text stringlengths 503 33.4k | labels stringclasses 23 values |
|---|---|
A lot of fun. I have been enjoying Fallout 3 for about 70 hours now and I am having as much fun now as I was 50 hours ago, which is to say A LOT.
I cannot speak to the bugs that others seem to be experiencing. In my 70 hours I have had my game freeze only a handful of times, and none of them were anything that was game breaking. I have several friends who are also playing and none of them have expressed any serious glitches either.
I have played both the previous Fallout games and vastly enjoyed them both, so to make a blanket statement that "anyone who was a fan of the first 2 Fallouts will hate this game" is just erroneous. I would agree with someone who said this game is more of a Next Gen title in the Fallout Universe rather than a true sequel to the Interplay games.
However, that does not in any way detract from the epic amount of fun to be found in Fallout 3.
The adventuring around the Wastes is the highlight of the game to be sure. The amazing amount of freedom to roam the Wastes is just phenomenal, so much so that once you do decide to progress the Main Story it can seem very limiting and cramped at times, especially when crawling around through the DC Ruins and all the subway tunnels required to get to the Main Mall.
However, compared to the vast scope and size of the experience, this is a minor complaint and really a very short and small portion of the game. It should only take maybe 5 hours to explore it all and finish up some questing, then you can Fast Travel back whenever you want and get back to tearing it up in the Wastes.
Combat is quality, but it is NOT a Shooter. People expecting Shooter mechanics will be disappointed, as even point blank shooting still utilizes an in game Dice Roll to determine whether you hit and how much damage you do etc.
It is likely that people complaining about Ammo or clunky targeting are unaware of this game mechanic, but it is what makes the game an RPG, not a Shooter. There is ample amounts of Ammo (I have never run out in 70 hours of gameplay and I have killed over 1000 living -isms according to my in game stat sheet), but it is not unlimited like a Shooter.
The VATS mode is a good way to illustrate the difference. You queue up VATS and it will give you a stop-time targeting system. Within this system, you will be given percentages to hit on various Body parts: 87% to hit the head, 95% to hit the Body etc. However, these percentages are also indicative of how much of a chance you would have to hit those body parts OUT of VATS as well. So if you have a 50% chance to hit a leg in VATS, you have that SAME chance to hit in real-time it just does not illustrate it anywhere. SO even if your targeting arrow is Red, you still only have the same percentage to hit as you would in VATS. Which is to say you will miss and waste a ton of ammo if you just think "my target is red I can unload a clip".
Dice Rolls are a staple of RPGS, Oblivion had them, it was just not as noticeable because you were using Melee weapons, but every time your guy reared back to swing it rolled the dice to see if you would hit, how much of a damaging blow it would be etc.
The game has a wide array of voice acting, some is great, some not so much. The story has its ups and downs, but is good enough to not take away from the overall (it certainly helps that the great Liam Neeson is the Vault Dweller's Father, he is an example of the Great voice acting). Various mini-quests are actually more entertaining and interesting than the main story, so there is definitely enough Good story in the game to keep it interesting.
However, the game's strength is in solo-adventuring IMO. While you can get sidekicks and helpers, the real fun is being a Hero of the Wastes and taking down Super-Mutants, Raiders, Slavers and Death Claws all by your lonesome as you scour the Wastes in search of unique weapons, caps, ammo and mini-quests littered throughout.
Overall, I would rate the game a 9/10 and consider it the only game on Xbox 360 that gives Mass Effect a challenge for best title. | video-games_xbox |
Bungie should never have joined with Activision...this is their offspring. Best Hyped Game of 2013-2014(yes, it was delayed from Spring 2014 release to Fall 2014). Best Nano-Managed Title EVER by two game companies! Read the reviews. Visit YouTube for reviewers and reactions. Activision states over 15 Million players (is that current? is that cumulative? ...gaming is supposed to be FUN not about metrics!)
Oh, seriously, I have a level 30 titan, level 30 hunter and level 29 warlock on 360 and another hunter on PS4 (PS4 version is gorgeous!).
Why make a game that you can't control audio? Can't pause? (go to the tower...) Slow loading. Lots of Baboon error codes, server kicks... and well.
Many think: Borderlands meets Halo. Well, true but Borderlands was FUN to play. This is a grind. This is a grind. This is a Grind! They take away features (yes, loot cave was a feature...you want to waste your time spamming rockets into a hole to get some rewards after 60 minutes...), messages to join a VoG RAID (which the rewards are a joke), or that friends can't play Daily or Weekly Strikes because they didn't buy the expansion.
And yet....I still play it! It can be addicting in that you think you will find that one Engram (seriously...green and blue drops and I have level 30 characters... and playing with others that are 31-33 level... green and blue drops?!!!). Or that you will finish Eris quests... Krota ... more like Scrotam...
Poor story. Great graphics (on PS4). Addictive Exotic armour and weapons (you will never get often as the store that sells them is once a week..curse you Xur!). Alas. I await the Den of Wolves DLC... once that is played, I am done. Summer vacation here yet?
In closing, let me say, if I want to play a game on easy, it should be easy, right? If I wanted to play on hard or insane or nightmare, I should be able to pick/unlock that choice and it BE hard but not impossible. Well, Normal on this isn't easy. I need a new controller... | video-games_xbox |
Great game...same problems of Horzon 2. Great Game, fantastic graphics. The cars as usual are truly realistic. It really is a very engaging rendition of Australia. If your a Forza Motorsport fan, like usual the camera and lighting is a bit different; the Horizon games are reworked by Playground Games. In this edition though the game is coming closer to the realism of the FM titles. I still find I enjoy the camera and lighting of the FM games.
The Pro's:
More Open space, it is truly unbelievable, but if you really travel the map, it's just about the same as H2 they simply added more roads. Effects are stunning, now driving through water is possible.
The Auction House returns, and it does have different pre-spec'd categories, You can view Rare [unicorn] cars, and cars with Elite and above paint jobs through their respective tiles. Unicorn cars are easier to get in this game than was the case in the previous titles. A LOT More races, street races and stunts; with drift zones. Body Kits available for SOME vehicles, I was really disappointed with the lack of bk's for some cars that had great kits in reality. Blue print events, allow a gamer to set up cookie cutter events to share with friends. If your a painter, You'll be happy to know that over 100+ paint jobs can be put up on the store front. I'm at 120 and still going!
Many of the object smashing XP building problems in H2 have been fixed. You'll find gaining XP doesn't require switching up maneuvers to retrigger the process.
The Con's
If you like the old Horizon format Multiplayer, and did not like the last H2 multiplayer, than You'll be disappointed again, we are forced to endure the rotating playground games format. More than likely because they have built the code and servers around that format, making change nearly impossible w/o changing the FM and H2 games with massive updates.
Clubs: You would think the would add some capabilities for club admins to run events and give aways. It would be great if they added "club race teams" to the abilities, allowing clubs to run real time race events to challenge each other. If you admin a club, the small things like reminding that an invite has already been sent are gone. The ability to host and invite club members into a free roam is also gone. They seem to reserve in game rewards for preferred clubs.
Inability to gift or use the auction house to sell cars to friends and club members only. The Auction house limits your ability to set prices for vehicles. Paint jobs are still free to buy with the painter getting the usual predetermined in game return.
The world Map: as you progress through the game, becomes a chaotic mess. It can become problematic if you take a break from racing to enjoy the game.
"Anna" the in game GPS/AI is completely annoying. and like some of the issues in Horizon 2, you can not turn it off. Once you finish many aspects of the game, it will continue to announce that there is nothing to do.
Signing Race drivers: is faulty, it will present you with a selection that is sub-par to the drivers already signed.
AI Drivitars are still aggressive and disruptive, while u can "select" less aggression, you'll find a constant barrage of errant drivitars.
Server issues: Forza/MS servers are down an abnormal amount of time for 2016. It is very common to get disconnected from a game several times a night.
"Groove" integration is primitive at best, You would assume the "radio" would be played as if you were inside the car, not so. it is faded out and covered if you go into a tunnel or go through water, and as you approach a festival it gets muffled as if your 3rd person and the "radio" is in the festival. It also switches tracks at each event. There is also [at this time] no way to shuffle the list. The only saving grace is that the radio "off" position is one d-pad left click over, clicking to the off position and back to groove will advance your tune.
It is a fantastic addition to the Forza Horizon series, a stunning visual world with vibrant effects. They did pull off many advancements in the map and lighting effects allowing you to drive nearly every where on the map. Some of the "new" game play additions while great for kids, are not very impressive. There are some areas you can't help but notice, there is little real innovation. The game is an application of a few normal to be expected advancements. | video-games_xbox |
The game that ruined all other games for me. We recently got the xbox 360, more for the Kinect option to game with the family. I've played primarily PC games, and my only experience with consoles was Zelda from the 80s, on whatever Nintendo system my friend had at the time. But I bought Dark Souls, despite reading about how hard it was, because something drew me to it. And it is difficult, demanding, frustrating. And it can get repetitive when trying multiple times to beat a boss (I'm looking at you Capra Demon and your demon dogs) since you have to travel from the bonfire (checkpoint), wade through all these enemies *again*, only to face the boss *again*, and at the very least hope you get your dropped souls back before "YOU DIED" and they disappear forever. Take a deep breath, take a break, drink a beer, then come back and beat the boss for the ultimate level of gaming satisfaction...especially when you achieve that flawless win, when everything just clicked...like on those mini bosses (that's you, Black Knight). When you pull off that parry-riposte...boom! Ooh, lookit, red titanite! It's tough, but fair. You lose all souls and humanity when "YOU DIED", and all but boss enemies re-spawn, but you keep all your inventory. I did suicide runs through the graveyard at Firelinek just to get that Winged Spear or Zweihander.
You must take it slow, have patience, observe the enemies, wait for the opportunity to strike. I'm not a patient person, but this game has taught me patience. Draw the enemies one-by-one, if you can...even those weak-looking, broken sword-yielding, loin cloth-wearing hollows, because if you let your guard drop, you will pay for it. After leveling up, and revisiting earlier areas, you will feel stronger and more powerful...I remember when even the Undead Burg was kicking my butt, and when the Black Knight's seemed unsurpassable...and how many times did Havel one-shot me with that freaking club?! After about 10-12 hours, something just kind of clicked, and I understood the game, and how death is a mechanic, and how through multiple runs through an area you commit it to memory and develop a precision in you attacks and rolls. And discovering the perfect weapon, attack, spell that will devastate a particular enemy...that little nugget of goodness that draws you into the game, and keeps you coming back for more.
The world, the art, the detail, the story (most upon which you can only speculate, but it still works so well), the dialogue, the animations. The hands-down, best animations I have ever seen in a game. Just equip the Dark Knight Greatsword and attack with it when you don't have your strength attribute leveled sufficiently, and you will see what I mean. The atmosphere is dark and grim, and yet...beautiful?
After this game, I tried going back to Skyrim (which, before Dark Souls, I thought was fantastic) and snore, boredom. I highly recommend Dark Souls, and if given a chance, it will consume you. Put some points into endurance, spend those souls before you lose 'em, upgrade those weapons/shields/armor at the blacksmith, check out the wiki, then take your time, tread lightly, and expect to die. You won't be disappointed. | video-games_xbox |
The WWE Game for non-WWE Fans. I wanted to make a few personal comments about me and this game that might help you see where I'm coming from. I have NEVER bought a wrestling game before. I do not watch wrestling. I'm totally put-off by the "kayfabe" dramas and macho, steroid-pumped soap operas that are WWE and the ilk. More importantly, I am appalled at the lack of mental and physical health care the wrestlers receive despite the obvious sacrifices they make for their craft and business.
That being said, all of this works great in a video game, non-reality world. Me and my brother got a ton of games around Christmas and oddly enough we spent two straight days playing WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 before opening any of the other ones. With so many customization options, match types, and the huge roster of competitors, I've finally been sucked into the WWE universe, if only in pixel form. Others who know more about the real WWE can give you more information on the match types and the roster (I only recognize a few of the current superstars...RIP most of the others.)
The part that amazed me was the customization. Creating wrestlers is more fun than the actual gameplay. I'll spend 3 hours creating someone and play for 15 minutes with them before I go back to do more creating. That's not due to a lack of gameplay enjoyments, but it's a testament to the creation options and ease in making these characters come to life. I've seen some complaints about the create-a-finisher option, but being someone that had never seen this possibility before, I think it is done well and very in-depth. Strangely enough, the animations flow together really well and realistically, yet leave plenty of room for creativity.
Creating a storyline is something I've only dabbled in, but again has a lot of room for customization, even a limo blowing up...which I found a little disturbing in a wrestling game. And I HATE Vince McMahon so of course I had to make a storyline where I got to jump him backstage and beat him senseless...that alone was worth the price of the game to me.
In closing, I've only touched the tip of the iceberg on the opportunities this game offers, but most are geared toward the hard-core fans. But as a gamer who is not a wrestling fan, this title offers a ton of enjoyment and I would recommend it to anyone who is put off by the real-world WWE but wants an opportunity to create their own character, gimmick, finisher, and even story-line...the closest comparison I can make would be that this is the "Little Big Planet of fighting games." | video-games_xbox |
Blown Away. Warning: this game is not for kids!
Mercenaries for the Xbox is a third-person action shooter. You can pick one of three mercenaries as your character. The north korean dictator killed his father and took over the country's nuclear weapons. The allied nations and three other factions; russian mafia, south korea, and china all converge in to battle for territory and money over the war. They all want to hire you to do covert jobs for them so they can gain the upperhand in the battles. The game starts off by dropping your character off in war-torn korea, already equipped with an assualt rifle, grenades and driving a hummer! You can decide which factions to join and be their allies or become their enemy. You are allowed to pick which contracts (missions) to accept as well! The main goal of the game is to capture or kill 52 war criminals that work for the north koreans; they are called the "deck of 52 cards". The map is huge and really conveys war, with the ambient sound effects, smoke, debris, fires and dust! You can steal any vehicle (jeeps, tanks, cars, trucks, helicopters and more) in the game! You can steal and use any weapons (assualt rifles, machine guns, rpgs, c4 and more) in the game! You can blow anything up with explosives (houses, vehicles, fortress and more)! Since the game is FREE-FORM, You can do anything and go anywhere you want! So it gives you lots of freedom and allows to you get creative in the way you approach enemy targets. Are you surrounded and overwhelmed by enemies? Just call an Air-Strike and blow them all away to kingdom come! I love Mercenaries, it lives up to the hype and is as much fun or more than GTA!
Pros:
+FREE-FORM gameplay
+excellent action
+excelent controls
+excellent graphics
+excellent explosions
+excellent A.I.
+excellent voice-acting
+excellent animations
+excellent vehicles
+excellent weapons
+excellent level designs
+pick your missions
+rag-doll physics
+explore the map; lots of freedom!
+play side-quests or mini-games
+excellent sound effects
+excllent music
+excellent ambient sounds
+very little loading
Cons:
-single player game
-no Xbox live
-you cannot swim; water kills you
-you cannot fly jets or use boats | video-games_xbox |
Great head set from Turtle Beach. Update: 04/20/2018
Four years in with this head set and it is still in working order. I did have some issue with the headband cracking and breaking away from the ear cuffs, but that was at around year three and with heavy use It was easily fixed with some handy use of an apoxy and repurposed plastic flatware, McGuyver isn't just for TV anymore!
I like these enough to go ahead and today ordered the Elete 800X
At first I was disappointed because these were back ordered and I preordered in hopes of getting theses ASAP. Turtle Beach apparently had some issues with the "DAY One" software update from their Audio Hub; I believe causing these to be held up a few days. I received my set only a few days after the release date and just in time to take them on a Double XP weekend in COD Advanced Warfare! The update process was a breeze, just down load the hub and plug in your device and let the Audio Hub do the rest. After the update and to my surprise the hub allows you to override the packaged presets, you can for example replace one of the gaming presets with Super human hearing or a preset focused on footsteps, pretty cool.
The head set itself is well made and sturdy, I have several head sets from Turtle Beach and this one is one of the more thought out headsets. The padding is thick and comfortable the head set it isn't too tight but sat secure on my head, I played for about four hours and they never got uncomfortable. The ear covers are set at slight an angle to better fit your head and completely cover your ear. The audio is crisp and sounds really good the presets are easy to toggle to match the situation and I really like the fact that you can adjust the Chat and Game volumes separately. I only wish that the game volume could go a little louder but it is still very immersive and easy to hear. I suspect the volume limit helps to extend the battery life of the headset. I have played a total of about seven hours with it and haven't had any indication of the battery dying yet. The wireless aspect of this head set is just awesome, no more forgetting you are still connected to your controller when you have to run for a soda or bathroom break between matches and yanking your controller across the room.
Other than the game volume being slightly lowered the only other concern I have is the battery. I do like the idea of a built in rechargeable battery but what happens if and when is decides to no longer hold a charge? There is no obvious way to replace the battery, like with a cell phone, you would either need to replace the headset or send it in for repair. I don't see this being too much of a concern as I believe this battery should last for the foreseeable future. Over all this is a great head set and would put it at 4.0 stars. | video-games_xbox |
Riddicks eyes=your eyes. This game was awesome, as a fan of the Riddick movies it was great to get some slight backstory to them, and take control of Riddick and deliver some of his kick A fighting to anyone you feel like. While taking control of Riddick, I do feel as if I am Riddick. When I tilt his view upward, I always feel as if I'm looking up also and I get the same insecurity feeling (as I'm constently remind there's tons of empty space that way.). When it's silent I get nervous and excited, and when Riddick gets hit, I feel connected the character.
Other aspects I enjoyed was how different each escape plan was, first one is a mix of stealth and carnage, second was pure stealth, third was run for life in carnage and the fourth was execution madness, Terminator style. Vin Diesal returning as Riddick was the best thing that could've happened to this game, he portrays Riddick as good as ever, with the same humor and menace. Other character's personalities were great to see. And the graphics for this game were nice to view.
The fight scenes were very satisfying and the stealth aspect was surprisingly fun. Although I should point out something, they say in the guide that guards never look up, when you're on a overhang ladder. They actually do look up, minus the guard in the tutorial section.
I should also mention that after you've beaten the game once, it saves each section on the main screen, so you can go back and relive any part you desire to experience again.
I've seen this game on the dark fury disc, but I prefer this retro, as for some reason the controls feel better and I feel as if I am the character seeing the world and knowing what's there. If that doesn't make sense let's use another example, in Halo 1 I felt in perfect tune with the character and transitions between vehicle and on foot were easy. In Halo 3 I felt as if I was not in tune with the character and the world was too complex. And to be honest I was fine with the graphics already.
I love this game and constently replayed back in the day. A good ride. | video-games_xbox |
DO NOT BUY!!! You have been warned. So, many 1-star reviews can't be a coincidence. Let me start off by saying...I DID NOT PURCHASE THIS PRODUCT. It was sent to me by PDP as a warranty replacement for their AG7 model. The AG9 is the AG7's successor. Here's my review of the AG7 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R1CYD7Z28DYBFV?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl) and at the end of that review, is my review of the AG9.
I'll put the AG9 portion of my review here in quotes: "Update Mar 15: Contacted Pdp to utilize my warranty. They told me that they had a newer model as a replacement to the AG7, which is called the AG9 headset. So, they sent me a RMA and a shipping label. I returned the product and after about 3 weeks, they sent me a brand new AG9 headset. Pulled it out of the box. There is a slight difference in the placement of the volume/chat adjustment wheels. The major change was the mic. It's no longer retractable, now it's detatchable. It's also more stiff the the AG7 retractable mic. Seem sturdier as well. And the annoying BASS light is gone. So, what's my problem now? Well, it's STILL LOW. No one can hardly hear me. I find myself yelling the mic or constantly repeating myself. And now the issue is even more noticeable because I can't move the sturdy mic closer to my mouth. Add to that, I also still hear some sounds in the wrong ear. So, if the sound is left on the screen I hear it in my right ear and vice versa. I'd turn the headset around but then the front and back spacing would flip, and that would make things worse. This just keeps getting better. And now, only a month into use of this BRAND NEW headset, I'm getting static. Yes, MIC STATIC from a detatchable mic. Every light touch brings annoying static. So, stay away from this product (AG9) and it's predecessor (AG7). Spend the extra money to get a better product. I've wasted $100 plus tax on this headset, and I wish I would've followed my first mind and gone with Turtle Beach's, Astro's, or Triton's." | video-games_xbox |
Feels like it was rushed for Christmas. Where to begin with this. I purchased Rocksmith from another retailer when they had it on sale for $49. Overall I am still having a lot of fun with this game. I think it had the potential to be a very polished teaching tool, but this game is filled with so many caveats, I don't know if I will still be able to score it a 4 star fun rating after another few weeks of play.
Many people have talked about the lag already. I also experienced a lag issue, both audio and video, and while I understand that it is caused by the audio digital-to-analog conversion, you would think that the game could have at least included the XBOX360 adapter for analog audio. I ended up ripping the casing off of my composite cables that came with the XBOX360 just so I could plug it in with my HDMI cable. (Microsoft felt it necessary to put a plastic tab that covers the HDMI port when plugged in. I'm sure in an effort to sell more unnecessary adapters, as the ones included work fine aside from the aforementioned plastic tab.) With virtually everyone having an HDTV these days, and most people using HDMI as a way to connect their high def equipment, this shouldn't have been an issue I found out about AFTER I bought the game. If Ubisoft didn't want to include the right hardware, they should have at least disclosed that I would need to purchase more stuff for the "best" audio set up, (and before some troll flames the hell out of me by saying they did disclose this in the manual, I can't read the manual until after purchase). I understand completely from a hardware perspective why the audio lag happens, but I'm still mad to find out it's a known issue AFTER my purchase.
So I remedied the audio lag, but now I need to adjust the video lag. You can't do this from within a song to actively see what your adjustments are doing. No, you have to pick a number for video lag sensitivity, then navigate the nightmare of menus with atrocious load times to get back to your song, then try to figure out if you made any difference one way or the other. I read on Ubisoft's forums the most effective way to do this, in my opinion, (found here[...] ), but it's still a huge pain in the @$$.
I also have a few issues with the game mechanics themselves. I can't stand that there isn't an option to just display all the notes at once, rather than having to play through single notes and having the game "progressively" add notes. A lot of times, the rhythm or muscle memory I start to get with a section has to be completely unlearned once a section is "leveled up". The practice section needs to be just that, practice. No lives; and you don't need 3 modes either. There shouldn't be any of the barely there "game" aspects anyway...it's PRACTICE mode. The riff repeater should have been simple enough to design...just follow the name and repeat the entire riff. Riff repeater, come on, not hard. Just show all the notes and allow the user to manually adjust the speed. Maybe with a nice digital metronome. It's a teaching tool, so they need to give the user full control. Let me manually adjust the number of notes and speed etc through the menu. It's counter-productive to have to level up a section before I can even begin to really learn it.
I'm still playing through the game, and I continue to find things I like and a lot I don't. I'm playing my guitar like crazy which is a plus, but the problems I mentioned are at the core of the game itself. I didn't even elaborate on how poorly laid out the menus are and how long it takes to navigate them. I bought this to learn to play guitar better, not to feel like a rockstar, so I wish they would have just removed the "rock band like" elements, as they are executed poorly if at all, and made this a teaching tool that is fun. The people who are really going to purchase and continue to talk about this game, or potentially buy Rocksmith 2, are those who really want to learn guitar, so why the hell did you put all this clunkiness in the way of that. Between poorly laid out menus, weird game freezes and "null" messages, load times that add up to being horrendous BECAUSE of having to navigate poorly laid out menus, and a "Riff repeater" that is makes no sense....I almost want to lower my fun rating to 3 stars because writing this review is sucking my fun away....
All in all I am happy I spent $50 and not $80. I think that this game is the first step as an innovative new way to teach guitar, and that there are of course a lot of kinks to be ironed out; but Ubisoft pays people to do that pre-release. It's obvious this was a rush to market before Christmas gets here, and as a consumer I feel cheated buying an unfinished and in my opinion, not properly tested product. There is NO WAY they did the quality control they should have or the obvious problems I mentioned would never have made there way to the finished product. I hear rumors of a patch, but I have a feeling that we'll all have to pony up for Rocksmith 2, and hope the problems are fixed. Shame on Ubi. | video-games_xbox |
Good Game challenging but not impossible. Good game which I enjoyed. The game is challenging in some places but not impossible. To me its more of an old school game were you might get beat a couple of times until you change you strategy and I would rather get some challenge with a game then speed through it.
There are some levels in the game which are frustrating for one reason or another. The most annoying I can think of is the Diago stage since the game is very vague about explaining what your supposed to be doing while your getting shot at with cannons which is a bad thing. The key to making the game easier is to focus on getting head shots. Focusing on head shots makes the game a lot less frustrating.
The atmosphere and music in the game was very well done a lot of the voice acting is over the top and funny in a good way. The voice acting of the main character was little to similar to Solid Snake. The music is similar to Kill Bill which I thought had a great soundtrack so its a plus here.
The graphics are good, and I like that the cut scenes were done to imitate old movie reels with scratchs and dirt. Character models are well done and the levels are well designed.
There have been a lot of complaints about the dueling system which isn't perfect but isn't impossible. The key is drawing your gun out quickly. Theres a slight pause when the game is showing Red and the enemy and then goes full screen. If you time it right you can usually get a shot off first. I didn't have a problem until the end when the time gets a lot shorter for you to shoot.
The story is your basic revenge story so while it does a good job of drawing out the outcome, the outcome is always assured. Playing as different characters throughout the game adds some variety to the levels. Also having a town as a homebase works well. Red Dead Revolver also has a fun multiplayer mode with over 20 characters.
So overall Red Dead Revolver was a fun game that had some frustrating parts that were challenging but not impossible. It does a great job with the western genre but its not that long of a game so you'd probably be better off renting it first. Just remember to focus on those head shots! | video-games_xbox |
A Step Backward. So there I was--at the end of the main story. I had become a powerful warrior and a true saint, complete with a bright halo above my head and blue eyes. I had "climbed the dizzying heights of celebrity," as one villager told me. Now, it was time for my skills to be put to the test, a moment when I thought to myself, "The finale is going to be brilliant. It just has to be! Okay, so maybe the rest of the story was a little bland, and the characters were uninteresting...but that doesn't mean anything. The ending can change all of that. Wait. You mean all I have to do is press the "A" button? No final boss fight? No climactic showdown? And all I get from being a noble, sacrificing hero is a thank-you card?" It was at this realization that my moral level shifted drastically from good to evil. I could have sworn that, as soon as the end credits stopped rolling, my character's halo was suddenly replaced by two, long horns. I no longer cared what happened to little Paul the Villager or my wife, who had mysteriously disappeared from the face of the earth, or all of Albion, for that matter. All I wanted to do now was take my augmented master kitana and lay waste to the glitch-plagued villages. First, though, I wouldn't mind using some of those rude expressions on the citizens.
So, is Fable II as good as the first one? Well, it really depends on what you look for in an RPG. For me, story is a crucial ingredient. The first Fable, especially the Lost Chapters, contained a solid story and some very memorable characters, like Jack of Blades. Oh, and you could have multiple save files, instead of just one. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't things to like about Fable II. Its art direction is superb; the buildings and landscapes range from beautiful to captivating. Also, the increased emphasis on exploration makes the world seem a bit larger, though not nearly as large as was expected. A third good quality is the combat system, which seems slightly faster and more fluid. Finally, your loyal dog comes in handy, especially in finding dig spots and treasure chests, but this, like so many other features, does not come without glitches. So, if these aspects matter more to you than story, then you may thoroughly enjoy Fable II. Otherwise, you might want to skip this one.
In short, I was extremely disappointed by this highly anticipated sequel to one of my favorite games. The original wasn't perfect, by any means. It was almost as short as this game, and it didn't deliver all the features people were expecting. However, it contained a well-thought-out story that got better as it progressed. It's a shame that the experience gained from working on the first game did not contribute to an equal or even better sequel. On the bright side, though, this experience has given me the chance to see what it's like to be evil in the game. Now, where's that annoying town crier? | video-games_xbox |
This game really hates you sometimes. This game is a lot of fun... when it works. Playing by yourself on regular games is fine but the game always fails a few times before you can actually play with a friend. It starts up a game and then just cancels it on its own saying that both parties had left.
Madden Ultimate team is definitely fun when the EA Servers decide you can play. You'll be in the last minutes of a game about to win and it'll kick you out saying that the win and and rewards you get will not count because you can't connect EVEN THOUGH IT USES ALL THE CONTRACTS YOU STARTED WITH. So You don't get your rewards but you still get charged contracts for it. That's like buying a game, getting charged for it and seeing the Mail truck EXPLODE. It was fun while it lasted but in the end you get nothing. So get ready to lose A LOT of contracts like SO MANY. And they aren't cheap either. 100 contracts cost 1000 coins, and you need these or you can't play. That's only playing 1 game but when the server crashes 3-4 times before you complete that game you really get to see how unfair this is.
You might be thinking to yourself "Oh it's just this dude's internet" it's not. My dashboard pulls up perfectly fine, connection still strong and it takes like 3 seconds for MUT to sign you back in. If the connection to the EA SERVER was so bad then why does it take almost no time just to log back in? WTF EA?
Another thing is that it feels like the game hates you. You'll get a 1st down and the announcers will say it too and then it'll start you off on 2nd and inches. or they'll say "Good for 8 yards" and the game will give you 5-6 sometimes. Its pretty unfair. And whenever your player makes a diving or jumping catch and he's even remotely touched, most of the time he'll drop the ball, but their guy can catch it mid-air while being massacred by like 3 guys, holding it with 2 fingers and he'll complete it.
SO when you actually get to play with friends or on the MUT, it's actually really fun and very rewarding. The auction house is very fun when players are completely stupid on values. Seriously, your Rank 70 Tom Brady isn't worth 50,000 coins just because it's Tom Brady and your Rank 70 Kicker is worth 11,000 coins either.
Give it a try but be prepared to have a losing battle with this game at the most inconvenient times. | video-games_xbox |
The Return Of A Classic Franchise. Here is the real scoop of Rock Band 4 by someone that has played it and loves it for what it is
Issues with Rock Band 4
-No Online Multiplayer- with Rock Band 4 there is no online multiplayer in the game besides Leaderboards, as with this feature missing I am bummed by it because the only way I can have a full band without it is by twisting my friends arms and forcing them to play
-Lag Input- mainly with the Drums but occasionally with the Guitar as well- the drums can not handle fast paced drum rolls without missing notes. Harmonix is aware of this issue and are working on resolving this issue
-Microphone and Vocal Lag- 1. my microphone didn't work out of the box so I contacted Mad Catz and they promptly overnighted me a brand new one 2. when you leave the mic volume up there is a lag difference from when you sing to when the song is being song in the game this is also being worked on by Harmonix
-DLC Redownloading- this one is a catch 22, the main issue lies with the first party companies of Microsoft and Sony, Microsoft doesn't allow batch downloads so yes you do have to go and select every single song you have purchased and click install but it is only a one time deal
-Lack of Features- Missing Features from previous Rock Band Titles are- Training Mode, Online Play, Score Duel, Tug Of War, Static Vocal System, Pro Guitar & Bass, Keyboard. Harmonix is committed to this Game As a PLATFORM and plan to continuously update it with more features that you want just let them know what you want on there Twitter or Facebook page
Positives
Freestyle Guitar Solos- I was skeptical at first about this new feature until I got my hands on it. They are probably the best thing about Rock Band 4. being able to create your own solo is awesome and it helps make you feel like a musician
DLC- There is currently over 1700 songs supported for Rock Band 4 at launch with weekly DLC returning (Aerosmith in the Second week)
Previous Rock Band Exports- These will be compatible for those that purchased them before they expired and that kept with the same console, once they become available also Rock Band 3 will be Exportable soon too!
This is Rock Band the basics are still here Vocals Drums Guitar Bass, more polished playing in 1080p 60fps. anyone that loved the franchise previously will love this game and will be glad that there is a new Rock Band game on the new generation of consoles
P.S. I am Not an Employee Of Harmonix | video-games_xbox |
Finally a good star wars game. I don't even know where to start. This game is A LOT of fun. I'll start out by telling you the good and then I'll mention the bad. This game has pretty good graphics. I'd give it a 8.5. They're not like splinter cell but they're done well and definitely better than most. The gameplay is also good. Probably another 8.5. For sound I would give it a 9. Basically the story behind the game is that you start out on a huge starship called the endar spire. You are awakened by a soldier who tells you that the ship is under attack and you have to get out of there. You take an escape pod down to a planet called taris and the fun starts from there. So far I have played for 17 hours. I tend to play slower than most though because its not a race to finish the game for me. I would rather enjoy it. So far I have become a dueling champion, collected bounties, robbed and murdered, raced a swoop, assassinated a gang leader, sold the cure for a disease to an evil crimelord, and became a jedi. I played for about 12 hours before I even became a jedi. I love the fighting system. Usually I hate RPG's because I find it boring to choose attack and then watch my guy attack and then wait for the enemy to hit me and so on and so forth. This game isn't jedi outcast or anything but the fighting is fast enough that its fun and if you like the old slow turn based combat then you can do that too. I just simply haven't been able to put the controller down so far.
Now I'll comment on the bad. Now I know I'm being picky but some of this stuff just doesn't make sense. Example: I want to be a dark jedi so I always make every "evil" decision that I can. My scale that indicates which side of the force I'm on is pretty much all the way to the dark as far as it can go. It was like this when I met the jedi council yet they still train me. Also I continue to do everything that they request. So I'm occasionally doing "good" because I have no choice but to. Maybe there's some major turning point in the future but I doubt it. I was really hoping that I would be working for the sith at some point and trying to destroy the jedi. I mean like I said I can't be much further to the dark side of the force. Also the mini games are a little weak. For example the swoop race isn't very deep. I guess I was expecting pod racing. There's also no option to change controls for when you are using the turrets in your starship. I don't like it when the aim moves up when I press up on the thumbstick. I like up to be down and down to be up.
These are all minor problems. The game is great. I haven't had this much fun playing a game since I beat windwaker. If you are a star wars fan then run out and get this game immediately. If you like RPG's then get this game immediately basically anyone that likes video games or star wars should get this game. Its a really great time!!!! | video-games_xbox |
Just as flawed. I did a lot of reading on the previous TX wheel and knew what I was getting into. I was hoping with this "newer" standalone model they will fix their issues. Unfortunately not. The wheel looses its center repeatedly while playing Forza Horizon 2 and Forza 6( have to hold the wheel off center for the car to go straight, sometimes over 180 degrees). Need to unplug it/plug it back in over 5 times an hour to fix this issue. Sometimes when I plug it back in, the shifter(TH8A) looses connectivity, and then I have to restart the whole console to get it to connect again. Basically the game is unplayable. Took me over 30 min to do a "road trip" in Horizon 2( normally takes 5-10 min). Which is not even a race so I didn't have to be competitive and just follow a road. Also sometimes the base starts making whirling sounds and becomes completely unresponsive jerking left and right with the car not moving until the whole thing is reset. This happens much more rarely then the other issue but is annoying still.
I have seen stories of people going through 3-5 of these wheels before getting a working one. I don't have that much patience. Just requested a replacement from Amazon, which since this item is so back-ordered won't get to me until 3 weeks after I have to return the original. So I'm just gonna be sitting here looking at my Alcantara wheel, TH8A shiftier and Pro Pedals while thy catch dust. If the second one isn't flawless I will have to return the whole lot and since I bought it all separately that will be a major pain in the butt. Thrustmaster support is useless, I reached out by phone and was on hold for over 20 min and hung up, then sent an email which has been unanswered for 4 days already. This is a shame for Amazon because they're awesome and don't deserve to be paying shipping costs of 3-5 replacements for everyone and at the $650 price of the whole set up I cant just brush this off.
Firmware was updated to the latest version and everything was properly calibrated as per the Thrustmaster site. | video-games_xbox |
Worst Xbox Game I've Ever Played. How bad is this game? When I called Microsoft to complain about all the issues, they immediately offered me a full refund and said that they and Activision were FULLY aware of all the issues. I didn't even ask for it. I pre-ordered the digital download which came with season pass.
They promised dedicated servers, something that all COD's could have benefited from. Not only did they not give us dedicated servers, the lag is worse than ANY COD I've ever played. But that wasn't the reason I called Microsoft. Here's why: 1. WAY too many game glitches. Sometimes you will end up under the map or outside the map or see the actual polygons on the edges of the map... from the other side of them. 2. The maps are just plain stupidly designed. They designed the maps using graph paper to try to combat campers. Every place on the map can be shot at from 4 directions as well as above you. So now, the ONLY way to play the game is run and gun like an idiot. No strategy. No paced play. 3. Spawn system is stupid because of #2. Because the maps are so cluttered and grid-like, there is no such thing as a safe spawn. 4. Hit detection is dependent on lag. You can literally empty a magazine into someone and not get the kill only to have them turn on you and kill you instantly. 5. I have been shot around corners, through walls, from outside the map. 6. The weapons suck. Gone are cool things like claymore mines and bouncing bettys. Instead, you shoot crap off your arm like Voltron. The guns are also pretty bad. Guns that would destroy someone in real life take 5 to 10 shots to kill someone at close range ONLY if you have a good connection. 7. Frequent kicks out of lobbies if you are teamed up with a buddy or two. 8. Ridiculous prestige system. BO2 had it right - gun progress remains after prestiging your character. Once you get to the level where you can unlock the weapon, you're right back where you were with it for camos, attachments, etc.
I could go on but this game isn't worth any more of my time or effort. I only play multiplayer and the multiplayer is unplayable. Even if they fixed the lag, the maps still suck and the game itself is unfixable. It's so refreshing to power up my 360 and go back to Black Ops 2 with good maps, good weapons, good spawns and low lag. And in case you're curious, yes I GLADLY accepted Microsoft's offer for a full $99 refund. Too bad they can't refund me for all the Doritos and Dew I purchased for the stupid swag. | video-games_xbox |
Your social life is over. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion- Circa 2006
GOOD:
- This game literally has a huge world (and you can explore every inch of it), it rivals that of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA: SA's entire world not just one city). For Example, if you went into the woods in the game and did not use a map you world get just as lost as you would in a real-world forest with no map.
- Hundreds of quests (really big and really small) to perform you can skip any you want or do them all, plus you deicide the outcome weather it be good or bad.
- Interact with NPC's, there are literally hundreds of them and they are all voiced acted and display emotions on there faces.
- A very life like world in which Police chase thieves, wives nag husbands and wolves prowl the woods looking for prey.
- Do just about anything you can think of like steal (anything), save people form gangs, fight in arena's, hunt animals, sail ships, become a vampire (pretty cool) or just hang back and do almost nothing the choice is yours.
BAD:
- This game may be way to hard for most casual gamers.
- The loading in this game is can get annoying, this game will load often and some loads (not all) take a long time. The hard drive cuts down on some loading, but it's still a pain.
- Some of the character animations especially those of your character are a little sloppy (but in 1st person you cannot see your own animations so it's not so much a problem)
- The Hit Detection (or hit boxes) sometimes doesn't work well.
- While the world is huge it's also mostly wooded forest area, which can be a little bland after a while.
- Morality seem to play little in the game in terms of your characters development, you can do evil/good act but will not really be considered evil/good in the same way that you see in Fable or Jade Empire. In the end it's more realistic but a little underwhelming.
IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- A first person Swords and Sorcery RPG (Click in the left thumb stick to toggle third person mode).
- The games theme is very much close to that of the Lord of the Rings books or movie trilogy, by Peter Jackson, other similarities are found in the tabletop RPG Dungeons and Dragons.
- This is a do as you please type of RPG (like Fable or Jade Empire), this not anything like Final Fantasy, you pick the quest and you choose the outcome, that said there is little to no character identity outside of your deeds and don't expect a party of other characters who tag a long like in most other RPG's (like Final Fantasy).
GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- Fable: The Lost Chapters
- Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
- Thief III: Deadly Shadow
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- There is downloadable content missions/quests and areas for this game out on PC and Xbox-Live. Examples being horse Armor, Spell Tomes, The Wizard's Tower, The Thieves Den, Vile Lair, The Knights of the Nine, and The Shivering Isles just to name a few.
- The Special Limited Edition (Xbox-360) comes with a bonus disc, which has a lengthy behind the scenes documentary, also on the disc you can view concept art work for the game, plus the limited edition comes with a small book on the history and people of the Elder Scrolls world and you get a real-to-life coin from this games world.
- The world in the game if measured in real-world miles would be about 16 miles not including underground areas like caves, crypts, basements, and bunkers, also most areas in the alternate-dimension of Oblivion are immeasurable due to the fact that they are randomly generated and huge.
- All Elder Scrolls games are first Person (the other Elder Scrolls games besides Elder Scrolls III where on the PC).
- In the game (at the main city) you will see a poster for a gladiator type of fighting arena called Arena, the poster is the same picture found on the box art for Elder Scrolls first game called Elder Scrolls: Arena. | video-games_xbox |
Bad pedal springs, bad design for the clamp, no recommend for entry level wheel, horrible durablility and integrity. ***UPDATE*** This is an update to the Thrustmaster TMX wheel. This is definitely an economy, entry level wheel. This really needs to be taken into consideration. This wheel/pedal set will last you up to 6 months, maybe a year. I bought the T3P-A pro pedals, which are awesome btw, to replace the very cheap plastic pedals that failed due to the problem described below. However, shortly after receiving the TH8A shifter and the new pedals, the clamp for the base snapped off completely. The small threaded cylinder that the tightening peg screws into on the base of the TMX Wheel completely snapped off. I can assure you that I did not at all over tighten this screw. I am still overall impressed with the other items I purchased. I do believe I will get a better base and wheel combo here eventually. However Thrustmaster, you need some better Q and A with your TX/TMX Series of wheels. This is way to common of a problem for you as a company to dismiss this as a "user error/ you guys are tightening the screw down too much" excuse. Even for entry level, this is an expensive piece of hardware, I expect a little better.
So, I me had this for less than 4 months now, and I use this moderately as I work full time and don't have time to race all the time. So I load up Project Cars on my Xbox One, and I start up a race(shifter-kart 125cc series) and upon coming around the third turn, and pressing on the throttle, I hear and feel a snap. I take my foot of the throttle and the throttle is now DEAD to the floor. I can lift it up but it will not stay up. It just drops back down, dead, limp...
Upon further inspection I found the spring had snapped that provides the resistance in the throttle(see pic). I am not happy, the slightest bit. I have barely used the TMX since purchased new, through Amazon. I just ordered the TH8A shifter, and I planned on ordering the T3PA-Pro pedals with in the next month. But I am honestly considering returning the shifter, and not ordering the pedals. I do hope they can resolve this issue for me. Until then, I can only rate 3 stars.
As far as the wheel itself, Spot on. I am very pleased eith the handling and feel of the FFB, and the 900 rotation. The respond for the shifter pedals are fantastic and I would highly recommend this for a beginner setup, but be warned, the pedal spring has broken on me, under light to moderate use, and only after less than 4 months. Works great with Xbox, using a powered USB 3.0 block. I use it for iRacing and Race Room Experience as well for my custom built PC, fantastic, until it broke.
What sucks now, is my shifter arrives tomorrow, and I can't enjoy it. | video-games_xbox |
Do Not Buy! I had TWO dead on arrival batteries that will not hold a charge. The folks at Negranti's Wholesale have been awesome. Too bad the product is horrible. I went with this one, because of the 4 star rating. I figured there are always some that have something to complain about. Well, I have **TWO** things to complain about.
Negranti's shipped the unit in a timely manner. It arrived, and I was eager to put it to use. When I opened the package, it looked like the unit was previously opened. It looked like there was a thumb indentation in the packaging to get the cable out. Hmm. Curious. I get the battery and cable out, insert the battery, and turn on the controller. It powers on for about 2 minutes, and then dies. Eh, ok. I should have charged it first. I plug in the cable, which powers the controller, and get to playing Laura Croft. I leave it charging all night. And the next day when I come home, the little red light had turned green! Woot. I power up, unplug the cable, and within a minute, the controller dies. Ugg. Really? I reach out to Negranti's Wholesale, who are awesome, and ship me out a second one. It arrives, I open it up, insert the battery into the controller, plug the cable in. The light is Red. So I leave it OFF and let it charge before using. A few hours later, the light finally turns GREEN! Woot! I unplug the cable, and try to power it up. Nothing. I plug it back in, and power up, then unplug the cable, and immediatly it powers down. Ugg. Yup, that's (2) dead on arrival battery packs.
Some other curious things. No instructions or warning slips. Everything seems to have some kind of manual or warning document. Another curious thing, the packaging has no website or company mail location. Only thing it has, is "made in china". Don't misunderstand, lots of things are made in China. I love my iPhone. But there is no other information about the company. Couldn't find a website either.
I just sent another note to Negranti's Wholesale. It being Friday night, not expecting a response until Monday. Again, not finding fault with them. I think the problem is with the product. Two DOA's? Seems mighty suspicious. I'm curious how many of those 5-star reviews were paid for with free units? Seems a bit suspicious.
This was with a Microsoft Xbox One controller. Not a clone controller. The one that came with my Xbox One.
I can't advise which unit to buy instead of this one, but I strongly urge you to NOT purchase this one. | video-games_xbox |
Worst Halo yet, Bored of it after 2 weeks. Not a hardcore gamer, buy/rent 2-4 games per year, but played countless hours of Halo 1, 2 and 3. Thought Halo: Reach was somewhat disappointing.
The other reviews have thouroughly covered the details, so I'll just go straight to the deficiencies. For all the Halos, the multiplayer is why I buy it. For Halo 4, at first it was somewhat of a novelty, but the fact that I was coming in first immediately after not having played Hako for over a year in Big Team raised my eyebrows. As I continued to play, the load outs which you can customize became less and less appealing and couldn't make up for the low level of gameplay, unimaginative maps and mediocre graphics/sound.
On Big Team there are just 2 maps, Exile and Ragnarok, which are voted for almost 99% of the time they're present as a selection, and seeing as they're only 5 maps they're present all the time. Ragnarok is a virtual copy of Valhalla from Halo 3, too.
In Team Slayer, I believe there are 6 maps but since only 3 are voted for most of the time hard to tell. The gameplay is more competitive here but only slightly.
Some okay additions to weapons but sniper is too easy and shotguns irrelevant. Vehicles are pretty much the same and scorpion only used in Exile. No snipers only maps, less maps choices than other Halos. Graphics spat first look okay in first person but when you see players up close they look like something from Aeon Flux, kind of cheesy. Map landscapes nowhere near as lush and detailed as previous Halos. Soundwise, guns especially snipers sound arcadey and tinny.
Aside from the gameplay not being as fluid and skill-based as previous versions, the other major drawback of Halo 4 is the score being tallied by points rather than kills, which emphasizes luck more than kills. Also, there are few down to the wire games.
I didn't even consider buying the new map packs.
This game doesn't even belong in the same conversation ad Haloes 1, 2 and 3. It even makes Reach look fun. There have been some issues with the connection at times - not major but much more than previous versions. Just in the past week there have been multiple times where all the sounds would just go out, something I've never e countered on a repeated basis on any other online game and which could herald other problems cropping up.
As soon as AI have a chance, I'm selling my Halo 4 on eBay regardless of what i can recoup, for I just don't see myself playing this that much and won't miss it when it's gone. | video-games_xbox |
Fits Most Human Arms. Measurements of the smartphone used inside the Pip-Boy need to be 5 1/2 inches x 2 13/16 inches (140mm x 71mm) or less. (I measured the card that fits snugly into the cavity. And when I say snugly, I mean I had to pick at it with a fingernail to get it out.)
The Pip-Boy comes with foam inserts for the following phones:
- Samsung Galaxy S3
- Samsung Galaxy S4
- Samsung Galaxy S5 *
- iPhone 5/5s
- iPhone 6
It also notes that, "If your device of choice is not listed above, do not fret. The device cavity will accommodate most small to medium sized devices. Experiment with the various Foam Rings and Foam Pads to create a sufficiently close fit." It also warns that trying to cram in a phone that's too large will cause irreparable harm.
* I read at least one review that said an S5 would be an uncomfortably tight fit, and looking at the dimensions listed on Samsung's website, we'll probably see more reviews saying the same thing.
The Pip-Boy definitely does not fit Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, or Samsung Galaxy Note 5. (S6 is pictured below. S6 measurements: 5.65" x 2.78".)
Overall, I'd say this is great as a collectible piece to set up on a shelf (away from small, very interested humans, and trust me: they will be very interested in touching this), but the quality isn't fantastic. The plastic feels somewhat cheap, and some of the "effects" are painted on. We handled it twice - once to open and inspect (husband tried it on), and once when I took these pictures - and the foam inside the Pip-Boy (by the adjustable arm strap) has ripped. I don't find this to be a terribly big deal because it's still really neat, but I don't believe it will stand up to much wear if you actually plan on using it.
On the upside, all the knobs turn (you can "tune" the radio frequency and change the STAT/INV/DATA/MAP/RADIO knob) and a battery (included) turns the power button on. (I don't know if that has any functional use in regards to the app since we don't have a phone that will fit inside the Pip-Boy, but even if it doesn't, it still adds to the overall gee-whiz effect.)
The outer box is made of thick plastic and seems fairly sturdy. Ours arrived with a green ding on one corner. The inner metal box holding the game itself is nicer than the normal plastic version. The game so far is amazing, but that was pretty much a given.
Pictured: outer plastic box, inner metal box, Pip-Boy sitting in its stand, poster, foam padding to fit your smartphone into Pip-Boy, and operational instructions ("The enclosed pages contain information regarding the use of and care for your Pip-Boy and are presented without guarantee of safety or survival by Vault-Tec"). | video-games_xbox |
Not much new, but charm compensates for a lot. My wife and I have always had fun playing games together, specifically the Lego type games and the Rock Band series. When I heard Lego Rock Band was coming out, I liked the idea of all the songs, but I have to admit the game looked like a cheap cash-in, similar to the way Guitar Hero has about 200 iterations a year (and the newly released Band Hero is essentially Guitar Hero 5 with new tracks and Taylor Swift). So, my idea was to just get it to export the songs, then sell it back or trade it with a friend.
However, once I decided to give the game a try (I had it, after all), and I'm downright hooked.
Rather then focus on what's the same (because this is, at its core, Rock Band 2 with a Lego skin over it), let me point out some differences I think make it better.
- You have a "Rock Pad" which is like your house, and you can trick it out with tones of goofy gear. I'll admit I was stoked when I unlocked the pink train riding toy. It's a small addition, sure but way fun.
- Tons and tons of unlocks, similar to the other lego games. From guitars to pieces of your house to new characters, there's a lot. A downside is you don't start with much, but you'll get new things fast.
- When you fail, you actually can revive people simply by playing well. This feature was shown somewhat in Guitar Hero 5, and it works well here for a kid-friendly group. It also makes you less dependent on Overdrive to revive people.
- The notes moving down the "track" are lego bricks! A little change, sure, but I got a kick out of it.
- The game has a "plot," and honestly it is downright silly and completely hilarious. What other game can you use rock to blow up a building, scare off ghosts by rocking "Ghostbusters," or zapping a squid with the power of your awesome riffs?
- On the same line as above, during these scenes you actually sort of tag team the song, with usually only two of the four people playing, and you switch off. You might think that's lame, but I've often wished I could see what was going on in the background in RB2 with my characters (after all, I spent a good long amount of time designing him), and this way I can see the hilarity. Excellent!
- It can all be exported to RB2 for $10. It's more then RB1, but still not a bad deal.
Here are a few bad parts, however.
- The overall menus are a bit of a pain to navigate. You have to pick the vehicle to get to the correct venues, rather then having them on a long list. Annoying, honestly.
- Load times are horrific, worst in the series by far, and they pop up all the time. Installing the HDD helps.
- Short tracklist. It's good, and I liked most of the songs, but still quite short. But it has Final Countdown!
Overall, I went into this game thinking it was a sell out, and it actually is a VERY fun game, a certainly a worthy addition to the Rock Band platform. The fact it only supports songs that are "family friendly" is actually a good feature; it means I can have the nieces and nephews over and not worry about what they might be playing. Overall? I'd say rent it first, but if you are a music game fan don't overlook this one. Unlike Band Hero, which is most certainly the definition of a cheap cash-in, Lego Rock Band is a clever, funny, and fun game that is certainly worth looking over if you are a previous Rock Band owner. | video-games_xbox |
A let down for serious drivers. To preface this review, I have been an avid player of racing games for the last 10-15 years as well as racing cars at autocross and track-day events, so I would like to think that I have a decent amount of experience when it comes to racing. I recently decided that I wanted a more realistic racing experience than a handheld controller once Project Cars rolled out, but did not want to spend many hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on a sim racing rig, which is largely what led me to this wheel. Because it was only priced at $90, I knew I wasn't going to get an amazing wheel with add on shifters, pedals, and force feedback, but I was expecting a higher quality wheel than what you'd find in the sale bin at best buy. Here is my take on this wheel after several months of use in both Project Cars and now Forza 6.
Once I received this and I was impressed with the quality of the wheel, it felt heavy and well put together, all of the buttons felt very rugged, the paddle shifters feel real and have a very satisfying 'click' when engaged and the resistance that the wheel delivers while turning is a nice touch. The pedals however felt cheap in comparison, the base is very lightweight and there is no good way to secure the base to the floor. Due to the base being so light, and the pedals having such high resistance you will most likely end up having them slide away from you unless you're using them in a stand that holds them in place. As anyone who plays racing games knows, the last thing you want is pedals disappearing when you need to stab the brakes at the end of a long straight. I'm sure I could spend the afternoon making some sort of box/stand out of some wood, but it would have been nice for the wheel to have weight added to the base or for another solution to be offered (velcro for carpet, suction cups for wood, etc..) and not for you to buy or build a stand to use a product right out of the box. An additional limiting factor of this wheel is no vibrations, which to me is more of an issue than the pedals moving. One of the largest differences between videogame racing and the real thing is the lack of 'feeling' that you get in a game, and when you enjoy racing with assists turned off you rely on vibration feedback to know when the tires are losing grip due to too much throttle, running over kerbing, locking up the brakes, etc.. With a wheel with no vibrations it's very difficult to know what is happening with the tires and thus, with the car. I found myself running consistently slower times with the wheel versus a handheld controller either due to having to drive with assists on, or driving more cautiously due to the fear of losing control.
In summary: It's a well built wheel with cheaper feeling pedals, but you are really missing out on a lot without vibrations from the controller, to the point where the game becomes more difficult. I'd be happy to pay $20 more for this wheel if the manufacturer was to add in vibration to the wheel, and maybe place a lead block in the pedals to keep them still, but until then this is most likely going back in the box and I'll be using the normal Xbox controller when I want to be competitive.
Pros:
- Solid construction of the wheel itself
- Adds another element of enjoyment to a game using a wheel vs. thumbsticks.
- Priced at a fraction of the 'best' wheels
Cons:
-Pedals are light weight and slide around
-No vibrations from wheel are a major takeaway from the game | video-games_xbox |
The Best WWE Game Yet--Ignoring a Host of Small Flaws. This game is a step forward in more ways than it is a step backward, but why is it stepping BACKWARD at all!?! There are some frustrating flaws in this wonderful game.
First the CONS:
1) Men and women do not have access to the same clothing in the creation suite. You're telling me a woman cannot wear a Mysterio mask? A traditional leather biker jacket?
2) You cannot AGE your CAW or change the texture of skin, so everybody looks young and smooth, kind of unrealistic. So, you can't make older people.
3) You cannot change the size of a CAW neck. So, if your guy/girl is a beast like Ryback, he still has a skinny neck. LOL.
4) You cannot change the size of hands or feet on a CAW. So, Bigfoot is out. And giant guys have small hands.
5) The ring commentary is as bland as ever. Even with the amazing JBL. I'd rather have no commentary at all. Where are the witty remarks? The funny digs and teasing?
6) CAWS do not have access to the same hair styles. Men and women have their own limited varieties.
7) The designs, face paints, etc. in the creation suite are extremely limited.
8) The clothing options in the creation suite are extremely limited, but of high quality.
9) Men and women cannot wear the same face paint either. WTF?
10) The Divas division is still way too small. No legend divas. No Current NXT divas.
11) The roster, while excellent, left out a BUNCH of wrestlers who should have been easily included. Pre-racist remark Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, Bundy, Studd, Yokozuna, Khali, Volkoff, Dynamite Kid. etc.
12) Fat wrestlers are still impossible to make well because of the aforementioned neck issue. So, Bundy, Yoko, etc. are left out. Also, guys with distinctive bone structures are still out--like The Great Khali or Giant Gonzales.
13) Cannot skip tunes. You have to suffer through some terrible songs if you forgot to delete them from the Jukebox.
14) No Divas in My Career mode.
15) No guitar, trash can, ring bell weapons.
16) Face morphing is limiting. Cannot make distinctive faces without picture capture.
17) Photo capture creation is wonky. Sometimes you get shadows or additional pieces of the original picture you did cropped, ON the wrestler. Like one pic suddenly included a sweater top on the CAW's chest. Another a dress shirt and tie on the chest.
18) The skin color kept changing on a few of my CAWS after I had finished integrating the photo captured.
19) You cannot add YOUR songs to the Jukebox or for wrestler entrances.
20) You can no longer KO an opponent, which is the most idiotic thing in the world.
21) No body hair for CAWS. LOL. How ridiculous is that? Who made that decision? The one developer with an estrogen overload?
22) Whipwreck and Stunning Steve Austen, have roster pictures that look like they were created on Xbox 360 a few years ago.
23) Why is The Iron Sheik STILL Colonel Mustafa? And why not an alt attire of the greatest villain ever?
24) Some in ring moves are very slow. Some very fast. The balance is off, so be sure to alter your favorite wrestlers' move sets.
25) Some moves are not performed in ring if you are not in a perfect position to execute them. What perfect is, I don't know. You press a button, hold a button, and nothing happens. So you then scramble to change your tactics before he/she gets up and beats you up.
26) Do we really need half a dozen Steve Austins? Three Stings? Multiple Undertakers, Jericho's, Rocks, Mark Henry's, Kane's? Make them alt attires and give us new wrestlers! Stop wasting space and bloating the game to up that roster number. That said, I can understand the need for maybe TWO versions of some wrestlers. The justification for versions of wrestlers, I guess, would be they performed differently at younger ages. Then of course, you have Mick Foley playing entirely different new characters, so I'm cool with that. But there's no Mick Foley in game!
27) You still cannot play as managers.
PROS:
1) MOST of the wrestlers look amazing and have accurate body types. Both Arnolds look amazingly lifelike--one from 80's, one from now. Andre the Giant's head is terrible, though.
2) You can include wrestler entrance music on your Jukebox.
3) The matches have a lot at stake. Every move is important now. Every reversal. Every finisher. There is a need for strategy, because you are severely limited when you lose stamina and get damaged. On the flip side, this game is not as fun for average players. You cannot just pick it up and play, like 2K14. But, if you land a shot off the top rope, MAN is it meaningful.
4) The animations are excellent. Different reversals depending on the wrestlers' positions. Moves are more realistic. Cage match animations. Very cool.
5) Tons of OMG moments to destroy your foes.
6) The limitations of stamina and momentum and reversals make the match ups very exciting. Because Andre simply cannot keep up with a Neville, for example. But Neville, please don't get hit by Andre!
7) The creation suite lets you edit so many skills and attributes that the wrestlers you make and the wrestlers already made are truly more unique than ever. Nobody has to be a clone of anyone anymore.
8) The online creation community is INCREDIBLE, as usual. Players with a talent for creating wrestlers will make your experience at least 100% better. Why? What's there? Classic wrestlers you've never heard of, unless you were a kid in the early 80's. Almost everyone left out from the 90's to now. DC & Marvel characters. Donald Trump. (YUGE!) Celebrities like Taylor Swift, Kevin Hart, Terry Crews, Kevin Smith, etc. Unique creations which run from the hilarious to the amazingly real. Look, these CAWS are done extremely well. Yes, there are a ton of wonky, ugly, ones. But when you find a CAW someone has done well, you will rejoice! Ronda Rousey, Kimbo Slice, Hulk Hogan, Demolition, The Legion of Doom, JCVD, Kamala, The Dudleys, Umaga, Darth Vader, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Kharma, Inoki, Angle, Sabu, The Prometheus Engineer, Tensai, and on and on and on and on!
9) The photo capture feature, when done well, when it works, is AWESOME. From the front you really see the person you created in detail. The side view is very tricky to get right, but in game it all looks pretty good unless you have a major flaw.
10) Online uploads and downloads are fast.
11) Loading times are faster in general.
12) Scrolling through moves and names is very fast finally.
13) You can upload any face, any logo, any picture you can imagine as long as it is not offensive. So the creative possibilities are literally endless.
14) Material textures are wonderful. They truly change the look of a piece of clothing.
15) Loading screens show your percentages of wins vs losses, match types most played, etc. Neat feature.
16) Tons of match types.
17) You can create arenas, entrances, shows. Pretty cool.
18) Sound effects are much better, but some strikes are still weakly heard.
19) The graphics of sweat coming off a struck opponent or dripping down a wrestler are very cool. The reddened skin on injured wrestlers is also a nice touch.
20) The audience is a hilarious mix of different types of people gesturing and jumping and mouthing things. They look more realistic and that's a fun touch. A bunch look like balloon heads, but many don't. Mixed bag.
I cannot attest to the online play. I vowed never to play online again because Xbox Live is full of screaming children and lunatic outcasts, hiding in holes of society that have WiFi apparently.
This is all I can think of right now. I'm exhausted. :) This game is worth buying. It does everything it is supposed to do well, very well. Yes it fails in many small places, but the game is fun, competitive, strategic, and presented beautifully.
Yes, the DLC should have been included. But game makers have discovered a way to make money off us, so that will never go away. In this game, at least, you can create a wrestler coming on DLC to avoid paying. Many players do a better job than the developers. Pretty awesome.
RIP Piper, Warrior, Rhodes, Savage, Andre, Moolah, Gonzales, Guerrero. | video-games_xbox |
Buy it for functionality, not for design. PROS:
* Sanwa parts.
* Dual-modded out of the box.
I've been an owner of the Madcatz fightstick since it was first released all those years ago, and it has turned me into a real snob for Sanwa parts. This stick performs just as well as my Madcatz stick, but for two consoles, which is a huge plus in allowing me to convert everyone I know to fighting games over whatever drivel they currently practice.
CONS:
* The design, in both usability and aesthetics.
I can't think of a single aspect of the design of this stick that is superior or even equivalent to the Madcatz stick. I feel that the differences between the two in respect to usability are the worst offenders, from the placement of the cord drawer on the left, to the start button just east of my right hand, to the difficulty I have reading the home/turbo/mode/select buttons on the reflective surface at the top. However, the aesthetic components of its design are just as baffling: multiple textures of plastic on the edges; a fuzzy, slightly concave bottom that has redundant rubber feet; and the slight bevel to the angles of each side of the unit. Honestly, when I first took the stick out of its packaging, the design around the buttons clued me in to what I should expect from the rest of the design: the marks are clearly supposed to be concentric circles surrounding each input, but the circle they are drawn on is both a different size than and not centered around each button. The effect is as if someone tried to freehand the image onto the top. I would replace it with art of my own, but to do so is neither as intuitive or convenient as the Madcatz stick, so I'm going to leave it as is until I can figure out a solution.
VERDICT:
If you are looking for a dual-modded stick that works, this one does so very, very well. If you are looking for a meticulously-designed piece of art to add to your home, then do not buy this. | video-games_xbox |
I thought the graphics were awesome and the ways by which I could dismember my . I was a big fan of the Mortal Kombat reboot. So much so, that I actually felt the need to unlock everything in the Krypt. I thought the graphics were awesome and the ways by which I could dismember my foes was entertainment beyond belief. The game play of Mortal Kombat X isn't its major issue. Its the lack of content, less than optimal graphics and poor in-game economy.
The graphics are servicable, but definitely not up to par with next-gen standards. Theres a decent amount of fighters but its a joke to think Netherrealm is charging 5 bucks per character(30 dollars for a kombat pack with all the upcoming dlc). Im not going to go into major detail, but I WILL say the whole game feel stripped down based on what was offered with last generations Mortal Kombat reboot. There aren't as many levels, there isn't a challenge tower to complete(although there ARE still many arcade-like towers to choose from with many different modiferes which is cool), babalities are gone and the online faction mode seems lacking in depth.
And now onto my biggest problem with the game: The in-game economy. The way you earn coins is fairly typical. You gain a small amount by either performing combos or completing matches. The most common way to earn coins is to play story mode or complete faction war towers(regular towers with random modifiers against competing factions). The problem is, the coins you earn are basically pennies compared to the amount you will actually need to purchase a decent amount of stuff from the krypt. The krypt is actually very deep and well crafted. Exploring is an absolute blast, if only it didn't take hours of grinding just to get enough coins to unlock a few measly items. Nether realm gives you the option to spend 20 bucks and unlock everything in the krypt which just further proves my point as to how they are going about content in this game. If you love mortal kombat, this game is alot of fun. Its got a fairly lengthy story and excellent fatalities and krypt, but if your planning on it having the lasting value that the reboot did last generation, you most likely will be just as dissapointed as I was | video-games_xbox |
Revolutionary. ... for me. Let me explain, oh my friends!
Little history. Started playing shooters on PC when I was a youngin'. Quake was the first. Quake II followed. III. Unreal. Unreal Tournament. A few lesser titles in between. All multiplayer, mind you. Since I was a kid, there was always something so (divinely) mind boggling about being able to link up different machines (at that time computers) and not only participate, but kill your friends, with ultra cool weapons and the like, in -- literally -- a universe outside our own. And, truly -- is there anything cooler? It's like psychically connecting with your friends in a lucid dream, only peppered with a concrete universe filled with its own physics and laws. The point of divuldging into this intimate joy of mine on paper(?)? Ever since I've been introduced to this experience of 'multiplayer', I have pretty much neglected single player in all games like a deformed foster child with epilepsy.
So why is 'Call of Duty 2' for Xbox 360 revolutionary for a gamer such as myself? It converted me. From what, you ask? From PC, to console. I defiantly backed my beliefs -- console could not (and hadn't -- objective fact I'd say!) come close to the PC in regards to multiplayer gaming. First person shooters only solidified the argument. For one, you've got a mouse, which undeniably offers a more precise degree of control. I played Mario Brothers on a controller, but after playing 'Goldeneye' on Nintendo 64 whenever I attended a friends house way back when, I shuddered with disgust. A controller couldn't touch what I was used to, not to mention the fact that you're playing on a full screen with a computer, at a very accomplished speed, opposed to split screen on the console, which, had one dared play four player, reached framerates of dire levels, not unlike viewing screenshots on the 'net (and I exaggerate only slightly).
So here comes 'Call of Duty 2' for the Xbox 360. For starters I only bought the system because a friend convinced me and I was actually impulsive about it, which I'm usually not. Had 'Project Gotham Racing' for a while which was actually pretty fun online, if a bit hard, and I was never into racing games. Few weeks later I bought the Duty, and I was impressed. Let me just say off the bat that as many know, the first many months of the game's existence the online play would become unplayable when a certain amount of people clogged a server. Sometime back now, however, the guys FINALLY released a patch and the game now works as well as it possibly could. Now, this is why the game refuses to let me abandon it:
- The graphics are very good, and perhaps more importantly, the framerate is excellent. A reoccuring problem among past console shooters (Halo and Halo 2 prayed it could touch 60 frames per second like CoD2) that had yet to be overcome, we now finally have a game that runs silky smooth 95% of the time, practically unaffected by the number of players on the screen or the viewing distance on larger levels. It's gloriously smooth, and I am completely obsessive about this sort of thing. Add to this the graphical prowess (which too is stunning despite an overall -- but in my opinion inconsequential -- semi-lack of detail in textures), and you've got a gaming universe that is good to go for even the most demanding lowlife.
- The control -- with great help from the consistent framerate -- is good. Once you've gotten used to it, it radiates. Best I've used on a console, beating out even the Halo's (which I dabbed in for a bit via friends) due again to the huge improvement in the rendering speed of the graphics. It becomes intuitive but with the constant ability to probe deeper into skill level. I personally play on the 'high' sensitivity setting and while I'm still not as good as I would be with a mouse (theorhetically), I am good -- far better than I could have ever imagined with a controller.
- Net code is delicious. Even with pings of up to 2-300 (KIND of stretching it), you have -- very -- little disadvantage over even the host. Because of the way it works, you aren't shooting and having it shoot .2 seconds later. However it does it, it does, but it compensates for the latency and there is practically no unfair play as a result. This whole point is of immense value because along with the awesome graphics and speed the netcode offers essentially no determent of any kind. Overall, this all adds up to a near-perfect online gaming experience that is as good as any I've played on PC... just stunning. Oh yeah, and Xbox Live's interface with the whole friend's dealie? Brilliant. Get with friends in seconds at any point in time. The microphone of course adds to the greatness of an already great experience.
- The game. It's fun as anything. The weapons are awesome. Sound effects blast and make for totally satisfying kills. Everything is well balanced, despite the fact that lesser skilled players will say snipers outweigh all other weapons. Maps overall are wonderfully designed and dynamic. Personally I'm still into the standard modes of play (there are five) -- deathmatch and team deathmatch -- and they are a riot. It all works, beautifully. It's FUN, so fun, and consequently can become like a powerful drug.
Hmmm. So yeah, five stars without any hesitation whatsoever, based simply on multiplayer. It is the one game that has never, for a second, made me regret the purchase of a 360. | video-games_xbox |
single player review. I'm not too into playing games online, due to the overabundance of annoying 13 year-olds that play multiplayer online games, so I can only speak for the single player. I've been looking forward to Crackdown 2 for a long time, since Crackdown has been one of my favorite games. I have to say that Crackdown 2 is quite a letdown. There are literally almost no improvements over the original. It feels more like an expansion pack than a new game. In fact I would have given this 5 stars if it was a $10-$20 downloadable expansion instead of a $60 new game, at least then I would have felt like I got my money's worth.
The graphics are the same, the agency voice is identical, the city is almost identical, everything is pretty much exactly the same as Crackdown. The only difference is that instead of fighting against a varied group of gangs, you fight against ONE gang, and also a bunch of boring zombies (zombies in a shooter, how original!). Like the Flood in Halo, the zombies (AKA "freaks") get real old, real fast. They basically just run straight at you and try to hit you or spit acid on you, making it so the enemy AI is completely dull and requires no strategy. The gangs in Crackdown kept you interested because each had a different story and different characters that you have to take down. Crackdown 2 has a boring, almost uncomprehendable story, and the one gang that you have to fight (the Cell) has no interesting characters or sub-bosses to defeat. It seems that the developers spent about an hour coming up with the enemies in this game.
The gameplay is a stepdown from Crackdown. With Crackdown, you needed strategy in order to take down the higher level bosses. In Crackdown 2, once you get the more powerful weapons like the rocket launcher, strategy is completely unnecessary. Go into an enemy controlled area, kill all the bad guys, capture the area, repeat. That is literally all you do for the whole game.
I gave the game four stars for the "fun" aspect because I still love the elements of the game like leveling up, finding new weapons, etc. But I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone unless they loved the original Crackdown, because this sequel does not offer anything that the original already doesn't. | video-games_xbox |
Great Concept, Flawed in Execution. The FPS genre tries so hard. Ever since Halo landed on the Xbox with a thunderous reception (this arguably could date back as far as Goldeneye on the N64), the first-person shooter has exploded in popularity and quantity among consoles. To be toted as a truly great FPS in an increasingly crowded genre, a developer must create something very unique. Ubisoft seems to have this figured out in Far Cry 2. In a climate where shooters have become more and more reliant on scripting and linearity for the sake of excitement, FC2 sets off to allow the user to provide their own excitement. There's no hand-holding here - FC2 throws you into a warring country and let's you be the catalyst. It's a concept that is brimming with potential, and one that does, on occasion, work very well. Unfortunately, FC2 is too bogged down by frustrating mechanics that other FPS games nailed down long ago to landmark it as a truly great game.
The premise is simple; you're a mercenary who's been dropped into Africa to kill an arms dealer known as the Jackal, who's located somewhere in the 18 kilometers you're left to roam. The narrative is driven by doing missions for one of two warring factions in the area. Along the way you will meet buddies, for whom you can also do missions. To repay you, they provide alternative ways to do main missions and will also save your hide if things go sour. Weapons can be permanently earned by destroying competitor convoys of a weapons dealer in the area, and cell-phone towers provide hitman missions where the goal is to simply assassinate a target, any way you see fit. How you go about any these missions is usually entirely up to you - and managing to hatch your own plan and successfully implementing can be very satisfying.
Despite FC2's varying success of missions, getting to and from these missions can be an absolute nightmare. Guard stations, usually filled with 2-4 baddies a piece, litter the entire map, and patrolling guards in vehicles frequently attempt to hinder your progress. Take out a guard station, and the guards will respawn once it's out of sight. This ends up making traveling an exhausting chore - getting from point A to point B typically involves clearing out (or avoiding) several guard stations and stopping every couple minutes to kill a patrolling enemy. It won't take more than a few missions before this gets old real quick, and the enjoyment of formulating plans and executing them is often discarded for killing guards as quick as possible just so you can finally get on with a mission. It must have been a paradox for Ubisoft, who likely felt that the open-world concept would grow boring if the player didn't have SOMETHING to do in between destinations. As it is, however, they took the wrong approach to this problem, and the game grows extremely tedious because of it.
This, of course, lends to a huge amount of gameplay. Those looking for a great time-to-price ratio in an FPS need not look any further than FC2 - performing every main mission and side mission (of which there are plenty) can easily take 30-40 hours. Finding the 200+ diamond briefcases hidden away in the landscape, unlocking every safe house and scouting every guard station is a lengthy task; perfectionists will have their hands full.
Forty hours is a huge amount of time for an FPS (and it feel likes it), but it does a decent job of keeping the locales varied. You likely won't return to the same place more than three or four times (outside of major towns, of course) - not that you would likely mind anyway. All of the landscapes are absolutely gorgeous - don't be surprised if you find yourself stopping to gawk at a beautiful cliffside or riverbank. Weapons are designed intricately, and the effects they create are wonderfully done. The explosions seem eerily realistic, but the real winner here is the use of fire. Explosions, molotovs, and the flamethrow are great tools to set the landscape ablaze, which both looks gorgeous and can be a great way for you to formulate a plan as the fire spreads across tall grass, trees, and buildings.
The befuddling thing about this game is that these effects are done so well, yet other areas, such as character animation and AI, can be so atrociously bad. It's actually quite feasible that this AI would hold up okay in close quarter settings - but in environments which are very open (95% of this game), it buckles quickly. Detecting your presence, for starters, is extremely inconsistent. Enemies can often spot you (and pelt you with an assault rifle) from extremely far away. Yet there were several cases where an enemy would be looking directly at me, 10 feet away, completely oblivious to my presence. The AI doesn't "magically" know where you are, but if you are anywhere in their line of site (regardless of obstructions like tall grass and trees), you can expect to be hunted. The AI's dead-on accuracy from very far way makes this a severe problem.
It, of course, kills the stealth option of FC2 - silenced weapons and even a camo suit are provided from the weapons dealer, but they seemingly do nothing. Enemies often hear silenced weapons anyway, even when using a dart rifle from reasonably far way. Taking things head-on works incredibly better, and most players are likely to resign to this method. It's a real shame for players who prefer to go undetected, and it severely hurts the "do it your way" approach that Ubisoft wanted to take with FC2.
If nothing else, Ubisoft should take FC2 as a learning experience. After all, building an open-world first person shooter can't be easy. The potential for greatness is certainly here, and Ubisoft most certainly should not abandon the concept for (the inevitable) Far Cry 3. With better AI and a less frustrating open-world mechanic, it could be the game this should have been. FC2 certainly has its moments, and the fact that some parts are expertly done and other facets fall very short makes you wonder if it got rushed out to meet a deadline. It doesn't set a first person shooter precedent, and it doesn't warrant the title of great, but Far Cry has found its niche and it's a good one. And in this genre, that's half the battle.
6.5/10 | video-games_xbox |
Rayman Origins Review. Rayman Origins is an absolute game to play if you love platformers, want to take a breath from shooters from such as Call of Duty, or if you want to simply have a great time with family and friends. This is a must buy.
---------------------------------------------------------
[Presentation]
Rayman, Globox, and The Teensies awaken their underworld neighbors by their obnoxious snoring. The army awakens Rayman and his friends, only to fight them to death. Rayman and his friends are captured.
---------------------------------------------------------
[Gameplay 9.5/10]
Rayman Origins is simply an amazing game. You play through 10 worlds (66 levels) to free all the electoons who appeared in the original Rayman game. To free all these electoons, you must find hidden cages, collect lums (Rayman's version of Mario's coins or Sonic's rings) or do time trials to gain electoons. There is 246 electoons in the entire game. There is also skull teeth which there are 10 in all (1 each world). Skull teeth are obtained by chasing treasure boxes to the end.
Co-op brings something much different to the table. Up to 4-Player co-op can be played. If you ever played New Super Mario Bros. Wii, you would get a system of bubbles. In this system, if someone dies, they're turned into a bubble and cannot be released until a partner helps. Sometimes co-op is fun, and sometimes annoying. You and your partner(s) can aid each other to getting to high places to get a coin or what not, but....... the idea of putting the ability of being able to smack your partner(s) can be helpful, funny, or annoying. Ex: You friend smacks you into an enemy or lava etc. you two will have a laugh, but if it keeps happening or your partner(s) is(are) being (a) d&%k(s), then it'll get extremely annoying.
[Visuals 10/10]
Every single detail in this game is absolutely gorgeous. All the environments are lush and full of color. You'll have to find out on your own to see how wonderful it looks.
[Audio 9.8/10]
The audio in this game is great. You cannot play through this game without noticing the music. The music in this game is fits the environments of this game. When you're in the ocean, it'll play out a melody, when you're in a kitchen environment, it'll play music alike mexican music. I would give the audio a 10/10, but when you play the treasure levels and keep dying, the music gets extremely annoying. How it starts the treasure chase music. Ex: Dun......dun....... dun.. dun.. dun.dun, then it plays out a hilly billy like song.
[Overall 9.8/10]
Rayman Origins definitely didn't disappoint me, the game just has little flaws and can be covered up with ease. I would recommend this game to anybody. I even got my almost 3yr old niece loving this game. For $20, this game should keep you hooked for a month or two depending, if 100% the game like I did. | video-games_xbox |
Sonic Unleashed around the world. Welcome my friends to my Sonic Unleashed for the Xbox 360 Nintendo Wii the PS 2 and PS3.
After the disastrous events of Sonics 15th anniversary a lot of people thought that sonic transition to 3d was horrible so they decided to go back to basics with the next generation of gaming with Sonic Unleashed.
Story/Plot: Sonic Unleashed begins with a cold open that sees Sonic confronting his nemesis, Doctor Eggman, bounding around a fleet of spaceships. After the defeat of several of his robots, Sonic transforms into Super Sonic. After a brief chase through the airships, Sonic corners Eggman. However, Eggman manages to trap him using a powerful new ray weapon which drains the power of the Chaos Emeralds, causing them to turn gray and useless. He then uses the Emeralds' energy to fire an enormous laser and unleash a powerful beast, Dark Gaia, from the center of the planet, which has devastating consequences, shattering the planet into seven pieces. In addition, the ray and drained Chaos Emeralds have the unforeseen side-effect of transforming Sonic into a "Werehog" a beast form with greater strength and abilities at night. Eggman then ejects Sonic into space, who then lands safely onto the planet below. After landing along with the Emeralds, Sonic encounters a friendly creature who appears to suffer amnesia. Assuming he has caused it with his fall, Sonic decides to assist him in his quest to find out who he is, and the creature becomes a guide for the player; Sonic soon gives him the nickname Chip. Sonic's quest begins, and with the help of some old friends, such as Amy and Tails, he attempts to solve the crisis by traveling the world's continents, finding shrines that will fix the Emeralds, in order to return the world, and himself, to normal. After six of the seven continents are returned to normal, Chip is able to regain his memory; he is in fact Dark Gaia's opposite, Light Gaia. Since the beginning of time, the two of them had been in a cycle where Dark Gaia would break the planet apart, and Light Gaia would put it back together. Chip was released along with Dark Gaia, but because both of them were released prematurely, he lost his memory, and Dark Gaia was broken apart. They are able to place the last Chaos Emerald in the shrine on the final continent at Eggman's new empire, "Eggmanland", but are interrupted by him; Sonic then defeats Eggman who is using a robot that utilizes Dark Gaia's power. During the battle, the three sink into the core of the Earth and encounter a now-whole Dark Gaia. Eggman orders Dark Gaia to destroy Sonic, but it turns on him, knocking him away with one of its tentacles, and absorbs the power that turned Sonic into a Werehog, curing Sonic of lycanthropy, and uses that power to become Semi-Perfect Dark Gaia. Dark Gaia then attacks a defenseless Sonic and Chip, but Chip protects them both and calls all of the Gaia temples together and forms the Gaia Colossus, and begins to fight Dark Gaia. The Gaia Colussus seemingly defeats Dark Gaia, but Dark Gaia is not finished with them or the Earth yet, and consumes the entire world in darkness, becoming Perfect Dark Gaia in the process. Chip then gives the restored Chaos Emeralds to Sonic, allowing him to turn into Super Sonic and defeat it; Dark Gaia then sinks back into the planet, but the battle takes its toll on Super Sonic. Chip saves an exhausted Sonic by throwing him to the surface, before returning himself to the inside of the planet; he leaves behind his necklace and some parting words, and Sonic places the necklace on his hand as a bracelet to remind him of their adventure together. The game ends as Sonic speeds off with Tails, who flies alongside him on the coastline in the Tornado plane.
A good game story thats not too complicated.
Gameplay: Sonic Unleashed is a platform game in which the player controls the titular Sonic the Hedgehog in two modes: fast-paced levels that take place during daytime, showcasing Sonic's trademark speed as seen in previous games in the series, and slower, night-time levels, during which Sonic's Werehog form emerges, and gameplay switches to an action-based, brawler style of play, in which Sonic battles Gaia enemies (those created by the main enemy in the game, Dark Gaia). Each level takes place on a particular continent, each of which is based on a real-world location. In sections of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, the player may choose to advance the time of day in order to play as either Sonic or the Werehog; in the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions, time is advanced automatically. Daytime levels focus on Sonic's speed, and to this extent, sees the player control Sonic through fast-moving stages containing both 2D and 3D styles of gameplay. 2D sections are reminiscent of the Mega Drive/Genesis-era Sonic games, where the player controls Sonic in a side-scrolling fashion, while 3D sections see the camera placed behind Sonic, so the player may move in all directions. In addition to moves available in past games, such as the homing attack, new moves are also introduced. For instance, a new sidestep feature known as the Quick Step is available, allowing Sonic to dodge left and right, and a Drift feature, which allows Sonic to make tighter turns without slowing down. The game also features a gameplay mechanic previously used in the Sonic Rush series called the Sonic Boost, which greatly increases Sonic's speed, allowing him to smash through objects, destroy enemies instantly, or even access different level paths. In the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, an on-screen "Ring Energy" meter displays how much boost is available. The amount of boost remaining may be increased by collecting more rings, and is decreased by using the Boost. In contrast, the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions of the game represent available Boost using bars, which may be added by performing "Action Chains", destroying multiple enemies in quick succession through the use of homing attacks, or by collecting rings. Nighttime features slower-paced, action-oriented levels, in which Sonic transforms into the Werehog, a beast form that has great strength and stretchable arms. Gameplay here sees the player use a variety of melee and combo attacks to defeat large numbers of enemies, collect items, and move items around to advance through the level, and use his stretchable arms to cling to distant objects; simple puzzle elements are also featured. Collecting rings in these levels replenishes the Werehog's health, while a special move, Unleashed Mode, allows the Werehog to channel his energy into increasing the power of his attacks for a short time. Nighttime levels are adjusted in the Wii version to allow greater use of the Wii Remote, such that players may control the arms of the Werehog by using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in order to grab onto objects and proceed in the levels. The Wii version of the game also expands upon the ratio of nighttime levels to daytime, with more than three times as many nighttime levels (twenty-five in all). After nighttime levels are completed, Dark Gaia Points are gained, allowing access to bonus moves. In addition to these two gameplay types, Sonic Unleashed also features hubworlds, in which the player may reveal, as well as advance, the story of the game. Hubworlds operate differently depending on the version of the game being played; the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions feature fully interactive, explorable 3D hubworlds, similar to those in Sonic 2006, in which townspeople may be interacted with and side quests may be undertaken, in order to gain experience or unlock items, such as artwork, videos and music tracks. In contrast, the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions feature menu-based map systems, in which players simply click on areas to talk to townspeople and find information. Within both day and nighttime levels are medals that Sonic may collect, two types of which exist: Sun and Moon. In the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, collecting these medals allows the player to level up Sonic's Sun and Moon stats, and these must be increased to reach new stages in the game, with a certain number of Sun medals for Hedgehog levels, and a certain number of Moon medals for Werehog levels. Because only the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions feature playable hubworlds, these are also the only versions in which Sun and Moon medals may be found by exploring the towns, talking to the citizens, and completing side quests. In the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions, Sun and Moon medals are earned after completing stages and clearing their objectives. The medals are used to open up doors in Gaia gates, which can earn bonus content.
(Nintendo Wii) Story 4/5 Gameplay 3/5 Music 4.5/5 Overall 7.5/10 = B-
(PS2) Story 4/5 Gameplay 4/5 Music 4.5/5 Overall 8.5/10 = B+
(Xbox 360 PS3) Story 4/5 Gameplay 3.5/5 Music 4.5/5 Overall 8/10 = B | video-games_xbox |
L.A. Noire is underrated to me. L.A. Noire to me seems underrated today. I can see the letdown for the people who got this game closer to when it originally was released because of all the hype it received and especially since it was a Rockstar game. At first glance this game seems like an action/third-person shooter game. However, most of the game is actually an adventure/puzzle game with parts that turn into cover-based third person shooters(mainly side quests like street crime cases or the end to a case).
If you can get over the fact that the game is more of a puzzle game, and it does require a lot of thinking and good deductive reasoning during interrogations/interviews, you'll have a great experience.
Story:
- Set in the late 1940s to early 1950s, the first half of the game focuses on a fictional depiction of "The Black Dahlia" murder, which is put together perfectly and executed nicely in the game. The second half focuses on the main character's post-war problems. I'd say the first half is a lot better than the second half of the game. Nevertheless, this game has mastered a unique way of storytelling, which makes the game ten times better.
Pros:
- Characters are memorable and unique.
- Side quests are actually pretty fun and offer a relaxing break and change of pace from the main story.
- Storytelling at its best.
- Actually challenging puzzles (mainly interrogations/interviews as one wrong answer can greatly effect the case's outcome).
- Immersive atmosphere (it really feels like driving around a 1950s L.A.)
- The action bits are extremely fun.
- Fast travel
- Graphics are basically the same as any other Rockstar game (Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, etc). Shouldn't really effect anything since it is a game and not a movie.
Cons:
- Driving is really annoying (I guess it's realistic though).
- You can skip some cutscenes and you can't skip others.
- Interviews/Interrogations take forever if you try to do it right (without cheating).
- Collectibles
Other:
- I got 1060G on one playthrough with all DLC cases (four extra).
- If you're on the border about which DLC cases to get, if you get any and not the Rockstar Pass(gives all four cases), get the electroplating case (they should have put it in the regular game).
Buy this game if:
- You want to experience a well thought out story
- Have moderate patience
- Enjoy puzzles
- You want to be a cop
Don't buy this game if:
- You want fast-paced, or even medium-paced, action (it's a pretty slow game)
- it's more than $20 | video-games_xbox |
Elevators ... in ... SPAAAAAAAACE. When I first played <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Knights-of-the-Old-Republic/dp/B000067DPM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Knights of the Old Republic</a> (KOTR) I was enthralled. Here was a Star Wars game that was better than the latest Star Wars movies, full of engrossing characters, interesting plots, and aliens true to their roots from the Star Wars universe. At the time, one flaw popped up that really bothered my wife: talking to the aliens ad nauseum meant that certain sound bites were repeated by certain alien races over and over. So you had a lot of "ooka shishka jedi" stuff going on that, while it didn't bother me too much, certainly annoyed the heck out of anyone having to listen to it over and over as I talked to everything that was willing to carry on a conversation. Then I bought <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Jade-Empire/dp/B000J165AO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Jade Empire</a> and to my horror, discovered that it was the exact same game engine. It's the same engine used for Mass Effect. And all that dialogue is starting to get old.
Allow me to deconstruct the myth that Mass Effect is a supreme role-playing game experience.
* SCIENCE-FICTION ROLE-PLAYING: PERFECTED. The setting is a combination of <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Star-Wars/dp/B001EN71DQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Star Wars</a>' exotic worlds, <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Star-Trek/dp/B000A6T262/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Star Trek</a>'s ship interiors, and <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Babylon-5/dp/B00006HAZ4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Babylon 5</a>'s battle to establish human dominance in an alien world.
Mass Effect uses conversational pathing. Generally speaking, the top choice is positive, the middle choice is neutral, and the bottom choice is negative. So if you want to be a jerk, you can always pick the rude bottom choice, and if you want to be a nice guy, you can always pick the positive top choice. Or if you're in a hurry, you click the button and move to the next chat menu. This is not role-playing, it's a game of multiple choice, and the majority of the time the choices are obvious.
This game has more in common with KOTR than the game engine. The customizability of equipment and characters, the level up system, it's all the same. So instead of the Force we have "biotics." You can also customize your character's appearance, which is neat. However, Xbox's new interactive menus allow the same thing - avatar customization. It hardly makes this a "perfect" role-playing game.
The equipment improvements come down to: Fire Ammo IV and Laser Rifle VII. There is a whole pile of scrolling text you can read about the history of the weapon, but the short of it is VII is better than VI which is better than V. You could get those kinds of power ups in a game of <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Diablo/dp/B00005N6K3/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Diablo</a>.
* THE VASTNESS OF SPACE BECKONS. Like KOTR, you have a ship that you can fly all over the universe. This is like the world's worst sandbox - it's hard enough to figure out what to do and where to go in a small city. Yes, there's lots of content, but it's not necessarily relevant or interesting. Almost all the quests involve "go here, get widget, return it to me."
Then there's the MAKO, a dune buggy-type roving cannon. Exploring the surface of worlds primarily involves shooting at giant crab things that you can run over. In this respect Mass Effect is reminiscent of the <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Final-Fantasy/dp/B00002R28C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Final Fantasy</a> games.
* LOSE YOURSELF IN A LIVING GALAXY. The graphics are amazing, the voice acting top notch, the character expressions just as nuanced as promised. It has Seth Green as a voice actor, which rocks.
But for reasons I will never understand, there are long elevator sequences. In the world of science fiction, where ships can travel through space and alien races intermingle, we have not yet invented a means around elevators. EVERY time you get in an elevator, your characters freeze, face forward, and you listen to the sci-fi equivalent of elevator <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Muzak/dp/0472089420/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Muzak</a>. The only thing you can do is spin the camera around the characters while they stand there. You can't reload, check equipment, or anything else. It's useless downtime.
For some reason, the highly advanced civilizations still like to keep their belongings in boxes. The boxes can be hacked; I'm a sucker for these mini-games, so I confess I enjoyed them. But really, boxes? There might be other interesting ways of finding equipment, but since this is the same game engine as KOTR, boxes are everywhere.
There is also the romantic subplot. This subplot involves choosing between a sexy blue alien (reminiscent of Zhaan from <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Farscape/dp/B00006G8ES/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Farscape</a>) and a pushy human racist woman. It's pretty clear which woman the game would like you to hook up with (or man, if you play a female character, but the alien female retains her faux gender). This is hardly a deep romantic plot, and the ruckus raised over the intimate scene between the two characters is unwarranted; it's far tamer than anything on the Internet.
To save on memory, the majority of aliens are the same bodies duplicated multiple times, in the same way Star Trek tended to have every alien be humanoid since that meant less makeup was required. There are a lot of the blue female aliens throughout the game, and they all look similar. There's not a fat person among them. Even the ship's doctor, a much older woman, is a silver fox with the body of a twenty year old (where was the romantic subplot with HER?).
* LEAD YOUR SQUAD IN INTENSE, REAL-TIME COMBAT. Although your best bet in beating this game is as a soldier, Mass Effect is no <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Halo/dp/B000FRU0NU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Halo</a>. The third person perspective is difficult to follow, especially when you fight many enemies at once. What this means is you're constantly pausing the game to give your squad commands, which completely ruins the "real-time" combat element. There isn't the nail-biting thrill of trying to reload a weapon perfectly like Gears of War, and the ability to use terrain as cover isn't nearly as smooth.
Mass Effect isn't a bad game by any means. The graphics are excellent and if you have the time, you can wander the world interrogating every single alien, reading and listening to every path of dialogue, and looting everything on every planet.
Mass Effect is ultimately a giant sandbox that's somewhat different from KOTR, only with none of the cachet of Star Wars. The main plot line, the one in which you save the universe, is a lot of fun and makes for an interesting game. But you'll have to sit through a lot of elevators to get there. | video-games_xbox |
Excellent game, but very content-starved. At its core, this is a great game for the trivia buff. But its content really needs work.
The graphics are great for what it is (this is a jazzed-up board game, kids, not Halo.) The gameplay - visuals, pace, control - is truly excellent and well-thought-out. The designers did a fantastic job bringing Trivial Pursuit into the video gaming world.
My primary complaint is the quality and quantity of content. Perhaps I've been "spoiled" by the excellent and voluminous questions of the classic TP board games of yesteryear, but this was quite disappointing. Don't get me wrong - there are many excellent questions - however, several are miscategorized (asking me about crab soup ingredients in 'Geography' - really, guys?) And (as shipped) the game has nowhere near enough questions to sustain any long-term engagement. To illustrate: we (two people) have only had the game two days, played perhaps four or five games total, and have seen 15 or 20 questions twice. That would never happen with a real TP card set.
The good news is that these content issues can be easily remedied with additional question pack downloads and updates from EA - but, as of this writing, the pickings are very slim.
Also, the geography "map" feature could be improved. When the player is selecting his/her answer on the map, the name of the answer being "hovered" over is not shown. Perhaps this is just to make it more challenging, which is fine, but it's inconsistent with the rest of the game, which lets you see the name of your answer before you lock it in.
Oh, and the idiotic guy talking in the background who says several dumb things to you every single turn? Truly maddening. Who thought he was a good idea? You will want to punch him in the face within the first minute. Thank Heavens you can turn him off (options - voice volume - 0).
And while it doesn't mean much to me, adding support for online play would be excellent.
Overall, it's a very good game. But, if you're going to play it with any regularity, buy it only if you're optimistic there will be more content available to download in the future (I expect there will, but who knows.) | video-games_xbox |
Madden 25 = an odd-numbered Star Trek movie. I'm one of those ancients who actually has played 25 years of Madden and saw "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in a movie theatre. Both franchises have taught me about managing expectations and living with disappointment. Unfortunately, Madden 25 doesn't have a video game version of JJ Abrahams to reboot the tired Madden franchise.
If anything, Madden 25 is small step backwards from last year's Madden 13. Compared to other modern video game offerings, the graphics seem tired and washed out. The physics seem worse from phantom tackles to miracle interceptions to defensive players that can read minds but cannot understand pursuit angles. There's also the longstanding problem of player speed and contact dynamics. It's frustrating to watch a receiver with 95 speed caught from behind by an 85 speed linebacker, and the tackle made through some kind of X-Men magnetic power without bodily contact.
There are moments in the game when the AI seems the culmination of 25 minutes rather than 25 years. Seriously, AI coach, if you're down by 6 with 1:43 left in the 4th quarter and have no time outs... don't punt the ball.
The "new" owner mode harkens back to some of the less successful features in earlier iterations of the franchise. The interface is clumsy and results in setting prices with very little sense of what difference the changes actually make.
Somehow, the developers manage to take America's favorite sport and make it into a mediocre video game. That is the truly frustrating part of Madden. Other firms with far less resources than EA have made better football games for video consoles. Madden 25 has a "made by committee" feel and offers very few of those "wow" moments where a gamer sees something extraordinary unfold. The glitches occur frequently enough to make immersion difficult. As noted in the intro, the real problem is with expectations. Having seen EA do some good things with its NCAA franchise, it's hard to understand the learning disability Madden developers apparently have.
If there's a Star Trek moment for Madden 25, it's a replay of William Shatner's chewing-up-scenery yell of "Kahn!" near the end of the second movie. My version was, "Con!" after I had realized I had paid $60 to play a video football about as realistic as the Trouble with Tribbles. | video-games_xbox |
Love the versatility and the workout. I was NEVER a workout kind of person at all. In fact, I didn't believe in it due to all the sweating and soreness and what not. Who wants that? But as I've gotten older I knew I needed to do something and I picked Your Shape Fitness. I didn't believe I could get a respectable workout using a game console but I have thoroughly enjoyed working out with the YSF "games". I've been using them consistently for a year now (minus a break due to surgery) and they have exceeded my exercise expectations. I lost weight, my arms are nicely toned, even my legs have more definition. They're not ripped per se, but definitely not jello-ish. I feel my fitness level has greatly improved and I'm kind of an exercise junky now. My friends are shocked by the change.
YSF 2012 improves upon the original by offering more ways to workout how I want. Although there are a few flaws, overall I've been more than pleased with this program. I was happy to see 2012 offering more of the popular workouts out these days such as the dance classes, boot camp, and floor exercises. I get bored easily and I've had fun mixing and matching according to my mood and fitness goals. Because of the teacher's pet in me, adding the little gold stars via badges and calendar tracking, and seeing what I've accomplished motivates me to push myself to do more. That has been great and I recommend it to everyone who asks. With that said, here are my assessments of key aspects of the game:
Navigation:
The more sweeping movements to navigate the screens has been great and feels more natural. But it's also somewhat glitchy. Even if you're just sitting there tying your shoe, it might think you selected "play that really tough routine again" and then you have to stop it before the madness starts over. So just be real careful not to do a lot of sudden movements on camera.
Tracking:
A few annoyances I've experienced, as others have stated, are things such as it losing you in the middle of a workout even though you are following along; that's an ugh. The glitch is very predictable to the point I already know I'm going to lose my "gold" status when I see a certain routine come up. If I'm trying to see how long I can stay gold and it loses me before I meet it, it's a bummer.
Same with the Yoga classes. I don't mind it losing me during yoga since yoga doesn't trigger my competitiveness as much, but it is still frustrating to stay in a place of "well being" when you're waving your arm around in triangle pose trying to get the camera to pick you up. So you have to decide, do I want the score, or do I want the workout? If you want the score, you try to modify yourself for the camera to see you but you know the camera-friendly pose isn't really challenging you or isn't even what the instructor is doing. If you want the workout, you do it correctly, but you know your score will be 25%...bummer.
Having floor exercises brings more workout opportunities like push ups and sit ups, but again it still doesn't see you very well so you end up with a 50% score even though you did the whole routine.
Game administration:
There are a few gaps such as it doesn't easily tell you the total calories burned for your current session, but it tells you your calories burned from the dawn of time. Yes, it's interesting to see how many I've burned since I've had the games, but I just want to know how many I burned TODAY. And if you lose your xbox live connection, your progress isn't saved/synced so even the running total isn't accurate. Yes, it tells you that it needs to stay connected upfront, but can't it just save your progress on the SD card rather than via the internet since I can't control when my wireless might decide to drop? Case in point, I'd completed a challenging 4 week fitness goal, the game congratulated me for doing so, but when I went back the next day it had marked it as attempted and not completed! I was soooooo not happy about that.
The calendar is cool, but it could be more interactive. Right now it just marks what days you worked out, which is good, but not as useful as it could be. For example, if I could touch a day and see what I did on that day, that would be very helpful. Like, which day I started a particular fitness goal or what calories I burned on that day, what exercises I did so I can know if I did upper, lower last time, etc. The "Favorite Day" marker I guess is supposed to imply when I started a goal, but it's not quite useful. Favorite Day= Tuesday. And? So? That's taking up space with minimal information and could be better utilized.
The narrator can be a bit snarky at times- "And where do you think you're going??". To which I reply, "I'm going to your momma's house, chick! Let me get my bottle of water and I'll be right back, sheesh!" We've had some pretty heated conversations about my going off screen. Maybe that's just me...
The exercises:
The mini games (what I use as a warm up) are kinda fun. My favorites are Run the World, Stomp It, the punching one (can't remember the name), and Jump Rope. I don't see the point of the Stack 'em Up game. I guess it's supposed to work on your balance, but I don't feel challenged by it at all.
Side note: Run the World toned my calves but my knees got bad from running in place like that. The graphics could be more realistic; I'm not positive I'm really running as fast as it says, so not sure how accurate that is; the fun facts are cool, but gets old after you've heard them a billion times; and doesn't give you the total miles you ran after it completes. But you do feel the exhilaration of completing a run without the boredom of a treadmill or the safety issues of running in traffic.
I bought the add on for cool down, but I think it was uncool (gotta love puns) they did not provide it to begin with. The game should've come with a cool down already.
The workouts are fun and challenging. I have my favorites, I have my groaners but they pretty much cover the basics. Straightforward stuff.
The dance classes are fun too. Sometimes I find myself doing the moves I learned in the hip hop class routines when I'm just dancing around the house listening to music. Although, I think it's physically impossible to dance as fast as the Bollywood instructor moves. They must've recorded her in human time but sped it up to robotic for the game!
Zen is pretty close to Tai Chi from what I can tell. I'm not an expert or even a novice, so I don't mean to offend anyone who seriously practices. I'm just basing that opinion on a group that practices Tai Chi in the park across from my building and I could recognize the moves they were doing from the game...
Yoga, as others have said, is okay for stretching and some balance work but not by any means serious yoga. More like yoga-lite. But to quote the movie Babe, "That'll do, Pig. That'll do."
Again, overall, super satisfied with YSF2012. Yes, it has its flaws. Couldn't expect it not to. It has definitely evolved from the original and I think it will continue to evolve over time. In my opinion, if you want to improve your fitness level and have a fun convenient way to exercise regularly, this is the game for you. Just don't get too bummed about the scores and you'll have fun and see results! If you want to get Duane "The Rock" Johnson-ripped, might want to add something else to your fitness program. For now, I'm good with my toneage and ability to walk the stairs without panting. | video-games_xbox |
A few Criticisms & Praises. Well, let me just start off by saying I don't own an Xbox 360, but many of my friends do. I've used them and talked about them so I know quite a bit about them.
Now, the first thing I wanted to ask is, "Did Microsoft release the 360 too early, or are all the attatchments just a way to get money away from people?" I mean, if you compare the 360 to the new PS3 and Wii, there are ups and downs, but mostly downs. For one, out of the previously mentioned three, the 360 is the ONLY one that does not have built-in wireless and also free access to online play. For the 360, the wireless adapter is around $90! I think Microsoft also solved some of the annoyances that some gamers had with the original Xbox. I don't think you actually need a credit card number entered to get access to Xbox Live now, but I don't actually know.
Another major annoyance to me is the fact that the new Xbox can NOT play all of the original Xbox games, and even to play that small number of original games, you need yet another attatchment while with all of the 2nd and 3rd generation PS3's, I believe you can play any game from a previous console. More money spent.
Also, I've read that the 360 has had some problems with the internal cooling and that after a while you can smell warm electronics. Yet another addition to fix a problem that could've easily been solved before mass production began. But this time, it isn't Microsoft that has come up with an attachable solution, but Nyko.
The last problem that I have read about is one that is not unique to the Xbox 360 but also plagues the new, highly-rated, PS3. It is about the new graphics and such. Though both have amazing graphics, the 360 does not play so well on non-HDTV's but it might just be that the people who wrote about the problem don't know how to change the resolution options. But the PS3 is pretty much the opposite, it has problems WITH HDTV's.
Okay, so now you know the bads from my point of view, so onto the good. As I mentioned before, the 360 has phenomenal graphics that rivaled other consoles at the time. The 360 was also the first console that came with a built-in wireless controller signal reciever. While wireless is not a new idea, for example, it was used already with the Gamecube, the 360 is the first to not need a seperate reciever for a wireless controller, admittedly, I have experienced interference on my cell phone while wireless controllers were in use, but no big deal. Also, the first console to have a simple way to physically customize it. Nice touch, Microsoft. Another plus has nothing to do with the actual features of the 360, but with software developers down at Microsoft HQ who are working to increase the ever-growing list of original Xbox games that is compatable with the 360, though you do need to download the patches off the Live Marketplace. Also, Microsoft has some awesome games on the drawing board right now, the most anticipated of course being Halo 3 (woot!!!).
Well, the rest is up to you. After reading, do find the 360 to be cleverly marketed gaming console, or an unmatured shadow of the pinnacle of the gaming community? You decide.
Later. | video-games_xbox |
Maybe Not the Best Game, But For All Its Faults, It Has Potential. Okay, here we go...
When I play a game, I'm firmly of the mind to let the game stand or fall based on its own merits. Like it or hate it (well, I can't say I actually HATE anything; that's an awfully strong word and it applies only, for me anyway, if you dislike someone or something so much that you lie awake at night thinking up ways to ruin it) on its own strengths or lack thereof. That being said, Two Worlds presents players with an interesting dichotomy. It IS its own game and wants to be seen as such.
However...
The developers, Reality Pump, made every effort to design this game in almost exactly the same format as Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. They even went so far as to post Hardcore Gamer's remark of "it's Oblivion on steroids" on the back cover in the hopes that, if not actually riding its coattails, their work could at least tag along on the previous game's success. I can't really blame them for this, but while that kind of idea looks good on paper and comparisons between games are inevitable (especially between ones that are so similar), I believe they did themselves a disservice. Truly, measuring apples to apples, this game falls short of the mark.
Like the saying goes, be careful what you wish for...
GAMEPLAY-4 Stars
Two Worlds presents you with the largest sandbox area to roam around in of any game that's not an MMORPG. Yes, the map is larger than Oblivion's 16 square miles, and it does display several different cultural styles, from a cross between Medieval European and Roman in the north to Middle-Eastern in the east and historical Japanese in the south, but whereas Oblivion's architectural styles were all based around a similar design, they all had a cohesiveness that bound them together. You felt there was a reason for their sameness. With Two Worlds, it was like they just threw those styles in there 'just because', with no rhyme or reason. Also, with a playground of that size, it would be nice to have someone to play with. Oblivion gave me enough to do on its map that my first character logged in about 650 hours of playtime before I started a new one and I now have about 1000 hours logged in between four different heroes. Completing almost all of the quests up to the finish of the game took me just under 35 hours on Two Worlds, and with Two Worlds, when you're done the game, you're done. Not so with Oblivion. THAT game allows you to continue on, developing your character after the main quest line has been finished (there really is no true ending to Oblivion). Between the different settlements, there are a lot more animals to run across in Two Worlds, but once you kill them, they're gone, aside from the occasional ghost that comes back to haunt the remains, and you can take them out too (indeed, the game's menu has a counter that keeps a running tally of the total number of creatures in a given area and how many of those that you've killed). That means that, if you complete all the quests except for the main one, you're eventually left with nothing to do but run around and look at the scenery, unless you suddenly get the urge to kill all the townspeople. And after they're gone (shrug)... Given enough game time with Oblivion, the creatures and opponents you encounter in your travels respawn, ensuring that you can always stay occupied. The areas are also nowhere near as interactive. In Oblivion, any person or creature you kill could be looted for gear. In Two Worlds, you can do this as well, but there only a few chests that you can open up (and you HAVE to pick a lock on all of them). There are very few loose objects you find in this game, other than the odd torch in a cave. In Oblivion, anything you search through, from chests to crates to bookshelves, had something that could be obtained and either sold off, used or studied. Any boxes or barrels in Two Worlds are pretty much 'gakk', used to fill up space, kind of like pie thickener. Yes, there is a seamless transition between entering a domicile (provided it's only one or two rooms in size) or a city and exiting back out into the outside, but there aren't all that many houses you can actually enter. A lot are just put there as an obstacle to have to run around. In Oblivion, any door can be opened, whether legally or illegally or with the required key you pick up in the appropriate quest, and there is something on the other side of it.
Without cheat codes (I found mine on the gamefaqs website and they're identical between the console and PC versions), this game is almost impossibly difficult to start out on. I managed to make my way out of the temple you begin the game in, but I ran into a group of 3 groms (Two Worlds' equivalent of goblins, I guess) along the road to the nearest town and they pretty much had me for Sunday dinner. So did the wolves nearby. To make matters more exasperating, there are revival points, known as Maliel shrines, where you recuperate. The wolves followed me to the shrine and attacked me there and killed me three more times before I could finish them off. That was the point when I turned to my wife, went "rrrraaaAAAAAAaaarrrr!!!" (and scared the poor girl half to death; sorry, hon!), and said "That's it! Time for cheat codes!", got them online and started upping my skills and abilities. It went much smoother after that. There are no cheat codes available for the console version of Oblivion, but the Gameplay Menu in Options contains a Difficulty slider that makes combat much easier, should you choose it to be so.
Two Worlds gameplay mechanics are skill-based, allowing you to spend the parameter points and skill points you acquire on your journey in the manner of your choosing, although there is a levelling function that affects certain aspects of gameplay (if you go to a town and buy equipment, there is a minimum level you have to be at to utilize it, and your level affects how much the payout is; if you buy a sword at 1st level, you might pay 150 gold for it, and buying that same sword when you reach 20th level might cost you 11000 gold, and this also affects the payout upon completion of certain quests). The parameter points are allocated among your 4 statistics (Vitality, Dexterity, Strength and Willpower). Increasing these statistics -and there is no ceiling on how high you can raise them up -unlike Oblivion's cap of 100- increases your derived attributes, things like Attack and Defense ratings, Health and Mana (Magic Power) ratings, and so on. There are a total of 27 different Skills to put points into, categorized as both Active or Passive skills. Active skills must be put into the hotkey circle and activated in game. Passive skills are always in effect. Each one has a maximum level of 15. Some of the skills aren't really anything more than a modifier to your given actions. For example, the Berserk skill increases your chance of causing damage when your health is reduced to a certain amount. I didn't end up using magic that much, other than what was inherent in my character's gear, but the spells I did cast had some cool effects.
The interface, especially on the map screen, takes some getting used to. The hand shaped cursor is hard to move between closely placed objective markers and the map itself can only be moved by the d-pad. One nice function it has that Oblivion's map screen doesn't is the zoom function.
The only thing you can apply magic upgrades to are the weapons. Armor comes with bonuses that are ready-made. Two Worlds allows you to combine weapons and armor that are the same to increase either their damage (weapons) or their protection (armor). That is NOT a facet of Oblivion's capabilities, in that just about any weapon or piece of armor is magically upgradeable if it hasn't been already, although you can't combine two like items to create a more powerful one.
The one MAJOR issue I have with the gameplay is with riding the mounts. First off, the back cover makes the claim that there are six different types to choose from. I have only been able to find three; a normal horse that you find at bandit or grom camps along the road, a four-legged lizard creature that the orcs ride and a horse's skeleton you'll see at the necromancer's towers. Also, you have to be VERY careful where you take your ride, because it has no jumping capabilities and it balks at the least little incline. One of the first quests I finished was for a stable master (the only stable in the realm, and you can't actually buy mounts there; you have to find them along the sides of the various roads) and he awarded me with a horse. I took off on it at full speed and headed on south down the trail and almost IMMEDIATELY wedged the horse between two roads.
And there it stayed.
Absolutely no amount of effort could dislodge that horse from where it got stuck, and all along the course of my adventure, every time I ran up or down that trail, there it was. I waved hello to it each time and shook my head as I ran past. And that's all I did afterwards; ran (best to take no chances). In Oblivion, I could ride my horse anywhere, even into the water, if I felt like drowning it and having to buy a new one at a local stable.
Now, you might think that with everything I've just spouted off on, there were no redeeming features. Wrong. For all of its faults, the game was much more stable than Oblivion was for me. I never had any problems with Two Worlds freezing up on me like I had with Oblivion, no matter how long a session I played, and with Oblivion, there were quests I wasn't allowed to finish because of glitches in the code. The quests I couldn't complete were different for each character I played, but it was frustrating not to be able to finish everything in Oblivion without being cut off in some way. Not so with Two Worlds. If you pick up a job from somewhere, as long as you can figure out how to work it up, you can do so with no hassle.
STORY-3 Stars
The story for Two Worlds is interesting. Apparently, 300 years ago, the god of the orcs, Aziraal, fell in battle and was entombed in a hidden place. Now, three centuries later the dwarves, in their underground mining escapades, have uncovered his final resting place, and whipped the orcs up into a religious fervor. They want their god's body and, because nobody's willing to give it to them, are ready to go to war for it. You play a bounty hunter who's just passing through the area with his sister. Your sister is ill and you stop for the night at this abandoned farmhouse, only to wake up in the morning to discover she's been kidnapped by a group of people wanting to resurrect Aziraal for their own purposes. Lo and behold, you and your sister are wound up in a prophecy involving the dead god, and she's been taken to force you to comply with the bad boys' demands. Following up on some leads, you enter a musty old temple...
It takes a good story to keep me hooked on a game. This one had promise, but I never felt it was implemented very well. I found out through a third party site why the orcs were all stirred up, but it was never explained during the course of your adventure. All I knew was that the orcs were mad at everyone and ready to massacre them all to get Aziraal back. The only interaction I had with them was to kill them, aside from this one conversation with an orc called White Head who wanted an honorable confrontation with an army captain who'd been busy hunting him down. I set up the meet for them and White Head's reaction was basically "Thanks, you're honorable too. Now stay out of my way!". Other than that, every time I encountered a group of orcs, it was "Have at thee!!" and away we went. Same with the dwarves. No explanation as to what they were doing to remedy the situation they caused. They were just there, and if they saw you, it was "Ahh... Tall person. Kill him!" The whole crux of the game's theme panned down to doing what it took to recover your sister and not wanting to be wound up in any damned old prophecy anyway. Everything else felt incidental. Maybe this story was simply meant as a jump start to the sequel that's coming out (Two Worlds: The Temptation), but I felt it could have been smoother in its flow.
SOUND-4 Stars
The sound in Two Worlds is alright. The music adapts to the situation and the area you find yourself in, becoming more frenetic when you come upon a fierce opponent and more gloomy and foreboding in the underground areas. It switches to an Asian flavor when you travel to the city of Ashos in the bamboo jungle and has a Middle-Eastern flair to it out in the desert (easily my favorite soundtracks of the game). In the haunted, undead areas, the music becomes quite gothic.
The voice acting could have used a lot of polish. I understand that this game is fantasy-based, but the archaic dialogue felt out of place, especially when you constantly hear "I prithee, methinks." in an American accent. Granted, the actors tried, but didn't quite pull off what they set out to do. Maybe some big-name actors might have helped with this issue. Who knows?
GRAPHICS-3 Stars
The graphics, for the most part, were a little rough. The framerate slowed downed noticeably when there was a lot of clutter on the screen. The worst part was when I was in the desert. The sunlight reflecting off the sand was so prevalent and bright that it made my eyes water and often made me miss something coming up to attack me. The sunshine would quite literally white out the screen. Other than that, the draw distance was fairly good, in that you could see objects all the way to the horizon. Still, there are no bloom effects or anti-aliasing to smooth out rough edges. You can tell the visuals for what they are: graphical representations.
The game makes use of the Aegia physics engine, which is a decent one, but it only seems to have been implemented on the smaller creatures. Those, like bandits or groms, would fall down dead in believable ways. If I killed an ogre or a cyclops or a demon (huge suckers), they always did the same clutching of their chests, staggering around and then falling on their backs. A lot of times, they would clip into a rock or a wall far enough to where I couldn't loot the corpse.
The opening and ending cutscenes were done using the game engine, but they use pre-rendered models. If you customized your hero's appearance at the game's onset, it won't show on either one.
The one part in the graphics where Two Worlds beat out Oblivion was in your character's swordplay. In Oblivion, basically all you did was swing your weapon at the enemy. In Two Worlds, you swing, dance around, do pirhouettes, etc., and you can fight with a blade in each hand, provided the armor you're wearing allows you to do so.
REPLAY-3 Stars
The game gives you a huge open-ended world to explore, and that in itself was enjoyable, but for an area of that size, it would've been nice to have more to do in it. Like I mentioned earlier, it is possible to run out of quests or opponents, so the options Two Worlds leaves you is kind of limited. Also, while Oblivion gives you several different species of character, and both genders, to begin with (elves, lizard-folk, cat folk, humans) and several different ethnicities for your human character, you can only play a human male in Two Worlds. Not terrible, but not great either.
There are also only two possible outcomes at the endgame and either one you receive is determined right before you reach the climax so, in essence, you could play the entire game of Two Worlds as you saw fit and still see the same ending.
OVERALL-3 Stars
You might think with this review that I abhor Two Worlds. Nope. While it's not the best game I've ever played, it IS good for a little bit of entertainment on a lazy afternoon. Also, as far as I can tell, this is Reality Pump's first product (I did see Topware produce another game for the PC called 'Septerra Core'; it was an older RPG, but it was pretty good for its day), and they just didn't have enough experience on how to present its layout. I do give them an 'A' for effort. Providing they listen to all the criticism and take it to heart and adjust the upcoming sequel accordingly, Two Worlds: The Temptation should be a much improved game. If this IS just a build-up to that one, there's quite possibly hope for a stellar gaming experience yet.
Pax (Latin for 'Peace') | video-games_xbox |
Finished, and still 5 stars. I previously posted a review giving the game 5 stars just based on early play. After completing the game, I still give it 5 stars. That doesn't mean the game is perfect, just that compared to other games, it rates 5 out of 5.
1) It is challenging without being frustrating. In comparison: Bioshock and Fallout 3 are both so easy (even on the hardest level) that you can play the entire games without ever dying. Halo 3 has (for me) areas which are so difficult to get past that they are more frustrating than fun. GTA4 is challenging on about the same level as Borderlands, but GTA4 makes you restart an entire mission from scratch when you die, which is frustrating and a bore. So Borderlands gets this just right.
2) Autosave: I prefer to be able to save and restart from wherever I want, but short of this, Borderland's autosave works very well.
3) Game controls are terrific. It is easy to aim and hit someone (usually) without having some kind of auto-lockon feature that does it for you (except the cannon when driving, and that is optional with a button press). Despite complaints on here about the vehicles, I found them at least as easy to control as those in GTA4. The only weak point is that I found holding down the left joystick to run was a pain.
4) Variety of weapons keeps things interesting. I don't understand reviewers here who say that the weapons are basically all the same. You MUST keep getting more powerful weapons to survive against more powerful foes. And it isn't just that weapons are more powerful, but that they have new features, such as electrifying foes, dousing them with acid or fire, causing explosions, etc. Some of these work against certain foes and not as well against others, so carrying more than one sniper rifle, for example, pays off. I carried four different grenade mods throughout the game. The final battle requires very unique weapons to win; if you go in with just a basic machine gun (or with ANY machine gun, since you will run out of ammo), you will never win. Then there is Bloodwing, the attack bird... In comparison, in Fallout 3 (which I single out because it is so popular and a Game Of The Year), once you get the A1 plasma rifle and the Alien Blaster, you are pretty much set for the game.
5) Wide variety of foes. Humanoids range from snipers and machine gun turret operators who shoot from a distance to midgets and one-armed psychopaths who run right up to you (and are hard to kill), and everything in between, which is another reason I found myself constantly changing weapons. They will also be using all kinds of weapons against you to keep you on your toes.
Bug-oids for most of the game are not as challenging, especially since they are always out in open areas where if you are in a vehicle, you can blast them with unlimited cannon ammo, or you can just run over them for a quick kill. Some bugs are airborne, but still not a huge challenge.
Isolated battles against giant mutant monsters are pretty good. You WILL die. More than once. The last big bug you run into is particularly challenging.
6) Interesting Health/Shield options. You can use up your limited inventory space to carry health kits, but about level 15, I quit carrying them and didn't start again until about level 30.
Other sources of health are pick-up health shots, Transfusion Grenades, the option to get health when Bloodwing attacks a foe, and shields which also slowly increase drained health, and when you do run out of health, you get some back if you kill a foe in the next 30 seconds or so, which is usually not that hard to do. Also, each time you level up, you are restored to full health/shields. I carried two shields: one with very high protection, and one with half the protection, but health regeneration.
7) I've read complaints about a weak story line. I've never found the story lines of ANY video games to be all that compelling. Even in the hugely popular Fallout 3, the main story line is just a very small element of the game.
Cons:
1) Too much ammo, generally speaking. When you come across case after case of ammo and can't pick up any of it because you're already maxed out, it just isn't as much fun. Bioshock has the same flaw, but Borderlands is worse. Fallout 3 lets you pick it all up for resale later, but in F3, you eventually end up with more than any vendor has money to buy and you have more money than you can spend anyway. Halo 3 has much better control of number of weapons and ammo.
2) Too much cash. You can pick up weapons (to the limit of your inventory cap) and sell them to the vending machines. You are NEVER short of cash, so if you actually can't pick up all the ammo you need, you can always buy more.
3) Glitches: 3 times in the course of the entire game, my character got stuck and wouldn't move, so I had to restart from the last save, which was no big deal. A few times foes' arms and legs would be waving around through doors. And loot could sometimes be found in mid-air. Again: small deals.
These are the flaws I found, and they are flaws common to many games, so I cannot downgrade Borderlands for them, so: still 5 stars. I'm looking forward to restarting the game as a different character. | video-games_xbox |
Rebirth On The XBox. I saw Baldur's Gate for the PC but never liked the feel and control of the gate. I was a little hesitant to buy it for the Xbox but it was one of the few RPG games out for XBox and RPGs are my ideal type of game.
To my surprise I really enjoyed it.
The game is somewhat linear in the sense that you alway know what to do next as opposed to a open concept were there is no real order of objectives (such a Morrowind). Although this may not appeal to all players I prefer such games because I don't spend all my time gaming and in open concept games I tend to make a lot less progress.
Playing on the Normal difficulty setting the enemies present a challenger without being too extremely difficult to result in massive frustration.
The game is, for the most part, a hack and slash game but does have a small element of Roleplaying to it with interactive character dialogues.
There is a very limited selection of character classes (Fighter, Archer and Mage) but the classes are nicely worked out with ifferent benefits and abilities for each class.
The equipment available in the game is not as extensive as other games (such as Diablo II for the PC) but is still fairly extensive and the game provides good scaling of equipment availability making the characters progress from poor equipment to better equipment.
Best of all, for all you mage lovers, this is one of the first games that I have seen where the magic user can, for the most part, fight by using spells and rely on a weapon as a secondary backup. I love the mage class and in most games the mages are still too dependant on fighting with weapons and only using magic to supplement their attack. Well not in this game, sure you need weapons when you start out but with a little patience you can quickly make a mage that can predominantly fight with spells only.
In my opinion the only thing missing in this game is an way to swap cash between players and the ability to play the game over XBox Live.
All in all I really enjoyed this game and would recommend it to any who likes RPG games. | video-games_xbox |
The King is Back. The Forza racing game franchise in the last few years has become king of the genre. Yet I feel the Horizon series is what put it on the pinnacle. The first one blended a fun arcade racer with the great mechanics of the Forza Motorsport franchise which provided for a fun, yet grounded arcade racer. Horizon 2 improved on its predecessor in every facet with it's beautiful open world of Southern Europe, the openness of the world itself, the showcases, cars, and all around fun. It made you wonder what else could they possibly do to improve going into the inevitable third Horizon game and Playground Games knocked it out of the park.
With Horizon 3, you are the boss of the festival. The campaign has you working your way around the Australian map looking to expand and make the Horizon festival even bigger. What sets Horizon 3 a part from its predecessor is the sheer amount of customization you have now. You have a select number of character avatars to choose from and can even pick a name or nickname you'd like to be called. It seems Playground took some pointers from Fallout 4 on this matter if you catch my meaning, but made it even better. Being referred to by my own name in a game just makes for a more personalized experience and that is what Horizon 3 is about. You making the festival your own. Even to the point where you can design the races themselves with the blueprint system.
From a gameplay standpoint, you know what to expect for anyone familiar with the previous games or the Forza franchise itself. Just an awesome all around racing experience. The driving mechanics are on point as usual and all the other aspects from weather effects add even more. One thing I love about Forza is that each of the two versions, Motorsport and Horizon tend to build on each other's strengths. I personally like how Horizon 3 has incorporated more of the weather effects from Forza 6 with the puddles and such on the raceways. The Australia setting itself is beautiful and extremely diverse from cool beaches, the desert outback, urban area, and jungle which just adds to the experience.
Now since this is the ultimate edition, for anyone who is just a die hard Forza fan, it is totally worth it. Especially if you can get it with the prime discount. With it you get the car pass and VIP. For a casual Forza player, just get the standard edition especially since the car pass always goes on sale for cheap down the road. VIP I always have found to be worth it and is best gotten early to take advantage of the bonuses. All in all a decent package and the steel book case is very nice. You just can't beat it with that prime discount though so kudos to Amazon.
So in the end of all this excitement, Horizon 3 once again keeps Forza at the top of the racing genre. This game is hands down the racing game of the year and is even deserving of some overall consensus game of the year awards as well. It truly deserves it. Fantastic game. Bravo Playground Gamaes, Bravo. | video-games_xbox |
Great Game! Want More Not Online or In Game? Feel Free to Request From Rock Band.com or Contact Artists. I gotta say this game take all the elements that worked in Rock Band 2 as well as elements that I liked in a Guitar Hero game I played & mixed it all up! For example, now on stage you will have a microphone stand & you can make your characters look taller & a little more realistic then the other two games (remides me of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock).
I also love how whoever you put in your band appears in the various menu screens, cut scenes & more which rocks (you gotta see it to know what I mean)! You can still use stand-ins (picking your own band members) which I love since I do not play multiplayer (I prefer to keep my band private). You can also still create your own band logo, characters among other things. They got rid of the money thing which I miss a little but prefer it this way since I do not have to play the other band members that I create to earn money to get them clothes (like in Rock Band 2).
The song listing was pretty good. I liked quite a bit of the songs on here like "Werewolves of London" , "Fly Like A Eagle" , "I Love Rock n Roll" & a few others. Although I admit that it was great to also have all of my favorite downloaded tracks & other Rock Bands songs carried over (although you have to pay to get the songs from other Rock Band games to come over). The only thing I didn't like was that "Dani California" by Red Hot chili Peppers which appeared in the live action Death Note movie was not carried over to three from the first Rock Band which is a darn shame (I really like that song).
The game modes are neat and are kind of linked. You still can create set lists (and now share them online), random lists & pick songs to play. Let's say that all the great options from other Rock Band games are here too including Quick play.
I have been on a mission to get other Japanese artists added (X Japan's I.V which appeared in Saw 4 was already added to the free downloads that you get with a new Rock Band 2). So, I have been requesting various japanese artists at Rock Band.com including Dir en grey, Girugamesh, Mucc, D'espairsRay, L'Arc en Ciel, Gackt & much more! But in order to see these artists added, I need help from other fans out there to show Rock Band how great these artists are (I read on various sites that they are thinking about adding some Japanese artists). Anyone can request a artist from Rock Band.com by selecting "Request A Song" under the Help section at the bottom of the page or selecting the Songs section & looking for "Request A Song" in big letters on the right side of the page. And feel free to spread the word, the more requests the better.
EDIT August 8th, 2011: I fund out a better way to get bands added. Contact them on their sites! The RBN (Rock Band Network) is looking for Japanese artists to join the RBN where artists can add their music as available download for Rock Band players. Yeah it's better then requesting in my opinion because it get to the heart of the matter & artists may want to join the RBN after getting a great message from a fan. I have been contacting various Japanese artists for over a week now (not just Rock but other categories as well) to get them to join. As long as you are polite, sincere, kind & show your love for their music, they may join the RBN! I'm highly determined to get Japanese artists added & if anyone gets on board, it'll make my mission a little easier. Thanks For Reading. ^_^
UPDATE November 12, 2011: Good news, for those who love "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. A update has been put on Xbox Live that allows this song to be played on Rock Band 3! Yay!
Have A Good One Everybody! | video-games_xbox |
Pickup is weak, sound field is amazing. It comes with a USB cable to update the controller. I found that odd, but convenient. I can always use extra cables. The adapter has controls to increase game sounds, increase chat sounds, mute the microphone (it lights up if the mike is muted--a very convenient feature) and it can turn up and down the volume as a whole. The audio cable is standard, so you can use it in anything else that works with a headphone. The microphone retracts well enough to be invisible if you don't know to look for it. I used it for a bit with my 3DS and it worked fine for that. The audio cable is permanently attached, and I do not like that design choice. The cable is the single most likely part to break (worse for me because my cat chews these cables, but true in general). A port with a swappable cable would increase the lifespan of these headphones, and would offer choices in terms of swapping to a longer cable, a shorter cable. A more modular design is always a better choice.
It's a good size for a female. The microphone is well places (more on that in a bit) and the headset fits well and is comfortable. It's lightweight, comfortable, and easy to wear for long gaming sessions. The padding was soft without being annoying or sweaty. The ear cups don't annoy the ears the way some can after a long while.
As I said, the microphone sits well. It sits exactly where other headsets I have used sits. For me at least, position isn't a problem. The problem is that the pickup is lacking. If I speak at a normal level--and here I admit to being fairly soft spoken-- it doesn't fully pick up my voice. It echoes in the headset, and does that very well. It reminds me of the studio setup I had back when I was podcasting It's that kind of quality echo back. That's my largest issue with these, and the reason they lose a star. They might have gone to three stars but for the sound field.
The sound field is astounding. I had to keep taking the headset off to see if I was really hearing through the headset and not the speakers. The sounds are directional and adequately distant to give the audio illusion of space and positions in space. I have never heard audio this good from headsets in this price range. That's where this headset truly shines. The sound quality, the range of base and treble, and the sound clarity is impressive as well. In fact, if you're looking for a set so that you can watch shows or play without the noise bothering anyone else, and the mike isn't an issue (or if you naturally have a loud voice) you are going to be hard pressed to find anything better than these. | video-games_xbox |
Overlord? Overlard is more like it. I really liked this game. Overall it was very entertaining and well worth $20. There were some funny parts but some of the repetitive sayings could get annoying. The peasants would say the same thing every time you walked past them and the first time I was very tempted to go evil and kill them to make them be quiet.
The main thing that bothered me was the lack of some type of map or even something telling me what direction I was walking. A few times a peasant would tell me something was going on to the east and I had no idea which way that was. It would also be nice to have a map that told the location of minions that were taking an object to one of the way points. They didn't always go to the closest one and when they didn't come back after a few minutes I would have to go find them. I also ended up wandering in circles several times and had to take the way point back to the tower so I could figure out where I was (assuming I could find a way point).
There were some glitches with the camera that always seemed to show up when I was fighting a large group of enemies. While attacking zombies I sent my guys out in several directions and my camera angle was swinging everywhere rather than following in the direction that the overlord was pointed. The camera also decided part way through the game to go to a bird's eye view and it took me a lot of fidgeting with the controls to get it back to where it was originally. I even resorted to reading the directions and it didn't cover how to reset it.
It would have been nice to have more upgrades available early on. I bought stuff for my tower after getting Rose and then had nothing to spend my money on for most of the game. I also didn't get the different smelters until pretty late and wasn't really excited about forging new things since I had been doing fine with the upgraded steel for so long.
I did think it was neat how there is small variation depending on if you go good/evil or evil/evil. You get different spells at the more advanced levels although I wish there had been more variation on the quests depending on which way you went.
I downloaded the expansion for xbox live and that added some entertainment as well although I still got lost in the new areas...
I highly recommend this game especially since it is now <$20. I am looking forward to Overlord II in 2009 and also think it is cool how they are making a different one for Wii than the other systems so I will definitely be getting both. | video-games_xbox |
Kinect edition that surprisingly works. I don't have much to compare PGA Tour 13 to as I haven't played a game since 04 back on PS2 and don't remember a whole lot about it. Regardless, as a golfer I can say, the game is some serious fun! I tried the demo back a few weeks ago and was turned off, everything seemed off and unbalanced. Luckily the final game turned out better than I expected.
This review is mainly for the Kinect version of the game, as that is all I have used to play and is the main reason for me finally diving into another Tiger Woods game. There are 3 sides to Kinect controlling: The actual fairway and green play, the menu system between these shots and the voice controls. First off, one of my favorite aspects of most Kinect games is the voice control abilities. Just saying "change club...4 iron" is so fluid and intuitive, it seems almost slow to choose with a controller. This is also the preferred method of doing things as whoever designed the hand-controlled Kinect menus must have been sleeping most of the work day as they are atrocious. Trying to select a menu item is pulling teeth using motions, always use voice controls until they patch this.
As far as actual gameplay once setting up your shot, the Kinect shines bright. You face your TV and swing parallel to it so that Kinect can read your full swing instead of limit side view by the device. This is the first use of Kinect by the PGA Tour team and there are some subtle movements I do as a golfer that it will not pick up on, twisting your wrists to change club-head angle does not seem to have any effect and occasionally Kinect will stutter a bit when trying to recognize what you are intending to do with your hands, as well as stutters in your avatars actions when you swing. However, you won't notice those much if you keep your head down and eyes on the imaginary ball at your feet as the game replicates what you are doing with your swing very well. It takes some getting used to, ghosting golf swings, but I found a stick to hold that gave me a better feel of really holding a club, which translated into more confident shots.
Aiming is something that takes practice and can be daunting for some at first. You raise your right hand out and make a fist that you can then move left, right, up, or down to dictate direction and depth, then clasp your hands together and the game will instantly recognize you want to hit the ball. One final aspect I will touch on is the Online Country Clubs. You join a group of other people (random or friends) and start a team that can garner you extra bonuses for you and your teammates based on how well you and they play. It also makes setting up Xbox Live matches with teammates pretty easy and adds to the overall feeling of being on Tour.
Overall, I am impressed with the Kinect controls. I have wanted a true Golf simulation using Kinect, and this is a great first entry into the PGA series for the device. The immersion offered is almost as good as being on the links (except no cart fees!). The online features are pretty good, and Xbox Live play is a mostly lag-free experience. Also of note; I am from and live in Augusta, GA. The Masters is seriously big time around here. Getting to virtually play on the Augusta National is a thrilling thing for me. I think every golf fan alive wants to take 18 holes on that course! | video-games_xbox |
A Streamlined Shell of it's Predecessors. Mass Effect 3 is somewhere between Mass Effect 2, and more streamlined games, like the typical FPS campaign. A majority of what made Mass Effect 1 and 2 great is absent in favor of making the game more accessible, and more uniform.
For the sake of comparison, and because I've played these games since the first, the previous games will come in to reference with this title, as it's a trilogy. Through this review, there will be spoilers once reaching the story section.
Mass Effect 3 starts strong, with a set piece that could entice any gamer in to buying it, which was fully displayed in the demo. Earth, something familiar to all of us, is under attack by large synthetic aliens known as the Reapers. They are overwhelmingly powerful, and cut the majority of your surroundings to ribbons in minutes while sending pressure your way in the form of zombie-like Husks. This is an amazing, polished area and experience. It's just unfortunate that the beginning of the game was polished to a luster, while the rest was left functional.
Mass Effect is about immersion, there's no question about it. If you've played on PC or Xbox 360 since the beginning and have imported your saves, Commander Shepard is you. Commander Shepard has either been the jerk of the galaxy, a saint of the cosmos, or a mixture of the two as he or she saves the galaxy from impending doom time and time again with difficult decisions. Story telling was always at the core of Mass Effect, as conversations and lore melded in to a believable universe, complete with alien races both modern and ancient, fantastic technology with a history, and political and wartime turmoil not only on the home front of Earth, but the galaxy itself. Bioware did an excellent job animating the characters in previous titles, but somewhere along the way in Mass Effect 3, things got rushed. There are several distracting bugs that impact a dramatic story: characters staring away from the person they are conversing with, animation bugs where arms lock while mid-animation, lines of dialog not playing or skipping without user input, characters disappearing or jumping frames in an animation, and shadows reblending on a dialog choice. With so many, my attention isn't just divided, it's stretched. The visceral urgency of a situation shouldn't be detracted because my squad made vanished from my view; a private moment with Liara shouldn't prompt me to laugh because Shepard decided Glyph is more interesting. The amount of hype this game got lead me to believe this game would be at least as polished as the previous games. It's the conclusion to Shepard's epic, but it feels like it's the title Bioware paid the least attention to when it came to the staple of the series: conversations.
The actual combat is technically sound, but there's targeting issues for picking up items or taking cover. Cover in itself is a frustrating mess in some areas, as cover will behave as it wants to. Sometimes Shepard will be able to turn a corner in cover (while exposing himself in a blatant "shoot me, try it" fashion) to find that he has to exit cover just to go back around it. Some parts of cover, mainly long sections of cover with two or more pillars, will cause Shepard to auto walk to the next pillar, as if the game interprets moving past one pillar to the next in cover to be the same as quickly rolling between pillars. Some areas, cover isn't selectable again until you step back far enough to break the target, then walk toward cover. This also happens when holding the left trigger to aim from cover, as sometimes cover will break, and releasing left trigger leaves Shepard to take shots to the face while you wait for your reflexes to kick in and shove Shepard back in cover. It's frustrating, especially on insanity, to have cover screw with the player like this. In easier modes, cover is a non-issue; you don't need it, period. It's there just to make combat look dramatic. Aside from not being able to blind fire, and toss back the large quantity of grenades that will be lobbed with computer precision to your location, the combat is fine. Shepard learned a few new tricks in regards to melee, and pulling an enemy from behind cover to execute them is amusing. He's also learned to roll since Mass Effect 2, which is helpful, as they sped up the pace of combat since the previous title. Mass Effect 3 is definitely geared toward action this time around, as staples of the previous games have been apparently phased out.
While Mass Effect 3 has a growing amount of familiar faces, the squad selection this time around is limited. It's not really an issue, but the squad is less varied this time around, opting in favor of the majority of the cast from Mass Effect 1 as party members rather than any of the new talent from Mass Effect 2. There's less importance on the squad this time around, as squad member missions, missions you would complete to obtain squad loyalty and learn more about the character are absent from the game entirely, aside from the DLC for Jahvik, the Prothean, whom has something of a substitute in the form of the mission you acquire him. This streamlining turns squad members in to comment boxes with guns if you haven't played the last games, as there's not much to learn. This isn't a huge issue for a lot of the team, as most players are familiar with Kaiden, Ashley, Liara, Garrus, Tali, hell, even EDI. Vega, though, is limited to his few dialogs and comments he gives during missions. There's no chance to learn about him if you don't use him, unlike previous titles. In lieu of these missions, we get N7 missions, which are generic Alliance based missions where you sometimes run in to cameos of previous characters from Mass Effect 1 or 2. These tend to be a bit dry when there's no cameos involved, as it's boiled down to a multiplayer objective (especially considering all N7 missions are multiplayer maps) that you rush to achieve. This leaves much of the game without any real story to build on.
Considering the story is three games in the making, your choices from previous games (if you've imported a save) are usually dangled in your face in a somewhat meaningful fashion. The most obvious one being characters from Mass Effect 2 that are still alive after having followed you on your suicide mission. This is probably the best use of those choices, as they do change the character involved and what level of competence is assured from the mission. This said, many of the players choices in the last games either have no impact at all, or of small consequence. Your decision with major plot points don't matter. Saving the Collector base at the end of Mass Effect 2 rather than destroying it doesn't effect Cerberus' use of Reaper technology in the slightest, and it's effect on the ending of Mass Effect 3 only comes in to play if you do exceptionally poorly (one decision will destroy earth over the other depending on the fate of the base). Other situations are comparable in pointlessness aside from War Asset count. Saving the Rachni queen in Mass Effect 1 prompts the Reapers to indoctrinate her young in to fighting you, but killing her instigates the Reapers cloning a queen to create young to fight you. Overwriting or destroying the heretic Geth in Mass Effect 2 prompts you to fight Geth anyway in Mass Effect 3, because despite how adamant "true" Geth are against the Reapers, they don't seem to mind joining them to fight Quarians despite all efforts previously to combat the heretic Geth that supported the Reapers. On a smaller level, the effectiveness of priority missions will rely on who you saved in Mass Effect 2, and if Tali was exiled. Normally, your squad member will be replaced with an alternative if they were unable to take that position. This has some decent influence on the story, and it's interesting to see how some conflicts shape up with your old squad mates at the helm. There's less minor influence in this game than in previous ones. Some situations will require you to support one side or the other with a button prompt by overhearing an argument. The majority of your previous influences will come back to you in this way. It's interesting, but not on par with what I expected form Bioware for an epic conclusion to the Shepard story.
Mass Effect 3 is by no means unplayable, but it doesn't live up to the promises made by Bioware. It seems that anyone that had been following Mass Effect 3's development and listening to their development team had been lead on a path that Mass Effect 3 wasn't at the end of. It starts out great, but by the end, it felt fairly empty compared to Mass Efffect 1, or even Mass Effect 2. While it's expected that the final game would be used to tie up loose ends, rather than dangle more, none of them truly are. Even the ones we are lead to believe are being tied up (Krogans and the genophage, the Quarians and Geth on Rannoch) end up not mattering since they are on the opposite end of the galaxy when everything is tied off. In fact, a lot of the loose ends in this game are tied up with magical solutions: the Crucible. This game really doesn't expand on anything rather than Reaper devastation and ends to age-old conflicts that have existed for centuries. Yet, even those don't matter, due to the ending. The ending eliminated any closure that was being established.
On top of this, the Collector's Edition of the game leaves much to be desired. The comic was actually a snip from a comic for sale, and the art book had little information behind character development aside from making characters "more sexy". The main selling point of this edition seems to be the steelbook (which arrived scraped) and the DLC, which the only meaningful DLC can be purchased for $10. There's been a lot of speculation behind the lackluster ending, and many believe Bioware is going to be releasing post story DLC despite their claims. If this is the case, I'd recommend waiting on this title. With it's shoehorned multiplayer and distinct lack of polish, it's just not worth a $60 dollar investment. | video-games_xbox |
Cash Cow. I want to start by saying I'm 27 years old. I've been playing games since my very first Atari. I was there when Halo was released and I lived in the barracks at my post. The other soldiers and I would hook up 4 xbox's in 4 different rooms with 4 controllers on each and just have a field day with hwo much fun it was to play multiplayer games with friends. It was a blast. It was new and exciting. I was there when socom 2 released and we got our first real taste of online multiplayer with a console. It was great, being able to rank up your avatar and play online against strangers. Talk with them, make clans, and battle all night long. It was fresh and entertaining. I was there when CoD2 was released and we were once again taken control of by a fun, fast paced, and energetic online shooter. I spent a lot of time online ranking up and learning all the weapons and maps. The gaming developers saw how much fun we were having with it so they decide to make a new installment. Call of Duty 3? Great, this is gonna be awesome! then it's released and.... hey, this isn't that awesome? It's call of duty 2 with a few tweaks?! Regardless of how good the game was or wasn't , people still bought it, why? Because everybody else was playing it. It was the easy game to go on and get your multiplayer fill. But CoD3 wasn't great by any means. It was fun, but not worth $60. But the trend continued, and CoD saw many more spawns. CoD MW, CoD MW2, CoD Black Ops, CoD World at War, and now CoD MW3. And guess what? There's already a new CoD in development. Now for a brand new fan... you'll have a lot of fun. It'll be a great way to spend your free time. But for those of us that have been playing since the beginning.... we just get the shaft. A few tweaks and additions here and there, but the same old game. The same old cash cow. We're being duped for our hard earned money and the people that buy these games need to understand. We get a new CoD once a year, for $60, plus the $100 a year we pay for XBL, plus the $50 they're going to make on us from DLC. Now we get to pay all that money every year for the same ol game. Why cant they build upon a current game? World of Warcraft does it and they have done great. You pay a monthly subscription fee and they take care of us. They release new content all the time! And for free! So the game never gets stale. They don't release WoW 2 once a year and then charge us for the maps we've already bought on the previous installment! This CoD crap has got to end. If you feel it's a great game, fine, it's your money. But I don't like being screwed once a year for about $200. Get your act together. Give us what we've so rightly earned by supporting you all these years and quit screwing us for our money. | video-games_xbox |
Same old stuff. Outdated; boring. Disclaimer: I have only finished the campaign mode on Heroic and have logged approximately 30 hours of multiplayer play.
Proclaimer: I have played every Halo game Bungie has ever released for a combined hundreds of gaming hours. I love the Halo franchise. If anybody wanted Halo Reach to be a great game it is me.
A few thoughts:
-Halo's idea of "revamping" the weapon/health system = going BACK to the Halo 1 pistol, going BACK to health bar, going BACK to single shot BR, going BACK to no dual wielding. These changes, aside from not being new at all, sound a lot like simply patching a game - not something you would expect from the "Best Halo Evar!" as claimed by many reviewers before me.
-Another gripe about the weapons: it appears in an effort to "balance" the weapons, Bungie has only succeeded in making it so every weapon sucks except the DMR. The shotgun is AWFUL. You have to be close enough to melee somebody to get a one-hit-kill shot. The pistol AND the assault rifle literally CAN NOT kill a fully shielded person with an entire clip. How was this thought to be a good idea?
-The graphics are superb, aside from the frame rate chop. How this obvious shortcoming was approved for retail is inexplicable to me.
-Sound is also amazing. I cranked up my sound system with the wife out of town and let the house shake. Specifically, I enjoy the "concussive" sound effects when explosives go off near you - "deafening" your ears. Great detail work.
-Campaign mode is short, boring, and repetitive. Go to point A. Get in the warthog (sorry, "golf cart") and go to point B. Watch cut-scene. Rinse, wash, repeat. It took 5 hours to work through on Heroic and I don't plan on making the Legendary trek. I think Halo should have just made a movie - I would have enjoyed that instead of this weak excuse for a campaign.
-In contrast - the story line behind the campaign mode was great! Very gripping. I also enjoyed the focus on character development in the squad. One shortcoming: why would an ancient technology "Cortana" automatically side with us the humans? Just a thought...
-Multiplayer gaming remains one dimensional and can be summed up in a single word: "Boring." As with all Halo series, if you like milling around plugging away with the same Battle Rifle constantly for five minutes trying to only get head shots - this is the game for you. There are only a handful of "viable" weapons that will actually get the job done in Halo. Very little actual strategizing, given the slow game pace and mono faceted weapon schemes.
-Matchmaking is agonizingly slow. Expect several minute delays between games as the matchmaking system searches for players.
-The new equipment is a joke. Sprinting? Seriously? That's all Bungie could come up with to save their franchise... The jetpack makes you an instant floating bulls-eye, the shield lock is ineffective, and the shield drop can be blown away by one grenade. See my previous point about boring online competitive play - there is clearly one or two "right" ways to play and you must stick to these ways - as everybody does.
In sum, I believe this game to be a boring mishmash of past Halo games, bringing nothing new to the table except for a beautiful screen product. While there are redeeming qualities to this game I believe the most rigorous scrutiny must be applied to this game before calling it great, given the expectations. Somewhere along the line, Bungie began kicking a dead horse stuffed with money and stopped caring about delivering a fresh product. In that regard, I am happy that Microsoft studious now own this cash cow and Bungie will hopefully make something new and fresh - otherwise they will certainly not achieve their goal of "global domination" as proclaimed in Halo Reach's end credits... | video-games_xbox |
great multi-player, good single-player, although short. I got this game because my friend had it, and loved it, I bought it because it was only $30. let me start off by saying that this game is a great ARCADE shooter, you can't exactly run around like crazy and jump around, cause you'll get killed in two seconds flat. you have to take cover and walk down the street running from cover to cover, but its not Ghost Recon. The controlls are loose, but that could be a good thing depending on how you like to play. Vehicle controlls in battlefield flat out suck. driving cars isn't fun and accelrating/beaking gives you a hernia the first few times you play. driving tanks isn't so bad because you turn the turret differenly than the body of the tank. Helecopter controlls take some getting used to, but they get eaisier after a while. anyone who gets good at flying will be a vital asset to any team. The thing about vehicles is, any one can use them lethaly, but all those people will get owned sooner or later. the single player campan is interesting because you play from two perspectives; NATO and Peoples' republic (china) the two sides little differently, but the thing that gets you (or at least me) is the chinese voice acting is styriotypical and Clich. The news reports that you watch at the end of each "chapter" ( the levels are broken up into two or three levels as the chinese, then oyu play as NATO) you watch a feke news report recounting the events in a lame unimformed fashion. The big deal with the single player is the new "hot-swap" which is pretty strange, but keeps it different because instead of telling your teamates where to go and what to do, you take over them, and do what you want themm to do. the single player has 18 missions, but the missions are pretty short, but at he same time, can be pretty hard. Ive only played the multiplayer at the afoer-mensioned friend's house because I don't have Xbox live ( although im currently working on it), but it reminds me of a slighyly more tacticle version of StarWars Battlefront 2. the graphics in BF 2:MC aren't go-awful, but aren't that great either. the character models are a little undetailed, but the vehicle modles are well detailed, and the level design is one of the outstandig features of this game. almost every building you can enter and get a better vantage point. | video-games_xbox |
Huuuge disappointment for me. I was waiting for this game for so long, was excited about it ever since I saw the first trailer with live action footage in it. Something about that live action footage just didn't translate into so well into the cgi.
The art is nice, but the gameplay is unforgivably bad, mostly due to the teeeeerrible camera. I don't get motion sickness, but I can really see how that would be an issue for some people with this game. This issue has never been so bad that it ever bothered me before in any other game. Your field of vision is just sooo small, too zoomed in, and your own body blocks so much of the view... I know a lot of others have complained about the same issue, so I don't have to go in depth about it, just adding my voice.
For some reason I really liked Joseph even though he was a side character and I liked the portions of the game (sparse as they were) where you'd have backup.
Would have been nice if the stealth features of the game had been more developed, but it's very limited and there aren't as many situations throughout the game to use it as I would have liked to see.
Oh and the other element that REALLY pissed me off was the fact that ALL melee weapons (except for your bare hands) are one-use-only. Why oh why would you only be able to use an axe ONCE and it's suddenly obsolete? Ammunition in this game is ridiculously sparse, so it reaaally would have been nice to have a decent melee option, but even if you fully upgrade your melee damage, you barely do any damage unless you're wielding a one-use weapon.
The game is fairly difficult, which is fine. I've enjoyed plenty of difficult games, but combined with all the above factors, this game becomes far more of a drudgery than fun. I've spent 2 days so far forcing my way through about about 90% of the game because I always feel like I have to finish games that I start since either I or a loved one spent money on it. Cannot WAIT to finish this one because it's making me so miserable. | video-games_xbox |
Fun Filled. So after spending 2 hours in the store debating whether to get the All-Play, 2K, or Live for 360, I settled on the latter. Got home, popped the game in the console and was prompted to update which I did. However since I did not have a online, the OKC team does not have a nickname, a generic jersey, and a generic court. Updating the game on Xbox Live will download the Thunder nickname, jersey, and arena.
Just like all of my other NBA game reviews, here is a list of things video game websites never mention in their reviews. Hope these are helpful:
- There is an edit player in this game, so numbers can be edited, as well as player skills and ratings. However the edit feature is only for the NBA teams and not the FIBA teams. Juan Carlos Navarro is wearing his NBA number, #2, for Team Espaa. FIBA only allows numbers 4-15. Other players with wrong numbers are Trevor Ariza (#1 instead of #3) and Mickeal Pietrus (#2 instead of #20) but that's not a big deal. The NBA Live 365 updates will probably take care of those once the season begins. The FIBA is a big deal though.
- Speaking of FIBA, Ricky Rubio is not on the Team Espaa. NBA players who have never suited up for their countries for quite some time are on the rosters, therefore knocking out some real players. For instance, Z Ilgauskas (Lietuva), Steve Nash (Canada), Eddy Najera (Mexico), Peja Stojakovic (Serbia), and John Ameachi (UK) are no longer playing for their countries but are still on the rosters!
- The Lietuva away jersey is some weird shade of gray/green and not real green shade.
- Team Mexico's jerseys are decent but not realistic. Also, Adam Parada is dominant inside. It looks like they might have used his performance during last season's PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) as the basis of his ratings.
- The Magic jersey has the real stripes (unlike NBA 2K9) but used the old number font and it is missing the logo on the left side of the shorts. This will probably be updated through Live 365 as well.
- There are no retroes in this game, hopefully they will be made available through future updates.
- For some reason the PA announcer (same PA from 1997, by the way) is not loud and I can barely hear him. I checked the arena volume and commentary volume and both were already set to the max.
- I used the practice mode, called NBA Live Academy, and it was fun testing out plays and running the offense. You can also do plays practice only or a full scrimmage. The practice gym has two courts and the player can shoot at all four baskets. You cannot, however, shoot from one court to the opposite court's basket, which would've been cool.
- Marcin Gortat has a full head of hair in here. Since player appearance can't be edited using Edit player, maybe there is an update later on from Live 365.
- I didn't notice the point guard dominate the ball and the points, unlike last year's game. The CPU also gets the ball to the money players during crunch time.
- Rashard Lewis shoots like the real deal in here, with the high release, and of course, the swishes. Nowitzki looks like a zombie, and a lot of the FIBA people look quite the beasts. | video-games_xbox |
Turtle Beach just keeps getting better. A long time ago, I purchased the Turtle Beach X4 headset (5.1 surround + wired chat for Xbox 360)...I loved them. A couple days ago the talkback cable broke, and I was sad to find out that this is a proprietary product, irreplaceable and also that the headset was incompatible with the cables from the newer X41 model in the same line.
I decided to bite the very expensive bullet and go for the XP500 set. So I ordered them from Best Buy's website and chose pick-up in-store option instead of having them shipped as I need them now. (I will address the Best Buy in-store pick up situation at the end of the review!) So I get home, open the box, pretty nice packaging, informative instructions. It comes with a USB power cable (to be attached to XBox 360), optical cable, batteries and the XBA bluetooth adapter for your Xbox 360 controller. If you have an old Xbox 360 as I do and are already using the USB port in the back, you have to run the power cable around to the front of the console and plug it in to those ports for power. I tried using a wall adapter for a USB charger I had for my phone, but that didn't work. Works fine plugging it into the front of the console. The optical cable is pretty long, which is great as the one that came with the X4 was really short and it was rather annoying as it severely limited your options for placing the receiver.
The set looks super cool. All black with green accents, black receiver, the power LED is blue. Sweet. Build quality and materials are great and far above that of the X4 which I had purchased years before. The headset is light while still feeling sturdy, it's also very comfortable to wear. The XBA adapter is nice looking and I can tell you that not having the stupid cable in the way all the time connecting your headset to the controller is a dream come true. I can't count how many times I've moved and ripped the cable out of the headset and had to scramble to get it back in during a match. The headset features voice prompts to let you know what you're doing when hitting the various buttons while the set is on your head, which is very convenient. Pairing the headset and the XBA adapter was quick and easy per the instructions. Just make sure the XBA adapter is ALL THE WAY IN (push it until it clicks in) the controller. This took me a minute or two to figure out :) Sound quality is superb, background hissing is gone compared to the older headset models. The headset features available presets for sound profiles but I haven't had the chance to mess with these yet.
All in all I'd say if you're in the market for a headset, shell out the extra money for this pair. There are many other sets available for cheaper, but you'll find that most of them have annoying little quirks and lack the quality of Turtle Beach products. 5 out of 5 stars from me.
Best Buy In Store Pick Up:
Not sure why I did this. I was in my car driving around running errands when I decided to get this headset. I went on the Best Buy website on my phone and ordered them using my credit card and the in-store pick up option. I figured by the time I'm done running my errands I'll stop by Best Buy on the way home and be in and out with my headset while bypassing all the holiday shoppers returning items. WRONG! It took a little more than an hour for Best Buy to send me the email telling me it's time to pick up my product, by this time I was already past the Best Buy and on the way home, so I turn around and head back. I walk in, go to the area marked for pick-ups, and I find out the line for customer service/returns is the same line for pick-ups from online orders. Awesome! So I wait in line for 20 mins and finally get called. I show the girl my phone with the email, my ID and my credit card. She verifies and goes to retrieve my product. Oh...they aren't here! Sweet! She tells me she's got to go get them off the floor. Ok whatever. She comes back 10 mins later with the headset and I leave. From order to pick up it took almost 2 hours. I'm pretty sure I could have just walked in and bought them and been out of the store in about 10 mins total. This service is stupid and pointless until Best Buy streamlines the process. | video-games_xbox |
A Legit review written by a real player. Okay here's a REAL USER review, not someone who played for 30min and wrote a review, not a confused mom, no a real user whos been playing this since it came out! Now for my review, one gamemode at a time.
Camapign: Very solid storyline, gameplay is boring at first in my opinion, but with an ending that will blow your mind more then inception, good stuff. 7/10
Zombies: Great! It comes with one map, Shadows of evil. This map is petty good in my opinion, and definitely adds some cool stuff (the beast things is weird though, but essential to the story-line). Plenty of DLC too, Der Eisendrach is pretty good, Zetsubou No Shima Is my favorite (few agree with me) and then The Giant (a remake of Der Reise from WaW Zombies) and some new weird dragon one. Over all 8/10.
Multiplayer: SUCKS NOW, Complete trash, why you ask? well here's a list: Camping is out of control, The new specialtist system sucks (that's my opinion), The new movement system sucks it's super unreliable, the guns have been nerfed and buffed so much that they all suck now, except for a few, these being the KRM-262, the VMP, and every DLC/Supply drop weapon, and that damn NX-Shadow Claw!!! (anyone who plays online will get the last one). Also, on the topic of supply drops, the new system for them sucks aswell, you collect cryptokeys and use them to get either a rare or common drop, don't worry though, you'll get trash from the rare, and a burning bag of crap in the commons, I'm not saying you can't get anything good, but unless you buy rare supply drops ($2 each might I add!) don't hold your breath. My overall opinion on Multiplayer? 4/10.
Overall rating of this game: 5.5/10
Whats it's worth to me: $10-$20
And there you go. Buy this game with knowledge, and mid-level hopes and expectations. If you're buying solely for campaign or zombies please do! it's worth it! But if you're only buying it for multiplayer, please think again! The only good reason I can find for that is because everyone else is playing BO3, and to any parents looking to buy this for there kid, do it! they'll probably enjoy it more then I ever did. | video-games_xbox |
Solid game. After playing my brother's copy of TW's PGA Tour '14, I decided to pick up a copy for myself. I ended up with the Masters Edition because it was very comparable in price (if not cheaper) than the regular edition of the game.
As far as the Masters Edition is concerned, I like it just as well as the standard edition. Getting the extra six courses for free (Augusta 1934, Augusta Par 3, TPC Blue Monster, Sheshan, Royal Melbourne, Royal County Down) is pretty cool, although I'm not sure I would have paid the extra money to have them if they didn't come with the game. I find the "Legends" courses, such as Augusta 1934, to be a little cheesy with the "Old-Timey" sepia-toned visual filter and the "radio-esque" commentary.
However, I bought this game pretty much strictly to play the career mode and play rounds of golf against my friends, and in that aspect I am overjoyed with the game.
The Good:
-Gameplay is excellent; can be challenging at times without being so difficult that I want to throw my controller out the window
-The courses look beautiful (excluding the sepia-toned "Legends" courses, such as Augusta 1934)
-I'm having a ton of fun playing this both by myself and with friends
-The online play isn't bad
The Bad:
-There seems to be quite a few career mode tournaments that require you to have DLC courses (if you choose not to buy the course, you have the option of moving the event to a course you already have).
-So far the boost pin system seems a little odd because I'm not sure how to get any more refills for depleted boost pins other than getting lucky enough to score one in a pin pack.
The Whatever:
-I'm still kind of unsure what role the Country Clubs feature plays within the game. I'm guessing it's the golf-game version of a player-made clan or crew like in CoD or GTA. I think this feature could be explained better. That being said, I'll be turning to Google to look further into it. | video-games_xbox |
Is this a joke. NPCs are a staple of any good RPG. You want to interact with them, talk to them, learn their story and accept their ridiculous quests because they reward you upon return. What you probably don't want to do, assuming they're a crucial part of the story or the only f'ing vendor that sells that one spell in the game is kill them in the face. While there might be some very marginal reward for doing so, like gold or a picture of their newly orphaned children, it's usually not as beneficial as say, letting them give you the dragon sword or slaying the mighty herpes beast. FROM Software has decided this is all crap, and if you happen to, I don't know, set the controller down to refill your scotch and accidentally hit the bumper button in front of the NPC there's a chance you'll upset them, defend yourself, and remove them from the game forever.
But it gets better.
While I managed to unintentionally kill someone that was apparently going to leave / die later anyways, it wasn't a huge deal. However, in the game there are a handful of NPCs you essentially rescue (or kill) from various situations. See, some of these NPCs are extremely important. As in, you'll never be able to cast vital spells or purchase story-based required items if you decide to hack open the barrel they're trapped in like a normal person when you're supposed to actually roll into it to break it (seriously).
I realize there are similar NPC vendors (two or three) throughout the game that sell similar items, but there are some very unique inventories and even if you couldn't get the super fireball from the first guy you slaughtered, the other guy you can buy it from is waiting patiently ... about 25 god damn hours from now in a place that's really hard to reach without the super fireball. Do you see the issue here? If you don't, I'll be happy to email you pictures of the first four controllers I broke with my face.
Range is Better Than Melee. Almost Always.
Some of you might remember games like Oblivion, or Morrowind (which I hated), where you could exploit the range attacks quite well. You know, go buy a few thousand "Child's Crayon" arrows and shoot them for two hours into the Lava Dragon Monster Demon Sandwich who wouldn't notice he was getting slowly pelted to death as long as you were more than seven feet from his face.
You can do the exact same thing in Dark Souls.
But that's exploitation, and doesn't mean the game sucks because people figured out they could take advantage of dumb AI and mechanics. Besides, those fireballs and arrows are only good for taking a shot or two at Bald Bull as he charges little Mac. Right?
Wrong.
Not only is the game incredibly cool about you eating through massive creature's health from range, but if they actually notice you, you're better off strafing and firing lightning bolts and stuff instead of ever pulling out a sword.
If you think that's an exaggeration, go ahead and look up every boss in the Dark Souls wiki - careful though, a lot of spoilers there. You'll notice 90% (again, seriously) of the "Boss Strategies" involve words like "range" and/or "fireball" and/or "arrows" and/or "seriously, if you don't have spells or 200 dexterity and a crazy bow made out of baby skulls, you're going to die."
That's kind of a problem if you have a PHD in snapping necks and a minor in Kinding of Shooting Arrows Barely 101 or the closest you come to casting spells is making fun of LARP videos on YouTube.
Just Go Get the Thing from the Guy and You'll Live Through This
FROM Software thinks that the more vague something is, the more adventure it provides in the search. For example, if you asked for directions to a landmark while hiking beautiful mountains with a loved one, this is a feasible philosophy. But it's nothing like that. It's more like falling out of an exploding airplane without knowing where to find a parachute.
There is actually a part in the game, seriously, where an NPC says something like, and I'm paraphrasing, "you'll actually die if you go into (spoiler location) without knowing how to traverse it. There's this guy that knew how to traverse it. You should talk to him. Good luck, a-hole."
Yep. And guess where this "guy" is? First of all, it's not a guy. It's an object, and second of all, it's in a location totally f'ing unrelated to anything you've done so far. You'd basically have to go exploring in an arbitrary location far away, fight a boss you may or may not be prepared for (and if you're not, clearly you're in the wrong place, right?) kill it, and get the required object.
I only figured it out because it was a fluke - a total accident. I was so pissed off at the boss I was stuck on I decided to go exploring and killing everything I could. I just kind of stumbled into this and got lucky. I can't imagine how angry I would have been had I found out the hard way.
But that's not all.
There are certain parts in the game that require other items - for example one item is absolutely essentially to even hit the monsters in the area while another is required or you'll stumble through pitch black. I know you're probably laughing and saying to yourself "while you're brilliant and attractive, Homebrew, it seems like if it's dark you can just go buy a torch or use a Light spell." Oh really? Who sells torches? Are you sure they exist in the game? Do I have to go attack a tornado and piss on a dragon's face to send him crashing into the roof of the pitch black area so it opens to sunlight? What if I am literally unable to cast spells? Who sells Light? DID I ALREADY F'ING KILL THAT GUY ON ACCIDENT?
I think you get the point. Pretend you're playing Castlevania 2, but remove any semblance of NPC instruction / dialog and make the things you're required to do slightly more obscure and less obvious.
It's not only vague, but you could have possibly ruined yourself and you just won't know it until 40+ hours in the game FROM Software gets your mom pregnant and sends death threats to your grandparents. At least that's what it feels like, considering the investment.
There's Some Grinding Involved
And I say "some" the way Keith Richards took "some" drugs. I don't care how exceptional your reflexes are. It doesn't matter that you won a Starcraft competition or "intentionally" wrote off dating women to win a Ferrari in a Doom tournament. And even if you play on a 90" TV on your tenth play-through using the Nintendo Power Glove, you're still going to grind your balls off. The game is designed to be reasonable about reaching a boss, but once you get there on occasion you'll have a rude revelation: those monsters on the way to the boss were reasonably easy because you're going to have to kill about five thousand more of them in order to beat the boss.
The only saving grace here is that the game is insanely beautiful, combat is somewhat fun and the death animations are great, so at least you'll be mildly entertained until about Undead Zombie #47,103 dies to your counter-animation #23,558.
FFFFUUUUUUUUUUU
You'll notice that my writing went from structured and informative to sloppy and rant heavy. My sarcasm seemingly went off the charts, and you could probably feel the rage emanating from every other word. There's a reason for that.
That is exactly how this game feels.
At first you'll be in awe and wonder, reveling in the beauty and adventure the world provides. You'll notice a few issues here and there, but nothing soul-crushing (no pun intended). There will be moments of mild annoyance and irritation, and when you inadvertently slaughtered that guy you meant to greet you'll assume the consequences are limited.
Then things will get dirtier. You'll start forgetting where to go, stumble into places you're not sure you're supposed to be, wonder where to buy spells, items, and make stronger weapons. You'll start putting points into stats you're not sure are important, lose a monstrous amount of souls falling off cliffs, and trying to figure out what the hell a covenant actually means and how you gain reputation with one.
Eventually, all of your seemingly innocent "mistakes" will catch up to you, you'll be inundated with terms, items, and NPCs that make no sense whatsoever and provide little to no explanation. You'll start wandering aimlessly and failing at different locations you may or may not need to be exploring just for a change of fail scenery.
Then you'll be me. One broken controller, a $240 rug stained with Scotch, a bloody knuckle (not a joke), and neighbors that consider calling the cops every night around 8pm, when you're finally home from work, playing this god damn piece of crap game that you can't seem to stop torturing yourself with. | video-games_xbox |
Very cool! Must Train Hard. First some background(skip to third paragraph if you don't want it):Since June or so of this year I've been working at getting in shape, slowly adding in new exercises that work. I tried P90X, but I was too out of shape for it at the beginning. So, I worked with a trainer for a 2 months or so and then I started cycling and then I started stand up paddle surfing and also using a step machine that I have. So, my workouts have been cycling some days, surfing some days and step machine some days. When Kinect came out I bought it hoping that it would add another interesting workout into the mix, especially with winter coming and surfing and cycling getting harder in the cold. I bought a lot of games hoping for one or two games that would be fun enough to keep me moving and maybe even so fun that I pushed myself harder than I would have with just exercise for exercise sake. I bought sonic free riders, dance central, fighters uncaged, kinect adventures(came with the kinect), Your Shape Fitness Evolved and Kinectimals. Kinectimals has kind of been a bust for me. It really is a little kid's game. I thought it might have some impressive AI. Dance Central is great. It really recognizes your movements and corrects you. Sonic Free Riders has taken some time to get in to. Like MarioKart, you have to memorize the levels, but its tiring on your knees squating down and leaning forwards and backwards the whole time and then squatting and jumping over jumps and jump turning in the air to try to pull moves. So, I only do 5 or 6 runs a session and have not memorized the levels, which makes winning impossible. Your Shape Fitness Evolved is also very good. You have to do the moves in time with the trainer in the fitness classes, otherwise you don't get credit for them. The gym games are fun and I wish there were more of them and that there was some kind of fitness class that incorporated them. I have done 3 workouts with Your Shape since getting it, there's also a website that lets you track your progress which is really neat, especially for me because I've found that keeping a journal of my workouts has been really motivational and with this website, I get to see other people working at getting in shape too.
I was also what many would consider a "hardcore" gamer. I used to play Bond on N64 and MarioKart for marathon sessions in college. I played a lot of Oblivion in 2007 and assasin's creed and quake on the pc in 2008 -2009. I have loved most of the Zelda games and get really lost in them, including on Nintendo DS. So, I'm not a world of warcraft junkie or a caffeinated FPS lover and I don't play many sports games, but I have a fine appreciation for precision controls and became frustrated with Wii attempts at sports games that required you to waggle the controller (while I loved the Wii for its fun game play and for movement games that were precise like laser hockey). Kinect has been a really nice addition for me with my workouts and is not a Wii-type waggle motion control mechanism. It recognizes you and your movements accurately. Its not as precise as a mouse and keyboard, or even a handheld controller - but the games that its made for are not button pressing games. They are games that are designed to require to you to move your entire body and I've been really happy with the performance of the games and the motion detection.
So, knowing how I look at games, you can now hear what I think about this game. I like this game a lot. First, I was incredibly frustrated when the game would not recognize my moves, despite trying to mimic the onscreen avatar till my thighs were burning from jumping and squatting and from squatting and then exploding up through an uppercut. I sort of chalked this game up to a loss, but then I had a friend come over and saw that he was able to control it much better than I was. Together we went through the training classes analyzing how the kinect saw different movements and got to understand how this game wants you to control the player. This game does not require you to punch hard. You simply have to move your hand forward for a punch. This game does not require you to do a full body punch to get someone in the gut, instead starting with your hands in guard mode, you make a circle to the outside pointed diagonally downward. Also, moves are only possible from certain distances which are clearly marked at all times. So, you can't uppercut somebody from long range. And you can't round kick a knee from long range. You have to be up close. Once we worked this out, the game got a LOT better. The workouts that I went through getting to this point were hard - exactly what I wanted: I found myself forcing my body keep up with what my mind wanted it to do. Although my thighs were burning from squatting, I would push to try to get Kinect to see the movement.
I've just moved up the ladder to league 2 today. I've played this game maybe 5 or 6 times. Each time I walk away pretty sweaty and have to take a shower. Its been a really good addition to the workout routine. Especially good is that as you fight the computer, you have to dodge punches which means leaning back very quickly many times at unexpected times. So, you're using your stomach and lower back and keeping tight the whole time. My stomach and back were sore (in a good way) for the past few days and just are starting to feel ready for the game today. This game is a really, really good start on fighting games for kinect.
I've seen reviews that seem to be written by people who were in the frustrated stage of review that I was in before I really worked out how to control the game. I wish they would keep at it and really do the training until they can successfully pull off the moves there before they write these reviews. This is a quality game. Its worth buying. You have to work at getting it down - but that's like all sports. You have to practice and for the first time, video games are starting to feel like sports with the kinect. The more you train your movements, the better you will be at playing this game. And that's exactly what I was looking for when I bought it. So, I really love this game and encourage people to buy it. | video-games_xbox |
Ok replacement but it has it's problems. I bought this along with a RROD bolt kit to fix my son's three year old Xbox elite. (Missed the Microsoft warranty by two months) I figured if I could reduce the temps a bit more it couldn't hurt and the price wasn't bad. I followed the directions to removed the X mounts and used the 12 minute cook with the fan over the CPU heat sink only. Cooled everything down and gave the bolts a final twist, everything works 48 hrs so far.
As for the fan I was clearly not as heavy duty as the stock one but I figure the casing isn't very important anyway so long as the motors hold up. My first problem was that the fan comes with a unnecessary extension and four pin connector which is very hard to line up and force together. I expect the extension is so that you can plug the wires in and have easy access once the fan is in to connect the two. Problem is that the connector is cheap and poorly manufactured. I put it in the first time and everything was working well. I took it out to adjust the fan cover and then only one fan would work. For anyone that has this problem a couple cents worth of wire connectors would fix it but I was able to use a very small screw driver to push the male ends back into place. After that everything worked fine, I can't say that it is totally OEM or would lock into place but I don't think it will fall out either.
The box claims that the fan put's out 57% more air an is 7% less noise. I really can't tell the difference but so far so good. The LED blue light is kinda cool but useless unless you have a clear box too.
Pro:
Cool replacement for custom clear box or one with more air vents cut in.
Ok replacement if the stock fan goes out
Simple and easy to repair if needed
Con:
long unnecessary power extension
cheap wire connectors which tend to fall out of the plastic junction
LED light really barely visible unless...
Not significantly quieter (to my ears)
I would recommend a "buy" if your fan is out or you want to make a custom box. Otherwise clean out the stock fan and re-use. | video-games_xbox |
Game DOES NOT freeze hardly at ALL. I was reading the reviews in the one star rating area and I noticed something the majority of them were COMPUTER owners of Fallout 3. I proudly own Fallout 3 for the 360. In 75 to 100 hours (not sure exactly how long) it did freeze up on me twice and I got stuck twice in rocks when I jumped off cliffs and landed in the middle of a rock pile and had to restart from my last save. Any game can freeze and glitch up. I have gotten stuck in glitches in Halo3 and Gears of War 2. The game was still alot of fun to play and it sucked hours and hours of my life away. The open world is beautiful and impressive. The introduction of guns instead of swords is a welcome change of pace from Oblivion. The gunplay for the most part works well and like all good RPG's it gets better the further into the game you get. The main story is well written and paints a picture of hope for humanity in a time when there is increasingly little to be hopefull about. The voice acting is much improved from Oblivion as are the facial looks of the people. The game is very fun to play and had me laughing my head off at the humor. So in short it's a top of the line game. Even though I am a "fan boy" I'm going to point out the few annoiying things about Fallout3. 1. The lack of a better cover system can be crappy at times and lead to a stupid death. This more than anything had me screaming at my television. You can turn the difficulty setting down any time without affecting achievments. However when your a level 4 character and you walk into a level 10 dungeon your sort of asking for it Because all the enemies do not level up with you. Some are much higher in level than you. 2. The V.A.T.S. targeting system can be slightly finicky at times but usually works quite well. 3. The maps in you pip boy can be troubelsome to read in some of the dungeons. This can usually be overcome once you figure out the general layout of places. In short it's simply a great game to play and very deserving of praise.
Lastly a word to parents. Fallout3 is a very blody game. This does not bother me that much but I'm 23. When you shoot someone using vats limbs and heads go flying and exploding in grissly and over the top goofy ways. It's rather unrealistic but still extremly bloody. If they want a good open world game to play I recomend Elder Scrolls 3:Oblivion It's far less bloody but still great fun. The only way I'd let anyone under 16 play it is if their responsible and mature. | video-games_xbox |
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 more than delievers. Okay so first off let's adress those who are complaining about having to pay for this game a second time. I am confused as to why these people are complaining. Think about it the 12 new characters would have been released as DLC at $5 each which means for the 12 new characters would have been $60 meaning for the game and DLC you pay $120. Now with a simple re-release of the game with some additions and minor changes you pay less than that and pay maybe $100 or so if you bought both versions of the game. In any case that really has nothing to do with how good the game is, but I felt I would point it out anyway. As far as the game goes I find this version to be even better than MvC3 and, dare I say, as good as MvC2. The controls feel very fluid and easy to learn and get better at, which should be the case for a fighting game. One of the only problems I have encountered with UMvC3 is the rare times you get trapped in a air combo or in a corner air combo and quickly lose a player or take a lot of damage. Although there is an expected amount of difficulty from any game and it is up to the player to be able to overcome it. That being siad becoming trapped has not happend to me very often so it is not that big of an issue. The only other issue I have is one that has carried over from the first MvC3 which is the roster. While I love most of the original roster and the new selections there are still some characters I feel could have been left out or replaced by other characters. The most obvious, in my opinion at least, is M.O.D.O.K. who really is just not that good of a character. A few others I feel could have been left out or beter yet replaced would be Nathan Spencer, Haggar, and Dormamu (who isn't a bad character just a bit difficult to learn how to use well). Again characters I would have liked to see added would have been Gambit, Jin, Hayato, Blackheart, Captian Commander, Venom and I could continue on in the list of seemingly forgot/negleted character who, for whatever reason, did not make the game. Overall UMvC3 is a really good game and just shy of great that I would reccomend to any fans of fighting games, Marvel, Capcom, or just for those who are looking for a good game to play with friends (or rather against them.) | video-games_xbox |
actualy 3.5 ,this could have been an amazing game if. The developers had/took more time to iron out the kinks. Now the gameplay is very addictive,fun and some what innovative for a third person shooter. You get the choice of ten or so realy kick a$$ guns plus several different ' powers' like force push,exploding ice shrads from your hands, levitation and others. Now what is cool is that you can hold a gun in one hand and use the free one for your powers so you can double weild a la halo 2,...kinda. But cool none the less. Now a new and interesting feature is the targeting,you 'flick' the right thumbstick in the diection you see the enemies on screen and they will be selected in your cross hair. This works pretty good I might add, since I was dredding the worst when i heard about the targeting. Now this game is actualy alot of fun and you won't want to stop playing once you get into it. BUT there are some problems. 1 the framerate in some areas is piss poor, well not that bad but there is some slow down when theres alot of things going on on screen,and sometimes you will move pretty sketchy. The graphics and all around art style of the game is very well done. Now to me it was almost like I was playing a third person HALO game,from the worlds,enviroments to the weapons,vehicles and characters all seemed to be from the same mold if you know what I mean. Thats not a bad thing either because if your going to use ideas from a game make sure its a top notcher like the halo series. PROBLEMS- there was a couple of times the game actualy froze up on me during the cut scenes.frame rate was prety choppy at time. The audio is kind of hit or miss every so often and the game is kinda short, you could beat it in a day or two, about 10-15 hrs. But you might need the god mode cheat to do so because the enemies are relentless somtimes.
All in all with those little problems aside, this is one game worhty of a rental at the very least. I've been hooked for 4 days straight and just beat it. If only they waited an extra month to fix all the little issues in the game this would have made my top ten list for sure. It is however one of the BEST games I have played this summer. | video-games_xbox |
Not for TV's mounted close to the wall. I purchased this from a local box store, because, as someone else stated, it is only about twenty dollars there. I was excited about it, and really looking forward mounting my kinect on top of my TV with it, but I was quite surprised when I opened the box and it was about 4" deep! It was way too big to fit on my wall mounted flat screen that is on the wall using the Cheetah Mounts APTMM2B bracket, purchased here on Amazon. The picture on the box and on here both make the mount look shallower than it is, so make sure you measure your TV and have at least 4" from the front of the TV to the wall, maybe a little more if you want the cord to go behind the mount.
Pros:
- It feels like a solid mount. If my TV was further from the wall, it would tighten up pretty nicely on top and I there is a screw to attach the kinect to it, sort of like a camera attached to a tripod.
- The camera cover is a cool added feature! I'm not really worried that someone is spying on my from the kinect, but I like the option to cover it up, if I want.
- Adjustable to fit thicker flatscreen TV's. Not enough for a projection type TV, but if you had a thicker plasma, LED, or LCD TV, it should work (Maybe 3"-5" thick?)
Cons:
- Way too big to mount to a wall mounted TV.
- The ratcheting mechanism that holds the back of the bracket is very tight. I thought I was breaking it when I was adjusting it. I'm not convinced that I didn't. I hope it holds up for the person who buys it after I return it!
- Misleading imaging on the box and the website. There should be a true side view of it so people can see how big it actually looks.
Overall, if my TV was not mounted to the wall, I probably would have kept it. I'm sure that it is a fine mount, and will hold other people's kinects just fine, but it has limited applications, which is not explained well in the description. If you have more than 4" behind your TV, it will probably work, but if your TV is tight on the wall, you should consider other options, of which there are sadly none for the xbox one, yet. | video-games_xbox |
Medieval Grand Theft Auto. OVERALL RATING: A-
I came into the Fable game late. I read reviews on the <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Fable-The-Lost-Chapters/dp/B000A76ZNO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Fable: The Lost Chapters</a> when it first hit the market and I decided to skip the game initially. However, when I started to hear a lot of buzz about Fable II, I decided to go back and try the first installment. I was pleasantly surprised and eagerly awaited the second installment.
In short, Fable II delivers! There are many more side quests than in the first game and the graphics, as you might expect, are simply amazing. The addition of the dog as your companion also makes tons of sense and plays well into the game.
Here are some other new additions that are worth noting:
- Enhanced Relationships: Get married, get divorced, have kids, contract STDs and more.
- Gargoyles: A side quest worth pursuing in which gargoyles on random structures mock your hero's abilities. I won't spoil the grand prize for finding all 50 gargoyles, but it's well worth the effort.
- Enhanced weaponry: You now have the ability to use guns in addition to the melee weapons from the previous game.
- Real Estate Mogul: Buy up everything from shops, to houses to castles. Get great deals by chumming up to the owners or just kill them.
- Work Hard for Your Money: Jobs are now an option to make money. Work as one of the following > woodcutter, blacksmith, bartender, assassin, and bounty hunter.
- Build Up Your Influence: Use the expanded list of expressions to influence people's opinion of you. You now have over 40 expressions, which range from belching to slapping. Some of the expressions also include an execution meter, which determines how much influence your expression has on onlookers.
The main story line is solid and keeps you hooked throughout, with an ending that will have you looking to play again.
One of the biggest selling points of the game is the replay factor. Based on your actions you can either be good or evil in the game, which impacts the story line differently. In addition, you can decide to be either male or female at the beginning of your quest. Taking these factors into account, you can easily play through the game 4 times to see what changes. Think of this game as one of those books where you choose your next step (e.g. turn to page 25 to enter the cave or turn to 50 to leave).
You will find some small glitches in the game, which would have probably been eliminated if the game came out a little later. You will occasionally get stuck behind a door, behind someone in your way or behind an invisible object while swimming. These happen infrequently enough and do not affect the overall game experience.
**********************************************
Knothole Island Expansion Review
**********************************************
OVERALL RATING: C
I was excited when I heard that there was an expansion pack coming out for Fable 2, since I had enjoyed the actual game so much. However, I was thoroughly disappointed. The expansion pack runs you 800 points, which translates into about $10. We're not talking expensive here, but the Knothole Island expansion pack seems like it was something that was part of the original game, but axed at the end to make sure they could make a specific release date.
The additional gameplay, which is about 5 hours does not add to the story. Think of the this expansion pack as adding in a new map/area, which you can explore. On Knothole Island you go through 3 missions and you can pick up a few more XBOX360 Achievements.
Overall, had I known exactly what I was getting when I purchased the Knothole Island expansion, I probably would have spent my 800 points elsewhere. | video-games_xbox |
A great concept gets a much-needed revision. It's good to see Rockstar Games giving an excellent concept a second chance. Red Dead Revolver wasn't exactly the most successfully executed game out there, but it had enough unrealized potential to give even the most disappointed customer some hope that they'd revisit the franchise and figure out exactly where it was they'd gone wrong. This time, Rockstar has played to their own strengths, introducing the world of cowboys and outlaws to the acclaimed gameplay found in their Grand Theft Auto series. And, man has it worked out nicely for Red Dead Redemption.
You play as John Marston, an outlaw who has stepped away from a life of thieving and murdering in an honest attempt to make a living as a rancher, and to keep his wife and son safe. Unfortunately, a couple of government agents have kidnapped Marston's family and given him no other choice but to hunt down his former criminal comrades and bring them to justice. Of course, John's none-too-happy about any of this, and spends a fair portion of the game's well-spoken dialogue explaining his situation to pretty much everyone he meets. And, John Marston meets a lot of people.
It's in these supporting characters that the the story of Red Dead Redemption becomes divisive. While Marston himself has a surprisingly high degree of respectability through his polite words and generally helpful demeanor, the bulk of the people he finds himself working with over the fifteen or so hours of his mission are degenerate, irredeemable scumbags. Most of them seem to have some sort of disturbing quirk to their personality or actions, like Seth who spends his days robbing the dead of their belongings, or MacDougal, a professor at Yale who enjoys name-calling and shooting up heroin. That's not to say there's nothing to enjoy about any of these guys, but for the most part you're probably not going to feel to comfortable about buddying up them.
There's also the problem of the dialogue and the more detailed bits of the plot. All of the voice acting is top-notch and believable, and really helps bring some life into the characters. The issue lies within the writing itself, which apart from a couple of decent jokes and some other interesting tidbits here and there, it really isn't at all captivating. You'll catch chatter about a political exchange gone awry, or some criminals you shouldn't mess with, or gain a little more insight into just why it is your current companion is so morally and socially repugnant. The undesirables of the old west also seem to have quite a bit to say with regard to the meaning of life, and the purpose of the universe and all that. It tries to get too deep, and it stays too impoverished to ever deserve more than half of your attention.
Fortunately, the world of Red Dead Redemption is the game's saving grace. It encompasses the state of New Austin, which is really just Rockstar's version of Texas, and a while into the story you'll venture across the border and into Mexico. I wouldn't call this area particularly large, but the means through which you're allowed to transverse this space instills a much larger, much more old-fashioned sense of scale into the desert plains. Getting around in a reasonable amount of time is fairly simple using the stagecoach taxis or the train, but usually Marston's own horse is adequate enough for the job. There are plenty of breeds of horses around to break in and ride into the sunset, some faster and more reliable than others. You'll need to perform some guesswork to know which kind of horse you're riding, because that's not information that's ever relayed to you in any discernible fashion. Only the coats of the animals are provided as a means to tell the different breeds apart, so unless you're a horse nut (and maybe not even then -- I can't speak for whether or not these visual cues translate), it's going to be completely up to some luck and your own sense of speed to determine whether the shiny new horse from MacFarlane's Ranch is better than the one you broke over in Brennigan's Stead.
There's a lot to do in New Austin, and in Mexico, including plenty of minigames and side-missions. Poker's a quick way to earn some cash, or lose everything if that's how the luck of the draw goes. There are some strangers scattered out around the world that need some help with this or that; giving them some assistance tends to be more compelling than the larger narrative, so not much incentive is really needed to embark on their menial tasks. You can kill and skin some animals in the wild, and this leads into some substantial challenges that get pretty tough the deeper into the ranks you go. There are herbs and flowers to gather, gang hideouts to shoot up, property to purchase, and a handful of other distractions to filter one's mind away from the story. Most of this stuff is a lot of fun, or at least alluring enough to give you reason to leave the beaten path for a short while.
In addition to the lengthy single-player, there are a handful of multiplayer modes to have some light entertainment with. There's free-roam, which is exactly what is sounds like: venture around New Austin and Mexico with random dudes pulled in from Xbox Live riding around and putting holes in one another. From this hub, the rest of the multiplayer modes are accessible. There's free-for-all, some gang shootouts, and more objective-focused game types like capture-the-flag. All the multiplayer seems to be is some extra fun to have with the sixty-bones spent on the base game. The approach is very uncoordinated and chaotic, but that's really the point. This isn't a super-competitive playground like you'd find in a Call of Duty or Halo title. There's more incentive to drop-in, have a bit of a go at it, and drop-out.
There's a lot to love, a little to loathe, and plenty to do in Rockstar's latest open-world criminal simulator. The successes of Red Dead Redemption greatly outweigh its failures, with its feral and authentic open-world and hours upon hours of content in which to take part. Getting through everything this game has to offer takes some serious dedication, but fortunately it's all fluid and familiar enough that putting forth that sort of effort shouldn't be all that laborious. It's great to see Rockstar expand the Grand Theft Auto formula into other, more daring locales, and re-imagining the exceptionally lackluster Red Dead Revolver seems to have paid off rather well for them in the end. | video-games_xbox |
Rest easy: Halo is in good hands. Wow! That is all I have to say. My expectations were not very high going into Halo 4 but now I can't get over how pleasantly surprised I was. I was growing distant from the Halo franchise and thought I might abandon it all together, but never have I been so wrong! Halo 4 reminded me of the greatness of sci-fi universe of the series and made me care for its characters in ways I never had before.
Let me explain my thoughts going into this game: I was bored of Master Chief and Cortana. Master Chief was becoming a relic, a near silent first-person shooter hero in a day when players expect more from video game protagonists ad Cortana had struck me as a nuisance in much of the original trilogy. After Halo Reach gave you the ability to create your own character, even if it wasn't developed it was still YOUR character so you had some attachment. I never felt anything for the two characters' relationship. When he was separated from her in Halo 2 and went to get her back in Halo 3 I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. Needless to say, going into 4 all I could think was: "Give me more Halo Reach and put Master Chief and Cortana in cryosleep."
Then, much to my amazement, 343 Industries did the unexpected: They made them characters I wanted to follow. Following the events of Halo 3 the Master Chief and Cortana find themselves on another Forerunner artifact. Cortana is old and on the verge of going "rampant" (where an A.I. thinks itself to death) and Chief refuses to let this happen. While a new enemy threatens to exterminate the human race it is the interactions between MC and Cortana that fuel this game's heart. I played through that campaign always wanting to know what would happen to them instead of just my drive to complete a sci-fi shooter.
A small gripe I have with Halo 4 is the amount of characters and ideas that pop in and out that you -the gamer- won't understand unless you've read the expanded universe novels/comics. I never felt truly lost in the plot, but I clearly would have appreciated more if I'd kept up on the novels (I used to read everything up until Halo 3, but that game disappointed me so much that I completely lost interest in the Halo universe...guess now is a good time to get back in). That isn't a negative, but I think it's something gamers should know up front.
If I seem to be spending a lot of time on the relationship between Master Chief and Cortana it's because the writing of Halo 4 is truly what sets 343 Industries apart from Bungie. Bungie had solid stories, but 343's writing team has constructed a narrative with a far greater emphasis on character than. Where 343 falls short of Bungie is in the game play and level designs (especially in multiplayer). Bungie was --and likely still is-- a master of level design and multiplayer. 343 does their best, but Halo: Reach remains the best multiplayer experience for Halo.
Then there's the visuals. Halo 4 is without a doubt the most beautiful Xbox 360 game ever released! And I know it might seem strange saying this, seeing as Halo is such a well publicized franchise, but in a sea of gray and brown military and post-apocalyptic shooters Halo's universe is refreshingly vibrant! This game pushes the 360 to its limits and provides some of the best science-fiction landscapes of the console generation.
Ultimately this boils down to being an immersive science-fiction story centered around the Master Chief and Cortana. As a single-player campaign the game delivers all the gunplay, weapons, power-ups, vehicles, and alien landscapes you could hope to have in a Halo game only with the added bonus of character drama. If you're a fan of Halo multiplayer I suppose you could make a point that 343 isn't quite as good as Bungie, but I was here for the single player campaign and it didn't disappoint.
343 Industries has proudly shown that Halo can carry on without Bungie and sets foundation for future entries in the franchise. Anyone who thinks Xbox's flagship franchise was becoming stale couldn't be more wrong. It gave this longtime Halo fan a new hope for the franchise and I now look forward to the continued adventures of John, Spartan 117 in the future. | video-games_xbox |
Overall, a great game, but with some minor flaws. Sonic generations is a great game, and Sega should be given props for being willing to put one of their major games on PC, when so many good games are being locked into console exclusiveness. Sega also impresses by not following the usual model, and creating Sega DRM, where you have to activate and sign into a Sega game community. (Looking at you EA)
Pros
It controls very well, and I was surprised to find myself enjoying playing as the new sonic despite his insistence that I boost instead of spin-dash.
The whole thing maps really well to an Xbox 360 controller, or other controller with x360ce
The boss battles were surprisingly fun, even the one with Silver, a character I had no real interest in.
The music selection feature works really well, and made me want to play through the challenge levels to get the whole soundtrack (The art on the other-hand did not impress, we need more music sonic team!) My favorite choice of music was Palm Tree Panic for Green Hill Zone, and the other tracks were fun to listen to again even if I couldn't find a stage that fit them perfectly. To be fair, I probably couldn't find better songs because Sega already chose some great ones.
The levels are layered well, feeling a lot like a 2D sonic game on the genesis with an updated formula. Exploration in sonic games has returned, and the rewards for doing so are fairly decent as well.
Cons
I had trouble with the controller until I installed x360ce. If sonic starts doing summersaults randomly, you may have to get an xbox360 controller or find this program for yourself.
Sonic controls great for the most part, but good luck walking, as you will quickly find that sonic is incapable of such an act. This only becomes a problem when Sonic is trying to build up momentum while you're working on some precision platforming. You will die, and your deaths will be cheap, but this is to be expected from a platformer at this point.
The hubworld is boring (and it's a hubworld, can't we get an open world sonic game?) I understand that it looks a little fuller after you beat all the challenges and such, but that means you'll spend the entire playtime looking at a plain white background, only getting to see the lovely changes after beating the game.
Voice acting is an improvement from some previous games, but it still clearly panders to children. You won't groan as much as in previous titles, as the actors aren't trying too hard this time around, but you also won't be drawn in. The voices simply don't fit as well as the sonic adventure 2 voices did (although the voice-acting in the game wasn't great, the voices did fit, and just needed some more time in the roles).
The character roster is getting a little out of hand. Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Shadow, Robotnick, Amy, Rouge, and metal sonic were enough for me, and it was great when you actually got to play as them. Throw in Vector, Charmy, Cream, Espio, and Silver and then it starts getting a little busy. I'll give you credit for Blaze, as she seems interesting enough, and you did scrap Big, so props there, but even so, your character base is starting to get a little bloated. (But bring back Chaos and Tikal when you feel like finally making Sonic Adventure 3). Robotnick saying "nobody calls me that anymore" was amusing, but it doesn't change the fact that he should address himself as Robotnick, instead of a giant talking egg (I presume it was an endearing nickname his enemy gave him, why would he accept it? It would be much more entertaining to see him get in a rage at being called that name)
The last stage is a huge dissapointment, annoying backseat driving aside.
Once you manage to get super sonic, be prepared to lose a lot of rings.
Overall:
Sonic Generations is still a really great game, and I can only find some minor faults in it. I was originally bummed that there would be no Wii release, but having since then become a PC gamer, I can see the Wii had been holding Sonic down. You won't find the open worlds of the previous games here, but the levels are really fun nonetheless. Definitely a game to buy if you're a PC gamer, and we really need to show Sega that there is a market on PC for Sonic games that are well made. Sonic 4 Episode 2 is coming out soon, and if it is half as good as it looks, I'll be able to call myself a Sonic fan with pride again, very soon. | video-games_xbox |
The mask is very nice, it feels well made and it is very . The outer sleeve with the platform marking slips off, though it is a bit sticky. The sleeve is unfortunately attached via two pieces of sticky adhesive tape that you cannot remove without tearing both the sleeve and the box; you have to slice it down the middle and leave it on.
The mask is very nice, it feels well made and it is very detailed. It is a bit too small for an adult to wear (it fits on my dog though!), and it has an unpleasant plastic smell for a few hours after taking it out of the box. The stand included feels very cheap however, and the box includes a sticker with the game's logo you have to apply to the stand yourself, and if you are clumsy like me, it will be impossible to make it look good (it's a straight sticker going onto a curved surface).
The ring's case feels like it's poor quality, but the ring itself is fine. It's made of metal, but at a size that awkward - you probably can't wear it the way it's intended (left middle finger).
The steelbook case is alright, the art is a bit overused in the game's marketing but it serves its purpose. The CE does NOT include a generic green game case, you have to use the steelbook.
The poster's packaging was poorly planned. It comes folded up and stuffed in the top of the box, so it's going to be creased for good. It's also not a super high quality poster or anything, it's just a generic glossy poster. It's doubled sided, with the antagonist Delilah on one side and the Empress from the previous game on the other.
The game itself is great; if you liked the original Dishonored you should definitely get this. The gameplay and level design is nothing but improvements. Do note that the writing and worldbuilding is a bit weaker this time, but if that doesn't bother you then you'll be fine otherwise. There's a few technical issues like finer moving details like guitar strings being extremely blurry, but it otherwise plays and looks like a dream. | video-games_xbox |
Ever wanted to race around an asteroid. XGRA is the latest in Acclaim's Extreme-G series, in which futuristic rocket-powered cycles blaze through a series of twisting, rollercoasterish courses. This newest installment sees some changes and additions from the last effort, Extreme-G 3, and the result is arguably the series' pinnacle.
The control is quite different. The bikes no longer feature the side-leaning dual airbrake technique; now, one trigger controls braking for the entire bike while the other trigger controls acceleration. While the analog stick is still used for steering, pushing forward and back no longer changes the cycle's angle - now you are able to adjust your weapons' aim up and down, even towards targets not on the track. The cycles also don't have an accessible speed boost; instead temporary boosts are acquired by driving over arrowed strips (much like the Wipeout or F-Zero games).
The weapons system has also seen some changes, and is a lot more streamlined and efficient (excepting one particular weapon which is far too powerful). Each bike comes with a basic primary weapon, which can now be upgraded during a single race by destroying opponents, as well as a selection of secondary weapons. Green power crystals are scattered throughout each course, and stronger secondary weapons become available to you as you collect them (ranging from the energy-sucking Vampyre to limited invincibility). They can be fired anytime, but once discharged, you must find more crystals. It's much easier to select and fire the weapons you want without getting distracted from the race, due to the simpler controls and the improved HUD.
As is the norm with racing titles, you have a single race mode, time trial mode, and season mode. XG3 players may recall that as you progessed through that game's season, you accumulated money which you could then use to upgrade your bike however you wished. XGRA has no in-game shop; rather, you sign a contract with one of several racing teams, and your bike is upgraded automatically as you progress through the season (you are under contract after all). You also are able to make slight adjustments to your bike's handling before each race. In addition, the season mode is a lot longer, is a lot deeper, and uses a GP-style points system to track your progression. Not only will you encounter different types of races - ranging from single-lap speed races called Burn Off to courses without weapons, Endurance, Weather Hazard, and Warmonger races (where cannons lining the courses fire upon everyone), but the team you've signed with will present separate, optional Contract Challenges for you to peform in addition to finishing in first place. These Contracts vary, from "set a lap record" to "destroy three opponents." Fulfill these contracts, and you gain new upgrades for your machine. Also, as you progress through the Season, you unlock Art Galleries and different features for Arcade and Time Trial modes, such as the ability to change the weather. There's simply a lot more game here than before, and unlocking everything and fulfilling all contracts will keep racers busy.
But the best thing about XGRA are the tracks themselves. Never has a futuristic racer been witness to such inventive, mind-bending, beautiful courses to race in. You'll race around a defunct nuclear reactor in the middle of the barren Amazon basin (this is in the future after all), through groves of trees and past waterfalls, under the ocean in transparent tubes through which sea life can be seen, through an airlock around a zero-G asteroid with Saturn looming overhead, and across the red Martian desert while the landscape is pounded by a meteor shower, among others. Mobile robot cameras, animated neon signs, and drifting ships are everywhere, and machinery turns gracefully on all sides. The courses twist, turn, and corkscrew unexpectedly, and are home to many alternate paths and shortcuts. You can fire at billboards, causing them to crash across the track and take out enemies, and the smoking remains of destroyed cycles will stay on the course until the race is completed. Add to that a licensed soundtrack featuring techno acts like BT and Cirrus (which is OK but not great - XGRA should have supported custom soundtracks), in-game chatter by opposing riders, and some insane pre-race commentary ("Hey Bob, this is the course where an entire field of riders plunged to their death in 2045 when a support strut collapsed, ha ha, remember that?" "I sure do Steve"), and XGRA is quite a remarkable spectacle. If you've seen XG3's Atradaitoshi or Oceania tracks, imagine that with ten times the detail and activity, and you'll have an idea of what XGRA contains. All of that beauty with an extremely steady framerate and blistering sense of speed.
XGRA is a must-buy for fans of futuristic racers, especially at the current price point, and anyone who enjoys a challenging, gorgeous, wild ride will be more than satisfied. Much like XG3 before it, XGRA stands as an excellent entry in the genre that will probably not get the attention it deserves. | video-games_xbox |
Mass Effect 2. There have been several improvements in Mass Effect 2. Perhaps the most significant improvement is the fact that you can actually land the characters on the planet when performing missions, instead of navigating the clumsy land vehicle through a mountainous area. I also like being able to select my crew before going on the N7 missions. These two factors improve playability and enjoyment of the game. The first portion of the game on Disc 1 was a little buggy; I got stuck in the scenery several times and had to reload from my last save in order to continue play. Fortunately, the auto-save system is a life-saver here. It saves frequently, so you don't lose much game play when you restart. I was a little disappointed by the paucity of side quests, like the one where Shepard had to resolve the issue between the Volus and the Quarian whom he accused of stealing his card. I would have preferred to see many more than there actually were. Sometimes the game seemed to be setting up a sidequest, and then it went nowhere; for instance I was disappointed when Shepard delivered the evidence against Anto to Ish. I expected a gang war, but nothing came of it. The side quest with Gavron was also disappointing. On the Krogan homeworld, I could never figue out the purpose of the envoy from the women's camp. Whay was this character there at all, if there was no sidequest or plot enhancement? It wasn't even amusing. Fortunately, there were several amusing asides in the game, like Joker's comments and the game vendor on the Citadel. I have played the game by importing Shepard from Mass Effect 1. I have also played using an entirely new character. I have played as a man, as a woman, and from the standpoint of different job classifications. Each time the game offered me something new in gameplay, although the general story remained the same. I enjoyed being able to do this. It enhances the replayability of the game. While most of the voice actors are definitely professional, the person who reads the part of Shepard as a male does a very poor job. He does not read the lines as a person would who was actually in the situation. His voice is flat and the lines are read with no inflection at all. It is painfully obvious he is just reading the lines and not feeling the character at all. For me, this detracted from my enjoyment of the game. However, compared to other video games, Mass Effect 2 is exciting, engaging and entertaining, written and, for the most part, performed with verve. All in all, Mass Effect 2 is an excellent game that offers the player several different skill levels, which make it fun for everyone, from skilled shooters to those who who prefer pure RPG. It continues the original story began in Mass Effect 1 and brilliantly foreshadows the future storyline of Mass Effect 3. I am looking forward to buying the concluding game when it comes out. I definitely recommend it. | video-games_xbox |
A sequel worth grabbing, even a couple years later. I don't have the money to drop on new games, so I'm finally getting around to the Mass Effect franchise. I was very happy with the first game, and picked up the second from Amazon Warehouse. Here's a snapshot of some things they changed, if you liked the first one and wants to see if the second one measures up.
In an apparent effort to simplify the game, they changed up the weapon/armor upgrade system. They scrapped the ME1 method of scavenging mods from fallen enemies and merchants, then applying them to fixed gear slots. Instead, ammo mods are now skills (i.e. incendiary ammo) that you have to cast to have it applied to your weapon. One disadvantage is you have to do that at the start of each mission, i.e. there's no "default" weapon power. However, you don't have to pause the game to apply a different power when a change of tactics is called for. You simply select and cast a new weapon power. For armor mods and weapon upgrades, you acquire upgrades from the field and from merchants, and then research them on your ship. Personally, I liked having the system from the first game, but it does save a lot of time scrolling through dozens of unused mods to sell to merchants.
I miss the Mako. It was removed from the "planet exploration" aspect of the game. This is another change that saves time and does help eliminate some mindless driving around planetside, but driving around a futuristic tank and blasting Geth was a pretty fun aspect of the first game.
When it comes to exploration, I like their new method of harvesting resources. Their expansion of characters, overall addition of content and depth, and "heavy weapons" (i.e. the Cain) were excellent additions. Overall this game is awesome so far, if you liked the first one I don't think you'll be disappointed with the second. Even though I haven't finished ME2 yet, I'm already looking forward to picking up ME3 (... used, of course). | video-games_xbox |
Great game, just a few issues. I am a die hard fan of everything Ubisoft, and more especially, everything Tom Clancy. I've played the Ghost Recon series from the beginning and preferred it to the Rainbow Six series pretty much since the second PC edition started letting me down. I picked up RS:Black Arrow last year on a whim that it would live up to its hype and was, once again dissapointed. So I was pretty hesitant when all of the folks on my friends list on XB360 were playing this game, but decided to go with the flow and pick up Rainbow Six: Vegas.
I am so glad I did!
STORYLINE
This game is everything Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (for the 360) should have been. The story line is great and very involved. Though it gets a bit jumpy at some parts and there is no way to skip some of the cut scenes that you may have seen over and over, the story is realistic and is intertwined in everything you do on the missions (unlike some games where the story line and the missions/game play don't go together).
The voice acting is believable and relevant. Though there is some crude language and lots of profanity, this was not designed to be a kids game, and the language is not gratuitous.
GAMEPLAY
The controls are smooth, and the players mover realistically. The new "corner looking" third person view is especially nice and helps with moving tactically. The team commands are especially nice and for the most part easy to use, though it does get a little bit difficult to use the "order to" command when sending your team mates to a spt that is up stairs or on the same eye level as you (the highlighted circle showing you where they are going can be hard to spot). My only complaint is that sometimes I have found that your team mates don't always automatically take cover while under fire which cna cause them to get shot up during some of the hairier fights. I also was hopeful that there would be a way to issue individual orders to team members so you can provide better area coverage and firepower at multiple entry points, but you have to move your team mates together or not at all, and it really doesn't get in your way too much.
Overall though, the game plays nicely and forces you to use tactics and skill, rather than "my gun is bigger than yours" style of Halo.
ONLINE
The online play of this game adds a whole other level of replayability. The Persistent Elite Character creation feature is nice, though I am a little dissapointed in the ease of cheating the rank system by using glitches and system to gain ranks quicker. Normally, since most games the rank system is just a title, this wouldn't be an issue, but in this game its a flaw because the higher rank you get, the better weapons you can use, thus the cheaters get an unfair advantage in online matches. The load times for maps can sometimes be harsh, and people can be dropped from the server in the crossover. The other downfall is that the online play will sometimes cause your Xbox 360 to freeze.
Overall, this game is great, with just a few minor flaws that can easily be worked out with patches. | video-games_xbox |
and I really loved the game. Hello, I'm Tom, 14 years old. This is my first review, but I hope it will be helpful. I bought the PC game a couple of years back, and I really loved the game. I admit, the graphics aren't as good as Call of Duty Black Ops II, but still everything is easy to recognize, and pretty damn good if I say so myself. :)
About the game:
You can play as two species, the GDF (Global Defense Force), and the invading Strogg.
It might seem that an alien species would be more powerful, but each has their advantages. The human medics are able to yank out their defibrillators and pop, their team mate is up, while the Strogg have to inject something into the fallen comrades body, which takes about 5 seconds. I think I'm talking a little too much but I'll continue writing about that after we get to the basics.
There are many classes you can choose from, such as the engineer, soldier, medic, spec ops, and field ops. I didn't know what that really meant at the time, so I'll explain. Field ops deploys artillery, shielding, orbital strikes/air strikes (depending on the race). The Spec ops snipes, deploys explosive recon cams to spy on the enemy, smoke grenades, teleporters and hacking tools. (I kind of jumbled all the equipment together of both GDF and Strogg, but I hope it's still helpful! :)
Like in all the other comments, the game does not have a storyline like in COD or Grand Theft Auto, but trust me when I say, whoo man! This game is worth the money! You just go in, complete the objective and kill, kill kill! :P Lol I ordered this game for my Xbox 360 because my disc went kaput. Anywho, read on for more detailed pros and cons for the Strogg and GDF!
Continued:
Note: I am writing about my experiences with the PC, not the Xbox. I do not know if they have different gameplay.
So the GDF are able to slash once with the with their blades and make a kill, while the Strogg use a grotesquely awesome appliance to slash multiple times to make a kill (but the strogg Infiltrator, or Spec ops, is able to backstab, and quickly terminate.)
As I mentioned before, the GDF medic is able to quickly and effortlessly revive their team mates and give health packs. The revival for the strogg medic, or technician costs more time. The good thing is, he can deploy stroyent, or ammo/health which the other cannot. Only the soldier is capable of deploying ammo. (Oh, if my grammar is sloppy, I apologize :P) I am going to stop right there, because I have to get going. Anyway the vehicles are great, everything is great and so AWESOME! I hope my review was helpful, so have fun with the game! | video-games_xbox |
Great First Attempt for Def Jam Rapstar. As a fan of music with hip-hop as my favorite genre, I felt that this game was a must own. This game although bare bones provides hours and hours of fun whether alone or with friends. Songs in this game are accompanied by their video counterpart and the objective of the game is to either rap the words correctly or in certain parts carry a note or two.
There are three modes in this game(Career,Party,Freestyle) and I'll start first with career.
In career mode there are five stages in which you rap several songs in an attempt to earn five mics on each song(Mics are used as a grading scale and five is the highest). Also thrown on each stage are challenges where you may have to rap a new song to unlock it in party mode, rap through several videos at a time, rap a couple verses and correctly say every word without messing up or rap to earn a multiplier as quicly as possible. The bulk of the game's 40+ songs are in this mode. By earning mics you unlock songs, freestyle beats, and bonuses to edit your video with. I enjoyed this mode but it was pretty short and bare. It felt like party mode except in a different place. I would have loved to see a type of story woven into it and better unlockables such as interviews or history on Def Jam.
Party mode once everything in career mode is completed will contain every song in the game. This mode is for the everyone that wants to relax or start the party up by making a playlist of songs and rapping them. Downloaded songs from the XBL Marketplace or the PSNetwork will show up here.
Freestyle mode allows you to rap to beats from some of the rap universe's hottest beat makers. Normally beats average around 3 mins. However you can only upload 30 seconds online where people will see your videos and rate out of 5 stars. You can also download more beats.
In closing this game is a great first attempt. Although online isn't where it should be or the core modes are kinda bare, this game sets some stable ground for Konami and Def Jam to build a great franchise on. Purchase this. | video-games_xbox |
Expensive-But I Needed The Space. Yes, it's a ridiculous price for 120gb, but the problem is, the hard drives on the 360 are not compatible with PC interfaces (yes of course that's on purpose to make you spend more money), and my 20gb drive was almost full. Now, if you use your 360 HD for only game saves, of course, 20gb will last forever; game saves run from a few k to 1mb or 2. Just like the original XBOX HD 8gb, I think was plenty of room for just game saves. (That's all I ever used mine for except for a few favorite CD's I ripped to it).
But, with the 360, in my case, though I have a big pile of games, that's not all I use it for. You will find that if you use marketplace at all-downloading demos (from 700mb to over 1gb apiece) trailers, episodes of NCIS you missed, multiplayer map packs, (Halo 3's will be HUGE, I heard);etc, like I do, that 20gb fills up quick; I only had 2gb left. So, I finally decided to spend the money, picked up the drive and read the instructions for file transfer (very easy, in my case with a full drive took about 2 hours, make the connections, and let it do its thing. Now I have all of my files from before, a bunch of new demos (I keep them for awhile while deciding to spend the money on the games or not), the content it comes loaded with-videos, and a bunch of Arcade trial games;and I still have 100gb free. To me, worth it! If you're a light user of the 360 and just use the HD for game saves though, save your money.
My complaint is, MS should have given us the 120gb to begin with. But then, they couldn't make that extra $170 bucks off us, I guess. One last thing--the transfer supposedly works only once, and only from the smaller drive to the larger. Your 20gb will be wiped of content, but still has the 360 OS on it; if you attach it it will boot up, so bascially you'll have a spare drive, but will have to recover your gamertag, and re download everything, if you use it again.
Summary: Worth it, and highly reocommended, if you're a heavy downloader, like me. If you don't go on line much, or don't use marketplace, you can pass. | video-games_xbox |
Xbox One is a lot of fun for the whole family. Got my Xbox One for Christmas. I have been using the PS4 for the last few months. First let me say that the PS4 is a nice gaming machine and I have no issues with it. I got the Xbox One with Kinect. It came with Dance Central Spotlight. I haven't had so much fun playing a game in a long time. I sucked of course and my wife kicked my ass but it was a hilariously fun good time. After playing some games, Alien Isolation, Dead Rising 3 and Fantasia it's clear to me that if I could only have only one console it would be an Xbox One. The PS4 is good at playing games but the interaction with the Kinect sensor puts the Xbox One over the top. I have my Verizon service hooked right into my Xbox One and I can change channels and watch TV with voice commands. The voice commands work perfectly once you set everything up correctly. I can turn on my whole entertainment system with a simple Xbox On command. If I'm in the kitchen and I want to watch tv while I'm making some food or washing the dishes, it's a simple Xbox On and Xbox watch ESPN. I can easily switch back to gaming with a simple Xbox command. you can even use the snap command to access 2 things at once on your screen. I haven't used the snap feature to much but I saw where you could keep fantasy football stats on the side of the screen while you are watching football. I'll check that out this weekend. The added dimension in games is incredible. To much noise in the background while playing Dead Rising 3 and the Zombies turn their attention towards you. One of the big selling points between the 2 consoles when you talk to fanboys is the beefier specs that the PS4 has over the Xbox One. I originally bought the PS4 first just because it has slightly better specs and I knew I would get the other system for Christmas. When you are playing the games you can't tell one system from the other graphically. The games both look good for consoles and if you are comparing the graphics of the two consoles as selling points then I have to just laugh. One thing I will say as a PS4 owner. The PS4 boasts 1080p all the time but what they don't tell you is to maintain that resolution at all times you get plenty of performance loss in frames per second. The Xbox on the other hand scales down it's resolution so that the framerate doesn't dip. I'll take framerate over minor resolution bonuses any day. These complaints are minor and not game breaking but it's something I have noticed since owning my PS4. If you are in it for the graphics then buy a PC. My Gaming computer laughs out loud at all consoles, Especially with my new 3 monitor setup. I doubt my PS4 will get much use from here on out except for exclusives and the games I already have purchased. Turning on your whole entertainment system with Xbox One and multitasking to using your voice is just to much fun not to use. With Kinect you can get the whole family having fun in no time. | video-games_xbox |
DON'T Compare this game to Skyrim or any other RPG. Ok as the title says DON'T compare this to regular RPGs, Especially Skyrim, why? well 1st this game is ment to be HARd so don't listen to the people who only played it for a couple of hours & couldn't get very far & so they dissed this game & gave a bad review.
Let's start off with some of the great aspects of this game
The artwork is very beautiful, the designers & artist were defiantly NOT lazy at all. Every item has it's own skin every piece of armor does as well. (No remake models with a different name)
there are tons of weapons & armors, you can craft them up with shards to make them even stronger, different element types (Divine,Fire,Chaos,Lightning) you normally have to find armors on dead corpses so LOOK around every new area you go to.
the landscape is beautiful, very colorful in some places like The Crystal Cave
Enemies are very tough & strong you can't just go in & start slashing at them, You WILL die. work out a strategy if you can't kill a monster. they were designed to be strong & not weak (if you really want to learn to kill the right way, PARRY Attacks & BACK STAB the monsters
the bosses will defiantly will take you 3-5 trys no matter what, unless you're really lucky & have your moves & strategies down. (for bosses Attack tails, normally EVERY tail of a boss will drop a special weapon once it's broken off)
also when you're in Human form sometimes there are little activate signs to summon a Strong NPC to help you fight a boss (just look for them outside of the bosses chamber before you enter)
as someone mentioned there are NPCs that you will interact around with for a certain quest they give once you learn more about them. if you kill them They are dead until NG+ if you hit them of piss them off well.. they'll stay mad at you & try to kill you when they see you. So DON'T do it.
to me this game was just awesome my Favorite RPG & still is. they have released DLC for Pc. & also that DLC will come to consoles very soon around October-December. | video-games_xbox |
Well worth it. I did not get this from Amazon but through a competitors generous trade in offer for older 360's, because mine was a refurb unit from Microsoft just out of warranty after having 1 rrod and the disc drive go out in warranty.
The console is whisper quiet when you install games to the hard drive, but it is still really quiet even running from the disc. One pro that I do not see mentioned a lot is the fact that the Power Brick has been redesigned so it is no longer loud. One of my biggest gripes with the old 360 was even when games were installed to the hdd or you are watching netflix, the whine of the power brick was still really loud. It really annoyed me and it felt like it was bored into my skull. That is no longer the case with this new model. The wireless N is nice because I could never let myself be exploited by Microsoft for the $100 overpriced wireless adapter so I always had my console next to my computer using internet sharing. The new hard drive must be a little faster because the dashboard loads up a lot quicker. The transfer of my old hard drive data to my new hard drive also went smoothly with the hard drive transfer kit, only taking a half hour to do about 40 gb's. Still feel like M$ is price gouging with the $20 cost of the hard drive transfer cable that most people will only use once, when they should just include it for free with the new models.
One HUGE con that I have not seen others mention is the fact that the controller included with this 360 "slim" is SMALLER. Compare it side by side with an older elite controller or white controller and it is noticeably smaller. The thumb sticks are closer together and also made of a different material that slips a lot easier than the old ones. On the back where your pinky and ring finger sit is also a smooth plastic now instead of the grippy rubber of the old ones. This may not be a problem for most people and others new to the 360 probably will have no idea, but if you have been using the older elite or white controller for awhile it is immediately noticeable and threw off my aim in CoD and BFBC2. It was so bad that I have been using an extra white controller instead of the one included in the box and I just ordered the Black 360 Wireless Controller for Windows from Amazon because for $10 more it includes the dongle so you can use it on your PC also.
All in all even with the price drops on the old 360's if you are looking to buy one I would recommend this slim model instead just because of the noise factor, built in wireless n, and extra hard drive space which even if you think you might not need now, will hurt a lot more later when you have to shill out an extra $100-$200 for a new hard drive or wireless adapter.
If you already have a 360 I would wait until Kinect releases even if you are not interested in it because there is a good chance of a price drop for the holiday season not to mention game bundles. I was going to wait but then the trade in deal I got from a b&m store was too good to pass up because with my console, accessories, and old games I never played I got the console for about the same price I would have had to pay MS to fix my out of warranty refurb 360 they sent me. | video-games_xbox |
SC4 brings improvements, same downsides as before. At this point, people are fairly familiar with what you get when you pick up a Soul Calibur game. A gorgeous game with amazing (and sometimes questionable) character designs, a deep fighting system and horrible dialogue.
I'll tackle the negatives first:
The game could almost be considered too deep. This game is just ok if you rarely play fighting games. Compared to a fighter like Smash Brothers, this is more about actual focus and knowing button combos that will truly punish your opponents. But it seems that the fighting genre really caters to a hardcore demographic who is going to sit and play for hours, rather than the casual gamer.
The "plot" is incredibly cheesy and full of holes and nonsequiters. Of course, you'd have to forgive a game that shoehorns Vader and Yoda into a mystical realm where two super-weapons (Soul Edge and Soul Calibur) are being fought over.
And speaking of those extra characters: Vader has been made a "buyable" character in the Xbox marketplace, so technically this game now has both characters. In addition is the Dark Apprentice, who is probably the cheapest character in this game, and one of the cheapest I've ever played against. He blocks and dodges and then opens up ridiculous combos and is an incredibly frustrating opponent. Ironically, it seems like Vader and Yoda have the most trouble against the Apprentice.
Now for the good: While the Apprentice is a cheap mother, the variety of characters is an overall asset in the game. On top of that you have the character creation in which you can create a character from the ground up, choosing a fighting style, area of emphasis (defense, offense, etc). And you can build and develop your character as they improve by winning fights and completing objectives (like blocking or attacking in certain ways, or breaking an opponents soul gauge). There are many buyable (within the game, and also with MS points) items that can also adjust your character. The only complaint I have is, though you may have a custom character, you'll probably wind up having a hodgepodge of armor and clothing in order to get the best fighting configuration, so you'll wind up looking like a dork but winning lots of fights.
This game plays great! While the load times are a little annoying (especially in "tower mode" where you fight in a very long sequence of ever more challenging battles), the actual fighting is precise, fast and fun. The fighting animations are as great as they've ever been, the graphics quality is some of the highest on the system. Only games like Gears of War get better, but GOW is all greys and blacks, not the vibrant and diverse world of Soul Calibur.
Four stars for a great installment, I take away one star because they still haven't changed the annoying parts of the gaming franchise. As a game, this is a great one. | video-games_xbox |
A Complete Football Game. It's hard to believe football season is upon us and the new Madden game is out. I have bought every Madden game back to the Sega Genesis days. EA Sports has always done a good job of creating a cool, fun, and exciting football sim that seems to tackle the competition. However, this is not the case this year for Madden 06 (for PS2,Xbox, Game Cube)...
After EA bought the exclusive NFL rights, no other game developer could use the NFL license. I don't think this is good. Competition always makes a company better, and EA has nothing to fight against (except with NBA Live and NHL games). This all started after ESPN series NFL 2K created by Visual Concepts, lowered the price last year on all their games, hitting EA hard. What can suffer is the quality of a football game.
But Madden 06 does not suffer, to say the least. This is a good football game with a few glitches and fewer, expansive upgrades that would change the whole game.
Superstar Mode and the new passing icon functions are the newest features to the game. I found the passing icon cumbersome and really not the important. The old system worked fine. I was glad you can turn off the icon, because it reminded me of a flashlight on the field, and got very annoying. Some of the hard-core gamers out there might learn to like it, but when I play a football game it is more so to develop players and see how my teams can compete throughout the Franchise mode.
The Superstar mode lets you create a player from scratch--literally. You can choose your parents genes to foster your chances of becoming a football stud. This mode was fun and lets you imagine what an NFL player has to deal with: contracts, agents, movie deals...
As far as graphics go this game has not changed much sense Madden 2004, the year I think the series peaked. There is probably not much EA can do more graphically, with the limitations of the current generation consoles. They could have done a few more tweeks here and there, maybe with the presentation, but I think EA is saving some of their creative juices for the Next-Gen football games. And suprisingly, Madden 06 will be out sometime this fall, maybe November. We will have to see if the game took a different approach. I am sure the game did.
Overall, Madden 06 is fun, but it's not groundbreaking. And I think many people are just tired of the current game engine and want to see something different. Well, they are about to with the Next-gen Madden. I can't wait! | video-games_xbox |
A Final Fantasy for fans and newcomers alike. The character depth is bar none. While most games have characters aimlessly following characters, only adding input during cutscenes (I'm looking at you Bioware), the supporting cast of this game add depth in ways we had only previously hoped. Not only do they speak relevant, non-regurgitated quotes, they also interrupt you during exploration and battle to add their input; leading to a feeling of togetherness unsurpassed in single player games. The development of those characters is also fleshed out in such a way that I've grown quite fond of them in a short period of time (despite the casts appearance, which I had first written off as a reason to turn a blind eye to this game, which I am glad I didn't!) Watching the animated series Brotherhood as well as the full length CGI film Kingsglaive only adds to this feeling of complete immersion.
The combat is up to par in keeping with the theme; introducing new mechanics while including throwbacks to the days of old. It's clearly not turn based, more like borderline frantic. But it's not as calculated as FFXII or others like it, in that you still maintain control of your characters, not simply hand them over to your pre-battle algorithms.
Square Enix has done a great job in bringing the franchise forward while maintaining the marks of a great Final Fantasy. Music, sound, depth of RPG are all there, all the while adding new gameplay to the mix so that it feels like a fresh take on our beloved franchise. So long as the playerbase gets past the admittedly slow start, I feel these characters will go down in history with such characters as Tidus, Yuna and Auron, Cloud and crew, Squall, and Lightning (to name a few).
To reiterate, now that I've gotten past the first few obligatory slow chapters, I can honestly say that I will never regret the purchase, which is the highest recommendation I feel a review of this sort can offer. | video-games_xbox |
Well its official, Ed Boon and the game desigenrs suffer from down syndrome. Were these morons tripping on acid when they made this game?
This game is piss pore! And I'll give you a hole list of reasons not to buy this game. These are true FACTS!
First off.
Anyone with a brain stem knows that the game was rushed so Midway can plop out another game for Xbox before switching consoles, so that way they can screw you over just little bit further.
Second: the story itself didn't make any sense at all! It has nothing to do with its previous games, although you see "every character" in it.
And that brings me to my Third FACT. (Every character), well at least thats what they tell you. Not like KIA, JAKAATA, TREMMOR, TALSA, and all the Elemental Gods. For those of you who don't know, those were characters in other MK games that turned out to be another flop.
And you see fighters doing all these cool moves in the opening trailer, like Shang Tsung's morphing moves that we all loved, is not in it. So its save to say that this game was sold to you under FALSE ADVERTISEMENT! In other words you've been had.
Forth: Half of the arenas are strait from MK Deception. Which goes to show you, just how lazy these Bastards really are.
(And did you notice that half of MKD arenas was off of MKDA?)
Fifth: The krypt is a joke, 80% of it filled with those crappy sketches that looks like a forth grader drew and photos of the retards that made this idiotic game. Thats like showing you the leftover crap that they didn't put in your a hot dog, while your eating it.
And if thats not bad enough, in the krypt you get to unlock all the costumes that you've already seen before in their previous games! Well Whoopdeedo.
Sixth: Konquest is nothing like Deception, you can't freelance your way around a map like you used to or time meditate or anything cool like that. Instead they give you 4 lame powers and they are (time freeze) "That only last 3 sec." (fire ball) "Yeah real original." (telaport) and (earth quake punch) thats it. You can finish this side game in about 3 hours, maybe less.
Not only that but you'd think that Konquest will explain it all on how everyone survived in the previous games but it doesn't.
Seven: Oh and you can forget about those BIOS too, they're not in in the game anymore. No if you want those you have to go online and download it. WTF!? And when you do, they still don't make any sense.
You can easily tell that the writers were making this s*** up as they go.
Eight: Kreate a Fatality was a good idea, but they should have given you the option to choose between that or new signature fatalities.
Nine: If there going to have weapons in the arenas, they should do away with character weapons. What good would it do if Shao Khan has a war hammer and then theres another one in the same arena?
And last is that ripoff Mario cart called Moron Kombat, I mean Motor Kombat.
Who drunk the bong water when they came up with this?
I can't think of anything more dumber then to merge one of the most greatest, goriest games of all time to a preschool game thats just as entertaining as watching the attention spanned of George Bush. You know that little thing on the conner of the game cartridge? It says rated M for mature.
Thats like merging MTV to Sesame Street, hey lets watch Snoop Dog teach Big Bird on how to do crack. It just doesn't work.
The only thing I liked about the game was, (And this was the ONLY thing.) the idea of Kreate a Karacter, they should hold on to that one and improve it like making all kinds of players and have them installed into the profile memory and get to fight your own creations up the latter. But no, they managed to screw that up too. Like only giving you swords or axes. "Wow a lot to choose from there".
And MK is just not the same without "test your might/sight".
Bottom line, at least rent the game before you do something that your going to regret. | video-games_xbox |
Crazy/Beautiful. As the highest profile launch game for Xbox, DOA3 has a lot riding on it's shoulders,and it doesn't disappoint. This amazing fighting game is a stunner in more ways than one. The dramatic victory of Ryu (not to be confused with the one from SF,though there have been a lot of crossover titles these days so I don't know...)in the last DOA tourney was not enough to avoid the end of the century Tengo disaster, causing mass destruction and global dispair. The story that unfolds in DOA3 doesn't make the convouled plot any clearer(but then again fighting game aren't known for engaing weaving tales are they? Fortunatly, DOA3 delivers everything else you could have hoped for in a next-gen brawler. Anyone who plays this knows that graphics are where DOA3 shines, but I've seen seen screen shots and they can't convey the feeling of all the extra detail and amazing animation of the flowing clothes on the characters. The environments are also a stunning exercise in visual excess, with every object intricately drawn, not to mention the sheer size of some areas. The DOA3 fighting engine has finally found a distinct set of rules to round out previous game balance issues. Common counters are skightly hareder to time and do less damage while the brand-new advanced reversals not only separate the skilled from the button mashers, but also inflict extra damage. The numerous refinements manage to remain accessible to beginners, give experts the depth they crave, and achieve good overall gameplay balance. The games audio is the only thing that fails to hold its own. Having Aerosmith provide some tracks is cool, but it gets a little annoying after a while (and I'm a diehard fan)! The rest of the background music is well done, but it won't strike demand for a soundtrack. The sound effects are good, but they're not as good as one would expect from a sound workhorse like the Xbox. Audio issues aside, DOA3 nails its Xbox debut and firmly establishes itself as the best home console fighting game around. | video-games_xbox |
MW2 with terrible multiplayer maps. Most people can tell from other reviews that MW3 is a LOT like MW2. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I loved MW2. I love the new spec ops missions and survival mode. I don't have any problems with the new ranking systems and the weapons. I'm a big fan of a lot of the new additions to the game.
The biggest problem with this game is the one thing I feel like Activision spent the MOST time on: The multiplayer maps. Their new "Maps 2.0" idea is absolutely horrendous. Basically their idea was to get rid of campers, which doesn't sound like a bad idea at all! I mean, who doesn't hate campers, right? The problem is the way they went about it. Every single map is pretty much just a giant circle with countless flanking routes and absolutely NO safe spots. Doesn't sound so bad yet, huh? Try playing in them. 90% of the care packages you call in will end up stolen since there's no safe place to call them in. I think they spent a LOT of time testing these maps, playing them through, and sticking anything in the way of ANY kind of long sight line. I'm stunned they even bothered to leave sniper classes in this game since you cannot find a single sight line longer than 40 meters in 90% of the maps (If you don't believe how ridiculous this is, they made the sniper scopes have about the same zoom as the Acog scopes since anything more would just be impossible to use). There's countless burned down trucks, boxes, crates, etc. blocking EVERYTHING in the maps. It's just useless clutter. The average engagement is just a hectic spray face to face with someone after rounding a corner. Almost every time you meet someone from the other team it's no further than 15 feet away. More often than not, you never saw the person who just killed you because of the countless ways for them to get behind or beside you. There's no skill involved and it's impossible to use any kind of tactics with your team. I've played a lot of multiplayer games and this is absolutely appalling.
On a different note, although Activision promised there would be no nuke in MW3, it's pretty much still there with a different name. The MOAB is a "secret" 25 kill streak that nobody knew about until they accidentally got 25 kills in a row. It does the exact same thing as a nuke except it doesn't end the game and instead just acts as an EMP after wiping out the enemy team. I couldn't care less if it's in there or not, but it's pretty disappointing for Activision to promise one thing and then slip this into the game without anyone knowing.
To be honest I was actually pretty excited when I heard this game was going to be a lot like MW2. I wasn't a big fan of Black Ops and just kept playing MW2 until this one came out. I'm just upset that this game with so much potential to be just as great as it's precursors was brought down to it's knees by the developers trying to "fix" a problem that didn't exist. I would sell this game and pay good money to play the exact same thing on just the old COD4 and MW2 maps. This is ridiculous. | video-games_xbox |
This Is Indeed War. When I first bought my PS2 used a few months ago, I have to admit I had no idea what I was in store for. Yet, to my surprise and wonder, the history of World War II was available to me and I would become an active participant in that bloody conflict. It was as if the door of a time machine had been opened to me and I would suddenly travel to the North African desert to join the British in their struggle with the Africa Corps, land on the beach at Normandy with the Big Red One, and join OSS comrades on incredible missions throughout France to undermine secret SS super weapons programs. Before me on my big screen television lay the ruins of Stalingrad, the U-Boat pens on windswept coasts, and fleets of droning bombers on their way to Berlin. This is war. The intensity, realism, and violence of those days of glory live again and the outcome of history is in my hands! This is much more than a video game that is new to me and a tremendous curiosity. This also serves as a history lesson, a way of experiencing WWII combat first hand, and also a distinguished memorial to those who sacrificed so much in order to preserve freedom and civilization. There are no words to describe the drama, suspense, and even heart-pounding fear one feels as the individual progresses through these missions. For some, it may simply be too much. For others, it may bring out the best in them. In this way, the game serves to mirror the individual experience of those who served. Yes, this is indeed war and no one who purchases this "game" will regret what they will learn and experience. The range from triumph and victory to numbing terror and defeat is all too real and the personal struggle of each participant will teach them much about their inner selves. The only question is whether one wishes to put themselves to a test of this kind, a test of the fabric of each person's being, and if the answer is something we are prepared to accept. One generation, "the Greatest Generation", were faced with these questions and answered the call as true patriots. As you place this in your video device, look deeply into your own heart and prepare to find out what you are made of, whether you have the courage needed, and whether you could have answered the call as that generation did when their country was threatened by evil incarnate. And as the missions progress, as the gunfire, blood, and terror intensifies, tell yourself this is only a game and a distant shadow of what the truly brave endured. Still, you may well smell the acid odor of cordite and flinch before the flash of cannon fire, and even hear the sound of a distant trumpet on the wind. It is the Call of Duty in a World at War. | video-games_xbox |
Amazing arcade action game. This game for some reason got a bad rap when it was first released which is a shame because it really is a 5 Star Title.
First, it's definitely an arcade button masher style game. What I mean is it would be a great game for an arcade cabinet since there is a lot of button mashing and quick reflexes. There is great character development and the story is so over the top it's just perfect. Juliet, the main character, instantly became an iconic video game character. The boss battles are sick and long. If you are not a fan of bosses dying then coming back to attack in different forms this game isn't for you. It's done very well, and I didn't feel it to be tedious on the normal setting as long as you know their weaknesses.
The music is great ranging from punk, rockabilly, metal, dub step, even classic songs from the 60's-80's. James Gunn worked on this, so if you are familiar with his prior work especially at Troma Entertainment, you know his style. Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence also contributed to the game. It's from Suda41 who has a history of excellent games. There is a ton of replay to try the harder difficulties or just replay score attacks or find the lollipops and unlock all of Juliet's overly cute outfits and special attacks.
As nice and stylized the graphics are, they aren't the best I've seen on the 360. Also sometimes a texture can glitch or the camera can get wacky. Never felt it to be a big problem, but maybe it was rushed out a little to make holiday release deadlines.
The only thing I would have suggested is to release a PG version of the game because the language is very vulgar and often very demeaning to women (as if a sexy cheerleader character wasn't enough?). I don't have a problem with it, but I think it would have appealed more to younger kids because of Juliet's cutesy nature and really the chainsaw fights aren't anything worse than you see on TV. This is cartoon violence at worst. | video-games_xbox |
Xbox 360 is a must have for all hardcore gamers for the next generation. If you consider yourself a hardcore gamer, then the xbox 360 is probably the best console for you. I'm not a xbox "fanboy" or anything (infact im kind of a Nintendo fanboy) so im not going to bias anyones opinion. The xbox 360 isn't perfect, so ill start with the pros, and then the cons.
Pros:
Game library. xbox 360 has the biggest game library of the 3 next gen consoles. Most of the games are First Person Shooters, Racing/driving, and some sports games, so if your not particularly into FPS and racing games, the xbox 360 may not be for you. aside from the xbox 360 games, you can also play all of your original xbox games as long as you have the HDD and an internet connection better than dial-up. Also, if you get Xbox Live Gold you can download Xbox Live Arcade games, which are a variety of simple pick up and play games that can be downloaded for microsoft points and played online.
Xbox Live:
Xbox live is what makes the Xbox Brand stand out. Xbox Live is a massive online community that allows you to communicate with your online friends, play online, download content for your games, and (my personal favorite feature) Download demos of xbox 360 games and trial versions of xbox live arcade games for FREE. In order to do most of the cool features, you need to but a subscription to xbox live gold, but the xbox live account that I made came with a 1 month free trial for xbox live gold.
Multimedia:
As well as games, the xbox 360 can also do a bunch of multimedia stuff. You can watch dvds, download movie clips and tv shows off of xbox live, rip music onto the Hard drive from an audio CD, and connect to your own PC and share media throug your computer.
Controller:
The controller is your typical dual analog, rumble enabled controller that has been the standard since the previous generation. The 360 controller is wireless, and runs on AA batteries. it feels good in your palms and has plenty of functionality. My only complaints is that the analog sticks are a little bit stiff and could be a little more smoothe. also, the D pad isn't the best.
Cons:
Power brick:
The 360 is a nice sleek piece of hardwar that fits into most entertainment centers nicely. But it has this big power supply that may get in the way. not a big deal really.
Graphics:
The xbox 360 has some of the best looking games on the market, no doubt. But I have noticed some issues with rendering in some games. Objects will be without all of the textures and will slowly become detailed in frot of you. Not a big deal and happense differently depending on the game. but some graphics critics my be dissapointed by this.
No Mono sound:
The one thing that bothers me the most about the xbox 360 is the fact that it does not have the option to set the audio output to MONO sound. I have a mono only TV and I have to use a set of wireless headphones to hear both left and right outputs. this makes it difficult to play games online with the headset. Ive noticed this problem in alot of game consoles before the 360.
That just about raps it up. Bottom line, the xbox 360 is probably the best gaming console of the current generation and will probably take first place out of the 3. | video-games_xbox |
Beware of overuse but loved it while it lasted. Ok, so I bought this controller at my local GameStop. Didn't really care for it at first...mainly used my Halo Reach Controller...I am not fond of 3rd party stuff...but My batteries died one day and i had to use it...LOVED IT. Didnt even use the remapping feature that is the whole point of the controller...i just loved the feel and how smooth the buttons worked. The triggers were definitely my favorite part. The more I used it the more I loved using it. I seemed to play so much better with this controller. I have now owned it for about a year and it stopped working. Alot of time having to take it back and forth to places and having to roll up the cord and lots of wear and tear on the bumpers has now rendered this controller useless for games in which the bumpers are used for melee or grenades...and i tried to use the remapping as a last resort and lo and behold it won't work for the bumpers probably cause I had to wind up the cord so much...so...I can no longer use this controller and it sits around my house more useless than playing Marco Polo with Hellen Keller...pardon the Family Guy reference...so I do recommend it yet I don't. If your XBOX sits in one place and really doesnt go anywhere and you never really need to pack up your controllers and go anywhere then you're looking at around 2 or so years of this sweet controller...if you don't play for 8 hours a day like I did when I was bored at college and got all my assignments done early. Other than my overuse and having to bend the cord...its a great buy...but Id go to a local gamestore and see if you can get it cheaper. Mine was mislabeled at GameStop for 39.99...and the other ones like it were all 49.99...and they accidentally put the wrong price on so i got them to give it to me for 39.99. cause if im paying $50 for a contoller ill just pay 60 and get a Microsoft Licensed one. | video-games_xbox |
Moving up from the Wii. Our 5 year old enjoys playing video games on our Wii, but because of the complicated remote control a five year old playing the Wii means an adult playing the Wii and the five year old pretending to play along.
Enter the Xbox with Kinect. He still needs help getting the games set up. And his poor little hand won't hold still long enough to trigger the buttons most of the time (although he is working on it). But once he is in the games he can do that on his own without parental participation.
The adventure game with this set is fun and entertaining, We have not figured out the Disney game yet. There is a problem with getting him identified and it keeps reverting him to a guest avatar. Probably something to do with that five year old inability to stand still issue.
The games are a lot of fun for him and the whole family. We bought Kinect Sports seasons 1 & 2 and also downloaded Kinect Party. The former is a lot of fun with plenty of variety, the latter is silly fun for a 5 year old and entertaining for everyone to watch. Especially when our dog wanders through the middle of a scene.
The only drawback so far is the 4GB of internal memory. You will have to expand this if you plan on downloading anything at all. We downloaded a few free games and the updates to the games we had purchased and the 4gb was gone. The official add on Hard Drive can slide right in to this unit, but it costs more to buy from Microsoft than just going up to the 250gb bundle in the first place. There are ways around buying an official Microsoft Hard drive if you have an old laptop hard drive laying around but theoretically use of those drives can get you removed from Xbox Live, so buyer beware if you go that route.
I know they are talking about the 720 coming out next year, but for our purposed this does the trick. It is a system the whole family can enjoy. We will be trying different games with this both using the Kinect (your Shape, Zumba Rush) and classic arcade style games (The Lego movie games are a big draw for the 5 year old). So far so good and a worthy step up from the old Wii. | video-games_xbox |
Decent game, but flawed! SPOILER FREE. Contrary to popular belief, WB Games has NOT taken over the franchise from Rocksteady. This is a separate franchise that is being started, and Rocksteady is STILL WORKING on a continuation from Arkham City. With that, let's get started...
First off, WB Games did NOT mess with the beautiful fighting mechanics that made this franchise so fantastic. Freeflow combat is alive and well, and indeed it has been polished a bit here and there for some added excitement. New moves, new animations and new uses of gadgetry. The WONDERFUL challenge maps have returned, which I played like crazy in the first two games. The one thing that is missing from the "custom" challenges, at least from what I've seen so far, is the ability to really customize who is coming at you. Sometimes it would be fun to line up endless low-end goons just so you can practice the freeflow combat without having some guy with a shield bash your skull right in the middle of a combo. This is a minor complain, but it is an added refinement that would be effortless for the developers to add and create a great time for players. The challenge maps can be very--ahem--challenging early on, so you can expect to get your teeth kicked in until you've leveled your hero enough to get some of the upgrades, but that is to be expected from the first two games.
Bats can now fast travel using his plane, and the gameworld is almost twice the size of Arkham City, and that is saying a lot. Once you get into New Gotham, you are going to see a GREATLY expanded gameplay element in the vertical arena. There are some REALLY tall buildings here, and it is a blast to navigate from high up in the shadows. So if you loved the first two games as much as I did, you're going to be thrilled with this installment, plain and simple. Another cool addition is the ability to access the challenge maps from the main menu or from inside the single player campaign within the Bat Cave. A nice touch.
MULTIPLAYER! I actually hadn't heard there was going to be any multiplayer in this game, so that was a nice surprise when I put the disk in. However, it wasn't quite what I was hoping for. I realize that having a multiplayer on the challenge maps would be quite difficult to implement because of the freeflow combat, but I would really like to see them try to get that off the ground at some point. This is a game that would be a blast to play with a friend, even in the campaign.
Another thing that was missing from multiplayer is the implementation of bots. Some of us don't like playing with bratty little thirteen year olds online, and having some bots available would eliminate that. Because of the complexity of the multiplayer, I realize the inclusion of bots would not be easy, but I think it could be done, and done well.
Having said that, the multiplayer was actually cooler than I was expecting, and I'll be playing it much more. It's actually three different teams squaring off against each other. You have Batman and Robin on one team, Bane and his crew on another, and the Joker's clan on the third. Midway through the match, Bane and Joker come available, and have to be "freed" by their teammates. They each come with their own special abilities which are pretty cool. Even the thugs have some great attacks, gadgets, and the ability to counter some of the heroes most potent attacks.
Bats and Robin, meanwhile, lurk in the shadows, pounce from above (or below) to take down their enemies. Other players can take cover, throw grenades etc, and it is all pretty well developed, and it's a surprising addition to a fantastic franchise. If they'd implemented bots or allowed multiplayer in challenge mode, I'd have given this five stars with ease. You will not regret picking up this title.
****UPDATE****
I had originally given this game four stars, but after playing it all the way through, I had to knock of a star. There were some problems with the game that became more apparent as I played it.
First of all, the branching upgrade system is completely lame. They force you to purchase upgrades to your armor, for example, before you can unlock the ability to reduce your hit counter from 8 hits to 5 hits for special moves. That is a terrible idea. So by the time you get to it, you have like four upgrades to your armor. I'd like to be able to chose which upgrades I get--and when. What is the most insulting is that in the past games we WERE able to do this, but they have taken it away. Not okay.
The most disappointing part was the fighting. All to often, I would push my attack button and Bats would jump over to the next guy, swing--and miss. Yes, he would just miss. Other times I would push toward an opponent in the midst of a huge combo, and he would just stand there, ruining my combo. I also had a number of failures while doing reversals, which is beyond frustrating.
The last thing that I noticed, which was a problem, was the special attacks when you get your 8 (or 5) hits. In the past two games, when you pushed toward a group of enemies and went for the special attack, Batman would flawlessly target the most dangerous enemy, taking down the guy with the knife or some other weapon. I liked that. It attacked who I would have attacked if I'd had the time to make the choice. Granted, when you are moving that fast you don't always have the ability to pick out a single enemy, especially when they are grouped together and halfway across the screen. That feature was a very nice thing. In this game--gone. Batman will routinely pass up what I would consider a far more dangerous opponent and tackle the punk just using his fists.
I think the game had the potential to surpass either of the first two games if they had only kept what worked and made the wonderful additions that they have. But they tried to change things that didn't need changing, like the branching upgrade system. Add to that the less than impressive hit detection, reversal problems etc, and you have a game that fell short of where it should have. Hopefully Rocksteady will not make the same mistakes these guys did when they release the next game in the franchise--and hopefully soon. | video-games_xbox |
Long-time fans will love this game. Let me preface my review by saying that I don't really play RPG games and that I've only played one other South Park game. The Stick of Truth has references to many previous episodes and more obscure characters, and the visual style is exactly like the show.
The game is a turn-based RPG, and it took me about fifteen hours to beat all the quests on normal difficulty. There are four classes you can play as: Warrior, Mage, Thief, and Jew. I beat the game as a Jew and a thief, and I didn't really detect any differences between the classes except for special attacks. There are three main attacks, ranged weapons (include - but not limited to - a bow with suction arrows, lawn darts, a basketball, a bouncy ball), melee weapons (include a dildo, a katana, a stick, etc.), and mana attacks (farts), which can be paired with melee or ranged weapons. Characters gain mana by eating burritos, City Wok, and so on. There are four different farts that your character will learn throughout the game, and they're often used to help progress through levels.
The combat is surprisingly deep. Not as much as a more serious RPG (I'm guessing here; the only other games with RPG elements I've played are Mass Effect and Borderlands), but more than I was expecting. Weapons have strap ons that can be used to inflict fire damage, bleeding damage, etc., and some strap ons are less effective on certain enemies than others. It's simple enough, but it adds a decent amount of depth to the combat.
The storyline is fun and could be pulled directly from an episode. The game includes the usual characters as well as a few who haven't been seen in a while. Many characters have side quests, and will send you a friend request on a social media site upon completion. There are a total of 121 friends, though you can only get 120 because one of them unfriends you.
You also have a partner for most of the game who you control during battles. Different characters have different special moves, and I thought that they tied in very well with the characters' personas.
This game was made for long-time fans of the series, as many of the references will only make sense if you've watch a lot of the show. I found the combat entertaining, the voice acting incredible, and the humor disgusting and juvenile (as I like it). If you've watched more than a few episodes of South Park, I can't recommend this game highly enough. | video-games_xbox |
Definitely worth owning for CRPG fans. It isn't perfect, but if you're a dyed-in-the-wool CRPG'er who owns an Xbox, you owe it to yourself to buy this game. Heck, I bought an Xbox just to play it. (Somewhere, a Microsoft executive is laughing maniacally...)
The beginning is rather clichd: You are a prisoner released into a remote locale. Through the introduction you can set up your race, class, and characteristics. Then follows the standard RPG fare, building up character abilities and levels while completing quests and fighting monsters.
No surprises, but the elements of the game are very well done. The development system allows you to become better at specific abilities, not by adding points at will but by using them in play. (I've always wondered how swinging an axe for three days made you a better tailor.) Increase your class' major skills enough and you level up. I would therefore classify this as a third generation RPG.
Inventory is weight-based, a step up from the usual ("The weakest among us can carry 40 anvils, the strongest among us cannot carry 41 feathers"). And true to the promise of computers in RPGs, this calculates your carrying load and factors it into fatigue-- while giving you several ways to reduce fatigue when you have to (rest, drink a potion, use a spell). Damage can be cured by sleeping for eight hours, which is (for better or worse) expected in computer fantasy games.
Graphics are a step up from most third-person CRPG fare. Monsters aren't so blocky as to appear like early FPS games, and the terrain looks better than in any similar game I've played. Weapon and armor choices are reflected in the player's toon.
Talking to people, especially about topics they know about (or the ever popular rumors and tips), will reveal highlighted words. These words now become topics for future conversations, and may allow you to ask other NPCs about things that can reveal new tasks or secret info. I first saw this on an Apple // game in 1983 or thereabouts, and I wish other games would employ it-- the method works. However, reading texts is not linked into the "topic" system for conversations-- I would think that reading about an area would allow you to quiz people on it.
Sound-- also well done. The voice actors perform admirably, and don't get on your nerves too much (unlike in the PC game Neverwinter Nights, an otherwise extraordinary game). Incidental counds are well chosen. You won't be turning off your speakers for this one.
Complaints? Sure. The text in books is clearly the developers' fanfic, and like amateur fiction it varies widely in quality and is not always to the point. (Tip: Open the books anyway. Some increase your abilities. You can even open a book in a shop where it's on a shelf waiting to be sold.) However, the real game-related books, like the histories and the descriptions of the world's religions, are worth reading to pick up background information.
As another reviewer noted, interaction text is not always fitting. Even with a highly favorable reaction, someone might say "We don't trust outlanders like you."
Quests are not always easy to manage. You get minimal information about them in your journal. As an example (and I apologize for the indefinite references; it's been a while since I've played) there are two quests outside of a town, one involving a naked guy whose armor and weapons were stolen by a witch; the other, a dealer in sham and tainted goods who wants an escort to a nearby town. But unless you carefuly record the place you met the naked guy while escorting the merchant, the direction "northeast of here" will make no sense. And you will have a loincloth-clad friend trailing you for weeks.
Another quibble is targeting. While slaying some slavers, I inadvertently killed the slaves. Sorry, guys. An option not to target (or perhaps not to attack) friendly units would have come in handy. It's also not the easiest thing in the world to notice or pick up small items-- you really have to swing yourself in precisely the right direction. A screen that lists nearby items that are available to you would have been a big help.
But all in all, well done and a worthy game on which to waste a sizable chunk of your life. Buy the "Game Of The Year" edition if you're going to buy it at all, as that has two add-ons that I don't think are otherwise available. Man, this would make a great framework for a MMORPG... | video-games_xbox |
Don't Hesitate To Buy. I bought this game the day it was released, and had high expectations that it lived up to. The premise of the game is your a driver on a TV reality show. Instead of focusing on making yet another driving sim this game focuses on making it fun. If you would enjoy having to dodge dumptrucks and missles falling from the sky this game is for you. If you are stuck-up and need brand-name cars, ultra-realistic graphics, and driving around in a circle for hours - then you should buy one of the other driving games.
With a game like Forza you get an insane amount of cars, tracks, and customiztions. This game on the other hand has a limited number of cars, in limited colors, and you will not be selecting custom wheels, graphics, tires, engines, etc. However this does not take anything away from the game. The cars use generic names but they look really cool. The graphics on the game are very good but not highly realistic. Of course instead of simple trees for scenery you get ample explosions, planes, ships, bridges, buildings, and other props giving you plenty of eye-candy.
This is one of the best games I have ever played. Not only do you get racing missions, you also have missions where you need to avoid getting blown-up by missles shot from a helicopter, or an elimination round where ever 20 seconds the person in last place gets cut until there is one winner. It adds some variety to the game. In one mission you can even fight back against the helicopters.
The key to the game is power-ups. You earn these by drifting, drafting, jumping, avoiding your competitions attempts at cream you, and by drifting or drafting while passing. You use the power-up to perform a power play. A power play may collapse a building, set off an explosion, drop a semi from a crane or some other insane way to demolish other players cars. You can also use them to create shortcuts. On one shortcut I drove across the tarmac at an airport, and on another I was driving across the top of an aircraft carrier. I lost how many times I said "wow" while playing this game.
True the game doesn't have much in the way of a soundtrack, and if that bothers you just play some music from your stereo. Problem solved. Howerever I think they did an excellent job with the sound. You can listen to the cars for hours without getting a headache like in a lot of the other games. When you drive by a pole, through a tunnel, or scrape a guard-rail the sounds are very realistic. I am glad there is no soundtrack to mask the sound effects.
Many more pros: You can play splitscreen two-player. I am so tired of not being able to play with a friend in my house without needing to use the x-box link (needing two x-boxs and two tv's). I wish the other developers would follow their lead on that. You can also play 8-person multiplayer with x-box live. This is also very well done. The difficulty is perfect. Not too easy, not too hard. They stuck an ideal balance. Unlike some of the driving sims where it feels like you are driving on ice, and your brakes barely work, these cars are a dream to drive. The cars stick to the road, but you can do a controlled drift that is a thing of beauty. Go hard into a corner, tap the brakes, and gun the gas and once you get her sideways you can counter-steer just like when you do in a real sports car. It's a blast.
I really liked Modern Warfare, DJ Hero, Rock Band, etc. but I do get tired of them. There is very few games I can play for months without getting bored with them. I feel this is one of those games that I will still be playing 2 years from now. That and Advance Wars for the DS, lol.
The only con: On split screen 2-player mode sometimes it gets buggy when player 2 is trying to select their car. The game gets totally unresponsive to both controllers. Yes, that kinda sucks, and deserves 1/2 star off for it. So with a 4.5 rating should I go with a 4 or 5? The game is really awesome, and I do not think one bug overshadows a 5-star rating, so that is what I went with. | video-games_xbox |
Still give it a 5 star, It IS a good RE game. I'm a video gamer from China, earlier I wrote a review for RE revelation on 3DS. And now I wanna write a review for RE6 just after I beat the entire game 30 mins ago.
I am surprise about some low score gaven by some game media like GS. Personally I have a feeling that the GT review is the close to my feeling of the game.
So. The RE6 have a very long story line, including 4 lines and about 20 chapters, you need at least 20 hours to beat the game even you are familier with the series. By the way, all characters you can use have huge different skill wise and gameplay wise. Lion has his akimbo hand gun, Pieer(?) has his thermal sniper and jack has strong fighting skills. You will feel fun even you fighting the same BOW by using different character.
The action system have also been improve, now there is direct attack and IT IS FUN, I know there are always people saying "oh this is now like the RE series", but How can RE4 be one of the best RE so far? by the way, that doesn't take guns out of course. you still need to count ammo's number and use guns carefully.
Story wise. Sadly copcom killed our favorite, Wesker, in to death in RE5. But RE6, in my point of view, has the best story amount all REs after RE3. For the reason of not blow this fun, I won't talk about the story here. Buy I will tell you, that Sherry is cute and I love her :)
some weakness about RE6
1: the camera will bother you at first, but I enjoy it more that RE5 after I get use to it
2: TOO MANY enemies that carry guns, if you ask me what part you will give a -1 for RE6, I will say this. You are fighting BOWs and they should not use guns!! they should be either fast or strong but not using guns! at least, using bows...
3: the background of C virus is not good enough. If you can use C virus and became a xxxx in few second, wtf do umbrella need to make G virus or T virus.
again, RE6 is not perfect, But I think it still worth a 5 | video-games_xbox |
Not to Shabby. First off let me say, I've been reading the reviews for the past two days. Bad and good. I did tons of research for a few days, online reviews to written reviews.
Yesterday, I set off to buy this controller from Gamestop and not Amazon "Because I feel the chance of getting it straight from the seller i.e. Gamestop/Walmart/Best Buy without it shipping and possibly getting a damaged or a broken controller is very low".
So I asked the guy about returns blah blah blah, I get a 30 day return policy via new accessories so just in case. I came home and took it out of the tough packaging "Yes it's tough, It's unstealable" and then plugged it in.
Let me say first that I'm no stranger to the Xbox controller, I've used the Xbox controller a good portion of the 7 years as well as the PlayStation controller. This Afterglow controller is roughly 10-15% smaller than the Original 360 controller. The "Select & Start" buttons are diagonal at the top of the controller above the big X. Second, I wasn't expecting it to be this bright, wow this sucker is bright.
* The Controller
The Controller.. Feels great, awesome resistance from the analogs and the buttons work fine as well as the D-Pad.
I first tried this off in a Emulator, worked fine with 0% issues. All buttons are hard and work excellent. However.. I put on Left 4 Dead 2 for the "Test" everyone has dreaded before they bought this, is the right analog really that horrible?!
To put it right, No. Honestly, it's completely fine. At first I had some trouble with it, it kinda feels like I'm using a One-Dimensional cross-hair, you go up, down, left, right. Feels as though you miss the entire 360 fully rotational analog we usually are use to. However, it seems after some test runs and re-calibrating the controller AND breaking it in, it seems to work alot better than out of the box. Is it great? No not at all, is it something you can use for FPS games? That's hard to answer, after using it for quite awhile the rotation got alot better. It could be fact you need to break in the rotation.
I bought this as a Pc Joystick replacement as my previous Joystick is about to bite the dust. I wanted something sleek, like a game console Joystick and in-expensive. This was my offer.
* The Good
- LED Lights, perfect for night gaming. "Can easily turn them off too"
- Small, lightweight and a decent cord length.
- Clear coating, easy to detect malfunctions etc.
- Buttons work fantastic.
- Plugs right in and you're ready to play, no software.
* The Ugly
- Right Analog stick could be better out of the box. "100% still playable though"
- LED's are too bright sometimes.
- Little too small for taste.
- X "Guide" button is a knockoff. Maybe for legal reasons (Shrugs)?
* Verdict?..
Well, if you want a Pc Joystick and aren't strapped to the balls with Cash then this might work for you.
7.5/10, the right analogs knocks it off 2 points while being slightly over-small "For me" takes the 0.5. Maybe the analog will get better after some wear & tear. I didn't really buy it for New Generation games anyway. This was really a strictly bought Joystick for Emulators as the New Generation games are a bonus.
* Should YOU get it?
Depends on the person honestly, if you're a core gamer and you just enjoy playing game then this controller is most likely for you. I considered myself a relaxed gamer. If you're a hardcore "Underground" player (FPS) Mainly, then I'd probably skip this one unless the analog wouldn't bother you. For 32.47$ at Gamestop it's better than paying 59.99$ for an official controller. The LED's "Various Colors" to choose from, are really nice for nighttime gaming and the Small architecture "even though complained about" can fit in more places for cover.
It's up to you, a real review from a real gamer who wants to help other people out.
P.s. If you can buy this from a Local Best Buy or Gamestop, buy it from there. Just take assurance out that it should be working and didn't get banged around or mistreated where you bought it online.
******UPDATE******
I still have the controller and it IS still working just fine. However the Directional Pad seems to have messed up or become damaged in some what. Buttons are really loose now or at least 'A and B' are anyway. Both analogs are broken in and still work fine. Both have the Dead Stick thing going on. The right analog is still the same, kinda hard in FPS games but nonetheless still works. It has fallen off high things and has been crushed lightly while slightly being mistreated. Overall this is worth the bucks if you want it. | video-games_xbox |
Time Well Spent with a few Let Downs. Let me start by saying I am a huge fan of the Front Mission series. That being said, I was disappointed in the style of gameplay in this release. I was looking forward to the turn based unit strategy but even though I knew this game had changed styles, I had to get it out of love for the franchise (And I don't regret it).
On that note,
-Graphics were very well done and believable, lots of facial expression, bullet damage, impact, etc. were displayed, although some more detailed than others.
-Sound was to par, the soundtrack went with the game very well and helped with immersion at some moments. I never found myself annoyed with the music or sound effects.
-The gameplay was fast paced, responsive, and challenging (on the hardest difficulty) which required some tactical planning before heading in guns blazing. You really need to pay attention to your armor when in combat, enemies will tear through your limbs but luckily the core regenerates, so keep cover close. However, on foot (yes there are foot-soldier missions) it is practically impossible to die, just try not to run out of ammo.
-Probably one of the best things of FM, in my opinion, are customization. Much like Armored Core, you get to build and customize your own Wanzer (Huge Combat Robot, everyone loves giant robots). Though the campaign puts some limitations on your choice of weapon and mobility for some missions to mainly prepare for what's going to happen in the next mission.
-Story and characters were believable, except the protagonist, ANNOYING beyond belief...and slightly comical. The story is relatively short and not too many plot twist or points of extreme interest but the development of the main character is short and sweet, and the rest of the main cast are attractive and likable.
Now the downside; as stated before the gameplay can be challenging on the hardest difficulty but the most annoying thing is getting your legs destroyed to their frames and you can hardly move. After the climax of the story, this will happen constantly! Repair kits become rare/hidden so tactics become more prominent. The story was short and linear, not too much excitement. Don't even think about multiplayer, there likely will never be anyone online and if they are, they are well ahead of you so move on to armored core for multiplayer. Frankly I'm surprised the server is still up. The hidden unlockables (which give you extra credits and the occasional part/skill) were an absolute nightmare to collect and not really worth it, so unless you want every part in the game and a serious access of credits, forget them.
So, my final points:
-If your a fan of Front Mission, give this one a shot, it sticks to lore and is another prospective on an otherwise fantastic series.
-If you just wanna fight with robots, move on to another robot-smashing-game.
-If you're interested in just the story, move on, not much of that here. | video-games_xbox |
Why all the raves. I partially owe my love of hockey to NHL '93 on Sega Genesis, and I have played most hockey games since then. I find this one to deliver the least amount of fun and highest amount of frustration of any that I have played.
Here is my laundry list of problems with this game, some that I would consider major and some that I would consider peeves:
1. Graphics
This game looks like N64/PS1 graphics. Games wind up being the dark blobs vs. the light blobs, as far as I can tell.
2. AI
Players skate right past the puck when they're under computer control. The only thing the AI does on defense is collapse everyone in front of the net.
3. Player Differentiation
Every player plays just like every other player. Paul Kariya can hit as hard as Chris Chelios. Adam Foote is as fast as Mike Modano, with turbo, on the breakaway. They all look the same. They all play the same. EA Sports' system of Heroes and Big Hitters sure looks brilliant in comparison.
4. Commentators
This game licenses elements from ESPN--why do we get Mono and Tone for commentators? They're boring and repetitive. How about Gary Thorne and Clement, Clement, hands of cement? Or Dave Strader and Darren Pang? Barry Melrose's machine-gun laugh before a game? John Buccigross saying "He is clutch, and clutch is everything in life?"
Commentary typically sounds like this: "He's going to have to continue to make saves like that if the" (pause) (insert team name here) (pause) "are going to have any chance!"
(The worst error: when I won the Stanley Cup, the commentators said, and I quote, "The Stars are one step closer to the Stanley Cup!")
5. Soundtrack
If you like the same cheesy organ riffs over and over, this soundtrack is for you!
6. Officiating
The puck-carrier can get a penalty for hooking. Yeah, right, Sega! And the goalie can sit on an unplayable puck while 20 seconds run off the game clock before it's called "Puck Frozen." Oh, and then there are the random times that the puck is frozen for no reason...
7. Shooting/Scoring
This is the real killjoy of the game. It's very easy in NHL 2K3 to have 50 or 60 shots and not score a goal. There are only two shots that can score: skate in on the off-wing and deke the goalie to the inside, and take a slapshot from the faceoff circle. One-timers (the staple of EA Sports) rarely score. Redirections don't score. You can't cherry-pick just outside the crease. If a defenseman takes a slapshot from the point, it's almost always blocked, and never beats the goalie.
8. Default Settings
Team strategy settings default to manual for both player and AI teams. That's right, unless you choose to set the computer team to Automatic strategy changes, it uses the same strategy for the ENTIRE game, regardless of score. Also, the default voice mask for online play is Anonymous, which ranks somewhere between "nails on the chalkboard" and "Gilbert Gottfried" on the annoyance scale.
The only advantages that this game has over NHL 2003 is that it is XBox Live enabled, has the concept of a minor-league system, and has some nice along-the-boards gameplay.
It's a real shame that this game is as poor as it is. NHL 2K3's "controllability" of what you can do during the game is top-notch. It smartly uses the triggers as modifiers for other buttons to let you have real control over what the players do. The gameplay options are extremely customizable (but they left out the setting for "Fun").
All in all, rarely have I played a game that delivers less fun than NHL 2K3. | video-games_xbox |
Lots of fun and a solid sequel. I am a very casual gamer and could barely play the original Gears with a pal (though we did go on to beat it, eventually). That being said, I found Gears 2's casual setting almost too easy. I plan to try the solo game again on normal, but here is some info on the basics.
First, the graphics and gameplay are pretty good. There was only one part where it seemed to be moving in slow motion, and I'm not sure if it was a glitch or intended for dramatic purposes. There are a lot of places you can kind of explore, and you definitely should so you can find all the collectibles. I thought I had been doing really well until I finished the game and saw my war journal barely filled lol. The monsters are again very creepy and gross, and they have added a few new ones that made me yell "what the f@#$??!!" from my couch. Good times :)
This time around I was able to actually read the manual, making using the controls much easier. They ARE pretty intuitive though, except for the new items. Usually when you encounter a new item, you get a little help on using it on the top of the screen. Maybe this was because I was on casual mode? I have to say, I really enjoyed the flamethrower and grinder almost as much as my favorite, the lancer. Nothing beats the lancer, but having a few more options makes it more fun.
Now since I don't play tons of FPS games, I don't know if its me or if the AI in this game was just utterly retarded but I found myself yelling at my team mates almost as much as the cheating enemies. They were either doing their own thing, sitting in my way, jumping in front of my shot or just otherwise annoying me. I guess part of playing the solo campaign is to do certain things by yourself?? Because quite a few times Dom was nowhere to be found. And some of those times I could really have used the help....at least this time Baird seems to be more useful.
There are quite a few new additions to this game besides weapons. You are given missions where you end up riding some of the enemy creatures, and it is not easy. Luckily, those little krill bast*rds are nowhere to be found. There is also a rookie COG that you have to train, but he comes in pretty handy...til later...Having a deeper storyline also adds to the intensity of the game. I know some will find it unnecessary, but seeing Dom hunt for his wife and be driven by something other than anger or insanity adds a different dimension to the overall mission.
All in all, I enjoyed the game for the 14 or 15 total hours it took me to beat it. I recommend the casual mode ONLY for someone who has virtually no experience with FPS or Gears or has really sucky hand-eye coordination. I beat it somewhat easily, and the only other game I've ever beaten by myself was Yoshi's Island....I imagine on the normal setting, the game would be as challenging as I was expecting and thus a little more fun. If you liked Gears 1, this is definitely worth the $60. I don't recommend trying it if you haven't played the original, because it won't make a lot of sense and you won't appreciate the new features. | video-games_xbox |
sold game, some problems. The prototypical third-person cover shooter, "Gears of War 2" is a solid rush of now-standard gameplay conventions and action movie dialogue. It has its charms, and is a pretty solid game, but isn't without its problems.
GoW2 operates under the same basic principles as the first game: you play as a bulky space marine, using cover-shooter mechanics to carve through waves of enemy monsters. Most shooting is either done "blind" (shooting from behind cover) or popping out and shooting. Like in the first game, there are a few things that separate it from other cover shooters. The first of these is the "active reload" system, where timing your reload properly allows you to do it faster or even improve the damage of your next magazine. The second is melee combat, most famously the "chainsaw bayonets" mounted on the standard assault rifle. However, for the most part GoW2's combat is formulaic, like the first.
There are a few new weapons to spice things up, though. These include a gatling gun (that must be mounted on cover and cranked to fire) and a mortar launcher (good at distances, but less so at close range). The action is intense and fast-paced, but the main issue is that even with varying weapons, you're still basically doing the same cover routine over and over and over. There are a few sequences to break up the monotony, but they don't disguise the fact that the main game is kind of simplistic.
Multiplayer is one of the game's strongest points. There are basically three kinds: cooperative, competitive, and horde mode. Cooperative refers to the ability to play through the campaign with multiple players. It's simplistic, but fun. Competitive refers to the standard set of multiplayer modes - deathmatch, capture-the-flag, etc. Horde mode is an expansion of cooperative mode that allows up to five players to try to survive against waves of enemies. It's probably the most interesting mode, and allows for the most strategic options (figuring out where to hole up, setting traps and killzones, etc).
The game's production values are good. It's visually exciting, if a bit repetitive. The guns sound neat, and there's certainly nothing more ominous than the revving of the aforementioned chainsaw-bayonets. Gears of War 2 is most fun as a multiplayer game - it's the kind of game where you can get some friends together and play all afternoon. As mentioned, it gets kind of repetitive, but the multiplayer experience is enough to overcome that.
Rating: 8/10.
We purchased this game with our own funds from a game store. | video-games_xbox |
Best X-Men game, but still far from being a good game. This game could have been excellent if not for a long list of flaws. Here are some of the major issues that make it be only a 2 star game:
- Game advertises itself as an Action/RPG. In reality, this is nothing like Baldur's Gate or Diablo, but it is more like a beat'em up arcade (think Mutant Turtle Ninjas in arcades).
- There is ZERO Artificial Intelligence. In Single Player, you control one of the 4 X-Men, while the other 3 are controlled by the AI. Normally, this would work, but not in this game. I had X-Men falling from bridges (very expensive to revive them, unless you replay that segment), X-Men standing on grenades and not moving, X-Men getting a beating with no reaction, and so on. If you think Single Player - then DO NOT get this game.
- There is no way to really 'control' what the other 3 X-Men are doing. While pressing L should bring them to where you are, this hardly ever works. And if they come to where you are, the moment you let L go, they run back to fight.
- There is no way to set-up the use of potions for these 3 other X-Men. You can only choose to have them use potions at 20% or 40% of their health, but 20% is not enough (by the time they use the potion - IF they use it - they are dead) while 40% is too much (they start chugging potions when is not needed). Choosing other options or percentages is of no use too.
- There is no way to go alone to scout, if you already have the group with you (similar to Brute Force or KOTOR). They always follow you and even when you set them up to NOT charge the enemy, they will still do it.
- Like in LOTR: Third Age, your characters level up every 2-3 minutes. This gets annoying really fast, especially since you only get 1 point every time and most skills require more than 1. Still, basically you have to go through 3 menus every 2-3 minutes, to level up.
- This game gives new meaning to term 'linearity'. There is always just one way to go. Even Fable seems non-linear with respect to this. Invisible walls are everywhere, even though you can see the road, you cannot go on it. No real surprise here since this game is a beat'em up and this linearity is typical of these games.
What is good about the game:
- good graphics and distructable environment. Never get tired of breaking walls, etc.
- even if it is presented poorly, the story is good enough.
- length of the game is around 20 hours, 3 times that of most new games.
- X-Men characters (old and new) are excellent. Skills - even if not a lot of them - are a lot of fun.
Overall, unless you are an X-Men fan, I would not recommend this game. I think the potential is definitely here, but execution is amateurish (strange, since Raven has been around for a while). If they work out the AI issues in the next one, I may give it a try. | video-games_xbox |
Disappointed Like Ralphie From the Xmas Story. I hope this review is read by someone at Turtle Beach Corporate or part of their product engineering/development staff and potential buyers that are seeking more information. A quick background before I dive into the review of the Stealth 500X Premiums. I will start off by saying that my soon to be wife and I are in our thirties, really enjoy multiplayer gaming, and have a need for affordable quality headsets. We are owners of Turtle Beach MLG PX22s and appreciate everything about them except for the under-designed tensile strength of the plastic strap near the hinged earpiece (and of course the wires). To make them usable, I had to reinforce the strap with a little sheet metal stiffener wrapped in aluminum tape (see photo below).
Corporate - Please note that after one year of (typical adult - pay-for-your-own-stuff-and take care of it) usage, these boys look......RUH-diculous and it isn't a good idea to have your brand sporting the "fixed" image. A possible solution to this problem may be the addition of "ribbing" normal to the surface near this area. I know you'd have to cut some grooves in your molds, but you can't keep pumping out product that has a high failure rate (see other's reviews). Other than this, you guys had a great product at a great price with the PX22s. So naturally, when I opened my 500X premiums, this was the first thing I looked for. I was overly optimistic to assume a "premium price tag" and "next generation model" would correct this problem. I ended up feeling like Ralphie in A Christmas Story after he decoded that crummy Ovaltine message; it was a huge let-down.
Thoughts on the Stealth 500X Premiums
If game chat is important to you as it is to my fianc and I (we like to know as a team what is happening and not missing a callout), this model does not perform adequately and gets a terrible-terrible grade. Even after flashing the firmware to the most current revision - we still experienced periods of dropped chat where we couldn't hear each other. This should be a top priority for designers and became the deal breaker for us.
If you desire to adjust the frequency range of the sounds you hear (for instance bass boost or treble enhancing) please note that this is not possible to do. Instead you load "profiles" of sound schemes into your headset and the frustrating thing is that the bass is so faint, explosions don't even sound real. We tried loading all of the available profiles and none sounded natural. There was way too much treble. It was like playing a game in a tin can. We actually had to use a profile that disabled the surround sound to get something that was acceptable. This was a shock to us. We kind of looked at each other and said WTF!
I really can't believe this product is being sold for over $100. I hope Turtle Beach can come up with a better product in the future at a competitive price. Until then, we will go back to having wires, no surround sound, and foil wrapped around the plastic stem while we research some of other brands out there. | video-games_xbox |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.