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A straight up shoot-em-up for four. My wife and I beat the Hunter: The Reckoning -Wayward on the PS2 a year ago, so we decided the next logical step was to buy Hunter: The Reckoning - Redeemer (can that title get any longer?) for the Xbox.
The Hunter series is noteworthy because it's based on a World of Darkness pen-and-paper role-playing game. The World of Darkness was dominated by the first game in the line, vampires. Then werewolves. Then wraiths. Then changelings. Finally, someone got fed up with playing monsters and made a game dedicated to blowing them all up. Thus we have Hunter: The Reckoning, where soccer moms and school teachers suddenly discover they have super powers and can pierce the Veil, the illusion that cloaks the monsters who live among us. Good stuff.
Now, you might expect that our heroes would all be rather mundane looking, boring people. But in a sacrifice to the laws of videogames (and thus, the laws of What Teenage Boys Like), all those Hunters were sexed up quite a bit. We have the big scary biker guy (Spencer "Deuce" Wyatt), the black ex-cop (Samantha Alexander), the wise priest guy with a wicked sword (Father Esteban Cortez) and the rich kid raver chick (Kassandra Cheyung). Wayward had something of a 70s funkadelic feel to it.
Redeemer adds a new character, and she screams, "Somebody knows their demographic!" Dressed in a tight leather bustier, pigtails, and wielding a huge sword, Kaylie Winter achieves two amazing feats: she can actually swing a sword bigger than her entire body and she never falls out of her outfit. Not for lack of trying, mind you. Also, perhaps in a nod to being a bit more politically correct, Samantha no longer has an afro.
Although the World of Darkness role-playing game supposedly doesn't have classes, it has something similar: creeds. These creeds determine the characters starting abilities and access to Edges, the powers that Hunters wield against the forces of darkness. These range from confusing enemies to healing allies to blowing bad guys up real good. It didn't take long to start thinking of Father Esteban as a cleric (oh the irony!), since he gets the healing Edge.
The developers tweaked the game significantly since Wayward. Specifically, we stopped playing Wayward because we got stuck at one of the bosses-an evil witch. With her gun-toting harpies, she mowed us down over and over. What we didn't realize was that there are actually a limited number of lives. You just have a lot of them, so it takes a lot of deaths before you run out-long enough that we figured we had unlimited restarts. When we finally reached the boss fight, we had long since saved several games with that limited number of lives. It was never spelled out explicitly in the game documentation and, for reasons I will never understand, it's not spelled out in Redeemer either.
But it doesn't matter, because on Medium difficulty we never ran out of lives.
The game play is basically the same. You shoot stuff, you hack stuff, and you take its stuff. Wayward had the hysterical side effect of putting items in garbage cans, thus turning Hunters into the worlds most powerful dumpster divers. No trash receptacle is safe! Conversely, Redeemer restricts items to corpses and even gives certain adversaries items that make sense.
The plot is difficult to follow, mostly because it draws on preconceived notions from the World of Darkness that most gamers are probably not familiar with. Werewolves, in this universe, are good guys fighting the forces of corrupt civilization. In Redeemer, werewolves that appear to be enemies are actually allies, opposed by Gentex, an evil super corporation. This might sound familiar, because it's obviously Pentex, the evil super corporation from Werewolf: The Apocalypse (now Werewolf: The Forsaken). I'm not sure why the name was changed.
Anyway, it just so happens that a Hunter runs the corporation. So the corporation can't be that bad, right? Without giving too much away, let's just say that another role-playing game, one of the last to be released before the current World of Darkness "reboot" has a lot to do with this game. That will only serve to confuse people, I'm sure.
By far the best part of Redeemer is that it's one of the rare four player games for the Xbox. The controls are customized for blasting away at opponents, including a very cool strafing maneuver. It's all about killing zombies, vampires, and other weird things.
And that's not a bad thing. Redeemer makes no pretense about what it is: a straight up shoot-em-up for four. If you can stand the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink premise and don't mind your Hunters showing a little leg, Redeemer is for you. | video-games_xbox |
They did a good job with adding lots of padding to make it . They did a good job with adding lots of padding to make it comfortable, though you may feel differently about all that padding if you want to wear it for a long time and your ears tend to get hot. Most of the sound test I did was with music, because it's easier to control exactly what you're going to be hearing, and it sounded good. I could easily distinctly hear that some things were intended to be on the left or right, as you'd expect with a gaming headset.
I like the way that you can tuck away the microphone, and the fact that it has options for both xbox and regular aux cable connections. You will need to be careful with the wire that connects it to the xbox controller, though. If that gets lost I'm not sure if you can just get a new one or not. I'm not totally sure about the durability of the microphone over time either, since it's a little thin, but the fact that you can tuck it out of the way should be helpful. Since people who've used other editions of the Afterglow headsets haven't raised a huge uproar about all the mics breaking, I'm thinking it'll be okay.
Most people probably expect this, but the glow is only for when it's connected to the Xbox One. If you're concerned about it being bothersome, like if you like to game in the dark, there's a little toggle on the piece that connects to the controller to give you the ability to decide whether you want it on or off.
I've seen people get confused about the mic monitoring feature (these have it, the amazon product description calls it audio monitoring, but the gamers I play with usually call it mic monitoring) on headsets in the past. If you put it on and you hear your own voice being picked up by the mic, that's intentional. They do that because the headset covers your ears and plays noises, and if they don't play your own voice back through the headset you can't hear yourself very well. When you can't hear your own voice well, most people talk louder to try to compensate, and they end up being painfully loud and sounding like they're yelling to everyone else (both in the room and on the other side of the game connection). It's a normal feature in good gaming headsets, but sometimes it throws people off if they haven't used one before.
It doesn't have a really heavy and expensive feel, but it doesn't feel outright cheap either. And really, putting something heavy on your head would make long gaming sessions uncomfortable anyway. As it is right now, it feels very nice to wear it. | video-games_xbox |
A Great Console (so far. UPDATE: 3/20/2015
Still going strong. Swapped the hard drive for a 3rd party one and it's still doing well. Never had a red ring, dot, or anything.
I never bought in the next-gen gaming systems until just recently when I purchased this product, and wow, it was a great idea. Naturally I'm thrilled to be able to play the newest in games and all of that, but because of Microsoft's tendency to screw things up with all of the predecessors to the XBox 360 slim, of course I'm a little worried. Although Microsoft claimed that this new console was so free of the Red Ring of Death that it couldn't even DISPLAY red on the console, rumors and even some photos have arisen with the new threat: the Red Dot of Death. Why would the company lie about that? You tell me.
Regardless, buyer beware. I'm really happy with this product, don't get me wrong. But if you're looking into buying a 360, you know Microsoft's past products have generally been subpar. Hopefully that has changed, but who am I to say if it finally has?
You DO have a 1-year warranty on it, which is nice. So keep your receipt!!!
I'm not sure if they have extended the warranty yet, but if so, it's always best to have that insurance.
And if you're looking to avoid any sort of "red death" with the console, try not to overload it too much or too soon. As much as I wanted to play this thing for hours upon hours when I first got it, I held myself back so that the console could rest (and because I was nervous about it dying). And wherever you place your 360, lay it down on its side (and DON'T MOVE IT WITH A DISK IN IT! It seriously scratches the disk beyond repair. Google search it if you want video proof), and make sure there is room on both ends for the fans to ventilate air. The slim runs much cooler, yes, but you should do your part to ensure that your XBox isn't overheating because of where you placed it.
All in all, I love the product, but considering Microsoft's past, I'm a little wary about telling someone 100% to go out and buy it. Unless you've got an insurance plan. Then you don't have much to lose. | video-games_xbox |
Completely Engaging Game. I have both Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 3. Both are great games that have a lot in common and a lot that is different. The nice thing about both games is that they are open world and strive for a realistic feel. Because of this, you get to try various weapons and strategies without feeling like you've landed on an overly bizarre planet. But FC2 and FC3 are also somewhat different from each other, both philosophically and functionally.
This review is about Far Cry 2 in single player mode. I've had the game for a couple of years now (I'm a latecomer to the game). I've played it multiple times now. The first time you complete a game - just about any game - it is to get a feel for it and to get through it. The second, or even the third time, is because there is something about it you liked and now you want to explore the nuances and the things you may have missed the first time through. Or, maybe you just want to try different strategies and tactics.
This game has a great realism about it, which draws you in and you become pretty engaged with it. The scenery is wonderful and it's like someone really cared about providing beautiful and realistic surroundings. There are no supernatural enemies or "bosses on 'roids", thankfully. It consists of plausible characters in situations that could exist in real life. If you want fantasy or fantastical characters, this is not the game for you. If you want weapons that defy the laws of physics, this game is not for you. If you can't do delayed gratification, this game is not for you.
Other people have written pretty thorough reviews with good analyses and, whether those reviews are generous or not, they all make some good points.
Pros:
1. Love the realism, the weapons, and the buddies. Yes, believe it or not, the buddy concept was nice. Each had their own personality, and you end up having some you like and some you don't like. I wish they had taken that concept a little farther and developed the ability for greater interaction and cooperation. I know that would have been a huge undertaking and perhaps too much to ask of AI as it currently exists, but it's like this was the start of a good idea. It's *almost* something and I think it's something that should be explored in the future. Still, I enjoyed the parade of characters and appreciated it when they rescued me. I've played the game several times just to meet all of the buddies and see what they are like. :-)
2. Open world exploration. Feel like wandering around finding diamond cases instead of fighting? Fine. Just want to roam around and take in the scenery? That's fine too. You aren't compelled to stay on task and complete missions unless you want to progress the game. Want to accept a mission and take your sweet time getting there? No problem. Want to approach with guns blazing, or do you want to sneak up on your enemies? There are opportunities for both.
3. You can choose whether to perform your missions during the day or at night by going to the safe house and "setting the clock" (sleeping). If you like stealth, you probably want to "sleep" during the day and wait until night. If you like to do blitzkrieg-type assaults, it probably doesn't matter as much whether you work by day or by night.
4. A good variety of weaponry, and using the weapons feels very realistic. And, yes, weapons can jam, especially if you have used them frequently and haven't picked up fresher ones at the gun shop. They are also more prone to jam if you pick up an enemy's weapon (which are assumed to be hard used and not well taken care of), instead of buying them at the gun shop. Other weapons, like the dart rifle, wear out quickly and need to be replaced frequently, as they deteriorate with use. Some weapons have more durability than others - just like in real life.
5. As your reputation level increases, so does the strength of enemies and you need to buy better/stronger weapons to be effective, so collect those diamonds when you can and do the missions for the arms dealer to unlock better weapons. But, there's no particular rush to do that either until you start completing primary missions.
Cons:
1. Missions get boring because they follow the same formula and they don't really change. I think a better idea would have been to have a pool of possible missions and, from that pool, you randomly get X out of a pool of N for the Northern Territory and X out of a pool of N for the Southern Territory. Same number of missions to perform per territory, but you never know which ones you're going to get from the pool.
2. Better stealth. Here I would issue a caveat: I have found that sometimes the AI goes wonky and all of a sudden, even in easy mode, the enemy sees you from 3 miles away while you're in camouflage, crouched behind brush, and the next thing you know enemy vehicles are pig piling you from all directions, and enemies on foot are coming out of nowhere to attack you. They will even know when you're in a safe house and start attacking you before you get outside. Really? It seems like, after that, you just cannot sneak up on an encampment anymore. They know you're coming before you have even reached the perimeter of your destination.
Anyway, I have found that this generally happens when you lose your network connection and get signed out. Logging back into your account seems to restore sanity to the game. At least this usually works on PS3. So, usually this problem would crop up when I was logged out of my PS3 account. I would save the game at the earliest opportunity, quit the game, sign into my PS3 account, and just load the last save. This seemed to make it sane again. There must be something equivalent to that on Xbox.
Sometimes going to the options menu and changing (or removing) your profile can make a difference, although it was not always successful for me. If none of that works by itself, then the only thing you can do is try loading the last save before the game went off the rails.
This is very annoying and it can happen in almost all of the modes. I sometimes play in easy mode just to kill time, and enjoy testing out different buddies and trying different weapons. But when this happens during a game, it can quickly turn easy mode into hellish and unrealistic attacks by enemies, and that is harder than the more difficult modes. It does seem less likely to happen when you're playing in a more difficult mode, but once it happens, changing the mode doesn't help. Only signing into your account seems to correct it.
Even if everything goes well, stealth is not always that stealthy. If you're camouflaged, hidden, and using the dart rifle, the minute you shoot an enemy in the head (so they make no sound), Sniping an enemy who is not near one of the other enemies will buy you more time. Pretty soon, though, it's like every other enemy quickly realizes that something is not right. Rarely can you eliminate every enemy without being detected. Actually, you're lucky to kill of 2 or 3 enemies before you are detected in stealth mode. The only thing to do is to stay in hiding and don't stay in one position - move around a bit without making yourself visible. Kill, then relocate a bit. Kill again, and quietly move as far as you can. This is not always possible, but if you attack from far enough away with a sniper rifle, you can probably dispatch most of the enemy before they get too close, even if you are detected.
3. Enemies re-spawn at guard posts and other sites (but not safe houses). Once you liberate a safe house, it's yours. In other areas, enemies re-spawn once you leave the area and come back. That's annoying, but in other ways it makes sense that a post would be re-manned because there is no one in the bullpen waiting to defend it once you clear it. A workaround for that is sneaking past on foot or taking a different route.
In Far Cry 3, once you clear a guard post the Rakyat come in and defend the posts that you clear. In Far Cry 2, there is no group in your corner - just a few buddies, and they have better things to do than to defend guard posts that you have cleared.
4. Some functions are not as responsive as they could be. For example, in the heat of battle when you need to inject yourself to re-up your health, that function doesn't always respond very quickly.
5. Yes, like most games, what the characters say and how they say it can be pretty hokey. A few of them aren't too bad, but most of the characters don't have a lot of depth. And some things they say or want you to do are illogical, like the last mission of the game.
Despite some of the glitches, which you learn to expect and work around after a while, this is an enjoyable game. Yeah, you wish they had developed the buddy concept a little more and, like just about every other game ever made, you wish that the hokier characters could have been polished up some more and a little more believable (although some weren't that bad), but that doesn't detract from what is really a well put together game.
I wish there were more games like this out there. | video-games_xbox |
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour falls short in nearly every way compared to EA's last golf game. The inevitability of having to move on from Tiger Woods after such a long relationship put EA Sports in a position where they felt it necessary to take the rebooted PGA Tour series in a totally different direction. Rory McIlroy PGA Tour has aimed at appealing to a more casual consumer. Gone are healthy lineups of licensed courses and golfers, and nods to history of the sport. In their place are arcade-elements like fantasy courses and over-the-top mini-games.
Over two years have passed since Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14, and the new McIlroy title comes up short compared to that game in most every area that matters.
As a product, Tiger 14 offered significantly more content, all of which was far more compelling than whats found in McIlroy, which feels barren and dull in comparison. Its a struggle to find things that McIlroy does better.
To its credit, the courses included in McIlroy look spectacular, and the presentation of them is fantastic. Theres some graphical blur and pop-in but otherwise the game looks nice despite appearing to be sub-1080p. The commentary is an improvement, though inaccurate at times, and the crowd sounds are decent though not always responsive at the right moments. The crowd looks good, is active, and you even see them applauding and walking around.
The Prologue, which is essentially a guided tour through big moments of the US Open by McIlroy, ends up being the most interesting aspect of the game and thats over after 20 minutes. Features one would hope for and expect, like tiebreaker playoffs and replay functionality, are absent. Instead some questionable design decisions have been made.
Career Mode is very basic. There isn't even a calendar you can view of upcoming events. Maybe thats to hide that the lack of courses will make the mode stale fairly quickly. Adding in the Quick Rounds feature, which is defaulted on and already has people confused and wondering why they can only play a few holes each round, only compounds that concern.
There are merits in allowing people to play through rounds quicker and certainly many people will appreciate the ability to do so. However it really creates a detached feeling, only playing 4-5 holes per round, and the sense of potential accomplishment vanishes along with it. At least its only an option but EA should have given people the choice up-front, similar to what theyve done with the Gameplay Styles, rather than making it the default way to play in Career.
Then theres the pathetic create-a-golfer system. In a game that puts so much weight on playing with a created golfer, inherently due to the make-up of the game and the thin roster of licensed golfers, its really unacceptable. Its also worth noting there is no GameFace type feature, which bizarrely was prioritized for NBA Live instead.
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour has only 8 licensed courses on disc, plus 4 fantasy courses. It has only 12 licensed golfers. That's less than half of the number of courses and golfers that were in Tiger Woods 14 at launch.
One thing that works in McIlroy is the offering of three different Gameplay Styles. Other sports games would be wise to offer various ways to play that may be more accommodating to different people. The three offer different approaches that span from the arcade to the more sim though the sim Tour style is still fairly easy to pick up and play. It seems that no matter how badly the shot stroke is mangled, the shot will go straight, its just a question of distance. Putting and getting out of precarious positions presents the extent of the challenge.
The lack of loading time between holes (which The Golf Club has too) was touted heavily in promotion. Undoubtedly its a benefit to the new game but loading times into the courses are lengthy, and menu navigation is unresponsive and frustratingly laggy.
Im not against mini-games. I actually think they have a place within all sports games, even the sim-centric ones. They can be used as a teaching tool where people improve skills through the process that can then be applied to the actual games. The Night Club Challenge though is more of its own thing. Its not going to help people in a way that translates to the normal golfing. It feels like something youd play on your phone.
The Night Club Challenge has some appeal despite that and is mildly fun some will probably find it to be more and thats especially true of completionists and those who enjoy the challenge of topping previously held high scores. The mode is boring at first but after a few challenges it starts to become more interesting. Thats when boosts start getting introduced and even elements like portals make their way in. Ive gone through 24 of the 62 on Wolf Creek so far and there are still Paracel Storm and Coyote Falls to unlock along the way.
EA decided to introduce a new element into Online Play by rendering the other players onto the course along with you. In theory it sounds interesting but in practice its a dismal failure. Those players appear out of thin air and then vanish. Theyre nothing more than a distraction. It was actually better in the past when youd see their shot arcs instead. Online matches also have no commentary or crowd noise, making it a completely empty experience and a bore to play. Potentially it could be better with groups of friends who are chatting on mic together but thats the only scenario where it would be passable.
What EA Sports has delivered with Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is a game that doesnt have enough content to justify its price at launch, and what it does have won't resonate strongly with either the sim or casual crowd. EA has made mistakes with some other games in the past where they try and go this route of angling for ways to market a sim series to a casual audience. The results have been products that have no true identity, disappoint in sales, and are quickly forgotten. It would seem unlikely that McIlroy will avoid that same fate. | video-games_xbox |
A Bank of America Experience. I could write a lengthy review about how cool this technology is and on the other hand I can do the same about how terrible it is too.
Instead I'll keep it simple.
Microsoft nickles and dimes in every way and it's ridiculous. 50 bucks a year on top of your regular netflix and hulu subscriptions for the right to use the apps. You have to pay this extra 50 dollar annual fee for the right to use the horrible mobile internet explorer browser that doesn't even do flash. It's built that way so you're forced to pay Microsoft for rentals and streaming. And you're forced to pay a monthly fee for a music service to simply play your own uploaded music which you own!
You can't connect a keyboard or mouse so you're forced into hunting and typing one letter at a time with the game controller. It's a real joke. Yes you can use kinect for some tasks but for 40% of the time when you can't use kinect for certain tasks, you're stuck.
The games are very expensive. I really can't understand paying 50 bucks for a game. I think games will drop significantly because of the mobile competition coming over to living room.
Microsoft really gets in the way of what could be the coolest computer in the world. If they would stop nickle and diming, add keyboard and mouse support, add a full browser, stop making people pay to stream their own music, stop charging for things we can do for free on computers. Open up the user experience so we can use the damn thing the way we want to. The limited, controlled experience is very much like crappy iOS which makes you beholden to the manufacturer. Yes people will have free choices outside of Microsoft's control but this wouldn't hurt business. I would be more inclined to make purchases if I had freedom of choice. I think this could be a great computer if it had the openness, freedom and included the capabilities of a computer. Combined with the Kinect technology and the operating system layout, this would replace my Mac Mini on my TV and Microsoft would make a lot of money off my family for purchases and we would be loyal, long time customers.
I'm returning my Xbox One today a disappointed customer. | video-games_xbox |
Needs Improvement in Later Versions. Being a huge fan of the show and the workout DVDs, I was very excited to purchase this game once the Kinect was unwrapped on Christmas morning. I paid full price ($59.99) at Best Buy.
PROS
Unlike many other reviewers, the body scan with measurements was very accurate in my experience. (The only exception being the neck. When it asks you to turn to the side, turn entirely to the side and do not look at the TV. If you look at the TV while it is scanning you to the side, you will end up with a huge neck. A re-scan solved that problem, and every measurement was either right on or within a quarter of an inch!)
I love how I can tell the game that I need water, that something is too hard, that I'm hanging in there, etc., and the game responds.
I love that I can work out with my friends online!
The exercises are challenging, fun (mostly), and they change it up enough that if we end up doing an exercise that I hate... I know it will be over soon enough.
CONS
The controls are positively awful. Awful, awful, awful. For example, when you customize your character, you are expected to use these strange sliding bars or dots you slide around a triangle in order to make changes. For example, to change the hair color on the character, you literally see a straight, unmarked, horizontal bar, and you slide up and down on the bar to change hair color. You are given no clues as to what color is where on the bar. It's hard to settle on your correct color, as it's hard to hold your hand in the exact same position long enough for the Kinect to register the movement. You slide the bar and watch the hair color change from blonde to brown to red to black, etc. This seems like a very odd way to present these selections. Why not have a number of selections visible on the screen and then allow the user to select the correct color? Why have us guessing at where blonde hair will appear on some unlabeled horizontal bar? Weird. Same with selecting your ethnicity. You see a triangle with a dot in the center. Apparently, you are to move the dot around the unlabeled triangle in order to change the ethnicity. There are no onscreen directions for what ethnicity is located where. Caucasian is at the top of the triangle, which I had to find via trial and error. Changing the nose was hilarious! Again, you slide around on an unmarked bar, and noses appear on your character completely randomly. No "smallest to largest". No rhyme or reason. I finally gave up trying to make my character actually look like me. I got a Caucasian blonde with long hair in a ponytail, and I let it go from there. It's just too much trouble. Facial shape, eyebrows, eye color, and other customizations are just as frustrating. Forget it. I wasted nearly half an hour just trying to get a character that resembled me in the slightest. At one point I had a decent likeness, went to attempt to save, my hand didn't hold still enough, and the Kinect thought I meant to select "randomize". I lost my changes and ended up going from a blue-eyed blonde to an African-American woman. Again, why not just present a number of options on the screen and let us click on the right one, in the same way that we are able to quickly and easily customize our Xbox character? I honestly don't think they could have made this less user friendly if they'd tried.
The menu bar has the same problems. When you're new to the game, if you pause on the various unlabeled icons at the bottom of the screen long enough to read what they represent, before you know it you're on a different screen. You need to really study the user guide before you start playing so that you know these things and get them memorized, because exploring it on the screen is very frustrating. Right now I don't feel that I really know the various ins and outs of the game, because I can't just explore without messing up my settings.
The worst aspect? It can be VERY discouraging when you are following the trainer precisely, doing the movements they request, and your blobby body avatar (I refer to mine as the "Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man") in the bottom right corner is "in the red"... meaning you aren't doing a good job. As if that isn't bad enough, the trainers start giving you attitude about it. (Jillian is just as annoying in this game as she is on television...) You will be in the red on the step punches no matter what you do. As reported by other reviewers, you will be told that you aren't punching far enough, even if you are going as far as you possibly can. Anything where I was asked to turn to one side to perform the exercise rated me "in the red". That can get really frustrating and discouraging. A few times I was tempted to quit in disgust. However, my heart rate monitor was telling me I was working in my zone, my muscles were telling me I was working, and I knew I was accomplishing something no matter what the stupid game was saying. So, try to tune out the attitude and the red and just keep going.
The calorie counting aspect is just useless. You can only go up by 5 calories at a time rather than entering a precise number. I prefer to use my Livestrong app on my iPhone, which is infinitely better.
I would probably feel better about the game if I'd paid $20 for it rather than nearly $60. This is clearly a version 1.0 in need of a lot of tweaking. If you can find it on sale, go for it. I do think that I will see results. Don't overpay like I did. It's really not worth the full asking price. Too many changes need to be made in order to de-bug, de-glitch, and make it MUCH more user friendly. If I had it to do over again, I would have still bought the game... but I would have paid $25 at the MOST. In its current version, I really don't think it's worth more than that. | video-games_xbox |
Great controller. Not for everyone. The cord is a standard 9 ft long. It is also white, which helps differentiate it from the majority of black corded devices I own (headset, external HDD USB cable).
Lighting effect is nice and always on. Actually brighter on the rear of the controller rather than the front.
All four trigger buttons are of high quality, although there is no pressure sensitive analog on the triggers. They click instead.
The analog sticks click twice when pressed, the second click being the one that registers. A bit strange, but doesn't negatively effect game play for me.
Both analog sticks are completely plastic instead of the rubber nubs you get with the standard controller, but are still highly tactile. The amount of resistance on both analog sticks can be adjusted with the switch in the middle. Push the switch all the way up and you get a response of a controller that is "broken in" with loose resistance. Push it all the way down, and the tension on the springs in the sticks is increased leading to a stiffer experience.
Best thing about this controller is the genuine + d-pad. And it is a large Super Nintendo-sized d-pad. I hate hate hate the standard 360 d-pad, and is the reason I am buying a controller in the first place. I can't stand how easy it is to accidentally press the diagonal when you mean to press a cardinal direction.
Controller is a nice weight, being that it has no batteries. It's a bit smaller than the stock controller, all with the exception of the enlarged and improved d-pad.
Rumble works great.
I enjoy the lighting, and you can't turn it off.
This controller is not for someone who relies on the analog trigger buttons, like in racing games.
Not good for someone who wants to sit farther than 7 feet or so from their system, due to the cord length.
If you think the light would annoy you, you may be right.
I wish the A, B, X, Y buttons were illuminated.
I had purchased a Nyko wired controller before I got this one. The right trigger button stopped working on that one after a week. The HORI trigger buttons on this one are of higher quality and will not likely break. | video-games_xbox |
So much action that it is boring. I loved RE4. It was creepy, atmospheric, and fun. RE5 was like Indiana Jones meets Blackhawk Down--it was full of adventure but had enough scary parts to be entertaining. RE6, however, is non-stop action the entire game. There is so much action that there isn't time to really explore the world they created and enjoy the view. With chainsaw wielding bosses (that just refuse to die) chasing you, and people shooting at you constantly--there isn't much time for a breather. While some people may want tons of action, for me it is like watching a movie that is one huge car chase. It ends up being boring because it goes by at 100mph (yes, i know that doesn't make sense to some).
In RE4, creepy monks walked after you slowly, chanting "morir es vivir." The game was languid enough to take in the beautiful soundtrack--which was a work of horror music art. RE6 is more akin to watching Fast and the Furious--with zombies. There are moments in RE6 that are completely frustrating. The camera on one level where you have to run from a boss is so difficult to control I had to look up how to beat it on Youtube. I was not alone, because almost every comment on the game was from frustrated people like myself.
All said and done--the graphics are good, although you really can't enjoy them because everything races along. This is a very gun oriented game and not much puzzle solving, or a storyline. In fact, I really wouldn't even consider this a horror game at all. It is about as scary as Gears of War.
If the game developers read 3 star Amazon reviews (which I doubt), I would ask them to please bring back the atmospheric horror masterpiece like they created in RE4. Also, please bring back the guy in the cape/robe who sold weapons in RE4. This franchise is really going downhill, or is simply being marketed to the Call of Duty/Gears of War crowd.
I can't believe I waited in line at midnight for this game. I should have slept in. I have played and re-played RE4 & 5 dozens of times and they never get old. RE6, once beaten, is probably going to be traded in at Gamestop by many. If you can rent it at Redbox or someplace like that, you may be better off than buying it. | video-games_xbox |
Best Aliens VS Predator game I've played. Some of you may not remember, but Aliens VS Predator on the Atari Jaguar was considered the best AVP game ever, even today, some consider it fun to play. I had initial doubts about yet another attempt at an Aliens VS predator game and was wondering if it could bring back the fond memories of the Jag version in next gen clothing. I have to admit, my fears of rubbish have disappeared. Aliens VS predator should please all fans of the series. I spent the most time with the Alien and Marine campaigns, didn't do much with Predator yet except for the initial training mission.
Basically this is the best representation of the series I have ever seen in years. It feels like a 360 version of the original Aliens VS Predator on the Atari Jaguar. I'm SOOOO glad that Rebellion thankfully choose to keep the faith of the original films and forget about the recent movies in the last few years. The game is dark, very dark, especially on the marine missions. I didn't notice any real graphical hiccups like people have mentioned on the multiplayer. Terrific atmosphere, awesome weapons, incredible sound, and with the ability to play as a marine, Aliens and Predator, this game has serious replay value. I had the most trouble controlling the Alien. The marine was pretty straight forward and I really enjoyed the missions. The alien campaign was the most frustrating for me, The ability to walk on walls and ceilings at any given time will take some serious practice in perfecting your kills.
(my only minor nitpick is the lack of any maps, the game relies on you basically following an arrow to your next checkpoint. Feels a bit linear, but overall it's not as bad as it seems on paper. I'd still like a map though, it's kind of easy to get disoriented, especially in pitch black environments)
If anyone likes the movies and wants to play as an alien, Marine or Predator, Rebellion came through on the hype. Doesn't do anything jawdropping, but a good fun time for fans. Definitely consider this one. | video-games_xbox |
Love-Hate Relationship. I should start by saying that I love the Fifa games and will play them pretty much regardless. However, as someone who plays a lot of football in real life I am slightly disappointed by the realism of the actual gameplay.
Firstly, the graphics and everything that goes along with the game has definitely improved, such as the crowd etc.
On the other hand, many of the same errors from Fifa 14 still persist in terms of the gameplay. I won' bother listing everything I find annoying, but here are some of the things I'd really hoped they would have addressed:
1) Goalkeepers - you know that point you try a chip shot but that goalkeeper hasn't actually come out? Well even if the keeper could catch the ball extremely easily they still palm it over the bar for a corner. In addition, when you bring your keeper a long way out there is still that moment where you're wondering "is he actually going to clear this?" rather than taking a stupidly large touch and going straight to user controlled, rather than computer controlled.
2) Throw-ins - why do we have to watch them chase the ball?
3) Executing commands - in this game you have to be prepared to cross/shoot before the chance as really emerged. The number of times I have players in perfect positions to cross/shoot, then press the button, only to watch them take another 8-yard touch straight out of play or through to the keeper. It's simply unnecessary.
4) Speed - everyone that has already played this game will now know how ridiculously quickly the top players can run with the ball. They can seemingly run at 45-degree angles and breeze past defenders without really doing anything.
5) Refereeing - there are still so many good challenges that are given as free kicks and red cards, especially when your last man wins the ball only to get sent off. It is also very easy to pick up straight reds for slightly mis-timed challenges.
6) Line-ups - you will see early on that if you play with a 4-4-2 and they have kick-off, that four of your players will stand on the halfway line and be immediately out of action when they take a touch forward. There are then two midfielders left, if you beat one (which isn't difficult) then you have a clear run at the back line. However, for some unknown reason the back line is about 35 yards too deep. The only way I can find to close the enormous gap between the defense and midfield is to either play with two holding midfielders, or by continuously playing the offside trap.
7) Running the wrong way - by this I mean that if a player is running at your centre-back then you want your other centre-back or full-back to tuck in and provide cover. This is exactly the opposite of what happens. They both run the wrong way providing a clear route to goal.
Regardless of my own annoyances at the game it is still enjoyably frustrating. I also suppose these things give you stuff to get angry about/disagree about.
On the whole I still love playing this version, but I don't feel that the game does well enough to truly reflect real-life play. Maybe they should employ some actual footballers to test it rather than just game designers!? | video-games_xbox |
ME2... with a few changes. Ok, I'm a few hours into he game so bear with me.
PROS:
- NO MAKO! I hated that damned thing.
- The little things: Lovely loading screens. Very nice graphics. Like the new ship. The hacks and bypass. I like it.
- Ethical ramifications. EVERY time you turn around you're given a Paragon/Renegade option...and in some cases, only seconds to make the decision. Sometimes, you receive Renegade AND Paragon points. LOL
It really makes you think about your choices. Choices that could affect your image and the galaxy.
I was a Paragon character who saved the Arachni and sacrificed the counsel in ME1. However, I'm neck and neck with ME2...and breaking all of my 'noble good girl' rules.
- You don't have to utilize the wheel to use your teammates Mass Effect abilities.
CONS:
- COMBAT! What was wrong with it in ME1? Biggest issue --> It seems that you can't crouch unless you're right next to an object. I know that it's somewhat minor but it really irked tme.
I was doing the rescue mission for Archangel. Had to leap over some barriers to get to shut one door...I had a time doing that. You sort of have to press fwd and A simultaneously and everytime I hit the A button, Sheppard crouched and used the barrier for cover. Fortunately the area wasn't crawling with enemies. When I came to help Archangel(after securing the doors) my team was pounced upon. My team member (left one with Archangel) ran off away from me, which was fine because he took out a lot of enemies.
Meanwhile, who is going to save Sheppard? *laugh* I was having a time trying to defend. I tried to take position behind the nearest pillar and crouch while shooting at the dog-creature bounding towards me...and missing.
NEUTRAL:
- Seems to force players to employ more strategy. This could be a good thing...or an annoying thing.
- Everything seems...smaller? The Citadel is definitely smaller but other worlds make up for it.
- The customization of weapons and armor such. I don't mind doing it. I'm neutral to all of this 'researching upgrades' business, though. | video-games_xbox |
Bungie is back with something fresh. So here it is, the biggest next-gen release so far.
Bungie, developers of the classic Halo franchise team up with Activision to bring us something fresh.
First off, I can definitely feel alot of their Halo roots in this game. (Which is a good thing by the way.)
Originally I was going to give this game 4 stars for a few reasons, but changed it to 5 last minute because I believe any of my complaints will be addressed with DLCs in the future.
First, let's start with the positives. Graphically, it's beautiful. By far it's number one selling point is the aesthetics...the art direction is top notch, as you'd expect with a 500 million dollar budget. Combine this with excellent audio, they've done an excellent job at creating a next-gen worthy atmosphere. But like I said, that is to be expected with a 500 million dollar budget...lol.
Firefights are fun, they just feel satisfying. I will admit I haven't gotten too try raids, as the game just released today. It's unfortunate that they weren't able to add matchmaking for them, you need to have people on your friends list for raids, which can be a pain to manage since people often have different schedules. For "lone wolves" like me, this is a problem I think Bungie will address, which is why I didn't take away a star for it, although I thought about it...I know it can and possibly will be added in the future.
The story is alright, not terrible and intriguing enough to peak my interest. Since it has been out for only a day now, I have hope there will be a satisfying ending in store for me, setting up for the obvious sequel coming. I might update this review in the future once I have completed it 100%.
I like how they have something for Co-Op players, some end game raids, and the Crucible for people who prefer PvP. It's a good "let's cover all our bases/player types" approach. Well played, Bungie.
Now, a few complaints.
I feel there are not enough classes, just one more would have been nice, 2 more would have been awesome. This is easily addressed with a DLC (probably paid.)
I wish there we're more class specific gear, I believe the only items that are class specific is chest armor.
A big downer is that this game requires an always on internet connection to be played. This isn't really an issue for me, since I have fast cable (like most people, probably)...but I know this pisses some people off and thought i'd post that reminder in this review for anyone reading.
It's nice to see Bungie try something new, this is their new Halo. and has huge shoes too fill. Overall, I think they have done a pretty good job. Compared to most games these days, the production value on Destiny is hands down top notch, but then again, they had a massive budget which certain helps.
My verdict: if you have a next-gen console, this is a must buy. I really look forward to the upcoming content DLCs in the future and seeing where they take this. | video-games_xbox |
An OK Game But With Many Flaws. Soul Calibur IV
Soul Calibur IV is a pretty good fighter, but once again, the flaws hurt the overall experience.
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics are truly stunning and realistic. I especially love the design of the armor and how it can break off during a battle if it takes too much damage. It's similar to Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe, where, as the battle goes on, you start to see wounds on the character. I think it's pretty cool.
Sound: 9/10
The music in this game is just beautiful. The orchestra is nice, and it's also cool to hear some tracks from the Star Wars films. The voice acting in this game is top-notch. With guest voices like Wendee Lee. It's also cool that you can actually hear the game's dialogue in Japanese. Yoda's Japanese voice is pretty cool!
Control: 7/10
The controls in this game are okay. But sometimes, the combos don't really respond, and the attacks are delayed. I'd pretty much recommend the Hori EX2 Fighting Stick for these controls. They work a lot better. But I like the blocking controls better in Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe because you can just press the L2/R2 Buttons.
Story: 6/10
The story is okay, but I don't like how they removed the Destined Battles from Arcade Mode. I loved the Destined Battles because they contributed to the story and got you pumped. In this game, the Destined Battle is replaced with a frustrating battle with The Apprentice, but I'll get to that in a moment. The Story Mode is good, but it's a little short, and there isn't much story except during the battles and at the end. However, some of the characters' Story Mode endings are actually pretty good, except that the credit at the end that tells you the aftermath of the battle disappears way too quickly and gives you little time to read it. It's a ridiculous flaw that needs to be fixed.
Gameplay: 7/10
The Arcade Mode is quite disappointing. Most of it is good, but instead of giving you an eventful climax like in Soul Calibur II #I never played Soul Calibur III, and probably never will#, it seems to just place Algol, the final boss, right in front of you without warning. Also, The Apprentice, the second-to-last boss, is almost impossible to defeat. He's even harder than Algol! This shouldn't happen in video games. Looking back at Kingdom Hearts II, the final boss had four phases. The first three phases were quite easy, but the last phase was just plain hard, but I kept trying because I was pumped. But with the battle with The Apprentice, I just felt like quitting. It took me approximately ten consecutive tries to defeat The Apprentice, and only four consecutive tries to defeat Algol. I hope the two difficulties are switched around in the next game. As for Story Mode, it's okay, except for the length and that there aren't too many cut scenes. The Tower of Lost Souls can sometimes be fun, but most of the time very frustrating. The Character Creation, though, is very fun and addicting. I love fighting as Michael Jackson!
Overall: 7.75/10
This is an okay game for people who love fighters and Star Wars, but prepare for great frustration beyond your belief. Character Creation will not disappoint, though,
PROS:
+Stunning Graphics
+Great Voice Acting
+Fun Character Creation
+Star Wars!
CONS:
-Disappointing Arcade Mode
-Short Story Mode
-Frustrating Difficulty
-Deven D'Addario | video-games_xbox |
Brothers in my arms. Brothers in my arms are falling asleep waiting for the bad and boring dialog to end before I can get the mission started. I like this game a lot..however I am only being objective in my review, I don't praise something without bringing some attention to a products flaws or misgivings.
This is a decent FPS, the attention to detail would be even better if you could go prone and not just crouch.
The game is based off a historical account of an airborne unit during the D-Day invasion. This game is based on the 8 days that the unit had engagements moving through france. If you play the game however it will take less than 8 days to finish the whole single player campaign. (short single player game)
The Gore factor wasn't that much..not much real nastiness and the dialog of the in game characters that are on your squad is amusing somewhat, but has a rather subtle anti-war message about it, and doesn't seem to reflect the true attitudes of the Greatest Generation had to offer.
The game also borrows heavily from Band of Brothers which is ok. Game play is lots of fun, and its the first FPS to have truly interesting terrain. I still don't understand the situational awareness feature. It allows you to get a top down persepective. I found its kinda neat, but pointless unless I am doing something wrong.
I often feel that I am doing everything solo in the game, because the squad level component falls short. I started to feel that I must be the only one killing the enemy..Sgt Baker ARMY OF ONE.
The commands and suppression are very nice features, but if you lose a guy he pops back in the next day adventure. Wounding is realistic, but not in this game.. until the next day and your presto healed. Sorry If you get nicked with a bullet you will be limping around if not for a month or a year.
I am only commenting on this because the game is so well done as far as accuracy in graphics and history elements but falls short on realism in this department. I guess something had to give to make it playable and enjoyable.
And on one last note, why don't the Germans ever surrender??..nobody always fights to the death? also it would be nice to be able to capture documents for bonus points. The medal system seems to be out of nowhere. I have 6 bronze stars??
been shot dozens of times and not one purple heart?
If you want a slapstick FPS with nice graphics and I haven't even seen multi-player area yet I hope this game beats doom3 in that arena, what a time waster that was.
If you are a WW2 fanatic you might be dissapointed after a few real time days trying to reach Hill 30. Don't worry you will get most of your men back to their disfunctional homes back in the USA, (ALL THE NPCS SEEM TO BE SOMEWHAT MALADJUSTED..THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A GENERATION OF WW2, NOT CURRENT!!) since when you play this game you are the one doing all the killing and accomplishing the missions.
I think the game designers don't understand the military, or military principles. (YOU ARE THE NCO IN THE GAME) The NCO never goes out into the muddy field to lay satchel charges..heck when I was active duty an NCO wouldn't even empty a trash bin if someone of lesser rank was standing around. The NCO is the the one that leads and inspires/intimidates his men to follow orders. (this example coming from one of the situations you will face in the game).
Hope this review was informative. | video-games_xbox |
The Empire Strikes. This game had everything. There is much to cover, but I will do what I can.
First of all, a fantastic story with its share of plot twists and surprises you can expect from BioWare. Memorable characters with uses so varied and unique that it really made them matter. Quality voice acting, on par with KOTOR. Gorgeous graphics and larger locations (hence less loading points) than KOTOR had. The best of all was the combat system. It is so in depth and just so fun, yet utterly accessable. There is basically a five minute learning curve. Some games can take hours or days to figure out. Jade Empire gets you quickly immersed into its easy system and doesn't compromise anything while doing it.
The game has definite replay value as well. There are four different character types (balanced, fast, strong, magic) each with extremely different and satisfying combat styles. The character models themselves are nothing short of spectacular. Oh, and not to mention that the game has three different endings.
The most satisfying aspect of all is the type of game and the way it plays out. It is classified as a Roleplaying game, but is far from your typical RPG. The roleplaying aspect is all in the dialogue. Unlike most, there are only three different stats you will maintain (body, spirit, and mind). They work well, and will make a very unique character depending on how you choose to level up. You will also learn many different styles of fighting as opposed to having a ton of inventory. You will find several items that you do not really carry or equip, but immediately become bound to you and enhance your stats. You wear no equipment during the course of the game. The only thing you will "wear" is an amulet which you can place three gems of your choice in. There are multitudes of these throughout your travels.
That is, in my opinion, the best part of the game. It's nice to be able to focus on the combat and environment much more than sorting through items you pick up. There are a few places you can buy a new weapon, but it will be rare. I ended the game using the first weapon I got not even 10 minutes into the game. In KOTOR you could accumulate something like 2,000 items at any given time. In Jade Empire, if you want to count gems as items, since they are, once again, the only thing you "wear", you may have something like 10-15 at any given time. You also have a party member who is a mobile merchant who will buy excess gems off you at any point in the game. You will likely never be carrying more than 5 of these at once. That is a hell of a relief from your typical RPG.
And so, what is Jade Empire? If I had to plunk it in some genre... I would call it an action/adventure/RPG. It soaks up all the good from other games, and sheds all the lousy. To anyone with an Xbox, this is one of the best games you'll ever play. It's the most fun I've ever had with a video game in a long time. I can only see good things for BioWare in the future, what with the coming of Neverwinter Nights 2 and Dragon Age in the next year or two.
Jade Empire is already a heavy contender for 2005 Game of the Year. Don't miss it! | video-games_xbox |
Good for the first 3 missions. I bought this game because a friend of mine told me it was a really good game. After purchasing it I was anticipating playing it when I got home because of the positive talk I had heard about it.
Game-play Pros:
The game-play is great in the sense that it gives you free-roam abilities and lets you choose what you want to do in which order besides the assassin missions. I jumped into the game enthusiastically looking for the different flags, pickpocketing, fighting soldiers, eaves-dropping, filling out missions for lesser assassins, running across rooftops killing sentries that were standing watch. I enjoyed hunting for the flags. It took me awhile to find all the Masyaf flags in the Masyaf Kingdom but wasn't too excited when I only got an achievement of collecting all the 20 flags. I liked the cinematography when you counter-attack a soldier and stick him with your sword or slice into his neck with your sword. It was very good for being a rated M game. I had fun sneaking up on soldiers and just assassinating them wherever I felt like it and then sit down on a bench right next to it while the soldiers came by and wondered what happened was pretty funny. I was excited when I got the throwing knives because I run across rooftops and kill every soldier i got in sight and if he fell down hear the people gasp in horror.
Assassins Creed has an amazing number of people in the cities just mulling around, walking here and there. It is pretty lifelike to look anywhere and see people living as if they were real.
Game-play: Cons
I didn't necessarily like that you had to ride a horse everywhere although very realistic. The missions are quite repetitive and I got bored with just a number of things such as pick-pocketing, saving citizens, eaves dropping, and even stealth assassination. For example, when you eaves drop and follow the guy to steal a map or something, and once you've got it you can be standing right next to him and he won't know you took it. The victim also does the same action-motion every single time whoever it might be. It got so easy to pickpocket thugs and you could hold B to pickpocket them but if they weren't walking you would just go in circles around the thug. I got so annoyed at the woman who would beg you for money I would just assassinate them. They would get in the way constantly when I was trying to follow a suspect and that is (although a real aspect of that time) a very annoying part of the cities. After completing 3 of the assassination missions I got back to the Castle and only got 8 throwing knives while expecting a new weapon like a crossbow or something better.
Graphics:
I have to give an A+++ for the graphics seeing that I am a Professional Graphic Designer myself. When I first started playing the game I was blown away by the views, and the realistic structure of the world I was playing in. I especially liked the cities. They were very spectacular from the viewpoints. Altair is very expertly conveyed. The character Altair must have been a lot of work to produce and they must have put a huge amount of time into making him look real.
All in all I have to give this a three star rating because it bored me after awhile of playing it. Everything seemed to become redundant and repetitive. For awhile it kept my interest but since I am more into FPS games such as halo 2 and halo 3 I suppose that I will stick with that for now. So to all you role playing lovers I would suggest this game. Enjoy. | video-games_xbox |
Worth playing. This game was definitely worth playing. I have played it all the way through and this isn't based on first impressions. Pros and cons:
Pros:
-Outstanding graphics
-Good storyline with a few plot twists
-Game isn't too short, but not too long and drawn out
-Freedom of movement in your environment is great
-Weapon selection seems limited, but has everything you need (short, medium and long range)
-Checkpoints are perfectly timed so you don't have to spend hours re-doing a mission if you die
-AI responses are above average (however they are repetitive)
-Game is challenging but not impossible
-No loading screens for the most part, they at least let you run around in a matrix-esque void (keeps you occupied)
Cons:
-All missions are basically the same, which is kind of expected given that you're sole mission as an assassin is to kill a guy, but there really could have been more variation here
-By the end of the game, you can be tired of doing things over and over again (climbing viewpoints, saving people, etc...)
-Saved citizens only have about 3 different lines
-The guys that "help" after you save citizens are just annoying
-The flag gathering missions for informers are dumb and not relevant to the game
-You drown instantly in water (very annoying for one particular mission)
-The horse riding is very cool, but the only flaw is that the physics are a bit off when jumping objects
Personal Likes/Dislikes:
-Blood. There is a lot. Come on, you have to agree that seeing a guy get a knife stuck in his skull and hearing it crack when ripped out is cool.
-My favorite part was jumping 3 stories down into a courtyard with my assassin blade and landing directly on my target for the kill... then followed a barrage of 25 guards coming to attack.
-What pissed me off the most were the amount of mentally insane guys on the streets. They are EVERYWHERE! I hate them because they always hit you, it's so friggin annoying. Come on, there couldn't be that many derranged people back then could there?
-It's very fun to grab beggars and throw them into walls/people/whatever (hell it's even an achievement to toss 20 of them haha)
-The opening video before the title screen is pretty sweet. However there is no crossbow weapon, which was only slightly disappointing.
-How the storyline switches from modern times to the crusades is kind of annoying. I know it sets up for the AC2, but it's really a waste of time in my opinion.
This is a fun game, replayability isn't too high though. You can spend hours upon hours looking for flags and the Teutonic Knights to kill, but I garuntee you'll need a strategy guide to get them all. I rented this game and beat it in a few days. I loved it, recommend playing it for sure! | video-games_xbox |
It's got nothing to do with Resident Evil. I'm a big Resident Evil fan. Since the first game, I've been an avid fan individually of each game (1-6). But I cannot include Resident Evil 7 in the franchise.
Is it a good game? Yes. You'll have fun playing this. But it should have been a new franchise altogether since it doesn't tie in any of the elements of the Resident Evil series.
Note the entire rest of this post will contain spoilers.
First off, there is not one single zombie or zombie creature. The Bakers (the family you find yourself kidnapped by) are somehow possessed by a little girl demon who infects people's brains (or something. I don't know really, it was a bit odd and poorly explained). Enemies you fight are created by the little girl's vomit or something like that, and they're just odd monsters, not zombies. Around the houses, you'll find a few articles that reference the Raccoon City incident, but again, does nothing to tie in to the current situation you're at now. I was hoping for some big reveal that showed how all of this was tied to the franchise, but it never happened.
Second, there is a 'fork in the road' part of the game where you must decide to give a cure to one of two characters; your wife or the woman that was helping you find the cure. I thought depending on who you choose the game would change course. Unfortunately, 2 minutes later it's revealed that it doesn't matter. You play as your wife, whether or not you cured her. You find yourself on a titanic sized ship that has crashed (Again, why or how, no idea). The ending slightly changes depending on who you picked, but the game play doesn't.
Third, the game is entirely too short. I beat the game in about a week, only playing an hour or two a day. It's extremely linear, where you have to just solve a puzzle, and move to the next section. You don't ever really reveal WHY anything happened or what this has to do with the original games or franchise. Then at the end "Redfield" shows up.
It was fun, but highly disappointed that this didn't tie into the franchise whatsoever. Wouldn't have felt so cheated if this game connected the world more, but it just made it almost too supernatural (and for a zombie game, I know that's hard to believe). | video-games_xbox |
The Effect of the Masses. To start off, I want to make one thing clear; this review is targeted towards true RPG fans and people who loved the previous Mass Effect. If you are more of an action or FPS fan who generally enjoys qualities games (even if they do step outside of your comfort zone), then it would behoove you to go grab and play this game right now. Compared to most of the mediocre games out there these days, this game is an absolute gem. With that said, I will now continue with the true review.
Very few sequels can be categorized as `true sequels' in the essence that you may be playing as a different character with a different story and in some cases, a completely different universe. That is not the case with Mass Effect 2, where you once again take the role of Commander Shepard (whether you choose to be male of female) in his pursuit of the Reapers and peace across the galaxy. As an uber fan of the previous entry, I was expecting a similarly immersive experience that improved on the follies of the first entry.
Well, I have good news; Bioware listened to the critic's complaints and reworked almost everything to some degree. The bad news is that a lot of the best elements that made the first Mass Effect great got axed. As a result, ME2 (Mass Effect 2) is everything ME1 (Mass Effect 1) wasn't; it's well polished, fast paced and flashy. Unfortunately, ME2 exchanged these qualities for the depth, immersion and charm that characterized the first game. True fans of RPGs recognize that this is not a fair exchange and as such seriously tarnished the experience.
In the rest of this review, I will juxtapose everything in this game in relation to ME1. This is because, as with any true sequel, the predecessor is the game that set the standard and is the game that the sequel must live up to. So in essence, this is a review of both games. With that said, enjoy.
*** A summation of this review is provided at the bottom of the page. ***
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"The little things make all the difference in the universe."
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**Loading Screens**
ME1
Minimal and limited to when you selected a new planet or location and if I remember correctly it usually just showed you in the Citadel. Otherwise you simply walked from place to place or traveled via elevators or air lock (in and out of your ship). Transitions were seamless and provided entertaining conversations between team members and a high sense of realism.
ME2
The loading screens usually showed a flashy schematic of the ship or you presumably landing somewhere. They were aesthetic, but even that novelty wore off after seeing them a few times.
ADVANTAGE - Mass Effect 1; seamless transitions provide a greater level of immersion than loading screens. That was an innovation that should have been kept and expanded upon, not axed.
**Space Exploration**
ME1
You just used your galaxy map to click where you wanted to go.
ME2
Using an over the top view, you actually navigated your ship from galaxy to galaxy and from planet to planet. You needed fuel to bridge the gap to some outer galaxies and probes to explore planets.
ADVANTAGE - Mass Effect 2; This was one area where immersion and depth was actually improved, bravo.
**Outer Planet Exploration**
ME1
You used an all terrain vehicle called the Mako to explore the planets for cities, enemy bases and minerals. This process was tedious and combat in the Mako was flawed at best. It was a very `cool' concept executed very poorly.
ME2
On story planets you just warp straight into the city via loading screen. On foreign planets you `scan' the planet from the ship using a giant reticule and send out probes to find minerals and sometimes mission locations. An early upgrade allows you to speed up process, which effectively makes it a bit less tedious and soul sucking.
DRAW - Both of these exploration methods were flawed. Personally, I'd welcome a combination of the two in the third entry. An improved version of the Mako would be welcomed to enter bases on the story planets and provides a good change of pace. However for foreign planets I think being able to scan the entire planet with one probe would speed things up considerably.
**Inner Planet Exploration**
ADVANTAGE - Mass Effect 1; ME1's planets seemed much livelier and grandiose. Meaning, there were more NPCs walking around and everything was set up as an actual functioning city and ecosystem on a larger scale. In the second game, cities were much more abbreviated and robotic. There purpose for this seemed to be shortening the downtime between the fast paced story missions. They succeeded to that end, but the sacrifice in doing so was overall quality.
**Mini Games**
ME1
There was basically one quick time reaction mini game used for all hacking sections.
ME2
There a few different mini games that would show up when required to hack something. They were engaging, intelligent and actually fun...which is saying something as most the time I just find this sort of crap to just be in the way.
ADVANTAGE - Mass Effect 2; Big improvement here, nothing much else to say.
**Bugs and Glitches**
ME1
Almost every time you entered a new area in ME1 you could see the layers and textures dropping onto your characters and environment piece by piece. There was also numerous other random bug's and glitches and the occasional slow down in combat.
ME2
The game runs incredibly smoothly from beginning to end with few to no glitches at all. This might be a first for Bioware.
ADVANTAGE - Mass Effect 2; Well done Bioware, it would be nice to see this trend continue in all future games.
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"It is not the destination, but the journey that makes an experience worthwhile."
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**Story**
ADVANTAGE - Mass Effect 1; To be far, it is unrealistic to ever expect a sequel to contain a better story than the first entry in a trilogy; which is expected (and did so very well) to set the stage for events to come. With that said, I felt ME1's story was WAY better. Sarin was a worthy antagonist and the story contained revelation after revelation. You had to make many pivotal decisions affecting the good of the entire galaxy and, more importantly, future entries to the series. ME2 focused much more on the cast (which we'll get to in a second), it did not have an antagonist that I cared about and contained much fewer relevant story arcs.
**Characters**
ADVANTAGE - Mass Effect 2; While I loved the cast of the first game, this was what the second game concentrated on and they did a fabulous job in doing so. Your primary goal was to gather an elite squad with which to track down the reapers. All of the new characters are very unique, powerful and relevant. And a couple of my favorites from the first game made a triumphant return to your main party. Each character has a primary side quest associated with them, which helps flesh their back story out a bit and adds a ton of value to the game. Even the final events leading up to the games conclusion focus on its wonderful cast.
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"When all else fails, you can always start blowing stuff up!"
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**Battle System**
ME1
While ME1 did a great job integrating TPS action and RPG elements into a cohesive blend, the combat remained more focused on the RPG elements. You had a ton of skills and your success in battle was mostly based upon your manipulation and strategy of their execution. You could use all your skills independently and they recharged independently. There was no ammo, you simply had to make sure to not to overload your weapon by firing it too much or too fast. You are encouraged to focus your concentration on a single weapon as you have to flow experience into them to increase their accuracy, effectiveness and power up their weapon unique skills.
ME2
While still blending TPS and RPG elements, ME2 began to tip way more on the TPS end of the spectrum. Your characters have fewer skills and when you use one it forces all of your skills to recharge prior to using another. You now have ammo and no longer have to upgrade your weapons, which encourages you to use different weapons depending on the situation.
ADVANTAGE - Mass Effect 1; Many of the assessments I've made so far are hard to argue with, which is not the case here. Battles in ME2 are much faster paced and being encouraged to constantly switch weapons (which I did think was an improvement) provides battles with a heightened sense of intensity. I personally preferred the methodical and strategic combat of the first game though. It really irked me that you could only use one skill at a time in ME2 per character. I usually had a skill I preferred over another which meant that was the one I always used. Had I been allowed to use more than one at a time like you were able to in the first game, the battle system would have been much more satisfying.
**Customization**
ME1
There was a complex inventory system and you could customize each weapon and armor with several of its own upgrades. There were a ton of skills to upgrade which affected your battle prowess, infiltration and mediation skills. Later in the game you were able to choose a secondary specialization.
ME2
Inventory was axed, at your ship you can customize you armor with different helmets, chest plates, etcetera and even customize color and appearance. You could upgrade weapons or armor as a class amongst other things at an upgrade station. There were far less skills (4 for the main character and 3 for the secondary party members plus a skill that upgrades their stats) and there were no skills affecting outside of battle prowess. Later in the game you could choose to inherent one specialty skill from a team member.
ADVANTAGE - Mass Effect 1; This was a joke in my opinion. Yes, axing inventory made it easier to get back to the ever important slaughtering of enemies, but it greatly watered down a great product. And less skills means less thought, which once again waters down a great product. On a positive note, they did add a unique specific skill to each class in ME2, and for a couple of these classes, these are uber cool.
**Weapons**
ADVANTAGE - Mass Effect 2; I had to specify a section for this because this was a huge strength of the ME2 battle system. In the previous ME, certain weapons, such as the shotgun and sniper rifle weren't very useful because, respectively, you had to either get to close to your enemies or it was too tough to aim prior to pumping a ton of experience into the skill. Now there are powers directly associated with closing the gap between you and enemies fast and there is a much improved cover mechanic. Also, they've added power weapons and though you can only equip one at a time, the addition of rocket launchers and other powerful cool alien weapons is certainly a welcome addition.
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"In the end all that matters is value, the bang for your buck."
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**Relevant Content**
ME1
A run through of the first game could be done in about 10-15 hours if you just stuck to the main planets and played through what I like to call the `relevant content'. That being main quests and unique side quests along the main storyline. You could significantly increase your time spent if you explored a lot of planets in what is essentially pointless and fruitless filler.
ME2
If you do all the main quests and character specific side quests you could probably spend about 30+ hours finishing this game.
ADVANTAGE - Mass Effect 2; This isn't even close, ME2 has about 2X as much relevant content as its predecessor. This is a very significant upgrade and gives ME2 a huge boost in core value over its ME1.
**Replay Value**
DRAW - There was more depth and significant decisions in the first game and though significantly shorter in duration, the quality of the time spent was much higher. I played through ME1 three times trying to perfect my Shepard and relished every play through. I couldn't even get myself to complete my renegade (evil) play through of ME2, once was enough. With that said, ME2 contains a new game+ feature, which is very cool because you can start the game with all your best skills. And class specific skills could give you added motivation to give the game a second play through. My bias shifts me in the direction of ME1, but ME2 does have some nice incentives to play again.
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"Now for a shout out to all those other elements not worth talking to death..."
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THE DRAWS
With regard to graphics, music, voice acting, conversations and anything else I didn't mention both games executed tremendously well and deserve a high grade draw. That's it, that's all I have to say on that topic ;).
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"All things must come to an end, even this review"
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The best way I can describe this game, as a true fan of RPGs, is by saying it took one step forward and two steps backward. Before I elaborate further on that, here is a list of what was improved and what was made worse.
Juxtaposed to Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect 2 had...
+a better space exploration system
+better hacking mini games
+far smoother performance (flawless really)
+a deeper and more fleshed out character cast
+much faster paced battles with a better array of useful weaponry and cover mechanic
+some cool new character and class specific powers
+a much longer main story with more relevant content
+a new game+ option absent from ME1
-a much choppier and less immersive experience due to the elimination of seamless transitions replaced by loading screens
-a method of foreign planet exploration (scanning) that was just as flawed as the Mako
-lifeless and robotic feeling planets
-a much less engaging story
-considerably much less depth in its battles and customization
The purpose of these changes was obvious in my eyes, to make this game more appealing to a larger group of gamers and to that end they succeeded mightily. Mass Effect 2 is fast paced and the downtime between battles is made short. It is smooth and has powerful, interesting and well fleshed out character cast to fight alongside you. I just wish Bioware could have made their improvement without sucking so much of the depth and charm out of the experience. I also found that the frenetic pace was a little too much for what is still an RPG. As a gamer that almost exclusively plays RPGs, I find this to still be the strongest available experience recently released. It is, however, a disconcerting step away from entertaining the true fans of the genre, the fans who they should remain faithful to beyond all else because we'll be the ones still there when everybody shuffles on to the next fad.
I can strongly recommend this game to anyone, but for the true RPG fan I would suggest waiting until the price of admission drops. It is not so special or pertinent as to warrant the extra $$$. | video-games_xbox |
Slight improvements = superior kit. So my rockband 1 drum kit has been through the wringer. A broken pedal, dented pads, and cracking legs ... the thing is showing its age. When I picked up the wireless drums I was hoping for a decent step up in quality, and Harmonix delivered.
Big changes: pedal, drum heads, and teh unwired.
The drum pedal comes with a stock metal plate, so you won't have to go to pedal medals to pick one up for yourself. Unfortunately Harmonix only half ... uh ... "did" it since the hinge, which is another notorious break point in the design, is identical to the rockband 1 pedal. Based on it's appearance the RB2 pedal is identical to the RB1 pedal, with only the inclusion of the plate. Don't expect wildly different performance, and if you really want to avoid a headache go ahead and purchase the pedal medal hinge replacement now to take care of the pedal's only weak point. All in all though, the metal plate is a significant improvement over the pure plastic of the RB1 pedal.
The drum heads are waay better this time around. They seem slightly larger, but don't take my word on that, and are made of a different material. Sticks have a really nice bounce off of the surface, and there are inner and outer rings to help you hone in on the center of the pad with every hit. The outer ring is slightly harder, more rubbery, and the inner ring has a shiny surface that has a very elastic feel to it. Playing on these, whether just tapping or really tearing into them, is a much better experience. You don't have to work so hard to get your sticks to bounce which is nice, and the *thwack* of drum on pad has been seriously quieted. The pads are easily the nicest upgrade, and you should have a great time hitting these things for at least a couple of years.
These drums are also wireless, which pretty much means they behave just like any other 360 d-pad. Nothing more to say than that.
Another reviewer pointed out that the sticks included with this kit are genuine Ludwig sticks, which is a nice bonus. Oddly my RB1 set came with some pro-mark 747's, which are slightly heavier and, to me at least, have a slightly better heft because of the weight. If you've been playing with the RB1 revision one sticks, which feel like they're made out of balsa wood, then you will love the Ludwigs. On the other hand if you have revision two drums with the pro-mark sticks you'll likely want to stick with them.
As noted elsewhere Harmonix didn't exactly reinvent the wheel with the RB2 drums, but all of the little improvements, and in the case of the drum pads a BIG improvement, make the drumming experience much more fun. The game itself is fodder for another review, but if you're a RB drummer you should do yourself a favor and pick this kit up. Honestly, you will not be disappointed. | video-games_xbox |
Excellent sound, comfort + works perfectly with Xbox One. I've been battle testing the PDP Afterglow Dolby Prismatic Wireless Headset for one month - I've used it on Xbox 360 and Xbox One and it works perfectly with both.
I'm especially pleased with the performance on Xbox One. I've tested two other headsets made exclusively for the Xbox One and the PDP Afterglow blows them away. I'll share Xbox One-related details at the end of this review.
Features I love about the PDP Afterglow:
* Separate sound dials: one for game sound and another one for chat. This is HUGE for Xbox One users because the controllers group both together and makes chat management a pain. Annoying players in Xbox Live game play? Dial-down chat all the way and you won't hear them anymore with the PDP Afterglow.
* Retractable boom mic. It tucks in and extends easily
* Like telephones, the mic transmits a small portion of your voice to the headphones. This eliminates the "talking with earplugs" effect.
* "Mode" button (just behind mic). By default when you turn on the headphones the sound mode is set to "Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound" and this is indicated by a solid blue light at the tip of the mic.
- Pushing the Mode button once changes that small light to solid red which means it's now in "Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound + Bass Boost."
- Pushing the Mode button a second time changes the color to solid purple, indicating "Immersive Surround Sound."
* Mute by tapping the center of the left earphone once - unmute the same way.
* Built-in rechargeable battery
* No wires needed unless you want to chat during Xbox Live gameplay. The charge stand connects directly with your TV's optical and HDMI ports and the sound signals are then broadcast directly to the headphones (up to 100 feet).
Slightly annoying feature:
* Small LED light at tip of the mic is annoying because you can see it from the corner of your eye
If using with the Xbox One:
* You'll need the "Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter"
* In "Settings" under "Digital Audio" be sure that "HDMI audio" and "Optical audio" are selected
* You'll also need to recalibrate the Kinect once everything else is in place. Otherwise the volume will be too low. Do this under "Settings > "Kinect" > "Kinect doesn't hear me."
Once you do the above, you should not experience any issues with Xbox One use.
I've tested several gaming headphones over the years for Xbox 360 (and 2 others for Xbox One) and at its price point, the PDP Afterglow Dolby Prismatic Wireless Headset is at the top in terms of performance (and the LED lights are very cool, too). | video-games_xbox |
Not my usual. I originally purchased this game at my workplace for a friend who is a big fan the of Fatal Frame series. Since I got a used copy I went and tested it on my Xbox 360 and after about an hour came to realize that this game was pretty good. Role Playing Games are my usual forte and Fatal Frame had scared me away for 5 years, however, playing this as far as I have I wish now that I wasn't such a pansy to play it all those years ago.
Controls: I'm typically a Sony/Playstation person, and yet the Xbox controls worked out very well and were easy for me to grasp, Hit `B' to arm your camera....center your shot with the left analog and then Right Trigger to take your photo....
Graphics: Even though we're the in new gen era with high def, I have to say that the graphics for the game were not only fit for their time but also fits VERY well for what this game is about. Grainy, old feeling screens at times for flashbacks and encounters and yet very beautifully put together FMV for when there is more story-telling about the ritual and what was going on in the game
Gameplay: Be prepared to jump.....a lot of things will pop out at you or near you. This is the point of the survival-horror genre that this game is categorized as. There is some/a lot of backtracking that you'll have to do in order to finds key items to get to other compounds in the Lost Village which might get redundant but it's worth it since you never know if you'll find more health items or more journals from your backtracking. Pretty clean and simple gameplay...not as confusing to do as my attempt at Resident Evil: Code Veronica X for PS2 with it's ackward camera angles. One thing you will have to get used to is the view/camera change when walking down hallways but it will not take long to adapt.
Story: Per the Fatal Frame series status quo.....it's is creepy as all get out. A village lost to civilization is close to the main twin character's home town. A flood from a nearby water source will soon cover this town. Your twin sister wanders away from you and you have to find her and you end up in the `Lost Village' Things start to get crazy and creepy right away. Lots of Japanese superstition and lore go into each and everyone of these games and this one delivers and then some. The ritual you will have figure out is a pretty wicked ritual....but we're not going to spoil that.
So get your copy, sit down.....and be ready to have your pants scared off.
This version of the game for Xbox has an extra mode of which you can play, FPS/First Person Shooter mode and also a very touching actual good/somewhat happy ending called `Promise' which you will get if you play the game at the highest difficulty.
Big plus.....you all noticed I tested this on the Xbox 360....it is compatible so long as you download the update needed to support original Xbox games | video-games_xbox |
Bombs over Berlin. It's more than a few years old at this point, but this has been THE go-to WWII shooter for me since the first time I've played it.
(The Platinum Hits addition doesn't have any noteworthy additions, by the by, just a cool box and a slightly more recenlty printed copy of the game. Just so you know...)
While there are many options out there, this one has always stood out to me in both atmosphere and gameplay. I'll come back to this one again and again over the much more powerful Modern Warfare series just as sure as you might return to the original mario over his 3D options, and for the same reasons: increased power and hardware doesn't necessarily make it more playable.
One thing Call of Duty used to do which set the games apart from Medal of Honor (and which they've recently lost touch with in Black Ops and World at War) was give the feeling of being one small part of a much larger conflict. One man in an army as opposed to a one-man army, if you get my drift. For years, FPS had relied on the old standard of making you into a super soldier and god of the battle field before whom the enemy crumbles like the Berlin Wall (too soon?). And that's all well and good, but I've been doing that since Doom for crying out loud and a change once a decade or so can be a good thing. Call of Duty switched things up and did an excellent job of dropping you into a CHAOTIC battlefield with often vague orders ("Soldier... go take that hill, don't ask how, just do it!") that made you feel almost insignificant. You were never alone on the battlefied (if you were, you were about to die) and the feel was as close to being in live battle as part of an army as I would ever want to come.
Call of Duty 3 took some serious steps backward in gameplay; quick-time events and loading animations frequently reminded you that, yes, you are playing a video-game. Call of Duty 4 (otherwise known as the game that change the face of the FPS) took great strides in many, many directions and recaptured that sense of being as small, fragile portion of a larger conflict; but for me it came with this hard-to-describe uneasy feeling. The murder has become too real for my taste, it's official. Fantasy has slipped to far away and takes away from my overall enjoyment and desire to ever play the damn thing again. The Modern Warfare games are undeniably marvles of the format... I just never need to play them twice.
Call of Duty 2 has kept me entertained for more hours than I care to admit. The level designs are memorable and engaging, the AI is just fine, the game physics are satysfying without being disturbing, and the sound design is as top-notch as anything you'll find (tell me you weren't pumped when your Russian Comrades lead an all out charge against the retreating Nazis in the second level; tell me that battle cry after some frantic sniping didn't make ya tingle!). It's easy, guilt-free (moslty), and exciting warfare that can be picked up and put down or explored in depth as you wish. It's an extremely playable and effective game that stands up to it's overpowered younger brothers and a definite needed addition to any game library. | video-games_xbox |
Shame. American audiences where graced with the speed and fury of the Afro Samurai, a cold hearted warrior whose has one goal, avenger his father death, but unlike other revenge fantasies this one has a twist. Afro farther was "The Number One" meaning he posses a sacred headband that signified him as thee best fighter in the land and made him a moral God, no other warrior could challenge him with the exception of the Number Two, the second best warrior in the land.
Well Afro's father lost his position as the Number One when his head fell off his shoulders thanks Justice, a dark, decrepit looking gun slinger who has more then a Ace up his sleeve. After afro is raised by a kind sword master Afro begins a long bloody trek to find the number one, because after Afro gets the Number Two headband, any wannabe can challenge him.
Stick with the mange and anime, because the video game doesn't do any of them justice. Although visual striking game with animation style like a comic book and all of the voice talent from the anime, the game suffers from lack luster game play. Your moves are very limited. You have no range weapons, forcing you to deflect bullets and missiles, which is nearly impossible to do because the timing of your focus strikes, that allow you to perform very powerful hits, has to be perfect, slicing ropes and lines is hard because you have to be in the right spot to perform the strike, otherwise your sword just bounces off. Another problem is that the enemy become too strong too quickly, a battle with four or five thugs could take up to ten to fifteen minutes because their skin is so thick and you have such a limited number of combos, which in it's self doesn't make any sense because your character can earn experience points for killing but those points don't get you anything, not more life or better weapons.
In some respects it's too much like the anime, Afro only uses his sword and a few kicks, nothing else, no other strikes or combos. Because of this Afro became the first game on the Xbox that I never finished. | video-games_xbox |
Dragon Age - The Story of Hawke (not Dragon Age 2. If Dragon Age: Awakenings should have been anything, it should have been this. To call this game, Dragon Age 2 is misleading.
The original game had alot of complexity, including the story and characters.
Dragon Age 2 though is sloppy, and feels rushed out the door for profit (blame EA).
- References to characters in Origins that don't match up
- Repetitive dungeons and areas that are the same thing over and over again the entire game
- Combat is now a mess of button mashing which with 40+ hours of gameplay, that gets seriously old really quick.
- Inability to customize your companions, dumbing down attribute armor and look
- Flat story that takes place inside a small city with little to see or explore
- Darkspawn are almost entirely missing from the game with a few small exceptions
- Attempts to add drama and emotion where none exists with so little immersion
- The game is sometimes buggy, and there are various things that need fixing and patches
I have little to say positive about the game after putting 50 hours into it. I'm playing it at this point simply to finish it and get whatever achievements are left along the way.
Dragon Age Origins was a masterpiece of gaming, and sheer genius! It was engaging, and your decisions shaped the world around you from deciding the political direction of the dwarves, to deciding if people live or die over religious beliefs, to deciding what is morally right. Dragon Age 2 doesn't offer much if any of this. It's heavily scripted, and tends to lead in a single direction regardless of your actions. You are really not shaping the world around you for anything grand, and your moral decisions really only have an impact on if you gain friend or rival points with your companions.
Dragon Age Origins was a 10/10 game imo.
Dragon Age 2 is a hardly worth a 2 or 3. There are no points for graphics or soundtrack, as the game is about story and immersion in the world around you. This game has none of it.
I'm giving it a 2/5 on here because despite my dislike I've still put 50 hours into it and continue to play. If I turned it into a frisbee, I'd say 1/5. It's a point of "below average" despite the fact I am greatly disappointed.
Unless BioWare promises to bring back what made Origins so great, I doubt I will even bother with Dragon Age 3 (which I am sure will happen just as the sun will rise in the morning) | video-games_xbox |
I'm going to F5 my copy once I finish this review. Admittedly, I purchased this as a bit of a pacifier as I wait for the next gen release of the game to come out. I knew this version wouldn't be stellar, but good God what I got is laughable at best.
To sum it up, I felt the same way playing this as I did when I first played Saints Row IV: cheated.
I won't repeat any of the comments/ criticisms already stated (depleted roster, stripped down create a wrestler mode, etc.), but I will say that this actually feels like a slap in the face to last gen console owners. I realize that in terms of a business move, it makes sense to give them something as you concentrate all your efforts on the next gen engines, but paying people deserve better than WWE 2K15. Seriously, 2K14 is the better game and I'm very glad I held on to mine. I bought this today and after only a few minutes of playing it I can tell you it's going back. The play feels inorganic, somehow the models look more artificial than they did in 2K14, and everything just feels like a bare-minimum version of what it could have been. I've been a fan of wrestling and of wrestling videogames for as long as I can remember and this release is by far the worst of the lot. Truth be told, if 2K Games is comfortable releasing this, part of me cringes wondering what the next gen versions will play/ look like. I'm still hopeful, but those hopes are a little dashed.
If you're like me and bought this as a pacifier until the next gen versions release and just really wanted to play as some of the cool new personalities in the sport (Bray Wyatt, Rusev, etc.), do yourself a favor and buy 2K14 and hit up the WWE Create a Wrestler forum. I have no idea how they did it, but everyday players made some of the most convincing character models for not only the new talents, but old one as well (a Sting CAW I downloaded last year looks better than the pre-order bonus that came with `15). It might be last year's version, but it's light years ahead of what we've been given today. | video-games_xbox |
Welcome to the new world 9.5/10. My first home console wasn't the Playstation or PS2
I've been playing video games since 1983/early 1984 my first two home consoles were the Atari2600 and the Original NES
and as a kid i use to go into these old run down sleazy building called Arcades where you would put a coin into the arcade cabinet and get to play a game!
I only bring this up because I've seen it all when it comes to video games i also don't hide behind some phony online name
So my point of view/opinion should hold a little water...........
One thing anyone should know if there are any two star reviews or below two stars
They didn't play a single moment of this title
They are just being fanboy trolls (The biggest problem with this recent generation has been this very problem)
Instead of trolling for hookers or getting a full time job these clowns have to just blatantly lie........
For what real reason i wish i knew
Enough of my rambling.....
Quantum Break has been in development hell for a long time and it finally arrives (After countless set backs and changes all around)
Is this worth all the hype or lack of hype Microsoft has really dropped the ball on pushing this
Keep in mind I'm taking my sweet time with this game it took 2hrs to finish the first chapter (That includes the mini episode that bridges the gap)
Graphics/Sound:
Graphically it's gorgeous it's pretty smooth (What's the HD resolution i honestly can't tell and don't care unless you are the Bionic Man or Superman you can't tell........ Whoever says other wise is full of it.....
Sound is top notch
Story: It's better you know as little as possible going into this title it's a Remedy title if you loved Max Payne1-2 or Alan Wake you'll dig this it's on that same level of quality
If you are a fan of time travel material you will also really like it
There are elements from Heroes Reborn and 12 Monkeys (the tv series) in this game
I can tell from completing the first chapter this is one of those stories you'll have to play through a few times to fully understand everything which i appreciate
If you are a die hard Alan Wake fan there are a number of very cool easter eggs for A.W. fans!
Which i totally appreciate and love
The live action interludes/mini tv segments are unique and very fresh (ok not completely fresh since during the Sega CD live action footage was being cranked out like internet porn) But, it adds a lot to this story everything is shot beautifully except the two fight scenes at the end of the first chapter look off either edited to much or shot like a quick MTV style look (everything else works during these live action cut scenes)
also the real cast is phenomenal
Shawn Ashmore, (Jack Joyce)
Aidan Gillen (Paul Serene)
Patrick Heusinger (Liam Burke)
Brooke Nevin (Emily Burke) Great actress if you ever seen A&E's Breakout Kings you'd agree 110% on that statement
Lance Reddick (Martin Hatch) amazing super underrated character actor watch him in Amazon's Bosch he's a rockstar!
Dominic Monaghan (William Joyce)
Courtney Hope (Beth Wilder)
Controls: The controls take some getting use to (If you played Max Payne or Alan Wake you'll feel at home sort of
The controls are the only real disappointing thing but, once you get more upgrades I'm sure it'll help (Hopefully)
Is this the best game ever made (I guess that all depends on your age and how many games you've played)
It's super ambitious and a real game changer
It reminds me of back in the mid 1980's when in almost every Arcade you had the run of the mill Arcade cabinets (Pac Man, Donkey Kong, APB, Golden Axe) then over in a dark corner you had Dragon's Layer (a superior laserdisc animated video game)
Quantum Break is that superior game that changes everything 9.5/10
my MS gamertag Duckman 1979 | video-games_xbox |
bought it for the updates to single player dynasty mode as compared to '12, 4.5 stars. NCAA 12 is the first version of this series I've owned and I enjoyed it, but would get annoyed when my conference did really well, but I couldn't benefit from it for recruiting because the were in a bad conference (I like the challenge of building winners out of 1 star teams in terrible conferences. In '12 I used North Texas, in this one I used Tulane so far)
For me it was a choice between not getting the coaching trees in '14, or loosing the scouting/recruiting depth in this one. I like the scouting/recruiting better than actually playing the games, so I went with this one.
There are a few glitches I've noted, but not enough to take a full star away for me as it's still pretty much what I wanted and hasn't limited me much given that I can choose pitches in this one versus the randomness of '12
- team prestige for Tulane has not changed and I've won every game for all four seasons and last season had 11 award winners. This was a known flaw that was to be fixed with the patch. The patch didn't fix it for me - at least not for ongoing dynasties like it said it would.
- not entirely sure how coach prestige works. Seems to reset to somewhere between B+ and B- every season even though I'm the winningest coach. I've built my program up enough that it doesn't matter, but it's odd.
- similarly, coach prestige, contender and one or two other pitches, sometimes will show one thing, and then you recruit and the recruits have a different value. At first I thought it lagged, but it varies by recruits in the same week, that were added to the recruit board at the same time. So I'm not really sure what it's about.
- some of the more easily changeable pitches, like playing style, don't always work when you compare. I'll have a player that it's his most important pitch and if you compare and I have an A+ and the other school a D, you think I'd smoke them, something like 130+ for me and 130 - for them. Nope. Often I lose out and it's a 0-0, but not always. Haven't figured out out what makes the difference. Have also had a few times where once I've asked the importance, it displays 0-0 for compare (before I choose it), but I've clicked it out of habit, and it did work right so the response is not universal.
- very possible I've just gotten better since playing '12, but this seams easier. I won most of my games by 40+, some by over 100 on 8 minute quarters with Tulane in season one, toughest difficulty, no edits. Was expecting my rise to be a slower process. Currently Idaho has been the first team I've seen drop to 50s in overall rating, I may try to drive it down by playing them a few years and then take them over for an added challenge. | video-games_xbox |
Just what I needed. After a few weeks of research between all popular brands of gaming headsets, I chose to go with this particular pair. To keep it simple, this headset does everything I could ask for it for playing Xbox 360. This is my first headset, although I have used a friend's of a different leading brand.
First of all, out of the package it is pretty easy to physically setup, with a plug to the Xbox 360 Slim and the power cord, it was just about as it easy as it could get. It is very easy to just want to jump online straight out of the package, but I took the time to make sure everything was to my preference. This was one thing I'm sure many people aren't thrilled about. Sitting down to take the time to figure out what everything is capable of doing and setting it up to where sensitivities are just right, sound preference is chosen (3 options for sound mode is nice: bass, normal, and treble), and get it to where everybody can hear me and I can hear everybody else crystal clear.
+The mic boom is nice, out of the way, and the sensitivity can easily be adjusted. That means NO MIC FARTS (a TB brand signature sound...) and my friends don't say I'm yelling or blowing out their speakers.
+The speakers put out better than I've ever heard from a surround sound system, sound bar, or the other headset I sampled. Again, those settings are adjustable to your preference making it easier to hear everything - EVERYTHING - in games (a lot of FPS, racing games). You will hear things you didn't think were there. Hearing things from their incoming direction is awesome. I've called out people around corners, buildings, behind me, etc. before my team mates even know they are there.
+The ear muff fit is comfortable to me. No fatigue or pain problems with my normal sized head or while wearing glasses. Feels clunky at first wear, but it is a headset after all.
+The wireless capability is VERY convenient. Slight bummer there has to be wire to the controller, but it's a perfect length. When not in a party, the wire is not needed, which is great for watching tv/movies on the Xbox apps and getting stuff done around the room.
+PERFECT for Xbox 360, have not, and do not plan on, using it for PC.
+Mass Effect 3 styling was a plus in my book, since I'm a franchise fan. If you want non-styled one, I understand the other is the same headset for a little less.
+Rechargeable docking station is very functional, well appreciated, and pretty stylish as well. The convenience of the charging dock tower was a bit of a deal maker for me.
- The one, O N E, fault with this headset is the batteries that come in the package. I found some higher 1000mAh rechargeable AAA's on Amazon for $5 that make the longevity of the headset significantly longer (keeping the old ones as back ups). Any AAA's recharge the same way in the headset with the dock. It just seems that the extra oomph out of the copper-topped rechargeable batteries seals the deal with this headset.
So, would I recommend to a friend? DEFINITELY YES! I suggested it to a friend, he got a different brand, wired, and now wishes he went with my suggestion.
Cool aesthetics aside, this headset is top of the line, right on time. Get it if you're looking into one, or replace your old headset with this one. | video-games_xbox |
The BEST value/performance console around comes with flaws. Technically speaking, the XBOX is the superior console; the features worth actually far more than the shelf price. What you essentially get is a computer running a specialized Linux, and a well-known fact about the XBOX is that it can be cracked and hacked and turned into an even MORE powerful toy/tool. The graphics are top-notch, and this box is FAST FAST FAST. For games that utilize the hardware, you'll never have to wait for maps to load...load...load...again.
Gamewise, the titles are sparse compared to PS2, and don't have the legacy Nintendo brings with them, but truthfully speaking the games I want to play are on XBOX, and I think the games look and play the best on XBOX.
Another bonus with the XBOX is how stable it is, considering that it's actually a computer and ironically by Microsoft. I have NEVER had to reboot a game, or press the reset button because a game locked up mid-play. And, also my relationship with the XBOX is stable, as i have not gotten bored with it yet - meaning it has outlived any other system i have ever owned, and only rivals the NES for hours i have wasted in front of it
I could go on, but i'd like to address some "points" made in other reviews here:
"Its controller is huge," True, for the original controller, but most all of them ship with the "S" controller now, which has a better overall design. It fits my 3 and 6-yr-olds' hands, as well as my petite fiancee's. We use the wireless Logitech ones, which are a worthy upgrade.
"No raised identifiers on the buttons" I think the buttons are more visually identifying, using both letters *and* colors. I'm sure after just a couple minutes of play you'll know that Y is up, A is down and it'll be second nature which button does what in no time, so "confusing buttons" is an invalid argument in my opinion.
"Front loading tray" While making the arched top useless for stacking other things on top of each other to burn out those things due to improper air circulation in component racks, a front loading tray indicates that it might be a separate component in the XBOX that can be replaced more easily than say, some top-loader that is soldered into the main board of the console.
"The thing is HUGE" The system itself is larger than the other consoles, but do you even realize all the guts that are in this thing? That's like complaining that the hood on a Dodge Magnum is too big compared to your Geo Metro. Use some common sense, folks.
To those that are unfamiliar or misinformed regarding the HT abilities, YES the XBOX Decodes BOTH Dolby and DTS. It's capable of 480i/p, 720p, and 1080i. It works on 16X9 TVs without stretching the picture, and all those options are electable and editable. I know this because i have enabled, used, disabled, or scrolled past the various options for *my own* setup.
Personally, i don't like using it as a DVD player because there's no DCDi or Burr/Brown, but you don't usually get those sound and audio enhancers on a DVD player less than $200.00 anyway, and you definitely can't play games on one.
"Not enough good games" I play Madden 2005, NFS Underground 1&2, Halo & Halo 2, GTA 3 & Vice City, and a couple others. I don't care about Mario anymore - Munch's Oddysee is my new favorite platform game. The only thing that makes me envy another console's games is the current absense of GTA San Andreas from the XBOX reportoire. But the number of XBOX games with *nudity* are higher, and that's what counts for a dirty near-30 guy like me.
But there are some flaws, namely the whole "add on" scams including the DVD controller, the unsupplied but needed Home Theater cables for component video and digital sound, the Xbox live subscription service, the single controller. Does Bill Gates need an 87th room on the mansion?
Aside from those little gripes (and i'm knocking off a star for the 90 bucks i spent on those HT cables...and you know the audio and video ones are sold separate?) I have nothing but praise for what i think is by far the best bang for your gaming buck out there. | video-games_xbox |
The best of the bunch. Let me start this by saying I am a 36 year old Army Veteran and a hardcore FPS game fanatic...
I play them all COD, BF3, MOH, MWF3 ETC... and I love them all, each has there own strengths and weaknesses. I have played about 20 hours of MOH:WF now so I feel I can give a fairly accurate review of the game.
Single Player:
Short, but very good. I beat it in about 4-5 hours but enjoyed every second of it and I will play through several more times I am sure. As I said before I was in the Army for 12 years and the game did someting for me that others have not. It brought the personal side of war and being a soldier into the picture. It showed the affect that it has on family and every day life.
Without going into any details and spoil the ride for you the ending made me well up a bit. Maybe because of my time working with the Casualty and Mortuary Affairs division. It was the best ending to any modern war game I can remember. It's just my opinion and I'm sure some will disagree.
Multi Player:
This is the focus currently of the FPS genre and most likly where you will get your bang for the buck. First off make sure you install the HD graphics on the disk when prompted. The game looks amazing in my opinion.
I played the Beta a bit and liked it but when I first jumped into the full game version I was a little disappointed. It went away when I finaly figured out the game. Give it a good 2-3 hours and you will be hooked. I also suggest playing just team death match to get the hang of things. To me this is like a hybrid of COD/BF3.
The real change here is the fire teams. Get a friend with a headset and work together, that is where the game shines. If you just run off by yourself you are missing the entire reason for this game. Thats not saying you have to stay side by side, it's better to give yourself a half a screen or so so you can react to whatever took out your partner or he can react to whatever took out you.
If you play the game like it's ment to you will enjoy it. It's a welcome change to a format that is getting a little old.
Is it better the Black Op's 2? Who knows, that game is not out yet but I have it on pre-order and I will find out. I do however believe this is the best FPS currently out today.
*** UPDATE 11/01/2012 ***
I now have over 30 hours into multiplayer and about 18 into single beating it on Normal, Hard, Tier 1 and currently working on Hardcore.
I stand by my original review however I am removing 1 star because I have now run into a couple of glitches. I am sure they will be fixed in a future patch and when they are I may bump the score back up to 5 stars.
The major glitch that currently annoys me is the "Warchief" achievment. Because I played Battlefield 3 I was granted early access to a couple of classes right off. This however glitched the achievement for unlocking all classes. I know it will be fixed but it was annoying to hit level 75 and not get the achievement.
The other glitch is with the Blackhawk kill streak. Sometimes when you call it in, it is positioned so that you are facing off the map and are unable to shoot anyone.
Lastly the spawns in some game modes are a bit annoying. Not that bad but they do need some tweaking.
The Achievement glitches have been fixed and some of the other issues have gotten better. I must say it's interesting how many of the fixes can be done server side with this game. It eliminates the time it takes for Microsoft to certify a patch and push it out to the users. I hope a lot more future games use this model of updates. I will still leave my review at 4 stars for the moment and will update this review as needed.
**** UPDATE 11/13/12 ****
I have been playing Black Ops 2 and I am very disappointed, it is the same as black ops except the maps now cater to snipers & corner campers. It should have been a DLC add-on to Black Ops not a $60.00 game. In my oppinion buy MOH:WF if you are only buying one, it is by far a better game if you ask me. Even with the bugs and those will be fixed.
Activision/Treyarch, if I wanted to play Black Ops 1 over again I could have just put my original disk back in. I don't think I needed to buy a 60.00 add-on with poorly designed maps. My next COD purchase will not be a pre-order. | video-games_xbox |
Wonderful game that was likely rushed for launch. After spending some time with Forza Motorsport 5, I find that it is a wonderful, if not slightly flawed experience. The thrill of driving various cars will keep you coming back for more, but you will soon find the car selection and track selection wearing on you.
Gameplay:
From a gameplay perspective, this game plays like any other Forza game. It's a simulation racer that can drive more like an arcade racer if you'd like it to, but the true fun lies in taking off those arcade racer assists and getting a feel for individual cars. As you get more comfortable with the game, removing additional assists increases your payout from races and encourages you to appreciate the amount of thought that went in to the driving physics for the game. I can feel when I push my Lancer Evolution IX s pretty awesome to behold. What I have also loved since first playing this game is the implementation of the Impulse Triggers. As your wheels lose traction from accelerating too heavily out of a corner, or lock from breaking too heavily, subtle vibrations are sent through the Impulse Triggers to let you know. It's a very slick way of letting you know how your car is performing, and gives additional feedback from the game. Awesome.
Likewise, the AI has been improved by virtually removing it from the equation. As long as you are connected to Xbox Live, the game populates each race with Drivatars, or AI that has been trained by the driving habits of real players. As you (and others) complete each race, information from that race is take on how you pass, turn, accelerate, brake, etc. This information is in turn incorporated into a unique AI profile, and populates the races of other players. This makes for some unpredictable AI that drive just as imperfectly as real drivers. That's awesome. What isn't so awesome is that some people race like jerks and try to pit maneuver or run you into walls to win a race - and that's recorded to. Overall, it is a great enhancement to the game, even if a little frustrating because it's sometimes a bit too human. Each race is populated with up to 16 of these racers, which is a great improvement on player count.
Car customization, upgrades, and tuning are all present as you would expect them to be. The beauty of Forza is that with enough time and effort, you can both create a completely unique paint job and a perfect tuning setup for your driving style that make you feel like a part of yourself is truly present in the game.
Graphics:
This game looks stunning, and the sense of speed portrayed is incredible. While there is a bit of aliasing to be found from place to place, everything from the tracks to the skies to the background mountains to the dimples in the clear coat of a car's paint looks incredible. You can tell that Turn 10 spent obsessive amounts of time making the game look this good, and their work has certainly paid off.
Tracks and Cars:
This is unfortunately where the game loses a star. As far as tracks and cars are concerned, the selection is limited, with about 200 cars and 15 track locations. While most track locations have multiple tracks for that particular circuit available, it doesn't stop you from experiencing deja vu time and again. Within the first couple hours of play, you'll have experienced most all of the tracks available in the game, and with the loss of some tracks (to include Nurburgring) from previous games, you can't help but feel a bit disappointed. Likewise, the car selection is good but not great. All the cars available of course look great because each is available in Forzavista (a detailed look at each individual car, including commentary on its history), but some models that I would expect to be there simply aren't. TVR Sagaris but no Cerbera? Koenigsegg Agera but no CCX? No new Honda NSX? You get the picture. The list is still pretty long, but not as exhaustive as I've come to expect. Likewise, the in-game economy is currently broken (cars cost way too much and rate of accumulation is slow), although Turn 10 has indicated changes are coming in the month of December.
Multiplayer:
Your standard fare for a racer, not really much worth mentioning here.
Overall:
Forza Motorsport 5 is a great game despite its shortcomings. With Turn 10 committed to improving the experience in this game for some time to come, I'm sure that it will continue to be a great experience. If you like simulation racers, then this is certainly the game for you. It shows off what the Xbox One has to offer, and maintains its signature Forza flair. Despite having a shorter track and car list than previous games, you can't help but wonder if this is largely due to being a launch title for the console. Had Turn 10 been given more time to bring everything up to their expectations, I'm sure we would have seen a more extensive list.
4/5
Pros:
- Beautiful graphics
- Excellent physics
- Incredible attention to detail
Cons:
- Short car and track lists
- In-game economy currently broken | video-games_xbox |
I'm a simple man with simple tastes. After several hours of playing the multi-player, I honestly can't wait to get back to playing; I'm constantly thinking about how to set up my classes. Why am I writing this review right now when I could be playing? This transcends me.
This review is based only in the multi-player. I have not touched the single-player yet, but I plan on it.
Game play: The Bad
-While prone, you cannot move sideways.
-Reload speed is a bit too fast; I believe this takes away the necessity of switching to your secondary weapon.
-Bullets still follow a straight-forward trajectory; I believe this makes long-range sniping a tad bit overpowered. Good thing the maps aren't huge.
Game play: The Good
-Movements are fluid; sensitivity is customizable, prone works well, drop shotting works (as in MW2).
-The game is very fast paced, and as always is reflex dependent. I'm a simple man, and although decision making is a large part of MW3, I'm happy that I can still get soaked into the twitch/reflex aspect of the game.
-So far, the maps are immersive and the design of the maps play a large part in your decision making process. Fun stuff.
Features: The Bad
-The addition of weapon proficiencies seem to put too much emphasis on the gun; this creates an even larger gap between players of different levels.
-The UMP is overpowered, yet again. Silencer+UMP = 30 kills/match. Nuff said.
Features: The Good
-The support class! Wow! I feel like this makes the game a different species from shooters on the market today. The kill-streak classes are innovative and fun. With the addition of the support kill-streaks, you don't have to worry about dying(as much) as support kill-streaks continue through death; this will also drastically reduce the number of campers in the game. You still have the option to use the "normal" assault kill-streaks. I can't wait to see what the specialist kill-streaks have in store for me.
-The guns. Everything seems balanced so far. The M16 has been balanced, and exploitation of double Y'ing(Shoot/YY/Shoot/YY/Shoot)has been lessed, if not removed.
I find this game outrageously rewarding. I don't use the word amazing very often, but I honestly feel that the multi-player of this game is just that: amazing and rewarding on a primal level.
I could get into some other details about this game like graphics, sound design and interface, but these aspects of the game wither next to the replay-ability of this game.
Overall, I've based my rating on enjoyability, because if there ever was any one thing you should judge a game on, it's how fun it is. | video-games_xbox |
An Xcellent Middle Chapter to the Kotor Series. I loved the first Knights of the Old Republic, and continued to play through it many times even after beating the game. Yes it was that good!!! And this comes from a person who does not consider himself a gamer. The sequel Sith Lords adds a dose of polish to some of the rough spots from the original game, such as new Faces for the heroes, more choices and control over companions, and one of my favorites although a minor thing to some people. The Jedi robes look much cool then they did in the first game. Even more feats and Jedi powers have been added into the mix, and I am sure that everyone has their Can't Miss combonation that they choose EVERY time they play. I know i do!! The graphics are very nice, and the gameplay is simple for if i can master it then anyone can. it does take some practice and skill to acheive the right combo's of feats, skills, and powers so don't feel bad if you don't get it on the first play.
The story follows the first game, this game taking place 5 years after the original game (new players should really play the first Knights of the old republic first to get the full effect of some of the lingo, and special appearences from the previous game.) You are the last jedi, and of course the Sith are chasing you all across the galaxy, and you must use all of your abilities to either fight for the good, or the evil depending on your preferences. Though it does not carry the whopper of a plot twist that the original carried, and one of the few downsides of the game in my opinion. The story moves along very well in the beginning only near the end does it bog down a little bit in crosses, doublecrosses, and minor glitches in the game that left me puzzled with cut scenes that did not make sense such as the one scene where one character appears to kill another character but then all is forgotten once the cut scene has ended. I'm sure that you have read that the game ends on a bit of a downer, only due to the fact that i suspect that Kotor III is due out sometime, cuz the game literally leaves you hanging in space. Still it is an excellent game, for the Star Wars fan, and the casual gamer alike. Enjoy!!! | video-games_xbox |
Tony Hawk's Alive 'n Kickin. The Tony Hawk series seems like it's been going on forever, and each game seems to add on even more innovation than the last game. But the question must be asked: What more could Activision add to the fifth installment of a skateboard game? Well to be truthful, after playing copious amount of hours there was plenty to be added to the series and this installment has proved it.
The gameplay has been completely revolutionized with the ability to GET OFF your skateboard. Getting of your skateboard and walking allows the player to climb, jump, and run to new elevations and new area's of the city which lets you find secret places to skate. Not only do you get the ability to walk, but you get the ability to drive! Yes, drive in the city hitting and wrecking anything you choose to.
Another cool thing about THUG was that it was free roaming based. Which means you don't always have to do objectives and your practically free to do what you want in the various cities you visit. In short, the gameplay engine is similar to the ever-popular Grand Theft Auto series. THUG is even story driven, which is a huge innovation for the series. With each task and objective you complete, a peice of the story is opened and a new slew of objectives arrive and are waiting to be completed.
The sound and music was great. Especially if you have an XBox, not only because the XBox supports Dolby Digital 5.1, but because it let's you make your own custom soundtrack from all your CD's. The voice acting was good because all the voices were bearable.
The graphics were good, but they were not exactly up to par. Especially seeing as I was playing the XBox version, and we all know what the XBox is capable of doing. The animation for the tricks and moves was flawless, everything moved completely smooth and hiccup free.
To sum this game up for the XBox I would have to put it like this: It's good, so buy it. If you follow my advice you will not be dissapointed.
Hit
+ Solid gameplay
+ Great sound and music
+ Very innovative for the series
+ Good graphics
Miss
_ Graphics are good but they could be better
_ No facemaker for the GC or XBox version | video-games_xbox |
The first to reward you for crashing....spectacularly . The racing style of Burnout 3 is new to me. The Need for Speed series was extremely popular, yet it was just another racing game that offered only a little in terms of overall versatility. The race is only confined to just out-speeding your opponent to win rewards. But the concept of Burnout 3 is different and surprising, to say the least. This isn't a game where you out - gun your opponent by stepping on the gas pedal and sveltly moving your car. Here, you are rewarded by actually taking your opponent down !. You gain points by crashing into your opponent and send him flying out of the circuit. By doing so, you gain special energy in the form of 'Boost" which when activated, simply propels your car to breathtaking speeds. The end result, is a game that offers you purely satisfying experience and leaves you wanting more.....
Gameplay, Graphics and Sound....
The real star of Burnout 3 is undoubtedly its gameplay. You are pitched against other cars and you gain points or win the race by crashing them into various objects like civilian vehicles, road-bends etc. You earn 'Boost' by doing so. When activated, 'Boost' speeds up your car exponentially thus giving you the potential to out-race your opponents or causing greater damage when taking them down. You increase your Boost meter by taking down others, or you lose your meter if your opponent takes you down!. When you crash, you can slow down and slightly steer your car to make an 'After touch' takedown that, if successfully accomplished, maintains your Boost meter intact. Takedowns are real fun and the variety of ways by which you can do so is immense. This adds a lot to replay value. In the career mode, you start out with basic cars and by winning events around the world, you unlock new events and better cars. Each event has its own charm and not all events are the same. Some have pure racing, some have just takedown counts, while others focus on you to crash into incoming traffic in a way to gain maximum points. Thus you are never given the same mundane stuff. Rather Burnout 3 offers something new. And as you unlock yourself all the way through to the Super car series, the levels of speed you attain is freakish and eye-popping.
The graphics are secondary to Burnout 3 but they are not far behind to gameplay. Rather, if it wasn't for it, then the game would have looked perceptibly dull. It surely is the best around in business, but slightly less detailed than say Project Gotham Racing 2. It has been specifically designed to showcase the speed of the game, and at no point in the game will you find the frame rate dropping below 60fps. Your car is brilliantly detailed. It will look hazy and blurred at the back when propelling forward, showing you the real sense of speed . The sudden fall back of the environment when you Boost is jaw-dropping. Also the effect of cars whizzing past you when you Boost is tremendous if not downright astonishing, giving you a thrill unseen in other titles. However, the civilian traffic and the surrounding flora and fauna are a bit blocky but passable. Whose got the time to stare when you're nitro-ing at over 200 mph!.
The real beauty of the game come into fray when you crash. Your car will tumble across, hitting incoming vehicles, which in turn get ripped apart around the surrounding vehicles, dealing truly spectacular damage. The crash physics is phenomenal and the most complex in any game to date. What makes Burnout 3 so good is that you have not only pure adrenaline driving, but you can just about smash into anything and everything to bring out memorable moments of traffic mayhem. And the game rewards you for it, which is a brilliant concept.
The sound is great. The roar of the engines is deep and the ambient sounds are but satisfactory. Crash sounds are tremendous. The only annoying addition is a radio station called Crash FM, hosted by Stryker. In the beginning , he is okay, but then you'll get annoyed when he says the same thing over and over again. Just turning him off will do the trick. He isn't in the league of class as Lazlow of ChatterBox in GTA3. Also, the custom soundtracks are good, but not great. All are upswing in mood, generally reflecting the gameplay. Overall, they do a decent job.
Conclusion :
If you are into racing dangerously and always living on the edge, then go ahead and buy this game. It is worth it. The XBOX version is hands-down the better one. Burnout 3 is stellar and offers you pure adrenaline pumping experience that is refreshing and rewarding. It delivers you a sense of speed unmatched by other racing games. The game offers enough scope for re-play and the multiplayer option will keep you busy long after you put your car in the garage.
Enjoy. | video-games_xbox |
Lower quality design than the 360 version - dissapontment. Having used the chat pad on the Xbox 360 I had expectations the XboxOne solution would be as good. It is not.
The fit and shape of the Xbox One chat pad is not as well integrated to the controller so where your pinky fingers end up has sharp edges from the chat pad and produces an uncomfortable feeling . See the image comparing the 360 (right) and One(left) chatpads and how they sit in their respective base controllers.
Disappointing. The keyboard doesn't feels as well seated at all.
I've been able to use some fine grit sand paper to smooth out the sharp edges of the plastic parts that make up the XboxOne std controller and the chat pad, so now with the chatpad seated it doesn't feel like sharp edges, but its still not as fully integrated like the Xbox360 solution was.
The headphone jack position on the chatpad is just a bad idea for couch gaming - if you lean-back game, the place you wrest the controller is on your stomach/tummy, and with the 3.5mm jack going straight out the back, if your headset doesn't have a right angle plug, your putting a lot of strain on that cable/plug. So I recommend getting a 90 degree right angle converter to use with a headset that has a straight plug (like most do).
The headsets themselves appear the be identical in design other than the console name screened on the band but they is a big difference as well as a design flaw in the XboxOne headset. Notice the One headset went from the 2.5mm 3 conductor cell phone plug that was used on the Xbox360 to the more standard 3.5mm 4 conductor plug we are used to from modern smartphones. That's good but of course means you cannot use your 360 headset as a spare. It also means, I assume, that you can plug other headsets into there instead. Unfortunately as there is no apparent audio test function in the XboxOneX that I can find I cannot say whether that is good or not. The mic and headset and chat pad audio pass through quality are not readily testable in a controlled environment by oneself.
The critical flaw on the headset that comes with the.chatpad is that the plug, unlike on the 360 version, is not a right-angle plug but a straight plug. So if you game leaning back on the couch, likely resting the controller on your belly, the that cable to plug interface will fail from the strain put on it. Silly design flaw that should gave been avoided. The movement on the connector also causes crackling as the contacts run.
So for the poor design of the headset and the poor physical mating to the XboxOneX controller (compared to the smooth and solid for of the 360 variation ) causes me to give this a poor rating. If the Xbox smartphone app ever gets proper keypad/chat support the I'd say use that instead but that doesn't work either. | video-games_xbox |
Thank you very much Lionhaead Studios. Fable is a game somewhat of an overhyped game. Some things such as everychoice you make decides who you are is not exactly true. While it still is an awsome looking game (from the 2 hours of footage and trailers and all the reviews ive seen)not all the promises are fulfilled (im not gonna go into detail). Besides that, it is a very entertaining game, just don't go into it expecting you can do anything. One more thing is... you might have heard it is a 50 hour game but from the people that have played it (finding most the secrets and completing most of the side quests) they found it to be 20-25 hours.
You start the game as a young boy about 12 years old, and your father reminds you it is your sister's birthday. He tells you that for every good deed you do he will give a gold coin to buy your sister a birthday present. You go around town exploring (there ar other ways to get coins "cough"). The interaction with the town and economy is amazing. So then a little later on a group of bandits raid your town and you survive but your father is killed and your sister and mother are kidnapped. From there the guildmaster, Maze, finds you and brings you to his guild where you will learn combat and all the controls turnig you into the beginning of a hero. (the variety of things to do in fable never really gets boring as there is almost always something to do ex. bored? try fishing or enter a pie eating contest. not in a village? try going off the road and the chances are good that youll find something interesting. After you finish the guild the rest of your story is pretty much up to you, to be good or evil and whatnot except you do have to follow the main quests qhich shape the story but even those can be different from someone elses. Some examples of evil deeds would be convincing someone to follow you into the forest then chopping them to peices or maybe breaking into someones house at night when there sleeping to steal ther stuff. Examples of good deeds would be killing undead or picking apples if someone asked you to. Since taking on a a full review would be too long ill leave it to someone else. For and 8 page review with over 200 screenshots and about 10 movie/trailer/clip/actual game footage go to [...] for a full Fable review from someone who has played through the game twice. Another thing, please click very helpful for this review. So that it gets on the front page of reviews, everyone can read it and everyone can know the greatness of fable, thank you. | video-games_xbox |
Amazing, despite the glitches. Red Dead Redemption is a great game-just to be blunt. The story is amazing and full of surprises. It ends after you would expected to end, and the end was pretty surprising, to say the least and not give anything away. The story follows John Marston as he goes on an epic quest of revenge against his former outlaw friends, a quest that he has to complete to have the government erase all his previous sins and allow himself and his family to live in peace. Overall the story is really enjoyable and has the ability to really draw you in, although after watching some other people play the story, I see that if you don't do what you are really "expected" to do you might kind of diminish the impact of some events by doing weird random things, running away from people who are trying to talk to you, skipping scenes, etc...
The format of the game ought to be familiar to anyone who is a fan of Grand Theft Auto (GTA). You have to start out at the bottom of the chain of information and get passed along doing missions and helping out various characters in order to progress and eventually find more information about the people you are after. There is a nice variation of missions, it isn't just the same thing over and over again. There are also strangers you encounter throughout the world who give you little side missions that generally take some time to complete. That is, you might have to check back in in a few days to see what's up, or gather things that might not all be available yet, etc... I found their approach to this to be fairly unique, and the little stories that are the stranger missions are fairly interesting, or at least mildly amusing, and add a neat element to the game.
The world is pretty huge, and two more sections of the map eventually open up as you progress, just like in GTA. Other than missions, there are a few mini games such as poker, blackjack, liar's dice, arm wrestling, etc..., and jobs you can do at different locations (either breaking horses, or night watch jobs). You ride a horse to get around for the most part, and you can go out into the wilderness and lasso and then break another horse through a little minigame if you so choose. Once you have broken a new type of horse you can go to a general store and buy the deed for that breed and then you can spawn another one if yours dies, which is convenient. Another thing that is convenient is that you can whistle for your horse and it will come when it is called, which is pretty cool. You can also drive stagecoaches and various wagons and carts if you so choose, and have epic cart/whatever wrecks (horses don't crash too easily, although they do die if you fall off a big enough cliff). One of the funnest parts of Red Dead Redemption is just riding around shooting things, especially since the Dead Eye targeting idea from the original game has been implemented in this and it makes shooting things pretty easy and epic. There is literally a plethora of animals to that you can shoot, skin, and then sell their various parts in town and make yourself lots of virtual cash (just prepare yourself to hear Marston state, "This is dirty", "This one's messy", etc... over and over again during the skinning cutscenes). You also have to watch out for predators, even when you are on your horse, because some of them can take out your horse with one attack, if you aren't careful. Thankfully, the predators aren't too hard to kill, especially if you have plenty of Dead Eye left (it drains as you use it). You can also shoot people and cause problems and get the Marshal's after you, similar to how GTA works, but I don't know if they are quite as fun to mess with in this as they are in GTA, since all they can really do is ride their horses at you. It's still pretty amusing for a time though. You can also clear gang hideouts repeatedly, if you're into that, and replay missions to try to get a better score. There's probably more stuff to do that I'm leaving out, but that's surely enough to illustrate that there's a lot to do.
The graphics in Red Dead Redemption are really good, considering it is an open world game, it's like a slight improvement on GTA IV graphics plus they don't have to make all those buildings and everything, so that probably helps some. The environments are gorgeous and you can see for miles if you are on high ground, which is really neat. The characters look great, although some characters could arguably use a little more polish, it's nothing terrible. The AI of the people wandering around is about the same as GTA IV's and they still tip over a little too easily. The sound in this game is amazing, everything sounds great on surround sound, it even confused my dog a few times. There are also a few turning points in the game where they played an actual song, with singing, instead of just normal background music, which I found to be a really cool addition, and I feel it did a great job of projecting the feeling of starting the next leg of the journey.
The online multiplayer mode is awesome. You basically have free roam of the map, but with other people also roaming the map. You generally have to shoot people when you first see them or else you will end up getting shot, and that can get annoying, but you can also posse up with other players and have some safety in numbers. There are a few online matches you can join in most of the towns, or you can just roam around shooting people, building up huge bounties, or clearing the gang hideouts from the single player with friends. When you play the multiplayer mode, you unlock different character skins, titles, weapons, horses, etc... as you level up. Also, Rockstar Games made their Social Club website, where, if you join, you get community challenges and some bonus stuff for the game, that, once your account is linked, appears in the games pause menu. Which is convenient since you don't have to check in on the website all the time, although the website is pretty snazzy.
So, basically, this game is great. The only thing that diminishes from this game is that there were numerous glitches that occurred while I was playing, and they were prominent enough that, if it were possible, I would probably give this game 4 1/2 stars (although it's not enough to constitute giving this amazing game 4 stars!). I don't want to go into specific detail on these glitches since they mostly occurred during missions, and I don't want to spoil the story for anyone, but suffice to say they were annoying. Additionally, the game froze up my 360 at least 3 times while I was playing through the story, causing me to have to restart my 360 and re-do the entire mission. I have also seen this happen twice when someone else was playing. Maybe I should have gotten it for the PS3, I don't know if it does any different on that system or not, but at least for the 360 version, which is what I am reviewing, there is sadly just a tad bit too much glitchiness for it to be considered perfect. | video-games_xbox |
Absolutely amazing. STORY AND PRESENTATION
Similar to the way it was done in Assassins Creed: Liberation, the (modern-day) setting and plot of this installment of the series is about the Templars (in the form of Abstergo Entertainment) once again trying to brainwash as many people as they can into believing the Assassins are the bad guys. This time, you get to roam around Abstergos building and flesh out the whole Those Who Came Before plot if you wish. But the vast majority of your time will be spent playing Edward Kenway, a pirate in the early 18th century seeking out the mysteries of the Caribbean. The story is nothing special, but the writing is noticeably better than it was in AC3 (i.e., pretty good).
Everything in the interface is sharper and easier to navigate through, than in previous games. Despite being more detailed, the map opens quickly and the cursor moves swiftly as well. And there are things in the gameplay itself that are impressive. For example, in the games before this one, when you swam and tried to look around, the camera would always either pull itself around against your will or sort of shake as you swam forward. In this one, you can enjoy the sights without any such problem. And when you experience pop-ins (which are still pretty rare in this game, considering its scope), they sort of materialize in the same way you see towns materialize as you're entering the animus. You know, like it was meant to be that way.
GRAPHICS
As can always be expected of Assassins Creed, graphics in this game are phenomenal. Water goes beyond beautiful (which it has been in the past few games) to actually transparent. You can see the ground, rocks, even shadows from trees through the water. Its absolutely gorgeous, everything. Even Eagle Vision looks better. Though you cant RUN while in Eagle Vision for some dumb reason, the image is sharper and the colors to indicate friend from foe are nice and vivid. They even serve as a sort of tag for enemies so you can see them through walls and everything if you want.
AUDIO
Magnificent. Sound effects are crisp, clear, and sound real. And the music really matches the setting, whether you're in or out of open conflict. Even the music played by the NPCs is better, IMO, than in previous games! I love the sea shanties you can teach your crew, and the game does a good job of balancing them with instrumental so you don't get tired of either type of audio (but of course you can turn one, the other, or both off in Settings if you wish).
GENERAL GAMEPLAY
Ubisoft has added a plethora of improvements to the gameplay (which I already thought was incredible in AC3 and Liberation, btw). Theyve been calling the AC series stealth games for a while now, but this ones the first truly deserving that title. AC3 and Liberation introduced hiding in tall grass and whistling from around corners to lure unsuspecting guards to a quick demise. But this one lets you whistle from the tall grass as well, and the guards no longer magically sense when theres a dead body or a bloodthirsty killer behind them. They also made it so you can stealth kill (with your hidden blade) while having your sword equipped, so no more having to switch back and forth in the blink of an eye. You can swim more quickly while submerged in the water. And for the first time in the series you can actually swim underwater in certain places. There are a few annoyances with this, but for the most part its fun.
Free-running on the rooftops is back! The guards are still there, ready to attack you for some strange reason, but they're much easier to manage. Theyre neither as plentiful nor as paranoid as they were in AC3. And you can kill them from the ledges with ease again! The layout of each city is perfect. You can really keep your momentum going as you run, as buildings are close enough together to make the jump from one to the next, or else there is some sort of bridge to help you. And tree-running is back but more evenly scattered about the world, with the exception of a swamp in Nassau which can satisfy for those who miss the best thing about the Frontier in AC3 ;)
The concept of notoriety is confined strictly to when you're out on the sea, which means all kinds of freedom while on foot (e.g., that you need not hesitate to just kill guards for the fun of it, shoot harassing guards off the roofs, or shoot the couriers instead of having to chase them down). And even this sea notoriety is very easily managed. It doesnt mean that every enemy ship or ANY enemy ship will start attacking you on sight now. It just means that on occasion, until you remove your wanted level, a ship of notable challenge will come looking for you. And instead of having to hunt down items or people to get your notoriety lowered, you can simply take down any enemy ship and choose to have the people on board lower your notoriety. So basically, the very thing you used to try and AVOID while notorious in previous games can HELP you now.
COMBAT
The combat is much like it was in AC3/Liberation (which was awesome) with just a few changes. When you counter, the game doesnt give you QUITE as much time to decide whether to attack, disarm, etc. as the previous games but still plenty of time to dominate. You can only use swords, the hidden blade, or fists as melee weapons; but I figure this is forgivable because thats what pirates used and thats what you are. When it comes to gunplay, you can equip up to four pistols (which translates to being able to shoot four times in rapid succession), and you can reload while jogging and while in cover.
The naval combat takes some getting used to (especially if you never played AC3), but I for one fell in love with it pretty quick. Even if you played AC3 and wasn't particularly fond of this mechanic, its much, much, MUCH more fun in this installment.
MONEY MONEY MONEY!
They did a good thing with the shops: they got rid of specialty shops (tailors, blacksmiths, art dealers, etc.) and just made them all accessible from General Stores. So thats better, IMO. And like in AC3, its not the case that youll get rich without putting in the effort, so its more satisfying when you do finally get the money up to buy that new set of swords or pistols, or reinforce the armor on your ship, upgrade your cannons, etc. Plus the means of income is actually FUN (what a concept). I prefer just fighting and looting the ships I see out on the water, or hunting down treasure chests, but theres also an optional mini-game in which you get to manage your own fleet, sending ships to do battle and to sell goods. Be warned, however, that you must have a connection to Ubisofts servers for the mini-game (which might mean having to get an account with them, free as it may be, in addition to having an internet connection cant remember).
WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO
Ill be honest with you. There isn't much variety in the missions themselves. Most of the time you will be sailing/fighting on the seas, tailing/eavesdropping on land, or sneaking into a restricted area to kill somebody. So, how much you enjoy this part of the game depends on how much you think youd enjoy these three activities. But there is no question that the theme of this particular installment is FREEDOM! After only a few missions, you get your hands on your very own pirate ship and access to a gigantic sandbox to play in. Roughly the size of GTA 5s map, with some people saying its actually bigger. Almost every little island holds a secret, whether it be a treasure chest, treasure map, message in a bottle, animus fragment, or some other collectible. Each of the cities have their own look and feel to them (Kingston is much like the cities of Boston and New York in AC3, if you sort of enjoyed those settings as I did). Plus you can hunt, including hunting sharks and whales which was a lot more fun than I expected.
WHY I CANNOT GIVE THIS GAME FIVE STARS
Every game has its problems. And unfortunately for the AC series, their tradition is making sure those problems add up so I cannot give them the high rating I so desperately want to someday. Examples are:
1. You cant replay assassin contracts. These aren't very special or anything, and failing their optional objectives won't be recorded (so they won't keep you from getting 100%), but it is unfortunate I cant go back and play some of them because they were quite fun.
2. You don't ever get poison darts that will simply kill the target in this game. You get sleep darts which put them to sleep temporarily (so you have to rush over to them to actually kill them) or berserk darts which makes the target start attacking surrounding guards, both of which sort of defeat the purpose of using a quiet weapon to take enemies down from a distance.
3. You still cant aim before throwing your smoke bombs like you could in Revelations. I don't know why they got rid of that, but they shouldnt have.
4. Probably the biggest reason I cant give AC4 a five-star rating is that it falls prey to that same ol problem weve had since AC: Brotherhood: THE OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES GET WAY TOO DIFFICULT! Granted, the insanely hard ones make up a much smaller fraction of the total missions than in previous games, but theres still no excuse for some of the things this game will put you through.
5. Similarly, some of the hacking minigames required to access classified information (though it be optional) at Abstergo are also way too difficult. And Im talking about one that functionally imitates the game Frogger (the original classic) but just gets too hard.
Oh, and this has nothing to do with my feelings of the game, but AC4 does not have horses, in case it matters to ya.
One final note: There is a glitch in the game you should be aware of. Related to what are called Social Events, every now and then the game will spawn a special convoy (a Royal Convoy), indicated by a flashing blue icon on your map. Its possible to accidentally make it so this icon remains on your map even without the convoy itself in some cases permanently. While this won't affect actual gameplay, it might annoy you while you're looking at your map or moreso on your mini-map as you're cruising by. It will cover up more relevant (and meaningful) icons on your radar and potentially make you think youve found a new Royal Convoy when you havent. Now sometimes the convoy will reappear if you circle the icon a bit, or fast travel away from the location and sail back. But sometimes this won't work and youll just be stuck with the icon for an indefinite amount of time (once again, this could even be permanent, not sure). Fortunately, Ive figured out what CAUSES it and Ill share it here, so that if you buy the game youll know how to prevent it! Basically, what you must NOT do is turn off the game while you have one pending. The icons and ships are placed by one of Ubisofts servers, but somehow leaving the server apparently causes the game to remove the convoy itself but not the icon.
All things considered, this is a great game with tons of fun to be had. Its just, frustratingly, not as good as it couldve been. | video-games_xbox |
Didn't expect playing a guy running around in his underwear to be so much fun. I went to GameStop and asked for a game like Portal or Quantum Conundrum, and was handed this. I was a bit skeptical about an anime title, as I haven't played one before, and I haven't played one with "sexual themes" on the ESRB tag either. However, I was pleasantly surprised as Catherine proved to be not only deeper in storyline but also a lot more fun to play than almost any other game in recent memory.
The plot follows Vincent Brooks, a 32-year-old computer programmer whose girlfriend's family is pressuring them to get married, and Katherine, the girl, is starting to side with her parents. Feeling the pressure, he goes out drinking with some buddies- and wakes up with a strange girl in his bed whose name is Catherine. Confused, he tries repeatedly to get rid of her as he doesn't think he would cheat on Katherine even when drunk. However, she manages to stick around and then threatens to kill him if she finds out there's another girl. This is only the second or third day. Vincent starts having nightmares, and hears stories of young men in the area who were cheating on their women and died in their sleep after recurring nightmares. You play the game as Vincent, trying to figure out what is going on with his love life as well as the mysterious deaths, which continuously get closer and closer to home.
The nightmares are the meat of the game, giant towers you have to climb by moving blocks, sometimes being chased by some boss who is Vincent's mental recreation of a problem in the real world. There are other people in the nightmares, who are real people you can talk to during the day, but you have to figure out who each of them are as they are disguised as sheep. It makes sense in context.
During the day, you watch looooooong cutscenes and hang out at the local bar, learning about the killings, playing minigames, and sending text messages. No, it's not as lame as it sounds.
It's a kind of RPG, and your responses to questions and situations affect the ending of the story. There's a little morality meter in the corner that tracks where you fall among possible endings.
I talk to my video games a lot- but never as much as this one. I found myself talking to the characters and narrating my thoughts on what was going on. If you take too long on a puzzle and are about to run out of time, Vincent starts trying to calm himself down. I literally sat in the middle of my living room saying "No, you're right! We ARE going to get out of this!" I loved the protagonist despite his flaws, and it warmed my heart in every stage where he encourages the other sheep to keep going, to not give up making it to the top of the tower. I was surprised, by the end, at how much I cared.
An important note: I didn't care at first. I spent the first two in-game days ignoring every other character so I could skip to the puzzles, and paying the price later. If you don't encourage the other bar patrons and sheep, they give in to their mental issues and become one of the many deaths you see on the news. Trust me- you want to talk to the other people. I deeply regretted ignoring them later when I walked into a room and I was the only one in it because all of my friends were dead.
Most of the reviews talk about the game being too hard. The menu told me to pick "Easy" if you haven't played it before. I played it on "Easy" because of this recommendation and regretted it. I'm an avid Tetris player and this had a similar concept, so I found the first five days extremely simple. I now intend to replay the game not so that I can get a different ending but because I want to play it on a level that is more challenging for me.
A dangerous side effect: I can't play Tetris any more. I feel an emptiness inside when I realize it isn't Catherine/Rapunzel and my favorite game can no longer satisfy me. I have tasted ambrosia and have been unable to return to human food.
Overall, this game was fantastic. It made me both laugh and cry, it challenged by brain, the voice acting was fantastic, and the art was interesting. Even the so-called "erotic" scenes didn't exist in the actual game, which was a relief. I give this game a ten out of ten. | video-games_xbox |
Controller review, master mod and comparison to Scuf Animal. The only game I play with this controller is Black Ops 2, and only in multi-player mode, so please keep that in mind and don't read any further if you're curious about how it works in the other games it supports or even in the original Black Ops as I do not play those and won't be making any further reference to them. There's an important tip specific to BO2 and rapid fire further down too so you may want to scan for that if you already have the controller and have found it not working quite as good as you expected.
I'm also going to be comparing this to another controller I have, the Scuf Gaming 'animal' controller. The Scuf is not a modded controller from a functionality perspective, but it is modded in that it has alternate locations for some buttons; i.e. it will not give you rapid fire or drop shot or any of that stuff but will let you have more than the standard Xbox 360 controller buttons.
So, getting started, this controller from Geniusmods has their 'master mod' setup which is a lot better than their older controllers. I believe only two or three have the master mod as of summer 2013 so you may want to be careful what you purchase in case you want some of the master mod features. Their website makes no mention of which ones have master mod and which do not, I had to email them to find out which had it and they sent me this and one other.
Master mod has the ability to do jump shot in addition to drop shot while many of the older controllers only have drop shot. Most of the time jump shot seems like something you'd never want to use but I've found it can be useful in the BO2 'gun game' or my runaround knife class where you may not be playing a typical game style and jumping would be more likely to help you out than dropping.
Master mod can do drop shot in either tactical or standard controller modes; the older ones can't. It also has sub-modes on the drop shot while the older ones only have one mode, drop/stand automatically any time the trigger is pressed and released.
I like to run tactical but their older mods had the drop shot functionality locked to the B button, which in my case is melee, so every time I'd shoot, the controller would try to stab. This controller fixes that issue. Regarding the sub-modes, it adds four drop shot sub-modes where the default is drop while shooting and stand when not, same thing but only if you're aiming down the sites, drop but don't stand, and drop but don't stand if aiming down the sites. I found the drop/stand while not aiming down the sites very useful if I'm using a scope on my FAL because most likely I'm stationary somewhere if I'm aiming down the sites, and don't want to drop, while if I'm running around and not aimed down the sites I do want to drop.
Master mod can lock the triggers for dual wield mode if you want both to fire. It can also do rapid fire on both triggers for dual-wield of semi-auto pistols.
It has burst fire that will give you higher accuracy of non-burst rifles; i.e. just shoot a full auto a few shots, then repeat, rather than just full on firing. This is useful for people who don't require full-auto and want higher accuracy while using full auto weapons.
I saw someone else's review that mentioned it being larger than a stock 360 controller as if it were some custom made piece. It's not, it's the same size plus whatever thickness the cover material is, which is not significant enough for it to matter. Takes the same batteries, uses the same connectors, so on and so forth because it is the same controller, but modded.
If you play Black Ops 2 and like either the FAL or SMR assault rifles, you will probably love this controller. Is it cheating? Yes. So you decide if you want to or not. Currently the game doesn't detect/disable this controller from doing what it does. The rifle rapid fire mode will let you use the FAL or SMR at a faster rate than the 'select fire' option gives you, much faster, so basically you're getting an improved version of select fire AND you're not wasting one of your slots on it that you can then use for different attachments, more perks, etc.
If you like any of the semi-auto pistols, it's awesome for those as well. However, there's one complaint there. You will probably not want to use a semi-auto rifle and pistol class in the same game. The problem is that there are two different rapid fire speeds that are meant specifically for Black Ops 2 pistols and rifles. So, if you have your rapid fire set to the rifle rate, it doesn't work well on pistols, and vice versa; so carry an auto pistol with your semi-auto rifle or semi-auto pistol with your auto rifle. Why can't you just change rates? Well doing so requires holding the mod button for 3+ seconds to switch speeds, and going back the other direction requires holding the trigger plus mod button for 3+ seconds, so it's not easy to do mid-game unless you're camping somewhere, and don't mind firing when trying to set it back to the previous rate.
Now, the important tip about rapid fire mode. It is very easy to overlook the fact that in the manual, it describes rapid fire mode 1 as for MW2, MW3 and Black Ops rifles. It is very very easy to overlook the fact that rapid fire mode 3 is for Black Ops 2 rifles. Huge difference. If you mistakenly use the Black Ops rifle mode, you'll randomly run into issues where the gun stutters upon the initial firing and you'll probably end up dead. What I mean is I'll start to fire and there will be some glitch between the speed at which it's trying to fire and the game and the first few shots will have long pauses before it kicks in to proper firing speed. As long as you make sure to use rapid fire mode 3, for Black Ops 2, it will work great with not only the FAL and SMR, but I've found that it works pretty well with the three burst rifles as well (Chicom, M8A1, SWAT-556), firing their bursts as fast as you could pull the trigger so might as well use it and just hold down.
Second tip. You can go back to a previous rapid fire mode by holding the trigger and mod button. So, if you play Black Ops 2, set it to rapid fire mode 3, and then you can easily step back to mode 2 for pistols, and forward for rifles.
Jitter fire is a mode it offers designed to fire quicker for all weapons. In reality I've found it does not work well at all for me in Black Ops 2; have not tried it with anything else. I've tried to use it on the M8A1 and SWAT-556 burst assault rifles, along with the full auto pistol, but it's pretty buggy; i.e. it manages to make the gun jump all around and can exhaust your whole magazine in a second or two so you'll end up out of bullets with hardly any put in your target, which means if you encounter multiple bad guys you're going to die.
Now, the comparison. I also have a Scuf Gaming 'animal' controller which I find myself alternating with this one. I find that when I run around, I prefer the Scuf, and when I tend to stay more stationary and shoot people from medium range with a FAL or SMR, I'll use this one. The reason is rapid fire on the Geniusmods controller means I save a slot when I'm using FAL or SMR, but I don't tend to run around as much with those weapons. If I'm running around, there's a much higher chance that I'll want to jump and stab, and although I like drop shot, I prefer being able to quickly jump or stab. What the Scuf controller gets me that the Geniusmods controller does not is two (or four in the case of the 'animal') paddles on the back of the controller under your fingers that you can use without having to take your thumbs off the sticks. So I run tactical setup on my Scuf and as I'm running, I can jump, aim and shoot without any thumbs or fingers coming off their default stick/button. I can also run tactical mode and stab using my index finger paddle instead of needing the B button. The inner paddles, which are harder to reach, I have set to swap weapons and sprint, so again, without having to move my thumbs, I can switch to pistol while in the middle of a fight or easily keep running without having to push on the stick.
So, if you only have the money for one controller, you may want to consider those options. Scuf with the under-side paddles and trigger stops if you run around a lot and want to easily jump and stab (or whatever you map the paddles to since you can customize it when you order), or Geniusmods if you like the idea of having a much faster version of select fire without even needing it, AND drop shot, etc. | video-games_xbox |
Massively Entertaining. For a person who usually plays fantasy RPGs, I could not have been more pleasantly surprised when I played Mass Effect. This game is absolutely fantastic. The gameplay is as simple or as complex as you want it to be. You can combine any number of effects in combat in order to effectively dispatch your enemies. Character creation is simple, yet enjoyable because you can choose from a number of classes that allow your experience to be entirely different, as well as various background stories that effect certain aspects of the game as well. There is a "good" vs "evil" option, which allows you to be either a Paragon or a Renegade character, always choosing the high road or playing dirty. Most of these options come up in dialogue, but they too can affect the outcome of certain situations.
The main problem with the game is that it is bogged down with a ton of dialogue. Every other move brings you into a cinematic situation where you have to pick your way through conversations in order to continue the game. Most of the characters that you talk to are pretty in-depth, which makes this process slightly more bearable, but it does get tedious at times, especially if you play the game more than once.
The in-game world isn't entirely impressive either. Most of it is limited to the planets and stations in which your main quest and a few side quests take place. Other than that, you can fly around the galaxy collecting various minerals and artifacts that get you more money, but serve little purpose otherwise.
The downloadable content for Mass Effect can be done without, really. They don't offer that much in the way of time or story. I would just stick to the main game and get as much out of it as you can. If you play around with different classes, backstories, and romance options, this can actually be a pretty easy thing to do. I've played the game several times over, and I still enjoy playing it. The fact that there is a lot of lore that goes along with the game, such as information on races and wars and planets, is also very cool.
To sum it all up: the story is interesting, the characters are decent, the dialogue is tedious, the combat is great, and the content is pretty solid. I would definitely give this game a try, even if you're an FPS fan. If you like it, there's a sequel that's just as good. | video-games_xbox |
Works well, while it does. First Impression: Very nice. Comes well packaged, and the design is very elegant. It seems very sturdy, and the light is beautiful. Great first impression.
Usage: Worked really really well for a while. I'm sort of a freak when it comes to machines, I actually put a temperature probe in the XBox and had it read temperatures over 3 hours of gameplay. Now I understand small changes could be random, but the result was fairly impressive. The average temperature of the machine dropped over 10 degrees when I used the fan-stand. Very impressive indeed. However, it is (believe it or not) even louder than the Xbox's own fans, but a little WD-40 careful application and some silicon lubricant spray a few days later will fix that.
Problem: Even with the lubrication, after some time, I noticed the noise level dropped. Sure enough, one of the fans had stopped working. Not a big deal, as you can easily replace the fan (it's a 6mm standard fan, the same type that goes in some computer cases). But still, that diminishes the quality of the product, because you shouldn't HAVE to replace the fans(until at least a couple of years later with heavy usage). You should also make sure you dust the fans every now and then. And NEVER put the stand on a carpet when it's on. It'll suck up dust from the carpet and blow it right into your precious console. It also messes up the fans.
Overall: It does the job, but just pay attention. It's far from perfect, but it sure beats another product (which I will not name) that attaches to your XBox and uses the XBox's power supply, and THEREFORE VOIDS THE WARRANTY (and it actually doesn't really work). You'll need to be diligent about cleaning the fans, but seeing as how you're even considering buying this to protect your console, that shouldn't be a problem. If you're unlucky like me, one, or maybe both of your fans will die within a couple of months. But the fans SHOULD, ideally, last a couple of years. The fact that it uses its own power supply is both a gift and a burden. It means you can preserve your precious warranty and not put extra strain on your XBox power supply and the XBox itself, but it also means an extra cable and adapter to carry around. However, getting over these hurdles, the stand's unique vertical design and fan positioning really work well, and do the job. | video-games_xbox |
I usually base my purchase choices off reviews off of websites like IGN, Gamesradar. I heard a lot about how underwhelming the story was in Halo 5: Guardians. I usually base my purchase choices off reviews off of websites like IGN, Gamesradar, and Gamespot - among others. Most of the time, they are accurate or close to accurate in how they rate their games; however, I think that they got Halo 5: Guardians wrong. Most of them gave it an equivalent of between 3 and 4 stars.
Halo 5 is a rock solid sequel to Halo 4, which was 343's first foray into the Halo Universe. Halo 4 received critical acclaim and we expected Halo 5 to 1Up Halo 4 in the Multiplayer and Single Player departments. If it didn't 1Up, it is at least equivalent.
Multiplayer: Maps are fun and the kinds of maps that are so well built, that it takes 5-6 rounds until you figure out those spots where all the action takes place and you start getting a feel for the map. The art direction is futuristic and the colors are bright. There are no gun upgrades and everyone starts out with the same guns every time, just like Halo 4. I admittedly didn't play Halo 4's multiplayer, but I have gone back and back again to play Halo 5's because I feel it to be the most competitive multiplayer experience on the Xbox One.
There's also WarZone which is an all new mode and I have played this off and on. I prefer the high paced action and scoring of the Arena modes, but WarZone is a fun distraction.
Single Player Campaign: I just finished the single player campaign last night after 3 days playing 2 or 3 hours a day. It's different than any of the other games, with more downtime (there's a mission where you're walking around a town asking people where Master Chief is) and more cutscenes, which are more theatrical than Halo 4's. It felt like I was playing through a well produced movie. Dialogue isn't exceptional, but it kept me engaged. The story does admittedly have some repetitive missions where you're blowing up generators or going from one place to another place to press different buttons - but so did Halo 4, Halo 3, etc. It's still challenging and fun and I felt like I was part of a massive struggle to get Master Chief back to base, which is the gist of the story. Oh yeah, and Cortona is back and a little...different.
If you have an Xbox One, this is a must own game. Can't say it's a classic, but it's rock solid and you'll keep coming back for weeks with the multiplayer component being as strong as it is. | video-games_xbox |
Amazing immersive gaming, movie, and music set, but poor phone/mic sound. I recommend them highly considering the price. As far as quality and value go, these Polk Melee headsets for the Xbox 360 deliver on both. For only $55, these headsets sound amazing. I was impressed with the comfort and immersive feel of these headsets. Even though they are not noise cancelling, because of the plush cushions, it does do a great job with sealing external sound. My kids know this, since while I'm playing I can't hear them ask me for things. They are super comfortable without squeezing or straining. I can play for hours with total comfort. They look great too-- and construction feel like high quality and durability, with a nice weight to them.. As far as the Dolby surround gaming sound, it delivers spacious and roomy sound, excellent treble and bass clarity and separation without bleeding. While playing COD Black Ops II, COD Ghost or COD Advanced Warfare, I had an advantage knowing where my opponents were stepping with the contrast I can hear between different types of surfaces. Explosions sound amazing, gun fire is easily place-able in the 3D environment. For gaming the Dolby surround adapter has 3 modes -- I like the red mode the best. To my surprise, music sounds absolutely amazing with these headsets turned into headphones -- clarity, bass and treble, with mids all sound crisp and clear. I listen to Pandora on my laptop with them, very versatile. The only beef is the mic sound, not at all good -- I take calls with them sometimes if I connect the to my smartphone streaming Pandora, Netflix, Crackle, or off my music playlist, so there lies this headset's only weakness -- the mic. Don't expect for great sound when on a call. Otherwise, gaming, movies, and music are topnotch compared to the price. They once were upwards of $250 for a new set, now with the Xbox One released, they are a bargain. I recommend them highly if you are like me, a quality and value shopper. | video-games_xbox |
Dark Void PC - A T-rated Gears of War. For a concept of Dark Void, take the PC version of the original Gears of War, add in a jet-pack, knock it down to T-rating, remove the multiplayer and set the whole thing in the Bermuda Triangle in the early years of WWII.
Oh, and upgradeable weapons, too.
The centerpiece of Dark void is the aerial combat blended smoothly with Gears-of-War style cover-based combat. This is made possible by the jetpack you acquire about halfway through the first episode in the campaign. The flying is tricky to learn especially when you turn with the mouse. The first tutorial mission was the most frustrating part of the whole game. I felt like Avatar's Jake sully when he first rides an Ikran. In simpler turms, it sucked. invisible walls were everywhere, i got lost, confused and dizzy. But once you master it, this is the best part of the game, because it's very original. Plus, if you tire of your meager machine guns, you can Hijack enemy planes, I mean UFO's.
That's right. Aliens. Sadly, the originality stops short of the plot. Aliens (called Watchers) want to take over the world and have been manipulating humanity by assuming human forms and disguising themselves as world leaders, notably, the Nazis. Yawn.
But, it is an interesting take on WWII and there's references to the ancient aliens theory, which is cool.
The ground combat is just like Gears of War as I've stated before, so if you like that , you'll like this. the most notable difference, however is the vertical cover system. look up at a platform and press "c" for Will (our hero) to jet pack his way to it and grab it. Press "c" to blast to the next ledge, or "space" to clamber on top of your cover, or simply fire upon the enemies in your way. It's a refreshing take on cover that helps this game stand out even more from the other cover based shooters, and allows a platforming element to seep into the mix.
Now there is DlC coming for this. A survival mode, similar to horde should be releasing on Xbox 360 (2/10/10 400MP) and PS3 (2/11/10 $4.99) though no word yet on a PC version yet (as of 2/10/10), believe me, I've asked. A lot. But, until I play it I can't tell you any more abut it. | video-games_xbox |
Not very good. For a while, I was torn between purchasing Operation Darkness or this game, Spectral Force 3. Both are strategy RPGs, and both are by Atlus. I decided on Operation Darkness, and it was surprising fun. So Spectral Force seemed like a no-brainer. At first glance, it looked a lot like the wonderful Shining Force series of games. Even the name seemed to tie in to the old series. But beyond that, this game is no Shining Force.
Problem: The control scheme is very counter-intuitive. It's simple enough to move about the game terrain, but the attack setup is murky at best. There are different strength attacks, depending on what button you push. Of course, the game doesn't explain that, and the game book is similarly useless.
Another problem: The enemies appear in stages and not all at once. That works fine for Operation Darkness, because the maps are huge. Not so much in this game. You kill three enemies, and suddenly, there are three more standing behind you. It's hard to coordinate attacks when you cannot anticipate the enemies' location.
Another problem: The hub you return to after missions gives you practically no information, or hints about creating items and armors. You find random junk during battles and you can create new gear after the fact. But what will the new armors and weapons do? Are you making something really powerful, or is it just more useless stuff? The game doesn't really tell you.
Another problem. Let me get this straight . . . the healer in your party cannot heal himself outright? You have to acquire a spell after the fact? He has no problem healing the other party members, so why can't he heal himself? That didn't make any sense, and it makes even less sense after the character dies constantly.
Final problem: In between missions, there are static cut scenes with dialogue, moving the story forward. This is where the game likes to freeze. Now an occasional freeze is forgivable, but not when it occurs on a consistent basis. You beat the mission, watch the cutscene, the game freezes, you cannot save, start over. That's unforgivable.
Forget this game. | video-games_xbox |
Not so bad just isn't good enough. Playing this game is a very mixed experience. The combination of RPG/action with local co-op (i.e., being able to play split screen with a friend on my couch) is excellent. The story is moderately interesting, following a Knight of the Temple as he searches for the Holy Grail and makes friends and enemies along the way. Some of the settings are reminiscent of Assissin's Creed, except in this case the Knights Templar are the good guys. You can play as either the Knight or a young noblewoman, and switch between the two on the fly. You will also sometimes have to control them both to do joint actions, like operating levers during puzzle stages. You earn XP from your kills, the main quest, and some just-slightly-to-the-side quests. You expend XP on new skills or buffs. None of the skills are amazing for the Knight Templar himself, but the female co-lead does have some interesting special attacks. You can find prescribed goodies throughout the world, such as pieces of armor to make a new outfit or a new weapon. The new armor and outfits don't have any effect on your performance, they are just eye candy.
My first major problem with this game is that it feels unfinished and underbudget--as if it was rushed through the final production and the development team was always short by about 20% of the resources they needed. This is too bad because the game seems like it has potential, but just never got what it needed to shine. The graphics are not bad, but everything is very bland in color and many of the environments are repetitive. The character motions are reasonable during gameplay, but exceedingly stiff and awkward during cut-scenes, including both the body and facial movement. The voice talent is not too bad, but certainly nothing to write home about. The buffs and special attacks are not interesting, and there is really no point in finding armor pieces except if you like being a completionist. The levels vary in terms of location, but the actual tasks are not different: pull levers, fight enemies, avoid spikes, find stuff. While this could be said of lots of RPG offerings, somehow it's more obvious and disturbing in the present incarnation.
My second major problem is with the gameplay itself. In my experience, it is either almost childishly easy and repetitive almost all the time, punctuated by boss fights that are exceedingly challenging -- but not in a way that requires skill, but just because you will have to wear down the boss for a while. Furthermore, some of the time-specific abilities really don't operate well, if at all. For example, despite expending some XP to purchase a "Counterattack" move, I have never been able to initiate the counter attack. I have spent some time trying various timing with it, even replaying some chapters and one of the boss fights to see if I could make the counter attack happen. Never.
So, to sum up, you have a game that is fun to play with a friend, but actually not really that fun to play except that you can include your friend. You have a story in a world that is moderately interesting, but the environments and tasks become very repetitive. I would say that this game is worth getting to play with a friend, but expect lots of repetition and some frustration along the way. | video-games_xbox |
More fun than one would admit. Heheh. I don't think anyone would even admit to playing this game. Perverted premise aside, the game functions as a "rail shooter": it looks sort of like an fps in that the screen shows a first person's perspective, but the player cannot control where the protagonist ("Tenzou") goes. There is a target that you control with the left analog stick on the controller and the "A" button is for shooting. Once in a while, you can zone in on a character and press the "Y" button to activate the " 'dokidoki' field." When you're in this "field," you can press the "top right" button to zoom in. It's fairly simple in that the play mechanics are kind of rough (i.e., the target isn't accurate), so missing targets isn't a big issue.
The game itself is also somewhat simple. However, you should be proficient in Japanese in order to understand the dialogue and options given to you. This is important if you care about getting the "good ending" and the game achievements that come with them. Otherwise, anyone can play this game as a shooting type of game. It's kinda fun, a bit addicting, and perversely funny. Since there are four "heroines" the protagonist pursues, the player has to play the game four times. The game itself should take about 90 minutes to 2 hours per heroine to beat depending on whether you're reading/listening to the dialogue. The complete game should take a few hours to beat.
Graphics are alright. The characters look like a mix of 2D and 3D polygons. Whether this is good or bad is a matter of preference. I tend to gravitate towards the flat, two-dimensional, "cartoon" look rather than the pseudo-realistic style of today's popular games; so, if you like Japanese cartoons and/or animation in general, this should look good. One of the downsides I noticed was the music: I think there were, maybe, three or four songs for the entire video game soundtrack/album. Yeah, kinda repetitive, but inoffensive.
Since this is an import, prices for it can be quite steep. I would not recommend paying more than 80 bucks for this game. The game should cost between $70 to 80 new and less than that if it's used. There's an extensive free demo available on 360 live, so players can see for themselves.
Lastly, as odd as this may sound, the game is censored/edited. This was done early on in the game's release. The game developers decided to take out certain game camera angles that used to allow the protagonist do upskirt zoom-in shots. Hahah. I'm not making this up - it's as embarrassingly-perverted and juvenile as it sounds. This game edit does not affect the gameplay at all, but I suppose those who wanted to hit pay-dirt may have to look elsewhere. | video-games_xbox |
A quality flawed game. There's quite a lot of good and bad to Two Worlds 2. It's definitely worth a go if you are willing to put up with the following.
1. The first couple of hours is pretty bad. You're thrown into a 'story' that isn't at all told. You're inexplicably imprisoned by some bad guy and some orcs randomly break you out. Perhaps if you played through the first Two Worlds, this would all make perfect sense. But if you're someone who happens to value the time that comprises your life, this is unlikely.
What is worse, the tutorial drags through the obvious and totally refrains from explaining the rather complicated magic crafting system. You're left to figure out quite a lot on your own, which means playing through a good part of the game ignorant of how you could be playing it.
Now, saying suffer through two more hours, it really is worth it, should be a deal breaker for any game. I nearly returned it after my first attempt. But please read on.
2. Combat is alright, but the AI ranges from bland to dumb. This holds fighting back from being anything more than just an onslaught. You can play around with block, but barraging enemies with attack abilities is just more efficient. Magic is a big seller on the surface. You organize cards to create and upgrade your spells in a pretty nice system. Specialization alone really keeps magic from giving the player as much as it could. You can't really go full mage in many of the game's close corridors. Summoning crapy AI monsters that don't move without an enemy present, or really attack successfully, nullifies meat-shields. You pretty much need to pick one offensive magic and one for healing. Since Fire owns everything until the end...well.
3. Voice acting. 40% is horrible, 50% is alright, and 10% is quite good.
4. And the final fight is poorly designed and leaves you hanging the way the game's first two hours did.
BUT
What remains through the lackluster, though, is a good amount of quests that are, for the most part, very well written and incredibly engaging. The bounty board missions may just be run of the mill exp. farming, but the main and the side missions are multifaceted in ways that definitely outshine other mainstream RPGs. We aren't talking about your all-too typical double-cross that happens, well, just because it's easier than making an interesting story. What Two Worlds 2 delivers are situations which unveil themselves as you dig through them, layer by layer. Each first step is just the tip of a mini-iceberg. You will often have to work both sides while trying to figure out which you really want to be on. Unfortunately, the outcomes are pretty much pre-set, which precludes replayability. But, there can be multiple paths to the same end. Can't manage to get info from NPC A? You can get it from doing something else for NPC B. At one point, I read about 15 min worth of documents I found just to try to get enough backstory on the feud I had fallen into.
Two Worlds 2 has some real genius behind it. But sloppy editing and quality control throw in so many off notes that your diamonds are never out of the rough. But it's at least not as painful as suffering through an unpatched Fallout New Vegas.
Oh, and one mission is an homage to Indiana Jones. Nuf said, right? | video-games_xbox |
Max Payne meets Rockstar. Max Payne 3 successfully takes the dark noire setting of the first two games and mixes it with the refined gunplay of GTAIV and RDR, all combined with the excellent storytelling abilities of Rockstar. The blend of these elements works, and it works well. The result is a dark game that seems to have an equal focus on gunplay and story.
Gunplay: The game focuses on 3rd person shooting and "bullet time". The 3rd person shooting part features a cover system similar to GTAIV and RDR. This system facilitates cover based fighting where you shoot enemies as they leave cover and come to shoot you (which is the basic bedrock of most 3rd person shooters today). The "bullet time" mechanism adds a unique twist to the traditional shoot and cover dynamic. "Bullet time" allows you to jump out of cover and take down multiple enemies while dodging their bullets. The cover system's passive offense combines well with the aggressive offense of the "bullet time" to create many options for tackling situations. Some gamers have complained that the game is overly simplistic with these two approaches and can get repetitive. I would say that the game could be considered "repetitive" on lower difficulty levels since an exclusively cover or exclusively "bullet time" approach works in most every situation. In higher difficulty levels, you need to pick your poison- eg. an exposed leap in "bullet time" could mean instant death, whereas a more tactical approach may be better suited for a given situation. The game features three aiming modes: hard lock, soft lock, and free aim. The two locking modes, especially hard lock, really pull the gun in the direction of enemies, causing simple pulls of the trigger to be all that is needed to clear a room. On harder difficulties, free aim is required and forces the player to take 100% control for each shot. Having completed the game on hard difficulty with free aim, I can verify that it is possible (although it is hard). You will die playing this game, but the creators recognize this and take care of you: if you die at a checkpoint too often, you will eventually be gifted pain pills (health pack equivalents) and ammo. This doesn't make it much easier but sometimes gives you a fighting chance. Overall, the gameplay is fluid and rewards persistence. It is easy to jump into "bullet time" from cover and to another cover. Moving around is intuitive and relatively easy to grasp.
Story: The game blurs the line between a movie and a video game. Most games force you to play most, if not all, of a level then you get a cut scene at the end of the level. This game has cut scenes throughout. They, overall, are not that long. I have heard claims of 15+ min cut scenes in this game. That is simply not true. The longest cut scene is probably around 5 minutes. While there are A LOT of them, they are not overbearing. (If you want long cut scenes, play Metal Gear Solid) The cut scenes use the same graphics as the gameplay, which illustrates the extremely high level of graphics present in this game. Overall, this game straddles the line between movie and video game. By doing so, the game has a relatively deep story, which is something largely absent from this genre (no, the Mass Effect games are RPGs at heart, not third person shooters). The game has a hazy camera with occasional one word subtitles to highlight conversation points. I've found this approach is a matter of preference- some people hate it, I personally think it is engaging.
Ultimately the game is a slightly different take on the Max Payne IP than its predecessors, and with good reason: The first two games, while excellent, are very similar to each other in many ways. Simply copying this would have brought complaints that the game didn't do anything new. Changing the setting to Sao Paolo, even recharacterizing Max with a shaved head and beard (that's not a spoiler, it's in the trailers), is an intentional attempt to show that this game is a little different. However, the main draw of the first two games remains, and the addition of the Rockstar formula is welcome.
As a side note: the multiplayer is excellent. Having spent many hours playing online, I can say that the game doesn't reinvent the wheel with its multiplayer, but it still provides a fun system to explore. The game follows the system that was first implemented by Call of Duty and is now standard in shooters in which players level up through multiplayer play, which allows for the unlocking of better weapons, armor, and costume pieces. Where the multiplayer really shines is in the "boosts system". Boosts are in game powerups that are awarded for continued successful play (similar to killstreaks in Call of Duty). One of the boosts is bullet time, which they managed to fit into the multiplayer and make it work within the game's space-time continuum- in other words, they solved the problem of: how do you slow down time for the attacking player without providing the same boost to the player being attacked. Other boosts provide bonuses such as making yourself appear friendly to the opposing team or making all players on the opposing team look like enemies to each other. These are only a few examples of the boosts, which can have dramatic effects on the outcome of a match. Overall, the multiplayer is definitely not an afterthought in this game, but it doesn't feel like the single player is lacking due to its inclusion either. | video-games_xbox |
Excellent graphics, car details, and racing feel. I just recently picked up an X-Box, and I bought several games to start playing. All of the others are still in the wrappers, as I cannot put this one down. I love racing games, period, so this review is a bit biased. That said, here is what I love about this game:
The car options are first rate. Everything from VW to Lemans Racing Cars, and everything in between. Try racing street car, the switching on the same track to a race car. The differential between the speed and handling ability is amazing.
The track options are first rate. With multiple tracks to choose from, they are all excellent, with good graphics. My favorite so far is Rio.
The driver controls are also exceptional. I notice several reviews here are stating that there is no "driver's view". I found it one certainly seems to be that view out the front. I personally prefer the "just behind" the car view however to get a better feel for other cars.
The "damage" setting is a blast. I like the "cosmetic" setting so I can ram the corners flat out and bounce through the hairpins. The other damage settings are great though too with two people racing as your car begins to pull to the left, wobble on the straights, etc., as it gets knocked around. It would be even better if a pit stop would repair the damage; so far I have not found this option.
The only complaints I would have are around the options for single player. It would be nice to have any car, any setting, available from the start. Also, it would be great to have some Formula One car options available.
Great to "plug and play". I have little patience or time to be sifting through complex manuals, or trying to decipher complex controls, so this game works well just by plugging it in, and driving off.
If you like racing games, then give this one a try. It is too much fun, and hard to put down. | video-games_xbox |
Worst gaming experience I think I have faced EVER. As a bargain game I would have thought a Resident Evil title would have been an amazing find for the price. Wow was I wrong. I played RE2 way back on the PS1 and found it entertaining. I am not a huge 3rd person action/survival/horror gamer but I can get my way around most of them. RE5 is the first game I have turned off after literally less than 30 minutes. I got about 2 checkpoints into the game before I shut it down before losing my mind. It's going right back to the store for credit.
I found nothing fun about the control schemes. Looking over the shoulder is an odd perspective I could get used to if the game was intuitive. Your character is slow. SLOW SLOW SLOW. He walks slow, runs slow, aims slow, and apparently every little item on the floor prevents him from moving. Imagine a small 13 gallon plastic garbage can stopping the Terminator in it's tracks. The camera over the right shoulder also makes you completely blind in most instances. It's a major blindspot. This would have worked in the slow limited environments of RE1 and 2, it has no place in this type of game.
Very early in the opening stages the game throws you into a massive battle with dozens of zombies and some mad boss from the new movie. I gave this spot a try a few times before giving up.
The zombies no longer lumber around. They are fast and plentiful. With no auto-target you have to manually aim at each one. This is infuriating for so many reasons. A. You are completely blind on your left. It's as if Chris has only one eye. B. The aiming mechanism is so incredibly slow to move around. By the time you get your target selected its on you. C. Your partner is secretly trying to kill you. She shoots your target causing you to waste ammo and she gets in your way at every step. She also needs to be healed every 5 seconds.
The RE series was notorious for limiting your inventory so much and this game was no different. You have little ammo and clumsy controls, limited health, and an inept partner who leads you to wasting most of your ammo anyway. The game was totally unclear as to what you were supposed to do. I basically ran around and just shot as many zombies as I could before getting cut in half by an axe. The purposely limited view and lousy controls made a difficult game even worse. I had the game on easy and couldn't even play 10 minutes before wanting to smash the disk. Not fun at all.
For the serious gamers and RE vets this game will probably be manageable but I don't see the fun level in it. Capcom may defend the controls and limited view as adding to the sense of uneasiness. I say thats all a cover. The controls suck and the average to novice gamer will hate them. Bad bad game and I will not be playing another RE game anytime soon. | video-games_xbox |
Disappointment from a loyal user. I've been and Xbox user for approximately 8 years. I've been a loyal and happy costumer all this time considering Xbox was the best option in the video games world. Until recently I was really disappointed by the Xbox 360 support team and Xbox 360 console.
I was one of the many user that was affected by the famous "Red Eye" defect that the console had from production. After 3 long calls to the support team explaining them what was going on with my console, they accept the fact that it was the "Red Eye" defect. I had to send them my console so they'll send me a new one. All this process took about 3 weeks. I didn't care because I will have my Xbox 360 back and I would be playing again and I understood that sometimes problems can occur and they did everything to do it right. Where all my deception came was about two month after I received my console back. I received it with a 1 month Xbox Live card. I didn't use the card right away because I didn't have an internet connection at that time. When I got it, I was excited that I would finally use it. So, I connect my Xbox 360 direct to the modem, I redeem my card, gave all my information, address, phone number, email, and credit card info. And start playing online. It was great!!! But oh surprise the very next day. I couldn't connect to Xbox Live. I called the support team to see if I was doing something wrong. The phone call was about and hour and a half long and at the end they told it might be the cable the one with the problem. I went and bought a new cable and still, I couldn't connect. Then, I connected my laptop to the same modem and cable and no problem at all. So, the very next day I called again and told them what I did and again an hour and half call trying to fix the problem, doing the same thing as the day before and guess? No solution. So they told me that this time it might be the hard disk that I should try with another one to see if that was the problem and call again. I tried with a hard disk of a friend and nop, it didn't worked either. So I called again and after another hour and a half of telling them that I already did that, that I already tried that (it seems they didn't have any information in my case) they concluded it was my console the one with the problem and that I have to send it again to them. I couldn't believe it. It was only 2 month after I was 3 weeks without it and now, I will be for 4 to 6 weeks without my console for this problem. It isn't fair. I just redeem my card and just gave my credit card information and I'm not able to use it. I really feel that Xbox robbed me on this. They have all my information and I'm not been able to use it. I told them all this and they told me they will give a wireless control for all the problems. So, my loyalty and patience to Xbox 360 it's worth $50 USD? I had no option less just to laugh. Again, I'm going to be without my console for a month or so and Xbox having all my information plus all this time I stood to be an Xbox loyal user, that's really sad and frustrating.
Seriously Xbox has to do a lot of work to keep their users. I'm already thinking on getting a Playstation 3 and try if I wouldn't have a problem with them. And I'm not the only one, I have an internet blog and a lot of people are agreeing with me. It will be very unfortunate to have to do this, but seriously I don't see why not. | video-games_xbox |
A good game, but not a good Assassin's Creed game. Before I get started, let me first remind the reader that we are all entitled to our opinions, If you don't like mine, don't read it. You can go write your own review. There's no need to get nasty. We're all just trying to help some potential buyers. And a few of the points I bring up aren't necessarily the focus of other gamers.
The Mechanics: The controls have changed and did so without need, frustrating me and most of my friends. In addition, the AC series used to be fairly easily won and could be played by both casual and hardcore gamers. Because of the increased difficulty in controls, and the neglect of Ubisoft to guide players through the armory and crafting, I would not recommend this for casual gamers. Crafting and trading are good in theory but difficult in execution as compared to the previous economics of investment that became popular in AC2, ACB, and ACR -especially when there is no tutorial. AC:B and AC: R had the perfect amount of depth as far as crafting and armory went. AC3's armory and crafting are overly complicated and were confusing for me, and I've been with the series since day 1. It has to be said that my #1 complaint is that the game starts off agonizingly slow and doesn't pick up until sequence 5. We don't need half a game of tutorials. Who do you think you are? Square Enix? Some of the side missions are tedious beyond redemption. Herding pigs into a pen or finding flowers for a love-struck miner made me wonder why I was playing the game. The fast travel system is mediocre. Finding the tunnels to the masonic underground is tedious, unlike the catacombs in Rome, and I decided not to waste my time. The frontier is hit or miss. You love it or you hate it. It is reminiscent of the Kingdom of the first game, but with more to do. The changing of the seasons and the conflict between man and wildlife is a great addition. (Granted, I think the developers of Skyrim might be able to sue for copyright infringement, as the Frontier seemed almost like an exact copy of the popular Bethesda game's setting minus tree climbing). That being said, the stealth mechanics have improved; I feel more like an assassin than in previous titles. And although it's been said before, the sailing is amazing. I didn't think Ubisoft could pull it off. I've never liked naval warfare in my games, but I liked captaining my own ship in AC3.
The Character: Ubisoft brought in perspective from the natives; however, culture might have been too much of a focus. The conflict between the Templars and Assassins, and the British and Colonists took a back seat to Connor's personal issues as a native, breaking a precedent set by every other game. (Templars and Assassins were always the primary focus with the historical setting supporting that conflict as a secondary objective to the story telling). A third of the game is in the native language, creating unnecessary annoyance. (In previous titles, words in other languages were used sporadically and didn't disrupt the story). In addition, Connor is beyond whiny with no visible character development throughout the game. His emotional range is somewhat angry to very angry; he was an entitled whelp the entire story. I understand that Ubisoft was trying to portray native feelings and thoughts during the Revolution, but honestly they turned Connor into a caricature instead of a character, ultimately doing a disservice to the Native Americans by making an annoyance out of the Native American protagonist (and it PAINS me to say it). It just goes to show that being too politically correct is a good way to be politically incorrect. It honestly makes me worry how Ubisoft is going to handle future minority characters.
The Setting: The game was advertised as having the American Revolution as a major point. Honestly, the game could have taken place at any time in history. The Revolution is merely a far off back drop and almost an afterthought. Important historical figures are few and far between or have barely any relevance to the game -and Connor is rude to all of them. The Assassin Brotherhood is on the brink of extinction (an interesting step considering that the previous games created a strong brotherhood). I like this aspect of the game, however I regret to say that the assassins that are left have seemingly forgotten their roots. The creed of the assassins is virtually gone -a disappointment considering the game is called "Assassins Creed." The iconic motto, "Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted" isn't uttered once, and worse, seems to be ignored. Honestly, it's like taking "The Force" out of Star Wars. NO! Bad! You don't do that! The game definitely brings up some interesting possibilities that we might see in later installments. And believe me, the ending definitely throws in your face that there will be later installments.
The Ending (no major spoilers): Speaking of the ending, I wasn't fond of it. Like the ending of ME3, it uses magic that stretches suspension of disbelief. It's not explained how or why the ending is possible, making our protagonist Desmond a Mary Sue, and in many ways (I won't say which) a hypocrite. Yes, I said it. Harsh, but true. The ending was necessary to pave the way for future games and interesting to an extent, but I didn't find it all that amazing like the other endings of the previous games.
Ultimately, the slow pace of the beginning and the unnecessary complications added in trading and crafting along with an abandonment of some of the original ideas and lore weigh the final score down. (If I could go back in time, I would not have bought the collector's edition). I won't be pre-ordering AC4. But the game is worth the play time for the patient gamer if taken with a grain of salt. AC3 just doesn't have the charm of its predecessors. It feels more like a dramatization of Native American life during the colonial days than an AC game. It's a good game. Just not a good AC game. (And yes, I am comparing it to its predecessors. It's an installment in a series. It needs to act like it. Again, force out of Star Wars argument). Take my assessment how you will. Love it. Hate it. It's mine, and it's how I look at this game. And keep in mind, I'm not being paid off by game developers to write it, so it's an honest reaction *cough* Game Informer *cough* IGN *cough* | video-games_xbox |
Good graphics, hot villians, cool fight moves and a medicore story. If you are a Batman fan, you will probably love this game, but most others should probably just rent it. The graphics are very good, unless you switch to detective mode, which is actually more helpful, cause it highlights enemies and objects, and lets you see through walls. However, then you lose the colorful impressive graphics.
Action wise, most of the game is fighting henchman. They is not a lot of variety in the henchman, and you can pretty much just button mash your way though them. The game switches to slow motion almost "matrix style" moves, sometimes zooming up close, when you are about to knock down an enemy. Its pretty cool and one of the nicer features of the game, although occasionally, the punch or kick didn't quite seem to line up to where it should.
Weapons and equipment wise, batman comes up a little short. There is the batarang, the batclaw and a couple other things. The batarang is used mainly for stunning enemies and brutes in boss fights, and the batclaw for pulling down enemies and heavy objects.
For a big muscle bound guy, Batman sure is flexible and light on his feet. You can glide around, almost fly, using his cape, and his bat cable thing lets you quickly and apparently silently fly up to higher objects or platforms. Comic books fans will appreciate the range of Batman villains, although you don't really fight most of the them.
The story is actually pretty mediocre and really wanders around a bit. This game employs, and quite heavily, a video game tactic of having you wander back through maps you have already been through. It's a tactic that saves video game developers the time and cost of creating new maps and backgrounds. In some cases the enemies are changed up a little bit, as you go back through, but its still a cheap tactic that I personally don't care for. The batcave is for some reason located right next to Arkham Asylum.
The detective mode allows you track things like fingerprints or DNA in certain parts of the game, although I didn't much care for that. The detective mode is also quite useful when you have to deal with henchman that are armed. They can kill you quite quickly, so its best to sneak up and use a silent takedown on them.
Batman doesn't kill people so everybody is just made "unconscious", although they never wake back up.
The voice acting is somewhat repetitious, although very good. Some of the dialogue though is pretty cheesy.
The boss fights involve mostly fighting henchman and employing the batarang, and in some cases using a tactic and no real fight at all.
The male villains and henchman almost all look like steroid using freaks, and the female villains all look like supermodels in revealing costumes. Not that I'm complaining, but the game video animation will not so subtlety focus on the female villains body parts, in case you weren't already paying attention to their hotness. The ending is predictably short and not really satisfying. After you beat the game you can continue playing, although there is really nothing to do other then collect the remaining Riddler question marks or audio recordings you may have missed. Also be aware, that the Playstation 3 version lets you play as the Joker, although I am not sure to what extent. The 360 version completely leaves this out.
Update 10/16/2009- After a second play through of the game, I would definitely bump this up to a five star game. I didn't fully appreciate the depth of the game on my first go around. The game is definitely worth purchasing if you enjoy fighting/action type games. You can button mash your way through the game if you want, but you will miss out. The number and diversity of counter/combos moves you can do is excellent and the animation and graphics are outstanding. There are also a number of silent/automatic take downs you can do depending on your environment and almost all of your items can also be used to either stun or take down opponents. The diversity of options is really impressive.
While playing the game, and even after you beat it, you can collect the Riddler puzzles and interview tapes, which to my surprise I enjoyed doing. This will also take you back through some areas you didn't completely explore or may have missed altogether. Some of the puzzles can be quite challenging to find if you don't cheat and look them up.
I also enjoyed the predator and combat challenges, much more then I thought I would initially. They are challenging, fun, and bring another replayability factor to the game.
This is definitely one of the best fighting/action games I've played. | video-games_xbox |
Campaign: Awesome / Multiplayer: Disappointment. I have been geeked out for Halo 4 for months now. Enough so that my son and I had to go to a midnight launch and get it right away. The campaign is beautiful and a heck of a lot of fun to play. Unfortunately, the multiplayer does not live up to expectations. Don't get me wrong...it is a heck of a lot of fun as well. But it's not Halo. The newer fast paced gameplay is too much like COD and other first person shooters. If that's what you are looking for, than you will not be disappointed. But after playing REACH for the last couple of years, I was expecting something more. REACH was a spectacular multiplayer experience. My biggest complaints:
1. Pacing: The pacing and the skill required in REACH was something that you could actually build on and get better as you play. Halo 4 is the type of game that anyone can easily get 20+ kills in a game. The level of skill required is far less than REACH. Kills happen much, much quicker. No more do you have to worry about getting an opponents shield down and finish him off with a well timed melee. It's COD on steroids.
2. Ranking: Halo 4 uses the COD model of simple # ranks. Part of the fun of REACH was seeing the ranks that your opponents are in a multiplayer lobby. When you were in a room with an Nova or an Eclipse, you knew you were going to be playing with someone who has put in A LOT of time and someone who was going to be a challenge. When you reached a rank in REACH you actually felt like you accomplished something. You were proud. The higher ranks take weeks or sometimes months to accomplish. In fact, most people playing REACH will never attain the highest ranks. My son and I have been playing Halo 4 for just a couple of days and we are already at rank 30.
3. Lobby graphics: The multiplayer menus are much more simplistic and generic. Same as any other game. Absolutely nothing special at all.
4. Armor: Again...nothing special at all. They really dropped the ball on this one. Buying armor in REACH was fun and (and expensive)! Halo 4 really feels lame. It's also sad that you only get to see your opponents from the waist up and it's much smaller than in REACH. Really...the 2 biggest bragging points from REACH (rank and armor) are pretty much non-existent in Halo 4.
To summarize...Halo 4 is a fun and engaging multiplayer experience. It's just not Halo. It's COD. It's Battlefield. It's any other first person shooter. The things that made REACH great are diminished or non-existent. 343 had a great opportunity to take REACH's multiplayer to the next level, while retaining the things that made it great. Instead of leaving the things that worked, they fixed everything that wasn't broken in the first place. And not for the better. | video-games_xbox |
An OK Game, But Surpassed by the first two DI games. Dead Island: Escape is the newest entry in the DI series, and although it shares common themes with the earlier games, it takes a very different approach to gameplay. Where the first two games were essentially open-world 1st person melee brawlers, DIE is more of very linear third-person action game.
The game uses a cel-shaded graphics style that was much better implemented in the Borderlands series. Along with the thwap and krakk words dancing on the screen during executions, DIE has a very comic-book feel to it. Here are some pros and cons I experienced during gameplay.
PROs
-the stealth gameplay is basic but welcome.
-It makes an attempt at a storyline with headplay similar to the first Max Payne.
-A variety of ways to get collectables, including a photo mechanic reminiscent of the first Dead Rising game, but more simplified.
-It has well-drawn cutscenes with a graphic novel style.
-Combat is simple but fast.
-The game uses existing characters and plot points from the other Dead Island games.
CONs
-There are multiple sections of the game during which the player must retread the same areas over and over again. While some of this has to do with the plot, much of it is wholly unnecessary (like trips up/down the mountaintop), and only serves to kill gameplay momentum.
-The cel shaded graphics are done at such a low res as to make the game look much older, and make many objects, like the zombies, look muddled and uninteresting.
-Area loading can be lengthy and happens in the middle of what you're doing, which can be jarring.
-Inconsistent quality of voice acting.
-None of the customization that was present in the first two games exists in this one. You simply receive stock upgrades to particular weapons once you find them.
-Its a relatively short game, with overall shallow gameplay.
The game is marketed as a budget title, and while it is a lite but enjoyable game, I think both the original Dead Island and Dead Island Riptide are far more interesting. Theyre also currently cheaper than DIE, and in my opinion, a better value. So, if you haven't played them, they might be the better bet if you're looking for some zombie killing action. Or, if you're drawn to the cel graphics, the Borderlands series is a lot more fun.
So, I guess that says a lot about my experience with DIE if I find myself recommending other games instead. Cheers! | video-games_xbox |
The Most Fun I Have Had This Generation. The Witcher 3 is a fantastically dense game that took me over 100 hours (possibly even 200) just to beat because it constantly distracts you with very well thought out side quests in its highly immersive world. The combat is incredibly responsive and precise with numerous ways to approach battle. The monster contracts particularly stand out and I found myself leveling up just to play through them. The story itself challenges you with decisions that are never black and white and have unforeseeable consequences that play out brilliantly. Every choice has consequences and they are usually not good, so get used to choosing the lesser of two evils.
My only gripe really is that the game introduces quite a few characters that were barely (if at all) mentioned in the previous two games yet they are incredibly important to Geralt's life. I'm particularly referring to the most important character of the story, Ciri, as well as Geralt's love, Yennifer. I grew to like and care for them almost immediately though due to the phenomenal writing. It is very refreshing to play a game such as this with such sharp and clever dialogue that I haven't seen in a video game. I experienced a few bugs during my playthrough, but nothing earth-shattering. They were usually just texture or sound glitches. It would occasionally annoy but only because the soundtrack is so good.
When I first started the game I had a really hard time getting used to the combat and was completely confused by the oils and potions. Making it to the end though, it is incredible how everything flows and makes complete sense in combat. It really is a game you must grow into. The dark and mature story is also refreshing as is the not so goody two shoes protagonist.
Overall, it is one of the best and most complex RPG's I have ever played. Too bad it is Geralt's last adventure because he went out on one hell of a high note. | video-games_xbox |
Fond memories of other slashers and beautiful graphics make this a winner for me. : . An underrated game with some minor flaws...The problem here is that the execution system is very misunderstood. it is not shallow button mashing, but a keenly timed calm approach that pays off. Its basically like assassins creed, god of war, batman all throw together with a little bit of the drama and scripted events of the orginal lord of the rings slash series that was so popular when the movies were in theaters. Did I forget to mention how good this game looks.. cause it looks gorgeous. Graphically it is the best console experience I have seen to date; Crysis 3 and The Last of Us being the overthrown champions... Killzone on PS4 also set the bar high, but I have not played it through yet... Here the character models are gorgeous and so is the voice over and motion acting. Stunning facial detail and lip syncing accuracy even in game while fighting...
Parts of the game where your in the group on-rails and the endless shootouts on the nausea inducing scorpio zoom-o gun feel tacked on and lame; but do break up the 3rd person element nicely when short and done calmly(which is rare)... Sometimes a fogginess appears or the framerate dips(especially in the coliseum and when your overseeing groups) but these are rare and don't effect things much. That is why I deduct a star. Can't stress that enough; to have the most fun you must strategically place your blows and time your button presses well, slow, and precise. Gladiator story is cliched and a total ripoff...but it is AWESOME!! short but sweet. Prolly better to use your gamefly, but definately must not miss this one!! ENJOY!.... also try to execute enemies on cliffs, ledges, and spikes for added awesomeness. Would be a great arcade game with a few more bosses thrown in too.
*Hope they can UPDATE to improve framerate and zoom-o scorpio gun so that it is steady* | video-games_xbox |
Great game, poor online interface. Gameplay is exactly what you expect........Baja racing. The designers put lots of effort into the graphics, track layouts and game physics but.... no effort into online interface.
Unfortunatly the online interface is crap. If you join a race already in progress you join as a spectator. When the race is over, a new race starts automatically. If your a Spectator from the previous race you cannot join new race. These are long races you could be waiting along time expecting to join a race only to get dolced.
If your hosting a game and a race ends, it automatically launches the next map. You have no option to stop or change maps or vehicles or let new people or spectators join. You have to start a new room.
Some of these races last anywhere between 20 mins to 1 hour. When your in the race there is no milage indicator to let you know how much longer you have. There is not indicator to let a spectator know how much longer the race will be.
From the lobby there is no indication if a race is in already in progress or just forming up and you don't want to join a race that is already in progress becuase then you'll join as spectator. So you can spend an hour going from room to room to room to room waiting to get lucky to join a race that is just about to begin.
you can host a game but because everyone is jerking around going from room to room it can take forever to find a group of guys ready to race. it frustrating.
If you choose quick match where the system automatically places you in a room you think you'd stand a chance. guess what 9 times out of ten the system puts you in a room where a race already in progress. You join as a spectator and you have no option even when the race completes to join the next race.
there are no vehicle stats, there are alot of premade vehicles to choose from, but no info on speed, handling or suspension. You choose a vehicle because you like the pretty color conbination I guess.
No replays.
I give the game an A+ cause the racing is fun and career mode is decent even though the AI is very tough to beat even at 70%. But the fun of a racing game is online play, the interface is so clumbsy and lazy I give it a D. With that said its not a $60 game maby $30. Rent first or wait till after christmas when prices drop or pick up a used copy at gamestop.
If they patch the game I will change my review but until then 2 stars at best. | video-games_xbox |
A pretty good game, but. Let me start off by saying that when your playing in a game scenario, this game can be fun, But problems start rather quickly. One of my biggest complaints is in the passing game, the lack of location based passing makes throwing the ball nerve racking, often times on a crossing route your receiver will have to spin around backwards just to make the catch. And if your hoping to throw over your receivers shoulder where a defender cant reach it.... good luck, once again, most of the time he will spin around and try to make a dramatic catch, often times losing the chance to get extra yardage. Then theres one of my favorite pass plays, the deep comeback. This play is insanely frustrating, your reciever will go out the usual 10-15 yards, the problem is, when he turns back for the pass, he comes back a few yards, you throw, he catches, BUT KEEPS COMING BACK!!! It takes him so long to turn back around, that when he gets tackled he has turned what should have been a gain of 10-15 yards or more into a gain of 4-8 yards. And also if your not a fan of using tight ends in the passing game, you better be damn good at this game, because in the harder difficulty levels it is extremely hard to get the ball into your receivers, since the defense is so tough. Make friends with your tight end, he could save you. And also make good use of your hot routes and motions, and remember, just becuase your pass isn't a huge gain, as long as your not losing yards, your doing pretty good. My next problem is the running game in campus legend mode, when you are the quarterback, or any other position, your running back is often a lame duck, unless your on a team with a excellent running back, even then you will have to turn your running backs AI waaayyy up so that he doesnt just do a spin move and get dropped in the backfield. Also in Campus legend mode, when you are the quarterbackback, you want to make sure that you do choose a balanced or running quarterback, otherwise you may be on the wrong side of a sack very often, especially since the offensive line this year is very inconsistant. Now I know that your gonna get sacked sometimes, that obvious, and also part of the game. But what i mean by inconsistant is that, one play the O-line will do a pretty good job, but then on the next two of your guys will grind together trying to pick up a block, and allow the whole D-line to get through and take you down (thats why you want a mobile quarterback). The load times are long, which can be frustrating, especailly in campus legend mode, where the games are considerably shorter since you only play when your player is on the field. But one place the 360 version of the game shines over the ps3 version is the framerate, which is at a lovely 60 frames per second, while the ps3 struggles at 30fps. But so many frames a second can cause some hiccups.
The main menu can be frustrating and confusing at times, but nothing too hard to overcome. i also find myself wishing there was more to do with your player during the week in campus legend mode. Every week goes as follows: Practice, night event (you only read about what you did that night), then comes the next day. You do this all week, then you can play the game at the end of the week. the night event can earn you stats (which will help you for the week), and popularity points (Which will help fill up your legend meter). You cant even do anything during the offseason, no training, no mini camps, not even a spring game. :(
Thats not to say that everythng is bad in this game. Like I said, this game can be pretty fun. The new ESPN.com feature is very nice, and does a good job keeping up with stats, although often I find that a team that was ranked 25th or lower in the BCS one week, is ranked in the top 5 the next, which for anybody who knows college football, can be irritating since this is NOT supposed to happen. To be fair, I have not played on defense very much, so I can't really discuss that. But let me just say, being a middle linebacker is tough.
All in all this isn't a horrible game, its actually very addicting, its just easier to point out the flaws than it is to talk about the good stuff. The frustrating things do happen, but if you love college football, its easy to overlook...Creating your own highlight reel can be fun, but if your like me and don't have box live (at the moment), its just a sad reminder of how you cant show off your skills. The Stadiums are well done, as well as the whether effects, in the winter you could be having a snow shower, then the next thing you know, it has turned into a blizzard that has completely covered the field. Oddly though, you never see a player slip on the slippery surface (as in Madden 08). The Announcers do a good job with the emotion factor. I cant really say much bad about them. They are a little inconsistant though. For example: they will be very excited over the 4th game of the season, but then in the National Championship, they will be very mellow.
If you have a problem with little irritations and flaws, pass on this game, but if you can overlook these thing, trust me... this game makes for a satisfying experience. I just hope this review has helped all who are reading. and i hope it didn't take too much time out of your day.
Thanks for your time! :) | video-games_xbox |
Lots of fun at times, Infuriating at other times. This game is fun in a Grand Theft Auto type way, but in this game you can throw cars and air conditioning units. It's a fun time-waster. You can, just like GTA, accidentally spend a long time just screwing around and throwing cars into crowded streets. This game is also very reminiscent of the Spiderman 2 game because of the open NYC environment where you can climb all the skyscrapers of New York.
This brings me to the negative part of my review. Climbing skyscrapers and buildings in general proves difficult at times. It DEFINITELY takes getting used to and even after your used to it, you'll have moments when you're trying to get to the top of a building to get a "Landmark Collectible" and you just grate your teeth and getting angry because you basically have to get lucky in order to do it. In some of the missions the touchy controls can prove to be a hinderance as well. There's times that you need to be stealthy, so as to not alert the enemy, and if you don't hit the buttons the EXACTLY right way, you'll set off all sorts of alarms and probably lose the mission (especially if it's a stealth-dependent mission). The missions are easy compared to the challenges. Now, I know that some they are called "Challenges", therefore they are supposed to challenge you. But when your characters athletic abilities are limited by his glitchy movement, it's hard to do anything in a short span of time and do it correctly. It's almost impossible to get Alex (your Player Character), to go the exact direction you want him to when he's not already moving. If you're coming out of a dead stop, you'll probably go right when you want/need to go left (and vice versa).
Next up is another flaw: The Story. The story, while intricate and complex, is dull and unoriginal. Imagine 28 Days Later meets Rambo. Essentially just a parasitic zombie virus story. I won't give any spoilers, but just know to expect your typical plot elements of a militaristically-focused zombie movie. It's also a very thinly veiled extended metaphor for the AIDS epidemic. I won't make all the numerous connections to this metaphor, but if you look for it, it's pretty hard to miss. And the ending? "Disappointment" would be an OK word to use, I suppose.
All in all, it's an ok game. I hope that in the sequel they work on the control scheme and improve the relationship between what you press/move on the controller and what happens on-screen. But I don't anticipate much improvement on the low quality of the plot coming from these companies. Not worth the original price, but since it's been discount down to a really low price, I'd say if you're looking for a fun game with cheap thrills, and big, dumb action and a story to match that action for a decent price, look no further. | video-games_xbox |
postmodernist fantasy and gameplay. i'm a mature gamer who bought a dozen or so videogames along with a new xbox to see how the technology had evolved. (the digital animation in most recent films had piqued my interest.) i opened and started many games but bioshock was the one i played through first. this game has the unique attribute of putting videogaming on the psychoanalyst's couch: without spoiling the plot twists, i'll say it basically takes all the "external control" features of traditional "first person" videogames, which are always left unquestioned as narrative premises, and uses them instead to motivate major plot twists -- things you must confront explicitly through your role in the game. (control is someone or something who tells you that you are going to do a mission and why, as well as the social control of authority figures, the physical control of built infrastructure and surveillance devices, the threat control of monsters and risks, the ability control of which weapons you have and how you can use them, etc.) most games just pick one version or another of "control" and weave a plot inside that, but bioshock puts you through different versions or pretexts of control that make you question control rather than submit to it. but all that comes up only if you bother to think about it. if not, then the fantasy realm of an underwater city, genetic mutants, children who collect corpse juice, mad scientists and a very retro visual design are entertainment enough. the visual design is very good and the gameplay was flawless, no glitches that i could find. the game is both gory and gruesome and is not for kids. the missions and tasks flow from one to the other in a way that keeps the narrative arc ambiguous and also does not let you anticipate when the "boss battle" will come -- at least, not until the game is near the very end. the weapons are quite novel, although the best ones resemble the "gravity gun" and crossbow in half life 2. you are explicitly required to manage them by purchasing abilities or ability slots at vending machines -- a sardonic comment on consumer culture. however the game does not end in a way that says "you adopted a role and you perfomed it well as instructed" but rather "you did many things in this game because you were told to, but who are you really?" i found that the most interesting thing about this very interesting, enjoyable and engrossing game is that it opens up many narrative possibilities that the mission oriented first person shooter games have not been able to explore. | video-games_xbox |
Possibly the best NHL game in the series. I've bought every NHL game for 360 since 2008 and this is the best one.
It's incredibly fun to play. I mostly play offline (season mode) and it's pretty fun.
I would like them to bring back "hot streaks", I remember it from one of the old NHL pc games 2000 or 2001 where it would show when players were on a hot streak or cold streak. That was pretty cool.
Great:
-Post game replay is amazing. It's very realistic and a fantastic addition
-AI is much more challenging. Play on superstar for the best experience. AI fore checks more aggressively, it's much harder to break out of your own zone.
-Goalies are more realistic. In NHL 11, goalies made amazing saves that were unrealistic where they would fall on there backs and somehow make the save. None of that trash here.
-Shooting is much more realistic in this game and feels different when the puck is released, it's much faster and realistic.
-Commentary is great as the last few years.
Bad:
-Superstar mode is too easy. To be fair I'm really really good but still, some games I'm beating AI 6-0, and I'm constantly on 5+ game streaks.
-Too easy to score with one timer slap shots over the middle.
-AI point shots almost always go in.
-Fighting still sucks and it's not frequent enough. It's not even fun to fight and it's even harder to start in this game because nobody fights back even with fighting on max. It's more of a strategic thing to get the energy at full but you can't even fight because nobody will fight back.
-AI defense too good at stick lifting.
-AI dump ins and not calling off sides. AI will dump the puck in from center and there will be a guy that is so obviously offside its not even funny but its never called.
-Not nearly enough penalties and when there is a penalty it's against you (user). I have penalties maxed and there is still only 1 or 2 penalties per game. The only penalty called is interference. You barely bump a guy and you're gone for 2. You finish your check you're gone for 2. I also have penalties for AI up which has improved things a little.
-CPU trading absolutely sucks. It's easy to initiate a trade but I remember a time when you actually got trade offers from other teams not so in this version.
Free agents don't respond. For the first few days you get responses, and then after that you never hear back from players. | video-games_xbox |
finally things look bright, literally. every 3 or 4 years, SEGA pushes out another sonic game with the nintendo
version being the best versions. it's been sonic's basic rule to do the
best he can on nitendo systems, with his newest game being no exception,
but that's not saying that the 360 version is bad, oh no no NO! it is acually one of the best to date! it is just held down by stuff the wii version didn't have, and has stuff that is better than the wii's, just not as many.
first lets talk about the blue blur himself. in his stages, you don't feel the blues at all. he is extremely fast and fun, with his levels being beautiful looking and have some good and bad design. the good design is that, with practice, you can memorize them and when you're good enough, fly by at super sonic speeds easily. and you can put you're time on a leader board, at least that is what it says on the back of the game cover. the replay value is extremely high, with dozens of twists and turns to take. the down side to the speed levels are the following: 1, there are not enough. there are only 9 speed levels. 9 i tell ya! they consist of 2 or 3 acts. the 1st act is the one you normally play, while the other acts optional, and trust me, they SHOULD be optional. they are so hard and frustrating, it's just not worth it. any way, sonic comes with old and some new moves. each being good, and with their share of flaws. the sonic drift is one, while it helps you turn, you still just don't turn sharp enough. most of the time, it will intead of helping you, kill you most of the time you use it. sonic's controls are problomatic at points. his turning is good while he's boosting, but when he's not, it's a little too loose, but most of the time, you'll be boosting anyway. his braking is awful. it taks him too long to stop, plain and simple. the jumping can also be untrust worthy, but it's not that bad. that's pretty much it for the hedgehog...
But what about the werehog? to keep a long story short, just don't play as him, regardless of the version. his levels are bassic platforming, but that's just it, BASIC PLATFORMING. it has nothing interesting about it. the guns in Shadow The Hedgehog were funner than this! the levles are TOO long, from 10 to 30 minutes each, no joke. the fighting is pointless and the upgrading system too. you don't need it because you basically win with the Y button, end of story.
overall, SEGA said they were aiming for the best sonic game ever, and got really close, but anchored it down with a lousy, boring, and stupid werehog, a WEREHOG!!! HAVE YOU HERD OF SUCH A THING??? well, now you have. don't be fooled, it's a good game though. the day stages are THAT fun, seriously, they are. and since the day stages are the thing that you'll spend the most time replaying, i recomend the wii version. it is missing 2 levels, but it's still a great game. if you don't own a wii, don't be afraid of getting the 360 version. it's a good game, just not as good as the wii version. it's not that it sucks to the wii version, it's just not as thought out. now my final words are... SEGA, GET A STUPID DOG CATCHER AND TAKE THE WEREHOG TO THE POUND PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | video-games_xbox |
Best WWE title in years. I picked this game up yesterday and am loving it so far. Now I have only played it for a few hours, and have not played the WWE Universe or Road to Wrestlemania modes, so my little mini-review is just going to be what I think of the gameplay and graphics, etc., so far.
The game looks great. The character models are spot-on. The entrance videos are very realistic and it makes you feel like you are watching a televised WWE event. The AI is harder than past WWE games. On the old Smackdown Vs. Raw games, I could start up a match on day one and dominate the AI the whole time. While it was nice to win all the time, it did get a little annoying that there was no challenge. On WWE '12, the AI is a little tougher to beat. They reverse moves more often and seem all around smarter. Once I got used to the new control scheme, I started doing better.
The controls are easy to use and can encourage friends to come over and play who aren't masters of the game and still have a fighting chance. The face buttons are used to setup all of your moves: A sets up grapples, X is used to perform various strikes, B is used to throw your opponent to the ropes/turnbuckle, and Y is used for signature moves and finishers. Reversals are done use the RT button. The reversal system isn't the easiest thing to maneuver, but once you get the timing right, it works great (it is easier to reverse than it is in WWE All Stars)
The movement is more fluid as are the moves, at least in my experience. I did not have any problems with jagged or slow movement as others are noting. I played a 40 man Royal Rumble match that lasted about an hour, which was great because it felt very realistic. The game plays great with many superstars on the screen at one time. The Royal Rumble elimination is done using Quick Time Events. I found this to be easy and exciting. The animations and close-up camera work done during elimination attempts made it seem like I was watching a real Rumble PPV. Tag team matches also seem to be easier, as far as tagging in your opponent and doing some double-team moves.
UPDATE: I spent some time this weekend with the Universe mode, Road to Wrestlemania mode, and the Creations mode. All are fun and exciting.
The Universe mode closely resembles my favorite mode from back in the day, the General Manager mode. You set up your brands how you want, add new brands, assign titles, etc. You have the option of playing each match how they are assigned, or changing the superstars and match types before each match. I would have liked to have been able to change the entire card before starting, and then pounding through all of the matches, but you can't do that and must change each match, if desired, prior to the start of each match. All in all, the amount of freedom you have to choose who faces who, what brand they are on, what teams they are involved with, etc, is very good and makes the mode exciting. The superstars included in the game, for this mode and exhibition, is amazing. Demolition? check. Road Warriors? check. Brock Lesnar? check. Plus upcoming DLC will feature Macho Man Randy Savage and Mick Foley.
The Road to Wrestlemania mode is very good, and a refreshing change for the WWE game story modes. You have three episodes to play, one with Sheamus, one with Triple H, and with a created wrestler. You can play as other wrestlers during the modes, but only when it allows, like tag matches, etc. The matches/backstage brawls have tasks you need to complete to advance, such as beat up your opponent until the prompt comes over his head. Then hit the prompt (Y button) and it triggers a cut scene. I saw some people complain about this, but I like it a lot. I have exhibition and Universe modes to play full standard matches, so the change in RTWM mode is a good one. I am only a little bit through the Sheamus episode, but am enjoying it very much so far. The story is great.
And then we have the Creation mode. This is where you can create your superstar, arena, entrance, entrance video, logo, etc. This is the most amazing creation mode I have ever seen. The amount of customization you can do is unbelievable. They have the accessories to create WWE Superstars not in the game, such as Chris Jericho, Bret Hart, and Dusty Rhodes, or you can use the large amount of clothing and skin/body options to create your own superstar. I spent hours creating my superstar and assigning his moves, and even creating my own original finishing move! This year, they have certain names you can call your guy that the announcer and commentators will say before and during the matches, instead of calling him "the superstar" or something like that. The create an arena mode is also great, with lots of customization options. You can even create designs for the screen that circles the arena. I loved the create a video and create an entrance modes best. They had original music you could use for your entrance, as well as original videos you could use as well. They incorporated my created superstar into the video, which I thought was awesome. Also, how your superstar walks down to the ring, the different camera angles shown, where and when pyro is initiated, etc. are all customizable. It really is incredible.
I have owned almost all of the WWE games since the original Smackdown debuted on the PS1, and even some on older consoles. This is hands down the best, most in-depth wrestling game you can buy. If you are looking for a fun, yet realistic and extremely customizable WWE game, then WWE '12 is the game you'll want to get. | video-games_xbox |
More Movie than Game. But, this is not to say that it is not a fantastic movie. I've just recently been flung into the Assassins Creed series, with buying ACII and Brotherhood only weeks before I picked up my pre order for Revelations.
The Bad.
As wonderful as this game was in storytelling, graphics and fluidity, I couldn't help but find myself rushing to the end, only caring about our beloved characters rather than the new ones we are introduced to. It lacks the pull I had for characters in previous editions such as Leonardo, so that when those few characters fall to death in revelations, I barely care. The gameplay is short, made even more so by the 'minigames' you are given which are completely optional. The Tower Defense, the Assassins student missions, and Desmond's journey. I had only done one of each and was ready to proceed with the main story. Yes you can rebuild your current city but there is hardly a need to. I only opened one of each shop and frequented sparingly, and never going to the Black smith to repair or buy until the final sequences. Everything else is almost placed upon the back burner and the cinematics and storytelling take first place. In short, the game is almost too easy with most of the game being 'optional' things you can do, but rather not and by deciding not to, it carries no penalty at all. I won't lie, the game as a whole to me, does not hold a candle to ACII
The Good.
Yet the storytelling... is great. An' though I only cared for Altair and Ezio's stories, it was enough to get me by. Everything that dealt with the Prince, and father and Uncle and etc... was fluff compared to the core story, the 'Revelations' (which were too small in number if you ask me). The ending will surely leave you wanting more, and the short animated film, will leave you feeling satisfied and complete. For someone who isn't a AC lover, I would recommend a rent instead of a sixty dollar buy. Though, if you're as addicted to the multi-player as I am, it is easily worth every penny
The Multiplayer.
This continued addition to the series is an aspect casual MP gamers would enjoy. It is laid back, and not holding the tension of COD MP games, but still brings you back craving more. There are a few differences between ACR and Brotherhood, such as a reverse detection meter, new maps, and new modes. There are still bugs but rarely do they interfere with your score, and only add to those entertaining 'WTF' moments. The community as a whole is welcoming and kind and always willing to help you out, a true 'Brotherhood' ironically enough. | video-games_xbox |
I sincerely regret to report that this is a terrible game. It's hard to know where to begin, or how to organize this, so apologies if it's a bit rambling.
The story is a blend of post-apocalyptic dark tunnels and classical sci-fi, and the premises of both are somewhat ridiculous. The storyline itself is convoluted, WAAAY over-dramatized, and impossible to follow (in part because the voices are quiet relative to the rest of the sound...with no way to change that). The entire game is wrought with campy horror movie imagery (literally groaning noises and arms coming out of walls) and a shockingly ineffective mix of jump-at-you scariness and psychological thriller. The gameplay is consistently interrupted by non-participatory (or worse, minimally so--requiring walking) cut scenes through underground communities that have no bearing on the game and no role in the story. There are several absolutely silly hallucinogenic dream-sequence levels that are...just a terrible chore to play. There are no meaningful interactions with, or relationships among characters. The most notable interaction the main character has is fondling the breasts of a boxily-rendered female (think Goldeneye 007 graphics), and ogling her exposed nipples. I mean, c'mon.
The game mechanics are the worst I have encountered in an Xbox 360 game. Here are a few examples:
- The graphics are so terrible, you can't actually tell what is water and what is wet ground. This is important to know, because walking into water will lead to a terrible cut scene, as well as instant death about 30% of the time. This quirk is the closest I have come to throwing a controller against the wall since playing Mario Tennis on GameCube.
- The jumping/ducking interaction with the environment is the worst I have encountered since the original Star Wars: Dark Forces, released as a first-gen CD-ROM game in the 90s. It's really very embarrassing.
- There is no map (ok, fine), but the game isn't totally linear, and the areas are dark and confusing enough that you spend some time simply lost.
- You have no health bar, and no way to know when you're going to die. When you take damage, the screen turns progressively redder, but there's no "final warning" of impending death. Also, sometimes you heal on your own, and sometimes you have to use a med kit. I never figured this out. This is a pretty flagrant, and obvious flaw.
- You can carry 3 guns, and quite limited ammo (sensu Resident Evil). That's fine, but some levels require non-stop video arcade blasting of monsters, which defeats the purpose of a conserve-your-ammo game. And of course, said monster's don't drop ammo, and there is typically none to be found in the environment. Furthermore, certain types of guns are more effective on monsters (shotguns), while others are needed against people (silenced scoped weapons). BUT YOU NEVER WHAT TYPE OF LEVEL IS COMING, SO YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO PREPARE.
- Refill points for guns and ammo are entirely unpredictable (see above for why that's terrible).
- Guns and associated upgrades are expensive enough that they are useless. Hilariously, for the final level, all guns and upgrades unlock for free.
- Several weapons (e.g., throwing knives, sniper rifle) are absolutely, completely useless in this game.
- Several controls are totally unexplained. For example, I had an airgun for a while, but eventually it refused to fire, and I had to figure out how to pump it up. So many small annoyances like this.
- Your character doesn't level or improve in any way. Fine, but out of step with modern FPSs.
- Monster enemies are very silly, and many are effectively invulnerable, given ammo limitations. The monster "boss" enemies are arduous to battle. Again, it just feels like such a chore.
Pros:
- It was blissfully short--maybe 8 hours?
- The bad guy AI was quite good; a mission-oriented Rainbow Six-style version of this game would probably be very playable.
I actually hope you're not convinced by this review, because I'm about to list this game for sale. | video-games_xbox |
Good idea, bad result. The idea for this game is a good one. You can go around and flash your badge at people (or criminals), pat them down, and arrest them--whether you're solving a crime, doing a mission, or just roaming. It's strangely satisfying and has great potential. While the story line is pretty dull, the cut scenes are pretty well done and realistic enough. The graphics aren't stunning, but aren't horrible either. There seems to be a good number of cars in the game, and obviously a huge area to explore.
So why the 2-star rating? The gameplay is horrible. As another reviewer mentioned, the camera angle is always turning the wrong way and you'll find yourself constantly trying to adjust it just to see what's going on. Firing weapons can be pretty haphazard; to fire the weapon you pull and release the R-trigger, but to go into slow-mo sniper mode you hold the R-trigger in for a split second longer. When you're running down a bad guy and trying to fire your weapon, and you accidentally hold the R-trigger down for more than an instant, it goes into that slow-mo sniper mode and throws everything off. It's bad gameplay design.
The driving in this game is a nightmare and not even close to realistic. The physics are fake, the cars whip around turns like their tires are glued to the road. Unlike 99% of racing game on the Xbox, this game doesn't use the R-trigger as your gas pedal. Instead, you use the A button. It takes getting used to, but is just the tip of the iceberg in regards to how unintuitive the controls are (but luckily the settings are adjustable). I will say that the car damage in this game is pretty cool at times, but that hardly redeems the glaring flaws.
Overall this is a good, innovative idea for a game, but a mostly bad outcome (mostly resulting from poor gameplay and controls). If you can get it nice and cheap, it might be worth a try, but otherwise don't waste your time. | video-games_xbox |
Bummed, but still fun. For a party game, this is pretty fun but I do have some disappointments from the start:
-You MUST go through single player training in every event prior to being able to play every sport. I would argue that rockclimbing, tennis and bowling are the strong points, and they are the final few you can unlock.
-Shooting is a let down to say the least. The game structure itself is interesting (think of a battleship type variation), but you are litterally pointing at your screen with an autoshoot pistol.
-There are certainly modernized touches, but it is clear that the developer either did not want to part from some the Wii and PS Move mentalities with motion technology applied to gaming or did not know how to apply it yet. The character concepts are innovative, but I would say 50% of the games available here are outdated. Unfortunately this tends to happen when new technology is introduced as the troubleshooting process from ideas to application takes longer than expected for developers. This is why you see so many titles (including this one) not releasing when expected on the newer systems.
That said, there certainly are some highlights:
-I found the player creation to be a really cool display of what the Kinect is capable of. The presentation was futuristic, and the facial construction was just plain neat.
-Once events are unlocked, multiplayer is fun just ensure your room has ample space and you don't stand too close to other players.
-The highlights are definitely tennis, bowling and above all the rockclimbing. The Kinect shines in this event, as you actually need to reach and grab each peg, you can pull opponents off the wall, and can even jump to hard to reach places. Unfortunately wave running is somewhat unresponsive and difficult to control and shooting seems lazy. Soccer isn't bad, but seems hindered as you are very limited on what you can do and the slow motion sucks the excitement from the event.
Overall this is definitely a fun party game once you spend the hour or so it takes to unlock everything. Make sure you are selecting a multiplayer event if this is what you intend to do as the presentation can be somewhat confusing and cause you to select a single player event.
Overall a good intro to Kinect, but it barely taps into the new technology. I would recommend waiting for a price drop to 39.99 or less as I feel this game simply does not have enough to offer right now. Unfortunately set my expectations higher than I probably should have for the first series of Kinect titles after it was delayed to hopefully improve and was definitely disappointed. | video-games_xbox |
Nice little RPG. Pros:
- Likable characters.
- Beautiful cell-shaded graphics with a nice - but not too over the top - anime-style design.
- Main protagonist isn't a whiny jerk (take that, Tidus/Squall/Edge/Cloud!). He's actually confident and proactive.
- Decent story (so far anyway).
- Nice action-based combat system that allows you to tailor how much you want to directly control.
- Challenging boss battles.
- in-depth crafting and skill systems.
- all on one disk - no having to constantly swap disks like in SOME games I can mention (I'm looking at you, Star Ocean).
Cons:
- Dialog-heavy scenes can get very tedious (dialog in such scenes tends to be very repetitive with unnecessary detail).
- Certain enemies can be very cheap (extremely difficult to hit, etc.); some bosses are nearly impossible if you don't know how to deal with them.
- Skill system can be a bit confusing (I'm still not entirely clear how it works).
- Although it usually lets you explore as much as you want, the game sometimes locks you in at certain locations, forcing you to go where it wants you to. You can't even backtrack to pick up crafting supplies and such. Although it sometimes makes sense story-wise, I'd still prefer the freedom to backtrack if necessary.
Other thoughts:
I'm still in the middle of playing, so this review might be revised, depending on how things continue.
I used to love JRPG's. But I've become somewhat burned out on them, preferring more open-world and action-adventure games these days (like Skyrim, Red Dead, and the Arkham series). But on the recommendation of a Blistered Thumbs review of this game, I decided to give it a try.
So far, of the JRPG's I've played for the 360 - including Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and Infinite Undiscovery - I find this one and Star Ocean: Last Hope to be the most fun and engaging.
In my rating system, four stars is pretty good, but not perfect. Five stars is near-perfect, and I reserve that for games that really impress me with their quality. Three is okay but not great. This is a good game, and for JRPG fans - especially ones who like an element of action to their combat - I recommend it. But it could definitely stand a bit more polish in the frustration department. | video-games_xbox |
I'm simply stunned. I've never played a Banjo & Kazooie game in my entire life. I know nothing of the series. But I saw a demo on an Xbox at a popular Video Game store, and decided to check it out. I downloaded a demo from Xbox Live, and bought the game less than 24 hours later!
Let me tell you something - ANY game that encourages this level of creativity and thought process, and rewards the player for doing so as this game does, is one FANTASTIC video game.
In a world of Grand Theft Auto's and Saints Row's, a game like Banjo & Kazooie Nuts & Bolts is such a welcome breath of fresh air.
If you're reading this now, you're probably not a huge BK fan because if you WERE, you'd have already tried and possibly purchased the game. So I'm writing this to people who are just now getting around to researching this game, since it has been out now for over 6 months.
B&K-N&B is all about building vehicles to accomplish all sorts of missions. All of the missions are timed, which I'll agree can be a little stressful. But failing to accomplish a set time in a mission only encourages one to build a better vehicle, or to find a new method to accomplish the task - to effectively "think outside the box." Vehicle designs - quite simply - are limitless. Cars/Trucks? Piece of cake. Boats? Can do. Planes? Yeup. Helicopters, too! Submarines are possible but a little difficult as your vehicles can either sink or float, but cannot maintain a particular "depth" underwater. Build a sub with a few concealed wheels underneath though and you'll be fine. The most fun (in my opinion) is building multi-purpose vehicles - like amphibious space-jumping race trucks... And of course what vehicle wouldn't be complete without some egg launchers, maybe rockets, or a boot that'll pop out of box and kick unsuspecting foes!
All in all the game aims to be cute - and believe me it delivers. At 30 years of age, even I have to laugh when the instruction says "Engine: makes vehicles move. Even stupid Bear can figure it out..." I'd normally aim this game at kids or maybe women who don't care for the usual gamut of racing/first-person-shooting/roleplaying games. My wife would probably love B&K-N&B.
I LOVE games that let me build stuff. I love games that makes people go, "Hey can I do this?... Wow yes I can!!" Not even 20 hours into the game I was trying to build Mater from the movie Cars. I built a massive cargo plane and watched it fly (complete with retracting landing gear!) and built a submersible helicopter. I don't care who you are - that's AWESOME right there...
I also see a TON of content in this game. After 20 hours I've only unlocked a small fraction of available vehicle parts and levels. Of course, most of that is due to the fact that I'm too busy doing looptie-loops in my jumbo jet or exploring the ocean sea-bed in my truck... But B&K-N&B ALLOWS you to do that stuff, so have at it!!!
Phenomenal game. Phenomenal idea, and just a constant source of entertainment. The text issues have been fixed for the most part. The graphics are beautiful, the stories are funny and entertaining, and even though I know very little of the B&K history, it's obviously not necessary to enjoy this awesome chapter of the story. | video-games_xbox |
Gran Turismo, honey, I think we should see other racing games. I've been a fan of the Gran Turismo series for a little while now, and I've had a lot of fun with it. However, Forza Motorsport has shown me the light. While Gran Turismo 4 has many strong points, it falls short of Forza in a number of key areas and can't hold on to the crown of King of Racing Games. If you're impatient, jump to my summary items at the end of this review. :-)
First off, a very important element: how easy is it to jump into the game? Forza is amazingly accessible right out of the gate. You have a number of options for driving aids and difficulty, with a corresponding change in how much you can win for each race. The "suggested line" option shows you where to drive on the track, and what speed to go. The suggested line takes into account your current speed AND the capabilities of your car - it's not some static representation of what the "ideal" car should do, it's an amazingly helpful tool for finding out where YOUR car should be and how fast it should be going. Phenomenal, especially if you're not used to remotely realistic racing sims.
Speaking of realism, how do the cars handle? Forza does an amazing job of modeling the various cars, and they all genuinely feel unique. One major problem I have with the Gran Turismo games is that most stock cars feel like you're driving the friggin' Titanic, and the only way to make them even remotely viable for racing is to hobble along through tedious races to get lots of dough and upgrade them like crazy. And once you've upgraded your car to a certain point, it basically drives like every other car in the game. In Forza, you can actually race in low level races with stock cars (go figure!) and different cars have very noticeable differences in how they drive, with and without various upgrades.
Another important element in Forza is damage modeling. The game is light years ahead of Gran Turismo in this regard, since the GT series essentially has NO damage modeling. In Forza, if you bounce your car off a guardrail, you're going to damage it and two things will happen - first, your car will handle differently, and second, the cost of repairs is deducted from your winnings. I've found that damage can have a profound effect on your driving in Forza. Bang the left side of the car up against the aforementioned guardrail and your car might end up with issues of the "dang thing keeps pulling to the side" variety. There's definite incentive NOT to bang up your ride.
The final aspect I want to talk about is the overall feel of the game. As if Forza didn't smack Gran Turismo around in all the previously mentioned areas, this is where the real deal breaker is. Forza absolutely trounces Gran Turismo for subjective feel in my opinion. While the environments may not be quite as crisp as those in GT4, they have a much more "lived in" feel. Your car reacts to the road in a much more realistic fashion, rocking as you go through bumpy banking turns, etc. Forza also offers a much better sense of location - particularly in the "point to point" races. I just got through driving one of the "hill climb" tracks, and it's amazing! You really get the feel of driving up a winding road, your engine straining against the pull of gravity, your brakes squealing as you whip around switchback turns and climb ever higher.
All right, enough blathering - and I haven't even touched on other stuff, like the "drivatar" AI that you can train to drive races for you (actually pretty handy, and a good way to hone your own skills). Here's the breakdown:
THE GOOD
- Great graphics. Not always as sharp as GT, but generally more complete feeling and offering more depth to where you drive.
- Nice soundtrack, including in-game controls for changing tracks and volume without having to pause the race.
- Fantastic modeling of the cars, with each one having a distinct feel regardless of how much or how little you upgrade it.
- Great variety of tracks. Very few of them are annoying to race on.
- Much less tedious "money treadmill" than in Gran Turismo - it doesn't feel like such a chore to progress through and win cars/cash. Prizes come a lot quicker, and cars are a LOT more capable off the bat.
- Damage modeling, and it actually adds something to the game!
- You don't need super-sticky racing tires to keep your car on the track (I'm looking at you, GT!) and even if you have them, they don't shred after just 2 laps (again, looking at you, GT!)
- The "suggested line" feature is downright awesome even for experienced players.
- Computer AI that not only doesn't suck, but actually acknowledges your presence on the track rather than riding around on rails and ramming into you! Go figure!
THE BAD
- Graphics engine sometimes blurs even close up objects (mostly during weird camera angles on replays) for some odd reason.
- Not as many cars as Gran Turismo, if you actually care - there's still tons to play with.
THE UGLY
- Can't think of a single thing. Even coming up with stuff for "THE BAD" was a stretch.
THE SUMMARY
Buy this game. Buy it now. I don't care if you like racing games or not, you will find something here that will hook you and have you driving up and down snow-covered mountains in your wicked tricked out racer. | video-games_xbox |
Greatest baseball game ever. This game is great. Greatest even Madden cannot beat it.
Gameplay: K-Zone is the best pitching system ever. It's most accurate, simulating and best pitching system ever. It was dissapointing last year because there were not many controls to pitch. Good pitching system influences good batting system too. They have Power Swing, Contact swing and sometimes it's fun to guess pitches too in MLB 2K5. Baserunning is amazing. The brand new Baseburner mode lets you control baserunner and lets CPU to control the hitter. Trust me, you'll love it. MLB did incredible job to mimick the true baseball gameplay. On the online, if you have good connection, you'll be good. I had some problems though.
Graphics: Remember last year that almost everyone's face was generic in ESPN MLB? Well it's different this year. The silky face textures and great looking stadiums are here in MLB 2K5. The uniforms are really noticable too. Because they look better than ever! It looks like you are watching real game. Kush did incredible job to polish the player faces and making them to real-life-like. The grass, are great. Even you are seeing it at the oversky camera. Dirt effect is better than last year which was best. I mean, all I can say is MLB 2K5 is the best looking baseball game better than MVP, better than Madden (which is not a baseball game but has good graphics) and better than EVER. Rock on Kush! Rock on! The crowds are polygonal! For the first time in the baseball games. There are loads of crowd cutscenes!
Audio: Jon Miller and Joe Morgan gives you the best play-by-play commentary ever. They do perfect partners on broadcasting. You can choose the music when the batter comes up to the bat. You can pick the musics for certain events like, single, double, triple, homerun, Grand Slam, and more. In-game effects are good. From bat noises to umpire calls, that's what is unbelievable. Because that's what I see out there when I go to the Yankee Stadium or Shea Stadium, PERIOD.
Controls: The controls are best. Basic and good. Because is easy to master and responsive. That will make you to go into the true baseball experience. If you played last year's you shouldn't have no problem at all to getting hang on it. Some things, I've experienced before just like K-Zone. Are best. I'm happy about controls.
Game Modes: In this part, I say, MLB 2K5 really shines. With GM Career mode, Franchise mode, Exbihition mode, In Your Face mode. You can use up your playing time with these. You WON'T get bored. You WON'T get bored after you play season after season.
Price: 19.99? 19.99, yep. The best price for the best game.
Overall: This is one helluva game. From the graphics to gameplays, everything is well polished and .. it's just great! Yes it's a whole new game. The price of 19.99$ is just a steal. It's the best 20 bucks that I've spent in 2005. With ESPN presentation and realistic moves. It's best video baseball game ever created since Sega Genesis. Buy it and enjoy it guys and girls. Rock on Kush (again)!! Rock on!! | video-games_xbox |
Beautiful Sights, but Something is Missing. I actually forced myself to try to like this game, but when it came down to it, i just couldnt. There are many good things, but much more "bad."
Pros:
BEAUTIFUL landscapes
Buying a house is nice
Exploring is fun
Character customization
The landscapes in this game are really well rendered. This is the only game that i have ever looked at a peak in the distance, and decided to go there just for the view from on top. I thought it was nice to be able to purchase a house to store all those items in. Being an open-world game, it is always enjoyable to just explore. Character customization was innovative for its time, and fun to mess around with. Character development was not (dont level too soon!)
Cons:
Very, very bland. No "soul."
Levelling system is terrible (character advancement, enemies, & loot)
Aiming system is terrible
Lockpicking system
Enemy variety (lack-of)
Initially, i liked hopping around and healing everywhere. I thought it was clever and realistic. The more you do things, the better you get at them. However, it really just devolved into spamming. Then more spamming... I really dislike the "feel" of the game. It feels empty to me. There is a huge disconnect between the gamer and the character. I don't know if i can do any better to describe this, so ill stop at that. Aiming magic and arrows is just awful (it was sad to see them implement the same mechanics into Fallout 3, albeit they added V.A.T.S.) This fits into the feel of the game as well. No, i don't want Halo mechanics (i did like Combat Evolved), but it just handled really terribly. Leveled monsters and loot... This is a terrible feature, and one that should NEVER EVER be featured in a RPG. NEVER. Above that, enemies are all the same with different skins. Very, very boring. They spent all the dev time on the scenery, so it is a bit forgivable, but not including dragons is lunacy. Lockpicking is my last dig, but it didn't affect my score. I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to do it effectively. I am at a loss on that one (might have been in the manual, which i did not get with the game).
I did play about thirty or so hours. That aforementioned disconnect is what killed it for me (as well as Fallout 3). Others have called it bland and boring, which it was to me, but i feel it was more than that. The game felt outright EMPTY. Of course there were NPCs, and enemies, etc. But even in the biggest towns, the game just felt dead.
I think when it comes down to it, people just like different games. The best way to put it is with an analogy. If you like cars that look pretty, with amazing paint jobs, great lines, big rims, but don't do anything when you step on the gas, you will probably like this game. If you would like a "sleeper" that no one would look twice at.. until you hit the throttle, you probably will not like this game.
I could not force myself to like this game (and i really tried, my mistake!), but your mileage may vary (to keep that car analogy going)
As with --ALL-- games, rent before you buy!!!! | video-games_xbox |
Good, but not great game. The bottom line is this: this game is worth renting, but not buying.
Graphics
The graphics are good and live up to the "next gen." hype. Despite being set on an ice planet, the game manages to throw in different enviroments so you're not constantly walking around in white snow and ice.
Gameplay
Overall, this is very solid. The game is played from an over-the-shoulder perspective, similar to Gears of War (albeit from a zoomed out perspective). The weapons and reloading are fairly intuitive; and like most new games, you can only carry two weapons at a time. Now, it wouldn't be a Japanese sci-fi game if it didn't have mechs; and this game has plenty of those. They're integrated fairly well, and there is plenty of varity in mech types. The last mech, however, is a ridiculous flying machine that attacks with lazer swords - great for japanime fans; not so much for everyone else. The singleplayer campaign is pretty linear. You move from point A to point B with little variety; but that doesn't make it dull. The bosses in this game are a great throw-back to games of the 80's when bosses were big, hard to beat, and usually involve some hidden weakness.
Story
This is where the game loses a lot of points. The story is poorly told, and just plain stupid. The cutscenes are generally pretty silly, and you'll enjoy the game more if you skip through them. I won't spoil anything, but I've seen this is a common complaint - the story is worse than something you see on weekday afternoon cartoons.
Online play
Online supports up to 16 players at a time and has 4 game modes: Elimination (every man for himself), Team Elimination, Post grab (control different areas); and Fugitive which is the only unique game, pitting the host against everyone else. The online play is fun, and there are enough achivements to keep people playing for a while. But after a while, it feels repetitive and a little frustrating. It also fails to separate out language zones, so you may be stuck on a team with French and Japanese - try to coordinate anything then!
This game was a fun renter, and the campaign mode is long enough that it should keep you occupied over the weekend. The online play is fun, but after a few hours, the novelty wears off. Avoid the story in this game at all costs. | video-games_xbox |
Buying guide for Xbox One bundles. I wanted to create a guide to help those interested in purchasing an Xbox One, since there are so many bundles, and offers change constantly. I'll attempt to keep this up to date as the bundles change. This is NOT a comparison to Playstation 4 or Wii U.
A short list of features that may interest you, shared by all Xbox Ones (more details can be found in product descriptions and Microsoft sites) -
HDMI pass through. You can hook up an HDMI device to the back of an Xbox One to view the content from that device without changing inputs or leaving the X1 interface. This allows for split screen viewing and if a cable box or the official TV tuner, you can view the channel guide, watch TV, and set recordings.
It is backwards compatible with some Xbox 360 games. This is great for those with backlogs (like me...) or those who want to revisit finished games without having another console plugged into the wall/TV. In the fall, owners of publisher approved disc or digital 360 games will be able to play them emulated on the X1. Some X1 games also include their 360 precursors with purchase for play on the X1 in case you missed them. Gears or War Ultimate Edition includes all 4 Xbox 360 Gears games and Fallout 4 includes Fallout 3, for example. List of games and other info here -[...]
It will stream content to Windows 10 devices.
Xbox Live Gold now applies to households instead of individuals; meaning that multiple accounts on the same console can have access to the same features but have differing account restrictions (I.E. parental controls). So you can let your kids play Garden Warfare online, but not Gears of War.
External USB 3.0 storage. This is great because, 1) you don't need to open the console and replace a hard disc to add storage, just plug in and the X1 will format the drive, 2) even disc-based games have compulsory installs and can be upwards of 50GB each, eating storage space quickly, 3) external drives can be spacious and cheap, and last but not least, 4) USB 3.0 is actually faster than the internal hard disc interface. This means that a game on an external drive will load faster than one on the internal drive, usually by a significant amount.
The bundles-
The bundles can be split into 2 different groups based on time of release. The current bundles include a newer controller that has a standard 3.5mm audio jack built in and output both game and chat audio through it (excepting the new Kinect bundles). Legacy consoles include an older controller without the standard audio jack (excepting the Forza 6 bundle) and shouldnt be expected to be widely available at the suggested price (and some I haven't included, due to their rarity at this point). There are no other functional differences. All bundles include a controller, HDMI cable, chat headset (with exceptions), and a 14 day Xbox Live Gold trial membership (paid $60/year service to play online and download the Games with Gold, a monthly rotation of full games you're free to download and keep (forever for 360 games and as long as you have Live Gold in active subscription for X1 games).
Current bundles (with rating based on what you get for the money. Star and letter ratings are intended for the suggested price listed next to the bundle, not whatever current prices are.) -
Xbox One Elite 1TB bundle. $499. Includes a console with a 1TB hybrid SSD and hard disc for quicker load times for the items you access the most and the Elite controller, which has replaceable/customizable sticks, buttons, and triggers for the professionals or tinkerers, and DOES include a chat headset with a matching black and silver color scheme. While the internal storage on this will be better than the standard HDDs in other X1s, the performance increase PROBABLY won't match external USB3.0 drives, due to the continued use of the SATA interface. There's little information about the size of the SSD partition and many hybrid drives don't allow you to choose what content is on which partition. The elite controller has been released to wide acclaim (modifiable professional controllers can easily go for twice as much), but is scarce on its own at present. If you want the best/most storage and best controller out of the box, this is the bundle for you, but you won't get any games with it. B+ rating.
Fallout 4 1TB bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, Fallout 4 game confirmed to be a disc (!), a download of the Xbox 360 version of Fallout 3, and a chat headset. B+ rating. Two open-world RPGs for grownups.
Rise of the Tomb Raider 1TB bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, downloads of Rise of the Tomb Raider, DLC, and its predecessor, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and doesn't appear to include a headset. Releases November 3rd. B+ rating. The Tomb Raider reboot from 2013 was pretty good and I expect the sequel is even better, but I haven't tried it yet. Great for adults who love action adventure.
Kinect 500GB Bundle - $399. Includes 500GB console, the Kinect camera, a chat headset, the old model controller, and three Kinect-focused game downloads: Dance Central Spotlight, Kinect Sports Rivals and Zoo Tycoon. Finally another Kinect bundle! The X1 UI is made better and more easily navigable with the Kinect, and there are fun, energetic games to be played with it. A rating. Great for those who want to move and enjoy motion and voice controls, but it has little storage. Bundle with FIFA on separate page is even better for the same price.
Holiday 1TB Bundle - $399. Includes 1TB console, Gears of War Ultimate Edition disc (as well as all 360 Gears games as downloads if you play online before the end of the year), Rare Replay disc, and Ori and the Blind Forest game download, the new controller, and doesn't appear to include a headset. A rating. Something(s) for everyone in this bundle, with 36 games included. Bundle with FIFA on separate page is even better for the same price.
Halo 5 Limited Edition 1TB bundle. $499. Includes custom console with Halo sounds, and custom controller, with the Halo 5 Limited Edition (steelcase, guardian figure, game download and add-on content). Why a limited edition would come without a physical game is beyond me... It may not bother some, but it will upset many. This is a higher premium than the Forza 6 bundle (charging an extra $100 for an extra $40 package). For Halo aficionados/console collectors only. C rating. Bundle with FIFA and Forza on separate page is an A rating.
Lego Movie 500GB bundle - $349. Includes 500GB console and the Lego Movie Videogame and no headset, apparently. C+ rating. Game is a cheap one and good for kids, but little value in this bundle compared to others.
Gears of War 500GB bundle (also in white). $349. Includes Gears of War Ultimate Edition download (as well as all 360 Gears games if you play online before the end of the year). This 500GB model includes the new controller, but does not include a headset. B+ rating. This is the most discounted bundle in sales and has many other offers with it, if you can catch them. Bundle with FIFA on separate page is even better for the same price.
FIFA and Madden 16 1TB bundles. $399. (I think these are being phased/sold out) I'm grouping these together because other than the type of football you prefer, they are the same. Both include either the latest Madden NFL or FIFA soccer game download and a year of EA access, a paid ($30/yr) service which allows Xbox One users early access to EA releases, extended demos with progress that can be saved if a full game is purchased, discounts on EA games, and free access to the Vault, currently 14 full games. Great if you like EA's games. A- for each.
Legacy bundles-
Forza 6 1TB Bundle. $399. Custom Forza-inspired console with racing sounds and custom (new, with 3.5mm audio jack) controller, and download code for Forza 6 and extra content, and a chat headset. A- rating, though some may not like the custom design and sounds.
Halo Master Chief Collection 1TB bundle. $399. Looks like this being phased out. Standard console, plus download code for the Master Chief Collection (the four numbered Halo games in a single package). B rating.
Halo Master Chief 500GB bundle. $349. If you can get it at the retail price, I'd consider it an A-, since the cost to upgrade storage to 1TB or greater is around or less than the $50 to get the 1TB model, and it'll perform better.
At this point, I think the best offer for the holidays for an X1 bundle will be for $50 off current price point, plus an extra game or second controller. The risk is in availability and whether the bundle or extra game would be one you'd want.
Hope you found this useful. | video-games_xbox |
Sloppy. The first thing that I noticed when I purchased this today was the "Limited Edition" pasted on the cover. I scratched my head and looked for the regular edition. There isn't one. I know EA is as corporate as video games get, so I shrugged off this cheap move. After all, the game still cost $59.99. I brought it home with my hopes high since I've liked previous DICE games (Battlefield 1943, Bad Company 1 & 2). I sat down, ready to dig into the multiplayer, and immediately ran into server issues. The EA servers couldn't handle the workload. There were only 15,000 players. Granted, it's day one, but I've seen over 1 million players very early on in Halo games. The error message told me to go to EA.com for more information, so I did. "We're trying to fix the servers" was their revelation. No kidding. Thanks for wasting more of my time. I decided to try the campaign. It opens with a view from a satellite orbiting the earth and recordings of people's reaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I thought it was pretty bold and hoped EA had done a decent job of respecting the victims of the attack. They fell a little short. The campaign's first few levels are linear and derivative. I quickly realized the game is trying to copy the Call of Duty series, only it isn't nearly as exciting. The first mission has you trying to find an informant hidden in Afghanistan, and it lasted about twice as long as it needed to. I don't even remember what I did on the second mission. I know it was at the Kandahar airport and featured a "bone-yard" of derelict aircraft parts. A blatant rip-off of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The gameplay was alright, but there were too many errors to keep me into the game. Enemies would literally appear in front of me as I aimed down my iron sights. I'm not sure if this was some sort of glitch, but they would just appear behind cover. So I would shoot them. A.I. seemed to be lacking as well, enemies would ignore me killing all of their buddies as they stood there doing nothing. They wouldn't react until I shot them. I spent the normal amount of time going through the menus and setting up display, sound, and controller settings. I took a break for dinner, then decided to try multiplayer again. The servers were doing better (up to 30,000 players now) and I was happy to get into a game. I made my way through the archaic menu system and finally spawned on the battlefield. I ran straight ahead and hid behind a rock. None of my controller/screen/audio settings had transferred from single player. I tried to fix the controls and was blown away to find that you can't have the same configuration as the single player game. The controls are different from Battlefield (what I'm used to), and of the four controller options, two are set up for leftys. That leaves two "useable" configurations, depending on which hand you use, and they literally only change one button. I CANNOT believe you aren't allowed to have the same controller configuration in multiplayer that you have in single player. Idiotic. Once I got into the games I was faced with more CoD garbage. Sniping and spawn-camping are extremely prevalent even on day one. Plan to start sprinting the moment you spawn, because if you don't you'll be dead. Even then, you're lucky to make it to cover. It's a high-intensity online game, somewhere between Halo and the CoD series. I opted for the shotgun or the sniper rifle, since they seemed like my best chances for survival. With countless camping spots, sniping is easy, and if you want to run-and-gun, the shotgun does the most damage. Medium range rifles seemed pretty worthless, as you would have to stop to shoot for more than half a second. Which means death. The play was very laggy, especially when bullets started flying. I'd run around a corner, shotgun ready, only to have the game glitch out on me as soon as I pointed it at an enemy. I died A LOT because shots didn't register when I pulled the trigger. I don't think I need to tell you how frustrating this was.
Overall, I'm quite disappointed. I'll continue playing the game in the hopes that it gets better with updates, but as of right now I'd encourage others to stay away from it. It's quite a mess, and unacceptable in it's current state. It seriously feels like it's not complete. I don't know if EA deliberately released it this way, expecting to fix it with updates, but it would be pretty lame if they did. | video-games_xbox |
Halo ODST: Not what I was hoping for. The campaign consisted of around eight levels that were all together around ten hours of acutal gameplay depending on what difficulty level you choose to play, for me, I always start out with normal for my first playthrough then work my way up to legendary. I played co-op whenever I had one of my friends over, who's a Halo fanatic, and we cleared the first five levels on heroic in about 2.5-3 hours.
You play from the perspectives of a group of soldiers and switch between them at the start of each mission. One mission in particular I found suprisingly boring and annoying, in it you must scavenge around different parts of a ruined city to find beacons that explain what happened there. This mission has eight parts and you must complete one at a time after you finish the actual missions. It felt like I was playing Prince of Persia or Tomb Raider, minus all the jumping and climbing, in the sense that the majority of the level was looking mindless roaming. Because of this, I didn't get to experience fighting a group of enemies every step of the way which is what I craved from the Halo series.
Being able to dual wield was eliminated from the campaign for some odd reason, but you gained the ability to switch to basically a form of night vision at the touch of a button. With it, you can see and distinguish enemies, allies, and objectives fairly easier at night. Far from a fair trade, but better than nothing.
Another thing I found frustrating was that if you finish half the game in co-op, you cannot continue the other half solo. Instead, you have to start over from mission one. Pointless.
The music, graphics, even the story is all much darker than all the other previous Halo games. That's not to say that the sinister appeal was negative, but just not what you would expect from Halo.
Getting all the map packs for Halo 3 on the second disk was nice to a certain extent. However, you don't actually get the downloads to save to your hard drive, the multiplayer is all on the second disc and you cannot store any of the map packs - which made me less than estatic. So if you were thinking about playing through the campaign once or twice, saving the map packs to your drive, and trading ODST in for $30 and just using your Halo 3 disc for the multiplayer - it ain't happening, sorry. This was, by far, my biggest issue with ODST.
Therefore, if you paid $60 for ODST, you got ripped off. I paid $30 and would say that is a fair price but not worth a cent more. | video-games_xbox |
Sturdy, Dependable Guitar. The X-Plorer Rock Band / Guitar Hero Wired Guitar is a solid piece of gaming equipment. We've used ours for years and they play as well now as the day we bought them.
The design for this guitar is simple. Five colored buttons up high. A strum bar and whammy bar. A tilt sensor inside. No special buttons, no fancy silver knobs - and it WORKS. It is a true workhorse. When other guitars we own fail and fall apart, these Xplorers keep on trucking.
The unit is wired, and it has a breakaway connector at the end. One end of that connector has a mouse-style input and the other side is USB to go into the XBox. So make sure, if you're buying used, that it has that connector - otherwise you won't be able to plug it into the 360.
The full length of the cable including that connector is just under nine feet. So fairly short. If your living room is long, or if you have a lot of people moving around between you and the TV while you play, you might want to consider going wireless instead.
It's recommended you don't get an extension cable because that would mess up the timing of your button presses.
The unit is sturdy. You can hammer the buttons and they stay responsive. The strum bar and whammy bar both hold in there. Most impressively, the tilt sensor is sturdy! We have the Stratocasters as well as these Xplorers and the Strats are notorious for having their tilt sensors fail. We've never had any problem with an Xplorer tilt sensor failing.
Are there any down sides here? Well certainly the Xplorer cost a bit more than the Strat does - but there's a reason for that. It lasts longer. So if you're really into the Guitar Hero / Rock Band games you probably want a guitar that will stand up to your pounding. Of course you could always upgrade to the real wood versions, but those get quite pricey. This is a nice mid-range compromise.
It's worth noting, for those new to buying guitars, that they are generally console specific. This one has a green X button on it at the lower left. Make sure you look for that when buying one for your XBox 360. Also note that you can't then use it on your PS3 nor on your Wii.
Well recommended for fans of Guitar Hero / Rock Band who want a reliable, sturdy guitar.
We purchased our X-Plorer guitars with our own funds in order to play our many music games. | video-games_xbox |
Pirates - played on xbox 360. This is a great game that I fell in love with on the computer a few years ago. I really liked it then on the computer and when i heard it was on original xbox i was hesitant to buy it. Well, I think it is even better on the xbox and I like it just as much (if not more) than before. If you haven't played this game, you are a pirate in the Caribbean looking for his lost family. You get to make a crew and ship, get upgrade's and tools, plunder vessels in sea battles, take over towns in land battles (in turn based combat my fav), look for buried treasure, get in sword fights, dance with governors daughters, and generally take over the sea's. For playing an original xbox game on the newer console, I was most worried about the graphics being too outdated and fuzzy. I was really surprised how good it looked the first time i turned it on. I really think it looks better than just a general, original xbox quality picture. The next thing I was worried about was if they had changed the whole game around by messing up the controls, the game play, and the features. Overall, I don't think they took out anything that will be really missed, the controls are slightly easier and more comfortable, and all the things I really love about the game was just made better. They still have the land battles where you can take over a city, and they are faster and fairly simple once you get used to it. Dancing is easier(thankfully) but if you want a challenge, on higher difficulties the lady will just point her finger and they will not give you a button indicator(Ex. push A) I believe it was the same as the computer in this fact. Sword fighting on the ship is quite different, but also not that hard to get used too. Overall, I love this game and its even better on the new console then on the computer. Some of the mini games can get a little repetitive after a while but i don't think its that bad. As far a glitches and people saying that they can beat this game in a few hours; I have not had a glitch yet and in a few hours you would be barely able to start the MAIN quest line in my opinion, let alone all the other things you can do. Anyway, great game. | video-games_xbox |
Great for playing offline modes, but online still suffers from same issues as before. The Good:
*Improved Franchise Mode: New features like auction-style free-agent bidding and rookie evaluation are fun
*Improved collision system and many new animations make it more realistic than ever
*Community adds a nice touch for those who want to play together
*Dynamic Performances makes for some realistic situation
*Somewhat improved visuals and presentation with quarterbacks having their signature throwing motions and well as unique stadium presentations
*Madden Ultimate Team now has trades feature insurance your card will not get "sniped" ever again
The Bad:
*We can land a man on the moon, but EA still can't solve some online issues.
The Bottom Line:
Just like pretty much every new football league has failed to compete with NFL, pretty much every new football video game franchise has failed to go up against Madden. Unfortunately lack of competition does mean that EA will not try as hard as they should, bringing us new features every year and every year the game does feel a bit recycled, but hey sometimes if it ain't broke--don't fix it. If you been supporting the franchise for years, you will certainly enjoy it again. For those who hated every Madden game since 1988, I can say with confidence that you will probably still hate it though.
Franchise Mode is more fun than ever. Even though I hate the fact that they removed the mini-games from pre-season, the free agent bidding is fun. You get auction style listings with limited time for every free agent, which makes your eyes spin as everything happens so fast and makes you scramble for the players you want. Rookie evaluation and scouting is also very strategic where you learn little by little on what your rookie's hidden stats with each game. Preseason also including cut-lists, where you have to decide who gets cut and who stays.
New dynamic play makes game more realistic than ever. If your player is on a hot streak, they will continue doing well. If for example, your player fumbles, they confidence plummets for a while and they are not as effective(They tend to cover up the ball as they are afraid to fumble again.) This also insures that you get a unique playing experience pretty much every game.
"Be a Pro" mode looks fun, but it feels very cheap as you easily get skill points which means your player will have 99 speed/acceleration in no time and the rest is history. New Madden players will find this mode very attractive as it wouldn't be too hard for them.
Madden Ultimate Team: If you played this last year, you will enjoy it this year. Trading (1 for 1) is now possible where you can trade with complete strangers. Making a trade is just as easy as putting up your player on the auction block. Just indicate who you want in return and receive potential offers as you decide whether to accept or reject an offer.
Online play is still laggy to some degree. Also as of the time of this review, whenever you start up a game against someone, it may take 30-60 seconds for the roster file to update, which breaks up the flow of the game. This is backed up by the fact that it may take a minute from the PRESS START screen to the actually game menu.
Once again Madden is the king of football games for 2012, but even the king has some issues. | video-games_xbox |
Should be called Fifa 2010 Service Pack 4. EDIT: After writing this review, I must add that my game no longer even works. Do not buy this game, do not. Millions of people including myself have a glitch where it crashes to your xbox home screen if you try to play a match of any sort. This game is literally a paper weight at this point and I intend to sue EA games for millions. Outrageous to say the least. DO NOT BUY, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Huge letdown. I love fifa and ill still play this, but come on EA this is embarrassing for you guys.
-Gameplay hasn't changed since version 2010, this feels identical to 2011, 12 and 13. "Tactical Defense" is EA talk for we didn't do anything but were gonna make a fake option so it looks like we added technology.
-Online multiplayer is terrible. Not only does it take forever to even start a match (just like in 13) but the gameplay also like in 13 is wack. Kick and run at its worst, defending is impossible but then again so is attacking (unless you have ronaldo or messi on the ball). Very unrealistic and frustrating games where nothing happens. The passing hasn't felt right since 2009.
-They force you into the "ultimate team" screen (just like in 13) if you click it by accident you can't get out. Thats right, you have the choice of 30 minutes of going through their tutorial and wasting time setting up a team you don't want, or you have to reboot your console.
-They email you if you curse in a game. Imagine that, kinect is spying on me in my own home telling me what language to use (Even in single player mode when the opponent cant hear).
-Graphics, yes the graphics are a huge letdown. First of all they look exactly the same as 13, so they haven't improved at all. In fact as some have noticed it looks and feels like an arcade game all around, when fifa used to look and feel like a real game of football.
Two thumbs down. Epic fail. If you have FIFA 2010-13 don't bother with this. | video-games_xbox |
Has its flaws but deffinitly worth it. As a former Sonic the Hedgehog fanatic growing up on these games I went out first thing to get this for Xbox when I found out about it. Overall, I am not disappointed. I do have several, small complaints.
The first would be the hidden games. It was kind of annoying to have to sit there and open/close each game somewhere around 20 to 30 times each to unlock the hidden games. Now I don't really care for Ooze or Comix Zone, and I don't even think Ristar should be included as its a Sonic collection, and many Sonic games were omitted from this collection in favor of these other Sega games. However, it was frustrating to have to unlock Sonic 3 & knuckles, which is basically the only way to play sonic 3 OR sonic and knuckles (at least ever since they've both been out.)
The other main problem I have with it, which I've already touched on a bit, is that some of the sonic games are missing. Now I'll admit that I'm a little bit of a completionist, but even then, would it have hurt to add Sonic CD, Sonic Triple Trouble, or even some of the offshoot games with Sonic characters like Knuckles Chaotix, etc. I mean honestly, don't tell me there wasn't space for the extra games when they can manage to fit a monument to video gaming like Halo on a single disc.
Sonic CD and Triple Trouble especially would be important since they introduce important characters that have been used in games and the comics since. Amy has been used extensively in more recent sonic adventure and sonic advance games and mecha sonic was an important character in the comics. Nack didn't get a lot of development as a character but it could have been a great start, and even though it wasn't, Triple Trouble was still probably the least shallow game gear sonic game, as well as the most playable. From what I've seen, Sega has also started re-using the characters from Chaotix. These are all solid Sonic games that should have been included, instead of two versions of spinball/mean bean machine, etc. Also, on a final note, Sonic Drift was a piece of crap. However, Sonic Drift 2 made a lot of improvements on the idea. I haven't the slightest idea why they included the first one instead of the second one
Overall, I was glad to add this game to my collection. Don't let my criticisms deter you from buying it because it's a good purchase (and for so little money I feel like I'm practically STEALING.) It's just that as a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fanatic growing up, I feel Sega could have gone the whole way with very little to no extra effort. Maybe I have a sonic mega collection plus 2 to look forward to on a future system. | video-games_xbox |
It's that time of the year again. Well it's that time of the year again, time for another installment of Call of Duty to hit store shelves and occupy the time of millions of people across the world. While this game is fun I must say it is starting to get a little stale. I'm gonna review each of the three parts of this game and give the pros and cons for each, here we go:
CAMPAIGN:
Starting right where MW2 left off the campaign picks up the pace fast and is an action filled adventure from start to finish. Usually explosions and firefights make for a pretty good game but in the case of MW3 there is far too much emphasis on the "epic" moments and not much development in the story that we didn't already know or expect to happen. Don't get me wrong, this campaign is fun and worth the play but a second play-through doesn't seem very likely for me. The plot is predicable and the new character Yuri is a bore to play as. I don't want to reveal any spoilers but at one point in the game it tries to get really emotional but falls flat on it's fast and the whole scene itself was just pointless to include. The story wrapped up nicely with only a few loose ends and if you are considering buying this game solely for the campaign then I would say rent it first.
Pros - Action Packed
Wraps up the storyline
Gives you a "badass" feeling
Cons - Dull story
Predictable
Emotional scene
SPECIAL OPS:
The mission mode is back with more co-op fun to have with your bestest buddy. Now it includes a new gamemode called Survival which is tons of fun. Just like zombie mode in Treyarch's games Survival gives you an adrenaline rush once you hit the higher rounds and when you are competing for a spot on the leaderboards. The missions in spec ops are fun but nothing you will be wanting to spend a lot of time on. Survival mode includes it's own ranks separate from multiplayer and keeps you playing. Although one of the biggest downfalls for survival mode is the fact that you can only play 2 play co-op or solo. I believe it would be one of the biggest draws if it made it at least 4 player instead of 2. Also I would have loved it if you could prestige in the Survival mode and unlock more stuff or have more customization options unlocked.
Pros - Survival mode
Co-op is still fun
Lots of missions
Cons - Survival restricted to 2 players/solo
Missions not too exciting
Cannot prestige in Survival
MULTIPLAYER:
Now this is the reason why most people will be buying the game. There is a decent amount of upgrades in the multiplayer but also lots of downgrades from the previous game. The new killstreak system is fantastic, with the strike packages you now have many options that develop around your play style. The amount of maps in this game is fantastic with lots of variety but a lot of the maps feel too dull and nothing really strikes me as being "EPICLY FREAKING AMAZING!!!!". This is still Call of Duty so don't buy this game expecting a brand new multiplayer, it still feels the same as the last few of games. When you are playing with a team of people if when you will have the most fun and can make for a very entertaining night. The upgrades in this game like the strike packages, perks, and gun customization are nice but there is far more downgrades from Black Ops like ttaking away Dolphin diving, CoD points, creating an emblem, and wager matches. The gametypes like Gun Game are still there but you can only play them in private matches sadly.
Pros - Lots of fun
Addicting
Strike Packages
Cons - Same feeling as previous games
Downgrades from Black Ops
Dull maps
OVERALL SCORE: 7/10 | video-games_xbox |
RABBIDS TAKEOVER MY LIFE AND IM OK WITH IT!! LOVE ALL THINGS RABBIDS CREATORS MAKE! Devoted fans (25yr old & 3yr old. This is mine and my sons ultimate favorite game for Xbox Kinect! If you are a mom or dad or even a teen/tween that watches this show & is wondering if the game is gonna be anything like the real cartoon series, I'm here to tell you all that this is the exact cartoon that allows you to watch the show, and put yourself as a character in the show. The way it works is you and as many players as you want stand up in front of the connect, then start the game. Once you are seeing why looks like an episode of rabbids invasion playing on the screen, pay close attention to the details and words(stay standing up and in ready position). The game is already starting as the show starts, there will be an old lady who pops up every time a new challenge begins which could be to "copy the position the rabbid is in" whoever makes the closest, fastest, and almost identical position as the rabbid was making (pointing left, arms in the air, pull your cheeks out and make a funny face) gets more points. Anyone who made the right position gets points too but you want to get the most points to win the whole game "whole game = an episode long". There is a line on the side I the screen (has one rabbid with your face on his head meaning this is your player) (if there are 3 players then all three people will have their picture on a rabbid on the line. The line is the start to finish. Whoever is at the top or is farthest up the line by the end of the episode is the winner) it's so fun. I'm 25 and this is my game of choice when my 3 year old plays. I think any age would enjoy this one! 5 stars for sure as well as a recommendation from me and my son to purchase this for your first Kinect game or if you already have an Xbox Kinect then just buy this in general! You won't regret it!! Best game ever!!!! | video-games_xbox |
If your looking for a real challenge this is the game for you! This game has taken over my life. I don't write reviews often but I just wanted to take a moment and submit a comment for this game cuz it is such a blast! It's the kind of game that makes you want to spend every spare second you have playing just to refine your skills to get better. First off let me just say 07 is my first moto gp game. I've never played 06 or any others so I can't make comparisons. The last motorcycle racing game I have played was Suzuki superbikes 2 from 2006 PS2 and had alot of fun with it but let me tell you there's a huge difference. This game is so much better in almost every aspect. I mean not everything is perfect in this game like the soundtrack isn't great but you can turn it off so it's not really an issue. The sound FX's however are phenomenal and truly lifelike. The sounds of other bikes off in the distance as your racing is awesome. Several times I actually thought the sound was coming from outside and someone was racing their own bike down the street. Thing is I don't even have surround sound. The graphics are really something special as well here. The attention to detail is awesome. for instance the rain on the camera lens feels like there's real rain on the faceplate of your helmet as your flying down the track, The shine off the pavement is amazing and so realistic. Some of the best graphics I've seen in ANY game. Oh and the best part is the speed of the bikes and the tilt of the camera how they actually make you feel like you really are speeding down the track on your own bike swerving side to side through the chicanes and turns and then racing down the straightway at 195 miles an hour. It's just a freakin awesome feeling!!! I mean you could spend hours just on the practice tracks just having fun perfecting your skills! The rookie season was pretty easy to get through but now I'm just starting my career on Pro and its getting pretty challenging. I can tell the next two difficulty levels won't be an easy task. There are also challenges in the game which are pretty difficult but help to perfect your riding skills. If your into motorcycles or racing games I definitely recommend this game. I can't understand all the crappy reviews from the magazines. If you check out any reviews from actual players it's 9's and 10's. Anyways thanks for a great game THQ looking forward to the next release although I don't see much to improve on here. Just a suggestion though how about some old school punk for the soundtrack next time round? | video-games_xbox |
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter: REVIEW. Now I knew this game way back when it launched in 2006, remembered how amazing the graphics looked, the awesome music, but the only thing that really held me back was the IGN review of "Dieing Alot" and that I didn't have an Xbox 360.
Just last year though I got the game for dirt cheap with the hopes of if IGN's review still stood, and it pretty much did.
The game is still in my opinion a graphical masterpiece, and the music is still awesome...BUT to the point of the biggest issue that kept me from the last time...DIEING ALOT. The game's realistic nature of a few hits and the enemy is dead...You're just in the same death field as them buddy. As advertised, tactics is everything...one bad move and you're whole squad is pretty much dead, leaving you with sometimes the agony of several retries before figuring out the right(and sometimes quirky) tactic or staying alive from "Dumb AI Luck" where you're AI actually pull off something fancy. The game is not without it's blood-pumping "chaotic" moments where your in a chopper just mowing down the enemy from below...sort of "Fly-and-gun" moments.
You'll also come across areas with heavily-Nightvision-demanding sections...and you might be forced to use Nightvision even in the daytime if your stuck at sunset or daybreak with still no real sun.
Going on to the fun parts, well...Any funfactor in this game is bittersweet due to the fact of either you winning because of figuring out the enemy positions after dieing 20 times, or you're actually on a really good roll of pwning the opposition. That and the few and far between section of being able to command a Tank, Bradly, or Apache when the game finally notices you're in a pickle.
All in all the game is fun is short...very short spirts as trying to play too many missions at a time can result in humiliation and insulting your AI squad.
What do I think?
8.0 | video-games_xbox |
That was a big disappointment. The only setting I found to be useful . So here is my review of this headset. Please keep in mind I am in no way an audiophile with headphones so this is my opinion.
I received these headphones on 11/4/14 and started using them that night. The first thing that I wanted to do was update both the headset and the receiver using the HUB. Right off the bat the updates would not work. I contacted Turtle beach with no answer. So I used the headphones without updating and they did work. Then the next day the update software was fixed and I was able to update both units. After the update, I honestly did not notice any difference in sound quality.
Once everything was updated I connected it all to the Xbox One and started playing COD AW. I went through all the presets and they all sounded very muffled and unclear. That was a big disappointment. The only setting I found to be useful for any game I would play would be to turn off the surround mode and use preset 3 which is Bass and Treble Booster. With this setting the sound was actually pretty good. The highs and lows were on par and really enhanced the gameplay. With that said, I would rate the sound quality using those presets playing a shooter game a 7/10.
Now with how loud the volume is with this headset. While gaming, the headset goes well loud enough to play. I would only turn it maybe 70% up in volume and it was pretty loud. As far as movies go it was lackluster. I tried all different surrounds and presets and none were impressive. Same goes for listening to music. Both movies and music the sound quality was horrible and when turned all the way up, the volume was so low that I could hear myself talk while listening to it. It was that bad. I tried watching movies using Netflix and Bluray, and listening to music using Xbox Music and Google Play on my phone. My previous Turtle Beach XP500 headphones in my opinion were much louder and much clearer on all listening levels. Maybe this headset will get an update to have the headset play louder.
Comfort: For me this was the deal breaker on this headset. Granted I only used these headphones for 3 days but each night I used them for a good 7 hours and by the 3rd hour of each night I was constantly repositioning them on my head. Now this will be different for everyone because obviously everyones head is different. The problem I had with mine fitting was the pressure it had on my ears. It seems like these were made for kids as far as size goes. These are MUCH smaller in size compared to the XP 500's. For me there were no break in period using the XP500's but these seem like it would take quite a while to feel comfortable giving how tight these are on your head.
Another problem (I turned in a ticket to T.B. and have not heard back yet) which has not been addressed yet by Turtle Beach is when you charge the headphones, the headphones power themselves on and cannot be turned off. This is unacceptable. I have asked other ppl who have these headphones and they confirmed the same problem. Everytime I would charge the headphones I could hear sound coming from them while watching tv. Also this cannot be good for the built in battery. More than likely this will be fixed in a future update but for now it is not fixed.
After long consideration I am choosing to return these headphones. The price I paid of $250.00 (including tax + shipping) just does not justify the quality and sound of these headphones. Its a shame because the chat function worked GREAT and it really is 100% wireless for gameplay. Here's hoping that Turtle Beach will consider making another headset like this one but improve greatly on comfort and quality control.
Pro: Good sound quality only for gaming.
100% wireless for gaming and chat.
Rechargeable Built in Battery (I like the idea of this but some may not)
Cons: Horrible presets and surround modes.
Headset only loud enough for gaming and not for movies and music.
Really tight fit on head.
Hope this honest review helps your decisions! | video-games_xbox |
I respect the effort, but they MUST fix the fighting mechanics next year. Although I didn't give this game a high score, I definitely like the potential that I see in this franchise. This is THQ's first attempt at an MMA game, and for its first outing it's pretty respectable. As long as they polish some of the flaws in the game in next year's version, they've got the potential for it to be a near flawless fighting game.
As a huge UFC/MMA fan, I can definitively tell you that apart from the ONE main (and major) flaw, this is as authentic as it gets. This game was made by people who obviously have done their homework on the various fighting aspects of MMA (or were fans of it to begin with), and the broadcast production of UFC. They've incorporated every single last aspect of the sport here. Everything is authentic, from the graphical presentation and layouts, the commentary, and the different aspects and positions of fighting. Unfortunately, this last point I just mentioned about the fighting is the game's biggest flaw, and ultimately dropped the fun factor way down for me.
Now here's what's wrong with it:
I'm sorry to say this, but in this fighting game, the fighting is pretty flawed. Three major problems with the fighting mechanics:
1) Hitting your opponent just doesn't feel satisfying at all. With the exception of the high head kick, none of the punches or kicks have any impact behind them, and you never truly get the feeling you're damaging your opponent. I guess the boxing style hook punches are pretty impactful too, but not as much as you would think they should be. I don't know if it's a combination of the sound effects and the animation of the fighter when they get hit, but every hit just feels so damn weak. Here's the thing, I don't expect a mere jab to knock you down, unless you're Forrest Griffin, but I expect it to have a little more impact than a yellow spongy Nerf ball being shot out of a plastic toy gun.
2) I have a problem with the standup fighting in this game. It feels so mechanical, robotic, and formulaic. The two of you walk towards each other awkwardly, begin exchanging punches, and whoever has the frame advantage will continue to get their shots in first, so the other person is forced to defend and slowly backstep out of reach. Rinse and repeat; this is how every fight goes if you keep it on the feet. Sure, there will be moments where you stay out of the pocket and stay in kicking range, quickly throwing out a quick leg or body kick, and quickly back off again, thereby trying to slowly pick apart your opponent, but ultimately the fight is going to be a variation of the two of you getting into each other's faces, trading weak looking punches, until one of you gets a flash KO, assuming that his stamina bar was low enough. Obviously you have the option of taking the fight to the ground, or clinching, but I'm specifically criticizing the standup fighting mechanics here.
3) The movement of the fighters: The fighters are very mechanical and awkward to control. There's no fluidity to the movement when you move them around the ring. I was going to criticize the lack of upper body and/or head movement, but this is the UFC, so this is absolutely authentic (with a handful of exceptions like Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, Rampage, Melvin Guillard, and a few others I'm sure I'm missing). Seriously though, I would like to see the right analog stick used in conjunction with a modifier button to control your head and body. Imagine the precision you would have as you move the right analog stick slightly to the side, and see your fighter barely slip a jab or cross, or press the analog stick completely down, as you duck a wild hook. That would make the fighting infinitely more versatile and deep. It sure beats the Rock Em Sock Em Robots style fighting mechanics they've got going now, don't you think?
The single other major problem with the game is the pathetically shallow career mode. Why is it so short? You could finish this in two days. Also, the method of training and upgrading your stats needs to be fixed. It consists of you clicking through a few screens to simulate what attribute you want to train that week, then rest, train some more, then sparring. Yes, I realize this is exactly what happens in real life (more or less), but they WAY you do it here couldn't have been more boring. Basically you're just pressing A or X through a few screens, repeating it, until your upcoming fight, and then you fight. You repeat this press again over and over, and there's just so many cumbersome screens you have to skip through (because at this point you're trying to skip through all those inconsequential screens about sponsorships and new training camps [do those training camp sparring partners even make a difference?]).
I also wish they could've given the option of using a current UFC fighter in career mode. Basically, you play a sports game usually to use the stars you like. Other than a meaningless exhibition battle, or an online match, you NEVER get the chance to use the UFC stars. You can't tell me "well if you want to fight as a current UFC star so much, why not do an exhibition match, you can use them all you want then." That's complete nonsense. An exhibition match is completely MEANINGLESS. It's purely for practice. I'm not sure if sports fans will back me up on this, or if this is just my extreme opinion, but that's like having Madden, or NBA 2K, and not having the option to do a Franchise/Season/Association mode. You can use your favorite team for ONE meaningless match, but you can't progress through a stat tracked season, where the consequences of winning or losing are in full effect. You can play a bunch of random exhibition matches over and over, or play online. I NEVER play exhibition matches in a sports game other than the first few, just to get the hang of the game. So with this career mode being this short, and if you happened to buy this game and agree with me about exhibition matches, then guess what? Once you beat the career mode, YOU HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO DO. You either start a new career, or you play online, and that's going to get old very quickly.
Random points:
**I really like the ground game here. Between all the transitions from half-guard to full-guard, side control, submission attempts, and all the different struggles on the ground, they really knew what they were doing here.
**I like the feel of the game and how they incorporated this whole "finishing your opponent" mechanic into the game. It's realistic how you can hurt your opponent (standing or on the ground) and have the small window of opportunity to "finish him off," or have your opponent recover.
**Commentary is great, with Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg enthusiastically reacting after a huge hit on your opponent, or as you finish him off.
**When you're playing online, and have the prefight presentation feature turned to ON, why is it that you can't skip ANYTHING? Conversely, if you have the presentation option turned OFF, they show NOTHING. What, not even between the round replays? Nothing at all.
**They have a lot of signature style fighter specific things in the game, but fighting style is not one of them. I really hope next year they can make each fighter fight more uniquely. Each fighter just feels like a palette swap of a boxer, kickboxer, or Muay Thai style fighter. The pre-fight stances as they introduce you are accurate to their real-life counterparts, but during the fights themselves, the movements and the striking all feel the same.
With all this said, I'm actually going to be keeping a really close look at EA's MMA game. I'm just not too confident of how the next UFC Undisputed game will be, because of the developer, Yukes. Yukes also makes the Smackdown VS Raw games, and after almost a decade, I just don't like the `feel' of their fighting mechanics. Something about the button inputs to do moves on those wrestling games didn't feel intuitive to me. I much preferred the last two N64 wrestling games made by the same publisher, THQ, but an entirely different developer. Imo, those were better than any Smackdown VS Raw game put out. We'll see how it goes, but if I don't like Yukes' fighting game mechanics after a decade, I'm not sure how this is going to change in just one year. | video-games_xbox |
Definitely a step up from previous Lips games ... but not perfect. If you've ever played Lips games before, then this game should fit well like an old shoe. For those who've never tried it ... essentially Lips is the Xbox version of Singstar on the PS3. You get (mostly) authentic videos which you can sing to your hearts content. Basically it's a very awesome karaoke machine for your video game console.
As for the song choices in this game, I definitely liked it more than previous versions. I felt this time around there were more "good" songs that can easily light up a room and provide a few hours of quality entertainment for yourself or a group of friends. I also liked how they improved this game this time around by making it more focused on getting good scores and certain achievements as a result of it. I can't tell you how many times I sang "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" (I know, don't laugh) just to master the song and get on the top of the xbox leaderboards. This aspect of the game is definitely a highlight of the current Lips game that I felt was absent in previous installments. I definitely felt more addicted to the notion of constantly trying to improve my singing to get on the leaderboards, whereas in the past I used to just sing a song and move on to the next one without much thought about technique. This time around because the game automatically compares your results with the global leaderboards - it definitely provides an improved sense of motivation to sing well.
Or if you're just a casual player, the song list is a nice collection of 80's and 90's dance, pop and alternative hits that most people who are music lovers during that time (like myself) would be familiar with. Whether if its "Let's get it started", "groove is in the heart", "friday i'm in love", "I will survive", "word up", "true faith" or "unchained melody" there definitely seems to be a nice sampling of songs that I think will get most music lovers off their chairs and singing away in no time.
One gripe I definitely have with this game is the fact you can't export your songs from previous Lips games. Like the issue with the previous installment, which people complained about as well, I see the same problem with this game. I am able to play the games from the disc, and also on my DLC library. However, if you want to play songs from other Lips games, you have to bring the disc and load it over. Kind of a pain in the butt, and frankly with the ease of exporting in the Rock Band and Guitar Hero series, Microsoft should really incorporate this element into the Lips series so you can have all your songs in one master list.
Otherwise, this game is excellent. For casual players, I'm sure you'll have fun and feel a blast of nostalgia when watching old videos from the old days. I know I enjoyed watching the 4 non blondes and had a real mind trip back to my college days. For the serious gamer, you probably already know that Lips (and Singstar) games are less forgiving when it comes to hitting vocal perfection when compared to the Rock Band series, so if you're really into hitting those notes and getting uber high scores for bragging rights, this game shouldn't disappoint either. | video-games_xbox |
The IR receiver is just left of the eject button on Xbox One. The location of the IR receiver is not a problem if you have a clear line of sight to your Xbox one console. However, if you have it behind a door, or something blocking the line of site this remote will not work well. I am a little disappointed the IR receiver is on the console and not on the Kinect. Unfortunately, I made an incorrect assumption. The Kinect would be in a much better position with a much better line of site. Again the IR receiver is located just to the left of the eject button... in the slot where the disk ejects.
In terms of the remote it works well when you have a line of sight. The motion activated light is a nice feature. The size is almost too small for my taste. I prefer something a little larger that is easier to find when it enviably slides between the couch cushions. I wished the Xbox One has Bluetooth capability. I really enjoyed the PS3 Bluetooth remote. This seems like a downgrade coming from that remote.
It is nice to not have to reach for the TV remote to change some things like volume etc... Sometimes with the excess ambient noise the voice commands don't function correctly. This is a good alternative... again line of sight is a must. I do wish they somehow would allow you to access the DRV functions of your cable box with the remote. Also, It would be nice if there was a dedicated TV power on/off button. Then I would be able to replace my universal remote... alas this is not something everyone will want to pick up, but If you are looking for an easy way to adjust volume, change channel, view the Xbox One Guide, and navigate some basic console menus this might be a good option or you. Just make sure you have a good line of site with the console.
The feeling and placement of the buttons are adequate. I feel like the direction button and the center select button could be a little more defined. I often find that I click then center when I meant to click either left or right. I wish the motion activated light stayed on just a second longer.
You can pick up an IR Repeater kit if you want to be able to use the remote with the console in a cabinet or out of sight. It is a little tricky to line up the IR repeater with the IR sensor on the XBox One. The sensor is just to the left of the eject button where the disk ejects. It can be almost impossible to secure some types of repeaters to that part of the console. It is slightly disappointing that there is yet another extra expense... consider your home theater set up before you purchase. | video-games_xbox |
Not bad for Forza first installment in open world racing. I was kind of excited when I first heard that Forza was working on a (at that time) secret project. I am a big fan of Forza games so I was wondering what this "secret project" could be. Most were expecting an open world type game, a la test drive unlimited. When I finally got wind that this WOULD be an open world game I was even more excited.
I didn't really care to much that it was being developed by a different company, however, but since T10 was still over the project I didn't mind.
When the game finally came out, I wasn't as enthusiastic as I had once been. I guess after playing Forza 4 for so long (and dumping a lot of money into the game) I was kind of wore out on racing games. Most professional reviewers gave the Horizon 8 out of 10 stars and the game seemed pretty cool but I decided to wait til the demo came out. When it did, I downloaded it and played it and wasn't as impressed with it like I thought I would be. But about 3 weeks later (yesturday from this posts date) I decided to buy the game.
Okay, the Good....
Graphically the game is pretty good. It definitely has the Forza flavor/feel that I like. You can upgrade your car and change the paint, do designs, pretty much all the design stuff you could do in Forza 4 you can do it here. The music is pretty good as well and fits the theme of the game. Although I don't care for Dubstep, thats the only station I listen to, I like about 6 songs from it.
The controls are pretty good. The cars seem to handle like those from Forza 4. It does feel a little like an arcade game but not to major. The state they use in this game, Colorado, is huge. Lots of driving to do in this game when you are not doing races. The traffic is not heavy at all and they actually use real cars that exist in real life like camry's and I seen a GMC Yukon Denali along with a few others although I don't think you can buy the traffic cars in game.
The movie clips are pretty good and the acting is really good too. I like the shakey camera they use in the movie clips. The night time racing is nice and fun too. First Forza game to offer night time racing and they did an excellent job with it (yes I know the game is not completly forza but this can be a hint to what Forza 5 will be like hopefully). The cars headlights are very bright. They turn on and off by themselves. You will see a lot of other racers on the road as well and you can race them anytime. All you do is pull up behind them and hit "x". Depending on the difficulty of the car you are trying to race and the car you are going to race with determines your winning amount of money. The rewind feature is back as well.
The map in the game is easy to read for me and is well laid out. You can do any race in any order. If you have a save file from Forza 4 then the game will award you with, I think, 10 cars from your garage. The game picks the cars for you. There are a few new cars in the game. One in particular is the 2012 Mercedes S65. They also put the newest Infiniti G37 and the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 with 662hp in the game as well. I don't know the exact number of cars in this game but I know its less than half of the cars from Forza 4. They will have monthly DLC's for you to download. That's all I can think of for the good.
Now the Bad....
Even though the graphics are pretty good, they are cartoonish and seem dated compared to Forza 4. You cannot fine tune any of your upgrades that you buy from the upgrade shop, which absolutely sucks unless there is a way to do it, I haven't found it. Cars only suffer cosmetic damage. No more simulation damage. You can knock over signs and small posts and fences but not light poles. If you crash into those, then the car will stop dead in its tracks.
A lot of the higher powered cars seem to slide all over the road when driving. The character you play, when in movie scenes, never says a word. Not a big deal, but why he dosen't talk is beyond me. Lots of races, yes, but thats it really. You can drive around but there is really nothing else to do. There are no police cars, this is not Need for speed, so this game will get very boring, very fast.
Just like with Forza 4 (and any other game for that matter) they charge quite a bit for DLC's. Its 400 MS points for just 6 cars a month. You can buy the season pass for 4000 MS points ($50) but I prefer to save my 50 bucks. I did the season pass thing with Forza 4 and I am not doing it again. I wish they had an actual garage where you can walk around and look at the cars like in Project Gothem Racing 2, 3 and 4.
Overall this is a pretty good game. Once the game is complete, you can play online or the Rivals mode which is kinda fun but other than that the game will get boring. Oh, I guess you can try and get all the achievements. If you are a fan of racing and you like Forza then I guess you can buy this game. Had I had known I would have brought it from here instead since its so much cheaper then in the stores because this game, I assure you, is not worth $60 bucks since it brings nothing new to the table. | video-games_xbox |
A natural progression in music games. So we've all played the hell out of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Played them into the ground, actually. The rise and fall of the music game genre was precipitous to say the least. Insanely fun and addictive in it's blend of great music and the feeling of playing said music, but expensive and tedious once they started getting released several times a year each with only minor tweaks and upgrades to the core game. Now that the smoke from the collapse of the bloated Guitar Hero franchise, with Rock Band crumbling as well, what are gamers who love participating in music through their favorite entertainment medium to do? Playing with a fake plastic guitar was never going to be a prescription for cool. Bragging about your high score on Through the Fire and Flames on expert level in Guitar hero 3 was never going to make you the life of the party or get you laid. But what if a video game could teach you the real thing? Enter Rocksmith.
Rocksmith is a guitar game that uses a real guitar. It's an obvious advancement for the genre, but one that hasn't come through until now. All of the Guitar Hero braggers now have their chance to put it where their mouth is and actually do something cool and challenging by picking this one up. The game come packaged with a USB cord used to plug your electric rock machine of choice into your xbox 360 and commence to thrash it up. It's a great concept: learn to play guitar and get your music game fix at the same time. That said Rocksmith has some problems, part of which is maybe being too little too late to save a dying game genre, but it is still the best way to get a gamer to learn how to play actual music and is highly recommended to that end. You can pick up Rocksmith and a cheap <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/electric-guitar-starter-set/dp/B002RZCZ90/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">electric guitar starter set</a> right here on Amazon for about what you'd pay for the latest <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Rock-Band-3-guitar-controller/dp/B003RRTXYW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Rock Band 3 guitar controller</a> by itself.
Now I haven't so much as touched an instrument for 5 years, and 5 years ago I was inept at best. But I had a chance to pick this up so I dusted off my old Fernandez Revolver and plugged into Rocksmith as a beginner once again. I have to say that people who have never played guitar may have a real problem starting out. GH and RB were both very easy for anyone to pick up and play. This is not the case with Rocksmith. 5 buttons is easier to manage than the 216 frets on my guitar any way you care to slice it. Including open strings, that is 222 notes compared to the traditional 5 in other music games. So suffice to say this will be a challenge even for the hardest core of gamers around. The game starts out easy enough with only a very few notes actually integrated into your performance of The Stones' rendition of "Satisfaction". Based on how well you manage, the game gauges your ability and adds notes appropriately as you master individual riffs and licks. Eventually, if you've got the goods, you will be playing these songs note for note, even without looking at the screen for your cues. That is what we call "playing a song on the guitar". Congrats. You now have a legitimate ability that will not deter members of the opposite sex from expressing affection towards you and no longer have to brag about your high score on a song. You can just pick up a guitar and play it like a boss.
But what if you already know how to play Nirvana's "In Bloom" or could care less about the alterative-heavy playlist? Well, here's where it gets gooooooood. You see, as you play and perform in Rocksmith, you unlock new guitars, amps, and pedals. you can use these to make CUSTOM TONES. Now, why did I write that in caps? BECAUSE IT IS AWESOME! That's why. I love to noodle around with guitar sounds, as any music fan would, but I really can't justify spending the thousands and thousands of dollars it takes to get the equipment it takes to do that. Rocksmith has digitized guitar effects of every variety approximating the sounds of classic guitar equipment of every type from classic guitar models to every kind of effects pedal you can think of. Make your ultimate distorted punk rock tone, or amp up the delay and modulation effects to create the most mind-bending spaced-out sounds you can imagine for starters. Mix, match, and adjust dozens of amps, guitars, pedals, cabinets, and even choose how the virtual microphones are placed to create an infinite number of possible tones for your instrument. You can save up to three custom tones mapped to the buttons on your controller and switch to them at any time while you play any song. Holy wow. If you already know how to play and just aren't into music games, this feature still makes Rocksmith a must buy for guitar aficionados, especially if you have a sweet sound system on your tv. I could seriously jam all day on this thing. I may never use my actual amp again.
My only problem with the game itself is that it treats itself more like a traditional music game than a guitar teaching tool. There are some pretty cool games that will help your fretting skills some, and some lame "technique challenges" that give you a very brief sink-or-swim segment to play after a brief tutorial on concepts like double-stops, hammer-ons, or power chords, but really there should be no time limit on these challenges. They should continue until you get it instead of making you go in and out of the menus every minute or so if you have trouble catching on. This is very tiresome and defeats the purpose. The game focuses very much on advancing and unlocking. I just wanted to unlock more venues, songs, and equipment and really couldn't be bothered to actually master the songs, which is really what playing guitar is about. Then again, I still really suck so mastering most of these songs isn't happening any time soon. Also in the lose column, Rocksmith throws a lot of things at you without any tutorial whatsoever, which is ridiculous at times. A beginner isn't going to know a barre chord when they see it onscreen. It just looks like a jumbled mess of notes after so many songs of all single notes. Without somebody showing you the proper way to place your fingers, I could see some players having a lot of frustration with things like this.
All in all, Rocksmith is a solid beginning for making the jump from music party games to real music games for aspiring musicians. It's far from perfect, but a dedicated gamer will absolutely find themselves playing guitar for realsies before they even know it. I should probably warn new players that you will not be able to play this game all day and night like older music games at first. It takes time to develop callouses on the fingers on your fretting hand and until then, THEY WILL HURT. I'd recommend only an hour or two a day for the first week or so. Honestly, I considered giving this 5 stars for the custom tone feature alone, but I have to keep in mind that this is meant to be a guitar teaching tool, and as far as that goes, the results are more mixed. Playing music is challenging and requires a lot of practice, and while this game simplifies it for beginners, there is still going to be a level of frustration that will lead to a lot of quitters. I know I'm getting my butt kicked, and I at least understood most of the mechanics and techniques going in. I'm just too clumsy to implement them fast enough. That said, if you want to give guitar a try, this is a good way to start, especially if you are a high level gamer who craves a challenge and learns fast. If you are more the creative type, the custom tone feature will keep you jamming and experimenting for hours on end, and the game does not penalize you for embellishing the songs a little. As long as you hit the necessary notes, you can add extra solos, fills, whammy bar dives, and other personal touches at will without hurting your score. This is your music game, play it however you like. Guitar beginners and veterans alike will find a lot to love about this game, so even with the problems it's a step that music-loving gamers should definitely take. Rock Band and Guitar Hero are dead. Long live Rocksmith. | video-games_xbox |
Superman Returns! To the store (keep the reciept. Keeping with the tradition set by Superman 64, Superman Returns is a bad game. Really bad. SUPER bad. Stay away!
Most gamers hold a certain prejudice against movie games. Games like Superman Returns supports the assumption they are all bad. This may be better than Superman 64, but it still feals like a half hearted no-effort attempt. Its been a few months since I've played it and I've done my best to forget everything about it, but what I do remember is that 1) it's awful and 2) its really weird.
Everything in Superman Returns is mediocre and repetitive. Graphically. As a game. Its a lot of cut and paste. You'll find yourself doing the same missions over and over no matter what chapter you're on. Fighting the same enemies. In a city populated with buildings that have been shamelessly copied and pasted everywhere. Trying to do mundane tasks like grabbing the hidden kittens is a nightmare because the city all looks the same and missions will randomly decide to start just as you're about to grab a cat. It makes for a very miserable not fun experience. Superman says it best himself when he delivers a 'here kitty, kitty' in the most lethargic somebody put me out of my misery expression possible.
the other really weird thing about Superman Returns is its a movie tie in. As in it should be based on the movie? Strangely, as you play and advance the story you're occasionally treated to a cut-scene with Lex Luthor following the exact same plot as it exists in the movie. Outside of that? Nothing at all to do with the movie. NOTHING. So what does the game have you do? Fight robots. Metallo is featured a lot in the game. Put out burning buildings. Fight dragons (dragons? WHAT?) Fight aliens. And that's about it. Repeating ad nauseum until you reach the chapter finale mission only to have it start all over again for the next chapter. It makes playing Superman Returns difficult. There are games that are difficult because they are hard. Then there are games that are difficult because they do such a good job of making you hate playing it so much you want to stop which is what Superman Returns does so well. I was nearly in tears begging for the game to end six hours in. There's no fun to be found in this game. Not even if you want to try and grief citizens.
If you're thinking about buying this game because, hey! easy achievements! Forget it. It takes effort for them. There's an achievement for playing a certain number of hours. You may think that would be the last one to get, right? Nope. Took me 8 more hours of flying around in a circle for the distance flown achievement. Made me thankful for the invention of tape and rubberbands. I should also mention the game is buggy. Kinda good and kinda bad. My first time playing I had a few cats disappear on me and I was absolutely dreading the thought of playing the game AGAIN (not kidding, I'm not easily frightened, but the prospect of playing through again had me terrified), but thankfully progress is shared between game saves. | video-games_xbox |
Great entry in the PES series. This review is for the XBOX360 US version of the game.
Pro Evolution Soccer is the game formerly known as Winning Eleven in the US. This year the reviews are worse than usual and that made me think something went wrong with the game. But I liked the gameplay from the XBOX Live demo and after buying the full game, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it is a significant step forward for the series. I think what might have happened is that the European version, which was released earlier, had more glitches that have been fixed by the time of the later US release.
If you're new to this series, what you can expect to find is the richest game of football there is. If what you're looking for in a sports game is gameplay, then this is the game for you - the responsiveness of players leads to situations that will still have the potential of surprising you after tens of hours of play, and that is what matters for a sports simulation. Graphically, the game looks very good (but not exceptional) and I have not encountered any framerate issues in over 30 hrs of play so far.
If you've been playing Winning Eleven before, here are the highlights for this version:
- it's really the first next-gen version for XBOX 360 - the previous version was just a port with higher resolution graphics, widescreen support, and missing features (couldn't save replays, restricted editing, etc.)
- player models have been upgraded and look more realistic than before
- there are significant AI changes - players hold formation differently than before and they learned some new tricks
- players are a bit more responsive and can be controlled earlier - you can now avoid missing a pass because your player was waiting for the ball
- shooting controls are not as sensitive as they used to be - this is good, because in previous versions any harder button press would result in a ball way over the goal
- the missing features have been all added back, so this is now as complete a package as it was on the old-gen consoles (not as many stadiums as before, but there are some new ones)
This may not sound like much on paper, but if you have played the game before, you'll notice all these changes and their positive impact once you start playing the game a little.
Gameplay is criticized by some as being too fast. That is probably true, but it's easy to get used to the speed and once you get used to it and with what it allows you to do, you'll find anything else sluggish in comparison.
What is missing? I would like to see more AI improvements so that my team mates would be more proactive at pressuring the opponent. The auto cursor switch could also be improved - this has always been a nagging point with all football games I played - I wish someone would really nail this - today I play with manual cursor switch.
A note on the online play - I only tried this once and that time was horrendous. I didn't try it again, so if online play is important for you, look for more opinions on that.
For those hesitating between FIFA and PES: I gave up on the FIFA games a few years back because FIFA games place a larger emphasis on longer animations at the detriment of player responsiveness. Moving between FIFA and PES, what I always noticed is that in PES there is more action per square foot than in FIFA. Also, in terms of animation, PES is much richer - just look at what happens when players bump into each other in PES vs their behavior in FIFA. Of course, YMMV, so my suggestion is to download both game demos from XBOX Live and give them a serious try. Play them for extended periods of time (several hours) and see which one provides you with more fun.
[UPDATE 06/04/2008] Forgot to mention two improvements:
- there is a new commentary track - this was long overdue
- there is now much better music as well | video-games_xbox |
Taking a trip through time and music. This is going to be a slightly strange review since the obvious idea with this game is to either introduce you to the Beatles or it's a full-blown tribute to what you can't argue is one of the most influential bands ever. And yet, I'm only a small fan, not this massive worshipper that can sing all their songs and there's some songs that to be honest, I don't care for. But while there's still a couple of those, I find the more I was playing through the story, the more a lot of the music opened up but for those of you wondering, this is strictly a Beatles release, unlike the band-centered Guitar Hero games, Beatle and only Beatle music are on this so nothing as far as solo careers and the like (too bad, no "Imagine" or anything from Wings) with further album DLC's on the way but if you are a massive Beatle fan, this will instantly attract you to it.
Story: Well there is a "story mode" but essentially it starts with the band playing at the Cavern Club and from there they move onto the Ed Sullivan Show, Shea Stadium and finally end at their rooftop appearance on the Apple Corp. building. In the middle of these is their psychedelic period where they were messing around in studio, only the song has been given the visual treat of a "Dreamscape" which is unique to each song, some are pure 60's LSD kaleidoscope-influenced whereas others you get some very simple-yet-beautiful hilltops and flower gardens.
Graphics: What makes Beatles Rock Band work is its extraordinary attention to detail and I'm not just talking about band members looking like their real-life counterparts but also their specific appearances at certain times such as Paul's beard and John's hair on the Apple Corp building (though the beard looks odd and John's hair looks more like dreadlocks than long hair). The dreamscapes in all their variety look stunning and there can be some really trippy stuff but also there's some fashion on the crowds and fans that match up and the intro to the Ed Sullivan show appearances have passerbys watching the show on store window televisions. It's certainly better than the realistic meeting the cartoonish avatars in Guitar Hero 5 anyway.
Sound/Music: Now obviously this is going to be the biggest portion of the game and to real let the sound spectrum go nuts, listen to the psychedelic stuff since some of that stuff can get...bizarre. But the music is the star here and everything from the straightforward "Ticket to Ride" (my favorite) to the indescribable "I Am the Walrus", a lot has been included here. Also added are some audio clips of the band either in the studio or just clips of them in concert (even the closing credits of the story is one long take of the band chatting in studio). What made disappoint and it certainly does for me is not what was in but rather what's not in as far as song choices. I love "We Can Work it Out", it's not here. "Across the Universe", "Blackbird", "Penny Lane", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "I've Just Seen a Face", "Hey Jude", "Happiness is a Warm Gun" and I'm sure several others are missing in action and while I hope they're DLC eventually, with the announced album DLC's of Sgt Peppers, Rubber Soul and Abbey Road, those songs might still be a long way off.
Gameplay: Pretty much the same as any Rock Band or Guitar Hero release. Notes will appear on a highway and you're to strum and hold the correct colored fret to advance, and if your a drummer, this includes using the foot pedal and the 4-pad drum kit. Songs range in difficulty from easy to expert and I'll admit, some songs on expert can be kind of surprising. Riff's perfectly fine, easy enough to handle than it's like whoosh! big solo with tons of hammer-on's. It's not like playing say Metallica songs where you know your fingers are going to get a workout soon, there's songs here that I didn't even know were to go crazy. Also, some songs barely feature the guitar so you might even find yourself strumming the parts from a Rhodes piano or the string section. People might lament the fact that barring a few tricky sections, the game is relatively easy, especially if you're a Guitar Hero nut (or even a Dragonforce fan...for some reason) but that also makes the game really easy to get into. And with the no-fail option from Rock Band 2 available, it's very easy to get a party going and not berating your aunt cause she can't get the riff to "Day Tripper" on easy right.
For the collector in you, we have photos of the band that are unlocked when you meet certain requirements (those being 3-star a song, 5-star a song, complete a venue in story mode or collect a certain amount of photos which nets you a cool little prize). What's nice about these is that they're not tied to a specific instrument or difficulty so you might go through the story mode changing from guitar to bass like I did but you'll still get your photos rather than "sorry, you started as guitar, you finish guitar if you want these photos"). A benefit to these for Beatle fans is that checking them out gets you some info about the photo with factchecker Paul McCartney himself verifying it. And like I said, there's some studio chatter and live recordings of the band during the song loading and when the song's finished so you're practically surrounded by all sides of Beatle stuff.
One thing I have to mention though: this game's tracks can NOT be transferred to Rock Band 1 or 2 thanks to the dreamscapes of the songs but also the new 3-part harmony tracks for the vocals so they're pulling an Activision here and not allowing cross-combatibility but whereas Activision just did it for the cash (I'm sure GH Metallica and Aerosmith and even Smash Hits could be DLC), it makes sense for the Beatles Rock Band game but be warned that for those you want a massive setlist on one game that combines all DLC from RB1/2 and this are out of luck. Obviously the benefit is that the instruments from the games will work on this so whereas you can't take new DLC track "All You Need is Love" into Rock Band 2, at least the instruments for it will work.
Like I said, I'm not this massive fan of the band but there's a lot of songs that I do like so I don't know how this game will work on new people (if there is any left anyway) but for Beatle fans, this is obviously a purchase and you've probably already bought it already along with the remastered CD's (available in both remastered and original box sets too) and while the story mode is short with the achievement for beating the story mode in 24 hours is a joke....4 hours maybe, if that and there's only 45 songs with of course the omissions I mentioned but at least the music that is here is timeless. | video-games_xbox |
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