CGI scenes in this game, the general production quality of the entire game as a whole doesn't seem well done at all. The meandering story is confusing and going from scene to scene or location to location just does not seem very cohesive. Also, 343 has stated they wanted to make a more mature Halo experience because many of the hardcore original fans have grown up. Although you can see more mature themes sprinkled throughout the game, overall this feels like a universe that could still fit in Disney World. If they want it mature that is fine, but they need to make a decision: get your toe out of the water or get your feet wet. | video-games_xbox |
Pay the price to become a hitman. Although this is my first game in the Hitman series, I absolutely love stealth games like the Splinter Cell series. I have completed Hitman: Blood Money at all levels of difficulty and earned every Xbox 360 Achievement in the game.
If you're looking for a fun, vast and playable game, just stop right now and purchase Hitman: Blood Money. The game is so incredible in the amount of variety it offers (both in unique and interesting levels, as well as new and exciting ways to take people out) it could have almost been split up into two titles and still be worth the price. I don't want to provide any level-specific spoilers at all, but let me just say if you completely finish this game without finding one level you absolutely loved, you simply don't like this entire genre of gaming!
Although this game has absolutely no multiplayer component, I could easily see a group of people gathered around the TV with pizza and beer as you take turns trying to accomplish the best or wildest "hit."
The controls in this game are sometimes difficult. Overall, you spend most of your time picking a weapon, then using it. However, when you have to make accident kills, specifically throwing someone over the side of a building, boat railing or cliff, you'll find that it doesn't always work. This is particularly true at the higher levels, where making these accidents happen is essential for earning the coveted "Silent Assassin" rating.
Speaking of which -and mostly specific to the Xbox 360 version- the achievements for this game are somewhat ambiguous. One example is that the requirements for earning a Silent Assassin rating on the "Pro" level is different than earning it on the lower difficulty levels, but you're never informed of the differences, or how to achieve it in the first place. Likewise, the "Special Rating" achievement is only really possible to earn by accident, or after researching how to do so on the game forums. All of this is troubling, since the point of the game is to become the ultimate hitman. And when they won't tell you how to do so, you'll feel a little cheated.
Obviously, there are some adult themes in this game. In addition to the gratuitous (but fun!) violence, there are also numerous sexual scenarios. There isn't a lot of foul language (at least that I noticed, but I'm also pretty liberal on that), but parents should certainly review this title closely before purchasing it for a minor.
All said, this game easily earns a 5-star rating for the replayability, level design and massive options for interesting deaths. The only problems with this game (which lowered my "overall rating" by one star) are the sometimes troubling controls and the lack of information on how to "do your best" as a hitman. However, the casual gamer won't care about these inadequacies and the hardcore gamers will find ways around them. After all, an adaptable hitman is a good hitman! | video-games_xbox |
Fun with a few problems. Although the front cover says otherwise, I can't help but compare Dead Rising with the movie Dawn of the Dead. The fact is you can do anything you want in a mall. Personally when I think of a mall, I think of Dawn of the Dead, and Dead Rising sort of allows me to play out my fantasy.
Dead Rising is one of the most unique Zombie games out there. Capcom is truly the master of Zombies games much like how George Romero is the master of Zombies on the big screen.
To explain Dead Rising, think Grand Theft Auto meets Resident Evil. The game's world is limited to a mall, but don't worry, there's plenty to do at the mall. If you want a comparison, think of a huge mall with roller coasters, grocery stores, toy stores, movie theaters, and all other wonderful things you'll find at the mall.
In Dead Rising you play a journalist named Frank whose love for the latest story lands him in a town overrun by zombies. The most unique thing about Dead Rising is that you can choose what to do. You are given basically three days of play, and within those three days you can uncover the story of the zombie plague, help survivors to safety, create chaos by killing zombies left and right, stop psychos, or you can do a combination of all.
Dead Rising unique system doesn't end with the fact that you can choose how you want to spend your 72 hours, but also the fact that you can choose how you want to defend yourself from the zombie plague. Do you want to bust TV's over zombies head? You can do that. Do you want to pick up an umbrella and use it as a ram to plow zombies? You can do that. Do you want to pick up chainsaws and cut zombies in half? You can do that. Pretty much anything can be used as a weapon in this game... right down to pies and foam bats and can sodas.
Overall a fun game to play for any zombie fan. There are few minor problems with the game which includes the fact that on some TVs it will be hard to read the text on the screen. I highly recommend playing the game on HDTV otherwise you'll be having a hard time reading the text on standard TV although I heard for some people it isn't a factor. Ironically on the front cover of the game, the main character has a standard TV to break over the zombies head... perhaps it is a precursor to the fact that you'll be doing that to your TV when you are overrun by anger. | video-games_xbox |
Credit where it is due. My friends and I had some hands-on time with the new COD last night. First impressions are good. It did take some getting used to. There are no more laser sights and it is a bit darker than before, which can make it tough to spot and kill enemies. Overall it just seems less polished and precise than COD4. It is very solid, but will probably not blow people away the way COD4 did. Is it the best game I've ever played? No. But it still belongs right up there with the best in my collection.
That being said, here is why everyone should get it right away:
The multiplayer rocks.
I know that is where I spent most of my time in COD4. For everyone who complains, "Not another WWII game!", the story and setting don't really matter once you get into the online play.
The maps are great and seem well thought out. There is a good deal of variety and you never seem to find yourself too far from the action,
There are tanks! There are not jeeps and motorcycles everywhere to cause every idiot to go zipping around the boards like hummingbirds on crack, just a well-placed tank here and there to add some spice to the open areas.
You can tell your party members apart from the crowd! When we played, I noticed that the people in your party show up as a different color (blue) than everyone else. This makes it easy to tell exactly where they are and actually join up with them. It made it much more enjoyable to be able to get in on the action and actually play with my friends instead of just talking to them while I went off on my own. Gone are the days of, "Where are you?" "I am over by that abandoned building" "Which one?" " The one with the caved in roof" " You mean the factory?" "I think it is a warehouse" "By the machine gun?" "Never mind, I just got killed."
Add that to the new ability for eight person private chat, and you will actually be able to play together with your friends without ever hearing another annoying 12 year old!
Co-op campaign seems awesome. You can actually play through the story mode online as a four person squad instead of just by yourself. You can even set it to be competitive and keep track of each player's stats so you can compare kills and such. You can also use some cheat cards you find during the game to keep it interesting. There are even multiplayer achievements.
I haven't unlocked the flame-thrower yet, so we'll see if it is as awesome as it sounds.
If you have gotten through this whole review without ordering the game, here is one more thing for you to wrap your mind around: ZOMBIE NAZIS
Google it and see for yourself!
That is all. | video-games_xbox |
solo play encouraged. Quake 4 is of course an excellent engine and the port to 360 isn't a bad one.
However, if you're new to the world of X-Box 360, beware of some differences between X-Box 360 and PC. In the PC World, games like Quake achieve both a massive enduring audience and a sort of "classic" status that keeps online gamers coming for years. It doesn't take much effort to find even Quake 1 players on the internet when it comes to the PC version. However, depending on the time of day and day of the week, it can be hard to even find someone to play against on X-Box Live.
Console gamers, and X-Box 360 gamers in particular, do revisit classic games but a great number of console enthusiasts are more drawn to see whatever the latest hit game is. This may be due to the difference in the demographic or the way in which console games are marketed--namely, console games have huge marketing pushes near the release date of new titles. Sales for a given title may get a bump from time to time based on releases of expansion packs or price drops but the huge surge of interest is at the beginning. By contrast, PC games develop a reputation and word-of-mouth causes a groundswell of interest such that over time some PC games even achieve larger growth spurts than during the release/launch phase of a game. This trend with PC games seems particularly frequent with online games.
The point here is that if you want to play Quake 4 and have plenty of people to play with online, you're better off doing whatever you need to make your PC more comfortable for gaming. If you just want a good first person shooter to play online with other people over X-Box Live because you prefer gaming on the 360 platform, your time and money is better spent on newer and more popular releases. Prey and Gears of War had large audiences when they initially went on sale. Upcoming (as of Jan 2007) games like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW2), Bioshock, Army of Two and Halo are good bets too depending on how well they deliver on the online portions of their games.
Another major advantage the PC version of Quake 4 (and all id games) has is that there are lots of individuals who make character skins, maps and customizations. So far, this hasn't been happening on X-Box Live (though we can only hope the XNA dev kit could eventually provide something like that). As of the time of this writing, there isn't much to download for Quake 4 from X-Box live, commercial or fan created. You're better off viewing the X-Box 360 version of Quake 4 as a "stand alone" non-expandable game.
Finally for those who just want to play Quake 4 single player on an HDTV in your living room without much hassle, the X-Box 360 version is just fine. Of course, most of the people I know would still rather play with a keyboard and a mouse at a desk and that's certainly less trouble to accomplish on a gaming PC and if you are the rare individual who prefers the controller, the wired X-Box 360 controller can actually be used on Windows XP by downloading a driver from Microsoft. This is all just a matter of preferences.
If you're not looking for Quake 4 particularly, I'd take a look at some of the other first person shooters available. This system has such an abundance of quality games in that genre that I'd suggest that even if you're only interested because of the budget pricing. | video-games_xbox |
Fantastically complex control scheme may turn some away. GUNVALKYRIE, from Sega is a beautiful game, set in a fantastic electric-punk alternative 1800's world. The graphics are astonishingly beautiful, the action is fast and frenetic, and the missions are reasonably varied, and fun.
All this comes at a price, however.
In an effort to fully utilize the xbox's controller, Smilebit has come up with a control scheme that is as versatile as it is difficult to learn. While you'll be giggling with unabashed glee as you leap into the air, jump over an enemy, blast it to pieces, cartwheel to the side, turn to the left, and fill a handful of aliens full of lead (or whatever it is your gun shoots), all in the span of maybe half a second, and all in one fluid motion, it's not easy to get to the point where you're that familiar with the controls.
In essence, the left analog stick controls your body, and the right analog stick controls the direction your arms (and thus, gun) face. Left trigger jumps, right trigger shoots, face buttons switch weapons. But it's way more complex than that, because of the analog stick clicks, which add a whole new world of complexity to the controls. Click on the left stick and move, and you'll "boost dash", either forward, to the side, or backwards. Click on the left stick, and you'll change facing, in 90 degree increments, depending on which direction the stick's pointed in.
So, while you'll be able to execute that jump-dash forward-shoot-cartwheel-turn-shoot move, it'll require you to left trigger/left stick click forward/right trigger/left stick click right/right click stick left, all in sequence. Rewarding, but again, difficult.
Once you've invested the time, though, GV's an incredible experience. You'll start on the ground, running from the bugs, but by the end of the game, your feet won't even ever touch the ground.
A unique, fast-paced experience, full of interesting levels, and a really unique world. If you can deal with the difficult controls, you'll be well rewarded with an action game unlike anything ever made. | video-games_xbox |
Git Gud" with Dark souls 3. DS3 is a brilliant game that is one of the most addicting games I have ever played . It kicks your ass over and over again. Yet it keeps you comming back craving for more. Just one more time you say. Until, you finally beat that boss or that part of a level however many attempt later. When you defeat an area in this game it gives you a sense ofeuphoria, adrenaline and accomplishment like no other. All of the one star reviews are from people who gave up! I hated the game at first but I kept at it until I persevered. The more you play the better you get and the more you appreciate the lore and complex mechanics. The game forces you to learn and doesn't hold your hand.
No other game has made me feel the way this game has in a emotional sense. I hate it and loved it at the same time. Even if the stress it induces sometimes is probably bad for my health.
In all seriousness though the unique level design, dark cryptic lore with creepy riddle filled dialogue, unique mechanics and upgrade system and the huge number of playstyles and classes to choose from gives DS3 unmatched replay value (I am on the final DLC and have 130 hrs playtime). And I am not even really into the multiplayer aspect that much but it is extremely unique and interesting how it is implemented; and it adds even more to the value!
You just need to get past the initial shock of its difficulty curve to experience DS3's greatness.
This was my first Dark souls game. I bought it on a whim. I played it and got my ass kicked in the first 2 levels for a couple hours and rage quit. I told myself I hated the game and was mad that I bought it. I came back to it one " sick day " off work a couple months later (after I had beat every quest of my other favorite,The Witcher 3) and it just clicked. I stuck with it and just kept getting better and better at combat and becoming more aware of my environment. This game forces you to "get good" (git gud) if you want to survive. You will though still continue to die; however the brilliance in dark souls lies in the sense that every death is a learning experience and actually a core element in the story (you are "Undead") The constant gamble you take with your souls gives you a legitimate adrenaline rush constantly thus it's almost like playing this game gives you a "high" like no other when you do survive.
Trust me, I never was a gamer who really enjoyed difficult games. Yet, Dark souls made me turn into one of those gamers. I'm a souls addict now. I plan on buying a PS4 so I can play Bloodbourne!! I am super into the lore because it is so open ended and allows you to use your imagination. The story and ambiance of the game is of Lynchian style films like eraserhead mixed with Lord of the rings if it was written by a Japanese Manga writer instead of Tolkien. If that doesn't make sense to you then it doesn't matter. The gameplay itself is still kickass. You don't need to get into the story to like the game which is something I actually enjoy in a way.
If your thinking about it and took the time to read this just get the dam game already. | video-games_xbox |
What was I thinking. In every action movie situation, there is always the possibility for a game tie-in. Enter Blade 2. What could go wrong? The first one was pretty good, right? Right? Well.. in this, just about everything went wrong. The game even starts out with a commercial for the movie. The graphics are ok. The textures are rather bland, but the backgrounds do a pretty good job of depicting the Blade 2 environment. This game is not as violent as the movie. The animations, however, are so stiff and limiting, you find yourself getting hit the most when you're throwing a punch. In the sound department, the general action sounds are nothing spectacular, but nothing to be ashamed of either. The voiceovers however, are terrible, and none of the movie's actors pop up. The music (though it sounds like a (duplicate) of the orignal soundtracks albeit without licenses) fits the scene rather well and would be perfect for a fast paced action game. This however, is the game's huge problem. The control scheme would be perfect if the player didn't get so caught up in how slow Blade moves. The targeting system is easy enough to get used to, in fact, I would even call it intuitive. His attack system (using the right analog stick to attack in a certain direction) would be perfect if Blade was actually as fast as he is in the movies. Get this: you actually have to earn the right to use that super cool sword. All in all, this game was uninspired and a complete rush job to get there in time for the movie, and I am very dissapointed. Wanna buy the game? Ok, as long as you use that "I bought both movies and I need both games" excuse, but in reality, there was no excuse for this game. Are mindless, needlessly difficult action and frustrating controls your bag, however, go ahead and buy it. For me? I wouldn't have even rented it if I knew what I was getting myself into. | video-games_xbox |
Awesome game! (NHL2002 Xbox users... cool tip at bottom. This is my favorite game for the Xbox. The graphics are top-notch and the game play is spectacular. The majority of negative things I have read about NHL 2002 can be turned off in the form of a menu option. The skill levels are appropriate, you will easily move past beginner once you learn the basics and only the experienced player should attempt the All-Star level. I'm happy on Pro most of the time. You can create seasons, playoffs, or Olympic tournaments using either NHL or International hockey teams. You can also save a roster file to keep up with the latest trades going on in the NHL and always have the latest, most accurate team rosters. Perhaps the best addition to the EA Sports NHL game as of late is the emotion meter. Win a fight or follow-through on some big hits, your emotion meter goes up and you may find it easier to score goals. Great addition as this is the case in real life hockey games. I've read mixed reviews on the color commentary and while some of it is cheesy, I find most of it very hilarious and entertaining. "I have a message for a spy in our audience... do not trust the smiling penguin, I repeat, do not trust the smiling penguin. Good luck Mr. Spy."
If you do decide to pick it up or already play NHL 2002, here is a cool trick I discovered. If you start holding the shoot button to get your shot meter up and then click either the right or left trigger button at the same time (just holding trigger makes you spin), you put a shot right on net regardless of where you are on the ice. I've had shots from behind MY blue line sail past the goalie. This is also a great trick to use when they pull their goalie at the end of the game and you want to score with a specific person. The shot never misses. I scored 66 goals, most empty netters, with Scott Parker, the enforcer for the Colorado Avs, in my season using this trick. | video-games_xbox |
Choking out the competition. I thought this game was very well thought out, and very well executed. As soon as I played the game demo off Xbox Live I was hooked. I bought a copy of it and it far outdoes the demo. I've played many of the Fight Night Games, and found them okay, but all together boring when all you do is just repeatedly knock guys out. In this game there are submissions, TKO's, and knockouts, not to mention the extensive ground game, clinch game, cage game, and striking game.
The striking system is excellent, and is ultimately more fun than any regular boxing game, with superman punches, ducking left hooks, and a host of other moves you can train your fighter to learn. The striking system while it still needs some work, you can duck, dodge, and come back with brutal counter attacks.
The submission system, is by far my favourite part of the game, I've knocked pleanty of people out, but there is something about twisting somebody's limbs, until finally screaming in pain they tap. There are so many submissions it's almost impossible for your specific fighter learn them all. The submission system is highly advanced, and is directly tied to your stamina bar. Instead of button mashing for this year's title, the new way to make them tap the mat, is the shining system, in which you rotate the right stick, as clean as fast as possible, to lock in your deadly submission. but don't be fooled submissions can be difficult, but once learned are the most enjoyable thing to do. Learning how your opponents energy and stamina bar relate to the submission, once that is learned, you can in the third round after losing the fight suddenly you put your opponent in rubber guard, and slap on a gogoplata, your opponent taps, and you watch in satisfaction, as you get up bleeding, but the Ultimate winner.
The graphics and smoothness of the game also make this amazing. When you do a flying armbar, it really has the amazing graphics as you jump up, flip your legs around your opponents head, extend your hips, and watch as they collapse and tap in agonizing pain, the graphics are amazing, and when superman punch somebody and watch there mouth guard, and half the blood in their mouth go flying you will know why.
The presentation is great in career mode, and they did a really good job of making you feel like an ultimate figher. There is so much more to this game, but you will have to buy it and find out the rest. | video-games_xbox |
Learn guitar and have fun while doing it. This is a great game. With so many different choices on how to play, learn, and develop techniques, this is one game that I am going to stick with. If you continue to play this every day (almost) for 60 days, there is a really good chance that you will learn how to perform one of the songs. Learning guitar and playing it well takes a lot of practice. This definitely makes it much more fun. It definitely kept me wanting to continue learning. I spent about an hour a day so far, and when I do get tired after and hour
I stop. But it's the variety of choices in this game that make me keep coming back to continue my progress. The game includes the Rocksmith Real Tone cable. One end is USB and plugs into the Xbox, and the other end is the 1/4" stereo jack which plugs into your guitar.
I remember playing the first Rocksmith two years ago, Nov 2011, and I was a beginner at the time. It was fun, but
at the same time frustrating. Not because I was a beginner, but because the game just wasn't registering my playing accurately. I played it for a month and then put it down from the frustration. And I never continued to learn either. Now this new 2014 version (released Nov 2013) is much better. it interacts and registers a lot better.
First off, the game will ask a few initial questions to determine your skill level. Setting up the uPlay account is not required, but it does provide a few benefits. I didn't setup the account. The calibration and tuning is next. I was completely frustrated on stuck on this for ten minutes. Then I realized how to fix it. I just turned the volume on my guitar from halfway all the way to max. So with the volume on my guitar at max, every string was registering and plenty of time was allowed for the calibration tool to register my note. So if you are stuck on calibration, turn the volume up on your guitar. I was able to finish calibration in 2 minutes after I did that. The calibration works really well.
There is so much variety with Rocksmith 2014. There are video lessons to learn from for all skills levels. And there is a good amount of varied song choices, classic rock to hard rock, from different decades. You can also go to the shop and buy songs, or packs of songs using your Xbox Live Account money (formerly points). You can also import songs from the first Rocksmith (from 2011) if you have those.
There are a variety of choices to keep the player interested. Here are the choices of options:
A) Learn a Song - Learn how to play song
B) Session Mode - This is my favorite. Add backing instruments (up to 4), and they will react to how you play and play along. This is an excellent mode. Sometimes you just want to jam, even if you are a beginner. Backing instruments include drums, bass, guitar, keys, percussion, synth lead, synth bass, synth pad, and misc instruments include banjo, kazoo, mandolin, metronomes (digital, modern, and vintage), toy piano, and ukulele.
C) Nonstop Play - Just set the time limit up to 90 minutes, set your playlist, and play.
D) Lessons - I found these very helpup. These are all DVD-quality videos, showing lessons for all skills levels. Beginner lessons up to Master Classes.
E) Guitarcade - This is a fun area just to mess around and keep things interesting. You can practice your techniques here (string skipping, fretting, slides, scales, chords, etc.). The games are fun, but the technique practice is excellent.
F) Multiplayer - two people can play against one another. You need two guitars and two USB/stereo cables.
G) Tone Designer - This is a fun area to create your own unique tones. I didn't play with this too much because I was spending more time learning the guitar.
H) Shop - you can buy additional songs or packs of songs. These are the authentic songs by the original rock artists. | video-games_xbox |
A Trip Worth Taking: Come for the Carnage, Stay for the Content. Building off the beautiful, mayhem-heavy groundwork of Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4 offers a vast playground of ultra-violent insanity awash in the lush backdrop of a Himalayan nation gone to the dogs.
It's clear Ubisoft adopted an "if it ain't broke" philosophy with FC4, as core gameplay is virtually identical to that of FC3. That said, innumerable tidbits of added value are sprinkled across the package in absorbing ways. The new presence of "Karma" events play out much like Red Dead Redemption's random encounters, enticing rewards and an immersive depth to the environments and its denizens. Charging into enemy encampments on the back of an elephant never gets old, nor do the ample opportunities for sneaky approaches or explosive confrontations. Hunting mechanics are refined, as well, and the sheer scale of wildlife in the game is pretty terrific (be wary: Eagles are vicious SOBs).
Like the gameplay, mission structure takes after FC3, but refines the approach to offer flexible, non-linear interaction with a lively cast of supporting characters, as well. The NPCs you meet are also impressively well written and hilarious, though the main villain isn't quite as hypnotically diabolical as Vaas in FC3. Still, there's more than enough life, humor, and drama here to keep the narrative engaging throughout all the carnage.
Graphically on the 360, FC4 trumps FC3, if just barely. Textures are crisper and the art design (specifically in a number of trippy dream and drug sequences) is absolutely astonishing. The mountainous backdrops on the 360 don't hold a candle to their current-gen counterparts, but it's still enthralling to hop in a gyrocopter and watch the world go by above. The increased focus on verticality really enhances the experience and offers more versatile means of travel, whether by wingsuit, hang-glider, or any number of other awesome vehicles on display (hovercraft are pretty great, too).
Much more than the FC3 reskin I anticipated, Far Cry 4 delivers on the series' excellent blend of fun gameplay and stunning open-world environments to outrageously effective results. | video-games_xbox |
Great graphics and gameplay, but. We pre-ordered our 360 and were one of the lucky consumers who actually received it the day it was released. That said, we've had it since mid-November and have had no issues... until today.
I've barely been able to pry my husband's grubby little fingers off the controller long enough to get to enjoy playing it myself, but we've both been impressed by the gameplay, espcecially "Call of Duty 2" (which my husband can't put down) and "Need for Speed Most Wanted" (which I can't put down). The graphics are stunning, the gameplay is engaging and intuitive, and we've been overall very impressed and would give it 5 stars on that alone. Not to mention the fun of Xbox Live and multiplayer, and we've had no trouble playing our original Xbox games with the downloadable patches.
That said, we were aware of the reports of overheating and console freezing up, and considered ourselves very lucky that all seemed right in our Xbox world. Today, however, we became victims of Microsoft's greed and slip-shod beta testing. Our 360 froze up. A call to Xbox support verified that yes, our 360 had fallen victim to the dreaded glitch. The woman on the phone was very nice and they are sending us a pre-paid shipping kit and will repair it for free.
Despite the excellent customer support I received today, HOW COULD MICROSOFT PUT OUT A PRODUCT THAT ISN'T FINISHED? These glitches are reportedly wide-spread, and Microsoft has made a HUGE tactical error in releasing the 360 before it was ready. Yes, they were the first to get out a next-gen console, but issues like this are going to KILL consumer confidence in what truly is (glitches aside) a wonderful system. Shame, Microsoft. You've shot yourself in the foot. We love our Xbox 360 and would never consider getting rid of it, but others who have not yet bought one (supposedly the glitches will be fixed in the new ones reportedly ready for shipping in February or so) may be sacred off by the reports. Microsoft has lost its early lead and the chance to dominate this round of the console wars by being greedy and arrogant and pushing out an unfinished console before it was truly ready, just to hit the Christmas season.
For those of you who don't have a 360, wait until the new ones come out in February, but don't avoid buying one. It's a great system, but definitely don't waste your money on the overpriced glitchy ones that are being sold on the secondary market now. Please don't be scared off! Just wait 2-3 months. Trust me. It'll be worth it, both for the sheer fun and beauty of these games and for your own sanity in knowing that you're not going to have to throw a hissy fit and call customer service when yours freezes up. | video-games_xbox |
EA Season Ticket Holder Review. So I was able to get my hands on Madden last Friday as part of the EA Season Ticket promotion going on. For those of you who don't know you can get access to all EA titles 3 days early for 20 bucks. There are some other benefits but they aren't worth mentioning. I personally figured the 20 dollar amazon credit was worth buying EA Season ticket since I also get NHL, FIFA and NCAA Football next year early as well. So with that out of the way on to the Review.
GAME MODE IMPROVEMENTS:
Franchise Mode: So nice improvements here. The improvements aren't as great as EA would like you to believe but they are there. CUT DAYS 75 man rosters to start each season. IT makes you want to play the pre-season to see if you have any Diamonds in the rough. Basically every year in franchise mode at the end of the off season your team will be filled with "walk on" players to fill out your roster at 75. ITs a nice feature but doesn't really change that much gameplay wise because you still start the regular season with the same amount of players that you did in all previous maddens. The only reason this system works is because your walk on players attributes aren't available to you until you play them in preseason games and practice. These walks on will have 99? Overall ratings until you play them and find out how crappy they really are. That 99? QB you have on your roster is probably a 67 just a heads up don't get too excited.
The New Franchise Feature I liked the best was the new FA Bidding system: This is totally revamped. Instead of going through a free agent list at the end of the year and picking the best players you want, every player has a timer. The timer starts once a team has "Bidded" on a player. It's now nearly impossible to get all the best free agents every year because you really have to watch each player's timer and bid accordingly. *MY tip, bid once on a player to get the timer started then let the timer run to 2 seconds and bid again to win the player* By far the best new feature in Madden.
*NCAA OWNERS NOTE* If you import your draft classes into madden you can scout the players now before the draft. You can also scout players without importing them but if you have NCAA and haven't finished more then a season or two I recommend simming just to get the real draft classes. The scouting itself is rather basic. You pick 15 players every 4 or 5 weeks and a few stats become available. By the end of the season you have 4 or maybe 5 players that have all their stats unlocked for the draft. Its rather unrealistic but if you do some research as to where you are going to get stuck drafting and what players will be available you can find out how good your first or second round pick is going to be before drafting them.
BE a PRO MODE: There are some nice little additions this year. For one you can create a player and walk on to any team you want instead of being drafted to a team you never wanted to play for. (Really who wants to play for the Panthers? ) However if you import a player from NCAA 12 you cannot choose this option you have to be drafted. The good news is this year you can demand a trade to a specific team. Essentially this is the first Madden BE a Pro where you can pick your team in all situations.
This year you also get to improve your player yourself. Like NCAA 12 you gain "XP / Skill" points after every practice and game. While it's nice to customize your character the way you want him, after 4 seasons (AT MOST) you will have all 100 ratings. You receive too many skill points per game and practice.
GamePlay: The new tackling system looks great. There are defiantly less WTF moments playing this year's madden. CB still making amazing interceptions without looking at the ball but it happens far less these days. The best new gameplay feature is defiantly the new GAMEFLOW feature from last year. This year it lets you pick between pass, run or strategic each down. So instead of being 3rd and 5 and being forced a run play down your throat you can tell GAMEFLOW to give you a pass play. Game flow itself helps speed up the game and now being able to pick pass or run makes it worth using. I found the presentations to be as repetitive as years past. After your first season you can go ahead and play madden with MUTE on for the rest of the year.
There are some little additions this year I'm leaving out but really aren't worth mentioning. Player ROLES are included, they essentially give you reason not to be mad when all of the sudden a RB breaks 15 tackles in a row. You can blame it on the fact his "player role" allows him BEAST MODE... Or when a CB jumps ten feet to the right while not looking, makes an interception and returns it for a TD you can blame it on his "Ball skills" Player Role. Hot and Cold streaks were taken from NCAA and effect the game a little while playing on Madden Difficulty but on all-pro or pro it's not noticeable. The awkward audible/hot route system using the directional pad is back. I hate this, especially after playing NCAA for a month straight.
The only feature I can't review as of this date is the Ultimate Card team online game since it was not available for EA season ticket people.
All in All this is the year to BUY Madden. If you have skipped out the last couple of years there have been enough improvements I can recommend getting this game and you will get your money worth. I personally think Madden has finally caught up to NCAA in terms of gameplay and franchise/be a pro features. While playing this year I finally got the feeling that this is as good as it going to get for us football fans until the next generation of systems come out. Is it the best game in the world? No, but will you get 60 dollars or entertainment out of it. No Doubt if you're a football fan. | video-games_xbox |
REAL Electronic Drum-makers do it right! Mostly. Does this drum set live up to the hype? I've been at it for a few months now. Here's my story:
The ION Drum Rocker comes with all the pieces you need to play it on the XBOX 360 version of Rock Band 2: cables, drum sticks, etc. It a solid-performing video game kit, and hasn't dropped notes or shown wear -- and I've put the screws to it. I still prefer this set over any other on Rock Band 2.
Pros:
The drum pads themselves are solid and sturdy, but have that BOUNCE, making continuous hits a little more natural. My right wrist doesn't hurt nearly as much!
Adjustability. You want your yellow and blue drums a little higher? Do it! Want that green drum lower and flatter? Go ahead! It's not too tough to lock it in place, as long as you keep that Drum Key nearby for adjustments (It comes with the kit). Your first week or two will be all-adjusting.
Authenticity. It really IS more fun to -CRASH!- at the end of a fill! I use that green cymbal almost exclusively.
Cons:
The foot pedal: IS OK ONCE YOU GET THE HANG OF IT, but it is unnecessarily stiff, or too loose, and rarely quite the way you want. It is also not as quiet as the Rock Band official pedal -- but if you play Rock Band louder than a whisper, you may not notice.
The Cymbals: Are loud, too. When -CRASH!-ing, this is fine. When using the hi-hat or ride, you might notice. The cymbals are there for fun, though, right?
Requires Set-up time: this is not for the kids. The drums DID take me an hour to set up correctly, and to adjust the cymbals any great amount, there's a lot of twisting and wiggling. The <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Rock-Band-2-Standalone-Drums/dp/B001BX6MR0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Rock Band 2 Standalone Drums</a> are still quality for anyone who just wants to set up-and-play. The ION Drums are also not portable at all, so you should be OK with leaving the drums where they are.
Use as a real electronic drum kit: Face it: for the price of the drum brain, you probably want a kit with more features (or heck, more CYMBALS) before you start your percussion career. Even better -- buy some real drums used. This really is a game controller first.
Height: with ANY Rock Band Drum Kit, you will wrestle with your sitting-height. The adjustable height on the drums doesn't fix the problem; if you've got long legs like I do, you just straight-up need a taller chair. A drum stool is the best way to correct this problem, and works far better than an office chair. I use a similar one to <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/HB-Heavy-Duty-Drum-Throne/dp/B000JZ0RKO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">HB Heavy Duty Drum Throne</a> that I picked up for $40. I warn you that comfort comes at a price -- but the cheapest stool might hurt more than a bad bike seat!
My bottom line: if Rock Band Drums are something you play OFTEN, this is worth every penny. Don't question your purchase if you've been playing Rock Band for 6 months and plan to do it for 6 months more! | video-games_xbox |
I haven't been this into a game period, ever and I'm 30. I will do my best to give this game the credit it deserves and probably more.
Note: I have just gotten the game of the year version, I have already played through and beat the original version without the DLC. As of right now my review is just for that part of the game, though with how absolutely wonderful it is There is no way it cannot get better with the Zombie DLC addition.
First: I will not ruin the story for anyone, so this review will be about game-play, graphics, add ons and overall fun. This game does not disappoint in any of those categories. I have read many comments from different sites that say something along the lines of, "I was expecting grand theft auto basically in the old west but it was something completely different"( OK THINKING )..... Yes and no is what I have to say to those which means that this game is so unlike any other game, of any kind of genre. it's hard to compare it with any other game. If I were to compare it to anything it would have to be GTA, unfortunately There is no other way around that. If you have ever played GTA and have loved the series and the The open play. Did you enjoy The ability to do as you please, whether on a mission or not? Then you will get the same experience here but in a way that has never been done before...
Do you love westerns? Have you always craved a game that would truly give you the feel that you were really in the old west? A game that gave you the ability to make yourself as you see fit? A game you were able to choose if you wanted to follow the path of law or the path of an outlaw? Look no further, you have arrived and get ready for the most fun you will ever have playing a video-game. This game is produced by rock star, the same producers of GTA and in the same GTA tradition, it delivers with complete open world play. It contains a breathtaking vast expanse of untamed wilderness and border towns.. The graphics are pristine and it just gets better as you unlock more of the open territories, eventually being able to unlock and go to Mexico freely. The landscape scenery is amazing while you watch the sun rise and fall with brilliance
The game-play is simply sweet and it builds off of the same system used in gta, which is the regular storyline that you need to follow to complete the game but also an entire world of side quests. It also has side missions (to gain money), also items,including horses. You also have the option of buying a campsite so that you may save your. You may choose to steal horses to use, which like in gta produces the same result as stealing a car. You will be chased and if your wanted level is high enough, you will be relentlessly chased. The beauty part of this is that you may choose to pay off your bounty anytime you wish, as long as you can make it to town without getting caught first. What is so much better though, is the fact that they have towns that are actually outlaw friendly(1 so if your on the other side of the map then it wouldn't do you much good) so you may choose to pursue a game experience as an outlaw, though you may find the experience lacking. After being shot at and chased constantly, The process gets rather repetitive. You also get less options when it comes to people asking for help. If they are scared of you they won't ask for your help on anything and buying ammo becomes more expensive to you outside of thieves landing..Being an outlaw has it's many perks but it is, in the end, rather exhausting and more fun to play through as a good guy. Also when you are the least honorable you will be treated as a drifter and a mean one, a desperado, You will get a unique black horse with a white face, only awarded to the meanest of mean :)...
The thing I love the most in this game is actually, probably not really stated much, that is you can just decide to enjoy the experience of hunting(For those of you who love this sport) at which point this game gives you so many different animals to hunt in different areas, ranging from a small armadillo, to big game hunts where you may decide you want to bag a nice Mountain lion or wild boar. After hitting your prey with a variety of firearms, from a nice schofield revolver, to weapons ranging from a Springfield model 1892, including a Winchester and Evans repeater. You also can get a really nice sharps model 1874 buffalo rifle which will put down the biggest game or for that matter the best of men! Afterwards feel free to skin and bag your pelts for trade in any one of the different towns, depending on how rare the animal is in that specific area, will vary in how much you will get for it..You also take, sell, boar tusks and snake skins to bird feathers..."Now that's some good stuff" Just to unload your six shooter at some birds in the sky!!!
I cannot state enough how fun this game is and just how much repeat game time there is especially with the zombie DLC, The original game, multilayer and all extra content from Xbox or PlayStation. This puts any elder scrolls or fallout to shame! The other thing that you may enjoy "you cannot have a western game like this without it!!" A good ole fashion gunfight in the street, where the game uses a specific system to quick draw on an enemy, whom starts a gunfight in the street or at cards with you. This will happen more often than not in any outlaw town you enter..
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All of these things I mentioned also give you the ability to open new missions and unlock new abilities. Depending on whether you are completing a hunting challenge, a treasure hunt, or a sharpshooter challenge. The game uses a slow mow, dead eye mode, a system where you may target up to 15 targets "depending on your ammo capabilities" on a specific weapon in quick succession. If you get good enough, you may not miss one.. It's pretty nice when you can ride your horse up to a gang of thieves, down all six enemies, then ride off without a shot on you Now tell me that's not pretty cool!? Hey if you wanted to, you could rope an enemy with your lasso and drag him behind your horse, just to be mean He may die in the process but so what, this is the beauty of this game and the option of doing what you please..
Ladys and gentlemen, I cannot praise this game enough!!! It's the best game of this type ever made if not (some may not consider it that but you have to love the old west)the best period!!! It's a category all it's own to be truthful, a true great american masterpiece
ENJOY!!!
Update:I would have to advise to get the game book to accompany this, as it is endless in the amount of things to do. In some cases, the maps and tidbits will be of utmost importance to achieve 100 percent completion. Achieving 100 percent completion will give you a pinkerton outfit, which allows you to have the authority of being the highest law enforcement agent in the game. This allowing you to have free will, to do what you please, almost anywhere with no consequences. The game of the year edition companion book has a decently thorough review by me also
UPDATE:2 Undead nightmare is even better than I thought ;)...Also see below for a detailed description of benefits and challenges
Another Important aspect of the game is the ambient challenges, treasures and outfit objectives. You may consider doing these all first and the Reason I say that is because certain outfits will help you immensely. The deadly assassin outfit for instance, will refill your dead eye twice as fast..When fighting constantly it will make a big difference.
Master Hunter: When you unlock the Master hunter outfit. It will reward you with you twice the pelts, meat and other items when hunting(While wearing it)..Achieving master hunter will give you viddles to refill health out of your hunted prey, or achieving level 5 gives you the buffalo rifle.
Survivalist: This is tedious, rather they all are in each their own way but purchase a survivalist map to use at the general store, use it once in the area of which your map states that herb or flower will be in. Once at level 5 these maps last longer, then at level 10 you have the ability to harvest plants to make a consumable items to refill your deadeye.
Sharpshooter: At level 5 mastery you will have more ammo within the chests/drawers in your save area, or waking at your campsite. At level 10 mastery you are rewarded with dead eye that replenishes while shooting targets.
These are the most tedious things to do in the game, they take the longest, and some cannot be done till certain areas are unlocked. Though once your whole map is unlocked, like mexico and tall trees then get these done as they will make the game more fun to play through, with the special abilities. If you wait to get them, you will have to go through all this after story mode which may deter you from 100% completion. After the story missions are done, there are no more, so better to use the special things during story mode(It makes it more fun)
One personal piece of important hinting from me(out of experience in the game) is that hunting will allow you to reap the most money benefits in the game. Hunt as much big game as possible, "I spend days just hunting grizzly in tall trees"(tall trees is the most abundant and dangerous hunting ground). "I hunt till I literally have 50-100 grizzly, big cat, boar(Boar will be available to you sooner than grizzly as tall trees is locked at first) pelts. After, I travel to mexico and sell them. The Reasons for this are, they pay the most because they are the farthest from tall trees. Once you sell them, you will have a seemingly inexhaustible supply of money for consumables, guns and ammo..The Lemat revolver and buffalo rifle are themselves hundreds of dollars! In my biggest trip I raked in 13,000 dollars from pelts,meat, and also other sellable parts from the carcass, so it is worth it..Be careful as hunting is as dangerous as it is profitable, more than once I was attacked by two to four grizzlys or 5 wolves. As A matter of fact it will happen often..After such money gains it is just easier not having to worry about grabbing ammo from the dead, or when you save, either way it won't be that much..This also will give you the ability to buy consumables as you please, like moonshine (refills deadeye) or medicine(IMPORTANT! will heal you in the middle of a fight) or horse pills/apples (Also very important as when you need to get somewhere by horse fast or are being chased it refills stamina so your horse doesn't throw you as he will tire easily) very important in the U.S Marshall outfit challenge! SAVE SAVE SAVE! When you have enough pelts while hunting, or Items that you do NOT want to lose if you die, then I suggest you save as much as possible using your campsite because when you die ANYTHING unsaved will be gone! It is really annoying, I forget sometimes...
All above are the hardest thing to do in the game as they also take the most time. When possible, make your game experience more rewarding, it is better to do them early. They may be the most difficult to understand within the book which is why I'm going into such detail, these are the things I wished I knew before starting also
This is my final review and tips, Please Vote helpful if you enjoyed it...Thanks again | video-games_xbox |
Real Events. First up waited in line in early Dec13 for about 4 hours. Most people did that so I guess no biggie it was 30 degrees and raining. So what my choice ok. So only game i purchased with the system was 2K14 and that was a digital download(not physical). So i play that. Servers down 30% of the time early on until about April when they got a little better. So basically in 2K14 basketball if the server is down you cant play offline. Unless you want to play a quick match with the cpu or user who is in your home. So my Xbox was useless during those times. So i eventually bought the plug n play and that stopped charging the controller 2 months after i bought it. Then it started to effect the parties(cant connect,ppl cant hear you, disconnect). Now im stuck with a console if the servers are down on their end im screwed. That happened on numerous occasions. So moving on a bit ,I created a my player for those familiar built him up where he was a 95. Bought coins and all only to have it all erased and no credits refunded. I still have an investigation going its been two months already. Headaches since i bought this system no lie. For ppl who think im bashing Xbox doesnt know me I have bought probably like six 360.s since it dropped should've learned then. Ok so fast forward to present day I bought Watch Dogs on release day(physical copy) inserted it(pause) and to my surprise the disc drive was BROKEN. Now i know some would say i should have tested it earlier but in my defense I didn't buy it to play movies as i have a blu ray player. Also you wouldnt expect a product that was so overhyped to ship deffective units. I understand it happens trial and error but when it does don't screw the consumer. Now I have to send it back and wait three weeks for them to attempt to fix it or send me a refurbished one. I think thats horrible and shouldnt have to suffer for their inferior product. I feel the replacement should be new and some type of compensation for having to go through this. I call customer service and they basically say screw yourself there is nothing we can do. I know right after making a billion + there is nothing you can do. Ive ignored the obvious for too long they(Microsft) don't care about their customers if they did they would man up and stop putting their failed product(thus far) on the consumers. Cant believe this you would think after the thousands of dollars ive spent they would treat me better(its in the records) all the consoles ive registered and games i bought. I rarely ever write a review unless something is super good or really bad. I feel betrayed by a company i had loved even though i knew they were greedy. Im done with microsoft for real cant hide greed | video-games_xbox |
A lot of running around, not a lot of gaming. After playing this game a few times, I've decided that I'm middle of the road on it. There are too many fetch quest which dull down the game and make it border on monotonous.
The battle system:
Garbs... While this at its core is a good idea, their execution of it is awful. Some are just hideous looking - actually many are but I can get past that and just not use them though a few of them are needed for key battles. Locked abilities are very limiting and serve to handicap you as soon as you get better ones. Allow me to unlock them and now we're in business. Let me upgrade them.... that's even better. And only allowing me three garbs to equip at a time is also too limiting. There are just too many spells and debuffs to stick me with only twelve options going into battle. Furthermore, you take that twelve and depending on the garb and how many slots you've locked, and now it's down to 6-9 slots. That's awful. The locked abilities on garbs are only helpful when you start. After a bit of playing you accumulate and upgrade to better abilities. Why not let me use them? Why waste my slots? Failure in execution but aside from that it could have worked really quite well. Now, it's meh.
Overall, the game can be fun, but the trivial quests drag it down a whole star. The battle system is better than the two previous 13 series games in that you aren't just button mashing half the time. However, the garb system really takes what could have been a great battle system and makes it only an improvement of the previous one. Too bad about that.
Finally:
Hope and lightning talk WAY too much. Really, they do. An option to silence both of them up would have been a plus. They repeat things as if you are an idiot who cannot remember to look at your quest log and they talk about details of the past as if they have brain damage. Nobody talks like that. Nobody. It's awful to listen to. And do I need four reminders every morning at 5am from Hope that I have to return to the ark for six? That's insulting and annoying. Really Square Enix, we are not all idiots. Some of us do remember that stuff. One reminder would suffice. And for those who didn't play the two previous games, let them look up the stories online or better yet - play them. Don't make me listen to horrible never ending exposition while I'm trying to enjoy my game simply because you want to educate those who are clueless. That's not my problem. I've never played a trilogy or any series game that felt the need to spend countless gaming hours rehashing the past events of previous games. If you don't know the details going in, then it's your responsibility to find them out if you care to which most players actually don't I've discovered. | video-games_xbox |
Fun and Challenging Replay Experience. It is great to see agent 47 back in action. So far I have completed the prologue and the first mission. Spent 15 hours on that. I have actually enjoyed replaying and re-planning the missions to get a better result. The mote XP points you get, the more unlockable items you will receive, which makes it fun.
I was very confused what to do when I first got into the palace in Paris. I had to walk around and eavesdrop. This helped to learn all the possible opportunities and complete challenges as well. The game tells you about the challenges and you learn that there are quite a few ways of completing the missions. Therefore, I suggest you do not rush with the game in order to enjoy the real Hitman experience.
Graphics are great. The mission maps are huge and look so real. NPCs are smart even though they are fairly easy to trick. However, there are so many guards so you have to plan your disguise. If you want a challenge, then you can turn off all the suggestions and icons that tell if a certain NPC can recognize you.
Overall, the gameplay is good too. I had to adjust the aim sensitivity for more precise sniper aim. I also heard suggestions to lock the frame rate at 30 FPS. So, I have it locked and it runs smoothly. So far so good. The game does not lag even with large crowds of people around. It does require an internet connection, which is not a problem for me. I am not sure why people complain about it. The game has never crashed due to internet connection. I am not sure if Xbox Live Gold subscription is requited though. I have one and I was never able to run the game without one.
The steelbook edition looks fancy. It is an actual steelbook (duh!). Came with a Blood Money Requiem gear download code as well as the soundtrack and making of the game download codes from Square Enix website. I believe, the bonus missions come automatically with the first season edition so you do not need a download code for those. I will definitely keep this game as a souvenir for later because it looks really nice. | video-games_xbox |
This is not a review, I'm too depressed to do a true review from playing this. I have loved every main Resident Evil game before this. That does not include the Wii ones or the 3DS one. I've never played those, so can't comment. But 1-5, 0, and Code Veronica X all fun as heck. 4 and 5 changed alot but were still very fun in a new way.
Resident Evil 6, however, is not. It's like they were somehow pressured into changing the game formula they already had going. There was nothing wrong with it. All they had to change was maybe allow people to move while aiming and shooting. They actually did this in the 3DS game, but I haven't played that like I said before.
They added little gimmicks like diving, rolling, and laying on the ground while shooting. For me, these got old halfway through playing the demo the first time. I was hoping it would grow on me when I got the full game, but it still feels unnecessary and silly.
I also found it really hard to aim my gun. I had to turn the sensitivity all the way up, and then its like it skips across the screen. I've never seen that in any game before. Very strange. The entire melee combat system should have stayed what it was in RE5, just a quick hit the X button(or square for PS3) after stunning the enemy with a headshot or kneeshot. Putting all melee in the Right Trigger makes it hard to pull off EXACTLY what you are trying to melee, or which zombie.
And when you do pull off a melee move, it happens quite slowly, so there is a chance you will be hit before the move even connects. I'm not sure why the new fad in games is slow, clunky characters. GTA4 started it, but I've seen it in more and more games lately.
Mine is the Xbox version, and boy the frame rate is terrible. I doubt PS3 is any different. Maybe PC players will luck out with this one. I think they just bit off more than they could chew. They simply have way too many moving parts on the zombies and waaaay too much going on in the environment. Ideally, if the engine could handle this without frame rate issues, it would be amazing. But I'd much rather play a smooth game than a busy game.
I'm super depressed because they seem to have abandoned all the things that made the originals great, and even most of what made RE4 and RE5 so much fun. Capcom, keep it simple, keep it safe. Learn from people who make Call of Duty. If you make millions re-releasing the same game with slight changes for $60 every time, then why do any more than that?
These are smaller things, but they become more painful since I was desperately looking for redeeming factors to what was once my favorite game series, so here are more bad things.
May as well add, I've been thinking this since I saw the very first trailer, and hoping the whole time it would be changed, but it wasn't. The graphics look bad. It may just be me, but it seems like the only graphics they were trying to make stand out was the main characters's hair. It shines and shimmers and never gets stained by blood or dirtied. Funny. But everything else looks terrible when compared to Resident Evil 5, which to me still looks gorgeous and probably still in the top 10 good looking games. Mass Effect 2 and Heavy Rain would be some others way up there.
They also have this strange effect when the characters are talking, like they tried to put alot of detail into the mouth movements. But it makes it look like the word is out of their mouths a full second before the mouth says the word. Just strange.
If there are any long time Resident Evil fans out there, like me, who are enjoying this one, I'd like to know why. Even the feel of the game seems to be completely different. The music, the way the zombie attacks play out, how they move, everything is different. Like some new game was in development, and they decided not to go through with it, but use the engine to make the next Resident Evil game. Why not just do another lame side game like Operation Raccoon City then?
I'd like to return this to Amazon, but since there is nothing technically wrong with it, I'm not sure I have real grounds to do it. It's just a bad game to me. | video-games_xbox |
NCAA faltered, but Madden got it down right. After the debocle of NCAA on the XBOX, the lag, the slowdown, the bugs online, I was worried about Madden faltering, but alas, E.A. fixed all the bugs and Madden plays superbly and no bugs online or offline, either way you play, you're going to love it! Now, the big question?
Madden or ESPN? I'll tell you straight up front, there is no right or wrong here, both games are fabulous. I think if it was a choice between one or the other, I would go with ESPN this year. The ESPN presentation is second to none and it just feels more like a real NFL game and the graphics are astonishing. And for 20 bucks, it's hard to look the other way. But if you're a Madden junkie, I already know your answer, you'll spend the extra money and go for Madden. Just know that Madden still feels like Madden it's not a drastic change from 2004 and to be honest, the graphics still look the same as 2004. The graphics seriously need updated, the commentary is quite bland and I wanted more from E.A. But with the addition of XBOX Live this year, it's really hard to look the other way, it's still a gridiron monster.
Over time as I have played this game, I had to add this to my review. XBOX Live Play is buggy. Thanks to cheaters or (Cheesers) as many describe them as, the reality of online play makes for real gamers to doubt E.A. once again, especially with the problems NCAA 2005 had. The bugs are as follows, there are still unreal plays, money plays, constant blocked punts, and the "fatigue" factor has been turned off because of cheaters. E.A. turned the fatigue factor off to counter act people from overusing the "offensive line shift" which was tearing down defenses if used constantly. But all other bugs are still intact and no patch or corrections have been made or addressed by E.A. The big one is the cheese play to guarantee a blocked punt or Field Goal. If the cheater knows how to do it, you can basically block a field goal or punt at anytime. This of course takes away the realism and fun factor for someone who just wants to play an honest game. Keep this in mind, if you got this game for online play, you're going to run into these issues, if you don't play online, disregard this review. | video-games_xbox |
DO NOT UPDATE FIRMWARE. INTRO:
Please don't mistake me for a complainer, hater, troll, etc. This is my honest review. I believe Astro can and will fix these problems. But until they do, people need to know what they are getting into.
LONG STORY SHORT:
As of 01/04/2013, do not update the firmware for the mixamp! I immediately updated, and I regret it. It has caused the mic to be complete poop. As of right now, from reading on multiple forums and reviews, the best thing you can do is
1. Get a better quality USB cable than the one it ships with.
2. Possibly plug the USB cable into a different device or wall outlet than the one you're using.
THE DETAILS
Some background on the problem history of the 2013 edition: There were reports of very low mic volume, meaning your friends could not hear you or you sounded muffled. There were also reports of the audio dropping out when certain things (loud noises) happened in game. Astro released a firmware update that "fixed" the low mic volume. They supposedly released another that fixed the sound dropping in and out. Many people have said the sound dropping out is due to the crappy USB cable the items ships with, and that replacing it with a decent one (the ps3 charge cable for example) completely fixes the problem.
When I first hooked up my headset to my 360, according to my friends, I sounded fine. Also, incoming sound sounded great to me. After I stupidly decided to update the firmware, I started sounding like poo according to my friends.
SUMMARY:
Just DO NOT update the firmware until Astro releases a new version and it is confirmed as working (I will update this review then)
I want to like this headset. It really does sound amazing. But the mic problem is a deal breaker. I paid $250 for a gaming headset. If I only cared about incoming sound, I could get a much cheaper set of headphones. But since this is a gaming headset, the mic should work perfectly, and it's not even close.
Current recommendation: Do not buy the Astro A40 2013 edition.
I truly hope to be updating this review and giving it more stars. I am waiting on Astro support to respond to my email. We shall see what happens.
UPDATE 1/17/2012
Still no firmware update from Astro. I did however communicate with a support representative about my headset. (They only communicate through email which means it can be slow). Even though the problem is clearly with the mixamp, they sent me all new cables and a new mic. While its great that they sent all this for free, I didn't really need it. The problem is with the mixamp. It needs a firmware update to fix how a persons voice sounds. For the record, Astro has said they are working on a firmware update for the "noise gate" problems. They have also said they plan to release "an update" sometime in January. Well, I got tired of waiting. I initiated a return through Amazon. The process was painless and Astro even contact me so they could give me a free shipping label for my return. This part of customer service was again, amazing. I really wish this product had worked out. Even though it isn't a bad product, for the price, it should have worked flawlessly. I will try to update this review again if I see they release firmware that works.
Current recommendation: Do not buy the Astro A40 2013 edition.
UPDATE 2/14/2013
Astro released another firmware update today. Again, I no longer have the headset, so I cant test it. But here are some quotes from their forum page on the current firmware update. I think they speak for themselves:
"I did this livestream test using the new stream port with the update firmware and this is how it sounds. Basically my mic quality isn't good at all, it sounds muffled and cuts in and out if I speak over a certain octave."
"So I updated my mixamp now I get now sound except voices from the mixamp, I am playing black ops 2 btw"
"They still need to clean up the background hiss. I honestly feel they should turn down completely the game volume from this port."
"Just updated the firmware, now it's not working at all. Plugged to my computer via USB to power and optical (SPDIF out) for sound. Using the optical cable no sound at all is coming out. I tried setting USB as default and there's barely any sound coming out."
"the voice output has gotten a little bit better, but im still noticing aproblem with it picking up my voice"
Again, I can't say this is happening to everyone and I can't test it myself. Just take this into consideration guys.
Final recommendation: research the latest firmware update. If it has fixed everything for people, consider buying the Astro A40's.
Current recommendation: Do not buy the Astro A40 2013 edition. | video-games_xbox |
The series that reinvented the console FPS genre is reinventing itself by reinventing the console RTS genre. Let me start off by saying I've played all the major RTS games, and most of the smaller names, as it is my favorite genre along with FPS. Sins of a Solar Empire, the Warcraft/Starcraft series, Command and Conquer (the first in the series were best), Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander, etc. The only really decent console RTS I've liked has been Goblin Commander, and that is good..."for a console RTS". Let me also say I dearly love FPS games and find Halo 1-3 to be right up there with the best of them.
However, as long as you aren't 12 years old and buy Halo Wars simply because of the Halo name, but because you like RTS games and not just FPS titles and Halo in general, you will likely be amazed by this game.
Halo Wars is not just good for a "console" RTS in my opinion, Halo Wars is a good game (although I must recommend you have Live), but as with any RTS, the main thing keeping you coming back will be multiplayer. Ensemble did an amazing job balancing this game, and is every bit as well balanced as the original Starcraft, with as much variation in the armies. The only problem is the Halo Universe has not yet truly allowed for the inclusion of a third race (Flood maybe, but that's stretching it). The controls are never too much, and the game borrows from the best elements of the RTS giants, without taking everything that would over-complicate a simple gamepad. Your troops can garrison buildings and structures for defense bonuses, or they can provide an alternate "cooldown" attack (both made popular in the Company of Heroes series). The result is a fast paced, but strategic game that is every bit the revolution in console RTS as it's predecessors were in the FPS genre. And sometimes, you just don't want to babysit units to gather resources. That's what makes Halo Wars possible to play a match in less than 30 minutes, but an online game of Sins of a Solar Empire or Supreme Commander unlikely to be finished within 2 hours.
People complaining that Halo Wars is about letting your units do the work have obviously never played an RTS before. It's about the strategy involved by outsmarting and outdeveloping your opponents and watching the culmination of 20 minutes of building and scouting turning into a heart-pounding battle of unrivaled scale, with up to 100s of units battling at once. It's about deciding if you should spend an armies worth of supplies on one giant unit or if you should build 40 marine groups and cover the battlefield. Should you strike fast or slowly build up resources. Should you attack first or wait near your base for the opponent to strike. The gamble of letting a half hour of preparation turn into a 4 minute defeat is what makes this so exciting. Or turning around what most people would call an absolute defeat, into a smartly played attack on the opponents one weakness.
Halo Wars is not simply good for an RTS. Halo Wars is an excellent RTS, and perhaps late developer Ensembles best work. You wouldn't order food from a menu with no descriptions would you? Don't buy Halo Wars because it carries the Halo name alone. | video-games_xbox |
I'm the "casual gamer" of which they speak, and they're right--I don't like it. My opinion of this game, after spending too many hours on it, is that its ridiculous difficulty puts a pretty big damper on its enjoyability. I generally love RPGs, and I prefer a good challenge (I play most games on a higher difficulty setting in the first play-through), but challenge isn't everything, and in this case there's no choice in how challenging the game is; it's on the verge of impossible for casual gamers. So while the graphics and sound are top-notch (though I thought the combat was a bit clunky and unresponsive), they're sort of drowned out by the challenge, rather than complemented by it. I enjoy long games, but I don't want such a significant portion of the playtime to be on replaying the same areas over and over again due to failure (that's so 1990). I read several reviews that said you really have to have patience, and you really have to put a lot of time into this to appreciate it (many reviewers claimed to be 30+ hours into the game). But there are plenty of other games out there with graphics, environments, and gameplay that are just as good (if not better), thoroughly entertaining, tell an interesting story, and aren't so frustrating, that can be completed in a reasonable amount of time for a satisfying experience. To me, Dark Souls was more of a frustrating chore than an enjoyable game. Simple solution here--allow players to select a less-challenging difficulty, at least for single-player campaigns. If advancing through the game was not so difficult and frustrating, I think this would be a great buy. Unfortunately, I'm never going to see the second half of this game, because I'm not willing to spend such a large amount of time failing, stuck with no progress and very little story. If you have a bottomless bucket of time and patience to throw away on a video game, have at it, but this was a bit of a disappointment for me. | video-games_xbox |
Buffy the Vampire Slayer hits the X-Box in a BIG way! ! . Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the X-Box is without a doubt one of the best games to debut on the X-Box this year! It may seems a little dated, but the game follows on from where Season 3 left off. The game is played from a third-person persective and your goal is basically to rid Sunnydale of as many vampires as possible. You can achieve this by collecting weapons throughout the game - these include stakes (obviously), shovels and rakes. The graphics are also brilliant for a game like this and are sure to give the X-Box the credibility it rightly deserves.
The game is set in Sunnydale, California and fans will be pleased to hear that most of the locations seen on screen in the TV series are also on here. Places such as Sunnydale High School's libary and other places of the school, including the Bronze and Buffy's house are included in this brilliant game. Perhaps even more brilliant is the addition of characters from the show. Willow, Giles and Angel are featured in the game and will be available to give Buffy hints about how to fight better and be more successful in your slaying. Alyson Hannigan (Willow), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles) and David Boreanaz (Angel) lent their voices to the characters in the game which makes it more realistic. Sarah Michelle Gellar however, hasn't lent her voice to the production of this fantastic game - which is a crying shame as she is the main character and we would love to hear her when kicking vampire-ass! The graphics are absolutely phenomenal, too! Buffy herself looks very life-like with instantly recognisable features and some scarily realistic motion-capture animation. Killing a vampire is also a fantastic sight to see. With the recent advent of intricate and complex computer game graphics, Electronic Arts (makers of the game) have the ability to make the vampire-turning-to-dust process look identical as it does in the show!
OVERALL GRADE: 10/10
It looks like the makers of the game are not only trying to impress fans of the show, but to make an impression on people who don't watch the show (which in turn will generate more publicity and millions more viewers). All in all, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the must-have X-Box games of the year so far! Buy this now from Amazon.com! | video-games_xbox |
Zelda, step aside... Bilbos Coming to Town. This is by far the best game based on any of Tolkiens work I have ever played including The Fellowship of the Ring for PS2/Xbox and the two games based off the movies. This isn't much of a fighting game like the others although it does have its fair share of battles. If you like fights and battles get the movie based games, if you're a Tolkien fan (like me) and want a good game based off the books, this is it. It follows the book chapter by chapter and does a great job of it. Each chapter, for the most part, last about 2 hours each (11 Chapters) so it's a good size game unlike FOTR which was like 5 hours long.
There are a number of quests throughout each chapter most of which are optional but if you do them you will be rewarded with lots of Courage Points which appear in the game as jewels. The more jewewls you collect, the higher your life meter goes giving you more of an edge for later levels. The fun stuff I think isn't really doing the quests cause there's not much to most of em, but trying to find ALL the Jewels and Silver Pennies (your currency) in the level. Most are hidden up high somewhere and require some thinking on how to get them. The farther you are in the game the more difficult and fun these puzzle become. Another cool thing in the game is the treasure chests. Instead of most games where you just walk up and open em, here you either need a skeleton key or you can just pick it by completeing a couple of small puzzles before the time runs out. Then at the end of each level you can buy supplies with the pennies you found.
The graphics in the game are great. Everything is nicely animated and the voices are pretty good. Its cool cause sometimes you can climb up way up high and look back and see the whole valley down below where you just came from. No flat backdrobs or anything like that. The music is great and goes nicely with the game. Another great thing is that, again, it follows the book almost exact (adding on some to give you something to do, for example in Lake Town, you have to investigat some strange things going on and get back Barons (sp?) Black Arrow that was stolen). It is very detailed as well as to whats described in the book. For ex., on Flies and Spiders, you eventually climb to the tops of the trees and see thousands of butterflies before sliding down a hollow tree down into the spiders lair.
If you're a Tolkien fan and like puzzle solving, then this is your game. Its awsome. For those who want a hack and slash game, go ahead and try it out but I warn you, many of the later levels have almost no fighting at all and require you to use your ring and stealth to sneak around and go and solve many puzzles.
Tip: Save the game at the begining of every level in one file and then save throughout the level in another file. This is because near the end in Smaugs chambers, there is block that you can push off the edge that is NOT supposed to fall off. If you don't know what you're doing and save after doing this, you will have to start the game all over because you won't beable to complete the level. Just don't try pushing the blocks off and you'll be fine. (I learned from experience :( ) | video-games_xbox |
Definitely a Rental. For any fan of the comic book or the movies this is a great experience on the Xbox. There are a good amount of positives about the game that make you want to play it but there are too many negatives about the game that don't make you want to buy it. One of the bright aspects of this game is how it molds the story into the movie and throws some comic book story in the middle of it. For some missions you are teamed up with Black Cat. You take on Doc Ock, Shocker, and Mysterio and for the most part the boss battles are the best parts about the game. Another positive thing about the game is your web slinging is more than just pressing a button and you stick to the sky and swing forward. You have to attach to buildings and things like height and the angle you fling your web at reflect how you swing. At first this is extremely frustrated for even the biggest gamer but by the end the control you have makes you just want to swing a jump through New York forever. Now comes the negatives and what makes this a lackluster title. I never felt challenged at all in this game. There was one part where you have to swing out to the statue of liberty to fight mysterio and that was the toughest part of the game. If I wasn't a Spiderman fan I probably wouldn't have liked this game very much but being Spiderman makes it fun. I finished the game in about 5-6 hours of playing time. If you are a decent gamer you could finish this in a Saturday of playing the game. This is the one reason that this game is a solid rental. Whenever you are not fighting the marquee villians you beat up thugs along the way by talking to people and they give you missions. There are really only 5 missions but they just keep happening in different places you'll see what I mean when you play the game. I actually liked this game but it needed to be a little harder and a little longer and the side missions needed a little more variety. | video-games_xbox |
Uninspiring, Ugly...Avoid Like the Plauge. Thank god I played this game with a free Blockbuster rental. The original Soldier of Fortune series broke new ground with it's visceral display of carnage...unseen to that time on PC's and the gaming public. Needless to say, I was quite interested in playing a new edition of the Soldier of Fortune franchise. Knowing that Raven software had no involvement with this title had me worried, however I figured I would give it a shot none the less.
Soldier of Fortune: Payback still holds true to the gore and carnage from previous installments. And that's about it...and this "awe" factor lasts for roughly 10 minutes. The rest of the game is composed of mediocre run and gun game play, choppy texturing, incredibly corny dialog, and visual effects that should have been native to an original Xbox...not an Xbox360.
Flat out, this game is awful and a poor addition to the Xbox360 FPS library. Even with a free rental coupon, I still felt ripped off. Is this the worst game ever? No. But it's certainly a contender to the worst of 2007.
Playability is all over the map. The control scheme seemed a bit awkward to me for an FPS. Some will argue this but I'm only speaking from my experience. Auto targeting seemed off and there were many times where I made a shot...multiple shots point blank...and they never connected. In addition, I expected more options available to me...perhaps better gun, enemy, vehicle and building interactivity. Maybe I've been too spoiled with games like Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, and Gears of War.
Graphically, this game would merit an original Xbox display. It felt flat and uninspiring on the 360 for a title like this. I expected more and felt dissapointed in the lackluster package. The gore looks good...but like I said, the wow factor on this goes away real quick.
I can't even recommend this to those who just enjoy run and gun titles. I feel sorry for you all who have paid MSRP price for this as it truly deserves as spot in the bargain bin of your local gamestop. Take this review for what it's worth but if you chose to make the mistake to play this like I did, make sure it's a cheap rental. | video-games_xbox |
good as many of them remain. If theres one thing Far Cry 4 has taught me, its that jamming random syringes into my arms, legs, and neck is not only perfectly harmless, but the key to a successful foreign trip. Protagonist Ajay Ghale sticks so many needles into himself, you can probably play join-the-dots with his track marks. As well as the multitude of hallucinogenic drugs forced onto him by other characters, Ghale gets to willfully use all the ability-enhancing syringes present in Far Cry 3 and he still finds time to get totally jizzed up on some dank kush. He does all this in a filthy wartorn environment where you cant guarantee that the tools are clean, and most of the medical cocktails are put together from unwashed jungle plants. I think the game attempts some sort of story with choices and a message about consequences that never really goes anywhere, but to me the overall point of the plot was clear get yourself messed up on every random chemical you come across, because theyll make you impervious to bullets and you can see through walls.
Ubisofts games are so formulaic across the board by now that, good as many of them remain, they're intensely predictable. Even the idea of a memorable, charismatic villain has been coldly calculated and laid out in blueprint form. Following the critical success of Far Cry 3s Vaas, Ubisoft has realized that a strong antagonist is a great way to win praise for your narrative, and Far Cry 4s Pagan Min is the cynical result of this revelation. Hes flamboyant, camp, and extremely affable, brought to life wonderfully by Troy Baker. Hes genuinely enjoyable as nemesis, but he does often come across as trying too hard to be iconic, which is something Ubisoft products have had trouble with lately this misguided need to shoehorn in some evocative, memorable characters and events, rather than let them happen naturally. Pagan Min as a character is helpfully indicative of Far Cry 4s wider problem how contrived it all feels.
The story, while not quite as mighty whitey as the last games, is about as subtle as a claw hammer up the arse. As Ajay fights Pagans despotic rule of Kyrat and joins The Golden Path rebels, he finds himself torn between its two leaders, Amita and Sabal. I use the word torn lightly, because neither leaders are exactly compelling characters, and their whole rivalry is spun from whole cloth, given no real build, and escalating to farcical proportions. They seem to hate each other for no decent reason, except to present ass-pull dilemmas to the player, and the animosity is so petty, the only choice I wanted was to let their childish bickering kill them so I could start my own damn rebellion. The dialog is so artificial and obvious in its need to set the player up for a decision, I half-expected the characters to turn directly to the camera and say, We have two different missions for you to pick in this videogame, please choose one of us to keep playing the videogame! In moments where I was given a choice between killing someone and letting them go, I just shot them. Not because I enjoyed it, or felt they deserved it, but because I didn't care about anybody. All the effort went into Pagan, who seems to have hogged all the personality for himself and left none for anybody else. What a tyrant he truly is!
Its all very forced, is the problem. The tension between Amita and Sabal, the gleeful evil of Pagan, its like the writers knew what they wanted the audience to feel before they put pen to paper, and then sprinted headlong toward the quickest and dirtiest evocation of those feelings without regard to subtlety.
This cynicism is present in the gameplay too, as it seems to be with practically every major Ubisoft release these days. Like a paint-by-numbers book, this sequel goes through a checklist of things that happened in the previous installment and presents them without much context, letting you get on with it. From the old climb up a tall thing to unlock sections of map busywork, to the enemy camps that need to be cleared, right up to the rousing penultimate battle with cool music segment that appears in a perfectly affected epic fashion, Far Cry 4 sticks zealously to its formula. Theres no spontaneity in the experience, its all so intensely obligatory. Naturally, it also offers tons of nebulous content, with an exhausting amount of repetitive tasks to perform, and a deep well of collectible items scattered across Kyrats huge environment. Scale and sheer volume are placed above variety and fun and when fun does arrive, you have to work hard to unlock it. As with the last game, your loot, ammo and even money are constrained unless you hunt animals to craft bigger inventory bags. You won't get to level up your skills past certain barriers without taking part in optional missions first. You WILL respect how much content Far Cry 4 has, or by the Gods youll have a crap time.
Now, critical as I may be of the games artifice and repetition, I cannot deny its exceptionally well made, and Id be lying if I didn't say that its not still fun to survive in Far Crys unfriendly, inhospitable world. Its still immensely pleasurable to drive through mountainous paths before stealthily sneaking around an encampment to stab soldiers in the neck,and using the gyrocopter to hover above the world and see for miles is exhilarating. Everything Far Cry 3 did well, its sequel is just as good at, and while the overtly computed design of the whole thing is getting too obvious to ignore these days, Im yet to grow tired of what this series offers overall. It does, however, feel less like Im surviving by my wits in a harsh wilderness these days, and more like Im in a theme park, where everything is gorgeous, thrilling, and glaringly fake.
Far Cry 4 is a game I struggled to play for extended periods of time. Every time I started a session, I was excited and had a blast. Id hang-glide off a mountain, ride an elephant, get into a fight with a bear and take fools down with my fiercely painted automatic crossbow. For a few hours apiece, it was delightful. Anything more than that, however, and the fatigue set in. As yet more bell towers needed climbing, yet more rare creatures needed murdering so I could have a bigger wallet, as yet more enemies spotted me and dragged me into a fight when I simply wanted to pick up more drug plants, Id get irritably tired before too long. I started every game happy, and left each one annoyed. Theres something to be said for offering a lot of content, and nothing great to be said about so much content that it overwhelms players, constantly demands their attention, and pulls them in a dozen different directions at once.
The erosion of my patience sadly had a cumulative effect as well. After fifteen hours, I was more than ready for the whole thing to end, with the final few missions being slogged through under the influence of sheer, determined willpower. My tolerance for the game weakened with every session, and it wasn't that its quality had reduced in any way, its just that less is sometimes more, and this was a case of a title firmly overstaying its welcome. Considering how thin the plot really is, its not like the campaign needed to be so lengthy. Theres certainly a lot of padding to bump up the runtime, which is at least consistent with all the collection quests and repeated busywork. I get that this has become the standard operating procedure stuff a game to the gills with things to do, add hours upon hours of playtime, and present an ideal picture of value for money. Theres something to be said for streamlining, though, for not cluttering ones game to the point where unfiltered maps are impossible to navigate for all the icons littering the screen like so much detritus.
For all its visual appeal, however, Far Cry 4 remains a shallow experience. It has loads of things in it, but having a lot of things is not the same thing as having depth. With a vapid story, activities that rely more on regurgitation than anything else, and a campaign that is exciting only for as long as you can ignore how insincere it all is, this is a game that affects a meaningful experience, rather than manages to be one. Highly polished, structured with ruthless, uncanny precision, and thoroughly hollow for all its prettiness. I cant deny its a quality product, but product is the operative word. Its a pre-planned, pre-packaged, factory standard experience that will thrill and entice, until all the strings make themselves glaringly visible. | video-games_xbox |
A captivating experience. Although I'm really impressed by this game I'll try to be as objective as possible.
First of all, this game is not 'short' it took me around 20 hours to beat; sure you can just rush through the missions, but who does that anyway? I mean if you don't care about the story or the (many) possible outcomes, why'd you play this title to begin with?
Second, the graphics don't 'suck'. Dishonored clearly recommends the installation of the game, which does improve the graphics but if you don't wish to install it, it still looks great and it's very enjoyable. Unless like, say, battlefield 3 which looks like a Pixar animation lest you install it. The sound is really good, I don't have any issues with the voice talent nor the soundtrack.
Third, the story. This is the main hook of Dishonored; it is a story about revenge, a story about a conspiracy and I don't wanna spoil you anything but seriously if you don't care about a story nor character development in a videogame do not pick this title, it will bore you to tears.
And finally, the gameplay. It is (at least for me) a stealthy game, though it encourages you to pick whatever course of action you decide, you'll have more fun trying to be subtle or getting others to do your dirty job. It has various and different mechanics that you'll learn to use and master, some of them are flawed (like blink doesn't always get you where you intended and is sometimes hard to aim, posession needs you to position yourself really close to your target, the rats you can summon are pretty useless, etc). Some of the executions are pretty bland, I mean you could expect a badass execution for some of the main antagonists- and you can pull them- but then again you can just shoot them and be done with it.
Take it as it is, a much needed and pretty well done experiment in the first person shooters genre, it feels fresh, has a nice story, cool characters and smooth style. Think of it as a cross between the methods of engaging a target as in Hitman, the way you control and power-up your character as in Bioshock and a bit of old-school stealth as in Thief. | video-games_xbox |
Fun and educational. I was going to wait until it got cheaper, but after reading a negative review of this game on ars, and the overwhelmingly positive support it got, convinced me to get it now. I have been playing guitar really badly for a while, I don't really know many songs. and I'm fairly sloppy.
I also have Rock band 3, and the pro guitars for that game. RB3 is a better game because of all the features it has in addition to the pro guitar, but it's cost is far higher and you can only use the RB3 guitars, which are terrible. RB3 also has a much steeper difficulty curve. I find medium too easy, and hard and expert on some songs is impossible. It is however much more diverse, with guitar,bass, drums, keyboard, and vocals.
Rocksmith has a dynamic difficulty, which levels up as you get better at the song, It's nice to get used to the interface, but sometimes you have to play a song too many times to level it up to full difficulty. I wish they had a way to make you start off with harder charts. The menu is pretty terrible and there are a lot of loading screens, and they didn't include bass support. The harmonics and muting don't work very well. There is a lot things to improve if they ever make a sequel.
Where this game really shines is the controller. I use a 1989 Candy Red Ibanez s540 and it's the most fun I've ever had with a game. The fact that you can use any guitar and it works flawlessly is simply amazing. I've only had it for a few days, but I spend all my free time playing it, and I'm noticing a lot of improvement very quickly. I've already unlocked all the minigames (The scales runner, and super ducks are worth getting the game for.) I hope that they continue to improve one of the most unique and rewarding video game experience, and hopefully they can iron out all the design decisions that's holding this game back.
There are a lot of people who have lag issues, but I haven't experienced it. I have an optical cable from my tv to the surround sound, and my xbox is plugged in with component cables. Works great for this and rock band.
If you have any interest in learning guitar, you need this game. If you are already an amazing guitar player, you might be bored. | video-games_xbox |
Meets my Expectations (which granted weren't high. I am probably a mid level athlete -- somewhere between couch potato and personal trainer. Staying active is important to me, but not enough to commit to a structured regimen. And I've learned, if exercise isn't fun I simply won't do it.
With that in mind, I started YSFE by avoiding setting any kind of objective, based on other reviews that said doing so creates flagged workouts that are the only ones that count in your progress. I opted instead to browse as the whim took me to see what works for me and what doesn't.
First impression: They must have fixed something in the update, because this is definitely one of the better games for Kinect recognition. It's also one of the most forgiving for my tiny (6 feet, and that's being EXTREMELY optimistic) play space. When shopping, it was a toss-up between this and the Wii Active Life games, but I was turned off by the pad controller that limited movement and apparently flopped around. I'm very glad I went for this one.
I started with the warm-ups (naturally), which are a bunch of mini-games and the main reason I was attracted to YSFE (I vastly prefer exercises disguised as games, like the Sports and Adventures! titles). I have to say, if you did nothing else on the disc, these provide a pretty good workout on their own, getting your heart rate up quickly and starting a burn in your muscles (unless you're already ripped, in which case these might be boring and too simple for you). They are short, but as I'm not in prime condition they're long enough to have me more than grateful for the breaks for menu selections.
The main workouts are broken up into sections, first by body part, second specialized programs (cardio boxing, boot camp, dance classes, yoga, etc). The first day for some reason I was drawn to the Bollywood dance class. I own Zumba Fitness Rush, and by comparison this is much easier. There's plenty of time to learn the moves slowly, although my first attempt at full speed was a bit disastrous. But I'm not a dancer. So I jumped over to Cardio Boxing, and I wish I'd started here. This is like an extremely simplified Tae-Bo class, which I appreciate as I never got into Tae-Bo because it started at level 11 and only got worse from there. I did some of the intro moves, and by now I was tired and sweaty enough that I called it a night (the game has one of the best reasons for working out at home -- a trainer who evaporates the second you're done and doesn't hang around for awkward small talk).
The next morning I was seriously achy, which made me very happy. Means I did some work. I spent the entire day looking forward to working out. If that doesn't speak highly of a product, I don't know what does.
So day two I did my favorite warm-up activities and tried out a focused exercise on abs. The sensor lost me on the floor a little, so I moved it closer to the edge of its little shelf (cursing out Microsoft all the while -- whose brilliant idea was it to make a gaming system that only works in massive living spaces?) This fixed it enough to finish the set. I haven't looked at the other focused workouts yet because this is my least favorite way of exercising, repetitious sets of movement for no reason apart from performing the movement. Boring.
I went back to the cardio boxing and it was still great fun. The graphics are really good in showing you what's expected, and again they add new moves slowly, giving you time to perfect the old ones first. It reminded me a little of my kung-fu class in college. (Edit: I've since tried out the Humana section called "Strengthen Your Heart," which is more boxing, only here you repeat one move 5 or 6 times and then move onto the next, rather than having one long complicated routine. Halfway through you go back and do the first half again. This entire section lasts about 13 minutes and really got me sweating.)
Then a "Zen Energy" cooldown (Tai Chi. Just call it Tai Chi), which was surprisingly far less forgiving than the more rapid exercises (though I suppose form is much more important for that discipline).
I was again satisfyingly sore after day two.
I think some older reviews complained about non-cumulative calorie counts and having to manually track them. This has been fixed and total calories burned are remembered day to day (this isn't as important to me. I measure success by tired aching muscles).
My one complaint, since nothing is perfect, is my appearance on the screen. Either I have a severe self-misperception (entirely possible) or the scanner somehow manages to add ten pounds. Maybe this is a subtle way to keep you motivated. Fortunately once the workout gets going you're more focused on other parts of the screen other than yourself. (Edit: Second complaint. Last night had to tap out of a routine temporarily. As long as the sensor detects even a little bit of you in range, it continues on as if you were still performing the moves, complete with encouraging praise. Makes me doubt its sincerity if it can be that effusive to just my elbow sitting at the edge of the screen.)
I haven't tried playing this with a friend yet, though if it's true that things have to be done in turns rather than simultaneously this is a big design flaw. (Edit: It's true, no simultaneous play. Though might be a blessing in disguise in my tiny space, to avoid injury.)
In summary, I understand other users' frustration that there's no way to just set up a 30-minute workout and do it straight through, but I'm easily bored and like the fact that you can jump around and do only the exercises you're in the mood for. I like that there's a large variety of workouts (although wish there were more mini-games. If anyone knows of other titles that sneak in a workout while you think you're just playing a game, feel free to comment). And I like that they seem to be highly effective, as far as "feeling the burn" the next day. (Edit: Burn confirmed. After the first week I seriously needed a day off, I was so sore. Again, a good thing. If these workouts don't kick your butt, at least a little, then you don't need an Xbox game, you need a fully equipped gym with treadmills, weight machines and stair climbers.)
Going into "Xbox season" (my name for winter), you could certainly do worse than add this to your repertoire. Makes me actually a little excited for the cold weather. | video-games_xbox |
A re-make that does justice for the classic it follows. ++++++ BACKGROUND ++++++
X-Com: Enemy Unknown is a remake of the classic game X-Com: UFO Defense (UFO: Enemy Unknown outside North America) released in 1994 and is considered one of the top ten games of all time for the computer.
There are currently two re-makes currently undergoing development to be published by 2K. The first, known as XCOM, will be produced by Irrational games and depicts the XCOM universe as a First Person Shooter in the 1950's although recent announcements suggest it has been moved to the 1960's and will be squad based combat.
The second, X-Com: Enemy Unknown, was developed by Firaxis games and consists of the game I am currently reviewing. Firaxis are veteran developers of the genre of strategy games due to development of games such as Alpha Centauri and Civilization under the guidance of Sid Meier, one of the companies co-founders and creators of such classic games as Sid Meier's PIRATES!, Civilization, and Railroad Tycoon.
++++++ GAMEPLAY & COMBAT ++++++
X-Com: Enemy Unknown is a return to the world of single player strategy games that are few and far in-between in this world of first person multi-player shooters. Gameplay is divided in-between two areas; management and battle skirmishes.
In management, you build up your bases, upgrade facilities, preform research and development of weapons all the while monitoring your finances which always feel like a heavy burden you are carrying upon your shoulder you just cannot escape.
The skirmishes are where the meat and bones of the game lie and where you may spend a majority of your time. Simple choices you make in a turn-based fashion have an overall effect on the outcome of the battle. If you slip and make a poor choice the computer will make you feel that error. It may seem fun to go around and annihilating everything in your pass by using high explosive weapons but strategy requires you to capture and collect your enemies bodies and weapons. To get close requires strategy, planning, and luck several moves out. A well thought out strategy and turn is the key to success.
You spend your time recruiting, customizing, and developing your soldiers while watching them rise through the ranks after each successful mission becoming attached in the process only to have them fall in combat....and fall they shall. Your memorial wall will be filled by the midpoint of the game from the losses you will sustain. With the close intimacy of you and your men, the loss of a high ranking officer is a devastating moment to be played through and experience first hand.
The gameplay, compared to the original, has been streamlined but that is expected as the fact the game has been customized to fit the multiple of consoles it has been released for as well as the fact the field of gaming has changed a tremendous amount in the eighteen years since the original was released. The console does play rather well compared to its keyboard/mouse counterpart on the PC.
++++++ GRAPHICS & PRESENTATION ++++++
The graphics are, obviously, an improvement over its 1994 counterpart. I have had several issues with camera angels. Also, the action shots that you endure that became popular since Fallout 3 are entertaining if somewhat repetative. The skirmishes provide a very destructive environment that will leave the battlefield resembling swiss cheese that was burnt in a microwave.
++++++ CHALLENGE ++++++
The game is challenging but is not at the point where you feel as if you need to throw the controller at the wall because you have reached an in pass in gameplay.
Some have stated that this game is more difficult than the original. The reason why is the original X-Com in 1994 contained an error so all difficulty levels were the same. Later X-Com games were noted for their increased difficulty because this issue was fixed in sequels and later editions of the game.
++++++ STORY ++++++
The story is, overall, engrossing throughout the game and provides motivation to make it to the finish to see the end result. Who doesn't enjoy a good Human VS the Evil Aliens story?
++++++ CONCLUSION ++++++
This game is worthwhile of the title "X-Com" even with the high expectations and standards set before it by the classic "X-Com" of 1994. This game has met and exceeded the challenges set before it.
Highly recommended for those that enjoy turned based strategy games as well as those that desire something different than the dozens of first person shooter games that now littler the video game marketplace. | video-games_xbox |
Not the best, but certainly not the worst. I've been the market for a while for a awsome star wars game, I have seen lethal alliance; to kidish there is no challenge to it. Lego starwars was fun, but for a true star wars fan such as myself, it's non canonical therefore its not the one I'd be looking for.
Jedi alliance had a good storyline. But I'll let everyone out of the dark: Asoka is not real! Anikan had no apprentice (exept for starkiller of course) also nightsisters usualy have energy swords, which are lightsaber proof but defenately not lightsabers. Plus I don't believe nightsister's where powerfull enough to do such a thing to coruscant. So that one is not perfect either.
Of course it would take to long to discuss every star wars game for the d.s but those are the most popular.
For you non star wars gamers who just want some star wars authenticity just by this one for starters. It's the only star wars game that really stays in the ground rules (that I have played anyway) here on amazon you can buy it for only twenty dollars. Everywhere else is thirty five dollars so buy it here. Secondly it has great combos you can do to your enemy's for example you can push them into the sky and land on their friend's, or throw them into a ball of lightling. Plus the enemy's (yes even the stormtroopers) are hard to take down unless you do a really powerful attack on them. There are more than one bosses in each level and they come when you least expect it.
You can unlock costumes such as sith stalker armor or jedi adventurer robes. Your ship the rouge shadow has a nava computer, which enables you to find interesting facts about the planet your about to land on. I your journey you start out with the red lightsaber crystal and you must search for the rest and believe me they are not easy to find.
Now all this time I have only shown you the pro's now its time for the con's. The bosses are not too hard and the graphics are not all that good. But that's all, so I hope this review will be helpful to all who read it.
p.s May the force be with you always. | video-games_xbox |
bad mechanics. A few run throughs with this game and I thought it was good.
After playing numerous games though, I have to disagree with my initial response.
After playing MVP with my friends, I have to agree that the graphics in High Heat are terribly generic. But, I can get by on lousy graphics if the gameplay was good.
These are my frustrations on..
Pitching:
- you can somewhat control where the ball goes, but really all you do is angle a pitch and select ball or strike. Then it's up to the AI to either opt for good control or not.
Fielding:
- it takes too long for a fielder to field the ball then crank up the throw. This makes it almost impossible to turn a double-play.
- It is IMPOSSIBLE to field a ball with the first baseman and have enough time to get back to the base to tag out the runner. To complicate things, the pitchers and second basemen take forever to get to the base so by the time they get there, the other team has a cheap infield single.
- when the ball gets to the outfield sometimes the camera gets stuck where the ball is and you don't know where your player is so you might be taking the wrong angle to field the ball.
BASERUNNING:
- i think baserunning on any baseball sim is complicated enough, but on HIGH HEAT it's even worse. MVP has better base running. On MVP you can view the lead-offs.
Other stuff:
- If you have more than one team picked as Human control, it's complicated switching through the teams one the schedule. You can't just pick the team you want to play with and play their scheduled game - you have to adjust the team control. BIG WASTE OF TIME.
- because it came out so early, some of the roster changes had not been adjusted yet (but that goes for a lot of baseball games)
- The trading function is complicated too. Trading is easy but having to reset which team you're trading with is a nuisance. There's also numerous lists you have to run down (and i'm not talking about the different leagues) to trade. It's just monotonous and not fun.
- I AGREE about the terrible AI on the commentary.
- THERE ARE A LOT OF BUGS. I've struck out numerous times only having one strike prior.
OVERALL, it's just a boring game. I haven't played the other mini-games yet, but I'm not into them on any sports game.
I DO LIKE the batting in the game where you try to hit the location of the pitch with proper timing. I don't like the style of MVP where you target the area of the field you want to hit. | video-games_xbox |
Depends on what type of gamer you are. I bought this game reading the reviews and giving it the benefit of the doubt since I hadn't had an NCAA football game for 360 yet.
I have mixed feelings on this game...I guess it just depends on what type of gamer you are. Just about everyone brings up valid points...and I'll just re-iterate on a few.
This game seems to be developed more for those who want to either coach the game or feel like they're a real player in the game. Me, I never played football so I couldn't really tell you what a good play is for what situation and what type of coverage is needed when and where. I just ask Corso or go with my gut feeling (which I'm usually wrong). I supposed if you've played football before than it's a pretty fun game. Plays are broken up by formations, passing, running, short passes, mid passes, defensive coverage types. For me though, yes the play clock is a disadvantage. By the time I figure out what play I want I'm usually about to get a delay of game penalty. I got used to how the last two years of NCAA had the plays set up, and now I'm just lost while picking a play.
Campus legend mode is fun. While you do have the option to simulate practices and scheduled events, basically you can through everyday of the season and practice to earn points to pick up on the depth chart, and do evening events to gain attributes like popularity and awareness and pick up your GPA. Unfortunately for me, my player sprained his ankle playing a game of pickup basketball. But for those who don't like to sit there and pick apart everyday of someones life...than Campus Legend might not be for you.
As for the gameplay. The graphics are nice. The stadiums and players look great. There is a long loading process though, and there are about one second delays after you pick plays. This slows the game down and bugs me out. There are no more cut scenes to cheering fans or cheerleaders. The broadcast of the game is lame. Though I leave replay option on cause every once in awhile I like to see a nice play, but there's replays for like every first down and this gets annoying. Also, someone must have got injured every other play. And I've played like 5 games now and there hasn't been a single penalty called.
I started playing at freshman level just to get a feel for the game, and again I consistantly win 73-0. When I moved up to varsity I played with #2 Michigan against an unranked Notre Dame team thinking it would be good to start against a weak defense like Notre Dame and move up to higher competition. (We all know tho no names are used real player attributes and number and defensive schemes are still a factor). After a successful first drive. Notre Dame's QB came out and made last years QB#10 (Brady Quinn) look like a joke. Their qb could of just lofted it in the air and it would be caught. When I got back on offense my offensive line couldn't hold the defense away from my QB. Must've gotten sacked or pressured every play. And when I tried to pick apart Notre Dames weak secondary (w/ the exception of SS#9 (Zibikowski) they looked like gods. Notre Dames defense looked like the '85 Bears out there.
So, until I get used to it again...I have to settle with winning 73-0 or losing 42-14 everytime.
Like most said, no create a team, create a play...there's no alternate uniforms and pants like in previous years. I can't wear ND green, or change Clemson's pants to purple if I really wanted.
Basically, for those who really know the game of football and enjoy being a real player in it and maybe the coaching experience of it (Dynasty Mode/Recruiting) than go for it.
For those that enjoyed the broadcast like of the game and just had fun playing the simple version of the game of football...than save your money.
Me, I'm the latter. It seems slow and a little too in depth. The fun of the game (broadcast experience) is gone...I got tired of this game in only a few hours. | video-games_xbox |
Not as compatible with 1.0 figures as I had thought. My complaint with the original Disney Infinity is that you couldn't take figures from different playsets and put them in each other's worlds; you couldn't take the characters from The Incredibles and play them in Monster's Inc., for instance. When I purchased 2.0 for my family I thought, "Hey, they say that the 1.0 figures are compatible! Time to buy the Frozen pack (Anna & Elsa) for my daughter and have them rock out in The Avenger's playset! I mean *really*, how awesome would that be??"
Well, since Disney Infinity 2.0 still has the same limitations as 1.0, not awesome at all. Which is so weird because it's not as if the characters are vastly different, outside their powersets. For instance, all characters have a melee attack, a ranged attack, jump and dodge (and fly, if your character is a flier like Iron Man and Thor). Heck, the 1.0 characters now have the level-up skill tree system appended to match their 2.0 counterparts. Why can't they engage in each other's different environments? It's not like they're not compatible!
Still, it's fun to work the Toy Box, except that the community content is pretty not-fun. The stuff these people are putting out is either not translating well into my game or I'm just not getting it but there's a definite lack of focus regarding goals and a start-to-finish mechanic. You see, I'm not that inventive and imaginative myself, I just want to play a cool game (which the Avenger's game included is, and I suppose I'll have to invest in the Spider-man and Guardians of the Galaxy sets, too). I'll download more, but from what I've seen of the "Developer's Choice" so far, I am not amused (get it? Because we play games for the amusement? Ha ha? No? Okay...) But my daughter is having fun with the "My INterior" (yes, with the capitalized "IN" for Disney InfINity) so I suppose as long as she's having fun, it's a win.
Once again, I guess the fault really is mine as I didn't really dig deep and do the research. My family and I were pretty excited to see the Marvel Universe in action and (mistakenly) thought all would be well, but be advised, if you want to have any of your 1.0 characters play the pre-made playsets (seriously, Mr. Incredible et al in New York? C'mon! Can you just imagine how groovy that would be???), the answer is a big fat *no*. :-( | video-games_xbox |
Review from a rental/casual gamer. I passed on the first Gears of War, I saw the ads everywhere, but they annoyed be so much I just said, "forget it." And only played the game for literally a few minutes at a friend's place. Looked good, the color palette could use more variety, but it seemed like a solid game.
Here's my impression of GoW2 based on a rental. The story is some sort of grunged up, alternate Halo 3 type story. Essentially, you're a "space marine" type and-wouldn't you know- aliens have the human race on the run. Its up to you and a scrappy platoon of colorful characters with frightening guns and course language to save the planet.
Gameplay itself is pretty quick to pick up. Many of the controls are similar to those seen in other FPS games. The one thing that consistently messed me up is the "A button" that allows you to dive/take cover. Its context sensitive, which is awesome because you can dart and move and hide with ease. But sometimes, when I would think I was going to smoothly roll around a corner, I would accidentally just dive right out into the open.
The weapons are a good, if rather standard array. Again, it seems like GoW2 is merely a slight variation on the shooter theme, rather than anything that is truly unique (aside from the graphics).
And boy aren't those pictures pretty! This is one of the better looking games on the XBox 360. The one complaint I have is that, despite all the high detail and excellent artwork, the color pallette hides a lot of what looks so amazing. The variety of enemies is impressive and their designs are so diabolical, but they are all just grey and brown. Even broad daylight in the GoW world is drab. I guess they had to stick to a "mood" or something.
As for multiplayer, I found it to be satisfactory so far. I haven't experienced any glitches so far, and matchmaking the multiplayer games i played (a few rounds of Horde) were suitable for a game following its launch. Its going to take a little longer just because there are so many people online. Once the game started, it ran like butter. There are the usual map varieties and objective games. The one unique gametype in multiplayer is called Horde, a game in which you simply must survive wave after wave of ever increasing aliens. As the levels go on teamwork becomes more of an assett. The enemy AI in these levels is pretty impressive. It is a great change of pace from capture the flag.
I give it four stars for two reasons: 1) this game just looks amazing. on top of that the action is well paced and the game flat out plays well. 2) a solidly executed multiplayer system. Maybe not as good as CoD or Halo, but better than many.
If I may place an emphatic warning to parents of younger gamers here: this is an extremely violent game. Buckets of blood, exploding heads, excecution moves, some of the most frighteningly realistic burning animations I've seen. And to top it off, the characters are dropping F-bombs in the cutscenes. For older gamers, this is all good fun but hopefully parents won't get suckered into thinking this is "just like Halo 3". Yes you can turn the "gore" off and the cursing, but I don't think that's really going to stop anyone from noticing when you stomp someone's head off. | video-games_xbox |
Xbox 360 Elite. This is a nice game system! The 120GB hard drive is a litte bit of overkill for what I'm using it for but nice to have none-the-less. One of the single biggest reasons I got the Elite over the regular 360 was the HDMI cable and built-in port. It definetly makes the picture better. A friend with a regular Xbox bought the HDMI cable only to find that his console does not have the port for it.
I was given the option by my wife to get either the Xbox 360 or the PS3 for my birthday. I'm not an impulse buyer and this was no different. I searched for the better part of a month, first determining which I should get. The decision was hard because the PS3 has two very good things going for it: 1) the built-in Blu-ray player and 2)free online gaming (with built-in wireless modem). the Xbox charges @ $50 a year to play online, not to mention if you want wireless, you need to either buy the router for $100 or run the Ethernet cable to your computer.
That said, the games currently available for the PS3 are mediocre at best, at least for me. They all seem to run around the same genre, a sort of 'Fantasy' theme. I checked the new, unrelased games on the Playstation website and, with less than 100 games available for PS3, only about 3 or so actually looked interesting. Plus, I had not yet heard anything about the online playability.
Next was to choose which system I could get. There is the core system with no hard drive (or much of anything else), the premium system, which in my mind should be the standard, and then the elite. The elite, again has the bigger hard drive (120GB vs 20GB), the HDMI cable and everything colored in black (whoopideedoo). The prices range from $250-$450, depending on what you want.
Next, I needed to find the cheapest price for it. I searched EVERYWHERE. I was initially going to buy it at Sam's Club or Costco because I figured they had the bundle deals for cheaper. I was wrong. In fact, at Sam's, if you took the same console at a retailer and added all the things that were included in the bundle, it would still be more expensive at Sam's. Be careful. I ultimately found it here at Amazon for the best price ($449), along with free shipping. Granted, free shipping meant getting it a week and a half later but I figured what the heck, I've waited this long. Also, I didn't want to buy it local because I'd have to pay the sales tax along with my purchase, forking over another $21 bucks or so. I could use that money to buy the plug-n-play rechargeable battery and charger. Again, not an impulse buyer.
The Xbox was the best choice for me. I have two friends with them that play online constantly. They enjoy it immensly! After I got connected, I do too! The gameplay is awesome and the graphics are of exquisite quality (in 1080i). I don't regret buying it. I am, however, cautious about the thing melting down. There are numerous reports of at least the earlier models having the cooling fans break down and the Xbox overheating. The intercooler that you can get to help aid in cooling also appears to be a piece of junk. Just keep it in the open, elevated off the floor for proper cooling and you should be fine.
Even the standard Xbox would work just fine. the 360 Elite is more for people that like to download movies and videos along with MP3's. Me, I just wanted all the bells and whistles! | video-games_xbox |
Mass Effect 2 is a great game in its own right and as a sequel, but not perfect. SPOILER WARNING
Mass Effect is a great franchise from Bioware -- a company, which I personally regard as an innovative and high-quality video game producer. I loved the first Mass Effect. I thought the creators did a superb job in creating a fiction world based in believable science. There were political problems and a compelling history to this world that has made it one of the best space worlds in all fiction. It wasn't a perfect game so the producers really took to heart the criticisms from the first game -- especially with combat.
I would like to give ME2 4 1/2 stars because it had 1 or 2 serious gaping flaws, but in many ways it stands out as better game than even ME1 so I bumped it up. ME1 was so focused on introducing the player to this space-faring universe - all the politics, the species, the technology. Like the ocean, we got to see the top layer where it was bright and beautiful. ME2 now had the opportunity to build upon the foundation that was laid down in ME1 - and that's exactly what they did. They created more complexity to Shepard's story and moved is deeper down, where it was darker. They based the continuation of the story into classic dilemmas of literature - loyalty vs. conviction, motives for the alteration of human life, and prejudice. The storyline was lacking, however, but they did a great job of setting up Mass Effect 3.
***QUICK REVIEW***
CONTINUED QUALITY:
- Graphics
- Music
- Voice Acting
IMPROVEMENTS OR GREAT NEW THINGS:
- Gun/Armor Selection
- Unlockables & Upgrade System
- Combat AI, Character Movement, & Setting
- Character Interaction & Relationships
- Setting (both the virtual environment and the emotional atmosphere)
- Side Quests
- Team Building (more versatile)
- Many Features! (Import of ME1 Character, Mission Overview, Customization)
- Mini-Games
- Building off from ME1
NEEDS WORK:
- Compelling Storyline (had a few twists that were interesting, though!)
- Loading Time
- Power Integration into Combat (Biotic, Tech, Ammo)
- Leveling Up
- Team Building (more confusing)
- Bugs
-"Flow" of character movement during dialogue scenes
***IN-DEPTH REVIEW***
So I won't cover everything in my mini-review for space sakes.
MY BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH ME2 WAS THE BORING STORY! The first 3 or 4 hours were really exciting. Shepard died and then was brought back to life with innovative medical technology by a human supremest group, Cerberus. This group wants him to lead a team of people to track down a sentient species, the Collectors, that is abducting entire colonies of humans. There were a couple of twists in the story (Garrus, the Collectors genetic heritage, the Human Reaper), but the overall goal and action of the story is Shepard traveling around the galaxy to recruit these people. There's no big underlying mystery - you find out early on who the Collectors are, why they're attacking human colonies, and where they are.
Now the recruiting storyline doesn't have to be bad. The only thing is that the method of recruiting has to be varied and interesting. Like with Dragon Age: Origins (another recent Bioware game), to recruit the elves, you have to go into the woods to defeat the werewolves, when you discover that the werewolves are actually humans cursed by the elf leader centuries ago as punishment for hurting his family. Your character has a serious moral dilemma to solve and it has multiple endings. Suddenly, there is an interesting SECONDARY plot woven into the boring primary one. For every person you had to recruit, it followed a formula- 1) Go to planet, 2) Explore a little bit and/or listen to people talk, 3) Fight, 4) Person joins team. Now, there was some sort-of interesting secondary plot with the side-quests to earn the loyalty of your new recruits, but again, most followed this same boring formula of go to planet, explore a little, fight, and person is loyal. There weren't really any real twists, moral dilemmas, or catch-22s. There were multiple endings for the loyalty quests, but they just didn't seem compelling.
***
MY FAVORITE PART OF ME2 was the way they built it off of ME1 in terms of character development and storyline. I was a bigger fan of the characters overall in ME1 since you generally got to spend more time with them and they held my fascination by explaining more about the ME universe. I wanted to spend more time with the ME2 characters and feel disappointed that I didn't get to develop the same connection to them as I did in the first one. That being said, I LOVED that they brought back some of the old clan. Having Garrus, Tali, Joker, and Chakwas on your team again had me ecstatic. Since Shepard (and the player) already had a connection to these characters, we got to share with Shepard the nostalgia of old friends. There were some incredibly poignant scenes - surprise to see Garrus again and reminiscing over a bottle of brandy with Chakwas.
Though I think ME2 could've done a better job at creating an emotional connection with new characters, I was really impressed with some of them and their backgrounds. My favorite was Miranda - she had a great storyline, personality, and there was such a masterful subtle change in her relationship with Shepard (and her perception by the player). As someone who's dabbled with creative writing, writing that kind of subtlety is incredibly difficult, but ME2 pulled it off perfectly. I was so impressed with how the characters interacted together too - it seemed much deeper and poignant than in the first one. The main example that comes to mind is an argument between Tali and Jacob once she joins the crew. Jacob knows Tali's people's sordid history with AI and he introduces, snidely but subtly, the ship's AI.
***
Mass Effect 2 has comparable graphics to the first, but ME1 programmers had to work on designing the big things that impressed us AND the little things in the game (e.g. weapons, armor, character movements). In ME2, they could recycle some of the small stuff to focus on making the big stuff more impressive. They recognized that they had many different types of environments to work with and they wanted to make them all (from jungle to in-construction high-rise) as visually appealing as possible. I didn't like how the movements of the characters during dialogue scenes seemed robotic sometimes in ME1 - and that didn't change in ME2. I think that's more the limitations of the technology though.
The voice acting was just as great in ME2 as in ME1. It wasn't all perfect - Jacob felt too stiff and monotone to me most of the time, but the actor pulled off emotional scenes well. I also dislike the stiffness of Male! Shepard's voice actor, so I always play as a female. Jennifer Hale is truly a wonderful voice actor and she did just as well in ME2 as she did in ME1.
The most annoying part of ME1 was the method for equipping your characters with guns, ammo, and armor. You put improvements into your equipment, but when it came down to combat, it really didn't seem to make much of a difference. In ME2, they scrap all of that in favor of a new system for equipping. Each character comes with the available guns for their class. You don't salvage equipment like you did before, but more buy the "schematics" for new weapons. There isn't "fire" or "ice" ammo to upgrade your equipment like before. Instead, certain classes are able to level up their ability to use that ammo - and you can change it around in combat much like biotics or techs use their powers. It's a great redo on the system since the ME franchise is about combat and story - NOT collecting items.
The upgrade system isn't specific to just guns & armor. You can upgrade the Normandy too. This method of upgrading encourages you to explore your world to find available upgrades and to talk to your crew since new crew members bring "ideas" aboard. The only drawback is that to get all the improvements, you have to spend a lot of time collecting materials via the Scanning Mini-Game (which gets boring after a while). All improvements are entirely optional, however.
I won't go too much into the improved AI and combat of ME2 since that isn't my forte. I did find adjusting the the tweaked system a little difficult at first. However, I did find the combat a bit more fluid and "realistic" this time around. My teammates were more "independent" so to speak, enemies weren't too easy by the end. The combat areas seemed more interesting to move around in, but I'm not the biggest fan of First Person Shooters (I'm not very experienced with them either) - I mainly find my spot and shoot away. Though, when I did need to run around and shoot people, it was very easy to do.
The team-building in ME2 was more versatile, but a bit more confusing. In ME1, each person was a class and each class was adept in 1 or 2 of 3 possible classes. So if you wanted a well rounded team or wanted to specialize in something, it was very clear how to do that. In ME2, team members (& their skills) don't fit into specific classes. Instead, you figure out how you like to play the game and you have to figure out which characters have which powers that compliment that playing style. The capabilities of each skill are very different at each level so it takes some practice to figure out team-building. I can't say if it's an improvement over ME1 combat, but I really didn't figure it out until the last third of the game.
The leveling system wasn't my favorite because it seemed more restricted than in ME1, but it made it more difficult. I did like how they removed gun proficiency in favor of special powers for combat specialists (e.g. biotics get barrier & combats get "fire" ammo). I really liked that once you maxed out a power, you got to chose a specialization for that power (e.g. max level barrier could either last longer or take more damage).
There were also quite a few bugs. It didn't detract too much from the game or were worth downgrading the other good parts of the game, but they did cause me to fail a mission a few times and were generally annoying. The achievements for ME2 were much more realistic than ME1 too (only 1 replay needed to get 90% of them).
***
The replay value of this game is yet to be determined. I enjoyed the game so much, but I rushed through it. I did find it to be quite monotonous after a while, but I think that's in part to overdosing on it. When I played it again, I'll be able to take my time and really explore some of the things I missed before since I won't be in a rush to find out what happens. | video-games_xbox |
Good job KONAMI . First of all, I would like to say that I agreed with most of the other reviews in that Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (hereafter referred to as MGS2) is good, but not great.
However, that was before I got REALLY bored during summer and ended up playing it for several hours at a time....inasmuch that my ears hurt from the lack of music. (I suggest classical or blues in the background.) Anyway, let's get on with the review...
Let's start with graphics, shall we? By just reading two reviews, I have heard conflicting opinions. Some say it's good, some say it's bad. Quite honestly, i don't believe a thing in ANY review for ONE game where there are differing opinions. In my own opinion, MGS2 has really great graphics. They're clean, dirty in a puesdo-randomness, and the graphics engine Konami and whatever developer used works well! The graphics are SO good, in fact, that the developers felt the need to use the now so-called "bullet-time" during fights with quick moving AI (such as Tangus and bosses).
But Konami didn't stop at that. Yes, they got even more detailed. Detailed to the extent that when taking pictures and zooming in and out, you have to wait a second for the camera to focus. (Yes, I encourage to try this if you don't believe me.)
The only place graphics don't shine is when you are Snake, outside the tanker. It is because it is raining, and the framerate suffers a lot for it. That is just about the only place I have been frustrated with the graphics.
CONCLUSION: Graphics very, very good. JUST short of excellent. (A-)
Can you hear me now? Good. Without a doubt MGS2 has some of the greatest sound I have ever heard. It really takes you off guard, actually. While playing Splinter Cell I was very happy with the sound, especially that background dialogue with the cops....
Although it RARELY gets that detailed in MGS2, you can tell Konami tried to make it as realistic as possible. The sound of the gunfire is great, especially that "WHOOSH" after firing a NIKITA rocket.
CONCLUSION: Some of the best I have ever heard. Seriously. ALMOST puts HALO to shame. (A)
How did Konami mess up the control scheme? I mean really? Well, I'll tell you how: porting it from PlayStation. This emans that XBOX users need to use the "X" button to fire. Yes, that's right: the X button! I personally find this ridiculous, and it takes longer than you'd think to get used to. At some points you can change it (such as first person mode during VR missions).
CONCLUSION: Controls feel ported. That is very, very, VERY bad. (B-)
Gameplay is where stealth action freaks really like MGS2. All the peakin' behind walls, checkin radar, holdin' 'em up, shooting out behind walls, watching the enemy, dropping "BOOKS" (wink wink nudge nudge...some reading material!), finding weapons, crawling rolling, sumersaulting, shootin' lights (Only in one VR mission, sorry!), hanging, running, walking, aiming, finding silencers, using tranquilizer rounds, pretending to be a guard, using a directional microphone to listen to a HEARTBEAT(!) in a room full of hostages, sneaking through rooms full of Marines (100's of 'em) listening to a speech, meeting the president only to watch him being killed, destroying several Metal Gear(!!), watching hours and hours of cutscenes, which I'll say ARE BETTER THAN SOME OF THE MOVIES THESE DAYS, using "Codec" nanomachines implanted in your skull to talk with allies (without actually talking to them), defusing bombs, THE LIST GOES ON AND ON!
CONCLUSION: Need I say more? (A+)
It is really very easy to get immersed in the game for hours on end. The mission objectives work seamlessly with the cutscenes, providing a story that is one of the most original I have ever seen. (Not counting the other games in the MG series.)
Immersion is refined to the extent that whenever you get caught, you feel the need to retry it, because YOU KNOW how do get past that one guard now. Of course, you must have patience. And a moderate attention span, because it isn't ALL action. (There's actually quite a bit of scouting.)
CONCLUSION: You can be easily immersed if you like: a) Splinter Cell, but weren't satisfied with the story or the action or the story; or b) the previous MG games. (A-)
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! KONAMI COMES OUT WITH GAME THAT REDEFINES THE MEANING OF THE WORD "EXTRA"! I'm not exaggerating, by the way. One of the ways Konami increases replayability is through "dog tags." Simply said, enemy soldiers carry these around, and the more you retrieve by the end of each mission, you can unlock secret abilities, such as infinite ammo, a stealth suit, etc.
The VR missions are spectacular. I am 25+ hours into it, and I have only unlocked two characters (of 7(?) total), and am only 45.0% complete. They come with modes galore, such as bomb disposal, first-person mode, hold-up, sneaking, eliminate all, variety, and the actually quite fun "Photograph" mode.
Some are straight-forward, others are not. This is the only frustrating part, because it is immensely difficult to beat a level when you do not know some specifics, like the fact that there are proximety sensors on boms with some characters, and not on others. Stuff like this takes a while to work out.
CONCLUSION: MGS2 has so many extras you won't know what to do with yourself. I'm speechless! (But not textless.) (A+)
** Menus are something I think should be reviewed in the future. In any case, MGS2 passes with flying colors: they load quickly, have cool fonts, and cool graphics. (A+) **
Overall, MGS2 is a great game. It will pull you in and keep you there with very original mission objectives, bosses, AI, alarm systems, gadgets, and much, much more. Moreover (haha, it is a STEAL at under $.... However, if you don't take my word for it, you might want to rent it, or borrow it from a friend.
GAME SAFE, GAME OFTEN! | video-games_xbox |
You Know You're Playing COD. You know you're playing a Call of Duty title when:
You are constantly being disconnected from the game. (Come on Treyarch, Activision get some dedicated servers!)
Spawning in front of the person who just killed you only to die again and again and again.
Jumping makes your aim better and makes you indestructible.
Wielding two guns at the same time improves your aim. (Someone didn't do their gun homework or saw too many movies where people shooting side ways always hit the target.)
Dud explosives.
Migrating hosts. (I can't really get mad at someone for quitting in the middle of a game. This game is frustrating on so many levels.)
Diving onto the ground, in the middle of a firefight, after being hit multiple timesis a guaranteed to get you a kill.
You can run around like a chicken with its head cut off and dominate the game. ( Apparently, the creators think if you can run fast you should be able to run faster than a bullet and not be hurt if hit by them. Seriously, run around as fast as you can in this game and you become Superman.)
Bullets break all the known Laws of Physics.
Cardboard boxes offer better cover and protection than concrete
Shotguns have more range and power than automatic rifles. (Because we all know the old saying, "There is nothing more powerful than a Marine sniper and his shotgun.")
Shooting someone at point blank range does not guarantee a kill.
In a gunfight, knives win every time!
And the top reason you know you're playing a Call of Duty title...
LAG COMP!, LAG COMP!, LAG COMP! and more LAG COMP! (Who in the world thought this was a good idea? Is this one of those things a company says the consumer asked for so they gave it to us when in reality no one asked for it? No one was clamoring for their good internet connection to take a hit because someone on the other side of the country has a bad internet connection.
Seriously folks, Black Ops 2 has to be one of the worst additions to the Call of Duty franchise since...well....Modern Warfare 3. I have undrank (Is that a word?) the Kool-Aid. No more Call of Duty anything for this guy.
And, yes, as many will comment I am giving this one star without really mentioning the campaign or the zombies. So, for those who need to know about the campaign and zombies:
The campaign is not very long and is very dull. If I wanted to see cut scene after cut scene I would watch a movie. The campaign offers nothing new. Why did all the big gaming magazines and sites say this was a ground breaking game? I don't know. IGN and other sites need to get their collective heads out of their @sses.
Zombies is played out and boring. It was fun when it was first introduced, but now its stale. Give us something new.
As gamers, we all need to take a stand and say, "No more!" There will be no need to change and improve the game if we keep buying COD title after COD title. Money speaks louder than anything else. Keep your dollars or go buy something better than this.
You know you're playing a COD title..
When the newest title in the franchise (BO II) has to penalize "rage quitters" because in the previous edition people were quitting in the middle of matches left and right (Yes, I was penalized a whole four minutes for having the nerve and gall to quit in the middle of this poor excuse for a game.)
You don't have to collect dog tags to confirm kills- even though the point of the game is to collect the dog tags to get a credit for the kill (Why even bother making Kill Confirmed in the first place? It's team death match with shiny objects floating around the map). | video-games_xbox |
This game is absolutely terrible. First off, I am a huge baseball fan and love playing baseball videogames so I was looking forward to the release of 2k9 for months. Unfortunately I have been greatly disappointed to say the least. To start with, the first time I played the game it froze up before I could even start my first game. When I tried to restart my franchise the game wouldn't even start up and my Xbox console had the 3 red rings so I assumed my console was fried. I make sure I put in another game to see if that would work and it worked perfectly fine. So that ruined my first impressions of the game. I tried playing the game a little while later and much to my suprise it actually work for 2 games. Unfortunately I may have been better off had the game not started up. The gameplay and graphics are horrendous for the most part. I've experienced much of the same things that other reviews have spoken about. The game is choppy at times, my outfielders have somehow managed to get "stuck" to the outfield wall, homeruns are way to easy to hit, even with the difficulty way up, etc. I could go on by I'm sure most people have already heard about the many bugs that infest this game. It all combines to make a very unrealistic baseball video game experience. The graphics are also hideous for the most part. Most of the players in the game look like they belong in a wax museum or a burn unit. Everytime anybody steps on dirt there is a hideous cloud of dust that appears after every step. I find it difficult to understand how anyone would put their name on a product this bad. It seems like ever since the 2K series took over MLB video gaming the quality of games put out each year has gone down considerably because this is the worst baseball I've played since the original Nintendo system was making games. I am going to try to sell my copy of this game but expect that to be difficult with all the bad reviews of this game going around. I would actually feel terrible passing on this problem to somebody else. I haven't played "The Show" yet but can't imagine it being any worse than this game. I would suggest getting that game. STAY AWAY FROM THIS GAME!! | video-games_xbox |
Lots of fun, but not for younger kids (E10+ for sure. Bought this for my kids because, oh my science, they played the complete saga more than any other game we have. The levels are 'hard' for little kids. Yes, it is an E10+ game, so that rating fits. But it is much more challenging than the other lego star wars games. There is a lot happening on each level and it's often very hard to see what you need to do because the camera pans our further than in previous games which makes it harder to see what needs to be done.
Graphically it's much better than the other lego star wars games and I thought the humor in it was actually pretty funny. The first level is the arena battle and the sheer amount of characters fighting here (once the droids come out) is impressive. My kids really felt caught up in the battle, which was great. In this instance you get several tutorial hints on the screen which tell you what to do. In other levels, you do not have them. While the puzzle aspect of the game certainly adds to the longevity of the game, it can be a bit frustrating to kids.
I'd reccommend this to anyone about 7 and up, whereas the other Lego Star Wars games I would say anyone from 3 and up. And in making that reccomendation I would say that it is a heck of a lot of fun. It's just a good deal more difficult than the other and yes, while you still have "unlimited lives", the direction is not as linear. This is great for anyone other than the youngest players. Also I am not a fan of the new split screen action because I think it is really disorienting and it is required for some of the puzzles in the game but my kids had no problems with it at all.
If you are a Star Wars fan over the age of 6, I think you'll really enjoy it. I give this a 4/5 mainly due to split screen and lack of direction, not because of the difficulty. The game clearly states (E10+) on the box which I think you really need to abide by in this case. | video-games_xbox |
They told us it's a spin off, so let's play/treat it as a spin-off, both in form and gameplay. First of all, I admit that I am a huge Resident Evil fan. I love all the main games (they each have their own pros and cons but I still loved them all, but hey nothing is perfect; being perfect simply means you are stuck and there is no area for improvements) in the series and also loved all the movies (although not as much as the games).
RE ORC is advertised at the first place to be a unique spin-off of the series that promised different feel of gameplay, so lets do not treat it as RE 5.5. If you want it to be like RE 1,2,3,4, or 5, then go back and play them! If you expect it to be more than RE 1-5, then expect RE6. RE ORC does not belong to the main series of the game, but it does not mean that it sucks as a result of that!
In short, after playing it a few hours (single player only so far; haven't had time to try MP yet) I LOVED IT, and I REALLY wish there would be more RE spin-offs games in the future that offers different type of gameplay, experiences, and concept (maybe a RE RPG game would not be a bad idea either).
Firstly, RE ORC offers just as much as tension as its predecessors in the main game series - facing horde of zombie that are DIFFICULT to kill except headshots, ammo seems sufficient but it won't let you carry like 600 bullets like in MW3, and except Zombies and BOWs you gotta fight with Spec Ops. All these together offer the same amount but different type of tensions that none of the previous games are able to offer.
Secondly, the characters design is perfect to fit into the dark/zombie-filled Raccoon City! They each sound, look and feel different, and love the fact that they all have some kind of unique accent.
Third, being a hard-core RE fan, I encourage Capcom (or Crapcom) to try different means with RE series! Innovation can not be achieved without constant trying/working/improving! I really hope their would be a second type of ORC spin-off coming up, so that they could learn from what they did wrong in ORC and get it all better in the next spin-off! (although I agree they prob should NOT stick with slant six any longer lol).
Lastly, I feel satisfied that in addition to RE 4 HD and RE 5 Merc both of which I have played millions of times since their release date (PS2 release date for RE4), now I can add RE ORC to my play schedule as well!
p.s. most gaming review sites like IGN, Gamespot, etc are just a bunch of hypocrites who like to criticize people's hard work! The only gaming site where I think offers true/honest opinion of reviews is Gametrailers.
UPDATE-----------------------
The major thing Wtat makes RE series great is not its gameply; instead, it's its universe/story/background/settings, lovable/cool/sexy heroes/heroines, and awesome zombie/BOW designs that have made RE series great! Any additions that utilize or expand any of the above are welcome! | video-games_xbox |
Asking all players to Boycott this Release. Hello Everyone,
As an avid gamer for over 20 years now, having been a supporter of EA games for over 20 years now, I am asking the public at large, through all formats of gaming, whatever your preference, to never again purchase another EA game and to trounce in sales the release of the next Madden Game.
The goal, I think, should be to tank the stock value of EA games to such an extent, that the company goes under for good. The gaming community needs to end this company's existence as a wake-up call to all other gaming companies that likes to treat their customers like they ARE ALL hackers, and make them pay as if they were all criminals.
The latest debacle from Sim City 5 is the impetus for this plea. While I realize that there may be many who play Madden that do not actually play Sim City, the larger question at issue is the way that EA treats its customers. From horrid wait times for customer service, to the constant revamping of the Madden games which only confuses a person who learned how to play the previous year's release, to the company's insistence now that many of their games must have your privacy invaded in order to play.
Oh yes, that's right folks, with the latest Sim City game, you must always be connected to their servers, so they can monitor your play. EA is trying, now, to get you to merely "Rent" a spot on their servers to play their games, and make no mistake, Madden is next on the hit list. Bad enough that this horrid company squeezed out the NFL gaming competition (who, we all know, made a better product), by securing exclusive NFL rights, but, as I've said, and understand this in full, in the future, EA WILL make you play Madden only on their servers, and you will require a constant internet connection just for the game to play.
Remember, this is the future of gaming with these companies. The only way to get them to stop is to put the fear of God in them. And the only way to put the fear of God in them is to bankrupt them and put them out of business. Most of us can agree that for EA, it is long overdue.
So, while I know that some of you will always buy the latest rendition of Madden, I am asking for most of you to not buy this game. Also, on XBOX right now, there is an app that lets you vote on the next cover. I am asking all of you to not vote on that either, so that EA will see that people no longer care about this company, or this franchise.
I am asking you to do this because I care about your rights as gamers, I care about the artistic medium of electronic gaming, and I am fed up with how they treat you and me. | video-games_xbox |
A cult classic is born. A cult classic is defined as something, a film, book, album or video game, etc., which doesn't recieve much financial success or attention upon release, but because of it's uniqueness, gains appreciation over time by word-of-mouth and develops a devoted group of admirers. The 2004 game Psychonauts has already earned cult status.
This oddball adventure game was the brain-child (pun?) of Tim Schafer, the mad creator behind such classic LucasArts adventure games as Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, and a contributor to the first Monkey Island games. If you've played any of these, you are already aware of the unique vision and fresh humor he brings to his games, and how much fun they are. This game is all of this and more. It follows a platform-style of exploring different worlds, and collecting items to upgrade and progress through the game. It also features adventure-gaming traits in the levels and gameplay. But, it is how the developers play with the conventions of gaming that make this title so unique. As your character develops and gains new abilities, and is able to combine these abilities in each unique environment, you get a truly different and evolving game-play experience. I was continually surprised by how the game changed styles and gameplay techniques.
The levels are incredibly well-designed, and each one is totally unique in look and gameplay. The story-line is really engaging and funny. The dialogue and voice-acting is great. There are scenes that you can only access by having conversations with certain characters at certain times, so I recommend talking alot, but you'll find yourself wandering around and striking up random conversations just to hear the hilarious responses. You'll really grow to love these characters, and may end up quoting lines.
The graphics are perfect for the story. It is a very unique-looking game which has a colorful, cartoony, somewhat psychedelic look, and everything is anti-aliased to make it look very smooth. The look of the individual levels and the charcter design are incredible. The designers obviously considerd this a labor of love and a work of art, rather than some run-of-the-mill platformer. No boring ice level or fire level here.
In my opinion, the one drawback to this otherwise perfect game is the final level. Without giving too much away, it is like platforming gone totally wrong. I realize that since it is the final level, it is supposed to be hard, but it is just so frustrating, and unfortunately, if you fall or your character dies, you have to start all the way back at the begining of the incredibly frustrating level. Seriously, it is a dissapointing turn in what is up to that point a really joyous gameplay experience. Aside from this level's difficulty, some players dislike the content and artistic design of it, considering it ugly, but I thought it was very appropriate for the idea, and kind of liked the look. Once you finish this level, the actual ending of the game is well worth it. You can finish the game in about 12 hours I heard, but it took me about 20 since I wanted to hear as much dialogue as possible, and tried to find everything. Once the game is completed, you can go back to many levels, and there is some new dialogue and a little more to explore, but the gameplay is limited. I found it very fun to play a second time around, and I also enjoyed watching as I made my friends play it. It is very enterataining.
I am always hesitant to reveal too many details about story and characters when I am reviewing something. Plus this game is very difficult to describe to accurately convey how much fun it is.
To attept to summarize, though (spoiler alert):
<You play as Raz, who sneaks his way into a summer-camp that is the traning ground for the government agency called the Psychonauts, who utilize various Psi powers and enter people's minds to avert disater. The main level is the camp ground, in the real world, which is populated by some very entertaining campers and the Pychonaut instructors. Your character enters into his teacher's and other character's brains, and he is transported to new levels with the bizarre inner logic of whoever you are inhabiting. Later in the game, you end up exploring inside the brains of some very unique characters, including some mental patients... these are some of the weirdest levels in any game ever created. One of my favorites is a level inside of the mind of a Mexican painter that emulates the look of a day-glo black velvet painting, another great one is a play on a certain Japanese monster franchise... and oh god, you will grow to hate the (Mark Ryden-esque) meat circus level!>
That's all I'm saying - now go play the game.
This game was unfortunate enought to have been released as the 'next-gen' of platforms was about to be launched. It was developed by Microsoft, but they dropped it as production dragged on and they moved thier interests towards Halo 2, and upcoming Xbox 360 titles. But it was thankfully picked up by Majesco and was released on Xbox, Playstation 2 and PC. I have the Xbox version, which seems to be the best graphically and control-wise. The game did not receive a great deal of advertising, or promotion, unfortunately. Despite being lauded critically, it did not seem to find it's market upon release, and depending on who you ask is considered a 'failure' at least financially, and it was the last game released by Majesco. That is unfortunate, because this is one of the best, most unique games I've ever encountered and it deserves it's status as a cult favorite, and to reach broader audience. There is a move by the developers to release a version that is playable on the Xbox 360, but that may never happen. PersonalIy, can't wait to see what Tim Schafer's company Double-Fine produces next.
I recommend this game to anyone looking for a creative, oddball game that expands the possibilities of the medium, or just looking for a fun, funny diversion.
...T.V.?
Tee.. Vee... | video-games_xbox |
One of the most disappointing games... ever. I was looking forward to Brink. A lot. I loved Mirror's Edge, and the thought of a customizable class-based team shooter with Mirror's Edge-like movement sounded amazing. But I'm not unrealistic - I'm a game developer, and I know how hard a trick that is to pull off. Brink not only fails on the high concept, though - it fails at just about everything else.
The entire structure of the single player campaign is basically a giant botmatch, with some of the stupidest AI ever seen in a commercially-released game. Entire missions can be spent shooting down a single hallway, mowing down enemies for 20 straight minutes until the time finally runs out. The weapon customization is extensive, yet totally pointless. The character customization is gorgeous (the one thing they really did do right), but the underlying class-based nature of the game means that the customizable characters actually work against clarity of gameplay.
More, the class-based nature of the game is horrendously structured - honestly, one of the worst designs I've seen in any game, ever. You can improve your class, but in most games, you'll need to switch constantly from one class to another. So if you want to specialize as an Engineer... FORGET IT. Your team will be completely screwed when a non-Engineer-related challenge comes up.
Worst of all, the much-vaunted parkour system is almost utterly pointless. The level design is such that half the time you can't tell whether you can make a jump, there's not enough visual feedback to determine what you'll actually do as you run forward, and you'll often get "stuck" on obstacles you wanted to just run by.
Brink is full of bad design decisions, awful AI, boring weapons, lousy controls, and mindnumbingly poor gameplay. It's a joyless, fun-free mess, and a complete waste of time. It takes a game with a lot of potential to fail *this* badly, but unfortunately, there's nothing redeeming about Brink whatsoever. | video-games_xbox |
A very disappointing end. The makers of this game must've been on drugs.
This game is way to easy. If you like to explore the world before doing the quests, then I highly discourage you from buying this game. Everything is pretty much closed off until you do the quest associated with that specific location.
Some of the higher level creatures in specific areas are very strong and hard to kill if your level is relatively low, but don't fret, you can just run circles around them, or just jump on a rock and shoot them with your bow for 10 minutes to kill them.
I will admit that the upgrading weapons system is one of the best. You can literally break down every kind of weapon or armor that you find, and use those materials to upgrade your weapon or armor of choice. Also, any weapon that you breakdown with an elemental status on it, or a skill, you can add the skill or status from that weapon to the one of your choice. The weapons and armor gain slots when you level them up and you put the skills and status' on them. The weapons and armor also grow stronger on their Atk-Def Ect.
The magic system is pretty cool, but pretty useless. The spells are original and the fact that you have to combine different kinds of spell cards to make spells is very different and I like it, except for the fact that the only spell I ever used was for stamina. I pretty much killed everything with double-wielding a blunt weapon and a slashing weapon and didn't really need magic but only a couple of times to defeat the bigger demons in the swallows with a strength spell. Alchemy is pretty much needed to beat the game easily, but if you are thinking of using any jump, or water walking potions then they are pretty useless as well, being there is really no where to jump to that's interesting, and walking on water will get you across to the other islands, but there is no use in going there before you open them up in the game via portals because everything is pretty desolate and non-active in the storyline and locations.
There is not that much strategy to this game at all, but it was still really fun up until the ending.
I beat the last boss pretty easy with potions, and then the game lets you continue to explore and finish any sidequests you might stumble upon. There is a ton of quests to do, so if you want something to do for a couple weeks that'll keep you busy then this is a good purchase and pretty fun.
This game does have some glitches, but they are pretty minor, but frustrating if you like to explore every inch of your surroundings.
If you choose to stray from the roads and trails then you will find mountains that hover over the ground, and you can literally walk underneath them(this seemed to only happen in the swallows), you will see vast areas on the map directly surrounded by rock structures, and even though it might look like there should be something in the middle, you will only see a vast open space with grass and no purpose for that being put there in the game at all. Not to mention that really big island that you'll be looking forward to going to the entire game, only to find out that you can only explore the edges, and transport to a swamp almost directly in the middle of it(the swamp is part of the storyline). If you want to swim around the whole island then you will find various tribes of fish men to kill and some loot, but there is nothing really there but experience. If you try to climb over the mountains to get further into the middle of the island then it will restart you somewhere else whilst a message pops up on the screen telling you that you have strayed to far from the path. SO FRUSTRATING!!
If your looking for something constructive to do for a couple of weeks then check this out, but personally, I think part 1 was better even if the graphics were lacking. | video-games_xbox |
Best FPS next to Prime. What's to Like: Everything. FPS goodness at it's finest (on a console, no less). What's Not to Like: Getting used to the controller rather than a mouse/keyboard combo. Every home in America that has an Xbox should not go without Halo. Microsoft acquired Bungie in order to get this game on Xbox, and after playing it, you can definitely see why. First off, you'll notice the somber music and graphics. The graphics are amazing-as in better than what you've seen on a PC. They are just incredible to look at and you'll drool in awe. Now, let's talk about the gameplay: in the beginning you'll awake from your cryo-sleep and you'll have to knock out the cobwebs by re-training your systems. (What a great way to do a tutorial). Then you'll see one of your fellow crewmen get killed as the evil Covenant troops overrun your ship. Next you'll have to get off the ship, but of course the Covenant are after you-and boy are they smart. You'll have other troops with you helping your cause and they actually protect you with covering fire and suppressing fire. You can hide behind obstacles and take cover, but in later missions, you are attacked from above so be careful. You are only allowed two different weapons to carry at one time and boy you'll find a huge number of weapons to choose from, adding another strategic element to the game. Grenades aren't considered a weapon so you also have them in your arsenal. Weapons are as lame as an 'energy pistol' and move up to more impressive guns, such as a very cool sniper rifle that lets you zoom in up to 10x and really pick your targets. Of course you don't have to go in all guns a blazin', instead you can also sneak attack and take out some of the Covenant baddies. The sounds these guys make can help you out in order to determine their location, especially with the bad guys I like to call clowns, and when you play the game, you'll see why I call them that. The levels of the game are incredibly deep and there's no one way to finish a level, which adds immensely to the replay value. The game is very challenging as the Covenant soldiers don't act the same way twice, and I mean that in a good way: they react to where you are and what you are doing. Halo isn't just a first person shooter-in fact you'll also have to do a bit of driving of certain vehicles in order to get where you want to go. The Warthog is a nice vehicle with one problem-the gun is in the back. Since you can't be in two places at the same time, you should go on a quest and find some other troops that have crashed in the forest so they can operate the gun.
This is the great thing about Halo-the missions make a heck of a lot of sense and you'll enjoy your time playing it. While I enjoyed my time in a single player quest, a multiplayer split screen option is also available (sorry, no internet play yet). Everything looked smooth and enjoyable in the cooperative mode as well. You can link multiple players and Xboxes together using the system link, but I'm not sure how many will take advantage of this. Load times are very fast and you'll see the game auto save at various checkpoints which makes it a snap to stop and play again later. One of the biggest issues people have mentioned with any FPS on a console is "Yeah, but it doesn't support a mouse and keyboard.." The Xbox controller feels good in your hand and you'll find it very easy to play the game with. The right trigger shoots, while the left trigger is your grenade button. The left stick allows you to move while the right stick lets you look around. It is very intuitive and not once during the game did I say "I wish I had a mouse and keyboard." If there is any game that is a system seller, it is this one. You need to have this game. Now. | video-games_xbox |
Buying guide for Xbox One bundles. I wanted to create a guide to help those interested in purchasing an Xbox One, since there are so many bundles, and offers change constantly. I'll attempt to keep this up to date as the bundles change. This is NOT a comparison to Playstation 4 or Wii U.
A short list of features that may interest you, shared by all Xbox Ones (more details can be found in product descriptions and Microsoft sites) -
HDMI pass through. You can hook up an HDMI device to the back of an Xbox One to view the content from that device without changing inputs or leaving the X1 interface. This allows for split screen viewing and if a cable box or the official TV tuner, you can view the channel guide, watch TV, and set recordings.
It is backwards compatible with some Xbox 360 games. This is great for those with backlogs (like me...) or those who want to revisit finished games without having another console plugged into the wall/TV. In the fall, owners of publisher approved disc or digital 360 games will be able to play them emulated on the X1. Some X1 games also include their 360 precursors with purchase for play on the X1 in case you missed them. Gears or War Ultimate Edition includes all 4 Xbox 360 Gears games and Fallout 4 includes Fallout 3, for example. List of games and other info here -[...]
It will stream content to Windows 10 devices.
Xbox Live Gold now applies to households instead of individuals; meaning that multiple accounts on the same console can have access to the same features but have differing account restrictions (I.E. parental controls). So you can let your kids play Garden Warfare online, but not Gears of War.
External USB 3.0 storage. This is great because, 1) you don't need to open the console and replace a hard disc to add storage, just plug in and the X1 will format the drive, 2) even disc-based games have compulsory installs and can be upwards of 50GB each, eating storage space quickly, 3) external drives can be spacious and cheap, and last but not least, 4) USB 3.0 is actually faster than the internal hard disc interface. This means that a game on an external drive will load faster than one on the internal drive, usually by a significant amount.
The bundles-
The bundles can be split into 3 different groups based on time of release. The upcoming and current bundles include a newer controller that has a standard 3.5mm audio jack built in and output both game and chat audio through it (excepting the new Kinect bundles). Legacy consoles include an older controller without the standard audio jack and shouldnt be expected to be widely available at the suggested price (and some I haven't included, due to their rarity at this point). There are no other functional differences. All bundles include a controller, HDMI cable, chat headset (with exceptions), and a 14 day Xbox Live Gold trial membership (paid $60/year service to play online and download the Games with Gold, a monthly rotation of full games you're free to download and keep (forever for 360 games and as long as you have Live Gold in active subscription for X1 games).
Upcoming bundles (with rating based on what you get for the money. Star and letter ratings are intended for the suggested price listed next to the bundle, not whatever current prices are.) -
Xbox One Elite 1TB bundle. $499. Includes a console with a 1TB hybrid SSD and hard disc for quicker load times for the items you access the most and the Elite controller, which has replaceable/customizable sticks, buttons, and triggers for the professionals or tinkerers. While the internal storage on this will be better than the standard HDDs in other X1s, the performance increase PROBABLY won't match external USB3.0 drives, due to the continued use of the SATA interface. There's little information about the size of the SSD partition and many hybrid drives don't allow you to choose what content is on which partition. The elite controller isn't yet available, but will retail for $150 (about triple the price of a regular controller). If you want the best/most storage and best controller out of the box, this is the bundle for you, but you won't get any games with it, or a headset, from the looks of it. B rating. Also note that this version releases earlier if purchased from the Microsoft Store or Gamestop.
Current bundles -
Fallout 4 1TB bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, Fallout 4 game confirmed to be a disc (!), a download of the Xbox 360 version of Fallout 3, and a chat headset. B+ rating. Two open-world RPGs for grownups.
Rise of the Tomb Raider 1TB bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, downloads of Rise of the Tomb Raider, DLC, and its predecessor, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and doesn't appear to include a headset. Releases November 3rd. B+ rating. The Tomb Raider reboot from 2013 was pretty good and I expect the sequel will be even better. Great for adults who love action adventure. Amazon won't be stocking this one, unfortunately...
Kinect 500GB Bundle - $399. Includes 500GB console, the Kinect camera, a chat headset, the old model controller, and three Kinect-focused game downloads: Dance Central Spotlight, Kinect Sports Rivals and Zoo Tycoon. Finally another Kinect bundle! The X1 UI is made better and more easily navigable with the Kinect, and there are fun, energetic games to be played with it. A rating. Great for those who want to move and enjoy motion and voice controls, but it has little storage.
Holiday 1TB Bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, Gears of War Ultimate Edition disc (as well as all 360 Gears games as downloads if you play online before the end of the year), Rare Replay disc, and Ori and the Blind Forest game download, the new controller, and doesn't appear to include a headset. Releases October 27th. A rating. Something(s) for everyone in this bundle, with 36 games included.
Halo 5 Limited Edition 1TB bundle. $499. Includes custom console with Halo sounds, and custom controller, with the Halo 5 Limited Edition (steelcase, guardian figure, game download and add-on content). Why a limited edition would come without a physical game is beyond me... It may not bother some, but it will upset many. This is a higher premium than the Forza 6 bundle (charging an extra $100 for an extra $40 package). For Halo aficionados/console collectors only.
Lego Movie 500GB bundle - $349. Includes 500GB console and the Lego Movie Videogame and no headset, apparently. C+ rating. Game is a cheap one and good for kids, but little value in this bundle compared to others.
FIFA and Madden 16 1TB bundles. $399. I'm grouping these together because other than the type of football you prefer, they are the same. Both include either the latest Madden NFL or FIFA soccer game download and a year of EA access, a paid ($30/yr) service which allows Xbox One users early access to EA releases, extended demos with progress that can be saved if a full game is purchased, discounts on EA games, and free access to the Vault, currently 14 full games. Great if you like EA's games. A- for each. With the live Gold card and Forza Horizon 2 download (separate product pages) A rating.
Gears of War 500GB bundle. $349. Includes Gears of War Ultimate Edition download (as well as all 360 Gears games if you play online before the end of the year). This 500GB model includes the new controller, but does not include a headset. B+ rating. With the live Gold card and Forza Horizon 2 download (separate product pages) A rating.
Legacy bundles-
Forza 6 1TB Bundle. $399. Custom Forza-inspired console with racing sounds and custom controller, and download code for Forza 6 and extra content, and a chat headset. A- rating, though some may not like the custom design and sounds.
Halo Master Chief Collection 1TB bundle. $399. Looks like this being phased out. Standard console, plus download code for the Master Chief Collection (the four numbered Halo games in a single package). B rating.
Halo Master Chief 500GB bundle. $349. If you can get it at the retail price, I'd consider it an A-, since the cost to upgrade storage to 1TB or greater is around or less than the $50 to get the 1TB model, and it'll perform better.
Keep in mind that the lowest prices and best bundles tend to happen around the winter holiday season, so unless you really want to get one now, you're probably best served waiting till around Black Friday, when multiple stores will be trying to entice you with lower prices and more pack-ins. This is especially true since Sony recently cut the price of the Playstation 4.
Hope you found this comparison useful. | video-games_xbox |
Mediocre. LOTR 2 for Xbox 360 leaves a person with mixed feelings. It looks good and sounds good. But there are some quintessential problems which might leave a dedicated gamer dissatisfied.
I am heavily in to RTS (Real Time Strategy), Its my favorite genre, followed by RPG (role Playing games), not much in to FPS (First Person Shooters). I remember starting off with the RTS classics, Tiberian sun, Red alert 2, homeworld, etc, moving on to Generals, warcraft 3, etc.
Now those games had character, it made you think, it made you strategize. In a game like Homeworld, you could never win with out capturing enemy ships. In Command and conquer, it was about resource gathering and key defensive placements.
After playing LOTR extensively the last few days, I haven't yet figured out what sets it apart. It is too generic. Its just about make a lot of cheap melee units, and send them en masse to rush the enemy positions.
Finer points of a RTS such as defensive placements, resource domination, specialty units, etc are available, but due to the way the game is set up, you cant really utlize them to the full effect.
Lets go in depth shall we?
I was skeptical about game control issues using a XBox 360 controller as opposed to the trusty mouse on a computer. The interface is about 30% as efficient as compared to using a mouse or having short cut keys or the lot as experienced on a computer.
The Minimap (called the "Palantir" is very vague, you can not zoom in and out on the palantir and you can not issue move commands through the palantir. So most of the times, you will see blue colored smudges which indicate your units or red colored smudges which indicate enemy units. Now these smudges are prominent only when you have about 2 or 3 units in an area. So, if you have just one group of (say) elven soldiers, the blue dot representing them might be so small (read invisible) in the palantir, that you will completely miss them. And honestly after about 2 weeks of playing this game, I still cant locate individual squads by means of the palantir.
Combine that irritation with the fact that you scroll through the map with the left stick and zoom in / out or rotate the camera by the right stick and you have massive control issues.
It is a night mare trying to view a particular area where some thing might be happening. For example, you notice flashes on the palantir, and you want to move the view to that region. Since you cant navigate through the palantir or snap the camera to the region of interest, you will have to manually pan the camera to that region. The camera movement co-ordination between the main map and the mini map (palantir) is based on the direction the camera is pointing at. So it is extremely difficult to move the camera, while your gaze is fixed at the palantir.
I used to curse out aloud as my forces were being attacked and I was hopelessly panning the camera right to left or up and down trying to focus on the region of interest.
Now the game creators did try to solve this problem with some rather half hearted attemtps. If you press down on the left stick you will zoom in on your fortress. Given the fact that you will have several fortresses, and this snap on feature only focuses the camera on the fortress that was most recently built, what use is that?
Also there is the feature, that when there is some thing happening and a warning is issued, you can press the "Y" yellow button to snap on to that region.
This is very quirky, it usually directs to some innane area of the map where nothing might be happening.
This game doesnt make sense when it comes to the warnings that keep getting issued. The irritating voice over keeps crying out warnings at the wrong times.
So it is extremely difficult to keep track of the events going on in the different areas of the map.
Micromanaging units is not possible here. First and foremost, selecting a unit is done by moving the cursor over that unit and pressing "A" (green button). If you hold down the left trigger and press and hold "A", you can select all units in the area. Or you can hit "A" twice to select all units in an area which you are viewing.
But the problem is, how do you select a few particular units of, say, one type. I don't want to send archers and swordsmen to the same battle zone. But then individually selecting a group of similar units is very hard. You will have to hold down the "A" button and move the cursor to the units you want to select. Now if you want a group of archers. You select one squad of archers, keep "A" pressed down, and move to where the other squad of archers are. But if by chance you pass over a squad of swordsmen standing in the same area, they too will get selected. After a while, I stopped trying to micromanage.
Can you imagine that, no chance of micromanaging in a RTS!!
The only way to effectively micromanage units in a RTS is by means of shortcuts. This game offers the concept of short cuts, but in a very usuer unfriendly manner.
Shortcuts are not linked to hardware, but by software (on screen menu) You will first need to select all the squads you want in a group, then hold down the right trigger, then scroll to the shortcut tab on the screen, click on the shortcut tab, then scroll through the shortcut signs (why cant they just use numbers?!?!), and then click on that particular shortcut sign to assign or select a particular group with it.
Now you cant add or remove to this shortcut group, and so with the changing dynamics of the battle, you will need to compeltely restart the procedure of assigning groups to shortcuts.
You read the procedure to assigning shortcuts, now imagine doing this rapidly while in a pitched battle as squads die off and new squads are brought in. You are right, you probably won't be using this much. So you will end up sending all melee and ranged units to the same area of battle.
Next problem is with the way units respond to your commands, you can keep issuing orders to a unit, but most of the times it will just ignore you completely. For example, in the final mission of the "good" campaign, I sent a giant eagle to knock down some archery and catapault towers on the walls surrounding the castle. No matter how many times I ordered the eagle to concentrate on a particular target, it kept flying off to attack some thing else and died in the process.
In this game, You could "theoretically" control the units behavior "aggressive" or "hold ground", thats it. You don't have the option of "defensive", meaning you CANNOT use hit and run techniques very effectively. God forbid if the enemy comes close, your troops will engage them, and will not back out, no matter how much your order them to. The artillery units will indiscriminately shell the region where enemy troops are present, even when these enemy troops are fighting your own troops. Guess they are really open to the idea of collateral damage. And given that your troops generally refuse to obey orders, chances are as your artillery units start shelling, you will take just as much loss from it, as your enemy.
Artillery units can be made to be in either of 2 modes : "Halt auto acquire" or "halt auto fire". Which is funny, because conversely, it is always in "auto acquire" or "auto fire" mode, and in either mode, the artillery unit WILL fire automatically when it sees the enemy. And in a battle you WILL take collateral damage.
Resource gathering is done by placing static resource generating units (like a tree for elves, a mine shaft for dwarves, a tunnel for goblins, etc) in various locations of the map. Now you can only place these resource generating units at a fixed distance from each other. If they are too close, then they infringe on the other, and the efficiency of the process is reduced.
So you are required to explore the map and keep placing resource generating units at diffent locations. But this creates an extremely big head ache in terms of defending these important resourcers. Since you can only build defensive structures, like walls, at a fixed distance from a fortress. You will need to keep building fortresses all over the map to defend these resource generating units. Now each fortress is 5000 gold, about 25 times the cost of a standard squad of swordsmen or archers (this gives you an idea of how expensive it is), so you will not be able to build too many of these fortresses. So your resource generating units might be left undefended, and thus your revenues will run even lesser than before. Of course you can dynamically defend these resource generating units by moving soldiers to the resource generating units if under attack. But then with the whole concept of rush tactics and massed troops squaring off in pitched battles, you won't have squads available for guard duty of resourcers.
Another surprising problem in this game is the save game feature. You can only save a set number of games.
This is the single greatest flaw in this game.
So if there are 16 battles (8 each) for the good and evil campaigns, you might be allowed to save a total of about 10 games. So effectively, you won't be able to go back and play a certain scenario after finishing both the campaigns. I don't understand why those stupid developers had to limit the number of saved games a person can have!
The way this game works is also surprising. For example, when my elven and dwarven armies stormed the black castle in the final mission of the good campaign. I was met with a "Balrog" that pretty much decimated 3 of my squads and killed a hero. And then started coming towards my buildings. I dispatched a Giant Eagle, and it just killed that balrog within a second. Now this verisame eagle is not very effective against other units of the same kind. It can get killed pretty easily by say 3 groups of enemy archers. This is very confusing. You might build up defenses or an attack force by estimating the relative strengths and weakness of your forces and that of your opponents. But then the units might react in a way completely unforseen, and this might turn the tide of battle.
One more problem here is, you are limited to the number of units you can build. But then you might receive reinforcements, which might be of no use but which might push you over the limit. You cant kill or retire certain units like ents or giants or ships. So you might end up keeping those useless units, while retiring useful units to get units that you desperately need.
E.g.: when facing melee battles, you might end up having to decomission swordsmen, which you do need, to get some specialty melee units, like Mirkwood archers, which have greater damage potential. And at this time,you might have 4 ships lying at anchor doing nothing and no way of retirng them.
Another problem with this game are the walls. Firstly they are SUPER expensive and not too strong. If a certain section of a wall breaks, you cannot rebuild it. And depending upon your race (elven / dwarven/ human, etc) you might be able to repair it. And there are these big wall hubs that you need to build, which in turn expand to form walls. Now the sections of the walls can be modified to hold catapaults or archery towers or wall hubs. If a certain section of the wall is under attack, you cannot ask your builder to repair it. You will have to sitback and watch it get demolished. Then after the assault is over, you will need to destroy the rest of the wall yourself, to get to the "wall hub" and then have a fresh new wall built. Now this new wall cannot be built in the same spot as the old wall, so you will have a mess of overlapping walls all over the area in a region of heavy conflict.
Also you cannot have your structures repaired by the builder, you might have a spell to do it (again race dependent). But since you are limited to the number of spells you can have, you will find you will go for spells which are more useful than "struture repair", some thing that kills the enemy.
Lastly, there is very limited strategy employed in this game. Like when playing the skirmish mode, against brutal enemies, you will find that the enemy has NO limits on the amount of money and the number of troops he has, where as you are limited. The only way you can win is by building large numbers of soldiers. Your cash flow is limited, and if you were to spend money on upgrades (like better armor or weapons and which are extremely expensive), you won't have money to built more troops for the meat grinder. And you will loose the battle.
This game is dismal as compared to the real RTS gems, it hardly has any element of strategy.
It does try to innovate in some new areas, like you have a points system, you earn points by killing enemies, and if you have enough points you can "buy" spells. But then if you have a lot of points, you can pretty much buy all the spells. Then you can let your armies rest, and fight the enemy by spells. Heck, I have done this so many times.
For an RTS, this game limits you from having the units you want to field, it doesnt allow you micromanage them, it doesnt allow you to deploy them or view their actions, or in any way control them or let them be effective. You can only build up massive armies and send them to die, and keep doing so to merely survive against the enemy. So the spells are the only way you might actually establish an edge over the enemy.
Its dismal really. Imagine, playing red alert 2 with just nuclear strike (or weapons of mass destruction, like the weather machine) and having quite ineffective tanks or armies! Imagine no apocalypse tanks! Just masses of conscripts!
The spells go on to allow you to deploy a hero (like Tom bombadill) or soldiers (3 squads of Dale men archers or a group of eagles, etc). I guess the developers of this game themselves realised the futility of having armies being strategically commanded in this game, and have pretty much tried to replace the strategic element of a conventional RTS gaming with the concept of spell casting.
It is disgusting!
Overall the game does look good, however, you cant zoom in too close. The sounds / music are nothing to die for. The voice overs are EXTREMELY irritating. The elves sound like goody two shoes whom you will feel like punching on the nose.
While supposed to be such tough warriors, these elves certainly sound like wusses.
Its an irritating game. And with just 16 single player missions, The skirmishes are extremely boring. So for $60, it is not enough value for money.
It is a very sad attempt at introudcing RTS genre to the TV console game sector.
Would I recommend buying it? Only after the price falls to under $20!
Regards,
Kaushik Lodh | video-games_xbox |
By far the best Skylanders yet. Really? ANOTHER Skylanders game? yahoo. Can you feel my enthusiasm? Thats what I thought when my kids asked for the latest version, Skylanders Superchargers. Weve had several iterations including Spiros Adventure, Swap Force, and most recently Trap Team. And Ive left some pretty unflattering reviews in the past due to the super high total cost of these games. But to be honest when I think about it, the skylanders series is one of the few games that my kids can happily play together, without the 13yo getting bored or the 7yo getting scarred for life by graphic violence. And I can even watch them play and enjoy it.
And so far I think Skylanders Superchargers is definitely the best yet. The graphics of each verison of Skylanders have gotten progressively better and Superchargers is no exception. It's beautiful. It even looks way better than Trap Team that we got less than a year ago. Clouds, Sea and Land areas are all totally different and look amazing on the Xbox One. Cant believe how far its come from Spiros Adventure on the Wii!
I like how vehicles are characters in Superchargers. You have Land, Air, and Sea vehicles, and each vehicle can be changed and upgraded. In the main game you only have to complete land challenges so that you can complete the game with just the starter pack (hallelujah!). Other than the main game you have racing and other games that use the vehicles. And you can super charge each vehicle when you pair it with the right skylander. The Superchargers Academy is the hub between missions and its full of fun stuff, from various games to tricking out your vehicles. Theres also a lot to do outside of the main game, including daily adventure challenges, etc.
So far we just have the starter kit, so not exactly sure where this will go from a cost standpoint (maybe I don't want to know). But so far my kids are absolutely loving it and have not asked for any extras yet. Lets hope that lasts a while! | video-games_xbox |
Not a great RPG, but a very good one so far. This review is after 5 hours in, will update after completing game.
Witcher 2 is a game that is great in many ways but rough around the edges. Not a goty candidate, but it feels like future games in the series might be awesome because the developer shows great promise.
On the plus side the graphics are wonderful...for xbox 360, that is. PC gamers won't be impressed, but everyone else will be treated with a game that really shows off the power of the 360. The story is deep and detailed. Characters are mostly interesting and voice acting and writing is above what you normally see in a videogame. Like Mass Effect, the game shows how the choices you make have a major impact on the story. So, it would probably be fun to play through a second time in order to make different decisions and find out how that changes things.
On the minus side, the story throws so much at you that I was confused, even after reading all of the info in the journal. Perhaps you need to play the first Witcher game or read the books to understand what exactly is going on. Checkpoint system is poorly done, so manual saving is a must. I found the difficulty at times to spike and cause frustration, even on easy level. There is a tutorial, but it doesn't help much because they give you all sorts of spells and combat commands all at once. It would have been better to give players a few tactics at a time and let them ease into things. I suspect hardcore rpg fans or players of Witcher 1 would be fine with the difficulty and learning curve, however.
All in all this would be a good game for rpg fans. For everyone else it is still probably worth checking out since it has been out for a while and is discounted.
UPDATE
After finishing the main game I have more details validating the original review. Lots of pop-in for the graphics, but this is acceptable given the massive size of the game world. Framerate holds up well throughout. Storyline complexity holds the game back. I had to spend many hours reading online about the background and characters in order to appreciate what exactly was going on. Since the storyline is one of the best parts of the game I would not recommend this for anyone who doesn't want to spend lots of time researching the storyline. Again, if you read the books you should be fine.
Perhaps the worst part about the game is the map system. It is mostly unmarked and doesn't allow you to set destination markers.
I would rate this five stars if you already read the books, three stars if not, which averages out to four stars. | video-games_xbox |
Awesome headset for gaming and general use. I purchased this headset with the intent to use it for playing on an Xbox One. I previously owned a 360 and know that these are designed for that system, but there is an upgrade coming, so let me explain.
As a former Turtle beach and Tritton user, I wanted something better this time around. My Trittons only lasted 6 months before the mic failed. The Turtle beaches were good but cumbersome and not great to wear for long periods. They felt cheap and were cheap. The quality was lacking and not what I wanted.
Enter Polk Audio to the scene. Polk partnered with Xbox to create game headphones. As nice as that is, it isn't why I chose them. Polk Audio themselves have been around for a long time and have always made good quality products. Knowing this I started my research. Upon handling them, they are very well made, feel heavy enough to not feel cheap, but sit extremely comfortably on my head. The lack of the mic boom is great as it is not in the way, just a simple push of the button and the mic drops down sort of like a blue tooth, not the boom style. The ear cups are comfortable and there are no pressure points so far. The sound is fantastic as expected by Polk.
I found that online, there is very minimal information on these headsets and on the new 4 shot headsets. I didn't understand how these hooked to the xbox 360 or how the new 4 shot version was different. I called customer support several times and I will share what I learned as well as what I also found out when I got the new headset in the mail today.
The 4 shot and Melee are one in the same as far as the headphones are concerned. The Headphones are a stand alone piece of equipment. You plug in one jack to them, one single wire, not several. I originally thought there were two like my other headsets. One going to the controller and one going to the xbox to power it. This is not the case. There is a single cord that runs to the xbox. It splits on both ends sort of.
At your controller, the audio mixer is there, which allows you to mute the mic, adjust the volume of the game, and adjust the volume of the mic. It also allows for some optimization modes for different game styles like racing or shooting. The cord passes through this mixer and goes to your headphones. This is why only one cable goes to the headphones as it is powered and given sound through the singe cable.
At the xbox end, it goes through a DSP amplifier which splits to an optical out cable and a USB plug. This is how your game sound and the headphones are powered. What this also means is that you can plug the optical out cable and USB into the back of an Xbox one and it plays the sound as it should with the correct directions of noise in each ear cup. This is a big plus as it means they work right now with the Xbox One, just not as a communicator with the Mic. I plugged them in, turned on Ghosts and played a trial round on a local connection game. The sound was great and exactly what I expected it to be. I can turn the volume up and down with the audio mixer and adjust it to my liking. I just can't talk to anyone in lobby with them, but I can use the Kinect for that for now.
The Mic is not functional due to Microsoft making the new plug in port to the controller different than the original 360 controller. No headset is currently functional due to this, no matter the brand. But Polk is releasing an adapter after the first of the year, I think in February, which allows the Polk Melee to attach to the controller and equip the mic for functionality. Every other manufacturer is trying to do the same. But the Polk adapter does more than that. The adapter gets rid of the need for a power source through the USB port and the optical out is eliminated. The new puck or adapter uses the full capability of the controller. The controllers are designed to push enough energy out to power the speakers in each ear cup as well as tell directionality of shots, movements, etc, so you get the surround sound you want to be immersed in a game. Essentially what this means is that the headset with the adapter is now a true 4 shot headset, wireless to the system, and fully functional with all the Xbox Ones capabilities.
Next is the functionality with something other than your Xbox. These come with a cable, which is a standard audio jack for most if not all phones. It has a built in button in the line that allows you to answer phone calls if you like, or you can use them to just listen to music. Your phone powers them just fine but for the love of God, turn down the volume before you put them on....
When I put the headphones on, the first thing I noticed was the sound dampening. It is like putting on a set of ear muffs designed to reduce sound when operating a lawnmower or something of the like. These are not advertised as this but they certainly do muffle all noise around you. The Trittons and Turtle Beaches neither one did this (3 different styles of turtles over 4 years) This allows for music or game sound to be set lower as you are not trying to drown out other noise.
So if you have a headset and you like it, keep it and wait until after the first of the year and adapters for other makers are coming out too. If you have both systems, an xbox 360 and the one, then this may the headset for you as you can use it flawlessly with both systems.
If you only have the one and want to get this or the 4 shot, it will come down to price and timing. When I bought this set it was 147 and has since gone up to the Manufacture's recommendation to 199. I am loving how these work and am glad I purchased them now. | video-games_xbox |
Lego games are fun for all ages. I did not buy my copy from Amazon, and though I bought it for a lonely weekend, I also had in mind my two boys, 5 & 8. We have completed Star Wars, The Complete Saga, and that game was so much fun, I decided to take this puppy for a spin.
I loved it. Beware: You need co-op play at least one time or another in this game. I played all the way to Osgiliath in two long days. It was screeching halt time. I needed to track hobbits, but single player will not allow it. Frustrating, and the cat is out of the bag, but once my boy came in after school, and demanded he play with me, it was EASY to see that was the key. A day later, completed game under the belt of a 5-year-old. Not his first, and we will have a collection of Lego games in the near future. Frankly, as a movie geek, a star wars fan of long standing, and an lotr enthusiast, this game is at once better and almost as good as Star Wars. It seems a little bug-ish, but gameplay is solid. The character utilization is complicated at times, but if a five-year-old can discern which character is needed, it must not be too complicated. Great game. If you have a child that is remotely interested in lotr, and a slight fan of legos, as well as a videogame player, get it now.
Be prepared for arguments over whom gets to use which character, but there are enough characters to provide identical abilities, and in the case of a girl, there are capable, if not entirely popular female warriors. Also, the multiplayer co-op is ridiculously awesome, and even necessary. Rock on Lego Videogames! We are big fans and will have many more titles soon! Also looking forward to future titles and you will, too!
In conclusion, typical Lego puzzles and tight game play. Linear story, allowing meandering co-op, allowing achievements for both players to begin quests, discover new areas, act as a team, unlock characters, and discover trinkets to "make" new and unusual tools for completion of side quests, and to beat one another up with. | video-games_xbox |
Running, Loading Screen, Running, Loading Screen. It's not really an open world game. You're restricted to completing quests in order of level of difficulty. There's no sense of awe in exploration, because it's an endless chain of running and fast traveling to each quest. You must manually select your next quest every time, as the game chooses them for you in the wrong order, again, every time.
Loading Screen Simulator : There's a short loading screen to check your quests, your map, your inventory. There's a loading screen to talk to merchants, a loading screen for people giving you quests, a long loading screen to 'fast' travel, and an even longer loading screen to start the game. Every time you boot it up you are forced to watch a CD project red advertisement, then wait for the start up menu to load, then start your game save load. It's the longest wait i've ever seen to get to a game.
You cannot fast travel anywhere until you've been there first.
You cannot fast travel anywhere but to sign posts.
You must physically be at a sign post to fast travel.
Why can't you fast travel anywhere at any time from any place? running to a sign post. fast travel loading screen. running from a sign post.
When checking your map to find the destination of your quest, there's no arrow indicating in which direction it is, so you must manually scan the map in every direction to find the quest marker. unbelievable. You must do this over, and over and over again. which direction is the quest marker? how many seconds will you waste looking for it each time? your results may vary.
Done talking to an npc? You must watch a cutscene of geralt saying farewell every single time before you can leave.
Lag simulaor. The game has constant frame rate issues for no reason. In combat, near water, in a marsh or swamp? you're screwed.
Yes, the game has good graphics, but plenty of other games do this at a stable framerate. It's almost like they sabotaged the console ports so Nvidia could sell graphics cards. There's no justification for this garbage. The game is simply unfinished. They forced it out the door too early.
Every time the game lagged, it left me wondering why, because nothing impressive is ever going on on screen when it does.
Horse AI. god save us. When you whistle to summon your horse, instead of galloping up to you, it walks up to you, forcing you to turn around and run to it. The horse always seems to spawn behind you, forcing you to retrace your steps. the horse should sprint up to you and let you jump onto it like you're legolas. Nope.
The horse will stop running for no reason. again and again and again. I bet it did it to me over 500 times. Sometimes it spawns stuck inside a house or any other piece of geometry. It refuses to jump over obstacles, instead running right into them. other times, rarely, it works flawlessly.
Animal Abuse. You're forced to make roach carry 'trophies' strapped to the saddle in order to get the combat, gold, or experience bonus they provide. What jerk forces his horse to carry a massive gryphon head everywhere for no reason? You don't even unequip your saddle bags when participating in races. strikingly lazy.
Instead of building a relationship with your horse, you improve it's abilities by equipping new saddles and saddlebags. Even of the saddle is bigger, your horse gains stamina. ridiculous.
Your relationship with roach should have been one of the best parts of the game, and instead it's the worst. Roach doesn't even know what roads to take when you're riding. Nothing works. Nothing ever friken works.
And because roach doesn't know which road to take, you're forced to constantly check your minimap so you know when and where to turn. It makes riding your horse even more of a chore than it already is.
Because you need experience to level up, you can't turn down any quest, meaning you can't make any meaningful choices, yet the developers still leave the option to tell people to go screw themselves.
Geralt is constantly trying to be an jerk by telling people he doesn't care or isn't interested in the stories they tell him when he takes a quest. TMI. TMI. TMI. Does he need to be rude to everyone, at all times? These people are explaining their problems to you and offering you money for your help. oh wait, 'witchers are impatient'.
chest pieces made out of cloth have better defense stats than the cool looking chainmail armor you start out with?
Wild Hunt. An endless hunt for people again and again and again. The plot never changes, you're always wandering around searching for something, everyone wants you to find someone or something for them, a person, a goat, a frying pan, etc, etc. run here looking, run there looking.
Using witcher senses can sometimes be frustrating to follow the trail ahead of you, as it is often to faint to spot, and the game often requires you to spot things in order, which causes trouble if you missed something.
There's texture pop in too, usually in cities. The game often also blurs and freezes for a short time, also usually in cities.
When you find the legendary tools of a derelict and monster guarded forge in skellige, instead of giving these tools to your friends in skellige, you rob them and give it to some random dwarf craftsman in another country. Stealing skellige's heritage? Unbelievably moronic.
You can equip mutagens. I never did this, because it makes no sense. As far as I understood, whichers are bonded with mutagens as children, as part of their painful transformation into witchers. So how can geralt equip new ones and unequip old ones on a whim now?
Combat can also be frustrating when you get locking into taking damage. Geralt winces as he gets hit over and over and over again without any way to roll out of range or parry / block incoming attacks. It's pretty aggravating when this happens because it feels like geralt is some amateur sword fighter who doesn't know what he's doing. I often lost control of myself and cursed when this happened. The combat is pretty responsive most of the time, but becomes completely unresponsive every time this happens. I don't like control being ripped away from me as I get closer to death with each hit.
It's made even more aggravating because even on the lowest difficulty the game can be challenging. My desire not to die and be forced to do more running around made me all the more desperate to escape damage lock, even though it's impossible. But you can try, and I always tried.
SPOILER ALERT!
What i suppose to be the last quest in the game, the wild hunt is going to attack, and geralt and friends, so the decide to lock themselves up off in the middle of nowhere, kaer morin.
I rage quit the game shortly after learning this. Instead of heading to the formidable nord fortress in skellige, which their king invites you to do, geralt says "i can't risk your soldiers lives' Even though the wild hunt is intent on ending the world, and murdering ciri, geralt's daughter, he refuses to face them anywhere where they could expect help from the locals. Since the wild hunt is a threat to them all, they could choose to fight them literally anywhere where other people are around and expect them to pitch in or at least be a distraction.
I liked Ciri, but the developers obviously didn't. | video-games_xbox |
Another shining example of Bethesdas work. For those not interested in a long winded review and just want a recommendation, you have it. Go get it if you're into Shooters/RPGs and can afford it. It has it's flaws (hence the 4 star rating), but overall it more than makes up for them. I dare say that this is worth buying an Xbox One for alone, especially if you're a longtime Bethesda fan like myself.
Now, for those who don't mind reading a long review, a little about me first. Currently Ive plugged about 30 hours in, and while I have a guide, Im not using it much. Ive also played Fallout 3 and Fallout:NV, and Ive played The Elder Scrolls series back to Morrowind (and am a bit of a lore buff on said series), so Id like to think Im fairly familiar with Bethesdas work by this point. Also, keep in mind that I have NOT completed this game to 100%, so my knowledge may be incomplete in some areas.
Oh, and there are some minor spoilers ahead, so fair warning on that. Now, onto the review!
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Whenever a game made by Bethesda gets released, everyone and their grandmother in the gaming community knows about it. Fallout 4 is no exception, and when I heard the news, I was all too eager to get my hands on a copy. Well, I did through a family member, and I have to say, the game is excellent. As usual, its not a carbon copy of an older Bethesda game. There are definitely similarities in the ways it handles with others(especially since this game was built using the same engine as Skyrim, Fallout 3 and Fallout:NV), but overall its its own game, bar none.
For this review, Im going to review specific aspects, one at a time, starting with the vanilla modding aspects. For conveniences sake Ill try to keep it down to one-two paragraphs per section. Also, I will not be reviewing the story, as I haven't finished it yet.
Modding for weapons & armor:
Bethesda really did a great job with this. In addition to having weapon and armor customization out the wazoo, I have always been a hoarder when it comes to freeroam/rpg games, and in fallout this is no exception. Except now I can collect everything and the kitchen sink, and still have a use for it somewhere down the line (other than ammo for the Junk Jet, this games version of the rock-it launcher). Whether it be for my guns, armor, Power Armor or settlements.
Power Armor:
Speaking of Power armor, I love what they did with it. Im giving it its own section because they overhauled how it works in comparison to other fallout games. From what I heard, the concept of power armor from the beginning was supposed to be like a humanoid-shaped tank, instead of just a really heavy suit of armor. While in Fallout 3 and NV they came up short with that feel (and they admit this openly) they nailed that feeling in this game perfectly. As for them having to be powered with fusion cores, I love this as well, as its a much needed balancing mechanic for the significant buffs that power armor now provides, and as long as you don't sprint too much, they can last a fairly long time.
Settlements:
I love the settlement building aspect. I love building my own forts, towns, etc. in games, so Ive been having a field day with this feature. It also eliminates the hassle of needing to find and set up a temporary base until you find a better one, because you can just build the better one practically out of the gate! And if sanctuary isn't your cup of tea, theres a TON of locations to choose from (I looked in the guide, and there are a total of 32 locations that can be colonized. Thats crazy). And if you find yourself short on resources, vendors usually sell shipment of various materials (though a lot of said shipments are rather pricey).
The only two issues I have with it is that, one, there is no thorough in-game tutorial for the settlement building. There are a few basic control tips in the HUD, theres only one person who tells you to do a few things at sanctuary, and theres some in game prompts that come up the first time you do things, are easy to miss, and cannot be called back up.
Two, you cant transfer stuff that youve already constructed and stored (like turrets, walls, etc) between settlements when you set up supply lines (or if there is, I haven't found it yet)
Follower AI:
Its a bit buggy to be honest. Nothing game breaking, but it can be annoying at times. Ive had my followers get in my line of sight when Im taking aim at an enemy with my sniper rifle a few times now. However, the manual equip feature for weapons and armor on followers (and settlers) I absolutely love. Its a huge improvement from other installments.
Enemy AI:
The AI seems to be improved overall in this game. The enemies are smarter, and can detect you easier. I also like some of the newer enemy classes and animations. Ghouls, for example, really do have a crazed zombie-like feel to them now. You can shoot off all their limbs and theyll STILL crawl after you, and even though they are for the most part easy to take down, they can still give you a good jump scare when one charges you just out of your visual field, then lunges at you. And when I say lunge, I MEAN IT. These guys lunge at you like they're hopped up on 10 shots of jet, and they think you have their next fix.
As for enemies in general, a lot of the time it seems like skyrim, in that you have a lot of lesser enemies running around with one or two big guys you gotta watch out for, depending on where you are; and to be clear, this is not a bad thing in my opinion.
Dialogue:
This is a controversial topic, mostly due to the fact that the main character is now voice acted. Personally, I don't mind it, but others disagree with me on this. Overall, I think the voice acting in general was well executed.
What I don't like is that, in a lot of situations, you can choose multiple options and still get the same dialogue. For example, when you get to diamond city, and when Piper asks you about your opinion on the newspaper, you can select all of the options and the mayor gives you the exact same answer, even though there are four different choices. They really dropped the ball on that.
Graphics:
Ill be honest, the graphics, when compared to some other modern day games, are nothing to write home about. However, thats probably due to the fact that they re-used the Skyrim engine, which was also the engine they used for Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas; and at times, like when you ride in a vertibird and look off into the distance, the engine really shows its age. That said, the game still looks amazing in and of itself. Just the other day I ran into a radscorpion and I thought god that looks ugly but in a good way.
Bugs:
From what Ive heard, there are many, but that is to be expected from a Bethesda game (especially in the beginning). I myself was unfortunate enough to come across one, ehich left me unable to move when I got out of the cryo pod at the beginning of the game, but a simple restart did the trick.
New game mechanics:
In Fallout 4 they added a few new features to the general game mechanics that were much needed from other fallout games. In particular, The addition of a sprint feature, a melee feature (even if you're holding a gun) and using grenades like in a standard shooter, with a button instead of needing to equip them like a gun or melee weapon. These three make the game a LOT more enjoyable, and they all add to the quality of the game immensely.
Overall balance:
As far as weapon damage and the likes goes, the game seems well balanced. The mods all have a definite improvement upon the weapon that you can easily see when using them, but none of them are going to let you kill the entire brotherhood of steel in five shots (unless you use a fat man or something, but that's to be expected).
Overall game mechanics/gameplay:
The gameplay is fairly user friendly and fluid. A lot of things seem to have been simplified and streamlined from other installments, and again some folks may have disagreeing opinions on whether this is good, or whether things are just getting too dumbed down (like the dialogue selection system, for example). While I have to admit Im not much of a fan of the way the skills were overhauled, it in and of itself is still a fairly good and easy to understand system, and most of the other things I either like or don't mind too much. Also, things being this more user friendly means that a wider audience can get into the game easier.
Overall, while there are definitely changes, this feels like a Fallout game. Everything looks blasted out, dead, ramshackle, and otherwise junky from 200 years of nuclear desolation. You have to make every shot count, as ammo is limited to what you can scrounge and buy (and everything is this game costs a LOT more than what it did in other installments. I have the second perk in Cap Collector, and its still costing me 6 caps per shotgun shell). You have to monitor your radiation level closely, which now has a direct impact on your max hp, making it that much more important to keep those rads down. And considering every other creepy crawly thing in the wasteland gives you small amounts of rads every time they hit you, that isn't as easy as you might think.
While its fun to adventure (thats a lot of what makes Bethesda games so fun), you have to at least scout out the area you're heading towards if you don't already know about it, as you could be walking straight into a deathclaw lair or super mutant camp.
Also, certain aspects are much more realistic. For example, take a direct hit from a landmine, and you won't just walk away with a crippled limb or two and a good chunk of your health gone, youll be toast with your legs blown clean off.
The only three things about Fallout 4 I have a serious issue with is that, as mentioned earlier, the settlement tutorial(or lack thereof), the wait mechanic, and, as you might have gleaned from a few of my earlier comments, the higher prices for things. Now Ill admit, this second and third ones are more opinions, but heres my reasoning behind #2: you have to sit in a chair, bench, etc to wait. Its not like in previous Bethesda games where you can just press a button and the wait GUI comes up. If you're into RP, this might not be an issue, but I can tell you that there are few things more irritating than planning a supply raid, only to have my launch halted because I get to my destination, and its in the middle of the day and theres no seating nearby, as I very much prefer to make my initial attacks under the cover of night.
As for #3, I can see why they did it. It makes things more challenging, and will likely provide money sinks when you get lots of settlements established. Its more of a personal annoyance on my part.
Conclusion: As with any game, it has its flaws, and people will like certain aspect more than others. So do any of the objective flaws it has count as game breaking? Absolutely not. Where it shines, it more than makes up for those flaws. Without a doubt, it is a strong addition to Bethesdas line of games, and its clear, like all of the games theyve produced thus far, that they put a lot of time and effort into it. Its definitely worth it, and like I said at the beginning, if you're a longtime Bethesda fan, getting an Xbox One for this alone might even be worth it. | video-games_xbox |
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