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NBA 2k14- Xbox 360. I am 12 years of age, and I want to share my first hand experiences with the game, NBA 2k14, designed for the Xbox 360. This game was solid, but not amazing by my standards; and that is why I give it a four out of five star rating. In the paragraphs below, I will discuss the pros and the cons of this game.
First, I will start out with the pros: I enjoyed listening to the entertaining 'King James Soundtrack which included several popular songs from well known artists such as JAY Z, Eminem, The Black Keys, Daft Punk, etc. Secondly, I liked the overall presentation and creative color scheme presented throughout this game. This got a lot more polished compared to NBA 2k13. Thirdly, I enjoyed playing with the Pro Stick, it allows you to throw down show-stopping moves and toss flashy no-look passes with ease. Finally, I really loved playing with international teams, such as Maccabi Tel Aviv and thirteen other top international teams. This would be cool for people who have lived in countries outside of America and recognize some of the international stars, such as myself.
Now, I will describe the cons in the game: First of all, I notice a lot of glitches that also occurred in NBA 2k13, but this is not a major problem since usually, the glitches are recognized only once in a while. Secondly, I was a little disappointed that the Creating a Legend mode was gone. I do not understand why 2k sports would take of this feature, as it was such a big success in my opinion. Also, I have noticed that the My Career mode was not modified, like I heard it was on the Xbox One or PS4. This was disappointing and left me wondering why 2k can't just release the same game and let only the graphics become different in between the consoles. Lastly, I've also noticed that at times you constantly and unrealistically get the ball stolen. This can get very annoying!
Now that you know the good and bad things about this game, I want you to know that if you have NBA 2k13, you should probably hold on to it for a little longer and wait until the price of NBA 2k14 drops since although NBA 2K14 is very entertaining and fun to play, it is only a minor improvement over NBA 2k13. I think this is game is still solid as I said before, and I feel like 2k sports releases a great basketball video game once again. I hope this review helps with your decision making process and I thank you for your time. | video-games_xbox |
Premium headset, but for. Initial Impressions:
I am not going to rave like some jittery fan-boy, but this headset is almost worth the price point. I've had the headset for a short time, and have not engaged in any marathon sessions, so this is a review based on the short term.
Comfort: I've worn it for 2-3 hours at a stretch, and couldn't be happier. Unlike most headset, this thing doesn't feel like it's trying to rip my ears off, or press them through my skull. The headband is also sufficiently comfortable, but you're not going to avoid the depression in your hair (if you are concerned by such things).
Sound: For the first time I am actually impressed with a headset. The volume was jacked up the first time I used it, and it sounded like I had a movie theater in my earholes. Music, Game, and Movie settings are phenomenal. I have yet to try stereo, but given the ear saliva from the surround modes, I don't expect I will.
Chat: here is where this thing "almost" lives up to its price point. The mic is situated too far down on the ear cup, and too deep in the plastic. This results in voice monitoring that sounds like you're talking into a bucket, and voice that is very low for other people trying to listen to you. Naturally I tried to compensate by speaking louder, but a hair too loud and the speaker rattles annoyingly. Hopefully TB corrects this by adding a second pick up, or by resituating the single pick up the headset has.
Noise-canceling: While I haven't used this feature extensively, it does work as it should. Obviously you lose the ability to monitor your voice while using this function. The one issue that may be an annoyance for some is the slight static noise when this feature is active. Of course, you can't hear this while immersed in "battle" or otherwise stretching out the speakers.
App: The app is extremely user friendly, and allows for precise, on the fly adjustments without needing to hook the headset up to a computer. Presets can be managed directly from the app, and the headset synchronized with the tap of the screen. Individual volume control can be handled from either the headset or app.
The "hiss": anyone who has used wireless headsets is familiar with the faint hiss when there is nothing being piped through to their earholes, and you can expect the same from this headset. I found that the sound is much less intrusive that with most other wireless headsets, and cannot be heard at all whIle playing, watching, or listening.
All-in-all, this is a very good headset, with high-quality sound. It is comfortable, versatile, and is worthy of the premium label. The one issue that will prevent this headset from being a viable option for many is, the sound-monitoring and chat functionality. | video-games_xbox |
NFS: Most Wanted - Revisited. The first time I played Need For Speed: Most Wanted was on release in 2005. Back then it was a great game with a decent modification system, great cop chases and an OK storyline. After moving on from NFS: MW, I tried to find subsequent titles that would rekindle that fun factor I had in the original, playing the likes of NSF: Carbon, NSF: Undercover, NSF: Hot Pursuit and NSF: The Run. Sadly, none of these quite lived up to my expectations.
With the release of Criterions Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012), there has actually been a spike in interest in this NSF:MW (2005). With that said, 8 years later I have re-purchased NFS:MW (2005) and will review this senior title by today's standards. Can it still live up to 2012 gaming expectations???
STORYLINE:
Unlike more recent iterations in the NFS Series, MW (2005) has a pretty decent storyline. The short and basic premise is you are an out-of-towner, with a heavily modded BMW M series and you lose your car to a cheating rival (he basically sabotages your car to win the pink slip race). You must race, through a series of 15 blacklist racers to get to the top of the Street Racing scene and win your beloved M3 back. Along the way, you come in contact with characters that are there to assist you (Mia and Roger). Both of these give you needed in-game information through your Car's Nav and Cingular messaging system. The system is a bit dated, most players might not even remember the cellular company called Cingular, but it is effective and adds a little life to the game.
GAMEPLAY:
Gameworld
NFS:MW is a truly open world race environment. Unlike NSF: The Run and NSF: Hot Pursuit, you can drive around your currently unlocked sections of the city until your heart is content, exploring everything along the way, while provoking the cops to chase you. Throughout the gameworld, there are many challenges to partake in, ranging from races to cop specific events where you have to rack up a certain amount of property damage or escape from the cops with certain heat levels and time constraints. To engage these races/events, simply drive up to the event markers and tap up on the direction pad and the event starts. Alternately, you can also access these events/races through the d-pad menu system. It's pretty easy to get right into the action from the very start.
Blacklist
As mentioned above, you have 15 Blacklist Rivals you must race against and beat to progress through the game. Prior to being allowed to race this special list, you have to complete specific goals (beat x-amount of race types, rack up x-amount of property damage, etc). Surprisingly, each Blacklist member has varying driving styles. Some can't shift to save their lives, others try and slow you down by getting in front of you and slamming on the brakes. Some are wizards of time and space, coming from a mile behind to blow past the finish line ahead of you by a fraction of a second at mach speed, while others are fair and decent drivers. Every Blacklist Member you beat gives you 2 different reward markers to choose from. There are 6 markers in total, per Blacklist Rival. 3 are Question "Markers", offering things like Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free cards, Cash and the more coveted "Pinkslip to the rival's car", as well as various performance and visual upgrades. My suggestion is to shoot for the hidden Pinkslip Marker. This can be a bit tricky because you can only choose 2 of the 3 secret markers. IF you get the rivals pinkslip to their car, you can either use it in subsequent races or, my personal favorite, strip it and sell it and use the money for a new car or parts for your current car.
Police
If you are like me, then you gladly welcome insane police chases. NFS: MW has these, in loads. The amount and intensity of police pursuers is based on your "Heat" meter. This meter starts at 1 and goes all the way up to 6. When you are at level 1 heat, you basically have to outrun local level police, in standard police cruisers. Those guys are BAD drivers, lol. You'd have to experience the hilarity for yourself to really understand what I mean. As you move up in heat, the caliber of cars, Police AI and strategies rises exponentially. By the time you are at level 4, the adrenaline rush of out-maneuvering and out-running the upwards of 10 police cars and helicopters is so high, you might need to take a breather. No lie. I'll let you experience levels 5 and 6 for yourself =)
To help the player with evading the police (or give you a leg up in races), there are Time and Pursuit Breakers. Time Breakers, when activated, allow you to slow time down to almost a crawl and enable you to slide your car around corners or between police barricades, etc. This comes in very handy when you have 2 Police SUV's coming at you head-on and you need to avoid them or when you come over a hill or around a corner and 4 cops have set up barricades, complete with spike strips. You can also use them in-race to cut around difficult corners and shave seconds off your race times. Pursuit Breakers are interactive obstacles that you can hit to drop on pursuers (Police and fellow racers, alike). When being pursued by the police, these locales show up as orange exclamation marks on your HUD. When in a race, you have to hit them from memory, as they are not visible on the racing HUD. Pursuit Breakers appear in various forms, normally as scaffolding, water towers, gas station support beams or parked boats that fall on pursuers or get strewn across the path of anyone immediately behind you.
CARS:
Although the cars in NFS:MW are a bit dated, by like close to 8 years, they are still pretty decent. To start off, though, you can only chose from some pretty measly offerings from Lexus, Chevrolet and Fiat. Once you have a car and start heading out to the races and events, you will notice that you can rack up some decent money to either upgrade your car or buy a new one. Some of the higher-end cars you can either win or buy include: Lamborghini Murcielago and Gallardo, Porsche Carrera GT, Aston Martin DB9, Lotus Elise, etc. One of the nice things about the car system is you can customize the look to your liking, from paint to vinyl's to rims to spoilers to body kits, etc. You can also buy upgrade options that increase in levels over the course of the game. Some of the performance options can be customized (ie: the ride height, aerodynamics, NOS, boost pressure, handling, etc.), but nothing like the insane levels found in the Forza or Gran Tourismo series. If you happen to be a fan of creating very detailed and intricate custom vinyl's, ala Forza, you will be sorely disappointed, as a robust vinyl editor/creator is not in town. All-in-all, MW does allow you to make your car a little more yours, then say, Hot Pursuit, The Run or even Most Wanted (2012).
PROS and CONS
THE GOOD
+Good selection of cars (though a little data)
+Great Arcade Racing
+Superb cop chases
+Decent modification system
+Good sized open-world environment
+Great theater like, Dolby Surround
THE BAD
-Weird Sepia-like lighting filter (although obviously done intentionally). The environment and cars have a yellowish, dingy look to them
-The Soundtrack is quickly and easily forgetable
FINAL WORDS
If you are fan of the Need for Speed series, this iteration of MW (2005) is a great addition to your gaming catalogue, even next to its latest counterpart, NFS: MW (2012). Is it a perfect game? No, but nonetheless, it is pretty fun. | video-games_xbox |
sometimes fun, other times frustrating. I really don't know what to think of this game. Sometimes it is extremely fun to play, yet other times its nothing but a frustration fest. This is my first college basketball game, and due to the recent news that 2K will no longer be making this series, this is also unfortunately my last college basketball game. Yes there is the EA version, but there is no way that I will ever purchase any EA Sports product. In addition to creating possibly the worse basketball games ever made, my decision to never buy EA Sports again is due to the fact that they only aim to buy their way out of competition rather than just competing.
Visually CH2K8 looks pretty good. Of course due to the NCAA regulations, none of the players look like their real life counterparts, but other than that the arenas and uniforms seem pretty accurate. The crowd could look a little better, but it's not really a big deal for me. The player movements are good for the most part, but there are some slight animation problems and unrealistic movement that appear to be out of the game player's hands. There are times in which the game will seem to take control of your player moving him in a direction you didn't even press. For example, I vividly remember one instance in a real tight game in which I was moving the ball up court after a defensive rebound and right when I get past the half court line, my player all of a sudden started moving backwards even though I was still holding down the button to move him forward. This resulted in a back court violation that had me wanting to throw the $50 wireless controller through the TV. Other animations are pretty non realistic, like a player will literally skate towards the goal and perform physically impossible moves in order to get the ball over the taller defender. When ever these contrived animations occur near the basket, 99.99% of the time, the ball will go in the basket, regardless of how tall or how many defenders are around him. I have also notice it's impossible to closely guard a player unless you double team him or just do it manually without holding down the LT button. Any effort to closely guard a player with the LT held down will cause the game to take over and move your defender 3 or 4 steps away from him, giving him a pretty good look at a shot or getting past you without much trouble.
The game sounds pretty good, but nothing too spectacular here. It sounds like a basketball game is the best way I can sum it up. However one thing that is quite annoying is the announcers' constant and frequently incorrect blabber. I get tired of hearing, "they're in....mantoman!" every time the opposing player brings the ball up the court. I also have noticed many times that the announcers will announce the wrong score or will at times be 2 or three plays behind of what is actually happening on the floor. I have learned to ignore most of it, but the "mantoman", is something I can never ignore. HIGHLY ANNOYING.
The game play here is a hit or miss, I suppose depending on the mood the game is on a particular day. It is highly inconsistent and downright frustrating at times. First of all, your players miss WAY too many wide open layups and shots right under the basket. Nothing is more frustrating than having your near 7 foot PF or C miss a WIDE open shot when he can obviously just drop the ball in the basket. In addition to this without adjusting sliders, the CPU will block 25 - 35% of your inside shots, so its not uncommon to have had your shot blocked 15 - 25 times in a SINGLE GAME. There was a patch released for these and other problems, but they didn't seem to help much so I had to do some fiddling with the slider settings even after the patch was applied.
Continuing on the game play, any person you are not controlling is a complete idiot much of the time. For example, I get out of another lame CPU double team in the backcourt and I run down with only the opposing teams' center and my center right under the basket. As I approach the basket, the CPU Center comes to guard me leaving my center wide open for an "easy" shot. However instead of staying near the basket so I can get the ball to him, he will always for some ungodly reason run AWAY from the basket nearly to the 3 point line. This not only puts me in a one on one situation with the opposing and taller center who will most certainly block my shot, even if I were to pass to my center who seems to want to take a 3 point shot instead of just slamming it home, it will give the defense ample time to recover and pretty much kill my opportunity at an easy two. They do this EVERY single time and why they do it is beyond me.
As far as defense goes, many times it seems pretty much pointless to try to play defense. Because of the inability to guard anyone closely your guy will always get past you and will either score the bucket, get fouled or both. Even if the CPU misses a shot you can almost bet that the 6 foot PG will outrebound your C and PF and score 2 on the put back. To me, you never really seem to be completely in control of your players, especially on defense.
In addition to this the computer will ALWAYS hit wide open jumpers no matter what team it is. I really wish I was exaggerating in this regards, but I am not. The only time I can remember the CPU missing wide open shots is when they are attempting a half court buzzer beater. Needless to say your team doesn't hit EVERY open shot, heck they can't even make a shot one foot from the basket on a consistent basis. The same goes for foul shots, I have played nearly 100 games, and out of all those game I can only count 6 times that the CPU actually missed a foul shot. Additionally, if you drain a big three, the CPU will always do the exact same thing on its very next possession no matter how many guys are on him or how close they are to him. To me, the game just seems quite scripted in order to keep the game close. I would expect this kind of mess from EA Sports, not 2K. All of this got me wondering if 2K actually made this game or did a EA Sports mole infiltrate their headquarters and sabotage the code.
The things I have mentioned above do not occur in EVERY game, but it certainly occurs enough for me to take notice of it and frequent enough to cause me to not to be THAT eager to play this game regularly as I will always wonder if my next game will be "one of those games" again. I don't expect to win every game, but the way the way the game chooses to keep things close is way too obvious. I have never had a problem with 2K's AI until this game so it comes as quite a surprise. Don't get me wrong, I love 2K as a company and overall I think they make the best sports games, but for some reason CH2K8 just doesn't quite measure up to 2K's other sports titles.
In conclusion, I still have fun with this game, but not without messing around with the sliders, and even sometimes that doesn't help to combat the game's "EA Sports mode". I would say that 2K should go back and improve the AI, but since they are not going to make the College Hoops series anymore, there is really no use. It's shame they are no longer going to make College B-Ball games, because all they really need to do was improve the AI and the gameplay a little and this game could easily be 5 stars in my book. | video-games_xbox |
A LEGION of Improvements:: NO SPOILERS. Mass Effect 2 improves on its predecessor in almost every way. The combat is more polished and exciting. They have done away with the infinite ammo/overheat method of combat and opted for the traditional ammo count via thermal clips so now it works like a regular shooter. You also have quite a selection of some really neat heavy weapons that create massive damage to enemies. Biotic and Tech skills are vastly improved visually and their variety is much greater than that of ME1. The graphics are better and the environments are far more varied and interesting. The days of rolling over terrain after terrain with the Mako are now replaced with probes that find the area and drop you in right where the action is. The story hasn't slacked either. The story will captivate you just as much as Mass Effect 1 and the characters are very interesting and well written. Some will not enjoy the characters as much as this one although some of the old crew returns. Most of your crew has a lot more gray area as opposed to Mass Effect 1 where all of your characters were typically Good/Bad (Mostly Good). I particularly enjoyed this as it led to some interesting moments. Not all of your team will be on the same page and you will definitely be squashing some heated arguments between members that don't get along. This made the experience more realistic to me. The meat and potatoes of this game though, is the choices you make and the consequences they have. Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, including Shepard can die in this game depending on what you do. You also have a lot more choices about who you'd like to pursue a romantic relationship with as well.
I loaded my save from ME1 and I can vouch that almost every decision I made somehow showed up in the game. Of course the bigger decisions I had made played a more vital roll in the storyline and gameplay but I was pleasantly surprised to find a whole slew of smaller decisions I'd made show up throughout the game. This was amazing for me, however, this is a double edged sword. If you take nothing else from this review take this: IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED MASS EFFECT 1, PLAY IT FIRST. I can't personally vouch for the experience of someone who plays this without playing the first but if it doesn't bother filling in the new players about a lot of past events I would seriously think they'll be very lost. Not only that, but it won't be near as cool playing it if you can't see how the decisions you made from ME1 change everything in ME2. ME2 wasn't perfect. There were a handful of times I got stuck on a rock or table and had no way of getting off so I'd have to reload the autosave. Scanning planets and launching probes can be a monotonous and daunting task. These are small gripes to an otherwise, excellent game. Mass Effect 1 thoroughly impressed me. Mass Effect 2 blew my socks off.
PROS:
Improved Graphics
Revamped and Improved Combat
Improved Teamate AI
Captivating Story
Solid Character Development
Beautiful and Diverse Environments
Extremely High Replay Value
CONS:
Newcomers might be lost about story aspects from the game
A few glitches will probably happen throughout the course of the game
Scanning planets get redundant | video-games_xbox |
Patience tested here. So, after spending some more time on this game, I will update with a more informative review. First, anyone thinking of having kids should play this to see if they have the patience to move forward in life. Maybe its me, but this game is infuriating at times.
PROS:
The cars are beautiful. The detail in each car is very nice, even in the details of the interior.
Tracks are also beautiful. They are identical to the real world locations, the towns, the weather, all beautifully done.
The engines sound legitimate. Meaning, there is not 3 or 4 sounds by class. They sound very close to what the actual cars sound like.
Upgrades: for the pros, you CAN upgrade the vehicles, engines, transmissions, paint, etc.
CONS (There are many):
First and most annoying, the traction. It is awful, to be nice. We will take the BMW M2 in the game for example. Now, I am not racer in real life, but I have driven and owned multiple BMWs. At no time have I ever had an issue with my car spinning out at 30 mph. You will in this game. You will not take a hairpin turn faster than 20. It is literally like driving on ice at all times.
Computer A.I. This is interesting. First, the identical car will out accelerate you and will handle better. Second, if you are in any apex and the computer has a vehicle in front it will make contact with you. At that point the cars stick together for come reason. You will not be able to turn away. You must brake, or stay connected.
Upgrades: This is probably my biggest pet peeve of the game. You can upgrade wheels, tires, tire compounds, weight reduction, aerodynamics, engine, transmission, almost everything. Nice, not really. You will not be able to race it. At that point you have an "illegal" car and they are removed. In career, cars are on a points system. Meaning performing upgrades changes the car rating. An A rating is around 700-800 points. When you get a car in that level, you will have 40 or so choices. All will be rated from about 796-800 points and you will not be allowed to go over 800. Basically, you can put on lighter wheels, or a front splitter. No transmission, engine, fuel upgrades, literally no performance. This is significant because unless you upgrade the transmission you cannot adjust the gear ratios.
Showcase Races. These are night an day depending on the type. You get in an Indy Car or Open Wheel race, you almost have to sit on the track immobile to lose. If you race a Top Gear race against the "Stig", you basically have to wreck him to win. He will race a perfect race every time. (You will also discover in a race here that a Lamborghini Huracan apparently loses all traction at 40 mph).
I would not recommend this game. There are some good parts. It just seems that the development team put all of there efforts into appearance rather than physics. I know it can't be perfect, but this is a high profile game from billion dollar developer, not an indie title. In the description you will see "As Real as It Gets", hardly. It seems they tried to marry the realism of GRID with the customization of Need for Speed and missed on both.
Everyone writes reviews, 80% are bias. Here is an honest one. This game basically qualifies as racing because there are cars involved. It is about as far from realistic as you can get, which would be fine if it were not labeled as such. Let it rain in the game, doesn't matter if you have an all wheel drive car. You will spin out. You can be doing 15 or 55, doesn't matter. No computer car will, but that's another issue. Then there are upgrades, as in you can upgrade your car like the Need for Speed games. Doesn't matter, when you try to race you have an "illegal" car and have to remove them. Any difficulty you use, what aids you use or don't use, every car exactly like yours will handle better and accelerate faster. It is not fun, it is not realistic, It could be called challenging simply because it robs you of any skill, making the race go however the AI wants. Save your money, buy a go kart. It will drive better than the junk they call cars in this game. I love racing games, everything from Need for Speed and GRID all the way back to Super Off Road the Baja on SNES. This is one of the worst made games I have ever touched. The graphics and realism of the tracks are the only things keeping this from a one star review. I'd return it and get a refund if I could. | video-games_xbox |
Not good. Well, I didn't like this controller. I bought it after falling for the hype. Mistake. Here are my issues with it...
1. Ok first and foremost... these analog sticks completely suck. They are extremely loose and easy to moce with no resistance at all. This does not give you the tight feel you have with the regular controller when you want to "hold a line" with the stick. It gets worse though, for some dumb reason, Logi took the greatest analog sticks improvement ever made and reversed it. I am speaking of the "domed" top to the analog stick. Why on earth did the do this? Now your thumbs will easily slip off the sticks during heated battles. The tops are slippery and domed (rounded like an arch). Worst.idea.ever.
2. Second... 2. There is an issue with sometimes the buttons not responging at all. It only happens every once in awhile (i'd say about once or twice every 4 or 5 minutes. I have no idea why... I have no idea when. Just know that you will occasionaly have to quickly repress a button to get the response. I imagine that a lot of people are ignoring this because it doesn't happen with regularity and I suppose most people are just thinking they didn't press the button right or hard enough. But it's actually a flaw that can be repeated (we tested with 3 other controllers to be sure).
3. Third... I hate the base part that plugs into the system. It plugs into your system and has a relatively long wire (good gosh why?????) that on the other end has this big clunky piece of plastic with two places to allow you to put a couple of memory cards. This is so ugly and unatractive. You will literally have to lay the wire up over your xbox and have that thing sitting on top of your system, with the wire just hanging all over the place.
I like my stuff to be "tight" and to look good and not be sloppy and loosly hanging all around. I want wireless to get rid of wires, not to have wires hanging out the front of my system and draped all around it.
4. Triggers are worse. They made them smaller, put them at a slightly different angle and made the throws much shorter (much shorter). This leaves you much less precision.
I dunno why anyone would recommend this controller. Logitech did a much better job with the PS2 wireless controller (except for the crappy analog sticks there - but since PS2 also has those crappy sticks already, your not losing anything like you do with the Xbox's SUBLIME and flawlessly perfect analog sticks). | video-games_xbox |
Sweet and Sour. Dead to Rights is probably the only game to ever make me feel like I was part of an action movie, Max Payne had its moments, but you never fought 15 guys at once in MP, in DTR it is more than often than not the standard. For instance, when you have to bust out of the massage parlor with Eve, and take down guys while finding cover behind cars, and popping up and capping guys its truly exhilarating and you feel as though you've overcome some overwhelming odds. Good stuff. Now to the bad, the whole hand to hand fighting engine is absolutely awful, it is a diversion and an absolutely unneeded one, the gun parts stand up on their own without this arbitrary annoyance. The fighting interludes had me yelling expletives in no time, an example of the completely ludicrous challenge they present is the boss battle with Tattoo, he has two henchmen. But you can't kill them, they beat the <...> out of you, and all you can do is hit them a few times to knock them over. Thats just awful, I threw the controller for the first time since I was like 10 years old. That said, the gun battles are hard, but not controller fury inducing, you feel as though you can actually beat them with a little practice, so its not a lost cause. The fighting parts just <...> The graphics aren't bad, and Namco was obviously going for a more arcade feel rather than the world of grit and grime of Max Payne. The story is pretty standard, although it has its intriguing moments. There are a bunch of mini-games and diverse missions, and they are all fun, except for the punching ones mentioned earlier. Last thing, this game is staggeringly violent. This is the only game where I can take a human shield, then gun down 3 guys and then put the shield on his knees, and blow his head off with a shotgun, its horribly offensive, but cool nonetheless. So if you're not offended by the utterly gratuitous violence, then give this game a shot, it deserves it. | video-games_xbox |
Solid, but moral issues and influx of war games. When my brother's friend came over with this game, I didn't feel that this was a game to like, as I am not really interested in American military tactics. I know that is very unique in it's originality and presentation. But I never really fell in love with this game, even with all the hype that it had received before it's release, I don't like this game. Maybe it has to do with my strong disagreement with the war in Iraq, maybe it has to do with the mass influx of military games coming out since 9/11. Maybe it's the way they show Arabs as nothing more than terrorists, Maybe something else, but if it had come out 3 years ago, then it would've been a smash it to me, but it came with real bad timing in the video game release spectrum.
Pros: 1. A very unique game in terms of play
2. Good voice acting
3. Frequent speech by soldiers (keeps you interested)
4. Free the peoples of Zekistan from the almighty clutch of dictator Mohammed Al-Afad
5. Solid Training mode (really helped me learn the aspects of the game)
Cons: 1. Xbox Live play is severly limited (just co-op. nothing else)
2. Soldiers always miss the Zekes when their upper body is just sticking out there, I mean, you can fire at him from 50 feet away and you'll still miss (no hits at all, zoom in and you'll see)
3. Play is mostly repetitive (have one team divert the terrorist while the other team snakes around him and fires at him)
4. I would've expected the Zekes to be more in groups instead of being just one or two Zekes per sector.
5. More swearing in this game than a South Park episode (well, maybe not a South Park episode, but there is a lot of swearing in this game)
6. Why do all terrorists have to be Arabic? Hasn't anyone heard of the Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka? or even the Northern Ireland secession in Ireland? Terrorists are not only Arabs, you see.
7. Reminds me of a similar kind of escapade in some country I know of.
8. Never really got into the story and it's purpose (there is a mass grave in Chapter 5, but I felt nothing when I saw it)
9. Just too many military games coming out (WWII games and Tom Clancy games, anyone?)
FINAL VERDICT: I most likely think different than most of you, but I am getting very suspicious of the many games coming out that have to deal with the US Army and World War II. I'm not saying i'm Anti-American or a rebel, but i'm just expressing my opinions in the way I want to. And if you disapprove of my review to the point of pure outrage, just ignore it and move onto the next review (go ahead, nothing's stopping you) Besides this, I'd consider FSW a buy due to it's originality and uniqueness in the vigeo game world. | video-games_xbox |
I Dare Say That World at War is the Best COD. I have played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: World at War and I would say that the World at War is the best. Why do I say that? Because WoW has more meat in it. The other two has better graphics but WoW has more of the good stuff. I found the other two to be too short and too linear. Wow, although by its very nature is also linear, allows you more freedom to move around and tackle each situation as you see fit. Let's say you want to tackle a group of enemies at the front but you have enemies closer to you. You can evade the closer ones and move towards the ones in front.
Another thing that I really liked about WoW is that it is more dynamic. You can tackle each situation with different weapons or strategy. And within each offensive you can decide how to attack be it shooting and then going for cover and then shoot again. Or you can go Rambo style guns-ablazing but it doesn't always work as you can be flanked by enemies. That leads to the A.I. The A.I. here is a mixed bag but I found them to be at times to be sweet. They will look for you and shoot you down. But there are times where, you'll catch yourself laughing, the enemies will not see you by their side as they are shooting at your comrades.
The one thing that draws this game maybe a little is the grenades. They can spawn at almost anywhere, even where there are no enemies in sight. Of course, they may be hidden. It can get so hectic with grenades spawning at the least momentous situation where you feel like you've made headway. You end up going back to where you started but this wasn't often enough that you will pull your hair out. But it does occur more than you'd like it to. If a Treyarch or Infinity Ward employee sees this, I hope they see this point in regards to grenade or frag fests.
The ending credits were supported with some of the best soundtrack that I have ever heard in a video game. I will definitely look for the music soundtrack for this game. The guitar riffs and drumming has got to be the most appropriate and awesome in gaming history. In fact, the game throughout has some of the sweetest soundtracks and sound effects. I don't get the reviews that state that the sound effects for the guns were not very good. I have played all three next-gen COD's and this one has just as good sound effects for the weapons and explosions. The machine guns sounded realistic and so did the handguns. Maybe these people had terrible speaker systems. I played the game for the most part on my tv's speakers and they did sound good. Of course they sound better when played with a stereo or surround system. One of the other COD's did have a better ending credit where you watch a video of the museum of the game. But the soundtrack to WoW is better. They should have shown a montage of the high points of the game to go with the ending soundtracks.
I give props to the previous COD's for building one of the best, if not, THE best engine out there. I would say that it is better than HALO or Gears of War and I have played all of those series. But give Treyarch credit for taking the ball and running with it. They made a immersive game that is also immense. It is simply a joy to play this game. If there ever was a video game that is a keeper for me, this is it.
Speaking of sound effects, this game has Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman doing voice-overs. I noticed that the marketing department did not mention this on the box. They should have. I am sure that they spent quite a lot of money to hire Mr. Sutherland to do voice work for them. As a fan of his I would have been drawn to it more because of the fact that he did the voice for one of the characters. The voice work in this game is tremendous. Funny how the same happened with Fallout 3 where Liam Neeson did the voice for one of the characters. And he did a great job in that one.
Finally, the bonus content after you complete the game is THE sweetest bonus in all of gaming history. I can not get enough of it. The bonus game involves you fending off zombies as you are trapped in a building. You earn points by killing zombies which you use to upgrade your weapon and repair the boards on windows to keep zombies out. The fact that a friend can join you for the frag fest is an added bonus. The co-op bonus game is also great. The only drawback is that you cannot have a true co-op game throughout as you have to select a stage and you and your friend must complete it together. There are no saves either. But I am not complaining as the main game is so well made. I will replay this game eventually after I have played some other games and feel like going back to some sweet shooting fun. And the zombie shooting game is also another one that I will most definitely go back to. This game alone makes for a great party game. This has to be the best shooter, bar none. An employee for some other video gaming company reading this should also make note that we consumers want more for our hard-earned dollars. After all, the price of a video game costs more than a lot of things such as a nice wristwatch or jacket.
If you have to make a decision between the three COD's, you should select this version. It is simply the most fleshed out of the three. Also, you get the zombie shooting game which in itself is a complete game. The story in all three are fragmented but this is video gaming after all, a shooter mind you. They could probably merge the story line more but what they did was enough in my opinion. | video-games_xbox |
game would be great if not for a few big technical issues. Sims 3 pets for XBOX 360 needs to be patched by EA.
EA's not trying to fix console issues right now, because EA said that not enough people are bringing the 'console' game issues to their attention.
Here's what i noticed right away in just a few hours of gameplay:
-Fine Control doesn't work, by pressing RT and rotating objects in buy/build mode, you can only turn object in 8 directions, you can't turn and place object in just any angle anymore, and you can't place object any spot other than the spot it locks on, on the grid automatically. This option was supposed to be in this game, it even sais so in the manual in tutorial. And Sims 3 for XBOX 360 could do it.
-Game is unusually quiet, because i noticed that the sims' objects television and computer has no sound at all.
-(An issue for Canada version players is that they didn't get the 12 hour clock like the United States did. They got the 24 hour military clock like the UK instead, with no option to swich it. (And Canada Always Used To get the 12 hr clock like the U.S. in all previous sims games.)
-Sims clothes in live mode look dull and faded, and i noticed jean material to be kind of blurred.
-Game play seems kind of slow, feels like a bit of delay when you click to do anything.
-Fast forward can make a bit of stutter or can send my sim flying across the room or float across room sometimes.
-If sims click on pet and select 'ask to follow' sim, that command doesn't work.
-A pregnant NPC had a stomach on bottom but flat on top, like a pouch, so you could see inside her.
-My sims character lost her voice and i had to replace my lot to get her voice back. nothing else could fix it.
-Glitches from Sims 3 for XBOX 360 return in Sims 3 Pets for XBOX 360, you still can't place picnic baskets on community lots, and if you place it at home, it glitches the spot on the ground it was placed on. - Also you still can't stand on swings even though the option to click it is there.
Now for some good things:
-We have hot tub and sectional sofa objects now.
-Not a big amount of new objects in this game, but the new objects are great.
-Lighting is more realistic in this game, everything but clothes seems more clear, without everything being so dark, glowing or blurry as much anymore. Now I can see the tops of beds, carpets and counters more clearly, and walls, floors and objects look better in this new brighter lighting.
Also the sims faces, make-up and hair are much more clear.(and hair is glossy). In sims 3 for console lipstick used to appear mostly red and black, but not in this game.(And if you zoom in in live mode you can even see their eye color now.)And thats with composite cables on a standard tube tv. Another thing though is, night time can appear kind of dull colored if you don't set some lights in the house to 'high'.
It would be nice if they make a patch for 12 hr clock, fine control, and the silent TV and PC's. That's the only way the game would deserve 5 stars.
.....................................
-April 2 2012--just updating this review several months later, to let people know that there's a 'Huge, HUGE' serious BUG that can happen in the game that you can't recover from, and deleting the whole game and replaying the disk won't even fix this:(i've checked the internet and found others that are having this same game bug too and they couldn't fix it no matter what they did either){also, i cleared cache AND by the way, the game wasn't on my harddrive, its just normal disk play. still this glitch remains}
Here it is: all of a sudden now, for any new game started, or continued, the inventory's "backpack", is already 1/3 full in orange, even though 'Nothing' is in your back back, nothing in your inventory, and nothing in your offsite storage.
It wasn't doing this before. the only thing that i could see that might have started this game breaker glitch, the thing different i started doing when i noticed this is:<[1.-i used offsite storage for the first time. 2.- and, i saved unlocked story items to a lot and started a new game save and loaded it there, and took those items to other lots. 3.- and, i moved to every house and replaced all houses with another house in the game.]>...(now i can hardly put anything in inventory without it filling saying theres no more room, then getting stuck on that screen because it doesn't let you press B button to go back when this happends.)
I wonder how the bug is staying because as i said i deleted Everything,the whole game, cleared cache and started again. usually deleting the whole game or deleting all items saved in game, replacing house, moving, or reseting with mailbox, should have fixed any glitch, but not this one for some reason. this bug is Staying. EA needs to look into this, because This Thing Definitly Needs a Patch upate.(its the worst bug since game freezing on save, which by the way happened to me once in this game too.)
--just a heads up to other players to not do the 3 things i did in case thats what starts that bug, because you won't be able to get rid of it, and its no fun when you can hardly fit anything at all in your backpack. i USED to be able to put lots of stuff in there. this sucks. i may as well go back to playing sims 3 again instead. | video-games_xbox |
Looks great, plays decent, games bad. I'm not sure what to say. I had such high hopes for this, I mean RE4 was amazing, I don't think I've ever played a game with that much replay value (I beat it 16 times!). I thought when they make RE5, it'll be amazing. I was wrong.
Story: - (there might be a small spoiler near the end)
You can tell they were trying to be very emotional and cinematic with this one. They make Chris look like he has a dark secret, They throw in a twist or two. They fail at this, Chris is completely devoid of any personality, and Sheva isn't all that interesting. pretty much all characters are bland and not rememberable, I can probably name most of the characters in RE2 and 3, which I haven't played in forever, but I played this one just a few weeks ago, I barely remember the bosses names. Except of course the most awesome character in any Resident Evil game, Wesker.
Gameplay:-/+
The same as RE4, nothing new. Except one thing that I hate. they brought back the old everything takes up 1 block in your inventory thing from the older RE games. I loved the gun-case thing in RE4. but this is minor and I can see why others would like it.
Sound: -/+
Nothing spectacular, average in every sense of the word.
Co-op: +
Co-op is a welcomed addition, It made the overall game better playing with a friend, but it'd still rather play split-screen on the old N64 (Goldeneye 007 or mario kart?)
Graphics: +
one of the good things of RE5. This game is beautiful, no doubt about that. Character detail is amazing, Ever play UFC 2010, ever notice how much detail they put into the fighters, yeah thats pretty much everyone in this game. As someone who dabbles with 3D modeling, I know how much skill it takes to make a barely passable model. Great looking everything. Only complaint is that Chris looks WAY to buff, Leon looked believable, He was athletic not full professional blown body builder on steroids. I just wish they invested as much time into the writing as they did in the graphics.
Single player experience: -
Terrible. Period. There was nothing I enjoyed about the single player game. And I tend to play only single player games (better investment in the long run). The Bosses weren't original, neither were the enemies, the only thing new about the enemies is that they can now wield weapons, which leads to some fun shootouts but are too short to really get any enjoyment out of it. another thing I don't like is there is no more merchant, it's just a menu, you find progressively better weapons as the game progresses. Oh yeah, puzzles are gone, one thing that made RE stand out (for me) were the puzzles, who's idea was it to take out the puzzles. And also, zero horror, at least RE4 had those black rubbery things that made those creepy noises.
Overall:
Highly disappointed, if you really want to play it, rent it like I did. I hope RE6 is better than this, if it's not, I think the RE franchise will die. I forced myself to play all the way through, then after that I forced myself to play again on Co-Op, a more enjoyable, I recommend playing it this way. | video-games_xbox |
Great stuff. It was really fun to re-enjoy Rapture, to see the sights of another part of the place a few year down the road. New friends, new enemies, new things to do. While it's not vastly different in many ways from the first one, that's what makes it so good. Is it as great as the first one? No, of course not, not that there weren't some odd things in the first one, but you can only do something new once.
Bioshock 2 also has what might be considered better trophies and achievements than the first one, but certainly ones that are better than a large number of other games. There aren't such things as a silly requirement to find every one of an item, play though at crazy difficulty without dying, or manage to do things that are just about impossible for most people to do at all, or at least without getting very bored at grinding. For example, take Homefront. The task of finding every single newspaper clipping is an annoying one, and the multiplayer isn't good enough for most anyone to want to get everything including weapon camouflage to Expert level.
So speaking of multiplayer, Bioshock 2 has MP, compared to the first one which didn't. While I was not expecting anything from it, I found it entertaining and somewhat addictive. It's not crazily difficult to level in, there are a variety of game modes, and people are still playing it. A great many games with multiplayer achievements and trophies (especially rhythm games) simply have nobody playing them or even have no servers running for them any longer. While Bioshock 2 doesn't have dedicated servers, if it did they'd likely still be running because it's a franchise. (For example, Battlefield Bad Company 2 has been out for over a year, but the servers for the first game are still running.) The point being that if a multiplayer game has nobody playing for whatever the reason, it's impossible to get multiplayer trophies or achievements, and certainly it's impossible to enjoy playing against others.
Although the multiplayer often seems to have people who can play impossibly well for humans operating on their own, which is likely partially due at least to the distributed non-dedicated server aspect of it, aside from people just really really good at aiming and headshots. Yet there are enough matches where there are normal people playing, or where the aimbots and macros and such have taken a holiday. Regardless, there's enough fun in the MP to extend the game (to get ready for that play through of the single player on hard) and it's even fun enough to come in lower on the match results. Although since you get points for collecting ADAM, hacking machines and finishing challenges, there's still ways for everyone to rank up. | video-games_xbox |
Excellent Game. Command and Conquer is my most favorite franchise. I love it. This game makes it better. It is very fun, and well balanced. It looks nice. It runs nice. It is full of hot women.
A lot of people are complaining about SecuROM. There is almost nothing to complain about. I had a flawless installation and have had few issues with SecuROM. And i'm running Vista. My only problem was a compatibility issue with a program i use, Process Explorer. SecuROM disagrees with it. It is not that big of a deal. The 5 installations is not a bad deal, considering that they will give you more on request. And I don't care what anybody says about it, SecuROM is not that bad. I'm glad that they are fighting back against piracy.
The game itself is very fun and interesting. You must realize that the tradition of C&C is to have really cheesy acting, with lots of hot women. This game triples that. The live action shots are cheesy as ever, yet interesting enough to keep you playing.
The game has a cartoonish feel that I was not looking forward to. It is actually quite fun, and real looking. The units are very fun to play with (launching bears over cliffs...) and there are a great variety of them. Something different is that the factions are not the same setup. The Russians have buildings that build after you lay the foundation. (AOE/Generals style) The allies have buildings that build, then you lay the foundation (C&C3/Classic C&C). It makes it interesting. no unit has a similar counterpart in another faction (with the exception of engineers, basic units). Each unit has advantages and disadvantages.
Overall, a very good game that I highly recommend. Do not let SecuROM ruin a great experience. These other reviewers who are complaining about SecuROM know nothing, and published their reviews before the game was released. EA has been very helpful in fixing problems as well. Don't be biased. | video-games_xbox |
A universe of "meh" awaits. If you download this through Xbox store, you get the 360 and One versions. Don't have the One, yet.
A quick breakdown:
There are three "races" ordinary human with potato faces, space vampires with pretty faces, and terminator robots. You'd think that robots would be strong, vampires would have some kind of telekinetic powers and humans would be the balanced race... No. It's cosmetic.
There are three "classes" tank, gunslinger, and space wizard. Each "class" gives you special powers, but you just run around shooting guns. So that doesn't matter much, either.
What do you do? You fly a spaceship around the solar system and take scripted missions on the planets. This isn't a sandbox game, and the missions have to be more or less taken in order as the other planets won't open up until you "clear" one area. Also the missions are scaled to level, so skipping around will result in a game that's too difficult.
So what goes wrong?
There may be 6-10 missions per planet, but they all take place on a single map. You CAN explore the map, but that won't advance the game and you'll just run into re-spawning enemies. Sometimes "random" events happen, but that's mostly just guarding an area/killing advancing enemies. The maps are small and linear. There's usually only one or maybe two ways to get to your goal and there's no real reward for exploring.
Plot? There isn't a plot. There's the BUNGIE vague "greater evil happens" here, but the game really doesn't give too much insight into the few factions at play except that Peter Dinklage tells you to shoot these guys and you do. I'm sure that there's an encyclopedia of information on-line, but if the game can't tell it's story, what's the point?
There's multiplayer. You can capture the flag and other typical multiplayer modes, including duels. Some do away with level perks, giving newer players a better chance. That' part of the game isn't bad.
Other content involves some "mission" where 3 random players are paired and have to fight an impossible boss.
It all boils down to "kill guys, get stuff, upgrade stuff, get better stuff." Also the 360 version looks blurry, like coming from an eye exam.
What you have here is a very linear mission based game with some randomly generated side quests and forced multiplayer that doesn't break any new ground.
-if you HAVE to play this, wait until it gets cheaper or rent it
-don't play the 360 version if you want to squint at a blurry screen for a few hours
-don't replay, there's little useful variance in the classes
This isn't Fallout or Skyrim... or even Borderlands. | video-games_xbox |
The same game we've been playing for a decade with online-only restrictions. I'm a huge fan of the XB1, and I'm one of the outnumbered ones who is standing by this system over the PS4. I'm not taking a jab at the Xbox for the sake of trolling by giving this game a low score. I wanted Titanfall to be good, but it didn't have to be for me to enjoy my system. Unfortunately, it turns out that it actually is not very good. When your internet connection and the servers are working properly, it's a decent game, but the online limitation doesn't sit well with me, and the justification for making it online-only is completely bogus. Using the cloud to control AI didn't make the AI any noticeably better, and focusing solely on multiplayer didn't help improve anything about the multiplayer experience compared to the huge variety of excellent FPS games already on the market, many of which have offline play options.
Here's the main issue right out of the gate: the multiplayer experience offered by Titanfall has not improved over 2004's Halo 2 and most other top tier FPS games that have come out in the past 10 years. Honestly, hook up Halo 2 to an online LAN server via widely available software, and you can play it online to this day. Hook it up to another Xbox and you can do local matches without an internet connection. Alternatively, you could play single player. Without system link, LAN, or single player, Titanfall gives the player less. It's likely that Titanfall will never function properly without an internet connection, and the day the servers are shut off, the game won't be playable. In 2004, if your internet was terrible or lost service, you had options to play your games offline fully featured in every single game mode. In 2014: no internet, no game. We've seen this before from EA. Sim City was plagued by the same issue, and the justification was similar: they said they needed the online connection to control the citizen AI. That turned out to be a lie. They didn't need that at all. The online-only was done simply to combat piracy. Even so, the pirates cracked the game and were enjoying it offline. It was the paying customers who suffered. Titanfall is no different. You get the same basic game you got back in 2004, which is a good game, but you get no single player, you get no offline options, and you get nothing drastically new.
Titanfall features huge robots called titans which you call down to fight alongside you or to pilot manually. Having a titan fight by your side seems cool, but I've seen my titan stand there shooting the ground and other ridiculous things. When all is said and done, titans are nothing more than a glorified vehicle, no better than piloting a vehicle in any other FPS game. They aren't exciting and new. They're vehicles which can follow you around if you want. Imagine if your vehicle in Halo followed you around and shot at people while you weren't riding it: that's basically what it comes down to. It's not innovative enough to simply have titans in the game and just make everything else the same as usual. A deathmatch in Titanfall is still a deathmatch. A capture point game is still a capture point game. I mean, heck, every player gets a titan in every match, usually twice. In other FPS games at least you could fight for control of the various vehicles in a level. In Titanfall the only way to gain any advantage over anyone else is to try to lower the time you are waiting until the titan is ready by playing better than the other people, but getting your titan 15 seconds earlier isn't nearly as useful as simply stealing the level's only vehicle spawn in a different FPS game.
On that note, Titanfall really fails to give the skilled players much to set themselves apart in general. Not only do all players get the chance to have a titan on every level regardless of how they play, but there is an auto-aim homing bullet gun which does 1-2 hit kills, and its only drawback is that it takes a slightly longer time to fire it. This means that some guy aiming in your general vicinity might be able to kill you in a couple seconds without any sort of skill. The idea behind this is to level the playing field to make the game less daunting for people who stink at FPS games, but it's really counter to the spirit of playing one of these games. You'r supposed to have to aim and shoot at your opponent. Giving people the option to be lazy may cater to the new players, but it's not making the game a better game.
Along the same lines, the game will let people contribute to the team score by killing AI bots who run around the levels, and spawn in large numbers in various sections of the map. You'd think the AI would still be a fair challenge to kill, like fighting grunts and elites in Halo or something, but it's not like that at all. The AI bots are idiots who barely do more than stand there while you kill them. Farming the AI is exactly that: farming. It's not challenging or engaging in any way. Without any effort, I could mow down 5 of them at a time.
One neat thing is that Titanfall lets you run at high speeds at all times, and you can run along walls or jump from wall to wall. It's a fun mechanic, and it's simple to do, but it's hardly worth buying the game for. Limitations in mobility in other FPS games don't make those games any less strategic or fun. Sonic the Hedgehog runs faster than Mario and can run upside-down. Is Sonic more fun to play than Mario? It's just a different game with its own rules. There's nothing wrong with Titanfall's mechanics, but it's not worth buying the game for.
Along with these thoughts, I'm also rolling my eyes at the slow pace the developers have taken with making the game look next-gen. A bunch of cool effects don't change the fact that the game is launching at 792p, when most people expect next gen to run at 1080p. I can understand that launch titles weren't running at full specs due to time constraints and developers learning to use the new hardware, and the 60 frames per second is nice, but you're looking at a game which is supposed to really sell you on the next gen experience. Lighting effects are nice, but people want 1080p 60 frames per second before they want all the cool effects. It's sad to see the XB1's early system seller failing to at least meet that standard on time for launch.
All that being said, Titanfall is a game I could recommend to someone really itching for a online first person shooter, but for anyone else, stay away. If you're a casual gamer looking for a game to play on your new XB1, go for Dead Rising 3 or something with the ability to play by yourself without the internet. In 10 years, when the Titanfall servers are shut down, and you want to revisit your old XB1, you'll be a lot happier if you stick with games that don't require an internet connection. Don't get me wrong, online games have their place, but it takes a lot more to justify them than Titanfall offers. | video-games_xbox |
The King of Golf Games. Tiger Woods golf is one of those inconspicuous games that really doesn't seem that fun. However, despite the fact I have only played a real game of golf once and loathe watching it, EA's version of golf is really quite brilliant.
Gameplay
As you'd expect there are tons of different ways to play and different types of games on TW07. I believe there are 12 different kinds of traditional games ranging from stroke play to a game called Bloodsome. There are also about the same amount of mini games in which you can test your skills against an opponent such as the long drive contest, rough timed challenge, putting contest, seven as well as many more. There is also the Tiger Challenge in which you face 25 opponents and then Tiger himself. If you've created a character this is your best bet to level up so to speak. The more people you beat the better your skills become. In fact, if you make really great shots while playing them your skills also go up.
I'll give a walkthrough of a normal hole. You are able to pick from only a few golfers to begin with or your created golfer and learning to play the game is quite easy. The learning curve is only a few minutes. Playing it well takes quite a bit of experience. You are given the option of seeing an estimation of where the ball is going to land in the form of a large circle.
Then to drive the ball you just pull back on the left thumbstick and push forward as fast as possible. Just like in golf there are many variables and ways to hit the ball. In TW07 you have a very precise method of swinging and the thumbstick will register how fast, how far back and if you deviate from the center axis at all. You are also able to change the angle of attack or what part of the ball you hit, i.e. hitting the bottom of the ball will loft it. Hitting the top will create a large amount of topspin and ultimately prevent the ball from arcing. You are able to hit fades as well, which allows the ball to curve around an obstacle. Wind is also something that has to be taken into account, especially when driving the ball.
Graphics
The graphics are really unremarkable. The people's faces look very good and accurate as well as the bodies. The balls, clubs and other moving parts so to speak are very detailed. However, the rest of the game is rather lackluster. The clothes are very two dimensional and lack shading. By far the worst part is the actual golf courses. The trees are 3-D only on the trunk and large branches and the bushes are merely layers of 2-D art. The grass and water looks pixilated. Clearly, the graphics system is dated and hopefully was overhauled for TW08.
Music / Sound Effects
As usual EA added what they thought gamers would like to listen to. Most of the music is better suited for a dance club than any EA sports game. This is mostly inconsequential though because of the music player on the xbox 360. Sound effects seem to be realistic. How much sound is there really in golf? One really interesting thing is the golfers will yell at the ball if it was hit poorly. Also, while multiple golfers are competing they will taunt the other golfer or boast about what they are going to do.
Features
-Character Creation: the ability to create your own unique looking golfer and start from scratch. The number of facial features that can be changed is astounding. You also get to choose height, body type, gender etc.
-Difficulty Setting: all kinds of aspects about the difficulty can be changed including: starting tee, hardness of fairway, putting cam, spin control, wind level and many more.
-Mini Games: this was something TW06 was really lacking; here you can make your character better by completing competitions or practices like the long drive contest, rough save, sand save, closest to pin or putting. These all improve your skill as well as your characters.
-A deep list of pro and imaginary golfers
-Tons of traditional games
-The full PGA Tour Season
Downsides
There are not many negative aspects to TW07. In fact if it wasn't for one in particular I'd give it a near perfect score. I bought the game used, so I cannot be sure about this, but I've had the game freeze up on me everyday I've played it since it was purchased. I checked the back and there doesn't seem to be any scratches. I've only had one other game on the 360 freeze up this often. It ruins the experience and you lose valuable time you put in. The only other downside is the graphics are really not up to par (no pun intended). As mentioned before, they look dated and need to be reworked. | video-games_xbox |
Pleasantly Surprised. I've been meaning to get this game for a while. Finally picked it up and fell in love with it. I am a huge rpg fan, especially when it pertains to Japan. Tales of Vesperia was one of my all time favorites.
Now this is a strategy rpg. Japanese anime art style using sprites to battle with. You work on a grid with your party and the opposing enemy party. Each character has a set number of squares they're allowed to move during the move phase and their own extended areas (which I won't cover here because a previous reviewer so eloquently done it already).
The story is told in a panel style. A rendered character still appears with a text box. As text comes onto the screen the characters speak in Japanese. The text is English. The game is Spoken entirely in Japanese and there is no changing that so you will be reading.
The game spans 5 generations and it has a "true end" that you have to play properly to unlock. In each generation you'll find a love interest to pursue. Whomever you select will alter the available character in the next generation (the offspring of you and said love interest).
This is not a short game by any means, and obtaining all the achievements will take upwards of 200+ hours. I'm currently playing through on normal just to enjoy the game and will afterwards begin on the hard setting to go after all the achievements.
I've already ordered the sequel (Record of Agarest War Zero) which is actually a prequel, that I'm going to begin as soon as I complete the achievement list on this game.
In closing, if you like games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem then you should feel right at home. This is at its very core a strategy game. It will definitely work out your brain when you get pwnd and have to make adjustments to remedy that. The graphics and audio aren't amazing by any stretch. They're quite mediocre, but I've never let graphics and audio break a game for me. If you like Japanese srpgs then don't hesitate to pick this one up. You'll be kicking yourself later if you don't. | video-games_xbox |
Good - but this is not going to bowl over PGR-3 players. I'm reviewing this from the perspective of an experienced PGR-3 player who is looking for another racing game to buy. Honestly this was a bit of a disappointment. Forza-2 is a good game, but it didn't live up to the hype for me.
There is a lot to like about Forza-2:
* Instant race restart - no more waiting for ages just because you blew the start.
* Good feel on a force feedback wheel (takes a bit of getting used to, but the improvement when straightening out while exiting a corner is worth it)
* Well designed and customizable HUD.
* Tuning the cars is a lot of fun - you can drive a replica of your own car, tricked up to blow away the competition.
* Telemetry details are extensive and interesting
* Gear ratios and acceleration times are spot on when I compare my own car to the game.
* "penalties" so you can't do track jumping tricks that just wreck the PGR-3 "fastest lap time" lists.
But... Way over-hyped "realism".
* The weather and time of day is always the same.
* I don't care if the physics engine models tire temperature to within 0.1 F every 0.001s, when you can crash a car at 150 mph into a wall and can still drive it (and win).
* No clutch.
* All gear shifts are sequential. You can't even start off in 2nd.
* Car modifications are hit-or-miss in representation. Sure a spoiler will appear on your tail if you add one, but select the weight reduction package - and all the seats stay in the car, and no roll bars appear.
* Since when did Jaguar "give you" an E-type when you can barely drive round the track. The manufacturer simulation is simply not "believable".
* Engine noise simulation for cars I've driven is way off. For example, the S4 V-8 sounds *nothing like* my real one.
Graphically, it's just not that impressive.
* PGR-3's track models are in a different league. I'm sorry, but if you have played PGR3 and stopped in front of a Burger King, you can read the price of a cheeseburger. I've lived in London and New York, visited Tokyo and Vegas, and the details are spot on - you can go into photo mode and produce snapshots that look uncannily like ones you took for real. In Forza most of the tracks are fictitious, and the small New York circuit is unconvincing.
* Video replay is horrible, you can't watch it rewind then hit play. It blacks out the screen and makes you wait.
* No interior car view. PGR3 had this down pat with incredible details down to air vents and simulated instruments.
And my main disappointment - Plain fun of the gameplay.
* 12 tracks, all circuits. Simply not enough variation. No point-to-point.
* You can drive all the cars immediately. Once you've driven the Audi R8, and yes, it's fast and handles great, you lose the incentive to plow through the levels to unlock it in career mode. I can't be the only one who had a blast unlocking the supercar concept in PGR3 and going back to the track to get major kudos.
* Upgrades are way too easy to get a low end sedan up to "A class".
For me it's only going to serve as a diversion while I wait for PGR-4. It's simply not blown me away. | video-games_xbox |
Xbox Live the Best Internet Gaming Ever. I know, I know. But I have been playing online since the days of text-based MUDDs. Most of you reading this are way too young to even know what a MUDD was, but back in 1982, we were playing them. Yes, I said 1982. I've been playing online games just that long and have seen the evolution of just about every type of online game and environment you can think of. I've played Battle.net, and Heat.net and just about every other online gaming service (free or subscription-based) that there has been to play over the last 20 years. Many of you may not even know what Xcite means, but they were responsible for online gaming on the 16-bit systems (SEGA Genesis and Super Nintendo). I had those too.
"So after playing online for nigh 20 years, I had to ask myself what on Earth is Xbox Live (XBL) going to do that is so much more better about it than any other online experience than I have ever had," this is what I was thinking before I signed up, and I was very skeptical and rightfully so. But once I was on and was playing, my tune changed rather quickly. In all the years that I have been playing online, there has simply been no single experience as fun, exciting and solid as the XBL experience (yes, even the PS2 Online experience is inferior to XBL). It is quite safe to say, that they last 20+ years of online gaming have been ultimately leading up to XBL. Microsoft has taken all the best attributes of online gaming and infused them into XBL, while leaving all of the worst attrtributes on the cutting room floor. And check this out, they are constantly improving the experience. While you have a XBL subscription, all upgrades for the service are free of charge. And we get upgrades and improvements every few months. The XBL experience is so good, that many in even the PC gaming communittee prefer XBL over PC online gaming and are clamouring to get XBL on the PC - and later this year, they will finally have it. Then there is all the tons of free stuff that you can get on XBL. I cannot remember just how many new levels and modes and maps and soundtracks of various XBL games that I have downloaded in the last year for absolutely free. And with almost 100 games available to use the service and that number looking to more than double itself by the end of 2004, that's just even more opportunities to downlaod more free stuff to my Xbox harddrive.
Inconclusion, XBL really is the best online gaming there has ever been to date. However, you do not have to take my word for it, you can find out for yourself for absolutely free. Most XBL games these days come with a 2-Month Trial Card FREE in the game's box. Just use that to sign-up for a temporary account and you get full access to all XBL services for FREE for two whole months. That's two whole months full access to the best online gaming service ever created. If by then you feel that this is not for you, then you are FREE to cancel the service without further obligation. YOU CANNOT LOSE. Anyway, I play XBL everyday, and I hope to see some of you there soon. | video-games_xbox |
Advanced Warfare, But Warfare All the Same. The Call of Duty franchise is an interesting one in that, while they release a game annually, the series is always met with criticism (most of it pointless from gamers who call the series crap). After the massively underwhelming installment that was Ghosts (what is seen as a Michael Bay-esque video game), we are graced with the first game from Sledgehammer Games in the series, Advanced Warfare. In the review, i will only talk about the campaign, as i am not a multiplayer gamer. But from what i've seen, the exosuits have created a massive change for first-person online gameplay.
The campaign focuses on Jack Mitchell, a former Marine who, after losing his best friend and fellow Marine Will Irons and his own arm, he is given a place at the Atlas Corporation, a private military contractor owned and operated by Will's father, Jonathan (portrayed by Kevin Spacey). Here, Mitchell is given a new arm, and a new purpose; to honor Will's memory. But, when the KVA, a new militia group led by the mysterious 'Hades,' attacks around the world, Atlas steps in to stop him, with Mitchell and his new team leading the charge.
That's as far as I will go in revealing the story, but after playing the game multiple times, i must say this is the best Call of Duty to date. Like Call of Duty 4, the campaign in the game sets up a new trilogy, and actually cares about story-telling and not generic blockbuster-fare of cinematic events and massive explosions. What captured my attention, was the amount of detail that was poured into the story, the gameplay and the realism, even though it was futuristic. And that's when i see the name of the man behind the curtain; Mark Boal. The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, both films written by Mr. Boal, boasted realism that one expects to see in a documentary about war, coupled with emotional ties to the characters, all of which is definitely present in Advanced Warfare. The dialogue, the script, everything about Advanced Warfare screamed a more action-packed blockbuster version of Zero Dark Thirty, but i didn't fully know it until i watched the credits. Now, i'll say the campaign isn't game-changing in any way (mainly due to an ordinary conclusion/third act), but because of how well-written it is, how invested they were in creating such life-like characters and a truly horrific situation that reaches extremely brutal heights, Advanced Warfare has given me faith in the series again. Now, the gameplay itself is extremely smooth; the exosuits are brilliantly designed, the gunplay is polished, and the graphics were top-notch, with the cutscenes looking like an actual feature film.
I've always liked Call of Duty, but i don't call myself a fanboy, as i find many disappointing things about the series (whether it's the emotionless plot of the first Black Ops, or the somewhat convoluted plot of Black Ops II, as well-written as it was). Either way, Advanced Warfare is the beginning of a new trilogy and a great one that boasts realism, fantastic characters and a simply good story that looks like it should be a movie franchise, or an HBO miniseries. | video-games_xbox |
Pure co-op fun. Resident Evil 5 is a great success as a co-op game. Capcom placed a bunch of restrictions with the intent of forcing the players to work together. It works beautifully when you have a human partner, but can be frustrating with the AI partner.
Limited inventory
Each player only has 9 inventory spots. That means you can't carry every type of gun on your own. There are pistols, shotguns, machine guns, rifles, and a few other weapons. By limiting inventory space, it forces each player to specialize in 2 or 3 weapons, making each player better suited for certain situations, and vulnerable to others. It promotes communicating with your partner to whip out the shotgun for a cluster of zombies, or using a rifle to pick off one ranged baddie.
Limited ammo
Ammo is scarce. This again promotes the idea of each character specializing in a weapon, because there isn't enough ammo for the both of you to use the same type of gun. Each type of gun is balanced and useful, so everyone can still contribute.
No run and gun
You can't run and shoot at the same time. This gives the game a more deliberate pace, and encourages well placed shots. You can also melee enemies that are stunned from shots to the arm, leg or head. In general, the combat is varied enough between gunning, punching, explosives, and running around in panic that it stays fun.
All these factors enhance the gameplay when you have another person to play with, but become frustrating in single player. The AI will chew through ammo, and you'll want more types of guns to handle situations yourself. Also the controls are pretty complicated, so there is a learning curve.
On the other hand, the game is beautiful to look at, and excellently paced. There is an ebb and flow between quiet, disturbing areas to swarming packs of enemies. It all translates into escalating tension.
The set pieces and bosses are a joy to play through. They are like puzzles wrapped in mangled flesh and teeth. It's a blast to devise plans while weaving through hoards of zombies. Definitely buy this game if you have someone to play it with. | video-games_xbox |
Super colorful graphics, nasty DRM. I got to play some of it at a friend's. I must say it's about average for today's RTSes. On default max settings it's really bright, colorful, and almost nauseating. I suppose I could have tweaked it down, but that would have bugged my friend.
I haven't bought it myself because of the DRM. For EA games alone's use of this DRM there are four class action lawsuits filed. This doesn't include other companies' usage. It takes a whole lot to get a class action started, so instead of just senselessly ranting I'll tell you what the DRM does, and how it effects you. I'll leave the technology stuff to other people and google.
What the DRM does:
You have five activations, much like microsoft's activations. After that you must call in and ask for another one, unless you specifically uninstalled the game. Doing so gives you a refund credit.
The big beef with this is that it requires online activation on install, and most people, when they have to reinstall a game, are doing so because of a reformat or because the game's install is messed up.
The second huge problem with it is that the pirates, the people who steal the software, broke this DRM off like a jedi with a lightsaber chops through a door. It was nearly effortless for the pirates-who the DRM is supposed to stop-to get through it.
So while the thieves prosper, and actually download this game and have it cracked in less time than it takes to run to the store, we have to pay for the game and deal with the DRM, or go into a legal gray area and crack our own bought software.
If we crack it ourselves, we lose out on legitimate multiplayer because the online servers don't let cracked copies on. The pirates play amongst themselves and thusly have no penalty. Their games even run faster than ours because the DRM is off of them. (Though it is only slightly faster)
So, while you may not have any trouble with the DRM for even a year or so after you get the game, you'll eventually have to call in. And if you're like me and an avid gamer, it'll be about eight games at once that want you to call in.
Links for research : [...] (Currently disputed neutrality, but still a decent source of info)
[...] (Site dedicated to removing DRM, is ran by gamers) | video-games_xbox |
Engrossing, challenging game. Quantum Redshift starts off hard--almost frustratingly so. It took me nine or ten races to even get out of last place (although I started at the second difficulty level, not the lowest). Once you get a feeling for the speed of the game, which is almost dizzying at first, you improve rapidly, but I've never found myself dominating a race as I can in so many other racing games (where you eventually get so good, you lap the other cars five times before the race ends). QR also keeps a carrot dangling in front of you--as you win, you get money to upgrade your car, and you unlock other pilots/cars (you can't mix and match different pilots with different cars, though), new difficulty levels, and new tracks. Also, a selection of easter eggs opens up as you win, including my favorite, which turns off the weapons and forces you to win a race on your driving skill alone. You can pick and choose among these easter eggs at any time other than during a specific race (so even between races in the tournament mode).
Contrary to some of the other reviews here, this is a very pretty game, which uses the power of the Xbox quite well. The tracks are varied--some are fairly level, high speed tracks, others are bumpy and set your car bouncing up and down until you learn to control and take advantage of the bumps and jumps. The cars also have a very different feel to them: some are nimble and agile, but not speed burners, others are fast but difficult to handle, others are ponderous but powerful, and others are a mix. I believe I have unlocked all the cars, and have a choice between 16 of them.
There are some problems, but these are manageable. Loading times for the tracks are too long, and compounded by the fact that a cut-scene featuring your character and the home pilot of the track you're on always comes up first (and takes a while to load itself). The music is also bland, uninspired techno, but QR does support the Xbox's custom soundtrack feature, so you can use your own music if you want.
Quite simply, this is a wonderful game that hasn't gotten a lot of attention. Once you push through to your first victory, you'll be hooked. | video-games_xbox |
Weird how the supernatural assassin game is the most like Tolkien in theme. Tolkien is pretty much ungameable. This is an irony given stuff derived from J.R.R Tolkien is directly responsible for Dungeons and Dragons, which is responsible for more or less all RPGs period. However, the setting is one where all of the adventures have been had. He wraps up the plotlines with nary a loose end and ushers in an age of peace as well as prosperity. Harry Turtledove speculated you could do an excellent sequel by having the Witch King return while I'm a big fan of "Morgoth awakens" as an alternative.
Still, people keep trying to make a Middle Earth game which doesn't involve following in the footsteps of the Fellowship. There's been a couple of successes but nothing which has really stood out, at least in my opinion. So, I was leery when I approached Shadow of Mordor. The idea of doing a darker and edgier Tolkien where you're a kind of supernatural assassin seemed to miss the point of the franchise.
I am pleasantly surprised by the results.
Shadow of Mordor uses a protagonist who is the opposite of your typical Tolkien one: a man who attempts to use dark magic and terror against the enemy in order to highlight the Lord of the Rings' themes on why this is a bad idea. Talion is an individual who desires revenge for his slain wife and child while the Bright Lord is an elf who has his own reasons for wanting to destroy Sauron. The game is aware Talion is being led down a dark path and watching it unfold is like enjoying a good tragedy.
In a way, this is an antidote to the bright and happy reputation the books possess as there's a lot of dark themes which get overlooked. Talion is more of a Boromir or Feanor figure in that he is well-intentioned but the path of power The game's tone is somber and foreboding with a sense the return of Sauron is something genuinely horrific. We see countless slaves working on rebuilding Sauron's kingdom and overhear the orcs exalting in their petty power over their prisoners.
As mentioned, the story is fairly simple: Talion loses his wife and child during an attack by orcs only to be sacrificed in a black magic ritual designed to bind a ghost into Sauron's service. The ghost chooses to possess Talion instead, providing him with a number of powers similar to a Ringwraith plus several related to mystical forging.
The fact our hero is walking in the path of Sauron himself is something inescapable to Tolkien fans. Either way, Talion intends to kill the Black Hand of Sauron who killed his family in order to break the spell binding him and the Bright Lord. This will result in their deaths but will reunite them with their loved ones.
Assuming Talion and the Bright Lord don't damn each other first.
Despite all the attention I'm giving the story, it's a relatively small part of what makes the game enjoyable. This is one of those rare games which would be almost as enjoyable if you just said, "You are a ranger from Gondor who knows magic. Go kill orcs." I spent my first six hours of the game just wandering around doing nothing but stabbing orcs. The reason this never gets old is due to the fabulously innovative Nemesis system.
The Nemesis System, basically, creates a staggering number of orcs who possess names, weaknesses, and strengths. There's a select number of Orc Captains who are always running around Mordor and working to build up their power base so they can challenge the Warchiefs who rule them. This wouldn't be all that interesting if not for the fact the orcs remember you from previous encounters. Thus, if you're killed by one, then he remembers doing so when you next meet. If you burn one, he's likely to remember that too and mention it. Nothing gets a gamer more invested in a game than knowing there's an orc wandering around the map who not only killed your character but is bragging about it in-game. The actual combat system is a combination of Arkham Asylum and Dishonored, especially once you gain the ability to teleport, and is extremely fun. The fact you don't have to hold back on killing your opponents is great too--at least when they're orcs.
Is the game perfect? Not quite. The plot is rather thin in places and they could have made the storyline much deeper but chose to focus on gameplay instead. There's numerous interesting characters but we don't get much time to deal with them. The world map is also somewhat small, being more akin to a city in Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row than an entire country. The game's ending is also a cliffhanger, which I hate.
Still, am I glad I got this? Hell yes. | video-games_xbox |
NOT a Microsoft Product. Do not purchase from AEStore. The product they ship is NOT the hard drive that is listed. According to the listing, the hard drive is BY Microsoft. Instead, it arrived in a cheap cardboard box, bubble wrap, and with no indication it was coming from Microsoft. The hard drive itself had fingerprint smudges on the surface, indicating that it is most definitely NOT a new, factory-sealed product. From the large number of positive reviews, I am assuming that other sellers are sending the real deal, but not AEStore.
There was a similar complaint on the 250GB HDD listing, also about AEStore. A buyer, who was duped like me, actually posted pictures of the packaging and hard drive from AEStore. This was the exact same case with me. My suggestion is that you keep switching sellers until one of them sends you the advertised product.
If you don't care about the authenticity of the hard drive, buy a generic 250 GB HDD instead. It is about the same price and the sellers do not try to mislead you that the product is not a generic hard drive. The only difference my research has yielded is that while performance wise, generic brands are supposedly just as good, they cannot play original XBOX games without additional tinkering. There are also probably more defective generics out there as well and you might not be able to tell if there are subtle shortcomings in performance. Random Chinese manufacturer X also probably can't be held accountable for product quality either. You would not have these issues or worries with a Microsoft brand hard drive.
Also, with products like these, I think it is important for people to list in strongly opinionated reviews, who the seller is for the product in question. I imagine this would help Amazon users decrease the likelihood of being duped by sellers who consistently fail to send the advertised product. Again, my purchase was through AEStore. | video-games_xbox |
Enjoyable, but quick, with some annoying platforming. As I continue playing games that received less than critical acclaim, I found myself playing Dante's Inferno for the Xbox 360.
Dante's Inferno tells the story of Dante who journeys through Hell to save his beloved Beatrice. As we progress through the story we learn more about Dante himself, and why it is that he doesn't seem so out of place in this land.
The story is rather well done, with a mix of CGI and animation telling parts of the story. The cast is fairly strong, with each character having a rather distinctive character.
The play style is similar to God of War, but the button mashing sequences are relatively few and far between, with the majority of them being rather easy. For this reason, if you enjoy God of War, but find it aggravating, you may find comfort in this game.
Moves include a weapon, long range cross, magic, dash, and a basic comboing system. There are two distinct trees containing skills and bonuses that can be unlocked, with both trees being completely unlocked if you play through the game more than once. Relics can also be found and equipped granting various bonuses.
Altogether this resulted in a fairly enjoyable experience.
The one thing that I didn't necessarily care for is the platforming, which due to a 'stationary' camera, can get rather annoying, rather fast. However, save points are such that only one area drove me to replay approximately 30 seconds of an area almost a dozen times.
Seemingly the PlayStation 3 version is slightly superior, but for the price at which it is currently available, I'm happy with my 360-version purchase.
Over the course of 5 days Dante's Inferno provided a little over 7 hours of gameplay, and 850 of 1000 achievements. I played only the first half or so on the normal difficulty, switching down to casual only to move through the game faster.
I'll give this game 3 of 5 stars since it's enjoyable, but may not stay in my collection after I pick up the last few achievements, if I decide to do that (which I probably will). | video-games_xbox |
A great but challenging game. Straight off, I'll admit that I haven't played this game in the last 8+ years, so I'm just going off memory.
This game is one of those that was looked over by almost everyone but is pretty great. Not perfect, but great.
The game centers around an amnesic character who is a test subject for some research company. After the tutorial, things get interesting and weird when a woman appears over you out of thin air before disappearing again. Then the military show up, butcher the scientists watching over you and aim to kill you. The woman appears again, beating the crap out of them before asking you to follow her.
Things keep getting weirder, as you begin to hallucinate and bullet-proof monsters appear. Then the veins in your arm begin to glow and suddenly you are able to punch the crap out of these bullet-proof monsters.
The story of this game is pretty interesting, though takes weird turns at some points and the end is somewhat weak. It wasn't terrible, just okay. I won't say more to spare you from any spoilers.
The game is entirely set in 1st person, which is still an interesting choice. When I first played it, this choice was pretty striking, but after playing Half-Life 2 and other games it isn't so noticeable. One bad thing with the 1st person perspective, as it goes a bit too realistic. When you pick up things, you look at them before you take them, which means you have to look at each clip of ammo and candy bars for health and that takes time.
What makes the game so striking is the combat. Though it is a 1st person shooter, the actual shooting mechanic is pathetic. Hand to hand combat is the way to play the game, and it is pretty great. There are actual combos you can figure out, though if I recall correctly they are only written out in the manual (but they might be in the controls, I can't remember).
As much as I enjoyed this game, there are some things I disliked about it. First, the combat takes a while to figure out and can be quite challenging at times. There are certain enemies that can tear you a new one in hand-to-hand, so you're forced to waste ammo and power on them which makes advancing a pain.
Second, there are puzzles and some minor platforming that are a pain. In fact, this has kept me from returning to the game several times. There was one puzzle where you had to jump and duck over lasers which actively seek you on occasion. I can't remember the number of times I had to reload the game, and once it frustrated me enough to stop playing. There are later sections where you have to climb and jump to new platforms to advance, and it is semi easy to fall to your death.
Even though it is a challenge to play at times, Breakdown is a fantastic game that is worth experiencing. If only the game had been more successful, because I would have loved a sequel. It is a unique and a mostly enjoyable experience. If you can find it, and on the cheap, I'd encourage you to play it. | video-games_xbox |
Eh, Could Be Wetter. I wish I could have like Wet as much as I wanted to.
The idea is absolutely fabulous: a kick ass mercenary chick with insane acrobatic skills who rocks it hard in... the west? I gotta say, I'm not sure where this takes place. I suppose it's a non-descript Quentin Tarantino West; which means cowboy boots, revolvers, and samurai swords and you kill a lot of Asian people... for some reason. Anyway, you play as Rubi, said mercenary chick in tight jeans who drinks whiskey by the bottle and throws bullets around like so much loose change. Unfortunately, she's voiced unenthusiatically by a vixen shaped block of wood named Eliza Dushku. Which pretty much encapsulates everything that works and doesn't work about Wet: some really good ideas and design, even a nice shape, executed in a blockish, wooden sort of way.
Gameplay comes in three flavors: fast-paced run 'n gun, climbing & jumping puzzles, and quicktime events. All of them start off brilliant and then slowly devolve into copy/paste repetition moments or super frustrating instant fail scenarios. It stops being fun real fast, is what I'm saying. Rubi can run up walls, slide great distances and flip through the air with grace and skill and killer abs; if she pulls the trigger while doing these things, the game enters bullet time so you can efficiently blast hordes of cookie-cutter gangsters with twin guns. The problem is that, while she's NOT in bullet time, Rubi is absolutely useless. She can't shoot, she can't move, she can't dance. The game forces you into these handful of bullet time moves so that, while visually cool, they get old real fast. The pace of the game takes on a jerky quality, fast/slow/fast/slow, but not in a fun or exciting kind of way. Again, it's totally badass the first ten times you do it, but by the 11th generic room filled with generic guys with guns coming out of holes in the walls, well... you get my point.
I guess that's the biggest problem with Wet: once you've played the first hour, you've pretty much played the whole game. The level design doesn't get more interesting. Rubi gets a few new moves along the way, but no real game-changers. And the quick time events slowly devolve from interactive movie (the quick-time car chase at the end of the first chapter is so f**king awesome, I wanted that to be the entire game) to press-the-button-now-or-die! The damn jumping puzzles just turn into frustrating instant fail moments that force you to watch the same cut scenes again and again. It's an outdated style of game, for the most part: a throwback to platformers like Tomb Raider with a sexy modern gloss. Which some people will really take to, I imagine. But I couldn't. I tried, I promise, but I couldn't.
It's certainly not all bad: I really like the faux Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez style of evertyhing. I thought that was a gutsy choice and translates surprisingly well to a video game; with a blend of genres and some over-the-top (if mostly forgettable) characters. The soundtrack rocks hard and bumps the action in a nice way. And, again, the first few levelS are a lot of fun - I just wish the rest of the game had as much imaginiation. It just got more dull and less fun the more I played.
Not everyone will agree and some of the unique qualities make this a title that might be worth checking out. But wouldn't spend more than a couple bucks or more than a few hours with it. Just go rewatch Desperado, you'll have more fun. | video-games_xbox |
A Horrible, Frustrating Game. Do you like racing games? Then you might like Arkham Knight. Otherwise, don't buy it.
I hate this game. I loathe it. It infuriates me. And what makes me angry is I really want to like it. I loved Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. I even thought Arkham Origins had some fun in it.
There is nothing fun here. Nothing at all.
The batmobile handles attrociously and is shoved into every single aspect of the game. In the first 12% of the game or so you spend more time in the batmobile than you do fighting. I've been in a half dozen tank battles and at least two high-speed chases, and only had about two predator challenges and two fights.
And that's not the worst of it.
The predator segments don't feel right. It's hard to get a grasp of the spacial nature. Detective Vision has been changed so much it's useless. You can't tell how far away enemies are or if they're on different floors. You can't tell easily if there's a wall between you or not. You can't even tell which enemies wear armor and which don't!
Which brings up the next point. The fighting sections, always a strength of the Arkham games, just don't seem to work right. The enemies no longer look visually distinctive, which doesn't help when you also can't tell via detective vision which ones wear armor. So there's a good chance you'll punch an armor wearing guy and break your combo when you didn't know he was wearing it. It also doesn't help that the target selection doesn't prioritise anymore. It used to work well. Now I can't count how many times I selected an armor wearing guy for a combo takedown (when I finally realized he was wearing it) and batman ended up selecting the perfectly ordinary enemy next to him. I've seriously risked going hoarse screaming at the tv.
The camera also seems utterly determined to screw with the player. It rotates at the wrong times, which becomes really frustrating when you're trying to pick enemies and prioritise and suddenly Batman is moving in the wrong direction.
I keep trying to like this game. I want to like this game. But I also want to light this game on fire. If I hadn't paid nearly $40 I'd probably have sold it or burned it.
It's anger inducing.
Do Not Buy This Game.
Additional note: the Harley Quinn DLC is about 15 minutes long and consists of two fighting challenges and two 'predator' challenges where the difficulty is that Harley can't do silent takedowns. That's it. It's not worth it. If you must buy this game, buy it used. | video-games_xbox |
Mass Effect 1 is not like a fine wine. It just hasn't aged well. The framerate is bad, the graphics so so, and this game just has soooo many issues that it's almost unbearable to play until you get used to it. But once you get used to all its quirks, and you get into the story, you realize what a great game this is.
As for quirks...one really frustrating thing about this game is going through all the dialogue again after you die in some of the boss battles. I mean seriously...WHY? At least you can tap X to skip through each line until you get back to the fight itself....which doesn't even last as long as it took to skip through the dialogue in some instances.
As for the story...Mass Effect's story starts off incredibly slow, and the only way you'll get into it is by ignoring half of the story based info/stuff they throw at you. You have a hub of information about the alien races and the different worlds in the pause menu...but reading all of that would take hours it seems and a lot of fun out of just playing the dang thing...just skip that stuff and you'll learn enough as you go along.
If you only initially play this game, like I did, because your decisions carry over into ME2 and ME3, heres my advice: Skip all the side missions, and just play through the story. The side missions are pretty much boring in this game anyway.
The main story is amazing and every decision counts. Decide to save someone in this game and you may just see them in ME2. My advice is to decide to be a good guy or bad guy and stick with that. If you fall into the gray area too much, and your charm or intimidate stats aren't up to snuff, you'll miss out on a lot of dialogue options that would otherwise be open. I lost a good friend called Wrex because I didn't know this...some of you will know what I mean.
As for the combat in this game...I almost prefer it over that of ME2. A lot of ppl would think I'm crazy for that...but to me the enemies and weapons all feel bigger and badder in ME1. ME2 does have a better selection of weapons but I could literally run through ME1 with a shotgun and blow everything to pieces without worrying about ammo and the range of my weapon much. And the enemies seem small for some reason in ME2. In this game a Krogan running at you full speed will make you wanna crap your pants...in ME2...meh not so much.
So my review in a nutshell: 3 out of 5 overall. It would be a 5/5 but loses points due to the game's engine being outdated and clunky. Fun factor four stars because of the fun combat and amazing story | video-games_xbox |
Good but not Great. Here is the breakdown. Dragon Age 2 is not a terrible game, despite what some will say. Although it was not as good as Dragon Age Origins, it is still a good game. It certainly could have been better. I was completely obsessed with DA:O, as soon as I finished it, I played it again...and again and again. DA 2 does not provide the same opportunities for different playthroughs as DA:O.
What I didn't like about DA 2:
-Lack of variety for main characters. You have to be human, you cannot be a dwarf or elf. So, you are basically choosing whether you want to be a rogue, mage, or warrior. I truly enjoyed being able to choose between the races in DA:O, it was part of why I was so obsessed. I wanted to see the differences with each race/story.
-Less opportunities to interact with your companions. It seems your companions have a lot less to say. You get opportunities in companion missions and some other missions. Otherwise, you pretty much get one sentence "automatic" responses. I missed all those funny conversations by Alistair and Zevran.
-Much less play-ability differences. The lack of different origins (races, stories, etc.) makes each playthrough fairly the same. You really have two choices for pretty much everything. Support mages or templars? Friendship or rivalry? This or that. The story won't change all the much. Only being a mage seems to have any probable impact on the story...
-No camp area where all of your companions are together. I spent a lot of time switching characters to go through my inventory and equip everyone. It was easier in DA:O to go through the inventory at the camp and equip every character at the same time.
What I liked:
-the reorganization of powers. I liked the categories and the new layout. Easy to understand, easy to upgrade. You don't really need to have played the first game to figure it out.
-the new powers. I was a rogue and liked the powers I used. There are some cool powers for each type and I look forward to trying them all out.
-the new characters. Each has their own flaws and a believable backstory.
-the friendship/rivalry aspect. You can romance or friend characters either through friendship or rivalry (meaning they can disagree with your decisions but still respect/love you). Once you get to 100%, you stay there. No need to worry influencing people the wrong way with your decisions.
-Once I got to Act 2, I started getting more into the game. It took the first act to get used to and get really into the game.
-The story is good...the whole mages vs. templars. Your companions also all have great stories that unfold throughout the game. Aveline's attempt to get with a guy was the funniest thing in the whole game! I still laugh thinking about it. I liked all the different missions and the wide variety of plots and enemies. Some great twists.
-the banter. Some of the banter was pretty hilarious!
-Good ending. I chose to support the mages, and I was surprised by some things.
-the possible influence your decisions will have on dragon age 3. Either way you go-mages or templars, it should have a big impact for the next game. | video-games_xbox |
Great game....despite flaws. True this game is similar to vol 2, however I can't decide if it's easier or harder than vol 2. I found that game play with the trick stick is alot more fluid than you'd imagine. It comes with more tricks as well since you get a different trick with all 8 directions of the stick (and that's without using the turbo buttons) But as easy as this is it becomes really difficult during game breakers as you have to pull off the moves yourself with this stick. If you try to do to many tricks at once, you simply fall and don't get you gamebreaker. You also have to remember to pass mid dunk otherwise your the only one that dunks the ball. Besides this flaw stealing is way to easy this time around no matter how good your handles are. Power also has a big impact on this version. If your not very strong I found it's more difficult to get a dunk off in traffic. The only other negative thing I can think of is that the street legend and earning skills took a turn for the worse. Vol 2 was easy to see where to go and what you had to do to get better. This time around your given a pick of different contests to choose from at various locations including your home court. I've found that choosing the wrong one doesn't get you hardly and "street credit" which is needed to play bigger events. You only have 7 weeks to earn street credit and build your attributes. I'm in the middle of week 4 and only have 422 street credit and avg. 40 points in most categorys and haven't lost a game yet (43-0). In Vol 2 you knew how many points you'd get before you started playing somewhere. Since I mentioned it before earning money for attributes was fine in vol 2 since it went fast and your player got up to speed with everyone else, but v3 only lets you buy 1 point at a time and since they range in value it incredibly difficult to max out any one specific category. Don't even bother buying shoes or anything else, since they don't help you in the long run you'll be wasting your time and money (did I mention that you have to buy players to add to your team and not just get them after you beat them, this gets way to pricy too). All in all the game play is really fun, sometimes repetative, but really fun. My only hope is that as I progress it gets better and easier. I guess I was simply expecting alot more and hoped they would change the broken parts (e.g. tricks, graphics) not the good parts too (e.g. game breakers, street legend, atributes). Here are my final thoughts:
Game play: 5
Graphics: 5
Learning ease: 2
Options (list can be overwhelming): 5
Overall value: $35 (not $50)
good changes vs. bad: 3
Overall I still give it a 5 simply because I'm a fan of the street franchise and I since I haven't beaten the game there's still hope for improvement. Definitely rent first...Enjoy | video-games_xbox |
The Incredible Xbox 360. Ah, my incredible xbox.. I was late getting onboard 'NextGen.' Usually I do that on purpose when a console comes out so they have a couple years to work out the kinks and I end up with a better system for having waited. Well, that's exactly how it worked out in this case. Of course the funds have something to do with it too :P I did the same when the PS2 came out and I loved that thing and instead of going nextgen last year I got another PS2. When the nextgen consoles first came out I was much more drawn to the PS3 and picked up a PSP in anticipation of eventually getting a PS3. I have played on the 360 at friends houses here and there for the past few years and was always really impressed with it, but I just couldn't get over throwing down $300+ for something that was likely to break on me within a year or so of my purchase. So I was holding out for a PS3 (which I'm sure is a great system as well, for the record :)
So in April of this year I started looking at FPS games, which I particularly enjoy, and was really intrigued by what the 360 had to offer over the PS3 (mainly just the online experience in general). So I really started thinking about it again and asked all my friends and the 360 just fit what I was looking for in a nextgen console. So now the question was which one to get. Then along came Microsoft at E3 and I had all the answers. I waited 4 days after the announcement and went for it. It was a little crazy on Amazon because the 'availability' status of the console kept changing every few hours or so, but I got mine as promised before the expected delivery date and Amazon did an incredible job at shipping and everything else, as usual.
So onto the console itself: It is very stylish and just cool looking. The touch buttons are awesome but you can turn the console on and off via the controller, as goes for the disk tray, so you don't even need to touch the console if you don't want to. I have had no issues with the wireless, and gaming online is as awesome as everyone has made it out to be. I really don't care that I have to pay for xbox live, as it's really not that expensive and definitely worth it. I have also called xbox support a couple of times with just some general questions about warranty and so on and they were very helpful. Granted, I didn't need to reapair anything, but xbox support seems top notch.
For those who don't have an HDTV, I bought this monitor at Sams for $180 to go with my new toy:
[...]
It works incredibly well and looks as good if not better than any HDTV out there. I would highly recommend gaming on a monitor if that suits you, but do your homework about what cables you will need. They can all be found on Amazon.
The few Gripes I have about this 360 console are as follows:
- In the short time I've had it (one month) it has frozen on me once during gameplay while playing Gears of War. While it was a little annoying, anyone who has gamed on a PC knows that freezing is just a part of life. I'm not really concerned about it at all or think there's a detrimental problem with the system.
- It does run pretty hot on the top vent (when sitting horizontally), which concerns me a little. So I set a fan on it to be extra cautious. Problem solved.
.. I thought there were more gripes, but no. That's all I can think of. I suppose I can sympathize with the owners of the previous xbox and certainly those who bought the console at launch. I would have been very annoyed had I taken the plunge a month before this console came out like I had planned. It just goes to show that good things come to those who wait. If you've been thinking about getting an xbox 360, do it. You're already here on Amazon reading my review, so you might as well. I highly recommend it; this console is AWESOME! | video-games_xbox |
Good. Not great. I'll start off by saying that I respect everyone's opinions on this game. To each their own. Games are often highly subjective. But, I don't understand why some are saying this is a terrible game. I'll just share a few of my thoughts about it.
First, the graphics aren't bad. They aren't great though. They're somewhere in between. The weather effects are nice and the car models are well done. Some of tracks look great (Monaco for example), but some look bland (Spa and Silverstone for example). But when concentrating on racing it doesn't really matter too much. The character models are ok. You can tell who is who by looking at them. But they're not anything to write home about. Again, they're adequate.
The presentation is the biggest disappointment for me. They advertised it like it was going to be like a live broadcast. It's not even close and doesn't capture the atmosphere of a Formula 1 race. It does better than previous installments. But there's a lot more work to be done.
I'm fine with the game modes. As a person that doesn't like playing any kind of licensed sports games as my own created character, I like the new championship mode. I've been wanting to race as actual drivers for awhile. It feels more authentic for me. Personally, I don't like creating characters and using them. But I can see how that's a huge deal to some.
It's lacking a little bit in the settings for races. I'd like to be able to choose an exact number of laps per race. Some choices feel too short, while the next option feels too lengthy sometimes. I would like to able to have a full practice session, 3 session qualifying, but then have a shorter race if I choose to. I don't know if you can change that. If you can, I haven't found it yet. Basically, I love being able to have the 3 session qualifying, but don't want to have to do a full race to do it. At least not all the time. The settings for the cars seem to be adequate enough for my taste. Although, diehard purests may want more. I don't use any of the assists. So I can't speak towards that.
The handling seems to be fine to me. I find it better and more responsive than previous years. Although, it could be refined some. Especially for controller use. (Yes, some people still prefer a controller. Especially those of us not wanting to drop hundreds of dollars on a steering wheel and setup.)
The sound is what you would expect. Everything seems in order there. Nothing to complain about other than the commentary before the races is a little dull. And when it is supposed to be exciting, it seems to try too hard.
Final thoughts: As a huge F1 fan that watches all the races, I'm giving this a solid 4 stars. I like the ability to play as my favorite drivers. This isn't the huge step forward that Codemasters said it would be. Or even that it should have been. But I think it's an improvement and a step in the right direction. I'd also like to see the classic mode return. | video-games_xbox |
Fun, not a classic. The original XCom was a stone cold classic. I played it when it came out, and via DOS emulators I still pick it up every now and again, the only old-school game I still play. That said, the game is extremely dated in terms of graphics and interface, and has problems such as extremely repetitious missions, extremely repetitious base defenses, and having too many people to control.
So I was really excited that this game came out and got good reviews. It's a generally addictive game, with some small changes - some for the better, some for not. The game has generally been "dumbed down." Squad size is limited to six people and has a more "Gears of War"-ish cover system, which to my surprise actually works very well (although I wish you could go to eight for the last few missions). There's less time worrying about whether the crash site is sunny, there's less micro-managing engineering and science. There's less useless items, & almost all scientific research has some use. You're not constantly losing items when people drop them in battle or get killed. Injuries are frequent, which force you to train people beyond a principle squad of six - it's fun levelling people up.
However if that simplifies the game and makes it more console-friendly, it also shows a less ambitious game. There's more of an arcade feel, where you're just running through missions. These missions feel the same, and while they're extremely fun, they get repetitious. The game keeps itself fairly short to avoid turning into a slog. Maybe 10 hours to beat it.
The largest problem is the low production values. There's about seven battlefield phrases, and they're repeated over and over and over. Playing the game means hearing "adjusting sights" and so forth approximately eight thousand times. Battlefields all resemble each other too much - there's very little feel that a mission in a European city is actually in a European city, instead of an Asian city. Graphics are slightly broken, you often find yourself able to apparently shoot through a wall or a rock. A lot of the people sound like they were poorly miked, and then in the end-game sequence there's an alien taunting you in a very quiet raspy voice, he is almost impossible to understand. Finally, even though I got the latest bug update, I was unable to finish the game because the game froze in the middle of the final mission, even if I loaded it and played the mission again. I googled game breaking bugs for XCom, and learned that there's a whole lot of these.
In conclusion, if you enjoyed the original XCom, or this genre of game, I still recommend this game. However it's short and slight and not the classic the original XCom was. | video-games_xbox |
A Truly Unique FPS experience. Wow, playing this game on the hardest difficulty with a fully upgraded Nano Suit is one of the funnest, most satisfying experiences I've had playing a game in recent memory. The difficulty necessitates changing my active nano-suit upgrades regularly to fit with the strategy I'm employing in each situation. I actually take the time to evaluate the situation and plan my route ahead of time; the order and manner in which I'll eliminate enemies, and places I'll take cover and recharge my suit's energy. The enemy AI may only be average, but they move around a lot once the gun fire starts, requiring constant re-evaluation of enemy positions. Most games, like CoD, Gears of War, and Halo require you to be fast and accurate on the harder difficulties as you charge through the small, close-quarters levels. Crysis 2 requires both of those things, but where it stands apart is that it requires you to be smart, to plan ahead, and use the space afforded you in the larger, more open environements.
Now, if you're a more casual gamer looking for a simple, fun romp, you're in luck, because on the lower difficulties you don't have to be quite so studious in your approach to the game. It may still require a little more tactical approach then, say, a Halo game on easy, but it's nothing you wouldn't be able to handle if you have any experience at all with first-person shooter games.
I haven't had much to say about multiplayer because, frankly, I didn't care much for it. This is probably a matter of personal taste more than anything else, but I just don't enjoy getting stabbed in the back constantly by cloaked enemies. Nor do I enjoy emptying an entire clip into an armored foe without them dying, only to get stabbed in the back by another cloaked enemy. Your experience may differ
So in conclusion, it is my opinion and experience that the strength of Crysis 2 lies in it's exceptional single player campaign. You should be able to get 10-12 hours of gameplay on your first playthrough, which is about 4 hours more than your average FPS. And with the best graphics consoles currently offer, Crysis 2 is a no-brainer; buy it!
p.s. I'll add that I wasn't in love with this game right from the start. It took a little time and a few annoying deaths before I started to get comfortable with using the nano-suit. | video-games_xbox |
Awesome Game, Needs Replay Value. the Good: this game is Exactly like 1. the cities and buildings are basically the same Structure as the cities from 1...but with a few different colors and textures (Venice is Beautiful)...and like in 1, its easy to just Immerse yourself and get Lost in the cities and all the gorgeous colors...and have Fun scaling rooftops and climbing everything. as far as Exploration goes, it doesnt really get any better than This. Unfortunately, thats all this game really has to Offer you as a player.
the Bad: all the cities look ALIKE..but like said, with different colors and textures. the Storyline is interesting...but consists of you running around for HOURS, maybe even more so than part 1. i was about 6 hours In and all i had done was run here and run there, it gets Mentally Tiring. you have a small village now that you can Modify...but the options for modification are VERY few..and can only be done Once...so the novelty of it kind of Dies the moment you do it. and theres nothing Else that really Happens with the city...which is Puzzling because it LOOKS like they were going to add a feature where other armies could ATTACK your city randomly and you would have to defend it...and maybe spend money on guards, fixing the city again and so on...but no such luck. your city is basically there to Look Pretty and Thats All. you can now blend in with Prostitutes, Thieves and Mercenaries and have them Fight with you...which is pretty cool...but after you slay a GROUP of guards only to have Another Group respawn in their Place...it gets kind of Old :l i found myself Running from them simply because i got Tired of killing them..
Overall: this game is as Beautiful and Fresh as the first..and has that Fable/Zelda RPG feel that we all Love...but still suffers from Lack of True Replay Value. after bashing Countless guards in the Head with a Maul...sneaking behind them and killing them with 2 hidden blades (which is fun)...and getting all the weapons, feathers and so on...this game will get Boring...and then its on to the next game. but if all you want is a good Storyline or something to occupy you for the Weekend, give this one a Rent, you won't be sorry...
iLL . | video-games_xbox |
This machine deserves the name XBONE. After resisting the Xbox hype for months, I finally broke down after getting my tax check and bought the Xbox One with Titanfall bundle. It was delivered on 3/11/14 as promised, but thats where my satisfaction ends.
I setup my new gaming system and ran the initial setup and downloaded a software update, which I expected. What I did not expect is that when I attempted to login with my Microsoft user ID/Gamertag I given a message that the Xbox One is unable to reach the sign-in service and suggestedt that my home network settings must've changed and that I need to reset them to default. I know my internet is working, I just downloaded an update! I reset my router, switch, and modem and try again. Unable to sign in. I'm able to browse the marketplace and watch trailers for Titanfall, but not able to sign in. I did check Microsoft's support page and found their Live service was having problems with sign-in, but the rest of the service was "up and running." So from what I understand, people who already had their xbox's signed into Live were still able to play, yet as a new purchaser of a console, I could not.
My very first impression of the Xbox One is extremely poor. I paid $500 for a system that sits in my entertainment center (that I had to tear apart and put back together to accomodate this new machine) and does not perform as promised (or at all).
Beyond that, the packaging for this new unit is poorly designed and feels cheap compared to opening up a new iPhone or MacBook.
The new controller has unnecessarily sharp plastic edges along the bottom ridge. Also feels like lighter plastic than the XBox 360 controllers. The "plug" for the headset is enormous! Theres a large assembly that clips onto the bottom of the controller for the headset that includes a mute button and volume +/-. The headset itself seems poorly thought out because the microphone boom is mounted on the inside of the headband so you can't fold it up easily and wrap the cord around it for storage. The main problem is definitely the giant assembly for the headset.
I never owned a Kinect for the 360 and I have very little interest in using it for this generation either. I plugged it in anyway since I was unable to sign into Live to actually play a game, I figured I'd see what I could do with my $500 brick. I find the red lights on the front of the unit very distracting. At this point I don't see any real benefit to the Kinect and will not be keeping it plugged in.
Another flaw I see is the continuation of an external power brick using a proprietary power cord. Sony uses a universal power cord with an internal power brick (on PS3 anyway) and I was expecting Microsoft to follow suit this time around.
Most of my dissatisfaction stems from being unable to even log in and get my game download started before going to bed. Now I'll end up having to start the download after work today and it will be yet another day before I might be able to play the first minute of Titanfall. I've been boned by the XBONE! | video-games_xbox |
2K Sports Puts the MLB 2K Series Out to Pasture. Titles that end a series, or that never receive a warranted follow-up, are often looked back upon fondly. 2K Sports has several of those in their past catalog alone.
MLB 2K12 will not be joining them in high-regard. What 2K Sports has produced is a game that makes it apparent the end is near and it's clear that the company has no further plans for baseball considering how little effort was put forward.
Of course, seeing framerate issues after the very first pitch, watching a Carlos Zambrano scene just minutes later where he stands in an awkward stance after a home run the whole time, and having a position player literally on the mound in the half inning after pinch hitting (despite selecting a pitcher to take his place) is going to have some influence on later evaluations. It's not as though oddities are witnessed every inning but when they do appear they're impossible to overlook. It all just started things rolling in the wrong direction particularly because the focus this year supposedly was on fixing lingering issues and providing a more authentic "looking" game.
There are a number of weird animations and scenes that play out and that really affects what immersive nature the title is seeking to achieve. Players walk and run funny, spin in circles, face the wrong direction, speed up like they are being fast-forwarded, slow down like they are in slo-motion, and those are just some of the observations off the top of my head. Handling outfielders is also especially difficult - there's a hesitation when first taking control and they don't tend to settle into the spot where the ball is coming down. That makes most routine catches look like circus ones. Infielders sometimes have trouble getting the ball out in time rather playing out an animation first. Most worrisome are the times where they casually pick up the ball and then toss it to the wrong base (seen that with catchers a few times and a second baseman once).
The graphics are unquestionably the worst amongst the crop of major sports titles. Even if that was the only weakness to the series it's inexcusable to look so bad. Player faces seem to have been made slightly better this year but otherwise the visuals are arguably worse all around. That the framerate can still be an issue when the visuals are so poor makes it even more embarrassing. Even touches like grass stains on the uniforms come with a caveat - I've had my team actually start the first inning with big stains already present. It's just an ugly game to look at despite its decent presentation package.
Last year MLB 2K11 had a certain fun factor about it, very good commentary and presentation as well, but those positives were wrecked by how bug-riddled it was along with disastrous CPU AI. Things have improved, though marginally so, on this front. For some reason of which I'm having trouble putting a finger on why exactly that fun factor hasn't really carried over as much as I had anticipated it would if many of those issues had been ironed out. The desire to play 2K12 began to dissipate almost immediately.
The new focus on tendencies and confidence is interesting and makes for a better strategic batter-pitcher battle. That pitches lose effectiveness and the CPU begins looking for them when overused (or when getting knocked around) makes for a much more organic struggle and more of a challenge. They push it a bit too much in the commentary though. While it's valuable to hear what the pitcher has been doing the focus on it becomes a little tiring.
Hit variety has been decent but, and this may be due to the analog hitting where there is a small window for it, I've seen very few balls pulled or taken the other way. It may just be sample size though so no declaration on this yet. I also have yet to hit a single home run and that again could be due to sample size or fault of my own. In previous years though I've hit a fair number of them in early play. I do like the new way bunting is handled in having to actually put the bat on the ball rather than having it done for you.
The other notable gameplay change has to do with the throw meter which has been made extra sensitive - errors are much more prevalent from the user controlled side of things. The window to make a good throw is slim. My first instinct was to make "safe" throws when not actually needing to rush them but those safe throws are now considered dangerous too which I found to be a somewhat odd design decision.
Though I've only simmed through Franchise mode (with the A's winning the World Series) a few things to note. Fatigue seems to be fixed in that players do deal with having lower energy levels (last year they reset after a simmed game), there were a decent amount of injuries during sims (don't know how many will happen when playing those games), and the post-season atmosphere doesn't feel special enough. 2K does deserve credit for not just getting in the new 10 team playoff structure but also the new tie-breaker game for teams locked atop the division at the end of the season.
The big change to My Player mode is bringing in player "roles" which help to define the type of player being built. There are a good variety to choose from and the ratings are structured to encourage their style of play. In my case I chose "Slugger" and started off rated 58 with 45 contact and 60 power. Otherwise the mode seems to be largely the same as before. Base running is a tedious chore, training drills can't be skipped, and when in the field the throw controls are reversed - this despite a diagram that pops up on screen that seems to suggest otherwise.
More time needs to be spent with online play before adding that to the evaluation.
----SUMMARY----
2K Sports has failed to provide a compelling reason to play MLB 2K12. There are no new features worth getting excited about, authenticity is a still lacking severely, the graphics are terrible, and there are still all sorts of problems throughout. That the gameplay has been cleaned up to an extent and tendencies play a bigger role over the course of each game is about all there is to cheer about. That is probably not going to be enough to justify a purchase considering the climate of today's marketplace and the vastly eroded legitimacy of the series. | video-games_xbox |
Still best in the series, despite lack of master tracks. I owned and played the heck out of the original Guitar Hero, and managed to get everyone I knew into it. Yet for some reason I skipped GH2 when it first came out, and didn't return to the series until GH3. I was very disappointed in GH3, but when I saw GH2 on sale for the new 360 I bought it - and fell in love with the series again.
As a sequel GH2 picks up and improves upon almost every aspect of the original. Co-op mode was a great idea, and there's a better mix of genre/decade songs than the original. The game offers a few genuinely challenging songs and is for the most part more difficult than the original. However for those, like me, who played GH3 first and wanted to try something else in the series GH2 is a lot easier. That's not a bad thing - at times it felt like GH3 was artificially adding button combinations or notes in order to ramp up the difficulty. To put it shortly, GH2 is an improvement in gameplay (as much as rhythm based games can be different) from both its predecessor and its first successor.
However, since we're comparing the game to its sequel, the most painfully obvious difference is the lack of master tracks. The covers aren't terrible but the fact that there aren't more original recordings is pretty disappointing. For some this won't make the least bit of difference, for others it can be jarring. It all boils down to how you feel about covers in general. Another potential fault is the DLC area. The tracks you can download are a bit pricey, but if you're willing to pay they definitely help prolong the experience.
GH2 is still my favorite of the original three GH games. It has a great mix of music, it just "feels" a lot smoother than its sequel, and the new multiplayer mode definitely adds a lot more to the series. If you enjoyed GH3 and are looking for more, if you love the guitar experience on full band games, or if you want to get into the genre with no background experience I highly recommend you check out GH2.
Plus, who can argue with a game that has a SPINAL TAP song on it? | video-games_xbox |
Basically unplayable. I purchased this game along with my new Xbox One. I wanted to pick a game that really showcased the power of next gen consoles and based (at least initially) on the reviews of the game, it seemed like a good choice. Additionally, I had been a fan of the Wolfenstein franchise from the early 90s.
Unfortunately, the game has come up short on several fronts. Let me itemize the good and the bad:
The Good
- Graphics are very well done. The textures and cut scenes look very good although not quite as 'advanced' looking as I would have expected on a next gen console. But nonetheless, still quite impressive.
- The weapon play and controls are done well and the menu options are intuitive and easy to comprehend
The Bad
- The story drags terribly. As an FPS with a single player campaign, I understand the need for brief interludes here and there. But this game utilized them too frequently, basically stalling forward movement and creating a fragmented storyline that had too many instances of minimal action and extended areas of un-necessary dialog. Better editing would have helped tremendously here.
- The game is EXTREMELY buggy. This was, hands down, the biggest frustration point. It all began when attempting to install the game, which is a requirement for play. The installation procedure failed numerous times at the offset. I had to repeatedly restart the install in order to get to the point where I could play the game. Unfortunately, that is where I ran into the second problem: the game started to repeatedly freeze during gameplay. The good thing is on next gen consoles, you can stop the game like a mobile app without having to reboot the console. But the freezes were happening at virtually the same point in the game. After searching online for answers, I found numerous users were experiencing similar problems. After reading some tech notes, most recommended deleting the game and re-installing it while the console was not connected to the internet. I did that, although I ran into problems with the install yet again. Once the second install was complete, I could move forward into the campaign only to encounter ANOTHER point where the game would arbitrarily freeze at certain points. Despite restarting the game, the freezes would not allow me to continue. I now proceeded to delete and reinstall the game for a THIRD time. Once again, I could proceed in the campaign only to encounter the game freezes further on! At this point, I finally reached my breaking point and stopped playing.
It is very obvious that Bethesda did NOT do an adequate job of proper QA on this game, as I have read numerous stories online of users encountering similar issues. I emailed Bethesda tech support asking for assistance and received no reply.
Ultimately, the game itself could have been a good showcase for next gen consoles, but these quality issues really put a damper on the playability of the game as a whole. I hope Bethesda is taking time to deal with these issues so other gamers have a more fluid gaming experience. | video-games_xbox |
The Longest episode of South Park ever *NO SPOILERS. Wow as a guy who had this preordered for what? 2 years? I was highly anticipating this game and began to worry with each delay it would just become Duke Nukem Forever. So finally March 4th came and I opened my collectors edition of South Park the stick of truth. While I didn't finish the game yet I am nearly 75% done so I will review the pros and cons (No spoilers)
Pros - A love letter to the show. This game has refences a South Park faithful like myself just LOVES! Mechastreisand? Check. Chimpokomon? Check! Underpants Gnomes, Scuzzlebutt, and Damian Son of Satan himself? CHECK!!!
- Witty dialogue. Very tongue in cheek just like the show. While it is a "RPG" game it never takes itself too seriously or loses sight of the fact that the concept is supposed to be funny and all over the place.
- Animation. My girlfriend walked in to a scene of Cartman speaking to my character and was confused if this was from the Game of thrones/Black friday episode we saw because she did not remember it. When I told her Cartman was speaking to me we both laughed at how it looks like I am playing and episode of the game.
Cons
- Battles can become repetitive. Like any RPG battles eventually feel tedious. Fighting the same elves or same creatures for the 10th time takes you only slightly out of the game but it is fairly easy to avoid enemies. Only sometimes are you surprise attacked and forced to fight.
- Map Size. I have to say I guess I expected a RPG even a South Park one to have a much bigger map. I explored the main town within maybe the first 45 minutes thus playing the game the 6 hours later that I am, it has really taken a lot of excitement and mystery out of going someplace because chances are it won't be someplace new but a location you might have visited once or twice earlier in the game (Also some abilities you get later on require you to go back to complete certain goals etc)
-Music. Not a huge issue but except for the throwbacks (Kyles moms a bitch, Blame Canada, Etc) the epic RPGesque music is totally not there. There is a bit of a soft hymn playing in the towns but it sounds to me like the same song on a loop. Trey and Matt really should have worked on maybe adding a little more variety to the music elements in the game.
With all that sad The pros by far outweigh the small nit picky cons. This game is tremendous and is fun if your a RPG lover or just want a game that makes fun of the genre (Dozens of in battle jokes about the characters taking turns to fight).
I will be sad when I finish this game because although it is not the greatest game I have ever played, It is one hell of a fun time! | video-games_xbox |
Works great once you update the firmware. I was initially frustrated with the TEW-647GA's performance when this device would require me to unplug and cycle the adapter every night before I could connect with my Xbox 360 after an extended period of inactivity. So I went on the product support page and found firmware update 1.01.75, which purported to fix the issue. At first I thought that I bricked the adapter after the update because I couldn't connect to my wireless router. However, the issue was that the firmware update required the adapter to be rebooted; On the bottom of the device, there is a tiny button that is to be depressed with a pin and held for 15 seconds. Once the gaming adapter was reset, I was able to use the push button setup to connect by holding down the WPS button on the side of my router until it flashed and then holding down the button on top of the adapter. I had my Xbox connected within 30 seconds.
Now that the new firmware is installed, I am very pleased with this product. The adapter always connects to Xbox Live upon startup and Netflix streaming is seamless. I used Amazon Unbox on my netbook running XP to watch a movie rental with no issue or lag whatsoever. My online gameplay often shows four bars of connectivity when playing Modern Warfare.
The reason I chose this product is because of cost. This device is a third of the cost of the proprietary Xbox N adapter. In addition, you can use this to connect other devices besides the Xbox to your wireless network. If only Trendnet would ship these devices out with the proper firmware from the start to avoid a lot of the hassles that other reviewers have experienced.
A couple of enhancements that I would find useful would be a USB powered connection to the Xbox so that I could avoid having to plug the device into an outlet and external antennas to optimize reception.
Overall this adapter is a good product that works well with updated firmware. | video-games_xbox |
Mic is pretty bad, mixamp crashes and needs constant resetting, overall sound quality when working is 7/10. This is specifically about the PC/Xbox One White Astro A40 TR + Mixamp Pro TR set. I've heard about the noise gate issue. In the Astro command center, I've turned my noise gate to "Streaming" for the best voice quality, I've got the mic volume to 100%, side volume to 75% (so I know when it's working and others can hear me). Outside of the command center, I'm using Windows 10, and quickly found the Sound properties window, went to the properties of "Headset Microphone" described as 4-Astro MixAmp Pro Voice, and I've made sure the levels are at 100.
Despite all of this, no one hears me well. If I'm not gagging on my microphone, they don't hear me. They say it's always like I'm muttering, and they're lucky to hear anything I say. I've been using Skype, which I know can change your audio settings. I've told skype not to auto-adjust my microphone, to use the proper mic "Mixamp Pro Voice". I've followed every other suggestion in the user manual of the product for proper installation. I don't use anything besides default EQ modes, and I typically keep Dolby SS on. Also, Yes, I've updated everything to the latest firmware and software available. I stay on top of the updates hoping it'll fix my issue.
Not sure what the deal is. But I'm not the only one with this quiet microphone issue. I mean seriously I'm louder and can only hear myself well through my girlfriend's microphone and she's on the other side of the room. Also, not to derail, but here's another deal-breaker for you: my Mixamp Pro TR that the headset came with occasionally crashes completely, and I get this insanely loud tone that carries on until I unplug my mixamp from the computer and plug it back in. All sound drops and is replaced by that terribly loud tone until I reset the crashed mixamp. I really tried to figure out the microphone issue first though, as the mixamp only crashes like once a day or two. But the mic is basically inoperable, and the mixamp is obviously failing. I've owned this combo for less than 6 months. How can I possibly justify paying $200-250 for something that never worked well and failed within 6 months. Trust me in that this isn't some ignorant, angry review from someone who didn't do their research. I tried everything. The headset is a dud. Buyer beware.
Here's someone else with the mixamp crashing problem, in case you think mine was a fluke (which it isn't, it's happening to many):
Link removed by Amazon --> Just google "Reddit A40 Mixamp crash" | video-games_xbox |
off the track. This game is fun, but too frustrating. It could have been so much more. I do not recommend purchasing it, not even used. In fact, I am not even going to sell my copy. I am going to drive a stake through it, burn it, then smash it and scatter the pieces.
About me: avid motocross and supercross fan, long time rider and gamer.
Pros:
Very good graphics
Wide variety of outdoor tracks
Good audio
Partial control of the rider and bike; ability to wheelie, whip, scrub
Rider to rider bar banging and collisions
Cons (this is only a partial list):
No shifting control; no independent front and back braking; the controls have no feel - they are more like on/off switches (this may be the fault of the xbox controller?)
Running off the track (even if you gain no advantage) resets you to the point you left the track - usually losing several places. It would be better if they could just limit the top speed and let you merge back in, without gaining any positions, the way they do it in real supercross.
The first person camera does not display enough of the front of the bike - it needs a larger vertical field of view; even better would be some way to easily look around. The 3rd person camera is not bad but you do get blocked by other riders which makes it tough.
The motorcycle customization is saved but the choice of rider is not.
Only bogus bike manufacturers are included - all brand name bikes have to be downloaded for an additional charge.
No career mode.
There are only two supercross tracks (if I remember correctly they cost extra) and neither are real tracks in the current supercross series. Actually, they look more like arenacross tracks.
Multiplayer mode: you can't place a vote for the location of the next race IF you just entered the lobby. The other riders may choose a track that you don't have and the game doesn't tell you which one it is - it just displays a question mark. SO after waiting five minutes for the current race to finish, then waiting for the voting to complete, you get kicked because you are missing some unknown content. The fix is to download ALL available content, at an additional cost of course. It may not be worth it; I have never seen a full starting gate online. There are usually no more than 5 players of any level.
The performance upgrades all deliver the same performance. The bikes come equipped with stock parts. At a certain level different upgrades are unlocked. An FMF pipe gives an increase over stock, but it gives the same increase as every other brand and model of pipe. Same thing for tires and suspension. It would be awesome if all the riders had different specs (height and weight) and you could change/adjust tires, suspension, pipes based on the rider and track conditions.
Bogus physics and stupid AI - the bike can come to a complete stop, standing on the front wheel, without ever touching the brake. The bike suspensions have NO dampening - the front end constantly bounces up in the air after landing a jump. Uncontrollable, random wheelies; even downhill in the snow. The rider reflex allows you to push the front of the bike down when in the air, but it will not help hold the front end down during a wheelie. The AI controlled bikes can jump farther, turn quicker, jump over, under, and around you. I can win at a couple of the tracks EVERY time I race; there are many others where I can't place higher than 9th or 10th. No matter how many times I restart, a random rider will take me out in the corner, a barrel, or a tire, or a barrel and a tire will roll out in front of me as I exit a turn, or I'll randomly lose traction, or randomly hook up and wheelie through a turn, or wheelie downhill through the mud and snow, again. Frustrating.
This game tries to be a sim, but in the end it is really just an arcade game. It is sad that this is the best (only?) game in the genre. Someone, please, build a motocross/supercross simulation with career mode, the ability to tune the bikes (suspension settings, tire choices, engine mods, dynamometer), better multiplayer (online race series each weekend for prizes?), better controls, and a track designer. | video-games_xbox |
Game of the Year. I have played more than my fair share of FPS games. I take my fiendish obsession for FPS very seriously. So when I say this game is the most fun I have had with an orignal concept FPS I hope you take it seriously. This game has taken the place of COD Black Ops and made me want to slap myself for trying Homefront(I want my $60 back). I have been comparing it to a FPS version of Crackdown. The only other way I can explain it is what Halo online should have been. The first time you kick a car into someone and kill them you will understand what I am talking about. Leveling up a players skill is not new to the FPS world but this game puts some really interesting game changing twists into the way you choose to play/level your charecter. In Team Instant Action(TDM) you are almost forced to run around as a team. Not just calling out enemy locations but helping one another kill and keep track of the other team. The Stealth mode makes you as invisble as the Predator and very hard to track. The guns are original and have their own strengths and weaknesses. The dog tag system is a great idea also. It makes it harder to camp and still be as sucessful as you have to pick up the dog tag from the person you killed in order to work your way up to the killstreak rewards. You still get the kill but unless you pick up the dog tags the kill doesn't count to the killstreak. Suck it campers!
The 1 flaw with this game and I don't like to say it's a game flaw but the servers are not the best and the way the servers choose who will host seems counter productive. The game is still a 5 star even with marginal servers.
One of the best Xbox360 FPS of all time in my opinion was Rainbow Six Vegas. This game gives it a good nudge and possibly knocks it down a spot. Only time will tell if it will be as fun as R6V 6 months down the road. 2 weeks in and I am addicted. This is the first game since R6V that has hooked me that fast. | video-games_xbox |
Great controller, even better for the price. As someone who has been eyeing up the Elite controller for some time now, this controller caught my eye when I was doing my Amazon lingering/shopping. Ive come from a background where I play about 1-2 hours per day. I play a lot of FPS, primarily Halo 5 lately. I was hoping the re-programmable buttons would make me leap from decent to above average.
The first thing that caught my eye was the price. How did they manage to put together a controller with similar features of the Elite, while retaining some sliver of comparable quality? Well, they did as far as I can tell. While the quality is sub-par compared to the Elite controller, so is every other controller out there. That is by no means a negative since I wasn't paying $150 for it. In fact, this quality is about equal to the standard Xbox One controller.
The buttons are very responsive, which was nice to see. None of the buttons have become stuck after about 2 weeks of use so far, so that's a win. The re-programmable buttons on the back are also responsive, albeit a bit thin. Sometimes your fingers can slide off of them which can be annoying. I will say that they placed them in the perfect spot for my hands (which aren't too big or small) which is a plus because if they weren't, I'd have a hard time wanting to use them.
The triggers stops are a feature I have yet to really use unfortunately. A lot of the games I play require you to hold the trigger down to charge a weapon or brake fast, so the trigger stops can worsen than experience. With that being said, you can easily switch them off in a second so it's no big deal if you forgot to make the switch before starting a new game up.
The only downsides to this controller are personal ones. The first is the cord that connects to the Xbox. While the quality of it is really nice (braided), its a little shorter than what I had hoped for. I sit about 7-10 feet from my TV so the 10 foot cable can be a hassle. If you sit closer than that, you're golden. Any further, then Im not sure what to tell you. Sit closer? Move your furniture? Complain to BD&A? I decided to complain via review, so that might be your better route.
The other downside is the controllers sticks. They are labeled precision sticks, but that just means they are shorter and fatter than normal sticks. Ive been having a tough time getting used to these, but that comes with more game time with the controller. However I can see this turns some people off who don't want to take the time to get used to it. Also, are there specific size grips we need to purchase for this controllers since the normal ones (ex: Kontroller Freek) won't fit on these fat sticks? Like a Kontroller Freek Magnum version or something.
Lastly, the design of the controller is great. Its a bit smaller than the normal Microsoft Xbox One controller, but I don't mind that. The lights can be switched to flash different colors or stay as one color, so thats a nice tough. Its all really easy to adjust too.
Overall, this controller is a steal at its price point. For those not wanting to spend the $150 on an Elite or similarly priced controller, you cant get much better than this. | video-games_xbox |
Once again the Xbox 360 although not superior graphically with the improvement of Xbox Live made it . I own every Video Game console ever made. I am a huge collector and I work in the video game industry for over 15 years. I was a Huge Nintendo Fan Boy from back in the day of Donkey Kong and Mario Bros.
Every system has its shining moments that make them worth buying or offer something the others dont
I always buy Console Exclusive Games and would buy Cross Platform games on the system I used the most. That was until Xbox Live 13 years ago. I went from buying all my Cross platform games for the PS2 to Xbox if they were online games only for the Xbox due to Xbox Live.
Once again the Xbox 360 although not superior graphically with the improvement of Xbox Live made it the go to system although I still loved my PS3 for the exclusive titles Sonys online services suck.
Fast forward to the Xbox One. At launch it was far from perfect with a lot of issues. But Xbox Live is what drew me to use this as my main stay. My PS4 once again is used only for Exclusives because the online services are just not up to snuff with Microsoft.
A lot of people were angry and despised not having an option of having a Kinect-less system. It was something that the 360 had at launch of having an HDD or not to save money. I hated the Kinect for the 360 it was a great Idea on paper but was just not possible with due to cost effectiveness and technology. The new Kinect is amazing and I am sad that support of it is falling to the wayside. It is the one thing I use the most on the Xbox One. From being able to tell it to switch to Netflix from telling it to record game clips. My wife will be in our bedroom trying to tell the TV or Blu-ray player commands and nothing happens and she says why cant everything be like Xbox Kinect?
People used price and Microsoft Always Online policy to sway opinion and a lot of die hard 360 owners switched only to buy an Xbox One when Titanfall came out. What people didn't understand was Sonys policies. At 499.99 for an Xbox One with Kinect or PS4 for 399.99.but Add PlayStation Eye and PlayStation TV which then would make them equal purchases back then would cost you 599.99 and up for the PS4. Microsoft hurt itself by not having a launch console without Kinect.
Now Sony has changed all their policies to what they made the entire E3 out of back in 2013. Now in 2015 they make you pay for a service PlayStation Now to play games you already purchased. Xbox one with Backwards Compatibility allow you to play 360 games on Xbox One without charging you again for the games you already purchased.
Xbox Live is still the main reason I primarily use this system over the PS4 but Kinect is also a big reason as well. To me it is the online experience and community that Xbox Live gives you in spades. After all these years PlayStation network just is not up to the same standard.
A good gaming system is not measured by stats if that were true Nintendo was far inferior from Sega Master System but succeeded due to games and experiences. That is the same thing I get from my Xbox a better overall experience. I still use my PS4 but again only for exclusives.
Sony seems to rehash a lot of old Exclusives to rerelease which although I loved The Last of Us Remaster I would love to have New IPs and new games.
The controller is also better on the Xbox One that the PS4. That is something Sony had perfected for the PS1 to the PS2 but then just decided to leave it alone and do nothing different. | video-games_xbox |
Fun But Flawed Reboot of a Classic Gaming Franchise. AvP was a smash hit comic book back in 1990, pitting the two most ruthless monsters in the universe against each other in a bloody battle to the death, with humans thrown in for good measure (and let's face it, a plot!). Inevitably, the idea was expanded to a toy line, then a video game franchise, then (shudder) a movie franchise. Frankly, of all the "Big 3" spin offs, the video game series proved to be the best. Starting ironically on the ill-fated Atari Jaguar, AvP was first created as a Doom-ish corridor shooter. It was much slower paced than Doom or other FPS games of the time, but it somehow successfully captured the feeling of playing as the Alien, the Predator and the Colonial Marines. Each species had its own unique play style, with arguably the Alien being the most unique of the three. It wasn't until 1999, some 5 years later, that the same team that developed the original (and probably only) Jaguar "killer app" would bring one of the most memorable and awesome FPS shooters since the genre was invented.
Fast forward 11 years, and you have 2010's Aliens vs. Predator for the PC, XBox 360 and PS3. So what's the verdict?
This review pertains solely to the 360 edition, as the PC edition has enough features to set it apart that it would warrant its own separate review. What it boils down to is a re-imagining of the franchise, bringing with it yet again more unique features and gameplay styles across the three separate playable species. Harkening back to its 1999 predecessor and drawing far less inspiration from the 2002 sequel, AvP is an ultra-violent and medium-paced FPS that combines corridor/wide area shooting battles, stealth and assassination techniques. Each species experiences the same story from their own perspective, with each campaign being continuous and not an "alternate outcome". Players piece together the story by playing through the 3 separate campaigns, particularly in the Marine campaign wherein the player learns the most about Weyland-Yutani director Karl Bishop Weyland's goal of unleashing the potential of an ancient Predator temple that was discovered buried deep within a Predator ancestral world, along with utilizing a new breed of controlled Alien.
Each scenario offers up a different play style that may not be accommodating to all players, as the three species are different enough that it requires some practice. Thankfully, each campaign begins with a tutorial mission (except the Marine mission, you simply learn as you go throughout the first mission). It is in the first two missions of the Alien and Predator campaigns that the player will learn the abilities of both species, as well as how to perform executions...ultra-gruesome instant-kill maneuvers that are vicious enough to possibly disturb some players. Once the tutorial ends, the player uses said abilities in a short stint of combat training as part of the plot, and then the actual campaign begins.
The Alien campaign is entirely stealth based...a true expert Alien player can get through most Alien missions without being detected, except for situations that call for direct combat. The stealth-based gameplay may seem slow-paced, as there is much navigational challenges, but the blinding speed of the alien and the sheer brutality of its instant kills make for an exciting experience.
The Predator campaign consists of stealth, maneuverability and occasionally situations with heavy fighting. Like the Alien, the Predator will rely heavily on stealth and ambush tactics (aided by his ability to Cloak and jump great distances), utilizing ghastly execution moves and sophisticated weaponry capable of widespread havoc with the occasional forced firefight.
The Marine campaign is your standard corridor/open area FPS with extra challenge thrown in...Aliens take a LOT of shots to bring down, and all it takes is one screw up to end your mission. It stands out as being the most frightening campaign, since you lack the superhuman abilities of your extraterrestrial enemies and spend a lot of time wandering dimly lit corridors with very little ammo...or none at all.
This game has seen its fair share of criticism, and I understand why. As a HUGE fan of the franchises (I shun the AvP movies however) it was an absolute thrill to play again as my favorite iconic movie monsters. The gameplay has evolved tremendously since the old 1999 predecessor and the game engine is smooth and sweet. However, many ugly problems rear their head early on in the game, but lets break it down:
The Good:
This game is as close to experiencing the species as you will get. Everything about the Predator and Alien is represented faithfully. There is a coherent story attached to the game that, once you play through all 3 campaigns, comes together rather nicely. The graphics are outstanding, and the level of detail is truly amazing. The grace of leaping through trees as the Predator and the primal feeling of stalking prey as the Alien are both rewarding gameplay experiences. The violence is unlike anything I have ever seen, and frankly the execution maneuvers are among the most gruesome video game deaths I have ever borne witness to. How this game got past certain censors is amazing. The marine experience is difficult but rewarding for the sheer terror it invokes. Overall, the single player campaign is a fun, if short, experience.
The Bad:
What you've heard about the control is true...it's pretty awful. While I didn't experience vertigo as many endlessly complained about, I found that the controls for the Alien's wall crawling abilities were terrible. The Alien would get stuck on objects, endless spinning in circles when all you want to do is dismount. Sometimes it would even mount a wall you don't want it to. Predator controls are sensible but confusing in a fast paced fight, and frankly the difficulty and species balance is way off. Marines have superior firepower but the cruddy targeting system (even on the smartgun) results in countless needless deaths, ESPECIALLY in multiplayer. And that's where the game gets...
The Ugly:
Multiplayer is a mess. On the 360, finding a game can take over ten minutes. There are no dedicated servers, and there is tremendous lag at times. What is worse, the game does not revert to a new host if the host player leaves...it simply ends the match. There goes your hard earned points and your progression towards new skins for your characters. It is plagued with untalented and cheap players who rely on Predator instant kill weapons such as the disc and shoulder cannon. These spammers make the game a chore to play, and it quickly loses its fun. From what I can gather there are only two multiplayer modes: Predator Instant Kill Avoidance or Marine vs. Alien. Apparently they have tried to patch this but these no-talent spammers always find an instant kill weapon to abuse. The executions are also extremely frustrating, taking you out of anything you are doing, even jumping in mid-air. They can sometimes become hysterical, as a chain of 5 or 6 players will all instant kill one another in sequence.
Furthermore, the lack of support this game has received is unbelievable. No Dedicated Servers or patch updates...multiplayer is a mess, and finding a match 8 months into this game's lifespan is now impossible as players have become frustrated with the flaws and moved on to other games. Let's not even get started on the atrocious DLC. $8 FOR TWO $*(#ING MAPS THAT NO ONE PLAYS?!
Also, the single player campaign draws influence from the AvP movies...I think I just threw up in my mouth.
Overall:
Great but short single player experience. Fun but seriously flawed multiplayer that gets old quick. Poor support. Overpriced and useless DLC.
Franchise fans: Definitely pick it up
Genre fans: Worth a rent
Casual gamers: Barely worth a rent
Hardcore gamers/FPS gurus: Completely Avoid
Graphics: 5/5
Control: 2.5/5
Fun Factor: 3/5
Multiplayer/Online: 1/5
DLC/Patch Support: ZERO
If you want a great AvP experience, go with the PC version. I regret taking the 360 over the PC version, which I did only because I had 8 friends who promised they'd play. They all got sick of it in less than a week. Sad but true. | video-games_xbox |
Anyone skipping Reach for being "just another Halo" is missing out on a great game. Skipping out on this game is doing yourself a disservice if you were a former HALO fan. I hadn't played Halo 3 in months because I was bored with it. There's a lot of content here and I'm glad to say this game is worth every penny of $60 and I've been very entertained. Yes, it's still Halo and "more of the same", but they've changed enough about it to make a new Halo experience, not just another rehash. ODST was a joke of a game compared to Reach and having owned it almost made me skip out on Reach.
The campaign spoilers will go at the bottom of the review.
I'll put in some of the major stuff I've noticed but I'm sure I'll miss a lot.
There's a new graphics engine and the graphics in the game are superior to any other 4 player split screen game I've played, and I make a special effort to purchase as many of them as I can. The graphics are certainly not Killzone 2 level, but very high quality. MUCH better than Halo 3. I was very pleased when I played the BETA that the new engine still plays in HD when doing split-screen and that it's split horizontally. The blood and shield effects are very well done. You have a night vision mode instead of a flashlight now, similar to ODST. The sound effects are pretty darn good. They finally made the sound of a grenade somewhat deafening. The music, as usual, is very well done and adds a lot to the experience.
The new engineering packs have really added to the game and are what really makes Reach a different experience. Your options that you'll find in the campaign are sprint, hologram, bubble shield(that also heals you), cloaking that doesn't work well if you're moving quickly, what I'd call an ostrich or turtle shield that turns you invincible but immobile and unable to attack and a jetpack. My personal favorites are the bubble shield and the hologram. The Covenant have a roll instead of a sprint in multiplayer.
The enemies are much more mobile and capable of dodging than they were in the past. I beat it on heroic and found the game to be more difficult than the past games, but certainly manageable. The Covenant have engineering packs too. They use the roll very well. There are a couple of new enemies/variations that make the game a little more diverse, but for the most part you've encountered most of them before.
There are new weapons. There is no dual wielding. Both factions have weapons that are very similar now, I suppose it made balancing the game easy. All the weapons seem more effective than they were in the past (probably explains why there is no dual-wielding). The particle beam gun is pretty neat as is the covenant grenade launcher. The rocket launcher can lock onto vehicles. There are some of the old goodies, but there's a new covenant needler battle rifle, a covenant multi-lock plasma/rocket launcher and a couple of other new guns. The battle rifle is single fire instead of burst. There's the awesome pistol from the original Halo. There are two animations in how you melee something when you're holding a weapon. You can also backstab/knife someone now and it shows a little cinematic of you letting them have it instead of them just dying in with an ordinary hit.
There's a health-bar under your shields like HALO 1. There's no red screen when you're injured either, just a red bar. This is a huge plus for me. It's the perfect system.
Customizable characters are a great addition. You get credits for every kill you make, and you can use those credits to make your character look different. New helmets, new kneepads, new add-ons etc. It's a great way to make people feel like they have a real in-game Avatar. As far as I know there are no benefits combat-wise to having new armor, it's just visual. This is how I like it. In Call of Duty games you have to play the game for quite a while to unlock all the weapons and upgrades and it gives experienced players an unfair advantage online. In Reach you should always have a level playing field, you'll just look spiffy if you play a lot. Your customized appearance is in the campaign and multi-player, even the cutscense as they're rendered.
Vehicles. The ghost has been nerfed. It was my favorite vehicle. I got a 27 kill spree on one in Halo 3 so I'm disappointed. The invincibility power ruins running people over. The guns on it are not all that effective either. There's a mini wraith vehicle that is pretty awesome, it can carry other people too. There's a missile launcher mounted to a Warthog also. The humans have the VTOL aircraft with side gunners again.
Multiplayer is where this game really shines. No games does online split screen shooter as well has HALO. The engineering packs/loadouts add a new dimension to the game. Sprint and roll makes the game much faster than it used to be. Not every game mode makes use of the loadouts so if you're a purist you've still got options. Some of the packs don't seem too effective on some game types but sometimes it's fun to just mess around. There's an invasion mode where you play Covenant VS NSDF and try and capture objectives. It's a lot of fun and a great new challenge. There are 3 more classes available with different engineering packs. I also played some firefight (like ODST, but with some new modes) and it was great fun. You can put a human player on the covenant side to make it even more challenging.
HUGE NEGATIVE: No 4 player split screen in Big Team Battle, the Campaign, or Firefight. I expected this for the last two, but Big Team Battle has always had this option. 3 or 4 players split-screen Big Team Battle was what I'd do 90% of the time I've ever played Halo. It probably didn't run very well with the new engine, and that's unfortunate. Taking this away from the game took away A LOT of value for me. I should remove a star but there are still a variety of other options for you to play. I still think the game deserves 5 stars but the loss of 4 player split screen Big Team Battle really hurts the game's playability as a "party game".
Negative: DLC. I was a fan of DLC until Bungie/MSFT disabled some game modes on my original copy of Halo 3 because I didn't want to buy their overpriced map packs. That's shameful. Charging $5+ for 3 maps is shameful. This game might be great now but once they release a couple of map packs the price of playing the full game goes up and up and up. If I lose game modes I'm dropping this review to 1 star. Matchmaking doesn't have much variety. There are more maps than what the playlist is using over and over. Of course the game could use some more maps but I'm not willing to pay much for more of them considering how easy it is for them to make a map with the included editor. Many of the multiplayer maps are in the campaign anyways.
Negative: The double punch in multiplayer, it's not as easy as it was in the beta but it's still how you'll die about half the time. I actually like it but I know it'll annoy a lot of people as sometimes not firing your gun at all is the best strategy.
Negative: Matchmaking still doesn't work perfectly, but the option to vote for different game types/modes makes it a lot more enjoyable.
Negative: In invasion mode the humans seem to win the majority of the time. This may or may not be because of their weapons loadout. The assault rifle is easier to use as the shots hit instantaneously and you don't have to lead your target like you would with the plasma gun.
Negative: You can spawn off of your teammates now which seems like a cool idea but I don't like it. One guy will make it past your defenses and then suddenly it's 3 guys. Spawning in mid-air and falling to your death seems to be a big problem now too. If someone is flying around they shouldn't be an option for spawning.
A few SPOILERS
The campaign is awesome and has a good storyline. There's a Spartan 2 (like master chief) on your squad. I liked that there are some indigenous creatures on Reach. It makes it seem more like a real planet. I didn't have to fight any flood in the game and for that I'm grateful, they're pretty lame. There's no Courtana interrupting you every 2 minutes either like in Halo 3. There is a space flight-sim which is actually really well done. It made me miss playing Wing Commander. The only mission I thought was kind of boring was one where you're flying around from rooftop to rooftop on a VTOL. 8/9 on the missions is pretty darn good. It was pretty interesting that some of the tough enemies could dual wield but it's not an option for you.
The voice acting is OK. Your squad is pretty cool and the cut-scenes are fun to watch and easy to skip. If you've read the books (I haven't) you'll know the ending to the game, eventually everyone has to die at some point. You'll probably like the commander and the Spartan 2. It's great getting to know your squad and then watching them bite the dust. It gives you a feeling of urgency and resolve to complete your mission no matter the cost. There were a few surprises at the end for me. I thought you were just trying to defend the planet. Apparently there's a greater cause. I appreciated that you don't have to put up with the Covenant storyline at all. You don't play the `other side'. The Covenant in Reach remain a powerful and mysterious enemy. | video-games_xbox |
Two steps forward, one step back. This game is best better than last year's game. It runs smoother, it looks better, and in the beginning at least it is simply better during the actual game. However, some issues still carry over, and some new things exist:
1) Hitting the ball against the wall can result in the fielder merging into the wall and getting stuck. This is only resolved by jogging all the way home and scoring. I mean, maybe you could have gotten a triple...and this happened twice in two consecutive innings.
2) Sometimes you throw the easy out to first, and the dude is simply stupid and isn't on the bag. There's no way to easily rectify this if this is a bang-bang play, but if you beat out the runner by a lot, you can wheel the fielder around to tag him out. Maybe.
3) Pitching is a bit too easy now. There have been times I've just gotten lazy and just jerk the stick ever which way, and a perfect pitch comes out.
4) And...while we're at it, the AI in this game is not so good. Stealing bases is harder in this game; you have to time it just right, but the button to steal is apparently on a delay. You can't just punch the button once you see the pitcher start the windup. That makes it a lot harder. However, if you screw up and start charging for second while the pitcher still has the ball, you can still return to your base easily, even if you go 3/4ths of the way to 2nd. Also, the CPU will not take balls that much. 3, 4, and 5 pitch innings are common for you. Therefore, stamina is not really an issue.
5) As noted before, stats for the opposing team is not available unless you buy the stuff during the game, and even then you don't get to see the batting order, which is ridiculous. That should be a no brainer. It sometimes feels like a hockey player designed the baseball stat mechanism.
Even after all of that, though, this isn't that bad of a game to play. If you're really serious about baseball and stats, you probably won't like the game. For the casual fan of baseball or of baseball games, this isn't the worst. Basic improvements to this game result in a much better game than last year, but they clearly have room for improvement. ADVICE: If you are getting this game because you have an XBOX, ok. If you have a PS3, get the other baseball game; I think it's a lot better. | video-games_xbox |
This is to Video Games what Emerald Knights was to Green Lantern Movies. I have a love/hate relationship with the Green Lantern series. On the one hand, it's one of the comic book hero series with the most potential (it's sci-fi, it has a ton of characters and lore to draw from, and features an insane cool weapon in the form of the Green Lantern Power Ring). On the other hand, the series is often convoluted, as they attempt to cram too much plot into a show/movie/comic, it has a tendency to be needlessly violent, and often, it's just plain boring, and incredibly weird. The live-action Green Lantern movie didn't exactly help, as it failed in just about every way possible. But through all that there was a ray of hope. The Green Lantern from Justice League was cool. And Emerald Knights showed that it was indeed possible to create a Green Lantern movie that was fun, exciting, and compelling. And then this game came along...
If you've played many action games in the last few years (or some of the old arcade beat-em-ups) you've probably familiar with games like this. Its a button masher where you fight endless hordes of enemies, complete simple objectives, and fight bosses with a combination of traditional gameplay and timed button events (with some fun third person Panzer Dragoon-style shooting for good measure). Has this been done before? Absolutely. Has it been done this well? Rarely.
Power Ring Unleashed
The closest game of this type I can think of is The Force Unleashed. Im sure its similar to God of War, but Ive never played that game (and never will), and the Force Unleashed is a more similar type of game in that its designed for a younger audience and has you fighting more robots and such as opposed to graphic bloody violence. So its definitely more cartoonish (think the old X-Men Arcade game only in 3D with some other objectives and sequences tossed in).
Unlike Force Unleashed, the action here, while quite monotonous, never FEELS monotonous. You have EIGHT assignable attacks. While you might think that trying to play a game about making any weapon imaginable with you mind would leave if you with lousy choices of weapons and too much repetition, the astounding opposite is the reality. Very quickly you will start unlocking new types of attacks, and varying the ones you use adds enormous variety to what might otherwise be monotony.
Likewise the quick button timed events are NOT like the ones in Forc e Unleashed. While that game had me repeating the long sequences over and over because of a mistake I made somewhere, the sequences in this game were both much more entertainining and much better executed, with a minimum of frustration.
In Brightest Day...
Another example of the surprising quality of this game is that it features drop-in local co-op gameplay (a rarity these days). It really shows how much the developer actually cared about providing an enjoyable experience instead of a throw-away tie-in game. The game has been tweaked to make it actually fun, and if like me you just want to get to the end, you can get through the game without ever feeling that its unfair or cheating (throwing impossible objectives or bosses at you suddenly etc, like many other games do).
The biggest plus for this game is really that its just so much fun, and so painless to play. If you quit the game it picks up where you left off (not at the beginning of the level). While it could have been another game that just apes the plot of the movie, it instead follows its own take on the Rise of Manhunters plot. There isn't tons of exposition or plot explanation and Im grateful for it. Would you rather do you own research to find out more about a comic book universe (such as actually reading a comic or watching a show/movie) or sit through long and pointless cinematics that go on and on (I welcome that in a Metal Gear game, but it doesn't belong in action games)?
Its Cheap!
Seriously, if you are a fan of GOOD action games, and especially if you have even a passing interest in the better parts of the Green Lantern story, you are probably going to love this game. It isn't deep. It isn't long. And it doesn't ever try to be anything other than what it clearly is (an arcade style action game). But it is VERY GOOD. And at this price, it's a bargain. | video-games_xbox |
An Excellent Game, But You'll Need Friends. Borderlands is somewhat of an oddball. It's an FPS with RPG elements that emphasizes co-op play. It's also probably the only game that can boast more weapons than you'll ever be able to use. But more on that in a minute. We'll start with the visuals and go from there.
GRAPHICS
Borderlands has an unusual art style for its genre. The game is cell shaded, and forgoes the realistic approach that many games take for a more over-the-top cartoony style. At first, I didn't think I would like this aspect of the game. But it really works. Borderlands can be a brutal, bloody affair, but it's counterbalanced by the silly visuals. Along with the quirky humor (the game is hilarious if you pay attention) this allows it to never take itself too seriously. It's hard to not to laugh when you get a headshot only to see the word "CRITICAL" in big red letters right where the enemy's head used to be. And the level of detail is surprising, given the more unrealistic art style. The ground of Pandora's (the planet the game takes place on) desert is littered with cracks and bumps, and the enemies and vehicles are surprisingly well crafted. The guns often glow with power, and the elemental effects are great. This game looks great, and the art style really pulls everything together.
SOUND
The guns sound great, explosions are satisfyingly big, and the voices are well acted and sometimes amusing. The music doesn't stand out that much, but the opening cut-scene is, quite honestly, brilliant in its use of music. Not much else to say here, and I wasn't listening to the music as much as playing the game...
GAMEPLAY
This is where the game really shines. There's nothing like the feeling of shooting a skag right in the mouth, or taking down a swarm of rakks, or shooting a rocket right into the middle of a group of bandits. The controls are a bit touchy at first, but you get used to them quickly. As you level, your power goes up pretty fast. The game lets you know this by making lower level enemies drop to one or two bullets. And by drop I mean destroys their entire torso. The same is true for higher level enemies, though. If you move to fast without leveling up enough, you'll quickly be destroyed by the much more powerful baddies. I never had much of a problem with this though, although I occasionally went to the wrong place and ended up running for my life.
The core of Borderlands is the loot. As I played, my main motivation was to level up, and to find better guns. The story is fairly forgettable, although it did make me laugh several times. But the guns...the guns are awesome. There are literally thousands of guns, although a lot of the variety is just slight variations between similar guns. There are several different categories of guns available to use: sniper rifle, shotgun, revolver, repeater pistol, smg, combat rifle, and rocket launcher. Although within these categories there can be oddballs. For instance, I found a shotgun that shot rockets. (It also set people on fire, but that's neither here nor there.) I also found a sniper rifle that did above average damage but had no scope. (It was appropriately named the Elephant Gun) Some guns have elemental modifications so that they can deal fire, lightning, corrosive, or explosive damage. You can also use grenades, but even these have several variations. My personal favorite was the grenade that leapt up and rained fire down on my enemies when thrown.
Besides the guns, the most lethal weapon on Borderlands is your character. You can choose between four classes: Hunter (the sniper), Siren (the stealthy one), Soldier (self-explanatory), and Brick (the brawler). Each character has their unique action skill. These include a bird of prey that attacks enemies, a turret that shoots at foes but can also heal and grant extra ammo, the ability to enter another dimension to escape danger, and a berserker rage that has you dealing damage with your fists. In addition to each of these skills, each character has three skill trees that emphasize one aspect of that character. For instance, the Hunter can focus on either sniping, pistol combat, or enhancing his pet Bloodwing.
The best part about Borderlands is the co-op play. You can play splitscreen, with friends over Xbox Live, or with random people in matchmaking. And all the fun of single-player is increased exponentially when the number of players goes up. Each time another person joins the game, the difficulty scales up, but the loot gets better. And co-op allows a little more trial and error, as players can heal any teammate who goes down. In addition, since the individual characters are so varied, playing with multiple people allows you to cover the weaknesses of your particular character with the strengths of another. One problem I had with the random matchmaking is that of loot sharing. Strategically, keeping everyone well equipped with appropriate loot helps your chances of survival. Realistically, MINE, MINE, MINE! There is no in-game system for distributing loot, so it becomes an honor system. Which turns into the fastest player getting the best guns, and the team players getting shafted. When playing with friends this problem disappears, unless your friends are jerks.
REPLAY VALUE
Playing through the game the first time, you can realistically expect to get to around level 35. However, at time of writing, the level cap for the main game is 50, and the third piece of downloadable content increases this to 61. To attain these higher levels, you are allowed to replay the game with the same character, except this time the enemies are all much higher level, and the bosses are even harder. While the story is the same, you're not playing Borderlands for the story, you're playing for epic guns. And as the enemy level goes up, so does the quality of guns. Also, leveling up further lets you max out more of your skills. Achieving level 61 allows you to max out two of the three branches on your skill tree, making your character that much more well-rounded and awesome.
In addition to the second playthrough option, Borderlands currently has four dlc packs. While I haven't played through all the dlc yet, it's worth noting that they add many extra hours of play time, and the third dlc increases the level cap. In addition, they provide even higher enemy levels, which results in even better loot.
PROBLEMS
Borderlands is by no means perfect. There are probably between twenty and thirty different types of enemies that are repeated throughout the course of the game. Some more variety would have been nice. In addition, most guns are very average and boring, and will just take up room in your inventory until you sell them at one of the conveniently placed vending machines. Good loot is included often enough to keep the game from getting boring, but it can get repetitive sometimes. The ending is also somewhat of a letdown, but again, the story is not why you play Borderlands. And if you play singleplayer, the game can get a bit lonely. Borderlands was designed to be played with several people, and it shows. But most of these complaints are minor, and don't take away too much from this game.
BOTTOM LINE
Borderlands is a great blend of first person shooter and roleplaying game components. The variety of guns and modifications, along with the ability to completely customize the skills and powers of your character, let each player find a role that they enjoy. But the best part of Borderlands is the ability to play through the game with friends, so much so that I hesitate to recommend this game if you don't have at least one friend that will play with you (although my first playthrough was entirely singleplayer, and I still had fun). And that is why I have to give the game four stars. In short, if you're a fan of other first person shooters, but have wondered why you can't shoot acid rockets at mutated dogs, then this game is for you. But if you're a lonely misanthrope with no friends (and no Xbox Live connection) then you may want to look elsewhere. | video-games_xbox |
Buffy is a Classic, Even For Non-Fans of the show. I bought an Xbox just because of Buffy, I first got Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds from a very friend of mine :), anyway, I was playing Chaos Bleeds and I found it veryyyyy good, easy.. and some flaws as well... anyway, when I got my copy of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (I bought it here) I was thrilled, first of all, the graphics are a bit, just a bit! better than Chaos Bleeds, the Cut-Scenes are BETTER than the game in Chaos Bleeds,oh.. and the game isn't that cheap like Chaos Bleeds...
Gameplay 9/10: For the most part of the game you spend kicking and punching vampires, zombies and other kind of undead in your quest to save the world and to know whats going on, im a fan of the show and I loved the gameplay! you can have alot of weapons, including Stakes, crossbows, mops, brooms, and a water gun filled with hellfire and holy water which is good to dust vampires and other kind of stuffs. The control here are sooooooooo simple, you use X to punch and A to Kick if you combine this button, you can release good combos against your enemies (While holding the last button the game will change in slow motion for like 5 seconds, buffy will glow purple, and she will unleash a combo with more damage to the enemy) the Y is the use button of the game, you can stake (If you have a weapon), open doors, take items, etc. if the B button you Jump, with the L shoulder button you can look in a first person mode! this is useful since if you are low in health, you would want to look into an area first! the R shoulder button is to target and enemy, (you can also enter a first person mode with the crossbow when you are equipped with it, this game is a must!) I found that in Chaos Bleeds the vampires are wayyyyy to easy to kill, well here... you have difficulty, Easy, normal and hard! you can decapitate vampires with shovels and the reaper blade too, burn with holy or hell fire, you can stake em (sighs) and there are manyyy ways to dispatch your enemy, don't have stakes?? throw your vampiric foe to daylight (In some levels, like Angel's Mansion) want to dispatch your enemy quickly?? if there is a table turned over with a sharp leg, you can toss it there and it dusts! an interesting thing about this game is that, if your bar is depleted you don't die actually, your enemy needs to perform a killing attack (Such as biting your neck, or stomp it, fire.. and stuffs like that) and buffy dies, same apply to the enemies, you need to stake (You can also throw your stake, and if you catch your enemy off-guard it will dust him/her instantly without you having to deplete his/her energy bar) or burn, decapitate them! wayyyy too funny. The reason that I gave it a 9 was because sometimes the camera angles will get you in trouble, but is not a big deal and the fact that buffy cannot swim, rofl.
Sound (Music) 9/10: The sound in this game is veryyy detailed, you can hear buffy breathing, which is hilarious, when she is walking down a hallway (sighs) when some of the vampires growl (Ripped straight from the show) and many many other things, the voice acting is the better than i thought, Everybody plays their RL counterpart except for Buffy, but the girl in replacement sounds a lot like SMG! which is good, thats why I gave this a 9.. Also the music, when you are walking, you can hear a spooking music playing on the background, and when you are fighting with some vamps, you can hear some excelent tunes, is like tecno or something like that but is different than the music in chaos bleeds, is not that kind of music with the theme (u are going to die!! no time to escape) like in chaos bleeds, so is a good adiction to this game (the themes in chaos bleeds sounded better but...)... Also.. Buffy has some witty comments to says to the enemies (Like in the show) but after a little while it gets veryyyyy repetitive, funny, but repetitive.. it doesnt bother me really, but couldn't they just added more??
Story 10/10: This is a Beat em up action game for the xbox see?? but it has an incredible story! the actual writers from the show wrote this one, involving the master coming back, and some of other unfamiliar foes, (The game is placed somewhere in season 3) they are trying to resurect The Master, which it occurs, but in a phantom form, so he searchs for a body, Angel.. then Angel is posessed by the master, and you need to fight him to weaken the master while willow and the others perfoms a ritual to get the master out of angel's body so buffy wouldnt have to kill him... and then the rest you will find it yourself, this is a good story, you feel like you are inside an episode of the show :), there are bad moments (Such as angel posessed) and good moments with witty and funny comments and stuffs :).
Graphics 8.5/10: This game is a master piece, it success in not being repetitive! even you get to go to the library between some level and have an actual conversation with the scooby gang!! is more like an scooby reunion, nothing like Chaos Bleeds, you need to talk to them the way you want and stuff, they give you tips, and it futhers the story of the game, xander sometimes will give you weapons, willow will increase your power and health bar if you give her the crystals.. and giles will give you new combos and a cool weapon later on the game with the name "Reaper Blade"! cordelia will just.. speaks.. lol, but anyway she is funny. another interesting thing about this game is that, buffy will change her emotions, and a big huge difference from chaos bleeds, is that the charater model will actually move the lips when buffy makes a witty comment! wayyy too detailed!
All in all... Buffy The Vampire Slayer is one (or was) cause the game was made in 2002, one of the best action beat em up game for the xbox, its a classic, and non-fan of the show can get into the story going to the extra menu and choosing buffy history 101, it explain everything about buffy and the concept of the game, there are some codes that you can unlock an arena mode, and you can even play multiplayer inside it!! the first control being buffy and the other ones controls the enemies (even bosses) :), you can also do that in the story mode, cause the arena mode has a bug and it lets you to do the same in the game (Nope, it will not affect your game disc or gameplay), fans of the show they need to have this game! is a classic, and again.. most of the non-fans should pick this up, don't ignore this game cause it has Buffy's name.. this is a good action game, and a classic, way better than Spiderman. | video-games_xbox |
Turtle Beach did it again: The best headphones to date for Xbox Live game play. Period. The Ear Force X4 Dolby Digital Wireless headphones are by far the best on the market to date for overall Xbox 360 game play. If you are a serious gamer and don't want to disturb others -- without sacrificing the overall experience -- then get these headphones.
I am a veteran user of Turtle Beach headphones. The sound quality is noticeably better than the X3s (which is also very good). Some other reviews downplay the improvement in overall quality between the two versions, which is why I was reluctant to purchase the X4s until now.
I am very glad I did make that purchase. Here's why:
I play combat games for the most part, Call of Duty World at War is my current favorite,... but others, too -- like Rock Band, which as you might guess can also get LOUD.
My wife hates the noise. That means I need headphones for game play. And I've tried/tested pretty much all of them, including the earlier versions of Turtle Beach (X2 and X3) as well as many other brands, like the Tritton True 5.1 Digital Audio Headset with AX360 Audio Xtreme 360 (wired vs wireless like the X4s).
One key feature I loved in the X3 (and also in the X4) was the ability to "hear" yourself talk -- much like when you are on the phone, you can hear a little bit of your voice through the earpiece part of the phone. With the X2s and also the Trittons, your own voice is muffled and you tend to talk LOUD as a result during the heat of battle.
While the Ear Force X4 Dolby Digital Wireless headphones also have this feature, I've noticed that it has been dialed down rather dramatically compared with the X3s. I wish they hadn't -- or would have at least added a dial controlling your "own voice" volume.
That small complaint, however, is the only ding I give the Ear Force X4s.
Like its predecessor, the X4s rely on an IR base station to wirelessly transmit the signal to your headphones -- but the base station has a digital optical cable that connects directly to the Xbox. There is also an option to connect via traditional red and white connectors if for some reason you were inclined to do so.
The X4s offer a vast enhancement in overall sound quality over the X3s. True surround sound! You actually won't believe you are wearing headphones -- the sound is that excellent. The click of the gun when reloading; the firing of shots; the explosions; the footsteps on the enemy creeping up from behind -- all come to life!
The X4 headphones are more comfortable then the X3s, too (and I have a huge head). In addition, like the X3s, they also give you the option of dialing down (or off) the in-game chat. So if you are in a lobby full of screaming idiots, no worries. Dial them down and relax.
Pros of the X4s:
* Set up takes about 3 minutes. Plug and play.
* The earphones are comfy -- even on my big, adult head
* Wireless - Dolby 5,1 surround sound!
* Can "hear" yourself talk through the headphones
* "Bass boost" option mode (a switch near the volume)
* TWO volume dials: one for overall gameplay, another for Xbox Live chat. For example, I love Call of Duty, but you are unable to turn off the lobby's default music in between games. The X4s enable you to dial down the music altogether -- so you just hear the chat in the lobby.
* Mute button
CONS:
* None to speak of. The only (very) minor ding would be the fact that Turtle Beach dialed down the volume of the "mic monitor" compared to the X3s - this feature lets you hear what you're saying much like your phone does.
Tip: With the Turtle Beach X3s and X4s, unlike most other headphones, under the "voice" personal options 360 menu, select the default "Play Voice through Headset" and not "both headset and speakers." | video-games_xbox |
Horrendous Servers and No Customer Service to Make Up For It. It's a great game with unforgivable disconnect issues and horrendous customer service via Blizzard. Luckily, a friend gave this game to me so I didn't have to suffer paying for something so backwards. If you buys this on console, (if you're a PC gamer you probably already know this) know that this isn't like other xbox games in that you have to open or forward ports, or possibly even DMZ your Xbox, on most routers in order to avoid constant lag, disconnects, etc. If you think this is just me, look at Blizzard forums and reddit and you'll see an unending list of people frustrated with these issues. Most of these issues can be fixed with an overhaul of your router, but not all the time. Regardless, even if your internet is perfect, and it's their server that keeps dropping you from competitive, their awful customer service will refuse to make any adjustments to leaver penalties, or skill rating; the latter being a lesser concern. Leaver penalties can often result in a season-wide ban.
After going through every step of troubleshooting with Blizzard and Xbox support, each time, the issue seemed to be resolved, which I tested in Quickplay, before jumping back into competitive only to be disconnected again and being branded a "leaver". I've literally never left a game. And do they go by a ratio? No. There's a select amount of disconnects that can happen before you get banned, and once you reach that number, you're screwed. I followed their steps, talked to their people, and did everything they asked, even testing Quickplay extensively each time to make sure everything seemed fluid. But when it's something like 1 in 5 are disconnects, that's not exactly easy to test out.
BLIZZARD: if you're not going to figure out a way to have proper customer support and forgive people who have no internet problems, just an issue with your server, and if your'e not going to fix your game (this doesn't happen in any other Xbox game I've ever played for 10 something years) put a giant warning label on the cover of your games so people know that the first thing they need to do is check the ports on their routers and start port forwarding because according to my research the vast majority of routers have firewall that does not block other games, but definitely blocks yours. Cheers. | video-games_xbox |
Leusire Suit Larry Box Office Bomb. Being a fan of the Leisure Suit Larry games since the point and click days I decided to go out and but Leisure Suit Larry Box Office Bust to complete my series. Prior to Leisure Suit Larry Box Office Bust was Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude. Your Larry Loveage attending Walnut Log Community College where the object of the game is to help Larry earn a BA in T&A by getting on a show called swingles and collecting tokens of affection from these girls, but Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude is not the game being reviewed at this time.
In the begining of Leisure Suit Larry Box Office you play as Larry Loveage the nephew of Larry Laffer from the original games, who owns and operates a XXX studio and the object of this game is to find a mole within the studio and get lucky on the side like Magna Cum Laude (after all isn't that what College is all about? Btw he look so different since Magna Cum Laude why didn't the give us I background story between college and how he ended up in the motor home on his unle's lot?)
The Story line is okay not great. I however love the jokes they are crude and very rude but funny if your into that type of humor. The celebrity guest voices are nice such as comedian Dave Attell, comedian/radio comedian Artie Lange, actress Shannon Elizabeth, Carmen Electra and actor/comedian Tom Arnold.
I do have a few complaints and or rants about the games first of all it seemed like it was rushed because the could have thought up a better story line and I find quite a few flaws like for instance the controls just suck meaning you move the controls one one and Larry moves in the opposite direction which if your and avid game like myself and get into a game you get frustrated , swear at the tv and so on. Also the game reminds me of Prince of Persia the Sands of Time, Prince of Persia, Warrior Within and Prince of Persia and the Two Thrones doing wall jumps shimmying on ledges and sneaking around in a stealth like manner. Another complaint I have is the timed missions they give you, some or them aren't enought time to complete which again if your an avid gamer like me can be very frustrating. Another complaint I have is the fact that there are these cheats/Faqs floating out on the internet the you can easily download for the PC version its just a trainer cheat that allows you more time unlimited health but if you own an Xbox 360 or a Playstation 3 they give you no help.
To sum it all up buy the game if you want to complete the Leisure Suit Larry collection but if you find the jokes offensive and hate the controls of sensative touch games then don't buy this game. | video-games_xbox |
Not Perfect But What Is?...CORRECTION as near to perfect as could be. I'm writing this short review because I read the reviews and use them to help me decide what to buy and when I read the reviews on this game I was hesitant to purchase since the last one I bought was Madden 10. I have played every Madden game since they first started making them and I don't think any of the games are perfect and most years the changes they made were minimal at best but every year they seem to try to improve it in some way. This years improvements are a TD in my opinion. I love the collision system they have added this year and the additions to the Franchise mode are wonderful. (This is the main way I play the game, I don't play online and superstar I only mess around with) Understand this is coming from someone that loved Head Coach 09 and some of those additions come straight from the mind that created that game. I say if you like football at all you need to buy this game and forget what the haters are saying in their reviews. Madden still has and has always been a game with the focus of bringing the strategy and brute force of a real NFL game to a video game system. Oh and speaking of brute force, when you play a Defensive Lineman and you fight through the block and then sack the QB or RB trying to hit the whole the satisfaction is better than it has ever been. Maybe this game is geared towards the way I love to play the game all along and all the improvements were meant for a long time football fan that I am. (40+ year now)
UPDATE: 2/26/12
I just had to add some notes to my review. I'm on the 15th Week of my 8th season and usually by now I'm done playing franchise mode of my Madden game. This one is so different because usually I'm not able to find a balance setting for the AI however this AI is perfect for me. I have everything set to 50 for computer and my settings and I have so much fun playing the games. I play every game of the preseason and regular and post season and what I have found is every game is different. I play games against teams that I should dominate on paper but yet they are sometimes easy sometimes challenging and sometimes I may even lose. I have games where the computer should dominate me on paper but still get all three scenarios. Same goes for balanced match ups. You have to use your strengths against their weaknesses and figuring that out can take some time during the game. And other times you are able to dominate from beginning to end because you figured it out fast. (No matter what it says on paper) Calling this game balanced wouldn't be fair either since it takes skill to it right. I have had games that I take control early and never let up. Games that I have a big lead and they are able to come back and make a game of it while others are they are able to come back and beat me. I also have the opposite where they start out beating me big time then I'm able to find their weakness and come back and either make a game of it or win in the end. I have had low scoring games I have had high scoring games I have had games where we score early and then can't score late I have had games where we can't score early but do score late. I even had a game that had 5 touchdowns in the last 3 minutes of the game...one big play after the other from either side. Keep in mind I do 7 min quarters and I only play franchise mode. I'm not even getting into all the great parts of building your team through Free Agents, Drafts and Trades and balancing your payroll and the other great things about this game. Oh and one more point to make. I let my coaches select the plays (I have seen others say that this isn't a good idea) for the most part with on occasion I know I want to run or pass and I will make them choose a run or pass play and sometimes when I come to the line I see something I can exploit so I call the correct audible. I am updating my stars from 4 to 5 on this update and I don't see anytime soon I will stop playing this game. I don't see how they could improve on this so far as my play style is concerned.
UPDATE 8/15/12
So here we are and the new Madden is about to come out and I'm still playing franchise mode on this. I love it! I'm in my 20th or 21st season. (I think I read somewhere that you can only play 30 seasons and I'm prepared for this) I got my moneys worth plus out of this and will not spend the money on the new one till I have completed all possible seasons. Even then I'm not sure I will want it and maybe just start a new Franchise mode with another team. I've been playing the Cardinals every season (even though you can switch at the end of any season) and I love taking players from draft picks, back up players, to starters then dominate players then to the Hall of fame. I have produced 3 HOF in my 20 or so seasons and I know I have one or two that may make it before my 30 seasons are up. If you are trying to save a few bucks then buy this years and play the franchise. Not sure how the new franchise will be but this one is great. Are there things they could have improved? Well of course but this is a 5 star game all the way!! | video-games_xbox |
Ninja Gaiden, All you could have hoped for. If you played the original NES Ninja Gaiden then know that is this is one of the greatest games ever made. Fast forward to 2004 and you have a game that could only be rivaled by Halo 2 in terms of gameplay, story, and visuals. To make this short and sweet and I provided my ranking from 1-10 (1=worse, 10-excellent) on each category I rate this game.
Visuals 10
Story 10
Gameplay 10
Difficulty 10
Camera 09
The only thing that bothered me is that at some points during your combat the camera places itself in and odd position which makes hard for you to see your character and defend yourself against multiple enemies, but the controls do make up for it as you are able to click the right trigger to place the camera directly behind you effectively. Another thing about the game is the combos and the ability to dodge attacks. This is the first ninja game I have played in that the main characters moves likes a ninja should. Rolling out of attacks, running on walls, wall jumping, it's one of those things you have to see to believe. I am about 2/3rd through the game and I can tell you that it is difficult, but not enough to toss your controller out of the window. The cut scenes progress the story very well and also give you a break on some difficult stages. The one feature that I have not been able to utilize is the Xbox Live feature which rates your gameplay and places you in a worldwide Tournament. When you play through each section it rates you on your performance (i.e attacking enemies with combo's, avoiding physical damage, etc... To obtain a Master Ninja rating you would have to be unstoppable but with practice I will be reaching that rank and joining the online Tournament . Overall my expectations were exceeded with this game. Everything from the music to the environments made this game a pleasure to play. This game is worth getting, at least it will hold us over until Halo2. See you guys on Xbox Live (Gamertag: Kaizenva) | video-games_xbox |
Many Faults, But Still Fun. Contains minor spoilers:
Let me start this review by saying that I've only played Final Fantasy X, and Final Fantasy XII, and I loved both. I am in no way an "expert" on the Final Fantasy games, nor am I a hardcore RPG gamer that will rate down this game just because of "linearity" or "it's too different from the others", ect. Now onto the actual review:
I liked this game.
Despite all the issues I have with it that will be explained shortly, I have put around 90 hours into this game, and I still play it even now. Everything aside, it is still a great game in general, that, in the end, is fun. I know that's a big thing that a game must have for me to like it, it has to be fun to play. And it is.
If you play this game with no prior knowledge of the past games, and you have at least a mild interest in RPGs, you'll like it. If you've maybe played 1 or 2 other Final Fantasy games, you'll like it. If you've played many Final Fantasy games, are an RPG purist, and/or hate anything with the word "linear" in it, you won't like this game. If you have to have an amazing story in your game with fully developed characters, you won't like it.
Simple as that.
Characters:
The characters in this game are an assorted bunch, I'll hand that to Square Enix. No two are alike, and it's very much a "ragtag group try to save world" kind of thing. The bad thing is that, a lot of the characters in your team are downright annoying. Hope, and Vanille especially.
Hope is a 12 year old kid that decides to tag along to avenge the death of his mother, or something. It's not really clear as to why he's even there in the first place. He just looks so out of place next to all the other "grown up" characters. Why Lightning or Snow would let a kid come with them is beyond me. And, despite being around just 12, he talks like a 20 year old man, which is just weird and striking in a bad way.
Snow isn't easy to like either. His "big damn heroes" attitude is kind of cool at first, but then gets old quickly. Sometimes you just wish he'd shut up already, and throughout the game he appears very conceited and only doing it so he can save his 14 year old girlfriend (seriously, she looks that young), Serah. When Lightning puts him in his place, you definitely feel a certain amount of joy at him being taken down a peg. He is just too cocky, in a very bad way, not the fashionably cool way that Balthier was in XII.
Vanille. Even her name conjures up a wince. She is a overtly-peppy teenage girl with reddish hair and walks like a hugely flamboyant gay man. Her accent is a horrible mix of Australian/Scottish/British that's never consistent, and the porn-sounds she makes during battle will make you press the mute button. When you find out the actual reason behind her peppiness, it does nothing for her character, and actually makes you dislike her more than ever. And the worst thing is, even after learning why, she continues to act like it. The fact that she arguably plays the biggest part in the game will make you shake your head. I have to ask, what was Square thinking?
Sahz is one of the better characters, mainly because he has a big afro with a cute chocobo bird living in it and has a fair bit of character development. It's too bad he forms kind of a friendship with Vanille though. The part where he finds out the truth that involves her and his son is possibly one of the best scenes in the game. He has probably the best reason for joining the team too, to get his son out of crystal stasis. Granted, he is annoying sometimes, but overall he's likable and you'll probably have him in your battle team more than a few times, so he's pretty useful in that way.
Lightning is one of the best characters in the game. It's a shame her main role in the story got taken over by Vanille. She is not a cliched female hero, which I love. She has flaws, and doesn't take crap from anyone. She is not a happy character, so the times when you see her smile really add to the story, in my opinion. The parts where she tells off Snow and later Hope will make you love her, because she basically says everything that you, the player, are thinking. She's that mysterious but beautiful character that you want to find out more about. She is like a mix of Ashe from XII, and "Lulu" from X.
Fang, with her (consistent) Australian accent and tattoos, is also one of the best, if not THE best, in my opinion. Her costume design is also great too, as is the design of the whole character. Even though she's best friends with Vanille, you'll definitely like her anyways. The scenes at the end of the game, and her actions, put a welcome twist on the character. She stands out among all the other characters and adds the most to the game. Her battle animations are the best too.
Problems in the game:
Cutscenes. There are just too many, and a lot are pointless, and some are just plain weird (if you've seen the Vanille/Sheep scene, you know what I'm talking about). The game would've been better with less, so you actually look forward to them. A lot of the time during them, you just can't wait for them to be over so you can continue the game, and the fact that some are very long, doesn't help. A lot are short and pointless, which is worse because it seems like Square just put them in as "padding" and to give the game more length that it doesn't need.
The story. It is confusing. I've even tried reading the datalogs to understand it better, but it just made me more confused. If you thought the story in XII was confusing, it's got nothing on this. One of the main things that can confuse people is the use of "cie" in some shape or form. There's l'cie, pulse l'cie, cieth, fal'cie... Apparently l'cie are just people that can use magic, or something. The name itself is pretty stupid. I was lost a lot throughout the game on what was happening story wise. I thought the story in X was amazing, XII was a little confusing but still cool, and this one... it's pretty bad. It's like a mismash of different ideas, and a lot are not fully formed. You never really "believe" in the idea of Eden and Pulse, you never really feel immersed in it or anything. You'll probably not even realize what one you're in at any given time.
Battle System/Crystarium:
The battle system is set up in a way that you have "paradigms" of three team members. You can switch these paradigms during battle. So you basically have a paradigm for damage, one for healing, and one for debuffing, more or less. I believe you are allowed 5/6 paradigms of any combination of the roles, which are Sentinel, Medic, Synergist, Commando, Ravager, and Saboteur. Medics heal, Sentinels are tanks, Synergists buff your party, Commando attacks using weapon, Ravager uses magic attacks, and Saboteur debuffs the enemy. You level in these roles by using the Crystarium, which is a lot like FFX's Sphere Grid.
The bad thing about the Crystarium is that it's capped. There's only a certain level you can reach, and then have to wait until you get further until it opens up to more levels that can be obtained.
If you like over leveling your characters and turning them into badasses, you'll hate this. I know I did. I always liked level grinding in X and XII, trying to reach the highest level possible. If I couldn't beat an enemy, I'd go back and level some more. In this game, if you can't beat an enemy, and you're at the highest level, there's nothing you can do but try to strategize with paradigms and party members. I really disliked this. It's like Square tried to induce some kind of faux difficulty with this, and instead of succeeding, they just took away a crucial part of the past Final Fantasy games. It is just unneeded to have a cap on levels. RPGs are made for leveling, it is a big part of the FF games to level grind. I feel like Square was trying to branch out and appeal to other gamers by doing this, and it's an utter fail. I do not need a game to hold my hand and put a cap on the leveling so I don't feel "overwhelmed" or something. I really hope they get rid of this in the next FF games.
In battle, you have three party members that you put in your battle team. You have one party leader, and you can not switch out party leaders, or switch between characters in your battle team during fights. So when your party leader dies, it's game over. The other 2 members, following whatever paradigm you give them, are controlled by the AI. You can not add/edit your paradigms during battle.
It is all very automated, a lot more so then in XII. Your party leader is given the options to attack, auto-attack, use items, or use tech points for Libra, summon, ect. If you use attack, you get a list of attacks, magical and otherwise to use on the enemy, and you have to pick them by the hand. Since battling takes place in real-time and is not turnbased, it's faster and a lot smarter to auto-attack, which sets up automatic attacks to use on the enemy while you sit back and watch.
Unfortunatly, this takes the player out of the battle and you're left just mashing A everytime the list comes up, maybe switching to a healing paradigm once in a while. The fighting is fun to watch, as characters dash around the screen, leap into the air like acrobats, or glow when casting magic in a pure eyecandy fest. Still, you never really feel like you're in control of the battle at all, and it feels like the AI is doing everything for you, which makes it very boring after awhile, and almost mindnumbing. At least in XII, you had a lot more options to set up the way they behave in battle, and you could switch between party members. In X, it was turnbased so you didn't have any problems picking from a list of attacks because the enemy wasn't attacking you and you could take your time and pick. This is probably the worst thing in XIII, there is no immersion, the player doesn't feel a part of anything, and all you need to win a battle is to pick a paradigm set up before hand and press a shoulder button on the controller, and mash A.
Shame on Square.
Some Good Things:
Graphics are amazing, as they are in any Final Fantasy game for the year they were made in. Square Enix is always one step ahead in the graphics department, and you can definitely see it here. Even the non-cinematic cutscenes are gorgeous, the environments are well thought out and life-like, and the characters faces are all nicely animated. Hair moves in the wind, fireworks are a sight to behold when they burst across the sky, grass sways in the breeze and moves when you walk, and the cinematic water in cutscenes is very real.
Some of the cinematic cut scenes are almost magical and will leave you stunned. One that always stuck with me is the one with Snow and Serah and the fireworks. That one left me with my mouth agape, it was so beautiful. If you're into graphics, you're gonna love this game. But it seems to me that Square spent more time on graphics then other parts of the game, mainly the story. It's a shame, because I know that a lot of FF-players would rather have less graphics and more story. FFX wasn't that great graphically and is rather outdated now, but it had a great story, which more than made up for it.
I liked the weapon upgrade system. You use it by getting gil, then spending that gil on items to upgrade the weapons. Gil is almost painfully rare in the game, and a lot of the gil you're going to get is by selling items you find, and the like. A weapon has 2 transformations it goes through, and it will change its appearance accordingly. The 2nd transformation is when it reaches its "ultimate" form. After you beat the game, you can go back and get all your character's weapons to their ultimate form, which gives you something to do, as well as further their Crystarium more and reach the highest level in all the roles.
After you beat the game, as well you can go and complete cieth stone missions, which are like the marks in XII, but better implemented. There about 50/60 in all, and a lot will challenge you even if you have ultimate weapons and are fully maxed. Completing a mission gives you (usually) valuable items you can sell for gil, or use to upgrade weapons. The cieth stone that you completed will also glow, which is beautiful in its own right. There is also the Titan Trials, which are a series of cieth stones that you can complete and get rewards.
~
As seen above, the game has a lot to offer even after you "finish" it, which makes the three disks it's on worth it. If you can handle a lot of the drawbacks, and are willing to come into it with little to no bias, you'll enjoy this game. | video-games_xbox |
Why I would buy this game rather than 2K All pro. Ok I admit it, EA hasn't been making good soccer games lately, (you can see my rant on the product pages for FIFA 07 and UEFA) but I have always been impressed with the NCAA and MADDEN series coming out of EA Tiburon. Therefore you can be assured that if this game was a piece of junk, I would have said so already.
Graphics: On the graphics side, you can easily tell the difference in the very first play of the game. It is a lot more smoother (NCAA 07 played at 30 FPS, this one does so at 60) and the player models look really good (Heck I can even look past the fact that the players are called names like WR #747 and QB # 5). The stadiums and the crowds look incredible as well. The player animations also seem a lot more "natural" than last years game.
Overall, the graphics beat 2K All-Pro to the ground, which still look last gen. Score: NCAA 08: 3(Field Goal), 2K All-Pro: 0
Gameplay: However beyond just whats pretty, its the gameplay that matters. Impressions so far are that my running game is a lot better in 08 than it was in 07, however, I am throwing a lot more interceptions in the passing game. I still haven't figured out the perfect combination yet, but its more fun executing plays in 08 than 07. However I still prefer the playbook of 2K All-Pro and the play executions feel more realistic. The game AI of 2K All-Pro is probably better too.
Score: NCAA 08: 3+3(Field Goal)=6, 2K All-Pro: 7(Touchdown and PAT)
Dynasty Mode and Campus Legend mode: This is where NCAA08 shakes off its defensive backs to run for a touchdown (cheesy analogies galore :)). You can only go as far with good gameplay. This game offers so much depth with its franchise modes that I will probably have to look past the difference in gameplay, which means I will be playing this game a lot longer than I would be playing 2K All-Pro. The modes don't seem stretched out too long thanks to a believable SuperSim which you can trust to make decent decisions and game outcomes on your behalf(despite the fact that it chose UCLA to win over USC in my Campus Legend mode).
Score: NCAA 08: 8(Touchdown + 2 pt conversion)=14, 2K All-Pro: 7
Online: I haven't played online yet (still working on the achivements and campus legend) but from what I have heard that 2K All-Pro plays a lot better than NCAA 08 so I guess 2K All-Pro gets the benefit of doubt.
Score: NCAA 08: 14, 2K All-Pro: 3 (Field Goal) + 7 = 10
Final Score: NCAA 08: 14, 2K All-Pro: 10
Personally I think its a good rivalry game, and I am happy that 2K has entered the fray. Hopefully both these games will push each other to keep getting better and better, thus providing this genre the help it needs. | video-games_xbox |
An unnecessary and harmful add-on. I purchased SquidGrip after reading positive reviews on Amazon and watching a couple of positive reviews on Youtube. Today, after trying them out in game for five minutes or so, I ripped them off and threw them in the garbage. So the disclaimer for this review is that I have not given the SquidGrip a long trial period, and it's possible that with more use I could have warmed up to the product, but I don't think that's the case, as I'll argue here.
First off, the Xbox One controller is a great controller. In fact, it's probably the best controller I've ever played with (I have not, however, played with the PS4 controller). So why would I want to alter the feel of it? Well, the controller has a very smooth surface that's a little unsettling. It feels like it could slip right out of your hands if you're not careful, though that's never happened to me. After coming across SquidGrip on Amazon, I decided to take the chance and try it out.
To apply the SquidGrip you have to carefully adhere it to the controller by pressing it against the controller's plastic body like a wrap-around sticker. So the first negative aspect of this product is that once it's on the controller it can't be taken off without ruining it. The SquidGrip I adhered to my controller yesterday, and later took off, had to be trashed after it was removed. There's no going back, and there's no being wishy-washy about it. Either it's on there or it's garbage. But that's okay, as long as it improves the controller, right? Why would you want to take it off? Well, it doesn't entirely improve the controller. On one hand, the grip has a nice, soft and grippy feel to it, but on the other it adds a significant amount of bulk to the controller. As it is, the Xbox One controller's triggers and bumpers are perfectly aligned with the body of the controller. The SquidGrip displaces that alignment, making the smooth transition from the controller body to the triggers and bumpers disjointed. That is by far the biggest negative of the SquidGrip, but there are others.
The SquidGrip's purported purpose is to reduce the effect of sweating of the palms. Well, my palms don't get that sweaty when I play games (though sometimes my finger tips do), but I don't see how the SquidGrip could do anything other than promote sweating as compared to a controller without the grip. The SquidGrip has a warm, fabric-like feel to it, a stark contrast to the cool, smooth plastic of the unadorned Xbox One controller. If you are prone to sweaty palms that cause you to lose grip on the controller as you play, possibly the grippiness of the fabric will keep the controller from slipping out of your hands better than without, but you'll almost be guaranteed to start sweating sooner with the grip applied.
My last criticism is arguably the least important, but worth mentioning. The Xbox One controller is a very attractive controller. In addition to being the best controller I've ever used, it's also the handsomest. The SquidGrip, despite having a a high quality feel to it, cheapens the look of the controller. Especially so if you elect to adhere the optional corporate advertising stickers to the grip that are included in the package. In my view, the grip is not only unnecessary, but also diminishes the aesthetics of the controller.
In closing, my advice is that unless you have a serious problem with palm sweat and think this may help the controller from slipping out of your hands during long play sessions, and you're willing to sacrifice the alignment between your fingers and the triggers and bumpers, stay away from SquidGrip. Your money is better spent on useful additions to the controller, like KontrolFreaks (my personal favorite for Xbox One is the "CQC X" style). In my book, SquidGrip unfortunately belongs to the long list of unnecessary third party accessories that may sound like a nice idea, but do more harm than good. | video-games_xbox |
Strictly for Gaming. I have owned AXPro's for about a month. Before settling on the AX Pro's, I also tried standard stereo headphones and also the AX 720's (w/ simulated surround).
Positives:
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-The surround sound is pretty awesome and it will definitely help you spot out where sound is coming from. For example in COD: MW2 I can tell where people are coming from about 80%-90% of the time and i can hear things that I normally didn't hear through surround sound system.
-i bought these mostly for gaming at night so to not disturb those trying to sleep, which is probably the top reason that people look for gaming headsets. For that purpose, they work fine although if turned up too loud they will bleed sound into the atmosphere and make enough noise to wake a light sleeper if you are in close proximity.
- can adjust each individual speaker volume level
- comes with extra set of ear pads
- all wires are included (and I do mean ALL)
Minor Negatives:
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-Getting the setup right is a little cumbersome and I wish there were more in-box instructions for that. There a bunch of reviews on youtube and other sites that don't really help either. You kinda have to play around with volume and time delay settings for each speaker group.
-lots of wires. but set up is pretty easy for anyone that can read normal A/V instructions.
- headset is a bit heavy and can feel tight around the head at times.
Major-ish Negatives:
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Although I love using these to play COD, i have to say that the sound is NOT as good in other games. Voice volume is a bit muffled in other games such as God of War III which I don't completely understand. It's not a deal-breaker but I did not expect that in a surround sound headset.
bottom line is this is a good headset with pretty good surround sound. i would recommend to others who are looking for surround sound as they do seem to be of good quality. If you're only looking for a headset that allows you to chat and listen to game sound, and you don't need surround, I would suggest the lower tier headsets from Tritton or Turtle Beach PX model as a starting point as they seem to serve that purpose as well. I think they each run in $70-$80 range. I paid $160 for these, which means i paid an extra $80 for surround sound (4 sepakers in each cup) and extra ear pads. I am happy with my purchase.... most of the time. | video-games_xbox |
F1 2011 - Fun but Flawed. This is for the XBox 360 version. I have spent 12 hours playing the game in Career mode. I agree with the other posters that the graphics and realism are terrific, but this game has lot of bugs. Some of the major ones I have experienced:
1. At Malaysia, I got the pole in qualifying, but when the race started, I was in P24! No advice of a penalty or a mechanical problem.
2. The engineer is almost always about 15 minutes behind what is actually happening. For example, he will say "light rain in about 15 minutes"; meanwhile, you are driving in a torrential downpour, and when you come in for tires, they keep putting on dry weather tires and the car is uncontrollable (the realism is OK, but let's get caught up with the track conditions).
3. There is no way that I have found to give instructions to the pit crew as to tire changes and no way to change the fuel mixture, even though the game manual says you can.
4. When you get a drive through penalty and come through pit lane, the game often does not register this and keeps telling you to come in again. I once did the drive through 3 times and then got disqualified for ignoring the penalty!
5. The manual says there is a "rewind" feature, but it only rewinds a VERY short distance, and you can use it only 4 times per session. You also have to press the blue X to get control of the car at the rewind point. The manual does not say any of this. I know there is no rewind button in the real world, but if you are going to use it, make sure you do so IMMEDIATELY upon having the problem, and conserve your rewinds, because you only have 4.
My summary to Codemasters would be: 1) Don't any of you actually PLAY the game before you release it? 2) How about a more comprehensive manual, even if just on line? 3) Take some lessons from the Forza 3 folks. I know it is totally different racing, but their game is flawless. I look forward to Forza 4 next week. | video-games_xbox |
there were too many places where me1 had this one beat. i have to say, if i had played this game without #1 i might have given it a 5 and yes this one has some improvements... but it has all new flaws. 1-they try to make it into more of a shooter (like resident evil, etc- not every freakin game needs to be turned into a shooter!). mass effect 1 was story and role playing first, shootouts, etc second. here you get a little story then run through hallways with cover for awhile (which reminds me of another pain... sometimes you'll involuntarily take cover if you hit objects or vault over them (Vault and cover use the same button). 2-your options are limited. in the first game you could split your training between weapon and character types, a number of powers and even personality. here you might only have 4-6 options and some of those will start out being locked. when you max out the powers you get a few more options but they amount to extra damage or health. 3-(THE BIG ONE) some of the adventure options/ story paths are limited, stupid, or just immoral (if you wanted to play a good guy). right away there is a character who shoots someone in cold blood because he is a traitor. i had no proof it was true and didn't know the shooter but i guess i had to believe it. later after the (mandatory?) collection of crewmates, they all want me to take them on side missions such as assisted murder, hacking into a security system for saleable information, etc. i can say im too busy but otherwise the "good guy option" is to help them. at one point an old friend yells at me for being part of an alien hating organization while my two teammates who were right there were aliens. meanwhile, there was a hint that we might be in league with the bad guys dispite the fact that we just saved the colony from them in a huge gun fight... where is the logic? where is the option to say that? 4.you can't even go to a store and just buy most of what you want- most stores have 2-3 items, you have to research and make your own equipment. "Finally"... 5. to speed things up, you usually do a mission and get zapped to the ship, usually unable to return to a site again. again, your options are limited. if you want to go to the presidium, you can visit one friend on the balcony, apparently thats all there is to it now. etc... Overall the graphics are great (a few glitches here and there) and there are good story ideas but your choices often amount to giving a snotty remark or being positive- you'll continue in certain directions whether you want to or not. I wouldve given it point for transferring events from the first story but the transfer of skills and whatever else they claimed to do was a joke- a few credits when a single piece of equipment can cost 75,000, etc... apparently in between games the biotic powers that i had changed too. oh well. | video-games_xbox |
Great visuals, storyline, gameplay! A sleeper hit imo for the one. I purchased this game when it was a gold box deal at $39.99. Like many others I was hesitant to buy this because it was previously released and being sold for $60. But you have to understand from the developers end that they're not just going to vamp up a game then sell it for a lower price. For its value you're getting the all the dlc's. So if you never paid attention to Tomb Raider when it came out on the last gen, I suggest picking this game up especially since nothings out yet until Titanfall. But if you have played it before I would suggest trying to get this game at most $40.
This game really does have great visuals and since I didn't play the previous gen to compare to, imo it looks amazing. I know some care about oh the PS4 version plays at 1080p blah blah blah. Honestly I'm in it for a game that has a great storyline, and something that's fun. I chose the Xbox One because I prefer their exclusives, Titanfall, Dead Rising 3 and Halo 5. I'm about 2 hours in but with great exploration. My preference in these kind of games is to explore every nook and cranny to see what I can find and do. The storyline is great so far and is something refreshing than the typical shooters I play. For those who have owned a PS3, the game play is similar to the Uncharted series. But comparing to a big dog series like Uncharted it doesn't take anything away from Tomb Raider.
I like how when Lara is near enemies walking near anything that can be used as cover she automatically does it herself. You really get the sense that shes scared and needs to hide, plus not wasting a button feature to lock on to cover.
Overall I'm really enjoying the game and I highly recommend.
UPDATE (3/1/14)
I just finished the game and working on the single player achievements. This game is for sure a MUST BUY especially if you didn't pick this up on the last gen. The storyline was action packed, the character growth of Laura was an amazing journey and the graphics are beautiful. As of now I own Dead Rising 3, BF4, Assassin's Creed 4, Thief and Tomb Raider. Out of the 5 I would hands down say Tomb Raider was my favorite. I haven't ventured yet into multiplayer but I will to accomplish hopefully all of the achievements. The single player campaign was amazing and I was lucky to get it on a gold box deal. If you haven't picked this game up or played it yet, this is game is imo a must buy. I loved it! WAY better than I thought it was! | video-games_xbox |
AMAZING GAME!!! Leaves the other AC games behing. AMAZING GAME!!! Being a solid fan of the Ezio Trilogy, I was slightly nervous to buy ACIII when It was released....and I was very unimpressed with the game. The storyline did not flow smoothly and there was far to much time wasted on tutorials and movies. yes I understand that they used a new game engine, but it shouldn't have taken 3 hours of gameplay to be able to take control for yourself. So i had VERY low expectations of Black Flag when I bought it. at first i was unimpressed. i mean really....its Assassins creed, not pirates creed. and the fact the game is based around ships and water travel, i was not happy. but that all changed the moment i succeeded in boarding and sinking my first Spanish schooner. from the first volley of cannonball volley, to the final lunge with a sword or shot from a pistol, i was in love. This game quickly jumped on my list of favorites and now hovers right next to GTA V and Red Dead Redemption as an all time favorite. with AC games in the past, i quickly grew bored with free roam and instead whizzed through the missions and finished the games in 2-3 days. with Black Flag, i have played for almost 2 weeks every chance i get (2-3 hours a night, on weekends around 5 a night) and im having so much fun battling ships and searching the multiple islands for treasure, im only slightly over 30% through the storyline and still very captivated!!!
BUT!!
the game actually gave me a headache the first few hours. the camara view shakes and bobs around as Edward runs and walks about and while your on the Jackdaw as the ship pitches with the sea (almost as if it were being shot as a documentary using a hand-held camara or cell phone). at first it was annoying, but after a few hours it began to feel natural and now i hardly notice it, and the few times i do notice it, it feels RIGHT. like it would be weird if the camara was in a fixed position, rather than being shaken around.
to conclude this massive paragraph....
i love this game and recommend it to all my friends and family. i am also very excited for the release of AC Rogue on November 11!!!! | video-games_xbox |
I'm giving turtle Beach one more chance. Okay this is a review of the turtle Beach Ear Force recon 60P amplified stereo gaming headset I bought these after my Turtle Beach Ear Force Z11 gaming headset left earphone went out after I used it Sunday I was going to buy the Logitech G230 gaming headset and 2 other headset I was looking it. Then I came upon these headsets after a few days of trying to figure out which headset I wanted to buy and asking certain forum communities like tom's hardware (which are no help at all) I decided to go to the turtle Beach website to see what the difference was between the other recon headsets. To be honest with you the recon 50 , 50X, 50P and 60P are all the same with the exception of the 60P headset which has a RCA splitter cable and a in-line USB amplifier which I will get to later on. The headset is not as large as my Z11 actually it's a lot smaller than I expected to see the lease I've been using it for a few days and I have to say it's been pretty good so far on turtle beaches website this was on sale for about 38 .95 I paid if I can remember $39.98 for these on eBay so it might be a little pricey even though this headset almost broke me. The microphone is removable but, it's not that good in the bendable department I had to adjust the microphone several times to get it in front of my mouth the microphone is very clear and I haven't tested it yet to see if anyone can hear me clearly or not so I have to do that sometime if you decide to use this headset for PC that uses a 3.5 mm jacks you need a PC Y splitter which you can buy from turtle beach's website and lucky for me My Z11 came with that said adapter so I shouldn't have much problem with it.
As for the headphones themselves they are very comfortable for a few hours unfortunately, if you have very large ears than these are not for you I also have to point out that these are also if your wearing glasses which I am sadly to say I am you may have to do one of 2 things one you will have to adjust your glasses so that the headphone can hold them up or two lookat another pair of headsets that are glasses friendly. The cord is made of what appears to be a rubber this also means that the cord from the sides that are coming out of the headset in below them can be twisted very easily. For speech recognition it does fairly well if I do say so myself my words can be heard clearly a can also be used with a multitude of command this is a official twhich headset after all, but enough about that let's go into the accessories it comes with a recon 60P amplifier and a RCA splitter cable which you can plug into the right side of the amplifier for the PlayStation three setup for PlayStation 4 you can just plug it in before into the USB outlet on the PS4. However, for the PS3 and PlayStation 4 you would have to go into your settings at their consoles to fix any problems you may have this is stated in the headsets Quickstart guide which also comes with a headset but it doesn't stop there. The amplifier can also be used on PC as well almost a week ago I tried it the next thing you know they tried to find drivers for it and sure enough it works pretty good I had was a 32-bit version of Windows 7 so I tried it with the Windows 7 64-bit computer in the next room sure enough it worked it also worked with my laptop which had windows XP on it.
So technically you can use this as a USB headset as well without buying the PC-Y cable splitter from Turtle Beach so there's almost no need to buy the PC-Y splitter cable at all so I just wanted to let you guys know about that and I almost forgot to tell everyone the blue bands on the side of the headset I was watching a review video about this headset and the person named TheJollyMage said that the extender bands could break over time due to continual use so I had to basically point that out. Overall these are very good headset but, if you're wearing glasses especially if the handles are really thick then these may not be for you doesn't amplifier that can be used on the PlayStation 3 and 4 as well as the PC the RCA splitter's that comes with the headset can be used with the PlayStation 3 as well. The microphone is very good and you can be heard very clearly even when you are using speech recognition software like Dragon natural speaking and as the title suggests I am giving turtle Beach one more chance to prove me wrong the last headset I had the left ear of the headset went out and I had to replace them twice I don't know why they don't have a two year warranty on their headsets due to the fact that these can actually break or stop working. Well that's my review hope that you find my review helpful when picking out your next gaming headset or headphones for that matter. | video-games_xbox |
Quality seems hit or miss. I am an old school Rock Band'er that still has all of the original RB1 instruments - I was also one of the people who had to ship their entire instrument set back one-by-one to EA for all the various issues with their initial production run. After that first initial swap however, my drums worked like a champ for at least a year - mostly because I used the guitar and mic the most, the drums just sat there gathering dust. After about two years, now playing Rock Band 2, I finally decided to really try out the drums. Well, within about four months of playing the drums, my drums broke.
First went the foot pedal - the bridge of the actual pedal just broke right in two. This part was replaced by a third party Rock Pedal, and I've had no problems yet - unfortunately this one single foot pedal cost $75 by its lonesome.
Second, the yellow drum pad started to split around the center hole where the sensor lays. Once that area started to crack, the sensor soon followed.
Enter: the first drum replacement (April of 2009). First I was glad that Amazon was selling these RB1 drums - $30 was a heck of a lot nicer than $80-90 for the RB2 wireless ones. At first glance, these drums looked exactly the same as my original drums. Unfortunately after a week of drumming, the red pad started registering every other hit. I popped the pad off and found that the sensor was only half screwed on. This meant that the screws were loose from the factory. However, tightening this screw made everything ok.
May of 2009 and the green drum pad started registering hits very sporadically. Then eventually not at all. Pop the drum pad out this time and found that the soldering point where the wire fed into the drum pad had failed and one of the wires was completely disconnected and broken. The fact that this happened on the green drum pad - the pad that's probably used among the least amount in the game - tells you how little use it took to break the wire.
June of 2009, I get my third drum set from Amazon. Maybe this one will last a little longer. For reference, I play mostly on Hard and a couple of easy songs on Expert. | video-games_xbox |
From a novice player: awesome. Note: I've only just played the game for a couple of hours, and I hope to update this review after a few weeks.
Several years ago, I was a huge Guitar Hero fan. In fact, those games are what got me into music, and led me to pick up a real guitar. However, I've found it difficult to effectively practice my instrument: lessons are hard to plan, work gets in the way, and it's frustrating when you feel like you're not progressing at all.
I wanted to put more time instrument for the new year, and I came across this game. It seemed like a perfect fit for me, and I thought it would be a great supplement to regular lessons.
So far, I absolutely love the game. If you're unfamiliar with it, the best way I can describe it is "Guitar Hero, but with a real guitar." Once you plug in your guitar, the game helps you tune it, and then after a few minutes of tutorials, sets you loose on any song you choose. Obviously, if you select a beginner difficulty setting, the notes you play are a *very* simplified version of the song, but its still a ton of fun. Several technique lessons and minigames are also available, as well as a multiplayer mode (if you have two cables).
My favorite feature is the "riff repeater" mode. Basically, you can set this feature up to repeat a section of a song until you play it perfectly. Then, the game will increase its difficulty until you're playing the actual notes of the song. This perfectly fits my learning style, but if you get bored of doing the same thing over and over again, it might not be for you.
There are two downsides to this game. The first is lag. If you run a typical HDMI to TV set up, you will experience noticeable lag. However, the game is fairly forgiving in a few late notes, and does warn about this issue in a pamphlet in the box, and suggests some alternative set-ups. The other is the small song list. Although its a pretty high-quality selection there's only 50, and many of my favorites are downloadable extras for about 3 bucks a pop. Still. 3 dollars to master a song isn't too bad.
I'm loving this game, and I can see it being a useful tool in the future. I've never been able to play for such a large stretch of time before. Its issues are few and minor, and I'd highly recommend it for anyone looking for a fun way to practice their guitar. | video-games_xbox |
Neversoft's bad decisions killed the series. When the orginal Guitar Hero came out, that was one of the few games I really wanted for the PS2, which I did not have at the time. One of my friends got it, and I immediately fell in love. As a guitarist myself, I was really happy to see that people could play a rhythm-based game with rock music, as opposed to Dance Dance Revolution (which has primarily techno and dance music). Guitar Hero II came out first for the PS2, and later for the Xbox 360, with more songs, and downloadable content. With its added co-op and pro face-off two-player features, and an improved hammer-on/pull-off system, Guuitar Hero II is one of my favorite games on the 360. When it was announced that Neversoft was going to take Harmonix's place for the next Guitar Hero installment, I didn't know what to think. Screenshots for Guitar Hero 3 started circulating around the internet, I was both intrigued and disappointed. Intrigued by the new look and feel of the game, but disappointed that Neversoft was too stuck-up to keep the original design. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" must not be something heard around Neversoft's head honchos.
I have to say, playing GH3 for the first time, it was fun. As much fun as playing either of the other Guitar Hero games. That is, until I found what all was different. If you are allowed to either hammer-on or pull-off to the next note, you don't have to time it at all, which doesn't even make sense. One major problem I find with the game, is the fact that Neversoft decided that expert difficulty is going to be harder than anything else. How? By making any audible guitar noise a "note," and the influx of three-note chords. Of course, that's the only way to make some of the songs challenging, seeing as every single song (except the battles) were singles at some point. Why is this bad? Because instead of choosing a song that would be good for Guitar Hero, a more popular song was chosen (specifically Miss Murder, Paint it Black, When You Were Young, and My Name is Jonas).
As for the guitar controller, Neversoft decided it would be for the best if the guitar had a detacheable neck. As for why, the only reason I can think of is for easy transport. But if you take the neck off, that's just one more thing to carry, and the neck doesn't stay in the body snugly, it jiggles around, ruining any long note you hit. The guitar I received has a jiggly neck, messed-up star power, and a slightly broken whammy bar. Star power is completely messed up. Sometimes it'll activate if I turn the guitar in any direction, and sometimes it won't activate unless I swing the guitar around like a maniac. Normally, I press the Back button, but even that doesn't work! As for the whammy bar, there's a "dead spot" in the middle position where it doesn't register, so I have to pump the whammy bar all the way down and all the way back for it to work.
Specifically for 360 owners, the achievements are ludicrous. They expect some kind of being with super-human Guitar Hero-playing powers to be playing GH3, because those are the only things that'll be getting the crazy achievements, such as beating Through the Fire and Flames on expert, using star power three times on TtFaF on expert, gold star (get 100 percent on) 20 songs on expert, and buying everything from the shop, which requires getting five stars on all songs on all four difficulties. Neversoft has completely ruined Guitar Hero for me, and I will be buying Rock Band 2 when it comes out instead of Guitar Hero: World Tour. Neversoft has completely ruined Guitar Hero for me | video-games_xbox |
Seriously, if you are searching for a gaming headset to use on multiple devices, look no further. Mom, so, I really, like, NEED some headphones for the Xbox. Its definitely a need Mom.
Mom, have you thought about getting me those headphones yet? I really need them.
So, Mom about those headphones
Ah, the joys of living with a gaming obsessed 13 year old boy. What he doesnt know is that I already have this awesome Gaming Headset from HUHD hidden away in the closet, just waiting for him to open them on Christmas. Waiting almost two months will probably drive us both crazy him, from his desperate need and me from the constant asking but this Headset will be worth it in the end.
Of course, Mom always gets to play with the new toys first, so while the Boy was away at school one day, I pulled the Headset out to give it a try on my computer (not on the Xbox 360 you won't catch me touching the Xbox with a ten foot pole; I firmly believe that as long as I stay completely ignorant on the workings of the Xbox, then the kids cant come to me when they need help with their games or any other technical assistance with the Xbox). The headset was easy to put together straight out of the box, with easy to read instructions available for the less technically inclined. The microphone was easy to just pop in, and was also as easy to remove, which is a feature of this headset that I really like, as it means that when you just want to use them for the headphones feature, you don't have the microphone just hanging out to the side of your face. I also really like the way the microphone is made I believe the listing refers to them as being omni-directional they bend in any way that you need them to, allowing for optimal sound pick up. When I used them to make a call on the computer to test the microphone, my 60+ year old mother was able to hear me clearly on the other end. The audio is great crisp and clear without any background static to distract from what you really want to be listening to. The headset itself is comfortable to wear not too tight and not too lose. You don't have to deal with the headset shifting out of place as it sits firmly on your head, but a problem that the Boy and I both experience with headsets is that they can put too much pressure on the head, leading to migraines. The padding on the arch of the headset that goes over your head helps a lot with this, I believe, and allows the headset to flow more comfortably over the top of your head, regardless of head size or shape. No such problem with this headset! I was able to use the headset comfortably for over an hour on the computer with no discomfort from wearing them. There is just enough padding on the ear cups portion of the headset to make them sit firmly on the sides of your head without getting too hot. So, overall, my experience with the headset being connected to my computer garnered a definite A+.
I then had my husband hook them up to the Xbox 360 after the Boy had gone to bed, and his opinion on the headset was pretty much the same as mine. They fit him just as well, provided the same sound and microphone quality as they had on my PC, and he was able to wear them for quite a while without any discomfort.
Great overall experience and I will definitely be glad to put these under the Christmas tree for my son to open Christmas morning.
**I received this product at a discount for testing; the review above is an honest representation of my experience with this product, and has not been influenced in any way.** | video-games_xbox |
The gameplay is where this game fails... everything else shines. I came towards this game with a large smile on my face and an eager hand as I jammed it into my 360. I fell in love with MK: Deadly Alliance the first time I played it and have been a fan of the series ever since. When I was a youngin I used to try the old Mortal Kombats but hated them due to the cheap feel I got when playing it. Not the graphics or blood but the downright gameplay. I always felt like I was playing a computer because it would always take what I was about to do and turn it against me in a very unfair manner (I.E. I wasn't getting enjoyment out of a game that was supposed to be bought for enjoyment). I never could see the joy in playing Heads or Tails with a coin if I knew I would lose either way. This brings me to MKK...
I began this game with absolute joy. The graphics ARE amazing (for any gen system), the characters look wonderful, the environments, the moves, the beginning title screen. Everything looks spectacular. That is mostly where my 2/5 stars comes from.
Now to the bad. I don't find this game fun. I only play because I find some amount of intrigue in the story mode. It is well done as far as story goes but that is where it ends. The computer is not only set to do the same ridiculous teleport moves over and over so you can't get up or if you even tried to move it would teleport and knock you down again (Sektor, Quan Chi, Scorpion), but they actually had the nerve to make matches where you alone fight 2 fighters at once. These are frustrating as anything I have ever played in a video game. I had to block the people in a corner and hit the same attack buttons to keep juggling them into the air to defeat them. That's not fun. That's not skill. When they throw Quan Chi and Shang Tsung at you both with full health bars and expect you to beat them (Keep in mind Quan Chi will teleport on top of you over and over and over and Shang Tsung will steal your life over and over), I felt like ripping my controller out of the xbox and performing a fatality on anything that was alive around me.
On the same level of frustration is Shau Kahn. Your attacks don't make him wither in pain so you can hit him 3 times and it would just deflect allowing him to smack you in the head with his hammer, grab and throw you, then throw his hammer at you once you're up which stuns you only to spear you. If you get close he shoulder charges you and you cant even get out of the way of it.
Another thing that somewhat disappoints me (but not too much as I dealt with it in earlier MK games) is A) unlockables and B) the Krypt. While its nice to open the krypts and see what money can buy, where is the unlockable content? What happened to the days where you started with 10 characters and had to unlock/buy the other 15? The krypt is filled with useless content art, images of production, stick figure drawings, and secondary fatalities which you could have just looked them up online! No, Netherrealms. Content we can USE! More stages, more characters, more costumes!! SOMETHING! Out of the 100-some krypts you can buy with money earned in game you only get like 15-20 costumes. Everything else is some art of rendering or something. CONTENT we can USE.
Mortal Kombat Armageddon had over 60 characters at the beginning, told a good story, had good graphics, and this was for the original xbox! Here we get 25 characters and hardly anything to unlock but just a good story line we can play through.
At the end I do enjoy the story line, the graphics, but I feel this game is lacking. I don't have Xbox live so I can't comment on the multiplayer but I've heard bad things as people just spam special moves so you can't even move so I dare not go there.
The game looks fantastic but the content is a bit lacking and the gameplay vs the computer is ungodly frustrating (ESPECIALLY MAKING THE PLAYER FIGHT 2 PEOPLE AT ONCE IN STORY MODE - WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!). If you have $20 (which is what I payed for this) I would suggest Injustice: Gods Among us if you're into good graphics, story, and 2D fighting and if you like 3D fighting (like I do from the earlier Mortal Kombat games) I suggest MK vs DC. Both games have less of that frustrating/cheap gameplay feel but alas they still lack on unlockables for characters and more for concept art. Injustice will keep you busier longer as there are many more minigames to play. | video-games_xbox |
A look at the facts for worried parents out there. I would just like to point out and possibly reiterate a few things first off.
Dear "Amy",
*Quote*If I would have known all of this I would have never spent the money for my seven year old to have this game."
It concerns me that you, as a parent, would even buy this for your seven year old. ESRB rates games for a reason, and this one, if you take the time to look, is rated E10+. Maybe that's confusing, so allow me to explain. That means ESRB finds this game is generally (please note that word, it's important) suitable for anyone over the age of 10. In fact, ESRB explains the rating as, and I quote, "Content that <U>may</U> be suitable for ages 10 and older." Now maybe I missed something, but if I recall my math classes 7 is less than ten, not greater...
Secondly, to "Great Parent". I believe Jim "Therum" said it best in the following quote: "THE ALIENS ARE BLACK SKINNED! THE NAME OF THE ALIENS IS "THE BLACK ARMS." THE FACT THAT YOU DO NOT REALISE THIS MAKES YOU A HORIBLE PARENT WHO LACKS BASIC COMMON SENSE. Also, the aliens having black skin is IMPORTANT TO THE STORY and to SHADOW'S LIFE."
Symbolism shows us that the color black is generally associated with darkness, shadows, and evil (Why do you think so many people judge the deemed "goth" crowd because of their clothes before that get to know them?). 'Black' does not apply exclusively to the African American community, and every time black is used it's not a potshot at African Americans. People take this racist thing WAY too overboard these days. I'm all for African Americans being treated fair and not being discriminated against and all that good stuff, but there's a point when enough is enough, and this is one of those points. I mean geesh, the next thing you know people will be screaming over the drow in DnD games and the like being racist because they're a black (and I mean black black if you don't know what a drow is) skinned outcast race of elves *rolls eyes*.
That said, I can agree that Shadow would be better suited with a rating of T instead of E10+, and if I were a parent I would probably take care about letting my child play the game too early, however if the game appals you so much, there's a very simple solution. Don't let your child play it. ESRB rates games for just that reason, so cautious and worried parents have a guideline for what is suitable for their children and can avoid unsuitable games. On that note, however, it's not ESRB's job to figure out what's right for YOUR child. They can only rate the game *drumroll* GENERALLY (there's that word again!)
As the concerned parent you are, you should be paying attention to what YOUR child is like. ESRB's raters don't live with your kid from day to day, so they can't say whether your kid is really suited for a game. That's *gasp* one of the jobs of a parent! To know your kid and know how things affect them!
So basically what this boils down to is this...you can be appalled all you like, but at the end of the day it's your parenting that's really going to be put to the question.
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Of other note, after renting Shadow the Hedgehog I have to say I'm not as impressed with it as I thought I would be. The guns don't appeal to me, the cameras are -terrible- and do most definitely cost you a LOT of lives, the game is (in my opinion at least) far too short, and the storyline is rather tepid so far. Honestly, there was SO much Sega could have done with this game, but it seems like they just threw together some wild idea and ran with it instead of really thinking it out. Don't get me wrong, the concept of being able to choose what path you'll take is awesome, but the way it was presented in this game was flawed.
I will say, I do love the opening theme and eventually hope to find the CD for the game (*side rant* No there is -NOWHERE- in the lyrics where it says "I am evil". There's some "I am"s and the word "evil" in the song as it's talking about Shadow trying to find his path, but never does it say "I am evil"...some parent has a vivid imagination I think), but overall I wasn't impressed with the game enough to want to buy it or even rent it again. It falls FAR short of the much better thought out Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, which allows for extracirricular gameplay after you finish the storyline (LOVE the chao!) in my opinion.
That said, come on Sega...can't you match SA2:B with a cool and reasonable Shadow-based storyline? I think that's all Sonic fans are asking for here. | video-games_xbox |
A Good, If Flawed, Sequel: 3.5 / 5. 'Dragon Age 2' is a hack and slash, dark(ish) fantasy game, with RPG elements, a sequel to 'Dragon Age: Origins'. In 'DA2', players take control of a character called Hawke, who, with family in tow, flees the Blighted country of Ferelden for the norther countries, the Free Marches, and the imposing city of Kirkwall, where most of the action takes place. Hawke can be customized, male or female, and be a warrior, rogue or mage. Each class offers unique perspectives on the world of the Free Marches and Kirkwall, while the story plays out around the character. A conflict between the religious order of the Templars and the imprisoned, hated mages is brewing, and Hawke is smack dab in the middle. Throughout three acts, covering 7 years (they said 10 initially...), Hawke and Company try to survive, make money, and generally not kill each other, while their story is related in the present by Varric, a dwarven rogue, and Hawke's best friend, to an ill-tempered religious zealot named Cassandra.
The game is not perfect. There are serious flaws in the areas, with repetition the biggest drawback. I got to one point where I was thinking 'I've seen this cave before... actually, this is the ONLY cave I've seen in the entire game... only I can't open this one door now...' That is the gist of the environments. A bit of variety would have been nice. Considering that the story takes place over 7 years, the characters don't ever age, nor does the city of Kirkwall change all that much. It's still white stone and fluttering flags, regardless of the year.
The characters are overall tolerable, if utterly unlikable in some instances, and all fit into nice, neat little archetypes of their own (stubborn soldier, broody ex-slave, crazy mage, moody abomination / mage, sexy pirate, etc.) I think the only character other than Hawke that I don't have any issue with is Varric, the storyteller. The 'Mass Effect'-esque dialogue wheel for Hawke is a nice addition to the player character, and as I'm someone who likes a chattier PC, I enjoyed this aspect. The icons in the center of the wheel seem a bit silly at first, but some of the snappier, sarcastic dialogue is a welcome change to the more dour dialogue seen in other fantasy games.
Gameplay in 'DA2' is quite a bit faster than in 'Origins'. You can play the game tactically, or embrace the hack and slash and dish it out as well as you take it, by constantly punching the attack button. Honestly, I liked the combat - it's fast, flashy and fun. If playing a mage, there's really nothing quite as satisfying as casting an Apocalyptic Firestorm and watching meteors of fire rain down en masse on your enemies. Warriors using two handed weapons can cleave enemies into bits (halves, thirds, I saw one go into quarters), or hit them with a sword and a shield and make them explode in a fountain of blood. Rogues... well, if you're a rogue, then you're essentially a ninja - a fast, stab-in-the-back, hit 'em with the acrobatic moves ninja. The combat is one place where this game soars. I really enjoyed it.
'Dragon Age 2' is one of those games that players will either love or hate, because it is so drastically different game from its predecessor, especially in terms of gameplay and character interaction. Perhaps it should have been called 'Dragon Age: Kirkwall' or 'Dragon Age: War in the Marches', something that was a bit more honest than simply calling it 'Dragon Age 2'. A true sequel it's not, but it is a good addition to the franchise. It has its flaws, and is perhaps worth only two or three play throughs at the most, because as you play, the flaws become more and more apparent. That being said, it's fun, fast and a good game overall. | video-games_xbox |
A Game Based on Inflicting Pain. Based on a classic comic book anti-hero, The Punisher is a decidedly mature title in which a vigilante takes on most of New York City. Be prepared for lots of torture and swearing.
If you know the Punisher comic book series, you know what you're in for. This guy loves to hurt "bad guys" - and anybody he considers a bad guy is fair game. The number of ways in which you can kill your enemies is astounding. You run through a crack house and shoot people in the crotch, in the head, all the while saying "It sucks to be them". The women are trying to sleep with you while you save them. The druggies are claiming you're a mirage.
Every new level offers roaches scuttling across the floor, innocents who you bypass as relatively meaningless, and bad guys who you kill with cold detachment in extremely gruesome ways. You roast them in the fire. You boil them in oil. You slash them with glass. It's all in the name of "progress" - you supposedly are getting information out of them. However, there is no empathy at all. Because your family died, you now are able to kill every other human you run across without much feeling.
There's some wry humor in here, as in when people call out "Hey, it's that finisher dude". There's also incredibly nasty violence if you choose to push someone past their limit. I suppose it's all in your hands - but it's really nasty that they have some options in here.
The graphics are good in a comic booky way. There is a good balance between realistic movements and a smooth animated flow. I do have to comment that his normal "walk" is a bit slow and melodramatic. The audio is well done, with a deadpan main actor and the usual collection of druggies, hookers and other sleazes as people to talk to. There usually isn't much 'background noise' - the screams and pleas of your victims are the soundtrack here.
While this is in general a well done shooter, I admit that I'm not very comfortable with a vigilante running around deliberately causing as much pain as he can to people. If anybody knows what great pain can drive someone to do, it would be him. If someone happens to fall into drugs, I'm not sure that they deserve a window pane to the neck as a "punishment" for that, or that millions of game players out for rest and relaxation should find enjoyment in repeatedly performing that pain-inflicting action. | video-games_xbox |
Black Ops 2 Game Review. To sum it all up, Black Ops 2 is a very good game with some disappointments.
Overall, the maps are well designed and you get a good variety of sniper maps and close up to medium fire maps. Seems like the lag compensation problem is still there but not as bad as before. As many of you know, lag compensation is an algorithmic solution to the host having an advantage in a game due to zero WAN latency of that host. Lag compensation is introduced to add latency to the host player to elimniate that advantage. Unfortunately, a host gets too much of a disadvantage and will lose a close up firefight with a good player. As I understand it, peer to peer hosts (player Xbox 360's) are used because Activision does not use dedicated host servers. Instead, individual XBOX hosts are selected before each game based on a ping selection criteria. Now you will often see "server down" errors. This is not a host server but instead a name server going down or losing its connection.
I too have seen some really bad lag problems. That is players find that they are not moving smoothly through the map during a game. I have heard and I am convinced there are two issues here. First, the name servers are maxing out at times causing issues. Second, many of these high speed routers are having buffer issues due to too much data being passed through high speed connections. This causes a momentary freeze or lag because of backed up data in the router memory. Activision needs to improve their name servers stability and the router industry needs to find a fix for the buffer issue. Both are in the works.
I have noticed something in Black Ops 2 that disturbs me. There are a lot of players using a lag switch now. Mostly "runners" that use a balistic knife. What is lag switch? Well, this is where a player uses a device that momentarily stops or substantially slows down his data upload to the host device while keeping a continuous download of data flowing back to his or her device. The result is the lagging player will disappear or move at faster than normal speed while the non lagging player will be trying to kill someone moving faster than normal or disappering before their eyes... only to show up behind them for the kill! When you go into a room to kill a player and all of a sudden this happens, probably a lag switch is being used. I also believe if a player gets host and is using a lag switch, when he uses it during the game, the host will soon "migrate" due to all of the players lagging.
Now to the zombies. What a disappointment. Rather than expound on the success of the previous Black Ops zombies, they change the game flow. Maps are small. Zombies harder to kill. They introduce this concept where you ride a bus to various levels and you must find items to move you through the maps. If you die, you start over (as before) but you still have to ride this bus and go through all of the chatter of the "bus driver" bot over again. Rather than getting to the action quickly, you waste lots of time. It's boring. I gave up on it. Treyarch, please patch this nonsense. It's horrible.
One quick comment on Nuketown 2025... whey does it keep coming an going? Sometimes it's there. Sometimes not.
Once last thing (back to lag compensation), Treyarch continues to claim that this is not a problem. It is. They continue to claim that using the "kill cam" or theater mode vs. in game real-time footage is not "forensic" proof of lag issues. Yes it is. When I am playing a game as host, and I see in my view that I drill 10 bullets into an opponent (get 10 hit markers) and he doesn't die, yet that opponent kills me with one shot... I go to the kill cam and find the "system" shows me not shooting ANY bullets and getting shot like a noob.... sorry, the perspective is out of sync. That is a problem when I see something different than the aribiter alorgrithm sees. Fix it.
Overall, recommended to those who like first person shooters and war games.
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Here is an update on 3/22/2013. The game continues to evolve with patches. Most troublesome is the net code that handles the latency issues that I have described above. The game is almost unplayable. A shooter needs to do one thing well... when you shoot someone, they die. Simple as that. Too often, I have been faced with unloading an entire magazine into my opponent (from behind) only for that opponent to turn around and shoot me. When I look at the replay, what I thought I was seeing is not what happens. Instead, the replay shows I was shooting elsewhere and not at my opponent. This is not good. What that means is players are really not seeing the same thing. What you see is NOT what you get. If you research this online, you find this is a universal complaint about Black Ops 2.
Another issue is there is way too much cheating in this game. Lag switches (described earlier) are common in almost every game now. Not fun. This could not happen if Treyarch used dedicated servers.
Here is the bottom line, this is my last COD game. I love shooters, but it's not fun to play. When you know you beat another player (by what you saw) only to be killed by that player, you don't feel like it was fair. You feel cheated. What a disappointment.
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Update. Its August of 2013 and Black Ops has come out with new maps and many new patches. Wow, the game has morphed and is now quite playable. Treyarch has done a great job of solving many of the latency issues as well as dealing with the goofballs out there using lag switches. The game is far more enjoyable and the new Zombie maps are excellent. Zombie's are more fun than ever.
Yes, there are still issues but they have worked hard to make the game satisfying.
I am now changing my rating to a 4.
Thank you. | video-games_xbox |
a decent hack n slash, only worth a rental. i'm not a huge fan of star wars but i've always found the games lucasarts puts out to be fun overall. however, there are always exceptions and unfortunately revenge of the sith is added to that pile.
the game is loosely based around the events of the movie itself. occasionally there will be actual footage from the movie: i.e. during the fight with count dooku. but if you have seen the movie you will realize that these clips are used rarely, and the game does skip some major parts (probably not to spoil anything for those who haven't seen it). the voice acting in this game is TERRIBLE, as most of the time anakin and obi-wan make stupid jokes, complaining, or cracking bad one-liners in some of the most monotonous, lifeless ways ever. i played most of the game with the volume down and my music blasting.
the single player is fun the first time around, you alternate between anakin and obi-wan, using your lightsaber and force powers to conquer an endless amount of droids and pass through several fairly simple obstacles. combos help you gain experience points, where inbetween each level you use the experience gained to upgrade force powers and attacks, which will greatly help you through the 17 levels this game has to offer (similar to EAs lord of the rings games). there are a wide variety of combos and attacks for both characters, and all the usual force powers are at your side (force push, force heal, ect.) the multiplayer offers 2 options: versus mode, where you choose a jedi (in which you can unlock several more during the story mode) and basically go head to head in a saber duel, and co-op, which is really one of the reasons why i got the game, but i found out that the game only lets you play select missions, which just takes away from the game itself.
it is nice to play as all the characters from the movie. its always been my favorite part of any star wars game to play as a jedi, however, the game is pretty short and there isn't that much replay value, unless you really enjoy the multiplayer options, or would rather beat the game again to see the alternate ending. to me, the game just gets too repetitive, as in every level you constantly slash at countless droids, most of which you've seen way too many times before. there aren't too many enemies to name, but the lightsaber fights are placed nicely inbetween each of the missions to give you a break from the annoyances of reiteration this game suffers from.
overall, if you're a big fan of star wars, you'll probably love this game. but if you're a big gamer, i say save your $50 and just rent it for the weekend, its not a long or very challenging game, but it is enough fun to go through with friends. | video-games_xbox |
Average Arcade Fighter. Mortal Kombat- Deadly Alliance
Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance is the fifth installment in the main Mortal Kombat series. This would be the first game to appear on the PS2, X-Box, and Gamecube so they needed a bang to ensure the continued success of the series. The game is made as if it was an arcade game, but has so many extras it will blow your mind. I want to say there are over 800 extras to unlock. Still, the game doesn't impress me enough to give it anything but a little above average.
Graphics- 8/10
This was the first Generation of Mortal Kombat to be on the new line of video game systems. Graphics had to be top notch if they wanted to make a good impression. They did deliver on graphics for the most part. All characters in the game look very good and are nicely designed. Each character has three different facial characteristics that change as you are brutalized during a fight. All of this looks exceptionally well done.
Arenas are all well designed. They all have similar boundaries and sizes, but overall they are nice looking. Some levels have traps set up; this is a new feature to the Mortal Kombat series. There are statues that spit acid, or ice sickles that get in your way of battle. These usually don't have any major effect on battles, but are better than a flat landscape.
Blood has always been a huge factor in Mortal Kombat. Often times this was the only thing that made Mortal Kombat different than other fighting systems. This game however features way too much blood. It flows like a fountain as you hit your opponent. It is far too unrealistic since the only visible place that the characters have cuts on is their face. The blood is too thick and almost looks cartoony.
Story- 5/10
Liu Kang, the winner of the original Mortal Kombat and Earth's best fighter, has been killed. Shang Tsung and Quan Chi have teamed up and overthrown Shao Kahn, leader of Outworld. After this they quickly assaulted Liu Kang and violently killed him. They have discovered an undead army and are taking souls rise the army. Raiden has established a team of warriors to stop this evil plot. This is all explained in an opening sequence.
Honestly, this games story doesn't even matter. The game is an arcade fighter and it just doesn't matter. Once you beat Arcade mode with a character, you will get an ending for them. For the most part, this is a fairly lack luster reward for beating the game.
Sound- 7/10
The character's grunts and yells all sound fairly well. It is just what you would expect from an arcade fighting game. The music is a low tone background sound. The music never really adds to the gameplay like it should. Also, the music is fairly repetitious.
There is however a added music video on the game by Adema. The song is called "Immortal" and was designed especially for this game. If you like Metal then you are going to love this song. If you don't then odds are you are going to not care for this song. I wish the song were implemented into the actual gameplay of the game and not just as a bonus.
Gameplay- 6/10
The game is designed almost exactly like the previous titles. You pick a fighter, and then you fight a bunch of random fights until you reach the boss. The difficulty steadily climbs as you defeat opponents. Overall this is a poor gameplay mode and any fun from it wears off quickly.
They have added a Konquest Mode, which is basically just a tutorial mode. This is nice for anyone that doesn't know how to button mash. You can learn the special moves of the characters and some good combos. It's not really fun to play through and only serves as a tutorial on how to do moves.
One thing they did right in this game is adding a surplus of extras. As you play through arcade mode you will earns Koins, which you can use to purchase extras from the Crypt. You do not get to choose what extra it is, it is all concealed from you until you purchase something. The more expensive ones are usually things like characters and arenas. Cheaper ones are usually concept art or concept videos. Some of these are nice and some are just plain filler. Overall it makes you want to play through the game to at least to get the more expensive extras.
Gameplay itself is broken up by mini-games every three fights you do. One mini-game consists of you watching cups shift around and you try to guess the one that the Mortal Kombat symbol was under. Another has you button mashing to try to raise a bar so you can break something. These are both fairly fun and help break up the tedious gameplay.
At the end of the day this is just a fighting game. The engine itself isn't exactly the quality of <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Soul-Calibur/dp/B00000K125/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Soul Calibur</a>. The characters moves aren't fluid enough and are often robotic. All the characters have three different fighting styles, which helps change up the gameplay. Still, the game is just a average fighter and you won't play it for more than a few hours before becoming bored.
Difficulty- 10/10 (Note- This is how much I like the difficulty)
The games progression of difficulty is pretty well done. If the game is too easy for you, you can always choose a higher difficulty. If it is too hard, you can choose an easier difficulty. As you play arcade mode, the game will get harder and harder as you beat more people. If you lose enough though, the game will get easier.
Even the mini-games have progression. If you lose one, you will get an easier version next time. If you win the mini-game you will get a harder version. This is all a very nice touch. Anyone can play through the game with whatever type of difficulty suits him or her.
Overall- 6/10
Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance is just not that impressive of a game. The simply arcade type gameplay just is not fun in this day and age. Even the insane extras cannot save this one. The fifth game in this series is just too much of the same old stuff we've been playing for years. Now you have much better graphics, but at the end of the day that doesn't make any difference to a real gamer.
If you are looking for a strong fighting game, then just keep on looking. Combat is robotic and just not fun. The gore is fairly bad. The arenas, despite looking different, all have the same layout as far as spacing goes. The story is not important at all. With a game with very little story and bad gameplay, you are basically left with nothing good in a game at all.
I cannot recommend this game for anyone. There are too many fighting games that are much better. If you have to buy this game, I will say that the difficulty progression is very well done. Unless you are a truly horrible gamer though, this won't affect you though. I would suggest checking out <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Soul-Calibur/dp/B000ZK7ZMQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Soul Calibur</a>,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tekken/dp/B00004U5VF/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tekken</a>, or <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Virtua-Fighter/dp/B000IONGWW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Virtua Fighter</a> before even considering this game. | video-games_xbox |
Half CoD knockoff. Aliens: Colonial Marines is cool in concept but very run of the mill in execution. While the game certainly lives up to capturing the look and feel of the movie with the enviroments, gun sounds and music, it still plays like an ordinary FPS.
Graphics: I'm not one to complain much about graphics since I consider them of only second or third rate importance compared to gameplay, but oh man! The graphics in this game are so dated they're almost embarassing to look at. Textures will constantly pop in and out and even when they are all the way in they don't look very detailed. A while ago I was having fun with Doom 3: BFG edition; I'm not sure if it's because that game is still fresh in my memory but I can't help but think this game's graphics look very much the same....worse, actually. Very poor, laughable graphics all around.
Gameplay: Feels a little too much like CoD for my taste. The game comes with the now obligatory XP level up system for unlocking stuff in multi-player (which might be this games only saving grace). It really makes me feel less a part of the Aliens experience when a bar on the top tells me when I've ranked up. There's nothing innovative in the way the game controls, its mostly been ripped from other FPSers. Worst of all, I feel somewhat overpowered when fighting off Xenomorphs and human mercanaries. Yeah, I've died plenty of times but I'm suprised to see how high my kill count is at the end of a level, usually in the sixties. Xenomorphs will run mindlessly around every which way when you're fighting them and occasionally you'll even see a computer controlled fellow marine and an alien run into and clip right through each other. Your comrades aren't very smart either and will sometimes get hung up on a wall or run in the wrong direction. Your comrades also seem to be invincilbe. Not once did I ever worry about them or feel I needed to help, unless the game told me to. The only remotely cool thing is wrestling off a xenomorph when it grabs me and shooting it with my pistol...but even that feels a little silly. Aren't these thing supposed to be strong enough to bust through a steel door?
Level design is a least pretty good. The game has many branching corridors that you can sometimes get lost in. Kind of annoying but It would be even more annoying if the game constantly had arrows pointing your way and thus taking out all thought process. One level of particular note is one in which you're unarmed, helpless, and have to sneak your way through a level of blind, motion traking aliens withouth them noticing. This level had me genuinely scared, but I regret that some of the scare factor was taken away when I saw that these aliens kill you by suicide bombing. Obvious Left 4 Dead elements shamelessly ripped. This bit of survival horror is a nice touch but only a small bit of novelty in an unremarkable game.
Story: Not much story. You're a Marine sent along with several other Marines to investigate the remains of the Sulaco and later LV-426. Throughout, you'll have to fight off waves of xenomorphs and human mercanaries dispatched by the evil Wayland Yutoni Corp. who are, as ever, hell bent on capturing the xenomorphs to use as biological weapons. This is the plot of all the Alien movies thus far and its getting more than a little old.
In all, I'm sorry I went to a midnight opening and bought this game full price. The only thing I can do is try and get as much enjoyment out of it as I can but even then I'll probably still be sorry. | video-games_xbox |
This Is A Few Years In The Making. It's been delayed multiple times. However, I hadn't looked into it for a long long time and I never really had any intention on buying it. It looked cool, but I thought it was just another Ghost Recon/shooter. I never really played any other Ghost Recons, but I played Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six. I went to a friend's house a few days after release, sat down and played it. After one kill, I wanted to buy it. Why? Well, it's very fluid, satisfying when you kill someone, and it just felt right.
As I said, I wasn't aiming to buy this game at all. I saw he had it and figured I would just play for a bit. I have been playing Socom: Confrontation for a while, and enjoyed the third person tactical aspect of the game. I was going to buy Socom 4 for a newer experience, but held off for some reason. (I have 360 and PS3. I got this for 360) So this game did fit what I was looking around for, which may not be the case for everyone else who usually enjoys first person over third person.
The story is fine. I've played it only a little. I'm not as interested in story as I used to be.
The multiplayer is very fun. It takes some getting to used to if you don't know third person well. The game moves amazing, aiming is great, cover is even better, and it's not one-shot kill, which can be frustrating. It takes a little more to kill someone, which is always good I find when it comes to online multiplayer. The maps are cool, a little large, but not too much. However, for those who enjoy to just kill people, there's no game mode for that. They're all objective-based, but I still spend a lot of time killing instead.
Graphics are outstanding. It's probably the best looking game I have right now. I don't have too many brand new games like this, but it wins by far. Everything is detailed, from your gun to your person to the environments (which are detailed down to every brick in the wall).
I was thinking about waiting for a used copy, too, but decided since there is a stupid online pass that I would just get it new now. The online passes are a ripoff, but it's the way things are now, so I decided I'll deal with it.
It's a good game. It looks amazing, sounds amazing, plays incredibly, etc. Sure, people have mentioned bugs. But I have not seen any really yet but I'm sure I will. They will be fixed and they don't affect the game. | video-games_xbox |
A great console game, but nothing new for the PC gamer. Eeeeehhh... it's hard to describe my perspective on the highly praised Halo. The game itself, standalone, is spectacular and revolutionary for any home console system. However, if you're also a part-time PC gamer like myself, hundreds of games like this have come and gone, and half of them were better.
Sure, Halo deviates from the standard FPS with the concept of fighting as a team, rather than a straight-up fistfighting deathmatch free-for-all. I'm sure many of you were getting tired of playing UT for hours on end just shooting everything that's not attached to your body. Halo even further enhances teamwork by having multi-operated vehicles such as a driver and a gunner for players to occupy. That's genius, that's revolutionary and all-out fun. It's a bang for your buck, no doubt, because no console FPS has ever carried these ideas before. Note how I said console.
Did you know that Halo was originally going to be a PC game? Yes, it's true.... Halo instead made its way to the XBox as one of the flagship titles. I personally think one of the main motivators for this transition is because if it were to be released on the PC it wouldn't have sold as well. Why? Because many PC titles have been carrying these kinds of ideas for years, and they've been doing it better. ....
So whats my point exactly? Yes, Halo is a spectacular game for the XBox, but if it were released for the PC, it would be nothing. Nothing. Nada. Why? Because everything in Halo has never been seen on a home console system, but it's been done, and done better, years ago, on the PC platform. The whole shebang with vehicles is really, really old news to your average T2 player. (Tribes 2.) The innovative idea of holding two weapons has been circulating on Counterstrike and Rainbow Six games for like... what, 2 years now?...P>My advice? Get a good 3D acc for your comp and buy some good PC titles. Then, maybe, you'll see what you've been missing. | video-games_xbox |
The Legend. If you're reading this, you fall into one of two camps; those who love Metal Slug 3, and those who haven't played it.
If you belong to group 1, buy it. You know the drill regarding Metal Slug, and if you didn't already import the PS2 release, here's your chance to grab it for less money. In addition, you're supporting SNK's stateside buisness, and that's always a good thing. C'mon. It's SNK, for God's sake.
If you belong to group 2, then sit back and let me see how much of this game's history I can pack into 1,000 words.
Despite the name, Metal Slug has nothing to do with the animal, or even really the type of ammunition, which you'd think would make sense. Back in the arcade days of 1996, a group of laid-off Irem staffers (the company responsible for the immortal R-Type) got together and kicked out a game by the name of Metal Slug for the Neo Geo MVS/AES system. The concept was the same as any basic Contra-style shooter. You moved from left to right on the screen, jumping on platforms and shooting anything that shot back at you.
Like R-Type, Metal Slug had a "gimmick" that set it apart from other, similar shooters, and that was the Metal Slug itself; a cute, almost anthropomorphic mini tank that could jump and crouch. The player could find the Slug in the game's levels and it allowed a huge boost in power. That was really the whole concept.
It's also *not* the defining point of Metal Slug, merely it's namesake. Less memorable than the mechanic of the vehicles was the game's presentation, pacing, and level of fun. See, the thing about Metal Slug was not so much the raw game mechanics as the amount of obvious love that was poured into it. At a time when the Neo Geo was still the undisputed king of 2D graphics, Metal Slug reigned king as a pinnacle of what could be achieved artistically with supposedly "primitive" 2D graphics.
It's a little like the Color vs. Black and White debate with films. There's no denying that color is the way of the future, and it certaintly allows for a comparable amount of artistic expression, but B&W enables certain things that color does not, and a skilled director can make the most of these things in a way that color will never be able to reach. Apply the same argument to 2D vs. 3D, and you get what's so special about Metal Slug. Little touches like the hand-drawn cell animation in every single moving object in the game (and *everything* is animated in some way) allow for a remarkable amount of character, and it shines through in everything from the standing animation of the player's character to the facial reactions of the enemy troops when your character comes back from the dead after you put another quarter into the machine.
Anyway, Metal Slug went through two more arcade versions: Metal Slug 2, and Metal Slug X (basically a revamped version of MS2, which also landed on the Playstation 1 in the U.S., so grab it if you can find it). When Metal Slug 3 came out in 2000, it quickly became apparent that this was the zenith of arcade shooters. If you're a Led Zeppelin fan, here's an easy comparison: Metal Slug 3 is like the game version of Led Zep 4. It's that turning point when the end product becomes aware of it's own mystique and uses that knowledge to take things to a whole new level. Metal Slug 3 is a game that's aware of it's own following, and it manages the rarely accomplished task of giving the fans what they want, and giving them something entirely new at the same time.
Even if you're not familiar with the previous games in the series, Metal Slug 3 still has that aura of a game that's legendary and knows it, and is therefore unafraid to try things that it would have stopped short of in previous installments. This is hard to explain properly in few words without having some kind of visual aide, so you're just going to have to trust me when I say that this game reaches the level of inspired art, and there are several occasions where you'll grin while playing it, and probably mutter to yourself "Oh, man, that's really cool."
Well, okay, here's a "quick" example. The final stage in the game starts out with your character in a flying Slug -- an evolution of the tank from the first game. It then mimicks other spaceship-themed side-scrolling shooters (like R-Type) until you wind up on the ground, where it re-creates the final level from the original Metal Slug. Then, the alien enemies from Metal Slug X make an appearance, capture your character, and abscond back to their mothership. You then get a different character (of the 4 selectable) and, combined with the forces of the soldiers you fought in the first game, get into spaceships and rocket off to go fight the aliens. From there, the game becomes a vertically-scrolling shooter (like Ikaruga) until you finally make it onto the mothership, where it's classic Metal Slug until you finally rescue your originally selected character...And by then, you're about halfway through the level.
See what I mean? It's self-referencing, well constructed, funny as hell, and just all-around amazing.
Also, unlike many other games of this nature, Metal Slug 3 is for the casual and hardcore alike. It's graphics aren't so poor that they'll turn anyone off (in fact, they've held up very well) and the concept is so simple that anyone can pick up and play. The one caveat is that the game is quite hard, but there's selectable difficulty and enough leeway that, even if you can't make it all the way through, there's a good chance one of your buddies can. Expect to spend some time with it, mind you, but it's not so hard that it stops being fun, which is really the most important thing of all.
This is an excellent chance to grab the Holy Grail of 2D games. Don't miss it; you won't regret it. | video-games_xbox |
Best headset out there, but still has a few bugs. So I don't usually review things too often on here but I thought this product deserved an honest review from my standpoint. I'll just jump right into it, hopefully people can find this helpful.
With this headset being one of the most popular if not the most popular headset out there for gaming within both the console gaming and PC gaming scenes, One would expect it to be top of the line with mind blowing performance. While that is mostly true there are still a few bugs that need to be worked out with the mixamp. Now I can't speak much for the console side of things with this headset as I am primarily a PC gamer.
When it comes to PC gaming this headset is the best by far that I personally have ever had. I've owned quite a few name brand high priced headsets such as a few different turtle beach headsets and a platronic headset. None of which was of the price range of the Astro A40 but they were also not cheap offbrand products either. When it comes to sound these things are amazing, you can litterally hear a pin drop on the other side of the map. When someone is coming up from behind me or shooting at me from the sides I automatically know exactly which side they are on without even thinking about it. The mixamp preset EQ settings are a nice touch and work exactly as they should. The lows are punchy and come through loud enough to make an grenade felt but not so loud that the sound becomes distorted. The highs on this headset are crisp and crystal clear just the way they should be.
As for the microphone of the A40s I have mixed feelings. at times it works perfectly and is crystal clear and people will comment on how good it sounds, but then there are times when it just decides it doesn't want to work at all and there is so much static and white noise in the background that noone can understand me at all. It seems that the static seems to be cause by something in the mixamp because I can unplug it and plug it back in and the static will stop. After a while of playing the static will start up again and yet again unpluging the usb from the mixamp and plugging it back in will stop it. I'm not too sure as to what the cause of these static/white noise incidents could be but I would think it has something to do with the firmware or something within the mixamp itself.
My final verdict on this headset is that it definitely is a top of the line peice of equipment the sound is amazing and the mic aside from the glitches every once in a while is very clear sounding. I would have given 5 stars if not for the mic glitches and once they fix that issue which I'm sure they will this headset will be flawless. They are comfortable, Very well put together and sound especially nice as far as a gaming headset you can't get any better as far as im concerned. If you have the $250.00 to spend and are in the market for a headset these ones will more then exceed your expectations as far as I am concerned. | video-games_xbox |
Dishonored - A Shooter's View. My gaming background is playing shooters in PC's first and then on XBox 360 for the last few years. Dishonored is the first non-shooter game I buy in over a decade. This is the best 2012 game I've played and that includes comparisons to Halo 4 and COD Black Ops 2. No game is perfect and this one has a couple of peculiarities (more about them below); but they don't even warrant consideration when you grade a game that is as good as Dishonored. An immersing story that draws you in and then holds your interest till the end, a gorgeous environment, and realistic AI with human like behavior will keep you entertained for many hours. The game can be played as a shooter/killer and in that mode it will challenge even experienced shooters in the hardest settings. Obviously, game can be played in stealth mode and completing the whole story as a "Ghost" without killing no one or being detected is very challenging. Taking either route (bloody or not) will affect gameplay, AI behavior, and final story results.
XBox 360 Achievements (possible spoilers ahead): As mentioned before, Dishonored requires you to play game as a "story" and although once cleared you can repeat a mission; there are some achievements that track the results of the first try and do not consider future mission replays. Recommend always save a copy of each mission at beginning and ensure you do not overwrite it. If stats at mission end reveal you were detected, accidentally killed someone (unconscious bodies will be charged as kills if they fall, drown, or rats reach and eat them) or missed something; reloading this save will allow to replay mission and use new stats results.
Most achievements can be completed in two full story runs; once as a shooter/killer (don't buy or upgrade powers) and once as an undetected/no kill run. Note some challenges dealing with characters "Granny Rags" and "Slackjaw" require a series of decisions across several missions and are mutually exclusive. Also, completing any of "Granny Rags" side missions will trigger a scene in "The Flooded District" mission that will make playing undetected much harder; so it's recommended not to do them when going for "Ghost" and similar achievements. There are many secret achievements in the game and if interested in planning your runs for them, a good list and guides are provided by TrueAchievements online or other similar sites. There are many videos in the net in case you need help or find a particular achievement a bit elusive.
Game quirks (spoilers ahead) - When trying an undetected "Ghost" run, found (as some online guides have published) couple glitches or weird game behaviors.
1. On your first mission you must incapacitate (choke) the prison guards in the last couple of rooms before setting up the detonation. Not doing so will score you detected even if you were not confirmed "seen" by them during gameplay (red bolt detection markers). If not glitch, maybe developers think their closeness to explosion auto merits a detection.
2. On "High Overseer Campbell" mission once you've branded him and escaped through window an overseer doing rounds will discover him and sound alarm. Even tough no one will actually be alerted (red bolts) to your presence; this will usually score you as discovered. I ended up neutralizing alarm and choking overseers near branding room (concealing bodies on lights) to finally score an undetected escape.
If you are a "shooter gamer," most strongly recommend you give this 1st person action stealth game a chance. | video-games_xbox |
Forza 5 forsakes fans of the franchise in favor of obscene monetization. 2015 Update:
After the initial backlash from fans, Turn 10 has made a lot of concessions as far as making the content more accessible to players over the last year. Cars are easier (ie, cheaper) to obtain than they were at launch, there is no longer a restriction on the cars available to use in free mode, and credits (in-game currency) are dumped on the player through the "Forza Rewards" program every month.
My complaints now solely rest in the game design decisions that make Forza Motorsport 5 less enjoyable than FM4 was. The lack of car clubs and the store front/auctionhouse, the inability to sell cars/parts or gift cars to friends, and the removal of the fantasy tracks the franchise was known for were all huge losses. The interface can still be infuriatingly bad at times, but overall the game looks and plays great.
----------------Original Review Below-------------------
I've owned every game since the first, including having bought every limited edition and DLC/expansion available since - even bought tokens in 4 and Horizon. I can even stomach day-one on-disc DLC. I held my faith despite my doubts and kept my Forza 5 order. After having played for the last few hours I sincerely regret that decision.
Let me start by saying there are a handful of things I do like about Forza 5. Finally the ability to paint stock rims, and to paint wheels white - great. Engine swaps are now more varied and not limited to being within the same manufacturer, also great. The changes to make gold medals for 1st-3rd and silver 4th-6th and so on is excellent, no longer do I need to fall asleep while playing at a difficulty that ensures I am always in first place. Physics simulation seems improved as lower power cars now drift much more easily/realistically. The game is very pretty and I am sure those people who were fans of completing all the career races in past games will find equal enjoyment in Forza 5. Sadly I was never one of those types of players.
On to the bad.
I didn't mind tokens in Forza 4 when I could spend $10 and get a handful of the most expensive cars in the game to tinker with. Now the converted token-to-dollar cost of the Lotus E21 or Ferrari GTO is a staggering $63. Suppose I won't ever be playing with those, because career mode cannot hold my interest long enough to earn $6,000,000 and I will be damned if I am going to drop another cent on this franchise in its current state.
I was really looking forward to the feedback triggers, however as someone whose playstyle gravitates towards drifting, I can't stand it. The strength of the trigger vibration when sliding the car is obnoxious at best. Part of the blame lies in the controller itself since the noise it emits when at that threshold resembles what I can only describe as a honeybee trapped inside an empty aluminum can. The feel and sound while drifting or driving at the threshold is nothing short of unpleasant.
Another bizarre and unwelcome change is to the menu design & the removal of the ability to browse by manufacturers for cars and wheels, making the browsing process cumbersome. Who decided that was a good idea? I assume it was the same person who decided that all of the voiceover prompts should be unskippable to endlessly annoy anyone who is either familiar with what is being explained from past games, or simply has an IQ above 70 and doesn't need to be told that they can paint their car after they select the paint shop. I appreciate T10 is making continued efforts to reach out to casual gamers and auto enthusiasts who otherwise aren't gamers, but there is no need to make the rest of us suffer your attempts to hold their hands through everything.
Don't think I would mention the wheels without pointing out that we have had the exact same rim selection since Forza 3 - and even that had a reduced selection from Forza 2. With a fraction of the car count, none of the money saved on licensing vehicles could go towards rims? How about with all the money you will apparently be making with tokens? Toss us a bone here.
Perhaps a bone is too much to ask for since we cannot even get the fantasy tracks which have been pillars of the franchise. These are tracks which countless others and I have used as tuning and performance benchmarks for our vehicles for nearly a decade. If you are going to use inaccuracy as an excuse to cut the track list of real life circuits, what is the justification for the removal of the fantasy tracks? The only foreseeable reason is so that they can be re-released as paid DLC/expansions.
Truthfully my biggest issue with the game is how I feel marginalized as a fan of variety and customization. The only reason Forza 4 and Horizon held my interest for such an extended period was my ability to buy and customize hundreds of different cars to mess around with in multiplayer with friends. The cars I loved to drive were never the first cars I liked based on look/name/brand etc.; they were the ones I picked up just to toy with and discovered how great they are. The primary '2 or 3 cars' that Turn 10 claims people use I only ever came across because of my ability to experiment and compare with everything available. Now I cannot even sell cars or parts to try something else if I decide I do not like a vehicle because that functionality has been removed entirely. To further compound the money grab, car clubs are gone so that my friends and I can no longer wisely pool our resources into different vehicles to share with one another.
The manufacturer affinities (or discount signs in Horizon) did wonders for allowing me to play the franchise in the way I enjoyed without needing to grind out the parts I disliked in order to do so. Now Turn 10 has apparently decided that how I play is wrong and that all I should be doing is racing a handful of cars in career mode or rivals, and if I don't like it then I can pay them more money or go to hell. Every screen has a prompt for me to buy or spend tokens.
The removal of the storefront and auction house to combat money glitching without similar functionality for finding liveries, vinyl groups, tunes, etc. feels like more of a disservice than the money glitchers destroying the economy were. But Turn 10 couldn't possibly allow anything into the game that might hinder token sales.
In fact, every facet of the design of Forza 5 seems tailored to squeeze every last penny possible from the player. I don't know if blame lies with Turn 10 or Microsoft or both. I can only assume that the majority of the developers must not be happy with the published product considering past entries in the franchise were everything Forza 5 is not. As a (former) devoted fan of the franchise I find the monetization of the game, and the means by which it is shoved down my throat, simply insulting and equally disappointing. I can see why the game has received great reviews from those ignorant to what the franchise used to be. I wanted so badly to like 5, and I tried despite everything I was told, but I simply can't. Not like this.
Update 11/27:
I have had time to explore more of the game and come up with nothing better to say about it.
There are even more features lacking in FM5 than I initially discovered.
While playing career mode there is no option to quit the series to the menu between races. You must load the next track before you are able to do so. There is no way to change your assist settings in career mode without loading a race, so if you wish to change your traction control or transmission before tuning a vehicle you must load a race first. Two more demerits for the regressed menu design of FM5.
Players are no longer able to save replays of their multiplayer races.
On the subject of multiplayer, you are no longer able to host public custom lobbies; meaning any non-standard game type is invite only. Popular game types like cat-and-mouse have also been removed.
Some cars, such as the 350Z, completely lack the aero/body kit customization options that were present in past titles. It would be impossible to come up with a complete list of the cars that are missing these options since you have no way of telling until you purchase the car. Once you own it, you are of course stuck with that car since the player is unable to sell it if you should find you are unable to customize it in the way you anticipated.
On the subject of customization, drag tires remain an option which is curious because all drag strips/tracks have been removed from the game. Sorry to fans of that game mode.
And to those who say I or others only complain because we want things handed to us or are too lazy to play the game, please allow me to say that if FM5 had been FM4 with cars that cost $60 in tokens, I would have been exceedingly happy even with the reduced car and track list. My problem is that Forza 5 has been redesigned from the ground up to encourage and reward token purchases instead of supplementing the core gameplay with the option to purchase them. The removal of car clubs with shared garages, the removal of the full garage for use in free play, the removal of car and part sales, the removal of the auction house and storefront, the removal of the ability to gift other players cars, the removal of all level reward cars, the removal of free/discounted parts with experience gains, the way cars are automatically upgraded when purchased in career mode without informing the player, the way the recommended rivals races require the day-one DLC pack, etc... these are all changes to facilitate microtransactions and punish the casual gamers who loved the accessibility of past Forza games and its community more than endless hours of repeatedly grinding races. | video-games_xbox |
Seriously bizarre, seriously awesome. You can also check out this review at [...]
If one was to inquire about what games they should purchase for their entertainment needs titles like God of War, Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden and stuff like Batman: Arkham Asylum would come up undoubtedly. Bayonetta bends that talk in a unique direction but will no less be added to this list of must-play action titles. But coming from the mind of DMC creator Hideki Kamiya, that was almost a sure-fire bet anyhow.
What's different about it? The answer is what isn't. Bayonetta is one of those games that's very difficult to describe. On one hand it's a fast and frantic action game comparable to the likes of Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden. Combat is solid and undeniably fluid with plenty of combos and weapons at your disposal to prevent any onset of boredom. However, it's over the top and exaggerated approach is unequivocally ridiculous and a considerable hook to the already excellent action.
Bayonetta is an Umbra witch, which (hah) has a counter-part group known as the Lumen sages. The Umbran side is considered "dark" while the other is wholly "light" and they're all in charge of keeping the balance of the universe intact. Well, a Romeo and Juliet type scenario goes down with a Lumen and Umbran getting together, all hell proceeds to break loose and after the dust settles Bayonetta wakes up at the bottom of a lake as the last of the Umbran line. Suffering from severe amnesia and full of vengeance, she takes particular morbid interest in letting the blood of angels. This is the basis of the game.
To be entirely honest, I'm not exactly sure what I just wrote. Angels are your main nemesis and killing them somehow brings the story together in laughably spectacular fashion. What I mean is that everything, from the combat to the clothing is unjustifiably exaggerated which is a huge reason why the game is such a pleasure to play. Bayonetta is ostensibly a dark stripper witch with a sarcastic personality reminiscent of Dante from you know where. Her attacks revolve around familiar combo systems you'd see in games listed above, with one giant quirk... they deal with hair. Yes, combos often end with Bayonetta unleashing what's called a Wicked Weave attack. A massive boot, fist, or sword of hair could manifest and do devastating damage to surrounding enemies; she also loses most of her clothing when performing said attacks.
Yes, the stripper witch loses clothing tactically so she may unleash insanity unto her opponents with demon hair beasts. She even has special torture attacks that are unique depending on what angle you hit your opponent. Torture attacks can be unleashed by avoiding damage and dishing it out until your magic bar reaches a certain point. Simply press a couple buttons and Bayonetta will cause catastrophic damage in a multitude of hysterically gruesome ways. For example, Bayonetta gets behind her foe, creates a guillotine and spanks her victim until finally calling down the sharpened blade to behead the embarrassed and soundly defeated angel. Even better is her climax finishes against larger beasts. Bayonetta will call down a super hair beast which can be anything from a large dragon chomping down on the surprised enemy to an enraged bird that eviscerates the target. One such boss creature I faced was in the shape of a ball, and upon his defeat Bayonetta's climax finish summoned multiple hands of hair that played volleyball with the thing before finally crushing it to a bloody pulp. Ridiculous? Yes. But oh so satisfyingly right.
I should mention that stages are composed of the essential elements that make standardized action games solid. You've got your hidden treasures to find, heart and magic containers to increase health and abilities, and currency to purchase new techniques and weapons. Just about everything a typical action game requires Bayonetta has, and more. There are even small puzzles scattered around as well as hidden challenges called Alfheim portals which are very reminiscent of DMC's challenges. Just about every level was setup in a way that didn't make me feel cheated or bored. Actually, traversing these dynamic environments is half the fun since you'll run into impossibly awesome scenarios quite often. Running up sky-scrapers while dodging missiles and fighting enemies while on rotating debris is commonplace in Bayonetta. Also, to follow with everything that's already bizarre, instead of potions or some type of magical concoction to bolster your abilities, Bayonetta uses lollipops. Remember, she's a dark stripper witch. It makes sense.
Frame rate-wise, the game is smooth throughout its entirety and its visuals are pretty damn stunning too. Enemies and animations are intricate and move like you'd expect them to. With the variety of angelic enemies you also shouldn't get bored of maiming them either. But what's really important is the difficulty. Games like Ninja Gaiden are brutal and after you die they'll send you back to the last time you saved. Bayonetta can be very tough at points, especially if you have trouble dodging. Much of the game revolves around Witch Time, which is initiated by dodging at the last second. Think of it like bullet time where everything slows down for a portion, but you can move and attack unhindered. Thankfully, if you perish the game brings you back to the last section or Verse you died at. Typically there's about six or so Verses in a chapter. What's even better is how death during a boss battle is handled. Most fights against the level guardian are multi-tiered, so if you get to the second part of the fight and die you'll actually appear at the beginning of the second segment, not the very beginning. This design decision helps the game flow and I'm incredibly thankful for it.
Surely the checkpoint system is very forgiving and purists will dislike how it works. However, the game tracks how well you do including keeping tabs on deaths, combos, and items used. The fewer times you die, the more likely you are to receive a higher award at the end of the stage. The game will last you somewhere around 10 hours and with this state-tracking feature as well as having all your items and currency carry over into a new game plus, there's plenty of reasons to revisit the game once you're through.
Bayonetta is another triumph for Mr. Kamiya. Beneath this sea of exaggeration and ridiculousness is a serious, high-quality action game. You'd do yourself no justice by skipping out on it. | video-games_xbox |
Follows in the footsteps of the Souls games. Lords of the Fallen is a fantasy action RPG that takes a lot of inspiration from the Souls games (Demons Souls, Dark Souls 1 and 2). During combat, the same importance is put on patience, blocking and dodging, and the pacing and feel is very much like a Souls game. If you tried Souls and were put off by that, then I wouldn't rush out and pay the full 59.99 to get this game on release. One large difference is that some attacks can be difficult, if not nearly impossible to dodge. In every Souls game, it was possible to get through a fight untouched, if you knew your opponent well enough and your timing was sharp. Here, I found there were times when I just had to attack knowing that I was going to take a hit. Armor is also effective here (especially compared to Dark Souls 2), so playing as more of a tank can work. That's not to say you can just go charging into a fight swinging wildly. You need to be strategic about when you can take a hit in order to do some damage yourself.
If the minimalistic storytelling of the Souls series left you frustrated, then you may be relieved that this game is more conventional when it comes to telling you where you are and why you are doing what you are doing. Though I personally loved the mysteries and the beak atmosphere of those Souls games, I like that they went a different direction here. They gave Lords its own personality. Character customization doesn't have quite as many options, and you can spend your experience at a checkpoint even if you don't have enough to gain a point for upgrading your character, so if you've got a lot of experience but not enough to advnace, you don't have to risk losing it. The biggest difference with the Souls games is the lack of a multiplayer system, which, though it frustrated me when i first started playing those games, became a big part of their appeal.
All things considered, I think Lords is mostly successful at giving us what feels like a fairly traditional action RPG with Souls like combat. Though it doesn't quite meet the standard that From software set, I am getting a lot of enjoyment out of it.
If the number of comparisons to the Souls games bothers you, they were hard to avoid. The gameplay is so similar. It's clearly intended for the kind of people who enjoyed those games. | video-games_xbox |
Mass Effection. I knew Mass Effect 2 would deliver but I never expected it would shake the very foundation of my Mass Effect fandom. Every possible area in need of improvement was addressed the second time around. And every area that defined the brilliance of the original was maintained and perfected. This was a great relief for me (considering the large number of improvements); I was worried that perhaps Bioware would not only changes the negative aspects of the game, but also the positive. Rest assured, this could not be further from the truth. The entire game is like a single defining emotion... I call it "Mass Effection". I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, which is why I'm going to cut this short, but just keep in mind that your choices from the first game will have an even greater impact on the game than you think. In conclusion, the Story, Writing, Combat, Music, Characters, Dialogue, Sidequests, Controls, and Visuals (oh God, the graphics!) have been slowly crafted to perfection. I have no doubts that this game will be successful both critically and commercially. If it were possible to give this game 6 stars, I would it. Unfortunately, such an option would defy Amazon's very existance, causing an unbalance in the force. Or... the universe. Which is exactly what Mass Effect 2 did to my freaking mind. I kneel before this stellar title in awe. Blessed be the name of Bioware. Don't stop what ya got guys. Don't stop 'til ya find the sweet spot. Thanks again for the game!
Update: The Collector's Edition has some awesome collectables. The artbook was fascinating, the comic book interesting, the Cerberus Network card was well worth the DLC (and future DLC to come), the boxart is just straight dope, and the bonus DVD was incredible. Not to mention the tin case was badass. If possible, purchase over the standard (but do not hesitate to purchase the standard edition if this is out. Mass Effect 2 will blow you away). | video-games_xbox |
Doesn't live up to Expectations. But does not mean its not worth the buy....to a degree. After being a fan of the Mafia series I was excited to get this game. Based in old 1968 New Orleans you start the came as Vietnam war vet Lincoln Clay. Lincoln picks up various crime jobs to help pay off the mob and his fathers debt to them. Things turn sour and people turn on Lincoln. Now i don't want to spoil too much of the game but after Lincoln wakes from a coma/injuries he vows to take over the small area of the hallow that they call home. So ill get right to the point with the pros and cons. This was played on Xbox One.
Pros:
-Excellent Graphics. Game looks sharp. Great detail. Voices match mouth movements.
-Great Game play Mechanics. Game is smooth and operates nicely.
-Story. Story is excellent and one of the better ones i have played. Glad they really sealed the deal with this one as there is no multiplayer support.
-Characters. I love the progression with Lincoln and the background you get about him and his family. You really see the character progress throughout the game as a powerhouse "mob" boss.
Cons:
-Glitches. Oh. My. Gosh. So many glitches. Since playing the game on its release date i have run into a few issues. One was the game locking up an freezing when getting adrenaline shots for health out of a cabinet. I could look around but was stuck at the cabinet and couldn't move. So a reset was required...frustrating as I had to redo the mission over again. Another mission required a getaway and the getaway vehicles were flipped over and not drive able. Attached you'll find the photo of the vehicles. Those were the two major ones in the past week.
-Resets. The game crashes on its own every time i play it. Sometimes it will crash twice in a sitting. Always during a mission. The game will exit out completely to the Xbox home screen and i have to restart everything. This is unbelievably annoying and why it got docked 2 stars. I want to be able to play the game with no surprises and the resets really put me over the edge. Especially when I stream the game. Creates an unpleasant viewing in my opinion.
So in the end I do recommend the game as something to play. the story is great and the game play mechanics are smooth barring that you ignore the occasional glitches. I won't fault the game for that as my problems never stemmed from the actual movement/physics of the game. The game has a slight GTA feel but know you cant jump on command and the shooting mechanics are different. its an old Vietnam style game. If you were looking for GTA style you won't get it here but i also feel you won't be disappointed by game play. I do feel you may be let down from the glitches/crashes. This game is a good price drop buy. Not a $60 purchase. As for the glitches i do know it seems to be a common thing across all platforms. Some people have reported that the vehicles they needed to get were gone and that only a marker indicated where they were but they didn't exist. Others have reported issues with loads. I haven't had this problems per say but have had my fair share of issues. Which im giving Hangar 13 the benefit of the doubt. They are a new studio and for a new studio this game really is not all that bad. An update might even take care of my problems. Which if it does, i will update this review accordingly. But for now its a 3 out of 5. | video-games_xbox |
Es Bueno .... pero. Silent Hill 4: The Room es el nuevo juego de esta famosa serie de survival horror que nos ha convertido en unos adictos al miedo, por decirlo de alguna manera. Sin embargo, si te gustaron los anteriores ten cuidado, pues en South Ashfield las cosas las hacen de otra manera.
Odio a mis vecinos..
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El juego no se desarrolla, como los anteriores, en Silent Hill sino en el pueblo vecino, South Ashfield, y como parece ser aqui tambien hay un buen puado de locos dispuestos a hacerte pasar un rato de horror. Tu juegas como Henry Townshend, un ciudadano promedio que vive en un edificio de apartamentos y que un dia, al despertar, nota que esta atrapado en su apartamento. Al inspeccionar un poco la situacion nota que algunas cosas han cambiado, muebles movidos, fotos extraas hasta encuentra un orificio para espiar a su vecina, y por si fuera poco hay un agujero en su bao en el que al entrar viaja a mundos paralelos llenos de criaturas deformes. Lo bueno es que Henry no esta solo, en cada nivel encotrar a una personas que tambien se encuentran atrapadas en este mundo bizarro, pero como te imaginaras en la tradicin de SH, estas personas no son precisamente la compaa que Henry necesita, si sabes a que me refiero.
El Nuevo Chico del Pueblo
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La forma de jugar ha cambiado drasticamente respecto de las anteriores entregas. Cuando estas en tu habitacion la historia se desarrolla desde una perspectiva de primera persona, mientras en los diferentes niveles utilizas la tradicional perspectiva de tercera persona. Esto funciona bien, sin embargo en ocaciones, como es comun en SH, la camara te juega malas pasadas lo cual podria irritarte un poco. Otro aspecto que notaras inmediatamente es que el radio y la linterna, iconos de la serie, han desaparecido, asi como las eternas caminatas en la neblina que practicamente no existen en este juego. Y... adivina que? no hay acertijos, de verdad que no los hay, pues los pocos que podrian serlo en alguna medida son solo la realizacion de tareas poco imaginativas y sin sentido (como el de la habitacion de cabeza).
A todo esto debemos agregar la manejabilidad de Henry, que es un punto debil del juego, en ocaciones es dificil calcular si se esta demasiado cerca o demasiado lejos de un enemigo lo cual har que en muchas ocaciones salgas lastimado al tratar de hacertar un golpe.
Los sustos, que son la principal caracterstica de estos juegos, siguen estando a la orden del dia, creeme, en mas del alguna ocacin estaras pegando un brinco de tu silla y escucharas como palpita tu corazn mientras recorres los diferentes niveles.
Cuentame un Cuento...
------------------
Sin embargo hay algo que no ha cambiado, tiene una buena historia. La historia en The Room es lo suficientemente interesante para mantenerte jugando y hacer que lo problemas del juego sean aceptables. Algunas de las cosas que te parecern interesante son las referencias a los juegos anteriores, tal es el caso del encargado del edificio, cuyo hijo vivi hace aos en Silen Hill, el apellido del encargado es Sunderland... que te recuerda? (SH2)
La historia por si sola es razn suficiente para que deses jugar y jugar sin parar, siempre esperando regresar a tu habitacin para ver que encuentras debajo de la puerta.
Pueblo Nuevo, Vida Nueva
--------------------------
En conclusion, SH4 tiene algunos puntos debiles, asi como un estilo de juego bastante diferente que hara que algunos lo detesten. Sin embargo es este nuevo estilo lo que atraiga a nuevos seguidores. En definitiva SH4 es un juego bueno para aquellos que les gusta disfrutar de una buena historia acompaada de un buen rato de terror psicologico.
Calificacion:
Graficas: 7
Sonido: 7
Control: 6
Historia: 8
-------------
Diversion: 7 | video-games_xbox |
History Unfolds. The tale of swords, legends, and women with big bouncing boobies are back and better than ever in what could be the best outing for the "Soul" Series of games. Almost everything that made the first one on the Dreamcast a blast is back. The over the top announcer, the tight controls, the great graphics, the great mechanics, the music and the just sheer fun experience to be had is all back and with a vengeance.
The intro cut scene sets up the universe of the game with great bravado and introduces most of the key characters in the game. The best part of the cut scene for me will always be the great music which builds to an intense level towards the end. I love that little solo trumpet that comes in when we see Nightmare standing alone on that hill then later joined by that little bird. The music just builds with the synth orchestra and electric guitars till it tears open when the title of the game is revealed. When you hear that great music and the name of the game super imposed on the screen it just sends chills up one's spine. Definitely the best opening in the game series and a lot better than the tame and very boring cut scene that begins "Soul Calibur 4".
Most of the characters from the first are back for the sequel. From my everyone's favorite sadomasochistic Voldo, to the voluptuous and damn near naked Ivy, and my boys Maxi,Kilik, Nightmare are all are back with the exception of The Rock who whiles I missed isn't really a deal breaker for me. Everyone gets a makeover and whether it's Taki's nipple peering through her dress, the way the clothes interacts with the characters or the ample amounts of bouncing boobies in the game, everyone looks better and sharper than ever before. Even though this game came out years ago it still looks good today which is a high compliment to the design team for this remarkable game. You think Voldo was creepy before, wait till he's breathing and crawling all over you.
The trash talking which every character says is always fun and somewhat hilarious depending on whose doing the trash talking. Ivy and Nightmare to me have the best and funniest ones, although Cervantes nonsensical babble and Voldo's creepy breathing is also fun. And speaking of nonsensical, the announcer is back with his over the top phrases that make no sense what so ever. I love that guy. Trying to decipher half the stuff he talks about it is a task onto itself, but I do love the hell out of this announcer, and I love how he can say the craziest thing without a hint of sarcasm. It's like he actually believes what he's saying. Hilarious stuff.
Arcade Mode, VS. mode, and Survival are present, and new is the "Weapon Master" mode which is where a bulk of the game's hidden goodies can be unlocked. So if you get tired of pummeling your friends or the CPU, you can always try to fight to unlock more weapons and clothes for the characters. Also unlockable are some new stages that are brilliantly designed and fits the Soul universe very well. There is also a training mode which is can be very helpful when trying to master combos and finishing moves.
The stages in this game are amazing to look at and fight in just like with the first one on the Dreamcast. They range from huge open fields with sun shining, to small little cages that one wrong step can send you outside the ring with a "Ring Out". My personal favorites are the fire and ice ones which can be challenging to master but once you're used to them you can inflict great damage on your opponent if you know how to maneuver your way through them. The ice one is great because you can use your opponents speed against them. You can make them slide out of the ring depending on how you make them attack you, and with the fire one you can just make them stand in the fire pits and just drain their energy without really doing much. Each stage feels balanced and never over the top or silly.
Greatly aiding the stages is the great music that whiles it's entirely synth is still amazing work. I think most people would be too busy fighting to pay attention to the music but seasoned players no doubt recognize every note of the fantastic music in the game. A highlight for me would have to be "History Unfolds" which is the intense and highly energetic piece for the character selection screen. I'm just in love with that cue so much, gets a lot plays on my Zune. And that little arpeggiated figures for the celesta, flutes and strings that comes in about every 20 seconds is awesome, just awesome. The harp on that cue is great too because it seems subtle but gets great mileage on here.
"Guided by Wind" is another great piece of music which if memory serves me right is the music for Xianghua's place which is my second favorite in the game. It starts off big and whimsical then the trumpet and strings take over. It's a lovely tune that fits the setting that the fight takes place in. A truly great piece of music. "Evil Reborn" and "Raise Thy Sword" are also great ones. "Raise Thy Sword" has some of the best use of organ ever.
Since I started playing video games probably "Super Mario World" for the SNES and "Half Life 2" have being played countless times by me. "Soul Calibur 2" joins that exclusive club. May not be the best fighting game ever made, but definitely the most fun I've ever played.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. | video-games_xbox |
Why So Serious. I kept my distance from this title like the plague
From all the negative reviews and the trashing AngryJoe gave it!
Needless to say I've been playing home consoles very long (29years or so)
To say this title is unplayable is without a doubt more or less everyone just jumping on the bandwagon (Everyone has to be a Hipster troll) Trust me when i say this title is actually very fun with minor problems
I just snatched up the on demand version for $9.99 a few days ago (Have dumped 3-4hrs in it) It's not bad by any means
If you think this is so Horrible what would you think of E.T. on the Atari2600, Who Framed Roger Rabbit/Back to the Future on the NES and Superman 64 on the N64 Those are half a star games this is not.
The Story is the biggest problem (But, it's a licensed game you can't expect every one to be like the Batman Arkham Series)
Just look at it as a "What If" type game and you'll be fine (Stop over thinking it)
I Love the Alien Franchise in fact one of my 1st Movie Theater experiences was "Aliens" not sure why my mom took me to it (But, seeing that film very young was awesome!!! But, also terrifying
To say this game has Bastardized the Alien Legacy really???
what did the two Dreadful Alien vs Predator films and Prometheus do throw the early 90's Aliens toy line into that
This game is without a doubt NOT the lowest point in the Alien Saga
The Set pieces are very cool seeing the aftermath of Aliens is very cool
The Scare factor is very high (I had a dozen or so jump scares in 2hrs unlike in Resident Evil 6 that had 0)
The tension is very organic and really puts you into the game (Major Plus!)
The Water effects look very good (stupid little thing i know but, it is)
The v/o is hit and miss
The problem with "Gamers" in 2014
with all the "real" BS going on in the gaming industry (all the over-priced DLC , Content on disc blocked , and Companies dropping Online from games within 2years of there life cycle) Gamers are taking a Stand because of Aliens Colonial Marines seriously Jesus this is why the Gaming Industry is screwing the consumer to no end Cause "we're" Marks and we deserve to be grifted by a industry that see's everyone as a dollar sign!
There is talks of a Class action lawsuit against this game Good Lord again really!!!
Pick and Chose much better battles if you wanna take a stand
It's a fun challenging FPS minor bugs/glitches the story is ridiculous but, it's fun! 7.7/10
Make the choice for yourself
For anyone that might think I'm a plant for gearbox here's my XBox Gamer Tag Duckman 1979 | video-games_xbox |
A Blast from the Past. I must admit, I'm a bit surprised with the number of mediocre reviews that haven't only been showing up on Amazon, but all over the InterTubes as well. I'll start by saying that I am a huge Halo fan and enjoyed every game, including Halo 2. Unlike many other people, you'll find that I enjoyed Halo 1's multiplayer more than Halo 2. It's hard to explain but you came to read about Halo 3 and that's what you'll get.
The game is in many respects an ode to Halo 1. Johnson is cheery and peppy like he was in the first game and is a real blast to be around. The marines are typical like they were in all the other games, but I noticed some outstanding combat dialogue (funny). The missions too are very much like Halo 1. I won't give any away but some of the more memorable experiences in Halo one are done up, in typical Bungie style, in Halo 3 with some interesting twists.
I want to get the Sound and Video overwith first because that's what everyone always seems to care about. The video is fantastic in my opinion and I still say this when everyone compares it to Gears. Yes Gears has good graphics but you are mostly running around in small corridors, fighting a dozen enemies or so at a time while in Halo 3, it isn't uncommon to fight nearly 30 at the same time in addition to your allied companions, all running over 30fps. My favorite part of the grahpics upgrade to Halo 3 is in the more subtle details. There is fantastic HDR system where if you are in a tunnel, persay, and walk out, you'll screen will turn white for a few seconds. The same when a grenade or explosion happens right next to you. It's much cooler than I can ever describe. I also like if you turn around real quick or in a heavy action sequence, there is some depth of field and blurring. Ads a nice touch.
The sound is incredible. If you liked the sound in either of the Halos, you will enjoy this. I don't think anyone could or can have a problem with the sound. This isn't just the music (a lot of it is older music improved) but the environment sounds and weapon sounds. Each explosion sounds perfect and just listening while standing still gives you a feeling like you're in that location; very believable.
Back to my original point of the ode to Halo; Bungie clearly did their homework and while they added all these spectacular additions to the game (I haven't mentioned new vehicles, weapons, equipment, etc because that would take too long), they kept the feeling of "30 seconds of fun, over and over again". There is not a moment of inactivity in the game and each battle leads to another one while feeling fresh at the same time.
I had two reactions to the game when I first played it. "Wow, this feels like a movie" and "How am I going to do this?" The beginning cinematic and all the cinematics that follow feel very much like an epic movie. The dialogue is responsive and on top and the subtle detail to the characters is impressive. For example, Chief is reminiscing about Cortana and then Johnson sticks his head in the screen with a Dory (from Finding Nemo) like face, reminding you of the lightheartedness of Johnson despite all the adventures you have shared. There are countless examples but hopefully you'll see them by yourself.
The second reaction involves strategy. The levels are clearly linear but playing on the tougher difficulties (if you are any good at FPS, play at Heroic), you have to constantly evaluate your surroundings, picking out weaknesses in their lines and deciding whether to try and get down the group's leader (though they may block your attempt by popping down a bubble shield) or picking off grunts to clear a path. It's really fantastic.
I strongly recommend that you play this game. Some people may not like it as much as Halo 1 or may not think it's the best thing since velcro shoes, it is still a great game with tremendous replayability. I mean, I didn't even talk about Saved Films, Forge, Custom Games, Multiplayer, Co-Op, Meta Scores, Skulls or the community. Please, do yourself a favor and try it out. | video-games_xbox |
Limitations on the console version but the new challenge mode adds many hours of challenging gameplay. I had my doubts about this game because of limitations on the console and handheld versions of the sims and sims 2. There are limitations but it does not interfere too much with gameplay.
I will list the new features and limitations and gameplay changes of the xbox 360 version of the sims 3.
Pros: Since this is being played on a console, there is no need to worry about the usual performance issues that frequently plague pc users, the pc versions performance is iffy and unpredictable, but on the console version, there is no need to worry.
Karma powers, challenges and rewards and achievements: One of the best features of this game. Karma powers let you do stuff like raise/lower all your sims needs, make them learn skills at an accelerated rate or make them super lucky for a couple of hours. You earn points at midnight and for completing wishes. As for the challenges, there are many, i think 300 challenges which will have you complete every aspect of the game and will extend your play time for many hours.
pros/cons: These are a list of things that can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.
Building limit "fire code": I personally am happy with the build limit overall, but there are a few things like how planting seeds take up a good amount of space on the meter, so making the perfect garden at your dream mansion you worked hard for may be hard to do. Also the most expensive pre-built mansion is not really a good choice if you want to customize, i would suggest the second most expensive mansion, there seems to be a less strict building limit and the design of the lot offers more space.
Glitches: Though mostly bad, there are some neat glitches in this game, like how the repair man gives you a free $4,000 laptop after he comes to your house, but there are some game stopping glitches how the game thinks that there is a karma power active and does not let you save after 20 sim weeks of progress, or how items from your inventory disappear after moving to a new lot.
cons:
Right off the bat i will talk about slow fast-forward times. I thought it was slow in the pc version, but it is much worse in the console version. Occasionally the clock may jump forward faster when all sims are sleeping, but it is not much of an improvement and rarely happens. I spent the past 3 hours playing and waiting for my plants to grow. i have been waiting 90% and playing the other 10% of the time. I had time to watch a movie while occasionally unpausing the game or tending to my plants which brings me to my next issue.
Almost every event that happens in the game will make your game pause, such as useless opportunities, when sims get job promotions or when those sims ask if they can talk on the phone. So not only does the game take forever to fast forward, you cant just leave the game running because eventually it will pause automatically.
Because of the way the game is setup no two created families can interact with eachother, it is one family per save and you cannot modify, delete or add any community or neighborhood locations and you are stuck in one area that may have a park, and a couple of residents, so if you want to travel in another part of town, you must sit through a long loading screen, taking away the freedom to roam you had in the pc version.
In conclusion, this game is fun to play to complete challenges and get achievements, but lacks the sandbox style gameplay in the pc version. | video-games_xbox |
Great Puzzle Music Game. Really there isn't anything like it on XBLA. If you never have played it on the PSP, which I hadn't, you need to grab this game on XBLA. At 10 dollars its a steal, I grabbed it when it was full price around launch. The basic gameplay is like this. You have set puzzle pieces, like Tetris however they'll always be 4 pieces in a square, that you have to arrange either by rotating to the left or right to make a minimum of 4 corresponding colored/patterned squares adhere to each other. If you set up chain reactions you get more points, along with making bigger and bigger matches. Get x4, x8 or even x 10 bonus points and see how many different combination of bonuses you can get before the white line passes by. As the levels increase the line increases in speed while every other level returns to normal or gives you a break with a slow relaxing, or time to eliminate a pile of garbage, speed.
Ah yes, more info about this magic line. Throughout the game there is a line that travels from left to right, wrapping back to the left, and repeat. Anytime you make a match or a sequence of the same colors together in a square-like shape they highlight awaiting the white line. Then the line passes over them and your matches disappear with the total bonus points being added to your score. There are also times when the game gives you a wild card-like piece which you can use to clear all of that same touching color pieces. This can save you from defeat many times over or just clear off a good section of jumbled pieces. Why am I telling you this, grab the demo and see for yourself haha.
It's actually very addicting and the payoff is loads of bonus points, staying alive and listening to the interesting musical experience. The musical experience is always different because it is directly relatable to your inputs in the game, move the left you have a sound effect/right different sound effect/clear a match sound effect/eliminate a lot of blocks and you get yes another sound effect! There is a background loopable track being played in the background so its not like you're just playing space invaders.
The add ons might be a rip off to you but I liked the game and wanted to support the dev team, (I like Advance Challenge Pack over the original). Its a game that's easy to play, A or B rotates piece and left stick moves it, but hard to master, (to know where to put each piece and which way to rotate creating chain reactions or not hindering yourself doesn't come right off the bat). | video-games_xbox |
Incredibly Fun. This review is from May 2007.
The Guitar Hero series has finally ported over to the XBox platform- and takes a step up the console ladder by reaching the current generation of graphics. The game is of course awesome, but there is so much more they could have done.
First, the great part. This game is incredibly fun. We've played the PlayStation versions for hours and hours. When we took the XBox version home, we played it for hours straight that first night. The interface is great, the songs are great, and you really get hooked into the fun. Sure, not every person will love every song. You'll have to play a few you don't adore to progress through the career mode. Still, there are enough that you really love to keep you going.
With Guitar Hero II there's a great two player mode where one person plays guitar and the other plays the bass line. It's really a ton of fun.
Why would we get the XBox version when we have the PS2 version? First, we don't keep the PS2 in the main living room any more on the high def TV, so having the XBox 360 version means we can enjoy it easily with friends when they come over. Second, you can download new songs! I realize they only have 9 new songs as of launch, but I'm of course hoping they create an entire library for us to play with. That makes the game infinitely fun.
The graphics really don't matter at all. When you're playing, all you're watching is the series of notes coming at you, and listening to the music. As long as you have your TV hooked into a great stereo, you're pretty much all set.
With all this greatness, what's not wonderful? Well, first, everything in the new generation is wireless. We keep our consoles back on the wall because of this. Our networks are all wireless. It's really odd to have a controller come out that is required to wire into the console. Rumor is that they tried to make a wireless version and didn't get it done "in time" to release the game - but I would rather they have waited until the game was really ready.
Next, the guitar layout itself is really odd. The start / select buttons are TINY and are extremely far from the finger positions. This makes them pretty much useless. I've also heard that many people had defective guitars where the bar would not work. Nothing is more frustrating than playing a game and not having the controller respond properly.
When you buy new songs, you are forced to buy them in sets of three - even if you only want one in the set. This is of course an easy way for them to rack up much higher sales prices for themselves. A few of them are games from Guitar Hero I which obviously they had already coded, and just chose not to include for free in GHII.
If you don't own any of the Guitar Hero series, and you have an XBox 360, then certainly buy Guitar Hero II from your XBox 360. The game is incredibly fun and you should have at least one copy in the house. If you already own the PS2 version, then it's probably not worth it to upgrade. Hold on until Guitar Hero III comes out, which should hopefully fix a number of these issues. | video-games_xbox |
The real Ark Survival Evolved 9.5/10. Before i review this awesome game I'd just like to ask a simple question
When did consumers become so stupid?
A new thing in the 8th generation of console gaming has been
Paying hard earned money for a preview/beta of a game (That isn't even guaranteed to be the final version or even released for that matter)
People are paying a premium to test out a beta
Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Ark Survival Evolved is one of these Preview titles that looks like a Dreamcast game and the gaming community being the suckers they are
Pay for a unfinished game then go nuts for it like it's the best thing since slice bread
If you loved Far Cry 3 and Blood Dragon but, Far Cry 4 was somewhat of a let down
This is the game for you
Far Cry Primal is hands down the best 8th Generation game put out by UbiSoft to date
Story: The story itself is very basic to some extent
Your a caveman during the stone age your goal is to survive and build a community
Controls: If you played previous FC games you'll get the hang of it pretty quick
the combat is primitive but, it also adds more layers how to play using fire is a huge tool
The only major negative with the controls are when you try and use the eagle to scout ahead of you
Then things feel "off"
Audio very impressive the music score is HQ
you also have a lost language so there is no English being spoken
But, there's subtitles
Each animal you encounter has there own sound very organic
Graphics also very impressive
the caveman look strange at first but, It's 10,000 BC
They shouldn't look like modern humans
The environment also looks awesome from the rain effects, water even the day/night cycle
All the animals also look very real/life like most of the time
Once you tame a animal and they join you
At any point when the animal is with you you can heal them (with meat) or pet them
There is a strange graphic animation when you try and pet most of the animals you tame
When you pet them then the animal looks more cartoony... It's a little jarring at first
besides that almost every animal looks amazing the way they move and act is close to spot on
Gameplay: If you played any of the previous Far Cry games
Primal is just that but, it's turned on it's ear being set so far back
The challenge is very balanced but, you'll die a lot
Some of the animals you first encounter are relentless
The various animals are the biggest threats
The open world itself is massive in scale the biggest problem with such a huge map is getting from point A to point B
Once you start taking over areas you can fast travel but, there's a lot of ground to cover
The environments go from green forests to snow covered mountains
Hunting is once again a major gimmick in the Far Cry series
Everything you hunt has a purpose
Don't get-off on killing animals even in video games
But, you kind of have to if you want to level up and conquer the land
This is one of the best experience I've had with a FPS since the Bioshock games/Far Cry 3
If you want a solid unique FPS that's really like nothing out there at least rent this to see if it's your type of game
It's ambitious and very different 9.5/10
MS Gamertag Duckman 1979 | video-games_xbox |
Sonic Un-Playable. I hate the kind of reviews I'm about to write, so I hope no one takes it lightly that I am actually about to write one. One of my biggest pet peeves is people writing video game reviews on Amazon when they haven't really played the game. Well, that's exactly what this review is going to be; and there is a very - very good reason I didn't play much of this game.
I love Sonic the Hedgehog, and if you read any of my other reviews you'll know that I also loved the Wii version of this game. The racing stages were amazing but unfortunately the Werehog wore thin too quickly and took up too much of the game. When I finally got a chance to play this for the 360 I was SO excited to see how the racing stages compared to the Wii! Would they be better? Would they be worse? The answer is...what racing stages?
In the two hours that my brother and I played this game we didn't get to one new racing stage. The only one we played was the one in the demo that we've played over and over again. Our time with Sonic Unleashed for the 360 was spent playing pointless quick time button mashing games in a plane that we didn't get to fly, and the rest was fighting a lot of bad controls, bad camera angles, bad and boring combat, awful level design and repetitive enemies in the Werehog sections.
In the Wii version the Werehog was only pointless. It could be fun at times but for the most part it was just a tacked on detour from what you really want to do in a Sonic game. It was inane, but it wasn't that much of a problem. Here, it's that much of a problem.
In the 360 version the Werehog is downright unplayable. The control is unresponsive and the hit detection is non existent half the time. You'd think that the game would compensate for such bad game play, but it actually does everything it possibly can to make things even worse for you. You get almost no save points which means if you've just spent half an hour lumbering around trying to hit things and punching nothing but air only to FINALLY - MIRACULOUSLY - get to where you are suppose to go and die, you have to re-do everything you just did OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
And that's when this game got shipped back to the rental place, but not before something unfortunate happened: I almost broke my brothers controller. True story! I've played a lot of bad games, but I've never played one so frustrating that I lost control of my self and chucked someone else's property on the floor before realizing what I was doing. But I have now; THANKS Sonic Unleashed!
A lot of people will say this review is unfair as I didn't actually play the game. Maybe the racing stages made up for the bad Werehog part of this game. I wish I knew. All I can say is: don't blame me for not knowing. If the game makers wanted me to play the racing stages, they should have let me play the racing stages. I'm not gonna spend two hours laboring through a bunch of bad clunky platforming. I'm just not. Sonic Unleashed for the 360 is ten million different kinds of fail. | video-games_xbox |
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