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Almost a new Chrono Trigger. I was quite skeptical after playing the first Final Fantasy XIII. I powered through the game, though it took me nearly a year to stomach certain parts of it. After it was all over, I found I enjoyed the basic principle of the battle system and the music...but hated just about everything else.
Enter Final Fantasy XIII-2.
When I first heard they were making a sequel, I think I spit out whatever liquid I was drinking at the time. I shed some tears for my dying childhood nostalgia and assumed that this was, in fact, the end of a series I loved...or at the very least, the slow, disease-ridden death of it. I imagined a few more titles coming out for the franchise and doing similarly horrible until it was fully run into the ground, horse beaten to a pulp.
Then the game came out. It got positive reviews from nearly everybody.
I finally started the sequel last week and I am incredibly pleased. The introduction had me extremely worried - it was filled with the annoying voices and faux "childlike wonder" every character seemed to be possessed with from FF13, but thankfully, this died out in the first 30 minutes of play. The main characters are done very well and seem much more authentic, especially as the game progresses.
The battle system from FF13 is kept intact but improved vastly. The game is built on the concept of Time Travel, something we have not seen done well since the original Chrono Trigger, and this game nails it very well. The different timelines are engaging and vast, the choices and chance to rewind time to affect future outcomes, everything shows the effort put into this game. It is genuinely enjoyable in every way.
It is not necessary to play the original game to enjoy this one. It may help with understanding some of the cameos and cutscenes, but you can also get away with youtubeing some of the major plot points, particularly the game's ending. Best of luck and thanks to Square for returning to their roots a little. | video-games_xbox |
Great Action Racing game. Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is the Xbox's first high-suspense, high-speed, and high-impact mission based driving game. You find yourself behind the wheel in a wild ride through the streets of Hong Kong. The crowded streets of Hong Kong will provide you with countless objects to smash into and pedestrians to send running from the streets!
Gameplay:
Wreckless takes place in Hong Kong where you will have a choice between playing through 2 roles. Each one having its own unique story based on the main storyline of the game. On one side of the coin you are a female member of an elite anti-Yakuza squad taking on the vicious mafia after they interrupt a mid-afternoon break. On the flip side of that same coin, you are a high-level secret agent trying to uncover corruption between the mafia and the cops. Each role gives you 10 unique missions that you will face. Both also start out with 2 available cars and you will unlock new vehicles as you complete various missions. Each role also has 7 cars to choose from when it's all said and done, and each car offers different handling and abilities.
During missions you will find yourself chasing Yakuza transport cars, rescuing a trapped police captain, smashing mobster cars to escape crime scenes, and capturing a mafia boss before he escapes a helicopter just to name a few. Each mission is unique in design and contains goals that you must achieve, but the bottom line is pretty straight forward. Smash everything and anything in sight.
Graphics
If you want to see how well the Xbox can recreate reality, check out Wreckless. The game's graphics are jaw-dropping with such detail that you will feel like you are watching news footage while enjoying a replay of your previous mission. The replays are so enjoyable that you will have the ability to save them for later viewing. The replays are even a bit more stylish than you would expect with several `artistic' effects that add to their value. Some replay cameras seem to simulate a news helicopter's viewpoint, while others apply fancy special effects like negative video, or a black and white mode.
Every bit of the environment is rendered very nicely and textures and lighting are dead on. The cars look interesting and have real-time damage as you play through the missions. Bits and pieces of your car will become damaged and even fall off while you take on hits and impact others. Your doors will fall off, bumpers will collapse, and windows will shatter. However, your car will always run and never stop. Not even when you flip over after falling off a high-way overpass onto the pavement below. Sometimes the `flip back' time to readjust the car is a bit slow and you will loose valuable time, but you shouldn't have flipped in the first place.
There is a slight `draw-in' that you may see in the distance, but it's nothing that takes anything away from the game's fast paced action. To be honest, you really shouldn't have time to sit back and gaze off into the horizon, so you needn't worry about it. Framerate is solid, and overall the graphics are extremely impressive.
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Bottom Line:
Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is about as much fun as I have had playing the Xbox since the first day I got it. It is an absolute blast buzzing down busy streets with no worries of hitting whatever ends up on your hood. Watching as neon signs, Dim Sum carts, and more are obliterated before your very eyes is quite exciting, and you don't even have to turn in a report to your insurance company. Is Wreckless worth a buy? Had there been a free-roaming mode or a multiplayer mode I would have said without a doubt. The game's missions are interesting enough to warrant playing through it once, but once you complete the game you will most likely be finished with it until you choose to pick it up a month or so later. The game shouldn't take you too long to work through either, so getting through all 20 missions should prove to be an average challenge. If you are a die hard fan of games like Grand Theft Auto or Crazy Taxi, you will want to pick up Wreckless, if you are somewhat interested in taking a look at the game, rent it, or borrow it from the guy who buys it. | video-games_xbox |
Lacking for a modern action/horror shooter. My interest was piqued by the concept of this game, so I was excited to have time to start playing it. Unfortunately, it did not deliver.
While the art (textures, light, shaders) is excellent, the level design is mediocre at best. It was ambitious to have a large chunk of a game like this on a relatively small ship, but as it turns out, it may have been a bit TOO ambitious. While the art and environment are excellent and immersive, there are many points one re-encounters, crosses over, and at many points, objectives are simply names of places you haven't been yet, so you rather stumble around aimlessly hoping to hit what you're looking for instead of making clear progress or heading through a relatively fixed course. As with many other TPSs, the camera angle is fixed in most enclosed spaces, which makes it absolutely useless for exploring a room, moving through the room, or spotting/fighting enemies. This leads you to spend most of your time in the pseudo-FPS, "over-the-shoulder" aiming mode, so that you can actually see where you're going. However, this slows you down. So your choice is between either having no idea what you're actually looking at (is there a bulkhead, a door, a shelf, or a killer zombie just outside this camera angle?), or seeing what you're looking at, but progressing at an agonizingly slow pace.
The physics is also mediocre to poor. Aiming is difficult to near-impossible for the first half of the game because the ship is rolling, and your aim shifts randomly along with the motion of the ship. There are a few scares, but if you want to be scared witless, try Doom 3. The "horror" factor of this game pales by comparison to Doom 3, or even The Suffering.
One of the low points of this game is its aforementioned sloooooow pace. Your run is slow, walking is even slower, and aim-walking is slowest. This is NOT a fast-paced action shooter like FarCry, Doom 3, or HalfLife 2.
Character balance is piss-poor. You baby-step along, your aiming is sluggish and extremely difficult to be accurate. This is partly a limitation of Xbox controls, but when you fire up the game, you'll see what I mean. There's a "clumsiness" level built in that might be... hmm... too realistic to be fun.
Save points are pre-set. You can encounter some pretty stupid obstacles pretty far along beyond a save point and find yourself repeating 10-15 minutes of gameplay, sometimes more than once. That alone can be infuriating.
As I said, the art is excellent, very interesting, even highly immersive, and the concept is fascinating, but this is not a huge game. It has a B-movie storyline (I read everything along the way, and trust me, it SUCKS), it is slow-paced, the physics suck, and the character's balance and range of motion just sucks. Overall, a let-down. It's not worth the time or money for a little eye candy; it might be worth a few hours of semi-fun and cool environments when you can buy a used copy for $5. | video-games_xbox |
decent. Brink is set on an artifital island that goes from being a small project into a huge island. Then one day all communication stops and no boat or plane has been seen for almost 20 years. Now the goverment keeps citizens in nasty slums while the politians and security live in wealthier places. Now a civil war rages between the security and the civilans. Security wants people to stay put on the island, while civilians want to leave and look for life outside the island. Will you keep people inside the island,or look for a way out
graphics 6/10.. brinks graphics look decent at some points but the walls and other objects sometimes look a little hazy and blurry. The game uses id tech but it's not id tech 4 or 5 it looks like an unfinished id tech 5, so let's call it id tech 4.5
Gameplay 7.3/10.. basically you shoot,run and jump. The game gives you parkour abilities were you jump over objects to avoid being Shot. There's a huge libary of weapons ranging from pistols,shotguns,sub machine guns,assult rifles, and heavy weapons, sadly most machine guns feel the same no matter which one you use. There are a few different game modes in brink, first campain you chose to play as either resistance or security each comes with 8 missions but both are set on the same days and times. Missions are setup by destroying this or guarding this. But you also get to become different classes to get through missions, soldiers plant bombs and check teammates ammo, operative can hack computers and can see enemy mines, medic, medics can heal people, engineer repairs and builds things. Next is freeplay it's basically multiplayer. And challenges,challenges give you modes where you pracitice playing, parkour this is a course that sets you through a course where you find orbs, escort duty you must repair a robot and defend it from enemies,tower defense, it's kinda like a survival mode,be more objective basically tuning around doing multiple objectives. Doing these will unlock exended magazines,better Scopes, silencers, clothes etc.
Story 5/10.. At first it sounds good but afterwards..ya not much to tell
Sounds..7.5/10 gun effects sound decent and voice acting is good in cutscenes but during fights everyone is always yelling the same thing over and over again while the boss sits back and tells at you the voices quickly get old and annoying
Verdict 7.5/10 pros many guns and unlockables,clssses,different game modes
Cons short campain, blurry graphics,same feel with must guns, | video-games_xbox |
The Movie, only you are in control. The release of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King for xbox was much anticipated by many avid gamers, myself inculded. When I first purchased the game, I was amazed that there were three different paths that you could take in the game (unlike the Two Towers). The three paths are: The Way of the King, the Way of the Wizard, and the Way of the Hobbit. The first battle you are automatically thrown into, however. This is the end of the battle of Helmsdeep! You are playing as Gandalf the Gray and must thwart the orcs and save Helms deep! After you have beaten this level, however, you are free to chose which path you want to take first. The Path of the King is the hardest and starts off with Aragorn, Gimili, and Legolas going to the undead to enlist their help to fight the Orcs. The Path of the Wizard is slightly shorter, but not easy. Here you play only as Gandalf the White and are involved in everything from the destruction of Sauron's tower, to Minas Tirith where you have to run around and knock off the orcs and the bombard towers, to the Courtyard of Minas Tirith where you are charged with protecting the women and children from the orc onslaught. Lastly, the Path of the Hobbit is hard, but fun. You play as Sam, most of the time and have to go through everything the hobbits went through in the movie.
Once you complete all three paths, you will be able to play the Black Gate level. Here you can pick from any of these characters (Gimili, Aragorn, Gandalf, Sam, Legolas) and you will have to fight , along side your allies to defeat the armies of Sauron outside his own Gates.
On Completion of this level, you will be able to partake in the final level of the Game (The Crack of Doom). Here you will play as Frodo and have to fight Smeogol inorder to kill him and destroy the ring. Smeogol is particuarly difficult mainly becuase he is so fast and his hits take down your health fast. Once you have beaten this level..CONGRATULATIONS!! Now you can use cheats. There are two bonus levels (the Palantir of Sauroman) that you can fight to get all of your characters up to max. level 20. Now you can use all the characters (Gimili, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pipin, Legolas, Aragorn, Feramir, and Gandalf).
As a last note...after the completion of any level, you will be able to buy upgrades for your character with exp. points! And even better..you can go through the game with a friend! Co-op missions allow you all the same level, except with a friend by your side!
PROS:
- Excellent Graphics
- Co-op missions
- Tons of Levels to play
- After you complete the Crack of Doom, you can go back and replay any mission you want
- Great and useful upgrades
CONS:
- On Co-op its not split-screen, you and your friend are on the same screen (which I like but some might not)
Hope this helps! | video-games_xbox |
Innovative game, will cost a fortune. This is a great little game. The Skylanders' use of physical mineatures at the 'portal' is quite cool. They're going to make a fortune selling this stuff.
One thing to be aware of that isn't explained in the description is that the 3DS game is not the same game as the other platforms. I suspect that they did this intentionally, as many gamers have both a portable and console/PC/Mac, and this way they get to sell them two copies of the game.
3DS Skylanders is a "platformer" where you run, jump and explore, going through a fairly small number of single-path levels repeatedly in order to be awarded all of the crystals, in a manner that reminds me of other "linear" adventure games on the 3DS, such as the Lego games. You get crystals for collecting points, or by making it through a level in a special way (e.g. don't use the "clocks" that add time on timed levels, don't fall into the lava). You need to use different characters with different abilities in order to fully explore the levels. I haven't beaten the game yet, so I can't say what the crystals do.
You can play with two characters in your party at a time, one of which is active. Once you have two characters activated (using the Portal) you don't need the portal except to change characters, so you can just take the 3DS without the portal, and play as long as you want with the two characters that are loaded. To swap to different characters you'll need the Portal. The 3DS portal is different from the Portal on the consoles/PC/Mac - it is smaller, battery powered, and has an IR port. This allows you to use it with the 3DS (which does not have a USB port), and when traveling (since it's battery powered).
I haven't played the other version, but from the reviews it seems more like a traditional, free-form adventure, where multiple players can play at once. The larger Portal allows you to play with multiple chacters, adventure areas, weapons, etc. So I can see people who are really into Skylanders buying both the 3DS version and the console/PC/Mac version.
One other nice touch is that the three characters that you get with the 3DS version are different from the charcters that come with the other versions, so if you buy both a console/PC/Mac version and the 3DS version you end up with six different characters (though two are Spyro - normal and "dark").
In summary, I'm quite happy that I bought the 3DS Skylanders, and I plan on buying the PC/Mac version <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Skylanders-Spyro-s-Adventure-Starter-Pack/dp/B004VQEOV0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack</a> (Mac and Windows versions are in the same box) to explore the world and characters more fully. Since the characters are portable between all platforms, including the Web-based game on [...], that lets you get more value out of all of the figures that I'll end up buying. | video-games_xbox |
Great game for clive barker fans. Clive Barker's Jericho is a first person shooter horror game that has good graphics and a great storyline from Clive Barker and Codemasters. This game is for mature players (blood and gore, strong language, sexual themes and intense violence parents should be aware) and I will honestly say this isn't for everyone who are into FPS games, there isn't much in the way of exploration. It is a very linear game but as far as atmosphere and story goes I found it to be very enjoyable. I'm a big Barker fan and this was one of the first games I bought when I got my xbox and regreted trading it in later on. The game's plot is that when God was trying to create life for the first time he created something that was neither man nor woman and resembled a child. Called the first born it had the power of that of God himself and God was not pleased with his creation so he locked the first born away in a pit on earth. Becoming angered at being cast aside so God could create humans, the first born has tried over the centuries to escape. Using the humans to try and create a rift so it could leave its cell, the first born has been banished back into its hole while taking a part of the human's own time line with it causing layers within the prison. I won't give away too much of the story but the game starts in present day and a new storm has risen as the first born is trying to escape once again. The player journeys as the Jericho squad, a special forces group specializing in the paranormal, through each layer of the first born's prison. With each level complete or achievements gained the player is awarded with files being unlocked that can be accessed at the title screen that explains characters and places within the game which help build the story. As I said this game isn't for everyone but if you enjoy Clive Barker's work and a good horror game give it a try. The price is great and its a good game to have in any Clive Barker collection. | video-games_xbox |
A Mash-Up of Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. TheGOOD:A total of 77 playable warriors from both Warriors franchises All-new storylines mean you won't have to play the Yellow TurbanRebellion for the billionth time Team-up mechanic is at least a nice idea.
Game Details:Koei's Warriors games are essentially critic-proof at this point. You are either in love with the games' utter unwillingness to evolve, or you aren't. Perhaps nowhere is this more the case than with Warriors Orochi. A mash-up of the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors franchises into a single product, this is pure, unadulterated fan service for the squadron of hardcore fans that both brands have amassed over the years. We can sit here and tell you that this is yet another mediocre beat-'em-up that rehashes the same haggard-looking graphics, the same tired mission objectives, and the same "so old it should be in a museum for crummy combat systems" combat system, but we probably don't even have to do that. A single look at a screenshot for this game is probably all you need to decide one way or the other. If you like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you'll like, and vice versa.
On the scale of exciting crossover fights, Warriors Orochi ranks somewhere just below Lawrence Taylor wrestling Bam Bam Bigelow, and just above the Gobots fighting the Rock Lords.
If you're one of the few out there who's never encountered one of these games in any form, here's the lowdown. Dynasty Warriors takes a bunch of ancient warriors from Chinese history, dolls them up in severely colorful costumes, gives them gigantic novelty weapons, and then has them fight each other in addition to scads and scads of mouth-breathing grunt soldiers over the course of a bunch of beat-'em-up levels that kinda, sorta mimic historical battles, but not really. Samurai Warriors is the same thing, except that it swaps out ancient China for Japan's sengoku period. The premise for Warriors Orochi is that an evil serpent/sorcerer/king/demon...thing, named Orochi, has ripped a hole in the fabric of time and space and kidnapped all of the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors. OK, we'll bite, why exactly would someone do this? Well, because he's bored and wants to "test his strength" against the world's mightiest warriors. Hey, why not, right? If you're so powerful that you can rip open time itself, what else would you do for kicks?
Let's face it: Koei and developer Omega Force have never been great fiction writers, and though the old Dynasty and Samurai games were all steeped in the same historical scenarios over and over again, at least this is something different. Certainly, longtime fans of these games will take some delight in some of the scenarios that have been built out. For what it's worth, the game doesn't take its premise remotely seriously, and instead is content to try to create any fan's dream match-ups and fights--provided that there is such a thing. Seeing Nobunaga Oda jokingly get mistaken for Cao Cao, or watching Zhao Yun team up with Yukimura Sanada is probably enough to send some fans into hysterics. There seems to be a lot of that stuff on offer.
There are four different main story campaigns in Warriors Orochi, three of which involve the Wu, Wei, and Shu factions from Dynasty Warriors, and one of which is an all-purpose Samurai Warriors group. The storylines are obviously different from faction to faction, though the missions and combat are just as repetitive and dull as they've ever been. Like in every other Warriors game of the last decade, you drop into battle against hordes of the stupidest soldiers on the planet, fight off a few boss and sub-boss officers, and move on to the next stage. All you need to do is mash on the two main attack buttons while periodically tossing in a special attack, and you're pretty much good to go. The game tries to dress things up a bit by having you escort certain officers to safety, capture specific points on a map, or make alliances with other officers, but none of this really does much to quell the sensation of monotony.
To be fair, there are a couple of small differences to the gameplay in Orochi. For one, the game has something of a team-based mechanic where you can play as three different warriors within the same battle. Unfortunately, you get only one warrior at a time, and you simply switch between them on the fly. As you play through each stage, you'll unlock more warriors that you can swap into your group. There are 77 in all, so at least fans will be kept busy. The other change is to the prebattle setup. After each battle, you'll have likely collected a few different weapons on the battlefield, each with different bonuses and attacks attached to them. Now you can actually merge two of these weapons into one superweapon, if you so desire. You just hop into the menu, pick two weapons, and merge them. It's as simple as that. The tangible differences between the weapons aren't ever that great, but hey, at least the option is there.
Outside of the story campaigns, there's really not much to Orochi. There's a free mode in which you can pick any three warriors and take on a battle outside of the story, as well as a few gallery unlockables, but that's basically it. You can play through the story cooperatively if you find a willing friend, but the game really isn't much more interesting in multiplayer than it is in single-player.
Graphically, Warriors Orochi maintains the same level of quality of the last few games that hit both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. The game is very clearly built off the old PS2 engine, and then ported upward to the 360. As a result, the 360 game looks more like an original Xbox game than anything else. Sure, it's a great deal more colorful than its PS2 counterpart, and there's more visual flair with the special attacks and whatnot, but otherwise, this is a rather ugly game. Both versions' primary character models are at least detailed, but the battle environments are plain to the point of drab. Likewise, even though this game has a totally different storyline, it's still recycling the same battlefields from previous games.
There are 77 warriors that you can use to fight the same five enemy types over and over and over...
At least all the dialogue is new, though it's not exactly well written, and the voice acting is predictably horrific. Furthermore, there's no Japanese language track, so you're stuck with the overenthusiastic and underenthusiastic English actors. Also, the thumping techno soundtrack and the hyperrepetitive shrieks of the warriors on the battlefield are enough to give someone a seizure.
If all that's been said previously isn't enough to dissuade you from taking Warriors Orochi for a spin, this probably means you're one of the dedicated faithful who would play anything with the word "Warriors" on the box. In that case, this game is clearly designed for you, and by all means you should take it for a spin. For the rest of humanity, Warriors Orochi can safely be ignored.
By Alex Navarro, GameSpot
Posted Sep 27, 2007 6:11 pm PT | video-games_xbox |
Pretty awesome console. First off - If your Xbox One does not come with a cheat sheet for your Kinect sensor, I highly recommend it. It is available online. You can just Google it. It gives you all the major voice commands that can be performed by your voice e.g. "Xbox use a code" and then you can just show your Titanfall game code card that comes with the console. Your Kinect will read the code within a second whether you are far away or close. It is really awesome and works perfectly. Note: The Titanfall game took me about 4 hours to download on 30 Gigabytes through my cable internet provider. All the needed upgrades when I first turned on my console took maybe 15 minutes. It all depends on how quick your internet is.
I finally got my Xbox One. I am fully aware that on May 13, 2014 Microsoft made the announcement that they would sell on June 9 the console without a Kinect for $399. I like the move because some do not have the need for a Kinect attached to the console. Although, I found out that it is actually pretty awesome to have one.
Microsoft is not dictating that some of us have to buy the Kinect sensor anymore. They always had a certain attitude that it is their way or no way. Therefore, I was just sitting on the sideline. I did not like the bullying and all the rules because it did not make any sense. I did not like their attitude from the start. As a consumer I felt this was very arrogant but they finally listened to the consumers. Microsoft did their mea culpa so to speak and I bought the Xbox One Titanfall bundle with Kinect based on their actions. My thinking was for $499 you get a game. Basically, it is like paying $50 or so extra on the $399 for a camera plus a game included. Not too bad pricewise.
Microsoft has listened to us. A bit late but nevertheless they did. In addition, they announced that starting with June they will offer free games for Xbox live Gold members on Xbox One as they already did for Xbox 360. This should have been done sooner because this did not make any sense why you could get 2 free games on one console and not on other one with Xbox Live Gold. My Xbox Live membership is active for both consoles and work flawlessly on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Note: One thing I noticed is that the Xbox 360 has more APPS than the Xbox one. I am sure that this is a work in process. Also, everything is nicer now on the homepage for Xbox one compared to Xbox 360. Less confusing you could say.
The installation was pretty easy. The Xbox One connects straight to your TV and replaces the connection from your cable box. The nice thing is at least it does not require an extra HDMI port on your TV. That HDMI cable from your cable box goes now straight to your Xbox One. The Xbox one Kinect allows you to change the channels by voice e.g. "Xbox watch CNN" or of course by remote. It is up to you. It is pretty neat and I am sure Microsoft is going to improve on any issues. Another feature I like the best is that you can split your screen for a game you are playing and watch live TV at the same time. Under your Xbox One "options" it gives you the ability to control the volume for your game and TV. If you want the volume to be higher for your game while you are playing you can do that and whatever you are watching on live TV will have a lower volume or vice versa. It is up to you. This is really the feature I like the best on Xbox One. I can do 2 things at once. It gives you plenty of choices. If you want to split your screen with Skype and a game you can.
I have not played Titanfall yet. The only game I played so far is Tomb Raider Definitive Edition. The graphics are awesome and the game is extremely fun.
I get back from work. I say: "Xbox on" and everything turns on such as my cable box, TV, Xbox One console and surround sound. The Kinect signs me automatically in once it sees my face, click on my game that I played last and within a second I continue where I left off.
All in all, I am pretty satisfied because this is a pretty awesome console. The console is always powered on in the background when you watch TV and connects within seconds to your favorite games. The console stays quiet and does not heat up.
One last thing I would like to mention. The controller for Xbox One has to same sensations as the Xbox 360 to me. They are both excellent controllers. | video-games_xbox |
Major rip off . Man, what a rip off. I bought this game thinking all the dlc was included. I went to download the dlc and one of them didn't show up in the menu on my ps3. Alright so I went on my laptop to go to the psn store. And holy hell there is a lot of dlc. In fact it would cost $35 to download all the content that is not included in this so called "collection". That is more than than these 2 games cost combined.
What a cheap "collection". Collection means collected, as in everything. Not just 2 things.
Calling it a collection is like having 3 action figures out of 500 and saying it's a collection. It's not.
Update. Just played through Darksiders 1 and I loved it. A few glitches here and there. Could of used more story and cutscenes but overall it was a fantastic game. But Darksiders 2, that's another story all together.
Just started playing Darksiders 2, and well. It's only a 20 minute game. My disc is obviously defective.
Whenever I approach the final boss room at the beginning, it freezes and that is it. I tried uninstalling the game data, and the dlc and the save files, restarting over and over again. But nothing works.
So really this "collection" only comes with Darksiders 1. Which btw, I give that game a 4 star.
Do your self a favor and just pick up Darksiders 1.
Final update.
I sent back the game as I was unable to play it. The game cost $27.30 + $8.87 Shipping. plus I had to pay $16 to ship it back.
They only refunded me $27.50. So I was ripped off a total of $24.67 by this company.
This company sells cheap garbage and rips people off. Honestly I'll be happy to see them go bankrupt. Which I don't doubt they will. Nobody needs companies like this around, stealing peoples money.
Also I should note that this is the first time I have ever had to return a product and the first time I have encountered a video game that is so glitchy and poorly made.that it can't even be played. With the exception of back in the day with NES and Sega Genesis where if the console gets bumped the games would freeze. Except this game freezes because it's cheaply made which is actually worse.
Hey Nordic, it's not the 80's 90's anymore. It's a shame this Nordic company fails to put pride and integrity into there products.
Also this is the very first time I have ever had to go on youtube to watch what happens in the game. I watched all the cutscenes on youtube for Darksiders 2, and I must say I found it to be unbelievably boring.
Anyway, live and learn I guess. I can only hope that when this company goes bankrupt a better company will buy the Darksiders franchise and give it the justice it deserves..
Nordic games is now on my boycott list !!!
Also just so you know, I loved Darksiders 1 so much that I was going to buy all the dlc for darksiders 2 all $30 of it. Good thing I waited.
I could have been ripped off way worse. So much worse. Thank god I waited. | video-games_xbox |
Best Music Game So Far. This is the best music game out there. Preiod. I have played all the Guitar Hero games as well as some other rythm games, and this is by far the most fun.
However, there are a few points of criticism:
For one, I had problems with the guitar controller. The strum bar broke pretty much as soon as I got the guitar, and I had to sign up for a replacement (which is yet to arrive). The process was simple, but still. This apparently is a problem a lot of people have, so that's disappointing.
Update: I received the replacement controller today, but they sent me a PS3 controller, which is useless to me. I checked my support request and I clearly requested the 360 version. So the saga continues. Argh!!!
Anyway: I like the guitar controller itself. Better even than any of the Guitar Hero controllers. It is a little bigger and heavier and it feels more like a real guitar. The "solo buttons" are cool too. The only thing that is not so cool is that the strum bar (even when it worked) didn't feel as good as the one on the Guitar Hero controller, since there doesn't seem to be a real noticable "click".
Another thing that struck me as odd is that the product ships with one guitar, a drum set, and a microphone. However, the game is made for lead-guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals. So you end up one guitar short. And the guitar controller isn't available for purchase separately? WTF?!?
Note: The Guitar Hero controller works with this game too, except that there are no "solo buttons" on the GH controller. But at least it gives you a second guitar, which works well as a bass guitar.
But anyway: Overall, I am having a blast with this game, so I am still giving it 5 stars. The songs are pretty good, and the selection of additional songs you can download (for a price) is extensive. The list of songs still doesn't quite hit the nail on the head as far as my personal taste is concerned (or what I would like to play in a game like this), but that is just a matter of personal preference. (I like Guitar Hero 3's selection better).
The drums are also cool to play. They are probably the hardest part of the game, so that even gives veterans something new to do. Plus there always is the singing thing, if you do not mind getting emberassed. ;-)
The visual style of the game is superior to Guitar Hero's comic style (IMO). Not that it seems to matter much in a game like this, but I guess it is important to some people.
Update: I got this game for christmas. It is now early April. I still have not been able to get a working controller from EA. They sent me a Playstation one by accident, and then they sent me another broken xbox one. And in between, they even charged my credit card. That is just unacceptable! | video-games_xbox |
Next Gen Version of CON or RTA. If you have been waiting for a next generation version of Champions of Norrath (CON) or its sequel, Return to Arms (RTA), this is it. The short version is that I like the game, and highly recommend it. I have finished the game on Bronze mode with a seraphim, and am half done with a high elf.
First, the not-so-good.
[1] You cannot freeze the minimap so that North points up, unless you also freeze the whole screen so that North points up (in which case your character always appears shaded in the daylight hours, because for some strange reason the sun is always in the North).
[2] If you want your character to wear matching clothing, good luck. The merchants restock their wares every time you transport to a different location. I spent a couple of hours transporting back and forth to different merchants in order to get matching gear. Why doesn't an RPG just let you purchase matching gear to begin with, and then provide upgrades with the number of slots and value of what fits into the slots?
[3] Although the seraphim looks fine walking and running, the dryad looks a bit stilted, and the high elf runs with her feet wide apart (as if she has dirtied her diapers). The hair styles are very limited, because the designers didn't know what to do with hair styles that interferred with their head armor (or shoulder/back gear).
[4] Many players will not be used to the limited camera angle, which was common in RPGs of old. You have five different closeness settings, but can never really see the ground more than about 20 feet in front of your character. This doesn't bother me, but it might bother some players.
[5] No official strategy guide. There are some details in the interface that I still don't understand, and the Web site essentially gives you what you already have in the tiny user guide. (You don't really need a strategy guide for the quests, because the quest system is fairly good. I want something that explains the number crunching going on behind the scenes.)
[6] There is no good detailed map of the larger towns, and the game really needs one.
The good stuff.
[1] The amount of detail is amazing. You can enter virtually any building in the game, and roam around to your heart's content.
[2] The amount of real estate you can cover is amazing. The world is huge.
[3] The characters are done well. With the exception of what I noted above, the characters are life-like. The voice acting is not great, but not objectionable either.
[4] The quest system is self-directing. Good job.
[5] The gear--if you can ever get what you are looking for--looks great. Nice attention to detail.
[6] There are five levels of difficulty, very similar to many of my favorite RPGs. The RPGs that release with one or two levels of difficulty are often too difficult to play at the end of a stressful day at work.
In short, if you like the older RPGs, such as CON, RTA, Baldur's Gate, or even next gen's Oblivion, you will like this game as well. Take the time to learn the controls, then have yourself a good time! | video-games_xbox |
Xbox is a solid media platform. Ok so I purchased this on release day along with the xbox one. I wanted to wait to give it a comparison so here I am a month later.
Cost = PS4
If you can get your hands on an actual retail copy and not a bootleg copy by someone whose trying to make a 300% profit then the PS4 is $100 cheaper with more bang for your buck based on the specs alone.
Cosmetics = PS4
The PS4 is a better sleeker console that is actually pretty quiet and designed for the 21st century. Compared to the xbox one that is the size Of a VCR or VCR/DVD combo. It's huge!
Video Quality = PS4
Slight advantage goes to the PS4. Although they both run on AMD Radeon GPU's. PS4 pushes out 176gb/s of memory compared to 64 from xbox one, as well as a peak shader throughput of 1.84 teraflops compared to xbox one 1.33. Both support native 1080p with 4K support.
Ram = PS4
PS4 has 8GB GDDR5 5500MHz (176GB/s)
Xbox one has 8GB DDR3 2133MHz (68GB/s)
The numbers speak for themselves. PS4 by a landslide.
Optical Drive = Tie.
Both have Blu-Ray drives.
Storage = Tie
Both come with 500GB Hard Drives.
Internet connectivity = Tie
Both have Ethernet ports as well as built in wifi setup with no need to purchase a separate adapter.
Controller = Xbox One
Although the PS4 has made some strides in developing a better controller, it comes with a built in speaker in the center of the controller as well as a touchpad but for those of you who has had a sony in the past that are use to pressing pause in the middle of the controller it will take getting some use to. The Xbox one controller feels way better then the 360 controller that has grip pads on the sticks as well as a more ergonomic design and better feel overall.
Online capabilities = Xbox One
Both have online play but Xbox one better. Some may complain that paying to play online sucks but the money you pay goes towards keeping the servers operating at their peak. Free internet servers have problems with lagging and thousands of cheaters and glitches. Not saying that no one glitches on xbox live but the money for xbox live goes towards patching those exploits. PS Plus is similar to xbox live and hopefully it gets to where xbox live is today.
Overall, PS4 is geared more towards gaming with an additional perk of media options. Xbox one is geared more as a media hub with the option of gaming, watching tv, listening to music etc... If you are interested in just old fashion gaming with 21st century graphics then the PS4 is for you. If you are interested in watching movies, listening to music, giving voice commands to do all these things as well as play games too, then xbox one is for you. | video-games_xbox |
Dont buy unless you sold your X360. I'd like to start by saying i love the rock band series and own GH1/2 and then made the switch to rock band and have all 3.
ill start with the good first. the gameplay is just as smooth as you would expect for the processing jump moving from the 360 to the One. scrolling through songs is smooth as butter and actually playing the song feels solid. the graphics quality is the same as all the other rock bands so nothing new there.
the BEST thing about RB4 is the new guitar. it feels like a solid middle ground from my favorite the GH2 explorer and the soggy mushy feeling wireless controllers from previous RB titles. the fret button has a distinctive feel when you engage them and the strum bar still has that RB feel but seems to work better than in previous titles.
alright now for the bad, the reason i feel generous giving this game 2 stars.
first off the songs on the disc are pretty terrible. its nice that they added some more difficult bass songs which were very needed, but unless you are bringing songs from the previous games don't buy this. for me playing the game is WAY more fun with a band ive created and customized every which way and that is were this game really just makes me angry. the character customization is sparse at best. its starts off ok, you can pick a boy or a girl and thats were it goes downhill fast. there is only 1 body type for each model. skinny with chicken legs. from there you get a lot of about 20 hairstyles total in the game most of which need to be unlocked through game progression. these hairstyles are not gender specific which just feels lazy. well no, ill correct myself. lazy is the facial hair not being gender specific (woman with full beard go!) this goes on and on, the clothing options are sparse, there is NO OPTION FOR TATTOOS, call clean skinned rockers. i just feel cheated.
after you go through the pain of settling on a character you're meh about you find out the band stand ins cannot i repeat CANNOT be custom builds. they all have to be those premade people that are in the game. so there goes that band feeling, now you are just the guitar player with some other people.
also no online play......
so yeah, my consensus is that the game is a terrible shell of its former self and the ONLY reason it should even be considered is if you no longer own RB3 or even better RB2 on your Xbox 360
****EDIT**** 12/18/2015 - Since its release its become apparent this wasn't a cash grab to save a dieing company. they just recently released brutal mode which is just that, brutal. also they just added an export option for RB3 disc songs with a promise for RB1&2 early next year. im actually extremely happy with the direction this game is taking. the songs and playability of the game are no longer a worry. the reason this stays at 4 stars is the character customization is still lacking. while they are adding clothing this still won't fix the issue. we need body sizes and models and tattoos. that would put this at an easy 5 or 6 stars. thank you harmonix for your continued support to one of my favorite franchises (can you please tell atlus to finish persona 5) | video-games_xbox |
Great graphics. This is the very first Xbox game I played. It was really more like a theatrical movie than a game.
I did have some trouble at first adjusting to the Xbox's controls. I am more used to using a keyboard, mouse, and PC joystick. However, one quickly learns the controls on the Xbox, and it actually becomes easier than using a keyboard and mouse.
The game itself is a shooting game. Basically, you have to shoot down the bad aliens. There is really no strategy, other than not being shot. It is a skill game, not one that requires deep thinking.
The graphics are breathtaking...assuming you can survive long enough to venture far enough into the game. I found it very useful and smart on the developers' part to have different levels of difficulty in playing the game. But since this was the first time I played on the Xbox, I still had trouble surviving even with the easy setting. For some reason, I kept falling in water and drowning, and the snipers somehow managed to take me out. Then there is the mean alien with his sword who's just a mean $%#@#$%. I was glad when I killed him!
Talking of killing him, I did harbor a lot of anger and hatred towards that particular alien. Is that healthy? Is this game bringing out the evil in me? And if so, once this side of me is manifest, do I ever get rid of it? In other words, do violent games make us violent people? This is a question that has been asked many a times. Many researchers argue that violence on TV also makes us prone to violence.
I do prefer playing games that make me exercise my mind. I like playing Chess and Risk. I also like Monopoly, believe it or not. But my all time favorite is Microsoft Flight Simulator, but this is not yet available on the Xbox.
I did hire (so to speak) my little cousin to play Halo with me. He is an expert at it, and actually managed to finish it. I watched as he played, hoping to learn from him the different techniques of killing the aliens and evading them. However, I found myself immersed in the graphics, rather than concentrating on his hand movements on the joystick.
Halo is really like a movie, and watching an expert play it is like watching a Hollywood Sci-fi. It is as fun watching another play as it is playing it. For this reason, among many others, when this game first came out, movie theatre attendance in the States declined!
Games have truly evolved since Castle Wolfenstein! | video-games_xbox |
DO NOT BUY THIS $90 NIGHTLIGHT. I must say do not buy this product and do not buy from this company. My overall review can be summed up by this: don't get distracted by the shiny lights to settle for something that's less than average (and way over-priced).
My review is two fold, first I will talk about the product, then second, I will talk about why this company does not deserve your business.
This product is over-priced, uncomfortable, and lousy sounding. There are no pros to this device, so I'll list out the 3 cons quickly. (Well there is only one pro, and that is the lights do look pretty cool. It fooled me into getting this, don't let it fool you as well!).
1. Too expensive for what you are getting. You're buying a headset for two reasons, a mic and the sound. They both are lackluster here. The sound is mediocre at best (you're paying $90 bucks for free apple ear bud sounds?), with muddled lows and tinny highs (both are bad things). The mic is "fine." But, you're paying $90 bucks! A logitech mic for 8 bucks is "fine" also, so why waste your money on this? *(Sound is objective, but I own studio headphones, not Beats, that range from $10 bucks to $400 bucks, so even though I'm not an expert, believe me when I say that the sound this headset produces is not worthy of your hard earned cash. In addition, even in the company's own product description, it gives vague details, such as that it was mixed by a "Hollywood Studio"...what does that even mean? Anyone can own a garage in the city of Hollywood. I think the marketing is misleading, and I just implore you to read the features and descriptions yourself, and it should raise some red flags).
2. Very uncomfortable. The last time someone thought that there's only "one" true fit, a genocide occurred. In other words, we're all different people, gamers are kids and adults, fit and a bit extra. Therefore, unless you know you can return this after trying it on, I would be wary that you're just buying a $90 night light. It was so uncomfortable that I couldn't wear it for more than an hour. There is no way to adjust this headset to meet the needs of the individual customers purchasing it. When else have you seen headphones not come with an adjustable band, I mean, can every headphone company be in the wrong by giving their customers this option? In addition to being uncomfortable, this was made with cheap plastic materials, not metal and not solid feeling. I'd fear if you dropped it, it would be akin to burning 90 bucks for fun. Comfort is important for gamers, we like to game all night long if we could (and didn't have school or work). However, if you go with this headset, you'll have a nightlight all night long, sitting next to your desk after your rub your ears from wearing it for an hour. (Another small gripe, for 90 bucks, they could throw in a free case to hold your stuff together. Gamers like to game, we go to Lan Centers and to each others houses, we don't just sit in our basement, contrary to popular belief, we're social creatures and allowing us to take our stuff with us is almost standard now with any accessory. Therefore, why force us to pay another 16 bucks on their website for a headset case when, at this price, it should just come with it. It makes me shake my head in disbelief).
3. Lastly, I believe we buy items that are "wireless" because we hate the clutter of wires around our desk or entertainment systems. I feel we already have too many wires, so "wireless" is an attractive option to help. This item is "wireless" but it is not wireless. I mean, just to use it on a PC you need to plug in the USB then plug in the headphone jack that's wired to the USB. Great, more wires on a "wireless" device. This is horrible, because I like to have my external computer sound system hooked up through the jack, but now with this device I need to switch back and forth, from needing a headset to play games, and when I just want to sit back and watch a film w/o a headset. Now, if that sounds unpleasant, this gets even worse with PS3, XBOX and Wii set ups. You have to crawl back and forth from your console to the back of the tv to mess with cables over and over and over again. Suddenly the freedom of "wireless" is tying you down with multiple wires and headaches just to use it. (I understand that if you own many consoles and you need something that goes between them this is an attractive choice, but just remember to ask yourself, where are your cable hookups to your tv, in the back or front, if in the back, is your tv backed up against a wall? Are your cables easy to get to, or is everything already neatly tied up in back...you see where I'm going with this right?). It seems that PDP uses the term "universal" and "wireless" in almost a deceptive way to me, because it is those things, but we'd expect freedom with "universal wireless" not to be constantly tied down.
Lastly, this part of the review is about PDP the company that creates this product. I had a question about my new headset and I needed to get in contact with customer service. I emailed them, I created an account to submit a support ticket, and I called them twice and left messages with a return number. They NEVER responded to me, I called one last time and finally got through. This customer service rep was combative and surly with me. I am a paying customer, yet I'm treated as if I'm a nuisance. I told them how long it took me to contact them, and they didn't even apologize or show any compassion that I had to jump through so many hoops to talk to them. And, then when I did get through, they made me feel like I shouldn't even have tried to contact them in the first place (maybe that's why it took so long for me to even reach someone because they don't see customers as people, just dollar signs). I explained to them my situation and that I needed some help rectifying an issue. They told me that it was not their problem and that if I don't like their service or products that I can purchase an item from a competitor. How does a company like this stay in business? I asked to speak to the rep's manager and he said "I am the manager." Finally, I asked him to transfer me to someone where I could leave a complaint, and again he said "You can tell me your complaint." I told him, I didn't feel comfortable telling him my complaint because 1. it was about him and 2. after I tell him how do I know my complaint is not going straight into the trash. He told me there was no one else to talk to (how small is this company, the customer service rep is the manager and the complaint department?). When I pushed him on this he told me "everyone already went home," to which I responded "it's only 3pm PST, your office closes at 3pm?" This was not the first lie I caught him in, and instead of responding, he just said "No one is here for you to talk to, you can try calling again tomorrow to talk to someone else." He did not give me an extension to call or anything, just told me to contact again (after I've already tried to contact them 5 times, it wasn't really what I wanted to hear). Finally, the call ended with me saying "if your company's response to customer's concerns is so poor, how can you expect us to trust in the quality of your products" to which he responded with something like you're free to buy someone else's products.
So now you know their official stance on the quality of their products, and how they deal with customers--be someone else's.
FYI: The Logitech G930, which is infinitely better (you can see reviews on its page on this site, it was also named top wireless gaming headset of 2012 by a lot of online electronic review sites), is only nineety-niine dollars at the places with the b-es.t b*uys, quote-unquote. In other words, for a measly $9 dollars more, you're getting about an extra 80 dollar value by going with that item versus this lousy one. I really wish I just went with the Logi first, but it wasn't as "flashy" as the Afterglow. Stupid me, I know, got distracted by lights instead of really reading the reviews. Anyway, don't make the same mistake I did. Happy gaming! | video-games_xbox |
Bravo! The Darkness is a truly fun and engrossing game. I was so very pleasantly surprised by The Darkness.
It seems that games that rise to the level of being engrossing and compelling are few and far between. In fact, not since Deus Ex have I played a game that really drew me in, and had me playing around WITH the game, like it was a toy. On the XBOX 360, there are really only a couple of must-own games at this point. Gears of War is one of them, sure, and, in my opinion, so is Oblivion.
Now you can add The Darkness to that list.
I had a lot of fun playing The Darkness, and, at times, it came close to the kind of experience I had with Deus Ex (which, for better or worse, I hold up as the gold standard in this genre). Besides being fun to play with, this game continually wows you with its attention to detail and the level of thought that went into its design.
Here are just a few of the elements and details that make this game so impressive:
-The VOICE ACTING in The Darkness is simply the best I have seen in a video game, bar none. So good is the voice acting, that you find your self marveling at it. Everyone from the hero Jackie to Jimmy the Grape (oh man I loved Jimmy the Grape) is superbly performed.
-One of the first things you notice is the little vignettes you watch during the LEVEL LOADING. The designers utilize what would otherwise be "dead time" to actually add to the atmosphere of the game.
-LEVEL DESIGN is fantastic. You spend a good deal of time in NYC subways in this game, and they really look like the real deal (admittedly simplified). I found myself more than once admiring the rendering of the stairs and signs down in the subways. Just one of many great touches is the subway information kiosks (not authentic!) which are a clever way of quickly orienting to where you need to go. The NYC street levels are equally great, and very detailed. You will find yourself just walking around and looking. Then when you get the Demon Arm, and discover you can move cars and dumpsters...
-NO ARTIFICIAL HUDs. Information in this game is, for the most part, presented in a "realistic" manner. One example already given is the info kiosks in the subways (you get an authentic NYC voice giving you directions). Another example is the level of your Darkness Powers, which are indicated by visual cues in the power manifestation.
-COLLECTIBLES AND BONUS MATERIAL. Adding the collectibles to this game was a great move. Basically, this is analogous to the Cog Tags in Gears of War, giving you an incentive to completely explore all the environment spaces. The new twist here is that such collecting not only scores achievements, but also unlocks bonus materials such as comics, videos, and production art. Very slick. One of the two types of collectible items is phone numbers, and you unlock the bonus materials by finding a telephone and calling the number. When you do, you get a unique and superbly acted answering machine message, many of which are comical or disturbing. I loved every one.
-DARKNESS POWERS. The Darkness Powers are the main game play "gimmick" of The Darkness, sort of like Bullet Time in Max Payne. You quickly figure out that the powers are pretty much what you use all the time, instead of, say, guns. There are a good number of conventional weapons available, but you end up not caring about them much. The two coolest Darkness Powers are 1) Creeping Dark and 2) Demon Arm. The Creeping Dark allows you to "remotely" explore your surroundings with a great deal of freedom, including climbing walls and getting into small spaces. This expanded freedom almost compels you to see what you can do with it, and you find yourself experimenting to see exactly where you can go. You can, of course, attack with the Creeping Dark, and in the beginning you do that a lot. The Demon Arm is great because you can pick up almost anything and throw it. Pretty far if you want. So, you realize that you can stack cars up on top of each other, or throw dumpsters at people, so you spend a great deal of time just screwing around like that. Oh yeah, you can also attack people and knock out lights with The Demon Arm. (But it's really for making a really big pile of cars.)
There are a number of surprises in the game, which I will not go into for obvious reasons. Suffice it to say that there is even more to recommend this game that what has been mentioned, and, like the rest, it is very well done.
Complaints? Quibbles? Only a few, really. NO game is perfect. Maybe my biggest gripe is that the final level & ending was very unsatisfying. In fact, I was sure that there was a better ending I could achieve. It turns out that's just how it ends. On the upside, the ending makes it clear that this is just a first chapter in what should be a truly great series of games. Other than that, the quibbles become truly minor. I thought the Darklings didn't really contribute much to game play, but maybe that was just me. Even so, they do add some entertainment.
All in all, The Darkness is GREAT. If you own a 360, you should own this game. | video-games_xbox |
Craptastic. The graphics are the main thing this game really offers. The other plus this game has is you can knock a player around stages more. In previous titles you could knock an opponent down a cliff or a set of stairs and proceed to fight. In this title you can knock an opponent down several flights of stairs. There is more to the stage environments than before and it is enjoyable. Other than that it is a complete waste of time.
DOA has always had a very vague story that just drags on longer than it needs to. The endings to this game are more porn affiliated than anything. The addition of two new characters would have been better if they were not so boring.
TECMO really butchered the counter attack in this title. You have no room for making mistakes. For example in DOA 2 and 3 if you counter attacked an opponent before they attacked by a hair of a second you could still pull off a counter attack. This game makes no room for jumping the gun. You have to counter attack perfectly on time every time. TECMO wanted the fighting to mimic real life fighting in some respect.
The final boss is yet another "godlike" opponent that has a move that can basically kill you in one hit. Once again it's a boss that you cannot throw or counter attack. DOA 2' Tengu had wings and the power of air. Got too close and you were blown away. In DOA 3 you fought Ayane's Father who had a double edged "light saber" and the power of fire. Got too close and you were set a blaze. Now we have the boss of this game, another replica of Kasumi with Terminator 2's T 1,000 esque traits and the power of electricity. Get too close and zap. CHANGE THE RECORD ALREADY!
Online is your typical player vs player and it gets old very quickly. You mostly encounter jerks cussing you out with racist remarks and cuss words one right after the other.
Achievements in this game are mediocre at best. There are offline and online achievements. Due to how the games mechanics ruin the fighting and if you're the best of the best. Then you will enjoy earning them. If not you will earn a small handful and quit.
My final oppinion of this game is to stay clear of it period. This is the most difficult DOA game to date. There is a difference between games that challenge players and games that screw players due to bad mechanic ideas. If you've never played the DOA series this is not the game to introduce yourself to. Play DOA 3 and DOA Ultimate. DOA4 was made for the elite of DOA players and not for everyone. Even those of us who have played this series for years had to relearn the game because of the idiotic changes. The childish and disturbing obsession of perverted fantasies about fake computer generated women has consumed TECMO. Get on with the stroy of the series and quit giving us Hustler and Playboy endings. Kasumi wants to go home and is running as a defector of her ninja clan so get to the point of it already. Four games in the series and we fans really have no clue know of what is going on with her or where the plot of the entire game is going. Mostly straight down the toilet and making one sequel after another just to feed the corporate money making greed machine. I would like to fight a boss that you can counter attack and throw around. A boss that relies on thier fighting ability instead of hocus pocus magic attacks. If I wanted fighting to be as real as possible for me to enjoy it. I would go outside and engage in a street fight. | video-games_xbox |
Misleading Description. I'm basing this review on doing 2 workouts. I decided to purchase this workout "game" because I am a fan of the show, and right now the gym is always slammed... so I wanted something to do at home. This was my first pick for an interactive trainer that would make home fitness more fun. Well, after two workouts I'm very hesitant to even say I would recommend this product. DISCLAIMER: I am fully aware that this is not a game, and I will not review it as such.
Upon starting up two things jump out at the user. Graphics and Kinect only control. The graphics are bad for this product, and there is no way around it. This looks like something that belongs on an original Xbox. That's okay though because I didn't pay full price, and being that I'm not viewing it as a game.. it didn't bother me. Secondly, the menus. I don't know what person was in charge of menus, but I hope they were reassigned. The menus are EXTREMELY cumbersome and clunky. It's infuriating to navigate the menus in this workout program. You will be wishing you could use the controller more than ever.
After starting up, you're prompted to do a fitness test. You do this for 30 minutes, or until the game believes you're having a difficult time with an exercise. After the test it recommends a program and difficultly. Then you do the body scan.
The body scan accuracy is not good if you have the Kinect placed on the wall angled down. My numbers were not close. I don't know if the numbers would be more accurate if I had the kinect level with the TV or not, but I'll assume it would. After that, you can customize your program or jump right into a workout.
This is where the game starts to become even worse and the misleading part comes in. I went to customize my workout, and I wanted to add equipment as I have bands and free weights. Well, there is NO option for free weights at all! This was EXTREMELY disappointing as this was one of the major reasons I purchased this title. I added res bands, and they weren't even used in the workout I did. Which leads me to the next frustrating issue...
I hope there are no Jillian fans out there. I'm not a fan, but I chose both trainers because I wanted to experience both of them. Well, big problem and to my surprise... I hear BOB and ONLY Bob bossing me around! What? I asked for Jillian AND Bob! I see Jillian on the screen, yet I only hear Bob! Every so often you'll hear Jillians voice saying "Up, down" or small things of that nature. This is a Bob only workout.
Finally, the workout is frustrating. It has no flow. I have times where I go down to the floor, stand up, floor... all for one exercise each. It's stupid. You don't do that when you workout. If you go to the floor, you do more than one floor exercise before getting up.
I can't recommend this product. I will gladly edit this review if someone can prove to me that free weights are indeed an option, and they do actually get used. | video-games_xbox |
Gimmicksmith. Should be called "The most frustrating way to learn guitar". If you have never ever picked up a guitar this game will delude you into the belief that you are incrementally accomplishing something each time you play. However, if you have even a foundational understanding of the guitar (basic chords, familiar with the tonic triad and keys, know some scales) this game will drive you up the wall. Why? Simply put, you're not meant to learn the guitar by watching a screen to see which string you're supposed to press and then frantically trying to rush your fingers into that position. This game shoehorns an unnecessary element into learning a song: having to look both at the screen and then at your left hand whilst playing the notes. You don't construct a song note by note and chord by chord as you would learning from a real person or reading a static tab; instead you are given the onerous and disconnected task of playing whatever notes and chords the game doles out to you in real time, while never fully obtaining a holistic feel or instinct for the sound and tempo of the song. Stupid. I played "Mary Jane's Last Dance" for two hours and had nothing but some disconnected low E notes and A minor chords to show for it, that didn't add up to anything sounding like a song, because thats what the game said I should be playing. Turned to youtube and some tabs, and in thirty minutes I had a cohesive arrangement with a chord progression that actually sounded like the song itself. If you want to learn guitar, dragon- uppercut this obnoxious, glittery fecal pabulum into the trash, get a book and learn to play note by note, and chord by chord - complete with copious repetitive practice.
Some might say that having to see the note on the string and then play it on the guitar is no different from learning to read music. Wrong. When you learn to read music, you are programming your brain by simultaneously associating a musical symbol with a precise placement of a finger or finger formation, until its automatic. You build a base of musical knowledge that will allow you to operate within a wide range of songs, because each notation corresponds to a particular note that you have drilled into your muscle memory. In crocksmith, you don't learn a system that gives you solid musical base; you just follow along, blindly, with the notes, strings and chords the game tells you to play until you mystically put the song together through an essentially random process that is disguised with insipid mini-games and hollow, sycophantic encomiums lobbed at you by a voice that sounds like a rejected audition for announcing fast food 2-for-1 deals. If you want to learn to play guitar, get a book, learn the basics and then patronize your local music teacher. They deserve it and you will make much more lasting progress than spending ninety dollars on this over-hyped tripe. | video-games_xbox |
A case of mistaken identity and judged even before a trial. The four star rating is for a purchase of thirty dollars or less. This game is not a full price purchase.
First things first, as I said above if you can find this game for thirty dollars or less and are a fan of Gears of War you will enjoy Quantum Theory. Yes this game borrows many elements from Gears, which is no big secret however as the saying states, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. You shouldn't play this game for what it's not (i.e. Gears of War) but more for what it is, which is a pretty decent third person duck and cover action title. Being a fan of Gears myself, I find Quantum Theory to be some what of a love letter to Gears and that's ok with me because if you're going to make a game in that genre why not look to the top dog for inspiration. It's as if trying to compare an NFL team with a college team, sure they're both playing the same game and using the same equipment but obviously the pros will win out in the long run.
Quantum Theory is by no means a great game; it does have its short comings. The controls are a little off but manageable, the camera can be some what hectic at times and the graphics are mediocre at best. The story has an interesting start but never really develops into anything special; obviously they won't be winning any awards for best screen play anytime soon. In all fairness though I didn't really expect a great story with this game, nor was it the reason I bought it. You will hear a lot of cheesy 80's action movie clich lines like "splat" after Syd kills something, which makes Syd seem like his body aged but his mind is still in middle school. Finally the AI, your companions are horrible at best, not too helpful. Try watching them; it looks as if they're square dancing on the battle field. The enemy AI isn't that bad, they will actually come and get you if you hide too long, which always makes you feel a sense of urgency and keeps you on your toes.
Now for some good news, which there is some believe it or not? The duck and cover aspect works well, with some minor flaws. The story being that you're moving along in a living tower makes for interesting landscapes and fun times when the barrier you're covering behind just disappears. I personally enjoy the fact that you can carry up to three weapons at a time and can cycle through them rather easily. Honestly once you find the two or three guns you like to use you'll probably stick with them through out the game, that's pretty much what I did. Also, when you pick up ammo packs you'll replenish ammo for all the weapons you're carrying, so you don't have to look for specific ammo types when you find and equip your weapons of choice. The lack of grenades is noticeable but having Filena to throw at enemies makes up for it, but truthfully if she's not being thrown she's not much help and the novelty of doing so does wear thin quickly. Sorry for that last line I know it sounds sexiest if read out of context LOL. I found myself taking out enemies with my weapons and using her only if absolutely necessary.
I'm not saying this game can compare to Gears but honestly few can, but for the right price it's worth picking up, especially to hold us over why we wait for Gears 3. If for what ever reason you haven't played Gears or not able to try Quantum Theory you may be pleasantly surprised.
Michael
PSN - Xbox Live gamertags are MikeJMele | video-games_xbox |
The perfect way to learn. I am pretty sure this is the first time I've ever been compelled to review a product on Amazon. I have unsuccessfully tried numerous times in the past to learn guitar, quitting every time after a few days to a couple of weeks. I got Rocksmith and, at 27, have finally kickstarted my way to being a guitarist. It's very easy to use, allowing you to choose how you progress while giving you missions, which are essentially just suggestions based on where you're at. You can take lessons, play games to practice important techniques, learn songs, or just jam. There is also a lot of DLC, which costs a bit of money, but lets you fill up your list with songs you like.
The game divides each songs into different pieces, and each will gradually upgrade automatically as you master the part at the current level. Of course, you can also manually change the difficulties for each part (up to 100, which is how the song is actually played). The lessons start out with basics (holding a pick, strumming, etc.) and move up to "master class" techniques like two-handed tapping. The games are quite varied, each with a unique and fairly retro style, and allow you to practice volume dynamics, string skipping, fretting, sliding, chords, scales, tremolo, bends, and harmonics through such varied objectives as killing zombies, racing through traffic, robbing treasures from a museum, and 'Star Wars' spaceship fighting.
Some people seem to have issues with constant tuning. I'm not sure if it's a problem with their guitar or what, but my moderately-priced guitar tunes just fine on it. Also, to fix the lag from using an HDMI cable, I got the "Gen RCA Audio Cable Adapter for XBOX 360" and a pair of the "Turtle Beach Ear Force X12 Gaming Headset and Amplified Stereo Sound." The setup works perfectly.
I have played Rocksmith for about a month-and-a-half now, averaging probably six or seven hours a week only, and notice quite a bit of improvement. I'm about 90% of the way to playing 'My Generation' perfectly, and I usually just play different songs instead of focusing on any one. There's a lot to say about the game, but if you just want an accelerated and engaging way to learn guitar, it is highly recommended. | video-games_xbox |
Pretty good, but too many glitches and horrible stats. I purchased this game because of the amazing quality of the ESPN NFL 2K4 and 2K5 games that I own. I figured that the 2K5 Baseball title would live up to the "2K5" name. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a terrible game by any means. However, in the few days I've played I have already gotten sick of some of the glitches and mostly of the terrible stats.
I've only played the game in Franchise mode, but pretty much all the player/pitcher stats are useless. After playing 3 games, it listed 2 of my players as having played 5. It also had just plain wrong stats for batters such as how many home runs, RBI's etc. My pitcher ERA's were also hit and miss (I pitched a complete game which was a shutout and my ERA jumped to something like 4.00).
If you are really big into baseball stats in games (like Baseball Mogul for the PC), you will be VERY dissapointed! I haven't played MVP so I can't say how this compares.
The gameplay of 2K5 is actually okay for me overall. The new pitching interface is ok, but I set it to classic mode instead (you can choose between 4 pitching interfaces I think and 2 batting interfaces). Batting is easy enough and, except for the unrealistic sound the bat makes, it feels good enough.
People have raved about the graphics, and they're pretty good but not amazing.
The announcers tend to get out of sync with the action pretty bad sometimes which is pretty annoying. It certainly doesn't flow like NFL 2K5 does in that regard.
Another annoying thing is that the computer seems to throw a lot of wild pitches past the catcher... I'm talking 1-4 times per game on average for me.
The controls are as good as any other sports game although I'm not sure I like the base running controls too much (I guess that's just a personal thing). I tend to make my runners all advance or go back at the same time instead of being able to choose only 1 easily. Oh well.
I haven't played the other game modes or Xbox Live so I'm not sure if they would improve my opinion of this game... I like Franchise modes in sports games mostly so stats are very important to me more than the other features. So while playing 1-on-1 baseball on Xbox Live would surely be a blast, the horrible stats engine keeps this at 3 stars for me.
Overall I'm dissapointed. Like I said, I thought I would get the same enjoyment with Baseball 2K5 like I have with NFL 2K5. This isn't in the same league.
As far as value, for $20 I think it's appropriately priced. I think the developers threw the stats engine together quickly and it shows. I did notice you can pick up MVP for $20 here on Amazon (at least when I purchased 2K5 it was the same price). Maybe I'll pick that up and give it a go. | video-games_xbox |
Poorly executed enjoyment. This game won't stun you with graphics. It does, however, change the way you think of an action RPG. You wouldn't think that was really possible with gun weaponry, but the game handles it pretty well.
Unfortunately, they hadn't quite figured out the difficulty settings. "Insanity" feels like an insult to my intelligence, and I can't help but say the word mockingly now whenever it comes up in conversation. Also, the general names of the difficulties baffle me: Easy - Normal - Hard - Veteran - Insanity, where "Hard" is really the default setting. Why not drop the insult to my intelligence and just use this: Casual - Easy - Normal - Hard - Veteran? I guess because "Insanity" lives up to its name. Organic enemies all get a skill called "Imunity" that does pretty much what it sounds like: they ignore 80% of incoming damage, despite the source. There are scenes in the game when you will literally be shooting a human soldier in the face with a tank cannon more than 30 times. In the face. With a tank cannon. More than 30 time. I wish I was joking.
The AI is pretty smart, which gives the game a good challenge on any difficulty. They take cover and will unload combat skills and ammo on you if you don't also take cover. You have to play from behind crates and walls, but the aiming system takes this into account so it's not quite as frustrating as completely blind-around-the-corner games like Halo. Unfortunately, your squad members don't seem to understand the concept.
Your weakest character will completely pull a Leeroy Jenkins and run into a room full of super-powered baddies only to get nailed in about 2 seconds flat while managing to draw the enemies' attention to you and your remaining squad member who stayed in the room with you. The system for issuing squad members commands is slick, but thwarted by their inability to actually do what you tell them in a timely fashion. If your squad member is getting slaughtered and you try to tell them to take cover, it's a coin toss as to whether they'll actually stop firing and get out of sight. A coin toss with a 5-sided coin. A 5-sided coin with 4 faces that apparently say "ignore." OK, so it's more of a dice roll where only one pip gets you what you want. Whatever. Even if they do end up doing what you "asked", it's not likely they'll respond within a second of the command being issued, and that singular second is far too often the difference betweeen survival and defeat. Time is never really your friend in the game, but that's war.
There's a setting that's supposed to instruct your squad members how often to use "powers". It doesn't matter if you set it to "Always", because your squad powers' will almost always be in "cooldown" mode. Most powers start with a 2 minute cooldown on a split second effect, and the powerups for them reduce this to no less than 45 seconds. So if you're wondering where that wonderful power is that would be really neat if it happened right now, don't. The pizzeria's hot-and-fresh guarantee doesn't apply here. It's on the baker's rack, cooling down and will be delivered not a second before it reaches room temperature.
Your squad members will also refuse to take multiple shots. For some reason, they just won't keep firing. But they'll come out of cover as if they WOULD be firing... if they felt like it. Which they don't. There's no concept of ammo limitations in the first game, so it would have been a really frickin' nice feature if you could have gotten them to actually lay down suppressive cover fire by NOT unnecessarily stopping with the shooting.
No, they apparently prefer dying, because they'll jump out of cover for the purpose of doing absolutely nothing even though they have little health left and didn't stay hidden long enough to let their shields recharge. They never, ever stay hidden long enough to recharge shields or health. The exact moment they should stay hidden is the moment they choose to be out in the open, which results in you spending most of your time babysitting your supposedly elite squad of gallactic-quality heroes rather than aiming your gun at the enemy, who ironically is the only force that actually acts like they know what they're doing. I wouldn't mind the babysitting so much if it was actually necessary: that is, your team was hopelessly outmatched and surrounded and it was difficult to stay tactically deployed while maintaining cover. But that's just not really the case in this game. Battles are typically across good distances with plenty of cover, and you rarely get flanked, so there's no reason that your squad shouldn't be able to properly cover you while you move around the battlefield and pick off enemies.
This is also another game that forces you to do multiple playthroughs to get all the achievements, but you can't even rush the second two. I mean, it takes 40~60 hours for the first playthrough and about ~17 for each subsequent one (adding ovehead for the number of hours you lose when dying that isn't reported in the save). But those ~17 hours COULD have been <10 if some of the achievements didn't require you to perform X number of side quests with specific members of your squad. These side quests are often meaningless, but you have to play a "significant" (read: however many hurdles we feel like making you jump through) amount of the game to get them. This is roughly 80% of the game. You can't really do this any faster because you can't really skip through the dialog fast enough. The same button that skips dialog will also make a choice if you just go pushing buttons too quickly, so in your frustration to just git 'r done, you might end up accidentally making a decision that changes the way the rest of the game will play out. Also, by the time you get to the 3rd playthrough, there's no real reason for you not to have experienced every choice the game has to offer. So that final playthrough is really just an Eff-U from the developers, because it. Is. Boring. Not to mention frustrating, because this is the earliest playthrough where you have access to the Inthanipththtb difficulty (see... there I go).
But, in spite of my bitterness for the various shortcomings, the game still made some great innovations. Combat has a bit too much overhead, but even so it's still pretty fun to pop around corners and tag enemies as they switch up cover. At least, it's fun so long as you're not playing on Inthanipttthhhb. The story (for me at least) was unexpectedly fantastic, and the voice acting carries it really well. I mean... Seth Green? Keith David? Marina Sirtis? Really? Reeeaaaally? | video-games_xbox |
horrible console design, but lots of fun. well, i have played many 360s and i have to say they are fun, depending on the game being played until they break down. i have already been through 6 consoles either because of the dreaded red ring of death, disc drive errors or just not wanting to cooperate in general. and then when i get a working system, the disc drive is extremly noisy, so noisy that i have to turn up the volume on my television to the point where my dorm neighbor complains.
some more bads...
i have to say that i would take the 360 over the wii anyday, because i am more of the hardcore gamer, but all the accessories will add up to well over 1000 bucks. you need that intercooler because the system runs hot. i don't need any cooling device fro my ps3. secondly, i love watching movies, but the hd dvd attatchment adds 200 bucks right there. i have a ps3 and it can play blu rays right out of the box. secondly, my 360 has problems getting an internet signal. its right next to my ps3 and it gets a signal very clearly while my 360 always says disconnected while after getting it hooked up about 5 times. its a big pain not to mention waste of time.
well, enough of the bads. there are lots of games out for the system and i mean alot, way more than for my ps3 or the wii. the controller has force feedback while my ps3 has none. the final pro in my opinion here is that i have wired controllers. it came with a wireless, but i prefer wired. i don't have to worry about batteries needing to be charged or a faulty wireless connection which happened with my original xbox. it said the conroller's connection could not be detected and it was a pain to get that controller fixed.
all in all my final ratings
system design: 1/10, should be -1. it overheats way to easily. have had way too many problems.
ease of use: 3/10. internet connection is a pain at times.
overall fun: 4/5. good selection of games for the entire family. | video-games_xbox |
The best XBOX title to date. This game redefines the stealth gaming genre that Thief and Metal Gear Solid series made popular. You control a NSA splinter cell agent, Sam Fisher, who doesn't exist. The 9 stealth based missions (and 5 extra missions downloadable through Xbox live in March) usually involve infiltration into an enemy base to extract specific information.
The thing that makes this game so cool is the combination of breathtaking graphics, superior level design, precision character control, and the multitude of high tech gadgets and moves you can make.
The game uses a tweaked Unreal engine. The first thing you'll notice when you play is how life-like things look due to the dynamic lighting effects made possible with the nvidia graphics chipset in the Xbox. Light reflects off Sams body and all objects in realtime without the need to prerender frames. It's absolutely gorgeous.
Eye candy can only bring a game so far - it really has to be designed well. The levels in SC increase in challenge as you become more comfortable with controls. Early on you learn the basics and then later are expected to perform more complex tasks, i.e. rapelling down a wall vs. rapelling down a wall while avoiding moving lights. There are 9 missions with the game, and 5 extra missions will be available in March as downloadable content though XBox Live.
The fine grain accuracy the controller gives you over Sam is outstanding. If you push the left thumbstick forward slowly, Sam creeps along. The other stick gives you a 360 degree camera around Sam so you can evaluate all of the surroundings. The game is mostly in third person, with an over the shoulder view when shooting.
All these things make a great game, but the gadgets is what separates Splinter Cell from all the rest. Sam has an thermal/night vision headset, an ephedermal comm link, a Palm Opstat, a pistol, a fn2000 gun which can alternate fire smoke grenades, remote cameras which can act like his headset or emit smoke, ring airfoils to incapacitate guards, and shockers. There's also wall mines, flares, and computers to interact with. You can sneak up on enemies and interrogate them at gunpoint, or force them to open doors for you.
The AI is very decent in the game. Sam has a light meter which shows how exposed he is. Anytime this meter is above 1 tick he can be seen by enemies. Enemies can also hear his footsteps, esp. when running or on metal/wood surfaces. Unlike MGS2, you can't just re-enter a room to remove an alarmed situation - the SC enemies remember, and also know where to look for you.
Overall the gameplay is in the 25-35hr range, give or take depending on how quick you want to breeze through the levels. There are checkpoints placed in the mission, with up to 3 distinct saves.
Do yourself a favor and get this game if you have an XBox - it won't disappoint. | video-games_xbox |
So much Potential. I was really excited about Pure. It has been a while since trick racing has been around. The first couple hours are a blast. I would have liked to see more options for customizing the quads. You do build them from the ground up, but there's just not enough different parts. Class D is where you begin. It's not that hard once you get the hang of the controls, to place first in every race. Just make sure you stay on the trails, you do not get rewarded for improvising and tryng to take massive shortcuts. When you go where the game doesn't want you to go, it merely throws you off of your bike. There are some sneaky shortcuts, but these are too far and between.
Racing is a pain at times-Here's the three most frustrating:
1. Even if you place first in all the races, you will always start a race in last (you start every race at the back of the pack).
2. Whenever you use your turbo (in campaign mode) the computer uses his too. I find it funny that the computer always knows when your going to use your turbo and matches you exactly.
3. Taking the right routes on the track is a must. Even if it's your first time racing a track-if you take the wrong route, you better bet the computer knows the right one-(ex. you will be in first, and because you take the right fork instead of the left, you will be fourteent after the fork).
Freesty;e mode is however a Blast!-This is where you compete for points by doing massive tricks.
Hopefully they come up with updates or patches to fix these issues. Especially in later stages, it becomes nearly impossible to score in the top three, let alone win the race.
It does have some great music, and overall is not a bad game. The graphics are simply astonishing, you definitely feel the thrill when you hit the large jumps and do a special trick. It's not a bad game, it just could have been so much better.
Verdict: Rent it for the weekend. | video-games_xbox |
Solid Entry for Microsoft Into the Nex Gen Console War. This is a review in progress and will updated in often in the coming weeks.
The good:
1. The Kinect works much better than its predecessor.
I've mostly only used the new Kinect for voice commands and facial recognition, and these things are a bigger emphasis than motion at least at this point. Voice commands work most of the time, and facial recognition is actually pretty cool. I like being logged in just by sitting down.
The Kinect doesn't actually have true voice recognition. If two people who each have profiles sit down and one says "Xbox Go Home" it will take you to that person's profile. If the other says the same thing, it will take you to that person's profile. But this isn't because the Kinect recognizes your voice. It actually recognizes your face and can tell where your voice is coming from. Either way, it's a neat trick.
Navigating menus with Kinect works pretty well most of the time, and being able to say "Xbox Go Home" and zip out of the game you're playing without losing a beat or having to pause is a pretty cool feature. You can also "snap" programs to the side of the screen so that you can have your game loading off to the side while you watch TV, or whatever other little multi-tasking thing it is you're doing. This is handy, but like so many of the Kinect voice features it's not necessary.
2. The User Interface is very clean and accessible.
At least, the Xbox One UI feels much simpler and easier to navigate than the bloated Xbox 360 UI. Actually, I think it's cleaner than the PS4 UI which relies far too heavily on social streams. Then again, I'm the type of gamer who really doesn't want to be bombarded by social media while I play games (or games while I play social media, for that matter.) But I still prefer the XMB system on the PS3 and PSP though - clean, simple, and it just worked.
Of course, we'll have to see how the Xbox One UI evolves, and once ads start popping up I may change my mind. For now, the UI is broken down into three pieces: The "pins" on the left, the home screen in the center, and the store on the right. It's all neat and tidy, and the home screen shows your most recent activity which is convenient.
3. The Xbox One has an OK lineup of games.
I think the PS4 dropped the ball on launch titles. Microsoft has done a better job, bringing us games like Dead Rising 3 and Killer Instinct. Mind you, these are not terribly memorable or important games, but they're a better lineup than Sony's.
4. Amazing, comfortable controller.
Why fix something that isn't broken? I'm not sure the triggers work as well, and that's a problem, but the controller feels very at home in my hands. There's nothing revolutionary here, but the controller has a nice grip. There are also rumbles in the triggers themselves, and some games (such as the new Forza) take advantage of this new sensory input.
I'm glad not too much was changed from what was already a perfectly fine controller. Sony needed to make major changes from the DualShock 3; Microsoft didn't for its Xbox One controller.
What I don't like about the Xbox One so far:
1. Kinect isn't perfect.
It isn't perfect all of the time and it really needs to be. When it doesn't get the right voice command, it can be frustrating. Frustrating enough to turn your back on this newfangled thing and just use the buttons on the controller. This is the trick with Kinect: It can't be mostly good, it has to be always perfect. Until Microsoft gets it always perfect, it's still just a work in progress and we're all just beta testers.
2. Load times are still a bit slow.
I really wanted the next-generation of consoles to have no load times at all, ever, period. Being able to basically instantly resume games is a nice touch, but initial load times when starting a game are still longer than I'd hoped. This will most likely approve over time on the developer side once they begin to optimize games for the Xbox One.
3. Graphics are okay but not great, at least not yet.
Ryse: Son of Rome looks really good; Dead Rising 3 looks pretty good; Crimson Dragon looks terrible. The graphics on Xbox One are all over the map, and they aren't nearly the sort of generational leap many hoped for. I'm not a graphics nut, and when I want really spectacular graphics I play on my PC. And I also acknowledge that we're very early into this generation so games will continue to look better and better but--there's always a but--I still think Microsoft could have come out with a machine capable of putting out better looking games.
These are good looking games, but not a huge leap from the best looking games on PS3 and Xbox 360. The last huge leap we saw in terms of graphics was when the Sega Dreamcast released, and blew everything currently out there away.
4. The Xbox One has a huge foot print, and to top it off, there is a huge power brick that is necessary to power your Xbox One. How was Sony able to cram the thing into a PS4?
Overall, I would give the Xbox One a 4 out of 5 stars. It's a solid system, especially since Microsoft reversed some of those ridiculous restrictions early on. Still lots of improvements and potential to be made with the Kinect. | video-games_xbox |
Just what the game name says. I was new to the world of Guitar Hero when the third one came out. Curious to what it was I bought it ( I too am a musician so the concept interested me). I fell in love. It was such a fun game to play with friends and even by your self. A truly innovative classic.
Mere months later, Rock Band came out. I was overwhellmed with choices. Should I buy Guitar Hero II or this? I ended up spending near $100 more, but I feel Rock Band was the right choice in the end.
With it's innovative gameplay, Rock Band offers you the choice of being a vocalist, bassist, guitarist or drummer. You can play with up to 4 people, or by your self if you lack gamer friends (or friends in general). It is one of the best party games I have ever played, but alone it is also quite fun. I was also quite impressed with the graphics of this game, but It looks somewhat too cartoony to match other Xbox 360 games such as Halo 3 or Gears of War. Who's complaining though right?
The band story mode is just what you think. You and some friends start a band, start out small and eventually go to the bigger stages of being in a rock band. The only problem I had with it was how easy it was. On guitar, I beat the game on hard in no time, where as on Guitar Hero II beating "Raining Blood" took me forever. It is a good think for gamers who have never played a game like this before, but for veterans it is dissapointing. I like the whole idea, losing fans when you fail a song etc, but the fact that you have to increase difficulty as the songs difficulty increases is dumb. I like staying at a consistent difficulty when playing any game. Other than that, there are no flaws that I can see in Rock Band's multiplayer story mode.
Single player it is a little different. It is still fun just as Guitar Hero is, but compared to the multiplayer it seems like it lacks. It's not all bad though. Playing by yourself can be quite fun! I was just stating that if you compare it to multiplayer mode, it falls short. All in all, it is quite good.
The soundtrack sort of dissapointed me. "I Think I'm Paranoid" and "Dead On Arrival" just sicken me. I like that you can download tracks, but the core tracks are sort of weak. The cover of "Mississippi Queen" is god awful in this game. Why couldn't they put a Slayer song or a Megadeth song? The lack of punk rock is apparent too (but that is as expected, for punk rock is quite exclusive anyway). I like alot of the songs, but the emo, southern rock and pop don't really make me as happy as "One", "Story of My Life" or "Raining Blood" did on GHIII.
All in all, I really love this game. I reccomend it to anyone with a PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 or (!) Wii. It is now only $150, and you can always just buy the core game and then buy the instruments one by one. Great fun for everyone. | video-games_xbox |
Single Player Campaign aka Tedious Slog. I loved the Halo series and yes, I thought they were pretty easy. So in Halo Reach they cranked up the difficulty, and please note, I'm playing the heroic mode. What does this mean? It means it takes FOREVER to kill any bad guy with shields, and once you do break the shield it takes a little while to actually kill them, and kill them you had better, because their shields regenerate. There's challenge, then there's tedious slog, which is what this turns into real quick. My favorite point was when I had to re-start an mission, which was fun enough to slog through once, but again - No. Basically, I ran through tough shielded baddies one of which had two weapons, a sword and a green cannon (both are one hit kills). I ran to the cannon you are supposed to use to hold off a giant approaching ship, well, you don't kill the two dudes they will wail on you in the cannon chair until you die, or you can drop down and try and kill them with a rifle and low level alien gun - which is neither fun nor possible because it takes so long, the sequence where approaching ship has started and even if you kill the A-holes you're still F'd. I hate any game with a point where, if you screw up then an autosave occurs you have to restart. This game is gorgeous, best in series even, but the difficulty is to wonky; there aren't more enemies, it just takes for ever to kill them. Seriously, you'll almost have a guy dead, then you reload - giving him enough time to recharge his shields and start all over again. I want to love this game, but the difficulty makes it just too tedious.
Also I miss the dual wielding of weapons, the bad guys can do it, but the player can't. Even further also, the friendly AI is worthless. If there is a warthog sequence, make ABSOLUTELY SURE none of the friendly AIs join you, they will always jump in the driver seat and do doughnuts.
I really wanted to give this a higher rating, but due to the difficulty, well a better word would be tediousness of it, I'm being pretty kind with 3 stars. I might not even finish it, its that annoying.
Don't get me wrong, I love tough games, I'm also playing Dark Souls and love it, but like I said, there's challenge, and there's tedious slog, and sadly Halo: Reach is the later. | video-games_xbox |
Bad Reviews, try it on Legendary Level. I've read articles from the so-called professional game critics and suffice it to say, it's better to try things out yourself. Yeah, read this review but don't take my word for what I'm about to tell you. Borrow it, rent, or buy it and experience it for yourself.
Initially, I had no intentions of playing this game this early on because I didn't see it as a formidable launch title. Well I was wrong. I like Roman Empire themed shows & movies (Spartacus and favorite movie ever is Gladiator) so I guess it was only a matter of time.
The bad......multiplayer. A friend and I tried entering a match as a party with no luck whatsoever. It was horrible, worse than Battlefield 4. Maybe we were doing something wrong; don't know yet. I can't really review the multiplayer segment of the game technically. Hopefully this worked for others.
The enemies can be repetitive but it's no different from the gameplay of Assassin's Creed or Batman: Arkham. For those who downplay the game because of this...........I challenge you to play it on Legendary. I started out on Centurion and had fun. If you're looking for more......play it on Legendary. This level is less forgiving and you better time your "deflects" perfectly.
What critics aren't pointing out is the fact that you get more points for landing combos correctly & quickly. The quicker status, is Legendary, then Centurion, Soldier, and finally Recruit. So while you're landing these cinematic gory combos, if you're taking 2 seconds to push a button then you're only getting Recruit points.
The more points you earn, the faster you can upgrade the character.
Graphics.........are amazing. There is no drop off from cinematic scenes to the actual gameplay. That's impressive especially when I think about the scenes where there's a lot of things going on. This game needs a sequel because there are things I would like to see. Like having the option of entering Gladiator Mode with 2 swords. Also, introduce a setup like Dead Space 3. 2 player co-op during the campaign would have been awesome. Amp it up a notch and pull a Gears of War; a sequel smells like 4 player co-op to me.
A longer campaign is in order because the story was GREAT. | video-games_xbox |
Immersion. After reading all of the reviews, I came to the conclusion that some people don't really get this game. Some enjoy it because it looks great and I would agree but I don't think this is the allure of the game. Basically, if you would like to drive a Ferrari but can't afford one, guess what, you can actually play this game and imagine what it would be like sitting in a F430 Spyder cruising down a beach highway in Hawaii at 220mph. Then you can hop in your stage-3 Z06 and slam through six gears on your way to over 200mph. This is the cool factor here, really cool cars in this immersible world. Of course, I love exotic cars. If you like older cars, there are also a decent selection of those.
My point is that this game really uses the the 360's power to create an immersive environment for fans of near-sim racing games. If you play this game in the cockpit view, it really is an experience unlike other driving games. I don't see how anyone could be annoyed at flying down the backroads of the island at 250mph in your McLaren F1; this is not a Monday morning commuter scenario IMHO.
They also have been offering car packs online. Some are even free. I have added a RUF Porsche, convertible C6 vette, and a Lexus LS350 which opens up a new dealership as well. There are some other dealerships that are not open yet, so I expect they will keep extending the game.
Some nits:
Wish there was some extra time spent by the game developers to add weather and a day/night system; maybe they could update it through a download. There is a bit of a lighting change throughout the gameplay but it is really only an HDR exhibition. I can't imagine the cars handling in the rain though (see next point).
Car physics leaves a little to be desired. Don't even think about any drifting or e-brake use like PGR3 or NFS. I think you really need a wheel to manage the subtle driving required at 190mph. The standard controller works, but the levels of acceleration, braking and steering are a little too sensitive to use a hand-held controller.
The character clothing aspects borrow a little from Saint's Row, poorly. I could have lived without this part because there really is no character development to the game. You see your character for 5 seconds before you pick what car to drive.
The bottom line is that this game really sets a standard for open gameplay in the driving genre. The nits do not distract from the core of this game and the overall fun factor. | video-games_xbox |
The best game ive played in a long long time. if anyone should see this in a store iand wonder if they should get it or not my advice is:GET IT!!!! this is the best game since Dues Ex (which by the way the second dues ex is coming out soon) i play it for such a long time until im kicked off the xbox... sure the controls are a bit hard at 1st but then it feels like you're in the game the only problem is probably that you don't start with the light saber and when you do get it and all your force powers you have to go through all these tests and o yeh u should save very often it is really hard game (hope you have enough room on your xbox harddrive!!!) the force powers are: push, pull, speed, jump/mindtrick,heal(which is a bit cheap but for one level you have to use it other wise it is impossible), choke and lightning and have in mind you will upgrade or get a new power after every level. my favorite force power is probably choke especially when you get up to the part with all the bad Jedi dudes and you just choke them and throw your lightsaber at them while they are choking themselves and for heavily armed storm troopers i suggest force pull to get the gun out of their hands and then just push them or do it the old/new way; slash him with the old lil light saber! i am absoluely serious, i have played over five hundred games (much much much more)and this is my second to favorite of all of those games i cant wait for nites of the old republic... these kind of games are the best puzzle action and adventure nothing beats these games!!!!!NOTHING! it is pretty hard tho the first part your very likely to get stuck on is probably... it depends how used to it you are but if a person who isn't very used to this kinda game probably the part where you have to blast open the door people who are very used to it will probably get stuck at the part where you have to customize the codes to exactly match but for people who are extremely experienced will probably get stuck in the sub 0 chamber. i have to admit that this is the best of all the series of the star wars games! o yh one concern abt the graphics, in cut scenes when you c the guys talking their lips move but they don't open thier mouth and it looks to much like he used braces. but all in all it is an amazing game( i just hope that Nights of the Old Republic is better than this game and will be the best game ive ever played!)i haven't beaten this game yet because of its amazing dificulty level and all the puzzles but im still awsome at it! when i was begining it the site that i used for a walkthru was [website] if you really need that site use it but im warning you it may make the game all that much less fun.this game is definitely worth your [money] ... | video-games_xbox |
Single Player Gaming At Its Best. After about 3 hours with the game, I feel like I can give you guys a pretty good review about everything ive seen and done in the game so far. You really have no clue what you are getting yourself into when you pop this game in. First off, the game does start a little slow/strangely like some other reviews have pointed out. The start is pretty scripted but it does a good job at teaching you how to play. After you play through about the first 30 minutes the game sort of gets into a pseudo groove and you start to play at your own pace. The controls to this game take some getting used to but they do work well after you get the hang of it. Im going to try not to comment on the story much in the review; you really need to experience it without knowing anything before hand.
The graphics are amazing. The cities are huge and very well detailed. Every environment has great detail. The smallest things around you are animated and act true to what they would in real life. Early in the game you get to ride a horse. The horse animation is the best ive ever seen in a video game. Overall, it is a visual treat.
The game play is very well done. Once you figure out what you are doing, you can really get into what's going on around you in the game. You can basically go anywhere you want. I love climbing the buildings and running around on top of them. They did a nice job with the movement in the game. Animations are smooth and you can easily get into the realism they are going for.
Some other reviews comment on the way the game makes you do similar things over and over again. While it is true that you do have to do things several times, I haven't found it to be a bad thing. When you are scouting around for your kills you will have to interrogate and do other actions for information. This would be true in real life. While you have new targets, you do need to collect some of the same information before you can carry out the kill. Like I said before, I haven't found this to be a bad thing.
Lastly, this game does do some things ive never seen in any game before and ive been playing games for over 15 years now. I would go as far as saying it is groundbreaking in many ways. If you are looking for a new, innovative, addictive, well done game, Assassin's Creed will fit the bill. It is single player gaming at its best! | video-games_xbox |
Half of a Great Game. Fable 2 is a Good game that could have easily been great. The game seems rushed out the door to meet the holiday rush. There are numerous bugs, some are gamebreakers. One of the major gripes is the use of only one save file, which autosaves. In a game all about "major" choices, this seems to be a dumb move by the developers.
The game is not as open as games such as Oblivion but it tries to be. I found that if I killed NPCs they would disappear for an hr then be replaced by a carbon copy with a different name.
Some highly publicised features are not as dramatic as you would think. Take for instance the dog. The game manual states that it will take on very drastic visual changes based on your moral alignment. The only change i found was that the dog was a Golden retriever when I was a Saint and just a dark colored version of the same dog when I was being naughty. I expected the dog to be a vicious Kujo clone or something.
The game is not very balanced either. It is very easy to max out the upgradeable stats( strength, spells etc.) So halfway through the game I have useless xp reserves. This is a small problem though. Another problem is, there are few weapon stats to compare weapons with. This leads to the game randomly telling you weapons are better and you taking it's word for it.
The menu system kinda sucks too. If I bought 6 potions and I wanted to use them all. I would have to pause the game and go into the items menu then select the potions menu then select the potion i wanted and repeat this same process 6 times. Also when you go to buy weapons there is no comparison screen showing how the store weapons compare to the weapons in your inventory. So you have to exit the buying menu to see your current weapon is better. But all of these are small annoyances.
My major annoyance is the games unclimactic ending.
The level designs and art are gorgeous and the sound is pretty good as well. There are plenty of emotional moments in the game. One toward the middle actually forces you to make probably the hardest decision in the game.
The economy system is a pretty well thought out idea. You purchase stores and houses. You can lower the prices/rent in these properties and this will make the towns economy stronger. If you raise the prices/rent the economy suffers. Plus you get paid every 5min in real time based on the properties you own. If only GTA4 had something like this.
All in all Fable 2 is a good game with a short main story but tons of side quests and secrets. It is plagued by little annoyances and bugs but is still an enjoyable game. I would give it 3 and a half stars but I went with 4 instead of giving it 3. I suggest renting the game first to see if it's your type of party. | video-games_xbox |
Lives Up To Far Cry 3, You Will Not Be Disappointed. I had a blast playing Far Cry 3, so naturally I couldn't wait to pick up the fourth installment. I'm pleased to say that it's holding up to my expectations with all this game has to offer to gamers. Right off the bat, Far Cry 4 feels fast paced with an excellent story, and of course a crazy bad guy. Secondly, once you get a chance to explore the landscape you easily tell how large the map is, and I personally already feel myself becoming immersed in the world of Far Cry 4. There's just so much to do, and explore! Not to mention all the awesome animals, vehicles, and weapons. On top of that I love how fast things blow up and catch on fire.
Weapon and Item Customization: I was very impressed with the amount of items, sidearms, primary weapons, and weapon attachments are in this game. There's even maps available in the game to unlock some areas. Far Cry also allows you to craft new items, you make sure you skin the animals you kill, you'll need the pelts.
Skills and Tactics: Fry Cry 4 has a vast amount of skill upgrades that will be very useful throughout the game, as well as tips and tactics that the game teaches you as you play.
Graphics: Overall the graphics are pretty good, and didn't disappoint me at all, especially how detailed the mountains, and water looked.
Other Things I Liked: I found the radio to be very funny while I was driving around. Secondly, it's pretty awesome being able to ride an elephant or using them to distract the enemy. I'm not sure what I like more, rising the elephants, or scaring them so they attack the enemies. Lastly, although waypoints were in the last game, they are very helpful in finding your way around in the new game. The map is huge, and without them I know I would get lost searching for my objective.
Bottom line: If there is one Ubisoft game you're going to get this month then I highly recommend picking up Far Cry 4, but even more so if you've played the third game you will not be disappointed with the forth. I can't say enough of how good this game is. | video-games_xbox |
Pros - Fun, different gameplay style. Pros
- Fun, different gameplay style.
- A handful of customization and gun/weapon choices.
Cons
- In hostage mode you cannot kill the hostage, either you take him out and win or eliminate enemy team. Till this day (1/24)2017) after eliminating the enemy team, you can still shoot the hostage and lose the round. Doesn't make any sense since after a round (win or lose) all friendly fire damage is canceled. Leaving it to where you can still shoot the hostage when the win logo is about to pop out is just dumb. Poor ubisoft. I didn't pay for this game, got it through a gpu purchase and i'm glad I didn't pay for it.
- In Bomb mode on some maps they can place the bomb near a door that leads out to where the attackers are. You go out, you get detected, you try to disarm they see you. The planting device should only be able to be played by the bomb and not at the entrance of the room that leads out to where the attackers are. In this game if you are defending and you go outside, after 2 seconds all attackers will see your position. Imagine a room, one way into the room from inside the building and the only way out is a barricaded door which the attackers have now destroyed and planted a bomb right by the door. Sure you can try to shoot the attackers but good luck, it never works out. On other maps they can plant the device no where near the bomb and get away with it that way as well.
- Cannot mute enemy team. A lot of people are toxic, the last thing we want is being unable to mute or not see what's written from the enemy team. This game encourages salty players and sh*t talking?
- Some maps either favor defenders or attackers. Either too many entrances into that room or not enough. It's either or. Some are perfectly fine and are equally balanced.
- Poor hit box on head shots. Sometimes shots aren't even close to my head (vice versa when i shoot someone in the head) and it's still considered a head shot lol. Pretty dumb. Hip firing in this game is useless as well. FPS game developers need to understand that if you are point blank with a shot gun it doesn't just do 50% damage. Ubisoft, are you dumb? The explosion radius of your nitro cell, grenade is similar to a water balloon the size of a pigeons egg. Unless your grenade is touching them, they aren't gonna die. You'll be lucky to lower their health.
- The game is no longer worth buying for PC UNLESS all you want to play is casual, ranked is filled with hackers. People get banned every day, LITERALLY tons of people hack or have some sort of trigger bot/no recoil. There's been too many times playing ranked and getting killed by someone pre-aiming to where my head will stick out. I've seen others track me behind a wall before shooting me in their kill cam. You get the typical act like you don't know but instantly aim before my head pops out to make it seem like you saw my head first, etc etc.
- Tom Clancy lost their touch in this game, no story mode. You get nice pretty cute skins for your guns that you can buy for points obtained playing online matches or spending irl money. How cute is that?
- Cameras on the maps are permanent so if you play with against a no lifer expect not to have any cameras still live because he will shoot em all. He will randomly spray into places where he thinks you'll be camping with a shot gun. You can buy this game, study the maps and camera locations for a day and become a pro. This game is all about memory of the map, which calls cannot be broken and which ones can. Why not make it to where the camera's spawn on different poles or different locations?
- Reload animation and gun switching. When in combat, you just killed someone, have 3 bullets left so you reload. You watch the animation finish and sprint out only to find out you have 0 bullets because you didn't reload. Wait for your number of bullets to show 30/30 before running out, the animation has nothing to do with reloading in this game. Dumb isn't it? We want out eyes on the middle of the screen not the bottom right looking at our ammo count making sure we reloaded. Same with switching to your side arm. Your main weapon will disappear completely when you press 2 for your pistol, you'll sprint and bam your non reloaded DMR is back out with 0 ammo.
- Match making in this game is p*ss poor. I remember when I was level 1-10 playing casual and getting put up against 100+ gold/plats lol.
- Leavers/Afkers : If someone leaves a game they don't get punished for it so if you gtg just leave, it's all good. Your team will have to play 4v5 but no punishment for you! :D After he leaves in the next round comes up, you're picking your operator, someone joins but they can't play until that round ends too, how awesome is that? Oh ubisoft..
- You must unlock operators that have special abilities. Your typical operator can cost anywhere from 500-1000+ points. Easily obtainable just by playing online matches. New operators are 25000, sooooo yeah they want you to spend real money or your life playing this game to unlock new operators lol. After a match expect about 200-300 points, maybe less. Game matches are anywhere from 20-35 minutes.
- After unlocking operators if you want a scope or an under barrel or a silencer it all costs points, so keep on playing bois! Or use mastercard hax.
- I have a lot more things to say about how bugged this game is and how poorly thought out it was but who cares, if you have fun with it then good. I know I do. It's one of those games you enjoy playing but know that you hate is somewhat at the same time. | video-games_xbox |
Great fun to be had...somewhere in there. Open-world games are some of my favorites: from the GTA series to Fallout 3. There's so much potential for storytelling and immersion that I keep a close eye on any that are released.
[PROTOTYPE] (don't forget the brackets) managed to intrigue me just after I was made aware of the premise. As opposed to most other open-world games, the goal wasn't really to make money, kill a rival gang, or to save the world. When push comes to shove, Alex Mercer exists to destroy and terrorize the city he's been unleashed upon.
The STORY, in a nutshell, centers around Mercer waking up on a slab in the morgue, just seconds before he's to be cut open for an autopsy. Once he is out in the world, he's quick to discover that something is different. He can climb up walls, send people and cars flying for entire city blocks, and also he can consume human bodies and disguise himself as them. Not a fun thing to wake up to for Mercer, so he begins to cut a trail of blood and vehicle parts toward the truth of what really happened to him.
To me, Mercer's story is of the more confusing and uninteresting sort. At first, I was all for discovering who had done this to him, but then you realize that it really doesn't matter, does it? Since he's working his way out amnesia (lame), you'll have no idea who the bad guys are until the very end, and when the final group of baddies emerge, it's the equivalent of finding out Evil Soldier #1 and #2 are the perpetrators. There's not enough characterization, and not enough backstory given (amnesia) to hold a player's interest in a plot that's way too complicated for its own good. Not to mention that most of the plot is kept in the dark, anyway (amnesia). By the time the big revelation came, I honestly didn't care.
So the STORY is a major bust. Its main character is hard to sympathize with, since he turns out to be a mass murdering mutant. But I must give credit to Barry Pepper on his video game voice acting debut. Even though Alex Mercer is sort of a lost cause in my eyes, Pepper voiced him extremely well. And given his recent and equally excellent performance in <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Call-of-Duty-Modern-Warfare-2/dp/B00269QLI8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2</a>, it's easy to see him having a respectable future in the industry.
Now, the GAMEPLAY is what makes and breaks this game...at the same time. The missions are repetitive to the point of unpleasantness, and they all center around the unappealing story that I mentioned earlier, so it's hard to invest much passion into completing them. And in the end, some of the missions become unexpectedly difficult, ensuring that you die at least once or twice on your first playthrough. It all just left a really bad taste in my mouth after killing the umpteenth military commander.
But! There's a reason why I rated the game 5 stars on the "fun scale" and that's because when you're allowed to free roam Manhattan with all of your powers unlocked, [PROTOTYPE] provides some of the best action ever put to disc. The powers that you attain are unique and devastating to your opponents. Thrust your hands into the ground and watch as a mob of pedestrians are impaled on a field of spikes. Swing your whip around a squad of enemy combatants to see them all fall apart in pieces. This game is so bloody that you will almost feel bad that it's so much fun.
One of the more awe-inspiring things that the game allows is jumping to intercept a helicopter, hijack it, use it to gun down anything you wish, and if you happen to be destroyed you can jump from the flaming wreckage onto another helicopter to continue the fight. Woooow.
Another really neat aspect of the game is that a virus is slowly sweeping through Manhattan. When you first start out, you're lucky if you catch one person collapsing on the street or coughing up blood, but by the end of the game, buildings will be on fire, entire streets will be crowded with abandoned vehicles and kill-crazy mutants, and you'll find the military desperately trying to quarantine the area using propaganda, blockades, and brute force. The progression from calm to mayhem is well done and exciting.
It's a shame that I can only recommend this game on the basis of a bright spot of its gameplay aspect. [PROTOTYPE] is a joy to just mess around with, but the missions will get boring and the story is convoluted, complicated and shallow (which is amazing how it managed that). This is a game, like <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Assassin-s-Creed/dp/B000P46NMK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Assassin's Creed</a>, that has a marvelous concept that just begs to be expanded upon in the sequel. I would love to see more variation with the "consume" aspect; running up the face of skyscrapers and throwing cars at helicopters disguised as an old lady was very entertaining, but there were hardly any well-designed characters to consume. Everyone looked so boring and cliche.
I hope that Radical Entertainment can do for [PROTOTYPE]'s sequel what Ubi-Soft did for <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Assassin-s-Creed-II/dp/B00269DXCK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Assassin's Creed II</a> and improved upon the awesome concept that they've created, because then we might have a real must-buy on our hands. As is, you're probably better off renting this game, sadly. | video-games_xbox |
Excellent 360 Accessory. I picked one of these up on the advice my friend gave me. All I have to say is WOW. Before, I had been relying on recharging double A batteries. They worked fine at first, but started acting up in the controllers, taking some time after being pulled out until the controllers got used to them. They would turn off constantly, sometimes in mid-game which was becoming unacceptable for online stuff like L4D2. All I can say is forget that these are even third party. There's nothing negative about them. Sure, had Microsoft made them, they might look a little cooler, but the price would likely be close to twice as much. They work like a charm and hold a better charge than any of my batteries did before hand.
The only negative thing I can really think of is that the light on them, which is a pretty bright. Enough that it illuminated my ceiling tiles. If you have them in your bedroom and charge them before you go to sleep, this might be a problem for you until the lights go off, which shouldn't be that long unless they're totally dead. Even with that, I still give them the five star rating. The charge is great and the ease of the docking station beats wasting cash on normal batteries, fumbling around with rechargables or even Microsoft's own Play & Charge Kit. The double dock is great as well. If you have an extra controller, even if you single player most of the time, it's really nice to have. If one does die, you have a backup ready to go while you charge the other.
UPDATE: I've now had this charger for over four years now and the charge is still as good as new with constant playing in that time and I've never drained the batteries completely, which for a lot of rechargables can lead with issues. Also, there are newer models out which seem to be just be cosmetic changes (they're now black and it seems they fixed the bright light issue.) I'm mentioning this only because they're cheaper in price as stock of this model seems to be limited and Amazon doesn't link to the newer model. | video-games_xbox |
Pains me to say it, but . . . This is not a great game. It's not even a good game -- just a solidly mediocre one. And who has the time and money for mediocre games? After the towering glory that was Resident Evil 4, I anticipated a nigh religious gaming experience, and that was what I should have gotten. And yeah, before you get all "you expect too much" on me, I'll tell you this: if you don't expect a *hellaciously* good time from entertainment software that runs fifty-to-sixty bucks a pop, you're either eating dodo sandwiches and blowing your nose on Franklins, or you're waaaaay too easy to please.
Okay, before I go into my grievances, here are some positives: I like the basic zombie shooting, punching and kicking. The two-player mode is a terrific thing to put in an RE game, and the ability to revive your dying partner if you reach him/her before he/she sinks to the ground is really cool and dramatic. Firefights with gun-wielding soldier zombies later in the game are often fun -- I was surprised at that, actually. The female characters are really cute, and it was good to see Jill Valentine again (though I don't like how they narrowed down the womanly hips she sported in the Gamecube Resident Evil remake).
Now my grievances: Most of the maps are boring, confusing, and don't usually support the gameplay mechanics very well -- it seems like they're either too big or too small. With the exception of one in which you help Jill out whilst avoiding an invincible Wesker, the boss battles are all phoned in, the big, wriggly snake beast encounters being some of the lamest. All the characters are as *blaaah* as they come, personality-wise; they just say the same dumb, flat things over and over and over again, things like "I should have killed you years ago, pesky, foolish hero!" and "Hey partner, we're partners to the very end, right partner?" and "What are you talking about villain? You're mad, mad I say!" It's alright to say stuff like that here and there in any action game (or movie, for that matter), but not all the rootin' tootin' time! And why did they turn Chris into such a 'roid monster? Sure, he was a big, tough guy in the other games, but jeeez! And one last thing: the African setting wasn't exploited to even near its full atmospheric potential (unlike RE4, which takes place in rural Spain and has European gothic fLaYvA to the MAX).
Don't tell me this game is at least as good as RE4, because it ain't. I went back and immediately replayed it after beating RE5, and it is just so much better. Better gameplay, better graphics (yeah I said it, alright; they're not as shiny and hi-res, but they ARE better), better characters, better story . . . it's just better. Buy that, if you don't have it. | video-games_xbox |
Great Single Player, Very Mediocre Multi Player. First, let me say this: overall, this is a great game that will provide hours of quality entertainment for the purchaser. This is because of the single player mode, which is a fantastic blend of open world exploration and engaging storyline.
The single player gameplay is also a lot of fun. The variety of options the player has in how to complete objectives is really freeing. The player can snipe enemies from a distance, sneak in with a silenced weapon and perform awesome takedown combos, or go in guns blazing rambo style. The player can also use explosives and set the environment on fire to route enemies and do damage. It is worth noting, though, that the game really pushes the player towards stealth; you are most rewarded for sneaking through compounds and the game is much easier when you utilize this element, as opposed to run and gun (heavy takedown perks are amazing). This may be a drawback for some players who expect a balanced array of gameplay options: to those people I say, you will experience everything, but you will be hindered in your experience if you don't use stealth (you won't get to use all of the fancy takedowns- which are practically half of the unlock-able perks).
Also, the single player story will probably only last you around 20 hours, which isn't that much; you can extend that gameplay doing side-quests and playing it to completion - get every idol, collect every gun, liberate every outpost, etc. - but at least for me, the storyline is what drove me the most. Once it was over, I didn't feel any need to play the game anymore which is kind of disappointing. A solid multiplayer would have made up for this...
But the multiplayer was pretty crappy. The controls were somewhat sluggish for being a shooter the classes aren't very thought out, and character load out customization seems like an afterthought. As a multiplayer shooter it lacks both the immersive tactical gameplay of BF3 and the addictive arcade qualities of the COD series; I am a big fan of multiplayer shooters and play both BF3 and BO2, but I can't stomach such a low quality alternative like Farcry 3 multiplayer when I could be playing the former two instead.
Overall, this is a really high quality game: the graphics are great (but not benchmark like their predecessors), the storyline is amazing, the world is immersive, and the single player gameplay is fun. But because the multiplayer is so useless and the single player mode is so story driven, this game has really poor replay value and will probably only provide you up to 40 hours of entertainment at most.
I would say: Rent it for the story, beat that in a few days, and then return it. Save yourself some money. | video-games_xbox |
Single player is very flawed, but the rest of the game makes up for it. I was a huge COD4 fan, and I heard the mixed reviews about this game, but I had to buy it anyway simply because I liked the last one so much (best game ever, in my opinion).
I always play through the single player first, then play the other game modes, so I'll start there.
I played single player on veteran, which was a mixed bag of difficulty. Most enemies are slow on the draw and not very accurate shooters, which means all of the small dogfights are pretty easy. But veteran difficulty also ends up being really hard due to the computer being exceedingly cheap. For example, some enemies have machine guns and will blind fire around a corner at the exact moment that you walk around it, even if you have other teammates out in the open. On a related note, during big gun fights, the bad guys will throw all their grenades directly AT YOU, no matter where you are, no matter how far away you are, how many good guys are between you and the enemy, etc. I managed to play through it, but I thought these two aspects were pretty annoying.
Lastly, it seems that many of the scenes have a never ending stream of enemies; in order to progress, you must forcibly move your line up. None of your teammates will do it, so in addition to your other objectives, you'll also have to take out the enemies on the front line, then run up and dive for cover in order for the rest of your team to move up. This is kind of cheap, again, but I guess its by design in order to make the game more challenging.
Anyway, none of this is terrible when playing on veteran -- I wanted a challenge after all, I just feel like the balance of difficulty was really off in some scenes.
The major flaw with most of the single player campaigns is the linear layout of each stage. You're arbitrarily blocked off from moving around on any area of the map that isn't part of your staged path. In the very first level, even, there are some shacks that have open doors, and the game won't even let you go in there. This gets really frustrating in later stages where the game prevents you from flanking in certain situations, or forces you to take a strategically poor position. (I'm thinking in particular of one board in Japan, where you are forced to navigate through a trench, and even though there are plenty of things you could climb up on, the game forces you to stay on the low ground. Tactically this is absurd, and it strips out the element of COD4 that I liked the best: using terrain and obstacles to your advantage to gain the upper hand on an enemy force that is much larger.
The game does re-use a lot of the mechanics of the first game, so it does have that advantage. It also invents some cool new gameplay twists, such as the bonzai attackers who hide in the grass. The first such ambush is actually really artful and fun to play.
I won't bother talking about the setting or the guns, since that's all pretty obvious. The game wasn't nearly as suspenseful as the last one, for obvious reasons, but playing the older war scenario was really affected by the cut scenes in between boards which show real war footage, and are quite gritty. My roommate actually had a hard time playing the game.
After finishing the single player mode, I was thinking about rating the game 3 stars. But I decided to try two of the other game modes first: 1) zombie nazi, and 2) xbox live
1) Zombie Nazi is actually really fun. The artwork is done well and its kind of macabre and grotesque while still maintaining a bit of cheekiness. I would compare it to a zombie movie that combines a bit of the typical horror genre cheese with some legitimate terror. (Think "Dawn of The Dead") I only played it a few times, but it involves some strategy and I think will be fun to play co-op, although I haven't tried it yet.
2) The Xbox Live multiplayer, thankfully, is very faithful to the model set by COD4. The mechanics and game modes are pretty similar, with the only obvious difference being the different weapons (which also obviously changes the speed and balance of the fight). I played a few rounds tonight and it was a lot of fun. Instead of "helicopter" on a 7-frag streak, you get "Pack of wild dogs" -- which cracked me up when I saw it. Anyway, all of the barracks challenges are there, and the same level-up/unlock system which made COD4 completely engrossing.
So in light of these game modes, I raised my rating to 4 stars, with the added caveat that if you liked COD4, you will like CODWOW's multiplayer, but probably not love the single player campaign. | video-games_xbox |
Still Life in "Half-Life. For those who missed the PC version of "Half-Life 2" (an understandable venture considering Valve's insistence on using their Steam network), the Xbox port is, happily, one of the best shooters available on said console, certainly rivaling "Halo" if not out and out exceeding it. While there are some issues that indicate this was a game designed for PCs first and foremost, it is an otherwise exceptional piece of work that truly captures the feel of the original "Half-Life" while simultaneously ushering it into the new era.
You once again assume the role of Gordon Freeman, a tight-lipped scientist apparently more in his element carrying machine guns around than beakers or test tubes. Awakening some time after the Black Mesa incident from game one, he finds himself in City 17 - a futuristic slum, mostly, overlooked by a massive tower and policed by a group known as the Combine. The game is a little too careful not to fill in all the gaps, but suffice it to say that a rebellion is forming to combat the Combine, and Gordon proves to be their reluctant leader. The characters and the aura of City 17 and its surrounding areas are enough to make up for the shortcomings of the story, which despite being vague is still pretty engrossing.
The first "Half-Life" is regarded as one of the best games of all time, so Valve wisely chose not to fix something that wasn't broken. True to form, the game never rips you from Gordon Freeman's point of view, choosing instead to convey the story in a realistic fashion devoid of movie style cutscenes. This is perhaps the series' most innovative and immersive feature, and one that has never been replicated as successfully. You truly feel like Gordon Freeman, surrounded by the sights and sounds that are City 17. The game's story appears to flow in real time, so it all just has this cohesive quality that really gives you a sense of being there.
The first-person combat is no slouch either. The weapons available all pack quite a punch, and some are truly inspired. The crowbar returns in a nod to the original (and it can certainly come in handy if ammo's scarce), but newcomers like the gravity gun really steal the show. This device is versatile enough to allow you to fling saw blades at approaching zombies or manipulate a stack of crates so that you can build a barricade to protect you from encroaching Combine troops. This is easily the most useful items in the game, as well as one of its selling points. The knockoff in "Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil" can't even hold a candle to it. That said, virtually all of the weapons have their place and are satisfying to use - although the revolver is entirely disposable thanks to its lack of ammo.
The enemies can become repetitive - much of the game consists of gunning down same-looking Combine troops and, to a lesser extent, zombies (the product of those headcrabs we all loved so much from the first game). That said, there are still some truly inspiring encounters, such as late game battles with Striders, "War of the Worlds" style tripods that are essentially walking gunships, as well as a new and frightening breed of zombie that runs full speed ahead while shrieking with abandon. It's just too bad there aren't a few more of these foes in the game, as the Combine make up the brunt of what you'll face, and they're not nearly as intelligent or as crafty as the human opponents in the original game. It's reasonable to expect artificial intelligence at least as good as the first game's back in 1998, but, sadly, it's not on display here.
In a conceit to games like "Halo" and "Far Cry," "Half-Life 2" includes a few drivable vehicles, and while these are a nice addition at times, they certainly overstay their welcome. Some portions of the game just run on too long for their own good, but it's an exception rather than the rule. There's usually some new challenge lurking behind every corner, and it provides that rare addictive quality that the first game had in spades. To top it off, the graphics, even stripped to their basics for the Xbox, are quite impressive. Characters are amazingly lifelike, particularly in their facial expressions. Environments are equally charismatic, each one having that sense of being a real place despite the far-fetched nature of the "Half-Life" setting. There's atmosphere to spare. Other first-person games should certainly take notes.
The graphics come at a price, however. Unfortunately this port suffers from a sometimes unstable frame rate. It's nothing major, but it can be a little distracting at times. It's certainly the game's chief weakness, but to take a pass on it if you haven't already played the PC version would be a major mistake. This is an awesome game - not "Best Game Ever" material, as some legitimate game reviewers have claimed (see PC Gamer) - but nonetheless a worthy successor to a classic that retains the feel of the original in a way that few next generation sequels can. Highly recommended. | video-games_xbox |
The game that everyone knows but never played. The Good: Excellent delivery of voice acting, graphics, sound, and story, funny and witty dialog, memorable characters, decent length
The Bad: Platforming is a bit woeful, bosses are too easy, where's the sequel?
I remember hearing so much about this game back in 2005. I wanted to play it really bad, but thanks to the poor release time of the the year (Christmas holidays of '05) Psychonauts was lost in the hype of all the fall and winter releases. I played the demo for PS2 and quickly realized I had to play either the Xbox or PC version to get a good experience because of the dumbed down visuals, poor frame rate and just overall bad performance on the PS2. So, now that Psychonauts has been an Xbox Original on the 360 for awhile I decided to spend the $15 and it was the best $15 I've spent in a long time. To start with the game's strongest points are it's visuals, story, and voice acting. The platforming is really fun and has unique ways of doing so, but there are extremely frustrating moments in the game that just make you scream!
You play as Raz who is a psycadet in a training camp for children trying to become psychonauts. An evil dentist known as Dr. Loboto is stealing the childrens' brains and another evil accomplice is behind it all and you need to find that out. When you start the game out you'll notice how beautiful the world is (for a 3 year old game). Everything is really bright and the shapes have a Nightmare Before Christmas type of style. Everything is shinny and twisty and it looks like a AAA cartoon. The voice acting is top notch and Raz is voiced by none other then Richard Levitz who plays the voice of Invader ZIM. The characters are very unique and you quickly learn to love them all. Accompanying the voice acting is clever dialog: It's funny, witty, and keeps you drawn in.
When you explore the outside world you can hunt for Psi Cards, Arrowheads, and Challenge Markers. A challenge marker ranks you up so you can power up your psychic abilities (more on that later), if you collect 9 Psi Cards and buy a Psi Core from the store you can put them all together to create a challenge marker. Arrowheads are used as currency in the game but you need a Dowsing Rod to find the buried rare ones. The problem with this is that there never seems to be enough arrowheads in the game to buy everything. Small arrowheads are worth 1 and the rare ones are worth 75 yet there just doesn't seem to be enough. Luckily, all your upgrades are acquired by ranking up so the only thing the store holds are life, and a few odds and ends (that are kind of useless).
Throughout the game you'll go inside people's minds and try to solve their mental issues. This is what's so unique about this game and most of the puzzles are more of how will you get from point A to point B using your powers instead of pulling levers and switches. There are 9 powers from Telekinesis, to Pyrokinesis, to Leviation, so a shield. All these powers are used very well and not one world is the same. Speaking of that the worlds are so unique that the graphics change in each level. One world has you in a war zone, one level looks like you're in a painting, another level has you playing Waterloo against Napoleon!. The constant change in scenery is a huge plus and gets you excited for what's coming next.
After about half way through the game you'll explore the main world hardly at all so when you do need to change in your markers or just get some more arrowheads there's a warp system that takes you to each area. Once you finish a level and you want to go back and get some figments (these are floating neon 2D shapes that help you rank up: 100 and you rank up), cobwebs (these can be turned in for Psi Cards but you need the Cobweb Duster to get these), you can also find tags for emotional baggage (see what I mean? This game has very neat ideas: They are crying baggage of emotion and if you find the tag you set them free), find vaults (these have slideshows of why the person usually went mental).
There is a lot of collecting in the game, but it keeps you busy and something to do for completionists. What I liked so much is that completing the game 100% is not that difficult and you rarely need to resort to a FAQ. You always see everything it's just a matter of what psychic power will get you there. The game has lots of action with great boss battles, but these can be a bit too easy (just a few hits they die) but overall it's a tragedy that Psychonauts' fate turned out the way it did and I hope there is a sequel soon! If it weren't for the extremely frustrating platforming sections I would give this a 9.5, but that can really make things drag. The game is pretty long with about 12 hours of gameplay and even more of your a completionist. | video-games_xbox |
. The game designers went out of their way to create a frustrating game.
"Stressful" is a word used by many gamers who play this game...in the bad sense, not in the clever good sense.
Save points are strewn about the maps few and far between. You have this trolling Alien always bugging you. You have to sludge through in crouching to help avoid it...which makes the progress of the game from level to level like molasses.
Your only weapon to fend it off is the flamethrower and the supply of it is miniscule to say the least.
So you die, start from save point, make progress, die again, start over from save point all the way back, etc...until you reach the NEXT "oasis" save point.
***** Another issue is the bugs. HUGE BUG in middle of game which STOPS PROGRESS in the game [***SEE END OF MY REVIEW***]
Another issue is the darkness. Even correcting the Gamma in Settings, it's still way too dark. Again lazy substandard game development.
Another issue is the "Half Life" type previous era of graphics. The game engine feels ancient for this to be a "modern" game. Game mechanics--clunky.
The Novice, Easy, Normal, Hard modes are a joke. Even on Easy, it is overly difficult.
If you're the type of gamer that likes to sweat through games REPLAYING 30 minutes to make "progress" in the games, then this game is your Huckleberry (I now there are gamers that wouldn't have it any other way and ONLY play on Expert and waste their life away to complete such gaming "life achievements" as they brag to their teddy bear in the corner who witnessed it all).
If, you're like me, and want a fun, challenging, intelligent romp where you don't want to WASTE your summer like a chump going from save point to save point, then this game is NOT for you.
This is a "troll" game. Game designers here are the trolls. Trolling causes boredom--not fun scares. There are much better games out there to try out...smarter, fun challenging romps like ANY of the Uncharted games or a slew of others.
After finishing the game, I looked at the credits and sensed no satisfaction. Just a waste of my good time from playing my guitar.
[P.S. I believe the good reviews are bought for. This is a thuly mediocre game in all senses of the word!]
[P.S.S ***This game has a showstopper BUG. About halfway through the game, you need to go through an airlock. The airlock won't let you through. As far as my research is concerned. Some have replayed the ENTIRE level to make it through. Other by reloading save points. If you run into this problem you may be SOL!!! So IF you still want this game, get if for a different console or PC). | video-games_xbox |
AMAZING. I loved the first Assasin's Creed and was really looking forward to the sequel. This game far exceeded my expectations. I didn't think it was possible to outdo the first one, but this one is even more detailed, even more vast in scope, and even more fun to play. I never got bored playing this game, and there are seemingly endless missions to accomplish and places to explore. There are even more cities and regions you can visit, all incredibly detailed, down to the last brick, and so realistic and to-scale, you feel like you've gone back to the year 1400.
The few issues I had with the first game have all been dealt with in this follow-up:
A) The fighting in Game #1 was tedious, boring and sometimes impossibly difficult. This game has made it MUCH easier to dispatch your enemies - It's actually fun now! Plus, a real bonus is that Ezio (the character you play) has not one but TWO of those awesome retractable blades. Double the blades = Double the fun!
B) Altair couldn't swim (If he even touched the water he died): Not only can Ezio swim, but he can swim fast! Which is a good thing, considering a majority of the gameplay is spent in Venice (e.g. canals everywhere). And he can also comandeer gondolas which is fun.
C) The same old missions over and over get REALLY boring: The first game had Altair doing pretty much the same exact little side missions over and over - save the shrieking woman, eavesdrop on a conversation, beat up sntiches, repeat. This game has so many more things to do. You can pickpocket ANYONE for money(!), accept special assasination contracts in any city, collect Codex pages, find treasure chests for more money, explore ancient assasin tombs, bribe people, tackle messengers, buy and upgrade armour, clothing, and weapons, and the list goes on. While the first game had me bored after the second round of saving the shreiking woman, this game never got old for me.
Bottom-line: If you even romotely liked the first game, you're gonna love this one even more. It blew my mind. Probably the best game I've ever played. | video-games_xbox |
Rockstar Does it Again. L.A. Noir is another phenomenal title from the ever awesome Rockstar Games. I traded my garbage copy of BRINK (a day after it was released) up to this and let me just say, it was TOTALLY worth it!
Quick Synopsis:
Just like Grand Theft Auto 4 and Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar continues to deliver that "plays out like a movie" feel in L.A. Noir. The game takes place in 1940's Los Angeles and you start off as a simple cop that works his way up the rungs of the L.A.P.D career ladder. Along the way you meet some interesting characters, solve gruesome crimes, chase criminals, collect cars, hold shootouts, and more.
Game Pros:
1. Graphics - First off, this game is BEAUTIFUL. Awesome draw distances let the player seemingly see into infinity. The game uses some very awe inspiring facial mapping and animation techniques that I definitely see becoming a standard for future games.
2. Gameplay - Although this game is very similar to Red Dead Redemption and GTA4, please keep in mind that it is NOT those games. Sometimes it plays like them, but L.A. Noir is a game all of it's own. You won't always be hunkered down behind a crate, gunning your way out of some lowlife infested warehouse or speeding down the streets of L.A. in hot pursuit. The majority of this game will be spent gathering clues and interrogating witnesses. You'll have to use your better judgment in making accusations and deciding whether of not someone is lying or what clues will add up with others. It is definitely somewhat psychological and if you're looking for more of a Crackdown style open world experience, this game probably isn't the game for you. I, however, love the way this game plays. I definitely haven't played anything like it since way, WAY back in the day (Bladerunner for the PC.)
3. Controls - The controls are pretty similar to Red Dead Redemption. R-Trigger for Run, L-Trigger + R-Trigger for shooting, R-Bumper for cover, A for sprint, etc. They are very simple and I picked them up instantly when I popped the disc in my 360.
4. Music/Sound - The music really brings you into the era. Driving around in your patrol car, listening to the radio play songs like "smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette" and other 1940's music is pretty cool, and takes me back to the days of playing Fallout 3 until 6:00am. The ambient music also has a 1940's flare to it as well, using a lot of strong brass and acoustic instruments typical of the 40's. The voice acting is pretty on point too, which is important since it's the voice overs coupled with facial expressions that hint the player as to whether or not a suspect is lying. Rockstar definitely managed to bite off more than what most dev's can chew, and totally swallowed it. Kudos Rockstar!
Cons (but not really):
This game is not without it's frustrating moments, but what game isn't? There are moments in this game that are kind of difficult. Trying to chase down enemies that just get away from you like professional Nascar drivers, or knowing when a suspect is lying, but having no way to back it up because there was a clue you didn't find, even though you completely scoured the crime scene with a magnifying glass and a white glove. Like I said in the title though, these aren't really cons. I actually like the challenging game play elements, but I can see that some players could possibly be put-off by them.
To finish, I just wanna say that I rated this game 5 stars for fun, and 4 stars for overall. It's not because this game is lacking in any way. It's just that I really, REALLY, REALLY loved Red Dead Redemption. That game had so much to offer me, and to this day can still satisfy me. it has timeless gameplay that is so rare in games nowadays. L.A. Noir doesn't really feel like it has that re-playability aspect to it, but I don't know. I'm only half-way done with it.
Overall. I say buy this game. | video-games_xbox |
KOTOR2 is a great rpg but lacks in some areas. KOTOR was one of the best rpgs ever made. With the release of KOTOR2: Sith Lords, Obsidian tried to recreate the magic that Bioware had created with the original. This is where they succeeded on some things but failed miserably on others. For one, the epic storyline from the first game was better fleshed out and was just better overall. After playing through this game, it took me roughly 33-35 hours to complete, i was disappointed not only with the ending but with the dumb mistakes the story writers and programers made. Play it through on light side and you will see what i mean (and darkside to some extent), which brings me to my other big complaint that playing through as a darkside character really doesnt change much this time around. The first game really felt like the decisions you made effected everything and made the game seem different, but KOTOR2 does a poor job of this and just seems rushed. The graphical improvements are laughable as it is clear that they just used the work bioware had done and created a storyline from that. All of that being said, the game was still great fun. While the storyline lacked and at the end a few things made no sense, it kept me interested and playing throughout. There really aren't many rpgs on the xbox and there are even fewer playable ones, so that takes kotor2 from a lackluster sequel to a must play for rpg fans and xbox owners. The addition of the influence system (which you can either embrace or ignore altogether) was a decent addition although i had hoped it would effect the overall storyline a bit more. The new force powers are cool but playing through with the lightside with a jedi guardian, i only used force push, heal, and destroy droid. The stances might as well have been nonexistent as well. KOTOR2 is a fun game and would be a great addition to any xbox owners library but i cant help but feel that if bioware would have made the game the quality would have been much higher. | video-games_xbox |
Perfect fix for a WHITE XBOX360 power supply to work a new SLIM Black XBOX360. This adapter is awesome! I origionally had a first model White XBOX360. After about 10 years in the hands of kids it got alittle (ok alot) of abuse! The tray stopped opening with the button, the face plate was perminently gone, It would read about 25% of the games and discs i tried to play, It just seen better days. Well i came across a Black XBOX360, the newest thin version. It was a great deal it just had one catch. No power cord! I didn't think that was that big of a deal, Id just use the one I already had, from the White Xbox360. Well when I got it home to my suprise the cord changed too!! We tried to borrow a friends cord from their black XBOX360, that cord end was different too! So i went on google looking up how many different cords they made, and I see 3 of them. Every "generation" or "version" of Xbox360 had their own different power supply with different ends, and different Voltage ratings. Well I got this in the hopes it was made to go on the end of my original White XBOX360s cord and power the new Slim black one. Because the new one has the two circle ports, different then all the others by a lot. Well i sent my son up to put it on and try it out finally and he said to me it didn't work. I am designated Tech support since electronics, computers and phones are my area of expertise. I went up and looked at it and it just slid on the end of the cord about a 1/4" until it hit these little nubs on the plug. It wouldn't power up the XBOX, but with a good tight squeeze i got it snap down fully onto place and BOOM! The XBOX360 newest slim version now works with my original White Xbox 360's power cord!! Thank god! This is the greatest invention ever, and beats buying a whole new entire power supply for a lot more! Luckily I received this item for a discount in return for my honest and unbiased review. It does EXACTLY what i needed it to do! and It looks of good quality and is nice and tight with no problems! I recommend this to anyone who had my situation!!
**NOTE**
-This MAY or MAY NOT fit the other version of XBOX which is also "black" but different then the "slim". READ DESCRIPTION OR ASK SOMEONE. I ONLY USED WHITE XBOX360!!
I included a few pictures so you can compare yours, and see how it works. | video-games_xbox |
Resident Evil 5 is the Best. I don't understand why so many people keep talking negatively about RE 5. I've played all the RE games, as well as read all the books by S.D. Perry, and have come to love RE5 the most! Don't get me wrong, RE4 has been my favorite game for years, but 5 easily rose to the top.
There are many awesome reasons why I like this game so much. First of all, the graphics are phenomenal! The best I've seen in any game, hands down!
Secondly, RE games have always had great storylines that suck you into the game, and RE5 continues that legacy beautifully.
Third, it takes a lot of strategy to kill enemies efficiently. You can't just run through the whole game and kill off each zombie in two shots. It's not a "shoot em up" kind of game. You have to utilize not just your gun, but your knife and melee attacks as well. By doing this, you end up using two bullets to take down a zombie, instead of 6-8.
Forth, everywhere you walk, whether there are zombies or not, you have to constantly be aware of your surroundings. Doing this will save your life on many occasions! It keeps you on your toes and greatly enhances the game experience!
Fifth, RE5 is one scary game! A lot of people will say that it isn't scary, and that it's more of an action game than survival horror. I suppose this would be true if you just powered your way through the game and didn't think much about the story itself. But for me, I get really into the game by putting myself in the characters shoes. I can't imagine being attacked by infected people that want nothing more than to dig their teeth into my flesh! And lets not forget the dogs! The dogs have always been the scariest part of the RE series for me, and they really go all out in this game!
I have no complaints about RE5! The makers improved everything they needed to improve from RE4. If they did anymore, it would have been too much. The controls were perfect! I've played a lot of shooter games with different control types, and it honestly took me 15 minutes to get used to the RE5 controls and they're now my favorite! It feels more like aiming and pulling the trigger of an actual gun than any other control type! It feels more natural than clicking "A" or "X" to fire your weapon, like in other games.
To sum it up, RE5, in my opinion, is the BEST game ever made!!! It has an AMAZING storyline, it takes a lot of strategy and smarts, has outstanding controls, and it makes you jump on many occasions! It's easily a 10/10 for me! A must have for any true RE or shooter game fan! | video-games_xbox |
An Absolute Blast To Play. It didn't take long for Jet Grind Radio for the Dreamcast to win me over. Its one thing to play a unique game, it's another to play a great, unique game. Smilebit was a no-name company before Jet Grind Radio and now two years later their major players in the gaming industry (They've been given the job of making the next Panzer Dragoon, that's a tall order.) So returning to their roots we have their first Xbox title, luckily, Smilebit knows that Jet Grind Radio's system wasn't broke, so why toy with perfection that was well received by critics everywhere? You don't, but running over the Dreamcast version one problem did appear and that was the graffiti system, some enjoyed mimicking the motions displayed to spray walls, others found it to be a thorn in the toe being you were a sitting duck for the hordes of cops, assassins, tanks and choppers that already hounded you during movement alone.
So take it one step at a time, now graffiti is sprayed on with the touch of a button, it may seem like nothing more than a cheap extra topping on a hot fudge Sunday at Dairy Queen, but it considerably keeps the action consistent rather than stopping for breaks and cheap hits from enemies. Asides from the graffiti, enemies themselves in the levels have been removed; you will never encounter enemies during your spray painting frenzy. Enemies are now dealt with in "Battle Modes" sort of speak in which you and your enemies are enclosed within an electrified fence area and must be spray painted to win. These battles require different approaches from simply bowling police officers over, to smacking them down with a turbo boost, or covering search lights bulbs with paint. These battles may seem a little out of place for a game such as this, but they provide a unique twist on the old ones "run away" technique.
So the graffiti's been fixed what next? Future also boast enormous levels, and I stress the word "enormous" some levels are huge, very huge. So huge in fact that playing some levels seems reminiscent of trekking through streets of Shenmue. Smilebit really wanted to put the word "free" into Future's Gameplay, and for that they do succeed in making Future a "do what you want" world with no levels, no time limits and no certain path to follow, you make your own instead. Want to go to the bus terminal? Skate through traffic on a street behind your hangout and you're there, visit the sewers? Jump into the drain at the slums and head into the underground sewage plant. But with so much freedom comes a glaring oversight from the developers. More than half of your time will be spent seeking out where the graffiti points are, especially in the Sky Scraper District you'll be jumping 100 story buildings blindly hoping to land on the one over.
Exciting? Yes, at times it can be quite the rage. But after consistent falls you'll get fed up rather quickly, after all Jet Set isn't a platformer, even though a few levels treat it as one. Still, thanks to Future's gargantuan levels you'll find grind and eye-candy galore. Mixing in old levels such as the Bus Terminal and Sewers as well as some new genius levels like the highly enjoyable Dinosaur Roller Coast level that has snake like rails of an amusement park to grind built on the roofs of sky scrapers. And with large levels also comes a long journey, after completing the entire game I clocked in at a total of 23 hours. And with over 20 characters available including a large amount after you've beaten the game, it's a sure bet you'll be sticking with Future for awhile. For fans of the first or those interested in trying something new will find a steady-challenging game that no Xbox owner should be without. | video-games_xbox |
Great Graphic with really annoying bugs. I'll admit that I was excited to try this thing out, but after a couple of weeks of use the draw backs and bigs have me ready to return the thing. Th gaming experience is quite good. There is little doubt about that. However, Microsoft seems to think non-gaming features are more important that gaming features. A short list:
#1 - If the system decides that it needs to upgrade - it'll kick you out of your game to upgrade. Someone at Microsoft actually thought them updating, usually meaning new ads, was more important than the gaming experience.
#2 - I live in a region where internet connections are spotty, and the wireless on the box is not exactly stellar. That means that updates are slow, and, as we see with number one, the system will make your ability to actually get to the games a pain in the rear end. You literally wind up fighting through the system.
#3 - Sign in glitches. Its supposed to be kinect based, but this thing gets it wrong constantly. Signing in with a controller should work, but that glitches constantly too. When combined with the update issues, you can imagine how annoying getting kicked off because you are no longer signed in and having to restart updates constantly gets.
#4 - There is no easy or intuitive way to change administrative settings and streamline some of those issues to focus on the gaming. You are constantly battling the system which views itself, rather than you, as the agent to be serviced.
#5 - If Xbox Gold and its services go down, you cannot play your games. You will once again be kicked out repeatedly, and if the service goes down and you cannot sign yourself in, or keeps coming up and down while playing games? Then, once again, you find yourself constantly being kicked out of games.
#6 - Microsoft's customer service in dealing with these issues is really crummy.
Overall, my impression of this is that Microsoft messed up some very basic principles here, first and foremost, the customer is #1. In this case, Microsoft viewed the both the gaming experience and the gamer as secondary. They seem to have made the experience as easy as they ken to send you more products to buy, easier for them to track your data so they can sell you more products, and seem to have forgotten that the whole idea of he product is to make the gaming experience as pleasurable as possible.
I am ready to take this thing back and trade it in for a PS4. | video-games_xbox |
Doom 3: Not what the hype says, but still pretty good. I picked this game up a few years after it was released, and I waited and bought it used for the X-box for less than 20USD. I further waited until I had an X-box 360 before I started to play it! I figured Doom 3's engine wouldn't be handled very well by the original X-box, so I waited till I picked up a 360, judging by some reviews, this was probably a pretty smart move.
Now I've been playing the original Doom games for a while, and for them to finally release another Doom game years after those... well I was expecting something pretty huge. The story-line, and yes, this one does have a bit more of a story-line, is a little weak. Though I did like how they had tidbits of the mystery of the gates in there, and playing up the occult aspect was a very smart move. They maintained the same premise of the other games where the goal is to escape wherever it is you're in. I guess Doom II was a little different in the sense that your main objective was to kill everything, but you still had to get out of there! It is a fairly tiring concept, but it's been a very long time since Doom II, so it wasn't too tedious on this one.
For those people saying that there is NO story-line, they are pretty much wrong. You have to listen to all the PDA's you collect and interact with the rest of the environment as well to get into it. You can certainly ignore all these items and play a very boring shooting game pretty quicly, but I prefer looking around and exploring games. I played through the game pretty thoroughly and listend to all of these. I thought the PDA thing was an excellent addition to the game, to help move a story into it. I thought that kind of interface was sort of influenced by Marathon's original system, but hey, I wasn't expecting anything original. I'm not entirely sure how well Doom 3 played into the sequence of where Doom II left off. It looks like this Doom I remade, because the events feel like it's just at the beginning. In Doom II the Earth was overrun, so it's not like the gateways on Mars' moons were a secret! That's really the main complaint I have about the story, I can't figure out where it belongs sequentially.
As far as game play is concerned; it's pretty good for 20 bucks. I don't know if I would've paid full price for this in retrospect, but it was definitely worth what I paid. Like other reviewers have mentioned, it is definitely way too dark. That doesn't make the game ominious or scary, it makes it annoying! The flash light function is probably worst part of this game design... and pretty much why I gave it a four. It's as if in the future we suddenly lost the technology on how to attach a light on a gun or a helmet. Maybe in this technological downfall they also lost the technology to manufacture Dukt Tape, further decreasing the ability to attach a light on the muzzle of a gun!*
Other than the flash light situation that really made me angry... this game was pretty fun. It's not Half Life 2 or Halo by any measure, but it occupied my time and I didn't feel it was excruciating to get through. I'm not sure how much replay value it really has in the end, but I think it's worht going through once. For those who complained about the repetitiveness of Doom probably haven't played the other games very much. Doom is a fairly repetitive game... that's what it is, if you don't like that, don't get this game. You have similar goals to get to different areas in order to finally get all the way out! It's like going through a giant maze, which is how these games have always been designed. I thought it was a pretty good game overall, not five star, but it was definitely enjoyable enough.
*TECHNOLOGICAL DOWNFALL: Agent Ben M. met with me about the sequence of events that led to this heinous problem of Flash Lights. It turns out; in the year 2008 the Doom II story-line actually happened. As a result the Bush administration was elected to an unprecedented (as far as future history is concerned) third term. During this time, Bush sought a seer, and she foretold of a future plagued by a lack of Flash Lights. So, Bush in his desire for supreme greed, he bought up all the Flash Light making companies and he ordered the shut down of all Duct Tape manufacturing. This would forever make the peoples dependent on the U.S. government. After many years without these items, humans soon forgot the technology. The patent for Duct Tape was lost as the U.S. administration changed over the decades. Agent M. was one of the few people to see the archives kept on this development and he relayed this secret story to me via [...]. In the end, we are now doomed to carry guns that cannot have Flash Lights attached to them. The Bush legacy is now the richest and most powerful in the universe; the Duct Tape & Flash Lights are the key... as the sacred seer relayed. Agent M is rumored to have seen this seer, and it is possible she is immortal. | video-games_xbox |
The best game for kids and families for this console generation. Skylanders...good god, where do I start with this thing? My initial reaction to seeing the game in stores, with the dozens of figures on the shelf, was that it was just a fad and the kind of game that had little content, and was more of a way for the developers to make money rather than have a good game that we'd all be talking about. Well, after Christmas came and went 3 months ago, what is it that's STILL sold out everywhere? That's right. Skylanders figures. Even right now, you're lucky to find even the most unpopular ones anywhere more than a day after a shipment arrives. My daughter wanted this game not really based on how it looked in the commercial, but just by the characters she saw on the figure chart that was given out as a promo item. When the game went down in price a bit, I decided to get it for her birthday, figuring that if she didn't like the game, it wouldn't be a big deal, and that we'd be better off not shelling out the money for figure after figure.
Hoo boy, that was not the case.
Not only is Skylanders a fun game that doesn't treat kids like idiots and hold their hand through every part of the level, but it's one that you can enjoy with your children if you have two controllers. How many games these days have good co-op features that don't involve the same tired war gameplay? Yes, the whole buying individual figures for characters is a little lame, but look at it this way- where you're spending a few dollars just for a character or level for any other game, here you're at least getting a cool little toy that your kids can play with too. Do you have any idea how much I would've loved to have had a figure of Liberty Prime when I bought the Broken Steel DLC for Fallout 3 a while ago? Anyway, the game doesn't force you to have any more characters than the 3 you start out with. But you will be needing one of each type in order to access everything in the game. Each level has an area that can only be opened with a certain type, but let me stress again that you do NOT need to do these areas. What's cool is that each elemental type has 4 characters, all ranging in designs from robots to dragons to human-like creatures. You're bound to find at least one for each type that you'll like, and the best part is that while there -is- a kind of tier list for the game, there's really no such thing as a bad Skylander. All of them are fun to play as in their own way!
The game is easy to play, since it's a standard action dungeon crawler. You run around smashing open treasure chests and barrels to get money (used to upgrade your character's attacks), defeating enemies to gain experience, and can find various hats in the levels to boost a stat or two. The main plot involves a short, evil dude named Kaos who wants to control everything, just as most villains do. You, the person holding the controller, are a Portal Master, and it's your job to send a Skylander into the world and make everything right, defeating Kaos and his minions, and finding special items needed to restore the world.
The Portal that comes with the game works great and is way faster than I expected. As soon as you take a figure off of it, the game goes to the screen telling you to place a Skylander on the Portal, and once you do, it shows the character you selected, and they're zapped right into the game where you left off. It never feels like a chore to change characters, and I'm glad that they got things down with this whole Portal thing. I've yet to have any problems with mine not recognizing a figure or having any other problems. Both my daughter and I love playing the game together, or as a single player game, and collecting money to upgrade attacks. Each Skylander has two paths they can take for improving their attacks. Spyro for example, can continue to upgrade his fire breath, or upgrade his fire charge attack. Which is better? Well, both are good, but it's up to you to pick one. And if you don't like what you picked, you can always reset your Skylander and start from scratch.
I'd say that kids from the ages of 4-10 will probably get the most out of it. The only 'hard' parts in the game involve puzzles, but they're fairly simple. And if they get tired of the main game, there's a Versus battle mode they can play as well, with different modes. There's even a Challenge mode in the main game where you have to complete a certain task, using whatever character you want, and once you beat it, a certain stat will get boosted. If you want to have a really strong Skylander, taking care of these Challenges is a must.
Really, the only complaints I have are that the Portal tends to go through batteries like they're going out of style, and that it's annoying having to sit through Kaos' stupid ramblings of 'Doooooooom' over and over when going back through levels to get 3 stars on each one. I had enough of hearing jokes like that in high school when Invader Zim was popular with the Hot T...I mean, goth kids, and they'd constantly quote it, and not being able to skip over these scenes was irritating. But at least with the battery problem, you can take care of it by getting some good rechargeables. Also, for some reason a lot of the character's voices don't match up with their speech, especially Kaos'. Heck, some characters speak without even moving their mouths. That's just plain weird. Aside from these problems, the game's a blast. The graphics are good, the soundtrack has some memorable pieces, the voice acting is above average, and it's fun going through the levels with all the different Skylanders and seeing what each character has to offer. One quick thing though- it's odd that the game has Spyro's name in the title, and yet they never say his name once in the game, since you can play using whoever you want. You're always referred to as 'Skylander', and there's no talk about Spyro's previous adventures. Look at the game's box- he's not even front and center! He got bumped aside by the Skylander many consider to be the best in the game. Ouch.
We've had the game for less than a month now, and we're up to 11 Skylanders, all of which are getting about equal playtime, and I have to admit that even I get excited when I see a new one on the shelf at the store. Buy this game now! And get ready for the sequel coming out later this year. Hopefully they raise the level cap and add online play... | video-games_xbox |
Old fashioned run and gun with modern graphics. BJ is back, once again, battling the Third Reich! As usual, those industrious Nazis are trying to exploit any edge they can get, and they certainly aren't thinking inside the box. Very quickly in the game you learn that the Nazis have discovered an interesting and questionable source of, well, interesting and questionable power. You, as BJ, spend this game getting to the bottom of this and attempting to thwart these new efforts.
There is a short list of "modern" ideas in this game... a centralized map with a very light RPGish quest style method of breaking up the basically linear game play. There is an upgrade system, and of course, some "special powers" you obtain along the way. Besides that, the game is very much a nod to Return to Castle Wolfenstein style run and gun play. The game play is outdated in that regard, but that doesn't necessarily detract from the fun in the game. There are a few different weapons in the game, but you get them as time goes on... so there isn't a huge variety, effectively. Also, not all weapons are useful (or even feasible) given different conditions. Towards the last part of the game you end up using whatever you have ammo for.
The story isn't bad, but it is nothing earth shattering. You fight Nazis, you discover Nazis are doing strange stuff, and you try to stop them. There are a few cinematic moments, and some very light character dialog. Other than that: killing, killing, killing. Not a problem, just don't expect much in the story line area. Nothing like cinematics that bluntly explain what is happening in case you can't be bothered to actually pay attention to the game. :)
I did everything I could and I completed the game in under 12 hours -- as evidenced by the Achievement "Blitzkrieg". I didn't feel it was that long of a game, but it certainly wasn't the shortest game I've played. I haven't even bothered with the multiplayer as I haven't been interested. I played uncountable hours of RTCW: Enemy Territory, but for some reason this game doesn't inspire me to even try.
To summarize: Old school run and gun linear action with good graphics and a vaguely entertaining plot. Nothing ground breaking, but I don't think it was intended to be. It's a good game, and I enjoyed playing it. | video-games_xbox |
Halo fan from the beginning on the edge. If you have not played the game just a warning that the farther you read there WILL be SPOILERS.
I've read a lot of reviews and it seems to be split right down the middle on opinions about this games campaign and multiplayer turn out. The people that seemed to love it said a lot about the game flow and the graphics and the like, with a few saying the story and campaign were good. While those who disliked it have pointed out every aspect of the game that reveals it to be nothing like the classic Halos, that any true fan of Halo would be discussed with. Sadly this game is giving me the same feeling the Assassins Creed Unity did, and anyone that follows AC knows what im talking about. I've played the game to its entirety, which sadly only took about as long as it would of taken to finish just one mission from Combat Evolve, and i can say, while yes the graphics and the smoothness of game play is exceptional, the story line leaves me confused and angry.
Im like any other gamer and technology nerd the better the graphics the more impressed with a game i am and the more excited i am to play it but if the story line and the other aspects of the game diminish because it was all focused on graphics id much rather have a fussy game. Halo for me has always been about its amazing story and everything else second. I mean if the multiplayer is all you cared about you shouldve been playing COD, not to take away from Halo multiplayer because i loved it too, but spending days just to get through one mission (maybe a little exaggerated but you get the point) is what kept me interested.
There were some who dislike halo 4 and on some points i would agree the campaign was sadly short but the story line didn't take that big of a hit, it kept to its Halo roots that Bungie created and over all i was impressed with 343s efforts on it and thought they did a great job. (other than killing off an extremely awesome villain the moment he was created)
Halo 5 on the other hand has completely disintegrated any hopes i had for 343 picking up where Bungie left off.
Reason 1: While every other Halo smoothly transferred the story lines from game to game, Halo 5 from the beginning throws new characters at you who you have never heard of nor even knew existed. (Nightfall and the Fall of Reach animated mini series do not do enough explaining to introduce 8 new characters with prominent rolls throughout the game into it) some say that the Blue Team has been around whole time (if you read the books) but if Bungie had considered them important at all to the future of the game where were they in the original games....i mean they weren't even in Halo Reach.
2: Out of the multitude of villains you couldve came up with and you had the potential to create farther you decide to not only kill off Cortana but bring her back only to make her the villain, i mean had they made the rest of the story line better (the development of the new characters themselves) i couldve over looked the destruction of Cortana and considered it an awesome plot twist. But they didn't so i cant.
3: 343 decided it was ok to go ahead and completely recreate the multiplayer. I cant say i don't like the micro transaction system i find it interesting and not completely off putting. What i am pissed about and many others as well is the destruction of the Co-Op which has been a staple of Halo since Halo 2. (not sure about Evolve the computer edition did not support Co-Op) but i remember hours and hours of playing this friends on split screen in both campaign and multiplayer. i mean how are you supposed to do Halo parties now? 10 tvs and 10 xboxs?
Im done ranting and i sure i missed things and im sure half of this doesnt make sense but the gist is im discussed with the way 343 is taking a franchise i have loved since i started gaming from PC to Xbox 1. In my opinion there has never been a franchise that has a more engrossing story line than Halo Combat Evolve, Halo 2, Halo 3, and yes I'll include Halo 4 because while the length of the campaign was sadly shortened it still kept up well with the Halo story. All these games had you holding you breath at moments as you rounded corners and yes maybe even a tear fell when a beloved character died.
Halo 5 has none of these aspects, it lacks even the right to call its self Halo but hey the graphics and smoothness of the game are great. | video-games_xbox |
Must-play for ghostheads, but for everyone else, there's always Gamefly. From a general game design standpoint, I will say that there was a lot that this game could have (and I think, should have) been. It's a very linear game, no side missions to speak of, not a lot of extra content, and after a few levels, gameplay gets really monotonous. It mostly boils down to "shoot at it until it's dead/you can trap it". A little exploring, and puzzle solving elements, but not much.
And the save system is very messed up. If you beat the game, don't start a new campaign, or you'll suddenly lose the ability to replay some of the levels until you get to them in the "new" campaign you just started. If you want to start over from the beginning, while still retaining the ability to play later levels, you just have to replay the first level and continue from there. There are also points in the game where the difficulty goes from "cupcake" to "what just happened, why did I die? This makes no sense."
I just wanted to get all these little quips and frustrations out of the way before I tell you how awesome it was to have a Ghostbusters game come out, and have it actually be playable. I guess my expectations are lower than the average gamer, but seriously? For a Ghosthead like me, the best comparison I can make is being a Cubs fan and finally seeing the Cubbies make it to the World Series, only to watch them lose to the Yankees. It's definitely better than what we've experienced in the past, but objectively, yeah, I can say it's not going to be something that anyone else will remember vividly years from now, except for us Ghostheads.
For anyone who loves the Ghostbusters, this is definitely a must-own game. For the first time since I was 5, I really felt like a Ghostbuster, and I still play it over and over again because actually being able to trap those ghosts, for me, is just awesome. It provides me with just the kind of escapism I was hoping for in a Ghostbusters game.
For everyone else, this game is good, but far from great. | video-games_xbox |
This one clocks in very well. Xbox 360 owners have gone through dry spells that rival those of the Sahara Desert. New games come out as frequently as intelligent statements out of George W. Bush. I've found myself testing the waters of all sorts of games and I never thought I'd leave the anchor resting for so long when I picked up THQ and Climax's Moto GP '06. What is essentially the Xbox 360's first simulation racer is also one of the top overall racing titles. Moto GP '06 offers some of the best thrills and deadliest spills of any racer out there.
Before I dive too deeply into telling you all about the great things concerning Moto GP '06, one must be aware: this is not an easy game to pick up and play. THQ and Climax have created a game that is punishing to newbies of the motorcycle racing scene. The feel of riding a motorcycle in this game, though extremely realistic, is also quite difficult at first. One must learn the intricacies of riding a motorcycle before it is possible to truly appreciate the realism found in this game. For example, turning properly is something that simply must be mastered. Learning where the perfect line for each turn is the key and figuring out the right time to let off the gas and apply the front and rear brakes is only the first step. To truly pull off a great turn, one has to know when to kick back into acceleration and power out.
The bulk of time spent playing Moto GP '06 will surely be devoted to the Career Mode, where it is possible to participate in one of four different circuits. The first, Grand Prix, is the only one that is initially available. I found it to be the least fun, the most difficult, and longest to get through. Each Grand Prix course takes place on one of many different tracks located throughout the world, such as Laguna Seca. Once that circuit is complete, gamers are treated to Moto GP '06's true gold, the Extreme circuits. These three circuits test your racing skills to the...well, extreme. You'll race through more exotic and attractive locations throughout the bright city streets of Tokyo, and across Tuscany, where the only thing crazier than the sense of speed are the turns found at the bottom of steep mountain hills.
Each race is a pretty exciting string of events. To prepare, you can scope out a course's difficult spots by completing challenges and qualifying for pole position. I think it's safe to say I've never played a game where qualifying was so necessary, because the action on the track becomes brutal once the race actually starts. Though the AI isn't as brilliant as I had hoped, it requires you to stay on pace and up to speed. Like I said before, part of the trick is learning how to turn properly.
Without a doubt, one of the biggest perks of playing through the Career Mode is the level of customization one is given. At the start, you'll customize everything from your rider's helmet style to a creative logo to use in online racing modes. Then you can use prize money to purchase new bikes and parts. On top of all of this, you can customize your rider's base skills by earning experience points after completing the challenges on each course, and of course, winning races.
Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of special modes outside of the Career Mode. There is a multi-player mode for racing fans as well as an Xbox Live setup, but for players going solo, there are really only Career races. That's not to say there aren't a ton of those. In fact, I'd say there are almost 70 races to go through, but once that's done, you've played through the full Moto GP '06 experience.
Visually, Moto GP '06 is a top-tier title on the Xbox 360. It has some of the prettiest backdrops I've ever seen, with detail simply overflowing from every single location. From the sand kicking up when you botch a turn to the reflections off of buildings in Barcelona, there are plenty of sights to see here. One of my favorite effects is the slight camera panning when one pulls off a high-speed turn, resulting in a feeling that simulates the G-force of pulling off such a turn. Of course, the sound of the game is nice as well. The ear-splitting engine sound effects and screeching tires are as well-done as any racing game and the soundtrack isn't half bad either.
Overall, Moto GP '06 isn't a game I'd recommend for everyone. Despite its excellence in so many areas, it just isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. The steep learning curve is the first obstacle and the second is the lack of gameplay modes. Still, for racing fans and for anyone who liked previous Moto GP entries, this should be one of your next Xbox 360 purchases. The beautiful graphics, the realistic feeling of the controls and the thrilling courses should be enough to keep you playing for quite a while. | video-games_xbox |
Fairy Tale Graphics with diabolical controller setup. I resisted the temptation of writing a review too soon for this game; I have now played nearly 10 hours of Fable and here are my thoughts.
The graphics are just plain crazy; wonderfully done! I'm still fascinated at every ray of light that comes down through the forests and trees. Truely a marvel in gameplay.
Sound is also another home run with a surround sound setup. The sound will suck you in to the realm of the game and bring you that much closer to the ever blurring fine line of reality and dreamland.
Fighting. Well, lets put it this way. If you are after a hack and slasher hero, then the game is set up pretty good for you. Just hit the X button multiple times to increase your attack multiplier and then hit the B button for a flourish kill. However, if you want to cast a spell somewhere in there, then things get a little interesting. It can be very difficult to keep an eye whats going on the screen while scrolling through your spells to figure out what you want to cast.
Controller config is where the game has it's downfall. The problem is that there is too much customization you can have going on. Unlike many games, EVERY single button, trigger, joystic and pad is used during combat. This becomes an absolute nightmare when you start to get attacked by more than 5 creatures at any given time. What's even worse is trying to prioritize your victim in the melee is virtually impossible. A very typical combat scenario turns into the floundering of the controller as you try to remember to hold in the right trigger and hit Y to scroll to the right spell setup. All the while you are getting slashed. So you want your spell to get the guy in the back of the crowd that is shooting at you? Keep that right trigger in, now hold in the left trigger and continue to click to target different enemies; again, all the while getting slashed. This doesn't even take into consideration trying to keep you health up and Will by using the D-pad somewhere in that battle.
Don't get me wrong, the game is a definite purchase. However, the developers have created so much here that it is overwhelming when it comes to the combat.
But hey, I still can't put it down. | video-games_xbox |
after patch and price drop, this game is an excellent bargain. basically this is a g-rated GTA. it's an upgraded port to tide you over until gta4. the bug freezes and things were fixed and price dropped dramatically very quickly before i picked it up, making it a bargooon.
anyway, if you like gta, or have kids not old enough to play gta, this game is possibly for you. same style, same basic sandbox world, map, missions, just minus the sex, weapons and killing.
since it's open-world sandbox, the game can take awhile, and that's a good thing. there are plenty of side missions for you, things to collect and accomplish for 100% completion if you're into that sort of thing. be very careful though, there are some easy things to miss for 100% -- i missed the 2nd lawn mowing job near the retirement home.
here's a 100% guide:
* Complete all Main Story missions (excluding "The Big Prank")
* Pass all Classes
* Collect all 75 Rubber Bands
* Collect all 40 "G&G" Cards
* Collect all 6 Transistors
* Destroy all 25 Gnomes
* Destroy all 19 Tombstones
* Destroy all 27 Pumpkins
* Complete all 6 "A Little Help Missions"
* Fail five classes and earn the Dunce Cap
* Pull the Fire Alarm 20 times and earn the Firefighter Helmet
* Run 41.84 kilometers to earn the Running Shorts
* Ride a Bike 100 Kilometers to earn the Spandex Bike Shorts
* Buy 100 Sodas to earn the Free Soda Reward (all Sodas will be free for the rest of the game)
* Drink a total of 500 Sodas (bought or picked up) to earn the Two-Can Hat
* Successfully complete the "Penalty Shots" mini-game once
* Successfully complete the "Keep-Ups" mini-game once
* Defeat the Pirate on the southern part of the large island at Bullworth Lake to get the Pirate Hat
* Complete five levels of Boxing at the Glass Jaw Boxing Club (Old Bullworth Vale)
* Take all pictures for the Yearbook and unlock the Black Ninja Outfit
* Complete all Go-Cart Races (Carnival and City Races)
* Complete all 14 Bike Races
* Complete at least 30 errands (some say 38, there are actually a total of 51)
* Complete all 6 levels of Lawn Mowing (2 locations)
* Complete all Paper Route levels
* Ride all 3 Carnival rides
* Win at all 4 Carnival games at least once
* Purchase all clothing in the souvenir tent (with tickets)
* Get high score in Consumo, Nut Shots and Monkey Fling arcade games
* Buy all clothing in the game (should be around 333, there may be 334 if you do 1000 knockouts - but that's not necessary)
* Unlock all 5 Save Houses
Bullworth Errands:
Escort Algie: Near Algie's locker in the second floor school hallway
Bog Roll: Boys' restrooms, first floor of the school
Bog Roll 2: Boys' restrooms, first floor of the school
Firecracker toilet: Outside first floor boys' restroom in the school
Canning: Behind the main school building
Egg Girls' Dorm: Outside boys' dorm (NIGHT)
Egg Boys' Dorm: Outside girls' dorm (NIGHT)
Fire Alarm: First or second floor near the stairs
Locker Stuff Challenge: Near second floor hallway by principal's office
Lock Picking Challenge: Near the stairs on the first floor
Secret Admirer: Second floor, between the office and art room
Secret Admirer 2: Ground floor of the school, near the English room
Take Me Home: School parking lot (NIGHT)
Blue Skies Errands:
Cable Guy: Near the Spencer Shipping Warehouse
Egg Greasers: Near Spazz Industries
Rat Killer: Blue Skies Docks
Shipping & Receiving: Near townies' hangout
Smash Up a Car: Near Wonder Meats (NIGHT)
Lost Cargo: Docks
Crazy Farm: Asylum front gates
Bullworth Town Errands:
Detective Jimmy: In front of City Hall
Prank Downtown: Alley south of the police station
Lost Jacket: Between movie theater and police station
Smoke Free: Gas station
Easy Drugs: Near Easy Drugs
Lost Dog: Near Mental Dental building
Lost Dog 2: Near old movie theatre
Recover Stolen Bikes: Shiny Bike Shop (NIGHT)
Strange Hobo: Near Easy Drugs and the comic shop
Old Bullworth Vale Errands:
The Widow: Retirement Home
Great Escape: Retirement Home
Fast Food: Burger Joint
Crab Traps: Seafood restaurant
Tag Bullworth Vale Area: Bullworth Vale Gardens Park
Lost Bear: At the beach, near the gazebo
Shipwrecked: Big pier on the beach
Swim It: Lighthouse dock
Jumping Man: Vale beach on the big pier
Mailman: The Underdog: Between the shortcut house and the top of the residential house
Carnival Errand:
Carnie photo: Near souvenir tent
New Coventry Errands:
Smash Up a Car: Near the rail overpass and Yum Yum Market (NIGHT)
Girl Escort: Near alley by Slab O' Meat and Yum Yum Market
Spazz Delivery: Spazz Warehouse
Tag Poor Area: Near the New Coventry underpass
The Cheat: Near the police station or The Final Cut barber
Tenement Fires: By the tenements (NIGHT)
Photo Taggers: Near bike garage and tenements
Rats Out: By the tenements
Egg Tenements: The Projects (NIGHT)
Homeless Help: Near the greasers' hangout (NIGHT) | video-games_xbox |
Embrace Eternity. Having survived the terrible experience of Mass Effect 3's horrible ending - which, BTW, has been improved from horrible to underwhelming with the Extended Cut DLC - I decided to play ME1 again just to immerse in the fantastic Mass Effect phenomenon at least once more. Moreover, I want to prove to myself that ME3's ending, as disappointing as it is, cannot mar the eternal beauty of ME1 (and to a lesser effect, also ME2) - And I am happy to report that I was not disappointed.
To begin with, it is crucial to establish that ME1 is unique in the series because it is a RPG with shooter element, whereas ME2 and ME3 are shooters with RPG elements. The most important and simple distinction is this: In ME1, regardless of how well your aiming skill is, your weapons' accuracy is, by and large, dependent on the XP you invested in a particular weapon. On the other hand, in ME2 and 3, your aiming skill (along with reaction speed) determines your accuracy.
Also, ME1 leans heavily toward exploration. Granted, this is the least developed aspects of the game, especially in regard to driving around the planets in the M35 Mako infantry assault vehicle or running around the Citadel doing side quests, which can be uneventful for the most part - if not downright boring. On the other hand, running or driving around afford you some spectacular views such as the Earth rise from the moon or awe-inspiring vista from the Citadel docking bay.
In addition to the reasons above, the primary reason that ME1 is special to me is its story elements. As a former fan of the 80s science fiction mini-series like Battlestar Galactica (the one and the only original one, of course) or Buck Roger, I have to say that ME1 captured the atmosphere and the mood of these mini-series perfectly - and even better in many cases. As is, obviously having drawn many experiences from their excellent previous work in the Knight of the Old Republic, the EAbioware writing team, headed by Drew Kapyshyn, did a stellar job in creating their own science fiction universe and its own saga.
The music in ME1, composed by Jack Wall and Sam Hulick, may not be perfect - but it is a perfect fit for the game. Surely, it is not as melodramatic as the music in ME3; nor is it as inspiring as ME2's. However, when framed within of the aforementioned science fiction genre, it is simply perfect. As is, I also have the soundtrack of ME1 and highly recommend it fellow ME fans.
Another remarkable achievement for ME1 - at least for me - is that up until ME1, I never really give a damn about voice acting in games. In fact, I strongly dislike the idea of merging video games and movies together - and I still do. However, ME1 is an exception due the outstanding performances by virtually all the actors involved - especially Jennifer Hale, who voiced the female Commander Sheppard.
As for the limited edition contents, ME1 has the best content in the series IMO. In spite of their stingy habits, EAbioware included a fair amount of goodies here that get thumbs up from me. The highlights are the mini-artbook, which is short but sweet, and the metal tin case that feels substantial and well designed. However, I do have one minor caveat with the CE package: The plastic slipcover, although nice looking, fits around the metal case too loosely. What this means is that, if you are not carefully in handling it, the heavy metal case will slip right out of the slipcover and fall flat on the floor (resulting in a small dent in my case, but a sizable dent in the heart of a connoisseur like myself).
In conclusion, and also in retrospection, in spite of all the little things that ME1 did not get right, the overall game is beautifully executed and its story is a substantial work of well-implemented science fiction. Therefore, whether you are newcomer to the ME series or a veteran, it's always a good time to embrace the eternity of Mass Effect 1 at least once... and again. | video-games_xbox |
End this Securom Stuff Now. Please people, DON'T buy this game. It's true that I am reviewing this game without having even played it. Why? Because the problem is NOT with the game itself but with what is hidden on it. I am a big fan of the Red Alert series and was anticipating this game's release. But after hearing about the DRM and securom issues attached to it, I am now boycotting it. It is too bad because Red Alert 3 looks like an awesome game. I was willing to shell out 50 bucks for a new copy of this game until I found out that it includes securom with it. Securom is installed on your computer WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT OR KNOWLEDGE (they certainly don't tell you on the box) and it CANNOT BE REMOVED to the best of my knowledge without reformatting the entire computer. From what I have read on numerous blogs on the subject, it hacks into the security of your system essentially giving EA partial control over (or at the very least access to information in) your system. There is also an activation limit of 5 times for the game. After five, you're out of luck unless you want to call up EA, waste your time and money, and plead to them for an extra activation. EA "claims" they will "eventually" (whatever that means) take the activation limit off. EVEN IF only half the things said about securom are true and the activation limits are "eventually" turned off, you are still left with a malware program (securom) stuck on your computer that you are unable to remove (EVEN IF you uninstall the game).
So I urge everyone interested in this game to either boycott it or pirate it. Oh and by the way EA, I'm not a software pirate. I would've never even considered such a thing until I found out about this securom stuff. You know where I found it out from? Blogs on the net from outside sources because you certainly wouldn't tell me would you? No, you'd rather I install the game on my computer and let me find out after the fact that I also put securom on my computer. Why didn't you put a label on your product about it? You have just lost yourself a customer. If I was a pirate I wouldn't be bothering to write about the product on Amazon, but after having heard about this securom program, I'm inclined to pirate the game just to protest this act. From what I understand, pirated versions don't have the securom attached to them. As a gamer, I'm interested in getting the game (legally if possible) and if a software company forces me to not get the game or to pirate it, it's their fault.
GET IT TOGETHER EA. STOP HURTING YOUR CUSTOMERS AND HELPING PIRACY.
I would also like to thank Amazon.com for letting us gamers freely voice our opinions about products listed on their website. They have allowed both SPORE and Red Alert 3's ratings to crash as a result of angry gamer's reviews and I MUST applaud them for that. | video-games_xbox |
This review is for the GAMEPLAY ALONE. I read a lot of bad stuff about the graphical glitches and hang-ups in this game, so I borrowed a buddy of mines to play it before I bought it. I never let technical issues's stop me from getting a game unless its something as abysmal as a pc game that crashes every time you save your game or something fun like that.
This game is an extraordinary new title from square-enix. While it certianly pays homage to the strategy titles of old like Shining Force or Dark Wizard, it makes me think more of something like Dynasty Warriors, but as an rpg, a true rpg. That is to say that the battles take place on large fronts but still focus in on your main group. Its essentially a take on the epic feel of the huge battles that take place in a world wide war, but without losing focus on your select group of heroes. Its quite novel actually if you ask me and takes the feel of the drama up a notch. The story, from what I saw of the first 10 hours is quite compelling, especially for something done by the new cash-in squad at SE. The graphics are better than FFXII, so I wish people would stop making that comparison. The art technique and layout of the world itself CAN be compared to FFXII only because that is the type of rpg world SE seems to want to build now. I think their plan is to try and make rpg more accessable to American's by getting away from the Japanese form, which seems to be less popular(god knows why...).
I can tell from 10 hours I will love this game but, having said all that, I am going to wait for the PS3 before I purchase my copy. I own both systems and can wait 4 months or so for the release of what will hopefully be a much more rounded out and perfected version of the game. It seems like SE tried as hard as they could to push this game to market before the holiday season because it was never supposed to come out before early first quarter of '09. Its simply presonal preference though, because I really want to get the best version of this game because it is THAT GOOD, honestly, and I do not want anything to take away from the experience.
If you do not own a PS3 and want every rpg that is worth playing, you sincerly need to buy this game because it will not disappoint you. Tenchnical issues aside, its the best your going to get before FFXIII is finally released(unless you own a PS2 still, then it is Persona 4 ;p ). | video-games_xbox |
Worth the buy for RPG gamers. I've played Final Fantasy X (amazing game), Lost Odyssey (also amazing), and Final Fantasy XII (so,so). While I can't rank the story depth of The Last Remnant with these three games, I have to give recognition for its amazing battle system. The graphics a really good. This game starts off with a weak lead into the story, for me. Learning how to use the battle system is complicated, at first. In comparison to the Final Fantasys' turn based battle system, I find it to be very very auto intelligent. You don't always have control over what battle commands your unit or team will use. It keeps the game interesting. In The Last Remnant you are fighting with several units, not one team or person. It's confusing at first, but once you learn how to handle your units the battles become a lot more fun. The battles can be time consuming. There are times that you may have a large amount of enemies to take on at one time. With a larger number of units the battle could end quickly, depending on the strength of your opponents and the fortitude of you team. Like the other games in its class, there is a mix of battle styles for units. There is the weapon based combat battles that require customization of your weapons and armor and there is black magic and healing magics that are enhanced as your healers grow stronger. You do get to choose which forms of battle arts you want to enhance for you members. It would take too long to break those choices down. You do need to discover the right unit combos for the types of enemies you need to defeat. How you combine your units will make a huge difference in battle outcome.
While you don't need a strategy guide, per say for this game, there are a lot of sidequest that can be missed. Some sidequests are more essential than others. So you may need some guidance.
This game has lovely graphics. The music is so so. I find it to be a unique game because of the battle system. It's a really battle system. It was worth the buying for me. The Last Remnant also has replay value, if you desire to do so. You may discover something new the second time around.
What's missing in this game for me is customization in the midst of battle, the ability to customize each character, the limit of individual control during battle, the story is not really in depth and if you don't enjoy a lot of battling it can't get to be tedious. If however you like a good battle system this may be the game for you. I think it's worth a try. You do have to give it some time before the game has you hooked. I almost gave up in the beginning, but I'm so glad that I stuck it out. | video-games_xbox |
Don't do it! There are other games worth the money. The game isn't worth the $40 dollars I paid for it. No one should waste their money on this. There are so many problems with this game but the most frustrating is getting stuck in a doorway, so if I didn't save I have to restart the mission. Also, controller died and instead of pausing the game, it took me back to the main menu, which also made me have to restart the mission. When near a wall, I turned to look where the enemies were, and the screen split into three shapes. It's a lot like Hitman, master room keys, poison, civilian, enemies, disguises, lock picking, the levels rate you on your stealth, and blah, blah, blah. This is a copycat of Hitman with less options like being able to jump balconies and it has plenty of bugs. I could probably give more reasons not to buy this game but I'm currently running in place, in a DOORWAY!
And, how can someone not compare this game to Hitman? For the reasons above, it has too many of the same ideas but was not made as well as Hitman. I gave it a shot, but how can I recommend a game I think isn't worth the money they're asking for? Nobody cares how hard it is to make a game, it's their job they get paid to do it. Is it wrong for the people they are profiting from to expect at least a decent game? If a bridge is built and the day it's opened it collapses, is anyone going to tell the workers "The bridge you built collapsed, but building a bridge is hard work so I'll give you four stars anyways."? If they can't handle the criticism, than maybe they should've took the time to release the game right. All I see is, they had an idea, though unoriginal, forced it through development to release it and expect people to pay $50 for a flawed game. I recommend not buying this game, if we get anymore cheerleaders for 'games are hard to make' imagine all the games that we will be fooled into buying. Let's not lower the bar to everyones' a winner because $50 is a lot for some of us. | video-games_xbox |
Neither plot nor combat nor graphics are what they should be. Dragon Age 2 is long on potential but short on achievement. Several aspects of it are middle-of-the-road, and while a great plot can make up for repetitive gameplay or a great combat system for so-so graphics, there isn't really a part of the game that stands out. Moreover, there are flaws in key areas that detract from the game's enjoyability. The potential latent in Dragon Age 2 was realized in Dragon Age: Origins. The contrast between those two games simply makes this one all the more disappointing.
NO PLOT
The story follows your rise from low origins to being champion of Kirkwall. Unfortunately, this is not a unified story. You start off as poor. You need money. Act I concludes with you getting money. Act II is an entirely different plot, though you have money (I actually liked this plot, and wish they had done something with it). Act III presents an entirely different plot, though you have money and prestige. The plot is essentially three downloadable-content-sized modules rather than a stand-alone game.
I found myself wondering what I was doing and why. What was my character's motivation? In Dragon Age: Origins, by contrast, why I was killing something was pretty easy to understand. Gather allies and unite Ferelden to defeat the darkspawn. In a sense, Dragon Age 2 is far more realistic: wander aimlessly with no sense of purpose, wondering when it will all end. However, precisely because that is my real life, I like my fantasy to have a little bit more of a unified story arc. Dark fantasy doesn't get a pass on this: it should just be a morally ambiguous story arc.
The randomness of the plot is concealed by a framing narrative. One character is telling your story to someone else, and we occasionally get a glimpse of that that "future" conversation in gameplay. At one point (don't worry, this is not a spoiler), one person objects, "You mean the Champion knowingly <did X>?!" The narrator responds, "He didn't know what we would find there. None of us did." So far as I could tell, all we found was a bunch of loot. No ancient evil accidentally unleashed, nothing that impacts you later in the game (beyond a side-quest). The writers tried to make up for a lack of storyline by having the dialogue tell us that there was a compelling story being told.
COMBAT: RUN AROUND LIKE AN IDIOT
A lackluster plot might be forgivable if minute-to-minute gameplay were exciting and engaging. I did not find that to be the case.
The only way the game developers know how to keep combat challenging is to swarm you with wave after wave of enemies (to wear you down), or hit you with a powerful enemy, or both. Being super powerful is really cool, so the game lets you become super powerful. When you become powerful, small enemies can't stand up to you no matter how many of them there are. That gets a bit boring, so the game lets you nerf the enemies to make them harder. Of course, that means that the bosses become literally impossible. If they can kill you with four hits, and it takes more than a hundred to do them in, and there is no timing involved in the combat system (which is why the game doesn't know how to make combat challenging other than swarms or bosses), then I'd say that counts as impossible.
There is a strategy to beat such a boss, however. Have your tank get its attention, take control of your tank, and run away while mages and rogues pummel it from a distance. Several other reviewers have complained that Dragon Age 2 changed the combat system so you have to mash buttons (you must hit "A" every time you wish to swing your sword). That was not my experience. Instead, combat involves running around like an idiot. This means never seeing the combat, it taking place behind you and all. It also means never playing your chosen character, since your tank cannot be informed of this strategy, leaving it to AI control. So, no matter what class you choose, combat involves moving your party's warrior away from the enemy. For ten minutes. Or playing on an easier difficulty level, which is also unsatisfying.
AESTHETIC MISJUDGMENT
The graphics aren't half-bad from a technical perspective, but the aesthetic that these graphics attempt to convey is just not interesting. It isn't really dark or dirty, something the engine won't allow. The slums aren't cramped (since that would require more advanced AI pathfinding). But the changes from Dragon Age: Origins seem to want to move the game in that direction. The campaign map is not a map, but an artistic rendering. This simply reinforces the fact that you are not free to explore the world, that the various places are disconnected levels designed by someone who wasn't particularly good at level design.
DEVELOPER LAZINESS RESULTING IN PLAYER BOREDOM
There are a number of small problems that further detract from the game. Broken quests now (unfortunately) seem to be par for the course when it comes to video games in general, and there are a few here.
Developers also look to cut corners, but here this was taken to an extreme. The same maps are used again and again, not even different textures or lighting to try to disguise the fact (unlike Mass Effect, another BioWare game that reused maps). Even the crates are always in the same place. And to drive it home to you, some doors are filled in with concrete to let you know that you cannot go there: they do not even put in a wall.
There is no choice regarding where you want to go. Even if the level map might permit you to choose (e.g., four doors in a square room), two doors are locked. So, each map is designed to have you walk in a straight line from the beginning to the end, fighting whatever you meet. The various twists and turns are there simply to disguise the fact. In fact, the level designers think it perfectly acceptable that someone who brings down dragons, has three stout friends with him, and knows how to pick locks should be turned aside by a locked door because they were too lazy to make it into a wall or design more than one level.
CONCLUSION
Thus, you do not have a plot-driven purpose in the game. Ignoring the plot and focusing on combat is unsatisfying, the enemies being either ridiculously easy or ridiculously hard. And there is not even variety in where you do the purpose-less, boring things you do. That's a little bit too much like real life for a video game. | video-games_xbox |
6th time's a charm. Tekken 6 revisits the franchise and attempts to make a well rounded home console experience with extras. How well does it do? Let's take a look.
At the start, the game splits itself into two sections: Offline and Online play. You can play offline and either face the computer, or an endless string of ghost cpu characters. There's also survival and team attack modes. It's pretty generic here and you should know that this is standard fare for most fighting games.
The online modes are split between player matches and ranked. Here comes problem number one, and it's a big one. They have got to fix the matchmaking. It's sluggish, even when it claims that you have an excellent connection with your opponent. I had numerous matches where the game slows down significantly: enough to throw off the timing on both ends. What should be a nice match becomes a bumbling mess of random attacks, just due to the timing. Thankfully, things like that can be patched, so here's hoping for a speedy patch!
Expanding on Tekken Force mode in Tekken 3, and Devil Within in Tekken 5, the Scenario mode in Tekken 6 is an expansive game all on its own. You have to open up stages on a map, and each stage pits you in different situations. It takes a little getting used to the control scheme, but it's fun, and your AI counterpart is somewhat capable of handling herself, so you won't feel stranded.
The game's graphics are not as sleek as the arcade version. It's full of jaggies, and that's unfortunate. Aside from that, it's a brilliant looking game, but it's not as polished as even Virtua Fighter 5, which has excellent character models.
The control is spot on. I use a joystick, but regardless of what you use, the control is very responsive.
Major complaint (and my reason for docking the game one star): Loading times. They are horrible! Your match gets to the VS prescreen, and there's a moment of time where only your gamertag and record shows, then a bit of loading, then the character models show, then a bit MORE loading, and finally you can play. Loading times during scenario mode are no better, as you will find your character come to a halt right before a boss battle to load a scene. I would understand if this were a cutscene that used CG, but these are real-time scenes, often in the same environment you were just playing. It's a little strange and disrupts the flow of the game.
All that aside, the game is fantastic. I was never a huge fan of the Tekken series, and really am more of a Virtua Fighter fan, but this game is easily accessible, and difficult to master, which is the true mark of a great fighting game (compared to VFs nearly impenetrable fortress of a learning curve). If you're new to the series, it's an excellent choice with a robust character roster. If you're a veteran, then pick this up, but be warned that your online experience will probably suffer for a while. | video-games_xbox |
Simply Put, Amazing. I wound up buying Terraria based on a recommendation of a friend. I had initially written it off as some sort of Minecraft clone and to be perfectly honest, I think I am one of the only people in the world that do not really care for Minecraft. I just have a really hard time getting past the low resolution textures and graphics. Anyways, one of my good gaming freinds told me that while it did have similar aspects to it, that of building and resource gathering, it had many aspects that made it very different from Minecraft. I am a big fan of 2D sidescrolling games in general so I decided to take a chance and bought it on Xbox Live Arcade. I basically spent the next week completely immersed in this game.
For those unaware, Terraria is basically a 2D sandbox style exploration game. One of the best aspects to Terraria is the world is randomly generated at the start of the game. This type of randomly generated world/dungeon is becoming more and more popular in the gaming world and for good reason. It significantly adds to the replayability of a particular game. Terraria does have many things in common with Minecraft. Like Minecraft, the heart of the game is exploring, collecting materials, and crafting an ever increasing number of items available to you. You start off in the forest, but Terraria has many different biomes with which to explore, each offering unique items with which to craft with. By the time you get 8-10 hours into Terraria, you will already have a large number of items that you can create, including various types of armor and weapons. One of the best items in the game is the rocket boots that one can craft. They allow one to traverse long distances in quick measure. Not to mention, its just fun flying around in rocket boots!
One of the biggest differences between Minecraft and Terraria lies in the fact that combat plays a much larger role in Terraria and that is ultimately one of my favorite asepcts about the game. On top of there being enemies galore, all over Terraria's map, you also have the added bonus of multiple boss monsters that one can summon at certain points in the game. The big eye you see on the XBox 360 Terraria box art is one of these bosses, The Eye of Cthulu. The bosses are definitely challenging, especially if your playing the game solo. Playing Terraria with friends is definitely fun, but I actually prefer to play solo a lot of the time as its a much more challenging game when your going it solo.
There is a small tutorial at the beginning of the game that gives you a basic idea of the games mechanics and how you go about collecting resources and building items, but its short and not very in depth. That actually wound up being one of my favorite aspects to Terraria, the fact that it just basically throws you into the world and you have to really figure everything out on your own. I can see where this might annoy some people, but I absolutely loved this aspect of the game. Slowly buy surely you learn more and more about the world of Terraria. Its just makes the whole exploration aspect to Terraria that much more exciting. Another interesting aspect to Terraria is the NPC's that populate the world. There are NPC's that will come and live in your shelter, but only if they have thier own furnished rooms. There are various NPC's, each offering various services including healing, selling items, etc. It definitey adds incentive for creating a really nice home base.
If there is one aspect of Terraria that I found disappointing, its that its completely void of any sort of story or quests. As amazing as Terraria is, it would have just been that much better if the game actually had a story and quests. Personally, I think that is the next step for this genre, adding a story and various quests. A Terraria styled RPG, one that had a story and quests, now that would be an absolutely amazing game.
Bottom line - While Terraria definitely has a lot in common with Minecraft, it is most definitely not just another Minecraft clone. Terraria takes some of the best aspects of Minecraft, adds its own unique qualities, and ultimately creates a completely different kind of crafting/sandbox style game. I had serious doubts about wether I would enjoy this game, and then I wound up sinking like 100 hours into it in the first couple weeks alone. If you enjoy sandbox style games or games that have exploring at the center, then I highly recommend you give Terraria a try. Its one of the best games I have played yet on Xbox Live Arcade.
5 Stars! | video-games_xbox |
YOU BETTER READ THIS IF you are considering this game. Ive played ALL Armored Core games since its birth. Not too mention Steel Battalion, Steel Battalion Line of Contact (until shortly after the servers went down), and a bunch of others. Including that abysmal game "Front Mission Evolved". No.. I never played "Steel Battalion Heavy Armor". Just looking at it was enough to cause pain. So anyway, onto the review.
-Graphics: The mechs, the parts, the weapons, all look great. Seriously. The maps... No. Like all AC games they put about as much focus into the maps as you put into someone you throw into an oubliette. They forget about it. So don't expect any amazing landscapes or wonderous battlegrounds here. Its a bunch of buildings, streets, fences, and occasionally some open landscapes with a hue change. All their focus was on the mechs, your ability to change their colors and such. Which can be fun if you find a build you like, then you can sit there for hours staring at your creation admiring yourself.
-Single player story: Garbage. After you go to the trouble of fine tuning your masterpiece the single player campaign is no more than a series of simple "go kill it" or "go kill them" or "go do this/that and kill it/them". I beat the game, and it was so memorable I can't for the life of me tell you the point of the story. You cant even tell who you are fighting for in this game the story is that poorly written, and voice acted. All your base now belong to someone who wrote the dialogue.
-Multiplayer: Wow. The multiplayer has regions locked out. So basically you can only play with people in your region. If that wasn't bad enough, they advertise it as having a theatre mode. NO. Its a recording of a top down view of a schematic map, that has icons replacing the mechs and what they do is replaced by text actions. In other words "Bill448 killed Max2109" is the ONLY thing you get to see from yer battles. That and a circle with a number in it to represent you on a top down viewed map. They advertise this game as "5 vs 5". NO. this game locks 1 of the 5 players into a command role of telling other players on your team where to go and what to do. This should have been an optional ROLE. But no... sorry you have to sit there and watch from, thats right, a top down view of a schematic map clicking on icons telling your team what to do. So its not "FIVE VERSUS FIVE" its "FOUR VERSUS FOUR" so don't let them lie to you. Lastly... the developer support for this game is practically NONexistent. Its been about a year since they released it. In the developers homeland they got a patch to fix issues with the weapon balance in this game. Here in the states... Nope. The gaming community here in the USA didn't get a fix for things broken in this game (which last I checked nobody likes buying anything broken) until about a year later. So over that year of having a broken game how much of the gaming community stuck around? None. So the people to play online with left a LONG time ago.
Bottom line, you buy this youll have nobody to play with but yourself. IF anybody is online playing this... good luck. They all have their little "clans" and unlike the Steel Battalion world map scenario this games multiplayer is based on regional segregation, and in-game clan animosity. Good luck with that. | video-games_xbox |
Great game-- play for days. This is not a game for the casual player. It requires a large time commitment and a determined attitude to complete what is renowned as a very difficult game to win. It requires considerable skill to succeed skill that you will develop by practice and experience so that when you succeed, it will be a cause of pleasure and pride which in my opinion makes it a great game. If, on the other hand, you get frustrated by having to play the same scene over and over, then this is not for you.
There are some barriers to enjoying the game that could lead the new player into giving up. I am assuming that the hard-core gamers bought this years ago and the current reader is a more casual player looking for a new game now that the price has come down. Plenty of other places describe the game so rather than repeat that - here are a few points from my own play of the off-line single player version that I hope will get you through the tough times at the start. It will be worth it.
1: This is a complex game but comes with no instructions! The game makes extensive use of small icons that, without explanation, are frustrating and confusing. Search online (IGN is a good source) to get explanations of these and various player attributes and weapon/defense attributes. This will be important as you develop your player. Find the green herald at Majula for player upgrades and the all-important Estus flask - and the blacksmith for weapons upgrades after you get the door key in Forest of Fallen Giants. Look for non-combatants throughout the game and talk to them repeatedly as they often will have stuff to sell.
2: The targeting system can be very annoying. It is difficult to strike opponents accurately without it but at times it can get you in trouble. An enemy coming at you may not be recognized as such until the last minute. Even worse activating the targeting system too soon may lead to the player making an about-face and turning his back to the enemy! With multiple enemies you may find the one across the room selected while the enemy in front of you is ignored. This is especially important, since the player will turn his body toward the selected target that may again result in him facing away from the more immediate threat. Move into a new area very carefully so that only one enemy comes toward you it makes it so much easier.
3: Timing is everything. Your player will take a significant amount of time to complete a move. Different weapons have different times to complete a move. Learn to deal with this it is a feature, not a defect! The same applies to enemies exploit their moments of vulnerability when they make big swings or lunges.
4: Huge enemies early in the game seem impossible to defeat but don't give up, there is a way. Almost all enemies have territorial boundaries. Back away (with enemy targeted so you are facing him as you go backwards) and eventually he will stop, turn around and go back to home base. Thats when to strike.
5: Watch the green (strength) bar, not just the red (health) one. With strength depleted, you cannot attack or defend! Jumps, rolls, running, striking and being struck all diminish strength for a period. Back away when the green bar is low. If possible lower your shield while backing as strength recovery is much quicker that way.
To wrap up. This is a very large game world with enormous numbers of possible ways to play, large numbers of characters, enemies, weapons systems, magic, monsters - everything. I recommend it highly to the motivated player and hope that my notes help you get beyond the initial feeling of confusion and being overwhelmed to really enjoying it. | video-games_xbox |
3/4 of a good game. Shooters, shoot em ups, shmups, whatever you want to call them, are a rare genre of games. They always have been somewhat of a niche category throughout the years, with limited production numbers, and a very loyal and vocal fan base. Sadly, fewer and fewer shooters have been released since 2008, and only a handful in recent years, usually only as digital copies. As such, collectors pay high prices for almost any shooter on disc or cartridge, pushing the prices for some games, like Musha or the Cotton series, through the stratosphere.
The Xbox 360 had shooters though. From classics series like Raiden and R-Type to previous generation games like Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga. Xbox 360 also had a large batch of new shooter games on the system. Some were released as digital download only and some were region locked to Japan, but many others were ported to North American and European regions and more still were released on region free discs. This means there are quite a few games to buy, collect, and enjoy.
With the brief history lesson out of the way, we come to Otomedius Excellent by the good people at Konami, when they were good people, and allegedly inspired by the "Gradius" series.
This one falls into the "cute em up" sub genre and is also nearly a Bullet hell shooter.
The plot? Oh God I have no idea. Scantilly dressed big boobed anime girls fight a battle across 8 levels. The game supports 3 player simultaneous play and the challenge lies in avoiding bullets and using as few continues as possible, just like in every shooter.
There is a story here but it is impossible to read the subtitles while playing, and almost as hard when watching someone else play. The action simply draws your eyes away. Not that a plot matters in every game. The Darius series, for example, is about killing a bunch of space-robot-fish-monster-ships... or something, but it's great fun!
The downside to Otomedius Excellent are twofold. It was released at a time when DLC was becoming more important than the initial game the DLC was made for, and it was made by a company who loves to charge big bucks for DLC - Konami. Unlike modern games with unfinished buggy games at launch, season pass scams, pay to win and the like, you get a complete working game from Konami, but there are extra levels and characters hidden behind a paywall, and that paywall is still quite expensive, even 7 years later.
On top of that, there are two versions, regular and special editions. Neither version contain any free or unlocked DLC. The special edition comes with some goodies and a sound track. Don't buy the special edition used as it comes with a (possibly used) sexy anime girl pillow case... EEEEEEW!!!!
Since the game sells for $15 or less, the $30 worth of DLC doesn't seem like a bad deal for those who want the full experience. On the other hand, the DLC can't be resold, and if 360 servers are ever shut off, you may lose that data forever. On top of that, Konami prefer "remasters" to backwards compatibility on Xbox One, so you may have to buy it again someday.
With that said, I can't recommend Otomedius Excellent to collectors, as this one has little or no value, and with a third of the content as DLC, it probably never will.
From a player standpoint, I can recommend the complete game only if you fully understand the DLC may suddenly disappear one day.
As it is, the game is good, but those DLC packs make it hard to give a huge thumbs up. There are better shooters out there that come complete and are ready to play.
Otomedius Excellent:
Pros: Ocasional bullet hell shooter, cheap, cutesy, excellent soundtrack, visually stunning, frustrating, but with good frustration.
Cons: The cover alone may get you labelled as a perv, difficulty broken by unlimited continues, slow to start, hard to build up weapons at first, DLC and paywalls prevent any game from being standalone masterpiece nowdays, this is when it all started.
Final verdict: 6/10 | video-games_xbox |
Awesome portable monitor with great sound. This is a great portable monitor with great sound. Currently GAEMS does not have a standard vesa mount for the M240 but with a little ingenuity you can make one with GAEMS M240's included standing attachment. I made one to the Vivo stand monitor bracket (http://www.amazon.com/VIVO-Standing-Optional-bolt-through-STAND-V003D/dp/B00FPT8LDY?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00). This is only until GAEMS starts shipping a standard vesa mount for the M240, which they tell me will happen soon. Another great product that goes great with the M240 is the Logitech Home Control Hub and remote(http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-Home-Control-Devices/dp/B00N3RFC4G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462744881&sr=8-1&keywords=logitech+home+control), I have learned the IR commands from the inlcuded mini remote that came with the M240, and set up scenes for switching inputs with one button presses as well as quick control of brightness and volume. I plan on purchasing the Logitech Harmony smart keyboard for even more convenient control of the monitor when using as a workstation (http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-915-000225-Keyboard-Streaming-Entertainment/dp/B00KOLNVAQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1462743083&sr=8-5&keywords=logitech+living+room+keyboard) This monitor is great for portable gaming; productivity; Listening to music; and watching movies. It has an equalizer for fine tweaking of sound, and picture adjustment to match the display to your activity. It has 2 HDMI inputs and 1 HDMI output for mirroring the display to anything else with HDMI. I love the sub woofer out port, I use this with a standard 3.5 mm audio jack to RCA adapter (http://www.amazon.com/Dynex-Mini-Stereo-Audio-Cable/dp/B0032JAG4G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1462747054&sr=8-2&keywords=1%2F8+jack+to+rca), that way I can get thumping low frequencies coming out of any speaker of my choice with an line input, all while still utilizing the 4 speakers on the monitor for mid and high frequencies. Overall I am very satisfied with this purchase and would recommend to family and friends. | video-games_xbox |
Exporting Old (RB1&2) Songs Disabled - Deceptive Advertising by Harmonix - Don't buy now - Wait and See - Regretful Buyer. Same game as before. Purchased this from Costco.
I purchased this as a previous Rock Band and Guitar Hero player. At the time of purchase I had read about importing songs from previous Rock Band iterations. Having purchased Rock Band 1 and 2 as well as Rock Band Beatles I figured it would be great to purchase Rock Band 4 and get access to a large backlog of music to play in a single convenient place. Apparently not. Even though you see taglines like "Freely import your previously purchased Rock Band music library into RB4" Harmonix has disabled the ability to export songs from Rock Band 1 and 2 and based on their verbiage will not allow you to freely access these songs in Rock Band 4. Of course all the songs will be available for purchase. If you had previously exported songs to Rock Band 3 you are likely OK and any songs you purchased individually will likely be available (for the most part. . .). Of course there are "1,500 songs" available for download at around $1.99 each if you have hundreds of dollars lying around.
Extremely disappointed with Harmonix and their deceptive advertising. I guess I can still play all my old songs on my Xbox 360.
I would highly recommend waiting and seeing where the dust settles in terms of importing previously purchased songs into Rock Band 4. There is nothing better about this game compared to previous iterations and the false promise of exporting previously purchased music appears to be deceptively worded. {I consider buying the previously released versions of the games as purchasing access to the music included on those disks.)
Also feel free to browse the five star reviews left by Harmonix employees on Amazon as mentioned by multiple news outlets.
Save your money for better games or play your previous iterations of Rock Band or Guitar Hero until Harmonix is honest about your ability to access previously purchased content. I regret making this purchase. Hopefully Harmonix can make this right, though I am fully expecting them to go for the money and not hold up their promises. | video-games_xbox |
Beautiful graphics, Challenging and Fun. This game was a lot of fun. If you are familiar with the Buffy the Vampire Game you will find that the controls are very similar. It is made by the same company. Like the Buffy game, you can't save just anywhere and have to wait for the section to end before it automatically saves. I know others have complained about this but at the same time when you finally get a difficult level finished you feel greatly satisfied and I don't think you'd be able to feel that way if you could save everytime you had to go into battle or make a difficult jump.
Although Harrison Ford does not do the voice of Indy you wouldn't know it if they didn't tell you. The voice actor is great and sounds just like him.
I didn't find the controls hard to master at all with the exception of doing some of the puzzles which required you to switch back and forth between views to change stuff. That part I got a little confused about. Other than that the controls seemed smooth to operate and it has a sort of training in the beginning telling you how to do the different moves.
It had many different scenarios that were all very beautiful and well done. From scenes in a castle to scenes in a jungle and even a lot of under water swimming.
Indy has many weapons to choose from including, throwing knives, machetes, shotguns, revolvers, a whip and even a Xena like throwing thing that comes back to him.
This is a very fast paced game for some parts of it and the slightest error will kill you quick but like I said above, once you master it it's a blast to complete it.
I had one level near the end that I thought was ridiculously difficult and it was extremely frustrating to keep getting killed and then starting it all over with. It involved a lot of precisely timed jumping. It took me literally several hours to just get past that one point. But that could've just been me panicking everytime I had to start again! And there was one other part where you need to shoot down airplanes that may also have to be done many times before you can complete it.
I would've rated the game at 4.5 stars instead of 5 just for that one difficult level but because I wasn't given that option I gave it five stars.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the game is rated "Teen". Although there is no blood at some points you can shoot someone in the back of the head to kill them instantly. Some parents may not want their kids to play this because of that. Again, there isn't any blood but the act of targeting someone's head and then shooting is very violent. | video-games_xbox |
Better but still needs a lot of work. I think Madden 12 has made some progress....I think. However, Madden 11 was so bad that it's hard to tell. I'm unsure if I like it more because Madden 11 was garbage, or if it has some actually quality to it. Here is as list of things I consider to be pro's & con's of Madden 12.
All of my experience's are based from playing on the All Madden setting.
Pro's.
1.)The Presentation. The presentation is very good. It definitely feels/looks more authentic and adds excitement before the game. The presentation in previous Madden's was a joke. I think it was Madden 10 that had Jet's flying over and fire works going off before every game. Doe's this normally happen? Jet's...maybe. Seems like I've seen that happen on occasion, but it doesn't happen before every game for every team. But fireworks...before a NOON kickoff? What team shoot's off fire workers during the day before kick off? Ridiculous. I sometimes wondered if the Madden programmers actually watched football? Well, that joke has been replaced with some realism. The Madden team has done a great job this time around.
2.)Catch options/awareness. This year receivers seem to be able to do more. Whether it's trying to stay in bounds or come down in the end zone or falling to their knee's to make a catch, this aspect has been (thankfully) expanded. It was always frustrating to throw a pass to a receiver who seemed oblivious to the sidelines or made no effort to come down in the end zone despite their high ratings.
3.) Franchise. I love the new franchise additions. Trying to rebuild or maintain a good team over the years is my favorite thing to do with Madden. I'm especially thrilled with the cut day's. You have walk on's and rookie's who's rating's are not revealed until you play them during the pre-season. The longer they last, the more you learn about their rating's. Occasionally you do get some gems that are good enough to make your team and actually start in some cases. You don't fully know what you have until all the pre-season games have been played. Yet, after every pre-season game, you have to make some cut's. It makes this a lot more enjoyable. You really don't know if this guy you're cutting will be a better player then the guy you're keeping. The auction for free agent's is better, as well. You can't sign every player you want. There are many good, solid additions to the franchise mode.
Con's
1.) New collision system. This has been describe as a new feature that "uses momentum to produce more authentic tackling." Not true. Here's an example. My linebacker, Demarcus Ware, who happens to be a All Pro/All word linebacker has gotten past the offensive line man and is making a b-line to the running back who is taking a hand off from the QB. Ware is running at almost full speed, the back is just getting started and has taking two steps. Now, Ware should blast this guy...no matter who it is because Ware is a great linebacker and has a high rating AND has all the momentum. What happens? The running back trucks Ware!! Runs right over him. Not possible. This kind of thing happens all the time in this game. The multi tackle aspect is still bad. Many if not most of the time the initial tackler will get blown off when another tackler joins. You'll have big, massive DT's that get thrown off the ball carrier after the small DB join's in. Or the initial tackler will continue on the original projected path before the second hit holding the invisible man, I guess. It's also harder to tackle in the open field. Seems like every offensive player can cut on a dime. Trying to tackle in the open field reminds me of trying to operate a very sensitive mouse pad. You move the arrow a little to the left and you blow right past the link. A little to the right and the same thing. Maybe this is something that will change once I get used to it. But right know it's frustrating.
2.) Rating's. At this point I think the ratings are a practical joke on everyone. The only real noticeable ratings are the speed, quickness, and acceleration. Ever other rating seems to be pointless. Running back's will routinely break multiple tackles even if their strength,trucking,power, rating is low... and the defenders have a high tackle rating and the size/momentum. Big, massive, strong DT's routinely get tossed to the side or run over by smaller back's. Every running back I face is exactly the same... a tackle breaking beast. There is no difference between Ahmad Bradshaw and Adrian Peterson...in Madden, that is. None. Every back that I've faced will almost always break multiple tackle's before being brought down. It's so unrealistic that it becomes frustrating and not enjoyable. Maybe if I lower the setting that will help, but then what's the point of having a All Madden setting? I want it to be hard and challenging, but not in a unrealistic almost cheating kind of way. I find the same problem with the offensive line. All Pro linemen will routinely get beat by leaser opponents. I don't mind Albert Hansworth tossing my All Pro center to the side or knocking him on his butt, but when it's anybody and everybody, this becomes a frustration and it makes the whole rating system and everything else pointless. There's no point in bidding or drafting good offensive lineman because they get tossed around by every defense they face. At this point I've abandoned the play action. 8 out of 10 times I'm sacked. I thought maybe I wasn't running enough and therefore the defenders where not "buying" the play action...wrong. No matter how many times I ran it and no matter how successful I was at running the ball, almost every time I went play action I had a defender on me before I could even set my feet. They never even hesitated.
3.) The commentary sucks. I think they forgot they actually had this in the game. Collinsworth routinely contradicts himself. One minute your QB is one of the most accurate in the league, and then literally a play or two later accuracy is one of his weak points that he struggles with. There's this bizarre misplaced enthusiasm as well. Small, not so meaningful plays are celebrated, while big meaningful seemingly game altering play's seem unnoticed. It's like their not watching the same game, emotionally sometimes. It's the same with the crowd. At one point I was driving down the field in the last two minutes of a game to try and take the lead. At this point the crowd is cheering and appropriately in the game. I throw a pass to a receiver who appears to have made the catch for what would be a very needed first down...but they call him out of bounds. I challenge. They review it and over turn it which gives me this huge first down...and nothing. The crowd doesn't erupt in cheer or anything. The crowd is quiet....literally. No applause. No chanting. Nothing. I'm at home too, by the way. It was very disappointing. The replay sucks too. They show the replay but you don't get to watch the important part. They show my player running down field, turn and head towards the side line...and that's it. They don't show the catch and the keeping of the feet in bounds. They show multiple angles of my receiver running his route but not one angle of him making this great catch. Who signed off on this? How can someone see this and say "yeah, that's good."
Ultimately, Madden is what it always has been. It's either a complete disaster or it's close but not quite. I would say there has been some improvements, sure. But some of the most frustrating things that have plague this game over the years are alive and well. I wouldn't recommended you not buy it, but I wouldn't recommended that you do, either. | video-games_xbox |
An open world wasteland waiting to be explored. This game flawlessly coincides with the theatrical release of Mad Max with stunning wasteland environments and a fun free roam adventure with lots of looting and upgrading.
The gameplay is much like that of Batman Arkham series as it was creates by the same developers. Chain attacks, Dodge and counter attacks can all be found here. Your weapons are absolutely secondary to your arsenal, so if you'd are looking for a 3rd personal run and gunner this will not be the game for you. The weapons auto lock onto enemies to make it easier to utilize them. Weapons range from your shotgun which you carrun always as well as some vehicle weapon mods that can be upgraded onto your Magnum Opus vehicle.
Maxes car will be the single most important asset and you will be able to add custom mods in exchange for scrap which can be found all through out the game. Mods include tire traction, accelleration, ramming grills, spikes to inhibit baddies from hoppint onto your car, as well as engine upgrades and vehicle chassis's and shells.
Max himself can be upgraded with skill points earned by completing missions and and taking over bases. You generate coins that can be turned into a mysterious wanderer to improve your skills. So you will not be able to increase skills without traveling to this gentleman.
The game offers fast travel to certain points of interest that must be discovered first. It also offers a dynamic night and day cycle. The sandy dunes and rocks looks fantastic, it's a gorgeous game to look at.
I personally grow tired open world games as the missions seem to be repetitive and require countless hours of gameplay. But that should be expected and people who purchase these games know that as well. The story is interesting and it is fun to upgrade your vehicle and roam the wastelands.
The majority of the game will consist of taking out defensive towers and outposts to lower the defense rating of different territories. I don't find the game to be too difficult, but later on things can get hairy and you will want to make sure you upgrade Max as soon as it becomes available, which costs scrap.
Overall I think this is a great game and the price reduction will make it even more worth buying. | video-games_xbox |
Bad controls are the best thing about this game. This game is terrible. Maybe it's the Xbox version that sucks more than the PC verison, but it's just terrible. It's riddled with bugs (including glitched achievements that are unattainable and will never be fixed... a HUGE sore spot for a completionist like myself). And there's just nothing going for it.
The story is paper-thin. The game play itself qualifies as non-linear only in that the map is a circle. You start halfway up the west side of the island, you have to go around the southern tip, up the east side, to the north, and then back south to a western area just north of the beginning that you couldn't get to earlier in the game, and there's no way through the middle of the island. To compound the linearity, there are a couple of places at the north and south ends of the map where backtracking becomes difficult if not impossible. So if you miss something before crossing those lines, you can't back up to it. You have to fully circumnavigate the island again until you find what you missed. Aside from that, you can also go around small obstacles to get to your goal, which I guess also counts as non-linear? Maybe?
If you do miss something, going back around the island isn't that big of pain. It takes forever, but enemies never respawn, so if you've cleared an area you can just run right through it and not worry. This is both a boon and a pain. It means you have an artificially low level cap (seriously... what's the development world's facination with level 30?) But it also means that you don't have to fight the same inane battles over and over. By inane, I mean that there's no strategy to combat in this game. None, whatsoever. "Blocking" does nothing. It requires a ridiculously long and laborious animation during which the Nameless Hero puts away his weapon, pulls out his shield and holds it up. By the time it's in place, the enemy's attack to which you were reacting has usually already struck. To make matters worse, if you ever DO block something, it doesn't really absorb damage. To make matters even worse, blocking an attack causes both sides to recoil, but always in the AI's favor (when the hero strikes a blocking enemy, his recoil takes longer than the enemy's... when an enemy strikes a blocking hero, the enemy STILL recovers more quickly). To make matters EVEN WORSE, almost every enemy in the game - FROM THE BEGINNING - has an unblockable attack that they use just as often if not more so than their regular one. All of this together makes blocking - and the weighty presence of the shield itself - an absolutely pathetically useless hindrance to your progress. Don't waste any skill points on blocking until late in the game when you need the health boost you get from it. Until then, just don't block. In fact, just don't block ever. It's a waste of time.
This reduces combat to the same thing for EVERY enemy: shoot it from afar with your arrows and when it gets close, stick and dodge. That's the only way to survive, even on the easiest settings. After a brief journey into the world, enemies start showing up in groups of 3-6, and when you hit one with an arrow or a spell it pulls in the whole group. Spells are woefully underpowered until super-late in the game, and take far too long for very little damage output to make them useful in ANY melee, even against early-game enemies. The fire and ice spells have big area of effect versions at the end of the game, but they both suck. The fireball only does "real" damage (still very low) at the point of impact and the fringes are barely affected if at all (especially against the enemies at the very, very end of the game). Ice almost never freezes the enemy before it gets to you, and the freeze never lasts long enough. By the time you've cast your spell and gone through the idiotically long and unnatural sword-drawing animation, the enemy is unfrozen and attacking you again. Don't waste any skill points on fire or ice because they are underbalanced and suck.
This leaves lightning, which you can eventually charge up to unleash a version that bounces to nearby targets. This is only kinddasorrta useful because even on Easy, it misses its connecting flight more often than it makes it and never does enough damage to justify choosing it over an overdrawn arrow. Arrows almost always do more damage than spells, especially if it's a surprise attack in which case it deals (comparably) massive damage. If you open with a undetected arrow shot, you can usually kill the first target before the group gets to you. Once they're on you, you have to take little jabs and dodge out of the way of the attack (assuming you don't let yourself get surrounded). Since the Nameless Hero takes so friggin' long to unnaturally swing his sword, this is a serious pain. And if you use two-handed weapons, don't expect to live long at all because the swing animation just takes too long. Dodging can cancel your attack, fortunately, otherwise the game would be unbeatable because even on Easy, a group of regular enemies can kill the Nameless Hero in a single round of hits. Most hits will cause him to stagger, during which you can't do anything, which causes fighting a group to quickly turn into a painful snuff film on the first hit. This doesn't really work in the other direction though: there's only one weapon (some kind of mace) in the game that can actually stagger enemies with predictable success, but it mostly only works on low-level ones that you've already killed off by the time you get it. I don't remember feral enemies ever staggering and the demonic ones at the end just brush you off. The mace DOES work on the harpy-like enemies, though, so it's a good idea to keep it in your inventory once you get it even though it's relatively low powered and takes a bunch of hits to get a kill. Aside from that one very random case where you get an advantage, there is absolutely no standing your ground in this game, ever.
To compound this combat wierdness, some enemies have bizarre area-of-effect melee attacks: there's a raptor-like enemy that lunges and bites at you, and you Actually Take Damage Before It Even Starts Moving. This part always killed me because there's literally no collision detection here. If you are not dodging in the exact right direction, you take damage from this forward-moving attack - at the moment it begins, not even when the mouth closes! - every time, no matter where you are in relation to the enemy or its mouth. I thought I was crazy at first, so I rotated the camera to make sure and saw plain as day that I was taking damage from a bite attack that hadn't actually started when I was far enough away that I couldn't even hit the raptor with my own sword. This is a common effect in the game, especially against larger enemies. I don't know what happened, if the animations are just so slow and sluggish that the game gets confused and thinks the attack should have already connected so it just makes it do so, or if the developers really were lazy and made it a die roll or what, but a lot of enemies can hit you without actually hitting you. So you have to constantly dodge and hope that you land in a position where you can attack something nearby before you have to dodge again.
Even with the best armor, you'll get taken down by enemies in a heartbeat. Even with the best weapons there is NEVER a single-hit kill. Healing during combat? Dead before the spell finishes. Items? Even the best ones barely make up for what the worst monsters can do in a single hit. Even you do manage to get off a spell or use an item, everything is heal-over-time so you never get an instant save anyway. So it's always stick and dodge. Stick and doge. Swing and roll. Pray you never get hit. OVer. And. Over. And. Over. And. Over. Because. Nothing. Else. Ever. Works. After a very short while, that gets boring.
This isn't saved by the "quests". Aside from the bad explanations, tortured scripts, and bad voice acting, a lot of the quests themselves are very glitchy. You'll be exploring a new area, some crazy guy will run out of a hut and attack you and you kill him. Suddenly, you're in the middle of a new quest you never knew you started, with bizarre histories involving talking to someone you never met in a town you haven't been to yet. It's like the game didn't expect you to ever leave the road on your own and just put everyone right there with no real quest start trigger. Sometimes, you can get stuck because some quest givers won't move to where they're supposed to be to finish the quest if you haven't properly started it, and they won't give you the right dialog choices to finish the quest you accidentally started by accomplishing the goal, so you're stuck with a quest you can't progress. So I suggest stashing a save for EVERY new area to which you travel, and overwrite it every time you successfully complete a quest so that you have a recent enough save with a good state that you don't have to worry about losing anything. This may seem like a lot of trouble just so that you can finish each quest, but trust me, you'll want to finish as many quests as possible to max out that experience and get the rewards. You'll need the best equipment to stretch out your survivability even that extra 1/10 of a second. This is especially true of the items you get for completing all the relic sets. Get those! Use an online map if you have to, but get them because they're waaaaaay worth it. They still suck, and swinging them is just an ugly-looking process, but they suck the least and that makes them the least useless, which makes them the most useful. Convoluted?
Not so much as the animations, which I've mentioned are bizarre and stiff. From the laborious process of sheathing a weapon so that you can draw a shield, to the act of drawing a bow, to even jumping around, everything is just stiff and unnatural. Nothing is fluid, even enemy attacks. It gives the game a sluggish feel right from the start that you hope will get better as you level up and get more dexterous or whatever, but that never happens. Late-game enemies are big, and late-game armor is bulky to match, and the two combine to exacerbate the jostling animations. Since the camera follows the Nameless Hero, even through his horrible motions, it twists the games into this nasty swaying, drunken experience. I've been on lots of boats in my life, but I've never been seasick until I played this game. I had to stop one night close to the end of the game because I was literally about to yarf from the bizarre motion.
If you do make the mistake of getting this game, start off on the hardest difficulty. Combat isn't any different. You won't notice that the Nameless Hero is dying any faster. 1.32 seconds vs. 1.12 seconds of survivability isn't enough of a difference for my mortal, human brain to handle. So save yourself an unnecessary playthrough and get the difficulty achievement on the first go.
I might have been able to look through the bad bits if I had ever been a fan of its predecessors, but I was never a big PC gamer and I missed them all. But on its own merits, this game is bad and among the absolute worst I have ever played. | video-games_xbox |
A Game That Shines. The popular title, originally released for the PC is back for it's forth installment; but does Battlefield 4 meet our expectations, or is it just another modern-day shooter? Depending on who you ask, it can be the greatest game; or the absolute worst. Being in competition with other popular franchises like Call of Duty, Battlefield 4 pushes the boundaries with what a good game really is. But what does $60 plus tax buy you? The campaign of the game is incomplete at times, lacking in an interesting story line, and isn't really meant to do anything more than be a training simulation for where the game really takes the glory: Online. With next generation consoles pushing the boundaries with graphics, gameplay, and 64 player matches; Battlefield 4 shines. From various unlocks, a remarkable ranking system, 1080p graphics, and the ability to play in a 64 player match, Battlefield 4 pushes the boundaries of hat every online gaming experience should be. But wait, there's more: With an ability to buy into something called Battlefield Premium for an additional $50, players are entitled to all of the map packs to be released, access to those maps a few weeks in advance, and exclusive unlocks that only Premium members can enjoy. It's a great concept, and saves players $15 per individual map pack. But what was surprising, was the fact that the map packs only take up a few megabytes of storage as a download, which goes to show that you a really aren't paying for new maps, but for a line of code that unlocks the maps in the game. There are many other things that can be said about this remarkable game, but the game is absolutely incredible at times, the only complaint would be the price of the game and the price to be a premium member. But if one thing can be said about this game; Battlefield 4 is a great game, absolutely shines, and blows the minds of players on a daily basis. | video-games_xbox |
A memorable puzzle game. The Good: Beautiful art direction, interesting story, out of this world time traveling mechanic, each world has a different ways to solve puzzles
The Bad: Some puzzles may be a bit confusing, very short, the story isn't exactly clear
Braid is one of those WTF games where you think you know what's going to happen then it turns around and slaps you in the face. The story of Braid is very interesting, but it doesn't really matter until the last level. You start the game off on world 2 then you end with world 1 and that's the piece of the story that makes your brain go funny. This is what I love about Braid that it has a wonderful story along with beautiful pastel/watercolor backgrounds. The music is very moody and inspiring and I just love the whole package. The main attraction to Braid is the whole time mechanic. Each world uses time in a different way to solve the unique (yet not hair tearing) puzzles. Instead of dying and starting all over you can rewind time...all the way until you entered the level if you have to. This is a very hard mechanic to explain, but you have to use the enemies as jumping springs. You have to jump on them just right to get on that higher ledge. Sometimes you have to alter their paths using time to get to where you need to. When some platforms, enemies are green they are unaffected but time.
You can rewind time to get a moving platform underneath them, but they don't go back in time they just keep walking. Sometimes everything is moving backwards in the level and you have to alter the way the enemies are moving. If you walk forwards everything moves backwards. One world has you using a ring that slow down time BUT only around the bubble it creates. This lets you slow down cannon fire, slow down enemies so you can use them in the right manner etc. One world even has you using your own shadow to help you. When you walk to where you need to be but you have to throw a switch that moves a platform on the other side of the level you just rewind time back the platform and your shadow retraces your steps and hits the switch. This game is just so mind blowing that it's extremely hard to explain. The objective is to collect all the puzzle pieces and complete the puzzle to finish the world.
The game has about seven worlds and can be beaten in about 6-8 hours depending on your IQ. If you like puzzles that truly bend your brain in ways unimaginable then go for Braid. This game is too hard to describe in words you just have to play it. For $15 it's definitely worth it thanks to all these awesome elements put together.
I don't think there will be anything like this out there again and with this not being done by a major developer is very surprising. I hope this game with the XBLA GotY award because there's just so much to the time traveling aspect that it'll just wow you. | video-games_xbox |
First Impression...not so good. When I first heard about this game, I felt it had the potential to be a great game. To have the stealth elements of MGS and Splinter Cell within a setting that never gets old to me, WWII, sounded like a sure winner. Although I have only played it for two days, I have found several problems with this game and finding myself slowly moving to something else on my shelf. First thing I noticed was the graphics, at 1080p the majority of the environment looked very stunning but objects and people do look choppy. I would have to say that overall, it doesn't meet the standards of a 09 game. The really big problem I have is the frame-rate. It is extremely noticeable at start since you are placed in a wooded area. This is a big problem since it makes camera movement awkward and you heavy depend on constantly shifting angles to maintain eyes on your prey. The last thing that comes to mind is the scenarios. Again, I have only experienced up to the 2nd level but scenarios seem very linear and scripted. I was hoping for a larger playground, having several locations to stalk and hide, moving within the enemy as a picked off the enemy one-by-one. I have not used much of arsenal this game has to offer, so I don't know how the sniping or shootout factors play out. As far as positives I can think of three, with first being stealth kills. Knife stealth kills are very detailed and are not limited to one basic animation. The second is basic ability to improve skills. If you collect enough items in the environment you can upgrade your morphine mode (freezes time for easy kills or fast escape), stealth movement speed or stamina (how well you take damage). The last one is that they didn't completely drop the ball on stealth game play. It still requires you to quickly move from cover to cover, use timing and patience to dispatch grouped foes and getting close and personal with enemies since ammo is rare. I feel I'm not giving this title enough credit since I have barely played it but this is for you folks who are desperately looking for a new title....please look somewhere else. | video-games_xbox |
RDR......it coulda been something great. Red Dead Redemption is the most amazing game ever made if in fact you are completely brain dead and/or enjoy a second job like mmo's give you. The story is fine although I truly hated most of the characters you have to help in order to get help from them in return. The cut-scenes are okay besides the fact the player models look just as good as they did in the first gears of war. Shadows jumping all over across their faces with no reason behind it. It's as bug free as an mmorpg on launch day. I got stuck in cover without being able to move or shoot multiple times in single and multi player. I guess this game is aimed to the older hardcore fans of gta 4, and if it isn't, then I am completely lost on what the demographics were supposed to be. The graphics aren't anything to write home about either. The scenery looks about as good as a 360 game could look, and since it's a multiplatform game, it would never look much better on ps3 because of lazy programmers. Unfortunately if this game is in fact the best the 360 can offer graphic-wise, then I truly do wish for the next gen of consoles. Gears of war 2 was about as good as games look on the 360 thus far and it neither was all that amazing. But graphics don't make a game. And neither does 10 minutes of pressing the A button to ride your horse to the next town. The game has checkpoints it temporarily saves at just before something happens in the story, but you have to rent a room in one of the towns and sleep in the bed to actually save your game before turning it all off. The saving feature seems misplaced in an open world game like this. The best things about this game are the things happening along the road as you ride to your next destination. A person getting shot at by the sheriff or someone about to be executed by soldiers. You are able to intervene during all of these events which makes for a much more lively open world experience. Unfortunately this game tries to make the "wild west" a little too authentic with nothingness for so long in between locations. I could not stand this game after about 8 hours. I tried to give it longer because I aim to beat the games so hyped up like this one, but alas it was too much for this hardcore gamer. I never felt anything towards any of the characters in the game which i think really made some of the things that happened less meaningful in every aspect. If you are indeed a die-hard GTA 4 fan, then you can go ahead and spend as much money on this as you want, but I highly recommend people uninterested in the western genre or people who enjoy a game to have some sort of pacing unlike an mmorpg to look elsewhere. It started to feel like a job about hour 3 because it's just the same kind of mission over and over. | video-games_xbox |
HALO fans will not be disappointed. If your a HALO fan you won't be disappointed with REACH. I had preordered my copy and had my brother pick it up for me while I was at work. My anticipation to play my new game made the work day seem like it was never going to end. Once I got home and had a beer ready, I cracked open my copy and put it in my 360. WOW, BUNGIE out did their selves on the newest edition to the HALO universe. While I did play through ODST several times to get all the achievements it still felt like something was missing. Not with REACH. From the getgo your hurled into battle with the ever evil covenant and they are the hardest I've done battle with to date. The A.I. is unbelievably smart. If your not careful they will flank you in seconds. You do have to look over your shoulder alot. The weapons are nice and mostly the same as the other HALO games with a few new ones that are a welcome addition. My favorite thing is how beautiful this game is. The landscapes are hugh. Also, you can personalize your character from the very beginning and this reflects in the cinema and game. The cuts scenes show your personlized character. No more clones when battling in multiplayer. Every player's characters are noticably different from anyone elses from helmets to chest plates, knee-pads, shoulder pads and wrist. You can upgrade your armor by earning points while doing battle. I'm very impressed with this game and have had no frame rate issues so far. There are some load screens but they provide a much needed break between battles and are hardly even noticable. I'm very happy with this game and look forward to hours, hell even months of play. The only down side is that this is BUNGIE's last HALO and MICROSOFT will be handing this property over to a new design team for all future editions. I look forward to seeing all you online in the multiplayer version. Many tea bags to you all! | video-games_xbox |
Best xbox deal ever. Anyone who loves 360 or call of duty modern warfare should pick this up, if you can afford it and want rid of your own system its even worth it to trade in your old system get some store credit, and just get it. The system itself looks killer, with some different military syle grey writing on it, and around the power switch. Two black controlers, MW2 game, and basically a free 250gig hard drive!! Why do i say free? Well. Your getting a controller, which is around 50 bucks new, and the game which is 63 bucks with tax, so that takes you to about 400+ dollars, which is the price of the system. So yeah, the hard drives worth, when or if they decide to sell is separately would probably be around 200 or 250 bucks i'd bet, so you basically aren't paying a dime for it:) Its the same ole good xbox just fancyed up with a cool look and the extra contents. But the hard drive for you hard core arcade, movie, demo and games on demand fans is definitely the biggest selling point of this system. Go out and get the elite with the 120gb drive plus the game, and controller, and your talking the same price or more, with a smaller hard drive, not nearly as good a deal. So if you have the money, better get this one, because once its gone, its gone for good. Rumors says about 2 more weeks, then done, the overstock might go online, but stores will not carry them. Also there is no guarantee yet that they will release the 250gb drive. So jump on this killer deal while you can. Also MW2 is great on 360, i had it for my PS3 and traded it in, looked awful, and the online was pathetic. The graphics on the xbox are as usual, crisp, colorful, great detailing, and probably pretty close to 1080p i would say, considering thats the output of my LCD, unfortunately you really can't tell with console games, wish they would read out the actually resolution they are putting out. Oh well. This is just a killer deal, so don't pass it up, it won't return. | video-games_xbox |
Very good, but the jury is still out (see Update - jury is in. First day:
Unboxing and setup went relatively smoothly. My internet download speed is 3.0 Mbps, so the initial update to the console took about 1 hour, but I expected that. The only setup issue I had was the Kinect's attempt to communicate with my DirectTV box (using the "channel up" command). I suspect the problem is related to the DirecTV box (model = H20-100) and not the Xbox. I could have the receiver set to IR (with no line-of-sight) and not RF, which could be a factor. Also, I plan to try a different (newer) DirecTV box I have in another room to see if it integrates successfully with the Xbox.
Apart from the "channel up" issue everything else went great with setup and I was able to use all other voice commands.
I downloaded several apps (YouTube, Netflix, NFL) with no issues (took 10-15 minutes each with my slow download speeds).
Gaming: The only game I currently have is Dead Rising 3. Upon inserting the disc into the BR player, the XBox immediately signaled that an update was needed. I clicked Continue and the game started installing (and I assume downloading the update via the internet). However, the install progress got stuck on 1% for 20 minutes - not good. I cancelled the install, rebooted the console and tried again. This time it got stuck on 0% for 30 minutes - aggghhhh!
To get around this, I again cancelled the install, but this time I disconnected the Xbox from the internet and tried again. This time (not connected to the internet) the Xbox did not alert me to the need for an update and the game installed in about 20 minutes or so. I reconnected to the internet and started playing the game (DR3 is great by the way) and did so for about an hour. After quitting the game and returning to the Home screen I noticed that the update to DR3 (which apparently had automatically started and was happening in the background) was 97% complete - it took a few more minutes to complete and the update was done.
Possibly the Xbox (and my slow download speeds may contribute) has difficulty installing from disc to HD AND downloading updates from the internet at the same time??? Just a guess at this point.
Hopefully, I can update this review later as I get more into using the console and playing games,
Update (11/26/13): I was able to solve the "channel up" issue with my DirecTV box during setup. During satellite setup, I had to temporarily move/position the Kinect facing the IR sensor on the front of the satellite box (with IR you need line of sight). The test command from Kinect to bump the channel worked this time. I then re-positioned the Kinect to its permanent position (which is not line of sight) and now all voice commands for changing TV channels work great. With this success I've up'd my rating to 5 stars. | video-games_xbox |
Not Great But ok Game. I didn't want to leave a review till I finished the game. This will be short since so many others have reviewed it already. I would say more 3.5 but only can put 4 stars.
Overall I enjoyed the game. I just felt the game seemed very unfinished in certain aspects during the course of gameplay.
Here is what I liked about the game.
1. Crafting system was easier. I am not big on crafting things in a games,mainly because I just don't enjoy it. Though this system was simple and fast.
2. Liked the improved graphics, not the latest and greatest by far. But better than Origins.
3. The overall story was well done, just it needed more depth.
4. The companion banter and pop culture jokes were hilarious in the game.
5. Pretty much all the choices I made in Origins carried over and I saw some results. I do like this feature in games.
6. The companions were interesting and I enjoyed them. But there was also a dislike here.
7. The voiced main character.
What I didn't enjoy.
1. Way too many recycled maps.
2. Very much a lack of any kind of "Getting to know" your companions. Which again made it feel unfinished or rushed on this compared to other Bioware games. And not being able to talk to your companions anytime.
3. Your only in Kirkwall and surrounding area pretty much, so more should have been done to change the city with your actions. All I saw was some small cosmetic changes here and there. They should have let you take over or destroy gangs,take over businesses,get involved with the nobels or try and help your fellow refugees more. Just anything to impact the whole city more and see some big changes come from those choices.
4. Quite a few bugs. I don't really go searching for bugs, but these were very noticable.
In retrospect I just feel the game should have had more development time. It just feels not done, or a lot of corners were cut to get the game out. One thing that I thought about was it seemed to be a base game. Like when Hollwood studios release a movie on DVD & Blu Ray with nothing but the movie, and 6 months later release it again with extras. I hope this wasn't a ploy to get the game out then finish it over the next year with extra pay DLC's. DLC and expansions packs should be there to keep the game fresh till a sequel comes out. Not to complete the game. | video-games_xbox |
Authentic UFC Fun. This has got to be the most realistic fighter since the Fight Night series. In fact, it is feels like a combination of Fight Night and WWE2k14.
Like Fight Night, the animations and game play are slower, your character has to train to improve his skills between fights, and the character models range from perfect to a bit goofy (Brock Lesnar, for example, looks a bit too thin and like a monkey. lol). Like the WWE game, there are a lot of customization options and techniques to choose from. So, no two fighters you build ever have to play the same way. You choose which techniques to learn and level up.
You manage your training, your camp goals, your game-plans, and your sponsors between fights. The results of your choices and your training performances determine whether or not you get stronger, get faster, improve footwork, learn moves, etc.
The sound in incredible! The actual voices of Joe Rogan, Bruce Buffer, Mike Goldberg, the refs! Rocking soundtrack music, authentic tunes that the UFC uses to this very day, and excellent sound effects in the ring.
The roster is full of big names you will know, even if you are only a casual MMA fan. If you have been paying attention since PRIDE, you are going to love the fighters offered.
Presentation is authentic UFC. It gets you pumped up for the fiight, features pre-fight commentary like every UFC Fight Night. A lot of nice touches here. It feels like you are fighting on a card in the UFC. (or Pride)
The only CONS? The training between fights gets tedious and frustrating. Movement inside the octagon is slow and sometimes frustrating. Load times are a bit too long a bit too often. Some moves are difficult to pull off. The ground game is not as exciting as the stand-up.
BUT, everything else is nearly perfect and the game is a lot of fun to play. Also, I wish they would have given us a few fun treats, like letting us play as Joe Rogan, Dana White, Bruce Buffer, and Mike Goldberg!!!
Ultimately. this is a nearly perfect game that needs very little improvement. Once the UFC games get a strong women's MMA feature and improve gameplay issues, this will be a franchise we'll a;; buy every year the way we do WWE games, COD, Battlefield, etc.
BUY IT. Worth three times as much as is being charged now. | video-games_xbox |
Pretty good set and great for the refurb price. I purchased these as "Recertified" / refurbished. I was using a wired Tritton Detonator headset for my Xbox 360 and wanted to give wireless a try just to save the hassle of all the wires, and my wife tripping on the cable all the time.
So I will compare these two headsets just to give you an idea. The X41 headset is really good. It's very light on the head, but not impossibly light, it feels good on the head and ears. The microphone can be manuevered easily in and out of your way and can also be completely detached. In comparison to my Tritton Detonator wired headset, the microphone audio out of the X41 is reported as being much better by my friends online. They say they can hear me really good and my voice sounds deep and full. The X41s feel to be built of a lighter and flimsier plastic, and so they feel a bit cheaper than the Tritton Detonators even though they are way more expensive (due to the wireless). I would say the Tritton Detonators have more of a full bass sound than do the X41s, but I got used to the slightly less bass sound of the X41 really quick and had no problem. But the Tritton Detonators do definately sound better in a way that's not even questionable. Not to say the X41s are bad at all, as I think they sound pretty good too.
These come with AAA batteries (two of them), but I did the prudent thing and bought rechargeable batteries so I don't have to worry about it. Other reviews state the batteries get eaten up very quickly. Really this shouldn't be a problem if you just buy two sets of rechargeable batteries. Setup to my amp was easy. You plug in the fiber optic cable from Xbox into the IN, and then the provided optical pass through cable into your receiver where your xbox was plugged into. The device is powered by USB, so make sure you have an available USB port somewhere in your setup or just plug into Xbox USB port.
There was minimal white noise when not listening to anything at all. It pretty much gets drowned out easily once some audio is fed through.
The surround effect is very good. You can easily turn off the surround back to stereo from the base unit. Also love the headphone rack to neatly hang the headphones.
Overall...these are great. Would highly recommend. I also purchased a Square Trade 3 yr warranty just to be safe for only $10 I think it was.
UPDATE after 3 weeks with headset: *****************************
I really love this headset! I can listen to action movies in full surround when my wife is sleeping and simply love it. Have played many hours with Halo 4 with these on and I gotta say, I actually prefer playing with the headset on, rather than listening to my pretty nice 5.1 surround setup. I feel like I hear better with the headsets on, things don't surprise me as much with the clear sound queues.
Battery life is not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I've gone a week without having to change the batteries and using the headphones for at least 1 hr a day every day. Get a good set of rechargeable batteries, and I think you will be surprised how long these headsets can last. I just bought Amazons AAA batteries and they work great.
The bad side:
The headphones periodically just shut off. I can quickly turn them back on again, but when in an intense fire fight in Halo 4, it can get annoying having to turn them on again once every 15 minutes or so. They don't seem to turn off while watching movies, only while playing Halo. I don't get why that is. Range is very minimal. If I walk to the bathroom with my headset on, the signal starts cutting out. My bathroom is like 15 feet from base. If I go to other side of wall inside kitchen, it also starts cutting out, even though I'm only 5 ft directly away through a wall. So if you have a really large living room, these may not cut it for you. Really a disappointment, because I would have loved to have been able to use these to stream music while I do chores around the house, but they simply don't have the range even for my tiny apt! | video-games_xbox |
Aspect of Banjo Kazooie kinda ruined it. If you take Banjo and Kazooie out of the game it's pretty decent. As I've seen with other reviews, people who've never played any BK games find this really fun. I do not. My brother got this game because we used to play the old games, which I still find fun to this day.
I was...disappointed.
The game itself is fine, but adding Banjo and Kazooie to the game was a dumb idea. It is nothing like the old games, which is what most BK fans were hoping for. The point of BK games is to relaxingly go through the game, discover new levels, and collect jingos, jiggies, and notes. While you do collect stuff, you have to complete ridiculous tasks, namely, the races. In the old games, you did race, but not to this extent. Not even close.
The aspect of the vehicles is kinda fun, but it should have been kept the same, in that you search for things, not race, race, race. It's also disappointing that the characters themselves, are pathetic. Basically, no vehicle, no fun. I like walking around because you have more maneuverability, but you can't get anything done when you just walk.
Designing your own vehicle is a nice touch, giving you more customization, which the older games lacked. But, that has to be the only good thing I can say about this game.
If they wanted to please newcomers to BK and "seasoned pros" alike, they should have:
1. Make finding objects more like the old game.
2. Increased the abilities of the characters when they are off the vehicle.
3. Add more threatening enemies.
4. Make it so you truly discover levels.
5. Um...make the text bigger. (Obviously)
6. Get rid of that ridiculous cowlick of Banjo.
7. And, personally, they should have just gotten rid of BK and made all new characters and called it something different because this is nothing like Banjo Kazooie.
It would be a more fun game if it weren't for BK. I'm too used to the old ones and this was just a let down. They really missed the nail on this one... | video-games_xbox |
NFS Shift is FUN FUN FUN FUN . I was composing a full review, but some how i hit wrong button and lost all my edits.
Anyway, i'll be brief.
I love this game. It's fun! It's exciting!! It's a blast!!!
And they just lowered price on Amazon $40. US. Parents, it's a bargin. You can spend $40 on movie and its over. You can spend $40 on dinner going out, but other than memories, its over when you leave resturant. However, buy this game and you'll enjoy it for hours on end day after day.
I've played with the regular xbox wireless controllers and i hardly ever won races. Purchased the Xbox Wireless Wheel and I win practically 90% of time. The quality, durability and force feedback is very good. The table clamp ( included ) was great idea as it clamps the steering wheel table so it doesn't move or shift around.
I've played both the PC & Xbox 360 version of Need For Speed Shift.
The pc version with 3 Monitors, Ergo Tech 3 monitor horizontal stand, Matrox Triple Head to Go, Logitech Racing Wheel G27, and powerful desktop PC. The Logitech Racing Wheel G27 is more expensive than Xbox 360 Wireless Wheel ( $300 vs $100 US ). Although the G27 wheel has better feed back ( much stronger torgue ), Xbox 360 Wireless Wheel is very very good, and it's 1/3 the price. Not to mention G27 wheel isn't available for Xbox as of this writing.
I play Xbox version on 40" LCD using HDMI and its great. I'm thinking of buying a samsung 1.2" thick 55" wide LED screen as bigger screen would probably be even more enjoyable.
I highly recommend this game. It's fun fun fun...
Young sales lady in store who didn't speak english that good, told me she bought NFS Shift and Xbox Wireless Racing Wheel to learn how to drive. She drives slow around track, learning how to navigate around curves. She practices, parking, turning, Uturns, three point turns, etc... and she passed her driving test the first time out. I thought that was rather interesting...
Great Job Electronic Arts...
I've had nothing but fun. | video-games_xbox |
An entertaining time-killer. It should keep you busy for as long as you want it to, because there is plenty to do and do over again in the world of Albion. There is the main storyline which is brief for an RPG, there is marriage with children, real estate, many sidequests, and lots of collectibles if that's your thing. The game never really ends, so if you missed out on any of this during your playthrough, you can easily re-load your save and go nuts. Literally, you could go berserk and massacre an entire village if you felt like it. The townsfolk will re-spawn and you could do it again and again and again... The point is, the choice is yours, and Fable 2 is chocked-full of all kinds of choices. Whether it's in choosing what your character looks like or what he does--attractive or ugly, good or evil--one thing this sequel definitely improves on from the original is in giving you the freedom to do whatever you want. Much like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the goal of freedom is almost achieved.
I say "almost" because unfortunately, there are a few restrictions that you will never be able to escape from. The bugs noted by others are prevalent, though avoidable if you just follow the linear path set before you; there are long 20-40 second loading screens that are not reduced at all by installing the game to your hard drive; and deep, laggy menus are hardly ideal for their intents and purposes, making it a chore to find and make use of your items.
The combat--by far the most significant aspect of the game--is good, but not great. Your opinion may differ--but to me, it's only fun in the Dynasty Warriors kind of way: in that it's simple and fun when you are crushing countless enemies, but horrible when you are overwhelmed and underpowered. Death being non-existent may have been the developer's attempt to reconcile this, but it doesn't make the game any more fun. The combat is also somewhat repetitive, but only if you choose not to mix it up with projectile weapons or magic. Since it is cumbersome to do it all at once, you'd be forgiven for making that choice. Thankfully, unlike the aforementioned game franchise, there is much more to the game than fighting.
Overall, I would give this game something like an 8.4/10. It could have easily gotten over a 9 however, if the technical issues did not exist. If those were fixed and the story were more compelling it might have even gotten a 10. But basically, you should overlook the flaws and enjoy Fable 2 for what it is, especially if you want to get lost in a good fantasy RPG. | video-games_xbox |
It's the little things that count. I have been purchasing Madden since Madden '06 came out on the PS2. And before that I remember playing a lot of NCAA '03 also by EA. So I have been around the game for a good amount. Let me start off by saying that the little things are the stuff that eventually make and break Madden 25 for me. We're about halfway through the annual cycle and the real NFL season is over so I thought I would wait to write a review.
The Infinity Engine is honestly one of the best things to happen to Madden. It made Madden 13 far more fun to play, but it was not without its flaws. You would often see players tripping over each other and awkwardly falling down with little contact. Tackling could also get very tricky. But to me the pros far outweigh weight d the cons. No more pre-contact animations that you couldn't do anything about in previous titles, there literally weren't any tackling animations until contact was actually made. Stiff arms, spins, and jukes became far more realistic. In Madden 25, EA introduces the Infinity 2 Engine. Unfortunately, it has flaws as well, but again the pros far outweigh the cons IMO. With the Infinity 2 , as well as the new Dynamic Stick, vast improvements were made. You can now actually hurdle with success. In Madden 13 this was near impossible, the only way you could legitimately hurdle over someone is if they had already been blocked to the ground. While you won't start successfully hurdle over every time (as it is in real life) you can still be hit in mid-air and the physics on the collision are very adequate. The same can be said of goal line leaps over the line. However when coming to the Dynamic Stick it is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good in that actions such as stiff arms, hurdles, jukes, spin moves, dives, and the new stumble recovery look very realistic. Bad in that often times it can be overpowered one time and then be useless the next. They brought back the sprint option on the right trigger but using it will drain a player's stamina rapidly. Needless this say, while using the Dynamic Stick (which is while holding the left trigger) you run a lot slower than you would without using either trigger. You still have the option to perform the above actions without using Dynamic Stick but the chances of success will be lower and the tackling will probably be different.
Other than the new Engine and Stick there are no other major significant changes to the gameplay. Now, on to the little things that I said were the difference maker in this game. I will just go straight pros and cons on these ones.
To start with the Pros:
- The return of Owner mode, although EA tries to bring it across as "new" after taking it out and putting it back in it is still a welcomed return.
- As Owner, you can control every little detail from ticket and jersey prices, to upgrading or renovating various parts of the stadium (upgrading is more expensive) while still being able to do everything you can do in Coach Mode.
- Franchise Relocation now comes with over a dozen selections for cities, and 3 names with 3 uniforms per name per city. They have places like London, Ireland, and Mexico City if you wish to go international and then there are places you can bring a second NFL team to such as Houston and Chicago. One I thing I thought was really cool is you can bring the Houston Oilers back if you pick Houston. The problem is not all the names are popular and you can no longer choose your own name or logo. But they did this for presentation purposes and it has paid off. Now the commentators will actually be able to announce them like a real NFL team rather than just refer to them as "the home team" or "the away team".
- You can build a new stadium without relocating and the customization has improved.
- Interceptions will now delay the 180 camera spin until the defender has total possession the ball. This means a DB is just as likely to have the ball jarred loose or step out of bounds before getting feet in bounds as a WR would. However, this is also a con because the defender will now hesitate or run the wrong way after the camera motion because the user was playing probably already returning it the opposite way before the camera switch unless you let the CPU do it all.
- Your running back will now 'bounce' off of his O-lineman rather than run into them like in Madden 13 and can also make cut moves without the user having to do anything but run the ball in the direction he/she wants to go.
- There are now more frequent occurrences of players coming out of retirement to play a few more years and more in-depth stories on incoming players in the draft. This was present in Madden 13 but occurrence far less.
- Running QB's can actually outrun the big 350 lb D-lineman and the option offense is fun to run.
Now to the cons:
- the crowd still looks terribly unrealistic on the 360 but are better on next gen. Same for the sideline.
-They brought back the showing of highlights during halftime but it's still not a halftime show. Hasn't been one since Madden 10.
- The new touchdown celebrations are now done as a separate animation after a play is well over. They are not as good as the old ones and now whenever you score a touchdown standing up the player will literally just stand there and do NOTHING until the camera switches to the touchdown camera. It sucks.
- The replay cams are cool at times, when they can keep up with the ball. The football is not centered to the screen so you often lose sight of the play and just get a blurred vision of the field or distant players or fans. Really pathetic there were no updates for any of this.
-Still no surprise onside kick after they removed it a couple games back yet it is frequently used in the NFL.
-My Player mode still terrible. It hasn't been fun to play since Madden '09, and taking away the option to import a created college player from NCAA has made it that much worse. Practice does extremely little to progress your player, and even if you set the "instant starter" setting to off, your player will still become an instant starter. No competition, no combine, no workouts, no draft, and if you create a WR or CB you will most likely be returning kicks even if you don't want to. It's sad because this is the game mode that brought me to Madden, when you could play out your college career in NCAA '06 and import him to Madden '06, where you would workout at the combine and for individual teams before getting drafted and work your way through the ranks.. It seems like they don't even try with this mode anymore.
-Blocking a punt or FG is impossible unless you supersim, where is can happen a lot.
-The progressing of players is still bad. You literally have to put up video game numbers all season to gain significant progress. And no matter what you do your punter and kicker get worse every season. I find myself looking for a new one every few seasons.
- While you can bounce off O-lineman, it's still possible you can run into them or they will move in front of you to execute an awkward block. If you like to run the ball in the I-formation like I do you will constantly see your fullback or tight end ignore an immediate threat and instead run past a defender to block the safety downfield and leaving you out to dry.
- If you are a QB and so much as a pinky from your non-throwing hand touches one of your O-lineman your pass will be short every single time. This is annoying as you could have a wide open receiver and the pass will fall short no matter what. This means the defense doesn't actually have to touch you or get in your face to force a bad pass, all they have to do is push your O-lineman hard enough. Again, a pity there were never any updates to fix stuff like this after half a year has gone by.
- Twitter feed now includes fan input in the Owner tab, unfortunately they all mostly have the attitude and comments of a fair-weather fan.
-If you use a running QB you will often see him go down with an injury and actually be perfectly fine and not even come out. Have also seen this with a receiving TE and I don't think it has a whole to do with the "toughness" setting.
I'm sure I missed a couple of each but those are most of the little things that make and break this game.
Bottom line, I give this game an overall 3-star rating because of EA's refusal to address previous problems and not update the little ones. It's a fun game no doubt, the new physics Engine and the return/improvement of Owner Mode as well as the new features makes this a very entertaining game. If you like to go in detail with football as well as play if out, you should enjoy this game. But it is not without its flaws. The sad part is that most of those flaws could be avoided if EA actually put 100% effort into making this game and listening to fan feedback. Still an overall good game, should be 10 times better on next gen. | video-games_xbox |
It had potential, but it failed miserably (**DO NOT PURCHASE PREMIUM** - Read for explanation. As a fan of the Battlefield series, I picked this game up with expectations that it would be similar, if not a re-skinned BF4. Essentially, it was, with a few tweaks and a new story, but, it was a bit worse than that.
I can say that the single player campaign isn't worth your time. If you're expecting a first person shooter with action and waves of enemies, this isn't for you. If you do, however, like sneaking around, handcuffing extremely generic enemies and getting penalized for starting a firefight, this is right up your alley. The story is a typical corrupt cop story, and having been a real former LEO myself, I wasn't at all impressed. Between the cheesy arrests, requiring you to hold suspects at gunpoint until you cuff them (Take your aim off and they'll try to shoot you) at which point they have "Z's" coming from their supposed sleeping character (Never knew they made drugged handcuffs), the selection of weapons you never get to enjoy using and the cheesy 90's cop show atmosphere, it's a real bore.
Multiplayer, however, is a bit more enjoyable with several game modes to choose from. Need in-game cash? Hit up hotwire, where your control points are mobile and you rack up cash for keeping them moving. It's actually pretty fun. Classic conquest is my favorite, and the maps, in my opinion, are pretty decent. I'd say that the multiplayer did give this game a chance to stay afloat... at first.
Being the gullible person I am, thinking EA and Visceral were going to save the day with the DLC add-ons, I purchased the Premium package. Boy, was that a mistake. Besides getting a plethora of battlepacks and access to a few weapons, it is quite literally impossible to play the DLC. This isn't because of server issues or any type of bug. It's because Visceral and EA decided not to put the DLC maps on rotation with the originals. Quite literally nobody is playing these DLC's. I have owned all of them for months and haven't even had a chance to try them. In short, DO NOT PURCHASE PREMIUM! I am currently trying to find out if/where I can get a refund for this complete waste of money. If I do happen to find out where you can go about doing such, I will update this review with the information for those of you who may have purchased Premium.
In short, this game had potential, but the fan base just isn't there. Most days, I end up playing with the same players because the server selection is so nil. I wish I could have better things to say, and give this more than one star, but with the quality of games these days, not many have earned much more than this game. | video-games_xbox |
Not a soccer fan, but I'm hooked. No official licensed teams or players and no online. Hmm, sounds like a gutter ball from the start, but alas, when it comes to fun factor and just the joy of a quality video game, I couldn't put it down. Up front and to the point, I'm not a soccer fan and probably never will be, but I'm amazed how a video soccer game sucked me in like a tractor beam. As most fans know, Konami gave up on basketball and it seems they put all their time and energy into their only sports title for 2005, Soccer. Yeah, the name "Winning Eleven" is a stupid name for any game, but don't let the dullness of the name steer you away. The game plays brillianty, I don't know the rules or even the strategy for playing soccer, but I had a blast playing it. The graphics are stunning and this uses some of the XBOX muscle! My buddies came downstairs one night at my home and poked their head around the corner and asked why I was watching Soccer on TV, it really looks that good. The replays look like they were drained from sport center on ESPN, I've never seen so many seamless motion captured moves by the players in my life, players getting tripped up, gettin laid out, incredible kicks, dives, jumps, head butts, all amazing and stunningly realistic from start to finish. The staidums look amazing too, although the crowds still look like cardboard cutouts from the old Playstation days. If there was a bit of a downer, the game does not support widescreen TV's to the fullest, I want my 720dpi mode, but doesn't offer it. Darn. But on regular and HD TV's, most will be 100% satisfied with the offerings. As a single player game, you'll rejoice with the tons of mode offerings, but if you want to get the most out of it, find a friend and get hooked on one of the best multiplayer games ever. My friends were hooked from start to finish and will definitely be back for more.
The game does not have acutal licensed teams, uniforms or players, which means no famous names. But does anyone in this world really know the full roster for Brazil or Kenya? But don't think the game is unrealstic, every statistic and rating for the actual boys are all in tact here, just rub off the names and their actual uniforms. I think there is a customizable uniform option, so be sure to get some red while and blue for the good guys.
Flaws in the game? No online is a bummer, not sure why Konami would not offer that, but oh well, multiplayer still rocks and it's the best 2-player game I've seen come along in a long time now. The sound is just ok, the commentary is a bit repetitive and the music is atrocious, but the grunts and sfx on the field are great and the crowd roars like there is no tomorrow. Everything else is spot on, and this game puts E.A.s' FIFA series to the test. Thanks Konami. | video-games_xbox |
The Worst Madden Ever. $60? I wouldn't pay a penny for this game. Madden 13 was hyped as "a gamechanger, new era in the madden series, the best ever." When I heard that and saw all the hype I new this game would fail on an EPIC level as EA Sports tells us every year that years Madden is "the best ever". To make this a simple review I will list the pros and cons.
Pros:
The graphics are improved. Not a HUGE difference but good enough to make it into the pros section.
The addition of game face is a nice feature. But you will see this in the cons section as well.
The Nike Uniforms
END OF THE PROS
Cons:
The new connected career mode. EA did away with franchise mode. BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER. The new connected careers falls short in every aspect. They have 2 new modes. Player and Coach. EA will tell you that if you do the Coach mode it is like the traditional franchise mode. They lied. It isn't. You cannot edit your players equipment or ratings. You cannot import your NCAA Football 13 draft classes. The overall way you control a team is awful. The offseason is a joke. I've taken to calling connected careers Franchise's mode, dumber younger brother.
Game Face. Remember how I said this would show up in this section? Game face is a cool addition to the Maddem series. Problem is you can only use it in exhibiton mode or a player connected careers mode and in the player version you only control you chosen player. So if you create your own player and try to play connected careers coach mode it won't let you use your created player thus making it a pointless feature.
Infinity Engiene: It was in the pros but it makes the cons list as well. When a play is over the players walk around. If they slightly bump into a player on the ground....................a flop fest ensues. It's pretty amusing to watch but at the same time......it's not. Also it sometimes looks like players are trying to fit into a small box the way their bodies discontort.
The $60 Price Tag: As I said in my title........not even worth a penny. | video-games_xbox |
Excellent, but sorta buggy. UPDATE: I don't know why it's listed at such a relatively high price - it's available from Gamestop used for $3. (I'm getting it again because I long since sold my copy, but now I want to share it with my GF, TMI be damned.)
As there were 220 reviews before me, I didn't even bother to look. I'm sure they've mentioned the stunning graphics, intense firefights, innovative use of cover, even how the game is so very immersive, from its sickening use of gore to the relatively deep characters that join you (such as their casual banter between and during fights). The game is incredibly fun. Mind you, I've hardly tried this on XBox Live, I played it a couple times through on Insane with my brother though. I mostly stopped trying on XBox Live because I'm not that fantastic at first-person shooters, and the vast increase of necessary reflexes and tact to best your opponents greatly caught me off guard. And honestly, I don't feel like investing the time to get that good- it'd feel like a chore. But I respect the superior players, and I'm glad that I witnessed for myself that the online play is really where it's all at. I'm just not good enough.
Now for why I DIDN'T give it a 5 overall. To put it simply, it's two things that can really take away from the gameplay. First off, when getting the junker, with my aggressive play-style (single play) I had managed to make my way to the opposite end of the station to tag the Boomer with a 'nade (now my favorite method of elimination). Right after dooming him to his explosive fate, I dodged back to behind some cover- I remembered enemies coming from around the corner or such. It turned out disappointingly; one frame I was safe and snug behind my concrete slab of cover, the next, several Locust (Grub, I think) were there along with me, on my side of the cover. No emergence hole, no walking from around a corner... they were just there. Annoying.
Another issue is that with the control of the sprinting, mostly coming into effect when in the final battle. While the ability to sprint towards cover and automatically take cover behind it is nice, the "hit box" on the obstacles regarding this "auto-cover" felt much larger than necessary. I'd be running away from RAAM towards distant (but close enough) light with cover, but because I was running at something of a diagonal near earlier bits of cover withOUT light... again, I died, this time because my character was overeager to slam against cover he was running along, rather than at.
While these both restrict gameplay - either by disallowing tactics for illogical reasons or by restricting your movement control - and potentially to frustrating degrees (tended to make RAAM harder to fight, without Torquing anyway), they can be avoided, if with reduced combat efficiency. Thus, a 4. | video-games_xbox |
One of the Best Zombie Games I've ever Played. I'm an avid fan of The Elder Scrolls series, I always thought that it would be cool to have a game like Skyrim but on a Zombie environment, this game offers that pretty well. I've been having lots of fun with the game.
Let me give you some pros and cons:
PROS:
- Good graphics, I like the post processing effect when turning the camera around, shadows and lightning are very well made, textures are OK, although sometimes it loads textures when entering new areas.
- Good sound, I have a home theater and running the game with HDMI is fantastic, the sound is very well made, you can hear zombies behind you if you have a good home theater setup with 5.1 compatibility
- Gameplay: It's fun; I like taking a bat and beat those stupid zombies, specially when they lay down on the floor! The body reaction engine is very well made (better than Skyrim for me, you really feel you are hitting a zombie, like you hit them in the head and you see how good the head turns, you kick them and they fall and so on.
I was impressed when driving the car, you can smash them all up, I though it was a cool add to the game. Also there are a lot of quests and many of them are very fun (not just like, go talk to Jane and stuff like that) there are good and unique quests, for an instance, you need to find survivors, good to certain places for supplies (just like the Walking Dead).
- Design, I believe the game design was very well made, it reminds me George Romero's movies sometimes.
CONS:
- The level up method could be better (like Skyrim), where depending on your experience the character adopts certain skills. The problem is, that there are 4 different characters and each of them have different skills (blunt weapons, fire guns, knives and sharped weapons, throwing weapons), the problem with this is that I want to use knives and hold a shotgun at the same time, but you can't! If your character uses blunt weapons, so only blunt weapons you will find, no guns.
- Zombies are a little bit repetitive, like they needed to add more models (different zombies, different ages, stature, faces, etc) so the experience could be more real.
- Add more cars! As I go playing the game, I haven't used another car but a pick-up truck) it would be nice to add different car models to make it look more real as well.
Paying $17 for this game and new? that was a bargain, you won regret is a great game, this is NOT a shooter it is an RPG Zombie game which make it interesting, I'm pretty sure I will but the next title, Dead Island Riptide. | video-games_xbox |
Wait and see... For now, keep playing RB3. I've been a huge Harmonix fan ever since Guitar Hero 1. I've loved every iteration of Rock Band... until now. Every new Rock Band game felt like the logical evolution, making me fall in love the series all over again. Unfortunately, Rock Band 4 feels like a hallow shell, removing a large percentage of the experience and adding very little in its place. I don't know if the plan was always to ship such an incomplete game, or if time and/or money were in short supply.
Pros:
- Still the same core Rock Band mechanics.
- Voting is a neat addition
- Measure countdowns for long interludes are helpful
- The new guitar does feel a little nicer, and the tilt sensor is marginally more responsive.
Cons:
- Not all old DLC is available. I haven't gone into the Xbox 360 and taken an exact count, but I would guess that maybe 25% of my tracks are available.
- Downloading your old content on the Xbox One is about as clunky as it could be. The online Xbox Market wouldn't let me download to the Xbox One, so I had to use the in game store. There's no way to filter out things you haven't purchased, so you're left scrolling through each page, one by one, and queueing up anything listed as "Purchased." If more of my old content becomes available, I'll never know. I'm not scrolling through every page again to find out.
- The Legacy adapter, needed to use existing wireless instruments on the Xbox One, isn't included in any of the bundles, and doesn't seem to exist at this point. If it's even listed online, it's not in stock.
- No Dolby support. This is the first game in the franchise to be missing the feature. Tracks sound noticeably worse than they did in Rock Band 3.
- Freestyle guitar solos are an interesting idea, but on the whole, unpleasant. With the exception of Jack White's Lazaretto, your free style solo will sound worse than the original content. It's especially jarring when you know the original song well.
- You can disable freestyle solos, and it will revert to the old solo. However, I'm pretty sure you'll get a much lower score. Additionally, the pick up switch selector does not affect the normal solos.
- The character creator is the weakest in the series. You can only choose between male and female, no other body type adjustments can be made. The starting hairstyles are all pretty hideous and there's only 5 (including "shaven"). Male and female characters have the exact same 5 hairstyles available. There's no band logo or tattoo creator.
- You cannot assign other characters you've created to be stand-ins in your band, you're stuck filling your band with Harmonix characters.
- No online play. I admit I only used this feature maybe 3 times total, but some people will miss it.
I'm sure I could go on and on. I guess the real question is will these gutted features be patched back in later, or will they try to sell me the rest of the game piecemeal. Time will tell... | video-games_xbox |
Some good some bad. Most of what folks are posting here is true... There is not single player mode (other than playing "Solo" matches against bots and the training "missions"). There are 9 maps and 3 game types.
I don't quite understand the frustration people are having over getting the game home to realize there is not single player mode, though. It has been widely reported for months (since the game was announced) that this would be a multiplayer only game. You should always research a game prior to purchasing it.
I find the game quite fun, and entertaining. I am a huge fan of the original pen and paper version of Shadowrun, and while this game does not stick terribly close to some of the "rules" of that version, it does an admirable job of presenting what I think of as a small slice of the Shadowrun world and mythos.
I am a FPS junkie, and this game does a lot to keep me interested. I really like the options I have on how to equip my character with the different spells, tech, and weapons. It is amazingly cool to be able to glide into the air teleport through a wall, take perch on top of a statue, and snipe the opposing team. Then I glide off my perch, back through the wall, and escape before they can retaliate. Or, even better, when under fire summon a minion to attack my foe as a distraction while I teleport in behind them to take them out from behind.
I like the ability to purchase new items between rounds. To me this seems fresh and new, but apparently that is because I did not play Counterstrike. Also, this serves to heighten the intensity from round to round, since each character is buying and employing new/stronger abilities each round.
Because the game is round and objective based it does require teamwork. The teamwork isn't as essential as it is in a game like Gears Of War, but it does help to work together. This is not a Halo clone, where you just run, shoot, die, respawn, repeat. Shadowrun requires much more strategy and teamwork. I feel as though this (along with games like Gears Of War) is one of the early steps we are seeing to the next evolution of FPS gaming. The Halo-type game is fun, but to me feels dated with its lack of innovation, and same-old-same-old feel. I prefer Shadowrun over the Halo 3 beta hands down.
However, this is not a perfect game by any means. FASA is having a very hard time getting their servers to cooperate. Many people, myself included, are having a hard time getting into matches. Most of the time a match is found within a couple of minutes, but there have been times when I have waited 5-10 minutes without a match being found before I turn it off and go to play Gears Of War. I have seen online that there have been some people that haven't been able to get into public matches since the game was released 5 days ago. FASA has stated they are working on the problem.
I do wish there were more gametypes, but what is there will be enough until an update comes out in a few months. The matches are all varied, since there is such a large variety of buildouts for characters, etc. I have had no 2 games that played the same.
My biggest complaint about this game is the inability to insure that your party stays together when you go into a match. I can have myself and 7 of my buddies together in a party and when we go to join a public match we will be split up in order to "balance" the teams. You don't even have the option to switch up who is playing on what team. The computer decides for you. This is frustrating and should be addressed.
In short, if you are an FPS fan and would be interested in something new that requires a little more thought than a straight forward run and gun I recommend picking this up. You may want to rent first to make sure this is for you, but I enjoy it very much. | video-games_xbox |
From a Reach junkie that reached Inheritor ranking. Greetings and thank you for reading my review. I have to take a little time and create this review because I am a little shocked by the reviews I'm seeing given a game as polished and complete as Halo 4. I have played all of them going back to the original Xbox. I was an inheritor in Reach. I loved Reach probably most out of the group with Halo 3 close behind. Anyone giving this game one star is simply out of their skulls (slight Halo punn).
So what is Halo 4 in relation to it's predecessor? Is is a new experience? Is it worth your time to explore its offering?
The short answer is a resounding YES! The gameplay is tight and clean like previous Halo titles. It shines in production value. I like the new enemy types and the heightened targeting of enemies (that have weakness spots to take advantage of) I like the mixture of Covenant and habitat based enemies (that fight against one another actively around you) I'm speaking of specific levels of the 8 sections offered. Similar to Halo Reach, those sections are LONG so don't believe the hype of people compaining about size. The size is good and the spacing seems better than Reach... by this i mean that you will feel sections of the game are different based on enemy types and environments. I am just about done with the Campaign and it has been perhaps the most enjoyable experience in the Halo universe for me. There are some tense sections within the game where you are escaping and climbing out of danger and unlike others opinions I have read, I found these to be a welcome diversion to draw you back into the plot and change things up a bit. Overall the Campaign is a tight enjoyable experience that builds on Reach. Coop is still a blast and is FUN! Length is similar to Reach but I don't find myself getting the stale boredom of similar levels and ideas as in that last offering. New guns, new technology, new enemies, new environments. Master Chief is back!
Multiplayer is just what you would expect from Halo with a few additions, Loadouts of weapons and perks that give you advantages in battle similar to COD. This has been spoken about quite a bit but just to give you my experience, I felt some nostalgia for some of the level build outs and the game plays pretty much the same as past with these new features integrated. Halo always offers a strong list of multiplayer options and without going into too much depth, they are all here in this package. There is much more under the skirt of this game that I am looking forward to trying but I wanted to give an opinion from someone who maxed out their character in Reach.
This game is an excellant successor and I fail to see how any human being not banging two rocks together abstactly can find this to be any less than 3 stars. The production values and pacing are great. The Multiplayer is strong as always and there is already committment for 3 more map packs. Given this annoying habit of companies offering a pay forward "pass" gone are the days of buying a game in one transaction but I would venture to say that Halo is one of those franchises that just gets it. The system couldn't continue it's success without a robust offering since this is the Xbox exclusive answer to PS3's strong lineup. It's a console mover for sure and a can't miss title this holiday. I played Reach just yesterday. Still has a rabid base (though you may find some people not working with the same tool kit you are using) For 2 full years plus it occupied a spot in my rotation and I had to replace my copy 4 times due to wear. It was the one game that made that insurance a valuable asset. I would say it would be good to do the same here as this game has tremendous replay value and polish.
Do yourself a favor and ignore the haters. This is Halo and if it's differnent in some ways - how could that be a bad thing. I got a little tired of nailing my 5 daily tasks everyday and am happy to be wasting countless more hours on this game as well. The only problem is with so many great options right now it tends to put other games out of business around my house. Halo is an event for those that get it and you should GET IT NOW!
Thank you for reading, | video-games_xbox |
CoD MW and MoH meets Halo. Halo Reach Standard Edition
By now, most gamers have been engulfed in the Halo mythos, and well acquainted with the lore of SPARTANs and the Master Chief. Being a long-time player of first-person shooter games since the 1990s (Wolfenstein, Blake Stone, Doom), I've naturally played Halo, Halo 2, and a variety of other modern FPS games. However, I've not played Halo 3 or ODST, but I read other reviews indicating Halo Reach is by far one of the best Halo games to date. I have to agree with that consensus, mainly because Halo Reach takes many elements of story-telling, gaming, and immersing the player/viewer into a certain atmosphere and doing all of this quite well.
Halo Reach differs from previous Halo games by introducing other SPARTAN characters that have unique personalities. The best way to describe it is to take Call of Duty Modern Warfare, mix in Medal of Honor 2010, and then give the main characters SPARTAN-III armor. You get to blow away enemies while using the guns onboard rotary aircraft (Falcon, instead of a Blackhawk/Little Bird/AC130), make near-impossible jumps onboard said aircraft (ala CoD MW/MW2), use aircraft to destroy ground targets (piloting the Falcon, ala Cobra/Apache/Hind), and even pilot spacecraft (Sabre) to engage in space combat (uh... sorry, no CoD/MoH comparison here).
Some of the complaints I have are related to the vehicle controls. While Halo Reach does many things quite well, it still has the inadequate vehicle dynamics found in Halo and Halo 2. The warthog, Mongoose, and other wheeled vehicles don't "drive" like vehicles you typically use in other games. The split controls over the 2 analog sticks makes it confusing initially, but I am sure hardcore Halo veterans are already used to it. The Covenant vehicles are easier to maneuver because the controls feel more in tune with Descent (one of the first games to be truly 3D). The spaceflight controls aren't too bad, and it sort of resembles Descent Freespace or TIE Fighter.
Another area that I'm not fond of is in the weapons department. I found myself often running low/out of ammo when I needed them the most. Examples include an Elite charging at me with an energy sword, or a Brute charging at me with a Gravity Hammer. The enemy shields are often a pain in the butt. It started to remind me of Republic Commando where your weapons inflicted minimal damage against shielded enemies and I often resorted to just using melee to take them out more easily.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare / Medal of Honor offered better damage for friendly weapons, and granted this might make Halo "easier", but I'd assume the human race would figure out a new type of ballistic weapon that could penetrate shielding, penetrate armor, explode and set the enemy on fire in one single shot by the year 2552.
I bought Halo Reach about a month after it was first released, and I received a redemption code for a free Spartan Recon Helmet. Unfortunately, this code did not work. I performed a Google search and found out that Microsoft apparently makes the codes limited use until a certain day or when a certain amount of people have received the avatar award. I just know that I tend to buy more stuff when they give out some freebies even though they don't have to do so, and it was disappointing that they gave me a code that wasn't functional.
The sound effects and visuals are absolutely fantastic. Halo Reach is definitely darker and more immersive in nature than previous Halo games. The multiplayer modes offer variety and give a lot of replay value to the game. Some of the achievements were a true pain to achieve. For example, jumping off a cliff in the Pillar of Autumn map, and executing an assassination on an Elite just before you land took me about 90 minutes and hundreds of deaths! I still haven't had time to sit and earn 1,000,000 points in Firefight to get another achievement. Who thinks of these achievements??
Overall, I give Halo Reach 4/5 stars! | video-games_xbox |
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