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great Karaoke Revolution game! needs online songs support. I'm a big karaoke fan. My voice is terrible and people's ears bleed when I sing but I still love doing it. I've owned Karaoke Revolution and Karaoke Revolution Party for the original Xbox, Lips for the 360, Rock Band, Lego Rock Band, Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, and other Guitar Hero titles, and now Karaoke Revolution 2009 for the 360.
So now I'm reviewing Karaoke Revolution 2009 for the 360. I loved previous versions of Karaoke Revolution and it's my favorite singing game of all the aforementioned games so I was quite looking forward to KR2009 for the 360.
First I'll begin with the microphones that are compatible with KR2009. Karaoke Revolution comes with the standard Logitech microphone and although it is wired, it's a very good microphone with good gain. You can singly quietly or loudly and it handles it all very well. I also used the microphone that came with Guitar Hero World Tour and it's also a very good microphone that is also wired. I would consider these mics equivalent and both work very well in Karaoke Revolution 2009.
Now many people also own the wireless mics that come with Lips. I so much want to love these mics because they're wireless, have accelerometers, and have pulsating lights. But the most important aspect of a mic is how it sounds. When I first got them with Lips, they sounded terrible in Lips. My awful voice sounded even more horrendous in Lips. In Karaoke Revolution, the wireless Lips mics work okay (and sound better than in Lips) but you have to boost the gain to max because they're not powerful mics. And you have to sing with more force than with the other mics. Now in Lips, these wireless mics were much louder albeit your voice sounded more artificial and often the Lips game added sound effects to your voice even when you didn't want any effects.
So now mics aside, how well does Karaoke Revolution 2009 play? I still think the Karaoke Revolution series has the best overall gameplay for a karaoke game. KR2009 has pretty good character customization but it's not as good as in the Guitar Hero/Band Hero games. The gameplay modes are great and there's a wide variety. If you like to sing, this is the game for you. The scrolling text and pitch bars are easy to follow. It's nice to now play in a game designed for a 16:9 screen. Karaoke Revolution has been a series that chose songs that are very good to sing. There are songs that are great to listen but hard to sing (for any number of different reasons including choppy phrasing, wild swings in pitch, etc.). KR2009 has a great mix of songs that allow an average singer like me to easily adjust my pitch on the fly during the song. I do wish that KR2009 had a bigger song list though but if they develop their online song store, then the song list won't be a problem. I will note that there are a number of Spanish songs on the songlist. I don't speak Spanish and while I do understand how large the Spanish-speaking population is, I don't think they should include them on an English-speaking game.
Now some of the problems with KR2009. The graphics are not dynamic enough. I don't mean just the background graphics, but we'll start with the graphics from the perspective of someone watching the game, it looks okay, but it looks like Xbox1 or PS2 graphics with higher resolution. Not ugly but not pretty either. Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero look much better. But now the graphics as you're singing. In previous Karaoke Revolution games like on the Xbox1 machine, the arrows and the glowing effects were much stronger and bigger. They were easier to follow. The graphics of the pitch bar, arrows, etc. of KR2009 are much more subdued and harder to follow. It's harder to tell if you're singing in a zone for bonus multiplier,etc. I play on a 62" 1080P screen so it wasn't too big of a problem. But I can imagine trying to play on a 32" screen and thinking they should've beefed it up a bit. Subtle graphics are great for a first-person shooter. Not great for a karaoke game where words are scrolling fast and you need to keep pitch.
The career mode is weak. I can't get a sense of any purpose to it. Yes, career mode is not that important in a music game and KR2009 is a party game mostly but it would've been nice to have a career mode that was enjoyable or had a sense of purpose to it. The instructions are terrible. They might as well print no game manual.
So how does KR2009 compare to the other karaoke games? Let's start off with the games that are not pure karaoke: the Guitar Hero series and Rock Band series. As a singing game, KR2009 is much better because its games are more singable. Guitar Hero and Rock Band have mostly hard rock songs that are very difficult to sing with very snapping phrasing and little melody. Those songs are all about the music rather than the melody of singing.
Band Hero does have a few songs like KR2009 so it's easier to compare. for the songs that are similar to KR2009, I like Band Hero more because it has multiple ways to show the lyrics and pitch bar. I like the static karaoke of Band Hero. very easy to follow the pitch bar and the lyrics and very easy to sing to the game. If all of the songs of Band Hero were of the same vein as KR2009, I would find it a superior game. But Band Hero is a mix of Guitar Hero/Rock Band and KR2009 so there are far too many rock songs to sing. Also, judging on Band Hero is very lenient so sometimes, you can do no wrong.
How does Karaoke Revolution 2009 compare to Lips? I made a review of Lips so you can read that. to sum it up, KR2009 is a superior game in my opinion to Lips. Because Lips is more of a karaoke machine than a karaoke game. Plus Lips had a very difficult pitch bar and lyrics to follow. the Lips soundtrack is good to listen to but not a good song list to sing. And Lips makes my voice sound terrible. KR2009 makes a lot of people sound okay to great. Lips does look much better graphically than KR2009 if you're just looking at the screen while someone else is playing. The graphics are great and you often have a music video to follow too. But again, the pitch bar and lyrics are much easier to follow in KR2009 than in Lips.
But here's the problem. KR2009 has no to very little online songs to download. Lips has a big online store so you can keep buying songs to add to your collection. I really don't want to buy songs for Lips because I don't like that game. But if KR2009 doesn't develop its store, I'm stuck with Lips. And the Lips online library is really good.
So to summarize, Karaoke Revolution 2009 is a great game but pray that Konami supports the game with an online store with songs to download. Otherwise, if no store develops, my review of KR2009 plummets. Because the song list isn't big enough or good enough to survive on its own. The gameplay mechanics of KR2009 is too good to let it die a sad death. Let's hope Konami supports the game. Otherwise, if you're a 360 owner, you're stuck with rock songs from Rock Band/Guitar Hero. Lips is okay and I could learn to like Lips but I feel Karaoke Revolution is a better karaoke game. | video-games_xbox |
The worst game ever made. The series died with this game. Ninja Gaiden 3 is, by far, THE worst game I have ever had the misfortune to play all the way through. The fact that it comes from a series is something everyone must take into account. The fact that it stabs fans in the back is just one of the many reasons this is the worst game ever made. I will not judge it as if it was alone, because it is not. It is a sequel. If Team Ninja wanted to make a boring button masher they could have changed the hero and named this something different. They did not need to destroy the series to accomplish their goals of making a truly terrible game. Plenty of developers do that without killing something beautiful in the process.
I am a great fan of the previous games and have been waiting VERY anxiously for this to come out. I am not affiliated with this game or any journal in any way what-so-ever and gain nothing from writing these reviews. Just so you know, I am only a fan of the series who feels betrayed by how terrible this game is.
The previous games won their acclaim and amassed an army of die-hard fans through: intricate, gorgeous and complex fighting mechanics, beautiful environments and meshes, creative, menacing and diverse enemies, various weapons and magic, allowing vast diversity of brutal ways to dispatch your foes, valuable items cunningly hidden, which you must explore the environments for, and, my personal favorite, extremely rewarding upgrade systems, which left you excited to kill with skill to collect more Karma. Those are only the highlights and by no means explain fully all the merits of the previous games. If you have not played them you have been missing out and should pick up any one of them, all are amazing in their own right. NG Black and the first NG2 are my personal favorites. Notice I never mentioned the story? No one EVER cared about the story. EVER. Not that the NG3 story is anything better than mediocre and predictable. However, the story and horrible new fighting system were the main concerns of this design team...for...some reason.
The producers and designers of Ninja Gaiden 3 decided that ALL of the things which made the series so popular were a burden and cut them all away. The same way Ryu cuts down the unarmed man begging for his life at the beginning of this tragedy of a game. The death of that man marked the death of this series. The incompetent designers at Team Ninja had all of the necessary elements and decided that they would go for a cheap fighting system, one dimensional enemies, bland, messy meshes, and generic environments, then got rid of all the rest. I have no idea why. They seemed to want to focus on the terrible, glitchy, worthless and cumbersome Kunai Climb and the many quicktime events which CONSTANTLY interrupt any of your attempts to do one of the limited combo's available. There is only one weapon which upgrades 3 times but only through the story line and if I did not search diligently to see a difference, I would have never noticed the upgrades at all. There is also only one Nimpo which cheaply clears the screen of Dynasty Warrior style waves of identical enemies and refills your life, with the same exact, unskippable cut-scene.
The fighting is hobbled and dumbed down to such a degree that I actually cleared an entire level by just pressing light attack repeatedly. It was the second level I think and I did not jump or use heavy attack once while fighting. I just pressed light attack over and over, dodged a few times and finished the level with moderate ease. Learning the unnamed combos for the same sword you had as an extra in NG2 is not even worth the effort as all combos may be interrupted by auto killing any enemy who is wounded enough, which you are constantly surrounded by. The enemies are cheap and can grab you at any time and there is even one which will just knock you down and lay on you for a bit until you mash the buttons some more. And that's it, that's all I can say about the weapons and fighting because there really is nothing else to describe. There's only one sword and one Nimpo and both are very cheap and boring to use. Oh, and I would talk about the Auto-aim bow, if it was interesting enough to be worth wasting letters. The fact that combat is slowed down by your curse and stupid story moments far too frequently is only worth a passing mention as well. Neither add anything to the game.
The environments are generic and obviously inspired by the previous games but in no way as grand or inventive. There are no items to look for so there's no reason to explore the environments and I found myself not even thinking about which path to take, ever. There is only one path and it ALWAYS leads to a fight which is, more likely than not, exactly the same as the boring battle you might have just fruitlessly finished. There is a level where you clear the same guns from the same battle ship 3 times in a row, with very little variance between each experience. Each level subjects you to the horrible chore of Kunai Climbing at least 3-7 times. There's one level where you're in a pit of acid or something and you need to Kunai Climb up a wall before the acid gets you. There is a glitch here and it took me about 30 control-smashing times to beat the glitch and actually get up the wall before dying. No matter what I would press it would make Ryu do some funky stab thing instead of climbing up and I would die. ONLY my rabid, frothing determination to beat this game so I could knowledgeably inform the world about how atrocious it is kept me playing. It took vast force of will, steel determination and too much tequila to make it through that part with my controller and the game disk mostly in tact. However, eventually I did beat pass the glitch, but the game refused to get any better from there.
I think the worst thing of all, the worst slap in the faces of fans, is the lack of weapons and their upgrades. Collecting karma and upgrading my weapons and skillfully destroying my enemies with them was, perhaps, my favorite thing about this series. I love GOW and DMC but I always thought NG did upgrades the best. The weapons looked and felt different and were much more powerful after every upgrade I would earn. With this game and it's lack of karma or weapons, there is just no reason to keep playing. Every fight feels like waking up early to go do community service. You leave sore with nothing but crappy memories and wasted time to show for it. I used to love seeing bosses with cool weapons, wondering if after I beat him he would drop it. I would love finding glitches to get more and more karma. Remember the wooden training sword in the original NG? The one you could upgrade 7 times for no apparent reason just to find out that at it's max it was crazy powerful and super fun to fight with? I LOVED THAT! Ninja Gaiden 3 destroyed all of that for the sake of...nothing. I cannot, with my entire mind, fathom what would drive the people who made this game to so thoroughly destroy something that could have been so amazing.
Any good designer knows that sequels are just supposed to be the originals with all the failings fixed and as many cool upgrades as possible. God Of War did it right. Each installment was better and more advanced in a number of different ways than the previous. They never removed anything that people loved about the things which made the previous games so amazing. They may have tweaked them to work or look better, which is good, but removing them?
What Team Ninja did is comparable to Lamborghini coming out with a shiny new 2013 super car, which looks great and you're expecting crazy performance from it, but when you pop the hood there's a lawn mower engine inside. Instead of advancing the series, they decided to use the beautiful reputation of this series to make an extremely mediocre button masher which would have been made for children if it did not involve murdering thousands of people.
If you have ever read any review about this game which gives above an ABSURDLY generous 7/10, you'll notice the grammar and language is slightly off. Also, they never use any specifics about why they like it. They just say "it's not bad, you should buy it and try it." This leads me to believe that they are one of 2 things: children, who don't know enough about videogames to know what they're talking about or work for Team Ninja in some capacity and are trying to repel the tsunami of terrible review scores for this game. All of their reviews are one-liners or brief, which also tells me that maybe; it is an effort to write anything in english at all.
There are a couple of weapons being added later this month and in April which are recycles from NG2 which may add something to the hollow experience you get from this game. But I doubt it will be much and if I wanted to fight with the claws and scythe I would just play NG2 again. Which was VASTLY better constructed. I am going to school for Game Art and Design and despite it all I need to thank the idiots who made this game. It is a perfect example, in all areas of the creative process, on how to NOT make a game, especially a sequel.
What Team Ninja needs to do is: immediately FIRE anyone even remotely involved in the main design of this game, throw the rest of their dwindling funds at Tomonobu Itagaki, and grovel on their hands and knees for him to come back and show them how grown-ups make video games. Face. | video-games_xbox |
Unleash the warrior within. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is the middle chapter of Ubisoft's new genre-defining trilogy, and is notable for being the installment that upset many fans with its hardcore approach to violence and darker theme. After the events of the first game, the Prince is now being hunted by the minions of time, and must travel to the Island of Time to change his fate.
I personally don't mind the darker approach. Some of the cursing and sexuality seem a bit tacked on, but otherwise the story is compelling (and convoluted) enough that the darker approach makes sense. It helps that the art direction is still stunning, with twisted beasts including giant ogres and a raging griffin. This time the player is allowed to manipulate time to visit environments in the past and present, and Ubisoft did a fantastic job building golden, shining arenas that also turn into crumbling, vine-covered ruins.
Gameplay is also equally refined. The jumping, running, swinging that defined the first game is back, and it's just as fun to get through environments as before. Combat has seen a slight upgrade, as the player now has more control over their swordplay, as well as the ability to deliver some truly satisfying finishing moves. It also helps that Ubisoft cut down on the number of enemies that spawn into an area at a given time, and there's more chances now of skipping combat altogether. It's still not perfect, and is still very annoying at times, but definite improvement has been made.
But the game has one drawback, and that's the amount of backtracking involved during the quest. To be fair, it's not always the backtracking of games like Resident Evil. You reach an area, accomplish a goal, then backtrack out of the area because its built into the story structure. You also go through environments in different time periods, which vary the environmental puzzles and keeps things fresher. However, in the end it still feels like there could've been a bit more variety. And if you want the life upgrades, unlockables, and secret weapons, there's even more backtracking involved. The last quarter of the game ups the difficulty significantly if players don't max out their life bar. And only with all the life upgrades can the game's best ending be achieved.
Overall I enjoyed Warrior Within and found it a worthy installment in the series. A compelling story and fun gameplay win over some repetitive backtracking. If you can accept or look past the game's violence and attempt to be edgy, this one's worth picking up. | video-games_xbox |
Replay value. I recently bought this on a trade in, mainly because the place where I got it didn't have anything else to choose from, and I was suprised that it's actually really fun. It doesn't have much of a story, but I don't think story really matters for this game, because this is all about the guns and the shooting. Just let me stress that the guns in this game are awesome. I'm not really big on fps games, but I've already beat this on normal, and now I'm replaying it on hard, just because it's fun, and I also wanted to try out the rest of the guns that I didn't on my first run through. Let me explain this game a little, so that you can get a better idea of what it consist of.
At the beginning of every mission, you get to take 3 guns with you (one of those being a handgun). You have your primary weapon, secondary weapon, sidearm, and grenades.
After you've chose your guns then you can push X to customize them. Weapons have slots: The first slot is different scopes, second is the suppressor, and the last is the alternate modification for that specific gun (like The M16A3 has the option to equip grenade launcher 40mm), and handgrips, etc.
You can't choose from every weapon in the beginning mission, but in the later missions you unlock more.
This is NOT an exploring game like Borderlands, so the levels are set pretty much to a specific path, with some small exceptions, like when your in groups of buidings, or there is different trails. The main object in SOF is to KILL EVERYONE!!! Like I said...I beat the game on normal, and now I'm playing on hard, and earning different acheivements on hard mode (for those of you that care about acheivements).
Here is a list of all the guns:
Assault rifles~
G36E
M16A3
AK-47
TCW-L
TCW-H
XAR-4
516
CAR-12
Shotguns~
M1014
CQC.729
CAWS-90
SMG~
PDW-7
PDW-7 (DUEL)
MP5SD5
P90
SV.45ACP
SV.45ACP (DUEL)
SR-2007
AMP-9
Machine guns~
M249
PKR-47
M48 SAW
PK41
Sniper rifles~
M40A3
CR8
TS-50
And then you have a AGL-6P, which is a Grenade launcher, and a RPG-7, a Rocket launcher. I can't list all the MODS, because every gun varies.
My favorites would include the TCW-L (ASSAULT), the SR-2007 (SMG), and the CR8 (SNIPER), But all these guns are simply amazing, and just plain fun to blow peoples arms, legs, and head the F*** OFF!!! Every body part is detachable, and I love how the neck just spurts out blood when the enemy takes a shotgun to the face. Goodtimes. | video-games_xbox |
provides steady long lasting output, however storage life has yet to be determined. Many are aware of the advantages of using rechargeable Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) batteries. However one of the main issues with Ni-MH batteries is that over time, they lose some of their charge, so that when you need them, they may not be anywhere close to their peak power. Progressive manufacturers have been developing so called long life batteries that tend to hold their charge for a longer period of time, with Panasonics Eneloop line being perhaps the best example. I have used a number of different name brands including Ray-O-Vac, Tenergy, Amazon Basics (very spotty quality), and Energizer (easily the worst), as well as generics, and none of them has matched the Eneloop when it comes to retaining a charge.
I received a set of Odecs 1000mAh Ni-MH AAA rechargeable batteries for evaluation. I have had them for about two weeks, which is not enough time to determine how well they perform at holding their charge. I have fully charged a set of four batteries, and set them aside. The voltage will be checked after one month and then again at two months, after which I plan to update this review.
Out of the case, these cells measured about 1.33 volts which is fairly typical. I charged the batteries on a smart charger, where they topped out at about 1.45 volts. I have used these batteries in devices like a radio, flashlight, and headlamp, and the performance has been very good, as the batteries seem to last for a long time.
The unit cost of the Odec battery is currently less than half of the Eneloop. So if the Odec cells come anywhere close to matching the Eneloops performance, they could be an excellent value buy. Made in China, these batteries are typically packaged in a plastic case holding four cells each.
I don't normally write premature reviews, however as this is a new product at Amazon, perhaps even these early impressions may be helpful. What really matters is the shelf life of the Odec cells, as that has yet to be determined, these cells receive four stars for now. | video-games_xbox |
Sonic Gens project. This game is awesome for a reason 1 you play as classic sonic and play old levels from Sonic 1,2,Knuckles,Adventure 1 & 2 Heros, Unleashed, and Colors. 2 the games have awsome music and speed. 3 you get to change music on the levels u play. you get your elemental shields back. Music is awesome and there is great.
Clssic Sonic gets the elemental shields, regular shields, and he spindashs is alot more powerful and the wisp capsaule u get as classic is spike.
Modern Sonic gets boosting, homeing attack, side dashing, grinding and the rocket wisp capsaule.
Story: Sonic the Hedgehog celebrates his birthday with his friends, a mysterious being known as the Time Eater suddenly appears, destroying the party and sucking everyone through various "time holes", scattering them across different points in history. Sonic tries to stop him, but the monster easily knocks him out. After regaining consciousness, Sonic finds himself in a strange dimension known as White Space, a realm where time and space end up after they have been 'erased' by being drained of color and life. Sonic rescues his sidekick, Miles "Tails" Prower, and as they search for their friends, they encounter versions of themselves from the past, referred to as "Classic Sonic" and "Classic Tails", who are depicted with the appearance and proportions used in concept art from the Sega Genesis era of Sonic games. As the two Tails determine that Time Eater's actions are damaging time and space itself, both Classic and "Modern" Sonic race through their history, restoring time to normal and rescuing their friends.
After restoring the worlds and collecting all the Chaos Emeralds, they discover that the mastermind behind the now perfected Time Eater is none other than Sonic's eternal nemesis, Doctor Eggman, and his own classic self. It is revealed that while drifting through space following the events of Sonic Colors, Eggman discovered the Time Eater and decided to join forces with his past self to harness its power, complete the Time Eater Robot and erase his past defeats from history. Although the Time Eater manages to overwhelm the two Sonics, the support of their friends and the power of the Chaos Emeralds allow them to transform into their Super forms and defeat both versions of Eggman. With the Time Eater destroyed, time and space are restored and the group returns to the present and finally finishes celebrating Sonic's birthday. After the party, Classic Sonic and Classic Tails travel back to their proper time as everyone says their farewells.
In a post-credits scene, both versions of Eggman find themselves stuck in White Space after the Time Eater's defeat, with seemingly no way out
Music you get to listen to or play with are from Sonic 1,Cd,2,3,Knuckles, Spinball, R, Adventure 1 & 2, Heros, Shadow the hedgehog, Advance 1,2,& 3 Sonic Rush, Riders, 06, Unleashed, Secret Rings, Black Knight, Colors, and lastly Sonic 4.
There are mini games in this game to unlock boss battles.
Story 5/5
Gameplay 5/5
Music 5/5
Characters 5/5
Mini Games 5/5
Overal the game gets an A+ for being Sonics 20th birthday and having good games in the classic years. | video-games_xbox |
Cheaper alternatives but it does the job. First things first. Looking at the larger picture of the stand it gives the illusion that it is adjustable. After researching forums before my purchase I found out that it not adjustable, despite the ring in the middle that makes it look adjustable it is not. Even the people at the store I purchased it (a certain game store) at said it was adjustable from looking at the picture, and I had to tell them I read that it wasn't. I can confirm that, because I just assembled it. In the product description it fails to tell you what the dimensions are, it is 24 inches tall. Which puts you in minimum height level for the sensor. Next it is made out of plastic, it feels durable, but I haven't had anyone bump into it yet, it is basically 2 pvc pipes put together. Once you pick up the small box it comes in you can immediately tell from the weight it isn't make out of metal. However now that I think of it, if it was made of metal and it does fall to the ground the sensor would hit the ground harder because of the weight. Maybe plastic would be better. Not sure. So with all this being said why did I rate it 4 stars when it seems like it is all I've talked about is cons.
I rate it high because I knew all these cons before purchasing (with research). I have a 73 inch Mitsubishi DLP and it is on the manufacturer stand in a very large room. The kinect requires you to be about 6 feet from the TV, which is too close with a TV this large (also which happens to be right below my ceiling fan). This stand allows me to move it a couple of feet in front of TV (and away from the fan), and put me in the sweet spot for viewing and playing. It is ideal for large TV's in a big room (it says this in the box). Since it is only 2 feet high, and you are playing the kinect standing in front of your large TV, it shouldn't be in your viewing area. In addition, I like it because the sensor is easily removed by depressing clips, and the stand is easily kept aside when not in use.
Now why did I take off 1 star. It is for the lack of product description on the box as well as the retailers. It should say somewhere what the dimensions are at least on the box. The description also says it is "Weighted, sturdy base with a sleek piano black finish", here on Amazon as well as the manufacturer website, when it is very light, not more than 1 to 2 pounds if not less. So a slight bump would knock it over. On the actual box they replace the word "weighted" with "wide," on the same sentence. Probably because most people wouldn't consider it weighted. In addition there is a slider thing on the portion top of the stand that connects to the sensor that I have no idea what it is there for. It doesn't say on the manual, and its driving me nuts why they put something there and it doesn't say in the manual what it is for. I can't figure out what is for. If you know, please reply in the comments. I would like to know.
Overall, for the same retail price or much less you can buy a foot stool, small table, toddler chair, stack of boxes, that would do the same purpose. It is quite expensive for what it really is, when you can buy speaker stand in a pair for the same price. However, if your like me and want something custom to the product, this works and does the job. Just know what your are buying before you spend the money. | video-games_xbox |
Recycled. If you love the first game, you might love this one, because its essentially the exact same game, just not as good.
Almost all the major plot points are exactly the same. If you don't like spoilers, stop now.
1. Your character wakes up, with no memory, and no recollection of the force. You have to slowly re-remember how to use the force.
2. You have some han solo type character, who does nothing but whine, but is handy with a blaster, and flies your ship, which is called the Ebon Hawk.
3. You're being hunted by the sith.
4. You pick up a Mandalorian warrior who joins your party. And although in this one your warrior is wearing a mask, his name is...Canderous, Clan Ordo. Plus, you have the exact same driods.
5. You arrive on a planet, and someone important has been arrested for a crime they didn't commit. Guess what, you have to prove them innocent, through sleuthing and investigation.
6. You arrive on a large industrialized planet, and are stuck in an apartment like complex, and you walk around from enclave to enclave finding things to take, and things to do. Plus, the exchange is pretty rampant, and you have to ultimately dispose of them.
7. You go to dantooine to find the Jedi Enclave. These, you go to the crystal cave, to get...crystals.
8. You go to Korriban, and you fight...the spirits of dead sith.
9. The last battle, takes place on a far away ancient planet, which culminates with you storming it and facing the evil Darth (fill in the blank).
Those are just a few of the examples where both stories are exactly the same. I especially didn't like the whole amnesia bout a second time around. In addition, once you find out who you are, it's nowhere near as interesting as in the first one. In the first one, you were Revan, and you were important. In this one, you're just some person who has "wounded" the force. Big deal. You're not all that special.
All in the all, the game is enjoyable, but is an overall let down from the previous game. The jedi powers and feats are for the most part the same. They add the ability to effectively fight without weapons, but who wants to do that. I found the fact that I was being attacked by lightsaber weilding sith constantly, but once killed, left me nothing but a stimulant or a grenade, to be very annoying. Look, if I kill a guy with a lightsaber, give me his lightsaber. And enough with the short lightsabers. At the end of the game, without using the lightsaber glitch, I had one normal lightsaber, three dual-lightsabers, and four short lightsabers. And what is some random guy I did a small quest for giving me a lightsaber for. When all three "jedi masters" die on Dantooine, weilding a total of four lightsaber, why don't they leave anything.
And I really, really, really didn't like that you have jedis in your party, but they can't be activated unless you have enough "influence." It sucks, you have I think three latent-jedis, but if you don't have the right amount of influence, they won't become jedis. Worse yet, sometimes, once you have the right amount, it's late in the game, and you only get a few jedi powers, if any at all. My first time through, none of them would let me train them. I wanted to kill them.
I guess, in the end, I was expecting too much. GTA:San Andreas and Halo 2, both pretty much delivered, but this I would have to catergorize with Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. A good game, but nothing really that great. If this game didn't have the star wars license, I don't think it would even be worth playing. Not to mention the horrible frame rate, the skipping, and the slow user interface. My first time, I beat the game, with several bouts of leaving it on to go watch something else in another room, at approximately 27 hours. And although they say there are four new colors, there's really only one. Silver, which comes out looking more like white, is cool. But Orange looks just like yellow, cyan looks is just light blue, and the last one, is just light green. Silver does look cool though.
So, if you like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, then you should have an adequate time with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, the Sith Lords, because it's essentially the first one, recycled with a few more bells and whistles. And if you haven't bought the game yet, rent the game, and just wait until about February or March, when it will on sale for $20 in the best title bin.
And last bit of info, the first two levels, are tedious and boring. Actually, three, if you count the tutorial. | video-games_xbox |
A rose form pungent manure. Dragon Age: Origins stunk! There wasn't a woman in the land who hadn't been a victim of sexual violence, and it lifted scenes freely from good movies and then made a mockery of them. Its sequel, however, manages not only to be passable but actually turns out to be a good game.
As the story begins your characters family is returning to a city where they are of the nobility. Unfortunately, a wayward uncle has squandered the family fortune; but, was it his to squander? Working your way out of the slums to where you "belong" is especially poignant in this time of recession when most of us have seen a decline in our standard of living.
The story involves you in a series of adventures, ala Sir Lancelot or Heracles, rather than the usual start-to-finish we're used to. The transition from tale-to-tale goes smoothly, and I disagree with the prevailing notion that the narrative is disjointed. Nor is "cliff-hanger" a proper moniker for the ending. The primary conflict is tied off. That there are larger repercussions that pave the way for a sequel is only to be expected.
This isn't a game that will appeal to the gaming community at large. Anyone who isn't a fan of RPG's, or more specifically the classic RPG format, will tire of DAII quickly. It's not the action packed game the stills would lead you to believe. However, for me the most disappointing detail was the stagnation that set in after act one. The story covers an entire decade, but you wouldn't know that from the experience. The characters don't age, or even mature, no new companions are introduced, and the city never changes. Worse, many of your companions that seem like interesting characters to begin with become annoying long before the end of the game.
Lastly, I have to voice a particular annoyance with Merrill's alternate narrative. The game leaves you in no doubt that she's making a mistake, and it gives you the option of halting her progress. But, you can never bring her around to your way of thinking. Nor is she simply removed from the story once you refuse to help her. Instead, for half the game you'll see "go visit Merrill" on the quest screen, and every time you go you'll be yelled at. It's like dealing with a dissatisfied customer who just won't go away. Note to EA: If you're going to present the player with an option let it play out, don't force-feed them an outcome (especially an annoying one). | video-games_xbox |
Simply Amazing. To start this off, I will openly admit that I am not a fan of motion controlled gaming. Maybe its because I have been gaming for 30+ years with some sort of controller in my hand. Whatever the reason, I just vastly prefer a controller in my hand as opposed to motion controls. That being said, I absolutely LOVE what Kinect brings to the Xbox One console outside of motion controlled gaming.
My single favorite feature that Kinect brings to the console is without question Skype. I have a cousin who lives down in Florida and we play online games together at least 3-4 times a week. We actually grew up together in Michigan and we were both video game nuts back in the day. I still remember the all nighters we used to pull playing games like Karateka and the Sierra and LucasArts adventure games. Unfortunately, he moved down to Florida with his parents when I was roughly 13. As soon as Xbox Live went live back with the original Xbox, we started playing games together online. We both enjoy the same types of games so its just really great being able to play games with him even tho is he almost 1000 miles away. Anyways, we both purchased an Xbox One at launch and decided to give Skype a go. All you do is start Skype up and snap it to the edge of the frame and your good to go. The difference was truly amazing. As nice as it was playing online together, being able to see each other while playing was just amazing. Being able to see each others reactions to whats occurring in game really does make it just a vastly superior experience overall. A lot of times, well just pause the game for 5-10 minutes and just catch up with each other. Ultimately, Skype is just a FAR more personal experience than regular online gaming and after 6+ months of using this feature....well, I simply couldn't imagine going back to the way things used to be without Skype. It truly raises the overall experience a couple of notches.
I have also become a big fan of the voice controls that Kinect enable. Being able to walk into the room and say "Xbox On", and then being able to direct Xbox One to the game I want to play, even before I am am sitting down and have the controller in hand is just really convenient. Its a bit weird talking to your console at first, but give it a week or two and it becomes as natural as pressing buttons. Not only is it really convenient, its also faster than using a controller. Another big plus is Kinect being able to automatically recognize each user and automatically selecting the console settings for that particular user.
Last but not least, I purchased the Master Chief Collection a few weeks back and inside that game was a redemption card for the Halo TV Series, Nightfall. There was a code that you could enter or there was a big scan code on the back of the card. I absolutely HATE entering in those kinds of codes using game controllers. Its one of my biggest pet peeves with consoles in general. For some reason, Netflix used to make me sign in every time I visited the site on my Xbox 360 and it was just a total pain having to enter that info time and time again, especial using a game controller. Anyways, I had never used one of those scan codes before so I simply held up the card in front of the Kinect sensor to see if anything would happen. It instantly recognized the code and entered it into my account. I immediately got a message on screen telling me that Nightfall had been added to my account. It took all of 2 seconds and was honestly one of the easiest things I have ever done. This may not be a big deal to some, but for me.....well, I absolutely LOVE the fact that I can use those scan codes now, as opposed to entering those ridiculously long codes using my game controller. I was just in awe at how easy and convenient that whole process was. It really was instantaneous.
Its also important to note that this is definitely NOT your Xbox 360 Kinect. The Xbox One Kinect is one hardcore piece of optical equipment. You will recognize that the minute you pick it up and see it with your own eyes. Just to give a few technical specs:
1 - 1080p (Original Kinect was 640x480)
2 - Global shutter instead of a rolling shutter - reduces motion blu to less than 14 microseconds. 1 microsecond = 1,000,000th of a second.
3 - 60% wider field of view than the original Kinect
4 - Minimum distance of 4.5 feet (6 feet with original Kinect)
5 - It is capable of processing 2GB of data per second!! Yes, thats correct, 2 GB per second. Crazy!!
6 - Both color & infrared sensors
7 - 3 IR blasters (3 times the fidelity of the original Kinect)
8 - 4 microphones
Kinect 2.0 is just a quality piece of equipment, well beyond the capabilities of the Xbox 360 Kinect or any other gaming cameras on the market for that matter. There is a very good reason this sports such a hefty price tag. It truly is a beautiful and extremely high powered camera.
I actually purchased a 2nd Xbox One, the White Sunset Overdrive Bundle, and that doesn't come with a Kinect camera. I set that console up in my bedroom and my original Xbox One is set up in my living room. Since the white Xbox One doesn't have a Kinect camera, its given me the opportunity to jump back and forth between my Xbox One that has a Kinect and my Xbox One that doesn't have a Kinect. As beautiful as the white Xbox One is, it just feels empty without a Kinect. In all honesty, it really doesn't even feel like the same console. It only took about a week before I decided I was definitely buying a 2nd Kinect for my white Xbox One. Hopefully MS will release a white Kinect. If they don't, I will simply buy a standard version and spray paint it white.
Bottom line - even if your like me and absolutely hate motion control gaming, there are still plenty of reasons why you would want to add a Kinect to your console and I have no doubt that as time goes on, there will only be more reasons for wanting to own one. At least for me, Skype is the only app I need to make Kinect a worthwhile investment. Everything else is just a bonus in my book. Skype has significantly improved my online game sessions with my cousin and again, I just couldn't imagine going back to gaming without it. I was actually one of the people who was legitimately upset with MS that they were making me buy a Kinect with my Xbox One. I owned one for my Xbox 360 and I never used it. I felt like I was spending $100 on something I was never going to use, that is until I actually used it. Now.....well, now I can't imagine an Xbox One without it.
5 Stars!!
Edit:
I wanted to add to this review as I just discovered another very cool voice command with Kinect, the "Xbox Record that" command. At any time during your gameplay, you can simply say "Xbox Record That" and it will automatically record the previous 15-20 seconds of gameplay. For people that like to upload game clips or highlight clips, its a really cool feature, one that doesn't require any game stoppage at all. You can just continue on playing without interruption. The longer I use Kinect, the more I realize its all about convenience. Sure, you can still do a lot of the things even without Kinect, but it won't be as easy and convenient as the Kinect commands. I really have to give credit to MS on this front. They took Kinect and made it FAR more than just motion controlled gaming. Clearly a lot of thought went into how to make this console as simple and easy to use as possible and having Kinect really makes all the difference in the world on this front. As I said before, I just can't imagine using an Xbox One without it now.
I also started using the new HDMI pass-through and I am equally impressed with his feature as well. It basically allows you to run your cable box directly through your Xbox One and one of the benefits to doing this is using the voice control to change channels. In all honesty, I don't watch a lot of TV so I am always having trouble remembering what channels are what, especially with so many channels being available these days. Well, that is no longer a problem as now I can just say the channel and it automatically takes me there. In all honesty, this has become one of my favorite features with this console and I am a bit bummed I didn't take advantage of it sooner. No more remote control, no more list of channels, etc. I just say the channel I want to go to, like National Geographic or ESPN, and it instantly takes me there. This is definitely one of the best voice control features on this console and I HIGHLY recommend people use this feature if they can. | video-games_xbox |
Old school gaming without the old school. It has become rather difficult to find a game with such mixed reviews. I personally have seen everything from 3 to 8 on scales of 1-10. This often makes it difficult for people to deside if they want the game or not, so I am going to make an effort to balance the reviews that are out there.
Graphics: I am a firm believer that good graphics are not required for a good game. That being said, I like Red Ninja's graphics. There is a certain Zen quality to them. What I mean by that is that they lack the detail of many games, but still possess the depth necessary to make you feel as though you are a part of the world. The only draw back is that the animators seemed to have cut a few corners. Kurenai is very believably portrayed but most of the secondary characters have the grace of crash test dummies. All in all, you will either love the graphics or hate them, there seems to be little middle ground.
Sound: As with the graphics, the sound effects are simplistic. The voice acting is above par, though several of the characters (especially the villains) are overacted. The music is so mellow, you will hardly ever notice it, while the sound effects themselves have an arcade-ish feel to them that reminds me of many an old school game.
Gameplay: Gameplay is where a game is truely made or broken. The problem is, Red Ninja is both made and broken at this point. The controls are responsive, but stiff. Compared to the stealth/action genre, the controls work well, but compared to most modern action games, the controls are stiff and will leave you running of cliffs when you swore you hit the jump button.
In general, most reviewers were not put off by the controls, but by the camera. In general, the camera actually works well. The problems begin to occur when you are in tight spaces, which will happen at least a few times in every level. What hampers the camera is that it is designed to keep Kurenai in the center of the screen. So, in tight spaces, you can't see around your character. Also, since your character is the center of attention, when trying to orient yourself (or peek around corners), the camera will only offer you so much leeway to actually view the environment.
The other problem reviewers seem to have had is that they have grown accustomed to games holding their hands through the whole process (preventing accidental deaths). Red Ninja tries not to, although it does a lot to keep you from running off of cliffs. Wall running is an art in this game, not a game controlled feature like PoP. What this means is that the pace at which you hit the wall and the angle at which you do so determine the distance you will run along the wall. Additionally, you need to build up speed by running at the wall from a distance, not just jumping at the wall.
In short, if you were around to play some of the original 3rd person games (i.e., the first 3 or 4 Tomb Raiders and their kin) you will know what to expect from this game, especially in the area of the camera system. Red Ninja is not going to win any awards (even from the reviewers who liked it) but it has the ability to grow on people if you give it time. Red Ninja is a little rough around the edges, but it is worth playing (though many gamers may want to rent if first to see if its too rough for them). | video-games_xbox |
Classic FPS is Successful Without Innovation. Halo 4, like its five predecessors in the series, is a simple, entertaining first-person shooter. Its graphics are cutting-edge, its story is well-written and self-contained (no cliffhanger!), and its gameplay is the same perennial success that the Halo series always enjoys.
Its single-player campaign does have a great deal more in common with the earlier games in the series, <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary/dp/B0050SYY5E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary</a> and <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Halo-2/dp/B00008J7NZ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Halo 2</a>, than the later offerings. Significant tracts of cutscene are devoted to exposition for new fans or fans that don't follow the larger Halo multimedia storyline. For players not invested in this story, it could get tedious. The game inherited little of Halo 3's relentless climactic action.
Perhaps the most damning aspect of Halo 4's plot is the grim realization that <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Halo-3/dp/B000FRU0NU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Halo 3</a> killed off all of the brilliant supporting cast that made the first three Halo games so much fun to play. Avery Johnson, the Arbiter, and 343 Guilty Spark have been replaced by characters who I'm sure will eventually grow into familiar personalities but who are for now shades of their predecessors. Even Cortana, now in the grip of rampancy, is a shadow of who she was in the previous game.
The game marks a clear return to the traditional Halo school of level design: assault [Forerunner facility] containing [2 or 3] identical [communication relays/power nodes/data clusters] which must be [activated/deactivated/destroyed] before you can continue.
The game does a marginally better job of providing variety in these objectives than the early Halo games, but unfortunately most of this variety is the result of the addition of a new enemy force and their accompanying weaponry. Repetition of identical locations makes good logical sense when creating a setting, but remains questionable gameplay design.
The multiplayer experience is robust as always, including the usual competitive options, a cooperative campaign, and additional episodic cooperative content that is a new and welcome addition to the Halo franchise. Regrettably, the developers elected to eliminate player experience point gains from campaign play, and Halo: Reach's commendation system has been stripped back significantly.
The gameplay is obviously focused more directly on the die-hard competitive Halo player, further illustrated by the fact that character customizability is largely locked at the beginning of the game - not counting preorder bonuses, armor color is just about the only element of character design available for customization without spending "Spartan Points," the game's metacurrency.
In conclusion, Halo 4 is a Halo game worth playing, but <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Halo-Reach/dp/B002BSA20M/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Halo Reach</a> remains the jewel in the Halo crown in terms of gameplay and Halo 3 retains the mantle of best story. In some sense, it is good and understandable that the developers left themselves some room to grow, as Halo 5 and Halo 6 are foregone conclusions at this point, but it would have been nice to see more of Halo 3's narrative punch and Halo: Reach's entertainment value in this title. | video-games_xbox |
Excellent. This is one of the few games I would say, buy a console for (whichever you prefer). A couple of things to be aware of though: (1) This game is NOT for children. (2)The violence is more real. The people are much less "cartoony" and if you're not really a "thug" but even a little sensitive, you might be disturbed, at first. For example, I had failed a mission like 5 times in a row, and some girl walked past me and said something nasty to me; I was in a bad mood, pulled my pistol and shot her. WHen you shoot people now, you can see where the bullet hits, they grab the area, and show pain on their face; they will try to get away, fall down, etc. I actually felt bad, and decided to shoot only in self defense (for awhile anyway). Hitting people with cars is more real, too.
Since I first wrote this review, I have been able to spend a few more hours in the game, and while I do agree there are the small problems (for me) that other people have pointed out, this is still one of the best games in my library and I will be playing it a long time to come. Some things I found out:
(1) Driving is, indeed "more realistic", and therfore more difficult. This is behind a lot of complaints about the "poor driving controls," vis. if you take a corner too fast, you will miss it. If you accelerate to fast into a turn you will fishtail, you will skid when a "real" car would skid, etc. I do agree that passenger cars flip over more than they probably would. I have been getting better at driving by practicing; I think in this game as you drive more, use weapons more, etc, you DO get better; it just doesn't note that for you like San Andreas did. As far as controls, I WOULD have preferred to keep the old GTA type button scheme for driving, but you can get used to R trigger instead of "A", etc. Besides, I think you can remap the controls, if you want to.
One thing that I don't like, and that some other users have pointed out, is that Nico is SLOWER when taking cars. If the door is locked, he breaks the window, "hot wires" it, and takes off; this can take what feels like half a minute sometimes, not a good thing if a cop sees. And remember, if you jack a car, kill a random person for no reason, etc, in this game, THE COPS DONT HAVE TO SEE IT. NPC'S WILL CALL 911 ON YOU! So you may THINK you're about to get away with whatever, but "ping" 2 stars, wanted circle, augh! This messes up some fun.
Next, be careful what you crash into. If you hit somethings like concrete posts, guardrails, etc, Nico will go thru the windshield and be ejected from the car (lol). Again, not a good thing if you are being chased, it seems like it takes FOREVER for him, to get back up, get back in the car, and go. IF there's a cop close to you, you WILL get busted.
Last tip: If you are cornered by the cops and there is no way out, get killed, not busted-in this game if you DIE, you lose a bit of money but not all your weapons (yay, finally, thank you Saints' Row), BUT, if you are BUSTED, you lose all your weapons.
My favorite thing so far is multiplayer. The whole city is open, there are usually no cops, you can go around and wreak havoc with the NPC's, or if you are in a "ranked" mode there will be other people on, trying to kill you and each other etc. One really cool thing-in mutliplayer, find a helicopter, (right trigger throttle, left stick collective) bumpers tail rotor), take off, and fly around, and MARVEL at the city; it is AMAZING. The center island, evidntly is supposed to be manhattan, and you can see landmarks like central park, etc. I flew all the way to Jersey (or whatever it's called in the game) and back to Brooklyn (or whatever its called in the game.
Don't miss this game. If you have a 360 or PS3, you MUST play it! | video-games_xbox |
Your social life is over. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion- Circa 2006
GOOD:
- This game literally has a huge world (and you can explore every inch of it), it rivals that of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA: SA's entire world not just one city). For Example, if you went into the woods in the game and did not use a map you world get just as lost as you would in a real-world forest with no map.
- Hundreds of quests (really big and really small) to perform you can skip any you want or do them all, plus you deicide the outcome weather it be good or bad.
- Interact with NPC's, there are literally hundreds of them and they are all voiced acted and display emotions on there faces.
- A very life like world in which Police chase thieves, wives nag husbands and wolves prowl the woods looking for prey.
- Do just about anything you can think of like steal (anything), save people form gangs, fight in arena's, hunt animals, sail ships, become a vampire (pretty cool) or just hang back and do almost nothing the choice is yours.
BAD:
- This game may be way to hard for most casual gamers.
- The loading in this game is can get annoying, this game will load often and some loads (not all) take a long time. The hard drive cuts down on some loading, but it's still a pain.
- Some of the character animations especially those of your character are a little sloppy (but in 1st person you cannot see your own animations so it's not so much a problem)
- The Hit Detection (or hit boxes) sometimes doesn't work well.
- While the world is huge it's also mostly wooded forest area, which can be a little bland after a while.
- Morality seem to play little in the game in terms of your characters development, you can do evil/good act but will not really be considered evil/good in the same way that you see in Fable or Jade Empire. In the end it's more realistic but a little underwhelming.
IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- A first person Swords and Sorcery RPG (Click in the left thumb stick to toggle third person mode).
- The games theme is very much close to that of the Lord of the Rings books or movie trilogy, by Peter Jackson, other similarities are found in the tabletop RPG Dungeons and Dragons.
- This is a do as you please type of RPG (like Fable or Jade Empire), this not anything like Final Fantasy, you pick [...] and you choose the outcome, that said there is little to no character identity outside of your deeds and don't expect a party of other characters who tag a long like in most other RPG's (like Final Fantasy).
GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- Fable: The Lost Chapters
- Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
- Thief III: Deadly Shadow
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- There is downloadable content missions/quests and areas for this game out on PC and Xbox-Live. Examples being horse Armor, Spell Tomes, The Wizard's Tower, The Thieves Den, Vile Lair, The Knights of the Nine, and The Shivering Isles just to name a few.
- The Special Limited Edition (Xbox-360) comes with a bonus disc, which has a lengthy behind the scenes documentary, also on the disc you can view concept art work for the game, plus the limited edition comes with a small book on the history and people of the Elder Scrolls world and you get a real-to-life coin from this games world.
- The world in the game if measured in real-world miles would be about 16 miles not including underground areas like caves, crypts, basements, and bunkers, also most areas in the alternate-dimension of Oblivion are immeasurable due to the fact that they are randomly generated and huge.
- All Elder Scrolls games are first Person (the other Elder Scrolls games besides Elder Scrolls III where on the PC).
- In the game (at the main city) you will see a poster for a gladiator type of fighting arena called Arena, the poster is the same picture found on the box art for Elder Scrolls first game called Elder Scrolls: Arena.
- More lots more information go to this link [...] | video-games_xbox |
Baller Beats Makes a Fresh Take on the Rhythm Genre. NBA Baller Beats is an interesting game. It was designed of course to make you a better "baller," but in the process you'll find yourself having a lot of fun. As a veteran of past music genre games from Rez to Rock Band to Dance Central, I've grown extremely tired of the genre despite the number of quality offerings available. I decided to pick this up, simply for my love of sports and to see if the Kinect could properly track a basketball (an expensive risk I'll admit).
I can safely say that this is the best motion sports game I've played and I'm not even a hardcore basketball fan (although I do believe you have to at least LIKE the sport to enjoy this game). This is a game that rewards real skill and also builds skills if you are a novice (like I am). I have found that in the week or so of having the game that my handling skills have greatly improved and I'm able to dribble between my legs, do crossovers, and dribble without needing to look at the ball. Now I have played basketball years ago back in my middle school days but I haven't really played outside of a game or two on a playground a year since.
For those that do not know exactly what this game, I'll try to explain it the best I can. Basically you are given a real basketball (it comes with the game but you can use any round bouncing ball if you wish) and you are challenged to dribble to a string of notes that come down ala Guitar Hero. You dribble to the rhythm of music and perform various moves to increase your multiplayer (if you miss it, it decreases it). If your dribble is perfectly timed you get 100 points, a bit off 50, way off 25, and if a dribble is detected without a note you lose 25 points. Of course at the end of the song you are given a star rating that can be used in the "Locker Room."
Moving on to the Locker Room, basically this is an area that allows you to unlock the full songs (by default they are shortened versions), various equipment (themed to your favorite NBA team), and background props (they seem to have one of those wavy inflatable arm guys lol). Anyway outside of player posters, NBA team basketballs, and full tracks there isn't a lot of reward for playing. There is no "career mode" like you would find in Guitar Hero or Rock Band. So depth can be an issue. Yes you can play at a higher difficulty (which does significantly raise or lower the challenge) but that is about it. Adding on top of that, there are only 30 songs on the disk with the promise of more for DLC (that has not been released yet). So essentially you are paying $2 a song if you don't count the basketball into the price which is a bit high for not having the ability to pick your music.
Finally I'll get to the last two points I have about the game. The first being the music, there are thirty tracks but what was surprising to me, is that there is a lot of variety in the music. You have representatives from the Hip-Hop genre, pop genre, alternative rock genre, and even some older music such as Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." I don't think too many people will complain much about the soundtrack, I actually rather enjoyed it and wasn't expecting to really have much of an opinion one way or another.
My last point is that the game will help you become a better basketball handler. The game has an interactive tutorial that starts at the beginning and also has a "Move School" which teaches you how to do all of the "special moves." You can practice these moves as much as you like until you perfect it. While doing these moves and dribbling to the rhythm you will find that the Kinect does a very impressive job tracking the basketball while rarely missing anything. It is very impressive that it tracks the basketball and not just your body. It even knows when you dribble behind your back and it is very difficult to cheat the game. I am extremely impressed with the Kinect tracking.
I have a video review on Youtube if anyone is interested, my channel is DarthVargi16.
As I wrap up my review I'd like to summarize some common questions that will probably be asked (but feel free to comment or ask questions still):
1. How can I play the game on a carpet - Believe it or not I play the game on a carpet in my living room and although it doesn't bounce as well as it would on concrete, it is very playable. I do feel that I have to give it a little bit more umph when I dribble but it's nothing extreme at all. I think the only carpet that it wouldn't work on is shag carpet.
2. Isn't this game dangerous to play inside - Well the short answer is yes but it's not that bad. I do recommend a bit of an open area, I'd say I play in a good open 8x8 square without a lot of stuff. However I've had the basketball get away a time or two and nothing has broken or been damaged. You have to be really poor skill wise to have a basketball get completely away from you and hit your TV or something. I've had the basketball get away from me with doing a behind the back crossover and it hit the window. Nothing was damaged, it also has hit a few speakers and a glass cabinet door. Again no issues, but I do recommend being cautious of your surroundings.
3. I don't like the ball that it comes with - According to the directions you can use a junior sized or a pro sized basketball of any type as long as it is not completely black. I haven't tried a black basketball but I've tried some other balls, even a volleyball and they all are tracked. There is nothing special about the basketball that it comes with (infact it's kind of average TBH but it gets the job done). | video-games_xbox |
Great system but with some flaws. Pros:
- Huge library of quality games.
- Powerful machine that results in graphics comparable to the Playstation 3.
- Wireless Controller (All current consoles have this feature).
- Xbox live is currently the best online gaming system and community.
- Downloadable content for games and videos (HD Movies and TV Shows).
- It comes with a hard drive to store your downloads. This model has 20GB (120GB version is available).
- 3yr warranty.
Cons:
- There is a design flaw in the console that causes it to generate alot of heat and it has broken so many consoles that Microsoft ultimately changed the warranty from 90days to 3yrs. While the newer consoles have smaller chips that lead to less heat, there are still reports of the dreadful RROD (Red rings of death). Basically if your console bricks, you just need to go through the painful process of sending it to Microsoft and get it fixed.
- It has a built-in DVD drive which is old technology. Blu-ray and HD-DVD are next-gen disc technology. Using DVDs (4.7GB) sets a limitation to game developers on how much they can fit on a disc. Playstation 3 comes with a built-in Blu-ray drive which allows you to play movies in 1080p. Xbox360 does allow you to have a HD-DVD drive as an addon that can only play movies. HD-DVD is also 1080p but the majority of movie companies are going to Blu-ray.
- No wireless. Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii have wireless built-in. You would need to pay for a xbox360 wireless adapter ($100).
- Hard drive (20GB) is too small and the upgradeable 120GB is way too expensive ($180). Microsoft came out with their own form factor for the hard drives. Playstation 3 on the other hand allows you to buy any 2.5" hard drive (which is significantly cheaper) and replace it.
Tips:
- Keep your console in a ventilated area.
- Make sure you do not put the console and the power supply (the brick) on carpet.
- Set your xbox360 horizontally. There are vents on the bottom and this position allows it to cool better. There have been reports of scratched discs when it is set vertically.
- Do not buy the NYKO xbox 360 Intercooler. It can melt onto the xbox 360 and damage the power supply. | video-games_xbox |
The greatest game of virtual gridiron ever released. You might think the tagline is hyperbole, but it's not. Please, allow me to explain.
All Pro Football 2k8 was released on July 16, 2007. It was 2k's attempt at a realistic sim to rival Madden, but it failed to include a franchise mode or any other modes outside of quick play, season, and practice.
There are no frills attached. But where Madden gives you heaping amounts of modes, features, and extras, APF 2k8 focuses on delivering quality gameplay. The gameplay found here is so good, that if developer Visual Concepts had included a franchise mode, the game would be a perfect ten.
If you don't already know, the game sees you picking from a laundry list of retired NFL legends to place on your team. You're only allowed to pick eleven, though (2 gold players, 3 silver, and 6 bronze), so there's a good deal of strategy involved. Do you want an amazing combo of gold WR and QB? How about a gold inside linebacker coupled with a gold safety? The execution of crafting your own custom team works flawlessly, and it's incredibly addictive to boot. You could spend hours swapping out stars and seeing how they work on your team.
And then you notice the gameplay. You'll wonder why you thought Madden played realistically after you see this. Wide receivers don't run routes like robots. Running backs dive, spin, and juke like their on-field counterparts. Quarterbacks shake off would-be tacklers like leaves.
It looks, feels, and plays like real football. I hate to sound like an advertisement, but it really feels like football has been resurrected.
For this reason, the lack of any in-depth franchise mode doesn't have a big impact. Between editing your team and customizing your playbook, not to mention participating in online leagues, you'll likely be enthralled.
I rarely give a game a 9/10, but I'm still playing this after over 3 years of being on the market. Only Counter Strike Source is capable of doing the same for me. If you're a football aficionado, you owe it to yourself to buy this.
Just keep in mind that since it plays like real football, you might be frustrated at first. Give it time and use practice mode. Also, if you have any specific questions about the game, post a comment below, and I'd be glad to help. | video-games_xbox |
Turtle Beach does it again. Turtle Beach is a company that I love when it comes to headsets and gaming. A lot of headsets I cant wear more than 10 minutes without feeling too much pressure.
Right out of the box, these are ready to go with Xbox One if you are signed into a profile. These have EQ Audio presets which are: Natural, Bass Boost, Bass and Treble Boost, and Vocal Boost. I found I could wear these a few hours without feeling like I had pressure. If you wear glasses, these might be a slight issue. They fit and seal so well that you glass will lock into place, so to speak, with how you put them on. I found my glasses were off my nose since the headset had them pushed in. If you are left handed, which I am, the controls are on the right side but easy to remember. Volume is at the top, mic adjustment at the bottom, I just remember the ears are above the mouthpiece and it is easy. The mic is very flexible and can be adjusted for comfort. As far as the headphones, they do feel a little cheaper than other Turtle Beach I have owned but they fit great. I have a really small head and they fit fine without any moving around. My ears are small and they cupped over my ears perfectly fine.
If using these for you cell phone or media on an iPod Touch or phone, you need the mobile cable that comes with the headphones. I was hoping these would still be wireless with mobile devices but you need the cable if you want to use them. The cable is easy to use with controls for the phone and also your music to play or skip. The only thing I have found, no matter what I am streaming or playing, I have some static with the cable. I can hear it when I turn it up. I have really good hearing so it might not be noticeable to all but I found it a bit bothersome. I can hear some slight static if I watch a movie as well. I have noticed it is on several devices so it is not the device but appears to be either the cable or how it is made. Please note the presets are only for the game part and not listening to music. However, that can be taken care of by changing your own presets on your device.
I am really impressed with these. The static is noticeable, only with the cable, but others might not notice it. For all the other features, I am still giving this a solid five star since people will not be buying it for the mobile aspect I feel. Again, Turtle Beach is a wonderful brand and they once again put out another awesome set of headphones! | video-games_xbox |
My Kinect has Blood on its Sensor. One Step Forward..
I have to agree with the higher critic scores on this one. Let me start by saying, this is a Kinect game like no other. The story is cliche, with over the top acting, but that never stopped the Resident Evil series from being loved to death. Besides, what's a campy horror flick without bad acting? Maybe we should inform some "professional reviewers" that this isn't Hamlet: The game.
Gross Fest Dead Ahead
The graphics are dark and foreboding, like they should be --- with shades of browns, rusts, gold and a ton of blood red; actually, make that a more than a ton. Rise of Nightmares seems like part Saw, part House on Haunted Hill(the awful remake) and a "rail-less" House of the Dead. There's even a creepy sprinkling of Silent Hill here and there, but don't expect any type of complex adventure which sets that series apart. The sounds are disturbing, with moans, groans, screams of torture, footsteps, clangs, electric shocks and much more, backed by a wonderfully eerie music selection.
The gore in RON is generally over the top, though there are a few scenes which I found disturbing, and as for being scary? Well, at moments it actually can be! Go ahead, play it at night on a big screen with the lights out; raise the volume and make sure you don't have on dark clothes so the sensor can find you in the darkness. Now, don't tell me you won't feel tense as you turn each corner. Not to mention, the game does have few jump scenes which were gladly welcomed. Perhaps those complaining about it not being scary should try not playing it with the sun shining into their room or at a dorm party with six drunk dudes.
Self Control
The controls seem to be an issue for some reviewers, yet according to the real audience, they're working out fine. Now and then, I had a bit of trouble backing up or turning - but for the most part, I've been plowing through this horror ride, kicking all sorts of zombie flat butt without a problem. If you're really stuck, you can use the auto icon by raising your right hand, allowing the game to walk for you. It won't help with encounters, but it aids in getting out of weird spots or when you're feeling disoriented. Your arm will tire quickly, which I feel is a good thing, otherwise, you'd be using it throughout the whole game..and come on, that's no fun! The game uses check points, which sometimes can be a hassle when you've just made it past the wall to wall buzz saws, or a unhealthy large party of the undead; luckily, most check points are not painfully spaced. As for saving the game as in, I've had enough for tonight, well, that's done at the end of each chapter, so be sure to complete an entire chapter before hitting the eject.
I'll trade you - my pocket knife for your machete.
There are lots of weapons to find which is part of the fun, especially when the more devastating weapons come in to play. When you find something like an ice tong or chainsaw, you can't help thinking - oh man, they are SO dead now...well, dead for good this time. Think about this... instead of pressing a button the conventional way, you mimic the motions of actually holding one of these babies. Trust me, it's very satisfying, but you didn't read that here. Sadly, weapons wear down with use, so you've got to find a new one soon or you'll be fighting with your hands and feet. Speaking of feet, I love how the Kinect senses your foot as you kick a zombie down while preparing to slice and dice. It also gives you a second to breath while other zombies are lunging at you.
Yeah, So?
Overall, I'm loving Rise of Nightmares, though admittedly, I'm more of a fan of subtle creepiness over gore. Sega's mature rated release is easily the most interactive on the Kinect yet, utilizing a host of clever, immersive gestures that help keep the game from feeling repetitive. Rise of Nightmares is what Kinect is all about, and hopefully, will pave the way to even grander scale games which will utilize this device in more innovative ways. Bravo for taking the risk, Sega! | video-games_xbox |
Great racing title, Bizzare finally got the picture. If you read my review about PGR on the regular XBOX, you would see that I was VERY dissatisfied with the game, mainly due to the fact that the game focused too much on Kudos, and not actual racing, in addition, there was only one difficulty level on the game, PMI (Pretty Much Impossible). Don't get me wrong I like difficult games, but not difficult to the point were it becomes tedious due to cheesy AI and having to start all over again if you make ONE mistake. Not my idea of fun in the least. Add to that that the Kudos aspect which made it more important to do stupid tricks rather than race. PGR1 was only for super hardcore racers that have tons of hours each day to master, I like most people I suspect, don't have the time to spend THAT much time on one game, or on video games period. I hated PGR1, so much that I didn't even raise an eyebrow when PGR2 came out. I didn't even raise an eyebrow when PGR3 came out, but after downloading the free demo from XBOX Live, I saw the game was actually kind of fun, and playable. I decided to rent it a few days later and the very next day I was convinced and went out and bought it.
As usual the graphics in PGR3 are downright spectacular. The attention to detail was done so well that the cars and the entire racing experience look pretty much lifelike. The reflections coming off the cars react to the actual environment, instead of some generic reflection effect. The actual race environments look real as well and it seems you are actually racing through the street of NYC or Vegas. The crowds are the only downside, but going 100+ MPH most of the time, you won't have time to sit there any really analyze them. One cool thing the crowd does is that if you happen to crash into a wall, the people standing right behind the barrier will back up and give you a funny look. Another cool thing about PGR3 is that they have AUTHENTIC cockpit view, in which you can switch the camera to inside of the car and you will see the actual steering wheel, dashboard, center console of the real life counterparts. You can even look around in the interior while you are driving using the right thumb stick. If you are about to get passed by the Ferrari on your right (or left), using the right thumb stick you can literally turn your head to the driver or passenger windows to see as they pass by. VERY COOL! If you choose the Manual transmission option (which I always do) you can actually see the driver's hands leave the steering wheel to shift to the next gear in cars that have the gear box in the floor. Cars that have the F1 paddle shift you will see the driver's finger flick the appropriate paddle. For cars that only come in Automatic, the drivers hands will be on the steering wheel at all times. I have had the opportunity to drive 6 of these cars in this game in real life on open mountain roads in North Georgia (Ferrari F430, Ford GT, Lamborghini Gallardo, Masserati Grandsport, Bentley GT, Corvette Z06, and I can tell you that this game has the interiors down to the smallest detail. One thing I wish the game had was being able to do turn completely around while you are driving (or watching a replay) so you would be able to see the engine behind you in cars like the Ferrari and Lambo. There is some damage done to your cars during racing, but nothing too extreme. Very frequently your mirrors, tail lights and headlights will get smashed, and if you ram into a wall or get rammed too many times, your hood and trunk become bent and will pop open slightly during the course of the race. Some may want more damage, but it doesn't bother me too much.
The sound is also topnotch. Each car's engine sounds pretty much like the real thing as well as screeching tires. Cranking the volume up on your surround sound system and hearing the engines roar gives me an adrenalin boost every single time, it makes me want to push the car harder just so I can continue to hear that lovely sound. I love spinning the tires when I am just playing around and was even expecting to smell the burning rubber on the asphalt. The game also comes with a wide range of music choices to listen to while you are driving, you can also use your music on your 360's hard drive, an IPOD, or stream music directly from your Media Center PC. The only thing about custom music though is that its not really integrated into the game like the built in sound track are. So if you have one of your own songs playing while you are racing, that song will continue to play even if the race is over and you are back on the main screen. Whereas the built-in soundtracks will be stopped once you stop racing, just you can no longer hear your car's radio if you are no longer in the car.
To me, the most important part of any game is the actual game play. PGR1 excelled in graphics and sound, but the actual game play made it one of my most hated games. Luckily PGR3 has great game play as well.
One of my main issues with PGR1 was the over emphasis on Kudos, it focused on that way more than it should and it made the game tedious and not fun. Kudos is back in PGR3, but it has taken sort of a backseat to actual racing, which is the way it should be. Yes there are still Kudos challenges, but most of the races involve you having to place in the top 3 to advance rather than placing in the top 3 AND getting the specified number of Kudos. Kudos can still be earned, and are a must to unlock certain cars, but the fun factor of the game keeps you coming back for more even though you raced that same track 10 times already. Kudos are a lot more forgiving this time around as well, no longer will a slight tap on a wall cause you to lose all the Kudos you were racking up, now you really have to hit it for you to lose them. This was definitely needed as well. Honestly, because this game is so fun and not so darn tedious, I find myself actually wanting to rack up Kudos, strange how that works huh?
Another issue with the original was the ridiculous difficulty and cheap AI that would make it a point to wreck you on purpose, making the game pretty much impossible after you unlocked a certain car. But that is no longer the case, now PGR has 5 difficulty levels that should satisfy every racing fan (Novice, Easy, Medium, Hard, Hardcore). I suspect Hardcore was the default level from the original. Medium is no cakewalk however, and you still have to be on your toes to advance, if you are new to this game, then try some races in Easy to get the hang of it. Novice is pretty much a waste of time, as it is way too easy. A good thing about the difficulty levels as that you can choose them before each race in your career, so you are not locked in to one the whole time.
Handling of the cars in this game has also improved greatly. I remember in PGR1, when I got the Vette, it would spin around for no apparent reason, while CPU controlled cars were like tanks. No more, there is no an even playing field when it comes to handling. Some cars of course are harder to handle than others, but no more phantom spinning while taking a turn at 20 MPH. Computer controlled cars still try to wreck you, but not nearly as blatant as PGR1, and if you think that they are going too far, you can wreck them too.
Another good thing about this game is that you can by any car at any time and not have to depend on the game to decide which car you can use. So if you gain enough credits (not the same as Kudos), you can buy an Enzo Ferrari right off the bat. Of course the better cars cost more money, the Mclaren F1 if I remember correctly costs a whopping 1.7 million credits! You earn credits by completing race objective. There are some cars that you still have to earn the right to buy by accumulating enough Kudos, but there are TONS and TONS of cars that are playable right out of the box so that is not an issue. In addition to this, you can race with any car outside of your career mode, so if you just want a quick race with a car you haven't bought in Career mode yet, no problem. (The locked cars rule still applies though). Back to the Career mode, every car you buy will appear in your virtual garage, and when you are not racing you can walk around your garage looking at each car you have bought. Heck they even added coin operated video game machines that you can play in your garage. No I'm serious, really! When you garage gets full, you will get a bigger garage that can hold even more cars.
All of this stuff is in the SINGLE player portion of the game, and I didn't even mention that you can take/save photos and videos of your races, race against your own ghosts, test drive cars you haven't bought in career mode etc.
Online is almost another game in itself. Even when a free Silver membership you can race against ghosts from the best drivers around the world and see how you stack up. Get ranked based on your track times, and even watch real time races of ridiculously good racers on XBOX Live. And wait, you can download even more cars from XBOX Live! Some are even free!! Of course if you have Gold you can actually race against other people online.
If you like racing games, then what are you waiting for? At basically HALF the cost compared to other XBOX360 games, this game packs quite a punch. Definitely worth the money for every thing that is in the game and what you can do right out of the box. PGR3 is much improved from the original, and I am highly satisfied. Some people are saying its not as good as PGR2, but for someone that has never played PGR2, PGR3 is light years ahead of PGR1 in EVERY aspect. | video-games_xbox |
Did EA take a few things out? Yes, but it's for the better. This review is for everyone complaining that they "Removed" Franchise Mode, and to a lesser extent, Fantasy Drafts and importing Draft Classes from NCAA 13.
I won't deny that Fantasy Draft and Importing Draft classes are not in Madden 13, but I think it needs to be said why.
"Franchise Mode" has NOT been removed from Madden 13, it has been renamed, improved, and tied together with "Superstar Mode" that no one cares is "missing" If you go into the new "Connected Careers" mode, and choose to do a Coach career, you are in Franchise Mode, almost exactly as it was last year, but with a few new twists, like it has had every year. The improvements made to what is essentially Franchise Mode renamed are the same reason why, for this year, the editing of rosters (Which you can still do for Play Now games), Fantasy Draft, and Importing Draft Classes are not in the game. The development team likely ran out of time to include them. If any of you complaining that they "removed" Franchise mode would take a look, you will probably find that "Connected Careers", when playing as a coach, is everything you loved about Franchise mode and more. There is a fake twitter feed giving you updates about the goings on in your virtual NFL. Player would rather play for teams that fit thier play style, and may choose weather or not to sign with you for that reason. On top of that, you now have complete control over how your players develop, it's not some random attribute that you can't do anything about. You can do all of this solo, or with 31 other people online.
The only drawbacks I see with all the improvements made here are that for this year are so great, some flexibility that had been in the game in the past had to be left out for now, and I have no doubt that these features will return in Madden 14. I will be annoyed if they tout any of them as "new features" though.
I'm not even going to talk about the on-field improvements, I'm sure other reviewers have done that. It just pains me to see the Madden Team work so hard to bring so much new to the game this year, and make it, in my humble opinion, the best Madden game in years (but by no means perfect) only to have everyone here give it 1 star reviews not because EA removed something they liked from the game, without understanding that there may have been a perfectly good reason why, and in this case, it was to make the mode even better than it was before.
If you are that upset that you can't do fantasy drafts, then by all means continue playing Madden 12, or wait for Madden 14, because I'm sure the Madden Team has been working on putting those things back in the game even before Madden 13 was finalized. In the meantime, the rest of us will be playing the best football game to come out in this console generation.
(Edit)
I did forget to mention one thing that I will agree is unfortunate, and that is the inability to do an offline Connected Career with more than one human player. I'm guessing that some of the new free agency and draft stuff made it difficult to pull off. | video-games_xbox |
The Future is Here. I've had my Xbox One - Day One Edition for almost 2 months now and it is unequivocally superior than the 360, PS3 and PS4. Here's why:
1. Graphics on the Xbox One trump anything out there right now, unless we compare the most upgraded PC on the planet. Evidence for this is simply, Ryse: Son of Rome. Play it on your 1080p LCD, LED 240hz refresh rate TV and then play any other PS4 title, and you'll see there's no comparison.
2. Games are already better than anything on the market (minus the upcoming Dark Souls 2 and South Park Stick of Truth which are last-gen exclusives [360, PS3, PC]) With games like, Ryse: Son of Rome, Dead Rising 3, Forza Motorsport 5, Titanfall (3/11/14) and the phenomenal Battlefield 4 boasting 32 vs 32 players online. That is also a huge selling point, because it showcases Xbox Live and the Xbox One's party system, friend system and online structure, which leads to point #3
3. Online, Xbox Live has been the ONLY online service worth anything since it launched over 11 years ago. It's ease of use and reliability make it worth it's yearly subscription. Xbox Live provides unlimited play time, whether it be the Xbox Marketplace, Multiplayer, HD Skype, Internet Explorer, Netlfix, numerous apps including the Xbox Smartglass app, for your phone.
If you're still trying to decide between this and the PS4 or even a highly upgraded PC. Let me say this, you will be playing online eventually, it's 2014 and anyone even thinking about Xbox or Playstation has internet access and is reading this review because of it. Which means that you will either subscribe to Playstation Plus, or Xbox Live. Xbox Live is better and has been for years. Microsoft spent over $1 Billion dollars last year, on a new server farm, that increased the amount of servers running Xbox Live 10x over.
%90 of my home and property is surrounded by farmland and the nearest store is over 10miles away. I am limited to DSL 3.0MBPS download speeds and still without any lag whatsoever, can play Battlefield 4, with 31 players on my team and fight 32 players on the other team, with 8 tanks, 6 helicopters, 4 jets, 4 APC's, 4 LAV's, 2 Anti Air vehicles, 6 boats, 6 quad bike/buggys all going head to head simultaneously, via WI- FI! I'm serious, no Ethernet cable running all along your walls and floor, completely wireless connection and no lag. I can't play ANYTHING wirelessly on my 360, it just showcases the new POWER of the Xbox One.
Be on the Lookout for Titanfall, Evolve (REALLY lookout for that one) and Watch Dogs, 2014 will be great year for gaming! | video-games_xbox |
Best New Console Experience. FULL DISCLAIMER! I got my XBox One for free from my Company Christmas Party (And no, my company IS NOT Microsoft). I didn't pay a dime for it - so I don't have any money in the pot for how I expect this console to work.
The XBox One is by far - the most innovative piece of equipment in my home. Bear in mind, I build my own computers, and I'm a techie nerd. No machine responds as crisply or as succinctly as the XBox one. The machine is able to recognize who I am when I walk in the room - and it even has a polite enough demeanor to say 'Hi!' when I walk in the room.
I was watching the Ravens game yesterday using my XBox. When they started losing, I got mad and wanted to blow off steam. All I had to do was say, "XBox, Snap!" And BOOM! Need For Speed Rivals started loading up, and I was racing fools in my Lambo while the Ravens finished pittling away their season. As soon as the game was over, "XBox, Unsnap". The TV screen goes away, and the entire screen is dedicated to busting racers - Oh yeah!
The machine, in short, becomes the computer you always wished you had. It moves seamlessly from Video Games to Netflix, Netflix to Skype; etc. You don't realize the system's potential until you start using its features.
WARNING! There is a learning curve to the features, but XBox equipped you with more than enough tutorials and tools to get started. I suggest ignoring the Gesture commands and focus on learning Voice Commands. You can navigate to any movie in seconds on Netflix through voice alone. Once you learn your way around the UI's Voice Commands, everything is literally a few voice commands away.
Here is another example of how great this system is. I'm rolling down the street in NFS Rivals, and I'm racing with a pack of six. Suddenly, I receive a notification that a Player Cop had just entered my area. Then I see him, coming down the road straight for me. I line myself up with him to make the head on collision. I slam in to him at an angle, forcing him into a T-Bone, then I use my Shockwave to throw him off the side of the cliff. A notification appears stating that I just wrecked the Player Cop. I then went on to win the race! That was an epic moment, but no one was around to see it. "Xbox, Record That"! The words come out simply, and XBox happily responds. The console retains the last 30 seconds of play (including my epic cop confrontation) and stops recording upon my command.
Everything works seamlessly.
Added bonus! XBox Gold Accounts allow your family members to create their own profiles and play under your Gold Account without charging more. Playstation Plus forces you to pay for an account PER PLAYER! If you have more than one gamer in your household, be prepared to shell out $50 per player. If you have 4 gamers in your house like me, that's $200 annually. With XBox Gold, I only pay $60 annually. That's a big difference.
Overall - 5 Stars. HOWEVER - There are some issues. A few bricks are being delivered, and there are a few places that need improvement (No 3D Blu Ray disc compatibility). However, these can and will be fixed with system updates over time.
I love this system - and I'm so happy I got it for free! | video-games_xbox |
3.5 starts for the great backbone of a mediocre game. So this was the game gifted to me when I got my xbox one and here is my review after 56 hours of gameplay:
The controls are super tight and solid. If the goal of a game is to make your interaction with the game world as seamless and fun as possible, then this game would be 10/10. Melee is satisfying and headshots result in a nice *pop* sound each time. Headshotting enemies in space suits (Cabal) even results in explosive decompression at the head. So good. Graphics are also what I expect of next-gen.
The addictive factor is another thing they got right. Despite having finished all of the content in the game at least 4 or 5 times, I continued to play because they have daily challenges and bounties and such that give you a reward for redoing them. It started to feel a bit like needing to log in every day to check on your villagers in farmville after awhile though.
PVP is pretty classic halo-type except you can customize your loadouts prior to matches. Everything in single player carries over to PVP. This makes for a VERY precariously balanced match each time. I found myself frustrated many times when I was a lower level because you are absolutely at a disadvantage despite players being "leveled out" (ie level 1 player has same health and damage as a level 32). For example, an exotic fusion rifle that can kill in one shot outmatches anything you start out with. I could headshot an enemy 5 times with my pulse rifle from behind and they could turn and shoot me once and I am dead.
If you want this game for a good story, don't buy it. The entire campaign took me 5 hours and I took my time and did it fully solo. If you are wanting to play alone and aren't interested in using forums or "destinyLFG" websites then expect to get about 20 hours of solid gameplay (if you play a lot of PVP). Also expect to be locked out of raids, which are frankly the pinnacle of what this game can be. If you are willing to use forums, but you aren't planning on buy the DLC, then expect to be frequently locked out of weekly content. For some reason, the cycle of weekly challenges (that give rewards that are otherwise hard to come by) includes dlc stuff, so you can't do it if you didn't shell out 20 bucks for a whopping 30 minutes of additional gameplay outside of the new raid. Reworded as a "subscription fee" the price of the DLC is more palatable. That being said, this is a console game and this is indeed DLC, so 20 bucks is too much.
Reaching level 20 took about 10 hours. Getting to 24 was about another ten hours. After reaching level 24 (the soft cap for gear that you can commonly find) I actually stopped playing the game for awhile. I came back to it and managed to get up to level 30 using special events and vender equipment (no luck required), which took an additional 34 hours. At that point, leveling to 31 would have required me to play all those hours over again on the same levels doing the same things, just for one level. Getting to level 32 requires having the DLC or waiting for special events that come around once a month or so. I put the game down and have had no desire to play it since I beat the hard mode raid, Vault of Glass, because I felt there was nothing to work towards any longer. Leveling to 30 was basically just to play the raid and once it was done, I didn't feel compelled to grind anymore.
All in all, this game deserves it's widely touted "6-7/10" rating given so frequently in reviews. Very much enjoyed my time with the game, but don't feel that I gained anything beyond a 56 hour addiction though. If you personally know 5 other people with the game and they have been bugging you about getting it, then buy this as quickly as possible because you will have a blast. However, if you want to play alone, then maybe consider waiting awhile ($19.99 would be a great buy in price - 20 bucks for 20 hours). | video-games_xbox |
THIS IS NOT SKYRIM WITH GUNS. Just stop with the Skyrim comparisons. About the only comparison is that the two are open world games. For the record, Skyrim is a WAY better, more detailed game. FarCry3 is essentially a series of enemy camp takeovers, with some loot-finding along the way. Once looked upon with this reference frame, the game is pretty good. It has been growing on me.
As you move through the game's main quests, you take over enemy outposts. This is always done best by means of stealth. If you don't like stealth, it is unlikely you will enjoy this game. You can tank through, but the rewards diminish. To succeed, you genreally need to scout around the outpost and tag enemies using a camera. I have come to appreciate this part of the game, as each outpost is a sort of puzzle to solve-- shoot the cage to release the wild animal? Take out this or that guard using the take down, or suppressed snipe? Which direction do I throw rocks? For me, the outpost takeovers are the most fun in the game.
The main quest line is fairly simple, and comprised of a lot of cut scenes on rails. The acting is great. The graphics are frankly disappointing (not as good as Skyrim). The crafting is very simple-- this may be a relief to some. Recipes are spelled out.
I like most of the skills, but dislike that unlocking skills is directed by your progress in the main quest, not open to your choice (for the most part). This is not fun-- I'd like to determine which skills I go for. As an example, the "heavy takedown" skill is not available until LONG after you meet heavy enemies. This makes for ridiculously challenging / impossible stealth takeovers of outposts with heavies. Unlocking the animal crafting needed to make ammo belts etc. is similarly limited by your progress in the game. However, this part moves along at a faster pace. One other nitpick-- you can only be Jason Brody-- one starting point. Quite different from Skyrim (again).
The world is not as beautiful as Skyrim, so it as not quite as fun to explore. Climbing radio towers is fun, but the rest becomes rote. Even hunting animals becomes boring fairly quickly.
Combat is OK; the AI is OK. Enemies do dive for cover, and throw grenades and Molotovs. The game is really geared for stealth, so combat really becomes standard shoot 'em up. The bow seemed like it would be cool to use-- maybe once I unlock explosive arrows that will be the case...
The characters are a lot of fun and well acted. This game is well worth the money, and fun to play, if one resigns ones' self to the limitations. | video-games_xbox |
Should've been made differently. The "moviestyle" concept is great, and the music, mood and characters are really top notch. It actually manages to get one emotionally involved (at least a little more than games usually do)
But it has too many flaws to live up to the hype.
* The camera. It sucks balls. When your outside u can sweep it 360 degrees around, pretty good but a classic 3rd person perspective with movable camera would have been better. The real downer is inside (which happens to be where most of the game is set). The angles are residentevil-style stuck ones, though you can change between a few different angles with a button. But this is very confusing, and frustrating when you're supposed to perform a task in a limited amount of time.
*The hammering of left/right triggers. During action sequences you need to keep peppering R and L buttons like a ping pong-professional parkinson-patient to avoid failing. This is NOT funny, and should've been abandoned in the NES-era already.
Also, in connection to the above mentioned hammering, you push left and right thumbsticks in directions as appears on the screen (fast, and in correct order to avoid failure and "gameover") - this makes you totally focused on the little diagramme to follow, to make sure you push right - and this in turn, makes you totally unaware of what happens in the background (the action). Talk about waste.
I wish the producer(s) of this game hadn't been tripping so much when they decided over the games mechanics. Because it could have been so much better.
Next time we want these issues fixed. And also, for being a game that brags about how you can "interact" with most things and people, and "open-ended" storyline... it's really not that open and interactable. It all follows a thread, you can just do things in different orders.
Quit boasting, and take the good parts from this game, and combine them with a new story, but leave the elements of dissapointment behind!
// Daniel, 23, Sweden | video-games_xbox |
Great program. If you're looking for a great, easy, customizable aerobic workout system, this is what you've been waiting for. As other reviews have indicated, this isn't a game, but a digital personal trainer.
I've put on a lot of weight after a few karate injuries, and this is a great way for me to lose it all back. Some of the features are wonderful.
1) You pick the type of workout you want (weight loss, cardio, muscle building, etc).
2) The trainer regularly asks how you're doing, so you can give feedback; if she's killing you, or if it's way to easy, you have several chances per workout to let her know. She adjusts on the fly to match your needs.
3) If you have workout equipment like small weights, a stair step, excercise ball, etc, she'll incorporate them into your workout.
4) Setting up the workout regime is a breeze. Let her know what days you can work out, how long each day, and she'll be expecting you (ready to give you a guilt trip next time you log in after you skipped a session!).
5) The user profiles are nice. You spend about thirty minutes the first time you log on setting up your profile. Weight, range of motion, goals, equipment, etc. This way, the system know what you need and who you are, and the work outs are designed with you in mind. Great feature.
There are a few downsides to the program, however.
1) This is not a video game. I knew that going into it, and so do you probably. I've heard people complain, though, because they thought this was some sort of excercise sim. What a thought. Virtual excercise. It may work for San Andreas, but I'd rather get out there and sweat...
2) Often, the trainer will fix on a single excercise for far too long. There is no way to skip past an excercise you're tired of. My injuries may start to bother me after I've done one routine too long, and I can't get her to skip to another move. Jumping jacks were really hurting my injured shoulder during one workout, and she kept them them coming for about four minutes. I was very frustrated and just started improvising until she changed her mind. I wanted a button that let the program know I was tired of jacks and ready to move on...
3) There is a "comprehensive diet" included, but in fact it's quite lame. I'm a bit of a cook, and the recipes here are so basic and boring I'd never fix them. It's things like "turkey sandwhich" or "veggie wrap" that even the most kitchen challenged individuals could already figure out. The developers should have died in with a real cookbook out there and set up a nice diet that was tasty, easy, and interesting.
4) The sound track gets really boring. I hate going to real gyms because the music is so dreadful, and this program is the same. They have categories like "latin" and "80's," but they're all just crappy disco/house tunes like you get at any cattle call fitness center out there. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for the programmers to allow us to use music we've saved on our xbox hard drive. Enjoyable music during a workout? What a concept! I know the trainer would have a hard time "finding the beat" to music we import, but I'd rather have to find my own beat than listen to more of that crap when I work out.
5) I've tried for a couple of months to delete an oboslite user profile I used as a test when I first go the game, and I can't get rid of it! This should be an easier process...
All in all, the cons are all minor, and the pros are rock solid. This is a great way to get back in shape, and it's a great idea whose time has come. I use it, I love it. I live in a desert, so it's always 110 degrees outside, and there's nothing nicer than getting my cardio in my living room, away from heat, cold, rain, and muggings. If you're hoping to get your cardio on, this is the way to do it. I hope the next generation of this type of software comes out soon. This is rich with possiblities. | video-games_xbox |
sucky sucky sucky. First, I would agree with others that after the initial disappointment the game does get better. There are hints of genius here and there. But thats it...just hints. The game should have not been released yet. it had a lot of work left to go. Here are the main points i would like to make:
1) Bugs. Monsters "teleport" around at times, movement is choppy etc.
2) Combat. Combat consists of running around, trying not get get hit and clicking frantically to get a hit in. You can't really dodge or block. You can't sidestep (strafe) like in first person games. You can't really aim very well. There is a "move back" button where your man kind of does the moonwalk and slides backward. It looks and feels stupid. if 3 or more creatures attack you all at once, your pretty much dead unless you're really powerful. even one wild boar takes forever for my 5 level character to kill. There's no strategy, just frantic button mashing.
3) Horses - Horses suck. Its nice that you can fight on horseback unlike oblivion. It sucks that its nearly impossible to hit anything. Sometimes the horse doesn't respond to your commands. Pushing forward is supposed to speed up, but sometimes it doesnt work. Some with slowing down or turning. Sometimes when trying to get off the horse, you don't know if it worked. So you hit the button again and end up getting off and getting back on. Really sloppy.
4) Graphics & Sound - They're ok, but not great. They are choppy at places. Not very smooth. In fact all movement feels like there's a delay. You never feel completely in control of your character. Also, everything is a little too small, too hard to see.
5) Menus, quests, maps. All very hard to read. the instructions for how to use each screen actually cover up part of the screen so you can't read it! This is just unacceptable. In general, its hard to tell what to do next. I can see a quest log, but i haven't figured out where to go to start completing them.
6) Difficulty. The game starts out really hard. Most of these types of games start out easy (often with a tutorial) and get harder as the player gets used to the controls, etc. This game is just difficult, sometimes for no reason. Many of the NPC or monsters can kill you in one shot. The instructions are very minimal.
7) Story/Dialogue - the voice acting is terrible. The characters sound contrived and forced. Its like they got some bored programmers to do the voices instead of actual actors. You can't exit out of some dialogues--you have to listen to the whole thing.
Overall the game just isn't that fun. it is neither Diablo nor Oblivion. It is sloppy, too difficult and unpolished. If anyone wants my copy, i'm selling it on ebay. | video-games_xbox |
A Remarkable Addition to a Great Series. Pros:
+Stellar graphics
+Really Fantastic Gameplay
+An easy to follow and absorbing story
+All around good sound and music
+For Resident Evil, the voice acting is all right
+Cooperative play is done really well
Cons:
-Limited Inventory is kind of a pain
-A more subjective con: Some Resident Evil fans might not like that the game focuses a lot more on action rather than on horror. There are still some gruesome moments, but you won't be scared or put on edge in many moments through the game. This will be an experience that changes from gamer to gamer
When Resident Evil 4 dropped down in 2005, it was hailed as an instant classic and often goes down as one of the greatest games ever made. With that reputation Resident Evil 5 has a lot to live up to. After four years in development, Resident Evil 5 is finally ready for its outing. There are some things to note, however, such as the idea that much of the horror is gone. So you probably won't be scared at any point while playing the game, but you will definitely be thrilled and you'll have a lot of fun.
Resident Evil 5 sports a story which continues the conspiracy and most of it happens to be presented very well. The game is absolutely gorgeous looking in every way and runs consistently. The voice acting, for the most part, is pretty good. For many Resident Evil fans who can still remember the bad voice acting of the first one, it's nice to see just how far the series has come. Does Resident Evil 5's gameplay live up to its graphics and sound? Yes. The gameplay is perhaps the games strongest suit.
A lot of the gameplay is similar to Resident Evil 4 in terms of its shooting mechanics. If you mastered the fourth installment, you'll be set to tackle what lies ahead here. The controls are easy to get acquainted with. You've got a large assortment of guns, even though you won't start with a good haul. Along those lines you've still got a trusty knife at your side that's a lot easier to use. As you gun down most of the evils that await you, you'll also notice that when they stumble you can approach them and a button prompt will pop up letting you perform special attacks. It helps if you want to conserve ammo.
Conserving ammo might not be a problem, however. For what it's worth, there's quite a bit of it, not to mention some of your enemies might drop more. You'll be charged by hordes of bad guys all at once and have to take them on. Those who struggled with Resident Evil 4 might be surprised to find that the difficulty in fifth installment has been toned down considerably. You can absorb a bit more damage than you could before, and healing items restore are also a lot more plentiful along with ammo. This doesn't mean the game is entirely easier, just a bit more inviting.
What's new for everyone, however, is the co-op mode and having a partner by your side. Playing co-op is a very fun, very exhilarating experience. No matter how you slice it the game is more fun with a friend. It can also be done online. It might seem gimmicky at first, but it all works out really well. There are moments where you'll be split up and have to send one partner somewhere while another provides cover fire, but for the most part, you'll be sticking together. It all comes together and works really well. You'll want to get a friend and play together whenever you can.
If you feel like going at it alone, however, the AI will happily control the other character. In many games when the words "AI" and "Partner" come up it usually spells disaster... but this isn't so in Resident Evil 5. You'll control Chris in the single player experience, but Sheva will be alright in holding her own in many instances. She shoots and dodges enemies fairly well. In short, you shouldn't have to babysit her. This doesn't make the AI perfect. While she isn't useless in a fight you might notice that Sheva goes through ammo quite fast, sometimes even shooting enemies that aren't fully within reach. There's also not a whole lot of commands you give your partner either. You'll also find yourself having to organize her inventory. Constantly. It's not a bummer to play on single player, but some of it can feel like a chore.
There are two things that might make gameplay take a little getting used to. The first is the menu system. It is now in real time. You only get nine spaces (eighteen, if you count your partner), and it never expands. Also, you can't move while the menu is open--despite it being in real time. This makes it hard to access healing items in the middle of a fight. However, Capcom has remedied this by having the directional pad be shortcut keys, which helps things along. One thing that might not seem as good is that you can't move while you shoot. Some argue if you could do this then Resident Evil 5 just wouldn't feel like Resident Evil. I can accept that, but some might not like the idea that in thirteen years Resident Evil still makes you stand perfectly still to raise your weapon. It's a minor complaint, however, as you'll rarely be so over taken that you should have to run and gun anyway. Besides that, the game is still easy despite this, it is obviously a design that Capcom intentionally left unchanged. You'll notice that while you can't move while you shoot, enemies are more than willing to slow down to give you a moment to aim. Nevertheless, there's an intensity to the gameplay that feels perfect. It's a lot of fun to play. You can't move while you shoot, but the lack of being able to do so never really presents itself as a problem. All this amounts to some pretty exciting gameplay. There's never a dull moment. And when the action slows down it's only a matter of time before it picks up again.
If there was anything that truly might upset some fans, it would be that the horror element of the games is just about completely gone. You'll more than likely never be scared. There are a lot of thrilling moments, well designed enemies, bosses and level designs, but some might not like that Resident Evil 5 turns its back on horror almost entirely. You'll find some gruesome things, and plenty of blood and gore, but don't expect to be frightened by anything the game throws at you.
Other than that, Resident Evil 5 is a solid game, in part because it's just amazingly fun to play. The fact that you can now go about it with a friend makes it much more exciting. It might not be scary, but at least it's still fun. | video-games_xbox |
It's assassins creed just different. I got this game in a bundle. So I can't complain about the price since it was 5$. However like some have mentioned Conner isn't a good character, the building of him is not great. You start as a child, teenager and adult to semi elder. I enjoyed that aspect of the game.
His story is not interesting and you most likely won't care. I was more interested about the history, the time period it was set in. The story was okay, at most a 2/5, it lacked a lot. Mainly doing the same thing over and over. A major part I despised in the story was the ship, while cool in theory in ac3 the controls didn't feel right and parts of the ship missions seem drawn out to add more time.
While the story was okay, at the end of the game you'll be incredibly frustrated, something this game lacked was help/assist. One part of the finale you're in a chase sequence, a certain part is almost difficult to get through because the game lacked guidance. I failed around 26 times before I saw an opening. This took around an hour of replaying the same thing over and over. I will say the final cut scene was satisfying and was overall happy with what happens with Conner. As for the Desmond ending I was rightfully pissed off.
Assassins creed 3 has its ups and downs and I'm not mad about paying 5$ for it. I do feel paying more than 12$ would be a rip off. The game has its fair share of bugs and frame rate issues. For the most part I was amazed at how well the frame rate stood. Bugs I've encountered were enemies spawning in wooden boxes, trees, underground. Conner not hooking to things properly or jumping to things he shouldn't. Paying a bribe and still being chased. While this may or may not be a bug it can be abused to gain a lot of in the game. Fight and elk and after you throw him press X as you chase behind him, you should instantly kill him.
This is my review and I give it a 4/5. | video-games_xbox |
Fresh Feeling Experience. Let's get to it, this is a refreshing and wonderfully addictive role-playing game. Assassin's Creed II takes place in Italy during the renaissance. You take on the role of Ezio Auditore, a young man who discovers he is part of a whole family lineage of assassins (which includes 'Assassin's Creed' character Altair). Your job is to control Ezio and take on crucial missions that will hopefully bring an end to an evil conspiracy helmed by the Templar knights to subjugate all of Italy and then....the entire world!!!
Appearance:
Ok, brief synopsis over. Now I get to analyze the crap out of this game. First off, it is positively gorgeous. I wish I had a time machine so I could visit Italy during the renaissance. Apparently, it was breathtakingly romantic and beautiful. This game's design is meticulous and wrought with small details that practically bring the setting to life. People will have conversations around you, heralds will sell renaissance period advil to the locals, and guards will share their suspicions amongst each other as you walk by with an intimidating cloak and sharpened blade. Buildings, are jaw-droppingly huge and artistically intriguing. I dare you to spot the "corinthian" tops of columns that are present on varying structures throughout the game. Yes, this environment is that detailed. Once you've seen it, you'll agree that this is the single most attractive free-roaming environment ever created for a video game.
Appearance: 10/10
Game Play:
Now for the game play. The heart of this experience is the "Parkour" mechanic. For those not familiar with this term, "Parkour" is basically the ability to move trough a heavily populated area by using the structures within it (i.e. climbing walls, running across rooftops, and scaling entire buildings). It's incredibly easy to do here. All you have to do is hold down a couple of buttons and steer Ezio in the right direction. As you do this, you will notice that Ezio looks like a complete B.A.M.F. He runs on tight ropes, jumps between between buildings, and leaps from thirty stories up into piles of hay below. All of it simply looks incredible. This mechanic is a blast when you get to do some "Prince of Persia" style platforming in old assassin's tombs. You'll be excited to do them, especially since their reward is amazing!
The Combat is not quite as exciting, but it's definitely entertaining. Early on, you'll button mash to fend off the bad guys. As time progresses you'll learn counter-moves that allow you to eviscerate, pulverize and otherwise mutilate your opponents. In a wave of genius from Ubisoft, they decided to let you do this with more than just a sword. You'll also get to use spears, axes, daggers, and large hammers. The AI is not all that impressive here though. Usually they'll take turns attacking you and anxiously wait for their chance to be violently molested via your cold steel. But, it looks just so sadistic that it's still wildly entertaining.
Game Play: 9.0/10
Story:
I don't want to give away details, but this story is comparable in quality with the "God of War" series. As I said earlier, It's renaissance Italy in the 1400's and you are the son of a whole family tree worth of assassins. The events you experience center around killing conspirators and power hungry monsters who want to torment the people of Italy for their own twisted purposes. Chiefly, that means obtaining gross amounts of wealth and power. The assassinations themselves are surprisingly varied and usually have a suspenseful build up to the act itself. What's really interesting about this story though is the characters within it. You'll find, Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli, The Medici Family of Florence and Pope Alexander VI. These are true figures from human history. They've been tinkered with for the purpose of this fictional story, yet it's still a blast to see them. It's also worth noting that this story is massively expansive. Decades will pass by as the setting around you changes with the times. New characters will constantly flood in and twists in the plot will wind tighter and tighter until you get to make a "business related visit" to the Vatican. Hell, you even grow a beard. My point here is, once you start you will want to keep going. Prepare to lose some sleep and some weight.
Story: 9.5/10
In conclusion, Assassin's Creed II is a life consuming game that will keep you deeply engaged from start to finish (for a minimum of 20-24 hours). Be advised, there are also multiple side assassinations, "beat 'em ups" and "Parkour" races that are unlocked as you progress through the story. Make sure to try those too, they can be surprisingly fun. Also, if you want to replay any of the story you will have to start all over. That's actually my only complaint. You can't replay old missions with your fully buffed out version of Ezio. Other than that, this game's entertainment value is sky high and it's monetary value is right on.
Do yourself a favor and buy this.
Overall: 9.3/10 | video-games_xbox |
As Usual, too little detail and a major flaw with the computer golfers. While this game has some fun to it, EA Sports has never been known to go out of their way to fine tune a product and give it some polish, and certainly they rarely fix anything with a patch.
The computer golfers in this game are PERFECT. They NEVER miss a fairway, NEVER miss a GIR, and always 1 putt, with occasional 2 putt. Typically they shoot in the 50s, regardless of what course, what conditions. They are absolutely perfect and therefore no fun to play at all. I used to like doing a 'mixed doubles' in 2009 version, me team up with Paula Creamer (as I have a crush on her :-), not to mention shes a great golfer) and go against Tiger and Annika. Perhaps Best Ball, or some such. Great matches, sometimes close, sometimes we'd win big, sometimes they'd win big. Real genuine UNPREDICTABLE fun. Now in 2010, all of them are perfect, including Paula of course.
This year its hard to stay awake during such, all 3 or them, Paula included, are absolutely perfect. Yawn.
Re the Play the Pros, this is a great idea, but as usual EA leaves out some key things, why for instance are we not allowed on monday thru wednesday to play the course, practice like the real pros do, in live weather. We can do nothing until day 1. And you cannot practice most of the courses in the other part of the game, because most of the cousrses do not really exist.
If the course the real pga is playing that week, is not part of the game, EA makes up some conglomeration of holes from courses in the game, so #1 might be from Beth Page, #2 Pinehurst, #3 Pebble etc. Thus impossible to practice. How hard could it be for them to oopen up mon-wed so we can practice the 'made up' course they are using that week.
The greens are ludicrously fast, th precision putting, which you have no choice but to use in play the pros is good, but very difficult. Be prepared in play the pros to have a very hard time of it as you must play at the the top level "Tour Pro" All of that makes sense I guess in some way, though not sure why. Its not like we are competing online against anybody.
And as usual, no detail, you don't even see your stats at the end of a round, how many GIRs, how many putts, etc. STuff that is just standard everyday fare in any good golf simulation. When plyaing a computer golfer you never have any idea how far thier drive went, what distance they are from the pin, stuff a good caddy would be telling you. You also have no way of knowing the slope of a green you are hitting an approach to. Little details that EA Sports has never cared about and never will. They are market driven, get it out the door. Don't do anything extra to take more pride in your accomplishment.
Anyway, most of the stuff that was fun in 2009 has been ruined by the perfect computer golfers. Even the simulated pga tour is the same, everybody shooting in the 50s and low 60s. All in all I think 2009 is a better game. if it had precision putting, it would be about perfect. | video-games_xbox |
The most expensive pistol target I've ever purchased. Let me start off by saying - I don't consider myself a "gamer" by any stretch of the imagination and I don't have a whole lot of experience with this type of game. I think the closest I've come to this genre would be Dead Space 1 or 2. However, I like to think that I know awesome graphics, a good story, fun game play, and a fluid/intuitive control scheme when I see them.
That being said - I hated this game. It was fundamentally awful...like, on a molecular level. I didn't even finish playing it, it was so bad. Therefore, I'm just going to comment on what I experienced up until I couldn't take it anymore and left to go do...anything, except play this game.
First, The graphics -
I haven't played any of the Resident Evil or Silent Hill games, so I don't know how close or "evolved" the graphics in those games are in comparison to The Evil Within. The best comparison I can make to this game is Devil May Cry. That's right - the first thought I had when the first cut scene started was "This looks like Devil May Cry with more shading." I started to feel the first little pinch of buyer's remorse right out of the gate when I saw the characters' unmistakable feathered hair swaying like a spaghetti noodle wig with the slightest movement and the facial "expressions" never losing the trademark Japanimation grimace. I wouldn't have minded so much had it been done with the slightest bit of conviction, but for a game on a "next-generation" platform claiming to be the best, scariest, revival of the genre...It failed miserably.
The graphics in this game blatantly shrieked "we [developers] didn't give a ****!". I tried to shake it off by assuring myself the in-game graphics would be better, but...not so much. The way everything looked and moved was cartoon-ish and uninteresting. With other games, I would take time to explore or just sit and check out the scenery and the movements of the environment. I became so disengaged from the visual aspect of the game to the point of getting lost due to everything looking the same (if there was anything to see at all). I was going to go into the absurdity of the infamous letter-boxed screen, but I've seen about 2,342,435 reviews that have already covered it, so I'll just move on.
The story -
It's hard to decide where to begin with the story; mostly because the story itself doesn't know where to begin. From what I gather, it pretty much goes like this:
I'm a detective in patrol car heading toward a mass murder scene at a hospital. A pasty ghost thing comes out of a security video and jabs me with some kind of hypodermic needle...? Now, I'm hanging upside-down from a meat hook while some dude just off screen is getting cut in half by a huge mutant butcher guy. I steal the butcher's keys and sneak out only to fall into a giant vat of blood and dead people...move on to...the hospital again. And it's falling apart?...Why? Okay - run outside and jump in an ambulance with some other people who obviously know who I am, but I have no idea who the hell they are. Oh that's right! They're the other people who were with me in the patrol car when I showed up to the crime scene, but they were so dull and uninteresting, I forgot who they were...Yet, this doesn't matter since the entire world is now inexplicably falling apart. Cliff, car wreck, another hospital with some pale nurse who makes me sit in some kind of ability-enhancing electric chair, wake up in a burning ambulance and...now there are zombie-demons everywhere. Oh, and there was a doctor and a mental patient in the ambulance for no reason at all, but they seem to be an integral part to the non-existent plot...so I have to protect/chase them for the next 2 hours until I run into the other guy who I forgot was in the game which of whom I have to protect/chase for another two hours...
I'm going to stop there; not because I feel I need to, but because I honestly can't remember the rest of it. This is solely due to there being no points of reference in the entire sequence of events taking place in this game! The whole time I'm asking myself: "What am I supposed to be doing?!" "What is going on?!" "Who are these people and why should I give a ****?!" If this wasn't enough- there were probably 15 or 20 cut scenes littered throughout the synopsis above. If this was done intentionally to induce actual episodes of psychosis in the player, it's brilliant.
I could go in depth about how the game is not nearly as scary as it was hyped to be; but I won't. There's no point. All I can say is - you've seen it before. I promise. There's nothing new here. There's over-the-top gore, sudden loud noises and faint "creepy" ones; most of them not unexpected. The enemy characters are nothing to get excited about. Just go watch any recent horror movie set in a mental hospital and add more broken glass, nails, or barbed-wire...or watch "The Ring", because they didn't even try to cover up the fact they ripped that one off.
If anything, the scariest part is knowing there are scarcely any opportunities to save your progress and you will inevitably be playing the same part over and over and over as you keep dying. And you will die ad nauseam.
Game Play-
This, by far, is the aspect of the game which ultimately drove me to write this review. I've always heard the expression "Don't bring a knife to a gun fight." This game gave me a knife and marched me into nuclear war. Other than the one-time-use melee weapons that can be picked up from the environment like an ax or a torch, I was provided with a pistol, a shotgun, some kind of pimped-out crossbow, and a sniper rifle. There may be more weapons, but those were all I had when I said "**** it!" and turned off the game. Besides the increasing ineffectiveness of the weapons on even the "regular" enemies, the aiming is so slow and inconsistent, I would have had a better chance of hitting one of them by just mashing buttons or having my dog chew on my controller.
In addition, the amount of ammunition able to be acquired is laughable. I understand when a game encourages "ammo conservation", but it's a little hard to do so when I'm only given 2 or 3 bullets at a time and have to put all of them into a single enemy's face at point blank range just to put him down...and then he gets back up again?! The argument has been made- the weapon accuracy can be increased by "upgrading" it. Yet, I spent all of my green brain-puke (the currency in the game) to upgrade the pistol's accuracy as far as the game would allow and I was still hitting a spread of 2-3 scale feet.
This, of course, is if you even have the luxury of seeing the enemy in the first place. The camera is not dynamic. It stays at one angle until it's moved; except when cornered...then it zooms way in to an awesome shot of a wall or tree or the back of the character's head. I was getting chewed on by 3 or 4 zombies before I even realized it. I might not be a "gamer", but I don't suck at games this much. I must have died 15 times before I even reached the 3rd chapter only after I lowered the difficulty level.
If I did manage to escape the hordes of bullet proof monsters by running away like a little b**** every 5 min (seriously, it's the only way I made it as far as I did), there was still the constant dilemma of "what the actual hell am I supposed to do?" This isn't an "open map" game. It's linear; really, really linear. Something has to be done, killed, or completed for the character to advance, but this didn't seem to be enough reason to put even the slightest bit of guidance in the game. I'm pretty sure my neighbors heard me yelling "How the **** do I kill this guy?!" or "Where the **** am I supposed to go?!"
Overall, The Evil Within is not fun. It's not clever. It's not genre altering. It's not scary. The only way I would find it entertaining would be to watch someone else play it and see how enraged they become. Why it is getting such good reviews and ratings is beyond me. I can only assume there is an army of people getting paid to write these reviews in order to save face. The next time I want to spend $60 just to get unnecessarily frustrated to the point of seeing red, I'll just go to a Jaguars game. | video-games_xbox |
Best game I played in YEARS. For those who have ever pondered what the world would be like if humanity reverted to the Dark Ages in the near future, then let Fallout 3 reveal at least one possible outcome to man's inevitable destructive behavior: Nuclear War.
This post-apocalyptic story begins with you growing up inside an underground vault that was constructed 200 years before the Nuclear Fallout to keep some of society's prominent citizens and their offspring alive while everyone outside was eradicated. Life within the Vault is like a small watered down version of George Orwell's 1984. Everyone is completely controlled by one man, The Overseer, who has indoctrinated everybody below him to indoctrinate their children with "His" rule. That is until your father, the vault's leading doctor, somehow manages to escape, forcing you to flee into the Capital Wasteland.
It is here when the game truly begins. From here the producers of the game lets go of your hand and you are to follow no particular path but your own. The moment you step foot out from that vault and see the sunlight for the first time with the dismal wastes spread out before you, you feel the excited uncertainty of the burden you now carry. With no one there to make the next decision for you, whether it be the producers of the game, your character's father or the Overseer, you know one wrong decision could be your last. The Wastes are a brutal, unforgiving place of poverty, enlarged irradiated animal life and raiders who will kill you for the shirt off your back.
But I still have not gotten to what makes this game so great. Probably what I find most attractive is the free-roam style of the game. If you want to travel to the west to visit the mysterious Radio towers that still transmit 200 year old pre-war signals, then you can; or if you wish to travel to the east and navigate the ruins of crushed cinderblock and bent rebar in the downtown DC area to visit what the future holds for the monuments, then by all means.
Forget Oblivion. Oblivion had a great thing going with its sandbox style of play, but so much of it was just empty space and caverns with nothing in them. Not so in this game. In Fallout, everywhere you go you will discover fascinating things. Like one time my radio picked up a distress signal that was strongest near an old drainage pipe. It was a man's voice pleading for someone's aid, stating that his kid was dying. Inside the sewage pipe you find the skeletal remains of an adult and child interlocking hands. This other time in George Town DC I found a townhouse--the only one standing after the nuclear fallout 200 years ago. Inside the house was a robotic man servant. Of the 3 commands you can give the robot, one was to recite a poem to the children, where it would make its way to the kids room and loom over the bed where the burnt bones still lay, and recite a somber poem of man's ultimate demise. Another time I crawled inside an anthill full of benign ants in a world where most ants are hostile toward humans. The list goes on. Random surprises like this throughout the vast Wasteland really brought the world of Fallout to life. This is something every game developer should learn from. A game can have the best graphics and unbelievable action, but it's still boring if the video game world fails to have a life of its own.
Following in your father's legacy of restoring Project Purity and to rid the world's water of radiation is not even half the game. If that's all you did then you obviously missed the big picture. The side quests and unmarked quests are numerous. To complete them all would take at least 50 hours. They are more entertaining than the Main Quest by far. Let me list a few that come to mind: Help some runaway slaves to restore the Lincoln Memorial, Establish a Communications Relay Disc at the top of the Washington Monument so Disc Jockey Three Dog can counter attack the Enclave's Propaganda on the wasteland's airways, or retrieve the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives and sell it to a guy who lives on a grounded Aircraft Carrier that collects Pre-War junk for 500 bottle caps, the currency of the future. You got to love this stuff.
The game reminds me of a few post-apocalyptic films. The town Megaton reminds me of the town in Waterworld, put together by salvaged scrap to keep raiders out and the citizens inside safe. The clothes people wear are just patched together from several different materials. Traders willing to pay good money for a jar of dirt (hey, in a world that has nothing, anything can have a price). Just about anything you can pick up and carry with you in Fallout, someone is willing to buy. The raiders remind me of the Pirates in the film Cyborg, cruel and sadistic. The western wastes remind me of the old Planet of the Apes, a world with few traces of humanity left.
With all that is great about Fallout 3, no game is perfect. The one major complaint I have is with the combat. No fool is just going to run out into someone's line of fire to shoot back. I can't understand why they didn't include a lean feature so you can peek around the corner of buildings with your rifle. They could even go further and allow you to put your back up against walls, like in manhunt, where every object is an opportunity to avoid someone's bullets and to aggressively return fire without getting shot so often.
What's with level 20 being your maximum level? With all the enemies I've killed through my second play through of Fallout, I could have gained a level 40 character that perfected the skill of Big Guns, Small guns, Energy Weapons, Melee Weapons...everything. But it stops at 20, so you're not going to ever have a versatile character. You're only going to be able to perfect just a few of the skills that the game offers.
Although the radio stations played an interesting and somehow suitable selection of songs as you wander the wastes, the selection is small and repeats itself for the 100 hours you'll be playing. Better to just turn it off. More songs added as you advance through the game would have been awesome.
There's more, but creators cannot satisfy every need. These 3 though I felt were inexcusable, but they in no way will stop you from playing Fallout. This bleak and very possible portrayal of mankind's future is not just food for thought; it is something we can all look forward to when we finally do ourselves in. No game depicts the nature of human beings better. Even after the Nuclear War in Fallout, and our numbers in the world are few, people still tread a destructive path of conflict and kill what little are left standing. | video-games_xbox |
So Different, Yet So Much Alike. Right in the middle of the Niben Bay of Cyrodiil lies the entrance to the realm of Sheogorath called the Shivering Isles. Here you'll find some bizarre things and even more bizarre people. Shivering Isles is the expansion pack to the brilliant Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.
Key Features:
Two New Armor and Weapons Sets
Many new special weapons and magical items
About 20-25 hours of new gameplay
A good amount of new enemies
New conjuration spells
New greater power spells
Gameplay 7 of 10
As odd as it sounds, the gameplay is not as good as Oblivion even though they are based on the same combat system and the quests are very similar. First off, even though the map is about one-fifth the size of Cyrodiil, it seems smaller. There are only 30-40 places to go. Quests are either found by talking to Sheogorath or seeking out random quests within the realm. There are caves, ruins, homesteads and New Sheoth-the capital and only city in The Shivering Isles. New Sheoth houses both Crucible and Bliss which represent the opposite sides of the Isles - mania and dementia. Side quests are sort of uninspiring. One quest entailed finding calipers and tongs to sell to some idiotic guy who was collecting them.
Creatures 7 of 10
Creatures found in the Shivering Isles reflect the essence of it. They are somewhat more magical or otherworldly. Where as you'll find bears, wolves and mountain lions quite commonly in Cyrodiil, here you'll see tree creatures, giant ant-like monsters called Elytra and Scalons which resemble lizards that walk on two feet. Almost everything here is stronger and more ferocious. My only problem with the creatures is I believe I can name off all of them without even playing the game. So in terms of variety, it can get old. You'll be fighting Grummites most of the time.
Story 9 of 10
Mania and dementia are the basis of the Shivering Isles; two sides of the same coin. When you first enter the "strange door" you meet Haskill which is Sheogorath's personal assistant. Haskill makes sure you want to enter the Shivering Isles. He has a rather interesting stoicism and indifference to his tone. After this you enter the Fringe.
To get past the Fringe you must defeat the Gatekeeper- a 12 foot tall creature with a weapon attached to its right arm. Once you've done this you can choose whether to enter mania-a land which vaguely resembles the inside of Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory or dementia-a downtrodden less colorful version of The Shivering Isles. Note that either side both have the same locations.
After this you are sent to see the madman himself - Sheogorath. He asks you to do various quests and what not. It is sort of like being in a guild, but after each quest you end up with a much better reward than you normally would. The story is has a lot more of a plotline to it than the original game.
Armors / Weapons 8 of 10
There are two new armor sets: Amber and Madness for mania and dementia respectively. In the realm of Sheogorath, you must find the constituents of the armor to create it as opposed to just buying pre-armor. Amber requires pieces of amber to create both the armor and weapons, just as the madness armor does. The amber is a light armor, while madness is heavy armor. If you happen to find a matrix, this can be used to create a whole piece of the armor. There are also very impressive pieces of armor later on in the main quest line, which are much more powerful than anything found in Cyrodiil. Weapons here are all marginally stronger to begin with than regular weapons. One in particular dubbed Duskfang is very strong and has multiple enchantments.
Graphics 6 of 10
At first look the visuals are every bit as appealing and detailed as Oblivion. When you get a little closer, you see it isn't the case. Unfortunately only a few of the weapons and the Amber armor are really remarkable. Amber armor looks like a yellowish-orange glass armor set. New enemy combatants in general appear lackluster-especially the Elytras. It is almost like they left off the last level of 3-d rendering. The landscape of mania is very lit up, vibrant and rainbow colored. It is the only redeeming quality to the graphics. All said, the landscape has very little detail and parts of the trees are not even solid-you can walk right through them. Basically, instead of improving upon the graphics in the Isles, the developers actually took them a step or two down. Parts of it really remind me of Elder Scrolls III
What I would have added:
First off, you should have been able to purchase a house; though you can inherit one on one of the side quests. Secondly, there should have been a place to enchant weapons and create spells. It got really annoying having to fast travel from the Shivering Isles to the gate, out of the gate and then to the Arcane university. More monsters should have been added and more time should have been spent on the texturing and details of the landscape and creatures.
Overall the expansion is a solid 7 out of 10, but has little replay value for me. I was a little disappointed in the general gameplay and also the amount of playing time. I paid about $28 for probably 20 hours of game time, when I got an average of 120 hours for each one of my Oblivion characters. So the value factor is kind of low. Visually, the game has very few things that will wow you. So I wouldn't recommend this to just anyone. You'd have to be a pretty big fan of these types of RPGs or Elder Scrolls in the first place. | video-games_xbox |
PLEASE read this before deciding not to get HOMEFRONT. There are many bad reviews here which lead me to believe that many people who leave reviews here must be trying to operate this game on their Windows 98. Now I have the xbox version of the game which I think is really good.
Now for the review part.
Graphics- They aren't the best i will say that right now. But its okay, they don't have to be. Theres some people out there that say that they are horrible and ruin the game, they really don't at all. Its a shock to play with them for a while after coming off of a game like Call of Duty, But it WILL pass.
Single Player- SHORT SHORT SHORT!!! If you don't want to play multiplayer then don't get this game. Unless you have no concept of how to operate a first person shooter, you WILL finish the story within 4 to 5 hours. It is a good story though. Fun as well. Just short.
Multiplayer- This is where the best part is. The Multiplayer on this game is highly addictive and in my opinion, better then Call of Duty. The maps feel open and are much bigger than any COD maps. Plus vehicles are a great addition. Create chaos as you trample your enemy in a tank and shoot rockets at helicopters. However there are really only 2 types of multiplayer. Your standard team based mode where you take down as many playersfrom the other team as you can with your team, and a ground control where you fight over control for different areas on the map. (Also team based)
There is a skirmish mode which alternates the two modes as well. At first when I heard there was only two basic types of modes I said FORGET THAT!, but in the end I bought it anyway and saw how right I was in buying the game.
A big complaint I see for this game is that theres choppy movement, which I see what they mean to a certain extent. But I bet the people who complain about that are people who play COD, which is just perfect in terms of no sort of choppiness or laggish parts except for those that are created by connection problems. (Keep in mind Im only talking about multiplayer, not single player)
So yes you will experience some chopiness which is perfectly normal, in fact the only online xbox game that i haven't experienced chopiness on is in COD. So don't let some small chopiness get you down, I got over it, so can you.
Its a good story mode combined with a great multiplayer mode which to me makes it well worth the price. I even sold COD to get it.
And if your one of those people who say its bad because of those chopiness flaws please stop trying to run it on Windows 98. Especially if you have a disk formatted for XBox 360 or Playstation 3. | video-games_xbox |
Just Average. The following is for the single player aspect of the game. While this game does have an on-line component, the SP is the primary reason for me purchasing most any game that is not an FPS (and some that are).
First the good.
The game starts off well and the overall story is not bad. You begin in Cuba, just before the revolution, moving from there to NY, to Miami, and eventually a bit back to Cuba, so there is a lot of opportunity to create a detailed and different game than GTA or the like. In addition, the Don's View is interesting and is quite nice visually, separating it from the pack a bit. The team system developed here is very good as well. Your NPC associates are actually somewhat useful (more than just a bullet shield at least) and it is nice that you don't have to worry about losing them, if you drive off they will just appear with you later, eliminating an annoyance from games such as Saint's Row. The hand-to-hand and gunplay is fun and the aiming system works well for a third-person game. The graphics for the characters are actually surprisingly good for a game of this type, but there are a lot of "clones" around.
There are also some very innovative game play elements that bring this game up a notch as well. The ability to eliminate the members of a rival family one-by-one, thus weakening the family's attacks, is a nice touch. Also, the rackets and associated bonuses are nice to have, reminding me of an real-time strategy (RTS) game. Each racket you control gives bonuses, both to the player and to the computer. When you first start, the computer has BP vests, extra ammo, etc. and you have almost noting. To even the score you can bomb one of the enemy's locations, disrupting a racket, and making them lose the bonus, making it easier for you to take over another location you may want. The computer can do the same to you as your rackets grow, so defense becomes important.
Now at this point you might be wondering why I would give a game like this an average rating. The reason is that while the above innovations are quite impressive, they are not followed through on and instead of a deep, interesting game, you are left with a quick, repetitive, standard third-person shooter (yes this is where the cons begin).
The story. While overall it is engaging and a nice, if clichd, mob tale, the character development for the main character is almost nonexistent. You just don't care about the man you are supposed to be playing, this takes away too much from the game.
The locations. I think the designers got a little too ambitious here and spread things too thin. All the levels are tiny by today's standards, as noted by a previous poster, and the level of detail is sub-par. I would have liked to have seen a larger emphasis on one area, letting the designers focus on this would have made a world of difference and create a better overall look.
The team. While the team members are mostly a help, you just do not need them for this game. Sure you will need their skills for some quests, as you have none of your own, but in taking over rackets, just you and a gun can do this with no problems. In fact, as with most games, the team can get in the way, causing you to have to repeat a level if they accidentally kill someone you needed. Go on your own for the hitman targets, as they will just end up blowing up a nearby car, killing your target and not letting you get the required condition for a permanent kill. I would have liked to see more controls for them than just commanding them to follow, use a skill, or sit in one place.
The above are annoyances, but ones I could live with, what keeps this game from being great is two things, both related to game play. First, the game is just too dang repetitive. Secondly, the AI is a bad joke. The combination of these two factors is what makes the game clock in at about 10 hrs of real gaming and makes this one of the easiest games I have ever played.
I think the designers got a bit too ambitious once again with the RTS elements they added. They did not create a playing field where it really matters if you lose any of the bonuses the rackets create, so they are useless. While the computer usually bombs a good location, taking a bonus for a bit, it doesn't matter as it is still easy to defend against the resulting attack, provided you stationed enough guards there. The only reason to obtain the rackets is really so the enemy compound opens and lets you attack. You end up doing the exact same things over and over until suddenly the game is done. First, attack a racket location (again you can do this by yourself, with no bonuses, with no problem). Second, torture the shopkeeper and grab the business. Third, set up guards (you will always be able to afford what you need). After that, all you do is defend, sending a made man or two if the other side really gets ambitious, until you get all the businesses. Any differences only arise in the main quest and it is just a variation of the above theme, again, very easy to complete. The side missions are nothing more than completing favors for people, sometimes gaining semi-useful ones in return (mostly just the ability to call off the cops). You only have a few things to do though, beat someone up, kill someone, crack a safe, or vandalize a location, all things you do over and over again in taking over the rackets.
One note on the Don's View. While this is a good concept, they need to work on the controls for the next one. It would have been easier to have all your options available on the screen as pop-up (or drop-down) menu system, instead of having to go into each, one-by-one. It gets too tedious when you want to do something quickly and click the wrong button. Also what is with having to use the + pad and not the analog sticks for menu selection??? Not an intuitive control scheme at all.
To sum up, if you are a fan of the GTA or SR-type games, you will like this to an extent. There are some interesting RTS elements that warrant fuller exploration, but the combination of a poorly programmed AI and the repetitive game play overshadows any gains from the innovations. This is a game one should rent or borrow from a friend, but definitely not a must-have purchase.
My 2 | video-games_xbox |
Gold Chrome controller did not work as well as standard controller. I AM UPDATING THIS AFTER A BIT MORE PLAYING TIME:
I purchased the Gold Chrome version of the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller when it came up for sale for $35 on a competitor's site, since I needed a second controller and the price was right. I noticed that this controller had the transformable D-pad, which was something I was looking for.
I didn't care about the color, and was more interested in the relatively low price. I do think it could scratch in a noticeable manner, and the slippery finish isn't my favorite for the lack of texture and the general feel. To me, the molded words look less perfect than my stock controller. That being said, this is quite polished and looks pretty neat. Obviously, it looks better once you wipe off the hand prints!
I really enjoy the idea of the transformable D-pad in games that require such movements. It is really helpful in linear menus with side options, especially where timing is of the essence. It's a simple-enough concept, and I can't help but wonder why it hasn't been used more often. That being said, after some use, the reaction difference isn't quite as good as I had expected. The transformable D-pad just seems to make it easier to place your thumb, and reacts like the D-pad on a standard controller (some people may be even more prone to going in a diagonal direction).
I, personally, like the rim on the edge of the joysticks, as they seem less prone to have a thumb slip. They also feel like they have more surface area inside the cup, so your thumbs seat themselves better. To me, this may be the best improvement of this edition of the Xbox 360 controller.
HERE IS THE IMPORTANT PART, PER MY UPDATE: In my controller, however, the trigger keys don't feel quite as solid. Also, it seems that it takes a bit more effort to get the analog joysticks and trigger keys to react compared to the controller that came with the system (and the consistency is just not the same). The X, Y, A, and B keys work acceptably. The rumble/shake does not feel quite the same as my prior controller, though that may be by design. HOWEVER, on probably the 10th use, I had a case where this controller started to rumble and would not stop until I removed the batteries. That has not happened within the 3 months I've used the standard Xbox 360 remote (it did not take place during a button mashing session, either).
If I have these controllers beyond their warranties, I may see if I cannot make a Frankenstein controller out of the best of the Gold Chrome edition and the standard controller that came with the console, though I've found one can't always do this.
Quiet honestly, I WANTED to like this remote. This product seems to be slightly inferior in quality compared with what came with my console, and I do not seem to be the first person to feel the same way. It is 3.5 to 4 stars, to me, because it incorporates some improvements compared to the standard controller, but seems to be of a lesser quality and response. I may just have received a bad apple in the bunch, and it's possible that I may play with this controller a bit more and update my review accordingly. | video-games_xbox |
Nice while it lasted. The controller worked great when I first got it. The high response face buttons felt great and very snappy, as did the should bumper buttons. The triggers were a little weird to get used to but once I did I found them to be a great improvement over the regular wired xbox 360 controllers that Microsoft sells. However, the controller came packed in one of the most ridiculous packages I have ever seen. The box for the controller itself was double bagged inside of two cellophane bags and sealed with a clear tape that was difficult to find to get them off. Once I managed to get the box out of the cellophane bags and opened it I discovered that almost everything else inside of the box was packaged the same way, with the wire not only being inside of two cellophane bags but also being wrapped up inside of some strange foam. All this was tucked behind a piece of plastic that had the controller on the other side, meaning that you had to get your way through the convoluted packaging to free the controller from the piece of plastic it was attached to. After all of this hassle, the controller broke after 2 days. There are these wheels on the under sides of the joy sticks that are there to adjust the resistance of the sticks to your liking, and after never even touching them the right wheel somehow became jammed into the position of highest resistance, and I was unable to fix the problem necessitating my return of the controller.
UPDATE:
I got my replacement controller 2 days later, and it broke in less than 12 hours. The right bumper button just stopped working and I cant get any sort of response from it at all. Avoid this controller like the plague and learn from my mistakes and just get yourself an official Microsoft replacement controller. If the promise of a collector assault rifle code is also tempting you to order this, then don't worry, the gun is horrible. The starting equipment in multiplayer is far superior to it so don't allow that to influence your decision to buy this controller. | video-games_xbox |
An Evolution. I was an avid player of Dead Space 2 and someday I will get DS1. So, most of my remarks about departures from the previous titles are only from the DS2 context. I've also not done co-op as I felt it kept the mood dark.
Overall I greatly enjoyed the game. It has a good mix of action, some puzzle solving, some moments that made me jump out of my skin, and sessions where I was holding my breath in anticipation of the next thing to jump out at me. It's not perfect, but close enough.
Visceral did an OK job of transitioning the series from survival horror to more action oriented. I kept an open mind because I didn't want the same scares just in a different locale. There were some points in the game that boiled down to repetative: walk into room, trigger necromorphs waves, shoot necromorphs, move to next room. Further those sections of the game tried to stagger the timing to catch you unaware of the next wave of baddies or just flood you with too many to handle.
Script: again, was OK. Isacc exhibits emotions well but the rest of the cast was fairly shallow if not still represented well. There were some bugs where prior dialogue was repeated when they should not have been.
Story:
No spoilers. There were some interesting plot twists as one has come to expect from the Dead Space series. The scale of the story is creeping a bit too large in my opinion and soon you'll have Mass Effect level of universe ending proportions that you'll find it hard to come back from.
Music:
Very good but predictable. Is there more necro's on the way? Music is still loud so, yep, more comming.
Sound:
Is it just me or does the door closing behind me make me jump out of my seat every time? Excellent sound production. I would have liked more whipsers/creature sounds to keep you twitchy, though.
Equipment:
Suit's are cosmetic!? What?! Where are my stats bonuses?! Please give me a reason to equip a suit other than "it looks cool" because even in that respect some of the suits fail.
Crafting:
I'm not going to dwell here as alot of others already have.
Bottom line: I'm not impressed.
Why? A few reasons:
1) Evangelizer. Thing is awesome with the LE pack. Used it 100% of the first playthrough.
2) Viability. Sure it's cool to have spikes and jackhammer melee weapons all in one gun...doesn't mean you'll survive weilding them. I've spend alot of time in the test arena and there are ALOT of weapon types that would just not be usable. Bolas gun(or 2/3 of tesla coil guns)? Cyro Freeze gun? ALL the melee versions? They all lacked real punch and because the way encounters are structured you'd be hard pressed to keep necro packs from overwhelming you. There are combinations that work just fine, but isn't the point of crafting to be able to make something that suits YOUR playstyle while still being EFFECTIVE?
3) Shallow/Limited Upgrades. Has anyone else noticed that you can max out a weapon stats prior to +2/+2 or +3/+x circuits??? Have you also noticed that, after the beta, weapons all have hard and soft caps on their stats (force guns never get above 3 bars in damage, Rocket Launcher never gets above 3 bars in clip). What this boils down to is after you determine a workable weapon combination and max out the stats (after about 2/3 the first playthrough) there is no further upgrade path. With many newgame+ options I really want to continue improving my favorite weapons.
All this negativity aside, I don't think the crafting was poorly done. It felt not as fleshed out as it could have been.
My most effective equips were Evangelizer in one slot with Force Gun(default tip)/Line Gun (stasis and ammo support) and Elite Heavy Frame for max upgrade circuits. For me it had the best balance between crowd control and heavy punch at any distance.
Encounters and AI:
The vents are still "monster boxes." Seems a bit like an old shoe at this point but it's still effective. Door frame/elevator AI could use some work. The feeder necro's are very well done,much better than The Pack from DS2. Regenerators...have lost a bit of their scare factor mostly because you still deal with them in the same way. I'm not impressed at all with the Brute replacement you encounter later in the game. It was too little necromorph and too much alien.
Ammo and Resources:
I feel they threw too many at you too often. As a result ammo is EVERYWHERE! It's hard to feel up against the wall when you have 1800+ ammuntion in your inventory and just as much in your safe. Again, this is the departure from survival and is expected to some extent.
Resource collection was a nice spin on the old Power Node upgrade path and it worked out well. Honestly I don't care about the "farming" exploit. It's so minor...it really is.
To wrap up. The core gameplay is still there in spades, lots more action to be had, and the quality of Dead Space series is still top notch. I'd recommend this game to anyone who is a fan. | video-games_xbox |
A war to die for. The Xbox 360 killer app. Cliff Bleszinski's pride and joy. The Halo-killer. Whatever it is that you want to label Gears Of War, rest assured it's accurate as long as it's the most positive thing that's come off of your tongue in recent times. If it's not, well, you're just plain mistaken.
Gears Of War isn't just finger-lickin' good. It's your-fingers-are-soaked-and-dripping-with-insert-your-favorite-food-here good. The interesting part is that nothing is particularly innovative or creative. Gears Of War is your standard third-person shooter that emphasizes cover mechanics and tactical-but-quick gameplay. It's not the twitchy Unreal or the slow-paced Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. It's a perfect mix between the two. The game feels like a blast to play and because of that it simply is.
Credit the level design and intelligent A.I. for that as well. On Hardcore and Insane difficulty settings, the enemies will simply spank your rear if you sit there and let them. They'll flank. They'll lay down surpressing fire. They'll roll behind obstacles and jump over barriers. They'll do anything they can, including ripping your body to shreds with their chainsaw bayonets, to survive.. Of course, you can return that chainsaw pain, and it's sweet.
Story-wise, I think Gears Of War will earn comparisons to Halo. The story is simply a set-up, and without any intentional spoilers, Gears Of War 2 simply has to be in the front of Bleszinski's mind. The story revolves around a war between humans and an alien race known as the Locust, and more specifically Marcus Fenix, an ex-military man rescued from prison. He quickly joins up with Delta Squad, and as part of the squad, his mission is to plant a bomb deep inside the enemy Locust territory and end the war once and for all. Unfortunately, the story isn't much deeper than that. Gears Of War doesn't explain why the Locust are attacking the humans and barely gives any sort of background on Marcus and his squad mates. As I said, Gears Of War 2 is inevitable and hopefully the story is fleshed out with it.
The single-player campaign is broken up into five acts, and each act clocks in at about an hour to an hour and a half on the standard difficulty setting. Of course, you'll finish the game quickly, so attention must be focused to the multiplayer. Quite bluntly, Gears Of War has the best online multiplayer I've ever experienced. Ever. It's got cooperative Xbox Live play. It's got three (yeah, only three for now) different game modes to play, and the maps are simply brilliant. Each map is on the small side, but with all of the matches being 3-on-3 or 4-on-4, they're a perfect fit. The maps are also very symmetrical, so getting lost isn't much of a problem and learning the maps is an easy affair. After completing the single-player game in about 7 hours, I clocked in more than 35 hours of online multiplayer in the first week of the game's release. Of course, I enjoyed watching my excessive play's effects on the Leaderboards as I climbed from about 100,000th to 1,000th place on the boards.
Visually, there isn't a more beautiful game out there and there never has been. There weren't any shortcuts taken in Gears Of War-the environments are so loaded with detail that it takes a keen eye to spot some of the smaller touches. I could stare in the same spot for two minutes and still find new details to look at. The animation is fluid, with humans and Locust alike diving and rolling between cover points. The gore, with enemies being blown into giblets, is supported by amazing smoke and explosion effects and particle effects that fly off the screen. The sound is explosive, with machine guns and shotguns tearing out of the speakers, Locust growling from behind cover, and squad mates shouting enemy positions at each other. The voice acting is decidedly manly, with the super-raspy and super-stereotypical military voices fitting pretty well. And don't let me forget the soundtrack, which makes the intense battles even more heart-pounding. There isn't a prettier or better-sounding game out there, and Dolby 5.1 users might shake pictures off of the wall while playing this one.
Gears Of War's only fault is that it ends. Honestly, the single-player could have continued for twice as long and I would have been more than pleased. However, after being absolutely crack-addicted to the multiplayer, I can't complain. The replay value is simply pouring out of this game, making it one of the most valuable games out there right now and one of the best that Xbox owners have had since Halo 2 came out in 2004. It's easily the best Xbox 360 game and it's quite the contender for Game Of The Year. Pick up Gears Of War as soon as possible, it really is the killer app. | video-games_xbox |
One of the Most Enjoyable Fighting Games for the Generation. Before playing this game, I have not played any other Soulcalibur previous to this one. Simply put, this game is the reason why I started to play the other games in the Soul series and even bought the collector's edition for Soulcalibur V.
To start off, the graphics in this game are simply amazing. There is a huge amount of detail on every part of a character. Not only do the characters look great, but the environments are equally as impressive. The stages are made of pristine quality. This game really pushes the 360 to its limits graphically, and the game runs smooth as silk with no frame-rate issues.
Soulcalibur IV is a 3D weapons-based fighting game. The gameplay consists of horizontal attacks, vertical attacks, and kicks. Using certain combinations of these buttons results in various combos and special "unblockable" attacks. The combos are both flashy and effective, making fights enjoyable to watch as well as playing them. Figuring out these combos aren't as difficult as other fighters, making it very accessible to many people.
While Soul Calibur IV can be seen as a very offensive fighter with guard breaks and soul crushes (break your guard as well as leaving you vulnerable for a critical finish), there are guard impacts which parry your opponent's attack, leaving him/her open for attack. You can also break your opponent's armor during the match, which looks amazing and really immerses you in the battles.
There are 26 characters all with their own unique weapons and styles. While some characters are much better to play as than others, the game is balanced enough to make every character have a chance.
The game has many modes for you to choose from. Story mode guides your character to 5 predetermined battles to explain why they are here searching for either soul calibur or soul edge. It ends with a unique cut-scene depicting the results of your journey. This mode alone is worth it just to see the endings of everyone. Arcade mode consists of 8 battles that feature a cheap Apprentice (star wars character) in stage 7. This mode is to get a high score, but it's not very enjoyable for long.
One of the offline modes you'll spend an ample amount of time on is the Towers of Lost Souls mode. This takes your fighters through 60 Floors of the tower for the ascend portion. The descend portion goes on forever and increases in difficulty the farther you descend. The mode is very challenging and frustrating at times, but the rewards are worth it. You can earn gold and items that you can use on your characters.
The character creation is one of my favorite features in this game. Here, you can build a character mimicking one of the character's style in the game. There are a plethora of different items to choose from, and all of them determine the stats of your character (health, defense, attack, etc.). You can mix and match these parts to get the type of character that you want. You can also put special abilities on them such as Shave Damage (damage guarding enemies) or HP Drain (regains your life for every successful attack).
Now the only real issue I have with this game are the addition of Star Wars characters. While they do play alright, they really tend to mess up with the character balancing of the game. While many patches have come since the release to help balance out the roster, they still feel severely out of place. The game would've been much better and taken much more seriously without the inclusion of them.
I didn't play online with this game as much as I did with the sequel, and that is because it is very laggy. I can bring people over and have fun playing against my friends, so it didn't bother me too much. However some people might want to fight good competition, and the only way to do that is online.
In conclusion, this is one of the most enjoyable fighting games that I have ever played. While it's not the most balanced fighter, the amount of sheer fun that is to be had by yourself and with others is a joy. The netcode needs to be improved, but the offline package is good enough. I recommend it not only to fighting game fans, but also to casual players as well. | video-games_xbox |
What a load of crap. I admit I have relatively high standards for FPS shooters. I play all sorts of them (and have played them for the better part of a decade) including TF2, HL/HL2, Quake (1-4), Unreal (every single one), and all sorts of off shoots (absolutely LOVE COD4 right now...stop reading this and go buy it if you haven't already). My disclaimer is that I didn't play much farther than maybe 30-40 minutes...you'll understand why in a second...
That said, I can't believe this game was even published. I'd seen previews and read about this coming out (granted, some of that came in the form of newsletters from codemasters) so I was hyped a bit. I'd switched from COD2 to COD4 when the latter came out so I hadn't played a WWII-themed shooter in a little bit and I was getting twitchy...
I tossed this in the dvd drive and installed it then ran the puppy to find a standard-issue console port, complete with no mouse support in the menu system (huh? I'm a programmer and it always boggles me how it seems so hard for them to add mouse support to the menu system...the rest of the game supports a friggin mouse!), checkpoint saves, and lousy graphics. Even the control scheme sucked...I felt like I was running (I was running) through molasses.
The graphics were dated...they reminded me of medal of honor...from five years ago.
There is no such thing as a headshot since even with a nicely aimed shot to the head, it took three or four shots to take down an enemy (I know you're trying to make it hard but c'mon...). At least if it was to the chest or leg or something I'd deal with it better but really.
Loads of immovable objects (must have used a lot of superglue or something) and a complete rails experience (no choices...just one way to go through each level).
Put all together, you've got a game that either needed another year of development work or one that should never have been published and written off as a loss. Do yourself a favor and save your money for <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Call-of-Duty-4-Modern-Warfare/dp/B000TTFLS8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare</a> or better yet, get the <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Orange-Box/dp/B000PS2XES/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Orange Box</a> and get three games and to expansions for the price of an expansion... | video-games_xbox |
WARNING: Do Not Play ME2 before you play this. I write this review primarily to help people avoid the mistake I made. I bought ME2 on a super deal and played through it-LOVED IT! So after having completed ME2 4 times I said I need some more Mass Effect goodness. So I bought this game. Core experience is similar but the game lack of polish, poor/repititive level design, Loooong drives and walks from A to B are compared to how tight ME2 is.
The good:
Great variety of choices Max out a few powers or be more balanced
Specialize in offensive or defensive play
HUGE arsenal to choose from for 4 different weapons classes
Large number of achievements for replayability
Interesting story (though not nearly as engrossing as everyone says it is) (/SPOLIER/Traitor to alliance and general bad guy wants to destroy all life in the universe /END SPOILER/ "Best story ever" Seroiusly?)
The bad:
So many choices make it feel like I'm swtiching gear every 15 minutes for my whole squad (for some this might be a plus-I prefer the weapon upgrade system in ME2)
The Mako-agonizingly long periods of time driving perhaps the WORST-in-game-vehicle-ever up mountains around obstacles etc. They should have patched the Mako to handle more like the Hammerhead in ME2
Imprecise cover system. While cover is available no button really 'locks' you into cover (think Gears of War) this makes cover more difficult to use effectively
Graphics show their age here
Why it's still worth playing
If you just play through ME2 you'll be criticised for a bunch of decisions that you never made by NPC's I'm really looking forward to the different outcomes from my personalized play through when I pop ME2 back in my system.
If you play Mass Effect before ME2 none of the bad's I describe will be as glaring as they were for me. You can really tell that they fixed many pain points in ME2 (not saying they didn't introduce new issues but overall ME2 is the better/more fun game.) | video-games_xbox |
A Brief Multiplayer Review. Please remember this is only a review of about 5 hours of my online experience in Team Assault.
Why did I only play multiplayer? Simply because I find that most single player (campaign) modes in FPS games (especially Modern Warfare shooters) follow simliar storylines and they are rarely worth any sort of hands on review. Show some screenshots and you have pretty much covered it. Other than maybe frame-rate and other bugs or issues, of course.
That said.
This game is a fun one to pop in and dive into an online skirmish. It will irritate many people because of the incessant camping that takes place. However, many of these things can be easily overcome with teamwork. While I do realize that teamwork and online team deathmatch shooters don't really go hand-in-hand you should really give it a shot, lest you get spawn camped for an entire round.
If you are a MW2 or BFBC2 fan (or fanboy) you will fall into a gray area with this game. There are kill-streak rewards and a run and gun attitude among many of the early adopters of this game (as of 10/13/10) which will please MW2 fans. Also present (by default) is the R3 Click To Stab button instead of BFBC2's RB Button.
As for the BFBC2 Fans, the gunplay is a bit toned down from Bad Company 2's crazy realistic recoil action. However, I have had minor problems getting a feel for sniper rifles. Is there 'bullet drop'? Do my bullets disappear? Whatever it is that was happening to me last night I had to quit trying to snipe and stick with assault rifles.
I can't guarantee anyone will love this game and call it their favorite of all-time. I think it is more of a game you will want to find for a decent price pre-owned. EA knows a lot of their games are going this direction because they are including 'online passes' now that unless you have the game new you will most likely have to pay for any sort of extra online content. | video-games_xbox |
Beautiful, atmospheric and near flawless game (fun too. When Bioshock first came out, I had to decide whether to buy it or Mass Defect,...er... Effect. I decided to buy Bioshock and rent Massive Defect. Turned out, I had a free rental coming, so ME was free, but it still wasn't worth it. All of the hype for these two games was truly justified only in the case of Bioshock. This game features a wonderful immersive game environment in the underwater city of Rapture. Even without the gameplay it would be fun to wander around this place. Luckily, the gameplay is outstanding as well. There are so many aspects to this game that make it superior to most games out there. You get to decide how and when to apply the upgrades you earn through Harvesting/rescuing little sisters, which plasmids or tonics are most useful and how many slots you can afford. There is a fun and sometimes frustrating mini-game of hacking safes, cameras, bots and turrets, which can be made easier by investing in tonic upgrades. Health and eve can be linked to successful hacks and each other so there is alot of strategy involved in an almost infinite number of approaches to the gameplay, which gives it alot of replay value. You can create special ammo at the U-invent stations using found objects that you pick up. I really appreciate the amount of variety in this game. The story is interesting and is fleshed out through radio transmissions and tape recordings found throughout the game. I didn't experience any framerate problems or freeze-ups with this game. My only complaints, and they are minor, are that the final boss fight could have been more difficult, and that alot of times when I would disable a turret and hit X to hack it, I would inadvertantly inject myself with eve since they both shared the X button. Didn't see any way to remap the controls. Overall, Bioshock is one of the best games I've played and is a well conceived and executed effort. 5 stars. | video-games_xbox |
Review from a no life player hear the truth. The game is absolutely massive over 400 km there's a lot of stuff to do it's fun with or without friends it's a lot more tactical without friends because the squad members to do exactly what you say and your friends are usually a bunch of knuckleheads that just do whatever the hell they want some people aren't good for a tactical game there are a bunch of weapons there's a giant variety all kinds of additions to the weapons I've done a lot of story missions most of them are pretty straightforward and easy but there of been a couple but I've been truly challenging that need real stealth and tactical skills but most of them are sneak around the true people get noticed and then keep shooting people for some reason if you order a mortar strike from a hidden location with your drone guys can somehow detect you wherever you are from where you ordered it it's like they can smell you Or something if you miss a shot on one guy he can calculate the bullet trajectory in his mind in the middle of the night in pitch black dark in two seconds until everyone of the base exactly where you are actually I think they have a hive mind these enemies are extremely good at figuring out bullet trajectory from suppressed weapons at night in a rainstorm maybe they thought it would be too easy if they made the enemies make sense and not be able to smell you from where you drop the mortar it is funny enough Game I'm sorry I tend to go on about things that bother me in games One last thing at some point you get the rubbles to drop off vehicles for you the second upgrade is this awesome armored truck with a mini gun on it the third one is a helicopter helicopter is great but there's no way to switch back to the armored truck which is needed for so many different things it would've been simple and intuitive to make it so you could switch and pick which vehicle you wanted. | video-games_xbox |
Like owning a corvette with no gasoline. The last console I owned was a Nintendo wii. That was fun for a while but they lost interest.
The kids (8,12, and 14) have been wanting an X box for a while. I had to decide between the 360 and One. I asked around and was convinced to not buy old technology and get the latest.
I think that's where I made my mistake. The unit does not come with a game and there are only several available at this time. And guess what? They almost never go on sale. All One games appear to be about $60.
I also find the menus somewhat confusing. I am a pc gamer and find the controls very hard to learn especially on battlefield 4. I'm not impressed with the graphics either. They seem much better on my pc with a two year old card.
The kinect works well as does the voice commands.
I just can't recommend the One. If your new to console gaming I think the 360 is the way to go right now. There just isn't enough games out to justify the One's existence. When new games are released they will be top dollar. I kinda feel like a prisoner to Microsoft now.
I have about $700 into this thing and only have 2 games and still only one controller.
I know it will get better when more games are available but I just can't recommend this.
I could have built a great gaming pc for the money spent so far.
So I bought a new controller so 2 people can play at once.
But in the game it clearly says split screen mode and we cannot get it to work.
We tried signing a new guest to the console and that's a huge hassle involving
emails and codes and links that you can't click on.
Seriously this thing is a joke. Push one wrong button on remote and you have to sit through
same sequence of game with no option to skip it.
I have no doubt they rushed these out the door for christmas.
I feel like such a sucker.
I also see games for 360 on sale for 7 dollars on slick deals on a daily basis.
Finally returned to Amazon. Thanks for a smooth return. Amazon is #1 for customer service.
Bought a used 360 with lots of games and kids are happy. | video-games_xbox |
Did what GTA IV couldn't do, but has it's own flaws. The Good: Super fun missions, great dialog and voice acting, huge open world, plenty of things to do
The Bad: Some technical issues, does redefine the genre, lame multi player
The sandbox or "open-ended gameplay" genre is actually the newest genre known to video games with a good seven years under it's belt, but not that many games have really proven the genre worthy. With Grand Theft Auto III being the daddy of this genre many games were failed mock-ups of GTA, many weren't even related, but still didn't do the genre justice. Saint's Row tried to push the genre once again a few years ago and didn't do such a great job, and was just shoved off as another GTA clone. Now that Saint's Row 2 has been out for awhile people kind of just stopped with blank expressions, while some roared and cheered with joy. Saints 2 really does push the genre and is a clear oppenent against Grand Theft Auto IV, but I'm not going to sit here and compare the two since Saints 2 deserves a seperate look.
The first thing you do when you enter the game is create your own character, and this is what really sets the game apart from others in the genre. You wake up from your coma in a jail hospital and bam you're in there changing your sex, picking your taunts (some are very vulgar), rearranging your face (you can do that in that outside of this too), picking hair, and even your voice. The options are deep and riddled with lots of ways to make your character unique and stand out from others online. Once you get out of this mode you are introduced to an easy to use tutorial that will show you how to control your character and I have to admit; the controls are wonderful. I never got frustrated with them and they are just so intuitive and easy to understand and remember. You start out with some melee training then you pick up a pistol and you discover you can zoom in via over the shoulder, jump around, and it all just feels nice and smooth. Once you hop into a car this doesn't change one bit since cars will turn on a dime and have the perfect feel to them (all 40 or so of them) and this makes driving around the city of Stilwater very pleasant.
The bulk of the game is about rivaling gangs through the story and I have to admit the story is riveting, gruesome, and very entertaining and never falters once. You see, since you were knocked out for two weeks all the gangs who hated you took their territory back and now you must gather your old friends, start the 3rd Street Saints up again and build your hideout up. In this hideout you can get your cash from the stores you purchased, change your gangs style (like 80's, hip-hip, pimps & hos that sort of things), change your weapon layout, and pimp out your crib. All of these are just nice subtle touches that THQ didn't really have to do, but they went that extra mile anyway.
Between these story missions you can go to different stores an buy food (health), jewelry or clothes to increase your respect, go to plastic surgeons to redo something on your character, buy cars, buy weapons, and the second half of the game: Play side missions.
These side missions are actually a blast and two I will talk about are Fuzz and Septic Avenger. Most of the side missions are scattered throughout your map (Stilwater is HUGE by the way) and they consists of events such as racing, celebrity protection, helicopter attack missions etc. All of these missions earn you respect so you can play story missions (each story mission takes one piece of your respect bar). Each mission gives you a time limit and a certain objective to complete, while some are wasy others are a pain in the @SS and can leave you screaming in frustration. Fuzz is a cop reality show where you drive around to designated crimes and kill them according to what your camera man says. Sometimes you'll have to use a chainsaw (camera angle a la Gears of War), use satchel charges on skateboarders etc. Fuzz is an addictive (like most missions) way to fill your respect bar and leaves many laughs as well (thanks to the amazing dialog THQ wrote for the game). Septic Avenger has you driving a septic trucks (yeah a poop truck) spraying fecal matter all over buildings to depreciate the value for certain clients. As you spray the buildings a red meter will drop and a cash amount will pop up bringing that much closer to your depreciation amount.
There are also some other smaller side missions like the taxi missions, hostage diversion in which you hijack a car and any passengers can be driven crazy (literally) until a ransom is given. You also have a streaker mission since you CAN walk around naked (blurred naughty bits of course) and streak in front of people for cash.
If you think the side missions sound fun don't forget those story missions. The game has amazing voice acting and clever dialog so it'll keep you wanting more and making you come back to see which gang member you're going to kill next. Not one missions is identical and you are blessed with a non repetitive mission based game that gives you many different places, and way to kill people throughout the entire game.
Now when it comes to nitpicking the game apart the graphics aren't up to par with most next-gen games (thanks a lot Gears of War 2!), there are serious slow down problems where the FPS will drop into the single digits some times, there are collision detection and clipping issues, some funky physic problems, but nothing that sandbox games haven't encountered before. The game is highly playable and you shouldn't let these small problems bother you. The last thing I need to mention is the fact that the game is gruesome and is more ballsy than GTA ever was. There are complete torture scenes, foul language, and running around naked a la Sims style is pretty far out there. The game is just hard hitting and in your face and that's exactly what a mature rated sandbox game needs. | video-games_xbox |
UPDATE: Can't wait to trade it in. UPDATE: Ok so the game is way too difficult. Ridiculously Difficult. Insanely difficult. Uncannily difficult. Stupidly difficult. Unpredictably difficult. I can't describe the frustration this game provides ... it takes ALL the fun out of the game once you get past the superb graphics and controls.
I'm no stranger to the fight night series. I've had the first, round 3, and round 4. In all those, I was able to take a boxer through legacy to the championship on the pro difficulty level (not easily, but at a fun pace). After building one boxer and starting out a legacy, I am 1-4 ... not to mention my numerous restarts against opponents ranked BELOW me. Its excruciating. I can stun an opponent 5 to 10 times during a 6 round bout, and *maybe* knock him down ONCE. He stuns me twice during a bout? He knocks me down one or both times. IT IS SO DIFFICULT to finish a guy off once he is stunned. The CPU turtles, clinches, and blocks 90% of your shots no matter if its a flurry or power shots. Again, these opponents are ranked below me at the bottom of the barrel of fighters. I've played with the sliders and everyything. I'm getting most of my cash back while I can.
Don't even let me get started on how difficult story mode is.
It's a crying shame because the game could be wonderful if they just spent some more time curbing the difficulty.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's quite simple really. What I've found after 10 or so exibition matches is that the bouts are better/last longer/more sweet scientific when you use boxers from middleweight (preferrable welterweight) and below.
It seems to me like they need to nerf the entire heavyweight class. I mean we get it, the heavyweights hit harder ... but that doesn't mean we need a knockout in the 2nd or 3rd round everytime. I didn't buy this game to have short matches with zero blood & cuts, I bought it for a strategic simulation. I've found that I get closer to this when I use the smaller weight classes...although it's still not perfect.
I had a great fight where I was Sugar Ray vs Hitman Hearns at the welterweight level. It went the scheduled 6 rounds with me knocking Hearns down in round 3, and me landing 58%, Hearns landing 64%. It seemed as though I was in control of the fight the WHOLE time as far as the announcers & crowd were concerned, but Hearns won the decision. I've seen this happen before in real boxing, but the guy who was knocked down was in control of the fight. The scorecard had Hearns winning 10 to 9 in all rounds except the one I knocked him down in where I won 10 to 8.
Therefore, I think they pick the winner based on the judges scorecard, and the percentage of hits landed with total disregard for flash/counter punches and power punches. This is flawed, but the problem is that I don't know if the technology is out there yet to properly measure a winner and loser in boxing. Keep in mind I'm only playing the PRO level of the game (there are 2 more difficulty levels above this). Being an avid player of the entire fight night series, this one seems to be the hardest one yet based on what I've seen in exibition mode only. Otherwise, I'm enjoying the game overall, and I'm glad I purchased it.
Sidenote for all you naysayers. You guys continue to rip EA sports games no matter what they change or improve upon. I'm so sick of you guys ... I mean look at yourselves! You sit there saying you're sick of buying the same rehashed EA Sports game year after year, but when they change something, you get all PO'ed. What should EA do? They get berated if they take the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach, or vice versa. It's the same with Madden fans as well ... your camp will never be happy, but you'll keep on buying the games and complaining. STOP BUYING THE GAMES THEN!!! | video-games_xbox |
Stylistic Western Shooter with Some Laughs. Some games are meant to be serious, others do not take themselves very seriously. Gunstringer is definitely in the latter category. The game is wrapped in a meta-narrative about a marionette puppet seeking vengeance. You are the puppeteer.
Gunstringer is the first non-sports game I have really enjoyed for Kinect. It works because it is funny and because the controls have a beautiful simplicity to them. As many people have observed it is hard to "get into" a game when you're worried about kicking the coffee table or crushing your chihuahua when you trip. As a puppeteer your hands and arms form the basis of the controls (for those who want to, you can even sit to play). Your left arm controls the puppets movements: raise your arm and he jumps, move your left arm right or left and the gunstringer moves across the screen. The right arm aims and fires your gun (though there are several rounds where you use both arms to shoot rushing enemies with six-shooters in both hands).
If this sounds easy, in some ways you're right. The controls work because they are not overly complex. However, dodging with the left arm and aiming with right requires a bit of coordination (think patting your head while rubbing your belly at the same time). So there is a learning curve that makes the game have a fun level of challenge.
Mechanics aside the level of styling makes Gunstringer a hilarious game to play. You're fighting highly stylized western bandits, over-sized toy obstacles (with the occasional hand of an enemy pupetteer reaching down to set boulders rolling at you). And of course, the enemy wavy-tube man that is a staple of used car lots across the mid-west. These stylistic features create a fun environment to play in.
The main detractor for Gunstringer, for me, is that you can never really escape the "on rails" experience for kinect. Only during scripted fight scenes can you duck and cover and fully take the time to fight. The rest of the time you're barrelling through the scenerey trying to catch as many bad guys with your right hand as you can before you run past them. But this is a small factor me (if you generally dislike "on rails" gameplay you won't like Gunstringer). So a 4-star game: I liked it.
As a small plus (that probably could add a full star to the overall package) is that you get Fruit Ninja for free (DLC Code). I hadn't bought fruit ninja when it was released on xbox live, figuring it was an 'eh' game. I won't pretend that Fruit Ninja is deeper than it is: but if you play it, I would be willing to put money on it that you'll play more than one round. It is fun to chop flying fruit... if you let yourself get into it, you can practice all your taekwondo that you learned as a kid (chihuahuas beware). Fruit Ninja is, I promise, more fun than you think it is. | video-games_xbox |
Lego Batman 2 is great therapy for little boys with stitches. My whole family loves the Lego video games: we have some for the old PS2, my daughter's DSi, the Xbox, and the Xbox360. When we saw the ads for the new Batman game, we knew we had to buy it (my kids, especially my 4 year old son) play the original one almost daily. This game is great! Sadly, my son needed 5 stitches in his cheek last night, but this game not only kept him happy, but kept his hands busy so he wasn't rubbing his cheek! Perfect!
Pros:
The split screen feature allows 2 people to play without one person dragging the other behind him.
The world seems a lot bigger in this game, more places to run around and beat stuff up.
Lots of action!
The powers of the other superheros are tons of fun
The puzzles are more complex and even stumped the adults a few times
Cons:
As mentioned in other reviews, it does seem to freeze up pretty often. This isn't much of a problem for us as it gives me a chance to get the kids off of video games without them getting mad (we tell them that the Xbox got too hot and they can't play anymore).
Most of the boards are too complex for my son to play by himself (unlike the original game). Good for older players, bad for small children.
My kids fight over who gets to be Superman. (also not too much of a problem as it makes them share).
Split screen feature, while helpful, can be visually straining. Personally, it makes me dizzy.
Overall, it is a great game and I'm glad we bought it. Now I just have to wait for the LOTR Lego game....which will be mine, Precious! Mine!
UPDATE: Over 6 months later and we STILL use this excuse to get them to turn off the video game! Heck, all we have to do is ask, "How hot does it feel?" and after a quick touch they turn it off on their own. The game doesn't even have to freeze for it to work! The best part is this works for all video games, and not just this one. Oh, and they still play this game pretty regularly. They've unlocked all the villians and most of the superheros, so now they have races through the city to see who can make it back to the Batcave faster, they drive each other around in a school bus... it. is. awesome. | video-games_xbox |
For me the best FLIGHT SIM for XBOX (original. Let me first say I prefer PC Flight simulators to game console, but for a quick flight SIM fix I really like this game.
Flight
The flying of the planes in the game for me is pure fun. To see the vapor come off the wing tips in a tight turn and then adjust with increased speed or flight rotation for me is just great. I don't mind the tail view and the reason why is the Left front button giving you trailing enemy views or direction of the enemy approach land sea or from the air. So during flight to switch between views quickly is great. The levels of intensity is as well great as you improve your skill in the game. At times it may appear everyone is after you and nobody else, but that just adds to the fun.
Formation Flight
Now having inflight repair is a joke but you have to remember it is a game and I have to say ok why not to that feature. The other wingman seems to come to your aid only upon request and that is ok too if you get into trouble. The settings of formation are Formation, Attack and Defend which I have to say if your selecting the wrong setting it may be a problem in game play and not have the desired effect, but again that is part of the fun. Weather its bombing runs or fighter to fighter missions you will find or at least I did enjoyment out of them all.
Game Play
Basic flight instruction is a given and similar to other games played. What I would have liked is plane selection as some of the aircraft have much different handling characteristics and it would be nice to know what they are before entering a mission. You also have ACE combat where single combat air to air takes place and the opponent is just that an ace and if you make the wrong move your a gonner. When you complete the game it will unlock other aircraft and secret missions that are really fun.
Score of the game
Completing each mission will give you a score and an adjusted rank in the game which IMO is nor hear nor their as an issue of the game. I imagine the better you get the quicker aircraft and medals are awarded the player. For me this part of the game is less important to me.
In closing I really like this game and the control features as well. Im ok with the graphics of the game but for me the flight exp is the best of my XBOX (original) collection.
My version has the three pilots and the aircraft on the cover. | video-games_xbox |
A Change From The Original . Ghost Recon 2 takes Ghost Recon in a whole new direction, morphing it to more of an FPS more so like Rainbow Six 3, with a brand new graphics engine, along with a whole new style of gameplay. The original Ghost Recon along with Island Thunder was, more of an stragetic first person shooter(FPS), when you mapped out the stragties, as you commanded two squads Alpha and Bravo, eac with 3 members and special abilites, and postions and such. Now this game is more like Rainbow Six 3, when you play only as one charater, instead of playing as an entire squad.
You only have 4 instead of six people under your commmand. The game is presented differently, and you now have the choice of playing in third person like Socom, or First Person. They have also have made the commands simpler, kind or like a system like Star Wars: Republic Commando uses, which is you press different buttons for different actions, which in a way makes it easier to control your squad. You also get a bigger variety in weapons, and more advanced hardware as well. The maps and environments in the game are much more vast and give you more options, than the other games.
There is also some parts, of the game when you use The Lone Wolf System, which is actually an goverment project when, that has you equiped with some high tech equipment including the new M29 camera equiped rifle, and are able to trigger an perfectly aimed burst while looking around a corner. You can also pulverize enimes with laser guided air strikes. The options are vast, and will have you wanting for more. 20 straight missions of gold if you ask me, with more creative and cooler mission, smarter A.I. Each mission, is better than the last one, the game plainly gets better and better as you play it.
The basic campaign takes place in the year 2011, against the North Koreans, in a fight to the death. As, you fight for your life in the vast jungles, advancing inch by, inch with bullets wizzing by your head barely a cenimeter away. You then must lead your squad and do some serious death dealing leading your elite group of Ghosts, with superior weaponry, training, and sheer courage. You must push them back and finish them once and for all.
What can I say the campaign isn't going to be easy, but with the refurbished graphics and new look, you'll be hooked for hours and hours playing sleepless nights, shooting, blowing up, or eliminating anything in your way. The campaign is plainly awesome. Yet, the game is like like one reviwer said a sure hit that missed it's mark, which means it's just as great, but not in the same ways as the others. Hell 15-20 hours of action, now thats a game folks.
I say if you liked Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six 3, and Socom all rolled into one check it out, every FPS fan will get something out of this, but I guess That in a way they made the game less intellegent so that a wider audience can play, with the Rated Teen rating, cutting back on the gore. New look, great change, but nothing like the other Ghost Recon games.
You also have some great multi player options which include 2-4 player split screen action like co-op for example, and better online otions, with voice command enabled, very similar to Rainbow Six 3, going head to head with people all across the world in Xbox live. What can, I say the multi player options have greatly improved from the other Ghost Recon games, which spices and enchances the gaming expierence even more.
Overall, the game is a new breed of Ghost Recon, that is just as great, but cut out some of the stragety, yet it still earns a 5/5.... for being a great game.
-Rogue Fox "Rogue" | video-games_xbox |
Gift-wrapped naughtiness. First of all: BOOBIES!
Normally, I'm not about mindless things. Conan is entirely, indelibly mindless. The game is non-stop violence-flavored ice cream with a thick swirl of scantily-clad, bare-breasted "maidens" that "heal" Conan with a "kiss". All of the stages are beautifully rendered, and a lot of the bosses can be taken down with little effort once you learn their strategies on your first or second playthrough. And it doesn't take part-time job hours to beat, nor is it too short. It's just right.
There are a few major annoyances to the game. For example, I'm a completionist but I don't like it when games force multiple playthroughs to get all achievements. Conan requires at least 3, since it only unlocks the top two difficulties when you complete the game on the previous setting. However, each level of difficulty you beat grants you a new cheat, and activating them does not prevent you from getting most achievements. If you enable the cheat to unlock all moves at the beginning of the game, you can't actually go through the process of learning them which means you don't get the achievements for learning all the moves of each category, but it's not hard to earn these before your final playthrough. Overall, the way it was done makes the second two playthroughs quick and mostly painless (unless you really screw up), which allows the game to be completed in just the right amount of time with just the right amount of satisfaction.
So the final two playthroughs go by a lot quicker than you'd expect. It also helps to understand blocking. Unlike a lot of other action games which seem to believe in commit-or-die, Conan lets you immediately cancel almost any action by pressing the block button.
SPOILER: blocking is super helpful when facing certain enemies that auto-block (it literally is an auto-block; the AI will start blocking before Conan even starts his attack animation). When normal enemies auto-blocks like this, they ALWAYS counter. Since the block stuns Conan for a moment, the painful follow-up, high-power counterattack can be annoying until you realize that you can stop any attack of your own by blocking. If you feint an attack and immediately cancel it with a block, the AI will auto-block, then follow up with its predestined counter. If you timed your block right, you'll get quick time event that gives you a chance to perform a nasty, messy and (usually) instant-kill counterattack. Once you get all of the timings right, you can breeze through every non-Boss enemy in the game by feinting an attack, blocking and countering.
However, there are a number of unblockable attacks including most of the final boss' arsenal. You'll learn to identify these by the "charge-up" sound and a flash of color that appears on the enemy's weapon. There are a few battles where the boss has a frustrating skew of power over weakness, but careful thought and NOT mashing buttons will see you through it. The final boss has a mean set of moves that are far-ranged, mostly unblockable, VERY difficult to dodge, and many of which track you (all of which make me very angry under normal circumstances because I think it shows lack of skill on the developers' part). To boot, you're forced to give up all of your powers before the final phase of the battle, so the cheats are rendered useless. Also, this guy does not auto-counter after blocking so the feint-and-counter tactic doesn't work at all. This is to say: it is very hard to NOT get hit during this fight. On the highest difficulty setting this can be extremely upsetting as your health bar disintegrates. You have to stick and dodge your way through the fight and hope you have enough health to last through the final phase. It took me about two hours of repeatedly retrying the very last scene (I had about 10% of Conan's health bar going into it), but after so many repeats I finally learned the pattern and was able to beat the guy without taking more than one hit. It was frustrating, but also made me feel dumb because I should have been paying more attention sooner. I beat him way too quickly in the first two playthroughs when health didn't matter as much, and didn't know how to keep myself alive on that final one. Oh well.
All in all, the game is just a delicious blood-soaked carnage that rampages through a lot of different, beautifully-detailed arenas. Oh... and BOOBIES! Definitely worth the price tag. | video-games_xbox |
More fun than a barrel of zombies. I've played this game through and find myself playing it again and again. There are some drawbacks to the game design, but the graphics, plot, action, and for the most part the controls are so great that I think this fully deserves a five-star rating.
Pros: Graphics, plot, re-playability, weapons, bloody fun
Cons: Otis the Janitor (read below), lack of voice acting, controls, save feature
Here's a little more in-depth discussion of the pros/cons of the game:
Graphics - a little cartoony but for the content - literally hacking zombies and other enemies to bloody pieces - it's totally appropriate. It's remeniscient of another Capcom title, Resident Evil, but far less gloomy. Character details are quite good. The only drawback is that there are only a few different zombie designs, I'd say less than 20. The problem this presents is when you have 50 enemies on screen (you frequently do) it's disappointing to see the same zombie five times.
Plot/replayability - zombies in a mall. 'nuff said. There are several different endings and with the number of survivors and psychopaths, you can choose where you go and what you do over the course of the game. If I can just add my two cents on the whole "Day of the Dead" thing - there aren't that many places where a person can hole up during zombie armagheddon. A house, a mall, a store, or a military base. Hopefully this won't prevent a sequel, which, for this genre, could be very, very solid.
Action (aka bloody fun) - plenty of it. This game is pretty much hack 'n slash without much finesse, however, the sub-plots about saving survivors in particular really adds another layer of challenge to this game. If you pick up a chainsaw and try to hack your way to a survivor, chances are you'll end up killing the survivor instead so there are definitely some tense moments in leading survivors through a pack of zombies.
Controls - This is where the game really gets frustrating at times. The aiming mechanism is frustrating (you pull the right trigger and then slowly, oh so slowly, move an aiming reticle to your target). You don't have very tight movement - the movement is extemely similar to Resident Evil. You may also find yourself consuming a snack (which are basically precious health packs) without meaning to, because you basically scroll through your inventory to get to whatever you're carrying - weapon or food - and use the same control to "use" it. This can be very frustrating. Still, once you get the hang of it - and once you start to level up and get more health, speed, and inventory slots, the overly simplistic controls aren't as much of a hassle.
Save feature (and timing) - The inability to save a game except in one or two locations in the mall is frustrating. The time limit is sort of frustrating if you want to "do everything" (you have 72 hours to survive in the mall, and each mission is broken down into a smaller part of that 72 hours - fail a mission and you fail the game). On the other hand it adds a true sense of urgency and pacing to the game which I think keeps it very interesting and intense.
Otis the Janitor/voice acting - Otis is a character who is more or less necessary to your completion of the game. He will periodically call you over a walkie-talkie to give you information on survivors and missions. Without the info, you can't complete the objective. However, you have to stay on the walkie talkie while he is "speaking" - which he doesn't really do, it's just subtitles, as it is with most characters except in cut scenes. If I remember Resident Evil is the same way - hopefully Capcom, if they make another sequel, will put alittle more effort into voice production, which would really increase the fun factor/reduce the frustrating factor, without affecting the difficulty of the game at all.
Overall - this game is immensely fun. I hope to see a sequel with the controls and save features improved. It would also be nice to have somewhat more competent survivors - they often let themselves get taken down by a hoarde of zombies instead of just running like hell. And of course a different location - either in the town itself (a parallel story) or in another town, the mall thing would probably be repetitive.
Bottom line: for the $20 or so this game now goes for, it's quite a bargain. | video-games_xbox |
Simply one of the best fps ever made. Before i purchased this game i had heard of mixed reviews and negative opinions. But after playing the game i strongly recommend that you disregard all the negativity because those people, with all due respect, have no clue what they're talking about. I simply cannot find any reason as to why this Halo isn't the best of the series, by far. Halo 4 feels through and through like a Halo game yet there are just enough new additions and tweaks to keep the series fresh and interesting. Halo is the complete package.
Im usually more of a multiplayer guy but i must say the campaign is fantastic, not too mention the rest of the Halo essentials (forge, theater, etc.) are all there and better than ever.
The Graphics are nothing short of breathtaking. Easily the best on the 360 yet and there really are no words to describe how immersible the visual experience is. The shadows, attention to detail, etc. are all done so very well. Most games take shortcuts, Halo does not. Every maps is literally a visual orgasm down to every last grain of dirt.
Next we have map design. All the maps have a unique feel to them and seem to be extremely well thought out in terms of design. Theres also really nice selection of maps ranging from your compact, action is never more than a few seconds away, maps to your classic massive BTB with plenty of cool bases and vehicles. There's also a nice mix of gamemode-specific maps all boasting perfect harmony with the gametype they represent. Overall, map selection is great and it feels like every map has a really smooth flow, good balance, and enough small little tricks to keep them fun and interesting. Lastly, one of the most important things in any shooter, spawns. You may not believe me when i say this, but ive never been spawned killed in Halo 4. Not really sure how 343i did it, but the spawns are genius. No matter what map i play on, i always always have enough time and space after spawning to take the game at ym own pace until im ready to five into the heat of battle.
Now on to gamemodes. Halo 4 offers a wide variety of classic Halo gametypes in addition to some interesting new ones. I really think 343i did a great job of making each gametype feel unique, offering a certain type of playstyle. Again we have the idea of intensive planning and testing behind each gametype, all of them feel balanced and no two gametypes feel too similar. Thanks to some quality matchmaking I always find myself in competitive and intense matches no matter what gametype im playing. One thing i will say, is every now and again the game migrates hosts, but since Halo 4 doesnt run on dedicated servers i really don't expect much else. At least the game recognizes when the connection in bad and then fixes it instead of having to deal with lag the whole game.
Weapon and loadout balance is as expected, near perfect. Every weapon feels unique and fills a particular role. The AA abilities have finally found their place in this game, not giving any game breaking advantages, yet still doing a good job of bring Halo into the modern video game era. The new weapons are all cool and fun to use and the thing im most impressed with is how none of the weapons really seem overpowered. As crazy as it seems, it feels like every weapon has its positives and negatives and truly no one weapon feels grossly overpowered compared to the others. I know people complain about the DMR and whatever else but i find all the starting weapons to be very balanced. Certain situations and certain maps call for a battle rifle, certain situations call for a DMR, certain situations call for a suppressor, etc, you get the point. Its really about about playstyle and preference. Idk how 343i got the balance so right in Halo 4 but they did, and thats why when you play the game youll see that everyone uses completely different starting loadouts.
Possibly the best part about Halo 4 is the level of polish put into the game. Never EVER have i seen such a polished multiplayer shooter at launch. Now that its been a few months and im sure some hotfixes have been made this game is simply immaculate. Glitches and imperfections are not a thing in the Halo 4 universe. Everything down to the menus is crisp, clear, intuitive, and well organized. There is nothing in this game that doesnt need to be and everything that does need to be in the game, is.
Last but not least, please don't listen to those who are saying they made Halo like call of duty, they made the game easier, Halo 3 was 10x better, blah blah blah. Halo 4 has the most depth to any Halo game and it is easily one of if not the most skill-based shooters out there on the market today. Yes the pace of the game has been sped up but to be honest, its right where it should be. Fast enough that you never feel like your bored in a game, yet i don't feel like action is crammed down my throat every second of the game. Never has Halo felt more like Halo, just because there are new additions to the game that doesnt mean 343 butchered it, not even close. In fact its the exact opposite, they got nearly everything right and more.
Probably the best $60 ive spent in my gaming career. Clearly microsoft pumped a s*** ton of money into this game and it definitely shows. Halo 4 is without a doubt the best shooter out right now and probably will be for some time to come. | video-games_xbox |
One of it's "perks" is actually it's downfall. Stay clear if you don't plan to mod. The pad itself feels high quality. I really wish I could love this thing, but there is just one major flaw. They advertise the recessed buttons as a good thing that will help you know where you are on the pad. I found that the recessed pads actually make playing on it worse. Maybe I just haven't gotten used to the pad yet, but you have to be VERY accurate on how you step on the pad. With shoes, I often found myself putting my foot down half over the button and half over the center. This caused my foot to not fully depress the button due to the metal being higher than the plastic of the arrow. When you use this, you have to step in the center, and if any part of your foot hits metal it screws over that step. I got it at a fairly good price of $180, but even at that price I'm beginning to regret buying this thing. I'm heavily considering returning it, but the shipping for a product of this weight would not even be worth it to me. I'd say try your best to find a used blueshark or cobaltflux pad on ebay. DDRGame is, from what I can find, the ONLY seller of metal DDR pads and their quality just isn't worth the price. You can also google precision dance pads for a decent pad. It isn't metal, but for at home play they are the best. They cost about $300 but will be worth every penny from what I've seen in reviews. If I ever manage to get used to this pad I'll be sure to update this, but as of now this is either hard to use forever or it takes well over 2 weeks of normal use to get used to using this pad.
Months after buying it, and I'm still not fully used to stepping on this thing. I got so frustrated with having my performance lower in comparison to a cheaper redoctane foam pad that I altogether stopped using this thing for over a month. I used to perfect songs on my old foam pad, and now I am not near as good as I used to. I mostly bought this pad so I could use shoes and for proper USB support. But now I feel you should avoid this like the plague. Seriously, the downfall is still the fact that the buttons are recessed, meaning you have to be very specific and press on the very center of the arrow. I have found that playing with socks allows me to play a bit better, but that can and has ruined socks by having them catch sharp edges, and you can and probably will cut yourself on it if you do that enough. I've heard buying sheet metal and putting that under the arrows will increase sensitivity, so I'll be trying that once I get some money and seeing if that makes it any more playable. At this point I'm considering just selling it used and rebuying a used RedOctane Foam Pad, which I highly recommend over this. Simple light taps is all that pad requires to register a hit.
Also as a side note, I recommend washing the sensors when you first get the bad, even new my sensors came fairly dirty. Just a quicky wipe down with a cloth lightly moistened with windex is all it takes.
Update - 1 year
The bad is now well broken in, but that doesn't stop it from still working like crap. Once again I want to emphasize that the advertised "enhancement" of the arrows being recessed is actually one of the things that kills this pad. It forces you to step far out into the middle of the arrow in order to get enough pressure down to activate, mainly because a lot of pressure is remove from the higher ledge of the surrounding metal. I also feel the pad is far too insensitive, and I found myself missing notes because the travel distance is too much causing me to not actually release the arrow and other times not fully press the arrow. I've basically given up wearing shoes on it, which is the main reason I purchased a metal pad, because the recessed arrows can't be hit well unless you once again step awkwardly far out into the center of the arrow, which no professional DDR player should ever be doing if you want to do well on faster and harder songs.
After one year I can definitely say this is by far one of the worst purchasing decision I have ever made. My continuous frustration with the fact that I used to do far better on a foam pad (which I regretfully gave away to a friend I no longer have contact with) caused me to dock yet another star. I almost want to make it one star, but it works somewhat okay on easier songs.
If you want a High-end dance pad that works well, invest in a Precision Dance Pad.
The main reason I bought this pad is because I used a friends DDRGame Ion pad, which worked really well so I thought this would be too. But in the end the recessed arrows just absolutely kill this pad.
Update:
Officially knocking rating to one star. Why?
A few days ago I got so fed up with the pad I decided to look on eBay for a foam dance pad as I have fond memories of my old foam pad that actually worked.
For the price of $20, I got a PS2/Xbox foam dance pad, which included DDR Ultramix for the xbox, my original childhood DDR game.
This foam pad, along with a good PS2 to USB that supported dance pad mode, cost me a total of $35, but I already had the adapter anyway. This cheap foam pad makes the expensive metal pad feel like trash. I found myself sailing through songs I couldn't even pass on this metal "arcade" pad.
So if you are more of a pro player, this is definitely a product to stay away from. | video-games_xbox |
Not as advanced as it should be. It's a good game but lacks the online multiplier features from the single player campaign to truly be called advanced warfare. The game features many new abilities such as thrusters when double jumping, varies abilities, and mainly medium to short ranged map engagements. Unfortunately these are also the downfall of this game.
The thrusters are unlimited and can be used every 4 seconds non stop. This means trying to hit other players can become very stressful because thrusting becomes almost an involuntary reaction by players the second they get shot and it's easily to mistake teammates for enemy's because of the distinct noise it makes. In the single campaign, only certain types of units can use the thrusters so mulitplayer doesn't stand up the name advanced warfare because a lack of variety among different class load outs which I'll talk more about in minute when I get to weapons.
The new abilities work off a battery life which varies between types. Unlike the thrusters, they do NOT recharge and often don't last long enough to be of any use. I'm referring mainly to the cloak ability which turns players somewhat invisible identical to the Halo game franchise version. It doesn't last more than about 10-15 seconds which contradicts the campaign where it last for at least a minute and recharges. The maps continue to lack long range fights due to obstructions placed poorly on maps that just don't seem realistic" even for the future". Lacks good high ground for sniping in maps that again have too many obstructions to keep opponents at a distance.
And the weapons. Handguns all fire too slow"only 4". 2 of the weapons can only be used in pairs"1 smg, 1 Lmg" so they aren't as useful as they could be. Only 4 snipers and the damage values are wrong because one gun will say 19 damage" 1 hit kill" while modified versions of weaker sniper tuned for damage found in supply drops of equal damage"19" do not 1 hit kill. Also hit boxes are too small, a lower body shot from most snipes should kill but don't. Only 8 assault rifles, which is a lot less than mw3. Many them are burst fire and cannot be changed to full auto with an attachment "even though they are in the campaign". The shotguns(3) are still broken even after years of new releases, the ranges are too short and don't even register after 10 yards. The mk14 was a 2 hit kill in mw3 and ghost. In this game, it's a 3 hit kill. What even worse though is the EPM3. A new plasma based heavy weapon which is also a 3 hit kill. It work exactly like the new mk14 but is slower to move with, and the shots travel slower than its ballistic based counterpart"mk14" while giving away your position. It should of been 2 shot kill with a headshot multiplier.
In conclusion, there are many disappointing gameplay flaws and a lack of features both from previous games and the campaign. However if you want a online shooter with solid connections then get it. The lag is minimal as long as your internet it good enough. The graphics are good on last gen. | video-games_xbox |
3 Stars for JSRF? Now here's why. When you buy a game there are about five things you need to look at. Graphics, sound, gameplay, value (how long will you play it), and basically wheether or not you think you will like enough to shell out [the money] to buy it. Jest Set Radio Future is the sequel to Jet Grind Radio (another good game). And for the most part it carries on the serious in serious style.
First there's the graphics which for the most part are stellar. This is the first cell-shaded game I have played meaning that its made to look more cartoonish the photo-realistic. Thats not kiddie, its cool and it fits in the game beautifully. BUT all is not well. The camera will get stuck behind things and that can hinder your gameplay.
Overall Graphics- 8 (on a scale of 1-10).
Sound is next. This is where JSRF fails. The soundtrack is awful IF your not a fan of techno music. Im not trying to say anything about the people that do like it but I hate it. Also the screams of the characters you hit while skating gets REALLY annoying. Vioce acting is just fine. Even though the soundtrack is upbeat and fits with Jet Set's theme I can't stand and there's no way to turn it off. I hate playing games on mute!
Overall Sound- 4 (scale of 1-10)
Gameplay is fun and just fine. You control your skater with the left analog stick, jump using the A button, and can pull of tricks with the left analog stick in a certain direction when you get a boast like on SSX Tricky. By collecting spray paint cans you can tag walls and people by pressing the right trigger. Its addictive and cool.
Overall Gameplay- 9 (scale of 1-10)
Its worth buying since there is such a shortage of games on the Xbox right now. Plus there are a ton of charaters to unlock and places to skate in as well as VS. mode.
Overall Value- 8(scale of 1-10)
I hate the sound but love everything else and if you like techno pop and some rap mixed in you'll love everything about it. So its up to you but to me:
I Like it....7(scale 1-10)
FINAL RATING:
Graphics: 8
Sound: 4
Gameplay: 9
Value: 8
Tilt: 7
If you have a mute button...but it! | video-games_xbox |
When You Just Need to ROCK. First and foremost, my sincere love for my wife who bought this for my recent birthday. You're the best!
On to ROCK BAND. What a fantastic product! What an awesome idea.
I have been a musician now for over 20 years. I have played many instruments, as well as been a vocal performer. I am a member of a National, Professional Music Fraternity. I know music.
Rock Band will NOT make you a musician. Getting good scores in Rock Band does not mean that you can be the next one-hit wonder. BUT, you'll sure have a lot of fun playing it anyways!!
Gripes: I'll hit these first and get it out of the way. I made a helluva mess getting this game set up the first time... Boxes everywhere, tape everywhere, bags and twist-ties and little instruction books as far as the eye could see. However, once you get the hang of it and clean up, it's really not bad. Yes the guitar and drums could be a little less flimsy, but it's plastic, and the whole thing is what, $160 or so? So what do you expect? Yes the pads on the drum set make some noise when striking them - I've already been shopping for sound-absorber pads. But seeing how no other game has this option, can you really complain or compare it to anything? Sure they could feel more like MIDI drum pads - if you want to pay $400 for the drum set alone... Lastly, when I play the guitar (or bass) sections, I can really hear my instrument above "the band," but not so when I play drums. I've adjusted settings, but it seems like I can barely hear the drums from my TV over the actual drum set in front of me. The game amplifies the guitars very well, but does not seem to amplify the drums. No idea why.
Praise: This game is just FUN. It's FUN!! You load it up, create your character, and next thing you know, you're tapping your feet, banging your head, leaning into the instruments - you really get into it. I have already severely beaten the tar out of the guitar and drum units - no malfunctions (yet) to speak of. I've only used the mic once, but I got 97% accuracy on Boston's "More Than A Feeling" (Downloaded add-on,) so I have to presume that it works - and is quite generous too. Did I mention this game is fun?? The range of difficulty options means that just about anybody can get through the songs and enjoy themselves. My wife can barely play the radio, but we've already unlocked a number of the Xbox Achievements with her playing the drums - the Drums!! I myself have used the drum kit and been challenging myself to play the harder difficulties because I have always wanted to learn how to play a trap set. Within just a few days I realized that I had established an independence from my foot (bass pedal) and my arms. I could never do that before.
Rock Band gives us all an avenue to do something few of us can ever do but most of us have dreamed of. The sheer concept of booting up your video console and rocking out in front of millions of "fans" is just awesome. Yes I too agree that they shouldn't have placed so much emphasis on multiplayer modes - especially for those of us whose friends are doing things like buying houses or having children... Still, it is called "Rock Band" and not "One-Man Band."
Rock Band is for all ages (thanks to some unfortunate but understandable lyric censoring,) and as I clearly stated, is a helluva lotta fun. So power up, strap in, and ROCK ON!!! | video-games_xbox |
My two cents. I've had my one and only 360, never serviced, since about February 2006 because my local GameStop was out of stock, backordered. My hope was to turn it around online at a profit but by February it appeared the best I could do was break even. Wasn't really interested in a product by a company known for software, not much trust, but looked forward to the multimedia content, music videos, TV shows, movies, and games. The first year my 360 received little use because the multimedia content was almost non-existent. Only games specific to the 360 I have are the two DOA series the remainder are original Xbox titles of which about 2/3 are compatible.
Casual gamer probably best fits my gaming experience even though I currently still have a Nintendo NES, SNES, GameBoy color, Xbox, and Sony PSP. All are still working fine with the exception of the original GameBoy, the LCD display went bad even with light/moderate use. Back then toward the earlier years of LCD displays, they failed frequently. I had Fluke DMM's (Digital Multi Meters) toward the early 80's, the LCD displays would always fail in about a years time.
Last time I checked folks rated the 360 a 3.5/5.0 here. My rating is a 1.0/5.0 because I'm not a hardcore gamer and find the failures unacceptable. The market focus of the 360 appears to be for the mass consumers because of the multimedia content.
I will try to explain why IMO the 360's are dying and depending on perspective it's normal. MS (Microsoft) is a PC focused business similar to that of others, the politics are the same. Probably by the time the Pentium III came about the die size used on the processors shrunk to the point the voltage regulator on the mobo (motherboard) changed from a linear to a switcher for efficiency. Unlike previous mobo designs part of the PS (power supply) is now built onto the mobo, more heat. Toward the end of the Pentium III and beyond heat of the processors became more of an issue; a Pentium III has been said is 50% faster for a given speed than a Pentium IV. Multi-core came about because of heat, a method of working around the issue of heat. In years past it was said processor speed would double about every two years, that came to an end with the Pentium III. Processor speeds are no longer stated clearly upfront.
While makers of PC's, particularly notebooks, don't state not to play video games on a PC, it's common for such items to fail because of games or heavy graphics applications. Nvida recently took a hit of $ millions because of video related failures.
My setup of the 360 consists of a Sony 27" XBR square TV connected via composite video, NTSC, with the audio connected to the same TV. The 360 and original Xbox are connected directly to the TV while other components like DVD, LD, and video tape player/recorder are connected to the TV via a RS (Radio Shack) switch box. Both Xbox's are connected directly because they tend to pull the audio volume down on the other components when connected to a switch box. TV stand is a one piece welded square tubular steel frame with 3 shelves. No side/back panels or doors. Both Xbox's are on the lower shelf with the 360 placed on top of the original Xbox. They are separated by a bracket made of four chop sticks. Xbox's have always been in a horizontal position. Surge suppressors made by APC are used and sometimes an APC 1400 UPS is used for all the components on the TV stand.
My conclusion. I've probably read hundreds of reports and blogs but unfortunately folks generally don't state their setup or software (games) used. IMO the best way to help keep the 360 up and running is to not have the HD (high definition) video connected and limit the 360 game titles used. Also placement of the 360 in a vertical position is a no no, most of the air intake appears to be on that side of the console.
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Updated added info:
I got my lazy self to actually take some line input power measurements of my 360. Comparing my measurements with those from hardware.net yields differences. My TV/display setup is the same as above, standard video (NTSC) composite. I presume those from hardware.net are HDTV.
Objective is to estimate the power consumption of the GPU (graphical processing unit) of the 360 under various functions. The commonly known GPU overheating is the main cause of 360's becoming bricked, RRoD (red ring of death), display distortions, freeze ups, and shutdowns. My estimate of GPU power consumption is based on some fixed parameters (console and its modes/functions) and variable (display device). Maximum power consumption of the GPU is assumed to be 35W, info from the web.
Below, first number/reading, are my measurements using a Sencore PR57. Second numbers/reading are from hardware.net, they are separated by a / (slash). Example: myreading/hardware.net W= watts, NA= not available. Numbers are rounded to 3 digits or less because of resolution error.
1.) Standby (video output is off, power brick has yellow light indicator illuminated, no illumination at console) NA/2.5W
2.) Standby w/active background downloading (video output is off, power brick has green indicator illuminated, console has momentary center green light indicator flash at power switch) 110W/NA
3.) Idle (dashboard, specific area Xbox Live, usual power-up default screen), 141W/158W
4.) DVD (video playback from DVD disc) 120-123W/126-127W
5.) Xbox video (playback of downloaded video on HDD (hard drive)) 136W/139-149W
6.) Game Play (low and high average or just average, low and high peaks omitted) 165W, 172W/185W
7.) Background Download (additional power draw when active) 2W/NA
8.) Fan, high speed (additional power draw when active) 4W/NA
Measurement comments:
1.) Standby, the Sencore PR57 has a low scale of 175W, anything below 20% of this scale would be meaningless or with high error. This is the reason for omission.
2.) Standby w/active background downloading, usually its 110W but with the fan kicking up to higher speed will be 114W. This measurement should be the same regardless of display device. As high as 138W when downloading a demo game. Unknown whether the latter is normal because of no momentary green flash of the center light of the power switch on the console.
3.) Idle, a differential of 17W between standard video and HDTV. Fairly consistent see #6 Game Play.
4.) DVD, output would probably be 480p to a HDTV may explain why power is higher than standard video.
5.) Xbox video, output display device appears to determine processing of video file regardless of format, standard/HD. In other words while an HD file can be used with a standard display, a standard video file would be desirable if available. HD video file is about 4 times the size of that of standard video.
6.) Game Play, unlike most measurements these readings are highly subjective. I've eliminated peak high readings because they are generally of short duration. Should peak high readings be considered than it would be proper to include peak low readings. Peak low readings would bring the average reading down substantially because during game loads (accessing the optical disc) power consumption would drop substantially toward Idle. Demo games on the HDD (hard drive) would average higher because game load times would be shorter. Games I've monitored from disc are DOA Extreme, DOA 4, DOA 3, DOA 2. Demo games on HDD are Portal, Bioshock, Wall E, Doom, and many others. My readings where 165W and 172W, average of these would be 168.5W. Average is needed for comparison with hardware.net's reading of 185W. Differential is 16.5W or 17W. This differential is the same/similar to #3 Idle of 17W.
Conclusion, 17W is about half of the 35W maximum rating of the GPU or the remaining 18W is the power at the GPU with standard video. Sounds like a GPU saver to me.
Previously I mentioned 360 games should be limited but I have a change of mind. Very little difference noticed during measurements. Insignificant compared to the display device used.
Should be clear to most if not all the 360 wasn't designed and executed properly. Eventually I hope to rework/remount the heat sinks on the GPU and CPU. | video-games_xbox |
Great, but Only To A Point. When I first started playing Forza Motorsport 5, it was a magical time typical of most modern racers: new challenges, great graphics, fun cars, and the Top Gear hosts' voiceover work (and tracks) made the game a joy to experience. As racing games go, it's still got great graphics and fun things to do, many of which I outline here...but then some bad decisions in the game's design started to catch up to me. For instance, menus really require me to be patient enough to move in and out of places to get what I need, like when I'm playing a series of races and can't quit until I finish loading the next race and listen to the voiceover.
But the big thing that's started to spoil the fun has been the way I run into dead-ends that want me to pay my way out of them. It's one thing to offer DLC for a price, but quite another to invite me to an event that I then find out I can only participate in if I buy the DLC that gives me the one car I need for the event...which I then need to purchase using my in-game money. Gift me a nice car that I can't use, and I'm now likely to think this is preparatory to releasing a "buy me" track pack. It's nice to be able to choose whether to spend game-money or tokens to buy things, but I'm starting to notice how tokens are the FM team's way of getting me to plunk down money to buy more tokens. I'm also not happy with the fact that neither my Logitech Driving Force GT nor my G27 (nor any other wheel made prior to FM5's release) is supported: you are expected to buy into the newer, more expensive generation of racing wheel hardware.
For those of you new to this series, the Forza Motorsport games are a racing simulation that let you try and buy all sorts of cars, race them in many different types of competition, and as you earn money and experience, you get to then pour that into upgrades and modifications. The graphics are just as beautiful as the commercials show you (and if you've been anywhere near a TV in the last month I'm sure you've seen them) and the variety of content and gameplay seems to suit every style.
What makes Forza Motorsport 5 so spectacular is the level of control you can have over your game. If you are deep into simulation, you can tweak every single detail about your car down to the tire pressure--and you'll feel the difference. You can upgrade just about every part, and you can even do so simply if you'd rather: choose a Racing Class and Forza can automatically apply exactly the upgrades that are legal for that class. Switch upgrades back and forth: once you buy one, it's yours to add or remove. Playing wins you both money and Tokens, and you can choose which to spend when purchasing a car or an upgrade...however, tokens will also let you buy your way into higher levels of gameplay if you really don't want to slog through every classification tier.
If you're more of an arcade-style racer, Forza will explain every step of the way as you build a career. Make a mistake and you can rewind the gameplay, rolling it back and trying to avoid the accident this time around. There are Driver Assists aplenty, and they can be tweaked. For example, I don't like having Steering Assist or Braking Assist, but I do like having ABS. Some people turn off Traction Control and drift more than I do. You can decide if your tires, fuel, and damage should affect the race or if you'd rather be safe and just run the track without those worries. When I turned it on, I would get detailed messages about which part(s) were damaged in a collision or when I ran off-road, and the suspension and steering would start misbehaving.
That's not all though: Forza Motorsport 5 has an online aspect that's also as much or as little as you want. As you drive, the game learns your habits and driving patterns. It generates a "Drivatar" that's a virtualized version of yourself. When you're offline, your Drivatar will go out and run races for you, earning a bit of money here and there and keeping its own leaderboard scores against other drivatars. When you race, the game isn't injecting AI-driven drivers: it's generating your opponents from other drivers' Drivatars. It appears to do a good job matching them to your level, and as I got better some of my opponents dropped out and new ones that were less squirrely on the curves started running against me.
It's inevitable that you should be able to race against other opponents online...but there's also a way to compete up the leaderboards on the side, too. As you play, you'll be offered a chance to challenge other racers' records: play the track solo, racing to beat their time, and you'll see a ghost-car version of the player running the course with you. It's loads of fun, and I found myself beating their record, then seeing how much better I could get with a few more laps.
Each racing type has many tracks to choose from, including more than one variation of the Top Gear test track. If you're a fan of the BBC series, the three hosts of that show narrate parts of the game all over the place. It was fun listening to Richard Hammond talk about how Rally Cars boil down to STIs and EVOs...but both owe a debt to the Ford Escort RS.
Still not enough? Well, there's design. Paint, decal, and stripe your car any way you want to. Pick factory colors, make your own, save your designs and upload them for others to share. I bought a 2005 Subaru WRX STI and for free I could pick a mirror-finish pattern someone made with Top Gear logos.
Despite loving the gameplay, I have to admit that there are some drawbacks to Forza Motorsport 5. First, any racing game is really best experienced with a wheel, and so the gamepad is only so good. The XBox One Controller puts force-feedback into the triggers and it helps, but using a wheel makes a huge difference. Next...if you have a wheel, it's not going to work. Yes, this is my biggest complaint. With XBox One, the developers made a conscious decision to only support the next generation of racing wheels. What I'm seeing of what's to come is amazing technology and part of me can't blame them, but I still feel bitten that my Logitech G27 doesn't at least minimally work. I would love to see an update that would grandfather this bit in. I also don't care for the slow plod towards trying to get me to pay more to keep playing. I've bought plenty of downloadable content in my day, but typically it's more to enhnace a game I'm playing instead of to unlock something I probably should have had available in the base game. | video-games_xbox |
Should've been titled Golden Axe: Female FURY or something. Golden Axe: Beast Rider. Why give the game a title BEAST RIDER? You ride the beast just about as much as you did in the original. I admit there's more variety of beast to ride than the original. Not as good as I expected but WE must remember that Golden Axe was always a (hack & slash)adventure FIGHTING game. The control fighting felt awkward at first. I changed my controller configuration to profile 2. That way my attack buttons were (X&Y) and jump was button (A) and magic was (RT). The parrying & evade is where the art of fighting comes into the game. Once you get that technique mastered you will be able to battle multiple enemies at once. Without learning that technique you will get crushed & killed quickly. The gameplay feels more like Conan. So just to give players an idea of how it is. As far as riding the beast goes ...the same rules apply in this Golden Axe as the originals. Your beast will be killed if it takes too many hits or if you use up the entire beast powerful attacks. Also you can get jacked for your beast just like in the original game. The creatures walk very animal life like as if you really were riding a beast. The story isn't the best and actually starts off rushed. As you progress in the game you obtain the Golden Axe, which starts off as a boomerang until the axe is complete. Overall I don't think it's worth $60 but it's worth $40. It may get repetitive to some just like the original Golden Axe. Just remember it's one of those (hack & slash)adventure fighting games where it's gets better as you progress and LEARN to PARRY & EVADE or just be ready to get frustrated and take the game back for a trade in. Games from the 80's would just chew some of today's videogame players up and spit'em out. Some players don't realize how good they have it now in videogames and some game designers need to expand their imagination a tad more. We have save points, continue as an option and stage select now in just about all games now. Try playing a game for several hours just to die and have to start back at the beginning. Stay on the porch with the puppies if you can't roll with the big dogs. Golden Axe: Beast Rider, decent, but definitely don't expect any type of Gears of War gameplay or graphics. Your feelings may be hurt. | video-games_xbox |
Some words of warning. Overall this is a great game. I'm a hardcore Halo 1/Halo 2 fan and like many others, were quite disappointed with Halo 3. Since we have that experience of what Halo used to be like, we tend to underrate new Halo games.
Let's go over some things...
Cons:
1) The Halo 2 multiplayer maps were perfect. Beaver Creek, Lockout, Ivory Tower, Midship - all amazing. The Halo 3 maps are disheartening. If you've never played Halo 2 then you have nothing to compare them to and thus are avoiding disappointment, which is a good thing. The Halo 2 map remakes (like Blackout) are another huge disappointment, as the changes they made were horrible.
2) Ranking up in online multiplayer is much easier than before. Great for noobs who play once a week - bad for skilled players who deserve higher ranks without being grouped with unskilled players. Halo's advantage was that it was easy to rank down and harder to rank up. It seems they are becoming more lenient with the ranking up process and are making it more like other games (such as Call of Duty) where everyone can easily rank up.
3) No one plays online anymore. Since Halo 3, there has been "Halo 3: ODST" and "Halo: Reach". Everyone is now playing Reach. In H3, it's hard to find matches at times, especially if you're with a friend with a high rank difference. It's not unlikely for me to play with the same group of players all night long. This gets boring fast. It's much funner when you know hundreds of thousands of people are playing online, all competing with each other.
4) The campaign sucked. I could care less about campaigns, but H1 and H2 campaigns were fun. H3 was boring and seemed re-hashed. I beat it in a couple hours.
5) Too many weapon additions. I like the idea of new weapons, but I don't like what they added.
6) The sword was rendered almost useless. In H2 all you had to do was switch weapons and lunge. Now, you have to wait like 2 seconds to pull the thing out. Which means the only time you can use it is when you're prepared to use it (such as when you're behind a corner and have time to pull it out).
7) Last but not least, there's still a huge amount of "BS!". All games have it. It's when you're running behind a corner and some how they killed you even though you know you were at an angle they couldn't have shot you. Or when you lunge to melee someone and some how they assassinated you while you are looking at them. Or how your sniper was centered in on their gut, 2 inches away, but somehow the bullet went through them? The list goes on and on. I love Halo, but I scream at my TV all day long because of all the unbelievable, unrealistic, "BS!" they have in the game.
Pros:
1) My biggest complaint with H2 was the button combos and the BR+Plasma Pistol combo. In H3, they made the Plasma Pistol less accurate (doesn't follow someone around corners/from long distances) and not as much ammo. They also took out the button combos so people can't cheat.
2) The "Needler" was improved and it's much more of a go-to weapon, although I wish you could still dual wield them.
3) The biggest "Pro" of Halo 3 as well as all other Halo games is that it caters to skill. What I mean by that is a great Halo player that advances his or her skill can do things that aren't possible in other games, regardless of how good you are. A great Halo player can win a battle that doesn't start in their favor, such as someone shooting you first. In games like Call of Duty or Battlefield, when someone shoots you first, you almost always die unless by some miracle you can get behind a wall or cover. Skill in games like COD and BF are camping, waiting for people to run by, sitting in the bushes, staying on the outskirts of the battlefield and shooting others before they even see you. Skill in Halo is proper usage of your controls. Correct grenade timing. Maneuvering back and forth, jumping and what have you to avoid being shot or getting blown up. It's melee'ing at the right times, crouching when necessary to avoid radar.
People that call Halo "Gaylo" or whatever are usually people that suck at playing. They're used to games that cater to people who just pull the trigger to get good. Who sit and camp to get good. Those are not fun games. They're entertaining - but you won't find dedicated players like you find with Halo. Halo is in a league of it's own, and it's a shame more games aren't like it.
To sum up Halo 3:
It's a great game but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone new. It's too late to play online multiplayer and the campaign sucks. Only buy this if you're going through all the old Halo games just to play the campaign and say that you did it. Everyone else, get Halo Reach - that's where it'll be for the next year or so. After Halo 4 comes out, that's where most will be then, and we can only hope they make it a great game as well. | video-games_xbox |
Better but not best. As of this writing, I have used three different sets: The RB1 set, the GHWT Set and the RB2 set.
At this point the RB2 set is easily better built and thought out than the GHWT set. It has many good points, and a few bad ones. I'll sum it up here:
The good
-More bounce than the RB1 set
-Quieter than the RB1 set
-Velocity sensors
-Wireless
-Metal Petal
-Better sensitivity
-Better Frame
The Bad
-Weird sensitivity issues
-Weird pad sounds
-D-pad and face buttons are mushy and hard to use
It's really hard to say that this is a bad set, because it really isn't. In comparison to the WT set, the pads feel a little better, and the pedal stays nice and still and it's cheaper. After using nothing but the RB1 set for many months, I can say that I really enjoy the quite of it all. If that's your only qualm with the old set, then it's more than enough to buy this one. The pads have a nice bounce to them, nothing like real drums, but much more than the first set.
The pedal is really nice in comparison too. My old petal was actually held together by a piece of plywood. It hurt my feet because of the wood and the screws coming out of it. It also had no tension at all, which made hitting fast bass notes a little more difficult. The metal petal is really nice. I haven't had any issues with it, and I don't think it will break anytime soon.
The frame to the RB2 set is also a nice improvement. Things snap into place better and the set tightens more efficiently. It has moved a little since the first time I adjusted everything, but it isn't nearly as bad as my old set, nor is it really enough to annoy me to the point of readjustment. It still slides, even on my carpet, but it is an improvement. It also feels sturdier. Also, although I didn't really need it before, this set is wireless. A nice plus if you're in a larger room or if you want to be able to shift the set around a little more. It comes with batteries, which is always a nice gift.
The Velocity sensors are nice and fun to play around with, but almost useless in game. They really are a novelty and ruin the game a little if they're a off at all. My red pad is super sensitive, but my green pad needs to be hit pretty hard to produce the same loudness as a soft hit on the red. It's just a little annoying, and I don't really care, but I wish it worked correctly. The set hasn't dropped any green notes though, not yet anyway. I don't have trouble hitting it, just producing louder noises from it.
After playing with the set for a few days, my yellow pad is... sqweeking. I don't really know how to explain it. It's not broken and it's not coming off or anything, but the noise it is producing is very audible and different from the rest of the pads. Not that it is too bad, but it tends to throw me off track a little. However, after living with it, I have noticed it less and less.
The d-pad and face buttons just suck. I hate them and they barely work. Probably the worst part about this kit is the face buttons. I've failed many a song because start wouldn't work. Not that this is too bad, since you can use the pads to navigate, but it is a little annoying that it really doesn't work.
Overall I would say this set is worth the money I paid for it and I'm very excited to have it. | video-games_xbox |
Secret Weapons Over Normandy. If you love crimson skies you will love this game. Your name is Chase and your fighting Germany Nemisis and Japan fighters during world war 2. In this game you are fighting against the enemys with your allies Russia,France and Britain. If you like a hard video game this is one. Your not only fighting against planes but also gun turrents,tanks,patrol boats,u2 boats,destroyers and others. On a few missions you get to shoot the planes from the ground in a destroyer or turrent but these are few and far between it's mostly fighting from the air. In between different levels you also have challenges. You unfortuanly must play all challenges,all primary,secondary and bonus missions to get the xwing and tie fighter from star wars. It's not always so easy to get to the bonus missions but you can always go into history and play it later and if you beat it you still get the prize and requisitions to upgrade your planes. There are different planes in this game. My favorite is the JU 262 Jet which you will get to fly in level 12 it is incredibly fast. With requistions you can upgrade your planes armor,enjine,amount of ammo etc. Your armor can be upgraded to 4 the same for the other upgrades. As you go thru the game you get different secondary weapons and on some you can choose which one you use on several missions. You get Missiles which can easily take out ground and air targets from a distance,different types of bombs,torpedoes for navel enemies,cannons and other secondary weapons my favorite is the medium missiles. Also you can choose between 1st person view and 3rd from the menu. 1st is much harder because you can't see your plane. As with a comparison between crimson skies and normandy crimson is easy I've beat it over 6 times this one is hard because some of the planes fly high over you and you can't reach them or you will stall. Also it is easy to crash in this game if your going for ground targets. I love the explosions they look good when planes,tanks,boats,hangers,anti aircraft guns and others explode. If you plane takes a lot of damage you can fly to the parmoson airfield for repair and get your weapons replintished but landing is tricky and sometimes you can crash or even get shot down while your on the ground rolling to the airfield. Also friendly fire happens. You can accidently shoot down your allies if your not careful althougth the enemies and allies are labled sometimes it is still possible because of so many planes in the sky. Some missions involve you protecting your allies while there taking out targets,etc and some involve specific targets you must knock out. There is all kind of enviroments hear. You get to fight at night with the stars and moon in the background,There is snow cover in the russian missions,mountains,oceans etc. The gunfire sounds pretty relistic. Also you open up mini video movies from the history channel in between missions that tell you what actually happen in WWII with actual footage. Also get the Prima Guide to go with this game it is pretty helful. If you like current jet fighter air games get ace combat 4 which is even better than this one. It even has actual jet sounds and cockpit view. It is the reason I have a Ps2 because it isn't on xbox so I have both consoles. Here is some strong and weak points of this game.
Strenths
Choice between 1st and 3rd person view.
A large variety of planes and secondary weapons.
Nice enviroments.
When you finish you get the xwing and tie fighter from starwars to play in challenge mode.
Requisitions to upgrade your plane are easy to get.
Explosions look good and weapons sound relistic especially bullits.
Training missions to show you how to fly,dogfight,drop bombs etc.
You can call on wingmen to help defend you if you need too.
Weakness
No cockpit view
Planes stall too easily
The game is hard get ready to see your plane shot down many times.
Some secondary and bonus missions are hard to complete
If you like this game also pick up crimson skies. Normandy is very addicting you will love it if you love air combat or war games. | video-games_xbox |
Decent game, but it gets old quickly. I will be honest, I was not a huge fan of the movie and wasn't initially interested in this game. I purchased it recently because I had read that it was an easy way to get 1000 achievement points (just play it all the way through), and because it had considerably dropped in price to less than $20.
So, with low expectations, I have to say that I was initially pleasantly surprised. After some clips from the opening of the movie, the game starts off with you playing through the scene of them landing on Skull Island. The voice acting is great, as I keep hearing Jack Black making all his silly comments about capturing footage of everything as we move through the island. The graphics are good, as the character models look very much like their real-life counterparts and the island is rendered in pretty full detail. However, I would not put these graphics anywhere near Gears or some of the newer 360 games, but they are decent enough to hold your interest in the game. The game mechanics are pretty easy to pick up, you either have a gun or you can pick up a spear. Soon you learn to catch the spear on fire and use it to burn patches of thicket in order to clear the way or fend off creatures. There are also some other puzzle-like aspects, such as stabbing bait and throwing it to distract creatures, or needing to find the handles for opening doors.
From there, though, I found the game getting rather repetitive and old quickly. You run through a series of areas fighting and evading various creatures and finding a way out, only to get to more areas where you have to fight and evade creatures.
Finally, after what seemed like an exhaustive amount of play, I got to a stage where I was able to play as Kong. I felt the Kong sequence seemed like it had been tacked on as a gimmick rather than an integral part of the game. First of all, it switches to third-person while you're Kong, so the gameplay is totally different. Secondly, it just took me through a series of climbing, jumping, and swinging sequences, which were all accomplished by pressing 1 button to do everything, so it felt more like a glorified cutscene than actual gameplay. Lastly, I had to fight a flying boss, but due to the third person camera angle I could never face the right direction or time it right to punch him each time he swooped in at me. After multiple attempts I finally beat the boss, but ended up feeling more frustrated than thrilled by it.
The next level has me playing as Jack again, and I frankly haven't summoned up the motivation to play any further yet. I understand there are more Kong scenes coming up where you fight dinosaurs, so that might be fun, but the idea of having to play through another couple of hours as Jack doesn't seem worth it to me.
I recently acquired a few other new games for my 360, and I just find it hard to want to go back to this one to finish it. Perhaps there will be some time when I'll decide to finish this game, but for now I have shelved it and don't have a strong desire to keep playing.
All in all, I would say this game is decent for the price and can provide a couple of hours of entertainment, but don't expect to get hooked on it because you will likely lose interest fairly quickly. | video-games_xbox |
The best bang for your retro gaming buck. There are plenty of other retro game compilations available, including both classic arcade titles and games from the Genesis era, but the majority of them are full of filler with a few choice games thrown in to justify the price. I've never gone for these personally because the value is just not there, but Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection has totally bucked the trend by delivering 40 Genesis games, many of them classic and highly regarded titles, and a host of other features for just $20. This is something that you need to own if you consider yourself a retro gamer of any description.
I never owned a Genesis back in the day (I was a Nintendo boy all the way back then), so this is my first time playing the majority of the games in the collection. All of the Sonic the Hedgehog games are included, even the classic Sonic & Knuckles and the less-than-classic Sonic Spinball. Mixed in with the landmark franchise titles are several of the best games the Genesis ever saw, including Streets of Rage, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Shining Force and the excellent Phantasy Star series. Mixed in with these titles are some lesser-known games like Fatal Labyrinth, Beyond Oasis, Ristar and the stylish Comix Zone. The only real disappointment is the first two Shinobi games are not included (only Shinobi III) and the classic titles that were cross-platform with the SNES are also not here. But you are getting an excellent collection of Genesis exclusives that will keep you busy for hours, so it's easy to forgive the omissions.
Also included in the game is a lot of unlockables, including video interviews with the game designers and other goodies, as well as arcade games like Zaxxon that completely floored me. Zaxxon was my favorite arcade game as well as the reason I had a Colecovison back in the 80's, so my nostalgia meter was definitely kicked into overdrive. The last thing I'll touch upon is the benefits of this game for achievement hunters. Several of the games support achievements and the majority of them are easy to obtain, such as 45 points for reaching level 11 in Vectorman 2, something you can do by entering a cheat code to get there instantly. Other games have simple objectives, such as survive a level without dying or reaching a certain number of points within a limited period of time. If achievements are your thing, this game is definitely worth picking up (not that the games aren't incentive enough).
Many of you reading this will belong to two different camps: those who experienced the Genesis back in the day and those who are too young but are curious about retro gaming. To both, this collection is an easy recommendation. These games come from a time when story, challenge and sheer fun were the main draw of a game, so don't let the primitive graphics and lack of modern tweaks discourage you. This collection is, simply put, a must-have. | video-games_xbox |
An excellent mid-range gaming headset from LucidSound. As a DJ, avid gamer and podcaster I'm always in the market for new and decent quality headphones. I've owned and used many headsets over the years (this is my first from LucidSound) and there always seems to be something new for PC, gaming consoles, mobile devices and DJing. As I always enjoy testing out new headphones here are my thoughts on the LucidSound LS30 Wireless Universal Gaming Headset (Black) - PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, & Mobile Devices;
Pros
+ Foam ear-cups and flexible headband are comfortably padded and were easier to wear for longer periods, thanks to the ProSpecs Glasses Relief System.
+ Compatible with PS4, PS3, XBox 360, X1, PC and Moblie Devices.
+ Simple and well integrated volume/mic dial controls.
+ Crisp and clear audio quality.
+ Sleek and solid metal and plastic build quality.
+ Decent noise isolation.
+ Relatively easy set up.
+ 15 hour wireless charge.
+ Removable mic.
Cons
- Fit may be too tight for larger heads.
- Ear-cups aren't terribly breathable and tend to get hot after long periods of wear.
- Experienced a few random disconnects on my PS4 and on my phone from time to time.
- A tad heavier than expected.
I wear headphones a lot and at the $149 range, the LucidSound LS30 Wireless Universal Gaming Headset (Black) - PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, & Mobile Devices justifies the overall asking price. The audio quality was generally impressive for both games and music. The adjustable audio and EQ controls help you find just the right balance to fit your game-play or listening style. The majority of games I've played so far have had crisp and clear highs, mids and lows without ever sounding dull, distant or hollow. I've been playing multiple games with all resulting in quality sound. I feel this headset is a worthy investment at the mid range. I'd recommend this headset to anyone who wants a quality gaming headset with decent sound across multiple platforms and doesn't mind spending a decent amount of cash for it. | video-games_xbox |
Doesn't Match the First. (SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW)
"Halo 2" is a solid game in almost every respect and certainly stands head and shoulders above most other FPSs out there. That said, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic for the original throughout the game.
Bungie has made a few changes to the game in this outing and, unfortunately, most of them were changes that shouldn't have been made.
For starters, the dual-wielding capability doesn't add much to the game. With two guns in hand the player, understandably, can't throw grenades. But more frustrating is the fact that using the melee attack with two weapons causes you to toss the left one for no good reason. Furthermore, as other reviewers have posted, the guns really clutter up the screen. Even with only one, it seems to take up far more space than in "Halo: Combat Evolved".
When the first game came out, one of the only consistent complaints was that the second half of the game reused level maps a lot. That didn't bother me too much, since the enemies, power-ups and available vehicles changed. In "Halo 2" the player doesn't do nearly so much backtracking, but they might as well have since every level looks just about the same, and most are quite boring. The only exception were the couple of Earth-city levels near the beginning. I was very, VERY disappointed to see the story leaving Earth for alien bases and other such linear environments so early on, especially since each level was so short. (After I'd finished the first three levels, I thought I was still on the first). The game took place in confined spaces and suffered a severe shortage of large-scale battles, open areas, and vehicles. But what made the first game so great was the free, open spaces where the player could tool around in a Warthog with allies or fly over everything and carpet-bomb them in a Banshee. (Also, the ability to hover in the Banshee, probably the most important move it could make, by holding back while pointing your nose to the ground seems to have been omitted in "Halo 2"). Frankly, there was too much of an emphasis on adding lots of new (unnecessary) weapons and vehicles. The first game was perfectly balanced, which is what made it such a phenomenal success. Here there's too much clutter.
Much has been written about the multiplayer portion of this game. It must be said that it's a very strong selling point, offering a dizzying variety of options for play. However, the original also boosted most of the same capabilities. The one important addition has been the cooperative mode, which I think should be implemented in absolutely all FPSs developed on a console.
Of course, a whole new engine has been developed for the sequel, and it shows. Textures are much more beautiful and character animation is slightly improved.
The original game had a bare-bones story, which is appropriate for an FPS of this type, and what it had it told well. "Halo 2" puts perhaps slightly less emphasis on the story, but it's still at an appropriate level.
Perhaps the biggest mistake the developers made though was pulling a "Metal Gear Solid 2" in the middle of the game. For multiple long stretches the player takes control of a Covenant Elite. I found that I couldn't wait to get past this part and return to what I considered the 'real' game with the Master Chief. It's not that this portion was poorly implemented- it wasn't. The Elite controls exactly the same and sports a 10-second optic camoflauge ability in lieu of a flashlight. The problem is that I just didn't care about him, his mission, or his part of the story. I wanted to follow the main character's story throughout.
"Halo 2" is still a solid gameplay experience. Enemies are much tougher (as in, take more bullets to kill) on Normal Mode here than they were in "Halo: Combat Evolved", which felt a little unbalanced given your weapons' relatively low ammo capacity. However, one thing to be thankful for is the omission of any exceedingly annoying individual levels such as "The Library" from the original game. While the Flood does make an appearance, it's generally in the kind of moderation that allows it to be fun to play against and not the kind of highly-annoying patience-drainer it was the first time around.
In truth, there's not a lot wrong with this game. It just seems that there was so much that could have been done in a sequel with the available engine and hardware that wasn't. How the development team chose to use their resources this time around was way off the mark, in my opinion, and I can only hope they re-evaluate the direction of their innovation in the succeeding game(s).
"Halo 2" is the way to go if you're looking to buy an FPS for your Xbox and you already own "Halo: Combat Evolved" (at least until "Doom 3" comes out). However, in almost every way I recommend the original game over this one. | video-games_xbox |
Amazing marvel of alien techonology. Is thing for real? A gamepad that glows? I didn't believe my eyes so I decided to set out and buy one to try it myself. I was instantly shocked to learn that not only does this amazing technological feat exist, but that the box actually has a color changing picture on the front that shifts depending on how you hold it. I was pretty convinced now that I had gotten my hands on some sort of bizarre alien technology. I shuttered the blinds and locked the door against the inevitable visitation by the men in black and opened this mysterious Pandora's box. Inside was the aforementioned afterglow and a very long usb cable. I did not know we had learned to make them this long. I was puzzled, but ventured further. The gamepad itself was foreign and extraordinary to behold, I took several long minutes just staring at the translucent body which let you see all of the anatomy within. There could be no doubt now, only Aliens could have designed such a thing. I knew that in order to get it to work I would need to plug it into an xbox one. Luckily I had purchased one just for this occasion, sensing that, without the xbox the gamepad would probably not work (though in hindsight I could of probably used this perfectly normal pc to accomplish the same task). The xbox turned on and then. . the gamepad lit up. I cannot describe the sense of awe and amazement at the light, but only that if you ever see yourself wanting to pick up something that will fulfill all of your needs for the rest of eternity then you must surely know now what you must do. The default color is blue and after putting in some sort of 'game' into the xbox I stared longer at the controller. I expect this could of lasted for several hours while the 'game' did something in the background, I understand it to be multiplayer, which I only know because I could hear the other people shouting expletives at me from my tv. Things like, Why aren't you moving noob? were common. I know why, they must of sensed I had this incredible piece of technology in my hands and were surely jealous. I understood and grimly vowed to never take it for granted. When someone on my 'team' shot me it rumbled and turned red. I know this because I never took my eyes off of the gamepad, who could? I also learned that there were buttons on the back. Six plus one. The six were rollers that go up or down and press in and I guess you can program them to front buttons easily enough. Naturally this didn't interest me because the middle button I discovered programmed the glowing lights. I could change the color. At this discovery I spent hours, days even playing with the color over the noise of whatever the xbox one was doing in the background. I know that by now some of you realize the impossibility of my tale. You ask, how if you had such an amazing thing did you ever stop staring at it to write this review? Well, eventually the power company turned off my power due to not having paid my bills and my job fired me for non-attendance. I am at the library now letting the next prospective buyer know that this gamepad holds the key to happiness and once I get the money to pay my bill I will once again know true color changing bliss.
Oh yeah, also the trigger buttons on one side is a little sticky and there is no wireless option. . . Still for 50 bucks it's the cheapest rear button controller currently available and frankly quite nice. Plus it has a headphone jack you can use to play your game's audio so do not need tv volume. . And headphone + mic totally work in it. (IE I can use an apple earbud and shout into the mic about what an amazing controller I have and the other players will hear and shout back their congratulations). | video-games_xbox |
Brute Force is its own game. I've played Brute Force for 2 days now and this is my second review. My first impression of the game was that it is hardly tactical and mostly blow everything up. I now change my position, a little bit. Brute Force is tilted more towards being a pure shooter, but it is a lot more tactical than most reviewers give it credit for. I finally figured out what it is about BF that takes away from its strategic quality. It is the liberal respawning that pretty much allows the player to just run and gun, get killed, and then respawn. The enemy doesn't respawn and it doesn't start the whole level again. To me, that is called "unlimited life." You needed a code for something like that in Super Mario Brothers! In Brute Force you don't really suffer the consequences of a bad strategy because you just keep on respawning. Even after your whole squad gets killed, your whole squad will respawn and pick up where you had left off. Maybe there are stats that will get affected by your constant dying and respawning, but if there is, I really haven't felt the repurcusions. That's the main thing, if not the ONLY thing that makes BF play like a non-tactical shooter.
Other than that, Brute Force is a solid squad shooter that requires plenty of strategy. If you actually took the time to calculate how many deaths you suffer in each mission and in between objectives, you're quickly going to realize that this game is no cakewalk and that there is a lot more to it than just shooting everything you can. The respawn feature gives you the illusion of invincibility. What it actually does is that instead of having 4 team members going up against dozens of enemy aliens, you would actually have about a hundred squad soldiers going up against a relatively small horde of aliens. It turns into a numbers game where the bigger army (that's YOU) defeats the smaller one (the aliens who cannot respawn). I'm not sure if there's an option to limit your respawns or to cancel it altogether and if there is, then I'll make sure to use that option. But Brute Force is undeniably one of the best squad games I've seen because of the adrenaline involved. I've read people's reviews that criticize it saying that you go from point A to point B and you just kill everything in between. True, but how is that any different from Halo? One thing I admit, however, is the commands available to you are too basic. I would prefer Conflict Desert Storm's command options because you could do a couple of more fundamental things like order your squad to get down and give each other med kits and weapons. BF sort of makes up for the latter by giving all players the same ammo and med pack when one of the squad members find it. Also, one thing I noticed was that the computer controlled team members dies a lot faster than the human-controlled ones. I've read in the previws that the AI of your squad is set up in a way that your squad will always look to preserve itself and not go out mindlessly and just get killed. So far it seems as though the opposite is true. In Conflict Desert Storm the computer-controlled squad member does better than the human-controlled, and you can be sure that he will get your back. BF's squad AI is a little suspect, but maybe it's because I'm not using the correct strategy.
In conclusion I would like to say that Brute Force is a good tactical squad game and a great shooter. It probably works best with four players since you won't have to worry about the questionnable AI of your squad. It is still an excellent one-player game, you just have to really plot your moves, which is the whole point of squad-based shooters. While comparisons with Halo are unavoidable, Brute Force is an entirely different animal. Given, there are similarities between the two, but let me be one of the first to say that Brute Force is a deeper game than Halo simply because of the squad play. After the middle of Halo things became really mundane. They threw in the Warthog, a tank and a coupe of other rides to change the pace a little bit, but at the end of the day, Halo is still a pure shooter that really requires little strategy. Brute Force isn't that much more innovative but the environments are just more real and the firefights much more intense than Halo's. In Halo you had a bunch of running targets but you had the advantage. Plenty of times in Brute Force you will find your squad being attacked from all angles by intelligent aliens. Bullets will start flying from all angles and you wouldn't know where to begin your retaliation. Is it better than Halo? It is a matter of opinion. But it definitely is more technical and requires more strategy. | video-games_xbox |
Just bad. As an early adopter, I recognize that not everything works great day one, but this remote has made an already frustrating xbox one experience even worst. First, unfortunately a remote is really needed since the blu-ray player controls can't be voice activated. But the xbox one doesn't use the kinect infrared sensor for some ridiculous reason - so you need to point it directly - and I mean directly - at the xbox. I've had to rearrange my living to use the remote because even with the xbox about 6 ft away I still have problems every day. You need to be within about 45 degrees (horizontally) of directly in front and about 15 vertical degrees. So it seems the lower the xbox is the more commands it misses. Also, when using with netflix you'll notice that some commands are missed and others are duplicated, so you will either come up short of your selection or over shoot it by about 4. Like many others I've owned all Xbox products since day one of their release, including accessories - and I never felt compelled to complain, but after months of using this remote I figured I could at least warn someone else. Unfortunately, if you own an Xbox one, I don't know that there's an alternative - since the system is probably to blame for not correctly receiving commands - but if you're getting this to take the stress out of owning the system (or making it so your wife is able to use the xbox without using the controller as was my case), then you're setting yourself up to be disappointed. This wasn't a day one accessory because they didn't think infrared would be needed. But, the underestimated how about the product with would be, and released this calm the masses. But because it was an afterthought, the hardware support is the issue. So it's unlikely that a firmware update will be released that will make this work better. I'm sure later versions of Xbox one may use a better infrared receiver, but for now, you're out of luck and I'm out another $25. | video-games_xbox |
Fable 2. Fable 2, is not long at all.. at least the main story. Its like a Hamburger. its big meaty.. juicy; it's really thick. But, not a huge amount of length, at least what you can see. But there are plenty of books, and info laying about that you can read and get more info about the world of Albion.
Anyways, I have played through, beat the games main story, and I have to say.. I was left with a feeling of confusion. Not really satisfied. (I guess cause I couldn't have my cake and eat it to) I ended up, choosing the neutral ending (Cause I wanted to have my companion by my side).
The following are 1 out of 10, ten being the best and needing no work at all. 1 being it needs major work.
Game-play: 8 It was good, but still needed work in my opinion. The character's movements, did not seem as fluid as I would have personally liked.
The Aim function on the Rifle, when you upgrade your skill set enough, you can target the head. And sometimes this worked, sometimes, it did not work, because it was easy for me anyways, to accidentally get out of the "target mode" and then get attacked by enemies. It was too easy to mess up, and became an annoyance.
Graphics: 8 out of 10 This is next gen, and while the graphics were okay. They could have been 10x better.
Audio: 10
Story: 7 (Left something to be desired) I guess it would of been nice, to learn more about your guild master and where she came from, and why she wanted what she wanted at the end of the main story.
Glitches: 1The wife disappeared on me in game, but was apparently still happy. Dog disappeared on me quite frequently. I got stuck in certain parts, on cliff edges and next to islands when swimming in the water.
Menu Responses: 1. This needed so much work in the speed it reacted at, and, in general, how it was set up. Like to access potions and food, it seemed like it took forever. And it was an extreme annoyance. Just the response time alone. It works for what it is. But, it really could have been done a lot better.
Environment: 10. I really loved the world of Albion, where ever you went, it never looked the same. The caves were very well done. (Looked great) Everything as far as the "World" had it's unique place. (Of course this is just my opinion)
Over all, I liked the game, and it was well worth the money. I expected more, but was still satisfied OVER ALL with what I got.
I know one person commented on here, that he had problems with money. The trick is, work your tail off, buy rental property. Then you have money constantly coming in, then buy more rental property, and it is a ball of compound interest in your favor.
I have a $1,376,290.00 gold pieces in the game now.. so that is the trick. Oh.. and raising rent to max also helps. XD | video-games_xbox |
Exactly what it should be. For those who are fans of Left for Dead 1 and 2 they will love this game. It's basically a mixture of Crysis meets Resident Evil, and looks just a good as both games with Maximum 1080p settings. If you google the update for the game, you can find it, either on many torrents sites, or private site from people who already have the game. I purchased mine from steam, found the update and have had no problems to speak of. Besides the 2 main things, the crappy 3rd person view, and the whole flying routine were meant to be, just not for the "final" release. Deep Silver admitted to releasing the wrong version to STEAM. Claiming they were focusing more on the console versions of the game, which eventually as most games, will need updated eventually as well. Look at all the glitchy games that were nearly unplayable in the past. The first big one that comes to mind is Half Life 2, and/or the Orange Box, never in my life did i experience so many glitches and updates. So onto the game, pros and cons.
Pros
1. On a good rig, like mine. Full 1080p looks absolutely stunning, and buries the consoles. Although a friend of mine has it for PS3 and i must say it looks great on a big HDTV.
2. Game is fairly simple, although you will definitely be tempted to explore the beauty of the Island, at your own risk.
3. Missons can be a little odd, with all the other little side missions you can get into, radar map is off at times. Nothing major.
4. The Zombies don't just come after you no matter what. As with a game like Assassins Creed you can hide if they do, and sometimes they may not see you at all.
5. Weapons are scattered, just have to know where to look. Boat paddles, knives, pipes etc.
6. The game has no "real" story but is loads of fun, and as i said reminds you of Crysis, especially when you can get guns. Even Far Cry 2 a bit.
7. Game comes up super fast, load times are short, and the controls feel smooth and accurate.
Cons
1. The glitches of course, which i personally didn't see, but minus a star for those who have had to suffer.
2. Stamina doesn't last long, as the weapons don't either. They take damage very quickly and need replaced. Basically RUN!
3. The game will push your graphics card, so make sure you have a good one, if you intend on maxing it out.
4. While the controls are good, striking the zombies is a bit sloppy, and not super gradifying.
5. Some things are intentionally stolen from LFD 1 and 2, points, experience etc.
6. Your friendly AI, are pretty stupid.
Other than that from what i can see it's a lot of fun, and i'm about 5 or so hours into it, off and on. They claim with everything in the game you can get up to 20 hours, so we'll see in the next week or so. Since i don't have that kind of time to play straight through.:) So if you want good killing zombie fun, and new surrounding for eye candy and exploration, then this is the game for you. I got it simply for the fact it's on a Paradise type resort, which is much different than the normal slums, dark alleys etc. Although later on, you will experience a few of those places. So once you download the fix, get your fix, and i'm sure the reviews overall for the game will get better. Deep Silver doesn't seem to be a really popular company (fairly new), but excel in beautiful graphics. So give them a break, they'll come around.
My rig-Acer M5800, 8 gigs DDR3 RAM, Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.67ghz, ATI Radeon 6770 1gig DDR5(don't let sites full you on this card, it's got the juice to max out!) Highest Temp on any game i've ever played, only 53 degrees C. Just fans, no special cooling, which is great. Later. | video-games_xbox |
Rock 'em Sock 'em robots from space to your living room. This is great fun, if you're a fan of video games and of the "Generation 1" (1980's) Transformers cartoon. I find this presentation far more appealing than the Michael Bay CGI characters. There are no human characters to get into the way of your robot fighting this time. Here it's all about following Optimus Prime, Bumble Bee, Sideswipe, Grimlock and Wheeljack on a series of puzzles and brawls against Megatron and his evil decepticon goons. The gameplay is easy to learn and before long you'll be trading fisticuffs with Shockwave, Blitzwing, and other infamous bad guys from the tv show. The other fun thing is that you can turn into your "vehicle" mode any time you want, and even use it in attacks. So cruise around the streets as a car, truck, or robot dinosaur breathing fire. You can throw cars around and smash trees to find "energon" to heal up. It's too bad you can't become a plane or climb up the side of a building (something only the villains can do in this one). A simple radar shows you where you're supposed to go, and if you die, you can restart the mission to try again, until you reach the next save point (certain power ups let you revive without losing your progress). Autobot labs sprinkled throughout the levels offer an oasis to buy/sell off collected weapons and "research technology" (little bonuses that can be applied in combinations to your robots to tweak out their stats).
This is essentially a third person action beat-em up game, using excellent cell shaded graphics, voice acting from some of the original actors who did the Transformers US tv series (G1) and has the stylings and visuals of "The Movie." Your robot can be customized to carry up to four weapons, one of them has to be a melee (fists, sword, drill, etc) and one has to be a projectile weapon (machinegun, laser cannon, grenade, etc) and the other two are up to you. Along the way you have many optional side missions (basically puzzles involving finding or collecting objects or tagging targets). You'll start was the leader of the Autobots and gradually unlock the various characters, then you can replay missions with anyone you want. The bad guy fights are awesome, you'll go against the HUGE devestator and swarms of insecticons, or teams of bad guys.
At first you may be overwhelmed and frustrated. You'll need to rest your eyes (and ears) after awhile, because the presentation is so high adrenaline and over the top (I love cranking my original G1 soundtrack CD's instead of the generic music included with the game). Eventually you'll unlock new moves (which if used properly make the game unfairly easy) and fights will be a breeze. Then it becomes a game of "how cool can I look" and "how many bonus points can I get." There are ways to earn money and "level up" your character, but it's mostly under the hood stuff, the basic visuals don't change much. You'll also cover the same areas a lot which may get boring.
If I had to nitpick, I'd point out that Megatron in the show always transformed into a "gun" not a tank. This is a livable change, but it just feels lazing when several of the other bad guys also turn into tanks, and we had another decepticon that uses his "gun" form but why not the most famous one? Anyway, the true biggest drawback to this game is the total lack of multiplayer. I would have loved to do a split screen coop mssion, or even a deathmatch with these characters, or go online, but none of that appears here (though it does appear in some of the Michael Bay inspired games released on the same systems right before this one). The cutscenes are fun and are almost as cool as the TV show, but bring back a lot of memories nonetheless. The ending leaves things open for a sequel, so I really hope we get that on the Xbox 360, and please, please, with multiplayer options this time, okay? Thanks. | video-games_xbox |
Worst gameplay yet for C&C. Wow, I'm not alone in the universe. Others didn't like the gameplay either, it really was terrible. No thought on my part was needed or required. I have a job and money to spend, (I own all C&C games to date), and with DRM I'm treated like a crook on top of it all. No I think I'm done with EA.
And it's true you can walk away and come back to a completed mission with your co-op AI partner you must use with no control over their actions but a set/rally point that they ignore. No need to even turtle up a defense posture for a breather. Empty empty game. No substance at all. T & A cut scenes are good/funny but you can watch them on Ytube for free. Music was weak too. A usual strong point for C&C games. Rehash of one march song is not enough. The whole design of the game is to push you online to EA servers.
They even sent me a survey via email, wanted to give an honest critique, they have the goods on me anyway with DRM, then told me I wasn't qualified for the survey, didn't fit the criteria. WTF? I have money-you have product-ignore me for marketing reasons later but not when you ask for my opinion. So the moral of the story is they don't care what I think if they can part me from my money. DRM told them where I was so they know I own the game. Suck it EA.
EA's upper mgmnt has a fixation on copy protection and theft and charge the max price they can at the same time. We are all criminals waiting to happen I guess. With that fixation it makes me wonder about their honesty really. Con men see con men everywhere.
I paid top dollar & feel ripped off. No replay desired or required. Finished it and put it away and deleted most! of it from my HD; aka DRM. My comp did get more unstable with DRM. Hard to tell with Windows OS sometimes but the timing is peculiar. Btw you won't get it off either.
The most irritating thing about the game has got to be the online portion. Boot game and Would you like to go online?. Load or quit game Would you like to go online? Every chance available: WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO ONLINE? No EA I don't want to go online with your crappy game. They screwed up crysis with this DRM crap too.
I am a big C&C fan. C&C 3 Tib wars is probably the best overall C&C game made. Unit control, graphics, game play, some of the best out there. Just saw a vid for C&C 4 "The final chapter". Killing it off? After your greedy ways hurt sales? No matter, doubt they will stop anyway. I think they will run it into the ground eventually. See ya greedbag EA. No more Ka-ching out of me for you. Mudsharks, I'll not stick my hand in that murky pool again.
EA=Con men see con men everywhere. Loyalty is a vice to be punished by EA. All the EA defenders have no facts just company statements. Who knows what the DRM is really doing except EA. Show the code if it's so benign. A pox on your house, or corporate boardroom. lol.
** P.S. Buy C&C 3 Tiberium Wars. Best strategy game I've bought in a long time. No DRM either. | video-games_xbox |
better than ps4,and super underrated! full pros & cons below. Pros! You can create divas,arenas(originally paid dlc for the game!)match types and superstar threads.
You have 100 created superstar roster as lots so that jeff,kurt,matt,and benoit are just the start of a fun game.
It is the same as 2k14! Some are upset but im glad they left it alone.ps4 is a rediculously slow an clumsy playthrough and lacks any match stability to create a ppv playthrough.because its the same game that means best 2 out of 3 falls count anywhere !
Early 2000's ppv's! You get; bad blood 03,04 backlash 03, summerslam 03,royal rumble 04,armageddon 02,03, suvivor series 02, and a slew of 2011-2014 arenas!
Ability to skip soundtrack music and turn auto save off.this might sound silly but none of these options are available on ps4.
An actual superstar threads! On ps4 you must create a superstar using one of 25 slots in order to change colors of attires.not only does this version give you free reign to change all attires in the game with 3 variations it also gives more controll.ex hbk can change his vest and 2 vest designs while ps4 will only change the vest itself!
You can climb the announcers table! You can use hardrive music for caws!
Faces of superstars and divas look better! The biggest turn off to next gen or ps4 as i keep saying is the faces not only do they look like shiny clay but the smiles are way of making summer rae and hbk look like the joker.
Cons! Extreamly greedy dlc system,you but the season pass and still don't get everything.you must pay an additional $15+ before you get everything so if your like me and bought this game because of the next gen delay...you bought both games, the season pass the for both,the wcw pack for both...and thats not even including the nxt and moves pack that aren't included that were last year for the price of your season pass!
No effort! While I like this game it is extreamly lazy and rude for 2k to pretend this game is new,its 2k14 with the same glitches..and new ones like the major title win glitch at the end of every ladder and tlc match.
No lighting effects! In wwe the arena lights up and the titron screen and mini screen lights take the color of the superstars entrance...not in this game,instead the lights remain fixed so it looks off..heres an ex. HHH comes to the ring the lights turn green then flash red,green,purple,and blue..kinda strobing aroung.just play 2k14 you will see it.
No new animations! This is the biggest con..where ps4 has new animations this game fails to add any new element of gameplay except for superstar moves! This means those epic steel post animations and steel step animations on ps4 not for you.
It feels like the message is not for you until you upgrade! 2K has slapped the taste out of all our mouths with this approach...no last gen user will get anything new included this year!..but if you upgrade no ps4 user will get anything beyond the best visuals in the franchise...meaning like 90% visuals 10% gameplay.
Overall it still is great due to 2k's layziness they actually made a better game for last gen because from 2012'13'14'and now 2015 these games have been exactly the same controlls lol and gameplay..but we still like the because of the themes lol so jokes on 2k. We have wwe 12' storyline,wwe 13' attitude era,2k14 wrestlemania 1-29,and 2k15 rivalries! Which they will still add more of!
Overall the game is the same formulas for the past 4 years and still works! The dlc is greedy this year but if you already purchased it you will have all dlc by april's end so it will be a wonderful game on last gen. Im excited for anyone who buys this game as if you are an hbk fan you will love it! | video-games_xbox |
For the price, about as good as it gets. For the price, this is an excellent gaming headset.
I play LOTRO and WoW and tried this set in both gaming environments: PvP, PvE, and Dungeons/Instances. I had no trouble hearing the other players while they were speaking to me and they informed me that I sounded great -- very clear with no distortion, muffled sound, or odd clicks or bumps or cutouts. I'm able to hear a wide range of sounds pretty clearly, although highs and lows are best with mid-range not as successful. These Recon 50 headphones reflect the in-game audio settings pretty accurately and once I had them set at the levels I wanted, these headphones delivered. I got so into the games that I didn't even notice I was wearing them -- a good sign.
My head is large and I find these headphones fairly comfortable for about one hour and then the top of my head gets a little sore from where the head band sits; there isn't much of a cushion on the underside, so you may want to supplement that or move the head band around from one spot to another. The length of the band itself is great and once the length is set, the cans themselves don't slip. The padding on the cans is comfortable and my ears were never sore.
My only significant complaint is the boom microphone. It works extremely well but it is inserted into and pulled from its port to easily, meaning it can be accidentally removed if you're not careful. It's not terrible but gamers tend to move around when playing and a more secure connection would add to the feeling of quality as well as allow the wearer to be completely unconcerned about it. The bendable shape is great and I'm able to get the microphone right where I want it. The small on-the-wire controls work well, though they're very small. The volume wheel could be a little wider.
I plugged these headphones into my Logitech audio controller and that was it. No installation to have to go through, just great sound in-game.
The Recon 50 is a headset that is well-priced and functions just as it should. While the sound won't beg comparison with a pair of high-end reference audio cans costing hundreds, they're fine for gaming, with clear sound input and output to and from other players. This is the best PC head set I've tried and the first from Turtle Beach. I'm very impressed.
Excellent. 4.5 stars. | video-games_xbox |
This is a review to help others like me that were so confused and couldn't find much . I wanted to help clear up these not so clear reviews. I also am NOT a rep for TB. This is a review to help others like me that were so confused and couldn't find much on Internet to help.
1. Headset loud enough? If you like ear piercing loudness, this won't do it. Those wanting a headset for gaming with very loud levels, this is for you!
2. Is it worth the upgrade from XO Seven? YES!
3. Is it worth an upgrade from XO Four? Absolutely!
4. How do you update them? Must have a PC and program AudioHub. Plug in both the headset and transmitter to update.
5. Should I update them? If you don't, they will sound "muffled" due to the settings without update.
6. I like a clear sound but that packs a punch, what is the best setting? Preset "gaming" and sub preset "footstep focus" will be your best bet. You must update your set to get this option in AudioHub.
7. Are the ear pieces comfortable? Not to me as they are the fabric ones.
8. Can you upgrade the ear cushions? Yes. I just installed the Shure hpaec840 and they work wonderfully. A little loose but with the faux leather and deeper ear hole, well worth it.
9. Wireless to controller and box. Transmitter connects to box.
10. Headband is very well padded.
11. Mic is very clear to recipients
12. Mic monitoring is not too quiet on low level. It makes it sound like when you talk to someone normal. High level is a bit too loud, but this allows you to crank up the sound and still hear yourself.
13. You can power off the headset but must do it prior to powering down box AND not being plugged into to charge until after box is off. Hold button for 5 seconds.
14. If the surround LED light is not lit, this is due to the setting for audio not supporting surround sound (i.e. "Stereo")
This headset surprised me as there are so many bad/confusing reviews. Hope this helps clear it up.
I'll help answer any question you may have. I bought mine direct from TurtleBeach due to the 10% coupon they offered. Now I see they are $200 on Amazon so way better deal here.
A perfect gaming headset that won't let you down. | video-games_xbox |
Good eye candy to show off your Xbone, microtransaction don't belong however. Edit - I knocked my review down from three starts to two stars after a recent discovery. The split screen multiplayer does not work well at all for a party situation. They WAY OVER ENGINEERED IT. Every time someone else picks up a controller the game freaks outs and claims to have lost connection to the controller. what is happening is Forza tries to keep track of which player is holding which controller and when someone passes a controller to someone else you have go through this very un-intuitive process of re-registering that new person or setting them up as guest. It simply does not work well. Imagine a room of four or five 10 year olds taking turns at racing two at a time. After each race they swap out one kid at a time ("I play winner") and Froza says "connection lost with controller". The only way to get the next kid in is to go through several annoying steps that are not logical nor intuitive. So I hear "Daaaad it's doing it again". The idea is that Forza would recognize every player and every player ideally would have a microsoft live account. And if you were ever at someone eleses house forza is supposed to recognize you there. The problem is the kids just want to take turns playing a video game. So for that I give ti two stars.
Original review ---
I bought Forza motorsport for the express purpose of having a next gen game to show of the next gen graphics. This game delivers on that front. I love the interface, the show rooms and the Top Gear narrations. This game was made for fans of the automobile. The driving is superb and I don't even like driving games. The controls are easy to learn but driving well is difficult to master (the right amount of difficult to provide a fun challenge).
Where this game falls short is no surprise, everyone is talking about it. The number of tracks is too limited and they push you to purchase (with real money) car packs on you all the time. It feels like a free-to-play game, yet it's not free.
A big part of the game is racing to earn credits so you can buy more expensive cars which open up more racing opportunities. Here is a huge grind. Luckily I discovered if you log into the Forza website you will find reward credits which help early on (several 100,000's credits to be had). Of course you can buy credits for real money but that's kins of lame. The cost of the additional cars seem to be a bit outside the scope of what you would earn with normal play so it tempts you to buy credits with real money.
It's as if the makers of the game couldn't decide on the right revenue model, charge premium price or go free-to-play. They decided to do both at the same time for this game and it just doesn't work. Maybe they should make this a free game and give tons of credit to those of us who bought the title at full price. | video-games_xbox |
Fine if you care more about multiplayer games. Halo 2 is a game that really starts well, but piddles out in the final acts of its single-player campaign. The story of this game falls into clichs and doesn't really try to surprise the gamer; most of the game is just predictable and offers far less replay value than its predecessor.
The game just goes on, and on, and on without getting much done for its story, and aside from two levels taking place on Earth there aren't many levels that offer much in the ways of entertainment and replay value. Also, the feeling of the game feels very cheap, and light compared to its predecessor, which offered some legitimately intense gaming moments (such as the introduction of the Flood). This game offers little worth remembering, aside from cool things you do on Xbox Live. The game's single-player is just weak compared to the original game. If this was the game we got in 2001 Xbox would have certainly been sunk.
The character designs are a downgrade, I'm afraid to say. The Marines units have been reduced to what I'd expect soldiers to be wearing in CNN newsreel footage and they do not look like they are from the future in any way. This is just one of my many complaints about the feel of this game. The first game you felt like you actually were serving a purpose and providing help (key word being "help") for the human forces. Everything about this game can be summed up by "Run in. Shoot stuff. Cut scene. Repeat." There never is really anything to challenge the gamer, other than whether or not he/she can shoot something enough that it dies, and then they have a clich plot revolving around this concept (Serious, most of the missions you're goal is "You must kill this dude/thing").
Halo 2 does offer some positive things. The graphics are top notch, really improving upon the engines used in the previous game. Visually a lot of work obviously went into making this game look good, and visually Halo 2 has little in the way of flaws. It is probably one of the best games to look at in the original Xbox's inventory. The main aspect of Halo 2 that makes it worth playing is the online multiplayer, and I do believe Bungie put more effort into this aspect of the game than the actual game's campaign. However, if you're like me and seldom have access to Xbox Live you're gonna care more for the single-player campaign.
It's a fun game especially for people who enjoy co-op and online multiplayer matches, but for someone looking for a thrilling 1st person experience such as that provided in the original game you'd best steer away from this game or lower your expectations. That being said this game is 50x better than the rip-off that was Halo 3. | video-games_xbox |
Intense but too familiar. The problem people see in the game industry is similar to what people complain about in the movies: too many sequels and copycats and yet they forget the important thing that it's what you do with what you have that makes all the difference. So we can look at the latest Call of Duty, subtitled World at War, and think "oh lord, another World War 2 shooter, haven't played one of those in oh...2 weeks" but what Treyarch did is oddly make one of the better ones recently. The best? Well I haven't played most of the Medal of Honor series or Call of Duty 2 but it's certainly one of the more intense ones.
Story: World at War takes place through the eyes of 2 soldiers: Pvt. Miller of the United States Marines making their way into Japan while Pvt Petrenko is a Red Army soldier making their way towards Berlin. While the Infinity Ward-made Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had a new story and could bring the twists in to spice up the narrative, we pretty much know how certain battles worked out so there's no real big surprise but it's still cool going through it. Getting ambushed with flares at night or having to defend a position against incoming tanks makes up for its shortcomings storyline-wise.
Also it's hard to shake the feeling it's really just Modern Warfare with a WW2 skin: there's a sniper mission where you avoid detection, a gunship mission (though this one's cooler and more action-packed) and a finale done in slow motion, it feels as though Treyarch just took the body of Modern Warfare and just added WW2 clothes on, changed the name and scenery and booted it out the door.
Graphics: Call of Duty IV had an incredibly effective engine behind it and was very successful at making you feel like you were in the middle of a large-scale battle whereas in most shooters, all the activity is just in front of you. World at War is no different with planes overhead being shot down, tanks exploding and gunfire happening everywhere, it's very immersive. Smoke effects are excellent, detail in the landscapes work well and character animation is alright but slightly stiff.
Sound/Music: Sound is just as great as the graphics and everything from gunfire to that "ping!" a gun makes when the clip empties, explosions off in the distance, flybys and the like are well-integrated into everything. What was a little skeptic was the idea of a bit more unique approach to the soundtrack in having modern sounds and having even rock playing. Not a rock band per se but big drums and guitars and while on its own you might think "...the hell?", in-game it actually makes the battles seem more epic and intense. Voice acting really comes down to Keifer Sutherland, your "Captain Price" for the American side while a nearly unrecognizable Gary Oldman is your leader on the Russian and I preferred having them bark orders at me so that was cool.
Gameplay: Nothing fundamental has changed though of course the weaponry is a lot different. Automatics aren't as fast in gunfire, weapons take longer to reload and flash grenades have been replaced by molotovs though there's some cool additions. Big one is the flamethrower which, to be subtle, charbroils your enemies realistically. Though you don't use it fairly often, it gives you a demented rush baking your enemies. Only problem with grenades is that enemies seem to love losing them so much and not only that, seem to be extremely skilled to the point where a grenade will literally kill you without even the indicator popping out to get out. Couple of times I spawned right on top of the thing and that will frequently get annoying. AI is somewhat inconsistent since like Resistance 2, enemies seem to love you especially and even a couple of times they'll just stand there in front of a squadmate who's not even firing, almost saying "do you want to or shall I?" Bah.
People are still playing CoD 4 on multiplayer so how does this one stack up? Well it works and it doesn't since the perk and EXP gaining of before remains intact along with the various modes but there's only problem: the maps are too damn big. Whereas Infinity Ward made maps a lot more tight quarters and always kept you on your toes, Treyarch basically gave big maps of nothing all over the place making it easier to get sniped or in most cases, not even run into anyone for awhile. While it's still fun to Team Deathmatch, it gets a bit too bland and the spawn points are just horrid. Prestige is added where your perks and levels are removed for show-off medals and you start all over and air strikes and the like have been replaced by ravenous dogs (sic em, pooch!) but it's not really as exciting as Modern Warfare's multiplayer.
Also included is co-op online and offline which makes certain missions great and you can either just play for fun or for bonuses and the most kills though some missions aren't done such as the gunship mission (I don't see why not, all the players just man the different guns and you shoot whichever comes onto your side) but it's nice to be able to get some help during the campaign during those cheap parts (like Heart of the Reich). The other major co-op mode is Nazi Zombie in which you and up to 4 players have barricaded themselves in a house and you have to fight off waves of zombies who get tougher with each round. Better guns and ammos can be purchased and barricades can be repaired and it's pretty fun though be prepared for some moronic players online and more often than not, someone ignores to do something they should've done already. It works like Horde mode from Gears of War 2 but whereas that one stopped at wave 50, Nazi Zombie is more like survival as long as possible since eventually, you will die.
Is World at War worth a playthrough? I'd say so since I quite enjoyed the single player and multiplayer does get some fun but if you're a diehard fan of Call of Duty IV than this one might feel like most series: some are awesome, some are good while others are just awful. World at War is a good game but compared to Modern Warfare, it doesn't achieve complete awesomeness. This is the Return of the Jedi compared to IV's Empire Strikes Back. | video-games_xbox |
Definitely Different From Most Videogames. Wow where to start? Assassin's Creed I believe captivated us all from the beginning, what with its stunning graphics too beautiful to not enjoy and its realistic plot and gameplay. In Assassin's Creed you become the assassin sent to kill off the 9 Crusaders of its time. When you delve into the game for the first time you are met with a scene that seems very modern and high tech. You start in a modern day era with a guy with jeans and a jacket on. At this point I was confused and a bit upset that they mixed modern and past elements together, but that is only the beginning. You play as the character Altair, the ancestor of the guy called Desmond who has been taken 'prisoner' to an experiment to collect his memories of his ancestor, Altair. I'll let you figure the rest out for yourself. Let me point out the cons and pros of this game.
WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
CONS: As many have said, the missions that you recieve are repetitive. You do the same thing in each city and this frankly got on my nerves a bit as well as getting the view points. But, as I played more and more I became interested in the game's storyline and wanted to know what happens. The cutscenes were long but they were necessary to the game's plot so it's a good idea to listen to what the characters talk about. Other than that there seems to be no other flaw to me.
On a good note, though the game was repetitive in some ways the assassinations were different and interesting from the rest. I liked that.
PROS: Stunning graphics, realistic scenery and people, wide area to explore. This game is definitely based off its graphics and storyline. Everything from people's responses to you to the way the horse you ride moves is so realistic. Near the end of the game you got to fight more and it was actually pretty fun. I didn't die once while seeking Robert. It was fun but I gave it four stars because sometimes if I slipped up for something so little then the guards would be after me and sometimes it takes forever to outrun them and hide.
When the storyline wraps up and you see what Desmond sees at the end of the game you're just like "What the..". And then the credits start rolling and you're confused. I was but that shows that it leaves it open for a second game. Once I started thinking about it the game really is kind of freaky..what with the end of the world thing and controlling people and whatnot. Overall Assassin's Creed was a great game, though it seemed short and was very easy, it shocked us all. It's very different from other games and I think that many of us thought that it would be similar to Prince of Persia. While Altair does have acrobatic skills like the prince this game is far different from Prince of Persia, which I think is good because Ubisoft succeeded in shocking some people with this deep and very different storyline. And they also took the risk at making this a religious game, which in today's society, will cause controversy. This game is fun, beautiful, and very interesting. If you don't own it rent it. It's worth trying at least once. | video-games_xbox |
Best Game Compilation Ever. Not only is this game the best value in console history, with 5 quality titles, its also includes some of the most innovative first-person game play design as well. I'll review each title:
Half-Life 2 (4.5/5) - Probably the single best 1-player first person shooter ever made, definitely for the PC. I played this game on the PC and it gets a perfect 5/5 there. The console version gets a 0.5 star deduction if only because the 360 controller proves to be slightly less adept than the mouse/keyboard combo. Combat is fine because they've added some auto aim to compensate, but often times you'll find yourself strafing back and forth at doorways, in order to line up correctly and get through. But the absolute worst is the vehicle control. Halo is the only FPS I've played that got vehicle control right, but HL2 is bound by the rule of never leaving Gordon Freeman's eyes, and so driving must be done first-person. But the driving segments are relatively short, given the total length of the game, and there are plenty of breaks. Certainly not a deal breaker, but still noticeably inferior to the PC version in this regard.
Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (4/5) - The first in the "episodic content" experiment, HL2:EP1 returns you to the Citadel, where you ended HL2. The first portion of the game has you repeating the same style of combat, using your enhanced gravity gun. Some new puzzle elements have been added here, which basically involves shooting energy balls around. Its interesting, but not nearly as diverse as the first game. Same with the rest of the game. Although there are some interesting new ideas, and a few new enemies, there is also a little too much repetition for such a short title, and although the story is captivating as always, it doesn't advance very far. Ultimately though, its HL2 so it rocks. These are minor complaints, and would be diminished if it didn't have its predecessor to be compared to. There is also an unbelievable XBox 360 "Achievement" that involves completing the entire game using just one bullet!
Half-Life2: Episode 2 (4.5/5) - The first "new" game on the disc. A little longer, and a little better than the previous episode. The game play has changed a little here. There are a few less physics puzzles, and more varieties of combat. A brutal new enemy is unveiled, and quickly gives you a reason to despise them. One of the byproducts of this stylistic change, means more frustration. The first two games are very linear and do an excellent job of indicating ideal strategy, while still letting you "run and gun" if thats your style. While this title is still pretty linear, you have to work out some strategies on your own, and that usually involves dying a lot. In the middle of the game, navigating an underground antlion nest involves EVADING a mother antlion. Its not exactly clear (the AI characters only tell you not to KILL it), and you'll waste ammo (that you ABSOLUTELY need later) if you even try and combat it. For the first time, there is an epic "end battle". This was probably the most intense experience in the whole series, and it follows the same style as above: there are multiple strategies to attack the encroaching enemies. This is the first time I wanted to throw my controller out the window, but finally winning was awesome. When does Episode 3 come out again?
Portal (5/5) - Another reviewer has said that if you don't like Portal, then you are stupid. There isn't much else to say. Talk about an innovative idea that is perfectly executed! Portal is not only a unique puzzle game, its wickedly smart and funny. Although the game is far too short, it does have some replay value with a few advanced maps and some other challenges. I'm very interested to see where VALVe take this awesome idea! This is the first real first-person style innovation in a while.
Team Fortress 2 (4/5) - The online multiplayer aspect of the package. TF2 is awesome looking (almost cell shaded?) and pretty fun and funny as well. This is class based combat, meaning that if you aren't any good at shooting people than you can be a medic or an engineer or something else useful to the team. I have two complaints. First is that its one player per console. This makes sense as its a ported PC game, but it still suffers when compared to other major FPS online games (ahem, Halo 2 & 3). The second is that the online matchmaking system isn't as smooth as others (ahem, Halo 2 & 3). Once again, this is because its based on the PC model. But its no fun to have find an almost full match only to find out its been filled in the time it took you to push the "A" button and then have to start the whole process over again. There are only a couple maps, but thats OK because it removes some of the steep learning curve. Combined with the simple controls and fixed weapon options, it allows n00bs to jump right in and at least enjoy the experience, unlike other games (ahem, Halo 2 & 3).
So the final verdict is that you have to buy this title. Now. Do it. Click "Add to Cart". Do it. | video-games_xbox |
Glitches? yes. Broken? HELL NO. First off, everyone says that "this game freezes...ALOT". Well, the UFC Personal Trainer website acknowledges this, and clearly states to "play the game disconnected from xbox live". Well, I did this....and had ZERO freezing! I played over 30 total minutes of workouts, and not once did the game freeze up. The videos never skipped either. The kinect responded to my voice, EVERYTIME.
Now that that's out of the way, the game is actually really good. Yes, the trainer repeats himself (for every stretch, we're reminded how important stretching is, in case we forgot since the last time he said it, one minute ago), but it isn't as annoying as it sounds (well, so far). There isn't much else he could say, right? What, he's supposed to ask you if you're a Battlefield or Modern Warfare kind of guy? Tell you how much Josh Koscheck is a toolbag (in case you didn't know)?
Some people may think the game "freezes" during workouts in regard to the stopwatch. What actually happens is you're doing an exercise for REPS, NOT TIME...so when you hit the desired reps, say, 25 jabs, the clock pauses, going from green to brown, and the trainer has you knock out a few more reps. Do not mistake this as a freeze, which I accidentally did at first, it's intentional.
PROS: - Excellent, well scripted workouts. They're not easy, even at the lowest level, for the average person. Prepare to work!
- The trainers clearly demonstrate and explain every stretch and exercise, leaving no guess work.
CONS: - The music sucks. It isn't even good enough to be considered background music...it's more like the music you get on the "option menu" on most games. This can easily be fixed by simply turning the music off and playing your own workout music.
- Ok, this is kind of a big glitch....it misses reps. Seriously, not just occasionaly, but often. In the beginning evaluation, which is a minute each of situps, pushups, and jumping jacks, I was shorted reps on each event (1 situp, 6 or so pushups {sue me, I lost count}, and 11 jumping jacks).
- One minor annoyance is that during stretching, some stretches make you face away from the screen, and you're supposed to switch arms/legs/direction/etc, but with no audible cue. He'll say SOMEthing, like "stretching is good for you", but unless you pay attention, you'll miss the change over, since not everytime he talks is a switch.
- If you're doing a stretch wrong, it doesn't correct you (I tested this, seriously, I did it INTENTIONALLY....ok you know what? Glass houses, my friend, glass houses)
Look, if you want a good, solid workout game, get this and play offline, or just wait until the patch comes out, which I assume won't be too long. This game has the substance and depth to be the best workout game that utilizes the kinect to it's full ability. | video-games_xbox |
Devilicous. Three years since the release of devil may cry 3, dante is back for a new mission..Well sort of.
This time you play as Nero who is the new protagonist of the DMC sequel and unlike the "substitute"
Character of Raiden (Metal Gear Solid 2) Nero delivers almost as much as Dante especially with new capabilities one in particular would be the Devil Grabber which can extend to grab enemies and combined with the melee buster attack makes for one mean punch.
The grabber is also used for reaching levels that cannot be accompanied by foot. Reminiscent to both Capcom's Lost Planet and Bionic Commando. Once the game starts you are treated to a cool cinema in which Nero, Knight of the holy order is shown battling demons while his beloved Kylie performs an operatic song within the church. Then afterwards a mysterious assassin cloaked in red (guess who?) attacks the church and is confronted by Nero in a very John Wooesque scene.
The rest of the plot follows as Nero tracks down the assassin as well as unraveling the conspiracy involving the church and in the process rescuing Kylie. The gameplay never slows down due to intense boss battles, collecting orbs to increase your skills and items and solving puzzles.
My only gripe regarding this game would be some backtracking to the point in which you have to face the previous bosses, not twice but three times. And then there are the usual camera issues which can be a bit frustrating when jumping to collect orbs. Dante however has the usual guns Ebony and Ivory, but the one new weapon that stands out would be the Pandora that is capable of transforming from a arrow, to a bazooka, Gatling gun and some weird flying missile platform.
I highly recommend DMC4 regardless of minor flaws, its well worth the purchase. My regret is that I did not buy the collector's edition which comes with the DMC Anime as the DVD is now out of print due to ADV restructuring. The graphics for both PS3 and 360 are somewhat similar; however I prefer the 360 version because of the force feedback, achievement points and custom soundtrack. The game's music is still reminiscent to ramenstein but with a bit of rob zombie. The ending song is pretty good and makes for a great companion to the story. Capcom, you have done it again!! Now bring on RE 5. | video-games_xbox |
Great concept ruined by terrible programing. Like most others here I bought the game in the hopes of a GTA-esque style zombie game but was sorely dissapointed. It was a great concept with lots of potential ruined by whatever moron programmed it.
First the good
Graphics are stunning and as close as realistic as I have seen. This is a good show of what the 360 has to offer graphically.
Gameplay is awesome using everything as a weapon is really fun.
And thats really it. Kinda sad huh?
The bad
The save feature. I don't care what some people are saying, it's broken. I got this game and played for 4 hours and got pretty far. I got to a boss battle and died and decided to rest and try again later. when i came back I had no continue point. Instead I had to start from the begining. Not the begining of the stage the begining of the entire game. Oh but I got to keep all my stats from before (sarcasm here). Like that makes up for 4 hours of gameplay I can't get back.
Another issue is when you do get guns you have to stop to aim. There is no reticle for running and gunning so to speak. So in a game where you have to constantly be on the move so zombies don't kill you you have to stop to actually aim.
Along with ridiculous time limits and a very linear story this game falls ridiculously short of expectaitons and is only worth a rent or borrow.
The odd
I wonder why unless it is a cut scene they didn't put in voice acting. When I went up to talk to some one there was a subtitle screen.
You can't store ammo, only guns, so in order to carry 60 handgun bullets I need 2 handguns which takes up valuable space in my inventory that could be used for other items.
The walkie talkie goes off way too much and never has useful info like "zombies ahead of you" only more tedious missions. Plus when you answer it you can't fight any zombies you're left vulnerable.
So that's my review. A great premise with extremely poor execution. If you're a huge fan of the zombie genre you may like this if you're looking for a GTA meet Dawn of the Dead (to steal a fellow reviewers phrase)look elsewhere or play GTA cause this ain't it. | video-games_xbox |
Saving the Day. Written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, this is pretty much an official sequel to the first two films, and is a lot better than the movie Ghostbusters 2. A lot.
The original actors return to do their own voice and motion-capture performances. Bill Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis, and Ernie Hudson as the intrepid foursome, Annie Potts as their nerdily hot secretary Janine, William Atherton as bureaucratic douche-bag Walter Peck, with Alyssa Milano and Brian Doyle Murray joining the cast as the new love interest and the mayor.
The player takes the role of the new guy, a young rookie stuck with the job of trying out the newest, untested equipment. That equipment of course includes the proton beam, the ghost trap, and the PKE meter from the films, but you get three new weapon types to play around with (the slime gun proving the most fun).
The game captures every element of the Ghostbusters franchise perfectly. The writing is sharp and clever. The performances are lively and dead on. The gameplay is tight and exactly what it should be. The locations are complex and colorful and highly destructible. And the ghosts are varied, entertaining, and multifarious.
The storyline is far better than I'd expected. It starts in familiar territory, with new encounters with old friends like Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and to be honest I had my doubts about that. But they fully rationalize the inclusion of the old stuff, making it an organic part of the present storyline, allowing you to enjoy the nostalgic encounters early in the game, then moving into lots of new, original material. I'm glad they did this. It was loads of fun blasting the Hotel Sedgwick to pieces, and the battle with Mr. Stay Puft proves to be even more epic and fun than it was in the first film.
Apparently the actors all had so much fun making the game, they finally agreed to do another film, and Ghostbusters 3 is set to start filming next summer.
I played this on the Xbox 360. It's available on PC and Playstation 3, but if you're deciding between the Xbox and the PS3 version, definitely go Xbox. The PS3 version's resolution is 56% of the Xbox version (I base this on several online sources, not on my own observations, and I have both machines, so I'm not speaking out of any particular brand loyalty). There is a Wii version as well, but it's effectively a different game, with more cartoony graphics. | video-games_xbox |
A must own game for any 360 owners, but not without its faults. Dead Rising is an Exciting new game by the same brilliant minds of developers CAPCOM(whom brought you Resident Evil 4, Killer 7, DMC). The Game follows the footsteps of Frank, a War Journalist who is trying to figure out just what the hell is going on in the city of Colorado. Long story short, some baddies have brought a horrible virus that has turned the entire(or almost)population to flesh eating cannibals. Now Frank has to uncover the truth(in a mall, DAWN OF THE DEAD, hmmm???)and has to get it within the course of the 3 days before he leaves the town. But as you get deeper into the games story you'll meet up with some likable characters whom are also there to you help you on your quest to finding how what the hell is been goin on this messed town, and also some unlikable people, but those are mainly the villains.
Dead Rising is deffinetly one of the most unique games on the 360. Its a free roaming(sort of)action adventure game that lets you use many random items as your weapons and damn do they help you out a lot. For example, if there is a about maybe 100 to 200 zombies in a certain area and you have a baseball bat, USE IT and i mean use till you've gotten to your destination and more importantly...bashed some brains. Speaking of which Dead Rising is very "From Point a to point d" oriented. You will be doing missions and side quests which pins you to run from part of the mall to another part of it and the mall is quit huge. The game is just plain fun and it never got boring for me once. The game also has a level up system which lets you expand your stats like Running faster, increased attack hits and even expands your items holding(as you level up you can hold more items). At first the it will be on the hard side as you are on a very low level with not much stats build for you so prepare to be romped on as I found the game pretty difficult in the beginning parts, but as you get better with new skills and such the game gos from frustrating to just challenging. The reason also being is that the game chuck full of zombies and I mean CHUCK FULL of it. There will be times when your in a room just vomiting zombies at every corner...its truly a site to see and is one of the first few 360 game to come out and show the graphical potential of the 360. Speaking of that, Dead Rising is a very pretty game and has HANDS DOWN the best looking zombie visuals and character models i have ever seen on any console. Sure it has a couple of frame rate hiccups but usually when you're shooting a handful of zombies in your area(more preferably the very end of the game when you fight the boss on a tank)but it really doesn't affect that much. The sound is also top notch, the music is really awesome in parts like the park with the convicts. Controls are just right aswell.
I really wanted to give the game the a 5/5 but it sure does have its flaws. One being that the A.1 is very retarded. When you want to rescue Survivors they should have had an option where you can hold EACH AND EVERYONE of there hands because dealing with these morons is like dealing with a toddler. Trust me there will be times when the woman or man you're saving is going to just run into the wall and keeping doing it for the next 20 minutes until you do something about it. Its gos from fun to downright FRUSTRATING. Also some of the bosses are a real pain, one I can remember was the gun shop owner(man that guy was A PAIN)but it feels really rewarding as I did get to have the Gun shop store all to myself(with unlimited amounts of shotties and rifles..shigghty shiggity sweet)in which these parts are very "Rewarding" felt or something like that..Blah. Saving can also be a pain as it feels like a fetch quest since the mall is limited of Save stations(which play as bathrooms and such). Blah lets get to this
The Good
-Visualy Awesome, one of the best looking games on the 360
-Very fun and unique experience
-Lots of items and weapons to choose from
-doing everything will take a good 30 to 40 hours
-Pretty cool plot in my opinion
-IT TAKES PLACE IN A MALL, CMON MAN!!! THATS AWESOME
-Pretty gory, violent fun. Not for the lil ones
-Good Music
-awesome cutscenes
-Chuck full of Bosses and some are really memerable like the clown
The Bad
-Can get very difficult at times
-Some Bosses are real pain
-Saving the A.1 is like trying to get a Baby to walk...at times atleast
-Regular plot with the real ending talks only about 10 to 12 hours to beat :(
-Lots of Load Times between mall which can get annoying
-Needed more weapons like DOUBLE KATANA or something cause they didn't have much on the weapons other then a pistol, shotties, rifle ect. Your standard weapon
-Some Framerate hitches but not to the point where its downright Horrible..but still capcom could of fixed this
Overall Dead Rising is a must get for any 360 owners or anyone who is fan of the zombie genre in general(like myself). Its a very unique and unforgettable experience, not to mention one of my fav 360 games ever(it was my first 360 game acctually). Loads of fun, from start to finish. Anyone looking to blast some undead heads should be checkin this game asap. Put simply...Dead Rising is an awesome THOUGH FLAWED game...
4.3 | video-games_xbox |
a great rental. Condemned is the first thriller game on the 360, created by the folks at Monolith, who are responsible for the hit F.E.A.R. on the PC. Unfortunately, this game didn't get the attention it deserves at launch due to the incredible amounts of hype surrounding Perfect Dark Zero.
Condemned places you in the shoes of FBI agent Ethan Thomas, and you're investigating the strange murders of a serial killer. Right off the bat, Ethan is framed for the murder of two police officers while investigating the crime scene. This leads you through 10 missions in which Ethan tries to prove he isn't guilty along with tracing the deadly serial killer, did i also mention that the city is crawling with angry drug addicts?
Unlike most 1st person shooters, Condemned tends to incorporate real life situations in the game. For example, 80% of the fighting you encounter will be with a handheld weapon. You will find some guns, such as a pistol, shotgun, or a submachine gun, but they only have a handful of shots in them. Once you use up your shots, the gun is worthless. The handheld weapons range from 2x4s to locker doors, and each weapon has its pros and cons (i.e. larger weapons take longer to swing, but they reach farther and do more damage). Some weapons, such as sledgehammers and fire axes, are needed to advance in certain areas of the levels.
The problem with the combat system is that after you play the game for a few hours, it becomes extremely dull. You can only do two things with weapons: swing/shoot and block. The only real strategy behind the system is learning how to block effectively, and in doing so, performing a counter-attack. After knocking down enemies, some of them will stay on their knees, after which you can do 1 of 4 different 'finishing moves'. While these too can get boring, they are executed amazingly. For example, one of the options is to deliver a crushing headbutt to your enemy, when you do this, the screen flies towards the enemy and you deliver a sickening thud, giving you the impression that you ARE Ethan Thomas.
You are also given a taser, but I think that this takes away from the game a bit. When you shock your enemy, they are frozen in place for you to destroy, while it does take a few seconds to recharge, its too easy to back away and taser your enemy until he's a sitting duck. this is made even worse when you get an upgraded that goes one step further by knocking down the enemy.
While the combat is boring after so long, the enemies are still a blast to just watch. The enemy AI isn't the same moron you see in nearly every 1st person shooter. Enemies will charge at you, take fake swings to try and trick you, pretend to fall down only to come back with a deadly swing, and even run away if they see you have a much better weapon than them.
A complaint i have is with the weird movement controls. Ethan walks throughout the game, and you can only run when you click and hold the left analog stick, and even then there is an energy meter, which once empty, will slow you down again. There also isn't a jump button, the game instead tells you when to jump. This isn't a huge downer because there aren't that many situations where you will need to jump.
Throughout the levels, you will come across certain areas which contain evidence needed to find the serial killer. This is where the 'CSI' investigative part of Condemned comes in. Unfortunately, the game pretty much holds your hand whenever one of these situations pops up. You are told which tool to use, and how to use it. Which leads me to another problem, the game lacks any challenging puzzles and is very linear. Monolith decided to focus more on the fighting aspect of the game, which is fun for only a few hours.
The level design is somewhat dull, a lot of the areas look exactly the same, which obviously leads to moments where you get lost a lot. The sound makes up for it however, as the sickening thuds you hear when you hit someone with a hammer is gruesome, but extremely satisfying. Its also a blast to play with surround sound, because there are many times when you hear a drug addict running around planning his attack, and you have no clue where he is.
The last issue I had is a save glitch in my game. I haven't heard anyone else have this problem, but in example, i was on level 6, but when i started up my game, i was loaded into the middle of level 4. Unfortunately, this happened quite a lot near the end of my game, but like I said, I haven't heard this problem with anyone else.
Overall, Condemned is a great game, but several shortcomings keep it from being one worthy of the hefty price tag. I would expect about 10-12 hours of gameplay, with little to no replay value, unless you really want to unlock all the achievements. Condemned makes a great rental, and its a blast to play at night with the lights off, with surround sound. | video-games_xbox |
Tony Hawk 2 levels + Tony Hawk 1 levels + 5 new ones. Pro Skater is a skateboarding game like no other, first, chose from 13 pro skaters each with their own tricks, stats and special moves or create your own custom made pro skater. Then have them skate in eight detailed skate parks (several more hidden!). The price of this game is so low (because it is dated), and the graphics are a huge step up from the Playstation and N64 versions, such as very detailed textures and even graffiti looks great. The X-Box version of this game does a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong. This game came out after Tony Hawk 3 had come out, and could have included several upgrades from the superior Tony Hawk 3 game. The makers of the game did not use the X-Box to its full capability, such as having limitless saves for replays, created skaters and created skate parks. There are no custom soundtracks either, which is a huge let down with the X-Box's hard drive able of keeping music on it. The game really needs to be divided into three parts, the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 part, that has eight courses to skate on where for each course, there are a number of goals to accomplish for each, such getting high scores by earning points from performing tricks, grinds, and jumps over gaps (like building to building), collecting the letters SKATE, grinding three rails, jumping over fire hydrants and various other things, they vary from level to level. When you complete a goal you get money to gain cash that you can buy new skateboards, upgrades to better your skater and you can also buy bigger tricks. The second part comes after you complete the Tony Hawk 2 game, then it unlocks a new career, the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2X, which consists of five ALL NEW courses exclusively for the X-Box. The levels are a nigh club in London, a construction site in Texas, a skate park in Tampa Bay (the skate park is also in Tony Hawk's Underground), and two fictional areas, the subway and a skatepark with large grinds. There are new goals to do, but you do not get money for completing these goals. These courses are very lack luster and look more like they were rejected from Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1, which brings us to the third part of the game. Once you go through three of the Tony Hawk 2X levels that unlocks the old Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 levels! You can skate through them pretty quickly, even with the upgraded textures there are no other improvements to the Tony Hawk 1 levels. The game has twenty-four courses in all! | video-games_xbox |
High on entertainment but low on substance. Dead Rising is an entertaining video game due to its fun third-person controls and all the options you have to kill your undead foes, but the plot certainly leaves something to be desired. If you aren't looking for any form of well-thought out story than you will enjkoy Dead Rising immensely as a bloody chop-til-you-drop game.
Gameplay: Very fun, easy to operate third-person controls that allow you to have fun and contain full control over your character. There is a wide variety of weapons you can use in the mall ranging from stuffed animals, shotguns, and giant battle axes and there are different ways of using each of these weapons (naturally some are far better than others). Also, you have your zombie essentials such as head shots being insta-kills. It's also fun to change the clothes and appearance of your character in the various shops.
Graphics: The graphics are not bad, but could have been better, but for the most part they work incredibly well. The cut scenes in this game are great. Gore for zombie kills is over the top, as is to be suspected in ANY zombie game, but I have to say it is some of the most fake looking video game you'll ever see (depending on your stance regarding gore in video games this may be a good or bad thing).
Story: There are lots of characters, but they're really worthless other than the fact that if you follow the story directly (you have the option to do WHATEVER you want in the mall) you can fight more bosses by following the primary story plot. No matter how far you stray from the game's central plot you're still going to get some boss battles in the form of random lunatics that happen to stroll the mall. The best part of the game comes when you get to cut scenes involving some of the loonies you must take down. I'd go so far as to say some of these mini-bosses provide the best, most chilling cut scenes in the entire game and they're still living!
Entertainment: The game is very entertaining, and will keep you glued to the screen for hours on end as you try to find new ways to get through the game, but you won't leave it feeling like you actually did anything. So this is a game of little substance but BIG on entertainment value.
My final verdict is that if you're feeling stressed out and feel that you need to batter and blast away countless numbers of living dead than there is no better game for you than Dead Rising for the Xbox 360...Actually, you don't even need to be stressed out! If you have a slow afternoon pop this in and the time will just fly on by! | video-games_xbox |
More of the same. By this point I've almost come to expect a new moral debate with the nigh-annual release of a new chapter in the Grand Theft Auto story. Whether it was the anti-police sentiment of GTA 1, the mass-genocide potential of GTA III or the heavy drug use of Vice City, the entire series hasn't exactly distanced itself from controversy over the years. The concept of pushing the envelope to the point of cultural war is far from novel to the men and women behind these games, so your average gamer is by this point powering up each new GTA with a certain set of expectations. If you remain loyal the series today, you're expecting to be shocked by the vulgarity and humbling potential reality of it all. Bearing that in mind, there's no denying the fact that San Andreas, "coffee" or not, is Rockstar's most ambitiously adult-flavored outing yet.
After a brief hiatus into semi-homage with the Scarface meets Miami Vice storyline of Vice City, San Andreas effectively brings the series back into the territory of wholly original storytelling. The saga begins as Carl "CJ" Johnson, the story's focus, returns home to the city of Los Santos to discover his mother in the ground and his friends and family on the losing end of a bitter gang war. His old running buddies resent him for leaving them to try his luck in Liberty City five years ago, the streets where he was raised have been overrun by drug dealers, his brother hasn't forgiven him for missing out on their mother's funeral and a corrupt police department is breathing down his neck, just waiting for him to make a mistake. In short, things could be better. Fortunately, despite their uncertainty in his loyalties, CJ's friends have no qualms about bringing him back up to speed in the gang's business and allowing him to prove himself through blood, sweat and tears, (or various, mission-based tasks, as it were) and the driving force of the story revolves around this struggle to regain CJ's previous level of respect among his peers while making things right around the homestead. The main characters of the story are rock solid, and Carl is easily the most realistically flawed lead in GTA history. He made some mistakes before the story began and he'll make a few more before it ends, but he never crosses that thick line between sympathetic hero and irredeemable monster, even after curb-stomping a few grandmas. I think it's the game's incredible comedic timing and dry wit that keep CJ appealing; whether it's his brother picking at his driving or his often-venomous conversations with random pedestrians, there's always time for a snide comment or sarcastic remark after a brutal hit and run.
The setting, a dead ringer for early-'90s Los Angeles (with clones of San Francisco and Las Vegas playing supporting roles) is as much a player in the story as the individuals themselves. You can almost feel the weight of the town's imminent civil unrest pressing down on your shoulders throughout the early chapters, and as things build to a climax, that impending explosion just gets closer and closer to reality. There's an extremely angry tone to this game, even when compared to those that came before, and on the whole it feels much more mature (for lack of a better word) and true-to-life than its often-cheesy immediate predecessor. The feel of impending doom you're charged with throughout the game slowly, casually builds to a horrific boiling point that provides the backdrop for one of the most enjoyable, seat-of-your-pants final levels I've ever played. I never thought I'd play a game with a more rewarding, exciting, Hollywood action movie-style climax than I saw in the very first Halo, but if San Andreas doesn't surpass it, it undeniably comes extremely close.
Unfortunately, while the storytelling elements of San Andreas have markedly improved in the years since Vice City, the actual gameplay experience has taken a hit or two. Don't hear me wrong, the open-ended style of gameplay that defined the previous titles in the series is still here in full effect. It's still a blast to jog around the city with a blunt object and beat random civilians into submission, or to stand in the middle of the street and look around as motorists become more and more frustrated with you for blocking their way. There just wasn't as much room for innovation here as there was between GTA3 and Vice City. The addition of motorcycles, airplanes and helicopters were substantial changes to the game, natural steps forward from what had been established before. This chapter's additions of bicycles, an intricate character customization system and a variety of level-based skill power-ups isn't quite the same, and often serves to aggravate rather than amuse. Instead of pulling up to a destruction derby or BMX race and trying your luck right away, for example, you must first spend hours building up your "driving ability" or "biking ability." Some missions require you to gain some weight by eating a dozen fast food meals, while others ask you to lose some weight by running aimlessly on a treadmill for fifteen or twenty minutes. Playing a game shouldn't feel like work, and that's what a lot of the activities required to build your stats feel like.
This was my first experience with the series on the Xbox (I own PS2 copies of the last two GTAs) and I found the translation of controls to be a little awkward, to say the least. Most of the buttons are a simple, literal masking of the PS2's functionality onto the Microsoft controller, such as the "A" button as a run / fire button or the "X" button for jumping. Where the box really loses ground is with its lack of a second "L" and "R" trigger, as well as the additional freedoms bestowed upon players with the right analog stick and the camera angle it controls. Where the L2 and R2 buttons gave players the freedom to easily look to the left, right and behind them while behind the wheel of an automobile, that same functionality is mapped to the Xbox's mysterious black and white buttons with disastrous results. On my Type-S controller, those particular buttons are so small and out of the way that I was almost immediately screaming for the return of my old Dual Shock. Performing a precise drive-by shooting, which is a necessity on several missions, is nearly impossible with these tiny buttons... and forget about looking behind you while you roam the highways of Los Santos.
Where the series has really begun to show its age with this installment is in its graphics. Though the size of the map is just insanely large, close to three times the size of Vice City, the contents are almost identical visually. Though the old engine from GTA III has been tweaked to the very limits with this release, it's still that same old engine at heart. Player models don't exactly hold up when compared with similar games released within the same year. The variety of city buildings and wall decorations is still impressive, but the actual quality of those textures leaves a lot to be desired. After hearing almost endless praise about the differences between the last two games on PS2 and on Xbox, I was left feeling extremely underwhelmed after my first experience in San Andreas.
Fortunately, the same shortcuts apparently taken with the visuals are not repeated in the audio department. The soundtrack to San Andreas, while not quite as awe-inspiring as that of Vice City, is still a behemoth of its own and does an outstanding job of setting the tone for an area and covering a wide range of genres, tastes and ethnicities. Hop into a car in the ghettos of Los Santos and you're likely to hear an excellent collection of the founding fathers of hip hop or the pioneers of gangsta rap. Steal a car in the forest-coated, far less populated towns well outside the city limits, and you're much more likely to hear some country. While the obvious focus is on rap and hip hop, there really is something for everyone here, and the collections showcased on each station are almost indisputable. The famed comedy of the on-air commercials, personalities and programming choices, while not quite up to the same level as the last two games, is still good for a laugh or two and far, far above the level of GTA's closest competitors. The sophomoric humor herein takes a step away from the sarcastic tone of previous games in favor of a slightly cheesier bathroom joke or two.
Well, when push comes to shove, I can't say that I got all I was expecting out of this package. I intentionally waited for the Xbox release for this one, hoping to enjoy it in all its glory on what's quickly becoming the most desirable platform, but in the end I would've been better off just buying it on the PS2 in the first place. The Box offered little to no visual separation over previous titles on the Sony system, and what difference I did notice in load time was balanced out by an occasionally poor control scheme and horrible problems with invisible buildings. Despite some weak innovations in the gameplay, this is still a lot of fun to play and I'd recommend it just for the ongoing insanity of that final stage, but don't expect to be completely blown away, because this is hot-and-cold stuff. | video-games_xbox |
An excellent game to the conclusion of Lightning and her story. I started playing the FFXIII series back in 2010 midnight release so I am no stranger to this series. Overall I've enjoyed this trilogy, the story arch, and characters. Lightning is without a doubt one of my favorite game characters so when I first saw Lightning Returns I knew it would be at least decent.
Those who are familiar with this series know that the FFXIII trilogy has undergone many changes with the gameplay aspects throughout all 3 games. This never bothered me while other fans of Final Fantasy really hated this trilogy. I played it with an open mind and didn't have too many gripes in the long run. Lightning Returns is no stranger in regards to changes made and the combat is an entirely new animal but still contains a similar feel and characteristic of the previous games. You still need to stagger enemies to do maximum damage and potions are still present for your use. It's fast paced real time combat mixed with class setup which offers the player a ton of choices for how they want to approach battles. I especially loved how Square Enix included Lightning's garb from the first 2 games. So if you own FFXIII and FFXIII-2 you get her garbs and weapons for free in the game and they have their own perks attached with them. It's a nice nod to those of us who invested hours into the series.
While I found the side quests a little lackluster I never felt bored in this game which for me is a HUGE bonus because most RPG's I play I tend to fall off in the middle and I never go back to them. Always something to do and the big bosses you faced made the side quests not so bad. Leveling up through this game was done by completing main or side quests so getting as many done as possible definitely paid off.
In terms to the story it finally all comes together in this final game. While the fabulous nova crystallis storyline has always been deep and sometimes really hard to follow it gets wrapped up nicely in this game and you finally see Lightning's story come to an end. Many complained Lightning was very rigid in this game and had a somewhat monotone voice and felt more like a robot than human ... well that gets explained throughout the game as well so it all plays a role.
Very rarely when I buy a $60 game do I feel fully happy and satisfied in the end that the money I spent and time spent in the game was worth it fully. With Lightning Returns it's definitely icing on the cake for any of you fans out there that enjoyed the FFXIII series. Many will skip this game or simply hate on it for the sake of hating but if the price goes down and you've always wondered what FFXIII was all about I'd recommend buying all 3 games. Lightning Returns has a definitive conclusion which actually fulfills you as a player and the time invested while also wrapping up all the characters you spent watching and playing as over the span of 3 games. You have to really earn it too. If you go in normal mode (like I did) for my first play-through be prepared to be thrown around quite a bit.
Even if that isn't enough, after you 'beat' the game you have infinite new game+'s. What is unique about this new game+ though is you may have missed a lot of stuff in your first playthrough so your second time around you'll still have content you never touched. Furthermore if you play the hard mode lots of things change including boss fights and how enemies fight you. I hear the final boss of the game plays entirely different and has new attack moves. How often in a game can you say in a harder difficulty the enemies are different as opposed to just having insane damage boosts? Not very often.
In the future I totally plan to go back and play the FFXIII series again in sequence. I am sad it's over and still getting over the ending of Lightning Returns (it was that good in my opinion) but am also glad this series was made. It was different, hated by some, loved by others. In the end it's over and I can only hope Square Enix and other game companies continue to take chances and change things up. Too many games keep following the same stale formula that don't produce anything original or are afraid to try something different that may not pay off in the end.
Here's to hoping the future Final Fantasy games pull my heart strings and give me more good memories ... and maybe in the distant future we see Lightning again, who knows =) | video-games_xbox |
A fair collection of classic arcade games. I was glad to see that Midway released a compilation of their arcade hits to the Xbox 360, but was disappointed to find that they were missing some very good games. This collection has all of the main classics you'd expect like Defender, Joust, Spy Hunter, Sinistar, & so forth which are good games, no doubt. However, what was lacking were the major arcade titles that would have made this collection even better.
First, I'll list the titles that come with this release. Those titles are:
1. 720
2. APB
3. Arch Rivals
4. Bubbles
5. Championship Sprint
6. Defender
7. Defender II
8. Gauntlet
9. Gauntlet II
10. Joust
11. Joust 2
12. Marble Madness
13. Pit-Fighter
14. Rampage
15. Rampart
16. Robotron: 2084
17. Root Beer Tapper
18. Satan's Hollow
19. Sinistar
20. Smash TV
21. Spy Hunter
22. Spy Hunter II
23. Super Off Road
24. Super Sprint
25. Toobin'
26. Total Carnage
27. Tournament Cyberball 2072
28. Vindicators Part II
29. Wizard of Wor
30. Xenophobe
31. Xybots
Truthfully, that's not a bad line up of games, but why stop there? Midway could have easily added more titles to this collection. I personally would have included Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Hydro Thunder, Primal Rage, Narc, Roadblasters, Klax, Vindicators (don't know why they put part 2 without part 1), Badlands, Paperboy, Hard Drivin', Race Drivin', & Super Off Road: Track Pack. While it would have been outdated, I would have loved to have seen them include NBA Jam & NBA Jam: Tournament Edition.
I like the way they have the arcade borders set up when you're playing the game to give it an arcade feel, but at the same time, they should have included an option to allow you to stretch the picture to fit your screen. For example: If you try playing Spy Hunter on a wide screen TV, the actual game screen looks so small. The borders take up most of the screen.
This isn't a bad collection, but I just think that Midway could have done a better job releasing a classic game compilation. Adding the major titles from the early 90's & the ones they left out would have made this an awesome compilation. The screen adjustment is the other downside, but beyond that its still not a bad collection. If you're a fan of the older arcade games & especially the Midway releases, this collection isn't bad for the money you pay, but don't expect anything new. If you still own an Xbox or PS2 & you own Midway Arcade Treasures Volumes 1 - 3, then you have a bigger collection of games than you do with this compilation. I give it a 3 out of 5 star rating. | video-games_xbox |
Another great output from 2K Sports. After playing NBA 2k14 on XBOX 360, I was afraid that I would have to turn my back on 2k sports. After buying it and playing it on XBOX ONE for several days now, I can say that I was wrong. The game is absolutely stellar and 2k sports is getting closer to blurring the line between reality and animation. First, as I said, the graphics are absolutely amazing. Everything is so smooth and there are very few hiccups which cause unrealistic motions. Second, the controls are so seamless. I still have not mastered the isomotion capabilities, but as I get better, I see that the players I control don't pause or enter uncontrolled animations. They actually respond to what you tell them to do. This makes it especially fun for players like Derrick Rose and Lebron who are amazing finishers and can do all sorts of things getting to the basket. Third, the players/coaches have realistic personalities. Instead of messing with sliders or other statistics, you have points of emphasis. These points are basically the same things a coach would tell his players during a timeout: "Feed the post," "Crash the Offensive Boards," "Limit Perimeter Shots," etc. Similarly, players respond positively and negatively when they are either delighted or sleighted during a game, respectively. If a star doesn't get the ball enough, he grows cold.
There are more positives, but I'm sure you are more interested in seeing some of the negatives. I think the biggest negative is the statistics that go into shot success. Stephen Curry would not miss 5 or 6 open three's with a perfect release. So when playing him, I shouldn't either. Also, silly violations like goal tending a kicked balls are so abundant. On any given 7 minute quarter game, there will be 4 or 5 of each (if not more). Some of the other negatives are more personal (my opinion on new career mode and the park) so I'll let you judge that for yourself.
Overall, a stellar game. I'd recommend this to anyone who loves to play basketball games and loves a more realistic and flowing game. | video-games_xbox |
At least they tried, but not a good stealth game like it used to be. I don't know what to say. I like the Snake/Big Boss Franchise, but I'm more of a Splinter Cell/Sam Fischer person for more of a realistic stealth game. This is just too fake and dramatic for me. I just enjoy owning a copy and supporting the MGS series because I have fond memories of its roots.
If you do keep this game though, you will be able to unlock hidden items in the next MGS game coming out soon (I'll get that game too in hopes it will be as good as the first MGS on PSX).
If you are looking for a more realistic stealth game, rent these and check them out before you buy:
360:
Tom Clancy Splinter cell Blacklist (Perfectionist mode is really nice too)<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tom-Clancy-s-Splinter-Cell-Blacklist-Xbox-360/dp/B0086V5V9A/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Blacklist - Xbox 360</a>
Hitman Absolution <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Hitman-Absolution-Xbox-360/dp/B002I0K50U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Hitman: Absolution - Xbox 360</a>
Tom Clancy Ghost Recon Future Soldier (Came out years before Call of Duty Ghosts, and more sophisticated. Stealth and teamwork are rewarded more than how many people you can kill.)<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tom-Clancy-s-Ghost-Recon-Trilogy-Edition/dp/B00EVWYF0E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Trilogy Edition</a>
I'm looking forward to these XBox games, not stealth related but should be good:
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tom-Clancy-s-Rainbow-6-Siege-Xbox-One/dp/B00KVHSNB0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Siege - Xbox One</a>
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tom-Clancy-s-The-Division-Xbox-One/dp/B00DDXILBQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tom Clancy's The Division - Xbox One</a> | video-games_xbox |
Brilliant games, but can be purchased separately for less. I'm giving this 5 stars for the games included. I've written reviews of both games at one time or another, but a quick recap might be helpful. Halo Anniversary is a wonderful "HD" remake of the original first Halo: Combat Evolved, the first in the series. You can switch between old mode (showing the old Xbox graphics) and new HD mode, which is fun and startling. I found myself switching back and forth so much that I kept getting killed in the game. The original physics are still there from the old game, so only the graphics have been upgraded, not the gameplay or story or physics. That's okay, I prefer an exact duplication of the original without screwing it up.
Reach is a brilliant game, not starring Master Chief, which I have played so much over the years with my son that it's an obvious 5-stars. I just bought a 2nd copy and an extra 360 so we can play locally via LAN in co-op mode. This is one of the best features of the Halo franchise that sets it way above most other games. Call of Duty series? NOPE! They don't offer LAN co-op--too bad, that would be fun. In fact, few games do it at all, let alone do it well. I haven't played the Master Chief Collection yet, as I don't own a One, so I'm referring to the 360 version here.
When the price drops, this is a great way to get these two games at once. The logic of bundling these two together might not make sense at first until you've played Reach through to the end. I won't spoil it for you, but suffice it to say, Halo: CE follows Reach naturally due to the ending (you'll see if you haven't played it through yet). In fact, it might be kind of fun to play Reach first, if you haven't ever enjoyed the brilliance of Halo: CE yet (where have you been!?).
However, be mindful that both of these games have been out for many years already, so unless there's a really great sale on this bundle, it doesn't make much sense to buy it to save money since both can be had for a steep discount, not to mention the used market. I recommend buying one of the more exclusive versions of each game instead, even if you're coming into the series for the first time. | video-games_xbox |
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