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Worst Lego game out there. I just completed this game after weeks of putting it off.
So this is the 3rd Lego game Ive played. Ive also played Lego LOTR and Lego The Hobbit. I played this game with my boyfriend who has played every lego game ever made.
He says this is the worst lego game hes played. While Ive only played 3 lego games this one is the worst by a long shot. And Im going to list the reasons why. (WARNING: contains spoilers)
1. This game is called Lego Batman but its not about batman. Its mainly revolves around Green Latern and the other laterns. The main villain, brianiac, steals all of the latern rings and wants to use them to shrink and collect cities. The title is very misleading. The only batman villians you fight in the whole game are Killer croc and Joker, the latter whom joins your group, and solemn and grundy, briefly.
2. In the lego games Ive played theres usually a big land you roam. This one doesnt have that. It takes place almost entirely in a space ship so when you finish the game you're roaming a space ship lame!
3. This game is poorly engineered. Each character has abilities. You have to hit Y (for xbox 360) and manually select the ability you need to use. This is slow and very time consuming.
4. This game lags and freezes a lot. There were quite a few instances where I would die in a bad spot and the game would spawn my character back in the area where I would continuously die unless the game was restarted. Also there were frequent glitches when you were trying to quests. For example in one quest you had to kill 5 fireflies well 2 of the fireflies just weren't appearing. That was a fun one to try and figure out.
5. Often times this game doesnt allow you to hit Y to skip dialogs. So you have to listen to the entire dialog over and over again if you're doing a quest.
6. The quests with daffy are extremely annoying.
If you want a good lego game, get lego LOTR. It was such a fun, beautifully made game. This one is so poor by comparison. Lego Marvel is also great, and you get to explore NYC. | video-games_xbox |
Finally a headset for the xbox one. UPDATE 2: so polk issued a statement saying that they will have a firmware update in a couple of weeks to fix the chat. While I applaud them in their efforts I do question why we need to have an update? While most new electronics do have that it's almost as if they didn't test them. From what I hear the melee's had the same issue. With that said I brought them back and went with the XO Sevens. I will play with them tonight and put a review up. I loved the polks a lot and do encourage anyone to get them once the update is out, just want to see what else is there.
UPDATE: So after marathoning all night with these guys I've decided to drop my review to a 3-star, reason being? The voice quality. Don't get me wrong I still stand behind everything in my review BUT looking at it the voice clarity isn't nearly as good as a standard MS headset and at night I unfortunately have to keep it down and at times the mic couldn't pick up my voice and that is not good. I do feel that it mostly has to do with the adaptor but it polk worked with MS and they do know their audio if I'm going to spend $150 the voice functions need to work correctly. With that said I did reach out to polk via FB, and twitter and they did reply saying that they're looking into the issue so I do give them credit for looking into it but at this point I'm looking into the XO Sevens, by all means it's still a very solid headset, but I'm having a hard time getting past the poor mic quality.
Since the console released I've been using the standard headset with the Tritton Warheads over them, sadly those aren't compatabile with the new adaptor so those had to be retired. So it was between these or the XO Sevens. WIth Polks rich history and the everyday look of these I opted for the 4 shots. Ive been using them for about two hours now so I will likely update this review but heres what I've got so far.
Contents:
Headset
Chat Adaptor
Game Chat Cable 3.5mm
Inline Audio Cable 3.5mm
Instructions
Comfort:
I'll say it off the bat if you have a huge head the fit maybe a little tight. the materials are very nice quality and its a sturdy build, the pleather and head rail feel very nice and again pretty durable, these will probably withstand a few throws if you rage a good amount. WIth all of that said even with the head rail being able to adjust it still may feel like a tight fit. The earcups are over ear and fit me fine, but again those with a big cranium may not like it, I once had the astros and they had best comfort in my eyes but to each their own.
Sound quality:
So far its been amazing. There is a pretty good balance of sounds throughout the headset. I've Played Forza 5 and BF4 so far and the sounds are pretty rich. The explosions of grenades and the pops of a DMR on BF4 are some of the things that stand out as well the the hum of a V12 monster and the screech of the tires. If you're looking to pin point exact footsteps this may not be what you're looking for. Now that doesn't mean that it makes the sound bad believe me you can hear behind you, but if you're accustomed to an A40 or any MLG style turtle beach more than likely you'll hear footsteps better in those. I hooked these to my IPhone and threw on spoitfy and also called a buddy to test the sound and it worked out great. All in all solid sound.
Design:
Polk kept what looks like a contemporary design for everyday use which I like a lot. Sure it isn't the most stylish out there or Dre Beats you see everywhere but its nice to know If I use them at a Starbucks for my computer I won't look like air traffic control. While I like the look most headsets its nice to have the ability to switch from gaming to on the go with a phone or just simple music use. The mic is found on the left side ear cup and is concealed simply pushing it into the headset, (this also mutes your voice during chat). The only thing I can say I'm not the biggest fan of is that you can barley hear yourself talk, while thats good noise canceling fidelity I don't want to fell like I'm shouting all the time, I'm not sure if its because I was used to using my Warheads (had SVM so I could also hear my voice)
Voice Quality:
Ok so this area is in the air for me, again Its only been a few hours of use so hear me out on this. I've been playing with my friend (who also bought these) and do like the voice quality..BUT for some reason doesn't seem as clear as the regular MS headset. It seems almost as if its muffled a little bit, its not horrible by any means, I can still hear my buddy but I do know it isn't as good as the MS standard for reasons I don't know why. With that said I know its not Polks fault but it has more to do with...
MS Headset Adaptor:
Honestly you think all you would need is a plug in to make it work right? I guess not. Basically the way it works is its divided into four buttons: the left side has a controller button the is for game chat, while the one on the bottom controls the voice chat, in the middle you'll find your mute and on the right its + and - volume controls. I know seems confusing but after my buddy look at forum boards heres what we cam up with. On the left side you basically can decide if you want more game audio or more chat audio. Out of the box it comes in at 50/50 game and chat. Essentially you have volume ranging from 0-16 on that side meaning, if you put it all the way to zero you'll have all voice chat and ZERO game. If you press the button 16 times your ears will pretty much bleed and you won't hear your friends..at all. Hence being 50/50 (8 presses) you be good to go. once you get it balanced to where you like you can then adjust that with the right side. I'm sure many of you reading this won't get that but trust me thats how it is, go figure I just want loud gaming and can talk to my friends without splitting an atom.
Overall: okay so I know that s a lot to take in and it just came out. I do really like this headset a lot, but I feel is getting held back by the stupid adaptor. I will edit this review once I play more and get used to it. As it stands theres only three headsets so for the ONE that aren't MS, these the XO Four and the XO sevens. Its really all preference I wanted something for my gaming and for on the good for my iPad, iPhone and computer. I like the sound quality a lot and like the fit. Again if the game chat was a little more clear and the ear cups were a tad bit larger I'd give these an A+, I'll continue to use these and update. | video-games_xbox |
Solid headset (so I've heared). Bad customer service. While this is undeniably a solid gaming headset, especially considering the price, beware of the sub-par manufacturing and even worse customer service. I ordered my Tritton Ax Pros from Amazon on November 5th. I received the headset today on November 9th. Right out of the box I could tell the headset was very fragile. I'm sure it sounds great but the headset itself felt very flimsy and felt that it might inevitably break over time just from being used. The sound mixer device was also alot cheaper feeling and lighter than I thought it would be. I unboxed my headset, read the instructions and the first thing I did was try to plug the headset itself into the audio controller. Upon doing so I noticed that the two connections didn't feel snug and didn't connect completely. I unplugged the mic cord from the audio controller and found to my complete dismay that 2 of the metal prongs were bent. I called up Mad Catz customer service and explained to the guy what happened. As I was explaining that I was plugging the headset into the audio controller he cut me off and said "Let me guess you bent the metal prongs right?". So clearly just from him saying that it led me to believe that it was a known issue and that he has encountered it several times before. He then tried to tell me just after that the warranty wouldn't cover it because it was my fault. Which some could argue was. The thing is is that I plugged the plug in directly how it was supposed to with the arrows lined up. I have owned several electronics in my lifetime and I can say that this was undoubtedly a result of crappy manufacturing and not misuse by me. He proceed to give me and attitude and I could almost hear him laughing on the phone. Im not joking here people. I wanted to just get a replacement but he said that I would need to contact Amazon and he couldn't replace it for me because he said it was my fault. It was literally the worst customer service I have ever encountered. I asked him for his name and customer service ID and he hesitated for some time and get this, he said my name and ID is Mike. Clearly he knew what an a-hole he was being. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth and now I will be purchasing some Astros as soon as I get a refund from Amazon. In closing this rant I will say that I have heard only great things about the sound quality from the Trittons but I can also attest like many others from personal experience that the integrity and customer service is definitely an issue. | video-games_xbox |
Sonic's back, and so is his speed. Sonic the Hedgehog is back, and it looks like Sega wanted him back. After Sonic 06 came out, Sega just didn't seem to know how to make a "Sonic" game. Yeah, his name was there, but for a game to be a "Sonic" game, it's gotta be more. And the finally figured out what makes a Sonic game a Sonic game when they made Sonic Colors. And boy oh boy, that was awesome, but you can't just keep releasing the same old thing all the time. So, Sega came up with a completely original idea, to take Modern Sonic, and Classic Sonic and start from there.
Now, the game itself isn't really new. Yeah, 2012, two Sonics, all that. However the stages, and content is a bit old. True Sonic fans will know the stages, but what they won't know (at least on the first play through) is the layout. Yes some stages still have major elements from the games, but for the most part they all have been redone. Yes, old stages from older Sonic games were taken, and remade for this one. You can platform through them with Classic Sonic, and blast through them with Modern Sonic. This means you play each level twice, but with a different level layout, and different music. The theme however is the same. For instance, in (spoiler alert) Crisis City, act 1, you'll play as Classic Sonic and get through the stage. Then act 2, you play as Modern Sonic, and play through a stage similar to act 1. So, these two acts are based on the same level, however their design is different. Make sense? I didn't think so. However, don't get the wrong idea. I'm no writer, the text above is the product of my bad writing skills. The actual game makes sense, and is much better than I describe it.
Moving on, the overall storyline is (spoiler alert) Eggman finds this mythical creature called the Time Eater. And he uses it to rip holes in the space time continuum. This is why you play through stages from other games, instead of new and original ones. This is also the reason why the game features a Sonic from the past. Anyways, Modern Sonic, and Classic Sonic must run through each stage to help restore life to the stages that were dislocated by the rips in the fabric of time. Sound complicated? Well, you'll have to play the game see for yourself.
The controls are pretty good, throughout my play, I've only encountered a few problems, but in defense of the game, I'd have to say that it is a result of constant boosting with Modern Sonic, and headless gameplay.
Overall, the game is great. But it has one major flaw. One flaw that can't be fixed by means of a patch. One flaw, that makes me give it 4 stars, instead of 5. The game is way too short. Yeah, some people that have the game will probably say otherwise. There are 9 stages and 7 bosses. Each stage has 2 acts, however for each boss, that boss is just the one. You'll either play as Classic Sonic, or Modern Sonic depending on the boss. So in total, that's 18 acts, and 7 bosses. On the sideline, there are a bunch of extra missions for each character. So for a 100% completer, it might take a while. For a 100% S rank completer, it will take a while. However, for the average gamer, it wont. If there was just a few more stages, 15-20, the game would perfect. It would be an epic Sonic game, however, with this amount of content, it's good but it's just one step short of being awesome.
In shorter words:
Pros:
Epic game
Controls that work
2 Sonics
Sonic fans get to replay some of their favorite stages
Cons:
Too short
Disks aren't made from 20kt gold
That's my review, but don't take my word for it. This game is a great addition to any Sonic fan's collection. So order it, make Amazon happy. But more importantly, tell Sega they've found what makes a Sonic game, and that they shouldn't throw it away.
That's all, I'm out. | video-games_xbox |
Really, really fun. This game is incredibly fun, but may not be the game for you.
Personally, I found the single player campaign to be a bit lacking. It certainly had more freedom of choice than the fairly linear Black Ops single player, but on the whole I found myself playing to unlock Achievements rather than the story or gameplay.
That being said, I think the gameplay practically bored me because I knew I could be playing the multiplayer! The multiplayer is just a blast. It's easy to walk into any class-style you wish, and every class you make can act as "another class" in a pinch (ie, your heavy armor machine gun class' stealth mode still works fine, if not fine tuned for an overall stealthy performance). The newb-to-veteran skill ratio can be aggravating, sometimes even more so than other FPS because of armor advantages and disadvantages. But getting that stealth assassination, sliding passed someone's gunfire while you riddle them with bullets, or leaping over a wall in armor mode and taking a dozen hits from people while you get a triple kill make it worth it!
The "perks" you can unlock are all exciting, whether the ones you're used to from other games or the very original ones. It was hard giving up some really cool concepts for the always useful "run for longer" perk.
The level designs are pretty good. At first I almost felt like the two best ones were in the demo and every other one was just a bit sloppy, and thus a little let down. But after giving them a few more tries, almost all of them have their really fun sides, you just need a different play style. Only one level feels like a total waste to me, which isn't saying much because who has liked every level in a game equally?
One drawback I found to multiplayer was the inclusion of single player staples that are essentially worthless in the multiplayer mode. The two vision enhancement modes, basically binoculars and infrared. The binoculars take no energy, so may help a little, but there's no tagging targets temporarily and switching to your weapon will take too long in this fast paced game. You're better off with a scope to your gun. The infrared mode eats your energy just as much armor or stealth, and is worth crap. Players remain gray at ridiculously close ranges, the heat map doesn't fire up around them until long after they would be laughably visible in normal sights, and it is incredibly difficult to tell the difference between friend and foe in this mode. I might've still found some camping use for it in crash site, but the amount of energy in consumes for no advantage makes it not worth it.
The graphics are INSANE. Even if I didn't like the game I'd fire it up every so often just to see crisp character models and water effects lol
All that being said, you will need a very good connection speed. Who doesn't have a good connection anymore, right? Well, it doesn't matter, because you probably still need better. Unless the host lives nearby, you will notice the difference, aggravatingly so. Careful stealth movements and lightning fast gunfire in armor mode fall apart in front of your baffled eyes--watch the grainy killcam (what's with that anyway? lol you hack into the guy who killed you's video helmet but only barely? lol i don't get it), and...I can't even describe to you how different the footage may seem. In Black Ops, once in a blue moon I can notice a split second or more of difference in what happened in my screen and the kill cam (I fired or got hit markers or stabbed, but the kill cam didn't show this). In Crysis, I'll be having a battle with what appears to be an unsuspecting player, when in reality it turned out HE ran into ME all the way down the hall?! Ugh.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, if you're the host, you will be Superman lol It took me a few games to realize what happening, but I go from doing fairly well to getting 17 kill streaks--look at the score bar and notice the connection speeds lol Funny, but not exactly a game of skill at this point.
When the game runs smooth, it's really exciting and clever, and a fine replacement to any COD or Halo game. When it runs smooth. Single player was a miss for me though. | video-games_xbox |
Well, it is pretty. Disappointed.
That pretty much sums up my feelings about this game.
I don't usually write reviews, but I felt I had to say my bit on this title.
It is a very pretty game.
I'll give it that, but little else.
DOAX2 = DOAX1 + better graphics + novelty features - in person multiplayer - some reason to play the game
Let's see... we have the new eye candy mini games.
Neato if you love button mashing madness.
We have the new Jet Ski race.
Big yay there.
It's an entertaining diversion, but nothing overly special.
Got old for me quick.
The new casino games are ok.
I spent more time playing in the casino than anything else.
We have ONLINE multiplayer now!
Woo Hoo!
Now you don't have to worry about making real friends and inviting them over!
You can just play with whatever random person is out there on the net.
We have online multiplayer at the expense of the offline two player game.
That pretty much kills the game for me.
One of the biggest components of this game and the previous title is going about gathering all of the bathing suits and other goodies for the various characters in the game.
With the old game, whenever a friend came over to play a two player volley ball match, you could show off the various outfits you had acquired, make inappropriate comments about the ladies, whine about losing because of the control scheme, and enjoy your company in general.
With the DOAX2, there is no offline multiplayer game. No local two player mode. I guess the people who made this game figured that the players who would play it didn't get out enough to know any people in person, and those they did know they only talked to over a crackling headset.
Well, that wasn't the case with me and my friends.
Between rounds of Halo and Soul Calibur we'd pop in DOAX1 for a change of pace and everyone liked it.
That was the part of the game I really liked:
The social aspect.
That made me want to collect all the different outfits and items so I could show them off, and hear my buds comment on them. It gave me a reason keep playing the single player mode (which in no way had an elaborate storyline). And I enjoyed it. I really did.
DOAX1 was a gem.
And while DOAX2 has a pretty face, there is nothing shining behind the eyes.
All in all, even with the online bit, you are still alone, just playing with yourself. | video-games_xbox |
All Van Halen Fans Please Take Time out to Read This. I hope that Van Halen and Activision read this. I know it's highly unlikely, but I honestly do hope. I've been a VH fan for many years and it appears you guys need a reality check. You have had 3 different singers since your first album. You have had 2 bassist. This is reality. This is your history. It isn't going away as much as you try to dream it out of sight. THIS IS YOUR HISTORY. To omit parts of who you are and give your fans less than half of what you know should be involved is just asinine AND YOU KNOW THIS. I mean, seriously, you should consider it a success that you've gone from Dave through all your trials and ended up today, with Dave again. That is what you should show. You guys should show your success. Instead what you've done is highlight your failures. All of the members of the band (save Wolfgang) are over 40. Yeah, we know you don't want to work together. So what. Put this game out correctly for the fans. Besides, who do you think is going to play it? That's what you should have considered when you made this. Instead, no matter how much work you say you put into this, it looks like, "Oh throw some VH tracks on there and a few new groups for the younger fans and call it GH:Van Halen."
Here is how you should have made the CD. Start off with the band having their first performance together in high school. You should have an interview with someone in the band talking about renting Dave's equipment and thus allowing him in the band. There should be mention or even a performance of you as Mammoth before you changed to Van Halen. From there you should have a song by Black Sabbath as Eddie and Tommi are friends and the bands toured together. I would even say, you should have a Kiss song as Gene Simmons tried to get you guys signed on. There should be multiple venues from where the band played in the 70s using many of the Dave era songs.
Coming into the 80s, Beat It, should have been one of the songs, especially in light of what happened this year. (gee are you beginning to feel all the errors you made) There should be some other venues from the 80s including an interview with a band member about how they were so popular on MTV. Don't even address the cause of the break up with Dave. Just go right into songs with Sammy. This should not be omitted as some of the highest CD sales from band were during Hagar's tenure. THIS IS YOUR HISTORY. ACKNOWLEDGE IT. During this period you should have as an encore to one of your shows, a solo by Ed as he's playing 316. Although the song is supposedly written for his son, it was actually performed in concert before he was born. (you see, that's something else special to give the fans) Another venue that you should address is SNL. Ed played with G.E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live band during the time the show's ratings improved in the late 80s.
Interview Sammy on how the band came up with the title for For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. We all know it, but throw it in there anyway for the fans. If you want to have other bands on the CD, put on acts like Aerosmith as they were also experiencing a revival. How about Ozzy or Pantera (you know they idolized Van Halen). So did Extreme. As you round out the Hagar era, I would say have a studio performance of Me Wise Magic, or Can't Get this Stuff No More.
Following that, throw in two songs with Gary Cerone. I admit that I was not a fan of him, but THAT IS A PART OF YOUR HISTORY.
Now toward the end of "Career Mode" you can have a few of your older songs from the Dave era with Wolfie on bass. At this time in "Career Mode" maybe we unlock some newer artists of Wolfgang's choosing. Also, interview him to show his feelings upon hearing that he was in the band.
This is what the game should be. Acknowledge your history. Yes you had disagreements. Move on. There are songs that you did with Sammy that many people love. According to record sales they loved them alot. Although folks were tired of the drama when Gary came along, you need to show a song or two. And I promise you this. NO ONE IN THE WORLD is happy that you have Wolfgang in the band over Michael Anthony. NO ONE. He may be good, but since we haven't seen any new music, who cares. Sorry to be so harsh. I know he's only 18, but that's life. The big thing is, since he's in the band--and I know some readers won' t like this--he deserves to be on the game.
This game fails because of ego, a total disrespect for the fans, and poor organization and management on Activision's part. If you can't get music licensed, get interviews and otherwise do this right, announce it to the fans and then don't do it at all. We would accept that.
Two final things. 1) I realize that the very first song in "career mode" should actually be something by Eric Clapton as that was a major influence on Ed. Sorry that I forgot that. 2) All of y'all knuckleheads were inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. Why can't all of y'all be in the game? | video-games_xbox |
Good graphics, fun for awhile, but repetitive. The graphics are real good and the game has some fun mechanics like lock picking and trap disabling, etc. The Focus concept is neat, but I found it rather pointless to keep your Focus meter up as it drains quickly when in use and you can still get a glimpse when it's totally empty. I pretty much tend to use it as a quick glimpse when walking around to be sure I don't miss anything.
I do not think the map function isn't very good. It's a bit easy to get lost between town sections and not sure where things are as you can only see on the map for the level you are on and not where other things or objectives might be.
The Kinect integration is useless and buggy (though I find that to be the case for most games). I kept failing to pick locks in the early game and the character would "swoop" away. I didn't realize why that was happening until I searched around on the net and realized that it was Kinect interpreting a "lean" motion (despite my sitting stationary on a couch) and causing a "swoop" action. Once I disabled the Kinect integration, everything was fine and I could complete a lock picking.
Though I think this game is kind of cool, it is also a bit repetitive--almost to the point of feeling bored. Doing client missions is a bit laborious as you have to travel around quite a bit and the guards always re-spawn--which is fine, but it still feels repetitive and laborious. I think I am going to stick to the main story line which might be more interesting and try to ignore all the side stuff.
And what's with a game element that requires me to use a rope arrow that costs 75 gold pieces to climb up to an area to obtain 5GP in treasure? Even with Basso's Bond, which gives you 25% off resources like rope arrows, the math doesn't add up.
Pros: Good graphics. Fun concepts.
Cons: Repetitive and laborious almost to the point of boredom. Kinect integration is buggy and useless (but who really cares?) | video-games_xbox |
A comparison. As a person who has both the PS3 and the 360 and enjoys both for there different boons, I just have to add something to the big debate about which is superior. Alot of people have seen the base stats for the systems and see that the peak triangle calculation rate for the PS3 is higher and etc etc. Alot of odd ball numbers that few but the most hardcore of gamers and computer geeks really understand completely.
Here is a summation of the reality of that debate that I have learned from programmers themselves.
The PS3 is only better on paper while being tested under extremely favorable circumstances.
The PS3 runs one powerfull processor and several smaller processors.
The 360 runs 3 powerful identical processors.
Here is the real problem. The PS3 takes alot different and more complex programing to gain the edge that it has a potential for. Problem is it litterally is 10 times harder to make games for and althought the potential numbers look better to actually gain those numbers while playing a game is simply not possible. No game company would take the time to build a game that way.
The reason is that if you get all of the processors working at peak capacity in harmony you get the numbers they put out. This is unrealistic.
First of all the processors are designed to do different tasks and so are not programmed to work that way.
It's alot easier to program for the 360 since first off it's a directx based platform and second it has 3 identical processors that can easily be programmed to work in harmony. It's actually alot easier to get better performance out of the 360 even though the Peak Stats are not as good on paper.
Now here is the issue. ***AND PLEASE I'M NOT BASHING I'M SIMPLY SHARING WHAT I'VE HEARD FROM ACTUAL PROGRAMMERS*** Like I said I have both and enjoy both tremendously.
However the issue is this. The PS2 was ten times harder to make games for than the original XBOX but there were 10 times as many PS2's out on the market so it made sense to make games for it first then possibly cross platform to the XBOX.
Now, the PS3 is 10 times harder to make games for than the 360 but there are 10 times LESS consoles in homes.
This is why you see alot of former Sony exclusives jumping ship and programming for 360 first then cross platforming to PS3. It's easier and more lucrative. Bottom Line.
These game companies are in it for money bottom line. Why spend ten times more time and money making a game for a system that has 10 times less potential to sell the product?
So bottom line is this and test it yourself if you don't beleive it. If a game is made first for 360 and then cross platformed to PS3 it will run better and smoother on the 360.
Vice versa if it is made first for the PS3 then cross platformed you will notice it runs alot better and smoother on the PS3.
So you can probably assume that alot more games will come out first for the 360 and then be cross platformed and you will probably have alot more 360 exclusives than we've seen in the past but still you will have all your Japanese Fav's like GT5 and FF series on the PS3 working seamlessly.
All in all they are both great systems. And don't forget about the Smash hit Wii! | video-games_xbox |
Great potential, Terrible quality. Being a video game nut, I've always purchased new game consoles when they first came out. However, I was never really fond of Microsoft's Xbox. It was no different with the release of the 360. However, I recently broke down and bought one to quench my gaming thirst.
The first thing I noticed while unpacking the system was how heavy the system was. Compared to other game consoles, this thing seemed to weigh a ton. At the same time, it appeared to be well built with solid construction. Next thing that caught my eye was the power brick. It was HUGE -- even bigger than the N64 power brick, if you can imagine that. After hooking up the system and powering it on, I was brought to the Xbox 360s' interface. "Nice user interface", I thought to myself. The colors were vivid and the picture was sharp. However, I should mention that I was hooked up to a 57" HDTV set using component cables. The menus were intuitive and very easy to navigate. Also, the wireless controller was very responsive and ergonomic.
The next thing I did was sign-up with Xbox Live Silver (free), Microsoft's online service that enables you to download content, demos, videos, and arcade games. One nice bonus was the one month free trial access to Xbox Live Gold ($50/year). The Gold membership allows you to play multiplayer games against other gamers around the world. So I purchased a couple of arcade games online from Xbox Live Marketplace with Microsoft points (sold separately, about $20 for 1600 points). My arcade games cost me 800 points each, or about $10 each. These are old arcade games, mind you.
After playing online against other gamers for a few hours, I realized that Xbox Live Gold is definitely the greatest feature of the Xbox 360. It has tremendous potential if Microsoft makes some minor improvements based on gamers' feedback. And although I did not purchase any new games (the ones that go for $60), I did try out the demo versions of these games. My initial impressions are that the graphics are better than the PS2, but not by that much.
OK, now for the negatives. Like other gamers have pointed out, the system gets very HOT. I had my system out in the open so that it could breathe and it still got very HOT. While responsive for most games, the controllers' directional pad was not made for fighting games. So if you play a lot of fighting games, plan on getting a 3rd party contoller or arcade stick. The next negative is that this system is very EXPENSIVE. The cost of ownership is well above the $400 entry point. You'll need to add $50 for Xbox Live Gold, $50 for a second wireless controller, $100 for the wireless network adapter, and about $60 per game. To put the price in perspective, the Playstation 3 will cost $600 but it will include wireless networking and have the ability to play Blu-Ray movies.
To my dismay, the price isn't even the worst part about the system. The biggest let down is the quality of the system. Less than 3 weeks of my purchase, the 360 gave me the now infamous "3 rings of death" and would no longer boot up. I thought these issues were addressed after the first couple of bad batches by Microsoft. Also, given the expensive price of ownership, this is absolutely inexcusable. I have and still own many game systems -- Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Playstation 1 & 2, Nintendo 64, Gamecube, and 2 PSPs -- and every system still works flawlessly.
In summary, the Xbox 360 is a good system with great potential that is plagued only by major quality issues. If Microsoft can work out the quality issues and reduce the price by $100 (which might happen by the time the Playstation 3 rolls out), there is little doubt in my mind that the Xbox 360 will be the next generation console leader. | video-games_xbox |
Another Rehash but worse. I have always loved the Call of Duty series but as of late it has been given the same treatment as the Madden series (IE they add TINY features each year and ask you to pay 60$ for a """new""" game). But this latest installment has crossed the line. Most of the fanboys constantly ask well WHY do you not like this game? (Valid question and i shall go through that in multiple points)
1. The maps are the smallest in ANY Call of duty game to the point your nearly always spawning right on top of someone.
2. The graphics engine is the exact same as MW2 regardless of what any fanboy tries to tell you. This may have been ok if this game was released a year after MW2 but not now.
3. Already new Wall glitches in the game and similar problems MW2 was plagued with (Youtube and see it for yourself).
4. P2P servers....again....in 2011? REALLY? Why on earth would you use P2P servers which are Laggy,Slow,Disconnect often,Easily hackable when most other major IP's use Dedicated servers.....Activision will make 3-4X more money then EA will see from BF3 and even they put dedicated servers into BF3.
5. The Campaign is Short/easy and Extremely predictable....a rather large disappointment for a direct sequel.
6. Rampant Killstreaks What i mean by this is since the maps are so insanely small you can rackup killstreaks way way easier then in previous CoD titles. So you see 3-4X more killstreaks then in previous versions.
7. The leaderboards have ALREADY been hacked again....(Look at the leaderboards see for yourself)
8. The hit detection....is the worst i have seen in any shooter since...hell ever?
9. No Marathon perk (Opinion)
10. EVERY gun is insanely overpowered, literally even the SMG's kill in 2-3 Shots at medium distance. Combine that with small maps and it becomes a Camp fest of who runs around corner A first.
All in All this is the biggest disappointment in the series in my mind...Save yourself the 60$ and take a woman out to dinner. | video-games_xbox |
An acton-packed yet very emotional ride. Gears of Wars 3 is supposedly the final in the series (you never know nowadays). But this game certainly feels like "the end". It is without a doubt the most epic campaign yet, not to mention you can now have up to 3 friends to play the campaign with makes it even more awesome. Gears 3 ends with a bang, Cliffy B really went all out for this game and just proves that he can make some amazing titles. Gears 3 will be one of my favorite games of all time.
Story - The story is the best in the series so far. Of course they all connect but what they do with the 3rd was really gripping. There is no more government, the COG is no more but that doesn't mean they won't stick together and fight to the end but this is a tragic moment indeed for them. They add a lot more emotion to the characters and really make you fell for Marcus and fellow gears. This campaign while being an epic ride, also has some heartfelt moments that will be sure to shock you can really suck you into the story. Anyways, how this starts off is you get a message from Adam Fenix (Marcus' Dad). Thinking that he was dead all these years. Marcus is stunned to hear the message and just can't believe it at first. But Adam Fenix claims he is building a weapon, one that will end the war for good. So Marcus and his team set out to find Adam and see if this talk about a ultimate weapon is true. You are greeted with a few new characters and of course your favorite gears from previous games. Anya also has taken up arms in a last defense against the Locust (who knew she could be such a bad ass). Some of the new characters are cool and others just annoying. Sam a female bad ass COG who joined up with COG 15 years after E-Day. She is really cool and a great addition to the cast, its nice to see Cliffy B adding some more female COG in the group and also making them pretty cool characters. Jace is another new guy. And he is one of the annoying ones. I just personally didn't like him, he talks way too much like in the "I'm just as important as Marcus and his friends!" type of way when he really is just someone who came out of nowhere. Anyways, of course there is another Carmine, this one wears a pretty freakin awesome COG suit, with writing all over it, with the title "Grub Killer" on the front. The fate of this Carmine was decided by fans who voted in a poll. But you'll have to play till the game yourself to find out. So with some new addition to the crew you still have your old buddies like Baird, Cole Train, Dom etc. You even see some faces you haven't seen for awhile but I won't spoil it. Bottom line is that they did a fantastic job on the characters and it is real easy to like almost any one of them. They will also dabble into some of the back story for some of these characters like Cole Train that will never make you look at him the same ever again. They just really make you feel for them and show that their not just bad ass moncho characters who have no emotion but are very real people who have problems and feelings like everyone else. This story is excellent, although the writing has a few ridiculous parts it in (you'll see what I mean). It is overall a very solid story that will keep you glued to the screen until the credits roll. And having some buddies of yours to play along with you is a blast but we'll get to co-op soon. You will travel to many locations and meet plenty of new faces, one of the new faces is a man called Griffin who is kind of a prick and is also voice buy Ice T who does a pretty decent job with it. You may also unlock this character for multiplayer use. But he will send you out on a mission and find some way to blame his troubles on you guys.
Anyways all in all the campaign is a blast, sometimes can be a little to over the top but to be honest I don't really have any beef with it. I loved the way the story went. I can't say for certain how I feel about the ending, felt a bit rushed but I'm glad it has come to an end. Sometimes you just need to quit while ahead.
Gameplay - The same old gameplay from the previous two gears games is back and better then ever. The same buttons and all apply but it just feels so much more polished and smoother. This is the best the gameplay has been in the series and it just felt so perfect playing it. You still run and gun with the good old Rodie Run and of course the great cover based system, one of the best cover based systems ever in my opinion. There are plenty of guns this time around with a few new ones, like the evil sawed-off shotgun. Which will quickly be your best friend and worst enemy, as it is basically a "1 Shotter". Also got some other goodies like the "Digger" which will tunnel under ground and blow up right under the enemies feet. Which is a lot of fun to use. Other new weapons like the "One-Shot" may take some practice to master but all weapons in this game are a blast to use (no pun intended). Everyones favorites like the Lancer and Gnasher return with also a newly redesigned Lancer called the "Retro-Lancer" Which is more powerful but a lot less accurate. It is also equipped with a bayonet that you can rodie run into enemies, which was probably the most fun I had in a video game ever. All players will find at least a few guns to suit their playing style.
This time around, the campaign is now 4-Player Co-op, and it works perfectly. I never had so much fun playing a co-op game until this. Playing with a few of your friends is great fun. If you don't have any friends don't worry because you can search through public matches to find some co-op buddies.
I talked a lot about the campaign but there is so much more to this game A LOT more. Cliffy B has stuffed so much content into this game its a wonder how the disc fit inside the case. Lets start with the revamped Horde mode. It is still a survival mode that we all know. But now it is more like a tower-defense. Hordes of locust will swarm and you will have the option to set up a base and build many different things like Fences, turrets and decoys, etc. Everything is also upgradeable, the more you build something the more exp you get into that category so for example if you build lots of fences, soon you'll can enough exp in the fences category and unlock laser fences and that goes for all. The towers just get bigger and better the more you use them. Aside from Horde mode you also get the brand new mode called "Beast" mode which is like horde mode except YOU are the Locust and you are trying to kill the COG. You have a couple tiers of locust and the more kills you get the more exp you get and keep doing that and you'll get a new set of Locust to choose from. There is a very good variety of Locust to choose from and some are just so much fun to play as. This mode was an excellent idea and I highly recommend this mode to anyone out there.
You also still have the competitive multiplayer. Warzone, King of the hill, Wingman etc. Don't worry about connection issues because Cliffy B thought of everything and made such a solid game it'll be really rare to run into an issue. Multiplayer has a level up system which will unlock many things including titles, executions, skins for your guns and much more. Everything about the gameplay is just perfect. The game is solid and basically bug free. Cliffy B truly made one heck of a game.
Graphics - This game is pretty beautiful to look at. Now its nothing ground breaking but when you compare it to the first gears of war. You will notice right away how much better it looks now. So much more sharp and crisp and the textures are excellent and very very well done. The world looks real and feels real. You won't hear many people complaining about the graphics of the game. The facial animations can look a bit stale here and there but overall its well done.
Sound - The voice acting for this game was just down right amazing. Each character felt so real and fit perfectly even the new characters, especially Sam who is played by Claudia Black. If your not sure who it is, she also played Chloe Frazer in the Uncharted series. She did amazing and I really love her character. Its nice to see more female characters in video games, especially when they make them as cool as Sam. Marcus, Cole and the rest of the original crew are of course did an excellent job.
As for the Music. I really did not care for it too much, I listened to the soundtrack and it is good but nothing you would remember. There just was not anything ground-breaking about it but the tracks did suit the mood. They really bring the world to life but its nothing you'll want to listen to in the car. At least in my opinion, but I do know many people who like it I am just not a huge fan. There is a piano re-mix of Mad World which was originally done by Gary Jules which first became a huge hit for gear fans back when the first trailer premiered for the first game in the series. Anyways, I loved the piano version it was really well done and went well with the map they used it for.
As for the sound design it was very well done. Explosions, bullets and Locust babble sounded excellent and you can hear right off the bat that they put a lot of work into it. It sounds rich and real and really pulls you into the experience and makes you immersed in the world of Gears.
Bottom Line - Gears of War 3 ended with a bang. This is by far the best addition to the series. With an amazing campaign that has some pretty epic parts with plenty of emotionally ones too that really make you feel for the characters.
So much replay value you'll be playing this game for a while. Plus with DLCs flying in, there is always new content. Beast mode is a ton of fun and with the revamped Horde more and tons of unlockables, this is one of the best multiplayer games I have ever played (my favorite for 2011). I recommended this to anyone, especially those who already have a 360.
+Pro's
+Great Story.
+Fantastic Multiplayer with loads of content.
+Beast mode is a great addition.
+Terrific Voice acting.
+4 Player co-op.
+Beautiful Environments | video-games_xbox |
A sleeper hit that's worth a weekend rental. The Good: Lots of gore, well balanced overall, huge worlds, forgiving difficulty
The Bad: Gets repetitive for some, too few animations, too short, the game is missing a few key elements
I just played Viking anyway because it was getting great user reviews, and I'm glad I listened. Viking may not have much story, it may be repetitive sometimes, and the graphics may not outdo every game out there, but it's just fun! The story is something about a Viking clan battling the Legion over who gets Asgard. While the story fills you in here and there it's confusing, and pointless. The game consists of lots of hacking and slashing, and Viking takes this literally. You can lop off heads, slice torsos in half etc all in detailed gore. The levels you explore are HUGE and thanks to the "Leystone" warp system it makes things easier. While you travel around the 3 huge islands you discover these Leystones and they let you warp about.
The game is built around missions that are easily located on your map so you'll NEVER get lost, yet gives you the challenge to find the right hidden paths. Some missions have you sneaking into places (it works), and you can perform stealth kills (more on the upgrade system soon) to sneak in quietly. What I loved was that you never get lost sneaking into these HUGE bases so trial and error doesn't exist. The paths are easily laid out for you, but you have to search to find them. This is just another reason of how well balanced this whole game is.
You also have a magic system which lets you charge up your sword with either fire, ice, or lightning and you can lay waste to foes with this. I, personally, never used these much because the regular hits do just fine. You can use throwing axes, fire pots, and I also played through the WHOLE game without using one single healing potion. This doesn't mean the game is easy it's just that the game is so forgiving about checkpoints and the Leystone system just works so well. The best part about this game are the large scale battles. When you've gathered enough forces to raid each fort you engage battles with thousands of people on screen and you also have dragons helping you. This is where some RTS gameplay comes in. You have to kill Shamans in order to advance to the next part of the fort. You get "Rune stones" by killing enemies in red so your dragons can take out enemies.
Each type of enemy requires a certain number of rune stones. This makes the battles both easier, and more interesting. This game does have many faults. There is slow down in places you wouldn't expect, and the framerate drops in the single digits. I felt like I was playing on an old computer sometimes. While the combat system is good it's missing a dodge button. All of the abilities you learn are well balanced, but some can't be performed right due to enemy cheap shots.
The graphics are nice, but are repeated over and over and aren't anything unique. The sound is pretty scarce (GS did get that right). There is only good music during massive battles. The game is pretty short closing in on 10 hours. I also can't help but mention that the game felt like parts of other games. The exploration felt like Oblivion while the combat felt like Lord of the Rings and certain "button sequences" were ripped straight from God of War. These aspects are welcome but aren't done as well as said games. This game is a great weekend rental, but nothing more. | video-games_xbox |
For all of you who play the legacy mode. This game is awesome. I haven't played but a handful of actual games but it is pretty fun. I like to play the legacy mode and simulate through the seasons which takes a couple hours to do but is very fun. However, when playing a game, the free throw system is a bit hard (biggest complaint I've seen for this game) but the trick is to wait until the "ready to shoot" message pops up and hold onto A and release when the guy is moving his arm up towards the hoop. Let it go when the player would let it go in real life if that makes sense. Same way when you actually shoot a free throw. You let the ball fly when you get the ball up and make a motion towards the hoop. It's not too hard with enough practice but some players it's just impossible to make free throws with because they are crappy. Practicing free throws in practice mode is a good way to get better to. There will never be a system everyone like so deal with it!!!!
Onto the legacy mode, it is soooooo much better. Most of the flaws are gone from the old game. One being OT games. You would win by 25 in the old game. That is unrealistic. 15 seed teams like Quinnipiac would win the tourney. That doesn't happen in this game. Recruting is VERY detailed and takes at least twice as long as the other game but is more realistic. I recruited a PG in the 2k4 version and a PG had 29 rebounds! Unrealistic and still, you have no clue if they are going to be any good. In 2k5, you scout their game 4 times or so and you get an idea about each of these aspects: shooting, offense, rebound, defense, hustle, quickness, leaping, and potential. Each has a letter grade. You will be able to recruit the exact type of player you want and it also lists priorities of the players to. So you know not to recruit a kid who wants to stay close to home if they are in the Bronx and you are in Cali! If you recruit hard and heavy, you can turn a program around just as in real life. It's DEFINITELY A LOT MORE REALISTIC than the 2k4 version.
With the Xbox, you can also add sountracks to play in the game to which is cool but you can't really find any roster files out there. You can buy Xbox memory cards but hardly anyone out there makes the roster files. So your favorite player may be named Manny Hooglesbee instead of Gerry McNamara if you turn on generate names! Oh well, it's all good. This game is soooo much fun and the time you spend playing it easily equates to $20 in no time or even cheaper if you buy it used. Great game and I would DEFINITELY reccomend.
If you don't play legacy mode, playing a season is still so much fun. You have to play smart and beat the defense the other team is playing. You can't just run around them all the time like in ESPN Hoops 2K4 (the NBA version). You actually have to use some strategy so it's better to play on an easy level and advance your way up or you'll just get pissed and throw the controller if you think you can play on MOP when you should be on Junior Varsity!
AWESOME GAME!!!!! | video-games_xbox |
Prepare To Drop. Two years ago Halo 3 dropped onto store shelves. It's impact was gargantuan, and continued the Halo series' status as a gaming phenomenon. Well today is the drop date for the new Halo title, ODST (or Orbital Drop Shock Trooper). But without the Cortana, the Flood, and most notably absent, the Master Chief, can this game be considered a true Halo title?
The answer is quite simply: yes. Halo: ODST packs the same punch that the previous games in the series did while making enough changes to make it feel like a game worthy of being a standalone title.
The story starts off with a crew of ODST's dropping into New Mombasa (a city widely featured throughout the Halo mythos) in order to take out a Covenant ship. Well, things go terribly wrong and you wake up six hours later in the dark of night. You'll spend most of your time as the Rookie, the newest member of the ODST squad, as you try to find out what exactly happened six hours earlier. Throughout the game, you'll find clues which then cue flashbacks in which you'll play as other members of your squad. The overarching sense of mystery that shrouds the events in ODST makes for quite an engaging experience that will make you want to keep on playing.
Halo: ODST has a far more human story than the other games in the series because, after all, the story involves people instead of a ten-foot tall cyborg, his ten-foot tall alien buddy, and their A.I. sidekick. The story really stresses that, as awesome as these guys are, they aren't superhuman like the chief, and their tale is far more riveting, and personal than any other story we've seen in a Halo game.
Another great example of ODST's more down to earth story is Sadie's Story, a series of audiologs the player can find throughout New Mombasa that recount the tale of a New Mombasa resident, and her struggle with the Covenant invasion.
While the plot may not be as sprawling, or epic as what you saw in the previous Halo titles, it's comprehensible, clever, and more relatable.
While it sticks close to the Halo 3 formula in terms of core gameplay, ODST does feature a number of changes, tweaks, and new content.
First, and most importantly, the campaign is actually interesting. You won't play it simply because you feel obligated to as in Halo 3. This is thanks in large part to superb mission structure. The core game will feature you in the open world - yes, open world, as in go where you want - city of New Mombasa, then as you find clues (as mentioned earlier) you'll be transported to more linear levels.
It's the combination of this open-endedness coupled with the more concise, more linear segments in which you enter the shoes of another ODST that makes for some excellent pacing. You'll want to play through the campaign, and thanks to the fact that new things are constantly thrown at you, you'll have a hell of a time exploring New Mombasa.
In terms of general gameplay tweaks, there are a few worth mentioning. For one thing, your character is no Master Chief. That means you don't jump as high, you're not able to use all the same kind of ordinance, and you have no regenerating shield. But, fortunately the game is rather forgiving, there are health stations aplenty, and, although you'll have to be smarter about engaging large groups of enemies, fighting the Covenant isn't too difficult.
ODST also feature some new (but not radically so) equipment. The most important is your new visor, which lacks a radar, but allows you access for a GPS display of New Mombasa, and most importantly, helps illuminate your surroundings as the majority of the game takes place at night. There are also two tweaked weapons. The first is your standard weapon, which is essentially a silenced SMG with a scope. The second is a pistol also outfitted with a silencer and a scope. Obviously, we've seen both of these weapons before across the Halo games, but they are much more powerful, and much more useful this time around.
Halo: ODST's core gameplay is very, very close to that of Halo 3, and you can definitely tell that this is an expansion-pack style game, but the developers have done just enough to make it a little more than that.
The new multiplayer feature in ODST is Firefight, and it's really awesome. The game mode features ten all new maps specifically designed for the new gametype, and they're all very well designed, although some are better than others. Firefight tasks you and up to three other teammates with simply holding out against waves of Covenant for as long as you can. But don't go thinking it'll be a walk in the park - gameplay changing Skulls (similar to the ones you can find in the other Halo titles)will be added as your team progresses through waves.
Firefight ends up being just as well designed as all the other multiplayer game types Halo has to offer, but just like every other Halo game, some maps are better than others.
The one part of the ODST package that I really don't like is that of the inclusion of Halo 3's multiplayer component (all DLC maps included), with the addition of three new maps. It's not that I don't like Halo 3 multiplayer, in fact, quite the contrary, I think it's amazing, and the three new maps are great, but for anyone who spent $30 total on the DLC maps as they came out will feel kind of ripped off. If you lived under a rock for the past two years, or never bought any of the DLC you'll be delighted with this multiplayer disc. If you did shell out the 30 bucks on the map packs, you'll feel pretty ripped off, and it makes me wish that there was a different version of the game available that had took out the second disk in return for a lower price point.
Halo: ODST's new Firefight game mode is addicting, and the new campaign is easily the best Halo campaign since the original. On top of that, if you never played Halo 3, you'll absolutely love the second disk which features the game's full multiplayer component, plus three new maps. If you didn't spend $30 on Halo 3's various map packs, you'll enjoy this disk too because it features all 10 post-release maps. But if you did spend $30, expect to be disappointed, even if Halo 3's multiplayer is awesome as ever.
ODST runs on the same Halo 3 engine, but graphical improvements have been made. For one, we see much better cut-scene animations, and also the urban art style has been greatly improved, which is fortunate because you'll spend all your time in the cityscape of New Mombasa. Halo 3's engine is beginning to show some age, but the game's graphics are still good even today.
The sound department is just as awesome as ever, too. The soundtrack features many of the classic Halo tracks we know and love, but it's the new music that steals the show, these new tracks are very moody, and well delivered. Also, sound effects are still excellent, and the sound design as a whole is truly masterful. Also, in keeping with the more human plot, the voice-overs are all exceptionally well done, featuring the voice talents of sci-fi favorites Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk, and Tricia Helfer.
All of the Halo games had excellent production values, and ODST is no exception.
Halo: ODST's campaign will run you about six to eight hours, but there is plenty of exploration to be done if you want to hunt down all the Sadie's Story audio files. Firefight might not be everyone's cup of tea but it's well worth checking out, not to mention there's a strong possibility of becoming addicted to it as I have. In terms of the general multiplayer component featured on the second disk, the value you'll get out of it will greatly vary. If you're new to Halo 3's multiplayer, you'll probably get really into it as most people did, but for everyone else, it depends on how sick you've gotten of Halo 3's online component. Some people might still happily play for many months to come, but others might have grown tired of it by now. The campaign and Firefight offer a decent enough value as is, but the amount of hours you'll get out of your ODST experience will greatly vary based on how much you'll play the second disk's multiplayer.
Halo: ODST is the best Halo game since the original. It's campaign is awesome, and the new Firefight provides a fresh multiplayer gametype for your Halo experience. And aside from little thing here and there, the game only has one real flaw which is the second disk's multiplayer component. Some will feel ripped off, some will be tired of the Halo 3 multiplayer already, but some will be sinking in ridiculous amounts of time. That being said, Halo: ODST provides a terrific experience that fans of the Halo games need to check out, and those who haven't yet played Halo 3 really should not miss out on no matter what. Prepare to drop. | video-games_xbox |
AMAZING. Well, this game is nothing short of amazing. I had heard a lot of good things about this game and I really wanted to buy it. Obviously, it was a good decision because I play it whenever I get the chance. The graphics are amazing. On HD TV's, the graphics are a dream. I have a little 13 inch TV that I played a system link match with and the game still looked pretty crisp and clear.
The story line is takes you into the action from the start which is a plus. On harder difficulties, the game is even better because it forces you to rethink the run n gun strategy in Casual mode. The one thing that I was a little annoyed about was how short the Campaign mode was (minor complaint).
But the multiplayer capabilities completely make up for this and then some. Offline multiplayer is two person split screen and with system link capabilities. System link is especially fun if you got a couple of buddy's to play with. Online is great too. I've been reading forums about people complaining of younger kids who can't control their tempers and such but it's really a great online experience.
The controls are pretty easy to pick up on. Active reloading may seem like a chore but it makes the game that much better. The cover system is pretty good but it can be finicky at times. I've been in a situation at times where I'll be up against a wall and I'll press "A" to take cover but the character just attempts a sprint with the camera zooming in and out. But thats no biggy. I also wish there was a crouch mode but thats just a minor request. The ability to crouch WALK, not run, would be pretty nifty.
Overall, this game is solid gold. Nothing short of pure awesomeness. I'm glad I bought this. Thanks Epic for this great game. One more thing, unlike some other games that have been released recently with a ton of glitches and problems with online, Gears of War is pretty flawless when it comes that, at least in my experience with the game. | video-games_xbox |
Breaking Down "Breakdown". . . Give "Breakdown" the credit it deserves. It's a genre-defying first person action game with shooter elements, but an emphasis on hand-to-hand combat. That sounds strange, and it IS strange, but it actually works, if you can believe that! Add to the mix the most immersive 3D game mechanics I've yet seen, and you've got yourself a game that comes recommended despite its disappointments.
The setup is strikingly similar to "Half-Life," with a few twists here and there. You're Derrick Cole, and you come to in a glossy research facility that is being overrun by genetic freaks from another dimension. In fact, you're a bit of a genetic freak yourself, which makes you the only one capable of saving the day. It also means that you'll have to keep an eye out for armed soldiers who would like nothing more than to put a bullet in you. In all truth, the story doesn't make a lot of sense, but the game is so good at inserting you into its nonsensical setting that it becomes sufficiently compelling.
Initially, "Breakdown" feels like a first-person shooter. You must escape the facility, and firearms are in good supply to help you do just that. Things change, though, when you come face-to-face with your first mutant, as they are completely immune to gunfire. Avoidance is the only policy at first (and the game lays on the tension nice and thick), until at last you begin to morph into a being that is physically capable of taking on mutants in hand-to-hand combat. Because the shooter elements are so basic (you have a severely limited arsenal and targeting can be a chore), things start to get really interesting at this point, because, to my continuing disbelief, this form of combat works so well - provided you're not juggling several opponents at once. Sometimes the game forces you to take on a handful of powerful opponents, and it just becomes frustrating. Fortunately, in most cases it's a simple matter to lure your stupid enemies from their positions and beat them to death one-by-one. Later in the game this is less of an option, since you're hurled into rooms you can't escape until you've pummeled all the mutants it throws your way. Getting hit in the back and watching a ten second animation of you dropping to the ground is less than amusing.
The early stages of the game are immensely well done, and are complete with some staggeringly cool set pieces. One, which introduces you to the game's appropriately scary villain, a half-man called Solus, is better than just about any scripted moment I've ever seen in a game of this type. There are several moments early on that are worth playing repeatedly, and take cinematic gaming to a whole new level. In particular, Derrick's hallucinations as he mutates are imaginative and eerie. Unfortunately, all of these moments are frontloaded, and there are few such bits as you near the finale.
Speaking of the finale, here's where a great games settles with just being good. It's as though the designers got tired of all the work it must have taken to make the first half of the game so brilliant, and just cobbled together the remaining portion. What's more, you have to go through one large area twice! Nothing changes, it's essentially just the same as it was the first time you experienced it. It's every bit as disappointing as it sounds, and will probably threaten to break the will of many players. It doesn't help that it's the worst part of the game in the first place, as the alien dimension stages are visually unappealing, repetitive, and downright frustrating. The game tries to transform itself into a first-person platformer here, and it's ill-advised.
I've been an avid gamer for over ten years, and I've never seen a game with such potential fall short of greatness by a mere hand's breadth, but that's exactly what "Breakdown" does. The initial game is brilliantly executed, and promises an experience that is not delivered when it's all said and done. Even so, there's nothing out there quite like "Breakdown," and I recommend it highly despite its shortcomings. After all, those shortcomings are only as disappointing as they are because the game is otherwise such a joy to experience. Don't overlook this one.
Final Score: A- | video-games_xbox |
Addictive, Original but Short. Indigo Prophecy is a game like no other. It truly gives the feeling that you are playing a moving instead of a video game. Your decisions will alter the outcome of the game and often they can lead to your demise. The graphics of the game are excellent. The controls are simple to use but there's a tutorial to train you on the basic moves if needed. The storyline is original and engrossing, the voice work is about as good as you'll find in any game. This is more of a RPG than a standard action game. You won't get into battles head on, but rather you will play a series of "simon says" sequences that you can pass or fail depending on your dexterity. There is a flaw with this type of combat system in that the guide shows up on the screen and you are so focused on trying to master the moves that you miss what is actually going on in the game.
You'll play as different characters, the lead, a presumed murderer and the cops that are tracking you down. This adds interest to the game as you will diligently try to escape the cops one minute and the next you are desperately looking for clues to try to catch the character that you just played. Throughout the game, you'll have to make decisions: conversation topics, actions, etc. For the most part, each decision alters the game outcome so you have to think about what could happen in the long run but you will only have a limited amount of time to do so. The game plays like a movie and unlike most games, the cut scenes are not transitions into the next chapter but are actually the game itself. Indigo Prophecy is a bit short, however there is significant replay value as making different decisions can completely change the outcome of the game. It is obvious that there was a great deal of time and thought put into the development of this game and it clearly shows. This is one of the most original, clever games created for any platform. Give this one a try. | video-games_xbox |
Starts out great, ends with too many plot twists and additions. Initially the game starts out as you playing as a killer, stabbing a man to death in a diner bathroom. You then get introduced to the police force searching for said killer, and you play as them as well. It's a very interesting concept, and is fun to kind of play both sides of the fence while hoping for a resolution and some answers to why this is all happening to our baffled friend, Mr. Lucas Kane.
While playing the game I found Lucas Kane to be more of a confused worry wart then anything, I mean he did just kill a man so it's pretty much to be expected. I like the strength Carla Valenti the lead police officer on the case has, and I found Tyler Miles the second in command to be amusing but kind of lacking in the brains department on occasion. Overall it was a good mix and cast of characters.
The graphics were very nice for a last gen title, and the sounds went well with the game. I found the game to be nice and creepy in the beginning but just very unbelievable and kind of goofy towards the end.
The controls were very strange in that they changed depending on the camera angle, so holding left would now go up if the camera angle changed. I hated this and fought with it quite a few times while on my adventure to solve this mystery. I also thought the camera was OK, but could have been better implemented.
Gameplay: C+ (It's more of an interactive story with many many QTEs or Quick Time Events where button presses pop up you must push quickly or fail the test. This can usually effect the story or outcome of certain major events in the game. Also most of the button presses and decisions are timed, but the game is fairly forgiving in letting you restart chapters if you die or what not. The game was a decent length and the story started with a bang, but ended in a whimper. By the end there were too many mystical elements, plot twists, and characters. But it was still a decent title, and I would recommend it to someone looking for something different. Or people who like Shenmue, or other similar adventure games.)
Graphics: B ( Sometimes the characters didn't look so well rendered, especially Tyler Miles. But overall for a last gen title they looked good and the backgrounds and such were nicely detailed.)
Sound: A (Good sounds, can be creepy and add to the atmosphere. Plus any game that paid licensing to get Teddy Pendergrass's Love TKO for their game at least deserves an A in my book =) )
Fun: C+ ( I enjoyed the story element more then the QTEs. Not that I don't like QTE games, I do. But sometimes they went on forever, plus the speed of them was nuts at times, and I was playing on easy! I did have fun, but wouldn't revisit this title once I beat it, I instead opted to watch the other two endings I missed on Youtube. I got the best ending if anyone cares lol.)
Overall: C+ ( It's a different kind of adventure game with some very cool elements I would like to see again in the future. I also liked the story until about the half way point or so. The controller and camera issues were silly, and the stealth levels really angered me at points. But if you like a unique kind of game, or haven't played this, give it a whirl. You may really enjoy yourself. ) | video-games_xbox |
A Sloppy Yet Enjoyable Budget Priced Experience. The Cursed Crusade is yet another Templar game, following other releases such as the Assassin's Creed franchise and The First Templar. Unlike both of those, The Cursed Crusade has been released at a $39.99 budget price (The First Templar debuted for $49.99; the Assassin's Creed games debut at $59.99). While the lower price point makes the shortcomings a little more forgivable, it doesn't make it any better of a game. There's a clear amount of love and dedication that shines through in the final product that Kylotonn Entertainment developed, but sometimes good intentions don't make a stellar product, as is the case with The Cursed Crusade.
I guess I'll start by saying that the combat can look flashy due to very satisfying finishing maneuvers, but there's a delayed reaction from the on-screen avatar after a button press. The combat isn't as 1:1 as I would like it to be. Had the combat been more intuitive and reactionary, I would've given it more props since the heavy feel and satisfying finishers are both positives to me.
The story can be good campy fun and pretty enjoyable, but everything in The Cursed Crusade is very long-winded. There are a lot of cutscenes, which last forever, and the hammy stuff -- though definitely enjoyable -- can get a tad bit tiresome after so much of it.
The presentation is a total mixed bag. It's got a low budget look, but it's not a terrible looking game by any means. The most depressing part of the presentation are graphical glitches, choppy character animations, in addition to the asinine amount of screen tear. Like I said, it's not a terrible looking game, but it's very sloppy in overall execution, and it stinks of low budget development.
Though this review may come off as very negative, it's still an enjoyable game. The combat isn't perfect, but it's still flashy and fun at times. The story stuff can become aggravating because it's so long-winded, but it's still interesting enough to watch most of the time.
At the end of the day, when you truly look at what The Cursed Crusade offers, the budget price of $39.99 is still a bit high considering the game's overall lack of level design sophistication, because each level comes down to arena-style fight, cutscene, arena-style fight, cutscene, wash, rinse and repeat. There's not many down moments where you're just soaking in the environments, solving puzzles, etc. The formula is quite basic, which is why it's sad that what little is here isn't more refined. There's still a lot of things to enjoy about The Cursed Crusade, but this is one game that's cursed by mediocrity. | video-games_xbox |
Great headset - UPDATED from Missing Adapter. SECOND EDIT 8/25/2017:
I replaced these with Sennheiser Game Ones about 6 months ago, and forgot to update this review. I was ignorant of true headset craftsmanship when I reviewed these, as the true lack of quality of the Turtle Beaches came out after about a year. They are fragile. If they sit too long on their side, the ear cup swivel joints crack, preventing the headset from fully seating around your ears on your head. Its the headsets Achilles heel. I used enough superglue, tape, and even ZIP TIES, to hold the world together. But they would not hold flushly to my ears, causing an improper soundstage. They were great for about 6 to 9 months, but the Turtle beach warranty is a trap, which lead me to rigging them with glue, etc. The Sennheiser set I have now has a better design for the ear cup swivel, much more sturdy. They are performing like brand new even more than 6 months after unboxing. Will never buy TB again after going through 2 brand new sets in less than 2 years. Sennheiser FTW
FULL EDIT 3/16/2015: Amazon was no help. Ended up purchasing a second pair of XO Seven Pro's , brand new for the $138 listed price, and returned the incomplete package I received from Amazon warehouse deals. Took a week to get my refund, and I ended up spending an extra $40 to get what I wanted, but the price point is still fair at $138. Not to mention I got the product unopened with no surprises waiting in the box. Going to 5 star because the product itself deserves it, and I won't deter people from getting a great gaming headset. Just don't buy nice products from Amazon Warehouse Deals.... you get what you pay for.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Putting 1 star only because headset came without the "Ear Force Headset Audio Controller PLUS." I know what happened - someone bought the XO7 Pro headset, opened it, switched out their standard Xbox Headset Adapter with the Audio Controller Plus and returned the whole package. No one at Amazon checked to make sure the little headset adapter in the package was actually the Audio Controller PLUS that has ALL of the special features for the XO7 like the Superhuman Hearing, Mic monitering, etc. It was just put up for sale as a Warehouse Deal listed as Like New condition, Factory Sealed box. Definitely factory sealed, was blatantly opened, and the adapter switched out.
It's an awesome headset itself, multi purpose, comfortable, sound quality is awesome, and definitely worth 5 stars - but I didn't buy just the headset. This purchase gets 1 star until I receive the correct Ear Force Audio Controller PLUS that should have been included with what I bought. | video-games_xbox |
Loses ALL save progress. I was enjoying the game. It is much improved over Assassin's Creed 1. However, I was well into the game, about 40 hours into it, I let the game finish it's autosave, then quit from the game menu. The next day, I was looking forward to reaching a major milestone in the game. I was shocked to discover that I had lost my save. Actually, that's not entirely true. I had lost ALL PROGRESS. The save file had disappeared. 40 hours of play was down the drain.
After researching this, I found many others were having this problem since 2009. The prevailing theory of the cause is that Ubisoft's UPlay (online system) somehow is responsible. If you log into xbox live and play the game...it communicates with Ubisoft's servers. I say this is a theory because Ubisoft would not address it adequately. This is why when I purchased the game in 2012, the issue was not corrected. I have heard that other Ubisoft games were having additional issues, including problems with their piracy protections and servers.
It has been three years since this problem was first reported, yet Ubisoft has not corrected it. I found a long record on various forums of the issue. Since I already own the game, I am going to restart it and play only when not connected to xbox live to see if I can finish the game. I'm not looking forward to it though. All the climbing gets a little boring. And having to sit through long cutscenes you've already seen, with no option to skip, is tedious. I will try it once more hoping I won't lose all my gameplay again.
The bigger issue here is not that I would lose 40 hours of game progress through no fault of my own, though that is serious enough. The bigger problem is that Ubisoft would just blow off a problem like this. They don't seem to care about the problem at all. So they don't deserve my time or, especially, my money in the future.
I WILL NEVER PURCHASE ANOTHER UBISOFT PRODUCT AGAIN. YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK. | video-games_xbox |
Really Good Sound. Things to think about here...
- There are cables. Actually, kind of a lot of cables. There's one from the headset to the mixer thing, and then more cables from that to whatever game system you're using. An xbox 360 needs a cable to the controller for the mic (included). If you hate cables, this will bug you. If having something lying around with a lot of cables looking a bit messy when you're NOT playing bothers you, make a plan for how you're gonna store it. so you don't have to look at them.
- The sound quality is very good. You can hear what direction sounds are supposed to be happening at, which is a big deal for things like shooter games. The EQ settings are supposed to allow you to enhance sounds like footsteps to make things even better, but I'll admit I'm not sure how much of a difference that's making so far exactly.
- I'm judging this on the basis of headsets that can connect to both xbox and PS3. Most devices can't do both, and you tend to have to pay a price premium to get that feature. If you just want to connect to a PC for gaming, or you're only worried about one console or the other, you can probably get something a bit cheaper that's otherwise pretty comparable in quality (though without the nice mixer thing).
- If you want to use optical out instead of the RCA cables on a PS3, you need to get your own optical cable. If you want to use the standard PS3 cables on the other hand (the ones that came in the PS3 box that can be used instead of an HDMI cable), you'll need to go into the PS3 audio settings and tell it to send the audio there instead of through HDMI (you can also choose to enable multi-out, which means it'll send the audio to both. I leave that turned on so I don't have to unhook them. I just turn the volume on the tv all the way down if I don't want to hear it through HDMI). You also need to plug in the USB cable on the PS3.
- The ability to plug your phone in at the same time is a nice touch for some people, and a total gimmick for others. If you use your phone A LOT for calls and texting, it'll be great to make sure you don't miss anything. If you NEED to get calls for work (like you're a doctor or a sysadmin or whatever and you have to be 'on call' in case of emergencies) I'd imagine that would also make this feature VERY worthwhile. For many people, I imagine it won't get used a whole lot.
- With the second cable, the one with the inline mic instead of the boom mic, you get a headphone jack that you can just plug into phones or a computer or whatever so you can use it without getting the mixer involved.
- As headsets go, these are very comfy. My nephew has been using them some when he comes over and joins me in games, and he was happy with them too, so they can comfortably fit kids as young as 5th graders at the least.
- The mic is very clear and allows you to hear yourself so that you don't end up screaming people. There's also a mic mute button in addition to the switch that turns the mic between the games and your phone.
- Their website says it's PS4 compatible. I haven't used it, but they say so. You need to buy the digital optical cable if you want to do that.
So anyway, the most distinctive feature is potentially just a gimmick that might not be useful for you. Other than that, the sound is really good, they're comfortable, and the price is fairly reasonable for a brand new set of headphones that can connect to PS3/PS4/Xbox360/random other devices that accept headphones (no idea about Xbox One, sorry).
If you wanted something of comparable ability and quality without the cables, I'm thinking you'd proooobably have to either spend more or go with something refurbished. The cables themselves are a little bit of a bother at times. Think seriously about how much you game, where you are relative to your game system, and whether cables are likely to bug you before you invest in something. They don't bother me *enough* that I would personally choose to buy wireless over these if I were going out shopping for a new headset tomorrow, but I certainly can't speak for everyone. | video-games_xbox |
X BOX Ninja Gaiden Preview Tokyo Game Show. Upon reading others reviews it is impossible to rate this game because it is still in development. There isn't even a possible demo yet. I saw the game at Tokyo Game Show 2003 on Sept 27 Sunday a week ago ( I live in Japan). It really erks me when people rate a game that isn't done yet. I have seen about a 4 to 7 minute demo which is what I based this reveiw off of. In this game, which includes the main character running up walls and utilizing a variety of weapons including nun chucks, bow and arrows, and a sword there is smooth transition and interaction. The enemies are well developed characters also which includes a white haired buff guy that sports nun chucks, a dinosaur skeleton and zombie like creatures. I have to tell you that out of all of the games at the game show this game was the most impressive action game there. It was the only fast paced (unlike the stealthy Metal Gear Solid 3) action game that wasn't a devil may cry rip off, unlike cy girls which is a devil may cry slash metal gear rip off that I somehow managed to like anyway. This is the breakdown of the 10 best games at the show:
1. Half Life 2 (PC)
3. Ninja Gaiden (X Box)
2. Metal Gear Solid 3/Twin Snakes (PS2/ Gamecube)
3. Gran Turismo 4 ( PS2 sorry not a big racer fan)
4. Berserk (New PS2 game)
5. Shadow Hearts 2 (PS2)
5. True Fantasy Online (X Box)
6. Dinosaur Hunter (PS2)
7. Resident Evil Online (PS2)
8. Otogi 2 (X Box)
9. Suikoden 4 (PS2)
10. Eye Toy (PS2)
There will be a lot of Devil May cry clones coming out, so be on the look out. I never take time to write review but when I saw the rating for this game at a three star and it isn't even out yet I was upset because I know a lot of people buy games on Amazon and other online marketplaces, and they use the star review to buy their games, so trust me when I say this, this game is hot. But maybe you should wait for a professional review, but I aint, because this game along with other Tecmo titles convinced me to buy an X Box. nuff said. | video-games_xbox |
Really Great Game. "Halo 4" is an amazing game, and I think it's the best "Halo" game so far. If you're a fan of the series or of first-person shooters, why are you wasting time reading this review? Just buy the game.
Well, if you want a little more information... This is a great game. It starts off with Cortana waking the Chief up from cryosleep on an abandoned Forward Unto Dawn, shortly before the ship is pulled into the nearby planet's gravity well. Here, the Chief and Cortana face not only the Covenant, but a new group of enemies, the Prometheans, along with a creature that's long been imprisoned that's been recently freed.... To make matters worse, Cortana is dealing with rampancy, degradation AI's go through once they are over 7 years old.
I really enjoyed the story in this game. It was interesting, but most of all, I enjoyed the relationship between the Chief and Cortana. There seemed to be more of it in this game than in previous ones. And I liked to see the Chief's concern for Cortana's condition. I think this game had a bit more of an emotional aspect to the game, which made it a great game for me.
Now I never do any of the online stuff; I only played the Campaign, so it's the only part I can properly review. But, I read that it also comes with various multiplayer features and Spartan Ops, which appears to be a second story to the game that you get on XBox Live.
Extra notes. The graphics are spectacular. There were a couple times in the beginning and end cut scenes where the human faces could've been mistaken for photographs, they were that good. I have yet to see that in any other game I've played so far. I also like the music in this game better than in previous ones. Also, there are also some new weapons in this game, including a new grenade and the very powerful and very awesome Incineration Cannon (I'll let you guess what it does). There's also a pretty cool new "vehicle", the Mantis, which is kind of a mechanized suit.
All in all, a really great game, with all the things we love about the series, plus more. I would absolutely suggest buying it. So go do it. | video-games_xbox |
Great Game. I would like to start off by stating that I have played and own most of the Call of Duty games. For the 3 different modes of the game, read their respective sections below.
Campaign: (No Spoilers)
In my opinion, the campaign of MW3 was very good, but not as good as MW2 and BO. It has a decent storyline and loads of action, but some of the missions just weren't as fun and seemed like doing the same thing in a different place. The campaign of MW3 isn't too difficult and is about on par with MW2. Veteran is still pretty difficult, but there are no points which are brutally hard. I liked that Infinity Ward brought back some of my favorite characters from past games, and introduced lots of new ones as well. Like past games, there are multiple intel items to find and achievements regarding doing special tasks which aren't too difficult.
Multiplayer:
The multiplayer of this game is very fun, in my opinion. I agree that some of the maps are not as good as the others, but I don't think that all of them are terrible. Sometimes multiplayer can be very frustrating because of extremely overpowered weapons or bad losses, but not most of the time. There is a huge amount of weapons, attachments, and equipment that you can unlock. Many favorites have returned from previous games, and some new ones have been added. There is a new "Weapon Rank" system. Whenever you get a kill with a weapon, you get experience points for your main ranking system and the new Weapon Rank system. There are 31 progressive weapon ranks, and almost each new rank unlocks a new attachment or camo design for that weapon. Perks are special abilities that nyou choose for your player, and 3 are selected. There are many perks, including some that help you reload faster, sprint faster, or detect enemy equipment. There is also a "Pro" variant of each perk, which extends the ability of that perk (i.e. Scavenger-Collect ammo from each killed enemy, Scavenger Pro-Spawn with extra ammo) and is unlocked after completing challenges for that perk. There are 3 killstreak categories, Assault, Support, and Specialist. In Assault, it's the classic Killstreak system, get multiple kills in one life, reset when you die. It is mainly focused on getting kills on the enemy team. In Support, your killstreak doesn't reset when you die. It is mainly focused on helping out your team get kills. In Specialist, your streak resets when you die. After a specific amount of consecutive kills, your player receives an additional perk. At 7 kills, your player receives all of the avaliable perks. Deathstreaks are also in multiplayer, where if you die multiple times in a row without getting any kills, you receive a deathstreak, such as dropping a live grenade when you die, detonating C4, or increased bullet damage for one kill. A new system in Multiplayer is "Weapon Proficiencies". After ranking up a weapon, a player also unlocks proficiencies for that weapon, which are sort of like perks for the weapon, such as increased range or bullet penetration. There are 80 levels in multiplayer, and they normally take a while to progress through. Once you reach level 80, you can "Prestige". When you Prestige, you go back to being level 1 and lose all of your unlocked items. You also get a new Emblem, Title, and a Prestige Token. There are currently 10 Prestige levels, but 10 more will soon be added. Prestige Tokens are used to purchase items in the Prestige Shop, where you can get things such as an extra Custom Class or Double XP for 2 hours.
Spec Ops/Survival:
Spec Ops has returned from MW2. Spec Ops is a mode where you do special mini-missions usually related to the Campaign. You can either do it alone, or with a friend. You can earn up to 3 stars for each mission, depending on what difficulty you completed the mission on or the time it took for the mission. There are 20 missions, and all of them are pretty fun. I highly recommend doing them with a friend, especially on the higher difficulties. You alo rank up in Special Ops, which is a separate rank then in Multiplayer. There are 50 levels, and ranking up unlocks either more Special Ops missions or items in Survival. Survival mode is an extremely fun mode of Special Ops, and probably my favorite thing in MW3. It is similar to Zombies from BO and WaW, Firefight from Halo, or Horde from Gears of War. The maps in Survival mode that you can play on are the same ones in Multiplayer. The objective of Survival is to, well, surive as long as you can while fighting off endless waves of enemies, which progressively get harder. You start off with nothing but a pistol. For every kill you get, you get points that can be used to buy items from the Weapon, Equipment, or Air Support armories. Not all items are avaliable right away, but ranking up in Spec Ops unlocks new items. In the Weapon Armory, you can purchase guns and attachments for them. In the Equipment Armory, you can buy things that help you defend against the enemies, such as Sentry Guns or Riot Shields. In the Air Support Armory, you can buy things like Predator Missiles, Airdrop Markers, Perk Care Packages, and even friendly troops to assist you! You also start off with a Self-Revive and Body Armor. Self-Revives allow you, if downed, to kill an enemy to get back up. Body Armor lets you take 250 points of damage before you die. You can buy both of these from the Equipment Armory. When playing with a friend, if a player gets downed, the other player has one minute to revive him, or the game ends. The 20 Survival Maps have different difficulties, which are not selected by the player, but already put in. The difficulties are Easy, Normal, Hard, and Insane. The difficulties change not how much health the player has, but how quickly harder troops like Juggernauts and Attack Helicopters appear.
Overview:
Modern Warfare 3 is a very good game, and has a good campaign, great multiplayer, and very entertaining Spec Ops modes. I would definitely recommend this game to newcomers of the Call of Dty series and veterns alike. It may not be as good as the other games in the genre and series, but is definitely worth buying, especially if a lot of your friends have it too. | video-games_xbox |
Not what it could be. A lot of people complain about the microtransitions, and I agree. But there's so much more wrong with this game. Forza was one of the reasons I decided to stay with the Xbox instead of migrating to the PS4, and I almost regret it. I read an article that was an interview with one of the designers from Turn 10. He mentioned that they had fewer tracks and cars because they were trying to impress with quality instead of quantity. That's all well and good, but when you only have 14 tracks, they get old very quickly. Sure the quality is amazing, but I would forego some of the quality for an additional track or more cars that I don't have to use real money to get. Additionally, there is no hope of them releasing new tracks as DLC anytime soon either. They said it took, on average, 9 months, to laser image each track and program the polygons.
I don't know why they made me start out 14/16 each time. I remember the old versions starting at the back, but it was only 10 or 12 total in the race. This makes it annoying because of the new ghost opponents. I have had some that try to crash me and some that just ignore any racing line. It makes it quite difficult to pass people efficiently when they're in your line. I miss the old bots. I agree with everyone else about the microtransitions and how difficult it is to acquire new cars in this game. You're not gifted any cars, you get diddily for races, and there's only a small reward for all golds at the end of a series. It's just not the same.
The last annoyance I have with the game is that you can't fast-forward thru the coin accumulation or the lady who talks before each race. I should be able to hit "A" and the coins are instant and we're on to the next race. Instead, the game is just load screen after load screen. It gets annoying and tedious.
The game does have good racing and amazing graphics. Once you're actually racing and not crashing into the opponents, the game is pretty decent. But to get there requires a fair amount of headache. | video-games_xbox |
I have played better. As a veteran of the old Wolfenstein first 3d first person shooter, I have been gaming for a while. Halo 3 is a disappointment for a number of different reasons. Lets begin...
1. The campaign is awesome, unless your fighting limitless amount of zombies. Which you end up doing about 80% of the time. Having said that, the campaign is not awesome. It gets very repetitive and just out right boring having to shoot the same twisted looking dudes running at you over and over again.
It is also just too short, Halo 2's campaign kept you interested while Halo 3's makes you never want to play it again.
2. The multiplayer, I am not really sure why people play this game to be honest. Its just down right aweful. The team play has absolutely zero strategy, which typically results in half of your team mates running to get the overshield or the shotgun, and when you get it first you typically are betrayed (killed) by your team mate so he take your recently acquired goodies.
Also if you are an adult, the constant barrage of 10 year olds talking smack or making obscene noises and/or tea bagging you after they kill you, will get old very quickly. You simply cannot play one night without running into one of these idiots.
The last bug in Halo 3, is the horrible game play on the multiplayer. I don't know how many times I have shot someone point blank to the face with a shot gun, only to be beaten down. Or on two occasions (when viewing the games in theater) bullets that completely miss my body and/or head that still result in a instant kill, or the bullet shooting 150 degrees out of the sniper rifle into my head. That was my favorite.
However, what I do like about Halo 3 is Bungie's website. They catalogue all your medals, your recent game scores and diagrams of your kills on the maps, your rank and how much more skill you need to rank up, your screen shots, your theater movies. All of that is pretty cool, and is a sort of collection to your time on Halo 3.
Personally, the major thing that keeps me playing Call of Duty 4 is major amount of Idiots that play Halo 3 after 12am. If you are an adult, play COD 4, if you are under 14, play Halo 3. | video-games_xbox |
A fun merging of heroes and LEGOs. The Fantastic Four. The X-Men. The Avengers. About the only way to get them on the same screen together is in video game form (due to the mess that is the Marvel movie rights). While that is a source of frustration for fans of the Marvel movies, at least the video games seem to be able to get it right as LEGO marvel Super Heroes for the Mac provides over a hundred different characters to romp through adventures with.
What really sells this game is the variety. In all of the LEGO games, there is a tendency for characters to have overlapping traits. If you are playing a Star Wars game, you get a handful of characters who use blasters, a handful who use The Force, you have droids - but they feel very similar. In LEGO Marvel there are certainly similar characters. Spider-man and Iron Man both use ranged attacks, but the way that they play with the environment can differ. With so many heroes and villains called upon in this game, the variety is impressive and really makes for some fun environmental problem solving.
Like other LEGO games, there are a couple of things that Marvel does very well. The first is the humor. These games are whimsical, delightful and simply a lot of fun. They are approachable for an old comic book fan like myself, but still entertaining for my youngest daughter. The other thing I expect from these titles is puzzle-solving. With all of these different super powers, there was ample opportunity for clever level design, and the development team made the most of it. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes has some of the best level design of any LEGO title, and there is lots of reason to come back and play again once you unlock some new characters.
One of my favorite aspects to these LEGO games is unlocking new content. With the large city acting as a hub between levels, there is ample reason and space for exploration. This will no doubt appeal to fans of open world content, though myself I preferred the primary missions. The storyline is fairly standard stuff, but it fits in with the comic book roots of the game. Some of the encounters are more entertaining than others, but almost all of the boss fights are fun once you figure out what it is you are trying to do.
As much fun as the idea of comic book heroes merged with LEGO bricks are, it is worth noting that this is actually one of the least attractive LEGO games I have played in a while. The character models are adequate - they are at least distinctive from one another, but they somehow feel 'off' compared to some of the others I have played. Additionally, levels are cleverly designed but often not all that great to look at. I much preferred the more fantasy-like visuals found in Lord of the Rings or even Jurassic World (which in fairness is a newer title).
With more of an open world exploration vibe, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes will likely appeal to a slightly different audience than some of the more structured LEGO titles. As a result, this one took me longer to complete than others, but did not seem to have quite as many high points for me either. Perhaps it is because this is a more original tale than what the LEGO games usually present. The majority of their titles have the structured narrative of movies to follow (whether it be the Jurassic titles, Indiana Jones, Star Wars or others).
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes deserves some credit for doing things a bit differently than some of the other LEGO titles I have played, however it is not quite as memorable at the end of the day either. The humor and puzzles I expected certainly held up their end of the bargain and it was a fun experience overall. Fans of the LEGO titles or who just really want to see their favorite Marvel characters together on the same screen will not be disappointed. | video-games_xbox |
Really, Turtle Beach...shame on you. I previously had reviewed the <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Turtle-Beach-Ear-Force-X42-Wireless-Dolby-Surround-Sound-Gaming-Headset/dp/B006W41W3M/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Turtle Beach Ear Force X42 Wireless Dolby Surround Sound Gaming Headset</a>. For a headset that normally goes for a $160, I was expecting a lot from the Turtle Beach...and it did fairly well. I was pretty disappointed by the lackluster bass performance, however.
The mic on this headset performs about as well as the Turtle Beach does. Range is also quite excellent - I'm able to walk to the other side of my house and still hear what's going on without interference which is impressive given that I do have a dual-band router plus an assortment of electronics throughout the house.
Where this headset excels over the Turtle Beach, however, is in bass reproduction. For a headset that retails for $90 less than Turtle Beach's X42, it puts it to shame. It's not going to be a contender for a Beats or a Bose headset, mind you, but it really puts the Turtle Beach to shame. Playing Borderlands, I hear the satisfying low roar of a rocket launcher firing and the thud of a far off explosion which sounds puny on the Turtle Beach. The Immersive Audio mode is by far my favorite audio mode for playing games and it sounds great.
And can the X42 work on the PC? Or the Playstation? Or with a mobile phone? I think not - this Afterglow actually is compatible with ALL of these devices at a fraction of the price.
Battery life promises 10 hours - I have used it for 9 thus far and not a glimmer/hint of the headset's battery life waning. The lithium ion battery appears to work as advertised thus far.
As for build, this headset doesn't feel like it's going to break like the X42 does. It's pretty solid and actually withstands some deformation without breaking (don't push it though - the intent is to protect damage from "casual" use, not so you can show your friends how it bends like a reed). The ear pads also feel like they are better quality with a nice comfortable leather feel. The headset does feel a bit on the small side for me, but then size 8 hats feel almost uncomfortably snug on me so I'm sure that it will feel pretty comfortable on the average head.
A brief note on the mic - I like the fact that it's retractable. Having the swivel mic on the Turtle Beach set was occasionally annoying; having the ability to tuck away the mic when I'm not using it gets a big thumbs up from me.
This headset will never replace my audiophile headsets, but for gameplay, this set really puts Turtle Beach on notice...Turtle Beach is NOT the company that I remember anymore.
Highly recommended! | video-games_xbox |
Initial Setup is Terrible, Absolutely Terrible. I just received this. Packed ok, shipped a week later than it should have. Installing/setting up now. Wow. what a HUGE pain. The kinect device was the only thing that installed quickly. I live in Chicago with FAST internet. I got three games with the bundle: Gears of War, Ori and the Blind Forest and Replay. Everything needs to be "updated" via download...I mean EVERYTHING! The XBOX One itself (an hour), both controllers (a few minutes each), Ori was a download - no DVD this took 5 hours as the Xbox kept going into sleep mode (default is set to sleep after an hour, it should be set to 6hours!), Gears of War (I haven't even bothered), Replay, the update is larger than the initial DVD install??? (hours). Keep in mind all these updates you have to click through and deal with.
After waiting a total of about 7-8 hours forced to be home and inserting DVDs, downloading, blah blah blah, the Ori game (main game I got this to play with my kid) doesn't even work AFTER WAITING 5 HRS! My kid, like most, is impatient so the Xbox gift totally backfired. Even after installing Gears of War when I click on cancel to update, it won't let me play the installed version. YOU HAVE TO UPDATE or no go. Not only that but I have kids so naturally I want to prompt for my password. Holy moly I've entered it 30? times with a joystick interface. For some reason even though I'm logged into live.com, XboxOne keeps asking me to log in when it shows my name and gamer # at the top of the screen. This process is truly a mess. A royal miss of a mess, MSFT. Maybe if you already did all this and wanted to install one new game every so often its not a big deal but initially expect to actually play 2 days after you unpack and dedicate a weekend. I'm a busy family man and a weekend of my time costs more than I paid for the whole bundle. I'm in software and we update and print DVDs for our customers. No excuse. That's the problem with public-traded companies, anything to cheap out and save money - we pay with time.
Now, I go to support.xbox.com and try to set up a chat - nope - they are "too busy". Seriously? I'm on my own here. I'll update my review as I actually start using the Xbox. | video-games_xbox |
Buggy and Unplayable. I received this for my birthday, and while I welcome the gift... this game, and I don't say this lightly, is the worst console game I've ever played.
The game had such great potential, however the execution of it was extremely flawed. The controls are clunky, the pacing is so-so and the AI is atrocious. The story is passable, if you're a fan of Red Dawn (which I am). The final, fatal, flaw is simply the horrible glitches that plague the game to the point where it is no longer physically able to finish the campaign mode.
Initially it wasn't too bad, you could game around it:
- Save points take 5-10 seconds long and come up almost randomly
- Load times were in the several minutes range.
Then things started getting a little worse:
- RC IEDs would fall through the terrain
- RC viewers would emit constant static noise, even when the car wasn't moving
- The AI would shoot me through walls/cover
- Crafting would consume more resources, randomly.
Then, in the final leg of the game, it gets downright unplayable (literally):
- The mission "Aftermath" begins with a cutscene, then the game goes straight to black - no loading screen, but you can hear your character in the background. The controller still functions - switching guns/shooting guns, pause menu, jumping, etc. Sit there as long as you want, it isn't going anywhere. I spent 20 minutes with XBOX live support to eliminate my profile and restore it to force a download of the save point. This worked (thank you, Microsoft).... but
- The final straw for me was in the mission Sam Security. You're escorting two makeshift SAMs. The path-finding is attractions! After several reloads of the checkpoints I was able to get one car to its destination, but the other car is literally driving itself directly and endlessly into another vehicle. All attempts to trick/force/plead with the driver were useless and resulted in me getting run over many times.
After trying to debug these for a bit, the only support for me at this point (based on the Homefront forum) is to "replay the campaign" and "see if that works."
Save your money, buy something else or give it away... | video-games_xbox |
The Xbox's best. In Halo, Bungie has created one of the most magnificent and believable worlds to grace the gaming world. They've created a massive planet sprawling with rocks and trees and grass and water. They've created an alien race called the Covenant, a deadly, yet intelligent species who serve as archenemies to humans. The amount of work and detail that went into the game is unbelievable. From the moment you pick up the controller to the moment you finish the game, you will be immersed in a first person shooter unlike any other. The game is magic the moment you pick up the controller. Simply put, Halo is one of the greatest games ever created.
Halo is a pure action, shoot `em up blood bath, but it's done better than all of the other of its kind. First off, the AI is amazing. To this date the AI remains the absolute best, even better than the sequels. These are enemies who really don't want to die. When in danger, they take cover or run out of fear. Other games feature enemies who stand out in the open and have no sense of their own mortality. Not so in Halo. They fight back as though they don't want to die. They fight in large groups, never solo, so the sight of a single elite means there are also a few grunts nearby. While some enemies are easier to kill than others, all nonetheless pose big threats to you. The small, cowardly grunts attack in large groups; jackals take cover behind their powerful shields while firing their pistols at a rapid rate; hunters are massive, heavily armored, and carry giant weapons; and elites are the smartest and deadliest of all - almost equal to Master Chief. You have to be aware of each one to make sure they don't overcome you. In other words, don't be stupid and always be alert. In the legendary difficulty you find yourself in fifteen to twenty minute long gunfights with a single enemy group of covenant - that's how hard it gets.
A mark of a great game is how much it has been imitated. As an example, the game's weapon system is one of the best out there. There are only eight weapons, and all are well-balanced. Before Halo came out, shooters were all about finding more and more powerful weapons as you progressed through the game. After Halo, everything changed. Now games are all about a handful of well-balanced weapons. Now, instead of carrying a huge arsenal of weapons, you can only carry two or three at once, so trading one for another means you are making a sacrifice. Also widely imitated is Halo's revolutionary health system. Halo relies on a shield that recharges over time, and ever since many other shooters have used the same system. It means you can enter all gunfights at your strongest at all times and the game can challenge you at every turn without you having to worry about entering the next tough gunfight with only a sliver of health.
Halo sports wonderful visuals, which is one reason the worlds are so immersive. The bump-mapping, back when that term was popular, helps immerse you into the game's world. Characters also move and look realistic. It's hilarious to see a grunt running from you with arms flailing after you have just killed an elite. The sounds and music are awesomely done, also. Halo is one of the rare shooters that has such memorable music accompanying its name. There are so many things I could talk about with this game, including the brilliant, suspenseful build-up to the encounter with the Flood, and the great multiplayer. If you've never played this game, you really owe it to yourself to try it out. This is a rare game that will likely never meet its equal. Not even Bungie could reproduce the magic with any of its sequels. Halo is not just the best game for the Xbox, it is one of the best games ever made. | video-games_xbox |
Brink Could Have Been a Good Game. Brink tries to conglomerate a bunch of features of other FPS games and ends up with a poor product lacking in fun.
I loved one of Splash Damage's first games, Enemy Territory, and played the hell out of it back when that was popular. The gameplay in this game is fundamentally the same, and is probably the best part. What's bad about the game is everything else. Everything feels as if it was never tested by actual people, just developers.
Examples:
* There's a loading screen between levels, seems like a great time to change your loadout, add abilities, etc. You can't, you have to exit back to the main menu.
* Joining friend's games is a little annoying. Accepting a game invite requires that you press a button marked "Launch match on invite" or something equally obtuse.
* In Enemy Territory, you get levels when you play a campaign, and all experience points disappear at the end of the campaign. In Brink, you have to make a character, then experience points accumulate outside of the game, you upgrade your skills, and it's all sort of permanent (you can do "sell all" for your skills, but it drops you a level). It's all quite silly and takes away all the fun of gaining experience that existed in Enemy Territory. It now feels like playing a really bad RPG.
* The level design is universally confusing and hard to navigate, the HUD is only somewhat helpful in this regard.
* Lag compensation is either buggy or just bad, the game feels sluggish and choppy on all but the best connections.
Instead of focusing on making a solid multiplayer-only game (which Team Fortress 2 did, and Left 4 Dead 2 basically did), Brink tries to sell itself as co-op, single player, and multiplayer. But the single player is less fun than Left 4 Dead 2 single player, due to the bad bot AI, and the types of missions you complete.
Because of this lack of multiplayer focus, there's a variety of tacked-on cutscenes and an introductory video that really should not even exist. You should start the game, run through a tutorial level that explains the basics, and go straight to co-op vs bots or online multiplayer. I get the feeling that the developers feel the game is too complicated and want to explain it everywhere except in the actual game itself. Even Halo 1 had a better tutorial level than this. The cutscenes don't matter, because the game has no plot and nobody cares if it's a multiplayer-only game.
So it seems the developers have wasted their resources building features meant to sell the game. Sure it's okay that I can put 20 different beards on my character, jump around like spiderman, and choose from 15 almost indistinguishable guns, but I'd much rather have a solid multiplayer game with interesting objective-based team maps and a good interface.
If Gearbox Software set out to make a crappy Team Fortress 2, it would probably look a lot like this game. | video-games_xbox |
Not ready for prime time... or... a time machine that sends you back 2 seconds, but takes 2 seconds to charge up. Compared with the 360 version and the PS4 version, this is WAY improved! Yet it fails so often, it's like a broken watch - it's right about twice a day.
Well, to be fair, it's more right about 1 in 20 "Xbox on" commands, 1 in 5 "Xbox next" (no, not "next song") commands, 2 in 3 "xbox goto media player" commands, but amazing near perfect "xbox off... yes commands". It just doesn't have the voice software support necessary to make it what it could be. But Microsoft has a notoriously bad track record with voice control, and it feels like their improvements are all hacky - like, for example, it keeps trying to "next song" when I give the "xbox next" command. Unless I have a long hiss in my accent, I can't see how it adds the word "song" to that command so often, except perhaps if they have a list of "high priority" commands, and "next song" is high in the list.
The hand controls are just OK. Most of the time it doesn't seem to see both my hands at once, and sadly, I think they should allow certain two handed motions to better isolate your intention - perhaps even adding some basic sign language motions (wouldn't that be novel, and inspiring...). But as it stands, I use the hand controls for scrolling long lists only. For precision, you need to use your voice, or better the controller, and then you'll wonder, "why bother with the Kinect in the first place?" Especially as gorilla arm starts creeping up on you.
I use the voice commands in some games, like Guitarsmith, and they do work pretty well in games. Guitarsmith is a great example of where the Kinect not only shines, but is virtually necessary. You'll be glad to not have to put down your guitar while playing.
Look, yes, we ALL want Minority Report. We want this thing to work. I personally believe it can, but I'm not entirely sure this version will see it past "novelty". Microsoft tends to have a poor track record in product support, and by that I mean software updates and patches. They are known for quickly shuffling teams after the initial development, and rotating in newbs (all be it, talented newbs) who fail to become inspired with pure bug fixing work (or managers?) to drive innovation and new features. And unless we see a standards added to this type of user interface device, I don't think their implementations are gonna work as expected, or wanted. So I'm glad I have this thing, because "xbox pause" works very well, and so do the volume controls, so I don't have to have a constantly draining controller. But I'm also severely disappointed and often annoyed when it mistakes "xbox volume up" with "xbox call laura", and I have to scramble to find the controller so that 1.) I don't have to speak to Laura through Skype, 2.) I don't miss any more of the "I killed the boss" cutscene I wanted to increase the volume so I could hear, but now have missed because, "Oh, hi Laura! Yeah, I do call you a lot" (*she's sweet, but oh my god can she go on about her sad life) - uninstalling Skype solved this issue for me. Don't you worry about Laura, she has her cats to talk to now. | video-games_xbox |
Overall it has been fun with some different twists. The story was definitely a unique story compared to the rest of the series. Had surprises and twists and things I wasn't expecting. Still haven't completetd it yet so I can't give the verdict on the story.
The gameplay itself is still mostly the same as the rest of the games. They added new stuff like maritime battles, new weapons and items and hunting are a few of them. You can easilly see they were making this a different game, trying new things while keeping the core elements of the series there.
Unfortunately some of the characteristics of this game hold me back from giving it a higher rating. The combat and evasion system aren't as good as past systems. The combat is mostly the same as far as keystrokes and trying to block and dodge. The problem for me comes where the only way to actually remove an enemy from a fight is by using a certain set of key strokes. Most of the fights bring a crowd of enemies. In past games each enemy had health so you would possibly be wittling away the health of the group and reducing the numbers of the mob fighting you little by little (that is if you can't get the kill blows in on each individual member) This game each enemy can only be killed by a kililng blow. If you are slashing them giving a few stabs they will fall to the ground, you must then give the killing blow. If you don't give the killing blow, they will get up and act like nothing has happened and carry on the fight. The problem for me is that the mobs are on you preventing the killing blow so much that it seems like I could be seriously stabbing a guy multiple times but they get up like nothing has happened to them. I do have to say that they have added in enemy ranged attacks and they did a good job of that (though enemies hardly shoot and mostly come in for the bayonett attack that I have seen).
Which leads to the Evasion mechanics. Evading guards and getting away from combat has the similar mechanics to the latest games of not being visible by any guards when you do it. But it seems a whole lot harder and many times makes me feel like I shouldn't even try.
Because combat and evasion seem so annoying to me I don't feel like I always enjoy the game. Maybe these are things that only annoy me and other gamers feel like it adds to the challenge or something. I don't claim to be the best gamer, but these factors hold me back from rating it higher. | video-games_xbox |
Faults aside, a solid 8/10. Okay... first of all, I read reviews before purchasing this game. BUT, I'm a huge RPG buff, so the positive I had read/seen about it outweighed the negative.
I've only had the game for about a week and a half, but I've played it quite a bit. YES, it does have some technical issues. It graphically lags a bit when super fancy-schmancy effects are processed. So they used the Unreal engine and hadn't perfected said use... big deal. AS LONG AS YOU INSTALL IT ONTO YOUR HARD DRIVE, none of the load screens or technical issues really become that big of a deal.
All that aside, the voice acting is pretty freakin awesome if you ask me. The rest of it plays much like any of the more recent Final Fantasy series, but it feels a little different. Most notable are the combat system (A combination of old-school turn-based and a tactics-type system, with a hint of nutmeg), the item customization system (It's pretty ridiculous... in a good way), and the treasure digging system! Heck yes, it's almost like a little mini-game-type nugget that you pick up early on and take with you throughout areas that you explore.
The only problem I've had so far was that my party seemed SO INCREDIBLY WEAK early on (once you reach a point at which Rush ventures off on his own for a bit). It was taking me forever to fight anything or get through areas, and I had to take enemies on in as few numbers as possible. It was later that I realized how to put additional party members into a union. It's MUCH better after that, haha. But that's what I get for not reading the manual.
Honestly, so far, My only complaint (other than that, ideally, there shouldn't be any problems, really, with graphical lag) is that in the morale system, you get a severe detriment to morale if an enemy engages you before you can initiate combat yourself, BUT, there's ABSOLUTELY no way for you to gain any advantage on an enemy. It's either starting at 50/50, or 75-25 in the enemy's favor. Unless, of course, I just haven't gotten that far yet... But, even so, it should be accessible already. It's fairly difficult to sneak up on an enemy...
If ya like RPGs, and you especially like them with an extra dose of strategy, then go ahead and snag this one ^_^ | video-games_xbox |
My general first impressions after my first evening of play. Graphics are pretty good. There are some artifacts, but I am on a 53" TV. Some of the artifacts are things like the players holding the ball on the outside of their glove when picking up a grounder or the detail image of the ball leaving the players hand is static, not dependent on where the player throws the ball. Even with these shortcomings, the graphics are nice. Some of the faces on the players look life-like. Jason Giambi (in NYY penstripes) looks great. The crowds have been scanned in also. So although I hate to see people sitting in the stands wearing Braves hats (especially when my Astros are playing someone like the Cubs, who would be wearing a Braves cap at that game?) at least Acclaim went far enough to make it look more real. Compared to the baseball games I have seen on the PS2 this is a superior graphic version.
Game play is pretty good. The controls are intuitive and offer a good range of play. You can know very little and still play a game with little effort. As you play more, you learn the finer points of drag bunts, widening lead-offs for runners, and superior batting. This game is not like most other console baseball games I have played - meaning it's no homerun fever. I am pretty impressed with the pitching mechanics: choosing pitches and controlling them without the knowledge of the other player is a key to low scoring and good games (it's called "tension" - Triple Play programmers please take note!) Acclaim's mechanics in this area are great; choose the pitch type and pick a location. During the windup you can then move the pitch in the zone via "ghost" mode: you can't see where you are exactly moving it, but neither can the batter. To give the pitcher a little more knowledge of how much he has moved the pitch, Acclaim has defaulted the vibration in the control pad to on. As you move the pitch out of the zone, the vibration increases; move it back in the zone it disappears. Greater distance outside the zone is a greater vibration. You can turn this feature off, but why? Set the pitch up way inside (vibration begins) and as you windup, move it a little into the zone (where the vibration suddenly stops.) Great idea, great execution. Batting is good too. The batters can "guess" what the pitcher is going to throw and if correct and if making contact, then the batter really gets a great hit. Guess wrong but hit the ball and you get things like broken bat singles (yes, the bat breaks and ball and bat are in play,) pop-ups and dribblers. You can also ignore guessing the pitch and focus on just hitting. You can control the angle of the bat: thus if you want a pop fly you can control that easily by pitching the bat angle. Need a grounder, pitch the bat the other way. This can help when you want a sacrifice fly to score a guy from 3rd or want to hit a screaming line drive down the 3rd base path. You also, as a batter, have two types of batting zones: a larger zone that encompasses the whole batting surface of the bat and a "sweet-spot" zone, which is smaller. Making contact in the sweet spot will generally produce a base hit; so with the stronger batters, like Helton, you might fly it out and with finesse batter like Ichiro, you might produce a line drive single. Controlling the players in the field is not yet my best skill; fortunately for me, ASB 2003 allows you to turn on some computer help. This puts the guys into general motion during a hit and allows a little easier novice play. There are also some cool features in controlling the players in the field: using the triggers will allow you to move both the infield and outfield to play depths. Have a guy on first? Move the infield to double play depth. Jeff bagwell up? Put on the "Bagwell Shift" and move the infield and outfield to an extreme right field shade. Barry Bonds up? Move those outfielders to deep, deep positions. You can adjust all this on the fly and it works well.
Outside of game play there are some pretty cool features in the ASB 2003. You can play Quick games, Exhibition games, and League games. There is also a batting practice session. During BP you can choose a left-handed batter who only throws four-seam fastballs, or you can choose a right-handed knuckballer. The choices are pretty deep in this area. You can also play Home Run Derby. Now here is the kicker: you can choose players from the "Legends of Cooperstown" collection. That means you could have Ernie Banks, Reggie Jackson, or Nolan Ryan on your side. Wow! I played Home Run derby last night and my national league team was as follows: Jeff Bagwell (Astro,) Lance Berkman (Astro,) Moises Alou (former Astro, now Cub,) and Joe Morgan (former Astro inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Red.) Joe Morgan is huge...and looks menacing. Acclaim has also taken a cue to put "players cards" into this game. As you accomplish stuff on the field you can earn points: retire the side and earn a single point (so unless you quit, you will eventually get a point each inning as you finish getting the other team out.) Retire the side with all strikeouts and get 5 points. Etc. These points accumulate and you can buy packs of Donnerus cards: each pack has 6 cards. You can trade them too, so I assume if you have a memory pack you could take them to other geeks' houses and trade away.
Overall, I think this is a pretty good game. I think I am going to get a lot of play out of it and at ... for ASB 2003, that's what you want. | video-games_xbox |
You Child Could Become Mozart. ...if they take piano lessons.
With Rock Band 3, Harmonix has decided to take a bold step into the world of pseudo-musicianship. The keyboard peripheral is an attempt to teach you how to play an actual musical instrument. In this case, a two octave keyboard. And therein lies one of it's limitations. This game can teach you how to manipulate a keyboard with one hand, but that is only getting half the job done.
The other limitation lies in the fact that Harmonix has merely extended their musical notation system to include the extra keys of the controller instead of adopting the more classical musical notation system that musicians actually use. Through repetition it will be possible to transfer this learning to a real world situation, but only for the songs you learn to play in Rock Band on Pro Mode Expert difficulty. And only if your band doesn't expect you to play the bass parts.
I think that expectations should be tempered with regard to what musicianship may be gained from this video game. However, as a video game control device, the keyboard is extremely fun to play with. If the Pro Keys mode is too intimidating, or just too frustrating, you can also play in regular mode which lets you reduce the number of viable keys down to the familiar five.
With it's working MIDI port, this is as real a musical instrument as you are going to be able to play with Rock Band until the Fender Squier is released next year. I can certainly see how this might whet the appetite of someone who might be interested in pursuing a more serious study of music, but as a means to an end, it should be remembered that this is first and foremost a video game.
Having said all of that, I have been a musician for thirty years. I have studied music classically and I have also learned that not everything can be taught in "schools". Therefore, I can not dismiss this attempt to cross the line between virtual learning and real. Who knows if this game will inspire anyone to become a "real" musician. I do know that this is the only party game I play at my house...
...and I would remind all of my musician friends who revile the age of plastic intruments, that this same scorn was evidenced when computer music came of age. There are those that embrace the future and there are those who are left behind. And the bottom line is if you enjoy music and you enjoy video games, then you should be having fun playing Rock Band. | video-games_xbox |
An even better story than Nico's? Is that possible. This is downloadable content done right. The story of Johnny K. and the rest of his biker compatriots is done so well that the claim that videogames may overtake movies in the arena of cinematic storytelling is given just that much more credibility. Compared to the cinematics of GTAIV, the cut scenes are a step up in quality on just about all counts. Facial expressions, voice acting... even the small nuances in an actor's performance make the story an engaging one, pulling you in right from the beginning moments.
The big difference between GTAIV and this expansion is that now you take on the role of Johnny Klebitz, a mad dog biker making his way up the ranks of The Lost MC (motorcycle club). The Lost MC are a colorful bunch and to detail these characters would ruin any kind of surprise that the game holds. Let's just say that you'll love who you're supposed to love and you'll despise the ones who deserve it. The story is action packed and dramatic, with great dialogue and great scenes between characters new and old. Even the missions here feel fresh, with some truly astounding mission sequences that really ratchet up the tension with loads of action packed violence. The best part is, the story fills in some unanswered blanks from Niko's time on the streets. You've met Johnny before, you probably just don't remember it.
Gameplay is just about the same with more of a focus on being a part of this family unit on wheels. You'll be spending most of your time on a motorcycle, as you'd expect. Some mechanics like the cell phone remain the same but suffice to say, when you call one of your "brothers", they'll be coming to help you either as weapon suppliers or straight backup. Even when you finish the story there will still be things for you to do: wiping out rival gangs, stealing vehicles for profit and in a tribute to the classic Road Rash games from years back, races where you wail on people with baseball bats. What more can you ask for?
A whole load of new tracks are seamlessly added to the in-game radio stations with 70's flavored rock understandably making up the bulk. The online modes are pretty sweet, with some new gameplay variations. Online play is definitely a blast, especially Witness Protection, a mode that pits players as either the cops or the motorcycle gang. The catch here is that the cops are charged with getting a bus with states witnesses on it from location to location before the motorcycle gang takes out the witnesses or the bus altogether. Mayhem is probably the best word to describe it.
If you liked GTAIV, this is a worthy purchase. The story is really well done and adds a sweet cap to the events that transpired in GTAIV. You get your money's worth and then some. This is a 5-star title all the way.
And this is only the first of two! | video-games_xbox |
Awesome stick. I bought this for the $35 deal which is the Tekken 6 game with the wireless joystick. I don't really play fighting games much so I'm not going to judge the merits of the Tekken 6 game. I do play the old school Super Street Fighter II, but that's about it. The game has received good reviews from gaming sites so I'll bow to them on the game itself.
I bought the bundle to get the joystick. I love old arcade games like Pac-Man as well as shmups like Raiden IV. Many XBLA games like Castle Crashers also are meant for an arcade joystick. And this joystick delivers. It's a light controller that sits quite comfortably on your lap or desktop. The base is of a good size. Not too big or too small. It has the throw distance of an arcade stick so it's a longer throw than the joysticks you may have grown up with on your Atari or Commodore.
It is a wireless stick so you won't be tethered to the 360. There is no force feedback or rumble so you'll miss out on that. It is an 8-way joystick with a square gate. It has 8 buttons.
"2-way gates": these only allow movement in the up/down or left/right directions. Galaga is common game that uses it.
"4-way gates": these only allow movement in the up, down, left, right directions. Pac-Man is the most well known game that uses it.
"8-way circular gates": These detect movement in the up, down, left, right, and diagonal directions and you won't feel "corners" when you spin the stick around. These are commonly found on 90's American arcade machines like Street Fighter 2 and have a "bat-shaped" top handle. HAPP manufactures these joystick parts.
"8-way square gates": These detect movement in the up, down, left, right, and diagonal directions and you will feel a "corner" in the diagonal directions (or coordinal depending on orientation). These are commonly found on general Japanese arcade machines and usually have a "ball-shaped" top handle. Sanwa and Seimitsu are the popular manufactures of these parts.
"8-way octagonal gates": These detect movement in the up, down, left, right, and diagonal directions and you will feel "corners" in each direction. These are commonly found on later Tekken machines. Sanwa and Seimitsu sells replaceable gate parts for their main joystick lines.
If you think your D-pad on your game controller is fine, you really should try out a joystick. It makes a world of difference. I was playing Pac-Man Championship Edition and my scores instantly went up and Pac-Man went exactly where I wanted him to. I was no longer frustrated that Ryu was jumping across the screen when I meant to walk across the screen. Combos in Street Fighter instantly became easier to pull off.
This is my first experience with a joystick on the Xbox 360 and I've been extremely happy with it. People complain that it doesn't have "Sanwa guts". Well, if you must own Sanwa guts, there are Youtube tutorials on how to replace the guts of the joystick. Me personally, I don't see a need. If the joystick parts wear out for whatever reason, I'll replace parts as needed.
There are some nitpicky things that I don't know if they only apply to this stick or all sticks.
1) I'll use Castle Crashers as an example. If I play a game with a regular 360 game controller, that 360 controller becomes controller 1. If I turn on the joystick, that becomes controller 2. Perfectly reasonable. When I then launch Castle Crashers, and I am starting a game, it won't let me play with the joystick as controller 2 unless someone is playing with the 360 controller at controller 1. This is a problem with the Castle Crashers programming. So I go to turn off the 360 controller and then turn off the joystick and turn it back on, hoping the joystick is now controller 1. However, the controller stays controller 2. I believe this is a 360 issue rather than the joystick issue but without a different branded joystick to try out, I can't verify.
2) It is an 8-button joystick with the LT, RT, RB, and LB buttons mapped to 4 of those buttons. However, when it comes time for cycling through menu options, I can't use those buttons. So it's frustrating because I have to go back to turning on a regular 360 controller so that I can cycle through menus and options. If it's simply LT, RT, RB, and LB mapped to those buttons, those buttons should behave like LT/RT/RB/LB on a 360 controller. Frustrating.
3) this is more a problem with many 360 games than with the joystick itself. Many games don't allow you to remap the buttons. They only have certain templates to choose from and invariably, all these templates are meant for a regular 360 controller so they aren't ideal for the button layout of a joystick. So for a game like Castle Crashers, it took an adjustment to learn the buttons because I had played it so much for a regular 360 controller.
Reason #2 is the reason why I didn't give 5 stars (especially since reason 2 links into reason 1). But as an actual gaming experience, I can't effuse enough about how much I love this joystick. If you play games that don't need dual analog sticks, you must own a joystick like this one. If you play any game that is arcade-like, you owe it to yourself to get a stick like this. I even use the joystick for simple stuff like Uno (if I happen to have the joystick out, it doesn't improve the experience enough to actually go digging the stick out of a drawer). | video-games_xbox |
Sam wins again. This game is well deserving of all of its five stars. Double Agent is the last breath of real, difficult (but not impossible) and rewarding stealth action. Timing and strategy are learned, often the hard way, and it's a longstanding joke that Sam Fisher, along with the gadgets, can also time travel. Doing a 'milk run' of an area and then going back and doing it again isn't boring, trust me. It's a legitimate strategy that has the reward of acing those levels. The scenery and graphics are so wonderful, the acting so precise and suspenseful, it's worth it a second time around.
Gameplay: DA is bug free (but for an instance of Sam clipping through some bars in a hotel), the gameplay is smooth and refined. Enemies are amusing as always before they die or are incapacitated. The AI is smart, varying on difficulty level. Outsmarting them with wits, gadgetry and darkness is fun as all hell. There's a difficulty mode for all skill levels, and even if the game seems challenging, it's well worth the suspense to move on. And speaking of levels, traveling across the world in brilliant graphics and color was wonderful. Africa especially was fun, all-out war with no alert objective made grenade tossing and full-auto firing truly epic. Kind of a break from the sneaking, even though it ruined my stealth score.
Plot: The plot really hinges on the dichotomy of being a double agent. Maintaining the balance between agencies is simple at the first two difficulty levels, but becomes a ballet of dangerous death in higher difficulties, or as you face harder decisions in the game. Sam's an awesome, stoic badass and I love him to death from every headshot to every sarcastic quip. My only qualm about the plot is that one choice at the end directly relates to Conviction, the next game. And if you do it like I did, the beginning of Conviction is a bit odd. =P But it was no big deal.
So in summery, if you're on the fence about this game, just buy it. Conviction is just so different, this is really the true meat and bones of SC to me. Sneaking around, choking mans, and cheering at the tv when you get a mission complete. | video-games_xbox |
Gt Omega Wheel Stand - Rock solid. I bought this wheel-stand back in February after spending a couple of hours reading reviews and watching YouTube videos. I needed a wheel-stand that was sturdy, adaptable, and functional in a small living room. I have put over 200 hours on my GT Omega so far and I couldn't be happier.
Gear: Fanatec ClubSport Wheel Base V2
Fanatec CSL P1 Wheel
Fanatec ClubSport Pedals V3
Fanatec ClubSport Handbrake US
Mods: I mounted the CS handbrake to the side of the shifter mount by drilling two holes. I do not own the Fanatec CS shifter, or I would have mounted the handbrake to it instead
Pro:
- Sturdy frame, quality material
- Folds up easily to allow storage in a small space. I tuck it away in a corner of living room when not in use
- Mounting holes for various types of gear. Fanatec wheel base mounted perfectly in the holes provided
- Quality adjustment lock knobs to secure frame position and sliders
- Great stability, minimal to no flex under strong force feedback. Dual support arms is a plus over single pole design
- Adaptable for frame sliders and Racing seat in the future, which is my next purchase to make this rig complete
- Quality thumb screws are a touch above instead of standard bolts. Makes for easy adjustments
- Extra thumbscrews and locking knobs
- Handbrake mounted to shifter arm is rock steady when turn locks are tightly secured, remarkable considering the CS Handbrake is quite stiff. I have logged many hours on Dirt Rally with this setup
- Moved 1200 miles and threw this in the back of a U-Haul and it survived intact
Con:
- The thumbscrews on the wheel base plate came loose several times. I had the base plate canted at an angle, and it would slip under strong force. Easily corrected with 4 lock washers from Lowes hardware store for under $2
- Non slip pads under the feet came off. Mainly due to me shifting the rig on a carpet floor
Bottom Line: Worth every penny! I look forward to completing this rig with Seat, sliders, and frame. I'll post pics once I have unpacked and have a new spot for this in the basement | video-games_xbox |
Hunt or be Hunted. One thing that I want to make clear is that Dangerous Hunts is a hunting simulation. It is not an arcade shooter like Halo.
Only an idiot would compare this game to Halo, because they are different games. In this game, patience and strategy play an important part of getting your trophy. You can pick your equipment, from guns, to rifles, to crossbows, clothing, food rations, whistle calls, baits for luring animals and more! Picking your equipment is just part of the fun as you try to figure out what will be useful against certain targets. You can hunt a variety of animals including deers, lions, bears, coyotes, wolves, elks and more. You also have the choice to hunt in many regional map locals. The graphics look amazing and really convey that immersive feel. The sound effects are realistic and sound crisp, from the sound of gunfire, the howling of animals, the blowing of winds and your footsteps on the many ground textures. There is only music in the game menu, but once you are in the "hunt", all you hear are the ambient sound of the outdoors. It certainly works that way because you don't need music to mask the sound of a nearby target/predator approaching you (for a kill). The controls are preset a bit odd, but can be learned. The action is slow paced as you search for your target, but suddenly you'll feel sweaty as have your target in sight. There are a few game modes and they all place the targets in random locations, making the game unpredictable. Add to the low sticker price of the game and Bam! You have a winner! If you have patience to seek out your target and want to play a good hunting simulation, I highly recommend this game!
Pros:
+great graphics
+good controls
+lots of maps
+lots of targets
+lots of equipment
+immersive
+great sound effects
+great artificial intelligence
+free form gameplay
+budget price game
Cons:
-not for the kids
-very slow pace
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts amazed me. Give it a try | video-games_xbox |
Corrupt Saves Ruin Experience - Worst Major Xbox or Xbox 360 Game Quality Ever. Quality:
The quality of this game is inexcusable. I have been playing Xbox and Xbox 360 games since the *original* launch and never encountered something like this. After playing through to 70% my save game became corrupted. I gritted my teeth and started again . . . only to have my 2nd save game (40%) corrupted after a patch was installed. Yes, my good save was corrupted by the patch just released to fix numerous other problems. Not to mention the lock-ups to a black screen. Or the clipping glitches with enemies stuck with their backs glued to a wall trying to run (and not with the 'glue' grenade). Yes, a clipping error on an xbox game. Also, failure to count progress against challenge goals. The list goes on
To be fair, there have been other games with these kinds of problems, but . . . the third game of a hit series, a blockbuster from a major publisher?
If you bought this as a gift for the holidays and haven't opened it, send it back now. If you are considering it, don't bother.
Gameplay:
Even if you get past the bug issues, players will find much of the game a retread of the earlier games. For example, the Riddler has . . . data caches, not trophies. And they are hidden all over the map protected by pressure plates, steam vents, blinking lights, etc. And you can beat up his agents to get their locations added to the map. Before the release I saw interviews where game designers talked how they really chose villains in a way that would advance the story and not just to have them in the game. Really? How did replicating a Mad Hatter psychedelic puzzle sequence in the Hatter's shop add to the origin story?
You can also explore brave new weapon concepts like the glue grenade. The glue grenade freezes (no *glues*) enemies in place and can create a floating platform of ice (no, *glue*) that batman can use to pull himself along with. C'mon guys, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, what you have is a duck.
Sorry WB, you picked the wrong partner on this one. | video-games_xbox |
Game Frustration. Unless you want to take a course in frustration and anger management do not spend your money on this game.
It is an improvement over fifa 09 alright but i keep asking myself if the developers actually tested this game and how they felt if at all they did.
AI has a great deal of improvements but the overall game is very frustrating especially at higher difficulty levels, another advice if you do buy this game is do not use you expensive HD tv because you might end up smashing it if you are the emotional kind.
Now let me start with what i have experienced with this software.
1. The entire football world knows you cant make more than three substitutions in a match but in fifa 10 it just goes on and on sometimes up to six in a single match. one would think something as basic as this should be known by programmers.
2. The game seems to have two modes, fair and bias. in fair mode you can play a normal match but in the other mode when the software decides you should loose, i don't care what you do you will never win. you can create 100 goal scoring chances without a single goal scored, your shots will either come of the post or the goalie will be superman and will stop every shot pointblank or not, and by the way the opposing team will be scoring with great ease no matter what team it is, even if they are the lowest ranking team in the league and your team is number 1 on the table. they will have such accurate passes, be extremely hard if not impossible to disposses and of course the ref will be making laughable calls against your team, calling fouls against you upon every contact with your opponent no matter how little, especially if that contact creates a break for you, the programmers may as well give the ref a jersey for the other team.
Someone might want to label me as a sorry loser, but i guarantee you that i am not, i have spent a great deal of time with this game an have unlocked so many accomplishments but this is a candid description of my experience with the game. if all you do is play exibition matches then you will love fifa 10, but if you are a football lover like myself and understand how the flow and rules of the game should be then this will end up in anger and frustration for you both in manager and all other modes.
To the programmers i will say good job but you guys still have a long way to go with fair play, please work on the referee's ridiculous calls and it's not your job to decide who wins a game by rigging the programme, let our skills decide that. | video-games_xbox |
Icy Hot and Kitty Litter......Ouch. These packaged very nicely, however when you finally get to see everything that goes with it...your kinda wondering why these are being sold as console head phones....should be sold under pc only.
Headphones used with console should plug in to controller, powered by controller!! ..nope...not these...your going to be chained to the tv, xbox and controller.
1. Plug usb cable in to console, then that cable to a little power and audio adapter = you get cable #1...approx. 10 ft....to power adapter
2. You disconnect (if using) the White/Red RCA cable coming FROM CONSOLE to TV audio in.
3. Connect the provided piggy back cable (#2) 3.5mm plug to the adapter. Then connect the other end (white/red rca) to tv......where your original console rca audion cable were located on the tv.
4. Now pkug in white red console plugs to the white red feed thru plugs. (Thank god for rca color coding standard!!) You might get them backwards..lol
5. Run cable #3....(headphone standard 3.5mm stereo with mic) to the power/audio adapter.
6. Run the short cable (#4) from power audio adapter to the game controller.....(mic)
After All that...what you have is cable chained 1992 audio technology to your ears and mic to controller.....Go ahead and figure by the time you run all this behind tv....your approx 10 ft audio system...has been cut to 7 ft.
6. Now the climax....you are all wired up..log on to game live...but only after you grab that uncomfortable chair from your wifes/moms/sisters vantity..or your crappy desk chair....and place it 5 ft from the tv (gotta have 2 feet of slack...or your pulling headphones of your head).
As you shake your head knowing you jist got ripped off the head hand full of cables...dangle side to side. Finalky Find your friend's, get in game...and turn microphone. Then you talk an entire game...only to find out...the mic isn't working...your actually talking thru, in my case, the kinect sensor...yes I had checked that system had mic enabled....but doesnt work...thru controller and no other way!!!
To make a long story longer....prepare for your 8 year old son...whom youve just told, you got him cool new headphone!!!, they are already hooked up and waiting him to join his friends on his 1984 technology game.... Minecrap, to come to you and say...you can have these dad...ill just use my earbuds with adapter and talk thru kinect!!!!
DO NOT BUY...UNLESS YOU ARE THAT DUMMY IN THE MOVIE ROBOCOP...AND ENJOY SAYING...ID BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR!!!
All I got...was the good ole Icy Hot and Kitty Litter treatment to my back side | video-games_xbox |
The sound was incredible, the overall experience left a lot to be desired. UPDATE 4/22/16: Upgraded from 2 to 4+ stars. Here's what happened: I sent these back. They were faulty. I didn't like the volume issues with chat/phone calls. I was annoyed about having to charge them every day or more, etc. All detailed below. The fact of the matter is, however, that NONE of the other headsets could deliver what these could. Wireless, surround sound, with BIG immersive sound and compatibility with my entire setup (XB1, XB360, PC & phone). After trying everything else, I went to the local Not-the-worst Buy and bought another pair of these Astros. I have not had the same faulty volume control issue, going on almost a month and a half now. As far as the volume of chat, I found that if you do about a 80% chat to 20% game volume and turn the volume WAY up, you can get a good balance and be able to hear people. You also get a little bit more of the mic monitoring when doing this. Additionally, when using a TB 2.5mm to 3.5mm talkback cable in the left earpiece, I CAN actually use it for phone calls, assuming I keep the same 80% chat mix. Perhaps Astro intended the mix to go this far this way? On my older headsets I found that about a 40% chat to 60% game mix was the sweet spot most of the time. Friends still say I sound a bit quiet, but I know I mumble anyway - I just need to remember to speak up.
Of note, you can't really use them exclusively for phone calls. The A50s don't recognize the sound coming in from the phone as audio input, so they turn off after 10 minutes or so unless you're also playing a game or watching a movie or something. The headset has to be getting audio from the base station to stay on.
Also, if you read the initial review, I actually ended up returning the V-Modas. They sounded great but they just couldn't do what I wanted them to do (talk on the phone AND listen to a movie/game - nope), and after a while the cables just got annoying.
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ORIGINAL REVIEW:
For the little time this headset actually worked, it was amazing! The sound was incredible. Better than any turtle beach I've ever had (X32, XP500 and Elite 800x), just slightly better than the Steelseries Siberia 800 (H wireless). Though not quite up to par with the sound of a quality stereo headset (I've got V-Moda Crossfade M100s). Here's my pros and cons, and finally why I ended up returning these.
For reference, I typically use my headsets for gaming (COD, Borderlands, Tomb Raider, etc), movies (I always use Tron: Legacy as my test - soundtrack by Daft Punk for that hard-hitting EDM sound, while also having several tracks performed by a full symphony orchestra mixed in, and both loud and very soft vocals at different points. Any headset that can handle EVERY aspect of a movie like that has my vote), and talking on the phone - frequently while gaming or watching a movie (prefer bluetooth but would accept wired).
PROS:
-Insanely huge sound. Big bass, crisp treble, precise surround positioning, it's got 'em all covered. Handles any game or complex movie audio track with ease.
-Looks are cool. Not too over-the-top but still a little "gamey" looking. I would actually prefer something a little more understated, but that's me.
-Setup was relatively easy and simple.
-Pretty comfy. I'm not sure how I feel about having fabric on the ear-pieces over long-term use instead of real or synthetic leather, but I'll never get a chance to find out...
CONS:
-As you've read in other reviews, the mic sound isn't great. I'm confident it's better than it used to be because it wasn't horrible. Just not good. My cheaper (and also worse-sounding) XP500s had a MUCH better sounding mic.
-In addition, there's really no mic monitoring at all. I had no idea how loud I was talking at any point.
-Didn't work with cell phone plugged into left earpiece. Only used for connecting it to the Xbox controller.
-Battery life was poor in the few days I had it, needed charging every single day - about 4-6ish hours of use. Charge time wasn't exactly short either. Had to charge it for like 6 hours.
-While it's handy that the Xbox version comes with the headset-to-controller cable, I was disappointed that they use their own and not just a cable directly connected to the controller (or headset adapter if you have one). This is because then the chat mix/volume has to be controlled from the pop-up side menu on the xbox one, rather than having convenient controls at your fingertips. Sometimes I want to mute myself briefly without having to flip the microphone up to the side.
-My biggest gripe, however was with the volume control. This isn't a hardware volume control, and there's no min and max stop on the wheel, it just spins freely and infinitely. The volume is controlled by firmware. What this meant for me was sometimes one turn (click) of the wheel would get me a one-step increase in volume, sometimes not. Sometimes would take 2 or 3 clicks for a one-step increase in volume. Sometimes one click would equal a five-step increase in volume. Sometimes would turn up and then the next click (up) would turn the volume DOWN a step or five. Or vice-versa - would get louder when trying to turn it down. At one point, after about 12-16 hours of use or so, the volume suddenly jumped to the MAXIMUM volume while I was trying to turn it down. And then it got stuck there. It hurt my ears it was so loud, and couldn't be turned back down. I read many forum posts on this both from other users and from Astro support themselves, tried all of the fixes everybody suggested, including Astro support's own fix, and nothing worked. I never ever got the volume back down below MAX and thus the headset was rendered unusable.
Don't get me wrong, I understand that one can simply receive a faulty product, x out of every y might have an issue, etc. However, the fact that the volume control is governed by firmware and not the actual hardware wheel itself, I believe leaves it open and quite prone to things like this happening.
Even if this worked with my phone, the volume and control issues are just a major dealbreaker. Overall, even without the volume/control issue I experienced, the other cons far outweighed the pros on this one. It's a bummer, because they're the second-best sounding headset I've tried in the last 4 years.
Summary:
If you don't have any interest in using these with your phone, don't care for mic monitoring and are okay taking your chances with the QC and/or the firmware issues, then go for it. If the headset works, and does so for the things you want to use it with, then you won't be disappointed with the sound! | video-games_xbox |
Taking aim at "Red Dead Revolver". . . If you're an avid fan of the western and a gamer to boot, then "Red Dead Revolver" is the only game in town that should get a tip of your hat. Western-themed games are rare to say the least, and good ones are rarer still. This is the latter kind, and its mature themes make it even more remarkable - it's as close as you'll ever get to playing through an old Clint Eastwood film.
You're cast as Red, a bounty hunter who's seeking to avenge the murder of his parents. His quest takes him through many bizarre locations and pits him against a wide variety of murderous outlaws. It's his job to shoot first and ask questions later... then again, he doesn't really ask questions, he just shoots people and leaves it at that.
The game's levels are usually brief affairs that revolve around one particular set piece or another and are jam-packed full of people to kill. Fortunately, all that killing is mighty satisfying. There's hardly a wide variety of weapons to help you along despite the designers' best efforts to bring variety to the period setting, but the weapons that exist are cool enough to compensate. Area specific damage and gouts of blood and gore keep things visceral and compelling. Red can fire from cover if things get too hectic, but it's generally not an essential tactic - even if it is a welcome option. He's also got a Max Payne-like ability called "Dead Eye," which allows him to slow time and take steady aim at his opponents.
You don't only play as Red during the course of the game. There are several other characters and storylines to delve into, and while they sometimes steer the focus of the game's story in the wrong direction, it's generally a welcome change of pace. Red's native cousin, Shadow Wolf, enjoys a particularly entertaining mission that encourages stealth and a fair aim with a bow and arrow. Some of the other character missions feel tacked on, though - such as the Buffalo Soldier's wagon ride back to town.
What's a western-themed action game without the occasional duel? Drawing on opponents is handled like a sort of minigame that generally fits well into the scheme of things. Unfortunately, it's too frustrating, particularly later in the game. It's more a matter of a luck than skill, and certainly could have been handled with more flair.
It's far from perfect, but "Red Dead Revolver" should provide hours of fairly mindless but addictive fun. With the lack of competition, it easily earns its place as the best western-themed game ever released. If this kind of thing rubs you the right way, go grab a copy.
Final Score: B | video-games_xbox |
Once more with feeling. Somewhere in the bowels of Amazon.com, my less-than-stellar review for the first Fable sits. I was disappointed with the first Fable, mostly due to the director Peter Molyneaux's claims of "The Best RPG ever!" and other unworldly promises that ultimately were either scrapped or severely reduced. So, when Fable 2 came out, my expectations were dampened and I told myself not to get overly excited. Having played through it a couple times, I'm glad to say that it's not the disappointment Fable was, but it's not anywhere near as epic as it could be.
At the core, Fable 2 is a simulation and not a RPG and it's this distinction that limits the game. When you begin, you choose a gender and are whisked away to your orphaned childhood, with a dream of living in a castle and having a much better life. Right away, the themes of morality are explored with your decisions impacting what Old Town Bowerstone looks like when you're older. Of course, you get your wish, end up at Castle Fairfax and right before you can start your posh life, your sister is mercilessly killed and you are shot out of a window. Obviously, you don't die but the game jumps forward to your teen life, setting out in the big (at least compared to the original Fable) world of Albion with one ultimate goal: kill your sister's murderer.
The story in Fable 2 is a pretty standard hero story. It basically deals with your journey to locate three other heroes and then defeat the ultimate bad guy. I'd say that's a spoiler, but it's the same typical, generic RPG story tossed into a variety of generic RPGs. It's become a cliche. What helps Fable 2 is that there's a lot more to the world than a simple quest to avenge your sister. The world is populated with a good sized variety of interesting quests centered around helping (or hindering) the local populace. So, you might go about helping a young man find his ideal mate and explaining to his father his lifestyle choice or you might help a local gravedigger locate the body parts of Lady Gray so he can recreate his one true love.
Other quests have pertinent changes to the story. If you ally yourself with the Temple of Shadows, you might ultimately bring havoc to the Temple of Light. It's here where some of the original promises of the first Fable are brought to life. At some point in the story, you'll move ahead a good span of time and you can see how your choices have affected Albion for the good or bad. I like this, but I was hoping for something a bit more.
Some of the great moments in the game come in the form of money. I spent an ungodly amount of time amassing wealth, purchasing houses throughout Albion and generally making myself into a real estate tycoon. I loved this system, though it felt only partially implemented. If you set the rent to the highest possible, all you get are comments from the townspeople about how it must be nice to sleep on piles of money. Where's the revolution? Where's the underclass rising up to throw off the shackles of their oppressors?
It's not that type of game, unfortunately. Though it is really buggy. I think my game crashed about 10 times during one playthrough (which took about 15-17 hours). Locking up, the game just stops loading, black screens, etc...all of it happened and it was very annoying. When the game was loading, people and places tended to not load with it. A couple times, upon loading Bowerstone, some of the houses looked like they were floating because the porches hadn't loaded...or you could hear people talking, but couldn't see them.
Which brings me to my biggest problem, which isn't the bugginess. Fable 2, like Fable before it, is a simulation first, an RPG a distant second. It's hard to forge any empathy with the vacant people of Albion when the only way you can interact with them is to dance like an idiot, pump your arms like an egoist or growl at them in a skipping-audio fashion. And when all of the NPC's voices blur together into some kind of aural kaleidoscope of sameness, the immersion is broken.
I knew marriage takes a lot of work, but having to interrupt your quest because your spouse is upset is obnoxious. "I'm sorry, hunny, I know you want me to do 20 arm pumps and dance like a stereotypical Russian but I don't have time. I'm, you know, trying to save the world," is a conversation I would have liked to have a thousand times over. Instead, I found myself pumping my arm, dancing and professing my undying love every time (and sometimes a couple times) during a quest. Not because I wanted happiness for my character, mind you, but because if I got divorced I'd lose half of my money!
I think this is what ultimately distances the celebrated RPGs of this time and Fable 2. Yes, there's a visual cue that you are evil/good and your individual, stats-based growth is visually represented...but at the end of the day, you're a silent doll dancing lifelessly to appease the empty dolls of Albion. It's empty and a little soulless. That said, there were two moments of immense pathos towards the end of the game that really did hit home; especially the final choice you make in the game. If Fable 2 were made of more of these moments and less of silent pandering, Peter would have a terrific game on hand. I had a lot of fun playing the game, but ultimately it felt like a huge progression from the first game, but Lionhead Studios has a long way to go. | video-games_xbox |
Classic FPS with Open Stealth and Run and Gun. For the first few hours of this game, I was stunned by the visuals. Some of the character models look a bit wonky but the environments leverage the megatextures of ID Tech 5 engine and it looks pretty stunning. The shooting and sounds also feel great.
At its best, the game brings back the feeling of the best story driver shooters, Half Life 2 comes to mind often. At other times though, the level design and AI don't quite work, especial y later in the game. For example, there is a mission that takes place on a bridge and before this level, I never had any issues with ammo. But starting with this level, I needed to stop and re-charge my weapon between every encounter. Thought it played a lot like HL2, it was much more frustrating for the games pace to suddenly slow down when, prior to this level, you never really needed to worry about ammo.
The other problem that pops up quite a bit is that because the enemy AI is mostly just "aggressively advance", Wolfenstein will bring out the classic method of just spawning a lot of enemies in a group to add challenge instead of advanced enemy AI.
But other than these odd level design choices and classic missteps, I enjoyed the action quite a bit. Mostly its well-paced and lets you play a bit of stealth followed by action etc. I really like the "perk" system here as well. The game basically presents a number of challenges to the player. As you complete these challenges, you get extra abilities.
I really like how the game rewards you for trying out different styles of play. I would have liked an upgrade system where you manage the upgrades but the game asks you to make sure you search around the level to find the upgrades. Most of these seem to be along the main path bot to get all the upgrades you will also have to make sure you look around the whole level. This adds a bit of adventure to the game. I think I would have been annoyed by this if the levels did not look so great. There are other collectibles (gold etc.) but they don't seem to have much impact on the game.
This game includes many elements from other great FPS and puts them all together in a very fun package. If you are a fan of old, story driver shooters, you may find a lot of fun here. | video-games_xbox |
Definitely more fun with friends. I'm a pretty big fan of Role Playing Games, I tend to try and experience all the varieties that are offered, just to at least experience something new and different. Hunter: The Reckoning is a little different by RPG video game standards, but it's hardly a revolutionary game. I think this is the first time I've come across a table top RPG converted to video game that did not allow the users to upgrade the characters on their own. Now, I haven't played the table top game, so I'm not entirely sure how that system worked, but I'm willing to try it out.
On top of this the story line involved demons, and I tend to like things of that ilk, so I thought this might appeal to me. I must say the story line wasn't as well done as I thought. It certainly can't compete on the same level as something like Diablo, which is really the premeire game for killing demons in my book! The background story felt kind of random and thrown together, but the game play and challenge factor kind of saved the game.
The background story basically consists of this: There was apparently an incident at a prison many years ago and your characters were there watching a murderer be executed (no idea why) when all of a sudden people around them turned into monsters. They faught their way out and boarded up the prison, today they have returned because the ghosts/demons or whatever have returned to feast on the souls and bodies of people throwing a rave in the prison. Seriously... who throws a rave in a prison? A fairly loose premise of a video game, but in the end your characters have to lock the spirits back up and save the world!
As a single player game Hunter: The Reckoning sucks and has virtually no value to me, but play it with a few friends and it actually becomes pretty fun. The game is challenging in some areas and you have to sit down and strategize with your friends. I don't think this game has endless hours of fun, because after beating it, you're kind of done with it. The game took only two evenings for my friends and I to conquer, and the shortness is the only reason why a replay is viable. I would say, in terms of replay value, you can only go through it twice before it gets really boring at the most. The camera control really does kind of suck, I saw some reviewers touch upon that. I do realize that as a game designer camera control problems are tantamount in a multi-player overhead RPG. I really think the programmers could have handled it a lot better and really should've gone in a different direction.
Overall I thought this game was pretty fun, but only when I played it with a few friends. I gave it a three overall because of some design flaws, the weak storyline, and not being able to level up your character on your own. Maybe I'm just picky, but I've come to expect a lot more from RPG's thanks to very epic games like Diablo, Knights of the Old Republic, etc. Pick this up you're looking for a multiplayer game to get together with a few friends and delve into a different world. | video-games_xbox |
Some real talk. So this is Yosuke Hayashi's first full Ninja gaiden game attempt and I think I could have done a better job myself. It seems that he took everything fans loved about the series and took all of it away, and replaced it with some really bad designs but also kept the things that I personally hated about the series in general. I'll try and break this down.
Gameplay: with only a few combos and a bow and a sword, Hayashi took out all of the variety of the gameplay. Also there is no inventory system at all this time, no upgrades and the controls are not as responsive as they should be. The rope movement and the kunai climb were very annoying and repetitive during the entire game. You can only have one ninpo and you don't really get much choice of when you want to use it. The ultimate techniques are just a bunch of one kill slashes. Much of what everyone else is saying about the game is true, the levels are just awful for the most part. There are two levels where the screen just darkens and you fight little bug enemies to guide your way...talk about lazy.
I think Hayashi just had a lot of bad ideas and has no vision for a real action game. The previous games were not perfect and needed improvements, but Hayashi just made things worse. Like the camera is worse than ever, I also found it hard to get used the the button controls to taggle the camera as I have been used to hitting Right trigger(this made it odd shooting arrows) I don't think this guy has the right vision for the series and they need ot get someone else in from now on. I should have known that Hayashi was kind of an idiot for removing the blood from NG2 Sigma. And also for removing dismemberment saying "we no longer want to see it."
Some things Hayashi actually did right? I like having an NPC with you during the fighting so it just feels like I am getting some kind of help. Also the story is better than previous games, but it's still crazy. And multiplayer is alright.
That's about it. In short, if you have to have it...get it used. | video-games_xbox |
Dynasty Warriors: LOTR Edition. Lord of the Rings: Conquest has an interesting premise. It allows you to play through key battles from the movies in epic, cinematic environments. It also includes a "what if" option that lets you play an entire campaign as the bad guys. To add depth, it even has characters with different classes, trying to pass itself off as some sort of a RPG. Essentially, however, the game is quite simply a button-masher from start to finish, and a slightly more polished version of Koei's Dynasty Warriors.
Let's first talk about the good things. For one, it's Lord of the Rings. It has undeniable star power, and EA lets you tap into this from time to time. Even though you play through a large part of the game as one of the classes available, there are parts that provides the opportunity for you to play as a specific character to relive a key moment of the show. For example, you get to take on the Witch King as Eowyn, the Balrog as Gandalf and an Oliphaunt as Legolas. These sequences are included as part of the mission objectives, and it's a nice touch to allow the player to play as different characters from the show during different parts of the game. The question then is, why won't EA allow us to play through the entire game as these characters?
Next up, the life system. Unlike many "modern" games, LOTR: Conquest actually has a limit on how many times you can die before you have to start a mission all over again. Most games nowadays use checkpoints. You die, you respawn from the last checkpoint. You could save a game beforehand and reload from it to continue on. Not this game. You get a number of lives to start with, and if you exhaust them all, it's game over. It doesn't matter if you lose all your lives at the final boss fight, you simply restart from point A. You also can't manually save the game at any point in time, which is really unforgiving on the hardest difficulty level. I can't be sure if this is a "good" point to you, but what it does is that it encourages you to be more careful in your approach. It's easy to simply choose the standard melee Warrior class and rush in for a massive fight everytime for every mission, but at times, the mission gets easier if you actually uses ranged attacks, magic, or stealth.
These tie in with the classes in the game - you get the Warrior (melee), the Archer (range), the Mage (magic) and the Scout (stealth). Each class plays slightly differently than another, with different sets of combos and abilities to boot. The Archer, for example, can shoot both poisonous and fire arrows, while the Scout can throw bombs on enemies. These keep playing styles varied, if you actually bother to switch classes on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it's good only for as long as it lasts.
This is when I talk about the bad points. Despite the varied fighting styles for the classes, the game is essentially the same through out. You've many objectives to fulfil in the various missions, but eventually it all points to one thing: enemies swarming, kill them all. This is exactly why I compare it to the hack-and-slash legend (ahem) Dynasty Warriors. To make matters worse, all abilities are given to all classes from the start, so there's no new combos to learn, and no new abilites to use. This also means that there's no scaling difficulties from mission to mission. Enemies in the final mission behave similarly in the first one. All these add to the repetition, which is no surprise when it gets old really quickly. At least, in Dynasty Warriors, you actually level up your characters.
The game also ends too quickly for me. Those who know me would know that I love short games, but seriously, this short? The "good" and "evil" campaigns each has seven to eight missions, and each mission is achievable in about 15-30 minutes. You do the maths on how fast the exercise would be. At the point of writing, I've already completed the "good" story, and it hasn't even been a day since I bought the game.
Perhaps EA is banking on the multiplayer feature to generate longetivity. Unfortunately, deathmatch and capture the flag types have been played to death in so many other games. I'd prefer if the company actually focuses more on co-op elements. Instead, we get a co-op mode that offers only one achievement, and none for even completing the story modes with the help of a friend.
On the topic of achievements, those who enjoy unlocking them (like me) will have mixed reactions to the list. A large portion of it is dedicated to completing missions, while some are for completing the above-mentioned movie-specific key moments. A sizaeble part of it is also listed for kills achieved as various classes. For those who honestly dislike playing competitive online matches, these could be a turn-off (although you could always "boost" them with a friend...). You also don't get the achievement points for chapter completions if you play through the game with a friend, which is mystifying. In games like this, I usually play co-op right away with a friend. As far as possible, I try to avoid playing alone whenever co-op is available. But I've to now, because the game refuses to acknowledge that I've completed a chapter just because I've played it with a friend.
All in all, LOTR: Conquest is an ok game that has its moments, but falls short on other areas. Nevertheless, it does offer the chance to revisit one of the greatest movie trilogies ever made. For this, I'd recommend that you at least pick it up for a try. Whether you'd want to purchase it to do so, however, is another matter altogether. | video-games_xbox |
It ain't Dark Souls, But it's Better than Skyrim. Full Disclosure: I bought this game since it was supposed to be similar to Dark Souls. With that said....
Fairly diverse and engaging combat thanks to the multitude of classes available, which is complimented by the Pawn system, allowing you to build a mostly AI-controlled party to support your particular play-style. Furthermore, you can switch your character specialization easily for a fair in-game cost, allowing you to explore a lot of what the combat mechanics have to offer, even on your first play-thru.
The Pawn system is perhaps one of the most elegant features of the game. On the surface it's very simplistic, but there's enough customization available to provide a unique and engaging experience. It's sort of a combination of Goofy & Donald in Kingdom Hearts + your party in Dragon Age, but more streamlined and, in terms of AI, a heck of a lot more competent.
Despite an equipment upgrade system, armor and weapons still suffer from "Sword of 1000 Truths" syndrome, so expect to spend endgame-->NG+ acquiring BiS, especially if you're a min/max sort of gamer.
As far as atmosphere goes.....
Decent voice acting and a spectacular soundtrack. Story is predictable, but it suits the game, which succeeds in creating a classic "medieval" world. Fans of early Final Fantasy games and the Legend of Zelda series won't be disappointed. There are plenty of interesting landscapes to explore, adding a bit of mystery and lore to the world. One complaint, the cut-scenes do go overboard at times, nowhere near the level of games like MGS4, but it does interrupt game-play flow here and there.
All in all, if you're looking for a fun action RPG, DD goes above and beyond. Plenty of quests to keep you entertained, tons of items to explore, a great system for character customization, etc.
For you Dark Souls fans who ended up here: The game's controls are sharp, responsive, and consistent. Enemies don't require anywhere near the same level of the reactive play-style inherent to DaS, but combat is genuinely fun and engaging, and is especially enhanced by a classic "medieval" world and an exhilarating soundtrack that kicks in at just the right times (think Gwyn or Artorias theme). While the same level of challenge isn't necessarily intended (e.g. the game allows you Pawns, allows you to pause to heal, there is BiS gear, etc), you easily can adjust your playstyle/add restrictions to create a rewarding experience. | video-games_xbox |
War, War Never Changes. I have been waiting so long for this game to come out. I loved Fallout 3 immensely and I was eagerly awaiting the release of Fallout 4. I don't count New Vegas as sequel, it was just a lukewarm spinoff if you ask me.
This game takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, and its called The Commonwealth. We get a new group of adversaries called The Institute who have been creating robots that are for all intents and purposes real live people, that are called Synths, and they are considered the boogeymen of the Commonwealth. The Brotherhood of Steel is back in this game as well and they are just as loaded with tech and weapons as they were in Fallout 3. We have 2 other groups, the Minutemen who are like the militia of the Commonwealth and are always ready to help people in trouble. And finally we have the Railroad, the underground freedom fighters of the Commonwealth who are trying to find and free the Synths.
The main story is that you are looking for your infant son who was taken from you while you were cryogenically frozen in Vault 111. As you hunt through the Commonwealth looking for him, you find the usual opponents that you find in the Fallout games. There are molerats, radroaches, raiders, gunners, deathclaws, radscropions, super mutants, etc.
Where I feel the game has improved since the previous games is that when you level up you get perk points that you can spend to either increase your SPECIAL stats or you can choose a perk that will help you in gameplay. Also they did away with the weapon and armor degradation as you take damage or as you use a weapon, so no more worrying about repairing your gear. However your power armor does need to be repaired and you have to keep it powered, which means finding power cores. This means you cant just run around in power armor all the time and not worry about being hurt. You repair your armor by using items you find in the Commonwealth.
And speaking of random items you find, these items that were completely useless in Fallout 3, now have a vital use in Fallout 4! You can now break down items you find into their base components to help upgrade your weapons, armor, or build buildings and defenses and furniture and make your dream settlement. In a way, this part of the game is kind of like a post-apocalyptic version of the Sims.
Companions are also another game feature that is back from the previous game. But this time you can interact with your companions, talk to them, form relationships with them, (Sometimes romantic ones), and your actions effect how they like or dislike you. And like before you can equip them with armor, weapons, have them carry things for you, have them pick locks or hack computers, and you can even have them get into power armor.
So where does the game fall short? Well its pretty buggy. Sometimes you or your companions will fall through floors or go through walls, or your opponents body parts will clip through solid objects. One time I was in a building and no matter what I did, I kept falling through the bottom of the elevator. Sometimes if you do a certain action or choose a certain dialogue option, another part of the game will bug out. Like for example, if you do a certain action (Cant remember which one it is), when you are raiding the Railroads HQ with the Brotherhood of Steel, the bomb that is supposed to be on the door to breach the entrance and let you in, doesnt spawn and you cant complete the mission or go any farther in that
storyline.
Another thing that is annoying is that even though you can switch between companions, there is no way to tell with your Pipboy where they are other than just remembering where they are in your head or writing down on a piece of paper what settlement you sent them to. So unless you have a companion you don't care about, make sure that you remember where you send your companions. Oh and don't think that you can use the local map like in Fallout 3. The local map in Fallout 4 is useless, I cant make heads or tails of it! I don't even know why they even bothered to put it in the game.
The music in the game is excellent and I loved singing along with the songs on the radio as I was blasting away at my enemies in the game. Some of the old songs are back, but there are also some great new ones as well! The new DJ, Travis, is okay as a DJ but he is no Three Dog! Bethesda should really make a DLC where you can get Three Dog on your Pipboy, that would be awesome! The graphics are also very good, and I loved looking at all the detail that was put into every place I went to.
The bobbleheads and the magazines are back in this game like before, so you can collect them to help boost your stats like you did in the previous games. Unlike in New Vegas, the stat boosts from the magazines are permanent, which is a very welcome change! V.A.T.S. is also back, but instead of freezing time, it just makes everything super slow, which is a bit more realistic. Some people didn't like this change, but it didn't bother me a bit.
I have to admit that sometimes I found myself just wandering around and exploring the Commonwealth seeing what was in the game. The map is certainly bigger than Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and just when you think you have explored everything, you find something new on the map or you discover something you missed!
The story itself is very complex and the characters are very interesting. You find yourself wanting to know more about them and their history and their motivations. Every once in a while youll find a reference to one of the other Fallout games, like a reference to the Capitol Wasteland or the Enclave. There are several different endings to the game based on which faction you decide to side with. And whats even better is that after you finish the main storyline, you can keep playing! So you can keep exploring and leveling up and building things. I REALLY liked that about this game!
So overall what do I think of this game? Its AWESOME!!! This is without a doubt the best Fallout game ever made, and the best game of 2015! I loved everything about it! Bethesda just needs to put out some patches to fix the minor glitches, and the game will be perfect! I cant wait for them to release some DLC so I can have more adventures set in the Commonwealth!
Any fan of the Fallout series will LOVE this game! And with how vast and complex this game is, it has a lot of replay value. I can see myself playing this game over and over in the years to come.
Check it out! | video-games_xbox |
Locked, Cocked And Ready To Rock. Master Chief Is Back. I like most people was a little worried about buying a Halo title developed by someone besides Bungie. I didn't even make up my mind to pre order until 2 days before release ( GameStop ). Sorry Amazon I love you but I wanted my game on midnight release not late into the late afternoon.
1: Gameplay - This game plays just as smoothly as all the previous titles. Of course we have Halo Reach touches in here. And those touches are armor abilities , Jet pack , Sprint , ect. There are also new additives to the game such as perks and loadouts. After so many kills in multiplayer you can recieve an Ordinance drop. You will get a random selection of three weapons that you can choose from with your D pad and what ever weapon you choose will teleport to your location. All you get is some type of weapon. No you will not get some Pelican support or artillary strike. The loadouts are a nice touch. Now you can start out with any weapon you want. I never liked the DMR or any other one or three round burst weapon, all I want is full auto and now I have it.
2: Campaign - The campaign is about 8 hours long on Normal. That is if you take your time and not just blast your way to the next check point while soaking up enemy fire. I love the story, it gives you another side of our beloved Master Chief ( John 117 ) , and his faithful AI counter part Cortana. Master Chief talks ALOT more in this game which I found pleasing and you can feel that he really cares about Cortana. The Covenant are back in this game but only as a splinter group , The real threat now is the Prothians , a new threat to human life ,and of course it is the MC's duty to stop them at all cost. By the end I was sitting there and thinking WOW. Oh and by the way If you think the game isn't long enough just up the difficulty and you will extend your play time. I am on my second play through and am playing this time on Legendary. YOU WILL NOT FINISH THIS GAME QUICKLY ON LEGENDARY. BE PREPARED TO DIE ALOT !!!!!! Luckily this game has a great check point system so when you die you won't be set back far at all.
3: Graphics - 343 has upped the game in the graphics department alot. I thought Halo Reach was beautiful but this game is just crazy good. Detail , detail , detail. Besides the detail the graphics are REALLY clear and crisp. The cut sceens are created by the game engine and let me tell you I don't think you will find any better on any other console or game. I was completely amazed by the way this game looks.
4: Extended story - After completing the campaign You can play a new mode called SPARTAN OPS. These will be released in episodes and all of them build upon the story. There will be 10 episodes with five missions in each episode. That gives you 50 more missions in this game. You do not play as MC in these missions but as a Spartan IV. This took nothing from the game to me because I had a blast playing it. Also just like the campaign you can invite 3 other friends or random people into your game and play the whole thing in Co op or alone , its your choice. I think it is alway more fun playing with friends but I played through the first time by myself and the next with friends.
Summary : I know I left some things out but I am in a little bit of a hurry since Im writing this at work. The story ( in my opinion ) is gripping and leaves you wanting more , alot more. Luckily we have our Multiplayer and Spartan ops to sate that hunger for a while. Between the campaign , multiplayer and spartan ops you will have many, many, many, hours of happy game play. I couldn't recomend this game enough. Two thumbs up to 343 industries for bringing us this game and also a special thanks to Bungie for all the previous games we have played and loved . I have loved them all ( even ODST and I know some will disagree. ) and cant wait to see what happens in Halo 5 and 6. | video-games_xbox |
Drastically improves the quality of Racing games. I wanna start this thing off by saying that I'm not a hardcore racing gamer like some of these people sound. I'm just a normal, piss poor college student who likes to play racing games. I took a pretty considerable hiatus from racing games after forza 2/the original NFS most wanted because everything started sucking. I got back into it when i recently got Forza Horizon on black friday, and then bought forza 3/4 thereafter. I've had this wheel for about three weeks now, so heres what i think of it so far..
Forza Horizon:
This is the game I played with the wheel with at first. And to be honest, the first couple hours took a bit of getting used to... Its frustrating when you are constantly unwillingly drifting, and not coming out of turns how you want to circumstances out of your control. However somebody who wrote in the forums about the demo for this game made two recommendations that tremendously help you have more control. Changing the outside steering deadzone to 70 and the outside handbrake deadzone to 65 fixed these issues I had, but still, it takes practice to get good at this wheel and i'm still not to good at it.
Forza 3:
Oh man, I didn't have to change any settings for this to work seamlessly with Forza 3. After using the wheel, i finally see the usefullness in the cockpit view, and i love it with the wheel. It literally works perfect with Forza 3 (and Forza 4 i'd assume, but i haven't opened that game yet). The driver will match every precise angle you turn the wheel, and the car will drive exactly how you want it to.
Like many others said, this controller doesn't have the RB or LB buttons, but it doesn't really bug me. It does exactly what it claims to do far better than i expected, and i only paid 20 bucks for it. Id recommend this to anybody who is looking for a wheel on a budget, because it works amazingly well (for forza at least) and it makes racing games a lot more enjoyable. Haven't played Forza 4 with it yet because I'm trying to be patient and enjoy FOrza 3 first. | video-games_xbox |
Under the radar game, but a great thriller. You are Alan Wake, renowned author but suffering from writers block after writing your last book. You and your wife Alice go on a vacation to Bright Falls, Washington to escape and get some relaxation. But soon strange things start to happen and Alice is missing. Adding to that, a manuscript of a book penned by you (but that you can't remember ever writing) has pages around that start describing the events that your actually living out. Its a thriller for sure. I never figured how engrossed I'd be with the story, gameplay and the overall tone and atmosphere of Bright Falls.
Big credit to Remedy and MS studios, they nailed it with this one. Lots of tension, great voice acting with plenty of "real" emotion in the scenes and the overall darkness of this city really brings it to life in a different way. Running through the forest, hearing the wind whipping up and how it blows through the trees with the surrounding fog and darkness just makes it even better.
Breakdown on the review:
Graphics: Very well done and sharp. They designed and built this city of Bright Falls and the surrounding areas with great detail. Characters are well designed and the environment (especially at night with its sort of haziness effect) is perfect for adding even more tension. The "vaporizing" effect on the Taken when you kill them is worthy of its own cinematic.
Sound: A huge PLUS! Sound effects were spot on. Even the effects of firing the revolver made it feel like it really packs a big punch. The shotgun and other weapons (not many in this game which is a very good thing), are well done also. The soundtrack itself is masterful. It engages you when that enemy in the darkness attempts to creep up and attack you (or in groups which makes it even more spine tingling to just survive), and adds enormous amount of impact on the game. One thing that gave me chills was hearing the demonic voices during sequences for example in Episode 1 in the logging camp. You'd hear a man talking sort of crazy and listen as the voice goes in/out of being human to being something that almost sounds supernatural and purely evil.
Gameplay: Its a third-person perspective and it works very well. Movement is very fluid and having that added ability to dodge even multiple enemies is a welcome addition. You have a health meter on the upper left hand which is also where your objective marker direction is. The enemies (called Taken), can get crafty. They can pop out of the shadows quickly and some can move/teleport short distances making it hard to dodge them. The teleport effect reminded me of that haziness effect they used in the movie The Ring where things can be discerned by shape but still appear distorted and out of focus. The biggest thing in this game is Light! For the first time, not only is the flashlight your way to see in the darkness, it is your weapon against the Taken. When you shine it on them, you "burn" the darkness away from them to make them vulnerable. If you try to shoot them before you remove it, you will just empty bullets into them with no effect. They are for all intents and purposes, invincible, when they are still shrouded with darkness. Even more fun is if you can use the environment against them like shooting barrels that explode. And if all else fails... RUN! Light is your friend and weapon in this game. Step into sources of light to regenerate your health faster and to activate checkpoints.
Overall: I found this bargain basement game to be of high-caliber and worthy of those who want to invest their time to explore a rich, deep world. There is a great story, lots of tension and thrills and with the way they break it down by way of episodes, it feels like a well written tv series that makes you want to keep going to find out what the next plot twist or development will take place. Highly recommend this game. Its a thinker for sure. They also 2 have DLC packs which are essentially episodes added onto the game. Makes for even more surprises. I hope they make a follow up to Alan Wake in the future because this game deserves a well written sequel. | video-games_xbox |
An Honest Gamers review on Crackdown 2. Before I get to Crackdown 2, I want you to remember the glory days of games like Metal Slug, Gunstar Heroes, and any type of vertical flying shooter. In these games you have the guilty pleasure of going around blasting like hell at everything to make it to the end of the level. Even if the game had a weak story, it was fun back then... right? Many people won't complain about those old 2D shoot'em ups. What Crackdown 2 is (in my mind) a 3D version of any type of shoot'em up, it is just hidden under the new age of gaming and 3D explorable worlds.
If you come into this game having super high expectations and you did not really enjoy the first Crackdown, then steer clear of this game as well. As for everyone else, listen up. Yes it's set in the first city as Crackdown 1, and yes the graphics haven't improved, but I am here to tell you this game has its sights set in the right direction and offers a lot of fun and mindless shooting and collecting game play. (just like a certain generation of older games I already mentioned.) It is great to run around as a beefed up super cop and take down crime, while being steadily rewarded from your kills and driving with the orbs. Seeing your character get bigger and faster is awesome and the power suit he wears even changes as he levels up and looks more badass which each level (think Iron Man on steroids.)
The "Freaks" at night are fun to snipe from rooftops and blow up, and there are tons of them on the screen at once. The first time I jumped off a tall building and then glided over a swarm of freaks finally dropping 100 feet out of midair and groud-pounding the crap out of them was amazing and never gets old. Shooting swarms of enemies really took me back to those mindless shooter games that I loved and still love today.
Every game has its flaws and Crackdown 2 has several. (Things I thought were noticeable)
- Auto aim is pretty clunky sometimes, but free aiming is also optional and fun
- Melee combat is stiff and needs more combos
- Character Customization is very limited, I wish they added some more options to make your agent reflect your own style
- No pistols, I really like using pistols
- Wish they added a dual wielding weapon option
- Shooting from ledges would be sweet
- You can't aim down the scope with a sniper rifle, but with crap tons of enemies everywhere it would take too long and I found sniping people from a distance to still be satisfying.
- The "ramming" ability doesn't look fast enough when the agent is running.
- City kinda looks like LEGO Land in some places: blocky buildings, solid colors.
- Climbing can be frustrating sometimes. If they had the climbing and lock on jumping system of INFAMOUS this game would be so much better.
- A wall run feature would be amazing as well
While this list seems long and bad, most of these comments are things I wished they put in the game. There are plenty of good parts too!
-Suit looks badass
- !!! Jumping off of rooftops and GLIDING is complicated and seems crappy UNTIL you figure out how to do it! You have to jump off a high enough place and once you activate the gliding and see his limbs splay out and the BLUE trail of lines behind you, you gotta aim his body downwards: once he dips low enough the lines will turn RED and then you slam the control stick back (I play with inverted Y axis) to make him shoot back up into the air and you just repeat those steps and you can go really far! You will eventually land, but it is so COOL!
- Ok, despite what others say, this city is ALIVE! I found a guy playing an acoustic guitar SINGING a SONG about the agency and the cell and there was a crowd watching and some were dancing to the beat! I was quite impressed! I also saw a guy on the street trying to sell a miracle drug to a crowd...LOL awesome!
- guns are awesome and sound great, I love the crack of the non silenced sniper rifle.
- driving is really fun, great stunts
- Draw distance is quite amazing from even the tallest building
- People in the game will comment on your actions; bad guys cuss and yell at you
- freaks sound very good, especially for this game which isn't even a horror game.
- orb finder is helpful
- Renegade orbs are a nice new challenge
- freaks will chase you on the rooftops
- explosions are epic
- jumping is just as awesome as the first Crackdown
- Scaling buildings may not be realistic, but it gets the job done, plus I don't wanna spend 5 minutes trying to climb a building anyway. I want to scale it as fast as I can; it's a super hero type game!
- Ramming into cars and freaks is fun as hell
- Power drop from the air is great and looks sweet and does lots of damage
- Helicopters! And surprisingly they control excellently!
- Sticky mag grenade
To all of you who loved the first Crackdown and just want some more orb collecting, gun shooting, roof jumping, freak killing goodness then definitely get this game. I am sure it is fun online too. Overall I give this game an 8.7 out of 10 for the few actual flaws that stand out to me, but overall it's a blast to play!
And as side note: If you are deciding between this or Red Dead Redemption, choose Crackdown 2. RDR has some of the most boring game play I have ever witnessed in all the games I have ever played, do you really wanna tap the "A" button for 8 minutes while riding a pony to get somewhere?! Or would you rather being jumping massive buildings and blowing up hundreds of zombies in a badass agent suit?! | video-games_xbox |
Lovable, feared and everything in between. While open world, or "do whatever you want" type games seem to be all the rage nowadays, I've never been that big a fan of them since most of the time you wonder whether something is really worth the time for something that isn't all that special at the end. Fable 2, the sequel to the overhyped/underwhelming Fable on the original Xbox, is the kind of game where there's so much stuff to do it almost seems daunting in fact and it feels like the more you do in the game, the more options and areas become available. The game wasn't as massively hyped by creator Peter Molyneux in the press as last time though because of the notoriety that game got, Fable 2 is certainly a game with big expectations. Does it deliver? Not everything but what it nails, it does with gusto.
Story: The story in the game isn't really all that special and seems more like a means to and end but essentially you play as "Little Sparrow", that being your nickname your sister Rose and many others will call you throughout the game. Starting out as a youngster, you do some menial and gameplay-introducing mechanics till you can afford a magic wish-granting box. When your wish of going to the illustrious and grand Fairfax Castle comes true, it turns into tragedy and you're told that you are part of a great destiny: of defeating the evil Lord Lucien from destroying the world of Albion. But just because you get to save the world doesn't mean you have to be nice to people about it and however you decide to interact with people is up to you.
Graphics: Fable 2's graphics are pretty stellar in terms of art design, the color palette (some of the farms you find by exploring are downright gorgeous in their scenery) as well as the occasional cutscene look stunning and seeing the beautiful snow in the opening part of the game or the moody rainy towns and even one creepy bog, the game looks charming. However, the character's themselves didn't get some of the same treatment as designs look a bit ugly, rather cartoonish and suffer from a couple of flaws like fade-ins, framerate stutters and the like. Again, it's a bit of a dated game but there's moments where you'll go "wow", like seeing a sunrise.
Sound/Music: The soundtrack starts off in a rather majestic fashion where Danny Elfman composes the main theme over a grand cutscene and from then we switch to Russell Shaw for another great soundtrack. Lively RPG-like music with full orchestra and it's a soundtrack worth buying. Even the voice acting is great with everyone speaking British accents and there's even some lines that are quite funny. "Friday is poker night". However, some of the NPC dialog is repeated waaaaay too much and one sidequest I had to do was bring people to these big talking doors because he wants an audience. Fair enough only I have to bring 10 of the talkative buggers and since they were all in love with me, nearly everything that came out of their mouth was "if only you loved me enough to buy me a ring" or variations thereof. It got old unbelievably fast and I was more than welcome to kill of them wants the door was satisfied.
Gameplay: The big thing touted in Fable 2 is the ability for choice and rather than have good or bad decisions a la harvest/rescue the Little Sisters in Bioshock, Fable 2 gives you a bit more options from picking a boy or girl, an evil bane on the entire world or a saint. And if you're like me, you're somebody who doesn't mind the debauchery once in awhile but does want to rid the world of evil. They can't have fun, I can; that's the law in my Albion and they'll abide, damnit. However some gameplay mechanics could've been ironed out since eating veggies is good for you whereas meat will make you fat, with both tying into your Pure/Corruption meter. Raise rents too high and you're a punk landlord but keep em low and you're the right kind of owner. There's many ways to play the game though, like I said, you don't have to explore everything but it's nice to give variety.
In the age of huge combo lists and button mashing a la Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden, in comes Fable 2 which is quite elegant in its battle system but above all, it's simple. X is your sword, blocking and your flourish moves (slow motion super attack basically), Y is your ranged weapon while B is your magic. It's all very fast learning and in no time you'll be pulling off the combos than unleashing a level 3 spell. The magic isn't done by selection but rather by charging since you put a spell in 5 available levels depending on how powerful they are and holding B will fill up the meter granting access to the higher ups (similar in a way to Cyan's Bushido moves in Final Fantasy VI). So you can level one slow time, hold for level 2 raise dead where you can be your own necromancer and call upon some ghostly buddies and hold more for a wide fire attack. It's not really filled with multiple combos and special moves but it gets the job done with purchasable upgrades for bigger damage, counter attacks and the like.
If there's one thing that will probably eat up your time the most in Fable 2 is property owning. Be friends with an owner and they'll bring the price down, allowing you to buy it and either move in if it's a house or rent out. It works quite well with some particularly expensive properties found in Albion though outfitting it with better furniture than re-selling it is a nice treat. One aspect that also ties into property owning is families where you can marry and get a wife or husband (or both) and own a house together. While your spouse is a bit too demanding and sometimes gets strangely dissatisfied over everything (like in real life), it's nice to come home to a family and yes, even have sex with them. Though the child's bassinet is in the same room so that makes things creepy.
Does Fable 2 have problems? Yes. Be a big slut and you'll get an STD only what does it do? Nothing, just adds another 1 to your menu. The expression mini-game is a bit too tiresome and it's way too easy to spam an expression in order to get a gift and not to mention this game is found in the moneymaking jobs like bartending and woodcutting. The latter's tedious while bartending, a massive paycheck in the waiting kind of job, is far too easy to make the big bucks. Then there's the whole "turn system off, leave for awhile, turn back on, money pours in" system. Don't play the game for months and you can come back and be richer than anybody.
The dog might work for people or he's just useful but not lovable (but being a 2 dog owner, I find it loveable), the main quest is dodgy and not really interesting and some things would've benefited from more time or just simply better implementation but you know what? I have fun playing this game so it's one of those weird works-in-spite-of-flaws type of games. | video-games_xbox |
Here's what to expect with this game. Let's face it... if you made it to this review, you're serious about these kinds of games. You've already decided that you're buying this one but you're trying to find the justification. There are worse things to spend your money on (cigarettes, cupcakes, hitmen) and there are better things to spend your money on (Japan relief fund, gym membership, dinner for Mom), and this falls squarely in the middle. So here's what to expect on the XBox 360 version:
1. Most of these reviews are right about multiplayer connections. Well they WERE right. Matchmaking was terrible on day one and only a bit better on day 2. By day 3, it was better than COD:Black Ops-- I had no problem getting (and staying) in a match with a friend on the east coast (I'm in CA) and had only infrequent lag "blips".
2. Single player campaign is frustratingly boring. I can understand wanting to involve us in the story, but these guys are amateurs when it comes to mixing story with gaming. I bought a shooter, guys. That means the caffeine is kicking in and I don't want the neighborhood tour from a guy who walks slower than I sleep (you'll know what I mean by mission 2). And the NPC's that pace the story are always late on their "cues". And the bad guys are so repetitive. In short, do not buy this for the campaign.
3. Your soldier may be drunk. I'm not certain, but the way he's moving is pretty good evidence he's had a couple of 40s just before battle.
4. You will hate snipers. In this game, I can pick off the pixel that is a moving head... a half-mile away... while holding a red-dotted M249, so snipers will not always be toting sniper rifles. Even when behind cover, you'll be exposed time and again so just deal with it.
5. You will have a variety of drones at your disposal. The effective players know how to use them once in a while. The Rhino is a cheap way to kill helicopters. The Parrot can make life more difficult for outdoor rushers/campers while netting you 20+ assists a game.
6. Kill cam is more like BF:BC2 and not like COD. You won't see how they killed you, but instead your ghost will follow them around for a bit.
7. The maps are huge. Especially when your soldier runs as slow as he does. I always want to thumb a ride to the action or switch to a pistol to run faster (not a good thing to do, btw).
8. Vehicles can stick around for a long time, although I expect that to change once people get more experience taking them out.
9. There are only two button-layouts. I think this upset me the most. Luckily, only the stab button was different from my usual COD layout, so other than a couple of awkward moments where my surprise invasion of someone else's personal space ended in my own death, I've been able to cope.
10. You'll still prefer COD:Black Ops or BF:BC2, depending on where you're coming from, but this is a nice change of pace. | video-games_xbox |
Players troubles likely from massive amounts of file and data transfer. ...I have read the multitude of bad reviews, and it is clear that many are unable to enjoy the game because of poor online issues; however, I have had very few problems playing online- not sure why it's different for me, but I suspect it has to do with bandwidth. Our home has a high speed Time Warner Cable internet and I purchase a top of the line router for maximum speed. Battlefield 4 online has a stunning amount of highly detailed environments and with up to 64 players fighting with endless choices of weapons and vehicles, along with devolution and the "permanent" effects you have on the environment... well, lets just say that is a mind blowing amount of data with incredible detailed interactivity. That is probably at least one reason for all the frustration. There's so much, that players can't play without very high speed access.
EXAMPLE: You are fighting on the "Caspian Border". You choose to be a sniper and go to the top of the tallest tower. As you target those below, you see a beautifully detailed bird flying in your scope. Two helicopters are battling one another while dropping off troops at key areas. Your just about to become toast when a friendly fighter jet swipes in and takes out the chopper. Your buddy sets up a beacon to warn of nearby enemies. You take out a assault marine, but then realize you are in the sites of another sniper- who will flinch first. (Think of Saving Private Ryan). Then an alarm goes off and you know it's time to bail. The huge tower had been blown up by an enemy troop who infiltrated the underground passages and fought their way to the mechanism which stars the countdown. Good news- you have a parachute and can base jump off the tower. Pull the rip cord early, and you will slowly slot to the earth, yet you can still target and fire upon enemies. Of course that street goes both ways. While coasting to earth, you can clearly see 5 tanks and 6 other vehicles around the terrain. There battles are augmented by amazon audio. You use your ears in this game as much as your eyes. Upon reaching the ground, you come across a tree that has been blown up... then you remember- you blew it up with a hand grenade at the beginning of the battle. In fact, there are hundreds and hundreds of items that were affected by the battle and they stay that way. In fact, the huge tower you were on is now on the ground in pieces- with a hollow center, it now creates a fresh landscape of above group tunnels wherein closer hand to hand battles takes place. I could go on for hours in just trying to describe all that is happening, for you and for 62 other soldiers.. all at once in real time!! WOW. I believe this is why there are so many troubles for some players. (Not and excuse- just a reason)
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...I am a true "newbie", never before playing an "RPG" or "First-Person-Shooter" video game. I have been blown away by more than the millions of young people out there who are better than I. Yes- I am usually cannon fodder for the experienced player, but I keep coming back for more!
... The environments are stunning, varied, and interactive. "Devolution" is awesome- the first time you see it happen, you'll probably get shot because your standing there with your jaw dropped open. The huge structures collapse and change the environment.
... The campaign is great but the online play is truly spectacular. My favorite is the 64 person battles where there is so much going on in so many different areas that you can't possibly get bored. I stay alive longer and get some points by sticking with friendly soldiers, whom I also learn from.
... The various vehicles are great, my favorite being the antiaircraft version. The tanks and anti personal vehicles are each different and interesting, and are easier for a less skilled player.
... The weaponry is extremely varied and accurate. You will quickly find your favorites along with one of 4 different types of soldier, who tend to carry different weapons. Navigating the choices is relatively easy- very intuitive. One "advantage" of getting knocked off frequently is that you can change soldiers and options with each new spawn.
... In summary, for the new or inexperienced player, don't hesitate to join the fun, especially online. | video-games_xbox |
Absolutely Stunning & a pleasent surprise. For this review, I am going to section it out and talk about each piece that comes with the Limited Edition, that way you can get a good feel for each piece that you get.
The game: It is an absolutely stunning setting that you are immediately dropped into. They really captured the look & feel of what it must of been like in the Colonies at the time. From the comments the citizenry make towards you, the attitudes of the soldiers instantly capture your imagination. The scenery is meticulously detailed. Ubisoft really went all out by looking at maps of the locations from the time period and built the world around them and brought them to life.
The enemy AI is very good, but not excellent...There will be times you wonder why they didn't see you, while others you will wonder how they saw you...overall however, it is very good and above standard compared to other games that are currently out. The combat system is very fluid & not sluggish and the controls in general are very easy to learn & use.
Buckle: Very well polished & sturdy...I was glad to see how solid it was and that it wasn't just a piece of tin. On the face, it is the design of the Assasin's Creed logo with III to signify the installment. Overall a very solid addition to the Limited Edition. My only wonder is how exactly it relates to the game itself...It really feels as though it was "tossed in".
American Flag: One of the highlights of the limited edition really. When I saw this was in the limited edition, I really didn't know what to think as to what the quality of it would be. When I got it in hand however, I was very impressed. The stitching is very high quality and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the fabric. It is a very beautiful rendition of the flag and I like how they included the crest of Assassin's Creed in the middle of the 13 stars. It really captured the heritage of the flag, while incorporating the Assassin's Creed theme. It measures 24" x 48".
Washington's Journal: Very meticulously done. The pages & cover look aged as if they had just been discovered and opened for the first time in over 200 years. One of the best parts of this limited edition for sure. It really is one of those things that show the developers (Ubisoft) really tried to capture the era.
Connor Statue: The main addition to the limited edition. The statue of Connor (designed by Alex Ross) is absolutely amazing. It comes with weaponry for you to arm Connor while he stands poised on a cliff top with an American Flag waving behind him. Absolutely superbly done. Whether you are an American or not, you can truly feel the patriotic energy from it. It measures 9.44" tall.
I can't believe I almost passed up on this and was very glad that I did not. I could not recommend this more. Very powerful limited edition. A lot of games really leave you feeling with a feeling of being jipped , but with this, you definitely are left feeling that you got a piece of history, along with a great game. | video-games_xbox |
Better than I'd expected, but the learning curve is steep. "Dai Senyraku VII: Modern Military Tactics" is a strategist's game. I'm going to say that before I say anything else. This game is not for the amateur strategist, or someone who isn't interested in a game you may never beat completely. This game has three levels of AI and a huge range of campaign (sort of, there's no plot) and Free Play missions, and even on Easy AI I found the game very unforgiving. Sustained wars in which both sides have a lot of money starting out can grind on for some time- 99 days is the limit for the longest of scenarios. The graphics are also none-too-impressive; while I have seen worse, and what you have here gets the job done, "Dai Senryaku"'s graphics weren't even state of the art in 2004 when it came out. Unimpressive graphics, an unforgiving and relentless AI, and long missions- more than once, I got the feeling that in this game you don't fight battles, but wars. And the learning curve in this game is extremely steep. It hardly tells you anything about anything, seeming to expect you'll figure out how to read all the information it provides on your own. The English is often badly translated, which doesn't help.
At this point you're probably wondering why I haven't returned "Dai Senyraku" to the store already. For a while I wasn't sure myself.
But.
If you stick with this game, if you try to learn and understand its vast range of complexities, you'll find that "Dai Senryaku VII" is a game like no other on the Xbox. Or on the 360, quite possibly. 400 units to choose from, and the opportunity to play as Britain, France, Germany, the USA, the PRC, Russia, or Israel. The amount of detail available is all but unlimited, and the possibilities truly are endless.
* Free Play missions- you can choose Easy, Medium, or Hard AI difficulty, or set everyone as human for up to four players. You can set alliances any way you like, and while there are default nations for each map you can change those too.
* Unit detail- each and every unit has a statistics sheet, showing hit percentages for each weapon. And while a unit being attacked chooses what to shoot back with on its own, you can tell your units to attack with anything they have. The only limit there is that tanks cannot shoot their main guns at aircraft or helicopters. That's what the machine guns are for! Each unit has a story to tell- as some others have said- and learning it will do you good. I found that the more I knew about a unit, the more useful it was in combat. And this game includes everything, from recon fighters to nuclear submarines and Patriot missile batteries. There's a world of possibility waiting in this game, if you make it over that learning curve.
* Campaign- virtually nonexistent- RED Army must defeat BLUE Army!- and the English is not translated that well. So... yeah. Go ahead if you want, and I highly recommend the tutorials- every time this game volunteers to teach you something, never say no. But don't expect the epicness of "Gears of War" or "Halo". But both in the Campaign and Free Play, I felt like the game was leaving the reason for the war to my imagination. And if this game stimulates your imagination some, gets you to thinking up a campaign of your own, then that's hardly a bad thing.
* Graphics, as I said, are not that great. There are two kinds- those you see when viewing the entire map, and those you see when one unit attacks another. I'll call those strategic and tactical for short. Strategic graphics are a simpler version of "Shattered Union", in that units are colored according to what flag they fight under. GREEN Army units are green, and so on. While some might argue this makes the fighting look cartoonish, it is a system that makes the battlefield much easier to analyze. Get to playing this game and you'll be thankful for the coloring. Tactical graphics are a little better, a little more detailed, but again don't expect much. They do something "SU" never did, which is have the units be groups rather than individuals. A PzH 2000 unit is made up of about eight howitzers, for example and an infantry unit looks to be the size of a platoon.
* Music- it might as well be nonexistent. What little exists isn't at all interesting, and you'd best get used to it because it's gonna be back again. And again. In fact, basically the same song plays in the background all through a battle. A good soundtrack could have done some good, but at the same time nothing is being forced on you.
"Dai Senyraku VII: Modern Military Tactics" was so irritating at first I just about wrote it off the first day. But all that detail, those eight nations and 400 units, kept drawing me back. And when I began to get past the learning curve, this game was irresistible. In the end, after one month of trying it out, I not only kept my first copy but bought a second for my brother. This game rates a full four stars on Fun and Overall. The only thing I would have added would be maybe some Cold War scenarios- like the US, Russia, West and East Germany battling over the fate of the divided nation as the Cold War goes hot. And I also would have liked it if "Dai Senryaku" let us create our own nations, combining units from all the existing ones. The DDR, for example, could have easily been represented by having Russian units fighting under a German flag.
But, those gripes are minor ones, and don't in any way detract from what a fine, albeit very complex, game this is. Anybody who loves detailed turn-based strategy games will surely see past this game's faults, just as I did. | video-games_xbox |
Halo is in good hands. I'll admit, I was skeptical. Bungie moved on to other things and a relatively unheard of studio called 343i, was taking over. But Microsoft wasn't going to let Halo die, and it is clear they wrote a blank check to get the job done. If you are a Halo veteran like myself, welcome back soldiers. If you are new to the franchise, it is good to have you on board.
1. What's new?
A new class of enemies, the promethians. Much like the covenant, the promethians are class based, but unlike the covenant, the promethians build on one another, and work together. This adds an interesting new take on campaign combat.
New weapons. There are tons of new weapons, including new grenades. Now there are UNSC, Covenant, and Promethian weapon classes.
Spartain Ops is a new co-op based weekly downloadable mini-campaign. This is free and will include a total of 50 missions (5 per week for 10 weeks). Content includes hi-res CGI clips that build the story for the missions.
New competative game modes, like dominion (domination)regicide (Free for all with a king), and Flood (a dedicated mode of infection).
New competative features that modernize the franchise, including slightly lower health, and a slightly faster pace.
All new sound, including weapons, vehicles, and soundtrack
2. What's stayed the same?
Master Chief. And Cortana. Enough said.
The feel of Halo. That methodical, team based gameplay that you know and love has returned. Although Halo 4 has its own distinct feel, it has taken some cues from Halo 3.
Although there is a new class of ememies, the Covenant you know and love, make a return.
The Battle Rifle is back! As many vets remember, the BR was a fan favorite!
With the exception of ODST or Reach, the grand galactic story driven campaign is back and better than ever.
I've said it once, I'll say it again. If you are a Halo Veteran, fear not. Halo is in great hands. If you are new, there has never been a better time to hop on board! I can safely recommend Halo 4 to gamers of all sorts! | video-games_xbox |
Tony Hawk: Ride - An Honest Review. So I own this game, have written a trick guide for it, and overall know how to play this game. I wanted to write a review so that others can see the high and low aspects of this game and not just people that give it a score of 1 and go into a rant because they can't figure out the game.
Let's face it folks, not everybody will figure this game out. This game is not for everybody. I am horrible at Madden. I have tried Madden games since Madden 93. After Madden 05, I slowed down with the games and they just got so complex to the point where I just stumbled through playing them. I will not rate those games as a 1 star because I am not good at them.
The joy of this game is that it will trick you. This game is Tony Hawk to its core. This is a completely new Tony Hawk experience, and you need to learn how to play the new experience. Most people will see a skateboard controller, see the Tony Hawk name, and assume that Tony Hawk went soft on us. They will assume that Tony Hawk just tried to capitalize on the casual gamers by making an easy game where you just stand on a skateboard controller, wiggle it a little, and do a 900.
Anybody that thinks that way will be in for quite a bit shock when they start playing this game. You should be afraid of this game. Not because it is bad, but because once you figure out how to play, you will realize that this game plays alot like Tony Hawk 1, but with the inclusion of manuals and a different way of rotating when in vert. This game is for the Tony Hawk fans. This game is not for a casual gamer. Then again, I would like to see any casual gamer dominate in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.
Every single review I have read of this game that has given it a bad review, is because of 1 of 2 things:
1.) The person could not figure out how to play, so they immediately take that as a personal attack on them, and say the game is horrible.
2.) They did not allow for the full 4 feet of space in between objects and the sensors on the controller when calibrating the controller.
Now onto the rest of the review...
Learning Curve
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The learning curve is either very fast or very slow depending on how stubborn you are about learning how to play the game. The game will start you with some tutorials, but just give you a taste and not finish off the rest of the tutorials. If you go through those tutorials, the learning curve is very small. If you do not want to do that, google my guide, and I know for a fact that the learning curve will actually be smaller using my guide than trying the videos.
Not knowing how to play and then wondering why it is difficult would be the equivalent of me hitting one button on Madden 10 and getting mad that they did not map every single action to my A button. If you are willing to learn instead of just trying the game without any knowledge, than you will find the learning curve is not bad. In fact, it is very small.
Gameplay
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The gameplay is split up into 5 modes:
Speed, Trick, Challenge, Free Skate, and Vert
I will go into each mode and explain them along with the up and down sides with each mode
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I will start by saying that to know what kind of score you need for maximum points on a specific session mode, just look at the default high scores. Try to beat the default high scores to get the maximum points (which is normally 15 points per session mode)
Speed:
In this mode, this will appear on the surface as simple, until you realize what you need to do. You need to get to the end within a certain amount of time in order to get point for your run. Most runs will give you 15 session points. Basically, you need session points to unlock new areas, skaters, and extra challenges.
What you need to do as you go through the run is collect the green bubbles which take time off of the timer going up to make your run shorter. Some of the good bubbles, like the 3 and 4 second bubbles, you have to hit a jump or a specific grind to get them.
The biggest issue with this mode is that it is a speed run. This is Tony Hawk here. We want tricks and insane, outlandish combos.
The upside is that the mode is fun. For the people that can't figure out tricks and you want to have a Tony Hawk Ride party, just let them play this mode.
Trick:
This is pretty self explanatory. Try to hit a run and get the high score.
Doing tricks is very easy. Anybody that has trouble should google my guide and see how to do tricks. They are super easy.
Once you figure out how to do tricks, on casual, unless you miss a jump, which is rare, the game present no challenge, and doing tricks is too simple.
Taking the difficulty up to Confident or Hardcore makes trick mode much more fun.
Do not complain about tricks being hard or the controller being unresponsive. I am a 250lbs man and can hit any trick in the game. I do not know what other people's problems are. I almost went into a rant again about people saying games are bad because they are bad at them, but I will hold off.
Challenge:
This is actually my favorite mode of the game. The challenges will start easy, but ramp up as you go through the later stages. The challenges will challenge you to keep up trick transitions and combos.
The only gripe I have about this mode is that you truly need to know what you are doing in the game and how to do all the tricks before this mode starts. In Tony Hawk: Ride, you will just be plopped into the challenges later on in the game and the game will just expect that you already when through all the videos.
One challenge in particular, the challenge is to do an advanced grab over a break in a QP, then jump onto small bleachers, grind them, jump off onto a manual, and then jump onto another set of bleachers to finish off the combo. The problem is that the game never explicitly tells you, "Hey, We are doing something new, go watch the tutorial video on how to do it" Because of this, even myself, I would find myself scratching my head trying to figure out how to do some of this stuff. The game literally assumed that you will go through the beginning tutorial stuff, and then choose to personally go through the other training videos and never really say anything about the fact that is a a good idea to go there since there is no other way to know how to do some of the stuff it tells you to do outside of a google search.
Other than that, challenge mode is amazing and super fun.
Free Skate:
This is what it is. Just skate a run for fun. That is it.
I don't have any gripes with this mode as it is good for practicing.
Vert:
This is also what it sounds like. Vert is pretty fun. Popping the board up at just the correct time to hit a 720 is very satisfying.
The gripe I have with this is turning in Vert. Sometimes it makes sense to tile the board back, but you should be tilting it forward. Really, you do not need to turn in Vert unless you are going for acheivements (well, one or 2 half pipes require you to turn just after you launch down, but that is it)
Other than that, Vert is super fun. The way to do big spins to to pop your board near the top of the pipe, and learning the timing is half of the fun.
Sound
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Like every Tony Hawk game, the soundtrack is awesome. The songs are good. The sound effects sound great.
Really, not much needs to be said since there is nothing bad. Good sound effects, good soundtrack.
Graphics
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This is one area where this game is getting set to 4 star from me. The graphics are not near as good as what Activision has shown from other Tony Hawk games on the 360. Project 8 and Proving Grounds (the latest Tony Hawk) put this game to shame by far. This is the latest Tony Hawk, so it should at the very minimum have graphics that are on par with its previous installment. The graphics on this make the 360 version look more like an average wii version and is definately not the eye candy we got with Project 8 or Proving Grounds.
Story
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Yeah, just kidding. This is not THUG or THUG 2, there is not story.
Overall
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This is a great game. It plays and feels like a good Tony Hawk game. The controls feel right and doing tricks is satisfying. Trust me, once you learn how easy it is to do flick tricks from an ollie setup, you will be like me and fall in love with the flick tricks. I love going from flick trick into grind (not a 50-50, but something wierd for fun, like a salad grind), jump out of the grind, hit a manual, do a pop shove-it, then jump back into another grind. That seems like a lot, but it is my favorite combo and just feels satisfying to hit.
This game is great because you are not just hitting a button to do a trick. Yes, you are doing a motion that possibly has nothing to do with the real trick, but it still incredbly satisfying to hit tricks in this game.
That satisfaction of hitting the tricks is what makes this game so incredibly fun. This game would have gotten 5 out of 5, but the graphics are very sub par for a Tony Hawk game, so it lost a star for graphics, which is a very valid reason to take a star off. | video-games_xbox |
The game that all run and gun fans need. This game is very fun. Even if you can't chase down an original Xbox, the game is compatible with the Xbox 360. The game doesn't have a high price tag, so if someone is charging higher than twenty, look elsewhere and you can find it cheaper. The game is a run and gun game that is heavy on the silliness and admittedly raunchy jokes throughout. But I have noticed some issues in the cut scenes, sounds play badly or there are no voices in some cut scenes. I don't know if that is only with my copy or if it is an issue of playing an xbox game on an Xbox 360, but regardless the game is very fun.
I will be brief in the story because I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't played yet. You play as Roman, the leader of a gang of rebels who call themselves LionGuard. You must lead your allies to stop the tyrant king from using a powerful book that could spell certain doom for the world if he learns its secrets.
You have two allies who act independently, but you can give them commands with the black and white buttons (Right and left bumpers respectively on the Xbox 360 controller) You can tell them to stick to you or be on their own, dealing with the numerous enemies. If your allies die, there is no penalty on your part other than not having them for the rest of the level; they come back in the next level. There are certain levels where you are own your own and you do not have them. Speaking of levels, all of them have multiple objectives that need to be completed to progress, but some objectives can be failed, causing a game over. For example, in one level you have to destroy certain houses. If you destroy too many of the wrong houses, you get a game over.
The game can get pretty tough due to the sheer amount of enemies. There's tons of weapons, but you can only hold three at a time. You need to visit pubs (yes, pubs) to get items necessary to finish an objective or two, but also to swap weapons. One weapon you cannot swap out is the rifle, which has unlimited ammo. While I understand this, you need to have this or you will be screwed when all guns run out of ammo, it's a moot point for those of us who like to cheat. Yes, there are codes in the game. Once you enter a code, it stays in the code menu. Wile you still have to enter it to have it active during a play session, you don't have to look it up on the internet when you have already entered it once.
To sum it up, if you're a fan of run and gun games, are a fan of kooky and weird story lines, and can deal with a challenge, this game is right up your alley. And again, it's fairly cheap, so it's a hidden Gem for the Xbox that won't break the bank. | video-games_xbox |
There's a potentially great game here. Far Cry 2 does something that a lot of famous First-Person-Shooters DON'T do - it gives gamers the opportunity to say, "What would I like to do next?" At any given time there are probably close to a dozen different options, and that alone gives this game a 4-star rating.
Far Cry 2 was built to have a lot of realism. This is both good and bad. The ease and ability of creating brush fires is ridiculously fun, and eerily scary at the same time. The same fire you set to wipe out baddies can end up cornering you between a rock and a hot place. Guns will jam on you when you least expect it, which can make for some awfully panicky game play. There is no radar, and there is no pandering. If you hit a guy with a truck, he dies. If they hit you, YOU die. I took a headshot during a gun battle. I know it was a headshot - I went from full health to falling to the ground. Luckily a buddy "saved me," relieving my need for a reload.
And that's the basis of Far Cry 2. There's a LOT of challenges in the game, from jamming weapons, to the need for Malaria medicine, to frequent and recurrent gun battles all over the map. But you can PREVENT a lot of these from becoming issues if you prepare yourself.
Tired of guns jamming? Stop by the gun shop and buy a new one. Or at least pick up a new one if you've already purchased it - brand new guns are available (once purchased) in every segment of the map.
Malaria medicine? Not that much of a problem, really - I got the first bottle and haven't run out yet. It'd be nice if they gave us a quantity left, so that I could know how long until I need some. I'll admit it's a useless addition to the game, but again, it hasn't really posed much of a problem.
Tired of fighting the same battle in the same place? Once you've scouted a guard post, just barrell through in your truck of choice, or go crashing through the jungle to avoid the battle entirely. I've avoided many confrontations this way. Also, ride the rails whenever possible - very few areas of hostility along the train tracks.
If you're expecting a gunfight (which you should ALWAYS be expecting,) make sure your female "buddy" is ready to save you. You only get one save, then you have to stop any any pre-established safe house to "reset" her - then she'll be ready to save you again.
The graphics of FC2 are amazing - simply amazing. You can actually start to recognize where you are - it's not like the city sand-box games where it all just blends together. There's dizzying heights and deep rivers. I really like how long a day lasts - games like Grand Theft Auto run through a game-day in about an hour. FC2's game-days run about 4 hours, maybe even more. It really lets you plan your strategy and never makes you feel rushed.
I get irritated by a few things, like how a civilian drives past me and feels compelled to jump out of his car and open fire on me. Or how guns you're carrying seem to just dissapear... Turns out if they jam and you don't hit the unjam button, he'll just throw them away.
When a first-person shooter can keep you entertained for 30+ hours, that's a feat. Few games can pull that off. Yeah it's not a perfect game, but there's a lot to do here if you understand the intended strategy. I've actually enjoyed playing Far Cry 2, and I have already found myself aiming for various "completionist" achievements because once you get past the challenges, there's a pretty fun game inside. | video-games_xbox |
It's a descent game....but. This game is descent, although it is not great. One of my biggest disappointents with the game is the absence of stars such as Venus Williams, Anna Kornikova, and Amelie Mauresmo to name a few. Most of the current top 10 players are included in this game except for the three I mentioned. The fact that they have Shinobu Asagoe in the game over Venus Williams or Anna Kornikova is a mystery for me. The graphics in the game are pretty good. The players look like their real life counterparts. They even make the same sounds the real players make on the court such as Monica Seles's grunting. My biggest disappointment with this game is the controls. In order to hit a powerful shot, you need to hit the A button 2x. However, if you mistime this, you will end up hitting a week lobbing shot that the computer will smash out of the air. Also, it seems like this game is nothing but moon balls. It's really hard to get into a hard hitting rally because either you or the computer will miss their timing and hit a weak lobing shot. I wish the controls in the game where customizable, but they are not. You can either set your controller up as Beginner, where the computer decides the shot to hit when you press the A button (which is usually a lobbing shot), or you can set it to expert where you control the shot. Overall, I like this game, but it is difficult get into a power game because the controls are so weird. I also wish they had included an Indoor court in the game so you can get feel of playing on all 4 major surfaces. Also, I think they should have included more than just 20 players. Having 64 would have been nicer. Or even better, how about having former stars such as Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and Steffi Graf in the game. It would have been nice to see Serena Williams play Chris Evert for instance. I hope they put out a better version next year and improve on this. | video-games_xbox |
Good for the right price. I got the whole game for 50 bucks including all dlc during a christmas sale. For this I give it five stars. The game is a questionable departure in terms of movement and combat. I will say passing between both a unique male and female at the drop of the hat is fun, and the additions to the combat bring a fresh skill based approach. The criticism here is the characters can be somewhat unlikable given the cast strong performances elsewhere; to say the two protagonist aren't well acted may be wrong, they are just unlikable or unrelatable at times to me. Another is that the surprisingly fun combat and massively better stealth mechanics have only one real criticism. Combat with the cane, or any weapon no matter it's size is completely invisible till combat is initiated which breaks the realism, it is very fast and somewhat unintelligible and the animation occasionally nonsensical if you pay close enough attention, oddly focusing playability over immersion. However, the stealth mechanic is better than ever. The grappling hook can be very random but finds its necessity. I personally liked climbing everything but for realism sake and the size of the map this is necessary. Movement again for the third ac installment since 360 degree jumping from certain ledges and objects has been removed again making the immersive climbing feel very scripted as opposed to the more skilled approach of games past. For example you see a ledge 45 degrees behind you but because you can only jump up, left, right, or straight back you have to shimmy around till you can collide with it. It's not only annoying but deeply breaks immersion where the stores used to be at its best.
Not everything is gloom and doom though the alternative to the cane is a kukris and the animations are well timed and impactful especially the multi-kills. The extra weapons and limited wardrobe are beautiful and functional carrying over the past games steady upgrades and ramping difficulty fairly well considering the myriad of changes. The city itself is massive and alive. While not as packed as unity it's streets are less full and slightly less detailed but the steady performance is very welcome. Carriages work well something I was concerned about. Bugs are far and few between as well.
I'm playing on Xbox one. The only thing I can't comment on is the overall story of which I'm only two thirds through. It has been enjoyable but standard fair so far. If you can get it for half price or with full dlc included it is worth a fans time but certainly not full price. The total loss of multiplayer is a considerable impact to this if you came expecting itas well. In all it is very average in all ways, holds no real surprises for long term fans, and nothing you truly haven't seen before I in any other assassin's creed. | video-games_xbox |
Best experience. Ok, I have to start off by saying that I wasn't at all interested in this game when it first came out, serveral reasons: first off; I could not afford an xbox at the time so I didn't even want to check it out for my fear of falling in love with it and HAVING to get an xbox somehow, second off ;) never really been a sci-fi-whatever lover; always loved and still love WW2 inspired games, third off ;) all the hype about halo 2 made me sick at first, everybody talking about it!!! god!! make it stop!!! I saw some screenshots and videos eventually and never really saw the big deal about it. Now; on to the good part, when I got my xbox (by the time I finally got my tax return) I bought dozens of games but never halo 2, one day I went to the mall and went into a games store and asked one of the guys: "what's a good game?" cuz I was already bored with what I had, boy, this guy said "ok, of course you've played halo 2 right?" and I'm like "no, and I'm not really looking for a sci-fi kinda game" he started going about how great and fun this game was and how I'm really missing on something special. well, the guy convinced me and got the damn game, I get home, popped the game in and started playing..............GOD DAMN HOW WRONG I WAS!!!! first: graphics, not the best certainly but some really nice touches bring out the effort that was put into it, from the shine on each weapon to the level design and character design, couldn't ask for better for the console, second: gameplay, this is it, this takes the cake, lots of games might be similar to halo 2, but the fun here is second to none, you never really realize when you've already learned the controls, it's that easy and intuitive, the speed of the game, the A.I, the weapons, the explosions, the control you have on you own arsenal, the dual wielding (which opened a whole new dimension of fun and possibilities), the cars, the carjackings, all this came together to blow me away, and I haven't even started on multiplayer, I finally beat the game on normal mode, I never touched the game again for about a year until I finally got my DSL internet and thought: "let's give halo 2 a try online", OMFG!!! this is NEVER ENDIND FUN, it really is, true, you have the same basic kind of games, capture the flag, slayer, etc, but it's the variety of ways and combat what'll keep you wanting to be better than everybody else and you can even create your own games, it doesn't get any better than that, it's the thrill of the chase, it's the satisfaction you get when you get a headshot with your sniper riffle and you see the body of the enemy slamming on the ground and you hear the other guy on your headset going "DAMN!!!", it's the excitement when you shoot your rocket launcher and you see the rocket whizzing through the air straight to a warthog with 3 guys in it and you get a "TRIPPLE KILL"
it's the fear you inflict on your enemy when you're three feet away from them with you energy sword out and you see them shooting like crazy or trying to escape, it's the fun of throwing granades with precision and you see the guy flying through the air from the explosion, it's the laugh it causes you when you stick somebody with a sticky bomb and they don't realize it and all you do is wait to see the BOOM and see them fly!!! it's the rush you feel when you're on your ghost running everybody over and you hear that scream: "AAHHHHH!!!!!!", it's the satisfaction, emotion you feel and fear you have to look behind when you're running away with the enemy flag and you depend on your teammates to defend you or when you meele someone with the flag itself..oh my god!! I wanna play right now!!!, GOD!! I can go on and on and on about this game but all I'm doing is wasting my time and yours when we both could be playing, go! go!! go get it, buy it, borrow it, steal it, do yourself a favor and get it somehow ok??? and if you don't like it or hate it, well, there's something obviously wrong with you... | video-games_xbox |
So much fun! Such a work out. I love love love this game on Xbox 360!!!! It is challenging, but not so challenging that you want to give up and not play it. I love it so much that I am taking the time to write a quick review while I catch my breath. I have the Michael Jackson Experience and Dance Central 2 and out of the three The Black Eyed Peas Experience is by far my favorite. I was in love with Dance Central 2, but this is way better. I just got this last night and have played maybe 5 or 6 songs on casual (easy), so I haven't explored everything. Right now I am in the middle of the teaching/tutorial part.
Pros:
Easy to just pop in and start playing.
The Kinect control is awesome. (I had some difficulty with the Dance Central 2 Kinect control, but I haven't tried it with the new TV mount that I got for the Kinect bar). I like that I can sit on the couch or floor and control it when I am looking at settings etc.
The teaching / tutorial mode is great because it is easy to slow it down to get a break down of the steps. Its also fun and is like a slowed down version of a dance routine because they show you the whole routine in phases of three moves and let you work on the three until you get it, then you put them all together.
You can create your own routine, which I think is probably one of the greatest features. It looks like you can also share them with your friends.
Cons:
I personally have none at the moment.
For those of you who are not that active, and are not good at dancing to begin with, its hard to say how you will do with this game. I am very out of shape, but I have rhythm and can dance well enough not to look like a fool on the dance floor.
If you are not sure about this game I would say go for it. Luckily I got it on sale for $30, but if I had tried it before I bought it I would have no problem paying full price for it. It is that much fun! If you like Dance Central 2 and are comfortable with it, I would say this is a safe purchase for you. It is a little more advanced, but if you can hang with Dance Central 2, you will get great exercise trying to master this. | video-games_xbox |
The Closest Thing to a Fairytale... Ever. Prince of Persia is quite different from the other games in the series and the commercials are misleading. If you've seen the ads, it looks like an ugly game that features a lone warrior. The opposite is true! It's a great looking game and you've got a companion through 99% of the adventure... and she's wonderful!
Story 8/10
The Prince meets a magical Princess named Elika, who's on the run from palace guards. He comes to her aid mostly due to his own bravado, rather than her actual need for rescuing. He gets drawn into a magical adventure where he must help Elika save her kingdom from an evil God who's contaminated the land with a black corrosive slime called The Corruption. Comic Book Fans will recognize this stuff as Spiderman's Symbiotic Suit. The story is epic and the romantic chemistry between the characters is great! 85% of the dialogue is really good and 15% misses the mark. If you can ignore a few bad lines, you'll feel for the characters and enjoy a few laughs. Most of the dialogue is initiated by YOU, the player. An icon appears on the lower left corner of the screen and if you press LT, you talk to Elika. She tells you about the history of the kingdom, gives you hints on puzzles, and flirts.
Graphics 9/10
The game uses the tech from Assassin's Creed to render some of the most beautifully crafted and fantastically designed levels of all time. The game is slightly cell shaded which adds to the fairytale atmosphere. Both the Prince and Elika look and move great.
Gameplay: Exploring 8/10
The Prince and Elika must traverse the dangerous environments and get to the Fertile Grounds. Once they get there, Elika heals the land and removes the corruption. Navigating the environments has never been easier. Elika is the best companion ever! She's single, hot, intelligent, and she grabs you and teleports you to safety every time you fall. The game doesn't record "Deaths" it records "Saves!" as in the number of Times Elika saved your life. If you can beat the game with under 100, you get an achievement. Good luck with that. But having her save your life and saying something witty is much better than the old, fall to your death, continue prompt, Yes decision, level reload, 20 seconds of your life gone x 500 times. Suck it - Prince of Persia Warrior Within! Anyway, Elika can go wherever the Prince can go and they help each other get through the levels. You guide the Prince through the levels, jumping, using magic, and props the entire way. Moving the Prince requires the D-Pad and generously timed button presses to use the props. You will climb on, over, through, up, down, around, some truly amazing levels! There might not be enough challenge for the Hard Core gamers because you don't have to aim jumps. You simply need to time your button presses well. If you get lost, Elika can summon a magical comet to show you where you need to go. She's the best companion ever!
Once she heals the land, Power Seeds appear all over the level. At that point, you and Elika can explore and collect them. After you get a certain amount, Elika gains new powers.
Gameplay: Combat 6/10
There aren't many enemies to fight in the game and when you find one, you fight them one at a time. The combat system is modular. The Prince has sword combos, gauntlet combos, air combos, and magic combos via Elika that can be strung together to create compound combos. You're going to have to figure out how to link them yourself while you are fighting. Despite this, the combat feels restrictive. Too often the enemies enter a state which makes them immune to all but one of your combos or they initiate 'press the right button fast' or 'mash x' minigames. At times, I just wanted to fight! But the game had me jumping through so many hoops, I'd get frustrated. If an enemy is about to kill you, it's Elika to the rescue. If the combat was better, I would have given this game a 5.
Replay Value: 4/10
You can go to the levels in any order, but the path through them is linear. The combat is also restrictive, so it's hard to have fun there. The only reason to replay is for achievements. Try to finish it without Elika saving you 100 times or collecting extra Power Seeds. Playing through the game once takes about 12 hours.
Overall, the game makes innovative leaps to reduce the frustration associated with platforming games. If you're a casual gamer with a romantic heart and you want a fairytale adventure, this game was made for you!
If you want the combat from the previous games or environmental challenges, you may want to skip this game... or at least rent it.
If you've ever wanted a magical acrobatic intelligent witty attractive graceful romantic princess of a girlfriend, buy this game and you'll live happily ever after. | video-games_xbox |
Excellent 360 Launch Title. Call of Duty 2 has been arguably the most popular World War II gaming franchise ever, and it's impossible to dissagree, this is an amazing game. Here is my review for Call of Duty 2.
Graphics: 9/10. Obviously the graphics are a million notches above past consoles, but I was strikingly suprised at how great the graphics were just for a launch title. ( Since usually graphics on a console get better as its life progresses. ) The soldiers look life-like, and the enviroments look fantastic. The only real problems graphically, are that the smoke grenades in buildings go through the walls, and there are occasional blurs, that's about it. Amazing graphics.
Sound: 10/10. You won't believe your ears. This is one of the best sounding games I've ever played. The explosions are great, the guns are great, everything's great, but what really makes you feel into the game is the fact that your infantry men talk to you, and when they do, it's actually useful. You know how in past games guys would randomly say things that weren't true? In this game it is. "German's coming from the South West." He's right. Brilliant sound, it really immerses you into the game.
Control: 9.5/10. Most anyone can pick up the controller and know how to play. I can honestly say I NEVER played an Xbox, but I picked this game up first day and right after the Training for this game I knew exactly what to do. Great controls that are very easy to use, yet effective.
Fun: 9/10. I'm on the last mission on single player currently, and I must say, this is an unbelievable game. The whole single player is in a way repetetive, but then again, that's what war is. But with the fantastic action going on ALL THE TIME, it really doesn't matter if you're doing tedious tasks over and over again. This is a great game on single player, and even a blast online. Online is good, but hard, because " No matter how good you are at one thing, there's always about a million people better. ". So basically, you will keep getting shot dead in the back online. However, the hit detection is spot on; unlike games like Halo, Halo 2, and SOCOM 2 and 3 for the PS2. The multiplayer is also good, but nothing like single player. Single player is just hands down constant intense action, while split-screen is just laid back, find and kill the other guy. The biggest thing that I didn't like about this game, was the fact that there was no 2-player campaign mode; now anyone could agree that'd be sweet. 27 missions, and single player's over, then you can go through it again. ( Which is still great. ) But I reccomend online play. Call Of Duty 2 simply has the best single player I've ever played in any shooting game; maybe ever. This is a must buy for a 360 owner.
9.3/10 | video-games_xbox |
Cardamom's gone soft. SR4's praise is largely intended for SR3. The Third was bashed for being out of place in the series, too slapstick, brash, and gaudy in a series already known for its excesses, but it covered large cultural ground fast. It showed an evolution from a GTA-clone with tasteless, woman-hating humor ("...drop me off at Freckle Bitch's--I'm jonesin' for a fun bag.") to a self-reflective, culturally-aware sandbox game that retained the rebel spirit and fun of the original titles. (Tim Rogers's Saints Row review quip on the littered cup that continually rolls while the bodies disappear is one of the greatest moments in video game journalism.) The new animation for entering (read: jumping into) cars and Prof. Genki's minigames and the prologue are tiny masterpieces of video gaming: the slick, or friction-less, momentum that made games like the original Sonic enjoyable, like the recklessness of running too fast and losing control of your legs. How I love thee, Saints Row: The Third--I can count the ways.
So I find little complaint in SR4's comparison to its predecessor other than in price value and complaints of a cash grab. Perhaps it is indeed lazy to take shortcuts like reusing assets, but I'd rather see devs build incremental updates on good source material and use that saved time for worthwhile experiments. This said, SR4 doesn't build on its environment. Other than clear-cutting a few city blocks for new alien minigames, the setting is mostly identical. The game was designed as an expansion pack on SR3, and it is. It expands (recycles?) SR3's alien DLC into a full, forgettable story, which is treated as an afterthought both in and out of the in-game world, replete with abundant plot holes, cheesy, uninteresting dialogue, and an uncompelling progression through the plot. However, clearing the city's minigames is mostly great fun, and I found myself preferring to invest time in increasing my regular Cache payments. They did a particularly good job with the racing and rampage (destruction) games, but introduced a few new (but weak) games whose novelty quickly wore off (fight club, hotspots). I would have liked to see edgier minigames like Genki's Super Ethical Reality Climax and Panda Skyblazing, the gimme of replacing the alien ship rampage with something drone-related, and something based off of the "simulation" theme. Insurance Fraud is back too, but looking a bit long in the tooth. Traveling between and in the good minigames is really great joy, and the word thrown around with SR4 is "fun". Superpowers are ostensibly another great add to the list of slick features (especially since it obsoletes car travel), and the ability to avoid menus and discerning for fast vehicles in order to travel distances long and short reduces the bureaucratic friction of video gaming--and that's something to be celebrated. But the tradeoffs are a game set in perpetual night, a non-story (albeit handled adroitly), uninteresting sidequests (on par with the assassinations from SR3), and minimal logistic improvements. I'm very glad SR4 is its own package, but I am left to wonder how much tweaking SR3 would have needed to be just as "fun" if the superpower pack was added directly.
Parody can be cute, and SR4 pulls from many cultural sources, but none are as pervasive as Mass Effect's. A central premise of the game uses a mothership as a home base with Mass Effect-style interactions and quests (loyalty missions). It's a large chunk of the new game, and thus, surprising. The character animations on the ship are comically incomplete. I don't remember any crew member making eye contact. It looked more like a demo than a new feature (which doesn't necessarily need to be an issue, but the mothership became central to the story and the game's replay). The idea of the ship was smart and important for the story and (as you'll see) for the future of the human-less series, but it was very poorly executed graphically.
I'm proud of the game's attitude. It has some really mature moments, or glimmers of sunlight, where CID reminds the player-character of how his mockery of Pierce contributes to the perpetuation of stereotypes Pierce holds for himself, not that this is a thinking man's game, but taking advantage of opportunities for genuine character growth and useful introspection for gamers without growing pedantic. It also continues to empower women, with the main women being gritty action heroes interested in the plot struggle over boyfriend interests (though to be fair, they still have those). I'm glad the Shaundi clone and anal probe rhetoric of the hype-up marketing was played down, and I'm glad the American patriotism was where it was. The Uncle Sam pre-order outfit looks really great throughout the whole game, very befitting of the attitude in which the game holds the president at once able to do anything and responsible for everything. (Sound familiar?) These are really good cultural opportunities to exploit in future DLC, just hopefully it won't be released as Saints Row 5.
Fans will appreciate the throwbacks to the classic storyline, but others will see it as needless fan service. Saints Row is evolving as a series, and I think many people are beginning to agree that its wacky direction is good for the series, for the industry, and for fun. I wouldn't feel comfortable picking up this game for less than $20, depending on whether it gets a GOTY edition, and would recommend enjoying <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Saints-Row-The-Third-The-Full-Package/dp/B009DZTXR4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package</a> until it reaches that point. | video-games_xbox |
Interesting. I had heard a lot about this game. I was excited to get a good game for the One. I started playing the game. It is fun. The controls work well. The audio is easy to understand. The game is so bright and shiny. So, as I had hoped, I was happy.
So what do I not like about the game? Well, after playing for an hour or so, the game kind of starts to get old.
I did say everything is bright and shiny. But, if you get close to something and really look at it, there really is no depth. No texture. No shading, just a bland color. That was a real let down. From a game that I have heard, over and over, looks so great.
This game is very fast paced. You hardly ever sit still. It is intense, but it kind of gets annoying. I just want to run around and stop when I choose, but, the only way to really survive while killing the bad guy is to move, non-stop. My mind has to spend far to much time trying to figure out where the hell I am going to jump to next to really pay attention to anything on the ground. The two counter act each other. If that were not annoying enough, some of the time, there is a guy talking to you, telling you about new things that are happening. Ive no clue what the guy has said to me at any point thus far. I mean, I have no clue about the upgrades or the energy or any of those things, which would seem important. You do not have the time to listen to the man talk, when you are trying to figure out where to grind next.
You are in such a big city. Yet, the enemy really seem to be all clustered in a group. You will just see large numbers of them with a few stragglers here and there. It feels like a game Ive played on another system that was a huge let down. I shall not say the name of that game. It just seems a bit empty is all.
So, I sit here wondering what I should do. Do I give the game, which in some ways, is fun. Easy to control and hear. Exciting and heart pounding a 4, or do I give it a five because it seems very much like an arcade game? I have decided, that since I have played for such a short time, I would give it a 3.8 out of 5. So, I rounded it up to a 4. I just got another game for another system. I am hooked on that. As interesting as this new One game seems, I just do not feel excited to play it right now. But still, I will stick with a 3.8. | video-games_xbox |
Save your money. Play the original. Gears Of War the original was the reason I purchased an Xbox 360. I can still remember my first time seeing the Mad World commercial, turning off the tv and proceeding to the nearest Target. This remaster is a complete let down. As much as I have heard complaints about the Halo Master Chief Collection (Multiplayer, XBox Live, etc), the gameplay itself was solid. Which brings me to Gears. I could hardly play through the first 10 mins of this game. I looks like they just cobbled a bunch of higher resolution textures together and scripted it along with a few sound effects. This remaster is amateur at best.
Sound.
Horrible. Everything is level, the explosions, the voices and other effects have no depth. Its as if you are listening to the game through some tin cans. There is even a slight echo in the character voices as if they are in a sound booth... smh
Effects.
Amateur. Here is an example of how poorly done the effects in the game are. I noticed that while shooting that the bullets seem to have the same travel and collision effect no matter how far the object I was shooting was. I shot a wall next to me and turned and shot a wall, a car, and even the ground distances ranging from near to far and it looks like the bullets go about 10ft and collide and disappear. The game also has poor depth perception between the characters. I would compare this to playing one of those poorly made javascript games online in your browser.
Graphics.
This is where the game stands out. While you are standing still the game looks beautiful. The visuals and imagery looks great, but moving around ruins this effect.
Overall this game looks and feel last minute and rushed. As I type this, i cant help but have the feeling that the developers did not care to remake the actual campaign portion of the game and opted to dedicate all or their resources to the online multiplayer. This sucks because I can care less for the multiplayer aspect of the game. | video-games_xbox |
Interesting concept, but practically imposible to play correctly without a walkthrough. This game is an interesting concept, and something that really hasn't been done before. The whole game is basically a GTA sort of concept, but in reverse. However, just because you like GTA games, does not mean you will like this. Instead of being able to do whatever you want, and wreak havoc on the world, this game closely monitors and prevents the player from doing things that it does not want. Let me say, I did not buy this game expecting it to be a GTA, nor do I play game like this immaturely. In GTa, you hijack cars, in LA Noire you politely ask the occupants to leave. In GTA you are a hoodlum outside of the law, in LA Noire you are a policeman/detective. In GTA you can, at any time whip out a rocket launcher and blow people up, and get police called after you, in LA Noire, you cannot access your firearm unless the story mission automatically pulls it out for you, or lets you access it, and you can slam into police cars and nothing happens since you, yourself are a detective. Furthermore, if you are looking for another game to cause havoc in, this isn't it. Partly because you cannot access your weapons unless told to do so, but also if you hit a pedestrian with a vehicle, you will lose ratings upon completing the mission, and in some cases, if you hit a few pedestrians, you will fail the mission and have to restart. See where I am going? So if you are buying this game for someone who acts immature with these types of games, and just wants a GTA to just run people over, hit other drivers, and blow people up, this game is not that in any way. Basically, it is a GTA for responsible, more mature players.
However, while the concept interested me, as I never have had a game where you need to determine if someone is lying or not, and then prove to them why they are lying, find clues and such, I was pretty let down upon actually playing it. This game is very difficult to play ,and therefore is not very enjoyable. I do not know how you are expected to play this game correctly without a walkthrough. Sometimes, there are even items around a crime scene that do not have anything to do with the crime! In many cases, when interviewing a suspect, you need to select why they are lying, but your selections although make sense, are not the correct choice. Or even, having to remember every little detail about the entire mission, and remembering who told you what and why, in order to succeed in investigations or interrogations, and this is very frustrating and not very enjoyable. Halfway through the game, I used a walkthrough just to be able to find all the clues, go where I needed to go in order, and know when an individual was lying or not, and how to prove it. And car chases? forget about it - speeding through tight alleyways and around corners is impossible without slamming into other cars, buildings, or hitting pedestrians. It isn't even fair sometimes.
Very difficult game to play, very tedious, and rather inappropriate. I am in my 20's, and seeing naked women lying on the ground covered in blood made me a little uncomfortable too, so this is a game I would definitely not recommend buying for those below the M rating. And even getting achievements can be frustrating, as there were times, such as getting a fleeing suspect to stop with a warning shot, that I had the opportunity to get the achievement, but I was not allowed to have my gun out. Very frustrating game, and I do not believe it is possible to do well without cheating. | video-games_xbox |
A Worthy Entry in the series. Each year I seem to find myself purchasing the newest entry in EA Sports' NHL franchise and asking myself "how could they make this any better?" NHL 09 is surely another great example of how hockey should be henceforth (for the most part anyway..more to come). The sheer amount of gameplay modes is staggering: all of the classics return in Dynasty Mode, quick play, online play,etc. The real creme de le creme is the new Be A Pro mode in which you create your own hockey player (presumably yourself, what hockey fan hasn't dreamt of playing in the NHL?) and choose which position you wish to play. After choosing your team you are sent to their AHL affiliate to begin working your way up from a 4th-liner to an NHL legend. For the first time all 30 AHL teams made it into the game, as well as all of the European leagues and even the newly formed KHL. Each game you play you are graded on your performance (position score, team play, and stats), and if your grades are good enough you'll eventually move up the lines and possibly even get a chance to play for your NHL team. The rate at which this happens seems to depend on which position you pick, as I've had friends and co-workers tell me they've played as a winger or center and were called up to the main roster after only a few games, while I (as a goalie) didn't really get my chance to shine in net until a couple seasons in. However I would not be discouraged by that, simply based on the fact that there are obviously more positions for wingers, centers, and defensemen than there are for goalies. The only real quirk I've found (as others have too in their reviews..) is that the performance tracking seems to be questionable at times; I've turned in incredible performances (shutout, no turnovers, etc) and was told "your performance hasn't been up to par lately, accordingly I'm giving you less starts" while other times I've played worse and been told the exact opposite. What gives?
Because of the in-depth nature of Be A Pro mode I haven't traversed the other modes very much, but I garner that it's basically more of the same. From my understanding online play is superb provided you have high-speed internet. Obviously the graphics are stunning (especially the little things-the glare off the freshly-zambonied ice, reflections off the boards, and so on), the sound is amazing, especially in surround sound, and the commentary is actually fantastic and relevant to the action on the ice as well as some other relevant comments as well. With the input of a code one can also unlock the new third jerseys that all the NHL teams debuted this 2008-2009 season. From what I've heard the code now comes included with an automatic roster update for the game, but in the event that you don't come across it the code for the jerseys is "xe6377uyrwm48frf"
All that being said, there are only two or three grievances I've come to experience with the game. First off, as with all Xbox 360 games, the disc itself is subject to scratching due to the now openly-admitted faults of the magnetic disc holders, so I recommend that if you have sufficient space save the game to your hard drive, I believe it only took 8 gigs or so of my memory.
Similarly, there occasionally seems to be a slow-down in the frame rate of the game, causing the graphics to skip a second or two. As far as I know there is nothing you can do about this, although it occurs more than I'd care for it's only a minor occurance and thus I can live with it.
Next to last is the fact that others have reported their games freezing. I too have experienced this, albeit not as frequently as others claim. Again, I have no solution for you except that if it happens you need to completely restart your xbox. If you don't the next time you attempt to play a game it will never make it past the loading screen, and you'll be forced to restart it anyway, so if the game freezes simply restart your xbox and the problem should go away.
The biggest and most annoying problem I've found with this game is the AI "glitches" that occur during some games. This happens in different forms for different people from what I understand. Sometimes it seems that when you change your team play tactics there doesn't seem to be a change at all, while other times it seems as if it takes a second for the CPU to process the change, and accordingly the players on your team just stop in mid-play, often turning over the puck. Frustrating. The most annoying problem I had came a week or so ago while I was playing a regular season game (not that it matters-the glitches occur anytime in the season). The opposing player took the shot, I made the save in net, but as the puck was rebounding off me my own defenseman decided to head-butt the puck right past me into my own net. I didn't know whether to laugh or scream, therefore my response as (within microseconds as I shut off my xbox) was probably somewhere in between. Similarly the goaltending AI seems to be unbalanced, as the opposing goaltender (as well as the entire team at times) seem invincible while your team/goalie couldn't stop a puck shot by the other team in the opposing zone. Again, frustrating.
Overall while minor nuisances occur I do not believe that the aforementioned quirks affect the game in any major way, save the freezing aspect that can ruin a perfect game. If I had to sum up NHL 09 in one sentence it would be: potential for unequaled fun or unbridled frustration. That's just my opinion and I'm sticking to it. | video-games_xbox |
This is what happens when you listen to the fans. Did you want better graphics? Did you want a better shooter interface? Well, Bioware delivered...no question.
So Bioware has made a lot of changes to the game (too many to count perhaps), but one things for sure, they created a winner.
NEW COMBAT SYSTEM:
Much more like a first person shooter now; defiantly fun to shoot people and pop the head off of someone. Also doesn't matter as much what abilities you upgrade or what weapons you have; if you can aim then you can kill a bad guy.
NEW UPGRADE SYSTEM:
Can't really decide if I like this or not. There's a part of me that enjoys how much simpler everything has become and how much time I save, but I think I kind of enjoyed the in depth upgrade and weapons in the first game. This opinion may or may not be shared. Regardless, I was a little to overwhelmed by the greatness of this game to care that much.
INTERFACE WITH PREVIOUS GAME:
You'll hear little reminents of things you did in the past and you'll definitely get the feel that you had an impact, but it's not as dramatic I had expected. They hyped it up so much that your last game would have such a big impact on this one, but I haven't seen much to back that up. I was a level 55 in the first game so I got to start a few levels up in this one and they gave me a little extra cash for being rich in ME1, but it wasn't that significant. Guess I just expected a little bit more, but I have to admit that any interface with the previous game must have been hard and it's groundbreaking, so they get my respect.
HACKING/CODE BREAKING: The new system they designed for unlocking items and hacking systems is a lot more fun. Actually feels a little bit challenging and regardless of your level or path you've chosen, you'll be able to do it.
VEHICLE: Good news! There really isn't a vehicle; you'll pick where you want to go and then you'll go there. The vehicle from ME1 felt like a shopping cart with one bad wheel to me and I'm glad to see it's gone.
PLANET EXPLORATION: Pretty cool system they came up with. You'll use a radar device to explore a planets surface and then deploy pods to check for what you're looking for. This is a much improved system from just driving around in my opinion. Be ready to spend a lot of hours looking around. There's an amazing amount of land to cover in the universe. They really worked hard to give you a lot to explore and it shows. Doesn't have that empty pointless feeling that the first ME had when I was checking planets. If they weren't related to the primary objective, every planet felt the same
THE GOOD:
1) Story is great and managed to integrate with the first game to include your actions taken
2) Graphics are on par with competitive titles from this gen; really stunning to just look around at your surroundings
3) Lots of glitches fixed and too many improvements to count; some things they did were almost to small to even notice, but you can feel they're there
THE BAD:
1) New dumbed down RPG elements feel easy to use but a little empty. If you hated the monotony of upgrading too many small aspects and customizing every weapon for proper ammo and best fit then maybe you'll like it. But, I couldn't help but feel that it was a little bit too easy and boring compared to the first game
2) You'll have to do a long mission to gain the loyalty of every one of your 10 squad members; it's kind of cool at first, but it gets a little old. Really? I have to complete a mission to get Garus on my side? Pretty sure I proved my loyalty fighting the Geth and Saren already
3) The new planet scanning system is cool and I'm glad to be rid of the vehicle, but it starts to get really old searching for minerals. After about 4 hours of it I got tired and decided I had enough uprades. Searched about 60 planets and found 6 side missions, so that feels like there's probably a lot out there. I didn't make it to level 30 so I must have missed a lot, but I just got so sick of scanning planets. Not a big complaint though; I don't know how they could have done it better so I was pleased.
OVERVIEW:
GRAPHICS: 10/10
DIALOGUE: 10/10
AUDIO: 10/10
COMBAT SYSTEM: 10/10
UPGRADES: 8/10
STORY: 10/10
INTEGRATION OF PREVIOUS GAME: 7/10
Whether you liked the first ME or you didn't, this game is a winner. I have my share of complaints, but the game is an amazing edition to the trilogy and you can just sense the effort Bioware put into this. Everyone will have complaints, but I've never seen a developer listen to the feedback and put forth this much effort.
Two days ago I would have told you ME1 was almost perfect, but this game has shown be the light and really set the bar.
Thanks Bioware
Good Gaming | video-games_xbox |
really not worth it. I really wanted to like this game. Bioware used to be one of my favorite publishers but, sadly, this proves once again that they have completely lost the magic. The story is shallow and trite, ripped from oh-so-many fantasy tropes leaving you feeling dirty and manipulated. The broad sweeping 'epic' feel they were going for completely trampled under the deluge of inane blather every member of this world will lay on you if you happen near them. This would not be so bad if it was actually avoidable but the system not only embraces this cumbersome and obnoxious conversation system but actually makes you spend more time needlessly navigating poorly voiced conversation menu after unoriginal menu searching madly for the one answer that will shut up whomever it is you are speaking to and allow you back to the slightly less awful combat system.
The control of the party on the onset appears to be deep and fully customizable however about two fights into the game you're due to discover that, no you are not actually ever going to be able to wield the full might of a perfectly balanced party who execute your orders to the T and provide a flawless victory. No, in fact the combat system feels more like you are the commander of a live action role playing troupe made up of severely developmentally challenged 'tweens who are following whatever twisted set of instructions their hormone flooded brains produce to get them either noticed by the camera or killed. often killed. overall the combat is clunky, unintuitive and generally underwhelming.
The graphics. I am going to really keep this portion of the review simple as I want to express my point clearly and avoid confusion.
This
Game
Looks
Terrible.
facial animation is choppy, cut scenes are choppy, people walk through walls and hold things with their hands still open etc etc. all around very very very poor.
Overall Dragon Age is a gigantic swing and a miss. To take it a step further this type of shoddy unoriginal game is exactly what is pulling the industry closer to the creative wasteland that we have already begun to see the beginnings of. While I don't begrudge anyone for their choice in game the sheer shallowness of Dragon Age should be scorned and mocked. This is not a fantasy epic. This is a poorly conceived knock off of every other fantasy epic and should be treated as such. | video-games_xbox |
Politely mailed me a replacement when first one didn't work. The Positive:
+Second device mailed to me (at no cost) works fine.
+Pro-active customer service contacted me via e-mail and was very polite and helpful.
+Quick response time on customer service.
The In-Between:
=Poor English but understandable and did not inhibit communication.
=Product is a "knockoff" but I knew that before buying.
=Good price but "You get what you pay for" definitely applies.
The Negative:
-Very long delivery time.
-Pointless installation disc. Why do they keep shipping them with it?
-First product did not work despite correctly installing drivers.
-Common issues with product kept me unsure if hardware or drivers was source of problem (happened to be hardware).
Details:
I fully researched this product before purchasing so I knew it was a knockoff and that a lot of people had issues with it. However, I felt confident that I could follow the correct driver installation instructions. Unfortunately the product I was mailed was faulty (took me quite some time to figure this out as I assumed the problem was driver-related). Upon checking my e-mail I noticed they had already e-mailed me to follow up on my purchase and make sure the product was functioning. I e-mailed them to let them know it was not working and asked for a refund. They replied with a troubleshooting e-mail (e-mailed me the proper driver installation instructions that I had already found in other reviews and websites). I replied that it still did not work (actual issue was that the controller would connect but only for a few seconds and it was very difficult to get it to connect at all). Then they asked me if I would like for them to mail me another one at no cost. I had read some of the knockoffs just don't work while others do so I said yes and after a few weeks received a working product.
Special note: First one had "XBOX 360" labeled on it and came with a red disc. Second one had no label and came with a white disc. Probably unimportant but could be indicator of which ones work and which ones don't. | video-games_xbox |
It's "quasi" RPG. It's the "Diet Coke" of RPG. Extra points if you know what the title is quoted from, but anyway...
This game is simple. So I'm going to give you a simple review. This is a JRPG in the finest sense. If you've played most if not all of the RPGs on the 360, you've played this game before. It borrows VERY heavily from almost every single original (meaning, non-sequel) one, and I'm going to focus on that, but first a little back story. Your character is Juto, a young man who has washed up on an island with amnesia (Infinite Undiscovery anyone?). Melissa finds him, and takes him in as family, showing him the basics of combat and survival during the ongoing war that is taking place (Blue Dragon anyone?).
The battle engine uses a controlled action engine, identical to the one found in Infinite Undiscovery. If you didn't like that battle engine, you won't like this one, period. The graphics are strikingly similar to Infinite Undiscovery as well, also making use of the Unreal Engine. The war backstory feels like a toned down version of The Last Remnant, not quite as large scale. And, as in Infinite Undiscovery, you'll encounter a runaway princess accompanied by her guardian. (Trust me, I'm not done yet...)
There also happens to be "Kan", which is a form of energy that gives humans extraordinary powers. This is not unlike the energy in Infinite Undiscovery that gave people powers of the moon, since the hero, Strauss, also comes from another planet. But what really made me giggle is the presence of "Doomseeds" in the game...some sort of light shower which seem to be related to Kan in some way and affect Kan users negatively when exposed to it. (Infinite Undiscovery players, does any of this sound familiar?)
Basically...this game really does rip off a lot from Infinite Undiscovery. That's not a bad thing, but if you couldn't stand that game, PLEASE skip this.
=-= What Magna Carta 2 Does RIGHT =-=
- Graphics are quite beautiful.
- Lots of cutscenes, some manually controlled, some static with text, others fully CGI.
- Battle engine is easy to get into (see WRONG below though...)
- 100% camera control in multiple directions, including up and down.
- If you install to the hard drive the load times are almost nonexistent.
- Fairly deep story. It's easy to see that story is what drives this game, along with graphics.
- Music is light, not overpowering, just enough to get you into the environment.
=-= What Magna Carta 2 Does WRONG =-=
- Inefficient use of button commands. I mean, if I need to switch skills, why do I have to press RT, then Dpad, Then RT, then X? Why can't I just have RT cycle through the options and then X when I'm done? That's just one example; don't even get me started on the Drive Chain.
- Drive and Chain and all of the variations are absolutely mind numbingly confusing. It's not explained well in the first place, and given the button inefficiency I mentioned above...
- Quest explanations are stupid. One quest asks you to basically use Fire Tap (Crocell's Special) to generate Fire Kan. Never is it explained exactly how to trigger his Fire Tap, unless I missed it somewhere.
- Forced requirement to go back and "check in" with requesters. I understand this is real and all, but the problem is that the game is structured such that if you proceed a certain length, you will get to a point where you cannot return, thus if there is a quest that exists at the very end of one of these parts, there's usually a single event (which you can't back out of) that is your point of no return. Since you didn't know in advance, even if you did the quest correctly, you can't go back to check in and thus you lose those Experience points.
- A LOT of backtracking due to the aforementioned "check in" requirement. The land is huge, so this gets annoying.
- I find the voice acting to be subpar. Maybe it's just me.
So...do I recommend it? If you liked Infinite Undiscovery, yes. If you never played that game, you might want to play that first to see if you like that direction. It's scary how identical it really is to that game. You might consider renting Magna Carta 2 if you really feel like taking a plunge. I will say though for the record, for everyone who is reading. THIS IS A JRPG. THIS IS NOT OBLIVION, IT's NOT FALLOUT 3. Please don't come in here blasting it for "sticking to the old formula". Yes, it does. And there's nothing wrong with that, for people who enjoy that formula. It's not going to change the face of RPG gaming. Doubtful it'll end up on PS3. But it's a solid addition to the RPG library for 360 and well worth at least a playthrough, as long as you can accept it for being the very basic of RPG. | video-games_xbox |
Single player, a bit of a let down. I would like to preface this review by stating that above all else I am a single player gamer. If the single player component doesn't hold up, the game doesn't stay in my collection long. There are, of course, exceptions, but Medal of Honor is not one of these exceptions. I did not own the game long enough to play multiplayer, so please take that grain of salt with my review.
The Story, or lack thereof:
This was the biggest let down for me. I bought into the hype and blindly ordered the game. The MoH series had a good reputation so why not? The ads made it sound like the game had a great narrative based on true life events. Looking back now I can barely remember any elements of the story. For one thing it followed the MW2 tradition of a 5-6 hour campaign, hardly enough time to build any kind of attachment to the characters, the only reason it sort of worked for MW2 is that game had COD4 to build off of. There is a coherent narrative, but it was just so bland and detached. It starts with a satellite view of the world and the opening credits music with sound bytes from 9/11 mixed in (hello MW2). From then on it's just one fight after another intermingled with cutscenes of the local commander wrestling with the guys at the Pentagon to try and make them understand the situation on the ground (I haven't seen this cliche before). The story also jumps from one character's squad to another which makes it even harder to become attached to your comrades and thus reduces the impact of anything that happens to them. There are some cool moments like when you snipe a couple of Taliban guys from about 2 or 3 miles away, but most the missions lack any kind of feeling of attachment to the greater hunt for Bin Laden.
The Graphics:
The game does look pretty good. I recall one particularly spectacular moment when close air support drops a bomb near you and the sky is filled with dust and sand and the lighting effects really sold the moment. There are occasional slow downs and frame rate hitches, but overall I have no complaints.
Audio:
This is where the game really shines, and this is what kept the game at least interesting enough for one playthrough. The gunfire is some of the best I've ever heard. The crisp sharp reports from your own and enemy weapons sound pretty accurate and appear to vary depending on location, something I would love to see more of in other games (looks at COD). All of this combines with a fairly rousing musical soundtrack to create a very good audio experience.
How does it play though?
Good. Or at least as you would expect a modern day FPS game to control. Nothing terribly innovative, but nothing that constricts the experience. Your AI buddies are somewhat smart and don't hamper the experience. Sometimes the enemy AI does some stupid stuff. On the whole the gameplay is adequate in and of itself, just nothing special.
The Bottom Line:
I should have posted this review a long time ago, since I bought the game when it came out. I've only recently decided to start writing reviews for more of the games I play however. I traded the game in about 2 or 3 days after I got it. It was decent enough to play through once (plus I'm kinda OCD and unless the game is unplayable to the point of being broken I finish it), but there is nothing memorable about the experience. It's a shame, because the game had a great premise. | video-games_xbox |
No "Halo Killer. Before playing Bioshock, I kept reading reviews that said it looked soooo much better than <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Halo-3/dp/B000FRU0NU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Halo 3</a>, even though Halo had yet to ship. I have to say, I think they're wrong. Bioshock is quite detailed and enjoyable to look at, but has grossly shinny surfaces (dull surfaces being something Halo excels at). Additionally the "sky boxes" for the underwater city pale in comparison to the miles of "real geometry" used in Halo 3. I found the levels to be very detailed and convincing, till I walked up to a window and saw a badly distorted and over-scaled matte used to portray the skyline...
Gameplay is entertaining, but "moral choices" for which the game has been lauded, are little more than tacked on. Other than the different outcomes of the game, there's really very little that these choices will impact. You may receive slightly more Adam one way or the other, but the real choices are how you spend it not how you get it.
Storyline is excellent with twists and turns, though like a Shyamalan movie, are only really good the first time around and are kinda obvious to astute folks. Some plot points seem to appear fairly quickly though the game continues to hit you over the head with them just in case you didn't see them coming.
My one complaint is that the game is simply dark and depressing for the sake of being that way. It is in the "sci-fi horror" genre of course, but the same story could have been told in a compelling way without the horror clichs. It may well have been scarier without all the clichs. I played it with <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/5-1-headphones/dp/B000FP0K78/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">5.1 headphones</a> to up the ante and the scary parts were still pretty obvious. Swelling music, flashing lights, just plain darkness... The one time the game genuinely scared me was when there was no music, little sound, and a big fairly well lit room...
Overall, it's a fun game with good gameplay, excellent story line, and very detailed scenes. | video-games_xbox |
Massive Effect on Gaming. A little late in the review... but better late than never--or something like that.
Mass Effect is a fantastic game. It hits so many of the major themes of classic RPG, action, and traditional sci-fi storytelling. If you've played other Bioware games, like Knights of the Old Republic, then you'll dive right into this game without any problems. It combines elements of Star Wars, Star Trek, Starship Troopers, and many other classics--but it remains unique. I'll touch on some of the key points below.
+++ GAMEPLAY: Outstanding in all aspects. The game is 3rd person and captures the scene and action nicely. The camera angles and movement is spot on; I didn't have any moments where I felt disoriented or otherwise distracted by the camera. The controls for switching weapons and managing your character(s) inventory is easy and fast. The action is top-notch: aiming, shooting, moving, taking cover, and so forth are all done well and are easy to use in the game. There might be a short learning curve, but it won't take long for you to pick it up. The controls for navigating the galaxy are eye-popping--seriously! You get this insane holographic map on the ship and you can navigate the 3D galaxy, picking systems and planets to explore. I really wracked my brain on this one, but I can't find a single thing to complain about with the gameplay elements.
+++ STORY: Now your mileage may vary on this one, but I found the story to be enthralling. After creating a character, choosing your background and such, you can journey through the game in your own way. Be a no-holds barred mercenary, a merciful white knight, or whatever type of person you want to be. Your actions and attitude are reflected well in the game: the other characters react to you according to your deeds and behavior, your comrades hold in you different regards, and there are different options in dialogue and missions depending on your path. The main story of the game is awesome. I personally don't think it's cliche at all; it's an original, quite serious, yarn in the best spirit of space opera and hardcore science fiction. It kept me glued to the screen and excited to know the outcome. There are a few missions that are repetitive, but the main thrust of the story is fantastic. There are plenty of things to do and planets to explore. If you like to take your time and explore a game, you'll easy get 50+ hours out of this game. Well worth every penny!
+++ ENVIRONMENT: The graphics, sound, and music are all fantastic. I know, it sounds crazy that so much is so good about this game... but it is! I'm sure some gamers will find fault with something in the environment of the game, but it's a work of art. For how much detail is shown on characters, ships, planets, equipment, etc this game performs well and rarely, if ever, experiences any glitches. I only saw a graphical hitch once or twice in my 60ish hours playing. The game never froze or stuttered for me. The atmosphere is perfect. The ships and planets and people all look authentic... they look "lived in" as the Star Wars universe did.
+++ MISC: The game has a few DLC add-ons that extend the life of the game by adding missions and locations. The DLC is good, not great, and the core of the game is much more exciting than the add-ons. Unless you're a hardcore completionist, don't bother with the DLC and stick to the main game. There's plenty to do and see in the galaxy. There are a few missions and enemy encounters that can get a little repetitive, but it's not often enough to drag the game down. I took off one star from the Fun Factor because of this repetition. There's also some repetitive elements to interacting with your comrades and crew; you'll often have to talk to them between missions to get anything new out of them, or to advance relationships with them. It's not really a problem, game-wise, but I can't really say it's fun. Dialogue and cut-scenes, even if good, can be a yawner. | video-games_xbox |
Disappointing Roster, Yet Fun. I had high hopes for Deception after playing Deadly Alliance a few years ago. I saved the money for the game and anxiously awaited it. Due to a stockman's mistake, I managed to get the game a few days early and played it pretty hard for a day before deciding that it wasn't worth the money I spent on it. Don't crucify me yet, MK worshipers, as I will tell you why.
The character roster in Deception is by far the most disapointing of any MK game to date. Unless they are found hidden deep within the game, Johnny Cage, Sonya, Kitana, Jax, Kung Lao, (and more) are all absent from the game, after being in nearly every game in the series to date. Of that list, I am especially upset with the exclusion of Cage and Sonya, who are always favorites at dorm parties, where 2 player fighters are favorites. This is the primary reason for the low fun score, though people who dislike all these characters (I'm assuming only die-hard fans of the series' rejected filler characters) should still have a blast with the game. The re-introduction of Liu Kang is a welcome sight in a game that loses it's familiarity with long time series players in an attempt to appease only the most select of fans.
Other than the character roster being very sub-par, the game is as much fun to play as Deadly Alliance. The game is greatly accelerated, with lightning fast responses to your input, which was a major fault of Deadly Alliance with some of the more lengthy combos. A new indicator allows one to train when a move leaves one open for attack, teaching the player how to best utilize each move at his/her disposal. Another welcome sight is a 2nd fatality per character. Another low point, however, is the ability for your opponent to kill his/herself after losing, rather than allowing the victor the gratification of the kill, which, as most know, is usually the point of the whole match. The exclusion of some styles from Deadly Alliance is also a let down, one example being the nunchaku weapon style, which is always a favorite alternative to the usual swords or blades.
There are other modes to enjoy besides the usual arcade mode, of course, though I will not go into great detail about them. One of which is Chess Kombat, allowing you to use MK Characters as "tokens" on a chess board, duking it out for every square, but with many twists to the usual game. Puzzle Kombat is your basic puzzle game, with colored pieces dropping for you to match up and delete before your opponent wins, causing your mini-warrior to be executed in typical MK fashion.
The final component to MK Deception is Konquest mode, which once again trains you to play the game, but this time, tells the story of Sujinko as you guide him through the realms of the MK Universe. It is an RPG style game taht allows for most of the secrets in the game to be unlocked, via the Krypt, making it's return from Deadly Alliance.
Did I mention all modes are playable ONLINE?
All in all, the game is much better this time around, but will not be remaining in my XBOX when friends are over, due simply to the fact that Midway took away all familiarity in the series with a bland, apocalyptical storyline and removed the majority of the series' trademark characters. For some, this will be no problem, and you should rely on instinct to guide your purchase. If you enjoyed Deadly Alliance, you will likely enjoy this game, though maybe, not as long. | video-games_xbox |
russians? again? oh brother. Pros:
- standard FPS elements work well: shoot, duck, zoom in, yadda yadda, standard weapons function well
- map seems fine. stuff is were it says it is. objectives are marked.
- sound is top-notch, Battlefield: Bad Company quality.
- wide-open levels
- feels like a Battlefield type game (same dev as previous titles - but not Bad Company)
- some minor amount of destroyable environments
- drones (tiny vehicles) implemented very well. This is probably the game's one hook. The drones are a real pleasure to use (maybe the controls could be better for the rover you have to drive) and hopefully more developers will work these into their games...
- 50-player online matches
Neutral:
- no cover system, but so what
- number of re-spawns per level. Yikes, that's pretty idiotic. Especially if you plan to play this on the most difficult setting. I put this in the neutral category because it never affected me (only died a few times on the normal setting). But it's a frightening prospect if you are a noob gamer. Want to reach the very end of a level after an hour of play and have to start from the beginning?
- graphics and textures are okay. But there isn't much wow or zing here. No color or pizzazz. I realize we're in the desert much of the time, and much of the cities are bombed out ruins, but gimme something pretty to look at once in awhile.
- some minor framerate or pop-in gripes. I don't recall if page-tearing was an issue.
Cons:
- some odd engine behaviors. Step out of a tank in a certain place, it automatically blows up. Vehicles spawn in and out like that. These don't really impede progress in the game, but they are extremely goofy.
- odd enemy spawning. They seem to spawn from nowhere, sometimes right behind you.
- Halo-style vehicle controls, which is normally fine, but they work very clunky here. Often becomes awkward or impossible to back up in a vehicle, especially a tank.
- little in the way of options and customization of controls (or anything). Don't like the control scheme? Tough luck buddy.
- Cannot perform simple functions that most FPS games have, such as pick up enemy weapons, swap, etc.
- Friendly AI can't hit the broad side of a war. I think the kill ration was me: 99.99%, friendly AI: 0.01% (sometimes shooting at me or my vehicle trying to hit an enemy in front of me).
- Friendly vehicle AI can box you in sometimes. If I'm trying to move my tank, please get the hell outta my way.
- Enemy AI seems to be able to rush right out of a structure, blind fire and automatically hit you several times before you can even remotely react...
- AI in general is goofy. You'll often have enemies and squad mates running right past each other or standing right next to each other, never seeing each other, never firing.
- Very poor availability of the machine gun (my favorite). It was only available in a couple of levels from memory.
- Only 8 levels. The ones they give you are large, yes, but those are still over quite quickly, say 20-45 minutes per level (depending on your skill level). The game can be beaten in a few short hours. This is the game's KEY flaw. They probably figure the multiplayer makes up for the short campaign. They'd be wrong.
- Lack of online game mode variety.
- No offline multiplayer whatsoever. No offline co-op. What's that about?
- The story. Sure oil is a hot-button topic, but war with the Russians? Again? People need to stop recycling old bogeymen and enemies. Battlefield Bad Company (a much more fun game) also did this in 08. Of course, if you are a Republican, you'll probably love this theme (especially considering current events with Georgia), you'll be afraid of Russians (and everything that ain't just like you) and this'll be right up your alley. | video-games_xbox |
A little dissapointed. Overall this is a great game, just like 2k4. However, therein lies my biggest complaint. The in-game commentary is 95% exact rollovers from 2k4. I could tell instantly that they were the exact same audio takes from last year. They say a couple of new thing but overall you'll hear the exact same sort of game calling as last year.
The on-field graphics are not bad, about the same as last year but the shots of Chris and Suzy doing interviews are horrible. They must have cut corners there to bring the price down.
The weekly planner is a cool feature although it might take a while to get used to. With the exception of my 1st team, all players have constantly lost at least 1 stat point and sometimes 4 while never gaining more than 2.
I have already found what I hope was just a one-time glitch but may be a bug while playing the second game of the preseason; the other team passed, my defence intercepted then fumbled and recovered the ball (my possesion, 1st and 10 somewhere around my own 25). The computer challenged saying the pass was incomplete and they were right. However, instead of the next play being 2nd and 10 or 3rd and 10 or whatever it was, they got a 1st down at the original line of scrimmage. That one play in the 2nd quarter set up a horrible showing by myself as I got extremely flustered and ended up losing by an amount of which I'm embarassed to say. I don't believe they touched the ball after I fumbled but that shouldn't matter anyway, after the challenge the ball was considered dead as soon as it hit the ground due to it being an incomplete pass.
I did not see a glitch of the same sort in the game that followed (in which I won).
Overall I would actually give the game 3 1/2 stars because mostly it's an exact replica of 2k4 (4 1/2 stars). The crib is bigger, ESPN Game Sound (5.1) is cool but I don't have the hookup to use it, the weekly planner is good but could have been better and it can get tedious if all you want to do is play. I wouldn't mind paying the normal $49.95 if they would have spent more time and effort to make it better than last year, not just the same with a few add-ons. Knock off one full star for lack of effort and imagination. | video-games_xbox |
My greatest letdown in gaming history. A bit of history first and foremost:
I remember back in 2006 seeing the first trailer for Resident Evil 5. Not the version with swarms of enemies being annihilated by Chris, but the one with an unnamed guy who looked like him exploring a supposedly abandoned African village by himself. This was after reading that RE5 would involve an all new breed of terror, and include visual distortions (mirages) as the game takes place in the African desert. When I saw this trailer, all of that seemed to come alive as an unknown protagonist who looked a lot like the Chris Redfield from REmake made his appearance. There was no annoying Sheva, no Saturday morning cartoon villains, no car chases, no gatling guns tearing through bikers on your tail, no nothing. Just our Chris lookalike, stranded alone in a vacant village that's anything but vacant. But of course we all know it's Chris, so I'll stop with the cryptic entendre.
The game was supposed to have a similar feel to the film 'Blackhawk Down', and initially Chris wasn't here by choice, but rather stranded as previously mentioned. Suddenly we see slow, shuffling figures silhouetted against the sun, moving in toward the village. In an instant, they launch into a sprint, splitting up as they sense an intruder. We see through the enemy's eye as they glide at high speeds down a corridor toward an unwary Chris, who at the last minute turns to aim his gun. /endtrailer. Already my expectations were high, and I couldn't stop thinking about how amazing this game looked. A brand new terror, enigmatic silhouettes in a trailer, would hound Chris through a village in the middle of an African desert. He'd have troubles with distorted perceptions, and the dichotomy of light and darkness as he dealt with agile foes driven by adrenaline.
After the success of RE4, which completely reinvented the ballgame but was too awesome to get mad at, instead being so inventive that I loved it, I knew this would be a treat. I thought, "Now THIS is how you create a survival horror experience in broad daylight that MIGHT even offer as much suspense as REmake." The environment looked perfectly conducive to visual distortions, which could even come from the psychological damage of this aggressive new terror. Come to find out later, the enemies would be just like the crimson heads of REmake. Awesome! Not exactly a brand new breed of terror, but it fit perfectly AND brought the series back to its zombie roots after the sidetrack of RE4. Not to mention all the possibilities of Umbrella making a resurgence across the ocean, where their business may once more flourish under black market industry. The possibilities for an extravagant plot were boundless. That is, if half decent writers had taken up the task of crafting it.
Fast forward a few months (maybe even up to a year) later. New trailers emerge, showing Chris gunning down legions of humanlike enemies. SO humanlike, in fact, that they barely resembled the crimson heads posed earlier. Not only that, but they weren't remotely as fast or aggressive. In fact, come to think of it . . . look at all those identical animations to the Ganados of RE4! HUH?! This couldn't be right . . . but it was. Still looked good, and I was anxious to play, but I was somewhere between disappointed and indifferent. Little while later, Sheva is introduced. A partner character? Why?! Where's the horror in someone by your side to hold your hand? At this point, any trace of the fear or suspense that first trailer instilled in me was dead - dead as the zombies who still don't make a return in this game.
Well, let's just skip ahead to the final product, just as I did. Sheva doesn't hold your hand; you hold hers. EVERY. STEP. OF. THE. WAY. You babysit her even more than the irritating brat in RE4. Instead of an immersive, atmospheric single player experience, Capcom decided that in order to succeed, they had to jump on the co-op bandwagon and homogenize their cherished survival horror series into another dime-a-dozen Call of Duty clone. Rather than that promised solo trek in an abandoned village, facing heat-induced mirages and harsh contrast between dark interiors and the blinding sun outside, battling quick, aggressive, fearsome monsters that hunt you in packs, we get a Gears of War version of Resident Evil 4 using the exact SAME breed of terror. They even threw in the tired model animations, too, without any changes. The only difference now is the name. Even the product's slogan: "Fear you'll never forget." Really? Where is that fear? I guess I DID forget, because I don't remember any fear in this game.
Item management is now a convoluted version of the system transitioned from RE4 (as pretty much everything in this game is). The game is broken into chapters, just as RE4 was, but one of the most boneheaded changes about THIS system (you could categorize every bonehead maneuver they made in this game's development, even alphabetize it) was the inclusion of an invisible merchant after each chapter. Yes, you read that right. Instead of having a physical person who inadvertently follows you throughout the game, setting up shop two steps ahead to help you out, we now buy weapons from . . . a 'buy' screen. Chris and Sheva are in the midst of a struggle in an African village with no friendly face in sight, yet magically they're able to buy weapons out of thin air. Oy. . . . At any rate, the weapons available are pretty good, so much so that you could ultimately become a human battle tank as you customize and upgrade them. Ammo is insanely abundant, and you'll find yourself exhausting shots in your favorite weapon and always have full stock for the others as backup.
As far as controls, the game is generally pretty fluid. Running is brisk, and movement isn't awkward. But one problem persists, and has been prevalent from the beginning of the series: lack of movement while aiming. I could understand and forgive it back in the first handful of games, because most of the time you only faced one or two slow, staggering enemies at a time in cramped hallways. But Chris and Sheva are facing scores of equally-matched humanoid monsters who aren't just killing you to eat and sustain themselves; these knife-wielding, parasite-sprouting mutants WANT you dead. They kill for sport, and they aren't going to slow down and let you have a moment to say your last words. So why are Chris and Sheva still standing motionless to shoot? Is it SO hard to imagine running around showering the fray in the barrage of your machine gun? The game throws just about every known kind of high-powered, spreadfire assault weapon at you in between levels; but you still have to stand there like a sitting duck to aim them? Capcom's excuse is that it's supposed to add tension to the mix, and incite a feeling of survival horror. But why bother? You already grabbed Gears of War by the legs and dragged it into your development room to use as a template; why even care about implementing tension anymore? Tension should come from a good blend of atmosphere and LACK of enemy presence all the time, not throwing everything imaginable at you at once while handicapping your movement. How's it possible that all the best ideas I've ever seen for this game come from random posters on forums and message boards, not the developers themselves? I can think of a few reviewers on these very pages who should've been hired on the development team, instead of whatever brainless morons got lucky enough to ruin what could've been an instant classic.
Lack of movement isn't just a problem I have with THIS game; I've been shaking my head at the inability to move and shoot since RE: Director's Cut. All those years ago, standing idle like a moron while a hunter leapt into the air to behead me felt not only unnatural, but utterly moronic. I was always used to playing games like Turok, where you charge through forests blasting away at poachers and otherworldly soldiers. Granted, that's not considered a survival horror title, but think about it: you're alone, surrounded by enemies, in a hostile, creepy environment. It may be 1st person, but doesn't that description sound like it could fit either of the two series'? Even Doom 3, considered by many to be one of the scariest games of all time, has no problem letting you run around with guns blazing, yet still delivers in the atmosphere department. The same can be said of the aforementioned Dead Space, as well as Bioshock. All these games I've mentioned are 1st person shooters, and have 100x the scare value that RE5 or any recent RE could ever hope to match (save for RE: Revelations; that gem is an exception). Just about any shooter game in a bleak environment has more scare value than this one, which was laughably called "action horror" by its deluded developers. If you want a true survival horror game of the modern era, try Siren: Blood Curse. RE5 doesn't even have the quality to ride the coattails of better survival horror series; instead, to avoid accusations of plagiarism I suppose, they turn to ACTION games for inspiration. Great idea, Capcom.
The length of RE5 is pretty decent, though. You're looking at about a 10-hour campaign, maybe a little longer if you seize the one or two non-linear opportunities you get to actually explore. A lot of people may argue that REmake and most of the other original titles were 'linear', in that you traversed narrow corridors and claustrophobic spaces with fixed camera angles. But when I say linear, I mean there's almost NO backtracking in this game (except to go retrieve your idiot partner character, but I'll get into that in a minute). The need for fixed camera angles are nonexistent here, and an over-the-shoulder perspective fits perfectly as it's the only direction you ever need to be looking. Almost every level is designed so you only have to crank the left joystick forward, and almost never turn to do anything besides smash open boxes. However, as I proposed above, there are a couple of places that break this pattern. At around the halfway point, there's a marshland where you're in a canoe seeking out pieces of a stone to fit in a door's indent (which past history dictates will open the door). This part was pretty cool, I thought, and it gives you a chance to fight enemies in a slightly tenser environment where you don't have nearly as much elbow room. It's also a very open environment, and harkens back to the lake in RE4 where Leon traveled by way of a canoe (though didn't really have to fight anything once the boss battle was over). Another such example is a little later when you're in a massive temple, where the mazelike quality can not only disorient you, but leave you open to the attacks of enemies with blowguns who know the place inside and out. There's traps galore to be found here, and navigating it actually proves to be a challenge, if not a little tiresome on subsequent playthroughs.
The enemies themselves in this game, while complete knockoffs of the Ganados in RE4, actually have some interesting variety. They follow roughly the same pattern we knew in RE4, starting with villagers who attack in droves, then religious tribal monks (contrast to the medieval monks of the Los Illuminados), then finally soldiers. But this time those soldiers actually use GUNS! Machine guns! This may sound daunting, but they have terrible aim and only really leave themselves open targets to your superior gunmanship. On higher difficulties they present a bit more of a challenge, though not much. You should never have much trouble against the Majini. That's what the Ganados are called in this game; same exact enemies, just represented by a Swahili word this time around which means 'evil spirit'. As with RE4, headshots are NOT recommended in this game, as they have a tendency to sprout even worse mutations that can turn the tide of battle in the enemies' favor. Some are actually quite deadly, so much so that they serve as boss creatures while scores of other Majini surround the player. Remember JJ, the gatling gun-wielding Ganado from the latter portion of RE4? Well, he's back! I don't just mean a similar enemy; I mean the EXACT same enemy! And here you thought it just wasn't quite lazy enough that RE5 recycles the same baddies from its predecessor; well, thankfully I just set the record straight for you. Even El Gigante is refurbished and repackaged as a boss here.
I can just imagine a conversation at Capcom HQ around the time they designed this game. Capcom President: "Let's see, what kinds of enemies have you guys come up with for this game?" Team: "Well, we thought making the crimson heads of REmake common enemies in this game would help create a blend of scares and tension!" President: "What?! That might actually make the game scary! People are into that Gears of War stuff these days. QUICK! Let's throw together a game just like it! Forget about our old games; those aren't cool anymore!" Team: "Well, people loved RE4, especially that El Gigante monster." President: "QUICK! Let's throw him in there! I got my whole budget at work building the graphics of this game; we gotta throw some enemies and gameplay together so people have a reason to watch our movie - ah, I mean play our game!" Team: "Well, we were toying with the notion of a partner character, and-" President: "QUICK! Let's program some co-op! We only got five minutes to do it, so make it snappy! I don't care if it's a broken mechanic or not!" Team: "Any other ideas for monster designs?" President: "QUICK! Reskin the Ganados from our last game! People liked that stuff! C'mon, people, I need money, and we gotta get a game on shelves to compete with all these other, better developers who actually know what they're doing!"
I will say, though, there are some pretty inventive creatures in this game (although I think RE4 and RE6 outdo it in the enemy design category). There's a particular battle against a massive amalgamation of slithering virus tendrils which can only be killed by luring it into an incinerator and cooking it, kind of like the Hunter in Dead Space. There's a giant bat which is battled from a jeep, a recycled El Gigante from RE4 (seriously, why not just bring Saddler back from the dead too, while they were at it?), and a later battle features an unexpected return from a character of series past; veteran fans will recognize her right away. The plot of this game does bring about some interesting twists, but as a whole, I was unimpressed with the turnout (and final boss). I won't spoil things, but did they HAVE to turn every villain into a laughable cackling stock bad guy? It's ludicrous, not to mention butchers the series' reputation for having a more serious tone. These were supposed to feel like realistic survival horror experiences, but then again, if they're going to throw HORROR out the window, might as well throw credibility out with it. Ah well; if you can accept that this feels more like a really cheesy anime with lifelike graphics, you won't be as disappointed as I was.
Let's go ahead and talk about the cockamamie partner system this game shoves in our face. Thought Ashley in RE4 was annoying and useless? Heh, she was chump change. She didn't even USE weapons, and the secondary character of this game makes me glad she didn't. For the scenario we now have in this title (Chris being sent to this village intentionally), it makes sense to have a partner character. For the scenario Capcom originally conceived (but scrapped in favor of progressing their franchise with subpar reused ideas), having a partner would've made no sense, thus originally there was none. But throughout the entire game (I mean EVERY last dreadful moment) you're stuck with an obnoxious, moronic idiot of a partner named Sheva Alomar. Ahh, Sheva. What can we say? She's a great woman who loves to waste herbs when you've barely lost a FRACTION of your health (herbs now heal both partners simultaneously), get right in your way when you're trying to shoot an enemy (especially with a sniper rifle), stand needlessly in one spot and require you to backtrack just to make her register movement, ignore what you command her to do, take items you were going for, waste resources as already stated, and try to shoot enemies through walls. Thought the 2-player AI character in X-men for NES was bad? Then Sheva's here to redefine the word 'idiot' for you.
My thoughts: they intentionally made her AI horrible to promote the co-op, which remedies this unless you get stuck with a bad player. With the superior AI of RE6 and RE: Revelations, where you're stuck with a partner the whole game but who's entirely self sufficient, uses their OWN stock of ammo and herbs, doesn't get in your way and handles enemies with your same level of skill, I can't imagine EVER playing this babysitting job of a game again. Having to mass-prioritize two characters at once is too much to ask of someone who just wanted a half decent survival horror experience, not a run-and-gun Gears of War ripoff. The co-op objectives aren't even that creative, either. Most of the time you're either picking off crossbowmen from a boat while Sheva drives (or vice versa), or you both pull a lever at the same time to open a door. That's it. This emphasis on co-op is extraordinarily unnecessary, and just makes the game even more contrived.
Speaking of co-op, where's the horror now? There is none. By now I've come to accept that this series left any trace of 'horror' at RE4's doorstep, in place of action shooters that appeal to teenage males who wouldn't care about the slow pace of REmake anyway. That's a good way for Capcom to basically throw its fanbase away, right? Well, it is what it is. We have no choice but to accept what the series has become and appreciate gems like Resident Evil: Revelations, which do survival horror right. Even if you're a newcomer to this series, this game is a HORRID travesty of Capcom's legacy, and nothing short of the worst example of what they have to offer. Companies like Capcom and Square-Enix have begun to downsize and rush in new people to slop bad games together just for a quick buck. Capcom at least learned SOMEWHAT from this game's outrageous mistakes, but it's hard to imagine a future where they redeem themselves fully and become the survival horror masters they once were. Buy this title if you enjoy straight action shooters, though it helps if you're a fan of many genres like I am. However, if your solid preference is survival horror, you're about to waste your money unless you turn back NOW.
Conclusion: Tracking the development of a classic in progress over the years as it slowly degenerates into the blandest action game on shelves . . . now THAT'S fear you can't forget. | video-games_xbox |
Reasons to buy. Everyone here has heard endlessly about Euphoria and the amazing tackles it creates, but I think for many of you it's in your head, you know what Euphoria is, but you don't realize yet how big an impact it has on Backbreaker. Just think, you will never see the same tackle twice, you may see an awesome hit, one where you just clock a RB, but guess what it will never happen that way again, people have complained about Backbreaker showing replays after every play, but when you will never see the same play twice why not show replays? Euphoria will revolutionize sports gaming, but you might miss it... because there aren't injuries?
Every tackle is different, save those replays
Euphoria means realistic tackles, it's something we've never seen in a football game, if you actually think about the impact Euphoria will have on football gaming you will realize how much of an impact Euphoria will have on Backbreaker and why it's so monumental for football gaming.
2. Customization
If Euphoria wasn't enough Backbreaker offers the deepest team customization since Maximum Football and the deepest customization in a console football game... ever. Not only are there extensive uniform design options, but you can also design a logo, any logo, the options are limitless, forget the NFL for a second and just think about what you could do with a custom league, you could create a league with 32 custom teams, all with unique uniforms and logos. Backbreaker makes up for the lack of the NFL by letting you create custom leagues, just think about a 32 team league, in your own universe, you call the shots, it's your league, you no longer have to simulate someone else's league, for the first time ever in the console era of football gaming you can design a league, it's yours, want a pass happy league, make one, want a grueling run heavy league, make that too, it's all up to you.
You've got up to 92 teams to play games with, that's 92 teams, all different, with different uniforms, logos, strengths, and weaknesses. You would have to play 46 games just to play with every team, that's 46 games and you only get to play with half the teams, to actually get a feel for all the teams you would have to play numerous games with each team, if you're bored of Madden's 32 teams with rating that don't matter you should really be excited about 92 teams that can be as unique as you want, just think of it, the possibilities are endless, not only the team creator, but also the team options, the customization will be something that anyone regardless of creative skill can spend a lot of time in.
3. Road to Backbreaker
Franchise Mode. People routinely buy games just because of it and it's one of the biggest selling points, you can actually control a team, one problem that never gets mentioned is what happens when you completely dominate a league? One thing I've always hated about franchise modes is that eventually you get to where you're unbeatable, you've drafted all the talent, you've got the best players on your team, and oh by the way it only took five seasons. If this hasn't happened to you then you've probably never played franchise mode... that or you have no idea what you're doing. What Backbreaker brings to the table is an entirely new look on franchise mode, with Road to Backbreaker you're in the third tier and you have to fight your way up, but it won't be easy, it can take teams five years just to get to the next tier much less to "dominate" in the highest tier. In other games sometimes teams will almost take a year off, this is realistic so don't blame the video game, but in Road to Backbreaker you don't have a choice, you either have to attempt to contend or be relegated to the lower tier, it's a fight, every game, but think about it, going into the final games of the season it doesn't matter what your record is you're either trying to advance or trying to avoid being relegated, talk about excitement, it's do or die, if you just "settle" for an OK season you might find yourself being demoted, it forces you to play every game like it's your last... or it will be.
Road to Backbreaker is do or die, every game matters
A lot has been made about the lack of injuries and a lot of people are upset they won't be able to rest their starters, if you're playing in Road to Backbreaker that won't be an issue because every game matters so you can't just rest your starters. Road to Backbreaker will finally add the excitement to franchise it's never had before, now instead of just playing for five years, dominating, then restarting with a different team you will have a much longer and more enjoyable franchise experience. If you're still not sold on Road to Backbreaker you can always play some "normal" franchise mode, but you're missing a major feature in Backbreaker.
4. Realistic Controls
If you've played Madden or 2K you've come to realize that beating your opponent requires solid use of the controller, but up until now it has all been button based, "B" to Spin, "X" to Juke, etc, etc, now with Backbreaker football games will finally get realistic analog controls, even though Madden in the past few years has been slowly integrating some basic analog movement into their control scheme it was still based off of the button presses. Backbreaker is completely analog based and you will pull off moves with the analog stick bring total realism to Backbreaker, while Madden 11 promises similar we know from experience that EA has made promises before and they rarely turned out as well as they were made out to be. The difference between the two is simple, Madden was built for a button press control scheme, Backbreaker was built with this control scheme in mind, I would much rather have Backbreaker than Madden, a brand new game is better than EA's patched up Madden, they've basically just patched up the whole thing, at some point EA needs to get a clue and re-design the Madden engine.
5. All New Camera View
If you've been following Backbreaker for any length of time you know about the new camera view, with this revolutionary camera view you will now be "on the field" and every hit, every tackle, and every touchdown, will all be bigger than ever, no more view from viewing the field from the upper deck, now you have to make decisions not knowing how close that LB is and now a risky throw is a risky through because you don't have a perfect view of the DB, you have to actually see the throw like a real world QB, no more cheating.
Real football is played on the field, not in a C-130 1000ft above the field
Not only will the camera angle add realism, but it will also bring you on the field and add the excitement of being on the field, in Madden the crowd is below you, but with Backbreaker you're looking up and the stadium is full of people cheering you on, it's a crazy atmosphere and you're in the middle of it, unlike Madden where the action is below you.
6. Stadiums & Atmosphere
Backbreaker has already built a reputation for its stadiums, each stadium has its own feel and unlike Madden you will be able to see every bit of the stadium from an on field view which adds more to already amazing stadiums.
The stadiums in Backbreaker are awe inspiring, especially from a field level view
The first stadium featured in Backbreaker was met with awe, it was a mammoth of a stadium, bigger than any current stadium and while the stadiums shown recently aren't as big they still are amazing structures with futuristic design that still look better than anything else in football games today, with a variety of these amazing stadiums and each being unique Backbreaker really brings its stadiums to a new level previously unseen in football gaming. Stadiums in person are amazing, the architecture is awe inspiring, finally Backbreaker brings that feeling to video games.
This game's passing cam takes time to get comfortable with,but really pays off.
__________________ | video-games_xbox |
A Fitting End. The 'Gears of War' franchise is a fast-paced, sometimes glib, sometimes heartbreaking, but always engaging series of games that started out strong, and kept getting better. 'Gears of War 3' allows for the biggest pay off with its slick, professionally written story, excellent voice acting, and intense combat. I can only speak for the straight forward campaign mode, as I'm not a multiplayer person, but I had a great deal of fun, and quite enjoyed the time I put into the game. The campaign took me about 10.5 hours (rough estimate), but they were amongst the best hours I've put into a game all year.
This is not a happy story by any sense of the imagination, but war stories are never happy. Despite the humor that this franchise is known for, this isn't a funny game, though there are amusing bits of dialogue where I caught myself laughing out loud. This is war, and it's ugly, intense, and unpleasant. The sense of impending doom is heavy throughout 'Gears 3', and there are moments where even the most jaded of gamers will catch themselves choking up. Two particular moments with key characters solidified this for me, and I'm still processing those moments even now. To avoid spoilers, I'll simply say that these moments involve two of the squad members whom players have grown to know and love from the beginning.
Combat is fast and intense, with a few new weapons, and a lot of new enemies. The Locust are still here, but so are the Lambent ('glowies' as the characters call them). The glowies are nasty, fast, and tend to spit glowing goo at the squad. Avoid the ones that throw goop. It's just a good idea.
Overall, I found this game wildly enjoyable, with a great story and characters, and a superb music score. It's an outstanding game that offers true closure to a story long in development. It's well worth your time to get lost in the 'Gears' franchise. I know I had a blast while it lasted. | video-games_xbox |
An addictive shooter, but lacks story. The Good: Flawlessly executed, lots of guns, huge world, lots of missions, neat art style, addictive, awesome co-op
The Bad: Almost no story or dialog, repetitive, short, art style is wasted on bland environments
The newest RPG hybrid is probably FPS hybrids and since these are so new Borderlands can be considered one of the first to perfect it. While Fallout 3 holds the crown let's just say Borderlands is the prince. If you have had a hard time grasping FPS/RPG hybrids then let me put it simple for you.
Like in traditional RPGs you have elemental attacks. In Borderlands you have these and they consist of corrosion, explosive, fire, and lightning. Some guns can be fused with elemental powers so i.e. a lightning combat rifle will deplete enemies with shields faster than just a normal rifle. A shotgun with corrosive powers can kill creatures faster than a gun with lightning powers.
Another element that you should be familiar with are stats. Just like TRPGs Borderlands has damage, hit accuracy on weapons. You get shields that have certain aspects such as when they deplete they send a wave of corrosive acid, or they recharge faster, or give you a health boost etc. You also get grenade mods which change the way your grenades act just like guns. There are also specific class mods that can increase some of your stats even further. Additionally, each character has a specific ability they can use and you can equip special spheres that add attributes to this ability. Sound like a TRPG so far? What about enemies? They too have levels and shields and the damage you deal to them will bounce off of them in a series of numbers along with the experience you get once they are killed.
There are a lot of little tidbits such as the money system, you can purchase items or upgrades at vending machines, saving clap trap robots can give you more storage space, there are healing items, when you kill an enemy you can loot them, you can also loot the dungeons you enter or the open world. See, it still sounds like a TRPG. What makes it different? Just add guns, a vehicle you can drive and shoot from, and a fast travel system. The way to play in all this fun is co-op. More players+harder enemies=better loot. Good math in my book.
This sounds fine and dandy like nothing can go wrong, but Borderlands has its issues. While the game play is actually pretty flawless with lots of guns such as rocket launchers, combat rifles, SMGs, and revolvers etc. The content is very thin. There isn't much to do, but run around the barren wasteland completing the 150+ side missions and 50+ story missions. There is hardly a story or any dialog. You're just running around trying to find this Vault with some special treasure. All the loot is the same and even the storage bins you find them in get's boring to see after awhile. While the game has a pretty neat cartoony graphic style everything is brown and boring and it makes the neat art style put to waste.
The difficulty isn't something to complain about since it increases as you level up. Each area has to load separately and the load times are longer than they should be. Most of the side missions vary from scavenger hunts, to killing people, looting, and more killing, but the core game play is really shallow, but the stuff it's wrapped around is flawless. This game is really meant for people who just want a straight forward shooter with some more depth and a twist. While it does feel more arcadey than Fallout 3 and more pick up and play it just doesn't have that charm and amazing feeling to it. Borderlands is executed well, but just needs more filling to make it superb. However, the game is highly addictive and even though you know you're doing the same thing over and over again you never get tired of it. The game has a level 50 cap, and can be completed 100% in less than 20 hours, so Borderlands is a great purchase for any shooter fan. | video-games_xbox |
Not a game for everyone. Greetings! If you love this game, good for you--I'm not here to bash it or anyone who loves it! I just couldn't find much to enjoy in this one.
The controls were sloppy and counter-intuitive, in my opinion; I'm basing that off other 3rd-person games that had much more responsive and easy-to-use control schemes (Arkham Asylum or Just Cause, for example). It's not at all clear, even early in the easier parts of the game, what buttons or combination of buttons to use to accomplish a task; sometimes using items or powers requires control actions that are not shown at all. I'm sure it can be figured out, but controls should be something simple to pick up and easy to use, not something that becomes a challenge itself.
The camera was out of control and felt like someone with a nervous disorder was filming the game; it moved way too much and the angles were poor, at best. I'm sure you can deal with it and play the game, but it got in the way for me and I don't want the perspective to distract from the gameplay--that's a basic requirement.
The story was disjointed and non-sensical. It reminded of some of the obscure japanimation movies where strange things happen all around you and there's no explanation or no logical connection to what you're doing. A lot of players really enjoyed the "story" to Dark Souls, but even after reading blogs and reviews, I'm still scratching my head. Compare this game to something like Arkham Asylum and you're left wondering if there's any narrative cohesion at all.
It's tough for me to call this a role-playing game. I grew up playing a lot of RPGs, both on consoles and PC, and this has little in common with any RPG--even table-top pen and paper gamers might struggle to unravel the convoluted RPG mechanics at work here. Character progression, saving, stats, items, and so on are poorly organized and presented, making character management another challenge that distracts from gameplay.
If you loved this game, I'm glad for you--truly--but I'd be very wary of picking this one up based on reviews. It's not going to be for everyone and I suspect it'll be a love/hate thing for most gamers. I enjoy games where the controls, camera, and character progression are simple to use and don't get in the way of the game (Skyrim, for example); if you feel the same, be careful with Dark Souls. I also require some cohesion and logical progression to the story which is absent here; if you're looking for a good story that makes sense and connects with the player's actions, you may want to stay away from this game. | video-games_xbox |
Looks Good, But Proves Looks Arn't Everything. The image quality is very realistic and the movements are closer to that of actual wrestlers but the results are not realistic to the point of being irritating. In order to fully test the realism of the results, it is necessary to let the game handle the entire match and watch the results. I matched X-Pac (83) vs The Undertaker (91). In this match up, the Undertaker has a 90 lb weight advantage as well as much stronger. The first match lasted 16 minutes. The Undertaker was dominating the match. No matter how many times he was pile driven or choke slammed, X-Pac was unaffected and kicked out 24 times. On the other hand, the alleged weight detection aspect of the game had no effect on X-Pac's ability to slam The Undertaker and toss him about the ring like a rag doll. After 16 minutes and for the first time, X-Pac did his finishing move and pinned Undertaker. He was not able to kick out, even once. I thought well, well this could happen, so in the rematch, I wanted to increase Undertaker's chances, even though the alleged ratings should have made him the favorite. I edited X-Pac and reduced his stamina rating by 20% and his strength by 25 as well as most of his other ratings. His dropped his overall rating to 74. The rematch was on.
The match went along much like the first match. The Undertaker dominated once again and X-pac, kicked out every time, this time a total of 27 times. After 17 minutes he employed his finishing move and for the first time Undertaker kicked out. Then X-Pac slammed Undertaker a couple of times with ease and again pinned him. For their third meeting, I reduced X-Pacs rating by another 40 pts in each category and upped the Undertakers to the max. Undertaker was now a 97 and X-pac was a 54. Should this be a match? Well it was. It lasted 14 minutes and again X-Pac was slammed and beated up but manage to kick out 19 times before losing. Although he had the lowest strength rating possible he was still able to pick up the Undertaker with ease.
If you have fun with the game, go for it, but do NOT THINK FOR A MINUTE IT IS REALISTIC. | video-games_xbox |
Durable and passable for PC gaming + music, not recommended for skyping or heavy console gaming. The good:
- Decent battery life.
- Built sturdy. Still working ~15 months later.
- Looks cool. Love the blue LED light emanating from the headset.
- Good for PC gaming. (Just use USB dongle/adapter, no cables needed like for consoles)
- Good customer support via PDP's website. (They sent me a replacement console adapter cable or so for FREE because mine broke).
- Decent sound for music and gaming. Not amazing, but good enough. In games like COD, I could hear footsteps using this. There are probably better headsets for it, but again, this was sufficient for my needs.
The bad:
- Takes some time to adjust to the headset. It kind of clamps your ears and head a bit at first.
- The mic leaves much to be desired. Many people will tell you that you sound weird, like an airline pilot through tinny airplane speakers.
- The console adapter cable WILL break on you easily if you're not careful. They probably could have been built better, but again, PDP support is good, so you may be able to get another for free or very cheap.
- Like with just about every other headset, you will hear a very quiet buzzing noise when there isn't music or any sound coming through your speakers.
I don't know how this happened, but some months ago the power went out in our house, and after that, my headset only partially worked. I could ONLY hear system sounds through the headset - like the DING sound you hear when you change the volume control in Windows. Contacted PDP support, and was recommended to re-install drivers. I did, had no luck, and figured my headset was broken. I tried these on again today, and they worked just fine. In retrospect, it was probably a free Razer sound system program that was messing with the configuration. Just putting this out there in the event that it may help someone else. Nothing was wrong with the headset itself here. | video-games_xbox |
RPG not for casual players. This RPG (role playing game) is not for the causal gamer, it is a followup to PlayStations Demon's Souls notably one of the most difficult RPG's ever made. It is by far one of the most intense games I've ever played. If you are familiar with RPGs you know that the games are known for massive open world environment, amazing graphics, and expansive storyline. Dark Souls hits all of these points as your embark your quest to reclaim your soul. The game start with you selecting and customizing your character as most PRGs do. You can select 10 different classes each having different skills, HP, magic, etc. The game doesn't have as much character customization as other RPG's, but I don't think that was the developers focus as they wanted this game to be the most difficult RPG you have played.
Dark Souls allows players to light Bonfires, which function as respawn locations. For me the most frustrating part of the game is there are no manual save functions in the game. Every enemy you encounter the game autosaves, as you embark to reclaim your soul you must find bonfires which replenish health, magic, and your Estus flasks. Estus flasks are the flasks that restore health. Once you have used all your Estus Flasks you had better know where the nearest bonfire is. If you don't make it to the bonfire and you die, you loose all of the souls you have collected and start your journey back at the last bonfire you rested at. This is by far the reason the game is so difficult.
The battles are extremely intense and you will die a vast amount of times. Since the games graphic are extremely intricate at times when you are in the middle of a battle the frame rate drops which causes some screen lag. This can be very annoying when in the middle of a battle or trying to defeat a boss. You battle using various weapons and strategies to survive in the undead world. The game controls can be a bit confusing as the Right Bumper and Right Trigger are your main attack buttons. I found myself hitting other buttons trying to attack since I wasn't used to using the Right Bumper as an attack button.
The game also features some online abilities. The first and most prevalent is the it allow players to place notes/hints in the game. The notes can be very helpful, but also very deceiving. As you are playing your single player game, you will also notice ghosts which are other player in your vicinity. You cannot interact with the ghosts in your undead state, but once you proceed further into the game you can interact with online players as you regain your humanity. The game allows for co-op play and also allows for other online players to invade your game and sabotage your game play.
As I stated before, this game is by far one of the most intense games I've ever played. It is rewarding, entertaining, makes you jump out of your seat, but is also extremely frustrating. I haven't gotten that far into the game play, but I am sure I could spend over 100 hours of time in this RPG. | video-games_xbox |
A step back from Bustin' Out. Instead of writing a complete review, I'll just add to what reviewer Nicholas J Verboon wrote and go from there. Since that review point out most of the good points for the game, I'll tell you what bothered me the most. First of all, I miss the "water tool" to create swimming pools, rivers, and all of those water bodies. The new two-player interface doesn't split your screen diagonally anymore, now it splits it horizontally. It doesn't take much to get use to it, but I feel that there is a little less field of view than before. Also, the tip bubbles that appear intermitently and perhaps too many times, obscure the time of day and other important information. Also, when a thief gets in your home and you were sleeping and in fast-forward time, the time doesn't slow down like before, now it keeps going and the thief most likely, even if you have your place filled with burglar alarms, would steal something. The police rarely arrives in time. More than once I found out that I was robbed the next morning after I couldn't find my refrigerator, even as I have 2 alarms outside, 2 inside, and one on each side of the lot next to the main neigborhood sidewalk. The items you can buy are of less appeal that those in previous games, it's almost as if EA just leave in mostly the essentials. You may know by now that unlike the way better PC version you can't build 2 stories houses. Also, you can't buy endless quantities of items since there is something called "the fire code" that limits you on this. So your dream house may be limited for what you are allowed to build, but then again, there isn't too much to buy and build in this version. The Artificial Intelligence doesn't even begin to compare to its PC cousin, it's very limited and you may feel that very soon when playing mostly because the story line gameplay (wich, by the way, it's only a catching name since it isn't a "real" story like previous versions, like Bustin' Out) and the Free Living gameplay would eventually get so tedious that nothing will be left to cover that striped down AI version of the PC game. By the way, the Free Living version is also very flat, there isn't much to do after you have opened all your items and are at the top of your career. What's left is changing careers, sell your stuff and buy other stuff (maybe of lesser quality, but just for a change or to do something different), rearange the furniture, maybe walls and decor, etc. In free living mode you cannot leave your house, you cannot visit other sims, and the connections and relationships with other sims are almost done mandatorily to step up on your career or fulfill your normal, gold, and platinum wishes. As it has said before, you can't grow older or have children like the PC version. It's basically a game of going from A to B to get C that eventually will grow tiresome since there isn't much left to obtain in it. As one reviewer someplace else said: if you are the obsessive type of gamer who simply enjoy unlocking and collecting items, may be this game is for you. If not, rent it first. | video-games_xbox |
So much to like, BUUUUTTTT the buts. This game is as aggravating as it is wonderful. There are so many things I like. So very many.
The premise is quite intriguing. The story is interesting and interestingly told. The characters are amazing. The gameplay itself is relatively fun.
There are some things done that are awesome. Graphics are incredible. Vistas inspiring. The ammo system one of my favorites EVER. I don't spend the all my time trying to find ammo for my weapons. Well except for the tier 3 weapon. We have access to tons of weapons, but only three are readily available. The big gun is almost always out of ammo. That kinda sucks.
You're almost never lost. There's an awesome nav system that generally keeps you going in the right direction. Even in some of the narrower "dungeons." Love that nav system. The missions are mostly good and varied.
BUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTT, like so many first person shooter (I know this is supposed to be some kind of rpg) games, it's not fun in the end. Unless you're good at twitchy trigger games, a couple of missions will leave you pissed! Can't do them.
The biggest lie in the game is that mission rating that says easy. At level 25, it's possible (probable) that you'll get wasted by some level 3-8 NPC. They never miss! And they know that you have them in your sights. That was too weird. I've made my way to the final mission, and can't finish. I know, it takes skill but for many of us, we just want to get in, play, enjoy the story, and see the end. NOT become world class FPSers. And that's what's ruined the game for me so far. Not I'm in the play these missions over and over and over mode just to collect enough superficial coins to get armor that will allow me to complete the game. Sounds like whining but it's so unnecessary.
The singularly most awful aspect of this game is the seeming inability to chat with other players. There's no useful communication whatsoever. And that is spectacularly frustrating! Ridiculous for a modern game in my opinion. Supposedly it's possible if you're lucky enough to get on a fireteam. O/w it's the cumbersome xbox party process which doesn't really work either.
Vanguard Marks. Necessary to buy the armor that allows you to finish the game. My goodness, it literally takes hours to earn a couple of marks and 75 minimum are needed for my class. I've been at it for hours and I'm 7 short. A couple more hours and I'll be able to buy 1 piece that may help me actually finish the game. I was going to buy the expansion but I think I'm going to be done with the game after I get through the original campaign. Everything I read indicates that I will never be good enough for that expansion. IF they figure out how to let us casual players enjoy the game, I'll get it then. But for now, it's trudge through the grunt work to get marks to buy that one piece of armor that I hope will help.
People aren't very helpful at all in this game. You MUST have people to finish most missions. Hope that you get one or two who'll actually help. Most just run through (because they've been playing day and night since release and have the armor needed to do that) and leave you to deal with the mobs. And if you haven't been playing FPSes your WHOLE life, it'll suck. They run on and finish the mission for which you may get credit. Mostly not. So you have to start over and do it again. | video-games_xbox |
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