text stringlengths 503 33.4k | labels stringclasses 23 values |
|---|---|
Positives and negatives of virtua tennis 3. For those tennis gamers that have tried all the console games out there for xbox 360, ps2, psp and ps3 this may be the best game to purchase.
It reminds me a lot of the original smashcourt for ps2.
Game play is very arcade like. If you move your racket back early and hit a groundstroke you are rewarded with a blazing shot. The only issue I had with this is that I couldn't 'paint the lines' with my player. You could get close to hitting a down the line shot but there is no way of actually doing it on grass, hard court or clay.
The 20 male players look and play exactly like their real life counterparts.
This is great. Additionally the courts look amazing and the motion of the players is so life-like that it looks like a real match (especially on my 36" sony HD tv).
A negative is that you can't hit a true drop shot to bring your opponent in. The best game for that feature is smash court 2.
However, virtua tennis 3 has the most believable net play (serve/volley & chip and charge) of any tennis video game to date. Major positive!
The world tour mode where you take a created player thru tourneys to build up their rankings and to play against today's greats is a lot of fun.
The exhibition feature is a great way to get a quick match in and that's entertaining as well.
The flawed feature is the tournament mode. You don't play on the same court. Example would be you can choose Federer as your player, beat Taylor Dent on grass and then your second round match is on clay against David Nalbandian. Annoying! That doesn't happen on the world tour mode where the brackets are laid out perfectly.
I was burned by purchasing top spin 2 for xbox 360 which tried to be more 'real' but ultimately had so many different button choices that you could lose your train of thought trying to play it.
Am I glad I purchased this game? Yes. I'd give it a solid B.
I wish they would add a legends area where we could pick Andre, Bjorn Borg, Patrick rafter and Pete Sampras.
The best xbox 360 sports game I own is still NCAA 2k7 basketball. | video-games_xbox |
Is it good? Yes. Could it be better? Of course. I'm not one to write reviews as I'm smart enough to know everyone has an opinion the same as me, so I'm just going to put a few things out there...
A lot of my friends I play with now say this is the worst in COD history. Spawning is all messed up, having to shoot people more than a few times for a kill and blah blah blah. The problem with people and this game is expectations. We've all been playing the series since COD4 and prior and we know how good they were. Each game came out with something different and exciting to hold onto. The deaths in the begining seemed worth it, because the game was still fresh. Even with Black Ops many said it was merely an update and not that good, hardcore Infinity Ward fans wouldn't even touch it... The fact remains this is a good game. If you own it already and are reading this as I've read through some of these reviews recently, try getting into the game and do something different... Don't run as much, turn around and go a different direction after getting a kill and waiting for the guy immediatly following him, try to control an area instead of an entire half of the map. These are just basics. If something isn't working, try something else. Don't say the game isn't what it should be because you're unwilling to adapt to a different style of gameplay. If you don't own it and enjoy the COD series, it's a must have. If nothing else, they have listened to complaints in the past and have made decent attempts at changing certain aspects of the game. Does nobody remember complaints about camping in the same spot for an entire game and getting killed within a few shots, like every match was hardcore?? I appreciate what Infinity Ward has done to try and make this series better, nothing is perfect and a lot of people need to realize this. Not to mention an old Marine saying:
IMPROVISE. OVERCOME. ADAPT.
-KillTeamRage- | video-games_xbox |
A tour de force in disappointment. Turok is disappointing for multiple reasons, but perhaps even more so because parts of the game really aren't so bad. There are some occasions when the game opens up a bit and offers us some large outdoor arenas to do battle in with sneaky vantage points scattered around the level. It's brilliantly satisfying to sit back with the bow and arrow (which should be in more shooters), picking off the occasional soldier while watching a dinosaur wreak havoc with the rest of the group. In fact, taken as a pure shooter, it can be quite entertaining. The guns are satisfyingly potent and the action often pacey and intense. Despite the fundamental awfulness of most of the game mechanics, there were moments while playing Turok that I realized I was having fun. Unfortunately these moments are few and far between.
The story is incredibly derivative and cliche ridden "borrowing" from almost every 1980s action movie. This is made worst by the fact that the game takes itself seriously. These flaws might have even worked in the games favor had they taken a tongue in cheek approach. The story essentially sees the title character Turok (who is now a generic space marine) going up against his mentor after he turned bad for reasons that aren't exactly clear. There is an odd-couple paradigm to the story too. Your main ally is Slater (voiced by Ron Perlman). Apparently he blames you for the death of his brother some years ago, but this isn't really explained that well either, and the result is that you simply don't care. Odd-couple pairings only work with fabulous writing. This just makes you want to shoot your companion in the head, but you can't, because he's plot-essential. It gets tiresome very quick.
One of the worst aspects of the game is the AI. It is horrible. Your "buddy" Slater insists you hang back and follow his lead, then will not move a muscle until you have cleared out an entire area in front of him or until you have stood in one particular spot that triggers him to continue. Slater runs into you, blocks your path, and just occasionally hovers in mid-air. The AI of the enemy is a little bit better. The enemy goons take cover and work as a team for the most part.
One would think a vast jungle-covered planet should have presented a wealth of opportunity for open planing gameplay. Unfortunately the developers have created a corridor shooter, then replaced the walls with rocks and the ceiling with a skybox. Checkpoint placement is the cardinal sin the developers make when it comes to level design. The placement of checkpoints in this game really defies logic. In harder parts of the game checkpoints are simply too spread out meaning you sometimes have to redo lengthy sections of the game even on lower difficulties (I remember one particular elevator sequence that brought me to the edge of rage quit numerous times). Strangely enough checkpoints seem to be in an abundance at easier parts of the game where they are totally unnecessary.
The graphics is something of a mixed bag. The game renders some things very well such as the glimmer of the sun's rays on a metallic surface or the animations of the characters during the cut-scenes. However most other areas it fails staggeringly. Reflection effects are applied to pretty much everything other than grass, meaning the otherwise pretty dinosaurs often resemble cellophane-wrapped children's toys. The art style is very generic, appearing to be a sloppy mish-mash of Gears of War, Killzone and Unreal Tournament whilst retaining non of the aesthetically pleasing aspects of either.
There are far better shooters around, meaning there's very little reason to spend money on this one. I still look at the Turok franchise with fond memories but if this is the future of the series, then perhaps our memories is where it should have remained. | video-games_xbox |
and liked it enough to buy DS2 and DS3 when they . I've been a fan of the series from afar since the original announcement for the first game. Zombies terrify me, and the thought of playing against space zombies frayed my nerves, but I got the original Dead Space when Origin had it as an 'On the House' promotion, and liked it enough to buy DS2 and DS3 when they went on sale on Amazon.
DS3 is probably my favorite of the bunch. The story is fairly well done if you've been a series fan thus far, but not completely accessible if you're coming into it for the first time. I recommend checking out the DS wikis as you go to help fill in the gaps, minding spoilers. As for the action in this game, it was top notch, and some new cinematic story telling methods in this game set it apart from the others.
Also, I came out of DS2 with ungodly upgraded weapons, and coming into this game with its new crafting system threw me for a loop at first, but then quickly became the most enjoyable part of the game. (AFTER you get decent parts and figure out the system, of course. It takes a while, but it's worth it.) The crafting system allows you to manage your weapons in a style that fits you, instead of trying to figure out which weapon works 'best' or relying solely on which weapon you have ammo for. Ammo is universal this time around, so you're encouraged to make weapons that you like playing with. Seeing your new creations mow down necromorphs until you find another new part you want to try out propels you forward into the darkest corners of the game to see if you can find better upgrades. Even a coward like me kept pushing forward to see what else I could find, and enjoyably so.
So what kept it from getting 5 stars? Well, the first note would be about the co-op game play. I played solo, but this game DEFINITELY feels the bite of co-op design; every ambush you get caught in catches you from two directions. As a solo player, you understand very fast that this game was meant for two people as you constantly are being attacked from both sides in lieu of having another player watching your six. For the solo campaign, you feel the sting as the challenge level increases A LOT from level design that had a volume of enemies made for two people with two sets of abilities and ammo. It's still workable as a solo player, but expect a hell of a lot of jump scares and some nasty deaths as you get quickly surrounded, flanked, or mauled. The cutscenes will feel more awkward too as the other player character 'appears' for a line of dialogue and then disappears like a phantom of your imagination.
And with the save system changed, some players may find that death gets frustrating; in some places, only your inventory is saved, so if you fought like hell through an optional area but died, you may find yourself going through it all over again but with less ammo, medpacks, and resources than you did the first time. Since you can't manually save, you have to be VERY judicious about when you start and stop, making sure that you have seen the auto save icon before shutting down.
Still, even with all that, I found myself immediately rolling up a new game + and steamrolling through necros with my now powered up guns from the first run and laughing giddily as bad guys fell before my onslaught. The game was tense, moody, atmospheric, and a heck of a lot of fun. I'm definitely going to play it again, and for a coward like me who's scared to death of space zombies, that's really saying something. | video-games_xbox |
The Ultimate Racing Experience. Forza Motorsport truly defines what the words racing simulator mean. Everything about it seems to be modeled after their real-life counterparts; from the cars, to the tracks, to the physics, to the sounds, everything seems so real and full of life. Forza Motorsport offers you an experience that no other games in the genre can even compare.
Forza is truly amazing. Every single one of the over 230 cars to choose from is expertly designed to look, feel, and sound exactly like their real-life counterparts. The cars are so meticulously detailed that they look like they were scanned from real life pictures straight into the game. Each car's performance on the track is simulated to match performance specs direct from the manufacturer. But when you buy part upgrades for your car, vehicle performance is changed dramatically. Not only can you feel the difference upgrades make, you can hear the difference, too. This is what makes Forza one of the best racing simulators on the market. In order to fully enjoy Forza Motorsport, you MUST own a racing wheel. It's a necessity, and I personally recommend either the $100-$150 Fanatec Speedster 3 or the $50-$60 Logitech Nascar Racing Wheel.
What is a racing simulator without realistic car damage? Worthless. Most games show cosmetic car damage, but no game before has ever shown a realistic portrayal of performance car damage like Forza. The car damage simulator in Forza is revolutionary. Every scrape, every crash, every time you blaze up the tires, it all takes a toll on your car, and you'll have to pay for the damages. It simulates the damage not only cosmetically but on the car's performance itself. It will affect engine performace, transmission shifting time, fuel consumption, tire heat, everything imaginable is affected, making Forza the ultimate simulator.
Another one of the highlights of Forza is the way you can custom tune every aspect of your car in order to make it suitable for a particular race or track. Custom tuning includes tweaking your ride's tire pressure and even gear ratios. You can also buy part upgrades which range from the following: engine tuning, intake & exhaust systems, fuel ignition systems, turbo chargers, super chargers, transmissions, suspension, brakes, tires, weight reductions, even engine swaps from other cars. The list of available upgrades are amazing. Now for paint jobs. Forza allows you to trick out your ride with custom paint schemes, decals, and authentic aftermarket parts. I, personally, am not that talented with the paint system, but I have seen cars on Xbox Live that are utterly amazing with the amount of detail put into them.
The main features in the game are standard arcade racing, career mode, and of course Xbox Live, but the career mode being the highlight. Career mode will easily give you anywhere from 80-100 hours of racing. The career mode alone is worth the $50 admission, but now the price has been cut to a mere $20-$30, which is a bargain for a game with so much to do. The career mode is where you race through tournaments based on car class in order to raise money so that you can buy cars and upgrade parts.
Xbox Live is excellent for Forza. It is truly the ultimate car culture. The action is intense over Live with online multiplayer racing. You can do everything from trading and selling cars to creating custom car clubs. Xbox Live for Forza is so addicting you will find yourself playing non-stop just to battle your way up the real-time scoreboards.
Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo 4 are both competitors for the title of the Ultimate Racing Simulator. But the fact is, Forza has some things that Gran Turismo doesn't have; and Gran Turismo has some things that Forza doesn't have. So it is hard to truly crown one as victorious over the other While both are excellent games, Forza definitely has the edge on GT4 because Forza is a much more polished game.
Forza Motorsport is revolutionary to the racing genre. It offers an experience that no other games can even compare to. Forza easily offers the best and most enjoyable racing simulation due to its real to life gameplay, graphics, and sound. Forza's value is off the charts because of the hours of time you will spend with it. With its real-to-life performance specs to its amazingly realistic car models and physics, Forza Motorsport is officially crowned as being the ULTIMATE RACING EXPERIENCE. | video-games_xbox |
Great game even if it isn't exactly the Max Payne we wanted. I was a huge fan of the first two Max Payne games. This game wasn't the overall slam dunk I had thought it would be. There are some things I absolutely loved and some I absolutely hated.
First, we shall start with the positives. The environments are by far the best I have played in a game. It looks, feels real and alive. There were no shortcuts into making these environments. They are so detailed that it was the first time I was stunned looking at the environments since Halo: Combat Evolved about ten years ago. Also, the writing is of course top notch. Sound fits the mood perfectly. Story is decent. Overall it is a pretty fun game.
Now, the negatives. The first thing was the overall feel. It just didn't feel like Max Payne. I don't want to spoil the game, but there are a few chapters that nail the old Max Payne feel, while the rest almost get there, but it creates a feeling of a nostalgic hole of what Max Payne 3 could have been. I miss going to the secret 'underground' warehouses and run-down hotels in NY and basically flying around in bullet time spraying bullets everywhere. Next issue is the controls/gameplay. This Max Payne's bullet time is ruined with the cover system. The cover system basically makes it unnecessary to do the bullet time leaps (my favorite thing of the Max Payne games). Furthermore, controls and aiming just don't seem nearly as fluid as the previous two. While you could just keep bullet time leaping all over the place, it is impracticable when you can use the cover. Next, is the Noir storytelling of the games. This also just doesn't seem to cut it. There are not nearly as many of the storybook scenes, but instead we get an outrageous amount of (lengthy) cutscenes. This is a perfect example of how a game does not need cutscenes to be great.
Lastly, The previous Max Payne's are far superior. Had this game not had the Max Payne title, it would be an easy 5 stars. I have not played the multiplayer nor do I really intend do. | video-games_xbox |
No Replay Value. -once you beat the game in about 3 to 5 hours, theres NOTHING else to do with it.
-the story doesnt really hold weight. your fighting cops in the street..thats not something youd get away with in real life. nor does a real cop KICK IN YOUR DOOR WITH NO GUN AND CHALLENGE YOU TO A FIST FIGHT LOL. its just very retarted.
-theres really no sense of "free will" in the Build A Label mode. most of the story's problems stem from your character FIGHTING people and ending up in deeper problems than he already is in..and thats because you cant CHOOSE rather or not you want to fight. for instance, theres a situation where a rival artist is using some of your sampled music for his mixtape..and youll SAY your going to go and talk to him...but there is no talk...you just fight him. there should have been an option to talk it out or fight it out. another example: an artist wants to come to your HOME and fight you..WHY WOULD YOU EVEN LET HIM IN THE HOUSE? they don't give you the OPTION to NOT LET HIM IN...they just start u off fighting in your house. and you only have two options for girlfriends...but you cant even choose them...theyre automatically GIVEN to you rather you want them or not. neither can you choose the artists you really want to sign to your label. u have to pick between 2 random artists in most cases...and half the time, i really didn't want to sign either of them...but i had no choice.
but even with this...it all would have been fine if they had just had an on-going mode where you could release songs with your label and compete with other other labels for the charts. and occasionally one of your artists would have to fight and yada yada. kind of like a Season mode so to speak..and the choices you made would reflect and effect the things that happened around you.
graphics are nice, fight system is like Fight Night, youll get use to it..everything looks and plays great...but it just doesnt have any replay value whatsoever. rent it, youll be tired of it in 1 day..
iLL . | video-games_xbox |
Admittedly we're not a super gaming household. I bought this game about 6 months ago. We have 5 people in the house (me, wife, 3 kids from 6 to 3 years old). This is now our most played game, surpassing the previously most popular Just Dance 2014. Admittedly we're not a super gaming household, really the Xbox is more a TV turner or Youtube machine, but I'll play Rayman or AC:Black Flag a bit here & there. But this game is great for the kids. Yeah, they whined a bit a first when they didn't always get to win, but that's a good lesson.
Overall we really like the game. I'm glad I didn't pay the original $60 price as that would have been too much, but we got it on a $30 sale and currently it's $17, which I think is a great value. For our family I'd say $35 would be a very fair price.
We've only done a bit of the "campaign" stuff, it was alright, but we really enjoy the competition mode. My 5 year old daughter can do squats like she's spring loaded, and the kinect recorded her best score for us to compete against, it's great to play vs her even after she's in bed. And the taunting dances you can record to play if your recorded exercise beats the player are really fun. My wife & I have had multiple occurrences of trying to set a high score to get to replace a family member's dance with one of our own and in the process inadvertently done 30 minutes of really intense exercise - which is incredible. I'd never before accidentally done multiple intense 3 minutes sessions to squats or jump rope or pushups...but I have now.
My couple negatives:
The Kinect works pretty well, it definitely see's my wife & I better than the kids; so if we're playing vs a child we have to tell everyone else in the room to either stay still or stay far outside the camera's field of view...which is kinda crappy. We've even had cousins over for birthday parties play this lately, they love it, but the Kinect really starts having problems focusing on the 2 player characters when the couch behind them has 4 people sitting on it.
Another gripe...the menu. I hate hate hate Kinect controlled menus. It's terrible in Just Dance, it's terrible in Dance Central, it's terrible in every Kinect game I've tried navigating in. Kinect games are typically best played multiplayer & often with kids...but that means lots of hands moving in the room & Kinect just get's confused. I really wish all Xbox one games had an option to turn off Kinect menu control. Shape Up does great at tracking me during the game, but when I'm trying to scroll around in the menu, my cursor randomly jumps up/down/left/right for no discernible reason. I'll be trying to scroll to "Squat to the Moon" which should just require clicking right 6 or 7 times, that would have been a piece of cake even back on my dad's Atari...but not in Shape Up on Xbox One. I can't ever seem to get more than 3 clicks right or left without the game randomly moving the cursor up...which takes me into some other clickable stuff that I'm not looking for. I assume that it's from people moving in the room and kinect interpreting it as command, though it even happens a bit when I'm alone and staying perfectly still.
3rd & last gripe: The computer it too good. I don't mind if the current computer avatars were kept for us to play against once we were really good at a game, but they should also have some crappy ones to play against for kids, out of shape people, or for when we're not wanting to be dialed in 100%. In many of the games I can only stay relatively close to the computer if I'm going 100% and my kids just get destroyed...which isn't fun. Also some of the rhythm games (piano step, river jump); the computer avatars are unbelievably perfect, making it less fun to play. The kinect regularly misses steps in the exercises requiring stepping on the floor & thus we don't ever beat the perfect computer. The saving grace is that they record videos of our best score and we just play vs our own recordings.
Overall, I enjoy the game & the kids do too. It's unfortunate that the menu's are always frustrating, but I'm able to deal with it. I'd love to buy a sequel to this with better menu control, a kid challenge option (easier computer), and more games.
NOTE: they sadly chose to lock a bunch of content behind a DLC paywall. I've not played any of it & don't think anyone really should. This game was already thin on contend on release for a full price game. The fact that they then charged people more money for added content strikes me as a bad policy. I'm of the opinion that the DLC content should have been earned through points accumulated in playing the initial games, and not been "additional content" sold to players after their initial purchase of the game. (I kinda want to knock a star off my review of the game for this, but ultimately I still think this is better than a 3 star game, so I'll leave my rating at 4) | video-games_xbox |
Welcome, To The Next Generation In Gaming. A real step in the right direction with the next-generation of video gaming. The Xbox One certainly fell flat on it's face after announcement and launch, but damn is it back up and running like Usain Bolt in the Olympics now! There aren't any major problems I have with anything about the console, software, hardware, or otherwise. Yes, I have complaints, but they are minor and pale in comparison to the positive features that the console has. I'm also not sure why anyone would be buying the Xbox One w/ Kinect bundle that has no games. Even if you don't like AC, why not at least get a console that comes with games, even if you aren't going to use them. In fact, at the time of purchasing this one, the Xbox One w/ Kinect bundle and no games, was actually more expensive than this rendition of the console bundle. Also, I understand if you don't have the money to afford the luxury that is the Kinect, but I really feel like the Xbox One just isn't itself without the counterpart. Some may find it as a novelty item and that it cannot be useful in gaming and that the voice commands are just fluff and whatnot. And then there's the tin-foil hat society, reeking their havoc all over the internet, convincing people that the Kinect is always watching and listening in on you and that Microsoft is recording that data and could be recording constant video and selling your information to private parties and whatnot. First of all, if you're buying a Xbox One and plan to connect it to the internet in any way shape or form, your information is bound to be farmed, that is the unwritten privacy agreement of using the internet in the first place, is that of course putting your information in a virtual world that is accessible to the world is going end up having people see it. After that rant, let's begin:
To prevent TL;DR issues, here's a quick summary:
PROS:
Kinect features (voice commands, recognition software, no motor)
Xbox One's low temperature from large powerful fans
Xbox One's completely silent operation
Xbox One's slot-loading (compared to disk tray loading)
Xbox One's Blu-Ray capabilities
Controller (everything about it)
CONS:
Xbox One's whirring power supply
Xbox One's small storage space
Xbox One's inability to sit vertically
Xbox One's size
No indicator as to how many controllers are in use and which controller is which player
No more green indicator lights on the Xbox or controller, they are now white
Must be connected to the internet to initially set up
If you want any detail regarding anything mentioned in the summary above, read on...
Kinect:
The Kinect is amazing. The voice-commands make multi-tasking while using the console an absolute breeze. You can start up the console, open up Netflix, search for a movie, select a movie, play a movie, then pause, rewind and fast-forward that movie, all without touching anything except the TV/TV remote. For those concerned, you CAN make it so that the Kinect and console both SHUT DOWN when turning the console "off." And if you're really paranoid, they sell Kinect privacy covers here on Amazon and in stores. The Kinect has many abilities. The microphone has been revamped massively, even so that in a Skype call, the other player cannot hear your game through the television, but can hear you when you speak. It can recognize your heart-beat, every limb (including fingers and the direction of the limb facing the camera). Instead of having a motorized base like the older Kinect, when in a Skype video call, the camera itself will follow you around the screen (it's software powered, not hardware, nothing moves) and will zoom in on you as you get further away from the screen. Some games also chose to incorporate motion features, such as Battlefield 4. They allow you to look around when in a vehicle using your head, as well as lean around corners in game, not to mention the voice-commands they included. The Kinect also has the ability to sense who is in front of it, and will log all people with an Xbox account that are in front of it, in.
Console:
The console is obviously the meat and potatoes here. The console itself is a large-sized VCR essentially in dimensions and even look, to some extent. It is massive, but light. This is due to Microsoft's due diligence regarding the past issues with overheating and cooling malfunctions on the Xbox 360 that led to the infamous Red Ring of Death error. There are huge fans installed in this bad boy, and let me tell you, you wouldn't even know they were there. When using the console it is whisper quiet, and if I mute the TV, I can't hear anything at all while it's running. The satellite/cable feature is nice, but I don't use it since I don't have satellite/cable. The only hardware complaint I have, is that the power brick for the Xbox One makes a whirring noise when on, and it happens to be the only thing I can hear when I mute the TV, as mentioned earlier. The Xbox dashboard has been completely overhauled, some ways good, some ways bad. They did make it much harder to get to where you want to go most of the time and some things are ridiculously hard to find on the console, but you'll get it all sorted out soon enough, like I did, I'm sure. The only other console complaint I have, is that the 500GB hard drive space GOES FAST. VERY FAST. You will run out of space before you hit 15 games for sure. I have 5 I think, and I'm at 41% hard drive space usage. Fortunately Microsoft is allowing users to attach external hard drives to the console and use them for storage, and I know at least a few 1TB drives that will work, so the problem is really moot, considering you can fix it fairly easily. It also is required to sit horizontally now, however, it was NEVER a good idea to operate a console in a vertical position, even when it was a option. There's also no more indicator on the controller/Xbox as to how many controllers are connected and as to which controllers are which players, and the green indication lights on the Console and the Guide button on the controller have been changed to white now. You must also connect it to internet to use it. Period. There's no getting around it, but once you set it up, you can take it off the internet and leave it off, if you like.
Controller:
The $2 billion that Microsoft poured into improving and modifying the Xbox 360 controller design and style and functionality, paid off well. The new controller is a home run for sure. The new triggers are heaven on your fingers, as you can now wrap them around the trigger and controller smoothly. The triggers also have very nice quality rumble motors in them individually, as well as a dampened/muted contact point when pulled all the way against the controller. An issue I am having with the triggers is that my right trigger squeaks occasionally when pulled toward to the controller, but that may be an isolated case and shouldn't be present on every one of them, so I wouldn't worry about that. The new buttons look great. They are every so slightly closer to each other on the controller layout, and seem slightly smaller in circumference, and have a more "buttony" feel when pressing them down, as they seem to have a slightly noticeable actuation point.
The bumper buttons are a decent improvement over the old controllers, however I do have a complaint in that they make much, much more noise than the old ones did. Be warned, they are very "clicky." The new battery pack housing is the second best improvement, as it now sits flush with the back of the controller and doesn't protrude as the old one did, which makes holding the controller much nicer. The start button and back button were replaced by the "menu" and "view" buttons, but they essentially function the same way as before when in most games. The Xbox "guide" button got flattened and moved up the controller on its own little section and now illuminates white instead of green, and does not show which controller number it is, nor is there an indication on the Xbox One itself either, which is a slight disappointment.
The analog sticks stayed the same distance from the controller I believe, however the actual part your thumbs go on got smaller, but the improved textured rubberized edging on them makes up for that because it allows for great grip on the sticks. However, I can imagine someone with bigger fingers having a problem using this controller's analog sticks. If you have this issue or are concerned about it, I would look into Kontrol Freek's analog extensions, as they may help. They seem to move and click pretty much the same as before, but I am noticing a slight wear in the left analog stick towards to front of the shaft from holding it upward/forward in games like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed. So far it is not impeding on anything, but a forewarning, in case it becomes further worn and becomes inoperable or impaired after a long period of extended daily usage.
The D-Pad has been improved as well, getting it's own little crater to reside in so that it is not so obtrusive from the face of the controller, and now makes a very distinct "click" when pressed, which is something I love dearly about the new controller, as I hated the completely muffled D-Pad buttons from previous controllers. Some may find it too loud or maybe slightly annoying, but I can't foresee anyone having a major issue with it.
All in all, the new controller definitely shines, and the $2 billion in research funding and tinkering definitely went to good use and will not go unnoticed. This controller should go down in history as the best ergonomic game pad created thus far, I feel. | video-games_xbox |
A Solid Hack'n'Slash. Despite all of the poor reviews on this game it's actually a lot of fun. Admittedly the graphics are not as good as other games that are coming out now, but I found that they held up very well and, besides a couple cut scenes, didn't degrade the experience. One place I felt the graphics truly did shine was in the Cursed World. The fires are beautifully animated, and the blockishness of some of the environments is atoned for in my eyes by the fact that they have to be rendered twice (the normal world and the Cursed World).
The voice acting is a little shaky. To clarify, the characters' voices were well chosen, but the sentences often come across as choppy when they were delivered. The main characters are one of the exceptions, they always feel fluid (as far as I've noticed). The fighting animations are almost always smooth, and the combos and finishers are very fun and entertaining (and painful for the enemies too).
This game does tell a story, so there are quite a few cut scenes and the opening was surprisingly long to my girlfriend. Although this probably won't be noticeable to any veterans of multiple RPG games. In another nod to the RPG element there is quite a bit of customization for your character's skills, mainly move combos and character traits, but when this is added to the ability to dual wield different one-handed weapons, use shields, spears and great swords there is suddenly a lot of depth. (i.e. If I have an axe, a mace, a spear, a shield, and the crossbow equipped [which is an average load-out] then I can wield the spear, axe, mace, crossbow, axe and mace, axe and shield, mace and shield, or spear and shield. And each of those weapon combos has different move combos to be unlocked!)
One particularly interesting thing is that the weapons you use will break when wielded for too long, requiring you to scavenge weapons from enemies as you fight through them. This really makes the game interesting when your favorite weapon combo breaks and you have to learn something new on the fly before you search out your favorite weapons again. It also makes that rare weapon that much more awesome because it, unfortunately, won't last forever.
If you have played <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Dante-s-Inferno/dp/B001NX4DUQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Dante's Inferno</a> then most this isn't all that new to you. This game plays quite similar, and the customization is similar as well (if more realistic, as in no crazy aerial combos). However there is one thing this game has that makes it more fun than Dante's Inferno, Split-screen!
Dante's Inferno did have a co-op mode as a DLC, but with this one I can finally play a non shooter game while being together with my girlfriend, and lucky for me she enjoys this one as much as I do.
Because I've only played split-screen I can't attest to the competence of your Ally's AI, though the enemies certainly seem to be quite capable, though they do often depend more on quantity than quality.
All in all I found this to be a great game, and well worth the $15 and change I paid for it.
As a side note if you enjoy this game I would definitely recommend <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Dante-s-Inferno/dp/B001NX4DUQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Dante's Inferno</a>. | video-games_xbox |
Very cool, but gets old quick. "Earth Defense Force 2017" is a great idea for a video game and looks amazing. It seems custom made for an old-time sci-fi geek like myself. And for a few levels there, I thought I'd found a real gem. But after hours of ridiculously repetitive gameplay, I found continuing on to be more of a chore than a joy. This is a fun game that's great for kids and very enjoyable for pick-up-and-play co-op sessions, but in comparison with the other games that available out there -even among bargain bin titles- this one just doesn't cut it.
The premise is simple and awesome. You are an EDF trooper protecting the world from an alien invasion. First, giant bio-engineered ants spill into major cities, then enemy attack craft and huge robots, followed by giant spiders, and eventually giant bosses. That's the limit of the enemy's diversity. It's be great if the game was shorter, but we are talking about dozens upon dozens of levels of hundreds and hundreds of the same foes to shoot. They all look great and there is so much going on at any given time that the first few waves are going to make you think this is the greatest thing you have ever played. Like <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Dynasty-Warriors/dp/B00104KJ56/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Dynasty Warriors</a>
with giant science fiction monsters. Except that any strategic aspects are abandoned and instead of having several attack combos, different characters, and stories to choose from all you do is point and shoot, point and shoot, point and shoot. And if you use homing missiles, you don't even have to point; just shoot. It becomes mind-numbing very quickly. The Dino-mech is epically awesome, though. Love those bosses.
The weapons fare better than the enemies as far as variety goes. There is a great selection, but the fact that there are so many variant models of every single one is annoying and leaves you pondering the tiny differences between different versions of the same weapons to decide which you want to use. This is fantastic if you're obsessive-compulsive, but kind of a pain if you want to keep it as simple as the gameplay, but still use the most effective gear. I love the attention to detail, but come on, there is a limit. Favorite weapons include the giant auto-turrets, shotguns and flamethrowers for getting up close and personal, and homing missiles for long distance assaults. Getting the weapons annoyingly depends entirely on random drops from defeated enemies. Would it have killed them to implement a money system? Higher difficulty levels yield stronger weapons, but I defy anybody to take on the higher difficulties alone and actually enjoy themselves. They were designed for frustration's sake.
The deal-breaker for me in EDF are the vehicles. There are a few types of vehicles you can use to assault the monstrous masses with. Sweet, right? Well, it should have been a highlight of the game, but the fact is that you're better off on foot most of the time. The controls are worse than clunky, the reaction time is ridiculously slow, and aiming the weapons is typically a fool's errand. Different vehicles have these problems to varying degrees, but they all suffer from at least one of them. The Mech-suit is armed to the teeth and can wreak havoc on encroaching enemies. It can even hover a little, which serves no real purpose, but is still pretty cool. But the thing moves and turns so slow and the enemies are so fast that you can only fight in one so long as the enemies remain directly in front of you. So useless. The helicopter takes ages to take off and then handles terribly. Considering you are flying in between buildings and trying to aim at the same time, this makes it functionally useless for anything besides transport. And I thought the copters in <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV/dp/B000FRU1UM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Grand Theft Auto IV</a> were tough to fly. The hoverbikes are actually good, but have little firepower and are quickly destroyed. The tank would be the best, but aiming and rolling at the same time is very difficult and it's doesn't fare well against multiple enemies. And multiple enemies is exactly what you're up against. They should have spent much more time tweaking this feature.
In conclusion, EDF is a great game for a couple of casual gamers to play for a couple hours and then retire. It should have been an Xbox Live Arcade download and not a full game. The features are nonexistent, there are only SIX spectacularly unimaginative achievements to earn (I played long enough to earn none), and the whole package just strikes me as having been lazily thrown-together. I don't know when Japanese game developers became so jaded and boring, but they need to take care of business and find that creativity of old before the flood of Western masterpieces washes them right out of the industry.
2 1/2 stars rounded down for screwing up a perfect concept. | video-games_xbox |
Ryse: Son of Rome Review, Short but sweet! *Update. So first off, I sat down yesterday morning with my Xbox One ready to play an actual game, rather than just playing and setting up the menu's and watching movies. First game I popped in was Ryse, and may I say, although short, was very fulfilling.
The game takes you on a journey as Marius, a son of Rome who's out on a quest for vengence and glory. The combat and action are awesome, take away some minor timing queues that throw you off when trying to pull off an execution. Executions, they are ways to finish off your enemies, and by pressing the up, down, left, or right on the D-pad to choose what type of powerup you would like to have once you complete a sucessful execution (health, damage, XP, or focus). Executions are done by pressing the right trigger when you see a white or red skull over your enemy, then press the right color button (blue or yellow) when the enemy
flashes that specific color (bascially yellow is your shield and blue is the sword).
Graphics look amazing, I was very impressed by the foilage and different areas in which they take us, from the city settings, to forests, to night scapes, and so on. One thing to note, during some fights you may find yourself having issues moving the camera, as if it was stuck on a bush or building and you might get attacked off screen or don't know what queues it tells you for an execution. You fight all sorts of men, no monsters, or animals, or anything like that, just soldiers, men, people who think they are gods and so on.
Story, I really enjoyed, was a little confused at the beginning but then it smoothed itself out and brought the story around full circle, very fun. Some fights were tough, no joke, but a blast! Also, expect a twist or two, i thought I was following it, and figured something would happen, but not what did happen.
Lastly, the game does have multiplayer, however i haven't even tried that yet, i apologize. I will do that later this week when my brother gets it so we can play Co-Op in the arena.
All in all, fun great game, now here is the downfall, but for me was a plus. I sat down like i said yesterday morning to play, and finished the game (on normal) last night around 8 pm. So it lasted MAYBE 10 hours, i did take 30 mins to eat lunch and dinner with my gf and a 30 min break in the middle. So maybe closer to 8 hours and yes i died on a couple fights.
Just wanted to fill you all in, sorry for the bounce around review, but i really enjoyed this game, even though it was short, i loved it. And why i liked it being short, well i have other games i want to play and when i play games i am OCD and have to finish one before i start another hah. Hope this gives you guys some insight.
Enjoy!
*Update* 12/09/13
Sorry for the delay, but here is my multiplayer thoughts;
A blast! I waited to play with my brother, although you go through the maps quickly since there are only 12 or 14 of them, they provide a good challenge. Each one has a new set up, shows you and your partner walking out in the gear that you equip on your gladiators. Each one has a set of random events and you only go through some of them, then have to fight leaders or a higher power to complete that wave.
But working with your partner, one taking on some of the guys while you run and put fires out or blow up catapults, is just so fun, then you come back and help him or save him depending. Some of the enemies can quickly overwhelm so you can't be afraid to run to your partnet to get help. But heres the fun thing....co-op executions, SO FUN when you pull them off.
Lastly, as you play and win, you gain gold to buy equipment or skills (if you didn't use the XP from the campaign you earn). You also increase in rank to unlock the next tiers of equipment. From what i can tell, i went to the top teir and tried to buy something and it told me i needed to be above rank 80, so yea, there will be alot of fighting to get up there. This will take a while. But say your buddy doesn't want to play, or you want to rank up to the next tier in order to get better gear. There is a Solo mode, where you enter into one of 4 arenas on your own. They can be tough, but also one bloody blast ;)
Again, sorry for the sporatic review, but it is fun, i can't wait to play again. Have fun! | video-games_xbox |
Crimson Skies. Xbox owners, allow me to introduce you to the game that will make you forget all about MechAssault. Mech-what? MechAssault. You know, the first-party game that kicked Xbox Live multiplayer onto your radar. Yeah, that one. Well, now you have Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, the next Microsoft title that will turn your console online and your smack-talking into high gear.
For those of you unfamiliar with the franchise, Crimson Skies is essentially "Indiana Jones" meets aerial combat, only the alternate universe isn't overrun with Nazis but with power-hungry gangs who fly tricked-out planes and are so trigger-happy that Al Capone would blush. With creative scenarios, a focus on action and engaging characters, you'll be sure this game is headed for the silver screen. But Indiana Jones this is not, neither in medium nor in pacing, and as a result, Crimson Skies at times can feel a bit slow and imbalanced.
Part adventure and part dogfighter, Crimson Skies places you in the anti-heroic cockpit of Nathan Zachary, an air pirate who's out for revenge and, if it happens to come his way, a little fortune and glory too. Along the way, hell meet a lady (or two), discover a nature-be-damned plot against the civilized world (a la "Wild Wild West") and embark upon an intricately weaved tale of his own.
Unlike "Indiana Jones," though, Nathan takes to the skies rather than a mine cart and relies on his trusty plane-mounted artillery rather than a bullwhip. And that, my friends, is where Crimson Skies grabs you by the joystick and gets your arcade-loving heart a-fluttering. Forget about flight sims, because Crimson Skies is arcade flying at its finest. From barrel rolls and Split S's to air braking and upside-down 180s, this game would make any pilot rethink the laws of gravity. The controls are easy to both learn and master, too, which means novices and pros are separated only by their ability to plan ahead and remain dedicated to the game, not by their familiarity with the instruction manual.
The arcade goodness doesn't stop there. Unlimited primary ammo? Check. Heat-seeking and cluster-bomb secondary weapons? Check. Dozens of airborne enemies swarming at once while terrestrial turrets fire on you with unfathomable power? Check. Yes, Crimson Skies seems to have it all. But not quite.
Each "level" is a virtual landscape that encompasses some serious real estate. The first, for example, is a small but tall island where you get comfortable with looking up, down and around for enemies. The second level is a wide-open desert so expansive you'll be thankful the Xbox has a built-in hard drive. Subsequent levels include an interpretation of a 1930s tech-savvy Chicago and other era-appropriate settings, and each presents some unique expansions of the basic gameplay.
The objective in each level changes depending upon your progress in the story, but invariably each level involves completing four to six "subgoals," most of which amount to mini-games that break up the dogfighting. Several levels ask you to get out of your plane and man a turret, for example, be it to protect an illegal stash of taxis or to defend your Zeppelin "base" from incoming fighters. Other subgoals involve switching planes to complete an objective or winning a race to win cash, which, once you fly another plane and thereby "unlock" it, can be used for upgrades or to repair your current craft in mid-mission.
Yet while each of these levels has slightly different subgoals, the actual gameplay behind those subgoals remains static from level to level. A turret battle is a turret battle is a turret battle, no matter how different the aircraft you're trying to shoot down. Yes, the scenarios will literally leave you sweaty with their frantic pace, but after three or four turrets you'll play through them just to get it over with and move on to the next dogfight rather than play them for enjoyment.
In the long run, of course, that ultimately speaks to the quality of the dogfights. And there's really no other way to say it: you've never played a dogfighting game this good. There's just something about the combination of tight controls, intense speed and a fully 3D environment. Air Force Delta Storm had the speed and dimensions, but its handling was too sim-like to let you stay in "hot pursuit" for very long. Lethal Skies II had the speed and environments, too, but the AI was so challenging that the only thing in hot pursuit was your PS2 controller headed for the TV screen. Crimson Skies, though, strikes such a perfect balance of speed, control, level design and challenging-but-not-impossible AI that you truly feel like you're an alternate-1930s-universe pilot.
Still, there's nothing like knowing you're hunting (or being hunted by) a human opponent, and Crimson Skies comes complete with some outstanding split-screen, system-link and Xbox Live multiplayer options. What's interesting about the split-screen with three players, though, is that it divides the screen in thirds horizontally, which makes for great lateral visibility but horrible up-down visibility. It's a unique treatment, but I've got to question the use of this technique in a game that relies so heavily on both horizontal and vertical sighting. But naturally, if you don't play with three players total, this is a moot point entirely.
Crimson Skies has the standard Dogfight, Flag Heist (Capture the Flag) and team-based modes, but our personal favorite here at DailyGame is the hilarious and addictive "Wild Chicken." This mode is sort of like Stayaway in Midtown Madness 3 with a bit of capture-the-flag base-defending flair. None of the game modes is a stinker, and every one runs smoothly online. Even with 16 people playing at once.
One of the most comical details of "Wild Chicken" is watching the feathers fall from your newfound "wingman" and act like a contrail, and it's details like this that make Crimson Skies feel as believable as an alternate-universe-with-tricked-out-planes videogame can. From blinking landing lights and animated flaps to deformable trucks on the streets of Chicago, Crimson Skies delivers Big Time in the graphics department. For Pete's sake, how many times is an Xbox editor going to say "Best. Water. Ever."? Well, apparently one more, because this game's got it. It's also got damage-sensitive "animations" and a framerate that never wavers.
Then why, oh why, must the non-dogfighting waver as it does? This game is fun. It's a blast. I'd even say it's the most enjoyable non-FPS on Xbox Live. But its development team was apparently so focused on making an outstanding dogfighting game that the "other" gameplay elements in Crimson Skies are a step or two behind. On their own, the turret scenarios and races are just fine, but taken with the rest of the outstanding gameplay mechanics, the game can feel a bit unbalanced and slow.
But pop in another controller or log on to Xbox Live, and all those issues fade into the horizon. If you have an Xbox Live account and/or at least one friend in the world, Crimson Skies is the next great multiplayer experience on Xbox. If you're a hermit or otherwise socially challenged, the game still has something for you, with an adventuresome story and entertaining dogfights that are the stuff of arcade dreams. Just don't go into the game expecting the End All, Be All of gaming. Crimson Skies is fantastic, but it's a little gameplay balance short of legendary. | video-games_xbox |
Just what I needed. This is a fun game with palm sweating chases and lots of bullets or stealth, however you like it you can choose. FC3 is a sand box game with familiar elements of other sandbox games. There's only so much variety that can be offered that works and is original. These similarities didn't bother me at ALL but, was noticable. I.E. Assassin's Creed had clever ledges on look-out towers with eagle check-points that you would climb up to and unlock the map, FC3 has radio towers that are tricky to climb to unlock map areas. The weapon autostore(a Redbox for guns) is kind of like Borderlands and character evolution specials resemble a other few games too....
NOW LET ME BE CLEAR... Despite the similarities this is still an original Story and Feel. Early in the game you are the hunted and everywhere you go they are going find you. You'll be hiding in tall grass for every vehicle that you hear coming and if they stop on the road to look around you will be running or fighting. As you unlock the Island and get the good weapons you can travel with less worry. There are pirate camps that you will take down and clear out to claim territory that increasingly get harder. They can sound an alarm for reinforcements and then you have a half a minute to Rambo it out with explosive arrows taking out helicopters all by yourself.
The beautiful island is a lot of fun to adventure The wildlife and foliage has plenty of life in it. The trees are blow around by wind or weather. I blew up a car under a tree by some plants and the every plant wiped out and then burned from it. The best I've seen yet... Detailed sharks, leopards, birds, snakes, lizards, monkeys, tigers and bears, no lions, will jump at you giving the feel the jungle has a food chain you are not the top of.. Hunt them for the hides to sell or upgrade carrying compacity of you gear. The underwater visibility is better than most games too.
This game is not flawless but, I give it a 5. I couldn't put it down and lost a whole weekend on the Island fighting pirates, literally Friday evening through Sunday night with little interuptions. The explosions are most gratifying. I enjoyed the stealth aspects with special takedown kills. The weapons are customizable with scopes and extended clips. Some of the best molotov cocktail's fire spread and burn on environments I've seen yet. Setting huts and fields on fire to chase out the enemy is ruthless. 5 Stars all day.... You need to play this at least once while the price is going down anyways. I can't wait to play it right now. | video-games_xbox |
Be advised: NO Content. The short and simple version: This game lacks most of the content that makes an SC game an SC game. The long version is as follows:
SCV lacks any kind of cohesive character creation item management system. You are awarded the items "at will" of the game and have literally no control over what you gain and are given no clue as to what exists to be gained in the first place. Everything about the character creation system is a step backwards, save for the "Stickers" option which is admittedly cool but was done long ago and better by several ECW games.
SCV lacks even the pretense of having any kind of story mode for all but TWO of the 15? 20? other characters. I realize that there is a cliche about the story in fighting games being negligible, but I am not holding this product up to an entire genre, I am holding it to the SC series, a series which has previously always focused on its story and bonus features. If this game is only concerned with Patroklos and his sister Pyrrah then why are the other characters not directly linked to that story even present? Why is Raphael playable? Did he mistake Tira for Amy? And if those characters without a story are listed only as a way to fill out the roster then why bother removing the many characters that aren't present? That is to say, if it is of no consequence to the story the developers wished to present then why not just bring them all back, even ones who had supposedly died? There are no character specific stories or a "generic" story for your created character, you are simply taken to the credits after finishing the 6 character battle arcade mode.
Lastly, and this is the really big one, there is absolutely NO kind of quest or bonus mode at all, whatsoever. The Legendary Souls mode does not qualify as a "bonus" mode as there is no deviation from the standard arcade mode outside of a ramped up difficulty. I STILL play SCIV from time to time to mess around in the tower mode and I have, to date, not yet finished it. In contrast, I have played SCV for the majority of yesterday afternoon (about 4.5 hours) and I have completed it. There is nothing left for me to do in this game outside of online play. This might be fine for any other series but SC has always had these features and now it does not. I spent $80 dollars for a playtime equivalent to an unedited Lord Of The Rings film.
I realize that we are living in an age ruled by DLC, and DLC I can handle; SCIV had the option to just buy set pieces and characters outright. The ENTIRETY of this game however felt like it should have been a $20 DLC game and not a $79 physical release, that or perhaps a SCIV "Plus" edition. I am holding this game to the standards of its predecessors and find it lacking and a little insulting that I paid full price for a product that is missing most of what made it enjoyable to me over the last 12 years.
In closing, if you are buying this game SOUL-ly (ha ha) for online play, then pick it up used somewhere. However if you are buying this expecting the fullness of game-play that you got in all previous entries, be aware that they are NOT present. | video-games_xbox |
Atmospheric stealth game with a mature storyline. First the basics:
Video - 4.5; Positives include generally crisp resolution in higher settings, excellent use of light and shadow, unique coloring for mood and place. Negatives are few, but I found a couple of scenes too dark in the middle distance to see a foe, and the colors could get a little monotonous.
Sound - 5; excellent sound and musical score matched the atmosphere and locations well. Sound effectively used to generate tension when hunted, reinforce atmosphere. German voices add to atmospheric effect and are correct. Screams of people caught in a burning church were appalingly realistic and made me rush to try to save them, immersing me thoroughly (though very disturbing). Music genuinely haunting, especially end theme.
Gameplay - 3.5; Positives include stealth ability (similar to Splinter Cell and actually a little like the Theif games. Negatives are the "dream-like" morphine rush, which I never used beyond the first mission because it detrated from the realism and you do not have to to win, the inability to pick up dropped weapons (other than the morphine rush, perhaps the single most unrealistic element of the game), and the fact that generally you can avoid the enemy AI by using vertical movement (go up or down a stair and they lose you). They also seem to lose interest if you stay hidden for ahwile, which is not too realistic, either, but makes sense as a trade-off for gameplay.
Atmosphere - 5; like the old Thief games, with their dark visuals and eery music and sound themes, I found myself quite immersed and absorbed in this experience. Teh story is interesting if a bit difficult to pull together early as it's told in falshbacks of a sort. The last missions, from escaping the hospital and then heading into the village, in which Violette is running around in her undies with a Luger, knife and StG43 (one of the first assault rifles, invented by the Germans - of course :-)) stretched credulity to some extent; I mean, just where is she stashing the guns and ammo and knife anyway...? The cinematics for stealth kills are actually pretty good, though randomized (might show you using the butt of your shotgun instead of the knife in the groin). I especially liked how Violette gets much more brutal as she vents her frustration and hatred on her targets starting in the hospital escape, often killing them and then stabbing them again and again with abandon - nice way of seeing her state of mind.
Replayability - 2; Not much, unless you want to play it again at a differnt difficulty level or try some different tactics to maximize experience points, collectibles, etc...
Commentary: Overall, I found the game one of the more enjoyable and engaging PC stealth shooters I have played in some time, despite being an obvious console port (bummer, I pine for the good old days when the PC was king...sigh). Just so you know my bias, I really enjoyed the Thief and Splinter Cell games, and to some extent Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (in stealth mode). If you like this type of game, even if a bit linear, appreciate the drama of WW2 espionage and well crafted, atmospheric envionments accented by solid visuals combined with excellent sound effects and music, you will like this game. Be warned as with Thief and Splinter Cell, you cannot 'run and gun' your way through this and live.
Recomended "extra": Use the flare gun for a treat - screaming Nazis on fire. Or hit the tank on the flamethrower troops for a similar effect - suh-weeeet. And bottom line, what can be better than killing Nazis with a knife, from behind, or roasting them alive? | video-games_xbox |
It is what it is. This game seems a bit anachronistic in todays hd supercharged surround sound age, but it's enjoyable. I was expecting something on the lines of the older futurama game, and in some ways it's similar. The cut scenes are funny. Some more than others. The action is fine, but it's almost as if it's aimed towards kids though the humor and subject matter isn't appropriate for anyone under 13 (at least). the humor is on par with the show. It's wrong in every possible way and you will find yourself laughing despite how un-p.c. it really is. for parents there are scenes that are inappropriate such as the level where you have to defend yourself against attacking people on crutches and in wheel chairs just to give you an idea. and the Santa's workshop level may kill his/her love of that family holiday. I know in today's day and age many parents give in to children to easily and expose them to things they should not be exposed to until later in life, so I am trying to give a heads up. Some children are more mature (I know I was) and will know it's just a game and hopefully know it's not supposed to be how things are in real life. I'm sure Seth isn't someone who would attack handicapped people in real life, but it's part of the humor of the show. So love it or hate it, it is what it is. Some of the action is repetitive and sometimes when you need to replay a level to find all the items for the secondary objectives (which is necessary for unlockables) it really becomes tedious. But overall it is fun despite that it seems more like an xbox or ps2 game and not a next gen game. though now xbox360 is the old model, oh well time flies when you're having fun and sure is damn expensive:). I didn't really do much with the online stuff as the multiplayer online is pretty dead. I did try the challenge levels a bit and they were a bit hard. I am not a hardcore gamer I just play to relax (which is actually counter intuitive when you think about it) and to have fun. I'll only spend so much time playing a game after it gets frustrating and I'll get back to it later. Hardcore games will never give up until they finish the part. So I am basically someone who knows when to quit and just relax. So the games I play need to be fun and if it's hard the rewards need to justify the time. This game would probably be about 3.5 stars out of 5 but since we can't do half stars I thought it was closer to 4 than 5 as it's a game that doesn't try too hard and is easy enough to figure out and have fun with. The writing for the story is again on par with the show, so if you love Family Guy and do not mind how twisted and wrong it can get, then this game would be fun for you. A good way to rack up some easy achievement points (except you'll probably miss out on the online points). | video-games_xbox |
the duty. Xbox One version.
Last time I played CoD was MW3. My favorites up until then were CoD 4:MW and MW2. Advanced Warfare doesn't quite match up to those two in my mind, in part because of the introduction of the exo suits but also because of originality. Decide for yourself though, this is only my opinion.
Graphics aren't a priority to me but I think the game looks great.
Pros:
- The game mechanics are smooth, as always with CoD.
- The new features with the exo suits are a welcome addition to the series but still take away on some realness the game used to bring.
- The weapons work well, some cool new additions. No spoilers.
- The campaign is entertaining, better than some of the previous games but not the best. It does however have the best single player ability set. I only played it on Hardened difficulty.
- The Multiplayer UI still has the same basic look and approach which is well done.
- Survival mode is pretty fun.
- Will be a new exo-Zombie mode! New weapons, items and maps in DLC! Finally more than maps!
- Classic multiplayer for play without exo suits if you prefer
Cons:
- The operator appearance customization would be better included with each custom weapon class and used in the matches. Instead, its pretty pointless because its not used for anything really.
- P2P lag, sometimes makes it pointless to play. Why not use dedicated servers?
- Survival Mode instead of Covert Ops, that's a con to me.
- I was hoping Advanced Warfare would add a bit more depth into the multiplayer part of the game as well as more height and distance in levels for more spread.
Overall:
I say just wait to buy until the price drops. If you compare this to the previous titles or other games like Titanfall then yeah, this game doesn't really bring anything new to the table. However, it is well put together and entertaining. I've always liked the grittiness of CoD over other games, so regardless of what this game lacks I'll still choose it over others like Halo or Titanfall. If this had released in place of MW3 it would've been the right time, IMO. Now it feels like CoD is playing catch up instead of leading the pack.
We'll see what the future holds for this game via patches and DLC but with Evolve releasing soon I see CoD taking the backseat in my gaming world. | video-games_xbox |
New to series, loving the game, can be a bit overwhelming in the beginning. First Fallout game. New to the series but not open world games. No problems for me being new to the series from a story stand point because the game does a good job of standing on it's own and providing plenty of back story.
This game is ultra deep in every way, it feels like a real world: seemingly endless stories and characters (each with their own histories), advanced combat and crafting systems, almost everything in the world can be interacted with, lore at every corner, the made up products add to the story or have a back story of their own. Find a random out of the way abandoned building, hack into the terminal and read emails and notices that lead to an entire quest line or not. Either way there's back story here, there and everywhere. Can't say enough how deep this game is.
Same deepness with character creation and progression. Endless builds to consider. You choose your attributes when you start, you then choose which skills to unlock and when. This game has a lot of range, so much in fact I would not consider it a shooter because you can play it in such a way where you don't do too much shooting. This is really an RPG game with shooting (often optional) components.
The post apocalyptic setting gives me that same feeling when I watch The Walking Dead with people trying to survive and rebuild. It's really believable and you do get spooked a bit when leaving the safe areas.
On the down side because this game is so big it can be very overwhelming in the beginning. You are asked to make some pretty big choices up front (i.e. your attribute build) that while not necessarily permanent can take a long time to overcome if you feel you made the wrong choice.
I think it's important not to think of this as a shooter but more like a RPG. You can dump an entire machine gun clip into a guy and he won't drop, even on easy. Much like Max Payne. I initially found that a kind of cheap way to make the game challenging. But I think the developers want you to think through your approach, use the VATS system (slows time and allows you to target specific areas of an opponent) and be thoughtful in how you fight. They also want to encourage you to mod your weapons through crafting. You probably will not get far (especially in the beginning) if you try to power through. Remember what i said about it being a real world? Well that goes for ammo too. It is in limited supply, after all it's a waste land.
The first 30 minutes of the game is very well done from a story perspective, maybe one of the best video game opens of all time. So be sure to have some quite time so you can enjoy it. However the game does not do much to teach how each aspect of the game works. You are left to your own for the most part to figure it out.
In addition to the learning curve just realize that this is a huge game with a ton of content and systems to learn. Even once you learn the game be prepared to spend a lot of time playing. It's hard to pick up for just 30 minutes at a time. Sure there are certain missions that have a beginning, middle and an end but overall it's one crazy long never ending story. | video-games_xbox |
A smart way to be lazy and still make money. I've played Madden since 93 or so. This series was an afterthought until recently though I still have NCAA football games from 98. I started becoming jaded the last few years with horrible games with the same gameplay flaws year after year. I would rent them and that'd be enough until I could buy it for $10-$15. The games became so bad I started skipping a year or more. Why buy the same game over and over? And then after finding out they bought the rights to the NFL and NCAA so they could be lazy and do nothing was worse. The fact that EA has no balls should piss any consumer off. But, this game does improve over 13 and earlier games.
As far as the positives. My favorite part of the Ncaa series is recruiting. I love many of the changes to it in 14 from the coach being the biggest reason of recruiting strength and the bonuses from the school seems very intuitive to me. The streamlined process is better, IMO, especially since the quick calls from 13 showed the attention to detail EA put into these games. Instead of the AI picking a A+ that was a favorite it would routinely pick anything but that. in 14 it was a bit easy but this is a rare facet that it would've been interesting to see enhanced over the next few years but who knows with 15 being cancelled. It was also great to be able to see why you have a B, C, etc ranking for pro potential, conference prestige, etc. Another great change was the use of awareness in Road to Glory.
The ranking system is still completely idiotic. By week 11 I had beaten the #12, 5, 6, and 7 team and was still ranked 3rd. 2nd had only beaten one ranked team (17), in fact the only team with a winning record, but they had done it the week prior so that takes all precedence in EAs world.
The gameplay quality is decent. Blocking, specifically lead blocking is better though not amazing. Physics are a joke even compared to a game 10 years older, NFL2k5. Any time my 250 lb player hits a CB or safety he usually won in NFL2k5 but not on heisman in ncaa 14. Not only that but they get stood up. Another impressive thing is that a 250 lb vs a 180 lb player with the same stats had a very noticeable stat difference in NFL2k5. Simple enough but EA is still behind that game in many other facets. Not saying that NFL 2k14 would be better but it'd been nice to know for sure. The tackling animations are still bad and plenty of magnet hits where you are clearly out of reach of a player especially on the dive tackles. Momentum is almost non-existent. How many times have you seen a person completely juke someone out and they turn completely around to make the tackle right after?
Deep passes on the outside almost never work even 1 on 1 with a few steps on the defender. So instead, if you want to win, just run slants and deep middle passes and the defense can't stop them. Or you could do the read option over and over. I did this 7 times in a row vs Alabama with TN for a TD on RTG on heisman. I just wanted to run 2 reads but saw it work and I wanted to see how bad the adaption AI was. WR blocking downfield is better but still spotty. Defenders still have eyes in the back of their heads more than they should. The QB tries to set after breaking a tackle in the backfield which pretty much nullifies 80% of the broken tackles because by the time the game lets you run again you're hit by somebody else. How can a WR be running full speed and have a foot on a DB or LB that still hasn't even turned around yet and still not have him beat? Once you're even you're beaten. Play action is usually horrible since a QB fakes and then does the mandatory 3 step drop afterwards usually ending up in a sack. I cancel it generally.
I think consumers need to speak up more by refusing to buy Madden and NCAA. Doesn't everybody want competition to make the companies work to make the better game. EA better buy the rights to the NFL and NCAA again. Because we know they don't want to spend the money to actually create a better game. It's pathetic. | video-games_xbox |
Could be a lot better. This has potential spoilers.
I loved Bioshock. Unfortunately, this is Bioshock in theory and in name only. Bioshock, the original, was a long game with a lot of stuff I wanted to do.
Well this game had great potential but I figured out the ending basically halfway into the game and the whole thing was over with way too quickly. I also had the idea that if I did things differently then it would fundamentally change what happened but while it changed the story, it didn't change the impact or what ultimately it all meant.
In the end, this ended up being more like Singularity than Bioshock. But it had a better feel to it, better graphics, better in every way except in reasons for replaying. It felt like replaying it was just worthless. And I wanted so much to like this game. I did like that whole "no matter what you do, there you are" feel of it, but that doesn't mean replaying the game feels any less pointless. The "shock" value is gone and the futility of trying to change the future is just enforced.
I'm rather sick and tired of games going for this futility factor. Mass Effect 3 did that in showing you that people that work together can't win anything and you as the hero must suffer constantly for the sins of everyone else, even when they've learned to do better.
This game does it by saying that despite learning there might be a better way forward, you really can't change anything. And even if you do change some important things and want to do better and be better, you're still well, screwed to put it bluntly.
For once can't someone make a game that features a full range of possibilities that have a real impact not only on other people in the game, but in the life of the "hero" from whose perspective it's told? I'm sick of the hero must die games. It's not artistic, it's myopic and inane. It would at least be nice for you to be able to have one ending that "feels" good. | video-games_xbox |
Microsoft made a poor choice. Well the reason Im giving this hard drive 2 stars is because
1. These should come on all the XBOX 360 systems, not just on the platinum
some not everyone is rich and everyone wants to get their child what they want, you can't even play old XBOX games without this thing.
2. The hard drive is pretty much pointless unless you connect your computer to it, if you don't then all it is is a 20 gig memory card and it allows you to play old xbox games which is a plus, but I bought the 360 to play 360 games, which aren't too amazing, with the exception of a few: Ghost Recon 1&2, Saint's Row, Condemned, and a few others.
3. You cant buy these in stores as most of them get limited amounts of these things, (about 2) per store.
4. I bought this hard drive excited to be able to create my own soundtracks using my IPOD Nano, but was ultimately dissappointed when it told me that it could not transfer any files to the hard drive, so my question is how do you make your own soundtracks if you don't have the latest computer+software? You can't.
In summary you pretty much need to be rich and living in a hollywood condo to enjoy the full capabilities of the XBOX 360, which are vast.
With the cost of the xbox live headset, the wireless connecting router, and the XBOX live fees it's really a shame that these things aren't accessible to everybody. I bought 360 core package which is the poorman's version and I feel like I should have gotten more for my $400, let alone pay for $60 a game. This stuff is getting way too expensive, I remember when games were $50 at the most. But I will say that the 360 is a way better buy then the highly over-priced PS3 (which won't last too much longer due to poor promotion,price,and low availability of games. SONY SCREWED UP 2006 AND 2007 DOESNT LOOK TOO GOOD EITHER. I had a PSP for about 5 months after I got it and I traded it in for store credit because there aren't any good games for it and then they want you to buy a memory card!!) | video-games_xbox |
Great game, but fails to explore its own moral questions. (Warning, spoilers below)
Assassin's Creed 2 is beautiful and extremely well crafted, but it also falls short of its true potential by failing to examine some difficult moral questions sufficiently well.
There is no doubt that when viewed as video games are typically viewed today, AC2 excels and deserves very high marks. But why not raise the bar a bit? In the early days of film, a new film was considered a better one if it simply looked better. Today we have grown sufficiently used to the film media to expect something more, and perhaps it is time to raise the bar for games in a similar way. What follows are some thoughts on how this might have been done.
AC2 excels graphically and historically, painting an extremely attractive vision of renaissance Italy and including a large historical cast. But it fails to seize a great opportunity to explore difficult moral questions in a non-superficial way. The main character is an assassin, and most of his missions are about assassinating conspirators, who are typically men in positions of power in politics or in the Catholic church. The struggle he undertakes is supposed to be "for the people", but the assassinations are too often left with very faint justification. Almost all powerful characters need to be assassinated at some point or another, leading the player to suspect that the secret moral code of this game is "powerful = evil". (A notable, but rare, exception is Lorenzo di Medici, a powerful character who is actually on the side of the player.)
Add to this the fact that most antagonists are members of the church. There's an opportunity here to examine Christian morality and its shortcomings, and to look in some detail at the way that Christian thought affects people. But instead of this, we are left with no detailed explanation of what is considered justification for a murder in this game - the possession and utilisation of a supernatural plot device is usually enough.
Where superficially it may appear that this game attacks the Christian church as being a manipulative, power hungry organisation (in a fictional alternate history world), in reality, the "power=evil" equation that most of the "good" characters appear to abide by in fact seems to ensure that Christian morality is deeply and profoundly endorsed by this game, even as Christian figureheads are being killed off. This is the strange, presumably unintentional contradiction here, and it seems to represent a missed chance to tell a complex moral story and take this game to the next level. There was an opportunity to dissect and criticise not just the organisation but also its ideas. The main character also eventually becomes so rich and powerful as to seem hypocritical, if this moral code is indeed being followed. Is he next in line to be assassinated? | video-games_xbox |
Underwhelming game + a horrible marketing gimmick. I must admit I was quite excited for The 40th Day. I enjoyed the previous installment in the series and had fairly high expectations for the second. So I sat down and put the game in and waited to be wowed. And then I waited. And waited. And waited some more. And then the credits rolled.
The 40th Day isn't an awful game but all the things that made the first game memorable like the co-op mechanisms, the tongue in cheek bromance, the ambiguous morality and the hard fighting brutality were completely underdeveloped here. The strength of a sequel over a new title is that a dev team can take all the popular aspects of a previous game and with that previous experience up the ante and redeliver a superior product based on those known strengths and weaknesses. Instead with the 40th Day you get exactly the same thing as before with an even thinner story (which I didn't thing possible) and a less engaging aesthetic. There is basically nothing here that makes me believe that a single lesson was learned from the previous title.
The controls are wonky but not intrusively bad. I did have an unexplainable bug where after I came back from turning off the game the Y-axis reset to un-inverted and I couldn't change it back. So if you're a freak of nature like me and play with an inverted Y-Axis be on your guard. The bug might make this game unplayable.
Also be warned: if you're looking for single player play time then don't put down your money on buying this game. I finished this game in less than six hours on Hard. There are a few unlockables but nothing to make it worth really playing through the campaign again. My recommendation would be to rent it and based off how much you enjoy the multi-player consider buying a copy then.
As far as the actual game play is concerned I was never once really engaged. The enemies have a very limited number of very jerky animations and their AI is unsatisfying. Like many poorly designed games that place an emphasis on the use of cover you'll often find yourself feeling like you're playing a game of wack-a-mole where you sit behind your cover and they sit behind theirs as you wait for them to lean out to ineffectually spray bullets at you. The enemies are not challenging and most of the episodes were you find yourself being challenged is when due to the design of the spawn points and the poor camera angles a half dozen opponents appear behind you. They're mostly carbon copies of each other, some with helmets and some with body armor but it's all the same deal. This is mixed up by having the occasional mini-boss which is decked out in heavy armor and has a special weapon like a Gatling gun or a grenade launcher. Between the combat cover mechanic and the cheesy pseudo-anime looking enemies I felt like I had traveled back in time fifteen years and was playing Time Crisis at the arcade again and not in a good way.
This is all interrupted by situations where you can take hostages and/or rescue civilians. While that sounds fun, and it is at first, it wears off about an hour into the game due to the fact that it's the same situation every time and you're never presented with a reason or a reward that makes you care. This brings me to the "moral choices" in the game. One of the great ideas in the game that had simply terrible execution the moral choices have almost no affect on the storyline or the game play. There are some items and weapon parts you can get one way as opposed to the other but they're not really a big deal and don't much alter the way you play the game or the manner in which it is or isn't enjoyed. You could be totally good or totally bad without significant alteration in the basic experience.
The second incredibly disappointing aspect of the game was the weapon modification. This is another idea that just never really seemed to get off the ground which is bizarre considering the attention and marketing it got as a component of the game. While you can change out barrels and add new sights or stocks, etc there is very little substantial difference in the weapon platforms. Once you buy one modification or the other it makes little difference what your "base" weapon is. Also the modifications themselves are limited and uninspired. With all the focus placed on attaining money in the game you'll find little reason to actually spend it as none of the mods have a real "fun" factor to them and their effect on your game play is minimal.
The multi-player is adequate but I don't see any shooter fan who owns a copy of Modern Warfare 2 spending enough time play The 40th Day to justify a purchase. You'll also notice that since you didn't pre-order a copy you don't yet have access to the Extraction feature of the game for a month. Note to EA: put a $10 mail in rebate or a poster or the such in your pre-orderers boxes. Leaving out an entire portion of your game for one of the most critical time periods for the sale of your product is incredibly stupid. Basically what EA has done is create the illusion of pre-orderers getting "extra material" by taking it away from everyone else. What a clever way to screw over your customers. Fire the guy that came up with that.
Bottomline: The game is a decent but not impressive 6 hours duck and shoot exercise. Unless you simply loved the multi-player portion of the first game I wouldn't recommend paying retail for this one. A rental isn't out of the question for a lazy weekend but with Bioshock 2, Mass Effect 2 and Modern Warfare 2, all vastly superior sequels, out or soon to be I'm not sure I'd argue you'll have more fun with this in your 360.
Pros:
*Good looking graphics, nice textures.
*Not too hard, not too easy.
*Curb stomping.
Subjective qualities:
*Simple combat mechanics.
*Check point save system.
*Not overly tactical, very shoot 'em up.
Cons:
*Terrible story.
*Very short.
*Undeveloped core concepts (weapon mods and moral choices).
*Painfully cliche aesthetics.
*Simple AI.
*Goofy Achievements.
*Little variation in play.
*Wonky Controls.
*You don't get the whole game you pay for on release (Extraction). | video-games_xbox |
mgs2. this is one of the most fun and addictive games i have ever played. sme bits are annoying like when you have to do something or go somewhere and you don't know how or where. the cutscenes are interesting but also quite tedious. also the person who saves for you is raidens girlfriend so after when you save you normally get a long speech about how empty raidens room is and why he won't sleep next to her and when they met they argued over what building king kong climbed up or something like that. there are lots of plot twists and after a little while i was completely confused on whats going on. it is very interactive. its possible to kill almost anyone or anything. like it is possible to shoot seagulls that fly around in the raiden levels. also when you have to save the girl thats scared of water i accidenly used melee attack on her a couple of times which brings me onto something else. the controls are awful when im crouching down or something and i guard walks over i want to get up but i normaly end up lying on the ground which means i get a kick in the head from the guards. most of the bosses are werid like theres one called fatman who is a fat guy on rollerblades who plants explosives all over the place and before he dies he says something like laugh lots and grow fat. the characters are weird like theres a bisexual vampire who is in love a marine commander. theres otacon the weird person with glasses who had a realtionship with his mum the main character looks like a girl. on one of the levels you are walking around inside a metal gear naked and whatever you do one hand is always on his you know what. also when your naked the guards arnt afraid to kick you and shoot you. then you find out that raidens girlfriend is pregnant and your commander is ai and loads of other stuff. it has lots of annoying bits like the very long cutscenes but overall it is a very fun and addictive game well worth the money | video-games_xbox |
Hit the sweet spot and you'll love this product. This is the only thing that let me keep my sanity on an 18 hour car trip (and the return trip) with 2 year old twins. As I liked it, consider that everything I omit to discuss is exceptional.
The first complaint I have about it is that you need to place yourself at exactly the right angle or the polarity of the screen causes some loss of detail. I tried using it on a lap board, and with the built-in stands, it was washed out. Laying it flat had the same problem from the other direction. I had to roll up t-shirts and bunch them in awkward ways to get a really good viewing angle. The sweet spot is very small. If you're using the built-in stands, you'll want to place it in such a way that the bottom of the screen is aligned with your armpits, and between 2 and 2.5 feet away. Don't use a chair that leans back.
Next, the power plug, HDMI, and headphone jack are all placed in a way to make access fairly awkward. They're inset in the back, facing in so that the cords all need to be either bent in U or be routed the long way around the device. Since the power cord they provide is about 2 feet long, it means you have to have it next to your wall socket, or literally resting on your console if you're using USB. Looking through the one star reviews, I can see how this likely leads to damage early on.
The product is very lightweight. This is good, of course, but as the above paragraph points out, you end up running your cords very taut in most setups. This is enough for the cord tension to cause the screen to twist and turn. Both this and the above item could have been dealt with if they just increased the power cord length to something more usable.
Last, the fabic case they provide the unit in is great, but there's no explicit space in it for the cords and dongle. You can easily fit them in there, of course, but they bulge out like a massive pimple, especially the AC transformer. Since you're always going to be taking them with, it'd have been nice to have them been provided for.
Still, despite all these items, it's still a pretty great display, with no lag and high detail. It's pretty clever.
Too bad there's no add-on item to let you suction cup it to a surface, especially at a choose-your-own angle, like a car cell phone holder. That really would have been an excellent addon that would have countered the short/bent-cord issue, and the screen issue too. | video-games_xbox |
Fitness Game for Kinect. I received this game through the Amazon Vine Program. Since I did not own the original version, I cannot compare it to that game. What I can compare it to are other Kinect games and to the WII Fitness Game.
Probably the weakest part of this game is the instruction set, it is basically non-existant. So, you are left to try and figure out how to accomplish any tasks you want to do on your own. With the WII Fitness game, this is not really so much of a problem as it takes you into the basics and has you fill in the required information (age, weight, gender, etc) so that it can calculate calories burned and such for you. This is NOT the case with Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012. You are required to have a profile, but it does not provide any information on how to make any changes in what the game thinks is your situation. It runs a simulated "scan" of your body, but that does not enter in any information about you for calculating calories or for designing a program for you. If you play around with things enough (basically play 5 year old and open each and everything you can to see what it does) you will find that you first need to change how the game enters information (if you live in the US) as the game was created outside of the United States and uses metric units for weight and for height. So, you need to go to "My Options" to be able to change from metric to Imperial units for the game to use feet and pounds. Once you have that figured out, you need to go to "Edit Profile" to be able to enter in your age, weight, height, and gender. Hum, wasn't the game supposed to scan me for that information or at least some of it????
If you were looking for a customizable workout schedule based upon information you provide, forget it. You are given three choices of body type (Couch Potato, athlete, and super star! Great Choices!!!! You then get to pick an objective such as tranquility and balance for it to design a workout schedule for you. It will flag games and exercises for you to follow as well as give you number of minutes and number of days a week for your program. Do NOT think you can change anything other than the number of days a week!!!
Speaking of workouts, I still have yet to figure out progress other than a percentage scale that appears to track the percentage of your weekly workout time total. Of course, the percent scale is not explained anywhere so this is only a guess!!! Exiting the game is a real challenge as well as there is no recognizable way to exit other than just shutting down the console. There is not a pause function so if you want to pause just walk away from the game area and it will say "oh, you want a pause, ok".
On a positive side of this evaluation, the games are a lot of fun and if you actually complete each section, you will find that your muscles do get tired!! The games are fun, definately active, and a nice workout. There is enough variety to keep you coming back.
One other irritation is the product placement for the sports drink that wants you to buy the product and then scan it for more game options! If you pay for the game, why should you have to deal with this type of advertising? You will also find that the game wants you to go online and buy more content as well.
If you are socially oriented and do not worry about sharing information, this game trys to get you to setup a profile on a website to track your progress and wants to share that information with your social media. I personally do not want my information out somewhere without my control, but that is a personal decision, you might be happy to have this feature.
All in all, I would recommend the game for the fun features and creative exercises, but not as a fitness program that you can customize. | video-games_xbox |
Same Game.... Different Day. December 7th, 1941 is a day that will live in infamy to be sure. The day Medal of Honor: Rising Sun was released will not. Unfortunatly, this is a game that disappointingly falls short in too many areas to overlook.
MOH:RS starts off at the attack at Pearl Harbor where you as a soldier of the US Marines are stationed. Here is where the game's first problem exists. While the beginning of the attack plays very well, the rest falls flat to pointless shooting at planes while on a boat that rides on a rail. In the beginning of the mission you wake up in your bed and run through the damaged ship to the deck where you see Japanese zeros flying overhead. You are handed a weapon and you start shooting. It's very dramatic and when you first emerge from the bowels of the ship, the sight you see will drop your jaw at the shear scope of the scene. After firing on the planes however, you now get on a boat and all you do is hold down the trigger for ten minutes and aim at planes as best you can. I don't understand why they would start the sequence so well and then end it so horribly. It's like they got lazy and decided to go the cheap way out. Instead of designing a more engaging level, they stuck us on a boat and dragged us around the bay. It gets very boring and could have been something great. That being said, the rest of the missions are somewhat interesting, but nothing new at all. Nothing inovative and nothing that you haven't seen in the previous MOH games. The only real difference is that the bad guys shout in Japanese instead of german. There's no exploration as your hand is held the whole way through. All paths that you're supposed to go down are already open for you. Mission objectives are bland and usually get from Point A to Point B and kill everyone in between. Sometimes these are disguesed as "rescue the POW's" but all you're really doing is getting from your start point to the POW's. That's it. So, the missions are bland and boring which means that the game is bland and boring. Maybe there's a reason the game is so short. I finsished it in under 8 hours.
Enemy AI is somewhat smart and somewhat stupid at the same time. Some of the Japanese stop, take cover, and try to flank you. But that's a 1 in 30 chance righ there. The game boasts "Devastating Banzai charges" and that seems to be all the enemy does. Instead of firing at you like they should, they just charge at you and get shot head on. No wonder they lost the war.
The game does contain multiplayer and co-op options. Up to 4 players can play in split screen mode. The levels are nothing special and it's no Halo, but it can offer some entertainment if you have some friends with you. Co-op is basically the same missions with a partner. YOu do the same exact things. Some things change, like you have to have both people present to open a door or put out a fire. Or one player will have to go around to another side to open a door for the other player. Nice idea, but the missions are still just as pointless.
MOH:RS contains over 20 authentic World War II weapons. It's got a nice variation in that respect. No slouch in the fire power area which is good and offers at least some variety throughout the missions. The welrod is especially interesting as it's a one shot silence pistol. Very interesting for stealth.
The graphics in this game...suck quite frankly. There's no other way around it. FLAT is the operative word throughout the entire game. Water looks like flat blue gook on the ground. Everything is pixelated and flat. The foliage looks stupid and if you look at them closely you can see that they aren't even modeled that well at all and if you turn the right way you can see that they're flat. There's clipping and collision detection issues as well as Pop-up. Every character in the game moves as if they were a robot and their limbs were detached from the rest of their body. I'd expect this on a bad Playstation One game. Not a next-generation console. Poorly done and pathetic in more ways than one.
Not one to leave on a bad note, here's the good part of the game. The sound is excellent. THX certified and surround sound enabled. The sound effects are incredible. Bullets whiz by your head and the sound of tracers zipping through the air fill the speakers. The music, while not as good as Medal of Honor: Frontline, is still good and features some Japanese themes.
And thats it. It isn't a game you should avoid. It gives you a semi-fun romp through the pacific theater of the war. While repetative and pointless mission objectives hold the game back, fans of the series might enjoy it. A rental at best. | video-games_xbox |
The best way i can describe this headset without over extending . The best way i can describe this headset without over extending it is that its an above average universal headset for the price. I will not praise it and compare it to highend 200+ dollars headsets because its simply not that good. I still don't want you to get me wrong though, for the price its the best headset out there. At this price range. The sound is good, I can tell the general direction from enemies in fps shooters and the comfort is on point. The padding on the cups is INSANELY soft and i had absolutely no problem with overheating or anything like that when playing for 5+ hours on my battlefield 1 day-long sessions. The fact that they are wireless are very convenient and I think that is a must for any gamer on console since most of us sit kind of far away from the TV/monitor. However, there was one issue I kept experiencing. The headset would sometimes make a short clicking or static noise of some sort whenever i adjusted the volume after a certain point. It still does it and its kind of annoying but its nothing you cant live with, im just petty. If you are looking for a headset in the 100-150 dollar price range, get the lucid sound ls30's without a doubt knowing that you will get the best bang for your buck. However, if you have more money to spend, definetely get a high end headset like an astro 50 or a siberia headset with 7.1 sorround. The amplified stereo system on this headset is not that, but its not sorround. I could tell the general direction where the enemies were but i could not pin point exactly where they were entirely based off my hearing. Its what you would expect with a stereo headset. I was certainly fooled by the other reviews of this headset because, they were claiming it was one of the best headsets that has ever existed! MAYbe for this price but definetely not the best. Expect a decent headset that will give you exactly that you expected for what you paid. Im glad that i bought it. On the other note, Lucid Sound just came out with the ls40's which are 200 dollars with 7.1 sorround, those probably are sweeeet. if you have the money go for those mate. | video-games_xbox |
You'll find that often the best way to reduce the frequency is a hard reset . I *USED TO BE* the biggest xbox one supporter. Mainly because the stable of their games are oustanding and this remains true to this day with the 360 catalogue but that's the last generation and no company can rest on its laurels. This generation has brought few, VERY FEW titles that are even worth discussion at the table about whether or not the games are worthy of the honor of being called "next-gen."
Anyhow, without further adieu!! My aim is not to deter people from purchasing this console but to warn them of what to expect.
APP & GAME CRASHES--FREQUENTLY!! When trying to exploit the ability to run multiple apps (including a game session) you can expect crashes frequently, particularly when app switching. You'll find that often the best way to reduce the frequency is a hard reset and that to me is unacceptable.
This console and its development, while having lofty goals--much like Icarus tried to soar to high and just ended up crashing into obscurity.
This generation of gaming is pretty lame by comparison. I mean, there are only a handful of titles even worth discussing after being out for 2 years? I mean, the 360 had several classics on hand within one year of launch!!! And a plethora after only 2 years. What does this console have after 2 years? Destiny? Wasting hours farming to upgrade a weapon you win in a lottery raffle? Not my idea of fun. Gears of War redux that is a *SHELL OF ITS FORMER SELF*?? Assassin's Creed Black Flag is one of the few polished titles worthy of the next-gen label and its successor quickly destroyed the franchise's reputation the following year. Titanfall is a great game but with lots of pitfalls.
But yeah, the console itself has lots of bugs still and the frequent crashing of games and apps is complete horse crap. There's a few minutes wait time between the OS running during hard resets too. It's kinda slow, to be honest. This entire experience has left me wondering why I even left the 360 at all. I still won't turn to playstation because their standards of quality, while from time-to-time are good, generally pale in comparison compared to the platform exclusives available to the xbox. It might be a better piece of hardware but having 1000 horsepower under the hood doesn't mean crap if you don't tune it properly and unleash all the torque and horsepower safely without blowing the engine. So, in my humble opinion, turning over to PS isn't even a moot point for me.
This will definitely be my last console, I'm a long time gamer too. I've been gaming since 86 on the NES. I'll be hanging up the controllers are 30 years of great gaming and experiences on nintendo, playstation, and xbox.
The developers just keep making the same crap over and over, reskinning the experience, and expecting people to pay $60 for the same ride but in reverse--big deal. And the console OS itself is kinda a joke!! Win 10--who gives a hoot! It's still a garbage experience when everything keeps crashing. This was before the OS reboot too.
What a frustrating experience!
You've been warned!
I'm not saying you won't find enjoyment on this console. Just expect a lot more frustration than any previous console you've ever owned 'cause this one comes with an avant garde set of problems. Next gen gaming? More like next-gen bug magnet. It's a freakin' bug light for cryin' out loud...but one that doesn't zap the bugs once they show up to the party. | video-games_xbox |
Does what it should, but overpriced and transfer is too mysterious. This drive works fine, exactly like it should. however, the price charged for it is really steep, simply because you can only use official Xbox 360 hard drives with the system. If purchasing a hard drive for the PC, you could get one about 4 times this size for the same price. With the PS3 allowing you to buy any hard drive you want for the best price you can find, it is a shame you have to spend so much on one for the Xbox 360. Also, the transfer cable software hides too much. It says it will format the drive and copy, but you just get a status bar, not knowing when it is formatting or copying, much less WHAT it is copying. Mine said that some files were corrupted on my original hard drive and could not be copied, but were erased from the original hard drive. It did not tell me which files or even what game/program they might have been related to. I can seem to find anything missing, but I'm waiting for the day when I realize what it was. Too much hiding behind a pretty interface that is simple and not enough letting people know what is happening with their data. It also comes with a bunch of demos, arcade game trials, and "how to use your 360" videos pre-installed on it. It took me a bit to find all these and delete them to reclaim the space. Even if you format it and transfer from an old hard drive, the transfer disc contains all these things and copies them over after it does your data, unless there isn't room for them. Also, the transfer cable won't let you copy from a larger hard drive to a smaller one, regardless of the amount of data. There is no good reason that you shouldn't be able to copy 3GB of data from a 120GB HDD to a 60GB or 20GB HDD if you want to give the bigger one away etc. No reason except that MS only wants you to buy bigger ones so you have more room to buy more downloads. Drive works fine and does what it says though, you know what you are going to get when you overpay for it. | video-games_xbox |
Reviews aren't released, they escape. Now I've finished the game so I can post a more accurate review.
If any of you happen to be fans of Carth Onasi from KOTOR: listen closely to the clone voices. On a related note, there's a pretty funny mistake in the game manual's voice cast credits: someone seems to have thought "Raphael Sbarge" was the name of a Star Wars character.
The interface, graphics, music, etc. are excellent. In fact, there seems to be some Episode III music on here, but that was evident at the time of the release of the demo.
Players can make use of the fact that any squad member can be commanded to heal themselves at a bacta station.
Cons:
1) Bugs ( not the Geonosian kind )
Sometimes a squad member would get "stuck" and would not move. One time I actually had to shoot the guy to get his attention. Clones these days. This can happen with enemies too. The second MagnaGuard we fought was stuck at one point and would not fight back. Luckily they were used a little more effectively later on. Once or twice I had to go back to a previous save because the icons to breach a door simply were not there.
Finally, I didn't actually complete the last stage of the Geonosis campaign in the way it was intended ( although I went back and did it the right way after I had completed Kashyyyk ). On the bridge of the core ship something very strange happened. The systems went critical but somehow I lived and was able to revive my squad, while the air was obscured by a white haze, kind of like a permanent flash grenade. So I didn't really process which doorway I went through to get out. Later, doing the level the "right" way, I was puzzled.
2) So-called "Trandoshans"
Trandoshans are supposed to be the same race as Bossk from ESB. The guys in the game have pistachio-colored skin and seem to have all-black eyes, unlike Bossk. In fact they look a little like Barada. At least the devs got the part about them being reptilian slavers...
Okay, so maybe there are several types of Trandoshans out there? It's unlikely the race would have changed that much between Episodes III and IV.
3) Multiplayer
Since I don't have XBox Live there wasn't much for me to do with multiplayer. If I didn't have a second controller I wouldn't have been able to play it at all. There's no bot match; apparently the rise of online gaming has in some way phased out computer-controlled opponents? The multiplayer levels are just like HALO, except without vehicles or expansive levels like Blood Gulch.
For those puzzling over the specific fate of the character Sun Fac ( hinted at in the book Labyrinth of Evil ) it's now official: his ship was taken out by a clone sniper. Yee ha!
There may be a continuity glitch at the end of the game. The Kashyyyk campaign is said to begin at "Clone Wars: Day 785" or something like that. Here's the problem: to have a more dramatic finish, the last scene leads directly up to the all-out battle for Kashyyyk, which supposedly is in Episode III. Do the math.
This game definitely gave me new-found respect for the super battle droids, because of the amount of blaster fire they can take.
On the other hand, Grievous' guards were kind of a letdown, even though they represent a ROTS sneak peek. The best way to fight them is demonstrated in the game trailer ( "Ash Video" in the extras ). Basically I'm saying that their "AI" could have been a little better. When attacking a lone character such as a Wookiee, one of these droids will tend to perform a slow circling of the character, which makes the droid very vulnerable. They seem to have a type of projectile attack but it's not used enough to make it dangerous. The MagnaGuards are better utilized in tandem with some other kind of substantive enemy, like a spider droid or a group of Geonosian warriors.
Like others I have to say that this game left me wanting more from the single player quest. Now I feel like I need to get HALO 2 and pretend it's more Star Wars. | video-games_xbox |
Bridges the gap between realism and fantasy perfectly. The first SKATE never really stuck with me I got 1/2 way through and found that the environment and mechanics got stale. Now it might be that I never truly got the hang of the controls the first time around (partially true), whatever the case I just didn't find myself coming back time and again as I expected. The new SKATE game feels entirely the opposite, the layout of SV is an addictive blast, the easier to use PLACE a MARKER feature is an essential for the forgiving restart event system that has you trying every challenge one more time until you check it off. The controls are finely tuned and really the heart of the game, truck adjustments really make a difference if you are turning too loosely or vice versa. And the flick system opens up simply and then just keeps getting better as you perfect the usual set of fliptricks,grabs etc.. and really feels good as things like manuals,footplants,hippy jumps,caveman drops,skitching fall into place naturally within the control system. Most satisfying of all is the double handed tuck down steep runs. The thrasher hall of meat is back and wrecks are a twisted affair as you can send your skater flailing on purpose into all sorts of gory mayhem. The challenges feel like older skating titles at times but offer the right amount of reward and challenge level for the most part as well as a nice amount of variety, street races etc. The details are all top notch with a soundtrack that almost feels played rather than old school, SFX and voice over work are above average though. I am not a big fan of the SECURITY GUARDS that police parts of the game and the collision system with them can be buggy, (it is the only place I have had the game freeze on me).The character builder also really makes a pretty goofy looking face no matter what you do. But with controls like this who cares, just kicking around this game for awhile can be an ultra addictive experience This one is so good I wish I could try the online offerings out but as it is the single player is more than worth it. | video-games_xbox |
Not "Monster", but does the job. For those of you that don't know (and as I've recently discovered there are a few of you), there are a few ways of improving the already exceptional performance of the X-Box. The best bang for your buck is the advance AV pack which allows you to upgrade from those yellow, red, and white AV cables, which are standard for almost all home entertainment equipment, to S-video and dolby digital.
I was originally planning to order the monster component video cables which are far more expensive, but offer the very best in performance. Eventually I decided to go with S-video instead because my 36" Sony Wega has s-video hookups in the front, as does my second TV, and the televisions of all my friends whose houses I sometimes take my box. When I saw this product on the shelf for half the price of the monster hook-ups, I bought it impulsively and I'm very pleased with the results.
For those with very high-end equipment, HDTV, or those willing to shell out a little extra dough, there's no substitute for Monster. For the rest of us, this little set-up does the job quite nicely. I've got a decent system: 36" Sony Wega, Onkyo receiver and Polk speakers, and it feels like I'm finally getting all my money out of my Xbox.
After playing these game for two months with the standard cables, the difference is stunning. The Dolby Digital sound is immersive and incredible. There's just no comparison. The superior video actually makes some games easier to play. S-Video improves the depth, clarity and color, allowing you to see distant objects clearly, which is important when playing Halo or Gotham Racer. You can see creatures clearly or the outlines of an impending turn allowing you better reaction time. A surprising benefit, but a welcome one.
While I'm satisfied with this inexpensive little product, there's a few things you should know: if you want dolby digital sound, you'll need to buy an optical cable seperately. If you can afford HDTV, you can definitely afford Monster component cables, so do yourself a favor and buy them. If you're new to things like S-video and aren't sure what they are, make sure your TV has at least one S-video inlet. If you have a mid-range TV built in the last 4 years, you probably do, but know what your TV can do before you buy any of the available wires. | video-games_xbox |
Ninjitsu Soap Opera. I have not exactly played a lot of fighting games. In fact, ever since they took the Mortal Kombat 2 machine out of the video rental place, I haven't really seen that much of the fighting game. But here goes:
I have to say this game was pretty good. There were good characters, great backgrounds, interesting moves and that colorful sheen that Team Ninja casts upon its games. The story was a bit iffy, in my opinion. Although the intro, played out to Aerosmith's "Dream On," was an excellent piece, it has absolutely nothing to do with the game! There are similarities between it and certain characters' motivations, but in the long run, it has more to do with the Dead or Alive 1 that is tacked in as a bonus feature.
The characters' motivations are clearly enough represented, even if their stories are not up front. And you will get some back-story on all the characters, but it turns in a soap operatic thingy. For example: the wrassler must face his daughter; the phrase, "haven't we met before?" is all over the place; there are some people revealed to be family members at various moments; the karate champ has lost his memory, and a ninja lady must face her evil twin.
Also, the designers put in some really neat-o moves. In doing this, they forgot that most human only have so many fingers and a pair of thumbs. The controls are workable, but workable at best. This can lead to the dreaded button mashing. On that note, I can say that this game remains true to the original. It is also fairly unforgiving.
By the way, "ultimate" means "the best, biggest, and last." This collection does not have that many extra features. Most "ultimate" games should be dripping with readily unlockable stuff. Although you can collect more outfits for the ninja babes to fight in, that's all she wrote.
However, the game is pretty good. Why? Well, for one thing, it's beautiful. The girls in skimpy outfits don't hurt. Neither does the fact that that guy from Ninja Gaiden is here. Familiarity breeds content.
Plus, the fighting, although a bit clumsy at first, will grow on you. Of course, a side effect to this might be that you cannot play any other game for a while, but for a while you won't want to.
And of course, the crowning achievement of this game is its unlockable soundtrack. I have a soft spot for those, and this on includes the previously mentioned "Dream On." So if you're a fan of battling ninjas, girls in bikinis, and classic rock, give this game a try. | video-games_xbox |
A very intriguing title. I bought this game after reading every last one of the reviews on this website, and feel I should add my own after living the game for a few weeks.
The Pros: This game is beautiful. The stadiums are amazing representations with intricate detail that is both unsuspecting and complex. The pitching interface is fun and keeps me coming back all the time. There are over 1000 camera views, literally, and the customization options are pretty much endless throughout the game. If you like statistics, this game will never leave your machine. The sabermetrics included with the franchise mode are a great ancillary tool for recruiting and analyzing your lineup. During the broadcasts, different elements of the Inside Edge are included to enhance your understanding of pitching selection and the spray chart. Speaking of broadcasts, Gary Thorne just soothes you into the game. Presentation value is high with game highlights and top 3 plays shown after each game. Finally, we have a create-a-player mode with unlimited attributes and a good start towards facial customization. This game looks as real as it gets and is as much fun to watch as it is to play.
The Cons: First and foremost, the game takes way too long to play; anyone familiar with these series knows to expect it. You've got to set aside an hour to an hour and a half to bang out a game without the hurry up mode. It is often frustrating to get to the next batter while the game cycles through replays and cut shots. The A button is rendered useless for a lot of the 'presentation'. They do give you the option to play in hurry up mode, but you lose a lot of the presentation value that makes Thorne so fun to listen to. As much as I hold Gary up on a pedestal, the commentary often does not match the play, and that is somewhat disappointing. There are also way too many errors in each game. The 1B gets pulled off the bag a lot, and OFs don't always run so fast and miss an above average number of shags.
Overall, this is a great game to have. It is fun to get involved with, despite the time commitment to get through a single game. I really, really hope they can make this run faster in future releases as it would easily be an anticipated release along the likes of Madden and NCAA. Making the defensive play more realistic would also be an important step in the right direction. | video-games_xbox |
Bad Company is not a bad game. It's not a bad game; in fact, it's quite good. This review is in regards to the multiplayer as I have not completed the single player yet. I'm sure most people are primarily getting the game for multiplayer like with COD.
I'm sure there will be an influx of reviews giving the game 1 star and complaining about the graphics or comparing it to MW2. Here's a few things to remember:
1) The environments are gigantic
2) There's vehicles being used all throughout the map
3) Destructible environments
What does all that mean? It means that the game just isn't going to look quite as good or have a comparable framerate as MW2. The Xbox has finite resources and when they make a game of this scale without any loading taking place during gameplay, you have to sacrifice something.
However, I wouldn't necessarily say that a sacrifice in graphics or framerate is a bad thing. When you experience the magnitude of the giant playing fields and the destruction taking place, you should be able to quickly forget all about the smooth polygons in MW2.
Probably the biggest pro for me in this game is that it encourages teamwork. In MW2, most people are just worrying about their K/D ratio and trying to complete challenges by getting the most kills. In BC2, more points are rewarded for assisting the team an completing objectives. If this is something that intrests you and you're sick of all the "lone wolves," then you should definitely check this game out.
BREAKDOWN:
GRAPHICS: 9/10
AUDIO: 10/10 (It's really quite impressive)
GAMEPLAY: 10/10
REPLAY: 10/10
TO sum it up, the graphics, gameplay and audio are really quite impressive for a game of this scale. The most important thing about this game, it's fun. I love MW2, but sometimes I just don't have fun playing it. Everyone gets so angry and frustrated and worried about their k/d ratio or getting their killstreak. In BC2, I feel like I'm just having a fun time and I'm getting a lof of points regardless of my kills. The only thing I'm worried about is trying to win the game rather than reaping carnage without purpose.
Also, the knife melee function is really sweet. It's an overhead stabbing motion that feels a lot more real and intense than in MW2.
If you're a fan of the BF series or just looking for a break from 5th prestige in MW2, you've got to check this game out. | video-games_xbox |
The EDF Needs You. It's rare that a game gets panned and, upon reading about it, I realize it's the perfect game for me. Earth Defense Force (EDF) 2017 is a bit of a clunker, with unrealistic physics, repetitive enemies, and a terrible vehicle mechanic. Folks accustomed to the first-person smoothness of Halo or the gritty action of Gears of War would most certainly turn up their nose at EDF.
But I loved every single level of it.
You've probably guessed what the plot is: flying saucers invade and deposit hordes of giant ants, spiders, robots, and Godzillas--sorry, "Dino-mechs"--onto the Earth's surface in an attempt to take over the word, Independence Day-style. You are Storm 1, EDF's premiere ground soldier. You and a bunch of your hapless fellow soldiers are tasked with repelling alien invaders several times your size with nothing but handheld weapons. Remember Starship Troopers? It's like that.
With apologies to Winston Churchill: You fight on the seas and oceans, you fight in the air, you defend your planet, whatever the cost may be. You fight on the beaches, you fight on the landing grounds, you fight in the fields and in the streets, you fight in the hills...and you never, ever surrender. From Aliens-style bug hunts in cramped tunnels to bitter Children of Men-style warfare in ruined cities, EDF drops you into every environment imaginable, puts a gun in your hands, points you at a giant monster and asks you to take it on mano-a-giant monstero.
The enemies are glorious to behold. The giant robots are 1950s style automatons reminiscent of the Iron Giant, clunking their way through city streets with gigantic beam weapons, one eye, and weird rope-like limbs. The giant dinosaurs breathe atomic fire and smash through buildings and troops.
And then there are the bugs. Lots and lots and lots of bugs. The giant ants squirt acid or bite, swarming in an erratic pattern just like their tiny brethren. The giant spiders, a combination of tarantula and wolf spider, jump AND spit webs. As if this weren't bad enough, sometimes EDF throws all of these types of enemies at you at once.
The other major part of the game are the weapons. There are intelligent miniguns that track monsters just like in the extended cut of Aliens, bullets that ricochet off of the walls, flame throwers, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, acid sprayers, time release mines, rocket launchers, guided missiles, and of course shotguns. Each has a reload time, although you rarely run out of ammo, and a range and damage, so there's plenty of variety. The more enemies you kill, the more weapons and armor you pick up. There are also vehicles, including tanks, helicopters, hoverbikes, and mechs, but the controls are clunky.
EDF revels in its size. Everything is destructible, from bikes and cars on the street to skyscrapers. And they can all be taken out with one well-placed (or poorly placed) missile. Bugs run up the buildings and attack from above--but if you shoot one of the buildings down, the bugs just float to the ground without a scratch. In fact, there's really no penalty for falling (including blowing up the building you're standing on). I destroyed quite a few buildings and struggled to run out of the falling shadow, only to watch the rubble fall right through Storm 1.
On the other hand, the UFOs that fly overhead are also a destructible part of the scenery. As a result, there's a massive sense of scale as you fire rockets at the giant spaceships floating above you; it's exhilarating to watch one of the UFOs crash to the ground after several well-placed shots. And since the things are so darned big, they often fall on TOP of you.
The AI is dumb as rocks, of course. While there are occasional bosses, this game is mostly about blowing up the entire scenery. Sure, Storm 1 leads the EDF troops once their captain dies. And the dialogue really is hilarious: it's been structured so that they talk in vague terms about the enemy to increase the applicability of spoken phrases. Here's a typical snippet of dialogue:
"Where's the enemy?"
"The enemy is out of range!"
"Are you scared?"
"Shut up!"
This silliness adds up to the perfect B-movie dialogue. Even better, the troops are almost of no help whatsoever and actually a threat--though buildings fall through them, your troops can be hit by friendly fire. I killed off the entire platoon several times when an idiot EDF soldier ran in front of my rocket launcher.
About the only unforgivable flaw is that the game's difficulty levels are widely variable. I beat some levels with ease on hard while others were impossible. Unfortunately, EDF does not count beating a level on hard difficulty as beating it on normal difficulty. Since EDF awards points on Xbox live only upon completing every level on one difficulty, switching back and forth between normal and hard levels meant I ended up with no credit for beating the game at all.
You have to be a certain kind of person to appreciate EDF. If you've ever enjoyed THEM!, Tarantula, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Godzilla, Starship Troopers, Aliens, Independence Day, War of the Worlds, or if you just happen to like blowing things up but suck at games like Gears of War and Halo...then grab your rocket launcher, soldier, because the EDF needs you! | video-games_xbox |
A vast improvement over Risen 2. PB came into this title promising that they'd returned to their roots and had learned from their past mistakes, but have they? Yes and no.
The Good:
-Magic system is a blast. Anyone who played Risen 2 can tell you that the voodoo magic left a lot to be desired with a few cool tricks but damage spells that came much too late. Now you have three different schools of magic to play with (rune, crystal, and voodoo) all with fun and unique spells. Instead of a mana pool that gives out over time you have different elements that you can wield like weapons at melee and range supplemented by timed spells with effects like fire rain or summoning. Enemies also have vulnerabilities to elements that you can discover with experimentation.
-Exploration. This has always been a strongpoint of PB games and this iteration is no different. A bevy of secret caves, islands, and treasure to find will keep you wanting to see what is around every corner for hours if you're anything like me.
-Arcane Vision. For anyone who likes collecting every ounce of junk as a metagame this upgradable ability highlights objects so you don't have to worry about missing anything and squinting at every corner. It reminds me of the wisp ability from Gothic II, but much more efficient.
-Huge number of interesting quests. Many may knock this game for having quite a few 'fetch' quests, but it's what you can do within these quests that lets them shine and wash away any tedium. Asked to hand out some crystals to your compatriots? Scam them instead and make them pay for the privilege.
The neutral:
-Reused areas. I put this in neutral because PB has done this before to great affect, like in Gothic II. Seeing how areas change over time is fun and they are dissimilar enough that I didn't feel it detracted from my experience, but it annoys enough people that it can be a negative.
-Ship combat under utilized. This was one of the most fun parts of the game, but like Assassin's creed 3 it just leaves you wanting more.
The bad:
-The story drags a bit in the middle. They do things to improve this and try to keep it interesting, but it's easy to do things in an order which can feel like a slog and not a fun progression of events.
-Companions are tanks. This isn't as much of a problem on the hardest difficulty, but on medium it feels like they are more powerful than you for far too long and are neigh unkillable. If you're spending glory on skills you don't have until you join a faction, like magic or voodoo, this is especially true.
-Voice acting is hit-and-miss. Sometimes your main character can sound like a badass that you'd never want to mess with, other times he has a mouth full of gravel for no reason. Also, there are too many times where you'll hear that the voice actors didn't have good direction and say lines with the wrong inflection.
-Combat can be clunky. I actually put this in both the good and the bad because they improved some aspects, but from friends I know who've played the game on a console the controls can be a pain without a mouse and keyboard. This is where you'll really feel the "companions are tanks", because you can often just roll circles around enemies while your friend rips them apart. Seeing enemies get stuck behind a fence or rock and glitch out during can also break immersion. Although, enemies telegraph their punches with long animations and once you get timing down the clunkiness fades away, especially after upgrades. This shouldn't be much of a problem for people if they can get past the first few hours and put some effort into learning the system.
-Day one DLC. This is more a knock on the publisher and not the developer, but for sake stop making Devs do this . It only hurts the customer.
Conclusion:
It's a solid 7/10 RPG, 8/10 if you like the PB style of exploration and questing. For any fan of PB's previous Gothic series I'd recommend buying now, but if you're just a general lover of open world RPGs you might want to wait for a sale. The day one DLC added a lot of content but the it will leave a sour taste in your mouth if you buy full price. | video-games_xbox |
Innovative Hardware, Generic Game. Skylanders is a standard dungeon crawler with a bright theme and difficulty level appropriate for children, plus a wonderful gimmick.
THE GIMMICK
The "Portal of Power" is a little platform that wirelessly connects to the Wii, and it tells the game which figurine is placed on top. The game comes with three figurines. In my play time, the portal never had issues connecting and immediately and accurately detected character changes. The game uses the figurines to determine which character to play as. This could certainly be done with a menu in the game instead, but there is something really fun about placing the figurine on the platform, shuffling between characters as it makes sense in the game.
The figurines are certainly designed to take all of your money, but they are well designed and fun to display after the game grows stale. The technology behind them is NFC, which means they require no batteries (the portal, however, does). This is the same technology being built into the Wii U controller and is also in some newer phones to allow them to act as credit cards.
PRESENTATION
The Wii has had some beautiful games, such as Mario Galaxy, and plenty of games with blurry or blocky graphics. Skylanders falls somewhere in between. The style is very good, similar to a children's cartoon, particularly in cut-scenes. However, on a technical level, the graphics are pretty poor, with a low polygon count and blurry textures. Still, the style is so good that this is easy to overlook.
The voice cast for this game consists of some recognizable pros, and they do well in their parts. The writing is sometimes questionable and the missions are contrived (find the fountain of doodad to get the water of mirlood, which will free the critters of bagoo...), but overall the story is fun and does the job.
GAMEPLAY
Most of the gameplay is pretty simple dungeon crawling, meaning there are bad guys to beat up. As the game progresses, there are some minor puzzle elements as well. For adults, these are nice, but the younger kids might need a little help. However, things never get too complex. This is not a Zelda game by any means, and is playable for kids under 10. Also, there are many levels to play through, so it won't be over in a couple hours.
One of the most clever aspects of the game is the upgrade system. Each character (the game comes with three) has a series of upgrades that can be purchased with gold earned in the game. These are not just for show. They are very useful attacks that make the characters more capable. The characters can also level up, becoming more powerful, and armor upgrades (hats) can be found. These upgrades can only be accomplished by playing as that character, so it encourages using more than just your one favorite figure, though the game can be played that way as well.
SUMMARY
The use of figurines is not needed for the game, but it is really fun and clever anyway. The gameplay is familiar, being similar to many other games, and in a similar fashion is mostly mindless fun. With the great cohesive style and upgrade system, Skylanders provides a good value for children. Adults will also enjoy it, but the low challenge will make it a shorter and less compelling experience. | video-games_xbox |
Gangsta's Paradise. Def Jam Fight NY, for the Xbox is a fighting game that can be played by one to four players versus. First you can pick to play in story mode, where you create a character and play through its career/reputation or battle mode, which is a one fight deal. in Story mode the world is set in the slums of New York and you start as a lowly character trying to make money and build your reputation as a great fighter. With the money you make you can purchase, special moves and increase your character's stats. You can make him faster, stronger, and meaner. You can also purchase clothing, tattoos and even buy haircuts to change your characters appearance. You'll be fighting against characters based on real life hip-hop and rap artists such as; ice cube, sean paul, method man, redman, xzibit, omar epps, snoop dog and much more! The in-game music even features some of these artist's music, which fits perfectly into the game's gangster theme! In battle mode you play a single fight and earn points to unlock new fighters, arenas and music tracks. The fighting arenas themselves are excellent and are fun to play in because they are interactive- you can slam your enemies into walls, stereo speakers, and even cars! You can grab bottles, metal pipes and sticks to smack the crap out of your opponent! There are four fighting styles to pick from: wrestling, kickboxing, submission and martial arts! When you beat your oppenent sensless you gain blaze points. When your blaze meter is full, you can execute powerful combo moves! The fights are tough, and brutal; you'll see your character's face all bloody and bruised, blood even spurts on the floor! Def Jam fight for NY is one of the best fighting games out there on the market! Its gangter theme fits perfect into the atmosphere of the gameplay!
Pros:
+four fighting stlyes
+brutal and bloody fights
+excellent controls
+excellent animation
+excellent sound effects
+excellent music tracks
+excellent arenas
+excellent difficulty levels
+up to four players versus
+create your own character
+buy clothing, jewelry, haircuts, tattoos
+real-life hip-hop artist
+tons of unlockable goodies
+longest fighting game ever
Cons:
-computer cheats
-counter moves hard to pull off
-some arenas block your view | video-games_xbox |
LOVED it. I've seen my fair share of bad reviews concerning this game. However, I really, really enjoyed it. Granted, my only real experience with the Resident Evil games revolves around number 4, which I tried at a gaming store. That being said, loving the franchise, I know a lot about the story behind the games. And, for me, this was a perfect fit! Plus, it was the return of Leon, who was my first video game crush back in 1998 ;)
The fact that the game is split into four different campaigns was interesting. I liked seeing the story from the different view points, and it was nice to be able to take a break between campaigns. It didn't need the consistent play that some of the previous ones did. Also, it let fans play their favorite characters without feeling as though they were cheating on others.
The non-stop action in Chris' campaign got a little annoying and overkill; however, considering his position in the BSAA, it was completely understandable. Further, the ending for his campaign had be in tears! It was interesting to see him after the events of Resident Evil 5 and how he was surviving after that. And I am still convinced that Wesker is going to come back!
Like Chris', Jake's campaign is another non-stop action; however, it was not nearly as intense as Chris'. That being said, I think the OTE in his campaign might be enough to give you severe thumb/hand cramps. Also, in the typical style of Japanese games, we really don't get to see the mushy ending between Jake and Sherry. Yes, yes, I was waiting for it!
Leon's campaign was a lot more introspective than the others. Because of his relationship to the President and working with Helena, it changed the whole dynamic of game play. That does not mean that the story lacked. For me, in a lot of ways, I felt the story was pushed even further because of the introspective nature of his campaign. Plus, Leon just rocks :)
The last campaign is only unlockable after you beat a few of the others. I will not give away the secret, because it's a nice surprise. That being said, the crossbow is probably my favorite weapon!
The QTE got to be overkill! I hated playing the little games while in the middle of battle. Further, the healing got on my nerves. It was hard to try and mix your herbs while being attacked on all fronts. The changing camera perspectives during running/QTE scenes really, really pissed me off. Many times I ended up dying because my camera angle was forced into a change.
That being said, I LOVED it! I love the ability to play agent hunt after beating the first campaign. And, even though the serpent symbols are a bitch to find, the collections are awesome! If you're planning on playing this, it is time consuming! But it's worth it :) | video-games_xbox |
This is an amazing deal, even more-so if you're like me and for some reason missed the originals. Unfortunately I cannot compare these games to the non-redux versions as I missed the originals, but I can say that this collection is a fantastic value, especially if you're new to the series!
Nuclear fallout from a war in the past has forced people to move below the city of Moscow and into the winding metros where rivals and mutants run rampant. You play as Artyom, a person who was raised in the metro and your goal is to travel to the largest underground city Polis so you can deliver a message requesting aid (Metro 2033). During the time of this review I had only played through Metro 2033.
The story is fairly standard dystopian post-apocalyptic fare (which is not a bad thing), but the atmosphere in this game is thick and visceral.
The game mechanics are fantastic and often times create quite a bit of tension. For example, some areas are irradiated and the only way to survive is by wearing a mask which houses a filter. Both masks and the filters are limited. Filters are timed and if you run out of time before finding a new one, you'll suffocate and die. Masks take damage, if the one you're wearing takes too much damage and breaks, you'll suffocate and die. In later levels this becomes more of an issue (or it did for me) and there were certain sections in the game where I was literally a few seconds away from dying, only to find a filter allowing me just one more precious minute of life!
The graphics in this game are absolutely breath taking. I'll be honest, I'm not a graphics snob but this gen has been a little disappointing to me as far as graphics have been concerned and both the XB1 and PS4 are known to be a bit underpowered in this regard. I don't know how 4A did it, but they created an absolutely BEAUTIFUL game (with a fully custom engine). This is the first time thus far where I thought "now this is next-gen!". I play PC games as well and many of the best looking PC games don't look as good as this! Here we have the perfect combination of effects, lighting, atmosphere, textures, etc. The visuals are beautiful in all aspects.
The sounds are a near equal match to the graphics. The music is fantastic, voice work is done very well and background effects add to the already thick atmosphere. The only downside is that some of the guns sound a bit thin to me, but this is being really nit-picky. Overall the audio is fantastic.
Controls are done fairly well, but aiming is a bit slow for me, even with my sensitivity jacked up all the way. This is especially the case with vertical aiming. I'm not sure if this was done intentionally to give the controls a heavier feel, but I do wish that they were a bit more snappy. Also, navigating in-game menus (for both choosing weapons and for doing things like equipping night vision goggles, swapping filters, etc) felt a bit clunky to me and I still wasn't quite used to it by the end of the game. None of these issues are even close to game breaking and in general things are nice and smooth.
Many games these days incorporate leveling and other RPG elements into their scheme, which is okay, but sometimes I just want something simple and awesome, Metro is this. This game has a currency in the form of military grade bullets which can also be used for (very strong) firepower, also weapons can be upgraded and modified, but there are no special ability modifiers or stat points, and that's a welcome thing in my opinion.
This is one of the most atmospheric games I've ever played. I was genuinely transcended into the game world and at times felt completely lost and hopeless (not in a bad way!). This along with Wolfenstein: The New Order stand as my favorite games I've played on my XB1 and one of the best games I've played in a long time. | video-games_xbox |
The Most Imaginative And Engrossing Game Since Max Payne. I buy a lot of video games, sometime too many for my own good. More often than not, I play through enough before it either collects dust forever or it gets traded in for credit towards a new game. Sometimes, when I finally do beat a game, the overall thrill I initally experienced just failed to transcend the entire game and upon completion, I knew I'd never play it again. The Suffering fails to meet the criteria in both categories. From the outset, the game pulls you in head first for a ride that ultimately is a mystery until the very end.
It starts out with you as Torque, a hardened criminal with zero emotional output. You are being lead off to your maximum security prison cell in the worst prison in America. Almost immediately upon arrival, strange phenoms start to become very real. In the blink of an eye, hideous creatures being spewing from every orifice in the building like a swarm of rats. Lights shatter. Guards get mauled. Prisoners are chopped in half. The entire system goes awry. You; as Torque, are basically free to battle the evil within the prison and ultimately, within yourself.
The Suffering plays very similarly to Max Payne. It is a third-person action game that is propelled like a first-person shooter. The scenery is obviously different; though no less gritty, but the controls are smooth and easy to learn like Max Payne. There are enough similarites to many other action titles with it's constant build-up to something and it's bevy of puzzle-solving. The Suffering sets itself apart with it's sounds. If you have even a decent stereo TV with left and right speakers, you can feel the intensity through the smattering of creaks and distant screams. The atmosphere pulls you in and occasionally catches you napping, resulting in you jumping out of your seat in the broadest of daylights.
One of my favorite aspects of the game is the creature design. Rather than take the Resident Evil route, the designers incorporated more of a Silent Hill feel to the monster designs so rather than campiness, you get a more gruesome being to contend with. Each creature represents different methods of capital punishment and each have their own methods of being dealt with so you can't exactly go blasting your way through the entire game. Also, the new creatures get introduced at a slower pace than in other survival horror games. It is in this manner that the game lures you in as if to get you comfortable with what you've experienced, only to throw something at you when you least expect it.
The end is a mystery because despite getting used to battling the variety of creatures, you aren't even slightly tipped off as to which of the three endings you will get. The end boss was very intimidating and took some experimenting with to figure out the best way to defeat it but rest assured, it can be done. Without ruining the ending (which would be impossible without getting all 3 endings), I am willing to bet that there is no easy-to swallow "happy ending". Nothing is resolved which leaves things wide open for a sequel. Rounding off the entire package is a cool "Making Of" feature, a featurette on a haunted prison in Pennsylvania and a trailer for Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (another super great Midway game). Midway seems to be going out of their way to create new content and give the consumer more than they asked for and as a result, they are making better games. If you are looking for a game that isn't stingy on the atmosphere or the gameplay, you can't go wrong with The Suffering. | video-games_xbox |
A huge disappointment for such a great series. First off, I'm a huge Ninja Gaiden fan since Itagaki and Team Ninja resurrected the series for modern gaming. I have not only Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden 2 but Ninja Gaiden Black along with Sigma 1 and Sigma 2. I'm also someone who is a huge enthusiast for this gaming subgenrea. I have Devil May Cry 1-4, Bayonetta, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, God of War 1-3, Ninja Blade, Dante's Inferno and a host of others. I've experience some of the best all the way to the mediocre. I'm not a guru by any means but still an enthusiast. The thing is Itagaki and the REAL Team Ninja aren't there anymore. He and all the leads left because of that fiasco at Tecmo. Love Itagaki or hate him, he really knows how to make these games awesome. But I'm not here to discuss my opinion on difference on the development teams.
I must say that I'm very disappointed with this entry in the series. I've always regarded the original Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden 2 as the gold standard for this type of game. I'm just quickly getting out the minor details out of the way. While technically, I'm not super impressed, it's not the reason why I'm really disgusted with this entry. The graphics and sounds are fine. Not amazing, but not really too bad to the point that it's hard to look at. Another part of the presentation is the story which doesn't really impress me either, but old or new Team Ninja, story was never their strong point. It was there to give the game structure but not be a majory selling point.
My primary gripe honestly resolved around the changes in the gameplay, which is what made the first 2 entries in the series great. People always complained about the camera, but it was a minor problem at the most. What gets me though is the horrible level design. The previous games have large areas where there are some things to wall run along and do other stunts while also having plenty of room to deal out death. This new game it seems to like to put the player in a small to medium sized pen where guys come from behind obstacles like crashed cars until it feels you're ready to move on. There's no flow of combat with the area. No long hallways or large ballrooms or temple courtyards to flip or wall-run through. It's just a one level small pen. Which not much room to maneuver to be able to do your moves.
The gameplay also feel sluggish and unresponsive. I found too many times that I was trying to turn Ryu or get him to flip out of a group of enemies or use specific combinations but it seems to not respond properly. There were times that I wanted him to fight a specific target and he wanted to look at someone else which would lead me to actually get hit. Even when I could gaet him to do what I want, it was slow and just didn't seem responsive. But that doeasn't matter because honestly this game is super easy even when it's not the "hero" mode the new developers talked about so much. In the previous games, if you button mashed, you learned that hardway and died. This game, you just get a gentle smack. There's no reward or satisfaction to doing something difficult because it's handed to you. The flow of combat seems off too. In the 1st Ninja Gaiden. It was focused on a target with a small of other other guys to go after. You almost had this nice way of focusing on a target yet can untangle then group or go after his friend. Ninja Gaiden 2 really improved it too where there was a fluid motion of engaging an enemy and finishing him then moving onto the next enemy withing a large group of enemies. It felt almost as though you could chain the fight into one large string of combos if you timed it well enough. Here it seems messy. Fights are somewhat chaotic but not in a good way. It was as though the 3rd game took both battle elements of the previous two games but made a mess of it. Nothing seemed to work right. Along with the sluggish controls, engagements just don't seem to have good pacing to do combos or to switch targets. The handling and gameplay elements just seem off to me. compared to other games in thie genre and even in this series.
Now, Quick Time Events or QTE. I always hated these in God of War. I feel that they are a lazy way for developers to do over the top sequences without really making it part of the gameplay. I do find them done some ways where it's tasteful but for action games, I feel they are more detracting that fun. Games like Bayonetta and the new Castlevania overall kept these to a minimum which is what I like. I just don't find it fun doing a DDR rhythm game when I should be setting up combos to own a group of enemies. They're more there to distract the casual ADD gamer more than anything I think.
A couple of other things I want to go through would be the lame gameplay gimmicks like the kunai climbing which is not only boring but doesn't seem to really have been done well at all. But maybe they wanted to distract us from the monotony. Another is the lack of decapitations. Personally, it's not just gore for gore's sake but more along the lines of gore that looks awesome because of the very nature of what ninja combat is. It's an great viseral aestetic of the nature of the game.
I could go on about other things but I think the bulk of what a long-time, hardcore Ninja Gaiden fan like myself needed to say was said and frankly I don't want to write a whole essay on this. There are others who elaborate about why we feel this game was a bit insulting to the fans of the series. We laments the disappointment that this latest entry is and in some ways I want to dream that Itagaki and the real Team Ninja would come back to save this beloved franchise one day. | video-games_xbox |
A Good Balance Between Action and RPG. Darksiders 2 expands on the original game by adding a massive character upgrade system, open ended environments, and a longer campaign with side quests.
Story: 9/10
Death comes to War's rescue after the events of Darksiders 1. In order to save his brother, Death must undergo a series of challenges in a massive world heavily inspired by Celtic Lore. The story is told through graphic novel style cut scenes and in game character dialogue. The world has been influenced by corruption and Death must destroy this corruption and save the land. There are traps, angels, demons, guardians, monsters, giants, and armies of minions that stand in his way.
Graphics: 7/10
The art style is similar to the first Darksiders. It is exaggerated and somewhat cartoony, akin to World of Warcraft. It's not bad, but in a game that rivals God of War in its scope, the cartoon style graphics clash with the epic setting. A game this epic should be a bit more gritty. The character designs are well thought out and the enemies and bosses are very well done. There is a wide range of massive environments full of foreboding ruins and ancient temples. The size and scope of the world really pushes the limit on Epic Fantasy.
Gameplay: 7/10
There are 4 basic components to Gameplay:
Combat
Death is armed with a pair of scythes activated by the X button. Death carries secondary weapons (Massive Hammers, short blades, etc.) that are activated by the Y button. By mixing attacks with the X and Y buttons, Death performs fluid combos by attacking with both weapons. Death can finish off weakened enemies by pressing the B button to perform an Execution kill. Death also has a phantom grab attack where he can pull small enemies to him or pull himself to larger enemies. Death's only defensive ability is a teleport. There is no block, so avoiding the enemies' attacks and counterattacking where there is an opening is the best way to survive.
There are also a handful of boosts and special attacks that are unlocked and upgraded on a skill tree. You can map these attacks to LB+X, LB+Y, LB+A, LB+B. Using these require energy called Wrath. In order to fill up your Wrath, you can use a potion or perform normal X, Y, B, attacks on enemies, then unleash Death's fury with his special attacks.
As Death progresses through the environments, he encounters waves of enemies. There are minions who constantly attack death with basic attacks and more powerful Lieutenants that have a special attack or do a great deal of damage. If you just try to button mash, you'll get killed.
Exploration
This is the weakest part of the game. The levels are fairly linear, but there are lots of passages that loop back to other areas. Some areas become reachable when Death gains new abilities. The camera is not your friend all of the time. You also have a raven with you named 'Dust.' If you hold down the L Stick, Dust will fly to where you need to go. But sometimes, Dust gets confused. He may fly to a doorway and when you enter that door and activate Dust again, he flies to the doorway that you just entered. At times, this will drive you crazy. There are basic hand holds that you can jump to and crawl on to traverse the environments and find chests full of gold, items, and potions.
Puzzles
The Puzzles use switches, platforms, Portals, and even time Travel. They aren't too complicated, but you feel pretty good when you figure them out. They're a nice break in the action.
Boss Fights
The Boss Fights feel epic. This game features some really powerful enemies and some colossal bosses. They all involve some sort of pattern recognition or open window to defeat them. They're fun, challenging, cinematic, and memorable.
RPG Elements: 8/10
Darksiders 2 features a surprisingly deep RPG Gear System, where you can equip all of the pieces of Death's armor and weapons separately. Each item has bonuses or special boosts associated with them. So a Scythe may have a high damage rating, bonus elemental damage, bonus critical chance, bonus health on executions, etc... And the armor pieces work the same way. You can tailor your character to high damage resistance, bonus wrath or health, bonus damage, etc... And when you find pieces that work well together, you can become really powerful.
Sound: 7/10
The voice acting is well done and the music is hit or miss. The action tracks are exciting, but some of the exploration music is so serene, I found myself struggling to stay awake.
Replay Value: 5/10
The game is 25-40 hours long, depending on how many side quests you finish. It features a New Game+ Mode, where you can replay a harder difficulty and keep the gear that you have.
Maturity: Teen
The Packaging says, M Rated with "Violence, Suggestive Themes, and Blood and Gore."
This game is loaded with Fantasy Violence. Watch Death rip apart and decapitate demons with his scythes and superhuman strength! But the art style is cartoony and the attacks are so over the top, it's more exciting, than disturbing. You'll want to say, "Wow, cool!" rather than throw up. Death swings a weapon, and blue sparks or fire fly out of the cartoony demon. That's pretty much it. It's surprising how this is Rated M, and Soul Calibur is Teen. I'd say Soul Calibur is worse because the fighters are humans, the graphics are more realistic, and the attacks are less over the top.
Overall: 7/10 (Not quite an 8)
The game is fun and really long. It's a good deal for the price! You'll like the combat system, the RPG elements, and the epic scope of the game. You probably won't like the camera at times and it is fairly easy to get lost - especially if you are doing side quests.
Buy it if you like God of War style action, Epic Quests, and RPG Loot Systems.
The game is really long, so buying it might be a better deal than renting it, unless you have 25-30 hours to spare in a week.
Avoid this game if you want to rush from fight to fight because the exploration and level designs may frustrate you.
Avoid this game if you prefer realistic graphics like Assassin's Creed over World of Warcraft Graphics.
If you played this and want more:
If you liked the Loot Systems, play Borderlands!
If you like Epic RPG's check out Skyrim or Witcher 2.
If you like great melee combat, check out Bayonetta, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden 2, or Devil May Cry. | video-games_xbox |
A novel posing as a game - it depends on your gaming style. Dreamfall - The Longest Journey is the sequel to the original adventure game named The Longest Journey. This game is more like participating in a 10 hour movie than playing a game, and your primary goal is to watch cut-scenes, solve a puzzle or two, and run on gathering quests.
I'm not saying at all that this is not FUN. The graphics are really immersive and push the XBox to its limits. Each world is fully developed and integrated, with the textures, atmosphere, sounds and visions all merging in together nicely.
The sound is equally well done. The dialogue and voices are simply stellar, Sure, there are one or two exceptions, but in general this game provides a standard that others games could be held against. You really believe these are individual people who have a history and personality.
Like any good novel, there are a TON of characters, each with their own wants, desires, aims and goals. Refreshingly in the gaming world, most of the main characters are female. You start with Zoe, a smart college drop-out who is trying to find a new goal in her life. Her best friend is a savvy computer wiz - a female - who is able to help with all sorts of issues. Another character you play is also female, the leader of her group. It's really great to see so many powerful female characters in one game.
The down side is, for being a "game", there is not a lot of "playing" here. There are a few puzzles worked in. There are an awful lot of "find item X and bring it to place Y" missions. There is combat - but the combat system drove me completely insane. You could block, hit hard or hit soft - and the controls were sluggish and difficult to work with. I think I've played most combat games that are out there, and this rates down near the bottom. Sure, combat isn't a main part of the game, but if you die repeatedly due to a really silly interface, it makes the game not fun.
Another part of the game that gets tedious really quickly is the fact that you somehow don't know where anything is, even in places you apparently live in. You have to search all over to find your best friend's apartment? I can understand when you get into new towns that you have to track down the bar or whatever, but hunting in your own hometown for places you really should know how to find is nonsensical.
The maps in general are very unwieldy. I know they mean to add to the adventure to cause you to search for a half hour to find place X, but it doesn't make the game more fun to do that. It seems like a way for them to claim the game took more than 10 hours to solve, because half the time you're roaming aimlessly on a map looking for something. The other half of the time you're trying to click on the exact right spot to open a door or to perform an action. Aim slightly off, and you could find yourself climbing down a ladder you didn't mean to get on, or heading off into another loading screen.
Again, it's not to say the game is bad. For people who love "playing a novel", and who have a lot of time and patience, this is a really great game. But for gamers who are only alloted 2 hours after homework is done to play something enjoyable - and who then waste 2 hours roaming around a rainy map trying to track down one specific doorway - it can lose its shine very quickly.
Finally, while the game boasts super-long cut scenes and interactive dialogue (where you can be, say, pushy or docile in response to a question), it became a bit excessive. Many choices seemed unreasonable, and in many cases when I chose one option, it ended up doing things I didn't want it to do at all. For example in one situation I tried to be uncooperative and not divulge private information - and the next thing I know, Zoe is blabbing every last detail. It makes for a bit of frustration.
There's going to be a sequel to this, so we'll see if they find the right balance between longer gameplay that involves actual gameplay, instead of adding in even more super-long cut scenes and maps you have to wend your way around for hours on end. | video-games_xbox |
Very satisfied with my purchase. This headset is great. So let me give you a little background info first.
I have an office in my home that I turned into my mancave. I put a brand new 50" plasma in there and connected my X-Box 360, PS3 and Wii to it. I also have my homebrewed PSP, PS Vita and my 3DS in here along with my computer and my tablet and phone.
The biggest issue I have here is that I currently had a different headset for each system. so my 360 had a 360 wireless headset, my ps3 had a bluetooth headset etc... I am a man of simplicity so this didn't seem ok to me. Plus, now with my new tv, I needed a solution for gaming on all systems and for keeping the noise down to nothing because my wife and dogs are asleep in the next room.
That is where my search began. I needed a universal headset, wireless, and one that streamed all audio. After countless days of searching online and at local stores, reading reviews and forums and all kinds of things..... I decided to give this headset a try. I had a $50 giftcard to gamestop so I decided to burn it on this. Here is where my curiosity peaked. This headset was sold out everywhere. I was able to find one in the ghetto. Literally, I had to be in and out of this place before sundown. So I raced across town to get it. This and one other store had it in stock out of about 50 stores in Chicago. I knew I was onto a good headset by its availability. My other option was amazon but i had that gift card.
Anyways, I get it home and it was packaged nicely and once I turned it on it looked amazing. I went to set it up and ran into an issue. My tv, being a brand new model, did not have RCA audio out plugs. It only had Optical Digital Audio Out. My initial reaction was to return these but I just liked the fit and everything so much that I decided to do some more research.
Here is how these work..... the headset is wireless. However, it has to connect to a transmitter. So it comes with this USB transmitter that you plug into your console through USB. The transmitter then connects to an RCA cable. The thought is that you will plug the RCA cable into your Audio out RCA plugs on your TV. Then the end of that plug goes into your transmitter and then audio is wirelessly transmitted. Side note here, the RCA cables they give you are piggy back cables. So they have a male and female plug on each. So if you have something plugged into your TV like the wii, you can just plug these cables into the TV and then plug the wii cables into these. Well my TV is mounted to the wall and I had about a half inch from the wall to the tv, maybe even less so I couldn't use these for the wii but I only bought the wii for mario kart and drunken party games so I really don't need it for that.
Now I couldn't find an adapter and my only other option was to get an audio box converter for the system. I have a clean system here with no wires showing on the wall so this would have seriously messed that up. I decided to look at the book one last time to see if there was a solution and there was. On the last page it says if you have the 360 plugged in through HDMI, or your TV does not have RCA audio out, we will send you an audio adapter. I looked into this and filed a ticket for receiving one for my PS3 and one for my 360. i just told them my TV did not have the RCA audio out and I needed adapters. They sent them for Free! I received them in about 2 or 3 days and they work perfectly.
I had to change my audio out settings on my PS3 though. Just go to the sound tab and turn on the option to use multiple audio out ports. Boom, it will work instantly.
I have two extra cords plugged into the systems but it is well worth it.
So now I can game all night or follow up on my HBO to go without any issues! I can be Pwning N00bs in my office while my wife is in the next room dreaming about shoes and purses, all through the night without interrupting each other. | video-games_xbox |
Great value for $10, and Monster's higher quality parts make a difference because this is an Analog, not Digital Cable. Since VGA and RCA audio are analog standards, this analog cable from Monster is well worth the $10 price it was discounted to when I got it, and is easily worth $20 or even $30 even if it weren't discounted. My main complaint is that there was no RCA to 3.5mm converter included with this cable, when they're included with Microsoft's official cables, or even many 3rd party ones that cost around $20. I must note however, that this cable can only output up to a maximum of 720p or 1080i, and can't match the full 1080p that an HDMI connection with a 360 can put out. 720p is good enough for me however, because I'm connecting my 360 to a 1600 x 900 LCD monitor at my computer desk.
Like other reviewers, I also feel compelled to join the chorus in saying that it's only worth buying Monster for analog cables rather than digital cables. Digital cables transfer information in such a way that is very robust, and information usually either comes out perfectly, or not at all. So investing in a higher quality cable doesn't get you a better quality signal. In plain english (avoiding techno-jargon people probably won't read): if you're using a digital cable (like an HDMI cable) and you're getting a picture or sound at all, the picture/sound you're getting is as good as it's going to get, and using a more expensive cable isn't going to make your sound or video any better. You also know when your digital cable isn't working when you get no signal at all (which is the usual case if your cable's not working) or EXTREME distortion and "snow" that mekes your video unwatchable (which is much rarer than just not getting anything at all). Analog cables however can have signals that can degrade or not be quite so good if the cable materials aren't as good (especially over distance) so investing in Monster quality for Analog cables isn't bad if you can afford them.
I would be remiss, however, if I didn't say that buying cables from Amazon (Amazon's official brand, such as the "Amazon Basic" HDMI cables, not cables from random vendors on Amazon) or Monoprice is probably a better idea most of the time if you're looking for great quality at a great price. I must say in this case though that Monoprice.com's X-box 360 VGA cables aren't that great, however, and should be avoided if you don't want ghosting or not particularly sharp visuals that barely output 720p adequately. Having owned Intec's 360 VGA cables, I must also say that they aren't good either and that it's worth paying extra to buy official Microsoft cables, or Monster's instead. Especially when they're being sold at $10 to $25. | video-games_xbox |
Much improved over the original. I played the original Fable on the original XBOX, and while it was okay, it seriously under delivered on all of its "ground breaking" RPG claims. The game mechanics of the first Fable were fine, but tended towards the obnoxious side. The "Guild Master" was constantly yipping at you through his telepathic talking ability, the combat was repetitive and unsatisfying, the world's surface looked plastic-like, and the depth of EVERYTHING was very shallow. Want to get married? OK, now what? Want villagers to like you? Flex for 'em. Want them to fear you? Murder something in front of them. Want them to like you again? Do some more flexing, AND THEY WILL COMPLETELY FORGET ABOUT THE WHOLE "MURDER" BUSINESS! The original Fable had lofty goals, and tried to get a little bit of all of them into the game, with the end result being a rather unsatisfactory experience, overall -- especially at full price.
Fable II ... still doesn't really live up to the hype, and has managed to add a couple of new really irritating aspects to the game play, while repairing some of the old. I want to say up front, though, that I enjoy this game, and I am obsessively playing it.
Some of the things they fixed from the first game are: no "Guild Master" is constantly talking to you through the game anymore, or encouraging you to "try to get your combat meter even higher!" The depth of THIS Fable is much greater than the first. The combat is still repetitive, but at least they have managed to mix it up a little better this time around. You can get slightly more complicated (and elegant) with hand to hand. Ranged is actually an option now (it was completely unplayable in the first Fable, due to the forced 1st person perspective in a 3rd person game, and inability to move while shooting, and no aiming help), and magic is more or less like the first game, with some tweaks. The "expressions" are still a rather stupid method of "communication" in the game, frankly I would prefer dialog trees or Mass Effects' "wheel-o-emotion" way of digging through dialog trees. They have tried to emulate Mass Effect's "wheel-o-emotion" but it is still just a list of expressions you can use, to different effect.
A couple of new (good) things are: condoms for sex (which surprised me -- but, I guess if you are going to allow polygamy and "swinging" parties in the game, you have to do SOMETHING to placate the right wingers), which leads to the ability to have (or not have) children. You can now RUN when trying to get around (much better than having to walk everywhere). Relationships are now much more complex, and interesting (although your wife/husband will still have a very limited range of things to say to you). The world is now MUCH bigger, and there are a CONSTANT list of things to do (although after the 20th "save the slaves" quest, or the umpeenth "bounty hunter -- slay the bandits" job, you get a bit tired of those options).
You can now also take a job in most of the various towns in the game, and earn some cash outside of quests, monster slaying, or stealing. The jobs are useful EARLY in the game, to get much needed cash -- if you are playing as a good character anyway. They are simple timing mini-games, but they pass the nights well, when you are waiting for the shops to open back up. I ignored the jobs once my real estate holdings started netting me over 5-8K per payment period, because at that point your money is making money for you, and you really can't get much more than 5-10K working at a job in a 24 hour "day" in the game, whereas you get paid your real estate "rent" every 5 minutes, you do the math ;-) You can buy homes and businesses in the game, although I was a bit disappointed by both. For homes, you can do a little bit of redecorating (much better than what you could do in the original Fable) -- I was hoping for more options, like maybe painting it, completely re-ordering everything, having more than 5 "types" of furniture, home construction projects (having another kid, add a new bedroom!) -- that kind of stuff. Oh well.
For businesses, I was kind of hoping you could actually assume the role as the business owner, and interact with the town on that level for a while -- and only hire an employee to run it when you lost interest in doing that. But, all you can actually do is buy the building/stall. The employee for that business will continue operating it same as before -- you just now get a share of the profits (delivered along with your rent money), and a permanent 39% discount. Also note, I don't know if it is a bug in the game, or what, but buildings you buy can be bought out from under you (without you explicitly selling them). You get the money from the sale, but then you have to go back and buy the building back, if you didn't want to sell it.
Now, on to the obnoxious report. I again want to say that I like this game, these notes are mostly for the developers (who I am SURE have some poor PR person reading reviews online for feedback for Fable 3). For all of the obnoxious things the game fixed from the first Fable, it (sadly) added many new ones. First of all, the controls suck. The left analog stick, used for moving around, is WAY too sensitive (but to confuse things, there is also a delay in responding to your directional commands), and there is no way to turn the sensitivity down -- it is fine for combat, but way too sensitive for in-town maneuvers. Prepare to make many frustrated micro corrections to your path finding as you try to navigate your way through town, or (god help you) select something (like a merchant). Running makes this phenomenon worse. This is even more obnoxious when you are trying to select something, or someone in a crowd. Instead of using the shoulder buttons to change highlighted selections (as many XBOX 360 games now do), you have to run/walk up to the person or item, and cajole your character into facing them *EXACTLY*, to get them to highlight properly, even then, you have to "lock on" to your target, if they are a person (not a merchant though), to interact with them and them alone -- of course, if someone moves in between you and your target, EVEN IF YOU ARE LOCKED ON TO THEM, the game will STILL think you want to suddenly interact with the now closer person instead. Yeah, um Lionhead Studios ... welcome to the 21st century, we don't want game mechanics like this any more. They are last century, and last console, technology, and other developers have invented far better ways of doing it. For goodness sakes, Knights of the Old Republic, on the original XBOX had a better selection and interaction control scheme than you are using now for your second generation game for the second generation of the console! If you cannot come up with it on your own, then ape their way of doing it, please.
Probably the most INFURIATING game mechanic, which should get someone a spanking, is the "B button to quit ... and also cast offensive magic spells" mechanic. See, the "B" button quits you out of ALMOST everything (except when you are "locked on" to a person with the left trigger, to "unlock" from them, you have to left trigger again, or move far enough away from them), and you get into the habit of doing that. But, the problem is, IT ALSO CASTS OFFENSIVE MAGIC SPELLS! This means if you are jamming on it to get out of the menu system, and hit it one too many times, you are suddenly trying to kill your wife, and she doesn't like that! Nor do I like hearing her beg for her life with terror in her voice. I am sentimental that way. WHO GREEN LIGHTED *THAT* GAME MECHANIC?!
Speaking of menus, Lionhead has provided handy dandy short cuts to get to the "quests" menu, the "jobs" menu, the "sales" menu, and the "families" menu. These are all sub-menus of the "Quests & Jobs" main menu item. You would think, then, that hitting those short cuts would bring you right into those sub-menus, wouldn't you? And you would be wrong. Instead, all 4 short cuts bring you to the same freaking sub-menu list, where you then have to scroll down to the appropriate sub-menu item, and actually select it. To be fair to Lionhead, though, they DO highlight the sub-menu item for you, when you use the shortcut. An additional menu issue is using items. When you want to use a bunch of items at once (say the 10 XP potions you have accumulated), one would think you could just jam on the "use item" button in the menu system, and keep going until you are done. One would be wrong. INSTEAD, Lionhead dumps you back into the game and completely out of the menu system EVERY-SINGLE-TIME you use an item. Want to use 20 XP potions? Do you have 20 minutes? My final gripe about menus is the lack of information about CURRENT STOCK! If I am browsing a gift store, it would be helpful if the items I am browsing would show a current stock of my inventory when items are selected, so I don't accidentally stock up on too many things. Having to physically go into each item menu and check on things, is stupid. Also, not having a sort option for things like the books list, is almost criminal (you will know what I mean when you get a certain someone's 20+ page diary, which shows up in your inventory in a random order -- good luck reading it!). It would also be helpful to be able to keep items, but "hide" them from view, unless specifically asked for. You will accumulate notes and items in the game, which you will want to hang on to, but you don't need to see them in the full item list every time you are in there.
Maps are almost useless in this game, they are zoomed out way too far, and you cannot zoom in (and I am playing on a 46 inch wide screen HD screen using HDMI, so don't try to tell me it is my fault for having the wrong setup. There are no labels, and no way to self label, and the not even helpful "this way to such and such town" markings.
Finally, expressions are as ridiculous as they were in the original game. They would be mildly handy to help persuade people to like you, or dislike you, or whatnot, or for special effects. BUT TO MAKE THEM THE PRIMARY, AND ONLY METHOD OF COMMUNICATION IN THE GAME IS JUST STUPID! You will really grow to hate expressions (if you are playing "good") if you start showing trophies, or do your wooing of your romantic conquests in public, because inevitably the vast majority of the public will start to follow you around (something to be said for the "evil" option, and people fleeing from you!) completely in love with you. That wouldn't be so annoying if the NPCs couldn't BLOCK YOUR PATH! They will crowd behind you in doors and shops, making getting around VERY difficult, as you cannot just knock them back (unless you want to go dark side and ACTUALLY attack them). They will even follow you upstairs into your own home (WHY can't I CLOSE my front door when I am home?!), when you are trying to have "alone time" with your spouse -- who will react negatively to you (thinking you are more crass/pig like), if you try to sleep with him/her when people are around. I have found the best way to get the NPCs to go away, is to turn my back on them, and stop moving for about 30 seconds. They quickly lose interest after they have had their say (usually incessantly begging you to marry them -- I mean, honestly, the romance option would be MUCH more satisfying if it wasn't so stupidly easy to find a spouse and get married. Do a few "seduce" expressions, and darn near the entire town will spend the rest of the game following you around begging for a wedding ring (and that gets old REALLY fast)). I FULLY intend to be evil next play though, and that should help this annoyance immensely.
Overall, *GOOD*, *SOLID* RPG! Lots of fun, engrossing, good story. Good side quests. The dog is an interesting game mechanic, and I would like to see more exploration done on that mechanic. The look and feel of the game is much improved over the original. The depth of the game is MUCH deeper than the first, and over all this is a 4 star game. If they manage to fix my gripes above in Fable 3 (and refrain from adding too many new ones), then I will consider the series a 5 star game. Over all, good job Lionhead Studios! I will be watching the news for Fable 3, closely. | video-games_xbox |
Make this your most wanted racing game. Need for Speed: Most Wanted sure is memorable. Electronic Arts has struck gold, as Most Wanted is one of the best games in the Need for Speed franchise. It's more of "Cops" and less of "Pimp My Ride", which makes for a much different experience. Humorous cinematics, fast-paced racing, high-speed pursuits, tight controls, and slick graphics make way for an overall package that is worth the $60 price point on the Xbox 360.
Welcome, you're the new guy in town. Like any big-headed car tuner, your goal is to gain the respect of other street racers by pushing the law and becoming the "Most Wanted" racer in town. When you attempt to do this, the locals tamper with your fancy BMW and you're quickly in the hole, losing your pink slip to an arrogant, outspoken hotshot named Razor. Razor doesn't stop there, as he climbs to the peak of the Most Wanted list using your car. Through different races, events, and police chases your goal is to have another race against Razor to get your car back, but there are 14 other Most Wanted racers on the "Blacklist" and hundreds of races waiting for you before you get to him. The story is told through some ridiculously beautiful cutscenes. These scenes mix computer-generated animation, real-life actors, and a fancy color effect to make a look that you have to see to believe. Not to mention, these scenes are usually pretty funny, making them worth watching all the same.
The different races leading up to Razor have the same simple goal; cross the finish line before everyone else as quickly as possible. There are standard Circuit, Lap Knockout, and Sprint races as well as the Drag races that were made famous with the Underground series. Those familiar modes stand next to new challenges that mix things up very slightly. Tollbooth races have you zooming through checkpoints as quickly as possible. Speed-Trap events have speed cameras set up around the course, and each camera determines your speed and gives you a score. The scores accumulate as the event goes on, and at the end, the player with the highest score wins the challenge. If I could say anything about the different races, it's that they're varied enough and downright entertaining enough to keep the gameplay from getting stale and moldy.
When you're not racing in Most Wanted, you've got a free roam in a huge urban, suburban, and rural environment that is bursting at the seams with things to do. Whether you're upgrading your car's superficial aspects or tinkering with newer and better parts, exploring, or causing trouble with the police, there is a lot to do in this game. Speaking of the police, the pursuits in Most Wanted are one of the most exciting aspects of the game. You'll attract the attention of the local feds if you're caught speeding, causing property damage, or collisions on the road. These minor infractions can turn into twenty- or thirty-minute chases that are loaded with spike strips, road blocks, pursuing helicopters, and cop cars that range from your standard beater to Corvette federal chasers. Believe me, it can get nasty when you're taking out cruisers left and right while trying to find a way to shake the heat and end the pursuit. If the races weren't exciting enough for you, these chases should be. They're mostly optional, and the only time they're required is when you're trying to move up on the Blacklist.
The racing controls feel very tight and realistic. The driving physics aren't as realistic as, say, Gran Turismo 4, yet EA managed to do a fantastic job on the controls. The sense of speed is pretty fantastic, especially when you go over a small hill and you're sent flying into the air, sparks and exhaust following you as you fly through the sky, landing with more sparks and a crash. Alongside the frantic pace of the races, the visuals provide quite a show while tearing through the streets. Particles fill the screen when you crash through a roadblock and the shine effect from wet roads or rain is breathtaking. On a high-def television set, Most Wanted is unbelievable. Alongside the visuals, the fast-paced punk rock and metalcore soundtrack and metal-crunching sound effects make for an expertly-presented videogame. The only potential problem that I can see is fans of NFS: Underground complaining that the game takes place mostly in the daytime rather than at night, like Underground and Underground 2 did. This time change results in a completely new color scheme and atmosphere that, quite personally, I preferred.
There isn't much to complain about in Need for Speed: Most Wanted. The opponent racer A.I., unlike the police A.I., is a little too easy at first. They're not very competitive until hours into the game, but that's really the only valid complaint that I have. Most Wanted isn't a revolutionary title but it's something that is a blast to play and it's a great start for racing games on the Xbox 360. Pick it up if you're looking for a racing title or if you liked the Underground series, you won't be disappointed.
(NOTE: I also have this review posted on GameFreaks365.com, where I write reviews on a regular basis.) | video-games_xbox |
This is how you do a Stealth Game. Dishonored is a new IP from developer Arkane Studios and is published by Bethesda. The game centers on Corvo, Lord Protector to the Empress of Dunwall and her daughter Emily. Corvo is framed for murdering the Empress, though, and her daughter ends up missing. When Corvo mysteriously escapes prison thanks to a group who knows he's been the scapegoat for a corrupt political system, his chance to set things right is handed to him on a silver platter.
What ends up ensuing is a game with incredible gameplay that lets the player traverse the city of Dunwall however they like. While the game is nowhere near perfect, this is exactly how the ideal stealth game should play/feel. I think Dishonored is something all stealth games of the past tried to be but never could quite achieve. Let's break a few things down...
GAMEPLAY:
Single-handedly the absolute best part about Dishonored. Take one part Mirror's Edge and one part Assassin's Creed, sprinkle in some BioShock, and finally mix it all into a bowl of Deus Ex: HR, and you'll arrive here. The game is comprised of seven missions (not including a prologue) where Corvo must go through an area and take out a target. It prides itself on giving the player ultimate freedom in terms of how you get to said target, how you take them out, and how you deal with hostiles along the way. You can go in guns ablazin', sneak up and assassinate, be a completely unnoticed ghost who doesn't kill, or some combination of all those things. In that way, the game is going to feel largely similar to Deus Ex: HR, and I can tell you if you enjoyed that game you'll likely enjoy Dishonored. Be careful with how you deal with those you encounter -- killing leads to high chaos, translating to a more hostile city (you'll see what I mean) and a dark ending. If you do opt to keep your hands clean for the 'good' ending as well as some of the rarer achievements, you'll want to be careful here, too, as unconscious bodies can be killed by things like rats. Part of the game's mechanic is supernatural abilities, such as Blink (teleporting), Stop Time, and more. As you can imagine, there are a plethora of ways these can help you fulfill your path to the right thing or indulge your inner hitman.
Aside from the combat, half the fun is finding out how to get inside a building/to an area. Do you like running along the rooftops? You can do that. How about running straight in, gunning everyone down as you stroll directly to your target? You could do that, too. Would you even like to possess an animal to utilize an underground/underwater tunnel? That's another option here! Seriously, there's usually anywhere between 3-5 ways to get to a given location, so those of you who like to explore your options will have a hay-day.
ATMOSPHERE:
So if this game is so insanely fun and it's the best stealth game and blah-blah-blah, why only 4-stars, right? Well, the reason is outside of the gameplay it relies so heavily upon, everything else doesn't quite live up to the hype. Take Dunwall, for instance. I loved the Steampunk-London-style setting, and I really liked the cel-shaded graphics/textures that make the city have a watercolor vibe. However, Dunwall didn't feel alive like Rapture (BioShock) or the Ishimura (Dead Space). The audio balance was off as some actions were very loud, while some pieces of dialogue ended up being so quiet I had to turn up my volume. The audiographs felt both out of place and like a slight ripoff of the radio logs in BioShock. Take this audio imbalance to the whole world you're jumping around in; the immersion can be broken very easily. If you look at other reviews, though, some people felt the opposite, so I may just be a bit picky here when it comes to atmosphere.
STORY:
Here's another area that ended up feeling a bit underwhelming. The game started off at an excellent pace, and the 'framed Protagonist in a politically-driven hierarchy' here laid an awesome foundation for an epic tale. The rest of the story just didn't execute through in a compelling way. Sure, my heart did get tugged around at certain points. Yes, I did personally feel the need to assassinate a target for their involvement in the plot. As a whole, though, it's just lacking the proverbial oomph you find in game likes The Witcher 2, Mass Effect, and the like. But I don't want you to get the wrong idea. The story here is good; it is a solid one from beginning to end. Just don't expect grand character development or superb narrative techniques.
REPLAYABILITY:
Let's get back in the upswing. Replayability is another huge factor for why you should invest in this game. As I mentioned before, there's a prologue and seven missions. I like to explore, and by the end of the third mission I clocked in 16 hours. If you're like me and you like to explore, expect to have about 2-4 hours in each mission while you take in everything, do side-quests, etc. This means in a single playthrough you're going to get 15-20 hours in, which isn't bad for your wallet. Something else to consider (especially if you're someone who likes to get achievements) if that you literally can't do everything in a single playthrough. There's two endings, meaning two playthroughs at least. There are a handful of weapons and a handful of powers to toy with for hours. And seriously, if you do want to get every achievement, you'll have to play-through the game twice (perhaps thrice even). On the other side of the spectrum, what others have said is true: if you're the cowboy-whippersnapper who plays single-player games CoD-style, you'll likely finish missions in about 20 minutes to an hour each. While that may seem short, take into consideration the fact you can breeze through the game again with a completely different setup to get more hours and more bang for the buck.
I got this game for $25 on Black Friday, so I know I got my money's worth. But if you're the type of gamer (like me) who likes to immerse yourself in a game's universe, absorbing the details and exploring at your leisure, I wouldn't hesitate in saying this game is worth $60. That aside, if you're a stealth junkie, you really should click the order button now. This is AAA stealth gameplay, and I don't think we'll see something like it in a while. | video-games_xbox |
THE OPPOSITE OF FINAL FANTASY 12. When I reviewed FINAL FANTASY 12, I praised its refreshing battle system and frowned on its poor characters, music and storyline. LOST ODYSSEY as we will see, is the complete opposite--but does that mean that one is better than the other?
BATTLE SYSTEM: 4/5 -- Unlike FF12, this game uses the turn-based combat system found on many an RPG. However, extra damage can be dealt by timing the overlapping of two "Rings". Very repetitive, but much more sensible than the mindless button-mashing of FINAL FANTASY 8. Immortal characters can only learn new skills by "Linking" with mortal characters, which I thought was a good idea as it forces you to rotate your formation and try new strategies. Finally, there are "Walls" based on the strength of your front row of characters, that help defend your weaker characters.
TRANSPORTATION: 4/5 -- Anyone who has played the earlier FINAL FANTASY games knows that the AIRSHIP was the ultimate, most fun way to get around the world and it often featured the best "theme music". Sadly, from FINAL FANTASY 10 on, the airship failed to make an appearance as a controllable vehicle. THANKFULLY, in this game, you get to control a Speed Boat, a huge Cruise Ship, and a Ship that can operate on the water, under the seas, and flying in the air! Not as fun as the previous airships, but still very enjoyable. The "theme" song is not too bad, either.
STORYLINE: 4/5 -- Playing LO makes me realize how much they skimped on the storyline in FF12. Any good RPG should feel like you're interacting with a 1,000 page fantasy/SF novel and LO does this extremely well. The storyline is very easy to follow while still being very complex and leaving lots that can be explored in future installments in this series (hopefully). The dream narratives range from cheesy to powerful, but for the most part are very well written.
CHARACTERS: 4/5 -- The characters in LO are really unique, each with their own personalities and back-stories. Some, like Jansen, are a bit odd, but at least he's consistently so. There were countless times I cracked up at Jansen's remarks--something that I never experienced with any of the characters in FF12.
SOUND: 4/5 -- Sound effects are pretty much average, but the voice acting is really good as the characters match up with their given voices. Nobuo Uematsu once again does an outstanding soundtrack that captures "The Emotion of the Moment", as I like to call it.
GRAPHICS: 4/5 -- The least important to me, but very well done. If the ice looks slippery, well, that's because it IS and you can fall off it.
OVERALL 4/5 -- In the end, I believe that great combat alone cannot make a great RPG, which is why I rate LO slightly higher than FF12. If storyline, characters and music are important to you, then you need to play this game. I honestly haven't had this much fun since MASS EFFECT, or for a fantasy genre reference, FINAL FANTASY 9. | video-games_xbox |
best game in years. Portal has won many awards since its launch in 2007, and when you play it, you'll agree that it deserves them. It's ingenious and compelling, a masterpiece easily at home in an all-time greatest games hall of fame list.
Despite many recommendations from friends, I initially avoided getting this game for two reasons. Don't make this mistake! It's a fantastic game, and neither of my concerns proved to be important.
First, I thought Portal was a first-person shooter (FPS), and I don't like FPSs or games requiring lightning fast reflexes, so I almost skipped it. Portal was originally released as part of "The Orange Box". The Orange Box was a disc-based game for Windows, Xbox 360, and PS3 which bundled 5 games in 1. The other 4 games in the bundle were well-known FPSs which had been released previously (Half Life 2, 2 add-ons for Half Life 2, and Team Fortress 2). In that company, one might assume that the 5th game in the bundle, Portal, was also an FPS. In fact, Portal is not an FPS at all, but a first-person 3D puzzle game, and one of the most original and ingenious puzzle games in years. Each level introduces you to new game elements and increasingly difficult puzzles, with many wonderful "aha!" moments. Fast reflexes aren't required, but brains definitely are. Others might assume that, as the "fifth wheel" in The Orange Box bundle, Portal would be a give-away title not worth trying to sell or advertise. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite the obvious success of Half Life 2, many game players and critics alike would argue that Portal is the strongest game in The Orange Box bundle.
Once I knew I wanted to try Portal, I again delayed my purchase because I wasn't sure which version to get. Should I get "The Orange Box", which costs more, comes on disc, and contains 4 FPSs that I probably won't play? Or should I get "Portal: Still Alive", which costs less, is downloadable, and comes with a few extra puzzles but no bundled games? The answer is: it doesn't matter, either choice is great, and it's up to personal preference. If you also like FPSs, The Orange Box is definitely a great value. I personally prefer not having to keep a disc in the drive, and will gladly take even a small amount of extra puzzling content over an FPS, so this downloadable version was best for me. See my comment on this article for a detailed list of differences between the two versions. Regardless, don't let indecision about the platform/version hold you back, like it did me. You can't go wrong with either one!
Now, I want to briefly describe the game and what makes it great. The premise and basis of all the puzzles is that there is a new technology that allows you to open "portals" between virtually any two flat surfaces. Imagine opening a magic door that connected the wall in front of you with the wall behind you -- you could look through this door and see your own backside. Now what if you opened a magic portal connection between the floor and ceiling -- and stepped through. Now what if you open a portal connection between walls at different angles and jump through -- your momentum will carry through but gravity will shift your ballistic trajectory. The possibilities are endless and mind-boggling. Fortunately, the game eases you into the concept, along with other game elements, and by the end you're an expert, ready for the major challenges ahead. (Once you solved the game, try looking at online videos of pros playing the game; you'll be blown away by what experts can do with portals.)
But the other great thing, which isn't common for puzzle games, is the understated but excellent plot and backstory. Throughout the levels, you get a few hints that something bigger is going on here, and that maybe beating the levels shouldn't be your first priority. I'll avoid spoiling it and leave it at that. But I can't help but mention the superb cherry on top, which is a very gratifying end credits scene with a catchy original song, which you'll probably want to view/listen to over and over again. You can find this song and its lyrics online (and in games like Rock Band 2), but they won't make sense or carry any emotional weight until you've solved Portal. I'm also told the plot ties in with the larger Half Life universe, but as I don't like first-person shooters, I didn't catch those references.
I can't recommend this game highly enough. If you haven't played it yet, run, don't walk, to enjoy this treasure. | video-games_xbox |
I expected mediocrity... and Evolution delivered. I bought this game with realistic expectations- A) It's a movie license... 'nuff said. B) It's made by the developer that did the recent Turok reboot... yeesh. So I am not surprised that Tron Evolution isn't exactly Game of the Year material. But there was no way I wasn't going to play it, as I've been a Tron-tard since the first movie came out, I've been waiting for the new movie for almost 30 years, and this game is a bridge between them, plugging into both.
The overall issue is that the game play lacks polish. The combat boils down to a familiar forumla- as you progress, you acquire different types of disc weapons, which are selected on the fly via the D-pad. The first time you encounter a new type of enemy, a little analysis window pops up which notes its weakness, i.e. which disc is best used against it. The problem is that this helpful window never appears again. The game assumes you'll be able to tell one enemy type from another, but they all look more or less the same. It's not easy to know which disc you should be using against them. A manual "Analyze" command you can use whenever you want would have been nice. And there is no 'target lock' ability, you simply attack whichever enemy happens to be more or less directly in front of you at any given moment. When you're fighting multiple enemy types at once, endeavoring to use the right disc against the right enemy isn't worth the hassle. "Whatever, the Bomb disc will kill everything... eventually." Another pillar of game play is free-running/parkour. Most of the time it gets the job done, but it could have used more fine tuning. Coming on the heels of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, it really feels twitchy and stiff. Finally there are vehicle based segments, so far I've used the Light Cycle and the Tank. Neither was especially fun.
If I wasn't such a big Tron freak or if this game had nothing to do with Tron, I probably never would have bothered with it. As it stands, the flawed game play is decent enough that I'll probably play to completion. The visual design is great, though some of the character models seem outdated vis a vis faces and facial animation. (no pun intended) The environments strike a great balance between hearkening back to the original Tron and also being similar to the look of Tron Legacy. I also really like a lot of the sound effects. But all in all, if I was going to recommend a Tron game, it would still be Tron 2.0, the PC game from 2003. | video-games_xbox |
You WILL learn the meaning of FEAR. Someone was most assuredly playing Halo one day and then, after watching The Ring, said, "You know what would be cool? If we combined Japanese horror with a first-person shooter!" And thus FEAR was born.
FEAR (First Encounter Assault Recon) is Halo without the power suit and vehicles in tightly confined, spooky urban environments. Your character is anonymous behind his faceplate, like Master Chief, and you possess powers beyond mortal men, including the ability to slow down time in Matrix-esque fashion. The usual weapons of mass destruction are present as well: pistols, sniper rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, and of course the obligatory futuristic energy rifle.
What makes FEAR different is its adherence to a disturbing plotline. Project Origin has created a series of telepathically controlled clones (think clone troopers from Star Wars). They are the perfect warriors, led by their powerful telepathic commander, Paxton Fettel. Only Paxton has been driven mad by the ghost of a little girl, Alma, and transformed into a cannibalistic mass murderer. Cue our point man (that'd be the player) and the FEAR team.
What ensues is a creepy romp through garbage-filled alleyways, poorly lit warehouses, abandoned office buildings, and weird underground laboratories. We learn the story through more than dialogue alone; there are various opportunities to overhear answering machine messages, slowly unspooling the plot.
FEAR is an interesting experiment in horror. Horror is largely scripted, be it in a novel or script, thereby dictating when and where bad things happen. In FEAR, although events are scripted, they don't necessarily play out the way the creators probably intended. I was often looking the wrong way when a creepy ghost appeared, ruining the effect. Conversely, some creepy moments wear off quickly when you've died twelve times and have to replay the scene over and over again. Nevertheless, the game has its moments, not in the intentionally creepy horror but the subtle: a lone photocopy machine illuminated in the darkness as it photocopies nothing, the rattling of underground pipes ready to burst, and the accidental bumping of debris all kept my nerves frayed.
And there is a LOT of debris. Everything in the game can be hit, bumped, knocked over, moved, and blown up. Except for the cast of characters. This is a bit of a let down when some key cast members (who we just know are BAD (tm)) cannot be harmed with a pistol to the forehead, yet you can accidentally blow yourself to bits by shooting a fire extinguisher from a distance. The game chooses when to be realistic at its creators' whim.
FEAR has one of the most realistic artificial intelligences in recent FPS memory. The clone soldiers work together, throwing grenades at the right moment, looping back around to catch you by surprise, and running and gunning when under heavy fire. They leap over barriers and duck under cover, scream for backup and loudly declare their intentions over their walkie-talkies. In fact they act a lot like...
People. It's so strange that a game fixated on the terror of cloning has the most human-like enemies ever to grace the Xbox 360. The panic in a clone soldier's voice is almost pathetic when you eliminate his entire team: "I can't stop him!" When a soldier thinks he has the drop on you, he swears like a sailor.
FEAR is bloody, violent, and foul-mouthed. Sometimes the cursing seems a little egregious; sometimes it makes you wonder who taught the clones these potty words. But the blood, especially in slow-mo mode, is glorious to behold, especially when a shotgun blast at point blank range tears through a clone soldier and the bookshelf behind him.
FEAR has its flaws. The collision detection isn't always right, snagging your character on strange parts of the board. Bad guys fall all over in rag doll fashion thanks to the Havok engine, but they also sometimes fall in weird poses (on several occasions, a clone soldier fell and hung in mid-air). And the voice acting is so-so.
But FEAR does one thing right, and that was enough to make me play it obsessively until I beat it. You WILL learn the meaning of FEAR. | video-games_xbox |
Good starter but felt it could be better. So I have had this game for awhile. I actually purchased my Kinect + XBox in hopes of using it to tailor my workout. I think it is great that "games" like this has feedback functions that allow you to see how well you are doing as well as making exercise somewhat fun.
I just felt that it didn't quite measure up. I speak mainly from Cardio workout POV since it is what I use.
Pros:
I like the interface. I chose my goals and it flagged all the workouts that were pertinent to my goals. I also like the total calorie counter.
The cardio moves featured are basic but solid. The pace is also merciless. If you can get the forms down with the pace, these exercises will make you sweat. Your "avatar" shows up next to the merciless and robotic trainer model but honestly I found that I don't even look at myself half the time since the pace is pretty quick.
I like some of the games. It makes things like jump rope interesting. That's one of my favorites for warmup.
The badge/achievement system. I have no clue what these mean but it feels pretty good to complete a medal.
Some things that could use improvements:
I felt like I wasn't given a lot of directions on how to tailor my workout. It would be nice to have a little summary or something showing not just the time but what kind of activity would be accomplished if I try a program. For example I think some of the toning ones also have cardio "flag" but it is difficult for me to figure out exactly what kind of exercises they would want me to do without actually doing it. So even though there are many many exercise options you can select, I end up sticking to just "Cardio level 1, 2, 3+" because I'm not sure what or how the other ones would help. A preview feature might be useful.
I felt even with the program you select (for example, Cardio), there was little feedback. For example, if you select a 30 min cardio workout, they show you the 5 or 6 cycles you will be doing. Some exercises, I just nail 100% (like X-Jog, squats, etc.) and some are really tough (like ones involving kicks). So my overall score can be as high as 80% and I should go on to the next level, but I know that I could still improve on some of the specific ones. It would be nice if the program adjusted and identified your weaker exercises and made you do them over or improve the scores so that it differentiates from standard dvd exercise programs.
Some of the moves do not register on Kinect. This can be very frustrating when you are doing your exercises and the Kinect does not pick it up. It could be that I don't have enough space (6-7 feet from the TV) but I don't have a private gym which was the reason behind getting the system in the first place. But even some of the Yoga-Zen moves which are stationary breathing exercises don't get picked up correctly sometimes which can be frustrating.
Overall when I want to be indoors when it's rainy or cold, this is a handy to have. However, some of the frustrations can deter you from being motivated especially if you're registering 0% completed for some. Despite the limitations, I found the exercises themselves are very solid and worth doing. | video-games_xbox |
If only single player was better. Halo 3 is the conclusion of the Halo trilogy, and after finishing the campaign and settling into multiplayer, it is safe to say that the developers did an amazing job with everything. Lets take a closer look:
SINGLE PLAYER STORY: I think they did a terrible job wrapping up the story. The final 'boss' was horribly chosen and to be honest everyone who came up to this point without having the ending spoiled was expecting a certain entity to be the final boss. It wasn't, and the way they wrapped up the story was pretty sloppy too. I was seeking a more definitive conclusion to the saga and I was not satisfied.
SINGLE PLAYER LEVEL DESIGN: Most of the levels were pretty well done with the exception of The Ark and The Covenant. These levels were terribly designed and are extremely repetitive, boring, and involved WAY too much backtracking. This almost felt like doing Assault on the Control Room from Halo #1 all over again. This is only one bad part of the game however. Enough of the reminiscing though, on to the good stuff. The rest of the game feels ALIVE. I sat there and looked around during the first time I gained control of my character for almost five minutes. It was truly awe-inspiring.
SINGLE PLAYER SKULLS: As you probably heard, skulls have made a big transition to Halo 3. They are now obtainable on Normal and Heroic as well as Legendary. Doing this was a step in the right direction---HOWEVER they messed up on placement of a few of the skulls. IWHBYD, and Famine made me want to kill somebody they were so difficult to access. For example, IWHBYD involves recreating the original Halo theme song by jumping through miniature Halos in a specific order. Of course, there was no way to tell if you were doing it right or wrong or if it bugged up and you did a hour long mission for nothing. It's stupid stuff like this that irritates me and is extremely frustrating having to redo a boring long level over and over again to see if it finally works properly. Finally, they made the right choice and made the skulls able to be activated at the Campaign menu. And depending on which skulls you activate, you will receive multipliers based on your meta game score (if campaign scoring is turned on).
SINGLE PLAYER REPLAYABILITY: The replay value of the Single Player portion of Halo 3 is solely based on whether or not you have interest in competitively doing speed runs with skulls activated with 3 other friends of yours against other teams online. If you have no interest in competition of any shape or form, then this is not worth forking $60 over to play. The campaign is around 7-15 hours, but this fluctuates around what difficulty you are playing on, if you are doing it on Co-op mode, etc. All in all, the Single Player portion of Halo 3 is where this game falls short. It is simply not that much fun killing Brutes, Grunts, Flood, and Jackals.
MULTIPLAYER LEVEL DESIGN: For the most part, very well done. I like the new levels, although I wasn't very impressed by Bungie recycling/revamping old levels. The new and original levels are extremely well thought out and work very well. The man cannons are extremely fun to throw grenades into, and they add a whole new level of fun to multiplayer. My favorite level is The Pit, every area of that level is designed specifically for one weapon each. One area is extremely suited towards snipers, while in another area the snipers will have problems in. For the most part, the new levels are by far their best. I hope they add more original levels in soon, because I am looking forward to seeing more of the awesome that is Halo 3 Multiplayer.
MULTIPLAYER GAMEPLAY: With the addition of deployable items, there is now a whole new level of strategy and skill involved in multiplayer. My jaw fell to the floor when my Spartan Laser beam was blocked by a player dropping his bubble shield right before impact. It is stuff like this and moments like these that make Halo 3 the best party/competitive multiplayer game out there. Bungie has balanced everything and it feels like you are at an equal footing with other players whether they are wielding a Spartan Laser or a Needler. The only gripe I have is the Gravity Hammer...that thing seriously needs to be balanced a little bit more.
MULTIPLAYER REPLAYABILITY: All I have to say is that I will probably be playing this game online for quite some time from now (possibly a year or two?). Bungie really came through and multiplayer was improved in every category. Nothing but love here for all.
OTHER MULTIPLAYER ADDITIONS: By far the most notable was the ability to unlock and modify the look of your Spartan/Elite. You unlock the armor by getting achievements, collecting skulls, and doing certain feats in multiplayer. My favorite armor was the Hayabusa set for the Spartan. Being an old Ninja Gaiden fan for the Xbox, this was just too awesome to pass up not getting.
======================== TLDR VERSION==============================
GRAPHICS: They are very good looking overall and I think that they are very impressive compared to the other games in the 360's library. The environment detail is nowhere near the detail of Gears of War's, but this is made up for in the particle effects, explosions, and player models. The multiplayer environment detail is a downgrade from the single player's, but that is only to help make the framerate better and help prevent graphical lag.
GAMEPLAY OVERALL: Very good, although it is nothing revolutionary after the past two games. The multiplayer is still freakin awesome though.
SOUND: A lot of the sounds sound more crisp than they did before. The Spartan Laser's firing noise will make the wielder feel like a titan the first time they hear it. The music sounds too much like its previous incarnations, I honestly thought at first that they recycled the original music from the first two games when I first heard the songs again.
And the final question remains....should you buy it?
The answer to this question is...yes if you have Xbox Live or you plan on having a ton of LAN parties in the near future. Multiplayer in Halo 3 is the only reason it isn't discarded as an average game, and anyone can see why. However if you do not have multiplayer capability or you are just not crazy about it, just rent it. | video-games_xbox |
Horrible sound, and a bit uncomfortable. Bad product, unfortunately. I purchased these headphones strictly for gaming (I already own the Sony MDR-7509HD for audio production), as i needed something that would provide positional sound and mic capabilities (for games like Counter-Strike:Source, UT3, etc).
Unfortunately, the Tritton AX Pro failed miserably in every aspect.
I'll cover each point individually in (brief) detail.
Note: I've owned and used these for exactly one week, an average of three hours every day.
First off, the sound distorts horribly when either the loudness (even at moderate volumes) or pitch increases; for example, the sound of an announcer over a crowd, or gunshots over explosions, etc. The result is a cross between clipping and a blown speaker. My only conclusion is that this is a result of putting a heavy demand on such small speakers (they had to fit four into each cup), but i can't be sure.
Regardless of why, this became very annoying; Anything high pitched went from tinny (at best) to completely distorted. This happened when doing anything from watching a movie to listening to music (i did this rarely-- but enough to notice-- as i typically use my MDR-7509HDs for that) to gaming to watching game trailers.
In an attempt to troubleshoot, i switched from using optical (Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD) to using my system's onboard analog 5.1 ports (The AX Pro gives you the option), but it was no better.
Thinking i possibly got a blown set, i used Amazon's (awesome) exchange policy to get a new pair.
No dice; same thing. After doing a bit of research, it turns out that other users (real users, not sponsored reviews) had the same issue.
Secondly (this also happened on both), the pre-amp (i'm pretty sure it was that, anyway; could be the headphones themselves) clicks (it's more of a quiet pop) on and off whenever there's absence of sound. This can become pretty annoying for obvious reasons. Any time an audio file stops, there's a click. Anytime one starts, a click. Dialog in a game, click. Starts up again, click.
Granted, most of the time there's NOT complete silence in a game (ambient sound is built into pretty much every game in existence), but if you happen to run into a situation where there is complete silence, you're constantly reminded that your headphones are poorly built.
Third on the list is comfort. The notion that big headphones cannot be comfortable is completely untrue. I use wireless Sennheisers at work (sometimes spending five or more straight hours with them on) and have never even stopped to consider discomfort. Same thing with the MDR-7509HDs-- they fit, are comfy (even when snug), whether i'm wearing a hoodie or cap or nothing on my head.
These headphones do NOT offer the same comfort. Hour one is usually OK. But by the time you creep into hour two, you'll find yourself adjusting the headband back and forth, putting them towards the front of your head, then back, loosening, taking them off altogether for moments... they're horrible. Part of the problem is the way the pressure (they're stiff) is applied to 1) your temples, and 2) the top of your head. There's a constant pressure applied to the top of the cups which coincide with the temples. This is a pain. Then you have the band at the top: The foam is very dense and creates a small pressure point that digs into the top of your head.
I was able to get through two hours without any adjusting (once; it was an intense match), but that's about it. By the end of week one, i found myself shying away from playing mic games (or playing them forgoing the mic altogether) and using my Sonys instead (WAY better sound quality, incidentally; just no directional sound).
Lastly, the 3D sound. While it KINDA worked, it was nothing like a 5.1 speaker setup. I could sorta tell when something was behind me, but after doing some tests, I'm convinced it works no better than software like OpenAL or DirectSound3D.
To be fair, I've never used 5.1 headphones before this pair, so maybe the technology itself isn't quite up to par, but going by what i've heard from users i'm willing to bet it can be done well.
Some good points (AKA, why i gave two stars instead of one) are the sound quality for midrange things (they were up to par, had reasonable depth) which i noticed right away. This is probably a result of using four specialized speakers. Granted, the sound wasn't exceptional, but it was pretty good.
I also liked that i could adjust the volume on each of the speakers individually, but also adjust the units as a whole (though from what i've read in the past couple of days, this is standard).
The bass that the woofer provided was also rather impressive (i made sure to give it a few tries to see what it could do; I was impressed).
The mic sounds good too, and there are a few (three) connectivity options, which was also nice (Two of which support 5.1).
Unfortunately, the good aren't anything you won't find in an average pair of cups; the bad stuff is definitely a deal breaker.
Time to do more searching...
- - - - - EDIT, 1/23/2010 - - - - - -
Because Amazon doesn't carry them, I'll keep this incredibly brief.
I've been using the Roccat Kave for two weeks now. AMAZING.
Everything that was wrong in the above review, these guys have right. Very comfortable, FUNCTIONAL 5.1 sound, no sound distortion... really good stuff.
Not just that, but these things are packed with features; You can tell they didn't rush the design process one bit.
Roccat is a small German company specializing in gaming peripherals. They don't have many (any?) US distributors, but the fact that they were able to do so well what a company like Tritton did so poorly is a good indicator that they'll probably be on Amazon soon enough.
Good to know that a pair of 5.1 gaming headphones can actually be done right... Stay away from the Tritton AX. | video-games_xbox |
Calling this a new game is a stretch. There's two key elements to this game: the campaign and the multiplayer. It's pretty much unanimous that the campaign in this game is true to the Modern Warfare formula: short, loud, and awesome. It's like the video game equivalent of a Michael Bay flick...and like a Michael Bay flick, the characters are paper thin, but that's not what we came for, is it? I have no real complaints here. Modern Warfare 3 keeps the series at the pinnacle of FPS campaigns.
Now for the part that matters most in a game like this: online play. Basically, if you liked Modern Warfare 2, you'll like this. I can confidently say this due to the primary issue I have with this game: it pretty much IS Modern Warfare 2. Aside from the new maps and some tweaks to how weapon loadouts and leveling are handled, and some superficial kill streak options, nothing has changed. Granted, this IS the third game in an offshoot series...i.e. it's not "Call of Duty 8", it's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3", so naturally a lot of elements will stay the same. Still, I would have at least liked to see some of the stuff from "Call of Duty: Black Ops" incorporated into this, like running dives, a few graphics effects that seem to be missing, and the high degree of personalization it offered (e.g. emblem customization). So while this game is a slight step up from Modern Warfare 2, to me it actually feels like an overall slight step back from Black Ops, at least in terms of gameplay and features.
Now, for the stuff that makes me legitimately angry. The lag issues that cropped up in recent Call of Duty games, that have long been one of the biggest complaints against the series? Yeah, apparently zero effort was made to correct it. This results in now classic situations where you might unload on somebody who isn't even looking your way, only to get one-shotted...then have the replay show that they fired first and you never got a shot off. All this despite the game claiming you have an optimal connection. This results in wildly swinging results being very common, where a person might go 12-1 one round and then 3-10 the next, with the only variable being a change in the game host.
This is due to the peer-to-peer architecture of the game, as opposed to having dedicated servers, but if they insist on going this cheaper route, they're about 4 years overdue now for addressing this. It's unforgivable that such issues remain.
The OTHER massive and unforgivable issue is the return of quickscoping/no-scoping, where snipers can exploit the aim-assist to get one-shot kills on people without even looking through the scope. The natural result is people being able to use sniper rifles as massively-overpowered and hyper-accurate shotguns. This was the biggest gameplay flaw in Modern Warfare 2, and the fact that it hasn't been resolved is at best a rather pathetic kowtowing to the cheesers, but frankly reeks more of pure laziness. Why fix it when you can just leave the flaw there and pretend it's a feature, right?
In summary, none of the main flaws of Modern Warfare 2 have been addressed, and very little substance has been added beyond what the Modern Warfare 2 map expansions offered. The net result is something that feels like little more than a $60 map pack for a 2 year old game with another fun-but-short campaign included. Is it fun? Absolutely. Is it worth $60 if you already own Modern Warfare 2? Not really. I struggle to figure out what these developers were actually doing for the last 2 years, because they sure weren't writing much code.
Modern Warfare 3 is fun, but it still feels like a rotten cash grab. | video-games_xbox |
halo with glossy nail polish. i just got done beating this new title from bungie called halo 2. now i have some mixed feelings about the whole thing. i just bought an xbox for this game today, and now, a short time later, i've already beaten it. on normal difficulty, yes i know, i'm a wuss. sue me. anyway, the whole game felt rushed for something that has been in development for three years or so. some of the beginning levels are fun, like the city streets one. then they start to get bland in the middle of the game, but toward the end they get better again. and a lot of the time i spent in levels from the first halo, or ones that looked exactly like them. i know it's a totally different halo this time (sorry if that ruined anything for anybody), but c'mon. same type of planet or not, take me somewhere that i haven't been. take me to a desert, or more stuff on earth, something. i got kind of tired running around a building that looked the same over and over. it gets a bit repeptitive after awhile. but, the new character you get to be brightens things up. his stealth is fun and strategic, seeing as how it lasts for only 10 seconds or so, and the swords are fun to kill enemies with.
the story was okay for a game like this, but why the hell did the freakin' developers decide it was okay to end it like they did? that was crap! it felt like the game had just got going then, hey, it's over. wait for halo 3. god damnit. i don't want to wait another frickin' decade for a game when they could have just added another five or six awesome action-packed levels where you get to be master chief and kick the rest of the brute's and elder's asses. it's like reading a book, and the last page cuts off halfway through a sentence for no reason. i don't really understand why they ended it so short. granted, i still have to go back and play it on hard and legendary mode, but that's not going to make the game end in any different spot. it's like a barber stopping halfway through your haircut and telling you, "that's all for now."
what? why? these are the questions i would like to ask bungie. if this game was in development for three years, what the hell did they put all their time and effort into? the game looks pretty good, but i've seen a hell of a lot better. sure, everything is shiny and new-looking. so what? i would definitely take a graphic downhaul for a longer game.
as for the multiplayer, i've heard it's great and all, but i have yet to try it. the first halo was a great multiplayer game, so i'm sure this one will be too.
but overall, i still have to give this game a 5 star rating. because it's still one of the best, if not THE best fps for the xbox, or any system. well, until half-life 2 that is.
as for the game's a.i. well, that's also a mixed bag. sometimes the enemies would be hiding behind a box and not move, so i just walked up to them and bashed them to death no problem. other times, and most times, they would react quite intelligently and stay behind cover and not come out until i was dead or they thought i was gone. the vehicles handle much tighter this time and it's quite a relief that i didn't have to do all the driving. the npc guys can drive, too. also, you don't have a health bar anymore, just an armor meter that recharges quite quick so long as you can stay out of the gunfire for a couple seconds. i liked this new armor meter much more than the traditional health bar. and i love the energy sword and dual guns. although having two guns really sucks when you're in a crowd and you can't seem to remember that you can't throw a grenade when you have two needlers in your palms.
the one thing that i really hated about this game, besides the crap cliff-hanger ending, is the freakin' mutated guys from the first game. the enemies with the little floating things on their faces, i hate them. they are really annoying and poorly designed, why the hell are they there in the first place. i know it all ties in to the story of the first game, but still, those enemies have been done before. i wish there were more new enemies in halo 2, like the flying bug creatures that shoot at you, or the wookie lookin' guys, though i didn't really favor them either. but that's cause they are so freakin' tough and kept kickin' my ass. but they were still cool. i'd like to see more things that crawl around on the ceilings and stuff, faster enemies, so you can't just walk into a room and shoot one after another until you're the last one standing.
well, i think i've rambled enough about this game. so i guess the choice is still up to you. but be warned, this game is not revolutionary, it's just more of the same. it's the original halo with super-shiny graphics and some new levels, that's all. and the dual wielding, sword...etc...but those are minor changes that have all been done already in other games.
so, this is a good game. not great, but it's worth the purchase. i just can't wait to go back through it with a friend in co-op mode and keep getting him killed.
i'm just glad i haven't been eagerly anticipating this game like everyone else, because if i had been, i would have been really pissed off. | video-games_xbox |
Review of the Turtle Beach Ear Force XP300. <div id="video-block-RYBLWBAL5M1AY" class="a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block"></div><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1EFWaSe%2BSS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/21sVfv5gUtS.png" class="video-slate-img-url"> I upgraded to this Turtle Beach Ear Force XP300 from a pair of MW3 Ear Force Bravos, so most of my thoughts and comparisons are from my experience with those.
Set up:
I found these just as simple as other models of Turtle Beach headsets. I set mine up with a PS3, and just as with previous models, you use an included RCA splitter cable, transmitter (XP300 dual-band) and a USB charging cable. To chat via Bluetooth on the PS3, you sync it by going through your PS3 main menu in Settings -> Accessory Settings -> Manage Bluetooth Devices. Start the system scanning for this new headset then press and hold down the Bluetooth button on your headset at the same time. It will beep and the two will be paired. You then need to select this headset in your PS3 Bluetooth menu to start using it. If prompted for a code it's "0000". For the xBox, there is an included XBA Bluetooth adapter that connects directly to the controller to set up Bluetooth chat.
You can also connect music players like MP3 players, iPods and such via a 3.5mm cable (not included) to the transmitter and listen you your music at the same time as hearing everything going on in game and in chat. You can also sync the Bluetooth in this headset with your cell phone (if it has Bluetooth) and use it to answer incoming calls. You just press the Bluetooth button once to answer it and again to end the call. You can also make outgoing calls if need be, however unless you're using voice dialing, you will still be using the phone itself to dial the number.
Pros:
Pretty simple and clear directions in the included handbook. Maybe a little better outlined than in previous versions. An issue in the past for some people during initial set up was the mixing up of the two USB cables, one that transmits sound, the other for charging the headset. Looking similar, if they were hooked up wrong, headsets would still charge but no sound could be heard. To fix this they have made the USB cable that transmits the sound permanently attached to the back of the transmitter, with only the USB power/charging cable detachable. This is bound to save time for people, if nothing else the customer service people who walk customers through troubleshooting set up.
The mic on the headset is nice. Extremely maneuverable and a good length so you don't have it too close to your mouth. It picks up sound very well, so if you have stuff going on in the next room, it's likely those you're talking to will hear it faintly.
The ability to attach a music player via 3.5mm cable is great, You can listen to your music and talk to people in game without forcing everyone else to listen to your music too. I have hooked mine up with my tablet (Kindle Fire), an iPod touch and an iPod shuffle, they all work great. Just plug in and push play on your player and you have your music.
Several pre-set settings for sound.
With the Tone button you get:
1) Flat
2) Bass Boost
3) Treble Boost
4) Bass and Treble Boost
With the Sound Field button you get:
1) Normal
2) Narrow
3) Wide
These setting are definitely needed for different games. I've been listening to the game play through this headset with games like MW3, Heavy Rain, inFamous 2, GTA IV and Uncharted 3. Each game needs a totally different set up to get the best sound. With games like Heavy Rain where it's often very quiet with subtle background sounds and talking, it needs a completely different configuration then games like Modern Warfare 3. So before deciding if you like these, be sure to try out all the different sound settings, since with some games the wrong setting can make the game sound bad.
The cushioning on the headset is ample. It has a very wide band over the head with lots of cushioning, so no problem with comfort there. The ear pads are also very plush, which help keep out outside sounds when wearing them. They keep out sound so well that the only way I hear things going on around me is if they are being picked up by the mic.
To save battery this headset also automatically shuts off after approx 5 minutes of not being used. The battery lasts a good amount time time at about 15 hours per charge.
Cons:
Just a few minor ones.
When playing music with an MP3 player/iPod by attaching it to the transmitter, the music quality is not quite as good as headphones hooked directly into a player. This probably has more to do with the sound pre-sets being optimized for game sounds instead of regular music. However, you do still get decent sound for listening to your songs while playing.
No included 3.5mm cable for use with the auxiliary input. While this isn't necessary for use during game play or for chat, it is needed to listen to music through the transmitter. With a great feature like this and at these prices, it would have been good to have this added in as one of the included cables. If you want to buy one, you're going to need something like this <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Mediabridge-3-5mm-Male-To-3-5mm-Male-Stereo-Audio-Cable/dp/B004LTEUDO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Mediabridge 3.5mm Male To 3.5mm Male Stereo Audio Cable </a>to play music through your headset.
Conclusion:
Large and comfortable headset with easy to navigate buttons, it takes no time at all to adjust the sound to what works best for the type of game/movie/music/chat you're hearing. Two separate volume settings (one for chat, the other for game volume) make adjusting the settings during game play extremely easy, so you don't miss a second of what's going on. This Turtle Beach Ear Force XP300 headset is sure to be a force to be reckoned with in the wireless headset market. | video-games_xbox |
Flawed but still enjoyable. One of the first Kinect titles I purchased was Rise Of Nightmares, a daring, gutsy adult title which tries to mix horror elements into one of the first human controller FPS's. It barely gets away with it in all its corny, cheesy glory, rich with it in every trickle of blood this charming title spills.
The storyline goes, you play a character who survives a train wreck with his partner Kate. Kate is missing when you become conscious, and your mission is to claim her back. Abandoned in a strange area with other survivors, you're conveniently trapped within the confines of a huge mansion and its walls, the host of which an insane doctor obsessed with death and mutilation. Zombies are a common enemy and the player will pick up weapons which range from axes to garden shears, in order for the game not to be over and for you to find Kate.
The plot is very over-the-top, in the B-movie style. The main villain is just nuts, severing limbs as he goes for fun ("why not?") and mutilating people while alive. What is certain; RON is not for the weak of heart. There is plenty of adult content here which exceeds the usual blood and guts of other zombie titles. There is emphasis on pain and suffering and it delves into regions of suggested rape amongst other things.
The controls seem very stupid at first, but they *do* become easier and more intuitive the more you play. Once you understand the nature of the controls the game gets more enjoyable, but to begin with I was ripping my hair out. Most important; remember there is a walking stance and a confrontational stance. Whenever you engage an enemy, lift your hands up and your target is highlighted, you will then be able to block and see blood and gore which is not yours. There is no strafing available, but to give you leeway, in general enemies are not allowed to attack from all sides at once.
The variety of opponents is fun; there are enemies which can only hear, requiring you to be completely still as they walk past. Others include a banshee that wails, requiring the player to cover his ears as he wanders. There's a lot of bosses in this game towards the end, and they come in quick and frequent succession in the last third, but should not be too hard for the player to devour once they understand the combat mechanics. Bosses are usually just quick-time events, get them right and you win.
The experience only lasts 7 or so hours, and throughout most of that time you will be dying a lot, redoing sections, breathing sighs of relief as you finally nail that impossible section. One thing I found is the game was very easy towards the end, possibly because I was used to the controls by then.
Definitely recommended for any fans of horror, and definitely one to buy if you're interested in how an FPS might feel on Kinect. RON is an enjoyable, but flawed Kinect experience.
6.5/10 | video-games_xbox |
Great low cost addition to your video game experience. The sound was great buto the instructions could be a little clearer.
1. The left side buttons are mixer or balance buttonsheet. These are used to fade from game sound (up) to chat (down). So if you don't talk much then up will work, I talk with friends a lot so I had to press down to increase chat volume. It makes it easy if you're playing with a whisperer or if you play a variety of games with different levels of background noise.
2. Right buttons control the overall volume. Raising or lowering you game/chat volumes at the same time. Once I set my game/chat balance this is all I use depending on the game I'm playing.
3. Mute button is conveniently located middle bottom. It's an easy press with my thumb. It lights to signal that you are muted.
4. Superhuman hearing is located above the mute button. This drastically changes the sound in the game. To me it seems to tone down explosions but enhances foot steps and bullets. Some games I play on normal, sounds are more muddy, but better overall sound environment.
5. Preset buttons, there are preset chat (on left) and sound (on right). Honestly I have never once experimented with these. I think each has 4 selections to choose from, but you are playing in stereo sound so there is only so much you can do to improve that.
My overall is I like it. Having used a regular xbox chat adapter for a long time, the sound is definitely an improvement. Build quality is good and feels durable. This will work with any headphone, from Android ear buds to Beats with a mic, any 3.5mm headphone except Apple ear buds. I read about issues with those.
The reason for 4 stars is the poor instructions. If you want to bump your game on a budget, this is the first place to start.
Also, this is stereo, it will enhance any good headphone making them better. If you want 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, look elsewhere. | video-games_xbox |
Morpheus was wrong. Shiny Games dropped the ball with Enter the Matrix back in 2003. They rushed their product to meet the release date of Matrix Reloaded, and the flaws were evident in a game riddled with bugs and an awful design. Somehow the game still sold millions of copies and drove Shiny to create another Matrix video game. Sadly, Matrix: Path of Neo isn't much better than Enter the Matrix. It isn't as loaded with bugs and glitches, but it's a game that could have been smoothened out with another few months of development.
In Path of Neo, you put your arms through the leather sleeves of Neo's trench coat and take on all of his abilities in the process. The story revolves around him, and throughout the game, it's your goal to learn new abilities and the ways of the Matrix while also doing missions from the movies. In between levels there are Matrix movie clips that help give the levels some sort of meaning, but the clips seem to have been randomized. Any Matrix fan will feel the urge to laugh at such out-of-place movie samples. The cut-scenes themselves are actually better, and are voiced well by sound-alikes of the movie's original cast. That's probably the only positive thing about the story, which I never cared about from the beginning.
The fighting in Path of Neo is difficult to appreciate, despite having a lot of potential. Neo has a lot of moves, and being able to use them all is exciting enough to make every enemy encounter a fresh one. The environments break apart, making some of the fights as epic as they were in the films. The slow-motion "Focus" mode that was made famous by the Matrix films is also a nice perk to the hand-to-hand combat. The only problem is that new moves are constantly being discovered, so for a long time, each battle will be fought with similar moves and combos that become quickly repetitive. The controls don't help much, as they simply dirty up the experience even more. At times, I'd hit more than one button at a time and Neo would just stand around being mauled from all sides by enemies. When the controls are functioning correctly, there is a little too much button-mashing for my taste. There is a single punch button, a grapple button, and a dodge button. I can promise you that you'll wear them out through a lot of time with Path of Neo.
Now, moving away from hand-to-hand combat and into weapon combat, any sort of excitement goes away. Fighting becomes a disgustingly choppy experience. With melee weapons like staves and swords, Neo swings his weapon as roughly as a bumpy gravel road and hitting enemies is difficult when he turns as slowly as he does. Guns themselves just aren't fun to use and feel very weak. The auto-aim system is frustrating and broken. Oftentimes after an enemy goes down, the lock-on cursor will stay on the dead body, making Neo run around staring at a corpse. Of course, while this is going on, the camera is spinning out of control and enemies are left shooting at you. The result is nothing but confusion, cheap deaths, and frustration.
The presentation of Path of Neo is a mixed bag. The graphics are really inconsistent. Sometimes the character models and environments look fantastic. The environments are destructible and the Focus effects always look like a treat. Other times, though, the textures are ugly and broken, graphics blur together, and the animation chugs behind a frame rate that is never consistent in the first place. The music is the typical Matrix fare, and the sound effects don't sound very unique or explosive. Again, the voice acting is probably the best part of the presentation. I must say that the pause screen is really cool, as it turns everything on-screen into the neon-green Matrix coding.
I think Matrix: Path of Neo wasted a lot of potential. It was cool to punch Morpheus through the walls of a dojo in Neo's training. But struggling with the awful controls and trudging through the repetitive, boring levels brings down the experience to a level low enough that I can't recommend buying the game. After every session I had with the game, I felt myself wanting to play the game less and less. I actually think Path of Neo is better than Enter the Matrix, simply because there is potential entertainment to be found here, but I'd recommend a weekend rental at most. Morpheus was wrong, because Neo's not The One. | video-games_xbox |
A good game that falls just short of great. ReCore is something of an odd thumb in my house; when it was first teased back at E3 it did not make many waves. Over the past year or so, little was said about ReCore, from a small guerilla marketing campaign to a ninja-quick release, ReCore stayed largely out of the limelight. It is a shame, too, because it is a fun little action-adventure title with some fun puzzles and gorgeous landscapes even if the action is a bit repetitive at times. ReCore to me seems to be suffering a bit from underexposure when it really should be sitting front-and-center prior to the big Fall releases.
ReCore is a great little game with just enough depth to keep it interesting while staying light and casual enough that you can pick it up and play for an hour or so and then be quite comfortable putting it down to go grab yourself a pumpkin spice latte or a New Holland Ichabod Pumpkin Ale. (Editor's Note: I loved that Robert mentioned this, because I have pumpkin beers in mind for his Friday's Beeps and Beers article, including Ichabod. So I had to let the following meme through when he asked me if I was willing to include it)
ReCore puts you in the shoes of Joule, a terraforming engineer that seems to have awoken from a long sleep on a desolate, sand-filled planet and it is up to you and your trusty robotic (and customizable!) friend Mack to discover what went wrong and to right the wrongs of the universe. Given the fact that it is toted as a puzzle-packed action-adventure game, ReCore needed to really electrify the gaming market due to the fact that this is a combined genre that has been perfected by the likes of Super Mario Brothers, Limbo, Braid, Tomb Raider, Fez, or any number of indie hits. ReCore might not be as good as those, but what it does, it does well. From the interesting tug-of-war style quicktime events and basic combat mechanics to the ingenious platforming aspects, utilizing wall-climbing, double-jumping, mid-air dashing at their best, ReCore is an excitable romp through the desert wasteland.
Not everything is so full of spunk and fun though; in an attempt to be good at not only platforming and puzzle-solving, ReCore also tries to through in RPG-like level/customization elements, and there is plenty of gun-play throughout the game. Unfortunately the RPG-like elements and gun-based action are pretty dull, rudimentary at best. Sure, hunting around for blueprints that allow you to build new body parts for Mack (thus changing his abilities) can be interesting, but it is shallow and simplistic; basic at its best. Gun-play is limited to shooting a burst of explosive energy or (as it is auto-upgraded) a rapid-fire stream of energy. Simple, sure, and made slightly more interesting by the fact that you can add "elements" (or really, just colors) to your attacks as you progress through the story.
The elements do add a bit of strategic thinking into the mix, as the enemy robots that you will encounter will have an affinity for an element and a weakness to a different element (color). When you see a robot with a red core you would switch to the red color (which seems to indicate fire/flame) you can do bonus damage to that robot. Each fight can have a bit of a mini-game attached to it in the fact that as the robot's life nears critical you can shoot your grappling hook into their shell and grab their core; enter in a tug-of-war-style QTE where you need to keep the hook situated just right to pull out the core and scoring an insta-kill while retaining crafting / level-up materials. It is fun at first, then you realize that trying to do so in combat with more than one unit is a death sentence so it becomes a tedious process during long play sessions.
Even with the shallow combat or simplistic crafting/leveling system, stepping into the boots of Joule as she discovers the semi-open world of Far Eden and works to fix the terraforming engines on the planet, is an enjoyable experience. In truth, ReCore would most definitely fit more into the realm of Xbox Arcade games, alongside Braid and Limb, than it would sitting at the big boy's table with AAA titles like Rise of the Tomb Raider or Uncharted 4: Thief's End. That said, it does not mean that ReCore is a bad game; far from it actually. Just a bit misguided and shallow in some respects. Fortunately a decent (and occasionally touching) story, beautiful graphics, and some of the best platforming available to date carry the weaker aspects like combat or level progression/customization.
What I find so interesting, and likely a big part of the allure of ReCore, is how it was shown to much fanfare at E3, winning some 10-12 awards, then it went silent for a good long while. Normally marketing will begin pushing hard right from day one on a title that is well received, and ReCore was. Instead the marketing and news about ReCore stayed relatively quiet up until it released, and even then it released to little fanfare which is a downright shame because ReCore could be so much more with a little push from the folks at Microsoft and/or Comcept. There are plenty of little moments, like the loving relationship between Joule and Mack, or the overall mission for the game, that really shine and could draw in a lot of gamers, if only it was talked about and highlighted. My biggest fear with ReCore is that if falls into obscurity because nobody seems to be talking about it.
ReCore is a fantastic platformer with some action and roleplaying bits strewn throughout its dust-filled wasteland. It deserves the light of day, as it is one of the best Arcade-style games I have seen in years. | video-games_xbox |
This headset. Is probably one of the more extraordinary headsets I've ever had. I've been playing games for years, and have owned many headsets starting from the x31's moving to Tritton's then to Astro's. I've even had studio quality headsets as my stepfather is a DJ (side job). Now I can't say that these headpsets are up there with the DJ equipment. But that's in the price range of 500+, and to ask for something to outperform something when it costs half as much is simply outrageous.
But let's get to the review part.
Sound:
The sound quality with these are amazing. I've always been a huge fan of Bose because they create speakers that just blow the doors off of the expected. What I mean is that the clarity of these headsets is amazing. If you're in a game and your job is to kill that enemy, you can simply find him because you can hear his every footstep, that click of the magazine as it get's pushed in the well, the cocking of the charging handle. The sound is crisp and clean like a good headset should be.
Astro's? They're good. They're REALLY good. I'll give them the performance of an x41. These blow those out of the water. Listen to music? That's pretty much all I do with these now that MW3 came out and ruined xbox for me (pc gamer now). The clarity of these headsets is simply astounding. The "Main" setting is perfect for all kinds of music. Want that extra bass? Put that switch/button on 4 and lose yourself in the nuance of sound. However; I have found that on this setting I have to lower the overall volume as the bass drowns everything out. Do not fret though, It's still plenty of sound to burn your ears off.
Comfort:
At first, these hurt my ears after long uses. I can't deny that it took about a month for these to "break in". After that month though, they feel as if they aren't on my head. They are one of the lightest headsets that I've had. The only one's lighter are the x41's, but that's a different review. The cushions on these are really comfortable, it's like a soft down pillow around your ears, except without the quills coming through the cloth to stab you in the head.
Durability:
While I have yet to throw these at the wall, I have dropped them many times. And I'm still wearing them as if they were new (except broken in now). Now I have to say that Astro's definitely "feel" more durable, but these are surely resilient to a lot of abuse. The plastic makes a slight squeaking sound when you bend these or move them a lot. But that's why they're so light, so I think if you just make sure not to rage hard enough and not throw them across the room or out the window you should be perfectly fine.
Functionality:
This is where they fall short. It might be that I'm on an Air Force base, it might be because I'm in a dorm room with hundreds of people around me. But one thing I surely had a problem with was the damn receiver. When it worked, it would work fine. No problems at all with sound or in game chat. However; when it didn't work, getting the damn receiver to connect to the headset would be such a pain. I don't think this would be as much of a problem if I didn't have multiple people using Bluetooth devices around me. Whenever the problem would happen the receiver would connect to something else. One time I had my teammates saying that they were listening to a guy "relieving" himself through my headset (receiver), made me cringe.
The other problem I have is now that I have switched over to using a computer, and have not tried Bluetooth with it, I am currently using this annoying 15ft. cord to chat with my teammates. It gets tangled ALL of the time, and the other times it sort of cuts out. I should really give Bluetooth a try on PC, I'm pretty sure it'll be more stable since I can chose what the PC connects too.
Summary:
Amazing headset with a variety of uses is only brought down by an UN-perfected system. It would be nice if TB were to get with Microsoft to create a sort of add-on or download on the xBox so you can chose what your controller receiver connects too. That would make it perfect. | video-games_xbox |
Amazing game. I was nervous about the hype on this game, mainly because most of the hype was negative. '343i is going to ruin Halo.', 'Halo is reaching out to CoD players in that it is trying to be more like CoD to outsell them.', etc. Everything that 343i was releasing in terms of videos made it seem like the rumors were true, that is, when they were announcing things like weapon loadouts, armor abilities and the like. Being an avid Halo fan, I pre-ordered the game, figuring that it was at least worth the play through. Closer and closer to the release date, Halo 4 became more intriguing by the day, and I ended up getting the regular edition of the game (gave it to my brother) and the Halo 4 console bundle, which is really awesome by the way.
My first impressions after getting home from picking that game up was "Shit, this really is like Call of Duty." But after playing a few matches, I was realizing that it wasn't. Though it still feels like a lot of it was modeled after CoD, Halo 4 is still Halo. My basic feelings on it are that what 343i (which is mostly people from Bungie, by the way) tried to close the gap on many differences that players didn't like going from Halo 3 to Halo: Reach. Halo 4 has the high-pace feeling of Halo 3 and the amazing graphics of Reach - improved even. The new abilities and loadout options are there to keep it fresh and different, which has basically always been a constant in Halo. They also got rid of bloom, so there's no way it can be just like Call of Duty! ;)
The campaign was fun. It wasn't same-old-same-old, but was also fresh and it pulled you in. As I said before, the graphics are amazing. The cutscenes are immaculate. I couldn't believe how real the people look - and when I hopped in a Warthog for the first time in Campaign, the sound of it made me smile.
As far as multiplayer goes, I was pissed that the initial playlists were so limited. However, it's now about 10 days after launch and they've already added SWAT, which is showing me that 343i does intend to add different gametypes and listen to the players. I can't wait for new maps and the such. It's all very exciting. The only thing that I don't like is the new ranking system. You can easily rank by not being a good Halo player, and it makes me feel like multiplayer rank is meaningless now.
I still haven't played any of the Spartan Ops missions, but I've heard nothing but good about them and I can't wait to get around to it.
All in all, if I hadn't already bought this game twice, I'd buy it again. It's fantastic and I highly recommend it! | video-games_xbox |
Finally starting to look and feel like next gen. See...all it took for Madden to be decent this year was a little competition. This is what we SHOULD have gotten 2 years ago...
I played one game and wanted to weigh my 2 cents in before all the fanboys went nuts.
For one.... 1up.com gave this game a 9....please....that's being too generous....the presentation alone showing signs of age killed that score.
First impressions are pretty good with this version.
I mean it's Madden
- Graphics are vastly improved for the players but they still need to work on the crowd....ok so it's a small thing...but that is a small thing that 2K always seem to get right. Tackles are more realistic and the players move and react a little more without having to push too many buttons. Players tend to react and give you cues on when to push the buttons.
- Weapons. wow....will take some getting used to but it's nice to se that read and react finally working...
- Animation does look a lot better but.....I will come back to that in a min.
- A 1/2 time show!!!! While not as robust as 2K's it's still nice to be able to see some highlights from the first 1/2.
- Franchise mode is finally HERE!!!!! I didn't try the Superstar mode because if I did...I wouldn't be writing this as of now...hehe
Things that could be improved upon....
- GET RID OF THE FRIKKIN ESPN RADIO!! Come on...if I am playing this game in HD on TV...then what would it kill them to get a 2 man crew...and SINCE they have the ESPN Licence...just rip the page out of 2K5 and hook it up? What would it kill you to at least let me feel like I am playing an MNF game?? 2K5 did it...yeah I said it!!
Presentation still sucks BUT...I do like the tickers that you can use all game....also...there are downloadable blurbs that can be streamed to you r360...like while setting up I was able to hear how Vick may get suspended and the Yankees beat the Orioles....nice step in the right direction...now if you can stream the NFL Network and ESPN to my.....hmmmmmm an idea....
- Fumble-itis it seems a little too easy to get a nice hit and cough it up using the Hit Stick....on the other hand fights for loose balls are a little more realistic, I saw one being bobbled around between 3 players before someone recovered it.
- While the new and increased animations are nice...for some reason the game moves.......fast.....thank you for the 60FPS but it looks kinda arcade-ish
- Stil some stutter between frames....not too distracting but ok....
- No online leagues.....hmmmmmmm
On the whole with a quick playthru, it's easy to see where EA has made improvements and what they still need to work on...but all in all Madden is cool....I have no probs having two football games in the home.... it just makes too mych sense if one company would simply combine with the other to put out the ultimate football game......sigh...one can only dream
This means if 2K puts out another game next year...Madden will have to try hard to be better...is that all it takes?
Gee...I wonder what happens if EA loses the NFL licence... | video-games_xbox |
A near-total disappointment on launch week. After giving up waiting for pre-order fulfillment of the Xbox One game/Legacy Adapter Bundle launch week, I bought the digital version on the Xbox store and began downloading my massive catalog of Downloadable Content (extra tracks) from previous Rock Bands. Or tried to.
The promise: All prior imports and downloads, with a few exceptions, would be playable. The caveat: Not easily and not at launch. In practice, you can only download one song at a time, tracks purchased as parts of packs would not show as purchased, indeed all pack purchases were wholly unavailable in the store as of Friday October 9th. No Imports from previous Rock Band games were yet available for download either. About 25% of my downloadable content library - 140 songs - was available. Many of the tracks showed as not yet purchased in the store, but if I attempted to "purchase" them, they downloaded at no cost.
The promise: You can use your old wireless instruments on Rock Band 4! The caveat: If you can find a legacy adapter. The bundle of game & adapter did not appear at any retail stores in a 50 mile radius of me, and my Amazon pre-order hadn't shipped by Friday, three days after game launch. Harmonix and Mad Catz would only say they were "working hard" and had "shipped tons of product." That's great, but the game was announced at PAX East 7 months ago and was clearly not ready for launch on October 6th.
The shortcomings: Most of the Rock Band experience has been thoroughly neutered. There is no online play to play with remote friends. There is little to no band customization with stand-ins, etc.
What sealed the 1-star review: While waiting for my overdue Legacy Adapter to ship to use my fancy wood-body guitars, I finally loaded up my downloadable content, hooked up my mic, calibrated my settings, and fired up one of my favorite tracks to sing a round. At the end of the song, my very first round of Rock Band 4, I pressed A at the stats screen and the game crashed out to the Xbox Dashboard.
Epic. Fail. | video-games_xbox |
Depends on which drum set you're sent. I agree with the first reviewer about the three generations of drums and their inherent differences. I have the EL (hard pads, less sensitive than the 2nd gen QM drums) series and after two months, so far so good, I'm not a hard player, I play more for technique and speed. And while pounding on the EL series of drums is not necessary, more than a light touch is needed to register a note. Still, depending on how you play it isn't a problem. I have not tried the QM (2nd gen with bouncier pads that are more sensitive) and SL (3rd gen, a combo of the first two gens) series yet, but I assume that Harmonix is creating the third gen of drums for a reason - a lot of people play hard, a lot of drummers play hard, and the EL series (from what I've read) mechanically break down after a few months of pounding.
Harmonix has a generous return policy. If you're EL drums are being finicky about registering notes, you can return them for a new set:
[...]
A lot of people are modding the drum heads with mute pads, everything from using Staples round mouse pads glued to the rock band pads with rubber cement to towels to socks to companies like rockbandrumsoft.com that sell peel and stick gum rubber (what professionals use) to neoprene and urethane. I am going to try the gum rubber and see how they work on the EL drums. Since I would actually prefer to hit a little harder (I didn't know if the Rock Band drums were designed to hold up to real pounding) the pads should be a great dampening tool.
There is indeed a clackety-clackety sound to the set instead of the thump-thump most of us would prefer to hear, so muting the heads should help. Also depends on how loud you play the songs from your TV. I play the guitar but honestly, the drums are a lot more fun for me. For a "toy". they're pretty darn close to playing real electronic drums. The guitar is fun but too far from the real thing in many ways. Still, the guitar is enjoyable if you don't try to force it into a comparison with the real thing.
You can also use these drums as a controller with Apple's Garage Band - you need to download 2 apps: Game Pad Companion and Xbox 360 Controller Driver. You can play the drums on your Mac. I connect my Mac to a guitar amp or my home theatre system and wail away! | video-games_xbox |
Kicking off the season in style. Let's face it, outside of the games available on Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network, the summer has been pretty awful for games unless you're a massive sports fan (Madden 10) and what was supposed to be the saving grace of the 2 month drought was Batman: Arkham Asylum, originally planned for tail-end of June but a delay put it at the end of August so instead of being the game of summer, it ends up becoming the game that ushers in the game heavy Fall season. In another way too is that it does set a standard since not only is this game for once a good Batman game, it's a really damn good game in its own right. I will say that the game can be somewhat addicting as I literally beat it in one day (mainly cause I was playing nonstop) and it's got incredibly minor issues but other than that, it's nice to see an actually good Batman game.
Story: You play as Batman (obviously) bringing in the Joker to Gotham's infamous Arkham Asylum to throw Joker in jail however the relative ease in capturing him as Batman a bit uneasy which proves real when Joker, with the thanks of Harley Quinn, manages to escape, lets loose the inmates and has some fun. With some other villains popping up, some really genuine storytelling moments, fantastic atmosphere and a story written by Paul Dini, one of the creators of the awesomeness that is the Batman: Animated Series, this is Batman how he should be.
Graphics: Arkham Asylum is powered by everyone's favorite Unreal Engine and the weird nitpicks do pop up (rolling towards a cliff doesn't actually roll you OFF the cliff and the shimmery textures in closeup) but no one can really deny that the game looks amazing. Incredibly moody lighting, some really cool locations and character designs and you got the makes for a great game on an HD set. Oh and just one thing: during a surprising second encounter with everyone's fear-inducing Scarecrow, no that is not your Xbox crapping out on you so don't freak out.
Sound/Music: In a return to my love for the Animated Series, everyone practically makes a return from Kevin Conroy as Batman to Mark Hamill as the Joker. Now, obviously Heath Ledger did a fantastic Joker in the movie but Hamill is just as stellar with the right touch of manic and disturbing. Basically this Joker loves to actually laugh but we also have Arleen Sorkin as Harley and some characters like Riddler, Killer Croc and Scarecrow popping up (whose horror segments almost stole the show, especially that first one, brrr). As far as music, there's some cool tunes but it's not really as "there", it's mainly mood music but don't mean it don't do the job done.
Gameplay: The game is not quite open world but you'd be saying it somewhat feels like one once you start. Basically there's certain main buildings throughout Arkham that you traverse as you make your way through the story. Examples including the penitentiary but also the intensive treatment building, Arkham Mansion as well as the botanical gardens (3 guesses who shows up here but you're gonna only need one). The bulk of the game is taking down your foes and unlike Gears of War's Marcus or any FPS main man, Batman can't just duck around a corner and let his health regenerate so you got to take down enemies quietly without them knowing with several options at your disposal. You can do the never-gets-old glide kick, the silent takedown, hang people from gargoyles and many more. Later it gets progressively more difficult as alarm-sounding necklaces, booby-trapped gargoyles and some instances where you literally can't touch a single enemy until you get to someone else. What makes these sequences fun is just how much you can freak out enemies and seeing the "terrified" status in detective mode makes you feel quite the bully...a good-natured bully.
Speaking of detective mode, pressing LB will bring up the "Detective mode" filter which highlights vent accesses, destructible walls, and enemy positions. It comes quite in handy as you can keep track of everyone on screen however what might bug people, maybe, is that there's no cooldown. Unlike the Snake Eye in Metal Gear Solid 4 or Gordon's flashlight in Half-Life 2, you can probably play the entire game in detective mode so it might make the game a tad too easy since enemy positions will always be highlighted with red being the ones that are armed. There's also some sequences where you have to be in the mode when you're tracking down someone's trail which can either be tobacco smoke, fingerprints and even booze. But it also helps finding Riddler trophies and challenges which are basically your collectibles for the game with Riddler coming over your earpiece telling you how awful your smarts are.
The other bulk of the game is the free-form combat which is not quite button-mashing but you can make do but it boils down to X is attack, Y is counter (with a Spidey-sense type indicator over an enemy's head), B is stun while you also gain moves the more you attack without getting hit. The animations for these are outstanding as it looks like one move never seems to repeat regardless of the attack and some of the takedowns look quite brutal. One complaint I have is that in order to permanently make an enemy stay down is by either attacking enough so that a slow-motion move is done or by doing a takedown (RT and Y) but trying to do these while in combat can be frustrating since they don't give you I-frames (when attacks don't do damage since you're doing something else) so be prepared for a lot of moments of trying to do a takedown when somebody punches you in the back of the head and it cancels the takedown, letting that enemy get back up. It's not so bad in early levels but when later guys have knives, stun prods and guns, it gets kind of infuriating. Boss battles are also slightly disappointing since the encounter with Croc is basically an avoid-and-run, Scarecrow is pure stealth and some of the bigger dudes called Titans are fought the exact same way. The only genuine "boss battle" seems to be the last 2.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is like the movies that release in early May: they kick off the blockbuster season and get things going with a bang and this is no different. After this it's practically one big release right after another and it all starts here so instead of the savior of summer drought, it's game one in what's sure to be a fall/winter season filled with good games. | video-games_xbox |
Tried and True Gameplay with Some Additions. At this point of the Call of Duty series, things were getting stale. However, sales numbers were still high as billions of dollars were made on this title in an extremely short amount of time. Mainstream media and hype aside, this is a decent shooter with nothing very innovative or special about it.
The graphics are nice as always. The presentation values are certainly up there with the character models as well as the environments looking very detailed. Even though this is a very fast paced shooter, the animations of the other soldiers appear a bit stiff.
Call me crazy, but I actually play the campaigns of Call of Duty. The stories aren't the greatest, but do a good job. This game marks the conclusion of the three part trilogy for the Modern Warfare series. The story is easily the weakest in this game compared to the previous entries, and the conclusion does not feel as satisfying as it should.
The missions are decent, but the difficulty is much easier this time around. I played it on Veteran and beat it in just a few sittings. The level designed is somewhat improved, but there are segments that require you to stand out in the open as you take on 20 soldiers by yourself. This is forcing cheap difficulty without actually providing a fair challenge. Your squad mates seem to make many more kills than previously, thus the A.I. is much improved and aware.
Special ops from Modern Warfare 2 return, and they are still pretty challenging. However, allot of the missions feel very similar to the missions in Modern Warfare 2 that it doesn't feel as fresh or exiting as before. One mode that is very interesting is the survival mode. Similar to the Zombies of past games, this has you surviving waves of enemies for as long as you can. You make money doing various feats and use it to purchase better equipment. You also level up to unlock new equipment, which certainly adds allot of replay value to get the better guns. This mode is also better enjoyed with a friend or a few to work together to see how long you will survive for.
Like always, the success of Call of Duty lies within its online multiplayer. From what I can see, all of your favorite modes from the past are back. Many people find the online segment of Call of Duty to be amazing, but my problem with it is a lack of balancing. Certain weapons and tactics are certainly overpowered towards others. Because of this, everyone aims to play a certain way (camping and other cheap tactics). This really kills the online fun for me, but others don't seem to mind.
Overall, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a decent shooter. However, I personally feel that it is vastly overrated by the masses. The pick up and play gameplay is certainly entertaining for a few hours, but it's not enough for me to dedicate countless hours at a time. As always, it is better playing with other people. I recommend this to first person shooter fans and fans of the series, but it's a hard sell to the rest of us. | video-games_xbox |
Best Multiplayer game EVERRRR. You have read it all - great graphics, realistic sounds, blah blah blah...its all true!! But the best thing about the game are its multiplayer matches on Xbox live. It is also the worst thing about the game. Let me explain -
Why I call it the 'best thing about the game': once you are able to join game, without anyone dropping out and without any lag - it is simply the best gaming experience you can ever have. I have played several xbox 360 games...rated all over the scale...but no game fluctuates my heartbeat rate during gameplay like GRAW. You WILL feel like you are in a real war. One well placed bullet can end your life. There could be a sniper sitting on the other side of the map who you cant even see...all you will hear is a gunshot and then WHAM..you are down. And everytime you get out of our base he gets you. So now for your 4th attempt you use the other exit...take cover behind the fence...you run crouching behind the rocks and the cars in the junkyard...and then you finally reach up to the other side where you see your enemy lying on the ground sniping through a freaking crack in the fence...all you can think at this point is REVENGE [...] and with your automatic rifle you shoot the crap out him...RATATATATATA...he is dead but to take out your aggression you put down a few more shots into his bloody dead body just because you know that before he has respawned he will still feel those vibrations on his controller and hopefully in his nightmares at night. But ooops you didn't realise his teammate (a grenadier) was hiding nearby behind the billboard...who overhearing your hundreds of gunshots lets one grenade in the vicinity and BLAM...your body is 10 feet in the air! This is just one scenario out of thousands of similar experiences you are bound to have with this game on xbox live. I mean I spend about 3 hours EVERYDAY playing it...and I never get tired...and I have been doing so for the last 6 months now.
Reason I call it the 'worst thing about the game': It is sooo hard to start a multiplayer game. Sometimes you have to wait for almost 15 minutes before you actually get into a game. And often even when you join a game - you will drop out, or the gameplay will lag making people sometimes jump from one end of the map to the other?!?!. The reason for that could be the host player has a bad connection, you have a bad connection, or several players in the game have bad connections - but I just think this is a weakness on the part of the developers and the game servers. Because of this reason I give it an overall 4. Hopefully this problem will be rectified, or atleast reduced in GRAW2. If that happens I will have to rate it a 6 on a 5 scale! | video-games_xbox |
One of my favorite games. I was always a fan of American Mcgee's Alice, and I was thrilled to play Alice: Madness Returns when it came out. The graphics of this game definitely reach a form of beauty that is occasionally rare in modern games. The lovely gothic touch from the first game is also still present in this sequel despite it showing up in more limited quantities than in the first game. The combat system is significantly improved, and there is a gratifying feeling to slamming the hobby horse weapon into the ground. My only critiques might be that the game sometimes lacks a decent amount of enemies based on the domain the player is in, the game is a bit long with noticeable spaces of uneventfulness that could have been shortened down to create a better form of pacing, and I would have preferred even more gothic/morbid imagery in addition to the gothic imagery that is already there.
In addition, the game American Mcgee's Alice can be downloaded and accessed easily from the main menu of Alice: Madness Returns if you have the code that comes with a new purchase of the game. American Mcgee's Alice does look upgraded a bit from the previous PC version, but not by much. They simply gave the Alice character, the Rabbit, and a few other characters better looking skins with higher detail, but the environment is unchanged. However, the Xbox 360/PS3 version of this "remastered" Alice game has certain problems. After purchasing this new version of American Mcgee's Alice for my PC, I noticed that some of the new character skins weren't showing up because they were inserted into the wrong files. In the files for this remastered version, there are new, highly detailed skins for the Mock Turtle, the Cheshire Cat, and the Card Guards that do not show up in the game. Unfortunately, it is only possible to put these skins in the right file and view them in-game through a PC. The Xbox 360/PS3 version has no way of moving files around, so that version of American Mcgee's Alice is stuck with certain new character skins that will never show up. | video-games_xbox |
Awesome Game. Plants vs. Zombies sets itself apart from other multiplayer third-person shooters. Firefights can still be fast and furious, with good shooting mechanics and class-based combat between 24 players, but thanks to its zany character classes and silly sound effects, its actually laugh-out-loud funny. Its a good game that spits bright green peas in the face of todays brown-and-grey shooters.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The Game is Focused on Co-Op and Competitive Multiplayer 3rd-Person Shooting
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare changes up the formula by adopting a 3rd-person shooting mechanic that comes alive with co-op/competitive gameplay modes. This mutliplayer-only title will allow up to 24 players for online play and a 4 player co-op mode. Each player can control their own class of plants/zombies and engage in huge skirmishes across wide open locales. One mode lets players pick a plant class and deal with waves of zombies, which leads into even more zombie waves or a final boss encounter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Its Being Developed With The Frostbite 3 Game Engine
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This title is being published by Electronic Arts, a publishing gaming company thats known for its most recent video game development engine Frostbite 3. This engine is most known for powering Battlefield 3. This engine is being utilized to develop these upcoming EA games:
- Dragon Age: Inquisition
Star Wars: Battlefront
Mass Effect (Sequel)
Mirrors Edge (Prequel)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Three Game Modes
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- GARDENS & GRAVEYARDS: n this massive 24-player mode, plants must defend their garden bases from zombie invasions and you get to play either side! To capture a base, the zombies must conquer the garden and raise their tombstone the more zombies that are in the garden area, the faster the tombstone rises. Once a base is captured, the combat shifts to the next garden objective
- TEAM VANQUISH: In the second mighty 24-player competitive mode, players square off directly and try to send the other team to the compost pile. Pick your side, powerful plant or fun-loving zombie, and let the botanical battle begin
- GARDEN OPS: This four-player co-operative mode is ideal for gamers that want to team up with their friends. The objective is simple the Plant team must defeat waves and waves of zombies and zombie bosses like Gargantuar who are on the attack. Like in all modes, teamwork is crucial if you want your brains to survive
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdict
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garden Warfare respects its roots by preserving its characters and their humor and skillfully adapting their charm to a third-person shooter. A few clever twists on the standard modes give the action some fresh personality, and the co-op survival mode is a fun homage to the original games. Plus the solid controls, fun modes, and varied map design make it a good shooter to boot. | video-games_xbox |
Incredible gameplay and graphics. 007 Nightfire is out for all major platforms, in time for the latest Bond film. The graphics are stunning, gameplay is amazing. Well worthy of the series!
I'm a huge fan of the Bond games, and we have all of the previous ones. We got this one as soon as it came out, and were definitely not disappointed!
The graphics are a huge step up from previous versions. In the first 'training' mission, you're driving a car through city streets. The lights reflect off of the curves of the car, you can see inside to all of his controls and movements, the dents show up realistically, the back up lights glow softly, and if you bash it a bit, the trunk comes loose. The city around you has cobblestone streets, water rippling, streetlights that come down when you hit them. The attention to detail is just amazing!
As you then move on through the various levels, you see this same level of detail everywhere. From the Austrian castle and other alpine scenes, to the city scenes, watery scenes and more, each really shines.
The plot is very engaging and typically Bond. But in an attempt to show that this isn't about violence - he's a SPY after all, not a Rambo - you get bonus points for being stealthy instead of blasting in with guns, and for stunning or capturing enemies instead of killing them.
In fact, just about every area can be 'accomplished' in many ways. Bluster your way into an objective by a full frontal assault ... or sneak in the side way for extra points. Since you're also rewarded for your time and health, often the sneaky, non-violent way is the best.
You've got a huge array of equipment, weapons, armor and vehicles, and all work just the way you'd expect them to. I found the default controller configuration REALLY annoying, but a quicks stop in the config area got it back to the way I'm used to playing.
Plus, there's multiplayer! Play with up to four people at once on REALLY great maps with quite a bit of customization options on each one. Grab some bots for practice, and play arena, team arena, king of the hill, capture the flag, or other game types.
Definitely worthy of the Bond series, and highly, highly recommended to any first person shooter fan! | video-games_xbox |
A great edition to the Battlefield series. ***UPDATE 03/19/2015***
Still having a great time in multiplayer, everything feels so smooth except for driving. To me, driving just feels clunky, sport cars certainly have an awful turning radius. Flying helicopters is a blast. I found that if you can't gun an enemy down on a fly by, smash him with a quick landing! I find it more fun to try and smash enemies than to actually shoot them now.
I have rarely any connection issues. I have on occasion, been kicked from the game during a new map cycle. But I have been able to play full games with zero lag and no drop in connection.
The spawning is still as bad as it's always been. Even when I am not spawning on a teammate in action, I am spawned somewhere on a flag where a vehicle just "HAPPENS" to be driving in the neighborhood and runs me down.
The machine gun on the helicopters vs the machine gun mounted on and armored car baffles me. The armored car's mounted gun is far superior than that of support and attack helicopters, and I'm not even talking about upgrades here. I have used both, stock, and I can far more easily take down a group of Charlies than I can with the weak guns on the choppers.
The stingers seems to lock on way to quickly, or there is a delayed cockpit warning that you are being locked on. I swear it feels like as soon as a stinger even readies, its already being fired.
Anyways, I have yet to go through campaign yet and will be continuing to update this as I go. So far for the multiplayer....LOVE IT!
***RELEASE DAY 03/17/2015 FIRST ENTRY***
This will be a review that I will continue to update as time goes on but here's what I have to say about it.
Battlefield Hardline in itself is very fun and very involving. Speaking from a multiplayer standpoint, what you do will effect the whole team. If you get lazy and don't play the objective in games like "Hotwire" and "Heist," your team will be very upset at you and as a whole, are bound for failure. BFHL offers unique objective game types that parallel the more common game types with a twist that essentially make them a whole new genre.
(Example) Hotwire is essentially a capture the flag game type. The twist, the flag is completely mobile and must remain so, there is no capture point, and your flag can be used as a weapon or it can be a death cage on wheels for you and your teammates.
On another note, I would classify this game as an expansion to the series. I feel like its a breathe of fresh air as it offers more urbanized warfare and not vast amount of desserts like previous battlefield titles, giving a bit of rest until the next Battlefield game is released. It also brings the feeling of chaos closer to home as the terrain is more familiar and the modern trends of our industrialization brings a blissful joy.
I have yet to completely dig deep into this game as it has just been released, but I will continue to update as I go along. | video-games_xbox |
Game has potential but is a glitchy mess. Do yourself a favor and don't bother playing this, its a glitchy mess. I tried this game not knowing what to expect and came in with an open mind. Heres my thoughts.
The Good:
Not your typical shooter like COD or Halo, very tactical and is a nice departure from all the RAMBO style shooters.
The most realistic game you will probably ever play.
The story is pretty good and well written and the missions have a good variety.
The weapons look and sound realistic with actual bullet drop off when shooting at long range.
The graphics are decent.
Now the Bad:
The game has horrible glitches, The AI doesnt respond most of the time and are completly useless, you order them to run to a spot and they sit there, you tell them to follow you and sometimes they do whatever they please, you order the to engage 1 enemy and they take forever doing it and either all die in the process or cause you to fail the mission because they cant kill him in time. If you get hit and call for a medic sometimes he will be right next to you and do nothing and you die. Sometimes I order the team to a spot when were supposed to be sneaking in and they cant climb over a rock or a wall like I just did so they go around and walk straight up to the enemy and raise alarms and all die. You issue a follow me order and if you run they still walk and lag way behind so you have to wait for them to get to you before you can proceed or don't follow at all and continue engaging the enemy. I order them to move fast to a spot and hold there fire thinking maybe they will stop shooting and RUN but instead they go prone and crawl and get shot up and die.
One mission your supposed to resucue some downed helicopter pilots but when it comes time to make that familiar 1 mile sprint to the extraction zone there is no way to make them follow you. You can issue follow me commands or whatever you want, sometimes they follow sometimes they don't and just stay there and eventually die. I finally got one of them to follow and him and one of my team ran about 200 yards past it for no reason. I spent 10 mins issuing orders before the finally roamed over there so the chopper would land and we could leave.
Another mission you are ordered to infiltrate a fuel depot while another team creates a diversion, guess what. This diversion never happens. Restart restart restart, no diversion ever. So eventually I just sneak in on my own over and over through trial and error to get lucky and complete the objective. Once this is done AGAIN you run to an extraction zone where a helicopter will pick you up. But guess what this time the helicopter never leaves. I restarted the mission and did it several times but guess what. It just sits there. This is just one of tons of glitches with this game, this kind of stuff makes it nearly unplayable, beating the mission is hard enough but having to do it over and over hoping that one time it won't be glitched at the end is unacceptable.
There are many times the scripted parts of the missions don't happen causing you to die or have to restart. The game is extremly hard and replaying each mission 10 times because of a glitch just becomes frustrating and makes playing this game a chore.
One of this games self proclaimed big selling points is the open world gameplay, but guess what, most of the missions your under some sort of time constraint because your either clearing out guys with bazookas so your allied vehicles can move up, or so a chopper can land or some bullcrap, they don't wait until the area is clear, they move in regardless and just get blown up causing you to fail the mission. So whats the point of having an open world if you are forced to sprint to a certain point or you fail, theres no time to explore on most missions.
And all the missions are completly scripted really limiting the number of ways you can complete them. If too many of your allies are killed and your supposed to defend a position at the end of the level tough luck, it cannot be done, forcing you to restart the whole thing and play through by trial and error figuring out how to keep more people and vehicles alive. Why even let you continue to the end, the game makes you fail for everything else but inexplicably allows you to continue to the end only you realize its impossible without more help. Mission 3 for example.
Thers also tons of unnecessary running. You complete the main objectives only to be told to run about a mile away to an extraction zone. But there are no enemies on the way or anything to do BESIDES RUN and it takes forever so whats the point.
CO-OP is also retarded, in single player you get checkpoints, but in Co-op if you all the human players die you have to restart the whole level, why is it different. Really decreases the fun factor. If you haven't played the game before and know exactly what to do then you will be restarting multiple times and it just gets tedious.
Do yourself a favor and don't bother with this game until you hear some major patches have been released because this game has a lot of potential but really needs some work to make it playable. Dont let the good reviews of this game fool you, I can tell most of those people have not played this game as thoroughly as I have. I felt the same way at first, in time they will realize how glitchy this game really is. | video-games_xbox |
UPDATE: 2/6/14 Do not bother with the EASHL! Lag and trolls kill any fun. I have been critical of EA for rehashing this series while giving very minor upgrades from year to year. Last year they added a new skating engine, which changed the dynamic of the game play but wasn't enough to warrant a purchase. This year however, the upgrades are significant and worthy!
I have played over 20 games online and about 50 in single player, checking out the various modes and whatnot, so I have had ample time to witness the minor and significant changes firsthand.
A brief rundown of the pros and cons:
Pros:
Nice graphcial upgrades to crowds, animations, and arenas
New hitting and deke controls are great
Lots of improved modes
New fighting mode is actually fun
Cleaner overall menu and presentation
Crowd AI is superb and react accordingly to the action on ice
The most authentic arenas yet in an NHL game
Cons:
Looks too similar to '13
Still cant take your offline Be A Pro online
EXACT SAME (Annoying!)COMMENTARY
Not enough overall new-ness for some
NHL94 mode is gimmicky and CANNOT BE PLAYED ONLINE!!!!!! (Ridiculous, but its fun if you have a bunch of friends to couch play with)
Regradless of the cons, I still think this is a buy, even at full-price, because of how much fun the changes have made the gameplay. This is easily the best NHL game of the series and it strikes the absolute perfect balance between sim and arcade hockey! You can put it on High Impact play mode and go crazy with the checking and massive slappers or choose Hardcore Sim and play a game that is almost too realisitic. But the default is just right for the kind of game I like. Exciting, fast, and brutal but realisitic at the same time. They really nailed the gameplay here, I cant stress that enough!
All in all, this is a fnatastic package for both newcomers and series vets like myself. I highly recommend this years edition. The series has never been this superb as a whole package. Its very fitting that they have such a legendary player on this years cover, and I have been very critical of EA for the handling of this series. This year is a MUST BUY! And I rarely say that about an EA game. Also of note is that this years gamre WILL NOT see a release on the new X1 or PS4. NHL will debut on those with NHL 15. This is one of the reasons I am waiting til then to get one or the other.
UPDATE: 2/6/2014
After hundreds of games online and off, I must admit that the online experience is very sub-par. Part of it is the horrible community (for the most part) and the gameplay lag issues. EA servers obviously suck, but there are a TON of trolls online that like to ruin the games. I have frequently seen goalies playing out of the net, people scoring on their own net, unresponsive players for entire games, etc, etc, etc, etc. I have seen it all, reported it to EA customer service and through their forums. It has become sickening and I would NOT recommend letting younger kids play this online. Its like the Call of Duty crowd decided they wanted to play NHL this year. Its way worse than the last few years thats for sure.
The technical issues are ridiculous as well. The AI that takes over when someone drops out is absolutely atrocious. Soemtime goalies are supermen, other times computer goalies look pitiful and let anything by. Yuo STILL cannot boot people who are either unresponsive or being trolls. The lag causes serious issues with the animations. The new animation system is dependant on a fast net connection, which I have Time Warner Speed Boost 50 mbps. But even that snt enough when someone your playing with has less. Thats where the servers come in. Find me a good connection with other similar players. There are also a ton of cheap exploits that crop up everyday. It has really gotten unplayable and this is the first time I really am going to trade in ym copy. I am done with EA sports. I have tried to support simply so theyll still make NHL games,but I just cant do it anymore. Too many issues and too many trolls completely ruin the game. | video-games_xbox |
A Hunting Game With Stunning Visuals. There are many Cabela games, and it is fair to say some are real stinkers, while others are exceptionally fun. Big Game Hunter 2010 is one of the better games released by Cabela, but it has some flaws. The visuals are superb, and often stunning, so you will feel like you are the middle of a forest, river, desert, or mountain terrain. Animals look great and move realistically, weapons have a lot of detail, and the sound will also make it feel like you are in the middle of a real hunt. The bulk of the game is focused on being stealthy, quiet, and cautious in effort to move in on the animal and obtain the perfect distance for the perfect one-shot kill. There are some arcade aspects of the main game such as points for distance, organs hit, and so on, but the overall pace and action is slow, like real life, and not fast shooting, like in an arcade shooter. There are mini-quests to satiate those who do seek an arcade experience where you shoot birds, critters, etc., to rack up points in between stalking your main kill, which consist of many types of deer, wild cats, bears, and so on. Overall, it is fun to unlock new weapons and go back to completed missions to try and gain a higher medal ranking. There are about a dozen locations ranging from forests to deserts in various locales such as Argentina, Africa, Finland, Russia, and so on. There are also higher-powered rifles, shotguns, even a crossbow, to unlock and use on missions you have already completed. Overall, I do enjoy loading up the game and going on a mission to get a better score than before by using patience, slow stealth, and quiet movements while enjoying the calmness and reality of nature the game presents. People who live in climates with long winters, such as myself, will enjoy escaping to such beautiful locations during the long winter months. Negatives of the game include an overall feel the game was rushed to be completed. I will note what is here is good, but it feels like if they had more time the game would feel like a complete experience. The overall theme that you are a hunter traveling the world in hopes of gaining membership in an exclusive hunting club is rather minor, if existent at all. Some missions, or stages/levels, only have as few as 4 objectives, including optional arcade mini-games. That is rather jarring when you consider other missions that have more 6, 7, or more, objectives to complete. The last two missions take you to Africa and these missions, while beautiful in visuals, feel the most rushed as there is very little new here to make you feel like you are in Africa. I am stunned there were no crocodiles, giraffes, elephants, zebras, and so on, here. The only new animal was the water buffalo, but these are also introduced in the Argentina levels. Africa yet again has you mainly tracking deer, then ends with a triple wild cat fight. I was expecting, at the very least, a lion fight, or even an elephant fight, rhino, or hippo but all you get is more leopards. This is exactly what I noted earlier that if they had more time the game would easily be 5 stars. There is also a shooting gallery mode where you can choose to only play the mini-games; you get two minutes to complete these games and can obtain combo points for shooting multiple birds in one shot, or multiple birds without reloading. Problem is this shooting gallery mode does not offer much more than a chance to beat your high score... and that is it. Better than nothing but as bare bones as the story is. All that said, the price of the game does factor into my score. If this game were $60 I would be more upset by the above flaws for the price, but I paid under $20 for a new copy of the game and for that price I am satisfied with the content of the game. It could have been more, the game is bare-bones in some aspects, but the main focus was making a game that lets you stalk your prey with great realism and rewards you for taking the extended amount of time needed to move into the perfect position and aim just right for the perfect shot. That does not get old and will be fun even years from now. And when you do get a craving for faster action there is the shooting gallery mode and mini-games in the missions. This game will not appeal to anyone who thinks this is a standard fist-person shooter. You will not be killing 100 deer with a machine gun here. If that is what you are expecting this game is gonna be a 1 star for you. If you want a calmer experience where you enjoy the visuals and sounds of nature while stalking one prey, this game is up your alley. It is not perfect, but still a thumbs up from me. People have to be careful about these types of games because you never know what game is a total dud and which is totally fun. This definitely is in the fun category, at least for a certain type of gamer. | video-games_xbox |
A dissapointly shallow experience. When I bought this game, I was excited. I was always intrigued by the legends and always wanted to play as them in a video game. So when I heard about this game, I certainly made it a goal to get this game. However, I was definitely disappointing in the final product. Even though it isn't a horrible game, it certainly doesn't provide any worthwhile or lasting impact.
The roster features many of the great legends of wrestling such has Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and many more. Also, you are able to import the roster from Smackdown vs Raw 2009 if you own a copy of the game. Your created wrestler from SVR 2009 can also be imported into this game as well, giving you the ability to create some crazy match-ups such as Hulk Hogan vs. Chris Jericho or something like that.
The modes are Relive, Rewrite, Redefine, and Tier Challenge (if i recall correctly). Relive has you repeating certain events in the matches that took place. Rewrite has you play as the historic loser and win with certain conditions in order to "rewrite" history. Redefine gives you the opportunity to play as either wrestler in the match and having you win fulfilling certain conditions. All of these are complete with nostalgic videos that highlight the match-up and the feud leading up the the match which really adds a nice touch to the game.
The graphics are in an action figure style as everyone looks very exaggerated and very over-the-top. The controls take some time to get used to as it is unlike any of the SvR games. In addition, the matches are much less in-depth and much less strategic. There is not much to interact with in the ring, and the wrestling feels over-simplified at best. There are many quick-time events which slow the pacing of the match dramatically. There aren't many match types to choose from and not all of the Wrestlemania arenas are available.
Overall, there's not much to this game that makes it stand out from the rest. The roster is great and the ability to import your created wrestler from SvR 2009 is a great touch, but everything else about the game falls flat. The game is shallow and extremely short. It is also really easy (but a bit of a grind) to get 1000 points and all achievements on the Xbox 360. I somewhat recommend this game to wrestling fans, but for everyone else I'll advise you to pass up on it. | video-games_xbox |
Outstanding overall, really do work on everything. *** Update on 08/31/2016 ***
I won't say exactly why, to spare them a million similar requests, but I contacted LucidSound with a question. It was a multi-platform question that was *not* a complaint. It led to an amazing piece of customer service. I wanted to mention it here on my review, but really don't want to say exactly what was done. I will say that LucidSound really, really cares about customers. Add that to an excellent product and I'd give this six stars if I could.
*** Original review ***
First of all, I'm just an average guy and didn't get a free set to write this review. Second, I can't say anything about the long-term quality of these, and will update my review later. For the time being, this review is for first impressions.
I bought these to replace my faithful Sony pair that sounded excellent and lasted 15 years or more (I honestly can't remember exactly when I bought them, it's been so long). The bracket inside one of the earmuffs basically fell apart. I took advantage of the situation to get a built-in microphone and something of, I hoped, very high quality that will last as well as those Sony's. I was also trying to find something universal instead of having to plug them into the TV's headphone jack, which I had been doing until now (and using the PS4/Xbox One microphone).
First impressions are extremely good for the LS30. The packaging is really very nice, and the headphones themselves feel hewn from solid. Every motion feels tight and designed to high tolerances, and their heft is reassuring. Some might not like the weight, and they are a little heavy, but to me it reinforces the feeling of strong, quality materials. I hope it proves true.
I'm small and these have a very snug fit, with plenty of room inside the cups for my ears. Being wireless, this bodes well since you'll be able to move around without worrying about them constantly sliding off your head. Wherever they touch you feels soft and padded.
They come with the transmitter and all the wires you need to plug them into everything. So far I've tried my PC, phone (a Google Nexus 5X), PS3, PS4, and Xbox One. I'm going to look into getting a 2nd set of optical cable/transmitter so I don't have to swap it around, but haven't looked into it yet.
Set up on my PS4, PS3 and Xbox One were all a breeze. The instruction card is simple, accurate and complete. These really do work on everything, including my phone and PC.
Sound quality is not up to the standards of clarity you get from really expensive audiophile headphones, but is very, very good for something so packed with features - and at this price it's excellent. Directional noises within games are very well separated. Although they make no such claims, these sound like surround sound headphones. Unless you're used to $$$$ headphones, you won't want for sound quality and volume.
The controls are brilliant. Turn the outer band on each cup for sound/chat volume, press the center to mute. The buttons are easy to feel and use. My only complaint is that the microphone is mounted on the left cup, but the button to mute is on the right ear (and the game mute is on the left). So the chat mute is backwards, but that's a small complaint.
I'm am so impressed with these. Excellent sound, a solid, quality feel, packed with features, works on everything!, easy setup and controls. I'm really hoping the quality impression plays out over time, because I'm impressed so far. | video-games_xbox |
One for the History Books. I purchased this Xbox One on August 2014 as a second console of this generation for my household. My first One console still works fine and I originally purchased the console when the first Titanfall was released, which was the main reason I purchased a One. Titanfall is a superb game, but this is a review about the Xbox One, so I will start with some comments on the actual console itself.
The One still works great. I have logged plenty of hours into this bad boy. This is a great way to enjoy video games. I am not going to overly praise the One because there are some faults, nor am I going to bash the Sony console because I know it is also a great console. I have enjoyed this console that has a pretty good selection of games to buy. Or if you have Xbox Live, you almost don't even need to purchase games with all of the free games that are given with the subscription. The Xbox Home, in my opinion, works pretty well. Although I did love the Xbox 360 Dashboard, I still appreciate the way the One's menus are laid out. When the console was purchased, I noticed immediately how much more quiet the One is compared to the 360. I had one Xbox 360 die from the Red Rings of Death, and I am grateful that I have not run into any type of similar problems with the Xbox One.
There have been some problems that I have encountered, which were a few freezes with the console, which most of the time, didn't actually freeze the console but the game that was currently being played. Another issue I have with the console is the fact that I cannot listen to my music in the background of my video games. Not really sure why it was not available considering the Xbox 360 had this functionality. This is not a deal breaker or deserving of a lower star rating though.
Overall, I am very happy with the console and it is a very reasonable price to pay to be able to play some very great video games. | video-games_xbox |
A solid team-based online shooter that could have been so much more. This is a game with excellent graphics and superb characters with lots of uniqueness and personality. But it could have been so much more.
Blizzard obviously put a lot into the lore and story, as they are known to do. My girlfriend and I watched the trailers with wonder and anticipation. Surely a game with such well-made and professionally animated trailers and mini-movies was going to be epic! In this case however, it seems like meaningless fluff. We were both terribly disappointed to learn that there is NO campaign or story mode. No journey through the stories of these incredibly detailed characters. It is just another online death-match game.
For a death-match game, it is extremely well-done. The characters are all well-balanced and have moves and abilities that make them feel truly unique. For someone who is fanatical about online team-based shooters there is a lot of depth to master and strategy to hone. Each character has characters that they are strong against and those they are weak against. You can change characters after a death or by heading back to the spawn, so if you identify a strategy the opposing team is using, you can quickly swap to characters that counter it.
There is no character development beyond cosmetic unlocking of skins and voice lines. This is both good and bad. It means all characters are on equal footing. Nobody who has spent sleepless weeks grinding while you were living a life will have an advantage other than more practice and deeper understanding of the strategies and tactics. You won't die to another player because they spent a weekend unlocking the super FOOZBAM ability and you haven't. This is very good. However, it also means that there isn't much to look forward to, beyond learning all of the various nuances and tactics of each character.
Overwatch is fun and exciting. It is pure adrenaline entertainment. However...and in this case it is a HOWEVER with letters thirty feet tall atop a skyscraper...unless you really enjoy this particular niche of gaming, I feel it will get old quite quickly. This is the case for other games of this type for me. For me I will struggle to get $60 worth of entertainment from this title. I doubt I'll be playing it for long...there's just not enough content to be mined here.
The lore and development could have been the basis for an incredibly compelling campaign mode along with the PvP game, but in this case, without this it just falls short. | video-games_xbox |
Suprisingly addictive. I have had limited experience with the Burnout series. The only time I've even played a Burnout game was with a free Demo of Burn out Revenge. With the abundance of average and downright bad racing games out there, I didn't expect much of the demo, but I actually found it quite entertaining and fun. Usually I expect some sort of realism in racing games, but Burnout Revenge was the exception, after a while I found myself playing the demo more than the game that the demo was included on. As much fun as I had with the Burnout Revenge demo, I never got around to getting the full game. Then after awhile, I forgot about it all together.
A few years later I got the opportunity to get a copy of Burnout Paradise City. I was expecting more of the same as compared to Burnout revenge, and for the most part it is still the same type of game, but there are a few disappointments.
First off there is no "Crash Breaker" in Paradise. I seem to recall in the Revenge Demo, I would sometime be able to break out of a crash by a perfectly timed button press; however this feature is no longer available. Why it was taken out is beyond me, I suppose they wanted the game to be more "realistic". Secondly there is no after touch either which was also in Revenge. When you crash in Paradise the computer takes over and you are no longer in control.
Another disappointment is the extremely cumbersome and confusing menus. Whoever designed the menus needs a class in user interface design. When someone is playing a game for the first time or the first time in quite a while, the last thing they want to deal with is confusing menus making the game needlessly more frustrating; when all they want to do is to figure out how to do something. A menu design should be a simple as pressing Start or Select and scrolling down to what you want to do, it does not require much more than that and I wish game companies would realize that most of us don't care about how "cool" the menu system is. They need to stop trying so hard and get back to the basics.
Despite the negatives, Burnout Paradise is still a fun game to play. I was so turned off by the menu system, that I didn't play it again for a couple of days, but I came back to it after letting my son play it for about 20 minutes. He seemed to really enjoy it and after playing it for the second time I started to enjoy it as well.
The graphics are very well done, the first thing I thought about when I played this game on my main TV in the living room were the racing games we see in video arcades. The graphics are that good. The city that you drive in looks downright real; better than PGR3. The gas stations and repair shops all over the city are also authentic looking and the gas stations in the game even have today's inflated prices. In addition the cars YOU drive are also quite convincing in the realism department. While they are not actual licensed cars, they are still designed very well and the damage they sustain is realistic. The only area in graphics that could use improvement are the NPC cars.
The audio is also great. From the engine sounds to the sounds of screeching tires and the inevitable crashes, add a great deal of excitement to the game. Additionally, if you drive on the wrong side of the road or about to hit a passing car head on, you will hear the cars honk at you. For best results it's good to have the volume cranked up to get the best effect.
Presentation is a big part of all games and that alone determines if a game is good or bad; at least in my book. For the most part Paradise delivers. This game's presentation is quite similar to Need For Speed : Underground in which you are given free roam of the city with no blocked off areas or linear routes in actual racing. If you want to drive off a cliff, you can. In addition not only do you have to contend with traffic while you are cruising you also have to deal with them during actual events. So not only do you have to worry about beating your opponents, you also have to worry about weaving through slow traffic. Unlike PGR3, your computer controlled opponents WILL crash and are not "unwreckable". In fact one of the points of the game is to wreck your opponents.
Another fun thing about the game is that you are free to race whenever YOU want to; both during free roam as well as actual races. Similar to GTA if you just want to drive around the city wrecking other cars and doing stunts all day you can. But when you do decide to race, there are over 100 "events" you can compete in all over the city and in categories such as "Street Race", "Marked Man", "Stunt Run", and "Road Rage". All events are fun, but some are understandably more difficult than others. The presentation is done well enough to keep me interested for a while. However on a side note, I never knew cars could drive themselves. There are no drivers in your and any of the other cars in Paradise so that is pretty lame, but if you can look past that you still should be able to have fun playing.
By no means can this game be considered realistic by any stretch of the imagination. Things are way too easy to do like pressing X will allow you to perform a perfect E-brake turn every single time, and not even in PGR3 can I make a sharp turn at 120 MPH without crashing. But the important thing is that this game is fun to play for me. In the long run I do see it getting a little repetitive, but for now it keeps my son and me entertained. | video-games_xbox |
Great Game -- Would Definitely Recommend. I hadn't played a Tomb Raider game in quite a while so I thought I would give this game a shot and so far I have not been disappointed, I would say I'm about 3/4th of the way through the game and have had a lot of fun. The game starts out difficult at first but as you play longer and buy more upgrades Lara's skills increase netting you better ways to kill your enemies with more rewards, also the game rewards your exploration with more experience and salvage to upgrade your weapons also making Lara more deadlier in combat. I won't spoil too much but there are plenty of hidden treasures to find and optional tombs that you can do where you usually have to solve a puzzle to claim the treasure in the tomb which is a map that will show you all the hidden relics in an area so not only does your combat skills get work but so does your mind kind of The Legend of Zelda. I must warn though that the game is not for the faint of heart or your children as it can get pretty graphic and Lara get's hurt pretty badly at times, I found myself getting impaled on a tree branch while parachuting and also getting impaled on a metal beam while getting washed down a raging stream. The graphics and sound are great and really add to the fun game play where one element reminds me of Batman Arkham City as Lara get's scarred up and her clothes get damaged as the game progresses. I won't say too much more but if you like Action/Adventure games that give RPG elements like growing stronger as you progress you'll like this game, it also has a lot of fun climbing parts like the famous Uncharted series that I really enjoyed playing. The game also doesn't punish you very bad for dying as it constantly auto-saves and you won't lose experience or anything you've found since the last auto save which is nice for me as I'm big on not losing 30 minutes of hard work for a simple mistake. Overall I hope this very unorganized review helps shed some light on the game for some people. ^_^ I decided to give the game 5 stars as I've really enjoyed playing it and I'm sure I'll play through it again after I finish to enjoy it again. | video-games_xbox |
Gamer Review. I have been playing video games since the days of the original Nintendo, and Multiplayer games since Call Of Duty Modern Warfare. I hope to provide good insight on this game so that you can decide if this is for you.
The Deluxe Edition just isn't worth the extra $10. For Han Solo's Blaster, a couple of crapy grenades, and access to a map- no, not worth it. You unlock all that stuff as you rank up anyway.
As for the game in general, I find it disappointing. Though the graphics are the BEST i've seen in a video game, the multiplayer does not live up to it's potential. Here's why:
There are only 2 choices at the main menu- Multiplayer or Missions. There is NO Campaign. I almost feel bad for the people who bought this game who just want to experience it because it's Star Wars, and that's because they simply just get wrecked by gamers who've been playing first-person shooters and multiplayer games for years. If you're just a fan of Star Wars and think it'll be fun, it just might not be if you're going to get killed all of the time. It's fast-paced action that doesn't exactly allow you to look around at the beauty of the Star Wars Planets.
The game offers about 10 different game modes with several maps in which to play them on. Also, depending on the Mode, each have certain maps that are exclusive to each. For example, bigger battle modes that play 20 on 20, like Walker Assault, are going to be played on huge maps like Hoth, where as a 10 on 10 for Dropzone will only be played on smaller maps.
A nice feature (that i hope catches on with other multiplayer games) is you are given 2 Spawning choices. One to Spawn near a partner (who is probably right in the middle of the battle), or two, to Spawn outside of the Battle. This provides a long awaited relief to Spawning issues in other games that were allowing spawn-killing and spawning in front of the enemy.
The game is also different than the Beta test that was released in October. I remember absolutely wrecking other players and having fun.
So, here are my biggest problems with the full game(in no particular order):
1. Camping.
Players just still find a way to ruin how a multiplayer game is supposed to be played. There are objectives in each mode that you need to do in order to WIN the game. People in this game seem to afraid to move because they don't want to chance getting killed, and that doesn't get the job done. There's very few other frustrating moments than trying to get somewhere and get shot in the back by some geek waiting all game behind a rock. This is player at the bottom of the post-game score board who went 6 kills- 1 death, whiling helping his team lose the game.
2. Player Health.
This is probably my biggest peeve in the game. Guys just DON'T go down. More often than not, you'll find yourself in a gun battle, out in the open. The problem is that somehow, no matter how many times you shoot the guy, you'll be the one to die, unless you really start using a different strategy. So far, it looks like Battlefront has gone backwards in the way of unlocking more powerful weapons as you rank up, which is severely unfair. Also, for whatever reason, myself and friends have noticed that while shooting an enemy, your Hit Marker will suddenly stop, even though your Reticle is directly on the enemy. Go figure that one!
3. Imperial Vs. Rebels
I'm going to say it- the imperials have the upper hand in every game mode and map. If you're playing Walker Assault on Hoth, back out of the game immediately! They have all of the famous vehicles that will destroy your team, their white armor blends right in as camo with the snow, and they seemingly take more damage than the Rebel forces.
4. Grenade Fest
When you rank up to about a 10, you're given the opportunity to make a second Hand Card. This Hand Card is your special weapon/grenade. Somehow, EA decided that it would be fair to let players arm themselves with 2 high powered grenades rather than one grenade and one secondary weapon only. The game will only get worse soon, as far as this is concerned, unless they put a patch in to disallow this power.
5. Content
Already mentioned that there's no Campaign. This leads me to believe that the multiplayer game modes will get boring sooner than later. Also, there are 3 game modes that basically have the same exact objectives. They've only tweeked them. Some game modes offer more camping than other. This leads to an incredible amount of Snipers and an impossibility of getting to the objective. In order to keep MY interest, there needs to be more. I know that they have 4 DLC's coming out for the game but i don't see them putting in Hardcore modes or something original for a game mode.
6. Getting Stuck
Try getting in to a gun battle with an enemy and suddenly get stuck on the root of a tree. Yeah, that's awesome. And there can be a LOT of trees.
7. Where the heck is Chewbacca?!?!
That's right, no Chewy! Not sure why.
8. Where the heck is Yoda?!?!
See above.
9. Needs to be some kind of Anti-Hero weapon.
Yes, they can still be taken down but not before they slaughter everyone on the team first. This is personal preference but i'd like to see a timely, nicely played anti-hero weapon that can only be used when a Hero is in the game.
What I like about the Game:
-Guns. Had hoped there'd be more than what they Beta had, and they did deliver.
-Unlocks. Weapons, Jetpacks, Nades, and Customizable Characters in which you create your own person to play as. They also offer some classic characters that you can purchase with points as you rank up. Neat! Only weird issue is that they didn't pay enough attention to styles of race. You'll find that Black and Asian characters only have an option to have a "white guy hair style" i.e. slicked-back hair. Thought that was really strange.
-Hero's. You can play as Luke, Han, Leia, Darth, Boba, and Emperor. However there's a catch. This only happens in either big-map game modes or Hero based game modes. If you prefer playing modes like Dropzone or Droid Run, don't expect to be running around with a light saber.
-Thermal Detonator. One of a kind explosive grenade that is just really awesome to hear and watch go off.
-GRAPHICS! Absolutely the most beautiful game I've ever seen. It's obvious where there concentration was when making the game and it paid off.
-Piloting classic Vehicles. Everything from the AT-AT's to Speed Bikes. Very fun.
-Purchasing System. The points earned seem fair to what you can unlock when ranking up. This goes for everything-guns and characters.
All-in-all, it's not a bad game. It's just really UNBALANCED right now. I hope that they put a patch in that fixes all of these issues but of course that never happens because everyone is different. What I like might be different than what you like.
This review is based on how i feel personally and is only for you to get an idea of what its contents arewhich is not enough!
Thanks for reading! If you liked this review, you may like my other ones on various products helpful as well. Just click on my name, CodeRed, and give me a follow. Thanks again! | video-games_xbox |
The Beginning of A New RPG Era. The success of any greatness is based upon trial and error. That's why I'm not so quick to slap a one or two star review on a game deserving of so much more. Fable is a must have title for any XBox anthology. Even with the game's shortcomings, it's still one of the best RPGs to date. Fable was designed as a pilot game, and the outcome was a well crafted adventure that offered something fresh and new for RPG enthusiast. Nintendo's Zelda series was the pioneer of the RPG realm as we know it today, and is still very much alive and kicking. SquareSoft's Final Fantasy series, while on the decline of late, still invigorated the world of role playing in video games. Now, in today's ravenous world of RPG gaming, a new hero emerges from the abyss. Enter ~ Fable.
Peter Molyneux and the creators behind Fable did spill the beans about this game long before it was finalized. Those who followed the creation of Fable from day one are the ones who fell victim to this game's lack of "enhancements". When Fable finally hit the shelves, people took sharp notice to the many missing game-play elements once described in the press about this up and coming role playing adventure of a lifetime. This is likely the cause for many negative reviews. The other aspects (and ones I concur with most) is the fact the game is just too damn short and easy. There's only about 20 - 25 hours worth of good solid game-play, when it needed to be 35 - 40 hours. Yes, the game was short. And no, you can't urinate on your enemies after you slay them or have a sick and twisted sexual fantasy with Thunder and your sister in Lynchfield Graveyard, but people let us be real here, it is a damn good game.
When playing Fable, one should think quality, not quantity. The graphics are genius. Superb sound effects and genuine RPG tunes can be found throughout the entire journey of your hero or villain. The voiceovers are sweet. You pick the title of your character. You become the personality of your hero. The hero is you! You are the hero! That's what makes Fable so special. You shape the path of your character. You can alter the appearance of your character also, which keeps the game fresh from beginning to end. You're not going to get as many hours on Fable as you would Morrowind, but the Fable experience will pay for itself time and time again. I've only played as a "hero" thus far, but I'm about to embark on the "villain" quest. The game is detailed extravagantly (in a good way) and you really get the feeling you've died and found yourself in RPG heaven.
The bottom line is this; you pay $45 - $50 for a game that is far superior than most games in the market that cost that, so why is everyone claiming "rent it first". This game will pay for itself. Even if you feel it's too short, you can play this game time and time again. Each new game is a new character, adventure and experience. The interaction between yourself and other characters provide a feeling you're right there in the game. Fable is a new blood of the RPG industry. It has been heavy successful in the open market. You can't find it in some stores. For every fan who was disappointed in the game, you'll find ten others who'll give it acclamation. Fable 2 will be the true test to becoming a franchise title. I'm beyond satisfied with my 25 hours of game-play, because those 25 hours of game-play was some of the best I've had in years. | video-games_xbox |
Astro A40 sound and confort worth checking out. For Those considering this headset, I definitely recommend it. I'm just an average user, not a gizmo wizard, or audiophile and I do enjoy playing war type games on the ps3, and watching movies late at night, for me I don't have use of the mic since I don't play games online the only time I use it is for an occasional skype chat with family outside the USA and they have never complaint of distorted or sound problems. If your an professional gamer well you know alot more than me I'm just adding my two cents and it's just my opinion take it with a grain of salt. I have been looking for a headset to play games and also to be able to watch tv late at night since my toddler at times decides to invade my bed and I don't want the noise to wake her up. The reason I went with the A40 was first because a large retailer actually price match the headset at the last listed price of $146.00, I was thinking worse case scenario I'll return them, they are incredible, I have never gotten the full sound effects from the games before until now, this things are beasts, also asides from that, I bought the wireless headphones from sony thinking I couldn't use this A40s to watch tv, well for those like me that don't know, if you have a optical sound output on your tv "which I just found out my tv had" the A40 will work beautifully, the sonys were absolutely terrible returned them the next day... The ear cups wrap around your ears and if you wear glasses like I do they don't even bother me unlike my Monster Diesel VEKTR which I love for the amazing sound but they're tight n I have to adjust my glasses every so often, the A40s are just amazing. I'm considering the A50s next since they're wireless, if I had to complaint about the A40s the only thing is all the wires but to me thats not a deal killer at all, that's why as soon as there's a good price here on amazon that the large retailer will match I will be getting the A50s strictly for skype and watching movies, don't hate haters. If you are willing to spend the time researching and reading all the positives and the negatives I say do it inform and educate yourself since they're not cheap but if you have money to burn well then good for you, don't just go by what people write and the reviews on youtube, if you have the money, buy them try them out worse case scenario you can return them and get your money back and go from there. As I always say, this strictly my opinion and if your a sound engineer or music, or game producer then you know more than me, I'm just the average joe wanting to maybe help out another average joe, so take it with a grain of salt. . Good luck in your search. Oh btw mine are the black ones, they were cheaper. | video-games_xbox |
Save one of the best for last. After the Prince of Persia trilogy ended with the well-received "Two Thrones", many wanted a return to the puzzle platforming of our favorite wall-runner but since the story was pretty much wrapped, where would Ubisoft take the series? Redo favorite "Sands of Time" but in more HD graphics and slight changes or go in a new direction? Well not only is it a new direction but it's also a new character with a different art style to boot. While reaction wasn't as massive as "Wind Waker"'s unveiling, many were wondering how this new one would handle and I have to admit, it works beautifully. Sure it's got the always-present platforming woes of mistimed jumps and a "flaw" found in its difficulty, but honestly this was a world I wanted to stay in as long as possible and I haven't done that in a long time.
Story: No longer are we a proud son of royalty but rather a drifter/thief looking for his donkey (amusingly named Farah) who has a nice collection of treasures on her. The Prince is caught in a sandstorm and runs into Elika, part of the Ahura clan, an ancient tribe whose role it is is to keep the God of Darkness Ahriman imprisoned with the Tree of Life. But when Elika's father destroys the Tree, Ahriman is unleashed and fills the world with corruption and brings strong warriors who guard "Fertile Grounds" which can restore the land to normal with Elika's help. With Elika's special abilities and the Prince's acrobatic and skills with the blade, we'll travel through beautiful locales and bring the land to its former glory and destroy Ahriman.
Since the story doesn't have any ties to the Sands of Time trilogy, it's best to plunge into this expecting a new story and characters rather than hope this is a part IV, let's say. But keeping that in mind, Elika is one of the best videogame females around and the story is great to go through and not deep (though these games usually aren't), I get immersed into the story easily and the history. Cutscenes and dialogue between the 2 is controlled by the Left trigger buttons where you'll get either hints for the puzzles, Elika and the Prince's past and thinking or history of each individual world. While it's purely optional, it further enriches the world though not having to keep pressing the button could've been nice.
Graphics: Using the engine that powered "Assassin's Creed", Ubisoft chose to present a more colorful and painter-ly quality to the visuals and the results are stunning. The colors, the art design, the fluidity of the animations and the worlds, both corrupted and healed, are quite a sight. Like "Okami" for the Playstation 2, this game is poetry in motion. One slight knock is that occasional the game will freeze; not reset-freeze but it'll temporarily stop for a few seconds then keep going and I'm not sure if everyone will experience this but I did find it from time to time.
Sound/Music: Yes there is no heavy metal riffs and we once again find ourselves surrounding by lush, orchestral music with Middle Eastern influences and it's lovely. The music always maintains a sense of wonder and whimsy and it helps add to the adventuring and exploration. Voice acting is provided by Nolan North who also did Nathan Drake from "Uncharted" and while the emphasis on widecracks and absense of Yuri Lowenthal is lamentable, he grew on me over the course of the game. Kari Wahlgren (Ashe from "Final Fantasy XII") however is fantastic and her voice makes a strong character that much better.
Gameplay: The game follows the platforming acrobatics of the original trilogy and adds some new moves such as grabbing onto rings suspended on ceilings and walls, using your gauntlet (that claw-like mitt on the cover) to slowly repel down a wall and the big change which is the form of a double-jump like maneuver where the screen will drop in color which is a clue to use Elika to launch yourself further and while occasionally I couldn't tell when the button was needed, there's moments where you do so much moves in one go that it's kind of exhilarating to do so much moves in one go. This of course means trial-and-error gameplay, right? Sure except you can't die. Ever. Should you look like you're going to fall to your doom, hit Corrupted areas or miss a button during combat, Elika will jump in and pull you out in time. Does it make it easy? Well yeah but on the other hand, with a game so dependent on speed and momentum, this is what "Mirror's Edge" tried to do but failed at: fun with no stops. Sure you return to the last time you touched ground but there's no annoying "you died" or "now loading" screens and it's one of those games where you can just GO everytime you play.
Whereas combat in the original trilogy was typically you against a dozen or so, here it's just one-on-two with Elika being your combat buddy. Basically there's 4 moves: X is sword, Y is Elika attack, A is acrobatics (jump basically) while B is gauntlet which launches enemies into mid-air while Right Trigger is your block with timed blocks allowing counterattacks. Instead of random button mashing, here it's about rhythm and chaining together moves to get the upper hand. Occasionally a quicktime event will pop up which will either save you from redoing the battle over or a button masher where you press a button repeatedly. It's a fun system though the mashing sequences require faster-than-expected presses and even occassionally it'll ask to press a button (say for example Y) and I press it in time yet it reds out indicating I missed it and I go "uh but I pressed it". A handy combo list in the menu gives some help and tactics and there's quite a few to learn and even an achievement/trophy for finding them all but it is pretty simple.
After battle over the "Fertile Grounds", Elika's heals the world and returns it to his past majesty and here's where the collecting starts. Scattered in each area are "light seeds" and no joke, there's 1001 of these suckers and for achievement/trophy seekers well...have fun. However, you don't have to get all of them to progress and getting a certain amount will give Elika access to special plates scattered in levels which either rocket you over to a next one or a wall-scaling game where you have to dodge ledges and obstacles to get to the top. Since the game takes on a more hub-based structure rather than just pushing forward, there's some backtracking but it's fun to return to that one high ledge you couldn't get to previously.
Does it have flaws? Sure with the mistimed jumps and one move instead of something else, the apparently problematic lack of difficulty (as opposed to frustration as an alternative) and the weight of the "Sands of Time" as a comparison, "Prince of Persia" will either be one of the better gaming experiences all year, a disappoint or somewhere in the middle. Personally, I'd be more than welcome to see a sequel one day. | video-games_xbox |
Boring Action/Adventure (not RPG. I knew minutes into the demo for this game that it was bound to be terrible, boring, and watered-down. My wife, however, in desperation to play an RPG (note the lack of RPGs out there right now), bought it and proceeded to play. Eventually, with nothing else to do, I tried playing, with the hope that the demo hadn't properly represented the game. It does. Very well. The move to hack'n'slash is irritating and leaves me more annoyed than entertained. This is especially true since the fights are boring and simply time-consuming. At least in Origins, you could target and sit back, waiting to tactically use your special abilities. The lack of any character choice is ridiculous. Warrior, Rogue, Mage. Male/Female. Combined with the mashing combat, it reminds me of playing Gauntlet Legends years ago (Food is good!). But at least in Gauntlet you got to pick yellow, red, blue, green mage/warrior/rogue. The combat is boring and the game isn't any fun to play. The maps are narrow and simple, practically 2D. Combined with the button-mashing, it reminds me of Street Fighter, except that the special attacks are easier to do than Sonic Boom. And that is just the beginning.
I could never call this an RPG. An action/adventure, but not an RPG. I've played RPGs from Wizardry I to Fallout: New Vegas and this definitely isn't one. The level up is basic and the skill tree is so linear that you never feel like you're actually picking skills, just choosing preselected ones. In Example: skill tree 1 has 6 skills. A, B, C and so forth. A and B are opposites and can't be used together. Possibly both are available to start, but more likely you can pick A at level 2, B at level 3. C requires A, but more importantly it requires you to be level 4. Level 2 A, Level 3 B, Level 4 C. You don't feel any choice in the matter. Sure, you could pick skills from different trees, but why pick several basic skills when you could level your character's specialties. Also, your character's story is even more set in place than Origins. It never feels like your own character, just the character you're playing as.
To the simplification of the game...The trend now is to simplify RPGs to invite other gamers to buy the games. A stupid idea. What FPS gamer is going to suddenly buy an 'RPG' just because it has been dumbed down? The more complex the RPG, the better. That is how RPGs work. Complex story, development, even rules. D&D hasn't survived for so long for nothing. Bioware has gone down the drain faster than Bethesda did. They probably should have just kept paying Wizards of the Coast for rights to Forgotten Realms and kept up with D&D based games. How could you pick Dragon Age over Baldur's Gate? At least Bethesda kept Oblivion playable. It was empty and devoid of anything particularly great, but somewhat fun to play. DA: Origins was a mediocre RPG with boring gameplay and mildly interesting character and plot. DA II isn't even that! It's not even an RPG.
There are other complaints like the extreme buginess and choppy gameplay. But all you really need to know, is that it isn't fun to play. Not even as an action game. | video-games_xbox |
Solid machine. This is a fun console but since everyone knows what it does here is what I don't like about it:
1. There is a battery monitor icon but you cannot see it while playing games and there is no flashing on the xb1 controller like the 360 had. It just dies. Sometimes this happens and the batteries are not dead (annoying) but with the new controller update I have not seen this again so maybe this is fixed. BUT when it does run out of batteries during a game there is NO warning so you just deal with it...
2. For some reason every couple of days I cannot sign into XB Live unless I 'hard' restart the xb1 (hold the xbox 1 symbol on the console for like 5 sec until it turns off) then turn it back on and wait for it to reboot. Not sure what is up with this but you shouldnt have to do this with a $500 game console.
3. Sometimes once I start a game (titanfall) I cannot access my friends while in the game I have to go to the home screen, go to the friends list, invite a friend then go back to the game. The good thing is this console allows the game to keep running even when you are at the home screen but you still should not have to do this. This doesnt happen all the time just another annoying factor.
4. The headset HAS to be connected to the controller for you to hear anything. I have an old turtle beach set with an adapter but on the 360 I could watch a movie without the controller on. This is not the case on a xb1. Controller has to stay on and the headset has to have the stupid little wire connected to it. DUMB! Now I understand that the new headsets do not have batteries (they run off the controller) but for those of us that still need batteries in the headset it should not have to be connected but I guess I will deal with it.
5. Like I said before I have an older turtle beach head set and I get random crackling noise while gaming. The sound will vary too with the game sound randomly getting higher and lower. I am assuming this is because I am too cheap to upgrade to a new head set since my old one still functions but this is annoying.
The good:
Free shipping, tax free, free titanfall - cant beat any of that
Graphics= AMAZING
Easy to use
Kinect auto sign in is a nice feature
TV through the systems is awesome
Bottom line:
IF I had to do it over again I would have waited on buying it. Good deal as I stated above but since Titanfall came out on 360 there is no real reason to have this console other than just to have the newest 'toy'. It is overall a good system and a lot of fun. | video-games_xbox |
3.5 but could be a new hopeful for FPS. This will be a review on both the single player campaign and on the multiplayer.
Campaign:
I thoroughly enjoyed the single player campaign. It's a fresh perspective on the FPS. Instead of going into foreign countries and the same old same old, you get a look at the idea of a war in suburban America.
The game let's you take control of Jacobs a former pilot who has lost everything since the occupation. You are attempted to be forcibly drafted by the GKR to "help your country." You are then "rescued" by "The Resistance" which consists of Americans attempting to overthrow the occupation and help the weakened and scattered U.S. military.
This is just the first mission of the campaign and without going into too much detail (or spoilers), I'll just say the campaign gets more and more interesting. I have to say that my only real problem with the campaign is that it is entirely too short. A seasoned FPS fan can push through this campaign in 3-4 hours with a newbie pushing through it in about 4-5 hours.
But don't fret about this your good News Team member has it heard it through the grapevine that this is not the end of the campaign. Rumor mills are already turning that THQ has plans to release DLC that will continue where the campaign ends.
Even with the short campaign we'll get into what most people out there buy FPS for anyway, the multiplayer.
Multiplayer:
Homefront's multiplayer experience is a bit of a Frankenstein. The MPE captures a nice mixture of the original Modern Warfare mixed with the Battlefield BC (and 2) multiplayer. Players are able to use vehicles ranging from remote controlled drones all the way up to tanks and quite a bit in between.
The game currently does not boast a wide variety of game types, but the game types are extremely fun and addicting. Deathmatch is featured as it has become a staple in the FPS world. Ground Control is a variation of the COD series' Domination. Skirmish is a smaller player based version and a grab bag of these two game types. Bringing a new twist to these game types (which players can experience at level 7) is the fresh perspective of Battalion Commander. In Battalion Commander (which has a version of Deathmatch and Ground Control) players become High Value Targets for killstreaks against the opposing team. The HVT's range from a single skull (for killing 2-3 enemies without dying) all the way up to five skulls (for being in beast mode and slaughtering the opposing team). Both the HVT and the player that takes the HVT down are awarded extra battle points, which brings me to my next topic.
The Battle Point System
Homefront introduces a well welcomed system (to this player) which it dubs the Battle Point System. Players are awarded BP's for getting kills, destroying vehicles, death streaks, and basically for being awesome. These points serve as a replacement to the killstreak system used by the COD series. When a player earns enough BP's they may call in a personal UAV, send out a war drone (controlled by the player), or they may just call in their own Hellfire Missiles (think Patriot Missile x2). Maybe there's been an enemy tank hanging around for a little too long, then a player could spend their BP's to equip an RPG to take out the tank.
This game isn't perfect and there are plenty of tweaks the Dev's could make. But, this game is fun and enough of a different type of game that it could definitely put THQ into the FPS game, if they fix their mistakes. Homefront is definitely a game you should at least try. If you don't feel like dropping the funds give it a rent and try it out. Overall at this point I'd give Homefront a 7 out of 10. | video-games_xbox |
Not horrible, but nowhere near as good as I was expecting. When I first found out about this game, I watched the trailers and thought "woah! this game looks totally awesome!" I was expecting this awesome ninja-looting, hidden predator type of game. I was quite let down upon actually playing. While the game is not horrible, it really is somewhat boring. Literally all you do is steal pieces of junk like candlestick holders, forks, and teacups and this is supposed to represent money (um... ok?). Play through the campaign, which is difficult to get your bearings at first and figure out where you are and how to get to where you need or want to go, and open million of drawers, closets, and chests and steal these type of trinkets. There are also other objects that are "collectibles" such as masks and necklaces, which are more difficult to find. That is the point of the game.
My main gripes with the game come in the form of it being COMPLETELY stealth-based. I am all for sneaking around, and being stealthy, but after about an hour of purposely avoiding any sort of combat and crouching, moving slowly, and staying in the dark corners of the map, it gets exceedingly dull. That also leads me to another problem with the game... it is WAAAAAAAY too dark. I know you can adjust the brightness and all, but the game is far to dark - like, to the point of it being difficult to see where you are and where you are going. But my biggest problem with the game? combat. While, yes, the point of this game is to be stealthy, and not be seen, if you ARE seen or heard and find yourself stuck with nowhere to run or hide, you might as well just quit and reload, as the combat in this game is not even fair. How not far you ask? Your only weapon is a club which takes a good 5-7 hits to actually knock someone down, only to make you then stand over them and hold the button to actually kill them. Meanwhile, you are being pelted with crossbow bolts and slashed at with swords. Not fair. They should have at least given you an option of using a dagger or something in life-or-death situations. It simply is not balanced.
If you think that hiding for the entire game, staying in dark shadows, moving slowly so you are not heard, and waiting out enemies until they move from their position will not get boring, I encourage you to get the game only to realize how wrong you are. It is fun for a mission or two, but become monotonous very quickly and is the exact same thing over and over and over again. There are some puzzles you need to solve throughout the game as well, and many of these are difficult to figure out and very frustrating. Not at all the game it was hyped up to be, but a very boring, monotonous one. | video-games_xbox |
Burnout 3 Madness. I can remember playing burnout 2 with a couple of friends and saying "hey, wouldn't it be cool if those logs flew off the truck when it crashed? And it was even faster? Or what if there were explosions!?"...
A couple of years later and logs being turned into barrels, dreams have come true!
Hmmm, where to start? After months and months of downloading and drooling over every pic and preview video of burnout3 I could find, there was a woozy feeling in my stomach when I learned there was no release date for the Gamecube. Lighting candles and meditative prayer didn't work so... I bought an Xbox. Yes that's right, I actually bought the whole console so that I wouldn't be left out of the fun *hangs head in shame*... Yes of course I could play Halo and watch DVD's etc etc blah blah blah. But I bought it so I could play burnout 3 and I haven't looked back since.
First thoughts: It's different, better, but worse at the same time. Like buying a new pair of shoes. The graphics were nice, and the cars were fast, very fast...no, you don't understand, I'm talking warp-speed, time travel type fast. But, after playing burnout 2 for more hours than I've had hot meals I felt disappointed.
Gone were the days of crashing for little or no apparent reason. No longer did you need to hone yours skills to micrometric and nanosecond perfection. You could also throw relationship-ending hours of practice out of the window. The game was too easy! At points where hitting a corner (inside or outside) in burnout 2 would have caused a game-losing crash, burnout 3 seems to say "ahhh that's ok, keep going!" At points I felt myself actually trying to crash just so that I knew it could still be done.
That is, before I played a bit more, and the levels got harder, and the cars even faster, and opponents more sinister. That's when the velvet glove came off and the iron palm wrapped its cold fingers around me - I was hooked!
*sweating late hours into the night...shaking the control pad as if to inflict some pain and trauma back into the game... screaming "WHY!? WHY!?" at the TV maniacally... scaring my lil sister with red, glaring eyes... Shouting curses that would have made the kids in south park blush. I couldn't stop playing. It's awesome, no, what's a better word for awesome? It's that! The speed, the drifting, the never-ending laps, the shunts, bumps and crashes. It's a joy to play for anyone who loves speed and action and mayhem.
But now, for the downside.
Where has the pursuit mode gone? And why can't you mix cars from different classes? Why can't we configure the control pad ourselves? No horn!? Half the fun of Bo2 was driving down the wrong side of the road blasting your horn! Lol. Why no night-time, or wet, or snowy conditions? Why only a choice of 3 colours of a car? (when you do get a choice) Why is that announcer so annoying? (Trust me and turn him off) Why dumb down the skill level? What the [four letter word] happened to the music? Come on now, are you really trying to tell me that everyone who likes this kind of game likes that kind of music? Every thought about maybe some hip-hop, drum & bass, House, soul, garage, dancehall or even bhangra? Oh well, at least you can use your own soundtrack.
Moan over here are some of the improvements over burnout 2;
More racers in a game. Explosions will always make you smile! Signature takedowns. Way more courses. Loads more cars. F1 cars! *evil grin* Better A.I.
And here's what we want from burnout 4:
Yes, you guessed it...It has to be even faster (yes I am mad)
More cars. The ability to do stunts! You know, taking steep corners on 2 wheels, driving under trailers if you've got a low enough car, that sort of thing. Dangerous shortcuts. Car customisation (need for speed style). The ability to create you own track/race/tournament. Most importantly - destructible scenery. Can you imagine it?; Crashing on a barrier, steering your car into a tree/lamppost, said tree breaking at point of impact and falling into the road right on top of an opponent? Mmmm... Or taking out fences, shop fronts, walls etc. I mean how many times have you been bounced about by signs when you should have ripped it to shreds? How about scenery damage that lasts the whole race (yes, ok except trees blocking the entire road) Now there's a game that would be worth stepping over your sick mother for! One last thing - please bring it to Nintendo! *puss in boots eyes*
Overall - is it worth buying? Yes. Is it worth buying an Xbox for? Yes. Why are you still sitting there!? | video-games_xbox |
DSS2 = Necessity. This right here is probably one of the best purchases I've ever made. Though I have not bought one of these from Amazon yet seeing as the ones I originally purchased still work like they did the day I got them (They're roughly 2 years old now). This thing makes such an amazing difference, especially if you use headsets more than actual speaker systems, the day after I bought the first one I went and bought two more just so I could have one for my PC and my console's.
The DSS2 Processor makes every pair of headphones I've hooked to them so clear and powerful enough to vibrate your eyes. I've tried this thing with JLab J5 Earbuds, TurtleBeach X12/Z11/PX21/PX22, SteelSeries SiberiaV2's and 5HV3's, aswell as many Razer, Logitech, and Tritton headsets and MANY more. The Processor always blows me away with the difference from the "stock" sound to what they sound like with the DSS2. I can almost promise that you won't regret investing in one if not more of these for your headphone enjoyment, granted this isn't "portable", it does require a USB for power and a Optical Output so the most portability you will get is with a laptop but even still it's small enough to blend in with your gaming set up and/or computer desk. Take you some doublesided mounting tape and stick the DSS2 to the side of your computer tower or console and it's smooth sailing from there on out, I have one for my PC, Xbox, and Playstation.
The set up is plug and play, take it out of the box, it comes with the USB cord needed and a optical line. Make sure you go into your Playback Devices (Right click on the speaker icon in the bottom right corner of your screen) and change it to S/PDIF and boom, be prepared to have your dreams forever filled with thundering bass and crisp clarity. Tinker with the Surround option which includes speaker angles, fool with the EQ to find your perfect mix and begin pwning face of thy enemies or melt away in your collection of music. It does take a little bit of time to memorize the settings because there is 9 different EQ's, and almost as many speaker angles, and each angle setting DOES effect the direction and intensity of what flows into your ears, but the TurtleBeach DSS2 Processor has made it to my Essential Gadgets list, and whenever the ones I have eventually need to be replaced, I will buy again.... and again lol =]
Thanks for reading my review, I hope it has helped a bit. Happy Immersion <3 | video-games_xbox |
Buyer Beware!! This product is *NOT* by Microsoft as Advertised. If you have already bought this item skip to `The work around' to get the device to work
My Story:
I purchased this item because my original Microsoft receiver stopped working after the manufacturer's warranty time of 90 days. The device simply was not working one morning. So I searched online for a replacement and thought I was getting the original Microsoft Xbox 360 receiver because it was advertised that way. (at that time this item was called a "Microsoft Gaming Receiver for Windows" but since has had to change the name because of my warnings and letters) Unfortunately the product did not work right off so I had to contact Microsoft gaming for support. Then after trial and error we discovered that Microsoft did not produce this rip off of their product.
Also Microsoft doesn't print the Words "Xbox 360" on the front of the real product,rather they print "Microsoft." On the back the words Microsoft there will be an 'R' in a circle and behind the words Xbox 360 will be a small 'TM.' This product came with a receiver and packaging that looks VERY similar to the real one but it is not. The genuine item is pictured by other buyers, but they are not what you will get. And that is also not what the advertiser is showing in their sell photo, as noted by the words "XBOX 360" printed on the advertiser's sales photo, so the seller is NOT advertising the item to be by Microsoft anymore. So please post a positive vote for my pictures in the item's gallery to have them posted first and more people don't buy this item with that expectation.)
So that's the bad news, but there is good news too........
The good news is, that this product does still work. I have now had mine for way longer than the original Microsoft version, and it still works with everyday usage. (Originally ordered in Feb. 2010 and it is now July 2010)
However the installation was not as simple as the real one. They send the receiver with a driver disk that doesn't work at all with common Operating Systems or OS.
The work around:
Is to use your common driver by Microsoft already installed on your Windows or Vista Disk Drivers area and install the driver manually. Unfortunately this also means you have to reinstall the driver each time you unplug it.
Go to:
Start Menu and open Control panel
Then open
'Hardware and Sound' from control panel for Windows users
for vista users
select 'Additional options'
then from the left hand side open 'Hardware and Sound'.
Then open Device Manager for windows or Vista
Then click on the "Unknown Driver"
Then click on search for additional options and manually install the driver yourself
Then select the 'Microsoft Common Controller for Windows class'
Then it will give a list of drivers for you...... pick the one from Feb of 2007 and install that one.
Then you are good to go and able to play the games you want using your Xbox360 controller.
I completely give this product a SOLID 3.
********
Update 6/17/13:
Originally I rated this item at 2. For a few reasons..... 1) I was lied to about the item being from Microsoft. 2) I couldn't get the item to work with the drive disk they sent with it and had to find my own work around.
However, I still have the item plugged in to my computer and use it almost daily without any other flaws. 3 and a half years later!! While the product was 'sold' to me under false pretenses, it 'does' what Microsoft couldn't, and worked/s longer than 4 months. Not to mention that Amazon is no longer allowing the item to be advertised as a Microsoft item, and it is now being sold as the knock off it truly is........So for that I upgraded the rating to a 3.
However, had I been sold the item as it is currently being advertised.... I would have rated it a solid 4 with the only flaw being that I had to find out how to make it work myself. | video-games_xbox |
A Dark Movie with Interactive Action Sequences. Max Payne 3 offers the kind of sarcasm that can only come from a drunken killing machine who's addicted to depressants. Although the game is heavy on story and repetitive on action, it still manages to be entertaining, but the amount of cutscenes and lack of boss battles will alienate a lot of people.
Story: 8/10
The story is well told and well acted through a plethora of cutscenes that span more than a decade of Max Payne's life. The story is engaging, very grim, darkly humorous, and compelling. But the sheer amount of breaks in the action for unskippable cutscenes really make you feel like you're watching a movie rather than playing a game. If you just want to jump into a level and kill bad guys, you're going to need a lot of patience. The story is also disturbing and many people may not have the stomach for it.
Gameplay: 8/10
It's a shooting gallery with a lot of features to polish the gameplay. Max primarily guns down low life bad guys with guns. He can do this from behind cover or in bullet time, where it's much easier to take out the bad guys with a clean headshot. From cover, Max can duck and shoot, blind fire, and quickly move to other cover. A few shots to the body will down most enemies, a lot more shots to the body will down bad guys in body armor, and a head shot takes care of just about everything. Max can also enter his trademarked bullet time mode, which slows the action and allows the Player to take aim and quickly dispatch enemies. Max can also initiate bullet time from a diving roll, where he jumps into the air, time slows, and he guns everyone down. There's an assortment of weapons from hand guns, dual wielding, sub machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, and the occasional explosives. The AI is pretty good and will duck and shoot and occasionally charge and flank. One nice feature deals with Max's Pain Killers. If your health reaches zero and you have some in your inventory, you get a chance to save yourself. Max falls to his back and if you can kill the guy who is shooting you in a few seconds, you recover. If you cannot shoot him, you die. Unfortunately, sometimes, due to camera or animation issues, it is impossible to shoot the guy in time.
Sound: 8/10
The voice acting is great and a large portion of the story takes place in Brazil. Many of the actors were recorded in Brazil, so it's authentic. The soundtrack is moody and grim, which fits the tone of the game. There are also some action tracks to highlight the action.
Replay Value: 5/10
The campaign has 4 difficulty levels, but it is so deliberately paced, I can't imagine anyone wanting to play the 12 hour campaign more than once. There is a level select, so you can go back and get achievements. There is also an arcade mode with a very complex scoring system which rewards risk taking, aggression, and defense. You can compete on leaderboards for bragging rights. Max Payne also has Multiplayer with a character advancement system.
Maturity: M+
This is for adults. The game features porn, drugs, gore, very disturbing scenes, glorified violence, language, and a bleak outlook on life. Having a kid play this is a very bad idea... unless he's already in Juvie... then he will like it.
Overall: 8/10
At times it feels like you brought an airsoft gun to the movies to watch some Hollywood Blockbuster and you're firing at the screen during the action scenes. Despite the grim atmosphere, the ton of cutscenes, and the repetitive gameplay, Max Payne 3 is still a memorable experience. It's fun and it will have you cringing and laughing at some of Max's one liners. For the price, it's worth playing.
Buy this game if you like really dark stories like Breaking Bad, Sin City, Oldboy, or Dexter.
Buy this game if you like the series and the shooting mechanics of the other games.
Rent this game if you have 10-14 hours to finish the campaign.
Avoid this game if you don't like really dark games or stories.
Avoid this game if you need a variety of gameplay.
Avoid this game if you need skippable cutscenes.
If you liked Max Payne 3 for its gunplay but want a more open ended experience, you should definitely play Red Dead Redemption or Far Cry 3.
If you liked Max Payne 3 for its adult themes, check out the Darkness 2 or GTA. | video-games_xbox |
Terrifying...Thrilling...Suspense. Alan Wake is one of the few games in existence that will grab hold of you and keep you completely immersed in its story and atmosphere until the end. Part Terrifying. Part Suspense. Part Thrill Ride. Alan Wake is one of the best story driven games in years.
The presentation of the story in this game rivals that of Mass Effect 2 and Uncharted 2. Alan Wake cleverly utilizes in game dialogue and action to make the player feel as though they are actively participating in the story. It's not as deep as mass effect, but the other methods Remedy has used to present the story add to this gripping storyline. Unlike most games that follow a three act structure, Alan Wake follows a an episodic structure. Each episode has its own beginning, middle and climax. In Alan Wake, the story NEVER sags, unlike nearly all of the great games in recent times. It doesn't hurt that the story is also extremely well written.
The combat in Alan Wake is just as good as Max Payne or any other action game. Even though the enemies are repetitive, the situations you are forced to fight in drastically affect gameplay and surprising prevent fighting the same enemies from becoming boring. Though this game doesn't aim to be in the horror genre, it will scare the hell out of you in ways you've never been scared before. The sound and atmosphere force you be far more afraid of what might happen than what actually happens on screen. It something you will have to experience to understand.
The game isn't perfect. There are quite a few small things that most people will dislike about this game.
THE BIG ONES:
No animal enemies in a haunted forest!
Advertising!
Weird looking shadows during the day
Few variations in enemies
Weird animations and glitches
Rough jumping mechanics
Even with these few annoyances, this game is still amazing.
Just like Uncharted and Mass Effect, Alan Wake is a great game with a few flaws, whose sequel has the potential to also be a grand masterpiece of gaming. Just like those games, this game is brilliant and truly innovative. This is a must have game for fans of adventure, horror or action genres. | video-games_xbox |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.